A (Tan)credo I can live with

The headline in yesterday’s Chicago Sun-Times caught my eye: "Colorado rep ripped for remark on attacking Islamic holy sites”. Turns out that Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) is under fire from both US and Turkish officials for some comments he made on a radio talk show.

The show went something like this:

Host: How should the US respond if terrorists strike our cities with nuclear weapons?

Tancredo: If this happens in the United States and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites.

Host: You’re talking about bombing Mecca.

Tancredo: Yeah.

I’m failing to see the problem with this. You nuke us, you’d better believe we’re going to pull off the gloves and blow away things that are precious to you. What part of American history would make anyone think otherwise?

But wait, liberals say, that also punishes Muslims who aren’t responsible for these acts. Well yeah, that sucks. But its time for true Muslims to rein in their radical brothers in Allah. If a bunch of marauding Catholics starting taking down major cities throughout the world, I’d kiss the Vatican a mental good bye. And if Church leadership didn’t soundly condemn the renegades and take every measure possible to stop them, I'd start looking for a new faith community. But in the wake of years of terrorist acts, Islam has somehow been elevated by the ACLU-types to a sort of protected entity.

Take the whole Koran-flushing incident in Gitmo for instance. A well-meaning liberal friend tried to explain that in the eyes of the Muslims, this was akin to flushing the Eucharist in front of a Catholic. No, its not. Not in the least. First of all, in my eyes, you’re actually flushing Jesus Himself. Not a representation, not a symbol, not a book … the actual Big J. Second, and more importantly, my God tells me not to kill “infidels” for blasphemy. He tells me to pray for them. “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” Don't get me wrong ... I'd be highly offended, but I wouldn't be loading up the AK-47. And I'd actually try praying for them.

Oh, and for those peace-mongers who are currently screaming “but that means you should turn the other cheek when they blow up your cities!” you’ve got it all wrong (again). God is all for defending yourself under direct attack. But He’s perfectly capable of defending Himself, as I’m guessing Allah is too, so we should leave them to mete out their own justice. If you've read any holy books, you'll see they're good at it.

I have no problems with Islam itself … religion is generally a good thing. What I have a problem with is anyone (of any faith) thinking we have to be more understanding of the poor, misunderstood terrorists (of any faith). War is war -- lives are shattered, homes and monuments demolished, and the innocent killed as a result. That’s why you don’t undertake it lightly. But don’t provoke us.

PS. Rep. Tancredo has refused to apologize. I like him even more for that.