What the cartoon reactions say about the terrorists

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For weeks, yours truly has been largely silent (at least in this space) on the now famous (or infamous, depending on one's point of view) Jyllands-Posten cartoons. For the most part, this was because the issue seemed unrelated to the victims of Communist persecution. However, as one would expect, my far-sighted and compassionate friends in the East Turkestan Government in exile have linked them, and in so doing, they have revealed far more about Osama bin Laden, Ayatollah Khameini, and Bashar Assad than these three would like us to see.

As one should have expected, the Syrian Ba'athist regime and their allies in the Iranian mullahcracy used this to their advantage. It is all but certain al Qaeda has already begun using the ensuing chaos as a recruitment tool. However, this was not the only reaction to the cartoons to come from the Muslim world. Contrary to widespread public perception, pro-American, pro-freedom Muslims are speaking out on the cartoons - in particular, the beleaguered and persecuted people of East Turkestan.

Sadly, few seemed to notice. The reasons for this, maddening as they are, still hold: the Middle East gets more attention than Central Asia (thus when the term "occupied nation" comes up, infinitely more people think Palestine than East Turkestan); the Central Asia independent republics are so numerous it's hard to keep up with them, let alone remember an occupied nation right next door; and the biggest reason of all - Communist Chinese propaganda.

Ever since September 11, 2001, the Communists have insisted that anyone in East Turkestan who opposes Communist rule is a "terrorist" and a supporter of Osama bin Laden. Never mind that Communist China itself is the largest supporter of terrorism on the planet (among the cadres' beneficiaries are Tehran, Damascus, Saddam Hussein, and al Qaeda itself). Never mind that the people of East Turkestan (largely known as Uighurs) are deeply pro-American. Never mind that their version of Islam, the mystical and persuasive Sufi variety, is nearly the exact opposite of the radical and violent Wahabbist and Khomeinist strains that fuel al Qaeda and the Iranian mullahcracy.

In fact, the East Turkestan GIE was nearly alone among vocal Muslims (lest we forget, the overwhelming majority of the Muslim world is unable to speak freely) making this point: "The Jyllands-Posten cartoons, offensive as they are, did not touch a single hair on the head of any Muslim." That's a point that the Syrian and Iranian regimes, to say nothing of al Qaeda, hoped no one would notice.

There are other things the terror masters are hoping remain unnoticed. In fact, when I see the terrorists and their admirers take to the streets, or the torch, or any other weaponry, I am more angered by what they don't say, or haven't said, than what they do say.

After all, while they take to the streets over 12 Danish cartoons, they say nothing about multiple nuclear weapons tests by Communist China that killed over 210,000 of their fellow Muslims. The eagerness to demand Israel evacuate Palestine, the U.S. leave Iraq, and the Spanish leave Spain disappears when the conversation moves to the fifty-year-plus occupation of East Turkestan by an anti-religious Communist regime. Those who would "rise up" over desecration of the Koran (something yours truly admits is insulting) have been completely silent about a regime that has razed mosques to the ground and recently banned all children in East Turkestan from even attending mosques (third item).

The Communists have gone so far East Turkestan ("Xinjiang") in an attempt to "Sinicize" it. Yet the terrorists, who can't call Jerusalem anything but al Quds, are silent as their fellow Muslims suffer. Saudi Arabia, one of the leading Islamic moralizers on the cartoons, even considers the Communist regime a worthy investment (eighth item).

Why is this so? I submit that the terrorist leadership, from Osama, Ayatollah Khameini, and al-Zarqawi on down, are, in addition to everything else, rank hypocrites. Their supposed concern for Muslim persecution victims dries up when the victimization embarrasses their chief benefactors. Thus, those Muslims suffering at the hands of the Communist Chinese regime receive not even a word of sympathy, while the Communists - who have murdered more Muslims than either Israel, America, or the Crusaders (from all eight combined) - get off scot free.

The implication is clear: the terrorists care nothing for Islam; it is but a tool for them to use, a symbol to manipulate, a disguise for their hunger for power and complete lack of respect for human life. They have as much right to the symbols of Islam as Adolf Hitler had to the symbols of Buddhism (one of which, the swastika, has become forever tied to the Nazi thieves). In truth, for Osama, Khameini, and the rest, there is no God but the Chinese Communist Party.