It is widely speculated that a massive car bomb attack against the Danish Embassy in the Pakistani capitol of Islamabad on Monday is reaction to the Danish cartoons that have been the subject of great controversy in recent months. The first thing on everyone's mind will be the notion that Islamic extremists are somehow "defending Islam" by driving a car packed with explosives into a foreign embassy, but let's remember something--there are over 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, and even if only 10 percent of them embraced Al-Qaeda's beliefs, the world would quickly be brought to its knees in a sea of destruction. The suggestion by some that attacks like this are the mainstream view in Islam are incorrect, the numbers themselves prove that wrong. Instead, controversies like the Danish Cartoons and the Dutch film "Fitna" give Al-Qaeda and other extremists a chance to recruit followers by convincing them that their religion is being insulted...and also put more distance between Muslims and westerners, who should be embracing each other in the fight against extremism. Anyone who reads my writings knows that I am a strong supporter of Islam and believe that the faith has been twisted into a sadistic ideology by some to advance certain beliefs--beliefs that are far from what is taught in the Koran. Someday, Al-Qaeda's lasting legacy will be the horrendous destruction it has brought upon Muslim countries and the religon it claimed to be fighting for, and not necessarily the attacks it has succeeded in carrying out in the west, which pale in comparison.
There's another reason not to believe the speculation that this is only about "blasphemy". Consider that AQ's #2 man Ayman Al-Zawahiri has openly declared that the Danish cartoons merit a response from Muslims, but why is it that Mr. Zawahiri doesn't have much to say when his Taliban allies in Pakistan's northwest blast their way through crowds of worshippers in mosques to target security officials and politicians? Surely, that is FAR more degrading and harmful to Islam than anything a Danish newspaper can print or anything Geert Wilders can say in his misguided film, yet Al-Qaeda and their fellow extremists do so with glee not only in Pakistan, but in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other Muslim countries. Al-Qaeda is exploiting this issue--and I strongly suggest the Dutch film "Fitna" and other anti-Muslim propaganda should be pulled, but by the looks of it, Al-Qaeda is far more interested in killing innocent people (mainly Muslims) and bringing about destruction in Muslim countries, so it isn't fair to say they are standing with their "fellow Muslims" to defend a religion they have greatly perverted.
Here's the story about the attack from The New York Times. Keep in mind Pakistan's government is trying to engage in "peace talks" with the Taliban, including militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, who is believed to be responsible for some of the many suicide bombings that have plagued Pakistani cities the last year and a half--including the assassination on Benazir Bhutto and the previous attempt on her life that killed scores of her supporters two months earlier.
A powerful car bomb exploded outside the Danish Embassy in an upscale area of the Pakistani capital Monday, badly damaging the building and killing at least six people, according to reports from hospitals.
A senior official at the Interior Ministry, Rehman Malik, said one foreigner was among the dead, but he did not give a nationality. Casualty lists posted at two hospitals said that six people had died and more than 20 had been injured. Mr. Malik said the police were investigating whether the blast was a suicide attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The blast, heard around the city at about 1 p.m., was the second effort to single out foreigners in Islamabad in the last few months and came as the civilian government has signed a series of peace deals with Islamic militants in the nation’s tribal areas.
Several European bomb experts who examined the blast site said that the bomb appeared to have contained about 110 pounds of explosives and left a crater nearly three feet deep. It was powerful enough to wreck cars up and down a street that is home to many diplomatic residences, schools and a nearby shopping center.
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