Get FREE NRO Newsletters

 

June 11 Issue  |  Subscribe  |  Renew

Close

New on NRO . . .

The Corner

The one and only.

Print   |  Text
 

Gaddafi: The Steyn connection

Like most folks outside Colonel Gaddafi’s immediate family, I greatly enjoyed Sheikh Qaradawi’s recent fatwa calling on “whoever can fire a bullet” to kill the Libyan leader. But Point de Bascule, the excellent Quebec website, points out that until recently Qaradawi’s Muslim Brotherhood and Gaddafi’s World Islamic Call Society were all buddy-buddy.

Along the way, Point de Bascule also sheds some light on a fellow called Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub, who was an “expert witness” at my “Islamophobia” trial at the British Columbia “Human Rights” Tribunal. He was flown in from his university in Philadelphia, and treated with fawning deference by the Canadian Islamic Congress’ oleaginous counsel, and only marginally less so by the troika of hack “human rights” judges. Dr. Ayoub described himself as a loyal Canadian citizen who shared Trudeau’s vision of a harmonious multicultural society but had moved to America because Canadian taxes were too high. At this point I leapt to my feet and cried, “Objection, your honor! Every loyal Canadian knows that confiscatory taxation is an indispensable part of Trudeau’s vision of a harmonious multicultural society.”

Well, no, okay, I didn’t. I let it go, and soon Dr. Ayoub was testifying that we’d all got the wrong end of this “jihad” stick: It was nothing to do with blowing up infidels and such, but was a benign lifestyle concept that translated out of Arabic means “healthy, nutritious, lo-fat granola bar” (I quote from memory). The usual Islamoguff. May Allah bless the Canadian taxpayers who sprung for his round-trip airfare.

Anyway, among the evidence of my “flagrant Islamophobia” cited in the official complaint was my quoting of Colonel Gaddafi as follows:

There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe without swords, without guns, without military conquests. The 50 million Muslims of Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.

Maclean’s counsel rose and quoted the above passage, at which point the Canadian Islamic Congress’ lawyer, Faisal Joseph, objected on the grounds that Gaddafi “has no credibility in the Muslim world.”

If that’s true, why then had Joseph called as his “expert witness” Mahmoud Ayoub? Dr. Ayoub was not only the “representative of the Americas” on the executive committee of Gaddafi’s World Islamic Call Society (in which capacity he had sent a cable of thanks to “Brother Mu’ammar Al-Gaddafi”), but he was also the author of a sycophantic biography called Islam and the Third Universal Theory: The Religious Thought of Mu’ammar al Qadhdhafi, published in 1987 — or, if you’re using the Jihad Calendar, halfway between the Libyan bombing of a German disco full of U.S. soldiers and the Libyan bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie.

So the plaintiffs were simultaneously arguing that Gaddafi has no credibility in the Muslim world, but his hagiographer has such credibility we’re calling him as an expert witness. By the way, Dr. Ayoub is the same “expert” who assured the Orlando Sun-Sentinel after the revelations of the 9/11 killers’ extra-curricular activities:

“It is incomprehensible that a person could drink and go to a strip bar one night, then kill themselves the next day in the name of Islam,” said Ayoub. “People who would kill themselves for their faith would come from very strict Islamic ideology. Something here does not add up.”

Indeed — in the same way that a nutjob who hangs out with Ukrainian “nurses” and a bevy of Austin Powers fembots would hardly have enough “religious thought” to fill a book, would he?

I’m always impressed by the say-one-thing-in-Cairo-another-on-CNN shamelessness of jetset Muslims — Imam Rauf at Ground Zero, Tariq Ramadan, Sheikh Qaradawi, and Dr. Ayoub. . .  Taqqiya is the most important concept in Islamic imperialism. 

New on The Corner. . .


COMMENTS   33

EXPAND  

   03/02/11 01:10

And this is why I love Mark Steyn.

It was not only thought provoking and intelligent, but made me laugh my tush off!

:-D

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
flurm
   03/02/11 05:28

Dear Mr Steyn,

Welcome back. What will it take to get you to stay. These are dark days...

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
Rodney Rice
   03/02/11 06:02

Please oh please be back Mr. Steyn.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 06:13

IOW this aspect of your trial made just as much sense as all the other aspects of it, i.e. none.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
Lord Acton
   03/02/11 06:42

Mark, you have returned in top form. You have been greatly missed.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 07:00

Welcome back to the fevered swamp, Mark. Everyone should read your work, whether they can fire a bullet or not.

Minor adjustment, though: You meant "Orlando Sentinel". The Sun-Sentinel is the sister paper down in South Florida.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 07:28

I'm so glad to see you jump right back into the Corner swinging, Mark. Andy McCarthy has done a wonderful job keeping us up to speed on Islam, but the one-two punch of McCarthy/Steyn or Steyn/McCarthy cannot be beat.

Still swooning with delight that you're back.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 08:03

Mark,
So glad you're back. Can we look forward to Saturday Steyn coming up? Have caught you everywhere I could but good to see you at my fave website/magazine. Your insights and humour are needed in these trying times.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 08:13

Just to be clear, Mark Steyn's thesis (Europe --> Eurabia...and soon!) is perfectly in agreement with the "theory" of a man (Gadaffi) who has been publicly revealed to be a murderous raving lunatic with only the most fleeting grip on reality. Probably worth giving that a thought before you laud him for his perspicacity, wisdom, and truth-telling.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
 Bugg
   03/02/11 08:27

Revealed? When was Ghadafi known to anything but a murderous lunatic? The Military coup, disco bombings and Lockerbie made it pretty clear.

Awfully rich that the Islamic folk, and peace be upon them only upon giving up the 7th century death cult of the thieving murdering pedophile false prophet,once in the belly of the multi culti beast are also very uncool with confiscatory taxation.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 08:34

Mark Adomanis, are you actually suggesting that "Gaddafi believes X" is proof that X is false, and that it discredits anyone else who believes X?

Evidently, Gaddafi believes that the West will not react with swift and overwhelming military force to stop the vicious slaughter of those Libyans who are standing against him. But Gaddafi is crazy, so the opposite MUST be true, and the bombers are already on their way.

Maybe you shouldn't mention others' raving lunacy, not if you're going to be that muddled in your own thinking.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 09:20

I hope they're reading the labels on those granola bars. Those things aren't always what you think they are....kind of like jihad, I suppose. Us infidels have such a hard time understanding.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 09:33

Mark - It is grand to have you back at NRO. Now when will I see in the print copy of NR? Also, I must second Honoria Glossop's sentiments.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
noahp
   03/02/11 10:23

Welcome back Mark! I e-mailed one of your compatriots last Summer about when you would be back. I was treated like a mushroom! But I guess it was really none of my business.

I keep wondering why you don't have your own show on one of the cable channels! I remember one time years ago when you were a guest on C-SPAN when my hard core lib now ex-wife remarked how sensible you were! You reach the "inner con" in all!

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 10:55

@denroy,

Very true. You have to be careful of these things and recognize the translation. "Low-fat" almost inevitably means "very high sugar," "healthy" means "from a cave in Whereverstan," and "nutritious" means "due to ignite any day now." Sometimes the advertising is, if not false, at least a bit misleading.

I'll add my voice to the chorus singing in joy over Mark's return to the corner. It hasn't been the same without you.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 12:33

That's simply a tremendous point by Mark Adomanis.

Also worth noting: Steyn is Canadian. You know who else is Canadian? Howie Mandel. So look out for that.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
Beltway bandit
   03/02/11 13:02

Great seeing you back Mark!

Astute observations, revealed with your typically clever angle. You cracked me up, even on your first return trip around the bases.

Good work!

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
josephfmcnulty
   03/02/11 13:05

Why is it assumed that Gaddafi is crazy? I think his conduct is carefully calculated and modulated to appear strange. To Farrakhan, friends, and followers he seems "brilliant" in his odd insights. Even critics have to take account of "what a crazy man thinks and might do" -- it is one of his prime weapons now when the army has largely gone over to the other side. If he is really crazy, how has he managed to outlast a restive population, ambitious military officers yearing for another coup, six prime ministers, and at least six presidents of various hostility in a fly-blown pesthole like Libya?

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
PhilTheCapitalistPig
   03/02/11 14:06

Like Christopher Walken needed "more cowbell" on SNL, I need more Mark Steyn!!

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
   03/02/11 15:23

@Mark Adomanis

Spot on Mark! Let's also note that Osama bin Laden is alarmed and blames the west for global warming. Clearly that makes Al Gore a terrorist.

Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
Load More Comments

Add a Comment

Already Registered? Log In Here.


The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.


* Designates a required field.
© National Review Online 2012
All Rights Reserved.
Subscriptions
NR / Print
NR / Digital

Gift Subscriptions
NR / Print
NR / Digital
NR Apps
iPhone/iPad
Android

NRO Apps
iPhone
Support Us
Donate
Media Kit
Contact