Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Peace Through Oatmeal

Remember this guy?

“Nothing is better for thee than me.”

Not so good on the grammar, but we all got the point. Quaker Oats were wholesome, nutritious, warm. Pacifist.

Now the pleasant man in the shovel hat is going to get us all killed.

I say that that’s because nothing is worse for all of us on Planet Earth than this guy:






But they still want to treat him like he's a serious partner in religious dialogue.

It's not just the Quakers. The Mennonites want a piece of this, too. And the usual left-fringe church groups.

Take a look at this:

ADL: Religious groups' plan to break bread with Ahmadinejad is a 'betrayal'

By Shlomo Shamir and Natasha Mozgovaya,
Haaretz Correspondents

Five American religious organizations have announced plans to host a dinner to break the Ramadan fast with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his upcoming visit to the United States.

The Mennonite Central Committee, the Quakers, the World Council of Churches, Religions for Peace and the American Friends Service Committee are sponsoring the meeting with President Ahmadinejad on September 25 in New York City.

The dinner to break the Ramadan fast, called an Iftar, is being billed as "an international dialogue between religious leaders and political figures" in a conversation "about the role of religions in tackling global challenges and building peaceful societies."

National Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Abraham H. Foxman, issued a response to the announcement, calling the planned event "a perversion of the search for peace and an appalling betrayal of religious values."

"It simply defies belief that five organizations with a mission of promoting peace through dialogue would choose President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from among the hundreds of world leaders and ambassadors who will be in New York this month, as an appropriate and legitimate interlocutor on world peace," Foxman said.

Foxman continued, "In extending an invitation to Ahmadinejad, the religious organizations sponsoring this dinner have tarnished their reputations as peace seekers and bridge builders. Their breaking bread with President Ahmadinejad is a perversion of the search for peace and an appalling betrayal of religious values."

Ahmadinejad has caused international uproar with his continued denial of the Holocaust and his frequent anti-Israel tirades, in which he has called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
###

(Thanks to Christopher Logan at IslamInAction. )

So the Quakers want to have a sit-down the President of Iran and have a nice talk "about the role of religions in tackling global challenges and building peaceful societies."

The Iranians are on record already on this point. As far as the role of Islam in building a peaceful world, which means a peaceful Islam, it all starts with with the destruction of Israel and the Jews:

From yesterday’s Iran News Roundup on NRO, I select only this:

--Vice President Mashayee writes an open letter to Supreme Leader Khamenei immediately after the Supreme Leader's Friday prayer sermon in Tehran: "...I am convinced about the annihilation of world Zionism and find it within our reach."

--Speaking on the [VP] Meshayee affair, Ahmadinejad says:

"Our position with regard to the Zionist regime is crystal clear. We have never recognized this regime. This regime is the root of corruption in the region and was created as a threat to the nations of the region, and the nations of the region do not recognize this regime...

--Our attempts in the Holocaust issue serve the purpose of showing the true Holocaust [in Palestine]...

--Khamenei at the Friday prayers : "The informed and awakened Iranian nation will come to the streets this year at the Qods Day to defend the rights of the wronged innocent people of Palestine along with other freedom seeking Muslim nations...The Hamas government in Gaza is a legal and popular government which has taken office through the ballot, but those claiming to represent civilization and democracy, ignoring this fact, support the crimes and tough actions of the Zionists...The Iranian nation has no problem with the Jews, Christians and followers of other religions, but statements
that we are friends with the people of Israel like all other peoples of the world is wrong, since they confiscate land and belongings of the Palestinian nation are partners in crime of Zionist authorities and confiscators of Palestine. This strong position is the official position of the [Islamic Republic] regime...Such statements are now history..."

He's right, you know. Such statements really are history. So the Quakers shouldn't be lacking for jumping off points for their peace convo.

Maybe it could go something like this. "Mr. President, looking down the road, I mean, after you've destroyed Israel, please share with all of us how you envision Islam tackling global challenges and building peaceful societies? Oh, and could you pass the dinner rolls? No? Okay, then."

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