Here's a comment from another fan of the Crusades, and my reply to him: http://markcrispinmiller.com/2009/04/harpers-cover-story-jesus-killed-muhammad-on-newsstands-tomorrow.html/comment-page-1#comment-47204
(Please feel free to weigh in!) MCM Comment by Cole on May 20, 2009 @ 7:20 am Hey - Mark Crispin Miller You forgot to mention - the 80 million Hindus killed by Muslims invaders to bring India under Islam - historians put that as a minimum - they believe the real figure is more like 100 million - whole cities were wiped out or erased - [but let's straighten our backs and talk only of the 'progress' Islam purportedly brought to India]. ..And that - for every four Muslims - one has been killed in the name of Islam - woe !! Tmam - Mein Kampf was also a best seller in Turkey - until the EU pressed them to ban it. [Welcome to the EU Turkey and those Christian converts - in court for leaving Islam [or offending Turkishness] - nevermind, we can even overlook the confiscation of 1300 year old church properties - for islamophobia's sake] Colonization: Let's not forget how the Ottoman Empire - enslaved and killed non-Muslims in the parts of Europe it conquered - calling someone 'Giaour' the Turkish word for slave (or non-Muslim / infidel) is still one of the highest insults - in the region. And what about the Palestinian 'refugees' attempt to take over Jordan and the havoc they have reeked on the Christian Lebanese - who welcomed them - into their multicultural and learned society. Today - check out the systematic repression of non-Muslims in Egypt - try leaving Islam - or marrying who you wish - children of the Baha'is can't attend state school - and if your father converts to Islam - his children - even adult ones are forced to convert [some women Sept 08 where locked up for practising Christianity when they were 'really' Muslim - even though they did not know it - their father ditched the family a long time ago] - oh those poor Egyptian MuslimsŠ Then there is the Coptic pig cull - 400,000 to rid the country of 'unclean' animals - for Islam [and the swine flu - not a single case] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMIlw7rCSc - Here's some history - when America got its independence from Britain - and sailed their ships through the Med. they found they were attacked by the Libyans - prior to this they sailed under the protection of the British fleet - one day while in France the US ambassador - met his Libyan equivalent - who told him that the Libyans were waging Jihad against them because they were non-Muslim! But its better - for some to suppress history and ignore all the telling signs around us - so we can say 'Islam means peace' and that Islam has nothing to do with its current position - 'Islam is the victim'. If you are wondering what the 'radical' Muslims are doing look up: Dar al Harb Dar al Islam Jizya tax [No compulsion to Islam - as you must pay the tax - or..] Comment by Mark Crispin Miller on May 20, 2009 @ 8:16 am Yes, the Muslim conquest of India was extremely bloody, and the Ottoman Empire, like other empires, crushed its subjects. None of that pertains to the Crusades, which was every bit as gruesome and fanatical as anything that you can find in Islam's history. Nor is the fact of Ottoman oppression relevant to the slaughterous history of the West's colonization of the Muslim world. More recently, meanwhile, India's Hindu/Muslim conflict has seen thousands killed on either side, with Muslims often getting the worst of it from crowds whipped up by right-wing Hindu nationalists. (Look up Gujarat and Ayodya, for instance.) I don't suppose you mind such violence by Hindus, though, since you're intent on justifying war on Islam. As for Islam's more constructive role in South Asian history, you should (although I'm sure you won't) look into the story of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Gandhi's Pakistani counterpart, a pacifist no less dedicated, and heroic, than Gandhi, and every bit as crucial to the great non-violent expulsion of the British. Khan, a Pashtun and a Muslim, derived his pacifism directly from the Koran; and on that basis created the only army of non-violence in human history (the Khudai Khidmatgar). (Khan and Gandhi both opposed the British partition of India/Pakistan, which they knew would lead to endless bloody war between the creeds.) And certainly it's easy to find cases of Islamist intolerance and discrimination. All religions have their monsters; and, moreover, Islam's in particular have been assiduously cultivated by the US and Israeli governments for years. Starting in the late Seventies, the US armed and funded radical Islamists as a way to bleed the Soviets, while Israel encouraged outfits like Hamas so as to weaken leftist and Arab nationalist movements like the PLO. So those Islamists running rampant now can thank your favorite politicians for it. (About the Palestinians in Jordan, here's a piece of information for you: They were not Islamists, but a wholly secular guerilla movement.) As for history in general, you speak of it but you've read none. All you've done is soak up stray facts cherry-picked by propagandists to promote the new Crusade. You therefore can't shed any light on the real history of Islam (or Christianity), as you're completely in the dark. 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