Tuesday, November 07, 2006

MCB and Khatami

The MCB has released a report about their hosting of former Iranian president Mohammed Khatami. A couple of paragraphs from that article:

He [Khatami] said that whilst Muslims living in the West had an obligation to abide by the laws of the land, the authorities in the West also had an obligation to treat them as equal citizens in all respects. Only then can there be harmony and peace.
What does he mean by "all respects"? They currently enjoy the same rights as every other citizen of this country. The only thing not equal for Muslims is that their religion is not the official religion of this country and that their religious laws are not reflected in the laws of the land. Is that what Khatami wants before there can be "harmony and peace."?
On international events he said that the primary concern of humanity had become the quest for "security". The atrocities of 09/11, unfortunate [?!] and unacceptable, as they were, did however highlight a new era - one in which there was room for one side to create mayhem and oppression in Muslim countries from a safe distance. However, he noted, "we were now in an era of security for all or security for none".
In other words, gone are the days when the West could attack tyrants in Muslim countries without fear of terrorism. Those tyrants now have the ability to direct terrorists against Western countries. That sounds like a threat.