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Al-Jazeerah, September 18, 2006
The First Casualty of the Pope's Speech
By Timothy Stinson
The Pope's recent comments on Islam, typifies the hypocrisy of the West in its hostility toward Muslims and Islam in general.
While he chose to select the derogatory comments of a 14th Century Christian Emperor about the Prophet Muhammad, he seems to have forgotten the comments of Pope Urban II (1088-1099) who was responsible for assisting Emperor Alexus I (1081-1118) of Constantinople in launching the first crusade. In one of Pope Urban II's speeches given at the Council of Clermont in France, in November of 1095, he combined the ideas of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with those of waging a holy war against infidels (Muslims).
Also left out of the Pope's discussion were events surrounding the Second Crusade from 1147–49, which was led by the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux who, attempted to conquer Damascus in Syria. The Third Crusade lasted from 1189–92, The Fourth Crusade (which began in 1202) targeted Egypt and eventually the Byzantium's capital where, the city was sacked and its treasures were divided between the Venetians, the French, and other Crusaders. And, The Seventh and Eighth Crusades, in 1248 and 1270, which were sponsored by Louis IX.
Later Crusades saw a history of destabilizing the Middle East, including; invasions of Iraq (Mesopotamia) from the 1920’s to present day by Britain (which included the use of Mustard Gas on the Kurds by Britain to quell and uprising); a brutal French rule of Algeria from 1832 - 1962, which includes the 1945 slaughter of approximately 45,000 Algerians, and another 400 in 1961, and later the conquest of Tunisia in 1881. And, The Balfour Declaration which, laid the groundwork for creating the state of Israel in the center of Arab land.
These later Crusades also include the overthrow of Iran’s government by the U.S and Britain in 1953; American and British support for Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war, the Suez Canal crisis of 1956; the French and later British rule of Egypt in the 1800’s, and during the most current Crusade, the Pope has chosen to sit back in silence at the invasion of Iraq, as well as the Western backed destruction of Palestinians and Lebanese by Israel.
This unfortunate event presents an opportunity for improved understanding between Muslim countries through open and frank discussions on religion and Western - Middle East history at the international level. These discussions would go a long way in exposing the Bush administration and its supporter's exploitation of this knowledge gap, that is being used to build support for its destructive and reckless foreign policies.
Timothy Stinson, Miami Lakes, Florida
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