I am a woman of certain habits. I like the same breakfast everyday (raisin bran with blueberries and skim milk and one fried egg inside a toasted English muffin....for those of you who are curious), and I love to have my before-radio-show lunch while watching re-runs of
Law & Order
on television.Yesterday, they played an episode which was timely, considering the recent Islamic terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India targeting innocents in general and citizens of Britain and America and Jews in particular - the latter who were tortured before being murdered in cold blood. Over 200 persons were murdered; about 400 injured. Nine of these Muslim terrorists were killed by Indian commandos. One has been captured and has given information about this highly organized conspiracy and its training roots in Pakistan. For my purposes here...one ray of sunlight: All of the Muslim cemeteries have refused, according to a
Wall Street Journal
account, to bury these nine Muslim terrorists. How about that!Now back to the parallel with yesterday's
Law & Order
re-run. A Muslim- American is found dead...beheaded. It is all set-up to look like bigoted Americans killed him just because he is Muslim. It turns out, after a lot of posturing about prejudice against Muslims, that this man was killed by his own cousin: a bona fide terrorist trying to bring uranium into the U.S. to deploy in Manhattan to kill as many Americans as possible. The beheaded man was informing on his cousin and all of those in the neighborhood conspiracy. That's why his own people killed him.The Imam, the local religious leader, is lying to the police to protect the murderous cousin because they threatened to kill him if he didn't. The Imam is measuring his importance to the community against his responsibilities to the laws of America -- laws of decency and morality, really.In a touching interaction between the Imam and the District Attorney, the DA asks the Imam if he is a Muslim first or an American first. The Imam struggles with that, saying that he has been working very hard to keep young people in his mosque from getting recruited into terrorism and he would lose that. The DA points out that the dead man's wife lost everything. It is left there.In court, the black defense attorney, playing into the "race card" questions the Imam about his client's whereabouts during the murder. At first the Imam lies. Then he tells the entire truth: about the uranium, the murder, and the plot to decimate all of New York City. The murderer is convicted, but the Imam's mosque is burned to the ground -- retribution from some in his community.There is a last minute angry exchange in Arabic as the murderer is removed from the court. The DA asks the Imam what they both said. The murderer said, "Burn!" To that, the Imam had replied, "I love America."To that "fictional" Imam and to those who run the Muslim cemeteries in India refusing to accept the bodies of mass murders my admiration, my respect, my appreciation, my prayers, and my hope that more will join you to "out" or "reject" those who perpetrate evil.
