Yessir, Condi Disses Yasser

Arafat's Grave: Not A Condi "Must See"

Question: What sort of grave is visited by guys in black ski masks? (Look carefully at the photo...)

Answer: A craven, bloodthirsty, corrupt terrorist's grave!

That's why it is so amazingly wonderful that Condi Rice, in the words of a headline writer at USA Today, "Snubbed" Arafat's memory by not visiting Arafat's grave. Read this and see if you think USA Today is indignant about Condi's action:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's motorcade drove past Yasser Arafat's glass-enclosed tomb Monday, one more snub to the late Palestinian leader who had been largely ignored by the Bush administration.

No, they prefer human rights activist Jimmy Carter, who, they point out, visited the grave. As did German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and British Foreign Minister Jack Straw, both of whom laid wreaths. Did they also lay wreaths at the graves of the hundreds, thousands, of innocent Israelis whose blood is on Arafat's hands?

Unable to rally a quote from anyone saying that Condi is sending the right message, just as the President did by refusing to talk to Arafat, USA Today went to their bullpen of pro-infitada professors, calling on Fawaz Gerges of Sara Lawrence, who said the snub "a slap in the face to all Palestinians," and helpfully pointed out that "In Arab political culture, one must show respect and dignity to fallen enemies."

Oh. That explains why they drag the bodies of our fallen soldiers through the street, burn them, piss on them and then behead them. Now I understand their quaint rituals.

Gerges teaches a course called Profiles of Islamic Revolutionaries, which is described as:

This seminar examines the ideas and lives of leading Islamist (jihadist) revolutionaries who have left their imprint on Muslim society and politics in the 20th century. They have also have to use religion as a political tool to bring about radical change in state and society. These revolutionaries—Abdu, Sayyid Qutub, Mawdudi, Khomeini, and others—haveinspired young Muslim men and women supplied the ammunition and arguments for dissatisfied and alienated young men to rebel against the existing sociopolitical order at home and its great powers patron. In this context, the Saudi dissident, Osama bin Laden, may be seen as just a recent inheritor of a powerful tradition of political-religious rebellion. Several critical questions will be posited: What are the religious, intellectual, and historical roots of revolutionary jihadism? What fuels its passion and rage? What is the relative weight of religion in relation to other sociopolitical and economic variables? What is the role and impact of charisma in enabling certain individuals to reclaim and fertilize religion and revolution to establish Allah's kingdom on earth? Special attention will be given to certain powerful texts, which have served as holy writ for dedicated foot soldiers as well as to their views and theories about the status of women, the nature of the state, the use of violence, human rights, and relations with the West broadly defined.

Yeah, that would be the go-to guy for an objective quote on the issue. This guy is the Ward Churchill of Middle Eastern scholars!

Why is USA Today doing this? Even Al Jazeera has nothing on this story.