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Mr. Smith Goes to Waziristan

By Aaron Goldstein on 10.29.11 @ 9:25PM

After reading Reid Smith's response to my rejoinder to John Guardiano yesterday it appears that Mr. Smith has caught a terrible case of the snarks.

It is unfortunate that Smith chooses to address my concerns about the status of women under Sharia law as it is practiced in Britain and elsewhere in such a supercilious manner.

Smith quotes the relevant verse from the Koran and contends that it is highly interpretative. O.K., very well then. If Smith can show me a Sharia court anywhere in the world where the word of a woman is equal to that of a man then I will be more receptive to his assertion. However, I don't think a response will be forthcoming be it from Waziristan or Warwickshire.

As to the three Muslim women in Malaysia who were caned last year for extramarital sex all Smith has to say is:

Also to Aaron -- in the future, when commenting on Malaysian affairs (or perhaps Islam in general) I'd suggest you steer clear of websites that casually advocate the suspension of our constitutional republic in favor of George W. Bush's "permanent presidency" to correct the "inadequacy" of our democracy.

What an utterly specious argument! The article to which I linked was written by Jim Kouri and it appeared on several conservative websites. If Smith wants to challenge the veracity of Kouri's article then let him do so. The fact that Kouri's article appeared on the same website as an article which promoted the "permanent presidency of George W. Bush" has nothing to do with the substance of Kouri's article much less change the fact that three Muslim women were caned last year for adultery. But if conservative websites aren't good enough for Smith then I might point out that the caning of Muslim women in Malaysia was also reported by the Associated Press, The Christian Science Monitor and CNN.

If it makes Smith feel any better I'll stop linking to conservative websites if he stops relying on an Iran "expert" who touted a discredited conspiracy theory accusing the Reagan transition team of colluding with the Ayatollah Khomeini to keep American hostages in Iran until Reagan took office.

View all comments (7) | Leave a comment

Sean| 10.29.11 @ 11:49PM

Why are we worried about what Malaysia does? Look if you don't want that type of behavior here or in England you need to restrict immigration from those countries. It is really that simple.

ECM| 10.30.11 @ 8:58AM

We're worried about it because if Sharia can get a foothold in the UK, it can get a foothold here--is that so terribly difficult to grasp? (And now that it has a beachhead in the UK, where it supersedes actual law, it's only a matter of time before it becomes more stentorian.)

And, yeah, sure: we'll just restrict immigration because the USA has done such a great job of that.

Reid Smith| 10.30.11 @ 2:05PM

"If it makes Smith feel any better I'll stop linking to conservative websites if he stops relying on an Iran "expert" who touted a discredited conspiracy theory accusing the Reagan transition team of colluding with the Ayatollah Khomeini to keep American hostages in Iran until Reagan took office."

Deal.

No more (neo)conservative websites for you, no more Leverett citations for me. Let's see who get further with that arrangement.

vtwin| 10.30.11 @ 6:10PM

What a raw deal! Mister Aaron, please, feel free to quote as many conservative websites as you want (including our lovely Ann since she doesn't have an homophobic bone in her body) as long as Rayyid Simis stops endorsing a reactionary homophobic cult from the dark ages.

clint| 10.30.11 @ 8:27PM

FYI Reid Smith is the author of "The Turner Diaries", a must read if you get my drift and want to fully apprehend the unbiased views of this gentleman.