Thomas Friedman, "How ISIS Drives Muslims From Islam": Yet More Drivel About Shariah Law From Tom Terrific

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "How ISIS Drives Muslims From Islam," Thomas Friedman writes:

"THE Islamic State has visibly attracted young Muslims from all over the world to its violent movement to build a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. But here’s what’s less visible — the online backlash against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, by young Muslims declaring their opposition to rule by Islamic law, or Shariah, and even proudly avowing their atheism."

Fascinating! A backlash against ISIS and Shariah law. The fly in Friedman's ointment? That's simple. As reported by the Pew Research Center in April 2013, the "% of Muslims who favor making sharia the official law in their country" is as follows:

Indonesia: 72
Malaysia: 86
Afghanistan: 99
Pakistan: 84
Bangladesh: 82
Iraq: 91
Morocco: 83
Egypt: 74
Jordan: 71
Tunisia: 56
Palestinian Territories: 89

Of course, according to the Pew Research Center, there are also Muslim countries with lower percentages, e.g., Kazakhstan with 10 percent. However, the percentage in Indonesia, the country with the largest population of Muslims in the world, is not going to decline overnight.

Friedman's examples of opposition to Shariah Law are meant to warm our hearts? Remember how Friedman gushed over the Arab Spring from Tahrir Square . . .

Spare me. I no longer have the patience.

Thomas Friedman, "Trust, but Verify": Deal With the Muslim Brotherhood in the Same Principled Way As Israel

Thomas Friedman is remarkably calling upon the US to handle the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in the same fashion that it deals with Israel.

In his latest New York Times op-ed, "Trust, but Verify" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/opinion/trust-but-verify.html?ref=opinion), Friedman writes:

"Egypt is not destined to be Iran, but the Muslim Brotherhood is not destined to be the Muslim version of Christian Democrats either. There is an evolution under way — this is a very plastic moment — and our best chance of having an effect is to make sure we deal in a principled way with the Islamists (and also, by the way, with Israel, as the Islamists will be watching for any double standard) and with the Egyptian Army."

Absolutely, let's be certain that their are no double standards involving American dealings with Israel and its dealings with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Who cares if the Brotherhood's website "contains articles with antisemitic motifs, including Holocaust denial and descriptions of the 'Jewish character' as covetous, exploitative, and a source of evil in human society, . . . praise for jihad and martyrdom, and condemnation of negotiation as a means of regaining Islamic lands" (see: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5992.htm#_ednref16)? Who cares if the Brotherhood and its partners, the Salafi Nour party, would make Sharia law an integral part of Egypt's new constitution? Under no circumstances should the US exhibit favoritism to democratic Israel.

Thanks, Tom. You're a gem!

Sharia Justice in Iran: Literally an Eye for an Eye

In 2004 in Iran, Majid Movahedi threw a jar of acid into the face of Ameneh Bahrami, thereby blinding and disfiguring the woman, after she refused to marry him. Today, pursuant to the verdict of a Tehran court in accordance with Sharia law, Bahrami will blind Movahedi. As reported by The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/13/iran-blind-criminal-acid):

"Majid Movahedi, 30, is scheduled to be rendered unconscious in Tehran's judiciary hospital at noon on Saturday while Ameneh Bahrami, his victim, drops acid in both his eyes, her lawyer said.

. . . .

According to Iranian media, Bahrami's lawyer, Ali Sarafi, has said: 'A very good sentence has been given and an appropriate method has been adopted so that the convict will be blinded by few drops of acids in eyes after he is rendered unconscious.'"

According to The Guardian, Iranian officials have endorsed the verdict, owing to a spate of recent acid attacks. Doubt persists, however, whether Movahedi will be blinded in both eyes, given that Bahrami, in a 2009 interview, said that he would lose just one eye inasmuch as "each man is worth two women" pursuant to Iranian law.

Yet another nightmare from a land of savagery.

[Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported today that the blinding of Mavahedi has been postponed. The delay in carrying out the court's verdict is undoubtedly the result of international outrage.]