Reaction to the Attack on the Danish Cartoonist

Cross-posted by Gary Fouse
fousesquawk



Kurt Westergaard


Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist for Jyllands-Posten who drew the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, has been living under a death threat ever since. On Friday night, an axe-wielding Somali man tried to break into his home in Aarhus shouting, "Revenge". Westergaard, who had his 5-year-old granddaughter with him on a sleepover, was able to alert the cops who arrived and shot the man.

This is how a 75-year-old Danish cartoonist has to live-in his own country.

A couple of points here. First of all, it is incomprehensible to me why a cartoonist has to live under a death threat over a bunch of silly cartoons. The reader will note that I have never put up any of those cartoons on my blog-not even as a statement of free speech or expression. The reason is that I would be offended as a Christian if Jesus Christ were portrayed in a disrespectful light-witness the Christ in a bottle of urine or Mary covered in cow dung. These so-called "works of art" offended Christians world-wide. However, there were no riots, no burning of embassies, no fatwas, no demands for prosecution, no killings-just peaceful expressions of disapproval. Had Muslims responded similarly, Westergaard might have been expected to apologize and refrain from further such cartoons. Case closed. But no. Here we have clerics all over the Muslim world demanding that Westergaard be prosecuted, killed or both.

The second issue is the one that is front and center in the minds of every Dane. Why did this Somali, who is already linked to Al-Qaeda and the Somali terrorist group Al Shabab, have a permit to live in Denmark? Now I know some will take this as a racist statement because Somalis are black and all that, but it needs to be said. The best place for Somalis is Somalia. This is without question, the worst excuse for a country in the world. Where do I start? Remember when they were starving and the US sent in food and troops to make sure the food got to the starving people? In return, we got Black Hawk Down and dead US servicemen dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. Today, they are still fighting each other and we have the Somali pirates wreaking their havoc. We also now have the Somali terrorist organization,
Al Shabab.

Nevertheless, our illustrious State Department and their counterparts in Europe decided that we needed to bring tens of thousands of Somalis to our countries as refugees. To date, we have taken in some 85,000 of them and settled them in places like Minneapolis, Colorado and Arizona.

The results have been catastrophic. First, it was Somali cab drivers in Minneapolis refusing to carry passengers who had alcohol. Then it was Somali grocery store clerks refusing to check out customers with pork. Then it was meat processing plant workers causing all kinds of ruckuses over prayer breaks. And that's just the small stuff.

Now we see Somali men disappearing from the US to join the Jihad back in Somalia. In St Paul, gangs of teen-age Somalis run wild on the streets attacking by-standers and passers by (see my posting, "Watch This" dated 12-19-09). Assimilation? Forget it.

Those who read my blog regularly know where I stand on immigration since I am married to an immigrant. As long as you come legally, obey our laws, respect our values and traditions and assimilate, I say, "welcome." And that goes for Somalis as well. I am perfectly willing to concede that many of the Somalis in this country are willing to do just that. Nevertheless, the question has to be asked; why are we having so many problems with Somalis in this country? The Danes and other Europeans are asking the same question.

Nevertheless, now more than ever, the US and other countries in the West have a duty to our own citizens (and legal, law-abiding immigrants)to exercise extreme caution in deciding who immigrates to this country. Just because a country like Somalia is a hell-hole, doesn't mean that we have to open our doors to its citizens-many of whom have helped make it a hell-hole. The time for importing problems into our country has to end.

And guess what. This has nothing to do with race. There are other countries in Africa and the Caribbean that have many deserving people who would love to come here and contribute to this country. I cannot say it any better than this reader, who commented on Rod Dreher's blog, Crunchy Con:

"Just out of curiosity, why was a Somali granted access to live in this country in the first place?

There are millions, no, make that tens of millions of people, in places like Mexico and Latin America, like the Philipines(sic) and Eastern Europe who would be happy to live in Denmark and would have no interest whatsoever in chopping up a cartoonist...

It's one thing to be bitten by a rabid dog but if you've actually invited it into your house, well....".

To that I would add that this phenomena we are experiencing is a black eye to the millions of decent immigrants who have sought out a better life here and in the West contributing in the process. They should not have to be stigmatized because our feckless government and the feckless European governments have rolled out the welcome mat to the riff-raff of the world.


As much as I support the War on Terror, eventually, we must come to the realization that we cannot solve all the world's problems and make the whole world in our image. If we are to fight overseas, it has to be in the interest of our own self defense. I am not much interested in the idea of "liberating people" from themselves if it involves our troops. In the case of Somalia, we tried to solve their problems and failed. It is time to leave the problems in Somalia and not import them here.

And if that makes me a racist in your eyes, sorry.