MAMA SAID EAT YOUR VEGETABLES

The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaeda in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified.

The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross" saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword."

If you read what the Pope actually said, all he did was call on Muslim religious leaders to emphasize the inhumanity and irrationality of terrorism. He did quote an ancient text which is unkind to Islam, which he should not have done, and which apologized for it. Pope Benedict is definitely more of a fire and brimstone pope than JP II was -- he's not as sensitive to his own image or how he comes across.

However, the Pope was 100% right to bring attention to the fact that Islam has a terrorism problem that it needs to address. You'd have to be a damned fool to think otherwise. This Islamist brand of terrorism isn't your father's random car bomb or assassination -- these guys want to kill millions of people ... and they're doing it all under the imprimatur of roque clerics. The culture of martydom is indeed a perversion of Islam, but, apparently, it has become a not uncommon one. Religious leaders who approve of violence notonly disgrace their own religion, they disgrace all religions. It's the Pope's job to say things that others are too afraid to.

As an aside, was it really necessary for CNN to insert [to Islam] and [killed by]??? I mean, come on. It's pretty fucking obvious what "conversion or the sword" means.