It's official: Islam prefers Kerry

It's one of those endorsements stories that causes campaign officials to cringe, especially this late in the game. Reuters (or al Reuters, as Little Green Footballs tags 'em) released a report today from Cairo detailing how Arab leaders across the Mideast have given up on the "Devil They Know" in the White House.

So they're pulling for a Kerry win. Said one:

"Bush is a lost cause for most Arabs... Kerry might do better, especially if he does disengage from Iraq ...'"

Complaints range from the "we-don't-talk-anymore" whine to the Big Kahuna, the Bush White House's continued support for Israel, it's security and sovereignty. "It really can't get worse," one said. A few more choice morsels:

"In the Arab world, Washington's image problem stems largely from its support for Israel, compounded by the perception that Bush's "war on terror" demonizes Arabs and Muslims by ignoring the roots of violence ..."

"The exceptions who favor Bush, analysts say, are the Saudi royal family, whom Kerry has personally antagonized, a small group of liberals who take seriously Bush's commitment to
political reform in the Middle East ..."

Oh, please! The refrain "ignoring the roots of violence" was old 30 years ago, and anyway, the "roots of violence" aren't always the same. Timothy McVeigh blew up 160-plus people in downtown Oklahoma City, but he didn't do it because he was starving, disenfranchised or suffering from systemic discrimination. The roots of the current violence in the Middle East stem from the fact that fundamentalist Islam, the brand in vogue, preaches hatred against Christians and other infidels, and worse against Jews, whose right to even exist is questioned.

You wanna talk "roots of violence"? How about the aspirations of millions of Arabs who live in squalor while the shieks, mullahs, princes and prime ministers have access to 21st Century wealth, prestige and power, much of it from sales of oil to the despised Christians and infidels. Freedom cannot be subdivided into religious and economic realms. You either have it all, freedom that is, or you have no freedom. That explains the next part of the Reuters report:

"The U.S. presidential election campaign is hardly the talk of Arab cities or villages, where indifference to the result and contempt for both candidates are widespread, analysts say."

"'The great majority, even more than 70 percent, don't think that Bush or Kerry make a difference because both are evil, because the United States is evil,' said Abdel Moneim Said."

Ah, but the great silent majority of the Arab world don't actually vote, do they? Except for the newly freed citizens of Iraq or Afghanistan, that is.

Wonder who's responsible for that?