Al Qaeda threat to 'slit throats of worshippers of the cross'

 

 

 

Al Qaeda militants in Iraq vowed war on "worshippers of the cross" and protesters burned a papal effigy on Monday over Pope Benedict's comments on Islam, while Western churchmen and statesmen tried to calm passions.

 

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei joined a chorus of Muslim criticism of the head of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, calling the Pope's remarks "the latest chain of the crusade against Islam started by America's (George W.) Bush".

The Pontiff said on Sunday he was deeply sorry Muslims had been offended by his use of a medieval quotation on Islam and holy war. But he stopped short of retracting a speech seen as portraying Islam as a religion tainted by violence.

While some Muslims were mollified by his explanation for the speech made in Germany last Tuesday, others remained furious.

"We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said a Web statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella group led by Iraq's branch of al Qaeda.

"We shall break the cross and spill the wine ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome ... (May) God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement, posted on Sunday on an Internet site often used by al Qaeda and other militant groups.

In Iraq's southern city of Basra, up to 150 demonstrators chanted slogans and burned a white effigy of the Pope.

"No to aggression!", "We gagged the Pope!", they chanted in front of the governor's office in the Shi'ite city.

With some clerics calling it the start of a new Christian crusade against Islam, the Vatican has instructed its envoys in Muslim countries to explain Pope Benedict's words on Islam.

The Pope had referred to criticism of the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything the Prophet brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

But he said on Sunday this was not his view and he favoured frank dialogue with Islam. His new Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said Holy See nuncios (ambassadors) in Muslim countries would visit government and religious leaders.

The European Commission called for Pope Benedict's remarks not be "deliberately taken out of context" and for freedom of speech to be respected. French President Jacques Chirac refused to criticise him, but called for a more diplomatic language.

"It is not my role or my intention to comment on the Pope's statements. I simply want to say, on a general level ... that we must avoid anything that excites tensions between peoples or between religions," Chirac said on Europe 1 radio.

"We must avoid making any link between Islam, which is a great, respected and respectable religion, and radical Islamism, which is a totally different activity and one of a political nature," Chirac added.

The head of the world's Anglican church, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, defended Benedict.

"The Pope has already issued an apology and I think his views on this need to be judged against his entire record, where he has spoken very positively about dialogue," said Williams, the spiritual leader of 77 million Anglicans worldwide.

Williams told the BBC that all faiths could be distorted, and the Pope was simply giving an example of that.

"There are elements in Islam that can be used to justify violence, just as there are in Christianity and Judaism."

Questions had been raised on whether a papal visit to Turkey in November could go ahead, but Ankara, while calling his remarks "ugly", said there were no plans to call it off.

In Somalia, an Italian nun was killed on Sunday in an attack one Islamist source said could be linked to the dispute. The Vatican said it hoped the killing was "an isolated event".

A senior Chinese Muslim expressed anger over the Pope's comments, Xinhua news agency said. This was in contrast to Chinese reticence over last year's publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish paper that sparked violent Muslim protests elsewhere in the world.

Chen Guangyuan, president of the Islamic Association of China, was quoted as saying: "Benedict insulted both Islam and the Prophet Mohammad. This has gravely hurt the feelings of the Muslims across the world, including those from China."

About 100 Indonesian Muslims protested peacefully over the Pope's remarks outside the Vatican embassy in Jakarta.

Al Qaeda said it wants to take over the world with its form of Islam....modern day crusade

"Al-Qaida in Iraq warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that its war against Christianity and the West will go on until Islam takes over the world, and Iran's supreme leader called for more protests over the pontiff's remarks on Islam.

 

 

Al-Qaida in Iraq and its allies issued a statement addressing the pope as "a cross-worshipper" and warning, "You and the West are doomed, as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere.

 

 

"You infidels and despots, we will continue our jihad (holy war) and never stop until God avails us to chop your necks and raise the fluttering banner of monotheism, when God's rule is established governing all people and nations," said the statement by the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups in Iraq."

"We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said a Web statement by the Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella group led by Iraq's branch of al Qaeda.

"We shall break the cross and spill the wine ... God will (help) Muslims to conquer Rome ... (May) God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement, posted on Sunday on an Internet site often used by al Qaeda and other militant groups.

What a bunch of bs they're saying..so they're hurt because someone said they're just violent and they're acting with violence in the name of their fake Holy War to conquer the world, well done to them..luckly not all muslims are so stupid

Do we have to have so many threads on the same thing?

 

Theres several on the go here all saying the same thing.