Why the Pope was wrong...

Though Christopher Hitchens is displaying his usual anti-Theism he's right about the singular stupidity with which Pope Benedict XVI has covered himself. While people fall over themselves in the rush to back Pope Benedict lets step back for a minute and see whatit is that is so praisworthy about his recent actions. Firste he gives a speech at the University of Regensburg in Germany the purpose of which is supposedly to show in some abstruse manner that religion and reason are friends not foes. In the body of the speech is a qoute from a fifthteenth century Byzantine Emperor which blasts Islam.

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached

It would be obvious to anyone who has been awake for the last decade what the Moslem world's reaction would be to the use of this quote. The quote is even more inflammatory due to the glaring unesessariness of the qoutation to support the point of the speech.

Then after the utterly predictable riots, fatwas, arsons, and other things without which modern Islam would not be itself, the Pope apologizes. Of course his backers insist this was not a real apology. However this just makes the case worst, since while papers all over the world carry headlines such as "Pope Apologizes" ( which certainly gives the impression he's sorry doesn't ), the Moslem world is still able to carry on fuming and demanding groveling admissions of guilt.
So he makes a statement that inflames the Islamists, and then proceeds to backtrack just enough to show the Fertile Crescent Fools that the Westerners are weak and spineless.

What is there to support in this..?

And consider this from Justin Raimondo over at the "Blame America First, Last and Always" crowd at antiwar.com. Of course he's looking at it from the opposite perspective but he's still right.

It is nonsense to characterize the Vatican as the enemy of Islam and the ally of Bush and the neocons in their efforts to spark a disastrous "clash of civilizations." Just as the Catholic Church was perhaps the most authoritative and powerful voice raised against the invasion of Iraq, so the Vatican clearly put the onus on the Israelis for launching an unjust war against Lebanon – and for essentially the same reasons. The Church has consistently condemned the brutalities of the Israeli occupation of the Holy Land and clearly sympathizes with the plight of the Palestinians. John Paul II characterized the Iraq war as "a defeat for humanity," and, citing the massive antiwar demonstrations that occurred all around the world on the eve of the invasion, called on Catholics to fast in protest. Benedict is not deviating from these stances, but is, instead, seeking to buttress the intellectual foundations of the doctrine – based on the interplay of faith and reason – that gives rise to the Church's antiwar, albeit not pacifistic, stance.