FOXNews’ Centanni and Wiig freed—but not before undergoing a completely voluntary conversion to Islam.
Of course, “voluntary” to Islamists means something along the lines of “you are free to convert or not, but if you don’t, our God wishes us to dress in Reeboks, put hankerchiefs over our faces, and saw your ungrateful head off with a hunting knife while we videotape it.”
Video clips, including the “conversion” video, and a nice roundup here. See also, Jawa Report and Michelle Malkin.
Welcome back, “Khaled”!
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Update: From Jules Crittenden, writing in the Boston Herald:
My profession is an easy one to kick around.It isn’t brain surgery: going places, asking questions, taking pictures, writing it up, broadcasting it.There are some skills.There are some things you have to learn.But it isn’t hard for anyone, looking at what we do, to say, “I could do that.”
Nor is it difficult for anyone, looking at the mistakes we make or the assumptions and biases that color our reports, to say, “I could do that better. That guy’s an idiot.” Whether you work at the New York Times, CNN, the Boston Herald or the Fox News Channel, you are guaranteed to make someone angry almost every time you tap a key or open your mouth.It is part of the job.You will be reviled.You can never win.
There are some other things that go with the job.
This morning, two of my brothers have been delivered from captivity in Gaza.Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig are alive at the whim of their captors, and in the space of two weeks undoubtedly experienced the elevator-drop fear induced by that whim’s shifts.If you’ve read Jill Carroll’s account of her captivity, then you have an idea of what that is like.
That is one of the extremes.
And let’s not forget the part about apostaty! Renounce your conversion, and earn an immediate death sentance under islamic law!
TW: Suddenly this doesn’t sound like such a good idea.
But, hey, remember, they kept calling them “guests”. That’s gotta count for something, given the legendary Arab hospitality, right?
I noted the end of Amy Kellogg’s report, saying they haven’t heard anything from Centanni since he got to the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem. It can be rightly said that these two guys were not released from captivity until they got out of Gaza. Anything they said or did before that, including the smiling pictures, the press conference where he described the Palestinians in such glowing terms, those were done while still in captivity.
Let’s all recite the line that CAIR is forever promoting!
Feh.
Centanni and Wiig are now effectively “neutralized” from covering any moslem dominated community…because as apostates, “good” moslems everywhere are charged with murdering them.
For the good of the Ummah, of course.
And to think I used to find the Jehovah’ Witness’ and Mormon nissionaries irritating.
None of them has ever pulled a gun on me… (although if they did it’d be OK to defend myself vigorously right?)
Obviously the Muslims have the whole kidnap from the clutches of a cult and then deprogramming deal backwards.
I like the line from the Fox News guy where he says he learned a lot about Islam…. like as in “you guys give regular religious fanatics like snake handlers and whirling dervishes a bad name”
tw: I *didnt* know the religion of peace had an armed missionary wing
If CAIR is right, and these people are not “Islamofascists” (or some variant thereof), then can they explain why the release of Centanni and Wiig from the ‘Brigade of Holy Martyrs’ was contingent on a taped converson to Islam, as opposed to, say an expression of relief at having had Body Thetans cleared by their Scientologist abductors?
TW (Channelling Ralph Kramden) One of these days, Mohammed… One of these days….
This is a great analogy for the world today. The practitioners of the religion of peace(tm) want to kidnap the west, convert or kill, then declare the murdered an enemy, or the converted a guest. The athiests in our society have an advantage, as they can play the game guilt free, while the rest of us, Christians especially, cannot claim our faith if compelled to switch sides.
Makes me wonder if this isn’t a consideration for the Proggs when they choose sides.
Is this the religion of peace, or the religion of “convert or I’ll cut you to pieces?”
Seems like the latter.
When Emperor Nero demanded that Christians denounce their religion, many of them refused and were thrown to the lions. They refused knowing they would be thrown to the lions. To a great extent, Nero contributed as much to the rise of Christianity as its Founder and His disciples had. Three hundred years later Christianity was the official religion of Rome.
If these jihadiwacks keep this up, they won’t like where it leads.
Centanni and Wiig get captured and convert to Islam while denouncing their country. After their release they praise the “beautiful†Palestinian people.
Islamic jihads get captured and sent to Guantanamo. There they try to kill their jailers and pray to Mecca five times a day.
Compare and contrast.
Good thing AQ and their PLO/Hamas buddies don’t work at National Review. Otherwise, they’d get fired for this “convert or die” stuff, and we’d all have to preface our admiration for their latest “piece of work” with, “Well, I really don’t approve of their methods, but this latest thing they did is pretty amusing…”
/Ann Coulter
TW: Stand
I don’t understand how the anti-American peacenick fecksticks can say the Republicans are ‘just like the Taliban’ when they are clearly different. Republicans often wear bowties and drive Packards, for instance.
I’m waiting for the folks who were excited by Ann Coulter’s “convert [certain Muslims] to Christianity” comment to opine upon this forced conversion to Islam.
…
Still waiting.
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That’s what I thought.
Uh, who up and rescinded the rule that you need a space after the period at the end of a sentence? They managed one after the commas, why not the periods?
How am I supposed to get through an article like that without putting my fist through the monitor? This is an outrage!
I’m as glad as anyone to see the safe return of these two journalists. Clearly the onus here is on the heads of the kidnappers.
But with that said, I gotta point out that Jules Crittenden has penned a total pity-piece here. “My profession is an easy one to kick around”? So his critics are just a bunch of facile morons taking pot shots? I beg to differ.
It’s crucial that we win on the informational front as well as the military front.
I’d like to see a serious journalist recognize that what they report, and how they report is just as important to victory as the work done by the military forces they’re embedded with. Just one? (Besides Michael Yon, I mean. So far, Yon’s one of the very few I could name who know the stakes, and understands his role.)