Back in 1943, with D-Day still a year away and the outcome of the war against Nazi Germany still very much in doubt, Noel Coward penned a little ditty called “Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans.”
It was, he explained, “a satire directed against a small minority of excessive humanitarians, who, in my opinion, were taking a rather too tolerant view of our enemies.”
We mustn’t let / them feel upset,
Or ever get the feeling
That we’re cross with them or hate them.
Our future policy must be to reinstate them.
Alas, the satire of 1943 has become all too real today. Over in Afghanistan, a mob of howling savages, whipped up by our “ally,” kleptocratic President Hamid Karzai, has been rioting for nearly a week over the burning of a Koran by an obscure pastor in Florida. More than 20 have died, including two US soldiers shot at a checkpoint yesterday and seven UN staffers killed Friday in Mazar-i-Sharif after their compound was sacked by demonstrators.
But don’t let’s be beastly to the Muslims.
In a series of disgraceful statements, Sens. Harry Reid and Lindsey Graham, along with Gen. David Petraeus, have laid the blame for the unrest where it doesn’t belong: at the feet of the US Constitution.
Reid, the feckless Senate majority leader, said the body would “take a look” at Terry Jones’ actions in burning a copy of the Islamic holy book, and threatened hearings, as if the Senate didn’t have far more pressing issues — such as passing a budget and tackling the country’s fiscal problems.
Even more disgraceful was Graham, who said on “Face the Nation”: “I wish we could find a way to hold people accountable,” referring to Pastor Jones. “Free speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war. During World War II, we had limits on what you could do if it inspired the enemy.”
This is jaw-dropping in its ignorance and stupidity. Graham is arguing against freedom of speech — why else should an American citizen exercising his First Amendment rights, however offensive to some, be “held accountable” for the reactions of superstitious goatherds half a world away? — and equating an insult toward the religion that explicitly animated the 9/11 hijackers with the Bund marchers who supported Hitler.
But the prize for disappointment goes to Petraeus and NATO Ambassador Mark Sedwill, whose statement read in part: “In view of the events of recent days, we feel it is important . . . to reiterate our condemnation of any disrespect to the Holy Koran and the Muslim faith. We condemn, in particular, the action of an individual in the United States who recently burned the Holy Koran.
“We further hope the Afghan people understand that the actions of a small number of individuals, who have been extremely disrespectful to the Holy Koran, are not representative of any of the countries of the international community who are in Afghanistan to help the Afghan people.”
To this we’ve come: Bogged down in an increasingly ineffectual military operation in Afghanistan that should have ended years ago after we defeated the Taliban and routed al Qaeda, we are instead apologizing to the very people who are killing American soldiers, and treating their holy book better than we do any other.
Petraeus’ statement can perhaps be excused on the grounds that his job is as much diplomatic as martial — but that, of course, is precisely what’s wrong with his current mission. He shouldn’t be “helping the Afghan people.” That’s a task for after the Islamist threat to the West has been eliminated.
World War II ended with the destruction of German cities, the death of Hitler, the hanging of the top surviving Nazis at Nuremberg. In Japan, Gen. Douglas MacArthur forced Emperor Hirohito to publicly renounce the myth of his own divinity and the Japanese doctrine of racial superiority.
But don’t let’s be beastly to the Islamists. After all, restricting the rights of our own citizens in order to appease people still living in the 7th century isn’t much of a price to pay for peace, is it?
Let’s be meek to them
And turn the other cheek to them
And try to bring out their latent sense of fun.
Let’s give them full air parity
And treat the rats with charity,
But don’t let’s be beastly to the Hun.