Turkey's ruling Islamic-rooted party joined criticism of Pope Benedict XVI today by saying he would go down in history in the same league as leaders like Hitler and Mussolini for remarks he made on Islam. A growing number of Muslim leaders, including those from Pakistan, Indonesia and Jordan, have called on the Pope to apologize for the remarks he made in a speech in Germany on Tuesday when he used the terms "jihad" and "holy war".

Actually, the Turks know the Byzantine Emperor that the Pope quoted, was not a Crusader. He was the emperor of a land that had stood against the attacks of these barbarians for 800 years by then. And was the father of the last emperor. Who died fighting against these savages on the walls of Constantinople in 1453. The doomsday clock is at a minute to midnight and we are like Emperor Manuel - prudent, decent, humane and honorable. Handing on a disaster to our sons. Who face slaughter. And to our daughters we are bequeathing terror, servility and concubine.

Is this because he quoted with approval Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, "Show me just what Muhammad 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." Why should he apologize for that? Isn't it true? Would God have sent a messenger to the world who was a murderer, rapist, liar and thief with the instruction "copy this man's life"?

Where are the Islamic scholars from Qatar when Islamic 'holy warriors' are flying airplanes into buildings, or massacring adherents of other branches of Islam on the streets of Baghdad? Or, on a lesser, but no less insidious level, of the treatment of other religions in countries where Islam is in the ascendant? Of the Islamic philosophy and practice of Dhimmi? Their silence on these issues says more about their motives than the issues they speak out about.

In fact, the Pope has done the world a favor by publicly confronting the sharp end of the intolerance to other religions by Islam. It is an issue for Islam to deal with, but the Pope should not be accused for pointing out the obvious. And he certainly has nothing to apologize for.

Drawing on remarks of the 14th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, on jihad or holy war. "God is not pleased by blood, and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature," said the pope, quoting the emperor. "To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death . . ." The pope was elaborating on his homily at an open-air Mass earlier in the day about the "the ways God's image can be destroyed by hatred and fanaticism}].So what's the problem, or is what the Muslims are saying that murder and hatred are GOOD and ACCEPTABLE.

Are they going to threaten the Pope now with a Fatwa? Saw his head off with a pocket knife while screaming verses from the Quran? Firebomb embassies and kidnap journalists. Strap bombs on teenage girls and send them into pizza parlors? Drive car bombs into gatherings of children?

The tsunami of intolerant, racist, homophobic bile that spews forth from Arab/Persian media on a daily basis makes the Popes comments look like a French kiss.

I loved the way that the Muslim world boycotted Danish exports after the cartoon incident. What do the Danes export? - Bacon & beer! Lots of use for these in the ha-all teetotal Muslim world. Now they'll start boycotting the Catholic church - refusing to go to mass etc. How come their kleptocratic leaders don’t boycott things like Rolls Royce’s, racehorses, expensive yachts, villas in south of Spain etc.?

Immediately after the quote, the Pope continued: "The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God", he says, "is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death..."."