View From a Height

Hugh "the Dhimmi" Hewitt

Not. Look, I thought Hugh was a little less than aggressive in his questioning of CAIR's Hussam Ayloush. So did Froggy. So did Aaron. (Aaron, by the way, lays out the case against CAIR like few I've seen.)

But "dhimmi?" C'mon guys. Hugh's able to get the bad guys to come on his show because he gives them a fair hearing, lets them say their piece, and then, when they're done, filets them like Uma Thurman in a bad mood.

Anyway, since they're done, bring out the knives. Since Aaron is cool with a group fisking, I'll take two points made by the main from CAIR. First, Hugh asked him about the utter lack of religious plurality in Saudi Arabia, and Hussam replied that since 99.9% of Saudi Arabia was Muslim, there was no need for churches.

Hugh's rather lame response was that the lack of churches certainly discouraged immigration.

A better response would have been that the 2 million+ Philippino guest workers have no place to go. Admittedly, the mosques there tend to be of the radical sort. ("Welcome to Saudi Arabia. Where the family that prays together slays together.") But the fact is that Islamic law has, for centuries, banned to building of new churches and synagogues, although existing ones can be maintained. After all, they might "spread poison."

The conversation moved on to MEMRI. Hugh had nothing but praise for these guys, but Hussam considered that they were doing a "grave disservice," by letting the world know what was being said in Arabic on Friday morning. After all, anyone can pick out the few crazies from the thousands of mosques.

Hugh rightly replied that there really aren't very many crazies in churches and synagogues here in the states. A better reply would have been the following catalog of the minor, insignificant preachers given over to slight hyperbole: