Thus for the time being I have sent to the east only my Death's Head units [Totenkopfverbände], with the order to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of the Polish race or language. Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians (Wer redut heute noch von der Vernichtung der Armenier?) - Adolf Hitler

And as if that weren't enough irony for you, the leader of the first modern Islamic jihadist organization and endorser of suicide bombings, The Muslim Brotherhood, demanded the Pope apologize for suggesting Islam is violent.

Let's leave aside the 1982 kidnapping and murdering of American citizens by Hezbollah; the 1983 car-bombing of the US embassy in Beirut by the Islamic Jihad and the truck bombing of the American embassy in Kuwait City; the 1984 truck bombing of the US embassy annex in Beirut and the hijacking of Kuwait Airways Flight 221 that killed 2 Americans; the 1985 bombing of a restaurant that killed 18 Spaniards and injured 82 in Madrid, the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 by Hezbollah, the hijacking of an Italian cruise ship and murder of a handicapped American citizen, and the bombing of airports in Rome and Vienna that killed 20 people including 5 Americans; the 1986 bombing of TWA flight 840 that killed 4 Americans and injured 9, the bombing of a West Berlin disco that killed 2 and injured hundreds, and the bombing of Pan-Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed all 259 aboard and 11 on the ground; the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed 6 and injured 1,040; the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans and injured hundreds; the 1998 Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 and injured 4,500; the September 11, 2001 attacks which killed almost 3,000 people; the 2002 bombing of a Bali nightclub that killed 202 and injured 209, the kidnap and murder of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, and the bombing of an American consulate in Pakistan that killed 12 people; the 2003 suicide bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed 34 people; the 2004 murder of 4 Americans, whose bodies were burned and mutilated and hung from a bridge in Fallujah, the kidnapping and beheading of Americans Nick Berg and Eugene Armstrong, Briton Kenneth Bigley, and South Korean Kim il-Sun by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the kidnapping and murdering of 22 foreign oil workers in Riyadh, the murdering of 3 Americans in Riyadh, including the beheading of Paul Johnson, the murder of Theo Van Gogh in Amsterdam, the Madrid train bombing that killed 191 and injured over 1,700, and the attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, killing 5; the 2005 suicide bombing of 3 American hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing 57, and the London tube bombings that killed 56 and injured over 700. How dare anyone suggest Islam may be violent!

Earlier in the year, a Danish newspaper had the unmitigated gall to print caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in its newspaper, some of which suggested that Muhammad's teachings might in fact be violent. The Muslim reaction was, of course, violence, and threats to "slaughter" or "behead" anyone who dares insult Muhammad or Islam, and not-so-subtle allusions to the fate of Theo van Gogh. This reaction is of course rooted in Islamic tradition, since, as many of us know, Muhammad ordered executed anyone who dared insult him or Islam itself. Many throughout history have suffered similar fates.

One can't help but wonder what problem a militant jihadist has with a kafr suggesting Islam is violent. You can't react to suggestions that your faith is violent by threatening or carrying out acts of violence. It's just not...sane. Does your faith endorse violence, or does it not? If it doesn't endorse violence, then how can you react with violence? And if it does in fact endorse violence, then what exactly is your gripe, man?

This of course should have been the obvious reaction of the Pope to the outrage being expressed throughout the Muslim world. No such outrage is expressed when "misunderstanders" of Islam commit heinous acts of violence in Islam's name - the crimes documented above not representing even the tip of the iceberg, as Islamic murder has been going on long before 1982 (about 1400 years before, to be exact). Yet they burn flags, storm buildings, threaten slaughter and firebomb churches when someone dares suggest that there's a correlation between their religious doctrine and the disturbing tendency for Muslims to commit acts of violence.

Instead the Pope has expressed "sincere regret" that his words have offended Muslims. Why? Did he lie? Granted, he stopped short of a full apology or an outright retraction. But here is the leader of the Catholic Church, a man who has the ears of hundreds of millions, with the opportunity to humiliate Muslims for their despicable hypocrisy. Now is not the time for regret or backtracking. Jesus said, "[A]nd you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.^{John 8:32}"

Leaders cannot consider themselves leaders if they are afraid to speak the truth, even if these truths be uncomfortable to some peoples' delicate, hypocritical sensibilities. And speaking the truth about Islam's violent nature, knowing full well that Muslims will idiotically protest the accusation by committing acts of violence, is among the more brilliant methods of exposing the nature of Islamic teaching to the witless, sleeping masses of the world.