Excuse Me For Being Cynical But...

The BS meter is off the scale with this one:

A PERTH woman worshipping at a mosque has described the terror of feeling a bullet whizz past her ear in a drive-by shooting.

Ahdielah Edries, 38, was on the second storey of the Mirrabooka mosque, north of Perth, last night when an unknown gunman fired a shot through the window about 8.45pm yesterday (WST).... Following the blast the gunman fled the scene in a green Jeep Cherokee four-wheel drive parked across the road.

Yeah, right.

Ms Edries, president of the Islamic Council of Western Australia...

... sure you are, darling...

...said at least 100 women and children were on the second floor of the packed mosque, praying during the holy month of Ramadan.

There were about 300 men worshipping on the ground floor, she said.

That would be because women aren't allowed with the men in the mosque proper.

The usual suspect weighs in:

Ameer Ali, who heads the government's Islamic advisory committee, said that while this was the first shooting in an Australian mosque, others had been ransacked and worshippers' cars had been vandalised.

He suggested an ongoing debate on the threat of radical Islam was encouraging violence and intimidation against Muslims.

And blames critics of the Religion of Peace:

"...where do the criminals get the courage to do this?" Mr Ali told the Associated Press. "It comes from what our leaders say in public, so I think our leaders share some responsibility for these acts."

Mr Ali, head of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, declined to identify the leaders whose comments he thought might encourage such attacks.

Rather interesting that as of yet, Australian Muslims are still playing the victim card. Perhaps this is precisely because of unnamed leaders who speak out against Muslim violence.

Elsewhere, in countries in which the government cowers, they're more likely to respond to criticism like this:

or this.

-- Nick