Brussels and 9/11

The naked face of “tolerance” exposed

Diana West

The story of the week wasn’t Gen. David Petraeus’ testimony on Iraq, although it dominated the headlines. The story of the week wasn’t the sixth return of September 11 since the jihad atrocity of 2001, although it inspired many public statements and ceremonies. The week’s biggest story garnered little press and few comments. But, in a significant way, this overlooked story — an outrageous display of police force in Brussels on September 11, 2007 — symbolizes the missing link in our flawed comprehension of both Iraq and September 11.

There, in the so-called capital of Europe, 200 people marked the day with a protest against the Islamization of Europe — a civilizational shift which, as Europe increasingly accommodates Shariah (Islamic law), is shockingly advanced. Indeed, Bernard Lewis has already predicted Europe will become Islamic by century’s end. Absent a reversal of Islamization (which remains possible) I’m guessing sooner than that.

The assembly, sponsored by Stop the Islamization of Europe, was wholly peaceful — at least until Belgian police showed up. With a chopper above, water cannon nearby, they didn’t break heads, exactly — nothing so kind as that. In a photo that should be titled The New Face of Fascism, we see black-clad Belgian policemen brutalizing a man in a light-colored suit and tie. His hands are cuffed behind his back, his right elbow is clasped in what is known as an arm-bar hold, and he is also being subjected to a genital hold — a vicious grip that, a retired cop friend of mine tells me, would get any American policeman thrown off the force.The man under arrest was Frank Vanhecke, president of the Flemish secessionist party Vlaams Belang and a member of European Parliament. Also arrested and beaten was Filip Dewinter, who, as the leading politician of Vlaams Belang, Belgium’s largest opposition party, has personally garnered 25 percent of the electorate.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070914/EDITORIAL04/109140007/1013/EDITORIAL

2007-09-15