Effect and cause

Australian leftist cartoonist Matt Golding has been criticised for a cartoon showing how Al Qaeda came into being as a result of the sperm of the "coalition of the willing" entering and fertilising the egg of Iraq. In other words, Al Qaeda leaders had the foresight in 1988 to react to an event from the year 2003; 9/11 was, presumably, an act of anticipatory retaliation.

That's a big improvement in reflexes. It's not much more than a year since the Muslim Action Committee's Ismaeel informed me on this very blog that the 1453 Muslim conquest of Constantinople was an attempt to pre-empt the 9th Crusade - which took place in 1271.



Via Tim Blair.