Al Qaeda is taking on Pope Benedict XVI over his visit to Turkey:
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Al Qaeda in Iraq on Wednesday denounced Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Turkey, calling it part of a “crusader campaign” against Islam. The Vatican said the comments showed the need to fight “violence in the name of God.”
The trip is Benedict’s first visit to an Islamic country as pontiff, seeking dialogue with Muslims who were angered over a speech he made in September in which he cited a medieval text that linked Islam and violence.
Al Qaeda in Iraq, the most feared Islamic militant group in Iraq, issued its statement on an Islamic militant Web site it often uses to post messages.
“The Pope’s visit, in fact, is to consolidate the crusader campaign against the lands of Islam after the failure of the crusader leaders (in Iraq and Afghanistan) … and an attempt to extinguish the burning ember of Islam inside our Turkish brothers,” it said.
It pointed to the pope’s “bald-faced attack on Islam in September.” The pope’s speech at the time prompted outrage across much of the Islamic world, after he quoted a medieval document that called the Prophet Mohammed violent.
Umm, maybe that would be because Mohammed was violent.
