Doesn't do my BP any good...

[alexpgp]

From the GuardianUnlimited:

The award of a knighthood to the author Salman Rushdie justifies suicide attacks, a Pakistani government minister said today.

"This is an occasion for the 1.5 billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision," Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, religious affairs minister, told the Pakistani parliament in Islamabad. "The west is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologises and withdraws the 'sir' title."

So, it turns out that killing Rushdie is simply The Right Thing To Do™ and in no way should be considered as manifestations of "extremism" or "terrorism"? That makes a lot of sense.

Yesterday, Iranian politicians accused Britain of insulting Islam by awarding the knighthood to Rushdie, who was forced into hiding for a decade after the country's late spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling for his assassination.

Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, said the decision to honour the novelist was an orchestrated act of aggression directed against Islamic societies. [...] "This act shows that insulting Islamic sacred [values] is not accidental. It is planned, organised, guided and supported by some western countries."

Wow.

Cheers...