In a clever rebuttal to Pope Benedict’s quotation from a Byzantine emperor alleging that Mohammed commanded his followers to “spread by the sword the faith he preached,” al-Qaeda in Iraq has issued a statement:

“We shall break the cross and spill the wine. … (you will have no choice but) Islam or death,” said the statement, citing a hadith (saying of the Prophet Mohammed) promising Muslims that they would “conquer Rome… as they conquered Constantinople”.

“We tell the worshipper of the cross (the Pope) that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya. God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the Mujahideen.”

Another jihadist group, Ansar al-Sunnah, also delivered this devastating riposte to those who fail to perceive Islam as the religion of peace:

“You will only see our swords until you go back to God’s true faith Islam,” it said in a separate statement, which called the Pope “Satan’s hellhound in the Vatican”, saying he was “proud today of his hatred towards Muslims”.

“The day is coming when the armies of Islam will destroy the ramparts of Rome,” it added in the statement addressed to “Crusaders”.

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Addendum 3:54 pm: At On the Square, Richard John Neuhaus, who knows a bit about Popes — especially the current one — has a post on the current situation that is worth a read in full.

And, at the same blog, Robert Louis Wilken provides the rather important context of those fateful remarks from Manuel II Palaeologus.

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Addendum 5:40 pm: Via Tammy Bruce, there’s this link to a story in the International Herald Tribune on the last words of Sister Leonella — the nun murdered by Somali Islamists in an attack apparently inspired by the Pope’s address. Her last whisper was, “I forgive, I forgive.”

Note to jihadists preparing to strap on explosives and self-detonate somewhere today: You might want to reconsider the meaning of “martyrdom.” I think Sister Leonella just gave you a hint.

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