I SEE YOU'RE TRYING TO PUT OUT A FIRE. HERE, HAVE SOME OF THIS GASOLINE.

Dear Catholic Church: Thanks for nothing.

THE Vatican has begun moves to rehabilitate the Crusaders by sponsoring a conference at the weekend that portrays the Crusades as wars fought with the "noble aim" of regaining the Holy Land for Christianity.

...The late Pope John Paul II sought to achieve Muslim-Christian reconciliation by asking "pardon" for the Crusades during the 2000 Millennium celebrations. But John Paul's apologies for the past "errors of the Church" -- including the Inquisition and anti-Semitism -- irritated some Vatican conservatives. According to Vatican insiders, the dissenters included Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI....

Great -- Pope Ratzo is to the right of John Paul on this.

And here's an appalling detail: One of the speakers at this conference was Robert Spencer, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). Spencer is the founder of Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch, where he publishes (and defends) items like this Hugh Fitzgerald blog post, written in response to Congressman Tom Tancredo's infamous "bomb Mecca" remarks (emphasis mine below):

...Deterrent measures that could be undertaken in the event of a chemical or nuclear attack, but without waiting in some cases for any further attacks (although further attacks will help to justify the more far-reaching among them) might include, but not be limited to:

1) Seizure of Saudi-owned assets in the West, and sale of such assets to pay for the economic damage, including the cost of surveillance and other security measures, that are attributable to Saudi-funded mosques, madrasas, and propaganda all over the world. 2) Seizure of other Arab-owned or Muslim-owned assets in the West, for the same reasons. There need not be any distinction made between property owned by governments and those who are deemed to be enemy nationals -- no such distinction was made during World War II.

3) A complete ban on Muslim migration to the Western world (which needs to be undertaken in any case), and limits put on any contact between Muslims living in the West, who may already have obtained ciizenship and -- unless they are native-born converts -- their countries of origin.

4) Careful review of how citizenship is obtained, and what oaths of loyalty are administered, and if those oaths can possibly have been meant by those whose sole loyalty, by the very tenets of their belief-system, can only be to Islam and the Community of Believers, the umma al-islamiyya....

7) An end to all outward and visible signs of rhetorical "respect" for Islam....

8) End all access to Western education, not only for those Arabs and Muslims studying any kind of science, but in every area....

These are things that can be done, should be done, long before suggestions about "bombing Mecca" need to be bruited about.

Peace on earth, good will to men -- except you, raghead!