Irony

On November 9th there were some bombings in the Jordanian capital of Amman. (Link) Now keep that in the back of your mind. In 1981 there was a film made called "The Lion of the Desert" in which Anthony Quinn played the role of real-life Omar Mukhtar, a simple Koran teacher who became a guerrilla hero for fighting Italian forces from 1911-1931. This movie, which glorified muslim resistance fighters and was a Hollywood success, came later to be one of the few films explicitly endorsed on jihadist websites. (However, they changed it to a version that had no music and instead had religious chants ranting in the background, oh, and cut out all scenes showing women) Still with me? It is ironic that the director of the film, Syrian-born Mustapha Akkad was in town for his daughter's wedding in Amman when the bomb went off, killing him. So much for being a hero in the eyes of the jihadists.

(Hat tip: Graham)

--Chuck

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