Irshad Manji poses the question. Of course, when she says “we Muslims” she’s not talking about herself, just her co-religionists. She blames them for the outbreak of the sometimes violent protests provoked by the Newsweek report about desecration of the Qur’an at Guantánamo.
Ramzy Baroud points out that the Times “made a clever choice when it selected a Muslim, Irshad Manji, to address the fierce response to the scandal”. By pinning blame on her fellow Muslims rather than on those responsible for the oppression that gave rise to the protests, Manji provided a useful alibi for imperialism.
For the Muslim Council of Britain’s response – “It is hard not to conclude that Manji’s main interest is actually in provoking Muslims in order to promote herself and fatten her bank account” – see here.
“Accounts of abuses at the actual American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, including Newsweek magazine’s now-retracted article on the desecration of the Koran, ricochet around the world, instilling ideas about American power and justice, and sowing distrust of the United States. Even more than the written accounts are the images that flash on television screens throughout the Muslim world: caged men, in orange prison jumpsuits, on their knees.”