Sir Salman Rushdie

So, HM the Queen has knighted author Salman Rushdie, and predictably, some in the Islamic world are going bananas:

Iran's foreign ministry summoned the UK ambassador in Tehran and said the knighthood was a "provocative act".

Pakistan voiced similar protests, telling the UK envoy in Islamabad the honour showed the British government's "utter lack of sensitivity".

Britain denied that the award was intended to insult Islam.

Sir Salman certainly deserves the honor, just as Sir Paul and Sir Elton did for their music, Sir Alex Ferguson for his contributions to sport, etc. Given how much Sir Salman has cooperated with British security authorities over the years, I've no doubt they see him as one helluva good sport.

Now let me put on my cynic's hat for a moment, though. The rhetoric from Iran is pretty predictable:

"This insulting, suspicious and improper act by the British government is an obvious example of fighting against Islam," Iran's Foreign Ministry Director for Europe, Ebrahim Rahimpour, was quoted as saying by the state-run Irna news agency.

"It has seriously wounded the beliefs of 1.5 billion Muslims and followers of other religions."

Mr Rahimpour added that Iran held the British government and Queen Elizabeth II "responsible for the circumstance of this provocation".

hmmm..."provocation." Britain is "provoking" Iran at a time when BushCo would love nothing better than a solid reason to sink their teeth into Iran. A series of terrorist attacks targeting our staunchest ally would certainly be enough to justify a very strong response by the US government.

You know, the kind of reaction that, oh, say Austria did against Serbia in 1914. Or the US did against Japan in 1941.

Forget the fact that our military is overextended as it is. An openly hostile Iran would be just what George W. "29% Approval Rating" Bush needs to re-create the fall of 2001.

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