Dispatch From the Religion of Peace

ABC News, in a report on the annual gathering in Mecca, known as the "hajj" buries the following lovely nugget in the final two paragraphs:

On Friday, a senior cleric called on God to grant victory to Muslims fighting around the world.

"Oh God, give victory to the mujahedeen (holy warriors) everywhere," Sheik Saleh al-Taleb told 500,000 people in Mecca's Grand Mosque and nearby streets. "Give them victory in Palestine. Oh God, make the Muslims triumphant and destroy their enemies, and make this country and other Muslim countries safe. Oh God, inflict your wrath on the criminal Zionists."

Meanwhile, over at MSNBC we learn that 251 people were crushed to death during a stampede. Only 14 suffered that fate last year, 35 in 2001, 180 in 1998, and 270 in 1994. Back in 1990, however, the Muslims really outdid themselves with 1426 trampled to death.

One would think the rituals of a religion would be subject to some level of scrutiny and introspection by its adherents when so many fatalities are regularly attributed to its practice.