Anti-Muslim tirade

Part of President Bush’s address to the UN today was a tirade against the modern slave trade:

Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the United States is using sanctions against governments to discourage human trafficking.

The victims of this industry also need help from other members of the United Nations. And this begins with clear standards and the certainty of punishment under the laws of every country. Today, some nations make it a crime to sexually abuse children abroad. Such conduct should be a crime in all nations. Governments should inform travelers of the harm this industry does, and the severe punishments that will fall on its patrons.

The American government is committing $50 million to support the good work of organizations that are rescuing women and children from exploitation, and giving them shelter, medical treatment, and the hope of a new life. I urge other governments to do their part.

We must show new energy in fighting back an old evil. Nearly two centuries after the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and more than a century after slavery was officially ended in its last strongholds, the trade in human beings for any purpose must not be allowed to thrive in our time.

While the comments about exploiting young women may have been intended to make Bill Clinton cringe, the larger target of this tirade is Islam, as most of the slave trade today is within and among Muslim nations, just as the traders who sold African slaves to American plantation owners were Muslim.

Could it be that the decline of Muslim civilization is somehow linked to slavery? Somebody smarter than me will have to answer that one.