China demolishes mosque for not supporting Olympics

Mon Jun 23, 3:56 AM ET

Chinese authorities in the restive far western region of Xinjiang have demolished a mosque for refusing to put up signs in support of this August’s Beijing Olympics, an exiled group said on Monday.(click HERE to go to full story)

I picked this up from a mailing list at Yahoo called “Steve’s China News.” Here are his comments:

[Comment from Steve: As an American, I understand that there is a war against terrorism. But can you imagine the uproar if a North American or European nation destroyed a mosque for not supporting a sports event (remember, the Olympics are *not* political according to Beijing)? People died because Denmark simply published a cartoon of Muhammad. What would have happened if the mosque in Xinjiang would have been in Vienna or Chicago or Melbourne? I can see the imaginary headlines now: "Mosque demolished for lack of support for Kobe and the Lakers" or "England destroys mosque for refusing to promote Wimbledon". Some of these Olympic birds may eventually come home to roost in 2009 and later.]