Kingdom of Heaven Watch

In reference to an earlier post about Ridley Scott's upcoming Kingdom of Heaven, a reader points us to the site Dhimmi Watch, which charges that the movie's script "panders to Osama bin Laden."

That's a pretty stiff charge (made originally by the London Telegraph, which Dhimmi Watch is quoting), which is backed up by this story:

The film, which began shooting last week in Spain, is set in the time of King Baldwin IV (1161-1185), leading up to the Battle of Hattin in 1187 when Saladin conquered Jerusalem for the Muslims.

The script depicts Baldwin's brother-in-law, Guy de Lusignan, who succeeds him as King of Jerusalem, as "the arch-villain". A further group, "the Brotherhood of Muslims, Jews and Christians", is introduced, promoting an image of cross-faith kinship.

"They were working together," the film's spokesman said. "It was a strong bond until the Knights Templar cause friction between them."

The Knights Templar, the warrior monks, are portrayed as "the baddies" while Saladin, the Muslim leader, is a "a hero of the piece", Sir Ridley's spokesman said. "At the end of our picture, our heroes defend the Muslims, which was historically correct."

Scott's spokesman adds, "It's trying to be fair and we hope that the Muslim world sees the rectification of history."

Historians, of course, call this "rectification of history" rubbish.

But now we know why CAIR and the other Muslim grievance groups have been silent about Kingdom of Heaven.