Islam and the Olympics

Frank Foer has a dynamite essay in the Wall Street Journal today on the Iranian olympian who refused to compete against an Israeli athlete in judo.

It turns out that this sort of anti-Semitism is common from many Islamic nations during international sporting events. How bad is it? Foer writes, "At last year's Special Olympics in Ireland, both Saudi Arabia and Algeria refused to play Israel in soccer and table tennis."

Does that seem a little bothersome? Don't worry. As President Bush said on September 17, 2001, "Islam is peace."

(On a side note, during that same speech, Bush said, "The English translation is not as eloquent as the original Arabic, but let me quote from the Koran, itself . . ." Who knew the president spoke Arabic!)