The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Indonesian Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. He gets today's award for preaching militant islam. Among the things Bashir says is that President Bush and Australian PM John Howard should convert to Islam so to save their souls.

SOLO, Indonesia (AP) -- A reputed leader of an al-Qaida-linked terror group blamed for deadly bombings across Indonesia on Thursday accused President Bush and Australia's prime minister of waging wars against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir also called on Bush and Prime Minister John Howard to convert to Islam, saying it was "the only way to save their souls."

He added that families still grieving after the 2002 Bali blasts that killed many foreigners should also become Muslim to find "salvation and peace."

Bashir, 68, was released from prison Wednesday after completing a 26-month sentence for conspiracy in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people. He spoke Thursday at a hard-line Islamic boarding school that has spawned some of Southeast Asia's deadliest terrorists.

The firebrand cleric declined to directly condemn young men who carry out bombings in Indonesia in the name of Islam, saying he still considered them "holy warriors," because they believed they were defending the oppressed.

But he also said they were misguided and wrong to use bombs in a country at peace. "Why use bombs in a non-conflict zone? Preaching is enough," he said.

Jemaah Islamiyah is accused of church bombings across the world's most populous Muslim nation in 2000, the 2002 attack on the resort island of Bali, attacks in the capital Jakarta in 2003 and 2004, and a triple suicide bombing on Bali last October.

The attacks killed more than 260 people, many of them foreigners, and have thrust Indonesia onto the front line of the global war on terror.

Bashir appears not to have learned from his incarceration for the Bali bombings. His preachings aren't peaceful but rather inciting people to commit murder. God wants all his people to live in peace, but who is to say what is the right way to worship God? Not man, and that is all Bashir is. A man, and a dangerous one for the intolerance he preaches.

God bless you Abu Bakar Bashir. May Allah enlightne you but first you are today's knucklehead of the day.

Hat tip- Captain's Quarters
Open Post- Jo's Cafe, Bright & Early, Cao's Blog, Basil's Blog, Mudville Gazette,
Cross posted to Bullwinkle Blog