"Islamic Prison Chaplain Accused of Hate Speech" is one of those headlines the newspapers should keep at the ready

* "Islamic Prison Chaplain Accused of Hate Speech" is one of those headlines the newspapers should keep at the ready. The most recent case involves Umar Abdul-Jalil, who is head of Islamic chaplains in the New York City Department of Correction. Abdul-Jalil, formerly William Bostick of the Bronx, told a conference of Islamic leaders in Tucson (where else would you expect to find a conference of Islamic leaders?) that "the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House, without a doubt." He also said that American Muslims should stop allowing "the Zionists of the media to dictate what Islam is to us." He further reported to his coreligionists that Muslims detained after 9/11 are being tortured in New York jails.

All these remarks were taped by an anti-terrorist group that had infiltrated the conference. New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg--who, a couple of weeks previously, had dismissed a city employee for playing solitaire on his desktop computer--suspended Abdul-Jalil for two weeks. By the time you read this, the chaplain will be back at his desk ... though not, one hopes, playing solitaire.

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