Back in 2009 Sheikh Haron, the allegedly late alleged hostage-taker in Sydney, was arrested and charged with sending hate mail to the families of deceased Australian soldiers. He was a self-declared man of peace in those days. He said, “This pen is my gun, and these words are my bullets.”

I’m sure everyone believed him back then, just as they are now expressing their solidarity with self-declared “peaceful” Muslims and warning against a “backlash”.

By the way — also in 2009, in the wake of the Fort Hood massacre, General George Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, famously said: “It would be a shame — as great a tragedy as this was — it would be a shame if our diversity became a casualty as well.”

Some things never change.

A second hostage from the Lindt Café has reportedly died.

Hat tips: for the video, Vlad Tepes; for the article, Fjordman.