In spite of the fact that Islamists were attacking us long before 9/11, going back to 1979 when the Iranians held Americans hostage for well over a year, and including murderous attacks on American embassies, a Marine base, the USS Cole and the earlier bombing of the Twin Towers, some of us keep insisting it’s a peaceful religion.

Our presidents never tire of telling us that most American Muslims are peace-loving, even though it took the F.B.I. to stop those peaceniks from sending money to support jihadists even after 9/11, and a poll established that 21% of American Muslims have a soft spot in their hearts for suicide-bombers.

For their part, Islamic Americans keep portraying themselves as victims of bigotry, although there has been no evidence of it over the past 13 years. These days, they are demanding that a film at the 9/11 Museum in Manhattan recounting the events on that terrible day avoid any mention of Islam and make a point of distinguishing between bad Muslims and good ones.

I’m afraid that’s a distinction I am unable to make. To be sure, there are those who are active terrorists and there are those who simply cheer them on from the sidelines. Shortly after 9/11, I suggested that if the American variety wanted to differentiate themselves from the barbarians, they could have easily convinced me by passing the hat in their numerous mosques, followed by an announcement that they were offering a multi-million dollar reward on the head of Osama bin Laden.

But that never happened. Now I’m not suggesting that every American who kneels to Mecca is a villain. But not every German was a Nazi and not every Russian was a Communist. But when the Nazis were killing six million Jews and when the Soviet Union was rolling over all of Eastern Europe, we didn’t hear about a lot of conscientious objectors.

The First Amendment prohibits Congress from establishing a religion, but it’s obvious that Islam has a special place in the pantheon of major faiths. A great many Americans feel free to state their objections to Christianity and Judaism, but when it comes to Islam, we all have to pretend that it’s better than the others and that its followers deserve special consideration. I mean, when was the last time you heard an American president say that Christianity or Judaism was a religion of peace?

Our government is so tongue-tied when it comes to condemning followers of Islam, they couldn’t even describe the mass murders at Fort Hood as Islamic terrorism, dismissing the butchery of Major Nidal Hasan as “workplace violence.”

Radio talk show host Michael Medved has referred to Islam as “the religion of perpetual outrage.” It is a neat term that pretty much describes several other groups, including atheists, gays, blacks and young single women.

A lot of the blatant hypocrisy is a result of the multi-cultural crap that has permeated our society. Our kids are being taught that every culture is at least as good, and usually better, than our own. It used to be said that America was a melting pot. I never thought that was an appropriate metaphor. I think it used to be more of a patchwork quilt, with each square unique, but adding up to a thing of beauty. Now it would be closer to the truth to describe it as a bunch of rags.

The enemy has been so totally whitewashed that when the latest Middle East peace talks predictably broke down because the Palestinians decided to cast their lot with Hamas, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki blamed both sides. Right, on one side you had those rotten Israelis building homes on land the Arabs and Muslims claim is theirs, while on the other side you had Palestinian President Abbas linking up with terrorists who have vowed to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. Only the anti-Semites who inhabit the rat’s nest known as the State Department would find those two facts equally damning.

As you may have heard, Obama and Holder have decided it would be a great idea to cut loose several thousand felons, whom they insist are serving unpardonably harsh sentences. They have set up some phony guidelines for clemency, including the conditions that the criminals were not involved with gangs or guilty of violence.

Why phony? Well, for one thing, there is no such thing as a drug dealer who was not connected to a gang or did not engage in violence. For another, virtually every schmuck who winds up in the jug has had his mouthpiece plea bargain a deal with the prosecutor. So pretending that the crime he was finally sentenced for has anything to do with the crime he actually committed is a joke at best and racial politics at worst; especially when the Democrats are constantly looking to give convicted felons the vote.

On the other hand, inasmuch as actual justice would demand that both Obama and Holder eventually serve hard time for their various offenses against the Constitution, perhaps they’re simply hoping to provide escape hatches for themselves.

The problem is that neither of them could get away with claiming they have no gang affiliation. In their case, the gang isn’t the Crips, the Bloods or the Devil Hunters, it’s the DNC.