Pope Benedict XVI stirred up some cartoon-of-the-prophet-Muhammad-esq controversy last week when, during a speech, he quoted an ancient Byzantine emperor who classified the teachings of Islam as “inhuman” and “evil” and claimed that the religion had been originally “spread by the sword.”

Muslim’s are up in arms about this, once again taking to the streets all over the world and demanding the Pope’s apology (don’t these people have jobs? Oh, right, no, they don’t). The pope engaged in some double-speak, saying he was sad that his remarks caused Muslim outrage, but not apologizing for his comments explicitly.

In a classically moronic response, Islamic terrorist groups have latched onto the widespread Muslim outrage over the pope calling their religion violent and threatened to respond with, what else, violence:

The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as “the worshipper of the cross” saying “you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. … We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword.”

For the love of God, somebody get these guys a publicist.

A few Muslim leaders, those who bothered to think through their proclamations, replied to the pope with the valid ascertain that Christianity (and Catholicism in particular) was certainly no stranger to violently imposing its beliefs upon non-believers.

All in all, a laughable bit a business on all fronts.