La Fallaci

OpinionJournal - Citizen of the World :: BY TUNKU VARADARAJAN

Even as Oriana Fallaci breathed her last through lungs marinaded in enough nicotine to sink a ship (leave alone a birdlike creature who weighed no more than 80 pounds at best, pearl necklace included), protests rumbled in the Muslim world over a recent utterance by Pope Benedict XVI in which he faulted the prophet, Muhammad, for exhorting his followers to spread Islam by the sword. Effigies of the pope have been torched by mobs, although the irruption has also included unintended drollery; a spokeswoman for the Musharraf dispensation in Pakistan observed yesterday that "anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence."