Too tolerant Dutch

James P. Pinkerton writes about how the Dutch love of tolerance is in conflict with common sense:

An observer wonders, of course, if efforts at cross-cultural understanding have come at the expense of homeland security. All the group hugs and special exhibits notwithstanding, ethnic problems seem to be getting worse, along with crime and chronic unemployment. Of the million or so Muslims in this country of 17 million, only a few are openly hostile, but many are poorly assimilated into Dutch culture.

Yet Muslims loom huge in the Netherlands' demographic future. In the cities, more than half of the schoolchildren are Muslim. Meanwhile, a steady stream of new immigrants trickles in from the Muslim world, situated just on the other side of the Mediterranean.

And so to one further reaction to the killing of van Gogh: Get tough. The right-of-center government has imposed new laws. Effective last Saturday, for example, anyone in the Netherlands over age 14 must show identification to authorities if asked -- although, of course, it's a moot point if there are no cops to do the asking. But that's changing: The Dutch equivalent of the FBI is hiring another 500 functionaries.

Significantly, the political left is mostly supportive of these stern measures. A Socialist Party leader, Wouter Bos, says the Dutch were "naive" prior to Nov. 2, but now they have recognized that the threat of Muslim violence is "an international phenomenon that will long be with us."

Yet the most compelling figure in Netherlander politics was herself born a Muslim. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an immigrant from Somalia, was genitally mutilated as a girl, according to cruel tribal custom. Having worked with the late van Gogh on a documentary film critical of Islam, she now serves as a right-tilting member of the Dutch parliament.

By virtue of her own story, Hirsi Ali offers the Netherlands its best hope for peaceful accommodation through tougher-minded assimilation -- in other words, an end to naive multiculturalism. Unless of course, one of the many death threats against her is successfully carried out.