By Debbie Schlussel

Ann Coulter says Katie Couric is “the affable Ava Braun” of daytime TV.

But Couric’s got nothing on Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah is the affable Joseph Goebbels of daytime talk . . . of chick magazines . . . of Oprah seminars—and every other medium in which the self-anointed high priestess of the religion of Oprah has her hands.

Through all of these, Oprah preaches “how to be your best self” and “live your best life.”  Unfortunately, a predilection for radical Islam and excusing terrorists is a prominent element of Oprah’s “best self.”

Cheating husbands don’t get off as easy as Islamic terrorists, murderers, and torturers in Winfrey’s world.

Take “O” Magazine, Oprah’s monthly print version of self-conceit.  Like every other month, the cover of the June issue of “O” features Oprah—for the gazillionth time.    Unfortunately, also for the gazillionth time, the inside of the glossy mag features Oprah’s unique brand of understanding and empathy for terrorists and radical Islam.

Last month, Oprah’s “O” asked readers to understand “The Heart of a Destroyer,” Mohammed Atta.  You remember him—the Al-Qaeda ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers who murdered 3,000 Americans.

But that’s not exactly the way “O”’s “reading room” wants you to remember him.

Beneath a picture of young Mohammed and his smiling sister on the Egyptian beach, “O” exhorts you to read a book that “sets out to understand the hearts and minds of the men behind the photos” of the 9/11 hijackers, a group of “lonely, exiled young men.”

But the fatherless and motherless children who lost their parents to Atta—hey aren’t lonely, are they?

The book, “O” tells us, “is a simultaneously passionate, compassionate, and dispassionate book that [doesn’t] indict Islam.”  Just what we need—the CEO of the Oprah Book Club urging America’s women to have compassion for Mohammed Atta.  On the next Oprah, “Stupid Talk Show Hosts and the Terrorists Who Love Them.”  (Or is that, “Brave Terrorists and the Stupid Talk Show Hosts Who Love Them”?)

I think Stedman’s starting to get jealous.

To add insult to injury, the latest issue, “O”’s June 2005 edition, demands that we understand the pain and turmoil of Yusra Abdu, a teen-age Palestinian would-be homicide bomber, fiancée of Hani Akad, leader of Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group.  Akad’s group, funded by Libya (one of “O” Mag’s “Five Places to See in Your Lifetime”), murdered 27 children and injured 134 when they attacked a Jewish school in Ma’a lot, Israel.  Note the map of hate and swastika in the group’s May 22, 2005 Syrian-based newsletter.

But in Oprah’s world, Muslims aren’t terrorists, and terrorists aren’t Muslim (more on that, below).  Instead, “O” calls Akad “a charismatic and young rebel.”  “O” describes the cold-blooded, hateful Abdu and Akad as “a Shakespearean tragedy.”  Yes, in Oprah’s world, Islamic terrorists aren’t terrorists.  They’re James Deans, Romeos, and Juliets.

And it’s not their fault that they’re homicide bombers. Or Islam’s fault.  “O” quotes Saudi-funded Islam apologist John Esposito blaming not Islam, but the desperate “context” of their lives.  Reality:  Most Palestinian homicide bombers, like the 9/11 hijackers, come from wealthy families, but they hate Jews, Christians, and Americans.  That’s the “context.”

Incredibly, super-heroine Oprah calls this psychobabble-ish, understanding-the-world’s-Islamic-terrorists sob-story, “Rescuing the World’s Girls, Part Five.”  And some people actually have the nerve to say Savioratrix Oprah is conceited.

And what is Oprah’s solution?  That’s easy.  Donate to Oprah’s Angel Network, “which is awarding a grant to one or more programs that work to prevent Palestinian children from becoming suicide bombers.  No thanks.  Or donate to UNICEF, “which runs summer camps and trauma programs for Palestinian children.”  No, actually, UNICEF helps UNRWA (both UN agencies) propagandize future Islamic terrorists from cradle to grave.

What about Israeli children’s trauma?  How about donating to some Israeli children who are victims of Palestinian terror and need prosthetic limbs, even face implants—because half of their faces were blown off at the Dolfinarium Disco in Tel Aviv?  Not a word about them in “O.”  They simply don’t exist.

Oprah’s agenda isn’t new.  Her unique understanding of Islamic terrorists is manifest in:

• A post-9/11 “Islam 101” show —a pandering presentation featuring Jordanian Queen Rania Al-Abdullah.  Rania claimed she doesn’t have to wear a hijab head-covering and that honor-killings of raped women doesn’t really happen in her country.  Of course it doesn’t, since “her country” is a swanky Fifth Avenue New York apartment in the US, where she mostly lives.

• A September 2004 show, discussing the terrorist massacre of children in Beslan, Russia, on which Oprah banned the use of the word Islamic, saying the terrorists “came from the mountains.”  (Okay, so they were Mountainese terrorists, not Islamic ones.)  Oprah stated that the Beslan massacre was “a watershed because terrorists never before killed children.”  Remember those murdered Jewish kids in Ma’alot (and throughout Israel) by the DFLP?  I’m sure they’d disagree with the “Queen of Daytime Talk.”  If they were still around.

• An episode on which a guest claimed Jews practice ritual sacrifices of babies.  Oprah:  “I want to make it  clear that this is one Jewish person, so don’t go around now, saying to people, you know, ‘Those Jewish people, they’re worshipping . . . .’  This is the first time I heard of any Jewish people sacrificing babies, but anyway – so you witnessed the sacrifice?”

• Ignoring the mass-murder, rape, torture, and slavery of Black Christians by Sudan’s Arab Muslim government, despite repeatedly teasing a group of Colorado children (who bought some Black Christian slaves’ freedom) that they’d be on her show.  She told them the issue was “too complicated.”

• Refusing President Bush’s invitation to serve our country by touring Afghani girls’ schools on his behalf.  The normally vocal Oprah had “The View’s” Star Jones speak on her behalf, saying the Bush White House “used” her.

• Repeated fundraising for “Women to Women, International,” a Muslim women’s charity that claims it stops honor killings, but whose spokeswoman denies that honor killings have anything to do with Islam.  Right.

Over the past year, Oprah and her publicity team have pushed Oprah’s latest weight loss—to loud, gushy media acclaim.  Oprah, girlfriend, if only you could have gained the weight of a conscience.

The next time we need someone to “Rescue the World’s Girls,” keep Oprah out of it.