This article attempts to show that America's presence in Iraq creates jihadists. It trots out tired points such as Bush's calling the war on terror a "crusade," without mentioning the fact that Bush clearly had no idea of the historical resonance the term has in the Islamic world. But even in the midst of all the pretexts piled up in the story, it becomes clear that this teacher had a prior understanding of what jihad was, and when it must be fought.
That opens the question: if the US had not done these things (granting that the characterizations in the article are accurate only for the sake of argument), would he not have fastened on something else? Or would he have considered himself free from the obligation to wage jihad? That's unlikely: it is, after all, a religious duty in Islam. So it would seem that the jihad ideology is the problem here, not all the alleged offenses of the Americans. After all, the Tibetans, for example, have suffered over 50 years of brutal, murderous oppression and occupation by the Chinese. Why aren't they waging jihad?
From the LA Times, with thanks to Nicolei:
BEKAA VALLEY, Lebanon — The handsome, 35-year-old teacher had many things to live for — a PhD, a steady job, a healthy salary — but still he decided to leave home, make his way to Syria and then sneak over the border into Iraq, intent on fighting Americans, even if it meant dying in a suicide attack.In the beginning, the schoolteacher had struggled to decide how he felt about the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. It spelled humiliation and sorrow to Arabs. But as an Arab who had tasted the despair of despotism, he had a small spot of hope.
"At first, I thought, 'OK, the Americans want to bring democracy to the region,' " he said.
That was before he turned on the television to the grainy images of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib. "The human triangle. The woman dragging the man by the leash," said the teacher, a broad man with a clipped beard and intense gaze. "These images affected me deeply. The shame the Americans brought. I was fervently monitoring the TV images, not so much the words as the pictures."
He remembered that President Bush called the war on terrorism a "crusade." He thought about American helicopters being used by the Israeli army to attack Palestinians. And he decided that sitting impotently in Lebanon wasn't enough.
Over dates and sweet coffee in a middle-class living room here, he recently spoke in measured tones about his fervor to fight in behalf of Muslims against U.S. troops — and his decision to leave the battle in Iraq to make his way home again.
The story of the teacher, who spoke on the condition that neither he nor his hometown be named, reflects the oft-stated notion that the war in Iraq has opened a regional Pandora's box of jihad. In a region where so many people feel helpless before repressive governments and U.S. policy, the road to Iraq has become a trail of independence in the minds of some men, a way for young Muslims to come of age and to join the battles they see on television.
His journey began here, in a high valley that is so flat it looks like it was ironed, stretching like a gritty carpet between the mountains of southern Lebanon, hard against the Syrian border. Unemployment is rife and religious zeal intense.
It is a hardscrabble place where international worries and local woes are intimately intertwined. A recent Friday sermon called for martyr's blood to avenge the Iraqi insurgent shot dead on the floor of a mosque by a U.S. Marine. "Every day we are seeing these things and hearing the same word: Fallouja," the preacher cried. "What are we supposed to tell our men? To put down their weapons? To surrender? If we do, who's going to avenge their blood and tears?"
Then the sermon shifted seamlessly; the preacher tried to drum up donations to heat the schools. "We worry about Iraq and about Palestine," he said, "but it's getting cold here."
This ancient strip of farms has a history of defiance, and it has sent its share of men to join the insurgency in Iraq. Some made their way back home. Others have been commemorated at funerals without corpses after friends called from Iraq to report their deaths.
Martyrdom doesn't come cheap. Foreign fighters are expected to pay their own way, from smugglers' fees to meals. Many of the would-be mujahedin, or holy warriors, simply can't afford to go, said Shaaban Ajani, the mayor of a town in the Bekaa called Majdal Anjar.
Within Iraq, there is broad consensus that foreign fighters form only a small band of the insurgency roiling the country. Nevertheless, in neighboring countries the psychological resonance of the struggle, and the adulation and envy of the foreign jihadis, has been profound.
"If a man stands just an hour with a weapon in his hand to fight jihad, it's better than being a preacher in Mecca for 100 years," the teacher said. "It's not about preaching. It's about actions."
After all, the Tibetans, for example, have suffered over 50 years of brutal, murderous oppression and occupation by the Chinese. Why aren't they waging jihad?
Because the aren't religiously-insane Muslims.
Because their leaders don't (and never have) called for "holy war."
Anti-American hostility seems to be cresting. In watching the coverage on the tsunami, it would appear that its all America's fault; (according to a CBC reporter) primarily for not installing and maintaining a warning system in the Indian ocean, and then for its measily and vapid aid relief efforts.
To the media, even random geological events fall on the shoulders of the US. The insanity of it, here's a guy on CNN saying its an opportunity for the US to show muslims they care - and if they don't its strategic calamity in the war on islamic terrorism.
The pathology of the islamic world is to view such efforts as humilitation. Like the syrian in this article, there's nothing an infidel does that won't be cause for war. Soon it will be Iraqis are getting too fat from their prosperity, an obvious jewish consipacy...
If a man stands just an hour with a weapon in his hand to fight jihad, it's better than being a preacher in Mecca for 100 years
And a bullet between the eyes is even
I wonder what this guy did for his Iraqi brethren while they were being gassed in Halabja? Did he lift a finger to help the Shia after the first Gulf War? Where was his indignation while the former wardens of Abu Ghraib were torturing and murdering dissidents left and right within its walls?
So, while he prances off to stick his nose in the Iraqi people's problems, who will take his place back in Lebanon to clean up the mess in his own back yard?
Yes, it's far more "liberating" to live under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's boot than Bashar al-Assad's. Indeed, there is little glory being tortured in a prison in Damascus versus earning your 72 raisins getting shot full of holes by a Marine.
Stupid is as stupid does. Enjoy your tyrants.
And a bullet between the eyes is even better
dipped in pig fat first
The story of the teacher, who spoke on the condition that neither he nor his hometown be named,
There such a thing as keeping your fingers crossed behind your back
Shiva-
Those bullets are even better when they're emblazoned with a Star of David on the tip - it's a fine symmetrical design that certainly adds to the form and function of any 5.62mm M-16 round.
I see the guy as a coward??
His stroy is bullsh-t!! he said they fought over paying the food bill??
WHY WOULD THEIR ACC. GIVE THEM AWAY WOULD THE USA BE ABLE TO HEAR A SERTAIN DILECT?/ OR WAS IT THE IRAQIS WHO DIDN'T WANT THEM THERE??
READ BETWEEN THE LINES AND IT DON'T LOOK SO GOOD FOR THE ISLAMIC TERRORIST??
THE IRAQI PEOPLE DON'T WANT THEM THERE??
THE IRAQI PEOPLE TURN OVER THE HOUSES TO BE BOMBED!!
The foreigners' accents made them a security threat, and their makeshift dormitories drew U.S. bombs to residential neighborhoods. Iraqi collaborators with the U.S.-led forces would throw compact discs onto rooftops to mark the homes where the mujahedin were sleeping for U.S. warplanes, the teacher
YEA THATS RIGHT BABY!!
After a week of waiting around in Fallouja, the teacher said, he began to feel guilty. It wasn't that he became frightened, but the dreams he'd had in Lebanon didn't match the mundane reality in Iraq. He felt more like an interloper than a savior.
WOULDN'T YOU THINK HE WOULD HAVE TALKED TO SOME IRAQIS??
The teacher spoke reverently of Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, who has been tied to numerous beheadings and other deadly attacks in Iraq. He bragged that he spent a night with a Zarqawi aide who has since been killed and that he caught a glimpse inside a spartan bedroom occupied by Zarqawi. Though he didn't see the militant leader, he described the Jordanian kaffiyeh, or headdress, he left behind
YEA THIS GUY IS A COWARD WHO SAY GLORY AND SAW THE TRUTH AND SAW MONSTERS!!
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and ALL who Fight with her give them Strength,Wisdom,Sight, and Courage to Stay the course to Crush ALL Islamic Terrorist and ALL who Support them Amen
PS
NEXT TIME THE ISLAMIC TERRORIST COME TO FREE THEIR MONSTERS THE IRAQI COPS JUST NEED TO KILL ALL PRISNORS FRIST SO THEY CAN NOT MAKE IT BACK ON THE STREETS TO KILL THE IRAQI PEOPLE!!!
The Bush Honeypot Doctrine is working.
"If a man stands just an hour with his weapon in his hand I would call him a Jihadi wanker
Who says we are all dummys??
Thanks DrMack!!
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and ALL who Fight with her give them Strength,Wisdom,Sight and Courage to stay the course to Crush ALL Islamic Terrorist and ALL Islamic Terrorist and ALL who Support them Open the Worlds Eyes to their Threat and give the World Courage to Stand and Fight Amen
Spencer has urged us many times to consider our actions and to act strategically therefrom. In relation to our opposition, where does that put us? Well, at the keyboard. We write some fine letters. And in the game of strategic anti-jihad our letters are sometimes definiteyly killer letters.
And then we're faced with Moslem war tourists who actually gather up the cash and the time to make their way to Iraq to kill our people--and theirs. Does it make us feel less commited to our anti-jihad position? No, of course not. Many of us are parents and responsible members of our communities, employed and productive citizens of our various nations, and generally worthwhile people whose loss would be tragic to those who know us and those who know of people like us. "Every man's death diminishes me," Donne writes, and in writing that he had in mind people like you. Would you really be a decent person if you took off on a flight to Amman to make you way into the desert to shoot Iraqis? Do we want to know you if you're a war tourist? Would your death diminish us in some way or would we simply thank God you're no longer a threat to your wife and children? What kind of man would leave his family and home to hie off to murder? Leave it for the Moslems.
There is no strategic advantage in posting here a list of 20 men with names and addresses, men we are exhorted to kill. I can make up my own list, if I wish, and it'd stay with me longer than the post Spencer rightly whips down instantly. I could fly off to Amman and go to Iraq. I could in short time make myself so obviously a problem that if the Allies didn't arrest me for sheer stupidity, the Iraqis would have me for dinner.
Our positions and options are not the same as they are for the average Moslem man. We can't run around like Lawrence of Arabia ansd Glubb Pasha pretending we're Arabs. Nor are we likely to shoot innocent people at airline counters or to stab women at bus stops. And suicide bombing? Well, talk about a bad-hair day. It just ain't us, folks, so we have to do what we can do; and to do our parts, whatever we feel we can do, we must act within the scope of our nations' legitimate rights to maintain a monopoly on the use of force.
We have no power to deport the Moslem masses from our native lands. My secret decoder ring told me that as much as I wish to sweep this whole problem away with vivid phantasies it's not going to happen. All my dark hatreds are only doing my stomach problems, and Islam suffers not one bit from it. For all my belly-aching, ours keep going down in the wars, and nothing I do is stopping that. Our soldiers are dying fighting Moslem terror regardless of my opinions. I wish, I wish, I wish.
Spencer writes: "Act strategically." He doesn't send me secret letters. He writes such at this site. He writes it publicly for all of us. He makes no reccomendations, rightly. We, being adults in jeopard and under threat, are free to make what we will of his statement.
How do we act strategically within our means and abilities? How do we act in concert with our governments and our communities?
What is strategic, and what is simply hot airwaves? What is practicable, and what is ethereal? What is to be done?
Why does it say "thou shalt not kill?" the earth is green and ripe for harvest. The Zunni, Kerds and Shi-ites, should adopt constitutions, as each is a separtate nation, and live beside each other for their people to prosper. Cause audits before you sell oil to and for what. Boycott the oil pig's era. There are some good things about America, Harley Davidison is #1 (for quality,) Patriot Missiles are #2, (but, for war) and #3,Uniform Business codes to entice the types of business's you want in your country. Like plumbing and electric the Gentile will be stuck in their laws also. You tribes could be like The Hells' Angels, they are bad too, you dont mess with them either. Maybe America was right about democracy, but got carried away with capitalism.?Take only the good and leave the bad, Save the planet, if we are anyone worthy of heaven. Heaven if full of bones/upon bones of matryrs, saints, animals. Reap the Harvest-for the Angels, Martyrs and the Saints. Quit Killing for terrorism, you've never seen the terror coming of Mother Natures wrath.
sonofwalker asks: "What is strategic, and what is simply hot airwaves? What is practicable, and what is ethereal? What is to be done?"
While we're contemplating these questions, permit me to offer this partial defintion of "strategic", which might help focus people's attention on what needs to be done:
Strategic: designed or trained to strike an enemy at the sources of his military, economic or political power.
" the teacher said. "It's not about preaching. It's about actions."
"You shall know them by their fruits ..."
"God is love."
Love is an action word and produces results.
The actions of the Islamist Jihadists produce results contrary to those of love. Therefore they know nothing of a god of love. Instead, they have the lash of Allah on their backs herding them toward murder and death. Who but an utter fool ...
These people are about as spirital as a mollusk.
f.g.
"Jesus wept."
OT:
Two translated excerpts from bin Laden's latest communique available at MEMRI:
http://www.memri.org/
Back to the matter of strategic action-
If we break down action based on the three items listed in the definition above we have to ask ourselves 4 questions:
1) Who or what is the enemy?
2) How do I strike the enemy militarily?
3) How do I strike the enemy economically?
4) How do I strike the enemy politically?
O.T.
an article on CNN.com
Conservative students, liberal profs
http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/12/28/academic.freedom.ap/index.html
1) Who or what is the enemy?
Arrggghh. That is the rub isn't it? The enemy is an ideology and its followers. The enemy is essentially the "idea" of Islam. How do you fight an idea? You have to fight its adherents and you have to destroy or radically alter their culture. They must be absorbed into civilization.
2) How do I strike the enemy militarily?
Nuke the living be-Jesus out of every government that even hints it has something to do with Islamic terrorism. Then, when the dust clears, nuke them again. “Just to be sure”. Announce that the next terrorist strike against America will result in the destruction of Mecca. Then, if they blink, make a very large smoking radioactive crater out of Mecca and blame it on those naughty Mennonites.
Seriously though: “We have to kill them until they get sick of war.”
3) How do I strike the enemy economically?
Boycott, embargo, freeze assets, sue, and nuke the living be-Jesus out of their assets and resources where we can find them. Refuse to do business with any Islamic based government. Forget their damn oil. Make the new “space race” a race for oil obsolescence. Put OPEC in the poor house.
4) How do I strike the enemy politically?
Subvert Islam from within. Infiltrate and re-teach. Demonize (or should I say, more accurately portray) Islam until it becomes the new "Nazism" and Mohammad joins Hitler as the two most evil men in world history. Take out whole page ads in major newspapers and let Robert lay into them. Write your congressman and educate him on the dangers of Islam. Stop doing business with Islamists. Buy an “Allah Sucks” T-shirt.
A...V-8?
"If I'd killed myself, I'd sure gone to hell."
so am not missing anything? People we are living in some exciting times~! We dont fight against the flesh, but evil in high places. Put this power of the material world in perspective of the Great Holy Spirit of God, the Author, the Finisher. ~! No matter, no race, no creed. They'll pay for taking all the earths elements from the inner core and putting them on the outside of the earths crust. Perhaps some tectonic plate will fall into the mantle of earth's magma core. All would fall into the Lake of Fire in THIS HOLY WAR~! Mother of Earth & Father God. Left this Good Gentile Spirit~~!Besides, its too late for love, and you couldnt even keep the "Begats" straight. God Bless America for what it is trying to help YOU do~!
If I were perfect: I wouldnt need to be here~!
If I might add a few tips:
1) We know who and what the enemy is. He's lurking in a cave in the Hindu Kush, kicking back in a palace in Riyadh, running a taqiyya opearion in Washington, and whitewashing Islamic "tolerance" in your local newspaper.
2) The choices are somewhat limited, but there's picking up an M-16 and shipping off for the Sand Box or supporting foreign and domestic initiatives to combat Islamic terror and totalitarianism to name two.
3)For God's sake don't buy Saudi oil. There are gasoline/petrol firms who sell petroleum that is not produced in the Middle East (in the USA, Sunoco and Citgo immediately come to mind). Get your government to divest from terrorist sponsoring nations and the companies operating in them (go to www.divestterror.org for more info). Boycott goods produced in terrorist sponsoring nations.
4) Relentlessly and publicly expose the enemy and the distortions the enemy, its apologists and the un/misinformed propogate about themselves, their goals, and their methods. Vigorously defend the laws, customs, traditions and institutions that the enemy and its allies seek to undermine or destroy.
I would also add that it's helpful to organize and join with others to participate in such actions. Groups are exponentially more effective than individuals.
Polish yOUr Gentile Armor folks, Let's see who's who? Lets, see the Holy War through~! Fight in the Spirit of an Eagle in Flight. If I'd killed myself, I'd sure gone to hell; why not you suicide bombers,then~! An American Indian, We've lived with terrorism over 500 years, now the earth is about to explode because of cO2 emissions. God Speed 2005 Holy War!
That's "taqiyya operation" in Washington, by the way.
HAS ANYONE PUT TOGETHER HOW THIS KILLER QUAKE AND WAVE HAPPENED AFTER ubl[yellow coward who runs away]GAVE HIS SPEACH?? LOST OF MUSSIS KILLED AFTER HE GAVE ORDERS??
Looks like he is the Cause of the Death of so many Mulsums?? Like in Bam REMEMBER Iran harbored his family?? And lets look at how it was one year to the day and Almost to the hour missed it by 58 min. THEY Lost over 31,000 in Iran and now the Same in 10 mulsum countrys??
These are monsters and those who follow them are monsters WE MUST kill THE MONSTERS
sympathy?
We need to learn and keep in mind that word sympathy is in the dictionary between the words SH_T and SYPHILIS!!!
will the house of Saud admit that their Evil Plan has failed and they sing a tready and Fight the Real Enemy??
2 BLAST IN SAUDI??
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and ALL who Fight with her give them Strength,Wisdom,Sight and Courage to stay the course to Crush ALL Islamic Terrorist and ALL who Support them Amen
PS
This means stop funding the hate factorys and ALL mosques in the USA!!
Looks like Saudis will have to take out some of their own??
And we have our own drilling for oil here!!
more mulsums killed in the killer quake and flood than killed by Americans and Friends??
Wonder how many of them gave money to ubl[YELLOW COWARD WHO RUNS AWAY]??
looks like he dosen't want the pali election seams our news left that part out??
Learn and Inform, Grasshopper.
Don't forget to sign this and send it to anyone interested in this issue:
Petition to UN to End Dhimmitude:
http://www.petitiononline.com/dhimmi/petition.html
1) Who or what is the enemy?
2) How do I strike the enemy militarily?
3) How do I strike the enemy economically?
4) How do I strike the enemy politically?
Posted by: Mike at December 29, 2004 02:49 PM
Mike hate to get in this but you forgot #5 how to Identify the enemy??
Always remember to stay with in the law??
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and ALL who Fight with her give them Strength,Wisdom,Sight and Courage to stay the course to Crush ALL Islamic Terrorist and ALL who Support them Amen
PS
Sonofwalker not all fighting has to be done with a gun look at the stroy of the pali kid who was not shot but that film was damaging Some who are offened by their kids in school being forced to role play mulsums can sue?? And Sue about the mulsums kids having a special room to pray cause your kid can't say Christmas??
YEA SON THERE ARE MANY WAYS AND REMEMBER THE PEN IS MIGHTY LIKE THE SWORD??
Me I like the Siver Bells in the Spring won't get to go piggy hunting this year but later looks good For Me!!
Mike - I really appreciate your posts! I'm in agreement with your assessments.
Prior to your post, I was unaware of the "Empowering Americans to Defeat Terrorism" website.
Raising a family and maintaining a 'normal' environment and keeping some level of sanity while reading about current status of [insert string of intense profanity here] jihad - certainly presents it's challenges.
The 'divestterror.org' site looks very promising - Thank you for providing the link to a viable family friendly anti-jihad tool.
Thank you. :)
I read here not long ago that susanp (I believe that's her name) created some flyers about Islam and distributed them to churches in her city. Apparently, they were a big hit. Does anyone know if she has these flyers posted anywhere?
Contact susan_b356@yahoo.com for info on susasp's hand-outs. It works. I passed out some of my own recently, the work of another, and they meet with great success.
I'm still hacking away at the computer trying to figure out how to make them accessible to all of us, but don't wait for me. If you can figure out how to make up a flyer for the public, don't be shy. Susan P. did a great job, and we see the results of it here when new people drop in to say they're interested and concerned. People need a chance to find others, those being us, so they can join in and do what they're anxious to do if only they could find out how and who to work with. Personally, I'm begging for a typist, preferably one who can spell.
Our Susan's, keep in mind, are busy people, so if it takes a bit of time for them to reply to you, be patient. They do excellent work for us and the rest of the world--even the Moslems, though they neither know nor care.
I'd like to point out, while I'm near enough to this topic, that if we do go to war against the general population of islam itself rather thban the ideology of Islam we'll end up not actually dropping bombs but simply embargoing their nations. Think it through for a moment: They can't feed themselves. If you look at Nasser City, a suburb of Cairo, you'll see a nightmare landscape of high-rise appartment shells waiting to come to completion someday. Miles and miles of shells waiting for people. Cairo has an unofficial population of 25 million. In 1900 the population was one million. Do the math, and when you see the figure of growth over the next 100 years, think about those buildings. Then think about the 100,00 dead fro m the flooding these past few days. Look at the health problems we will face from the dead bodies unburied. Now, consider what will happen if 100 million people starve to death and rot all around the world simply because we quit feeding people who try to kill us. We won't live through the plagues. And look for a second at the ages of most of the dead in the East: they are kids. Think of this: the average Egyptian is under 17 years old. In Pakistan, the average age is 18. Lybia has a population of 70 per cent under 20, as I recall.
I'm neither in favor of killing millions of kids nor in favor of having the West die of disease born from dead bodies. There's likely a better solution to our problem than wishing to nuke everybody we hate. And those kids aren't people we hate in the first place. They're just kids. the older ones, well, man to man, they aren't worth spit. But we have to deal with reality as we find it. We can't drop bombs on anyone simply because, though here I'm only guessing, not enough of us work for the Pentagon, and President Bush isn't too happy, it seems with pushing the button himself. So, it's up to us to do what reasonable things we can do. Empty your pockets to see what you have to fight with to get some idea of how likely we are to drop bombs on people. I have some keys and some coins, half and orange and a small frog, but I really don't have anything hidden away that's going to do Islam any physical damage. Same with all the letters I write to the Whitehouse. President Bush doesn't even answer my calls. I have to do what I can with the resources at hand. I can write letters and pass out leaflets. Nobody dies, but then again, nobody dies.
Write to susan_b who will give you some great help in doing something practical.
Our people are dying every day in a shooting war in the Middle East. Those are real people. We might know some of them in harm's way. It might seem worthless to us that they're trying to change the way of islam in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there they are. Let's do our part wherever we are. It's the same fight in many ways. The lines are drawn in Europe too. Our Dutch and Scandanavian friends are in the glue as badly as anyone else. Our friends in Thailand too. There's no end to it. Let's do what we can. Passing out leaflets to our neighbors is a good start.
Forget about guns and bombs. Let's stick to organizing strategically, as Spencer urges.
The computer are mightier than the laser.(And some people think I don't know stuff!)
Like everyone here, esp. sonofwalker above (I've been reading your impassioned pleas for a while), I agonise over what to do about our situation, and sometimes feel sick to my stomach with helplessness and frustration. I'm going to contact susan_b about flyers.
Apart from letter-writing and things of that ilk, I can only think of little things to do: eg. stickers ('decals' in American-English?), maybe 2" x 1, with just the words 'Jihadwatch.org' or 'Dhimmiwatch.org', which could be distributed fairly surrpetitiously - being in UK I'm paranoid about staying on the right side of the law, and Big Brother is omnipresent in UK in the form of cameras - and I would only distribute flyers under cover of darkness to houses etc.).
T-shirts, with the Jihad/Dhimmiwatch logo, shirts with a discreet logo on the breast pocket.
Getting more and more people turned on to this site can only help.
Sonofwalker, am I right in thinking you are in UK?
Setanta
The liberals won't care about the people dying in Cairo too much except to blame it on Americans. Besides they have more important concerns like pollution caused by the rich selfish stingy Americans. Never mind that there really isn't much pollution at all.
The religious superstitioners won't care because God did it.
Who will care about the millions of dead Egyptians? No one except the dead Egyptians families.
The left wing liberal anti American POS are much more concerned about pollution and animals. Just think about all the innocent cows and pigs and chickens that are killed on purpose so we can have dinner. How terrible ladies and gentleman oh this is just oh oh the Pigmanity!!
Sounds like a puff piece by the BBC! Dear me, is this Islamic knight not concerned about the situation in Darfur where millions of his black brothers and sisters are being systematically slaughtered and driven out by Criminals in Khartoum?? While I deplore some American TV programmes, this is not an excuse to blow people up!! Seems to me America is a convenient Scapegoat for all Muslim woes when simple truth is
common denominator is ISLAM - which keeps Muslims poor, backward, ignorant and violent. If this Ninny had a brain, he might work out that this fire raising Jihad preacher sits comfortably at home whilst inciting poor fools [like him] to do the dirty work. Surely if this Cleric believed his own words
he would have rushed off to Iraq and exploded himself as a 'Holy Martyr!! By the way the Whistle
Blower at Abu Graib, treated as a hero and married, was promoting himself as single looking for love on Internet Chatrooms...Know this because a New Zealand woman appeared on TV saying how she had been lied to by this 'wonderful squeaky clean guy.'
Whats happening,the last few days,the posts on this site are incredible,so much constructive imformation.
Good New Year to All
Indeed, we're forming up to be a kick-arse crew.
Everything we do is encouraging to the next, that one success gives confidence and encouragement to the rest of us. In time we will be the tsunami of social change that will roll across the whole world, for good and bad, and we will inevitably wipe away the evil vestiges of Medeival Islam. It's obvious that most of us like people just because they're people, and none of us want to see them living in the conditions Islam imposes on them. It looks monolithic and indestructable, its adherents are lunatics who blow up themsleves and everyone around them, and they don't seem to care at all. That's a tough audience. But each day we grow stronger. they honestly cannot stand up to us, and they know it. It's we who have to learn the limits of our strength. That's going to take a long time because those limits are nearly unlimited.
Starting with stickers on telephone booth doors, writing letters to editors, handing out flyers and sliding them into mail boxes in the dark of evening, these things are the beginning of our movement, and it feels good to stretch. It's nice to know we have power that we can use for the good of people generally, ourselves and our families frist, our friends and neighbors and community members, our compatriots, and the whole world in time.
The fact that we care at all about the lives of those who would destroy the whole world sets us above their ideology for all time. And yet the long view of history isn't what moves us at all: it's simple Human decency. That makes our power legitimate.
If I may, I'll digress here mometarily:
We ask what we are if not anti-jihad, anti-terrorism, anti-slavery, et c. We aren't always happy with being kafirs and infidels and non-Moslems. On the other hand, not all of us have the foundation of kephim or the beauty of butterflies or the strength of knights on horseback or the spirit of icon painters or the mysteries of other worlds: some of us are moms and Hughs and Mikes; and others of us are terminators and Mongol football players and adventures; but one thing I think all of us have in common is the urge to live this life in some state of wonder and thankfulness for the grace we have in life itself. None of that is infidelity or negativitiy or hatred toward masses of people whose minds are drained of joy and exultation in the experience of Life. We, though we range from normal girls with short skirts and guns to those poor people who live upside down in Australia, we all have the urge to live for the Good, to exercize our lives in the pursuit of the Moral. I like to think that even the worst of people have moments when they think they might like to do good if they knew what it is. Some never will, and I have no problem with dealing with them. For the rest, the chance to do the Moral and the Good, whether that comes from religious texts or Das Kapital or the Koran or Mein Kamph, that chance is something we yearn for. When the moral narrative is so far off the tracks that it is evil, then we must intervene for the sake of all. Most will return to the long march to the Good if they have the option, even if it's forced on them. And to force the Moral on others we can't rely on what we are not.
So, what are we, our diverse lot from all parts of the world? We are for knowing the Good and the Moral.m Even those of us who believe in our creeds and customs know that we are not perfect and that our creeds and customs need room to grow and for us to find their meanings. A thing that changes is not perfect; therefore, if our knowledge of morality is changing, adapting, and growing as we grow older, our knowlege is imperfect. That makes us stronger in that we grow closer to the Moral itself, not knowing perfectly what we move toward. I think all of us realize that we are moving toward rather than staying in a state of perfection. It's that movement toward the realization of the Moral that distinguishes us from the Communists, the Moslems, the Nazis, the relativists and nihilists. We are obviously more interested in the Good than we are in exterminating and enslaving Humanity, regardless of our religious and philosphical differences. We have in common our pursuit of knowledge of the Good and the Moral. that makes us not anti- but pro-.
An agnostic is one who is a-gnosis, without knowledge--of the gnosis. Gnosis is not logos. Nor is gnosis theos. We are in a state of not knowing the perfection of the Moral and the Good. We are not in a state of not knowing spiritual knowledge, logical knowledge, or the knowledge of God. We are in a state of not having perfedct knowlege. That doesn't make us anti-s or even not-s. It makes us pro-.
All of us are in some state of striving to know better the perfection of the Moral and the Good. That striving is pro-. And few if any of us will ever claim to have become totally atuned to the perfection of God. We will forever live our lives in a state of striving to know more, and we will die not knowing perfection. Our struggle to know is our moral purpose, I believe. and the not knowing with certainty, that lack of absoluteness in our own knowledge, is to remain in a state of longing to know yet more of the mysteries of our state. That lack of certainty in our own faith in our possession of absolute truth is what makes us humble and awed in the face of the Mystery itself. to always walk away saying "I do not know the totallity of the Mind of the Mystery" is to live in a state of aporia.
Aporia is an opening, an unsettled question that requires further thought and exploration, a question that will yeild further insights if we continue to question without hope of absoluteness. We all share that state of wonder in our lives in this life. Our Moslem cousins don't. They are convince they know the absolute Word of Allah, and they'll kill anyone who doubts them. We are in a state of constant wonderousness and awe. Life is very strange, and it's up to us to understand it the best we can to live it as rightly as possible. It's that moral struggle we face in each moment of our lives that makes us moral or not. That fideistic faith in trying to do better by knowing more in spite of our foredoomed failure makes us who we are: those who do not shut the door on the knowledge of the Mystery.
Thus, I argue that we are all anti-murdering Moslems and anti-Islam and anti-fascists. More importantly, we are pro-understanding what we can and pro-learning more. I argue that we are, in essence, pro-aporia. We are not agnostics, therefore, nor illogical, nor atheists. We are pro-aporian.
We are one group who will change the world because the world needs changing badly. The change isn't a matter of imposing our will on the world but to bring every man and woman to the realization that he and she is free to search for the good for the good of all. What is the good? Well, let's live our lives in the search of that answer. We are one kick-arse group who can do things unimaginable to us at this point, but each step forward will show the next one. In time our horizons will lead our gaze to the Heavens. And what Mystery is there?
I recall vaguely the line in Graham Greene, Brighton Rock, in which the priest tells the pregnant idiot girl on her way unknowingly to a devastating epiphany:
"No one, my child--not you, nor I, nor anyone--can understand the appalling strangeness of the mercy of God."