...said the spider to the fly. A piece on hope and future prospects for the Middle East, by Silence Dogood:
Things have been moving rapidly in the Middle East these last two weeks. Democracy seems to be breaking out all over. The neo-cons are vindicated and Secretary Rice is all smiles. Iraq is beginning to stabilize. Civil war there seems to have been averted for the time being. The ‘big gamble’ seems to be paying off. Democracy is winning, so why am I so worried?Is it because once again, our foreign policy team seems to be playing checkers while our enemies are playing chess? Could we be just a move or two away from check or even checkmate? I’m afraid so, very afraid. Let me tell you why.
The former Syrian “President-for Life” Hafez Al-Assad was predictable. We always knew exactly what to expect from him, i.e. nothing, ever. Bashir Al-Assad, on the other hand, is a different kettle of fish. He is giving us exactly what we want by pulling out of Lebanon, without so much as a peep. He’s bowing to pressure, you say? Perhaps, but then again, maybe we should look at things from the point of view of the Islamists, of which he is certainly one, for it is common knowledge that he is surrounded by ‘bearded ones’ who have been calling all the shots in Syria after the death of the old man. What do they want? What are their goals and why?
“We have political goals, for religious reasons,” so says Usama bin Laden; and this general rule holds for all Islamists, for all Islamists hold the same religious ideas. While they may vary slightly from situation to situation on short-term political goals, their long-term political goals are identical, especially the goal of weakening the United States so they can get on with the business of destroying Israel. This is the goal of Al Qaida everywhere, and of the Zarqawi group in Iraq; it is the goal of Hamas in the Palestinian territories; the goal of Hez(Death to America)bullah; and it is certainly the goal of the Mullahs running Iran. In fact, if you were to take a poll across the crescent of the Muslim world, from Malaysia to the Balkans, you would very likely find near unanimous agreement on this point.
First we weaken America, then we destroy Israel, then we restore the Caliphate and consolidate the entire Muslim world into one big fascist state, then we subjugate Europe, (if necessary, that is) then we fight the ‘final battle’ with the infidel Americans for control of what’s left. News Flash – Enemy plan revealed!
Now, if your goal were to weaken America militarily, which war would you study?
America’s Vietnam fiasco is a template, or “roadmap” if you will, to Islamist victory. But, you see it hasn’t worked out all that well for Islamists in Iraq, especially those of the Al Qaida brand. Couldn’t get that civil war going they were banking on, you see. However, when Islamists cast their eyes toward Lebanon, the outlook considerably brightens. There, the Mullahs have in their employ over 25,000 fanatical and determined ‘Party of God’ members armed to the teeth by virtue of the $100 to $200 million they get from Iran each year. Jumbo jets from Tehran filled with weapons for Hezbullah have been landing with clock-like regularity in Damascus for years. Maybe that’s why they love the Syrians so.So now suddenly, there sits The Islamic Republic of Iran holding all the cards after the Syrians pullback from Lebanon. One might even argue, Iran is directing the pullback, for Bashir is looking more and more like an Iranian puppet every day. In fact, they essentially have us right where they want us. All that’s left, is to spring the trap, draw us into their Hezbullah-fueled civil war quagmire and the next Democratic administration to come along will first apologize, then pull our forces out of the Middle East and finally throw Israel to the dogs (well, maybe not right away). Voila! The Islamist goal of weakening America and curtailing American influence in Muslim lands is realized. Check.
I don’t thinks there is any serious doubt that, acting on orders from Iran, the Hezbullah terrorist army can and will foment the start up of civil war once again in Lebanon. Now, the only question that remains is whether or not we can avoid being drawn into it. Unfortunately, this is a problem the administration shows no sign of grasping, or even of being aware of, and the danger is lurking right in front of us. We must take steps right now, if we are to avoid a foreign policy blunder of major proportions, then we must take even further steps for self-preservation at home.
First, we must press France and the EU into making a stand for democracy. We must make them take responsibility for Lebanon. This is a country after all, that had been under French protection, that was torn apart by Civil War while the French looked on, and that was finally, forcibly subjugated to a foreign, Islamically tilting power, again while the French sat idly by. Lebanon is making her bid for democracy without war (the one big ‘no, no,’ after all) and the Europeans must be forced step up to the plate.
But, if they refuse, when the violence in Lebanon heats up we may be forced to remain on the sidelines watching people, most likely Christians, get killed. It will be sickening, but the harsh truth of the matter is, we simply cannot afford to allow our forces tied down more than they already are. Our armed forces are not omnipotent, nor omnipresent.
If we become tied down in Lebanon, it might well mean the sacrificing of Taiwan, (China has been making noises), or maybe even the sacrificing of South Korea to the Communist North. Yes, our enemies are numerous and all of them are actively seeking some weakness to exploit, or an undefended flank to attack, anything to weaken us with the aim of eventually bringing us down. And not even the indomitable, (if they just knew us, they would love us), Karen Hughes will be able to change their minds about that.
Next, we must reconfigure our foreign policy so as to oppose in no uncertain terms, the imposition of Islamic Law anywhere and everywhere it is applied. We must define ourselves and what we stand for, as opposed to what Islamism stands for. This must be made clear from the outset. Nor can we afford to coddle the numerous demands of Islamists at home. That means equality granted, but no special privileges for Muslims. Clear lines, based on moral principles, must be drawn across our legal landscape if we are to avoid the fate of Europe.
Along with that, we must concentrate on securing the home front, which means ripping up the terrorist underground network that, by all accounts, has only grown stronger and more deeply imbedded since Sept. 11, 2001. This will require tough and painful decisions that must be debated fully, openly and publicly without interference. Because, ladies and gentlemen, we are literally sitting on a time bomb, like it or not, we will have to face some unpleasant truths.
Truth, indeed, old fashioned, reasonable and objective truth, must be returned as our standard. Moral equivalency must be vanquished.
Indeed, all issues pertaining to Islam must be openly and honestly debated. We must expose those areas of our society where Islamist money has purchased influence, especially in our government and school systems, and let the chips fall where they may. The systematic deception so embedded in Islamic teaching must, in its turn, be systematically exposed.
We also must remember that we are not the first generation to discover the existence of evil and we will not be the last. But, if we confront this menace squarely, shining the full light of truth upon it, it will not live. If, however, we bow to the pressure of political correctness, we will unwittingly allow this evil to multiply in the darkness, and that could well prove to be a fatal and indeed, final error.
'He is giving us exactly what we want by pulling out of Lebanon, without so much as a peep'
Last I had heard, only half of the troops had been 'pulled out', and the others moved to strategic locations.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-lebanon8mar08,1,6845961.story?coll=la-home-world&ctrack=1&cset=true
Excerpt: The promised redeployment of the estimated 14,000 troops fails to satisfy the demands of the United Nations, the United States and a determined Lebanese opposition, all of whom are calling for a complete withdrawal. The presidents gave no timeline for the full retreat.
One factor Silence Dogood doesn't address above: the mullahs of Iran may not be resting quite so easily in their beds at night as we might believe.
Iran Press News: According to received reports from various cities in Iran, today which marks the first celebration of the Iranian New Year's Festival of Fire was met with celebrations as well as huge protests and demonstrations against the Islamic regime of Iran. The protestors chanted: "We need no Sheikh or Mullah, we curse YOU - RUHOLLAH!"
A report from Tehran: Young celebrants today set scarecrows in the likeness of various Mullahs, such as Khamenei, Rafsanjani, Khatami, Sharoudi, Jannati, etc. on fire in the streets. They cried out slogans such as: "Referendum, referendum, this is the people's dictum."
In various parts of the capitol, celebrations and parties rage on. As a part of this celebration which is held on the very last Tuesday night of the year, dry bundles of bramble and shrubbery are set on fire and people jump over them. This is in order to purge their spirits of all the sins and tribulations of the passing year, in order to start the new year, with a pure heart. This is an ancient Persian (Zoroastrian) tradition, one that the Mullahs have done their best to eradicate since their takeover in 1979.
An eyewitness reported that despite severe crackdowns by the Revolutionary Guards and storm troopers, people bravely came out of their homes to celebrate. The sound of bursting firecrackers (which is a part of the celebrations), fireworks, toy rockets, confetti and various other celebratory trajectiles can be heard all over Tehran and smoke has filled the streets.
In one of the grassy knolls, in a suburban area of Tehran, large bonfires were lit and people danced around it and continued chanting the various slogans in defiance of the Mullahs and their henchmen. It is reported that the local Mullahs in various areas of several areas have locked themselves in their mosques fearing the crowds who continually and collectively shout out their slogans.
In several other parts of Tehran, revolutionary guards who have blocked off roads in order to stop cars carrying passengers of various groups from joining others. However people have begun parking their cars and have joined their fellow celebrants on foot. The guards however have become frightened by the force of the people. In this specific area several non-Iranian journalists were also present with their film crews, reporting.
In another area of the city people took to setting the French flag on fire while chanting: "Europe is finished and so are their Mullahs." OR "Bush, Bush, where is Bush?" (In Persian this rhymes: Bush, Bush, kush, kush!).
And who is to know, but that the Iranian people aren't finding a bit of support from ex-pat Iranians (many of whom live in the US).
You can only brutally oppress people with access to outside media for so long without them rebelling, non-Muslim and Muslim alike.
Excellent article Robert. Thanks for posting it.
Yes, Syria is in fact playing the spider, sucking
America into a trap, and yes the real problem is Hizbollah/Iran.
I wonder if this time, Bush will support the Marionites, who were given by the Islamophilic western governments and press and churches the misleading name of Phalangists (thus by such a propagandistic use of words linking them to the Franco Fascists).
What is the positon of the Melchite Church under the Islamofascist thumb as regards the problem Robert?
Do they number amongst the Dhimmi Churches.
But there is another problem, one of which I just became aware from reading Bat Ye'ors Islam and Dhimmitude, which I'm 3/4 of the way through, and that is the Dhimmi Christian Churches, both the Greek Orthodox and Latin Churches,as well as the Anglican church, in fact all churches who have no history of oppression under Islam, and sadly Palestinian Christian Churches who believe they can survive by crawling in bed with the Islamists.
I googled images Pope Koran yesterday and found that picture of JPII kissing the Koran, and as I posted previously I attended a Catholic funeral to hear the Priest say, instead of "In the name of the father, son and holy ghost" a Muslim friendly "In the Unity of God" (Recall that Muhammad declares the trinity and trinitarians to be shirk, polytheists).
Back on topic, I'm waiting signs of REAL leadership from Bush and Co, simultaneously I fully anticipate being disappointed and betrayed.
Either the "heads" that run our Pentagon and foreign policy in this administration, have ulterior motives and other agenda's, or they are inept, arrogant and lack curiousity or maybe both.
Mr. Spencer
do you really think we are playing checkers and not chess??
remember some times you sarfice some of you pieces to win??
Remember we have a large airforce with some big toys but you are right the wolfs are at the door and trying to knock it down!!
The democrats and some republicans have been playing checkers it is the people who have to stand up and make them play chess!! [ like playing with the base ball players instead of addressing the illegal problem]
WE CAN NOT BACK DOWN WE HAVE NO WHERE TO RUN!!
LIKE GEN. TOMMY FRANKS SAID WE ARE IN THIS FIGHT DO YOU WANT TO FIGHT IT OVER THERE OR OVER HERE I PICK OVER THERE!
But you are right it is on our shores now and will be fought in both places how ugly it gets will be the case of what our congress does and so far they have not been doing much so it is already going to be ugly!!
March 18, 2005
http://www.beecy.net/frank/
[mulsum] Atlanta Killer’s mother and father in Africa? Seams they now work for the Tanizian Government?? Now refresh my mind did we not have a U.S. Embassy blown up there??
Islamic terrorist have been shooting mortars at hotel in Baghdad trying to go after reporters?? Swed-Iraqi business man released after being kidnapped for a mo in Iraq?? Now was this a set up a way to give money to Islamic terrorist or was he part of the Islamic terrorist either way if a ransom is paid they are a part of paying the Islamic terrorist who are killing the Iraqi children and those brave enough to stand and fight for the FREEDOM of Iraq so like they can have running water in their houses like the Rest of the FREE peoples!!
SHAME SHAME!!! ON THOSE WHO WOULD GIVE MONEY TO ISLAMIC TERRORIST WHO KILLS IRAQI CHILDREN AND WANT TO KEEP THE IRAQI PEOPLE AS SLAVES!!
Guy named lopez is on the 10 most wanted of the FBI list seams he killed his girlfriend and their 2 sons?? Sounds kind of Mexican to me?/ wonder if he was an illegal??
Man goes berserk on a flight from Japan to Russia tried to get into cockpit to blow up the plan for jihad?? They will be sending the fellow to a Jewish shrink because seams he forgot his bomb??
Kuwaiti who worked of KB&R seams he was ripping off the U.S. Government??
N.J. Mattress store fire??
Washington Post- President Fox is upset about Wall between the USA & Mexico?? Well why are all the Mexicans trying to get into the USA illegally if Mexico is so great?? So fox are you sending and invasion into the USA??
Syria has completed it’s first stage of withdraw from Lebanon wonder if they will move all them cems they buried for saddam[YELLOW COWARD FOUND IN A HOLE DON’T SHOOT I’M A YELLOW COWARD] in the valley??
Mayor from the city of brotherly love wants to take guns away from law bidding blacks?? Seams he admitted that criminals would still be able to get guns, but not the law bidding citizens?? This is the mulsums at work!! The mayor really said he thought that all trucks came with a gun?? Better take to the streets people to protect your rights remember the 2nd add is not the 14th or the 10th but the 2nd the founding furthers thought it that important and just look at the dimmis in Europe who have no guns but the monsters do remember the cops can’t be everywhere all the time sometimes the people have to protect themselves!! Or the 27th as where the congress no longer have to vote on their pay raise but is automatic??
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 VICTORY TO DESTROY ALL ISLAMIC TERRORIST AND ALL WHO SUPPORT THEM OPEN THE WORLDS EYES TO THEIR THREAT LET NOT THE WORLD BE DECEIVED BY THEM AMEN
Oh Yes Mr Spencer you get 4 Gold Stars for the Day!!
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[TO CARRY THE LOAD], WISDOM[TO KNOW WHO ARE OUR ENEMIES], SIGHT[TO BE ABLE TO SPOT THE EIVL IN THE DARKNESS WHO IS AGAINST US], AND COURAGE[TO STAND IN THE FACE OF THIS EVIL AND DESTROY IT] AMEN
Catherine,
FYI: I did not write this article.
Cordially
Robert Spencer
WELL THEN JUST SPANK ME!!
If losing 1.5 million combatants and 4 million civilians compared to 58,000 Americans KIA or MIA is a road map to victory, well then, march on Islam....
A few caveats to this otherwise excellent article:
1) It would be a mistake to describe Assad or the Alawite stratokleptocrats who rule, and steal, in Syria as "Islamists." The elements of syncretisim in their brand of Islam, with its worship of Mary (Miriam), makes them only quasi-Muslims (which is to say, not Muslims at all) in orthodox Muslim eyes. Alawites must vividly recall all the many attacks on them, by Muslim Brotherhood members, prior to the Hama massacres that put an end (but only temporarily) to the anti-Alawite attacks. Think only of the killing of 82 Alawite military cadets at a graduate ceremony in Haleb (Aleppo); Alawites have to be "plus islamiste que l'imam" precisely because their Muslim credentials are suspect.
2) Iraq is surely, at this point, clearly a place where Muslims are happy to declare, Bre'r Rabbit style, o please don't stay there, you must get out of there. But while the "wake-me-when-it's-over" Iraqis are happy to have Americans supply them with aid (and to pocket as much as they can from the Americans who have been buying off locals right and left, and hoping that somehow they can get out of there alive), and will pocket everything they can, there will not be, and can not be, any lasting gratitude. The New Duranty Times today contains a story about the television channel Al-Iraqiya, which shows captured insurgents/terrorists confessing to their unsavory motives. Various people who are supposedly fighting with us, members of the government, who should be grateful, are quoted as giving as the main charge against these insurgents that they were killing fellow Iraqis, not Americans. Oh, if it were Americans -- well, the Iraqis do not give a dman.
As an American, related to those who have served in Iraq, I don't cotton to that sentiment. If the Iraqis are not grateful, and not trying nearly hard enough but relying on the Americans (compare, if you will, the exhaused, tormented, desperate survivors of Nazi death camps and of Nazi-occupied Europe, who got off the boats in Palestine and rushed right into battle, with a few weeks of rudimentary training, and practically no weaponry beyond rifles, and managed to hold off, and defeat, five well-armed Arab armies in 1948. Or think of Captain Parker and his Minutemen. Somehow these Iraqis, despite all the blather about their "bravery" in going to the poles, do not impress. One would have liked more on the misallocation of resources -- not the resources used to destroy the regime, to seize weaponry, to disrupt weapons projects, and even, perhaps, not the resources that kept us there to begin on some projects, to sort out Fallujah, and to escort the first election to a successful conclusion -- but Bush's idea that American forces should continue to remain, that $590 million should be spent on an embassy (has he any idea what that implies about keeping Americans there? And how it is exactly the wrong thiing to do?) The more we mix it up with false hopes of what "democracy" will do for us, the Infidels (oh, it will do something, perhaps, for the "reformers," both real and feigned and quasi, and they will be happy to egg us on to intervene here, there, and everywhere -- but as you so correclty say, this should be the first and last American military intervention on the ground, with large numbers of troops, in the endlessly deceptive, disappointing, and draining Muslim world. Iran must be taken care of -- but with as much done by missiles and planes as possible, and the tiniest footprint on the sand.
As far as opposing the imposition of Islamic Law -- hell, let them. But let there be consequences. No foreign aid, or aid of any other kind, to any regime that either has the Sharia, or models parts of its legal code on the Sharia (as in Egypt and Pakistan). We will give aid only to countries that both sign, and enforce, their own adherence to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. With particular emphasis on the Free Exercise of Religion, which is the greatest gift of the Founding Fathers, or perhaps one should declare, of the FFV, to the world, and well worth spreading around.
Against all the odds [confess I was against Iraq war as weakening of U.S] most Iraqis seem to want Democracy, and looks like Bush's gamble has paid off. Lebanon is an entirely different kettle of fish, we ain't out of the woods there yet - anything could happen!! Remember that Bashir's Daddy bombed an entire town in Syria where Muslim Brotherhood were holed up so there wouldn't be much love lost there. As always Iran needs watching with Hezbollah Horror Legions in Lebanon. Let's hope the cards fall our way,eh...
The Iraqis who as a group form 60% of the population want democracy, in order to work their will. Why wouldn't they? But if their will is not that of the secularist Allawi, but something that makes for more, not less, Islam everywhere (killings of barbers and Christian liquor salesmen, and attacks on women for not dressing islamically, are harbingers of things to come), how does this make the Infidel world better off? We are better off because the country, Iraq, now lacks the weaponry, and the unity, to threaten Infidels. The more consumed with Iraq the United States is, the more resources it spends, or ties down, the less intelligent or explicable the policy becomes. The famous law of diminishing returns has already set in; whether it set in a month ago, or two months ago, or a little further back, is the only question. Certainly Saddam Hussein was a threat, and is now gone.
Should it not be the people in Iraq, and if possible other Muslims outside Iraq, who should be spending their money, using their men, their materiel, to fight over how they see Iraq being fashioned, rather than having the Americans continue to be played for suckers, by remaining, and spending money that is needed for other anti-Jihad measures (for spending money on solar energy, or nuclear energy, or any kind of energy other than what comes from Arab and Muslim oil and natural gas states, is an anti-Jihad measure).
Iraq is the perfect place to exploit two kinds of potential fissures in the Muslim world. The first is that of Sunni and Shiite. It is true that the latter are, in population, only 15% of the world's Muslims. But they are strategically plraced, in Iran and Iraq and in the oil-producing regions of Saudi Arabia (al-Hasa), and in southern Lebanon. The more they are at war with Sunni Muslims, the better for Infidels. Ideally the Saudi regime would have to devote many resources, and constantly worry, about its Shi'a popuatlion. Ideally, the Christians, Druze, and Sunnis would together regard the Shi'a as the enemy. Ideally, Iran would throw off its Islamic Republic, and replace it not with some phony and hopeless "reformed" Islam, but with a country where, out of utter disgust with the previous 25 years, a significant number of Iranians would hand back to the Arabs, metaphorically, their little "gift" of Islam and resurrect, as best they can, Zoroastrianism. For some this may be implausible, but if you were an Iranian who had felt the full welcome of the Islamic Republic, what, once it is gone, would you do?
The second use of Iraq, at this point, is to heighten awareness, through the Kurdish dmeans, of the persecution and murder by Arabs of non-Arab Muslims. Not all non-Arab Muslims are delighted by the arabization, phony to a degree, that accompanies islamization. How many people in Indonesia or Malaysia or Africa have been compelled to learn Arabic, or at least memmorize verse in an incomprehensible Arabic, or to assume Arabic names or even a fictional Arabic lineage? The Arabic supremacist ideology within Islam can be seen in the failure of a single Arab leader ever to express outrage over the murder of the Kurds by Iraqi Arabs, or now to express any outrage over the murder of black African Muslims in Darfur. It is a given, of course, that attacks on Infidels are perfectly fine, but how can the Arabs continue to justify their Arab supremacist views? It is this which an attempt by Kurdistan to declare its independence, would bring into view, and that is important if Islam is to be weakened, as it must be, simply by appealing to those who have been born into it to begin to look much more critically at the theory and history of Islam.
For anyone who wishes to have his country avoid despotism, to build a modern economy, to be open to intellectual activity beyond the confines of the Qur'an and related texts, Islam is an obstacle worse than any other. If you want your country to develop, the more constraints on Islam, on Da'wa, that there are, the better. Of course, if all you are interested in is receiving more bribe money (and plenty has been spread around the world for more than three decades) from some Arab government or individual, then by all means let Islam in, or become Muslim yourself, as Idi Amin, who recently died after spending a few comfortable decades in Saudi Arabia (for though he had been a mass-murderer in Uganda, he was a Muslim mass-murderer, and therefore deserved to be well-treated). There were many examples of this -- Khaddafy was a great one for handing out money to those who were willing to convert. Does everyone remember the cannical Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the Emperor Bokassa of the "Central African Empire" as he called it? You may have forgotten just what made that once fervent Christian into a fervent Muslim, and brought about the islmaization of much of that benighted country. To refresh your memory, from a relevant website:
"It is true that on 1 September 1976 Bokassa went to Libya for celebrations marking the seventh anniversary of the coup that had brought Colonel Muammar Gadhaffi to power. Back home, on 4 September 1976, President Bokassa suppressed the Government and created a pro-libyan ruling body named Conseil de la Revolution Centrafricaine (Central African Revolution Council).
- On that same day, 4 September 1976, a 31-member Central African Revolution Council was formed by Bokassa. Bokassa himself following Gadhaffi's example gave up to most of his post and remained only as: For-Life-President of the Republic, For-Life-President of the MESAN (the sole political party), President of the Revolution Council and Supreme Chief of Central African Army.
- On 17 October 1976, Gadhaffi arrived in Bangui, and at the mosque at Kilométre 5 he looked on approvingly as Bokassa was officially initiated into Islam. The new convert was known as Salah Addin Ahmed Bou-Kassa, and it was announced that the national flag would thenceforth feature a crescent next to its star. Members of the Revolution Council were encouraged to follow the example of their president. A number of them refused, the Member of the Revolution Council in charge of the post of Prime Minister, Ange Patassé was among the converts and was henceforth known as Mustapha Patassé. On the afternoon of 18 October, Gadhaffi addressed to a large gathering at the Omnisports Stadium on his favourite theme that Christianity was the religion of imperialism while Islam was that of liberation. When Gadhaffi departed on 20 October, he left behind a number of agents to teach the converts their new religion."
We won't bribe Muslims to give up Islam. But we can let everyone see that without the accident of oil, Islam and political freedom, and political stability, and human rights, and a real modern economy, and skeptical inquiry without which a real scientific base cannot be established, and artistic freedom, without which life is just as stultifying and awful as it is, everywhere in Muslim countries or where Islam is taken seriously. Who, having enjoyed the Western world, could possibly stand it? Well, there are always the freaks -- just as Kim Philby, Burgess and Maclean no doubt enjoyed living out their days in Soviet Russia, surrounded by the Communism that they worked for.
And no doubt there are the freaks and the marginal everywhere, the kind who hate, with the Ayatollah Khomeini, any humor (he said "There is no humor in Islam"), who think men are born for submission to a whimsical Allah, whose laws cannot, unlike those of the Christian or Jewish God, be studied because he is whimsical, that encourages in Believers an attitude of bleak unquestioning and submission to authority, the authority of Qur'an and Hadith and Sira, all of them composed, at the very atest, about 1200 years ago. It makes for awful societies, or at least awful to those of us who have known something else. Let Muslims stew in their own Islam, and just possibly, here and there, local Ataturks or versions of same, will appear. Funding them, bailing them out, dancing to their diplomatic tune, trying to "explain ourselves" to them (no, it is they who should be doing the explaiining), bending over backwards to accommodate them within the Lands that they regard as their own, to be conquered, and the indigenous Infidels to be converted, or subjugated in a most unpleasant and humiliating way -- all this has got to stop.
Posted by: Morgane at March 18, 2005 04:11 PM
The kettle has long boiled over it just took us until we got burned realy bad to wake up to turn off the stove and the pot will take a long time to cool!!
I'm with Hugh that our foot print should be small and the air is the way togo after all we have our countries symble is a bird is it not??
No this aint finished alot of the cards will fall on their own but to wake up the Bear to fight with the Bird??
That going to leave a mark but is a must do!!
Many have screamed at Rumsfeld for not haveing enough on the ground in Iraq, but this is all we need it is their country and have to fight the monsters themselves we can help but in the end it is their FREEDOM or not ??
As Hugh points to 1948 and the whoop a-s of 5 countries after being slaves!!
The Iraqis are proving not to be all that?
Today they did protest in front of an Embassy that was not ours!! but Jordans because they know that Jordan has been helping the Islamic Terrorist come in and attack them but this is not enough they have to help their police like we would help ours to get the monsters off their streets!!
Maybe they need to watch some good old westerns where the town becomes Deupties to go after the Killers and run them down and kill them!!
the poor pitiful thing only goes so far??
This is something that the Italian Prime Minster was saying about begining to pull out the money and time to train the Iraqis has been done if they don't fight for their FREEDOM they will not have it!!
We have given them running water in their homes for the first time ever!!!
The rest is their choice hard but like in nature when the mother bird kicks out the chick it is time to FLY!!!!
If it has to be the Wild Wild West for a while where every one whears a gun to shoot the killers so be it but get us out of the way first??
http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/db_video.html
like she said on the video you can have all the degrees in the world but in the end it will not help in the street fighting??
when the monsters come you had better have something that would bring down the monster as I see it NEVER SAW A MONSTER LOSE SLEEP OVER A PIECE OF PAPER?? A BULLET IS ANOTHER STORY!!
AND THEIR ARE REAL MONSTERS IN THIS WORLD WHO SHOOT CHILDREN IN THE BACK AND CUT PEOPLES HEADS OFF ALL IN THE NAME OF ISLAM..........
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 Destroy ALL islamic Terrorist and ALL who Support them Amen
Hugh,
To your superb remarks about Assad and the Alawites I would only add that the Alawites were able to obtain an official recognition of their legitimacy as a sect of Islam only from some Shi'ite authorities in Iran. This certification saved them from wholesale slaughter at the hands of Sunnis who might otherwise have considered them heretics, but whose hands were tied once Shi'ites that they had recognized as Muslim (however grudgingly) in turn recognized the Alawites. This is one thing that explains the affection between the Iranian mullahocracy and the Assad Alawite regime.
With best wishes for a happy Lazarus Saturday.
Yours
Robert
Hugh....
What informed posts you have written on this thread. You seem to write on the fly most of the time. My hat's off to you. It seems there is nothing about Muhammad's cult that's beyond your purview
WE CAN NOT BACK DOWN WE HAVE NO WHERE TO RUN!!
Posted by: Catherine at March 18, 2005 01:07 PM
We read you loud and clear, Catherine. You are right on. It's now or never.
OK. Robert for President, Hugh for State. Or vice-versa.
Robert's books should already be required textbooks in high schools and colleges. And Hugh? When are we to see your own publications "suitable for use in educational establishments"?
C'mon, Hugh; tell us you're writing some books!
Frankly, we're already seeing that not even individual sects of Islam are united. Southern Lebanon and the mullahs of Iran are our enemies; we're having no trouble with former Soviet Azerbaijan; we dont' seem to have much trouble from the Hazaras of Afghanistan; and we've earned some goodwill in southern Iraq--and all of these are of that horrible Ithna'ashariyya Shi'ah Islam that, the aptly named Foggy Bottom once believed, was the sole soup and solvent of something called "Islamic fundamentalism".
No, instead of calling for a new crusade, just let them know that we have our poweder dry, and if the mullahs alienate the whole of Iran to the point that it splits between Zoroastrian and Christian, they can't blame us.
Hugh, I knew a Malay man once who could read the Qur'an in classical Arabic. Far from feeling forced, he felt the same way I do about being able to consulat Moses, Confucius, Aristotle, and Paul in the original languages--ejjakated (I've got a stereotype to maintain, after all).
This article is a really long and convoluted explanation for something that seems to have a much simpler explanation: Syria is in no mood to have the crap bombed out of it, and the tyrants who run it have no desire to be hiding in holes waiting for US infantry to dig them out.