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Secretary of State Colin Powell has asked Islamic governments to clean up their schools: "if they are just going to take their young people and put them in these madrases, these schools that do nothing but indoctrinate them in the worst aspects of a religion, then they are shorting themselves, they are leaving themselves back as well as teaching hatred that will not help us bring peace to the region, and will not help their societies." True enough. There is abundant evidence that the madrassas in many Islamic countries are breeding grounds for terrorists. As long as this continues, so will terrorism. This from AP:
Unfortunately, many will reject Powell's words on the grounds that he is trying to get them to renounce their Islamic identity.
The Bush administration advises Arab and other Muslim governments to educate their children in schools that teach more than Islamic doctrine, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday.In some of these schools children are being taught to hate, thereby hurting peace efforts in the region and also not helping their own societies, Powell said.
"We have been talking not only to the Saudis but to other Middle Eastern leaders and Muslim leaders around the world, and made it clear to them that Islam is a great religion," Powell said in an interview with WPHT Radio in Philadelphia.
"But they also have to be educating their youngsters not just in the tenets of Islam and the Islamic religion, but they have to educate their youngsters for the demands of the 21st century," Powell said.
"They have got to give them skills. They have got to teach them to read and write," Powell said. "They have got to teach them science and math and all the other things that are necessary for societies to be successful in the 21st century."
Drawing a bead on some of the Islamic schools, Powell said "if they are just going to take their young people and put them in these madrases, these schools that do nothing but indoctrinate them in the worst aspects of a religion, then they are shorting themselves, they are leaving themselves back as well as teaching hatred that will not help us bring peace to the region, and will not help their societies."
Powell said the Bush administration had made it clear to Saudi Arabia that the 21st century is going to require changes in their society.
"But we do it as friends, and we don't do it to beat them up or lecture them," Powell said.
The United States needs Saudi Arabia, but "there are certain policies they have that we are not happy with," he said.
"They have a different culture, a different society than ours - things they do that would not be acceptable to us," Powell said, without elaboration.
Posted by Robert at January 22, 2004 8:25 AM
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Pakistan and Saudi Arabia continue to be the twin pillars of radical Islam. Changing the dynamic in these countries is much more difficult than in Afghaninstan, but ultimately, totally necessary. While Saudi Arabia seems to be at constant risk of political or social implosion, Pakistan is more likely to lash out at India. Two powder kegs of militantism, ticking toward unknown ends.
Posted by: basil at January 22, 2004 12:21 PMCan Powell really say "Islam is a great religion" with a straight face?
"..certain policies we are not happy with.." Now we're calling 9/11 a policy I guess. Or maybe it was one of those things the Saudis do that are "not acceptable to us."
Is anyone in any U.S. Administration ever going to kick Saudi butt, or are all of our politicians building future careers in Saudi pockets?
Posted by: zorkmidden at January 22, 2004 12:41 PMAs much of a problem as the madrassas are, educational reform is no panacea. Consider that Sayyid Qutb taught in a US college, Mohammed Atta had a master's degree, bin Laden has a background in engineering and Zawahiri earned an MD. Immersion in radical Islam does not require a madrassa education, and indeed the most effective jihadis are made more dangerous by their exposure to Western learning.
That said, its encouraging that the State Department is willing to risk alienating Muslim sensibilities by making specific recommendations for change. Its a step in the right direction and a blow against creeping dhimmitude.
Posted by: G.Karp at January 22, 2004 1:32 PMI think that you have to acknowledge that many of the Islamic terrirists who attack "the WEST" are born and bred in the west and educated here. They have never visited the maddrassas.
The highjacking of much of western education by the hard left since Vietnam and the seventies is to and there is a strong alliance between them and the islamists.
When the french faced terrorism in Algeria by the FLN they sent in highly trained assasination squads .
In the end there were massive demonstrations all over France and the campuses.
The assassination of suspected terrorists was viewed as a much worse crime than the mass slaughter of innocent men women and children by the leftist fremch public and media.
The same response by Margeret thacher in NI turned her into a "fascist" in the eyes of the intellectual left.
The evolution of PC has now reached a point that it has become more fascist than the right wing philosophy it replaced orinally.
from what you guys are saying, obviously Powell doesn't know much right. US Government can assume as much as they can but they cant underestimate the power of peace[in a true sense].
[ "But we do it as friends, and we don't do it to beat them up or lecture them," Powell said. ]
i wonder how did thousands of innocent lives get killed in afghanistan and iraq.
[ "They have a different culture, a different society than ours - things they do that would not be acceptable to us," Powell said, without elaboration. ]
yeah, and things you guys do can also not be acceptable to some people. what can you say about "...and justice for all".
Posted by: onan, son of yehuda at January 23, 2004 1:10 AMpowell is an idiot i hope after november gwb cans him for someone better like guiliani [sp] rudy knows when to toss a check bac at em
Posted by: jimmytheclaw at January 23, 2004 4:59 AMThere's a reason that those madrassas exist. Pakistan is a poor country, and it's hard for parents to feed their children. Most of the country's budget goes to debt service to western banks, and to the military. The country has little in the way of secular education, especially for people who are poor (the great majority).
At the madrassas, not only do the children get some sort of education (memorizing the Koran in Arabic, a language they do not speak), but meals and a cot to sleep on. Much better than starving at home. If Pakistan had the resources and more importantly, the will, to make a secular education available to its people, including meals to feed their students, the madrassas would disappear.
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