Friday, September 15, 2006

The Pope's Faux Papa, New Plan for Iraq: Talibaning the Jihadists

The Pope and Islam:
The Pope quoted an early Byzentine emperor talking to a visiting Persian scholar, and the Moslem world went on a rampage...again. In Pakistan they condemned and burned effigies of the Pope. In Iran they condemned the Pope and for good measure shouted 'Marg bar Amrika, Death to America' even though the man is not American. In the Arab countries they are scrambling to out-outrage each other, the English grammar be damned. All across the Middle East they are condemning in unison....fundamentalists, secularists, rich men, poor men, beggar men and thieves.

Part of the quote was unfortunate, for it did insult Mohammed. Islamic scripture, especially the Hadith, contains cases and quotes of abuses thrown at the Prophet Mohammed by the infidels of his era. These are published and read quite legally. The Pope was quoting someone, but in this explosive age of unreason, it would have been tactful to skip it.

As for the part about spreading the faith by the sword- it is part of the history of the faith. The Hadith and our historians tell us of the great battles against the infidel Arab tribes of Jahiliyya, as well as against the Persians, the Byzentines and the Goths of Iberia. These battles are glorified in textbooks. The fact is, the faith was spread by the sword- mostly after the death of the Prophet. This is what I was taught at school from K1 and for over 12 years. Our history texts always glorified the conquest of Damascus, of Andalusia, of Egypt. And the Jewish oasis of Khaibar in Western Arabia.
For that matter, Christianity was also spread by the sword. Otherwise South America, Oceania, large swaths of Africa, and, yes, North America would not be mostly Christian today.

Iraq:
Baghdad is to be ringed with a security belt, reducing access to the city to a few main roads, More U.S. troops will also be redeployed to the capital from al-Anbar province. It looks like that mostly Sunni province is being ceded for now to the Salafi Jihadists and their allies. The huge province has very long borders with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, which makes it almost impossible to control the flow of men, money, and arms.
The apparent goal is to choke off the flow of Sunni terrorists into the city, thus preparing the ground for eventually easing out the Shi'a militias. Clearly the two are connected: without cutting off the access of the jihadists and Baathists to Baghdad, it is hard to make a case for disarming or, more likely, redeploying the entrenched Shi'a militias. It looks like a good plan on paper, but can the capital be made secure from the daily bombings?
As for al-Anbar, perhaps it is best to keep it isolated for some time. The example of Afghanistan is relevant here, where the Taliban and their al-Qaeda guests were isolated and running a country (literally deeper into the ground), which made it easier to sweep them out. If the Salafi Jihadists and their Baathist allies can be coaxed into a settled life in al-Anbar, saddled with all the trappings and restrictions of running a province with scant resources, where rustling sheep is considered an avocation, then perhaps at some point they can be swept away like any other incompetent regime.
Cheers
Mohammed

No comments:

Blog Directory