“Terrorists do not wear a special uniform.. They are like other people, like other youths. They are not easy to recognize. Sometimes, finding a terrorist in the 14 million population of Tehran is like finding a needle — not in a haystack, but in 10 haystacks.”
Mahmoud Alavi, Iranian intelligence minister
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/11/world/middleeast/iran-kurds-terrorist-attacks.html
The Shia and Sunni differences have are similar to the Protestant/Catholic differences of Northern Ireland. However, some Iranians take a more tolerant view of extremists. For example, Jalal Jalalisadeh, a former member of the Iranian from Kurdistan takes a stance that many around the world could emulate. Salafis are an ultra-conservative group in parts of Iran. “They were peaceful. As long as the Salafi groups are not taking arms, they must be tolerated,” ibid.
"A child killed in a bombing while eating ice cream in Baghdad is the same as child killed in a bombing while attending a pop concert in Manchester.”
Shasta Aziz, Globe and Mail, 2017-06-05
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/countering-extremism-requires-political-honesty-from-theresa-may/article35204868
Do not call terrorists Muslim or Islamic. They are no more "Muslim" than the Ku Klux Klan is “Christian”
Showing posts with label Sunni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunni. Show all posts
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Thursday, December 24, 2015
There really are only two religions
What? You think there are dozens of major religions and thousands of sects within them. That may be true when you consider that many people believe in a long list of do’s and don’ts that are peculiar to their particular “religion”. But if you look beyond the creeds and admonitions, you will find that are only two basic belief systems: generosity to others and narrow systems of “we are right and you are wrong”. And all the major religions have many generous believers and far too many hateful believers.
In the third and fourth centuries there were major fights over what the exact natures were of God and Christ. Often these fights were more political than religious, often depending on the belief of the current Roman Emperor. Those who didn’t hold the right belief could be exiled and have their writings burned.
These persecutions of others in the name of Christianity continued through the centuries and into this century.
We have Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, who set out to rid Spain of “heretics”, generally meaning Jews and Muslims. He was more merciful than some of his predecessors; he didn’t torture suspects without the testimony of at least two witnesses of “good nature”. John Calvin was instrumental in the burning of Michael Servetus at the stake along with his books. His crime: denying the Holy Trinity. The Ku Klux Klan upheld “Christian morality” by bombing black churches, killing innocent children.
On the other hand, we have many examples of Christian generosity. The Quakers were very active in the anti-slavery movement. Florence Nightingale tended to the wounded and dying in the Crimean War. Mother Theresa cared for the dying in India. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for non-violent resistance to segregation and other maltreatment of blacks and others.
Islam has been called a religion of peace, but human arrogance has subverted it, just as it subverted Christianity. Muhammad had not been dead long before his followers started bickering over who was his rightly heir. If I’m reading the Wikipedia entry on Sunni-Shia correctly, Sunnis believe the leader of Islam is selected by consensus and Shias believe the leadership is inherited by descendants of Muhammad. There are many more differences, many similar to the Protestant-Catholic split in Christianity.
Just like with Christianity, many wars have been fought between these two groups over the centuries. Meddling from “Christian” powers has exacerbated these differences in the last hundred years, opening the old sores of the Crusades. We have Muslim-Muslim violence and Muslim-Christian violence. Shias blow up Sunni mosques and Sunnis blow up Shiite mosques. Sunni Saudi Arabia doesn’t want Shiite Iran to gain to much influence and Iran doesn’t want Saudi Arabia to gain much influence. Into this antagonism is thrown the wild card of Daesh (aka Islamic state). Daesh shows about as much mercy as did the “Christians” mentioned above.
An interesting aspect of the Koran are the injunctions to have proof for your knowledge. This may be why in the Dark Ages of Christianity, Arab mathematics and science were making great strides.
I didn’t have time to check it out thoroughly, but some say that Islam means peace. Google Translate didn’t give me this, but a Wikipedia entry on Islam did say that Islam comes from the trilateral root s-l-m. One of these words is “salaam” for peace. Hm, close to the Hebrew “shalom”.
Charity, especially to the poor, is one of the five pillars of Islam. The word for charity is zakat, which also means purification.
One Islamic charity is the Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red Cross. I haven’t read much about it recently, but it has been active in disasters.
Two well-known Muslims who come to mind with a more peaceful outlook are Malala Yousafzai and Muhammad Yunis, both Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
Malala is the young Pakistani girl who was shot by terrorists who didn’t think girls should be in school. Fortunately for her and many others, she survived the attack.
Muhammad Yunis is the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank provides low-interest, small loans to the poor. These loans have allowed many people to start small businesses to support themselves.
We often think of Buddhists as being pacifists. “One’s mind should be free from hurting or harming others” and several other sayings. Unfortunately, down through the centuries, Buddhists have been involved in wars and killing. Think of the “King of Siam”. The news has recently had many stories of Buddhist rioting against Muslims. Of course, the Taliban didn’t help by destroying Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. The first Muslims killed by Burmese were in the 11th Century. In the 17th Century Muslims who fled India after losing a war of succession were killed after a dispute with a Burmese pirate king. Some modern Muslims have fled Burma to Thailand where they have been put in several refugee camps. There are also reports that the Thai military towed boatloads of Muslims out to sea and left them there.
Fortunately, we have Buddhists like the Dalai Lama. A refugee from his own country, he still manages to be cheerful and work to promote peace. He too won a Nobel Peace Prize.
If I put a damper on your Christmas cheer, I’m sorry. But remember that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the “Prince of Peace”. I hope that the examples I gave of people of different faiths working for peace will give you hope for a brighter future. With our help, the religion of generosity will prevail.
Also in the Reader Weekly, 2015-12-24 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2015/12/24/6439_there_really_are_only_two_religions
In the third and fourth centuries there were major fights over what the exact natures were of God and Christ. Often these fights were more political than religious, often depending on the belief of the current Roman Emperor. Those who didn’t hold the right belief could be exiled and have their writings burned.
These persecutions of others in the name of Christianity continued through the centuries and into this century.
We have Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, who set out to rid Spain of “heretics”, generally meaning Jews and Muslims. He was more merciful than some of his predecessors; he didn’t torture suspects without the testimony of at least two witnesses of “good nature”. John Calvin was instrumental in the burning of Michael Servetus at the stake along with his books. His crime: denying the Holy Trinity. The Ku Klux Klan upheld “Christian morality” by bombing black churches, killing innocent children.
On the other hand, we have many examples of Christian generosity. The Quakers were very active in the anti-slavery movement. Florence Nightingale tended to the wounded and dying in the Crimean War. Mother Theresa cared for the dying in India. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for non-violent resistance to segregation and other maltreatment of blacks and others.
Islam has been called a religion of peace, but human arrogance has subverted it, just as it subverted Christianity. Muhammad had not been dead long before his followers started bickering over who was his rightly heir. If I’m reading the Wikipedia entry on Sunni-Shia correctly, Sunnis believe the leader of Islam is selected by consensus and Shias believe the leadership is inherited by descendants of Muhammad. There are many more differences, many similar to the Protestant-Catholic split in Christianity.
Just like with Christianity, many wars have been fought between these two groups over the centuries. Meddling from “Christian” powers has exacerbated these differences in the last hundred years, opening the old sores of the Crusades. We have Muslim-Muslim violence and Muslim-Christian violence. Shias blow up Sunni mosques and Sunnis blow up Shiite mosques. Sunni Saudi Arabia doesn’t want Shiite Iran to gain to much influence and Iran doesn’t want Saudi Arabia to gain much influence. Into this antagonism is thrown the wild card of Daesh (aka Islamic state). Daesh shows about as much mercy as did the “Christians” mentioned above.
An interesting aspect of the Koran are the injunctions to have proof for your knowledge. This may be why in the Dark Ages of Christianity, Arab mathematics and science were making great strides.
I didn’t have time to check it out thoroughly, but some say that Islam means peace. Google Translate didn’t give me this, but a Wikipedia entry on Islam did say that Islam comes from the trilateral root s-l-m. One of these words is “salaam” for peace. Hm, close to the Hebrew “shalom”.
Charity, especially to the poor, is one of the five pillars of Islam. The word for charity is zakat, which also means purification.
One Islamic charity is the Red Crescent, the equivalent of the Red Cross. I haven’t read much about it recently, but it has been active in disasters.
Two well-known Muslims who come to mind with a more peaceful outlook are Malala Yousafzai and Muhammad Yunis, both Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
Malala is the young Pakistani girl who was shot by terrorists who didn’t think girls should be in school. Fortunately for her and many others, she survived the attack.
Muhammad Yunis is the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank provides low-interest, small loans to the poor. These loans have allowed many people to start small businesses to support themselves.
We often think of Buddhists as being pacifists. “One’s mind should be free from hurting or harming others” and several other sayings. Unfortunately, down through the centuries, Buddhists have been involved in wars and killing. Think of the “King of Siam”. The news has recently had many stories of Buddhist rioting against Muslims. Of course, the Taliban didn’t help by destroying Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. The first Muslims killed by Burmese were in the 11th Century. In the 17th Century Muslims who fled India after losing a war of succession were killed after a dispute with a Burmese pirate king. Some modern Muslims have fled Burma to Thailand where they have been put in several refugee camps. There are also reports that the Thai military towed boatloads of Muslims out to sea and left them there.
Fortunately, we have Buddhists like the Dalai Lama. A refugee from his own country, he still manages to be cheerful and work to promote peace. He too won a Nobel Peace Prize.
If I put a damper on your Christmas cheer, I’m sorry. But remember that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the “Prince of Peace”. I hope that the examples I gave of people of different faiths working for peace will give you hope for a brighter future. With our help, the religion of generosity will prevail.
Also in the Reader Weekly, 2015-12-24 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2015/12/24/6439_there_really_are_only_two_religions
Thursday, September 04, 2014
Is ISIS Islam's Ku Klux Klan?
The Ku Klux Klan has a corrupt version of Christianity. If you don’t behave as they wish, they think they have the right to kill you, gruesomely. ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) has a corrupt version of Islam. If you don’t behave as they wish, they think they have the right to kill you, gruesomely.
The Klan wore white hoods to hide their identity. ISIS wears black hoods to hide their identity.
The Klan is still alive and well in the U.S., maybe not as deadly as before, but just as hateful towards those they don’t like. See “At Gateway to Hamptons, Ku Klux Klan Advertises for New Members”, Al Baker, New York Times, 2014-08-29. The Klan’s targets are immigrants.
The Klan bombed black churches. ISIS bombs Shiite mosques.
Christian leaders outside the South condemned the Ku Klux Klan. Those Christian leaders in the South who spoke out against the Klan would be intimidated overtly or covertly. An illustration of how much courage it took to stand up for the rights of Negros is “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee.
Muslim leaders outside the areas controlled by ISIS have spoken out against ISIS. One is Othman Atta, Executive Director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Some British imams have issued a fatwa calling ISIS “heretical” and stating that it is “prohibited to support or join” ISIS. A Muslim cleric in India declared ISIS is “not just anti-Islamic but are enemies of humanity as well.” I can’t verify it with multiple sources, but supposedly ISIS executed 12 clerics in Mosul because they would not swear fidelity to ISIS.
For more see “How Islamic State resembles the Ku Klux Klan”, Brian Denson, The Oregonian, 2014-08-24, http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/08/how_islamic_state_isis_resembl.html
Some are calling on President Obama to do something about ISIS and do it yesterday. But what can the United States do other than make matters worse? It is an outside power that really doesn’t understand all the dynamics of other countries and cultures. Look at the messes in Afghanistan and Iraq. They were in turn caused by one man, Osama bin Laden, a former ally, who didn’t like the U.S. putting troops into his Holy Land, Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden decided to strike back at the U.S. and did so several times. Will ISIS strike back in similar ways?
Consider that fighting ISIS may be fighting two enemies with different agendas. ISIS are a set of fanatical jihadists who want everyone to follow their way or die. They are allied with Sunnis who resent the Iraqi government, dominated by Shias, exercising too much control over the Sunni dominated areas.
Wouldn’t you think that Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran would be under a bigger threat from ISIS than the U.S. would? All of these have bigger armies than ISIS. It seems only Iran is making any known effort to contain ISIS, and even that is trying to be done with a low profile.
The United States gave over one billion dollars in military assistance to Egypt in 2012. Egypt can easily spend that as it sees fit. It has an estimated annual military budget over seven billion dollars. ISIS supposedly has stolen over two billion dollars, but who will be selling it arms and how much of that money can it actually access and use, like gold bullion?
Saudi Arabia is a big customer of military suppliers. It has 233,500 active military personnel, over a thousand tanks, and over 200 attack aircraft. Should not that force be sufficient to overwhelm ISIS with firepower and personnel? ISIS has more than ten thousand fighters as of July 2014 and estimates keep climbing. Even if ISIS has 100,000 fighters, would they be a match for Saudi Arabia with all of its aircraft?
King Abdul of Saudi Arabia said recently, “Fight terrorism with force, reason and speed.”
Turkey has been fighting ISIS at its border with some success, but groups like ISIS will keep coming back.
It seems this is another case of “Let’s you and him fight.” Let the U.S. come in and settle other people’s problem (or think it had) and let the U.S. take the blame if things go wrong. When it comes to war, Murphy’s law definitely applies.
So I have two big questions. Why haven’t Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iran taken a much larger and forceful role in combatting ISIS? ISIS is a much greater existential threat to them than to the U.S. Is President Obama pushing on these countries to do more?
So, your Majesty, why not be the leader of the Islamic world and take on ISIS? Don’t you have the advantage of force, reason and speed? You don’t have to get your parliament’s permission, tacit or otherwise. And you don’t have to get the backing of your people.
Mel keeps wondering who elected the President of the United States as “leader of the free world.”
Published in the Reader Weekly at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/09/04/4020_is_isis_islams_ku_klux_klan, 2014-09-04.
The blog version includes corrections to the published version.
The Klan wore white hoods to hide their identity. ISIS wears black hoods to hide their identity.
The Klan is still alive and well in the U.S., maybe not as deadly as before, but just as hateful towards those they don’t like. See “At Gateway to Hamptons, Ku Klux Klan Advertises for New Members”, Al Baker, New York Times, 2014-08-29. The Klan’s targets are immigrants.
The Klan bombed black churches. ISIS bombs Shiite mosques.
Christian leaders outside the South condemned the Ku Klux Klan. Those Christian leaders in the South who spoke out against the Klan would be intimidated overtly or covertly. An illustration of how much courage it took to stand up for the rights of Negros is “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee.
Muslim leaders outside the areas controlled by ISIS have spoken out against ISIS. One is Othman Atta, Executive Director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Some British imams have issued a fatwa calling ISIS “heretical” and stating that it is “prohibited to support or join” ISIS. A Muslim cleric in India declared ISIS is “not just anti-Islamic but are enemies of humanity as well.” I can’t verify it with multiple sources, but supposedly ISIS executed 12 clerics in Mosul because they would not swear fidelity to ISIS.
For more see “How Islamic State resembles the Ku Klux Klan”, Brian Denson, The Oregonian, 2014-08-24, http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/08/how_islamic_state_isis_resembl.html
Some are calling on President Obama to do something about ISIS and do it yesterday. But what can the United States do other than make matters worse? It is an outside power that really doesn’t understand all the dynamics of other countries and cultures. Look at the messes in Afghanistan and Iraq. They were in turn caused by one man, Osama bin Laden, a former ally, who didn’t like the U.S. putting troops into his Holy Land, Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden decided to strike back at the U.S. and did so several times. Will ISIS strike back in similar ways?
Consider that fighting ISIS may be fighting two enemies with different agendas. ISIS are a set of fanatical jihadists who want everyone to follow their way or die. They are allied with Sunnis who resent the Iraqi government, dominated by Shias, exercising too much control over the Sunni dominated areas.
Wouldn’t you think that Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran would be under a bigger threat from ISIS than the U.S. would? All of these have bigger armies than ISIS. It seems only Iran is making any known effort to contain ISIS, and even that is trying to be done with a low profile.
The United States gave over one billion dollars in military assistance to Egypt in 2012. Egypt can easily spend that as it sees fit. It has an estimated annual military budget over seven billion dollars. ISIS supposedly has stolen over two billion dollars, but who will be selling it arms and how much of that money can it actually access and use, like gold bullion?
Saudi Arabia is a big customer of military suppliers. It has 233,500 active military personnel, over a thousand tanks, and over 200 attack aircraft. Should not that force be sufficient to overwhelm ISIS with firepower and personnel? ISIS has more than ten thousand fighters as of July 2014 and estimates keep climbing. Even if ISIS has 100,000 fighters, would they be a match for Saudi Arabia with all of its aircraft?
King Abdul of Saudi Arabia said recently, “Fight terrorism with force, reason and speed.”
Turkey has been fighting ISIS at its border with some success, but groups like ISIS will keep coming back.
It seems this is another case of “Let’s you and him fight.” Let the U.S. come in and settle other people’s problem (or think it had) and let the U.S. take the blame if things go wrong. When it comes to war, Murphy’s law definitely applies.
So I have two big questions. Why haven’t Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iran taken a much larger and forceful role in combatting ISIS? ISIS is a much greater existential threat to them than to the U.S. Is President Obama pushing on these countries to do more?
So, your Majesty, why not be the leader of the Islamic world and take on ISIS? Don’t you have the advantage of force, reason and speed? You don’t have to get your parliament’s permission, tacit or otherwise. And you don’t have to get the backing of your people.
Mel keeps wondering who elected the President of the United States as “leader of the free world.”
Published in the Reader Weekly at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/09/04/4020_is_isis_islams_ku_klux_klan, 2014-09-04.
The blog version includes corrections to the published version.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Insurgencies, outside forces, and good government
Why is it that those seeking to overthrow a government can often do it without outside help other than weapons, but that government forces need outside advisers?
We saw it in Viet Nam where the Viet Cong kept fighting and fighting against both the South Vietnamese government and their U.S. advisers. It got to the point where the "advisors" were doing more of the fighting than the government forces.
We saw it in Iraq where a large variety of "insurgents" fought against the foreign invaders and then against the Iraqi government as well as each other. The outside invaders stayed to advise the new government, but that government seems ineffectual against the "insurgents".
We see it in Afghanistan where the Taliban keeps striking at the foreign invaders/advisers and the Afghan government, including local governors as well as the Afghan army and police.
Could the common thread be that all these governments were not only corrupt but not fully supported by the general populations? Could it be that the only way to put down anti-government forces is to have a strong, dictatorial government or to have wide-spread popular support of a freely elected government?
And a freely elected government cannot really be imposed from outside.
We saw it in Viet Nam where the Viet Cong kept fighting and fighting against both the South Vietnamese government and their U.S. advisers. It got to the point where the "advisors" were doing more of the fighting than the government forces.
We saw it in Iraq where a large variety of "insurgents" fought against the foreign invaders and then against the Iraqi government as well as each other. The outside invaders stayed to advise the new government, but that government seems ineffectual against the "insurgents".
We see it in Afghanistan where the Taliban keeps striking at the foreign invaders/advisers and the Afghan government, including local governors as well as the Afghan army and police.
Could the common thread be that all these governments were not only corrupt but not fully supported by the general populations? Could it be that the only way to put down anti-government forces is to have a strong, dictatorial government or to have wide-spread popular support of a freely elected government?
And a freely elected government cannot really be imposed from outside.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Appropriate punishment for Islamic and other terrorists
Many terrorists of any ilk act in the name of an ideology, whether it be religious or political. They think they are doing their cause a favor by killing as many people as possible who don't believe in their cause or just happen to be in the way as they kill their targets.
Many think these terrorists should be executed if caught, with or without a trial, fair or otherwise. But this is just what some of them want – to be martyrs to their cause. An example is former Major Nidal Hassan who has been sentenced to death for shooting and killing thirteen people at Fort Hood. This probably won't happen and really shouldn't happen.
He probably won't be executed because the military hasn't executed any active military personnel for some time and the appeal process can take decades. He shouldn't be executed because this is just what he claimed to want – to be a martyr to his cause.
I don't think terrorists should be subjected to forced watching of similar crimes like that in Stanley Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange". I do think they should be subjected to repeated recitations of the non-violent portions of their beliefs. For example,
“O People of the Book! [Jews, Christians, Muslims] Come to what is common between us and you: That we worship none but God, that we associate no partners with Him, that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords other than Allah. If then they turn back, say: 'Bear witness that we are bowing to Allah’s will.'" From "The Qur'an and Tolerance of Christianity and Judaism", Islam Online.
The same kind of tolerance can be found in the Talmud and the Bible.
Narrow interpretations or even misinterpretations are found over and over again down through the centuries. Catholics killed Protestants and Jews. Protestants killed Catholics and Jews. Jews killed the worshippers of Ba'al. Christians killed Christians and Muslims in the Crusades. Muslims killed Christians and Muslims in the Crusades. Muslims seem to be killing more Muslims in these times than they are killing Christians. All this despite the fact that the text they hold in common states unequivocally "Thou shalt not kill"! It does not state "That shalt not kill any who believe as you do but thou mayest kill those who believe even slightly differently."
So, if terrorists are jailed and subjected to similar recitations, videos of their listening to these should be made widely available. If the terrorists wish to make any statements recanting their previous beliefs, then these statements should be widely circulated.
I know this is wishful thinking and probably won't happen. But those of us who believe that these three faiths (and others) have many tenets of generosity can avoid general statements of hate and counter those who do spew hate.
Many think these terrorists should be executed if caught, with or without a trial, fair or otherwise. But this is just what some of them want – to be martyrs to their cause. An example is former Major Nidal Hassan who has been sentenced to death for shooting and killing thirteen people at Fort Hood. This probably won't happen and really shouldn't happen.
He probably won't be executed because the military hasn't executed any active military personnel for some time and the appeal process can take decades. He shouldn't be executed because this is just what he claimed to want – to be a martyr to his cause.
I don't think terrorists should be subjected to forced watching of similar crimes like that in Stanley Kubrick's "Clockwork Orange". I do think they should be subjected to repeated recitations of the non-violent portions of their beliefs. For example,
“O People of the Book! [Jews, Christians, Muslims] Come to what is common between us and you: That we worship none but God, that we associate no partners with Him, that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords other than Allah. If then they turn back, say: 'Bear witness that we are bowing to Allah’s will.'" From "The Qur'an and Tolerance of Christianity and Judaism", Islam Online.
The same kind of tolerance can be found in the Talmud and the Bible.
Narrow interpretations or even misinterpretations are found over and over again down through the centuries. Catholics killed Protestants and Jews. Protestants killed Catholics and Jews. Jews killed the worshippers of Ba'al. Christians killed Christians and Muslims in the Crusades. Muslims killed Christians and Muslims in the Crusades. Muslims seem to be killing more Muslims in these times than they are killing Christians. All this despite the fact that the text they hold in common states unequivocally "Thou shalt not kill"! It does not state "That shalt not kill any who believe as you do but thou mayest kill those who believe even slightly differently."
So, if terrorists are jailed and subjected to similar recitations, videos of their listening to these should be made widely available. If the terrorists wish to make any statements recanting their previous beliefs, then these statements should be widely circulated.
I know this is wishful thinking and probably won't happen. But those of us who believe that these three faiths (and others) have many tenets of generosity can avoid general statements of hate and counter those who do spew hate.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
How do you spell terrorist? C-O-W-A-R-D
A terrorist is a coward who is willing to kill defenseless people because of some grudge he has.
In Nairobi, Kenya, a coward is a member of Al Shabab walking into a shopping mall and killing unarmed men, women and children because he has a grievance with the government of those unarmed people. Ironically Al Shabab claimed that women were not part of the attackers because they shelter their women.
All over the Middle East, a coward is a member of some sub-group of a religious sect that doesn't like even the existence of a competing sect, be it Shia, Sunni, or Christian. This coward believes it is OK to drive a car bomb into a mosque or church killing dozens if not hundreds of unarmed men, women, and children.
A coward is member of a faction or a government who is willing to shell or gas an area where some opposing fighters may be. It doesn't matter if men, women, and children who are not opposing fighters are killed or injured.
A coward is a member of a government who is willing to send drones to bomb suspected terrorists regardless of how many women and children might be in the strike zone.
A coward is a member of government who is willing to send shells or missiles into a populated area to dissuade another government to not do something or other. Men, women, and children will be killed who have little or no say in what that government does.
A coward is a member of a government who is willing to send nuclear missiles to destroy a city of another government because the first government has some dispute with the second government. Again, men, women, and children will be killed who have little or no say in what the second government does.
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?
In Nairobi, Kenya, a coward is a member of Al Shabab walking into a shopping mall and killing unarmed men, women and children because he has a grievance with the government of those unarmed people. Ironically Al Shabab claimed that women were not part of the attackers because they shelter their women.
All over the Middle East, a coward is a member of some sub-group of a religious sect that doesn't like even the existence of a competing sect, be it Shia, Sunni, or Christian. This coward believes it is OK to drive a car bomb into a mosque or church killing dozens if not hundreds of unarmed men, women, and children.
A coward is member of a faction or a government who is willing to shell or gas an area where some opposing fighters may be. It doesn't matter if men, women, and children who are not opposing fighters are killed or injured.
A coward is a member of a government who is willing to send drones to bomb suspected terrorists regardless of how many women and children might be in the strike zone.
A coward is a member of government who is willing to send shells or missiles into a populated area to dissuade another government to not do something or other. Men, women, and children will be killed who have little or no say in what that government does.
A coward is a member of a government who is willing to send nuclear missiles to destroy a city of another government because the first government has some dispute with the second government. Again, men, women, and children will be killed who have little or no say in what the second government does.
When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?
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