Posted 11/27/2002 08:19:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Thomas Friedman writing as if he were The President:

You say all this is happening because we support Israel. I know we need to do more to bring peace, but I don't think that nurse was shot, or that Bali bomb was made "holy," because we support Israel. I think it has to do with the rise within your midst of a deeply intolerant strain of Islam that is not simply a reaction to Israel, but is a response to your failing states, squandered oil wealth, broken ideologies (Nasserism) and generations of autocracy and illiteracy. Armed and angry, this harsh fundamentalism now seems to totally intimidate Muslim moderates.

But the values it propagates will bring ruin to you and conflict with us. As Brink Lindsey of the Cato Institute wrote in National Review, "No faith will make rote memorization of ancient texts, suppression of critical inquiry and dissent, subjugation of women, and a servile deference to authority the recipe for anything other than civilizational decline."

The decent, but passive, Muslim center must go to war against this harsh fundamentalism. Yes, we have our intolerant bigots too. I just publicly distanced myself from those Christians who smear Islam with a broad brush. But our moderate majority and press regularly denounce them too. They are not dominating our society. We've had our civil war against intolerance. Now I'm urging you to have yours. Don't tell me you can't. Look at those courageous Iranian students who are now taking on the extreme fundamentalists within their own society — risking their lives to fight those who want to take Islam, and Iran, back to the Dark Ages. God bless them.

I only disagree with Mr. Friedman, because I think he is in denial... It appears to me that his "civilizational war" started as early as 1979. Others can argue that September 11, 2001 was the beginning of the war.
Whether or not we in America recognize it, much of Islam is, in fact, engaged in a civilizational war with us and has been for years. Mr. Friedman is right that it is not yet too late for Moderate Islam to save us from all out war, but their silence is deafening.

Posted 11/13/2002 01:49:00 PM by Ocean Guy
According to the World Bank sources, since the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993, the PA has received nearly $4 billion in the form of direct aid.

$4 Billion is a lot of money to go unaccounted for by its providers. Where is the outcry from the EUnuchs, the Arab League, the UN, from anyone to investigate the whereabouts of the money. Or are the donors complicit in its disappearance? Was any of the aid money spent to better the lives of palestinians? Is the corruption in the PA simply a given? Is lining Arafat's personal pockets simply a cost of doing business?

Joel Bainerman, in an article that gives us reason for hope for real reform, tells us of some Arab opposition to the state of affairs within the PA.

Posted 11/12/2002 08:57:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Revisionists are succeeding in changing perceptions by re-writing some history. When bringing more light to the truth, that can be a good thing, but when the revision is accopmplished through constantly repeated lies, everyone's interests are hurt.

Joseph Farah reminds us of the often repeated lies that have led many to believe that palestinians were forced from their homes by the Jews in 1948. He also provides us with conflicting versions from surprising sources.... surprising only because of the success of Arab apologists and revisionists in convincing too many that the blame for the refugee problem lies with Israel.

Yasser Arafat may have lost some of his personal political clout of late, but the political movement he began demanding justice for Palestinian Arabs expelled from their homes in 1948 remains as strong as ever. There's just one problem. There's not the slightest historical evidence to suggest Arabs were expelled in significant numbers -- certainly not by Jews. I know this statement is going to be met with gasps, guffaws and gnashing of teeth.

Nevertheless, let me defend it, not with my own words, not with the words of Jews and Israelis, but with the words of Arabs closer to the time of the events.

''The fact that there are these refugees is the direct consequence of the act of the Arab states in opposing partition and the Jewish state. The Arab states agree upon this policy unanimously and they must share in the solution of the problem.'' Emile Ghoury, secretary of the Palestinian Arab Higher Committee, in an interview with the Beirut Telegraph Sept. 6, 1948.
''The Arab state which had encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies, have failed to keep their promise to help these refugees.'' The Jordanian daily newspaper Falastin, Feb. 19, 1949.

''Who brought the Palestinians to Lebanon as refugees, suffering now from the malign attitude of newspapers and communal leaders, who have neither honor nor conscience? Who brought them over in dire straits and penniless, after they lost their honor? The Arab states, and Lebanon amongst them, did it.'' The Beirut Muslim weekly Kul-Shay, Aug. 19, 1951.
''The 15th May, 1948, arrived . . . On that day the mufti of Jerusalem appealed to the Arabs of Palestine to leave the country, because the Arab armies were about to enter and fight in their stead.'' Cairo daily Akhbar el Yom, Oct. 12, 1963. Read More...

Posted 11/01/2002 11:20:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Fill in the Blanks

"We call on all colleagues to boycott all _________ activities and events and not to provide any media coverage until further notice," the __________Journalist said in a statement. "We hold ________ fully responsible for the attack on the journalists and for endangering their lives."

Answers here.