Somewhere on A1A...

Posted 6/27/2002 08:19:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Not exactly a conservative, Hugo Young of the Guardian thinks We've missed the point of Bush's Middle East policy. Actually it's not as condescending as you might expect....

Europeans, for their part, think Bush exaggerates. And even if he doesn't, they think his answers, whether in Israel or Iraq, are counter-productive. That may be so. But there's one thing he is not. He is not crazy but, by his own lights, quite rational. He and his people have their eye on a purpose. The danger they run is that they think they can achieve it, if necessary, alone. They're the most grudging of multilateralists, the stance that most distinguishes them from Clinton. But they take a harsher, more apocalyptic view than Europeans, including the British, of the possibilities ahead, and no one can say for sure they are mistaken. That view does not allow for equal treatment as between Israel and unreformed Palestine. In reality it does not give prime place to a Middle East peace process at all. Instead it says that the prime enemy is terror - and it doesn't much care whether anyone else agrees.

yes, he's right, we do think we can go this one alone if need be. At least for as long as it takes for the EUnuchs to come to the realization that they are part of the same 'infidel' world that Islamists want to destroy.

Earlier he makes this point:

For Americans, in the political class and a long way beyond, the war against terrorism is directed at an enemy that looms as large as the Soviet Union once did, and has made itself felt much closer to home. Everything, including Israel/Palestine, is subordinate to that. Telling Yasser Arafat he must go, and laying his terroristic guilt ineradicably on the line, far exceeds in relevance the pettifogging democratic details about how his departure will happen and who might replace him.

It seems someone at the Guardian gets it, even if they haven't seen the Islamists as an immediate threat. They'll see it and experience it if they continue down the road of appeasement and moral equivalence.

Posted 6/26/2002 04:35:00 PM by Ocean Guy
The whole poem is posted here. by Linda Price, Jerusalem It's not terribly recent but it's entirely appropriate.

To Pick a Flower
There are so many flowers at Rami's house
There is one less there today.
I have had to console too many parents this week
Their flowers gone away.
Roi, oh, he was 20.
Smadar, a mere 14.
"Flowers," Israelis call them
Seeded, nurtured, watered, tended,
Picked too soon in their full bloom's array.
What is it to lose a child?
I cannot fathom the depths of grief and anguish
I have only my tears and that shaky knowledge
that there but for the sake... of
of what? Go I, and my garden in full bloom.
There are no words
only a very deep heaviness clouds my heart.
I am part of this turmoil and insanity
of loss, and the theatre of the absurd
where parents bury their children.
I am frightened
because I cannot change the ending.
This is like a horror movie
that I am forced to watch I cannot even close my eyes.
I instead hug that dear parent with all the strength
I have in my disbelieving body.
Neither one of us wants to let go
Can I hold you forever
Will that keep the pain at bay
No, I must let go
and return to the surreal reality
life somehow does go on
with less color in the garden
less fragrance the soft petals of youth
floating away
falling falling

Posted 6/26/2002 11:35:00 AM by Ocean Guy
The seeming Blair and Bush 'rift' over Arafat is more evidence that the statement changed nothing. There is still confusion over US policy. The Beeb seems to think that the US is demanding Arafat's removal. Though it's really an exercise in hair splitting, it si more accurate to say that the Palestinians are being asked to choose peace, prosperity and statehood over war, misery, and perpetual refugee status.

No one disputes their right to choose their leadership, what is in dispute is whether the Palestinian people believe that living at peace with Israel is desired. The Arabs can vote to compromise, or they can continue with their "All-or-Nothing" gambit to obliterate Israel. If they choose compromise and peace they will have the world as its partner. The choice is entirely theirs.

Posted 6/25/2002 10:09:00 AM by Ocean Guy
The President’s speech leaves me in a state of cautious optimism. It was, after all, only a short speech. A speech that gives no real indication that it’s spirit will become part of a new national policy to be followed by the entire government as we try to encourage a lasting peace in the Middle East. After all, the President is only a new-comer, an elected one at that, with a limited term of office while the ensconced bureaucrats in State have no responsibility to the electorate. The President may have the power, but State has tenure. (That's also supportive of the argument against term limits, but that’s an entirely different discussion). The immediate issue will be how Colin Powell reacts.

Is Colin Powell going to be more loyal to his leadership or to those he supposedly leads? Being the great staff officer that he is, I don’t expect him to do anything other than show undying loyalty to his subordinates, especially since they seem to fall in line with his general lean towards compromise and diplomacy over any show of strength and determination. It is that general air of appeasement that will envelope any advice that he provides to the President. How much will the President listen?

It is likely that, in the immediate future, there will be little change in the way our government reacts to events. I think the President is sincere and firm in his belief that the Palestinians are clearly the aggressors and the cause of the continued violence. He clearly believes that the Palestinians have continually refused the Israeli extended hand offering peace. Likewise the speech has done nothing to change the State Department’s ingrained favoritism of all things Arab. It has, however changed one significant fact.

Yasser Arafat is now officially irrelevant. He will never make another trip to the White House. Even in the Arab world he’s largely irrelevant. Only in some places in Europe does he hold onto any credibility. Even if the Palestinians are coerced into “electing” him as their leader it will not change the fact that the PA leadership must change for them to have any hope of living in a Palestinian State of their own. Even the Arab apologists in the State Department will be forced to work around Arafat. That gives me a real sense of optimism.

But bureaucracies are bureaucracies and State will not take this set-back passively. Individual bureaucrats who have made careers out of supporting Arab causes will not magically become pro-Israel. Colin Powell could have a tremendous impact by leading this group into new areas, but the reality is the entrenched, old-school, State employees see him as a temporary nuisance too. It is incredibly difficult for any new-comer to get up to speed on the intricacies and subtleties of a complicated behemoth like the Department of State. Colin Powell has as good a chance as anyone to be effective in handling that monster, but it’s probably too difficult for anyone to master. So any optimism generated due to a statement by the President has to be greatly tempered by the reality of bureaucratic in-fighting. That being said there is reason for hope.

Arafat and his functionaries must be replaced. The Arabs are the aggressors. The responsibility is now on the Arabs to ACT. That is the President’s position and gives me a huge sense of optimism. However there is a glaring hole in the speech.

Consequences! What will be the consequences of the Palestinian’s refusal to act? Does anyone doubt that even if the Pals do anything that it will be nearly enough? Surely the Administration has at least looked at that contingency. They have spent over 50 years falling short of everyone’s expectations in forming a peaceful and prosperous nation. Certainly no one believes that will change because of this speech.

What, then, do we do when the next terrorist strikes? How many more people must be killed before a real change in policy is effected? How much further will we let the Arabs push us? What happens when Arafat is “re-elected?” What happens when millions more Euros wind up in Arafat’s personal bank account? What happens when Iran sends it’s next load of Arms? What happens when Hezbollah makes its next attack from Lebanon? The Presidents’ speech is entirely toothless in that regard.

So, in summary, I liked what W had to say, since that many feared he would come down much more on the side of appeasement. However there was much unsaid, hence I’m left feeling cautiously optimistic. I’ll be looking closely to see how it plays out.

How will Colin Powell react publicly? How will the government react at the next suicide bombing? How will Jordan an Egypt react? What happens on the northern front with Hezbollah? And what happens when the next attack on US soil takes more American lives? We certainly live in interesting times.

Posted 6/24/2002 03:27:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Charles Johnson at lgf has a discussion going aboutpalestinian child abuse. For further evidence and a more detailed analysis of the education of Palestinian children see this report on Palestinian Authority School Books.

Posted 6/24/2002 12:02:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Here's a little nugget with an interesting twist.

... The Arab world does not even have a name for the land. Think about it — it is an amazing lacuna. "Palestine" is a name that the now-vanished Romans gave the land of Israel after destroying the last breaths of Jewish freedom in the Holy Land. The Romans renamed the cities and land to excise all memory of the stubborn Jewish patriots who had defied the empire. So, Jerusalem became Aelonia Capitolina. Shechem became Naples. (Naples later became Nablus.) And the country itself was renamed "Palestine" for the previous inhabitants — the Philistines...
...The Arabs have names for countries like Syria, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait and two Yemens. But through all recorded time they never have had a name for the land of Judea and Samaria. "The West Bank"? Such a name describes Jersey City...
...Yasser Arafat uses names from the Hebrew Bible for the cities he covets in Samaria and Judea. He claims Hebron (Genesis 23). He claims Bethlehem (Genesis 35). He claims Jericho (Joshua 5). His people burned down the Tomb of Joseph (Joshua 24). But he cannot use the Hebrew Bible’s names for the land that the Christian Scriptures (Matthew 1), no less than the Tanakh, calls Judea — because it would sound ridiculous complaining that "the Jews have stolen Judea from the Arabs." Almost as silly as suicide bombers in Hamas calling themselves "Samaritans."

Go read all of it.

Posted 6/24/2002 09:00:00 AM by Ocean Guy
David Horowitz argues we are not following the prime essential of warfare: Know Your Enemy. He makes many of the same points that have been made here, and makes them better.

The war we have joined is defined by three simple but brutal facts. Our enemy is able to penetrate our borders and strike us in our homes; he can strike us with weapons of mass destruction; and he has made clear his intention is not to change our policies or to force our withdrawal, but to obliterate us and destroy our civilization.

And it's not just Israel that the enemy; wants to obliterate with easy access through our borders.

We are at war with radical Islam (not all of Islam but with Islamic radicals). And we are - or should be - at war with their allies, the international radical left. Both see us as the embodiment of evil - racism, oppression, on the one hand, and the frustrations of Islamic societies on the other. Both, therefore, seek our destruction

Posted 6/24/2002 08:49:00 AM by Ocean Guy
George M. Stanislavski is an American living in Jerusalem. His Open Letter to CNN is worth a read.

Posted 6/21/2002 07:02:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Kesher Talk has a thought provoking perspective on Palestinian terror in the US....from 1967.

Posted 6/21/2002 05:37:00 AM by Ocean Guy
While reporting on 5 Israelis being killed by an "attacker" in a raid that was "aimed at one of the much-contested Jewish settlements that dot the occupied territory where Palestinians strive to establish a state." the WaPo continues it's slanted coverage. But it's the other article, in an obscene attempt to "balance" their coverage that's outrageous.

This story is a new LOW for the Washington Post. Let's see...... 5 Israelis, including a mother and 3 children, were murdered in a terrorist attack on their home, and the WaPo reports that Israeli soldiers "destroyed a $13,600 washer, dryer and iron from Denmark that were so new they were still in their shipping containers." More equivalency in the Post's eyes..... How sickening. It makes me feel so freaking sorry for thsoe Palestinians taping their money back together.

Posted 6/21/2002 04:59:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Laurence Simon's post earlier this week and Charles Johnson's post from last night, poin t out the importance of remembering the victims. The personal stories highlight the tragedy we all experience at the hand of the barbarians who deliberately kill the innocent. So.....Meet Shiri a victim of the Gilo bus bombing.

Posted 6/20/2002 11:34:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Tony Kornheiser tells us to Jump on the World Cup bandwagon, there's plenty of room and the time is right:

Because 1) Soccer fever is sweeping the country like malaria. And 2) We can get a short-term lease on a quality vehicle. And that's good, considering we're in a single-elimination situation, and we play 83-time winner Germany on Friday. Not to put too fine a point on it, but many Germans rank soccer behind only "full scale war" as the favorite sport of the country. (Hey, how about France, huh? Talk about gagging on the fromage! Three games, no goals. Au revoir, Pierre. Isn't it just like the French to go out early and leave it up to us to beat the Germans?)

Posted 6/20/2002 10:01:00 AM by Ocean Guy
As I think about Mr. Ricci's article linked below, I need to make another small, but important, point. We are in a war against Islamists. To Mr. Ricci and others we are in a war against the Palestinians. They assume that because we disagree with the tactics of Islamikazes that we are against Islam. That is aHUGE leap in logic and is utterly false. Pal apologists wrap their cause in Islam because the rest of the Arab world encourages it. Meanwhile, I see the Palestinian problem as one being caused entirely by the Arabs, and it is the Arab world which has refused to do anything, even to ease the plight of the 'Palestinians', much less to solve the problem. Solving the problem has ALWAYS been in their power.

History in brief: In 1948 the UN proposed a two state solution, The Israelis accepted it and declared their own state. The Arabs decided to play an all-or-nothing game and went to war to eliminate the Jewish State. They lost. Still, they stay in the game, with their all-or-nothing goal, even though they deflect attention from it.

The Arabs could have absorbed the refugees at any point since 1948, they still can. The Arabs could have accepted a Palestinian State at any point since 1948, but that chance is slipping away. Israel has bent over backwards to further the hope that its citizens can have the peace and security they deserve and that the Arabs deny them. It is past time the Arabs accepted responsibility.

I do feel sorry for the Palestinian people, who are scorned by their Arab brothers. But, the fact remains, their Arab brothers are entirely to blame for their plight. I have absolutely NO sympathy ..... zilch, nada, NONE... for those Arabs who support suicide bombers who kill innocent people. If they want to kill those responsible, then send the children with bomb belts to Damascus, Riyadh, Baghdad, Tehran.... Leave those alone who have continually tried to live with you, in peace.

The world isn't quite ready to admit it, but the time is rapidly coming when they will and we will say: You Arabs gambled on winning a one-state solution and have lost. Your hand has been called, Israel wins and gets the entire West Bank and Gaza. The refugess can stay put under Israeli control with no citizenship or they are free to settle elsewhere. The refugees will be better treated than the Jewish refugees that were driven from your countries over 50 years ago. It's time to accept your responsibility and start dealing with your defeat.

In Israel, we are approaching war against Arabs. That war is going to come because the Arabs will continue to blame us for their shortcomings. The Arabs will continue to allow the Islamists among them to do us harm. We will continue to appease the 'moderate Arabs' because peace is much more desirable than war. The Arabs will continue to focus their animosity to us through the lens of Palestinian injustice. That lens is cracking. When it breaks, then war will come. The Arabs will then be forced to accept their defeat.

Until then, we will do a diplomatic dance and call this mess a “War on Terrorism”, maybe even a “War on Islamists.” But unless the moderate Arabs, like Mr. Ricci can tell us where they differ from those who wish us harm, unless they can explain to us how to identify the moderate Arabs who value the same basic human rights and freedoms as we do, and unless they can get the extremists to stop the terrorism, then we are destined to a war against all Arabs.

Posted 6/20/2002 07:58:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Meryl Yourish gives us something to think about this morning. Nothing earth shattering, unless you are the parent of an 11 year old.

Posted 6/20/2002 07:43:00 AM by Ocean Guy
In her Letter from Gotham Diane E. makes a passioned plea for the same type of action that I advocate....

"Israel must do something to completely shock the Arabs, devastate them, and break their will. Not the "Palestinians." The Arabs.

America needs to stand side-by-side with Israel while doing it!

Posted 6/20/2002 07:10:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Omar Ricci, who is the National Chairman of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (oricci@earthlink.net or their office in LA 213-383-3443)writes in the Palestine Chronicle about The Media's So-Called War on "Islamists" Instead of wrongfully saying America is fighting all of Islam, he should be using his Public Affairs Council to educate America on the part of Islam that abhors the senseless murders by wannabe martyrs with their 70 virgins in paradise.

Their standard disclaimer that they are not targeting Islam itself rings hollow as they parrot the writings of those who are anti-Muslim and anti-Islam. Specifically these media pundits (and presumably the producers of their shows) have gravitated towards the anti-Muslim, pro-Israel agenda of Daniel Pipes, Steve Emerson, and other Zionist groups. In their effort to quash any U.S. sympathy for the Palestinian cause, Pipes, Emerson, and the like have broadened their target to include the entire faith of Islam.

And while you're there, you might want to vote in their poll Is Armed Struggle Helping the Palestinian Cause? as of posting.... 64% of 604 votes say no

Posted 6/19/2002 04:45:00 PM by Ocean Guy
From Laurence Simon I got wind of Blogathon 2002 a great way to contribute to your favorite charity. Either join yourself or pick somone to sponsor! I look forward to a few laughs from Laurence on July 27th.

Posted 6/19/2002 03:57:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Jerusalem Post Internet Edition reports the latest Islamikaze attack..... Love that word Islamikaze, is it funny and sharp or does ti lend an air of honor to the act.... These barbarians deserve no honor.

Posted 6/19/2002 12:11:00 PM by Ocean Guy
You should go visit Charles at little green footballs to read the prayer he posted from Dr. Ahmad Umar hashim, and his readers' comments. Must see TV is the post. An exerpt:

O Lord, do not make our enemy gloat over our failure,...

Posted 6/19/2002 09:44:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Martyrdom Mission, Suicide Attacks, Commando missions... what to call a murder. At least in this article from The Palestine Chronicle says "some of the educated opt for [calling them] suicide attacks."

At least the article has redeeming value in shedding a bit of light on the Palestinian side meant for a pro-Pal audience..... I know, I know CNN provides enough of that perspective.
Of course from Hamas we get:

Sheikh Farhat Asaad, a Hamas leader in Ramallah, said that stopping the missions would translate into Palestinian surrender and a return to normalization, assuring that missions inflicted almost $8b in damage to the Israeli economy, while the economic losses incurred by the Palestinians are much lower.

“For the first time the Palestinians have an undefeatable weapon that cannot be followed or arrested,” said Asaad, adding that "martyrdom missions crippled Israel." He called for caution from US and European calls to stop the missions.

Asaad called on those urging cessation of "martyrdom missions" to answer the questions of the Palestinians, who have for more than 30 years awaited implementation of UN resolutions and suffered the failure of the international community to resolve the Palestinian struggle.

Posted 6/19/2002 09:33:00 AM by Ocean Guy
This is how the Palestinian Leadership Condemns Gilo Attack. (emphasis added)

The leadership affirms its determination to pursue the perpetrators as well as those responsible for the attack; for such attacks against Israeli civilians endanger our national cause. The Palestinian People, their National Authority, cities, refugee camps, and villages have paid, and continue to pay, the heavy price with their blood, their children's souls, their institutions, and their economy, as the world gives Israel and its army the green light to retaliate to these attacks by committing a war of annihilation, ethnic cleansing, and blind revenge against Palestinian civilians. In addition, during such a critical political situation, whereby US President Bush prepares for an important speech on the Middle East, this attack serves as a cover to Sharon's crimes against our People and holy sites...

Committed to a just peace, security for both Palestinian and Israeli peoples, and a two state solution in accordance with the Arab peace initiative-, the leadership calls upon the United Nations Security Council as well as the rest of the world to put an end to this painful tragedy of both Palestinian and Israeli peoples, for which the Israeli government is responsible, through its consistent rejection of a just peace and insistence on sustaining its occupation, oppression, military aggression, closure, assassinations, and dividing our territory into isolated and choked cantons."

Can someone point out the condemnation in this statement? All I see are continued Arab intransigence and continued Arab denial of responsibility for their own actions.

Posted 6/18/2002 03:49:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Go read Laurence Simon'sFile 13 page today. Original, moving...

Posted 6/18/2002 02:47:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Today's news in Israel sickens me. These acts bring feelings of utter disgust for all of the people who are responsible for them and contempt for all of those that applaud these murderers. There simply is no justification for deliberately killing children and other non-combatants in order to make a political point. The Arab world does nothing to stop it, and I cannot help the animus that takes over my feelings towards them. I blame the Arabs, and will continue to do so, until there is a group of them who decide to take responsibility for their role in the crimes, decide to punish those responsible, and begin to separate civilized Arab society from the barbarians who continue to murder children. As long as “moderate” Arabs refuse to separate themselves from the criminals, I cannot help but to think of them all as deceitful, lying murderers.

The Arab world has kept the Palestinians under its collective thumb to ensure they remain refugees. Arab cowardice keeps them from dealing with Israel directly, so they use the Palestinians, making them victims, making them the focus of their humiliation. Arab humiliation became Palestinian humiliation. The bottom line is that the Arabs have been humiliated every time they tried to destroy Israel, and they refuse to accept that defeat.

The Arab refusal to accept defeat is the real issue that must be overcome. Unfortunately, it is becoming more and more apparent that it can only be overcome one of two ways: either, (1) the Arabs get everything they want, or (2)they must be defeated to the point of unconditional surrender. Option 1 is out from our point of view. We are just taking a while coming to the conclusion that option 2 is the only way.

The Arabs never wanted a Jewish State. They went to war in 1948, 1967, and 1973 in futile attempts to destroy Israel. Each time they were soundly defeated by the Israelis, but it was the Israelis who made the concessions to stop the wars. It was the Israelis who, largely under pressure from the west, were encouraged to make concessions and stop fighting while leaving the battle unfinished. The Arabs have NEVER accepted those defeats. The Arab world has deliberately kept the Palestinians as poor victims to be a thorn in Israel’s side. The Arabs could have solved the Palestinian problem years ago, but decided not to. It is not their real problem. Their problem is the existence of Israel.

They still refuse to accept Israel. The Saudi Peace Proposal has it exactly backwards. They want peace to come before recognition, even though they know there can be no peace until the Arabs agree to live side-by-side with Israel. Arabs have no desire for that, and they certainly have no incentive to do it. For some reason it is an intolerable assault on Arab honor to accept being defeated, especially by the Jews. Meanwhile the West continues to shower money and sympathy on the Palestinians.

While the west spends its treasure to support the thugs and criminals who run the Palestinian Authority, the Arabs are excused from both blame and responsibility. What a racket. It all makes me sick.

The suicide bombers and their apologists are animals. The Arabs are primarily to blame. The Arabs want Israel to disappear… it won’t. The Arabs will not accept defeat. So, what can be done? Are more negotiations likely to help? I think not. The Arab willingness to keep the Palestinians in misery is obvious. The Arab ability to deny defeat and shift blame is amazing. They continue to avoid actions which will help in bringing peace. They continue to blame Israel and the US for all of their problems, and they refuse to accept both the defeat that stares them in the face and the responsibility of their own actions. Meanwhile, innocent children are being blown up on their way to school. How much longer can we wait for the Arabs to join the modern civilized world? …….Too long is my fear.

Posted 6/18/2002 11:27:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Craig Schamp called the White House... maybe more of us will make that call. He posts the number: 202-456-1111.

Posted 6/17/2002 01:45:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Egor (George)Murzin says the Israeli/Palestinian problem Is not about land:

Another basic problem is that Muslim ideology is based on expansion until the entire world realizes the "truth of Islam," so having a non-Muslim state in what used to be an Arab-controlled state 1,000 years ago is an affront. That is how the conflict is about land, but its not really about land itself in terms of value; it's about what it represents. When Israel offered 97% of west bank & Gaza to Arafat, including Palestinian control of the Muslim holy sites, Arafat still refused.

Another basic problem is that Arabs are poor, and Jews are rich, so Arabs hate Jews. The United States is also rich, so Arabs also hate the U.S. for similar reasons. Very simplistic, but very true. If the people of Islam didn't resist education and change, if they gave their women enough power to limit childbirth and thus raise better-educated kids, they wouldn't be poor, but they are.

He's right on with that analysis, but his solution is a little too simplistic and overly idealistic. If only things were that easy.

Posted 6/17/2002 01:35:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Arutz Sheva gives us this chilling account.:

Do Palestinian mothers have the same feelings for their offspring as other mothers? Some of them apparently do not, according to the April issue of "Palestine al-Muslima."

Posted 6/17/2002 12:45:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Are you a Saudi? Need a visa? Just seeyour friendly neighborhood travel agent, no need to deal with anyone in the US consulates or embassy.

Posted 6/17/2002 12:39:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Jonathan Tobin is writing about NPR today, but this applies to alm ost all of the mainstream media.

At NPR, moral equivalence between Palestinian terror and Israeli self-defense often appears to be the rule of the day. A reflexive desire for "balance" leads them to give air time to apologists for terror groups and to juxtapose moving accounts of Israeli funerals for terror victims with those for Arabs who died - however different the circumstances - as a result of Israeli fire. Even those listeners who can't point to data feel that the tone of NPR's anchors, the direction of their questions, as well as the slanted views of most of the "experts" they interview, reflects a negative view of Israel.

Posted 6/17/2002 08:43:00 AM by Ocean Guy
From the Jerusalem Post :

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. Bush can learn from his predecessors' mistakes and carve a peace plan that will catch the minds and hearts of both Israelis and Palestinians. The time is ripe. Both sides are tired, licking their wounds, mourning their dead, suffering emotionally as well as economically, and understanding the limits of both terrorism and reprisals.

Israel understands that one of the strongest armies in the world cannot achieve a total victory against terror and violence. The Palestinians at least are beginning to perceive that terror might cause a lot of damage, suffering, and hardship to Israel, but it cannot break the national consensus among Israelis about the need to put an end to terror and to ensure calm and security prior to a final settlement of the conflict.

Posted 6/15/2002 07:59:00 AM by Ocean Guy
NRO’s John Derbyshire makes the point that democracy in the Arab world may not be in our interest.

It is, as a matter of fact, the case that democracy in the Arab world is probably not in the interests of the U.S. There are strong reasons to believe that any Arab democracy would swiftly degenerate into fascism and that Arab rulers, though certainly odious, are, on the whole, less hostile to the U.S. and our interests than are the Arab people at large — certainly less than the politically organized opposition in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, even possibly Iraq. Palestine, too: The current unpopularity of Yasser Arafat among his people, for example, seems to arise from a perception that he is not anti-Semitic and anti-American enough to please them.

He argues that Arab society could not handle rational politics, since the Arab world is locked into a They just can’t figure out how to modernize.

Cargo cults came up in the Melanesian islands of the South Pacific during WWII. The peoples of these places saw the Americans and British come in and build airstrips. Then, when the airstrips were built, planes started to arrive, loaded with cargo. The Melanesians deduced, not altogether unreasonably given their state of knowledge, that if they built airstrips, then planes would come to them, too, likewise bringing cargo. They accordingly hacked makeshift runways out of the jungle and built mock-up control towers out of grass and mud. Then they sat and waited for the cargo to arrive.
You get a cargo-cult flavor in a lot of Third World countries. America has skyscrapers. America is rich and strong. Let's build some skyscrapers — then we'll be rich and strong, too! The idea that the wealth and the strength are rooted in customs, arrangements, laws, liberties, traditions, patterns of thought and behavior and association, and that the skyscrapers are an incidental byproduct, is not well understood.

Also blogged by a Bellicose Woman

Posted 6/15/2002 07:57:00 AM by Ocean Guy
An Arab view of Arafat and the PA Reforms…..Quoting from a London Based Saudi Arabian newspaper

“For Arafat , politics is the art of rejecting the possible, dreaming the impossible, and promising the improbable all in the hope of spending one more day in the limelight.”…
“Yasser Arafat, as usual, has absolutely no policy or project apart from ensuring his own political survival… For over a decade he has had one single concern — to keep Washington happy without committing to any definite course of action.”

Posted 6/15/2002 07:56:00 AM by Ocean Guy
An encouraging story about Bedouin women challenging tradition through education, and the difficulties they face.

Posted 6/15/2002 07:53:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Worth a read just for the new phrase:Political Correctitude.

Posted 6/15/2002 07:51:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Still wondering why we were attacked on 9/11? Well the folks at Middle East News Online have the answer.

America was not attacked because of its values. Nor was America attacked because the terrorists were jealous of America's wealth or power. America was attacked because of institutionalised political bias against the Arabs that came as a result of careful coordination between most American politicians and their campaign financiers, the highly influential Jewish lobby…
… The question to the American people is whether their security and safety should be placed ahead of the Zionist dreams of stealing more Palestinian land and humiliating millions of Arabs.

Posted 6/15/2002 07:49:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Shimon Perez and the Israeli Labor Party have voiced support for Colin Powell's "temporary Palestinian State" initiative.
We should only recognize a Palestinian State, temporary or otherwise, if we are willing to deal with it as a STATE, and all it entails.. trade, treaties, and yes, even possible invasion to affect a regime change, like we did in Afghanistan. When the terrorists take over a government, we are justified in acting when those terrorists threaten us. Palestinian terrorists have and do threaten us (Arafat’s terror has killed Americans,) just as Islamist terrorists threaten us
do.

Posted 6/14/2002 02:11:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Stefan Sharkansky gives us this Letter to the Palestinians from an Agnostic in New Zealand.

My perspective of Palestinians is something like this - you're Arabs (of course), mostly Muslim, but with a Christian minority. Many of you live outside Gaza/West Bank, mostly in Jordan and other Muslim countries, with some groups living in Western countries as well. You feel that you have been wronged by Israel and are fighting to destroy them.
As for my perspective on Israel, I see them like this. They are a mainly Jewish, small, free-market democracy with a large Arab minority surrounded by hostile Arab dictatorships. They have an ancestral claim to Israel, their state was created as a refuge from persecution, they have a right to exist, and, having survived a holocaust in Europe, they should not have to sit still and wait for another one in the Middle East.

Not a lot to argue about there. Nor here:

A number of Western commentators have put Arab failures down to numerous cultural factors, not the least being Islam. Your religious beliefs in martyrdom and jihad, coupled with a total inability to accept any blame for your own predicament, have combined to do you great and lasting damage.
Look closely at why Western countries such as Israel have succeeded, and Muslim countries have not. Western countries are free-market democracies. Muslim countries (other than Turkey) aren't. Surely that should tell you something.

Read the whole letter!

Posted 6/14/2002 01:51:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Dawson was first with the guest map, and won't be the last... I've got one up now too. It's better than signing a guestbook.

Posted 6/14/2002 11:06:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Thanks to Meryl Yourish and her rant on fonts.... ranting can be a good thing.. I've changed the look of the site, hopefully for the better.

Posted 6/14/2002 10:10:00 AM by Ocean Guy
This tidbit from DEBKAfile, : "First Report of Big Blast Friday in Marriot Hotel in Georgian Capital of Tbilisi, Which Houses US Military Advisers to Georgian Armed Forces." Stay tuned.

Posted 6/14/2002 10:07:00 AM by Ocean Guy
From Mona Charen, an article about fighting 'terror' [Islamists], she talks of the compromise to our principles that we make to form tactical alliances like our present relationship with Pakistan. "The odd thing about the war on terror is not that we have to shave our principles to succeed, but instead the degree to which our principles and our interests coincide. "

Posted 6/13/2002 05:10:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Carl Hiassen has written a letter to Katherine Harris. You remember her; the Florida Secretary of State, so prominant during the Election 2000 debacle. Anyway, it seems Ms Harris, now a candidate for Congress,is writing a book about her role in the election. Carl comments: First draft needs tweaks on content, facts, title

"To begin with, we're not entirely comfortable with any of your proposed titles, which I will discuss in order of stated preference.
Tell Al Gore To Kiss My Smokin' Hot Chad is too wordy to fit on the book's cover. Also, the tone is a bit brash for our conservative readership.
While your second choice, Recount, Shmecount! has a nice wry ring to it, the title struck some of us as flippant, considering the heavy historic event about which you're writing."

"...Now, let's move on to your manuscript, which needs only a little tweaking: Our copy editors have noted that you refer to former Vice President Gore as ''a drip'' (pages 13, 27, 88, 92, 107, 185, 310-376), ''a dweeb'' (pp. 14, 44, 98-107, 224, 288, 410) and ''a whiny Ivy League wimp'' (pp. 1, 5, 9, 55, 67, 71, 123, 144, 233, and throughout the epilogue).
For consistency, we should settle on a single pejorative name for Gore. Personally, I'd say that ''drip'' covers a lot of territory and still gets your point across. No more than a half-dozen references are probably sufficient."

"...Look, we're not trying to be sticks in the mud. Nor would we ever seek to dilute your deeply felt convictions about what happened during the presidential election.

Still, we are in the business of selling books. Thus you can understand our disquiet to see the term ''left-leaning Metamucil heads'' (page 169) applied to the Palm Beach County retirees who mistakenly cast ballots for Pat Buchanan instead of Gore. "

Posted 6/13/2002 04:51:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Was there a massacre in Jeddah? Take a look at this from Saudi Arabia's "Arab News"Governor denies razing houses with occupants inside.

The governor of Mecca: There were some rooms which were not suitable for living in. They also kept a large number of women there, thinking their presence would prevent the authorities from enforcing the law,” he said."

Posted 6/13/2002 04:41:00 AM by Ocean Guy
US News & World Report has a well done piece telling us that Hundreds of Americans have followed the path to jihad. (6/10/02) Once again I ask how these people reconcile the fact that the reason they thrive here is the very freedom they deplore.

"But the international jihad movement is different, analysts say. It has become virulently anti-American, anti-Western, and steeped in the kind of absolutist religious fervor that is the hallmark of bin Laden's al Qaeda network. In that, American holy warriors resemble their brethren overseas: They tend to be young, smart, and motivated, often introverted and detached, and ready to risk life and limb. "These are the true believers," says Howard University's Sulayman Nyang, author of Islam in the United States of America. "You feel you are an instrument of God, or part of a historical force."

Posted 6/13/2002 04:36:00 AM by Ocean Guy
MEMRI has another article up,Why we Fight America written by an Al Quaeda spokesman, who further enlightens us on the hate for our way of life these people are tortured with.

"How can [he] possibly [accept humiliation and inferiority] when he knows that his nation was created to stand at the center of leadership, at the center of hegemony and rule, at the center of ability and sacrifice? How can [he] possibly [accept humiliation and inferiority] when he knows that the [divine] rule is that the entire earth must be subject to the religion of Allah – not to the East, not to the West - to no ideology and to no path except for the path of Allah?..."

"...America is the head of heresy in our modern world, and it leads an infidel democratic regime that is based upon separation of religion and state and on ruling the people by the people via legislating laws that contradict the way of Allah and permit what Allah has prohibited. This compels the other countries to act in accordance with the same laws in the same ways... and punishes any country [that rebels against these laws] by besieging it, and then by boycotting it. By so doing, [America] seeks to impose on the world a religion that is not Allah's..."

"America, with the collaboration of the Jews, is the leader of corruption and the breakdown [of values], whether moral, ideological, political, or economic corruption. It disseminates abomination and licentiousness among the people via the cheap media and the vile curricula."

"America is the reason for all oppression, injustice, licentiousness, or suppression that is the Muslims' lot. It stands behind all the disasters that were caused and are still being caused to the Muslims; it is immersed in the blood of Muslims and cannot hide this."
Thje rant continues: We have not reached parity with them. We have the right to kill 4 million Americans - 2 million of them children - and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple hundreds of thousands. Furthermore, it is our right to fight them with chemical and biological weapons, so as to afflict them with the fatal maladies that have afflicted the Muslims because of the [Americans'] chemical and biological weapons."

"America knows only the language of force. This is the only way to stop it and make it take its hands off the Muslims and their affairs. America does not know the language of dialogue!! Or the language of peaceful coexistence!! America is kept at bay by blood alone..."

More Arab bluster? We'd be foollish to asusme so.

Posted 6/12/2002 05:42:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Stefan Sharkansky of the Shark Blog translates Arafat Bombs, Europe Pays from Die Zeit. Read it for a European viewpoint of their aid to the palestinains.

Posted 6/12/2002 05:15:00 PM by Ocean Guy
No, this is not satire! First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida is the most influential congregation in this southern city. "The Rev. Jerry Vines, [senior pastor at First Baptist] speaking Monday evening at a Southern Baptist pastors conference in St. Louis, told several thousand people that many of this country's problems can be blamed on religious pluralism."

He confirms his enlightened and tolerant views by saying,.. "but I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that Islam is not just as good as Christianity"
The Florida Times-Union reports on his thoughts on Islam. Rev Vines also says:

"Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives -- and his last one was a 9-year-old girl. And I will tell you Allah is not Jehovah either. Jehovah's not going to turn you into a terrorist that'll try to bomb people and take the lives of thousands and thousands of people."

This kind of talk makes me uneasy at the support the religious right is giving to Israel and to the War on Islamists. It is simply proof that Islamofaschists don't have a monopoly on bigotry.

Posted 6/12/2002 04:47:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Charles Johnson posts this link to an article about Arab Faschism. One of his commenters seems to think that the traditional media ignores these types of stories out of malice. I hope he's wrong, I see it as a demented form of idealism which leads them to put balance and moral equivalency over truth. They have forgotten how to tell right from wrong.

Posted 6/12/2002 04:31:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Charles Johnson posts this sickening story of Arab faschism. One commenter comes to the conclusion that it must be malice on the traditional media's part that allows them to ignore these types of stories. I hope he's wrong and that the explaination is idealism gone awry.

Posted 6/12/2002 03:36:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Tell me General Powell, just what is a"Temporary palestinian state?

Posted 6/12/2002 07:50:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Syria, Iran, Iraq.... Saudi Arabia, Egypt. None of them are American friends. We may have cordial relations with the latter two, but they are not on our side in the War on Islamists. They ought to be helping us understand how their governments, and their people are different from the Islamists who wage war on us. Instead they label us "The Great Satan". By not offering any bit of cooperation which might be in their own interest, they tacitly side with the terrorists. If they aren't with us in this, then they are against us... that IS the reality.

In the case of Iraq, Iran, and Syria, I'm afraid we don't have the will to do what should be done. We have to be ready and willing to act militarily against them. There are bad people running these three countries. All three fund, support and actively work to destroy Western Civilization. They kill Americans, they kill Israelis they support others who do the same. Our diplomatic efforts only work to their ends by giving them time and opportunity, even justification to continue their war against our way of life. How long will we allow them to let them continue unchallenged?

When diplomacy and economic measures don't work, then we must be able to muster a credible military threat. With no real threat, these 'unfriendly' states will continue their campaigns of terror because we continue to show them that it works. That must change. What will it take to bring the change? Must we endure another attack on the scale of 9/11?

Posted 6/12/2002 07:16:00 AM by Ocean Guy
The news is already 'old'. It happened yesterday. There was only one Israeli killed. Life goes on. Most will forget. We have already been numbed to the shocking brutality of the beasts who encourage, fund, plan, execute, applaud, protect, and honor the criminal acts of those barbarians who blow themselves up.
Read this and remember Hadar Hershkovitz and imagine how you will feel when this happens in the US.

Posted 6/12/2002 07:04:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Iran increases funding for Suicide bombings. Seems Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad are fighting over Iranian contributions, so Iran has opened a separate accouint for Islamic Jihad. Looks to me as if "The Bush Doctrine" is toothless.

Posted 6/11/2002 02:27:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Is America really Islamic but doesn't know it yet? Michael Wolfe thinks so. I don't agree. Mr Wolfe seems to ignore a good bit of the reality of Islam's practice:

"Islam is democratic in spirit. Islam advocates the right to vote and educate yourself and pursue a profession. "

Islam is egalitarian. From New York to California, the only houses of worship that are routinely integrated today are the approximately 4,000 Muslim mosques. That is because Islam is predicated on a level playing field, especially when it comes to standing before God. "

Islam, as practiced in the USA, may be what saves us from constant conflict with the rest of Islam which doesn't quite see things the same way. It's not likely though. Maybe American muslims can show Islam how to modernize, but Islam has much to learn before that's possible. Democracy, for one. There are no democratic Islamic states... "Islam is democratic in spirit" though.... That's a great comfort while Islamists try to kill us.

Posted 6/11/2002 02:07:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Charles Johnson at little green footballs, blogs this article about: Saudi Arabia's American Captives. The story got a little play during the Elian Gonzalez controversy, but tomorrow the mother gets a hearing on Capital Hill. It is really disheartening to continually read how the US State Department seems so biased towards the Arab world. Oil cannot be the only reason for it. Someone shed some light please!

Posted 6/11/2002 01:45:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Arlene Peck Tells it Like it Is, disregarding anything similar to Political Correctness.

"The Arabs somehow have reached the twenty-first century with a ninth century mentality. The Arab war is not so much that of religion, but that of mentality. Their motivation has always been to continue their hatred of Israel and teaching each generation how they are oppressed. If it weren’t so illogical I could almost find it amusing that there are 300 million Arabs and five million of these Jewish ‘oppressors’. Give me a break! With all of the oil in the Arab world, there are billions and billions of dollars that could have been used for their people in research, education and medicine. Instead, much of it has been spent in the casinos of the world or shops in London. It would have been easy to bring their people into the modern world. Yet, they would rather keep their population in wretched camps. How much easier it would have been to share their good fortune rather than blame, blame, blame the United States and Israel for all their misfortune. Can anyone name three accomplishments of the modern Arab world? I won’t even begin to list the pages and pages of Jewish contributions to medicine, art, literature, etc. Probably, in today’s crazy times, I would be criticized for it anyway. It would be politically incorrect. "

Posted 6/10/2002 10:32:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Yasser, that's our baby: How long will this farce continue?

"Here's Yasser Arafat's idea of making peace in the Mideast: He's offered Hamas and three other terrorist groups a place in his new, "reformed" cabinet. And this is the leader the whole of the American foreign policy and intelligence establishment is courting, even while the Israelis clean the latest gore off their highways.

Nothing about Yasser Arafat is as frightening as how seriously he is still taken as some sort of partner in what is comically called the peace process..."

Posted 6/10/2002 10:29:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Here's a short about a suspicious blast in Jebalya. It seems every day there are warnings of large attacks that are coming both in Israel and the US. When will the general media wake up and recognize that trying to coddle, deal with, or negotiate with these terrorists, only leads to more violence. Every "time out" is used to re-group, re-arm and renew terror attacks.

Posted 6/10/2002 10:25:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Is this logic from Saudi Arabia?
on one hand:
While the Arab and Muslim world has focused on fighting this just cause [fighting the Zionist entity]— and suffered tremendously — the rest of the world has focused their daily business on the development and enrichment of their people. "
then:
It is time for Muslims, Arabs and Israelis to move on, to stop the rhetoric of blame and begin the process of building. For it is only when we know what we have missed that we can comprehend what we should be doing.
Didn't he just say the rest of the world WAS focused on daily business.... Does anyone doubt that the Isareli economy and quality of life would be better if they didn't have to deal with Islamic terrorists, and an Arab world that is obsessed with erasing the country from the map?

Posted 6/07/2002 10:38:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Shark Blog translates some work from Germany about the PA wasting EUnuch aid money.

Posted 6/07/2002 10:24:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Diane E.'s Letter from Gotham has a little more on Lou Dobbs' courage in calling our fight against Islamists what it is.

Posted 6/07/2002 10:18:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Why America sides with Israel is well described by Victor Davis Hanson. I particularly share this feeling:

"Israeli spokesmen over here do not filibuster or interrupt on the evening news like their adversaries; but they do not back down either. When attacked, they do not shriek and finger-point, but quietly prepare retaliation. In American parlance, they are "quiet but carry a big stick." The nation of Israel shows genuine thanks to America and appreciates our material and political aid, but its citizens are not lackies, and rightly sense Americans don't like obsequious clients or arrogant and ungrateful allies. Israel is neither. Collectively, Americans have given the Egyptians, Jordanians, and Palestinians tens of billions of dollars, and yet receive from them constant unappreciative lectures and warnings about our aiding Israel. In contrast, Israelis do not tell us what we can do with our own money."

Posted 6/07/2002 10:07:00 AM by Ocean Guy
InstaPundit links to this Drudge Report which describes Lou Dobbs' stating what I've been saying.... We are in a war against Islamists... Will the rest of CNN or any of the media pick up on this? According to Drudge the comments were not well received by CNN viewers.. no surprise there.

Posted 6/07/2002 10:02:00 AM by Ocean Guy
DEBKAfile is reporting that the orders for the Megiddo bus bombing came from Damascus. Will we hear any more about this?

Posted 6/07/2002 09:56:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Ever wonder about Freedom of the Press Islamic style? Well here's an example: "Though the books were officially withdrawn from Egyptian markets following the objection of scholars from Al-Azhar University, they are still sold secretly. And in Syria and Lebanon, they are still sold openly. I wonder why the author, who died recently, and the publisher, who was a party to the sacrilege, were not prosecuted. Why were the sales of such books permitted? Forgive us, Prophet, pbuh, for the enormity of the lies our enemies are fabricating against you. Our apologies, Prophet, pbuh, in whom is found all human perfection. God, do not punish us for what fools among us do."

Posted 6/06/2002 11:11:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Charlotte West gives us a terrific article on The War the Peaceniks support. She writes about "conservative war" being protested by the left because of its high barriers to entry."It is expensive and only country leaders call the shots, necessitating fortuitous birth or a lifetime climbing political systems. That pretty much leaves activists out of the loop."

We know how activists feel when they're left out of the loop, and that is why, "...they're first in line for today's new-age worldwide war. "
What I don't get is how these leftist activists, on one hand, thrive in our world of individual freedoms yet, on the other hand, support those who seek to supress those freedoms. Which way do they want it?

They're just a bunch of blowhards and self-proclaimed intellectuals who believe they are smarter than the rest of the world and want to supress our freedom and foist their world-view on us.
The real freedoms they support are the freedom from responsibility of your own actions, freedom from free and open debate, and most of all the freedom from compromise. Human nature naturally runs toward freedom of personal choce, and exercising our free will. Those who ignore that for pseudo-Utopian ideals cannot be allowed to terrorize the rest of us

Posted 6/06/2002 10:37:00 AM by Ocean Guy
As reported in Ha'aretz the US is, among other things proposing a return to the 1967 "borders." Bad idea, but maybe it's a start. Still I'm against any appeasement of the palestinians. It will only encourage more terror, we can't allow them to think that their terror tactics will pay.

Posted 6/05/2002 04:35:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Middle East Realities gives us a few ideas for "INternational Observers" to mingle with the Israeli population to deter or experience the bombings first hand. Loved the Abdel Rahman suggestion.... If I hear his whiney face spouting lies again I may scream and throw the clicker against the TV. One night he came on and I changed the channel only to see and hear him on a different network!

Posted 6/05/2002 04:29:00 PM by Ocean Guy
You have to love the other views about America's aversion to soccer. The second had me laughing out loud.

In case anyone cares, yes I did get up this morning to watch the US team beat Portugal.

Posted 6/05/2002 04:24:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Tal G in Jerusalem is concerned that the blogosphere has run out of things to say about the bombings like todays' in Megiddo. I hope he's wrong.

Posted 6/05/2002 04:20:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Diane E. passes on this link for a discussion of the meaning of Jihad.

Posted 6/05/2002 08:44:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Once again some crazy Arabs have blown themselves up in order to further their cause of disrupting any peace process in Israel. Because the Arab world is not doing enough to stop this form of extremism, we must try. As the President hinted at West Point, preemptive strikes are necessary.

In order to strike we must know our enemy. Without cooperation from the Arab world we are forced to ID the enemy by assuming that if you aren't with us then you're against us. As harsh as that sounds, it is the reality. Appeasement has only worked to encourage them. Negotiations have only given them respite. Terrorism will not be defeated until the terrorists are defeated. Only strong, steadfast measures, including the use of force, will work. It is past time for more action. Once more, we need to hear the President, unequivocally explain the Bush doctrine.. and then DO something about it.

Posted 6/05/2002 08:29:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Thomas Friedman shows us his idealist side once again this morning by lamenting that Egypt is not playing the role in the world that it could and should. He may be right, but the reality is Egypt is a country moving backwards under fear of the Islamist movement that is paralyzing much of the Arab world. The Islamists must be confronted, and if the Arabs won’t, or can’t, do it, then it’s imperative that the US does... hopefully with the support of our ‘friends’ in Europe. Israel MUST NOT be left to fight that battle alone while being ostracized by those who have much to gain from the defeat of the Islamists.

Posted 6/05/2002 08:27:00 AM by Ocean Guy
These proposed changes were opposed by Senator Leahy and others in 2000 according to Paul Sperry’s report. The Dems made a huge mistake in pointing fingers at the President for failing to foresee 9/11. The fallout from those miscalculations continues.

Posted 6/05/2002 08:24:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Here's a voice of reason from Islam.
"The West must reexamine the foundations of its view towards us… which were based on the [perceptions] of the Middle Ages – according to which Islam is a religion of violence spread by the sword, and the Muslims are wreaking vengeance on modern civilization and do not respect human rights, do not guarantee minority rights, do not believe in the values of democracy and tolerance, and do not behave properly towards women. "
I think we have been reexamining, and coming to the same conclusions, but the rest of the article is actually more conciliatory.
"There is no escape from revealing the flaws in our social system – in politics, in culture, in the media, in education, and in the religious curriculum for the past fifty years."
Sheikh 'Abd Al-Hamid Al-Ansari proposes many of the same Reforms for Islam that bloggers have been talking about. Take a look at what he had to say.