Reining in the CAIR Treatment

This story has been all over the place: Rep. Virgil Goode, Fifth District of Virginia, sent a letter to some voters in his district attacking Minnesota Representative Ellison’s plan to use the Koran as the scripture by which he will be sworn into office for the coming Congressional term. According to Goode, his letter was a response to his constituents expressing concern that Keith Ellison, the CAIR boy, is going to be serving in Congress at all. If you remember, back in October, Gates of Vienna posted on Mr. Ellison’s somewhat checkered past, including his extreme anti-Semitism and the fact that CAIR had underwritten his campaign.

Since this is a Virginia story, we’ll skip the usual big guys and go with the story in The Richmond Times Dispatch by staff writer, Rex Bowman. He links to the text of the letter, if you want to read the whole thing.

Mr. Bowman pulls quotes from Rep. Goode’s letter and then lists all the usual suspects up in arms about Rep. Goode’s straightforward objections to Elllison, and to the further immigration of Muslims into America. Among the chorus of complainers, there is The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee, and, of course, James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute. All concerned picked up the predictable “Islamophobic” tar brush and began painting Rep. Goode in the usual CAIR colors.

Finally, Mr. Bowman ends with this:

The 5th Congressional District, largely rural, stretches from the North Carolina line between Henry and Brunswick counties north through Charlottesville to Greene County. It is home to few Muslims, but precise numbers are not available because the Census Bureau does not collect data based on religious adherence.

However, there is a small Muslims of America community in western Charlotte County. In recent weeks, members of an organization calling itself the Christian Action Network have sought to have changed the name of the main road, Sheikh Gilani Lane, that runs through the African-American community.

Up until those last two paragraphs, I could have lived with Mr. Bowman’s surface glide over the story. However, to describe a Jamaat al Fuqra compound as an “African-American community” is stretching things a bit. Someone should ask the residents if they consider themselves Americans.

Here is the letter (edited slightly for this post) that I sent to Mr. Bowman about his news report—

Mr. Bowan:

Your article on Rep. Goode’s letter had this quote:

“However, there is a small Muslims of America community in western Charlotte County. In recent weeks, members of an organization calling itself the Christian Action Network have sought to have changed the name of the main road, Sheikh Gilani Lane, that runs through the African-American community.”

Sir, with all respect, this group of people swear their allegiance to a Pakistani terrorist, Sheikh Gilani, who is not permitted in this country, and who is thought to be the mastermind of several assassinations in this country, not to mention the death of Daniel Pearl.

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Here is the first of several articles we researched and wrote on this group:

“Jamaat al Fuqra in Virginia”:

A snip:

“But first: some background on Jamaat ul-Fuqra. The group was founded in New York by Sheikh Gilani in New York in 1980. Its current headquarters is in Hancock, New York, and it has various compounds, or Jamaats, scattered throughout the United States and Canada, notably in Colorado, New York, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. Most of the adherents are reported to be American-born Black Muslims who follow a strict Islamist ideology.

Sheikh Gilani, you may remember, is the cleric with whom Daniel Pearl had arranged an interview back in January of 2002. Unfortunately, Mr. Pearl was betrayed by his sources, and then abducted and beheaded. Sheikh Gilani was arrested later that month and languishes in Pakistani custody.

So this is the kind of people we are dealing with here. They launder money, smuggle firearms, plan and carry out assassinations and bombings, and conduct intense Islamist indoctrination, including inside American prisons.”
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The South Asia Terrorism Portal is a wealth of information on this group and its goals.

Also see The Politics of CP, whose research is extensive. Since he is harder to track down than we are, I insisted that my fellow-blogger pass any further information to this man, who has the most complete and current information on JF in America. I am concerned for our own safety if we do much more on the subject.

Before further stories and predictable quotes about Rep Goode’s “Islamophobia” are distributed, I think a look into Jamaat al Fuqra is warranted. It is this kind of group to which Goode is saying “enough.”

We live in rural Virginia, but I might add that Richmond is not exempt. It is thought that the Beltway Snipers went to ground (for rest and refuge) at several JF compounds about 45 minutes from Richmond, in “rural Virginia.” That kind of thing could happen again.

Make no mistake, Mr. Rowan, these people loathe us. They are heavily armed, their girl children do not go to school, and the compounds are run-down and unkempt. This is mainly because most of their welfare money goes to the guru in Pakistan — who lives like royalty, by the way. We have received emails from disaffected members about visiting Pakistan and becoming disillusioned at the great chasm between their lives and his.

It is ironic, but not unusual, that American taxpayers are indirectly supporting a known and dangerous terrorist. “Jamaat al Fuqra” means “Community of the Impoverished” and that name certainly describes the adherents of this cult in this country.

I’m glad Rep Goode spoke up. It’s time to turn back immigration, both from the Middle East and Mexico. I voted for him precisely because Goode sees that our culture, any culture, cannot assimilate people that quickly. And in the case of many Muslims and Mexicans, assimilation is not in their plans. You have only to listen to what they say or see what they do to know that this is the case.

I plan to work as hard as I can to prevent in the US the tipping point Europe has reached. This is not easy when one is fighting Saudi-financed mosques and groups like JF. The infiltration in our country continues apace. And one of the hotspots is our Commonwealth.

I realize this message is anathema in Charlottesville and environs. However, it wouldn’t be if Jamaat al Fuqra set up a compound in, say, the Belmont area. But, of course, it won’t. Stealth operations don’t work that way.

One wouldn’t expect a reporter to risk himself personally exploring this group. Believe me, it’s an unsettling experience. But I would ask that you do whatever research you can online. We have. People write us — from places like Georgia and Hancock, NY, and Tennessee who are really scared about what they see — including the heavy duty weapons.

If you do the research, sir, Rep Goode’s remarks won’t seem “Islamophobic.” In fact, I believe it was his sudden introduction to the problem by a Lynchburg group — who showed him a photo of the Sheikh Gilani Lane street sign, a state-named road — that may have been the catalyst for his response.

As for Rep. Ellison, you have only to look into his record to know he is bought and paid for by Saudi/CAIR money. Here’s my take on it:

“Will Minnesota Send the First CAIR Muslim to Congress?”

Personally, I don’t care if he swears on the Koran or on a James Joyce novel, or — as some office holders do — on nothing at all. I’m not interested in what he says, only in what he does. And what Ellison has done so far is pretty alarming. His cheap publicity stunt making sure everyone knew he was going to use the Koran to be sworn into office is just that: politician sleaze publicity.

Dymphna
Gates of Vienna

Note to readers: Strictly speaking, the Koran is the Constitution of Islam, so by placing his hand on this book, Mr. Ellison is implicitly repudiating the American Constitution. That’s what I mean by words versus deeds.

Stuck Inside of Philly with the Lynchburg Blues Again

I’m blogging from the Philadelphia airport, using Dymphna’s laptop and a pay-per-connect wifi network. When I was waiting at Pearson Airport in Toronto this afternoon, there were plenty of available power outlets, but no available wifi. Here in Philly they have the wifi, but no outlets anywhere near the seats.

Airports are perverse.

I scouted around here and found a power outlet on the wall behind the gate I’ll be departing from, right next to an airport wheelchair. Jackpot! Set up my laptop, use my suitcase tipped on its end for a mousepad, and I’m a happy camper.
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My flight plan included a four-hour layover here, so I went ahead and paid AT&T for twenty-four hours of connectivity to their erratic and plodding network — it was either that or the bar, which would have been more expensive. Cleared the email, skype-chatted with my better half, put up a post, and pretended I wasn’t sitting in a cold corner at the airport.

About half an hour before departure time, the airline announced a ninety minute delay for my flight. A moment after that an airport employee requested the wheelchair for someone who actually needed it (probably for a real blogger), and I was reduced to a butt-numbing position on the cold floor against the wall.

But a few minutes later an airline employee came back to the counter, saw my plight, and volunteered to fetch another wheelchair for me. The world is full of kind people!

Now I am simulating a crippled person again, whiling away the wait time by bloviating for no particular reason. In other good news, there’s no Jihad visible to speak of from my vantage point.

Fair is fair: now I must plug the airline.

Fly US Airways Express! They have nice employees.

The “Nuke Mecca” Meme

Christine, the Operations Manager of the 910 Group, sent the following message to Gates of Vienna and asked us to post it:

I agree that Islam is, structurally, a totalitarian, fatalistic and solipsistic belief system designed like some interlocking logical mosaic pattern.

System statements include:

• Islam will prevail over all others regardless of historical, scientific, or cultural evidence to the contrary.
  
• Anyone leaving Islam should die or return.
  
• All who are not in Islam should die or convert.
  
• Anyone in Islam who dies wins in paradise.
  
• All statements criticizing Islam by non-Muslims.
  
• Critical Muslims or apostates are false.
  
• All statements by Islamists about Islam are true (even if they are contradictory).
  
• All lies by Islamists about Islam are permitted in order to accomplish all enumerated goals listed above.

And therefore I understand the tendency to want to break that logical knot by attacking the first premise — the fatalism of Islam, the magical realism and fantasizing aspect of Islam.

But I don’t have much time for the “Nuke Mecca” meme, especially when used with ad hominem arguments that dismiss any other approach as lacking in rigor or realism or military experience or analytic depth or whatever. I think the idea is morally bankrupt, and basically nihilistic. Like all nihilism, it is the lazy fellow’s way out of actually engaging in the hard work of working politically and using the legal tools of information warfare. It’s a reversion to the Dresden or Hiroshima bombings — a third generation warfare solution to a fourth or fifth generation warfare problem.

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The Nuke Mecca meme itself is a prime example of “magical thinking,” a kind of solipsistic enjoyment of the fantasy of removing a great danger with a grand technological feat, dismissing all critics of the idea as appeasers or ameliorators. At the very least, were it actually to be done, the iron law of unintended, unforeseeable consequences would apply.

Having said that, the need addressed by the Nuke Mecca meme is real — each of us longs for a way to blast through the fatalism, the internally locked logical system of Islamic supremacism and intra-Muslim discourse.

I don’t have an answer, but I would challenge the readers of this blog to consider whether there are any other ways to break the knot — ones that don’t actually involve the deaths of tens of thousands and a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East.

OK, readers — rise to the bait!

Remember: she’s asking for solutions besides “nuke the ragheads”.

There’s a Hole in Sandy’s Pants Where All the Papers Go

You remember Sandy Berger’s pants, don’t you? The clown pants with the extra-deep pockets? The black hole for classified documents from the National Archives?

Well, the whole sordid story is out in the open now, and it’s even more appalling than it seemed at the time:

WASHINGTON — President Clinton’s national security adviser removed classified documents from the National Archives, hid them under a construction trailer and later tried to find the trash collector to retrieve them, the agency’s internal watchdog said Wednesday.

The report was issued more than a year after Sandy Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removing the documents.

A slap on the wrist is what he really received:

Berger pleaded guilty to unlawfully removing and retaining classified documents. He was fined $50,000, ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and was barred from access to classified material for three years.

But never mind that for now. Here are the details of the Berger sleight-of-pocket:

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Berger took a break to go outside without an escort while it was dark. He had taken four documents in his pockets.

“He headed toward a construction area. ... Mr. Berger looked up and down the street, up into the windows of the Archives and the DOJ (Department of Justice), and did not see anyone,” the interview notes said.

He then slid the documents under a construction trailer, according to the inspector general. Berger acknowledged that he later retrieved the documents from the construction area and returned with them to his office.

“He was aware of the risk he was taking,” the inspector general’s notes said. Berger then returned to the Archives building without fearing the documents would slip out of his pockets or that staff would notice that his pockets were bulging.

The notes said Berger had not been aware that Archives staff had been tracking the documents he was provided because of earlier suspicions from previous visits that he was removing materials. Also, the employees had made copies of some documents.

In October 2003, the report said, an Archives official called Berger to discuss missing documents from his visit two days earlier. The investigator’s notes said, “Mr. Berger panicked because he realized he was caught.”

The notes said that Berger had “destroyed, cut into small pieces, three of the four documents. These were put in the trash.”

After the trash had been picked up, Berger “tried to find the trash collector but had no luck,” the notes said.

And there’s also this:

Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that National Archives employees spotted Berger bending down and fiddling with something white around his ankles.

The employees did not feel at the time there was enough information to confront someone of Berger’s stature, the report said.

Later, when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing documents, he lied by saying he did not take them, the report said.

Berger claims that he returned all the documents. But not everyone is so certain.

Berger’s lawyer, Lanny Breuer, said in a statement that the contents of all the documents exist today and were made available to the commission.

But Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., outgoing chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said he’s not convinced that the Archives can account for all the documents taken by Berger. Davis said working papers of National Security Council staff members are not inventoried by the Archives.

“There is absolutely no way to determine if Berger swiped any of these original documents. Consequently, there is no way to ever know if the 9/11 Commission received all required materials,” Davis said.

Rep. Davis is right. But it doesn’t make any difference. Sandy Berger has Paid His Debt to Society. It’s Time to Move On.

My capacity for outrage at what high-ranking government officials can get away with (provided they’re Democrats) reached a saturation point many years ago.

Still, this one made the high-dudgeon muscle in my face twitch just a little bit.

Perjury. Destruction of classified documents. Abuse of power. Obstruction of justice.

Why is this man walking the streets when there are poor schmoes out there doing fifteen years of hard time just for having a bag of weed in their pockets?

Just sayin’…

Shades of Rwanda, Only With More Factions

There are two parts to this post. The first, a kind of Prologue, was written in March, 2003.

The second, a Commentary on the failure of the war, was written in August, 2003.

None of this is new material. But a lot of us weren’t blogging or reading websites as much back then as we are now, so perhaps you didn’t see this account. And certainly we were playing catch-up regarding the factions in Iraq which would turn out to be the ingredients for a tar baby to which America found itself glued.

We are still stuck, and the recent Study Group proposals to melt that tar have all the vigor of limp spaghetti. And they have all the nuance of…of a Donald Duck cartoon. If their solutions tempt you in the slightest, perhaps these three year old documents will make you see why the report is worthless.

Even three years out, though, the points Ken Joseph makes are germane — especially given that new folks are in charge. Will the new amalgam on Capitol Hill do any better in its handling of Iraq? Will the new Secretary of Defense prove to be competent enough to pull off a change in observation, orientation, or direction?

These documents are epistles in the true sense of the word. They was written by Ken Joseph, a wannabe “human shield” volunteer in Iraq. An Assyrian Christian (the indigenous people of Iraq, who were there before the Arabs arrived), Mr. Joseph had been raised in Japan by his Christian missionary parents.

The “I Was Wrong” letter grew out of a personal culture clash: the protected missionary culture of democratic Japan in which Mr. Joseph was raised, and the reality of his fellow Christian Assyrians in Iraq. He arrived in a hubristic “Blessed are the peacemakers” mode to offer himself as a human shield. In short order, the hubris was eaten away by the acid reality of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

First the prologue, part of a Newsmax post dated March 28th, 2003:

A few weeks ago, I traveled to Iraq with supplies for our church and family. This was my first visit ever to the land of my forefathers. The first order of business was to attend church. During a simple meal for peace activists after the service, an older man sounded me out carefully.

Iraqi: ‘We Want the War’

Finally he felt free to talk: “There is something you should know — we didn’t want to be here tonight. When the priest asked us to gather for a peace service, we said we didn’t want to come because we don’t want peace. We want the war to come.”

“What in the world are you talking about?” I blurted.

Thus began a strange odyssey that shattered my convictions. At the same time, it gave me hope for my people and, in fact, hope for the world.

Because of my invitation as a “religious person” and family connections, I was spared the government snoops who ordinarily tail foreigners 24 hours a day.

This allowed me to see and hear amazing things as I stayed in the homes of several relatives. The head of our tribe urged me not to remain with my people during its time of trial but instead go out and tell the world about the nightmare ordinary Iraqis are going through.

‘We Live Like Animals’

I was to tell the world about the terror on the faces of my family when a stranger knocked at the door. “Look at our lives!” they said. “We live like animals: no food, no car, no telephone, no job, and, most of all, no hope.”

That’s why they wanted this war.

“You cannot imagine what it is to live like this for 20, 30 years. We have to keep up our routine lest we would lose our minds.”

But I realized in every household that someone had already lost his or her mind; in other societies such a person would be in a mental hospital. I also realized that there wasn’t a household that did not mourn at least one family member who had become a victim of this police state.

I wept with relatives whose son just screamed all day long. I cried with a relative who had lost his wife. Yet another left home every day for a “job” where he had nothing to do. Still another had lost a son to war and a husband to alcoholism.

As I observed the slow death of a people without hope, Saddam Hussein seemed omnipresent. There were his statues; posters showed him with his hand outstretched or firing his rifle, or wearing an Arab headdress. These images seemed to be on every wall, in the middle of the road, in homes.

“Everything will be all right when the war is over,” people told me. “No matter how bad it is, we will not all die. Twelve years ago, it went almost all the way but failed. We cannot wait anymore. We want the war, and we want it now.”

The People Don’t Want the U.N.

When I told members of my family that some sort of compromise with Iraq was being worked out at the United Nations, they reacted not with joy but anger: “Only war will get out of our present condition.”

This reminded me of the stories I heard from older Japanese who had welcomed the sight of American B-29 bombers in the skies over their country as a sign that the war was coming to an end. True, these planes brought destruction, but also hope.

‘I Felt Terrible About Having Demonstrated Against the War’

I felt terrible about having demonstrated against the war without bothering to ask what the Iraqis wanted. Tears streamed down my face as I lay in my bed in a tiny Baghdad house crowded in with 10 other people of my own flesh and blood, all exhausted, all without hope. I thought, “How dare I claim to speak for people I had not even asked what they wanted?”

Then I began a strange journey to let the world know of the true situation in Iraq, just as my tribe had begged me to. With great risk to myself and those who had told their stories and allowed my camera into their homes, I videotaped their plight.

But would I get that tape out of the country?

To make sure I was not simply getting the feelings of the oppressed Assyrian minority, I spoke to dozens of other people, all terrified. Over and over they told me, “We would be killed for speaking like this.” Yet they did speak, though only in private homes or when other Iraqis had assured them that no government minder was watching over me.

I spoke with a former army member, with someone working for the police, with taxi drivers, store owners, mothers and government officials. All had the same message: “Please bring on the war. We may lose our lives, but for our children’s sake, please, please end our misery.”

‘Soldiers Hated Their Work’

On my last day in Baghdad, I saw soldiers putting up sandbags. By their body language, these men made it clear that they dared not speak but hated their work; they were unmistakably on the side of the common people.

I wondered how my relatives felt about the United States and Britain. Their feelings were mixed. They have no love for the allies — but they trust them.

“We are not afraid of the American bombing. They will bomb carefully and not purposely target the people,” I was told. “What we are afraid of is Saddam and the Baath Party will do when the war begins.”

The final call for help came at the most unexpected place — the border, where crying members of my family sent me off.

The taxi fares from Baghdad to Amman had risen within one day from $100 to $300, to $500 and then to $1,000 by nightfall.

My driver looked on anxiously as a border guard patted me down. He found my videotapes, and I thought: It’s all over!

For once I experienced what my relatives were going through 365 days a year — sheer terror. Quietly, the officer laid the tapes on a desk, one by one. Then he looked at me — was it with sadness or with anger? Who knows?

He clinically shook his head and without a word handed all the tapes back to me. He didn’t have to say anything. He spoke the only language left to these imprisoned Iraqis, the silent language of human kindness.

That was his first taste of the real Iraq.

Then there is the commentary, from Mr. Joseph, on AssyrianChristians. com, five months later. In some ways it is outdated, in others, prescient. It gives his view, five months after the start of the war, on why it has been lost…lost three years ago.

It is well worth making your way through all of what he has to say. You will note where his hopes did not bear fruit, and you can tell, in hindsight, what he didn’t — couldn’t anticipate. Nonetheless, it is riveting to get a report from someone who is part of a vanishing minority: an Assyrian Christian, someone whose liturgical practices predate our American Christian theology and liturgy by more than a thousand years.
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I am putting up the whole commentary as it appears. However, I will note that a book he alludes to having written, or being in the process of writing, does not appear to be available. At least I couldn’t find it.

As the dust begins to settle around the dream that was Iraq, the finger pointing is beginning.

"Who lost Iraq?" is the simple, but profound question that many are beginning to ask.

As one who was in Iraq during the time of Saddam and has been their since as an Assyrian Christian, the indigenous people of Iraq the answer to that question is not just academic — it directly relates to the future of our people, the Assyrian Christians who are the original people of Iraq long before the Arabs came.

We are the people of Nineveh to whom Jonah came and comprise one of the last remaining major Christian communities in the Middle East.

First, is the question of Saddam. I was there. In an upcoming book entitled “I Was Wrong,” I describe what life was under Saddam. I was originally against the war, but when I saw the terror that was Saddam and the pain my family lived under I was quickly brought back to reality.

It was terrible under Saddam Hussein! The real Abu Ghraib prison was a place where my relatives were beaten every day — after Lunch and Dinner. Monday and Saturday were the days people were hanged.

My relatives reaction to the Abu Ghraib “scandal”? They were angry — angry at the fact that the Americans could not do anything to try and get the truth out of those who oppressed them!

Chemical weapons? I was there! The great fear of the residents of Baghdad in the days leading up to the war were not the Americans — they were afraid of Saddam and all the weapons they believed he had and how he would unleash them on them when cornered. Everybody believed he had every possible weapon to obtain and would unleash it all!

Second, the deep appreciation for the Liberation of their country from Saddam. I was there! Imagine for the first time in your life being able to use a cell phone, surf the internet, speak on the telephone without fear, talk to your neighbors without being afraid, watch ‘normal” TV, wake up in the morning without having to see Saddam everywhere! Happy? They were delirious to have him gone!

Third, though is the real question. Why has Iraq gone so badly? The answer is a bit complicated, but there is an answer and it is still not too late.

Simply put Iraq was lost by Americans. Essentially two types of Americans who ruled Iraq in the days and months following the fall of Saddam.

In my upcoming book, “I Was Wrong”, I detail the many experiences we had firsthand.

The first type was what I call the “good guys”! If Americans have one major fault it is that they are so positive and forward looking and good that they have a hard time understanding how evil Evil really is!

That was the lesson I learned under Saddam. Yes, he was really that evil and yes, in the 21st century there is such evil!

The good guys, were the “aw shucks” Americans that came into Iraq and did their best to organize, fix and restore Iraq. They could not imagine that anyone would purposely try to work against what clearly the Iraqis wanted.

I watched them, many times with tears in my eyes as they worked so hard, under such terrible conditions to make things better for Iraq.

“Why are you here?” I would ask over and over. The answer was always the same: “I just want the Iraqis to have what we have. Just doing my job!”

How simple, how naïve and yet how powerful.

A half century my own parents came to Japan following the end of the war with Japan and are still there. In talking to the men and women risking their lives to see Iraq restored I kept flashing back to my own parents.

A half century after he had first gone to Japan I asked my own father, “Why, Dad did you come to Japan?”

His answer? “Because Japan needed help!” DAD! That’s all? You have been here for 50 years now.

No matter how hard I push him that is all the answer I can get. “Because they need help”? How foolish! How naïve! How powerful!

The first group that “lost Iraq” are the “good guys” — the men and women who gave of their lives and their time to rebuild Iraq so the Iraqis could be free.

As my father, a half century after he first came they cannot understand or fathom how evil people can be that they would work against progress, blow up children, rape women and destroy oil fields.

They just don’t understand!

The second group? “The opportunists”. These were many of the people working in the CPA — Coalition Provisional Authority who were there not to see Iraq restored, but simply to get a good line on their resumes and to get a job in the new administration.

A year ago those who were hoping for a job in a Kerry Administration had every incentive to see Iraq fail. While it is very difficult to point to specific instances, put yourself in the position of a staffer desperate for a job in a Kerry administration in January.

The best way to insure it? For Iraq to fail! Did it happen? I am absolutely confident it did. I saw it every day!

I am putting out a call to all who were working at CPA headquarters and others to come forward with details of how the “opportunists” worked against success simply to insure they would have a job in January!

A “forgotten” poster which was supposed to be posed all over the country announcing the plans of the CPA. “Accidentally” delayed telephones, computer systems and a host of other supplies we saw daily.

A whole class of staffers working subconsciously and often consciously to in their own little small way have Iraq “fail” so they could get a job in a new administration which would be directly linked to the failure of Iraq.

The third group? The mostly British “moslem experts” dispatched to “guide” the CPA.

I met them everywhere. They were and continue to be evil personified . With beautiful British accents, though they always bowled over the Americans, enamored at the “class” that the Queen’s English always provides.

Outwardly liberal, democratic, free-loving, they were in actuality evil, promoters of the Islamic Republic of Iraq, always smiling and deceiving the “nice guys” who trusted the “advisors” as they interpreted, explained the “culture” and in as many ways as they could worked against any success that the CPA might attain by working in a calculated way to deliver Iraq to their paymasters in the evil empire which is radical islam.

Who betrayed Iraq? The “good guys” who naively believed, the “chasers” who desperately hoped Iraq would fail for their simple job needs and the “experts” who systematically dismantled all the good done for the Iraqi people.

In particular, who betrayed Iraq? In contrast to the no-nonsense Military Officer Jay Garner, I had the honor of meeting, I confronted Paul Bremer, his pathetic successor who personally betrayed the people of Iraq by turning it over before it was ready just to personally get out.

Unacceptable!

Is it too late? No!

We still have time to remedy the mistakes and deliver Iraq once again to is long suffering people.

The most important tool still remaining is the Constitution. Former Ambassador Paul Bremer betrayed the Iraqi people when in spite of the Iraqi Constitutional Committee voting that there “should be no mention of religion or ideology” in the new Iraqi Constitution, pushed on it article 7 which reads “slam is the religion of the state.”

Imagine, fighting a war, sacrificing so many to create “The Islamic Republic of Iraq.”

The United States and fellow donors in the EU and Japan must absolutely demand that the Iraqi Constitution be secular with no mention of religion or ideality as the Iraqi people who are throughout secular want.

Second, is realizing that Iraq is in fact four countries — “Shiastan” in the south, “Sunnistan” in the middle, “Kurdistan” in the Northeast and “Assyria” in the North.

The secret to success in Iraq? Providing maximum local autonomy and self government in the four “states” that constitute Iraq. The way to preserve the whole, as the United States has shown the rest of the world for over 200 years is to provide maximum autonomy to the states.

Can Iraq succeed? Yes it can!

It is succeeding fabulously! Internet service everywhere, freedom to speak, talk on the telephone, business is booming and the list goes on.

Over a half century ago when my parents first came to Japan America succeeded and an enemy — Japan — went on to become a friend and a partner.

Why? Because the US absolutely insisted on a secular and democratic constitution. The pressure was tremendous to compromise and give in, but the US prevailed and the results have “stuck” for 60 years!

We can do the same in Iraq. Follow the example of Japan and absolutely insist that 1800 brave young Americans did not give their lives for “The Islamic Republic of Iraq.” but for freedom, democracy and the rule of law.

An absolute insistence on a secular constitution and local autonomy for the distinct people groups in Iraq is the way forward.

A successful Iraq will “domino” thought the region and the world. After all, freedom is the cry of every man and woman.

If we fail, “The Islamic Republic of Iraq” — an Iranian clone, but with the second largest oil reserves in the world will be unleashed onto the face of the earth in a manner that will pale in comparison to Saddam and Iran.

Stay the course! Insist on freedom, democracy and the rule of law! There is still time before the October 15 vote on the constitution to not ask, not urge, but as America did in Japan 60 years ago insist that the Constitution be secular and democratic with a bill of rights and complete local autonomy to the states so the whole can be preserved by the maximum autonomy of the parts.

As the very simple question, whether you were for or against the war Did 1800 plus brave young men and women give their lives to create The Islamic Republic of Iraq?

The Answer is clear!

It’s been more than three years since Mr. Joseph wrote these words. I am studying the continuing plight of minority groups like the Assyrian Christians (regularly persecuted by the Kurds and other Sunnis), and the gypsies. When I have more to report, I’ll let you know.

Daily, the picture grows more complex. The Assyrians are fleeing to Syria. Some of them had run from Iran to Iraq only to be further persecuted there. Meanwhile, in the beginning flames of the Sunni - Shi’ite conflagration, Israel may be playing both sides against the middle in the hope of surviving these ancient hatreds. And the Kurds in Turkey and Iraq and Iran continue to push for their own sovereign nation.

Shades of Rwanda, only with more factions.

Gates of Vienna Goes to Toronto

Well, half of it does, anyway. I’m up here in the frozen north talking to a business owner about a possible programming job.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, because if this works out y’all won’t have to hit the tip jar so often.

Things may be fairly quiet at the Gates until I get back. I’ve been able to read and answer some of my email, but a lot of it may be delayed until I get home.

And by the way — it’s not really “frozen” here right now. A balmy 42ºF, and no snow…

The Federal Behemoth

A reader writes to take exception to my slighting of the federal government in Saturday’s post:

Baron — I think your indictment and snubbing of government employees is a tactical error. I was a federal employee for several decades and I was intimately involved in information research for high level decision makers in our government. Most of my co-workers were very liberal, and as with any big organization, some were time-servers, some were barely competent, and some made brown-nosing an art, but there were also a lot of very competent people with a massive amount of information, contacts, skills and resources that you, I am sure, could really use about now. So, I would not be too quick to write this whole group off.

I wrote him back to assure him that it was not the individuals who work for the government who are a problem, but the collective nature of the federal behemoth. The government as an organization is an antiquated juggernaut lumbering through the lives of ordinary people and causing random havoc, even as it tosses out huge wads of cash in all directions.

Some of my best friends work for the federal government. They’re good, decent, intelligent people. Yet somehow the government they are part of has metastasized into a monstrous growth that sucks up ever-increasing amounts of our money without in return adequately protecting us, or advancing the general welfare.

Nothing is more emblematic of federal dysfunction than the Internal Revenue Service. Citizens live their lives in fear of the IRS — not just rich people, but average working stiffs, if they happen to own a home or have some savings. The IRS is the American equivalent of the KGB, the dread hand of the State that knocks on the door in the middle of the night.

In my case, the knock on the door is replaced by the plain white envelope bearing an IRS return address, the one that makes me break out in a cold sweat the moment it appears in our mailbox. I know that when the IRS comes calling, my assets can be hauled off on a whim to the Treasury Department gulag, never to be seen again.

You don’t have to be convicted of any crime to have your valuables sequestered by Internal Revenue. If those busy folks at Treasury decide that you’ve violated the tax code, they can withdraw your assets from your control until they decide it’s OK for you to have some of them back.

Unconstitutional, you say? You betcha. But it’s legal, and there’s nothing you can do except hire the best lawyer that money can buy, assuming the IRS leaves enough in your checking account for you to do so.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
Thirty years ago I left a lucrative job in computer programming to become a self-employed artist. I spent considerable time reading through the various IRS publications to learn the ins and outs of self-employment as it was viewed by the Treasury Department.
- - - - - - - - - -
One of my obligations as a Sole Proprietor was to file an estimated tax report every quarter — the 1040-ES. You calculate your income in the previous quarter, annualize it, adjust for expected changes to it, and pre-pay the appropriate tax. The government keeps the money for the rest of the year without paying you any interest, but if you underpay your estimated tax, you owe them interest on the difference. Funny about that.

As an official Starving Artist, I had no income — the tiny amount of money I made selling paintings was more than offset by the cost of paint, canvas, and other expenses. But in those days you had to file a 1040-ES every quarter even if you owed the IRS no money, and, being a dutiful citizen, I complied.

One quarter I made a mistake: I filed my 1040-ES two days late. I didn’t owe any penalties since I didn’t make any money, but I did file late.

Then I made a second mistake: I included a friendly note to the IRS along with my zero-filled form, apologizing for my late filing. Whoops!

Not long afterwards I received an alarming-looking notice from the IRS, stating that interest and penalties incurred by filing late could not be waived, and that I must pay them promptly to avoid further charges. The notice was computer-generated, and it very carefully calculated the interest and penalties on zero dollars, concluding that I must pay them the amount of zero no later than such-and-such date!

Then I made a third mistake: I wrote back to the IRS. I explained that they had made a mistake, that I didn’t owe them any money; I had just filed my 1040-ES a couple of days late.

Bad move. I got an even sterner note back from them, reiterating that no penalties could be waived, and adding that if I wanted to protest the ruling or file a grievance, form TA-98956XZ-R(31)a must be filled out and filed with the IRS no later than etc blah yak (yes, I made that form number up; I have no idea what it was).

At the bottom of the notice was a reiterated computer calculation: YOU MUST PAY ZERO DOLLARS BY THE DATE SHOWN OR FACE ADDITIONAL PENALTIES.

I made the only decision that a sane person could make at that point: I tore the notice up.

I had finally learned my lesson, which was this: Leave the IRS alone.

Don’t write to them. Don’t call them. File the forms required on the dates required, and write the checks when you have to. If they say you’re wrong, and owe them more money, pay it. If they say you paid too much, and send you a check, raise your eyes to heaven and thank the good Lord for His providence, but don’t write a thank-you note to the IRS.

And, when you make enough money, hire accountants and lawyers to do the work and file for you, thereby making the long arm of the Auditor marginally less likely to reach into your house and tighten up your sphincter for you.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
We don’t get bang for our buck from the monstrosity we know as “the federal government”. This is no one’s fault in particular. It’s not the fault of the federal employees who just want to do their jobs and live a quiet life until they collect their generous pensions. It’s not the fault of members of Congress who just want to get re-elected so that they can keep their paid staff and their franking privileges. It’s not even the fault of the average voter who votes his interests or votes by caprice, depending on how informed he is. None of them intended to create or maintain the behemoth.

Maybe Big Media are to blame, since they package and market the victim mentality to their audience, thus requiring the federal government to vacuum up an ever-increasing proportion of our wealth so that it can hand it out to ever-increasing numbers of official victims, keeping a little bit back to cover “administrative overhead”.

In any case, the behemoth is a sick and shaky monster, one which will someday have to topple, since the prosperity and productivity of the American populace are the only things keeping it standing.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
My correspondent is right about the good and competent people who inhabit the lower levels of the federal government. But I don’t think the same is true for people at the top of the pyramid.

The highest administrators in the government — both the political appointees and the permanent bureaucracy — didn’t get where they are by being high-minded and idealistic. They aren’t rewarded for creativity and risk-taking.

Getting that high requires ambition and ruthlessness. The rewards are great and the perks are generous for those who can stomach the struggle to get there.

These people — regardless of their political ideology — have the most to lose when the behemoth finally topples. Don’t expect them to let principle stand in the way of keeping their places.

We don’t need no stinkin’ Constitution.

Welcome to Middle East Hell

This isn’t, strictly speaking, jihad-related. But… here’s a new milestone in a bizarre ongoing story from the land of Muammar al-Qaddafi (the same fellow who bears a striking resemblance to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church) as reported today by the Associated Press:

TRIPOLI, Libya — Six foreign health workers jailed in Libya for years on charges of deliberately infecting children with the AIDS virus were convicted and sentenced to death in a case that has long sparked international outrage and did so again Tuesday.

The United States and Europe had called for the release of the five Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor, warning Libya that the ruling would affect relations. Already the long trial has held up efforts by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to repair his rogue image and rebuild ties with the West.

The nurses and doctor have been in jail since 1999 on charges that they spread the HIV virus to more than 400 children at a hospital in the Libyan city of Benghazi during a botched experiment to find a cure for the disease. Western nations blame the infections on unsanitary conditions at Libyan hospitals and accuse Tripoli of using the six health workers as scapegoats.

Bulgaria and the EU swiftly condemned the decision, and chief Bulgarian counsel Trayan Markovski said the defendants would appeal to the Libyan Supreme Court.

“Sentencing innocent people to death is an attempt to cover up the real culprits and the real reasons for the AIDS outbreak in Benghazi,” said Bulgarian parliamentary speaker Georgi Pirinski.

This is actually the nurses’ second trial; their first death sentence was overturned, and they were granted a retrial, after international outrage over their sentences. They’ve been in prison for seven years. Seven years! Can you imagine seven years in a Libyan prison?
- - - - - - - - - -
DNA analysis has confirmed that the virus that infected the children could not possibly have been spread by the accused nurses, since it was present before they arrived. But the Libyans aren’t about to let the facts stand in the way of a good infidel hanging.

An international legal observer, Francois Cantier of Lawyers Without Borders, promptly criticized the retrial as lacking scientific rigor. Research published this month said samples from the infected children showed their viruses were contracted before the six defendants started working at the hospital in question.

“We need scientific evidence. It is a medical issue, not only a judicial one,” Cantier said after the verdict. His colleague, Ivan Paneff, said Lawyers Without Borders had tried to persuade the judges to commission international experts to investigate conditions at the hospital but “they refused.”

Bulgaria’s Pirinski made the same point in Sofia, saying: “The court has not taken into account the unquestionable judicial and scientific evidences for the innocence of the medics.”

[…]

Luc Montagnier — the French doctor who co-discovered HIV — testified in the first trial that the virus was active in the hospital before the Bulgarian nurses began their contracts there in 1998.

More evidence for that argument surfaced on Dec. 6 — too late to be submitted in court — when Nature magazine published an analysis of HIV and hepatitis virus samples from the children.

Using changes in the genetic information of HIV over time as a “molecular clock,” the analysts concluded that the virus was contracted before the six defendants arrived at the hospital — perhaps even three years before.

Here’s a final fillip to the story:

Idriss Lagha, the president of a group representing the victims, rejected the Nature article, telling a news conference in London on Monday that the nurses had infected the children with a “genetically engineered” virus. He accused them as doing so for research on behalf of foreign intelligence agencies.

The Libyans seem to be drinking from the same moon-pool as African-Americans who believe that the AIDS virus was created by the CIA specifically to commit genocide against black people in the United States.

Is there a Central Rumor Agency that the supplies talking points for the Libyans as well as Al Sharpton? Or maybe there’s an Urban Legend listserv that they all subscribe to?

If you’re the praying type, say a quick prayer for those nurses stuck in Middle East Hell.

Every Woman Needs a Little Black Dress

I stole this from Jauhara, who lifted it from Lucianne.com, though I couldn’t find the link there.

This may be an example of one of those clashes of civilizations we’ve been hearing about -- I mean the clash between the camera and the facelessness. As Jauhara said, "And the point of this being what, exactly?"

Or maybe it’s a joke; I didn’t check Snopes.

On the other hand…

We Live in Interesting Times

Sorry, Paul Krugman. According to the World Bank’s report there is a global rising middle class:

…growth in developing countries will reach a near record 7 percent this year. In 2007 and 2008, growth will probably slow, but still likely exceed 6 percent, more than twice the rate in high-income countries, which is expected to be 2.6 percent.

On how globalization will shape the global economy over the next 25 years, the report’s ‘central scenario’ predicts that the global economy could expand from $35 trillion in 2005 to $72 trillion in 2030. “While this outcome represents only a slight acceleration of global growth compared to the past 25 years, it is driven more than ever before by strong performance in developing countries,” said Richard Newfarmer, the report’s lead author and Economic Advisor in the Trade Department. “And while exact numbers will undoubtedly turn out to be different, the underlying trends are relatively impervious to all but the most severe or disruptive shocks.”

Unfortunately, I can think of some doomsday scenarios that would provide those disruptive shocks: the unnatural disasters provided by the death-dealing Islamists come to mind. Were they ever to coordinate their murderous intentions, the reverberations could spread to include the world’s economy. However, it’s not likely they have the organizational structure in place — at the moment — to bring off a major catastrophe, at least major enough to have a deep effect on a global level.

Meanwhile, apocalyptic dreams of the Ummah coming to pass are much more 7th century airy-fairy bloody tales than are the plans the Chinese have for the rest of us. In a recent essay Rowan Callick suggests that we “excise” the Middle East and look at what China is doing:

This might seem a very odd exercise if you live in the USA or the Middle East. But for those of us in the rest of the world, it’s pretty natural. Simply excise the Middle East, and look at what’s happening in most other places. One word will do: China. That’s what’s happening.

While the USA is preoccupied with the Middle East, it is “losing” the rest of the world. The entire developing world, as well as the industrial powerhouses of East Asia, are already starting to view China as not a mere potential rival to the US but as a new super-power already.

The forced resignation of John Bolton as America’s United Nations ambassador reinforces the perception that Washington will be hors de combat for a couple of years, with a lame duck president competing for domestic influence with an isolationist Congress.

This is helping stimulate Beijing’s voracious engagement in trade deals of every kind. Its diplomacy is focused and relentless. And its “non conditional friendship” approach is loved by Third World leaders irritated by the attempts of Western countries, international agencies and non government organizations to bring them to account.

[…]

From a Washington perspective, this might appear darned unfair, as the US is almost alone leading the war on Islamist terror in the thankless heat of the day, on behalf of most of the rest of the world.

It is indeed unfair. But for many complex reasons, the crucial need for the war on terror is little understood elsewhere, and most European opinion leaders — including those from Britain — that remain influential internationally are exulting in the USA’s being humbled.

Meanwhile, most of the problems, the vanities, the cruelties of the rulers of China are conveniently sidelined as it is vaunted as not merely the Next Big Thing — a sort of globalization-meets-internet-age super new wave — but as the Now Big Thing. Call this ungrateful, naïve, greedy, unintelligent, amoral, short-sighted, disloyal, opportunistic — and you’d be right. But it’s next to impossible to turn it off.

China Central TV has just finished broadcasting a lavish 12 part historical series on “The Rise of the Great Nations.” The message is clear, in a country whose diplomatic catchphrase is its “peaceful rise” — we’re next.

The most interesting aspect of China’s inroads does not lie in its economic tsunami. Have you heard of the Confucius Institute? If not, you will soon. Forget the local mosque. The coming attraction is much older than anything extant in the West or Middle East:

- - - - - - - - - -

Confucius Institute is a non-profit public institute which aims at promoting Chinese language and culture and supporting local Chinese teaching internationally through affiliated Confucius Institutes. Its headquarters is in Beijing and is under the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language. After establishing a pilot institute in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in June 2004, the first Confucius Institute opened on November 21, 2004 in Seoul, Korea and many more have been established in other countries, such as the U.S., Germany and Sweden, where Chinese enjoys an increasing popularity. The first Confucius Institute in South Eastern Europe was opened in August 2006 in Belgrade, Serbia. The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China estimates that, by the year 2010, there will be approximately 100 million people worldwide learning Chinese as a foreign language, and it plans to set up 100 Confucius Institutes worldwide.

In case there is one near you, here’s the U.S. list:

• Chicago Public Schools
  
• China Institute
  
• Michigan State University
  
• Palm Beach County School District, Boca Raton, Florida
  
• San Francisco State University
  
• University of Hawaii
  
• University of Iowa
  
• University of Kansas
  
• University of Maryland
  
• University of Massachusetts
  
• University of Oklahoma
  
• University of Texas

There are listings in the same Wikipedia link for Germany, Hungary, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Thailand, Sweden, New Zealand, and the UK.

Mr. Callick references Daniel Bell, a Canadian philosopher teaching in China:

The earlier rise of authoritarian, Confucianesque “Asian values” promoted by south east Asian leaders bit the dust, rightly so, when the region’s economies hit the wall in 1997.

But the concept is now returning with a vengeance, far more powerfully fuelled this time — by the leaders of China who are investing millions of dollars in a global chain of Confucian Institutes.

The view that this is already China’s cultural, political and strategic hour as well as its economic hour, decades before many observers had expected, is being echoed in new books such as “Beyond Liberal Democracy,” by the young Canadian Philosophy Professor at Beijing’s elite Qinghua University, Daniel Bell.

He champions as an alternative to liberal democracy, re-emergent Confucianism, that he sees embodied in the new Chinese leadership of Asia, encapsulated in Hu Jintao’s relentless slogan about building a “harmonious socialist society.”

However, despite Professor Bell’s encomium, all is not well on the Eastern Front:

Willy Wo-lap Lam, a renowned China analyst, says the Chinese regime’s treatment of the defenders of marginalised people — like blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng, his four year sentence for conspiring to disrupt traffic recently upheld — hardly promotes “community life.”

“Internationally, ‘harmony’ is supposed to mean the opposite of Bush-style unilateralism,” he says. “But it is just rhetoric. Beijing is aggressively trying to subjugate Burma, Laos and other client states, and its behaviour in Sudan is certainly not Confucianist, only creating ‘harmony’ for the murderous dictators there.”

Finally, just to make things interesting, Larry Kudlow has a link to a news article that says China is getting ready to attack North Korea. And it seems that China wants us to know about it, since the attack plan was leaked to those in a position to tattle to Western intelligence sources.

You’d think even the North Koreans were smart enough not to dis the Chinese. But, then again, maybe not.

We need to ask James Higham about this.

Any Freepers Around?

If you’re a Free Republic regular, and have enough time, would you please drop me an email? We need some advice and/or help from folks who really know what they’re doing.

TIA.

Way Cool: Une Grande Conservative Blogress Diva...Nominee

I’ve been nominated for a number of things in my life: “La Boca Grande” by a few people, “Ms. Ditz” by others. But never before has anyone suggested I had the makings of a diva. Not until now, anyway.

Here’s the process, from one of their previous posts, that Gay Patriot(s) used to select the nominees:

As December 15 approaches, you still have time to nominate — or second — your favorite conservative, libertarian (or otherwise iconoclastic) blogress for the coveted title of Grande Conservative Blogress Diva 2007.

We define a diva as a strong, confident woman who commands the respect of men. And given how much (most) gay men respect such women, we believe it appropriate that our blog conduct this competition.

Sometime tomorrow, Bruce and I will review the comments to this post, the initial posts (here and here) [these links can be found on their post -- D.] on the competition and our e-mail to determine the final list of nominees. Unlike last year, we expect to do this in two parts, with the first round of balloting taking place from Sunday, December 17 until December 24, then holding a run-off the following week, announcing the new year’s Diva just as the old year draws to a close.

I was tickled when Dan, aka Gay Patriot West, emailed me yesterday that I’d made the initial list. I went over to look and knew there was no way I'd make the cut-off for the actual voting list. I mean, look at the nominees:

- - - - - - - - - -

Ann Althouse
The Anchoress
Little Miss Attila
Tammy Bruce
Wizbang’s Lorie Byrd
Dympha of Gates of Vienna
e-Claire
Jane Galt of Asymmetrical Information
Townhall’s Mary Katharine Ham
Bridget Johnson of GOP Vixen
Reigning Grande Conservative Blogress Diva Sondra K of Knowledge is Power
Carol Platt Liebau
National Review Online’s K-Lo (Kathryn Jean Lopez)
Kate MacMillan of small dead animals
Michelle Malkin
neo-neo con
Betsy Newmark of Betsy’s Page
Juliette of Baldilocks (and Pajamas)
Pamela of Atlas Shrugs
Pat Santy
Debbie Schlussel
Cathy Seipp
Kathy Shaidle of Relapsed Catholic
Alexandra von Maltzan of All Things Beautiful
Cathy Young

Quite an array, huh? As I looked through the choices I realized that I read all of these women. In fact, when talking to Tammy Bruce one time, I defended my position that there are lots of good women bloggers out there. And now that Gay Patriot has instituted “blogress” I’ll use that term from now on. Maybe I’ll put it on my tax return where they ask for your occupation. “Blogress” has a certain je ne sais quoi, non? A nice thumb in the eye to the strident feminists who would reduce us all to the same alleged non-sexists titles.

Well, lo and behold, I made the cut. What a compliment!

So be sure to go to the post and vote till your fingers are sore…actually, I’m sure they have some sort of filter that only permits you to vote once…which means you should visit the library on your lunch hour and use their computer, and email all your friends to go over and vote.

Perhaps we should ask a Democrat precinct chairman for some other ideas on ballot-box-stuffing techniques?

Given the powerhouse talent I’m up against, there’s no way I’ll win. But, wow! I made the list! Wooo-wheeee!

Now I’m going to go out and buy me a feather boa to wear while sitting in front of this screen. Maybe it should be an iridescent, rainbow-colored one — that way it will match whatever pair of pajamas I’m wearing at the moment. Oh, and maybe a good pair of sunglasses so I can be out and about in public without being mobbed for autographs...


Cross-posted at Infidel Bloggers Alliance

The German Church Draws the Line on Islam

A few days ago, reader Kepiblanc notified us in the comments about a November 29th article in Die Welt called “The Protestant Church in Germany sets up guidelines for dialogue with Muslims”. Kepiblanc gave us this summary:

In short: Europeans must demand Muslims to respect certain values. Schoolteachers wearing head scarves are unfit to teach. Jewish and Christian symbols can be displayed in schools, because they don’t conflict with the values in Germany’s constitution. Nuns who teach can wear their order’s dress if they so prefer. Oppression of women, honor killings, female genital mutilation, and forced marriages are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated in a democratic society. No person can claim cultural identity as an excuse for violating human rights. And so on and so forth…

The Muslims in Germany aren’t happy.

The Protestant Church in Germany (Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland) is a federation of the three main German denominations, with the Lutherans leading the way. It is, in effect, the state church of Germany.

The EKD has produced a 124-page document, entitled (my translation) “Clarity and Neighborliness: Christians and Muslims in Germany,” which advises members in their relations with Muslims in Germany.
- - - - - - - - - -
I asked Kepiblanc for more information, and he sent me the entire document in pdf format. I have no idea where the original is, so I posted a copy here for those whose German is up to the task.

Kepiblanc also sent along his summary and some translations of snips from the full document:

The whole document is trying to be very polite, and the title is “a handshake” to Muslims. The meaning, however, is very clear: to set up guidelines in dealing with Muslims. Almost every aspect of public life is covered, as you can see from the index on the first pages.

The overall picture is that enough is enough. Muslims must subordinate their faith to the principles of a democracy, obey the law and adjust their thinking and mores to the dominant culture of Germany — the so-called “leitkultur” (leading culture).

p 42 :

It is of the utmost importance to be aware of the Islamic concept of honor and family rights in Germany. In the case of forced marriages of German-born female Muslims and in the cases of violence or threats of death — founded on archaic conceptions of honor — the state and the society at large have an obligation to interfere. Nobody must doubt that. The discussion of these practices among Muslims themselves has a role of utmost importance in order to change old-fashioned concepts. Women who fall victim to maltreatment and mutilation must be given comfort, encouragement and practical help. Christians and their churches must encourage them to go to the police in order to obtain protection and help and to improve their situation. The courts must expose the perpetrators responsible to severe punishment.

p. 62 :

4. Furthermore, civil servants must at all times adhere to liberal democratic and constitutional structures and concomitantly to the equality of men and women. If a Muslim applicant for a training activity wants to wear a head cloth at public schools with reference to freedom of religion in the service, this behavior justifies doubts about her suitability — in view of the meaning of the head cloth in Islam — as a teacher in a national school.

Many Americans have already written off Europe as doomed, soon to be an outlying Sanjak in the revived Caliphate.

But consider the above samples, or the recent elections in the Netherlands, or the ongoing developments in Denmark: some Europeans are way ahead of us in their stance towards creeping Islamicization.

No mainline American denomination would dare issue a document such as the EKD guidelines. Official U.S. government policy would designate such guidelines as “racist”. We’ve got a long way to go before a liberal mainstream newspaper is willing to publish an interview with a Muslim woman who speaks out against the hijab.

It’s a matter of how close you are to the front lines. The attitudes of Europeans have been conditioned by the PC media cage enclosing them, but the bars of that cage are beginning to loosen as the Great Jihad looms ever closer to the average dhimmi of Eurabia citizen of Europe.

The bars of our American multicultural cage are still tightly set, but the same forces will eventually arrive here to loosen them.

Rockin’ James

This must be seen to be believed: James Woolsey, former head of the CIA, rocks out with Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (formerly of the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, and the Ultimate Spinach) on PJ Media’s You Tube video.

Yes, yes, I know all of you have your varied opinions about the talents of the Doobie Brothers, but that’s not the point of the story. The story is James Woolsey, in black tie, rocking out. Kind of.

You will notice he has a white man’s rhythm… actually, it’s a talent I appreciate since I have the same feature — as in “No, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”


From PJ Media

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