Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Friday, September 26, 2014

The Islamic State: Air Strikes, Diplomacy, and Remembering Sargon of Akkad

I've said it before: war is not nice. Things get broken. People die.

But sometimes it's better than the alternative.


(From U.S. Central Command / Reuters, used w/o permission.)
("A still image taken from video provided by the U.S. Central Command shows a damaged building at an Islamic State compound near the northern Syrian town of Ar Raqqah, following an air strike. "
(Reuters))
"French, U.S. planes strike Islamic State, Britain to join coalition"
Arshad Mohammed, Tom Perry; Reuters (September 25, 2014)

"French fighter jets struck Islamic State targets in Iraq on Thursday, and the United States hit them in Syria, as a U.S.-led coalition to fight the militants gained momentum with an announcement that Britain would join.

"The French strikes were a prompt answer to the beheading of a French tourist in Algeria by militants, who said the killing was punishment for Paris' decision last week to become the first European country to join the U.S.-led bombing campaign.

"In the United States, FBI Director James Comey said Washington had identified the masked Islamic State militant in videos with a knife at the beheading of two American hostages in recent weeks. Those acts helped galvanize Washington's bombing campaign.

" 'I'm not going to tell you who I believe it is,' Comey told reporters. He said he knew the person's nationality, but declined to give further details...."
The Reuters article goes on to say that "a European government source familiar with the investigation said the accent indicated the man was from London and likely from a community of immigrants."

There's more, about "credible intelligence that Islamic State networks in Iraq were plotting to attack U.S. and French subway trains" and a growing coalition of nations. Apparently quite a number of Arab nations have already joined, with European leaders a bit slow to get with the program.

I don't know whether the Europeans are following the 'my end of the boat isn't sinking' philosophy, aren't sure how their constituency will react, or haven't sobered up yet.

Either way, my guess is that quite a few European governments will decide that, on the whole, getting their butts saved by a U.S.-led coalition is better than losing their heads under an Islamic State in their home territory.

I'd like to believe that there's a chance for a peaceful resolution to the current mess. The folks running The "Islamic State" are human, and in principle could decide that their best course of action is negotiating: followed by pursuing their goals in a less violent way.

Given humanity's record, that outcome does not seem likely.

Making Mistakes, Making Sense


I run into folks who feel that the world's problems are cause by Islam; others who feel the same way about Christianity, and some who say that all religion causes trouble.

Considering how the first two lots act, I have some sympathy for the latter. But I think 'all of the above' make the mistake of overgeneralization.

Some Christians behave badly. So do some Muslims. But some of us have our heads screwed on straight, and understand our faith. A case in point, from the Reuters article:
"...More than 120 Islamic scholars from around the world, including many of the most senior figures in Sunni Islam, issued an open letter denouncing Islamic State. Challenging the group with theological arguments, they described its interpretation of the faith as 'a great wrong and an offense to Islam, to Muslims and to the entire world.'

"'You have misinterpreted Islam into a religion of harshness, brutality, torture and murder,' said the letter, signed by figures from across the Muslim world from Indonesia to Morocco. "
(Arshad Mohammed, Tom Perry; Reuters)
I'm not a Muslim, by the way. I'm a Catholic: which in some American circles is just as bad.

I'm assuming that the "Islamic State" mentioned in the Reuters article is another name for ISIS, (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). I've discussed that lot in another blog:

Unhappy About Change


Apparently ISIS, the folks who killed James Foley, aren't happy with today's world. They seem to yearn for the 'good old days,' when they believe Islam measured up to their standards and preferences. They're probably quite sincere: and certainly willing to kill anyone who doesn't agree with them.

Victims of their zeal include  Shia Muslims, Druze, Mandeans, Shabaks, Yazidis, and Christians. You'll find more about ISIS at "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant." (Wikipedia)

Folks being unhappy about change isn't a uniquely Muslim experience.

I run into Catholics who seem convinced that we should return to the 'good old days' — as they remember them. Catholics who yearn for yesteryear occasionally get together and form their own little micro-church, but don't seem inclined to kill outsiders.

I'd say 'Christians are better than that:' but realize that now and then some of us go rogue.

The nearest thing America has had to ISIS are groups like the Ku Klux Klan: folks who seem convinced that they're 'protecting' America from 'foreigners' and our 'evil' ways.
(A Catholic Citizen in America (August 24, 2014))

Taking the Long View: and Hope


I think today's conflict between the Islamic State/ISIS and everyone who like living in the 21st century will most likely end violently. I am also quite certain that it will end.

Even if the Islamic State endures the end of this conflict, and stays in control of Subartu, they won't stay in control. Sargon of Akkad conquered Subartu about 43 centuries back. Then he died, his empire fell, and the territory has changed hands quite a few times since.

Change happens. How change happens depends on what we do.

I hope that humanity will eventually cobble together an international authority "with the necessary competence and power" to end war and settle disputes with justice and mercy.1
"...Till the war-drum throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.

"There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe,
And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law...."
("Locksley Hall," Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
Those were among my favorite lines of poetry in my youth. A half-century later, they still are; although I've learned to temper my hope with patience.

Cobbling together a globe-spanning 'Council of Humanity' will, I think, take generations. Centuries. But I think it will be worth the effort. And that's another topic.

Related posts:
1 ("Gaudium et Spes," 79; Pope Paul VI (December 7, 1965)

I remember the trailing edge of McCarthyism, and the 'good old days' when America's establishment was run by WASPs: so I understand why some folks fear a "world government" almost as much as they fear commies, Republicans, foreigners, or right-wing extremists.

But I also think that government of some sort is necessary, and that humanity may eventually find a way to settle disputes without mass homicide. As for fears that 'the government' will take away freedom: that is a reasonable concern. How some folks react to that concern is — another matter.

I am a Catholic, so my faith requires that I respect and defend the freedom of everyone.

More of my take on government and freedom:
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Thursday, September 11, 2014

Remembering 9/11, Living in a Big World

About 3,000 folks died in attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon on this date, 13 years ago.

The death toll would almost certainly have been higher, if passengers and surviving crew of United Airlines Flight 93 had not attacked their hijackers. They died, probably because the Al Qaeda pilot deliberately flew into the ground.

Depending on their views, folks have commemorated the 9/11 attacks in many ways.

Some have declared that the attacks were justified, because America is a big meany. They usually express the idea in more sophisticated terms, of course.

Others say that Muslims are to blame: all Muslims. Still others take the more sweeping view that all religion is to blame.

I think there is a tiny element of truth in 'all of the above.'

Al Qaeda's leader at the time, Osama bin Laden, almost certainly had sincerely-held religious beliefs: and chose American targets in response to this country's profound lack of fidelity to his brand of Islam.

I like being an American, and am still upset that so many folks were killed by religious fanatics. But I am not going to rant about folks who don't follow my faith: or those who do, and behave badly.

Instead, I'm going to take a look at how some — but happily not all — Americans have reacted to Catholics, Jews, blacks, and other 'threats' to my country....

The rest of this post is in another blog:
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Thursday, May 15, 2014

National September 11 Memorial Museum Opens: Some Folks Aren't Happy




(From the National September 11 Memorial Museum website, used w/o permission.)

I doubt that I will ever see the National September 11 Memorial Museum in New York City. I live about a thousand miles west of the city, and don't travel much.

At least part of the museum and memorial open today. As usual, some folks think it's a good idea: some don't.
"National September 11 Memorial Museum opens in New York"
Anna Bressanin, BBC News (May 15, 2014)

"The National September 11 Memorial Museum tells the stories of the more than 2,700 people who died in the city when jet aeroplanes hijacked by Islamist terrorist destroyed the World Trade Center.

"It also tells of those who survived, and of how the world has changed since the attack...."
The bulk of that article is a video.

Unidentified Human Remains


(From Reuters, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
"Fire trucks and police cars carried the remains to the repository in downtown Manhattan"
"Unidentified 9/11 remains returned to 'Ground Zero' "
BBC News (May 10, 2014)

"Thousands of unidentified remains from the 9/11 attacks have been returned to 'Ground Zero' in a solemn ceremony.

"Fifteen vehicles took the remains from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to a repository under the World Trade Center site....

"...The 11 September 2001 attacks killed almost 3,000 people in New York, the Washington DC area and Pennsylvania.

"The remains consist of 7,930 fragments of human tissue that could not be identified by forensic teams.

"They were placed in metallic boxes, covered in the American flag and taken in a convoy comprising fire trucks and police vehicles to the site of the attacks in downtown Manhattan...."
Folks whose family members were killed in the 9/11 attack believe, for good reason, that some of the unidentified human remains belong to their loved ones. Some of these folks are upset about what's being done to these unidentifiable pieces of humanity. Apparently they believe that the remains should be buried in a more conventional cemetery.

I can see their point. My faith includes some well-defined principles about what should be done with human remains. Dignity and respect are two key points.

Happily, what happens to the unidentified 9/11 remains is not a personal issue for me. From my point of view, taking them to the 9/11 memorial and museum is somewhat comparable to placing the body of an unidentified soldier in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington.

I could quibble about its propriety: but am convinced that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, like the 9/11 Memorial, is a well-intentioned tribute to our dead.

In the news:
Somewhat-related posts:
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Sunday, December 1, 2013

"Displaced Aggression:" Terrorism, Culture, and Assumptions

This isn't, as I've said before, a "political" blog.

I don't claim that a particular party or person is always right, or wrong; or believe that major problems are always the result of commie plots, capitalistic greed, or what the 'other' party is doing.

That doesn't make me "moderate." I have a well-defined point of view, and definite opinions. I try to limit my opinions to matters where I have at least some data to work with.

Looking for Reasons

I've run into folks who don't seem to have any doubts about why terrorism is a problem. Depending on who you ask, it's the fault of Muslims, American imperialism, news media, religion in general, or not having the 'right' party in Congress. That's overly-simplified, of course, and doesn't include all possibilities.

I don't think it's quite that simple. Anything having to do with human beings isn't, generally.

I do think that some Muslims are terrorists. So are some Christians, and folks with no particularly strong religious views. That doesn't mean that religion makes people want to kill other people: or that having religious beliefs keeps folks from acting badly.

Sadly, angry people seem to want reasons for being angry: other than what's actually frustrating them. Religion, national identity, economic status, and ancestry can be convenient canvases for folks desperately in need of a 'big picture' for their feelings. My opinion.

Folks who still yearn for a worker's paradise, or who sincerely believe that American corporations are responsible for the world's woes are a familiar part of America's cultural landscape. I don't think they are potential terrorists - - - but I'm getting ahead of myself.

This excerpt from a CNN talk show got me started on today's post:
FEINSTEIN

"I think there is a real displaced aggression in this very fundamentalist, jihadist, Islamic community. And that is that the west is responsible for everything that goes wrong, and that the only thing that's going to solve this is Islamic Sharia law and the concept of the caliphate.

"And I see more groups, more fundamentalists, more jihadists more determined to kill to get to where they want to get. So, it's not an isolated phenomenon. You see these groups spread a web of connections. And this includes North Africa, it includes the Middle East, it includes other areas as well."
("Feinstein: 'Terror is up worldwide'," CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley transcript, CNN (December 1, 2013))

"Fundamentalists:" Accurate, But - - -

I don't like Feinstein's use of "fundamentalists" in this context. I think she's right, in the strictly dictionary meaning of the word fundamentalist: but in American culture that term can also refer to any Christian group or individual.

There are Christian fundamentalists, but not all Christians in America are fundamentalists. I'm Catholic, which by some Christian fundamentalist standards means that I'm not any sort of Christian, and that's not quite another topic. I've put links to posts in this and another blog near the end of this one, which may or may not be of interest.

Wrenching myself back to Feinstein, fundamentalists, and folks who kill other folks for 'religious' reasons -

Sincere, Maybe: Justified, No

I think many, but not all, of today's terrorists are folks who really believe that God wants them to kill 'unbelievers.' Many of these terrorists insist that they're the only true Muslims around: and are more likely to kill their neighbors for being insufficiently Islamic, than go to the trouble of killing Westerners.

Folks in Europe and on this side of the Atlantic aren't safe, as deaths before, during, and after 9/11 showed. That's partly because we live in a world where travel is fairly easy: and because an increasing number of folks in America are not WASPs and WASP wannabes.

This most certainly does not mean that I think America should repeat the grotesque mistake of rounding folks up for having the 'wrong' ancestors. I think I understand why FDR signed Public Law 100-383. I also think it was a mistake that took much too long to sort out.

Making 'looking like an Arab' an acceptable excuse for detaining someone makes as much sense as rounding up all the pale people in Oklahoma City, after the bombing. The folks who blew up the Alfred Murrah building apparently had ethnic and nationalistic motives: which doesn't make having European ancestors and living in America grounds for suspicion of terrorist tendencies.

Dealing With Difference

The Ku Klux Klan isn't the social and political force it once was in America, but a burning cross still occasionally shows up on the news. I think some iterations of the KKK are a useful example of how folks can use religion as a reason for hating outsiders.

That's more an indictment of human nature, I think, than a reason to distrust all spiritual beliefs.

Here's a sampling of how different folks express their religious beliefs:

From ''Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty'', 1926. Published by the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, NJ. Copyright was not renewed.
(Pillar of Fire Church, via Wikipedia, used w/o permission)
"From ''Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty'', 1926. Published by the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, NJ...."

New York, NY, September 28, 2001 -- A view of the recovery operation underway from a roof adjacent to the World Trade Center. Photo by Andrea Booher/ FEMA News Photo
(Andrea Booher/ FEMA News Photo, via Wikipedia, used w/o permission)
"...A view of the recovery operation underway from a roof adjacent to the World Trade Center. Photo by Andrea Booher/ FEMA News Photo." (September 28, 2001)


(From "The Pope and Children" (January 6, 2003), used w/o permission)
Some Catholic, carrying out standing orders: Matthew 25:31-46.

From the Days of Abram to Cable TV and Beer in One Generation

I've had personal experience with Christians who didn't distinguish between personal preference, cultural mores, and eternal principles. Folks who sincerely believe that God ordained that folks always act like the American middle class of the 1950s are more funny than dangerous: because they're not likely to kill you.

Other folks, equally convinced that God ordained that everyone should act they way they did in some village before they had Internet and cable: they don't always have inhibitions about enforcing their beliefs with an axe or a sword.

I'm strongly inclined to believe that we're looking at cultural values here, since many Muslims in places like Malaysia seem to have little trouble fitting into a global society. I doubt that every Muslim in Malaysia thinks the Petronas Towers were a good idea: but quite a few Americans of various beliefs are grumpy, too.

I do not think that feeling bad made it okay for white supremacists to kill people in Oklahoma City, any more than I think it's okay for folks to kill Americans because they miss the 'good old days.' I do think that we need to remember that some folks sincerely believe that killing others for being different.

Terrorists, whatever their motivation, are a real threat. Forgetting that, and 'defending' America against efforts to stop terrorists, is a bad idea.

So is forgetting that disagreeing with the government is not treason, too: and I've written about that before.

Related posts:
1 Excerpts from CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley transcript
CROWLEY
"The big question that's always asked, are we safer now than we were a year ago, two years ago? In general?"

FEINSTEIN
"I don't think so. I think terror is up worldwide, the statistics indicate that, the fatalities are way up. The numbers are way up. There are new bombs, very big bombs, trucks being reinforced for those bombs. There are bombs that go through magnatometers. The bomb maker is still alive. There are more groups that ever and there's huge malevolence out there."

CROWLEY
"So congressman, I have to say, that is not the answer I expected. I expected to hear, oh, we're safer. Do you agree?"

ROGERS
"Oh, I absolutely agree that we're not safer today for the same very reasons.

"So the pressure on our intelligence services to get it right to prevent an attack are enormous. And it's getting more difficult because we see the al Qaeda as we knew it before is metastasizing to something different, more affiliates than we've ever had before, meaning more groups that operated independently of al Qaeda have now joined al Qaeda around the world, all of them have at least some aspiration to commit an act of violence in the United States or against western targets all around the world.

"They've now switched to this notion that maybe smaller events are okay. So if you have more smaller events than bigger events, they think that might still lead to their objectives and their goals. That makes it exponentially harder for our intelligence services to stop an event like that."

...

CROWLEY
"So, one of the things that the senator said was that there is more hatred out there, more - and why is that?"

FEINSTEIN
"I think there is a real displaced aggression in this very fundamentalist, jihadist, Islamic community. And that is that the west is responsible for everything that goes wrong, and that the only thing that's going to solve this is Islamic Sharia law and the concept of the caliphate.

"And I see more groups, more fundamentalists, more jihadists more determined to kill to get to where they want to get. So, it's not an isolated phenomenon. You see these groups spread a web of connections. And this includes North Africa, it includes the Middle East, it includes other areas as well."

CROWLEY
"Lots of times we look at kind of some of these splinter groups going, yeah, but their interest is local."

ROGERS
"And here's the - but here's the concern of that. Now, remember, you have somewhere near 25 states that have some failed level of governance, meaning they can't secure large spaces of their own country. Those are always attractive for safe havens when it comes to any terrorist organization. And we're finding they're taking advantage of that.

"So you see what's happening in a place like Syria where you have a pooling of al Qaeda members and affiliates of al Qaeda in a way we've never seen before at the level of numbers that we have never seen before, and here's the scary part of this, some thousands of people showing up to participate in that in their mind jihadist effort are westerners, meaning they have western passports.

"A percentage of them have already gone home, including the United States, by the way, is included in that western number. We are very, very concerned that these folks who have western paper have gone there, participated in combat events, are trained, are further radicalized, now have the ability to go back in western countries.

"We know that those–"

...
("Feinstein: 'Terror is up worldwide'," CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley transcript, CNN (December 1, 2013))
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Kiev Police: When Crowd Control Goes Horribly Wrong

First, the good news: The Kiev chief of police seems to realize that storming a camp of protestors doesn't make his troops look good.

Not-so-good news: folks who want Ukraine's government to sign an agreement with the European Union and hold elections got attacked by police in Kiev. That's their version. The chief of police says that the protestors started it. Maybe he's right, maybe not.

More good news: Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych, the country's current leader, says that he's "deeply outraged" by what Kiev police did. It's probably the only sensible thing he could say at this point: but political leaders don't always act sensibly.

The War on Terror: Accepting the 21st Century, or Not

In a way, Saturday's attack has very little to do with the war on terror.

As far as I can tell, Saturday's attack by Kievan police has nothing to do with Islamic extremists, or religion of any sort.

Nobody seems to have used car bombs, yelled "down with the Great Satan America," or sent anthrax through the mail.

However, I think the incident illustrates the sort of conflict we call the war on terror.

On the one hand, we have folks who seem to like the 21st century and think their country should get involved in current international affairs.

On the other are folks who might reasonably be expected to like things pretty much the way they were in the 'good old days.'

Control and Change

For some in Ukraine, that would be before the Soviet Union unraveled in 1991; for others, before 2004. That's when reformers forced a reasonable facsimile of an honest election down the throats of Ukraine's rulers.

For folks who like the status quo, particularly those who have had unquestioned control over the lives of others, this is not a pleasant era. Change is always happening, but we're in a time of great and rapid change.

I like it this way, but as I said: many don't; and some are willing to kill, rather than give up control.

Sunday in Kiev

Folks who want change in Ukraine are planning a very large public demonstration in Kiev today. They'll probably attract more people to their demonstration, and support around the world: thanks, I strongly suspect, in large part to the daft actions of Kiev police Saturday.

In the news:
More about Ukraine:
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Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Two Pools, Four Towers

It's a bright September morning here in central Minnesota. A school bus went by a few minutes ago.

Like most Americans, folks here are at work, sitting in classrooms, driving or walking, sitting or standing. Life goes on pretty much as it did before 9/11.

Living in the Real World

This isn't Brigadoon, of course, an idyllic place cut off from a changing world.

Ash Street, where I live, is wider now. A young family moved in across the street. They're Euro-Americans; but other new, and old, neighbors have ancestral roots in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Some folks around here seem to assume that Muslims are a particularly dangerous sort of foreigner. Others are equally diligent in expressing shock and horror at the enormities of American aggression.

Me? I'm delighted that folks are still trying to break into America. When my native land stops attracting people with get-up-and-go from around the world, we'll be in serious trouble.

Past and Present


(From Associated Press, via FoxNews.com, used w/o permission.)

Names of people killed in New York City, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, are being read. I think it's fitting to remember the dead; and honor those who serve in America's emergency response services, and the military.

Remembering the past is prudent. So is keeping up with the present.

The Middle East is still far from quiet. Some autocrats are still around. Some countries, like Libya and Egypt, have traded old-school rulers for the troubles that come from developing new governments. I hope they are successful.

Some folks are still trying to force the rest of us into their antique world view:
It's not that simple, of course. Territorial, economic, and other issues keep almost everything involving humans from being "simple."

Looking Ahead

I was born in the Truman administration, and remember the 'good old days' of the gray flannel suit. I was one of those 'crazy college kids' who didn't want a 'successful career.'

I wanted to change the world. My generation made mistakes, some of them appalling. But we also changed America from a nation of WASPs and WASP wannabes to the more obviously cosmopolitan country we have today.

Some folks still yearn for the days when Harper Valley PTAs and Boston Brahmins set the tone, and that's almost another topic.

The 9/11 attack changed Manhattan's skyline, but did not change the way NewYork City or America works: not the basics.

While wreckage from the attack was being cleared away and repairs made to the city's infrastructure, architects and city planners were wrangling over what sort of buildings should replace the old World Trade Center.

Pools lie where the twin towers used to be, part of a memorial. Most of the new World Trade Center's offices will be in four towers. Tenants like the Vantone China Center and Condé Nast expect to move in this coming December, or maybe early 2014.

There's a bit of Americana built into One World Trade Center. It's the tallest building in the western hemisphere: 1776 feet high.


(From , via CNN, used w/o permission.)
"One World Trade Center rises above the lower Manhattan skyline in New York. Twelve years after terrorists destroyed the old World Trade Center, the new World Trade Center is becoming a reality in 2013...."
(CNN)


(From World Trade Center, used w/o permission)

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Friday, August 9, 2013

Change, Pakistan, and Captain America: My Take

Steve Rogers is a comic book character brought to life by Marvel Entertainment and Paramount Pictures. In the last scenes of "Captain America: The First Avenger" he runs from a reasonable facsimile of a 1940s hospital room into New York City's 21st century Times Square.

I think Chris Evans does a good job of mimicking the response of a stressed-out WWII soldier fast-forwarding through about 70 years in maybe seven minutes: tops.

Bear with me. This post belongs in this blog.

I remember most of the decades between WWII and today. This is not the world I grew up in. Technology, customs, and social structures have been changing: a lot. I still haven't quite gotten used to the idea of addressing other adults by their first names.

But 'no complaints.' Change happens.

Abram to Anheuser-Busch in One Generation

Growing up in America, I've been spared some culture shock. My ancestral cultures started changing a thousand years ago, picked up the pace five centuries back, and started the industrial revolution.

I remember the first artificial satellite, and the days when computers used vacuum tubes. Change 'normal' for me.

I have a little sympathy for folks who grew up with hand-woven tents and camels: and whose kids probably know about designer jeans and know the difference between iPhone and Android.

They're experiencing more change than I have: and grew up expecting life to go on as it had since before Abram moved out of Ur. Small wonder that some aren't comfortable with today's world.

That's not an excuse for killing neighbors, though.

Killing Pakistanis


(Naseer Ahmed, via Reuters, used w/o permission)

This man was arriving at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan. He is one of 27 injured outside a mosque today. Nine folks are dead, but they may not have been the attack's target.

Provincial government minister Ali Mohammad Jattack was driving by the mosque when a few folks started shooting - apparently in the general direction of his car. Other folks who had been worshiping at the mosque may have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Reuters says that Pakistanis have been killing each other more often than usual recently, following a new Prime Minister's election. The implication is that there's a cause-effect relationship, which may be true.

The attacks aren't random. Shi'ite Muslims, a minority in Pakistan, get injured or killed by Sunni Muslims who apparently don't approve of Shi'ites. It's pretty obvious that not all Sunni Muslims in Pakistan feel this way, or there wouldn't even be a Shi'ite minority.

Killing Americans

Meanwhile, the American State Department closed offices in Pakistan, and says that Americans who don't need to be in Pakistan shouldn't go there.

I believe news reports that say that the State Department's actions about Pakistan aren't related to the other embassy closings, a few days ago. More accurately, I accept the idea that the same groups or individuals aren't trying to kill Americans in all these places.

In another way, what's going on in Pakistan and elsewhere around the world is part of something the American government stopped calling the war on terror when the current administration moved in.

Whatever we call it, I'm quite certain that those of us who don't mind living in the 21st century still have to be careful.

Making Changes

Folks who quite sincerely hate what's been happening during the last few centuries will probably continue to kill their neighbors, or die trying. I do not think that the most rigidly dedicated supporters of an ancient way of life will change their minds. But their followers, and their children, are another matter.

Quite a few folks in Iraq seemed convinced that foreigners were evil,. or at least decided that being alive was better than disagreeing with an Al Qaeda boss. Then a UN-backed coalition upset the status quo.

Once the 'evil' foreigners killed enforcers who'd been chopping off heads, and started repairing neglected roads and sewage plants: many Iraqis decided that being free was a good idea.

That must have been terribly frustrating for Iraqis who enjoyed the privilege of killing 'bad' neighbors: but no society is perfect for everybody.

Looking Ahead

Naming a similar phenomenon in northern Africa "Arab spring" isn't making the transition from a pre-Magna Carta world into the Information Age easy. But I'm still cautiously hopeful about places like Egypt.

As for what's happening this week in Pakistan: that's bad news for folks who get killed and injured, and hard on their families. It would be nice if everyone in the world would decide to be nice, and try discussing problems instead of killing folks who disagree. That's not gonna happen. Not soon, anyway.

On the other hand, I'm convinced that most folks prefer raising families, going to work, and playing soccer - or whatever the local pastime is - to dodging bullets and cleaning up after suicide bombers.

'Winning the hearts and minds' may be a cliche by now, and simply won't work for diehard xenophobes of any ilk. But like I said, I'm cautiously hopeful. I think most of us can learn that 'foreigners' aren't demonic emissaries, and that 'change' doesn't mean 'destruction.'

Related posts:
"Gunmen in Pakistan kill nine in attack at mosque on Muslim holiday"
Katharine Houreld; (editing, Clarence Fernandez and Robert Birsel; Reuters (August 9, 2013)

"Volence marred the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Fitr in Pakistan on Friday with gunmen killing nine people in the city of Quetta while a guard in the capital Islamabad shot dead a would-be suicide bomber forcing his way into a mosque.

"The United States has ordered non-essential staff to leave its consulate in the eastern city of Lahore because of the threat of attack. It has also warned its citizens not to travel to Pakistan.

"In Quetta, gunmen fired on the vehicle of a politician driving past worshippers leaving a mosque, killing nine people and wounding 27, police said.

"Quetta is capital of the southwestern province of Baluchistan, where several militant groups are active, including the Pakistani Taliban, who claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack that killed 30 people at a policeman's funeral on Thursday.

"Police official Bashir Brohi said Friday's shooting seemed to have been aimed at former provincial government minister Ali Mohammad Jattack, who was passing by in a vehicle, but the motive and perpetrators were not clear.

" 'I was the target,' Jattack told media at the scene.

" 'They killed innocent worshippers belonging to different communities. This is against humanity, it is brutality on the level of animals,' said Jattack, who was not hurt.

"Brohi said most of the victims were coming out of the mosque.

" 'It was an armed attack on the former minister ... it was not an attack on the mosque,' the police official said.

"In a separate attack in Islamabad, a would-be suicide bomber shot dead a guard and wounded three people as he tried to force his way into a Shi'ite mosque, said witness Raza Mohammad....

"...Attacks against Pakistan's minority Shi'ite Muslims, by Sunni Muslim militants, are increasing sharply.

"The attacks on Friday were the latest in a surge of militant violence since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took office two months ago, with a string of high-profile incidents in the past two weeks...."
"US withdraws staff from consulate in Lahore, Pakistan, over terror threat"
FoxNews.com (August 9, 2013)

"The State Department has ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from the U.S. Consulate General in Lahore, Pakistan, and has warned Americans to defer all non-essential travel to Pakistan after a specific threat to that mission, Fox News confirms....

"...'The presence of several foreign and indigenous terrorist groups poses a potential danger to U.S. citizens throughout Pakistan,' the statement from the State Department read. 'The Government of Pakistan maintains heightened security measures, particularly in the major cities. Threat reporting indicates terrorist groups continue to seek opportunities to attack locations where U.S. citizens and Westerners are known to congregate or visit.'

"The personnel drawdown at the Lahore consulate was a precautionary measure and wasn't related to the recent closures of numerous U.S. diplomatic missions in the Muslim world, two U.S. officials told the Associated Press...."
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Monday, August 5, 2013

Embassy Closings, Al Qaeda, and Looking Ahead

Embassy closings were in the weekend's news, but I decided to wait at least a day before starting this post. The State Department acting out of "an abundance of caution" is sensible. Jumping to conclusions based on what little I'd seen in the news, not so much.

So far the United States has closed 22 embassies, and issued a travel warning running through August.

England, Germany and France closed their embassies in Yemen on Sunday and Monday.

Canada apparently closed their embassies in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

England is pulling some of their embassy staff from the British embassy in Yemen.

This is a big deal: much more than something to keep folks reading late-summer news.1

Making Points, Making Sense

Taking one set of assumptions, and the fact that the countries with closed embassies are all 'Western,' I could rant about Western capitalistic imperialistic oppression.

Other knee-jerk reactions, coupled with the closed embassies being in Islamic countries, would let me denounce Muslims as being the cause of all problems from Detroit's bankruptcy to Palo Alto's looming parking shortage.

Or I could accuse the 'other' political party of everything from malfeasance in office to high treason.

If I took Frank J. Fleming's advice, I might even get taken seriously:
Since I'm more interested in making sense than making points with diehard followers of some intellectual preference, I'll do 'none of the above.'

Beware Malignant Virtue

I think there's probably a sort of Islamic connection behind the embassy closings and travel warning. The embassies are all in predominantly Muslim countries.

But I don't accuse all Muslims of being part of an Islamic conspiracy to take over the world: partly because many or most of Islamic terrorists' victims are Muslims.

As I've said before: I think Al Qaeda and like-minded outfits have the same sort of relation to Islam that the Ku Klux Klan has to Christianity. Folks with a sort of malignant virtue seem unable to sort out personal preference, cultural values, and eternal principles.

In the short run, executing your neighbors for wearing the 'wrong' clothes or playing soccer may feel good: and may even result in surviving neighbors being 'proper.'

After a while, though, I think folks become dissatisfied with that sort of rigid conformity: even if they had preferred the 'right' clothes and didn't play soccer. Even if the 'proper people' can't be voted out of office, totalitarian regimes don't seem to fare well in the long term. Afghanistan's Taliban was an example.

Looking Ahead

We'll have troubles, as we have for all of recorded history: but I'm cautiously hopeful about the next few centuries and beyond.

That's cautiously hopeful, not naively optimistic. Folks in Egypt are experiencing the sort of occasionally-lethal trouble that goes with changing a society.

Folks who cling desperately to ways of life that were ancient when Abram moved out of Ur won't be happy. Others who prefer being one of a privileged few who control their subjects' lives are almost certainly seeing the end of their era: and, possibly, their lives.

Societies are changing: fast. Too many of us have had a taste of freedom, and know that there's a world beyond our homeland's borders. Worse, for folks who like the status quo, Information Age technology makes communication easy, inexpensive, and nearly instantaneous.

Traditional information gatekeepers have lost control over what 'the Masses' are allowed to see. That's one reason that I'm very concerned about misguided responses to real online threats: and that's another topic.

Related posts:
In the news:
1 Excerpts from the news:
"U.S. extends embassy closures after intercepted al Qaeda message"
Barbara Starr. Chris Lawrence and Holly Yan, CNN (August 5, 2013)

"What started as an unprecedented move to close almost two dozen diplomatic posts for a day has broadened to week-long closures for most of them as the United States mulls the threat of a possible attack.

"A trio of factors prompted officials to extend most of its embassy and consulate closures until Saturday: an intercepted message among senior al Qaeda operatives, the end of Ramadan, and concerns over several major prison breaks in the region.

"Originally, officials decided to close 22 embassies and consulates this past Sunday -- a day when they would normally be open for business.

"But Sunday afternoon, the State Department extended embassy and consulate closures in 15 of the locations through Saturday, and added four other posts -- all in Africa -- to the list. This brings the total to 19...."
"US to extend some embassy closures over security concerns"
BBC News (August 5, 2013)
"The US says it will keep a number of embassies in north Africa and the Middle East closed until Saturday, due to a possible militant threat.

"Twenty-one US embassies and consulates closed on Sunday.

"The state department in Washington said the extended closures were 'out of an abundance of caution', and not a reaction to a new threat.

"The UK said its embassy in Yemen would stay closed until the Muslim festival of Eid on Thursday.

"The decision to close the embassies comes as the US government battles to defend recently disclosed surveillance programmes that have stirred deep privacy concerns.

"Security at US diplomatic facilities also remains a concern following last year's attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, where the US ambassador and three other Americans were killed.

"While details of the threats are unspecified, the BBC's David Willis, in Washington, says members of Congress who have been briefed about the intelligence seem to agree it amounts to one of the most serious in recent years - all pointing to the possibility of a major attack, possibly to coincide with the end of the holy month of Ramadan, which ends this week.

"Al-Qaeda

"A state department global travel alert, issued on Friday, is in force until the end of August.

"The department said the potential for an al-Qaeda-inspired attack was particularly strong in the Middle East and North Africa.

"Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has tried to carry out several high-profile attacks in recent years, including one on Christmas Day in 2009 when a man attempted to blow up a trans-Atlantic jet over Detroit, using explosives sewn into his underwear.

"Months earlier, the group tried to kill the Saudi intelligence chief with a bomb on the attacker's body.

"The UK Foreign Office had earlier announced it would shut its mission in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, until Tuesday.

"Meanwhile, US diplomatic missions in Algiers, Kabul and Baghdad are among those which will reopen on Monday, Washington said.

"But its diplomatic posts in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa and Tripoli will remain closed until Saturday.

"The US state department also added African missions in Antananarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali and Port Louis to the list, meaning a total of 19 US embassies will remain closed this week.

"Embassies closed on Sunday, a working day in the Muslim world, included Amman, Cairo, Riyadh and Dhaka...."
"19 US posts to remain closed this week, as lawmakers say terror threat 'specific' and 'serious'"
FoxNews.com (August 5, 2013)

"The State Department has announced that it will keep 19 embassies and consulates in the Middle East and Africa closed throughout the week 'out of an abundance of caution' in the wake of terror threats that shut them down.

"Posts in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa, Tripoli, Antanarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali and Port Louis have been instructed to close for normal operations from Monday through Saturday, department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

"The State Department also said some of those embassies were already going to be closed in accordance with local customs marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

"Those authorized to reopen Monday are in Dhaka, Algiers, Nouakchott, Kabul, Herat, Mazar el Sharif, Baghdad, Basrah and Erbil.

"Capitol Hill lawmakers, including top-ranking members of intelligence committees, on Sunday described the terror threat that closed 22 U.S. embassies and consulates across the Muslim region as the most serious one since before the 9/11 attacks and related to specific act or plot.

"Florida Republican Rep. Tom Rooney, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News that U.S. intelligence agents detected a 'very specific' threat and suggested they have known about it for at least several weeks.

"He was among several congressional lawmakers Sunday who said the threat was gleaned from so-called 'chatter' from phone lines, computer outlets, websites and other communication outlets.

"Rooney also said the information is not what intelligence committee members 'see on our regular briefings.'

"The Obama administration's decision Friday to close the U.S. outposts Sunday came the same day as the State Department issued a worldwide travel alert.

"Rooney suggested Sunday the travel warning will not be lifted soon.

" 'If I had plans to travel to certain places in the Middle East, I would probably go ahead and cancel them,' he said.

"Rooney's comments followed Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, telling NBC's 'Meet the Press' that the threats are 'very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11.'

"He also described the threats as 'the most serious … I've seen in a number of years.'

"Sources confirmed with Fox News the chatter was picked up over the past two weeks and exceeds anything in the past decade. They also said the extraordinary volume of chatter was preceded by months of 'absolute quietness.'

"The sources said the chatter included Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri demanding that key leaders of the terror network in the Arabian Peninsula step up their activities in the wake of recent killings of top terrorists.

"A Mideast diplomat said al-Zawahiri's 'pressuring' of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to launch new terrorist attacks on American and other Western targets is 'unprecedented.'

"The sources also said the U.S. outpost closings and the travel alert were prompted in part by a series of recent Al Qaeda-led prison breaks that have freed hundreds of operatives over the last month, including one this weekend in Aleppo, Syria. Other recent breaks have been orchestrated in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan and Abu Ghraib, in Afghanistan.

"Maryland Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, also said the intercepted threats came from 'high-level people' in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

"He told ABC's 'This Week' the information was about a 'major attack.'...

"...The administration's announcements Friday said the Al Qaeda network might target either U.S. government or private American interests.

"The intelligence intercepts also prompted Britain, Germany and France to close their embassies in Yemen on Sunday and Monday. British authorities said some embassy staff in Yemen had been withdrawn 'due to security concerns.'

"Canada also announced it was closing its embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh."
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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Using a Machete in a Global Civilization

You've probably read about this:
"Woolwich machete attack leaves man dead"
BBC News (May 22, 2013)

"A man has been killed in a machete attack and two suspects shot and wounded by police in Woolwich, south-east London.

"The Met Police said a murder inquiry was being led by its Counter Terrorism Command. Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK would 'never buckle' in the face of terror attacks.

"Footage has emerged showing a man wielding a bloodied meat cleaver and making political statements.

"Police confirmed two men had been arrested in connection with the murder.

"There are unconfirmed reports that the dead man was a soldier...."
Those "unconfirmed reports" include at least two high-profile folks:
"...Both French President Francois Hollande and MP Nick Raynsford said the dead man had been a soldier at Woolwich barracks.

"The footage shown on the ITV website shows a man, speaking to the camera, saying: 'We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'..."
(BBC News )
Back in my 'good old days,' the (alleged) soldier might have been killed by a 'peace activist' trying to shove peace down the bloodthirsty throats of the icky military-industrial complex. I don't miss the 'good old days,' and that's not quite another topic.

At least one of the chaps who killed the man are black, but their actions and arrest don't seem to be motivated by racism: another reason I don't miss the 'good old days.' They're in custody, I understand: and will probably be charged with a serious crime. They seem to have been motivated by sincere religious beliefs:

"...By Almighty Allah...."

"Cameron condemns brutal hacking death, says Britain stands firm"
Laura Smith-Spark, CNN (May 23, 2013)

"Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain would be 'absolutely resolute' in the face of terrorism Thursday, as he vowed to track down those behind the brutal hacking death of a British soldier in London....

"...A video recorded by one of the two men immediately after the attack seemed to suggest a jihadist agenda.

" 'We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone,' said a meat cleaver-wielding man with bloody hands, speaking in what seems to be a London accent...."
Can't say that I blame BBC News for downplaying the Islamic angle here. Between legitimate concerns about the occasional murder and car bomb, it's quite possible that some old-school British residents are almost ready to solve the 'Muslim problem' the way the Ku Klux Klan tried to solve race relations here in America.

By the way, despite what I had to learn during indoctrination for being a teacher here: not all whites are racists. By the same token, not all blacks are stupid and lazy: and, in my considered opinion, not all Muslims are murderers looking for a victim.

I've corresponded with Muslims who seem to be at least as upset about terrorists with an 'Islamic' identity as I am. That's understandable, I think, since Islamic crazies tend to kill more Muslims than non-Muslims. Maybe it's easier to get at neighbors, maybe they're more upset about Muslims who don't live or worship the 'right' way, maybe they owe money to their victims: I really don't know.

Religion, Psychosis, and Violence

Again in my considered opinion, not all religious folks are crazy, not all crazy folks are 'religious,' and not all religious lunatics kill people. Some do, but they're not normal: in several senses of the term.

I've got more to say about religion, sanity, and lethal force. That's a bit off-topic, though. You'll find links to some of my take on what makes sense, and what doesn't, at the end of this post.

The 'Good Old Days'

Back when I was growing up, 'good old boys' thought telling the 'little woman' she was as smart as a man was a compliment. 'Nice' women were supposed to stay home, be improbably sweet 24/7, and act as if men were smarter and generally better than they were.

I didn't think that made sense, still don't, and think some of the social upheaval of the '60s was a long-overdue set of corrections to an ailing society.

Then, as now, some folks who are 'Christian' at the top of their lungs seem to believe that God hates the folks they hate, and wants everybody to be just like them: right down to musical preferences. They are not typical Christians. They're not even typical American Protestants: but they're the ones who tend to get noticed.

Folks who want America to be a WASP nest aren't the only ones who are uncomfortable with today's world.

Dealing With Today: Or Not

There are parts of the world where culture hadn't changed much since Abram moved out of Ur until a few generations back. The head of a house was a man, who could kill one of his women or children if they didn't behave 'properly,' and who lived with a comfortable assurance that all 'people' were like him.
He might have been aware that there were creatures off in some distant land that looked like him: but they weren't 'people,' not really. Not unless they agreed with him about everything he thought was important.

That was then, this is now.

Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, folks who follow other faiths, and those who wish religion wasn't so, are building a global civilization. I'm okay with that: but some folks aren't.

It's early days, but my guess is that the two chaps in England may have be at how non-Muslims - and quite a few Muslims, for that matter - reacted when religious crazies killed several thousand folks on September 11, 2001.

I understand nostalgia, and indulge in it now and then. But I also realize that it's no longer acceptable to use a machete for that sort of self-expression.

By the way, one reason I'm not horrified at the prospect of a global and diverse civilization is that I'm part of an outfit that was global and diverse before the current iteration of Western Civilization began. More about that in the second set of 'related post' links.

Related posts:
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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Algeria, the Amenas Gas Facility, and Harsh Realities

Quite a few folks stopped living rather abruptly in Algeria a few hours ago. Some of them were hostages, killed by their captors. Others were the killers.

I'm not happy about that. It's a tragic situation. But I'm not surprised, either.

People: Nice and Otherwise

I think that most folks are decent enough people, who want to raise their families, earn a living, and live with some degree of security. They're no more likely to take over an industrial facility and kill hostages than I am.

On the other hand, some folks simply aren't nice. They don't behave well, even if they're asked politely. When they behave badly for personal reasons, we often call them criminals. When their motives are more ideological, news media tends to call them "militants." Another term is "terrorist." Either way, they're - - - simply not nice.

There have been relatively tranquil eras. This isn't one of them: Particularly for a place folks have been calling Algeria recently.

North Africa: Background

Folks have been living in that part of north Africa for upwards of 1,800,000 years, but our records start much more recently: around the time that king Gala had ties with Cathage, and king Syphax sided with Rome. You hardly ever hear about Massylii and Masaesyli these days, and that's another topic.

Carthage, Chlodowech, and All That

Roughly two millennia after the Carthage-Rome wars, Chlodowech's successors invaded and held this territory. By that time Chlodowech's Franks had taken over a good-sized chunk of Europe: what we call France: and that isn't quite another topic.

Recent Centuries

About two centuries ago, France took parts of north Africa from the Dey of Algiers, who ran part of the Barbary States, which was a sort of client of the Ottoman Empire - a whole lot more topics.

France lost control of Algeria about a half-century back. These days, Algeria's called (الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبي, or Al Jumhuriyah al Jaza'iriyah ad Dimuqratiyah ash Sha'biyah, or the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. I'll stick with "Algeria" for the rest of this post.

Folks in Algeria, along with just about everyone else in that part of the world, have had their hands full: sorting out the mess left from centuries of colonial rule and the Versailles treaty. More topics.

The Last Few Hours


(FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)

A few hours ago, Algerian troops attacked forces holding hostages at the Amenas gas facility. The 'militants' killed their remaining hostages before being killed by Algerian troops.1

Ideally, Algeria's President President Abdelaziz Bouteflika would have politely asked the militants to please let their hostages go: after which Mokhtar Belmokhtar and company would have released them. After, of course, resolving whatever misunderstanding had prompted the raid in the first place.

Crime, Death, and Other Unpleasantness

We don't live in an ideal world, and that's not how things work.

The United States government tried acting as if taking hostages, blowing up airliners, and similar activities, were crimes: the sort of thing we generally let the police force and social workers deal with.

I think the deaths of assorted athletes, tourists, diplomats, and travelers, helped America's leadership decide that their 'let the police handle it' attitude wasn't working. (January 22, 2010; August 5, 2007)

Eventually, America's policy became 'we will never negotiate with terrorists.' As I recall, this happened during the Reagan administration. What we're supposed to remember about that president is Oliver North, so maybe it was somebody else. Or, not.

"Never" and a Grain or Two of Salt

Particularly where national policy is concerned, I take terms like "never" with the proverbial grain of salt. Anything involving human beings is going to get very complicated, very fast, and "never" is a fairly simple idea.

Even so, I think the basic idea is sound. Folks who run outfits like Al Qaeda are very unlikely to change their minds about killing anyone who doesn't agree with them. Given the circumstances, I don't think it makes sense to "negotiate" with them in hopes that they'll start behaving nicely.

It's fairly easy for me to have that opinion, since I don't know anyone who died as a result of what those "militants" did in Algeria. If I did - well, that's a hypothetical situation: one which I hope I never face.

I gather that this particular run-in with "militants" was handled by the Algerian government. Even so, a spokeswoman for the American State Department repeated what's been this country's policy for a few decades: "The United States does not negotiate with terrorists." (FoxNews.com)

Harsh as it may seem, I think it's still a good idea.

More:
Related posts:
1Excerpts from today's news:
"Algeria crisis: 'Captors and hostages die in assault' "
BBC News (January 19, 2013)
"Algerian troops have ended a siege at a gas facility in the Sahara desert killing 11 Islamist militants after they killed seven hostages, Algerian state news agency APS has said.
"The hostages were summarily killed as the troops tried to free them, it said.

"Foreign workers were among the hostages, but the nationalities of the dead are not known.

"UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed the crisis was over and that lives had been lost.

"At a joint news conference with his US counterpart Leon Panetta, Mr Hammond said the loss of life was 'appalling and unacceptable and we must be clear that it is the terrorists who bear sole responsibility for it'.

"Britain was pressing Algeria for further details, he added.

"Mr Hammond said the kidnappers' leaders would be 'held to account for their actions'.

" 'The full force of the UK and US and other allied countries will bear down upon them,' he said.

"The militants had been involved in a stand-off since Thursday after trying to occupy the remote site.

"Clearing mines

"On Friday, 573 Algerians and about 100 of 132 foreigners working at the plant were freed, Algerian officials said...."
"One American dead in hostage siege in Algeria"
FoxNews.com (January 19, 2013)

"Algerian authorities gave no indication of how many people were still captive at natural gas complex in Algeria the day after an American worker was found dead at the plant and the U.S. sought to secure the release of Americans still being held by Al Qaeda-linked terrorists.

"Frederick Buttaccio, a Texas resident, died of a heart attack during a raid by the Algerian military to end the standoff, Fox News confirmed Friday. The general manager of the complex, Mark Cobb, also of Texas, was able to escape with members of his Algerian staff and is safe....

"...It was not immediately clear whether Buttaccio was the only American killed in the hostage standoff....

"...Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she spoke by telephone with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal to get an update on Americans and others in danger at the sprawling Ain Amenas refinery 800 miles south of Algiers. She said the 'utmost care must be taken to preserve innocent life.'...

"...Clinton talked to reporters after the Obama administration confirmed that Americans were still being held hostage, even as some U.S. citizens were being flown out of the country for recovery in Europe. The Algerian state news agency reported that 12 hostages had been killed since Wednesday's start of an Algerian rescue operation, and world leaders steadily increased their criticism of the North African country's handling of the attack....

"...Clinton, however, defended Algeria's action. 'Let's not forget: This is an act of terror,' she told reporters in Washington. 'The perpetrators are the terrorists. They are the ones who have assaulted this facility, have taken hostage Algerians and others from around the world as they were going about their daily business.'...

"...Still, the U.S. flatly rejected an offer by the militants -- led by a Mali-based al-Qaida offshoot known as the Masked Brigade -- to free two American hostages in exchange for the release of Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind sheikh convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and considered the spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Both are jailed in the United States.

" 'The United States does not negotiate with terrorists,' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said...."
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Sunday, September 23, 2012

Pakistani Assassination Contract, Politics, and Hate

A Californian, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, made a short movie. He posted it on YouTube, and now he's famous: mostly because quite a few Muslims think it insults Islam. They're probably right.

Some folks in the Islamic world apparently believe that killing other Muslims is a good way to deal with this insult. I think that's daft.

Others seem to have decided that killing Americans is a reasonable response. I don't think that's a good idea, either: but will admit to a bias. I'm an American.

Earlier today, it sounded like the Pakistani government would give $100,000 to whoever kills that California filmmaker. Now (Sunday afternoon here near the center of North America), the bounty on Nakoula Basseley Nakoula seems to come from government official - who was acting on his own.

Either way, I don't think assassination is good way to react to hurt feelings. On the other hand, I don't think it's a good idea to hurl insults.

Incentives, Claims, and Decisions

Pakistan's Railroad Minister offered to pay whoever kills Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. International news services picked up the story, and now someone speaking for the Pakistani prime minister said that the Pakistani government had nothing to do with the bounty.1

Maybe the railroad boss really was acting on his own. Maybe whoever planned the assassination contract didn't realize that information travels fast these days. I don't know.

What's important, at least for Mr. Nakoula and anyone near him, is that whoever kills him gets $100,000. Between outrage, anger, and that reward: quite a few folks have a big incentive to hunt the filmmaker down.

California is a long way from Pakistan, but the now-famous Mr. Nakoula isn't taking chances:
"...While many Muslim countries saw mostly peaceful protests on Friday, fifteen people were killed in Pakistan during demonstrations over the video.

"People involved in the film, an amateurish 13-minute clip of which was posted on YouTube, have said it was made by a 55-year-old California man, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

"Nakoula has not returned to his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos since leaving voluntarily to be interviewed by federal authorities. His family has since gone into hiding...."
(Reuters)
I've got some sympathy for Mr. Nakoula's family, particularly if they didn't go along with the fellow's exercise in self-expression. For that matter, I hope Mr. Nakoula doesn't get killed as a result of his actions: if only so that he has time to reconsider the wisdom of his recent decisions.

Pakistan, California, and a Global Culture

The fuss over Mr. Nakoula's film isn't anything new, although that lethal attack on an American embassy in Libya made this situation stand out a bit.

Every so often, someone in a Western country burns a Quran, draws a nasty picture of Mohammed, makes a movie, or does something else rude in reference to Islam.

Then some Muslims set fires and - often as not - kill other Muslims; others point out that the latest outrage isn't nice; and still others probably stay inside and hope the building they're in doesn't get bombed, burned, or both.

That, in my opinion, does more to damage the reputation of Islam than any YouTube video could.

Like it or not, we live in the Information Age: when folks all over the world are likely to learn about someone burning a mosque (February 13, 2008), or offering a reward for killing an infidel.

I like living in a huge world, where most folks aren't just like me, and that's almost another topic.

Hate Crime Legislation: Sort of

Change the names, and a few details, and what Egypt's President wants sounds pretty much like 'hate crime' laws here in America:
"...'A new reality in the Middle East has emerged after the toppling of autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak and others through democratic elections that brought newly-elected Islamist governments,' Emad Abdel Ghaffour, leader of the Salafist Nour Party, told Reuters.

" 'There are interest groups who seek to escalate hatred to show newly-elected governments and their Muslim electorate as undemocratic,' he said.

"Nour, whose party is the second largest in parliament and plays a formidable force in Egypt's new politics, said President Mohamed Mursi should demand '[!] legislation or a resolution to criminalize 'contempt of Islam as a religion and its Prophet' at the U.N. General Assembly next week."
(Reuters)
I'm not a huge fan of hate crime legislation. America had enforceable libel and slander laws before complaining about 'hate crimes' became fashionable. 'Hate crimes' looked like a way to criminalize opinions of folks who weren't on the same page as the establishment, and that's not quite another topic, too.

Accustomed to Change

I was born in the Truman administration, grew up in the '60s, and can't remember a time when my world wasn't changing. Technology went from vacuum tubes to integrated circuits, 'she's as smart as a man' stopped being a compliment, and America became visibly less WASPish. Some of the social changes were long-overdue reforms; some didn't come out the way I'd hoped.

But I didn't grow up expecting the world I'd grow old in to be the same as the one my grandfather knew. I didn't even think today's world should be like 'the good old days.'

I've said this before: I think the intermittent international riot that's happening again has more to do with culture, and less with religion. Or, rather, that there are at least two 'Islams.'

One of them is a faith that is adjusting to a world where camels and horses aren't the fastest mode of transportation. The other is a system of belief which worked for folks whose way of life was old when Abram left Ur: but which has trouble coping with a post-Magna Carta world.

Living with Difference

My ancestors had a thousand years or so to go from the days of Njal's Saga and the Táin Bó Cúalnge, to Huckleberry Finn and Catch-22. Even so, some folks in the Western world aren't acting well. What's different in the West is that our social and political systems don't generally regard killing neighbors as acceptable behavior. (July 24, 2011)

I'm not making excuses for the Pakistani Railroad Minister, the young Norwegian who tried to start a race war, or the Taliban. I do, however, think it's a good idea to remember that folks like that exist: and can cause serious problems if goaded.

We've all got wonderful opportunities to change the world - for the better. I think there are more effective ways of building a better world than posting provocative videos; or killing fellow-Muslims, Norwegians, or whatever.

Politics and Hate

Maybe the Railroad Minister and others are a lot shrewder than they seem. Getting folks angry is an staple political tactic:
"...'There are interest groups who seek to escalate hatred to show newly-elected governments and their Muslim electorate as undemocratic,' he [Emad Abdel Ghaffour] said...."
(Reuters)
Let's remember that it's not always 'the other guy' who's stirring up hatred, and that's yet another topic.

By the way, that Reuters article has been revised since I first read it. I think the original has interesting material, so I appended it to this post.2

Related posts:
In the news:
1 Excerpt from the news:
"Pakistani bounty placed on anti-Islam filmmaker"
Jibran Ahmad and others, Reuters (September 23, 2012)

"A Pakistani minister offered $100,000 on Saturday to anyone who kills the maker of an online video which insults Islam, as sporadic protests rumbled on across parts of the Muslim world.

" 'I announce today that this blasphemer, this sinner who has spoken nonsense about the holy Prophet, anyone who murders him, I will reward him with $100,000,' Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour told a news conference, to applause.

" 'I invite the Taliban brothers and the al Qaeda brothers to join me in this blessed mission.'

"A spokesman for Pakistan's prime minister said the government disassociated itself from the minister's statement...."
2Reuters article, before rewrite:
"Pakistani bounty placed on anti-Islam filmmaker"
Jibran Ahmad (also Anis Ahmed, Tom Cocks, Robin Pomeroy, Editing by Sophie Hares), Reuters (September 23, 2012)

"A Pakistani minister offered $100,000 on Saturday to anyone who kills the maker of an online video which insults Islam, as sporadic protests rumbled on across parts of the Muslim world.

" 'I announce today that this blasphemer, this sinner who has spoken nonsense about the holy Prophet, anyone who murders him, I will reward him with $100,000,' Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour told a news conference, to applause.

" 'I invite the Taliban brothers and the al Qaeda brothers to join me in this blessed mission.'

"A spokesman for Pakistan's prime minister said the government disassociated itself from the minister's statement.

"While many Muslim countries saw mostly peaceful protests on Friday, fifteen people were killed in Pakistan during demonstrations over the video.

"People involved in the film, an amateurish 13-minute clip of which was posted on YouTube, have said it was made by a 55-year-old California man, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

"Nakoula has not returned to his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos since leaving voluntarily to be interviewed by federal authorities. His family has since gone into hiding.

"In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Saturday, thousands of Islamist activists clashed with police who used batons and teargas to clear an unauthorized protest. In Kano, northern Nigeria's biggest city, Shi'ite Muslims burned American flags, but their protest passed off peacefully.

"The demonstrations were less widespread than on Friday, but showed anger still simmered around the world against the film and other insults against Islam in the West, including cartoons published by a French satirical magazine.

"Showing continued nervousness among Western governments, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle called on Muslim countries to protect foreign embassies.

" 'The governments in host countries have the unconditional obligation to protect foreign missions. If that doesn't happen, we will emphatically criticize that and if it still doesn't happen it won't go without consequences,' he told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday[.]

"Germany's embassy in Sudan was stormed on September 14 as was the U.S. mission in the capital Khartoum where there were deadly clashes between police and protesters against the film.

"MILITIA OUSTED IN BENGHAZI

"In the Libyan city of Benghazi, a crowd forced out an Islamist militia some U.S. officials blame for a deadly attack on the U.S. consulate during one of the first protests, on September 11.

"Ansar al-Sharia, which denies it was involved in the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, quit the city after its base was stormed by Libyans angry at armed groups that control parts of the country.

"That might go some way to vindicate U.S. President Barack Obama's faith in Libya's nascent democracy where Ambassador Christopher Stevens had worked to help rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi only to be killed in a surge of anti-Americanism.

" 'It's the view of this administration that it's a pretty clear sign from the Libyan people that they're not going to trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of the mob,' said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

""It's also an indication that the Libyan people are not comfortable with the voices of a few extremists and those who advocate and perpetrate violence, to drown out the voices and aspirations of the Libyan people." [ID:nL5E8KM49W]

"In Egypt, the leader of Egypt's main ultra orthodox Islamist party, that shares power with the more moderate Muslim Brotherhood, said the film and the French cartoons were part of a rise of anti-Islamic actions since the Arab spring revolts.

" 'A new reality in the Middle East has emerged after the toppling of autocratic regime of Hosni Mubarak and others through democratic elections that brought newly-elected Islamist governments,' Emad Abdel Ghaffour, leader of the Salafist Nour Party, told Reuters.

" 'There are interest groups who seek to escalate hatred to show newly-elected governments and their Muslim electorate as undemocratic,' he said.

"Nour, whose party is the second largest in parliament and plays a formidable force in Egypt's new politics, said President Mohamed Mursi should demand '[!]legislation or a resolution to criminalize 'contempt of Islam as a religion and its Prophet' at the U.N. General Assembly next week."
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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.