Sunday, March 05, 2006

They are not all terrorists

Gateway has some amazing pictures of anti-terrorism protests in Bahrain. Like Iraq, Bahrain is a majority Shia country that has long been dominated by the Sunni minority. Here at least people seem to be trying to come together and build a functioning society.

Here are the moderate Muslims the west has been asking for. Will we accept them at their word or treat them with suspicion?

I have heard pundits say that we are at a tipping point with Islam. They say Americans have had enough and hence the hissy fit about Dubai Ports.

We can not afford tipping points. These people are not part of some cult that will die out in a few years. Islam is a major religion that is practiced by more than 1 billion people. To think we can simply disengage, politically or economically or culturally, is wishful thinking.

If we do begin to think that all of Islam is the enemy then we have to decide what that means.

Do we abandon Iraq and Afghanistan?

Will we stop buying oil from them?

Will we shut down all investment in the United States by Muslims from abroad? Dubai is only one company doing one deal...there are already Muslims in shipping and air freight here as well as real estate and other businesses. Do we send them all packing?

Do we outlaw Islam in the United States or at the very least assume all American Muslims are to be suspect?

Do we cut off all military training of Muslims both in our own armed forces as well as the armed forces of other nations?

Do we rescind all military relations with countries like Pakistan and the UAE?

Should we curtail our relationship with countries like India which has a large Muslim population?

If in fact they are hopeless and are all the enemy and even business relationships with Muslims are susceptible to security breaches...then how do we proceed?

If there is no difference between Tehran and Bahrain..then should we consider the destruction of the religion? I certainly don't think so, but when I hear some of the rhetoric on both sides of the aisle in this country here of late I wonder if some other people do think that the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim or at the very least a powerless Muslim.

Down that road lies madness.

Chester asked the same kind of questions as does Dr. Sanity

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

David:


Yes people need to be more pragmatic.

John Sobieski said...

Always that matter of fact conclusion of 'devastation.' Really? Japan and S.Korea could be considered isolationists - they strictly control immigration and if you're Muslim, forget it, you're not getting in. Period. They jealously protect their infrastructure and have no intention to sell any of it to the 'highest bidder.' Yet, their economies are doing just fine. Their population is declining, but what's wrong with that? Planning and innovation to reflect the adjustment in the demographics are ensuring their survival. Keep in mind, the plague in medieval Europe actually hastened innovation and technology - why? because the loss of labor forced innovation.

Isolationism and protectionism have gotten a bad rap. In a nasty world, especially with a death cult of 1 billion who worships a pedophile narcissist, and believes that the nonbelievers (that's you and me) should be converted, enslaved or murdered, isolationism makes more sense. Why invite the Muslim plague to our shores? I say we should work to have them kill each other much faster than allowing them to come here and 'confuse' our leaders with taqiyya and kitman while they plot to infiltrate our govt and deceive our public. I say stop paying the jizyah and tell the Palestinians that we don't pay people who hate us and want us dead. But hey, that's just me.