Elite Veteran Bahasa ibu: German Jumlah entri: 843 Bergabung: December 31, 2002 Lokasi: Mexico
RE: ...and war
Originally written by Jacek K. on November 5, 2009 10:21 PM
What do you think? Should journalism students visit dangerous parts around the world? Or should war zones be left to the professionals?
I think that journalism professionals can make anything look like a scoop, while students will have difficulties to find enough of them, except in dangerous parts of the world, where they will find more than they liked to..
Most U.S. citizens have been largely insulated from the daily impact of our country’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, as the nation grapples with the Fort Hood tragedy, we may find we can no longer ignore the psychic burdens that our soldiers must bear.
To put this burden in context, here’s a passage from our March-April 2009 story “The Life and Lonely Death of Noah Pierce,” excerpted from Virginia Quarterly Review. It chronicles an Iraq veteran’s suicide: ....
Expert Bahasa ibu: English Jumlah entri: 1807 Bergabung: February 1, 2008 Lokasi: United States
RE: ...and war
Many in the media are trying to spin this as PTSD, as if the shooter's socio-religious (and Islam is an entire sociological worldview and a religion, combined into one, much more than Christianity is) views have little to do with it. According to the thesis in the book "The Suicide of Reason", the West, and particularly "progressives" are at a loss to understand religious-motivated violence, and always think it must be "about something else" (PTSD, a "protest", stress, economic disadvantage, etc.).
And yet, there are clear Islamist/extremist connections, as reported today:
"According to press reports, Nidal Malik Hasan attended the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, VA in 2001 and held his mother’s funeral there on May 31, 2001. Two of the 9/11 hijackers also visited the same mosque and received assistance from its members during this period. Awlaki was an imam at the mosque at this time.
Awlaki is a known al Qaeda recruiter and spiritual guide. His sermons have inspired terrorists around the globe. Some might dismiss Hasan’s visits to Dar al Hijrah at the same time Awlaki was preaching there as mere coincidence. But there are troubling signs that it cannot be dismissed so easily.
Early this morning, Awlaki posted a blog entry titled "Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing" on his web site. In the post, Awlaki calls Hasan a "hero." Awlaki writes:
[Hasan] is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people. This is a contradiction that many Muslims brush aside and just pretend that it doesn’t exist. Any decent Muslim cannot live, understanding properly his duties towards his Creator and his fellow Muslims, and yet serve as a US soldier. The US is leading the war against terrorism which in reality is a war against Islam. Its army is directly invading two Muslim countries and indirectly occupying the rest through its stooges.
Nidal opened fire on soldiers who were on their way to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. How can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done? In fact the only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the US army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal.
This is disturbing to say the least. Awlaki is calling on other Muslim servicemen to follow Hasan’s lead. It also raises the possibility that Hasan had deeper ties to al Qaeda’s international terrorist network than have been previously reported. In fact, ABC News reported a bombshell this morning:
U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.
It is not known whether the intelligence agencies informed the Army that one of its officers was seeking to connect with suspected al Qaeda figures, the officials said." - the Weekly Standard
I think it would actually be less expensive to physically put an end to the war madness than to spend $50m to study why, when pushed to madness, soldiers go mad.
I could explain you that for a fraction of that price.
Jacek
[Diedit oleh Jacek K. pada November 10, 2009 3:44 AM]
Bahasa ibu: Polish Bergabung: February 18, 2003 Lokasi: Poland
RE: ...and war
Originally written by John Bunch on November 10, 2009 1:36 AM
And yet, there are clear Islamist/extremist connections, as reported today: "According to press reports, Nidal Malik Hasan attended the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, VA in 2001 and held his mother’s funeral there on May 31, 2001. Two of the 9/11 hijackers also visited the same mosque and received assistance from its members during this period.
The US Right is, predictably, on another anti-Muslim crusade now following the Fort Hood incident.
Leaving aside Columbine and all the other similar shootouts, was this guy Muslim too?
Jason Rodriguez, an unemployed man in Florida, entered the engineering firm where he used to work and shot six people, killing one, then drove to his mother's house, where he was arrested. “I'm just going through a tough time right now,” he told a police officer. “I'm sorry.”24 (Harper's Weekly Review)
Expert Bahasa ibu: English Jumlah entri: 1807 Bergabung: February 1, 2008 Lokasi: United States
RE: ...and war
A good essay from "Foreign Affairs", on the Fort Hood shooter:
"This framing of the issue is almost 100% wrong. There is a connection between what these critics are calling "political correctness" and national security, but it runs in the opposite direction. The real linkage is that there is a strong security imperative to prevent the consolidation of a narrative in which America is engaged in a clash of civilizations with Islam, and instead to nurture a narrative in which al-Qaeda and its affiliates represent a marginal fringe to be jointly combatted. Fortunately, American leaders -- from the Obama administration through General George Casey and top counter-terrorism officials -- understand this and have been acting appropriately.
It's worth walking through the connection once again, because how America responds to Ft. Hood really is important in the wider attempt to change the nature of its engagement with Muslim publics across the world. Get the response right, as the administration thus far has done, and they show that things really have changed. Get it wrong, as its critics demand, and the world could tumble back down into the 'clash of civilizations' trap which al-Qaeda so dearly wants and which the improved American approach of the last couple of years has increasingly denied it.
The grand strategy of al-Qaeda and its affiliated ideologues is, and has always been, to generate a clash of civilizations between Islam and the West which does not currently exist. Their great challenge is that the vast majority of Muslims reject their theology, ideology, strategy and tactics. That's especially true of American Muslims. They therefore feel the need to change the environment in which Muslims live in order to change their calculations about the appropriateness of extremist identities and ideologies and actions.
Terrorism is a means towards that end. The object is to create a violent, polarized environment in which Muslims are forced to embrace a narrow, extreme version of Muslim identity. They want Muslims to accept a master narrative in which the Islamic umma is existentially threatened by Western aggression, and the only theologically and strategically appropriate individual response is to join the jihad in the path of god (as they have defined it).
They recognize that most Muslims won't embrace this radical conception of their identity just through messaging, internet rhetoric, or preaching. To make inroads with mainstream Muslim communities, they need to change the context in which they live -- to render their status quo unacceptable and to make their narrative resonate. And for that to happen, they need a lot of help -- for the targeted governments to take inflammatory measures against their Muslim populations, for the non-Muslim citizens in the targeted countries to discriminate against them, and for the media to fan the flames of hatred and mistrust.
Understanding this strategy points towards some fairly obvious guidelines for judging various responses. Al-Qaeda and its affiliated ideologues don't just want their targets to overreact with blanket crackdowns on the mainstream Muslim community -- they are counting on it. They want to create a homogenous, undifferentiated Islam on whose behalf they speak and a coherent master narrative which justifies and validates their actions. American reactions which feed AQ's master narrative, lump together disparate Muslim movements, and tar a wide range of Muslims with the AQ brush therefore serve al-Qaeda's strategy. Responses which disrupt AQ's narrative, disaggregate the Muslim world and relegate AQ to a marginal fringe frustrate its strategy.
A lot of people -- some well-meaning, some clowns or worse -- evidently want the American response to the Ft. Hood shootings to revive the post-9/11 "war of ideas" and "clash of civilizations" anti-Islamic discourse. It's a jihad, they shout, demanding careful scrutiny of the loyalty of American Muslims. That's what they seem to mean by the demand to throw away "political correctness" and confront the ideological menace. The overall effect of their recommendations, however, would be to revive the flagging al-Qaeda brand and to greatly strengthen the appeal of its narrative. And that's exactly what we should not want.
I don't think it's going to happen. President Obama and his national security team clearly rejects such strategic misconceptions. They understand the importance of combining effective police work and international cooperation with a carefully calibrated rhetoric and strategic communications campaign. Americans have learned a lot since 9/11. And if the careful police work and investigation uncovers real ties to al-Qaeda, then I expect they will pursue those leads and carry out the appropriate response quietly and efficiently --- but without inflaming public hostilities, scoring cheap political points, or fueling the al-Qaeda narrative."
[Diedit oleh John Bunch pada November 10, 2009 12:46 PM]
Bahasa ibu: Polish Bergabung: February 18, 2003 Lokasi: Poland
RE: ...and war
Originally written by John Bunch on November 11, 2009 3:27 PM in Post #189211
[...] Regarding your statement that we would have to change the genes of people to make them peaceful, well, now we have the full utopian pacifism coming out. That is the full Monty in terms of "progressive" worldview: we have to "perfect" (whatever that means) mankind, and until then, it is hopelessly rotten.
Alternative conservative view: mankind is fine the way it is, but let's set things up to balance interests and have a balance of power and checks and balances, so that war is mostly avoided. The conservative view is ultimately more attainable, and results in more happiness (as studies show !) than the liberal position of utopian pacifism, which would necessitate "remaking" (like the USSR ?) mankind, and until then, all is lost...(that is why studies show conservatives, on average, to be happier than liberals, because conservatives are o.k. with the world we live in, but liberals are not, and find it intolerably rotten and corrupt, and that leads to their unhappiness).
John,
You have been saying or implying all along that the US sheriff must police the world to fix China in its attempts to "retake" Taiwan, "Rwanda Part II, millions killed in tribal warfare in Africa (Sierra Leone, etc.), Saddam gassing the Kurds and dumping mass bodies into graves south of Baghdad, Iraqi Scuds raining down on Tel Aviv, the Iran-Iraq War, part II, Russia retaking the old areas of the USSR after the Gorbachev "mistake", war between Cyprus and Greece and Turkey, "Greater Serbia" and an ethnically-cleansed Balkans, Iranians firing missiles at ships bringin oil to Japan and Europe (Euro 100 a liter petrol, anyone ? etc, etc. etc. )."
Allow me to conclude that now we have the full utopian conservatism coming out here. That is the full Monty in terms of "conservative" worldview: we have to "perfect" (whatever that means) mankind, and until then, it is hopelessly rotten.
Alternative liberal view: mankind is fine the way it is, but instead of warmongering, 'surges' and constant invasions of foreign countries let's set things up to balance interests and have a balance of power and checks and balances, so that war is mostly avoided. The liberal view is ultimately more attainable, and results in more happiness (...) than the conservative position of utopian permanent war, which would necessitate "remaking" (like the USSR ?) mankind, and until then, all is lost...(liberals are o.k. with the world we live in, but conservatives are not, and find it intolerably rotten and corrupt, and that leads to their unhappiness, frustration, warmongering, 'surges' and constant invasions of foreign countries).
So here's a person who is constantly advocating and justifying the killing, bombing, and slaughtering of Muslims, including well over 100,000 innocent civilians. And yet today he writes a column saying: Look over there at those radical Muslims; can you believe how degraded and inhumane they are? In fact, he says, "they" -- those Muslims over there -- "don’t see others as fully human. They come to believe others can be blamelessly murdered and that, in fact, it is admirable to do so." That's from the same person who cheerleads for the endless deaths of Muslims and destruction of the Muslim world while thinking that it makes him strong, resolute, Churchillian, righteous and noble -- exactly that which he accuses "fringe Muslims" of doing.
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