Category Archives: Terrorism Issue

A True Culture War

Afghanistan, Anthropology/Sociology, Ethics, Journalism and Media, Terrorism Issue


[Photograph taken in Afghanistan by Sergey Maximishin, 2001.]

[Webshaykh’s Note: It is a rare day when an anthropologist’s commentary is published in the New York Times. Here is yesterday’s op-ed by Richard Shweder of the University of Chicago, reproduced below. I invite readers to post their views here. I gave my own view of Anthropo covertus in an earlier post.]

by Richard Shweder, New York Times, October 28, 2007

IS the Pentagon truly going to deploy an army of cultural relativists to Muslim nations in an effort to make the world a safer place?

A few weeks ago this newspaper reported on an experimental Pentagon “human terrain” program to embed anthropologists in combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan. It featured two military anthropologists: Tracy (last name withheld), a cultural translator viewed by American paratroopers as “a crucial new weapon” in counterinsurgency; and Montgomery McFate, who has taken her Yale doctorate into active duty in a media blitz to convince skeptical colleagues that the occupying forces should know more about the local cultural scene.

How have members of the anthropological profession reacted to the Pentagon’s new inclusion agenda? Continue reading A True Culture War →

Dropping a Word Bomb

Islamophobia, Journalism and Media, Terrorism Issue

[The following is an editorial in the Centre Daily News, about a visit to Penn State by the Islamo-Fascist Awareness Weekers, brought to my attention by Jonathan Brockupp in the Department of History and Religious Studies.]

As the world, the country and even formerly placid Happy Valley desperately need unity and understanding, rock star Rick Santorum brought his Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week tour to Penn State this week, spreading his divisive “us vs. them,” “Christians vs. pagans” message.

“Thank youuuuuuuuuuu, State College. You’re a great audience. Here’s one you may have heard before. …” Continue reading Dropping a Word Bomb →

The Common Core of Christianity, Judaism and Islam

Ethics, Islam and Christianity, Terrorism Issue

By John Renard, for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Online, 10/23/2007

Something remarkable in Muslim-Christian relations happened this month, yet few Americans are aware of it.

More than 130 Muslim religious scholars from more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and North America sent an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI and to some two dozen other leaders of Orthodox and Protestant churches. Overwhelmingly conciliatory and non-polemical, the document (available at www.acommonword.com) lays out evidence from the Bible and Quran that all three Abrahamic faiths share a common focus on the “two great commandments”: love of God and love of one’s neighbor as oneself. Continue reading The Common Core of Christianity, Judaism and Islam →

Huckabee, heck, he ain’t no ord’nary huckleberry

Apocalypse Watch, Islamophobia, Luke R. E. Publican, Terrorism Issue

What better place for the Republican wolf-no-longer-in-sheepish-clothing pack to have a demolition derby debate than Orlando, home of Disney’s fantasy view of America and chosen site for a dodgeball game with reporters (not deciders, of course) from Fox News? Not since the missing chads of 2000 has so much heat been generated in Florida over such an important outcome. Whatever round this is in the GOP run-up to the election, this time they all came out itchin’ for a good-old-boy fight, apparently ready to shed their “family values” political correctness if only for a night. All of the candidates took pot shots at Hillary, playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey until the audience fell on their conservatively smart asses laughing. Fred laid a few low blows on Rudy, who kicked back with his own street smarts. Mitt and McCain were able to raise a little cain. Then there were the also-theres, including the recent third-place values man, Governor and former Baptist minister Mike Huckabee. Taking a page out of Rudy’s play book, he played the fear card. In one of his responses he noted that the greatest threat that has ever faced America (get ready for a history lesson) is Islamofascism. In a recent online interview he laid out his apocalyptic scenario:

“There’s almost an inevitability, not just a possibility. It will happen again. Continue reading Huckabee, heck, he ain’t no ord’nary huckleberry →

When Will Chemical Ali Bite the Dust?

Ethics, Iraq, Iraq War, Terrorism Issue

The demise of Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime took place over five years ago. Most of the card-carrying players in the American liberation deck have been found, including the literal ace in the hole, Saddam. In a trial so lengthy and full of delays that it has dropped almost entirely out of sight in the media, the next sacrificial wolf is the man dubbed “Chemical Ali” in the West. Lacking remorse, this chemical engineer of mass killing is well aware there is nothing he can do to stop his own death. But it ain’t over until the fat lady sings and the noose tightens. If the story of Chemical Ali has faded from your memory, here is a refresher from Al-Jazeera:

Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam Hussein’s cousin, and widely known as “Chemical Ali”, will be executed “in the coming days,” an Iraqi government spokesman has said.

Legal arguments and religious holidays have delayed al-Majid’s execution, which was confirmed on September 4 by the Iraqi supreme court and due to be implemented within 30 days.

Al-Majid was convicted earlier this year of presiding over the killing of thousands of Kurds during the Anfal campaign in the 1980s.

Asked whether he would be hanged soon, Ali al-Dabbagh said: “I think so, yes, in the coming days.”

Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, delayed the hanging of al-Majid until after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which ended on Monday. Continue reading When Will Chemical Ali Bite the Dust? →

The Clash of Knuckleheads Theory

CyberOrient, Islamophobia, Journalism and Media, Terrorism Issue

by ARSALAN IFTIKHAR
Published in Islamica Magazine, September 2007

For seven of my twenty-nine years, my existence as an American Muslim public diplomat and human rights lawyer has revolved around being an honest public voice to the masses since the tragedy of 9/11. From high-level political delegations to regular TV appearances as the ‘Muslim Guy’ on international media (either condemning terrorism or swashbuckling notorious Islamophobes who demonize Muslims); a simple Google or YouTube search will have my record speak for itself.

I have condemned terrorist knuckleheads like Osama bin Laden & Company. Notwithstanding the categorical prohibition of suicide and civilian attacks in Islam, these murderous knuckleheads have done nothing but add madness to already existing madness in our world. From Bali to Madrid to London, my seething disgust increases exponentially each time their irreligious attacks occur. When a 9-year old child (anywhere in the world) is considered to be a ‘legitimate target’, you know that these maniacs have lost their bloody minds committing ungodly acts of mass murder. Continue reading The Clash of Knuckleheads Theory →

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Ethics, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America, Islam in Europe, Islamophobia, Journalism and Media, Terrorism Issue

One of the most common complaints about “Islam” from politicians and other truth-bending members of our society is that mainstream Muslims do not speak out when fellow Muslims commit atrocities such as suicide bombings. Muslims do, of course, both to their friends and neighbors and in forums that usually fail to reach the public at large. But often no one takes the time to listen or to find where these voices can be heard loud and clear. So it is not fair to ask why Muslims are failing so speak out against extremism without also asking why so little attention is paid in the mainstream media when they do. Well, hear ye, hear ye, there is a letter to prominent Christian leaders, including Pope Benedict and the leader of the Baptist church, from a broad spectrum of Muslim intellectuals and leaders, as reported Thursday on the BBC and The Guardian.

A pdf version of the English translation of the letter can be found on a website dedicated to the letter. The letter begins:

“Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world’s population. Without peace and justice between these two religious communities, there can be no meaningful peace in the world. The future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians.”

Continue reading Hear Ye, Hear Ye →

Innocent with no chance to be proven guilty

Ethics, Immigration Issues, Terrorism Issue


Khaled El-Masri with two of his children

Perhaps it is time to stop asking “Why do they hate us?” and consider “why do we hate ourselves?” America does stand for something, as it has for generations of immigrants (including my grandfather from Sicily and my wife from Lebanon). That something, enshrined in our sacred documents promoting liberty and justice for all, is a much-needed system of checks and balances to keep any particular part of our governing system from monopolizing its power at the expense of the citizens. If, as President Bush insists, they hate us because we have liberty, then the decision Tuesday by the Supreme Court not to hear the case of Khaled al-Masri must be good news. We no longer have liberty, so “they” should have nothing to hate. Let’s declare an end to the War of Terrorism, keep our shoes on the next time we board a flight, and take all those with the suspicious name of Muhammad or Ali off the Homeland Security list of the unwanted.

The editorial in today’s New York Times cuts through the liberal vs. conservative crap shoot of opinion mongering to a sober assessment of the case in question. Take a look for yourself, before I comment further. Continue reading Innocent with no chance to be proven guilty →