A Lazy, Simplistic Analogy

Islamophobia, Journalism and Media, Terrorism Issue

The Boston Globe Editorial, November 4, 2007

If language is a window on the world, a deliberate smudging of that window will make it harder to see the world clearly and comprehend it. So it is with the highly ideological term “Islamofascist,” a label that is being wielded as a blunt weapon in a left-right debate and has been carelessly bandied about by some presidential candidates.

Recently, the former leftist turned rightist David Horowitz promoted something called “Islamofascism Awareness Week” on college campuses. The implication was that the academic left has so lost its bearings that it can no longer recognize its historic enemy, the old fascist wolf, under that beast’s new disguise. Another apparent aim was to discredit scholars who insist on making careful distinctions among the various movements and ideologies that are grouped under the rubric of political Islam. Continue reading A Lazy, Simplistic Analogy →

The Real Musharraf

Ethics, Islamic Law, Pakistan, Terrorism Issue

[Photo: Asma Jahangir. There is a large variety of commentary on General Musharraf’s recent dictatorial dismissal of Pakistan’s constitution and judiciary. Here is a comment from Asma Jahangir, one of the lawyers currently under house arrest. How easily the line between “terrorist” and “rights activist” is blurred.]

By Asma Jahangir
The Washington Post, Friday, November 9, 2007; A21

LAHORE, Pakistan — It was close to midnight last Saturday when Gen. Pervez Musharraf finally appeared on state-run television. That’s when police vans surrounded my house. I was warned not to leave, and hours later I learned I would be detained for 90 days.

At least I have the luxury of staying at home, though I cannot see anyone. But I can only watch, helpless, as this horror unfolds.

The Musharraf government has declared martial law to settle scores with lawyers and judges. Hundreds of innocent Pakistanis have been rounded up. Human rights activists, including women and senior citizens, have been beaten by police. Judges have been arrested and lawyers battered in their offices and the streets. Continue reading The Real Musharraf →

A Pat on Hizzoner’s Back

Apocalypse Watch, Islam in America, Islamophobia, Luke R. E. Publican, Terrorism Issue

The top picture on the front page of yesterday’s New York Times shows two smiling men, strange political bedfellows although not really as gay as the picture might imply. To the left (and think about what this means for a Republican race) is Rudy, the 9-11 man, the swept-the-streets-free-of-vendors hero, the divorced (“I am Henry the VIIIth, I am”) Catholic and the list goes on. To the right (of just about everyone, including former Governor Huckabee) is evangelist Pat Robertson, who once tried to tie the electoral knot himself. “In a Surprise,” runs the headline, “Pat Robertson Backs Giuliani.” An endorsement, the most sought after photo-op in poly biz.

But an endorsement from Pat Robertson? Continue reading A Pat on Hizzoner’s Back →

“Worse than Salman Rushdie”

Afghanistan, Qur'an

Afghan Koran distributor arrested
By Alix Kroeger
BBC News, Kabul

The distributor of a new translation of the Koran has been arrested after complaints from religious scholars that the new edition was un-Islamic.

Former journalist Ghows Zalmay is also the spokesman for Afghanistan’s attorney general.

He was arrested on the border on Sunday while trying to flee into Pakistan.

Demonstrators protested in two Afghan provinces against the new translation of the Koran into Dari, one of Afghanistan’s two official languages.

Religious scholars are outraged at the new edition of the Muslim holy book.

They say that it is un-Islamic, that it misinterprets verses about alcohol, begging, homosexuality and adultery. Continue reading “Worse than Salman Rushdie” →

Dying to Win

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Books You Should Read, Osama Bin Laden, Terrorism Issue

By Robert A. Pape,
Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
[Excerpt from Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism by Robert A. Pape (New York: Random House, 2005, pp. 1-2, 5-7).]

Suicide terrorism is rising around the world, but there is a great confusion as to why. Since many such attacks—including, of course, those of Septemper 11, 2001—have been perpetrated by Muslim terrorists professing religious motives, it might seem obvious that Islamic fundamentalism is the central cause. This presumption has fueled the belief that future 9/11’s can be avoided only by a wholesale transformation of Muslim societies, a core reason for broad public support in the United States for the recent conquest of Iraq.

However, the presumed connection between suicide terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism is misleading and may be encouraging domestic and foreign policies likely to worsen America’s situation and harm many Muslims needlessly. Continue reading Dying to Win →

Out on an Amputated Limb

Iraq War, Pakistan, Terrorism Issue

As November breaks, the news from the warmongering of terrorism has two new flares. In Pakistan, where some think Osama might still be cave sitting, General Pervez Musharraf has announced (or shall we say re-announced) martial law. On the border of Kurdish-controlled Iraq, some 100,000 Turkish troops are said to be poised for an attack on the PKK operating out of Iraqi territory. Meanwhile the fires have hardly been dampened in Iraq or Gaza and President Mubarrak of Egypt has been slated to run yet again. The more we wish things to change, the more they seem to stay the same. But there is a thread running throughout all these events: the role of America as a tarnished symbol of democracy and as unilateral neoconnected bull in a west-of-China shop. Continue reading Out on an Amputated Limb →

E-mail to Allah

Iraq, Poetry

by Salah Hassan

Dear Allah,

I don’t have to speak to You
Like Mohammed al Maghout did
Nor like Fadhil al Azzawi
Now I have e-mail
And You can answer me
By a click on reply
Many questions bother me
And You must give an answer
In the meantime I have become forty five
And I think I am wise enough
To speak to You about Your duties
What are You doing all day?
Do You read the papers?
Do you listen to the radio?
Didn’t You hear anything in the Friday prayers
About Iraq? Continue reading E-mail to Allah →