Despite my responsibility as a citizen to keep informed, it’s getting quite difficult to read the news these days. I often find myself having to take a break from reading because I am overcome by anger, bitterness, or despair. And never mind the effect it’s having on my ability to do other work. However, I came across an op-ed yesterday, by a supporter of the war in Iraq, that made some very good points. What I liked most about it was its focus on where do we go from here. Regardless of whether or not you support the war in Iraq, we must all focus on the future and how to make it better – first for all the innocent men, women, and children who have been placed in harms way, second for those Iraqis who deserve a better chance, and third for all of us Americans who so far have been made less safe in the world by this conflict and the way in which it has been handled.
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Friedman v. Spain
I know that Friedman’s views aren’t universally popular in this forum, but I particularly enjoyed this op-ed from today’s NYTimes.
Say What?
CNN is reporting that al-Zarqawi has released an audio tape that justifies the killing of Muslim civilians based on the teachings of so-called Islamic scholars. Here is the intro from CNN: “A chilling, rambling audio file thought to be from the most-wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, says religious doctrine justifies the killing of innocent Muslims by insurgents. On the audio, the speaker says in Arabic: ‘The shedding of Muslim blood … is allowed in order to avoid the greater evil of disrupting jihad.’ The speaker defends suicide attacks, saying, ‘killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom operations…
We don’t need no stinkin’ ayatollah
So, Iraq exploded. The Shi’ah are now rising against us. How did this happen? As always, a misunderstanding of the “other.” In this case, the mistake was so basic it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.