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Here’s the Outrage

I’m wondering where the outrage is, and finally I see that Muslims are offended by the desecration of holy sites by other Muslims, if not by Muslim-on-Muslim violence. I’m glad to see the Shi’ah of Najaf are rising up against those who would take their (Najafi) Islam and use it for their own (non-Najafi) purposes. Imam Ali (PBUH) was the son-in-law and cousin of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). He is regarded by the Shi’ah as being the heir to both temporal and spiritual authority of the Islamic community. He was martyred because he tried to peacefully end the first civil war…

NYT: #torture loopholes

Op-ed about military interrogation techniques: Tomorrow will be one year since President Obama signed an executive order outlawing torture, yet our debate about interrogation methods continues. Though the president deserves praise for improving matters, the changes were not as drastic as most Americans think, and elements of our interrogation policy continue to be both inhumane and counterproductive. Americans can now boast that they no longer “torture” detainees, but they cannot say that detainees are not abused, or even that their treatment meets the minimum standards of humane treatment mandated by the Geneva Conventions, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (the…

You say Salafi, I say Wahhabi…

Its been a long hard winter. I realised that unless you take a winter break, this place is bleak. A Red Sox title only warms you up so far. Some interesting things are taking place in the Middle East which have me reading the papers more carefully. I am not convinced that the assasination of Hariri was planned by Assad. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Syrians are knee deep in mire on this one. I think this was a Syrian security operation designed to put pressure on Assad. This is a Syrian internal conflict being played out in…