Free Speech

Nick Berg’s father has been speaking out against the Department of Defense. It’s sad that he is criticizing the government, the entity that should have been protecting his son; it’s sad because the government should be seen as our protectors, particularly overseas. It doesn’t bode well for the country when the government is seen as contributing to American deaths internationally. The critique won’t get much traction, but I wanted to give my sympathies to the family for the loss of their son and their sense of betrayal. (Background pieces on Nick Berg in US Custody.) Aside: The video broadcast talking…

Just read this. Interesting. Three things come to mind: I find it interesting that Mr. Siddiqui has to qualify his statements with the idea that he is not the follow of the Aga Khan, even though he is in front of a “progressive” audience, where being an Ismaili, or Ithna’ashari, or Sunni shouldn’t matter. He critiques the term “extermist” but speaks to a group called “progressive,” which continues to reassert the binary, although from a different direction. He begins talking about how aware Muslims around the world are of prison abuses. I don’t dispute this, but I wonder how the…