Honor God

We’ve added a new typelist on the left bar today to recognize the Ahl al-Kitâb, People of the Book, very broadly defined. One of the things I’ve tried to argue for is that Muslim community cannot see itself or its issues in isolation. After a generous comment from the Velveteen Rabbi, I thought we should practice what we preach. We are actively seeking suggestions for Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, etc., blogs that are attempting to grapple with or explain aspects of their faiths.

For those of you unaware, Dick Clarke is former head of counter-terrorism under the Clinton and Bush, Jr. administrations. He’s written a book analyzing the failures of both groups – not just Bush as has been widely reported – in dealing with Al-Qaeda. Unfortunately, I have not yet read the book, but this review is one of the least partisan ones I’ve read so far. It’s really chilling what we don’t know. I’ve often joked – as have others – that the color-coding scheme of terrorist alert is nothing more than a scam to get Bush re-elected. What if it’s…

Via today’s Mother Jones: Number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq since Operation Iraqi Freedom began on March 19, 2003: 671 Number killed since George W. Bush declared an end to “major combat” on May 1, 2003: 533 Number killed this month: 83 Source: U.S. Department of Defense