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Did we miss something else?

So I’m reading Jeff Jacoby’s op-ed in the Boston Globe today and he’s talking about anti-American sentiment in the Arab world, (I’m ignoring the fact for a second that the idea of an Arab world, like Arab street, is Orientalist, and that using Egypt as an example for over two dozen countries is just bad writing.) when I run across this paragraph: It was Al-Akhbar, another regime-sponsored daily, that declared in August: “The Statue of Liberty . . . must be destroyed because of the idiotic American policy that goes from disgrace to disgrace in the swamp of bias and…

It’s amazing what turns up

I went searching for an article entitled “Counterterrorism at Miami Airport” by Ali Mazrui, and found it at Swahili On-line (asante sana). It was attached to an article about Islam in East Africa. Both are worth a read. The link is here. I like Dr. Mazrui’s writings quite a bit because he treats Islam as part of the African cultural landscape, rather than something foreign that can be separated out and potentially removed.

Doing what Sistani says

Grand Ayatollah Sistani is asking for US troops to leave Najaf and Karbala. According to Sistani he wants to “‘allow the police and tribal forces to perform their role in preserving security and order.’” I think this is a good idea. I don’t think the US should commit to a full-scale withdrawal, but they should say that they will withdraw to the perimeters of both cities for 72 hours. If the situation improves, they will stay out; if it worsens, they will enter. They will gaurd the outskirts of the city and prevent people from entering who are not authorized…