Progress in Afghanistan
In case you were wondering how things are going in Afghanistan these days, an article in the Boston Globe says ...Militants broke into the home of an Afghan headmaster and beheaded him while forcing his wife and eight children to watch, the latest in a spate of attacks attributed to the Taliban that have forced many schools to close.So we went to Iraq because things were pretty much wrapped up in Afghanistan? We're doing a heck of a job in that part of the world.The insurgents claim that educating girls is against Islam and oppose government-funded schools for boys because they teach subjects besides religion.
posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 11:51 AM
6 Comments:
It's a good job Paul. And one every American should be proud about.
An obit of an American Muslim: Staff Sgt. Ayman Taha, age 31; who made the supreme sacrifice.
From yesterdays Wash Post thanks to Harry's Place,
His father described him as a devout Muslim who believed that "the message of Islam is very simple . . . to believe in God and do good deeds."
Ayman Taha, born in Sudan, was also a member of the US Army special forces who gave up a promising academic career three years ago to enlist. He was sent to Iraq a year ago and was killed last Friday while preparing a munitions cache for demolition.
Again according to his father:
"He strongly agreed that what they were doing is good and that they were helping people in the Middle East to get out of the . . . historic bottleneck" that had confined them.
Believe in God and do good deeds might be all the theology we need.
Well, of course America did not invade Afghanistan to bring democracy and nice feelings to the Taliban. They went to finish off the job started by CIA-paid mercenary Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen to push the Soviets out of the country. When they were not convenient any longer for American world domination strategy (and they obviously weren't when they were silly enough to support Bin Laden and his crazy jihad against his former employers), they went, killed some Taliban (but not too many, just in case they need them again) and established a fake democracy that only works in Kabul and the surrounding area. O, but having an unveiled woman voting on CNN is sure good propaganda for the Nice World Power.
Boy, I've got to disagree with you there, Bill.
What we've done - at least in Afghanistan - is the minimum necessary to look like we're once again spreading the "good" political system to people for whom it just might not be well suited. I believe that's because of the history of strong tribalism in the country. And once we've done the miniumum, we pretty much desert them and go on to try to once again to "spread the good word" in Iraq. And sooner or later, we're going to leave them to fight their own civil war.
You'll never, ever, convince me that this is a "good job".
Paul, I think it is an honest but mistaken view that the US is expanding in Asia just because they want to spread democracy. No matter if they do it well or not, this is simply not the case. There are terrible dictatorships around the world but the US only cares about a few of them. Why? Because it is in their strategic interest to do so. If their strategic interest is to leave the dictator alone, they do it, or they promote a dictatorship when the local democratic government is not convenient for their interests (as it happened in Chile) or they sustain a dictator when they need him (as it happened in my own country, Spain, after the end of WWII). So, the analysis is not about how well America is spreading democracy, but rather how America benefits from having military control over specific areas of the world, and I am talking mainly about oil and gas in Central Asia. Check where the American army or American bases are right now and you can trace the pipeline that is working from the former Soviet Asian republics and the sea.
In that no shortage of people in the UU World, and indeed a certain significant minority of the people of the real world, do not believe in God perhaps it would be better to say - excercise your conscience and do good deeds might be all the U*U "theology" we need. . .
Paul and Bill and Jaume and all other UUs are invited to contribute to and participate in the first observance of World Day of Conscience in their own special ways on Woden's Day March 29th, 2006 when the total solar eclipse symbolic "Eye of God" will metaphorically "look down from the heavens" on our little blue planet.
Allah prochaine,
Robin Edgar
World Day of Conscience
Post a Comment
<< Home