Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Elizabeth Warren said at least one interesting thing during the debate last night, but failed to follow it to its logical conclusion.

She said, “Asking the military to solve a problem that is un-solvable by military means is putting them in an impossible situation.”  I agree.  But let’s look a little deeper.

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan for whatever reason they used at the time, they quickly found out that they were in the middle of a hornet’s nest of tribal allegiances and feudal relationships that paid no attention to things like the United Nations.  The Russians lost their asses in the attempt, and part of the result was the fall of the SSR concept.  The USA, of course, being locked in cold war with Russia, slipped lots of money and weaponry to the guerilla opposition, who turned out to be conservative Islamic radicals for whom a martyrdom death was something to be looked for, and who became the Taliban after the Russians left, and quickly turned the country into an Islamic Fiefdom where Sharia Law ruled everything, and the warlords who controlled the various demesnes remained in power while the Taliban took over the government.

They in turn sheltered Al Qaeda and supported their goal of punishing the US for our previous transgressions in the middle east.  We pissed off the Shiites when we overthrew the President of Iran, and we pissed off the Sunnis when we jammed Isreal down their throats and took their land upon which to build it.  Now they all hate us, surprise, surprise.  At least we didn’t take all their land and put them on a reservation.

Underlying all of it is a well-known but mostly ignored tenet of all Islam, that the entire world is destined to become Muslim, no matter if they have to kill us all to get there.  The difference between the mainstream Muslims and the radicals is the mainstream guys are willing to wait for us to come around on our own, while the radicals have already started the killing.  They share many common beliefs, among them that a slaughtered animal must be killed by slitting its throat while it still is conscious and letting it die from loss of blood.

But back to Afghanistan, everybody knows or should know what will happen as soon as our troops leave the country.  The Taliban will come back into power and butcher the politicians, and the country will again fall back to feudal times.  Women will again become chattel slaves, the warlords will continue to sell the opium and have their dancing boys, and death will come quickly and easily for the slightest transgression.

So how is this America’s problem?  Other than the fact that we sorta caused the whole thing in our usual sneaky underhanded way?

The answer is, it’s not.  What we should do is pack up our tents and haul our asses and all of our weapons the hell out of that country and wish them well.  Or, maybe we should issue an M-16 and a case of ammo to every household in the country, then sit back and see who comes out on top.  Whoever that is will be the government of Afghanistan, if it doesn’t break apart into Persians and Kurds, or Sunnis and Shiites.

And remember the final scenes of the abandonment of Saigon, with the helicopters on the roof?  The only honorable thing to do in this situation is to invite every single Afghani citizen who fears life under the Taliban a visa to the USA.  Every single one of them.

What it really is is a United Nations problem.  Unfortunately, the leaders of the United Nations, the Security Council, have forced the will of the powerful minority on the helpless majority while the continuing exploitation of Third World resources for the benefit of rich First World elites goes on behind the scenes.

So the United Nations doesn’t have enough pull to make anything happen.  Every other country with troops on the ground or planes in the air needs to back the hell out of there, pronto, and let the Afghanis settle their own future.  If the Taliban wins, why would that not be expected?  Did we not invade them on the pretext of their hospitality to Al Qaeda and destroy their country with bombs, fighters and civilians alike?

After they settle down and get organized, they should provide us with a bill for the damage to their sovereign country, which we should promptly pay.  Sure, they’re assholes, and they treat their people like shit, and that offends us, but you know what?  They don’t think much of us, either.  We’ve spilled a lot of blood over there, and spilled blood carries memories that last a long time.

Many years ago, the British decided, “Piss on this, those rowdy Americans can have their damn colony, and to hell with ‘em!”  They came to this conclusion for a good reason.  We need to come to the same conclusion with Afghanistan, and Iraq, and Israel, and a whole bunch of other places.  It’s up to the people who live there to accept or reject their own government.  Anybody who steps in automatically becomes the enemy, and we don’t need to be the world’s enemy.  :-{)}

Blasphemy

There was an article in Sunday’s Times about a local Imam, Jawad Khaki, from Kirkland, who was quoted as follows when asked about his individual responsibility as a Muslim to respond to the radicals: … “Absolutely, because of the teaching in the Quran: When you kill an innocent individual, it’s as if you killed the entire humanity; when you save a person’s life, you saved the entire humanity”…

The point of his article was to say that most Muslims were peaceful and not extremist, but I noticed the very careful wording of his reply.  He said it was wrong to kill an innocent person, but what he did not say is, What about a guilty person?  Is it okay to kill them?

Furthermore, does not a statement like that automatically call up other questions, such as, What are the crimes that, when you are found guilty, receive the dispensation from God to ignore the First Commandment, Thou Shalt Not Kill?  Among those crimes for which God thinks you should be put to death, does the modern, moderate Muslim include Blasphemy and/or Heresy?  Therein lies the rub, as they say, because here in America, we have decided that Freedom of Speech trumps Blasphemy and Heresy every time.

It wasn’t always like that here.  Back in the days of the Pilgrims, while the Spanish Inquisition was going on about its campaign of genocide against native people everywhere, Heresy could get you hanged in the Colonies, and Witchcraft could get you burned.  And even in these relatively enlightened times in the West, there are still lots of Christians who fundamentally believe that it’s gonna come to blows at some point, and God is on their side.

Thoughts are energy, preserved in chemical reactions inside our brains, and when we remember them and transmit them to others by talking or writing them down we in effect send that energy out into the world to join the vast shifting flow of karma, or grace, or whatever your particular sect calls it.  Those thoughts can take the form of calls for Jihad, spread over the Internet, and set a person to action that causes innocence to die.  They can take the form of online bullying, and cause an innocent but fragile person to take their own life.  Perceived or not, all those negative thoughts from those whose minds are filled with hate are out there everywhere, a dark cloud over everyone.

Fortunately, there are positive things going on out there, too, that tend to counteract the bad stuff, a dialectical Yin and Yang of ebb and flow, action and counter-action, life and death.  The pendulum swings.

To a person with the ability to reason, it makes sense that the positive energy in the universe can be deliberately increased on purpose, by doing positive things like helping other people, having children, doing good useful work.  Quite often you see volunteers trying to directly save and heal the victims of the bad stuff right on the scene, as in the refugee camps throughout the world, the Habitat for Humanity builders.  Education is a positive thing, especially for those to whom it has been denied.  That’s why so many bad men, whose positions at the top of the food chain are threatened by it fight so hard to deny it, especially to their women.

So to our local Imam, and to all the others in the world who write articles and talk on TV about it, I ask for this favor:  Every Time some radical Imam in Pakistan, or London, or Paris stands in a pulpit and issues a fatwa calling the faithful to Jihad, would you please, all of you, promptly issue your own fatwa cancelling the Jihad!  Tell your faithful not to give those bad guys any money or help, and not to go kill anyone.

I’m basing this request on the guess that, if one Imam can issue a fatwa any time they want, why couldn’t you also?  Do Imams have levels, like, say, you gotta be a Bishop or higher to issue a fatwa?  And if a majority of Muslim priests, just like a majority of Catholic, Bhuddist, Hindu, Baptist, and any other one you want to name would be glad to do all jumped on those bad guy fatwas every time they came out, well, you’d think that would be pretty effective.

And it sounds reasonable to me, like something a reasonable person would do, and they’d have no reason not to.

So how about it, can you get that fatwa out pretty soon?  While you’re at it, be sure and tell them that Heresy and Blasphemy are not a big deal anymore, it’s just people exercising their God-given right to speak their minds, and, if you don’t like it, their Constitutional right to pick up their arms and blow your shit away!

Oops, I think I just commited Blasphemy… :-{)}