THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IV, Issue # 140, November 20, 2002
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE RAMADAN REPORT
By Alan Caruba
We are now halfway through Ramadan (November 6 to December 6) and it is instructive to take note of how this most sacred time of the year for all Muslims is affecting the ac- tions of some. In the White House, on the evening of the first day, President Bush hosted a traditional Ramadan Iftaar dinner that marks the end of each day's fasting. He called Ramadan "a blessed time," adding that Islam is "a peace-loving faith" and one that "respects others."
While the White House was asserting that Islam is a peaceful faith, the U.S. Department of State expressed a somewhat different point of view, greeting Ramadan with a "World- wide Caution" to "alert US citizens to the continuing threat of terrorist actions that might target civilians."
Secretary of State Colin Powell has admonished the comments by some well-known Christian evangelists about the true nature of Islam, saying, "This kind of hatred must be rejected." But was it not hatred. It was historic fact.
In a kind of policy schizophrenia, Powell says the State Department is working on ex- panding programs to bring educators, journalists, and political and religious leaders from Islamic nations to the U.S.A. You would think that 9-11 should have taught us about the dangers of issuing visas to people with bad intentions. In previous wars, did this nation issue visas to the Iraqis, to North Vietnamese, to North Koreans, to German or Japanese combatants?
On the day Ramadan began, a Palestinian terrorist infiltrated the southern Gaza Strip settlement of Pe'at Sadah and killed two Jewish residents. Two days later, a Palestinian broke into an Israeli farming community and went on a killing rampage, shooting five people, including two children, to death.
In Iran, on November 7, a reformist scholar, Hashem Aghajari, was sentenced to death on charges of having insulted Mohammed, the founder of Islam. Hundreds of Iranian students poured into the streets to protest the verdict. Iranians hate the rule of the aya- tollahs. It appears the verdict will be reversed due, to the outcry of Muslims who know injustice when they see it.
Two days after Ramadan began some 14 people were wounded in clashes between Mus- lims and Hindus in India's hotbed of conflict, Gujarat State. Over a thousand have died there since the beginning of the year. Last time I checked, Hindus tend toward pacifism unless provoked.
Just over a week into Ramadan, a dozen Israeli soldiers were gunned down in a Hebron ambush while protecting Jewish worshippers. Fifteen others were wounded. The Islamic Jihad, a most accurately and aptly named terrorist organization, took credit. On Monday evening, November 18, a mother of seven, Esther Galia, was killed in a terrorist ambush northeast of Ramallah.
That same week, British police announced they had arrested three North African men, either Tunisian or Moroccan, in connection with a plot to release cyanide-gas to kill peo- ple using the famed London subway system. All three were said to have links to Al- Qa'ida through a group called the North African Front. Here again, innocent non-com- batants were targeted. Murder in the name of Allah.
Days earlier, that paragon of Islam, Osama bin Laden, on an audiotape said that the U.S.A., Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Australia would be subject to more terrorist attacks. The U.S. government responded with a warning that Al-Qa'ida might try to stage a "spectacular attack "sometime soon. Or maybe just a bunch of little ones. Either way, the purpose is to spread terror. Guilty of the most unconscionable, heinous acts of terrorism, bin Laden chose Ramadan to initiate still more terrorism on the world.
All this occurred during the first half of the most sacred, holy month of Ramadan--a time, we're told, when Muslims are supposed to fast daily in order to get closer to Allah and the message of the Koran. The problem is the Koran, said to be the word of Allah, encourages Muslims to kill Christians and Jews, and anyone else who is disinclined to be a Muslim. Moreover, the Koran has not restrained Muslims from killing other Muslims.
At this point, someone is sure to draw comparisons with the Torah and the Gospels, citing the failure of both to stop murder and wars.
That sophistry ignores the specificity of the Koran in this respect. Historically, Jews have always been victims. Six hundred years before
Mohammed, Jesus said, "Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword." Mohammed told his followers, "The sword is the key to
Heaven."
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Terrorism & U.S. Homeland Security
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center. He weites a weekly column, "Warning Signs," posted on www.anxiety center.com, the Internet website maintained by the National Anxiety Center. In January, 2003, Merrill Press will publish a collection of Caruba's writings.
The National Anxiety Center is located at 9 Brookside Road, Maplewood, New Jersey, 07040.
Copyright 2002 Alan Caruba
Reprinted with Permission of Alan Caruba
Reprinted from ACaruba@AOL.Com
November 20, 2002
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity