Kent Haruf on National Leadership

Below is a quote from one of my favorite authors. The book is on my wish list and I'll get to it eventually. But what a great idea is represented by this quote? And what happens next?

“And so we know the satisfaction of hate. We know the sweet joy of revenge. How it feels good to get even. Oh, that was a nice idea Jesus had. That was a pretty notion, but you can't love people who do evil. It's neither sensible or practical. It's not wise to the world to love people who do such terrible wrong. There is no way on earth we can love our enemies. They'll only do wickedness and hatefulness again. And worse, they'll think they can get away with this wickedness and evil, because they'll think we're weak and afraid. What would the world come to?

But I want to say to you here on this hot July morning in Holt, what if Jesus wasn't kidding? What if he wasn't talking about some never-never land? What if he really did mean what he said two thousand years ago? What if he was thoroughly wise to the world and knew firsthand cruelty and wickedness and evil and hate? Knew it all so well from personal firsthand experience? And what if in spite of all that he knew, he still said love your enemies? Turn your cheek. Pray for those who misuse you. What if he meant every word of what he said? What then would the world come to?

And what if we tried it? What if we said to our enemies: We are the most powerful nation on earth. We can destroy you. We can kill your children. We can make ruins of your cities and villages and when we're finished you won't even know how to look for the places where they used to be. We have the power to take away your water and to scorch your earth, to rob you of the very fundamentals of life. We can change the actual day into actual night. We can do these things to you. And more.

But what if we say, Listen: Instead of any of these, we are going to give willingly and generously to you. We are going to spend the great American national treasure and the will and the human lives that we would have spent on destruction, and instead we are going to turn them all toward creation. We'll mend your roads and highways, expand your schools, modernize your wells and water supplies, save your ancient artifacts and art and culture, preserve your temples and mosques. In fact, we are going to love you. And again we say, no matter what has gone before, no matter what you've done: We are going to love you. We have set our hearts to it. We will treat you like brothers and sisters. We are going to turn our collective national cheek and present it to be stricken a second time, if need be, and offer it to you. Listen, we--

But then he was abruptly halted.”
― Kent Haruf, Benediction    

Elie Wiesel's plea for Middle East peace.

Medal of Honor Winner speaks of teamwork

Sergeant Kyle White received a well-deserved Medal of Honor today for heroics in Afghanistan.

Here's what he had to say about his team:
"I wear this medal for my team. Battles are not won by men. If that were true, the Taliban would have won on that trail in Afghanistan, because they had every tactical advantage including the numbers. Battles are won by spirit, and spirit is present in the relationships built from the trust and sacrifice we share with one another in times of hardship, and by that definition cannot be possessed by one person."

Pakistani Hero

The grave of Aitzaz Hasan on Friday. Basit Gilani/European Pressphoto Agency

Heros come in all shapes and sizes but one constant remains. Will you give your life to save others? 

On Monday, a 15 year old boy on his way to school spotted someone wearing his school uniform but acting suspiciously. He confronted the man and tackled him when he tried to escape. The suicide bomber detonated his explosives, killing himself and Aitzaz Hasan. This selfless act saved the lives of scores of his fellow students. Read more about him in this article.

Now Pakistan is calling for this hero to be honored for his stand against Taliban extremism. I'll add my voice to the chorus.

Elie Wiesel's plea to the world

Elie Wiesel, in an appeal to learn from the past, spoke out in a recent full-page ad in the New York Times. In the spirit of this time of peace, I think we can all learn from his words.

Below is the full text:

Iran Must Not Be Allowed to Remain Nuclear

If there is one lesson I hope the world has learned from the past it is that regimes rooted in brutality must never be trusted. And the words and actions of the leadership of Iran leave no doubt as to their intentions.

Should the civilized nations of the world trust a regime whose supreme leader said yet again last month that Israel is “doomed to annihilation,” and referred to my fellow Jewish Zionists as “rabid dogs?”

Should we who believe in human rights, trust a regime which in the 21st century stones women and hangs homosexuals?

Should we who believe in freedom trust a regime which murdered its own citizens in the streets of Tehran when the people protested a stolen election in the Green Revolution of Summer, 2009?

Should we who believe in the United States trust a regime whose parliament last month erupted in “Death to America” chants as they commemorated the 34th anniversary of the storming of our Embassy in Tehran?

Should we who believe in life trust a regime whom our own State Department lists as one of the world’s foremost sponsors of terrorism?

America, too, defines itself by its words and actions. America adopted me, as it did so many others, and gave me a home after my people were exterminated in the camps of Europe. And from the time of the founding fathers America has always stood up to tyrants. Our nation is morally compromised when it contemplates allowing a country calling for the destruction of the State of Israel to remain within reach of nuclear weapons.

Sanctions have come at a terrible economic cost for the people of Iran. But, unfortunately, sanctions are what have brought the Iranian regime to the negotiating table.

I appeal to President Obama and Congress to demand, as a condition of continued talks, the total dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and the regime’s public and complete repudiation of all genocidal intent against Israel. And I appeal to the leaders of the United States Senate to go forward with their vote to strengthen sanctions against Iran until these conditions have been met.

I once wrote that history has taught us to trust the threats of our enemies more than the promises of our friends. Our enemies are making serious threats. It is time to take them seriously. It is time for our friends to keep their promises.

Elie Wiesel

Nobel Peace Laureate

Why doesn't the Egyptian Leadership prevent rapes?

In Mubarak's Egypt, with the omnipresent police force, women walked the streets in relative safety. Now, under the auspices of the Muslim Brotherhood, there can be as many as 18 rapes in a single square in a single evening. Most are gang-rapes by groups of men.

The response by the Muslim Brotherhood? "Sometimes a girl contributes 100% to her own raping when she puts herself in these conditions." Read the NY Times article for more shocking details.

Some ultraconservative Islamists condemned the women for speaking out: "You see those women speaking like ogres, without shame, politeness, fear or even femininity," declared a televisions preacher, Ahmed Abdullah, also known as Sheik Abu Islam.

Such a woman is 'like a demon,' he said, wondering why anyone should sympathize with those 'naked' women who 'went there to get raped."

On YouTube you can find videos of these horrific attacks.
I think a fair judgement of the effectiveness of any government is how well it protects its people. Using this creterion, the new Egyptian Government is extremely ineffective.

Clever project to block illegal tunnels

A Palestinian clearing a tunnel of sewage in Rafah, between Egypt and the southern Gaza StripBy FARES AKRAM and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK  Published: February 20, 2013

For centuries, governments have fought against those trying to tunnel in or out of their installations. Whether it was sappers trying to tunnels under castles to knock down walls, prisoners escaping prison camps or drug smugglers sneaking into the US, there has been a one-upmanship battle between the tunnelers and those detecting them.

The latest battleground has been the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza used to smuggle weapons into this dangerous area. The Egyptians have come up with a simple but effective measure to fight them: Raw Sewage. Simple, but effective.

Are drones worthy of the US?

Being an immigrant to this country, I really bought into the metaphor of America being the 'Shining City on a Hill.' that the persistent strove to reach. America was the greatest country on earth. It was a hero to all struggling democracies. When I read Tolkien's stories where the eagles always came in at the last minute to save the world, I saw them as the American army rescuing Britain in World Wars I and II.

But look at us now. The eagles are crapping on the citizens of the plains. These drone strikes, while safer for US military personnel and more surgical than boots on the ground or aerial bombing attacks, make us look bad. We are flying above sovereign countries and zapping their citizens at will. The strikes are being made by members of the CIA with little oversight by other members of our government.

Is it just my bad memory or wasn't there a time when we used to say that the CIA didn't have the authority to assassinate people overseas?

It's tough for an old hawk like me to admit it but I don't like the way these drone strikes make our country look bad. I cannot imagine a kid in Yemen or Pakistan looking with pride and envy at America after a building next door explodes and some of his school-mates are killed just because they happen to be near an alleged terrorist.

The whole thing seems like Hercules' hydra to me. For every terrorist we 'surgically remove' three more are encouraged to take up arms against our country to avenge the insult to his pride.

The topic is becoming big news now with Brennan's confirmation. The Times recently ran an article about a Yemeni sheik who had just given a speech against Al Qaeda and was meeting them for talks when he was wiped out by a drone targeting the terrorists. Would have been nice to have his tribe on our side.

David Brooks wrote a nice editorial analyzing the Machiavellian thinking Obama is going through on this issue.

The Huffington Post has an emotional video showing the number of children killed by these drones on this post.

What do you think?

Al Qaeda in Mali

I would find it amusing to hear of barely educated Madrassah boys from Al-Qaeda telling the Islamic scholars of Timbuktu that they knew better what Islam was all about if it weren't for the destruction these savages caused. Fortunately, tens of thousands of priceless scrolls and documents were spirited away to protection before they were destroyed.

Too bad the people of Timbuktu had to endure Shariah law at the hands of these interlopers. This NY Times article details some of the hardships the residents had to face until they were liberated by French soldiers. Beatings of women who showed their faces, amputation of thieves' hands, executions.

Ripples from the Arab Spring are still hitting Saharan Africa in ways that frighten me. Which country will next feel the crushing blow of Hezbollah-financed hordes? Morocco?

How's that Arab Spring working out?

Two years ago when I first posted about the Arab Spring, I was dubious of its chances for success. The choices I laid out were a crushing by the dictatorships or a switch-over to the Muslim theocracies like Iran. I had doubts that a true democracy would come to pass.  I think we can see that my prediction was correct. Egypt has converted to a theocracy that is sponsoring Muslim uprisings around the region. They have been implicated in the Benghazi embassy attack, the Algerian oil refinery massacre and the Malian takeover.

Syrians are still fighting off their dictator with mixed success. Algeria and Tunisia are playing with Muslim theocracies. Will there ever be such a thing as an Arab democracy? I don't think I'll see one in my lifetime.

Queen Noor concerned about women's rights in Arab World

A recent New York Times article revealed the concerns Queen Noor of Jordan has about the lack of progress towards Women's Rights in the wake of the Arab Spring. While women were active participants in the revolutions that overthrew the leaders of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, it appears that, as in Iran, political Islam has hijacked the revolution and is working to install Sharia Law with the restrictions this imposes.

“It appears again that women’s rights are once again at risk even as revolution progresses,” she said.

In the same conference where Queen Noor made her comments there were other concerns.

Julia Lalla-Maharajh, the founder of the Orchid Project, which is based in London and campaigns to end female genital cutting, said Egypt had “one of the highest prevalences in the world of female genital cutting: according to Unicef statistics, more than 9 out of 10 women are affected.”

“There are worrying reports that have suggested that female genital cutting is on the rise, with one call in Parliament for a ban on it to be overturned,” she said.

There were warnings about women’s rights in Western nations, as well. Nazir Afzal, chief crown prosecutor for the northwest of England, said he had dealt with more than 50 so-called honor killings.

“One after another,” he said, “I was seeing these stories of people who were being killed because they had a boyfriend, they kissed somebody in public, they wanted to learn to drive, they wanted to go to school.”

It's hard for me to watch the bright light of revolution over brutal dictators being co-opted by religious fundamentalists who threaten to take the women of this region backwards in time. 

No great African leaders again this year

For the third time in four years, the five million dollar Ibrahim prize for good governance in Africa was not awarded. The requirements are not too stringent:

1. Be democratically elected
2. Leave office in the last three years
3. Demonstrate excellence in office

Why is this so hard a prize to award? Let's look at some African leaders who left office in the last few years: The Arab Spring saw many dictators leave but they miss criteria # 1.

Ivory Coast's Gbagbo challenged his democratic defeat and sparked a civil war. Senegal's Wade ignored term limits and ran for a third term. Neither demonstrated excellence.

On the other hand, those leaders who missed all three criteria are making billions of dollars a year in government corruption so the prize is probably little incentive.

How democratic do we want Egypt to be?

A woman voted at a polling station in Cairo on Saturday. By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

When the Egyptian military dissolved Parliament this week, just before the presidential runoff that will likely result the candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood winning, what was that huge sigh of relief I heard? We stand here, that shining city on the hill, espousing Democracy to the world but we get nervous when the likely winners of the democratic process will be a party who wants to see a return to Shariah law. Is that fair?

If we consider that Shariah law in Egypt will likely result in less freedoms than the people enjoyed under Mubarak's dictatorship, maybe that is fair. We have Iran as a perfect example of what can happen. Are women better off in Iran now or under the Shah? How about political protesters?

Northern Africa has consistently resorted to military coups to repress the emergence of an Islamic party so it's no surprise to see it happening again. While an Islamist may win the presidency, with a dissolved parliament, the generals will hold the real power in the country.

Politics makes strange bedfellows and I see the American leaders bedding down with the Egyptian generals to head off an Islamist-led Egypt. But it makes me a little ill to see it. What happened to the passion we saw in Tahrir square last spring? Why did all these people choose to support a party that will take away their freedom? Why couldn't there be a moderate leader who could lead from a secular angle, bringing Egypt into the 21st century and putting it in the forefront of the region?

What happened to secrecy in war?

So the good news was that we foiled another Al Qaeda bomb plot. Then it became even more exciting when we learned that guy we 'arrested' was actually a double agent the Saudis had infiltrate AQAP.

But why do we know this? Surely this is one of those secrets we should be hearing about in fifty years to protect the agents involved and the ongoing operation? While it's exciting to read about these adventures, I'd rather win the war and read about them later.

So what prompted the disclosure? Was it payback for the last Saudi double-agent we placed there who was executed? Or was it election-year politics?

Egyptian Election Shenanigans



Banned from the upcoming election: Omar Suleiman, Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, Khairat el-Shater

Citing narrow technical reasons, the Egyptian Electoral Commission barred from the upcoming elections the three most polarizing candidates: Omar Suleiman, the former spy chief under Hosni Mubarak; Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, an ultraconservative Islamist; and Khairat el-Shater, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Seems like the military is still firmly in charge of the country.

While this allows me to breathe a sigh of relief, what does it mean to the budding Democracy in this land?

We need to stop buying Middle East Oil

In this recent article, the NY Times showed how we are becoming less dependent on foreign oil but its not fast enough for me.

By SETH W. FEASTER | Sources: Energy Information Administration; Bloomberg

As the graph above points out, we only curb our thirst for oil when the price goes up. Look what happens when I add the date 9/11/2001 to the above graph:

How many Saudi 911 hijackers were financed by us buying Saudi Oil which was then used to fund Pakistani madrassas dedicated to the overthrow of the US? How much Iranian oil money is going into buying nuclear technology? Finally we're boycotting this Iranian oil but China is picking up the slack.

By SETH W. FEASTER | Sources: Energy Information Administration; Bloomberg

I'd love to see the same energy put into rejecting 'blood oil' as is currently being put into 'blood diamonds'. I, for one, will pay an extra dollar a gallon for gas if I can be assured that none of it was bought from the Middle East. I'll buy it from Alaska, the Gulf, Mexico, Canada, even Venezuela but I don't want to continue funding the sworn enemies of the freedoms championed by the US.

Who will join me in paying extra for 'blood-free oil?'

Koran burning vs. massacre

Well, I gave it two sets of Friday prayers but there still have been no protests for the massacre of 16 civilians in Afghanistan approximating anything of those protests over the accidental burning of some Korans. After only a couple of weeks after the Koran burning incident, the nationwide rioting left at least 29 Afghans and 6 American soldiers dead.


But when an American soldier deliberately targets civilians, including children, it seems to be greeted with a collective yawn. What's up with that? 

Finally I read this article which seems to explain the problem:

When mullah Abdul Rahim Shah Ghaa thinks back to the day in February when a couple of Afghan employees at a U.S.-run detention center outside of Kabul yanked five partially burned Korans out of a trash incinerator, he shudders with anger and revulsion. “It is like a knife to my heart,” says the head of the provincial religious council. The March 11 slaying of 16 Afghan civilians by a lone U.S Army staff sergeant named Robert Bales in Kandahar province, however, has left less of a scar. “Of course we condemn that act,” he says. “But it was only 16 people. Even if it were 1,000 people, it wouldn’t compare to harming one word of the Koran. If someone insults our holy book, it means that they insult our faith, our religion and everything that we have.”

By contrast, attacks on the Koran, whether accidental, as happened in February, or deliberate, as when a Florida pastor burned a Koran a year ago, are relatively rare. (As the result of the 2011 incident, protesters in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif stormed a U.N. office, killing seven foreigners in addition to four protesters.) And Afghans want to keep it that way. “It’s our red line,” says university student Basir Abdul. “If we don’t protest the burning of the Koran today, tomorrow the foreigners will enter our houses and rape our women.” Besides, he says, he doesn’t know anyone in Panjwai, “so the killings don’t affect me. But the Koran belongs to everyone.” In a country riven by tribal loyalties, Islam transcends ethnic identity. It’s the one thing all Afghans can agree upon.

The history of Islam is one of defending the faith, says Shah Ghaa. The Koran is not merely a book or just the word of God but a symbol of sacrifice akin to the Christian crucifix. Afghans see themselves as an integral part of Islam’s historic struggle against tyranny. “Since the time of the Prophet, there has been war to keep our religion alive,” says Shah Ghaa. An estimated 2 million Afghans died during the anti-Soviet jihad, he says. “Why? Because we had to defend our religion. Insulting the Koran is like insulting everyone who died in that struggle.”

Maybe this explains why there is such a cultural divide between our two countries. Americans will complain about an artist painting holy Christian images with elephant dung without deadly protests but you better not kill our children. On the other hand, Muslims will kill for any depiction of the prophet or insult to their Koran but deaths of children can be bought off with blood money.

Notice that the Obama administration recently paid the blood money:

My only remaining question is: Why was one of the protesters holding a Koran in his left hand? I thought that was strictly taboo.

Read more in this article:

Is a Muslim democracy growing in Tunisia?

Said Ferjani of Enhanahda. (Gianni Cipriano)

This weekend I read an article that gives me hope for seeing democracy flourish in the new middle East. It was all about one of the leaders of Ennahda, the Islamist party that now governs Tunisia. His name is Said Ferjani and he has some theories about democracy that he wants to put into practice.

At first, the story sounded eerily familiar: Islamic agitator is captured and tortured by brutal regime, escapes to spend his exile in London, then returns after a revolution to join a Muslim uprising. Yikes! But this man actually broadened his horizons while living in England, unlike our favorite Ayatolla who seemed to pull further into himself during his own exile and returned more stringent than ever.

Mr. Ferjani is saying things that make me hopeful:
“I can tell you one thing, we now have a golden opportunity. And in this golden opportunity, I’m not interested in control. I’m interested in delivering the best charismatic system, a charismatic, democratic system. This is my dream.”
 “Read, read, read, read. Even when I walked, I read.”  (I can relate to that)

“Everybody has to be careful not to be dragged into a dictatorial instinct, no matter what happens. We can’t lose the soul of our revolution.”

He is a student of Rashid al-Gannouchi who is bent on increasing the democracy in Tunisia's Muslim government: Mr. Ghannouchi, his own thoughts evolving in exile, became an early proponent of a more inclusive and tolerant Islamism, arguing a generation ago that notions of elections and majority rule were universal and did not contradict Islam. Early on, he supported affirmative action to increase women’s participation in Parliament.

He gives his mentor credit: “Frankly, the guy who brought democracy into the Islamic movement is Ghannouchi.”

It all sounds great to me but what power does this man have in Tunisia's new government? And how long will he continue to espouse democratic principles once he tastes the power?

“We don’t fear freedom of expression, but we cannot allow disorder,” he said. “People have to be responsible. They have to know there is law and order.”

He suggested that protesters should obtain permission from the police. He worried that the news media was too reckless.

Santorum definition

Black leaders on the extremes of the movement

Every movement has a continuum of rebels, from the most militant to the most complacent. For every Frederick Douglass there was an Uncle Tom. The founding of Israel, the Iranian and American revolutions, the ending of apartheid, all had leaders on both extremes. The civil rights movement had Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Junior. While both wanted equality of the race, they went about it using different methods and the followers chose one path, the other, or somewhere in between.

Unfortunately, each of these movements had a lunatic fringe whose efforts, while ostensibly driving toward the same goal, actually worked against it by hardening the majority’s hearts against it. Protesters raping female journalists in Tahrir square, Black Panthers murdering police officers, Zulus shouting ‘Kill the Boer’ and American revolutionaries looting Tory properties are examples of this lunatic fringe.

There is currently a movement in the US to afford marriage rights to the gay population. This movement, like those mentioned above, has its continuum of rebels who use techniques ranging from introducing gay families in prime time TV shows to fighting off the Californian referendum in the higher courts.  
While this battle is being fought in the legislative bodies of the states and attempts are being made to force a Federal decision on it, many elected officials have been asked what their stance is on this issue. Senator Rick Santorum has staked out his claim to stand directly against this movement. That is his right and the place to oppose him is in the ballot box.

This movement has its lunatic fringe as well, hurting the efforts of the mainstream. Unfortunately, this fringe has take the unique step of defining Santorum in the Urban Dictionary as a disgusting by-product of anal sex. They then used social media to force this definition to become one of the top results to a Google search on the senator’s name.

I notice that the right is fighting back and the definition is now no longer the number 1 result.
At first, this seems like a funny practical joke.

But is that the picture gay rights activists want to evoke in the minds of those who are deciding if it is a good idea to afford full marriage rights to this population? Wouldn’t you rather have the majority thinking of a gentle, committed couple who are happily raising children than the picture the above definition puts in our minds, or sex in airport bathrooms or rest areas or any of the other unsavory images of homosexuality?

Mitchell and Cameron with their baby in 'Modern Family'

I think it is time that the leaders of the gay rights movement policed its lunatic fringe, took down the offensive references and engaged their political foes in honest discourse. That is leadership.

Solution for captured pirates

With better patrolling of the seas around the failed state of Somalia, civilized countries are starting to capture some of these pirates and free the hostages. Sounds good, right? Only the question becomes, what to do with the prisoners once they are in our custody? We brought the one survivor from the Navy Seal rescue back to the US for trial. Remember that great rescue with three pirates killed at night with three bullets, freeing the captain?

Crew members of the Maersk Alabama celebrated after hearing that their captain, who had been held hostage by Somali pirates, had been rescued.  By ROBERT D. McFADDEN and SCOTT SHANE

Well, the one surviving pirate Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse received a sentence of 34 years in jail. But what about all the others that have been captured in less dramatic circumstances? Believe it or not, some have been released back on Somali shores, alive. A NY Times article details the complications. The pirates are Somali. They attacked the motor vessel Sunshine, which is Greek-owned but operates under a Bahaman flag. They were detained in international waters, but in the so-called exclusive economic zone of Oman. And they had commandeered an Iranian fishing vessel.
So how do you prosecute these guys? And where?

I have a possible solution in this case that could have international implications. How about delivering them gift-wrapped to Tehran and letting the Iranians deal with them? I'm sure there's still some begrudging respect held by many Iranians at our rescue of their sailors. Why not go all the way and turn over the pirates who had held them hostage for a month and allow the Iranians to deal their own justice? The publicity with Iran can only help thaw relations between our two countries a little. What do you think?