News items show that more US troops are needed not just for Iraq but for BAGHDAD, and this comes straight from George Bush and Maliki the Iraqi Prime Minister.
After nearly 5 years in one place and 3 in another the only place the "elected" governments of Afghanistan and Iraq functioned in were "green zones" of their capitals, and now even those need MORE US troops.
Sounds like real progress.
Imran
4 comments:
Kindly refresh my media-numbed memory, and help this poor confused Southeast Asian to understand the mess.
The US is trying to establish democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan, right?
But must it be democracy?
I mean, how feasible a system is that in countries whose national experiences are steeped in the Islamic tradition? Wouldn't re-establishing an Islamic state, run by hand-picked moderates, be a solution that would please everyone? (And I do mean including the US -- there's no escaping their interests.) Would this give peace a better chance? Or is this ignorant wishful thinking on my part?
Frances, I have to admit, I claim (at least to myself) of trying to see many sides to an issue and being a creative problem solver. Yet, this thought never occurred to me.
On the other hand... "Islamic state" is kind of confusing. A moderate country like Pakistan calls its Islamic Republic of Pakistan, but 1% mullahs threaten the whole nation to go extreme right. Saudi Arabis is as "islamic" as these guys want to make it, and Saudi ruling family is a puppet of the USA, yet no friend of America because Bush and Co. care about oil wealth rather than American interest and real democracy.
Lebanon, though not Muslim, was a real democracy, and Israel destroyed that.
Imran
Bringing about a peace that everyone in Iraq and Afghanistan can live with is difficult enough already, without placing Israel's interests into the picture.
The Israelis aside...I kind of guessed the concept of an "Islamic state" is technically difficult to implement, vis-a-vis modernity. (And therefore, difficult to define.) A lot of the modern world's ways are based on the idea of separation between "Church and State" -- a concept not entirely approved by Islam. But isn't there some worldwide philo-theological movement within the Muslim faith today that seeks to define what a modern Islamic state is like?
Now, to toss the Israelis back into our soup of ideas...(yikes!)
I sympathize in the Jews' age-old yearning for Zion, but at what cost, O Israel? Perhaps the Jewish faith needs some modern updating, too. Perhaps they need to rethink the answers to these questions: Can't being a Jew simply mean a choice of religion, regardless of where you are in the world? Or does the Jewish faith require the existence of a physical, exclusively-Jewish nation (modern-day Israel)?
I will assume the Jewish faith has a hard time letting go of the Zionist idea. (After all, they're naturally obssessed with protecting themselves from another Holocaust.) So I will ask another question: What if the state of Israel became the Jewish equivalent of the Vatican City instead? The physical state called the Vatican is only about the size of a grand palace, and everything is in miniature -- miniature citizenry (only a few hundred Catholic clergy), mini-army (the Pope's Swiss guards). But the Vatican has U.N. representation just like any other country, and it has the political clout to guide and protect its "citizens", the Catholics living all around the globe. I wonder if this concept can be adapted by the Jewish faith? Would this concept be more palatable to the displaced Muslim Palestinians (and the rest of the disgruntled Middle East people), too?
LOL. Do I sound too naive? It's just that the idea of a thousand-year peace in Palestine is too compelling for me to resist.
I realize you won't get to answer all my questions, Imran. Perhaps some of these questions are better placed in a different blogger's site. :-) Hey Imran, do you happen to have a Jewish counterpart somewhere, who's skewering extremist scoundrels too?
God bless you,
FRANCES BILLANO
Manila, Philippines
Frances, no flattery intended, but you have posted possibly the most logical, unique, creative and easy to understand suggestions I have seen on this topic on ANY blog. It just means you will never be part of George Bush' team. :-)
But, seriously, I am most impressed. I would love to have your thoughts on the recent podcasts also found here.
Best wishes
Imran
Post a Comment