Why Must the Entire American Muslim Population Pay for the Acts of a Few?

Last week, George Fulton, an Englishman who moved to Pakistan with his Pakistani wife in 2002, and then became a prominent TV personality there, moved back to the UK because of what he called the "spreading cancer of extremism and intolerance" in Pakistan. He claims "this is no longer a political problem or an economic problem, this is now a cultural problem".   Really? Is this guy some kind of expert? Why is NPR casting him in the spotlight right after the Islamic radicalization-hearing? Could the timing be more perfect?

Now, it's very possible Pakistani citizens are getting fired up. After all, over the last five years, American unmanned drones have killed more than 2,000 people in their country.  In 2010 alone, there were 929 casualties according to a study conducted by the Conflict Monitoring Center(CMC).    You see, drone aircraft, which lacks the human discernment and judgment to differentiate between the innocent and the dangerous, is designed to identify enemies as anyone who is armed, and then, once identified, automatically launch missiles.  Well, it just so happens that  civilians in the tribal areas, traditionally carry weapons and munitions.  The Brookings Institute estimated that for every terrorist killed, there are ten civilians who lose their lives. However, you will not find this out from US and Pakistan officials.  They report the opposite.  These officials "deliberately overlook civilian deaths that outnumber the killings of militants in CIA drone attacks."

"Our research observed that intelligence officials of US and Pakistan deliberately overlook civilian fatalities and relay only censored accounts to Western media organisations. However, study reports suggest that the civilian casualties generally outnumber the killings of militants in drone attacks"

Isn't it bad enough that we're murdering innocent civilians in their own country?  Do we have to put all American Muslims on trial as radical terrorist sympathizers "bent on a “stealth jihad” to usurp the Constitution and impose Islamic law on the land"?

As Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, one of two Muslim members in Congress, who broke down while "delivering a tribute to a young Muslim-American who lost his life in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - and whose reputation was later maligned due to his faith," at the radicalization hearing, said on Real Time, to Bill Maher, "You used the Irish example. I don't think you investigate the Irish, you investigate the IRA, perhaps. You investigate broke down in tears while delivering an emotional tribute to a young Muslim-American who lost his life in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - and whose reputation was later maligned due to his faith.the mafia, not the Italians..."

Nevertheless, Rep. Peter King, Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, who considers comparisons to McCarthy, a "badge of honor", acting on behalf of the real terrorists DHS, continues on his witch hunt.

Links: 

Peter King's 'Islamic Radicalization' Hearings Fan Paranoid Fantasies

U.S. apology for Afghan deaths "not enough"


Nato 'kills cousin of Afghan President Hamid Karzai'

10 of the Most Outrageous TSA Horror Stories

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Sex Changes to Avoid Persecution and Execution

It is well-known that under Iranian law, homosexual relationships and/or "homosexual tendencies" are punishable by death. Some Iranian leaders believe, "homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both".

Since 1979, according to Omid, a Memorial in Defense of Human Rights in Iran, an electronic database of human rights violations, 146 executions occurred as a result of charges related to homosexuality.

Yet, despite the Iranian government's hatred and barbaric treatment of homosexuals, filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian discovered, while making her documentary, entitled ‘Be Like Others’, that the Iranian government's solution - or sometimes offered alternative for homosexuality - is forced sex change operations.

Obviously, no organization or political party is permitted to exist that endorses LGBT human rights in Iran as well as throughout much of the Muslim world. However, fortunately, courageous and heroic people - many who risk their lives - struggle and persist in the fight for gay rights in regions where "coming out" can be deadly.

Here are a few examples:

Green Party of Iran - Except for a very short period of history, democracy and freedom of expression has not existed in Iran. The Green Party of Iran believes that establishing democracy in Iran will be the foundation for any progress in the state of the economy, environment and living conditions. It is for this reason that the Green Party of Iran advocates equal rights: Every Iranian citizen is equal by law, regardless of gender, age, race, nationality, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or political beliefs.

Iranian Queer Railroad IRQR - is an international, non profit, gay human rights organization based in Toronto, Canada. They help Iranian gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered refugees all over the world. IRQR also help Iranian LGBT who are threatened with deportation back to Iran, and assist Iranian LGBT in obtaining asylum in friendly countries.

In another part of the Muslim world, Morocco, where homosexual relations is also considered a crime, punishable by fines and prison sentences of six months to three years, Moroccan writer, Abdellah Taia, author of Salvation Army, as well as four other books, and has made it his mission to win acceptance for homosexuals throughout the Muslim world.

Iraqi LGBT - A Human Rights group Supporting Iraqi lesbians, gay, bisexuals and transgender people .

Parvez Sharma, creator and director of A Jihad for Love - a documentary that seeks to refute the belief that LGBT Muslims do not exist. Sharma, director and cinematographer of the film, came up with the idea after listening to the stories of gay Muslims when he attended American University. He decided to give a voice "to a community that really needed to be heard, and that until now hadn’t been. It was about going where the silence was strongest."

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The Last Time Pirates Attacked the US Navy Was Born

The last time an American ship was attacked by pirates - Muslim pirates, that is - was in 1804, during the first of the Barbary Wars (1801–1805).

Much like today, the U.S., in its infancy, found itself dealing with a form of terrorism, and the principles of the Muslim religion. The result was the birth of the United States Navy.

While it's doubtful, something as massive in scale as the U.S. Navy will emerge from this pirate attack, there are methods private merchant ships can use to prevent further attacks:

The ships take protective measures themselves, either by their speed or by maneuvers, a big ship, when it maneuvers and makes sharp turns, can create a huge wake and swells that make it difficult for the little motor boats to approach.

Further things that have been recommended -- in some cases installed -- are vessels have fire hoses that they can use to fend off the attackers. And even to the point of the recommendation that the railings around the ship's deck be electrified, which would prevent the boarding from the small vessels.

So all of those have been recommended, and in some cases, in a few cases, they are in place.

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"No Homosexuals in Iran"

When Ahmadinejad made -- what appeared to be an insane comment to those of us living in the western hemisphere -- the statement "In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. We don't have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you we have It." when addressing the crowd at Columbia University, he truly believed it.

The Arab and Muslim world do not define "homosexual" as we do in the west. The words, "gay", "lesbian", "bisexual" and "transgender" do not translate into Farsi, Arabic, Bengali or any of the languages spoken in Muslim countries. As long as homosexuality is not categorized in western terms, “gay rights” terms, there is a great deal of freedom for people we would label homosexual or gay, but they themselves would not define themselves as such. Most "gay" Arabs do not identify themselves as gay; they see what they do as an act and not in a way that would have social or personal repercussions. Ironically, homosexuals have more freedom to act upon their desires than we do, but much less freedom to identify themselves by their sexuality. Most, if not all people of the Islam faith marry people of the opposite gender but if they have homosexual tendencies, they will adopt a second life where they can for the most part, freely act out their sexuality.

Our reaction to Ahmadinejad's comment makes absolutely no sense when we interpret it through our own cultural filters, but if you take the time to comprehend what he said through the cultural lens of his very different world, it makes more sense, even though we may not agree.

This is an example of why we should not impose our ways onto other parts of the world as we are doing in Iraq. It's arrogant to translate the predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize the functioning of a different part of the world with only the knowledge of our own culture. In order for translation to be accurate, the translator must understand all the knowledge and values shared by both societies.

Having said that, it is clearly wrong for any society to impose such harsh penalties for loving the wrong person but taking the time to learn a little bit about how and why they believe the way they do will give us a much better chance, in the long run, to change the aspects of their belief system that can lead to barbarous acts such as executing people for identifying as gay.

Documentary filmmaker Parvez Sharma, a gay Muslim, who recently released the film, Jihad for Love, wanted to, as he said, “give voice to a community that really needed to be heard and that until now hadn’t been; it was about going where the silence was strongest.” Mr. Sharma explores the complex and often paradoxical issues that exist between Islam and homosexuality. He doesn't condemn the Islam religion, rather he lets the viewer observe for themselves what it's like to be gay and live in a part of the world that has practiced Islam for the last 1400 years, and he does this through a distinctly Muslim prism.

"Clearly, in these times of the slickly packaged and devastatingly ignorant "War on Terror," the desire for nuance, for understanding, has been lost. Knowledge and intellectual curiosity are clearly undervalued; to vilify and demonize Mr. Ahmadi Nejad in the absence of any real understanding of the context from which he comes is all too easy. The kind of "Evil Satan" rhetoric that has been drummed up for a quarter of a century in Iran finds its perfect mirror in America today. The religious extremism found in parts of Iran is no different than the kind that has crept into the American psyche." -- Parvez_Sharma

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