THE WORLD: SIZE OF... Do you get a feeling, now and then, that this wide, wide world of ours is getting a bit too small for many of the types of life - in particular the human portions - who have, I believe have been told they have "dominion" over it.
A place such as Lebanon may be fine enough for a few people but when they get so thick they start stepping on each other's likes and dislikes, foibles, fancies and ignorance trouble becomes almost a sure thing. Let any one of them think of a strange way to do anything they, ordinarily, do well without being aware of it and we have a faction...a side...disagreement. Once such divisions find ways in which they can defend their view we have war. Wars are, for the most part, founded by fools, failures, fanatics and fancied by people who are outright frauds. Their wars are, then "performed" by fools who swarm to do their bidding.
Such system often show where their weakness might be from their very formation. That is, I think, apparent in present groups, such as those in Iraq. Now that the Lebanon-Israel war has become a full-tilt conflict in so many ways there has to be a logical phase of criticism directed a the Shiites concern to manage the war. There are splits in the jihadism backing the war. We should exploit such cracks and crevices in the walls of Hate which have built with structural faults from their birth.
It is more than mere rumor which tells us that many Muslims do not feel that the war in Iraq is going in their favor at all. They have seen far more Muslim deaths than expected and they been appalled by the intense destruction of Lebanese cities by Israel's artillery fire and impressive air power. There is strong evidence on various Web sites and on-line journals concerned in side-bar comments on events in the war zone - often by a members of yet another Muslin group known as "the Salafis". They are often called "scripture literalists" and they see the terrorist's technique of suicide attacks as being opposed to Muslim religious thought. They can be used to lead many Muslims away from the jihadi movement. Thus far we have heard very little of this small but critical element in the Muslim world. Their opposition to suicide attacks should be prominently stressed.
It is apparent that the entire movement is quite sensitive to public opinion . We should use any such view of well-known Muslim persons when they denounce such method as being non-acceptable in a religious sense. Other critics of the present management think they ought to be doing more international projects such as those of "Sept. 11th."
We need to realize that serous debate is not dead among Muslims and that not all of them are the Ben Laden type. We should improve our own, in fact, and participate in active, serious debate on problems we all face in an awesome array.
Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 8-2-06 [c511wds
