Suicide Is Painless
Ah, The Arab Spring… a thing of wonder with democracy replacing tyranny in many places. We should do all we can to bolster the efforts.
Including aiding NATO in Libya? I can’t vouchsafe this source, but it does seems to agree with other reports.
Libyan Draft Constitution: Sharia is ‘Principal Source of Legislation’
Under this constitution, in other words, Islam is law. That makes other phrases such as “there shall be no crime or penalty except by virtue of the law” and “Judges shall be independent, subject to no other authority but law and conscience” a bit more ominous.
Then in Egypt: Protesters outside (the Israeli) Cairo embassy call for envoy’s ouster
Hamdeen Sabahy, a presidential candidate with the Nasserist Dignity Party, issued a statement saluting Shahat, “the public hero who burned the Zionist flag that spoiled the Egyptian air for 30 years.”
In an interview with Al Jazeera’s recently launched Egyptian channel, Shahat said he gave a thumbs-up sign to an army officer standing behind a window on the building’s eighth floor, and the officer returned the favor.
Is anyone keeping score? Meanwhile American assets are currently in play over Tripoli?
Oh yeah… our support of The Arab Spring will create many new friends… or encourage our enemies by showing us to be weak willed dolts.
Category: Geezer Alert!, Politics
Color me surprised. Raise your hand if you didn’t see this coming.
We didn’t learn from the “democratic” voting in gaza and the west bank………
Well “we” learned, but our politicians have not.
It makes me sick that they still act like all this arab spring is a good thing………
Not sure what the worry is, Islam is the state religion of Afghanistan, as well as Sharia being the basis of jurisprudence in the Constitution.
And in Iraq, Islam is also the state religion and the Constitution specifically states:
“Islam is the official religion of the State and it is a fundamental source of legislation. No law that contradicts the established provisions of Islam may be established.”
I was gonna point out that the same could be said for the Iraqi constitution, but CI already beat me to it. This will not change in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Saudi, or any other ME nation where Islam is the predominant religion.
I hope we did some extensive intelligence gathering on the Libyan rebels in these past few month, because I suspect that some of our special forces wet work may be in the offing over the next several years.
“Oh yeah… our support of The Arab Spring will create many new friends… or encourage our enemies by showing us to be weak willed dolts.
My money is on the latter. This is a cult that sees nothing but weakness in any “friendly” acts. This will come back to haunt us.
#3 and #4: So what? I think I established my premise with the title? Perhaps you missed it?
Sharia Law can be seen as the antithesis of OUR Constitution with little imagination.
Unless you can tell me how adding yet more countries where Sharia Law is the law of the land is a good thing for THIS country, don’t waste my time with trivia.
It’s hardly trivia when we’ve spent the last 10 years propping up countries that conform to Sharia law and calling them our ‘allies’ and the endeavor to be in our national interest.
CI #8: I said: Unless you can tell me how adding yet more countries where Sharia Law is the law of the land is a good thing for THIS country, don’t waste my time with trivia.
I do regret some that you persist in repeating yerself because I have no idea how to be clearer?
If you have a focused viewpoint let us know what that might be?
Shrug!
I was exceedingly clear. Did you have some point in your original OP that differentiates the fact that Sharia is the source of law in both Libya and Egypt – and – in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Or the fact that Sharia is a basis for law in most Muslim nations, many of which we count as allies? What makes it more disturbing now, as opposed to earlier?
The thing is this: we knew that those Libyans (and Egyptians, and Syrians, and the so-called Palestinians, etc) who desire a secular government free of Sharia are dead.
Anyone who’s paid any attention to Turkey and Lebanon in the last 15 years knows what will happen to each Muslim country, and to each country with a sizeable Muslim presence.
First Heritage is great. Next…
Hey Quaddafi’s gone, and thats great. Lets hope things turn out all right but we still no very little about the rebels or there long term goals. Lets pray the nation then has an introspective nap for a few years, where at the very least jihadists can’t use it as a jump off point. Still think this entire NATO undertaking should not have been undertaken.
I’ll be surprised even we don’t find out our airsupport wasn’t the pivot that gave the Rebels the edge they needed. How many forward Observors and Special Operators do you think we won’t admit to having had on the ground?
Meanwhile we keep throwing our only ally, Israel under the bus. If all the Arab Spring countries suddenly decide to attack Israel at the same time and we don’t support her, it won’t be much of a stretch to believe Israel will turn the entire region into a glass parking lot.
“If all the Arab Spring countries suddenly decide to attack Israel at the same time and we don’t support her,”. I highly doubt there’d much support emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, in that event. At least in the next 18 months. Just my opinion.
Power loves a vacuum.
These revolutions may produce a worse regime than the last. Besides, it’s not in the nature of muslims to encourage democracy. Whatever change they bring, consider that it’s a region of the world dominated by muslim zealots, clerics in particular, who preach hate and terrorism in the name of allah. Islamic nation-states have no concept of real freedom. They’ve been ruled by dictators and Sharia Law for hundreds of years. Women, Christians, Jews, and ‘unbelievers’ aren’t usually treated very well.
As bad as it is, it can get worse. The biggest mistake we made in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion, was training and helping the Taliban, and walking away; leaving the power vacuum wide open for the hardline assholes to come in and subjugate the country. The same mistake was made in Iran. Carter refused to back the Shah; the Ayatollahs came in and installed a violent Islamic theocracy.
The Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other terrorist organizations are going to take advantage of all this chaos. You can bet on it. Let’s support the overthrow of these regimes, but be prepared to deal with the aftermath.
Not a problem from my point of view. If the Libyans wqant to take a one way trip back into the stone age for their bullshit religion, that is fine by me. We just need to ensure no relations diplomatic or financial will occur with them until they unfuck themselves. And make that clear to them.
I would agree with you usmc steve, except for one thing. They’ve already shown that, given half a chance, they’ll not only go back to the stone age themselves, but they are more than willing to drag all of the rest of us with them.
I don’t mind anyone’s choice as to their path to hell; what I do mind is being invited along for the ride.
#15 GI Jane: minor point: we paid the ISI, Pakistan’s jihadist intelligence service, to train and equipment mujehideen of Afghanistan. They took our money and bought themselves servants of chaos in the form of Mullah Omar and the Taliban, which didn’t enter Afghanistan throughout the Soviet occupation, for a couple of years afterward.
Another minor point: the Ayatollah Khomeini was already in power when Carter permitted the dying Shah, his family and their entourage a spot to land. Khomeini used Carter’s charity as an excuse to make America the uber-villain, just like in 1984. Khomeini was already purging the secularist, western, eastern, capitalist, communist, Jewish, Christian and whomever else from Iran’s population.
We did encourage Muslim fundamentalism in what are now former communist countries in the 1980s: Russia, the former Yugoslavia, and others.
And, tonight, comes the report that Libya still has “sizable” stocks of mustard gas. And, shock of shocks, no one knows who might be in charge of it, or where it may be today. However, the “rebels” were seen leaving the presidential compound with gold-plated AK’s, and rugs.
The Muslim Brotherhood was unavailable for comment, as was AQ.