re: "Springtime for Islamists in Libya?"

Neo-Neocon (" slowly but surely leaving the fold and becoming that dread thing: a neocon ") is one of those who possess an Inigo Montoya-like sensibility regarding the meaning of words.

Money quote(s):

"The headline reads “interim [Libyan] ruler unveils more radical than expected plans for Islamic law.”

There’s that word again: expected. But those who thought they knew what to expect in Libya were either arrogant or daft, or both. And one of the many things that was clearly possible there was the ascendance of Islamist elements." (Emphasis in original text. - CAA.)

Wishful thinking, like hope, is not a plan. Nor is it a particularly useful analytical tool.

"David Warren contrasts the irony of the relatively orderly Bush-overseen judicial end of Saddam Hussein with Gaddafi’s extra-judicial lynching under forces promoted by Obama."

CAA has nothing but good things to say about Mr. Warren, one of our neighbors in the Great White North.

"Not unexpected at all. That’s why there is something to be said for what happened in Iraq, where—because we invaded and stuck around, despite the huge cost in blood and treasure—that country has at least a chance of coming out relatively well compared to others in the region."

From her keyboard to God's monitor.

10/24

re: "Obama Pays Ransom For American Diplomat"

Federale ("Federal Service Guarantees Citizenship") explains why this was not necessarily a good idea.

Money quote(s):

"(S)ubmission to Islamist and Pakistani tribal traditions have superceded international treaties that have been in effect for years. Not to mention the hundreds of years of customary law that granted imunity to diplomats. All this thrown under the bus to promote sharia law and the supremacy of Islam in the world.

This incident could have been easily ended by the U.S. informing the Pakistani government that their holding of Davis was what it was, an act of war. The U.S. could have seized a Pakistani diplomat in retaliation, cut off military and economic aid, stopped issuing immigrant and non-immigrant visas to Pakistanis, canceling all outstanding visas or expelling some or all Pakistani diplomats from the U.S. Anyone of these actions would have forced the Pakistani government to comply with international law"

At this point, I suspect that paying Wergeld was the least bad of the various options available.

re: "Obama administration preparing for Islamic states in Middle East"

Robert at Jihad Watch ("dedicated to bringing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology plays in the modern world, and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern-day conflicts") considers the likely outcomes.

Money quote(s):

"I thought only greasy Islamophobes thought that the likely outcome in the Middle East would be Islamic states, not pluralistic Western-style democracies!"

It's actually a bit too early to tell, but it wouldn't be outrageous for me to suggest that at least one of the recent upheavels in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya will result an Islamic state, even if it turns out to be a mini-state in a devolved Libya.

"(T)here has never been and is not now an Islamic state that was democratic in the Western sense. Kemalist Turkey established a Western-style republic only by directly and openly restricting the political aspects of Islam. Maybe it will happen now that functioning democracies that guarantee equality of rights for non-Muslims and women, protect the freedom of speech and the freedom of conscience, and yet establish Islam as well, will emerge in the Middle East -- history is full of surprises.

But for that to happen, some aspects of Islamic law will not be implemented, and that will mean there will be pressure in those states from Islamic clerics who will find the new government, whatever its Islamic character, to be just as un-Islamic and hence unacceptable as the authoritarian regime it replaced. And that pressure will lead to continued unrest."

WT - OPINION: Whitewashing the Islamist threat. More fallout from Koran sniper story.

From my archive of press clippings:

Washington Times

OPINION: Whitewashing the Islamist threat. More fallout from Koran sniper story.

Diana West

Monday, June 2, 2008

What interested me most about the official reaction to this month's Koran Sniper story - apologies galore, a kissed Koran for probable former insurgents, a punished soldier - was what it made vivid about our society: American deference to Islam, from the sacralization of Islam's book to the ideology of anti-infidelism, supremacism and totalitarian conquest within it. After all, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond called the sniper's action "criminal behavior." But the only law broken was Islamic law.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Had a mid-century GI used "Mein Kampf" for target practice, I noted, Gen. George S. Patton would hardly have kissed one to appease a band of former Nazis.

Suffice to say, I've received considerable comment, both positive and negative, about this analogy."