Day: September 24, 2008

Further thoughts on the Saudi strategy(!) I wrote about this morning

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update September 25th:  See Judy’s excellent post today on more of the Saudi strategy at work in the US here.

 

Go back to this post, if you didn’t read it this morning.  I’m kind of slow sometimes and it just dawned on me hours after writing that post, with my first cup of coffee, what that Saudi author was saying.  I wondered why she so readily chastised the Somalis.  How could I be so obtuse. 

I just wrote a post a couple of days ago about how the Somalis of Greeley, CO and Grand Island, NE had overplayed their hand.   The quiet Jihad is just that, it’s supposed to be quiet and with the beligerant and angry (ham-handed!) way the Somalis made their religious demands and ticked off every other group (Hispanics, American Blacks, Vietnamese and even Sudanese) among the workers they undercut the Saudi- funded plan to quietly bring Sharia to America.

This woman was distancing herself and Saudi Arabia from those strident, out of control, Somalis:

But some Muslims take their beliefs to the extreme.

By making them look like whackos, the Saudis (and other Arab intelligentsia), by contrast, are reasonable and moderate.   Now, don’t get me wrong, I think the Somalis had handlers and that their demands were part of the plan, but the plan went awry and now this Saudi author is making lemonade from the Somali lemons.

On a tiny scale, what the Somalis have done in Grand Island and Greeley is wake up a segment of America, one that Saudi Arabia preferred to see snoozing.    It’s kind of like 9/11, you can bet those Saudi-funded-sharia-promoting infiltrators into American society went ballistic when Osama bin Laden overplayed his hand killing thousands of Americans.

African American Publication says Blacks joined protest against Muslims in Grand Island

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is just a brief mention in a publication called AFRO (thanks to Blulitespecial for sending it along) that says Black Americans joined Hispanic, White and Vietnamese workers at the Swift meatpacking plant to protest special treatment demanded by Somali Muslims in Grand Island, NE over the last week.  Check out the story here.

We have told you before that American Blacks have been having problems with Somalis in various cities in the US.

And for about the millionth time, I want to emphasize that these conflicts are cultural and have nothing to do with the color of anyone’s skin!  The Somalis expect and demand special treatment and that just won’t fly in America—or at least in the part of America where people are still brave enough to fight back.

Did U.S. disarm Christians in Iraq?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

FrontPage Magazine interviews William Murray, chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition. We’ve posted on Murray and his group’s work with Iraqi Christian refugees before, here, here and here. He summarizes the situation of these refugees thusly:

American political correctness and the Bush Administration’s fear of Islamic backlash have caused the greatest “urban refugee” crisis in history. More than half of the Christian population has been forced to flee their homes in Iraq because of Islamic violence against them. Their churches have been burned and bombed. The official position of the Administration has been that “Coalition Forces assisting the Christians would cause them to be identified with the United States and have even more problems.” As a result they receive no assistance in defending themselves at all. Immediately after the American invasion of Iraq, the Christian militias were disarmed. They were the only militias to be disarmed. American forces allowed both the Sunnis and Shiites to keep their armed militias. Christians first fled from Baghdad to the Nineveh Plains, and then to Jordan and Syria. In Jordan and Syria the American embassies told Iraqi refugees to go to the United Nations because their plight “was not an American problem.” Excuse me? 

Meanwhile the official position of the State Department under Condi Rice is that Christians are harassed by “criminal elements” in Iraq and that no persecution exists. That attitude has caused even greater persecution and led our embassies and other nations to be unhelpful.

The interviewer, Jamie Glazov, asks why Christian militias were disarmed. Murray answers:

Those of us who have questioned the State Department on the disarming of the Christian militias have received mixed answers. However, the favorite answer seems to be that allowing Christians to bear arms in Iraq would give the impression that the United States was leading a “Christian crusade,” and thus it was better for our image to allow the slaughter of Christians.

I have read many times that Christians are the only ones in Iraq who do not have their own armed militias, and that is one reason that have been attacked so much. I had gathered that they had never had militias, without that being specified. I’ve certainly never heard this claim before and I can’t find any reference to it elsewhere. If it’s true, it’s beyond shocking, but I have my doubts.

Interestingly, in looking for information on this question I found a recent article on Islam Online (of all places) called Iraq’s Christian Militias — meaning recently formed ones. (An AFP story on the new Christian militias is here.)

MOSUL — Christians in Iraq have united and formed new militias to protect themselves against what they describe as targeting by Muslim extremists in northern Iraq.

“During five years we were victims of the general violence in Iraq but mainly from violence carried by Islamic extremists who want us to follow their religious behaviors, though we are from a different culture and belief,” Priest Michel Youssef, militias supporter in Mosul, told IslamOnline.net.

Few armed Christians started patrolling their areas last year but now there are 250 of them with official approval from the US army base in Mosul.

Armed with heavy machine guns and assault rifles, they receive salaries of around US $250 and are commanded by Father Yusuf Yohannes.

“The idea to form militias was the only way to protect our families and friends from attacks because we are tired of waiting an action from the government which is preoccupied with politics and never look after us,” said Youssef.  

 

,,, The idea of taking protection in their own hands is very appealing to Christians.

“Our new militias are the start of a possible new life for Christians in Iraq,” believes Annuar, the primary school teacher.

There’s no reference to previous militias here. I’m not sure that William Murray is the most reliable of sources. Look at this statement:

Our government, that is the Bush Administration, does not want the financial and moral obligations that come with the actual declaration of refugee status. As a result none of the refugees, Christian or otherwise, are considered refugees officially by our government. There has been a special effort to make sure that Christians who have fled Iraq are not given any priority treatment despite the fact that they represented a far larger percentage of those who fled compared to their actual percentage of the population.

Of course we consider them refugees. We just let the UN have charge of them. It is true that we give no priority to Christians; we’ve commented on that many times. Murray does not come across as clear and knowledgeable. His group does excellent humanitarian work, and maybe that’s what he should stick to.

I’ll try to track down more information about the disarming of the Christian militias and whether they ever existed before.

The Somali/Swift controversy as seen by a Saudi writer

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A further note:  Author Jawher refers to a religious battle going on in the midwest, here is a discussion of the escalating battle from an ex-Muslim.

This supercilious article in the Saudi Gazette* made me laugh.  Imagine someone in Saudi Arabia lecturing us about religious freedom.    This is the country where your Bible is confiscated upon landing, or if you are a Jew you can’t even set foot there.   (Hat tip: Blulitespecial)

Author, Sabria S. Jawher, begins with this to set the tone:

A religious battle – nothing to do with terrorism or the invasion of American troops in a Muslim country – is going on in the heartland of the United States. Central Nebraska to be specific. The land of corn, pickup trucks and evangelical Christians.

Then she (I am assuming it’s a ‘she’) discusses past problems with Somalis (small cultural eruptions) and implies the Swift/Somali issue will eventually blow over as these other incidentts have,  but ends with another whack at us:

These immigrants have been at the center of controversy before. Somali taxi drivers have refused to take passengers possessing or being under the influence of alcohol or have a dog with them. With the exception of rather loud opinions of American conservative extremists, these small cultural and religious eruptions settled down quietly.

We are all just a bunch of yahoo nutjobs who are imagining things:

The problem in the United States is two-fold: Islam has become so politicized that many people can no longer view the duties of a Muslim as a religious issue, but one of Muslims attempting to change the landscape of a Christian nation through force. Many conservatives have gone so far as to label the wants and needs of Muslims as some sort of silent jihad.

She then appears to sound reasonable but when you consider the complete lack of any religious freedom in the Kingdom, you can only shake your head, laugh, and ask who is she kidding!   This is the good cop/bad cop strategy to attempt to show us that they, enlightened Saudis, are reasonable and modern, unlike us conservative, pick-up truck driving, evangelical Christians.

The other problem is the refusal of some Muslim immigrants to assimilate into Western society. We in Saudi Arabia ask our expatriate workers to respect our customs, traditions and religion while they are guests here. The same could be said for Muslims choosing to live in the United States. That doesn’t mean they are not entitled to praying five times a day. Of course they have that right. And every employer who respects freedom of religion should find a compromise to accommodate Muslims during work hours. But some Muslims take their beliefs to the extreme. What works in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Somalia doesn’t necessarily work in the West, and special considerations must be addressed. If you choose to be a taxi driver, then you have to take passengers under the influence of alcohol safely home.

You might have the urge to slap her silly, but just laugh!

* The Saudi Gazette says of itself:

The Saudi Gazette is one of the largest, and most read newspapers in Saudi Arabia. For more than 30 years, The Gazette has been committed to delivering readers the news and information they rely on in a format they enjoy. 

For all of our coverage of the Somali/Swift controversy go here.