As Qurans Burn

PATHETIC POWELL

``He`s Out With the In Crowd
By MAUREEN DOWD


WASHINGTON

The swank cocktail party celebrating the fall of Baghdad was the hot ticket on Embassy Row.

The host was the Bush administration`s vicar of foreign policy. The guests on Saturday, April 12, included Tony Brenton, acting head of the British Embassy, and dozens of ambassadors from the smaller countries that fashioned the fig leaf known as the coalition of the willing.

The ambassador of Eritrea was welcomed to the house on Kalorama Road, even as the French ambassador, who lives directly across the street in a grand chateau, was snubbed.

The German ambassador is kaput, but the ambassador of the Netherlands mingled with Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and Gen. Richard Myers and Gen. Peter Pace of the Joint Chiefs.

The winners were gaily lording it over the losers, sneering at the French.

Conspicuously absent was the nation`s top diplomat. Asked if Colin Powell was invited, a State Department official replied, ``No. People here didn`t know about the party.``

The host was Rummy, top gun of a muscle-bound foreign policy summed up by the comic Jon Stewart as, ``You want a piece of this?``
There are Rummy people: Mr. Cheney, Mr. Wolfowitz, Mr. Feith, Bill Kristol, William Safire, Ariel Sharon, Fox News, National Review, The Weekly Standard, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, the fedayeen of the Defense Policy Board — Richard Perle, James Woolsey, Mr. Gingrich, Ken Adelman — and the fifth column at State, John Bolton and Liz Cheney.

And there are Powell people: Brent Scowcroft, James Baker, Bush 41, Ken Duberstein, Richard Armitage, Richard Haass, the Foreign Service, Joe Biden, Bob Woodward, the wet media elite, the planet.

Rummy may merely be a front man for Dick Cheney, who tangled with Mr. Powell for being too cautious in the first Persian Gulf war, and scorned Mr. Powell`s strategy of going to the U.N. before the second.

But the president has not spoken up for Mr. Powell, allowing his credibility to be undermined as he heads off to the Middle East to build the peace. And Mr. Bush has never reined in Rummy`s rabid fedayeen.

W.`s gut leans toward the macho Cheney-Rummy idea that America is not bound by history;

that the U.S. can help Israel and reshape the Arab world and the rest of the world and not care who is run over;

or worry about what will happen if we don`t get cooperation on terrorism, proliferation, AIDS, trading;

or if people everywhere get up in the morning thinking about how to get back at us.

Nerviness, absolutism and smiting enemies are seductive. Nuance and ambivalence aren`t.

The day before Rummy`s party, senators were shown an organizational chart for remaking Iraq. Just below Jay Garner, who reports to Tommy Franks, was a line to Larry DiRita, who is a special assistant to the defense chief. Even the time on the chart was ``1700,`` for 5 p.m.

Diplomacy in Washington now runs on military time.``(NYT)

Quoted from an online forum posting in 1998 - found while searching for the Egyptians-Lebanese-Iraqi proverb:

``The March 29 New York Times Book Review has an interesting article
by Shashi Tharoor on the roadside bookstands in Baghdad. It says the
Iraqi are a ``famously literate people`` and quotes an old saying : ``the
Egyptians write, the Lebanese publish and the Iraqis read.`` Sadly, it
seems that many of the books for sale were from middle class households who now need money for food.

The author says copies of the Koran were selling well, but he also caught sight of Leon Uris ``Exodus`` and Grace Metalious`s ``Peyton Place.`` He went to visit a park dedicated to Scheherazade and her storytelling. He concludes: ``The site was deserted, and the park in which the statuary stood was overgrown and ill tended. The city of the fabled Caliph Harun ar-Rashid, patron of the arts, now neglects its own stories--as if, with harsh reality pressing down upon it, even literary Baghdad can no longer seek solace in the magic of myth.``

Catchy heading and punchline. The rest?

I wonder what happens to Quran`s when Shia`s and Sunnis kill each

other in the streets and Mosques?

We are often the victims of Tunnel Vision....


Ras

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Actually Bush believed that christ was commending him to save Iraqi souls but allah took over from our savior - lord somewhere in the desert north of Karbala along the old bedoin route from Yemen to Damascus.

Shhhhhhhh........allah is coming to lift the veil from the eyes or from one ``eye``......depending.......moreover it matters what are meant by veil and eye. I like Donna Karan designer veil for summer 2003.

pardah hay pardah
parday kay peechay parda nasheen hay
pardah nasheen ko be pardah na kar duN
tau allah-o-akbar mera naam naheeN

tuntunia1 #58 Agreed that there is no shortage of irrational people among us muslims, as you point out. Hindus have no such shortage either. Thus: the last sentence of your post is just as irrational as nasah`s logic whose irrationality you point out in the same post.

nasah logic says that if Iraqis after a secular repression of 30 years still turn out to be fundoos like their brothers elsewhere, it is US`s fault to bring them out. Never put blame anywhere else. What is common between Shias of Iraq to Sunnis of Islamabad? They all read the same peaceful, loving and tolerant book or at least important parts of it.

#55 by nasah

Thank you for your comments, it is said in the Quran that there will be a time that even the so called believers will have a Veil ``Pardah`` in front of thier eyes. And we witness that everywhere today. But Nasah as long as we , who can still see, keep raising our voices, keep asking Allah for his mercy and help in these testing times, he will come to our aid. And these so called beleivers who cannot roll enuff in their pragmatism and patriotism will try and call us and what we say, extremist ideaology. A sign of the times to come.

Regards

S.Ali

nasah #55 In comparing Halaku Khan to Bush (the former killed virtually all inhabitants of Bagdhad, chopped of 40,000 heads and stacked them up in the middle of the city), and in generally raving as you have been for the past few weeks about this war, you seem increasingly insane.

rsridhar #52 Exactly my point. The Quran should be understood in the context of the times in which it was revealed (as we muslims believe). It is only the legal aspects of the Quran (e.g. property rights of women, punishments for theft, marital relations) that are generally the focus of much discussion (either for ridicule or for application in todays world). Yet, as I discuss in my post #39, legally the Quran was a very progressive document for the 7th century AD. And indeed it always calls for forgiveness (as in case of adultery) rather than punishment. Thus, as I write in #39, ``the DIRECTION the Quran points to is clear, which is towards a more civilized society...This is NOT an argument for going back to 7th century Arabia. RATHER, this is an argument for catching up with the west in terms of equal rights for women. `` The goal in law thus is to introduce increasingly humane (not cruel as in Saudi Arabia) societies, with laws based on the rationality. In case of India, e.g., the introduction of ``family islamic laws`` under pressure from the indian muslim clerics (as I understand them) was clearly a travesty of islam: the basic civil and criminal laws of India were clearly further ahead in the direction the Quran points to anyway. What the muslim clerics, if they knew what they were talking about, SHOULD have argued for if they wanted to implement Quranic guidelines, would have been changes in the general legislation (through the democratic process in place at the lok sabha etc.) that moved india steadily towards a more just society. NOT a separate set of regressive family laws.

There are many other aspects of the Quran that have nothing to do with laws anyway. These include character building (honesty, logical thinking, respect for others), raising our consciousness of the universe around us, and (perhaps most interestingly) emphasizing that the limitlessness of the universe and encouragement of man to learn as much as he can about it. Like the finest of literature, these aspects are not bound by time and space to the 7th century AD. And yet, I have never found anyone quoting from these.
It is only the legal aspects, as partially read and as interpreted in the most regressive manner, that are the focus of attention of the most ardent muslims as well as of the most ardent anti-muslims.

Actually Quran was not burnt --

it was REVIVED and HOISTED once more on the medieval SWORD of SHIITE and SUNNI -- Fundamentalist Islam -- once again --

Acutally -- BUSH`s REPUBLIOCAN GAURDS have ONCE AGAIN taken te genie out of the bottle -- and have created the worst NIGHTMARE for the United States Securiy to come -- once more after AMERICAN JIHAD in Afghanistan.

what was burnt was the 10 THOUSAND YEAR OLD PRECIOUS HERITAGE of Human Civilization -- by the uncivilized barbarians led by the Texas MONGOL -- BAD BAD BOY -- BUSH.

Actually -- the Texas HALAKU KHAN -- aka -- the BARBARA`S BARBARIAN SON -- BUSH -- has committed -- the archaeologicaL CRIME OF THE CENTURY -- in BAGHDAD -- for WHICH he WILL be BARBECUED by the HISTORY of the world -- fr all time to come.

the `game` has just been restarted -- the FIRE has just been re-ignited --

and it will burn not only Baghdad -- it will burn far & beyond Baghdad -- folks -- thanks to our MONGOLOID PRESIDENT.

this is all I have to say -- Syed Ali -- about your great and most timely poem.

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re:#41 by Studebaker
What is wrong with nationalistic views? Is it wrong for proud hindus to say they are proud?
If you read the writings of SriAurobindo and Vivekananda, you would say they too are nationalistic. But, they do not preach hatred. Did the gentlemen who received the awards preach hatred. If they did, i would condemn them. If not, they have a right to be proud.
Sridhar

re:#39 by tahmed32
tahmed Sahib,
Even though i do not usually respond to religous discussions which involve Islam (where i find myself out of breath), i will respond to your post in a general way.
I agree entirely that the Holy Qoran is a great spiritual document and was a great leap for the bedoin tribes of Arabia in the 7th century. However, most documents, in order to be relevant, need to keep pace with changing times. The essence of all scriptural teachings viz love, faith, humility etc remain unchanged over time. What does change are the social circumstances of the people. Arabia has changed a lot from its 7th century bedouin days, yet many of the laws practices during those times (especially capital punishment) still exists and are justified in the name of Qoran.
I will give one eg from my own scripture. In Bhagawat Geetha Sri Krishna (the God figure) advises Arjuna to take up arms and vanquish his enemies to uphold righteousness. Can we then interpret this to mean that violence is justified? Certainly not. This was said in a particular context. No spiritual hindu leader has ever interpreted that verse to means ``jihad``. Look at the following verse:
`` hato va prapyasi swargam jitva va bhokyase maheem
tasmat utthistha kaunteya yuddhaya kritanischayah``
( If thou shouldst die (so says Lord Krishna to Arjuna) fighting your enemy, thou wilt gain heaven; if thou conquerest, thou wilt enjoy the earth. Therefore Kaunteya (Son of Kunti, another name for Arjuna), lift thyself up! Be determined to fight). This verse can easily be interpreted as a call for jehad by hindus. No one has done it so far.

Qoranic passages should also be interpreted in the context of time and place. Experts in Qoran should constantly reinterpret the scripture, keeping the core teachings alive but keeping the book in context of modern thinking.
Just some thoughts.
Sridhar

paigham 43,

I have to agree with you there, it is all dus to the incompetance of the hindians, the 24 hindus killed in kashmir shows the apathy of the kashmir govt to the hindus, the hijacking and the killing of kalia was the hindian plot to blame pakistan, dawood ibrahim was allowed to escape to pakistan and is protected their by raw, then of course the lousy fire fighters of india who could not put th fire out when the laskers burned the train...the list goes on.

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