I have to ask again--how sick do you have to be?

News out today: Syrian forces fire on funeral in Damascus, kill 1 (Link to story at bottom). How sick do you have to be to open fire on a funeral procession? Yet it happens repeatedly in the Middle East? To go further, how sick do you have to be to strap bombs to yourself to kill a member of your own religion who believes slightly different than you? (Sunnis killing Shi'as and vice versa). Another step--how sick do you have to be to kill your own countrymen in this fashion? Yet another--how sick do you have to be to kill innocent civilians lined up for whatever reason in this same fashion? Finally, how really sick do you have to be to strap bombs to yourself and kill your fellow countrymen because they're lined up to become police officers or to join your country's military so you can make it safer and hopefully build a stronger, more functioning society? I don't think I'll ever understand. Link: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/18/syrian-forces-fire-funeral-damascus-kill-1/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

On the insanity that is Iraq

I've written about this before so I'll make this brief but I just don't understand, can't understand the insanity of bombing and blowing up and maiming and killing people in your own country--your fellow countrymen and women (children, too, at times)--for some "purpose" you imagine. Yesterday, there were reports out of Iraq that, now that the US troops have, for the most part, left that country finally, Iraqis are starting to blow up and kill each other again. A headline this week: Iraq bombings kill 60, revive old fears 16 bombs blown across Baghdad alone and 60 people killed. I always assume that it's because of Sunni vs. Shia differences but that just makes it worse, to me. First, it's worse because it's killing for your religion and second, it's far worse because not only are they fellow countrymen you're killing or trying to kill but there are also such small differences, really, between the two religious sects. It is truly insanity. How does a world deal with this kind of mentality? If you can't make it internally, as a nation and a people, how can anyone on the outside of the country help you? And the answer is, of course, they can't. Links: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-sectarian-divisions-20111223,0,3829851.story; http://www.thejournal.ie/iraq-vp-blames-prime-minister-for-violence-312904-Dec2011/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam

Searching for logic and intelligence

How can you expect to deal with people realistically when they and their societies can and do make the following headlines possible, time and again?

Shrine bombing kills 41 in central Pakistan  Dailymotion - PAKISTAN BOMBING KILLS 6 - a ...

Bombing kills 5 at police station in Pakistan - Yahoo! News


Bombing near Jerusalem bus stop kills woman, 30 hurt


Car bombing kills 10 in Afghanistan


Afghan truck bombing kills 23 - World - CBC News


BBC News - Seven die in Pakistan suicide bike bombing


Pakistan suicide bombing kills 36 at funeral - World - CBC News


Pakistan shrine suicide bombings kill 50 ...

And this was just the only the first page of links from the search "bombing kills news" on Yahoo!

Link:  http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7nLIMZpNpEcAoitXNyoA?p=bombing+kills+news&fr2=sb-top&fr=ush-news&type_param=

How do you fight the insanity and ignorance of a suicide bomber?

There's a story out today from Russia (I guess that's what we're calling that place that collapsed) that some suicide bomber struck there with a vengeance: Suicide attack in Russia kills 17, wounds over 130 By SERGEI VENYAVSKY, Associated Press Writer; ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia – A suicide car bomber hit the central market of a major city in Russia's North Caucasus on Thursday, killing at least 17 and wounding more than 130 people in one of the worst attacks in the volatile region in years, officials said...At least 17 people, including the suicide bomber, were killed and 133 were wounded in the explosion, said Alexander Pogorely of the Emergency Situations Ministry's branch in southern Russia. He said 98 of the injured were hospitalized, many in grave condition. So they strike like this in Iraq and Iran and through the Middle East and other parts of Southeast Asia and we have our military and tanks and jet airplanes and bombs but tell me--how do you fight the ignorance and insanity of someone who can and will blow him/her self up (mostly "hims") for what they see as a "worthy cause"? How do you deal with that? How do you get people educated enough, quickly enough that they don't do this to their fellow countrymen, to their own local neighborhood/city/country? What did this guy expect to achieve, in this instance? Is he part of a larger group, pushing for some change? Fighting this mindset seems virtually impossible. Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100909/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_caucasus_violence/print

The only way the insane suicide bombings will end

I've been meaning to write on this all week.

From CNN last week:

"At a news conference in London, England, on Tuesday, the renowned Islamic scholar issued a fatwa -- a religious ruling -- condemning suicide bombers as destined for hell, removing extremists' certainty of earning paradise after death."

"The 600-page fatwa is arguably the most comprehensive theological refutation of Islamist terrorism to date. Qadri said his aim was to set an important precedent that might allow other scholars to similarly condemn the ideas behind terrorism."

"London's The Independent newspaper reports that the imam told fellow Muslims: 'Terrorism is terrorism, violence is violence and it has no place in Islamic teaching and no justification can be provided for it, or any kind of excuses of ifs and buts. The world needs an absolute, unconditional, unqualified and total condemnation of terrorism.'"

The scholar's name is Sheikh Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri. CNN covered him for their "intriguing People" series from March 3.

This, then, is the only way this insanity will end, be it in Iran, Aghanistan, anywhere and everywhere in the Muslim/Islam world.

We need more Imams and Islamist rulers, leaders and scholars to stand up and say that these suicide bombings are insanity and that they need to stop.

Let's hope that this one is the first of many to come. Hopefully Western governments all over the world--our own through Hillary Clinton and the State Department, the French, British, everyone--will push for more clarity and intelligence like this. Fortunately, in this case, it looks as though this Imam spoke out on his own.

Hopefully young Muslim and Islamic men and women 'round the world are listening.