Offending Islam by Raymond S. Kraft
Islam is offended. Islam is easily offended. Islam is very easily offended, by the slightest suggestion that Islam, the Islamic world, the Prophet Mohammed and Muslims, are anything less than perfect. A few days ago, Pope Benedict XVI improvidently quoted a 14th Century Christian Emperor of Byzantium as saying, "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." In response, and proving the point, the Islamic world, much of which is busy spreading the faith by the sword, erupted in outrage and indignation, demonstrations and riots, and in some places the Islamic world erupted in gunfire aimed at Christian churches. "I don't think the church should point a finger at extremist activities in other religions," said Aiman Mazyek, president of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) rose to the defense of Jihad and called upon Christians to learn more about Islam. CAIR did not, however, condemn the Muslims rioting in Pakistan to protest the Pope's remarks, or the Organization of the Swords of Righteousness that unleashed volleys of gunfire on Christian churches in Gaza, or those who tossed Molotov cocktails into Christian churches in the West Bank. It is axiomatic that those with the least to be honestly proud and confident of are the often quickest to take offense at any real or imaginary slight. Those of real achievement tend to ignore their detractors, knowing that criticisms, if true, should be heeded, and, if untrue, are merely displays of ignorance, jealousy, or the hatred that grows from the slacker's internal morass of envy and self-loathing.Those of little achievement, or none, are the people most sensitive to being "dissed." The greatest underachievers are the most easily offended, precisely because every criticism, especially if true, threatens to penetrate and evaporate their tenuous, false, and exaggerated illusion of self-importance, the illusion by which they justify themselves. They are ostentatiously proud, because there is nothing to them but their ostentatious pride.
Muslims feel free to call Jews "apes and pigs," they feel free to march in the streets calling for "Death to America," the Great Satan, they feel free to riot across France, burning thousands of cars and homes and businesses, for weeks. They feel free to execute homosexuals for their homosexuality, and send women to prison for the crime, or sin, of having been raped, or stone them for actual or suspected adultery. But at the slightest suggestion that they, or Islam, or the Prophet, are any less perfect than they claim to be, they erupt in fury and violence, the behavior of a culture fixated at the emotional level of a narcissistic four-year-old who throws a screaming tantrum every time he does not get precisely what his childish little heart desires.
With this thought in mind I turned to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual-IV (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association, to the section on Narcissistic Personality Disorder. And now I am going to offend Islam, again. For the tantrums of Islam that we see in every day's news match precisely all eight of the diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
"Narcissistic Personality Disorder: A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
(1) Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).
The Islamic world of today has precisely this grandiose and delusional sense of self-importance, as it declares Islam to be the cure for all the world's ills, despite the rather obvious fact that where militant Islam is dominant, as with the Taliban in Afghanistan, society regresses into barbarity. Each day I open the paper to see that the Religion of Peace has slaughtered another hundred Iraqis in Iraq, or that, having failed to develop anything even vaguely resembling a self-sustaining economy and destroying most of what was left to the Palestinians by the Israelis when they withdrew, Hamas in Gaza cannot even pay the salaries of its own employees and must go about panhandling the "international community" for enough money to feed its people, dependant on the charity of its enemies. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, rattling his nuclear saber, threatening the annihilation of Israel and proclaiming that Iran is better suited than America to "lead the world," blithely avoids the fact that the prosperity of Iran, and the populist largesse it allows him to shower on the Iranian people, and his own derivative sense of power and purpose, largely depend on the sale of Iran's petroleum to the Western countries he despises.
The Islam of today does not export science, or literature, or music, or art, or charity, or humanitarianism, or freedom. Islam has produced no Einsteins, no Da Vincis, no Beethovens, no Churchills or Franklin D. Roosevelts, no Declarations of Human Rights, no Mother Theresas. Islam today exports oil, and terror.
Yet Islam wallows in the self-inflicted delusion that it is the center of the world and the quintessence of civilization.
(2) Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success.
The Islamic Jihad of today is rather publicly preoccupied with the fantasy that it will destroy Israel and the rest of Western Civilization, and usher in an eternal Fourth Reich of Theocratic Islamic Totalitarianism, fulfilling the word of the Prophet at Koran 9:33 - "He it is who hath sent His Apostle with the Guidance and a religion of truth, that he may make it victorious over every other religion..."
(3) Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).
Islam from its inception has taught that it is "Special," and that Muslims should associate insofar as possible only with other Muslims. As the Prophet said in Koran 5:60, 76: "O you who believe! Take not Jews and Christians as friends. They are but one another's friends. If any one of you taketh them for his friends, he surely is one of them! God will not guide the evil doers...Infidels now are they who say, 'God is the Messiah, the Son of Mary;' for the Messiah said, 'O children of Israel! worship God, my Lord and your Lord.' Whosoever shall join other gods with God, God shall forbid him the Garden, and his abode shall be the Fire; and the wicked shall have no helpers..."
Indeed, "Specialness," the instant and effortless "Specialness" that does not come from achievement or accomplishment, or from humanitarian service, but merely from the act of belief in the Prophet and in Islam, is the great and terrible seduction of fundamentalist Islam, and those who become martyrs, who commit suicide and murder, killing Infidels (who are not "Special," because they are not Believers), achieve the greatest of all possible "Specialness" in the eyes of Allah and in the annals of Islam and are greatly rewarded in Paradise.
Islam, unique among the world's religions, is the only religion which confers its highest accolade of "Specialness" upon those who murder others and themselves, acts which other religions call "sins." Christianity and Judaism honor those who minister to others. Islam honors those who kill. In the world of militant Islam, only Muslims are Special, and among Muslims, the most Special people of all are its mass murderers, who in any other culture would be condemned to prison or death or ignominy as mass murderers.
(4) Requires excessive admiration.
This is a corollary of Islam's pathological obsession with its "Specialness" and the inferiority of those who are Unbelievers, those who follow any other religious faith, or no faith at all. When Islam is insufficiently admired (or, God forbid, critiqued) by those it is attempting to kill, enslave, dominate, and subjugate, Muslims around the world riot and protest that they have been offended and demand apologies. The stance of Islam toward the West is, We can slaughter you, but you cannot criticize us. We can call you pigs and apes and infidels worthy only of death and hell, but you must admire us.
(5) Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or compliance with his or her expectations.
Throughout Europe, and in other non-Muslim countries, Islamic immigrants and communities expect special treatment. They expect respect for their demands to be governed by Sharia, rather than by the laws of the countries to which they have immigrated. They do not want to assimilate into the cultures and societies into which they have come, rather, they demand that France, Denmark, Germany, England, and all other Western nations that now have large Muslim communities, accommodate them. Islam sees itself as the defining force of every community and culture and country into which it spreads. It is intolerant of all others, and it intends, in time, to displace and then replace all others. Islam dreams of a world in which there is no East and West, no Judaism, no Christianity, no Hinduism, no Buddhism, no Agnostics and no Atheists, only Islam. This is what the Prophet has promised, and to this it is entitled.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday" "[Muslim nations] should have tanks, warplanes, warships, guns and missiles...Yes, they need to have nuclear weapons too, because only with the possession of such would their enemies be deterred from attacking them...Well, if you allow Israel to have them, why should the others not have them too?"
He ignores, of course, the fact that Islam has enemies only because it has declared war on everyone else. If Islam were in truth a religion of peace, it would have no enemies, and it would need no weapons.
But they are Special. They are entitled.
(6) Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends.
Islam has been, for years or decades now, taking advantage of the immigration policies and public generosity of Europe, America, Canada, Australia, in order to achieve its own ambitions of global domination, as explicitly explained in The Management of Savagery by Abu Bakr Naji. Islam and Muslims, as a cultural trait, take every possible advantage they can of everyone they can, including other Muslims. As a Muslim client once explained to me, "We are different from you Americans. When you make a deal, you make a contract, that's it. You make a contract, then you do it. With us Muslims, a contract is just for today, and tomorrow it is the place to begin negotiating again." Another, an Iranian with a PhD in pharmacology, came to California to escape the purges of the Khomeini revolution in Iran after the Shah was deposed. peaking no English, he went to work in a restaurant owned by two of his nephews, doing whatever needed to be done, prep, cooking, cleaning, bussing. They paid him minimum wage for forty hours a week, although they never actually paid him in full, and required him to work from opening to closing every day, seven days a week, more than a hundred hours a week. He was allowed to sleep on the floor in the store room, and he was not allowed to leave. In other words, they made their uncle their slave. He escaped, and with an Iranian acquaintance to translate went to the Labor Commission to file a complaint for unpaid wages, and after he returned his nephews beat him nearly to death. He wanted to know if he could sue them. I replied that he could, but asked what they would do to him if he did. He answered, "They will kill me."
(7) Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.
Lack of empathy - indifference to the emotions and feelings, the pain and suffering, of others, is also a defining trait of psychopaths, "...predators who use charm, manipulation, intimidation, and violence to control others and to satisfy their own selfish needs. Lacking in conscience and in feelings for others, they cold-bloodedly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt." (Hare, Robert D., Psychopaths: New Trends in Research, The Harvard Mental Health Letter, September 1995).
This narcissistic psychopathy is amply on display in the embrace of terrorism by militant Islam. Those who have empathy for the emotions, feelings, grief, pain and suffering, for the lives of others, do not blow up nightclubs filled with vacationers in Egypt or Bali, wedding parties in Jordan, schools full of children in Beslan, Russia, trains filled with commuters in India and Spain and England, buses, synagogues, banks, and consulates in Turkey, police recruits and shoppers in Iraq, cafes in Israel, and they do not plot for years to fly airliners full of innocent passengers into the World Trade Center in New York, killing thousands of people from dozens of countries, Muslim and Infidel alike. They do not decapitate Daniel Pearl and Nicholas Berg on TV.
If Islamic terror were not hiding behind the Mosque and the Koran, and if America and Europe were not intellectually blinded by its camouflage of religion, and its outspoken protestations of "offense" at every criticism, and by our own uncritical and indiscriminating Liberalism, which is a sort of inverted Nihilism (while the Nihilist approves of nothing, the Progressive Liberal approves of everything except rational discrimination between good and bad), America and Europe would not hesitate to call these terrorists and their allies what they are, pre-meditated mass murderers, and the Jihad, the Global Intifada, what it is - a world-wide conspiracy to commit mass murder, serial murder, in the relentless narcissistic pursuit of religio-political power.
(8) Is often envious of others, or believes that others are envious of him or her.
It is probable that one of the driving forces underlying the Jihad, the Global Intifada, perhaps the most powerful and dangerous one, is jealousy, or envy, the unspoken, perhaps unrecognized, inarticulate envy of many Muslims who resent Israel and the West for their success, which contrasts badly with the failures of much of the Islamic world. The Islamic world should (according to Islam) be most greatly blessed by Allah, it should dominate the globe, and the greater achievements and prosperity of the West presents a stark challenge, a desperate cognitive dissonance, to the ideology of Islamic perfection, supremacy, Specialness. To the narcissist who seeks Specialness above all else, to compensate for his lack of real accomplishment, those who achieve what he has not, or will not, or cannot, are hateful. He despises them, because they become a mirror in which he sees himself for what he is, or what he is not, but cannot admit to being or not being.
A mirror which must be broken.
(9) Shows arrogant, haughty behavior or attitudes.
The Islam of Jihad, the Islam of the Global Intifada, displays absolute arrogance. This Islam assumes that it is privileged to attack every continent, and any nation, killing people all over the world, burning churches and synagogues and temples, killing Christians and Jews and Hindus merely because they are not Muslims, without remorse, without apology, killing Muslims by the thousands to destabilize Iraq to prevent Iraq from becoming a peaceful and prosperous democracy friendly to the West. Then in the next moment Islam takes extreme offense at any criticism or disparagement of Islam, demonstrating, rioting, calling for retractions and apologies, disdaining all other political traditions and religious faiths as illegitimate. Its arrogance knows no limitations. It is infinite.
Islam is in desperate need of soul-searching, of self-reflection, of reality. Islam needs a long hard look in the mirror. Islam needs to see itself as others see it, not merely as it sees itself.
If Islam continues down the path of Jihad, the path of Global Intifada, the path of Islamo-Nazism, it will continue making enemies of the rest of the world, and in the conflagration that will inevitably follow either Islam, or Civilization, or both, will be devastated. Islam calls itself the religion of peace, but Islam is making itself a religion of blood. And I am offended. We are offended. We who love life more than death, and peace more than war, and freedom more than totalitarianism, we are offended.
When the Pope says that "Jihad" is contrary to God's nature and to reason, and calls for a "genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today," Islam does not respond with dialogue, but with outrage. And we are offended.
When the news reports that 100 people were found dead in Baghdad in twenty-four hours on Wednesday, or that 400,000 Iraqi bodies have been exhumed from the mass graves of the Saddam Hussein regime, not a single Muslim government or spokesman expresses outrage. CAIR does not condemn Al Qaeda for killing Muslims in Iraq, CAIR condemns Pope Benedict for calling for dialogue and peace. Dalil Boubakeur, president of the French Council for the Muslim Religion, does not condemn Al Qaeda for killing Muslims in Iraq, he calls on the Church to "clarify its position" so that it does not confuse Islam with Islamism. And we are offended.
When in Pakistan women are sent to prison for committing adultery, or for having been raped, Haken Al-Mutairi, leader of the Islamic Nation Party in Kuwait, expresses no outrage, but he demands an apology from Pope Benedict for "unaccustomed and unprecedented remarks" and calls on all Arab and Islamic states to recall their ambassadors from the Vatican and expel those from the Vatican until the pope says he is sorry "for the wrong done to the prophet and to Islam, which preaches peace, tolerance, justice, and equality..." Yes, Mr. Haken Al-Mutairi, tell that to the two million Sudanese killed by Muslim raiders in Darfur. Tell that to the widows and fatherless children of 9/11. We are offended.
We are offended by the disingenuousness and duplicity of Islam that claims to preach "peace, tolerance, justice, and equality," in one breath, and in the next breath promises the abolition of Israel and the Islamization of Europe and the Death of America. We are offended by the Islamic world that is not offended by the slaughter of Sunnis by Shias, and the slaughter of Shias by Sunnis, and the slaughter of 100,000 Kurds and 400,000 Iraqis by Saddam Hussein's regime but has not lifted a pen to denounce him, a world in which Abdullah al-Amiri, the judge presiding over the trial of Saddam, can make the astonishing statement to Saddam from the bench that "You were not a dictator. You were not a dictator. You were not a dictator." Three times.
We are offended by an Islam that hears Ahmadinejad promise the "abolition of Israel," racial genocide, the final solution, and applauds him, or, if it does not, raises not a voice to oppose him. By silence, Islam consents.
Yes, there are a few Islamic leaders trying to find a civilized path for Islam, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq, comes to mind, who in a recent speech to Congress said, "The fate of our country and yours is tied. Should democracy be allowed to fail in Iraq, then the war on terror will never be won elsewhere...This is a battle between true Islam, for which a person's liberty and rights constitute essential cornerstones, and terrorism, which wraps itself in a fake Islamic cloak, in reality wages a war on Islam and Muslims and values and spreads hatred between humanity..."
He is right. But far too few Muslims seem to accept his perspective, and we are offended. We are offended every time the Global Intifada, commits another atrocity, and the leaders of Muslim organizations in America, and Europe, and of Muslim states in the Middle East, fail to condemn it. We are offended every time Muslims are "outraged" by any criticism of Islamic barbarity, rather than admitting that Islam has a malignancy in its soul which only Islam can expunge. We are offended that Islam is failing, day by day, to take responsibility for the atrocities committed in the name of Islam, to punish the offenders, to root out the offenders, to heal its disease of Jihad, its disease of Global Intifada, its disease of Islamic Nazism.
We are offended that Islam is not offended by its own atrocities.
We call on Islam to apologize. We call on Islam to apologize for the atrocities of Saddam Hussein, and for the atrocities of 9/11. We call on Islam to apologize for the riots in France, and for the bombings in London and Spain and Bali. We call on Islam to apologize for the dead children of Beslan. We call on Islam to apologize for the Taliban in Afghanistan, and for the safe haven and protection given to Osama bin Laden, and for the barbarities of Al Qaeda, and Hamas, and Hezbollah. We call on Islam to apologize for its invidious, racist, hatred of Israel and Jews. We call on Islam to apologize for the Global Intifada, the Islamic Jihad against all non-Muslims. We call on Islam to apologize for the rise of Islamic Nazism.
We call on Islam to rise up against terrorism. If Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, justice, and equality, then we call on Islam to open its hearts and doors to Christians and Jews, Buddhists and Hindus, as the world has opened its doors to Muslims. You can build a mosque in America, but you cannot build a cathedral in Tehran. You can build a mosque in Jerusalem, but you cannot build a synagogue in Mecca.
We call on Islam to build a cathedral in Tehran. We call on Islam to build a synagogue in Mecca.
We are offended.
Raymond S. Kraft is an attorney and writer in northern California. Mr. Kraft receives receives e-mail at rskraft@vfr.net
Originally published at New Media Journal
Hat tip Rhymes With Right
See also:
Historical Review Of Iraq Situation by Raymond S. Kraft
Why We Are In Iraq Part II, By Raymond S. Kraft
Weaponizing Civilization: The New Way of War, by Raymond Kraft
Mr Kraft,
Thank you for this insightful expose on the problems that exist within the religion that very righteously refers to itself as the true religion of peace and brotherhood.
After reading many parts of the Quran to become more familiar with the word of Islam, I find it astonishing of how distorted the message of the prophet has been taught to the people of Islam since early childhood.
If the behaviour of the Islamic Inquisisitionists is to be taken as representative of the teachings of the Quran, I wonder what version they are reading? First point is the definition of Jihad... in the Quran, it refers to an internal struggle for one to overcome to be a better person, a better Muslim. I found nothing that indicated Jihad to be a righteous path to mass murder through self destruction in the name Allah. It is truly unfortunate that so many Muslims lack sufficient erudition to learn the true meaning of peace and brotherhood.
What Muslims should be offended by is the way so many of their brothers and sisters have chosen a path of criminal and murderous behaviour that reflects EXTREMELY poorly on the teachings of the prophet.
With regard to Iraq, I am increasingly dismayed by the lack of concern to what will happen if we fail in this endeavor. Far too many Americans have not recognized that the free world in general faces a cataclysm far greater than any recorded in the anals of man if this movement of global terrorism is not defeated. Terrorism is a pox on the entire world that must be treated and eradicated in order to preserve not only freedom, but civilization as well.
Muslim extremists who wage war on their bretheran slaughtering innocent men, woman and children going about their daily lives are not civilized. It is troubling that there are so many in the world who choose to turn a blind eye to the work of these fiendish brutes who mindlessly follow the mandate of evil despots.
Americans appear to be looking for "change" to what life is as we know it. I only hope that by voting for "change", they do not unwittingly vote for the "end" of life as we know it.
This will be the 17th General Election during my lifetime, I've seen little change in the workings of Washington. What I have seen is people voting for "change" without asking what its going to cost. Most don't remember that presidents are executives, with NO powers to make changes. Congress holds the power to make chages, the only thing they change really well is how much they benefit from getting elected. There's an old saying, "You can tell a politician is lying if his lips are moving." There is far too much truth in that saying.
I sincerely hope that all of these "NEW" young voters take very close look at what might become their potential future before they make their choices.
Posted by: Tom Bembenek | June 24, 2008 at 01:38 PM
Johann Henselmann: I'll be sure to let Mr. Kraft know what you think, or you can email him yourself.
Posted by: Debbie | December 22, 2007 at 04:26 PM
You, have got to be one of the most ignorant self absorbed, Jewish racist and Jewish apologist, that I have come across in quite some time.
WHat the world needs is a European/Arab coalition, against the Jews who infest the so-called democartic west. I would be the first to join, and to do whatever needed to be done to rid the world of people like you.
Posted by: Johann Henselmann | December 22, 2007 at 04:02 PM
Thank you for being one of the only people that is willing to take a stand even thought it is not considered to be "politically correct." As a Chrisian Egyptian-American woman (yes there are a few of us out there), I thank you for bringing some of the atrocities of Islam out in the open. Islam is always offende. Its supporters cannot take criticism of any kind or it responds with physical violence or threats. The religion is akin to small children who do not know how to express their opinions or thoughts and thus resort to physical violence. In the middle east, Islam is in charge and if you are a Christian or Jew you must constantly fear for your life. Islamic followers have bombed churches and temples in an attempt to squelch the followers of other religions. So when we, as a minority, leave to come to other countries where we can practice our faith in peace, it is particularly offensive when we are followed here by these militant people. If they are offended by our country and our ways of life and desire to only live out their lives according to the Muslim law, there is an answer. Return to the Middle East. Yet they want to inhabit and take over the world and force everyone else to follow in their beliefs. Anyone who believes otherwise, I invite to don a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and please walk the streets of any of the countries in the Middle East. I would be impressed if you made it back to your hotel room in one piece. Thank you Mr. Kraft for having the courage to say the truth even though no one wants to believe it.
Posted by: Irene | July 29, 2007 at 05:12 PM
Hmmm, after reading a couple of your essays couldn't we define yourself as having "Narcissistic Personality Disorder"?
Why won't people look outside the box? Why do we have to kill. Do something theat hurts them more. Hit 'em in their wallets. Let's get off our dependency on oil and also stop allowing foreigners to buy real estate here! Fight the fight here in the US.
Posted by: Multivalue | May 18, 2007 at 10:26 AM
Raymond S. Kraft,
You should go back to whatever business you were in before you started writing "history lessons". Do us all a favor. If you think war in Iraq is the right thing to do, then put on some boots and pick up a gun and get over there buddy.
It is naïve to compare world war II and NAZI germany to the current situation with militant muslims and the middle east. In fact, it’s been proven to be dangerous to make this comparison. Look where we’re at. Civil war in Iraq. Fertile ground for militant muslim recruiting. The top U.S. commander over there said only days ago that there is no military solution. A much more accurate comparison is Viet Nam. The all too familiar expressions are echoing today:
“win the hearts and minds”, “we’re trying to help these people but they hate us”, “when the Iraqi security forces stand up we’ll stand down”
Certainly a conflict with people of the likes of Al Qaida was called for long before September 11. But a groups of ignorant individuals in Washington with there own agenda, took the situation and twisted it to fit there interests and the interests of there constituents. This blatant lack of creativitity in carrying out retaliation against Al Qaida has left the U.S. forced to pull out of Iraq and leave innocent Iraqi people to be slaughtered in a growing civil war, 3200 american lives, ½ trillion dollars spent.
Thinking that this is WWII only prolongs the ignorant state that many American people are still in which leads to many more lives lost. Until we understand our enemy, we can’t win. Remember the lesson of the wind and the sun. The wind thought that if he blew hard enough he could get the man to take his jacket off. Violence has a place in history and in the current climate today only if used intelligently.
Posted by: Brian Leiby | March 15, 2007 at 09:19 AM
Ray,
Remember: The USS LIBERTY
Posted by: dave salvador | March 07, 2007 at 12:30 AM
Today I have read your thoughts for the first time. Having lived in the Middle East (Jeddah) for six years and now married to a Muslem wife, I feel very close to your perspectives. That I could only express my thoughts in writing as succintly. Bob R in Greensboro
Posted by: Bob Reece | March 05, 2007 at 08:24 PM
Dear Mr. Kraft, I opened my email this afternoon and found your short history lesson had been forwarded to me. I then took the time to read this and had to ask you...
What happens when all the oil is gone?
Could we not compare Hitler's Nazi Germany to the USA? Both invaded because they feel threatened.
Pouting about oil is just disgusting to me, after all it belongs to them. It's on middle east land and that's just the way it is. Killing and making excuses for it offends my very being! If we operated the US on Bananas, we would have invaded the tropics or Columbia, etc.
I think you failed to mention a fifth option:
Find a way of operating the US without oil and you win! That's the answer we need, not forcing our beliefs on others and taking control because we feel threatened.
I was curious why you left out the Korean war and how it was never resolved. They have nuclear capability, just not the oil and we do nothing.
If you must continue to pass your History lesson on to our Children please revise it. I prefer my Children learn the complete truth not some one sided opinion.
Republican, Democrat or liberal, anyone can tell the story in a way that favors them or that specific party if they leave out crucial information as you have done here.
It's not that I don't respect your right to free speech or that I don't appreciate some of what you say in this essay, it's the fact that someone is sending it around and requesting others to "pass it on" that I find extremely offensive.
Posted by: Scott | January 03, 2007 at 06:35 PM
Mr. Jones, you will find Mr. Kraft's email address at the end of the article.
I have direct permission from him to post his articles here in full. If you want to include portions in your book, I suggest you contact him directly.
Thanks for visiting Right Truth. Try the front page and read some more current articles.
Posted by: Debbie | December 12, 2006 at 03:55 PM
Mr.Kraft:
I am currently in the process of writing " What's The Cost Of Losing".... "From Hitler's Nazis To Today's Islamic Jidahists Facists". It is mostly the gathering of articles , quotes, opinions, and some personal experiences. Your writings and WEB site fills various voids in my small attempt to put in print for family, friends, and several members in Congress the harsh reality if the intent of Islamic Fascists to destroy the western cuture .
They do in fact want to kill you , me , and those who cherish our way of life.
May I have your permission to include some of your writings in my book? It would be appreciated.
Dudley Jones
22 Edgewood Court
Montgomery, Texas 77356
936-597-4044
Posted by: Dudley R. Jones | December 12, 2006 at 02:39 PM
Every word that you have written is a thought that has gone over and over and over in my mind. I just wish more and more people in the west would wake up now rather than when it's too late.
I could not have said it better and clearer myself.
Posted by: Scott Miller | November 06, 2006 at 05:23 PM
I appreciate Mr Krafts comments. I just returned from 5 years in France working on Iraqi and Iranian matters and just wrote an article for RealClear Politics on what Iran is planning to do withus.
President Bush's policies are right on. Having lived in venezuela for 3 years I can tell you teer is a union of anti-American group-s Russia China Venezeula and Iran all against us. They want to deploy a WMD in the US. I also dont understand what the left does not see this.
John Quirk
Professor in National Security Studies.
Centre for Diplomatique and StrategicStudies, Paris
Posted by: John Quirk | September 26, 2006 at 11:54 AM
DARFUR, URGENT: WHAT WOULD RACHEL CORRIE START THIS WEEK?
Darfur Vigil DAY 118 (now in NYC); 56 Days Hunger Strike since July 4, 2006 www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com
Young Rachel Corrie saw a bulldozer intentionally bearing down on the house of a family, a family she probably never knew. She got in front of that bulldozer, between the bulldozer and the house, between the threat, and the innocents. (http://www.criticalconcern.com/rachelcorrie.html.)
We need to get between what is killing Darfur (Bashir's performance and lack thereof by we-the-people) - and our children, sisters and brothers in Darfur. Now. And as of now we are not (http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/2006/09/sept-17th-activism-awesome-but-not.html) How do we do that? How do we make it happen? What would a sufficient "wake up" look like? IF SOMEONE HAS THIS ALREADY STARTED, LET ME KNOW. I'll join you, or even back out if that is best.
I am deciding what I will do next, what I expect to be my final attempt to spark the Rescue of Darfur by waking up sufficient numbers of we humans in time, converting us from spectators, critics and activists-of-convenience into antiviolent warriors (think Civil Rights struggle) of profound courage, wisdom, tenacity and effectiveness; utilizing to the max the few weeks, days and seconds that our Darfur family has left.
What would Rachel Corrie start THIS WEEK? This question strikes me as the way to approach the task of deciding. The way to focus the mind to come up with the appropriate, proportional response of greatest chance - THE BEST AIMED "HAIL MARY" PASS.
Rachel Corrie stood in front of a bulldozer about to destroy a house in Palestine (http://www.criticalconcern.com/rachelcorrie.html). Would a different role model help you more? How about Steve Beko (South Africa, movie, Denzel), a young Gandhi, a young Nelson Mandella, an antivioloent Rambo, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, John Q (from the Denzel Washington movie)...? You get the idea. Think of your own role model APPROPRIATE to this situation.
LET’S JOIN TOGETHER IN THIS QUANDARY, before it is too late, please: Send me, or post, your ideas (http://standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com/). Now. I expect to embark on whatever best plan by early next week at the latest, with anyone that wants to join together.
A CONSTRAINT: Suggestions must centrally embrace this notion of the problem from Samantha Power's inspired, Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Problem from Hell" (and I paraphrase AND take license): THE BATTLE TO STOP GENOCIDE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LOST ON THE FIELD OF PUBLIC OPINION. THE PEOPLE [WE THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD]... HAVE NEVER STOOD UP SUFFICIENTLY TO STOP IT.
HUNCH: The plan should involve leveraging STAND's Oct 5th Fast to make it into the END OF THE GONOICIDE, the START of a WORLDWIDE FAST UNTIL DARFUR GENOCIDE IS ENDING. One-day only by all participants is too-little-too-late. A one day fast is NOT what the world's response to the Holocaust, the extermination of 6,000,000 Jews lacked. Not by many orders of magnitude. Death rates are climbing toward 25,000 per week in Darfur, NOW. We must be REALISTIC. Code Pink's "Troops Home Fast" could be a model (www.troopshomefast.org). Make STAND's October 5th the START? THAT COULD DO IT.
But, WE NEED EVEN BETTER, MUCH BETTER SUGGESTIONS and specific ideas for approach and execution than I am hinting at.
RESPOND. PLEASE. Deadline: FRIDAY, 9/22/06, because THERE IS NO MORE T-I-M-E. (For those of you that just want to watch, and have a good laugh at my frantic gyrations, enjoy.)
What would Rachel Corrie start THIS WEEK?
Jay McGinley (jymcginley@cs.com) 484-356-6243
Posted by: Jay McGinley | September 20, 2006 at 11:51 PM