It happened many weeks ago, but today is the first I’d heard of it. Striking, isn’t it, that I found it on a military blog? Blackfive is indispensable. The post from which the news comes addresses the immediate pounce from Iglesias, proclaiming the surge a failure because al Qaeda leaders ran from Baqubah. That conclusion also appears in the Washington Post and the New York Times. Blackfive insists, I think correctly, that leaders running away from a showdown with the infidel enemy is not winning strategy on their part; quite the contrary, in fact. Nothing is so dispiriting to an army as the sight of their “commanders” hightailing it out of town, shouting over their shoulders, “victory is certain, go get ‘em, mohammed!”
But the big news, perhaps even revolutionary news, in that post is this:
As soon as DefendAmerica.mil has the transcript up, I’ll have a conversation to post with MNF-I’s command chaplain, on the recent religious congress in Iraq, which united to condemn al Qaeda and extremist violence. It happened to finish up on the morning of the latest Samarra bombing.
The clerics were together to call Iraqi media, and get out in front in calling for their followers to avoid violence and revenge. Hear about that on the news? Well, you’ll hear it here.
Who put that conference together? The United States of America’s Department of Defense. Who asked for it? The Iraqi clerics themselves — they sought out our chaplains, respecting them as fellow holy men. DOD hasn’t learned anything about dealing with the local culture? They’ve learned enough to engage them, and put up the cash for a congress of this sort, complete with the security needed to get the leading religious figures together in Iraq
.
This “religious congress” deserves our attention. Bigtime. From the very beginning of this war, smart people have insisted that there were many Iraqi clerics who hated the islamists, in no small part because the Iraqi version of Shi’ism–which is the traditional version, as opposed to the heretical vision imposed on Iran by Khomeini and his successors–rejected the notion that religious men should govern political society. It was deplorable that our political leaders in Iraq did so little to work with such imams, whether to discuss the best actions or to protect them from the jihadis. And it is one of the many fascinating ironies of this war that, in this crucial phase, Iraqi clerics came to our religious men in uniform to hold a powwow, to denounce al Qaeda (which is now a brand name for the terrorists, rather than a specific group of killers). And they did it in the name of their faith.
For those who like to look at these events in a broader context, please notice that the traditional Shi’ite doctrine has some similarities with our insistence on separation of church and state, and that the war against the terror masters in Iran has some similarities with the Western wars against European religious absolutism. One of the great blessings of America is that most of the colonists, and most all of the founders, insisted that religion had to be a free choice. Indeed, Tocqueville rightly said that separation of church and state made American religion the most genuine and most successful of any religion in the West, and he called on his European confreres to take it to heart.
There are Muslims who share that conviction, including at least some with famous names. A couple of years ago, the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini came to Washington and openly stated that Shi’ism required freedom of religion, as well as freedom of non-religion, precisely because a truly religious person had to freely choose to be religious, and it was entirely understandable that a person might freely choose to be non-religious, even anti-religious.
The “religious congress” in Iraq strikes me as enormously important. I can’t wait to read the transcript, I urge everyone to watch for it and ponder its significance. I hope that the hunting pack that is so eager to declare the war lost and the surge failed will do likewise.
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Tom W.:Whenever we kill or capture terrorist leaders, the media says it won’t make a difference.
Now they say that the “surge” is a failure because terrorist leaders got away.
It’s like trying to have a conversation with a three-year-old.
ML:
It’s an old game: heads I win, tails you lose.
Jun 24, 2007 - 5:35 pm Grim:If you want to talk to the guy, it was Chaplain Col. Michael Hoyt who did the interview with us. MNF-I’s Public Affairs people can doubtless put you in touch. You might ask more questions about the funding problems they had arranging the conference — apparently DOD rather than DOS paid for it. I’m not sure why, or whether that’s important, but it seems odd. Something as self-evidently important as this, you’d think getting the money wouldn’t be a problem.
ML:
For readers who don’t follow BlackFive, this is its master maven. You are so right, you would think it would be easy, but i suppose the State Dept wants a consulate before they talk to the sheikhs, right?
Jun 25, 2007 - 12:26 am Brad:Are we to believe that the “media” can be convinced of something that conflicts with their ideology; with their agenda? Or, am I just paranoid?
Jun 25, 2007 - 12:59 pm Grim:The post you were waiting for is up now.
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/06/rountable-on-ir.html
It’s posted largely without comment; there’s a link to the transcript and COL Hoyt’s bio, plus the fact sheet OASD sent out about it.
Jun 25, 2007 - 7:50 pm OC:Such a great piece. Isn’t there one “Main Stream” journalist out there that might take notice???? Don’t hold your breath.
Jun 25, 2007 - 8:47 pm Winston:I think Shiite clergy may have realized the damage done to their religion by the radical imams and ayatollahs of Iran and they may very well want to take their faith back. No?
ML:
probably many motives at work, but remember that this congress included sunnis, shi’ites, christians, others. it was an ecumenical meeting with american chaplains.
Jun 26, 2007 - 1:35 am kourosh:Unfortunately as peace loving people try to untie, hate-America loving radicals of Islamists and Left-Over Marxists try the exact opposite.
There are many undeniable links between all Islamists, Khomeinists, Jihadists, Talibans, and other similar organizations, and terrorist activities all around the world.
1- In fact if you read the books of Sayyed Qutb of Muslim Brotherhood’s of Egypt, who had a lot of following among the thinkers who supported Ruholla Khomeini in the 1960-1980 period, there is undeniably the same kind of influence seen in Khomeini’s Islamist thinking as in OBL, and Talibans. Khomeinie, OBL, Taliban, and all other Shar’a supporting Islamists ideas are all about anti-civilization, anti-Western, anti-democracy, with Jihadi ideas, women apartheid, and particularly anti-Americanism. Khomeinie received majority of his support in early days of his activities in 1960s from Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt through a carrier which was a PM from Ghom and was a “Melli Mazhabi’ (Nationalist Islamists) from Jebhe Melli’s Party.
2- Qutb’s books on Islamic economics, resembles completely the Marx’s Capital.
3- Alongside notable Islamists like Maulana Mawdudi, Hasan al-Banna, and Ruhollah Khomeini, Qutb is considered one of the most influential Muslim thinkers or activists of the modern era.
4- Qutb offered his own explanation in Ma’alim fi-l-Tariq, arguing that anything non-Islamic was evil and corrupt, while following Sharia as a complete system extending into all aspects of life, would bring every kind of benefit to humanity, from personal and social peace, to the “treasures” of the universe.
5- On the issue of Islamic governance, Qutb (like Khomeinie and Talibans) differed with many modernist and reformist Muslims who claimed democracy was Islamic because the Quranic institution of Shura supported elections and democracy. Qutb pointed out that the Shura chapter of the Qur’an was revealed during the Mekkan period, and therefore, it does not deal with the problem of government. It makes no reference to elections and calls only for the ruler to consult some of the ruled, as a particular case of the general rule of Shura and argued a `just dictatorship` would be more Islamic.
6- His influence on Al Qaeda was felt through his brother, Muhammad Qutb, who moved to Saudi Arabia following his release from prison in Egypt and became a professor of Islamic Studies and edited, published and promoted his brother Sayyid’s work. One of Muhammad Qutb’s students and later an ardent followers was Ayman Zawahiri, who went on to become a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terror group and later a mentor of Osama bin Laden and a leading member of al-Qaeda. Zawahiri paid homage to Qutb in his work Knights under the Prophet’s Banner.
7- Qutb was extremely critical of many things in the United States: its materialism, individual freedom, economic system, …., poor haircuts triviality, restrictions on divorce, enthusiasm for sports, “animal-like” mixing of the sexes (which went on even in churches), and lack of support for the Palestinian struggle. In an article published in Egypt after his travels, he noted with disapproval the sexuality of Americans:
the American girl is well acquainted with her body’s seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs — and she shows all this and does not hide it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyed_Qutb
Jun 26, 2007 - 2:22 pm Azad Andish - Tehran:Fars News Agency, the news agency owned and fully supported by the hardliners of Iran, said today that
-Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group-in US State Dept has been broken up ( dispersed ). Fars says this is a sign that there is a change in the US’s policy toward Iran and Syria.
Have you heard that news? Any comments on that please?
The link of the news is :
http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8603060170
ML:
Just shows how confused Fars is. They think a) that there actually was a policy, and b) that policy equals bureaucracy.
heh.
Jun 26, 2007 - 3:19 pm Winston:Michael
Tehran is burning
http://thespiritofman.blogspot.com/2007/06/petrol-crisis.html
ML:
And not just tehran. Go to the front of Pajamas and you’ll see a report.
Jun 26, 2007 - 8:20 pm Winston:Bandar Abbas, Kermanshah, Sanandaj and other cities are burning as well
Jun 27, 2007 - 3:20 am David P.:Petroleum riots over forced rationing in Iran could be the start of a revolution, but according to Bolton our former UN representative, a regime change is unlikely to derail our plans for striking Iranian nuclear facilities. It has been my assumption throughout that Iraq is merely a stepping stone intended to be a primary launching point for this mission. A stable Iraq is inconsequential, religious conferences, forming a democracy, whatever it takes, either it works or it doesn’t, so long as we can complete the real task with minor interference.
Jun 27, 2007 - 9:39 am Azad Andish:BBC:
“Car bomb found in central London. Police say they have disabled a car bomb containing gas cylinders, near Piccadilly Circus.”
The news reminds me of an interesting chat I had with a private -taxi driver giving me a ride a few weeks ago. He boasted that his brother-in-law ( his sister’s husband ) was an officer of Quds Brigade of Revolutionary Guards of the Islamic Revolution. In order that I understand who the brigade is he said they are the guys who kill American soldiers in Iraq and blow up car bombs there. He said My brother -in-law says it is Quds Brigade’s tactic to disclose some of their operations to the secret services of the foreign countries in order to show them how powerful the brigade is so that in bilateral talks Iran can get the points from them or discourage them to take serious actions against mullahs.
Jun 29, 2007 - 6:51 am Azad Andish_Tehran:He said this has happened recently in Buenos Aires and the brigade let the Argentine intelligence find a flat near US embassy full of explosives.
I strongly believe this car in London is a welcome note to the new PM of the UK to urge him act as Jack Straw to the mullahs so that they can happily live ever after.
An interesting point. The title for the same piece of the news in BBC Persian is :
A PROBABALE bomb attack was disabled.
BBC’s Persian Service is quite worried that Mullahs of Iran and the global Islamofascist terrorist networks are not insulted in any PROBABLE way.Mutilating a piece of news does not hurt, does it?
Jun 29, 2007 - 7:21 am kourosh:Here is another Fat-Wa issued by RooHolAh:
“After nights of rioting, Tehran looks like a war-torn city dotted with charred carcasses of cars and buses and the still smoldering remains of gas stations. Security checkpoints are everywhere while heavily armed soldiers guard public edifices and government buildings.
The riots were provoked by a government decision to increase the price of gasoline (petrol) for private automobiles from four US cents to six.
It is against that background that a little known ayatollah of Qom, the Iranian “holy city,” issues a fatwa, calling for the “Islamic execution” of the man who took the decision to raise gasoline prices. A few months later, the fatwa is executed and the man condemned by the ayatollah is murdered by a five-man “Islamic” hit squad.
Those who have seen television footage of rioting in Tehran and dozens of other Iranian cities this week would find the above sketch familiar. The sketch, however, portrays what happened in 1964, when Prime Minister Hassan-Ali Mansour raised the price of gasoline, and was sentenced to death by Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa.
Jun 30, 2007 - 8:27 am Kourosh:The uncanny similarity between the 1964 riots and those now shaking Iran is all the more significant because the very men who led those riots and later killed Mansour are now in power in Tehran in the framework of the Islamic republic. It is also telling that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who took the decision to end gas subsidies and impose rationing, has used precisely the same arguments that Prime Minister Mansour did in his time.”
It seems Khomeinists have successfully pulled Arabs into their drama. They have repeatedly used the argument that the reason West don’t want Iran to have nuclear is the fact they don’t want Muslim to have the same right as Israel. They took their arguments to Arab capitals, and now it seems they have accomplished their objectives. Here is:
” Tehran has welcomed Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal’s proposal to establish a nuclear consortium between Iran and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC), Al-Alam reported on Thursday.
The six members of the PGCC are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Oman.
In an interview with the Arabic language satellite network, Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said the Islamic Republic immediately welcomed the decision of Arab leaders who decided to develop nuclear technology as an alternative energy source to counterbalance declining fossil fuel reserves during their 2006 summit in Riyadh.”
Souce: Mehrnews
Jun 30, 2007 - 8:49 am Azad Andish - Tehran:This news is quoted in Iranian media with some sort of great enjoyment:
QUOTE
UNITED NATIONS, June 28 (KUNA) — British envoy Karen Pierce on Thursday said the Iranian nuclear file may not return to the Security Council any time soon because of the ongoing talks between EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana and Iranian nuclear chief negotiator Ali Larijani.
“It’s possible that it will take longer this time than we have taken in previous occasions,” Pierce, British Deputy Permanent Represntative, told KUNA. Other diplomats said the file may not return to the council before the end of August.
UNQUOTE
(http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1758515&Language=en)
They also say the UK is preparing a draft to call for a time out ( Iran suspends enrichment at the current stage and UNSC does not pass a new resolution ).
Is the West so idiot or prefers to remain and act like idiots?
The first resolution of the UNSC on the subject was issued in July 2006 and itself was a result of about 5 years of useless negotiations with mullahs. UNSC has passed a few watery resolutions thereafter and is now in a phase that it is even not in a position to issue a new good-for-nothing one.
5+1 can elongate negotiations until the first nuclear test is performed by mullahs and then they can get relaxed and proudly welcome them to the club of the owners of the atomic bomb.
Isn’t this the real intention behind all these hubbubs?
ML:
Undoubtedly.
Jun 30, 2007 - 11:09 am