Comments on: A Major CIA Blackeye if True

By: NoBamaNoWay

NoBamaNoWay — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:39:43 +0000

uh, TT, you never did explain how there are all these peace/america/isreal loving arabs in the world but none of them have access to the internet, or for some reason choose not to post anything there. seriously, what would explain that?

secondly, as i mentioned i have studied the history of the big 3 religions quite a bit; i’m sorry if you disagree with my opinions, but i am not ignorant.

and btw, when i said i was anti-arab, i’m afraid i should have said that i was as anti-arab as you are anti-semitic. i guess i need to speak the language of the leftist “the exception IS the rule” types in order for you to understand. i am opposed to actions and behaviors, just as you presumably are. is that clear?

By: JozefAL

JozefAL — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:02:06 +0000

Let’s see. Lebanon, if memory serves, offers equality to women. Syria does as well. Oh, and (until Bush’s little invasion), Iraq. Maybe you read some of the horrors that Iraqi women described about how THEIR rights have degraded since Saddam was toppled. Did they live in fear before then? Well, sure. Women in this country ALSO live in fear, especially with regards to rape and sexual assault. I’m not as certain about Libya since the government there so tightly controls the media, both incoming AND outgoing.
BUT, you might want to remember that women in the “western world” were utterly dominated by their men until the last 100-150 years. And, there are many places in the “western world” where women are still treated very poorly.
You also seemed to change horses in midstream with the switch from “Arab” country to “Muslim” country. Turkey (a non-Arab, but Muslim country) has elected women to the office of Prime Minister and women have held key posts in the Turkish Parliament AND Turkish cabinet. Bangladesh (another non-Arab, but Muslim country) has women in key leadership roles in many political parties, and a woman has made it to the office of Prime Minister there as well.
You might want to consider that it was illegal for women in SWITZERLAND to vote until the end of the 1960s (and, in some cantons, they didn’t gain the vote until the mid-1970s). SWITZERLAND, for crying out loud! The Japanese Diet has had to consider proposals to allow for the possibility of a woman ascending to the throne as the Current Crown Prince (presumed heir to the throne) has only a *gasp* daughter (as the Crown Prince will turn 49 at the end of February and the Crown Princess is 45, the chances of their having a son is highly unlikely). Of course, since the Crown Prince’s younger brother’s wife bore a son a couple of years ago, it seems likely that no woman will ascend to the Throne of Japan for another generation, at the very least, ereby allowing the men of WESTERN-oriented Japan to breathe a sigh of relief. Japan, incidentally, is another of those “Western” countries which SAY one thing about women’s rights and their being equal to men, but make it very hard for women to actually achieve full equality (tradition is used THERE, just as in “Arab” or “Muslim” countries, as an excuse).
Then, of course, consider some CHRISTIAN denominations which DENY women as being equals to men (again, based on “tradtion”), even in THIS country. The Roman Catholic Church forbids women from serving as priests and many Episcopalian Churches remain adamant in prohibiting female priests. The Southern Baptist Convention (the nation’s largest Protestant branch) took a formal stance within the past decade to reaffirm centuries-old gender-based discriminatory tradition in refusing to recognize female ministers and, more disturbingly, upholding policy by which women should “be submissive” to their husbands (and fathers) in ALL matters. Imagine the effect of a “traditionalist” Southern Baptist becoming
Presidnet of this country. Every year, there’s a call for electing “traditional Christians” to political office. Why should this be any less disturbing than watching “traditional” Muslims being part of governments in the Middle East?

By: JozefAL

JozefAL — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:24:59 +0000

What you posted about Arabs is equally true about Hispanics. There seems to be a mindset among certain people in this country that EVERYone of a certain “type” are “all the same”.
Try explaining the differences between Hispanics of Mexican origin from Hispanics of Cuban or Dominican or Puerto Rican origin to those of this mindset and you’ll see looks of boredom (if not sets of glazed-over eyes) because they don’t really care–”but they’re all Latinos/Hispanics”. Cuban “refugees” are quickly welcomed by this government as “political” refugees, yet Salvadorans and Guatemalans (back in the Reagan 80s) were rounded up and declared “economic” refugees who had to be deported. (Of course, the reality was that the Cubans–whose standard of living was little better than their Central American counterparts–were “fleeing” an authoritarian Communist regime. The Guatemalans and Salvadorans were fleeing authoritarian right-wing regimes. And, the Cubans suffered more because the US had no “trade” arrangements with Cuba. For Guatemalans and Salvadorans, their suffering was brought on for daring to speak out against their leaders who would engage in all sorts of bribery and corruption. The Religious Right were so fond of condemning Cuba for not allowing religious freedom, but when nuns were raped or priests were executed in “free” countries like El Salvador and Guatemala, there was little-to-no criticism of that country’s military and political leaders. No, the condemnation was mainly targeted at the people for getting “mixed up” with the “wrong types” of religious people.)

By: NomNomNom

NomNomNom — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 19:56:19 +0000

I would certainly help raise money for a plane ticket to send the POS back over there.

By: oowawa

oowawa — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:18:55 +0000

Barring a stunning coincidence, this Andrew Warren must be the author of “The People of the Veil”, a spy thriller set in, well, Algeria.

I would emphasize the phrase “barring a stunning coincidence,” because such odd coincidences do occur in life. Anyway, here’s a link:

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2009/01/just-great-a-rapist-at-the-cia.html?cid=x

By: UKforDems

UKforDems — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:09:37 +0000

Comment by oldlawyer | 2009-01-29 11:02:45

His name is Andrew M. Warren, and he writes “algerian CIA-action thrillers.” Sick guy who can only have sex with sleeping/comatose women, like ol’ Ted Bundy. He is also black.

Would you have said “he is also white”? What does the also suggest? Being sick?

Rapists are dirty scum. Full stop. Also remember this man has not been tried yet. This is alleged and therefore he is innocent until proven guilty.

By: oldlawyer

oldlawyer — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:02:45 +0000

His name is Andrew M. Warren, and he writes “algerian CIA-action thrillers.” Sick guy who can only have sex with sleeping/comatose women, like ol’ Ted Bundy. He is also black.

By: Ellen D

Ellen D — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:57:03 +0000

Maybe he converted because he thought that in Muslim countries men get congratulated and the women get executed for reporting it.

By: eurogirl70

eurogirl70 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:58:32 +0000

I like your name. Orhan Pamuk…..

By: truthtelling007

truthtelling007 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:08:51 +0000

Hard to answer your questions if I spend the whole time projecting my inner biases against you, right Red?

Welcome to the flock.

By: truthtelling007

truthtelling007 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:54:08 +0000

The internet is an amazing beast.

The author above has before confessed to basing his views on anecdotal references. He reads angry comments from “arabs” online and then concludes that this is truly the voice of the Arab voice. Apparently doesn’t understand what “spotlight fallacy” or “biased sample fallacy” is. The loud voices represent the totality. And he’s never visited a single Arab country, per his own words.

Certainly you must appreciate the unabashed expertise this represents. And with the power of Google and Wikipedia, authors like this can endlessly fill in the blanks without having peer review study to make sure they know what they are talking about.

Granted, there may be an amateur interest in the subject, but forget getting any translation of the quran that can distinguish between actual passages and any sense of hermeneutic understanding. That would be asking too much.

Nor is there any distinction between Arabs in Lebanon vs Arabs in Qatar, as if there is just this monolithic group, Arabs that are all the same. Or the inability to distinguish between Palestinians and Hamas. To the author above, they are the same, no matter what you say.

The author claims some expertise in translation, but this doesn’t make him a scholar in religious dogma, hermeneutics or history. Gone from passages about infidels will be any references to Mohammed’s conflicts with the Meccans. Gone from that supposed translation is any reference to the position Mohammed had against the worship of idols. Nor is there any honest comparison between those passages that seem extreme and the extreme passages in Deuteronomy of the same vein, in Numbers, in Mark, in the writings of the Pauline doctrine.

I’d consider the source if I were you.
And thank you for asking pertinent questions on the expertise of the unapologetic anti-Arab above. Mind you though, he isn’t alone in the sentiment, only in the ‘expertise’.

By: Ani

Ani — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:51:19 +0000

By the way — men kill women in this country for no reason at all — they don’t need to think “She cheated on him”.

By: truthtelling007

truthtelling007 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:04:02 +0000

“I can’t WAIT until the big one hits us”

And you call yourself patriotic?
You’d wish devastation on the US to prove a political point?

You’ve got a lot of nerve wishing for this so you can be righteous over your political opponents. And you say they hate America?

By: My Name is Red

My Name is Red — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:00:35 +0000

your translation of surah 24: 6-8 is not entirely correct

How is it you are a Koranic scholar who excels at Arabic translation, yet you know so little about the Muslim world?

Just asking, ’cause you’re still being pretty cocky about subjects you don’t really seem to know as well as you claim.

By: truthtelling007

truthtelling007 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:58:07 +0000

MNisRed,
Overall I agree with you because I believe it is up to a jury to determine each case, case by case. I didn’t generalize “believing in mandatory sentences” so that was my only objection to your interpretation.

there a few crimes, rape being one of them, that we haven’t sent a strong enough message that we are serious as a society about this violation. We put people away for far longer for far less offensive behavior and actions.

And as the post below yours led to, there are some “crimes” that shouldn’t be called ‘rape’. For instance, murder is one crime, manslaughter is another, and the gradation between premeditation and neglect gives room for a jury to weigh punishment.

If a person accidentally causes the death of another, I believe in penalty. But what if it is a father who accidently runs over their child. Isn’t the death enough of a penalty? It might be! But depending on how the previous patterns of care and attention mitigate the sentence, we cannot make a determination.

But nobody accidentally rapes someone. It is a deliberate violent act. And trust me I know a few people who admitted falsely accusing someone of rape, so I know there are gradations in the veracity of accusations. But we can deal with that in a separate way. I’m sick of the violence against women and children. I am willing to up the notch on penalties to stop at least a few of them. Some ‘date rape’ crimes would be different if the penalty was death, as an example. But if it is going to be a simple investigation, slap on the wrist, sex offender classes, and then back to the road, no thanks.

And to be clear, I respect your position tremendously. Don’t mistake me. Thanks for offering it.