The recent Orlando massacre is one of the most tragic and inhuman acts committed by an insane individual, Omar Mateen, an American by birth and Muslim by faith.
This act demands an unqualified condemnation. The Orlando killings have intensified the continuing debate about Islam and terrorism. The American media outlets, politicians and US President Barack Obama have condemned this human carnage, but Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is using this human tragedy to advance his political image in the upcoming elections. By repeatedly criticizing Muslims and Islam in America, he reflects similar religious bigotry, which became the political manifesto of Bush and Blair in the earlier decades.
One critical question one may ask if Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which claim a common heritage and covenant of Abraham, and then why are the three Abrahamic religions pitted against one another in the present century.
Should we forget that “war in Iraq” was rooted in “conflict of cultures” or invasion of vast oil under Muslim rule? Can we also forget that the invasion of Libya was to get rid of a violent dictator Qaddafi and claim the benefits of oil? Turning the pages of history, we will be reminded that the Crusaders went to the Holy Land with a cross on their banner to capture Jerusalem, but ended up filling their pockets, plundering cities, seizing lands and profitable trade routes. This is what we witnessed about our modern crusaders who claim their “war in Iraq” was to bring freedom, democracy and peace in the region.
Let us not forget that on the eve of the war in Iraq, George W. Bush spelled “crusade.” He was obviously quite pleased with himself for having thought of such a catchy phrase. His advisers quickly silenced him and pointed out to him that the word “crusade” can have a very negative impact in the Muslim world. After that, the word was quietly dropped from his vocabulary. The reason why the word crusade has such negative associations in the East is not generally appreciated in the West, because very few people have taken the trouble to study the crusades. For most people — including the present occupant of the White House — they were something one vaguely remembers from the movies, where they are presented in a glamorous and romantic light, as the highest expression of Christian chivalry.
Religious fanatics are always potentially dangerous people, especially when they have weapons in their hands. And Bush Jr. had more weapons than most. He has killed a lot of people in Iraq — men, women and children — in an unjust and unnecessary war. In these activities he had been enthusiastically supported by another religious fanatic, Tony Blair, who has recently announced that he is prepared to “meet his Maker” with a clear conscience after the war in Iraq In the same way the medieval crusaders who waded up to their ankles in blood did so with a clear conscience, absolutely convinced that they were doing the Lord’s work. Morally, there is not a lot to choose between the two, except that the crusaders of old used to do their own dirty work, while Bush and Blair merely order others to do it for them.
According to Donald Trump, the attack was carried under the banner of “Radical Islam.” A number of witnesses have told US media outlets that the perpetrator of the Orlando nightclub massacre was a regular visitor at the venue. Gawker, the Palm Beach Post, and the Orlando Sentinel have also posted articles citing classmates and club patrons suggesting Mateen was gay. The FBI investigated Omar Mateen for 10 months beginning in May 2013 after he was said to have made inflammatory remarks in support of terrorists.
US President Barack Obama has called the debate surrounding “radical Islam” a political distraction, stressing that calls for tougher talk on terrorism and a strict ban on Muslim immigration would make Muslim Americans feel betrayed by their government.
Obama told reporters after meeting with the US national security council that “The killer was an angry, disturbed, unstable, young man who became radicalized,” he said, adding that Islam had nothing to do with the attack. Obama’s remarks were his first reaction to Trump’s speech on Monday after Sunday’s mass shooting, and perhaps his strongest yet on the threat he sees the Republican candidate poses to the US politics and security.
Can Trump count the innocent lives lost in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria? Last month, the Washington-based Physicians for Social Responsibility (PRS) released a landmark study concluding that the death toll from 10 years of the “War on Terror” since the 9/11 attacks is at least 1.3 million, and could be as high as 2 million. The 97-page report by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning doctors’ group is the first to tally up the total number of civilian casualties from US-led counter-terrorism interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan Unfortunately these lives were lost by the use of sophisticated military arsenal used by the Christian ideology of Bush and Blair.
If sanity is to become the new dictum of concerned citizens of the world, then Trump should support the efforts of the House and Senate against gun lobby in the country and join hands with concerned Americans to launch a campaign against gun control if he has any respect for human life. Crossing the political divide, he should support Obama to get this ordinance passed by the Congress and Senate to ban guns used for human destruction.
This act demands an unqualified condemnation. The Orlando killings have intensified the continuing debate about Islam and terrorism. The American media outlets, politicians and US President Barack Obama have condemned this human carnage, but Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is using this human tragedy to advance his political image in the upcoming elections. By repeatedly criticizing Muslims and Islam in America, he reflects similar religious bigotry, which became the political manifesto of Bush and Blair in the earlier decades.
One critical question one may ask if Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which claim a common heritage and covenant of Abraham, and then why are the three Abrahamic religions pitted against one another in the present century.
Should we forget that “war in Iraq” was rooted in “conflict of cultures” or invasion of vast oil under Muslim rule? Can we also forget that the invasion of Libya was to get rid of a violent dictator Qaddafi and claim the benefits of oil? Turning the pages of history, we will be reminded that the Crusaders went to the Holy Land with a cross on their banner to capture Jerusalem, but ended up filling their pockets, plundering cities, seizing lands and profitable trade routes. This is what we witnessed about our modern crusaders who claim their “war in Iraq” was to bring freedom, democracy and peace in the region.
Let us not forget that on the eve of the war in Iraq, George W. Bush spelled “crusade.” He was obviously quite pleased with himself for having thought of such a catchy phrase. His advisers quickly silenced him and pointed out to him that the word “crusade” can have a very negative impact in the Muslim world. After that, the word was quietly dropped from his vocabulary. The reason why the word crusade has such negative associations in the East is not generally appreciated in the West, because very few people have taken the trouble to study the crusades. For most people — including the present occupant of the White House — they were something one vaguely remembers from the movies, where they are presented in a glamorous and romantic light, as the highest expression of Christian chivalry.
Religious fanatics are always potentially dangerous people, especially when they have weapons in their hands. And Bush Jr. had more weapons than most. He has killed a lot of people in Iraq — men, women and children — in an unjust and unnecessary war. In these activities he had been enthusiastically supported by another religious fanatic, Tony Blair, who has recently announced that he is prepared to “meet his Maker” with a clear conscience after the war in Iraq In the same way the medieval crusaders who waded up to their ankles in blood did so with a clear conscience, absolutely convinced that they were doing the Lord’s work. Morally, there is not a lot to choose between the two, except that the crusaders of old used to do their own dirty work, while Bush and Blair merely order others to do it for them.
According to Donald Trump, the attack was carried under the banner of “Radical Islam.” A number of witnesses have told US media outlets that the perpetrator of the Orlando nightclub massacre was a regular visitor at the venue. Gawker, the Palm Beach Post, and the Orlando Sentinel have also posted articles citing classmates and club patrons suggesting Mateen was gay. The FBI investigated Omar Mateen for 10 months beginning in May 2013 after he was said to have made inflammatory remarks in support of terrorists.
US President Barack Obama has called the debate surrounding “radical Islam” a political distraction, stressing that calls for tougher talk on terrorism and a strict ban on Muslim immigration would make Muslim Americans feel betrayed by their government.
Obama told reporters after meeting with the US national security council that “The killer was an angry, disturbed, unstable, young man who became radicalized,” he said, adding that Islam had nothing to do with the attack. Obama’s remarks were his first reaction to Trump’s speech on Monday after Sunday’s mass shooting, and perhaps his strongest yet on the threat he sees the Republican candidate poses to the US politics and security.
Can Trump count the innocent lives lost in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria? Last month, the Washington-based Physicians for Social Responsibility (PRS) released a landmark study concluding that the death toll from 10 years of the “War on Terror” since the 9/11 attacks is at least 1.3 million, and could be as high as 2 million. The 97-page report by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning doctors’ group is the first to tally up the total number of civilian casualties from US-led counter-terrorism interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan Unfortunately these lives were lost by the use of sophisticated military arsenal used by the Christian ideology of Bush and Blair.
If sanity is to become the new dictum of concerned citizens of the world, then Trump should support the efforts of the House and Senate against gun lobby in the country and join hands with concerned Americans to launch a campaign against gun control if he has any respect for human life. Crossing the political divide, he should support Obama to get this ordinance passed by the Congress and Senate to ban guns used for human destruction.
