ABJECT FAILURE OF AFGHAN GOVT TO PROTECT AFGHAN FEMALES: THE BATTLE IN THE WOLESI JIRGA CIRCA 2013

The "conservatives" (read: Muslim misogynists) in the Afghan parliament succeeded in shelving much needed legislation that --at least on the books-- would serve as a first and essential step towards addressing the pervasive culturally/socially sanctioned violence against the female populace in the name of Islam.

The Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, also known as EVAW, which had the approval of President Karzai was withdrawn from debate/passage in Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga (House of the people).

Opponents to the bill --which would legislatively embed essential protections for Afghan females against being bought and sold, married off as children and ensure certain protections from rampant domestic violence (at least legally)-- trotted out "Islamic Shariah" to bolster their opposition to institutional protections for females.

What is sobering is the fact that certain female members of the parliament joined forces with the mullah/Islamist/"conservatives" to oppose measures that would protect their own sisters/daughters/mothers etc.

Sick and tired of the "un-Islamic" mantra being bandied about to silence opponents of Shariah. How can these "Shariah" proponents justify continued horrors as permissible according to Islamic jurisprudence like the recent news on the brutal/horrific marital rape and murder of an 8 year old by her 50 year old husband (who was also a village mullah) on her wedding night or the stoning to death for alleged infidelity in some village in Kunduz? What kind of "religion" ("of peace") is one talking about??? Are there sane people left in the Muslim dominated regions willing and able to speak out against such brutalities or is the rabies spreading fast?   

The horrific violence against children, females (being burnt alive, acid thrown, noses cut off) and tolerant (read: secularists/religious minorities) citizens in the name of Islam aka the religion of peace is rampant in the Muslim world.

Where is the outrage in these Muslim societies and the equally brutal countermeasures against beasts who understand /appreciate no other language/methods/measures?

To Karzai's credit, he managed to circumvent the "conservative" legislators by passing a presidential decree (the Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women) in 2009 which criminalized child marriage, forced prostitution, rape, forced self-immolation and any other violent behavior which specifically targeted females. But he has no traction (or does he??) with the "conservative" elements in Parliament to ensure this becomes law.


Brave activists like Fawzia Koofi, head of the women's affairs committee of the upper house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, and a strong supporter of EVAW met their match in the thuggish opposition disguised as "pious religious entities" who sought to ensure compliance with Shariah: namely the mullahs and warlords who managed to wrestle their way into the parliament a long time ago.

With the NATO withdrawal looming, proponents of such measures have good reason to worry. What is tragic is that after billions of dollars spent to win "hearts and minds" and help the Afghan populace counter the terrorists (read: Muslim extremists), what a NATO "victory" will look like in due course will be hard for most Westerners to fathom.

The window of opportunity closed a long time ago because of a myriad of factors and missed breaks at the very beginning.

Alas, the writing is on the wall. There is only one way to deal with this growing scourge and it is not a palatable one for most civilized people. Yet.

http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/13707/

http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/10536-law-on-elimination-of-violence-against-women-dropped-by-parliament

http://kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article88802

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON'S SAGE ADVICE/CASE FOR NON-INTERVENTION IN THE VIOLENT SYRIAN QUAGMIRE IN PJ MEDIA

Count Me Out on Syria

Posted By Victor Davis Hanson On May 13, 2013 @ 9:44 am  

Some excerpts from Hanson’s excellent analysis of the current violent Syrian quagmire. For the entire article, here’s the link

http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/count-me-out-on-syria/?print=1

There are good reasons to go into Syria, but far better ones to stay out.

Let us review a few of them. Syria is a humanitarian crisis with over one million refugees and 70,000 dead.

But there are similar outrages in Mali, Somalia, and the Sudan. Why no calls to go there as well? Would U.S. troops, planes, or massive shipments of weapons stop the killing, or simply ensure endless cycles of death following the Assad departure? 

Will Syria’s Christians and other minorities become worse off with or without Assad?

More importantly, we do not at this late stage know which terrorist is a pro-Western Google-type, and which is a hard-core jihadist. 

The history of the Middle East in particular (see Iran in 1980) and world history in general (cf. France, 1794 or Russia, 1917) suggests that the more extreme, better organized revolutionary zealots, even when in the minority, usually win out over the moderate and sensible reformers in the post-war sorting out and sizing up. 

There are not many Washingtons, Jeffersons, or Madisons in the annals of revolutionary history.

When Assad goes, the postbellum mess will either go straight to the sham election of a Mohammed Morsi type, who will try to suspend the very constitution that brought him to power, or we will witness round two of Libyan-type violence. 

Of course, there are also strategic reasons for toppling Assad. How wonderful to see Hezbollah lose their Iranian-arms conduit, or to remove Syria from the Iran-Hezbollah axis. But is that not happening now anyway?

Well apart from Benghazi, Susan Rice and Samantha Power’s Libya is a blueprint for nothing. 

This time around we will not get UN approval after assuring Russia and China last time that our “humanitarian aid” and “no-fly zones” did not entail ground support, which of course it immediately did. 

If in 2002 Iraq was to be a “cakewalk,” by 2004 it was “Bush’s war.” To name just a few across the political spectrum in random order, I’m sure that a Francis Fukuyama, Fareed Zakaria, Andrew Sullivan, George Will, the late William F. Buckley, Jr., Thomas Friedman, John Kerry, and thousands of others all had legitimate reasons in abandoning the cause of Iraq. 

Lord knows it was unwise to let thousands of scattered Ba’athist soldiers roam the streets of Iraq unemployed. How stupid was it to focus only on WMD when the Congress gave lots of reasons to remove Saddam? 

The list of screw-ups goes on and on. But the fact remains that victory in war goes not to those who make no mistakes, but to those who learn the most quickly from them in order to ensure the fewest in the future.

Please, Spare Us Now “You Owe Us Help”

If Arab reformers ever wanted a shot at democracy, Iraq was still their golden opportunity. Instead, almost all damned the effort and caricatured Americans. I once in 2006 sat in a clinic in Tripoli listening to Arab intellectuals (or rather Gaddafi minders) explain to me the Jewish roots of the Iraqi war, and how Americans were siphoning oil off in the desert and flying it in tankers home. 

Finally, I could not even follow all the conspiracy theories concocted to explain how wicked the Maliki government was.

Please, spare us now “you owe us your help.” 

We have been there, done that, and we have learned some great lessons about the 21st century, pre-modern Middle East, and any interventions into it: a) Arab reformers damn the U.S. for doing nothing, but they will damn it far more for doing something; b) interventionists believe that all success is their offspring, and failure is outsourced to someone else, usually the military or those who sent the military in; c) the Middle East lesson of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya is that only a huge U.S. ground presence, in the fashion of postwar Italy, Germany, or Japan, coupled with abject defeat of the enemy, can lead to any chance of consensual government.

Without bloody fighting and without massive U.S. aid either the enemy wins and takes over, or what replaces the enemy reverts to the mindset of the enemy.

There is irony in seeing the opportunistic war critic Barack Obama out-drone Bush or be attacked on his Left by liberals, who rail at his callousness in not intervening in Syria. 

But there is not enough irony for schadenfreude — given that American soldiers might be sent into a theater by those who would support them only to the degree that they were deemed successful and blame their setbacks on everyone but themselves.

A nearly bankrupt and divided America after Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya is not up for Syria — and an Arab Spring that on its own chose Winter does not deserve any more American blood.

Sorry, that’s just the way it is.

---

Article printed from Works and Days: http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson

URL to article: http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/count-me-out-on-syria/

RIP Lady Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) ....I Vow to Thee, My Country

Lyrics (Sir Cecil Spring-Rice 1859-1918)

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,

Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;

The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,

That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;

The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,

The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

I heard my country calling, away across the sea,

Across the waste of waters she calls and calls to me.

Her sword is girded at her side, her helmet on her head,

And round her feet are lying the dying and the dead.

I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her guns,

I haste to thee my mother, a son among thy sons.

And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,

Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;

We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;

Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;

And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,

And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.

KING ABDULLAH OF JORDAN WARNS THE WORLD ABOUT THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD THREAT

When King Abdullah of the Hashemites publicly warns the world about the threat from "Islamists," it would be prudent to pay heed and take action. Is the media going to call the direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad an "Islamophobe" now? Do they dare? Will CAIR care? What about the Obama Administration?

It takes such a leader to speak the truth. He has Morsi, Erdogan and their ilks' number. King Abdullah doesn't want his world moving towards darkness led by the intolerant orthodoxy that will bring global ruin. Judging from his speeches, he wants progress and enlightenment for all. To expand access to better opportunities for his people in a meritocracy.

Abdullah is correct: Erdogan is far more dangerous (and cunning) than Morsi. But Erdogan, despite his self importance, has no traction with the Arab street. Ethnic politics in the Middle East is alive and well....regardless of the non-stop "Umma" narrative emanating from the mosques of Europe and North America where the perception is "there is power in numbers"...for now.

Where one can disagree with King Abdullah's analysis is with his description of the Muslim Brotherhood as a "Masonic cult." Lexicon matters. Linking the Free Masons with the MB is not only insulting (to the Masons); it is inaccurate and it feeds the conspiracy theory mill.

The Free Masons (George Washington comes to mind) speak of man as "the offspring of a Universal father" and espouse a sort of "live and let live" construct. While the MB --who aligned themselves early on with the Nazis-- have been one version of contemporary "Islamofascism" which seeks to destroy all who don't subscribe to their draconian notions and ways.

SOME RECENT ARTICLES:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323829504578267951332697058.html

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/monarch-in-the-middle/309270/

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2012/12/jordanian-king-looks-left-to-counter-islamists.html

Muslim Brotherhood Condemns UN Efforts To Combat Violence Against Women

This comes as a bit of a surprise for two reasons:
1)The MB under President Morsi hasn't completed consolidation of their hold on power (although up to 70% of Egyptians want Shariah law as the antidote to autocratic rule);
2)They are spitting into the hand that literally feeds them (the US and the West).

This public stance suggests a degree of regime confidence that gives room for pause. Why are they so "confident" to publicly denounce a UN measure which has widespread global support? Even in Muslim majority states, the secularists support and continue the fight against the religious elements to bring about legislative measures which address the widespread mistreatment and abuse of their female populace. 

One needs to consider what kind of hold/influence does the MB have over our own government that gives this elected regime the kind of policy wiggle room which allows it to publicly condemn efforts led by the UN that the overwhelming majority of American tax payers support/relate to. Why are we supporting this misogynistic and violent regime?

Heil Ikhwan al Muslimin!

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Condemns UN Report on Women

By Nadine Marroushi on March 14, 2013

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-03-14/egypt-s-muslim-brotherhood-condemns-un-report-on-women

Excerpts from the article:

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest Islamist movement, criticized a United Nations report that aimed to end violence against women and girls, saying it violates principles of Islamic law.

The Brotherhood, the movement from which Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi hails, sent a 10-point critique of a document drafted at a meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. The text is due to be formally adopted when the session ends tomorrow.

“The Muslim Brotherhood calls on leaders of Islamic countries, their foreign ministers and representatives in the United Nations to reject and condemn this document,” the group said statement. It urged the UN “to rise up to the high morals and principles of family relations prescribed by Islam.”

The growing power of the Brotherhood since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 has raised concerns Egypt may adopt religiously motivated laws that would curtail freedoms, especially for women and Christians. Persistent protests against Mursi and the Brotherhood have frequently erupted into violence, eroding political stability and hopes of reviving an economy suffering from the flight of tourists and investors.

The primary theme of the commission’s 57th session was the “elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.”

The Brotherhood described the theme of the conference as “deceptive,” saying it violated Islamic principles. The UN document seeks to destroy the family institution, which Egypt’s constitution confirmed as the basis of society, the group said.

Among the 10 points the Brotherhood said it opposed were resolutions to ensure women’s rights to complain of marital rape; promote equal inheritance rights and equal rights between men and women within the family; and allow Muslim women to marry non-Muslims. It also criticized recommendations to abolish the need for male permission for travel, work or use contraception.

Pakistan Army Atrocities in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan)

Guilty Verdict of Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal on 1971 Atrocities

by Salim Mansur
CIP
February 11, 2013

http://www.islamicpluralism.org/2193/guilty-verdict-of-bangladesh-war-crimes-tribunal

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Some excerpts below:

The Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal has announced one of the first major judgments at trial of individuals alleged to have committed war crimes in 1971, when the Pakistan Army waged a near-genocidal war in the former East Pakistan. As the judges note in this document, some three million people were killed, some quarter million women were raped, and an estimated ten million people became refugees in neighbouring India.

It is also history-making for it brings Muslim perpetrators to answer for their crimes against humanity, for their murder, rape and pillage of innocent people, a majority of whom were Muslims, and then for the indiscriminate hate-filled violence against Hindus and other non-Muslims that I personally witnessed as our own family gardener, a Hindu, was executed in our home for simply being a Hindu, by soldiers of the Pakistan Army who raided our property.

It is important to note that the OIC – the Organization of Islamic Cooperation – has not stepped forth to support the landmark effort of the Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal in bringing individuals to indictment for war crimes committed in 1971.

On the contrary, the President of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, is on record a having written to the President of Bangladesh an improper letter in flagrant violation of diplomatic protocol or respect for the independence of the Tribunal in a sovereign country, asking for suspension of the Tribunal with forgiveness for those accused of war crimes.

Anyone in the West seriously concerned for human rights, due process, rule of law, individual rights and freedoms, misogyny and violence against women, and democracy, should support the efforts of Bangladesh as a poor Muslim-majority country setting a precedent among OIC states of bringing war criminals, almost without exception Muslims, and many if not most of the indicted still alive and living in Pakistan or in many instances in the West, to justice.

Adam Lanza's massacre was an evil cry for attention

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/adam-lanza-is-recalled-as-a-rambunctious-kid-with-family-problems/2012/12/14/795ad0fe-4641-11e2-8e70-e1993528222d_print.html

The evil committed by this young man, whose life story we may learn more about in due course is now being blamed on his apparent condition: Asperger's aka Autism.

As someone quite familiar with this cruel and mysterious ailment, it seems a bit preemptive to blame a broad spectrum neurological condition for heinous actions that only he must answer for to his maker.

Having delved deep (research) into this condition to save two of my three sons, I realize there is a lot more to this tragic story. The familial dynamics. The parents' divorce. The fact that a mother would keep accessible weapons at home  when she lived there alone with this individual, who clearly had other emotional issues, speaks volumes on so many levels. So one can make the case that there is much more to this evil action than a "diagnosis."

What can also be said is that far too many children with identifiable symptoms of Autism and its variants never get the essential educational services such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Speech therapy, Occupational therapy, Special Ed Pre-School (starting at age 2), Special Ed summer day camps and Special Ed Accomodations once they begin school.

My sons were diagnosed six months apart with Autism in 2003.  Vernie (May) was diagnosed with "severe autism." Josef was diagnosed in November with Austim-Not Otherwise Specified. The superb pediatric neurologist at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center was aggressive when it came to making his diagnoses. He preferred to err on the side of making a "worst case" diagnosis rather than a "wishful thinking" assessment which in the long run harmed the child. By his proactive approach, he helped save our sons from lives of dependency on family and society.

My husband (and their father) was in the USMC which meant we had access to military health care. The military medical system (TRICARE) notwithstanding all the frivolous complaints from recipients of fine medical care, came through by and large (although I had to be very proactive with them). In short, our sons got all the services they needed and it really took a platoon of healthcare professionals and fabulous teachers and a responsive school system to reverse the neurological damage.

Each boy had three years of daily ABA when trained therapists would come to our home to individually work with them in one or two 2 hour therapy sessions. A Pavlovian and painstaking process to get their neurons reconfigured, if you will.

Josef, who squealed sometimes and had few words despite speech therapy since 17 months of age, began to speak within two weeks of commencing ABA. By first grade he didn't qualify for an IEP. The neurologist was delighted that Josef had "recovered" (they never use the word "cure") and it was an amazing transformation through daily hard work and without the use of any medications for either boys (the neurologist wanted to also medicate but mom vetoed the "easy approach" versus the difficult but ultimately more successful route of  behavioral reconfiguration).  Today, Josef is in a gifted program. He has a witty humor, is calm, social (but somewhat shy) and everyone likes him, especially his teachers. He has, in short, turned into a fine young man.

Vernie --the child we wondered would ever speak one day-- now won't shut up and has highly developed speech. It literally took a platoon of devoted professionals. He still struggles socially and is quirky given his obsession with animals and dinosaurs. But he is the most loving and happy child who was nicknamed "sunshine." And, most importantly, he is no longer in "his world."

For a private person, this is painful to share. But the fact that "Autism" has been thrown into the equation for what can only be described as a beastly and evil crime, makes moms such as myself very defensive/protective and at the same time desperate to let the world know that an Autism diagnosis isn't a life sentence IF you have parents who never lose faith and work to save their child; there are no serious underlying medical conditions; aggressive and early medical programs (ABA, speech etc) are commenced.

As a society we owe it to such children. Far too often it is a "penny wise, pound foolish" equation to the detriment of society when early services aren't offered across the board in all 50 states via the school system. A significant number of such children diagnosed in infancy or toddler years, if provided with the type of services my children were able to access, would "recover" and not be a long term burden to society. As functioning adults with perhaps a few quirks (but often brilliant minds), they too can contribute to society.

I sincerely hope that in the very human need to "explain" evil behavior, the current fixation of the killer's "Autism" at least propels folk to demand greater scrutiny of this mysterious ailment  (as in research): to get to the source of this growing epidemic (1 in 88 children today).

What worries is that, in light of this man's identified medical diagnosis, other children (many now adults) may unfairly be stigmatized and/or isolated. This would be yet another victory for this now deceased man and at the expense of innocent citizens whose only "crime" is sharing a medical diagnosis.

Further, those who have "recovered" now must not be shamed or made anxious and thus pay an invisible and/or visible price for evil deeds of one individual. My hunch is there is a lot more to this man's story and it begins with his familial environment.

People have asked me to write about my sons "remarkable recovery." Others have opined that perhaps one or both really weren't "Autistic." The latter thesis offends. The amount of time, work and effort expended over the course of years, which disrupted our lives as a family  (from 2002 to 2005, however, it was often a single parent endeavor as dad was deployed) cannot be allowed to be frivolously dismissed by such statements. These boys did the hard work with the right tools. Period.

Once my current writing project is completed, I will sit down and revisit what was "a period which will live in infamy" in order to contribute to the important narrative that "Autism isn't insurmountable" and "there is HOPE." Perhaps by recording their "victories" other parents in similar situations will be proactive and not lose hope in order to ensure their children have the best chance at leading a normal life in adulthood.