Posted on 04/04/2003 1:30:46 PM PST by george wythe
American soldiers retreated warily from the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf yesterday after a furious crowd gathered around them to stop foreign soldiers from approaching one of the holiest shrines of Shia Islam.
"Everybody smile!" shouted the platoon commander as he told his baffled men to kneel down and point their weapons at the ground, in a surreal act of submission.
The mightiest army in the world is learning the hard way the awkward art of trying to "win the hearts and minds" of suspicious civilians.
In other cities civilians have largely been bystanders in the military drama, neither rising up to cheer nor uniting to resist.
But in Najaf, hundreds poured into the streets to block the way of American soldiers as they came within sight of the golden dome of the mosque. They waved the soldiers away as some explained in broken English: "In the city, OK. In the mosque, No!"
The mosque is the reputed burial place of Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam and the first Imam of Shia Islam.
It was damaged by Iraqi forces during the Shi'ite uprising against Saddam Hussein at the end of the 1991 Gulf war. But despite any hatred Najaf's people may harbour for Saddam, they seem resolutely opposed to having "infidel" soldiers violating the holy ground.
Nevertheless, the city's religious authorities seem to be reaching an accommodation with the occupying forces.
According to a US commander in the Gulf, Brig-Gen Vincent Brooks, a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric in Najaf has issued a religious edict urging Iraqis to remain calm and not to hinder American forces.
Across Najaf, American forces searched buildings for Fedayeen paramilitary fighters loyal to Saddam.
US officers said most of the Fedayeen forces had simply dropped their equipment and fled, but some were still putting up a fight.
(Excerpt) Read more at portal.telegraph.co.uk ...
I didn't like the suggestion our soldiers were bowing in 'submission' - our President does enough of that for us. It wasn't the soldiers I objected to - but the command.
I have no desire or need to know Islam. What I know about it is our President's obvious 'love' for it. I know their faith triumphs the law - burka on for DL photo, for instance. I know that Christian kids were hauled off to jail a few years ago for praying outside the school before school and we now have rooms for the Muslims to pray their several times a day prayers. I know our President won't allow the deportation of Muslims. I know our President hired an ad exec to teach him how to make them 'love' us. I know Powell said they were going to bring more in to this country to educate them so they will 'love' us. That list could go on --
I know how our government is reacting to it and that is all I need to know.
But it is the really new conservative (actually copied from the lefties)way to call someone ignorant if they have an opinion different from yours. Now you could use that very useful word "RACIST" - except I think Islamics come in all colors. Maybe there is a new word just waiting to be coined - besides Islamophobe - like religiphobic - some 'intellectual' will come up with it.
I really wish someone would come up with something a little more creative this ignorant, boorish, Xenophobe, racist is beginning to sound like parrots. I appreciate originality even in those whose opinions are different from mine.
You know I did realize you were calling me ignorant. But I would like to say you are totally wrong.
All Americans need to read a little less propaganda and do a little more thinking for themselves.
It's becoming a lost art.
?!
Knowing and appreciating the world outside your own very narrow and iconoclastic box is good.
What is your religion? Are you ready to sumbit to Islam?
Great sentence, precisely correct.
If the report I saw was accurate, they weren't told to kneel they were told to "take a knee" - a position, in the Marines, of ready-to-spring-into action rest. They could bring their weapons to bear in a flash. The reporter witnessing the situation sounded (maybe in spite of himself) impressed.
The commander will probably be commended for defusing what could have been an ugly situation.
I find fundamentalist Christians as extreme as fundamentalist Moslems. Both are problamatic.
The strange thing is that stripping away the dogma, many views are held in common.
Yes, if you strip away enough almost everything will be the same. For example conservative Republicans, liberal Democrats, Nazis, Commies all agree that the Earth is round.
Yes, fundamentalist Christians all over the world are strapping on explosives and boarding busses and entering crowded public places and blowing themselves up killing as many as possible. Fundamentalist Christians all over the world are boarding planes and flying them into skyscrapers. Fundamentalist Christians all over the worls are forcing people to convert by the barrel of a gun. Fundamentalist Christians all over the world have declared holy jihad agains all "non-fundamentalist Christians", calling for their conversion to Christianity by the sword or be killed.
That is just to list a few. I can see how problamatic we are in this world.
"The strange thing is that stripping away the dogma, many views are held in common."
Is this the "all paths lead equally to God?" All religions are equally valid and are just different ways to worship the same God?
If this is your view then you need to "read more and think less" about Christianity and Islam and the differences between both.
Take that dogma and place it in a safe warm place.
You seem to have some ideological or religious axe to grind. But the troops have a mission. That mission is to take down the regime, with as little destruction as is militarily practical, and to develop positive relations with civilians.
This took incredibly sharp, on the spot thinking. He made an accurate assessment of the mood of the crowd, the mood of his troops, and the tactical situation. The result is what matters, and the result was perfect. What he did advanced the mission.
Very succinct and elegant summary.
Now as for the other meaning - I don't think I said anything about destroying anything -
So which is it - I challenge the status quo or I destroy religious objects? I know you are accusing me of something - just not sure which.
Most of us want to be educated - however, education is not the end - it is only a tool. If you can only regurgitate what you have learned, it does you no good. To be able to learn, discern and put it to use with your natural intelligence is the purpose of education. Not to be able to use big words or quote the ideas of others - in my 'inconoclastic' opinion.
I do have "religious axe to grind". I believe that denial of God, of Christ is a great sin. What if your officer tells you to proclaim Mohammad as true prophet of God and Koran as the true book. I guess you will do it because you do not have any "religious axe to grind". How convenient.
Has anyone characterized it as that? I may not have seen all the posts - but the word that set me off was 'submission' and perhaps that was not the best word for the journalist to use - or perhaps it was.
Right now my tolerance for all things politicially correct is at an all time low - actually non-existant. I have seen enough 'submission' to the Muslims by our President - just couldn't take any more.
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