Stop the Assault on the Taliban for Ramadan?

Opinionet ^ | October 22, 2001 | Steve Plaut

[anapikoros]

I must say that I find one of the most hypocritical and obnoxious things in the world these days to be the sudden world fetish with the issue of whether the US should stop bombing the Taliban for Ramadan. Bush is so obsessed with sucking up to Moslem countries, many of whose politicians no doubt cheered discretely when bin Laden blew up the World Trade Center, that he is putting out feelers about perhaps stopping the attacks on the Taliban come Ramadan, in a few weeks.

There are some problems with all this. First, the Moslem world has never had any problems with attacking other people on THEIR holidays. One need not even recall the Yom Kippur attack on Israel. There were the Rosh Hashana pogroms last year, cheered on by most of the Moslem world, plus the annual Palestinian atrocities against Jews on Purim, also cheered on. Then there are the Islamist attacks on Christians on Christmas, like the pogrom against Christians in Indonesia in 2000, or against Christians in South Africa in 1996. And the Lebanese Southern Christians were never offered holiday reprise by the Hizbollah.

Second, the Moslems themselves have never regarded Ramadan as a time to end hostilities. Sadat picked Ramadan in 1973 specifically as the right time to attack Israel. Iraq and Iran never stopped bombing the bejeebers out of one another for Ramadan during their war. The PLO has never called off its atrocities during Ramadan.

Third, there is ample precedent for keeping up the pressure even during Ramadan. Even Bill Clinton bombed Iraq during Ramadan in 1998. The Russians of course never stopped attacking the Chechnyans during Ramadan. I do not recall any Albanians last year during Ramadan calling for ceasefires with Macedonians, or before that with Serbs.

So stop with the weepy-pooh tear jerks. Bombs away. Allah is with the Yanks

[TheyConvictedOglethorpe]

"Bombs away. Allah is with the Yanks."

When you're hiding your a** in Afghanistan's caves
And you see the Marines with their extra clean shaves
Just do yourself in with the rest of your knaves
And slink into Hell like a b***h.

[AeWingnut]

Imagine a president that won't bomb on Ramadan but will abduct children on Easter weekend from Catholic families.

Calling people racist because they aren't stupid is typical liberal new speak

Die a horrible death but feel good because you are the victim

I don't think so

[headsonpikes]

Oh please, sir, very much so, sir. Please to be merciful to Allah's Faithful!

Hello. Hello! HELLO??

[San Jacinto]

If we bomb during Ramadam, do you think they will get snippy about it?

[veryconernedamerican]

give me a break, of course we should continue the attacks, they didn't shed any tears when six thousand of our people died, this is war, and this talk of pausing for the enemy to have religious time is a crock.

[clintonh8r]

If it was such an important holiday the convenience stores would be closed.

[Asuryan]

I have been considering what we should do if our leaders go wobbly and stop bombing during Ramadan? It looks like they already had a shot at Mullah Omar and blew it. If the Taliban starts to think that we will stop bombing on Ramadan then their strategy will be to hold on to power until Ramadan and then consoldiate during the cease-fire. We must unequivocally state that there will be no cease-fire for Ramadan unless our demands for OBL and Al-Quaeda are met. Stop kissing our enemies butts.

[is_is]

Ramadan....does that mean we can catch more of them in one place at one time.....

[MilburnDrysdale]

Probably the best reason for not stopping is this:

If we stop we are admitting that this is a war on Islam. All along we have been claiming this is a war on terrorists. If we acknowledge Ramadan or Christmas or Kwaanzaa for that matter, it will give fuel to the Moslems who are protesting the action as anti-Islamic. Just like the "rats" who take any Republican initiative and demonize it, the Taliban will seek to use this against us in the court of public opinion.

[Ahban]

We should immediately announce that we will cease all hostilities during Ramadan.

Then, about half way into it, once they come out into the open a bit, we should drop loads of cluster bombs into every taliban assembly. Loads of SF go into places where there are enough non-Taliban to be more discriminating in who we kill.

[veryconernedamerican]

hold the nukes until ramadan

[rockfish59]

shall we ask 'queequeg'? (moby dick, chapter 17)

BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, and BOMB SOME MORE!

[Republic of Texas]

You know, I don't have to "imagine" that. Last September, some super-terrorists bombed my country while I was trying to eat breakfast. I'm pretty pissed, and thus, "KILL 'EM ALL"

[neutrino]

Precedent was set in the war with Serbia. They were bombed vigorously on Orthodox Easter. One of the principle Christian holidays was deemed to be of no importance.

Therefore, there is no reason to not bomb moslems on their holidays.

But, in the spirit of being PC, we could always drop party hats and noisemakers with the meals we're giving them. Maybe we could even include a message that says "Have a blast!"

[GOPJ]

I'm sure they'll be able to eat and drink during daylight hours while at war. Anyway, folks who kill innocent unarmed people either don't understand their religion, or don't care about it. Fight on...

[dep]

doesn't matter to me -- i'm a hiltonian myself.

dep

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

We haven't declared war on any religion that I know of.
The U.S Military isn't in the habit of bombing mosques.
Stop for what? For who? Huh?
Keep up the air strikes and let the ground troops piss on 'em to boot.

[tbird1]

Give us Bin Laden, Al Queda, and the rest of the terrorists and we will quit bombing BEFORE Ramaden

[Fiddlstix]

Remember TET 1968 when WE were supposed to stop shooting for the Vietnamese new year. BOMBS AWAY.....

Very GOOD POint!

[MrBambaLaMamba]

Scenario: Tomorrow you wake up and every single musselman has vanished from the face of the earth.

Question: Would this be a bad thing?