Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: OPS4; ZULU
Sudan Jihad forcing Islam On Christians, Using Rape and Killing

History repeats itself. We don't learn.....
Go out and rent this movie:

KHARTOUM, starring Charleton Heston, is a Grand, Historic, Sweeping Epic with a cast of thousands.
Does history repeat itself? I first saw this movie years ago. After the first terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in the mid-1990's, when Osama Bin Laden first declared a "jihad" against the United States, I was reminded of the movie. Osama Bin Laden is the spitting image of the "Mahdi", played by Lawrence Olivier. The parallels are uncanny. Believing that he was "the predicted one" spoken of by the prophet Muhammad to bring the sword against infidels and convert the world to Islam, the Mahdi sprung up from the deserts of the Sudan in 1883 to organize a Holy War against the British Empire and all Christendom. A century later, Bin Laden also sprung up from the Sudan (he was expelled from Sudan in 1996 and his assets there seized). In fact, recall when then U.S. President Bill Clinton bombed the aspirin factory there in an attempt to annihilate Bin Laden - in Khartoum! To understand what is taking place in the world today, this movie is a must see. I would highly recommend it for high school and college students, as well as adults desiring to make sense of what drives the radical Islamic jihadists. This movie reveals that their radical mindset is nothing new - it was alive and well in 1883 much the same as today. Besides being a true story, Khartoum is a gripping tale of good versus evil, full of action, battles, and edge of your seat suspense and intrigue. If you haven't seen Khartoum, do it now. It's a TOP 10 for sure.


13 posted on 03/04/2002 7:08:31 AM PST by ppaul
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: ppaul
Based on what I recall of reading about Mohammad Ahmed, the Mahdi, his situation was a little different from that of Osama.

At the time of the Mahdi, the Sudanese people, who were predominantly Muslim in the part of the Sudan where this historical drama occurred, were oppressed by a foreign Egyptian government, whichg was directed by a corrupt and brutal Ottoman Empire. The British supported the Ottoman Port and Egypt in oppressing the Sudanese as it aided their imperial goals. The Mahdi, the son of a Sudanese boat-builder, attempted to overthrow the corrupt Turkish domination of the Sudan and their English and Egyptian puppets, and he succeeded.

"Chinese" Charles Gordon, a man in many ways a Christian mirror of the Mahdi, became involved by convoluted means in the situation and, as one historian put it, attempted to defend the iundefensible at Khartoum.

The Mahdi actually admired Gordon, attempted to convert him, entered into a correspondence with him over religious matters, and ordered his troops to capture Gordon alive as he - the Mahdi- believed Gordon was a good man fighting in a bad cause and he wished to spare his life. The Mahdi was enraged when he learned that his troops had cut down Gordon, although, knowing the personality of Gordon, capturing him alive would have been an expensive proposition.

Much later, after the death of the Mahdi, even European troops were impressed by the unbelievable courage of his followers at Omdurman when they heroically and recklessly charged into modern European artillery and machine gun fire armed mainly with spears and swords, and died to the last man.

In the big picture, the Mahdi and Gordon were both good and brave men. Osama Bin Laddin, killer of women, children and old men, is a vile monster by any same man's standards in any age.

I have not seen the picture, but would like to. Heston is a great actor and another great man. But I doubt that Hollywood did credit to the complicated personality of Gordon or the Mahdi.

24 posted on 03/04/2002 7:57:27 AM PST by ZULU
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson