11-13-01
When President Bush ended his address with those
now famous words from United flight 93, "let's roll," the Northern
Alliance must have taken him quite literally and have gained control over half
their country; even Kabul it would appear. This will make the delivery of
humanitarian aid to the Afghan people possible right here before they have to
face the extremely cold winter there. It may also allow a cessation of our
bombing, at least for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. These factors seem to
indicate progress in the war, though a new Afghan government to be placed in
Kabul is taking much careful diplomacy, which went on in the UN assembly right
though Monday's renewed calamity:
AA flight 587's crash with 260 aboard (255 plus
5 infants) out on the Atlantic edge of NYC. That's a noble kind of
"holding steady" at the UN in my opinion. Though terrorism hasn't
been determined to be the cause, authorities yet might find that it was secret
sabotage to that jumbo jet inspected on the Sunday before. Could someone have
loosened the engine causing it to fall off? Pure accident is hard to accept as
an explanation, just as I'm still not convinced that EgyptAir fight 990 which
dove into the ocean from 33,000 feet aloft some 50 miles out of JFK back in
'99, wasn't a suicide pilot's doing. But since the airline industry is a
mainstay of our economy, we should try to squelch all doubts. (So forget what I
said). Lets hope and pray that the National Transportation Safety Board's evidence
for "accidental" this time is indeed more convincing than for flight
990 headed for Cairo.
The fact that MUSLIM forces (Northern Alliance)
are the ones driving out the Taliban undermines ObL's contention that the war
is between America and the Islamic world. It would be best for them to capture
him too, though we'd want to him to get a fair trial and I doubt that they'd
take time for that. When the Taliban executed that Muslim general (Haq)
opposing them last month who had dared go into their territory, I heard on the
radio that he'd been tortured some 20 hours before being executed. No talk of a
trial unless by ordeal. It's hard to realize that there's such cruelty still
today. But terrorism is a war against civilization and those governments that use
or even tolerate it are still barbarian, even in this 21st century. Of course
Islam is seven centuries behind us, since it only began with Muhammad's fleeing
from Mecca to Medina. It's only the 14th century for Islam, though it reached a
golden age in our eleventh century, with great universities and learned
scholars.
In fact, we got our numbers (replacing Roman
numerals) from them. Their libraries of some Greek philosophers, who were
banned during our dark ages, fueled the Renaissance of Europe with such secular
knowledge. Now I feel that we can get along with secular Muslims. But when they
practice their total uncompromising religion, it so easily goes to extremes.
MS-NBC's "Mind of a Suicide" was about terrorism. I viewed it a
couple of times and saw that the Koran's new twist was given to Palestinian
radicals who had been deported by Israelis to Lebanon back in '82. Only the
Shiites from Syria would help them. They taught that martyrdom was even more
than victory in the cause of Allah. He would see to the outcome of events, but
to die for Him was the most glorious destiny of any Muslim. So when the
radicals slipped back from exile into the west bank population, their new kind
of suicide terrorism began confronting Israel. Then it was incorporated into
the curriculum of schools for boys financed by ObL in Sudan. When he moved to
Afghanistan, he set up hundreds more such schools, while graduates from those
left in Sudan and other places he'd financed them, came swarming to him for
membership in Al-Qaeda. A part of their preparation for martyrdom before
leaving home was to have a dramatic video made of their taking the vows, plus
heroic photos that were given to their parents or wives to keep as sacred.
When I compare this to the disgustingly wicked religious
swindles seen here in the U.S., ours seem like kindergarten stuff i.e. Rev.
Lyons, whom Bill Clinton had called "the black pope," ripping off a
whole black denomination of National Baptists last year. Lyons' deceptions now
seem like kindergarten stuff in comparison (except that the name of Christ was
used, which makes it even far worse). Or remember '88 and the evangelists named
Baker and Swaggert? Oh what treachery can be masked in religion? Our own high
school in WW had a Narconon team, sponsored by Scientology, come in last week.
I read a little about "Dianetics" (new thought), Scientology's bible
authored by the infamous late L.Ron Hubbard. When he founded the cult back in
the fifties, he coined "Scientology" as its name, though it sounds to
me like Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis repackaged. What a super-con Hubbard
was, even though movie stars like John Travolta are still advocates. Travolta
has even tried to get federal money for the cause. So Narconon seems suspicious
to me as it claims better results than any 12-step program and admits ties to
L.Ron Hubbard, of science-fiction fame. Come Lord Jesus!
Well it's into Ramadan now and for a month. I've sought to learn more of Islam because we can't get the Gospel to them unless we know what they have already. Yes, Jesus is one of their prophets. But they think that Muhammad is the final and greatest one. In fact, his name in Arabic means "delight," which refers to Allah of course. I'm going to watch a report from those two young American ladies who were help prisoners by the Taliban for three months. Their safe release seems miraçulous indeed. So here's a break to see what they have to say. Now it's a half hour later and I'm feeling such admiration for those two aid workers. They are back at Baylor University in Waco TX and will have a story of escape to tell for years. But their first desire is returning to Afghanistan where the freedoms for women will give them far more opportunity to serve the Lord. It does seem strange for a nation's law to make it illegal to speak of any other faith than Isam. Do they think it's too weak to stand the challenge of any other? And the publicity being given to Taliban rule will certainly be negative for Muslims everywhere. If that's what the Koran has to offer, then forget it.
Islam claims over a billion believers now but the speed of it's phenomonal growth may now be arrested. I certainly hope so. The report was on today's news of a statement by Billy Graham's son, Franklin, that "Isam is a cruel and wicked religion." It seemed to shock the media and certainly wasn't politically correct. But programs like "People in the News" that I just watched tend to give that message that Franklin spoke.