notes on racism, colonialism, nationalism, war

7/27/2019 Notes on Racism, Colonialism, Nationalism, War

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2002 NOTES ON RACISM, COLONIALISM, NATIONALISM, ISLAM &

WAR

Edited by Noble M. Notas

My question is about nations that have asked for and received independence, but not becoming viable, still blame the old masters rather than look at themselves. When does itstop being our fault? I ask this because I just finished a conversation with an Indian friendof mine, of the Eastern persuasion, who, despite being educated in England a la Gandhi,and using that education to make a living here in the U.S. in excess of six figures; still,

somehow seem to think it is the colonial powers fault for the Pakistan/India dispute.Others blame us for the Iraq/Kurdish/Iran war, and others besides. Without delving toodeeply into bad history, and being totally willing to accept that bad mistakes were made,I'm asking, at what point does a country take responsibility for itself? Does it take fifteen,or twenty-five, or fifty years?

Peter J. Benson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialism



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The basic crime of the Colonial Powers was invasion of the native cultures. Nativecultures were structured on the family, village, tribe, and territorial area of residence.Colonial Powers brought the concept of the nation/state; of circumscribed territorial boundaries. Native cultures were not attuned to the concept of nation/state; native

cultures are trying to transcribe tribal values to national boundaries. This forced tribalwarfare to national scale. Afghanistan has natural Geopolitical restrictions to tribalaggrandizement, but Western Powers insist it must be a national unit, with a nationalgovernment. India and Pakistan have natural boundaries of Muslim and Hindu tribalism; but unnatural national governments insist such tribalism must ascribe to national boundaries. The Terrorists in all areas have been infected by the Western disease of national boundaries.

Lawrance G. Lux

Perhaps it is related to an inferiority complex left after conquest. There have been severalstudies on this, about the psychological repercussions of people or nations that were atone point subjugated, controlled, and then freed. It is like letting a caged beast out intothe open territory. The chances of its survival are few. The beast's spirit is broken incaptivity. Do the genes of a nation or people that are freed carry this 'broken spirit' intheir psyche?

Minerva Bloom

Drawing 'artificial' boundaries around ethnocentric people who might not want to fit into

designated 'nations' is certainly divisive. Europeans experienced the same divisivenessamong themselves. Indians habitually blame the British for almost everything; but theyknow very well 'colonialism' is moot. They have their own nation now. As for the British,they filled a vacuum at the time, and their empire in India lasted 150 years. It was quite alarge empire too, not as large as Asoka's, who was a native.

Just a quick note here appertaining to the complex causes of the 'Arab' predicament andthe charge Arabs do too much blaming instead of getting on with the business of Westernmodernization and acculturation - both imposed from outside.

It is hard to squeeze a modern liberal or 'democratic' nation out of the Arabs. Nationalityis antipathetic not only to tribalism but to fundamental Islam. However, it was alsoantipathetic to international Communism but the communists eventually conceded tonationalism as an interim stage. If the Communists and the Islamists had united… butnever mind.

Ironically, during the Middle Ages Muslim intellectuals, despite the fanaticfundamentalists, inspired the European renaissance with the Greek culture they had



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secretly saved and developed. But the very scientific-industrial revolution that the Arab-Greco culture had provided impetus to eventually resulted in 'Arab' lands being colonized by the West. Arab ("noble") culture devolved into proud ignorance; ignorant pride wasalso fostered by Muslim despots; the Turks, who, for instance, worked Palestine as ahuge tax farm, making sure no unity of consciousness or "nation" arose from the ethnic

groups and tribes.

The tribes of the modern period were just as disparate as those feuding tribes of theancient days when the Hittite empire collapsed, Egyptian influence was withdrawn, andthe Aegean peoples, particularly the Philistines, tried to take advantage but werereputedly stopped by Saul and David. Thus began the historical consciousness of theHabirus (Hebrews), a status group known to the Egyptians as rebels, mercenary nomads,and canal and tomb builders. Thus began the Cult of Personality, with King David beingthe model for the Messiah or anointed one.

That has all come full circle, back to Palestine, with Babylon, Egypt and others standing by or interfering. In Palestine we have a return to the scene of the crime, so to speak, thefeuding cousin-groups arranged accordingly, with only one strong nation among themwho harkens back to a Golden Kingdom that was in actuality rather drab and miserable atthe time.

Today's factions are now so desperate that many of them have resorted to, besides their land-idolatry, a perverse biological idolatry professing two basic mythical racialidentities: a Palestinian and a Jewish race. Prime Minister Sharon said he was fighting for the survival of the "Jewish race", a race as mythical as the Aryan race; he does not speak for most Jews, especially not for the anti-Zionists. On the other side of the family,Palestinians are really many peoples just as they were in 'Canaan' - archeologists havefound the vestiges running all the way back to the late Stone Age.

http://www.bible-history.com/sketches/ancient/hittite-chariot.html



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The 'Palestinians' are unified now in group-love by hatred for a minority Israelite culturethat, according to the ancient tradition, they must serve or conquer. Yahweh commandedthe minority Hebrews to get rid of the many Canaanite tribes long ago. However,Hebrews were much kinder than their god, and they engaged many Canaanites as

servants, some of whom even prospered, some of whom became Jews themselves.

Now without this unity in hate, or the dark side of national patriotism, or without internal'oriental despotism', it is very difficult to squeeze a national unity out of the Palestiniansor any other 'tribal', feudal culture. It behooved the Western colonial powers to preserveand farm local feudalism. Muslim intellectuals, taking their cue from Christianmissionaries (American missionaries were most influential) did their best to forge a more

universal consciousness.

In another amazing full circle, Muslim intellectuals picked up the Western education thattheir antecedents had dropped off for translation in the West centuries prior, andreintroduced it to the East along with its latest Western accretions, translating the wholeinto the language of the Koran - Arabic!

http://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-great-the-egyptian-hercules/the-jews-the-hebrews-and-the-israelites-not-your-old-same-same-by-bishop/



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Nationalization was perceived to be the remedy or at least the intermediate solution for the backwardness of the Muslim countries which had been exploited by the colonists. Inother words, the national concept introduced was that of the modern Western nation;Muslim countries were to be modernized into neo-liberal nations, meaning industrialized,yet somehow Islam was to be retained. The problem with this concept is it did not fit the

reality of the situation. It was the concept of Westernized Muslims, the scheme of ivorytower philosophers. And to the extent that national sentiment could be aroused in groupswith strong particular and conflicting identities, it was directed against modernization andtherefore the West at large.

And, again, the fundamental religion is not national but is international. Of course wehave pan-Arabism, including Muslims and Christians and atheists for an option. From theJewish perspective, the 'Canaanite' idea is fascinating although incoherent, meaning areturn to pre-Israelite Canaan, or maybe a New Hebrew nation including everybody.

In any case, there is no simple answer. We will have to work together on this issue or kill

each other. If we would kill each other, joining terrorist organizations might be the bestway to go. Blaming the 'Arabs' for not getting off their camels and building prosperousnations is not going to work.

Iraq was once the very model of successful national development. The problem we arefacing with Arab nationalism today is the consequence of 'Arab' resistance to colonialnationalism. The resistance took two basic forms, Modernism, which accepts the Westernconcept of secular progress but is anti-imperialistic, and the Wahhabi movement, whichis fundamentalist and rejects innovations, adhering to the pure Arab core ideologyadopted by the House of Saud. Wahhabi fundamentalism has been closely associatedwith the House of Saud since the 18th-century marriage of a Wahhab into the royal

family, and of course with the modern al Queda.

The transformation of political structures did not immediately accept the Nation as themeans to sanction political authority - the Nation was a colonial device for the expansionof capitalism beyond its borders. Rather, the awakening of Arab nationalism resultedfrom the resistance to the colonial intrusions. Thus the Wahhabi movement, although itrejects modern innovations, is as "progressive" as the Modernism. In any case, placingthe blame for backwardness on Arabs alone is foolish.

David Arthur Walters

'Arise, O Arabs and awake!...

'We are the origin of all greatnessHuman kind has drunk from the well of our achievementAnd - ask the West of our glorious past -Its marks are imprinted on the brow of time



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But the memory of the past no longer satisfies usIts shackles do not give us shelter We shall strive for the heightsUntil they rest upon the pillars of substance.'

The foregoing is from a patriotic qasida (ode) by the linguist and author Ibrahim al-Yaziji(1847-1905), one of the first Arab national writers of the Arab renaissance. This poemwas recited in literary circles throughout Syria. He authored the first modern quasida,which he recited at a secret meeting of the Syrian Scientific Society. al-Yaziji propounded that Arabs are a single, independent cultural nation. He condemned Ottomanrule.


Many Muslim intellectuals are familiar with Riffa'a Rafi' al-Tahtawi, a leadingintellectual of the first generation of European-educated Arab nationalists. He and otherswere sent off to France by Muhammad Ali, the father of modern Egypt, to study.Muhammad Ali had become the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt. After he had 64 Mamluksassassinated in the citadel, he became Egypt's ruler, and then strove for nationalindependence from the Ottomans along the lines of Western industrial modernization.

Muhammad Ali created a Navy. He himself was an illiterate battalion commander, but hegot things done. He engaged the famous French engineer, Lefebure de Cerisy, to erect theAlexandria Arsenal in 1829-33, and to command there the Navy War College. The yard produced frigates, corvetees and other men-of-war classes.

Some of the brilliant French military officers left unemployed with the demise of the Napoleonic Empire in 1815 worked for Ali, one being Colonel Seve, enaged to build a

http://ftpmirror.your.org/pub/wikimedia/images/wikipedia/arz/e/ef/



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modern army. Seve converted to Islam and was known as Soloman Pasha al Faransawi(the Frenchman).

Ali's priority was the creation of a strong army to secure his power and buttress his rule.The army was the basis for all of his reforms. Military schools and colleges were

established, as well as a War Department. Egypt was industrialized to support the war machine. It was to that end that Ali, faced with the petrifaction of the traditional Muslimschools, packed off students to Europe for both technical and academic studies, andestablished a revolutionary state school system. Thus he unwittingly sowed the seed for the top-down intellectual, cultural and political renaissance of Egypt.

No weapons of mass destruction were available then. Still, the Powers had to gang up onhim lest he further disturb the status quo. His struggle for independence of Egypt wassimply contrary to the interests of the imperialists. His successors under British influenceterminated his liberalization efforts.

al-Tahtawi, while in France between 1826 and 1831, studied major European thinkers.He kept a diary which Muhammad Ali published on a large scale and made it compulsoryreading for civil servants in Egypt. al-Tahtawi grew appreciative of French culture. Hewrote that he wanted to awaken Arab and non-Arab peoples of Islam from their "sleepingindifference." He said Westerners admitted Arabs had been their teachers in many branches of knowledge, and first place merit was due to Arabs therefor, but nowEuropeans surpassed Arabs in the sciences and in metaphysics, therefore it was high timefor them to catch up. He supported Muhammad Ali, saying the leader was bringing'streams of shining arts' to Egypt, despite the fact that ignorant Muslims werecondemning him in the street for doing so.

al-Tahtawi and his students translated nearly two thousands books into Arabic fromwhich Arabs could steep themselves in bourgeois ideas. In his own writings he wascareful to cite the Prophet and Companion's examples, demonstrating that the new ideaswere compatible with the sacred texts - this was sometimes a clumsy affair. One suchconsideration which I find instructive is his demonstration that Islamic law, sharia, issimilar to the rationalist Natural Law of Western thinkers. Thus the ruler is subject to thesharia - subject to the law himself, not its dictator. The ulama, doctors of law andtheology, are encouraged to bring the sharia up to date according to reasonable principles.Of course this goes to the separation of powers issue. More recently, we recall that Iranhad observed the separation between (Sharia) clerics and secular leaders until Khomeiniissued his legal ruling, a proclamation which in effect converted him from a clerical

advisor on the law to dictator of the law - that is, Khomeini‟s word became as good as theProphet's even if he acted against the best interests of the people — a Moody Bible Schoolgrad recently explained to me, when I asked if it is alright to kill innocent babiesfollowing god's example, that god has a reason for do that and is not to be criticized for it.

al-Tahtawi was one of the first nationalist thinkers inasmuch as he stressed the socialaspect over the religious - he was influence by the utopian socialist pioneer, Saint Simonand his successor, Infantin. Thus he used 'nation' in the secular sense. He emphasized



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love of country as the prime virtue of civilization. He did not mean the actual village andcountryside where one lived, but Egypt a nation.

I wanted to mention this man and his leader to further illustrate that the predicament weall face is an ongoing one. We see here a struggle to in effect adopt 'Western' civilization

from the colonial powers, but the adoption is contrary to the conflicting interests of those powers.

We should observe that blatantly militant 'imperialism' throughout the world began towane because the natives learned how to use the colonial methods against the intrusiveforces. The economic imperialism of neo-liberal globalism is more subtle but is also problematic. We should also note how impoverished countries have resorted, ineconomic self-defense, to what thinkers once called "the perfection of capitalism,"fascism, which consolidates the economic and political interest under a military-style,hierarchical organization: the corporation. Fascistic reactions may be adverted by buyingoff and supporting monarchs and dictators, quasi-puppets, while talking about

'democracy' out of the other side of the mouth. Once in awhile the quasi-puppets will biteyou in the ass, but it is better to look the other way.

Consider for a moment what would happen if the Middle East was suddenly made trulydemocratic.


The Baath Party was a basic attempt to join Islam and Communism. The evolutionchanged the Party into a Fascist party, along the lines of the National Socialists during the'Brownshirts' era. This basically occurred because Mythicism followed naturally with thesymbolism of Fascism, rather the analytic of Communism. Democracy is a concept thathas only effectively worked in English and Scandinavian societies. Latin-languagenations have great difficulty in forming and maintaining governments under democracy,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18582755



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and eastern European nations drift continually to the 'Fuhrer' principle. Middle Easternsocieties have always drifted to theocracies, even the Jews. Asiatic nations always adoptthe principles of the imperial court. Africa is still basically tribal leadership.Understanding comes in the decision that governments are determined far more by theroots of culture, than anything else. Remember English societies are basically derived

from Scandinavian origins. Nordic tradition showed the least respect for the Head of Households, with a tradition of the Sons fighting to the death between each other in personal combat, for the resultant crown after the death of the monarch, or simply head of the Stead.

Lawrance G. Lux

The allegedly more "democratic" organization of the "barbarians from the North" - theyare always from the North aren't they, whether they are blondes or blackheads? But themain difference is the racial bias of the historians themselves, built up around the myth of an "Aryan" or "Nordic" race long since proven spurious.

Men everywhere have killed each other for power, and the successful ones tried to keep it

in the family.

During the nomadic and invasion periods, the tribes had chiefs although they wereelected, and, the Nordic peoples, when settled, had their chiefs, kings, and noble warriors.The key word is "elected." - That what is mean by "democracy." That sort of democracyalso develops a Cult of Personality, thus we have our heroes and kings and messiahs anddictators - democracies may result in tyranny for more absolute than monarchies.

http://www.crystalinks.com/barbarians.html



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During periods of violence, effective action requires a Head, and if a Head is notappointed or inherited, one will assuredly be elected or one will take charge by forceregardless of the race or creed of the people involved. In other words, it is a matter of anefficient and effective organization demonstrated by human beings everywhere. But anelected Head is supposedly the best one. Is that democracy?

Roman rulers raised common men who were good soldiers to high ranks. Some simplyfought their way to the top. The men themselves made or "elected" them generals andeven caesars, overthrowing the current regime. Is that democracy?

We hear of modern military field commanders with tremendous power called"democratic” leaders. In the recent Israeli wars, it was said that commanders won battles

because they rubbed shoulders with their men and was a “democratic” leader. During theJewish Revolution the terrorist leaders were famed for their democratic methods.

Another historical curiosity: Jews and Greeks are given credit for inspiring democracy,

not the Nordic or Scandinavians, the barbarians from the North. What's up with that?

And note this on the important question of the origin of democracy, this time in regardsto the blackheads. Two thousand years of empire was punctuated because of purportedviolations of the Heavenly Mandate in China, often associated with natural disaster.Some mere peasant would 'democratically' rise and another dynasty would proceed. If history repeats itself, a huge disaster, say due to the new dam project, could result in theoverthrow of the present government. 'Water' is one of the most significant elements inChina.

Communism is supposedly a form of 'democracy.' However, Mao exalted emperor

Zhuangdi and bragged how the First Great Emperor had also burned the books and buriedthe scholars; the cultural lore was destroyed, while scientific texts were retained.

Reputable historians and scholars have taken the position that the United StatesConstitution was derived not so much from the ideas of Locke et al but from a federationof Native Americans tribes.


During the Iconoclastic period of the Byzantine Empire, Jews whispered into the ear of

the emperor and the armies included many 'iconoclastic' Semitic soldiers, some of whomrose from virtual slavery to very high ranks in the empire - didn't one of them becomeemperor?

Note: Speaking of iconoclasm, some scholars have put forward the view that the worshipof images or belief in magic was generally repugnant to soldiers even to Christiansoldiers, because of their militant circumstances, and thus the European armies were the



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bulwark of Aryanism. Have you heard anything on that on of thinking? I would think terrified soldiers would resort to magical thinking etc.


Native American tribes generally ran to a Matriarchy, with women making the decisionson life; men left to the business of hunting and war-making.

Mao had a thing with Zhuangdi. I read about it before. The Byzantine Empire was ananomaly, being a Western civilization transplanted to the East. The Greek OrthodoxChurch still holds to the importance State-sponsorship for legitimate action. Westernchurches stop at getting freedom from taxation and the right of private schooling of theyoung; Greek Orthodox demands right to enjoin religious instruction (like westerntruancy laws), mandatory church attendance, etc. Western tithing turns into taxation, asreligious membership get State-sponsored tax to the churches.

The Aryanism expressed in the Byzantine Empire, especially in the military; universallycame from the development of the Academic sciences in the Empire, which preceded theWest Age of Reason by Six hundred years.

Every society has used the 'Cult of the Personality', of eulogizing the current leadership.Americans have brought it to the height of a 30-second Sound bite. The great democracycradle has always been a mystery to me; as only one Greek city used democracy, andthen only for about forty years actual; after which it fell to dictatorship. The Jewish

http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/Symaa/Symaa.html



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democracy retained stoning of Individuals for violation of religious law. Rome usedactual democracy for only about eighty years of six hundred; the rest was all dictatorshipor Imperium.

The Nordic Steads used a relatively democratic process for some four hundred years,

though they also carried purported Kings.

Lawrance G. Lux

The Jews did have their anti-democratic stoning provision, but as I pointed out in myseries on the Almighty Father of Terrorism, they often disobeyed the commandments. Iknow of no instance where a kid was dragged out to the village gate and stoned to deathfor disobeying his parents. Indeed, one reason the Jews had such a terrible time was their god used other people to beat the hell out of them for disobeying such injunctions.

Fundamentalist Muslims take the stoning provision literally. A poor creature was juststoned to death the other day. What a shame. To the best of my knowledge, no educatedJew would condone that practice, at least not against his own kind.

Hebrew law evolved over time. Casuistic stretching of the fundamental 'truth' wasnecessary especially during the dispersion, where unity was maintained under variouslegal systems. But even prior to the dispersion, the Jews were much kinder than their terrifying god, and were supposedly punished severely for their infractions.

Witness the two trials of Jesus, one ecclesiastical, the other political. The originaltranscripts are not available, but we are left with the impression that the ecclesiastical

http://uncommonfaith.org/2013/02/12/gods-wrath/



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court would not convict Jesus, and not because of insufficient evidence. If we accept thetestimony of the gospels, Jesus was as guilty as sin, and we are amazed that manywitnesses were not brought forward. In any case, he was handed over to the politicalcourt and reluctantly convicted of a capital crime after a fair (given the circumstances)trial. This interpretation fills in many gaps and relates the story to its actual historical

context.

The practice of turning over 'heretics' to the political court was continued by theCatholics, but Catholics had the audacity to convict the offender, and deliver him (andoften her) to the political authority for execution, giving lip service to biblical phrases,thus we have some reverse hand-washing.

On the other hand Jewish sages believed there were good occasions for hatred, but"groundless hatred" or the hatred of one's own kind, was denounced as absurd, as self-hate and self-dismemberment. The last temple was destroyed because of groundlesshatred.

We should recall here that David had several opportunities to kill Saul but did not because Saul was anointed. And after the Amalekites were defeated, Saul did not fullyobey the injunction to "blot them out." He apparently kept some of the livestock, but wesuspect he spared some Amalekite lives too.

Now the Amalekites were no slouches, as they took Lower Egypt at one time and ruled as pharaohs; and Saul was a strong general. But the parties to the conflict were of the samestock, and were in effect engaging in "groundless hatred." The Amalekites weredescended from Essau, who tricked his brother Jacob out of his inheritance and father's blessing. The icing on this cake is that David did not kill Saul when he took over, but had

an Amalekite do it.

Furthermore, the Israelite courts generally did not practice the archaic biblical lex

taliones. Instead, what you know in English law as "composition" or payment of damageswas the rule, a development coincident to the rise of kings over feuding tribes.


The reason for the two trials of Jesus lay in rulings of the Roman Senate, which had passed laws forbidding sentences different in nature and scope from Roman law; the

preceding fifty years prior to Jesus' trial had accounted for the Roman law, as Jewishreligious courts had executed about two hundred people. The major proponents of theRoman law were the Ionic Jews themselves, who had been basically schooled in Helleniclaw and culture; and who made up about half the population.

Much of what I know of the development of Jewish law comes from a Michener novel,THE SOURCE. I do know the Jewish culture of the Era was divided between theFundamentalists and the Hellenics; a basic conflict between the East and West of the



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time. Saul dealt with the Amalekites on a purely national level, ignoring the religiousauthority; all because of the level of bloodshed demanded by the Fundamentalists. It isrelevant to any religious discussion, to say that Fundamentalism equates with violentreaction.

Lawrance G. Lux

The original of the fundamental Islamist inspiration is found in Saudi Arabia, where itwas reinforced in modern times with the 18th-century alignment of the House of Saudwith the Wahhabis, who are Hanbalists.

Despite the fundamentalist trend, which happens to be progressive inasmuch as it isnationalistic, the modernist trend is not ignored, especially in its technical aspect as itapplied to weaponry. Arabs adopted western-style nationalism in self-defense. And notethe break with Persia and Turkey.

Intelligent Arabs know 'colonialism' is a hollow argument. No western power has hadcolonial dominance over any Arab country since Algeria obtained independence in 1963.

And by 1971, remnants of the "foreign yoke" were no long apparent even in the smallest principalities around the Arab Peninsula. Of course I ignore "economic imperialism"here. Arabs consider moot or merely historical.

The blame has shifted to the best example of successful nationalism in the region,especially since This Great Nation of Ours, Leader of the Most Advanced Civilization theWorld has Ever Known, has destroyed the Muslim Jewel of Third World NationalDevelopment, Iraq, including 500,000 babies killed by the sanctions.

http://www.terrorism-illuminati.com/blog/2002-iraqi-intel-reported-wahhabis-are-jewish-origin



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But the shining example of nationalism in the region, polished by U.S. tax dollars, isIsrael. Before this last "Middle" Eastern conflict proceeded, Arab editors werecomplaining that 150,000 Arabs per year were visiting Israel, no doubt being corrupted...I am not surprised, since Muslims are frustrated Jews. What the Arabs admire most

about western-style Judeo-Protestant nationalism is its military capability and militantmorale. Arab thinkers who adhere to the "stagnant" pond and "decadent" view of Arabculture, miming of course the opinion of western pundits, almost always praise the"flying bombs", "air raids", "advanced arms", "advanced armies", "efficient militaryorganization", and so on when presenting solutions to the "stagnation." They praiseIsrael's obsession with its "fatherland" (patr-iotism) and fanatic devotion to its aims.Defeated three times by Israel's small military, the Arab thinkers have come up withseveral causes that I may address later.

There are many other pioneer thinkers of Arab nationalism. In my opinion, they do not fitthe "stagnant pool" or "400 or more years of stagnation" description adopted even by

most Arab intellectuals today - I can list a dozen or so names of Arab writers who participate in the self-loathing. That is the sort of thing Jews refer to as "groundlesshatred" (of one's own kind - which brought the temple down). The "decline" and"decadence" of Arab literature includes thousands of works literally buried in archives -considered to be so much repetitious rubbish, not to be waded through. I hope that doesn'thappen to our literature at our own stagnant pools.

It is wrong to say the Arabs still blame the colonial powers and would do nothing toimprove themselves along western lines, especially when it come to more efficient killingmethods. Israel is to "blame", and is admired as the main enemy to be defeated and runoff the land. Then the Arabs will have proven they are really civilized.

We are at war with ourselves, with our past. We should work closely with our brothers inthe east on whom the light shall shine brilliantly once again. I was unhappy with the present. My dream came true but I did not know it and threw it away.


The death toll of any war remains the responsibility of the leadership of both sides of theconflict. The Gulf War was essentially stupid, because Iraq should not have attackedanother independent nation; some international reaction was bound to come, the oil issue

insisted this reaction would be massive. The United States turned it into a Crusade, thereis much to criticize about our propaganda; one should not vilify the enemy. This conflictis due solely to this previous American propaganda, not anything further which Saddamhad done.

Sanctions never work. They simply increase the profits of trading with the shunnednation. The leadership of the shunned nation always attains the products they desire, donot underestimate the profit motive. Germany received a whole list of machine parts from



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Hebraism is considered by Islam as a rebellion against the Koran by the people who didnot accept the word of Allah. Westerners see the Palestinian/Israeli conflict in nationalistor territorial terms; it is not. It is basically a religious war, where both sides feel the Other represents a heresy.

The vital stagnation of Arab intellectual thought had nothing to do with the intellectualcontent. Stagnation was solely due to the lack of transmission to the masses. The lack of effective public education brought down the first Islamic culture, and continues tothreaten its development. Reliance on religious schools and study of the Koran isdestructive.

Lawrance G. Lux

I consider 'colonialism' to be moot, irrelevant to-day, and so do most Arab thinkers. Asfor its past impact, I agree with the consensus of east and west that the colonial intrusions

resulted in what almost all historians call the Arab 'renaissance', and those intrusions hadan enormous impact on Arab nationalism as a defensive and imitative posture.

Wahhabism is a religious movement, but it is political too. Theoretically there is noseparation of church and state in Islam hence Islam is international or non-national.

So reform is recommended by Arab thinkers, a Reformation which would make theseparation. Then they could built "true" western nations, "protestant" nations as opposedto kingdoms of gods on earth (the reform relegates god to heaven and heaven to after death, so one is left with feel-good religion).

The Wahhabi movement had an enormous impact as an invigorating force supportingArab nationalism, even though its fundamentalism is of course pan-Islamic. It influencedthe 'Arab core' (of Islam) ideology, which set off the Arabs from Persia and Turkishinfluence, hence is deemed "nationalistic", thus it was 'progressive' in contrast to theTurkish Empire. As far as I am concerned, it is in fact regressive, as is the nationalism of the admired enemy, Israel, which, in turn, is a reaction to the worst sort of nationalism. Nationalism is obscene in my opinion, and increasingly obsolete, but now some theoriststhink the third world has to go through that intermediate stage, as if we has somehowsurpassed it in the first world.


I object to this statement:

"The blame has shifted to the best example of successful nationalism in the region,especially since This Great Nation of Ours, Leader of the Most Advanced Civilization theWorld has Ever Known, has destroyed the Muslim Jewel of Third World NationalDevelopment, Iraq, including 500,000 babies killed by the sanctions."



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Neither the U.S., nor the U.N. sanctions are to blame for killing the 500,000 babies. AndI would also like to know by what means that figure was calculated. Saddam Hussein,and all other murderous dictators of his ilk, channels every available penny into their owncoffers at the expense and criminal disregard of the health and prosperity of their nations.

Such logic is akin to a criminal holding a gun to a victim's head and screaming at the police: "If you try and arrest me, you‟ll be killing this hostage, not me!"

That does not wash: it‟s propaganda of the most illogical and inane kind. We were forcedinto two world wars, by wringing our hands and refusing to do the right thing. If ithappens again, and if our homeland is savagely attacked, again, we will have, again,disregarded the lessons of history. In an age of NBC weaponry, we cannot afford to dothis. Our leaders owe it to the health and prosperity of our nation, even as they line their own pockets).

Hanley (Doc) Harding

The figure of 500,000 is rather low. The Red Cross and the Catholic Church have givennumbers of up to 1,500,000 non-combatant victims of the bombings and sanctions,including the infant deaths. The congressional delegation which just returned from Iraqfrom a study of the past consequences of the sanctions and the probable consequences of the planned war are using the often mentioned figure of 50,000 infants dead per year, for a total of 500,000 dead so far. Not many U.S. citizens care to consider the stats or thefilms of the disaster, so they are aired on CSPAN et cetera from time to time.

It was interesting that, when bin Laden picked up on the stats for propaganda purposes,the stats were not refuted; because he is a monster, whatever he says can be dismissed asa monstrous lie anyway.

As for responsibility, I disagree with Doc wholeheartedly. I understand where he iscoming from, the tendency of people, usually out of feelings of group-love, and herd-defense patriotism, to deny responsibility for and even praise terrible mistakes. For example, an old general on the television last night said that dropping the atom bombs onJapan felt wonderful to him at the time, and he would like to dig up Truman's body andkiss him.

Sanctions have had a long and bad reputation, and the reactions have been horrendous;for instance, WW II.

Iraq was the most advanced third-world nation, the model of what our western leadersand its Arab imitators praise, each out of a different side of the mouth. The U.S. fundedIraq in its killing of 1,000,000 Iranians - mustard gas was used with the knowledge of U.S. leaders, and it was not condemned until the Bush administration cited it. Settingaside the Machiavellian pros and cons of the attack on Kuwait, the net result was the



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destruction of the economic infrastructure (including one of the finest health care andeducational systems in the world) and the liberal social developments of what was, by theway, the eastern baby crib of our western civilization, which fostered our religious and political underpinnings, including the cult of personality - which we see in its finest formin the personal enmity of Bush, Saddam, Sharon, Arafat, et cetera...

Now the U.S., the Greatest Superpower since the Roman Empire, the Almighty Leader of World Civilization, and its Allies, because of mutual cowardice over the possibleconsequences, did not occupy Iraq after the war - note how Germany and Japan are now powerful and vibrant allies. And because of the fear of one person who got too big for his britches, sanctions were imposed, sanctions that are not hurting that person at all.

Instead of not imposing any sanctions at all, and saying, "If you do not allow inspectionof the facility within 24 hours we will destroy it,' what was imposed in Iraq was all stick,and long-term indignities no sovereign nation could stand for long were implemented. Acarrot was held way out of reach.

Not only did the U.S. mishandle Iraq even when Iraq was its ally, but it mishandled theentire region for years; and, the mishandling was not due so much to ignorance but moreto the subversion of our democratic-republic by the 'forces of evil' and 'corporate boardtribalism' dissidents refer to, reversing the opinion held against them by so-called patriots.

The point man at this time is President Bush - his sniveling British terrier follows close behind - the Russian mobster will sell out anytime. The President approaches the United Nations contemptuously, saying he if does not get UN cooperation, he will go ahead withhis plan anyway. This is the man who, incidentally, would not submit to an internationalwar-crimes' tribunal favored by other major powers; he and other members of his familywould probably be in prison for crimes against humanity if it had been applicable. Hiseyes gleamed during the campaign when he bragged about how many condemned people

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/03/18/the_10_most_iconic_photos_from_iraq_war



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his state executed, and how he would not give them all he could give, another thirty days, because the Christian principles of his hero Jesus do not apply to political office wherethe will of the people as he sees it reigns supreme. His blatantly belligerent and bellicoseattitude represents the worst feature of the 'western civilization' we would impose on theMuslim world, and he is supported by 85% of the American people. We must not be

surprised if his attitude attracts assassins as well as terrorists to our shores.

To return to the body count: It is a very important duty in the field, to radio in the bodycount to HQ. I figure the count is about 7,000 U.S. bodies to 2,000,000 Muslim bodies.

Since humans love to fight, glorifying war to have another one, and each side thinks theyare right, throughout history peace has been imposed on conflicting groups by force of arms. For example, the imposition of imperial order by Zhuangdi was brutal; his dynastywas overthrown and the worst of his methods abandoned, but the imperial style he laiddown survived two thousand years and was even imitated by the communists. China hadits problems with ("huns") barbarians on the fringes, many whom they incorporated, but

overall China was a peaceful empire, was praised by Europeans for its political and moralexcellence in contrast to the warring European nations and kingdoms. There are manyother examples.

Nevertheless, we have grounds to hope for a more scientific approach to our conflicts,and a reduction of punitive measures, including sanctions that are not, in Iraq's case, anymore 'preventative' than the death penalty, and are not on the whole abhorred by impartialauthority on the subject.

All this is well known. Every taxpayer in This Great Nation of Ours has the blood of those innocent babies on their hands. It reminds me that my born-again Christian friend

explained that god can kill innocent babies because he is god and has his mysteriousways...

The Big Bully gets punched in the nose, sits down and cries like a Big Brat, then strikesout in a rage, led by a spoiled brat who is mad because of what happened to his daddy,who fostered crimes against humanity including mass murder. Responsibility is denied allaround. The intelligence services were doing a sloppy job, but that is to be expected sincethe theme of our western culture is competition, not in giving service but in taking asmuch as one can at minimum expenditure.


I have always opposed Strategic bombing, as opposed to tactical bombing; thinking itsimply mass murder. Tactical bombing is defined as attack against military units andsupplies within fifty miles of the Front.

The imposition of the United Nations sanctions in the killing of babies is horse hockey.The Iraqi have maintained over $3 billion dollars of foreign trade with Jordan, Syria,



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Turkey, and Russia every year; even in the midst of the Gulf War. The loss of Civilianlife from the Embargo came only with Saddam's refusal to purchase the availablenecessary supplies.

The Embargo is utter idiocy, in itself. It has never prevented military supplies from being

purchased by Iraq, restricts the flow of Oil, and gives Saddam propaganda value.

Lawrance G. Lux

Lawrance, you are right about the lack of public education if you are speaking of scientific-technological education. The focus was on grammar, and rhetoric, and 'logical'theology', similar to the core or 'trivium' of our western liberal arts (the first three are

Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic) derived from Greece and Rome. The quadrivium tendingto science and technology was ignored. 'Arabs' now deride the focus on the trivium (notthat Arabs saved Aristotle for the west) as trivial.

For example, Dr. Constantine Zurayk (actually a Syrian Christian Arab), denounces"benumbing fancy and insubstantial romanticism," recommending science instead, and,ironically, "the acquisition of the highest mental and spiritual values." He means spiritual

http://www.syrianhistory.com/en/photos/1168



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materialism as far as I am concerned, in accord with the fell-good atheism of protestantconsumerism.

The trivium is the core of the liberal curriculum, the first of the seven liberal arts, for good reason, because fantasy and imagination is the source of scientific thought. Our

wonderful technological society is tending to forget that as it builds its termite mound togarbage heaven.

Now you are also right about the lack of public education as far as the trivium goes, for many do not receive even that education, and those who do get it in a petrified form. Theworst case scenario of bad education was that offered by the taliban schools whichrequired rote memorization of the Koran in Arabic - but the student did not understandthe language therefore did not even know what the Koran said.

In any case, there must not be an abandonment of imagination and romance and fantasyas recommended by the demented and callous reformers, but a stimulation of it.

The Brethren of Basra, who compiled their encyclopedia of the sciences in Iraq, areinteresting in that respect, as they were up against the same damned thing, the petrifactionof the trivium by fanatics - the Church during the Dark Ages did the same thing, used thetrivium for the narrow purpose of forwarding the creed.

I am a believer in alternatives, especially the aesthetic, imaginative alternatives. Arabwriters, vying for acceptance as the "head Arab" in westernized (homogenized) culture,go so far lately as to even denounce "emotionalism" and "romanticism" and say allrelations must be approached "scientifically." But emotion is the source of our moralvalues, despite what the pinheaded 'scientific' fanatics, who think everything must have a

point, would have us believe; the scientific-technological approach does have a moralityand a very low one economic one at that: high technology is becoming synonymous withlow morality. These jerks who now call themselves scientific thinkers should in fact pick up Aristotle's metaphysics if they would better understand what reform is need.

The true scientist approaches society with judgment suspended and one-way roads withextreme skepticism.

Again, I want the alternatives. The metaphysics of modern science fascinate me. Theapplications are merely of passing interest. I am a trivium sort of fellow being trivializedor marginalized by my own society. Gross consumerism disgusts me. The talking heads

who are supposed to be in the know usually disgust me so much that I feel like pukingand turn off the TV or radio. But mind you, I would not take away people's toys or all thisgarbage, trash and junk being spewed forth as long as it does not destroy theenvironment, impoverish workers, and as long as there are viable alternatives.

Therefore when I see westerners and their Arab sycophants talking about a one-sided"scientific" education, and ignorant westerners and easterners nodding in agreement, I am



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The petrifaction of Islamic liberal arts is not irrelevant. The trivium is basic education, isgrammar school. Reading and writing is part of the trivium, and math is in thequadrivium.

When the liberal arts are petrified among the intellectual elite of a society, not only will

the basic education not be brought to the general public, but the aristocratic, professionaland merchant classes will be retarded. The nobles in England, for example, did not think they needed the liberal arts, and when they got them they saw how important they werethey tried to keep the rest of society ignorant. When Muhammad Ali was sendingstudents to Paris, the aristocrats were substituting peasant's and fishermen's children because the aristocrats had a strong aversion to the liberal arts.

Again, the petrifaction of the liberal arts is crucial no matter to what the extent of education is in any given culture, because the liberal arts are the foundation of humaneculture as well as the inspiration of the sciences. If anything, the leaders of a society musthave an excellent liberal education, and if they do not, the chances are very slim that such

program such as public education will ever be instituted.

Sadly, 'progressive' Muslim thinkers who call themselves liberals are denigrating thehuman imagination that is the very foundation of all education, and, imitating the currentwestern trend with its focus on technology, are approaching culture solely from the perspective of modern science and technology (modern western science was inspired byliberal Arab philosophers). Now that is their reaction to what they call the stultification of intellectual culture in their countries. But that limited reaction is bound to result in thestultification of the intellect and petrifaction of society into a termite mound or ant colony- the choices we are making now are narrowing the choices of our progeny.

We are speaking here of the intellectual culture to which Islam looks for guidance andinspiration, to those who will ultimately be responsible for the basic education of thechildren. I do not expect the Christian missions to educate all of Islam - the AmericanChristian missions, incidentally, were the least involved in colonialism and the mostactive proponents of the Arab renaissance, laying the foundations for today's liberalMuslim intellectuals.

There are Americans too who say that liberal arts should not even be taught to children.Many westerners do not know there are seven liberal arts. There was a popular movementagainst them in the United States. Parents wanted their kids to learn something 'practical.'Only a handful of people can name the seven, and state why the first three, or trivium, are

the key to them all. Not only are they called the trivium because they are three subjects, but because they were taught at the crossroads in Athens and Rome by those teacherswho could not afford to rent space near the forum.

Indeed, when we examine the power structure of our own nation, we discover that it isdominated by those who excel in the trivium. In contemporary terms, the liberal artsconstitute not only the arts, humanities, but also the social and natural sciences. If thereare no excellent examples above, education shall flag below.



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Any grammar opposing the trivium, of which grammar is the first element, disturbs anddisappoints me because grammar taken in its broadest sense means the finest that hasever been written and said. That is where every student of humanity must begin.


The fundamental or literalist movement has its origins in Hanbalism, so named after ibnHanbal, born in Baghdad December 780. He gave a great voice to the Hadith Folk (hadith- tradition - reports about the Prophet) and is the founding father of the Hanabilah guildof law, a small but influential 'school' of thinking among the Sunnis. It's 'thesis' or 'direction' or 'way of thinking' was opposed to the rationalists - the philosophers and philosophical theologians influenced by Greek thought, who were closely allied in thosedays with the power elite in the city - hence al Hanbal and other Hadith Folk weresubjected to the infamous Inquisition.



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ibn Hanbal was imprisoned and tortured over an extended period of time. He was revered by the common people as a saint; hundreds of thousands of people attended his funeral,where, according to tradition, his wounds were displayed.

The Hadith Folk revered the Logos; they glorified the sacred text. The Word was 'eternal'or 'not created.' In other words, they worshiped the grammar as it stood, petrified. TheWord was so intimate with god that the Word was god. Those who read and spoke it wereintimate with god.

The Hanbalist jurists did not occupy themselves with questions of whether or not godexisted and if he exists what he is, but with the Law. They are not traditionalists per se,since to them the Law is supreme and tradition may be mistaken.

http://www.islamlaws.com/ibn-hanbal-ahmad-b-muhammad-ibn-hanbal-history-information-biography/



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On the other hand, the rationalists who opposed them accused them of idolatry, of idolizing the text. They say the scriptures are created by god, just like a man or a stone,and hence are not sacred in themselves, therefore are subject to reasonable interpretation.Therefore the rationalist grammar is evolving or living, not 'petrified.' In every event, god

as creator is "transcendent' of all creation.

There you have in a nutshell what was called the 'Creationist' controversy. Particular disputes were on such issues as whether or not god gets down off his throne like a manwould. The Hanbalists take the text literally and say, "Yes, of course, god can do that, hecan do anything," to which the rationalists respond, "That is anthropomorphism!Blasphemy!"

I am personally a 'rationalist.' I have argued, for example, that Moses broke the tablets because he did not want his people to worship the engravings themselves, which were sofew that any person who loves the law should easily be able to engrave it on his heart

(mind) and to discourse or dispute its particular application by means of casuistry - called by some "the casuistic stretching of the truth." In fact, in the early schools the childrenwere encouraged to question the Torah, under pain of being whipped, in order to developtheir minds, to 'educate' or draw them out - and of course what is drawn out and molded by society is the 'rebel.' I have not found one Christian or Jew who agrees with myinterpretation of the reason why Moses broke the tablets, or with my view that placing theTorah in the ark also constitutes idolatry.

Hanbalism got the upper hand from time to time, particularly when Muslims werechallenged. People tend to grab their bibles when threatened and return to what onceworked. Even professional atheists were caught praying to god in WW II. The

glorification of a text helps to unify a community in troubled times.

For instance, ibn Taimiyyah, another great Hanbalist and predecessor of the Wahhabis, born January 1263 near Damascus, personally fought in the war against the Tartars, andin 1304 lead an army against forces in Syria - he was not only a great thinker but amujahid, a fighter for Islam. His dad was a great Hanbalite scholar, and he also studiedHadith with over two hundred Shaykhs - he also had four prominent female teachers. Hismotto: "Go back to the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet." He denouncedinnovations, philosophers and philosophical theologians, and espoused opinions thatscholastic theology turns people into atheists, hence such theologians should be beaten inthe streets and paraded around to teach the public a lesson.

One day, during a sermon from the pulpit of a mosque, ibn Taimiyyah stepped downfrom the pulpit and said, "Verily, Allah comes down from the sky over our heads in thesame fashion as I make this descent." A jurist objected and the jurist was beaten up. ibnTaimiyyah was brought up on this and other charges. He eventually landed in prison,where he wrote many books - the books and his writing materials were taken away fromhim, so he wrote in charcoal. He died in solitary confinement. The turnout for his funeralwas massive.



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We must illustrate how important it is, to this very day, to struggle against the petrifaction of the Islamic liberal arts - for Islamic liberty is also our liberty. The simpleability to read will not overcome petrifaction. People follow their leaders: students followtheir teachers. Some teach the spirit of the law while others teach the letter. A nation of

readers can be a dead nation. As much as I admire our modern education, I lament the petrifaction of grammar and technological stultification of language in our own freecountry.

The ramifications of this controversy go far beyond obvious religion, to the very natureof law, meaning the nature of social order or peace, whether spiritual or secular. Witnessthe efforts of Coke Blackstone, Bentham and others to debunk the worship of the legaltexts.

I am disheartened by the peremptory dismissal of the crucial importance of liberationfrom petrifaction of the liberal arts, which always proceeds with the liberation of the

minds of those who are literate..


Please note that it is not so much the size of the curriculum, but the spirit with which it isapproached, learned, and taught.

Kevin, who says the Bible is all the literature anyone really needs, is one of the most brilliant conversationalists I know. He is a Born Again Christian of One, or anarcho-Christian, who was down and drugged out on the streets, shook drugs, moved into a cave

up in the watershed, studied the Bible, and was saved. He is dogmatic on only one thing:all the Christian denominations belong to Satan. Otherwise, he is not pedantic, hisgrammar is excellent, his rhetoric convincing, and his dialectics acute. His favorite Biblesubjects are history, poetry, and philosophy. He took up carpentry (of course) and high-rise window-washing, saved some money, moved into an apartment, and is presently avery 'cool' young man, a popular disk jockey. The man would not hurt a flea, is a pacifist,and would prefer to 'die' than to kill the worst man - there is no death for him as far as heis concerned.

On the other hand, take a much broader curriculum, such as Germany's under theinfluence of 'German Romanticism', a romanticism inspired by the Jewish rebel Spinoza

and by the Hindus, a romanticism that was the major intellectual factor in the Germannationalist movement. Spinoza's inspiration illuminates the democratic spirit of thoserebellious Hebrews who set up a personal god and loved to fight with him. The Hinduinfluence is of course derived from the god-men (in-deus) of India who recognized thedivine spark or atman within each individual. Their grammarians held that Vak is themother of language and her language has the sole purpose of liberation of the spirit.



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But the Germans, after being rejuvenated by those foreign influences, and having whatwas considered to be one of the most sophisticated cultures in the world, became afanatic, narrow-minded monster, causing the destruction of millions of lives, not tomention the property damage and the effects on the survivors and their brutalized culture.They accomplished this by means of high technology and brutal mentality, even resorting

to an absurd Fire and Ice pseudo-science (Hitler delayed the rocket program for awhile because he feared the rockets would disturb the ice-crystal balance in space).

The Germans, like other cultural groups, are really mongrels, but they resorted to biological idolatry of a mythical Nordic 'race' and opposed that to a mythical Jewish'race.' The Nazis based most of their racial ideas on two theorists who openly admittedthere was no such thing as an 'Aryan' race, and that mongrelization (miscegenation) hadactually produced stronger, more intelligent humans, but it was necessary to invent amythical 'Aryan' race for political purposes.

Despite their broad external curriculum, the minds of the Nazis ran in a small, viciouscircle. They ignored the sources of their Jewish and Hindu inspiration. Their grammar was petrified; they suffered from mental anchylosis (stiffening). Some critics attributethat to the 'Prussian' bureaucratic mentality of the „cameras,‟ which was useful for both

military and corporate economic venture, and, by the way, for one of the firstorganizations of public education. For example, Victor Cousin's study of the Prussianschool system was influential in the United States.

Again, grammar in its broadest sense was petrified.

http://www.nsm88.org/merchandise/books/books.html



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I set forth this further note in support of my thesis that the rejuvenation of liberal arts is infact essential to the liberation not only of some Muslims but of all human beings fromintolerance, prejudice, bigotry and such throughout the world.


We should understand that the psyche of the Hanbalists will always be with us. This is amentality that cannot live in a world without a final answer to all questions. The onlycounteraction to their influence is the spread of alternate opinions. Therefore reading is paramount. Yes, there is a definite petrifaction of thought in America today, with thededication to religion and thought Greed is God's chosen path.

Propaganda suffers from serious limitations always, and people react differently to it. It isthis propaganda which brings both the petrifaction and putrefaction to the Liberal Arts.Propaganda cannot last more than a generation because generations develop along

different cultural conditions; the propaganda just becomes the BS which their parentsspout.

Learning is a process of individual exploration, and cannot be instilled by inspiredteaching past a certain point. It also cannot be forestalled in the presence of librarymaterials; no matter how abusive the instruction technique, it is indicative all unitary-theorists find it necessary to burn books. They do even when they completely dominatethe educational process.

The threat to all creationists, as contretemps‟ rationalists, comes from the ability of

people to read. This gives them the power to choose what they would read, unless library

materials are destroyed.

The petrifaction of the Liberal Arts is like it always is; suppression of the Imaginativethought which you tout. This suppression, though, remains limited when people can read;with the repository materials available to learn.

Fear only the destruction of basic education and libraries; this is the only method mono-theorists can succeed.

Lawrence G. Lux



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Muhammad Ali of Egypt is a fascinating study. His famous 'nationalism' seems to beretrospective, since from what I have gleaned so far, his main interest was more in hisfamily's power than in the Egyptian people as a nation.

He was an Albanian, an Ottomon battalion commander who took advantage of the chaosleft behind in Egypt by Napolean. His rule was despotic, his government a sort of statecapitalism (or rather family capitalism). Egypt was his plantation, which he used like a pharaoh to fund his imperialism, which was of the 'colonial' type already being used bythe great Powers and by the sultan from whom he wanted independence - he still paid hisdues to the sultan even when at war with the empire.

The modernization programs including education had the purpose of supporting hismilitary aims. In about 40 years he raised Egypt from a pathetic condition to where thegreat Powers considered Egypt a serious threat. His goal was independence from theTurks, expansion, the usual empire. The Powers had to gang up on him to protect thestatus quo balance.

His military, or those of his sons, is of some interest to militants. Egyptians were not usedas soldiers for many centuries. He tried slaves and conquered soldiers for awhile. 20,000of them got sick and died. So he resorted to conscription of the Egyptians. Young menwere blinding one eye with rat poison, pulling their teeth out (needed for the cartridges)and so on to evade the draft. It was said once you got into his army or navy you were

never seen again. (European engineers immigrated and built him a good Navy).

But despite the morale problems, his forces served him very well. Soldiers rising in theranks became some of the leaders of the future Egypt. Oh, one successful campaign wason behalf of the sultan against the Wahhabis in Arabia. I did not see a popular book onhim - no doubt there is one, but I don't know if it would be by a westerner. A romancecould certainly be written. He was illiterate, brilliant, affable, cruel, brutal. Of course hisgranddaughter admired him, etc, etc.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/140/46033/Egypt/First--days/Muhammad-Ali-Pasha-to-Mohamed-Morsi-Egypts-modern-.aspx



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Those Egyptians he sent to Paris schools were often lower-class substitutes for thearistocrats who did not want the education. Muhammad Ali was upset by that sort of shirking and made everyone of all classes clean up the junk and garbage around thecities!


I look at it from the fighting man's point-of-view.

http://karenswhimsy.com/roman-soldier-costume.shtm



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Philosophers sit around and DISCUSS politics. Politicians sit around and play politics.And the result is always the same: Somebody attacks and somebody must defend, at thecost of military and civilian lives, and the destruction of sociologies of time-honored (andtime-worn) traditions.

Other attacks upon us are being planned and will be attempted. Saddam Husseincontinues to work his way toward nuclear weapons and total control of the Arab world.You feel that we all have the luxury of sitting here and pontificating. We don't, and people are gonna die for it.

I'm not into philosophy except the philosophy of conflict, and I'm deemed to be prettygood, by my peers, at threat analysis. So I'll just let you guys philosophize, while Icontinue to work on analyzing and reporting my findings to ones who should be doing allthey can to pull the rug out from under those who have openly announced their hatredand intent to harm us.


Yes, Sir! (salute) we should have the luxury of sitting around in ivory towers philosophizing or in glass towers counting our shekels. But I will fight if I must. I hopeyou will bring me up to speed with the latest weaponry. You have drawn the wrongopinion about me in regards to the right use of military power. By the way, I know a fewold Marines who agree with my views on Iraq.

You are correct: there could be future attacks, especially if the current belligerent attitude prevails for long. Eventually, within the next century, I expect many terrorist attacks will

come from within and will have nothing to do with Islam per se.

By the way, I am favor of the Afghanistan effort for the reason that it was forced on thehypocrite who is our president, and I would gladly be there right now for that purposeand have registered with foreign job data bases.

With his lack of military focus and sincere concern for the people of Afghanistan as anation, our liberation efforts there, which he once smirked at beforehand as 'nation building', could quickly devolve into tribal chaos. By the way, where are the oil men whowere meeting with and bribing the Taliban? Why can't we work something out withthem? What a great place for a pipeline to China and India!

May I be dismissed now, sir?


The question of Iraq can only be understood in terms of religion. The Islamic worldinsists that we control Saddam when he threatens the peace of the region; but Islam



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opposes us if we seek a permanent solution, as an imposition in Islamic affairs. One hasto understand the treachery of Islamic politics, to understand that they do not wantsolutions; simply prolonged disturbance. The worst thing Arafat fears is Israel grantingPalestine independence, because the corruption of his regime would be immediatelycondemned by the Palestinian people themselves. Saddam could not survive without the

fight with the United States, as the Iraqi peoples would reject his regime for their level of atrocities. The Saudis fear an end to Mid-East disturbance, because it would inciteimmediate Western demand for lower oil prices; the price now being 400% inflation.

Lawrance G. Lux

Theories of the Arab perception of Colonialism are too moot to be refreshing. The pointis the effect of the colonial powers drawing lines on a map and designating countriesfrom there, without regard to tribal or indigenous boundaries that have caused much of the turmoil in many parts of the world. It was this effect of colonialism that is lamented.

Although this argument has some merit, the questioning remains as to how long thiseffect can be blamed, and when it becomes the new countries' responsibility. Based uponthe blaming attitude, England still wants Normandy, Navarre and most of Alsace-Lorraine back.

As for the numbers of 'murdered‟ babies, the fact is that Iraq has more than enoughincome to feed and heal it's population. Saddam just chooses to build palaces and use theresources elsewhere. The Kurds in the north now consider themselves to be living almosta golden age due to US/UK protection of the no fly zones. It makes for useful propaganda, but bears little relevance to the facts.

Peter J. Benson

If it were not for the English colonization of the Americas, the U.S. wouldn't be in themess it is in, today.


"If it were for the English colonization of the Americas, the U.S. wouldn't be in the messit is in today.

Beware of the White Buffalo and the Ghost Dance.


The warrior's predicament expressed by Doc is presented eloquently in the Gita. Thework is frequently denounced as immoral since the warrior is given the ethic of a loaded



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gun. Some moral grounds are presented, however, for killing relatives, at least enough for the orders to kill to be justified by the Brahmins, but that should not be of concern to thewarrior who must do his duty. Interestingly enough, the Gita is a later interpolation of theBrahmins into a heroic romance which of course presents the heroes elsewhere as rather unsavory characters at times. The Brahmin's intellectually sanitized their contribution. It

should be considered in the context of the caste system as it stood at the time as well asthe perennial human predicament. It truly is one of the most valuable literary jewels of alltimes.


Blaming the babies' deaths on Saddam Hussein is just that, a hand-washing blamingstrategy, and that will not wash the blood off the taxpayers' hands. Why condone whatamounts to the murder of 500,000 babies and the grief of millions of relatives? BecauseSaddam is sitting pretty and talking heads on TV said that makes sense? It is murder because sanctions have a long and sorry history of not working and making things worse,and the despicable war-mongers at the head of our government knew it then and know it

even better now. There should have been and there should be no sanctions. The U.S. andits allies lost the Gulf War because they did not finish what they started.

At least this offer should be made: sanctions will be lifted now in exchange for unrestricted access. If access to a site is not given within 24 hours, the site will bedestroyed.

http://writingthepolitical.wordpress.com/category/baghdad-burning/



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As for where the weapons of mass destruction are, probably in the temples; that makessense.


Blaming the babies‟ deaths on any one side is a blaming strategy. I do wonder how manyof those babies would have died regardless, which I have never seen put into the figures.Sanctions have become the international club‟s choice since South Africa. However thesituation is not at all comparable here. It's still easier to impose sanctions than it is toenforce will. What G.W. Bush is doing is equivalent to the British concept of 'gunboatdiplomacy.' Unfortunately times have changed. When we sent in a gunboat, the implicitthreat was real and immediate; we didn't need to ask for world approbation. Now, no-one believes the 'gunboat' these days or a flight of B1 bombers means anything unless theworld gives consent. At the same time, unlike the British Empire in gunboat days, G.W.Bush doesn't have that automatic, overwhelming jingoistic vox populi that "what we do is

right/" So we are left with a very messy situation and as always, the innocents suffer.

Peter J. Benson

It's all about Power. Look for ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads in temples, where

the Absolute Power is worshiped, then distributed politically. Temples served as banksand arsenals in ancient times, so why not now?

We like to believe we are on a higher moral ground. Our 'nation' is more democratic,more of a 'people', and I am glad I am behind the biggest guns. But being behind them isnot as safe as it used to be, not only because of infiltrating terrorists, but also because of the enemy within, which includes the mobsters and monsters now in charge.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8300950/WikiLeaks-cables-planned-US-missile-shield-blind-to-nuclear-weapons.html



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Maybe we have a last external jihad in us now that our inner jihad has petered out. I'mgoing to start doing pushups tomorrow or the next day.

Remember how the politicians and warriors were scratching their heads and saying 'Whatto do? What to do?' Then Joan rode up on her white horse carrying her lance with a white

banner, and screamed, “Follow me! Follow me!” I'm off and away. Take care and goodluck!


Saddam believed Kuwait belonged to Iraq. What's the scoop on that?

Good propaganda, to justify his attacking Kuwait.

Why were the troops raping and murdering the Kuwaitis? Was some ethnic differencesupposedly involved in that?

Simply to give his troops more incentive to march across the desert and attack when theyknew damned well they were in the wrong and they could expect a military reaction fromsomewhere. "Go, my children, into the Kuwaiti toy store and take anything you wish to play with...”


The rivalry in the Mid-East goes back through the centuries on a cultural level.Damascus is the Mid-East equivalent of ancient Athens; Bagdad is like ancient Sparta.

The Iraqis are not really Arabic, being older to the region; a racial stock both Mongol andPersian. The Syrians are of racial stock which is a blend of Greek and the old Germanictribes. The Kurds are leftovers of the old Egyptians, though not really racially related tothe present-day Egyptians; who are several inter-breedings past the Kurds. The southern peninsula Arabs are basic Germanic stocks, who settled the region before the Germantribes moved West to conquer Europe. The violent tendencies go back to violent combatoriginating long before the Jews were pushed out of Palestine the first time. The Jews,themselves, are more Phoenician than anything, with influences of Crete and Egyptiansof the same composition of the Kurds. The racial hatred is only skin-deep in the Mid-East.

Lawrance G. Lux

The vestiges of colonial exploitation are still with us today, for example, in the form of discriminatory practices and contemptuous attitudes towards blacks and NativeAmericans. But this colonial development is common knowledge, and is of course stillappreciated by racist bigots. For instance, I quote from the Britannica:



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"One of the greatest problems faced by settlers in the New World, particularly in thesouthern colonies, was the shortage of labor... Jamestown planters had establishedindentured servitude... By the 17th century, a wealthy few had encumbered virtually allthe lands... The working poor and those eventually freed from servitude had little onwhich to survive, and their dissatisfaction with the inequities of colonial society led to

riots... Records indicate that many Africans and their descendents were set free after their periods of servitude. Some African men became wealthy... They voted, engaged in business and commercial dealings... Blacks and whites worked together, drank together,ate together, and frequently ran away together from intolerable conditions... The social position of Africans and their descendants for the first six or seven decades of Americanhistory seems to have been open and fluid and not initially overcast with an ideology of inequality and inferiority... The colonies were faced with two problems... how to maintaincontrol over the restless poor who seemed intent on the overthrow of the colonial leaders,(and) how to obtain a controllable labor force... The conscripted poor whites into... thecategory of free men... African Americans and Africans, mulattoes, and Indians,regardless of their cultural similarities, were homogenized into a category separate...

Records show that the Virginia Assembly went to great extremes... to promote contempton the part of whites against Negroes... Colonial leaders passed laws that increasingly bound Africans... as slaves... White servants had the protection of English laws...Colonial leaders thus began using the physical differences among the population tostructure an in-egalitarian society... Christianity provided an early rationalization for enslavement..."

http://ed101.bu.edu/StudentDoc/Archives/ED101sp06/emilyo/SlaveryinJamestown.html



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The author of the Britannica article on racism, printed under the rubric, 'Evolution,Human', mentions Bacon's Rebellion, stating "at least 25 percent of the rebels in Bacon'sRebellion were blacks, both servants and freedmen." I have not verified his sources yet.The author presents this information in the context of a democratic, non-racist struggle

for independence from the British. However, the rebellion began with the appropriationof some pigs by Indians who felt they had been ripped off by a white trader. That incidentled to the murder of (the wrong) friendly Indians belonging to tribes which served as a buffer between the Iroquois and the English. Of course the Indians did respond to themurder of their chiefs during a peace parley by killing some Virginians - inviting chiefsto peace talks and killing them seems to have been a common practice, but Governor Berkeley was infuriated by what he called a breach of honor. The Virginians over-reacted. Governor Berkeley, who was by no means in love with the British, tried to protect the Indians, so he was condemned as an "Indian lover." What the settlers weredoing, since they could not go after and battle the real enemy tribes, was to kill the localIndians who actually were a buffer between them and the enemies.

Now we all know how women lead men around by the nose and cause a great deal of trouble, even revolutions. For example, Thomas Jefferson among other notables wasconvinced that Marie Antoinette was the principal cause of the French Revolution - andhe was on the scene. Well, Stephan Saunders Webb, in his book 1676 THE END OFAMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, gives the women due credit for the trouble. "Womenled both the Berkeleyan and Bacon camps." The "greedy" governor's wife, LadyBerkeley, plays Marie Antoinette. On the other hand, the revolutionary women were theglue for the revolutionary government. According to Mr. Webb, the reason the womenwere not executed along with their husbands when the revolutionary government fell,was not because the British were reluctant to kill members of the fair sex, but because the

clemency was part of the discrimination against women. In other words, not executingdenied women their rightful role in society.

Note: I am investigating the possibility that pigs may have caused several wars. Perhapsit is no accident that Bacon's Rebellion has been traced back to some Indians whoappropriated some bacon. And when I visited the San Juan Islands, I was told of the "PigWar' there; apparently an Indian disembarked from his canoe and grabbed a pig. I recallthere were three or four casualties in that war, so we seldom hear of it.


Again I return to my original question. While not arguing the history of oppression andinequality, nor trying to excuse it, "When does it stop being our fault?" Or when does it become the responsibility of free countries to chart their own way out of the past? Itseems to be a condition of human nature to try to either blame the inequalities of the past,as in slavery, or even the glories of the past, as in the Kosovar return to a 13th century battle, and to allow them to define the present. Martin Luther King tried to move forwardwith his dream. The process seems to be hindered by those who cannot, or will not move



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forward, but would rather take refuge in the comfortable blankets of past injustice. That,to me, seems even more insidious than the smallpox blankets passed out, as it becomes aself inflicted sickness passed by generation to generation.

Peter J. Benson

You ask, "When does it stop being our fault?"

To whom are you referring with your 'our'? Do you really want to know, or is your question a statement intended to blame others for the misconduct that continues today? Idon't know, you tell me. I do know the past is part of each and every one of us in relationto each other, the part we hopefully face in order to improve our future.

I do not place you in the following category, but I have noticed a tendency for racists and bigots to ignore their past in order to perpetuate the ignorance and arrogance that invites

the same sort of reaction.

Think of it this way, Peter. What if you were having a hard time, and, while you wereexplaining the conditions that led to it, I said, "That crap happened so many years ago!When are you going to grow up you (category x)?" It does take two to tango, so maybe if we work together responsibly we will have better outcomes.

It stops being y(our) fault as we do everything within our power to make sure the previous misconduct does not continue. We have made considerable progress in thatrespect, but we still have quite a ways to go. That is why I speak out every once inawhile, even where it will do little good.

We all do a great deal of damage little by little, subconsciously. We may think we are justand equitable, but little things betray our underlying attitudes, such as questions whichare really statements, and flippant answers to such questions, both questions and answers basically agreeing that it is 'their fault' and not 'ours.'


Answer this, then, “When does it stop?”

Peter J. Benson

I addressed colonialism in this country, the effects of which continue in this country aswe speak. The example I raised was the deliberate cultivation of contempt for Negroesand Indians by 17th century colonials in order to split them off from white Englishsubjects who did have civil rights, and either murder them and run them off the land(Indians) or subjugate them (Negroes) because of the need for cheap labor in the labor-



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intensive tobacco industry. The racist attitude was a British export, derived from their contempt for the 'Irish race.' That attitude was applied to other peoples and was supportedthroughout the world; in this country, Christian propaganda justified the reason for theattitude, which was, again, slavery (cheap labor).

In any case, the effects are obvious in such events as the Civil War; Reconstruction; the pulling of the troops out of the South; the emergence of the Klan; the shooting, burning,raping, and hanging of Negroes, including vets return from the Great War; the CivilRights Movement; the white and black restrooms and drinking fountains I grew up with;sending the troops back to the South to accomplish what should have been done decades before; the brutal beatings of my black friends at a party in Florida (if I had of beenarmed, I would have killed at least one of the cops, but my pistol was in the car - I had atemper then); the 'Christian' man downstairs who let out a string of obscene racist curseswhen I mentioned Martin Luther King day last year; the obscene racist comments spray

painted in big black letters across the university restroom here (the "melting pot of theraces" - note: there is no such thing as a biological race) on that day; and much more. Somy point was this: yes, the racism and bigotry cultivated during the colonial days is stillwith us, and not only in blatant form, but in its subtle forms.

I answered the question, “When does it stop being our fault?”, yet it was asked again,

modified by deleting the fault-finding which was built into it, to, "When does it stop?"

http://africanamericansslavery.blogspot.com/2012/05/reconstruction-after-civil-war-and-its.html



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It stops when we do everything within our power to make sure the previous misconductdoes not continue. We have made considerable progress in that respect, but we still havequite a ways to go.

In my opinion, questions such as the one that began this discussion are really statements

with answers embedded therein, and are asked to embark on the same sort of fault-finding mission as the one the inquirer thinks he is opposed to.


I had no intention of initiating a fault-finding mission with a leading question. I am afraidI did not phrase the question properly to coincide with my intent.

Peter J. Benson

I mention here another Christian acquaintance of mine, a property manager who despises blacks, Muslims, Hindus, homosexuals, and others as yet unspecified. He is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute. After his disparagement of blacks on Martin Luther King Day,he used the N-word in application to Palestinians, saying they were illegitimate bastardsof very low intelligence and morality, "a race of bastards." How colonialism fits into thatattitude, I have not decided yet, but there must be something...

Anyway, I was thinking today, What a shame that 'race' was badly used. You know, thereused to be such a group as a "race of saints" and "the French race." If there is a "race of orphans", I would fit right in.

Another thing I want to mention in the context of how historians apply their current prejudices to past events, just as we all tend misinterpret our personal history instead of facing ourselves, is the case of Nathaniel Bacon, Jr. ala 'Bacon's Rebellion.'

Bacon was extolled as a great democratic leader, the forerunner of George Washington,who incited a rebellion - supposed precursor to the War of Independence - against thecolonial leaders in 1676. Or so say the democratic-republican historians. However, hewas actually one of the royal culos. He was a newcomer from England, a privilegedmember of the governor's council. He used the fear and hatred of Indians as leverage toseize power from the governor, who was doing what he could to protect the Indians. The

local Indians were no threat, but a pre-emptive strike had been made on a neighboringIndian tribe; Virginians set up a peace conference with them and used the opportunity tokill the chiefs, wherefore the tribe struck back, killing some Virginians, striking fear intothe hearts of all. The governor thought war was out of the question, and wanted to buildforts instead, increasing taxes for that purpose. But the planters did not like the taxes andwanted to take immediate action against the Indians. Enter 'General' Bacon: he and hismen murdered many Indians, all from friendly tribes.



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Et cetera: Yes, there are many other fascinating episodes. The effects of the colonialattitude towards Indians are still with us to this day. It is not that I would blame theEnglish today, or even all of them in their day, but I would blame those who hold asimilar attitude towards the Indians today. And many do have it. Our American Indian or Native American friends can fill us in on the details. We are all working to improve our relations, are we not?

As for the 'True Racist Around Here', and the comments about how some people findtheir identity by rubbing salt in old wounds, and are even able to make a few bucks beingoppressed artists and the like. I do not approve of that tactic but I do not condemn itwholeheartedly because I have had cause to resort to it myself a couple of times.


All racism is based upon predatory greed. People devise inferiority forms to justifyviolation of the rights of others, for the purely selfish gain they acquire. Thisdiscrimination lasts only as long as it is profitable. It is a sad statement on the conditionof humanity.

Lawrance G. Lux

I must say that the "Pig's War” And 'The Bay of Pigs Invasion' is recorded history,therefore I bow to this animal's extraordinary fortitude.

Even my 11-year old daughter understands that if a species dies, a whole ecosystem dies.A wolf, a predator, is essential. A wolf eats caribou and elk, and if it does not eat them,

http://www.landofthebrave.info/bacons-rebellion.htm



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caribou will eat too much grass and other plants, which in turn will endanger other ecosystems. The cycle of life is as simple as that.

Now, then, will eliminating one race solve the world‟s problems?

It is said that, “The more America waits, the stronger Saddam gets.” So the X -Generationwould kill the cause of the conflict, amputate a limb as if the fault were in the Iraqisalone, and this is approved by the whole Western Hemisphere, so let us do it, for whoreally cares about the enemy anyway? That is the ancient way. But Iraqi children willsuffer the consequences of war, and so will ours. We may amputate a limb in these dark circumstances, but it will grow back.

I have interviewed children who learned about ecosystems, and their answers are scary.They hate Bush and going to war.

"I shall not have a family, then, so I don‟t wish to inflict that pain," said Thomas, age 13.

"What is the end? What is the purpose? If I kill myself, I shall die, in my own arms,” Anthony, age 13, said.

"I've read so much, about life's purpose, and I decided to concentrate on nothing,” said Nicholas, age 17.

My daughter said, “Damn, that is it, my life, I have it, and I shall be a veterinarian, for I

never knew life was so messed up!”

Minerva Bloom

Come to think of it, shortly after I got my notice from the draft board, I heard some kidssay the pigs started the war in 'Nam, so I went on a march with them and we chanted:

http://thepublici.blogspot.com/2012/01/snot-your-business.html



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DOWN WITH THE PIGS!

DOWN WITH THE PIGS!

DOWN WITH THE PIGS!

DOWN WITH THE PIGS!

DOWN WITH THE PIGS!

DOWN WITH THE PIGS!

DOWN WITH THE PIGS!

DOWN WITH THE PIGS!

The young folk know more than we think they do. We've just forgotten.


notes on racism, colonialism, nationalism, war

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