Friday, September 7, 2007

Osama bin Laden, Convert

America often is responsive rather than proactive, this being evident in the general lack of cultural awareness, particularly with the Middle East prior to 9/11. The understanding of that regions culture, religion, and history is still lacking but exponentially better than 6 years ago. The last couple years of assertive policy have been problematic partly due to high level policy makers being ignorant about the region. Examples of this incompetence was highlighted by questions about the difference between Sunni and Shiites that were posed by reporters to Congressional officials and military officers. I have been one of those people who only focused attention on this geographic region after the 9/11 attack, but I have found the Middle East culture to be interesting and Islam to be like Christianity and Judaism in the contradictions present in scripture and practice. Whether politically correct people would like continue to separate terrorism from Islam it is a fact that the overwhelming majority of attacks that U.S. interests currently face are from people purporting to do violence in the name of Islam. It is a part of the human condition that people will lump innocent practitioners with those that capture headlines with deviance, especially when the former do not assertively route it out of their own community and let alone vigorously speak out against such actions. Our history with the Middle East is riddled with problematic policy involvement in that region, and Islam has many noble characteristics associated with it, but it should make us wonder if such a backward region with unfavorable religious headlines is going to recruit what type of new followers to the faith. I have heard conflicting reports of Christianity and Islam being the fastest growing religion, but it seems strange that people would be drawn to Islam while it is struggling to accommodate the reality of the modern era. I hope that Islamic societies can undergo a reformation that facilitates self-criticism and tolerance, and new converts can be attracted to the beautiful aspects of the religion instead of the anti-western connotations it may symbolize. Only a sicko or ideologically isolated individual would be convinced by Osama bin Laden to convert. He has moved Islam one step forward and two steps back.

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