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Archive for August, 2003

Thursday, August 28th, 2003

IN A BACKHANDED WAY, A SIGN OF PROGRESS

From Juan Cole:

*Al-Azhar seminary in Cairo, Egypt, among the preeminent Sunni Muslim religious institutions in the world, has issued a fatwa or legal ruling forbidding Muslims from any cooperation with the appointed Iraqi Interim Governing Council, according to IslamOnline. It gives the text as saying, ““The council lacks religious and secular legitimacy, as it had been imposed on the Iraqis under the power of occupation and does not conform to Islam’s established principle of shura (counseling).” The ruling argued for popular sovereignty: “Iraq is an Islamic country whose government should be legitimate and set up in accordance with the principle of Shura.” This language echoes the ruling of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani saying that the delegates to the constitutional convention must be elected rather than appointed by the Americans. Popular sovereignty appears to have become a key legitimizing idea even among conservative clerics in the Middle East.

I concur. It’s a shame that Bremer did not have as much courage of our convictions regarding ” consent of the governed” as did …authoritative Sunni scholars and Shiite clergy ! Managing the constitutional outcome of an appointive process will not result in much different a political system for Iraq than would ultimately derive from letting Iraqis vote – except it will take longer and seem suspect to everyone involved.

The interesting thing about this is that essentially the Muslim world has just capitulated to John Locke on the issue of political legitimacy. They may call it ” Shura “ in traditional Islamic language but the definitional content of ” shura ” now means ” democratic consent ” and in practice, ” free elections “. How else will these scholars be able to measure ” Shura ” and prove their legitimacy to their own people and the world at large ?

Thursday, August 28th, 2003

NORM MINETA – MAKING AIRPLANE HIGHJACKING EASIER FOR AL QAIDA SINCE 2001

Fire this recalcitrant leftist holdover and appoint somebody who will follow the law and not the ideological prejudices of Handgun Control, Inc.

Thursday, August 28th, 2003

THIS IS EXCELLENT ! NOW HOW ABOUT WE DO THIS FOR SAUDI ARABIA ? CHINA ? CUBA ?

Read this

Thursday, August 28th, 2003

THIS PRETTY MUCH SUMS IT UP IF ANYTHING DOES

“The idea that we can solve problems by working more is a big first for our country,”

Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, president of MEDEF, France’s leading business federation

Monday, August 25th, 2003

AMERICAN TROOPS ARMING THEMSELVES WITH AK-47’s

American troops are loaded with high-tech, high-impact, long distance weaponry but facing guerilla action in the Sunni triangle and back-alleys of Iraqi cities requires effective, low-tech, reliable small arms – which are in short supply. GI’s have remedied Pentagon stinginess by adopting the AK-47. The M-16 vs. AK-47 debate has been going on since the Vietnam War and under less than ideal conditions the latter seems to be a better weapon for combat troops engaged in close quarter fighting. Hopefully, no anal-retentive junior supply officer or P.R. conscious civilian at DoD will ban troops from using confiscated Iraqi rifles to replace what the Pentagon has not supplied.


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