Don't Ever Dream Of Freedom

While the international community and much of the world's media has been focused on the so-called "Arab Spring" and on events transpiring across the Middle East, they seem to have turned a blind eye to South East Asia and in particular on West Papua and the plight of the West Papuan's.

There was hope that with President Obama's visit last month, that the United States would take a tougher stance on Indonesia's brutal human rights abuses in West Papua but sadly the people of West Papua are coming to the bitter realization that their cries for freedom and self-determination have fallen on deaf ears.

The only crime of the West Papuan's has been to peacefully raise their national flag and declare independence from Indonesia and for that they have and continue to suffer the wrath of the Indonesian government.

There was a time when the United States supported the West Papuans and their right to self-determination, but it would seem no more.

Less than a month ago this is what Hillary Clinton had to say...

"There needs to be continuing dialogue and political reforms in order to meet the legitimate needs of the Papua people, and we will be raising that again directly and encouraging that kind of approach....[sic]"

Take a look at the video above, this is how Indonesia deals with the West Papuans.  The comments in the video regarding the pig sty deserve a closer examination and give a glimpse into the mindset of the Indonesian soldiers who see the West Papuans, the majority of which are Christians, as infidels.

For the Indonesians, the separatist conflict in West Papua has little to do with state sovereignty and more so to do with religious strife. 

The West Papuans deserve more than noncommittal gobbledygook from America.  They deserve freedom.

Obama:  Throwing Papua Under the Bus

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Nuclear Terrorism and Pakistan

"...Emboldened, our adversaries are now wondering how the situation can be manipulated in their favor, how they can effectively play one side in America against the other while they wait patiently for America to adopt an "alternative foreign policy". We can now expect to see a "lack of motivation" in our negotiations with countries such as Iran and North Korea and a dangerous shift in momentum in countries such as Pakistan..."

It was back in 2007 that both our adversaries and our allies first learned of the alternative foreign policy the United States would be employing once Barack Hussein Obama was elected.  The comments above are from a post we made back in April of that year.

It was also back in 2007 when we first commented on Pakistan's Khushab reactor where we showed the rapid construction of the third reactor there.  New satellite images now show that the forth weapon's grade nuclear reactor at the Khushab site is now almost completed and Washington and the rest of the world is scratching their heads wondering where the money has come from and Pakistan is deviant in continuing this dangerous provocation. 

This whole thing should of course raise more than a few eyebrows in Washington, but it hasn't.  I can assure though that it has raised more than a few eyebrows in India and the rest of south and Southeast Asia where China's influence is growing at an alarming rate.

For it's cooperation in the war on terrorism, the United States has and continues to provide Pakistan with financial aid, over $20 billion so far, and despite the fact that Pakistan has repeatably betrayed us and continues to dangerously act contrary to American interests, we continue to pay.  Why?

There is a reason for this.  Pakistan is to South and Southeast Asia what the Palestinians are to the Middle East.   The only difference, and it is a big one is that Pakistan is a nuclear power.  Instead of throwing rocks, the Pakistanis threaten India and the region - constantly reminding the world of the consequences should we not heed to their demands.  Quite simply it is nothing more than nuclear extortion.   It is this game of nuclear blackmail that both North Korea and Pakistan have perfected and one that Iran is desperately eager to learn.

Pakistan's harboring of Osama Bin Laden should have been sufficient enough proof of Pakistan's double game and that my fellow Americans many of which are acutely aware of our nation's own financial constraints would finally come to their senses and demand that not one more American tax dollar is sent to that hell hole.  

Anyone who honestly thinks that Pakistan was not aware that Osama Bin Laden was living in a large compound adjacent to one of Pakistan's top military academies has a screw loose and that includes Defense Secretary Robert Gates who apparently gets his intelligence from his trusted Pakistani government sources while he reclines by the pool at the Hilton hotel.   If getting betrayed wasn't enough to wake Robert Gates from his pool-side slumber then perhaps discovering that he has been two-timed as well will.

Seemingly our nation's policy of appeasement dictates that we parade around on the world stage with a giant turd poised on our head as well.   Obama's foreign policy is not winning us friends nor is it garnering us any respect.  We are simply being laughed at.

Believe me when I say that giving Pakistan US67,500 for the restoration of the Mid‐18th‐Century Sunehri Masjid (Golden Mosque) in Lahor is not the way to promote America or American values.

Why is the continuation of financial aid for Pakistan even a subject of debate?  

We went to war with Afghanistan because they wouldn't hand him over and now we give our treasure to a nation that harbored him.

Related Posts:

Divided We Stand, United We Fall

The Road To Pakistan

Beneath The Planet of the Taliban

Yin and Yang

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Obama The Terrorist - The Silent Moderates

Osama is mujahid - Obama is a terrorist

While the initial reaction to Osama Bin Laden's death throughout Southeast Asia was surprisingly muted with many expressing disbelief on his demise, the general mood is disturbingly changing.   Yesterday afternoon the mosques were packed full from Indonesia and Malaysia to the Philippines with thousands of Al Qaeda supporters and sympathizers taking to the streets afterwards protesting and marching on the respective United States embassies.  

The show of sympathy for Al Qaeda's leader was stunning with many shocked at the large number of supporters who came out.   To those in America and Europe who still think that Al Qaeda's virulent strain of Islam had but a few supporters, yesterday was an eye-opener.   Manila's Golden Mosque which normally attracts only around 500 worshipers for Friday prayers was filled to the brim with over 5000 worshipers yesterday afternoon.  In Malaysia,  Al Qaeda's sympathizers took to the streets and in Indonesia posters were put up denouncing Obama as a terrorist and Osama as a mujahid.

In provocative displays of religious chauvinism Islam's fieriest orators took this unique opportunity to stoke the flames of recrudescent radicalism from a vast new contingent of self-radicalized moderates, by denouncing the West and praising Osama Bin Laden.   It is this new contingent, the "silent moderates" who will seek no rapprochement  and offer no quarter with the West.  Emboldened by the West's appeasement, deference and lack of resolve, they number in the millions and range from bomb-makers to home-makers but each one shares a common goal and that is absolute victory.

While our adversaries overseas are plotting to one day soon deliver the nuclear coup de grâce - our TSA agents are back home are either busy groping preteens in the nation's airports or attending Muslim sensitivity classes.   Time is not on our side and neither will be victory if we don't pull our heads out of the sand.

To paraphrase Churchill, the West has been offered a choice between war and shame.  She has chosen shame and will get war.

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Obama and Osama - Inspiring Islamic Radicalization

Osama Bin Laden Death Photo - Dear Jihadis, this is what happens when you listen to Al Qaeda

"Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East."   

~  Barack Hussein Obama

As if these unwashed reprobates in the Middle East needed an excuse to get inflamed.  Might I remind you that they will always find something to get inflamed about.  And yes,  Mr. Obama they will claim that the photos are doctored because of your indecisiveness and over-concern for Muslim sensitivities in releasing them.   But just who's sensitivities are you  so concerned with?  Moderate peace-loving Muslims or the fanatical extremist Muslims?   Surely moderate peace-loving Muslims will be relieved to see actual proof that this fanatical tyrant who proselytized a perverted form of Islam is dead and gone.  The only people who might be irritated or offended are Al Qaeda's supporters and sympathizers.  

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu said  -   "If your enemy is superior, evade him. If angry, irritate him. If equally matched, fight, and if not split and reevaluate."

Might I remind you Mr. Obama, that we are at war and the majority of Americans could care less about our enemies delicate sensitivities.  You though are different.

Did you ever wonder why so many Americans think you are foreign born Mr. Obama?  It has nothing to do with racism or your lack of transparency in showing your birth certificate, but more so to do with where your loyalties lie.  You are an islamophile Mr. Obama who fails to see the United States as an exceptional nation and who relentlessly spouts his anti-american rhetoric overseas.

Amazed and befuddled at your anti-american rhetoric, Lebanese born Fouad Ajami  said of you - "Steeped in an overarching idea of American guilt, Mr. Obama and his lieutenants offered nothing less than a doctrine, and a policy, of American penance. No one told Mr. Obama that the Islamic world, where American power is engaged and so dangerously exposed, it is considered bad form, nay a great moral lapse, to speak ill of one’s own tribe when in the midst, and in the lands, of others."

It's sad to say, but it you Mr. Obama who has done more to inspire radicalism in the Islamic world than Osama Bin Laden has.   It was Osama Bin Laden  who  professed Islamic superiority to throngs of vulnerable jihadi wannabes around the world and you  Mr. Obama have professed American inferiority to the same people.  In an upcoming post here we will explain in detail exactly how you have changed the face of Islamic radicalization and how Islamic extremism is now changing.

It was in early 2008, well before your world tour that we warned Americans of what was to come  and how Islamic radicalization and extremism would change and they didn't listen, but they will in 2012.
    
"To suitably prejudiced Indonesians Obama's pledge to "rid the American mind-set of militarism" substantiates the position of the Islamic militants by rekindling the prophecies of Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. That America is a decadent and vile ogre, bloodied with the guilt of imperialism and inescapably tainted by an anti-Islamic history. It is this symbolically violent imagery that Indonesia's fundamentalist orators will use to radicalize a new contingent of militants from the ranks of Islam's moderates. Individuals who are mesmerized by the phantasmagorical image of one of their own now inhabiting the White House and who will see it as a sign of America's impending submission and our nation's acquiescence to the superiority of Islam."

It was a bullet that brought down Osama Bin Laden, it will be the vote of the American people that brings down Barack Hussein Obama.

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Across Southeast Asia Bin Laden Still Lives

Throughout Southeast Asia, the alleged killing of Osama Bin Laden coupled with the delay by the United States government in releasing any photographic evidence to the fact is giving birth to a flood of conspiracy theories, with many refusing to believe that Al Qaeda's leader is actually dead.

The conspiracy theories are varied - some saying this is simply a ploy by Barack Hussein Obama to help his popularity and others saying that this is a lie meant to draw Osama Bin Laden out  -  there is however one common denominator that all these conspiracy theories have, and that is that all this is nothing more than a ginned-up story from the United States and that Osama Bid Laden still lives.

"Where is the proof?" is the common response here in Southeast Asia whenever Osama Bin Laden's demise is mentioned.  

At this point the damage is done, the photographic evidence  and/or proof of Osama Bin Laden's death should have been released immediately without this charade of conflicting stories and  an agonizing delay that has and continues to give birth to a plethora of conspiracy theories overseas - many of them that fuel anti-american sentiment overseas particularly the theory that the photos need to be altered or brushed up before they are released to the public.  This is something that could have been avoided.

For a president who should have learned a thing or two about transparency in the past few months this reflects poorly.  Obama's indecisiveness and over-concern of Muslim sensitivities displays a weakness in character that invites aggression and fuels radicalization rather than suppressing it.  What could have been a win is now becoming a loss.  It is not Osama Bin Laden's death that is going to fuel anti-american sentiment  overseas but rather the secretive circumstances surrounding it.

So what if a photo is gory, as long as the photo is recognizable of Osama Bin Laden,  the message it sends to any young jihadi wannabe is that "this is what happens to your face when you listen to Al Qaeda".   The message it sends it is a powerful message that serves as a deterrent in the same way that the gory before and after photos of meth addicts acts a deterrent to those thinking about trying methamphetamines.

The brutal death of Osama Bin Laden at the hands of American commandos could have been both a  propaganda win and a strategic win in the war on terrorism if it was played out correctly instead it will serve as perhaps one of the biggest mistakes made in the war on terrorism.

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God Have Mercy on Pakistan

Like many I won't ever forget the feeling I had on 9/11 when I watched with horror the events unfolding in New York.  I remember saying to myself, "God have mercy on the souls who did this, because America won't."

For almost ten years we have put up with Pakistan's double game, our leaders have relentlessly professed that Pakistan was our ally in the war on terrorism.  We have and continue to give Pakistan over a billion dollars a year in economic and military aid, much of it frittered away.  American taxpayer money, meant to be used to fight Al Qaeda has been diverted to help finance weapons systems meant to counter India while Pakistan has along along been providing not only a safe haven for Al Qaeda's mid-level leaders, but for Osama Bin Laden himself.

Today while they are burning the American flag and honoring the martyr Osama Bin Laden on the streets in Pakistan, much of our media in the west and in America seem to find themselves trapped in a perpetual state of denial asking childlike naive questions such as "Was Bin Laden a Guest of Pakistan" or "How could Pakistan not know Bin Laden was hiding there?"  The Telegraph asks who's side was Pakistan on in this shootout?   As if it wasn't so painfully obvious.

Our diplomats and military leaders have been aware of Pakistan's duplicity, but each time  in the past when we questioned Pakistan on the evidence,  we have received denials or in some cases actual threats as you will see in the link below.

Where is the resolve that our nation had back in 2001 when our president clearly stated  - "...From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."   Michael Crowley thinks that we should just suck it up and regard Pakistan not as a hostile regime but as  a "troublemaking dependent son" alluding that we should continue to provide financial and military aid to a nuclear-armed Pakistan fearful of what they might do next.

It is our lack of resolve that breeds terrorism and if we give a pass to Pakistan we will have to give a pass to every other nation that continues to harbor and support terrorism.  Worse we will have disgraced the memory not only of those who died on 9/11 but of all those since who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terrorism.

To paraphrase Churchill,  a nation does what it must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.  The more things change, the more they remain the same.

God have mercy on Pakistan, because I won't.

The Road To Pakistan

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Pakistan Needs To Burn

Often in our self-perceived vocation as the torch-bearers of freedom and democracy, we tend to lose sight not only of the limited power of politically engineered change in an Islamic country such as Pakistan, but of that simple truism that no society can ever live outside the parameters of its basic ideology.

Now that Osama Bin Laden is dead and Pakistan betrayed us. 

I fully expect that all financial aid being given to Pakistan to cease immediately, and the country of Pakistan to be on fire by the time I wake up in the morning.

The Road to Pakistan

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Sila Sahin's Bigotry and Intolerance

Virginity..... questionable....

In posing nude for Germany's Playboy Magazine, provocateur Sila Sahin knew full well that her bigoted and intolerant act would needlessly inflame and provoke Muslims throughout the world.

With complete disregard for the religious sensitivities of her co-religionists Ms. Sahin had this to say,

"For too long I tried to do everything right. I want these photos to show young Turkish women it's okay for you to live however you choose. Many of my countrymen think it's great that I can be so free. With the shoot I hoped to say to them that we do not necessarily have to live under these rules given to us."

To paraphrase Time Magazine's Joe Klein, 

Sila Sahin has a right to pose nude. And Islam's religious leaders have a right–no, more than a right: a moral responsibly–to blast Sahin for the nitwit bigot she is, and to rally conservative muslims against this profoundly disgusting, and extremely dangerous, act.  This type of unIslamic behavior, endangers the lives of  the publishers of Playboy magazine and innocent civilians and it should rightfully be condemned.

But there should be no confusion about this: Sila Sahin's act was murderous as any suicide bomber's. If there is a hell, she's just guaranteed herself an afterlifetime membership.

.

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The Jihadi Propagandist

"Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack."

Sun Tzu ~ The Art of War

The war we are engaged in today is a war like no other war that our nation has ever experienced and the challenges are like none that we have ever faced before. We are engaged in a war where the lines between politics, religion, soldier and civilian have been blurred. Whether we like it or not, we are all on the front lines of this war.

Our troops in Afghanistan are demoralized, it does not help the situation when their commander Gen. David Petraeus is more interested in appeasing our enemies rather than destroying them. That Petraeus would have the audacity to condemn the desecration of what he describes as the "Holy Qu'ran" by Rev. Terry Jones and not have the courage to condemn the blood-lusting jihadists who murdered in the name of Islam just proves that he has become nothing more than an Islamophile who has lost his ability to command.

To achieve victory in what is now America's longest war according to General David Petraeus it is incumbent on us all to appease the enemy by curtailing that very thing that we are supposedly fighting for - freedom.



The front line has shifted once more and our nation's leadership and military now feel compelled to require us to sacrifice our ardent beliefs and convictions on the altar of political correctness instead of standing up for what we believe in.

In the recent Koran desecration incident, no one seems to be asking the questions as to why are they only rioting in Afghanistan or why did it take two weeks for the rioting to commence from the time that Rev. Terry Jones had set the Koran alight. No one seems to find it ironic that President Hamid Karzai who instigated these illiterate reprobates to go on a rampage is now calling on the the United States Congress not only to condemn the Koran burning but asking that the Rev. Terry Jones be arrested. Is Hamid Karzai really on our side?

Am I the only one aware of the enemy propaganda and noticing a pattern of coercive persuasion here? These riots and killings are not spontaneous, they are organized and organized with a purpose. Signs are printed in English and calls go out to the mosques urging the masses to take the streets. It is nothing more than a form of enemy propaganda designed to exploit and divide us in the hopes that we will alter or change our beliefs. They seem to be working because each time the jihadis do this, we react, and there are calls for us to restrict our freedoms.

How many of in our nation and the West including Graham, Petraeus and Reid have already fallen victim to the enemy psyops?



Related Posts:

Word Don't Kill People, People Kill People

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I Will Stand With Rev. Terry Jones

"I wish we could find some way to hold people accountable. Free speech is a great idea, but we are in a war... [sic]" ~ Senator Lindsey Graham

It is disgraceful that one of our nation's leaders would display such ignorance to what makes our nation, the nation that it is and that is an exceptional nation. It is also rare that I would ever find myself agreeing with Andrew Sullivan. What I found more unnerving than Sullivan though was the relentless vilification of Rev. Terry Jones.

Think about it, a mob of unwashed reprobates from the religion of peace goes on another of their blood lusting rampages and suddenly we start demonizing Rev. Terry Jones?

What about Molly Norris, Theo Van Gogh, Salman Rushdie and the hundreds of others who have had the bravery to speak out and defend that very creed by which we all live by? Why is Jones singled out?

So you don't like Jones and you don't agree with what he has to say, he looks scruffy and unkempt, a small-town hick pastor from Florida. I'm would not try to convince anyone that we should like what the Rev. Jones has done. But I am wondering, where is the deference to the quote attributed to Voltaire that states "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".

The Rev. Terry Jones says that Islam is not a religion of peace, well the rampage and murders in Afghanistan would seem lend credence to what Jones has to say and if these killings and murders are the byproduct of living life according to the Koran, then Jones is right and our nation should come off of this moral relativism trip and take a realistic look at Islam.

Graham was right about one thing. We are at war. We are engaged in a war where the lines between politics, religion. soldier and civilian are blurred. What is at stake is freedom.



So once again, we have a choice to make, we can prostate ourselves before the tenets of multiculturalism, diversity and religious tolerance and thrust another of our own tribe into the volcano of Islamic rage hoping that we can appease and quell the insatiable hunger of our perpetually offended adversaries or we can stand firm and resolute in our commitment to moral absolutism, human dignity, individual freedom, social justice and the sanctity of life. The choice is ours.

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The Truth About Guantanamo

On the 22nd of December, President Barack Obama had the audacity to claim that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility was "probably the No. 1 recruitment tool" for Al Qaeda and its affiliates.

There is nothing further from the truth.

If anything, Guantanamo Bay is seen not only as beacon of justice but one of American exceptionalism.

Justice insomuch that as Americans we are bound by the rule of law, whereas this maxim is eschewed by almost all Asian and Islamic cultures who traditionally view good governance as the rule by leaders who are benevolent and virtuous, and therefore the rule of law is a principle that many hesitate to embrace. This of course brings light to that simple aphorism that without the rule of law, there can be no justice.

According to Tocqueville, America's exceptionalism lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults. We are and have always been a nation that recognizes our faults and then strives to rectify them. Yes, the world saw the abuses at Abu Ghraib, but they also saw the way that we as a nation dealt with it and how those responsible were tried and prosecuted.

Thanks to the media today the world can see clearly how the inmates at Guantanamo are treated and while these belligerents are denied their freedom, they are in fact treated humanely which is something that many of these prisoners would not experience in their own countries. It's been said that the level of civility in a country can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners. But judged how? and by putting a quantum on civility, that is devoid in many other nations, are we not alluding to our own exceptionalism?

Much of America and the West don't have the slightest clue as what "inhumane treatment" actually is. The liberal media tries desperately to convince us that Julian Assange suffered "in the basement of a Victorian prison" or that Bradley Manning is being tortured because he has a cell to himself and his blankets aren't soft enough. My God, books and magazines, clean clothes, hot water and soap, television and healthy food to eat? I'd say Bradley Manning is getting five start treatment compared to what he would get overseas in another country.

So what actually is inhumane treatment. For me, quite simply, it is when you are treated less than human.

Imagine being overseas locked away, languishing in a crowded dark cell, never seeing the light of day and subsisting on a meager diet consisting of little more than boiled rice and water. A cell so overcrowded that there is not room for everyone to lay down at once and when you do get a chance to lay down you sleep on a a cold concrete floor with cockroaches crawling all over you. Denied any medical treatment and all of what the United Nations deems to be the basic necessities, no soap, no hot water, no television and no reading materials, absolutely nothing. Some more you are afforded absolutely no legal representation, nor are you allowed such. A simple request even to contact your nation's embassy denied. You are alone.

Stripped not only of your dignity but, above all, of your humanity, it isn't the brutal inhumane conditions that you lament so much, but the absence of justice. Quoting Rosenfeld, What I was to learn firsthand was that "no man suffers injustice without learning, vaguely but surely, what justice is."

It was in October of this year I had the misfortune of the spending three weeks locked up overseas in a crowded cell full of Indonesians and Pakistanis, It was during that time I befriended two Pakistanis, Asif and Hafiz. Asif's crime was that his employer had failed to apply for his new work visa. Hafiz's crime, was that his passport had been stolen.

During my detention, I would share my meager rations with Asif and Hafiz and we would communicate in broken English and Malay with each other. The three of us spoke of religion, politics, even of Guantanamo and the basic human rights that should be afforded to detainees such as ourselves. Together we wondered where was the world's outrage was, did anyone even know what was happening. Over and over we kept asking ourselves how could this be happening, how is it that men can be so cruel to one another.

For one three day stretch, there was no drinking water brought to the cell. Asif had turned to me and said "Even a dog does not have to beg for water." and he was right. Another night, delirious with a high fever and curled up in a fetal position it was Asif who would bang the bars of the cell begging for a blanket for me, only to be denied, he would eventually take off his own shirt and cover me so that I could keep warm. The special bond that developed between the three of us is something difficult to explain and to put it simply, we took care of each other in conditions where we were treated worse than animals.

In their mid-twenties, both Asif and Hafiz seemed to know instinctively that such violations of human rights did not exist in America or the West. I asked

Hafiz how he knew this. Hafiz simply replied, "This won't happen in your country because you have the law."

It was the word "Guantanamo" that attracted attention in the cell as a few Indonesians came over to hear what was being said. As they sat down, Hafiz said, "Do you know what is international law?" Hafiz went on to explain we all had human rights. It came as a mild surprise to me that not only did Asif and Hafiz know about the humane treatment of the prisoners in Guantanamo, but the Indonesians did as well. At this point one of the Indonesians said that not only did they hear that the prisoners in Guantanamo got healthy food to eat but he had also heard from a friend that the prisoners in Guantanamo could see a dentist as well. He looked over at me and asked in Indonesian, "Betul tak?" (Is it true?). I nodded my head.

For Asif, Hafiz and the Indonesians, America is an exceptional country because we have the law and with that, we have justice.

As someone who has studied history, traveled the world and spent a considerable amount of time living overseas, I can assure you that in our ever darkening world, America continues to be that shining city on the hill.

There is a part of me that is now gone forever and I only hope one day I might be able to recover it.

Your donations to this blog whether big or small will be deeply appreciated. I hope you find it in your heart to make one.

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The Terrorists Win

What do Richard Reid and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab have in common? Besides being crazed Muslim fanatics hell-bent on killing infidels, both the shoe bomber and the panty bomber were on international passenger flights destined to the United States. Richard Reid was on American Airlines flight 63 from Paris to Miami and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was on Northwest Airlines 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit.

And now... prepare to be outraged.

I recently boarded an international passenger flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Los Angeles, California. I arrived at the airport, checked my luggage and then boarded the plane with a bottle of mineral water in my hand. There were no humiliating body searches and no pornographic scans, just straight from the counter to the gate with no inconveniences at all.

Only after having arrived in the United States and preparing to board a domestic flight to Houston would I experience the degrading humiliation to America's air travellers face on a daily basis.

There are hundreds of international passenger flights which arrive in the United States each week and few if any are subjected to the type of scrutiny that America's domestic travellers are subjected to.

Ironically, the justification we hear for these new invasive proceedures is that we will stop people like Richard Reid and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

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The Curse of Cassandra

"I think all Americans were quite taken with the fact that we were able, after the long history we've been through, that initial birth defect of slavery, that we've elected an African-American ... And that's enormously heartening for people in the country, but also people worldwide who still have trouble with differences." ~ Dr. Condoleeza Rice

Dr. Condoleeza Rice was opining shortly after the election of Barack Hussein Obama that his election "encouraged" people in the United States and around the world. It was an interesting choice of words from Dr. Rice, but perhaps a more fitting word would have been "emboldened".

Back in August of 2008 I wrote...

"...Like Barack Obama, I've lived in Southeast Asia, albeit a long longer than Obama did. But unlike Barack Obama I've never been subscriber to cultural or moral equivalency nor have I felt compelled to deride my own country in a a pathetic effort to establish that equivalency. I know that deriding my own country overseas only emboldens those who deny freedom and liberty to others. As an advocate of American exceptionalism, I've always felt myself compelled to spread the message of what is good about America rather than what is bad and for me that normally starts with steaming bowl of chili con carne and a plate of tacos."

One of only a few refuseniks I found myself overwhelmed and dumbfouned as I watched so many of my fellow Americans feverishly licking the Kool Aid straight from the sachet. The reality is though that throughout our world's history the message of hope and change has always trumped the ominous warnings of gloom and doom that I seemed to be purveying. For this I would suffer the curse of Cassandra.

Throughout history in times of frustration and turmoil people have found themselves drawn to either men of destiny or to the false prophets of hope and change.

So here we are now, a year later and despite having elected a prophet of hope and change, the reality is that we are still at war. Worse we have become as Bernard Lewis warned "harmless as an enemy and treacherous as a friend". Our enemies around the world have been emboldened by America's bumbling "Apologist in Chief" and our allies who have stood by us have been left abandoned and confounded.

After Barack Hussein Obama's speech at the United Nations, allies of ours here in Southeast Asia see Obama not only as "idealistic" and "weak" but now as an unreliable partner in the war on terrorism.

Captain Nathan Brittles would have had some advise for Barack Hussein Obama- "Never apologize Mister, it's a sign of weakness."

Islam's Battle for the White House

The Crossing of the Rubicon

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Damn You All To Hell !!

In more ways than one, this is the end.

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Obama: Throwing Papua Under the Bus

In an article entitled "A Forgotten Cause", Peter Tatchell sheds light on the plight of the West Papuans, many of whom are Christians and have suffered under Indonesia's brutal policy of ethnic and religious persecution. The untold story though is how the Obama campaign would sell out the West Papuans in a desperate attempt to protect Obama's presidential bid.

On the 3rd of July 2007, U.S. Congressman Eni Faleomavaega would touch down in Jakarta, Indonesia. A staunch outspoken critic of Jakarta's rule over West Papua, New Guinea and a crusader for West Papua’s right to self-determination, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Asia, The Pacific and the Global Enviroment, Faleomavaega promised to be a force to be reckoned with.

Having been barred from visiting Papau by the Indonesian government, Faleomavaega would instead settle for a private meeting in Jakarta with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Barnabas Suebu the governor for the Indonesian province of Papau. The Papuan issue though wasn't the only thing on Faleomavaega's mind, being one of Barack Obama's most devoted disciples, Faleomavaega would be seeking the Indonesian government's assistance in supporting Barack Obama's presidential campaign as well as making the requisite pilgrimage to Barack Obama's childhood school.

According to our Indonesian sources, "officials" who accompanied Faleomavaega were interested in acquiring any and all documentation or photographs of a young Barry Soetoro for America's "national archives" and they were offering cash, lots of it. In a show of faith, Barack Obama's childhood school would be one of the very first beneficiaries of this outpouring receiving thousands of dollars to upgrade the school and for the purchase of computer equipment, thanks in part to the benevolence of this visiting junket.

The challenge of course was securing Indonesian goverment records potentially damaging to Barack Obama's candidacy for the US presidency as well as other records pertaining to a young Barry Soetoro and his family wouldn't be so easy to acquire and secure, and for this, the visitors would need the assistance and cooperation of the Indonesian government.

It's not that getting Indonesian government help is difficult, it's not. It's no secret that Indonesia is one of the most corrupt countries on the planet, but we're not talking about the challenge of dealing with corrupt government officials here, but rather, dealing with the "true believers of change". Convincing the Indonesian government that an Obama presidency will be able to deliver that "change" and that it was in the interest of both countries to see that Barack Obama was elected was nothing more than a fait accompli for Faleomavaega's entourage.

For West Papau's governor in attendance, having been pacified at the prospect that an Obama presidency would enable him to make zillions trading carbon credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange, Barnabas Suebu would sit quietly as the fate of West Papau was decided.

The only issue of contention Faleomavaega would face from the Indonesian government would be the issue of West Papau. In the end, it was simply a give and take situation. The Obama campaign needed assistance from the Indonesian government and the Indonesian government wanted a free hand in Papau.

Later concerning Faleomavaega's meeting, Indonesian presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal would have this to say: "One thing that is sure is that Faleomevaega's visit here has changed his views about Indonesia. It has made him realize this country is so vast and complex it cannot be reduced by the Papua issue..." Dino said Faleomavaega was known as a US Congress member who often commented on the Papuan issue but now he had changed his views. "He now sees that Papua is inalienable part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia."

Faleomevaega's and meeting with Indonesia's president regarding West Papau and his subsequent flipflop on supporting West Papau's right to self-determination is something that you might think would warrant at least a press release on the congressman's website, but there is nothing, nor is there any mention on the House Subcommittee's site. No press release, nothing, not even a mere mention of his trip to Indonesia.

In the end, everyone got what they wanted, all to the detriment of the West Papuans.

The is no denying the fact that the prospects of an Obama presidency has emboldened the Indonesian government's brutal repression in Papau. In an earlier article, we would explain in detail how an Obama presidency would stoke ethnic and religious chauvinism in Indonesia and how Indonesia's Islamic fundamentalists will use an Obama presidency to radicalize a new contingent of militants from the ranks of Islam's moderates. Individuals who are mesmerized by the phantasmagorical image of one of their own now inhabiting the White House and who will see it as a sign of America's impending submission and our nation's acquiescence to the superiority of Islam. Tee-shirts blazoned with messianic images of Barack Hussein Obama are already starting to replace the Osama Bin Laden tee-shirts that have been so popular in Indonesia. In Indonesia Barack Obama is fast becoming the "Che Guevara" of Indonesia's young wannabe Islamists.

The Indonesian government is not only failing to protect the West Papuans from the violence of militant Islam, the government is actively stoking the fires of ethnic and religious chauvinism and supporting intimidation againstWest Papuans with many in recent days taking to the streets protesting the introduction of Islamic law.

For Indonesia's national news agency to refer to the US government as the "George Bush administration" highlights the dichotomy of opposing foreign policy positions that are being both presented and exploited by the left. That Indonesia would feel it was safe to renew their campaign of brutal repression in Papau, in the last few months of the current administration, the diplomatic sabotage conducted by the Obama campaign is partially if not wholly responsible.

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Defeating Islamic Extremism 101 - Part 3

"They (the Taliban) might be implementing Islamic law, an Islamic state, but they completely waste their time because they do it in a totally un-Islamic way"

In a letter to his mother in late 2000, Australian David Hicks would offer a glimpse into the mindset of a Western Al Qaeda recruit who was slowly beginning to see the pharisaical hypocrisy in Al Qaeda's austere call to primitive purity. What Hick's had failed to see though was that Al Qaeda and the Taliban's revolution was more "nationalistic" than "Islamic" and it's violence inspired more so by jealousy rather than jihad.

I can understand exactly how David Hicks felt at the time. You see, I had been in the same situation as Hicks once before, the only difference I suppose is that I never made Al Qaeda's final cut. Unlike Western Al Qaeda recruits David Hicks and Adam Gadahn, I would have an epiphany, a sudden intuitive realization of the profound hypocrisy in the words and deeds of Islam's self-proclaimed über elite, a pharisaical hypocrisy that not only made their avowals of pious purity unconvincing, but one that made them vulnerable.

My first day at the madrassa was interesting to say the least, but I had made my decision. I was there to teach English and in return Hassan and his friends would teach me all about Islam. I'd mentioned to Hassan that I had never taught English before, but that didn't seem to matter. What mattered is that I spoke English and that the children didn't. I told Hassan that I guess I could help with the basic conversational English and so I went to a book store and picked up a some elementary school books for my first class the next day.

I arrived back at the madrassa later after the evening prayer. Just in time for dinner and I joined Hassan at one of the wooden picnic-type tables in the canteen. The students were all sitting on the vinyl-covered floor in a large room next to the canteen eating their dinner. In total there was around 30-40 students with four students to each large rounded tray consisting of a mound of rice, four hard-boiled eggs, some dried fried anchovies, boiled tapioca leaves and a sambal. The students were sitting on the floor many with their left hand positioned under their knee and then eating with their right hands. Hassan must have caught me watching this and then proceeded to explain to me that the left hand is dirty and meant for cleaning yourself. Making a mental note of this, I picked up the cup of coffee in front of me with my right hand and took a sip.

Hassan didn't realize that it wasn't the way the students were eating that had caught my eye, but rather what they were eating. This was something that I found a bit disturbing, the food served to the children hardly seemed to be sustaining. There was no meat and the amount of food that the children were given hardly seemed to be even enough to even fill their stomachs. As the students finished eating the passed by our table on their way into the dormitories.

By this time our food had arrived, a sumptuous spread of saffron-scented biryani rice, lamb and dhal curries, a large omelette of some type, fresh vegetables and several large pieces of naan. Being the new English teacher I sat at the table with Hassan and his guests from Pakistan. With the students all passing by obviously still hungry I felt embarrassed and ashamed and yet Hassan and his friend didn't seem to be phased in the least, they proceeded to help themselves. As I sat there, Hassan spoke up and asked me to join in. I looked at the table and at the people eating before me and then asked Hassan if I could kindly have a fork and spoon. Hassan frowned and then called for the cook to bring a fork and spoon over to the table. Hassan took the fork and spoon from the cook and handed it to me and as he did I seemed to find myself focusing on his other wrist, the one with the gold Rolex on it.

As I ate my meal, I found myself intrigued by the fact that Hassan and his students didn't seem to be very Malay to me, they seemed to have cultivated a predilection for everything either Arabic or Pakistani, as evidenced not only by their gross adulation of the dress and mannerisms of their "brothers" from Pakistan but by their adoption of a dualistic worldview where they see themselves as part of some cosmic, Manichaean struggle between good an evil. It wouldn't be long before I found myself being constantly critiqued on what was acceptable under Islamic jurisprudence and what was not.

to be continued...


Related Posts

Defeating Islamic Extremism 101 - Part 1

Defeating Islamic Extremism 101 - Part 2

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Britain's Islamic Fatalism

"I ask him to bring a new spirit of urgency to the fight against the Zeus of Iran and his attempt to kidnap our freedoms; and by doing so, to show New Labour's commitment to the true spirit of Europe - not just to an economic community, or to monetary union, but to European civilization itself."

The excerpt above is from a letter written by Salman Rushdie to Britain's "The Guardian" newspaper on 14 February 1997. It was on this day, the eighth anniversary of the fatwa against him, that Salman Rushdie would castigate Europe's politicians for cynically abandoning the ideals of free expression and human rights. In retrospect, Sir Salman Rushdie's words would offer a veiled glimpse at the coming future of European and Western civilization. A civilization that would one day willingly subjugate itself to dhimmitude, all in the name of diversity and "religious tolerance".

You might have expected a strongly worded statement on the 14th of February from 10 Downing Street, perhaps even in response to Hamid Ansari's declaration on Iranian State television that the "fatwa" calling for the death of Sir Salman Rushdie still stands, but this is not the courageous and proud Britain of the past, this is a nation now resigned to fatalism. Islamic fatalism.

It is hard to imagine that Sir Salman Rushdie could have possibly imagined that just eleven years later not only would the Archbishop of Canterbury be conceding that Britain's acceptance of Islamic law was inevitable, but that Iran would be on the very verge of developing a deliverable nuclear weapon. Is there truly any hope for a civilization hopelessly consumed with a "pathological self-hatred", a self-hatred that has now become dangerously fused with both anti-rationalism and as the Archbishop has so demonstrated, an Islamic fatalism?

Britain's latest disgrace is to unwittingly assist Islamic extremists in perpetuating their "us versus them" dichotomy by issuing special "Islamic bonds". What was wrong with the regular bonds you might ask? Well, the for Britain's Islamic fundamentalists, the regular bonds are "unclean" by Islamic standards. Make no doubt about it, with the assistance of quislings like Rowan Williams and Chancellor Alistair Darling, Islam's foot soldiers are busy with the task to ensure that Islam's religious precepts are all being duly incorporated into civil law.

For a government hopelessly enamored with the concepts of diversity and multiculturalism, these sharia-compliant bonds are a naive and misguided way of tapping Middle-East money and building bridges with the Muslim community, but the reality is that this "banking apartheid" contributes not to economic prosperity, but only to racial and ethnic chauvinism. What Britain's leaders lack is foresight, the foresight to see that that by rejecting their own principles and values and then bolstering Islamic self-assertion, chauvinism and values, they only substantiate the dualistic sociopolitical ideology professed by Islam's hardcore fundamentalists. It is the relentless accommodation and appeasement of these fundamentalists that continues to embolden them.

When the day of maturity comes, and it will, these bonds will be repaid with English blood and not with sterling.

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Britain's Archbishop of Panderbury

"Our modern western definition of humanity is clearly not working very well. There is something about western modernity which really does eat away at the soul." so says Britain's leading Islamophile and closet druid Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Hopelessly naive, if not anachronistic it seems almost predictable that Rowan Williams, a pagan druid, completely devoid of any moral compass would seem to revere the austere primitive purity of Rousseau's "noble savage". But William's 'conflict of conscience' is more founded in what Ratzinger referred to as a "pathological self-hatred" rather than his own misguided philosophical beliefs.

Joseph Ratzinger's 2004 essay entitled "If Europe Hates Itself" gives a glimpse into the source of a faithless Archbishop's torment when he states that "The West reveals here a hatred of itself, which is strange and can be only considered pathological; the West is laudably trying to open itself, full of understanding, to external values, but it no longer loves itself; in its own history, it now sees only what is deplorable and destructive, while it is no longer able to perceive what is great and pure."

The Constitutions of numerous nations, all with their emphasis on the principles of secularism, democracy, the rule of law and, above all, the equality of all human beings irrespective of caste, community, language or ethnicity are all derived from the British colonial legacy and Britain's gift to the world, the Magna Carta. There is a Commonwealth of Nations from Australia and New Zealand to India, Malaysia and Singapore who still value, cherish and respect their judiciary, legal system, bureaucracy and police. All cherished institutions, and all derived from British colonial administration.

There are millions of Singaporeans who see the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles on a daily basis as a warm reminder of their British colonial legacy. Millions of people around the globe who have been lifted from poverty to self-sustainability all thanks to the British. Having lived in Southeast Asia myself for over twenty years, the only thing that I think the British can justifiably be reviled for is their culinary legacy. Baked beans on toast and mushy peas. Vile and disgusting.

But as Joseph Ratzinger noted, none of this matters or is even seen by people like Rowan Williams, they are consumed with self-loathing and a "pathological self-hatred" and as Orwell stated in his 1941 essay entitled "England Your England", they are "unteachable", "only when their money and power are gone will the younger among them begin to grasp what century they are living in."

For Rowan Williams and the rest of his ilk, it is easy to place the blame on what they see to be an impersonal nation, they fail to realize that is not the nation, but themselves whom they hate. They hate themselves for what they have become. In Williams case, a faithless man of the cloth who has lost his way. This is not the first time Williams has found himself compelled to pee on the carpet and it won't be the last. Considering this, it should be obvious to all that William's would be best suited kicking around his misguided ideas on multiculturalism on some liberal university campus and not in his current position as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In his book Millennium, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto writes, "I find it hard to believe that this generation will be able to muster the courage to fight for the sort of imperfect humanity which is willing to abort innocent lives while sanctifying those of criminals, or which undermines it's own principles by banning moral absolutes as politically incorrect."

In an environment that eschews moral absolutism and embraces cultural relativism and the "diversity of opinions", it is almost to be expected that someone like Rowan Williams' or his liberal cohorts would make the mindless suggestion that Islamic law be introduced as some sort of "supplementary jurisdiction". In what Burke warned us against, William's suggestion is tantamount to simply dismissing the "rule of law" as nothing more than some sort of abstract universalism in which all individual identity is lost, stripped as Burke said, and standing "in the nakedness and solitude of metaphysical abstraction." What happens when the laws overlap as they often do in countries like Malaysia? Which law would supersede the other? One of the central themes of this blog has been the dangers of diversity and multiculturalism. Hopefully, this incident will serve as an example of how cultural relativism inevitably drags moral relativism in it's wake. If what is wrong for one society can somehow be right for another, then what is wrong for one generation can justifiably be right for the next.

Rowan Williams' reckless comments will not soon be forgotten, they will be seen as a sign of weakness and will continue to embolden extremist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and others who wish to see Islamic laws implemented. Only in September of last year, Malaysia's Chief Justice made the push for reforms to introduce hardline Islamic law here in Malaysia. Ironically his justification for change was very similar to Rowan Williams reasons, and that is the "us versus them" dichotomy, the post entitled "The Clutches of Colonialism" can be read here.

To paraphrase Orwell, "The intellectuals who hope to see England Islamicized will be disappointed. The gentleness, the hypocrisy, the thoughtlessness, the reverence for law and the hatred of uniforms will remain, along with the suet puddings and the misty skies. It needs some very great disaster, such as prolonged subjugation by a foreign enemy, to destroy a national culture."

Subjugation by way of multiculturalism is already underway. Today was the first strike on England's reverence for law.

Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury must either resign or be removed from office.

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Islam's Battle For The White House

In an article entitled "World Captivated By US Presidential Race", William J. Kole with the Associated Press writes that a mantra for "transformational change" is resonating across the rest of a planet desperate for a fresh start. And while Barack Obama is the candidate generating most of the buzz abroad, Kole interestingly enough, makes no mention of Obama's popularity here in Southeast Asia. Instead Kole focuses mainly on Obama's popularity in Europe and Japan. One might consider that omission a bit strange considering the fact that Obama spent his childhood years growing up in Indonesia. But make no doubt about it, the "transformational change" is already happening here.

Almost a year ago, in an unprecedented and strongly worded foray into US politics, Australia's Prime Minister John Howard said an Obama victory in the presidential election would be disastrous for the war on terrorism. John Howard went on to state that if Barack Obama wins "Al Qaeda will trumpet it as the greatest victory they've ever had, and that will have implications in our region because of the link between Al Qaeda and JI (Jemaah Islamiyah)."

For those who believe that Barack Obama's campaign promise to "put an end to the war in Iraq" and to let our adversaries know that "we are willing to come to the table" will have the desired effect, they need look no farther than Australia.

Last December, Kevin Rudd defeated John Howard on a campaign promise to withdraw Australia's troops from Iraq, a platform now embraced by Barack Obama who has promised to withdraw US troops from Iraq.

Al Qaeda linked insurgency groups in the Middle East and here in Southeast Asia wasted no time in declaring John Howard's loss to Kevin Rudd as a major victory declaring that they have "shot down the crusader Howard". Accused of "fleeing like a cornered mouse", Kevin Rudd's Iraq policy has lent credence to Roosevelt's eternal aphorism that - "No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb and that we can only have peace with Al Qaeda at the price of total surrender.

An Obama victory in the US presidential elections will be disastrous for the war on terrorism and the mere prospects of that becoming a reality have already begun to raise red flags here in Southeast Asia. To say that Obama is popular among Muslims in Southeast Asia would be an understatement. Almost all Indonesians see Barack Hussein Obama as one of their brethren. His childhood in Indonesia, his Muslim heritage, his Muslim name, his black hair and brown eyes, his opposition to the War in Iraq and his sympathy towards the cause of Muslims around the world convinces Indonesians that Obama is one of their own. For Indonesians it is simple, if he walks like a Muslim and talks like a Muslim, then he is a Muslim.

The results from my own empirical research on Obama's popularity over here are disturbing to say the least. Of over 100 Muslims interviewed from both Indonesia and Malaysia who had an opinion in the US presidential election, only two individuals chose Hillary Clinton over Obama.

Not only is Obama popular though, but his popularity transcends the theological divide between the moderates and the extremists and thus provides a focal point of unity for the two groups. It is this "focal point of unity" which has the dangerous potential to inhibit any further attempts to ostracize the extremist elements and as such thwart our efforts at deradicalization. It's one thing to be known as a uniter, it's another when you are uniting the very individuals that we are trying to isolate and ostracize.

To suitably prejudiced Indonesians Obama's pledge to "rid the American mind-set of militarism" substantiates the position of the Islamic militants by rekindling the prophecies of Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. That America is a decadent and vile ogre, bloodied with the guilt of imperialism and inescapably tainted by an anti-Islamic history. It is this symbolically violent imagery that Indonesia's fundamentalist orators will use to radicalize a new contingent of militants from the ranks of Islam's moderates. Individuals who are mesmerized by the phantasmagorical image of one of their own now inhabiting the White House and who will see it as a sign of America's impending submission and our nation's acquiescence to the superiority of Islam.

To put things into perspective, imagine if you will that in 1945 a war-weary America had elected Harry S. Yamamoto as president. An inexperienced and young president who's campaign promise was to "put an end to the war in Pacific" and to let our adversaries know that "we are willing to come to the table". What would be the reaction in Japan?

Unprecedented as it might have been there are those of us here in Southeast Asia who see the prescience and veracity in John Howard's ominous warning.


Related Posts

Defeating Islamic Extremism 101.

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Defeating Islamic Extremism 101 - Part 2

Prior to 9/11, it wasn't totally uncommon to run across men from time to time in Southeast Asia fully decked out in their full Islamist regalia, what the locals over here would refer to as someone who is very "alim" (learned, religious). Back in the late 80's and 90's what would be uncommon to find though was a Caucasian who spoke the language, a sure sign that the individual had a lot of interaction with the Indonesian and Malay community or perhaps had a local girlfriend. Times were much different back then and the expatriate community was quite small. Looking back, I suppose it was pretty much a novelty for the locals to see a foreigner who converse with them in their own language.

Hassan smiled and proceeded to heap accolades on me. "It's so nice to see an American who takes the time to learn our culture and language." I smiled and in response to his questions I confirmed that I did in fact have a Malay girlfriend that I liked very much. Hassan asked me if I had converted to Islam and I responded that I hadn't but that my girlfriend's mother spoke about it to me often. Hassan smiled and told me that if I was serious about this girl that I would eventually have to convert to Islam if I wished to marry her. Politely I told Hassan that is was a bit too early for that. Attempting to change the subject, I asked Hassan where he was from and what he was doing in Singapore. Hassan told me that he was from Malaysia and was in Singapore purchasing computer equipment for a madrassa and computer school that he ran in Malaysia. As I got up to leave the restaurant, Hassan scribbled his phone number in Malaysia on a napkin and asked me to stop up and visit sometime whenever I was in Kuala Lumpur.

A few months later I happened to be in Kuala Lumpur and being curious to see what a madrassa was like I decided to pay Hassan a visit. He wasn't exactly in Kuala Lumpur and in fact it was a bit of a drive and so I packed a few things in an overnight bag just in case I got too tired to drive back later. When I arrived at Hassan's madrassa I was bit taken aback at what I saw. The madrassa looked quite a bit rundown and all the students dressed in flowing white robes and turbans were standing outside when I drove in through the driveway to park my car in the back of the building. I walked around the building and spotted Hassan sitting with a few other gentlemen in the madrassa's canteen. Hassan stood up smiling and then introduced to me his "brothers" and then speaking in English, he told them that he had met me in Singapore, how I spoke Indonesian and Malay, that I had a Malay girlfriend and that I was interested in converting to Islam. Hassan's "brothers" smiled broadly and invited me to sit down and join them for a cup of tea. I noticed that Hassan's "brothers" were dressed slightly differently and then over a cup of tea, I came to learn that the "brothers" were in fact from Pakistan and were visiting in Malaysia for a few days before moving on to Indonesia. For the next couple hours we spoke mostly about Afghanistan and Islam and how the Taliban were transforming the country after the Russians had been defeated.

Looking back, what is interesting to note is how there was very little open animosity at the time the men were quite cordial with outsiders albeit their mannerisms made them seem crazier than shit house rats at times. In my attempts to be polite though I sat through the sales pitch that was now coming on strong and listened to the three of them go on about the beauty of Islam, how much it was a "way of life", one that united people around the world, how it was the fastest growing religion in the world and even of the audacious plans for an Islamic Caliphate that would encompass all of South and Southeast Asia. Hassan then took over, smiled at me and went on to explain to me how people's lives changed for the better once they had embraced Islam.

It was about this time that I noticed the students started assembling nearby. It was time to pray again. As the students came around I noticed something that struck me as disturbing, the students looked exhausted and tired, their eyes seemed listless and as they gathered around there seemed to be almost no deliberation in their movement. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something just wasn't right, and yet in this surreal setting I found myself almost overwhelmed with empathy. I wanted to do something. I wanted to help. I looked over at Hassan and asked "Do any of these children speak English?" Hassan frowned and told me that they didn't have an English teacher and then asked me "How would you like to help teach English here?" Without even giving it much thought, I agreed to help teach the students English.

to be continued....

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