Topic: The solution, my letter to a nobody

topic by
John Calvin
12/4/2001 (20:13)

Question:
And your point is? Terror is terror. It is all momentary for the individuals who perish as a result of it. Whether it lasts seconds or centuries, the dead are dead for eternity.
Shall we ignore any of it? Shall we spend valuable time discussing poems? One minute you post about how guilty America is, how it is the greatest suicide bomber, and the next you quote American poets.

So what is the solution? Talk? Action? Finger pointing? What!?!
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Answer

9993.65 in reply to 9993.59

I can't rightly agree with your premise about eternal death- which is one way to express the idea of it I grant. Neither am I assured that it is completely false. It is a matter of belief and as such, inaccessible to 'final solutions'. The question itself (about the meaning of 'eternity' and death), however, appears to me to represent an universal condition of existence. Khatami made a reference to at the beginning of his speech to the U.N., giving it the aspect of 'spiritual striving'.
If you think I am ducking the practical questions, please bear with me.

(I believe)' it is not necessary that a person have certain faith; it is enough that he regard the promises and threats set down in the Noble Qur'an ( or Bible ) as probably true and revise his or her conduct so that she or he ceases unrestrained and carefree sinning... The problem today is that people do not consider these truths even likely. The conduct, manners and behaviors of certain people clearly indicate that they see the existence of any world beyond the natural world as improbable, for to view it simply as probable would be enough to deter them from many evil deeds.'

This is the essence of the Jihad proclaimed by Khomeini which from the very beginning recieved nothing but hostile attacks from policy of the United States government, which seized the assets of the Islamic Republic, fomented Iraq to make war against it for 10 years and and still habitually defames the greatest Islamic teacher and leader of the age without the least learning and apparently without any conscience ( though we know in are hearts that this can't be true!)

One of the problems with this policy- there are many- is that it even fails to acknowledge the compliment the great Jurist gave to our ancestors by adopting the Republican form of government. Nor does it ever bother to recognize the similiarities of ideals between the Islamic and Glorious Revolutions.

Another, perhaps more significant in many minds- is that the previous alliance between the United States and Iran was considered ( by Roosevelt etc) important if not ( as seems proved today) indispensible to the stability of the entire region, in the State Departments own documentation of the post W.W.II settlement.That this alliance should be shattered by a student takeover and the institution of democracy by means of a Republican form of government with all the constitutional provisions recognizable as our own, is shocking and completely destructive, not only to the cause of peace and economic interest but to the social and political fabric of America itself.

First I admonish myself and try harder to accept the probability that the promises and threats set down in holy scriptures are true-though I may never be completely assured of salvation- at least I'll stop some carefree sinning and thus be more receptive to the welfare of others- even those far-off who may have a difference culture and language. This might be concieved as the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of the more and less feigned sympathy and patriotic blindness with perverse reactions to the slightest criticism characterizing the 'UNITED WE STAND' movement. Instead, I try to go forward in a process of discovery and compromise, to renew the greatness of America and find a peaceful, prospering and just place for it in the world, instead of accepting the present course on monologic aggression and empire. This is the Jihad.

Second:The chief manifestation of our Government's failed policy is the unnatural relationship that has been allowed to develop between Israel and the United States. We depend upon them, they depend upon us, far too much. Their place in the pantheon of U.S. foreign policy
concerns is 'special' and 'favored' to an extend which clearly over-steps the bounds of the prescription for sound and peaceful global relations ( as desribed by George Washington and many other American Statesmen , as well as confirmed by experience). This has to be changed. I would suggest that we approach Iran for help in this matter. We could at least learn exactly what they mean when they say that Israel has no right to exist. Maybe they mean 'no right to exist under its present form'- and would be amenable to a settlement which includes either a full partnership with the Palestinians or seperate, co-existing States, with some common and cooperating features.

No doubt any settlement will be difficult but I believe any hope that peace can be achieved under the sponsership of the United States, well, that is what I would call eternally dead. Looking to Iran for leadership in this matter would be a great shock to the Israelis but might be sufficient incentive to get them to stop killing Palestinians, invading and stealing their land. It would also be a great shock to Israel's chief supporters in the U.S. Doing such a thing would probably justify all the security measures being brought forth to protect Congress more than the threat of 'Islamic extremism'. Nor do I have the least notion of starting such a project in secret. I'm just advocating raising the possibility and putting out feelers.At least the notion might be introduced into the informal public dialogue by private citizens who don't mind being branded 'traitors' or 'sympathetic to America's implacable enemies' or 'selling American pride and virtue down the river' or all of the other epithetic baloney that flames about on this site and in the press.