A Progressive Security Narrative

On April 8, 2011, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at Princeton hosted a conference to discuss the need for a national security narrative. The conference was based on a recent paper by two active duty military officers, Captain Wayne Porter of the Navy and Colonel Mark Mykleby of the Marine Corps. Their paper, titled "A National Strategic Narrative," can be downloaded from here.

As William Rivers Pitt put it in his April 29th article for Truthout:

It is not a perfect document by any means, and many progressives may recoil at the deep vein of militarism woven throughout the work. Consider, however, the fact that here is a well-crafted argument for slashing military spending, resolving the health care crisis in a way that benefits people instead of profit, refining the way we educate our children so that educational funds are not an afterthought, fixing our crumbling national infrastructure, and turning away from the decades-old habit of approaching our national existence from a position of strife, distrust, conflict and war.

It is not a perfect document by any means, and many progressives may recoil at the deep vein of militarism woven throughout the work. Consider, however, the fact that here is a well-crafted argument for slashing military spending, resolving the health care crisis in a way that benefits people instead of profit, refining the way we educate our children so that educational funds are not an afterthought, fixing our crumbling national infrastructure, and turning away from the decades-old habit of approaching our national existence from a position of strife, distrust, conflict and war.

Evils of the Arms Trade

Anup Shah, Arms Trade—a major cause of suffering, Global Issues, Updated: November 07, 2010

Islam: A Nonexistential Threat

Commenting on Shariah: The Threat to America, a book produced and distributed by the Center for Security Policy (CSP), Dana Priest and William F. Arkin noted in their December 20, 2010, report for The Washington Post titled “Monitoring America,” that “Government terrorism experts call the views expressed in the center's book inaccurate and counterproductive. They say the DHS should increase its training of local police, using teachers who have evidence-based viewpoints.”

I respectfully suggest that the Team B II report titled Shariah: The Threat to America that was produced and distributed by the CSP in late September, 2010, suffers an overarching defect that undermines its meaningfulness and legitimacy. The defect is that the report views and presents Islam and sharia as fixed and inflexible when, in point of fact, Islam and notions of sharia are flexible and adaptable to the times. The CSP's book is woefully lacking in objectivity and, it appears, specifically designed to frighten Americans. The following illustrative analysis is an evidence-based viewpoint from a person who has studied these matters.

In the section titled "Key Tenets of Shariah," pp.27-33, the report accurately and with citation to authority summarizes what, for the sake of convenience, I will call old line sharia -- punishments and practices one might expect to see in Saudi Arabia or Iran but certainly not in most, let alone all, Muslim states. Many of the punishments and practices noted are simply not needed or desirable any longer and, hence, are ignored. Even just a few examples serve to prove this.

(1) Paragraph 4 on p.28 flatly declares: "Any system of man-made law is considered illicit under Islamic law, for whose adherents Allah already has provided the only law permitted, shariah. Islam and democracy can never co-exist in harmony." Many Muslim states have man-made laws created by their legislative bodies and accept those as being in line with the will of God. See, for example, the Constitution of Morocco. As stated in the very first article: "Morocco shall have a democratic, social and constitutional Monarchy." Article 5 states: "All Moroccan citizens shall be equal before the law." The next article, after designating Islam as the state religion, adds this: "The state shall guarantee freedom of worship for all." Article 9 guarantees the following to all citizens: "freedom of movement through, and of settlement in, all parts of the Kingdom; freedom of opinion, of expression in all its forms, and of public gathering; freedom of association, and the freedom to belong to any union or political group of their choice."

(2) In paragraph 5 on p. 28, the report flatly states that circumcision is "obligatory" of both men and women. However, the "Rabat Declaration," agreed upon by numerous Muslim states in 2005, called for the elimination of "all forms of discrimination against girls and all harmful traditional or customary practices, such as child marriage and female genital mutilation." By modern Muslim states, FGM is deemed contrary to Islam.

(3) In paragraph 10 on p.30, the report declares that: "Antisemitism is intrinsic to shariah...." During World War II, unlike several countries which refused to accept Jewish refugees, Morocco did. In fact, Jews were given the official protection of the king, a status they still have today. In Tangier, there are synagogues in addition to several other non-Muslim houses of worship.

Morocco has a population that is 99% Muslim, but the punishments and practices of old line sharia are not followed here. If there is any "sharia" here at all, it is only in the very broadest sense: the rule of law that Muslims find consistent with the will of God. It is nothing more or anything less. However, on p.90 of the Team B II report, a broad and modern personal interpretation of sharia advanced by Salam Al-Marayati is quoted and blasted as "world-class taqiyya." (A misuse of the term.) Now, hark back to p.7. The authors note: "Anyone obliged actually to defend the proposition that shariah should be adopted here will find few takers and be properly seen for what they are – marginal and extremist figures." This is doubtlessly true about old line sharia. Not only would the vast majority of Americans find it morally repugnant and antithetical to American ideals (as I do), modern Muslims reject it as well.

Team B II clearly had the resources to do a great deal of research. So, why were the passages in the Qur'an encouraging respect for and kind treatment of women, passages encouraging respect for and tolerance of Judaism and Christianity, passages encouraging peaceful relations among all people, etc., wholly ignored? Why did Team B II fail to research and present findings regarding the trend toward or away from old line sharia around the world? Why did Team B II elect to present only what it did?

Shariah: The Threat to America does not come close to meeting standards of objective research. It is not a scholarly document by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, it is an ideologically driven tome of third-rate propaganda of the vilest sort. Its overarching message is "Be afraid; be very afraid. Those vicious Muslims are out to take over America and impose old line sharia on us all." In technical academic parlance, the Team B II report is what is known as "malarkey." It is not surprising that funding for the Center for Security Policy comes not only from private donors but Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and other major defense contractors as well.

Team B II's report is, for the reasons briefly noted above and others, fundamentally defective. With all due respect, I suggest that the authors are probably capable of making a minnow look like a great white shark.

Thanksgiving Update

Yes, it is a little before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday; but, I'm writing from Tangier, so it is okay to update early as we are always thankful. (<:

Dear friends Rima, Nabil, Mustafa, Kenneth, Carol and numerous others have done so much for us this past year. I'll have to add more later, sorry, as I must go for now.

On War & Peace - pt.1

Drawing from Quaker Ways (1933) by A. Ruth Fry:

The idea of war -- calculated barbarity and maximum destruction -- is absolutely incompatible with man's positive relation to each other and to God. War is the extreme expression of a spirit which negates the Christ-idea in life. No compulsion by force can effect inner change.

[to be substantially expanded later]

Hania, Greece

I created this Jing presentation for family and friends in February of 2009 while we were living in Hania, Greece. Start the video, and give it a short time to begin. Then, if you mouse-over the screen, you will see stop and play controls. If you click on the icon at the lower right, the presentation will open in full screen view.

Gran Cafe de Paris

This is a great place to drink mint tea, watch the world go by, and meet all sorts of interesting people.

This picture is from http://www.paulbowles.org/. A tip of the hat and thanks to Kenneth Lisenbee for the great website.