Some bloggers
have been discussing the alleged sexual misconduct of the Jordanian peacekeepers in East Timor for a while now and I must admit I’m extremely embarrassed and shamed by the scandal. I just hope these soldiers will be harshly punished for tarnishing the reputation of our country and people.
There is a follow-up by the same Aussie author to an article I posted here regarding this terrible and disgusting behavior. The full article is here. This is an excerpt:
The deployment of Jordanian peacekeepers to East Timor was probably one of the most contentious UN decisions to follow the bloody independence ballot. It was eclipsed only by the cover-up and inaction that followed when the world body learned of their involvement in a
series of horrific sex crimes involving children living in the war-battered Oecussi enclave. Children were not the only victims — in early 2001, two Jordanians were evacuated home with injured penises after attempting sexual intercourse with goats.
Meanwhile, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, recommended an overhaul of a tattered U.N. military system in the world body’s 17 peacekeeping operations of some 64,000 personnel.
"The reality of prostitution and other sexual exploitation in a peacekeeping context is profoundly disturbing to many because the United Nations has been mandated to enter into a broken society to help it," Zeid wrote after visiting Congo and interviewing officials and victims.
The Washington Post has a feature examining the situation from a different angle here.
Jerry Falwell is on the record as saying that the Prophet Muhammad started an evil religion, a death cult. Then he said he had many wonderful Muslim friends. Gee…Muslims follow the sunna of the Prophet.
What Falwell is saying is he has many wonderful Muslim friends who follow an evil religion, a death cult. What Falwell is saying is these Muslims are not wonderful at all. What Falwell, a supposedly religious man who claims to believe in God and fights evil, is saying is these evil Muslims are not really his friends at all.
At the end, what he is really saying is Muslim are an evil that must be fought.
Sterling, your comment rings just as hollow.
= )
As it turns out, Meta-Lordie, I attended the American University in Washington, DC. At that time, the major financial backer of the university was Adnan Khashoggi, and Muslim students made up a substantial portion of the student body – perhaps as much as 15%. (Total foreign enrollment was 25%.) For a time I served as the liaison between the student government and the International Students Association, which was mostly controlled by Muslim students – of which the Palestinians were the most vocal. The president of the ISA at that time was a Muslim from Pakistan or India, I don’t recall which, though I was friendly with him at the time. One of my closer friends was a Palestinian who grew up in Kuwait, and I was on good terms with numerous Muslim students; Middle Eastern, Subcontinental and African.
While I was in high school I spent one summer enrolled in a summer study program, and one of my teachers was a relatively well-known Palestinian scholar, whose name I won’t mention here.
In my later graduate studies I did quite a bit of research on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Algeria.
I make no claim to be an expert on the Middle East, but neither am I someone who has never encountered Muslims or Palestinians, or sat down and listened to their view of things. I am trying to be respectful here by providing the unvarnished truth as I see it.
Hey Mental Mayhem visitors, which one is Sterling supposed to be?
Wait, which one am I supposed to be? Ah, wouldn’t it be nice if things were as simple as you describe, Meta-Lordie?
If you have an argument, present it. Since you don’t, I assume you don’t have one.
Welcome to late night theater:
Today, a tale. A tale of three Americans.
One grew up in the ol red, white and blue, while watching television. At the age of six, he watched television. At 13, he was still watching television. At 18, television became God. The Almighty.
“And from these speakers thou shalt learn the truth, dispute not with your God and Lord, El Televisio, for El Televisio knows best.” By age 36, One was a faithful practitioner of that ol religion. El Televisio told One what to wear, what to eat, how to think, how to date, how to have sex, what and who was popular, where to visit, and who to love.
El Televisio also taught One who to fear, who to hate and who to wage war against. El Televisio defined the meaning of freedom. “What El Televisio commandeth, so shall the faithful obey.”
One was told by El Televisio to love his country with all his heart and soul for it was the land of the brave and home of the free, indivisible under El Televisio.
wow, whats up with all this finger pointing and trying to act like ones culture is better than the other. crap happens all over the world. good things happen all over the world.
Sterling?
Do you really believe the stink you make?
Oh, I understand completely. Why come to terms with your real problems when you can blame it on the Jews and the Americans?
The U.S. gives billions of dollars to Egypt, as well. Is Egypt next on your hate parade?
The old joke about New York politics is that you have to remember the three “I”‘s – Ireland, Italy and Israel. See, the U.S. is made up of a large number of disparate ethnic groups. In New York, the Irish, the Italians and the Jews are three very important groups. So yes, the United States favors Israel on the grounds that Jews are an important ethnic group here. But Germans and Italians were important ethnic groups before World War II, and we still went to war with those countries.
The U.S. is not really a “democracy” – it is a commercial republic with strong democratic elements. Our country was founded on the premise that the desire to improve oneself or one’s lot in life is a natural tendency of man, and that people should be free to do so. And so we look at progressive Israel, with its software companies, vibrant media, vigorous capital markets and entrepreneurial spirit, and we see a kindred nation. We look at other countries in the Middle East where women are treated like slaves or where people are imprisoned under a dictatorship, and we are repulsed. Americans like Jordan, by the way – your monarchs have been very clever in their approach to dealing with the U.S. (Marrying an American was sheer brilliance – King Hussein chose very well. Queen Noor has been of exceptional service to your country as a diplomat to the West.)
Even though Americans tend to be isolationist, we can’t truly disengage from the rest of the world. “The world needs the United States a lot more than the United States needs the world” was the way the Economist put it a few years ago. When Muslims were being slaughtered in the Balkans, Europe asked for our help and we sent troops. When Kuwait was invaded we sent troops. When Somalia fell apart we sent troops, though that one didn’t turn out too good.
So look around at the neighborhood. Look at benighted Syria, run by a vicious dictatorship, or at Saudi Arabia, which wants to drag us all back into the 12th century. You’re fortunate to be Jordanian – the local alternatives aren’t that pretty. (I myself prefer bikinis to bhurkas.)
As for Israeli “aggression”, don’t be absurd. I won’t even dignify that with an answer.
As for displaced Palestinians living in camps, why haven’t other Arab states taken them in? During the trouble in the former Yugoslavia, the U.S. took in tens of thousands of refugees from that country. My home town in New Jersey, which is located near Fort Dix, one of the relocation centers for the refugees, “adopted” dozens of families, about a hundred people. The local churches, Catholic and Protestant, got together and organized it. They were housed in people’s spare bedrooms or heated outbuildings, and aided in finding work. Their children were enrolled in school and given special language instruction. And that’s one little town, poor by U.S. standards. Hundreds of other towns around the country undertook similar efforts. I don’t raise this issue to say, “look at how noble my hometown is,” because I don’t think it’s that exceptional. Instead I ask why Arabs aren’t ashamed that their governments have left so many other Arab Muslims to languish in camps for 50 years as a political ploy against Israel?
You’re so wrapped up in hating Israel that the world is passing you by. Israel exists and it’s not going anywhere. Get over it. Find something else to occupy your mind.
Oh, and regarding the World Trade Center and the Pentagon – imagine the Arab response if a bunch of Americans flew planes into the Al Aqsa Mosque and Holy Kaaba. We’re a new country and our symbols are new. That doesn’t mean we don’t cherish them.
loool my misconceptions? wheew. where do I begin. See you’re misconceptions stem from one small attack on two buildings that killed what? 3000 people? is that when u said u started paying attention? well “mine” stem from decades of history which i and millions of others are still aware of.
whats the problem man? it was just a couple of people and two buildings, u can build more and breed twice as much? get over it. move on. its just a little blood for God’s sake. After the last century this shudnt be anything new to the americans
See, it’s hard to get over something when you feel you’re on the defensive. Sure the french hate u, the brits to, in fact other than the coallition of the reluctant it doesnt look like many people are friendly these days. Why dont they attack you? Because none of them have to deal with their land being taken away and given to a people who are politically and financially supported by the United States. None of them have to deal with being persecuted by a nation supported by it’s mother. In the arab world “Israel” is synonomous with “United States”. Tell me, why do billions of dollars pour into Israel a year from the United States, why does the United States veto any UN resolution concerning Israel? To you it may be just another piece of land, but to us its our land and no amount of time that passes or bombs that drop will ever change that. Not even a colorful map. Thousands of arabs have died at the hands of americans and israeli aggression in the region let alone the small piece of the pie america tasted on 911. heck, half a million iraqis died just from food for oil campaigns. thousands of palestinians are displaced, thousands of lives effected and continue to BE effected. I know, I know, it’s hard to comprehend the actual existance of a world beyond the borders of the United States.
But Nah, our best hope has nothing to do with “democracy” or “liberty”, we are chained to our regimes, but we are more concerned with the menacing shadows which lurk behind those regimes. Democracy is great, well its not so good when its imposed on u at the barrel of the gun, but nevertheless its great. we got nothing against it. we got nothing against americans either. hey, what do we care about a bunch of people living an ocean away? we dont care about the japanese or the colombians. we’ve got no beef with the jamaicans. i know that since bush told u guys that arabs “hate” america because they “envy” america uve been buying up extra duck tape…but u have to think about this logically.
Palestine to us is worth more than the oil. When someone comes to your house tonight, throws you out and builds a settlement on it and then your complaint to the world is met by a slap on the wrist by the US, chances are…ure not going to “get over it” so quickley. make sure u have a good sleeping bag though because it gets chilly out there…thousands of palestinians can testify to that.
BUT, I don’t expect you or any other american to understand this importance. in fact, i sort of pray that u dont. ure lack of understanding is our best hope. ure ignorance is our oppertunity.
Well, you’ve finally stated your preconceptions.care what 280 million Arabs think about the United States. Most French people don’t like us, either – heck, the Brits don’t like us! – but they don’t crash commercial airliners into our landmarks and kill thousands of our people. You can dislike us all you want – 279,999,981 Arabs didn’t fly planes into buildings on 9/11. (And only a few of the 19 even knew they were on a suicide mission.) We’re looking at root causes.
280 million arabs will not change their mind about america.
I don’t
the only option america has in doing something about bin laden is…withdrawing from the middle east and specifically abandoning israel.
Regarding Israel, have you looked at a map lately? It’s friggin’ TINY. It’s the size of New Jersey! Get over it! Mandate Palestine was divided into two pieces – a big piece for the Arabs, a little piece for the Jews. Got it? Besides, Egypt will never assist in another attack on Israel, nor will Jordan, the Saudis are useless, the Intifada is over, and pretty much all the Palestinians with any common sense have moved someplace else or are trying to make the best of it in Israel (until recently the only place in the Middle East where Arabs could vote in honest elections). The Palestinian Authority is a bunch of thugs just trying to cash in – how many billions of Swiss francs did Arafat stash away?
The whole Israel business is an issue that corrupt Arab governments use as a propaganda tool to keep dissent focused on an external enemy instead of on corruption and absolutism at home. Open your eyes.
Regarding withdrawing from the Middle East, allow me to let you in on a little secret. Do you know what the U.S. military commitment in Africa is? It’s not zero, but it’s close to zero. Do you know why? Because Africa doesn’t have much oil. We need the Middle East’s oil, and we pay Arabs for it. But instead of using that oil money to turn the Middle East into a paradise, where does it go? It winds up in the pockets of a couple thousand descendants of Ibn Saud, various minor potentates, kleptocrat tyrants (like Saddam Hussein) and their cronies.
But chin up, because in somewhere between 10 and 35 years, there won’t be any oil left in the Middle East. And then we’ll leave. After that, given the current non-oil economic output of the Middle East, no one in Europe or North America will care any more about the Middle East than about the Congo. And Israel will have a free hand to do whatever it wants.
You see, your only real hope is democratization and liberalization of your economies. Fast. And if it works, you’ll have George W. Bush to thank for it.