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It's scary how some people feel...Criminalizing is definitely not the way to go. I can't imagine the Supreme Court upholding laws like that.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on March 22, 2012 at 9:13 AM
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An enlightening piece about GW Bush and OIC...
March 31st 2008
Cutting Edge Contributor
Joseph Grieboski
Last June, standing shoeless at Washington's 50-year-old Islamic Center, President George W. Bush announced an important new diplomatic initiative: for the first time ever, the United States would send a special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a global, 57-member organization of Muslim nations. It was a welcome move in advancing Muslim-Western understanding.
OIC member states welcomed the idea of a U.S. envoy. Appointing an envoy was meant to "demonstrate to Muslim communities our interest in respectful dialogue and continued friendship," the President said. But his interest in this historic special envoy seemed to have withered until eight months later.
On February 27, 2008, President George W. Bush announced that Texas technology entrepreneur Sada Cumber would be the first U.S. special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Asked about why it took so long, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "The president wanted to find the right person and he found that in Sada Cumber."
Make no mistake about the OIC's power: it represents Muslims from Guyana to Pakistan to Indonesia, making it the United Nations of the Islamic world. With a secretary-general and several organs, the Conference is the venue where members coordinate humanitarian aid and pen economic, social and political agreements.
"The core of his mission is to explain to the Islamic world that America is a friend," Bush said after an Oval Office meeting with Cumber. "This is an important job. There's a lot of misperceptions about America and Sada's going to be a part of our effort to explain the truth."
While the United States took eight months to send an envoy to the OIC, another major non-Muslim world power and geopolitical rival — Russia —has long recognized the forum's influence. Russia gained OIC observer status in 2005, owing to its 20 million Muslims. Even before, Russian engagement with the organization helped blunt OIC criticism of the Kremlin's often brutal wars in Chechnya and win support for its territorial integrity. A U.S. envoy might have a similar impact pressing American interests and values.
One important issue, for example, relates to promoting religious freedom—particularly for Israelis and Palestinians. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is sacred ground for Jews, but it is also the location of the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site where Muslims believe Muhammad made his night journey into Heaven. With dual—and dueling—importance for both faiths, more can be done to secure access for worshipers, an issue that attracts little attention. Indeed, the OIC was founded in 1969 in Rabat, Morocco, in response to an arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Since the mosque attack, the OIC has become a platform for Islamic nations to question Israel's right to exist and to promote extremist views. It was at the OIC in 2006 that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad infamously called for Israel to be wiped off the map. The United States could directly combat such bellicose statements and work toward building better relations in a constructive and meaningful manner if it participated actively in the OIC process.
posted by
Katray2
on March 21, 2012 at 10:10 PM
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Nautikos
Y Both the criticizers of Islam and Islam believers should see that exchange of ideas in a loving way’s the only way I think for any religion to share in the world Naut. BC-A, Bill’s R®st
posted by
BC-A
on March 21, 2012 at 10:09 PM
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Nautikos this all comes down to the invention of Islam thousands of years after Hebrews and Christianity (hundreds after C) because it is Our God the only God they hate. They hate anyone who favors much less worships Him. I do find it so funny at how they teach that Allah turned them into donkeys and pigs. Such stupidity is hard to find anywhere in the world today.
posted by
Justi
on March 21, 2012 at 10:00 PM
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Re: I can hardly stand to watch the news or read the papers anymore
whatever happened to some tolerance and love for others.
posted by
Kabu
on March 21, 2012 at 9:50 PM
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Interesting post
Speech that incites violence is illegal in this country; I know from attending KKK rallies - no longer can they urge supporters to forcibly remove/attack African Americans or other so called undesirables in their midst. Or to go and burn crosses on their property as a warning sign. Police ring these rallies and shut them down if the speakers veer into those areas. And Holocaust denial is explicitly or implicitly illegal in 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Liechtenstein,Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland.
Mein Kampf is banned in the Netherlands. France criminalized the denial of the Armenian genocide in Turkey.
Is all of this a good thing? I honestly don't know as freedom of speech is the strongest deterrent against oppression but it is also one of the most complex and it seems at times, fragile liberties. No-one wants crowds of intolerant, angry people whipped into murderous furies that swiftly become action, but then again no-one wants to be worried about breaking the law if they rant and rave about a certain religion or culture, etc.
I read Resolution 16/18 of the United Nations Human Rights Council and don't see where speech itself is being threatened.
However, from the little I have read about the OIC, I think there is much hypocrisy in many of their views:
"The US Department of State 2010 International Religious Freedom Report cited OIC members Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan as being Countries of Particular Concern, where religious freedom is severely violated. It also cited OIC members Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan as "countries that face challenges in protecting religious freedom"."
Those Egyptian clerics are vile indeed; extremists to the nth degree. But they don't represent the feelings of moderate Muslims living anywhere.
posted by
Katray2
on March 21, 2012 at 9:44 PM
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Nautikos
Obviously these Muslims never been to Montéal for a smoked meat at Moe's. We get 'em there and we'll convert those A-Rabs.
posted by
WileyJohn
on March 21, 2012 at 7:36 PM
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There surely is a lot of hatred in this old world.
posted by
TAPS.
on March 21, 2012 at 7:32 PM
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