Friday, April 01, 2011

Another Excellent Example Of Why The UN Mindset Is Useless...And Dangerous

A major story worldwide today had to do with the murder of 8 UN staff members in Northeast Afghanistan by a mob of the locals in Mazar-i-Sharif. Two of the victims were decapitated, and it's worth noting ( no one else in the media has) that all of the victims were non-Muslims.

The Afghans were stirred up by the local mullahs over the burning of a Qu'ran in Florida by two preachers. Apparently a crowd of them came pouring out of the Blue Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif after Friday prayers and attacked the nearby headquarters of the United Nations.

They took weapons from the armed guards ( who either refused or had orders not to fire on the 'protesters'), shot the guards and several other UN staff down in cold blood...except for two, which they captured and decapitated, undoubtedly while screaming 'Allah Akbar!'

Remember, these were people who had interacted pleasantly with the local community, overseeing things like food, aid and medical care...and of course, scrupulous observance and kow towing to the local customs. In the end, what mattered was that they were infidels.

I found this piece by UN staffer Una Moore to be particularly illuminating:

The men who broke into the UN compound, set fires and killed 8 people weren’t Taliban, or henchmen of a brutal warlord, or members of a criminal gang. They weren’t even armed when the protests began –they took weapons from the UN guards who were their first victims.

Foreigners committed to assisting in the rebuilding of Afghanistan have long accepted the possibility that they might die at the hands of warring parties, but this degree of violence from ordinary citizens is not something most of us factored into our decision to work here.

Tonight, the governor of Balkh province, of which Mazar-i-Sharif is the capital, is telling the international media that the men who sacked the UN compound were Taliban infiltrators. That’s rubbish. Local clerics drove around the city with megaphones yesterday, calling residents to protest the actions of a small group of attention-seeking, bigoted Americans. Then, during today’s protest, someone announced that not just one, but hundreds of Korans had been burned in America. A throng of enraged men rushed the gates of the UN compound, determined to draw blood. {...}

This is not the beginning of the end for the international community in Afghanistan. This is the end. Terry Jones and others will continue to pull anti-Islam stunts and opportunistic extremists here will use those actions to incite attacks against foreigners. Unless we, the internationals, want our guards to fire on unarmed protestors from now on, the day has come for us to leave Afghanistan.


So according to Ms. Moore, the UN guards allowed a crazed mob - whom she calls 'protesters'- to break in, take their weapons and turn them on the guards and the people they were supposedly protecting, all without firing a shot? Heaven forbid they should defend themselves!

As far as her statement that she and her fellow 'Internationals' never expected 'this degree of violence from ordinary citizens' in Afghanistan goes, I can only shake my head in disbelief.

In the last decade alone, there have been numerous Bibles, Torah scrolls, churches, synagogues and Buddhist and Hindu shrines destroyed by Muslims in the name of Islam, as well as thousands of non-Muslims slaughtered...all without a word of complaint or condemnation from most of the Muslim world. Had she and her fellow 'Internationals' not heard of that somehow?

In fact, it doesn't even take real damage to Qu'rans to stir Muslims to violence in this fashion..remember how many people were killed over the fake Newsweek story a few years ago about a supposed Qu'ran flushing at Club Gitmo?

Many Muslims are absolutely lovely people ( and I link to some of them here on this site). But far too many Muslims seem to live in a state of barely suppressed rage, and if it was not something like Terry Jones and a Qu'ran bar-b-cue, it would be something else.

In one respect, I agree with Ms. Moore...it is high time we all got out of Afghanistan and allowed them to stew in their barbaric, 7th century miasma.

Res Ipsa Loquiter

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7 comments:

louielouie said...

it is high time we all got out of Afghanistan and allowed them to stew in their barbaric, 7th century miasma.

that strikes me as 9/10/01 thinking.
that is what they were doing then, right?

Freedom Fighter said...

No, we weren't.

Clinton was occasionally launching cruise missiles and predator drones there and we supported the Saudi backed United Front ina half-assed, ineffectual way in the civil war against the Taliban until the Taliban took over in '96.

Also, the idea of 'government' and 'country' don't exist in Afghanistan as we understand it.

I'm sick and tired of us 'nation building' and flushing money and lives away with the idea that this violent, primitive place is going to become Belgium some day.

B.Poster said...

I couldn't agree more with your sentiment on getting out of Afghanistan, however, I would extemd it to the entire Middle East. There's probably only one thing we need from the Middle East. That is oil and that is avery big need. I've already said we need to start looking at oil in a different manner than how we have in the past. No need go into that again right now I think.


If somone had listened to me after 9/11, we would have been drilling for all of our own oil and natural gas, building more refineries,a nd utilizing coal to oil technologies. Had we have done this we likely would have more than enough oil and natural gas to more than make up the shortfall from the Middle East. We might even have enough to help Europe as well!! Perhaps we could even put OPEC out of business. How cool would that be?!!?

Alas, no one in a positon of influence listened to me. Even if we start now, it would likely to five to ten years to get every thing up to speed, as we would be starting essentially from scratch. In the mean time, we either will need an outside supplier, extreme rationing, or some combination.

I'd suggest starting with extreme rationing of petrokeum and oil based products. This should cut down on the need for imprts until we can get our production fully operational. Then the rationing could probably be eliminated. It will take time but the survival of our civilization is worth it. Depending upon someone who does not have your interests at heart is not in the best interests of the survival of our nation.

Freedom Fighter said...

Poster, if the US was totally out of the Middle East and producing all her own oil, that would not stop the Jihad against America and the West.

All it would mean is that we were no longer paying for our enemies to war on us.

This war is about ideologies and conquest, not oil.

Think about it.

B.Poster said...

"This war is about ideologies and conquest, not oil." Actually I tend to agree with you to a large extent here, however, it seems likely that our enemies may not be as stirred up against us as they are now. Even if they were by redeploying we would actually have a fighting chance to defend ourselves. As it is right now, our forces aren't arrayed properly and the ones who are deployed are worn down, not very well led, and not armed as well as they should be.

By producing our own oil and not buying from the Middle East we cut off a major source of funding for our enemies. This would greatly hamper their ability to wage war agains us. Also, we might even be able to help Europe with their shortfall which means they are buying less from the Middle East. This would still further starve the Jihadists of funds for war against us. In time, we may even be able to put OPEC out of business. This could only help the price of oil and it would hamper our enemies even further.

Furthermore by getting out of the Middle East this would help to eliminate a major bone of contention between us and them and would make it more difficult for the leaders of Jihad to recruit followers.

Developing our own resources and redeploying out of the Middle East gives us far greater utility for national security interests, as well as our mid to long range economic interests than any thing we are currently doing now. To Congress I say "GET TO IT!! NOW!!"

Btw, simply not paying for our enemies to wage war against us would be a BIG change in the right direction. In fact, that one thing alone gives us more utility for our national security than any thing we are currently doing.

Freedom Fighter said...

Furthermore by getting out of the Middle East this would help to eliminate a major bone of contention between us and them and would make it more difficult for the leaders of Jihad to recruit followers.

No, I don't think it would. Remember, this is about ideology and conquest. Islam's followers are commanded to go to dar-Harb (literally, 'the Place of War')and turn it into dar-Islam.

It is what it is.

Regards,
Rob

B.Poster said...

Perhaps but by redeploying to defensible positions along the US borders and placing an indefinite moratorium on immigration from Mddle Eastern countries would give us a fighting chance of defending our country. The way things are now the military is thread to thin and it is being wornd down to the point that even basic national defense is problematic for us.

Essentially we are wasting time and resources in places Libya. We lack the financial ability to replinish these resources as they abe being squandered. The sooner we geet out of the Middle East and elsewhere in the world likely the better. The main goal is the defense of our country. By doing this we might have a fighting chance to defend our nation.

Also, I would suggest upgrading the nuclear arsenal and the means to deliver it. The United States does not have the stategic depth to mount a realistic conventional response to China or to a combination of two or more Arab countries. The US has neither the conventional forces to challenge Russia right now or the nuclear forces as well. By upgrading the nuclear arsenal we might be able to somewhat negate the lopsided conventional edge that our enemies currently possess.

Rddrntially we can't be in the Middle East and defend our country. We must make a choice. Even by withsrawing there are no guarantees but at least we might have a fighting chance.