|
In Reply to: Re: A parallel? posted by Perry on May 13, 2004 at 10:45:23:
Pluheeese! I'm happy to know that the U.S. is one country that will investigate such dastardly practices or crimes and prosecute them. Whatever else could and is wrong with the government is one thing, but the fact that the U.S. is one country that does not hide from it's faults and shortcomings and tries, as best as it can, politics aside, to do something about them, investigate and prosecute those that are responsible, is a good thing and a lot better than what I see in the average closed country that prefers to blame the ills of the West for whatever abuses they themsleves propegate. Can you imagine Al Qaeda doing that or Hussein when he was in power? How easily people forget.
I would like to quote Dana Parsons in the L.A. Times who loosely paraphrases founder -director of the non-profit Council on Islamic Eduction in Fountain Valley, Shabbir Mansuir, a Muslim. Mansuri's advice: Let it all out: "If I'm someone sitting outside and looking at America and (the media) and what Americans are saying, I see...you're coming into the public square and showing outrage. I don't care what price we pay for showing (the scandal) out there. I'm confident that once everything is out in the open, the freedom will allow us to really, truly show oursevles for who we are." It is that outrage and genuine contempt for the abuse, he says, that would allow him to sit with Muslims anywhere in the world, even family members of those mistreated in Abu Gharaib, and talk. "I feel strongly that those we have hurt, I can look them in the eyes and say, "yes, we have caused pain, but here is who we are."
Personally, I think equating Bush to a cult leader is pathetic and demeaning to a country that works hard to make democracy work. I think that's zeroing in on negativism which in and of itself can be just as much equated to cultism as anything. There, now go put that in your pipe and smoke it. Give me a freakin break. I've had enough of cultism as anyone and to try and paint something as cultic when it's not is near-sighted and egotistical. That's how I see it. Shoot me if you like, but I'm just as free to state my opinion as anyone. To me, it's sad that a Muslim living in the U.S. has more understanding of freedom of expression and intellectual property than some Western citizens themselves.
