printREALLY? I vehemently disagree with Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who uttered this fatuity in her tribute to the “10 medical aid workers who were killed in the northern Badakhshan Province,” among whom were six Americans.
TERROR, THY NAME IS ISLAM.
The deceased were members of the International Assistance Mission. According to Dirk Frans, the organization’s director, “The team had trekked about 100 miles into the mountains of one of the poorest and most remote areas of Afghanistan. The Americans were identified as Cheryl Beckett, 32; Brian Carderelli, 25; Dr. Thomas Grams, no age given; Glen Lapp, 40; Tom Little, 61; and Dan Terry, 63.”
CHARITY IS EUROPEAN AND PREDOMINANTLY CHRISTIAN.
“Also killed were Mahram Ali, 50, and man identified only as Jawed, 24, both of Afghanistan; Daniela Beyer, 35, of Germany; and Dr. Karen Woo, 36, of Britain.”
HILLARY: “Before their deaths, they had spent several days treating cataracts and other eye conditions in Nuristan Province. At their next stop, they planned to run a dental clinic and offer maternal and infant health care. They were unarmed. They were not being paid for their services. They had traveled to this part of Afghanistan because they wanted to help people in need. They were guests of the Afghan people.
CLEARLY NOT VERY WELCOME GUESTS.
As columnist Krauthammer said on FoxNews, this act was about destroying The Other, by which Chuckie meant the non-Muslim, the Christian.
And I would add that the “despicable act of wanton violence,” which sundered such gifted lives was about destroying goodness and nobility—qualities that are thin-on-the ground in that blighted part of the world.
An irony: I am quite positive that these good people were also extreme liberals who believed that the societies to which they took their good works were better than the ones from which they came.
Being someone who, contrary to what Glenn Beck preaches, does not believe in giving up her life so easily—or perhpas it is part of the extreme value we Jews place on life—I think it’s a sin not to protect your Mission with zeal. It’s a sin to be cavalier with the life of The Other, all the more so with your own life.
Let’s say these saintly Christians cared less about those who depended on them back home, as compared to their Christian love for The Other. What good are you to those you serve if you don’t guard your invaluable life and scarce skills and abilities with the zeal with which you serve G-d and The Other?
Beats me.
UPDATE (Aug. 10): Myron, did Hilary say that “the Quran teaches that taking one innocent life is like killing all humanity, and saving one innocent life is like saving all humanity”?
That Quranic verse (5:32) “once piqued my curiosity because of a similar sounding Talmudic saying.” As its official version has it, this ayah declares that, ‘Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.'”
Prompted by Dr. Daniel Pipes, I examined (and wrote about) the context of the passage in The Meaning of the Qur’an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, only to find that the” likes of Hillary, and other fans of Islam, routinely ‘”decontextualized” it. The Qur’an actually says the following:
“On that account: We ordained
For the Children of Israel
That if anyone slew
A person—unless it be
For murder or for spreading
Mischief in the land—
It would be as if
He slew the whole people:
And if anyone saved a life,
It would be as if he saved
The life of the whole people.
Then although there came
To them Our Messenger
With Clear Signs, yet,
Even after that, many
Of them continued to commit
Excess in the land.”
The verse apparently concerns the dread-Jew. At the very least it’s fair to say this Quranic ayah is considerably less humanistic and universal than depicted by Madam Secretary, as “The Whole People” refers to the Ummah only.
“Devoid of the killing component, the Talmudic version simply and unequivocally states that, ‘To save one life is like saving the world.’ Contrary to the Quranic Ayah, it doesn’t whittle down humanity.” There is no ambiguity about the Talmudists’ use of “the world.” They meant humanity. Islam reserves the ruling for its own.
The column quoted here is “More Fatwa Fibs.”
This is a sad story. Thank you for covering it the way you are. We are in a religious war but the PC crowd refuses to acknowledge that. Charity is a wonderful thing, but ignorance in that part of the world can be deadly. The last paragraph in this post is right on target.
Ilana, you are simply sublime!
They [Muslims], among other billions, don’t want to be Americans, nor Americanized, socialized, modernized, medicalized, democratized, Lysolized, or Purellized. Leave them be as they want to live, inspired by Mohammed, instructed by imams, and commanded by ayatollahs, Anyway, if there’s any Americanizing, democratizing, or sanitizing that needs doing, let it commence here.
I am reminded of the urban legend, at least I think it’s a legend, of the university trained peace corps saint who was in darkest Africa teaching African women how to use condoms by puting them on broom sticks. This of course in an effort to stop the spread aids. This modern day Joan of Arc was warned to stay away from the river’s edge because of the crocodiles. She haughtily replied “Everybody knows that if you leave crocodiles alone they will leave you alone”. You guessed it. After a few months all the women in the village were pregnant, their broom sticks were still adoened with condoms and the know-it-all Stanford sociology major was long ago digested by a crock too dumb to know better. In other words, there is no place in the world that can’t be helped to some degree, but there are limits to this help and we are not appreciated when we transgress those limits.
[LOL; that’s very funny—and v. wise.]
After a heart attack, I resumed the exercise program I have had for years. A friend and my wife were talking when we met at Walmart and my wife brought her up to date that I was still exercising. The lady quickly gave me a hug and told me how she respected me for taking the effort to put my health in shape in order to stay alive and continue to provide for my family’s welfare by my presence within the family. It took me a long time to understand what she meant, but I think your statement “It’s a sin to be cavalier with the life of The Other, all the more so with your own life.” sums it up very well. Jesus said that his followers should – love G-d, self and neighbors (at that time neighbors were usually family) equally, which is also an affirmation of your statement. That said, I still cannot accept how a person can kill a person on a medical mission and still call himself human.
[Consider yourself hugged.]
Hillary: “the Quran teaches that taking one innocent life is like killing all humanity, and saving one innocent life is like saving all humanity.”
Hillary reminds me of the scene in Judgment at Nuremberg when Richard Widmark said “There are no Nazis in Germany. Didn’t you know that, Judge? The Eskimos invaded Germany and took over. That’s how all those terrible things happened. It wasn’t the fault of the Germans. It was the fault of the damn Eskimos.”
http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/j/judgment-at-nuremburg-script-transcript.html
Well, we seem to have a DE FACTO Islam (kill infidels) and a DE JURE Islam (love humanity) just like a THEORETICAL Communism (peace & brotherhood) and an ACTUAL Communism (gulags and poverty). Even in America, we have a DE JURE Constitution of limited government, state sovereignty, and
individual liberties, and legislative-passed laws and a DE FACTO Constitution
of unlimited government, national uniformity, a regulatory/surveillance monolith, and arbitrary executive Czars.
People need to live in the REAL world. The people coming back in body bags from the hellhole of Afghanistan are really dead – and killed by REAL Moslems
(like Hamas, Parisian rioters, Maj. Hasan, Sirhan Sirhan, Al Queda, Atta, Wahabbi hatemongers, Somali pirates, genocidal Sudanese, Hezbollah, Chechen terrorists, etc.).
It was predictable that someone from the administration would comment on the deaths of the “10 medical aid workers who were killed in the northern Badakhshan Provice,” and how appropriate that it would be the Secretary of State who would give such a gratuitous statement. I agree with you, Ilana, that the victims were not very careful, although their leader, known as “Mr. John” had apparently been doing this for some 30 years and being fluent in one of the two major dialects in Afghanistan felt that he could talk his way out of most any situation–obviously not this one. I see a parallel policy position taken by the administration and the military concerning another group of “missionaries” whose job it is to “win the hearts and minds” of the Afghan people. They drive around the country to their appointments with tribal leaders and politicians preaching the gospel of democracy and how the Americans are the “good guys,” not the bad Taliban, hoping that their goodwill will win the day and not their bullets. When they run into IED’s that maim or kill them the administration and military just chalk it up to “combat losses” and press forward with their ineffective strategy which will not result in victory. To me, the murders of the missionaries and the murder of our troops by terror tactics is wrongly tolerated. We should prosecute this “war” like it matters to us that human beings are being slaughtered in this way–or just come home. We are in Afghanistan, but not “all in” and the result will not be victory.
Hillary was quoting that expert on the Islamic Religion of Peace, Barack Hussein Obama:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/08/145820.htm
and http://emuslim.com/IslamAgainstVoilence.asp
“Mass murderers” NEVER KILL PEOPLE until after they redefine their opponents as non-human first and then eradicate them – e.g. the Eskimos (Nazis) merely eliminated lice and vermin.
Meanwhile – another heart-wrenching tale of Islamic compassion. 4 year old Mohammed Abu Mustafa of Gaza needed bone-marrow treatment so he received it in the evil “Zionist entity” with the $ 55,000 operation paid by an Israeli who lost his son in battle. The mother was berated by her “peaceloving” Gaza neighbors for having her son operated in Israel but she replied that it was important to save little Mohammed’s life so that he could grow up to be a SUICIDE BOMBER. (I don’t have enough imagination to make up this crap!). See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/opinion/08friedman.html?_r=1&ref=thomaslfriedman
Any private American/European/Israeli who wants to volunteer to “enlighten”/help the Ummah (and not hurt civilized humanity) should be free to do so at their OWN personal risk and expense without an inflated dollar or American life expended wasted in the futility. Get our troops out of that Afghan sewer NOW.
Religion of Peace = REST IN PEACE = “Peace Process”
“Terror has no religion” is another cheap dimestore verse originating from Hillary, the earlier one being “No woman is illegal!” (to loud applause in front of an Hispanic audience during her campaign.)The problem is that too many in this country believe those verses when they hear them, and cheer on. Interesting way to use propaganda, in the sound-bite age.
I guess Janet Napolitano would classify these murders as “man caused disasters”. The Marxist nuts running our government are the lowest of the low.
I’ve seen a fair number of Christian missionaries and it’s safe to say that I do not understand them. God has not laid this desire, to minister to individuals in far-flung, often dangerous lands, on my own heart. The individuals who died in Afghanistan were there not to push Bible tracts and prayer meetings, but to minister to the physical needs of people whom Jesus loved, and for whom He died on the cross. I’m not sure how Christians can fulfill the Great Commission of Matt. 28:19 (“Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations…”) unless Christians travel to some very dark places.
Nevertheless, I see no biblical reason for Christians involved in such pursuits to risk their care of their own families (will someone please correct me if I am wrong.) I don’t know if that applies to the individuals who died in Afghanistan. If they were, in fact, motivated by the love of Jesus Christ and laid down their lives in His service, how disgusting the secular spin (“Terror has no religion!”) placed on their deaths.
“That if anyone slew
A person—unless it be
For murder or for spreading
Mischief in the land—
It would be as if
He slew the whole people:”
It should also be noted how vague the word “mischief” is. While the word “murder” is pretty precise, the word “mischief” could well mean anything that causes Muslim grievances, including ridicule. After all, did the “holy prophet” himself not order the assassination of poets that mocked him?
Of course, in this context it becomes clear that, for instance, the brutal butchery of Theo van Gogh is Quran-sanctioned, and so would a succesful attempt Geert Wilders or Ayaan Hirsi Ali be.
[Good point also made in the column cited:”“Spreading mischief,’ whatever that entails, qualifies as a reason to slay a person. Unjust killing is clearly not too circumscribed an activity.”]
The wolf cares not how tenderly the rabbit tries to win his affection.
Those people committed suicide.