DON'T "DISS" HOPE!

In the last blog, I discussed the Clinton camp's
efforts to "swift boat" Barak with references to
his teenage experimentation with drugs, and
his alleged Muslim background. But the most
persistent attack on him has been that he is
inexperienced.

Obama has pointed out that there is good and
bad experience. The people of Iowa agree, and
decided that Washington experience is mostly
the latter. So they added to Hillary's bad
experiences. She has had many, and unless
she changes her tactics completely, is in for more.

Now she needs to embrace change in her staff
and in her tone. Her personal attacks on Barak
as "naive" have backfired. She ridiculed his
message of hope as mere wishful thinking. He
isn't ready for prime time, she claimed. She
kept yelling, "look, I'm ready, I'm ready." It
didn't sell. If she keeps that up, she'll be ready
for early retirement!

As I observed six months ago, when I endorsed
him, Obama has JFK's smarts and charisma, and
MLK's idealism and eloquence. That's a powerful
load of talent, and smacks of possible greatness.
Lincoln had two years of experience in the U. S.
Congress when he ran for president, and had been
defeated for reelection because he opposed our
war on Mexico. Obama opposed our similarly
misconceived war on Iraq, while Hillary voted
for it. Good sense is a rare commodity, and
trumps political expediency every time!

It may be too much to expect, but we can hope
that the voting public will realize that Barak's
childhood experience of living among Muslims
in Indonesia taught him a great deal about that
culture. He knows from first hand, for example,
that Muslims are not inherently violent, hateful,
anti-West, or religiously intolerant.

He also knows that he must confront and
expose the kind of ignorant prejudice expressed
by a retired military intelligence officer and state
co-chair (N. H.) of Vets for Rudy, who, speaking
of Rudy, said: "He has got, I believe, the know-
ledge and judgment to attack one of the difficult
problems in current history, and that is the rise
of the Muslims. Make no mistake about it; this
hasn't happened for a thousand years. These
people are very, very dedicated. They're also
very smart in their own way, and we need to keep
their feet to the fire and keep pressing these
people until we defeat them or chase them back
to their caves, or, in other words, get rid of them."

All one billion, 300 thousand of them? That
could be as expensive as it is unnecessary! We
are going broke just fighting them in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Shouldn't we first find out what's
bugging increasing numbers of them and making
some of those violent towards us?

Inspired by Obama's call for hope, I'm hoping
that his knowledge of the Muslim world, and
sensitivity to it, will enable him to bridge the
growing chasm between us and them, and give
us some much needed insight into the real
causes of Muslim terrorism. Nobody commits
suicide without a reason, especially when that
is against your religion.

If we are serious about stopping terrorism (and
I sometimes have my doubts), then shouldn't
we take seriously what Muslim leaders have
been saying about it for a long time? Shouldn't
we recognize what most drives the anger behind
it? King Abdullah of Jordan says the main reason
for Muslim terrorism is the Israel-Palestine
situation. That is the core issue, he says, from
which all the other troubles flow. (Most Muslims
believe, by the way, that the real reason we took
out Saddam was because he posed a threat to
Israel not to us!)

"The root cause of terrorism is the Israeli-
Palestine conflict," says Pres. Musharraf of
Pakistan. He is increasingly dealing with the
spreading extremism coming from hatred for
the West, and the U. S. in particular. "The West
will not know peace until the Palestinians have
peace." That from Osama bin Laden. And you
can take it to the bank.

But isn't the Muslim world dug in, and determined
to wage war against us, as the Neo-cons insist?
Nope. That's not true! It's false that most
Muslims support terror, even though 60% of
Iraqis think it's OK to attack our G. I.s (Iraq is a
mess of our making, not theirs.) The broader
picture is explained by Reza Aslan in the best
book on Islam available: No God but God.
He writes (on p. 17):
". . . the day before the London bombings
(7/16/05), one hundred seventy of the world's
leading clerics and scholars, representing every
major sect and school of law in Islam, gathered
in Amman, Jordan, where, in an unprecedented
display of inter sectarian collaboration, they
issued a joint fatwa, or legal ruling, denouncing
all acts of terrorism committed in the name of
Islam." (Ital. mine)

We need to get together with all people of good
will and seek peace, beginning with getting
Israel out of the West Bank, and off the backs
of the Palestinians. Then we can have hope.
And we need to do it before everyone has the bomb!

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net