Muslims Killing Muslims?!

Muslims killing Muslims! Last week, more than 400 Iraqi Muslims were killed in bombings, with hundreds more wounded by militias, insurgents and criminal gangs. And this has become the new normal. Almost ninety percent of these Muslims are executed in cold blood. On Sunday, 40 more bodies were found; the majority of them were blindfolded.

And at a news conference on Monday, Muhammad al-Askary, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman, said that insurgents have started renting apartments and storefronts in Baghdad and packing them with explosives. “The insurgents used new ways like renting apartments and shops to booby-trap them by remote control,” he said. The authorities have warned shop owners and real-estate agents to screen potential tenants more carefully. And I thought Muslims were supposed to be good neighbors. God forgive us all! Imagine living this way!

Though the US presence is one factor in the chaos, we cannot simply shift blame to Americans or Mossad or any convenient scapegoat. It is Muslims killing Muslims. And we stand by and watch it happen, self-righteously saying, “I told you so”, and “US Troops out now.” Yes, and then?

And what is happening in Darfur? Muslims Killing Muslims! Again!--in enormous numbers. And yet, despite a human catastrophe far beyond the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we Muslims stand by searching for politically correct statements.

And now the Sudanese government has delivered an ultimatum to the African Union peacekeeping force, telling it to extend its mandate with money raised by the Arab League, without handing off to the United Nations; or else pack up and leave by the end of the month.

Can that work? The African Union does not want to stay. It has been ineffective. The commander of the African forces in Darfur, Gen. Collins Ihikere, said in an interview last week that accepting the money would leave the African Union hopelessly compromised. “It could become a kind of blackmail,” General Ihikere said.

We should respect the sovereignty of Sudan as well as Lebanon, Israel, and Iran.But we know our so-called Muslim politicians are just as cold blooded as others. Let us not be fooled or allow ourselves to become sentimental about some imagined morality. Let us guard morality with vigilance; so that civilians do not perish in some diplomatic chess game of power. And they do perish.

At the same time that Sudan and Iran are playing their political bluff against the United Nations, the American Jewish Congress is waging a campaign to change international law, which it depicts as out of step with fighting terrorism. In a letter sent in mid-August to the Senate Armed Service's Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, AJC Legal Counsel Marc Stern wrote that "international law, as it is currently applied by the United Nations, the Red Cross and unofficial international human rights groups, enhances the military capability of irregular forces at the direct expense of states.”

Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary general, has condemned civilian deaths on both sides of the conflict, and is considering opening a "commission of inquiry" that would investigate possible war crimes by both parties. However, Israel government is still looking for someone to blame for their mistakes, and the UN seems a convenient target.

Evidently, Muslims, like other humans and nations, need mediators to help make peace. So it was good news that on Monday Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the United Nations would mediate talks on the release of Israeli and Hezbollah prisoners. It was also good news that international donors have promised 500 million for Palestinians and 940 million for Lebanon. Meanwhile, Hezbollah slowly re-arms; but Israel has violated the ceasefire nearly one hundred times.

Many states and non-state entities justify crimes in the name of Security. Power games sow seeds of enormous profit; and intrigue mushrooms in the dark of war. And words create worlds.

Steve Emerson and the think tanks of the Right create new words and new worlds of repression; it is out of these dark laboratories that “Islamofascism” emerged, finally to gain wide currency in time for the upcoming elections. And other nations adopt the language of the “War on terror” because it is to their advantage.

It is not so-called “IslamoFascism” or “JudeoFascism” that I fear so much as the net of lies and the power games of extremists on all sides. When extreme views like these prevail, it becomes difficult to be honest. Hilary Clinton watches her tongue very carefully. And Jonathan Tasini, who is running against her for New York Senate, has stated, “Israel committed many acts of brutality and violations of human rights and torture.” He will be a martyr to Truth in this election.

The language of the people becomes poisoned. And then people call anyone they don’t like “terrorist” or “Kuffar” or “enemy.” And worse, the humanity of others is called into question. Last week, leaders of the Rabbinical Council of America issued a statement prodding the Israeli military to review its policy of taking pains to spare the lives of innocent civilians. The rabbinical council said in a statement, "we believe that Judaism would neither require nor permit a Jewish soldier to sacrifice himself in order to save deliberately endangered enemy civilians."

But Muslims killing Muslims engage in the same process of dehumanization. Wake up!