Fighting for MY Freedoms?

[sambino510]

Note: Though I question many things in my writing, none of it is meant as disrespect towards our current or fallen soldiers. If anything, I believe their sacrifice is a mis-allocation of some of the best and brightest minds of my generation. I simply think those brains could be better put to use elsewhere rather than as bullet-holders, and if we are going to put them on the battlefield, we better be damn sure that's the right thing to do.

July 4th has recently passed, and although we certainly reserve holidays like Memorial Day to honor our troops, Independence Day also is an enormous tribute to our forces abroad. As I sat watching my hometown's annual parade, soldiers with rifles and flags marched by, Huey helicopters flew over, and the people to get the biggest cheers were certainly the veterans, old and new. However, I couldn't help but wonder if these people really were fighting in my name, in the name of the people around me.

As I thought deeper about this whole question, I decided to take the war in Afghanistan as an example. Originally, this war was started in order to take revenge against Al Qaeda and find Bin Laden. This particular, early part of the mission was maybe fighting for "me", or most of the "me"'s who wanted to fight back after a direct attack on our soil. Nonetheless, now we are in a deep, complicated process of nation-building, with little to no way out. So are the American soldiers firing at young Afghan Taliban soldiers, or accidentally blowing up a few children here and there actually fighting for MY personal freedom? MY liberty? I'm not so sure.

So then who are our soldiers fighting and dying for? The Afghan people? That seems to be the only logical alternative, as the official mission of the U.S. military is to improve the Afghan way of life by getting rid of the Taliban and establishing better infrastructure. Though how many of them truly want us there, or feel they are safer in the long-term with all sorts of mechanized death flying over their heads every day? We have made such great strides in the economic and social infrastructure of Afghanistan, but I fail to give credit to the bombs or bullets for that progress.

How about a third alternative? Perhaps the U.S. military is fighting for America's interests abroad. Sure, we might say that we are trying to protect the liberties of other nations and establish democratic governments, but maybe there are underlying motives. I would be the last to bring up the tired old "oil" theory, but there are many complex issues in the Middle East or North Africa that a regional U.S. military presence can effect.

As I thought about these different perspectives, each seemed to tumble back upon one another. Some of these theories are certainly viable, but none seemed to fit the bigger picture for me. I think in many cases, through a number of books I've read of first-hand accounts of soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, these soldiers simply fight for brotherhood, for the "man in the foxhole next to them", to use a famous quote. Their struggles as a unit are seen as a rite of passage, a way of proving oneself as a man and a human being in general. For the more troubled youths, it is a way of learning obedience, and loyalty, and of obtaining a deep friendship with your fellow soldiers. As one come so close to death on the battlefield every day, one matures at a pace one's fellow 20-some-year-old's couldn't imagine. Thus, if anything, these motives seem surprisingly selfish, using a very serious conflict for relatively non-serious personal psychological gain.

Overall, the motivation behind joining the military is far too varied and complex to explain in one particular theory. However, it seems to me that very few soldiers are concerned with the politics of their actual mission, and the consequences of their failures, or even the consequences of their successes. Rather, they obey orders, and fight to their dying breath and the breath of the man next to them until they are told they can return to their families. They return to our country, and we praise them for fighting for us. I regret to say it, but I cannot say a single soldier is fighting for ME personally. I respect their sacrifice as only one who greatly regrets it could, but I cannot support their mission. I hope one day we can find a way to provide to the young, great minds of our generation a way of gaining the same ideals that the military life provides, while avoiding the blood sport that currently accompanies it.

 

[Natalie]

i dont think the best and brightes die i think the poor that have no other choice join and die why not think of better things for them like education???

 

[USNavyVet]

Natalie, not everyone in the military is "poor" and have no other choices. It's insulting and degrading to think that of our military.

Sambino, there are evil people in this world who really do want to harm us. We can't all sit around, hold hands and sing Kumbaya. The issue with Afghanistan is that that the people there do not consider themselves to be from Afghanistan. They consider them part of the local tribes. This kind of thinking has allowed groups like Al Qaeda to set up camps easily to train people in order to attack us and our allies. I do not think nation building works but the only alternative is to go in and destroy the country every few years and that does not seem feasible economically or ethically.

So yes, we fight for your personally and for all Americans. You're welcome.

 

[editec]

I think I agree.

No American fighting in Asia right now is defending any Americans' freedom.

Neither of those nations was ever a threat to my or any American's freedom.

 

[Skull Pilot]

We manufacture enemies better than any other country on the planet.

 

[USNavyVet]

I think I agree.

No American fighting in Asia right now is defending any Americans' freedom.

Neither of those nations was ever a threat to my or any American's freedom.

So in your opinion, Americans being killed does not infringe on that person's freedom? 9/11 was fiction? The shoe bomber didn't exist? Everyone really loves America?

 

[Skull Pilot]

I think I agree.

No American fighting in Asia right now is defending any Americans' freedom.

Neither of those nations was ever a threat to my or any American's freedom.

So in your opinion, Americans being killed does not infringe on that person's freedom? 9/11 was fiction? The shoe bomber didn't exist? Everyone really loves America?

We are not loved because of our actions.

In the Middle East alone our government has been jumping in and out of bed with governments and dictators like a 2 dollar whore for decades all in a bid for control and it has been a miserable failure of policy.

I suppose you think that the war in Vietnam was necessary to protect our freedom as well.

FYI it wasn't.

Neither was Korea or any other undeclared war we have manufactured since WWII

 

[USNavyVet]

I think I agree.

No American fighting in Asia right now is defending any Americans' freedom.

Neither of those nations was ever a threat to my or any American's freedom.

So in your opinion, Americans being killed does not infringe on that person's freedom? 9/11 was fiction? The shoe bomber didn't exist? Everyone really loves America?

We are not loved because of our actions.

In the Middle East alone our government has been jumping in and out of bed with governments and dictators like a 2 dollar whore for decades all in a bid for control and it has been a miserable failure of policy.

I suppose you think that the war in Vietnam was necessary to protect our freedom as well.

FYI it wasn't.

Neither was Korea or any other undeclared war we have manufactured since WWII

Our government does what's best for this country in our foreign policies. Well usually. Not really sure what Obama's doing. Anyway, every country does what's in their best interests and that is why we are in those countries. Call it manufactured all you want. That just shows me that you know nothing about foreign policy.

 

[Skull Pilot]

So in your opinion, Americans being killed does not infringe on that person's freedom? 9/11 was fiction? The shoe bomber didn't exist? Everyone really loves America?

We are not loved because of our actions.

In the Middle East alone our government has been jumping in and out of bed with governments and dictators like a 2 dollar whore for decades all in a bid for control and it has been a miserable failure of policy.

I suppose you think that the war in Vietnam was necessary to protect our freedom as well.

FYI it wasn't.

Neither was Korea or any other undeclared war we have manufactured since WWII

Our government does what's best for this country in our foreign policies. Well usually. Not really sure what Obama's doing. Anyway, every country does what's in their best interests and that is why we are in those countries. Call it manufactured all you want. That just shows me that you know nothing about foreign policy.

Funny that.

It seems our government sucks at foreign policy.

Our foreign policy consists of invasion as a tool. Yeah great plan that's worked so well.

 

[Sunni Man]

Invading an entire country looking for 1 man was beyond idiotic.

The Taliban offered to arrest bin Laden and turn him over to a 3rd party country.

Pres. Bush refused the offer.

10 years later, thousands of maimed and dead American soldiers, and almost a trillion dollars wasted.

He was found in another country. ..

 

[eagle1462010]

I think I agree.

No American fighting in Asia right now is defending any Americans' freedom.

Neither of those nations was ever a threat to my or any American's freedom.

So in your opinion, Americans being killed does not infringe on that person's freedom? 9/11 was fiction? The shoe bomber didn't exist? Everyone really loves America?

We are not loved because of our actions.

In the Middle East alone our government has been jumping in and out of bed with governments and dictators like a 2 dollar whore for decades all in a bid for control and it has been a miserable failure of policy.

I suppose you think that the war in Vietnam was necessary to protect our freedom as well.

FYI it wasn't.

Neither was Korea or any other undeclared war we have manufactured since WWII

aka Your in the blame America Crowd. It's all our fault that a bunch of Imbred Muslims who have returned to a 7th Century Mentality of kill anyone who doesn't believe as they do arent' the real problem.

We went to War because of 9/11, because about 3000 Americans were deprived of their very basic FREEDOM. The FREEDOM OF LIFE. Killed by extremist like OBL who wants ANY UNBELIEVERS to CONVERT OR DIE.

He was ticked at us because we dared to step in his HOLY SAND BOX in the First Gulf War. Even though the countries over there ASKED FOR OUR ASSISTANCE. We LIBERATED KUWAIT, but FAILED TO FINISH THE JOB. Bush Sr. should have ordered us to Finish off Saddam back then, when we had 500,000 Troops on site. By failing to finish it, we set ourselves up for a future conflict. aka We are so worried they WILL NOT LOVE US, that we don't FINISH A FIGHT THAT HAS STARTED. Which is why politicians screw up the Wars we are in, because of Political PRESSURES.

Afganistan was the training base of Al Queda PERIOD. Our enemies were there, so we were justified to go there to make them pay for what they did. The Nation building side is to shore up current Government there so HOPEFULLY the Taliban and Terrorist Groups will not seize power again and set up training bases there again.

That is the military FIGHTING FOR ALL OF US. As they are there to FIGHT TERRORIST that would love nothing more than to KILL MORE AMERICANS. While you might not feel individually threatened, the THREAT OF TERRORISM IS REAL unless you live under a Rock.

Can we stay there forever...........NO
Will they stand or fall after we leave...........Unknown
Will it stop terrorism...................NO
Could it stop them from training there..............Yes

BTW.......
Vietnam War was part of the Cold War. It was a useless War led by Idiotic politicians. By refusing to FIGHT IT LIKE A WAR, it went on and on and finally was basically lost. Had we fought it like a War and sent mass armies to the North there would have been no way the Vietcong could have stopped us.

But Politics ruled the day, because we set up Rules and Lines and refused to fight it as a War. What would we have done with it afterwards? Who the hell knows. Which is why it was a useless War.

Korea. Again, a War we FAILED TO FIGHT AS A WAR. When China entered the War Politicians told the Generals how to fight it, and didn't allow them to cut the Chineese supply lines to ribbons. Had they done so, the Chineese couldn't have held the North even with a MILLION TROOPS. And because of this POLITICAL BS, KOREA IS NOW DIVIDED between a Prosperous Democratic Government, and a BS Dictatorship in the North that is a thorn in our butts.

 

[eagle1462010]

Invading an entire country looking for 1 man was beyond idiotic.

The Taliban offered to arrest bin Laden and turn him over to a 3rd party country.

Pres. Bush refused the offer.

10 years later, thousands of maimed and dead American soldiers, and almost a trillion dollars wasted.

He was found in another country. ..

BS

They had no intentions of turning over OBL. They had given him a safe haven and a base of operation to train.

Your either with us or against us. The Taliban were and still are clearly against us. Thus they are our enemies. They have been removed from power, but will return after we leave. The real question is whether the new Government in Afganistan will be able to Hold the Line after we are gone.

One day, MR. Sunni man, Terrorist will do something worse than 9/11, and when that happens the GLOVES will Come off, and America may actually fight it like a WAR in the Region.

Is that a good or bad thing for the Region? You know Damned well we have the capabilities to flatten that region, but we don't. Why continue pushing for a fight that they can't win?

When the Middle East, which isn't really possible considering their mindset, comes to terms that they must accept the beliefs of others on this earth without saying they must kill the unbelievers, the Wars will end. Not until then.

They kept and keep pushing for a fight, aka Terrorism. Eventually it will lead to utter Ruin in the entire region. Which is INSANITY.

 

[Sunni Man]

Bush Rejects Taliban Bin Laden Offer

Afghanistan –– A senior Taliban leader said Sunday that the Islamic militia would be willing to hand over Osama bin Laden to a third country if the United States halts the bombing of Afghanistan and provides evidence against him.

President Bush quickly rejected the offer.

"The president has been very clear, there will be no negotiations," White House spokeswoman Anne Womack said. Washington has repeatedly rejected any negotiations or conditions on its demands that the Taliban surrender bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror network.

The statement by Deputy Prime Minister Haji Abdul Kabir did not break new ground. But its timing and the fact it was made to foreign reporters by such a senior figure – the Taliban's third most powerful figure – could indicate the movement was desperate for a way out of the crisis after more than a week of punishing airstrikes.

Kabir said that if the United States gave evidence bin Laden was behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and halted the bombing, "we would be ready to hand him over to a third country" – a country, he added, that would never "come under pressure from the United States."

Bush Rejects Taliban Bin Laden Offer

 

[Skull Pilot]

So in your opinion, Americans being killed does not infringe on that person's freedom? 9/11 was fiction? The shoe bomber didn't exist? Everyone really loves America?

We are not loved because of our actions.

In the Middle East alone our government has been jumping in and out of bed with governments and dictators like a 2 dollar whore for decades all in a bid for control and it has been a miserable failure of policy.

I suppose you think that the war in Vietnam was necessary to protect our freedom as well.

FYI it wasn't.

Neither was Korea or any other undeclared war we have manufactured since WWII

aka Your in the blame America Crowd. It's all our fault that a bunch of Imbred Muslims who have returned to a 7th Century Mentality of kill anyone who doesn't believe as they do arent' the real problem.

I am a realist. Our actions have consequences if you ca't see that through yout opaque veil of patriotism that's your problem

We went to War because of 9/11, because about 3000 Americans were deprived of their very basic FREEDOM. The FREEDOM OF LIFE. Killed by extremist like OBL who wants ANY UNBELIEVERS to CONVERT OR DIE.

And we killed how many people that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11?

He was ticked at us because we dared to step in his HOLY SAND BOX in the First Gulf War. Even though the countries over there ASKED FOR OUR ASSISTANCE. We LIBERATED KUWAIT, but FAILED TO FINISH THE JOB. Bush Sr. should have ordered us to Finish off Saddam back then, when we had 500,000 Troops on site. By failing to finish it, we set ourselves up for a future conflict. aka We are so worried they WILL NOT LOVE US, that we don't FINISH A FIGHT THAT HAS STARTED. Which is why politicians screw up the Wars we are in, because of Political PRESSURES.

Kindergarten understanding of the world.

That is the military FIGHTING FOR ALL OF US. As they are there to FIGHT TERRORIST that would love nothing more than to KILL MORE AMERICANS. While you might not feel individually threatened, the THREAT OF TERRORISM IS REAL unless you live under a Rock

.

The so called "terrorist threat" is overblown and manufactured so as to impose things like the Patriot Act on us.

BTW.......
Vietnam War was part of the Cold War. It was a useless War led by Idiotic politicians. By refusing to FIGHT IT LIKE A WAR, it went on and on and finally was basically lost. Had we fought it like a War and sent mass armies to the North there would have been no way the Vietcong could have stopped us.

Vietnam was a proxy war with the Russians. That's it. Lives were wasted there just as lives are wasted in the Middle East.

No Middle Eastern country poses a credible threat to the US.

 

[eagle1462010]

Give evidence that OBL was behind the attack. LOL

You don't negotiate with your enemies Sunni Man. They wanted a Fing War and they got it. The Taliban aided them, so they get it to.

Terrorist and Terrorist supporting nations have been asking for a fight for a long time. When they get it they cry foul.

They go to their 72 Virgins for all I care.

 

[eagle1462010]

We are not loved because of our actions.

In the Middle East alone our government has been jumping in and out of bed with governments and dictators like a 2 dollar whore for decades all in a bid for control and it has been a miserable failure of policy.

I suppose you think that the war in Vietnam was necessary to protect our freedom as well.

FYI it wasn't.

Neither was Korea or any other undeclared war we have manufactured since WWII

aka Your in the blame America Crowd. It's all our fault that a bunch of Imbred Muslims who have returned to a 7th Century Mentality of kill anyone who doesn't believe as they do arent' the real problem.

I am a realist. Our actions have consequences if you ca't see that through yout opaque veil of patriotism that's your problem



And we killed how many people that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11?



Kindergarten understanding of the world.

That is the military FIGHTING FOR ALL OF US. As they are there to FIGHT TERRORIST that would love nothing more than to KILL MORE AMERICANS. While you might not feel individually threatened, the THREAT OF TERRORISM IS REAL unless you live under a Rock

.

The so called "terrorist threat" is overblown and manufactured so as to impose things like the Patriot Act on us.

BTW.......
Vietnam War was part of the Cold War. It was a useless War led by Idiotic politicians. By refusing to FIGHT IT LIKE A WAR, it went on and on and finally was basically lost. Had we fought it like a War and sent mass armies to the North there would have been no way the Vietcong could have stopped us.

Vietnam was a proxy war with the Russians. That's it. Lives were wasted there just as lives are wasted in the Middle East.

No Middle Eastern country poses a credible threat to the US.

BS

If you had your way we would just say we Love you man after our people are killed. F off

Middle Eastern countries support terrorism which target Americans PERIOD. and Terrorism is a threat to America and the World as a hole. Which is why we went to WAR.

If there hadn't been a 9/11 we wouldn't be at War Now.

They pushed for the War and got it.

 

[Skull Pilot]

aka Your in the blame America Crowd. It's all our fault that a bunch of Imbred Muslims who have returned to a 7th Century Mentality of kill anyone who doesn't believe as they do arent' the real problem.

I am a realist. Our actions have consequences if you ca't see that through yout opaque veil of patriotism that's your problem



And we killed how many people that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11?



Kindergarten understanding of the world.



.

The so called "terrorist threat" is overblown and manufactured so as to impose things like the Patriot Act on us.

BTW.......
Vietnam War was part of the Cold War. It was a useless War led by Idiotic politicians. By refusing to FIGHT IT LIKE A WAR, it went on and on and finally was basically lost. Had we fought it like a War and sent mass armies to the North there would have been no way the Vietcong could have stopped us.

Vietnam was a proxy war with the Russians. That's it. Lives were wasted there just as lives are wasted in the Middle East.

No Middle Eastern country poses a credible threat to the US.

BS

If you had your way we would just say we Love you man after our people are killed. F off

Middle Eastern countries support terrorism which target Americans PERIOD. and Terrorism is a threat to America and the World as a hole. Which is why we went to WAR.

If there hadn't been a 9/11 we wouldn't be at War Now.

They pushed for the War and got it.

The so called war was inevitable.

9/11 or not it was going to happen because we wanted it.

Wake up.

We made Saddam Hussein what he was. After we withdrew our support of the Shah of Iran we armed Hussein and supported him in the Iraq Iran War, we continued to supply him with weapons and arms until we got tired of him then we took him out.

It had nothing to do with 9/11 or WMD.

Our meddling in the ME has been going on for over half a century and we are now reaping the rotten fruits of our labors of ill will. People in the ME didn't just one day wake up and hate America. We nurtured that hate for decades.

 

[eagle1462010]

So what are the roots of that evil Skull?

Peanut head and the Shah. Who gave him safe haven?

As our people rotted as Hostages over a year. Carter didn't do jack squat. When the Iran/Iraq War started we were of the mindset of revenge, and of the mindset of the Cold War. Yet the War was primarily Sunni versus Shia.

They are even Intolerant of other forms of Islam, killing each other because they choose not to believe as they do.

Later, Saddam became a problem because of his support of Terrorism and his EXPANSIONIST DESIRES. There would have been no first Gulf War if he didn't Invade Kuwait.

And on and on...............

They would hate us for being Non believers even if we had never fired a shot over there. Look at Islamic Fanatics in Africa, who attack and murder whole villages because they don't believe as they do.

We had no position in those ideals to kill every man woman and child because they chose to be Christians.

Yet that goes on today, without any interference at all from the us. Radical Islam is a cult. Taught from birth to kill any who don't agree, and we stand against it.

Secondly, we went into Bosnia to STOP THE SLAUGHTER OF MUSLIMS.
We went into Somalia to Stop the Starvation and Genocide of people who were mostly Muslims.

Yet we are hated. You may say it's all about the oil, as oil there is a Vital Commodity for the world, but these countries wouldn't be anything other than a Third World Country without it, because they make a hell of a lot of money off of it.

And on and on.........................

As does the fight against those who want all Non Believers dead.

 

[eagle1462010]

Muslim Persecution of Christians: May 2012 :: Gatestone Institute

Elsewhere in Sub-Sahara Africa, wherever Christianity and Islam meet, Christians are being killed, slaughtered, beheaded and even crucified.

Unlike those nations, such as Saudi Arabia, that have eliminated Christianity altogether, Muslim countries with significant Christian minorities saw much persecution during the month of May: in Egypt, Christians were openly discriminated against in law courts, even as some accused the nation's new president of declaring that he will "achieve the Islamic conquest of Egypt for the second time, and make all Christians convert to Islam;" in Indonesia, Muslims threw bags of urine on Christians during worship; in Kashmir and Zanzibar, churches were set on fire; and in Mali, Christianity "faces being eradicated."

Elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa—in Nigeria, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, the Ivory Coast—wherever Islam and Christianity meet, Christians are being killed, slaughtered, beheaded and even crucified.

Categorized by theme, May's assemblage of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes, but is not limited to, the following accounts, listed in alphabetical order by country, not severity. Note: As Pakistan had the lion's share of persecuted Christians last month, it has its own section below, covering the entire gamut of persecution—from apostasy and blasphemy to rape and forced conversions.

Church Attacks

Indonesia encountered several church-related attacks:

A mob of 600 Muslims threw bags of urine, stones, and rotten eggs at the congregation of a Protestant church at the start of Ascension Day service; they shouted profanities and threatened to kill the pastor. No arrests were made. The church had applied for a permit to construct its house of worship five years ago. Pressured by local Muslims, the local administration ordered the church shut down in December 2009, even though the Supreme Court recently overruled its decision, saying that the church was eligible for a permit. Local Muslims and officials are nevertheless demanding that the church shut down.

After protests "by hard-line groups including the Islamic Defenders Front," nearly 20 Christian houses of worship were sealed off by authorities on the pretext of "not having permits." The authorities added that, to accommodate the region's 20,000 Christians, only one church may be built in the district in question.

The Muslim mayor who illegally sealed the beleaguered GKI Yasmin church, forcing congregants to worship in the streets, has agreed to reopen it—but only if a mosque is built next door, to ensure that the church "stays in line." "As well as opposition from the mayor, the church has faced hostility from local Muslims, who have rallied against them [the Christians], blocked them from accessing the street where the church is situated and disrupted their outdoor services. It is unlikely that they will suddenly embrace the Christians," according to the report.

France: Prior to celebrating mass, "four youths, aged 14 to 18, broke into the Church of St. Joseph, before launching handfuls of pebbles at 150 faithful present at the service." They were chased out, although, according to the report, "the parishioners, many of whom are elderly, were greatly shocked by the disrespectful act of the youths of North African origin."

Kashmir: A Catholic church made entirely of wood was partially destroyed after unknown assailants set it on fire. "What happened," said the president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, "is not an isolated case," and follows the "persecution" of a pastor who baptized Muslims. "With these gestures, the Muslim community is trying to intimidate the Christian minority."

Kuwait: Two months after the Saudi Grand Mufti decreed, in response to a question on whether churches may exist in Kuwait, that all regional churches must be destroyed, villa-churches serving Western foreigners are being targeted. One congregation was evicted without explanation "from a private villa used for worship gatherings for the past seven years;" another villa-church was ordered to "pay an exorbitant fine each month to use a facility it had been renting…. Church leaders reportedly decided not to argue and moved out."

Zanzibar: Hundreds of Muslims set two churches on fire and clashed with police during protests against the arrest of senior members of an Islamist movement known as the Association for Islamic Mobilization and Propagation. Afterwards, the group issued a statement denying any involvement of wrongdoing.

Pakistan: Apostasy, Blasphemy, Rape, Forced Conversions, and Oppression

A 20-year-old Christian man was arrested and charged with "blasphemy"—a crime "punishable with life imprisonment"—after vengeful Muslims accused him of burning a Koran soon after a billiard game. The Muslims kept taunting and threatening him, to which the Christian "dared them to do whatever they wanted and walked away." Days later came the accusation and arrest, which caused Muslim riots, creating "panic among Christians," who "left their houses anticipating violence."

Two years ago, after a Muslim man converted to Christianity and told his wife, she abused and exposed him, resulting in his being severely beaten. "No one was willing to let me live the life I wanted [as a Christian]—they say Islam is not a religion of compulsion, but no one has been able to tell me why Muslims who don't find satisfaction in the religion become liable to be killed." He eventually divorced, escaped, and remarried a Christian woman. Now that his family has again discovered his whereabouts, they have resumed threatening him. According to his wife: "Every other day, we receive threatening phone calls…They are now asking him to abandon us and renounce Christianity, threatening that they will kill me and our child."

A new report indicates that "on average, eight to ten Christians are being forced every month by fanatic Muslims to convert to Islam, mostly in the provinces of Sindh and Punjab. The victims of forced conversions are often girls from poor backgrounds who are then subjected to harrowing and traumatic ordeals. Most of the girls are vulnerable and unable to defend themselves against extremists because their community is deprived, defenseless and marginalized. Christians, who constitute about two percent of the Pakistani population, are paying a high price for being a part of the minority community." Two such cases from May follow:

In an attempt to force her to drop charges against them for raping her 13-year-old niece, a band of Muslims severely beat a pregnant Christian woman causing her to lose female twins to miscarriage. The rapists came when all male members of the Christian household were out working and beat the women "mercilessly." "They murdered our children, they raped our daughter. We have nothing left with us," lamented an older family member. As usual, police ignored both cases: both the raped Christian girl and her beaten family.

A 14-year-old Christian girl was abducted and forced to convert to Islam by her uncle, who himself had earlier converted. Pakistani police refused to liberate her, and said she converted of her own free will. According to her father: "After converting, my brother is conspiring against our family and kidnapped Mary with deception."

The investigation into the murder of the nation's only cabinet-level Christian, Shahbaz Bhatti, has become mired amid suspicions of a possible cover-up. Lax investigations, a series of freed suspects, and lack of coordination across law enforcement organizations have stalled the case after the March 2, 2011 slaying of the federal minister for Minority Affairs, who was an outspoken critic of, and targeted by, those who support Pakistan's "blasphemy" laws.

Christians are being threatened and abused for trying, since 1947, to save their community's graveyard. Despite failing to produce any proof, a retired Muslim official who claims he "recently discovered" that the land really belongs to him has already built a boundary wall, reducing the graveyard to less than a third of its original size, and turned the seized land over to agricultural use. Police, as usual, are failing to react.

Dhimmitude

[General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of non-Muslims as "Tolerated" Citizens]

Egypt: A court verdict that was criticized by many human rights groups as "unbelievable" and "extremely harsh" towards Christians was decided according to religion: all twelve Christians were convicted to life imprisonment, while all eight Muslims—including some who torched nearly 60 Christian homes—were acquitted, all to thunderous cries of "Allahu Akbar!" ["Allah is the Greatest!"] in the courtroom. Another Muslim judge in Upper Egypt dismissed all charges against a group of Muslims who terrorized a Christian man and his family for over a year, culminating with their cutting off his ear in a knife attack while trying to force him to convert to Islam after they "falsely accused him" of having an affair with a Muslim woman. And a new report describes the plight of Coptic girls: "hundreds of Christian girls … have been abducted, forced to convert to Islam, and forced into marriage in Egypt. These incidents are often accompanied by acts of violence, including rape, beatings, and other forms of physical and mental abuse."

Eritrea: Activists taking part in a protest outside the Eritrean embassy in London revealed that "Some 2,000 to 3,000 Christians are currently detained in Eritrea without charge or trial… Several Christians are known to have died in notorious prison camps," and "thousands of Eritreans flee their country every year," some falling "into the hands of abusive traffickers, and are held hostage in torture camps in the Sinai Desert pending payment of exorbitant ransoms, or the forcible removal of organs."

Ethiopia: A Christian man accused of "desecrating the Koran" spent two years in prison, where he was abused, pressured to convert to Islam, and left paralyzed. Now returning home, he has found that his two young children have been abducted by local Muslims: "My life is ruined—I have lost my house, my children, my health. I am now homeless, and I am limping."

Greece: Abet Hasman, the deputy mayor of Patras who recently passed away, left a message to be revealed only in his obituary—that, although born to Muslim parents in Jordan, he was "secretly baptized" a Christian (demonstrating how some Muslims who convert to Christianity, knowing the consequences of apostasy, choose secrecy).

Indonesia: A predominantly Christian neighborhood was attacked for several days by "unidentified persons," who set fire to homes and cars. Dozens of Christian families fled their homes, "many fear[ing] the involvement of Islamic extremist groups."

Iran: A prominent house church pastor remains behind bars, even as his family expresses concerns that he may die from continued abuse and beatings, leading to internal bleeding and other ailments; authorities refuse to give him medical treatment. Also, the attorney of Youssef Nadarkhani—the imprisoned Christian pastor who awaits execution for apostasy—was himself "convicted for his work defending human rights and is expected to begin serving his nine-year sentence in the near future." Meanwhile, in a letter attributed to him, the imprisoned pastor wrote: "I have surrendered myself to God's will...[and I] consider it as the day of exam and trial of my faith...[so that I may] prove my loyalty and sincerity to God."

Jordan: After the Jordanian Dubai Islamic Bank decreed that all females must wear the hijab, the Islamic veil or be terminated, it fired all female employees who refused to wear the hijab—mostly Christians, including one Christian woman who had worked there for 27 years. There are suspicions that this new policy was set to target and terminate the Christian employees, as it is they who are most likely to reject the hijab.

Lebanon: A 24-year-old woman, the daughter of a Shiite cleric, who was "physically and psychologically tortured by her father for converting to Christianity three years ago," managed to escape and be baptized by a Christian priest—who was himself then abducted and interrogated to disclose the whereabouts of the renegade woman. In like manner, Muslim assailants fired gunshots at the house of another priest and at a church -- "part of an escalating pattern of violence against local Catholics," in the words of the region's prelate.

Macedonia: After some Muslims were arrested in connection to a "series of murders of Christians," thousands of fellow Muslims demonstrated after Friday prayers, shouting slogans such as "death to Christians!," and calling for "jihad."

Mali: Ever since the government was overthrown in a coup, "the church in Mali faces being eradicated," especially in the north, "where rebels want to establish an independent Islamist state and drive Christians out….there have been house to house searches for Christians who might be in hiding, church and Christian property has been looted or destroyed, and people tortured into revealing any Christian relatives."

Nigeria: Muslim gunmen set fire to a home in a Christian village and then opened fire on all who tried to escape the inferno, killing at least seven and wounding many others, in just one of dozens of attacks on Christians.

Sudan: Without reason, security officials closed down regional offices of the Sudan Council of Churches and a much needed church clinic for the poor; staff members were arrested and taken to an undisclosed location: "Their families are living in agony due to the uncertainty of their fate."

Syria: Jihadi gunmen evicted all the families of a Christian region, "taking over all the homes of the village, occupying the church and turning it to their base."

Uzbekistan: Police raided a Protestant house-church meeting, claiming "that a bomb was in the home." No bomb was found, only Christian literature which was confiscated. Subsequently, 14 members of the unregistered church were heavily fined—the equivalent of 10-60 times a monthly salary—for an "unsanctioned meeting in a private home." Between February and April, 28 Protestants were fined and four were issued warnings for the offence. Three Baptists were also fined for not declaring their personal Bibles while crossing the border from Kazakhstan into Uzbekistan. Fines and warnings were accompanied by the confiscation of religious literature.

About this Series

Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
To show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.
Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death to those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

 

[eagle1462010]

They are very lucky that we are not like them.

What would they say if we said "GOD WILLS IT", and killed all of them refusing to convert?

The abuses of Radical Islam are everywhere to be seen. Unless you live under a Rock.