We have another despicable crime committed by fanatics in the name of religion. Malala Yousufzai, 14, is an incredibly brave girl who wrote about the atrocities against women and girls under Taliban rule — writing about conditions and crimes in the area. She was honored internationally for her advocacy. A Taliban gunman walked on to her bus as it was leaving her school and asked for her by name. Another girl pointed her out but Malala denied being the girl so the gunman shot both girls in the name of Allah.
Malala was shot in the head and neck but amazingly survived as did the other girl. The Taliban expressed nothing but pride over the crime. Calling her writings “obscenity,” Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan proclaimed “this was a new chapter of obscenity, and we have to finish this chapter. We have carried out this attack.” It truly shows how warped some can become in their twisted view of faith. Here is an organization proudly proclaiming that they shot two little girls as a morally correct act.
Malala and her family had long been threatened by the Taliban ever since she started writing her blog — initially under a pseudonym for the BBC. She went public when the Taliban was pushed out of the Swat Valley. Her writings have a particularly prophetic quality now:
I was getting ready for school and about to wear my uniform when I remembered that our principal had told us not to wear uniforms – and come to school wearing normal clothes instead. So I decided to wear my favourite pink dress. Other girls in school were also wearing colourful dresses and the school presented a homely look.
Swat has been a centre of militant activity
My friend came to me and said, ‘for God’s sake, answer me honestly, is our school going to be attacked by the Taleban?’ During the morning assembly we were told not to wear colourful clothes as the Taleban would object to it.
During their time in the valley, the Taliban burned down schools and abused any girls who wanted to be educated.
While this atrocity was being investigated, the Pakistani court system was dealing with a case where seven girls were traded in barter to settle a feud in a tribal area. The trade was ordered by the local tribal council.
These are the same true believers that our ally Hamid Karzai says that he wished he had joined rather than work with the United States.
Source: CBS
Remember folks, acts like this were the ultimate goal of people like Warren Jeffs and Jerry Falwell. All religion behaves the same way when it attains the power to do it. That’s especially true of two religions – christianity and islam – both believe in the “god” of the old testament.
OS, true that.
Malisha, if the families got the money, the Taliban and other criminals in the government would seize it and probably kill the families for accepting it. It is a no-win situation over there no matter how you slice it.
On the other hand, we could give ALL OUR AID not to the government for it to apportion as it liked, but to victims of this kind of violence, for THEM to spend as they see fit. Pretty soon the attacks would dwindle…dwindle…dwindle…
Just more collateral damage (sarcasm)
There is also the question of foreign aid … start cutting the governments of Afghan Land and Pakistan back on the pot of gold from America and / or tie the aid to realistic, achievable benchmarks and at the same time reduce the presence of our troops and see how fast things start to change. Although, since Karzai and his cronies have already siphoned off multi-millions, they may already have purchased their villas on the Riviera and couldn’t give a damn ….
As a vet, I see the situation in Afghan Land deteriorating
at an exponential rate … I have advocated pulling the troops out entirely and if Karzai wants his forces trained — then send them to America for training at our bases like White Sands NM, Ft. Bliss, TX or Ft. Irwin, CA where we can replicate the desert / Mountain conditions. It also would allow our trainers to be out of an environment replete with IEDs and suicide bombers. Would our troops still have to be leery of a radical Islamist (singular or plural) being part of the training contingent — yes but the surrounding drama (IEDs etc) would be virtually eliminated. It might even give a boost to the local economies of those bases.
Dear Candy,
Go ahead ask the heathens that question — “what would Jesus do …” and see how fast they shoot you, as well ..!!
Clarification: I know this story happened in Pakistan, but our problems in Pakistan are directly related to our actions in Afghanistan.
Perhaps it might be a good idea for the gov’t of Pakistan to enact federal law in Swat. Seems their allowing local enforcement of Sharia in 2009 has not been very good for half the population there.
I suspect this attempt will horrify Obama supporters. What’s weird about that is Obama drone killed a 16 year old Pakistani boy who was working for peace. The attempt on the life of a young girl is wrong but the attempt on the life of a young boy is…(acceptable in an election year?
This is where the rubber meets the road. There is no reason to be outraged by the attempt on the girl but to excuse, cheer and vote for the man who made the successful attempt on the peace activist who was a boy.
What OS said.
The only viable solution for dealing with Afghanistan from the start was 1) go in and destroy the terrorist training infrastructure and 2) leave rapidly with a promise certain to do much worse should they continue aiding terrorists. But “change” Afghanistan? An exercise in futility from the start.
Look, I find teenagers annoying, too… but this is extreme.
What did you really expect of such heathens. They need to practice in rote “what would Jesus do?”
If only the true believers of the War on Terror had gotten to her first. Then we could have ignored her as a faceless, nameless piece of collateral damage.
It is time to let the Afghans deal with their own internal stuff. Eventually this too will pass, but there have been tribal and religious conflicts in the region for two or three thousand years. No one from the outside is going to change their culture. I hate it that the Taliban even exist, but we will never wipe them out. They have to run their course, just like other extremist movements. The Spanish Inquisition ran its course, just as the pogroms of France in the terror ran its course.
Anyone who knows the first thing about social psychology will tell you that outside intervention is more likely to strengthen the Taliban rather than weaken it.
my wonky computer…..
another strange deviance when education is lacking…
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/ap/health/officer-issues-ticket-over-passengers-hiv-status/nSRgC/
“this was a new chapter of obscenity, and we have to finish this chapter. We have carried out this attack.”
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this is neither religion or faith…it looks more like a very sick and misguided act related to a reliance on intense control by propaganda by violent thinking rulers…
“One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.” – Joseph Stalin
There was universal free education in Iraq and Libya, including women, before they were destroyed in order to save them.
The religion behind it was The Bully Religion, which is quite fashionable around the globe.
“this was a new chapter of obscenity, and we have to finish this chapter. We have carried out this attack.”
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this is neither religion or faith…it looks more like a very sick and misguided acting out related to a reliance on intense control by propaganda by violent thinking rulers…