Letting it All Hang Out

This entry was posted by my co-blogger Dick, a writer and former squadron mate:

I don’t have any trouble calling it “The War on Terrorism” and don’t want to get wrapped around the axle as to what it is and isn’t. For the most part, people accept it is not a “war” in the conventional sense but it is a conflict of some type with a group of dysfunctional Middle Eastern Islamic fundamentalists who have declared jihad on the modern western world. The conventional wisdom also holds that, ultimately, it is the Muslims who must defeat the terrorists. Never discount “conventional wisdom,” but that is another story.

Unfortunately, Muslims have not been showing any propensity to get with the program because to do so means they must change. But wait a moment, there is hope for this old world, but things are a-changing among the Muslims. Well, at least among the Muslims in
Europe and the United States.

This week, the Fiqh Council of North America issued a fatwa condemning terrorism. Further, it was sponsored by the two big guns of Islam in the U.S., the Council of American Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America. Okay, so the fatwa has been almost four years in coming, but I don’t blame the Muslims for being in deep denial. After all, the vast majority of Muslims are not terrorists.

Then yesterday, Dr. Zaki Badawi, an Islamic high-roller in the English Islamic community, advised women to stop wearing the hijab, or traditional headscarf. It seems the Blokes have been saying some not-so-nice things to the ladies of the veil. Also, there has been an outbreak of hate crimes in the U.K. against the Muslims since the train bombings on 7/7. Granted, most of the 269 reported incidents have been relatively minor, no mosque burnings or Muslim lynched, but it is so very un-British. Or is it? Ever been to a British football match?

Maybe there is something to be said for getting angry and letting your emotions show.