Sometimes Killers Lie
I have a plan that will solve the problem of Muslim fundamentalist terrorism. All we have to do is point out to captured terrorists the passages in the Quran that tell them to be nice to people. Then we’ll get them to apologize and promise never to do it again. If they agree, we let them go. That should work, right?
NO!!!
Only an absolute idiot would believe in such a plan. If a group of people actually agreed that this would work, I would think they should be locked away in padded cells for the rest of their lives. Well, make room at Bellevue for everyone in the Yemeni government. They put this plan into action three years ago.
Guess what. It didn’t work.
The effectiveness of his technique - a theological “duel” in which he and the prisoners quote Koranic texts at each other - is in doubt, however, after reports that some al-Qaeda militants freed under the scheme have been caught fighting coalition forces in Iraq.
IN DOUBT!?! I am NOT in doubt. I think we can pretty safely declare this a DISASTROUS FAILURE!
Among those released is the former chief bodyguard of Osama bin Laden, Nasser Al-Bahri, who has admitted that his sessions with Judge al-Hitar did nothing to diminish his belief in the leader of al-Qaeda. Instead, he suggested that many militants simply pretended to repent to gain quick release from jail.
How could they possibly be expected to foresee that someone who worked closely with one of the most evil men alive today might fib? Really. I think we ask too much of Yemen. This is, after all, a country that couldn’t even figure out where it ENDED until 2000. Seriously, if the outline of your country on a map has contained any dashed lines in the past ten years, I don’t think much can be asked of you.
A total of 364 prisoners have been released under this harebrained scheme. Do the math. If even ONE of these prisoners carries out a 9/11 scale attack, they will kill ten times as many innocent victims as the number of prisoners released. Does this seem worth it to anyone?
This exercise in futility is based on a single false assumption. Over the last few years, many “experts” have droned on and on about how Muslim terrorists are “misinterpreting” the Quran. They believe that the Quran is morally equivalent to the Bible. They are correct on the latter point, but sorely mistaken on the former. Muslim fundamentalists aren’t misinterpreting the Quran. Mainstream, moderate Christians are misinterpreting the Bible, reading its blood-soaked pages through rose-colored glasses. If you don’t believe me, stop by this site again almost any Sunday.
~I AM~
P.S. Thanks to Jihad Watch, where I found this story.
October 10th, 2005 at at 8:46 am
I am fairly sure the interpretation of passages in the Quran is not the root of the problem, it is the excuse.
October 10th, 2005 at at 10:54 am
Check out Sam Harris’ End of Faith. In one section, he lists references in the Quran that discuss killing apostates and infidels…………..the list goes on for quite a few pages. These are vague references either. In nost of the old testament (and some of the new), the bible pretty clearly has a similar stance towards apostates and non-believers as the Quran.
October 10th, 2005 at at 11:32 am
A battle of holy book verses. How ridiculous. Both sides would surely be able to conjure up any number of verses and interpret them to support their side of the argument no matter what its about.
They do it in the Bible all the time. Why not the Quran?
October 10th, 2005 at at 11:51 am
“…the Quran is morally equivalent to the Bible.”
Yep, and the Old Testament is morally equivalent to Mien Kampf.
Ironically, the book of Mormon is not morally equivalent to L. Ron Hubbard’s Diabetics as one might suspect, but rather Piers Anthony’s Bio of a Space Tyrant.
It would be fun to make a web site called the Scripture Interpreter. You could feed in any position on an issue and the site would spit back a search of all the various “scripture” to give you arguments for your defense AND the opposing view.
October 10th, 2005 at at 11:52 am
How annoying my spell check changed Dianetics to diabetics.
October 10th, 2005 at at 2:42 pm
I wanted to be a Diabetic at one point, but then I realized I would have to give up my reasoning skills and sugar.
October 10th, 2005 at at 2:59 pm
Yep, agreed. Muslims are much more honest about their religiosity than mainstream Christians. If mainstream Christians want to reinterpret or completely ignore the bad parts of the bible, they should form a new sect and rewrite the bible as they see fit or maybe one of them can have a vision and create a whole new bible from scratch. This is why I actually prefer Christian fundamentalists over the moderates. At least the fundamentalists are honest about their beliefs and you know where they stand. It is plain hypocrisy to consider the bible to be the word of God and claim you follow God’s words but then completely ignore the parts you don’t like. The bible has enough hypocrisy in it all ready, it doesn’t need anymore help.
October 10th, 2005 at at 3:59 pm
Of course! This is perfect! I’m sure this could work in any situation! Just imagine…
SCENE: A Dungeon, during the Inquistion.
Inquisitor: Are you willing to recant your heresy and rejoin the one true faith?
Prisoner: While I respect your interpretation of the Scripture, I must protest that I think I have valid theological criticisms. While the passage seems quite clear, it does not match with Scripture elsewhere, and if we look at the passage in context in the original Greek we can see that Yeaaaaaarrrrrrgggggggggh!
Inquisitor: Whoops, my hands slipped on the thumbscrew there. How clumsy of me.
October 10th, 2005 at at 4:24 pm
…fetch the COMFY CHAIR!
October 10th, 2005 at at 4:36 pm
“Can’t we all just get along?” - Jack Nicholson in “Mars Attacks” Just before the martian plants a flag in his chest.
The zealots on both sides of this mockery of life make the Hatfield and McCoy feud look like an afternoon tea party. Anyone who thinks that murderous fanatics can be shown the error of their ways and released back into civilization is either crazy, or aiding and abetting under the guise of benign neutrality. Maybe if the US Navy lobbed a couple of cruise missiles at Yemen, they would understand just how intractable and pissed off these jihadists are. I am not suggesting violence here, just laying out a possible scenario in the continuing saga of ,”You’re both wrong, and guilty of crimes against humanity. Now why don’t you all shut up and let me get some sleep?”
October 10th, 2005 at at 5:16 pm
damn seth, you got there before me.
great post, I love it. Its the funniest idea ever. there should be a sitcom about it.
LBBP: that’s the best idea I’ve heard all week
October 10th, 2005 at at 8:42 pm
I would like to remind everyone that the tradition of covering women’s body parts and heads by the muslims was adopted from christians. It is all spelled out in Karen Armstrong’s book “The History of God”.
I Am, I noticed The Raving Atheist wasn’t on your recommended list anymore. Has he been a little too cynical for you lately?
October 10th, 2005 at at 9:51 pm
Atheist Messiah:
I just haven’t enjoyed TRA in quite a while. I don’t think it’s cynicism. He’s just not talking about things that I find interesting. I noticed one day that I was barely skimming most of his posts, and I realized that I only had him on the list by default. EVERYONE has to link to TRA, right?
I’ve actually made a lot of changes to that list. Every site on the list is now one that I read regularly and enjoy.
I’ve also decided to exclude two types of sites. Blogs that are updated less than once a week or so are out. I just get sick of finding the same post every time I visit. I’ve also eliminated sites that don’t allow commenting or restrict commenting to Blogger users. Isn’t the point of blogging an open exchange with the world? I enjoyed reading Hank Fox, Goosing the Antithesis and Hellbound Alleee, but I don’t go to those sites anymore because of those policies.
October 10th, 2005 at at 10:07 pm
I AM:
I recall reading somewhere that the Koran ends w/the gates of hell thrown open, & everyone is released?
Or am I confusing that w/the Apocalypse of Peter, Ethiopian version?
Gladly take correction on this.
October 10th, 2005 at at 10:23 pm
Insane. I think it’s nice you’ve been paying more attention to the Muslim extremists. They’re just as bad as the Christian ones. And deadlier.
October 10th, 2005 at at 11:30 pm
I haven’t found RA as interesting as he used to be either. At least lately he’s just been rambling on about stupid comments from theists and even some atheists. I’m starting to wonder if that is what happens to all atheists after they have banged their heads against the wall for too long. This kind of living in a world that is so far out of whack takes its toll on us all. Some have more will than others I guess.
October 11th, 2005 at at 10:33 am
Back to the original post………………
I guess this is similar to the Catholic hierarchy sitting down with a priest who has been accused for molesting a child, “My son, do you promise before the father, the son, and the holy spirit; to never molest or rape a child that has been placed in your care by the parents and the holy roman church?”
“Uhh, yeah,” responds the priest, slightly shocked to find there have been no calls to the secular authorities.
“Very good my son, I have your next assignment. It will be supervising a summer camp for 8-14 year old boys. Now go with god.”
October 12th, 2005 at at 4:23 am
Daft isn’t it, caught this today, just goes to show its hardly and isolated problem. Still, at least most of these crooks got locked up.
http://heartlandvalues.blogspot.com/2005/10/weekly-church-related-crime-update_11.html
October 17th, 2005 at at 2:23 am
I’m not nearly as familiar with the Quran as the Bible, but Muslims do indeed believe much of the Bible. I don’t think you can find one thing in the Bible that isn’t pretty much completely contradicted elsewhere in the same book. I don’t even see how the hell Christians can connect the two Testaments, other than needing the OT for “prophecies” to allege were fulfilled.