Silver Lining and a Dark Cloud

I'm not a political blogger, just a guy who writes for cartharsis and to think and I leave the heavy political stuff to the guys with the time, resources and background. Still, I read a few political sites and blogs, and Iraq and Iran loom large.

Occasionally there is apparent good news. Like the report in the Washington Times about significant numbers of Kurds converting to Christianity. According to the article, Retired Iraqi Gen. Georges Sada, the same guy who claims Saddam flew WMD out of Iraq into Syria before the war, says Kurds are converting to Christianity "by the hundreds" in northern Iraq.

I guess it rings true. Particularly in light of the Al Jazeera interview in which Ahmad Al Katani laments that as many as six million Muslims convert to Christianity in Africa each year. Of course Al Katani unfortunately argues that evangelism is OK as long as it doesn't involve evangelizing Muslims. Still, seeing Christianity having an impact in Muslim countries is encouraging in light of the other, darker stories.



Required reading ought to be Hugh Hewitt's thorough roundup of analysis of Iranian President Ahmadinejad's letter to President Bush. It seems a number of media folk are treating the letter as a positive thing, an invitation to dialog. Hugh doesn't see it that way, particulary in light of the closing "Vasalam Ala Man Ataba'al hoda". Hugh quotes a New York Post article on the meaning of the phrase:

"What this means is 'Peace only unto those who follow the true path.'

"It is a phrase with historical significance in Islam, for, according to Islamic tradition, in year six of the Hejira - the late 620s - the prophet Mohammad sent letters to the Byzantine emperor and the Sassanid emperor telling them to convert to the true faith of Islam or be conquered. The letters included the same phrase that President Ahmadinejad used to conclude his letter to Mr. Bush. For Mohammad, the letters were a prelude to a Muslim offensive, a war launched for the purpose of imposing Islamic rule over infidels."

In other words, Ahmadinejad's letter may in fact be a declaration of war. And the vast majority of Americans are blissfully unaware.

Dean Barnett's column "All Jihad All the Time" reviews Andrew Bostum's The Legacy of Jihad which documents the history of Jihad across 1300 years by quoting Muslim scholars on the subject. Barnett quotes Ayatollah Khomeini, "All those who study jihad will understand why Islam wants to conquer the world . . . Those who know nothing about Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. [They] are witless!"

While our media spends countless hours rehashing the lack of news about Natalie Holloway or the Duke Lacrosse scandal, spends untold dollars fretting about whether it is allegedly trashing the constitution for intelligence agencies to try to listen in on conversations of suspected terrorists and now our congress insists on doing nothing sensible about our southern border, a possible direct threat from a soon to be nuclear power is seen as an invitation to dialog.

There's a silver lining out there I'm sure, if we can see beyond the cloud.