Reading books about Islam, trying to piece together histories never taught in school. Somewhere around 25-30 books are under my belt now, but I'm not sure I'm making much progress. The latest was The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, by Amin Maalouf, which left me marveling at the wanton bloodshed caused by both sides during that inglorious era.
Did you know that some of the Crusaders acted as cannibals, and hunted Arab villagers down for food? Do you know how the Cult of the Assassins came about? This book documents those and other atrocities.
I often find myself speculating how the pools of Jews, Christians, and Moslems persisted side by side in the Middle East for millenia, albeit with major pogroms launched against Jews, and wars between the other two now and again. But, still, in the in-between times, the regular times when there was no great war, how did they get along?
The Jew, the Christian, the Moslem, each with his holy book, all originating in the same cradle of civilization. And now very much at war, in our time, with an idiot king, I mean President, who summoned the awful cry of the Crusaders in his call to action following 9/11, not even knowing how his words would reverberate throughout an Islamic world that has not forgotten the stains of that past.
That political leaders of both major parties in the U.S. cannot summon the courage to admit this country has made a major mistake by invading Iraq is frightening evidence that the war was never about anything more than securing our addictive supply of oil, rationalized as a mission to "democratize," (read: "Christianize") the heathens (the "Believers.") Bush the Decider is utterly clueless about the Middle East.
His coterie of advisors, however, knew exactly what they were doing. Now they are getting desperate, never a good thing in geopolitics. Expect something horrific to happen before next year's elections. Something too awful for words.
Something much like a thousand years ago, when Crusaders entered Jerusalem, massacred all the Moslems, burned the Jews alive in their synagogue, and killed even the indigenous Christians (!) in their quest for economic conquest under the cover of missionary zeal.
Know why I hate religion?
Because I love life and I love being alive and I love people. I had a button in the Sixties (many did) that said simply: God is Love.
I worship the God of Love, but no other. And I never will.
-30-
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