"Throughout
history, it has been the inaction of those who could have
acted; the indifference of those
who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most;
that has made it possible for evil
to triumph."
Haile Selassie
Ever since he was nominated to be Bush's Attorney
General, John Ashcroft's religious Pentacostal beliefs have been
a major concern for most Americans. Could Mr. Ashcroft separate
his religious fundamentalist beliefs that declare Christ as the
ONLY truth and path to salvation, his questionable history of
prejudice toward minorities, his blind biblical support for
Israel while he was a Senator that stems from the belief of
supporting Israel for the single purpose of exterminating or
converting Jews as a prerequisite for Christ's second
coming, his prejudice toward other faiths, and most
importantly----could he uphold the Constitutional foundation of
separation of church and state?
To begin to answer such major concerns it's
important to remember that Mr. Ashcroft's father and grandfather
were Pentecostal Ministers. When Mr. Ashcroft first won his
Senate seat from Missouri his father asked him to kneel down and
proceeded to "anoint" him with oil as a blessing. During Bush's
first cabinet meeting, Mr. Bush asked Mr. Ashcroft to lead the
entire cabinet in Christian prayer. Since becoming Attorney
General Mr. Ashcroft begins his day with prayer asking his staff
to join him, albeit voluntarily. This is in addition to Mr.
Bush's Inauguration Ceremony that was totally a Christian
led ceremony that included the Reverend Franklin Graham who
later described Islam as an "evil religion". Thus America has a
"Christian Coalition" extremist right wing administration led by
John Ashcroft, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Franklin
Grahame.
On the tragic day of terrorism, September
11, when almost 3,000 Americans died, Bush and his Corporate and
Christian Coalition supporters seized an opportunity to advance
their agenda given that Mr. Bush was a President lost in space
and time. Bush's Military-Industrial-Energy Complex (The Real
Axis of Evil) saw an opportunity to bleed the trillions of
dollars of surplus to enrich themselves by sky rocketing the
defense budget while the war in Afghanistan presented him with
the unheard of opportunity to establish permanent military bases
in nations around the treasured Caspian Sea oil and gas
reserves. The Christian Coalition seized the opportunity to
further their Anti-Islamic agenda in the goal of containing the
"Islamic threat". But more importantly they saw an opportunity
to further support Israel and Sharon's plan to totally transfer
and/or eliminate Palestinians from the occupied territories
thereby establishing Israel over the entire holy land, thus
expediting their vision of Christ's Second coming. In a twisted
sense of tragic fate one may say that Bin Laden was the best
thing that ever happened to Bush saving his Presidency. Just
like American companies have used 9-11 to patriotize their
products, Bush has wrapped his salvation around the flag and we
American suckers are falling for it.
Bush's cabinet looks like a Who's Who of
Pro-Defense, Pro-Israel, and Pro-Christian Right members and
advisors. Just as Bush's father, the former President said:
"We're doing the Lord's Work" when meeting with the troops after
Desert Storm (Hitler also uttered the same words when justifying
the Holocaust), it seems Junior has found his "Lord's Work"
too. It doesn't hurt if one also gets rich along the way of
the new "Crusade.'
To Ashcroft's credit he's never concealed his
strong belief in Pentecostalism despite the trepidation of his
critics. However, for the first time Ashcroft has finally and
publicly expressed his and the President's belief that the
financially enriching "war on terrorism" is based on
their fundamentalist Christian belief that this is a war
supported by God himself. In an article in the Washington Post
written by Dan Eggan "Ashcroft Invokes Religion In U.S. War on
Terrorism" (2/20/02), Mr. Eggan writes: "Attorney General John
D. Ashcroft yesterday cast the government's war on terrorism in
religious terms, arguing that the campaign is rooted in faith in
God.....Contrasting "the way of God and the way of the
terrorists," Ashcroft's speech to a group of Christian
broadcasters in Nashville included some of the most explicitly
religious remarks from the attorney general since he was
confirmed amid controversy over his views more than a year
ago...."Civilized people... all understand that the source of
freedom and human dignity is the Creator WE
are a nation called to defend freedom -- a freedom that is not
the grant of any government or document, but is
OUR endowment from God. This is not a
conflict based in religion," he said. "It is a conflict between
good and evil. And as President Bush has reminded us,
WE KNOW THAT GOD is not neutral between
the two."
From Bush's infamous "Crusade" remark to the
"Islam is evil" remarks expressed by the Christian
Fundamentalist Clergy Jerry Falwell and Franklin Grahame, to the
many similar sentiments expressed by Congressmen and media
pundits, to the top law enforcement officer of the land Attorney
General John Ashcroft's remarks to Cal Thomas whereby he
said: "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send
your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God
sends his son to die for you." (Later in attempting to explain
the statement Ashcroft further confused the issue through an
astounding twist of logic by saying: the reported remarks "do
not accurately reflect what I believe I said.")
In my opinion my America is being led by the most
dangerous President in history, a President of limited
knowledge, experience, and ill suited dis-articulation who
simply espouses the strategies of his "war mongering cabinet and
special interest friends." American generosity of spirit,
patriotism, naivete and ignorance are being exploited by
unpatriotic Americans who've never served this nation in combat
(Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle,
and the American Jewish lobby) who are hell bent to fight the
world with poor American white, black, and Hispanic men and
women to enrich their pockets, support the madman Sharon of
Israel, while damning our friends, allies, values and the world
to hell. Neither our constitution nor the future of our nation
and children matters much to these "civilized warriors". They
see a time limit (4 - 8) years to expedite Armageddon, kill Jews
and Muslims, and be caught up in the Rapture of Jesus' Second
Coming. As Jonathan Swift once said: "We have just enough
religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one
another." Instead of a Marshall Plan to address the world's
poverty, population explosion, and rampant pollution (the
3 P's), Bush is placing the world under "Marshall Law."
The millions of Americans and the billions of the
world are "fools" to be exploited and dispensed with in their
grand scheme. There is nothing more dangerous than madmen, be
they Bush or Bin Laden, ideologically extreme and morally
shallow who in their zeal perceive God's work being done through
nuclear bombs and terrorism. God help us if in our silence we
suffer the slings of outrageous fortunes of Bush and Company.
Bush's high popular rating is enough to
intimidate our Congress, the only branch that can declare war
and debate policies, intimidate our religious leaders and our
citizens. Are polls now sufficient to foster World War III?
We should recall James Fennimore Cooper's admonition that: "It
is a besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion
for law. This is the usual form in which masses of men exhibit
their tyranny."
Ashcroft's singing talent has sustained the
morale of the Pro-Israelites and Pro-Fundamentalist wings of our
nation. These groups fear nothing more than the awakening of
Americans to reclaim our nation and our destiny from domestic
and foreign manipulation. Thus he has formed a Special
Interest Barber Shop Quarter comprised of "Cheney, Rumsfeld,
Ashcroft, and Bush named: "C.R.A.B"
Their latest entertainment for the pleasure of
the Christian and Jewish Zionists is a rendition of a song from
"My Fair Lady" called: WHY CAN'T A MUSLIM BE LIKE US."
It goes something like this:
"We're ordinary men, who desire nothing more
than just an ordinary chance, to live exactly as we like, and do
precisely what we want.
...Average men are we, of no eccentric whim,
Who like to live their life, free of strife, doing whatever we
think is best for YOU, Well... just ordinary men...
BUT, let a MUSLIM in your life and your
serenity is through, they'll re-demolish your home, from the
cellar to the dome, and then go to the enthralling fun of
indoctrinating you...
Let a MUSLIM in your life, and you're up
against a wall, make a "peace" plan and you will find, they have
"terrorism" in mind, and so rather than do either you do
something else that neither likes at all.
We are men of "civilization", grace and
polish who never spoke above a hush,
now all at once after 9/11 you're using language that would make
a sailor blush, Let a MUSLIM in your
life, and you're plunging in a knife, I'd prefer a new
edition of the Spanish Inquisition than to ever let a MUSLIM in
my life...
We, westerners, are so honest, so thoroughly
square; Eternally noble, historically fair;
Who, when we kill, give each other's back a
pat."
Ending with the Chorus chanting: "enron, ron
ron, enron, ron"
Who can argue with the new George "Urban II" Bush
who claims his crusade against evil is directed and supported by
God himself. Astonishingly, these fundamentalist Christians in
their divinely inspired "Jihad" believe God is prejudiced toward
his other non-Judeo-Christian creations. They are the
prosecutors, juries, judges, and executioners on earth who will
be rewarded by Paradise for massacring, bombing, ignoring,
starving, hating, and neglecting the rest of humanity. Yet
Bush claims Jesus as his "philosopher". Apparently, Bush and
company must be reading a different New Testament written by
Enron and A.I.P.A.C. (American Israeli Public Affairs
Committee): a bible of greed, lust for land, oil, hegemony,
enslavement of truth, and murder of the innocent. Whatever
happened to "W W J D"--what would Jesus do?
Unlike Descartes version, these "civilized"
westernized men of God believe in the new and improved version
of their world of blind arrogance and power.
"I don't think, therefore I'm civilized"
Mr. Mohamed Khodr is an American Muslim physician and a
native from the Middle East. He has worked in Academic Medicine
and Public health with national and international health
experience. He is a freelance writer who often writes columns on
the Palestinian cause, Islam and on America's Foreign Policy in
the Middle East.
