Theodicy on Facebook

John R. Houk
© April 7, 2011

Below is a Facebook discussion based on the Quran burning issue of Pastor Terry Jones at SlantRight.com (But was actually linked to the SlantRight 2.0 site). Actually the discussion began between me and my son Steven which you will see if you click the Facebook link. Steven and I discussed evil in Islam in which Steven proceeded to equate all organized religions are evil; however knowing that I am a Christian I steered the discussion between Islam and Christianity. I then went to say atheism is evil and that atheism was a system of beliefs which in essence I believe is just as much a religion as any other religion.

Then a like-minded soul similar to Steven has rather successfully drawn me into a discussion related theism and atheism. I actually tried to avoid this discussion because my experience is that people who blame religion, especially Christianity for all the evils perpetrated by the Western World among Westerners and outside the Christian West, to objectify the blame of individuals (ruling elites) on the whole of Christianity. No matter how much I defend Christianity according to Biblical thought, this kind of religious attacker will point to this event, that person or that leader on the whole of Christianity.

So goes the conversation that will probably continue on Facebook but again will attempt to discontinue as the discussion moves the way I suspect it will which always ends in someone insulting my intelligence and me trying not to respond in kind but sometimes allowing my temperament to get the best of me.

JRH 4/7/11

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John Houk

Nicholas when you ask me what I believe you are asking, Why not debate? The one with the longest wiz - err - I mean the best Socratic syllogism is correct. Frankly there is intellectual syllogism that will define the essence of atheism and/or monotheism. The effort is not worth my time.

John Houk

Actually Steven did not say "that which is evil should be apparent". Steven was quoting me then impugning my intelligence as my son is only capable of doing. As to the Pope, what specific evil has done other than being the head of a Church confession in which the clergy has partaken in pedophilia in the 20th and 21st century? Bad management is not evil; the purposeful sinful acts are sinful and thus evil. Has the Pope stood up and made it a public doctrine of pedophilia should be accepted? No. Has Pope approved of pedophile? No. The worst he has done is not confronting ecclesiastical bureaucracy in the Roman Catholic Church.

 John Houk

Really? You wish to consider the throwing away of a cracker and the disappointment of the few committed Catholics over the act? You are equating the imbecilic death threats from Catholics who do not know their own Scriptures about not returning evil for evil in the same way that a Muslim that follows Quranic suras (scriptures) that demand death to anyone who insults Allah, Mohammed or Islam.

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Nicholas Negelein

‎"I mean the best Socratic syllogism is correct."

I think you are using this as a passive-aggressive cop out to avoid having to ever actually discuss your beliefs because you don't want to have them questioned. You say the effort is not worth your time, but what is worth your time is rabble rousing against your fellow Abrahamic faiths. An interesting position to occupy.

"Actually Steven did not say ‘that which is evil should be apparent’.”

Correct. I stated "I agree with Steven about "that which is evil should be apparent" not being apparent to everyone." We both think your statement is invalid.

"As to the Pope, what specific evil has done other than being the head of a Church confession in which the clergy has partaken in pedophilia in the 20th and 21st century?"

Such as being the one who directly signed the orders to hide and shuffle them so they don't get prosecuted by local authorities under the guise of it being "in the best interests of the church"? Or lying and saying "condoms increase the spread of aids"? Or maligning secularism as being the cause of all societal ills, despite said ills existing even in wholly religious societies? Stuff like that.

"The worst he has done is not confronting ecclesiastical bureaucracy in the Roman Catholic Church."

Saying this is inane, though I have to wonder if you are simply unknowing of the issue. He was the head bishop who passed down the orders to hide the priests and send them to new hunting grounds rather than turning them over to the authorities. He directly and knowingly aided and abetted rapists and criminals.

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John Houk

Thus Nicholas I do think that it was criminal of the Pope to hide pedophiles. I believe pedophiles should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law; however did the Pope hide the pedophiles according to Biblical Scripture? No. The Pope acted according to a man-made ecclesiastical bureaucracy. In other words the Pope acted contrary to his boss.

Am I "unknowing" of the issue? I have to admit it is not a focus of study in my journey as seeker of God in this life. The Pope is not in my Church. His acts of immoral rectitude only affect me because of the high profile as a significant leader of a huge amount of Christians of the Roman Catholic Confession. I have only cursory knowledge of the meme of the Pope, the Catholic Clergy and pedophilia. I still the actual committers of the atrocity need to be dealt with and the evil is in the individual that needs Justice in this life but still has the opportunity for forgiveness in the next life. That is Christianity: Love, Forgiveness and Restoration.

In my original thoughts that Islam is evil, Quranic suras maintain the exoneration of acts of evil executed upon non-Muslims. This is their Scripture. Thus if pedophilia, rape or even death occurs because it happens to a kafir it is moral. That is instituted evil.

Contrast that with evil that has been done in the name of Christianity or Christ. That evil occurred outside the institution of Scriptures. They were done either out of a misguided agenda of protecting the faith or were just downright evil of a person or a group of like-minded people.

When I say atheism is real it is not necessarily the person is evil. It is in the denial of God the Creator’s existence. That is not an evil that deserves prison or prosecution as it was in Christian history by those who did not follow the Scriptures of Christ that leads to Love of sinner and saint, the Forgiveness of sin that leads to Right Standing with God and Restoration which is the practice of learning not to be a sinner (which is not necessarily an overnight transformation in this world even the inner-person has been created anew by the Blood Sacrifice of Jesus Christ).
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Nicholas Negelein

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"You wish to consider the throwing away of a cracker and the disappointment of the few committed Catholics over the act?"

Yes.

"You are equating the imbecilic death threats from Catholics who do not know their own Scriptures about not returning... evil for evil in the same way that a Muslim that follows Quranic suras (scriptures) that demand death to anyone who insults Allah, Mohammed or Islam."

I am not equating, they are the same. The suras, just like the bible, have contradicting statements. You say the Catholics are ignorant of scripture, but you don't accord the Muslims the same courtesy. The truth is that both are, on average, equally accurate about their own relative scriptures.

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John Houk

“I am not equating, they are the same.”

You are absolutely incorrect! Not even a Muslim considers the Quran as the same as the Bible. To a Muslim the Old and New Testament are the adulterated inaccurate written words accomplished by deceived Jews and Christians. And yet the last writing by date (whether by modern scholarship or by devotional scholarship) was written 600 years before a collection of Mohammed’s companions who had memorized the old prophet’s word were put into print. And then it was another decade or so before one of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs destroyed all other Quran versions written to proclaim his affirmed version is the absolute words of Mohammed that was received from Allah. And yet the Quran is a complete bastardized version of the Old and New Testament in which Patriarchs and Prophets beginning with Adam were always Muslims and any other contradiction is a Jewish and Christian lie.

Although modern scholarship finds contradictions in the Bible by looking at singularities rather than the whole scarlet thread of the plan of God or slight variations of the same theme in various New Testament writings as a contradiction, that is not the case of a Believing Biblical scholar who seeks to find harmony rather than distinctive differences.

On the other hand the Quran is dualistic in its theological approach. Two different suras that overtly contradict each other are dualistically both true. The truth is measured by the situation and/or the time frame in which Mohammed is said to have pronounced an Allah-word. This is the process of Abrogation in Islam. Thus in earlier suras attributed to Mohammed that says “there is no compulsion of religion in Islam” or that Jews and Christians “should be respected as People of the Book” (i.e. the Bible denied by Islam as truth) as abrogated by the later words of Mohammed (specifically after Mohammed’s Hegira from Mecca to Medina). The suras written later are typified by “kill them wherever you find them” or “Jew where are you? Look behind the rock and slay them” or “kill the apostate of Islam” (Hadith) or “kill any person that insults Islam” or “women taken in war even if married are lawful for sex if they are not Muslims (i.e. rape)” and so on and so on.

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In full disclosure I ran a spell check on this post in which most of the corrections were my own rather than Nicholas.

John R. Houk

© April 5, 2011

Not long ago Jane Fonda had a book written about her that focused on whether her actions in North Vietnam wee fact or fiction. The theme about the Fonda visit and Vietnam war milieu is that everything about her Hanoi Jane image was a fabrication by Right Wing war mongers. Is it true that Fonda got a bad rap as Hanoi Jane?

It is absolutely true! Hanoi was a traitor. Jane Fonda is a traitor today for justifying her actions in North Vietnam and only apologizing for hurting Vietnam Vets’ feelings but not for what for her actions in North Vietnam.

Unfortunately a series of Chain Letters have spread around the Internet taking the facts about Hanoi Jane’s North Vietnam visit and adding fiction to drive home the point of her treasonous acts. I say unfortunate because Leftist authors like Jerry Lembcke who have used the fictional chain email as a reason to debunk and exonerate all of Fonda’s treason of giving comfort and support to the enemy.

Now let’s contrast Hanoi Jane’s treason with an act of patriotism for Vietnam Vets by another attractive celebrity that also had stunning beauty. I mean face it, traitor Jane was dang pretty in the ‘60s and ‘70s. This is part of the reason that her treason stands out in memory when other traitorous Americans’ names are nearly an also-ran in recognition forgotten. Who is that stunning beauty that perfectly contrasts Hanoi Jane?

That person is sex-symbol Ann-Margaret who is still a beauty in her elder days. Another e-chain email is floating around the Internet that tells a story about Ann-Margaret and a grateful Vietnam Vet who remembers her USO show brought to the troops by Bob Hope. He had kept a picture of Ann-Margaret and went to a recent book signing appearance for her to sign his photo after all these years. I don’t know how true this e-chain letter is. You can go to the truth-fraud sites to check the validity. One thing is true though. Ann-Margaret did entertain troops in Vietnam. Veterans have such fond memories of Ann-Margaret’s patriotism. She was even made Patriot of the Year at a Mobile, Alabama Veteran’s Parade in 2010.  

Contrast Ann-Margaret’s memory with Hanoi Jane.

JRH 4/5/11

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Ann-Margaret

By Cille for group americanwomanpride

Apr 5, '11 9:59 AM

God Bless Our Soldiers, God Bless America

I'm sure most of you have seen this heart warming story but it just goes to show the difference in the Entertainers of past years and what hollyweird is producing now. God Blessed our Warriors with wonderful women like Ann-Margret and I thank Him for it.

From a Vietnam veterans' wife Richard, (my husband), never really talked a lot about his time in Vietnam other than he had been shot by a sniper. However, he had a rather grainy, 8 x 10 black & white photo he had taken at a USO show of Ann Margaret with Bob Hope in the background that was one of his treasures.

A few years ago, Ann Margaret was doing a book signing at a local bookstore. Richard wanted to see if he could get her to sign the treasured photo so he arrived at the bookstore at 12 o'clock for the 7:30 signing. When I got there after work, the line went all the way around the bookstore, circled the parking lot, and disappeared behind a parking garage.

Before her appearance, bookstore employees announced that she would sign only her book and no memorabilia would be permitted. Richard was disappointed, but wanted to show her the photo and let her know how much those shows meant to lonely GI's so far from home.

Ann Margaret came out looking as beautiful as ever and, as 2nd in line, it was soon Richard's turn. He presented the book for her signature and then took out the photo. When he did, there were many shouts from the employees that she would not sign it. Richard said, "I understand. I just wanted her to see it".

She took one look at the photo, tears welled up in her eyes and she said, "This is one of my gentlemen from Vietnam and I most certainly will sign his photo. I know what these men did for their country and I always have time for "my gentlemen". With that, she pulled Richard across the table and planted a big kiss on him. She then made quite a to do about the bravery of the young men she met over the years, how much she admired them, and how much she appreciated them. There weren't too many dry eyes among those close enough to hear. She then posed for pictures and acted as if he was the only one there.

Later at dinner, Richard was very quiet. When I asked if he'd like to talk about it, my big strong husband broke down in tears. "That's the first time anyone ever thanked me for my time in the Army", he said.

Richard, like many others, came home to people who spit on him and shouted ugly things at him. That night was a turning point for him. He walked a little straighter and, for the first time in years, was proud to have been a Vet. I'll never forget Ann Margaret for her graciousness and how much that small act of kindness meant to my husband. I now make it a point to say Thank You to every person I come across who served in our Armed Forces. Freedom does not come cheap and I am grateful for all those who have served their country.

If you'd like to pass on this story, feel free to do so. Perhaps it will help others to become aware of how important it is to acknowledge the contribution our service people make.

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Contrasting Hanoi Jane and Ann-Margaret

John R. Houk

© April 5, 2011

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Ann-Margaret

Posted at Multiply Group: God Bless our Soldiers, God Bless America

Pastor Jones is an idiot....but these people are animals.

A Multiply friend sent this awesome article about Pastor Terry Jones-Quran Burning, Afghanistan Muslims and the American response. This is much better than the critique that I wrote entitled “Quran Burning and Afghanistan”.

 

JRH 4/5/11

Quran Burning and Afghanistan

John R. Houk

© April 4, 2011

 Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan have used the Quran burning (about 17 minute mark) inside the walls of Pastor Terry Jones’ Church is being used as a propaganda tool to enrage the Muslim Afghan majority. There have been violent protests by Muslims over an incident enacted by a Pastor fed up with the theopolitical nature of Islam which embraces violence as a propagation tool and as a submission tool against Muslim believers and non-Muslims (kafir) alike.

Military commanders among the NATO forces battling the Taliban have ran into a public relations problem with the Afghan populace who have been ingrained with Islamic Supremacism hence the rioting. Part of the strategy against the Taliban is to win the sympathy of the Afghan people for the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai and antipathy toward the purist Islam of the Taliban. NATO commanders have begun condemning the burning of the Quran in the small Church in Florida.

I have no doubt the United Nations will cite it’s don’t blaspheme Islam (Defamation of Religions) resolution to condemn Pastor Jones probably with a call for criminal charges because the religion of peace executed seven U.N. workers in Afghanistan.

With the NATO commanders coming down strong in condemning the Quran burning undoubtedly to appease the populace they are fighting to keep free from intolerant purist Islam of the Taliban, could there be a move in America to criminalize those of us that openly condemn the violent nature of Islam. Will Christians who evangelize in America be accused of hate because part of that preaching is telling the Good News of deliverance from participating in the dark world that promotes violence and moral impurity?

 Islam promotes violence against non-Muslims determined to not bowing down to Islamic Supremacism and against Muslims who have determined to walk away from submission to Islam. Pastor Terry Jones allowed the Quran to burnt in such a public manner may have been a mistake; however its symbolism to expose that Islam is inimical to America’s Christian foundation and inimical to the U.S. Constitution is a valid act.

Where is the outrage over how Islam persecutes Christianity in Muslim lands? Christianity is violated by the ability of Muslims to destroy property, kidnap children to force conversion, kidnap women to force conversion or to rape and squelch any form of Christian worship including the open use of the Holy Bible in public. This treatment of Christians occurs all over Muslim dominated nations even in Afghanistan.  

The question should be: Is Quran burning by a small group in a small Church an incitement to global hatred or is the open persecution of non-Muslims in Muslim lands incitement?

JRH 4/4/11

Goldstone Recants Report

Where is the Outrage?

John R. Houk

© April 3, 2011

Richard Goldstone owned up to the fact that Israel did not purposely target civilian Arabs that call themselves Palestinians in Operation Cast Lead targeting Hamas Islamic terrorists who had been shooting missiles into Israel that indeed targeted Israeli citizens. Hamas began that war under the hubris that shooting missiles at Israeli civilians would result into some kind terrorist concession that would benefit the Palestinian and Hamas goal of obliterating Israel and Jews. I am guessing the terrorist goal had something to do gaining the release of murdering and plotting Islamic terrorists in Israeli prisons.

The Goldstone Report concluded that both Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were responsible for war crimes; however mysteriously the Goldstone Report came down with particular venom against Israel and wrote about Hamas atrocities against civilians as if it was insignificant. I mean Leftists and Muslim dominated nations wanted war crimes trials to occur at the World Court at The Hague. There was no clamor for war crimes against the initiator of the war that Israel embarked upon in self-defense.

Hamas not only shot missiles at Israeli civilians but also used civilian residents of Gaza (aka Palestinians) as human shields and more deplorable civilians that died as a result of Hamas insensitivity were staged (See Also HERE) as if the IDF artillery or aerial weaponry caused their deaths.

In light of Goldstone confessing his report was inaccurate in portraying war crimes committed by Israel, where is the global outrage of proven Hamas atrocities?

JRH 4/3/11

What Will be the Outcome of the Arab Spring?

John R. Houk

© April 1, 2011

Have heard of the Prague Spring? Unless or you are a history major in college or over 50 you probably have not heard of this grassroots uprising in old Czechoslovakia (Now divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia).

In 1968 Alexander Dubcek became President of Czechoslovakia after the nation hand gone through a severe recession. Czechoslovakia was a Warsaw Pact nation of the Stalinist-Communist Soviet Empire. Those were still Cold War days of the Soviet Union and Communist East European satellite nations vs. the American-NATO-European alliance.

The previous Czechoslovakian President was deposed by the Communist Party and was replaced by Dubcek. Dubcek was no capitalist however he was sick of Stalinist style Soviet repression. Dubcek thus instituted a freedom of conscience and press in Czechoslovakia. Dubcek’s difficulty was the Soviet Empire was governed by an old fashioned Stalinist leader. On August 20, 1968 the Soviet Union with a number of other Soviet bloc nations invaded Czechoslovakia ending a micro-moment of freedom and the deposing of Dubcek, a number of Dubcek-supporting members of the Communist Party and a number of citizens that were prominent and supported Dubcek’s Prague Spring. It was the end of a freedom revolution and a return to despotism for Czechoslovakians.

I don’t know what the Muslim press is calling the grassroots uprisings across North Africa and the Muslim Middle East, but the Western Press is calling these uprisings the “Arab Spring.” Will this Arab Spring bring democratic reforms across Muslim dominated lands? Will the Arab Spring end in failure for grassroots interests with a return to some kind of Islamic despotism? Will the Arab Spring exchange megalomaniac dictators for Islamist theo-political repression instituting all of the harshness of Sharia Law as espoused by Mohammed and the four following “Rightly Guided” Caliphs?

These are the questions the Obama Administration must ask with the American entanglement in Libya. I still believe it is an excellent idea to not only rid Libya of Moammar Qaddafi but also to rid the world of the mad dog. However, with the continuing evidence beginning to pile up that the Libyan rebels are Islamist and/or al Qaeda supporters the Obama Administration need to find the correct answers for the difficult questions.

JRH 4/1/11

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Turning the Revolution Islamist

By IPT News

April 1, 2011

Investigative Project on Terrorism

The "Arab Spring" has been synonymous with secular and peaceful demonstrators taking to the streets of the Middle East and, in some cases, taking up arms to fight for lost freedoms.

However, the latest issue of al-Qaida's Inspire Magazine, as well as the rise of renewed Salafist movements in the revolutionary states, suggest that religious ultraconservatives have no intention of ceding the future. The revolutions may have been secular, but the character of new governments is still up for grabs.

Salafist Islam, in both its violent and peaceful incarnations, believes that Islam has moved away from its roots and that Muslims are in dire need of re-Islamization of daily life, politics, economics, and culture. To restore the lost Islamic empire of the caliphate, groups like al-Qaida turn to violent jihad, while Salafists in Saudi Arabia fund the growth of their movement throughout the world.

Rather than interpret largely secular revolutions as their end, Salafists view the fall of dictators as the first step on the road to a new caliphate. The revolutionaries have cleared the path, and whatever will come after them will be less resistant to a message of political Islam or to violent takeover.

"The biggest barrier between the mujahidin and freeing al-Aqsa [Jersualem] were the tyrant rulers," writer Yahya Ibrahim noted in his introductory article to the latest issue of Inspire. "Now that the friends of America and Israel are being mopped out one after the other, our aspirations are great that the path between us and al-Aqsa [Jerusalem] is clearing up."

"Another line that is being pushed by Western leaders is that because the protests in Egypt and Tunisia were peaceful, they proved al-Qaida – which calls for armed struggle – to be wrong. That is another fallacy," Ibrahim argues. "Al-Qaida is not against regime changes through protests but is against the idea that the change should be only through peaceful means to the exclusion of the use of force."

"It is our opinion that the revolutions that are shaking the thrones of dictators are good for the Muslims, good for the mujahidin and bad for the Imperialists of the West and their henchmen in the Muslim world."

For Anwar al-Awlaki, an influential al-Qaida ideologue, clearing out the tyrants means greater freedom of movement and recruiting.

"We do not know yet what the outcome [of the revolutions] would be, and we do not have to," he writes. "Regardless of the outcome, whether it is an Islamic government or the likes of [Egyptian presidential candidates] al-Baradi, Amr Mousa or another military figure; whatever this outcome is, our mujahidin brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and the rest of the Muslim world will get a chance to breathe again after three decades of suffocation."

Awlaki also argues that an end to fear opens the way for peaceful Salafi activists to have a voice. "For the scholars and activists of Egypt to be able to speak again freely, it would represent a great leap forward for the mujahidin."

The fall of the regimes has meant an end to fear among other Salafist groups, who are no longer afraid to express their ideologies or to mobilize support among the people. They argue that the people should give Islam a chance to rule, when secular regimes have only brought corruption and unemployment, shame and military defeat.

"These events are paving the way for a greater thing to come. They are paving the way for a great Islam that is coming with force because the world is in need of leadership," Dr. Muhammad Musa Al-Sharif, Salafi cleric and assistant professor in the Department of Islamic Studies in King Abdul Aziz University, told viewers of Saudi Arabia's Iqra TV on Feb. 25. "The current leadership – Communism, capitalism, and so on – has gone bankrupt. Only Islam is left to lead the world… Islamic leadership is coming whether people like it or not."

In Egypt, where religious opposition to the former regime was more organized than its secular counterparts, the effects are being felt.

"Their rhetoric hasn't changed but the new Egypt allows them to express it freely, even though it may not be welcome by all," al-Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports from Alexandria, Egypt. "Salafists were never involved in politics, just like other groups under the Mubarak regime, they were suppressed. Now religious leaders are explaining to their supporters the need for political participation, to create the Egypt they want."

"There is an ideological battle at the heart of the struggle to fill the ideological vacuum. It may be a new Egypt, but it is an Egypt that has still not been defined." Khodr explains, as the program shows concerned secular activists trying to counter rising Salafist activism among the less educated. "There is a real fear, they say, Islamic groups could rise to power," Khodr states.

Some say the threat of a Salafi takeover is exaggerated and that the rise of Western democracy in the Arab world will drown the radical agenda.

"There really is no hankering in the Middle East for a return to the 7^th century, only a desire for jobs, pluralism, freedom, good government," Fareed Zakaria argued recently on CNN. "So can we all take a deep breath, stop cowering in fear of the impending caliphate, and put the problem of Islamic terrorism in perspective. It's real, but it is not going to take over the world any time soon."

It is too soon to know what success the religious conservatives will enjoy. It is clear, though, that they are working to seize authority and to remake secular Egypt into an Islamic state.

But peaceful activism for the ballot doesn't mean that such groups have renounced their demand to force Islamic law on others.

On Tuesday, Salafists killed one and injured eight others in the Egyptian village of Kasr El-Bassil. The attack came after local Salafists ordered the owner of a liquor store and coffee shops to close his businesses for violating Islamic law. Elsewhere in Egypt, Coptic Christians evacuated 340 female students from their university dorms to church-affiliated sanctuaries over concerns for their safety. The move followed renewed anti-Christian protests over the supposed kidnapping of an Islamic convert. In the city of Monufiya, dozens of Salafis stormed a woman's house, accused her of being a prostitute, and burned her furniture in the street.

Salafist preachers and politics are becoming increasingly assertive in rural villages, even according to the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood. "Suffice it to say that there are some villages where Salafists have total control," Kamal Samir Gadallah, a Muslim Brotherhood activist, told the Washington Post. "And when the revolution succeeded, we started seeing Salafists speaking out for the first time on politics."

Mubarak tolerated Salafis to serve as a check on the Muslim Brotherhood, according to an Associated Press report. The Salafist movement "has gained power as it rises to play a more political role as followers now ponder nominating a presidential candidate. That has alarmed many of the secular and liberal forces in Egypt because of the group's extremist discourse and imposition of Islamic sharia law."

Likewise, concerns about the rise of al-Qaida and Salafist movements are common in Libya, Jordan, and Yemen.

Libyan rebel leader Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi admitted that "around 25" of his troops fought coalition troops in Iraq. But they "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," he insisted. Even "members of al-Qaeda are good Muslims and are fighting against the invader." Al-Hasidi also claimed that he had fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, until he was captured and later transferred back to Libya.

Tayseer Abu-Obada, a militant convicted of terrorism by the Jordanian government, told the AP that local Salafists were taking advantage "of the atmosphere of openness we're witnessing these days." Hundreds gathered at protests waving flags used by al-Qaida and demanding the release of terrorist ideologue Abu-Mohammad al-Maqdisi and other militants facing terrorism charges. They also demanded Islamic law be imposed on the state and called for jihad as "our way to liberate Muslim lands from autocrats."

"An Islamic state is coming," U.S.-Specially Designated Global Terrorist Abdul Majid al-Zindani told a cheering crowd in Sanaa, Yemen on March 2^nd. Al-Zindani, who was blacklisted because of his close relationship to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, is a key opposition figure. He told the crowd that Yemeni President Ali Saleh had "came to power by force and stayed in power by force, and the only way to get rid of him is through the force of the people."

Al-Qaida also stands to benefit from the fall of the Yemeni regime and the stark challenges facing any incoming government. "There are ways in which Saleh has exploited the existence of AQAP in the country, but the organization itself exists independently of the president," says Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen scholar at Princeton University. "If the government that comes next in Yemen is unable to deal with the harsh economic realities and some of the demands of the protesters, Al Qaeda will be in a good position to capitalize."

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What Will be the Outcome of the Arab Spring?

John R. Houk

© April 1, 2011

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Turning the Revolution Islamist

About IPT

Open Letter to Mr. Trump

Tony Newbill makes a comment about the day two broadcast of the O’Reilly interview with Donald Trump shown on March 31, 2011.

JRH 4/1/11