 Strong indictment of some policies of the present US administration, and a call for Islamic reformation were among the observations witnessed at the concluding plenary session of the fourth US-Islamic World Forum yesterday.
| The Fourth one? How'd we miss the other three? No one sent me a ticket, and I darned sure never saw an agenda ... |
Sudan’s former prime minister Al Sadig AbdulRahman al-Mahdi stated that he could not see any further development regarding dialogue so long as the Bush administration’s policies continued to be the same. “There is ‘mutual demonisation’ between the US and the Islamic world. But ‘Yankeephobia’ is limited whereas ‘Islamophobia’ is widespread,” he explained, while asserting that there has to be a change from the Americans.
| Because it's all our fault, you see; Islamic terrorists have been unfairly demonized everywhere in the world. |
Referring to the Iranian nuclear imbroglio, the Sudanese leader maintained that Iran is entitled to nuclear technology as 36 other countries. “Iran needs to be policed, but should not be approached with double standards,” he cautioned.
| No one argues that Iran can have nuclear power for electricity generation. That's permitted by their signature with the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The concern is nuclear weapons, and Mahmoud and Mad Mullahs™ keep doing things that make a reasonable person think that Iran is building those. |
Al-Mahdi also raised the need for Islamic reformation. “We Muslims should understand how to deal with the past, modernisation, fanaticism, violence, and good governance among others,” he said.
| Almost sounds like an apostate. Wonder what good holy men think of that? |
Afghanistan’s former minister of foreign affairs, Abdullah Abdullah observed that his people have gained a lot from the partnership with the US. Pointing at the ‘little understanding’ that exists between the Islamic world and the US, he urged the delegates to take the message from the Forum to their respective countries.
The Washington Post’s columnist David Ignatius was of the view that the US has to take a serious approach to solving the Palestinian problem and shift its focus in Iraq. “There has to be a timetable to end the occupation in Iraq, and shift the focus to the crisis that has developed because of the invasion,” he said.
| Thanks for the Democrat point of view, Dave, way to stick up for your country when abroad. And it always revolves around the Paleos, doesn't it. |
Ignatius stated that the ‘civil war in Iraq’ has to be curtailed from spreading in the region and the humanitarian crisis addressed. “There is also a need to think about how to protect the region’s oil supplies, talk to the neighbours, and make multilateralism work,” he added.
| Because multilateralism has worked so well everywhere it's been tried ... |
The Daily Star (Lebanon) editor-at-large Rami Khouri remarked that the severity and direction of negative change in the Middle East in the last five years has become so bad that the region is on the verge of a crisis. “It is taking us back to the post-colonial order of the 1920s. The Middle East is the only part of the world that suffers the ravages of the post-colonial and neo-colonial orders,” he said. Khouri, who was of the view that the present challenges require a much bolder solution, suggested that the Brookings Institution and Qatar should henceforth focus on smaller meetings.
| Perhaps that's just what we need, since 1920 is about when the region was altered in ways that made everything worse. Thanks, Mr. Sykes-Picot and Mr. Churchill. |
The speaker also observed that the most important process happening in the region is the beginning of the end of impunity for people who use political violence. “The action against Iraq’s Baathist officials and the international tribunal set up by Lebanon to probe Hariri’s assassination are indications in this regard,” he added.
| The former being much more successful than the latter so far, not that anyone at the conference would admit that ... |
Speaking from the audience, the president of Washington-based Education for Employment Foundation L Michael Hager recommended that the UN and the Alliance of Civilisations have to be involved in the dialogue.
| Because you just can't get anything done these days without the involvement of the U.N. ... |
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