Ferguson, Missouri...cooler heads need to prevail

I remember flying home on leave from military service in the 1960s and watching Detroit burn through the plane window down below during the race riots. It was an eerie sight then and a disturbing sight to watch the same happening in Ferguson, Missouri.

The national and international spotlight is on the area and CNN is reporting nothing but what is happening in the town on a minute by minute basis which to me, only adds to the problems there as people are now fully aware they are playing to a much larger audience. 

This intense scrutiny by the media is bringing out all those who see this as an opportunity whether for good or bad but mostly to serve their own interests before such a huge audience; their 15 minutes of fame.

It is obvious that the police in Ferguson have made some mistakes. Ferguson is a small town and the police force does not appear to have a public relations officer with the expertise to handle such matters and direct the police chief in what steps are advisable and which steps are absolutely wrong.

Not meeting with the family in a timely manner was definitely a huge oversight. Not releasing the name of the officer involved in the shooting served no purpose and only exacerbated the tension already building since it appeared to many that the police chief was somehow covering up and protecting the officer.

A huge mistake was releasing the video of Michael Brown robbing a store and manhandling the clerk that confronted him while at the same time finally releasing the officer’s name. To me as to many other people, it appeared that the police were trying to link the two as in the officer was merely confronting the robber when the officer did not know at the time that Brown was a robbery suspect.

People have a right to protest the shooting of an unarmed teenager (6 bullet holes) when it appears that there was no apparent cause for it…that is yet to be determined but the looting and violence that started as night fell was absolutely inexcusable and should not have been allowed.

Many now realize that there are the legitimate peaceful protesters during the day and the hooligan element that see all this as a license to cause mayhem by looting and destroying property in their own neighborhood and attacking the police (Molotov Cocktails). A Gerbil or hamster in a cage knows not to shit where they sleep; people are not that smart.

The police are in a damn if you do and damn if you don’t situation. Order has to be maintained and people and property have to be protected; it is their job. The police are being accused of overstepping their authority by using military force; now they are being criticized for under stepping and not protecting people and property; the National Guard has been called out just like in Detroit.

We all know that this shooting case has to be investigated and our legal system has to be allowed to work. Demanding immediate action is just plain stupid and harkens to the old lynch mob mentality and authorities cannot play to that mentality but need to process this case through legal channels and procedures.

Let’s be very clear about this case, a case we really don’t know all the details about. There is absolutely no justification for shooting let alone killing an unarmed man unless that man was about to do great bodily harm to you. Police are professionally trained to respond to many different situations without having to use deadly force. This is true even if the person being confronted is a criminal or committing a criminal act; arrest him and take him to jail.

There is the real possibility of a pretty big backlash against the protesters as well as the black community in Ferguson. Michael Brown was not just a typical 19 year-old looking forward to going to college as his parents have stated. As the store robbery video shows, he was a big man who had no problem with openly stealing from a store and then pushing and shoving the poor clerk that tried to confront him.

He was also walking with his buddy down the middle of a street and therefore blocking traffic an action that speaks to the devil may care attitude of Brown and his total disregard for rules and laws of a law abiding society; it will be hard to portray him as an innocent youth shot by a deranged racist police officer for doing nothing.

A grand jury is being convened to see if the officer, Darren Wilson, has broken any laws and needs to stand trial. The officer will have to prove that he fired because he feared for his life and the autopsy showed that the bullet that killed Brown entered at the top of his head which indicates that Brown either bowed his head in surrender or was charging the officer with his head lowered.

Police in this country do not have a good reputation historically when it comes to killing unarmed men who posed no credible threat to their lives and this fact will loom large in this case.

What needs to happen quickly in this case is for law and order to be restored in the community and for people to go back to their homes, remain calm and let the legal process begin; after all, we are a nation of laws.

The media and especially CNN will make sure that this case will be prosecuted properly by analyzing ever minutiae of this case for the foreseeable future.

IRAQ...YAZIDIS...and history

I have written about the situation in Iraq for many years now and as predicted the country of Iraq, for all intents and purposes, is now divided into three parts: Sunni, Shia and Kurd. The United States needs now to recognize this fact and quit trying to unite these three sectors; it’s a natural split…live with it!

The plight of the YAZIDIS piqued my interest as I have been studying the history of the region for many years.

Iraq, for all its current images of a desolate, dry and dirty country has an immense presence in our world history; it is after all the birthplace of civilization as reported by many historians.

The land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is thought of as where the Biblical “Garden of Eden” was located and therefore where Adam and Eve emerged from. It is also where the Biblical Abraham came from (Ur) and where Jacob (Israel) the founder of the nation of Israel, spent most of his time.

This is where the Assyrian and Babylonian empires flourished (the area was known as Mesopotamia) and where the Jews of Judah (Jerusalem) were exiled to and where the Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) was written and compiled.

The area was conquered and settled many times and after the conquest by the Arab Muslims from Saudi Arabia it became known as a center of learning especially in Mathematics, Astronomy and Medicine. It is hard to believe but the world, including Western Civilization, benefited greatly by the knowledge coming out of this area.

What happened?

That is a long story but suffice it to say that people using religion as a dictatorial tool can squash learning/education to prevent opposition to their rule from developing and in so doing, push the people into the darkness of superstition and with it economic hardship.

The Yazidi are said to be followers of Zoroasterism which is an ancient belief system developed by Zoroaster way before any main religions were in existence. In fact, many of the main religions of today copied many of the tenets of Zoroaster in formulating their belief systems.

The fact that the Yazidis still exist and are among other peoples including Christians that still exist there is fascinating to me as a student of history who loves to trace how these peoples were originally introduced into the area. If you watch the videos of the people (Yazidi) in the area you will notice children with blond and red hair; results of the many invasions in the past.

The ISIS (State of Iraq & Syria) or the Levant is another invader and a good example how Muslim peoples sank into their pitiful state after a history of so much promise. These are religious barbarians hell bent on bringing back the Islamic Caliphate to the area; a time in history where a Caliph (successor to Muhammad) elected by the Sunni would be the absolute ruler. This is a Sunni concept; the Shia believe a religious Imam should be the Caliph.

The fact that they are offering the Yazidi the chance to convert to Islam or be killed shows how truly barbaric these people are. In history, the Caliphs allowed other religions to exist and even flourish in their domains but they did require a tax to be paid for the privilege; ISIS makes that offer to Christians but not to the Yazidis; probably because the Sunni do not recognize their religion as even a legitimate religion.

I would agree that ISIS needs to be wiped out totally as a lesson to future idiots trying to create an Islamic Caliphate and I think many Muslims no matter Sunni or Shia will agree with that.

I like the idea of arming the Kurds to the hilt so they can do the job for us as well as continuing our air strikes. The Iraqi army as well as the Iraqi government are hopeless and hapless and will not, I believe, be able to function effectively as a unit any time soon.

 

 

 

ISRAEL VS HAMAS, Part 2...Hamas

My wife and others like her have been decrying the fact that big bully Israel has been killing and maiming innocent Palestinians who have nowhere to hide.

Israel says they did not start the war and is only trying to keep its citizens safe from attacks being launched by Hamas, the military wing of the party controlling the Gaza Strip.

Yes, there is a lot of political pressure on Israel to stop the bloodshed but I am not seeing a lot of pressure on Hamas to stop the idiocy.

Hamas is sworn to destroy Israel and return Palestinians to their rightful land in Israel and they are sworn to achieve that goal by any means necessary which really just means violence and terror…forever?

Obviously common sense is not at work here. Israel is not going anywhere and continues to only get stronger with each year. The Palestinians are in desperate straits and have no future but stubbornly cling to a dream of return to the way things were before 1947.

Something or someone needs to shock them into reality; their children deserve a chance at a normal life and they will not get it unless the Palestinians start building a future based on reality.

Hamas and all groups like them need to disappear or somehow be eliminated. If the Palestinians cannot do this on their own someone else needs to help them and that someone else should preferably be an Arab state or group.

Currently there is talk about the West Bank government taking over Gaza which they used to govern until Hamas was elected to counter the corruption of the West Bank government.

 

 

ISRAEL VS HAMAS, Part 1

I have been reading and hearing a lot about the situation between Hamas and Israel from both sides and quite frankly, the whole debate is just maddening.

Normally, in any conflict one asks either side why are you fighting or what are you fighting for. The answer is not that easy to get especially from the Hamas side.

I have heard some people saying that Israel should not exist and that Israel has stolen the land from the Palestinians and needs to give it back…really?

Well let us tackle that issue first.

We all know the Bible stories about Israel and the fact that the Romans kicked their asses out of the region in 132 CE because they revolted constantly and Rome just did not want to put up with that anymore.

The Roman expulsion does not mean that all the Jews left; some stayed behind but not that many.

Arabs conquered the area in 635 CE and it remained in their hands for 1300 years. Eventually the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) conquered the area and it stayed in their hands until after WW1 when Turkey lost the war (they were aligned with Germany) and therefore all its possessions.

As we all know, the Jews were persecuted all around the world throughout history (another blog subject later) and as early as the 1800 were thinking of establishing a safe home (Zionism) in the area of Palestine and actually Jews started slowly trickling into the area and buying up land.

The Arabs did not mind a few Jews but when that number started growing, they got concerned.

The British were governing the area as part of their mandate after WW l and they tried to keep the peace as best they could until they couldn’t and said fuck this and left; this was after WWll.

Note: During WWll the Jews were definitely with the Allies and actually helped the Allied war effort. The Arabs on the other hand, saw a Nazi win as better for them since they would get the British out of Palestine and obviously exterminate all Jews.

The United Nations offered a partition plan to keep the two sides separated but the Arabs were not having any of that and when Israel declared itself a nation, the Arabs attacked (Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan). We all know that did not go well for the Arabs and Israel took control of the area which resulted in some 700,000 Arabs fleeing their homes and here is where we have the main issue; they want their land back.

Some call the Jews as illegal invaders and occupiers (the land was conquered and occupied by many people throughout history) because the Arabs have been in the area for a very long time and this is a very valid point.

The Jews claim the land as given to them by God (Biblical source) which is dubious claim based on a religious belief…sorry, I don’t buy it. But I do buy their rationale for trying to create a Jewish nation as a way to escape all the persecutions they have suffered throughout history.

So where does all this history leave us?

The Arabs have a legitimate claim to the land (as do American Indians have legitimate claims to most of the United States) but they lost the war and therefore have to accept the consequences as have millions of people throughout history who suffered under a myriad of invaders and occupiers.

The bottom line is that the Arabs are not getting their land back and so need to drop their quest of getting that land back by destroying Israel…that will not happen and so get over it and make the best of what you can get.

To be continued…