Erum við (kanadabúar) í stríði? - Frjálslyndir múslimar

Eins og eðlilegt getur talist er mikið rætt um átökin í Ísrael og Líbanon hér í Kanada.  Ásamt veru kanadíska hersins í Afghanistan, en þó nokkuð mannfall hefur orðið þar, eru líklega ekkert meira í umærðunni.

Það er ekki óeðlilegt, mikið af innflytjendum frá svæðinu búa hér, og auðvitað sýnist sitt hverjum.  Kanadíska ríkistjórnin hefur tekið nokkuð einarða afstöðu, í þá veru að Ísrael hafi fullan rétt á að verja sig, þó að þeir hafi að sjálfsögðu harmað þjáningar og dauða óbreyttra borgara.

Sömuleiðis hefur ríkisstjórnin verið ákveðin í afstöðu sinni til Afghanistan og veru kanadísks herliðs þar.  Stjórnarandstaðan hefur hins vegar tekið annan pól í hæðina, segir afstöðu ríkisstjórnar alltof afdráttarlausa. 

Meintir hryðjuverkamenn sem voru handteknir hér fyrir nokkrum vikum, blandast svo inn í umræðuna þó með óbeinum hætti sé og í pólítíkinni gerist margt skrýtið.  Þannig hafa gyðingar sem hafa verið "innstu koppar í búri" stjórnarandstöðu flutt stuðning sinn til ríkisstjórnarflokksins og Frjálslyndi (Liberal Party) flokkurinn segir að múslimir gangi í flokkinn í miklum mæli.

Christie Blatchford skrifaði pistil um baráttuna í Afghanistan í Globe and Mail í gær, þar má m.a. lesa eftirfarandi:

"On the day of Canada's most appalling losses yet in Afghanistan -- four soldiers killed in three separate but linked attacks and 10 injured -- it took but an hour for the open-line radio talk shows in Toronto to fill up with the cries of those who would pull the plug on the mission there, yank the troops home immediately, have the nation revert to its mythical, if cherished, peacekeeping role and go back to that sterling foreign policy of keeping fingers crossed.

I thought of what Lieutenant-Colonel John Conrad, the boss of the combat logistics arm of the Canadian battle group, said not so long ago in Kandahar.

We were talking about the Canadian mission when Col. Conrad said, "Each man and woman has asked, 'Why am I here? Why did I volunteer?' " but most, he guessed, had come to the same conclusion he had. "For all that we're here to help Afghans," he said, "we're also here to protect our country.""

"If it is a thought that might offer some comfort to the families of the dead -- that their sons did not die only in service of a Biblical-era faraway foreign land where violence is as reflexive as breathing, but also in service to our own -- it might also stand as a reminder that notwithstanding the absence of a formal declaration, Canada is at war.

So are the other seven nations of the now-NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, and so are the Americans and British in Iraq, and so is Israel in Lebanon.

So are the Western democracies which do not have troops in any of these hot spots, but which also prize freedom, opportunity, education, tolerance and diversity."

"And so in his way was Tarek Fatah, the moderate Canadian Muslim who this week resigned from the Muslim Canadian Congress, citing threats and a climate of intimidation that led him to fear for his safety and the safety of his wife and children."

"The rocket-propelled grenade attack that yesterday left three Canadians dead, for instance, was launched from a school. In most civilized parts of the planet, schools are places of learning, places for children, places of peace; to the Taliban, and to all those who would keep their fellow Muslims in perpetual poverty and ignorance so that they might be made into martyrs, schools are buildings to be burned down, trashed, defiled and turned into launch pads by those who, if they understand nothing else about the West, understand that Western soldiers, with their regard for education and soft spot for children, must struggle on some level to seriously regard the school as a likely spot to set up an ambush.

Some of the fighters in Afghanistan are hardline Taliban ideologues, and some are drugs bosses and tribal warlords who align themselves out of convenience.

But some are from other countries, fighting for a pan-Islamic cause. The first time I was in Kandahar, last spring, two would-be suicide bombers blew themselves up prematurely in a graveyard: They were from Pakistan, as documents and cellphones retrieved from their bodies proved. When I was in Kandahar last month, in what has become known as the Battle of Pashmul and was also the site of yesterday's attacks, one of the arrested fighters was a Chechen man.

What business does a Chechen have trying to kill Canadians in Afghanistan? Oh yes, I forgot: The glory of Islam."

"Mr. Fatah's sin was to be an outspoken liberal in a religion that has increasingly little stomach for it, even in Canada."

"My point is, the war is on. Canada did not declare it, but it has come to our shores as surely as it came to Manhattan's five years ago. Our soldiers are dying for it, in Afghanistan, but they are also fighting for Canadians.

The least we can do -- and we do, in this country, prefer to do the least -- is stiffen our collective resolve, face up to the truth, and recognize that the soldiers' terrible sacrifice is in our name."

Greinin í heild er hér.

Músliminn sem hér er nefndur á nafn, Tarek Fatah, hefur einmitt verið nokkuð í fréttum vegna úrsagnar sinnar sem hér er nefnd, stutt um hann, birtist  í Globe and Mail fyrir nokkrum dögum, þar segir m.a.:

"Tarek Fatah, the outspoken, controversial communications director of the Muslim Canadian Congress, has resigned, citing concerns for his safety and that of his family.

Mr. Fatah said he will also resign from the MCC's board, severing all official ties with the organization he helped found.

"It's not just for me. It's for my wife and my daughters," he said in an interview.

"Part of it is also to get out of the limelight."

Mr. Fatah's socially liberal views have always been controversial within the Muslim community, and in the past month he has been the subject of an e-mail campaign aimed at the Canadian news media.

In his resignation letter to the board, Mr. Fatah wrote that he wanted to step down because of "an increasing heavy load of work." He said he will stay on in his current capacity until the MCC finds a replacement.

Along with his resignation, Mr. Fatah has filed a report with Toronto Police detailing what he says are a number of threats he has received since 2003. A police investigation is under way.

"This has been a particularly stressful three months and I have tried to do my best and times I have succeeded and at other times messed up," Mr. Fatah wrote in his resignation letter.

Mr. Fatah has always carried a high profile, both with the Muslim Canadian Congress -- known for its liberal interpretations of Islam, including its support of homosexuality -- and as the host of Muslim Chronicle, a CTS TV current-affairs show that focuses on the Muslim community.

But in recent months, he said, he has been coming under increasing fire. There was the e-mail campaign and he is more worried than ever about threats after the arrests of 17 terrorism suspects in Toronto in early June.

Mr. Fatah's unpopularity among conservative segments of the Muslim community is not surprising. He is a strong advocate of gay rights for Muslims and the inclusion of secular voices in the Muslim community. He publicly and vehemently opposed the adoption of sharia law in Canada."

"On June 30, Mr. Fatah was identified by the Canadian Islamic Congress as one of four people who are anti-Islam in an article in the CIC's weekly Friday Magazine, which is sent to e-mail subscribers. The article, "Smearing Islam and Bashing Muslims, Who and Why," was penned by Mohamed Elmasry, the CIC's director and an adjunct professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Waterloo.

The list, which also included Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente, was led by Mr. Fatah, whom Dr. Elmasry wrote "is well known in Canada for smearing Islam and bashing Muslims."

Dr. Elmasry levelled similar accusations against the Muslim Canadian Congress last October.

Mr. Fatah said he is concerned because he understands the implication of statements such as "anti-Islam" and "smearing Islam."

He said they are akin to fatwas, pronouncing blasphemy, a crime that under sharia law is punishable by death. "

"Wahida Valiante, vice-chair and national vice-president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, said there are "different versions and different ideologies" when asked whether the assertion amounted to a fatwa.

"We're not into fatwas," she said. "We are not a religious body. We are looking into issues. If someone is misrepresenting facts, we simply address that."

Mrs. Valiante said she had not read the article and could not refer to it directly. But she said that through her intimate exposure to the Muslim community, she felt confident that many people believe Mr. Fatah is smearing and misrepresenting Islam.

"Tarek Fatah's views are diametrically opposed to most Muslims. There is a tremendous amount of discussion in the community. His point of view contradicts the fundamentals of Islam," she said, refusing to elaborate on what she meant."

Greinina má finna hér.

Það má því segja að kanadabúar standi í baráttu bæðin innanlands og utan, en ef til vill er full sterkt til orða tekið að það sé stríð, en ef til vill ekki? Fyrir þá sem eru beinir þátttakendur er þetta þó dauðans alvara.