sensenreason
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2008
- Messages
- 602
- Reaction score
- 0
Whats a brown life worth? How much less than a white one?
The question is asked with some anger by Afghan journalists mourning the death of Sultan Menadi, who was shot dead in the crossfire when British special forces stormed a house in Kunduz where the New York Times journalist Stephen Farrell was being held by Taliban militants,
Much has been written about the wisdom of Stephen Farrells decision to go to Kunduz, and I dont want to add to it here other than to say hes a brave journalist doing an increasingly impossible job.
Ive read other comments saying the saving of his life was not worth the loss of a soldiers. The death of Corporal John Harrison is a tragedy for his friends and family, whose verdict may be different from that of his officer who dispatched him to Farrells rescue.
But seen through the eyes of many Afghans and Muslims throughout the world, our focus on the fates of a white correspondent and a white soldier, while the body of Sultan Menadi was left behind at the scene reveals an immoral calculus which fuels their anger.
Their response could be anticipated from the initial reaction of the New York Times which focused on its joy at Farrells release followed, lower in the quotes, by their sadness at Menadis death.
The operational need to rescue the living and evacuate them with minimum loss of life for the soldiers is clear, but the premium placed on the white skin and a western passport, and the heavy discount on the lives of brown locals drives the rage which sells Taliban martyrdom CDs in the bazaars of Peshawar and guides alienated young British Pakistanis into the fiery sermons of Jihadist preachers.
According to the Afghan government another 30 civilians were killed in the Kunduz air strike Stephen Farrell was investigating when he was kidnapped, alongside 69 Taliban militants. Is 7:3 an acceptable ratio?
It is this calculus which the Talibans supporters return to whenever they are asked to justify their jihad.
I spoke about this to Khalid Khawaja, a former intelligence officer in Pakistans ISI, who counts Osama bin Laden as a friend and campaigns for the rights of terrorist suspects like Rashid Rauf, who he met in jail.
He said the United States and its allies are taking their revenge on the entire Muslim world for the 9/11 attacks but refusing to take responsibility for the innocents killed in the war on terror.
He drew a parallel between the losses of 9/11 with those killed in the cruise missile attack launched by Bill Clinton on alleged Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan in 1998.
At the time, Clinton said the attack was not on Islam, which he said was a great religion but to send a message that the United States would not yield to terrorism.
There are mixed reports about the numbers killed in the 1998 strikes. They missed their main target, Osama bin Laden, but killed 34 Afghans and Arabs, according to American estimates. According to Khawaja, 80 innocent Afghans were killed in the attack. You have a case against Osama, we have a case against Clinton. I dont have any justification for September 11, but for one Osama, you are killing the whole of humanity, he said.
He speaks in hyperbole, but there is an issue in the maths. To date more than 2,500 Western troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, while more than 5,000 Afghan soldiers and between 11,000 and 31,000 Afghan civilians have lost their lives as collateral damage. Is one of ours worth between six and 14 of theirs?
The equation is complicated by the fact that each civilian victim becomes a potential posthumous recruiting sergeant for al-Qaedas jihad, not just within his family or tribe, but everywhere where young Muslim men are mulling the relative value of Islamic and Western lives.
You have to get down from this idea that you are superior, said Khawaja, who quotes the Qurans verse which says: Whoever kills another one without justifiable cause, surely he is killing all of humanity. And whoever saves the life of another one, surely he saves the lives of all of humanity. [Sura Al Ma'aidah: Ayah 32].
I dont agree with his analysis, or his parallels, but his conclusion has some force. I dont think their jihad will lose its momentum until we stop discounting Muslim lives.
The rising price of discounting Muslim lives - Telegraph Blogs
(Dean Nelson is the Telegraph Media Group's South Asia editor. He has been based in New Delhi for three years.The rising price of discounting Muslim lives.By Dean Nelson World Last updated: September 14th, 2009)
The question is asked with some anger by Afghan journalists mourning the death of Sultan Menadi, who was shot dead in the crossfire when British special forces stormed a house in Kunduz where the New York Times journalist Stephen Farrell was being held by Taliban militants,
Much has been written about the wisdom of Stephen Farrells decision to go to Kunduz, and I dont want to add to it here other than to say hes a brave journalist doing an increasingly impossible job.
Ive read other comments saying the saving of his life was not worth the loss of a soldiers. The death of Corporal John Harrison is a tragedy for his friends and family, whose verdict may be different from that of his officer who dispatched him to Farrells rescue.
But seen through the eyes of many Afghans and Muslims throughout the world, our focus on the fates of a white correspondent and a white soldier, while the body of Sultan Menadi was left behind at the scene reveals an immoral calculus which fuels their anger.
Their response could be anticipated from the initial reaction of the New York Times which focused on its joy at Farrells release followed, lower in the quotes, by their sadness at Menadis death.
The operational need to rescue the living and evacuate them with minimum loss of life for the soldiers is clear, but the premium placed on the white skin and a western passport, and the heavy discount on the lives of brown locals drives the rage which sells Taliban martyrdom CDs in the bazaars of Peshawar and guides alienated young British Pakistanis into the fiery sermons of Jihadist preachers.
According to the Afghan government another 30 civilians were killed in the Kunduz air strike Stephen Farrell was investigating when he was kidnapped, alongside 69 Taliban militants. Is 7:3 an acceptable ratio?
It is this calculus which the Talibans supporters return to whenever they are asked to justify their jihad.
I spoke about this to Khalid Khawaja, a former intelligence officer in Pakistans ISI, who counts Osama bin Laden as a friend and campaigns for the rights of terrorist suspects like Rashid Rauf, who he met in jail.
He said the United States and its allies are taking their revenge on the entire Muslim world for the 9/11 attacks but refusing to take responsibility for the innocents killed in the war on terror.
He drew a parallel between the losses of 9/11 with those killed in the cruise missile attack launched by Bill Clinton on alleged Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan in 1998.
At the time, Clinton said the attack was not on Islam, which he said was a great religion but to send a message that the United States would not yield to terrorism.
There are mixed reports about the numbers killed in the 1998 strikes. They missed their main target, Osama bin Laden, but killed 34 Afghans and Arabs, according to American estimates. According to Khawaja, 80 innocent Afghans were killed in the attack. You have a case against Osama, we have a case against Clinton. I dont have any justification for September 11, but for one Osama, you are killing the whole of humanity, he said.
He speaks in hyperbole, but there is an issue in the maths. To date more than 2,500 Western troops have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, while more than 5,000 Afghan soldiers and between 11,000 and 31,000 Afghan civilians have lost their lives as collateral damage. Is one of ours worth between six and 14 of theirs?
The equation is complicated by the fact that each civilian victim becomes a potential posthumous recruiting sergeant for al-Qaedas jihad, not just within his family or tribe, but everywhere where young Muslim men are mulling the relative value of Islamic and Western lives.
You have to get down from this idea that you are superior, said Khawaja, who quotes the Qurans verse which says: Whoever kills another one without justifiable cause, surely he is killing all of humanity. And whoever saves the life of another one, surely he saves the lives of all of humanity. [Sura Al Ma'aidah: Ayah 32].
I dont agree with his analysis, or his parallels, but his conclusion has some force. I dont think their jihad will lose its momentum until we stop discounting Muslim lives.
The rising price of discounting Muslim lives - Telegraph Blogs
(Dean Nelson is the Telegraph Media Group's South Asia editor. He has been based in New Delhi for three years.The rising price of discounting Muslim lives.By Dean Nelson World Last updated: September 14th, 2009)