Friday, December 12, 2008

The Classiest Act of Campaign '08

A picture is still worth a thousand words...sometimes more. I wrote this morning about how Colin Powell has been a bit more outspoken lately. Here's the picture that pushed him over the edge. Scroll down and get the full story by watching the clip of his interview on MSNBC (he gets into some stuff at 6min 40sec that might bring tears to your eyes...but every second is worth watching).

God bless Karim Rashad Sultan Karim and his family. And may God bless all our soldiers and their families.

As I said earlier this morning, blessed is America for among her sons are men like General Powell.

7 comments:

Naeem: said...

AA- ATM,

Humor me. Please explain how the actions of a Muslim fighting in Iraq are justified? When did loyalty to country trump loyalty to faith? I musta missed that memo...

ThinkingMuslim said...

This is not an either or situation. Loyalty to country is consistent with loyalty to faith.

We both read the same memo, you must have put on glasses that reduce your vision to a very narrow way of looking at things.

Naeem: said...

AA- ATM,

"Loyalty to country is consistent with loyalty to faith."

Really? Now is that an absolute stance you are taking? Surely you must be capable of envisioning a scenario where one's personal belief's may be contrary to one's allegiance to the flag.

I'm sure you heard about Muhammad Ali and his very public stance against the Vietnam war. And of course there are hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers refusing to serve in Iraq. Are these people being disloyal to their country? I guess they must also have this very narrow vision you accuse me of.

And whatever happened to conscientious objection?

ThinkingMuslim said...

Naeem,

Conscientious Objection is a part of being a member of this country's armed services. It allows for that. This country gives its citizens the rights to disagree, protest, petition and campaign. I will go a step further. In the United States, there is also a recognition that from time to time our leaders may be (a) wrong despite good intentions(b) wrong with bad intentions, (c) downright stupid, etc. Citizens are required to be on the alert and have a role in how the country is run.

This country may make mistakes. But so long as there is a mechanism by which two people who disagree can discuss and debate their differences without fear of violence, it offers the best hope of returning to the straight path.

Anonymous said...

I'm gonna have to agree with Br. Naeem on this one...

ThinkingMuslim said...

Which specific point?

Anonymous said...

Is Naeem saying muslims may not serve in the armed forces of countries whose leadership may be non-muslim or country is non-muslim? I think this would be the real issue to debate.

If you do serve, then you have two options: you follow your commander-in-chief or you become a conscientious objector. I think Karim Sultan Khan's sacrifice makes a strong case that there is no conflict in being a muslim and an american and, as argued by ATM, it advances the cause of islam and muslims.