Dreams Into Lightning

John Kerry's main Iranian fundraiser is suing the Iranian dissident group SMCCDI for $10 million. According to the SMCCDI news release:

The primary Iranian supporter of Senator John Kerry and a subject of many controversies, Hassan Nemazee, has sued the "Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran (SMCCDI) and its coordinator for 10-million dollars in damages.
These two frivolous and potentially muffling law suits were filed on March 3rd at the 125th Judicial District Court of Harris County (Houston Texas) by Nemazee's hot shot lawyer, Charles R. Parker, who specializes in "complex business litigations." The SMCCDI's registrant was served on April 16th, and the Student Movement's coordinator, Aryo B. Pirouznia, was served on April 20th.

Tactically, the law suits are believed to be an attempt to publicly rehabilitate Nemazee's reputation. Being the subject of many less than positive discussions, Nemazee needs his image polished to cleanse John Kerry's Presidential campaign that has been tarnished with troubling questions on his international links.

Muffling, or forcing SMCCDI to cease operations would then give them a free hand in regard to the Iranian-American equation. Indeed, sustaining a judgment against SMCCDI could very well cause its' well known and valuable American operations to cease, as none of its US resident members have the resources to fight the Iranian-American businessman supporting Mr. Kerry. ...

WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN!!! Read the whole article at the link. Then let other people know what's going one. Freedom lovers must support SMCCDI - or see another blow struck against democracy in our own beloved America.

Today's post by Mohammed in Iraq The Model emphasizes several points that freedom activists must keep in mind: that democacy is never perfect; that perception is of great importance; and that by staying the course, we can defeat the enemies of freedom.

Citing what he diplomatically calls the "modest performance" of the GC to date, Mohammed admits to having had some doubts about the urgency of the June 30 transfer of sovereignty. However, he recognizes the need for the new Iraqi government to have credibility in the eyes of the world and the Iraqi citizenry. Most important, Iraqis must feel invested in their own future: this is what he means by the "birth of the new Iraqi citizen who has the faith in the good results in the future and who is free from the paranoia that inhabited the minds of Iraqis and Arabs in general".

This feeling of investment is the key to meaningful citizenship, in the West no less than anyplace else. Individuals who, for whatever reasons, feel they have no stake in the future of their country - the United States for example - will inevitably yield to cynicism. This is the dynamic behind much of the Left's psychology.

Mohammed concludes by noting that "international terrorism that bet a lot on the failure of the project in Iraq will find that it has lost a great deal of its war" when the claim of American "colonialism" in Iraq is shown to be a fraud. This can only happen when full Iraqi sovereignty - warts and all - is restored.

Disturbing photographs show Iraqi POWs were subjected to inhumane conditions in American custody at Abu Ghraib prison, according to news reports. Still worse, an American soldier who complained of the abuse was silenced by superior officers. According to the AP report on Fox News:

Army Reserves Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick wrote that an Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad lacked the humane standards of the Virginia state prison where he worked in civilian life, according to a journal he started after military investigators first questioned him in January.

The Iraqi prisoners were sometimes confined naked for three consecutive days without toilets in damp, unventilated cells with floors 3 feet by 3 feet, Frederick wrote in materials obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

"When I brought this up with the acting BN (battalion) commander, he stated, 'I don't care if he has to sleep standing up.' That's when he told my company commander that he was the BN commander and for me to do as he says," Frederick wrote.

The writings were supplied by Frederick's uncle, William Lawson, who said Frederick wanted to document what was happening to him. ...

All freedom lovers must join in condemning any such abuse. This goes against everything we stand for. President Bush has wasted no time in giving his reaction:

President Bush has condemned the apparent mistreatment of some Iraqi prisoners, saying, "Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people. That's not the way we do things in America. I didn't like it one bit."

He was asked about photos showing Iraqi prisoners naked except for hoods covering their heads, stacked in a human pyramid, one with a slur written in English on his skin. That and other scenes of humiliation have led to criminal charges against six American soldiers. Arab television stations were leading their newscasts on Friday with the photos.

"I share a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated," Bush said. ...

It is essential that we root out not only this anti-human behavior itself, but also address the underlying problems in the military hierarchy that allowed these obscenities to happen. I trust all freedom lovers in America and elsewhere will join in insisting on a full investigation and the strictest justice for those responsible.

Apologies to A Flock Of Seagulls.

I first got the word from Jane's blog:

Flying saucer fever has gripped Iran after dozens of sightings in the last few days. Fanciful cartoons of alien spacecraft have adorned the front pages. State television on Wednesday showed a sparkling white disc it said was filmed over Tehran on Tuesday night.

Now, this is interesting. Why, in Iran of all places, is our planet suddenly being graced with a flurry of extraterrestrial visitations? Ah, but there are some skeptics in the crowd:

But Sa'dollah Nasiri-Qeydari, head of the Astronomical Society of Iran, told Reuters the stories were unfounded.
"In my opinion, flying saucers do not exist," he said, insisting his telescopes would have picked up invaders from outer space.
"The people who have seen these things are not experts - farmers, villagers and pilots," he added.

Well, I’m still trying to digest this last bit of wisdom. Isn’t that just a tad bit condescending, to suggest that “farmers” and “villagers” are unreliable witnesses? Doesn’t it smack of elitism by the scientific establishment, and ... oh, wait, let me save that rant for another time. Where were we? “The people who have seen these things are not experts” on UFOs. So what are we waiting for? Let’s bring in the UFO experts! They’ll be more knowledgeable than these poor simpletons, these farmers, villagers, and ... what was the third group?

Oh yes. Pilots.

Here’s where it gets REALLY interesting. What you had there, that was the orthodox, official, government view, courtesy of no less than the Head of the Astronomical Society of Iran. And why would he lie? But you want to hear another perspective, you say. Very well. Here’s the Iranian dissident spin on the saucers:

In reality, many believe that the so-called UFOs might be foreign reconnaissance flights and the Islamic regime will misinform the public about the true reason for the air defense show of force. The regime's leaders fear that any news that Iran is under attack by U.S. forces might degenerate into massive protest demonstrations that could result in the overthrow the theocratic regime

Now that’s better!

Wait. Let me guess. You think this UFO stuff is all a bit silly. You are especially unimpressed with the “flying saucers from America” theory. I’ll bet you haven’t read “The Hunt for Zero Point” by Nick Cook.

What do you mean, Who’s Nick Cook?

First things first. This book tells all about how the American military stole super-secret technology from the evil Nazi scientists at the end of World War II. This technology allows us to exploit the Zero-Point Field, or Quantum Vacuum as it’s also called in physics. It may provide the basis for anti-gravity propulsion, time travel, and invisibility.

But who is Nick Cook?

He’s the aerospace editor for Jane’s Defence Weekly. (No, not that Jane.) And much to his own amazement, they haven’t fired him yet.

Wait, don’t go anywhere! I have to tell you more about the Zero Point Field.

There’s another great book on the subject, “The Field” by Lynne McTaggart. She takes a very different approach to the subject, emphasizing the metaphysical and spiritual implications of Zero Point. Interestingly enough, her book is also more scientifically oriented, and contains a copious bibliography. She begins by explaining how physicists Hal Puthoff, Alfonso Rueda and Bernie Haisch linked Zero Point to the phenomenon of inertia and used it to explain that cornerstone of mechanics, “F=ma”. (What do you mean, that’s no big deal?! “F=ma” is where it all begins. As McTaggart puts it, “In this case, God was Newton and F=ma was the First Commandment. ... The point was, no one mathematically proved a commandment. You use it to build an entire religion on.” Now are you impressed?) She also explores the work of Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar (Ed) Mitchell and mysterious phenomena such as the Hutchison Effect.

In fact, Zero Point theory has become something of a focal point for New Age thought and spirituality, inspiring the Portland-based film “What the **** Do We Know?” and prompting Lynne McTaggart to offer an audio course on the implications of “The Field”.

But I digress. This is all pretty far off-topic, after all. We were talking about UFOs.

That Belmont Club article explains that the enemy in Fallujah is now mainly holed up in a neighborhood called the "Golan": a labyrinth of lightly constructed buildings in which those familiar with the territory can easily hide. The walls and roofs of these buildings can easily be pierced by even a modest-sized weapon, allowing either side to shoot right through buildings. There's good news for our side, though: the task of pinpointing the enemy may be formidable but not insurmountable. "The battle for this urban maze will be largely a battle for line of sight as it probably has been from the beginning", Wretchard explains. Our night-vision capabilities are much better than theirs, and scouts and snipers have been patiently watching the area. Also, captured enemy fighters may provide useful intel.

The flimsy buildings of "Golan" will provide the enemy some protection from observation, but none at all from weapons fire. Once the enemy's position is known, the article concludes, he is finished.

Michael "Faster, Please" Ledeen has a great column in National Review Onliine. He stresses the importance of recognizing that the Iraq conflict is regional, not merely confined to the boundaries of Iraq.

Money quote:
We cannot "solve" Iraq's problems by acting solely within the confines of the nation, because at least three other terror masters of some significance — Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia — are fighting for their survival in Iraq. Against us. Moqtada is an Iranian creature, and Iran has long since created a huge network inside Iraq, ready to respond to orders from Tehran.

BTW, Ledeen cites Belmont Club and the Iraqi blogs. Read the whole thing.

In the weeks following the liberation of Iraq, a number of entrprising young Iraqis began setting up weblogs to share their thoughts with the outside world. These blogs, collectively known as “Blogdad” among their fans, provide a tremendously valuable source of information and insights on the current situation in Iraq. For supporters of the freedom movement, they are required reading!

I began following Zeyad’s blog “Healing Iraq” last November, after reading about it in Andrew Sullivan. I quickly became a daily reader and added several others to my reading list. Happily the Iraqi blogs are catching on; not long ago “Iraq the Model” was quoted by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. "Iraq the Model" is the work of three brothers - Omar, Ali, and Mohammed Fadhil.

For those just joining us, I’ll be highlighting some of my favorite entries from the past six months, and commenting on the issues they raise. I’ll also share my thoughts on the bigger questions surrounding the blogs: for example, how do we know they’re for real?

The Comments sections of the Iraqi blogs are very exciting places. Fans of the blogs like to share ideas with other Zeyaddicts, and there’s always plenty of lively debate. There’s a certain amount or petty bickering, too, and the ever-present grumbling of trolls. But it’s a great place to get in on the action, and hook up with other pro-freedom folks.

Even as you and I sit here comfortably reading our computer screens, atrocities are being committed against our fellow humans in Sudan on an enormous scale.

It costs you nothing but a second of your time to raise your voice in protest. This link http://ga0.org/campaign/darfur tells you everything you need to know. You'll be asked to sign a petition that will be sent to the President, the UN, and several other important decision-making parties. We can stop this horror.

Do it now.

Islam taught me not to confuse authoritarianism with authority.
- Irshad Manji


Some of them are harmless. Somewhere early in life, these people internalized an image of themselves as failures; thus, they are only able to see themselves as victims. But victims of whom, or or what? Well, it could only be the big, bad United States Government. And so, since misery loves company, they ennoble themselves by aligning themselves with those others who, in their imagination, are also the “victims” of American oppression.

Those with a more comprehensive worldview have generalized the oppressor/victim paradigm to include everything in the world. For them, “power” is inherently evil and everyone must be either a victim or an oppressor. Lacking any other ethical framework, their whole claim to moral legitimacy stems from their status of being “not-in-power”.

Very often they buy into what Leon Wieseltier memorably called the “romance of dissent”. This is protest for its own sake, opposition for its own sake. It is not directed at achieving any goal other than itself. It is the kid at the back of the classroom throwing spitballs. Whatever the government does, they’re against it – because it’s a good excuse to go out and get attention. And so they block traffic and then complain that their “rights to free speech are being violated”.

What drives these people? A few are honest, seasoned activists who have simply taken a wrong turn (see below), or who were deliberately misled by other, less well-intentioned “progressive” leftists whom they’d come to trust. Others might have had a traumatic experience with a parent or teacher in early childhood, or else were uncommonly spoiled. What they share is a refusal to accept – either for themselves or for others – the moral responsibility that goes with legitimate authority.

always makes me argumentative.

I've just had two cups.

Time to begin posting.

I couldn't resist the temptation to post this here:
http://www.indcjournal.com/archives/000248.html

...just in case you haven't seen it already. Coverage of the ANSWER demo in Washington DC. These people are beyond satire. Four Iraqi counter-demonstrators showed up and spoiled their party. Excerpt:

'This woman had the temerity to confront one of the Iraqis and say, "What about abortion? What about Shiite oppression of women?!" My jaw hit the ground. Five minutes prior to this exchange, her group of socialists were declaring their solidarity with the Iraqi uprising. Now that Iraqi counter-protestors arrived, she was attacking them for their Shiite background.

Socialism, abortion rights and Islamist solidarity. What do they have in common? Hatred of [Bush].'

The ap"peace"ment movement has no more use for real live Iraqis now than it did a year ago:
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-taheri022603.asp

There's quite a lot that I want to say about the anti-liberation movement, but I will save that for another post. Meanwhile, enjoy perusing the photos of the ANSWER demo.

As they say in Scotland, "What a lot o' shite!"

I've added a Comments section.

In the August 2003 issue of Curve Magazine, an actress is photographed wearing a T-shirt depicting a woman holding an M-16. As a combat veteran, my gut reaction was: “If you’re ready to accept the moral and psychological consequences of using that thing ... then you go, girl!”

This year’s feminist We’moon Calendar – a visually stunning work, available for the first time in full color – is dedicated to the theme of “Power”. (The women of the We’moon Collective decided a few years back to choose a theme for each year’s calendar suggested by the cards of the Major Arcana. Last year was represented by the High Priestess and was titled “Priestessing the Planet”; this year’s card was the Emperor – re-named “the Empowerer” – to be followed by the Hierophant.) The texts included in this calendar are particularly interesting: they shed light on the struggles of a community of feminist, separatist, and mostly lesbian women to come to terms with the meaning of power in a changing world.

“In the middle of putting together this We’moon,” the editors note, “we participated in a Peace March in Portland, Oregon, with 25,000 people of all ages and stripes. Although we had no illusions that our protest would reach the inner chambers of the war councils of this nation, we came away from it feeling empowered.” The introduction goes on to explain that “Our work ... is not driven by the impulse to ascend to the throne; reversing roles would just perpetuate the same old disempowering pattern. We would rather overturn the patriarchal paradigm of power itself, reaching for empowerment that connects people with one another ...” (We’moon 2004 calendar, pp. 33-34.)

So when Celestina Pearl writes on p. 70, “I go out into the world as a Woman Warrior”, we must assume that this is a metaphor. Like the M-16 on the T-shirt.

What is the proper role for women in a world full of conflict?

I served with the Marines in Operation Desert Storm in 1990-91. I shared in the pride of liberating Kuwait from a brutal Iraqi occupation; but I also shared in the shame of our nation’s cruel betrayal of the Iraqi uprising against Saddam Hussein, and I lived with this burden for twelve years until Saddam’s overthrow. Even now it haunts me. A bitter irony: the great crime of that war was not what we did, but what we did not do.

Now the evil Ba’athist regime is gone, and there exists the possibility -- only the possibility -- of something better.

According to Iraqi women like Zainab al-Suwaij and Rania Kashi, the Iraqis were eager to be rid of Saddam, and their chief concern was (and still is) a better future for their country. And it is here that the efforts of feminist activists and other progressives might best be focused.

But many in the feminist and lesbian communities opposed the war, invoking platitudes about “women and peace” and vaguely suggesting that women possess some special insight into “other ways” of resolving conflicts – without ever specifying what “other solutions” might have rid Iraq and the world of Saddam Hussein. They missed the opportunity to inform themselves about the atrocities committed against women and children (to say nothing of men) in Ba’athist Iraq, and thus relinquished a potentially valuable voice on behalf of Iraqi and Middle Eastern women.

The removal of an oppressive regime is a step towards freedom, but it is only the first step. In Kuwait, the Iraqi tanks are gone but women still do not have the right to vote. Iraq is no longer a giant concentration camp (no thanks to the peace movement), but a nation of 24 million traumatized people will not get back on its feet overnight; the Iraqi people will need our help as they find their own way. Iraqi women, originally promised 40% of the seats in the new Parliament, had to settle for 25%. If all the women who marched under such banners as “Code Pink” had instead raised their voices on behalf of their Iraqi sisters, might it have made a difference? If instead of choosing to “feel empowered”, they had accepted the burden of real power – and responsiblity – could they have helped? We’ll never know.

Those who truly care about the well-being of the Iraqi people will continue to pressure Washington to follow through on its commitments for humanitarian aid, security, and ultimately democratic autonomy for Iraq. We must continue to fight for the rights of Iraqi women and minorities. And Western feminists must begin to look past the “women = peace” cliche. They must realize that, with all due respect to Audre Lorde, sometimes “the master’s tools” are the only way to dismantle the master’s house.

Ever since I was a kid I knew I was supposed to be a girl. I was very effeminate acting as a child; in the first grade two of my classmates cornered me in the boys' room and demanded to see my "c**t". Throughout public school I was harassed for being a "faggot" even though I was never attracted to boys. Eventually I learned to act more "masculine", a process I perfected in Marine boot camp.

Coming out as transgendered in mid-life forced me to confront my experience of growing up as a girl in a boy’s body. I realized that I had learned a lot about misogyny – and that what I’d experienced as a gender-variant “boy” was nothing compared to the sexism that women-born-women experience throughout their lives. But I also learned many lessons from the world of men – and some of these lessons have proved valuable.

Power means many things. As the feminist thinkers have rightly pointed out, power does not reside only, or even primarily, in the force of arms. Power can belong to individuals or to a group; and it can be material or spiritual, as Starhawk has comprehensively explained in her activism manual Truth or Dare. In the 1970s, in the early days of the Women’s Land movement (which was especially prominent here in Oregon), women sought to create egalitarian utopias in the countryside; they learned that treating power as taboo only leads to chaos. But whatever else power may be, it is also, in its most raw and elemental form, the mechanism by which evil men gain the ability to oppress others – and the means by which they can be defeated.

If you were raised as a girl, you learned that “to be a girl is to be weak”; if you were raised as a boy, you learned that “to be weak is to be a girl.” It is understandable that women and gays, traditionally excluded from the patriarchal power structure and more often its victims than its beneficiaries, will be tempted make a virtue of necessity and condemn all forms of force and power. This is a mistake. To eschew participation in the power process because of a misplaced fear of “the master’s tools” is an abdication of the very power women rightfully seek to claim. As the pioneers of the Women’s Land movement discovered, power and conflict ignored are simply driven underground.

Lesbian iconography often depicts women wielding swords and labryses (and now, it would seem, assault rifles). A better index of women’s progress might be the willingness to take responsibility for difficult decisons in a violent world. As women gain access to the tools of power, they must be prepared to deal with the consequences of using that power -- and of not using it.

WOMEN
http://www.refwid.org/
http://www.womenforwomen.org/
http://www.womenforiraq.org/

IRAQI WEBLOGS AND SITES
http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/
http://messopotamian.blogspot.com/
http://iraqataglance.blogspot.com/
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/

IRANIAN DISSIDENT SITES
http://www.activistchat.com/
http://www.daneshjoo.org/
http://www.iranvajahan.net/english/
http://www.marzeporgohar.org/index.php?l=1

LESBIAN MUSLIM REFORMER: IRSHAD MANJI
http://www.muslimrefusenik.com/

ISRAEL AND SECURITY
http://www.debka.com/
http://www.memri.org/

PRO-DEMOCRACY
http://armiesofliberation.blogspot.com/
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/
http://www.freearabforum.blogspot.com/

HUMANITARIAN AID
http://www.operationgive.org/
http://www.spiritofamerica.net/


CONTACT:
Asher Abrams
asher813@aol.com

What role do we play in our own fate? How much power does society have in our lives, and what is our complicity in it?

These are some of the questions Ali addresses in his essay “The Second Element”, dated December 3, 2003. Provoked to reflection by a reader’s remark that “you guys deserved (Saddam Hussein)”, Ali explores the forces that shape individuals and society. The first element is genetics – our natural predisposition. The second element is society itself. Ali observes the role of the media, both in Iraq and in the West, in shaping opinion.

But beyond society – the “second element” of the post’s title – there is

“a 3rd. element that forms and shapes the ultimate course of the life of an individual, and let me call it “the free zone”, a zone of free will that neither the genetics nor the environment and not even God have any influence whatever, and as this zone is free, it is liable for frequent changes throughout its short course on earth.”

Ali makes it clear that the first step in exercising our free will – and sometimes the only step left to us – is to use our capacity for critical thinking. In America we have the choice of what to watch on TV, what books to read, what to view on the internet. In Ba’athist Iraq these choices were nonexistent. But the people did have one choice: whether to take the hateful propaganda of the regime into their own minds, their own lives, and their children’s lives, or to reject it.

This is the choice that all of us – free and not yet free – still have. We can decide who we are, and who we want to be.

Ali said it better than I can. Read the whole post here.

has a great article on liberalism in the Mideast. Go check it out.

An article by Michael Rubin, published in National Review and posted in the Free Iran forum, raises serious doubts about not only the Brahimi plan and the United Nations, but also the role of the State Department in building a democratic Iraq.

Citing America’s betrayal of the Iraqi uprising in 1991 - in which a Kurdish official charges that “you helped Saddam. Why else would you release the Republican Guard prisoners just in time for them to rearm and regroup” – Rubin explains:

And so, from an Iraqi perspective, history repeats itself. Iraqis today say they face another betrayal. While many Americans know U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi only as the facilitator of the Afghanistan Loya Jirga process, Iraqis have greater experience with the former Algerian foreign minister. A staunch Nasserist, they say Brahimi is much more interested in rehabilitating former senior Baathist officers than in promoting democracy. Brahimi has demonstrated disdain not only for Iraq's Kurdish minority, but also for Iraq's Shia majority. As undersecretary of the Arab League between 1984 and 1991, Brahimi stood silent as Saddam massacred more than 100,000 Iraqi Kurds, and then perhaps 400,000 Iraqi Shia. As Iraqis discover and excavate new mass graves every week, there are constant reminders of Brahimi's silence. Visiting Baghdad on U.N. business in 1997, Brahimi added insult to injury, as Iraqi television showed Brahimi embracing Saddam's Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, a man whom Iraqis hope to try for crimes against humanity.

A U.N. affiliation may lend Brahimi legitimacy on the streets of Washington and London, but it does not in Basra, Baghdad, or Erbil.

Rubin cites the “legendary” corruption of UN officials in the now-notorious “oil for palaces” program. This is not a small thing. There are also serious problems with Brahimi: for example, his disingenuous claim that professional Iraqis without Ba’ath ties are hard to come by, when he knows full well that there are thousands of educators and medical personnel who refused to collaborate with the regime.

Read the whole article here:
http://activistchat.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2013

or here:
http://www.nationalreview.com/rubin/rubin200404190843.asp

Iraq’s future is of concern to freedom-loving Iranians, and conversely. As this article appears on the Free Iran board, the passage pointing to then Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell’s complicity in the 1991 massacre is pointedly highlighted.

The White House must not tolerate attempts by New York or Foggy Bottom to undermine Iraqi democracy. As Michael Rubin rightly concludes, we have promised Iraq true freedom, and we must deliver.

THE DEATH WISH

You live against your will.
--Rabbi Elazar ha-Kappar


The Wish
Every morning, Tarika wished to die; and at night, when the glare of the lamps was darkened, she prayed for death to take her. The endless hours between were a flood of beatings and interrogations; most of her body was scarred from lashings and blistered from burns.
She had long since lost track of the time she had been held captive. The drugs they gave her to loosen her tongue brought her near to madness, yet she never found even that refuge. Nights brought scarce comfort. She had the same dream again and again: a glowing road through the dusky woods, with a light shining at the end. She knew that the light shone from the Garden of Mercy, where one day she would find rest. Always she ran towards the light, but found the way blocked by a dark-cloaked angel who struck at her with a flashing sword. The blade of the sword burned her flesh like the electric prods her captors used during the day. She knew that the figure was the Angel of Night, and that once again her soul was being denied entry into the Garden of Mercy. Always she found herself falling back into the gaping mouth of her prison.
Never was she alone. During the few hours of sleep she was permitted nightly, guards stood by with carbines; by day, her tormentors worked in shifts, trying to confuse her, wear her down, break her. And this she feared most of all: for if she broke, if she told what she knew about Operation Phoenix, then it would all be for nothing.
After seven years of civil war, the ruthless Nationalists were gaining ground, and while the People’s Front fought bravely, the future looked grim. There remained one chance for the People’s Front to turn the tide: a daring raid on the capital city’s nerve center, code named Operation Phoenix. As long as she was being kept here -- wherever she was -- alive and in pain, it meant that the war was still being fought. But if she ever allowed her lips to breathe the secret of Phoenix, it would be over. So she told wild tales, recited folk songs and nonsense verses -- anything to keep her mouth from betraying the secret. And she prayed for death.

The Fruit
There was a tiny slot in the stone wall that passed for a window. There was not much to see through it -- only the bullet-pocked brick wall of another building, and a filthy alley, and a scraggly tree, with one single fruit hanging from it.
As the long days wore into weeks, she began to look on the tree as a friend, and to speak to it. She told it about her feelings, her memories, and her hope that her suffering was not in vain. She spoke to the tree, and, eventually, it began to speak to her. Listen, it said, when this fruit falls at last, you shall have your rest.
And so she watched the fruit. As she watched, day by day, it grew ripe and heavy, but it refused to fall. And every day she faced the pain again, and the fear that her will might weaken. By night she walked, ran, and crawled down that shining road, only to be driven back by the Angel of Night and her merciless sword.
At last, one morning, her waiting was at an end. The fruit no longer hung from the limb of the sickly tree -- but, marvelously, it had fallen and grown up overnight into a beautiful, flowering young tree! Its leaves and branches were so rich, so delicate, that they seemed to possess infinitely fine detail. This was a glorious sign that her longed-for rest was at hand. Giddy with excitement, she faced the day’s torments cheerfully, knowing that her soul was to be liberated from the prison of her body in a few short hours.
The lights finally dimmed and she lay down, bloodied and blistered as always, on the rough wooden plank that served as her bed. She thought how sweet it would be, to enter the Garden of Mercy at last. She closed her eyes, and listened as the old tree spoke to her for the last time.


The Garden of Mercy
The glowing path lay before her, and the forest did not seem so thick this time. Up ahead, the light was as bright as ever, and clearer than before: at its center stood a grove of flowering trees, like the new tree she had seen in her window. By the entrance to the grove, silhouetted in the light, the Angel of Night stood quietly, leaning on her sword like a weary soldier.
Tarika stood for a moment, her dream-eyes drinking in the beauty of the scene. Then the Angel of Night spoke to her softly. “It’s over now,” was all she said. “You may enter the Garden of Mercy.”
Tarika nodded graciously to the angel. Then she turned and walked away from the Garden, back into the mouth of the prison. There was a blinding flash, a sound like thunder, and everything went black.

Phoenix
“She’ll have a fine headache when she comes to,” the medic was saying. “But she’s been through a lot worse, the poor thing.” As her vision cleared, she could see the outline of the medic, and, standing beside him, a sergeant wearing People’s Front insignia.
The sergeant leaned down to look her in the eye. “Sorry about the concussion grenade, ma’am,” he said, “but it sure shook up those Nationalist goons. They were sitting ducks when our team moved in.”
Tarika found herself sobbing. “What happened?” she managed to ask. “Where am I?”
“Where are you?” the sergeant echoed. “Well, that’s a good one. They were keeping you in their most heavily-guarded compound -- the one place they were sure would be safe from us. But they were wrong.”
The sergeant was joined by a young captain, tired but managing a smile. “Let’s give credit where it’s due, sergeant. Without our best agent, here, keeping her wits about her, this mission -- Operation Phoenix -- would have failed.
“Of course,” the captain added, “we got some lucky breaks too. That nice big tree by the window -- it wasn’t on any of our reconnaissance photos, but it sure came in handy for our forward scout when we moved in last night. Without it, I couldn’t swear the operation would have run as smoothly as it did.”
The sound of gunfire died down, and out of the corner of her eye she could see a line of men in Nationalist uniforms marching slowly out of the building with their hands over their heads.
“I think she’s heard enough about tactics for now, sir,” the medic observed. “I believe we can move her now -- I guess she won’t be sorry to see the last of this wretched place.”
“Wait,” Tarika said, “that tree -- I have to tell you what the tree told me last night.”
The sergeant and the medic exchanged glances but said nothing. Tarika began to speak.

What the Tree Said
“Yes, I spoke to the tree from inside my cell; and after a time, the tree began to speak to me. And this is what it told me on the last night:
“ ‘Many’s the year I’ve watched you humans, in good times and bad. But these times are the worst. This civil war of yours -- seven rings I’ve grown since it began. I’ve seen my fellows cut down, burned, or blown apart. I’ve seen their tree-bones turned to clubs for you to beat one another with. War is hard on trees. Yet I was determined to weather, and not to wither, so long as sap still flowed beneath my bark.
“ ‘But blood is poor nourishment for my roots. My endurance was at its end. This year I decided I’d finally seen enough, and I resolved to turn quietly to dead wood.
“ ‘Then I saw you looking at me through your window. Now I had something to live for! I listened eagerly to your tales of life in the world of walking beings. Your suffering saddened me so, but you had no one else to talk to. I could not leave you.
“ ‘I had but one fruit left, not yet ripe. I knew -- in the manner that trees often know these things -- I knew it was decreed that your soul should not be set free until the fruit fell. So I held fast to the fruit with all my might, nurturing it with all my strength, until it grew so ripe that it could stay on the branch no longer.
“ ‘So much life was in that fruit, that when it fell last night, it sprang up right away. Now, though it has fallen, yet it has not fallen, for you see it again even now, in the flowering young tree it has become.’
“Those were the tree’s final words to me. I stayed alive for the tree’s sake, and it stayed alive for mine. And the tree lived to speak its great secret -- that great, blossoming, magical new tree that stands beside it now.
“As long as life is in the seed, the fruit will never fall.”

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

My name is Asher Abrams, I was born in 1963, and I live in Portland, Oregon.

I love learning about other people, their experiences, and their cultures. I am a passionate feminist, and I have strong ties with the gay community. My parents raised me with a love of books and literature, and that’s still an important part of my life.

I’m also a science geek and currently pursuing a double major in Physics and English at Portland State. Yes, I’m an undergrad ... got started on the college thing a little late in life. No regrets on any of it.

My Jewish life is very important to me. I first started studying Hebrew around age 15; my relationship with the Torah began in earnest in 1988, while I was living in San Francisco. Judaism continues to be a source of moral, intellectual, and creative inspiration for me.

I served ten years in the United States armed forces (Air Force and Marine Corps) ... but that’s a story for another time.

This is my first attempt at blogging, so you will just have to bear with me (please and thank you) while I get my ideas sorted out and decide which ones are worthy of foisting upon the world.