PDX LiberalHawks Meet-Up a Success

Agents of the Portland Mukhabarat converged on the Horse Brass Pub Monday night and commandeered two tables to welcome Michael J. Totten back from Lebanon. Jason, Martin, Patrick, Richard and Sean were there, and Jason's fiancee Danica joined us as well. Ann from Portland Clasroom TV was kind enough to accept my invitation to the meet-up.

Stories were told, beer was drunk and spilled, and fish and chips were consumed. Michael shared stories of Lebanon, including his impressions of the Druze - nice, quiet folks, but don't mess with them. We learned the etymology of a certain word which entered the English language after WWI, and of its unique significance in baseball. And, of course, we laid the foundations of the next phase of the neocon-Zionist conspiracy ... oh, wait, I'm not supposed to talk about that part.

Thanks to all who attended, apologies to any whose names I might have overlooked, and I know we're all looking forward to the next event - which, it was decided, will feature round tables. Hopefully Michael W., new to the PDX LiberalHawks group, will be able to join us next time.

Truth Warrior

Thanks to Ann for passing this on. Truth Warrior (Osam Altaee) is an Iraqi refugee living in Lebanon. He has a fascinating, and horrifying, story to tell; he is also severely critical of the UNHCR.

From his website:

I'm an Iraqi. I was born in the south of Iraq in a small town called ‘Al Khodor’ which is nearly 250 kilometers south of Baghdad in the Almothana province. When I was ten years old, I met an old Kurdish woman from Kurdistan, where people were fighting against the Iraqi regime for freedom and democracy. This old woman told me the stories of how our army murdered all the men gender of her family and destroyed her village. This fact built in my heart a blind haters for the army. And when I was thirteen years old, my father did not join the party al-ba'ath. To punish him, someone of the aforementioned party submitted a false report against him in which, he accused my father of dealing into politics against the Iraqi regime, which was a forbidden issue. Subsequently, my father has been jailed for four years in Abu Ghraib prison.
These were the two main reasons that drove me to hate the Iraqi regime and to believe so deeply in long lasting peace and endeavor to handle problems in a good manner. I became against the policies of Saddam, which aim to use the force and arms against the Kurdish and Iran; I had lot of troubles. They pursued me to the college and hindered me from pursuing my studies. Then I was obliged to join the army during the war between Iraq and Iran. Since the war was originally against my believes, I decided to react. I did in no way want to join the army. I choose to physically harm my body. Desperately, I have decided to cut my left foot and arrange it to look like as I had an accident. I used two thinks to accomplish the mission: A fuse of a hand grenade and a motorbike. At night I attached the fuse to my foot when riding the motorbike and enlightened the fuse, when it exploded, I capsized the motor and opened the tank of petrol to put some on my foot and fire started on it and the motor. I was sure my plan looks like an accident because the fire will hide the traces of the explosive powder. I was then taken to a hospital; the doctor discovered the traces of the explosion and did a report indicating that what happened was not an accident but a premeditated act, which will cost me a military trial. I had deserted the army after one year when I finished my treatment.

After years of living in fear and terror (the details in my ebook THE TRUTH WARRIOR), I found I could not continue to live under the tyrannical rule of Saddam and fled to Lebanon seeking refugee status. I thought I would find a community of people there that provided protection and support for people in need. What I found, instead, was the UNHCR ...

From an e-mail:

I am SAM, an Iraqi refugee living in Lebanon at the moment; I have spent the last 10 years of my life as a refugee registered with the UNHCR in Beirut. The last 4 years, I have spent as an activist for peace and human rights (especially refugees and asylum seekers) on the Internet; I'm also books author and ebooks publisher. I have launched many campaigns to improve our situation as refugees in Lebanon and hopefully bring more understanding to our problems worldwide. I helped make many changes and improvements at the UNHCR office in Beirut; I used the Internet as the field for my activities (you can read more about that in my free ebook 'MY CAMPAIGNS'). All my ebooks could be download from my websites, all my ebooks are free.

This is my newest campaign, it's about the illegal and humiliating actions of the UNHCR, who using photos of refugees as banners and human-buttons to collect money. ...

Once again, that website:
Truth Warrior.

Truth Warrior is also linked at The Iraqi Holocaust.

Iraqi Holocaust blog

For new readers and as a reminder to regular readers: please visit The Iraqi Holocaust for information on torture, mass murders, and atrocities against the people of Iraq under the Ba'ath regime of Saddam Hussein. For more detailed reports, see Iraqi Holocaust Files.

And don't forget to pass these links on to a friend.

Arab Blog Roundup

Hammorabi: Zarqawi's days are numbered. Iraqi-American blogger Sam at Hammorabi writes: 'Top aide for Zarqawi has been captured by the Iraqi forces North of Baghdad. Ghasan Al-Rawi and another two of his top supporters have been arrested 10 days ago. They provided logistic, financial and safety support to Zarqawi. They are involved in numbers of terrorist attacks and organizing others. Iraq provided 25 million dollars for information to capture zarqawi. Zarqawi himself believed according to some local reports as having possible infection in his blood possibly due to some kind of injuries. He was admitted and investigated in Ramadi which provided safe heaven to many terrorists. Irrespective of his illness he is not more than Saddam in hiding. His days according to the available information are counted. ...' Go to the link for the full story, and take a look at the photo of the Iraqi schoolgirl. She lost at least 20 friends and classmates in a terrorist bombing.

Fayrouz: Here and there. Another Iraqi-American, Fayrouz, posts an e-mail she received from a Marine veteran of the 1990-91 Desert Storm conflict. Also more on Iraqi victims of terrorism, and another photo. Read her post on the march against terror, too.

"The Party is the Party." What is the Ba'ath Party? One thing it is not, says Syrian blogger Karfan, is a "political entity".

Karfan wonders when in monkey's name this “Thing” became a real party. Yes, granted we call it “The Party”and “Baath Party”, but these are mere names of some “thing” that exists and we had to call it a name. It does not mean anything like a political party or any political or organizational entity. It just exists around us and between us like that black-cloud of pollution on top of Damascus and Banias, like the sewage stink, or like the Mukhabarat's Peugeot white cars. “Baath Party”, “People's Assembly”, “Cultural Center”, and “People's Army” are just names of things that had nothing to do with those names. ...

Omar at Iraq the Model says Karfan's post has abolished whatever differences he once thought existed between the Syrian Ba'ath and its Iraqi version. "they're identical twins, I swear!" Omar goes on to say:

Reading this article took me back to Iraq in 2002; every single tiny detail is exactly the same; the army, the Ba'ath party and its hateful regional convention, the worn out-slogans and the numbness you can see clearly on many faces.

Syria's self-styled "Heretic", Amraji, has some thoughts on national and cultural identity:

What is the meaning of national belonging and cultural authenticity in the Age of Globalization? Being true to oneself might indeed be the best strategy for coping with this Age, or any other age for that matter. But how can one be true to a divided fragmented self?

Obviously, this will not be easy. Still the mere acknowledgement of the existence of this problem sets one apart from the prevalent intellectual scene around here, where everyone seems sure, acts sure, or is required to be sure, of who he/she happens to be. You don’t even need to give an answer here to be a heretic.

But, once you begin to dabble with potential answers, you become more than just a heretic, more than a simple outsider, you become an outcast. This is actually quite the refreshing thought, when you think about it.

Amarji goes on to warn of the dangers of isolationism - and he gives a potent metaphor for the traumatized peoples of the contemporary Middle East.

Ali at Free Iraqi joins President Jalal Talabani in congratulating Tony Blair. Ali recalls listening to Blair's speeches with other Iraqis in the weeks prior to the war. Read the post for Ali's description of their reactions.

Alaa is back and blogging at The Mesopotamian again. He has some thoughts on the jihadists:

I hope this will not be understood as some kind of class prejudice, however facts are facts and must be looked at objectively and things called by their real names. Also, 99 % of those men belong to particular clans, tribes and a certain sect, that I am sure you will not have much difficulty at guessing which. This is quite painful, because, we in the cities are very mixed and many of our families are a mélange of Shiaa, Sunnis, and even Christians. However, most of these men actually are seen to be of provincial origin. This reinforces my conviction, which I have expounded long ago in some of my earlier posts, and which can be simply expressed as follows:

The problem in Iraq is not so much a sectarian issue, but rather more to do with the nature of our peasant problem.

The whole thing can be traced back to our history, and particularly the Revolution of 1958 that deposed the Monarchy that essentially consisted of a social system based on the hegemony of the cities allied with feudal Lords or Shiekhs ( as they were called here). I believe that all what has happened ever since is a sequel and natural consequence of that particular event, which is of paramount importance in our recent history. This matter requires much research and analysis, and is difficult to deal with in the scope of a brief blog post.

It's great to have Alaa back; let's hope we hear more from him soon. Meanwhile, go check out his post.

Just in case you didn't get the memo, Egyptian Sandmonkey wants you to know that all Islamic reformists are apostates.

Nope, it's not a Mullah or a mufti who issued this glorious fatwa this time, it's the fellow Egyptian journalist Rim Azmi whose article "Muslims in Name, Apostates in Fact," ran in the weekly Al Ahram El Ararby. I thought it was such a great informative article - it made me realize that i am a western wannabe asskissing apostate- that i figured i should post some paragraphs and leave some comments of my own.

Shall we?

Read the whole Al Ahram article, with Sandmonkey's commentary, at the link.

Kuwaiti Girl wants to be an astronaut. Or, to be more exact, a cosmonaut: she's set her star on the Russian space program. (She is also a certified Sergei Kirkalev groupie.) Follow her blog as she keeps up on the latest space missions and struggles with the Russian language. Still, there are a few Russian space traditions she'll probably leave to others.

Muslims to March Against Terror - May 14

In a historic show of support for freedom and democracy, American Muslims will lead a demonstration in Washington, DC on May 14 against terrorism. The organization Free Muslims Against Terrorism writes:

To date,70 organizations have sponsored the first ever Muslim led March Against Terror. Approximately 20 of the 70 organizations are Muslim, Arab or Middle Eastern. This is the good news. The bad news is that of the leading Muslim organizations four have refused to participate or endorse the rally. The absence of these organizations is ironic. For the past 10 years, these organizations have complained that they are unfairly being accused of not doing enough to fight terror. But when a Muslim organization takes the lead to organize a March Against Terror they argue that it is not necessary and refuse to join.

These organizations have done enormous damage to the American Muslim community and Muslims are finally rising up to tell them “you don’t represent us or our American Muslim values.”

Over the last three years, American Muslims have witnessed the creation of several new progressive, moderate and secular Muslim organizations that actually represent the views of the silent majority and are bypassing the organizations that falsely claim they represent main stream Islam. Their monopoly is coming to an end.

As to the March Against Terror, moderate American Muslims recognize that those who commit murder and destruction in the name of Islam are using a warped interpretation of Islamic theology to justify their evil. Thus, we understand that the war on terror is more than a military battle, it is an ideological battle and the only ones who can win this battle are Muslims themselves. This is why we are organizing this march.

Go and read the full declaration at the link. The bad news, as Roger Simon points out, is that four Muslim organizations have refused to join. But

the good news is that the march is on. In that sense this dissension is much like the reported difficulties with the formation of the government in Baghdad. But then, what democractic government has ever formed without difficulties? (Yes, I know people are being gunned down in the street, but even those horrible and sad events are reminiscent of democratic revolutions in other countries - like France and the USA.)

Stay tuned for more news on the Muslim march against terror. By the way, the event is not restricted to Muslims or Middle Eastern people and is open to all who support democracy and freedom. If you're going to be in the area, I encourage you to participate.

Iran Report

Doctor Zin: MEK not an option.
Iran freedom activist Gary Metz, better known as "Doctor Zin", takes issue with an article by David Johnson at FrontPage in a Sunday post at Regime Change Iran. Johnson had advocated support for Maryam Rajavi's organization, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), as a means of bringing about regime change. Critics of this plan, including Doctor Zin, contend that the NCRI is an alias for the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (People's Mujahedeen Organization, variously abbreviated MEK, MKO, PMO) which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the US State Department. In this view, support for the MEK (under whatever name) would be tantamount to a repetition of the "enemy of my enemy" fallacy, for while the MEK are opposed to the current islamist regime in Tehran, they are no friends of freedom and democracy. Doctor Zin writes:

Since I have been publishing all the major news on Iran for several years now, I am well aware of the various options in regards to the Iranian threat. I know most of the leaders of the Iranian expatriate community and there is little support for the MEK among them. I believe the MEK may have a place at the table in a future Iran, but a limited one.

I have also been aware of the massive campaign the MEK have been waging to legitimize themselves in the eyes of our government. I also understand the only way they will ever be in power inside of Iran is if the U.S. were to back them in an overthrow of the Iranian government.

It appears that is exactly what the MEK are seeking. David reported on the MEK's recent conference in Washington D.C. (attended by a few hundred Iranian, virtually all MEK supporters) saying:

[Their] plans for Iran remain ambitious. Mrs. Rajavi's [leader of the MEK] position as an interim president is planned to last for only six months after the fall of the current Iranian regime. At the end of her interim term, free and monitored elections would be held throughout Iran.
It appears the leader of the MEK is seeking U.S. help in replacing the Islamic Republic with herself as the new leader, for six months.

So who are the MEK? Here is the DiscoverTheNetwork.org's own report on the MEK:
Islamist-Marxist terrorist group that seeks to topple the Iranian regime
Served Moscow as a source of information on Iran during the Cold War
In the early 1970s, murdered five American military technicians working with the Iranian army
By the late 1980s, created a 10,000-strong fighting force in Iraq to aid Saddam Hussein ...
The MEK was founded in 1965 after a split in a Marxist-Leninist movement that had waged a guerrilla action in northern Iran. Its ideology emerged as a mix of Islam and Marx, with ingredients from the Iranian religious sociologist Ali Shariati, who advocated an "Islam without a clergy." The MEK, with KGB help, engaged in a campaign against the Shah and sent cadres to Cuba, East Germany, South Yemen, and Palestinian camps in Lebanon to train as guerrillas.
Yes, they have money (from places unknown), weapons and organization. Is David actually advocating that we "install" the MEK, even if only temporarily? The Khomeini regime was supposed to be a temporary regime.

Read the full post at the link for detailed information on the MEK. Doctor Zin believes that Washington must support the Iranian people in their struggle against the mullahs, but he opposes involving the MEK in this process. The post concludes: 'The MEK will likely play a part in a post Islamic Republic, but they need to find their way in a real democratic government. I hope that FrontPageMag.com will rethink its support of the MEK.'

Ledeen: Regime's hand, Washington's silence.
Michael Ledeen sees the hand of the mullahs as far afield as Iraq and Lebanon (where the vacuum created by the Syrian withdrawal may be filled by the eager Hezbollah) while President Bush retreats into silence: 'We know this is going on, yet we are fighting a purely defensive war in Iraq alone.' And yet, Ledeen argues, it doesn't need to be this way:

The terror masters hoped and expected that they would be able to turn Iraq into a replay of Lebanon in the 1980s, when they drove American and French armed forces out of the country. But they have failed. Contrary to their hopes and expectations, we — and the Iraqi people — have not been spooked by the wave of terror, and the Iraqis have demonstrated grit, bravery, and patience far beyond most expectations. Indeed, as the slaughter of innocent Iraqis grows, the people are manifestly becoming more resolute; dead national guardsmen and soldiers are quickly replaced with new volunteers, and the murder of government officials has not deterred Iraqi citizens from participating in government. The Iraqis are fighting back.

Worst of all, from the standpoint of the terror masters, the ultimate threat — freedom — is growing stronger, just as the president wishes, and freedom is spreading even though, despite his constant promises to support democratic revolution, he is doing virtually nothing to help it. He, along with Secretaries Rice and Rumsfeld, has not rallied to the side of the Iranian people, even though the Iranians have abundantly demonstrated their desire to be rid of the mullahs. Two weeks ago there were massive demonstrations and work stoppages in the oil-rich regions, centering around the city of Ahwaz. The demonstrators called for an end to the regime, scores of people were killed, and hundreds were beaten and arrested. On May Day, workers again demonstrated against the regime, this time in all the major cities. In Tehran, strongman and likely president-in-waiting Hashemi Rafsanjani was hooted down by the crowd, and pictures of him and Supreme Leader Khamenei were torn down and trampled. Yet no one in the American Government spoke a word of support for the demonstrators ...

Ledeen is getting tired of saying "Faster, please." Read the article at the link.

Morning Report: May 9, 2005

US forces strike Iraq insurgents. CNN reports: 'U.S. forces have launched an offensive against "insurgents and foreign fighters" near Iraq's border with Syria, killing at least 75 of them in the first 24 hours of the operation, the U.S. military said Monday. According to the military, coalition and Marine Corps aircraft and forces from the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines are involved in the fighting in Iraq's Anbar province. "The operation is currently on the area north of the Euphrates River, in the Al Jazirah Desert. The region is a known smuggling route and sanctuary for foreign fighters," the military said in a statement.' Debka adds: 'A merger of all Iraq’s insurgent forces is behind the deadly surge of violence that has climbed to 55 attacks per day. US has launched offensive with air support against Iraqi insurgents in Anbar province near Syrian border. US military reports 75 rebels killed in first 24 hours. Targeted are Obeidi sanctuary for foreign fighters who continue to stream into Iraq and smuggling route from Syria. Joint commands and operational units, including al-Zarqawi’s al Qaeda wing, are focusing action on Baghdad area timed for formation of new Iraq government.' (CNN, Debka)

Yemen's ambassador to Syria seeks asylum. Debka reports: 'Yemeni ambassador Syria Ahmed al-Hasani fled to London last week and asked for political asylum. Al-Hasani was Yemeni air force commander during 2000 al Qaeda attack on USS Cole in Aden harbor when 17 US seamen killed, 500 injured. He testified to links president Salah and Yemeni military and intelligence officers maintain with al Qaeda to this day – amid joint Yemeni-US counter-terror combat in Saada region'. Armies of Liberation explains: 'The Jihad in Yemen takes the form of the state attacking its Shia minority. There have been indications that aspects of the Yemeni government, in collusion with some leadership in the opposition Islamic Islah party, are close to al-Qaeda. A recent defector from Yemen, the Ambassador to Syria, says that its very likely that President Saleh was aware of the plans for Cole bombing. Indeed , Saleh refused to investigate the bombing until the US threatened military action. Sheik al-Zindani is on the US’s most wanted list and is a leader of the Islah party. He met Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and became his mentor. After returning from Afghanistan, Zindani became the leader of Islah’s radical faction, and the “Afghan Arabs.” Using state power, today Shia libraries are being trashed, mosques prohibited from preaching the Shia version of Islam, and mass arrests are taking place with thousands held without trial. All Shia schools are now closing. Officials of Saleh’s Sunni government have characterized their teachings as “blasphemous,” “backwards,” and “deviant.” The curriculum of some hard core Wahabbi schools, the greater threat according to analysts, was not addressed in their statements. There is also a very bloody and violent element to the jihad in Yemen. ...' Read the post at Armies for full details and links. (Debka, Armies of Liberation)

Nobody's Perfect

Quote of the Day:

However, he added, "The press has never pretended to be perfect. My own paper pretty much decided to overlook the Holocaust."

Bill Keller, Executive Editor of the New York Times, speaking at the Frank R. Kent Memorial Lecture in Journalism at Johns Hopkins University; go read Rand Simberg's thoughts at Transterrestrial Musings.

Log Cabin Lesbians to Watch Out For

Alison Bechdel, the fabulously talented creator of the lesbian-themed comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, has always managed to blend feminist and gay activism with excellent line art, rich characters, warm humor, and a sense of irony. While staunchly liberal, she's not afraid to take occasional shots at leftist/feminist sacred cows.

A couple of years ago, Bechdel took the bold step of introducing a conservative lesbian character, a college student named Cynthia. To Alison's credit, she does a pretty good job of portraying Cynthia sympathetically, and even lets the conservative character (I think) get the better of some political debates. Considering that Cynthia is a composite "conservative" drawn by an artist who's firmly liberal (Alison herself believes the 2004 election was "rigged"), the character manages to avoid being a caricature, a stereotype, or a conflicted, self-loathing lesbian.

Read Alison Bechdel's blog here. A fan's page has a collection of links to DTWOF strips featuring Cynthia.

I'll be interested to see what Alison Bechdel does with Cynthia in the months to come. Given Cynthia's interest in the Middle East, perhaps she will be reading up on Irshad Manji. Why, I'll bet Cynthia's love interest*, Samia, is already reading The Trouble With Islam Today.

*UPDATE: I should clarify that Samia is in a relationship with Ginger; Cynthia's crush on Samia is just that. I have it on good authority that they will not become involved with each other.

Africa Report

Congress considers Sudan action. According to an April 26 article by Margaret Talev in the Sudan Tribune, the US Congress is considering action to help stop the violence and suffering in Sudan:

Seven months after President Bush declared that a conflict in a remote swath of Africa amounts to genocide, several members of Congress are pushing for more substantive U.S. intervention in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Displaced Sudanese women build a makeshift tut in Otash camp on the outskirts of Nyala town in Sudan's South Darfur region. (AFP).

They say the West has a moral obligation to do more to stop the killings, rapes, destruction and food shortages estimated to have killed 180,000 or more people and displaced 2 million.

At least 10 proposals before the House and Senate this year address this two-year-old struggle, which has pitted Arabs against non-Arab blacks, nomads against farmers and Muslims against Muslims, and brought an agricultural economy to its knees.

The proposals include emergency relief funds added to the supplemental Iraq war spending bill, but also more controversial ideas:

• A long-shot effort to suspend trading of stocks for international companies with business in Sudan.

• Calls for enforcing no-fly zones, and for pressuring the United Nations and NATO to send thousands of troops.

• Authorization for use of military force by the United States.

A lack of consensus persists over how deeply the United States should involve itself.

The military is spread thin with its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other concerns include the risks in intervening in yet another Islamic conflict, the lack of pressing U.S. economic or national security interests in Darfur, and resistance from nations, including China and Russia, that have oil and weapons investments tied to Sudan.

...

Said Eric Reeves, a Smith College English professor who has spent the past several years on leave as a full-time Sudan researcher: "We are talking about a country that's right in the heart of Africa, on the volatile border between Islamic and non-Islamic Africa, between Arab and [black] Africa in a racial sense.

"It is very possibly a powder keg. It's a reason for us to call into serious question the geopolitical wisdom of talking a good game but not really doing what needs to be done."

Canada may send 150 troops to Sudan. The CBC reports that Canada may send as many as 150 peacekeeping troops to Sudan: 'Canada is reported ready to send up to 150 military personnel as peacekeepers to war-torn Sudan. A child refugee from Darfur washes clothes outside her shack at the Iridimi refugee camp near Iriba in eastern Chad, September 2004. Ottawa would also donate some used military equipment and increase its humanitarian aid for the northeast African country. An official announcement is coming in the next few days, the Canadian Press reported Saturday. The federal government has already earmarked $20 million in aid for Sudan. And Gen. Rick Hillier told CBC News Friday that Canada was making plans to send troops to the Darfur region of Sudan by the end of the summer. ...'

CIA - Khartoum meetings alleged. An article by Norm Dixon, appearing in Green Left Weekly and posted at Passion of the Present, alleges that a secret meeting between CIA officials and General Salah Abdallah Gosh of Sudan's secret police indicates an ongoing relationship between the Khartoum regime and the Bush Administration. The article, which draws heavily on a piece by Ken Silverstein in the Los Angeles Times, states:

Ken Silverstein, writing in the April 29 Los Angeles Times, reported that US government officials revealed to him that, in the previous week, “the CIA sent an executive jet ... to ferry the chief of Sudan’s intelligence agency [General Salah Abdallah Gosh] to Washington for secret meetings sealing Khartoum’s sensitive and previously veiled partnership with the administration”.

Gosh is almost certainly among the scores of Khartoum officials named in a sealed United Nations file as being responsible for “crimes against humanity” in Darfur provinces, in western Sudan. The UN Security Council voted on March 31 to refer the file to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

As Sudan expert and human rights advocate Eric Reeves () points out: “Gosh is directly responsible for tens of thousands of extra-judicial executions, killings, ‘disappearances’, as well as countless instances of torture, illegal imprisonment and other violations of international law.”

According to the LA Times report, Washington has cooperated closely with the Islamist dictatorship’s secret police, the Mukhabarat, since before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US. Following 9/11 attacks, which Khartoum immediately condemned, the relationship has steadily deepened.

The secret alliance has continued to strengthen despite the Mukhabarat’s central role in directing and arming the Arab-chauvinist janjaweed bandit gangs, which are spearheading the persecution of Darfur’s non-Arabic speaking farmers.

The article further charges that 'US and European governments have refused to provide adequate funds, equipment and logistics to African Union (AU) soldiers deployed as cease-fire monitors in Darfur, the only force in a position to prevent or discourage attacks on civilians. Only 2300 of the 3500-4000 troops originally promised to be in place have been able to deploy, and even they have taken around six months to arrive.'

Ivory Coast talks fail to reach deal. 'Representatives of the rebels and army in Ivory Coast have failed to reach agreement on a disarmament timetable after five days of talks,' the BBC reports. 'But they did say they would meet again in the next few days. Under a peace agreement mediated by South Africa in April, government forces and rebels who control the north were due to lay down arms this month. Both sides began pulling back heavy weapons from the front-line last month, as part of the agreement. The prime minister's representative, Alain Richard Donwahi, said the talks in Ivory Coast's capital, Yamoussoukro, had been positive. A timetable would be presented to military chiefs from both sides next Friday for approval, he was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.'

Escape Velocity: Alastair Reynolds

I'm focusing on the novel "Absolution Gap" in this post because it illustrates a lot of what I like about the science fiction of Alastair Reynolds. AG is the third novel in a trilogy that begins with Revelation Space and continues with Redemption Ark. The novels are set in a future, spacefaring civilization divided into two warring factions, the Conjoiners (who embrace the radical integration of the human body and technology) and the Demarchists (who reject this level of integration). This universe has passed through, and abandoned, a stage of highly developed nanotechnology, which became a liability with the advent of something called the Melding Plague. (Reynold's true feelings about nanotech become somewhat more apparent in his new novel, Century Rain, which also appears to explore the origins of the Demarchist/Conjoiner schism. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.) The two factions must confront a threat from the ruthlessly destructive machines known as "Inhibitors" or "Wolves", which, we are told, are the relic of an ancient conflict known as the Dawn War, and whose sole function is to keep the Galaxy free of spacefaring civilizations (thus answering Enrico Fermi's famous question).

Alastair Reynolds is a Welsh-born science fiction writer now based in the Netherlands. Until recently, he worked as an astrophysicist for the European Space Agency, and he brings a professional's eye for detail to his stories of space travel. Oh, and one more thing: He can write.

Part of the strength of Reynolds' writing comes from his ambivalence toward technology - a trait he shares with Isaac Asimov. (In fact, the Good Doctor also created a faction of techno-skeptics, known as the "Medievalists".) I'd argue that the tension between the technological, "cultural man" and the pre-technological, "natural man" is a universal theme of literature, stretching from Gilgamesh (cf. the relationship of Gilgamesh and Enkidu) to The Lord of the Rings (Frodo and Samwise) - and see also Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik's analysis of the opening chapters of Genesis in The Lonely Man of Faith. But I digress.

What makes Reynolds' writing stand out is his evident comfort in writing as a writer. He devotes no less attention to the inner landscapes of his characters than to the details of his futuristic universe - which he describes meticulously. Even better, there is a seamless transition between the one and the other. This is what science fiction writing, at its very best, should do: mirror the reciprocal relationship between our inner and outer worlds - how the outside world changes us, and how we change it in return. This is what I call "inside/outside technique". Here's a magnificent passage in which Quaiche, who has been infected for political reasons with a virus that simulates "religious" feelings (literally the opiate of the masses!) confronts his own imminent death in a crashed spacecraft:

The virus was not helping. He had hoped that it would, but the feelings it brought were too superficial. When he most needed their succour he could feel them for the paper-thin facades they were. Just because the virus was tickling the parts of his brain that produced feelings of religious experience didn't mean that he was able to turn off the other parts of his mind that recognised these feelings as having been induced artificially. He truly felt himself to be in the presence of something sacred, but he also knew, with total clarity, that this was due to neuroanatomy. Nothing was really with him: the organ music, the stained-glass windows in the sky, the sense of proximity to something huge and timeless and infinitely compassionate were all explicable in terms of neural wiring, firing potentials, synaptic gaps.

In his moment of greatest need, when he most desired that comfort, it had deserted him. He was just a Godless man with a botched virus in his blood, running out of air, running out of time, on a world to which he had given a name that would soon be forgotten.

(I'm reminded of Theodore Sturgeon's masterpiece, "The Man Who Lost the Sea" here.) This passage goes on to describe the work of a gifted glassblower named Trollhattan, whose impossibly delicate works are created in zero-gravity and cannot be transported far because of the accelerations involved; Reynolds invokes the image to evoke Quaiche's relationship with Morwenna.

One of the book's most memorable characters is Scorpio, whom we first met in Redemption Ark. Scorpio is a pig - an intelligent pig, of a race bioengineered by humans. (Think The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells.) In AG, Scorpio really comes into his own; we see a character who has been abused by the cruelty of humans, and at the same time feels alieneated from his own kind. Even among intelligent pigs, he is smarter than your average pig. Having availed himself of the physically taxing process of cryosleep several times, he feels himself aging, and knows he cannot hope to enjoy the kind of lifespan avialable to humans with their (human-engineered) rejuvenation technology.

There's more I'd like to say about Reynolds, but I'll save it for another time; I want to get this post done so I can move on to something else. Next week we're going to look at the novella Seven American Nights by Gene Wolfe.

I'm looking foward to more work from Alastair Reynolds. There are still a couple of pieces by Reynolds that I haven't yet read (Chasm City and Turquoise Days).

Reason to exclude gays? Uncle Jimbo says no.

Uncle Jimbo of Military Matters writes:

The question is whether pretending there aren't gay folks in the military even matters anymore, I don't think it probably does. If they are already there what benefit does it provide to have them pretend they are straight? Are our troops so intolerant this will tear units apart? I sincerely doubt it and if it won't, then change the rule. There were dudes in my unit that we were fairly certain played in a different league, but there were plenty of others who didn't want their preferences or in some cases perversions aired publicly either, and that was 10 years ago. Unfortunately we had absolutely no lipstick lesbians.

The military integrated racially before the rest of the country and offered women a fair shake earlier too, but somehow it is lagging now. Homosexuality is rapidly becoming a yawn issue, "Oh you're gay, that's nice. What time is the movie?" That is a good progression and there is no reason not to add the military to the list of people who just shouldn't care who you sleep with. Plus it would take one more issue away from the dirty, nasty, patchouli-smelling, hippy protestors and that's a good thing. ...

Col. David Hunt (Ret.) was interviewed by NRO in this June 2003 piece:

NRO: How do you feel about women in combat?

HUNT: I'm in favor of competent people doing their job — I don't care how you go to the bathroom. It's said that Jessica Lynch killed a lot of people, which is why they tortured her so much. It ain't about sex. If I'm with you on the battlefield, we're not going to do it! We're too tired and too scared to have sex. We're not serious until we're inclusive, which means: "Can you do this job? Can you fight the war on terrorism?" Fine, you're on! I don't care if I have a whole division full of lesbians, if they can do the job. Look, we kicked out a bunch of gay men who were linguists, Arabic specialists. What kind of stupidity is that? ...

The military leadership needs to start listening to these people. I served ten years in the Air Force and four years in the Marine Corps, and the question of whether gay people were there, or belonged there, was more of a distraction than anything else. Whether a person is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, or (like me) simply a living violation of Article 178 of Skippy's List - none of that matters in the prosecution of combat against the enemy. All that really matters is: Can the person do the job?