Afghan Christian's plight draws U.S. pressure (Bush may lose X-tian base)

[sabra]

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060324/a_afghan24.art.htm

Afghan Christian's plight draws U.S. pressure
Rice calls Karzai as convert faces possible execution

The Bush administration Thursday intensified pressure on Afghanistan to spare a Christian convert in a case that has raised outrage among Christians in the USA.

...

Gary Bauer, president of American Values, a conservative Christian group, said U.S. officials have to be “clear and bold” in talking about the case. “This whole enterprise is an effort to bring democratic principles to that part of the world. That means more than elections, it means religious pluralism.”

Bauer sent an e-mail Wednesday to a quarter of a million supporters saying that the execution of the convert, Abdul Rahman, “would very likely result in a complete collapse in support for the war.”

...

The Rahman case has aroused concern among human rights groups. Ted Stahnke, policy director for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an advisory body created by Congress, said that even if Rahman is spared, his arrest will have “a chilling affect on freedom in Afghanistan.”

[kevinmc]

1. He might lose some ......

but then there are the MoonBats like Radical Cleric Pat Robertson who are having an orgasm thinking about using this guy as a Martyr.

[atreides1]

2. Good let him lose the Xtian Zealots

They would enact laws in accordance with the Bible if they could, all of their whining just shows what we already know, that they're a group of hypocrites!!!!!

Maybe they should just sit out the midterms.

[meegbear]

3. Hey! Let's invade!

Oh, that's right, we already did.

Let freedom reign!

[GodlessBiker]

4. So, things haven't really changed all that much since the Taliban.

[Stanchetalarooni]

5. But they are FREE. At last.

Or was it Iraq who was to get the Free?

[sattahipdeep]

14. Since?

Wednesday Feb. 8, 2006, KABUL: More than 170 Taliban and other fighters
surrendered on Sunday as part of a government amnesty scheme....

"We vow to help ensure security and peace and take part in reconstruction of our
country," he said. Among those, who have taken up the offer, were former Taliban
Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil and Taliban regime's Ambassador to
Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef.

The men travelled from various provinces from across Afghanistan to Kabul for a
ceremony at which their surrender was announced by the head of the government's
reconciliation commission Sebghattullah Mujaddadi.

http://indiamonitor.com/news/readNews.jsp?ni=10435

How does someone become an ex-terrorist? ex-Taliban?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,577559,00.html

Ex-Taliban envoy freed from Guantanamo - Afghan TV KABUL, Sept 12 (Reuters)

The former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan has been released from a U.S. military prison in
Cuba under an Afghan government reconciliation programme , Afghan state television said on Monday.

http://www.dawn.com/2005/09/13/int12.htm

[Mizmoon]

6. This is very sticky

Do we respect their right to create a "democracy" that excludes other religions?
Do we demand that they respect other religions? Do we force them to?

This is one case where I'm really glad I don't call the shots.

[BR_Parkway]

7. Seems like legitimate US foreign policy, working legally thru the UN

and world relief organizations has always tried to keep people/groups from being trampled on by the majority for their religious beliefs.

Unfortunately, here at home, we don't even have that same standard - it's all about the poor, oppressed 82% whining about how they aren't allowed to do this or say that. Respect for the minority voices has dropped incredibly during the past 5 years.

[Dhalgren]

10. It is a weird situation, ethically.

We would be against any regime, democratic or not, that executed or imprisoned citizens based upon their religious beliefs (China notwithstanding). We would certainly not support a regime like that in any way; but we not only support this regime, we actually have troops within the country physically defending the regime - and we are funneling great wads of money to them on a daily (if not hourly) basis. One of the stated reasons that we are in Afghanistan is to protect their freedoms and sovereignty, but if we dictate to them what they can and cannot decide to do as a society, then they are neither free nor sovereign. But if we pull out and cut off aid in protest of their barbarity, they will collapse and all the work and loss of lives over the last four years will have been for nothing. If Bush acts Imperially in Afghanistan he will save his fundie base, but could very well plunge Afghanistan into an Iraq-like insurgency. How will the NATO allies react to whatever Bush decides to do? Will they stay if Christians are arrested and executed? Will they stay if Bush exercises Imperial power? If this whole incident just arose naturally, it was an amazing boon to the Taliban, if it was plotted and planned, then somebody is brilliant...

[Coventina]

11. Democracy is more than just "free elections". It also is freedom of

expression. Freedom of speech and religion, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We should demand that other religions are tolerated.

Remember the world-wide outry when the Taliban destroyed the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan? Why should this case be any different?

[sattahipdeep]

13. Zaeef said: " He can die but he cannot defect." n/t

[ROakes1019]

8. interference

Here we go with another Terri Schiavo case. I noticed Bill Frist has contacted Bush to intervene. I'm not for anybody being persecuted or killed for his religious beliefs, but we can't demand that Christians, and Jews, be allowed freedom of religion in regions of the world where we object to the practice of other religions. I've always objected to the way Christians think they should convert the whole world while they kill people of other faiths (consider the Crusades and the Inquisition or the Puritans). The Christian man in Afghanistan knew the Sharia law and he took his chances. So be it.

[Coventina]

9. This is NOT a Terri Schiavo case. This is about freedom of belief and

conscience.

This man coverted from Islam to Christianity by his own free will and chooses to stand by it. Any person who supports the concept of intellectual freedom should stand by him.

[AndyTiedye]

15. So What Are Our Troops Doing There?

Theocracy before, theocracy now. Still killing "infidels".
Osama Bin Ladin? Still free.

In Iraq, we seem to have replaced a secular government with a theocracy.
That theocracy is now exterminating the gay population of Iraq.
Not a peep from the Fundies about that -- they want to the same here.

2300+ American Soldiers died for this???

[David__77]

12. This was inevitable.

Focusing on the plight of Christians in Afghanistan, and also in Iraq, would certainly help to cause problems for the warmaniacs.