Question: Why have several large American cities not already announced that they are going to become sister cities with Baghdad and help raise money and awareness to aid Dr. Tamimi? When I put this question to a number of serious anti-war friends, their answer was to the effect that it's the job of the administration to allocate the money, so that there's little room or need for civic action. I find this difficult to credit: For day after day last month I could not escape the news of the gigantic "Live 8" enterprise, which urged governments to do more along existing lines by way of debt relief and aid for Africa. Isn't there a single drop of solidarity and compassion left over for the people of Iraq, after three decades of tyranny, war, and sanctions and now an assault from the vilest movement on the face of the planet? Unless someone gives me a persuasive reason to think otherwise, my provisional conclusion is that the human rights and charitable "communities" have taken a pass on Iraq for political reasons that are not very creditable. And so we watch with detached curiosity, from dry land, to see whether the Iraqis will sink or swim. For shame.
This truly does puzzle me. Why is there, if not an alliance then let's call it an understanding, between the Islamists and the Western Left? The Left ignores extreme manifestations of fascism, homophobia, religious intolerance and persecution, vioence against women, anti-science, and environmental degradation in Islamists that would (and does) cause the Left to scream bloody murder if a Westerner is even accused of a faint shadow of any of those positions--even if the accusations have no basis in fact.
How is it possible to essentially wish victory to those who would destroy all you believe?
Much like American communists going from hating Nazis to loving Nazis to hating Nazis depending on the current state of relations between Hitler and Stalin, I imagine that when a Democratic president continues the war (I'm not hoping too much, am I?), the Left in this country will suddenly discover that Islamofascists are bad guys.
And really, "it's the government's job" is their excuse for doing nothing to help? Not very compassionate, is it? But I always knew that about the Left. They just get better press coverage.
