As I was reading THE TENNESSEAN this morning, I came across an article that was particularly interesting to me considering the posts I’ve written the past few days and the reader response to those posts.

The article was titled: “Tennessee Voices: I am a Muslim, and yes, I am an American,” and was written by Sabina Zia Mohyuddin. Here it is:

I am an American. To be more precise, I am a Tennessean. I was born and raised in Nashville. I rode the bus to school for 12 years, then went on to graduate from Vanderbilt University. I have lived in Memphis and Clarksville among other places and now call Tullahoma my home. I got married in college and now have four children. Sounds like a typical American, right?

Yet, when people see me, their first question often is: “Where are you from?” Naturally, I say I was born and raised in Nashville.

The catch is that I am a Bangladeshi Muslim American. My parents are from Bangladesh, my religion is Islam, but I am still an American.

Nonetheless, there are those who would regard me with suspicion because — although I worship the same God of the Christians and Jews — I pray five times a day, fast during the month of Ramadan and wear a headscarf in public. I love to eat rice and curry and occasionally wear traditional Bangladeshi clothing.

So sometimes, people’s first impression of me makes them wonder why I have not become more Americanized.

This leads me to the question: “What does it mean to be an American?” For me, being an American does not just mean I am a U.S. citizen. It means that I want what is best for America. I want a country where our children’s welfare and education are our top priority. I want a country where there is “liberty and justice for all” and where there is equal access to health care. I want a country that works with other nations to solve global problems such as disease, poverty and pollution.

Desiring what is best for America is not enough. As an American, I must get involved in helping those in need and become actively engaged in the issues affecting our country. I must speak out against any injustice and let my voice be heard by voting in local and national elections.

An American does not have to be a white or African-American Christian. Whether or not a person is a Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or member of any other faith, if she is working for a better America, then she is an American. Whether a person is from Mexico, Somalia, China or any other country, if he is working for a better America, then he is an American.

Each person brings unique experiences and ideas which help strengthen America. As a Bangladeshi Muslim American, I share my ideals of strong families where parents are respected and children are cherished.

I find no contradictions in being a Muslim and being an American. As a Muslim, I must uphold the laws of this land, stand up for what is right and help those in need.

That is what makes me an American.

I find Ms. Mohyuddin’s words refreshing, and while she and I might not agree completely about how to accomplish them, the goals and dreams she expressed in the article are the same as mine.  She expressed the American ideal very well.

However, for all the lofty and conciliatory rhetoric, I also call on American Muslims such as Ms. Mohyuddin, along with rationale Muslims worldwide - to publicly condemn the brutality of Muslim terrorists and the bastardizing of their religion, faith and holy book.  Where is the loud and public outrage and condemnation from moderate Muslims for the extreme brutality that is being carried out in the name of Islam?

As long as there are Muslim extremists and terrorists going throughout the world killing, maiming and creating mayhem, as long as there are militant Muslims bragging loudly about how they infiltrate average American society in order to carry out their terrorist agenda, and until I hear moderate Muslims throughout the world loudly and publicly and in great numbers condemning the Islamic terrorists and calling for an end of terrorism, then I will be wary of Muslims.  I won’t deny them their rights as American citizens or as human beings.  However, until I get to know them personally, I will be wary of them.  It’s only common sense.

I learn new things every day.  Today I’ve learned that apparently in order to be completely progressively PC, I cannot be wary, have reservations or have negative feelings of any kind regarding the motives or possible outcomes of any person who is elected for public office.  At least not based on that person’s religious affiliation.  It doesn’t matter if people are being killed and denied basic human rights in the name of that religion on a daily basis. 

It doesn’t matter that I would never question that person’s right to run for office and be elected and use whatever “Holy Book” he/she wants for the swearing-in ceremony.  If I have ANY negative feelings or concerns about it, then I’m a bigot.

Name-calling is okay, though - as long as the person being called a name is a conservative.   Glad to have that straight now. 

It is always fascinating to me how people at times choose to misinterpret, overlook, trivialize, and otherwise adjust information to suit their purposes.  My previous post about Keith Ellison being elected to Congress and choosing to use a Koran that had belonged to Thomas Jefferson was the object of such an “adventure in elaboration, accusation and exaggeration.”  The purpose of this post is to state some of my beliefs as clearly as possible.

1.  Our enemies in this war on terror ARE Muslims.  However, at no time have I EVER said, written or indicated in any way that ALL Muslims are our enemies.

2.  I believe that Islam, as practiced by many in the world today, is a religion to be feared.  The Islamic extremists’ interpretation of the Koran is that ANYONE who isn’t a Muslim is to be killed.  That is the ultimate intolerance for religious beliefs.

3.  Our soldiers are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan FOR the peaceful people (mostly Muslims) who live there to determine their own way of life.  Our soldiers are dying daily FOR Muslims.

4.  There are American soldiers who are Muslims who are right there fighting alongside the Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Atheists and Hindus.  I admire and respect and honor our service personnel.

5.  I stated in the previously mentioned post that Ellison was brilliant to use a Koran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson for his swearing in.  I believe it made him more palatable to people who opposed his election.

6.  Considering the wars and death and destruction going on in the world today that have been the direct result of MUSLIM extremism based on the Koran, I personally find it repulsive for a member of Congress to be sworn in on the Koran.

7.  However, NOWHERE and at NO TIME have I EVER written or said that Ellison did not have the right to be elected as a representative from his state.

8.  NOWHERE and at NO TIME have I EVER written or said that Ellison did not have the right to make his oath of office with his hand on the Koran.

9.  NOWHERE and at NO TIME have I EVER said that there should be any kind of “religious test” or “religious qualification” for someone to be elected to office or to serve in office or that anyone should be FORCED to be sworn-in using a Bible.

10.  In my blog I express MY opinions about whatever is going on in the world.  I personally find it disgusting that a representative of the most violent and intolerant religion I’ve ever known was elected to Congress.  Again, my personal opinion has nothing to do with his RIGHT to be elected, and I would never do anything to change the rights of the people of Minnesota to elect whomever they wish.

11.  I personally find it disgusting that a member of Congress was sworn in using a Koran.  Again, my personal opinion has nothing to do with Ellison’s RIGHT to be sworn in using a Koran, and I would never do anything to change the rights of elected officials to be sworn in using their “holy book” - whether it is the Bible, Koran, Torah - whatever - or no book at all.

12.  When I wrote the previous post, I put the word “enemy” in quotation marks to indicate that it wasn’t a blanket statement.  It was used in the context of the rest of that particular paragraph.

13.  NOWHERE and at NO TIME have I EVER written or said anything to indicate that I want to restrict anyone’s expression of religious beliefs, and I would never do anything that would result in that.

14.  Neither the left nor the right has a monopoly on patriotism or on good intentions.  People interpret current events based on their belief systems and their own experience. 

15.  I admire George W. Bush immensely.  He has served as our President amidst overwhelming and concerted partisan attacks.  Of course he has made some mistakes, but overall I believe he is a strong American president who has taken the high road in virtually every decision, and I strongly believe that history will prove him to be one of our greatest presidents.

16.  I have deeply held beliefs in the areas of religion, politics, ethics, relationships, and family.  This blog reflects those beliefs. 

17.  Personal attacks are hurtful and destructive. 

I’ve read a lot about verbal abuse the past ten or so years.  It’s a phenomenon that is more prevalent than most people realize.  An excellent article on verbal abuse can be found here. 

A friend pointed out this poll. It’s an internet poll which means only the opinions of the people who take the time to respond are counted. However, I believe it shows some tendencies. And Muslims have only themselves to blame for the negative feelings about Islam that are evident.

Islam and America Poll Results Do you consider Islam to be a peaceful religion? Yes 12,048 No 162,837 Do you consider Islam to be a tolerant religion? Yes 6,723 No 167,829 Would America be a better country if it were a Muslim country? Yes 1,009 No 173,436 Should America place equal emphasis on the Koran and the Bible? Yes 4,098 No 169,964 Would it be good for America to have more Muslims in elected offices? Yes 4,147 No 169,372 Would you vote for a Muslim for president? Yes 3,653 No 170,143 As a general rule, are women treated better in America than in a Muslim country? Yes 159,745 No 14,181 Is America too dependent on Muslim countries for oil? Yes 167,659 No 6,247 Do Muslim countries do more than America to help the poor? Yes 4,254 No 168,556

You can participate in the poll yourself by going HERE.

Tiara-tip to Something…and Half of Something.

Keith Ellison, the Muslim from Minnesota who was elected to Congress will use Thomas Jefferson’s Koran for his Swearing-In ceremony. From Frederic J. Frommer with the Associated Press:

Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn., decided to use the centuries-old Koran during his ceremonial swearing-in on Thursday after he learned that it is kept at the Library of Congress. Jefferson, the nation’s third president and a collector of books in all topics and languages, sold the book to Congress in 1815 as part of a collection.

“It demonstrates that from the very beginning of our country, we had people who were visionary, who were religiously tolerant, who believed that knowledge and wisdom could be gleaned from any number of sources, including the Koran,” Ellison said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

“A visionary like Thomas Jefferson was not afraid of a different belief system,” Ellison said. “This just shows that religious tolerance is the bedrock of our country, and religious differences are nothing to be afraid of.”

Uh, that would be partly correct. Religious tolerance IS the bedrock of our country. However, I must disagree with with the statement that “religious differences are nothing to be afraid of.” Muslim extremists (and maybe it’s not just the extremists) are THE reason for most of the killing and the wars going on right now. They were responsible for 9/11, they are responsible for 99% of terrorist attacks throughout the world. Seems to me that the people who don’t practice religious tolerance or respect religious differences are the Muslims.

The report continues:

An English translation of the Arabic, Jefferson’s Koran was published in 1764 in London, a later printing of one originally published in 1734.

“This is considered the text that shaped Europe’s understanding of the Koran,” Dimunation said.

It was acquired in 1815 as part of a more than 6,400-volume collection that Jefferson sold for $24,000 to replace the congressional library that had been burned by British troops the year before, in the War of 1812.

“It was a real bargain,” Dimunation said.

The Koran survived an 1851 fire in the Capitol. Dimunation described it as a two-volume work, bound in leather with marble boards.

“As a rare book librarian,” he said, “there is something special about the idea that Thomas Jefferson’s books are being walked across the street to the Capitol building, to bring in yet another session of governmental structure that he helped create.”

This is a brilliant move on Ellison’s part because he has taken the repulsive idea of a member of Congress being sworn in on a Koran and tied it to Thomas Jefferson - one of our country’s founding fathers. Many people will figure that if Jefferson owned a Koran, then he must have been “okay” with the Muslim religion. Muslims worldwide have declared jihad on the United States and ANYONE who is not Muslim. I think it was a mistake to elect an “enemy” to Congress.

More at Hot Air.

And check out Cogito - he has an interesting discussion of this topic that goes back to Jefferson’s relationship with Muslims.

Saddam Hussein has been executed.  No humane, painless lethal injection for this cruel monster/dictator.  He was hanged - which means he at least suffered for a few minutes before dying.  He received a fair trial, he had the opportunity to say good-bye to his loved ones (if he had any), and he was given the courtesy of speaking some final words.  Those are all things he denied the thousands that he was responsible for butchering unmercifully.  There is no pleasure in this death - only the satisfaction that justice was served and that this man will never be able to murder again.

 BAGHDAD, Iraq  (Dec. 30) - Saddam Hussein struggled briefly after American military guards handed him over to Iraqi executioners. But as his final moments approached, he grew calm. He clutched a Quran as he was led to the gallows, and in one final moment of defiance, refused to have a hood pulled over his head before facing the same fate he was accused of inflicting on countless thousands during a quarter-century of ruthless power.

A man whose testimony helped lead to Saddam’s conviction and execution before sunrise Saturday said he was shown the body because “everybody wanted to make sure that he was really executed.”

“Now, he is in the garbage of history,” said Jawad Abdul-Aziz, who lost his father, three brothers and 22 cousins in the reprisal killings that followed a botched 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the Shiite town of Dujail.

In Baghdad’s Shiite enclave of Sadr City, hundreds of people danced in the streets while others fired guns in the air to celebrate his death. The government did not impose a round-the-clock curfew as it did last month when Saddam was convicted to thwart any surge in retaliatory violence.

It was a grim end for the 69-year-old leader who had vexed three U.S. presidents. Despite his ouster, Washington, its allies and the new Iraqi leaders remain mired in a fight to quell a stubborn insurgency by Saddam loyalists and a vicious sectarian conflict.

Sami al-Askari, the political adviser of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, told The Associated Press that Saddam initially resisted when he was taken by Iraqi guards but was composed in his final moments.

He said Saddam was clad in a black suit, hat and shoes, rather than prison garb. His hat was removed shortly before the noose was slipped around his neck.

Shortly before the execution, Saddam was asked if he wanted to say something.

“No I don’t want to,” al-Askari, who was present at the execution, quoted Saddam as saying. Saddam repeated a prayer after a Sunni Muslim cleric who was present.

“Saddam later was taken to the gallows and refused to have his head covered with a hood,” al-Askari said. “Before the rope was put around his neck, Saddam shouted: ‘God is great. The nation will be victorious and Palestine is Arab.’”

Iraqi state television showed footage of guards in ski masks placing a noose around Saddam’s neck. Saddam appeared calm as he stood on the metal framework of the gallows. The footage cuts off just before the execution.

Saddam was executed at a former military intelligence headquarters in Baghdad’s Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah, al-Askari said. During his regime, Saddam had numerous dissidents executed in the facility, located in a neighborhood that is home to the Iraqi capital’s most important Shiite shine _ the Imam Kazim shrine.

Al-Askari said the government had not decided what to do with Saddam’s body.

The Iraqi prime minister’s office released a statement that said Saddam’s execution was a “strong lesson” to ruthless leaders who commit crimes against their own people.

“We strongly reject considering Saddam as a representative of any sect in Iraq because the tyrant only represented his evil soul,” the statement said. “The door is still open for those whose hands are not tainted with the blood of innocent people to take part in the political process and work on rebuilding Iraq.”

The execution came 56 days after a court convicted Saddam and sentenced him to death for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from Dujail. Iraq’s highest court rejected Saddam’s appeal Monday and ordered him executed within 30 days.

Others writing on the topic:

Alone on a Limb - Justice, Not Revenge

Michelle Malkin - Report: Saddam is Dead

MVRWC - Saddam: Swinging from the Gallows Pole

Little Green Footballs - Breaking: Saddam an ex-Dictator

I posted the above photograph on November 9th - over two weeks ago.  This morning I FINALLY saw mention of this story on FOX news.  Has it been on the other major news networks?  I haven’t seen it.  Perhaps I missed it - probably not.  The MSM isn’t much interested in anything positive. Apparently their goal is to produce as much anti-American drivel as possible. 

Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt should make everyone in America proud of our Armed Services.  He’s home now - been home a couple months - and his wife says she’s not surprised at his actions in Iraq.  He was always able to comfort their own children when they were babies.

What is frustrating to me is that this picture is months old.  We get instant photos and news of anything negative happening in Iraq, but stories such as this - the stories that are truly representative of what our soldiers are doing over there - get little publicity, and the publicity they DO get is old news.

My nephew who is stationed in Baghdad, tells us about children living in trash dumps and looking forward to the treats of candy and other gifts the soldiers give them from the packages they receive from home.  Every single day our soldiers see the results of terrorism, and they’re fighting to save the Iraqui people from the even worse fate should we pack up and leave them to the whims of the terrorists.

I don’t understand how anyone who trashes our troops can live with his/her conscience.  Our troops are decent and hard-working men and women who are dealing with ruthless murderers whose only goal is to deal death and terror to everyone.  The fact of the matter is that the troop-bashers don’t have a conscience.

What, with getting married and now having someone to be with after work and in the evenings rather than sitting at my computer for hours blogging, I haven’t had the time to visit my favorite blogs like I used to.  This morning, however, I had a little extra time, and so I read Dr. Sanity for the first time in quite awhile.  She expresses so well what I want to say:

George Bush made the correct moral choice in going into Iraq and eliminating Saddam Hussein as a threat. Those who claim this war is somehow immoral have their priorities and their morality completely warped. No one is saying that mistakes have not been made–what war has ever occured without mistakes –except in the bubble that passes for a brain in the leftist utopian? The essential morality of confronting this kind of evil pre-emptively should be obvious to any student of 20th century history.

Iraq has revealed the enemy for what it truly is–a mindless, death-worshipping ideology that cannot be reasoned with; cannot be appeased; and cannot be ignored. We cannot walk–or run– away from it; we cannot make deals with it– not in Iraq; not in Iran; not in Lebanon; not in Gaza; and not anywhere this malignant anti-human, anti-life, anti-freedom ideology has taken root. Either we fight it now, no holds barred, knowing that we are all that stands between the forces of death and destruction and those of life– or we will be doomed to suffer even more of their barbarism in the near future.

And the horrors of the last world war will seem like a children’s cakewalk compared to what the latest batch of totalitarian monsters have planned.

I can see my progressive/liberal/Democrat friends now, shaking their heads smugly and murmuring, “Oh, GWB (aka Bushitler to them) has frightened you into supporting him.”

Fear is there, but COMMON SENSE is the dominant driving force for me.  I believe that fear (in the form of denial) is what drives much of the progressive/Democrat/liberal foreign policy and rhetoric.  One truth a parent and teacher learns early on is that  you can ignore some misbehaviors, but dangerous misbehavior must be confronted and stopped.  The child who always misbehaves is an unhappy child, and misbehavior that isn’t addressed gets worse.  The terrorists and the people and governments that support them are not well-adjusted people.  However, the behavior must be stopped before the root causes of the behavior can be addressed.

Last week a picture of Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 terrorists, was published. The newly published photo was taken when he was younger - possibly before he was taken over by radical Islam. When I saw the photo, my first thought was that comparing the new photo with the later one provides a clear example of what Islam does to a person. It changed a smiling, personable guy into a soul-less murderer. What do you think?

That’s right. We should release Saddam and let him go back to Iraq AFTER we give him a sex-change operation. As a matter of fact, we could release ALL the Islamic terrorists we have in custody. We’ll be very gentle with them - no torture or discomfort. Just give them lots of painkillers, do the sex change operation - let them recuperate with the best nursing care, and then send them home. A few days as a Muslim woman should put out the fire of their Islamic fanaticism.

(I heard that on the radio the other day - but I don’t remember what show it was.)

Crossposted aat Jihadi du Jour.