Thursday, March 23, 2006
How Things Work
Yesterday I got a bit worked up by the whole Abdul Rahman-execution-for-being-a-Christian-in-Afghanistan-thing. The situation is distasteful and repugnant, but to describe it as failure of American policy, particularly at this early juncture is premature and not helpful.
In that post, I gave a link to a transcript of a State Department briefing that occurred after a visit with an Afghani minister. I read that transcript to say the State Department was doing its job. Now I appear to have been right as less than 24 hours later we begin to signs of a shift in the situation. Hugh Hewitt says the Afghani's are "looking for a way out." FOXNews reports
So what happened? Simple, in the State department meetings what they said behind closed doors and out of the public eye was likely something along the lines of, "We put you in this leadership position, you want our continued support, find a way to keep this guy alive." It's called allowing for, at a minimum, the appearance of sovereignty for the Karzai government - without it they would have no legitimacy at all. Oh, and look, the President is not so subtly reinforcing the message the State Department delivered.
And before you go all Michelle Malkin on me and start crying
Ideal ending? No, but what are we supposed to do - kill every Islamic man woman and child on the planet? I don't think so. Some sects and thought of Islam are horrific, but we are not going to change that with the government or the military.
NRO gets it just right
In that post, I gave a link to a transcript of a State Department briefing that occurred after a visit with an Afghani minister. I read that transcript to say the State Department was doing its job. Now I appear to have been right as less than 24 hours later we begin to signs of a shift in the situation. Hugh Hewitt says the Afghani's are "looking for a way out." FOXNews reports
So what happened? Simple, in the State department meetings what they said behind closed doors and out of the public eye was likely something along the lines of, "We put you in this leadership position, you want our continued support, find a way to keep this guy alive." It's called allowing for, at a minimum, the appearance of sovereignty for the Karzai government - without it they would have no legitimacy at all. Oh, and look, the President is not so subtly reinforcing the message the State Department delivered.
And before you go all Michelle Malkin on me and start crying
Afghan officials are accusing Rahman of being mentally unfit. Watch him for yourself. Who is insane: Rahman or the jihadists who want to kill him?This thing is still not over. He gets declared incompetent, maybe then we can bring him to America for "the best treatment possible" where he can live out the rest of his life in Christian faith and happy.
Ideal ending? No, but what are we supposed to do - kill every Islamic man woman and child on the planet? I don't think so. Some sects and thought of Islam are horrific, but we are not going to change that with the government or the military.
NRO gets it just right
Yesterday, the State Department's Nicholas Burns adopted the right tone and substantive position when asked about the case by reporters. He said that, as far as the U.S. is concerned, the Afghan constitution guarantees religious liberty, and therefore Rahman shouldn't be punished for his conversion. But he also emphasized our respect for Afghan sovereignty. It is important that, while we push for justice in the case, we don't play into the hands of Karzai's enemies, who are eager to capitalize on the fears of a very traditional society. We should make it clear privately, but very firmly to Karzai - who would have to sign Rahman's death warrant - that we expect him to find some Afghan way to short-circuit the case before it ever gets to that point.Related Tags: Abdul Rahman, State Department, Afghanistan, military
Conservatives in this country have been admirably willing to accept the compromises and frustrations that come with President Bush's attempts to reform recalcitrant parts of the world. The judicial murder of a Christian convert by a government that exists only on the basis of American power and good will, however, would be intolerable.
