Ten Theses

A friend emailed a link to this article today, "German Buys 3 Pages of NY Times to Explain War to Americans."  I read the article and followed the link to the website where there is this:

Jürgen Todenhöfer has summed up what he has learned through his reading and on his travels in 10 theses. These are not scientific theses, but a completely personal view of the situation. He has attempted to appreciate the events of the last 200 years in the Middle East from the viewpoint of a Muslim for once, and not from the perspective of a Westerner.

I have been reading these theses much of the evening.  The theses are summarized at this link, with a breakout of each.

There is a distinctly foul odor in my nostrils just considering that in order to get this information before the US public, he has to purchase ad space in one of our national newspapers. Jürgen Todenhöfer is the kind of person whose message should be a part of balanced reporting.  Here's his short bio.

Dr. Jürgen Todenhöfer (67) has been an executive at a major European media group for over 20 years. Before that he was a member of the German parliament for 18 years and spokesman for the CDU/CSU on development and arms control. He has written two bestseller about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. With the proceeds. he established a children‘s home in Afghanistan and is building a children‘s clinic in Congo. With the royalties from Why Do You Kill, Zaid? Todenhöfer will finance medical aid for heavily injured Iraqi refugee children (IOM) and an Israeli-Palestinian reconciliationproject in the Middle East (MEET)

I don't need to add my weak words to the eloquence of Dr. Jürgen Todenhöfer's theses.

1.  The West is much more violent than the Muslim world.  Millions of Arab civvilians have been killed since colonialism began.

2.  Faced with the warmongering of the West, it is really not surprising that support for Muslim extremists continues to grow.

3.  Terrorists in Islamic disguise are murderers.  The same holds true for the ringleaders disguised as Christians who wage wars of aggression in contravention of international law.

 

4.  Muslims were and are at least as tolerant as Jews and Christians.

5.  Love of God and love of one's neighbors are the central commandments not only in the Bible but also in the Qur'anj,

6.  Western policies towards the Muslim world suffer from a shocking ignorance of even the simplest facts.

7.  The West must rreat the Muslim world just as fairly as it treats Israel.  Muslims are worth as much as Jews and Christians.

8.  The Muslims must champion a progressive and tolerant Islam, as did their prophet Muhammad.  They must strip terrorism of its religious mask.

9.  Nothing fosters terrorism more than the West's "war on terror."  Muslim countries must resolve their problems with radical Islamism themselves.

10. What is needed now is the art of statesmanship, not the art of war - in the Iran conflict, the Iraq conflict, and the Palestine conflict.

I believe these to be a fair set of theses.  Reading the expansion of each one, available at the link, provides depth and understanding.  I recommend them all.