Fighting during Ramadan....
"Will the Arab street hate us for fighting in Afghanistan during Ramadan? Sure -- but they will hate us for not fighting too. The cry about the sanctity of Ramadan is the dishonest mouth-warfare of the inflamed. Mohammed fought during Ramadan in 624. In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel during Ramadan, which also coincided with Yom
Kippur -- a twofer. In 1982, Iran launched 'Operation Ramadan,' an attack on Iraq. If one is willing to take lives in battle, then the cause must be of sufficient gravity to excuse relatively trivial profanations; or one has no good cause, in which case fighting on
holidays only underlines the transgression. If the enemy turns mosques into arsenals, then they become legitimate targets, for the same reason. In World War II, the Allies fought a pitched battle for the Abbey of Monte Cassino, which was reduced to rubble. The Nazis lost then, even as their heirs will lose now, whatever the calendar says."
--National Review |
