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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (222022)	3/2/2007 7:12:00 AM
From: jttmab	Respond to of 281500

Neither "senseless" nor "just" - just a tactic that makes good sense if you have absolutely no regard for human life. Like dumping 10s of thousands of cluster bombs right before a cease fire? jttmab

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (222022)	3/2/2007 7:45:59 AM
From: SARMAN	Respond to of 281500

Why should we see it as senseless, when Zarqawi laid the strategy out clearly: Murder Shiites in large numbers until they were goaded into a civil war. Neither "senseless" nor "just" - just a tactic that makes good sense if you have absolutely no regard for human life. I wonder where did he learn his tactics from.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (222022)	3/2/2007 12:04:08 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Looking forward to your answer to Message 23333659

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (222022)	3/2/2007 12:13:00 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

FYI - Jews under Islam With the victory of Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711, the lives of the Sephardim changed dramatically. In spite of the stigma attached to being dhimmis (non-Muslim members of monotheistic faiths), the coming of the Moors was by-and-large welcomed by the Jews of Iberia. Both Muslim and Christian sources tell us that Jews provided valuable aid to the invaders. Once captured, the defense of Cordoba was left in the hands of Jews, and Granada, Malaga, Seville, and Toledo were left to a mixed army of Jews and Moors. Although in some towns Jews may have been helpful to Muslim success, they were of limited impact overall. The claims of the fall of Iberia as being due in large part to Jewish perfidy are no doubt exaggerated. In spite of the restrictions placed upon the Jews as dhimmis, life under Muslim rule was one of great opportunity, and Jews flourished in comparison to that under prior Christian Visigoths, as testified by the influx of Jews from abroad. To Jews throughout the Christian and Muslim worlds, Iberia was seen as a land of tolerance and opportunity. Following initial Arab victories, and especially with the establishment of Umayyad rule by Abd al-Rahman I in 755, the native Jewish community was joined by Jews from the rest of Europe, as well as from Arab lands, from Morocco to Babylon. Thus the Sephardim found themselves enriched culturally, intellectually, and religiously by the commingling of diverse Jewish traditions. Arabic culture, of course, also made a lasting impact on Sephardic cultural development. General re-evaluation of scripture was prompted by Muslim anti-Jewish polemics and the spread of rationalism, as well as the anti-Rabbanite polemics of Karaite sectarianism (which was inspired by various Muslim schismatic movements). Not only were the cultural and intellectual achievements of the Arabs made available to the educated Jew, but much of the scientific and philosophical speculation of Ancient Greek culture, which had been best preserved by Arab scholars, were as well. The meticulous regard which the Arabs had for grammar and style also had the effect of stimulating an interest among Jews in philological matters in general. Arabic came to be the main language of Sephardic science, philosophy, and everyday business, as had been the case with Babylonian geonim. This thorough adoption of the Arabic language also greatly facilitated the assimilation of Jews into Moorish culture, and Jewish activity in a variety of professions, including medicine, commerce, finance, and agriculture increased. By the ninth century, some members of the Sephardic community felt confident enough to take part in proselytizing amongst Christians. Most famous were the heated correspondences sent between Bodo Eleazar, a former deacon who had converted to Judaism in 838, and the converso Bishop of Córdoba Paulus Albarus. Each man, using such epithets as "wretched compiler," tried to convince the other to return to his former faith, to no avail. The Golden Age is most closely identified with the reign of Abd al-Rahman III (882-942), the first independent Caliph of Cordoba, and in particular with the career of his Jewish councilor, Hasdai ibn Shaprut (882-942). Within this context of cultural patronage, studies in Hebrew, literature, and linguistics flourished. Hasdai benefitted world Jewry not only indirectly by creating a favorable environment for scholarly pursuits within Iberia, but also by using his influence to intervene on behalf of foreign Jews: in his letter to Byzantine Princess Helena, he requested protection for the Jews under Byzantine rule, attesting to the fair treatment of the Christians of al-Andalus, and perhaps indicating that such was contingent on the treatment of Jews abroad. en.wikipedia.org