Speak loudly and wave your little stick around

The brilliant, prolific, and aptly-named Steven den Beste, commander of the USS Clueless, shares his wisdom on Arab rhetoric....

.... Does it mean that the Arab nations would actually get involved militarily against us if we attack Iraq? After all, they're also quoted as declaring allegiance to Iraq.

No, it doesn't. It means jack shit....

What we're seeing here is a major cultural difference between Arabs and we'uns out West. Talking big and making grandiose threats is normal. Remember "mother of all battles"? Remember all the other things Saddam promised us before the Gulf War, and how almost none of them actually happened? It's because the traditional way of war among Arabs is to wave your sword in the air and scream really loudly and make boasts about how dangerous you are and how many men you've killed, in hopes of scaring the crap out of your opponent so he'll run without you having to fight him. They do the same thing internationally, only they're running up against Teddy Roosevelt's America, speaking softly and carrying a big stick. In 1991 the stick turned out to be really huge, and the Iraqi army was squashed like bug under it. What they're afraid of is that it's gotten even bigger, and this time it won't just be the Iraqi government which gets squashed.

To paraphrase what I said yesterday, they're a pack of untrustworthy, autocratic, freedom-hating liars.   

Rasheed Abou-Alsamh: A year after Sept. 11, and what has changed

ArabNews.com presents a truly mixed bag, but sometimes they come through with a gem. I just hope that Mr. Abou-Alsamh's dissention doesn't prompt someone to make an example of him....

The governments of many Muslim countries are squarely to blame for this sad state of affairs. For decades now they have looked the other way or even given money to extremists within our societies, allowing them to spread their message of hate and intolerance. Don't say hello to non-Muslims, shun them and never befriend them. This has been the message of extremists for far too long. How is the Muslim world supposed to interact with the rest of the world, be they Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist, if they are told to hate them first?

We must all learn how to be citizens of the world, as comfortable in a mosque in Cairo as we are in a cathedral in Manila or a Jewish temple in New York City. I am not saying that Muslims should give up on their religion, what I am saying is that we should learn all we can about other religions and cultures. This assimilation of foreign ideas and customs is what once made the Islamic civilization so great. What would have happened if centuries ago retrogrades had rejected the study of ancient Greek thought? Would Islam and Europe never have emerged from the Dark Ages?

  

How We Won the War. Recently, in an elaborate war game, the American fleet confidently steamed off to war in the Persian Gulf and promptly got creamed. By Nicholas D. Kristof. [New York Times: Opinion]