Ramadan should be kept out of the US...for now

Submitted by jason smith (United States), Mar 29, 2006 at 15:53

Mr. Pipes has written that, "He is Islamist royalty – his maternal grandfather, Hasan al-Banna, founded the Muslim Brotherhood, probably the single most powerful Islamist institution of the twentieth century, in Egypt in 1928. Tariq is a Swiss citizen because his father, Sa‘id Ramadan, also a leading Islamist, fled from Egypt in 1954 following a crackdown on the brotherhood. Sa‘id reached Geneva in 1958, where Tariq was born in 1962."

Doesn't this already paint a picture that suggests that Ramadan is connected with Islamists and holds their beliefs as well? However, as Ramadan has suggested in public on many occasions, he does not believe in the same types of idealogies which his grandfather or father might have held. He campaigns for the moratorium on coroporal punishment until a greater consensus can be reached among Muslims, and regularly states how Muslims should respect Jews and treat them as if they were Muslims too.

From there, Mr. Pipes also states numerous times when various intellgence sources suggest that Ramadan has been in contact with people who are terrorists.

Both accusations might be accurate, and I even agree that perhaps Americans don't want to run any risks so they have not allowed Ramadan into the country. However, we can see all sorts of instances where these same types of behavior are evident in our own leaders.

Examples: Our great leader, dubya, has a long family history of interesting ties to all sorts of people. For one, his grandfathers were both involved with financial actions which led to the creation of ghettos in Germany in 1930s, the exacerbation of the Nazi political party, the creation of Auschwitz, the invasion of Poland, and almost half of the military-industrial complex that built the Nazi German military. Dubya himself then is not allied to these things, but his is the same case as Ramadan.

As for the second count, I believe our own military probably engages in some type of negotiating with people whom the American public would consider criminals. For example, when in Iraq recently the military began talks with the al-Sadr guy, whom we have heard is a big terrorist. So if terrorists can become peaceful, or useful because they are really the enemies of your enemies, then perhaps Mr. Ramadan as well, has been involved in situations where he arranged meetings between people in the interest of working problems out, but has done so in a way that appears to be "commiserating" with criminals.

I don't know, it's just a thought for you Mr. Pipes....

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