Officials: Schoolgirls, teachers sick from poison gas
Dozens of schoolgirls and teachers were sickened Wednesday by poison gas in Afghanistan, medical and government officials said.
The latest incident, this one at a high school, is the ninth such case involving the poisoning of schoolgirls, said Asif Nang, spokesman for the nation's education ministry.
Dr. Kabir Amiri said 59 students and 14 teachers were brought to the hospital, and were faring better.
"We don't have good equipment to verify the kind of gas that they were poisoned with, but we have taken their blood tests to send to Turkmenistan for verifying the type of gas" that was used, Amiri said.
Many Afghan girls were not allowed to attend school during the Taliban's rule from 1996 to 2001. Girls' schools began reopening after the Islamist regime was toppled. The United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, estimates that 2 million Afghan girls attend school these days.
But female educational facilities, students and teachers have come under vicious attack as the insurgency has strengthened and spread from Taliban strongholds in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand.
A report compiled last year by the humanitarian agency CARE documented 670 education-related attacks in 2008, including murder and arson. Much of the violence in what CARE called an "alarming trend" occurred at girls' schools.
June: Another suspected poisoning at girls schoolÂ
May: What caused illness in girls school?
April: Taliban suspected of sickening students
CNN's Matiullah Mati contributed to this report.
Another excuse to keep us in Afghanistan,but nobody will tell us that the real reason we're there is because of those "rcently discovered" minerals.
You got that right,Bledsoe.Thank you.
Swizzlesticks, thanks to Crusades and thanks to Reconquista we had chance to live free of islam – free – untill now....
where are the crusadors when we need them!!!
Better the Crusaders of the Middle Ages than today's NATO.At least the Crusaders were motivated by their religion whereas NATO is by it's hunger for wealth!
Thanks to Islam for brining us the golden age and taught us about medicine, astronomy, mathmatics while the rest of us were in the dark ages.
Very true,t.
For those who want to support women in Afghanistan, learn about RAWA – the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. I learned about RAWA years ago during the time of Taliban rule. At that time, RAWA was an underground association of women who risked their lives to educate girls in hidden rooms. Their leader Meena was murdered, but their work continued at great risk to the women involved. I have been contributing money to RAWA every month for many years. A small amount of money (I contribute $25 each month) can achieve a great deal in Afghanistan. RAWA runs orphanages, schools, medical clinics and much more. Their primary goal is to help women and girls there, as this story shows is still badly needed.
If the Taliban is allowed to take control again, then women will go back to having NO rights. None. To basically living in the Dark Ages. During Taliban rule, women were not allowed to work or be educated (same for younger girls), but many women were widows because their husbands had been killed in the war with Russia. Yet they were not allowed to work to support their families and many starved. They were not allowed to go outside without a male relative as an escort; I read about one woman whose child was very ill and she risked going outside to try to get medical help and was shot by the Taliban. For being unescorted. Women were beaten if they were caught wearing nail polish or makeup, listening to music, reading books (other than the Koran) ... many women, including those who had been educated and lived normal lives before the Taliban took over, resorted to drinking poison to kill themselves. Most Americans do not know the extent of the radical craziness of the Taliban and how they view women. Girls as young as 9 were married off to much older men to be their second or third wife. On and on.
If you want to help Afghan women and can afford to contribute even $10 monthly to RAWA, your money will be used well. Go to their website, www[dot]rawa[dot]org and click on "how to help us" and then on "how to send donations" on the left.
For those wanting to learn more about how women are treated in many Muslim nations, an excellent book is "Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World" by the journalist Jan Goodwin (newly updated). Ms. Goodwin traveled to many Muslim countries and interviewed women and Islamic clerics and you will not believe what she writes. It will break your heart.
"Education is the enemy of the taliban.."
An article in "Atlantic" pointed out that the Taliban are, for the most part illiterate country people – kind of like the red states in America.
The Religion Of Peace strikes again, first it was a bombing in Iraq, and now the poisoning of little girls in Afgan. No one can survive against "The Religion of Peace".
Wow, those Taliban are some tough hombres, aren't they? I heard they also knock down little old ladies, and steal candy from babies!!
too bad they're not man enough to stand up and fight our troops, or we'd be done over there already!
Are they really any less manly than those filthy butchers who operate those ungodly drones slaughtering both civilians and "militants" alike? That is what nobody in Washington wants to talk about!!!
Here is what will happen: eventually the occupying forces will lose resolve and leave. It has been cyclical in this region for millenia (Macedonians, Parthians, Moguls, British Empire, Soviets, etc., and now the UN). The regressive traditionalists will fill the power vacuum (the Taliban is simply the most current manifestation of that social faction). They will kill everyone who tried to change things, including women, children, teachers and those with a western education (unless they are good at cultivating poppies or making weapons/bombs). It isn't unique to muslim countries – remember the Khmer Rouge? There is simply no solution.
The Taliban does not want women to become educated because they already know that knowledge is power and they fear that more than anything. They know that thy can control ignorance but what if they woke up one day to find there were no women in their country. The irony is that it would be like a slow working poison to the country. It would take 50 or 60 years but eventually there would be no occupants left in Afghanistan for the Taliban to kill or controll because there would be no more births. I think the Taliban are not very smart.
GAS!!! This is defined as a WMD. Why is Chemical/Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) not on top of this. Being a former CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL AND NUCLEAR DEFENSE Marine I know what its like to be gassed and my heart goes out to all these people who are affected by this.
Did you know - "Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night (unless you are rich), put a GPS device on the bottom of your car" and track you without a warrant. --- So, all the rights Americans have died for are slowly being taken away.
The Taliban guys have done a few bad things sure.
But do we really need to send troops over there just because they mount a poison gas attack on a school for girls?
The women of Afghanistan should be able to get along fine without US involvement. If we were not over there now there would not even be girl's' schools to attack.
This is appalling. Being a woman in an area ruled by the Taliban is in no way "getting along fine." One can argue pros and cons to the US being in Afghanistan, but one thing is clear: The Taliban treats women like crap.
I'm sorry to have to say this, but there are some people that are just not worth saving. They cannot and will not get out of their own way. They just let people ride roughshod over them and are not willing to put up a fight. The U.S. cannot fight everyone's battles and someday these people are going to have to take the bull by the horns and do it themselves. If I was a woman in Afghanistan I would do everything in my power to either fight the enemy or leave the country to a bunch of losers anyway.
Women with an education would reject Islamic oppression – very dangerous and we should encourage and support it at all costs.
Islam at it's best. Conservative, moderate Muslims really need to start speaking out against these radical, extremist elements if they truly want us to believe that Muslims want peace. No other religion currently on the face of the earth has this kind of radical element.
Very sad...
Still despite all that it is not up to the U.S to be the one stop police force. We have school districts going bankrupt and the US is being left behind by other countries. So, no we shouldn't be in the middle east because it isn't our place to tell others how to live. This is why 911 happened mr mccarthy. We have spent the last 60 years telling others how to live. Finally, someone got tired of it and gave us a bloody nose.
Most here will change their tune when they get large tax increases in the next couple of years. It is simple mathematics and even the republicans will have no choice. This train was set into motion long before Obamacare came into being. 10 years of trillion dollar deficits will do that to a country.
The muslim word needs to deal with its own radical elements. We can't take care of others when we can't even take care of our own. End of discussion and debate.
There are reasons for all things that come to pass. The Source is far more than the Dogma we create to interpret. Every individual has their path and can only live their own. But we are less separate when we see ourselves in all people and things. And in so treat them as us. Duality will always be left for to reach Divine. This -That , Yes -No , Up -Down , Left -Right , Only....IS WAS WILL BE. If you can't find what you need inside how is it that you can find to have it different outside. Know Thyself.
Say it again Ahnold – deese Taliban are girlie men
Religion in general is delusional and in its more virulent forms, deadly. Children are brainwashed to believe it and then those who manage to break free of its medieval bonds are persecuted by the most fanatical adherents. If there was a God he would cleanse the Earth of these evil cretins.
Please keep in mind that it is not Islam that is the enemy. Religion is a very personal and motivating issue that can be used to incite people. The terrorist use it for that reason. It is the terrorists that are the problem. Don't say that Islam is the problem. There are many reasonble and humane and logical Muslims. They are not the enemy. The terrorists are the enemy. Don't make the good Muslims mad at us by discrediting their religion. Keep focused on the frickin terrorists.
I don't know whether the problem is with the media underreporting opposition to the terrorist acts of the Taliban, or the good Muslims just don't get how the terrorists make the entire religion look evil. However, here in Detroit I see very little criticism of terrorist acts by the enormous Muslim community and it speaks volumes.
The West will not be able to clean out this mess. The more they try, the bigger the mess.
It's up to Muslims to end this. If they don't feel motivated to do so, that is how they should be judged. They will only bring their own end.
Clear out in a responsible way (don't leave a vacuum gap) and wish them luck.
Of course they are gassing these little girls, trying to kill them. How ELSE would you get the required amount of virgins for all of those martyrs??
To All Humans, This is a reality check.
If you are doing activities, or supporting activities that violate these common sense rules, perhaps you need to step back and regroup:
1) Treat other's as you wish to be treated
2) Treat yourself with respect
3) Treat the Earth with respect, it is our only home
So simple yet many religions, cults, governments, personal activities, etc. go 180 from this direction.
Let's review these obvious statements:
1) God does not want you to kill others for his glory. He doesn't need it.
2) To God, we are less significant than a bacteria on a piece of meat.
3) Beware of false prophets, especially the humans that are telling you who the real prophets are!
4) Religion is used mostly to keep the current power structure, not to relieve pain and suffering in the world.
5) Ask yourself, would God be jealous of anyone or thing? If so, why the need to inflict fear and control?
6) Your way is not good enough to cause suffering in others. The ends do not justify the means.
it seems that the american public gets fed a lot of bulls$$t just weeks ago a write up in cnn said that the taliban are not terrorists and that the usa does not hate taliban insurgents, to-day cnn tells us that the taliban poisoned these girls and teachers, that alquada was the enemy, is thier anyone in the usa that can distinquish between a taliban, a islamist, a alquaida, a afghan goverment official just exactly which one is the enemy and which one do the usa support, are you sure your supporting the proper people? harming those school girls and teacher,s is a serious situation that we do not appreciate, not at all
Lovely culture you got going there. Welcome back to the Dark Ages.
YES the Taliban are useless and evil and should be wiped out. They are in no way shape or form Muslim. Islam does not teach violence. Educating girls is KEY to change the world not only in the middle east but in poverty stricken countries in Africa. Girls are the future and these crazy threatened men know that.
These acts are counter productive to what these guys are trying to accomplish, The more they commit these acts the stronger the resolve will be to remove them, Same thing with targeting US interests. All they are doing is strengthening neo-conservative policies in the free world and facilitating fascismn to take root and an grow in power. Not only will the american citizenry suffer for it, but the whole world will soon find itself under seige, They will come and take muslim land as a permanent annex. They will force others under their military might and use their powerbase to manipulate others to conform. Your Jihad will not make the world a better place. It will only help to doom it. Divinity rejects all who set the teachings of men in high esteem and do not seek the understanding that comes from the Virtues that define His Holiness. Your failure shall be your own.
Strange but this is the same policy Republican's and others use to keep their power – deprive U.S. citizens a good education and good healthcare. Keep them ignorant and in fear.
There is no difference – It's just more wasted potential. When are we all going to wise up and demand more for ourselves?
Actually, it's the liberals who are acting like the American Taliban–setting up phony "Tea Party" groups to siphon off votes, breaking in to the San Diego County RNC office and stealing laptops, trying to curtail freedom of speech by limiting right wing talk radio. The list goes on and on. The party responsible for continuous 10%+ unemployment and policies the American public doesn't support needs to be stopped before they do more damage to the county.
As opposed to what Bush did? Have you lost all sense of reality, son? How do you even justify your beliefs? It must cause such internal conflict that the brain just freezes up and stops to ask why. Forgets logic, simple rules of life and turns to hate. Please review WWII to see just what propaganda, hate, etc. does for the world. Don't let people train you to hate.
The only people trying to curb the freedom of speech in this country are the right-wing fanatics and you know that already! Especially the Tea Partiers.Tell me,did somebody pay you to blog all that right-wing mumbo-jumbo under my name?I guess you won't tell me that,will you?
It was the Bushies that destroyed the economy Joe- turned the largest economic growth in 35 years, the largest fiscal SURPLUS in HISTORY and turned it into the largest deficit ever, all the while allowing Osama bin Laden (remember him?!) to run free and continue to threaten this country.
The real tragedy here is that the Communists didn't win 30 years ago,otherwise this wouldn't be going on today!
Joe,you said it all! Thank you.
and who helped the m drive the russians out, enter mr reagan
Will stop with that right-wing mumbo-jumbo,paul? It gets awfully old and how!
When are you right-wing nutjobs going to stop vomiting your ignorance and just shut up???It gets very old and disgusting!
I am a Muslim and the acts that the Taliban are doing are against Islam. Please don’t lump everyone because of the acts of barbaric, ignorant individuals who have twisted the religion of Islam for their own personal gains. I completely abhor the behavior of the Taliban and radicals because it goes against the teachings of Islam. Islam says that women have a right to an education and if anyone attempts to stop her then she has the right to go to the government or whoever is in charge to ensure that she gets an education.
Don’t think that this is the normal practice in the Middle East, it is not. Millions of women go to school and college and receive university degrees, however there is still a lot of work to get more girls to go to school and many of the issues are cultural and not religious. In the 70’s Afghanistan at one point had more women doctors then the U.S. and it was still a Muslim country, unfortunately war and radical extremist took over and destroyed it.
For those who just like to post comments about Islam being evil, please inform yourself of facts, and don’t lump all of Islam based on actions of repressive groups like the Taliban or al-Qaeda. We need to stop budding heads and instead work together to fight extremism that denies the rights of any individual.
So is there anything in your religious text that says if I don't believe your faith then I am OK ? I'll tell you up front that I don't belong to any religion, not even atheism, so I have absolutely no pre-conceptions what so ever so don't even try to reflect it back to Christian's having the same hangup (which they do and is one reason I am not one of them).
Hi Ken, yes there is. The following verses in the Quran are meant to say that each person can worship whatever they want.
"I worship not that which ye worship; Nor worship ye that which I worship. And I shall not worship that which ye worship. Nor will ye worship that which I worship. Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion"
Ken – despite your erroneous implication "I don't belong to any religion, not even atheism," atheism is not a religion. It is the absence of religion. Think of it this way: atheism is the absence of religion just as baldness is the absence of hair.
To state that atheism is a religion is similar to claiming that baldness is a hair color.
Fair enough. What we all want to know is: what are you all doing about the problem? If you do nothing, others are going to try. It's up to Muslims.
Actually you are right, but there needs to be more. As a pure reglious outsider (and the unique view it gives me) all sides need to work on this, It's not just a Muslim problem it's a people (human) one.
There is alot of work happening in the middle east by Muslim organizations as well as non-Muslims organiztions. Queen Rania of Jordan is leading a very good effort to get more girls educated. There is also work to try to offer a better alternative to youth who are easily radicalized. But again, there still needs to be alot of work, governments in the ME are corrupt and dysfunctional which slows down progress and which creates radical groups who then use religion to gain supporters feeding off the lack of rights or needs that the governments cant or won't supply. This is why it needs a combined effort.
Very refreshing to read your post. I believe that most Americans, including myself, see a real hesitancy for Mainstream Muslims to condemn extremists behavior. I think if there was more visible outrage to this and other stories from the Islamic Community, the Mosque in Manhatten would be just another building project. Every religion has zealots which can give the entire faith a bad name, but where Islam gets roughed up is their perceived tolerance of terrorism. At least thats how I see it. Thank you for a rational outlook and point of view.
two reasons for the preceived tolerance. 1- corrupt gevermnet fearing retaliation. 2- the media here will not report about a muslim group saying no to radicale muslim, but will report all day long if a muslim group attacked a cartonest for makeing fun of prophet Mohamed. it's what sells
Peace, I totally agree. I wish some group, even though its not politically correct, would round up all the Taliban and dispose of them permanently. These monsters destroyed Afhanistan once and are attempting to do it again. It would be different if they could be reasoned with, but they are blind to reason and logic. The only option is see is for the people of Afganistan to rise up and destroy them once and for all, because if the people don't fight back, the Taliban will win. The people of Afganistan strong minded people, they drove out the soviets, they could drive out the Taliban if they really tried.
One major difference between the Russians and the Taliban: the Russians were everyone's enemy from outside, the Taliban are homegrown...next-door neighbors and familiar faces to everyone. They have the ability to target and harm you and your family specifically if they so desire. The Russians (and any other outsider as the U.S.) were instead the easy targets.
Agreed, though, the Taliban cannot be rooted out by any other than the locals, and probably not without outside help...just as the British could not be driven out of America except by the U.S. Patriots, with critical help from the French.
This gives me more resolve that our military NEEDS to be in Afganistan. Providing a possitive influence to expand education to girls and women is crutial. If the US and NATO military leaves, the Taliban take over and girls get shut out of education again. For me, it's that simple.
Another excuse to be in Afghanistan just like the right-wing thugs in Washington want!
Riiiiiiight. It's just an excuse. 9/11 never happened. Liberals are phunny.
Right, so we can leave these girls to be mutilated, abused and stoned to death is that what you want? Or, better yet we can just send human rights groups there since they've done such a wonderful job over the past 20 years..
Nearly always, mass "gas attacks" where no one is seriously injured and there are no objective abnormalities are mass hysteria. Seems pretty surprising no one has pointed this out in the stories.
Apparently you have never seen the body's,
I just wish they could get all the Taliban together and wipe them all out. They're are useless, evil creatures that simply need to be gone. I could have sworn the Koran said something about not murdering innocent people, but the Taliban is so evil it turns the words around in order to pretend its okay to murder women and children. There's no excuse for attacking children, even if they are the feared female variety.
Look people a girl is learning math...... what's that mean ? witch ! Wall in the region, pull out all outside technology. Pull out all the forces. Give these people a cultural "time out". Let them live like cavemen and see how they do with nothing but what they can make on their own. At least until they join our century.
I hope the Afghan people realize – one day – that the only way to stop these fascist butchers is to FIGHT BACK.
Are you talking about the Americans or the Taliban ?
That's right, don't educate the women, so this way they don't realize how ignorant their men are.
Just goes to show that the Taliban is scared of girls. Smart girls that grow up to be smart women and will refuse to take the same old shizang that is. Women that are Islamic live in a almost slavery like society, especially in countries like Afghanistan. Ok, lots of slaves had more rights then most Islamic women. If I was a women, I would be all for Nuking them back to the stone age. As a man, I'm all for "Daisy Cuttering" them back to the stone age.
Theocracies can NOT exist in an intelligent atmosphere. Now, 'intelligence' is relative. Nazi Germany was a theocracy and we didn't consider the German people to be uneducated.
In this case, intelligence is exhibited by the willingness and courage to ask the question, "Why?"
The Taliban and their mullahs can NOT survive in an atmosphere where women are asking 'Why?'. It's why they insist the woman remain paces behind when walking.
If Ishtar says 'I want that new gun.' she's not close enough to ask 'Why? We can't feed our children now .....and you want a new toy?......so you can go out and get killed?..........and then I have to figure out how to feed our kids without you?................Are you NUTS? '.
Or, 'Great! You'll be a martyr and have 70 virgins.....(you can't even handle me. what are you going to do with 70?)......meanwhile your brother treats me like the new ride at Coney Island. Why?'
Meh
I have to chuckle at some of the comments... Bledsoe, go back under the rock. Better yet, move to Afghanistan. Verify for yourself whether or not it happened. MaryM, I firmly agree with your view. My son is presently stationed in or around Kabul. They have been told they can only fire on the enemy if they have no other way to get away. These orders have come from Washington. A place were conflict is being on the opposite side of the bill from your collegue. If we continue on our present course, and do not send as many Taliban to greet Allah as we can, human rights violations will be there forever. My son tells me the Afghan Army is reluctant to fight against the Taliban because the Taliban is better equipped. Our Military is not a police force, release the troops to do what they are trained to do... kill the enemy.
Thank you!
Thank your son for his service!
My husband is also military (Army), and is getting ready to go to Afghanistan.
My heart goes out to these women. As human beings we should be helping them. As a nation we should be helping them.
It is not the Muslim religion that is doing this, it is extremists. Zealots are within any society.
Let the military do their jobs, and stop tying their hands behind their backs. If we tell the military to go in, take care of the enemy and you can come home, believe me, they will! If we continue to force them to side-step through the job it will never be accomplished.
Just my opinion.
Margaret
thankfully here in the USA the fundamentalist christians and extreme right know they couldn't get away with this sort of thing, if not for the separation of church and state and the rule of law and a federal presence this sort of thing would happen here because there are elements of the extreme christian right that applaud this
You are mentally ill–seriously.
While it is true that ultra-conservative Christians also believe in the severe subjugation of females, I doubt that most of them would stoop to gassing them to make their point. sanjosemike
Go back a few hundred years and it was common practice to stone them and burn them at the stake in the name of Christianity. Go back a little over 30 years ago, it was commonly accepted even in the Christian religion to beat your rebellious wife. I do not agree with Islam or the Muslim religion, but neither will I condemn it because of the practices of its members. As I pointed out Christianity has it's own share of skeletons and fanatics. The fact is all organized religion should be taken with a grain of salt. Organized Religions have become self serving elitist group, controlled more by profit and power than devotion. Religion is supposed to be about the worship of a deity and promoting that deity through the works and teachings of the church. Not the my religion or die mentality, nor the my religion of burn in HE Double Hockey Sticks mentality
Do you know where the expression "rule of thumb" came from?
It meant that a man was permitted to beat his wife with an instrument only if it was no larger than the width of his thumb. He "rules" her, which is a part of the traditional Christian faith, even if there are some Christian men out there that don't practice it.
Yeah, only burned as witches.
Please read our history.
And you think that was okay??
Totally agree. Without even a little bit of doubt, they would if they could....even today.
Even disagreeing vehemently that it's ever a good thing for someone to be wrongfully attacked and injured, your assertion is entirely faulthy.
It wasn't educated Afghanistan women who were 'breeding Taliban' babies. It's the lack of them that's the problem.
In any situation, it's the uneducated you most need to worry about.. including our own nation.
At least they wont breed TERROR BABIES. By keeping population down over there....we USA people can populate world and get some more dominance. We is educated over here. Keep up great work Talliwackers..... CNN please dont report this stuff it only sets off the liberals to save them. Thanks......
Maverick,
I have to quote you. "We is educated"
Oh yes you are highly educated in the USA.
Way to go john McCain !(Maverick hahaha)
We does gots us some good learning.
We is so durn edjubacated that we don't know nothin bout no grammer, and don't care none bout it neither.
Classy post, btw. I like how you manage to bash liberalism despite the issue at hand being Taliban members hurting children. Could you please tell me exactly how liberalism comes into play here? Are you claiming the Taliban is liberal? That would be the best laugh I have had all day, maybe even this month.
Maybe if, we USA people, would learn to speak our own language correctly, we wouldn't sound like such ignorant morons when we are trying to make a point.
This is not only a morally bankrupt atrocious act against humanity and God, but it is a long-term disservice to the nation.
Afghanistan once had extremely high numbers of highly educated women serving in healthcare roles, physicians, research analysts and similar medically essential positions.
It is a long-term disservice to any nation to displace or restrict their best professionals and to waste half of their human capital.
This is the "peaceful" religion that the libtards defend. I do not understand why women's rights groups are not up in arms against Islam. Wait, yes I do. Islam kills its critics, Christianity prays for theirs. This is so sad.
Clearly your version of praticed Christianity is far better as demonstrated by your respect and ability to live cooperatively and productively with your fellow citizens. Actually your rhetoric and demonization of those you disagree with while asserting their opinions for them is very Taliban-like behavior.
Boy, you said a whold lotta words without saying a thing. Great 8th grad logic and use of a 6th grade thesaurus,
Greg Hargrave:
Sounds like you need the short version:
"Practice what you preach."
Christians who bash other faiths for lack of tolerance might want to give this a try.
Artemis are we suppose to pray for the Taliban to become more tolerant and peaceful as their religion calls them to be? And all the while they blow themselves up with many others and force young women to marry men they do not want and when they leave them they stone them to death for adultery along with all the other atrocities they do! Do we as Christians ignore these kinds of actions?
The neo-cons were so dumb to attack Iraq – the only country in the region that had educated women lawyers and doctors and of course, women were allowed to drive. None of that is possible in Afganistan or in our best buddy the Saudi Kingdom.
Veggie-I don't know what you're talking about. Iraq had the highest rate of educated women BEFORE the Iran/Iraq war. Saddam was pressured by other M.E. countries to get away from secularism and he did. Education declined after that (esp since open travel to the US for school was no longer allowed). Also, I doubt the Kurds that were gassed, the Christians that were systematically targeted and the Yzidis who were hunted down would agree that entering Iraq was a bad idea.
Rick, the Taliban takes Islam and perverts it. Fundamentalism of any kind - whether Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu or any religion - is a distortion of that faith. Your quote "Islam kills its critics, Christianity prays for theirs." shows that you look at life in absolutes. Life is far from that, but you're comfortable in your misinformed little world.
It only goes to further prove my point. Religion of ANY kind is utter stupidity.
islam doesnt kill people just like chistian religion dont kill abortion doctors. crazy people that use religion kill people. these people r weak minded and evil and religion is the perfect tool to use when u want to justify crazy actions. there different type of muslims. i just learned this a year ago. when i heard some of the practices they do i was shocked. but just like any other religion they take rituals form where they live and incorporate it into the religion. so dont take what a group of nutjobs do and put it on islam or muslims.
mary, can you please list here how many abortion doctors got killed by christians (you can probably count them on one hand) and make a wild guess how many milion people were killed by muslims... to help you get to the closest million i list here just few occasions –
– between 1000 AD and 1500 AD 80 million hindus massacred by muslims
– 1915 1.5 million armenians massacred by turkish muslims
– 1971 3 million bengalis massacred in Bangladesh by muslims
– 1982 20000 massacred palestinians by syrian muslims
– 1980 to 1990 30000 massacred political prisoners by iranian muslims
– 1992 to 1998 100000 people massacred by algerian muslims
– 1990s 40000 massacred serbs by muslims
– 2001 3000 murdered americans at WTC by muslims
– and the list goes on and on and on, Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, Kashmir, Philipnes....
Hey Igor, go check out the crusades, the inquisitions, even the reformations – Christians have been more than willing to murder anyone... including Christians for not practicing the right kind of Christianity, or not practicing the right kind well enough. Perhaps, as someone looking out for the Christian people, you should be railing against Christianity for all of those they have killed. And if you have ever heard of the Crusades? I think, just maybe, a few Muslims were killed for being Muslim.
The point is, if you want to rack up a body count, both Islam and Christianity are covered in blood. So get off your high horse.
I have to agree with Igor ... I'm not saying Muslims are the cause, but it's weird how they are always at the scene of the crime. And Swizzlesticks ... get some new data. The Crusades were hundreds of years ago. What are Christians doing now? For the most part, travelling the world mopping the human suffering left behind by Muslims.
Christians out there who think their faith's hands are clean haven't kept up with recent history. Protestants and Catholics were fighting in Ireland quite violently for a couple hundred years until within the past decade or so. Not to mention the Pope ignoring the Nazi's behaviors in the 30's nd 40's (after all, the Nazis were focused on the Jews), and I'm fairly certain close to 9 million died including the collateral civillian deaths.
Artemis – the millions who died at the hands of Nazi Germany were not killed under the banner of Christianity. Hitler was an athiest. As for Ireland ... you can't possibly compare the numbers killed by Musllims in the last century. Please....
@VancouverMom
Christan German killing Jews, Catholics and Protestants killing seach other in Irleand, thousends of muslims killed by jews in palestine . all this withen the last few years, some still happining.
@vancouvermom
I don't know where you went to college, but you should ask for you money back. Hitler was not an atheist. Hitler was a devout christian. He killed atheists right along with the jews. A cursory study of the rise and fall of Nazi Germany shows that Hitler was a religous christian zealot who abhored atheism and as well as anything non christian. He believed he was doing Gods work by killing atheists, jews and anyone else who was not a white christian. Try reading before you speak on a subject. It makes you sound a lot less dumb.
"I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so." Hitler 1941
"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter." Hitler 1922
"By its decision to carry out the political and moral cleansing of our public life, the Government is creating and securing the conditions for a really deep and inner religious life. The advantages for the individual which may be derived from compromises with atheistic organizations do not compare in any way with the consequences which are visible in the destruction of our common religious and ethical values. The national Government sees in both Christian denominations the most important factor for the maintenance of our society" Hitler 1933
Christain has incorectly labeled Hitler an atheist because they don't want to have to reconcile the fact that he hijacked thier faith and used it to kill millions of innocent people. There are people living today who were somehow furtunate enough to survive christianity's most recent purging of non believers. Muslims extremist would need another century to rack up a body count anywhere close to what that right wing christian extremist Hitler has done; and it was done in very recent history.
Joe, it's vitally important to conservatives that Hitler was an atheist. They have set up websites preaching that Hitler, whose troops marched with Catholic chaplains, was an atheist. If you tell them different they will just use hate words.
For those who follow Jesus keep on the trail and for those who wish to put down those who follow Jesus may God have mercy on them!
religion = cults... ALL OF THEM!
Even Rastafarianism?
Seriously, I agree with you for the most part.
Rick, you are a complete tool if you cannot seperate the masses who follow a religion from the few extremists who pervert that religion to further their rediculous pursuit of power. Can you not see that 2 million girls are going to school – all 2 million of which are most likely muslim? Can you not understand that their muslim families would have to let them go to school? Are you just a simpleton that cannot discern anything past "Islam=bad?" Or is it that you willfully choose to hate an entire religion based on the actions of a few? If so, then you are not a simpleton, but a disgusting, worthless, drain on humanity as a whole.
Obviously not every one of them is a suicidal jihadist but neither is everyone a 'moderate' as you would like to believe. Islam seems to be the be-all and end-all for a large number of muslims and as long as that is the case, this whole 'peaceful coexistence' thing will remain a pipe dream especially if one takes everything written in a 6th century book literally and believes it to be the 'only way'. Not wanting to offend people when it comes to religion & saying things like all religions/their followers are the same etc., in the name of 'upholding american values', is not going to solve anything – it just leads to politically correct white noise.
I thought I had heard somewhere thet "The Taliban has been eradicated from the face of the earth". Who was it that made that claim...? Oh yes, George W. Bush!
tell me where did you read in the koran, that women can not go to school. this is more of cave man trible thinking than an islamic teaching. go to any other muslim country and you will see women in school, i'm a muslim and my 2 sisters graduated for university in a muslim country, and the US was not there to help them do it.
correct you are, this is a small facton that want shai law enforced, and a particular brand of that teaching
So, should I try to hide from my Muslim friends; oh, oh, the dates that Dr. K gave me last week - could they be poisoned? There are fanatics everywhere - remember the crusades; remember Bloody Mary (Queen Mary, daughter of Henry VIII and the Infanta of Spain - Katherine of Aragon)? One must separate the fanatics from the other, peace loving Muslims.
"libtard" You are no better than the Taliban.
"Islam kills its critics, Christianity prays for theirs. This is so sad." Forgiving your enemies is the hardest thing God asks of Christians, but you aren't a Christian if you hate people. The fact that you think it is sad proves what bin Laden has been saying all along: most Christians don't practice Christianity and would be happier as Muslims. Posts like yours make the mullahs happy and encourage the radicals to keep making us angry enough to "lose our religion."
Against Islam? What has that got to do with uneducated, oppressive fundamentalists? The Taliban are utterly atrocious people but nonetheless you are making this about religion not the wrongs being committed by a group of fanatics who are USING religion to control and ruin an entire country of people.
Wrong. Those of us who bother to inform ourselves, and base our opinions on fact, will defend members of the modern versions of Islam that predominate among the 1 billion+ Muslims worldwide. You are being blinded by media specials on the extremist strains of Islam. Don't become part of the angry mob. You are no better than the Taliban if you do.
To try to keep females in ignorance and kill the female teachers the girls have is pure evil. The Taliban is one group that needs to be hunted down non-stop until as many as possible are killed. Keeping anyone in ignorance is evil.
Now that women and girls are being given an equal chance in the free world, we are seeing what women can do. I think the males that are doing this are very afraid that if these girls were able to get an education, these girls would show them that there is a superior gender and it certainly is NOT the MALE gender.
Boasting superiority is what started this mess. I'd recommend we go for equal opportunity and leave the egos at the door.
The Taliban's mother's should be ashamed for raising such barbaric sons. Afghan women...the ultimate solution is to refuse to produce children with these Taliban fanatics!!
I don't think they have a choice about reproducing. They don't have a choice on a lot of things. Our soldiers are there to help them find their voice. It's a shame so many Americans want to give up and leave these people suffering.
Actually, I think the solution is to educate the women . . . and then arm them. But the question is, where are the rest of the Islamic nations in helping these women out? The U.S. isn't responsible for the creation of Islam, and while we may have stoked the fire, Islam, a lot like Christianity and Judaism before it, always needs an enemy in order to define itself, be that enemy without or, in the case of these little girls, within. Islam needs to moderate itself. We're fighting a losing battle if we keep trying to "save" these women on our own.
Islam (itself) is the true enemy of all females. sanjosemike
The Russians were there for the same purpose,MaryM.But under Mikhail Gorbachev,they simply gave up in the end.
The russians were there to gain a trade route for their Oil we're there to create democratic nations in the mid-east.
Um excuse me MaryM. I certainly do NOT want my son dying for this race of people. And he is a soldier. Very easy to sit back in a safe country and say such BS> go over to iraq and afghanistan yourself and then come back and say such a lame comment about americans giving up on these pathetic races.
I thought we were trying to get Osama bin Laden- you know, the guy who made 9-11 happen. Wasn't THAT supposed to be the "Goal"?
Seeing as how the US trained and funded the same people who would become the Taliban, one could say that the US is a parent.
These men responsible are so weak and pathetic as men, that they are threatened by a girl getting an education? Doesn't say much for them. Who would want one for a husband? No wonder they are forced to marry. Poor things. This just makes these men look even more ignorant. Poisoning school girls make you look foolish... NOT macho or respectable. That's my conservative opinion. My gut opinion is that these men are lower and dirtier than pigs.
That's why pigs are an anathema to them!
So, they think it's better to gas little girls than to let them get an education? Do they feel that threatened by their women making the most of their intelligence?
Yes, they certainly do. Pathetic.
I can't wait for these girls to earn their educations and topple the Taliban.
That would be poetic justice!!!
The Afghan Communists already tried that 30 years ago.
No matter how well-educated they are, they will never stand up for themselves. Look at the whole world. Do you see the ERA passed in the US? No. Because women will allow anything at all to happen to them before they will even politely ask for it to stop. It is absolutely hopeless to think that it will EVER change.
You hit the nail right on the head. A brief treatment of just what the problem is at Apageinthelife "The Real Issues...zzzz"
I thought I had been told that "The Taliban have been eradicated from the face of the earth". Where did I hear that from? Oh yes, George W. Bush! mission Accomplished, right?!
YES!
This just goes to show the mentality of these people. They're gassing little girls to keep them from getting an education. How pathetic.
Education is the enemy of the taliban...not the US. They know that if women learn how repressive the male dominated Islamist/Facist rule would be, they will resist....and they are very afraid. It's obvious.
Actually, (non-Islamic) education is the enemy of Islam. sanjosemike
I'd go so far as to say that education is the enemy of all would be oppressors. The more people learn, the less they're going to let people keep them down.
I hope this doesn't discourage girls in Afghanistan from going to school, everyone in that country needs to get an education in order for it to develop/become a better place.
When did you decide that,whoever you are?
The Taliban men are afraid of everyone even their own people. They are afraid they will become extinct because no one believes in them any more.
Education is the proper treatment for any religious fanaticism, Christian or Muslim. Note all the conservatives in this country who want to get rid of the federal Department of Education.
Quite right,MaryM. That's the very reason these same people fought the Russians so many years ago.
These aren't the same people. The Taliban were created in the 90's in Pakistan.
Joe – please seek mental heath help, get some friends, or shoot the bull with the 7-11 cashier, noticed you are answering your own questions.
Hi Joseph, this is a longshot for me, have you ever lived in Walnut Creek, California? If so, we know each other well.
As I said, this is just a longshot, since I try desperately to find a long lost friend.
So, if you are the one, please e-mail me, thanks....E.L.
"Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night (unless you are rich), put a GPS device on the bottom of your car" and track you without a warrant. --- So, all the rights Americans have died for are slowly being taken away.
The courts struck this down a while ago. Any evidence gleaned from something like this isn't admissible in court so it's useless.
So very unfortunate because what your saying is so very true, which is so very sad. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! Thanks for your post.
Actually BenR the courts upheld it last week. It is still alive and well moving through the legal system and hopefully the Supreme Court will make a ruling on it in the next couple of years.
@MaryM
The problem with your comment MaryM is that you are only seeing this type of report from Afghanistan and are completely oblivious and deliberately being kept in the dark about the very same thing happening on a much larger scale right here in the good ol' USA. Read the Maxie Time diary start at airfreshener411.blogspot.com UFO Human Link 'what's in a can of air freshener'
Guest you are as sick as the Taliban if not one of them!
Run and tell that wikileaks!
why not trying to give the Taliban a taste of their own medicine. put poison gas in their suspected camps, this kind of animals don't deserved to lived in this civilized world..
wouldn't be too sure, probably the cans have lables that say Waxie Time, Spring Time, Time Mist, something to do with Time Air Freshener and they are written in English complete with CAS numbers of the ingredients; one day we'll know– if the reporters can get the news past their editors.
They're trying to kill them without maiming them. Apparently there's a shortage of virgins for the martyrs in heaven so the Taliban are trying to play catch up.
Oh, I don't think the Taliban would mind one bit maiming them, as well as every woman the planet. However, the phrase 'barefoot and pregnant' didn't exactly originate in the Middle East, not is it contained to that region of the world.
No excuse to be Clueless at your age; this type of gassing has been going on in our own country for decades! You just choose to remain blind to it or the government does a fairly good job of making sure the stories to become news. Here we call it 'sick building syndrome' 'ADD' and other choice Euphamisms that typically endid with '-osis' airfreshener411
that differant, that effects evryone ,what we are taking about is a targeted attack for one sole perpose.
This is exactly why we should setup camps all over the country to train women how to shoot, and give them all M-16's as we leave. Either that or just help every women and girls escape, thus limiting the Taliban to just one generation.