Mani (Mainstream) [walking away from Mosque]: Well, Modi, what did you think of the speaker today? Very powerful, eh?
Radi (Radical): Yeah! He really crushed the idea of the surge doing any good. He absolutely stomped on the surge! I bet he even convinced Modi. That reminds me, Modi is springing for lunch today.
Modi (Moderate): I agree that he was a very powerful speaker. His images and his rhetoric stunned the crowd and brought them to their feet many times shouting God is Great! However, forceful speech and colorful images do not equal the truth. There should have been some truth somewhere in what he was talking about, but there wasn’t.
Mani: How can you say that? He is the best speaker we have seen here in a long time.
Modi: Now listen closely. I did not say he was not a good speaker. I said there was no truth in anything he said. He made no reference to anything tangible. For example, he said, “Our fighters have been able to withstand every new weapon and technique the enemies have thrown at them and still came back for more.” What new weapons have come into Iraq? I have seen some new weapons coming in for us from Iran and the Americans had to strengthen their vehicles to compensate. We also received some new automatic weapons from Iran, which they probably received from China.
Radi: Are you trying to say the speaker was a liar?
Modi: In a word, yes. If anybody has been using new stuff, we are the ones. You might say that the Americans are the ones able to withstand every new weapon and technique we have thrown at them.
Mani: I do not know about you. You have just spoiled the man’s entire speech for me. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Modi: Why do you guys always fall for the same propaganda? You know that some of these Friday afternoons are a giant pep rally to tell you how good we are and how evil America is. When the speaker spices it up a little with recycled tales of how the Prophet fooled the Meccans, only this time about how our sneaky little people spent the entire night rigging a bomb to go off by way of a cell phone once an unwary coalition vehicle passed nearby. To makes things worse, it doesn't matter how many of our people are also nearby.
Radi: Our people are heroes for taking American lives. They gladly give their own.
Modi: Heroes do not go around at night setting explosive devices to kill people that came to help you get rid of a tyrant and set up your own government. Heroes do not murder ten of their own people to get one coalition soldier.
Mani: The American troops are better equipped than we are. We have to use alternative methods to kill them.
Modi: Look, Mani. The Americans have no intention of killing us. Why can't you understand that? Look! If no one fires a shot at them or blows up a truck, their patrols are as peaceful as a religious procession—probably quieter too.
Radi: He is insulting us again. I have had enough. He will bite my blade.
Modi: I do not want to belabor the point, but last week, Mani, when your old car broke down in the middle of the road, an American patrol had just turned the corner.
Mani: Yes, I know. I was in fear of my life.
Radi: If I were with you, we could have martyred ourselves together, Mani, and killed many.
Modi: [Shakes his head in disgust] Those American soldiers never looked at you as an enemy, Mani. Moreover, that young kid that walked over and watched what you were doing was really interested in helping you. He showed you the distributor wire had popped out. He also waited until you restarted the car before he looked satisfied and rejoined his waiting buddies.
Mani: He just wanted to show me up to make me look foolish.
Modi: You did not need him to look foolish. And if he did not come along, your car would still be there and you would really look foolish. Mani, I saw you nod a “Shukran” (thank you) to the young fellow and I saw him smile before he moved on. You are not fooling me. If it were not for all these stupid people filling your head with nonsense, you would like the Americans.
Mani: Don’t you dare say that. [looks around] Are you trying to get me killed?
Rafi: I do not see a particularly good point in all of this talk.
Modi: Try this on for size. Look at the people on any given day as the American patrols saunter down our streets. Do all the men run and hide? Do the women all run out, and gather up their children from play and hide them? Do the children run away from the Americans, or run to them to say hello, and perhaps wrangle some gum or a candy bar or something? Perhaps one might say everything goes on as usual? And seeing Americans does not strike fear in our hearts?
Mani and Radi say nothing.
Modi: Now let me ask you this: if our real brave fighters wanted to throw in some RPGs, or mortars, or machinegun fire to kill the Americans, who aren’t really bothering anyone, would the fact that our children are milling around the Americans make any difference to the fighters? I take it from your silence you know I am right.
Let me ask you another question. If our brave fighters could manage to slip homicide vests on some of our kids and then detonate those vests as soon as the Americans were near, do you suppose that they would think twice about doing it?
Radi: Of course not. The children then become martyrs of Islam.
Modi: They have no right to make martyrs of children. They have no right to put women, children, and old folks at risk because of their notion about how the world should be. Just who do they think they are?
Radi: We are the rightful rulers of this planet!
Modi: Oh yeah? Did Allah die and leave you boss?
Radi: You know it is in our scriptures. Everything belongs to Allah and we are his chosen people. We are to fight and kill everyone who stands in our way.
Mani: Radi is right, Modi. You can’t get out of that one.
Modi: If Radi were right, Allah would not have allowed America to become the greatest country in the world. Saudi Arabia and others have great oil fields and lots of money, but where are they? They are still fighting amongst themselves. Where would the Saudis be today without America’s protection? We had one of the greatest of empires once—half the world—and corruption, along with stupidity, made it a laughing stock until it finally crumbled.
Mani: Are you trying to say we must quit the jihad?
Modi: Jihad, my foot! We are not engaged in jihad, these are stupid little games of defiance and denial. Look, our children are our future and you are killing them—you are killing our future! What is left when the children are gone?
Mani: I think Modi might have something there about the children, Radi. What do you think?
Radi: I know I am going to kill him, but not until after lunch. He's buying.
Mani: Radi, you are impossible--and a cheapskate.
HJS
Radi (Radical): Yeah! He really crushed the idea of the surge doing any good. He absolutely stomped on the surge! I bet he even convinced Modi. That reminds me, Modi is springing for lunch today.
Modi (Moderate): I agree that he was a very powerful speaker. His images and his rhetoric stunned the crowd and brought them to their feet many times shouting God is Great! However, forceful speech and colorful images do not equal the truth. There should have been some truth somewhere in what he was talking about, but there wasn’t.
Mani: How can you say that? He is the best speaker we have seen here in a long time.
Modi: Now listen closely. I did not say he was not a good speaker. I said there was no truth in anything he said. He made no reference to anything tangible. For example, he said, “Our fighters have been able to withstand every new weapon and technique the enemies have thrown at them and still came back for more.” What new weapons have come into Iraq? I have seen some new weapons coming in for us from Iran and the Americans had to strengthen their vehicles to compensate. We also received some new automatic weapons from Iran, which they probably received from China.
Radi: Are you trying to say the speaker was a liar?
Modi: In a word, yes. If anybody has been using new stuff, we are the ones. You might say that the Americans are the ones able to withstand every new weapon and technique we have thrown at them.
Mani: I do not know about you. You have just spoiled the man’s entire speech for me. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Modi: Why do you guys always fall for the same propaganda? You know that some of these Friday afternoons are a giant pep rally to tell you how good we are and how evil America is. When the speaker spices it up a little with recycled tales of how the Prophet fooled the Meccans, only this time about how our sneaky little people spent the entire night rigging a bomb to go off by way of a cell phone once an unwary coalition vehicle passed nearby. To makes things worse, it doesn't matter how many of our people are also nearby.
Radi: Our people are heroes for taking American lives. They gladly give their own.
Modi: Heroes do not go around at night setting explosive devices to kill people that came to help you get rid of a tyrant and set up your own government. Heroes do not murder ten of their own people to get one coalition soldier.
Mani: The American troops are better equipped than we are. We have to use alternative methods to kill them.
Modi: Look, Mani. The Americans have no intention of killing us. Why can't you understand that? Look! If no one fires a shot at them or blows up a truck, their patrols are as peaceful as a religious procession—probably quieter too.
Radi: He is insulting us again. I have had enough. He will bite my blade.
Modi: I do not want to belabor the point, but last week, Mani, when your old car broke down in the middle of the road, an American patrol had just turned the corner.
Mani: Yes, I know. I was in fear of my life.
Radi: If I were with you, we could have martyred ourselves together, Mani, and killed many.
Modi: [Shakes his head in disgust] Those American soldiers never looked at you as an enemy, Mani. Moreover, that young kid that walked over and watched what you were doing was really interested in helping you. He showed you the distributor wire had popped out. He also waited until you restarted the car before he looked satisfied and rejoined his waiting buddies.
Mani: He just wanted to show me up to make me look foolish.
Modi: You did not need him to look foolish. And if he did not come along, your car would still be there and you would really look foolish. Mani, I saw you nod a “Shukran” (thank you) to the young fellow and I saw him smile before he moved on. You are not fooling me. If it were not for all these stupid people filling your head with nonsense, you would like the Americans.
Mani: Don’t you dare say that. [looks around] Are you trying to get me killed?
Rafi: I do not see a particularly good point in all of this talk.
Modi: Try this on for size. Look at the people on any given day as the American patrols saunter down our streets. Do all the men run and hide? Do the women all run out, and gather up their children from play and hide them? Do the children run away from the Americans, or run to them to say hello, and perhaps wrangle some gum or a candy bar or something? Perhaps one might say everything goes on as usual? And seeing Americans does not strike fear in our hearts?
Mani and Radi say nothing.
Modi: Now let me ask you this: if our real brave fighters wanted to throw in some RPGs, or mortars, or machinegun fire to kill the Americans, who aren’t really bothering anyone, would the fact that our children are milling around the Americans make any difference to the fighters? I take it from your silence you know I am right.
Let me ask you another question. If our brave fighters could manage to slip homicide vests on some of our kids and then detonate those vests as soon as the Americans were near, do you suppose that they would think twice about doing it?
Radi: Of course not. The children then become martyrs of Islam.
Modi: They have no right to make martyrs of children. They have no right to put women, children, and old folks at risk because of their notion about how the world should be. Just who do they think they are?
Radi: We are the rightful rulers of this planet!
Modi: Oh yeah? Did Allah die and leave you boss?
Radi: You know it is in our scriptures. Everything belongs to Allah and we are his chosen people. We are to fight and kill everyone who stands in our way.
Mani: Radi is right, Modi. You can’t get out of that one.
Modi: If Radi were right, Allah would not have allowed America to become the greatest country in the world. Saudi Arabia and others have great oil fields and lots of money, but where are they? They are still fighting amongst themselves. Where would the Saudis be today without America’s protection? We had one of the greatest of empires once—half the world—and corruption, along with stupidity, made it a laughing stock until it finally crumbled.
Mani: Are you trying to say we must quit the jihad?
Modi: Jihad, my foot! We are not engaged in jihad, these are stupid little games of defiance and denial. Look, our children are our future and you are killing them—you are killing our future! What is left when the children are gone?
Mani: I think Modi might have something there about the children, Radi. What do you think?
Radi: I know I am going to kill him, but not until after lunch. He's buying.
Mani: Radi, you are impossible--and a cheapskate.
HJS
No comments:
Post a Comment