The UN, US and Iraq IV

OK ... I'll try this ... They brought the fight to us in Beirut in the 60's, and in Munich and Iran in the '70s, and again in Beirut in the 80s, and in Lockerbee, and in Mogadishu, and in Yemen, and in Kuwait, and in New York, and in Istanbul, and .... well, that's the whole point you miss. Its war, its been underway for a generation, and it has become far more difficult, and dangerous, to ignore.

In my opinion, Al-Qaeda has become a franchise.

Until we get rid of the thorn in the Muslim side -- the occupation of Israel, which has become a powerful symbol of everything they hate about the western world -- the terror will continue, fed by anger-mongering schools in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

Timber is right in that education, a degree of economic prosperity, and more secular governments will help raise a generation that has a more enlightened view

Gautam wrote:

I just spoke to my friends in Istanbul - thankfully, they and their families are okay. I am sad beyond words right now. Istanbul and Turkish people are such a lovely place/race.

Look what you have done to our world Mr Bush and Mr Blair

Sorry, I'm usually on your side, but how on heaven's name is what is probably an Al-Qaeda attack in Istanbul the result of B+B's actions?

Now my heart is truly in pieces nimh doesnt like me anymore !!

But the PLO, Al-Qaeda and the Somalian warlords are hardly one and the same kind

Textbooks take a short cut through history
By Jack Fairweather
(Filed: 21/11/2003)


American administrators have purged the history textbooks of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, but instead of rewriting the country's past they chose to leave it out.

Large swathes of the 20th century have been cut out of the school books, with the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority anxious to avoid imposing a victor's version of events.

The result is that the new textbook will arrive in Iraq's 16,000 schools this month only half its former size.

As well as references to the former leader being removed, so too have potentially controversial subjects such as the Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf war, and all mentions of America, Kurds and Israelis.

"We have been told by the Americans that Iraq's history is a very sensitive topic and it would be better to deal with it later," said Fuad Hussein, the Iraqi in charge of the curriculum for the education ministry.

"We need to have a consensus across the whole of Iraqi society about how to talk about our past."

The cuts reflect the political challenges faced by the CPA as it rebuilds Iraq's schools, retrains its teachers and rewrites textbooks.

US administrators want Iraqis to write their own history, but do not want anti-American or radical religious propaganda - which they fear might be popular in the current climate - in the classroom.

"The Iraqis need time to write a history for the country which won't be discriminatory as it was under the former regime," a CPA spokesman said.

Plans to establish an educational committee to oversee the writing of a history syllabus for schools will take two or three years, Mr Hussein said.

But Huda Shahed Yousiph, who is studying to be a history teacher, said: "If the Americans write our history they will put in only good things about themselves. If that's the case I won't follow the book because the Americans destroyed us. That's what I'll teach."

Walter, perhaps I didn't use the term correctly; however, I still find it somewhat ironic (although right-on) that they toppled Bush as the statue of Saddam had been toppled earlier.

nimh wrote:

But the PLO, Al-Qaeda and the Somalian warlords are hardly one and the same kind

Neither were Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, nor Tojo's Japan. Or, for that matter, Stalin's Russia, Mao's China, or Kim the Elder's Korea.

I copy and paste this interesting report from ther British conservative daily Telegraph, since you have to register to view that online:

Quote:

Textbooks take a short cut through history
By Jack Fairweather
(Filed: 21/11/2003)