Could Helmand be the Dubai of Afghanistan?

This post: "Stupid headline of the day: Could Helman…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

Responding to reports from Sky News, the Guardian newspaper and the BBC of a developing humanitarian crisis in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, a mixture of Labour, Liberal Democrat and independent members of parliament have supported an Early Day Motion that accuses US forces of involvement in a human rights atrocity.

Last week’s report from the BBC’s World Affairs Editor John Simpson was picked up by news outlets worldwide. While the report did not make a causal link between the use of uranium weapons and the subsequent rise in birth defects, it made clear that Iraqi medical staff suspect that the US’s use of toxic materials in its weapons is a possible cause of the health problems.

The story triggered a swift response from the US military, whose spokesperson claimed that they took claims about health problems “very seriously” but added: “No studies to date have indicated environmental issues resulting in specific health issues.” At no point did they deny using uranium weapons there. However, and in spite of several Freedom of Information requests, the US military is still refusng to disclose how much DU was fired in Fallujah, just as it is refusing to disclose how much was fired elsewhere in the country and where it was used. Unsurprisingly this makes it almost impossible to study whether these health problems are linked to uranium weapon exposure.

I saw John Simpson’s report on a BBC World programme hosted by Nik Gowing a few weeks ago. It was quite bizarre: Gowing spent the entire 5-7 minute slot trying to get Simpson to agree that the US wasn’t to blame. Simpson refused to get involved and simply discussed what he had seen and reported.

This post: "MPs put through Early Day Motion on Amer…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

The recent arrests of senior Taliban leaders in Pakistan may have disrupted secret talks between members of the group and UN representatives, the former head of the UN mission in Afghanistan has said.

Kai Eide, who stepped down from the post earlier this month, confirmed on Friday in an interview with the BBC World Service that the UN had been holding talks with Taliban leaders since the spring of 2009.

But he said the face-to-face talks held in Dubai and other locations were halted several weeks ago after more than a dozen Taliban members were captured in Pakistan.

“The effect of (the arrests), in total, certainly, was negative on our possibilities to continue the political process that we saw as so necessary at that particular juncture,” he said.

This post: "Kai Ede, the former head of UN mission i…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

Viewed as a moderate Muslim who has encouraged dialogue with Western countries, el-Tayeb has outwardly criticized hard-line Islamists, saying the focus on rituals and outward manifestations of piety — such as Islamic garb or beards — comes at the expense of true spiritual development.

This post: "New Sheikh of Al-Azhar Viewed as a moder…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

Actually I think analyses like these are pointless exercises in exegesis. There isn’t any defensive value to such a “tu quoque” approach and it just gives total jafis like Andrew Bostom another chance to spout their nonsense.

This post: "Holy Amnesia: Is the Bible more violent …" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

The bunker busters wouldn’t really be useful for Israel against the Palestinians… but Iran is another matter.

This post: "The Obama Administration has diverted a …" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

This post: "CNN has released clips of an audio messa…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

This post: "" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

This post: "from Floating Sheep: geographies of reli…" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/

This post: "I’ve never been big on national pride, …" was originally posted at Talk Islam - a crescent waxing eloquent. The RSS feed may not be used at other sites without permission. You can subscribe to this RSS feed for Talk Islam at http://talkislam.info/feed/