Aside from the obvious absurdity, this issue could become a political hot potato for Hamid Karzai, since the sentence for such a crime is death--and Karzai must sign the execution order. Understandably, he's not saying anything yet.
Before babbling into the politics of this matter I'd be remiss by not pointing out this man's incredible courage. How many would face death to maintain a religious belief? Not sure I would be up to the challenge, even though I can easily say "yes" from the safety of my armchair. His dilemma reminds me of the early Christians who were mockingly thrown into the arena to face the lions. It's also more proof Islam has not moved very far out of the eighth century.
But as to politics, this could get nasty if it remains on the front burner. If the case comes to Karzai and he succombs to the pressure from his own constituency to sign the death warrant, he will face an international firestorm from human rights and religious freedom advocates. Refusing to sign would place his own political future into jeopardy.
Even further than that, if Karzai signs and the man is killed, what does Bush say? He's a self-professed born again Christian. If his comment is akin to, 'say la vie, we can't control their democracy' the religious right in America might once-and-for all fold their Bush tents and go home.
If he's vocal against the execution he risks alienating the same Muslim countries he's trying to schmooze to help him in the GWoT. We need only remember the cartoon riots, Koran in the kommode, and Abu Ghraib stories and Paris riots to understand how the Muslim street tends to react to such stuff.
With those eventualities looming, it wouldn't be totally surprising if something 'happens' to this man before things actually happen, if you catch my drift. I certainly hope not, because my wish is for him to become a point of light within the heart of Islam--a beacon in support of religious freedom, if you will. He could change the world.
CUT HIM TO PIECES 3/21/06
Michelle Malkin continues to lead the charge on this. A knee-jerk solution might be to find a way to remove this man from Afghanistan, but it certainly wouldn't solve the problem. Mr. President, now's the time to lead.
MORE 3/21
AP photo from CNN. Is this the best picture they had of Mr. Rahman? I'm trying hard not to see an agenda in everything the MSM does, but the thought crossed my mind they might be using this picture intentionally.
5 comments:
This will be interesting to watch. You might be interested in this, "Who's running our embassy anyway?". It's about the U.S. Embasy in Egypt. Apparently Americans are not running the day-to-day operations, Egyptians are. They are refusing to allow Coptic Christians Visas.
"in a recent meeting organized by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), top State Department officials were told that these employees, who conduct prescreening interviews and translations, appear to have unusual influence over a process that is supposed to be controlled by Americans."
So WHY are these folks having anything to do with this??? Again because we don't have enough translators. Sad.
Sorry, I forgot the link:
http://righttruth.typepad.com/right_truth/2006/02/index.html
This is a heartbreaker of a story. And Debbie, you're right. The State Department drops a lot of balls, unfortunately, but has to because of their precarious position overseas (and this happens even in friendly countries).
Oops, forgot my URL:
http://rudycarrera.com/wp
Prosecutors will soon be filing charges that the man was caught breathing muslim air.
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