Current Events

MM Jan

I don't know all the people on NIAC. However I do not like Reza Aslan. I think he is too much of a Muslim and not enough Iranian. He seems far more interested in promoting Islam than interests of Iran. I really prefer NIAC to pick people based on their devotion to Iran and not Islam.

VPK Jaan You Should because No one can escape the past

Or Accountability for that matter because Human History for better or for worse is built on Blood spilled be them innocent or not !

There is No Rosey Picture in History and NO ONE comes out Smelling Sweet Like Rose !

Everyone and Everything including Democracies and Democrats have a dark chapter in their lives because Humanity is Not Perfect. If it were we would all be Saints the way  individuals like MOOS or Ahmadinejad Hypocritically claim the world should be forgetting to look in front of their very own doorsteps ! 

For after all every thing which is taking place in the 21st Century is Connected to the past and global History one way or another for better of for worse.

When our President demands Reparations during WWII or organizes a Holocaust Conference to deny it's existence all in an attempt to create a New World Order based on an alternative view of the World and it's values then you cannot simply dismiss these debates in the light of what we have learned from history.

I don't claim I have all the answers nor that my understanding of History if better or more accurate than that of Moose or Ahmadinejad but I claim that I do not draw the same lessons in the light of what I know including through my personal family history on the dark reality of WW2 as well as the history of my own country.

May I remind you that it is Ahmadinejad who brought all this into focus in the first place.

I don't blame him. It is an excellent tool for diversion from the current problems inflicting our country and the middle East in general.

And it is not surprising that Abbas Milani early On was subject to attacks by a future NIAC members like Hamid Dabashi or SF Chronichle Journalist Edwin Black on the question of the Holocaust Revisionism where these individuals wrongly blamed the Pahlavis :

iranian.com: Abbas Milani, Iran, Jews and the Holocaust: An answer to Mr. Black 

Other recommended Readings:

Iranian Diaspora Intelligentsia Unite Against Islamic Republic's Holocaust Revisionism by Darius KADIVAR

Documents on Iranians Saving Jews During WWII (Iranian.com)

Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews by Houman SARSHAR (amazon.com)  

DK - what do you think of others on NIAC boards, enclosed?

Reza Firouzbakht, Chairman (bio)

Dokhi Fassihian, Secretary (bio)

Ali Fatemi Ph.D, Treasurer (bio)

Mahshid Akhavan (bio)

Michael Amin (bio)

Baha Hariri (bio)

Mac Hashemian (bio)

Hossein Hosseini Ph.D (bio)

Gita Kashani (bio)

Paymaun Lotfi MD (bio)

Genevieve Lynch (bio)

Mohammad Navab Ph.D (bio)

Karim Pakravan Ph.D (bio)

Forough Parvizian-Yazdani DDS (bio)

Narimon Safavi (bio)

Farhad Talebian MD (bio)

Nora Valenzuela (bio)

The Honorable Thomas Pickering, former Under Secretary of State (bio)

The Honorable Wayne Gilchrest (bio)

The Honorable Jim Moody (bio)

Reza Aslan, Author (bio)

Professor Mehrzad Boroujerdi (bio)

Professor Juan Cole (bio)

Professor Farideh Farhi (bio)

Maz Jobrani (bio)

Professor Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak (bio)

Dr. Habib Ladjevardi (bio)

Professor Scott Lucas (bio)

Cyrus Mehri (bio)

Alex Patico (bio)

Professor R.K. Ramazani (bio)

Professor Ahmad Sadri (bio)

And Who is Glenn Greenwald ? Definitively Not an Authority on WC

Greenwald was born on March 6, 1967, in New York City, where he still lives part of the year.[1][13] He earned a B.A. from George Washington University in 1990 and a J.D. from New York University Law School in 1994.[1] During law school, he worked as an intern and Summer Associate at the New York law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and after graduation, he practiced law in the Litigation Department at Wachtell, Lipton (1994–1995); in 1996 he co-founded his own litigation firm, called Greenwald Christoph & Holland (later renamed Greenwald Christoph PC), where he litigated cases concerning issues of U.S. constitutional law and civil rights.[1][13]

One of Greenwald's most notable First Amendment clients was Matthew Hale, a leader of the organization formerly known as the World Church of the Creator and now known as theCreativity Movement, who, on April 6, 2005, was sentenced to a 40-year prison term for soliciting an undercover FBI informant to kill federal judge Joan Lefkow[14] and incarcerated in theUnited States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado.[15] Although he "represented Hale and his organization in several civil cases" and was not involved in Hale's criminal defense case, after the subsequent killing of Judge Lefkow's mother and husband while Hale was incarcerated for the earlier conviction, Greenwald was enlisted by Hale's mother, Evelyn Hutcheson, to deliver a purportedly "encoded message" from the imprisoned Hale to one of his supporters on the outside; but, despite believing that Hale had been wrongfully convicted and uninvolved in the more recent murders, Greenwald declined to do so ...

More Here:

//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Greenwald

So ? How was he any different from Most Europeans at the Time ?

Who claimed Churchill was a Saint ? Since when did Sainthood define Greatness ? Ghandi happened to be both and he is an exception in the history of mankind ...

Churchill was a man of the 19th Century with all the prejudices of his time due to his upbringing. He did not choose that upbringing ... It was imposed on him like everyone of his generation.

He was young and inexperienced about life like any young man serving in the Army and as Such had to share the same opinions as his Superiors and act accordingly: 

Excerpt from the Movie "Young Winston" (1972)

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztQ9dvBY-OM

The Alternative would have been to Desert !

Are you claiming he should have Deserted because in your 21st Century Mentality Churchill should have joined a peace loving Crowd like on a WoodStock Concert in NY instead ?  

He participated in the Colonial Wars As Any Soldier of his generation Would ...

But He did not invent the British Colonial Empire Did he ? It was imposed on him far before he was even born.

You or anyone else would have done if you were in the Persian Army at the time of Cyrus the Great or anyother dynasty conquering in the name of your own country or people's Interests.  

It is not an Upbringing that defines a man but his Actions !

As Such Churchill's Actions including in Times of War were Honorable. There is no tangible evidence as to what this article claims ...

And Greenwald from Salon.com of all Sources ... 

N'importe Quoi ! 

I don't care about Churchill

I don't care about Churchill or Clark or the Pope. I care about Iran. Reality is that Islam has brought nothing but misery for Iran and us. Nothing any of these "good folk" did makes any difference in the damage Islam has done. So forget about Churchill and the Pope. Remember Babak Khoraamdin and Ferdowsi and Yazdgird. Remember how well the Parsis did who are just like us except they are not dragged down by Islam. Remember how well Iranian diaspora are doing free of the yoke of Islam and then decide for yourselves what is good.

Got to keep our minds focused! Right to what is good for us.

You are Absolutely Right MM Jaan ;0)

I Am completely prejudiced against NIAC !

And BOY do I have Good Reasons to be So !

LOST IN TRANSLATION: NIAC Welcomes Hamid Dabashi on Advisory Board

LOL 

What does NIAC have to do with this blog called...

Should Americans Fear Islam?

Sorry DK, I do not get your point except that you may be completely prejudiced against NIAC and do not miss a chance to degrade them.  On the other hand, if anyone says 'baalaay-e chechmet abroost" to the royals, you burst a fuse. 

For You And George Galloway Likeminds Maybe ...

Thanks Moos Jaan maybe Now you can Try and Bring up Your Own Personal Logical Assessment in defending your Doh Geroony Argument before  trying to upgrade mine with your Revisionist Historical diatribe ... 

Here is More to Feed Your Hatred of the British: 

GALLOWAY's REPUBLIC: George Galloway on the Decline of the British Monarchy

Noosheh Jaan ...

I'd Rather Stick to Mine :

ROYAL RHINOPLASTY: Stephen Fry On The Imperfections of the Monarchy and Why It Should Be Preserved

the two faces of churchill

//www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/...

Churchill was born in 1874 into a Britain that was coloring the map imperial pink, at the cost of washing distant nations blood-red. He was told a simple story: the superior white man was conquering the primitive dark-skinned natives, and bringing them the benefits of civilization.
As soon as he could, Churchill charged off to take his part in “a lot of jolly little wars against barbarous peoples.” In the Swat valley, now part of Pakistan, he experienced, fleetingly, an instant of doubt. He realized that the local population was fighting back because of “the presence of British troops in lands the local people considered their own,” just as Britain would if she were invaded. But Churchill soon suppressed this thought, deciding instead that they were merely deranged jihadists whose violence was explained by a “strong aboriginal propensity to kill.”
He gladly took part in raids that laid waste to whole valleys, writing: “We proceeded systematically, village by village, and we destroyed the houses, filled up the wells, blew down the towers, cut down the shady trees, burned the crops and broke the reservoirs in punitive devastation.” He then sped off to help reconquer the Sudan, where he bragged that he personally shot at least three “savages.”
The young Churchill charged through imperial atrocities, defending each in turn. When the first concentration camps were built in South Africa, he said they produced “the minimum of suffering” possible. At least 115,000 people were swept into them and 14,000 died, but he wrote only of his “irritation that kaffirs should be allowed to fire on white men.” Later, he boasted of his experiences. “That was before war degenerated,” he said. “It was great fun galloping about" . . . .
[E]ven at the time, Churchill was seen as standing at the most brutal and brutish end of the British imperialist spectrum. This was clearest in his attitude to India. When Gandhi began his campaign of peaceful resistance, Churchill raged that he “ought to be lain bound hand and foot at the gates of Delhi and then trampled on by an enormous elephant with the new Viceroy seated on its back.” He later added: “I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.”
This hatred killed. In 1943, to give just one example, a famine broke out in Bengal, caused, as the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen has proven, by British mismanagement. To the horror of many of his colleagues, Churchill raged that it was their own fault for “breeding like rabbits” and refused to offer any aid for months while hundreds of thousands died.

maybe u shd pick up this book Darius before lionizing Churchill

not good Darius, better try again. Pick up "Churchill’s Secret War"  

//bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/31348

When will the Arabs and Muslims apologize for ...

Copyright Infringment and for the Genocidal Massacre of our Zoroastrians most of whom were forced into exile to India ... Maybe our Zoroastrian Ancestors were right to migrate to India and prosper including under British Colonial Rule ... For unlike their Persian Counterparts they have been living in a Fully Accountable Democracy since 1948 where as we are Still Stuck in our own hand made Self Impose Islamic theocratic Dictatorship !

Recommended Watching:

THE STORY OF GOD: Robert Winston explains Zoroastrianism

Has Islam done anything good for Iranians, No!

Islam is like poison and Muslims like poisonous snakes. When I say muslims I do not mean the majority of Iranian muslims who are by birth muslims and are nationalists at heart, I mean the ones that rule our country and the ones who call themselves jehadis. My friends Islam has done nothing good for us Iranians but has reduced us to a backward country.

It is time to get rid of this yoke called Islam. I am not saying that you pick another religion, just become a humanist and love thy country. Iran has a deep and beautiful culture, be proud of it.

payandeh bad Iran

Beyond the Vatican's Blunderous Choice of Pope Benedict

The Accusation against Pope Benedict that he was a Nazi because he was in the Hitler's Youth is partially biaised given the fact that during the Nazi Era you were Automatically a member of the Hitler's Jungen once in School !

To be a Nazi you needed to be a member of the Nazi Party which to my knowledge was not the case of the Future Pope at the time. 

You were not forced to be a member of the Nazi Party even if the regime encouraged membership by giving families who did material and social advantages which others did not have.

But the Vatican's Silence on the Jewish Holocaust and particularly of the Pope Pius XII at the time remains a dark chapter in the history of the Vatican:

Depicted in the Film Amen (2002)  directed by Costa Gavras:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuD3SNMM4Ts

Something which the Current Pope like all his predecessors seems uncomfortable to admit:

//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8464453.stm

But latent Anti Semitism in very much common to both Christians and Muslims ... In the case of the Christians they blame the Jews for delivering Jesus to the Romans ...

Something that the Ever Smart Romans Understood by Not taking Sides during Jesus' Trial since Pontius Pilate Washes his hands during the Prophet's Trial:

Ponse Pilate in Jesus Christ Super Star

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-lp0E0mkIE

As Such Muslims and Christians have More in Common than Meets the Nail ... Oops ... I Meant the Eye ... ;0) 

MM Jaan Why do you think I offered the Philoppino Cruxifiction ?

As a Counter Example that this attitude is not unique to Islam ...

That does not change my opinion on Houman Majd's double Standards for that matter !

He is a disapointment as much as Trita Parsi and Reza Aslan or Hamid Dabashi (ALL of whom are close Advisors to NIAC) when it comes to projecting the true nature of the Islamic Republic and the Real Challenges faced by our people in their struggle for Secularism, Democracy, and Human Rights !

Does that make them Islamic Republic Agents for that matter ? I don't think so !

But Naive SideKicks of a Dead Horse called the Islamic Republic of Iran ?... Certainly ! 

Interesting Idea!

So is the current Pope more German or Christian? So the Germans have a schizophrenic collective personality like the Persians with their Iran-Islam dichotomy?

//iranian.com/Jan96/Opinion/SecularNation...

As far as WWII is concerned one can see it was amongst other things the Jerman's drive for "Lebensraum".

For those who spend excessive amount of time on Facebook or at the poker table here is a clip about an interesting book in German: (Untergang des Abendlandes = Downfall of the Occident)

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfICb0wiryc

Churchill A Mass Murdering Lunatic ? Doh Gheroony Logic

I'd Like to know where your Doh Gheroony Third Worldist Logic would have conducted us and the World back in WWII ?

Definitively Not on Oxford Street for the Victory Parade along with the other Allies ...

Iran in London WW II parade

Iran in London WW II parade (2)

But maybe you prefered a similar Treatment as Japan, or Italy for being Allies Of Nazi Germany ?

The British had Nothing to do with this Yankee punitive Initiative : 

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs3JE4WRL-8

Repeated TWICE for your knowledge:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOyIcFrSQz4&feature...

I am Fully Aware of us Iranians Anglophobia due to the Oil Crisis and the British Meddling in Iranian Affairs and the Illegal Invasion of Imperial Iran by the British and the Soviets in order to turn Iran into a Bridge for Victory ...

Nevertheless the Allies Victory was on the Long Term a Victory of Humanity at Large ...

Now if You call Mass Murder of 200 Iranian Military who gave up a brave Face to resist the Invasion for the sake of Honor ... Well God Bless Them ...

But what is that compared to 70 Million Deaths in a WORLD CONFLICT provoked by the REAL LUNATIC :

Herr Hitler ...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu2NqfISm9k

Surely You are Not comparing Churchill to Hitler ? Are You ? Or even the British Meddling in Iran to that of the Gestapo or Nazi Thugs in enslaving innocents and sending them to the Gas Chambers ?

One can dislike and even oppose the British Foreign Policy but one cannot blame them to defend their own Interests.

If you hate the British because they have proved to be Wiser and more manipulative than the rest of the world in defending their interests and Insular Life Stye and imposing their Language Worldwide and even inspired The Bill of Rights in American Constitution  ...

RESTORATION: Britain's 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 and the 'Bill of Rights' 

Well that is nothing else than Pure Jealousy and product of your own Unimaginative self ...

What Stops Us from doing the same ?

The British Invented the Very Notion of Parliamentary Democracy Far Earlier than Anyone else including the Americans or the French ...

They Understood that if a nation has Wit and Intelligence it can Lead the World ... Not Baseless Shoars and Shouting Your Heads Off like Savages ...

Even the Indians understood this despite having been exploited by the British Colonialists who shaped their administration.

Britian left India without Shooting a Bullit and That Country is a Democracy since 1948 !

Where as We Iranians have been complaining since 1953 about the British so called Colonialism when in fact we were NEVER a Colony and are to this day paying the price for our collective Political Immaturity since we have never been able to implement Democracy in our land despite a Bloody Revolution and the millions of deaths which resulted due to OUR or Should I say YOUR POOR CHOICE ...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPpB-r5mMCI

So Yes whether my fellow compatriots disagree ...

I Admire the British and Churchill in particular ...

A Great Man without whom The Entire Humanity would have been enslaved by Nazi Tyranny Particularly FRANCE had it not been for Churchills Support of another EQUALLY GREAT MAN :

pictory: France's De Gaulle Visits Iran (1963) 

But now if you prefer the likes of Dictators like Nasser, Hafez El Assad or other Presidents Elected For Life in the past 6 Decades Good For You ...

Presidents for Life and Dictatorial Republics of the Middle East Have Never Been My Cup of Tea ( British Flavor or Not) ... 

And Our People are Not going to Achieve their Dreams of Democracy and Progress by Constantly asking for Charity and crying over themselves after having spent 30 years arrogantly Cursing the World and then expecting understanding ...

Ahmadinejad Lays Curse On U.S. Leaders, Calls For Them to Be ‘Buried’:

//chattahbox.com/world/2010/10/03/ahmadinejad...

Iran calls French First Lady a "Prostitute" :

L'Iran insulte Carla Bruni - leJDD.fr 

Harfeh Mozakhraf Ham Hadi Dareh !

Particularly when it jeapordizes an Entire Nation's Security and Self Respect hostage to the most UN IRANIAN Regime that has Ruled our land in it's entire history ! 

Darius Kadivar

If you only look at that passage in the video (//www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEP7F3QFPV4) in isolation, yes, you may think that Hooman is a practicing Shi'ite (only beats his chest though), and there is nothing wrong with being a Shi'ite.  As you well know, even the MRP Shah was a Shi'ite and he saw the hazaraat (do not remember which ones, but you prob. do) in his dreams and proudly talked about them as his companions. 

But, coming back to the video, he talks about being offered grass and alcohol in parties in Northern Tehran too.  So, taking the whole video in its entirety, he is presenting a view that he is an Iranian-American and he would not like to see a war between the two countries.  And, there is nothing wrong with that view, either and even RP would support that view (//iranian.com/main/blog/darius-kadivar/rezas-call-crown-prince-reza-toronto-persian-radio-tv-pejvak).

If there is another hidden message here, let us know.  Thanks.

dont think u want to be flaunting Chruchill quotes Darius

that mass murdering lunatic.

FYI/Winston Churchill's Views on Islam ... ;0)

Winston Chruchill spoke of Islam in his book "River War" in 1900. Some things never change and Islam is one of them.:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OonT6Gr3soc&feature=related

Khob Rastam Meegoft !

LOL

The Peace Loving Christians were precisely at Munich ...

Signing the Peace Treaties with Hitler whome they naively considered as being a "Gentleman" ...

Chamberlain Returns From Munich 1938:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZHpprf6HSM

Like Most Pacifists as a matter of fact ...

Fortunately Not All Were as Naive ...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qsXVfTidOM&feature=related

Veiled Prophet of Khorasan!

Stop steoreotyping and stigmatizing Muslims. They already get their fair share of Muslim-bashing in the institutional mainstream media!

When I compare how we Muslims (Close family, extended family, acquaintances and co-workers) in Iran treated the Armenian and Jewish minorities in Iran then I see that we were far more human.

I guess we Muslims are not as advanced in the art of hypocrisy as the Chistians and Jews who reserve the right to look down their nose at Muslims and make condescending remarks towards them. The Jews and Christians are just very apt at creating a great image of themselves as being open-minded in their media and making their stupid masses believe that.

FYI I worked for an Armenian and a Jew and they stink I mean not literally but figuratively. My father back in Iran supervised Armenians and always treated them with respect!

Apparently you come from a backward background and have suddenly made a quantum jump and become a progressive member of intelligentsia!

Didn't Know WWI & WWII were caused by Christian Crusaders ?

"You are Either a German or a Christian, You cannot be Both" - Adolf Hitler

I very much doubt Hitler Invaded Poland in order to convert the Jews to Christianity ...

THE HOLOCAUST WITHOUT SPECIAL EFFECTS !

Unfortunately the following video is unavailable since I posted it :

HITLER ON THE COUCH: A Psychological Profile of Adolf Hitler (BBC Documentary) 

Otherwise I would have highly recommended some people to do their Homework before drawing ridiculous parrallels ...

HOLOCAUST A MYTH: Michelle Renouf on Iranian SAHAR TV

No more than I would claim that WW I & 2 were triggered by Islam Related Issues ...

Although on Second Thoughts  ? ;0)

HITLER AND ISLAMIC MILITANCY

FYI/Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders goes on trial (bbc)

Geert Wilders: "I am sitting here as a suspect because I have spoken... nothing but the truth"

The Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders has gone on trial in Amsterdam accused of inciting hatred against Muslims.

//www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11464025

My preference!

I would rather have overt discrimination than covert discrimination!

Where was the peace-loving Christianity during WWI and WWII when the Christians were killing each other?

Let's hope if this artificial confrontation with Islam comes to a head the Muslims won't be interned in camps and/or their properties won't be confiscated!

Reza Aslan Jaan Repeat After Me ... ;0)

گفتن شهادتین توسط یک تازه مسلمان!

//www.kalam.tv/fa/video/45853/index.html

LOL

NIAC advisor Houman Majd on practicing "Seeneh Zani" in Moharam

The Ayatollah Begs to Differ by Hooman Majd:

Go to 2 Minutes when he talks about Moharam ... He practices it too ...

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEP7F3QFPV4

if I am not mistaken No wonder you see the photo of Ayatollah Hakim ( Go to ~1 min 50 )  presented with other political leaders in a so called lively debate in  the above documentary ...

Bacheh Akhoundeh Deegeh ... ;0)

Look at the same Hakim here:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=D75MRpvW3PI

Mind you Auto Flagellation exists in Christianity too although No more In Public Spheres in Europe but more in the Philipinos ...

Crucifixion Ceremony Philippines 2008

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGe-DkDPHR4

Benyamin

you are right. I was born in Iran and raised as a very moderate Muslim. I remember we had an Armenian carpenter working for us. One of my father's friends asked my father: "How could you let this najis guy in the house? Don't you have to then clean up anything he touches". My father to his credit was very upsed by this statement. He told me that sort of bigotry will "delesho cherkin mikoneh" i.e. "will hurt his feelings". Another friend of my father is Jewish Iranian. He said when a kid people avoided him when it rained. Because they worried he was najis and the rain splashing off him would make them najis or be more precise mote-najjis. There are not made up they are real. Bigotry against non Muslims in inherent in Islam.

Imagine you tell a kid from day one that non Muslims are unclean. That touching them requires you to wash up. How the heck could they be friends then? Islam is bigoted and Muslims complain about being discriminated against. Well I suggest they drop their bigotry and start there. Once they put their own house in order the rest will follow.

BTW: I live in the USA. The other day I went by the local "Halal" market. The place was far less hygienic than the Kosher places near where I live.  Personally I will buy my meat from the Kosher place and take my chances with "Najis".

VPK

I am supressed minority raised in Iran

I must say that I have seen first hand what Islam is about. There is something in Islam that makes people(even the so called moderates) to think different about non-muslims. We lived as muslims in Iran so all my friends thought I am just another muslim but even though living in an afluant area of Tehran and naturally mostly non practicing musilms yet my friends (mostly kids) didn`t share food with an Armenian kid I remember it clearly they were saying "he is najes"=he is unclean. Even at that young age I couldn`t understand it and certainly even now I understand it less. Because, these people didn`t act anything islamic but they did enforce some of "sharia`s" texts which made me confused and more not to reveal my true identity to even the closest of friends.

I amnot saying Islam is evil, but perhaps devilish ideas have been planted in it in 1400 years by extremests. I think extremesm didn`t just appear in the past few years. I believe it has been around for years and years.

How else my people survived? Why did they have to live as pretend muslim so they wouldn`t be killed? or get homeless? why in Islam the very first act they take up on is to seperate family members like females from the males and call it "halal" or that there are religious rewards if you take an "infidel`s" doaughter and make her muslim you get so much "savabs"? and Why the males get killed? what kind of religion is this?

I just can`t understand it when there are so many contradictions in one idealogy.

Choghok

You are right. People like these ruin a discussion. 

1By lying about Islam Aslan and the Mollah try to make it sound tolerant. This is a blatant lie. It is very easy to verify that their claims about Sharia not promoting killing; Churches being (easily) allowed to be build; etc are false. This in turn gives credibility to ther other side like Graham. The Iranian woman was the one voice of honesty.

Onthe matter of Churches: It depends on the nation. In SOME like Iran and Egypt: Yes it is possible to build them under exceptional conditions. And yes existing Churches are more-or-less safe. However in many like Saudi is it NOT. Plus actually getting the permissions and doing it is a huge task. Pkus preaching to Muslism is right out.

Islamists are pushing hard to get Islam into the west. They are trying to sell it to a suspicious population. It won' word and they are going to a big push back. The best option is to be honest about Sharia and Islam and try to reform it. That way at least they get to coexist. If not there will be a violent backlash which is both unfortunate and unnecessary.