Chemo Thoughts: The End of My World?

Earlier today a friend emailed me to ask how I was doing. I assumed they were referring to my ongoing battle with leukemia. I answered that I was doing fine. I had determined early on when I got that first lethal prognosis that I was not going to use the pages of Radarsite for a continual updating on the morbid details of my chemotherapy. So I answered that I was doing fine. But, I wonder, how am I really doing? Am I really doing fine?

Nothing concentrates the mind like a death sentence. Especially one that is so close at hand and almost certain. Priorities are immediately questioned and reshuffled. What seemed of great import yesterday may have lost much or all of its weight today. The love and closeness of family and friends becomes paramount; whereas the opinions of strangers become less and less relevant. The often frenetic muddle of everyday life is quickly subsumed into the greater if quieter battle for life itself. There's only enough space left in your life for those things of real value, or perhaps for those values which are real. There's just not enough time left for empty rhetoric or endless gentlemanly debate. In whatever time is left you must embrace your family and your values and hold them dear.

The whole purpose of developing Radarsite was to speak up for America. To come to her defense. To answer her enemies and her critics with truth. To fight for the truth in the face of the relentless barrage of propaganda and lies. In short, a place to express my love and my respect for America and for American values. This mission has never wavered. The wonderful contributors whose fine work now fills these pages all share this love and respect for our great nation.

And now? Oh, I still love this beautiful country of ours, this wonderful meritocracy we call home. But my love is tinged with anxiety and fear. Like the love for a child who has gone astray, who has ignored all of our good advice and chosen an ignoble path to self-destruction. We can only watch helplessly as they slip further and further from our embrace and deeper and deeper into the black pit.

How do I feel? my friend asks. Here's how I really feel. From those very first days I have accepted my personal prognosis completely and without complaint. I am grateful for the endlessly fascinating life I have been allowed to live. But I have not yet accepted the dire fate that awaits my beloved country. I am filled with shame and disbelief at what we have become, what we are becoming, what we are giving up, what we have forgotten. My usually dependable inherent optimism has been all but eroded by the preposterous events of these last few years. That America I have so long loved and respected has been turned upside down. Those values that separated us from the rest of the world have either been ingloriously degraded or completely abandoned. We no longer know who we are or what we stand for. We allow others to define us, we allow our sworn enemies -- both within and without -- to determine our national agendas. We are in the fateful process of completely losing our national identity. And according to our recent elections, this makes half of our population happy. Half of our population considers our formerly-precious American identity to be the problem. America is what's wrong with this world. To fix the world we must therefore change what it means to be an American. Change we can believe in.

We are presently besieged by savage enemies. Islamists, Marxists, Anarchists, cruel dictators and criminal tyrants. We are besieged by alien cults of death who nurse apocalyptic visions of destruction. Everything that we hold dear is under attack and threatened. But the most dangerous and shameless enemy of all lives right here amongst us. Our very own treacherous patriots, who rush to give the keys to the kingdom to the barbarians at our gates. The idiots, the fools, the delusional liberals, and those elitist amoral progressives who honestly believe that by utterly destroying the fabric of this great nation they will somehow save it. They have traded our pride for guilt and our strength for safety. And I despise them for it. I despise them more than I despise our sworn enemies, because our sworn enemies do not disguise their motives under the cloak of patriotism.

And what of our innocent children? Our beloved grandchildren? What godless world have we bequeathed to them? What is our message to these innocents? There is no right or wrong. Everything is relative. All peoples and all belief systems are morally equal. There is no such thing as good or evil, just different points of view. War is morally wrong, no matter what its purpose. To defend yourself with violence is as unjustifiable as to attack one with violence.

How do I feel? I have been told that my life is coming to an end. So be it. I can deal with that. But can I deal with the prospect of my beloved country coming to an end? Is my beloved country eagerly embracing its own demise? Will our new America truly be willing to fight for its survival in this savage world? Or, as it seems to me now, have we chosen the ignoble road of appeasement and dishonor? Is there still hope for us?

Someone out there please tell me that I am wrong, that my pessimism is premature or unfounded, that my deductions are somehow flawed. Someone please tell me that I can leave this world in peace and not in this awful despair for our future. - rg

We Are Losing the Global War on Terror

by Roger W. Gardner

What is the Global War on Terror?
The Global War on Terror. Why does the very name we have chosen for this monumental global conflict contain the seeds of our coming failure? The answer is simple. The name itself is prima facie evidence of our inability, or our adamant refusal, to face the hard truth about the real nature of this war. It is yet another example of our willful ignorance and our moral cowardice. Who are we fighting? Who are our enemies? Are we fighting some mysterious group of anonymous terrorists? Who has declared war against us, against the entire Judeo/Christian West? And finally, if we are afraid to even mention the name of our sworn enemy, how on earth can we ever expect to win this bloody war?

The unnamed enemy is Islam. Not some small fanatical group of Islamists, not some zealous band of religious extremists, but just plain, old-fashioned Islam. Islam has unequivocally declared war on the infidels. And we have unequivocally decided to deny the existence of this declaration. By conveniently defining this to be some amorphous "War on Terror", we have deluded ourselves into thinking that it is something altogether different, something far less dangerous and pervasive than it really is. We have denied the existence of the monster who threatens us, and therefore we firmly believe that the monster ceases to exist.

Am I the first to remark on this cowardly game of semantics? Of course not. But despite all these prescient admonitions and warnings, has anything actually changed? Have we become more, or less, willing to honestly confront our enemies? To honestly name the name, Islam, bloody Islam?

On the contrary. As time has passed we have become ever more entrenched in our shameful state of denial. From the President on down we have steadfastly refused to name our adversaries for fear of upsetting them. Consequently, our adversaries grow stronger every day and they mock our weakness and our indecision. Now, ironically, for fear of making waves, we are facing a catastrophic Islamic tsunami.

Where is the War on Terror?
Where is the center of this so-called War on Terror? Iraq? Afghanistan? The entire Middle East? A legitimate case can be made that the center of the War on Terror today is in Gaza. Hamas, the semi-hidden face of Islam, is the personification of the real enemy. The rockets that fall daily on Sderot are the chosen weapons of this war. And how have we in the West chosen to support this War on Terror? We have shamefully blamed the victims. We have publicly admonished the Israelis for fighting this proxy War on Terror for us. We have condemned their efforts in the sanctimonious halls of the EU and the UN. We have passed innumerable resolutions naming the Israelis themselves as the real threat to peace. Yes, if ever there was a perfect paradigm for this War on Terror it must be in Gaza. And we have abandoned our only true ally in this entire blood-soaked region and taken the side of the enemy.

Do we really hate the Jews that much? Is the world's eternal historical antisemitism so pervasive, so potent, that we would rather see Hamas and Hezbollah win? Do we secretly desire to see Israel "wiped off the map"? Do we hate the Jews so much that we would prefer to see Ahmadinejad actually get the bomb? Is our Western Civilization really that crazy? Is there some other logical explanation for our pathetic behavior?

The center of the War on Terror
Islam is the unnamed enemy we have refused to engage. Instead, we seek conciliation and accommodation. We offer compromise and denial. Anything to avoid confrontation. We will go to any lengths to avoid naming Islam as the enemy. This, then, is the true center of our War on Terror. Right here, in the heart and soul of our inglorious Western World. This is our Ground Zero. This is where the great battle has already been fought and lost. Here, in our prestigious halls of government and our great courts of justice, here in our liberal ivy-league universities and our self-congratulatory myopic media. Here, in our recent inexplicable election, an election wherein 49% of the electorate poled firmly believed that our most threatening problem was the economy (stupid), and an incredible 9% believed that it might actually be the threat of terrorism.

The question is no longer whether or not we have the will to prosecute this War on Terror, this War against Islam; we have already proven to our undying shame that we do not have the necessary will. Our only major concern now in this War on Terror has been how to get our troops back home. Exhibiting an adolescent impatience, we don't want to hear about the cost of our withdrawal. We don't want to hear about the consequences of our cowardice. We don't want to hear what the enemy thinks about all this. We just want them home.

Have we truly become a generation of cowards? Do we really fear war more than we fear subjugation? Have the leftists in our midst really won? Have they finally succeeded in producing a generation of self-loathing anti-patriots, America-bashers, who find more in common with our enemies than with their own nation?

Unfortunately, oh, so unfortunately, thus far, all of our actions and inactions, culminating in the moral travesty of our recent elections, seem to say, Yes. - rg
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A note from Radarsite: It seems that I am not alone in my assessment of Islam. In a poll on Radarsite's sidebar titled "Is Islam itself the problem?", 83% of the respondents (414 of 498) answered "Yes." - rg

The Meaning of the Shoes

From AOL News
BAGHDAD (Dec. 15) - Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush, as Arabs across many parts of the Middle East hailed the journalist as a hero and praised his insult as a proper send-off to the unpopular U.S. president. [...]

Journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, who was kidnapped by militants last year, was being held by Iraqi security Monday and interrogated about whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at Bush during a press conference the previous day in Baghdad, said an Iraqi official. [...]

Showing the sole of your shoe to someone in the Arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect, and throwing your shoes is even worse.

Newspapers across the Arab world on Monday printed front-page photos of Bush ducking the flying shoes, and satellite TV stations repeatedly aired the incident, which provided fodder for jokes and was hailed by the president's many critics in the region.
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A note from Radarsite: We all understand now the significance of this particular insult in the Arab world -- right? But do we really? Somehow I tend to doubt it. The true significance of this attack on President Bush and symbolically on the United States, and its enthusiastic reception in both the Arab world and in our own liberal media has not really been addressed. One part of this story is of course the breathless eagerness with which our own biased leftist MSM quickly grasps onto any story that will support their long-held conviction that the Iraq war was a foolish criminal endeavor, perpetrated on the American people by a clueless ignorant cowboy -- "the unpopular U.S. president".

But I contend that this incident provides us with an even more important lesson. One which we should have learned by now but have not. It is simply this: Why should this act of hatred and resentment come as a surprise to us? Haven't we accepted the fact yet that 'blood is thicker than water'; or in this case, that the Arab world's adherence to Islam and to Sharia law supersedes any temporary arrangements of convenience made with infidel governments. Treaties made with Arab (or any Muslim) states are in reality no more than cynical measures of expediency. Realpolitik.

Here is the cold hard truth: Islam is, was, and always will be the sworn enemy of Western civilization in general, and of the United States of America in particular. Any thoughts that we can peacefully coexist without risking subsequent betrayal are foolhardy and delusional. Every time we think we have made inroads into the Muslim world we should be automatically circumspect and on guard. For when push comes to shove, all of those minor political or regional differences between Arab/Muslim states will be quickly set aside when confronted with the common enemy of the infidel West. Until the very roots of Islam are torn out of this culture we will never succeed in establishing any meaningful and lasting peace in this region.

The Arab world has lionized the shoe-tosser not just because he confronted and insulted an "unpopular American president", but because he heroically challenged the power and the hegemony of the Infidel West. To not understand the depth of this animosity is to not understand the profound meaning of this monumental global confrontation we are experiencing.

Does this mean that we should just give up on our efforts to reform and democratize the Middle East? Of course not. But we cannot be naive or overly optimistic. We must constantly bear in mind the immutability of the message of the Koran. During the Cold War we developed the concept of 'Trust but verify'. This attitude is even more relevant today when confronted with militant Islam.

Read more:
http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/11/our-most-dangerous-enemy-post-mumbai.html

http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/11/golden-key-those-illusive-moderate.html

From Radarsite: A Christmas Message to all Retailers

A message from Radarsite: This is a simple message to all of you who plan on making money on us this CHRISTMAS Season, whether you are multi-million dollar automobile manufacturers or small time candy makers. If out of either misguided conviction or simple cowardice you continue to ignore or obfuscate the foundational Christian significance of our great American tradition of Christmas do not expect our business. If you honestly believe that you can skirt around this (now-thorny) issue by using code words for Christmas, such as 'this holiday season', or get away with saying 'Season's Greetings!' in place of 'Merry Christmas!' you may indeed protect yourself from lawsuits from the ACLU, etc., but you will not get our business. You can't have it both ways anymore. You cannot do away with Christmas and at the same time expect to make money on it.

We will not allow some small militant minority to take away all of our great and significant American traditions, not without a fight. We are getting ready for the battle once again this year, and you will not get away with this monumental theft unnoticed.

This year, some of you, such as Wal-Mart, have already made their decisions to honor this special day by calling it what it is: 'Christmas'. These are the retailers we will reward. Others, Best Buy, Ace Hardware, the major American auto manufacturers, etc. are already asking us to buy their products or shop at their stores for the 'holidays'. Why on earth should anyone buy a new Lincoln for their lover for some unnamed 'holiday'? Which holiday are we talking about here, Columbus Day? Groundhog Day?

This is (still) a free country and you can make whatever decision you want. However, know this, some 80% of America is Christian -- and most American Jews have long ago come to acknowledge this fact and accept Christmas in the spirit of good will, whether or not they actually celebrate it -- and if you choose to ignore this majority of Americans and for selfish reasons decide to throw in your lot with that small vocal minority who are determined to forever alter the character of this great nation then you will suffer the moral and financial consequences.

This Christmas Season will be different than the previous ones. This time, we are wide awake and we are watching you. As I write this there are many sites coming back online who are devoted to this single cause, and they are growing every day. You have grown accustomed to having it both ways, but not this year. If you cannot find the courage to openly honor this very special day, if you cannot find the decency or the will to even utter the words "Merry
Christmas!" you will not get our money. The decision is yours. - rg

A postscript: Well, the very first comment I received to this article was negative. A defense of the denigration of Christmas on the grounds that it has become nothing but a commercial enterprise. If this is what the commenter thinks of Christmas, if this is all that Christmas really means to them, then to me this just reveals the paucity of their soul and I feel sorry for them. The commercialization of Christmas has been a contentious topic of conversation since I received my first boxed set of Gene Autrey six-shooters in 1945. But to use this as an excuse to do away with this great Christian celebration of Christ and joy and giving is inexcusable. Christmas means different things to different people, but to a majority of us Americans it means a great deal, and it always has. It's a very special time for special feelings and special memories. For me, it is simply irreplaceable. And to smother it or completely alter its meaning for the sake of appeasing some fanatical permanently disgruntled minority is totally unacceptable, and we just won't let this happen.
You've been messing around now with our deeply-held convictions of the sacredness of human life and the nobility of traditional marriage, you've attempted to dishonor our fundamental patriotism and attempted to rewrite our honorable national history. You have been zealously teaching our own children to hate us, and removing God from every aspect of our culture. And now you want to take away our Christmas. Well you're not going to do it. And if you write in comments here in defense of this effort to expunge everything that is good and decent and clean from our American heritage I will simply delete you and smile while I'm doing it. - rg.

Jubilation on the Ship of Fools

America, America, what have you done?
A confederacy of dunces and traitors has delivered us unto our enemies. They have dealt this great nation of ours a deadly blow from which we may never recover, and they rejoice over the enormity of the wound. Already the voices of reconciliation and compromise are being raised. We must all come together now so that we can move forward, they say. But move forward to what? To where? What unforeseen furies have you unwittingly unleashed? What cherished American principles and traditions have you willfully abandoned for this nebulous promise of change offered by this charismatic but shadowy charlatan? In one sweeping gesture you have managed to undermine the glorious uniquely American meritocracy and have validated the role of victimization. In one vote you have rewarded our enemies and marginalized our patriots.

To even begin to comprehend the damage you have done just consider for a moment who is pleased by the results of this election.


Abu Yahya al-Libi, Al Qaeda's chief theological enforcer and a top recruiter.





Moamar Kadafi

A new kind of patriot










Hugo Chavez

Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam

Jane Fonda









Mahmoud Ahmadinejad









Rev. "God Damn America" Wright






Kim Jong Ill









Empowered youth

Empowered Kenyan relatives and heirs

The list of course could go on and on.

It is I think fitting that the first gloating leftist response Radarsite received this morning was from the infamous but woefully inconsequential Raoul, who again quite fittingly, is neither male nor American. Normally Raoul would be automatically deleted, but not today. Today I want her message to be read by all those who may still have doubts about the despicable nature of our enemies. As you can see it is addressed to both me and to my good friend and colleague Snooper personally. She believes, quite rightly, that we are her most determined enemies.

I'm sending this via email because it's obvious that most of you conduct your love chats here instead of out in the open where the light shines. The election is over (thank God!) and our citizens have spoken in volumes by the way they voted. Your time is now over - after 28 years or more if we count the destruction Reagan did to our middle class.

The god with a small 'g' that you pretend to follow doesn't exist. The real God never had any interest in politics or countries or bestowing special blessings to any one country as most of you, especially Roger, believe. John 3:16 begins by saying 'for God so loved the WORLD'. That's the entire world and not just the white anglo saxon part of it in America.

You people are an embodiment of pure evil. I know this probably shocks you just like the Nazis were surprised at the hatred expressed towards their deeds but I can't say it any other way. God, country, and flag have always been the ingredients of despots living in fear and hate. You feed off of hate. You require hate in order to justify your own pitiful lives. Your blogs speak for themselves along with everything you've written concerning President-Elect Obama, Muslims, victims of our torture techniques, the illegal invasion of Iraq, victims of the Katrina flood, et. al.

I grew up around evil so I believe I can speak on a little bit of authority regarding how true evil works. It hides behind religiousity, patriotism, individualism without any social programs, hatred of anyone who is different, and a host of other facades. Evil will always have a crusade or burning issue to raise in order to hide from reality and the real issues that face mankind. You people fit the definition of 'evil' perfectly.

Well, your time is over so I think it's only proper for you to slink back into your caves or wherever else you dwell. Rational Americans like me do, however, owe you a debt of thanks. You've taught us a very valuable lesson. The lesson is that right wing religionists will NEVER take over this country again! You've been exposed for what you really represent - a parasitic host. To put it more bluntly, you're a boil on the ass of history. And, the American electorate has lanced that boil!

I can now say unabashedly, God bless America! This country will NEVER be the same again and I say thank God! Now that the racial divide has been breached with Barack Obama's election, some day the gender divide or perhaps the sexual orientation divide or any other man made divide will finally be eliminated.

One last thing - concerning your blogs. I think it would be a good idea if you closed your blogs down since you'll have nothing to write about any more. If you decide to keep them active I have to tell you that I, and others, will be monitoring your blogs. Any threats or seditious comments will be turned over to the proper authorities. This shouldn't surprise you because you ought to know by now that when Mark Harvey threatened to 'slit the throat' of any war protestor he met in Washington during his trip there, I turned the comments along with the blog site over to the FBI who checked it out.

But, it's up to you. This will be my last direct comment to you. I have to admit that every time I've ever encountered anything you've written I've gotten the urge to take a scalding shower. You are the most vile group of people I've ever known. I think that deep down inside you 're aware of this sad fact. We, on the Left, have been vindicated. America will finally heed the real teachings of Christ who said we should feed the hungry and take care of the poor.

graciously yours,
raoul

But then the very next email I received was this one from Anonymous:

Today is a SAD SAD day. Birth of America: July 4, 1776....Death of America: November 4, 2008. Roger and to all his contributors and readers. I'm sure we're all sitting in disbelief, shock and concerned. Knowing none of use would imagine this day coming true. All our intentions were sincere and true, due to the fact that we believe in America and love her even more so.

This writer likes to see it as a huge draw back and we lost a battle. And sure many more battles will be lost. As we see the president elect make some awful decisions for our great nation. But, in the end, I sincerely believe we will win the war. There is no way Obama or a democrat will gain the seat of the presidency in 2012. Too many mistakes will be made between now and then. Mistakes I hope our country will be able to endure, is the big question. Later on down the road. People will realize that making Obama the president was a huge mistake. Just hope this error of judgement doesn't cost us too much.

Obama's acceptance speech he began to tone done his rhetoric in what he was going to attempt to accomplish while being the president. Since, Obama is aware that he can't possibly achieve these objectives within the first year, known the less the first 100 days of his office. The good behind this is people have short memories. And will begin to wonder why Obama isn't doing what he said he would do. And that this supposed "change" isn't coming or not for the enbetterment of the American people. And this my friends will be the beginning of the end for Obama and the democrats. When the next elections come along people will look to different candidates.

McCain, I believe could've won this election. If he just used the ammunition available to him. McCain should have reneged on receiving campaign funds from the public only...just like Obama did at the beginning of his campaign. So the playing field (of donations/money) would have been level. As well as, McCain should have discussed many topics he considered off the list. Or his advisers informed him not to use certain things.

I guess it's a should, could, would situation presented here. Nonetheless, there are times in an individuals life and a countries history that we must take a few steps backwards. In order to take huge leaps forward in the not too distant future. And that is what we're going to contend with hopeful. Best of luck to everyone. And I say we continue to monitor Obama's Administration and get the word out to people in what he's doing. We can never start too early for 2012.

Roger, thank you so much for informing the public. All I can say is you did a outstanding job. And it's a pleasure and honor to know your a true American. Who actually cares what's happening to America. We will all learn from this and wait patiently to fix this very wrong that occurred. God bless you Roger and everyone else. We will have our work cut out for ourselves over the next four years. As for me, I am not giving up and never will. I will just have to be patient and wait this horrific ordeal out.

So there you have it. The cons and the pros. But there is one last message I received this morning, perhaps the most surprising and heartening message of them all. This morning, November 5, 2008, the first morning of the Obama victory, the Chicago Sun Times decided to publish one of Radarsite's most recent anti-Obama articles, The Embarrassment of Victory, the 50th Radarsite article published there since we were officially launched in December 2007. This from the very heart of the beast, his own hometown, that delirious town which has not yet recovered from last night's wild victory celebrations. So it seems we still have an audience.

So I'm sorry Raoul, but we're not closing shop at Radarsite. And once again you will be happily and automatically deleted. Far from retreating, we have just begun to fight. - rg

Note: Hieronymus Bosch’s Ship of Fools [shown above] (1450 – 1516). Although it is all but invisible in this small reproduction, there is a Muslim crescent painted on the Ship of Fools' banner. You can view a larger image here. -rg

Referenced by CNN.com: 5 Nov 08

This article posted on Craigs List: 6 Nov 08

Dear Gayle Williams --

Kabul, Afghanistan
Gayle Williams, 34, who had dual British and South African nationality, was shot dead on Monday by gunmen on a motorbike in Kabul.

Taliban Kill Christian Aid Worker In Kabul Because She Was Teaching Christianity
Cross posted from Holger Awakens
Monday, October 20, 2008

If you had any doubts about the true intent of the Taliban in Afghanistan, this story should set you right. A Christian aid worker, a woman of British and South African dual nationality was gunned down today in cold blood in Kabul. She was walking to work. Her work was helping handicapped Afghan civilians. And just WHY did she die? Look at the reason from the article at Breitbart:
A spokesman for the militants said the Taliban ordered her killed because she was accused of proselytizing."This woman came to Afghanistan to teach Christianity to the people of Afghanistan," Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press. "Our (leaders) issued a decree to kill this woman."

She was killed because she was Christian and being Christian doesn't fit the violent ideology of islam. And perhaps a few of you, maybe more, maybe a dozen, will start to agree with me that islam is NOT A RELIGION. This is a blood thirsty political ideology that gets its way via terror, murder and violence.Here's more details from the article:

Taliban assailants on a motorbike gunned down a Christian aid worker in Kabul on Monday and the militants said she was killed for spreading her religion—a rare targeted killing of a Westerner in the nation's capital.Gayle Williams, a 34-year-old dual British-South African national who helped handicapped Afghans, was shot to death as she was walking to work about 8 a.m., said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. Britain's secretary of state for international development called the killing a "callous and cowardly act" and said Williams was in Afghanistan to help ease poverty."To present her killing as a religious act is as despicable as it is absurd—it was cold blooded murder," Douglas Alexander said in a statement.To put it mildly, I am outraged over this. And quite frankly, I can't seem to type anything more than just kill every last single one of these Taliban bastards. Wipe them off the face of the earth.

Taliban gunmen kill Christian aid worker in Kabul, Afghanistan (AP) - Taliban assailants on a motorbike gunned down a Christian aid worker in Kabul on Monday and the militants said she was killed for spreading her religion—a rare targeted killing of a Westerner in the nation's capital.Gayle Williams, a 34-year-old dual British-South African national who helped handicapped Afghans, was shot to death as she was walking to work about 8 a.m., said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. A spokesman for the militants said the Taliban ordered her killed because she was accused of proselytizing."This woman came to Afghanistan to teach Christianity to the people of Afghanistan," Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press. "Our (leaders) issued a decree to kill this woman."Britain's secretary of state for international development called the killing a "callous and cowardly act" and said Williams was in Afghanistan to help ease poverty."To present her killing as a religious act is as despicable as it is absurd—it was cold blooded murder," Douglas Alexander said in a statement.A spokeswoman for the aid group, SERVE—Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprises—said it is a Christian organization but denied it was involved in proselytizing."It's not the case that they preach, not at all," said the spokeswoman, Rina van der Ende. "They are here to do NGO (aid) work."Afghanistan is a conservative Islamic nation. Proselytizing is prohibited by law, and other Christian missionaries or charities have faced severe hostility. Last year, 23 South Korean aid workers from a church group were taken hostage in southern Afghanistan. Two were killed and the rest were eventually released.According to its Web site, SERVE is a Christian charity registered in Britain and has been working with Afghan refugees since 1980 in Pakistan."SERVE Afghanistan's purpose is to express God's love and bring hope by serving the people of Afghanistan, especially the needy, as we seek to address personal, social and environmental needs," the site says. A member of Afghanistan's highest religious council said Monday that rumors have spread over the last two years that Westerners have been preaching Christianity to Afghans."We have heard rumors that houses have been rented to preach Christianity in Kabul and some provinces, but we have no evidence that this is taking place," said council member Jebra Ali. The council previously has made a formal complaint to President Hamid Karzai that Westerners are trying to spread Christianity in Afghanistan.

--------------------------------------------

Dear Gayle Williams --
I know you cannot read this letter now, but I am writing to you as though you can, as though you are still here somehow, and because for some reason you are still here with me. I have written two articles about you now. Articles about how you were killed and why. Especially the why. The why is what this is all about, isn't it? The why is why you died, why they killed you. The why is what's important, yet so impossible to comprehend.

I have tried in these two articles to express some of the anger, the outrage and the disbelief that so many of us feel, but it's impossible. There aren't the right words. I couldn't write this if I thought too hard about your grieving parents right now. I'd feel foolish and intrusive, because I've never even met you. But for some reason I realize now that those two articles just weren't enough. I don't know what would ever be enough, but that wasn't it. You deserve more. Your death deserves more. And I'll try very hard to say what's in my heart at this moment.

"She was a person who always loved the Afghans and was dedicated to serving those who are disabled...Needless to say, we are all in shock."

"...one of the inspiring people of the world who truly put others before herself."

"She was killed violently while caring for the most forgotten people in the world; the poor and the disabled," the statement said. "She herself would not regret taking the risk of working in Afghanistan. She was where she wanted to be -- holding out a helping hand to those in need."

This is what they're saying about you now, Gayle Williams. Now that you're gone. How ironic that you who lived your life so unobtrusively, so quietly and humbly are now famous in your death. Thousands, perhaps millions, of people all over the world now know your name and have looked at your face in that picture.

We are in a great war of shadows. Our enemies are illusive and indistinct. Only occasionally -- such as at times like this -- do we see them clearly. They have deftly hidden themselves beneath innumerable veils of half-truths, clever rationalizations and devious obfuscations. Our enemies have sought and gained sanctuary in the sacred temples of religion. Thus, to many, they remain inviolate and unassailable. Our enemy is great but amorphous, a master of disguise. Their greatest disguise is complete invisibility. This is the nature of our war of shadows.

Only half of us can actually see them. They have successfully convinced the others that they don't exist, that they are merely fictional villains, hypothetical constructs of our overwrought imaginations. This is who we are fighting -- or almost fighting. We're not sure yet. We're besieged with doubts and mired in confusion. Is our enemy Islam? Or just some small fanatical core of pitiless brutes who have perverted the great message?

We've been taught to be tolerant of others, to be especially tolerant of other people's religious beliefs. To attack someone because of their religious beliefs goes against everything that we hold sacred. And our ruthless adversaries have used this innate civility to their infinite advantage, haven't they? Coming from the very highest authorities in our own government we have been admonished to not hold the entire religion of Islam accountable for the brutal actions of a few. We have been advised by our experts that Islam is a religion of peace, a great religion which has been hijacked by a few crazy fanatics.

But then there is you, Gayle Williams. And you are immense now. You are a scathing indictment that cannot be answered. You are the truth. Inarguable, unassailable truth. The men who took your life were not fanatics, they were the personification of the purest and most uncorrupted form of Islam. They were most closely following the Prophet's commandments. They are Islam with all the veils removed. Your killers were not perverting the message, they were delivering it.

One of the reasons why we have been so shamefully ineffective in this great war of shadows is our inability to comprehend the enormity of this truth. That one of the world's major religions could be the source of the world's most menacing evils. It is too much to grasp. We seek solace in our delusions. We use metaphors and euphemisms to almost but not quite describe our enemies. We comfort ourselves with the unsustainable hypothesis that most Muslims are good. That Islam itself is not the problem.

But then there is you, Gayle Williams. And you are immense now. How can our homegrown Islamist apologists and multiculturalists answer your scathing indictment. Did you, by ministering to the poor and disabled in Afghanistan bring it on yourself, as we purportedly brought the events of 9/11 on ourselves? How will they argue for your culpability in this crime as they did ours? The very thought of this is sickening to me.

If the purest of all forms of Islam could call for your death, you who have done nothing but give of yourself in your kind quiet way, then who among us is safe? Who among us can argue for tolerance and understanding of the bestial religion that murdered you? Who among us can still not see beneath those veils, even after you have pulled them away.

These are the best words I can come up with, Gayle Williams. This is the best I can do. I wish I could do more. I wish we all could do more. - rg

http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/10/taliban-kill-christian-aid-worker-in.html

http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/10/reclaiming-power-of-hate-revisted.html


http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/21/afghanistan.violence.aid.groups/?iref=mpstoryview
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Dear Gayle Williams: A Wonderful Update






A note from Radarsite: When I first contemplated writing my Dear Gayle Williams piece two thoughts went through my mind. One was that if Gayle herself were actually here she would most likely completely disagree with my interpretation of this tragedy and my characterization of Islam. Her decision to do what she did where she chose to do it would it seems to me bear this thought out. I doubt if she would have agreed with my assessment that Islam itself is the enemy.
The second reservation I had in going ahead with this article was the possibility -- no, the probability -- that someone would write in to accuse me of using this innocent woman's death as a cynical attempt to either promote Radarsite or to promote our intolerant, hate-filled, right-wing, anti-Islam agenda. These thoughts crossed my mind. But then what would be the alternative? To not write this article at all? To write this article as a somber lament for a fine woman, but somehow avoid the discussion of her killers agenda ? To qualify or tone down my treatment Islam?

When I first received the email this morning with this important comment to my article which was cross posted at Stop The ACLU I was thrilled and immediately decided to use these enlightening and poignant personal remembrances as a whole new article, a welcome update to my original letter.

Then I got to those last few paragraphs. "A selfless soul who didn’t deserve to be used as a cheap PR move that does nothing for anyone today." So, just as I had predicted, it had happened. And the accusation didn't come from some anonymous leftist commenter who had never known her, but rather from someone who knew her all her life and loved her.

However, as I read on, as I read the title of the book Mr. de Lange was writing, “Faithmentalism”, another reality began to take shape and was confirmed by this final paragraph: "What angers me most is that Islam does not preach killing, only fundamentalists interpret this for their own selfishness!
Beliefs & Doctrine of Christianity & Islamview of the other religion
• Islam is respected as a fellow monotheistic religion, but Muhammad is not seen as a true prophet
• Christians are respected as 'People of the Book,' but they have mistaken beliefs and only partial revelation
We miss you and we will never forget your smile!
Love Ed and family!"

This of course presented me with a moral dilemma. Up until those last few sentences this was a wonderful and touching personal tribute to Gayle "Tree" Williams. But those few final words turned everything upside down. It had suddenly become an indictment, not only of me for writing my letter in the first place, but an indictment of the conclusions I had reached. My first impulse was to forget about posting these comments as a new article altogether -- why post an update that undermines the whole purpose of the original article and questions my personal integrity? Why not just leave well enough alone? No one would even read these comments unless they went on STACLU.
Or, I thought, I could post the whole comment and just leave off those last few sentences. After all, I considered, wasn't the writer using the tragedy of Gayle Williams death to put forward his own agenda just as he was criticizing me for doing?

Those of you who have been following Radarsite for any period of time know how much I value honesty, especially self-honesty. I firmly believe that that inability to be honest with one's self is what is behind almost all of the major problems of this world.

There could only be one answer. These personal remembrances are so touching, so valuable, and so essential to beginning to understand who Gayle Williams was that there was no way I could justify not posting them or arbitrarily censoring them because the author disagrees with my conclusions.

So here they are in their entirety. Thank you Edwin de Lange for taking the time to write in to STACLU and share these wonderful personal memories of Gayle "Tree" Williams. - rg

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Comment: Gayle “tree” Williams

A photograph flashes in my mind when I think of Gayle and 7 cousins sitting around a picnic table on the banks of the Kariba Lake ranging in height and age all discussing how many fish we each planned to catch and the art of threading a mud worm onto a hook, as parents busied themselves with making sure sunscreen and hats where all on, no-one thought that one day we would all be on different corners of the world.

As we all grew up Gayle’s Mom always spoilt me as the son she never had. It was Gayle that started horse riding at a young age in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and got me hooked on what was to become my passion and later become my service back to society by training policemen to ride. I always remember that first ride. Gayle got a pony called Bronwynn (a grey Shetland) that loved ducking under fences and leaving her jockey behind. Gayle used to hate getting this pony but she hung in and mastered the ability of ducking. How many afternoons did we get yelled at as my mad passion for horses and show jumping had all the children skipping around the garden jumping the flowers as if we where horses! At this time memories like Gayle Tamsyn (her middle name) Williams begin to flash back when she now did not like her middle name anymore and wanted to be called Gayle “tree” Williams. No matter how much her mom told her Tamsyn was a wonderful name “tree” seemed to stick!

Years later after immigrating to the UK, Gayle, Karen (her sister) and her mom came back to live with us in South Africa. I clearly remember this tall skinny athletic girl running me backwards and forwards across a tennis court with the ability to hit any ball from any man. For pocket money she came to work for my as a bar lady in the hotel night club and always had that smile that was Gayle. She was very into aerobics and went onto study in the field of sports and bio kinetics and was always competitive, latter getting into mountain biking. Years later she returned to the UK and went off to the East again (Pakistan and Afghanistan) to do charity work. There was trouble and she managed to get out safely after a long hike through the mountains and across borders with women and children in tow! I am glad her fitness paid off.

I remember after I had returned from 4 years in Africa as an expat, having escaped some close calls in different dark corners of the continent, how we had a heated debate about the existence of God and if he had turned his back on some areas. I said, “God had got fat and lazy and couldn’t see over his tummy the continents of Africa and Asia that feel into shadow under him and so ignored those areas!” – always looking for an argument, Gayle was not swayed and never took the bait, she never deemed to judge you or convert you, so claims of proselytisation are nonsense! She simply held her ground and was humble in her beliefs.

A little over 2 and bit years ago I was flying around the world on business and bumped into Gayle & her Mom in London and heard she had decided her true calling was to go back to Afghanistan and help the disabled via a charity organisation. When you speak too many of the family they will all tell you we thought she was much bigger then any of us. Often people look to the easy route with offers of – do something locally – do something in your own back yard – build a career and give a donation if you want to do some good - why go all that way when it’s not safe?

Gayle was due to return home for Christmas and I was eager to debate the book I had written about “Faithmentalism” and the holes in the catholic and Islam thinking around marketing and their use of media when it benefits them. It would have been a debate of note!Gayle sense of adventure and calling to help out a group of people whom she held no malice and no judgement of their religious choices or lifestyle but simply to offer her time, her love and her skill was the greater force in her life. A selfless soul who didn’t deserve to be used as a cheap PR move that does nothing for anyone today. I truly hope that Gayle will find peace wherever that may be and that she will not be forgotten when the press dies down. What angers me most is that Islam does not preach killing, only fundamentalists interpret this for their own selfishness!

Beliefs & Doctrine of Christianity & Islamview of the other religion
• Islam is respected as a fellow monotheistic religion, but Muhammad is not seen as a true prophet
• Christians are respected as "People of the Book," but they have mistaken beliefs and only partial revelation

We miss you and we will never forget your smile!
Love Ed and family!

Published in the Chicago Post Tribune 27 Oct 08
http://www.post-trib.com/news/blogentries/index.html?bbPostId=Cz8neME9DYOr5Cz34JXBtDpWXHB1rf7XeB7eJsB595u7HQ28Su

October in New England: Conflicting Signs, Competeing Realities

This town where I live, this quintessential small New England village is beautiful in the Fall. Sometimes I forget how beautiful. Yesterday was a crisp clean October afternoon. It was Saturday and I was driving through town to get my groceries for the weekend. I was away from my computer and out into the real world. Comforted by the surprise of the cool fresh air and the reassuring solidity of this unchanging historical reality which surrounds me. Clean white wood frame houses, tall slender church steeples rising up into a cloudless blue sky. And then there are the people, some of them my friends, up on ladders, painting their houses, in their yards raking leaves or playing with the kids. I wave at some of them as I pass and they wave back. Joggers jogging, lost in their zone. Young lovely mothers pushing baby carriages, thinking about the future.

I forgot how beautiful it all is. How beautiful and powerful and overwhelming this particular reality can be. I'm on my way to the store and I'm driving through this great undeniable reality, and I am comforted by its immutability.

There is of course another reality, an alternative reality, a competing reality, that not-so-reassuring reality I left behind me on my computer. And it seems so far behind me now, so foreign to this glorious day, so infinitely removed from this crisp bright Saturday afternoon. I comfort myself with the thought that that other reality I left behind me is nothing more than a virtual reality, an insubstantial two-dimensional reality, that exists only on my computer screen or in my overwrought imagination. It's not a real reality like the one I'm out in now. It has not the same weight nor credibility of this sumptuous October afternoon in New England. I am temporarily comforted by this thought. I think about those dark, looming existential threats that I left back home on that now-darkened computer screen, and they seem as inconsequential and amorphous as children's fantasies, as foolish and spooky as Halloween ghosts. What power do they have here? I ask myself. What have these hypothetical specters of creeping sharia and pending Socialistic doom to do with this real tangible world I see around me now? Do these people who I pass on my way to the store look frightened or vulnerable? If I stopped and asked one of them if they were living in fear of al Qaeda right now, what would they answer? If I stopped and asked that man who is raking leaves in his front yard if he's worried about America losing its national sovereignty or the encroachment os Islam into our Judeo/Christian culture, what would he say? These are the normal people living in their normal world. That alternative reality is as absurd and out-of-place here as a Transylvanian vampire.

I take in a deep breath of New England air and smile. I feel better now. I'm back in the real reality. It's a beautiful day and I'm on my way to the store to get groceries for the weekend and I'm happy and healthy and I'm not in any pain, and that other reality is as faraway and impotent as some old movie I saw long ago. To waste my life worrying about the threats from that other reality is as foolhardy as wasting my life worrying about being abducted by UFOs.

But then I start seeing the signs. Just one or two at first. Then more and more of them, until they seem to be everywhere. They are the signs of Obama. And they are from that other reality I thought I had left behind but hadn't. And my Saturday afternoon is suddenly not so pleasant anymore, not quite so invulnerable as it was just a minute ago. I had asked myself, How could all this that I see out my window, how could all this great American reality actually change? And the answer is in the signs. How many people in how many different worlds looked around them in history and asked these same great questions? How could all this change? It is incomprehensible.

Then I see another little sign, tacked up on a telephone pole. An innocuous little sign, weather beaten and torn at the edges -- it's been up there for quite a while now. "No room in this town for hate" it reads. And I shudder to myself. This is the sign that advertises our vulnerabilities and our weaknesses. This is what makes this beautiful little town of mine so friendly and pleasant and so blind to the steady encroachment of that other less friendly reality. We have no room here for hate. And without hate we are vulnerable to those who hate us. We are, this sign proclaims, a community determined to be tolerant and just. We are fair-minded and trusting. We don't just welcome the Other into our midst, we eagerly embrace them. And if you are different than us, we say, if your culture is different than ours, and if your values are different from ours, no matter, we will embrace you just the same. Our survival is secondary to our tolerance.

It occurs to me that these different signs are all coming from the same places, these Obama signs and these 'no hate' signs. They were put up by the same people. They are making the same statement and they are proud of their statement. They want the world to know that we care, that we recognize our culpability in the evils that have beset mankind and this great green planet of ours, and we are going to make amends. We are going to change. You just wait and see.

These are the competing realities that are fighting for the dominance of my soul on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. I am in the world of the reality of the normal people for a little while, and sometimes I feel so out of place, my bleak alarmist pessimism seems as fantastic and incongruous here in this bright sunlight as that misplaced Transylvanian vampire. If only I could stay in this reality forever...