Vital Perspective

The world of genital mutilation

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, refugee from radical Islam, quoted in an excellent article by Christopher Hitchens: "I left the world of faith, of genital cutting and forced marriage for the world of reason and sexual emancipation. After making this voyage I know that one of these two worlds is simply better than the other. Not for its gaudy gadgetry, but for its fundamental values."

In the Winter 2007 issue of the Middle East Quarterly, Thomas von der Osten-Sacken and Thomas Uwer have an excellent article on the brutal subject of female genital mutilation in the Islamic world, citing some shocking figures, for example: 97% of girls in Egypt are mutilated in this way. They write, "Among social activists and feminists, combating female genital mutilation (FGM) is an important policy goal. Sometimes called female circumcision or female genital cutting, FGM is the cutting of the clitoris of girls in order to curb their sexual desire and preserve their sexual honor before marriage. The practice, prevalent in some majority Muslim countries, has a tremendous cost: many girls bleed to death or die of infection. Most are traumatized. Those who survive can suffer adverse health effects during marriage and pregnancy. New information from Iraqi Kurdistan raises the possibility that the problem is more prevalent in the Middle East than previously believed and that FGM is far more tied to [the Muslim] religion than many Western academics and activists admit."

The authors give the example of Iraqi Kurdistan, where "Midwives often perform the operation with unsterilized instruments or even broken glass and without anesthesia on girls four to twelve years old. The extent of mutilation depends on the experience of the midwife and the luck of the girl. The wound is then treated with ash or mud with the girls then forced to sit in a bucket of iced water. Many Kurdish girls die, and others suffer chronic pain, infection, and infertility. Many say they suffer symptoms consistent with posttraumatic stress disorder syndrome. [...] Most women referred to the practice as both a tradition and a religious obligation. When asked why they subject their daughters to the operation, many women respond "it has always been like that." Because the clitoris is considered to be "dirty" (haram, the connotation is forbidden by religion), women fear that they cannot find husbands for their daughters if they have not been mutilated; many believe men prefer sex with a mutilated wife."

Video: Brigitte Gabriel Discusses Radical Islam in Heritage Foundation Forum

Happy New Year to you all. Before we get too far into other activities, we thought we'd leave you with an excellent series of videos of Brigitte Gabriel discussing radical Islam at the Heritage Foundation. Gabriel is a Christian Lebanese-American journalist, author and activist. She is the founder of the American Congress For Truth, a conservative think tank. The videos will take just under an hour to go through.

On the First Night of Hanukkah, President Bush Sends His Holiday Greetings

I send greetings to all those celebrating Hanukkah, the festival of lights.

During Hanukkah, Jewish people everywhere honor the liberation of Jerusalem and the great miracle witnessed in the Holy Temple more than 2,000 years ago. After Jerusalem was conquered by an oppressive king and the Jews lost their right to worship in freedom, Judah Maccabee and his followers courageously set out to reclaim Jerusalem from foreign rule. Though their numbers were small, the Maccabees' dedication to their faith was strong, and they emerged victorious. When they returned to their Holy Temple for its rededication, the Maccabees discovered enough oil to burn for only one day. Yet the oil lit the Holy Temple for eight days, and the light of hope still shines bright in Jewish homes and synagogues throughout the world.

Each year, the glow of the menorah is a reminder of the blessings of a just and loving God and the sacrifices made over the centuries for faith and freedom. Laura and I pray that this holiday season will be a time of happiness in every home and a time of peace throughout the world.

Happy Hanukkah.

White House Condemns Holocaust Conference; Attendees Form Committee

This just in from the Office of the Press Secretary at The White House:

The United States condemns the conference on the Holocaust convoked by the Iranian regime on Monday in Tehran. While people around the world mark International Human Rights Week and renew the solemn pledges of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which was drafted in the wake of the atrocities of World War II, the Iranian regime perversely seeks to call the historical fact of those atrocities into question and provide a platform for hatred. The gathering of Holocaust deniers in Tehran is an affront to the entire civilized world, as well as to the traditional Iranian values of tolerance and mutual respect. The United States will continue to support those in Iran and elsewhere who seek to promote human rights and dignity, and will stand with them in their efforts to overcome oppression, injustice, and tyranny.

Meanwhile, the conference has agreed to form an international committee to study the Holocaust. Robert Faurisson, a French scholar who has described the Holocaust as a "historical lie", said the committee included members from the U.S., France, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Iran, Bahrain and Syria.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country would never accept such a conference and would "counter it in every way we can", adding: "It shows the danger of the situation Israel is in and in particular the threat that Israel lives under."

Holocaust 'Review' (Denial) Conference Opens in Tehran with 67 Attendees

A two-day international conference to review the world's concept of the Holocaust opened in Tehran today with a speech by Iranian FM Manouchehr Mottaki. The director-general of the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Rassoul Moussavi, said that it was aimed at creating an appropriate scientific atmosphere for discussing historical events, including the Holocaust.

"Some people who had been asked to attend refused, saying it aims to deny the Holocaust. Others assumed the international conference was politically motivated and were reluctant to attend. Officials in charge of organizing the conference do not intend to deny or confirm it. What the IPIS considers its duty is to create a suitable atmosphere for discussing historical issues," he said.

The International Conference to Review the Holocaust Global Vision is reportedly being attended by 67 people from 30 countries. "Holocaust, a Modern Viewpoint," "Holocaust, Figures, Statistics and Realities," "Historical documents on the Holocaust," "Nazism, Holocaust and the Zionists" and "Holocaust: Consequences and the Global Vision" are among the speeches to be delivered.

UPDATE 12/11 @ 16:19: The Israeli Foreign Ministry has released a statement about the conference. Read it below the fold.

Thousands Rally in Pakistan Against Progressive Bill Amending Rape Laws

Some 25,000 supporters of Islamic parties rallied in Pakistan yesterday to protest against the passage of a bill amending the country's rape laws that precluded rape and adultery cases from being heard under Pakistan's harsh religious laws. The protest was organized by the six-party religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal in Karachi.

Students from Islamic seminaries holding banners and placards chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf and the U.S. "Death to America and its stooges", "Stop joking with Islam in the name of women's liberation", "We reject women protection bill" read banners and placards amid shouts of "Death to Bush-Blair nexus".

Islamist leaders delivered fiery speeches and vowed to intensify protests across Pakistan. "The women protection bill is part of Western agenda that Musharraf is following," the chief of the parliamentary opposition, Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, said addressing the protesters. "There will be complete strike on Friday in Pakistan and we will continue our struggle to safeguard Islamic laws."

Physicist Stephen Hawking in Israel, W Bank for Series of Meetings, Lectures

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert met yesterday with physicist Stephen Hawking and expressed his appreciation for his work in investigating the universe and for his contribution to humanity. It is his fourth visit to Israel and the first since 1989. They discussed the Israeli-Palestinian situation including the ceasefire and the possibility of advancing the negotiations between the sides. They agreed strengthening Palestinian moderates – those who support a settlement with Israel and not terrorism – is very important.

Also on Sunday, Hawking presented a prerecorded 45 minute physics lecture to Israeli teenagers at the Bloomfield Museum of Science about black holes and how they warp space-time. His talk also included topics such as Wheeler-Feynman electro-dynamics, the Euclidian approach to quantum gravity, "naked singularities" and the "Cosmic Censorship hypothesis". He finished his presentation by answering questions posed by the winners and finalists of the Intel-Young Israeli Scientists competition.

Before leaving for England on Friday, Hawking will speak to Palestinian science students through a video conference seminar organised by the British Council in East Jerusalem, meet with members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Israeli physicists at the Centre for Excellence at Neve Shalom, visit Tel Aviv University, give a lecture at Birzeit University in Ramallah, and guest lecture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on "The Origin of the Universe". The lecture will also be carried live on the Hebrew University's website.

Saturday YouTube: MSNBC's Imus Lashes Out Against 'Money Grubbing' Jews

Via The Forward, we have MSNBC's Don Imus on YouTube lashing out against CBS's 'money grubbing' Jewish management. This of course is nothing new. In 2004, Imus called the book publishers Simon & Schuster "thieving Jews", returning to the subject later in the program to offer a mock apology, saying that the phrase he used was "redundant." In 1998, he called called Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz "that boner-nosed... beanie-wearing little Jew boy."

UPDATE 12/09 @ 12:15 We've learned that the video has been pulled by YouTube. Unfortunately it's not available elsewhere. You can read about it here though.

UNDP: Discrimination Against Women Holding Back Arab World Development

A new UNDP report says that discrimination against women is holding back economic and social development across the Arab World, and recommends that Arab women be given greater access to education, employment, health care and public life. Islam is not to blame for the problem, the report says, but rather political inflexibility, male domination and war.

Maternal mortality rates remain unacceptably high - 1,000 per 100,000 live births in the poorest Arab League states - and women suffer more overall ill-health than men. In all but four Arab countries, fewer than 80% of girls go to secondary school. Half of all women are illiterate compared to one-third of men. In public life women's involvement is very limited: they make up an average of only about 10% of members of parliament, for example - the lowest proportion in the world.

"Arab countries stand to reap extraordinary benefits from giving men and women equal opportunities to acquire and utilise knowledge," the report says.

Botched Execution in Kuwait Leaves Man Alive for Five Hours After Hanging

Sanjaya Rowan Kumara, a Sri Lankan national who was executed in Kuwait for murdering an Asian woman during a robbery remained alive five hours after he was hanged and pronounced dead, newspapers reported yesterday. Najeeb al-Mulla of the Ministry of Justice, who supervised the hanging, told Al-Watan newspaper the report was "baseless."

Kumara was pronounced dead by doctors eight minutes after he was hanged but medics who transported his body to a morgue said they noticed he was still moving. Forensic experts were immediately called to examine the body and they confirmed that "there was some weak pulse in his heart," the daily said. The examination was repeated several times and each time "the dead body showed some signs of life."