Bruce Balfour Quotes
I was arrested because a computer entry said that I have been in Israel at one time … please tell me where the crime in this is. This is against all international law and moral code of every civilized country in the world. I need to get out of here now, every hour multiplies the possibility of my being moved to another location and disappearing forever.
Lebanon was at the time really controlled by Syria which doubtless ordered the arrest.
Bruce Balfour, Canadian evangelical Christian Field director of Cedars of Lebanon (a project affiliated with the Maranatha Evangelistic Association to replant biblical cedars, which have largely disappeared from Lebanon's central mountains), Letter to the Canadian Lebanese Ambassador, Written from prison in Lebanon, July 22, 2003
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Observation of the other fugitives in Canada
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning
Christians of 1 thousand years ago were barbarous and immoral compared to Christians of today, even though their Bible is the same. He argued that Islam may well also reform. In looking at Islam compared with Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, it is useful to remember that these are much older religions than Islam. They have had more time to reform and develop. Compare Christians 700 years ago to Christians today. They were pretty barbaric in comparison. They burned heretics at the stake and "witches" also. But Islam is 700 years younger than Christianity and thousands of years younger than the other 3 religions mentioned. It may well need more time to develop and reform.
Major Fleener had been assigned to defend accused terrorists who were being held at the military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba. For several years they were held without a hearing or trial. Then the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that they had to be given a hearing or trial. A Military tribunal was selected. The methods and procedures of these hearings came under much public world-wide criticism as they did not meet the normal legal standards of most countries. Surprisingly, one of the military officers made public statements criticizing the army and the trials.
When TR came to office, the U. S. was in the midst of war with Philippine insurgents who were fighting an asymmetric , guerrilla war against the U. S. Army. The war had become very brutal with the insurgents using terror and atrocities and some Army units executing prisoners and torturing captives. Roosevelt, actually fired the General who was in charge of the field troops rather than just discipline lower level officers as usually has happened.
The implication of a double moral standard for adherents of the faith and for others has been characteristics of many religions.
After the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat hundreds of Egyptian religious fundamentalists were rounded up, jailed and tortured. al-Zawahiri broke under torture and revealed the names of some of his anti-government associates. Although he was not personally involved in the murder of Sadat, he served three additional years in jail. Motivated by has thirst for revenge at his torturers and his guilt at having been forced to betray his friend, he learned all he could about terrorism from the older Jihadists also in the same jail, and when he was released he elevated Islamic terrorism to another level by developing a strategy for the use of suicide bombers.
