Take a look, if you can bear it, at this account in today’s Washington Post of the horrific torture and imprisonment of an Afghan man, Sayed, suspected of being a Christian. The passage that haunted me most is the following:
“Behind closed doors here in Kabul, in the southern city of Kandahar and elsewhere, the Taliban enforced its Islamic code with a brutality only hinted at by its public actions. Non-Muslims were a common target. About 50 Hindu families who live here were ordered by the Taliban to wear distinguishing yellow clothing. Most of the few remaining Jews in Kabul left the country. There may be a few Christian Afghans; if so, they hid from the Taliban for fear of execution. With Sayed, the Taliban thought it had to set an example. The soldiers pulled him out of his cell. They kicked him, punched him, pulled his hair. They spat on him. The soldiers begged the commander for the privilege of killing Sayed with their knives. ‘God will give us our reward, because this is the one who converted,’ they said.”
This is the end-point of the fusion of political power and religious fundamentalism. It is evil. And it must be nipped in the bud wherever and whenever it appears.
DASCHLE’S OMISSION: The one thing Daschle didn’t say in his much-touted speech yesterday was that the enacted tax cuts must be reversed. His argument for a return to balanced budgets makes no sense without this. So his glaring omission must surely reflect his own political calculation that calling for higher taxes is a non-starter. If it is, then Bush surely enjoys an enormous advantage. The Republican bluff has been to dare the Democrats to raise taxes. The Dems have just blinked. The game is almost over before it has even begun.
The Dish 