How to Define a Multicuralist's Nightmare?

To be a practitioner of that uniquely western philosophy, multiculturalism, means that the adherent adopts the belief that cultures of other countries are at least the equal to, if not better then, his or her own. The adherent makes no comparative moral judgments.

But sometimes that can be difficult. Sometimes, the mores of other cultures are so outrageous, so antithetical to liberal Western values, that only deliberate ignorance of reality will allow the multicultural philosophy to remain untarnished.

With that in mind, let me set a scenario. A man and woman go out, when they are accosted by five knife wielding men who kidnap them. They are taken to a remote location, where the kidnappers gang rape the woman a total of fourteen times. The kidnappers/rapists are eventually caught. On those facts, what do law and justice demand as punishment for the guilty and as recompense for the victim?

If we were in America, the charges would likely be aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape along with a smattering of other, lesser charges. It is quite likely the prison terms for these offenses, in sum, would range from twenty years to life. The victim would be be given counselling and she would likely receive funds from a government victim's compensation program.

That's in America, where we are ruled by a secular legal code that developed out of a judeo-christian ethic. It would likely be similar in any western country.

In Saudi Arabia, where this crime actually occurred, the nation is officially ruled by Sharia law -- the code of law discerned from a reading of the Koran -- and as interpreted within the strictures of Wahhabi Islam. Wahhabi Islam is, unfortunate to say, the triumphalist, grossly racist, misogynistic and brutal form of Islam that has been exported to the United States and across the world by Saudi Arabia, using billions of dollars of oil money. So what happens to the victim and her attackers under Wahhabi Sharia law? According to a report in the Agence France-Presse:

Five men were arrested for the rape and given jail terms ranging from 10 months to five years by a panel of judges . . . But the judges also decided to sentence the woman . . . and the man to lashes for being alone together in the car.

Yes, you heard that correctly. The victim will be flogged for, as the article goes on to say, a total of 90 lashes.

Just to put how barbaric this is into perspective, what follows is a description of a Saudi judicial flogging given to a man.

I was brought to the whipping area. They tied me to a post. My hands were handcuffed and they also shackled my legs. I was wearing a T-shirt and jogging pants... The whip was one and a half metres long... with a heavy lead piece attached to the tip. It was terrible. Some fell on my thighs and my back. I would fall when the whip reached my feet but the prison guard would raise me up to continue the whipping. It was terrible. I was amazed to find myself still alive after the 70th lash was given. It lasted about 15 minutes... my back was bleeding. I cried.

As to the victim in the rape, she appealed her verdict but was "told by one of the judges [that] she was lucky not to have been given jail time." Since her trial, the woman . . . [has] tried to commit suicide because of her ordeal and was beaten by her younger brother because the rape had brought shame on their family." Nice to see her family supporting her and protecting her honor, isn't it?

Such are Sharia law and the concept of family honor in Saudi Arabia. So please tell me now, is there anything about a culture that can treat someone this way that makes you feel as if it is, on balance, equal or superior to Western culture? And therein lies the problem for the multiculturalist. Facts are the clay from which their nightmares are made.

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Iraq: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:

• Prime Minister al-Maliki is reshuffeling his cabinet and will dismiss all six ministers from Sadr's party. This ontop of Sadr's retreat to Iraq and the U.S./Iraqi surge -- now on the verge of setting up permanent base in Sadr City -- is good news and shows that, despite doubts by many, myself included, al-Maliki can and is acting decisively to stop the violence convulsing the country.
  
• For the second day in a row, there was only one major explosion in Baghdad.

The Bad:

• Sunni insurgents broke into the homes of two families of an influential Sunni tribe in Youssifiyah, north of Baghdad, and executed the males. The families had taken part in a series of meetings with local Sunni and Shia leaders arranged by the U.S. to stop the violence in their town.
  



• Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for kidnapping and executing 18 Iraqi policemen in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Iraqi police force, which woman made her accusations on Al Jazeera. The tape of the cold blooded assassination of the policemen is described on al Jazeera.

The Ugly:

• Al-Maliki's handling of the Sunni woman's claim of rape by Iraqi security forces. Al-Maliki, the day after the woman aired her charge on Al Jazeera television, announced an investigation, but the day after announced that her "rape claim was fabricated to tarnish the reputation of the police and the security crackdown in Baghdad." I agree with Maliki that the rape charges, carried nationally on television, struck me as having all of the indicies of a legitimate claim as does the Duke rape case -- and its timing coinciding with the surge was just too coincidental. Nonetheless, dismissing the claim without investigation was far too ham handed. He should have authorized a real investigation and waited until its conclusion, and then announced the results in detail to the country. What he has done instead opens him up to portrayal as a partisan -- the last thing he needs at this point.

Read more here.

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