Taliban Man at Yale

Imagine for a moment that your daughter has been accepted into Yale. You are incredibly proud and happy and have great hopes for the experiences she’ll gain there. Sure, it’s going to be tough to pay the tuition, you say good-bye to early retirement and a villa in Hua Hin but it's worth it right?

Then you find out that she is sitting next to one of the leaders of the Taliban in class.

Homosexuals were thrown into ditches and then had concrete walls bulldozed over them. Women caught wearing nail polish had their fingernails pulled out or in some cases their fingers chopped off.

Oh, yeah! This guy is in class with your kid. How did he get there? He must be a genius or something?

He got into Yale with a fourth-grade education and a high-school equivalency degree. Next month, he will apply to become a full-time student working towards a degree in political science.

So where did they find this guy?

Mr. Rahmatullah became an apologist for all of this during his propaganda tour of the U.S. in the months before 9/11. Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" captured one testy exchange he had with an exiled Afghan woman who told him, "You have imprisoned the women. It's a horror, let me tell you." The Afghan diplomat responded with a sneer: "I'm really sorry for your husband. He must have a very difficult time with you."

A Micheal Moore Fan! Well how bad can it be at Yale?

Six years later, even after 9/11, the Yale community represents the world turned upside down. Beth Nisson, a senior, writes that Mr. Rahmatullah's admission to Yale "should serve as a model for American higher education." Della Sentilles, the co-author of a feminist blog at Yale, insists one can't be judgmental about the Taliban. "As a white American feminist, I do not feel comfortable making statements or judgments about other cultures, especially statements that suggest one culture is more sexist and repressive than another," she writes. "American feminism is often linked to and manipulated by the state in order to further its own imperialist ends."

What the F? This guy pulled out women’s fingernails for wearing nail polish and you can’t judge? There are girls at Horst studying cosmetology with more common sense than your average “feminist” at Yale.

I guess they’re open to everyone then?

When I asked several people at Yale if the reaction to Mr. Rahmatullah would be different if he were, say, a former official of the apartheid regime of South Africa, the reaction was universal: Of course he would be barred. When I asked why, I was told I had no idea how liberal a place Yale was. "But what is liberal about the Taliban, then or now?" I innocently asked. Eric White, a senior, told me that many students believe that regimes run by whites, such as apartheid South Africa or Nazi Germany, come out of Western traditions and are judged differently than non-Western regimes. "There's a real feeling that we don't have the right or understanding to be able to hold those regimes to the same standards."

When I asked Prof. Vivek Sharma, who briefly had Mr. Rahmatullah in one of his seminars, about this double standard, he explained, "There's a belief among many at Yale that we really have to specifically understand the Middle East because of the American occupation there and that we must understand our enemies as deeply as we can."

All I need to understand that killing women, Jews, fags and destroying Buddhas is wrong. Take your cultural relativity and stick it.

More on this POS here

The great thing about the Patriot Act is that it will let the government deport grand mothers and innocent businessmen over false pretense but it will let potential "war criminals" sit on a campus.

USA OWNED !!!

The great thing about the Patriot Act is that it will let the government deport grand mothers and innocent businessmen over false pretense but it will let potential "war criminals" sit on a campus.

USA OWNED !!!

Jeesh, I wonder if they are tapping his phonecalls ?

Maybe that's it. They are hoping he call some of his old Taliban buddies to let them know how he has been pulling the wool over the eyes of the US. Probably having a good laugh about it all. Meanwhile the NSA is taping it all ?

The great thing about the Patriot Act is that it will let the government deport grand mothers and innocent businessmen over false pretense but it will let potential "war criminals" sit on a campus.

USA OWNED !!!

Jeesh, I wonder if they are tapping his phonecalls ?

Maybe that's it. They are hoping he call some of his old Taliban buddies to let them know how he has been pulling the wool over the eyes of the US. Probably having a good laugh about it all. Meanwhile the NSA is taping it all ?

A few of our countrymen have come home on stretchers and in caskets lately courtesy of the Taliban. Enough phone games. Maybe just parachute him onto the artillery range at Shilo.

cv

What the F? This guy pulled out women’s fingernails for wearing nail polish

seriously - this rabid ranting blogger has proof of this statement and he has yet to provide it to the relevant authorities - sheesh , that's got to be almost aiding and abetting?

What the F? This guy pulled out women’s fingernails for wearing nail polish

seriously - this rabid ranting blogger

Missed your point there Stu...?

Amazing Boon! I'm shocked how the lad got in the country more than acceptance at an Ivy league.

I didn't realise they were your comments that were non-italicised and from the linked article

I don't believe Mr. Rahmatullah had direct knowledge of the 9/11 plot, and I don't think he has ever killed anyone. I can appreciate that he is trying to rebuild his life.

I wonder if "JOHN FUND ON THE TRAIL" believes education might solve many of the worlds problems?

How to deal with the Taliban ...

TalibanAnswMachine.mp3

Amazing Boon! I'm shocked how the lad got in the country more than acceptance at an Ivy league.

I'm not sure if it is amazing, or simply absurd.

This guy was an acknowledge member of the Taliban, a regime the US stomped on and kicked out of Afghanistan. The US is still hunting the former leader (Mullah Omar) at the same time they are looking for Osama.

The US won't give Cuban diplomats and athletes visas to go to the US. But they let in a guy who was part of a regime that was far more brutal and repressive than Castro ever was.

(remember, I just came back from working just over 2 years in Afghanistan). That regime didn't just pull fingernails off women for wearing nail polish. They would bury women up to their neck in a soccer stadium and let the crowd stone them to death for things like (alleged) adultery or for being a rape victim. (Under Sharia law, a women would have to get FOUR males to admit that they raped her, or knew that she'd been raped, in order for her to be declared innocent.)

Women could be sadistically beaten if the hem of their burquas didn't cover their whole foot, or if someone decided the woman was acting in an improper manner (i.e. being flirtatious).

And who made these judicial decisions ? Who ever had a gun. Being a member of the Taliban gave you the power of Judge, Jury and Executioner on the spot.

Trials ? Yeah right. That would presume that a person had a right to defend himself/herself. Besides, too many trials would take too much time (and money). Time (and money) that could be better spent watching the stonings and executions at the stadium.

(The stadium was built and paid for by western nations. They protested when the Taliban used the stadium to carry out atrocities. The Taliban's response ? They never asked the western nations to build and pay for the stadium, so they would use it for what ever purpose they wanted)

The Taliban claimed to have reduced the poppy growing and drug trade in Afghanistan while they were in power.

The truth is, they were controlling it. Remember that when the US was gearing up to invade Afghanistan, the Taliban threatened to open up the warehouses and flood the market with heroin if the US did invade (didn't happen, Shock and Awe saw to that).

And now, one of the key people from that regime is studying at one of the most prestigious universities in the US. Even if he was "politician", and didn't personally commit any atrocities, does that make it OK ? (Won't even get into his "grade 4 education and high-school equivalency test. How does a guy with an (Afghani) grade 4 education pass a high-school equivalency test ? Even an Afghani one ? And that qualifies him for admission to Yale ? Wow.)

Perhaps some outraged US citizens should be writing their elected representatives, asking why this guy isn't a "guest" at G'tmo. After all, they have a number of other "guests" there that are far less deserving than this guy.

Update on the Yale Taliban Man

Yale's defense of Mr. Rahmatullah's admission. Here it is in its entirety:

"Ramatullah Hashemi escaped the wreckage of Afghanistan and was approved by the U.S. government for a visa to study in this country. Yale has allowed Hashemi to take courses for college credit in a part-time program that does not award Yale degrees. Contrary to what has been reported by some in the media, he has not been admitted as an undergraduate to Yale College or to any of the other schools at Yale. We hope that his courses help him understand the broader context for the conflicts that led to the creation of the Taliban and to its fall. We acknowledge that some are criticizing Yale for allowing Hashemi to take courses here, but we hope that critics will also acknowledge that universities are places that must strive to increase understanding, especially of the most difficult issues that face the nation and the world."

This is a very curious statement. Mr. Rahmatullah "escaped the wreckage of Afghanistan?" The idea someone who was a high official in the regime that created that wreckage could "escape" it?

Link

Update on the Yale Taliban Man

Yale's defense of Mr. Rahmatullah's admission. Here it is in its entirety:

"Ramatullah Hashemi escaped the wreckage of Afghanistan and was approved by the U.S. government for a visa to study in this country.

The only thing he escaped was being captured and interned in G'tmo along with some of his fellow Taliban cohorts.

Did the person that approved his visa know about this guy's background ? Did Hashemi lie about his past when he applied for the visa ? Where did he apply for his visa (Afghanistan, UAE, Pakistan ?)

Yale has allowed Hashemi to take courses for college credit in a part-time program that does not award Yale degrees. Contrary to what has been reported by some in the media, he has not been admitted as an undergraduate to Yale College or to any of the other schools at Yale. We hope that his courses help him understand the broader context for the conflicts that led to the creation of the Taliban and to its fall.

Load of crap. It was already reported that he was applying for a full-time program. He is using the part-time program as a stepping stone to get into a degree program (wonder what he plans on majoring in ? How to run a more efficient dictatorship ? Torture 101 ? Certainly won't be taking any Human Rights or Women's Rights courses).

This is a very curious statement. Mr. Rahmatullah "escaped the wreckage of Afghanistan?" The idea someone who was a high official in the regime that created that wreckage could "escape" it?

Link

Again, it makes me wonder just how (and where) he got his visa in the first place.

Perhaps a few people here might spend a bit of time reading up on the history of the Taliban and how the CIA spent US Tax Payer's Dollars, funding and training the Taliban in their fight against the Russians.

Back then it was a case of My Enemy's Enemy is my Friend and no questions where asked. They were just as vile, just as nasty as they are now, but America did not give a <deleted> about it.

The Taliban eventually turned and bit the ass that was feeding it.

It is not what one ex member of the Taliban learns in Yale that matters, it is what the US Government and the CIA in particular taught the whole of the Taliban.

Perhaps a few people here might spend a bit of time reading up on the history of the Taliban and how the CIA spent US Tax Payer's Dollars, funding and training the Taliban in their fight against the Russians.

Back then it was a case of My Enemy's Enemy is my Friend and no questions where asked. They were just as vile, just as nasty as they are now, but America did not give a <deleted> about it.

The Taliban eventually turned and bit the ass that was feeding it.

It is not what one ex member of the Taliban learns in Yale that matters, it is what the US Government and the CIA in particular taught the whole of the Taliban.

Not entirely correct.

American money to fund the insurgency against the Russians was channeled through the Pakistani ISI. The ISI insisted that they would choose which factions to support without having to have US agreement. That was the deal. The ISI chose the Taliban.

American money to fund the insurgency against the Russians was channeled through the Pakistani ISI. The ISI insisted that they would choose which factions to support without having to have US agreement. That was the deal. The ISI chose the Taliban.

And the US knew nothing of this???

Utter nonsense.

The US chose to look the other way.

Put the boot on the other foot and say for example that a Muslim Country was funding a charrity that was sending money to terrorist....

Again - Double standards.

Of course the US knew.

The Pakistani ISI insisted as part of the deal to choose which organization received money and training to fight the Soviets. They chose the Taleban as they thought they would be the most controllable. Also, the Taleban were mainly made up of the Pushtun ethnic group which is also present in Pakistan. Their lands bordered Pakistan, making it convenient for supply.

The US couldn't care less which guerilla faction got the money as long as they were fighting the Soviets.

What I'm saying in a nut-shell, is that the US did not give funds and training to the Taleban directly.

Everything was channeled through Pakistan, And, it was Pakistan that chose the Taleban as recipients of US largesse.

Pakistan was ultimately responsible for the rise of the Taleban, albeit with US money.

If yer interested

This highly controversial book reveals, for the first time, one of the greatest military, political and financial secrets of recent times. It is nothing less than the true, if fantastic, account of how Pakistan and the USA covertly controlled the largest guerrilla war of this century, dealing to the Soviet Russian presence in Afghanistan a military defeat that has come to be called ‘Russia’s Vietnam’. From 1983 to 1987 Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf was the head of the Afghan Bureau of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI – akin to the CIA), and as such was effectively the Mujahideen’s commander-in-chief; he is, in fact, as the book demonstrates, the only general since the Second World War to have directed troops in action within the Soviet Union’s own borders. He controlled the flow of thousands of tons of arms across Pakistan and into its occupied neighbour, arms bought with CIA and Saudi Arabian funds from the USA, Britain, China, Egypt and Turkey, among others. He organised and directed the training of the Mujahideen in secret camps within his own country, and covertly sent Pakistan Army teams inside Afghanistan to assist the guerrillas in their campaign of ambushes, assassinations, raids and rocket attacks, a campaign that forced the Soviets to realise that they could never win. He saw that the Mujahideen were fed, cared for, and supplied with every necessity; he organised recruiting from among the thousands of refugees; he negotiated with the leaders of various guerrilla groups (a task requiring the skills, patience, and strength of character of several saints); and he co-ordinated the ultra-secret Mujahideen raids deep inside what was then still the USSR. There are many in authority in the USA and Pakistan who would still prefer that Brigadier Yousaf’s revelations were not made public...

its in RTF format

This Idea I found interesting

University training for Imams

March 16, 2006

MUSLIM leaders want to train Islamic clerics in Australian universities to prevent students being exposed to fundamentalist Middle Eastern teachings.

A proposal by a branch of John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group would allow Australian imams to study at universities in Sydney and Melbourne, The Australian newspaper reported today.

The curriculum would emphasise spiritual rather than political Islam, the report said.

Joumanah El-Matrah, who chairs a subgroup of the reference panel, said the courses would offer aspiring Islamic clerics a mainstream education, in contrast to that provided by traditionally more radical training centres in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

"The (course) will offer a meaningful alternative within Australia for young Muslims who are interested in developing some training in Islam, or their interest in becoming imams," she was quoted as saying.

"In time we think that the graduates of the course would create a vision of what it means to be a Muslim here, in a way that is conducive to this community."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...55E1702,00.html

Sophon Cable aired Fahrenheit 9/11 today. Hadn't seen it before (missed the opening part today, and when they switched VCD disks, they ended up replaying about a half hour of it).

The part that stood out for me, was the piece about the Afghani Ambassador coming to America in March 2001.

There he is, the same guy that's now at Yale. The guy who supposedly "escaped" the destruction in Afghanistan.

Did he ever go back to Afghanistan before/during/after 9-11, or did he just stay in Washington ?

What was he up to between 9-11 and now ?

Notice how the story has dropped of the radar of most of the news outlets now ? One brief flurry and then forgotten about.

The part about the Taliban delegation visiting the Bush family farm in 1997 was notable too, but thats for another topic, maybe.