Summer Brew, Refreshing Blogger Beer.

June's greatest hit:

In 1998 I was finishing up six years at the UAE University. I was in my office and two girls approached me and asked my opinion about a cartoon. They were doing a survey for a class. They presented me with an editorial cartoon that featured about six women clad in black from head to toe. Each one was labeled thusly: "shame spice", "modest spice", "abused spice" etc the caption read: "The Afghan Spice Girls". I laughed because it struck me that way but I could tell one girl was not at all amused by this cartoon. They asked me what I thought about it and why I laughed. I backpedaled a bit and stated the visual effect was humorous.

Then it struck me, they (or at least one of them was) were taking the cartoon as an attack on Islam not the Taliban as intended. I stated this to them and quickly added, if they were in Afghanistan they would not be attending ANY SCHOOL let alone a fine university. This hit home, as the one girl immediately started explaining in Arabic to her compatriot I was right (I heard her say "true" in Arabic twice).

Source: Blogger Beer - Why Soft Peddle the War On Terror. June 20, 2005

This is my response to those who demand the President make the WOT an all out war on radical Islam. When the President says War on Terror it is said with a wink-wink nudge-nudge. President Bush has cooled relations with Sinn Fein in Ireland but our nation is not expending resources to fight the IRA, the Tamil Tigers, The ETA etc.

The way I put it if President Bush says We are fighting a war on Islamic radicalism far too many Muslims will hear We are fighting a warn on Islam...blah-blah-blah [insert the sound adults on the phone would make in Charlie Brown cartoon shows] .

The coolest part is some days later I found the cartoon being discussed (this blogger beer brew is on the house!).