One of the reasons that Gods Final Messenger was so successful was that he showed mercy and compassion to his opponents. He did not slaughter the Meccans, he embraced and forgave them. He protected non-combatants, he was merciful to those who offended him and to those who tried to kill him.
It was this mercy and compassion that helped spread his message much more than the sword. That was part of his wisdom, knowing when to defend the faith with the sword and when to put down the sword to make new converts to the faith.

Well put, May those innocents finally find peace in the loving arms of their creator.

Again to all those behind the scenes who ended this tempest in a tea cup:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9)

“Looking tired but excited on the flight from Khartoum to Dubai, she chatted with an embassy security guard and the two peers who lobbied for her freedom, planning what to do on her return. A fellow business-class passenger said: “The four of them talked almost the entire time, laughing happily.”

“For dinner, cabin staff provided Ms Gibbons with Arabic mezze, followed by grilled Iranian chicken kebabs. ”

“For the second leg of her journey home, the party was upgraded to first class. There was one last hiccup before she finally set foot on British soil, when, about 300m above the runway at Heathrow, her Emirates flight via Dubai suddenly starting climbing back into the sky, banking steeply.”

No word on the two dead Afghani women and their infant, I wonder if they got an upgrade too.

Iraq was, is and will continue to be a disaster, I refuse to defend the Bushite thugs lawlessness in the land between the two rivers. The case for war was a lie, the manner in which the war was carried out was a travesty, and the occupation is an unmitigated disaster. I would gladly hand over George W. Bush to the Hague for trail if it were in my power to do so.

Afghanistan is a totally different kettle of fish. OSBL used that nation as a base to carry out a illegal and immoral terrorist attack. Every serious Islamic authority and scholar has condemned the 9/11 attacks. They have rejected OSBL’s fatwa for its source (that is OSBL has no right to issue a fatwas) and for its content.

The U.S. actually had a good cause or at least justification to attack the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Bush being Bush, he made a total hash of it. I believe he did so because his main goal was attacking Iraq. He had to attack and defeat the Taliban before he could go after Saddam. That is why he used bombing and warlords, because it was the easiest way to “liberate” the country. That way he could then move his assets into Iraq in the shortest possible time. That is why he abandoned Hamid Karsi to his own devices after the loya jirga. That is why there are STILL not enough boots on the ground to clear out the fighters. The coalition in Afghanistan is using air power as a substitutes for troopers, with predictable results.
The tragedy of Afghanistan is not Western involvement in the nations affairs, it is Western Involvement as way to further geo-strategic goals that have nothing to do with improving the lot of average Afghans.

At best the Taliban administration was a very mixed lot. They imposed law and order but at a very heavy price. It was a rule that gave pause, most of all to serious students of Islamic governance. Maybe if left to its own devices it would have learned compassion, hard to say. It lost that opportunity when it let a stone-cold killer commit an act that violated the precepts of the religion he was supposedly defending. Again two wrongs don’t make a right.

The Sudan is a creation of the British Colonial past. It is an afterthought of British goals in the East. The UK occupied the Sudan to protect it’s investment in Egypt which protected its interest in the Arabian sea which was vital to the defense of India. Plus there was the little matter of slaughtering a few uppity Wogs that had the unmitigated gaul to kill off a British Garrison. Like much of the UK’s empire Sudan was acquired as an afterthought, for no really good reason other than accident.

The borders of the Sudan having been drawn higgeldy-piggeldy by clueless imperialists, the post colonial government has had trouble keeping the ship of state from breaking up into dozens of pieces. It Islamic principles have rubbed raw the feelings of the Christian and Animist south. Plus there is the conflict between Arabs and Blacks and the not totally separate conflict between agriculturalists and pastoralists that adds fuel to the fire. Sudan is always a crisis waiting to happen.

Fortunately, a way was found to cut losses all around and bury this matter in a deep grave. To the unsung heroes who did the spade work we must give them our thanks.

No Muslim leader offered a “grovelling apology” for what happened. You are lying. Here is a dictionary definition of the word.

Is there any example of a Muslim leader in the West admitting responsibility for the Sudanese problem and then saying sorry for it? Not that I can find.

Is there any example of a Muslim leader in the West justifying or trying to excuse the behaviour of the Sudanese? Nope not that I can find either.