Is Mullah Omar a Taliban moderate?
posted at 10:21 am on March 16, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
After hearing Barack Obama talk about looking for Taliban moderates, one apparently has volunteered to be Obama’s partner in peace. Unfortunately, Mullah Omar hardly qualifies as a “moderate”, given the brutal nature of his rule in Afghanistan before the US deposed him following the 9/11 attacks. Will Obama talk with Omar?
Mullah Omar, the supreme leader of the Taliban, has approved the talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, with a top aide of the one-eyed cleric taking part in the Saudi-sponsored peace negotiations, a news report said on Sunday.
“Mullah Omar has given the green light to talks,” said one of the mediators, Abdullah Anas, a former friend of Osama Bin Laden who used to fight in Afghanistan but now lives in London.
“A big, big step has happened,” Anas was quoted as saying by The Sunday Times today. “For the first time, there is a language of . . . Peace on both sides,” he said.
In one sense, Obama may not have much to say about it. Hamid Karzai has to make the decision about how much accommodation he wants to make with his fellow Afghanis in exchange for peace. Afghanistan is much more of a civil war than Iraq was, even at the worst of times, and its resolution will come through some level of reconciliation. If Karzai chooses to engage with Omar, Obama won’t be able to prevent it, and if Karzai wants nothing to do with Omar, Obama will have only a limited influence in pushing the two together.
The notion seems absurd on its face, however, and it doesn’t help Obama to have Omar making this move. Many critics of Obama’s “moderate Taliban” remark insist that the phrase is an oxymoron. Perhaps that’s not strictly true, but the idea that Omar is a moderate anything is laughable. Omar believes in strict imposition of shari’a law as a governing force and imam rule, proving both during his catastrophic reign of terror. Are we to believe that Omar suddenly has an affection for democracy and secular politics, and that he’d be willing to bargain away shari’a in negotiations? Omar epitomizes the oxymoron.
Either Omar thinks he can manipulate the Obama administration into allowing him to re-establish his movement in Afghanistan in the guise of a political party, or he’s more desperate than we think. If it’s the latter, we can gauge his sincerity by asking him to deliver Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the rest of al-Qaeda’s leadership. If it’s the former, Omar will balk outright.
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The moderate KKK wants to talk to Mbama too.
Akzed on March 16, 2009 at 10:25 AM
We made deals with Islamic extremists in Iraq why can’t we do the same with the Taliban?
nice343 on March 16, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Are you winking at me?
ConstantSorrow on March 16, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Mullah Omar is not a moderate in any sense of the word.
If Karzai wants to open talks with the guy, I would be more than happy to bring our troops home.
If Obama so much as sends up a trial balloon about talking with Mullah Omar, then I would be happy to bring our troops home – to re-take DC.
myrenovations on March 16, 2009 at 10:26 AM
When pondering Obama’s move, just imagine the correct move, then pick the opposite.
faraway on March 16, 2009 at 10:26 AM
He’s a very moderate murdering caveman lunatic.
Perhaps he and Obama can trade puppy raising anecdotes.
NoDonkey on March 16, 2009 at 10:27 AM
He’s probably close enough for Barry’s liking.
Vashta.Nerada on March 16, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Heh, let’s ask all those minus their right hand, acid scars on their face, and those family memebers who watched him stone their sisters, mothers and aunts for being raped.
katy on March 16, 2009 at 10:28 AM
How about we negotiate with a JDAM through his roof?
CP on March 16, 2009 at 10:28 AM
Better idea…. ask Omar and his buds to join the Obama admnin.
Pefect fit!
katy on March 16, 2009 at 10:30 AM
But… but… Sharia is just “alternative dispute resolution”. Those words and that concept automatically pop in the head of ten-year-old child brides of arranged marriages who happen to find themselves facing a mufti or shiekh in sharia court in the UK or US. No worries.
It would be nice if the US had ended sharia in Afghanistan or Iraq for our hundreds of billions of dollars. But instead we imported it to our Ivy League schools and arbitration panels. Now the administrtioin is favoring it as a solution in Swat, inter alia.
Never mind the fact Osama Bin Laden used sharia as the major justification for killing American civilians in both his 1996 and 1998 fatwas. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, sharia-atrocity wise.
Beagle on March 16, 2009 at 10:30 AM
We made deals with Islamic extremists in Iraq why can’t we do the same with the Taliban?
nice343 on March 16, 2009 at 10:25 AM
The Iraqi’s had to prove their sincerity before we partnered with them, basically by turning-in scads of terrorists and weapons caches.
If you had bothered to actually read the thread topic, you would have known that is the point of whether or not we can trust Omar: Is he willing to prove his sincerity to reconciliation by surrendering thugs to us.
Bishop on March 16, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Great idea! And obviously, the first thing the President should do is send Mullah Omar a boxed set 25 DVD’s of America’s classic movies. We just need your address, Mullah.
Loxodonta on March 16, 2009 at 10:35 AM
LOL
WisCon on March 16, 2009 at 10:36 AM
JDAM sounds best.
kelley in virginia on March 16, 2009 at 10:36 AM
if the question is framed “should we trust Mullah Omar” then the obvious answer is NO
kelley in virginia on March 16, 2009 at 10:38 AM
Is Mullah Omar a Taliban moderate? Eye don’t know. It seems it’s all in how we look at him. Or how he looks at us. Do we even know his world view? My only concern is that he might just be a little short-sighted.
hawkdriver on March 16, 2009 at 10:38 AM
hawk: funny
kelley in virginia on March 16, 2009 at 10:39 AM
“My job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect,” B. Hussein Mbama
Akzed on March 16, 2009 at 10:39 AM
We’d love to meet with you Mr. Omar.
Where are you exactly?
swash_plate on March 16, 2009 at 10:40 AM
ok, I respect this guy. we won’t put out but one eye.
kelley in virginia on March 16, 2009 at 10:40 AM
The people we made deals with in Iraq were Sunni nationalists who we were trying to separate from the Islamic extremists.
Mark1971 on March 16, 2009 at 10:41 AM
I think this is a great idea. Let’s give Omar the coordinates of the meeting place. I just hope it’s not on top of an AQ weapons depot. . .
rbj on March 16, 2009 at 10:41 AM
It is now officially Spring Break in a trailer park somewhere in Altoona.
AubieJon on March 16, 2009 at 10:42 AM
There is no negotiating with this man.
He is a brutal leader of the Taliban and will accept nothing less than total power and institution of Shaira law.
We negotiated with the local tribes in Iraq to turn against al-qaeda and against Sadr militia.
But we had to kick there a$$’s before any negotiating worked.
Destroy as many of them as possible.
Show the people that the democratic government is the strongest and will be supported by America (with NATO in the rear) 100%.
Then negotiate from a position of power through the Afghan
government and on it’s terms.
The situation is much more complicated and diverse in Afghanistan,but capitulation to Omar will only make him and the jihadist stronger and the coalition and weak democratic
government in Afghanistan weaker.
Look no further than Pakistan to see how peace agreements with these sadistic murderous thugs works out.
Baxter Greene on March 16, 2009 at 10:42 AM
Omar is a Sunni. I hope Barry’s not a Shi’ite.
flyfisher on March 16, 2009 at 10:42 AM
When negotiating with a one-eyed trouser snake of an administration, the one-eyed man is king.
NoDonkey on March 16, 2009 at 10:45 AM
See dialoging works.
- The Cat
P.S. /s
MirCat on March 16, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Gosh, I hope bambi knows to negotiate from a position of strength. does hillary know this?
kelley in virginia on March 16, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Some of us are certain he’s not moderate by our standards. It’s amazing how little diversity there is at the top of the ulema when it comes to unbelievers or not-so-observant Muslims.
If the summary executions of women in the soccer stadium. IEDs, and butchering of teachers didn’t already make it clear, check out the manuals.
Beagle on March 16, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Are you still trying to compare apples and oranges? Petraeus also said a surge won’t work in Afghanistan…..because the two situations are NOT THE SAME.
a capella on March 16, 2009 at 10:49 AM
I wasn’t serious. I know he’s not a moderate. As a matter of fact, he and I don’t see eye to eye on anything.
hawkdriver on March 16, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Omar is a moderate Taliban like Obama is a moderate liberal.
redfoxbluestate on March 16, 2009 at 10:50 AM
0mar wants to play 0bama for the fool that he is.
JoeySlippers on March 16, 2009 at 10:52 AM
Well, the people with the peace signs on their VWs have spoken, and now The Anointed One is going to make the whole world share a coke and sing.
kirkill on March 16, 2009 at 10:53 AM
but, but, bambi’s foreign policy is soooo new, fresh, peaceful, calm
kelley in virginia on March 16, 2009 at 10:53 AM
And Obama probably only respects Omar because it’s his left eye that remains.
kirkill on March 16, 2009 at 10:54 AM
There is no such thing as moderate Islam.
-Dave
Dave R. on March 16, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Islam is the scourge of the world. It has brought nothing but suffering, oppression, and a worship of regressive ignorance. When are we going to wake up and realize that we are loosing the 4th crusade? Secularism and democracy will not stand against Islam. The Israeli’s know it and what’s left of democratic Britain is watching it. They are like the necromancers insisting that all convert or die.
lm10001 on March 16, 2009 at 11:00 AM
How Omar lost his groove: Golf
AubieJon on March 16, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Omar is a “moderate” Taliban in the same way Martin Bormann was a “moderate” Nazi. Bormann was still a Nazi, and Omar is still a Taliban.
Let’s face it, there is nothing moderate –and everything fascist– about someone who practices Islam the way Muhammad intended.
irishspy on March 16, 2009 at 11:06 AM
I guess the war has nothing to do with 9-11. We can’t leave and we can’t quit.
tomas on March 16, 2009 at 11:11 AM
So the Saudi gov’t knows where Omar is and doesn’t provide the GPS coordinates?
Thanks friend of America!
Limerick on March 16, 2009 at 11:14 AM
You mean like telling Russia we WON’T build a missile shield up front b4 they even give US anything if they help us w/Iran? That kind of muscle-flexing?
JAM on March 16, 2009 at 11:15 AM
I was hoping for sarcasm, but it’s hard to read on screen.
But there is a point to be made that their strength is from a lack of diversity. Anyone who deviates significantly towards modern enlightenment views is shut down immediately. The Afghan government (courts) we support just upheld a twenty year conviction for blasphemy. But it’s too gentle for Mullah Omar.
Islamic thought ends with Muhammed’s life, what he said, and the Quran (which is of course what Muhammed said as much as the canonical ahadith). Innovation or bida is viewed as a major transgression, up there with shirk or fitna. Ijtihad (you can’t spell it without jihad) or reinterpretation, ended a thousand years ago, Irshad Manji notwithstanding.
Killing anyone who disagrees from orthodoxy does not create a curious, intellectually healthy, and productive society, but it does make for a tough culture which hangs around, producing warriors willing to die in droves. That’s Islam.
Beagle on March 16, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Eye’m slipping Beagle. It wasn’t even sarcasm. It was eye puns. Don’t you see?
hawkdriver on March 16, 2009 at 11:19 AM
Not enough coffee (in the world) apparently. But eye’m starting to get it.
Beagle on March 16, 2009 at 11:21 AM
You do need to understand one thing. There are Muslim moderates. I have met and befriended Afghans and Iraqis who as much said the Islamic world will be better when they recognize the faith of the Christians and the Jews. And Jews.
Did you know that 3 percent of the Iraqi population was Christian at one time and is building again as they move back?
hawkdriver on March 16, 2009 at 11:24 AM
Isn’t that Joe Biden with a turban and winking at us?
norm1111 on March 16, 2009 at 11:29 AM
hawkdriver,
I’m not talking about average Muslims who lack religious authority. The “ulema” is the entire body of Islamic scholars: ayatollahs, mullahs, sheikhs, and muftis. Moderate Muslims have no influence on Islamic thinking as a whole. Everything in Islam is haram or halal, permitted, mandatory, or forbidden. The ulema, supported by the local imams, decides. That’s why they have “Ask the Imam”. Nobody cares what the moderate Muslim thinks, except western pollsters.
Until we get the top-down, authoritarian nature of Islam, we’re always going to try to graft our opinion dynamics on their culture. Not accurate or useful.
Notice how they’ll claim 1.whatever billion Muslims are angry about something? Islam is rigid and unchanging when they want it to be. But if you claim the same thing you’re Islamophobic.
Beagle on March 16, 2009 at 11:32 AM
This is delicate for Karzai. He has to weigh how much Islam sauce he wants on the Afghan landfill without risking an impact on the
tributeaid flowing in. He should jet down to his pad on one of those palm leaves in Dubai and give some serious thought to it.Ed, this is not a civil war, this is a drain on western treasure and resolve in exchange for ….nothing.
BL@KBIRD on March 16, 2009 at 11:34 AM
I’ve got my eye out for Mullah Omar.
dhawbake on March 16, 2009 at 11:38 AM
Mullah Omar is still alive?
Seriously, as far as I knew nobody had heard word one from this guy in seven years. I kind of assumed he caught one of the 10,000 missiles we launched at Osama, or something.
Live and learn, I guess.
Cylor on March 16, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Not so much. The “Islamic extremists” to which you refer, were by and large killed, driven out of the country or underground. For example in Anbar, the tipping point was reached in large part because the Sunnis there rejected living under Sharia law. For instance, the 1920′s Brigade did cooperate with AQI up to a point, but they were and are much more a nationalist group than an Islamist one and threw in with the us when they realized what a bad deal they would get from AQI. Same thing in Diyala province. When the Sons of Iraq were formed, members had to take an oath to the country of Iraq as opposed to say, OBL.
Yes, in Iraq we did make deals with people that we had previously fought, but that’s what a counterinsurgency operation is – peeling off the “reconcilables”. Given Mullah Omar’s past, it remains to be seen whether he’s a ” reconcilable ” or not.
muggedbyreality on March 16, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Compared to Obama?
MarkTheGreat on March 16, 2009 at 12:00 PM
Let us not forget Omar’s direct involvment in supporting the 9/11 attacks. Omar certainly was briefed on the scale and likely fallout from the planned attack on US soil by Bin Laden. Further he, as supreme leader, bluntly continued to extend National protection over Bin Laden and his ilk after the attack.
Four days prior to 9/11, the Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance, was assassinated by Bin Laden operatives either as the price paid for sanctuary from the coming storm, or a gift to his hosts, the Taliban.
Omar wrongly concluded that the death of his enemies greatest leader, Islamic resolve, and the fortress of the Hindu Kush, would keep him in power even at war with the USA. Now that things have turned out differently than it did with the Soviets for them, he wants Peace? This guy, and everyone that was complicit in 9/11, needs a dirt nap. Then we can talk peace.
H
Hochmeister on March 16, 2009 at 12:23 PM
***
The very moderate Taliban Omar Mullah is hoping that President O’Bummer (PBUH) and the smartest Secretary of State evah–Hillary Clinton–will sell out the people of Afghanistan for nothing. They are on course to do so soon.
***
Watch the horrible videos of Taliban sharia “justice” punishments meted out in the Kabul soccor stadium. A brave Muslim lady secretly videotaped them at the risk of her life. Burka clad women shot in the head for their “crimes”, 400 lash punishments, tongues and lips cut off, beatings with clubs, amputations, acid in the face of schoolgirls for going to school, bombing girls schools, stonings, etc.
***
Yes–we can find a real moderate Taliban leader in Mr. Omar Mullah. He will make the following humane changes to sharia:
***
(1). Shoot women in the head 3 times instead of 4 times. This is a 25 percent improvement.
***
(2). Reduce 400 lash punishments to 300 lashes. Another 25 percent improvement.
***
(3). Only blow up schools and throw acid in schoolgirl’s faces on alternate weeks. This is a big 50 percent improvement!
***
Make up your own list. No compromise with the Taliban–Omar Mullah needs a HELLFIRE MISSILE FROM A PREDATOR DRONE to start the real “Hope and Change” process!
***
John Bibb
***
rocketman on March 16, 2009 at 12:25 PM
To Obama and Sheriff Biden all Talibahn are moderates if you want to
losewin a war by changing the definitions of what the enemy is, plus what lose or win a war really means.This is what is going to go on; Obama & Co. are going to try to change the definitions of lots of words in order to get out of things.
Such as: It will be the “democratic” process that people obviously chose in letting the Talibahn over run the country.
Success in Iraq will be the defined on how quickly US troops are withdrawn. The faster the withdrawal, the better the success.
albill on March 16, 2009 at 12:40 PM
I can’t help thinking what some Afghanistan villagers must
be thinking!
lets listen in;
I cannot believe my ears!At least with President Bush,we
were safe from the Taliban,and now the new President,that
Hopey guy wants to talk to the Taliban,I simply cannot be
lieve this,it almost feels that America is turning its back
on us,
talking to the Taliban means more of us will die,the only
language the Taliban understands,are drones,hell-fires,and
J-Dams,
if Obama hopes their are ‘Moderate ‘Talibans’,he’s a fool
and we will all die,
I just can’t beleive my ears,so I’ll take my family into
hiding untill,
America comes to its sense’s,
and re-elects,a Republican President!!!!(Snark).
canopfor on March 16, 2009 at 1:01 PM
You’re asked a leading question, so I’m guessing the answer is “No.”
Kralizec on March 16, 2009 at 1:08 PM
As the leader of the country who harbored the thugs that attacked and killed 3k US citizens, isn’t he complicit in those murders? Should he not be charged before a UN tribunal BHO?
mdenis39 on March 16, 2009 at 1:49 PM
why doesn’t the cia put out a reward for his other eye and yes he’s winking at you
wade underhile on March 16, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Put that BB gun down Mullah Omar.
You’ll shoot your……….
Never mind!
elderberry on March 16, 2009 at 3:19 PM
I say let him negotiate with the good Mullah, the sooner he does the sooner we can charge him with giving aid and comfort to the enemy.(not that he isnt already)
Viper1 on March 16, 2009 at 4:40 PM
I’d bet an eye on it!
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on March 16, 2009 at 7:18 PM
Kind of like a moderate Sturmabteilung member?
Dr. ZhivBlago on March 16, 2009 at 11:31 PM