Yesterday Thanos at Little Green Footballs highlighted (highlit?) this CNN report about an attempted al Shabaab attack in Kenya. On Monday al Shabaab fighters stopped a bus who’s police escort had broken down, stormed onto it, and demanded that the Muslim passengers get off the bus so that they could easily identify and target the Christian passengers left on board. Things did not exactly go as planned. The Muslim passengers refused to follow al Shabaab’s instructions, the Muslim women gave some of their hijabs to the Christian women, hid the other Christian passengers, and the Muslim passengers told al Shabaab that: “If you want to kill us, then kill us. There are no Christians here”. While there were still two men killed in the attack – one Christian passenger that tried to flee and the driver of a truck that was on the road behind the bus – the al Shabaab attackers left and the other 100 or so passengers and the driver survived. Kenya’s security forces were reportedly in pursuit of the attackers.
The quick thinking, courage, humanity, and generosity of spirit of the Kenyan Muslims on that bus defeated al Shabaab’s attackers and their attempt to impose an extremist interpretation of Islam by violence. The actions of the Kenyan Muslims on that bus in safeguarding their Christian fellow citizens are a shining example of what needs to be done to defeat not just Islamic extremism, but the backlash rhetoric, politics, and extremism that it engenders. Al Shabaab, al Qaeda, the Islamic State and other similar groups can only achieve their objectives/ends (win) if they scare everyone regardless of religion or nationality into providing the ways and means that they do NOT actually possess. On Monday al Shabaab was denied those ways and means and lost! This is how they, al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and other extremist groups regardless of doctrine, ideology, or nationality will be defeated: by the basic humanity and courage of the very people they seek to set against each other.
Baud
Contrast The Donald.
Honoré De Ballsack
Obviously the event referred to in the CNN link was just a trick by those wily Islamofascists to lull us into being compacent. BOMB BOMB KILL KILL KILL KILL!!!!!!!
JPL
I read about that earlier and what a nice story. Surely, MSM will cover the story.
Wiesman
It’s a great story and it should be heartening to everyone, but I know how my conservative Christian friends and family will respond: those “Christians” on the bus lived by denying Christ, and are therefore not real Christians.
Oh well. *I’m* heartened by it and I’m glad there are other sane people who are as well.
raven
@JPL: It’s been all over the “MSM” for days.
raven
Muslims shield Christians when Al-Shabaab attacks bus – CNN.com
CNN – 2 days ago
When Al-Shabaab militants ambushed a bus in Kenya and ordered the Muslims to separate themselves from Christians, the passengers …
Muslims protect Christians from extremists in Kenya bus attack
Washington Post – 1 day ago
On an embattled bus, Kenyan Muslims protect Christians from massacre
PRI – 1 day ago
More news for Kenyan Muslims christians
Muslims protect Christians from extremists in Kenya bus attack
https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/muslims-protecte…The Washington Post
1 day ago – But Muslims aboard the bus traveling through northeastern Kenya helped protect the Christian passengers, witnesses and officials told …
Muslims shield Christian passengers in attack on Kenyan bus
http://www.usatoday.com/…/muslims…muslims…kenya/77765396/
USA Today
1 day ago – NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — Christian leaders hailed Muslims for their bravery and selflessness Tuesday after they shielded Christians from …
Kenyan Muslims Protect Christians After Terrorists Attack …
time.com/4157372/kenya-muslims-terrorist-christians/
Time
2 days ago – A group of Kenyans traveling by bus refused Islamist terrorists demands that they identify themselves as either Christian or Muslim in an act of …
Kenyan Muslims shield Christians in Mandera bus attack …
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35151967
BBC
2 days ago – A group of Kenyan Muslims travelling on a bus ambushed by Islamist gunmen protected Christian passengers by refusing to be split into …
Christians escape Kenyan terrorist massacre after Muslim…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/The-militants-threatened-shoot-Muslim-…Daily Mail
2 days ago – When the 10 Al-Shabaab militants stormed the bus in north Kenya yesterday, they demanded Muslim passengers separate themselves from …
Muslims hailed for protecting Christians during terror attack …
http://www.theguardian.com › World › Kenya
The Guardian
1 day ago – Members of al-Shabaab ride in a pick-up truck in Somalia. The group has been targeting Kenyans since 2011 Photograph: Feisal Omar/ …
Muslims Defend Christians During al-Shabab Militant Attack …
http://www.newsweek.com/muslims-defend-christians-during-al-shabab-milita...
2 days ago – Muslim passengers defended Christian passengers during an extremist attack on a bus in Kenya on Monday. Members of the al-Shabab …
The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...
@JPL:
Absolutely… and w/ a headline that reads:
That actually is a cool story… nice to read something like that right at Christmas time…
debbie
@Baud:
He’d have been crying like a little girl.
The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...
Hey, Adam, since you’re around, would you have any comments about this article?
Yeah, the link was originally posted by a troll trying to make Obama look bad and I’m not asking about that…
There’s a lot of information in that article about all the different players in that mess over there… Assad, the US, Russia, ISIS, the Syrians fighting Assad, the Turks… I’m just wondering how accurate the description of the situation is…
It does jibe w/ articles I’ve read at other sources… it comes across as a complete fustercluck in the moment…
The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...
@debbie: That’s unnecessarily insulting to little girls…
cokane
@The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…: neither what you nor what JPL said are factually accurate, MSM has covered the story, just as CNN framed it. Seriously, what’s with the nonstop lumping all major media on here? It’s, frankly, troublesome the lies that some on here like spreading.
raven
@cokane: Yea, the LIES. Fuck off.
Adam L Silverman
@The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…: I read it the other day. Short answer: I’m not sure what to make of it. Parts of it seem plausible, but parts seem very implausible. I have trouble believing that GEN Dempsey would have violated his clearance to share information with the Syrians knowing it would also be shared with their patrons: the Iranians and the Russians. And while I’ve always thought very highly of Seymour Hersch, he has gone out on a lot of improbable limbs over the last few years.
A longer answer will have to wait as I’m heading out for a bit.
The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...
@cokane: I have no idea what you’re talking about…
Cermet
What can be said but these people acted in a manner Christ would suggest (Yes, Muslims hold Christ as a Prophet) and put to shame 99.9999999% of the so called amerikan christians. These are truely brave hero’s in every sense of the word!
JPL
@raven: The regular networks? Remember I don’t have cable. Thanks.
I originally read it on Guardian.
Adam L Silverman
@JPL: @raven: @The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…: yep, hence my linking to and writing the CNN report…
debbie
@JPL:
NPR reported on it.
Villago Delenda Est
Well. A bunch of Kenyans showing us how to defend the tribe that is the human race, not just a subset thereof.
No Trump supporter will get the message. No Talibangical will get the message.
raven
@Adam L Silverman: I’m witcha.
Matt McIrvin
I don’t believe American Christians would have done the same if the situation had been reversed.
Villago Delenda Est
@Matt McIrvin: Mainstream denomination members? Might have.
Talibangicals? Ted Cruz fans? No fucking way.
Pogonip
I am impressed not only by their courage but by their quick thinking.
We all know that evil triumphs when good men do nothing; now we see an example of how evil can be confounded when good people act.
gratuitous
This for me is why non-violence has it all over the practitioners of violence. Being a pacifist has nothing to do with being passive, although the similarity of the sound of the two words seems to confound many people.
Pacifism requires guts, determination, forethought, preparation, anticipation, and creativity. Any rube can grab a gun and pull a trigger. Doesn’t matter if you’re the most technical sharpshooter on the planet or barely able to understand the concept of point and shoot; either person can practice violence at the drop of a hat with equally destructive or deadly results.
It seems all our political leaders are competing with one another to come up with ways the “destroy” Daesh or Boko Haram or Al Qaeda or whoever the designated enemy of the week is. Recognizing that there is no such thing as 100% safety and security, but instead of being terrorized by that fact, we choose to unite with one another and be joined by our shared humanity. What could be more effective in destroying terrorism as a weapon? Certainly violence hasn’t succeeded in driving out the violence; indeed, it has only enhanced and strengthened it. Perhaps we can try something else.
Cheryl Rofer
@The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…: Since Adam is heading out, I’ll suggest this deconstruction of the Seymour Hersh article you linked.
It’s totally nuts to think that the Joint Chiefs would share information with Russia and Syria without presidential approval. Hersh has been writing crazy and poorly-sourced stuff for a while now. The New Yorker, which believes in fact-checking, won’t publish it. The LRB does.
The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...
@Cheryl Rofer: I’ll look at that… I wasn’t particularly asking about the whole storyline involving the Joint Chiefs of Staff & the going behind Obama’s back… I was wondering specifically about the part Turkey’s playing in that mess… it kinda paralleled information I had read at other sites – Juan Cole, Vox, etc, about the Turks being one of the blocks behind the scenes and using the situation as an opportunity to attack the Kurds, if I remember correctly…
That’s so ugly over there and one of the things that’s really painful to see is how little concern all the major players involved seem to have for the actual people stuck on the ground…
Very sad…
Patricia Kayden
@raven: Yes, this story has been all over the MSM. Great story as we head into Christmas. So much for the “all Mooslems are evil” meme that Republicans are pushing so hard.
Patricia Kayden
@Matt McIrvin: I would have and I’m an American Christian. Please don’t stereotype us ALL as being Christianist/Rightwingers.
Cheryl Rofer
@The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…: Totally agree that it’s a dreadful situation in Syria and that none of the major players seem to care for the civilians involved. Every major player is following their own interests, which all are different.
I just rejected the Hersh article totally on the basis of the outrageousness of the claims about the JCS and the last few he’s written and only skimmed what he had to say on Turkey.
Mandalay
@efgoldman:
It seems that while the essence of that story is true, the yellow stars are an embellishment:
The link seems a particularly credible source.
Geeno
@Matt McIrvin: Actually, American Christians got that very opportunity in pre-WWII Germany. The Nazis wanted to separate a group of tourists by Jews and non-Jews, the US attache with the group promptly replied that they should all be considered Jews. The brave Christians all piped up, “but I’m not a Jew!”, and the Nazis had the information they wanted.
That’s the American version of standing by your brother.
Gian
I’m pretty sure I posted this in an open thread on Monday, when it was in a ton of different media sources (I was moderated the first time for the link)
And this morning NPR had interviews with people who aren’t Christian about what to do on Christmas. The devout Muslim interviewed said they read the portion of their holy text about Mary and Jesus and fast.
If we decide to engage in genocidal carpet bomb ’em all until the sand glows – as a major party candidate suggests, well I think of him as Pope Ted Urban
The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...
@Cheryl Rofer: Apart form the claims about the generals going behind Obama’s back, there was also a lot of information about everyone else in that mess… I was mostly curious about the accuracy of that information…
I’ve read things about the Turks buying oil from IS, the Russians using the situation as an excuse to attack Assad’s enemies, the Turks using the same as an excuse to attack the Kurds, and on and on…
I can imagine everyone involved would be willing to push for whatever advantage they can and the actual people stuck i the middle be damned…
Mnemosyne
@Mandalay:
IIRC, the legend started as a verbal threat by the King that he would put on a yellow star if the Germans tried to act against Danish Jews and got embellished from there. As the article says, there was never a single symbolic action like that, just a few years of staunch resistance in multiple ways.
mclaren
If only Americans were as courageous as those Kenyan Moslems.
Cheryl Rofer
@The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…: Once I find a major flaw in an article (highly improbable story supported by one anonymous source), I trash the rest. There are better sources. New York Times and Washington Post are good for those of us who don’t have lots of background information to sort out the propaganda and lies.
On the accusations that Turkey is buying oil from ISIS, that is mostly coming out of Russia, which is angry at Turkey for shooting down one of its planes. I haven’t seen other confirmations. At the moment, I am looking at anything Russia says about Turkey and vice versa with a very skeptical eye.
From a number of things I’ve been reading, it appears that Russia is targeting Assad’s enemies, whomever they both perceive them to be, which means anyone who is against Assad’s regime. That includes ISIS, but also other rebel groups. Russia appears to be concentrating its bombing on the areas closest to Assad’s holdings, and most of the groups in that area are not ISIS. It also looks to me at the moment like Russia has activated an air defense system that excludes action by anyone else, including the US. I need to look into that more.
Amnesty International has just released a report on Russian bombing. Here’s Reuters’s tl;dr. I haven’t read the Amnesty report yet.
Adam L Silverman
@The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…: @Cheryl Rofer: I’m back… So I’ve not had a chance to read the Vox piece that Cheryl linked to. That said I agree with what she’s summarized. I find it highly, highly improbable that the GEN Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or any of the service chiefs would do this. Moreover, I find it very, very unlikely that any of their deputies would do so. And I also agree that Seymour Hersh’s stuff has become more and more hyperbolic and less and less reliable over the past several years.
Adam L Silverman
@The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…: Turkey, specifically Erdogan, is playing their own game. They appear to be providing support to IS, as well as other groups, have their own agenda vis a vis the Kurds, which also seems to change without much signaling or warning, and they are currently functioning as an irresponsible and unreliable treaty ally within the NATO Alliance.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: @Mandalay: @Mnemosyne: I always heard it that the men in the royal family started wearing yarmulkes in the national colors and encouraged non Jewish Danes to do the same. Regardless or sartorial choices, they stood up, gave a good account of themselves in the face of the external threat of overwhelming force, and did the right thing.
Adam L Silverman
@Gian: If you did, I didn’t see it on Monday or I would have credited the hat tip to you. I saw this yesterday and this afternoon was the soonest I had a chance to do the post. I tried to schedule it not to bigfoot anyone, as Betty C was just putting one up, but despite trying to schedule it for two hours later and then heading off to do something else, I wound up inadvertently stepping on Anne Laurie’s post.
kindness
Setting people against each other? Are we talking about Fox News again?
The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...
@Cheryl Rofer: @Adam L Silverman: Thanks for taking the time to reply to my comments and answer my questions.
That is such a sad, nasty, truly ugly situation over there right now.
Again, it doesn’t seem like far too many of the power players in the room have much concern for the common people stuck in the middle of all the fighting.
I”m kind of wondering in what direction does the real resolution to that mess lay?
I don’t like saying it but it seems some sort of military reply to ISIS is necessary… that just means more bombing and killing but I don’t see how anyone could get onto the next stage of resolution w/out putting that particular mad dog down.
And even if the other parties would cooperate and take ISIS down, there’s still going to be a very dangerous terrorist network hidden around the world, no? I remember thinking after the Bush Admin came out swinging after 9/11 and talking about an axis of evil, that they’d just force different groups to join together to survive and in effect, the terrorist threat would metastasize like a cancer… it seems like that has happened, no?
I’d like to think part of the solution is political, which means NOT more bombing, but given how the major players – Russia, Assad, Turkey, the Kurds, ISIS, the US, and the western European powers – don’t trust each other and are all working towards their own goals, I don’t see how that can happen.
And Turkey seems to be the stinker in the bunch… they want the advantages of being the European Union, are IN NATO BUT as you said, Adam, are playing their own game no matter what the consequences.
Am I understanding this mess? Very sad and scary… not good for anyone…
Cheryl Rofer
Here’s what looks to me like a very good summary of what’s going on in Syria. Peace talks are going on, and there has been a United Nations resolution to urge the parties to move toward peace. All that is in very early stages, so expect to hear that the wrong parties are included, parties have walked out of the talks, nobody is reaching any kind of agreement, and other discouraging news about the peace talks. They may even break up completely. But new talks will be convened.
It’s a small movement toward resolving things, hopefully a prelude to a real solution.
trnc
I see that foxnews.com has prominently posted this story of Christians being protected by Muslims. By prominently, I mean that it exists on their opinion page with no link from the front page or even the main opinion page.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/12/22/kenyan-bus-attack-call-out-radical-islamic-terror-but-also-recognize-radically-heroic-acts.html
At the top of the opinion page and sprinkled several times throughout – Todd Starnes. Draw your own conclusions.
Betty Cracker
Totally O/T, Adam, but I wanted to thank you for recommending the Floridian. 1st rate Cuban sandwich!
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it. Down at International Mall recently?
Adam L Silverman
@trnc: I’m not sure something as large as Todd Starnes can be sprinkled. Dropped: check! Plummeted: check! Sprinkled: not so much…
Adam L Silverman
@The Republic, Blah Blah Blah…: The EU ship sailed long ago for Turkey. In fact it has what has partially allowed Erdogan and his party, and partially caused Erdogan and his party, to rework what they want to turn Turkey into and how they want to have Turkey participate in the region and relate to the world. Every time Turkey made it all the way through the list of things the EU told it it had to do to join, someone in the EU – and it was almost always the French and the French refused to back down on “we’ve got just one more little thing…” – came up with another thing they had to do to be acceptable for EU membership. As you can imagine this really pissed the Turks off. Across the board – not just Erdogan and the folks in his Islamic political party. It showed the Turks that the Europeans would never let them in and the whole thing was a sham. This provided Erdogan room to maneuver and he took it. I watched some of this unfold first hand while living in Britain in the 90s. To quote my favorite rhyming demon: “behold man’s final disgrace, he cuts his nose to spite his face!”