Standing athwart Shariah and yelling Enough is Enough

Fire of Liberty

William F. Buckley Jr. has a good column out today that provides a little food for that about Abdul Rahman faced death at the hands of the mullahs in Afghanistan because he had converted to Christianity some 14 to 16 years ago. Now while Rahman has was eventually let go by the courts after they deemed him insane and ordered him to seek medical help, WFB notes that this use of such technicality in the law shouldn't become a standard operating procedure for a nation that we expended treasure and the deaths of two-hundred plus individuals to expel the Taliban and their al Qaeda friends to ensure a modicum of freedom in Afghanistan. I think he sums this up best when he noted:

ThatÂ’s right. And the hell with Afghan supremacy. If an occupying military force whose presence every day continues to be critical to keep Afghanistan free cannot protect one citizen who embraces the faith of our fathers, then the government of Afghanistan should pause for a moment to worry not about the indignation of the Afghan people if Rahman is kept safe. Thought should be given to the indignation of the American people, who will stare in disbelief at the phenomenon of a country recently liberated by the expenditure of American lives and money failing to protect from the wrath of the mob a 41-year-old citizen whose crime was having chosen Christ.

It is a tough challenge. It is tempting to say: Get this guy out of Afghanistan and put him away somewhere and let'’s move on. But the bureaucratic escape does not reflect the passions of the leaders of the world. Australia'’s prime minister wants the Afghan government to renounce the thought of executing someone for exercising religious liberty. So do prominent leaders in Germany, Great Britain, and Italy. The Afghan court sidestepped the main issue by releasing Rahman on a technicality. If it arises again, the challenge for the United States will be to devise a means of saying to the Afghan government: You cannot do this. Not while we'’re around.

I'm all for letting nations doing their own thing their own way but when they start denying their people G-d's given rights and the a pretty basic concepts of democracy then they've gone to far. Thankfully, we have folks like WFB manning the barricades and fighting the good fight.