Should the US pause its attack during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan?
Now, I am curious what you think because I see two sides to this coin. My first impression is that any pause in the attack gives the enemy the golden opportunity to regroup and couldn’t possibly be of any benefit to us. Also, being that winter is approaching, we need to accomplish as much as we can before weather conditions begin to hamper our progress.
On the other hand, we are trying very hard to convey the message that we are not fighting Islam in general. Obviously, there are many Muslims that do not feel this is the case. Would a pause in the attack help portray us as being respectful of this holiday, which I admit I do not know much about. Do we have more to lose by pissing off a bunch of Muslims who may be marginally at least, supporting our efforts.
I have heard some argue that the Muslims have a history of continuing to fight during this holiday so why should we respect what they apparently do not.
In pausing we would be attempting to win the propaganda war at the expense of winning the actual war which is the whole point of the thing in the first place. We should press ahead during this month even stronger than we have already been doing and end this conflict as soon as possible.
I’m going to try not to hijack this, 'cos I think it’s an interesting post, but when I see dancing in the streets whenever something bad happens our way, I can’t help but think, NO MORE RULES! I’m really thinking, and I hate to say it, but a nice little glassmaker bomb over the turf of Af-gone-istan would REALLY show we’re not f*cking around. We’re not gonna shut down on T-giving, or Christmas, so why not? They’re allowed to fight, with no rules, but we’re required to be PC…that sucks. I re-iterate…NO MORE RULES! One of my kid’s chores everyday, to earn his allowance, is to get the mail. He can’t do that anymore. Try explaining that to a 7 year old. God bless the people fighting for us.
For those who aren’t aware, Ramadan starts on November 17 this year and lasts for roughly a month. During Ramadam, devout Muslims don’t eat or drink anything at all during daylight hours. I’m not sure whether there is some special dispensation given to troops fighting a jihad which releases them from this obligation. Perhaps we could ask Muslim Guy to clarify that point for us.
Dave, even the most moderate Muslims I know observe Ramadan - I’m talking the ones who drink alcohol and encourage their daughters to be free-thinking and independent. This might not be true in other nations. Perhaps other dopers can enlighten us about the level of acknowledgement of Ramadan in their own communities. In mine (and we have a fairly high proportion of Muslims living in our suburb), it’s taken extremely seriously - much more so than the Christian Lent, Easter, or Christmas.
I think this raised an interesting point concerning Pakistan. Yes, the goverment has told us that they support us fully (even though it would appear that a large portion of the population doesn’t agree), yet they have asked repeatedly that hope this is resolved quickly. This would appear to be a catch-22 in the sense that ending it as quickly as possible would probably mean fighting through Ramadan and further inflaming the population which could try to overthrow the government.
Maybe an additional question should be: How important is the Arab involvement in the coalition to achieving our goals? I don’t mean to hijack my own thread but being that Arab nations seem to be very cautious in their support, I question whether our actions concerning this holiday would be enough for them to change their mind.
In my cursory research on the issue, I found a recent Reuters report that mentions that the 1973 Arab War on Israel began during Ramadan, and that Iran and Iraq did not respect the holiday during their conflict.
My opinion: unless the US is involved in a full-scale ground campaign on Nov. 17, it might as well call a cease-fire, as the PR gesture would likely be of more use than additional sporadic bombing raids. Exception: intelligence pinpointing bin Laden’s location in real time, although so far this appears unlikely, or hard evidence of an upcoming additional attack on US soil.
I’d guess (just a guess) that if Pakistan insisted, the US would back off in order to avoid having to fight for its forward bases. I doubt that political pressure from other Arab countries would cut much ice. Enormous mobs storming US facilities would be something else again.
Of course, my personal opinion on this issue is irrelevant.
“Out of respect for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the United States will suspend its bombing campaign for the duration of the holy days. All bombing and other military operations will cease. Why, even if Osama bin Laden himself were to show up at, oh, say, longitude 65 degrees, 46 minutes, 13 seconds east and latitude 31 degrees, 35 minutes, 28 seconds north, with a big ‘BOMB ME’ sign, we wouldn’t do a single thing about it. Honest.”
I do think however that at least some Muslim support is going to necessary to accomplishing those objectives. If this perception of a “US versus the Muslims” continues to grow, it is really going to complicate matters.
Ramadan is quite an important time of the year for Muslims. As reprise has already mentioned, almost all Muslims observe Ramadan. Even those who drink, eat pork, or do drugs will give it up during this month (or will hypocritically fast during the day and indulge in such forbidden fruits at night, when the fast is over). Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam and while not officially the most important, tends to be the last one a Muslim will give up.
However, I am inclined to believe posts regarding the reluctance of warring Muslims to respect this tradition. Personally, I wouldn’t have any problem with the U.S. continuing air strikes during the month of Ramadan. But this decision would provide many Muslim nations with an excuse to withdraw whatever feeble support they have offered to the U.S. It may even invoke sympathy from non-Islamic nations. If this is really a war against terrorism, it is perhaps a good idea to be careful not to unnecessarily provoke further instances of it.
IIRC there are especially holy days at the beginning and end of Ramadan. It seems reasonable to refrain from bombing on those days (as we already refrain on Fridays). It might be nice to make another diplomatic offer to the Taliban during that month as well. Not that I would have high hopes for it, mind you. We might also consider asking for the advice of our Muslim partners in this campaign, as I certainly hope we are already doing.