Congressional Panelist Equates Christian and Islamic Fundamentalism

Congressional Panelist Equates Christian and Islamic Fundamentalism

Washington DC,

In a series of hearings at the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight a surprising response came from one of the panelists.

The hearings covering the so called `Helsinki Agreement` an ad hoc attempt at unifying various forces in Iraq under the direction of Professor Padraig O`Malley, Professor at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.

The `Helsinki Process` described as `a collaboration between Iraqi political leaders and representatives of two other societies that suffered` had four of its members testify before the House committee on their ongoing project to build dialogue between the various parties in Iraq.

Basically made up of former opposing sides of the South African and Northern Ireland Conflicts, they use their former experiences to encourage dialogue in Iraq centering on the `Helsinki Agreements` signed by various parties in Iraq.

Mac Maraj a former underground commander of The African National Congress, previously a terrorist organization and now one party ruling party of South Africa led with discussions concerning the failure of US efforts in Iraq.

Following him, Roelf Meyer who led the negotiating team for the former Government of South Africa commented South Africa as the model for negotiations on Iraq.

Jeffrey Donaldsen and John Alderice who led opposite sides in the discussions in Northern Ireland compared the various sides of the conflict and final accords.

Organizer, O`Malley attempted to tie together the testimony before Chairman of the Subcommittee Bil Delahunt who offered his regular comments on the reconciliation efforts.

The general anti-American tone of the testimony made an additional turn in comments made by Lord John Alderice, a member of the UL Parliament from Northern Ireland.

`The whole problem in Iraq was cooked up by the right wing Christian fundamentalists led by George Bush and our former Prime Minister Blair. ` he said.

When questioned on the previous regime of Saddam Hussein and Islamic radicals currently terrorizing Iraq he said `The Christian Fundamentalists are the same as the Islamic Fundamentalists. They act from the same motives have the same worldviews.`

When given a chance to clarify his comments, in a later forum, Alderice refused to take them back, simply adding `these are my personal opinions` before launching into a similar series of comments on the similarity of Christian and Islamic `fundamentalism`.

One wonders first at the strong, anti-American feeling of the whole series of panels.

The lone exception was Jeffrey Donaldson, the Unionist Member of Parliament.

Official Congressional testimony with an astounding anti-Christian rhetoric capped by equating Christian Fundamentalism with Islamic Fundamentalism was clearly out of place.

Whether the so called `Helsinki Process` will succeed or fail is an open question, but with its anti-American and anti-Christian bent, it is sure to succeed in giving comfort and encouragement to the wrong side of the current conflict.

Ken Joseph Jr.

www.Kenjoseph.com