Truth is the number #1 weapon against your enemy Communitarian theorist Amitai Etzioni has a piece titled Killing Christians over at FrontPage (from The Weekly Standard originally). The point is that Christian persecution is ignored by the media and the political class (aside from Christian conservatives). This is true, and if you read the blog, you know that I'm not averse to bringing up the lack of religious freedom in the Islamic world, and its effects on Christians, frequently. But, accuracy is also important, so I'm going to pick on Dr. Etzioni's piece for a bit.

People who follow international news are aware that a civil war raged in Ethiopia for more than 30 years. But few realize that it was a religious war--between Muslim Eritrea and Christian Ethiopia--in which tens of thousands perished. Many know that the people of East Timor were savaged, but it is rarely mentioned that most East Timorese are Christian, while the Indonesian militants who killed many of them and brutalized the refugees in West Timor are Muslim. Indeed, Christians in other parts of Indonesia have hardly fared better; for instance, thousands died during riots in the Eritrea Islands in 2000. .... ...Just lately, in the Ivory Coast, Muslims in the North have been attacking Christians in the South.

First, Eritrea is about 50/50 Muslim/Christian and one of the few examples of this mix not resulting in violence [1]. From what little I know about East Timor, though the Indonesian military (mostly Muslim, but more nationalist than religious in inclination judging by their ravaging of orthodox Muslim Aceh) armed and trained the militants, many were Timorese, though perhaps from West Timor rather than East. What Dr. Etzioni leaves out about Ivory Coast is that Christians have excluded Muslims (this is more a south vs. north issue, but it maps well onto a religious divide) from power, and to reduce the northerners' numerical preponderance disenfranchised them as non-citizens (both politicians and the masses). I am not saying that I don't agree with the general point he is trying to make, but the facts should dictate conclusions, so when it seems that you are playing fast and loose with them, don't be surprised if people take you less seriously than they should. This applies to many issues. Godless' problem with the Warbloggers isn't the overall policy toward Iraq and the Middle East, but specific issues about style, intent and justification that undermine their moral and rational standing. I'll take my stand-with reason and facts that is [2]. [1] Eritrea is also friendly with Israel. The war with Ethiopia was one of national, not religious liberation. Though the dominant ethnic group in Ethiopia is Christian (the Ahmara), a plural majority are Muslim (Oromo, Somali, etc.). [2] I suppose you could say that I'm throwing up a strawman, that everyone favors reason and facts. But this isn't always true. Many of the neocons for instance are influenced by Leo Strauss, who didn't shirk away from the idea that one had to deceive the masses for the greater good. This is exactly what people should be trying to avoid when it comes to public policy, because no matter how dumb the public is (and it is pretty dumb), it's not as dumb as you'd think. Two examples of deception for a "good cause" that I've been seeing recently: 1) Trying to connect Sadaam to al Quaeda, 2) Trying to say the United States and Israel are natural allies because we're both liberal democracies. On point 1, I think that there maybe something to it, but to use any tenuous connection to buttress intervention is Iraq is stretching it and simply undermines your credibility. On point 2, Israel's bona fides as a liberal democracy are good-if you are a Jew, not as solid if you're Arab. In addition to this, there are plenty of liberal democracies with which we don't have close relations with in a like manner. After all, what nation are we more similar too, Pakistan or India? And yet, we back Pakistan. The reasoning of course is strategic, and that's pretty well understood and out in the open. The American alliance with Israel is obviously more dependent on strategic and political concerns, not some numinous affinity between Two Cities on the Hill in a dark despotic world.