Theos-Talk Archives (July 2002 Message tt00011)

Steve Stubbs wrote:
> Calling themselves The Prophetic Tradition Helpers
> Association (PTHA), their goals include providing a
> platform for moderation and nonviolence and educating
> the Muslim public about how extremists are
> misinterpreting Orthodox Islam.

I have a number of Muslim friends, who all have been saying pretty much
the same thing. Do I wish there were more like them on both sides of the
conflict.

By the way, on an unrelated note, I finally read some information that
puts the Jonathan Pollard case into perspective. Apparently, he and his
wife came out with a lot of public, anti-American statements in between
his guilty plea and sentencing, which alienated not only the
prosecution, but his own lawyer. So, when the prosecution illegally
voided the plea bargain, his lawyer purposely sabotaged his case by not
filing the appeal in the legally required time (and, in what is truly a
case of an unjust law, there is NO excuse that is legally acceptable for
filing an appeal late, even if it is the result of criminal collusion
between the prosecution and the defense). In other words, Jonathan
Pollard got a life sentence not because of anti-Semitism or secret
agendas, but because of a combination of technicalities in the law and
the fact that he was a first-class jerk. While this information comes
from his current lawyer, I find this MUCH more believable than any of
the other stories I have heard.

Bart Lidofsky