If you go down in the flood It's gonna be your own fault

Well it's Ramadan and, like every year, I'm late on my shopping. ...oh, wait...

Actually, there is some shopping you could do this Ramadan that might make you feel all warm and fuzzy. You see, in the Muslim nation of Pakistan more than 13 million people have lost homes and more in violent flooding brought on by Monsoon rains. 1,500 are reported dead. So, perhaps, you think, the humane thing to do would be to send a few bucks towards international aid workers. Red Cross, UNICEF, Super Friends, etc. But, you have to keep in mind that, in accordance with Islam, if your money reaches victims in, perhaps, the form of food, it may be turned away. You see, it's Ramadan. Ramadan is a 'month' long holiday (It will last from Aug. 11th to Sept. 9th) during which Muslims are not to eat while the sun is up. So, if they receive any food in daylight hours, they'll have to turn it down or, if it's a non perishable, they may save it until the nighttime. During Ramadan, in the evening the family will gather for a feast of sorts, known as Iftar. This year is going to be especially tough on the Muslim families who lost their homes. Their homes are gone. They are trudging through floods, perhaps starving. Some may be seeking food anywhere, but their merciful god insists even in the face of dizzying hunger, that they wait until the sun sets to ingest a single morsel of your donation.

If their religion was right, they'd sooner die with a piece of bread in their hands waiting for the sun to set, than accept the generous offer from the West to save their lives. And it's not like I'm blowing out of proportion how much aid the west is giving Pakistan. For a nuclear armed Muslim country, this flood is a great diplomatic opportunity.

On CNN, they're saying:

The United States will also invest $100 million to expand access to credit for small and medium-sized businesses, and provide $50 million to support investments in innovation and technology projects, she said.

The projects will be funded by the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act that authorizes $7.5 billion in development aid to Pakistan over the next five years.

And we're not even keeping good track of it.

The United States has not accurately tracked about $6 billion it gave to help the Pakistani government fight terrorism since 2001, according to a report released Tuesday.

I mean, the truth is people are suffering, and they need help. But we're really losing a lot in the way we're doing it. Our donations aren't getting there, if they are they might be turned away (because of religion), and then there's this ugly bitch rearing it's head in this whole mess:

Pakistan floods could give Taliban time to regroup

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The floods ravaging Pakistan are generating fears that Taliban insurgents could regroup amid the chaos and destruction. The country’s already anemic economy is expected to weaken, increasing the poverty that is a factor in the militancy wracking the country.

One of the hardest hit regions is the northwest, the heartland of the Pakistan Taliban and other insurgent groups. Over the last two years, the army has carried out several offensives against militants there. The U.S. has welcomed the efforts — and launched drone strikes of its own — because of the threat the insurgents pose to Western troops across the border in Afghanistan.

Now, thousands of those Pakistani soldiers have been tasked with flood relief and will likely be crucial in rebuilding bridges and roads once the worst floods in Pakistan’s history have receded. Helicopters that once backed up troops in the tribal regions may have to be dispatched for flood relief.

“It’s too much on the plate for the army,” said Ayesha Siddiqa, a military analyst.
Chief army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said 60,000 troops nationwide have been engaged in flood-relief, including many in places insurgents have been active. He said the military could handle the floods and the fighting concurrently.

The insurgents have kept up attacks during the two-week flooding crisis, which has left 1,500 people dead and affected nearly 14 million people.

A suicide bomber killed the head of a U.S.-backed paramilitary police force, while gunmen wounded the sister of one of the northwest’s top political leaders.

Now, here's my favorite part:

On Tuesday, the Pakistani Taliban said the flooding was God’s punishment to Pakistanis for accepting secular leaders and urged Pakistanis to boycott foreign aid.

Yes, the Taliban is taking a page out of Pat Robertson's book (illustrating once again that Robertson is morally equivalent to these guys, although, he's a little less intelligent) and they're actively telling people that God is going to punish them if they accept foreign aid.

I hate to be a cynic, but if I'm going to give money to an organization that can't manage it's money properly, to give to flood victims who won't accept it and there's a roving army of fascist-Islamo terrorists trying to keep it out of victims' hands, claiming the power of God on their side: Then why am I wasting my money? Sure, I want to help, but I think it's more than likely donating money to Pakistan now will result in the funding of discarded food, and the Taliban. And I can't take that chance.

More people have been displaced by this flood than the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Yet, religion stands between this nation and recovery.

What if there were no Islam or Christianity or if, instead of 97% of Pakistan being Muslim, only 15% were? What would the relief effort look like then? There'd be no relevant Taliban, since only a very small percentage of people would be Muslim and even smaller percent would be extremist Muslims (probably like, 6 guys). There'd be no Ramadan to stop people from nourishing their disaster torn bodies. With better education, perhaps the Pakistani people would have built sturdier, flood-ready housing, but of course, Islamic fundamentalism severely limits education and even the opportunity for any normal life for these people.

Look, I'm not making the argument against donations, if you think you've found a worthy, legit cause, than absolutely the moral thing to do is, if you can, donate to the rescue of suffering human beings. My argument is what my argument always is:

Just another 'harm of religion.'


P.S.: In retrospect, perhaps the title of this article appears to blame the victim. I assure you, I only meant it as an unrelated reference to this Bob Dylan song.