Think of the children... really...

I've mentioned the strange case of Muslim countries that refuse Polio vacines to children because they claim it's part of a plot to kill them/make them impotent/whatever. End result - kids die of a disease tht could easily be prevented.

Via Winds of Change comes this
story that they are doing it with the measles vacine as well. Over 500 kids, mostly under 5, have died, while none have died in non-Muslim areas.

There are bunch of quotes in the article, including one women who didn't get the vaccine because her husband told her not to. Go women's lib!

And then there is this guy:

Nasir Mohammed Nasir, imam of Kano's second-largest mosque, said Americans "can't be killing my brothers and children in Iraq and at the same time claim to want to save my children from polio and other diseases."

"We suspect a sinister motive," he said.

Umm, the "brothers" we are killing in Iraq are shooting at us, trying to blow us up, and trying to kill people for doing things like voting. That's why we are killing them, not because we like killing Muslims. As far as children killed in Iraq, they are unfortunate, but the improvements we are making, and the lives we've saved by getting rid of Saddam, outnumber the casualties of kids killed in Iraq.

So yes, it's believable that we want to save kids. Because we are Americans, not monsters. We like kids, and honestly care about them - even if they are kids being raised by parents who will eventually instill anti-Americanism in them. We just don't like people who shoot at us, or people who want to do what they can to prevent democracy from taking root in Iraq.

See, Americans are willing to look beyond politics and religion when it comes to saving kid's lives. These parents, on the other hand, would rather that their children die than accept help from the U.S. - meaning that Americans actually care more about their kids than their own parents, who are willing to let them die to prove a political point.

And what point is that? As I've said in the post I linked earlier, I think that Muslim leaders are afraid to accept help from the Americans because it will show that we aren't so bad after all - that we do good things. If we do good things and are willing to help Muslim countries, that would suggest that our actions in Iraq were actually motivated by a desire to protect ourselves and to foster democracy, not just because we don't like Muslims. And if Muslims realize that, the hold that their leaders have over them will be lost, so they do what they can to make that happen. Even if some kids die.