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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

JCC JediWarrior And Connemara Missing In Afghanistan (Update: What a ****show.)

Discussion in 'Community' started by Fire_Ice_Death, Feb 21, 2013.

  1. Kyle Katarn

    Kyle Katarn Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 10, 1998
    Not at all surprised that VileRat would have banned you. Just sayin'.


    Back to the subject, I googled some articles about this, there aren't that many of them, CNN had nothing while there was a brief blurb about them on the BBC, The Guardian, and the Huffington Post of all places. You'd think that an American (and a white female at that) who was missing in Afghanistan would warrant even the briefest of mentions on CNN or some other site, but there is scant media attention of this. The whole thing is already putting a damper on my weekend.
     
  2. AaylaSecurOWNED

    AaylaSecurOWNED Jedi Master star 6

    Registered:
    May 19, 2005
    Yeah, I considered that, and I like mrsvos ' theory the more I learn about JW's recent past. I really can't gauge whether it's more likely that Connemara went through an enormous religious conversion or that JW could be married to Zaynab Khadr and then later just happen to go into Afghanistan to spread the word of Christianity. The whole thing is too weird.
     
    Summer Dreamer likes this.
  3. rhonderoo

    rhonderoo Former Head Admin star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 7, 2002
    Honestly, this sounds like something that will end up getting made into a movie... Like everyone else has noted, it's the marriage to Zaynab Khadr that makes this all the more strange.... especially given his persona here on the boards. If anything, this week has taught me you never really know anyone you get acquainted with on the internet.
     
    TahiriVeilaSolo69 likes this.
  4. zigazigahh

    zigazigahh Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    And the break-in at their place after the wedding? It totally reads like something out of a novel or a movie.
     
  5. hudzu

    hudzu Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 1, 2003
    conne clancy?
     
    Ender Sai likes this.
  6. soitscometothis

    soitscometothis Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2003
    Next revelation: JW is/was actually a deep-cover CIA agent.
     
  7. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    there's a ton of variation within islam but yes there's a specific prohibition against muslim women marrying non-muslim men (muslim men are allowed to marry other "people of the book" ie jews and christians, with the logic being that the children will be muslim because their father was muslim and in islam men are responsible for religious education of children, so no harm done), so its unlikely someone whose practice includes niqab (covering the hair and the face, leaving only a slit for the eyes - an extremely rare and hardline interpretation of islamic exhortations to modesty, despite prevalent depiction in american media), as the photo shows his ex-wife doing, would marry a non-muslim man.

    however, its quite common for muslim women to marry nonmuslim men who convert for the wedding (converting to islam consists of saying a few sentences in arabic, the shahada, in public, maybe with an imam present) and then never practice islam again, (and the family and officiating imam just kind of call it good enough and look the other way... if i had married my (very progressive) muslim ex-girlfriend i probably would have done this just so we could have an imam-officiated wedding). but such false conversions are less likely to fly with the kind of family that produces a niqabi, (woman who wears niqab) id imagine
     
  8. zigazigahh

    zigazigahh Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    NGL, something like this came to mind, if it weren't for the pregnant piece.
     
  9. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    This is a great plot for a movie. They should definitely keep the Star Wars connection in.

    EDIT: Could she have been smuggling something into the country under cover of being "pregnant?"
     
  10. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
    Yeah, at first it just sounded like pure naive stupidity. Not being Canadian, I admit I wasn't really familiar with the Khadr family off the top of my head. But when I saw Jazib's reaction and that of some other Canadians here, I read some articles, and holy ****. It does seem like if JW had wanted to have connections with someone in Al Qaeda, he easily could have and could have gone all Richard Reid.

    Again, the other option in my mind is that he had converted to a pretty radical brand of Islam in marrying Khadr, but that perhaps Con's own radical Catholicism turned him around yet again and they felt like it was their duty to go and 'save' the Al Qaeda folks or something. I don't know. As I said, either one is pretty nuts. But it seems a bit too coincidental for them to have just simply been extremely dumb tourists who decided camping in Afghanistan was going to be fun.
     
  11. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    yes he banned most posters who weren't dedicated neoliberal and neoconservative stooges like he was... guilty conscience, id imagine
     
  12. dp4m

    dp4m Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2001
    To be fair, you would be very surprised who and what are agents in which agencies some of the time. So it is at least an option, maybe not a GOOD one, but an option nonetheless.

    Really, at this point, with this story I would think everything is on the table.
     
  13. rhonderoo

    rhonderoo Former Head Admin star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 7, 2002
    I know even in more conservative Catholic and Protestant religions divorce is heavily frowned upon, or forbidden unless there is a unique set of circumstances. I'm not familiar with Islam, would someone that hardcore even be "allowed" to divorce? And if it was for religious reasons... it would be even harder to imagine going hiking on a dangerous trail in Afghanistan.
     
    Summer Dreamer likes this.
  14. AaylaSecurOWNED

    AaylaSecurOWNED Jedi Master star 6

    Registered:
    May 19, 2005
    Although sometimes it can be very surprising, I think we can rule out a Canadian being a CIA agent?
     
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  15. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    adult converts to a religion they weren't raised in are usually pretty prone to radical re-committing themselves to new ideas to begin with and wind up doing several conversions and re-conversions in my experience. its a certain personality type. hence my bated breath with regard to OZK's reaction to the new pope.
     
  16. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    You didn't see Argo?
     
  17. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
    Rogue_Ten, yeah I mean I know Muslims with a huge variety of beliefs, but I agree that it seemed specifically highly unlikely to me that a woman obviously practicing niqab would be the kind of woman to just let her husband convert nominally but then never practice. This woman evidently according to articles I read has been talking of moving back to Pakistan as well, and has always supported her family.
     
  18. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    the other thing to consider is she niqabs because her family expects it and letting her marry a white boy was their concession to her individuality, with the stipulation his religious persuasion be kept on the downlow. these scenarios are difficult to parse i think
     
  19. Obi-Zahn Kenobi

    Obi-Zahn Kenobi Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 23, 1999
    Nah, I'm in this for the long haul.
     
  20. AaylaSecurOWNED

    AaylaSecurOWNED Jedi Master star 6

    Registered:
    May 19, 2005
    You say that now, but pretty soon it'll be all "Circumcised American Med Student Missing in Afghanistan."
     
  21. Dark Lady Mara

    Dark Lady Mara Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 19, 1999
    It's no stranger than any of the other theories floated so far.
     
  22. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    I'm going in to Detroit tomorrow. [face_worried]

    I think the general concensus of this seems to be that most of us really wound up not liking either of them. We would be relieved if they turned up alive and well, especially with a baby, buuuuuuuuut after they come up alive and well they can stay away and never post here in our little corner of the internet. [face_dunno] Or maybe they come out alive and everyone gets friendlier with them? [face_dunno]
     
  23. yankee8255

    yankee8255 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 31, 2005
    I would think her initial conservative Catholicism was from her parents. Maybe when she met her "dream man" she dropped their beliefs for his?
     
  24. Obi-Zahn Kenobi

    Obi-Zahn Kenobi Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 23, 1999
    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...-story-to-break.50009859/page-2#post-50468954

    I liked this one better.

    Maybe the follow-up headline will be, "Wisconsin's first gay couple chooses to circumcise adoptive son."
     
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  25. Obi Anne

    Obi Anne Celebration Mistress of Ceremonies star 8 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 1998
    So, has anyone read Lie Down with Lions by Ken Follet? It's set in Afghanistan, there is a pregnant woman, though I think she's French, a CIA agent and a KGB agent. The woman and her lover (the KGB) agent are doing volunteer work in the Afghani mountains. In the end the woman and the CIA agent get caught up with working with the Mujaheddin in their struggle against the Soviet Army (and the KGB agent). Of course since it's written in 1986 the Afghani warriors are the good guys here, but I definitely got reminded of that book while reading the theories here.