Hamid Karzai

Afghani President Karzai pardoned this boy, named Rafiqullah, a 14 year old Pakistani who had entered Afghanistan wearing a suicide bomb intending to kill a local governor.

Here is what Karzai had to say about it:

Mr Karzai said Rafiqullah had been deceived by the "enemy of Islam" while attending a religious school. "Today we are faced with a fearful and terrifying truth, and that truth is the sending of a Muslim child to carry out a suicide attack. "[His parents] sent him to study at a madrassa (religious school). The enemy of Islam deceived him. I forgive him and I wish him the best of luck."

I cannot remember a better act of sanity, righteousness, and true religion. Behavior such as this takes so much power away from the enemies of compassion. From the comments of the boy and his father, I believe this child has been saved not only from death but from the influence of extremism. He will remember who put explosives on him and who sent him home to his family.

Those who mock our Quaker faith say that this sort of action is impractical.

Here is concrete evidence to the contrary.

Now, everyone of you knows that if this boy had been so deceived

and crossed into our borders and caught he would be in prison for life.

If we had caught him in Afghanistan instead of the Afghanis

he would be at Guantanimo.

We have teenage boys at Guantanimo.

Mr. Bush, I call upon you to follow President Karzai's example and pardon one of them. You could make it an annual event.

How about calling it the "Scooter Libby Annual Pardon."

Mr Bush, you who publically claim to be a follower of the master who said

"Love your enemies" have been surpassed by Mr Karzai, a hero of his faith, a hero as measured by our faith, a hero of any faith.

// posted by Peggy Senger Morrison @ Sunday, July 15, 2007