Thursday, July 3, 2008
Freedom & The 4th Of July
Freedom & The 4th Of July
In Honor of those who have gone before us into the dark night.......
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." From "The Declaration Of Independence".
In a letter from John Adams to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776, as the Declaration of Independence had just been approved. "It ought to be commemorated," said the man who would become our second president, "as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will triumph in that Day's Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."
I recently read "Flags Of Our Fathers" and it got me to thinking about the cost of our Freedom in terms of human life. Whenever I hear some war protester exercising their freedom of speech to use the deaths of our brave men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan to justify their protest against the war I get very angry! How dare they! It is clearly apparent to me that these people have no idea what it has taken over the course of our history to secure that Freedom for them and countless other people around the world.
The next time you meet one of these ingrates, present them with these figures and explain to them that these are friends and family of their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents that gave their lives in the cause of Freedom. Kindly ask them if they have ever thought of it this way; That they have the freedom to protest paid for by the blood and lives of people who they didn't even know.
This 4th of July, remember them, and remember; Freedom Isn't Free!
WWII Losses for the USA
Battle deaths were 292,131, Army 234,874, Navy 36,950, Marine Corps 19,733, Coast Guard 574, and United States Army Air Forces (included in Army) 52,173[69][16,584]
The United States Merchant Marine war dead of 9,521 are included with military losses .[79].
During World War Two 1.2 million African Americans served in the Armed Forces and 708 were killed in combat. 350,000 American women served in the military during World War Two and 16 were killed in action.[16,584-585]
Korean War; 36,516 dead
Vietnam War; 58,209 KIA and other dead
Figures are from; http://en.wikipedia.org
These are only figures from the most recent wars in our long history as a nation, they are staggering enough in their numbers. I could have researched them all, but I wanted to point out the ones that the living still remember. The fight to preserve Freedom never ends! It will always have a cost, and that cost is always paid in blood!
For the Fallen; May God forever hold them in His hands.
For God & Country!
Infidel Dog
In Honor of those who have gone before us into the dark night.......
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." From "The Declaration Of Independence".
In a letter from John Adams to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776, as the Declaration of Independence had just been approved. "It ought to be commemorated," said the man who would become our second president, "as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will triumph in that Day's Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."
I recently read "Flags Of Our Fathers" and it got me to thinking about the cost of our Freedom in terms of human life. Whenever I hear some war protester exercising their freedom of speech to use the deaths of our brave men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan to justify their protest against the war I get very angry! How dare they! It is clearly apparent to me that these people have no idea what it has taken over the course of our history to secure that Freedom for them and countless other people around the world.
The next time you meet one of these ingrates, present them with these figures and explain to them that these are friends and family of their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents that gave their lives in the cause of Freedom. Kindly ask them if they have ever thought of it this way; That they have the freedom to protest paid for by the blood and lives of people who they didn't even know.
This 4th of July, remember them, and remember; Freedom Isn't Free!
WWII Losses for the USA
Battle deaths were 292,131, Army 234,874, Navy 36,950, Marine Corps 19,733, Coast Guard 574, and United States Army Air Forces (included in Army) 52,173[69][16,584]
The United States Merchant Marine war dead of 9,521 are included with military losses .[79].
During World War Two 1.2 million African Americans served in the Armed Forces and 708 were killed in combat. 350,000 American women served in the military during World War Two and 16 were killed in action.[16,584-585]
Korean War; 36,516 dead
Vietnam War; 58,209 KIA and other dead
Figures are from; http://en.wikipedia.org
These are only figures from the most recent wars in our long history as a nation, they are staggering enough in their numbers. I could have researched them all, but I wanted to point out the ones that the living still remember. The fight to preserve Freedom never ends! It will always have a cost, and that cost is always paid in blood!
For the Fallen; May God forever hold them in His hands.
For God & Country!
Infidel Dog
Sunday, June 29, 2008
"What Goes Up, Must Come Down"
This is an excerpt from a post on http://www.jihadwatch.org on 6/28
Waliur Rehman, a local Taliban commander, ordered the execution of two Afghans who had aided the U.S. in a missle strike recently in Pakistan. After the executions, one by beheading, and the other by gunfire, this was reported concerning the crowd of 5000 people:
"The crowd erupted in cheers of "God is great!" and gunmen fired in the air in jubilation. The celebratory gunfire killed two bystanders and wounded six, local official Fazal Rabbi said." ( Thank you Robert!)
I don't know about you, but every time I see Muslim Radicals fire their guns in the air, I know that "what goes up, must come down" and somebody is going to get hurt or killed. But what do you expect from a culture that insists that the world is flat, and a pedophile is a holy prophet? They say that ignorance is bliss, but just plain stupidity? I laughed all day over this one!
Waliur Rehman, a local Taliban commander, ordered the execution of two Afghans who had aided the U.S. in a missle strike recently in Pakistan. After the executions, one by beheading, and the other by gunfire, this was reported concerning the crowd of 5000 people:
"The crowd erupted in cheers of "God is great!" and gunmen fired in the air in jubilation. The celebratory gunfire killed two bystanders and wounded six, local official Fazal Rabbi said." ( Thank you Robert!)
I don't know about you, but every time I see Muslim Radicals fire their guns in the air, I know that "what goes up, must come down" and somebody is going to get hurt or killed. But what do you expect from a culture that insists that the world is flat, and a pedophile is a holy prophet? They say that ignorance is bliss, but just plain stupidity? I laughed all day over this one!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
U.S. SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS 2nd AMENDMENT!
Supreme Court says Americans have right to guns |
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense in their homes, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.
The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms restrictions intact.
The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.
Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.
The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home," Scalia said. The court also struck down Washington's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns.
Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans' preferred weapon of self-defense in part because "it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police."
In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons."
He said such evidence "is nowhere to be found."
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a separate dissent in which he said, "In my view, there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas."
Joining Scalia were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. The other dissenters were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter.
Gun rights supporters hailed the decision. "I consider this the opening salvo in a step-by-step process of providing relief for law-abiding Americans everywhere that have been deprived of this freedom," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association.
The NRA will file lawsuits in San Francisco, Chicago and several of its suburbs challenging handgun restrictions there based on Thursday's outcome.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a leading gun control advocate in Congress, criticized the ruling. "I believe the people of this great country will be less safe because of it," she said.
The capital's gun law was among the nation's strictest.
Dick Anthony Heller, 66, an armed security guard, sued the District after it rejected his application to keep a handgun at his home for protection in the same Capitol Hill neighborhood as the court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in Heller's favor and struck down Washington's handgun ban, saying the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to own guns and that a total prohibition on handguns is not compatible with that right.
The issue caused a split within the Bush administration. Vice President Dick Cheney supported the appeals court ruling, but others in the administration feared it could lead to the undoing of other gun regulations, including a federal law restricting sales of machine guns. Other laws keep felons from buying guns and provide for an instant background check.
White House reaction was restrained. "We're pleased that the Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment protects the right of Americans to keep and bear arms," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
Scalia said nothing in Thursday's ruling should "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons or the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings."
In a concluding paragraph to the his 64-page opinion, Scalia said the justices in the majority "are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country" and believe the Constitution "leaves the District of Columbia a variety of tools for combating that problem, including some measures regulating handguns."
The law adopted by Washington's city council in 1976 bars residents from owning handguns unless they had one before the law took effect. Shotguns and rifles may be kept in homes, if they are registered, kept unloaded and either disassembled or equipped with trigger locks.
Opponents of the law have said it prevents residents from defending themselves. The Washington government says no one would be prosecuted for a gun law violation in cases of self-defense.
The last Supreme Court ruling on the topic came in 1939 in U.S. v. Miller, which involved a sawed-off shotgun. Constitutional scholars disagree over what that case means but agree it did not squarely answer the question of individual versus collective rights.
Forty-four state constitutions contain some form of gun rights, which are not affected by the court's consideration of Washington's restrictions.
The case is District of Columbia v. Heller, 07-290.
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense in their homes, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.
The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms restrictions intact.
The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.
Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.
The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home," Scalia said. The court also struck down Washington's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns.
Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans' preferred weapon of self-defense in part because "it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police."
In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons."
He said such evidence "is nowhere to be found."
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a separate dissent in which he said, "In my view, there simply is no untouchable constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to keep loaded handguns in the house in crime-ridden urban areas."
Joining Scalia were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. The other dissenters were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter.
Gun rights supporters hailed the decision. "I consider this the opening salvo in a step-by-step process of providing relief for law-abiding Americans everywhere that have been deprived of this freedom," said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association.
The NRA will file lawsuits in San Francisco, Chicago and several of its suburbs challenging handgun restrictions there based on Thursday's outcome.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a leading gun control advocate in Congress, criticized the ruling. "I believe the people of this great country will be less safe because of it," she said.
The capital's gun law was among the nation's strictest.
Dick Anthony Heller, 66, an armed security guard, sued the District after it rejected his application to keep a handgun at his home for protection in the same Capitol Hill neighborhood as the court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in Heller's favor and struck down Washington's handgun ban, saying the Constitution guarantees Americans the right to own guns and that a total prohibition on handguns is not compatible with that right.
The issue caused a split within the Bush administration. Vice President Dick Cheney supported the appeals court ruling, but others in the administration feared it could lead to the undoing of other gun regulations, including a federal law restricting sales of machine guns. Other laws keep felons from buying guns and provide for an instant background check.
White House reaction was restrained. "We're pleased that the Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment protects the right of Americans to keep and bear arms," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
Scalia said nothing in Thursday's ruling should "cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons or the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings."
In a concluding paragraph to the his 64-page opinion, Scalia said the justices in the majority "are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country" and believe the Constitution "leaves the District of Columbia a variety of tools for combating that problem, including some measures regulating handguns."
The law adopted by Washington's city council in 1976 bars residents from owning handguns unless they had one before the law took effect. Shotguns and rifles may be kept in homes, if they are registered, kept unloaded and either disassembled or equipped with trigger locks.
Opponents of the law have said it prevents residents from defending themselves. The Washington government says no one would be prosecuted for a gun law violation in cases of self-defense.
The last Supreme Court ruling on the topic came in 1939 in U.S. v. Miller, which involved a sawed-off shotgun. Constitutional scholars disagree over what that case means but agree it did not squarely answer the question of individual versus collective rights.
Forty-four state constitutions contain some form of gun rights, which are not affected by the court's consideration of Washington's restrictions.
The case is District of Columbia v. Heller, 07-290.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
A MARINES "APOLOGY"
Sub: Lieutenant General Chuck Pitman's Views, Semper Fi!
[http://by106w.bay106.mail.live.com/mail/SafeRedirect.aspx?hm__tg=http%3a%2f%2f65.54.161.249%2fatt%2fGetAttachment.aspx&hm__qs=file%3d3d0d6a76-0c45-406e-9ae0-ee787b89e288%26ct%3daW1hZ2UvanBlZw_3d_3d%26name%3dQVRUMDAwMDE_3d%26inline%3d1%26rfc%3d0%26empty%3dFalse%26imgsrc%3dcid%253a1.718522152%2540web50605.mail.re2.yahoo.com&oneredir=1&ip=10.1.106.100&d=d3172&mf=0]
This 'Letter of Apology' was written by Lieutenant
General Chuck Pitman, US Marine Corps, Retired:
For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will
remain an issue. On the one hand, right thinking
Americans will abhor the stupidity of the actions
while on the other hand, political glee will take
control and fashion this minor event into some
modern day massacre.
I humbly offer my opinion here:
I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans
took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth;
it was in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia, Kosovo,
Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.)
I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the
extremists came after 9/11.
I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were
Islamic Arabs.
I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live
in squalor under savage dictatorships.
I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth.
I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the
US in their religious schools, mosques, and
government-controlled media.
I am sorry that Yasser Arafat was kicked out of every
Arab country and high-jacked the Palestinian 'cause.'
I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or
offer more than a token amount of financial help to
those same Palestinians.
I am sorry that the U. S. A. has to step in and be the
biggest financial supporter of poverty stricken Arabs
while the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the USA for
all their problems.
I am sorry that our own left wing, our media, and our
own brainwashed liberal masses do not understand
any of this (from the misleading vocal elements of our
society like radical liberal professors, CNN and NY TIMES).
I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people
of Iraq out of the 'food for oil' money so they could get
rich while the common folk suffered.
I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families
of homicide bombers upon their death
I am sorry that those same bombers are brainwashed
thinking they will receive 72 virgins in 'paradise.'
I am sorry that the homicide bombers think pregnant
women, babies, children, the elderly and other non-
combatant civilians are legitimate targets.
I am sorry that our troops die to free more Arabs from
the gang rape rooms and the filling of mass graves of
dissidents of their own making.
I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more
Arabs than any other group.
I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to
seize control of Iraq and return it to a terrorist state.
I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen Daisy cutters
on Fallujah.
I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a
convenient 'Holy Site.'
I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving a jet into
the World Trade Center that collapsed and severely
damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church -
one of our Holy Sites.
I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175,
the USS Cole, the embassy bombings, the murders
and beheadings of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl, etc...etc!
I am sorry Michael Moore is American; he could feed a
medium sized village in Africa .
America will get past this latest absurdity. We will punish
those responsible because that is what we do.
I am sorry the Barack Hussein Obama may be elected
president of the United States when he doesn't have a
clue on how to be a strong Commander-in-chief in a
world filled with Muslim extremists who will do whatever
it needs to do to destroy the lives of civilized people
while killing innocent men, women and children in order
to bring a change that is beneficial to all Islamic terrorists
worldwide.
I am sorry that voters on the liberal left don't understand the
frightening changes that are taking place in the Muslim world
and what these changes will do to this world in which we live.
I am sorry that the Democratic Party has been highjacked
by Socialists and Communists right under the very noses of
those who take pride in calling themselves democrats.
We hang out our dirty laundry for the entire world to see.
We move on. That's one of the reasons we are hated so
much. We don't hide this stuff like all those Arab countries
that are now demanding an apology.
Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported
in the news, we were like - so what? We lost hundreds and
made fun of a few prisoners. Sure, it was wrong, sure, it
dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured we were
trying to kill these same prisoners. Now we're supposed to
wring our hands because a few were humiliated?
Our compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of
our own people killed, mutilated and burnt amongst a
joyous crowd of celebrating Fallujahans.
If you want an apology from this American, you're going
to have a long wait! You have a better chance of finding
those seventy-two virgins.
Signed, Chuck Pitman
Lieutenant General, USMC
PS Pass on to your friends if your agree, and if not, I'm
sorry if I've offended you by passing along the facts.
[http://by106w.bay106.mail.live.com/mail/SafeRedirect.aspx?hm__tg=http%3a%2f%2f65.54.161.249%2fatt%2fGetAttachment.aspx&hm__qs=file%3d3d0d6a76-0c45-406e-9ae0-ee787b89e288%26ct%3daW1hZ2UvanBlZw_3d_3d%26name%3dQVRUMDAwMDE_3d%26inline%3d1%26rfc%3d0%26empty%3dFalse%26imgsrc%3dcid%253a1.718522152%2540web50605.mail.re2.yahoo.com&oneredir=1&ip=10.1.106.100&d=d3172&mf=0]
This 'Letter of Apology' was written by Lieutenant
General Chuck Pitman, US Marine Corps, Retired:
For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will
remain an issue. On the one hand, right thinking
Americans will abhor the stupidity of the actions
while on the other hand, political glee will take
control and fashion this minor event into some
modern day massacre.
I humbly offer my opinion here:
I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans
took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth;
it was in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia, Kosovo,
Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.)
I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the
extremists came after 9/11.
I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were
Islamic Arabs.
I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live
in squalor under savage dictatorships.
I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth.
I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the
US in their religious schools, mosques, and
government-controlled media.
I am sorry that Yasser Arafat was kicked out of every
Arab country and high-jacked the Palestinian 'cause.'
I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or
offer more than a token amount of financial help to
those same Palestinians.
I am sorry that the U. S. A. has to step in and be the
biggest financial supporter of poverty stricken Arabs
while the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the USA for
all their problems.
I am sorry that our own left wing, our media, and our
own brainwashed liberal masses do not understand
any of this (from the misleading vocal elements of our
society like radical liberal professors, CNN and NY TIMES).
I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people
of Iraq out of the 'food for oil' money so they could get
rich while the common folk suffered.
I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families
of homicide bombers upon their death
I am sorry that those same bombers are brainwashed
thinking they will receive 72 virgins in 'paradise.'
I am sorry that the homicide bombers think pregnant
women, babies, children, the elderly and other non-
combatant civilians are legitimate targets.
I am sorry that our troops die to free more Arabs from
the gang rape rooms and the filling of mass graves of
dissidents of their own making.
I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more
Arabs than any other group.
I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to
seize control of Iraq and return it to a terrorist state.
I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen Daisy cutters
on Fallujah.
I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a
convenient 'Holy Site.'
I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving a jet into
the World Trade Center that collapsed and severely
damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church -
one of our Holy Sites.
I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175,
the USS Cole, the embassy bombings, the murders
and beheadings of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl, etc...etc!
I am sorry Michael Moore is American; he could feed a
medium sized village in Africa .
America will get past this latest absurdity. We will punish
those responsible because that is what we do.
I am sorry the Barack Hussein Obama may be elected
president of the United States when he doesn't have a
clue on how to be a strong Commander-in-chief in a
world filled with Muslim extremists who will do whatever
it needs to do to destroy the lives of civilized people
while killing innocent men, women and children in order
to bring a change that is beneficial to all Islamic terrorists
worldwide.
I am sorry that voters on the liberal left don't understand the
frightening changes that are taking place in the Muslim world
and what these changes will do to this world in which we live.
I am sorry that the Democratic Party has been highjacked
by Socialists and Communists right under the very noses of
those who take pride in calling themselves democrats.
We hang out our dirty laundry for the entire world to see.
We move on. That's one of the reasons we are hated so
much. We don't hide this stuff like all those Arab countries
that are now demanding an apology.
Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported
in the news, we were like - so what? We lost hundreds and
made fun of a few prisoners. Sure, it was wrong, sure, it
dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured we were
trying to kill these same prisoners. Now we're supposed to
wring our hands because a few were humiliated?
Our compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of
our own people killed, mutilated and burnt amongst a
joyous crowd of celebrating Fallujahans.
If you want an apology from this American, you're going
to have a long wait! You have a better chance of finding
those seventy-two virgins.
Signed, Chuck Pitman
Lieutenant General, USMC
PS Pass on to your friends if your agree, and if not, I'm
sorry if I've offended you by passing along the facts.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Libian Leader Loves Obama!
Following are excerpts from a public address by Libyan Leader Mu'ammar Al-Qaddafi marking the anniversary of the U.S. air raid on Libya. The address aired on Al-Jazeera TV on June 11, 2008:
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1791.htm .
To view MEMRI TV page on Mu'ammar Al-Qaddafi, visit http://www.memritv.org/subject/en/194.htm .
"All The People In The Arab And Islamic World And In Africa Applauded This Man [Obama]... [And] May Have Even Been Involved In Legitimate Contribution Campaigns"
Mu'ammar Al-Qaddafi: "It has been proven that there is no democracy in [the U.S.]. Rather, it is a dictatorship no different than the dictatorships of Hitler, Napoleon, Mussolini, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, and the rest of the tyrants.
"In the days of crazy Reagan, the American president issued a presidential order to launch a war against Libya, for example, a presidential order to besiege Libya, a presidential order to boycott Libya, and so on. Is this a democracy or a dictatorship?
[...]
"There are elections in America now. Along came a black citizen of Kenyan African origins, a Muslim, who had studied in an Islamic school in Indonesia. His name is Obama.
"All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man. They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency."
"Our African Kenyan Brother [Obama]... Made Statements [About Jerusalem] That Shocked All His Supporters In The Arab World, In Africa, And In The Islamic World"
"But we were taken by surprise when our African Kenyan brother [Obama], who is an American national, made statements that shocked all his supporters in the Arab world, in Africa, and in the Islamic world.
"We hope that this is merely an elections 'clearance sale,' as they say in Egypt – in other words, merely an elections lie. As you know, this is the farce of elections – a person lies and lies to people, just so that they will vote for him, and afterwards, when they say to him, 'You promised this and that,' he says: 'No, this was just elections propaganda.' This is the farce of democracy for you. He says: 'This was propaganda, and you thought I was being serious. I was fooling you to get your votes.'
"Allah willing, it will turn out that this was merely elections propaganda. Obama said he would turn Jerusalem into the eternal capital of the Israelis. This indicates that our brother Obama is ignorant of international politics, and is not familiar with the Middle East conflict." [...]
"We Thought He Would Say: 'If I Win, I Will Monitor The Dimona Nuclear Plant" Like Kennedy, For Whose Assassination Ben Gurion Gave Green Light
"We thought he would say: 'I have decided that if I win, I will monitor the Dimona nuclear plant, and the other WMDs in Israeli's possession.' We expected him to make such a decision. He undoubtedly had this in mind. When he talked about Iran and its nuclear program, he undoubtedly had Dimona in mind.
"But when he was thinking about Dimona, he undoubtedly had the fate of former president Kennedy on his mind as well. Kennedy decided to monitor the Dimona nuclear plant. He insisted on doing so, in order to determine whether or not it produces nuclear weapons. The Israelis refused, but he insisted.
"This crisis was resolved with the resignation of Ben-Gurion. He resigned so he would not have to agree to the monitoring of the Dimona plant, and he gave the green light for the killing of Kennedy.
"Kennedy was killed because he insisted on the monitoring of the Dimona plant. This image was undoubtedly on Obama's mind. He undoubtedly wanted to talk about this, but decided not to."[...]
"We Expected Him To Say: 'I Will Implement The One-State Solution'... This Is The 'Change' That The Peoples Applaud..."
"We expected him to say: 'If I win, I will implement the one-state solution – the "Isratine" which appears in Qaddafi's White Book.' This idea constitutes the final, deep-rooted, and historic solution. It is impossible to establish two midget-states in this area. What kind of country is only 15 km deep? The so-called Israel is only 15 km deep. What kind of a country is this?
"There are five million Palestinians there. We expected Obama to say: 'I've decided to return millions of Palestinian refugees to the land of Palestine, from which they were expelled in 1948 and 1967.' This is the 'change' that the peoples applaud, the change that the American people – and the black people in America – want.
"We expected him to say: 'I will strive for the independence and unity of the Kurdish nation. This nation must take its place under the sun in the Middle East.' The Kurdish nation is torn apart, tormented, and persecuted, and is colonized by everyone. He should have supported it, instead of supporting the collaborators, while sacrificing the future of the Kurdish nation. This is 'change.'" [...]
"The Black Man Suffers From An Inferiority Complex... Such A Feeling Would Make Him [Obama] Act Whiter Than the White, And Go To An Extreme In His Persecution And Degradation Of The Blacks"
"The thing we fear most is that the black man suffers from an inferiority complex. This is dangerous. If our brother Obama feels that because he is black he doesn't have the right to rule America, this would be a disaster, because such a feeling would make him act whiter than the white, and go to an extreme in his persecution and degradation of the blacks.
[...]
"We say to him: Brother, the whites and blacks in America are equal. They are all immigrants. America belongs neither to the whites nor to the blacks. America belongs to its original inhabitants, the Indians. Both the whites and the blacks immigrated to America, and so they are equal, and Obama has the right to hold his head high, and say: 'I am a partner in America. This is my land as much as it is yours. If it is not my land, it is not yours either. It is the land of the Indians. You are immigrants, and so are we.'"[...]
"We Are Still Hoping That This Black Man Will Take Pride In His African And Islamic Identity"
"We are still hoping that this black man will take pride in his African and Islamic identity, and in his faith, and that [he will know] that he has rights in America, and that he will change America from evil to good, and that America will establish relations that will serve it well with other peoples, especially the Arabs."
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1791.htm .
To view MEMRI TV page on Mu'ammar Al-Qaddafi, visit http://www.memritv.org/subject/en/194.htm .
"All The People In The Arab And Islamic World And In Africa Applauded This Man [Obama]... [And] May Have Even Been Involved In Legitimate Contribution Campaigns"
Mu'ammar Al-Qaddafi: "It has been proven that there is no democracy in [the U.S.]. Rather, it is a dictatorship no different than the dictatorships of Hitler, Napoleon, Mussolini, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, and the rest of the tyrants.
"In the days of crazy Reagan, the American president issued a presidential order to launch a war against Libya, for example, a presidential order to besiege Libya, a presidential order to boycott Libya, and so on. Is this a democracy or a dictatorship?
[...]
"There are elections in America now. Along came a black citizen of Kenyan African origins, a Muslim, who had studied in an Islamic school in Indonesia. His name is Obama.
"All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man. They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency."
"Our African Kenyan Brother [Obama]... Made Statements [About Jerusalem] That Shocked All His Supporters In The Arab World, In Africa, And In The Islamic World"
"But we were taken by surprise when our African Kenyan brother [Obama], who is an American national, made statements that shocked all his supporters in the Arab world, in Africa, and in the Islamic world.
"We hope that this is merely an elections 'clearance sale,' as they say in Egypt – in other words, merely an elections lie. As you know, this is the farce of elections – a person lies and lies to people, just so that they will vote for him, and afterwards, when they say to him, 'You promised this and that,' he says: 'No, this was just elections propaganda.' This is the farce of democracy for you. He says: 'This was propaganda, and you thought I was being serious. I was fooling you to get your votes.'
"Allah willing, it will turn out that this was merely elections propaganda. Obama said he would turn Jerusalem into the eternal capital of the Israelis. This indicates that our brother Obama is ignorant of international politics, and is not familiar with the Middle East conflict." [...]
"We Thought He Would Say: 'If I Win, I Will Monitor The Dimona Nuclear Plant" Like Kennedy, For Whose Assassination Ben Gurion Gave Green Light
"We thought he would say: 'I have decided that if I win, I will monitor the Dimona nuclear plant, and the other WMDs in Israeli's possession.' We expected him to make such a decision. He undoubtedly had this in mind. When he talked about Iran and its nuclear program, he undoubtedly had Dimona in mind.
"But when he was thinking about Dimona, he undoubtedly had the fate of former president Kennedy on his mind as well. Kennedy decided to monitor the Dimona nuclear plant. He insisted on doing so, in order to determine whether or not it produces nuclear weapons. The Israelis refused, but he insisted.
"This crisis was resolved with the resignation of Ben-Gurion. He resigned so he would not have to agree to the monitoring of the Dimona plant, and he gave the green light for the killing of Kennedy.
"Kennedy was killed because he insisted on the monitoring of the Dimona plant. This image was undoubtedly on Obama's mind. He undoubtedly wanted to talk about this, but decided not to."[...]
"We Expected Him To Say: 'I Will Implement The One-State Solution'... This Is The 'Change' That The Peoples Applaud..."
"We expected him to say: 'If I win, I will implement the one-state solution – the "Isratine" which appears in Qaddafi's White Book.' This idea constitutes the final, deep-rooted, and historic solution. It is impossible to establish two midget-states in this area. What kind of country is only 15 km deep? The so-called Israel is only 15 km deep. What kind of a country is this?
"There are five million Palestinians there. We expected Obama to say: 'I've decided to return millions of Palestinian refugees to the land of Palestine, from which they were expelled in 1948 and 1967.' This is the 'change' that the peoples applaud, the change that the American people – and the black people in America – want.
"We expected him to say: 'I will strive for the independence and unity of the Kurdish nation. This nation must take its place under the sun in the Middle East.' The Kurdish nation is torn apart, tormented, and persecuted, and is colonized by everyone. He should have supported it, instead of supporting the collaborators, while sacrificing the future of the Kurdish nation. This is 'change.'" [...]
"The Black Man Suffers From An Inferiority Complex... Such A Feeling Would Make Him [Obama] Act Whiter Than the White, And Go To An Extreme In His Persecution And Degradation Of The Blacks"
"The thing we fear most is that the black man suffers from an inferiority complex. This is dangerous. If our brother Obama feels that because he is black he doesn't have the right to rule America, this would be a disaster, because such a feeling would make him act whiter than the white, and go to an extreme in his persecution and degradation of the blacks.
[...]
"We say to him: Brother, the whites and blacks in America are equal. They are all immigrants. America belongs neither to the whites nor to the blacks. America belongs to its original inhabitants, the Indians. Both the whites and the blacks immigrated to America, and so they are equal, and Obama has the right to hold his head high, and say: 'I am a partner in America. This is my land as much as it is yours. If it is not my land, it is not yours either. It is the land of the Indians. You are immigrants, and so are we.'"[...]
"We Are Still Hoping That This Black Man Will Take Pride In His African And Islamic Identity"
"We are still hoping that this black man will take pride in his African and Islamic identity, and in his faith, and that [he will know] that he has rights in America, and that he will change America from evil to good, and that America will establish relations that will serve it well with other peoples, especially the Arabs."
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Jihadists Strive To Undermine U.S. Dollar
Numerous postings on Islamist websites in the past two years reflect the mujahideen's growing interest in the state of the U.S. economy. As was argued in a 2007 MEMRI analysis,(1) many of the jihadists and their supporters have come to view their struggle against the U.S. and the West as an economic war. More specifically, they have come to the conclusion that it is financial, rather than military, losses that will prompt the U.S. to change its policies in the Middle East and elsewhere. Consequently, they emphasize the importance of targeting U.S. interests around the world, and of directing their military jihad primarily at targets that affect the U.S. economy.
To view the MEMRI Islamist Websites Monitor Project, visit http://memriiwmp.org/ .
"The Dollar Can Expect Two Additional Blows That Will Break Its Back"
The mujahideen's growing interest in undermining U.S. economy is reflected, for example, in an article in the 26th issue of the GIMF's e-magazine Sada Al-Jihad (Echo of Jihad), recently posted on Al-Hesbah and on other Islamist websites.(2) The article, titled "Why the Dollar Collapsed and How America Controls the Price of Oil," discusses the factors that contributed to the devaluation of the dollar in recent years.
The author lists among the key factors the economic damage caused by Hurricane Katrina; the losses caused by the September 11 attacks; the cost of the war on terror and of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the U.S.'s persistent trade deficit and growing government debt; investors' growing faith in the Euro; the recent subprime crisis in the U.S.; and the fact that financial institutions around the world have started to reduce their dollar reserves, thereby flooding the market with dollars and decreasing the demand for this currency.
The author ends his analysis with the following threat: "The dollar can expect two additional blows that will break its back... [namely] the announcement of the return of the Caliphate..." and the reinstatement of the gold standard in international monetary trade.
"Get Rid of [Your] American Dollars... and Buy Gold"
A recent posting on the Al-Ikhlas forum urges the mujahideen and their supporters to sell their dollars, if they have any, because Al-Qaeda is planning a strike inside the U.S. so that it will undermine the American economy: "[I advise you] to get rid of [your] American dollars... and buy gold instead... or real estate. The next attack inside the U.S. is imminent... Zawahiri will convey his instructions [regarding this attack] in his next [message]... This attack will put an end to the so-called United States of America and destroy its economy completely... The day of the attack is very near..."(3)
Given that it is highly atypical for Al-Qaeda to give prior warning of its attacks, the message is probably an attempt to pressure Muslims to sell dollars, in order to generate pessimism in the dollar market and thus accelerate the drop in its value.
Endnotes:
(1) See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 387 "The Battle... Is Economic Rather than Military" – An Economically Oriented Concept of Jihad Emerges in Islamist Discourse," September 11, 2007, http://memriiwmp.org/content/en/report.htm?report=2371.
(2) http://www.myhesbah.net/v/showthread.php?t=182568.
(3) http://www.ek-ls.org/forum/showthread.php?t=152815.
To view the MEMRI Islamist Websites Monitor Project, visit http://memriiwmp.org/ .
"The Dollar Can Expect Two Additional Blows That Will Break Its Back"
The mujahideen's growing interest in undermining U.S. economy is reflected, for example, in an article in the 26th issue of the GIMF's e-magazine Sada Al-Jihad (Echo of Jihad), recently posted on Al-Hesbah and on other Islamist websites.(2) The article, titled "Why the Dollar Collapsed and How America Controls the Price of Oil," discusses the factors that contributed to the devaluation of the dollar in recent years.
The author lists among the key factors the economic damage caused by Hurricane Katrina; the losses caused by the September 11 attacks; the cost of the war on terror and of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the U.S.'s persistent trade deficit and growing government debt; investors' growing faith in the Euro; the recent subprime crisis in the U.S.; and the fact that financial institutions around the world have started to reduce their dollar reserves, thereby flooding the market with dollars and decreasing the demand for this currency.
The author ends his analysis with the following threat: "The dollar can expect two additional blows that will break its back... [namely] the announcement of the return of the Caliphate..." and the reinstatement of the gold standard in international monetary trade.
"Get Rid of [Your] American Dollars... and Buy Gold"
A recent posting on the Al-Ikhlas forum urges the mujahideen and their supporters to sell their dollars, if they have any, because Al-Qaeda is planning a strike inside the U.S. so that it will undermine the American economy: "[I advise you] to get rid of [your] American dollars... and buy gold instead... or real estate. The next attack inside the U.S. is imminent... Zawahiri will convey his instructions [regarding this attack] in his next [message]... This attack will put an end to the so-called United States of America and destroy its economy completely... The day of the attack is very near..."(3)
Given that it is highly atypical for Al-Qaeda to give prior warning of its attacks, the message is probably an attempt to pressure Muslims to sell dollars, in order to generate pessimism in the dollar market and thus accelerate the drop in its value.
Endnotes:
(1) See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 387 "The Battle... Is Economic Rather than Military" – An Economically Oriented Concept of Jihad Emerges in Islamist Discourse," September 11, 2007, http://memriiwmp.org/content/en/report.htm?report=2371.
(2) http://www.myhesbah.net/v/showthread.php?t=182568.
(3) http://www.ek-ls.org/forum/showthread.php?t=152815.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Indian Clerics Issue Anti Terror Fatwa
On May 31, 2008, thousands of Islamic clerics and madrassa teachers from across India converged in the Indian capital of New Delhi for the Anti-Terrorism and Global Peace Conference, held by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (Assembly of Indian Clerics), a countrywide network of Islamic scholars. The conference issued an anti-terrorism fatwa, which is being called the world's first unequivocal fatwa against Islamic terror.(1)
The anti-terrorism fatwa was issued at the request of Indian MP Maulana Mahmood Madani, who heads the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, by the Darul Uloom Deoband, the 150-year-old Islamic seminary second in size only to Cairo's Al-Azhar University that controls thousands of Islamic seminaries across India and is situated in the town of Deoband near New Delhi. The fatwa was read out at the conference and administered in the form of a pledge to about 100,000 people present at the conference.(2)
The conference's importance lies in its being co-sponsored by several prominent Indian Islamic organizations, including Darul Uloom Deoband; Nadwat-ul-Ulema Lucknow, a century-old seminary of international repute; mass religious organizations such as Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ahle Hadith, and Rabta Madaris Islamia Arabia; and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a networking and lobbying group of Indian Muslim organizations.
The following are details from the conference:
"Islam Has Come to Wipe Out All Kinds of Terrorism and to Spread… Global Peace"
The initiative for the anti-terror fatwa came from Maulana Mahmood Madani, the Indian parliamentarian who asked the Darul Uloom Deoband to clarify the Islamic stand on global peace in light of shari'a. The fatwa, signed by Darul Uloom Deoband grand mufti Maulana Habibur Rahman, stated: "Islam is a religion of peace and security. In its eyes, on any part over the surface of the earth, spreading mischief, rioting, breach of peace, bloodshed, killing of innocent persons and plundering are the most inhuman crimes."(3)
However, the conference was also concerned over the linking of terrorism with Islam and Muslims, both in India and worldwide. In this context, the fatwa stated further: "It is proven, from clear guidelines provided in the Holy Koran, that the allegation of terrorism against a religion which preaches and guarantees world peace are nothing but a lie. The religion of Islam has come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace. Allah knows best."(4)
The fatwa is actually the ratification of an anti-terror declaration issued by the Darul Uloom Deoband earlier this year. The declaration, which stated that killing a single person is tantamount to the killing of all humanity, without differentiation based on creed, was adopted last February by about 10,000 scholars, muftis, clerics and madrassa teachers from across India.(5)
The anti-terror fatwa, which has the support of various sects of Indian Islam, is being seen as the first scholarly statement against international terrorism. According to a media report, "[the Darul Uloom Deoband] not only declared terror activities to be anti-Islam, but also involved top clerics in defining terrorism in the light of the Quran and shari'a."(6)
The conference also adopted a declaration which sought to juxtapose Islamic terrorism with jihad. The declaration said: "There is a world of difference between terrorism and jihad. Jihad is constructive and terrorism is destructive. Jihad is for the establishment of peace... terrorism is the gravest of crimes, as held by the Koran and Islam."(7)
Maulana Mahmood Madani and Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, who is rector of Darul Uloom Deoband, were among a dozen prominent Indian clerics who addressed the conference. According to a report, Maulana Madani said: "Any action that targets innocents, whether by an individual or by any government or by a private organisation anywhere in the world constitutes, according to Islam, an act of terrorism."(8)
Leaders of Different Faiths, Scholars, and Filmmakers Support Anti-Terror Fatwa
The anti-terror conference had the support of numerous social activists, filmmakers and spiritual leaders of Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism. Among the prominent figures who spoke at the conference were filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, social activist Teesta Setalvad, social activist and Hindu spiritual leader Swami Agnivesh, Jain saint Lokesh Muni, and Sikh religious leader Pramjit Singh Sarna.(9)
According to a report, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said: "Whenever there is a bomb blast, a finger is raised at Muslims, who are put behind bars and are subjected to a sense of dejection." Islamic scholar Maulana Abdul Khaliq Madrasi said: "The biggest challenge today is the attempt to link Muslims with terrorism." Social activist Swami Agnivesh told the convention: "We will fight terrorism in every street and corner and if even after this we are called jihadi, I announce at this conference that I am the biggest jihadi. We are fully part of the Jamiat's fight against terrorism."(10)
The significance of these statements is likely to be seen in the context of Islamic terrorist groups' success in establishing a toehold among Indian Muslims, many of whom have been arrested on suspicion of being linked to a series of bombings in various Indian cities and towns in recent years. Most recently, dozens of Muslim youths were detained by police in India following the May 13 bomb blasts in the tourist city of Jaipur.(11) The high point of Indian Muslims' involvement in international terrorism was Indian nationals' participation in the 2007 car bomb attack at Glasgow International Airport.
It is in this context that the Darul Uloom Deoband is spearheading an anti-terror awareness movement among Indian Muslims, who are leaderless due to the exodus of their educated and economically influential middle class to Pakistan at the time of partition in 1947. Since the adoption of the anti-terror declaration in February of this year, the Darul Uloom Deoband has held a series of anti-terrorism meetings and conferences in the Indian towns of Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Kolkata, Surat, Ahmedabad, New Delhi and Hyderabad.(12)
Darul Uloom Deoband's unequivocal condemnation of terrorism in its fatwa has also been backed by the right-wing nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, the major Indian opposition party known for its consistent anti-Muslim rhetoric. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajnath Singh lauded the fatwa, saying: "The Darul Uloom Deoband is trying to disconnect Muslims from terrorism."(13)
Dalai Lama: "If A Person Is a Terrorist, He Cannot Be A Muslim"
Among Indian Muslims, awareness is rapidly growing, reinforced by hundreds of television channels and newspapers, that international terrorism is at their door and that they must act. In this context, the Dalai Lama stepped inside the Delhi's 17th-century-old Jama Masjid to lead a multi-faith prayer for peace; it is highly unusual for a non-Muslim to lead a prayer inside a mosque. In this move, he was accompanied by leaders of different faiths, political leaders, and foreign dignitaries. During the multi-faith prayer meeting, he said: "Muslims cannot be terrorists. If a person is a terrorist, he cannot be a Muslim."(14)
At Second Anti-Terror Event: "We Condemn Terrorism In All Its Forms"
Later that day, the Dalai Lama, the Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Abdullah Bukhari, social activist Teesta Setalvad, and a host of Islamic scholars from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Jordan, Lebanon and Indonesia attended an international anti-terrorism conference, the second such anti-terror event to take place in the Indian capital in as many days. The International Anti-Terrorism Conference was organized by the Jama Masjid United Forum, which is steered by the leadership of the old Delhi's Jama Masjid.
The conference denounced terrorism in all forms. Syed Yahya Bukhari, the head of Jama Masjid United Forum, said: "It is essential to consistently condemn terrorism, in all its forms, with one voice. Whoever that person maybe or for whatever reason he commits it must be condemned. We condemn terrorism in all its forms."(15)
Muhammad Hashim Babar, a leader of Awami National Party that came to power recently in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, was one of the delegates at the conference. He told the gathering: "The madrassas in Pakistan's tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan are nurturing grounds for terrorism. We need to establish moderate schools to counter these madrassas."(16) Babar also called for ending state support for terrorism, stating: "The root cause of terrorism is when a state patronises religion."(17)
Endnotes:
(1) Rashtriya Sahara (India), June 1, 2008.
(2) Rashtriya Sahara (India), June 1, 2008.
(3) The Hindu (India), June 1, 2008.
(4) The Times of India (India), June 1, 2008.
(5) MEMRI Special Dispatch Series No. 1856, "Indian Clerics' Anti-Terror Conference Issues Declaration against Terror, Blames 'Tyrant and Colonial Master of the West [i.e. U.S.]' for Aggression in Muslim World," http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=urdu&ID=SP185608.
(6) Hindustan Times (India), June 1, 2008.
(7) The Hindu (India), June 1, 2008.
(8) Hindustan Times (India), June 1, 2008.
(9) Rashtriya Sahara (India), June 1, 2008.
(10) Roznama Inquilab (India), June 1, 2008.
(11) MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis Series No. 441, "Jihadist Groups Perpetrate Terror in Jaipur, India," http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=IA44108 .
(12) MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis Series No. 441, "Jihadist Groups Perpetrate Terror in Jaipur, India," http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=IA44108 [12]; The Times of India (India), June 1, 2008.
(13) Roznama Munsif (India), June 2, 2008.
(14) Rediff.com (India), June 1, 2008.
(15) Roznama Munsif (India), June 2, 2008.
(16) Roznama Munsif (India), June 2, 2008.
(17) The Times of India (India), June 2, 2008.
http://www.memri.org
The anti-terrorism fatwa was issued at the request of Indian MP Maulana Mahmood Madani, who heads the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, by the Darul Uloom Deoband, the 150-year-old Islamic seminary second in size only to Cairo's Al-Azhar University that controls thousands of Islamic seminaries across India and is situated in the town of Deoband near New Delhi. The fatwa was read out at the conference and administered in the form of a pledge to about 100,000 people present at the conference.(2)
The conference's importance lies in its being co-sponsored by several prominent Indian Islamic organizations, including Darul Uloom Deoband; Nadwat-ul-Ulema Lucknow, a century-old seminary of international repute; mass religious organizations such as Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ahle Hadith, and Rabta Madaris Islamia Arabia; and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a networking and lobbying group of Indian Muslim organizations.
The following are details from the conference:
"Islam Has Come to Wipe Out All Kinds of Terrorism and to Spread… Global Peace"
The initiative for the anti-terror fatwa came from Maulana Mahmood Madani, the Indian parliamentarian who asked the Darul Uloom Deoband to clarify the Islamic stand on global peace in light of shari'a. The fatwa, signed by Darul Uloom Deoband grand mufti Maulana Habibur Rahman, stated: "Islam is a religion of peace and security. In its eyes, on any part over the surface of the earth, spreading mischief, rioting, breach of peace, bloodshed, killing of innocent persons and plundering are the most inhuman crimes."(3)
However, the conference was also concerned over the linking of terrorism with Islam and Muslims, both in India and worldwide. In this context, the fatwa stated further: "It is proven, from clear guidelines provided in the Holy Koran, that the allegation of terrorism against a religion which preaches and guarantees world peace are nothing but a lie. The religion of Islam has come to wipe out all kinds of terrorism and to spread the message of global peace. Allah knows best."(4)
The fatwa is actually the ratification of an anti-terror declaration issued by the Darul Uloom Deoband earlier this year. The declaration, which stated that killing a single person is tantamount to the killing of all humanity, without differentiation based on creed, was adopted last February by about 10,000 scholars, muftis, clerics and madrassa teachers from across India.(5)
The anti-terror fatwa, which has the support of various sects of Indian Islam, is being seen as the first scholarly statement against international terrorism. According to a media report, "[the Darul Uloom Deoband] not only declared terror activities to be anti-Islam, but also involved top clerics in defining terrorism in the light of the Quran and shari'a."(6)
The conference also adopted a declaration which sought to juxtapose Islamic terrorism with jihad. The declaration said: "There is a world of difference between terrorism and jihad. Jihad is constructive and terrorism is destructive. Jihad is for the establishment of peace... terrorism is the gravest of crimes, as held by the Koran and Islam."(7)
Maulana Mahmood Madani and Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, who is rector of Darul Uloom Deoband, were among a dozen prominent Indian clerics who addressed the conference. According to a report, Maulana Madani said: "Any action that targets innocents, whether by an individual or by any government or by a private organisation anywhere in the world constitutes, according to Islam, an act of terrorism."(8)
Leaders of Different Faiths, Scholars, and Filmmakers Support Anti-Terror Fatwa
The anti-terror conference had the support of numerous social activists, filmmakers and spiritual leaders of Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism. Among the prominent figures who spoke at the conference were filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, social activist Teesta Setalvad, social activist and Hindu spiritual leader Swami Agnivesh, Jain saint Lokesh Muni, and Sikh religious leader Pramjit Singh Sarna.(9)
According to a report, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said: "Whenever there is a bomb blast, a finger is raised at Muslims, who are put behind bars and are subjected to a sense of dejection." Islamic scholar Maulana Abdul Khaliq Madrasi said: "The biggest challenge today is the attempt to link Muslims with terrorism." Social activist Swami Agnivesh told the convention: "We will fight terrorism in every street and corner and if even after this we are called jihadi, I announce at this conference that I am the biggest jihadi. We are fully part of the Jamiat's fight against terrorism."(10)
The significance of these statements is likely to be seen in the context of Islamic terrorist groups' success in establishing a toehold among Indian Muslims, many of whom have been arrested on suspicion of being linked to a series of bombings in various Indian cities and towns in recent years. Most recently, dozens of Muslim youths were detained by police in India following the May 13 bomb blasts in the tourist city of Jaipur.(11) The high point of Indian Muslims' involvement in international terrorism was Indian nationals' participation in the 2007 car bomb attack at Glasgow International Airport.
It is in this context that the Darul Uloom Deoband is spearheading an anti-terror awareness movement among Indian Muslims, who are leaderless due to the exodus of their educated and economically influential middle class to Pakistan at the time of partition in 1947. Since the adoption of the anti-terror declaration in February of this year, the Darul Uloom Deoband has held a series of anti-terrorism meetings and conferences in the Indian towns of Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Kolkata, Surat, Ahmedabad, New Delhi and Hyderabad.(12)
Darul Uloom Deoband's unequivocal condemnation of terrorism in its fatwa has also been backed by the right-wing nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, the major Indian opposition party known for its consistent anti-Muslim rhetoric. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajnath Singh lauded the fatwa, saying: "The Darul Uloom Deoband is trying to disconnect Muslims from terrorism."(13)
Dalai Lama: "If A Person Is a Terrorist, He Cannot Be A Muslim"
Among Indian Muslims, awareness is rapidly growing, reinforced by hundreds of television channels and newspapers, that international terrorism is at their door and that they must act. In this context, the Dalai Lama stepped inside the Delhi's 17th-century-old Jama Masjid to lead a multi-faith prayer for peace; it is highly unusual for a non-Muslim to lead a prayer inside a mosque. In this move, he was accompanied by leaders of different faiths, political leaders, and foreign dignitaries. During the multi-faith prayer meeting, he said: "Muslims cannot be terrorists. If a person is a terrorist, he cannot be a Muslim."(14)
At Second Anti-Terror Event: "We Condemn Terrorism In All Its Forms"
Later that day, the Dalai Lama, the Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Abdullah Bukhari, social activist Teesta Setalvad, and a host of Islamic scholars from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Jordan, Lebanon and Indonesia attended an international anti-terrorism conference, the second such anti-terror event to take place in the Indian capital in as many days. The International Anti-Terrorism Conference was organized by the Jama Masjid United Forum, which is steered by the leadership of the old Delhi's Jama Masjid.
The conference denounced terrorism in all forms. Syed Yahya Bukhari, the head of Jama Masjid United Forum, said: "It is essential to consistently condemn terrorism, in all its forms, with one voice. Whoever that person maybe or for whatever reason he commits it must be condemned. We condemn terrorism in all its forms."(15)
Muhammad Hashim Babar, a leader of Awami National Party that came to power recently in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, was one of the delegates at the conference. He told the gathering: "The madrassas in Pakistan's tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan are nurturing grounds for terrorism. We need to establish moderate schools to counter these madrassas."(16) Babar also called for ending state support for terrorism, stating: "The root cause of terrorism is when a state patronises religion."(17)
Endnotes:
(1) Rashtriya Sahara (India), June 1, 2008.
(2) Rashtriya Sahara (India), June 1, 2008.
(3) The Hindu (India), June 1, 2008.
(4) The Times of India (India), June 1, 2008.
(5) MEMRI Special Dispatch Series No. 1856, "Indian Clerics' Anti-Terror Conference Issues Declaration against Terror, Blames 'Tyrant and Colonial Master of the West [i.e. U.S.]' for Aggression in Muslim World," http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=urdu&ID=SP185608.
(6) Hindustan Times (India), June 1, 2008.
(7) The Hindu (India), June 1, 2008.
(8) Hindustan Times (India), June 1, 2008.
(9) Rashtriya Sahara (India), June 1, 2008.
(10) Roznama Inquilab (India), June 1, 2008.
(11) MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis Series No. 441, "Jihadist Groups Perpetrate Terror in Jaipur, India," http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=IA44108 .
(12) MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis Series No. 441, "Jihadist Groups Perpetrate Terror in Jaipur, India," http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=IA44108 [12]; The Times of India (India), June 1, 2008.
(13) Roznama Munsif (India), June 2, 2008.
(14) Rediff.com (India), June 1, 2008.
(15) Roznama Munsif (India), June 2, 2008.
(16) Roznama Munsif (India), June 2, 2008.
(17) The Times of India (India), June 2, 2008.
http://www.memri.org
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
British MP George Galloway Is A Dhimmi Sell Out!
An he considers Barak Obama to be one too!
Following is an interview with British MP George Galloway, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 2, 2008.
To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1785.htm
To view the MEMRI TV page on Al-Aqsa TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/content/en/tv_channel_indiv.htm?id=175 .
"I Pray For the Safety of Barack Obama, And I Pray That He Can Shift the U.S.'s Attitude"
George Galloway: "I hope that the new presidency in the United States... I pray for the safety of Barack Obama, and I pray that he can shift the United States' attitude to this question. But as you know, Palestine cannot free itself. It is a small country against a huge superpower. The real problem is not in Palestine. It's not even in London or Washington. The real problem is in the Arab world. From Marrakesh to Bahrain - 300 million Arabs, oil at $136 per barrel... If the Arabs wanted to solve this Palestine problem, they could do so in six days.[...]"
"These Puppet Presidents and Corrupt Kings May Discover That the Ground Has Moved Under Their Feet, Allah Willing"
"The Americans are not in a position to intervene anywhere in the Arab world, because they have been defeated by the muqawama [resistance] in Iraq. And so, sunk in this swamp in Iraq and in Afghanistan, the U.S. is no longer able to assist its puppets in the Middle East. So as we come towards the November elections, and the real prospect of a significant victory for Obama, everyone will have to re-find their footing, and these puppet presidents and corrupt kings may discover that the ground has moved under their feet, Allah willing.[...]"
"So We Have To Change the Policy of the United States, Through Our Work in Europe, Through a Change in the Attitude, Or a Change of the Leaders of the Arab World"
"I think there are important changes coming in Israel also. Olmert may be in prison by the weekend. He may be replaced by the foreign minister or by Barak. He may be replaced, God forbid, by Netanyahu. I don't believe the key lies in Tel Aviv. Israel is not an independent country. It must act under the orders of the United States, which provides every bullet and every dollar.
"So we have to change the policy of the United States, through our work in Europe, through a change in the attitude, or a change of the leaders of the Arab world, to show the United States that it must change its policy in the region. After all, if the United States can take everything she wants from the Arabs, and still follow a policy of cutting throats of the Arabs - why to change? If you can have whatever you want, and do whatever you want - well, why to change?"
DONATION INFORMATION
MEMRI is Bridging the Language Gap Between the West and the Middle East and we need your support to continue funding new and innovative projects.
MEMRI IS A 501(C)(3) ORGANIZATION, YOUR DONATION IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE
Following is an interview with British MP George Galloway, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on May 2, 2008.
To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1785.htm
To view the MEMRI TV page on Al-Aqsa TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/content/en/tv_channel_indiv.htm?id=175 .
"I Pray For the Safety of Barack Obama, And I Pray That He Can Shift the U.S.'s Attitude"
George Galloway: "I hope that the new presidency in the United States... I pray for the safety of Barack Obama, and I pray that he can shift the United States' attitude to this question. But as you know, Palestine cannot free itself. It is a small country against a huge superpower. The real problem is not in Palestine. It's not even in London or Washington. The real problem is in the Arab world. From Marrakesh to Bahrain - 300 million Arabs, oil at $136 per barrel... If the Arabs wanted to solve this Palestine problem, they could do so in six days.[...]"
"These Puppet Presidents and Corrupt Kings May Discover That the Ground Has Moved Under Their Feet, Allah Willing"
"The Americans are not in a position to intervene anywhere in the Arab world, because they have been defeated by the muqawama [resistance] in Iraq. And so, sunk in this swamp in Iraq and in Afghanistan, the U.S. is no longer able to assist its puppets in the Middle East. So as we come towards the November elections, and the real prospect of a significant victory for Obama, everyone will have to re-find their footing, and these puppet presidents and corrupt kings may discover that the ground has moved under their feet, Allah willing.[...]"
"So We Have To Change the Policy of the United States, Through Our Work in Europe, Through a Change in the Attitude, Or a Change of the Leaders of the Arab World"
"I think there are important changes coming in Israel also. Olmert may be in prison by the weekend. He may be replaced by the foreign minister or by Barak. He may be replaced, God forbid, by Netanyahu. I don't believe the key lies in Tel Aviv. Israel is not an independent country. It must act under the orders of the United States, which provides every bullet and every dollar.
"So we have to change the policy of the United States, through our work in Europe, through a change in the attitude, or a change of the leaders of the Arab world, to show the United States that it must change its policy in the region. After all, if the United States can take everything she wants from the Arabs, and still follow a policy of cutting throats of the Arabs - why to change? If you can have whatever you want, and do whatever you want - well, why to change?"
DONATION INFORMATION
MEMRI is Bridging the Language Gap Between the West and the Middle East and we need your support to continue funding new and innovative projects.
MEMRI IS A 501(C)(3) ORGANIZATION, YOUR DONATION IS TAX DEDUCTIBLE
Sunday, June 8, 2008
ISLAMISTS DO MORE HARM TO ISLAM THAN THE WEST!
The recent re-publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad by the Danish press and release of Dutch MP Geert Wilders' film "Fitna" have precipitated a wave of Muslim protest, some of it violent, throughout the world. Following these developments, several Arab columnists wrote to condemn the violent reactions, arguing that the Muslims themselves had committed iniquity against both their coreligionists and everyone else, thereby harming the name of Islam.
The following are excerpts from some of the articles:
Islam's Biggest Enemy is the Muslims Themselves
In an article in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa, titled "Muslims Against Islam," Kuwaiti liberal Dr. Ahmad Al-Baghdadi wrote: "In most countries around the world, Muslims broke into Danish Embassies, setting fire to them, and called for a ban on Danish imports... They have also launched a satellite TV channel and organized various committees and institutions, with the sole purpose of defending the Prophet [Muhammad] and the Islamic religion... Have the Muslims ever taken account of the tremendous iniquities they themselves have committed and are still committing against Islam [within and outside] the Islamic countries?
"Let us examine the following problems, which I will briefly outline below:
"How many prisoners are locked up in Muslim prisons for their opinions, ideas, and cultural identity? Is it in the spirit of Islam that Muslims are fleeing their homeland for 'heretical' countries in order to attain security and live in dignity?... Is it in the spirit of Islam to be silent in the face of the tyranny of rulers? Is it in the spirit of Islam that one family should rule over an entire people? Is it in the spirit of Islam that some Muslim countries abound in magnificent palaces while 60% of their population is illiterate? Is it in the spirit of Islam to turn a blind eye to a billionaire's several profligate satellite channels, whose programs make a mockery of religion and morality, only because [this billionaire] has [also] launched a religious channel?... The truth is that the biggest enemy of Islam is the Muslims themselves, because they have relinquished all decency in dealing with others, as well as the courage to oppose oppression..."(1)
Who Is Harming The Prophet?
In an article on the liberal website Aafaq.org, Egyptian writer Ahmad Al-Aswani set out the crimes committed by the Muslim world that he believed have harmed the Prophet Muhammad and discredited the spirit of Islam: "I do not think that cartoons, books, or films can harm a religion or affect the faith of those who adhere to it out of conviction.
"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who butcher and bomb innocents all over the world, from New York to Madrid, London, Bali, Riyadh and Cairo, Kabul and Baghdad - while invoking Allah and the Prophet under the banner of Islamic jihad...
"Among those who harm the Prophet are the likes of Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, who incites to the murder of Jewish children in their mothers' wombs (e.g. in a 1996 lecture to the Egyptian journalists association) and to suicide operations, as well as those who cause the death of innocent victims by declaring jihad in Iraq in the name of religion and the Prophet.
"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who call on the world to pass a resolution against disparaging religion, while they themselves denigrate other religions in each prayer in the mosques, as well as in their schools and on their satellite channels - and especially [the religion] of Christians and Jews, whom they curse in every prayer. When Muslim countries submitted a draft of this resolution to the U.N. Human Rights Council, the Saudi Shura Council raised objections, since reviling other religions is one of Islam's central precepts.
"The ones who harm the Prophet are the likes of those who issued the fatwa sanctioning the breastfeeding of adults, and asserting that [the drinking of] the Prophet's urine is a source of blessing – or those who allow such fairy tales to be studied in religious schools and colleges... The ones who harm the Prophet are those who teach children in schools, particularly so-called Islamic [schools], to hate Christians on the grounds that it is forbidden to love them...
"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who believe that external attributes such as a beard, a spot on the forehead [attesting to deep genuflections during prayer], a veil, or a cloak are prescribed by Islam, and also those who accuse others of heresy and kill [them] on account [of these external attributes].
"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who believe that woman is [lewd], and that she detracts from [the purity] of prayer just like a dog or a donkey...(2) and those who believe that a woman lacks intelligence and religion, forgetting that [they are talking about] a mother, sister, beloved, daughter, or wife, who is equal to man in every respect.
"The ones who harm the Prophet are people like [Egyptian geologist and Ph.D] Zaghlul Al-Najjar, who claims to have knowledge yet at the same time regards natural disasters such as storms, volcanic eruptions, and floods as divine punishments [for] sinners, and who disparages the New and Old Testaments, believing them to be fabrications - and all this in the name of Islam and the Prophet...
"The ones who harm the Prophet are the rulers of Arab states who have made their countries the last bastions of tyranny and dictatorship in the world, and who demand submission to religious texts to justify their crimes.
"The ones who harm the Prophet do not live in the West - they are among us, the Muslims. [It is the Muslims] who have fashioned an Islamic model that is [inherently] terrorist, hypocritical, life-negating, and sustained by the murder of others in the name of jihad and by attacks on freedom of opinion under the pretext of [defending Islamic] national principles - which are actually nothing but retardation and fossilized prejudice... This is what we – and no one else - have produced."(3)
Murderous Acts Have Destroyed the Image of Islam
Similar claims were made by Bahraini columnist Abdallah Al-Ayoubi in an article in the Bahraini daily Akhbar Al-Khaleej: "...The harm to the Muslim religion has not been caused only by the publication, in Danish papers, of cartoons disparaging the Prophet Muhammad or by the film... produced by the Dutch MP. There are many [other], graver, dangers that Muslim religion is exposed to. They come from those who use religion as a cover for their criminal conduct, which they attribute to the teachings of the Islamic faith...
"Humane and noble [religious] precepts have been destroyed by extremist 'Islamic' movements such as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and others, that perpetrate hideous crimes against innocent [people] in their own countries as well as in other, non-Muslim, countries... When base, despicable acts are carried out by [Muslim] societies and nations, they cause tremendous harm to [Islamic] religious teachings.
"This is what happened, for example, as a result of the September 11th crimes against the U.S., and as a result of the attacks in London and Madrid that followed in their wake.
"The Muslim nations must first and foremost purge themselves of [elements] that use Islam and its teachings as a disguise [i.e.] in order to present their crimes against humanity as jihad in the name of Allah... It is inconceivable that the teachings [of Islam] should justify the murder of dozens, [even] thousands, of innocent people. It is such iniquities that have corrupted the image of Islam in the eyes of non-Muslims...
"[Muslim] nations must adopt the language of reason... in order to deal with the attacks on [Islam], and to wage war against 'Islamic' extremism, which has distorted Muslim religious teachings...
"Those who harm the Muslim religion must be confronted, using sound logic rather than emotion; up until now, responses to attacks [on Islam] have been based not rationality but on pathos. The exaggerated reactions to the Danish press's publication of the offensive cartoons were manifested in setting fire to Danish diplomatic representations - although the Danish government bears no responsibility for these cartoons.
"Such [responses] will not only fail to prevent harm to [Islam], but will actually magnify it..."(4)
Endnotes:
(1) Al-Siyassa (Kuwait), March 31, 2008.
(2) According to some interpretations of Muslim law, the presence, or mere passing, of a woman, a dog, or a donkey during prayer detract from the purity of the prayer.
(3) www.aafaq.org, April 5, 2008.
(4) Akhbar Al-Khaleej (Bahrain), March 31, 2008.
The following are excerpts from some of the articles:
Islam's Biggest Enemy is the Muslims Themselves
In an article in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa, titled "Muslims Against Islam," Kuwaiti liberal Dr. Ahmad Al-Baghdadi wrote: "In most countries around the world, Muslims broke into Danish Embassies, setting fire to them, and called for a ban on Danish imports... They have also launched a satellite TV channel and organized various committees and institutions, with the sole purpose of defending the Prophet [Muhammad] and the Islamic religion... Have the Muslims ever taken account of the tremendous iniquities they themselves have committed and are still committing against Islam [within and outside] the Islamic countries?
"Let us examine the following problems, which I will briefly outline below:
"How many prisoners are locked up in Muslim prisons for their opinions, ideas, and cultural identity? Is it in the spirit of Islam that Muslims are fleeing their homeland for 'heretical' countries in order to attain security and live in dignity?... Is it in the spirit of Islam to be silent in the face of the tyranny of rulers? Is it in the spirit of Islam that one family should rule over an entire people? Is it in the spirit of Islam that some Muslim countries abound in magnificent palaces while 60% of their population is illiterate? Is it in the spirit of Islam to turn a blind eye to a billionaire's several profligate satellite channels, whose programs make a mockery of religion and morality, only because [this billionaire] has [also] launched a religious channel?... The truth is that the biggest enemy of Islam is the Muslims themselves, because they have relinquished all decency in dealing with others, as well as the courage to oppose oppression..."(1)
Who Is Harming The Prophet?
In an article on the liberal website Aafaq.org, Egyptian writer Ahmad Al-Aswani set out the crimes committed by the Muslim world that he believed have harmed the Prophet Muhammad and discredited the spirit of Islam: "I do not think that cartoons, books, or films can harm a religion or affect the faith of those who adhere to it out of conviction.
"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who butcher and bomb innocents all over the world, from New York to Madrid, London, Bali, Riyadh and Cairo, Kabul and Baghdad - while invoking Allah and the Prophet under the banner of Islamic jihad...
"Among those who harm the Prophet are the likes of Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, who incites to the murder of Jewish children in their mothers' wombs (e.g. in a 1996 lecture to the Egyptian journalists association) and to suicide operations, as well as those who cause the death of innocent victims by declaring jihad in Iraq in the name of religion and the Prophet.
"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who call on the world to pass a resolution against disparaging religion, while they themselves denigrate other religions in each prayer in the mosques, as well as in their schools and on their satellite channels - and especially [the religion] of Christians and Jews, whom they curse in every prayer. When Muslim countries submitted a draft of this resolution to the U.N. Human Rights Council, the Saudi Shura Council raised objections, since reviling other religions is one of Islam's central precepts.
"The ones who harm the Prophet are the likes of those who issued the fatwa sanctioning the breastfeeding of adults, and asserting that [the drinking of] the Prophet's urine is a source of blessing – or those who allow such fairy tales to be studied in religious schools and colleges... The ones who harm the Prophet are those who teach children in schools, particularly so-called Islamic [schools], to hate Christians on the grounds that it is forbidden to love them...
"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who believe that external attributes such as a beard, a spot on the forehead [attesting to deep genuflections during prayer], a veil, or a cloak are prescribed by Islam, and also those who accuse others of heresy and kill [them] on account [of these external attributes].
"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who believe that woman is [lewd], and that she detracts from [the purity] of prayer just like a dog or a donkey...(2) and those who believe that a woman lacks intelligence and religion, forgetting that [they are talking about] a mother, sister, beloved, daughter, or wife, who is equal to man in every respect.
"The ones who harm the Prophet are people like [Egyptian geologist and Ph.D] Zaghlul Al-Najjar, who claims to have knowledge yet at the same time regards natural disasters such as storms, volcanic eruptions, and floods as divine punishments [for] sinners, and who disparages the New and Old Testaments, believing them to be fabrications - and all this in the name of Islam and the Prophet...
"The ones who harm the Prophet are the rulers of Arab states who have made their countries the last bastions of tyranny and dictatorship in the world, and who demand submission to religious texts to justify their crimes.
"The ones who harm the Prophet do not live in the West - they are among us, the Muslims. [It is the Muslims] who have fashioned an Islamic model that is [inherently] terrorist, hypocritical, life-negating, and sustained by the murder of others in the name of jihad and by attacks on freedom of opinion under the pretext of [defending Islamic] national principles - which are actually nothing but retardation and fossilized prejudice... This is what we – and no one else - have produced."(3)
Murderous Acts Have Destroyed the Image of Islam
Similar claims were made by Bahraini columnist Abdallah Al-Ayoubi in an article in the Bahraini daily Akhbar Al-Khaleej: "...The harm to the Muslim religion has not been caused only by the publication, in Danish papers, of cartoons disparaging the Prophet Muhammad or by the film... produced by the Dutch MP. There are many [other], graver, dangers that Muslim religion is exposed to. They come from those who use religion as a cover for their criminal conduct, which they attribute to the teachings of the Islamic faith...
"Humane and noble [religious] precepts have been destroyed by extremist 'Islamic' movements such as Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and others, that perpetrate hideous crimes against innocent [people] in their own countries as well as in other, non-Muslim, countries... When base, despicable acts are carried out by [Muslim] societies and nations, they cause tremendous harm to [Islamic] religious teachings.
"This is what happened, for example, as a result of the September 11th crimes against the U.S., and as a result of the attacks in London and Madrid that followed in their wake.
"The Muslim nations must first and foremost purge themselves of [elements] that use Islam and its teachings as a disguise [i.e.] in order to present their crimes against humanity as jihad in the name of Allah... It is inconceivable that the teachings [of Islam] should justify the murder of dozens, [even] thousands, of innocent people. It is such iniquities that have corrupted the image of Islam in the eyes of non-Muslims...
"[Muslim] nations must adopt the language of reason... in order to deal with the attacks on [Islam], and to wage war against 'Islamic' extremism, which has distorted Muslim religious teachings...
"Those who harm the Muslim religion must be confronted, using sound logic rather than emotion; up until now, responses to attacks [on Islam] have been based not rationality but on pathos. The exaggerated reactions to the Danish press's publication of the offensive cartoons were manifested in setting fire to Danish diplomatic representations - although the Danish government bears no responsibility for these cartoons.
"Such [responses] will not only fail to prevent harm to [Islam], but will actually magnify it..."(4)
Endnotes:
(1) Al-Siyassa (Kuwait), March 31, 2008.
(2) According to some interpretations of Muslim law, the presence, or mere passing, of a woman, a dog, or a donkey during prayer detract from the purity of the prayer.
(3) www.aafaq.org, April 5, 2008.
(4) Akhbar Al-Khaleej (Bahrain), March 31, 2008.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
CAIR; The Islamic Thorn Inside America!
CAIR Board Chairman: War on Terror is war against Islam
There is a great deal of whining victimology in this article. I have not reproduced below the material about the disproportionate percentage of Muslims in European prisons. There is in the article, of course, no consideration at all of the possibility that they might commit crimes at a higher rate than the general population, out of their contempt for non-Muslims and non-Muslim society and law.
But note below Parvez Ahmed's wild claims that the PC American establishment, for all its fear of talking about jihad and its tiptoeing around the ideology that motivates the jihadists, is actually at war with Islam, and his relativistic "terrorism is in the eye of the beholder" nonsense. And then remember: this guy is, in the eyes of the government and media establishments, a leading American "moderate."
"War on terror is war on Islam, says advocate," by Nisa Islam Muhammad in Farrakhan's The Final Call, May 28 (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):
WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - The global war on terror has become a thinly veiled excuse to wage a global war on Islam with increased arrests of Muslims, calls for regime change in Muslim countries and racial profiling, according to a leader with a national Islamic organization.
“The tactic of terrorism—and yes it is a tactic, not an ideology—has been deployed by a multitude of groups of different religions, ethnicities and ideologies and yet the Islamic faith, unlike any other, is erroneously and incessantly associated with terrorism,” said Dr. Parvez Ahmed, a national board member of the Council on American Islamic Relations. “The association of a faith practiced by 1.2 billion people worldwide to terrorism creates the perception that the GWOT is a war against Islam.”
Around the world since 2001 there have been increases in the arrest and detention of Muslims.
Dr. Ahmed explained that right after 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, the federal government subjected 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants to fingerprinting and registration, sought out 8,000 Arab and Muslim men for FBI interviews and imprisoned over 5,000 foreign nationals in anti-terrorism preventive detention compounds.
“These arrests and detentions did not result in the conviction of a single person for a terrorist crime. Thus the U.S. government’s record for the largest ethnic profiling campaign stood at 0 for 93,000,” he said.
[...]
“Between 1980 and 2003, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelan, a group that recruits from the predominantly Hindu Tamil population in Sri Lanka and whose ideology is intertwined with Marxism, was the world’s leader in suicide terrorism. Despite this, Islamic groups receive the most attention in the Western media,” said Dr. Ahmed.
“Suicide bombings are the product of modern political violence. Suicide bombings by Muslims are not the result of any Islamic ideology, but rather they are the result of the sociopolitical conditions of occupations (such as Palestine, Chechnya and Iraq) and the outcome of proxy wars fought in Afghanistan, where America not only armed the mujihadeen, but also enabled a culture of drugs and violence,” he said.
Dr. Ahmed also noted that terrorism is a word generally applied to “one’s enemies or those with whom one disagrees.”
“Hence the decision to call someone or label some organization ‘terrorist’ becomes almost unavoidably subjective, depending largely on whether one sympathizes with or opposes the person/group/cause concerned,” he said.
“If one identifies with the victim of the violence, for example, then the act is terrorism. If, however, one identifies with the perpetrator, the violent act is regarded in a more sympathetic, if not positive (or worst, an ambivalent) light; and is not terrorism,” Dr. Ahmed said....
UPDATE: Patrick Poole kindly points out that Parvez Ahmed is simply parroting Osama bin Laden.
www.jihadwatch.org
There is a great deal of whining victimology in this article. I have not reproduced below the material about the disproportionate percentage of Muslims in European prisons. There is in the article, of course, no consideration at all of the possibility that they might commit crimes at a higher rate than the general population, out of their contempt for non-Muslims and non-Muslim society and law.
But note below Parvez Ahmed's wild claims that the PC American establishment, for all its fear of talking about jihad and its tiptoeing around the ideology that motivates the jihadists, is actually at war with Islam, and his relativistic "terrorism is in the eye of the beholder" nonsense. And then remember: this guy is, in the eyes of the government and media establishments, a leading American "moderate."
"War on terror is war on Islam, says advocate," by Nisa Islam Muhammad in Farrakhan's The Final Call, May 28 (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):
WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - The global war on terror has become a thinly veiled excuse to wage a global war on Islam with increased arrests of Muslims, calls for regime change in Muslim countries and racial profiling, according to a leader with a national Islamic organization.
“The tactic of terrorism—and yes it is a tactic, not an ideology—has been deployed by a multitude of groups of different religions, ethnicities and ideologies and yet the Islamic faith, unlike any other, is erroneously and incessantly associated with terrorism,” said Dr. Parvez Ahmed, a national board member of the Council on American Islamic Relations. “The association of a faith practiced by 1.2 billion people worldwide to terrorism creates the perception that the GWOT is a war against Islam.”
Around the world since 2001 there have been increases in the arrest and detention of Muslims.
Dr. Ahmed explained that right after 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, the federal government subjected 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants to fingerprinting and registration, sought out 8,000 Arab and Muslim men for FBI interviews and imprisoned over 5,000 foreign nationals in anti-terrorism preventive detention compounds.
“These arrests and detentions did not result in the conviction of a single person for a terrorist crime. Thus the U.S. government’s record for the largest ethnic profiling campaign stood at 0 for 93,000,” he said.
[...]
“Between 1980 and 2003, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelan, a group that recruits from the predominantly Hindu Tamil population in Sri Lanka and whose ideology is intertwined with Marxism, was the world’s leader in suicide terrorism. Despite this, Islamic groups receive the most attention in the Western media,” said Dr. Ahmed.
“Suicide bombings are the product of modern political violence. Suicide bombings by Muslims are not the result of any Islamic ideology, but rather they are the result of the sociopolitical conditions of occupations (such as Palestine, Chechnya and Iraq) and the outcome of proxy wars fought in Afghanistan, where America not only armed the mujihadeen, but also enabled a culture of drugs and violence,” he said.
Dr. Ahmed also noted that terrorism is a word generally applied to “one’s enemies or those with whom one disagrees.”
“Hence the decision to call someone or label some organization ‘terrorist’ becomes almost unavoidably subjective, depending largely on whether one sympathizes with or opposes the person/group/cause concerned,” he said.
“If one identifies with the victim of the violence, for example, then the act is terrorism. If, however, one identifies with the perpetrator, the violent act is regarded in a more sympathetic, if not positive (or worst, an ambivalent) light; and is not terrorism,” Dr. Ahmed said....
UPDATE: Patrick Poole kindly points out that Parvez Ahmed is simply parroting Osama bin Laden.
www.jihadwatch.org
Saturday, May 24, 2008
IN HONOR OF AMERICA'S FALLEN
The liberals and war protesters like to bring up the number of brave men and women
who have made the supreme sacrifice in the war on terror. They shamelessly use the numbers to advance their own political agenda. While each death of a soldier holds an honored place in Americas history, they are but a handful compared to the millions of men and women who have given their lives to protect our freedom and that of other peoples around the world. As we approach 5000 war dead within 5 years of war, not counting those lost on 9/11, remember that we have lost that many in one battle at times in our history, and not that long ago. During WWII, the loses in the Pacific were staggering by comparison.
Most of all let us honor their sacrifice by remembering that each and every one of them chose to be there. Their unselfish sacrifice in giving their lives for the cause of freedom is what sustains our freedom today.
When you gaze upon our Flag, you will see them marching behind it stretching to eternity and beyond. Honor them by honoring those who still serve, and those who will. Most of all, pray for their families for their sacrifice is a living one that lasts a lifetime.


THE ABOVE IS AN UN-RETOUCHED PHOTO TAKEN WITH A STANDARD 35mm CAMERA.
God is watching over America!
May He continue to Bless her and our FREEDOM!
"If I Die Before You Wake" sung by Dustin Evans
who have made the supreme sacrifice in the war on terror. They shamelessly use the numbers to advance their own political agenda. While each death of a soldier holds an honored place in Americas history, they are but a handful compared to the millions of men and women who have given their lives to protect our freedom and that of other peoples around the world. As we approach 5000 war dead within 5 years of war, not counting those lost on 9/11, remember that we have lost that many in one battle at times in our history, and not that long ago. During WWII, the loses in the Pacific were staggering by comparison.
Most of all let us honor their sacrifice by remembering that each and every one of them chose to be there. Their unselfish sacrifice in giving their lives for the cause of freedom is what sustains our freedom today.
When you gaze upon our Flag, you will see them marching behind it stretching to eternity and beyond. Honor them by honoring those who still serve, and those who will. Most of all, pray for their families for their sacrifice is a living one that lasts a lifetime.


THE ABOVE IS AN UN-RETOUCHED PHOTO TAKEN WITH A STANDARD 35mm CAMERA.
God is watching over America!
May He continue to Bless her and our FREEDOM!
"If I Die Before You Wake" sung by Dustin Evans
U.K. JIHADISTS USE MENTALY CHALLENGED DUPE!
UK restaurant nail bomber was sent text message encouraging him
So evidently Mohammed Rasheed (Nicky Reilly) wasn't a freelance jihadist or a random fellow acting out his random mental illness at all. He seems to have been part of a jihadist group. And two more men have been arrested in connection with the attack.
"Exeter explosion: 'bomber' Nicky Reilly was sent text of encouragement," by Duncan Gardham for the Telegraph, May 23 (thanks to John):
A Muslim convert accused of trying to set off three homemade nail bombs in a packed shopping centre in Exeter received a text message of encouragement on the day of the attacks, the Daily Telegraph has learned.
Investigating officers suspect Nicky Reilly, 22, who has learning difficulties, planned to commit suicide but do not think he could have constructed the bombs without help.
He received a message on his mobile phone on the day of the attacks which officers believe amounted to a "message of encouragement."
“He has a very low IQ and has received treatment on more than one occasion for mental illness. He would be very easily led," a police source said.
“This really does mark a low point for Muslim extremists. We are all horrified by what has happened here."
The comments came as armed police investigating the bombing arrested two men outside a cafe today....
Reilly had allegedly been using a type of rudimentary bomb not employed by Muslims [sic] extremists in Britain before which was constructed from sodium hydroxide, aluminium foil strips and an essential oil, combined with kerosene.
The source confirmed that there were nails in the bag containing the devices, one of which partially detonated in the toilets of a restaurant in the Princesshay centre. The other two failed to go off....
"If it had gone up it would certainly have caused a huge fireball and the idea he was doing that in a family restaurant packed with children is awful."
Special Branch officers were monitoring a group of alleged radicals in Plymouth, where Reilly lives with his mother, which was based at a local mosque but Reilly was on the fringes of the group.
The source said: "As part of our operations to monitor the activities of radical groups across the country we were aware of this group and of Reilly himself but he was right on the fringes of a group that did not appear to be planning any attacks....
Local people claim Reilly, who changed his name to Mohammed Rasheed, was "brainwashed" by a group that met at a fish and chip shop.
So evidently Mohammed Rasheed (Nicky Reilly) wasn't a freelance jihadist or a random fellow acting out his random mental illness at all. He seems to have been part of a jihadist group. And two more men have been arrested in connection with the attack.
"Exeter explosion: 'bomber' Nicky Reilly was sent text of encouragement," by Duncan Gardham for the Telegraph, May 23 (thanks to John):
A Muslim convert accused of trying to set off three homemade nail bombs in a packed shopping centre in Exeter received a text message of encouragement on the day of the attacks, the Daily Telegraph has learned.
Investigating officers suspect Nicky Reilly, 22, who has learning difficulties, planned to commit suicide but do not think he could have constructed the bombs without help.
He received a message on his mobile phone on the day of the attacks which officers believe amounted to a "message of encouragement."
“He has a very low IQ and has received treatment on more than one occasion for mental illness. He would be very easily led," a police source said.
“This really does mark a low point for Muslim extremists. We are all horrified by what has happened here."
The comments came as armed police investigating the bombing arrested two men outside a cafe today....
Reilly had allegedly been using a type of rudimentary bomb not employed by Muslims [sic] extremists in Britain before which was constructed from sodium hydroxide, aluminium foil strips and an essential oil, combined with kerosene.
The source confirmed that there were nails in the bag containing the devices, one of which partially detonated in the toilets of a restaurant in the Princesshay centre. The other two failed to go off....
"If it had gone up it would certainly have caused a huge fireball and the idea he was doing that in a family restaurant packed with children is awful."
Special Branch officers were monitoring a group of alleged radicals in Plymouth, where Reilly lives with his mother, which was based at a local mosque but Reilly was on the fringes of the group.
The source said: "As part of our operations to monitor the activities of radical groups across the country we were aware of this group and of Reilly himself but he was right on the fringes of a group that did not appear to be planning any attacks....
Local people claim Reilly, who changed his name to Mohammed Rasheed, was "brainwashed" by a group that met at a fish and chip shop.
Friday, May 23, 2008
RELIGION OF PEACE CONVERT BLOWS IT!
Convert to Islam sets off nail bomb in UK restaurant
You guessed it: yet another convert to Islam who misunderstands his new, peaceful religion. Watch for a new crop of "backlash fear" stories!
Watch also for the Organization of the Islamic Conference and all sorts of Muslim leaders to protest against this ongoing "hijacking" of Islam, and to call on Muslims everywhere to speak out against it -- oh, wait...I'm sorry to say they won't do that about this incident. They're too busy protesting the Qur'an-shooting, Fitna, Motoons, and the rest. Doing violence in the name of Islam just isn't important enough to warrant a protest.
"Exeter explosion at Giraffe restaurant: man injured is suspected Islamic extremist," by Duncan Gardham and Richard Savill in the Telegraph, May 22 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):
A suspected Islamic extremist has attempted to attack a restaurant in a shopping centre in the middle of Exeter.
The man suffered cuts to his eye and facial burns in the attack when his device went off in the toilets of the restaurant in the brand new, £230m Princesshay centre.
Police sources believe the man was arming a bomb when it partially exploded in his face.
Whoops.
He then tried to detonate a second device in the crowded street outside the restaurant.
Bomb disposal teams have recovered canisters of a sodium-based homemade explosive, it is understood, and there were reports that nails may have been part of the devices.
Police sources told The Daily Telegraph the man is a white male, aged 22, from the South West and is thought to be a convert to Islam....
WWW.JIHADWATCH.ORG
You guessed it: yet another convert to Islam who misunderstands his new, peaceful religion. Watch for a new crop of "backlash fear" stories!
Watch also for the Organization of the Islamic Conference and all sorts of Muslim leaders to protest against this ongoing "hijacking" of Islam, and to call on Muslims everywhere to speak out against it -- oh, wait...I'm sorry to say they won't do that about this incident. They're too busy protesting the Qur'an-shooting, Fitna, Motoons, and the rest. Doing violence in the name of Islam just isn't important enough to warrant a protest.
"Exeter explosion at Giraffe restaurant: man injured is suspected Islamic extremist," by Duncan Gardham and Richard Savill in the Telegraph, May 22 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):
A suspected Islamic extremist has attempted to attack a restaurant in a shopping centre in the middle of Exeter.
The man suffered cuts to his eye and facial burns in the attack when his device went off in the toilets of the restaurant in the brand new, £230m Princesshay centre.
Police sources believe the man was arming a bomb when it partially exploded in his face.
Whoops.
He then tried to detonate a second device in the crowded street outside the restaurant.
Bomb disposal teams have recovered canisters of a sodium-based homemade explosive, it is understood, and there were reports that nails may have been part of the devices.
Police sources told The Daily Telegraph the man is a white male, aged 22, from the South West and is thought to be a convert to Islam....
WWW.JIHADWATCH.ORG
Monday, May 19, 2008
An Aussie Soldier in Iraq
A must read from an Australian whose son is in Iraq
In a message dated 4/2/2008 9:21:02 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
Oddball0227 writes:
Gentlemen I am an Australian and my son is an Australian - as far as we
are
concerned there is not place on God's earth better than Australia , and
there are no
people better than Australians.
That was until the past week or so.
My son is in the Australian Army and he is currently on deployment in
Iraq.
I can not go into his duties in great depth, but shall we say that he and
his fellow army buddies are on a glorified guard duty looking after the
Australian Embassy. They don't go out looking for "action", though it is a
different story in Afghanistan , there the Aussie troops chase the baddies
over the hills and into the valleys..
My son and I just ended a long 'phone conversation and here are some of
his comments, believe me this is what he said. We have all seen the bullshit
emails written by some clown in his lounge room pretending to be at the
coal face, but this is what was said.:
----------------------
"Before I came over here I thought we (the Australian Army) were pretty
shit hot..... was I ever wrong!....The Yanks (I hope you don't mind me using
that word) are so professional from the top to the bottom that it is almost
embarrassing to be in their company, and to call yourself a soldier....don't
get me wrong, we are good at what we do but the Yanks are so much
better.....they are complete at what they do, how they do it and their
attitude is awesome....they don't complain they just get on with the job
and they do it right.....I carry a Minimi (SAW) so I am not real worried
about
a confrontation but I tell you I feel safer just knowing that the US Army is
close by....
If we got into trouble I know that our boys would come running and we
could deal with it but they would probably be passed by a load of Hummers.
No
questions asked, no glory sought, the Americans would just fight with us
and for us because that is their nature, to protect those in need of
protection.....We use the American Mess so you could say that we are fed
by the Americans.....they have every right to be pissed at that but they
don't bitch about that they just make us feel as welcome as possible....what
gets to me is that the Yanks don't walk around with a "we are better than
you
attitude" and they could because they are, they treat us as equals and as
brothers in arms. If nothing else, coming here has taught me that the
Americans are a truly great Nation and a truly great bunch of
people.....Let's face it they don't HAVE to be here, they could stay in
America and beat the shit out of anyone who threatened them, BUT THEY ARE
HERE because they believe they should be here, and the Iraqis would be
screwed if they weren't here.....When I come home, you and I we are going
to the US, we will buy some bikes and we are going riding...."
The reason why I am sharing this with you is because I realize that you
(as a nation) must get pretty pissed with all the criticism you receive by
the
so-called "know it alls" who are sitting at home - safe. The reality is
that they are safe, just as I am, because of America . If the world went
arse
up tomorrow there is f**k all we ( Australia ) could do about it, but I know
that the Americans would be there putting themselves on the line for
others.
That to me is the sign of greatness.
-----------------------
The most precious thing in my life is my son, I look at him and I thank
God that I am fortunate enough to be able to spend time in his company. We
laugh, we discuss, we argue, we dummy spit, we have the same blood I am
not happy that he is where he is but that is his duty. He joined the Army to
protect and to defend, not to play games. I mightn't like it but I accept
it. My reasons for not liking it are selfish and self centered. I felt
assured that he would be safe because he is in a well trained army with an
excellent record, BUT NOW, I feel a whole lot better knowing that he is
with your sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.
Whilst he was growing up. I was always there to look after him, I would
not let harm befall him and I would always put myself before him to protect
him I can't do that now. When it comes to looking after him now he and his
mates will do the job, but also THANK GOD FOR AMERICA.
Gentlemen, I have rambled on for too long. but as I finish I say to you,
as a foreigner and outsider, a nation is only a collection of its people and
its attitude is the attitude of its people, collectively and as individuals.
I am really glad you are here on this Earth and I respect you as a nation
and as people.
Stand up and feel proud because you deserve it, there is no one else who
will do what America does without question. The next time someone howls
you down, take some comfort in the fact that America is defending their
right
to act like an idiot.
Finally, thank you for looking after my son.
Peter Turner
In a message dated 4/2/2008 9:21:02 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
Oddball0227 writes:
Gentlemen I am an Australian and my son is an Australian - as far as we
are
concerned there is not place on God's earth better than Australia , and
there are no
people better than Australians.
That was until the past week or so.
My son is in the Australian Army and he is currently on deployment in
Iraq.
I can not go into his duties in great depth, but shall we say that he and
his fellow army buddies are on a glorified guard duty looking after the
Australian Embassy. They don't go out looking for "action", though it is a
different story in Afghanistan , there the Aussie troops chase the baddies
over the hills and into the valleys..
My son and I just ended a long 'phone conversation and here are some of
his comments, believe me this is what he said. We have all seen the bullshit
emails written by some clown in his lounge room pretending to be at the
coal face, but this is what was said.:
----------------------
"Before I came over here I thought we (the Australian Army) were pretty
shit hot..... was I ever wrong!....The Yanks (I hope you don't mind me using
that word) are so professional from the top to the bottom that it is almost
embarrassing to be in their company, and to call yourself a soldier....don't
get me wrong, we are good at what we do but the Yanks are so much
better.....they are complete at what they do, how they do it and their
attitude is awesome....they don't complain they just get on with the job
and they do it right.....I carry a Minimi (SAW) so I am not real worried
about
a confrontation but I tell you I feel safer just knowing that the US Army is
close by....
If we got into trouble I know that our boys would come running and we
could deal with it but they would probably be passed by a load of Hummers.
No
questions asked, no glory sought, the Americans would just fight with us
and for us because that is their nature, to protect those in need of
protection.....We use the American Mess so you could say that we are fed
by the Americans.....they have every right to be pissed at that but they
don't bitch about that they just make us feel as welcome as possible....what
gets to me is that the Yanks don't walk around with a "we are better than
you
attitude" and they could because they are, they treat us as equals and as
brothers in arms. If nothing else, coming here has taught me that the
Americans are a truly great Nation and a truly great bunch of
people.....Let's face it they don't HAVE to be here, they could stay in
America and beat the shit out of anyone who threatened them, BUT THEY ARE
HERE because they believe they should be here, and the Iraqis would be
screwed if they weren't here.....When I come home, you and I we are going
to the US, we will buy some bikes and we are going riding...."
The reason why I am sharing this with you is because I realize that you
(as a nation) must get pretty pissed with all the criticism you receive by
the
so-called "know it alls" who are sitting at home - safe. The reality is
that they are safe, just as I am, because of America . If the world went
arse
up tomorrow there is f**k all we ( Australia ) could do about it, but I know
that the Americans would be there putting themselves on the line for
others.
That to me is the sign of greatness.
-----------------------
The most precious thing in my life is my son, I look at him and I thank
God that I am fortunate enough to be able to spend time in his company. We
laugh, we discuss, we argue, we dummy spit, we have the same blood I am
not happy that he is where he is but that is his duty. He joined the Army to
protect and to defend, not to play games. I mightn't like it but I accept
it. My reasons for not liking it are selfish and self centered. I felt
assured that he would be safe because he is in a well trained army with an
excellent record, BUT NOW, I feel a whole lot better knowing that he is
with your sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.
Whilst he was growing up. I was always there to look after him, I would
not let harm befall him and I would always put myself before him to protect
him I can't do that now. When it comes to looking after him now he and his
mates will do the job, but also THANK GOD FOR AMERICA.
Gentlemen, I have rambled on for too long. but as I finish I say to you,
as a foreigner and outsider, a nation is only a collection of its people and
its attitude is the attitude of its people, collectively and as individuals.
I am really glad you are here on this Earth and I respect you as a nation
and as people.
Stand up and feel proud because you deserve it, there is no one else who
will do what America does without question. The next time someone howls
you down, take some comfort in the fact that America is defending their
right
to act like an idiot.
Finally, thank you for looking after my son.
Peter Turner
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
NEW SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA PHOTOS!
COMING TO YOUR TOWN SOON!
OR, "THEY'RE HERE!"
Unless you live in a rural area, there is probably a mosque (or more than one) in your town, and most people -- including local law enforcement officials -- regard them in much the same way as they do the local churches: with complete indifference. It is generally considered to be in the worst possible taste to suggest that possibly, just possibly, it might be worth checking into the local mosque's sources of funding, and what they're teaching there. As a Las Vegas city councilor exclaimed when some people objected to a proposal to build a mosque right beyond the fence of the international airport, "What's the big deal? It's just a church!"
But imagine what the outcry would be if your local church sponsored speakers like these:
Dayton, Ohio: According to Patrick Poole of Central Ohioans Against Terrorism, Khalid Yasin will be lecturing at Sinclair Community College in Dayton on May 16, sponsored by Dayton’s Masjid-at-Taqwa. Who is Khalid Yasin? Patrick Poole tells us this about him:
For example, consider some of his stated positions:
* Yasin says that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks.
* Yasin claims that AIDS was invented at a US government lab and spread by Western governments through UN agencies and Christian missionaries.
* Yasin advocates for the death penalty for homosexuality.
* Yasin justified the terrorist bombings in Bali because of years of Western oppression.
* Yasin says that the Quran permits wife-beating [cf. Qur'an 4:34] and that equal rights for women is a “delusion” and “foolishness”.
* Yasin calls the beliefs of Christians and Jews “filth”. [cf. Qur'an 9:28]
* Yasin says that Muslims cannot have non-Muslim friends. [cf. Qur'an 5:51]
* Yasin rejects any separation between Islam and the state and openly advocates for the reestablishment of the caliphate. [cf. Qur'an 24:55]
* Yasin visited Jemaah Islamiah terrorist leader Abu Bakar Bashir in prison.
* Yasin has lectured with Hizb-ut-Tahrir hatemonger Omar Bakri Mohammed, who was banned from the UK in 2006.
* Yasin was in Saudi Arabia on 9/11 soliciting support from the Al-Qaeda front Al-Haramain Foundation, which was designated a terrorist organization in 2004 by the US government, to help finance his Islamic Broadcasting Company.
There is much, more about him at Central Ohioans Against Terrorism.
Manchester, New Hampshire: The Islamic Society of Greater Manchester (thanks to M.) on May 4 held a fundraiser for its new mosque, featuring Imam Siraj Wahhaj.
Siraj Wahhaj is a big star on the American Muslim speaker circuit. In 1991, he was the first Islamic cleric to give an invocation to the U.S. Congress. However, he has also warned that the United States will fall unless it “accepts the Islamic agenda.” He has lamented that “if only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate.” In the early 1990s he sponsored talks by Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman in mosques in New York City and New Jersey; Rahman was later convicted for conspiring to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993, and Wahhaj was designated a “potential unindicted co-conspirator.”
Just days before Wahhaj appeared, on April 30 the Islamic Society of Manchester brought in Ingrid Mattson of the Islamic Society of North America.
The Islamic Society of North America was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation jihad terror charity case last summer. Also, it was named in a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memorandum as one of the organizations pursuing in the United States "a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”
Now imagine if the local Catholic parish featured a speaker who said that the beliefs of Jews and Muslims were "filth" and that homosexuals should be killed, or a speaker who said that Constitutional law should be replaced by religious law, or who was a representative of an organization that was an unindicted co-conspirator in a terror funding case, and was named as part of an effort to destroy Western civilization in a memo from the group spearheading that effort. If any of that were happening in your local parish, do you think you'd only be hearing about it here?
HTTP://WWW.JIHADWATCH.ORG
Unless you live in a rural area, there is probably a mosque (or more than one) in your town, and most people -- including local law enforcement officials -- regard them in much the same way as they do the local churches: with complete indifference. It is generally considered to be in the worst possible taste to suggest that possibly, just possibly, it might be worth checking into the local mosque's sources of funding, and what they're teaching there. As a Las Vegas city councilor exclaimed when some people objected to a proposal to build a mosque right beyond the fence of the international airport, "What's the big deal? It's just a church!"
But imagine what the outcry would be if your local church sponsored speakers like these:
Dayton, Ohio: According to Patrick Poole of Central Ohioans Against Terrorism, Khalid Yasin will be lecturing at Sinclair Community College in Dayton on May 16, sponsored by Dayton’s Masjid-at-Taqwa. Who is Khalid Yasin? Patrick Poole tells us this about him:
For example, consider some of his stated positions:
* Yasin says that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks.
* Yasin claims that AIDS was invented at a US government lab and spread by Western governments through UN agencies and Christian missionaries.
* Yasin advocates for the death penalty for homosexuality.
* Yasin justified the terrorist bombings in Bali because of years of Western oppression.
* Yasin says that the Quran permits wife-beating [cf. Qur'an 4:34] and that equal rights for women is a “delusion” and “foolishness”.
* Yasin calls the beliefs of Christians and Jews “filth”. [cf. Qur'an 9:28]
* Yasin says that Muslims cannot have non-Muslim friends. [cf. Qur'an 5:51]
* Yasin rejects any separation between Islam and the state and openly advocates for the reestablishment of the caliphate. [cf. Qur'an 24:55]
* Yasin visited Jemaah Islamiah terrorist leader Abu Bakar Bashir in prison.
* Yasin has lectured with Hizb-ut-Tahrir hatemonger Omar Bakri Mohammed, who was banned from the UK in 2006.
* Yasin was in Saudi Arabia on 9/11 soliciting support from the Al-Qaeda front Al-Haramain Foundation, which was designated a terrorist organization in 2004 by the US government, to help finance his Islamic Broadcasting Company.
There is much, more about him at Central Ohioans Against Terrorism.
Manchester, New Hampshire: The Islamic Society of Greater Manchester (thanks to M.) on May 4 held a fundraiser for its new mosque, featuring Imam Siraj Wahhaj.
Siraj Wahhaj is a big star on the American Muslim speaker circuit. In 1991, he was the first Islamic cleric to give an invocation to the U.S. Congress. However, he has also warned that the United States will fall unless it “accepts the Islamic agenda.” He has lamented that “if only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate.” In the early 1990s he sponsored talks by Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman in mosques in New York City and New Jersey; Rahman was later convicted for conspiring to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993, and Wahhaj was designated a “potential unindicted co-conspirator.”
Just days before Wahhaj appeared, on April 30 the Islamic Society of Manchester brought in Ingrid Mattson of the Islamic Society of North America.
The Islamic Society of North America was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation jihad terror charity case last summer. Also, it was named in a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memorandum as one of the organizations pursuing in the United States "a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”
Now imagine if the local Catholic parish featured a speaker who said that the beliefs of Jews and Muslims were "filth" and that homosexuals should be killed, or a speaker who said that Constitutional law should be replaced by religious law, or who was a representative of an organization that was an unindicted co-conspirator in a terror funding case, and was named as part of an effort to destroy Western civilization in a memo from the group spearheading that effort. If any of that were happening in your local parish, do you think you'd only be hearing about it here?
HTTP://WWW.JIHADWATCH.ORG
Friday, May 9, 2008
BEIRUT ALL BUT FALLS , Lebanon In Crisis!
Following the 2006 Lebanon war, and during the standoff of the Lebanese government and the March 14 forces versus Hizbullah and the Amal forces, Hizbullah has engaged in wide-ranging efforts to rearm, reorganize, and rebuild towards confrontation on two fronts – against Israel and against the March 14 and government forces.
Two elements of Hizbullah's preparations have been uncovered in the past few weeks: Hizbullah's independent communications network,(1) and a surveillance network at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport, set up by airport security chief Wafiq Shuqer, who is in the service of Hizbullah (see footnotes for MEMRI’s reports on these issues going back to 2007).(2)
This week, the Lebanese government made a series of decisions deeming Hizbullah's communications network to be both illegal and intolerable.
In response, armed forces, primarily from Amal but also from Hizbullah, took to the streets of Beirut, cutting off roads, mostly those leading to the airport; paralyzing life in the city; clashing with the army in western Beirut; besieging the homes of March 14 forces leader; and attacking and damaging the building housing Future TV, which belongs to Sa'ad Al-Hariri, a March 14 Forces leader, forcing the station to halt broadcasting.
TV footage shows that the Lebanese army did not undertake a major counter-operation against the Amal and Hizbullah militias. The militias of the Christians and Druze did not respond at all, while the militia of Sa'ad Al-Hariri, representing Sunni Muslims in Lebanon, reacted in a limited manner. These responses coincided with the unions' declaration of a general strike, which was later cancelled.
Nasrallah: 'Our Communications Network is the Most Important Part of the Resistance Weapons… We Will Sever Any Hand Stretched Out to Touch the Resistance's Weapons… Had We Intended To Carry Out a Coup, You Would Have Woken Up... In Jails, Or Thrown Into the Sea…'
Following two days of street clashes, on May 8, 2008, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech in which he said: "The decisions of the party of the government on that dark night [regarding the illegality of Hizbullah's communications network] began a new phase in Lebanon. After this dark meeting, Lebanon is no longer the Lebanon it used to be. The party of the government brought Lebanon to a totally new situation, given the dangerous decisions that were taken, their background, and their implications. Our reaction to this decision is naturally that whoever declares, and starts, war against us, be it a mother, a father, or a brother – we have a right to counter him and defend our rights, our weapons, our existence, and our resistance. Our communications network is the most important part, and not a negligible part, of the resistance's weapons. Moreover, it is the most important part of the resistance. As I said in the past, any hand stretched out to touch the weapons of the resistance, no matter whose hand or where it comes from, we will sever it."
As Amal and Hizbullah forces took control of large parts of Beirut, Nasrallah further stated: "We don't want to harm anyone. We don't want to carry out a coup. We don't want to rule [Lebanon]. There are those who talk about the failure of the coup… Had we and our allies intended to carry out a coup, you would have woken up in the morning in jails or being thrown to the sea. But we have never chosen this measure. We always say that there is a political problem and a political struggle, whose solutions are political, and the way in which it is conducted is political – a way of dialogue, early elections, a referendum, and polls. We haven't spoken about weapons a single day."
Nasrallah also pointed to the solutions to the crisis, saying: "First, it lies in the cancellation of the illegitimate decision of the illegitimate government, which is in fact run by [Lebanese Druze leader Walid] Jumblatt. Second, it is in responding to Lebanese parliamentary speaker [and Amal head] Nabih Berri's invitation to [the March 14 Forces to engage in] a national dialogue. Apart from these steps, there is not, and will not be, a solution. All there will be is one party declaring war on the other."
The Hizbullah website Al-Intiqad highlighted two paragraphs from the speech: "From now on, we will not accept being shot at on the roads by anyone. We will not accept any conspiracy against our weapons, and no touching of our existence and legitimacy – even if all the armies of the world have come here [to fight us]. This is our decision today, in all clarity and transparency.
"They never gave Brig.-Gen. [Wafiq Shuqer] an opportunity to defend himself. What is he accused of? That is how this gang [i.e. the March 14 Forces] acts…"
Al-Hariri, Al-Siniora Respond: Compromise and Conciliation
In a May 8, 2008 appearance on Al-Jazeera TV (rather than on his own demolished Future TV), a rumpled and stammering Sa'ad Al-Hariri said: "I call upon all of Lebanon to stop the freefall into civil war, to put an end to the language of the weapon… to the armed anarchy, and to the blocking of roads and to the siege on the capitol." Al-Hariri offered a compromise – to consider the aforementioned government decisions to be a misunderstanding, in exchange for Amal/Hizbullah's stopping the armed militias and opening all roads and the airport, the immediate parliamentary election of Gen. Michel Suleiman as president, and the launch of a national dialogue, under his chairmanship.
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who heads the Progressive Socialist Party, said May 8, 2008 on Al-Arabiya TV that the Druze will not deploy their militia, and that they expect the army to fulfill its duty and defend Lebanon.
Lebanese Forces party head Samir Geagea, in a May 9, 2008 speech on Al-Jazeera TV on behalf of the March 14 Forces, also called on the army to fulfill its duty. He also reaffirmed the March 14 Forces' support for the Al-Siniora government as the legitimate government of Lebanon, in a show of support for Al-Siniora in response to rumors that he might resign.
Also, Al-Siniora told Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan that there was no way to solve Lebanon's problems through violence.(3)
Middle East Countries React
In response to the showdown in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt expressed support for the Lebanese government, promising to assist it in its efforts to retain its independence and legitimacy.(4) Syria stated that it would not intervene in this "internal Lebanese issue."(5)
Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Ali Al-Husseini blamed the U.S. and Israel for the situation in Lebanon, saying, "Iran's unyielding efforts to bring about an understanding between the different political factions in Lebanon did not gain the support of other states in the region."(6)
In a meeting broadcast by Al-Jazeera on May 9, 2008, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Aal-Thani decided that the crisis in Lebanon should be considered "an internal Lebanese matter." As a result, Al-Jazeera has cut its screening of footage of the violent Amal/Hizbullah takeover to a minimum, airing only statements by March 14 Forces leaders and halting its airing of inflammatory speeches by Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah. It should be mentioned that weeks ago, Al-Jazeera denied the legitimacy of the Lebanese government by referring to the country's two parties not as "government" and "opposition," but rather as "the allied parties" (muwalah) and "the opposition" (mu'aradha ).
The decision by Al-Assad and Sheikh Hamad to consider the Lebanon crisis an "internal Lebanese issue" may be aimed at preempting international intervention in the crisis, whether by means of bringing in international forces or by new U.N. Security Council resolutions.
It should be recalled that in the 2006 U.N. Security Council discussions that led to Resolution 1701, Hizbullah was represented at the Security Council not by the Arab League or by the Saudi or Egyptian foreign ministers, but by Qatar's foreign minister. In January 2008, Qatar, which is part of the Iran-Syria-Hizbullah-Hamas-Shi'ite axis, drove a wedge into the Saudi-Egypt-Gulf-Sunni bloc against Iran by inviting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the GCC conference, defying the U.S. and of the other GCC members.(7)
On May 9, 2008, Al-Jazeera announced that an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers would be convened to discuss the Lebanon situation.
* Y. Carmon is President of MEMRI. E. Zweig is a MEMRI Research Fellow.
One can't help but think that Syria is exacting revenge on Israel for bombing it's reactor site with this action. They want to keep Israel too busy watching their northern border to interfere agai. The same goes for Iran, who would like Israel to be too busy to bomb Irans nuclear facilities also. I am afraid that the Lebonese people, once again will suffer for the sake of other States that desire discord and unrest in the region. Infidel Dog
Two elements of Hizbullah's preparations have been uncovered in the past few weeks: Hizbullah's independent communications network,(1) and a surveillance network at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport, set up by airport security chief Wafiq Shuqer, who is in the service of Hizbullah (see footnotes for MEMRI’s reports on these issues going back to 2007).(2)
This week, the Lebanese government made a series of decisions deeming Hizbullah's communications network to be both illegal and intolerable.
In response, armed forces, primarily from Amal but also from Hizbullah, took to the streets of Beirut, cutting off roads, mostly those leading to the airport; paralyzing life in the city; clashing with the army in western Beirut; besieging the homes of March 14 forces leader; and attacking and damaging the building housing Future TV, which belongs to Sa'ad Al-Hariri, a March 14 Forces leader, forcing the station to halt broadcasting.
TV footage shows that the Lebanese army did not undertake a major counter-operation against the Amal and Hizbullah militias. The militias of the Christians and Druze did not respond at all, while the militia of Sa'ad Al-Hariri, representing Sunni Muslims in Lebanon, reacted in a limited manner. These responses coincided with the unions' declaration of a general strike, which was later cancelled.
Nasrallah: 'Our Communications Network is the Most Important Part of the Resistance Weapons… We Will Sever Any Hand Stretched Out to Touch the Resistance's Weapons… Had We Intended To Carry Out a Coup, You Would Have Woken Up... In Jails, Or Thrown Into the Sea…'
Following two days of street clashes, on May 8, 2008, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech in which he said: "The decisions of the party of the government on that dark night [regarding the illegality of Hizbullah's communications network] began a new phase in Lebanon. After this dark meeting, Lebanon is no longer the Lebanon it used to be. The party of the government brought Lebanon to a totally new situation, given the dangerous decisions that were taken, their background, and their implications. Our reaction to this decision is naturally that whoever declares, and starts, war against us, be it a mother, a father, or a brother – we have a right to counter him and defend our rights, our weapons, our existence, and our resistance. Our communications network is the most important part, and not a negligible part, of the resistance's weapons. Moreover, it is the most important part of the resistance. As I said in the past, any hand stretched out to touch the weapons of the resistance, no matter whose hand or where it comes from, we will sever it."
As Amal and Hizbullah forces took control of large parts of Beirut, Nasrallah further stated: "We don't want to harm anyone. We don't want to carry out a coup. We don't want to rule [Lebanon]. There are those who talk about the failure of the coup… Had we and our allies intended to carry out a coup, you would have woken up in the morning in jails or being thrown to the sea. But we have never chosen this measure. We always say that there is a political problem and a political struggle, whose solutions are political, and the way in which it is conducted is political – a way of dialogue, early elections, a referendum, and polls. We haven't spoken about weapons a single day."
Nasrallah also pointed to the solutions to the crisis, saying: "First, it lies in the cancellation of the illegitimate decision of the illegitimate government, which is in fact run by [Lebanese Druze leader Walid] Jumblatt. Second, it is in responding to Lebanese parliamentary speaker [and Amal head] Nabih Berri's invitation to [the March 14 Forces to engage in] a national dialogue. Apart from these steps, there is not, and will not be, a solution. All there will be is one party declaring war on the other."
The Hizbullah website Al-Intiqad highlighted two paragraphs from the speech: "From now on, we will not accept being shot at on the roads by anyone. We will not accept any conspiracy against our weapons, and no touching of our existence and legitimacy – even if all the armies of the world have come here [to fight us]. This is our decision today, in all clarity and transparency.
"They never gave Brig.-Gen. [Wafiq Shuqer] an opportunity to defend himself. What is he accused of? That is how this gang [i.e. the March 14 Forces] acts…"
Al-Hariri, Al-Siniora Respond: Compromise and Conciliation
In a May 8, 2008 appearance on Al-Jazeera TV (rather than on his own demolished Future TV), a rumpled and stammering Sa'ad Al-Hariri said: "I call upon all of Lebanon to stop the freefall into civil war, to put an end to the language of the weapon… to the armed anarchy, and to the blocking of roads and to the siege on the capitol." Al-Hariri offered a compromise – to consider the aforementioned government decisions to be a misunderstanding, in exchange for Amal/Hizbullah's stopping the armed militias and opening all roads and the airport, the immediate parliamentary election of Gen. Michel Suleiman as president, and the launch of a national dialogue, under his chairmanship.
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who heads the Progressive Socialist Party, said May 8, 2008 on Al-Arabiya TV that the Druze will not deploy their militia, and that they expect the army to fulfill its duty and defend Lebanon.
Lebanese Forces party head Samir Geagea, in a May 9, 2008 speech on Al-Jazeera TV on behalf of the March 14 Forces, also called on the army to fulfill its duty. He also reaffirmed the March 14 Forces' support for the Al-Siniora government as the legitimate government of Lebanon, in a show of support for Al-Siniora in response to rumors that he might resign.
Also, Al-Siniora told Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan that there was no way to solve Lebanon's problems through violence.(3)
Middle East Countries React
In response to the showdown in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt expressed support for the Lebanese government, promising to assist it in its efforts to retain its independence and legitimacy.(4) Syria stated that it would not intervene in this "internal Lebanese issue."(5)
Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Ali Al-Husseini blamed the U.S. and Israel for the situation in Lebanon, saying, "Iran's unyielding efforts to bring about an understanding between the different political factions in Lebanon did not gain the support of other states in the region."(6)
In a meeting broadcast by Al-Jazeera on May 9, 2008, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Aal-Thani decided that the crisis in Lebanon should be considered "an internal Lebanese matter." As a result, Al-Jazeera has cut its screening of footage of the violent Amal/Hizbullah takeover to a minimum, airing only statements by March 14 Forces leaders and halting its airing of inflammatory speeches by Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah. It should be mentioned that weeks ago, Al-Jazeera denied the legitimacy of the Lebanese government by referring to the country's two parties not as "government" and "opposition," but rather as "the allied parties" (muwalah) and "the opposition" (mu'aradha ).
The decision by Al-Assad and Sheikh Hamad to consider the Lebanon crisis an "internal Lebanese issue" may be aimed at preempting international intervention in the crisis, whether by means of bringing in international forces or by new U.N. Security Council resolutions.
It should be recalled that in the 2006 U.N. Security Council discussions that led to Resolution 1701, Hizbullah was represented at the Security Council not by the Arab League or by the Saudi or Egyptian foreign ministers, but by Qatar's foreign minister. In January 2008, Qatar, which is part of the Iran-Syria-Hizbullah-Hamas-Shi'ite axis, drove a wedge into the Saudi-Egypt-Gulf-Sunni bloc against Iran by inviting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the GCC conference, defying the U.S. and of the other GCC members.(7)
On May 9, 2008, Al-Jazeera announced that an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers would be convened to discuss the Lebanon situation.
* Y. Carmon is President of MEMRI. E. Zweig is a MEMRI Research Fellow.
One can't help but think that Syria is exacting revenge on Israel for bombing it's reactor site with this action. They want to keep Israel too busy watching their northern border to interfere agai. The same goes for Iran, who would like Israel to be too busy to bomb Irans nuclear facilities also. I am afraid that the Lebonese people, once again will suffer for the sake of other States that desire discord and unrest in the region. Infidel Dog
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The Smiling Bavarian Taliban!
This smiling suicide bomber grew up in Bavaria Germany and went to Afghanistan ot blow himself up. The German police knew of him, but did nothing! I guess he had "rights".
This bomber along with the Britich born London suicide bombers proves that homegrown terrorism is growing. We know that the 9/11 hijackers trained here in the USA. It's a sure bet that there are simular jihadists here now, but the liberals in our government are turning a blind eye to the problem. I'm sure that the day will come when we will regret this stupidity. Unfortunately, innocent Americans will die for it!
Watch the video and share it with your friends please. Download it and pass it around too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJvHPRsbVj8
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