Freedom of Speech

Imagine… Part 6

Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens-His Life And Conversion (Part 6)

A Video about former singer Cat Stevens life and why he converted to Islam!

Imagine… Part 5

Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens-His Life And Conversion (Part 5)

A Video about former singer Cat Stevens life and why he converted to Islam!

Imagine…Part 4

Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens-His Life And Conversion (Part 4)

A Video about former singer Cat Stevens life and why he converted to Islam!

Imagine…Part 3

Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens-His Life And Conversion (Part 3)

A Video about former singer Cat Stevens life and why he converted to Islam!

Imagine…Part 2

Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens-His Life And Conversion (Part 2)

A Video about former singer Cat Stevens life and why he converted to Islam!

Imagine…Part 1

Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens-His Life And Conversion (Part 1)

A Video about former singer Cat Stevens life and why he converted to Islam!

Death waits for no one in Balata refugee camp

Mohamed Farraj writing from Balata refugee camp, Live from Palestine, 21 October 2006


A view of Balata Refugee Camp (Matthew Cassel/justimage.org)

When I was released after serving two years in an Israeli prison, I returned to Balata refugee camp, near Nablus, to find that many of my friends from were gone. Some were killed, many were in prison and others injured. With so many familiar faces no longer there, I began to realize just how much could change in such a short time.

Every day I saw the same young man standing in the same spot on the street. I will never forget the sorrowful expression he always wore. I could tell that like most, he was strong. But there was something different hidden in the depths of his hazel eyes.

Skipper, the son of an electrician, grew up with his three brothers on the outskirts of the camp. Though his given name was Osama, most people in the camp called him "Skipper" and his close friends called him "Disco Skipper." "Skipper" was a nickname given to him in school, and "Disco" came from his love for dancing. Skipper would be the first one dancing at all the wedding parties in the camp.

Like many of his peers, in tenth grade Skipper left school to work for his father. However, he couldn't stand working while the situation around him was worsening and his friends were being killed or arrested. His friend Ramzy says that Skipper would hang out with young men who were "wanted" by the Israeli army. Skipper was considered guilty by association and he too became "wanted."

Skipper standing in his usual spot on Balata's main market street one week before he was killed. (Do'a/picturebalata.net)

Once, when I was with an American friend who was visiting the camp, we stopped to talk to Skipper as he stood at that same spot in the street. As we joked around Skipper's warm side emerged. We laughed right there on the street. Later on we all went to a friend's apartment. A friend of Skipper's asked if we had any Michael Jackson music, and my American friend searched his laptop and played a song for everyone. Skipper's friend tried to push Skipper to get up and at first he resisted. But then after a few seconds Skipper was up and dancing just like Michael Jackson. We all laughed.

During the night, Balata's streets shut down. Everyone remains inside his or her home except for the fighters. The fighters sit with each other and wait, unsure if they will live to see the sun rise in the morning.

In the late hours of October 8, with dawn on its way, the Israeli army invaded the camp as they do every night. Like every night, they occupied the land, the military vehicles positioned on the school street that is the highest street in the camp. From there they took aim to begin their attack on the fighters.

Skipper was with another fighter when they headed with their weapons to where the army was stationed. Suddenly there was shooting. These shots were not hollow -- they were felt by every person in the camp. We all knew someone was dying.

Skipper was shot. As he was walking, he suddenly ran into the soldiers in one of the camp's narrow alleys. Both opened fire on each other in their respective struggle to survive by killing the other. Bitter enemies. Of course, the Israelis are militarily stronger thanks to their superior weapons. But Skipper -- like all Palestinians -- was fortified with aspirations of freedom in his heart. And it was his heart that was penetrated by the shots heard throughout the camp. His friend was injured.

Skipper, despite his chest wound, began to run away from the soldiers. He fled until he was out of the soldiers' sight. He then fell to the ground. The other fighters saw Skipper and momentarily thought that he was an injured Israeli soldier. But after a moment they realized it was their friend. With deep sorrow, they carried his body to a safe place.

Skipper could only say a few words, "Ambulance ... ambulance." He lay in the middle of the camp until an ambulance was allowed to reach him. Skipper's friends put him in the back of the vehicle and watched as it drove away. In the early dawn of that morning Skipper would close his eyes forever.


A detail of Skipper's martyr poster (Do'a/picturebalata.net)

"He was my best friend," says Ramzy, another fighter in the camp. "He was happy and he loved dancing, but sometimes there was pain in his voice. It was a shock for me the night he was shot. I was on the street but in a different place. They told me he was injured and I thought, thank god he's not dead. Later, when I heard he had died, I took my gun and began to shoot at everything around me. I will never forget the way he looked at me that night when I last saw him. I had a few cigarettes and I shared half of them with him so he could smoke during the night."

Before most people become martyrs they will write a will or final letter to their families and loved ones. Skipper wrote a will:

"To the children of Palestine. Don't let anyone get you down, you must overcome your weakness and be strong. Finish your education. Our struggle must be fought through education, it is our path to freedom.

"Mother, do not cry for me because if I die I will be alive with the people. If I die don't cry, just come to my grave and touch the ground and you will be touching my face. And tell the other mothers what it is like to sacrifice, and that Palestine needs our sacrifice. Palestine will use my blood to paint her story."

At the age of 23, Skipper died without a coin in his pocket, only a few pictures of his friends who had been killed by the Israeli army. He had never asked for handouts from anyone, but the night before he was killed he asked his neighbor for a sandwich. The following night the camp lost a good man.

His pale face and deep voice are deeply missed. Skipper left not only a bloodstain on the ground and poster on the wall for people to remember him -- like the scores of others killed in Balata, Skipper left a deep void.

I know that Skipper didn't want to die. He had lost many of his friends to the occupation, at least twelve young men who were in his class growing up. Skipper didn't choose to be a fighter. It chose him.

Skipper was a victim of the occupation like every young Palestinian refugee in Balata. The occupation steals each youth's childhood. There are few opportunities in Balata. And the many military checkpoints surrounding Nablus that make it almost impossible to leave the camp remind young people who is control of their future. It is an open-air prison. Everyone I know who has died, including Skipper, used to talk about how they wanted something better for themselves and for we Palestinians generally. No one wants this life we're given -- it's not life at all.

Skipper now lies in the graveyard with his friends and the other victims of the occupation. Like every martyr, Skipper has become a memory in the peoples' minds, memorialized by the posters carrying his name and face that have been hung where he stood every day.

Skipper was from a generation of young people whom I hadn't yet really gotten to know before going to prison. When I was released, however, they had all grown up. They had a fresh sense of resistance and concern for the fate of the people of Balata. This, it dawned on me, was the cycle of conflict. One goes and another one rises to his place. We can never know exactly who will go and who will come, but we can be sure that those who will rise up next will come from the youth.

Mohamed Farraj is a resident of Balata refugee camp. During the current Intifada he was seriously wounded by the Israeli army and served almost two years in an Israeli prison. Currently, he is a journalism student at Al-Najah University in Nablus.

Photostory: Ramadan in Ramallah

With the coming of Eid al-Fitr and in spite of the depressed economy and Israel's chokehold on Palestinian revenues and customs, traders and vendors in Ramallah are hoping to make some money.

Photostory continued

An uncertain Ramadan in Beirut

Mayssoun Sukarieh writing from Beirut, Live from Lebanon, 21 October 2006


The first day of school in Jabal al Batam village, Lebanon, 17 October 2006. The school, located 10 kilometers from the Israeli border, was bombed during the war but was repaired just before the opening. Though classes have resumed, parents and children alike are unsure whether the school year will be disrupted by another war. (Manoocher Deghati/IRIN)

"I told my wife, you just buy clothes for our son. I do not need any new clothes for myself and if you postpone getting a new outfit for yourself too, it will be good. Who knows what will happen in the next few months. Whatever we have saved, we spent during this summer, and now we need to save so we can eat during the next war."

This is what the taxi driver tells me in response to my remarks that Beirut does not feel as it did during previous Ramadan seasons. He was trying to explain to me why there is no movement in the city, why the city is dead despite the holiday season. Simply put, the Lebanese are still terrified, still living the war, while it seems to those outside that things are settled here.

The lack of purchasing power among the Lebanese has reflected itself in the sellers who are scared to bring in new products and keep them in stock. "We can't risk another loss," the seller in the Red Shoe store tells me. "If we get the winter collection and people are not buying, we will add to the loss we lived in the summer."

The fifty and seventy percent off sales on the summer collection of clothes and shoes are still being offered in Beirut. Stores are opened just to "keep opened and to fake an idea of work, to keep going till we see what the future holds. We know no one is going to buy any summer clothes now, but we also are scared of paying money to get winter clothes and keep them in display till the next summer."

Shop owners are "waiting till next month to decide whether to get the new collection, and just keep coming to work to feel as though we are working," says one shop owner in Hamra Street. Why wait till next month? The answer lies in the "White House, where the emperor decides our future and the future of generations to come. If he decides to hit Iran, then there is nothing on earth that can makes the situation return to normal in the region." For another shop owner, the reason he waits till next month is related to the domestic situation in Lebanon. "Hizbullah has given the government a truce till the end of Ramadan. They may take drastic steps if the government does not resign and another unity government is formed." He still thinks it is all related to "what will happen in the region and especially Iran."

Besides Ramadan, it is the beginning of the school year and people usually buy clothes for their children for school. Not this year. Schools in Beirut are just starting the new academic year, and parents "are trying to get by with whatever they had from last year," I am told. "If you want to get one piece for each child and you have two children, you will be broke. And what for? Who says that they are going to school all year? Who knows when another war will start?" a mom was telling a seller in one of the shops.

Besides the deteriorating economic situation, the ghost of war is still haunting Lebanon and affecting daily life. Besides the purchasing power, the sound of Israeli raids still instills terror, especially in children. "Whenever a plane passes, my kids and my niece and nephews ask is it a Safari or Harbi - the literal translation for traveling jet or fighting jet," Zeina tells me. "It was a terrifying summer for them, well for all of us, may god punish them for the fear they instilled in us. Who was not scared in the summer? And who is not still scared?"

The tense conversation is broken by the latest joke in Lebanon. "Human Rights Watch just made a report claiming that Hizbullah used cluster bombs in northern occupied Palestine. The reason we are not hearing about the casualties of these bombs is due to the biased media reporting when it comes to Israel!"

Mayssoun Sukarieh is a native of Beirut and a frequent contributor to Electronic Lebanon

America Can Persuade Israel to Make a Just Peace

By Jimmy Carter
April 21, 2002

ATLANTA -- In January 1996, with full support from Israel and responding to the invitation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Carter Center helped to monitor a democratic election in the West Bank and Gaza, which was well organized, open and fair. In that election, 88 members were elected to the Palestinian National Authority, with Yasir Arafat as president. Legally and practically, the Palestinian people were encouraged to form their own government, with the expectation that they would soon have full sovereignty as a state.

When the election was over, I made a strong effort to persuade the leaders of Hamas to accept the election results, with Mr. Arafat as their leader. I relayed a message offering them full participation in the process of developing a permanent constitutional framework for the new political entity, but they refused to accept this proposal. Despite this rejection, it was a time of peace and hope, and there was no threat of violence or even peaceful demonstrations. The legal status of the Palestinian people has not changed since then, but their plight has grown desperate.

Ariel Sharon is a strong and forceful man and has never equivocated in his public declarations nor deviated from his ultimate purpose. His rejection of all peace agreements that included Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands, his invasion of Lebanon, his provocative visit to the Temple Mount, the destruction of villages and homes, the arrests of thousands of Palestinians and his open defiance of President George W. Bush's demand that he comply with international law have all been orchestrated to accomplish his ultimate goals: to establish Israeli settlements as widely as possible throughout occupied territories and to deny Palestinians a cohesive political existence.

There is adequate blame on the other side. Even when he was free and enjoying the full trappings of political power, Yasir Arafat never exerted control over Hamas and other radical Palestinians who reject the concept of a peaceful Israeli existence and adopt any means to accomplish their goal. Mr. Arafat's all-too-rare denunciations of violence have been spasmodic, often expressed only in English and likely insincere. He may well see the suicide attacks as one of the few ways to retaliate against his tormentors, to dramatize the suffering of his people, or as a means for him, vicariously, to be a martyr.

Tragically, the policies of Mr. Sharon have greatly strengthened these criminal elements, enhanced their popular support, and encouraged misguided young men and women to sacrifice their own lives in attacking innocent Israeli citizens. The abhorrent suicide bombings are also counterproductive in that they discredit the Palestinian cause, help perpetuate the military occupation and destruction of villages, and obstruct efforts toward peace and justice.

The situation is not hopeless. There is an ultimate avenue to peace in the implementation of United Nations resolutions, including Resolution 242, expressed most recently in the highly publicized proposal of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah. The basic premises of these resolutions are withdrawal of Israelis from Palestinian lands in exchange for full acceptance of Israel and Israel's right to live in peace. This is a reasonable solution for many Israelis, having been accepted in 1978 by Prime Minister Menachem Begin and ratified by the Israeli Knesset. Egypt, offering the greatest threat to Israel, responded by establishing full diplomatic relations and honoring Israeli rights, including unimpeded use of the Suez canal. This set a pattern for what can and must be done by all other Arab nations. Through constructive negotiations, both sides can consider some modifications of the 1967 boundary lines.

East Jerusalem can be jointly administered with unimpeded access to holy places, and the right of return can be addressed by permitting a limited number of displaced Palestinians to return to their homeland with fair compensation to others. It will be a good investment for the international community to pay this cost.

With the ready and potentially unanimous backing of the international community, the United States government can bring about such a solution to the existing imbroglio. Demands on both sides should be so patently fair and balanced that at least a majority of citizens in the affected area will respond with approval, and an international force can monitor compliance with agreed peace terms, as was approved for the Sinai region in 1979 following Israel's withdrawal from Egyptian territory.

There are two existing factors that offer success to United States persuasion. One is the legal requirement that American weapons are to be used by Israel only for defensive purposes, a premise certainly being violated in the recent destruction of Jenin and other villages. Richard Nixon imposed this requirement to stop Ariel Sharon and Israel's military advance into Egypt in the 1973 war, and I used the same demand to deter Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 1979. (A full invasion was launched by Ariel Sharon after I left office). The other persuasive factor is approximately $10 million daily in American aid to Israel. President George Bush Sr. threatened this assistance in 1992 to prevent the building of Israeli settlements between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

I understand the extreme political sensitivity in America of using persuasion on the Israelis, but it is important to remember that none of the actions toward peace would involve an encroachment on the sovereign territory of Israel. They all involve lands of the Egyptians, Lebanese and Palestinians, as recognized by international law.

The existing situation is tragic and likely to get worse. Normal diplomatic efforts have failed. It is time for the United States, as the sole recognized intermediary, to consider more forceful action for peace. The rest of the world will welcome this leadership.

Jimmy Carter, the former president, is chairman of the Carter Center, which works worldwide to advance peace and human health.

RAMADAN PRAYERS

RAMADAN PRAYERS: Palestinian Muslims praying at the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Arab East Jerusalem yesterday

Published: Saturday, 21 October, 2006

RAMADAN PRAYERS: Palestinian Muslims praying at the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Arab East Jerusalem yesterday, the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.

Muslims around the world will celebrate Eid al-Fitr this week to mark the end of the fasting month.

Hiding the Dead Bodies in Iraq

by Ahmed Amr
www.dissidentvoice.org
October 18, 2006

If there is one thing about George Bush that both his supporters and detractors can agree on -- it has to be his inflexibility. His partisans call it consistency while others recognize it as obstinacy. As governor of Texas, he never once pardoned a man condemned to the hangman’s noose. And as chief executive, he never vetoes a bill that makes it to the oval office.

On the subject of Iraq, Bush adamantly refuses to recognize the terrible human catastrophe he unleashed by launching this war of choice. There is never even a hint of personal guilt about the laundry list of war crimes committed by his post-mission-accomplished mismanagement of America’s newest colony.

This is a man as blind as Stalin when it comes to the suffering he has inflicted on millions of people around the globe. Like the former Soviet dictator, he probably subscribes to the view that the death of a single man is a tragedy and the slaughter of millions is a statistic. In private meetings with the families of fallen soldiers -- he is said to demonstrate considerable compassion to the point of shedding a tear or two. Yet when confronted with questions about the number of Iraqi fatalities -- he gets distracted by the fashionable attire of a reporter who cares enough to bring up the matter.

In his recent press conference -- George Bush pushed aside the recent findings of a British study that estimated that over 600,000 Iraqis had perished in the war in Iraq. That’s one in forty of the inhabitants of the country he set out to “liberate.” The American equivalent would be seven million fatalities -- over twice as many victims as the combined American casualties from every war since the founding of the Republic.

In dismissing the findings of the John Hopkins Lancet report, the Stalinist neo-con statisticians in the White House criticized the “discredited” methodology. Of course, the president never bothers to volunteer his own estimate or discuss why some of the ample resources under his command have not been directed at keeping an honest tally of the carnage he has unleashed.
It would be unfair to suggest that Bush administration doesn’t have its own time-tested methodology for estimating the amount of blood shed by our colonial subjects in Mesopotamia. From the very first day of the conflict, they made it clear that they “don’t do body counts.” True to their word, they have spared no effort to make good on that promise.

Hiding the dead bodies in Iraq has become an art. There are rough estimates from Baghdad morgues -- but it is well established that morgue officials are routinely intimidated and threatened with death if they give accurate accounts of the number victims that come through their doors. Some bodies never make it to the morgues -- lost forever in unmarked graves, sewers or unceremoniously dumped in garbage dumps. Others are simply buried by relatives in family plots. They know better than to report the information to the very police officers that are intimately involved with the death squads responsible for the early demise of their loved ones.

No one has a clue about the number of victims in the terra incognita outside the capital.

Reporters and coalition officials rarely bother to venture outside the Green Zone -- a fantasy island where they live lives of splendor away from the scene of Bush’s crimes. Even the majority of American soldiers are immune from witnessing the devastating realities of a civil war in progress. With the exception of the small minority actually assigned to combat duties -- the vast majority spend their time safely confined to bases.

Force protection is Job One and the primary reason we have 141,000 troops on the ground in Iraq is that the generals need tens of thousands to soldiers to supply and protect the “enduring bases” which could very well end up being permanent garrisons. Because they are so busy securing their own forces, the American military has precious little time to keep track of Iraqi casualties.

As a police state, Saddam’s Iraq was the kind of place where they kept accurate track of the citizenry. The series of recent election demonstrated that the current regime knows enough to register voters by jurisdiction. So, the United States inherited a country where it is certainly feasible to count the number of births and the number of deaths. Considering the tens of billions of dollars in American taxes and oil revenues allocated to “reconstruction,” it stands to reason that enough resources are available to record the cause of each death.

It’s not that the United States government can’t keep statistics. Rather, the Bush administration deliberately avoids broadcasting accurate estimates to keep the average American in the dark about the extent of agony Bush has inflicted on the average Iraqi. The astronomical quantity of pain and personal loss endured by every individual Iraqi would shock even the most jaded supporter of the war.

This is, after all, a government that prevents curious American eyes from witnessing the arrival of body bags containing the remains of its own soldiers. The vast majority of these young warriors went to their graves in the honest belief that they were dispatched to Iraq to disarm Saddam of phantom stockpiles of WMDs. And lest we forget, this Likudnik neo-con venture was sold to the American public on the strength of manufactured intelligence.

In truth, the administration has no other option but to hide the dead bodies in Iraq under the sacred carpet of denial beneath the president’s feet.

But that is not the worst of it. The fact is that the president and his apologists have managed to enlist virtually every major American media outlet in this conspiracy of silence. George consistently tells the same blatant lies and consistently gets away with it because the media lords consistently cover up for him. Even today, his campaign of “misinformation” has one out of every two Americans believing that Iraq had WMDs -- that’s up from thirty five percent last year. You can thank Rupert Murdoch for that dubious achievement.

Hiding the dead bodies in Iraq is a job that requires a considerable amount of talent. It is a task that would not be possible without willing collaborators in every major media outlet in America. We forget Iraq’s dead because CNN and FOX have erased their memory. Bush’s many blunders in Iraq would never have happened without the legions of neo-con pundits who were given free access to the editorial pages of the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

The grim reapers of the media controlled state hover like vultures above the carnage -- indifferent to the killing fields below. Rupert’s minions -- The Murdochrats -- have been assigned to keep the score. The public square is infested with neo-con charlatans who drown out dissenting voices with the monstrous mass media apparatus under their command -- allowing the carcasses of tens of thousands of human beings to disappear before our eyes.

During his recent press conference, Bush kept on assuring his audience that he understands a whole bunch of things. He must have repeated it a hundred times. “I understand this” and “I understand that.”

It goes without saying that this shallowest of men makes his policy decisions to “stay the course” based on his “understanding” of events in Iraq. So, it is only fair to ask how he could possibly make rational judgments when he doesn’t even care to find out or comprehend the scale of violence that is the daily fruit of his criminal invasion of Iraq.

With media allies like Rupert Murdoch and CNN, Bush can be as inflexible and “misunderstanding” as he wants to be.

Ahmed Amr is the editor of NileMedia.com.

War Is Big Business

Integrated Defense Systems

Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) combines weapons and aircraft capabilities, intelligence and surveillance systems, communications architectures and extensive large-scale integration expertise. IDS has three capabilities-driven businesses -- Precision Engagement and Mobility Systems, Network and Space Systems, and Support Systems -- and an advanced technology development organization, Advanced Systems.

The Boeing Integrated Defense Systems strategy is to understand the enduring needs of customers and provide value-added solutions to meet their requirements. The strategy includes understanding the art of using current and emerging technologies to improve the capabilities of existing products and delivering new solutions.

********************

The Boeing Company is an aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Boeing is the largest aircraft manufacturer by revenue and the second-largest defense contractor in the world. In 2005, the company was the world’s largest civil aircraft manufacturer in terms of value (with 49% of orders and 45% of deliveries), overtaking Airbus for the first time since 2000. The largest exporter in the United States, Boeing’s stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

It is very interesting, that Boeing went from a near bankrupt company; to what it is today?

U.S. jailed man once tortured by Taliban

President Bush is seen after signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which sets new standards expediting the interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

October21, 2006

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON -Abdul Rahim insists he's an apolitical student who fled a strict father. But he's fallen into a black hole in the war on terror in which first the Taliban and then the United States imprisoned him as an enemy of the state.

Arrested by the Taliban in Afghanistan in January 2000, Rahim says al-Qaida leaders burned him with cigarettes, smashed his right hand, deprived him of sleep, nearly drowned him and hanged him from the ceiling until he "confessed" to spying for the United States.

U.S. forces took the young Kurd from Syria into custody in January 2002 after the Taliban fled his prison. Accusing him of being an al-Qaida terrorist, U.S. interrogators deprived him of sleep, threatened him with police dogs and kept him in stress positions for hours, he says. He's been held ever since as an enemy combatant.

Rahim's story is one of several emerging from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay as defense lawyers make bids to free their clients while the Bush administration tries to use a new law to lock them out of federal courts.

After the Supreme Court overturned President Bush's plans for commissions to try detainees, Bush obtained a new law from Congress barring federal courts from hearing appeals for release by any alien "properly detained as an enemy combatant." The Justice Department told district and appellate judges this week they no longer have jurisdiction to hear dozens of such pending cases.

A court fight over that is certain.

Calling the move to strip jurisdiction "a direct attack on our constitutional structure," Federal Public Defender Steven T. Wax in Portland, Ore., said, "We will litigate that as hard as we can in whatever forum we can find, because they are wrong."
Other detainees whose lawyers filed new evidence in U.S. District Court motions this month include:

_Adel Hassan Hamad, a Sudanese charity worker arrested at 1:30 a.m. July 18, 2002, in his Peshawar, Pakistan, apartment. Co-workers swear he was a hospital administrator with no connection to terrorists. A dissenting U.S. Army major on the panel that reviewed the unclassified and secret evidence against him called it "unconscionable" to detain him because some employees of the same charity may have supported terrorist ideals.

_Nazar "Chaman" Gul, a 29-year-old Afghani who thought he was working as an armed fuel depot guard for the Karzi government installed by U.S. forces. The man who hired him swears that was the case, but he is accused of being a member of a terrorist group. The lawyers say he has been mistaken for a commander of that terror group, named Chaman Gul, also held at Guantanamo.

All three are represented by Wax and his assistants. Wax's staff traveled to Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates to gather dozens of sworn statements from co-workers, relatives, fellow inmates and people who knew these detainees but haven't spoken to them in years. These newly filed accounts substantiate details of the detainees' denials that they were terrorists.

"These clients are not enemy combatants," Wax said in an interview. The new law "does not apply to people who are not enemy combatants," he said.

Wax said it would be unconstitutional to apply the jurisdiction-stripping bill retroactively to existing cases. And he said the Supreme Court has ruled before that it has the final say over its jurisdiction in these so-called habeas corpus petitions for release from custody. Following President Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus for prisoners of war, the high court in 1866 set a man free after finding he was not a prisoner of war, Wax noted.

The government feels differently about Wax's clients.

"Multiple reviews have been conducted since each detained enemy fighter was captured, including for these three individuals," said a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey D. Gordon. "There is a significant amount of evidence, both unclassified and classified, which supports continued detention of these detainees and others at Guantanamo."

Now 28, Rahim, buttressed by testimony from friends and relatives, says he wound up in Afghanistan in a bid to escape his father, a strict teacher of Islamic education who objected to his borrowing money outside the family for a college trip. With his father holding his passport, he tried futilely to get from his home in the United Arab Emirates to Europe or Canada.

Finally a friendly diplomat got him deported to Afghanistan where he and others say he hoped to be declared a refugee and moved to Europe by international aid agencies. He says the Taliban conscripted him and sent him against his will to the Al Farouq terrorist training camp. When he tried to leave 18 days later, they imprisoned him, he says.

In spring 2000, Abu Dhabi television broadcast a video of a tearful, fidgeting Rahim saying a U.S. agent recruited him to find Osama bin Laden. "I deserve to die ... but if the Taliban let me live, I want to spend the next 22 years fighting for jihad," he said.

On Jan. 17, 2002, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft said U.S. forces found five videotapes in the ruined Afghan home of bin Laden aide Mohammed Atef — one of the men Rahim says directed his torture. Ashcroft said the tapes show young men delivering "martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists" and identified one as "Abd Rahim."

Rahim's attorney Stephen Sady said any Taliban tapes of Rahim "were the product of torture" and no different from false confessions Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., made to stay alive in a North Vietnamese prison.

"After two years the Americans came and saved me from the prison," Rahim told U.S. officers. "I told them about the videotape the Taliban made of me ... it created confusion to the point that the Americans believed I was working with al-Qaida."

He added: "Nothing changed in my life. I was taken from prison to prison."

Iran to West: Let us explain reasons for uranium enrichment

October 21, 2006

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran is inviting Western representatives for discussions of why Tehran is continuing uranium enrichment in the face of international sanctions threats, the foreign minister said Saturday.

"We don't see any logic to suspending uranium enrichment. Enrichment of uranium by Iran is a legal action derived from its membership rights in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

"But we are ready to hold talks about the reason for enrichment," he said.

Iran has been locked in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program. A draft United Nations resolution on Iran is expected to be introduced in the Security Council early next week, and diplomats have said they would seek limited sanctions on Tehran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.

Mottaki's comments came a day after French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said her country would be willing to suspend the drive for sanctions if Iran takes steps toward resolving questions over its nuclear program. France has veto power on the Security Council.

Russia, another Security Council member with veto power, also is resistant to sanctions.

"We won't be able to support, and will oppose, any attempts to use the Security Council to punish Iran or use Iran's program to promote the ideas of regime change there," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA that was posted on the ministry's website on Saturday.

Russia is building a nuclear reactor for Iran's Bushehr power plant and is to begin shipping fuel to the plant by March.

Iran says its nuclear pursuits are peaceful and energy-related. But the United States and some in Europe accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Enrichment is a key process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material for a warhead.

On Friday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the U.N. Security Council and its decisions "illegitimate," saying the world body was being used as a political tool by Iran's enemies — the United States and Britain.

"Dialogue is the best way to reach an understanding ... we recommend the West to return to talks and avoid testing a path they have already tested," Mottaki told a news conference on Saturday. He didn't elaborate.

"The time for language of force is over. The West has tested threats in our region. We invite them to sincerely return to talks," he said.

"We are confident that there is possibility of negotiations as an appropriate solution to reach a comprehensive understanding," Mottaki said at a joint news conference with Belarusian Foreiggn Minister Sergei Martynov.

"Belarus thinks that Iran is entitled to carry out any activity envisaged within the NPT. There is no obstacle for Iran to do so," said Martynov, whose country is adamantly opposed to U.S. foreign policy.

Dear George W. Bush, What Does the World Think of You

The aim is that President George W Bush finds this website and reads your public opinion. Submission of questions, opinions, or statements is free of charge.

Letter from Iraq:

1- I believe that you know 100%, Iraq never have attacked US on Sept. 11, 2000. So what you want exactly from us??????? We are not stupid.

2- Are you happy when you see tens of Iraqi people are dying every day? If no, prove that to the world and show them the real solutions.

3- Most of Iraqi people know now the reasons of the bad situation in Iraq. It comes from US occupation on Iraq. So please leave Iraq quickly before the bad result come down.

4- The US children, history and your family will hate you when they know the truth, if you are believe in God and will meet him after the death.

5- We don’t need your freedom, your democracy, and even the basic reconstruction. We need our land and stop the bleeding of our bloods.

6- You can get control and a lot of money, but you can’t get the people respecting.

Hamoda, 44, Iraq (Aug 23rd 2006)


You to can send a message to George...

Palestinian FM: Israel is an abomination that will disappear

October 21, 2006

By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar said Friday that Israel is an abomination in the Middle East that will some day disappear.

"We will never recognize Israel, and the end the [fate of] Zionists will be like that of the Crusaders, the Persians and the English, who left. We want all of Palestine, every centimeter, from the river to the sea, from Rosh Hanikra to Rafah. If we can form a state within the 1967 borders we will do so, but this doesn't mean that we will relinquish our right to every centimeter of Palestine's land," said Hamas' Zahar.

In his speech, Zahar also addressed the Palestinian prisoners in Israel and promised them that Hamas will do all that it can to secure their release, including kidnapping more Israeli soldiers.

Israel accuses Iran of blocking release

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni sits in front of an image of missing Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit during a meeting with the foreign diplomatic corp in Jerusalem, June 2006. The exiled political supremo of the Palestinian movement Hamas has accused Israel of refusing to free Arab prisoners in exchange for the release of Shalit, according to a report.(AFP/File/Pedro Ugarte)

October 20, 2006

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS -Israel accused the Iranian government of paying $50 million to block a deal that would have freed an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-linked militants who crossed from Gaza into Israel on June 25. Hamas and Iran dismissed the accusation as untrue.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman told the Security Council on Thursday that "we heard news" earlier in the day that Tehran bribed Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal "to sabotage the negotiations on the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit and prevent his release."

Gillerman later refused to divulge the basis of the allegation or provide details, saying only that "we have every reason to believe that the Iranian regime has bribed Khaled Mashaal."

Iranian diplomat Mansour Sadeghi told the council his government "categorically rejected" all allegations against his country made by Israel, dismissing Gillerman's allegations as "baseless and absurd."

He said Gillerman's allegations were an attempt to divert attention from Israel's "aggression, occupation and state terrorism," and its defiance of Security Council resolutions.

According to a report Thursday in the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, which cited anonymous sources from a Western country, the deal was foiled when an Iranian delegation met Mashaal in Damascus and offered him $50 million to block it.

Mashaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, accepted the money and ratcheted up his demands for Shalit's release, the report said, deadlocking the negotiations.

"If this is the way in which Iran threatens humanitarian situations," Gillerman said, "I shudder to think about the lengths to which Iran will go to undermine a diplomatic one, and achieve its dangerous regional aspirations and nightmarish and megalomaniacal dreams of nuclear capability."

Osama Hamdan, Hamas' representative in Lebanon, said in a telephone interview on Friday that the report "is an obvious Israeli lie."

"Everybody knows that the Israeli soldier was captured in order to exchange him with Palestinian prisoners, so, the issue has no relationship with money, or any other matter," Hamdan said. "The issue is related to the release of Palestinians captives."

Israel has long been targeting Mashaal. In 1997, Israel botched an assassination attempt in Jordan. Two Mossad agents injected Mashaal with poison, but were caught, and as Mashaal lay dying in a Jordanian hospital, King Hussein of Jordan forced Israel to provide the antidote in return for the release of the Mossad agents.

In June, then-Justice Minister Haim Ramon said Mashaal is a target for assassination for ordering Shalit's kidnapping.

Alvaro de Soto, the U.N.'s Mideast envoy, told the Security Council that Egyptian officials are leading diplomatic efforts to free Shalit "and report that a package is on the table designed to address both parties' concerns, but the captors say they seek additional guarantees."

The package reportedly involved a swap of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners jailed by Israel for Shalit.

Palestinian infighting is a curse

Illustration by Dwynn Trazo/Gulf News

October 20, 2006

By As'ad Abdul Rahman, Special to Gulf News

When two communist parties exist in one country at the same time, then one of them is an opportunist."

This is how Lenin, most righteously, once put it. In view of the Palestinian status quo, one can probably rephrase this statement to read as follows: "When two armed organisations, with two different ideologies and two opposite policies, exist in one place at the same time, then confrontation between them is imminent."

This remains true unless essential changes take place before such a clash.

A few days ago, I gazed at a caricature by A'wartani on the differences between Fatah and Hamas. The artist depicted them as two cocks fighting each other inside a cage, while the Israeli occupant was happily busy sharpening his knife to slay both of them.

This is precisely what an Israeli political analyst had said in Yediot Ahranoth. "Israel," she had asserted, "in a long range strategic planning, has succeeded in pushing the Palestinians into a pit of chaos and internal fighting through weakening of the two poles of Palestinian rivals, as well as through economic siege and political pressure enforced on the Palestinian people, especially in the Gaza Strip.

"At the time when Israel claims to have no axe to grind with what is taking place in the [occupied] Palestinian territories, describing it as internal affairs, this serious conflict originates from the Israeli policy of equally weakening both parties, Fatah and Hamas, in such a way as no one of the two can effectively control the Palestinian territories. The chaos and internal Palestinian fighting are but a result of long-term Israeli planning."

We, Palestinians and Arabs, have heard so many statements regarding a possible Palestinian civil war, with a strong internal wish to absolutely believe that such a war is taboo and a transgression of our sacred principles.

However, why and how should we be different from other nations that descended into civil war whenever the causes were?

Painful as it is, we, unfortunately, do have sufficient reasons to be driven into a civil war despite all the inhibitive deterrents that still prevent, or at least postpone, its occurrence. However, an absolute deterrent, or a guarantee, is certainly absent.

Based on this, we sincerely believe all slogans in praise of "the sacred Palestinian unity", and consider the civil war a taboo that no one dares come near.

Did it not actually happen in the far as well as near past, in fact a few days ago? Can we really believe that Palestinian blood is a "red line", when there are two ideologically and politically different and armed organisations, both insisting on keeping their arms? This is to say nothing of the international and regional pressures that are being put on both parties in favour of such a confrontation.

No guarantees

All this is likely to provide the spark that will detonate the dynamite build up caused by this situation. Indeed, the "guarantee" lies (a) in the collective Palestinian awareness that refuses Palestinian infighting, and (b) in the rationality that the leaders of both parities should have. These two guarantees, frankly, are not absolutely certain.

True, until now, both conditions have been effective and may remain so for a while, irrespective, so far, of the casualties on both sides. Still it is certain that an absolute guarantee, based on the aforementioned conditions, for the negation of widescale fighting is not there.

For what will prevent a civil war if the general populace expressing the Palestinian conscience is kept marginal, and if the discretion on part of one or both of the two major parties is absent? What will prevent such a war if the external parties pushing for the fight get the upper hand?

The seeds of the crisis and the factors of contradiction are, therefore, there. They only need effort and rationality on behalf of the leaderships, in addition to revival of the collective memory of our people, to prevent an explosion.

Rationality, however, is not a permanent state. One side may have it; both together might not. "Thanks" also to external pressures! As a result of this, it becomes seriously dangerous to relax at the idea that "a civil war is a taboo … and will never happen".

With the continuous failure to accept the "Arab initiative", eruption of a civil war is becoming more and more likely. In this case, Palestinian blood will not remain a red line.

The two organisations should discern that the way out of this crisis is not possible with a kind of Palestinian vs Palestinian "monologue" that may fill us with "political ecstasy", without offering a "political solution".

What is needed is a political "dialogue" with the intention of saving the Palestinian cause by bringing it back to the status of being a national issue, and not a matter of livelihood demands or an attempt to control the security services.

In view of this debasement of the image of the Palestinian cause, there is no other choice but a form of "national unity" that seeks the support of the outside world and accommodates its demands, as we do not live in an excluded island.

Professor As'ad Abdul Rahman is the Chairman of the Palestinian Encyclopedia.

New Globe

Israel Searches for Tunnels in Gaza Raid

An Israeli Army soldier inspects a tunnel uncovered inside a greenhouse near Philadelphi Road at the border between the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah and Egypt on Wednesday. (AFP)

20, October, 2006

Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News

RAFAH, 20 October 2006 — Israeli soldiers were plowing up the ground yesterday and destroying tunnels allegedly used to smuggle arms from Egypt in their deepest incursion into the Gaza Strip for more than a year. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers were operating up to four kilometers (2.5 miles) inside Palestinian territory to the outskirts of the southern border town of Rafah, in an offensive the army said had so far uncovered nine tunnels.

“We are going to continue our searches for as long as necessary,” a military spokesman said about the tunnels, which Israel says are dug by militants in order to smuggle weapons across the border from Egypt.

Another spokeswoman confirmed that the operation, which follows many other anti-tunnel offensives, was the deepest inside the Palestinian territory since Israel withdrew all its troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

Some people living in areas located near the borderline with Egypt have begun to leave their homes to avoid any Israeli military attacks as the Israeli tanks moved deep into the Palestinian lands. Israeli military helicopters, for three consecutive days, have opened fire on open areas, mainly the areas very near the border, as cover for the troops operating in the area.

Meanwhile, Al-Quds brigades the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement claimed responsibility for launching two rockets into Kissufim crossing east of the Gaza Strip, the group said in a statement. In the north of Gaza, Israeli troops opened fire on civilians, injuring a civilian, medical sources said

In other news, Israeli cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit said that Israeli should hold permanent negations with Arab states based on the Saudi Arabia initiative. The interview was published yesterday by Hareetz.

Senior Cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) said that Israel should hold permanent peace negotiations with Arab states based on the Saudi initiative. He also said that Israel should agree to negotiate over the Golan Heights if Syria halts its support of terrorism. On the ongoing operation in Gaza, Israel’s private Channel 10 television said that two battalions, or around 1,000 soldiers, were taking part in the operation.

Soldiers warned local residents that explosions were likely. Israel has vowed to step up a four-month operation in Gaza that began after militants captured an Israeli soldier, vowing not to allow it to become “a second Lebanon” harboring well-armed militants.

Bush on...Foot in Mouth

Bush on Murder...

Bush on Global Warming...

Jewish Al Qaida

From Vietnam to Iraq

EDITORIAL

20 October 2006

AT LAST, President Bush has come to acknowledge what many in and outside US have been arguing for some time. That Iraq is increasingly looking like Vietnam. In a rare confession during his interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, the president admitted that as in Vietnam, America faces ‘a stepped-up level of violence’ in Iraq.

Stepped-up level of violence, Mr President? This is an all-out and free-for-all bloody civil war, which has already claimed 655,000 Iraqi lives, as medical journal Lancet disclosed last week. In fact, even as Bush was chatting with Stephanopoulos, ten US soldiers died taking the US casualties to nearly 3,000. On an average, three US soldiers are dying daily. And we are not even counting the losses of Iraqi security forces. No, Mr President, this is no stepped-up violence. This is war and easily the worst in recent history.

In fact, when the Americans finally go home and history of this war is written, Iraq will go down as a campaign far worse than Vietnam. Of course, the US casualties in Iraq are nowhere near what America suffered in Vietnam — at least not yet.

Washington’s Vietnam adventure took a long time to unravel. It took almost a decade and the vision of many military and political veterans to mess up Vietnam. It didn’t take the neocons in the Bush administration long — less than a year — to squander the enormous goodwill the occupation forces initially enjoyed.

More importantly, the US soldiers knew who their enemy was in Vietnam. In Iraq, Bush’s coalition of the willing still doesn’t seem to have a clue who it is fighting.

Initially, it saw Saddam Hussein’s Baathist supporters behind the attacks. But now that Saddam is behind bars, everyone from Sunni insurgents to Shia militias and Al Qaeda terrorists to jihadi groups is blamed for the continuing bloodshed in the country. In his ABC interview, Bush again obsessed over Al Qaeda: "Al Qaeda is still very active in Iraq. They are dangerous."

Of course, Al Qaeda is dangerous and all those attacks targeting innocent civilians, be they Sunnis or Shias, are unacceptable. But who invited Al Qaeda to Iraq? Not Saddam Hussein, surely. It was the 2003 invasion and its disastrous effects that beckoned militant groups of all hues to Iraq.

But Washington would add insult to injury if it claims all those attacks are carried out by extremist groups like Al Qaeda. A huge chunk of Iraqi population hasn’t still accepted the foreign occupation and continues to resist it. Besides, Iraq continues to attract fighters from near and far. In fact, it is, coupled with the war on terror, radicalising young people in the Muslim world. As the UK Army chief, General Danatt has rightly pointed out, the coalition forces are not part of the solution in Iraq but part of the problem. The sooner Washington realises this, the better for it and the rest of the world.

700 Club on Insulting Islam

"Lestat (TomCruise)," From Interview With the Vampire(Movie) by Ann Rice.

October 20, 2006

by HRM Deborah

I am yet to understand how any religious body can get on national television in a country and lie to people namely Pat Robertson of the 700 Club which is a Christian program.

I have been laid up a bit lately with my arthritis and so I decided as usual to channel surf and what came across my set was Pat Robertson asking people to stay on this particular channel to hear the truth about Islam and his guest of all people Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch.

Myself, I have always been and honest peaceful person and for these people to slanderize the Islamic religion was actually more disgraceful then words can express.

Not only did they insult the prophet Mohammad (PBUH), by calling him a false prophet and saying he was nothing but a liar and a thief; along with bending as well as warping saying’s to fit their agenda.

Then they perpetrated that Islam is nothing but a cult, that is blood thirsty almost like one of Anne Rice’s vampire books and that anyone within Islam that was not kill crazy was not truly following all the dictates of the religion.

I am yet to wonder how could any people get on television at tell such plantants lies to the American people and I would certainly hope that people wouldn't believe such venous insults to any people, culture or religion living upon this earth.

It brings me back to something that my grandfather use to tell me, if you are not sure what people are telling you go to the real source and find the truth. And I will assure you it is not Pat Robertson, Robert Spencer nor the 700 Club.

As for us mistreating Christians in any manner, I have never heard such a thing in all my life. As I believe I have mentioned before, I have had or still have several friends that just so happens to be Christian and yes some are American as well.

I also got the idea the these same people are trying to force people to buy Robert Spencer’s new book even going so far as saying it was on the American best seller’s list and I would hope people instead of reading blatant propaganda and lies to undermined any people in this world that as educated well meaning people go to the source; learn the truth for yourself, because in all things this is the only way you will really find the truth; not by these kind of people.

Especially Pat Robertson, who not so long ago advocated murder himself.

In regards to Robert Spencer’s latest book that was shown on this program, the main thing that this book is actually useful for and I even mentioned this to a very nice Christian lady at the bookstore today, that it’s only form of usefulness was to hold up a leg on a table that wear had made it short, not for reading material in any manner and she agreed; with a chuckle.

To give a hint of how Mr. Spencer works, he quotes information from such people as Jerry Vines who was a pastor associated with the Southern Baptist Convention; who retired February 7, 2006.

And anyone that knows of this man and his controversial statements towards Islam in 2002 and the many that accused him not only of blatant racism but outright Islamophobia because of accusations he made that wasn’t true.

He also refused to apologize for the statements or to meet with local Muslim leaders.

In my opinion he wanted his 15 minutes of fame, at the cost of many human lives and like so many in this rotten apple barrel; didn’t care who he hurt or what the repercussions were to innocent people. From my observation only the weak minded seem to believe the sort of people.

But like Mr. Spencer, Mr. Vines got or attempted to get their 15 minutes and I will assure them it is time to move on because in the long run these types of people only end up hurting themselves not those they are being Racist or lying against.

Like I mentioned before seek the truth and not from people like these, who have a dirty thunder mug and can’t find a window to throw it out of or the wind is always in their direction making the smell very bad as their clothing is dripping wet.

Iraq: Way to Many People Lay Dead

October, 19, 2006

by Housewife4Palestine

It came out in the American news that 70 American service people had died in Iraq and while searching about the net, I came across a web site that gives the causality count and if they are correct it is now 74 so far in the 19 days of October.

While the Western press put across in their propagandized media, that the count is heavy this month due to Ramadan like it is a coup to commit murder during this fast time; nothing could be further from the truth.

I still wonder what fantasy Magazine these propagandizes use to come up with these malicious stories that make them look bad; oh wait, it has to be Mad Magazine with the freckled face kid on the cover?

But needless to say on both sides of this illegal war, way to many people lay dead and that is the main thing we should always look at.

Beetle Bailey on Iraq

WMD Sure Travel Alot?

Stop Killing the Children

Iraqi National Guard attacked by Ansar al-Sunnah IED

October 18, 2006

Video

A video was released on the internet Wednesday by Ansar al-Sunnah showing an attack on an Iraqi National Guard Humvee with an IED (improvised explosive device).

It is not known if any casualties resulted from this attack in western Baghdad although the vehicle was shown destroyed in aftermath footage.

Casey Jones Bush

28 Citizens Killed by IOF in One Week

GAZA, October 19, 2006 (WAFA) - Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) said 28 citizens, 17 of whom including 2 children and a woman are civilians, were killed by IOF from 12- 18 Oct. 2006.

PCHR said in its weekly report that each of the two children was killed together with the father of each, adding that 6 of the victims were extra-judicially executed by IOF in 3 separate attacks.

It stressed that 45 Palestinians, including 14 children and 4 women, were wounded.

IOF continued to launch air strikes on houses and civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip, destroying 5 houses and damaging a number of others, according to the reports.

The report says that IOF conducted 30 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, and 6 others into the Gaza Strip.

"IOF arrested 48 Palestinian civilians, including 7 children, in the West Bank, and 8 others in the Gaza Strip," the report asserted.IOF continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and arrested 3 Palestinian civilians at checkpoints in the West Bank."

IOF continued to construct the Annexation Wall in the West Bank and Palestinian farmers have been denied access to their agricultural lands to cultivate olives," the reports concludes.

Our World As It Is Now...

Before Bush, it was at least somewhat whole…



Bush, six years in the White House...?

Iran's President: Israel is an 'illegitimate' regime, won't last

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (Reuters)

October 19, 2006

By Reuters

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel's destruction, said on Thursday Israel was "illegitimate" and could not survive.

Ahmadinejad said last year that Israel should be "wiped of the map", echoing comments by the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. That remark caused an outcry in the West and he has not since repeated it.

But he regularly criticizes Israel, a state which Iran has not recognized since the Islamic revolution in 1979, and on Thursday launched a new broadside.

"Our nation has previously announced that this regime is illegitimate from its foundation. It is fabricated. It has been imposed on the nations of the region and it cannot survive," he said in televized speech at a rally near Tehran.

Ahmadinejad was speaking before Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Iranians show support for the Palestinians."

The existence of this regime [Israel] is the root of many problems of mankind today," the president said, adding that Israel had been "founded by the major powers in the heart of the Islamic world".

Ahmadinejad's comments, which have included describing the Holocaust as a "myth," have been condemned in Israel and the West.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in May that Iran's leaders had turned Israel "into a target for annihilation". Former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said last year that Iran's nuclear program was the biggest threat to Jews since the Holocaust.

Iran is accused by the West of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, despite Tehran's insistence that it only wants to to make nuclear fuel to generate electricity.

Ahmadinejad said in August Iran was not a threat to any country, "not even to the Zionist regime" - a term Iranian officials use for Israel.

Bush and Blair isolated as criticism of war grows

By Colin Brown and Rupert Cornwell in Washington
Published: 18 October 2006

George Bush and Tony Blair were looking more isolated than ever last night as the ground shifted further under their strategy of remaining in Iraq "until the job is done".

The President and the Prime Minister were left clinging to the dream of establishing a lasting democracy in Iraq as their advisers urged them to look for a new, more realistic, exit strategy.

A leaked report by the Iraq Study Group, chaired by former US secretary of state James Baker, a close friend of the Bush family, paved the way for a large-scale withdrawal of US forces and a dramatic shift of US policy.

It suggested that instead of the "stay the course" policy, President Bush could extricate the US from the quagmire of Iraq by removing US forces to bases outside Iraq. In an even more spectacular U-turn, they are believed to suggest that Iran and Syria could be invited to co-operate in the stabilisation of lawless Iraq.

That was implicitly rejected by the White House spokesman Tony Snow, who said the administration would not "subcontract" management of the war to outside advisers. But two high-profile Republican senators separately called for a change of course.

"We clearly need a new strategy," said Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a possible 2008 presidential candidate.

John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Iraq was "drifting sideways" and that if there was no improvement within two or three months, then policy would have to change.

That deadline coincides with the expected publication of the conclusions of Mr Baker's Iraq Study Group around the end of the year.

Support for the war is at its lowest ebb and top Republicans warned that the present state of affairs could not continue.

With the carnage on the ground mounting daily, and American military losses approaching 2,800, a new CNN poll found 64 per cent of the public believing the war was a mistake - more than at any time since the invasion in March 2003.

Mr Bush's approval rating is close to all-time lows, three weeks before mid-term elections at which the Republicans face the loss of one or both Houses of Congress.

Senior Labour figures in Britain are hoping a shift of opinion in the highest reaches of the US administration could signal a turning point to force Mr Blair to revise his own approach to Iraq where Allied forces have failed to establish the rule of law, in spite of the promises that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Last week, Mr Blair was urged by the chief of Britain's armed forces, General Sir Richard Dannatt to scale down his ambitions for Iraq. Warning that the Army could be broken if it was forced to stay in the country, Sir Richard said: "The original intention was that we put in place a liberal democracy that was an exemplar for the region, was pro-West and might have a beneficial effect on the balance within the Middle East... I think we should aim for a lower ambition."

Sir Richard said the presence of British troops in Iraq was exacerbating the security situation. On Monday night, the Home Secretary, John Reid also broke ranks by admitting for the first time at a private meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party that foreign policy was contributing to the radicalisation of young Muslims in Britain.

Yesterday, at his first Downing Street press conference since he announced that he will be gone within a year, Mr Blair resisted the calls for a change of strategy. He appeared to contradict Mr Reid, describing such arguments as absurd.

"You can't end up in a situation where you say, when we are on the side of ordinary, decent Muslims in Iraq or Afghanistan who want their own democratic government, when we are there at the behest of those governments with a full UNresolution, that we, when we are protecting those against people who are driving car bombs into markets and mosques and so on, that we somehow are causing their extremism.

"It's absurd and you won't defeat this extremism until you take that argument head on. And the real problem we've got is it has got to be taken head on in the Muslim community as well."

Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic believe there is an endgame being played out for Mr Blair and Mr Bush and a policy shift is growing nearer. Labour MPs said privately last night that Mr Blair may be the last one standing by the President.

Meanwhile, his most likely replacement - Gordon Brown - who admitted last month that mistakes had been made in Iraq, is left watching anxiously as more soldiers' lives are lost in Iraq.

How the big wheels in the Bush administration have turned full circle

The CIA Man

"Iraq is now what Afghanistan was in the late-1970s and throughout the 80s into the 90s, and that's an insurgent magnet, if you will, a mujahedin magnet, only much, much worse."

Michael Scheuer, Former Head of the CIA's Bin Laden Unit

The Neo-Con

"The US objective in Iraq has failed... Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000. And the administration has, now, to cope with failure."

William Buckley, Conservative Editor of The National Review

The General

"The commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions - or bury the results."

Retired Marine Lt Gen Gregory Newbold

The Administration Man

"We didn't have enough troops on the ground. We didn't impose our will. And as a result, an insurgency got started and... got out of control."

Colin Powell, Former Joint Chief of Staff and US Secretary of State

The Adviser

"There'll probably be some things in our report that the administration might not like... I personally believe in talking to your enemies. Neither the Syrians nor the Iranians want a chaotic Iraq."

James Baker, Former US Secretary of State

Iraq similar to Vietnam says Bush

Pressure is growing on Bush over the worsening situation in Iraq

19 October 2006

Aljazeera

The US president has for the first time acknowledged a possible parallel between the raging violence in Iraq and the Vietnam War.

George Bush on Wednesday was asked in an ABC News interview if he agreed with a New York Times columnist's comparison of the strife in Iraq with the Tet Offensive, which is considered a key turning point in the US war in Vietnam.

"He could be right," he said. "There's certainly a stepped up level of violence."

Bush said insurgents are trying "to inflict enough damage that we'd leave."

"First of all, al-Qaeda is still very active in Iraq. They are dangerous. They are lethal. They are trying to not only kill American troops, but they're trying to foment sectarian violence," he said.
"They believe that if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and will cause (the) government to withdraw," Bush said.

Vietnamese campaign

The Tet Offensive, a campaign launched by the North Vietnamese in early 1968, was considered a military defeat for them, but the scope of the assault shocked Americans and helped turn US public opinion against the war.

The White House later sought to put the comparison in context.

"The full context was that the comparison was about the propaganda waged in the Tet Offensive ... and the president was reiterating something he's said before - that the enemy is trying to shake our will," Dana Perino, a Bush spokeswoman, said in a statement.

"They know that we're a caring and compassionate people and that we're deeply affected by gross violence," she said.

"The president also believes the American people understand the importance of beating our enemy who is determined to kill innocent freedom-loving people."

In the television interview, the US leader also expressed support for Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, but warned that his patience is not infinite.

"In my judgment, Maliki has got what it takes to lead a unity government," Bush said.

"I'm patient. I'm not patient forever. And I'm not patient with dawdling. But I recognise the degree of difficulty of the task, and therefore, say to the American people, we won't cut and run," he said.

Links:

Bush’s Own Vietnam

Bush links Iraq to Vietnam as operation to halt violence fails

Haneyya cables Arab leaders, urging them to break the siege

October 19, 2006

Gaza - PA premier Ismail Haneyya has sent urgent cables to a number of Arab leaders asking them to break the siege imposed on the Palestinian people and to extend badly needed financial assistance to his people.

The cables, which also came to congratulate those leaders on the Muslim holy feast of Eidul Fitr that follows the fasting month of Ramadan, pointed to the harsh living conditions of the Palestinians as a result of the "oppressive siege and the Israeli occupation forces' aggressions".

Haneyya said the siege would be only lifted with Arab backing, affirming importance of rallying Arab, Islamic and international efforts to check the IOF ceaseless aggressions on the Palestinians.

A press release by the PA premier's office said that the cables were sent to the rulers of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Yemen and Algeria.

Haneyya had also made numerous telephone contacts with Arab leaders asking them to extend urgent financial assistance to help pay wages of civil servants.

Meanwhile, the premier, at a ceremony late Tuesday to mark the start of a huge industrial venture in Gaza, stressed that a national unity government should be formed on the basis of the national document and not according to American dictates.

He noted that despite the economic and political blockade yet the Strip was witnessing the launching of that giant project, and extended thanks to the Arab fund for development for financing that venture.

The 5.5 million dollar project would be constructed on an area of 300 dunums and would provide work for around 7,000 workers.