http://musliminsuffer.wordpress.com/
bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
False prophets : The US loves listening to its
Arab/Muslim 'reformers'. And they love telling
the US just what it wants to hear.
For a long time now, I have been meaning to take
a cool, reflective look at Ayaan Hirsi Ali and
Irshad Manji. The ordeal of keeping calm long
enough to write about them and avoiding serious
damage to my blood pressure at the same time was mainly what prevented me.
Hirsi Ali and Manji ("the Muslim refusenik") are
the most prominent among several "reformers" of
Arab or Muslim origin lionised by the American
media and in Britain by the likes of Melanie Phillips.
Editors and TV producers love 'em. Their strident
views make for entertaining television and, of
course, the things they say are generally what
the US public wants to hear. The trouble is,
their approach is so simplistic and
confrontational and so insensitive towards the
culture they are trying to change that it does
more harm than good. Among ordinary Muslims - the
people they are supposedly seeking to help -
their credibility is virtually zero.
In the academic world, people like Hirsi Ali and
Manji are known as "native informants", though
Issandr el-Amrani of the Arabist blog has another
term for them: "courageous reformist Arab personalities (CRAP).
Being a CRAP is quite lucrative - Manji
reportedly charges $7,500 (£4,000)an hour for
giving a talk. If you fancy joining them, there's
a bit of advice here on how to do it. From a
media point of view, it helps if you're a woman.
And the latest female addition to the CRAP stable
is Wafa Sultan, an ex-Syrian who shot to
prominence as a result of some shrill remarks on
al-Jazeera television that were then brought to an American audience via Memri.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_whitaker/2006/06/native_misinformants.html
===
"Our Brothers", the Kurds... traitor against muslim!!!
Could not miss this excellent historical
documentary on al Jazeera about Mostafa Al
Barazani. Mostafa Al Barazani is the father
figure "par excellence" of the Kurdish separatist
(and I would add chauvinist) movement in Iraq.
* First it was the Soviet Union but their
cooperation was short lived when Mostafa found
out that the Soviets were arming Iraq.
* Then he turned to the Iraqi Monarchy and that too did not work.
* Then he sought Abdel Kareem Qassem, the
nationalist leader who overthrew the Iraqi
monarchy in 1958. But even then the alliance was
very short lived and Qassem ordered the clamping
down of the kurdish separatist movement after
this latter started waging attacks on Iraqi civilians.
* Then Mostafa sought an alliance with
AbdelSalam Aref and later with his brother
AbdelRahman and that too was short lived.
* Seems that Mostafa Al Barazani demands for
total autonomy of the "kurdish" areas were not in
line with Iraq's internal or external policies.
* Or maybe the various Iraqi governments
simply did not fancy an attack on their territorial sovereignty.
* In 1968, when the Baath came to power, M.H
Al-Bakr, the then president of Iraq and Saddam
Hussein his young vice president wanted a clean page with Barazani the father.
* Meanwhile, the Kurds headed by M.Barazani
were striking political deals with the Shah of Iran...
* On a side note, Barazani who was originally
from Iran and finally settled in the Iraqi
northern parts, kept telling his men, do not hate
the Arabs, we have a problem only with Iraqi
Arabs and in particular the Iraqi Government...
* the Kurdish leadership sought out help from
the Israeli Mossad and this latter gladly helped.
* An Israeli former mossad agent A.Tasfirini
(as I said I am terrible with names, you can have
the exact name by writing to:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
* The second important development was a
secret agreement orchestrated by Henry Kissinger and the Kurdish leadership.
* In fact it was a secret agreement between
the CIA and the Kurds and the Iraqi government
and Saddam Hussein knew nothing of it.
* In 1979 Mostafa al Barazani fell gravely
ill and went to Iran for treatment. He was then
flown to the USA for further medical care for advanced cancer and died there.
* In 1981, the Iran-Iraq war took place and
Iran forgot all about the Algiers treaty and
reopened its borders for separatist chauvinist
kurdish infiltrators into Iraq so they can
continue pursuing their kurdish state claim there
and not on Iranian territory.
* In 1990, the Kurdish areas became an American/ English "protected zone".
* Massoud Barazani, the prodigal son, took
over the leadership from his father and so it
continued till the second invasion in 2003 until this very day.
Now "our brothers the Kurds" have their own
little flag, have excellent ties with Iran,
America and Israel who has continued training their peshmergas since 1974.
Not only that, the "poor oppressed gassed kurds"
as so many of you like to moan, are ethnically
cleansing Kirkuk of all its Turkmen and Arab
inhabitants and conducting massive detention
raids and imprisoning hundreds. For your
information, Kirkuk's last population census, the
only one available, has these figures:
A roughly even distribution between turkmen and
arabs. 40% and 38%. The rest is around 22% kurds
and some assyrians. Now with the ethnic cleansing
undertaken by the chauvinistic kurds, I am not
sure what the new pre-arranged figures are.
I know that they were inflated for the "Free
elections" that America promised us in our new democracy...
http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/2007/03/our-brothers-kurds.html
===
So what gives? "We come not as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators."
'[We come not as] conquerors or enemies, but as
liberators. Lieutenant General Sir Stanley
Maude, Commander in Chief of British forces in
Iraq, after entering Baghdad in March 1917.
According to the best estimates, the dozen years
of sanctions following Saddams invasion of
Kuwait led to something like one million deaths
in Iraq, including 500,000 children and since the
invasion in 2003 a further 650,000 have died as a
result of the illegal occupation.
Its a staggering number of slaughtered people,
all done in the name of 'democracy building but
it doesnt stop here, we need to add the
slaughtered of the former Yugoslavia and who
knows how many massacred in Afghanistan as
nobodys bothering to count. But lest we forget,
the invasion and occupation of Vietnam resulted
in the slaughter of at least three million
Vietnamese and the effects of Agent Orange and
the other toxic chemicals dumped on Vietnam is
still killing and maiming people to this day.
http://www.williambowles.info/ini/2007/0307/ini-0475.html
===
Redefine, divide and rule
Washington seems determined to fan the flames of
internecine conflict in the Middle East.
So, back to the classifications and alliance
building game it is. Now, though, the war cry is
not the Iraqi, but the Iranian threat. Four years
ago, as they prepared for the invasion and
occupation of Iraq, the Americans and their
allies across the Atlantic filled the air with
talk of Shia persecution by Sunni and the need
for their deliverance from the wicked Sunni
Ba'ath regime. As the Iranian nuclear project
climbed to the top of the Bush
administration's agenda, a new set of terms and
concepts had to be manufactured. Out went slogans
of democratisation, reform and good governance
and in came the fearful "Shia Crescent" blooming
from the shores of the Mediterranean to the poppy
fields of Afghanistan, only to be confronted by
the benevolent forces of Sunni moderation. With
it came Condoleezza Rice and her diplomatic
envoys, this time gracing the Middle East with
their visits to ensure good co-operation with
"moderate states" and their secret services.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/soumaya_ghannoushi_/2007/03/no_end_to_these_dirty_games.html
===
US blasts elementary school near Baqubah
Thursday, killing or wounding 30 children
In a dispatch posted at 4:29pm Makkah time
Thursday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported
that US aircraft attacked an elementary school
near Baqubah, about 65km northeast of Baghdad,
on Thursday, on the pretext that Resistance fighters were hiding there.
The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported
a medical source in Baqubah General Hospital as
saying that more than 30 children were killed or
injured in the American attack on the al-Maysarah
Primary School in al-Mafraq, northeast of Baqubah.
The source indicated that most of the victims
were in the sixth grade of primary school and
that they were taken to hospitals in the area after the American attack.
http://www.albasrah.net/pages/mod.php?mod=art&lapage=../en_articles_2007/0307/iraqiresistancereport_150307.htm
===
War Criminal : Haditha Marine says would make same decision again
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. Marine charged with
murdering 18 unarmed civilians in Haditha, Iraq,
said in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" he
regretted the deaths but would make the same decisions today.
Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich admitted shooting five
unarmed Iraqi men in the back in the interview
and said his actions were justified because he
believed the men had hostile intent toward the Marines.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-03-15T211026Z_01_N15471298_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-IRAQ-MARINE.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
===
Iraq's growing refugee crisis
A special report on the millions of refugees
fleeing the conflict in their country. Where is
the coalition of the willing when it comes to their care?
They'd fled the murderous bloodshed of their
homeland. But instead of finding a better life
abroad - Iraq's growing number of refugees are
trapped instead in a humanitarian crisis.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/iraqs+growing+refugee+crisis/291647
===
U.S.-Occupied Iraq: Women suffer untold violence
The radio news magazine "Between The Lines"
interviewed Yifat Susskind, communications
director with MADRE, an an international womens
human rights organisation based in New York City.
Yifat is also author of a report on violence
against Iraqi women titled, "Promising Democracy,
Imposing Theocracy: Gender-Based Violence and the
US War on Iraq." The report, made public on March
6 at a meeting of the Commission on the Status of
Women at the United Nations, exposes what it
calls "the incidence, causes, and legalization of
gender-based violence in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion."
http://i-eclectica.org/2007/03/16/us-occupied-iraq-women-suffer-untold-violence/
===
196 professors killed, more than 100 kidnapped since U.S. invasion
Since the 2003 U.S. invasion 196 university
professors have been killed and more than 100
abducted, said Minister of Higher Education Abduldhiyab al-Aujaili.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news/2007-03-15/kurd1.htm
===
I am just like you says Iraqi teen
While thousands of Iraqis pour across Syrias
borders every day, escaping Iraqs brutal
violence, Danyas family is one of those caught
in the middle. Coming to Syria may ensure ones
physical safety, but the economic reality is
harsh. Most Iraqis in Syria are not working,
living off their savings instead. Because Danyas
mother has a good job in Iraq the family will
remain, at least for now, in Baghdad.
"Im really scared to go back," the 14-year old
says in English, "but my mother has her work
there. I hate my home; its very dangerous."
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m31416&hd=&size=1&l=e
===
U.S. to expand Iraq prisons
The United States decided to expand its major
detention centers in Iraq after military
officials predicted that the ongoing security
crackdown in Baghdad will add hundreds or
thousands of prisoners to the 17,000 detainees
already in U.S. custody, an army spokesman said.
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m31438&hd=&size=1&l=e
===
How Sadr and the US helped each other kill Iraqis ...
I have read with utter disgust some of the
reports on so-called anti-war websites which have
pronounced that Muqtada Sadr is the true face of Iraqi resistance.
But Muqtada flees to Iran every time he hears his
father wail from hell (read: US forces enter Iraq
for some or that security sweep) or the Iraqi
resistance manage to take out some of his commanders.
Fanatical, maniacal, Iran and the mullahs who run
it are responsible for more carnage than the US military.
Despite the blunders and massacres committed by
US troops, the US is seen to be the lesser of two
evils in Iraq, more civilized than the Safavids.
Muqtada, resistance? When it was his people who
burned down mosques with worshippers inside? When
it was his people who pulled three girls from their homes and set them on fire?
This is the face of your resistance? Muqtada who
massacres patriotic and nationalistic Shia
tribesmen because Iran told him to do it.
What kind of Iraqi resistance leader flees to
Iran? Please, do not mistake the verbal flak from
Mehdi rabble to be anything other than putting a
brave face on the reality of the situation.
Muqtada came because of the US. He thrived
because of the US. He rebelled against the US
because he rebelled against the man they had chosen for Iraq - Iyad Allawi.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m31421&hd=&size=1&l=e
===
A Profile in Cowardice For U.S. and Sadr, Wary Cooperation
Muqtada Sadr: What a coward and a collaborator.
He is a tough guy with his drill team when it
comes to terrorizing and killing Iraqis and
Palestinians in Iraq and when it comes to ethnic
cleansing. When it comes to fighting the
occupation, all his empty rhetoric has finally
yielded to this: open collaboration with the
occupiers and the killers of over 600,000 Iraqis.
Now he is hiding somewhere, probably in Iran, wearing a woman's 'abaya!
Mahdi "army": Celebrate Now, you cowards!
http://palestinianpundit.blogspot.com/2007/03/for-us-and-sadr-wary-cooperation.html
===
U.S., Sadr cooperating
BAGHDAD - U.S. troops are conducting security
sweeps in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City for
the first time in three years, part of a revamped
plan to pacify the capital. Yet the Mahdi Army
militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has not
risen up to fight them, despite U.S. raids on
militia members' homes and growing Sunni attacks on Shiites.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17635348/
===
Al Sadr's plan is working.
(NYTimes) Al Sadr's plan is working. He pulled
his people off the street, and now the US is fighting the Sunnis for him
http://bornatthecrestoftheempire.blogspot.com/2007/03/iraq_15.html
===
Widow of Abdul Majeed al-Khoei says Sadr order murder of husband
The widow of the slain Shiite Cleric Sayyed Abdul
Majeed al-Khoei accused the firebrand cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr of ordering the murder of her husband.
Khoei was murdered only days after returning to
Iraq from exile in London. He was hacked to death
by a mob at the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf.
Khoei came from a distinguished family of Shiite
Muslim clergy who promoted dialogue among Iraqs various faiths.
http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news%5C2007-03-16%5Ckurd.htm
===
Five US troops killed in Iraq as Blair denies civil war
Pentagon report: Iraq faced maximum number of
attacks since invasion during last quarter of
2006. The US military announced the deaths of another five US troops.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/iraq/?id=19996
===
Four US soldiers killed in bombing
FOUR US soldiers were killed and two wounded
today when two roadside bombs ripped through their patrol in eastern Baghdad.
"An improvised explosive device (IED) detonated
near the unit's vehicles as they were returning
from cordon and search operations," the military said.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21391825-38201,00.html
===
Six American soldiers killed in Iraq
Four deaths on Thursday and two on Wednesday have
taken the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq to 3,196.
The U.S. military in Iraq says a roadside bomb
explosion in eastern Baghdad killed four American
soldiers and wounded two others on Thursday.
http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/234572/cs/1/
===
British soldier killed 'unlawfully'
A coroner has ruled that a British soldier who
died in a US "friendly fire" attack near the
start of the 2003 Iraq war was unlawfully killed.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2735FB4B-ABE3-4227-BCDC-61257A890B4E.htm
===
Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Thursday, 15 March 2007
* American soldier reported killed in
Resistance bombing near al-Fallujah Thursday afternoon.
* Five leading Iraqi Resistance groups
reportedly form unified command and common
organization, in opposition to call to join al-Qaidah.
* Four US Marines reported killed in
Resistance bomb attack on western Baghdad.
* Iraqi Resistance car bomber targets
checkpoint killing two puppet troops Thursday afternoon.
* Attacks continue in Baghdad Thursday.
* US troops shoot Iraqi civilian in Bayji Wednesday.
* US blasts elementary school near Baqubah
Thursday, killing or wounding 30 children.
* Resistance car bomber strikes puppet Shock
Troops in Baqubah Thursday.
* Resistance bomb rips through US Humvee in al-Latifiyah Thursday morning.
* US troops kill Iraqi puppet army soldier by
mistake in al-Mawsil Thursday morning.
* Armed men kill Jaysh al-Mahdi commander, puppet policeman in al-Basrah.
http://www.albasrah.net/pages/mod.php?mod=art&lapage=../en_articles_2007/0307/iraqiresistancereport_150307.htm
===
9/11 : The 'Confessions' Of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
KSM's confession was announced to the world by
the very people who routinely torture prisoners,
hold secret military trials behind closed doors,
and bar all lawyers and reporters from being
anywhere near the courtroom. But you do believe them, don't you?
http://www.rense.com/general75/kkl.htm
===
9/11 : Heckuva Job, KSM!
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed may have diverted
attention from Alberto Gonzales, but the 9/11
plotter's testimony exposes the flaws in Bush's 'war on terror.'
WHAT TIMING! Just when the attorney general and
the president were coming under fire for the
politicized dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys,
the Pentagon released a transcript of a March 10
hearing in which Guantanamo detainee Khalid
Shaikh Mohammed confessed to masterminding the
9/11 attacks. Now we can get back to the Bush
administration's preferred topic: What a heck of
a job it's doing in the war on terror.
http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/03/heckuva-job-ksm.html
===
9/11 : True Confessions? The Amazing Tale of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
JURIST Guest Columnist Anthony D'Amato of
Northwestern University School of Law says the
sweeping Guantanamo "confessions" of al Qaeda
leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed rival the scope of
those made in the Stalinist purge trials of the
1930s, and should equally prompt us to question
the legal process in which they were made...
Students of the Stalinist purges of the 1930s
will recall the astounding confessions made in
open court by the accused persons. They had been
severely tortured over weeks and months. But they
showed up in court without external marks of
torture. With all apparent voluntariness, they
admitted subverting the Five-Year Plans that
would have provided the Soviet people with
necessary food items. They sabotaged factories,
making sure the production lines were
inefficient. They managed to import inferior
metals so that Soviet tanks and automobiles would
fall apart after a few months use. They
infiltrated the Soviet Army and through dint of
their persuasiveness, convinced the foot soldier
that it was absurd to risk his life defending a
dictatorial government. In short these accused
persons, briefly in court on their way to the
firing squad, took responsibility for everything
that had gone wrong for the past two decades in
the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/03/true-confessions-amazing-tale-of-khalid.html
===
Amnesty International: Fear for safety of human
rights defenders in the Occupied Territories
There have been further attacks by Israeli
settlers on human rights defenders working in the
Occupied Territories. The head of one
international organization working in the area
has voiced concern that the lives of these human
rights defenders could be in danger if the attacks continue.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/03/15/ai-tiph-attack/
===
Bush's Shadow Army: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Force
Jeremy Scahill reports on the Bush
Administration's growing dependence on private
security forces such as Blackwater USA and
efforts in Congress to rein them in. This article
is adapted from his new book, Blackwater: The
Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (Nation Books).
http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/03/bushs-shadow-army-rise-of-worlds-most.html
===
Torture Investigation Stopped by Canadian Military Officials
Military Law Office:
The complaint involves "a hypothetical
determination that a detainee might have been or
might in the future be, tortured by Afghanistan
authorities with no evidence or even an
allegation that a detainee transferred by the (Forces) was ever tortured."
The matter covers "a high-level,
multi-departmental government of Canada policy
regarding the transfer of detainees by the
Canadian Forces to Afghanistan authorities and an
arrangement made with the government of Afghanistan pursuant to this policy."
The practice of handing over prisoners is
``directed by the operational chair of command
and is required to be followed by all (Canadian
Forces) members involved in the handling of
detainees, not just the military police."
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/03/torture-investigation-stopped-by.html
===
-muslim voice-
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