Armies of Liberation

“Kerry and the Middle East” is in today’s Arab News in Saudi Arabia.

John Kerry and the Middle East

During John Kerry’s speech accepting his party’s nomination as candidate for the American presidency at the Democrat’s National Convention in Boston, he spent a great deal of time defining himself by the four months he spent in Vietnam thirty years ago. Old comrades were trotted out, old war stories were told, old pictures shown as evidence of his fitness to be Commander in Chief of the US military. Mr. Kerry spoke only three sentences regarding the twenty years he spent in the US Senate and did not mention his consistent pattern of voting to remain unengaged internationally.

The majority of John Kerry’s speech dealt with domestic issues. His stated foreign policy objective consists of rebuilding America’s relationships with her traditional Western allies. This he believes will provide greater security for Americans from al-Qaeda and like minded jihadiis.

Mr. Kerry did not mention the Middle East at all, except to disparage US reliance on the Saudi royal family to meet American energy needs. Mr. Kerry stated he prefers to rely on American “ingenuity and innovation.” During the hour long speech, neither “Israel” nor “Palestine” escaped from his lips while words were plentiful about domestic environmental concerns, tax issues, healthcare and educational opportunities.

On some issues America is a firmly divided nation. As Bill Clinton noted at the Convention, “Democrats and Republicans have very different and deeply held ideas about what choices we should make. They’re rooted in fundamentally different views….” There is no issue that demonstrates this fissure more clearly than Iraq- a national Rorschach test.

Many of the convention delegates sported green stickers saying “End the Occupation of Iraq.” The American anti-war movement and many Kerry supporters see the invasion of Iraq as a fiasco, a personal financial burden, and a national embarrassment. They believe it has created terrorists. Kerry’s seeming opposition to President Bush’s Iraq policy has drawn many supporters to his camp, although Kerry voted for the Senate resolution authorizing unilateral military force. Kerry later voted against the 87 billion funding that military force. Now he supports a continued military presence.

It is difficult to discern his thinking on the validity of the war, and more importantly, his plans and goals going forward. The New York Times notes in an editorial: “Kerry’s history on the critical Iraq issue has been impossibly opaque.” Kerry has alternately said he would “do whatever it takes” and he would withdraw US forces as soon as Iraq was stable. “I don’t think we should be opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them here,” Mr. Kerry states in one of his most frequently run TV advertisements.

In his speech in Boston, Mr. Kerry said he knows what to do in Iraq- share the military and financial burden internationally. This will be possible he believes once he restores Western alliances and respect for the US. Opening the convention, former President Jimmy Carter stated, “The dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America.” 

Republicans see the greatest challenge elsewhere. Vice President Cheney articulates their vision that “the enemy America faces today is every bit as intent on defeating us as were the Axis powers in World War II or as the Soviet Union in the Cold War.” This view holds that the goal of the jihad is not to change US foreign policy but to destroy the US itself in a quest to establish a global caliphate. The 3/11 massacre in Spain they see as part of a larger effort to reclaim al-Andalus. Republicans believe al-Qaeda terrorists understand better than Democrats the historic stakes in Iraq and the major blow that self-governing Iraq would be to their ideology.

Republicans, contrary to the prevailing international view, are not comprised of a cabal of neo-cons, Evangelicals, Zionists, oil barons and war mongers. Rather a portion of Bush’s base consists of ex-Democrat voters, prior liberals and other Middle Americans disgusted with the Democrats reaction to the threat America faces from radical Islamists.

Many Bush supporters disagree strongly with President Bush’s domestic policies and are extremely disheartened by the chaotic reconstruction of Iraq. Cringing at the President’s handling of the Greater Middle East Initiative, they agree on its goals of reform, economic development, greater literacy and individual rights in the Middle East.

John Kerry offers these voters little global vision beyond restoring alliances in Europe.
The emphasis on the participation of the militarily weak and overtly hostile French and Germans in Iraq has little logic to the Republicans who see in the Democrats a Eurocentric view that dismisses the sacrifice of the Poles, El Salvadorans, Mongolians, thirty other nations and, most importantly, the valiant Iraqis.

Today’s Republicans see an Islamic democracy in the heart of the Middle East as the linchpin of American security that may forestall generations of terrorists. They believe in the domino theory- a strategy that relies on the hope of democracy, presented in a region of autocrats, to spread over borders and from heart to heart. This pattern of human behavior, they say, has demonstrated its strength and consistency over time in Latin America, Eastern Europe and South East Asia. For these Republicans, to paraphrase James Carville, “It’s the war, stupid.” Many Americans, hopeful and committed to success in both Afghanistan and Iraq, are unsure if Kerry shares their determination.

Those around the world who were hoping for a coherent Middle East policy from John Kerry have had their hopes dashed. Many in America are disappointed that the Democrats have not learned the lesson of 9/11- that the Middle East does affect American children mightily. As Americans, Muslims and innocents everywhere are endangered by radical Islamists, as nations globally are threatened, John Kerry’s mantra of “Stronger at Home, Respected in the World” offers little substance. And the question remains, is “Anybody But Bush” the best choice for the American electorate?

The following article was censored from the Middle East Times in Cairo last week. No panties here as the reciepient of billions in US aid continues to operate under emergency law for decades with impunity, cruelty and in silence:

Egypt’s leading human rights organization released its 2004 annual report last week indicating that torture in prisons across the country was common and widespread despite government denials.
STORY WAS CENSORED FROM THIS WEEK’S PRINTED EDITION

The 2004 annual report released by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) last week documents hundreds of cases of abuses of human rights and dozens of deaths from torture.The 323-page report entitled, “The Conditions of Human Rights in Egypt,” said that 412 cases of torture and 120 torture deaths have been documented between 1993 and 2004.

It said that between April 2003 and April 2004, no less than 41 cases of torture had been recorded, of which 15 likely led to death.But, the numbers are the tip of the iceberg. Many more cases of torture go unreported.

”Torture in Egypt is committed on a daily basis and is widespread in police stations, state security headquarters, and prisons,” said the report. “Torture is regularly used by police to extract confessions from suspects or their relatives leading to many deaths.”

Twelve-year-old Abdullah Rizq Abdallah was one of those cases. His small body finally gave out after seven days of torture by police using electrical shocks to make him confess to theft.In another case, a widow told EOHR that the last time she saw her husband alive in a police cell he told her that he was going through “torture that no human being can imagine.”

The report said threats to the life of citizens in Egypt used to come primarily from armed Islamic groups, but now they come from the security authorities. The report put the finger on state security officers in Cairo as committing the majority of documented cases of torture last year. It said they were encouraged to do so because there was very little chance of being prosecuted.

Freedom of expression in Egypt fared no better last year. Newspapers and books were frequently confiscated, said the report, and journalists had been arrested despite President Hosni Mubarak’s ban on the imprisonment of journalists for writing ‘offensive’ articles.

The EOHR also highlighted electoral violations of cronyism and intimidation in the 2003 parliamentary elections.”Security forces interfered in favor of the ruling National Democratic Party candidates by preventing supporters of opposition candidates from casting their votes,” said the report.

Many of these violations are consequences of the Emergency Law, implemented by Mubarak after the assassination of former president Anwar Sadat in 1981. The law gives the government sweeping powers to arrest and hold people without trial and to ban public gatherings.

The EOHR insisted in its report that the need for the Emergency Law had long expired.
”The government has exhausted all its excuses to prolong the state of emergency by claiming they are fighting terrorism… No militant operations have taken place in Egypt since the Luxor massacre of 1997,” said the report.

The floods are very bad this year. Nearly 200 have died and millions are displaced throughout the region. A predictable natural disaster that may have been mitigated with enhanced flood embankments is causing untold suffering in human costs and enormous damage to property and agriculture.

With the surrounding rivers remaining in spate, feeding on waters rolling down from upstream, the situation in and around capital Dhaka already remained grave. About 40% of the city is under water and in places the sewage system has failed, with brown and stinking water flowing through the streets. Already thousands of people are complaining of diarrhoea. As monsoon rains continue, millions of people in the city get their drinking water from tube wells and the fear is that many are becoming contaminated.

The floods have made life especially difficult for the very poorest in the city. Slums are built on low-lying ground and most have been under water for days.

Some people have moved out to find dry land, building makeshift shelters from plastic sheeting and bamboo on the pavements in areas that are on higher ground.

Flood forecasters say there is no relief in sight. The rivers in the central area of Bangladesh that includes the capital are likely to rise further in the coming days.
More

Caribpundit reports Khartoum is arming the militias that kill their own people:

A New York-based human rights group says it has evidence that the Sudanese Government has been arming the militia accused of killing thousands of people in the Darfur region. Human Rights Watch says it has secret documents which implicate high-ranking Government officials in a policy of supporting the militia.

Oh like we couldn’t figure that out when government planes bombed these villagers.

And they were singing about it

While Janjaweed militiamen were doing the dirty deed, Arab women stood nearby and sang for joy, stirring up racial hatred against black civilians during attacks on villages in Darfur. Many women were taken as sexual slaves and prevented from escaping by having their limbs broken.

To Donate

News Article by BBC posted on Sudan.net Rains a curse for Sudan’s refugees (We saw this coming, actually we’ve been counting down. Too bad the UN didn’t.)

The Sahara’s ferocious winds swirl through the camps for a million displaced Sudanese, and the people scatter. Then the heavens open and the rains begin their torrential pounding. Most nights now across Darfur the displaced huddle in makeshift shelters, bracing themselves against the elements.

Whole families sit upright all night, as the rain pours through the reed roofs of their shacks.

The rains here are a curse in more ways than one. Roads have become mired in mud, making it difficult for aid to get through. And the rains have brought disease to the camps, by flushing sewage and filth into the drinking water.

Now the World Health Organisation’s concern is that epidemics like cholera may break out too. Already many children in the camps have diarrhoea, vomiting and measles.

Because of insecurity and difficulties of the terrain the food has not reached all the people in Murnei camp. Most families say they ran out of food completely more than a week ago, and many families have been surviving since by sharing out rations intended to save just the weakest infants.

In a tented hospital for about the worst cases the children are emaciated, and tormented with the pain of starvation. Margaret Bell a nurse said: “Out in the community (one camp) there are 40 deaths a week that we know of.” On a bed in one of the makeshift hospitals a one-year-old girl, Asha, lies covered in sores and lesions, her skin peeling. She does not have the strength to hold her head up.
Whilst watching her daughter starve Asha’s mother has been slowly losing her mind.

“Our village was burnt to the ground,” her grandmother said. “We can’t go back. Nine people in our family were killed. The attackers took everything we had. There’s not enough food here for us, and I’m worried Asha will die but we can’t go home we’ll be killed”.

International organisations have called the situation in Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. They have also warned that thousands more may die if more help does not arrive quickly.

Thousands may die? How about tens of thousands may die or hundreds of thousands of mostly women and children because the men are already dead.

Jane’s Note: If you are feeling tired, overloaded, apathetic, or burnt-out, this is the post for you to become reenergized, re-invigorated and focused.
John Bradley’s Note: This week Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harby surrendered to the Saudi authorities under a limited amnesty offer to militants. A wanted al-Qaida militant,he was incorrectly identitied by US intelligence officials in December 2001 as Ali BinSaid al-Ghamdi. However, it is still thought that Al-Harby was the individual meeting Osama Bin Laden in an infamous video recorded after the September 11 attacks, in which the two men chat and praise God for the attacks. Below is an exclusive transcript of the full conversation during that meeting.
OBL
10:59:57 [Abdullah] Azzam told me [unclear]… So I saw this as a good omen.

11:00:14 And a year or so before these attacks, our brother, Abu Hassan Al-Masri
[the Egyptian], was on, was on Al-Jazeera a few days ago saying, “If you Americans are men, come down here [on the ground].” That’s the one.

Khalid Al-Harby: Yes

11:00:44 He said: “I saw in my dream that we were playing a soccer match. Our team against the Americans in the field. But the strange thing is, I was wondering why Osama made our entire team up of pilots. Was this is a soccer match or an airplane? Why did Osama make all the players pilots? And he didn’t even know anything about the operation until he heard it on the radio. He didn’t know anything. He said the teams played and we beat them. So we saw this as a good sign.”

Khalid Al-Harby
11:01:19 God is great.

UNIDENTIFIED
11:01:22 Our brother Abdul Rahman Mughrabi got the exactly right dream.

OBL
11:01:27 What did he dream?

UNIDENTIFIED
11:01:29 He saw a plane hitting a tall building. He didn’t know anything about it
(the operation).

Khalid Al-Harby
11:01:36 God be praised.

SULEIMAN ABU GHAITH [KUWAITI SPOAKSMAN OF AL-QAEDA]
11:01:45 I was with the Sheikh [OBL] in the room, then left the room to another room that had a TV. The TV was broadcasting a major event. A scene with an Egyptian family. You know when there’s a soccer game, and one team wins, and TV covers the emotions of the people. This is an Egyptian family sitting down, the father, mother and children. The eldest son was dancing an Egyptian folk dance. Happy. And a banner was scrolling across the screen like this, saying: “To avenge the children of Al-Aqsa, Osama bin Laden carries out attacks against the Americans.”

Khalid Al-Harby
11:02:22 God is great.

SULEIMAN
11:02:25 I told the Sheikh. There were 50 or 60 people in the room. He said, “Ok, I will tell you later.”

Khalid Al-Harby: Before the event?

SULEIMAN ABU GHAITH: Yes, by God before the event

OBL
11:02:36 He didn’t know about the operation. [unclear]. He only knew there were
operations. Everyone knows there were operations.

Khalid Al-Harby: Praise be to God.

11:02:45 I explain the dream, that the Egyptian family is Mohammad Atta, may his soul rest in peace, he was the leader of the group. May his soul rest in peace.

Khalid Al-Harby: True?

Khalid Al-Harby
11:02:55 More than one person had this dream of a plane hitting a building. There was one pious man who worked in the committee {religious police}. He was in anguish. He said, “It’s as if I was sitting in a plane. Abu Sultan! Abu Sultan the enforcer (official who lashes people) of the committee! He is very tall and big.” He said “I am steadfast. I will carry you on my shoulder. Don’t worry about the trip.” For half a kilometer, he had to dragged me, oh shaikh. Drag, drag. I prayed to God that He help him. The point is, he said, “It’s as if we were on the plane.” It happened a long time ago, last year, I didn’t understand. I asked him, “What’s your problem? Find yourself a way out.” He said: “I wanted to go to the jihad, but all of the sudden we arrived in New York. Washington and New York.” I said what is this? He said, “All of the sudden, the plane hit the building.” This he said last year, and we didn’t even think about it.
OBL: God is great.

11:03:55 Glory be to God we didn’t think about it. Right after the events happened, he said, this is an amazing thing. Another man said, “I swear my wife saw this happen in her dream one week before it happened. A plane hitting a building. Naturally, glory be to God.

OBL
11:04:20 The brothers that carried this out, may God accept them, all they knew was that there is a martyrdom operation. They were asked to get visas to America and
Europe, a number of European countries, several countries. But they didn’t know even one letter about the nature of the operation. They were just trained and were not informed {about the attack} except there, a short while right before boarding, may God bless them. [unclear]. The point is that one of them [Wa’el Shihri] said: “I had a dream where I saw myself flying a plane.” And these weren’t the pilots. The pilots are over there, studying. These didn’t know those. He said: “I saw myself in a plane flaying really fast straight into a building.” The operation was for a plane to hit a building. We got used to people having dreams like that it. I just told him, “That’s a good dream. May God give
you success.” [laughter]…

OBL
11:06:57 They are the majority, {the Ghamdi’s}. He said: “I saw Ghamdis and Mukhtar.
They were in America, in a tall building. He was teaching them karate inside there” I
was afraid that the secret would get out, everyone sees a vision and starts talking. I changed the subject. I said: “If the Ghamdi family hears you, calling them Ghumaid (Ghamids), they’ll get angry with you. Next time say people of Ghamis or something like that. And I left him.

Khalid Al-Harby : By God this is like reality. It could have spilled the secret.

OBL
11:07:49 Is that right? What was your dream?

UNKNOWN –Yemeni accent.
11:07:55 I saw two planes coming, and they exploded, a huge explosion. Then I wanted to go, I was afraid we would be hit by concussions. And the shaikh {OBL} told me, wait, wait. He said “I am expecting more things to follow”.

Khalid Al-Harby : This is after the first plane?

UNKNOWN –Yemeni accent: That’s before the whole operation.

OBL
11:08:27 After the first plane, they [Al-Qaeda] were happy and thought that was it. I told them, “Wait, wait.”

Khalid Al-Harby
11:08:35 Glory be to God. So amazing. Of course, shaikh, people couldn’t believe it.
An announcement, a plane. They couldn’t believe that it was so successful [with God’s
help]. This is first. Then they wondered how the minds of these people {Americans}were paralyzed. Oh How stupid they are. 20 minutes or 18 minutes apart {between the first and second plane}.

OBL
11:08:54 Between the first and the Pentagon was one hour.

Khalid Al-Harby : One hours?

OBL: One hour yes.

UNKNOWN
11:08:59 After the Pentagon {was hit} there was a massive air and see mobilization, and that guy [President Bush] went underground to hide and the other went into hiding.

11:09:06 They became so horrified and scared, sheikh. They expected a coup d’etat and that these people [Muslims] were going to come and rule them.

UNKNOWN (NOT ZAWAHRI, AS GOVT. TRANSLATION NOTES)
11:09:58 You can benefit from Shaikh Suleiman [Abu Ghaith, Kuwaiti spox] in the media, he has good media talent…

Khalid Al-Harby
11:39:25 Their spirits are high, thank God. On the first day, they held a wake [for Majed Moqed Al-Oufi], but it seems they were prevented after that [Saudi security banned the wake house in Annakeel town in Medina region]. It seems they were prevented after that. We ask God to accept from him. We asked from a near about their conditions, and they said, “No, we’re fine, thank God.” They knew that this is a thing, a great blessing. We ask God to accept [his deed].

11:39:50 Hearts are in God’s hands. This has given people a push, given them hope. People are coming in great droves, sheikh. We thank Almighty God. Now, it’s natural, as you’ve heard, and you know better than me, they are coming out [to support], thank God. Thank God. We ask God… People are more aware. Those who had shortcomings in some aspects, now things are clear. They are clear, thank God…

11:41:19 I swear, sheikh, not only the people there, but the bedouins [in the desert],the elderly, the young, all are praying for you, praying for you. People envy you for this great act, for the prayer that has happened. I mean, it only succeeded with God’s help, in the first place. Maybe this is from the guidance of jihad, may God bless you.

Khalid Al-Harby
11:41:59 Before him, I mean, was Sheikh AlBarark. He gave a sermon after the sunset
prayers. He had a lesson but he have a sermon. The guys recorded it. They promised they would get me the tape, but I left suddenly, so it was not possible.

OBL
11:42:11 The day of the event?

Khalid Al-Harby
11:42:13 Yes, yes, at the time of the event. God be praised, right at the time of the strike on America he gave a very moving speech, Sheikh Abdullah AlBaraak. And he
deserves thanks for that. And the truth is that Sheikh Hamood, glory to God, was one
of the first to write {Fatwas in support of OBL and the attacks}. He was one of the first to write. Not only that, but he told the young men outright, of course he was inciting the young before the event – I visited him twice in Qaseem – he was saying, “You [young men] are seeking martyrdom, so go find it, go there. Go!” He always encouraged the youth to go to {jihad}. He said, “I ask God to make me a martyr after saying a word of truth before a repressive tyrant, an infidel ruler [Saudi government].” He says, “This iswhat I pray for, this is what I ask God for.” We ask God to protect him…Sheikh Suleiman Al-Alwan, glory be to God, had an excellent fatwa as well. By some miracle of God, it was broadcast on the [government-radio] Qur’an radio station. This one I heard myself, at the end. I wondered, “How such a fatwa gets aired?” That is amazing. It’s like someone decided to sacrifice his job. Naturally the director [of the station] was fired along with a lot of people. But it was aired in its entirety. The brothers heard it, and I heard the last part only. I was coming back from noon prayers. Glory be to God it was aired. He said that this is jihad, and these [victims of attacks] are not innocent. So Sheikh Suleiman Ulwan’s fatwa was aired,God bless him.

OBL
11:46:55 These events, by the blessings of God, has exposed the nature of these
nations to those who believe, and thus can see straight. [inaudible]…

11:48:04 … So those who wish to make people worship the Lord of People differently
from this {our} methodology, do not understand the path of Muhammad, peace be
upon him. Another Saying [of the Prophet]: “I was ordered to fight the people” – there is a connection, they ask why do you fight people? He {prophet Muhammad} put fighting before propagation – “until they bear witness that there is no God but God and that Muhammad is His Messenger.”

11:49:10 So these young men, may God accept their actions, Nawaf Al-Hazmi, Salem
Al-Hazmi – they did not have knowledge or fiqh in the popular terms. But they have fiqh in the tradition of Muhammad, peace be upon him, which is certainty [firm faith], which is self-sacrifice for {belief of}“No God but God” [Islam]. The sermons they gave in New York and Washington, made the whole world hear – the Arabs, the non-Arabs, the Indians, the Chinese – and are worth much more than the millions of books and cassettes and pamphlets [promoting Islam]. Maybe you have heard, but I heard it myself on the radio, and the brothers in Europe have told me, that at one of the Islamic centers in Holland, the number of those who have converted to Islam after the strikes, in the first few days after [the strikes], is greater than all of those who converted in the last 11 years.

OBL
11:50:25 I heard one person on the radio, the Voice of America, [unclear], they have
an Islamic school there. He said, “We don’t have enough time nor can we provide
enough books for all the people who are asking for books and education about Islam.” They [westerners] are saying that these people must believe in something truly great to push them to do such a thing. This will… This is [what we aspired to do? This is our program?]. And we ask God to accept our deeds.

KHALID AL-HARBY
11:51:30 I still remember a vision [dream] explained by Sheikh Saleh Shu’aibi. I swear, sheikh. He said a dream that was told to him last year, shaikh Salih. He said: There will be a huge attack, and a very major event. After that, people will head for Afghanistan in huge numbers.” I said, “To the Taliban?” He said, “To the Taliban.” I said, “Everyone will go. No one will be left, except for the hypocrites [who refuse to fight] and the crazy.”
he saw his dream a year ago.

KHALID AL-HARBY
11:52:49 Like you said, if people kept on inciting people to mobilize for decades, it would not be the same push as this event. This has clearly defined the lines, thank God.

OBL
11:53:06 (unclear) We planned and made calculations. We sat and estimated the casualties that the enemy. We figured that [the casualties would be] the number of passengers in the four planes, those will die. In regard to the towers, we assumed the [casualties] would be the number of people in the three or four floors that the planes crash into.

That was all we estimated…we knew since Thursday that it would be on Tuesday. So we had the radio on.We estimated that it’s morning over there, during work hours {in USA}, Here it was 5:30 [pm]. Dr. Ahmad Abu al-Khair and I were sitting, and I told him that if you hear the radio announcing a breaking news, you must immediately prostrate on the ground [pray in thanks to God], because it means the brothers struck. So we set the radio to London Radio [BBC] and the anchor is talking about news here and there. This, that and the other. The news program was almost done, but all of the sudden, he said we have breaking news. “A plane has hit the World Trade Center.” We said God is great and we prostrated. The brothers that were there were overjoyed.

11:55:41 A few minutes later, he said: “A second plane has hit.” [laughter] [unclear] There was some confusion, maybe you were following the news.

KHALID AL-HARBY
11:55:56 The dish [news] kept on reporting on the event till the next morning. So I looked for a rest station on the road to Jedda. I sat there for 2.5 hours.
I stayed there till 4am watching. I was hoping that they would show the hit in better way. [on TV]. People there were saying, “Allahu Akbar.” “No God but God.” We entered aplace where not many people were. I had covered my face [hiding his identity because someone like him don’t watch TV or entered such places], but thank God. So anyway, thank God.

11:56:57 I was saying to myself, “The guys over there [Afghanistan] must be
indescribably happy.” Just see our happiness here {in Saudi Arabia}. The congratulations I received by phone that day, oh my God. My mother was busy all day just taking congratulatory calls for me all day and relaying them to me. All day.
11:57:40 We ask God to bring great things to the nation in this blessed month [Ramadan]and afterward, and a strike on America that it will never recover from. This is what everyone hopes for, I swear to God. Thank God, it [America] is out of its hole…But He will destroy it at the hands of the believers, God willing,
the true believers that have been waging jihad for a quarter of a century, the steadfast.

11:58:34 I swear by the one and only God that I am living in a pleasure
and happiness that I have not felt in a long time. Everyone is. I remember the words of the Sheikh of Islam, the godly scholar [medieval Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyeh], regarding what’s going on now [the war]: “The Tartars allied themselves against us in the winter. The apostate Turks, Kurds, Arabs and others joined them. They besieged Damascus like a bracelet around the wrest in the winter.” It’s just like they besieged the Muslims at the time of the Prophet in the winter [the Arabs in Mecca who refused to convert to Islam besieged Muhammad in Medina 1,300 years ago]. History is repeating itself…The writing continued: “If God wants to bless his servant, He has him live in an era when religion is being revived, and when Muslim rites are being followed, so that he will be just like the first Muslims, the Muhajireen [emigrants] and Ansar [supporters].” Sheikh of Islam continued: “So whoever rises up at that time,” he means jihad, “will be like the early followers.” Then he concluded his piece with an amazing promise: “I swear to God that if the first, true Muslims, Muhajireen and Ansar, like Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman and Ali [the first four caliphs after Muhammad died, the Righteous Caliphs], and others, were here in our times, their greatest acts would be to make jihad against the criminal nation.” That is the exact quote: “make jihad against the criminal nation.”

A picture of John Kerry’s hangs in the North Vietnamese museum that commemorates the communist victory over the United States in the Vietnam War. If Kerry sticks with his current Iraq policy, perhaps bin Laden will soon have Kerry’s picture on his desk as well. Originally Kerry said he would keep American troops in Iraq “until the job was done.” After several steps back and to the left, John Kerry now says he would like to start withdrawing troops within six months.

Richard Holbrooke, Kerry’s foreign policy advisor, said recently “Strategically and politically, the situation in Iraq is worse than it ever was in Vietnam.” Bin Laden sketches the same portrait: “America is mired in the swamps of the Tigris and Euphrates.” Abu Musab al Zarqawi and Aymen Zawahiri have recently predicted an American loss.

The Iraqis don’t share the assessment of the Kerry camp and the terrorists. A recent poll shows that 58% of Iraqis believe that democracy in Iraq is likely to succeed, Prime Minister Allawi has a 66% approval rating, and 87% of Iraqis plan to vote in the January elections.

John Kerry, like Holbrook and Zarqawi, views Iraq as a failing venture: “But a glance at the front pages or a look at the nightly news shows the hard reality: Rising instability. Spreading violence. Growing extremism.” Kerry does not seem to have made the connection between his Iraq policy and the growing violence. Others do see a relationship.

Ali, a doctor in Baghdad and a candidate for Iraqi National Assembly, explains renewed targeting of US soldiers: “Most people supporting the resistance think …that if they can inflict more losses among American soldiers, American public opinion will favor getting out of Iraq soon and will vote for John Kerry…The bottom line is that with Kerry they think they have a chance but with Bush there is none.”

Kerry has a history of emboldening America’s enemies to the detriment of America’s soldiers. General Bui Tin, a former colonel in North Vietnam’s army, discussed how the antiwar protesters, when Kerry was a leading figure, helped the communists achieve victory. He recounted that news of antiwar protests that “gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses.” Bui Tin said: “America lost because…through dissent and protest it lost the ability to mobilize a will to win.”

Bin Laden has long characterized the US as a paper tiger unable to maintain political will in the face of causalities and expenses, pointing to American withdrawals from Somalia and Lebanon. Bin Laden seems to have predicted Kerry’s campaign strategy when he told the Iraqis: “”Never be afraid of (America’s) multitudes, for their hearts are empty while their strength has begun to weaken - militarily and economically.”

The Iraqis, Kerry believes, should be forsaken in favor of more American social welfare benefits. In a recent speech, Kerry said: “They’re charging 17% more for Medicare while making America pay $200 billion for a go-it-alone policy in Iraq.” He highlighted the 200 billion over a dozen more times. Echoing one of his TV campaign ads, Kerry stated: “I believe it’s wrong to be opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them down in the United States of America.”

Kerry has called 1000 US military casualties an “unbearable price in young American lives” for the liberation of the Iraqi people. “To decide to stop participating in a war because there are casualties means, de facto, surrendering,” said Donald Tusk, the head of Poland’s largest opposition party, commenting on the recent deaths of Polish soldiers. Even without the benefit of a loyal opposition in the US, fifty-eight percent of Americans believe that the US should stay the course in Iraq, a recent poll shows.

In a 1971 debate with John O’Neill of Swift Boat fame, Kerry discussed the ramifications of withdrawal on South Vietnamese civilians: “There’s absolutely no guarantee that there would be a bloodbath (of civilians). There’s no guarantee that there wouldn’t…I realize that there would be certain political assassinations, and that might take place…. then I think to talk about four or five thousand people is lunacy in terms of the overall argument.” Kerry appears to show as little regard today for the Iraqis who have stood for democracy and been targeted as a result. Upon arrival in Baghdad, US troops distributed leaflets saying “We will not abandon you again.” Many Iraqis believed them. Many Americans did too.

Bin Laden quote: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ACB47241-D25F-46CB-B673-56FAB1C2837F.htm

Kerry 1971 quote: http://www2.swiftvets.com/index.php?topic=KerryONeill

Iraqi doctors quotes:

http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/archives/2004_09_01_iraqthemodel_archive.html#109500766922657561

national assembly bombing quotehttp://messopotamian.blogspot.com/

poll Iraqis http://www.iri.org/09-07-04-IraqPoll.asp

poll Americans: http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040908-032057-4454r.htm

polish quote http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=27025

AP 9/12/04 Al-Zarqawi Tape Boasts of US Humiliation by Sarah el Deeb

http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=f8ad520037aa3409d47c08d3e94c3d13&_docnum=2&wchp=dGLbVlb-zSkVA&_md5=41c77e046a2aa751da57d87008ac894a

Zawahiri Quote

http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=39d637dbc4b67cbff91f71c459f2bc83&_docnum=5&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkVA&_md5=18ed2f452e96d5f390c6ef72df16662c

Holbrooke quote: NY Daily News 9/13/04 pg 10

If the International Court of Justice (what a name, Superman would love it) believes itself to have the authority to defend the rights of the Palestinians on the other side of the wall, is it now going to go rushing in to the prisons of Syria or North Korea to defend those civilians as well?

Is the criterion which government is abusing you? If it’s a foreign government or occupier, the rules are more stringent then when it’s your own government killing you.

The sovereignty of dictatorships is a myth perpetuated by a gang of thugs for whom genocide is a tactic. The lethality of a regime is a measure of it’s legitimacy. It is ludicrous that Israel is pressured on a non-violent defensive measure when the Sudan is not as it crushes out a half million lives and is elected human rights watchdog at the UN.

All civilians are not equal. According to their actions, the international community of anti-Americans believes Palestinians are worth more effort and energy than either Israelis or Sudanese or millions others.

This was an interesting article on Zionism from a Muslim point of view.

“For the Gush, there is a dimension to the settlements beyond the merely strategic –the defending of the state–or the territorial–the expansion of the “Land of Israel” till it reaches its full, biblically foretold borders. Settlements are the citadels of their messianic ideology, the nucleus and inspiration of their theocratic state-in-the-making, the power base from which to conduct an internal struggle that is inseparable from the external one–the intra-Jewish struggle against that other Israel, the secular-modernist one of original, mainstream Zionism, which stands in their path…It goes without saying that the Gush consider any American-sponsored Arab-Israeli peaceful settlement to be a virtual impossibility; but furthermore, any attempt to achieve that impossibility should be actively sabotaged.”

As the trail of several suspects in the Cole bombing begins and al-qaeda threathens to turn Yemen into a third swamp of terrorism for the US,the Yemen government continues its seige in Saada against an anti-US Shiite group:

“It is expected that the military operation against cleric Hussein al-Hawthi and his followers in Sa’ada will be finished soon, a high-ranking security official told Yemen Times…However, government troops find some difficulty in approaching post of the fighters on the top of the mountain due to resistance as well as the citizens living in the area…the number of deaths since the outbreak of fighting on June 18th soars to over 160 and to over 200 injuries, according to official reports.
One of the sources added,“We appeal to the Red Cross, Amnesty International and civic society organizations to come to the rescue of the people at Haidan Mran and surrounding areas who are under siege from military forces, and to help them as they do not have food, water, electricity or medicine. Tens of wounded are not receiving first aid and necessary medical treatment”.

Future of Religious SchoolsThe cabinet also discussed the question of the religious schools operating without proper state controls. The cabinet stressed the urgency of closing down these institutions…A high- rankling official told Yemen Times that the government’s plan is to stop funding such schools, necessitating the closure of many due to ensuing financial pressures. Schools financed privately will also be closed down. However, he confessed that there is a difficulty in executing this policy as many of them are small-scale operations operating out of private residences, and are therefore difficult to trace. Some observers have criticized the government for failing to take measures against the activities of al-Hawthi at an earlier stage. They demanded that the government should target all these schools all over the country without exception. Specifically, they called for the closure of al-Eman University, which was accused by the US of promoting extremism in Yemen.”

From YahooA report prepared by the top CIA official handling the matter says Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the (Halabja) massacre, and indicates that it was the work of Iranians. Further, the Scott inquiry on the role of the British government has gathered evidence that following the massacre the United States in fact armed Saddam Hussein to counter the Iranians chemicals for chemicals.

The CIA officer Stephen C. Pelletiere was the agency’s senior political analyst on Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. Pelletiere says the United States Defence Intelligence Agency investigated and produced a classified report following the Halabja gassing, which it circulated within the intelligence community on a need-to-know basis. “That study asserted that it was Iranian gas that killed the Kurds, not Iraqi gas,” he wrote in The New York Times.

The agency did find that each side used gas against the other in the battle around Halabja, he said. “The condition of the dead Kurds’ bodies, however, indicated they had been killed with a blood agent — that is, a cyanide-based gas — which Iran was known to use. “The Iraqis, who are thought to have used mustard gas in the battle, are not known to have possessed blood agents at the time.” Pelletiere write that these facts have “long been in the public domain but, extraordinarily, as often as the Halabja affair is cited, they are rarely mentioned.”

The Obligitaory Left Wing Apology for Saddam: Bottom line– when an independent or right winger tells you he or she is glad we took out Evil Saddam the mass murderer, point out that Bush has lied about the mass murder too, that the worse mass murder that happened in Iraq was perpetrated by Iran, and that Bush was tricked by Chalabi into doing Iran’s dirty work. Bush’s father even gave Saddam poison gas to use in defense against the Iranians.

Weapons of mass destruction? No!

Saddam as evil mass murderer? No!

MEMRI: During early June 2004, a Democracy and Political Reform conference was held in Qatar. Following this conference, Dr. Shaker Al-Nabulsi, a Jordanian intellectual residing in the U.S., wrote on the liberal website Elaph a critique of Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi’s claim that “democracy is in the essence of Islam.”(1) The following are excerpts from Al-Nabulsi’s article:(2)

Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi – Spiritual Leader of Islamist Movements

“Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi is the highest religious authority of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the spiritual leader of most of the religious movements that have become bloodthirsty terror organizations. He is religious and financial advisor to over 20 financial companies operating according to Islamic financial tenets, which are known to have destroyed the businesses of most small investors in Egypt. It was he who came up with the idea of establishing the Al-Jazeera cable channel and he who has been the spiritual leader and senior religious advisor of this channel.

In response, Al-Nabulsi says: “Al-Qaradhawi is a uniquely slick politician… He is considered a senior leader in the Muslim Brotherhood movement [and stands for its beliefs]. This movement was established in 1928 in reaction to the fall of the Caliphate… The movement’s founder, Hassan Al-Banna, stated that the restoration of the Caliphate is the personal religious obligation of every Muslim, male and female…

“In explaining the reasons for Europe’s success, Al-Banna predicted that Western civilization would inevitably collapse because of its moral weakness, the usury in its economy, and the confusion in its political system. He also considered political parties to be one of the factors that would bring about the fading of the European star.

“Although Al-Banna ran twice for parliamentary elections in Egypt, and although he made a point of stressing that the parliamentary and constitutional systems are, in principle, congruent with the tenets of an Islamic regime, he opposed the multi-party system and thought that such political pluralism threatened the Islamic unity necessary to restore the Caliphate. [Al-Banna] advocated a single party [system]… “

Iraq declined Jordan’s offer to send troops to help stabilize the country on Saturday, but said it would welcome peacekeeping forces from Arab countries that do not share its borders.

King Abdullah said on Thursday Jordan was willing to send the first Arab troops to Iraq if the interim government, which formally took over sovereignty this week, requested it.

“We welcome the support of Arab and Islamic countries…but there are many ways for these counties to stand with the Iraqi people and offer a helping hand,” Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told a news conference.

“There are sensitivities over the participation of neighboring countries in peacekeeping forces, but these countries can back United Nations activities.”

No Arab countries have yet sent troops to join a mostly American multinational force numbering at least 160,000 that remains in Iraq after the handover.

The interim government and its predecessor, the Governing Council, have consistently refused to allow any troops from neighboring countries to enter Iraqi territory.

But Zebari welcomed an offer by Yemen, which does not share a border with Iraq, to send peacekeeping troops provided they were under United Nations or Arab League command.

“With regard to Yemen’s proposal, we are in principle for the participation of Arab peacekeeping troops from beyond the immediate neighbors,” Zebari said.

(Yemen clarified its offer today: Yemen is willing to send peacekeeping troops AFTER US withdrawal.)

Movies Today-Al Bahja Cinema

Highwaymen (Eng.) (Cinema 1)
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban (Eng.) (Cinema 1)
Chasing Liberty (Eng.) (Cinema 1)
Film Hindi (Arabic) (Cinema 2)
The Whole 10 Yards (Eng.) (Cinema 2)
Chasing Liberty (Eng.) (Cinema 2)

Now we have to save them. They think somebody said “Send in the Marines,” the phrase so anticipated the world over. The very desperate people were so happy to see Secratary of State Colin Powell in Darfur. But nobody’s coming after him because the US is over-burdened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now that we’re a little tied up, Europe is not rushing to implement the multi-lateral paradigm. America, global policeman, is a good deal for the EU. They talk one way and spend another. So its all on us, again. A million people are at risk. We have to go for it. Black Muslim babies starving, and we’re the only ones who care. Let’s care right as we can. Write, contribute, or sign the petition.

The Yemen Times What is going on in Saudi Arabia? Is it terrorism or jihad to kill, murder and slaughter foreigners, especially Americans in Saudi Arabia? Is Islam urging and inciting Muslims to kill civilians, whether Americans, Europeans or from elsewhere? The answer simply ‘no, never’…Islam respects all mankind, regardless of their religion, sex, color or language.
In the early stage of Islam the leader of the Islamic army along with his followers were obliged to follow the following commands: “You shouldn’t kill women, children, old people and people who are busy praying in churches and temples. You shouldn’t even damage trees”. Certainly, Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, killing, murdering, etc.
I think what Al-Qaeda members are doing in Saudi Arabia is retaliating for the Iraqis and Palestinians who are being killed, tortured and humiliated by Americans.
Of course, Al-Qaeda members are totally wrong and their actions are unjustified, because they are killing civilians who have nothing to do with what is going on in Iraq and Palestine…Regrettably, they are killing the wrong people whose only mistake is being Americans or Britons.
Yes, I am with Al-Qaeda members that the American policy is anti- Arab and hostile towards Islam and Muslims. However, I am not with them in killing American and British civilians who are in Saudi Arabia.
If we have to follow Al-Qaeda members’ theory and strategy, we in Yemen have to kill all Yemeni Jews, in retaliation for the massacres committed against Palestinians by Jews . It is nonsense.
My simple advice to Al-Qaeda members is to go to either Iraq or Palestine to fight, kill and slaughter Americans and Israelis because that would be a real Jihad and they would be labeled as real freedom fighters and martyrs and because the Americans in Iraq and Israelis in Palestine are undoubtedly occupiers, killers, criminals and aggressors.
The second point Al-Qaeda members may have as an excuse for killing Americans and Britons in Saudi Arabia is based on a hadith stating that you have to eject the disbelievers from the Arab Peninsula.
Again Al-Qaeda members are totally wrong and their actions are unjustified. First, the hadith, if correct, urged Muslims to eject the disbelievers, not kill them. Second, Al-Qaeda members don’t have the right and not entitled to decide who should or shouldn’t stay in the kingdom, because they aren’t responsible for running the kingdom. Third, killing foreigners (disbelievers) randomly in the kingdom will certainly lead to chaos and destabilization to the detriment of the national interests of the kingdom.
To conclude, Al-Qaeda members fully believe that they are right in committing and perpetrating such acts against foreigners, but the reality is the contrary. They are wrong. Therefore, non Muslims don’t have to blame Islam for the wrong actions committed by misled people (Al-Qaeda members ). Once again, Islam has nothing to do with such unjustifiable actions done by such misled people.