Armies of Liberation

This editorial was written by the editor of the Yemen Times. And I draw your attention again to the FDR quote on my sidebar which pays homage to our unseen allies. As any regular reader of this blog knows, I do not write off the Arab world but rather stand with those who stand for liberty, as many of you do as well.

Currently in Yemen, an unprecedented repression of the free press is ongoing and I salute those in Yemen who at personal risk have chosen to stand against an oppressive regime for the future of their children and their country.

This is the editorial. It says that the author as an Arab, a Muslim and a Yemeni can’t begin to comprehend the mind of the people who perpetrated the horrible act, and this we have in common.

I had the chance last week to stand near ground zero in New York City, and imagine the grief, the horror, and feelings of Americans screaming and running from the terror after the horrible attacks of 9/11 three years ago. I insisted on coming to see how the place is, how it was, and interviewing a number of people who remember the attack as if it were yesterday.

Looking at the scene on TV, and looking at it in person, provides two very different views. In the first case, from the comfort of your home, lying on a bed or a sofa, you see live pictures of the bodies of dead people, victims throwing themselves from the upper floors of the towers, smoke covering every living and unliving thing in the area, but that is all. But when you are there, you truly feel the devastating impact of the explosion, you live the memories, you see the roses on the floor, thrown in memory of loved ones lost in the attack, and you thank God for not being there to witness the horror – not knowing if you’d make it safe home again.

I felt my body shaking as I approached, and I recalled the old snapshots that I had seen on TV. This was the exact location that underwent the attack of that day, and here I was, walking near the place that on September the 11th 2001 was called ‘Hell on Earth’. I had tears in my eyes when I saw pictures of the horrific attack, and the devastation it caused to more than two thousand innocent people. I wanted to scream saying, ‘this is not Islam and these are not Muslims’ but I am sure it was said over and over again. (Read on …)

Since we have had the good fortune of meeting John of Crossroads Arabia , I’ve left most of the Saudi analysis in his much more capable hands.

But I have to say today, what the heck is this garbage coming from the Arab News, nearly the official paper of the Saudi regime:

I write to you today because of the high regard with which I hold the Kurds of Iraq and other countries. I never forget that you are the people of the great Sultan Salahuddin Al-Ayubi who led the Muslims of his day to the liberation of the holy land from the invading Crusaders.

It is with great distress that I receive news of your collaboration with US forces in the occupation and colonization of your country, Iraq. It is with even more distress mixed with disbelief that I learn of your alliance with Israel in its war against your Muslim brothers in Iraq and other part of the Muslim world.

Truly, the late sultan would spit on you if he was alive today.

That’s just great, formenting greater unrest in Iraq. Perhaps the Kurds remember, and apparently they do, that the US was the country that protected them for a decade from Saddam at peril to our pilots in the no fly zone. The only place in the ME I’ve ever seen crowds of waving, not burning, American flags is in Kurdistan.

What is this new enraged attitude coming from the Arab News? I don’t think its the classification by the US as having no religious freedom. When you confiscate bibles from people on the way in to SA, you have to expect that.

Rather I think it might be rather humilating that Afghanistan, the supposedly backward country in the ME, and Iraq are both going to have presidential elections and establish a precident for a peaceful transition of executive power- something SA and the rest of the ME haven’t been willing to do-and they are making it look rather easy, just, and demonstrating the the legitimacy to govern rises from the expression of the will of the people, including women.

The big news in SA is next year there will be municipal elections. Women may or may not have the right to vote. The bigger news is this year Iraq and Afghanistan will have presidential elections. And I personally am expecting the Kurds to vote.

Here’s John’s take on it.

(OT: I remember today why I started writing opeds for the ME- the editors have to read the submissions.)

UPdate: I find it quite fulfilling that Afghanistan, often derided in the region as a backward country, will now be FIRST and the most progressive, when presidental elections are held, and future generations will remember their debt of graditude to the good people of Afghansitan for opening the door to liberty in a region of darkness. Then Iraq.

OR DO THEY THINK WE VOTERS ARE MORONS?

Dear Jane,

We all know the harsh realities of Iraq. Unfortunately, George Bush has no plan to get us out of Iraq. Now George Bush thinks the future of Iraq is brighter than the future of America. He actually said that yesterday, “I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America.”

Thank you,

Mary Beth Cahill
Campaign Manager

Dear Mary Beth,

A right track wrong track poll gives an indication of the electorates confidence in the general direction of the country. The poll reflects the belief of those who were polled. In this poll, Over 51% of Iraqis polled felt that their country is headed in “the right direction,” up slightly from IRI’s May/June poll. More telling, the number who feel that things are heading in “the wrong direction” has dropped from 39% to 31% over the same time period.
The poll also indicates that more Iraqi people believe their country is on the right track than Americans do, you idiot.

Sincerely,
Your sister in democracy,
Jane

Update: The new teams rapid response strategy in action: Script:

Bush: I saw a poll that said the right track wrong track in Iraq was better than here America.

Narrator: The right track? Americans are being kidnapped, held hostage, even beheaded. Over a thousand American soldiers have died. And George Bush has no plan to get us out of Iraq. John Kerry does. The Kerry solution: Allies share the burden. Train Iraqis to protect themselves. John Kerry. A new direction in Iraq.

John Kerry: I’m John Kerry and I approved this message.

(Excuse me John, did you read it before you approved it? Do YOU know what a right track/ wrong track poll is? If the majority of Iraqis believe their country is on the right track, why do you want change it to a new direction? ?)

BTW the Presidents Bush’s full response was this: Secondly, I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America. It was pretty darn strong. I mean, the people see a better future.

Talk to the leader. I agree, I’m not the expert on how the Iraqi people think, because I live in America where it’s nice and safe and secure.

But I’d talk to this man. One reason I’m optimistic about our ability to get the job done is because I talk to the Iraqi prime minister. I’m also optimistic that people will choose freedom over tyranny every time, that’s what I believe.

Bill Kristol

There is some chance, after all, that John Kerry will be president in four months. If so, what kind of situation will he have created for himself? France will smile on him, but provide no troops. Those allies that have provided troops, from Britain and Poland and Australia and Japan and elsewhere, will likely recall how Kerry sneered at them, calling them “the coerced and the bribed.” The leader of the government in Iraq, upon whom the success of John Kerry’s Iraq policy will depend, will have been weakened before his enemies and ours–and will also remember the insult. Is this really how Kerry wants to go down in history: Willing to say anything to try to get elected, no matter what the damage to the people of Iraq, to American interests, and even to himself?

The cost of a Kerry victory may be the future of Iraq, the US and the wider world, but Kerry is determined to win at all costs. A victorious Kerry would find himself in a much meaner world than even President Bush has faced.

published in Baghdad and London, online, and translated to English.

Sample:
Baghdad Stock Exchange reports active trade despite mounting violence If volume of trade at the Baghdad Stock Exchange is a measure, then many Iraqis will still have confidence in a bright future…. more 23/09/2004

More projects implemented in southern city
There has been a flurry of construction in the southern city of Nasiriya in the past few months, according to municipal officials…. more 23/09/2004

Iraqi TV viewers switch to stations with domestic programs, study reveals
Newly launched Iraqi channels with a focus on domestic affairs now seize more than 20% of the television viewing in Iraq, according to a survey…. more 22/09/2004

Emirates to speed up release of Iraq donation
The United Arab Emirates has agreed to release the $215 million it had pledged for Iraqi reconstruction, according to Minister of Electricity Ayham al-Samarrai…. more 22/09/2004

Editorial:
The first to have their heads chopped off are the hostage-takers and not their innocent victims. Those abducting foreigners are lackeys and traitors because through their barbaric actions they block the reconstruction of the country by delaying return of stability. The abductors pursue a blind theory which makes the shedding of the blood of all foreigners and those cooperating with the US-led occupation justified…..Who is then a lackey of the foreigners? Arent the kidnappers and the groups behind them the real foreign agents?

UPDATE /9/25/04: THE ITALIAN EMBASSY BELIEVES THE WOMEN ARE STILL POSSIBLY STILL ALIVE AND IN THE HANDS OF A CRIMINAL GANG NEGOTIATING TO SELL THEM TO A TERRORIST GROUP. ITS NOT TO LATE TO PRAY FOR THEIR SAFE RETURN.

Pray for their families and all the families, American and Iraqi, that these monsters have devastated.

All I can say is I hope they were shot.

My sincere sympathies to the Italian people as well.

Rusty has the updates.
Also see: In the Bull Pen
In Search of Utopia
Ramblings Journal
Right on Red

Update: During a news conference President Bush delivered a message to Zarqawi: You cannot drive us out of Iraq by your brutality.

Update: Six Meat Buffet links a Reuters report that the women were beheaded.

From Rezwan: Madrassa refers to an Islamic school for Muslims, just as parochial schools for Catholics or yeshivas for Jews. All of these institutions are responsible for general education, but also have the purpose of teaching children about religion, in the case of Madrasas, Islam. At least four million poor children (many of them are orphans) are studying in more than 50,000 of these religious schools across Bangladesh. The Madrassas offer a 16-year course divided into three levels. The primary level known as Forkania Madrassa teaches the Koran, Arabic, Bengali and Mathematics. Students, who pass exams here, graduate to the Hafizia Madrassa. The Kowmi Madrassa is the final level that issues degrees claimed as equivalents of a Masters level. Such degrees are provided by over 3,000 such Madrassas…..For above reasons the Madrassa students are encouraged to involve in these organizations out of poverty even more than the religious zealots, which are fed up by the politically motivated teachers.

But it would be unwise to undermine Madrassas’ contribution in the society. Many Madrassas have been virtually acting as orphanages for the poor. If there was a uniform syllabus, computer education and vocational training it would establish a centralized link between Madrassa and modern education, thus making these large numbers of students really educated and established in the society.

The whole thing is worth a read.

Question 1
Select the statement that best presents this fact:
60% of Americans express confidence that the economy is improving.
1. 60% of Americans express confidence that the economy is improving.
2. 30% of Americans have “little or no” confidence in the American economic “recovery”
3. Noted economist Paul Krugman calls “recovery” a “sham.”

Take the Test and see how well you’d fit into the MSM. (I got: Stay in the basement with your Warblogger buddies, we cannot help you.)

Yemen

Update on this.

International pressure on the Yemeni authorities to release journalist and editor of al-Shoura, Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani, is mounting by the day. A letter of protest, issued by the New York Based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), was sent to President Saleh and other copies were sent to the White House and to several international institutions concerned with freedom of the press. (Read on …)

(Yemen Times)It seems that a group of people practice this new career. They kidnap children and blackmail the parents for their childs safe return. However, Often parents don’t receive their sons, informed the criminal investigator who accompanied the father to the place they had agreed. Afterwards, the kidnapper told the father that his son had been smuggled into Saudi Arabia. The kidnappers use these children as sellable commodities – without even having to pay customs duties! These gangs smuggle our children to neighboring countries and then they sell them or use them for begging. Is that to say that in Yemen we have an overabundance of children? (Read on …)

Here
It has a graph wizard.

against terrorism.

(CNN)

“France is one of God’s enemies,” said a letter addressed to “Islamic organizations, institutions and personalities” from the Islamic Army in Iraq.

There was no word Wednesday of the fate and whereabouts of journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot. The apparent aim of the note was to rebut those who call for the pair’s release and assert that France backs Arab and Muslim causes.

“It pained us to see and hear the heroism of Islamic organizations, institutions and personalities defending France and its position on Muslims and Arabs especially in Iraq,” the note said sarcastically.

“History is full of France’s wars on Islam and its people” and this reality “will be kept in the hearts of our sons,” according to the statement.

“With our martyrs’ blood we will weave for them clothes that will burn their bodies and prevent them from sleeping at night until the right is returned to its people.”

The statement mentions French attacks on Iraqis in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War era, the country’s meddling in “Syria-Lebanese affairs” and France’s “occupation of Tunisia and its fight against the Arabic language and Islam.”

It also mentions France’s involvement with other Asian and African nations, such as Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Palestine, Egypt and Afghanistan.

Maybe Hamas should write back.

Iraq is just a staging gound that must be won before the attack on Israel can begin. Memri

The London Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat interviewed an unidentified Islamist Arab who has recently met with Abu Mus’ab Al-Zarqawi in Fallujah. The following are excerpts from the interview:(1)

According to the source, Al-Zarqawi said: “We are fighting in Iraq but our eyes are raised not only to Iraq but also to other places, such as Jerusalem.” He added, “[Al-Zarqawi] has a strategy and an aspiration to expand the fighting to the entire region.”

The source reported that Al-Zarqawi “came to this arena only to expel the Americans from the Muslims’ country and to establish an Islamic government. This is part of the goal, because if this is not done, how will we be able to bring about coups d’etat in neighboring countries? How can we rescue Jerusalem when we have no base from which to set out? Rescuing Jerusalem and the neighboring countries will come only after the rise of an Islamic state from which the youth will set out to liberate the neighboring areas.”

Responding to “condemnation for the abhorrent murder of hostages by Al-Zarqawi’s Al-Tawhid Wa’Al Jihad organization,” the source said that Al-Zarqawi is convinced that his operations are permitted by Shari’a (Islamic law), and that the hostages “are not truly hostages. There is a difference between a hostage and a spy or a captive. The sentence for spies is death. But there is some dispute about how it is to be carried out – by the sword or by shooting.” (Read on …)

(I can say that because I live here.) From Ace:
48-48

The Kerry campaign insisted yesterday that it still considered New Jersey safe for the Democrats and had no plans to divert the candidates’ time or money from battleground states such as Pennsylvania. (Ignore us you fool, please!)
The Quinnipiac poll reflects a stark change from a month ago, when Kerry led by 10 points among registered voters in New Jersey and seemed a lock to carry the state, which has not voted Republican in a presidential election since 1988.

Like I said yesterday in a Note to Fausta: New Jersey, a bluest of the blue states, in a tie. McGreevy effect? naw. Really good employment figures? probably not. Seeing our neighbors vaporized and 736 funerals? I think so.

Besides New York, there was no state more devestated by the WTC attack than NJ: we share sports teams with New York, the Statue of Liberty, and a couple of tunnels. Now we share an unimaginable pain and the victory of discovering a new strength, of morphing into something new. Not forgetting but rather building on the pain.

Update: The Commissar has been moving states back and forth and reaches an interesting conclusion.

Update: Patterico discussed Arizona.

Update: Al-Jarallah take:Syria shouldn’t have spoiled its wise decision by tying it to the Al-Taif agreement because this gives the impression the Syrian regime is ashamed of getting along with the rest of the world.

Following up on Rusty’s post yesterday”, The Lebanese Daily Star has an editorial about the proposed withdrawal of some Syrian troops from Lebanon:

A full Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon is a widely shared goal….The Syrian government says the redeployment is not based on UN demands for the withdrawal of foreign forces, but on the 15-year-old Taif agreement that provides the legal basis for Syria’s military presence in Lebanon. The long-term presence of Syrian troops here since 1976 has been based on a complex convergence of political and military dynamics, most of which are nearing the end of their shelf life – which is why recent public calls for a full resumption of Lebanese sovereignty have been so strong…. By itself, though, it does not solve or even signal movement toward solving the major challenges that plague Lebanon and Syria alike, including promoting economic investment and growth creating jobs, reforming and modernizing the education system and deepening citizen participation in governance through greater accountability and transparency. Syria must continue to act in a manner and direction that indicate its awareness of the urgent need to continue addressing the many constraints, challenges and opportunities that face it. This means faster withdrawal from Lebanon, economic and political reform inside Syria, an honorable and legitimate peace agreement with Israel and constructive ties with its many regional partners. ..After the redeployment now under way, some 15,000 Syrian troops will remain in Lebanon, down from a high of 35,000 in 1989. Much work remains to be done, and redeploying troops is only the starting point, though a crucial one

I guess that US sponsored UN resolution on the continuing occupation of Lebanon might have had a little bite after all. Iraq effect #47.

Note- Right on Red’s take: The US & France (of all people) back a UN resolution pressuring Syria to get its dirty paws off of Lebanon, and it seems to be working – for now. Could it be that Syria fears unilateral US action to enforce a UN mandate? Nah, couldnt be.

More on the UN resolution here.

His wife spoke to CNN and other media several times whenthere was still hope :”His daughter, Sarah, would just like to say, ‘Daddy, I miss you and I love you, please come home,’ and me too,” said Patty Hensley, speaking from Atlanta, Georgia.

“We are putting a lot of strength in our belief that Jack was honestly there to help the people and because of that they should not harm him and hopefully will not,” Mrs. Hensley told ABC’s “Good Morning America” show.

The Tawhid and Jihad group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said in the footage of Armstrong’s killing it would behead the other two hostages within 24 hours unless female inmates were released from the Abu Ghraib and Umm Qasr jails.

The U.S. military says it does not hold women in either prison and has only two in custody in Iraq. Mrs. Hensley said she had received conflicting stories about this. Mrs. Hensley said she had spoken to the Armstrong family several times since the brutal killing of Eugene Armstrong.

“They are still in a great deal of shock and of course their prayers are now going out for Jack and Ken Bigley. They still don’t understand why. These were three very kind, benevolent men who were just trying to help the Iraqi people. They had no hidden agendas for why they were there.”

Our hearts go out to Pat and Sarah and the families of all the murdered. Its hard to abandon the expectation of rationality and morality when dealing with other humans, but nothing can be expected from Zarqawi that remotely resembles normal human behaivor.

For updates:
Check Rusty at My Pet Jawa: translation of statement: We have beheaded the second American hostage after the expiration of the deadline.. And we will release film footage soon, God willing..And we will execute the British hostage unless the British government pulls out unconditionally.
More updates to follow at My Pet Jawa.
Diggers Realm
Blogs of War
In Search of Utopia
Six Meat Buffet
Rooftop Report
Backcountry conservative: The fate of Briton Kenneth Bigley has yet to be decided but the same terrorist group has threatened to carry out his execution tomorrow if their demands are not met.
Rambling’s Journal notes he was a Marietta resident.
Jihadii statement from In the Bullpen:The nations zealous children slaughtered the second American hostage-after the end of the deadline, said the statement, posted under the pseudonym Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, who has posted past statements in the group’s name.

Statement of editorial postion: I blame this horrible inhumane attack on the vile Salafi Zarqawi and all the beastly jihadiis around the world, not on all Muslims or all Iraqis. Zarqawi murders Iraqi Muslim civilians on a nearly daily basis.

can we expect as Allawi expresses appreciation for the sacrifices of the troops, the determination of the Iraqi people to achieve democracy, appreciation to President Bush for his unwavering support, and that Iraq is actually succeeding on its path to democracy and is defeating the terrorists? 3 points overall? tipping those swing states on the fence? turning New Jersey into a red state?

Chirac: “The price of selfishness is rebellion,” he warned. “We should ensure that the world’s unprecedented wealth becomes a vehicle for the integration, rather than exclusion, of the most underprivileged.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Venemen: “A global tax is inherently undemocratic,” she said.

The document adopted after Monday’s meetings, but not signed by the Americans did not make specific anti-proverty proposals but said the time had come “to give further attention to innovative mechanisms of financing — public of private, compulsory and voluntary, of univeral or limited membership” to raise funds to fight poverty:FOXNews

Advice to France: try working a forty hour week and taking less than six weeks vacation.

Update: Bad Hair Blog: Jacques Chirac, arguably one of the most corrupt politicians of all time, yesterday gave a speech at the UN (that paragon of transparency) proposing to harness globalisation with a new “ethic for globalization”. The new ethic takes the form of a proposed $50 billion global tax on financial transactions, greenhouse gas emissions, arms sales, airline tickets and credit card purchases. (Read the rest.)

(Note to Fausta: New Jersey, a bluest of the blue states, in a tie. McGreevy effect? naw. Really good employment figures? probably not. Seeing our neighbors vaporized and 736 funerals? I think so.)

US Newswire:”Because of rampant insecurity and the failure to address past abuses, those who have suffered say they do not trust the government. They say they don’t feel safe in the camps, they say they are filled with fear outside. Every person we spoke to in the camps was adamant that they do not feel safe enough to return to their villages,” said Samkelo Mokhine, chair of AI South Africa and a delegate on the mission. “In this situation the only solution is a massive increase in monitors. An international presence in every district is what is needed now to build the confidence of the people and improve security.”

“Indicators and benchmarks to judge progress on protection of human rights must be qualitative and not quantitative — it is not a question of numbers of monitors and observers but of their impact on the protection of civilians; it is not a question of simply having more policemen, but of them having the ability and willingness to protect people,” said Ms Khan. (Read on …)

Karl Rove Comments.