Armies of Liberation

It was a historic day, January 30th, 2005. It was a day the world heard from the Iraqis themselves for the first time since the war, and many myths were shattered.

One prediction of low voter turnout was predicated on the existence of rampant anti-occupation sentiment. Another was based on the terrorists’ promise of 400 suicide bombers. A third was that, after years of brutal dictatorship, Iraqis were apathetic, cowed, and not “politically mature” enough to turn out.

When the day came, some Iraqis walked thirteen miles to vote and then stood in line for hours. Many brought their children to the polls to witness the occurrence. The elderly unable to walk were carried in arms or pushed on wagons. Having voted, Iraqis danced in the streets, kissed the ballot box, wept. Many voted remembering family members who had died at the hand of Saddam’s regime.

The Iraqi elections under occupation and under credible threats from terrorists had a turnout about the same as the highest in US history, 63% in 1960. Indeed some in the media had difficulty accepting the reality of the high voter turnout. “Hollow Elections Held on a Bloody Day,” one news headline read. It was a bloody day. Twenty-five people were reported murdered, but when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a polling station in the Mansour province, the would-be Iraqi voters stayed in line and asked that the station remain open. (Read on …)

My oped “The US Declaration of Dependence” published in The New Age, Bangladesh. (Also the Arab Times, Kuwait and Jersey GOP. )

Bangladesh is quite a impressive young country, only thirty years old. It is faced with natural disasters like the recent floods, economic challenges, and an evolving political system and civil society. There seems to be a palpable enthusiam to forge a brighter future for the country, although not quite a consensus on the best way.

The Daily Mail: Gayoom said he himself was a “reformist” despite criticism of his iron-clad hold on power and argued that he had been “reforming” the country since he became president in 1978. “Reform is making things better…. I consider myself a reformist because when I took office in 1978 it was so different. I began my reform program. it has been a continuing process for the past 26 years.

“Now I see that the time is right for more sweeping changes. That is why I have proposed a new package of reform in which I envisage a multi-party political system, as well as the office of the prime minister, a supreme court and also that the president should be elected directly by the people.”

We’ve been following the fate of captive Roy Hallums at the Jawa Report for many weeks. With the release of the video today, Rusty has the full report, analysis, and links to his daughters web page. Hopefully this development is a prelude to his release.

In Kuwait, Islamist parties against terrorism start the discussion of when is violence justified, is this really a defensive jihad, which verses take precedence, and whose interpretation is correct.

Arab Times #12092: Islamic groups will meet soon to chalk out a mechanism to fight radicalism. The daily quoting a reliable source said leaflets will be distributed during the campaign containing fatwas from prominent scholars and verses from the Holy Quran and the “Hadith” (saying of the Prophet Mohammed, PBUH) which call for tolerance and shun terrorism and violence. Some scholars such as Bin Baz, Bin Othaimin and Al-Albani had earlier issued Islamic edicts saying operations carried out by some Islamic groups in Palestine are futile and useless because they harm Muslims. It has been reported 11 Islamic groups in Kuwait are against violence compared to two groups which promote radical ideologies and tend terrorism.

From the Yemen Times: Once upon a time, as the editor of The Yemen Times, I didn’t have to worry about the constructive, yet strong criticism that’s in opinion articles published in this newspaper. Such articles resulted from my belief in the regime’s commitment to democracy and freedom of expression.

Today I don’t have that belief any more.

Once upon a time I used to refrain from removing an opinion piece that I knew would trigger some anger of the embassy of an Arab country. But I knew that tolerance and understanding would prevail. So I never removed them.

Today I have to remove them and inform the writer accordingly.

Once upon a time I used to allow my journalists to do investigative stories of grave sensitivity regarding the person of the president.

Today I wouldn’t risk doing so, even if the authorities would suggest that the law would protect us.

Read the Rest.

Related: Yemen to try 26 al_qauda suspects and 800 extremeists.

It is unusual to see a country as large and as lumbering as the US reverse itself. With so much momentum propelling it toward seeking “stability” in her foreign relations, George Bush made a U-turn as nimble as any football player and is now heading for the goal of “freedom.”

During his Inaugural speech, setting the tone for his second term, President Bush shocked even the most seasoned observers by changing US policy: “So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

He didn’t say a policy or one policy: no, now supporting democracy is the policy, a radical change from decades, even centuries, of American priorities.

During his address, President Bush intertwined the priorities of the realists and the idealists, merging Hobbs and Locke into one word: freedom. “The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.” (Read on …)

(Transcript)

On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical – and then there came a day of fire. (Read on …)

They don’t like the TV guy.

Mojtaba Bigdeli, the spokesman of Iran’s Hizbollah group, said the British government must ban the satellite channel run by Iranian exiles within 30 days or face the consequences.

“After one month, our commandos will carry out suicide attacks in London against the shameless presenter of the channel,” Bigdeli told Reuters by telephone.

(Note: also known as Yemen 8, this article was written for an audience inside Yemen. And in the current situation of the harsh media crackdown, it says more obliquely what some of the other articles say more directly.

al-Zindani has been listed as a terrorist financier by the US and UN. He is also a reputed chum and spritiual advisor of UBL. The Iman University has been called a hotbed of extremist thought and is where John Walker Lind went to school, as well as other radical Islamists who have committed terrorist acts. Check out the curriculum. While this attack on the government’s media offices is different that the governments repression of the opposition and independent media, it does show the dilema Salah faces: having made a tactical allience with the Islamist party to maintain strength over the Socialists, they are now opposing what reforms he does try to make, in this case economic reform.)

The race has begun to be the first fully democratic Arab state. Elections in Iraq and in the Palestinian territories have given new hope to some in the region. Many Arab leaders say they are reforming but they need more time and more conferences. Of all the nations supposedly liberalizing, the experts say that Yemen is one of the very few that is really making progress in transferring power to its citizens.

According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, nations that are slowly democratizing tend to get “frozen.” They go a little way and make just enough reforms to calm their people. Then they stop. Some go backwards. Yemen, under his Excellency President Saleh, has had the courage and determination to keep moving forward toward democracy.

On January 06, 2005 the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring Yemen for its reforms. During the ceremony, the US Congress listed Yemen’s achievements including free and fair elections in April 2003, the inclusion of women in powerful positions, judicial reform, and wider access to modern education. The US Congressional Resolution reaffirmed the American people’s friendship with the Yemeni people and offered assistance, technical and financial, as Yemen continues the difficult march toward democracy.

Free speech is essential to democracy. One reason for Yemen’s progress may be that Yemeni journalists have long had the ability to hold government officials and other power centers accountable to the people. And that is why the continued imprisonment of Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani is so very disturbing. (Read on …)

Boy is he guilty.

In a military trial, a jury of six enlisted and four officers deliberated less than five hours, and Graner was found guilty on four charges and could recieve upto 17 years in jail. I hope he gets the max. He was unable to produce an witnesses to corrobarate the claim that he was ordered to humiliate the detainees. The prosecutor made the case that his sick and twisted behaivor was undertaken simply for “laughs” and “for the fun of it.”

Yahoo: Charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice alleging conspiracy to maltreat detainees; dereliction of duty for willfully failing to protect detainees from abuse, cruelty and maltreatment; maltreatment of detainees; assaulting detainees; committing indecent acts; adultery; and obstruction of justice.

Graner Bio
In 1992, he was working at a county prison in Pennsylvania with guards who acknowledge beating up prisoners as a means of control.

In 1994, he made a fellow prison guard sick by spraying Mace into his coffee.

In 1997, he was accused by his wife of threatening to kill her.

In 1998, when he was working as a guard in a state prison, he was accused by one inmate of slipping a razor blade into his food.

And in 2001, he was accused by his now-ex-wife of grabbing her by the hair, dragging her out of a bedroom and trying to throw her down the stairs.

According to Transparency.org, Bangldesh is one of the most corrupt countries. The new commission set up to address the problem is having problems already as those who want to maintain their priviledges obstruct its progress. Corruption denies equal rights and stalls the economy. The Independent:

The Commission’s wings have been skilfully clipped at birth when a number of important subjects were excluded from the schedule of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, so much so that even some of the powers that the Bureau of Anti-Corruption used to enjoy have not been incorporated in the schedule of the new law. For instance, major economic offences have been kept outside the purview of the Commission. Offences under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act of 1947, offences pertaining to currency smuggling, Money Laundering Act of 2002 and Passport Offences Act of 1952 as amended in 1973, have been excluded from the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004.

Arab Times Kuwait Editorial: Following the death of Arafat and for the first time in history we saw a clean election where a group of Arabs elected their rulers even under occupation. We are happy for the Palestinians because they have elected their leader in a direct election, not through a parliamentary majority. We congratulate Abu Mazen for winning a clean election. We also thank the “Angel of Death” for taking the soul of Arafat, who made us live this wonderful democratic experience.

TEHRAN, Jan. 12– Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi issued a special order for following up the dossiers of webloggers, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

Speaking to IRNA, Jamal Karimi-Rad added that Shahroudi has ordered that the dossiers be taken away from preliminary courts and that he be kept informed about the treatment of webloggers.

Referring to the meeting between some webloggers and Shahroudi on Tuesday, Karimi-Rad said, “Shahroudi has ordered that the claims of these webloggers be examined and, if there is evidence, those who have violated their rights be dealt accordingly.”

Oddly enough, my article Yemen in the Spring published at World Press was picked up by Iran Daily. This is the second time they have found something on the web that I wrote about press repression in Yemen and republished it in Tehran.

A Catch 22 for both Musharaff and the US.

Yemen Times: The study shows that over 60% of the children sent abroad come from families with eight or more members. The majority of families live on less than $108 a month, and some that were interviewed or were involved in group discussions during the study said that there are very few opportunities for work in their hometowns. The study also pointed out that in some cases, children working abroad can increase the family income significantly, even as high as doubling what a family can live on. ..Over 25% of deported children that were interviewed said that they faced threats, such as hunger and getting lost, and it is reported that a large number of children were beaten and robbed while being trafficked. It was also found that nearly 65% of children trafficked had no place to stay and ended up living on the streets. The study was unable to carry out a complete assessment on sexual exploitation.

From the dauntless and couragous Kuwaiti editor Ahmed al-Jerallah:
EVEN as the Palestinian Authority, Iraq and Lebanon head for elections to ensure the legitimacy of their governments and supremacy of their political structure Kuwait is racing in the opposite direction. Compared to these countries, which are heading to the ballot boxes only now, Kuwait had an elected Parliament, the first of its kind in the region, 40 years ago. We were the first country in the region to have a Constitution which makes people the source of authority. While enjoying the privileges guaranteed by the Constitution we have negated the meaning of democracy and misused the freedom for our personal interests, creating disputes and fuelling political differences in the process. (read the rest here)

CIA Factbook: chief of state: Amir JABIR al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah (since 31 December 1977)
head of government: Prime Minister SABAH al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah (since 13 July 2003);
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister and approved by the monarch
elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the monarch

Legislative: unicameral National Assembly or Majlis al-Umma (50 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 6 July 2003 (next to be held NA 2007)
election results: percent of vote – NA; seats – Islamists 21, government supporters 14, liberals 3, and independents 12; note – all cabinet ministers are also ex officio members of the National Assembly

Scotsman via Jihad WAtch:

BRITAIN closed its embassy in Yemen yesterday due to security concerns and warned that “terrorists” were in the final stages of planning attacks against Western targets in the Arab state.

“The British embassy will be closed on 5 January in response to specific security concerns,” an embassy advisory said, but did not elaborate.

“As at 30 December, there is specific information that terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks against British targets and other Western targets in Yemen,” it said. …The impoverished country, the ancestral home of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has co-operated closely with the US-led “war on terror” and has arrested hundreds of al-Qaeda suspects since the 11 September, 2001 attacks. (Read on …)

The dead are still swelling in the debris. Orphans have little protection and millions are thirsty and homeless. Barely two weeks have past, and the name calling and finger pointing has begun.

For the first days our hearts were beating as one in stunned horror. The world was suddenly too quiet: 150,000 voices were stopped talking. Eighty thousand noisy children didn’t make a peep. Our bickering was muted at the horror of the gaping silence.

It didn’t last long.

How much aid, when and why was it proposed, who is really delivering the water: it’s not a month yet and opinion makers all over the world are using the disaster and the international response to justify their viewpoints, the same viewpoints that existed before the destruction: we have learned nothing.

Yet we have a new responsibility: we need to stand together for decades, to commit our loyalty to a generation devastated. “We” meaning Muslim and Christian, Shiite and Sunni, Hindu, Jew, Buddhist, Sikh, and Sufi. Our help is needed, nothing less will do. All the orphaned children, hundreds of thousands, are now ours, all of ours. (Read on …)

OK stop laughing. Yemen is on the internatinal committee with the UK and Canada that is charged with providing technical assistance and support for Iraqis elections. Iraqs in Yemen though will not be able to vote in the election.

“This is Yemen’s award for its success in democracy,” according to Abdu Al-Janadi, head of the media sector of the Yemen Supreme Commission for Election and Referendum. And yes, Yemen is one of the most “reform minded” of the Arab states, in that it holds a lot of conferences on “reform.”

America’s premier election monitor extrodinair, Jimmy Carter, is MIA regarding this election that will greatly impact US national security and the fate of millions in Iraq, in the region and in the world. Instead we get Yemen. (Read on …)

Death of Free Speech
Death of a Free Press

September: Editor Abdulkareem al-Khaiwani imprisoned for a year at hard labor for insulting President Saleh.

October: Three papers closed: Al-Shurra as a punitive measure, Al Hurriye’s liscence was suspended for an indefinite period on the official grounds that it had changed its logo without permission, and the third because it was a day late with an application.

Editor Sadiq Al-Jarrash of Al-Zajil independent newspaper attacked and beaten Oct 20th.

Mohammed Salem Al-Sagheer, editor and owner of the printing press in Yemen murdered Dec 6.

Four journalists convicted of criticising the Saudi regime and given suspended sentences Dec 27th.

Now January 6, two more journalists imprisoned and sentenced to two years at hard labor:

Yemen’s press freedom has slipped again by the latest judicial court verdict against two journalists, the Editor-in-Chief of Al-Hurriya newspaper Abdulkareem Sabra and one of the newspaper’s reporters Abdulqawi Al-Qubati. They both got two-year jail sentences with hard labor…

While some countries never really started reforms, in Yemen its like an abortion of a democracy fetus, because they were so far along and now its gone back to zero, the baby dead on the ground, because without free speech, its all just window dressing. Son of a bitch.

In Sunni majority Yemen, many Shiites live in the largely ungoverned tribal region. They are heavily armed and anti-US and anti-Israel. A few months ago, there was a limited rebellion against the Yemeni government.

The government brutally put it down. In addition to sending troops, President Saleh bombed his own country for many days. Official estimates are 400 civilians were killed. Rumors are several thousands of civilians were killed. There was a widespread popular outcry in Yemen about these tactics.

Adbulkarim Al-Khaiwani’s newspaper al-Shoura published an oped reflecting the popular sentiment. It was harshly critical of the government and its handling of the rebellion. This is al-Khaiwanis crime: publishing an oped criticizing the death of civilians. (Read on …)