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 …)