Posted on 12/17/2006 4:03:30 PM PST by DAVEY CROCKETT
VEVAK learned its methodology from the Soviet KGB and many of the Islamist revolutionaries who supported Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actually studied at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba Friendship University, the Oxford of terrorism. Documented Iranian alumni include the current Supreme Leader (the faqih) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, under whose Velayat-e Faqih (Rule of the Islamic Jurisprudent) apparatus it has traditionally operated. Its current head is Cabinet Minister Hojatoleslam Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ezhei, a graduate of Qom's Haqqani School, noted for its extremist position advocating violence against enemies and strict clerical control of society and government. The Ministry is very well funded and its charge, like that of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (the Pasdaran) is to guard the revolutionary Islamic Iranian regime at all costs and under all contingencies.
From the KGB playbook, VEVAK learned the art of disinformation. It's not so difficult to learn: tell the truth 80% of the time and lie 20%. Depending on how well a VEVAK agent wants to cover his/her tracks, the ratio may go up to 90/10, but it never drops below the 80/20 mark as such would risk suspicion and possible detection. The regime in Teheran has gone to great lengths to place its agents in locations around the world. Many of these operatives have been educated in the West, including the U.K. and the United States. Iranian government agencies such as embassies, consulates, Islamic cultural centers, and airline offices regularly provide cover for the work of VEVAK agents who dress well and are clean shaven, and move comfortably within our society. In this country, because of the severance of diplomatic relations, the principal site of VEVAK activities begins at the offices of Iran's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
Teheran has worked diligently to place its operatives in important think tanks and government agencies in the West. Some of its personnel have been recruited while in prison through torture or more often through bribery, or a combination of both. Others are Islamist revolutionaries that have been set up to look like dissidents - often having been arrested and imprisoned, but released for “medical reasons”. The clue to detecting the fake “dissident” is to read carefully what he/she writes, and to ask why this vocal “dissident” was released from prison when other real dissidents have not been released, indeed have been grievously tortured and executed. Other agents have been placed in this country for over twenty-five years to slowly go through the system and rise to positions of academic prominence due to their knowledge of Farsi and Shia Islam or Islamist fundamentalism.
One of the usual tactics of VEVAK is to co-opt academia to its purposes. Using various forms of bribery, academics are bought to defend the Islamic Republic or slander its enemies. Another method is to assign bright students to train for academic posts as specialists in Iranian or Middle East affairs. Once established, such individuals are often consulted by our government as it tries to get a better idea of how it should deal with Iran. These academics then are in a position to skew the information, suggesting the utility of extended dialogue and negotiation, or the danger and futility of confronting a strong Iran or its proxies such as Hizballah (Hezbollah). These academics serve to shield the regime from an aggressive American or Western policy, and thereby buy more time for the regime to attain its goals, especially in regards to its nuclear weaponry and missile programs.
MOIS likes to use the media, especially electronic media, to its advantage. One of VEVAK's favorite tricks is setting up web sites that look like they are opposition sites but which are actually controlled by the regime. These sites often will be multilingual, including Farsi, German, Arabic French, and English. Some are crafted carefully and are very subtle in how they skew their information (e.g., Iran-Interlink, set up and run by Massoud Khodabandeh and his wife Ann Singleton from Leeds, England); others are less subtle, simply providing the regime's point of view on facts and events in the news (e.g., www.mujahedeen.com or www.mojahedin.ws). This latter group is aimed at the more gullible in our open society and unfortunately such a market exists. However, if one begins to do one's homework, asking careful questions, the material on these fake sites generally does not add up.
Let's examine a few examples of VEVAK's work in the United States. In late October, 2005, VEVAK sent three of its agents to Washington to stage a press event in which the principal Iranian resistance movement, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), was to be slandered. Veteran VEVAK agent Karim Haqi flew from Amsterdam to Canada where he was joined by VEVAK's Ottawa agents Amir-Hossein Kord Rostami and Mahin (Parvin-Mahrokh) Haji, and the three flew from Toronto to Washington. Fortunately the resistance had been tracking these three, informed the FBI of their presence in Washington, and when the three tried to hold a press conference, the resistance had people assigned to ask pointed questions of them so that they ended the interview prematurely and fled back to Canada.
Abolghasem Bayyenet is a member of the Iranian government. He serves as a trade expert for the Ministry of Commerce. But his background of study and service in the Foreign Ministry indicates that Bayyenet is more than just an economist or a suave and savvy businessman. In an article published in Global Politician on April 23, 2006, entitled “Is Regime Change Possible in Iran?”, Bayyenet leads his audience to think that he is a neutral observer, concerned lest the United States make an error in its assessment of Iran similar to the errors of intelligence and judgment that led to our 2003 invasion of Iraq, with its less than successful outcome. However, his carefully crafted bottom line is that the people of Iran are not going to support regime change and that hardliner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad actually has achieved greater popularity than his predecessors because of his concern for the problems of the poor and his fight for economic and social justice. To the naive, Bayyenet makes Ahmadinejad sound positively saintly. Conveniently overlooked is the occurrence of over four thousand acts of protest, strikes, anti-regime rallies, riots, and even political assassinations by the people of Iran against the government in the year since Ahmadinejad assumed office. So too, the following facts are ignored: the sizeable flight of capital, the increase in unemployment, and the rising two-figure rate of inflation, all within this last year. Bayyenet is a regime apologist, and when one is familiar with the facts, his arguments ring very hollow. However, his English skills are excellent, and so the naОve might be beguiled by his commentary.
Mohsen Sazegara is VEVAK's “reformed revolutionary”. A student supporter of Khomeini before the 1979 revolution, Sazegara joined the “imam” on his return from exile and served in the government for a decade before supposedly growing disillusioned.
He formed several reformist newspapers but ran afoul of the hardliners in 2003 and was arrested and imprisoned by VEVAK. Following “hunger strikes”, Sazegara was released for health reasons and permitted to seek treatment abroad. Although critical of the government and particularly of Ahmadinejad and KhameneМ, Sazegara is yet more critical of opposition groups, leaving the impression that he favors internal regime change but sees no one to lead such a movement for the foreseeable future. His bottom line: no one is capable of doing what needs to be done, so we must bide our time. Very slick, but his shadow shows his likely remaining ties to the MOIS.
http://www.ocnus.net/artman/publish/article_27144.shtml
Train in level crossing collision
An inquiry is under way after a collision between a train and a car at a level crossing in Carmarthenshire.
The incident happened at the Ffynnongain level crossing, near Whitland.
Arriva Trains said Saturday's 1909 GMT Pembrokeshire to Swansea service had been involved in the collision.
Emergency services were called to the scene but no injuries were reported. However, passengers on the train were assessed as a precaution.
The accident happened just before 2000 GMT.
Accident investigators have been called in and services west of Carmarthen have been suspended and replaced with bus and coach services.
The crash comes after a London to Glasgow high speed train derailed in Cumbria, killing one passenger and leaving five others seriously injured on Friday evening.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/6394109.stm
Published: 2007/02/25 09:09:08 GMT
© BBC MMVII
For those who are said to "play with their vegetables", take a look at these funny vegetables.
LOL, it is the best that I have ever seen.
http://www.frogview.com/show.php?file=1508
This is a Bahrain blog, or I think it is, found this comment interesting.
granny]
http://mahmood.tv/2007/02/23/target-practice/
#
9Anonymous BAHRAIN
>>docspencer …
[snipped]
Instead of worrying about some poverty-striken kids from Bani Jamra who live in heart-aching conditions and survive on the King’s generous 150BD/month minimum wage, why don’t you worry about the real evil-doers who continue to suck this island dry of everything that lives.
3,000+ Iraqi Baathists (some report a number much higher than that) have recently been naturalized and imported into the Defense force. The move is so dangerous, yet comes as no surprise, that it has even caused neighboring Kuwait to consider requiring travel visas for all Bahrainis entering their state.
One day you’ll open your eyes and see yourself a stranger in your own land, and then it will be too late to do anything about it. It’s already too late right now.
#
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/02/24/bahrain-terrorist-plot-sparks-cynicism/
Saturday, February 24th, 2007 @ 9:02 EST
Bahrain: ‘Terrorist Plot’ Sparks Cynicism
Middle East & North Africa, Bahrain, Weblog, Freedom of Speech, Development, Environment, Human Rights, Youth, Agriculture, Politics
Following a controversial news report about the discovery of a ‘terrorist training camp’ in one of Bahrain’s Shi’a villages, Bani Jamra, Bahrain’s ‘blogfather’ Mahmood Al Yousif writes a sarcastic post proclaiming his gratitude to Bahrain’s Ministry of the Interior for making Bahrain a safer place:
I am ever so grateful to the Ministry of Interior for foiling the plot to overthrow the government, yet again, by a group of 35 youths who have confessed to not know each other yet intricately coordinate their heinous activities and practice the seditious act of throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at printed targets attached to trunks of palm trees in secret palm groves.
Adel Marzooq writes on the same topic, referring to other parties who allegedly have intentions to destabilise Bahrain:
[Persian script removed]
Tomorrow or the day after, a competent ‘journalist’ will confront us with a new story about the connection of Iran or Syria – or even Hizbullah – to terrorist plots in Bahrain. Furthermore, the United States might have a hand in things.
Meanwhile, Silly Bahraini Girl makes reference to the increasing legal restrictions being imposed on bloggers in Bahrain and the rest of the Arab world:
Although we may laugh at this or that and consider them as things which will never happen to us..you really never know. You may be next for a post you published with good intent or for the heck of it Â… such worries are taking away the fun of blogging :) What is a blog if we are to exercise self-censorship in every other word we write? How do we protect ourselves? How do we exercise our right to freedom of speech without being labelled as traitors to our countries, religion and God?
Hasan, who has recently returned from a long period of study in Japan, is rediscovering Bahrain:
This morning, I was up by 7.00am to drive my mother to her office in Manama. On the drive down Budaiya Road, between Saar and Manama, I couldnÂ’t help but steal glances at the sporadic schools of palm trees that pepper the roadside as I waited for the oh-so-aggrevating traffic to move. To those of you who havenÂ’t been to Bahrain, please donÂ’t confuse this image with the symmetrically alligned palm trees in Miami and Malibu you may have seen in Hollywood renditions of paradise. Regardless of this, I find Bahraini palm trees somewhat more honestly - romantic and reminiscent of something that has gone a long time ago. Our very own palms of a paradise lost. On my drive back home, and since my grandmother had asked me to buy her 100-filsÂ’ worth of Bahraini FlatBread, I decided to do some exploring in a locale I hadnÂ’t been to in ages.
After buying the bread (by actually getting out of his car), Hasan then takes a route home through some villages:
Here are some of my quick remarks on what I discovered/noticed: People in Bahrain should DO something about trying to uncover all the covered up relics in that area and make it a tourist attraction.
But he is disappointed by some developments:
There was this HUGE house in the process of being built in Al-HajarÂ’s backstreets and it is ABSOLUTELY the UGLIEST house I have EVER seen in the world - which made me feel physically sick by just looking at it Â… I am also very disappointed that the construction at the entrance to Shakhura (near that other ugly ghost house near the Shakhura entrance signpost) resulted in the felling of that palm tree that was stricken in half by lightening in a storm in the early 90s that resulted in it being still living on the outside, but charred in the heart. I really liked that palm tree. It was the only magical thing about Shakhura.
Ayesha Saldanha
* Egypt: If Muslims are Weird..Read This: »
* « India: Dealing with Delhi
[the removed script is from this link, all in script]
http://adelmarzooq.blog.com/1552426/
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C02%5C25%5Cstory_25-2-2007_pg3_1
Our clerics favour suicide-bombing!
In a case of “wrong or misleading heading”, a survey on suicide-bombing by a Karachi Urdu newspaper has confused the press. It has wrongly concluded that our leading ulema have renounced suicide-bombing. This is what an online academic magazine has concluded: “Clerics from all schools of thought have declared suicide attacks un-Islamic and forbidden them under the Sharia; they said killing a non-Muslim without a legitimate cause was against the Islamic way of life”.
But the truth is that the meaning of what these clerics said is quite different from that which has been attributed to them. For instance, Maulana Amir Hamza of Jamaatud Dawa is quoted as saying that a suicide attack is an act of terrorism and that someone who kills himself to kill others also accounts for the sins of those killed. But he also added (found on website) that “no suicide attack is justified in a country which has Islam as the state religion, ruled by a Muslim ruler and is not under occupation by infidels”. This means that Iraq is excluded from this definition because it is occupied by infidels. In other words, Maulana Hamza would justify suicide bombing in Iraq against the occupying infidel.
This also means that suicide-bombing is not okay in Pakistan — because Islam is the state religion, the country is not occupied by infidels and General Musharraf is a Muslim ruler — but okay in a non-Muslim country like the United Kingdom, for instance. The scholar is clearly worried about Muslim suicide-bombers killing innocent Muslims. But what may become moot at any time is whether even Pakistan can qualify as an Islamic state and whether General Musharraf can be denounced as a bad Muslim for allying with an infidel like the USA.
The second cleric included in the survey is Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, formerly of the JUI, who actually allows suicide-bombing while alluding to Palestine!
Then there is a former minister and Sunni cleric, Dr Mehmood Ahmad Ghazi, who says that suicide-bombing is wrong but he too imposes the condition of the Islamic state, implying that it may be okay to kill innocent people in a non-Muslim state. Dr Anis of Jama’at-e Islami says he can’t be sure if suicide-bombing is wrong, but he too refers to Palestine without noting that Al Fatah condemns suicide-bombing while Hamas actually does it.
Our morose-looking Barelvi mufti, Munibur Rehman, says nothing new, as expected, but also maintains that suicide bombing in an Islamic state is not legitimate. This implies that one may suicide-bomb innocent non-Muslims and even target a non-Muslim state with impunity. Thank God, the shia scholar, Allama Qamber Abbas Naqvi, says that even a non-Muslim can’t be killed in this manner.
Therefore a re-reading of the views of these gentlemen leads to the conclusion that they have outlawed suicide-bombing only in very specific conditions and not generally at all.
In fact our clerics have confirmed that Al Qaeda, which began the trend on 9/11, can go on doing it. It is not clear if killing the Shias in Iraq is wrong because the ulema did not explain if they thought Iraq was being ruled by Muslims. It is quite possible that they may eventually disqualify Iraq as an Islamic state because the Americans are in occupation there. All of them cunningly ducked the question whether Al Qaeda’s killing of the Shias of Iraq — and the killing of innocent Sunnis by thugs like Muqtada al Sadr — was okay.
Tragically, they all allowed suicide, expressly forbidden by the Quran, under the condition of jihad. They also abstained from explaining what jihad was: war initiated by the Islamic state or by private parties posing as pious entities pursuing amr and nahi? In short, was jihad an ‘official’ function or a private one? They also did not adjudicate the global trend of dubbing private jihad as terrorism. Can the Muslims pursue private wars in the face of international law that recognises legitimate war only when it is conducted by a state?
What were the clerics driving at? If they wanted to outlaw suicide-bombing in Pakistan, why did they refer to Palestine where suicide-bombing is done to kill innocent people as legitimate collateral damage? The survey is the most hair-brained piece of work done by a publication whose rightwing religious views are well known. The problem really is that we are killing ourselves through suicide-bombers and the bombers are treated as martyrs on the videocassettes they leave behind.
The clerics should have touched on the trend of killing the Shias through suicide-bombing. The truth is that most of the casualties of suicide-bombing in Pakistan have been innocent men, women and children of the Shia community. Why weren’t the clerics interested in outlawing the fatwas of apostatisation (takfir)? It is the fatwa of takfir under which the Shias and at times the Barelvis are killed. The suicide boy who killed Allama Hasan Turabi last year said on film that he was going to Paradise for his deed!
Above all, our clerics have failed to rise to the level of common humanity by not condemning (barring the Shia scholar) suicide-bombing that kills innocent non-Muslims in non-Muslim states. The faith they pretend to profess believes in justice no matter how tough the circumstances. The Prophet (PBUH) did not exempt himself from humanity when he was besieged and endangered by his non-Muslim enemies. *
SECOND EDITORIAL: Love-hating the Americans
Another funny survey done by an American university has found that 86 percent of Pakistanis believe that terrorist attacks on civilians are never justified, while only 46 percent of Americans hold the same view. As many as 24 percent of the Americans say that such attacks are “sometimes justified”. At the same time, public opinion surveys in the United States and Europe show that nearly half of Westerners associate Islam with violence and Muslims with terrorism. There is more surprise in store. More than 20 surveys in Muslim countries find that even those who support terrorist attacks and Osama Bin Laden approve of the specific American actions in their own countries. Seventy percent of Bin Laden supporters in Indonesia and 79 percent in Pakistan said they thought more favourably of the United States as a result of American humanitarian assistance in their countries.
What should the world make of this? Already the Muslims love to hate America but love to live there above all other countries; and will happily vacate their own countries if invited to settle in America. With this kind of internal split when they live in the West their cleft personality sticks out a mile. This refers to only those Muslims who have stopped integrating in the West as expats. Other religious groups have no problem living in the West. Sympathy for Osama bin Laden is a part of this strange psychological bisection, even though the terrorist has clearly inflicted more suffering on Muslims than on the Christians and Jews he had targeted. *
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg7_29
Hospitals report over 500 injured on Basant
Staff Report
LAHORE: Hundreds of people protested the deaths of children and adults in kite-related incidents on Basant.
The details of those killed and injured are as follows:
Deaths: Omer Farooq (12), died after his throat was slashed by stray twine. Hasan was killed by a stray bullet while sitting outside his house. Faisal (30) died from a stray bullet in Quaid-e-Millat Colony. Saif was hit by a car while chasing a kite in Faisal Town. Danish also died while chasing a kite in Baghbanpura. Mariam (6), was hit by a stray bullet in Garden Town. Haider died because of electrocution in Samanabad. Naheed died in Rang Mahal while attempting to save her son from a rooftop accident. Sharif died in Shafeeqabad. A teenager, Imran, died in a road accident in Defence Housing Authority.
Injuries: Over 200 injured people registered in five tertiary care teaching hospitals and a few hundred injuries were reported from police and independent sources. These people received treatment from local hospitals or private clinics. Stray bullets, falling from roofs, and throat cuts from twine were responsible for the injuries.
Services Hospital Medical Superintendent said that they had received 49 injured people on Basant. Lahore General Hospital duty doctor said that they received 39 injuries. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Additional Medical Superintendent said that they received 26 injuries of who two died. Jinnah Hospital duty doctors said they received 12 injuries and Mayo Hospital received 82 injured persons of who one died.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg7_20
Iran’s N-programme is irreversible: Nejad
* Compares Tehran’s N-programme to ‘train without brakes’
* Says Western countries felt threatened by Iran’s N-programme
TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday said his country would move forward with its disputed nuclear programme despite international demands that it halt uranium enrichment, comparing Iran’s programme to train without brakes, state-run radio reported.
The hard-line leader also repeated his call for negotiations, saying the time for “bullying” had expired. “The train of the Iranian nation is without brakes and a rear gear,” the radio quoted Ahmadinejad as telling a gathering of Islamic clerics. “We dismantled the rear gear and brakes of the train and threw them away sometime ago.”
Ahmadinejad’s comments come a day before senior officials of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Britain, the US, France, China and Russia - and Germany were set to meet for an emergency summit in London to discuss measures against Tehran over its defiant nuclear stance.
The International Atomic Energy Agency last week reported that Iran had ignored a UN Security Council ultimatum to freeze its uranium enrichment programme and instead had expanded the programme by setting up hundreds of centrifuges.
In December, the Security Council imposed limited sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend enrichment and gave it a 60-day grace period to halt enrichment. That grace period expired on Wednesday.
Iran has repeatedly refused to halt enrichment as a precondition to negotiations about its programme. Enriched to a low level, uranium is used to produce nuclear fuel but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in building an atomic bomb. The United States and several of its allies fear that Iran is using its nuclear programme to produce atomic weapons - charges Iran denies, saying its aim is to generate electricity.
Ahmadinejad also said Western countries felt threatened by Iran’s nuclear programme because they felt their own powers were diminishing. “The Westerners are not concerned about the existence and activity of ... centrifuges in Iran; they are concerned about the collapse of their hegemony and hollow power,” the radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. ap
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg7_12
68 vehicles gutted in gas cylinder blasts
Staff Report
HYDERABAD: At least 68 vehicles were gutted in explosions in LPG cylinders installed in rickshaw engines at a parking stand in the thickly populated suburban locality of Noorani Basti late on Saturday night.
20-year-old watchman Abdullah was wounded in the incident and was later admitted to Hyderabad Civil Hospital.
Police said the gas cylinders exploded at around 3:30am, triggering an inferno that enveloped all the vehicles parked at the stand. Fire fighters, police and Edhi volunteers rushed to the scene. The fire brigade controlled the blaze after three hours.
The gutted vehicles included 60 rickshaws, five mini taxies, two motorcycles, a car and several pushcarts. Most of the owners are from poor families who earn a living by driving these small transport vehicles or selling items on pushcarts.
Ziaur Rehman, the owner of the parking stand, told reporters that the injured watchman was his nephew. He said the incident caused a loss of millions of rupees.
Small vehicles such as rickshaws use LPG fuel without proper safety arrangements. There have been previous incidents of gas cylinder explosions in these rickshaws.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg7_3
46 held for failed suicide attack
MULTAN: 46 students and teachers from an Islamic school have been detained in connection with a failed suicide bombing attack in Cheechawatni.
Police on Sunday said that three would-be suicide bombers on bicycles were killed on Saturday after a speed bump set off the explosives they were carrying to a prayer gathering.
“Police have arrested 40 students and six teachers of Aziz-ul-Aloom, a seminary in Cheechawatni,” a police official said. “Maulana Alam Tariq, the late Maulana Azam Tariq’s brother, is among the arrested,” he said.
Mirza Ali, another cop, said three investigation teams had been constituted to probe the case.
“The suspects were members of the Sunni extremist group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,” police sources said, adding that President Pervez Musharraf had banned the group in 2001. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is accused of killing hundreds of Shias after its emergence in the early 1990s. afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg7_1
US blacks embracing Islam
ATLANTA: Islam is growing fast among African Americans, who are undeterred by increased scrutiny of Muslims in the United States since the September 11 attacks, according to imams and experts.
Converts within the black community say they are attracted to the disciplines of prayer, the emphasis within Islam on submission to God and the religion’s affinity with people who are oppressed.
Some blacks are also suspicious of US government warnings about the emergence of new enemies since the 2001 attacks because of memories of how the establishment demonised civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. As a result, they are willing to view Islam as a legitimate alternative to Christianity, the majority religion among US blacks.
“It is one of the fastest-growing religions in America,” said Lawrence Mamiya, professor of religion at Vassar College, speaking of Islam among black Americans. He said there were up to 2 million black US Muslims but acknowledged there were no precise figures.
“It’s not viewed (by authorities) as a threat because the numbers are small and once we get past the war on terror and all the negative images then it will continue to spread.” Black Americans typically attend mosques separate from Muslims from immigrant backgrounds despite sharing common beliefs, according to Aminah McCloud, religious studies professor at DePaul University in Chicago. But imams in Atlanta, a US centre for black Muslims, said they were subjected to less scrutiny than Muslims from the Middle East and Indian sub-continent.
Rap Brown’s mosque: Many blacks converted during the civil rights era, when Malcolm X helped popularise the Nation of Islam, attracting boxer Muhammad Ali among others. Islam still attracts prominent blacks such as rapper Scarface, a recent convert.
But the Nation of Islam has declined as a force at the expense of an association of mosques led by Warith Deen Muhammad, the son of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, who died in 1975.
At a street-corner mosque in one of Atlanta’s oldest and poorest neighbourhoods, a recent Friday sermon illustrated the power of the history of Islam in the United States for blacks. Men and women sat separately on the mosque floor, heads covered, as cleric Nadim Ali recounted stories from history of Muslim slaves brought from Africa who struggled to uphold their faith in the face of slaveholders’ opposition.
If Muslims could remain true to Islam under slavery, the audience should follow their example, Ali said at the Community Masjid of Atlanta in the city’s West End district. “You are talking about a people who were cut off from their roots .... Islam reconnects you with Africa and with other parts of the world so your peoplehood transcends race,” Ali said later in an interview.
The mosque has a direct link to a slice of black history. It was founded by H Rap Brown, a one-time member of the 1960s Black Panthers group. Brown became a Muslim in prison in the 1970s and changed his name to Jamil al-Amin. He was convicted for killing a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia in March 2000 and is serving a sentence of life without parole, but in his absence the mosque has continued what Ali said was the low-profile work of building a local Muslim community.
Conversion: The mosque teaches there was no distinction between Sunni and Shia within Islam, according to people who attend regularly. Sermons urged Muslims to find work, stay free from crime and drugs and maintain stable family lives.
Ali said he assumed the mosque was bugged and infiltrated by informers, in part because its leaders remained sceptical about US policies since September 11. “They (the government) unplug black people and plug in Arabs or Muslims. They unplug Arabs and plug in communists. America needs war to maintain its economic status,” he said.
One recent Friday, Mark King, a new convert, and hundreds of others at a mosque listened to a preacher urge Muslims to seek God through Quran. Followers of other faiths should seek God through their own holy books, the preacher said.
“For young African Americans, there is some attraction to learning about traditions that have been associated with resistance to European imperialism,” said King, who has adopted the name Bilal Mansa since his conversion. reuters
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg1_4
Iran ready for both ‘talks and war’
TEHRAN: Iran is prepared both for war and talks with the United States, a top foreign ministry official said on Sunday. “We have prepared ourselves for any situation, even if war happens,” Deputy Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mohammadi told the ISNA news agency “Iran is ready for negotiations without preconditions with the United States, but the Americans have not accepted it yet,” he added. “We have had unofficial meetings with Americans over Afghanistan and Iraq, but they say first Iran should accept US conditions and then talks take place.” afp
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg1_10‘Gulf states to aid attack on Iran’
Daily Times Monitor
LAHORE: Three Arab states would be willing to allow the Israeli air force to enter their airspace in order to reach Iran in case of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyasa reported on Sunday.
According to the report, a diplomat from one of the gulf states visiting Washington on Saturday said Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have told the United States that they would not object to Israel using their airspace, despite their fear of an Iranian response.
Al-Siyasa also reported that NATO leaders are urging Turkey to open its airspace for an attack on Iran as well and to also open its airports and borders in case of a ground attack.
British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday that Israel is negotiating with the US over permission for an “air corridor” over Iraq, should an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities become necessary.
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg1_9
7 hurt in stampede after bomb scare
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Seven people, including four journalists, were injured in a stampede on Sunday when a man entered the camp office of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Press Club and threatened to detonate the explosive he said he was carrying.
Former employees of the Zarai Tarqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), who were addressing a press conference at the time, as well all those present in the press club, panicked and rushed towards the exit upon hearing the warning. In the ensuing stampede, four journalists and three others were injured.
However, law enforcement officials deployed outside the camp office apprehended the would-be ‘suicide bomber’ and took him to the Aabpara Police Station.
Aabpara Police Station House Officer (SHO) Safeer Bhatti later told journalists that the suspect had been identified as Aziz Hassan, a resident of Lower Dir, who was an assistant line officer with the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO) at Bara Kahu.
Bhatti claimed that Hassan was not of sound mind, but said that a case had been registered against him and an investigation was underway.
Rawaplindi-Islamabad Press Club President Mushtaq Minhas and General Secretary Muhammad Afzal Butt condemned the incident and demanded strict security arrangements for the press club.
Online adds: During questioning, Hassan told interrogators that he had never talked about having a bomb on him. After the incident, all non-members were disallowed entry to the press club.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg1_8
Iran tightens border security
QUETTA: Iranian border security forces have tightened security in Taftan at the border with Pakistan to an “unprecedented level” following the Zahidan bomb blasts two weeks ago, Daily Times has learnt.
Iranian security forces increased the number of personnel on the Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan in the aftermath of car bomb blast in Zahidan, the capital of the Iranian state of Sistan-Balochistan. “Iranian authorities believe that Malik Rakhi, the Baloch nationalist leader of the Jandullah organisation that carried out the Zahidan bombing, has taken shelter in Pakistani Balochistan and that his men are being trained in Balochistan,” said a source.
The border has remained completely shut for the past nine days, causing huge losses to local traders, many of whose livelihoods depend on bilateral trade. Many traders and businessmen have begun to return to Quetta from Taftan now that the Iranian authorities have further tightened security. There have also been reported shortages of food and other goods in Taftan since the border closure. malik siraj akbar
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg1_6
Muslim states oppose use of force against Iran
* Foreign ministers discuss recent developments in ME and Gulf
* Fear sectarian violence in Iraq may affect other countries
By Irfan Ghauri
ISLAMABAD: The foreign ministers of seven Muslim countries met here on Saturday to deliberate upon recent developments in the Middle East and Gulf, and expressed serious concerns at the escalation of tension over the Iranian nuclear issue and called for a solution through diplomacy rather than force.
The meeting was held following Gen President Pervez Musharraf’s visits to nine Muslim countries to discuss a new initiative to address the Middle East situation, the Palestine dispute, the security situation in Iraq, political turmoil in Lebanon and rising tension between the United States and Iran.
A joint statement issued after the meeting said: “The ministers viewed with deep concern the escalation of tension especially over the Iranian issue. It is vital that all issues must be resolved through diplomacy and there should be no use of force against anyone.”
The ministers agreed that the conflict and violence in Iraq was a source of deep distress and anxiety to all Muslims. They said that the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Iraq must be preserved and respected and the government of Iraq must make all efforts to achieve national reconciliation.
Foreign Minister Khrushid Kasuri later told reporters that the foreign ministers also expressed concern over sectarian violence in Iraq and feared that it could spill over its borders.
Kasuri said that the ministers reiterated the view that the Palestinian question was the central and core problem in the Middle East and must be resolved without delay on the basis of United Nations resolutions, the Arab peace initiative and other initiatives, all of which recognised the need for establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
They welcomed the establishment of the Palestinian national unity government and asked the international community to immediately help the new government revive economic activity in the Palestinian territories.
The ministers also called for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied Syrian and Lebanese territories.
The foreign ministers also tried to address the Syrian concerns over the Golan Heights, Kasuri said.
He said there would be more follow up meetings before the OIC leadership conference in Saudi Arabia, the date for which was yet to be fixed. To another question, he said the Kashmir issue was very much on the agenda of the OIC but it was not discussed as it was not on the agenda of this meeting.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg12_3
Headless body of preteen girl found in Saddar
KARACHI: The headless body of a nine-year-old girl was found in a crowded place in Saddar at around 8:30 p.m. Saturday. A police constable, Zameer, called the Preedy police station after he saw a suspicious plastic gunny bag with blood seeping out of it, near the X-3 minibus stop. Police arrived and opened the bag to find the headless, naked body of a girl. The body was taken to JPMC for legal formalities. The police suspect that the child was kidnapped and raped, and then killed and dumped in the bag. They are trying to trace the girl’s family by going through reports of missing people filed recently. staff report
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg12_8
CPLC, Police bust kidnappers
Staff Report
KARACHI: A gang of six kidnappers was busted by the Mubina Town Police and the Citizen Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on Sunday.
The police recovered a female student of the NED University of Technology from their captivity and arrested the gang members who were traced out through phone calls. The members were identified as Amjad, Shoukat, Sajid, Riaz, Ramazan, and Jaffer.
Town Police Officer Gulshan Saqib Sultan said that the kidnappers had demanded two and a half million rupees in ransom. Police claimed that the 22-year-old student was kidnapped from the Abul Hassan Isphani road and was kept at a house in Surjani Town.
Drunk driver runs over a roadside hotel: A speeding car (AHR-079) ran into a roadside hotel, killing one and injuring three labourers on Mauripur road Sunday morning. The police seized the vehicle and arrested the driver Baber.
The deceased labourer was identified as 45-year-old Dur Muhammad while the injured were 20-year-old Munir, 13-year-old Bilal and 25-year-old Ahmed, who were taken to the CHK. In another accident at the same spot, a speeding trawler hit a motorcycle, killing the rider 25-year-old Raheel. The other passenger, Noman, 23, was seriously injured and rushed to the CHK.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\02\26\story_26-2-2007_pg4_5
Bush’s Latin American tour ‘destined’ to fail: Chavez
CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday dismissed the upcoming Latin American tour of his US nemesis George W Bush as a “diplomatic offensive” that is doomed to fail. “It is a diplomatic offensive but it is too late,” Chavez said in a news conference. “I think the US president has nothing to look for in Latin America. It is an offensive destined for the depths of defeat.” The leftist leader, who has been accused by the United States of being a destabilizing force in the region and of threatening democracies with his behaviour, said he respected the right of other Latin American leaders to meet Bush. “We, of course, would never invite him because we know what he is,” Chavez said, adding that he hoped the 2008 US presidential election would bring a government he can talk with. Bush is barred from running by term limits. “Hopefully, the next US government is one we can talk with, and I say this not only for Venezuela but also the world, because the current US government is a real threat,” said Chavez, who has called Bush the devil. Bush is scheduled to travel to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico between March 8-14. afp
There are a bunch of posts to all, more will be coming.
Something for all of you.........
Iranian Radio and Media on line, this station only, I think:
http://www.webna.ir/radio/
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