wonder what happens to those who fail the course?<<<
My guess is that those who might fail the course, do not go to take it.
Or, they are broke and without a job, so take the little they have learned to al Qaeda or underground.
The thought that I had was that Russia has trained a lot of them and I would be curious to know how for which countries.
N. Korea, would be first on the list, Pakistan and Cuba too.
This came to me via an email, I went to the site and the print is too small for me to read, so one of you will want to sign up for the emails that it says they offer, it is one that I would join the email alerts.
granny........
http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029391629&a=KArticle&aid=1130673021601
From: personalisation@e-media.fco.gov.uk
[mailto:personalisation@e-media.fco.gov.uk]
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 13:05
To: emailalerts@e-media.fco.gov.uk
Subject: FCO Website Update: IRAN: JACK STRAW PARLIAMENTARY
STATEMENT
This email is to advise you that an article matching one of your
interests has been published on the FCO website:
IRAN: JACK STRAW PARLIAMENTARY STATEMENT
Following the Iranian President's recent public comments about
Israel, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, placed a written
statement before Parliament on Monday 31 October. The
statement read: 'On 26 October, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad
of Iran addressed a conference in Tehran on 'A World Without
Zionism'. In his speech, he is reported to have called for 'Israel
to be wiped from the map', and said that 'the Islamic world will
not let its historic enemy live in its heartland'... As the Prime
Minister said, these sentiments are completely unacceptable. I
welcome the clear condemnation by the UN Security Council on
28 October and the statement by the UN Secretary-General, Kofi
Annan, expressing his dismay. They have spoken for the world.'
Click here to view the article
Kind regards,
FCO Webmaster
Please do not reply to this email. If you wish to send us a
message, please use our feedback page at:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/feedback.
To unsubscribe from this service or to change your preferences,
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From: grassroots@amchacjc.org [mailto:grassroots@amchacjc.org]
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 12:26
To: grassroots@amchacjc.org
Subject: Protest threats against Israel by Iran's Pres. NOV. 1 5:30PM
www.amchacjc.org
A busload of High School students, alarmed by Iranian President
Ahmadinejad’s repeated, public threats a week ago to annihilate Israel, will
demonstrate at the Iranian mission to the United Nations tomorrow,
Tuesday, November 1st, at 5:30PM. The mission is at 622 Third Avenue, at
40th Street, in Manhattan.
The students are from the Frisch Yeshiva High School. They stated: “We
have learned that Hitler wasn’t taken seriously when he declared for years
that he’d wipe out the Jews. In so many cases since then, from Rwanda to
Darfur, threats of extermination weren’t heeded – until they occurred.”
Along with the Frisch students, scores of other students and Jewish activists
will be demonstrating.
Iran today actively arms and supports terrorists murdering American troops
and civilians in Iraq. Iran apparently will soon possess not only nuclear
weapons but the rockets to launch them as far as Europe.
“Now is the time for the world to wake up to the threat of Iran. Now is the
time for the world to condemn Iran and stop mass murder before it’s too
late,” stated Rabbi Avi Weiss, President of AMCHA.
The protest is being sponsored by AMCHA: Coalition for Jewish Concerns and
is being led by Rabbis Avi Weiss, Etan Mintz, and Josh Wald.
Amcha-CJC
3700 Henry Hudson
Pkwy, Riverdale NY
10463
Phone: (718)
884-8499
Fax: (718) 884-9866
Email:
amchacjc@amchacjc.org
http://www.israpundit.com/archives/2005/10/irans_terrorist.php
IRAN’S TERRORIST PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD DECLARES JIHAD AGAINST ISRAEL
IRAN’S TERRORIST PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD DECLARES JIHAD AGAINST ISRAEL
by Jerry Gordon, a former U.S. military intelligence officer, writer, activist who resides in Connecticut.
The pits are humming in Tel Aviv. ZAHAL's military intelligence and war planning directorates are busily laying out options for dealing a blow
against Ahmadnejad's jihad quest to "wipe Israel off the map of the earth." Terrorist President Ahmadinejad means it. He said it not once
but twice last week in the closing days of Ramadan at the peak of Islamic jihadi fervor.
David Warren in his commentary in the Ottawa Citizen noted that Ahmadnejad called ” for Israel to be annihilated, and the “Zionists” (i.e.
Jews) exterminated, while several tens of thousands chanted anti-Semitic and anti-American slogans, waved toy pistols, and burned
Star-of-David flags.”
Warren concluded:
“It should be realized that President Ahmadinejad’s threats -- and his subsequent failure to retract them -- themselves constitute acts of
war. The Israelis, at the least, are in a moral and legal position to act in self-defence; and all decent men and women are under a moral
obligation to support them.”
Ahmadinejad formerly Tehran’s “populist” Mayor is the only elected - if you can call him that - leader of a major Islamic country who has a
terrorist track record. Remember his photograph as one of the leaders of the revolutionary guards back in 1979 who seized the U.S. Embassy
in Tehran and held personnel captive there for 444 days? He was also alleged to have participated in several covert actions including
directing an assassination of Iranian Kurdish leader Abdorrahman Qassemlou, who was shot dead by senior officers of the Revolutionary
Guards in a Vienna flat in July 1989.
Ahmadinejad was considered a key planner of the attack. He was reported to have been involved in planning an attempt on the life of author
Salman Rushdie.
Iran is dangerous because it possess the means of striking at not only Israel, Europe but even here in the Americas. Iran has CBW,
conventional high explosive or possibly nuclear warheads to send via those Shehab III missiles or suitcase size nuclear and CBW devices to
send into the Hezbolleh controlled Bekas Valley in Lebanon to be secreted in those tunnels in the mountains there. Iran has used Syria as a
conduit for these mortal threats to Isarel and the surrounding region. Syria itself is in a "flagrant delectus" position because of U.N. reports,
however doctored, indicating that Surian President Bashir Assad's brother and the late head of intelligence in Lebanon Brig. Gen Ghazi
Kenaan who was alleged to have committed suicide.- were directly involved in the bombing death of Lebanese ex- PM Tewfik Hariri and his
entourage in Beirut in February. Iran is reported to be sending Syria arms to be shipped to Hezbolleh and Palestinian Refugee camps in
Lebanon in preparation for a new “civil war.”
Iran is also reported by reliable Lebanese sources to send more than $600 million annually to its surrogate in Lebanon, Hezbollah. Hezbollah
cops another $600 million through control of international telephony, Internet monopolies in Lebanon and drug dealing.
Iran is a danger to itself, and the countries in the Gulf region . Witness those Chernobyl era Russian nuclear reactors for its bomb making
programs. One of them in Bam is located on an active fault line in the "ring of fire "earthquake zone. If an earthquake of say 7+ on the
logarithmic Richter scale hit Bam with a close by epicenter and caused destruction of the containment chamber, the radiation cloud emitted
from the wrecked facility would, according to experts, result in the deaths of tens of thousands downwind in the oil producing Gulf region.
While the U.N. security council funfers with voting sanctions against Iran's surrogate Syria and Secretary General Kofi Anan rushes off to
Tehran to “bear hug” Ahmadinejad and the IAEA and the E.U. "six" dither about their inability to cut a diplomatic deal to forestall Iran's
nuclear weapons program, Israel has only one choice-"en brera "in Ivrit. It must take out Ahmannejad's command and control structure, the
hooded Shia mullahs and some of the strategic plutonium enrichment production facilities and Shehab III missile assembly and launch
facilities.
This will be more complex than the "Raid on the Sun" in 1981 that took out Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear facility. A facility provided by
French President Chirac.
ZAHAL has to use several approaches to breaking the Shia scimitar of Ahmadinejad, both innovative and conventional. The technological
developments since 1981 include Israel's spy in the sky providing satellite imagery and electronic eavesdropping capabilities on a real time
basis and the Israel version of those fabled E-bombs or high powered microwave (HPM) weapons that can wipe out the command and
control net of Iran's revolutionary guards and isolate the mullahs who all live in a protected zone in Tehran. Israel has sufficient HUMINT
capabilities to obtain a picture of what is inside the proposed jihad war plans and capabilities. Israel does have a defense of sorts the
unused, but partially tested Arrow anti-missile missiles. The IAF may have perfected possible aerial strategies that must cope with the
daunting problems of running an electronic warfare and aerial refueling gauntlet on missions much longer and more complex than the ones
that F-16s undertook to destroy the Osirak reactor in Iraq in 1981. The Israeli Navy also has those long range (13,00 mile operating radius)
diesel powered Dolphin Class German built missile boats equipped with both conventional and nuclear tipped weaponry.
We who live in North America can take no comfort by being distant from the crazed terror President and jihadi mullahs in Tehran. Remember
that the billionaire "mafioso" Ayatollah Rafsanjani in Tehran ordered Hezbolleh to kill more than 29 Israelis in 1992 and more than 86 mostly
Jews and over 300 wounded in Argentina in 1994 when they bombed first the Israeli embassy and two years later bombed AMIA,
www.worldhistory.com/wiki/A/AMIA-Bombing.htm the Jewish community headquarters building in Buenos Aires. Lest we forget the day prior
to the 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, a Panamanian commuter plane was blown up by another presumed Hezbolleh
operative and 21 passengers, 12 of them Jews were killed. All supported with hush money bribes like the $10 million deposited in a Swiss
bank account for Argentine ex-President Menem to fob off the investigations that took nearly a decade to resolve. Nor has much been done
to clean out the lawless Muslim triangle of terror" at the conjunction of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil where Hezbolleh, Hamas, Islamic Jihad
and PLO operatives and front businesses run rampant.
So, yes, the pits in Tel Aviv at ZAHAL are humming for good reason. They are trying to plan for the best solutions for breaking Iran's jihadi
scimitar and protecting Israel, World Jewry and as they did in 1981-the world. There's little time left and the clock is ticking.
Posted by Jerry Gordon at October 31, 2005 01:28 PM
(there are live links hidden in the article on site. granny...)
http://www.jamestown.org/news_details.php?news_id=147
Can al-Qaeda Endure Beyond bin Laden?
10/31/2005 - By Michael Scheuer -- The question
of al-Qaeda’s longevity after the demise of its
figurehead is ultimately unanswerable until bin
Laden is actually gone. There are those who
believe bin Laden is dead—which would surely be
one of history’s best kept secrets—and argue
that al-Qaeda has proven its survivability. While
never saying never, it seems exceedingly likely
that bin Laden is alive, and on that presumption
the following analysis is based.
Man or Organization
Too often, al-Qaeda’s post-bin Laden future is
discussed solely on the basis of who will place
him. It is asked whether the successor will have
bin Laden’s intelligence, charisma, and jihadi
credentials. Or, can Zawahiri, Sayf al-Adl,
Zarqawi, one of bin Laden’s sons, or a
now-unknown mujahid fill the top position? Thus,
much of the analysis about a new al-Qaeda
leader’s impact focuses on personalities and their
respective strengths and weaknesses, and
frequently fails to examine the nature of the
organization bin Laden’s successor will inherit.
The al-Qaeda organization, as all know, was
formed in the last months of Moscow’s
occupation of Afghanistan, around mid-1988. Bin
Laden played the lead role in its formation, but
his colleagues—Wali Khan Amin Shah, Abu Hajir
al-Iraqi, Wael Julaidan, Muhammed Jamal
Khalifah, etc.—also played a part. What was the
group’s goal in establishing al-Qaeda? It was
meant to maintain the Islamist momentum
attendant to the Red Army’s defeat. It was also
intended to be an organization governed by
Islamist principles. Furthermore, it was meant to
be patterned on the Afghan Islamist insurgent
groups—those of Khalis, Hekmtayar, Sayyaf, and
Masood—which had defeated the Soviets. (It
always is worth noting that al-Qaeda is not
modeled on a terrorist group.) Finally, from its
inception, al-Qaeda has targeted the United
States.
Yet, the foregoing are intentions to be
accomplished, they are not the basic reason for
al-Qaeda’s creation. The best phrase to describe
why al-Qaeda was created is “long-term
durability.” At the most fundamental level,
al-Qaeda’s founders wanted to build an
organization that would preserve and—here bin
Laden’s CEO talents came into
play—institutionalize the mechanisms built during
the 1980s to support the Afghan mujahideen and,
once institutionalized, use them to support
militant Islam worldwide. How to enumerate
these mechanisms is an open question, but it fair
to list five mechanisms that al-Qaeda’s founders
thought essential to the long-term durability of
their organization, regardless of who was serving
as its chief.
Funding
The Afghan jihad was expensive, and bin Laden
saw this reality first hand. Bin Laden, moreover,
was directly involved in the funding process,
serving early in the war as a channel through
which private and official Saudi monies went to
the mujahideen. (Bin Laden’s counterpart in
funding was Shaykh Abdullah Azzam, who
brought money from the non-Gulf Middle East
and the Muslim Brotherhood.)
By the Afghan war’s mid-point, moreover, bin
Laden and other Arab mujahideen began forming
all-Arab insurgent units. While it is likely that
Pakistani intelligence diverted some official U.S.
and Saudi funds to the groups, bin Laden has
explained that the Arabs did not want to be
tainted by U.S. support and so developed funding
sources and channels independent of those
supporting the Afghans.
Since the end of the Afghan war, al-Qaeda’s
funding capability has been solidified and
expanded on the basis that established it in the
1980s. Al-Qaeda’s worldwide growth and
multifaceted activities—attacking America,
supporting Islamic insurgencies, training fighters,
etc.—demanded reliable funding. The group’s
well-documented record of success suggests
funding is ample and that the channels carrying
the funds are hidden and not susceptible to
interdiction.
Procurement
Many wealthy Muslims were willing buy weapons
for the Afghans but were unwilling to work with
Riyadh or the U.S. government. Faced with this
reality, bin Laden and other Arabs crafted a
weapons-procurement system for the Afghan
mujahideen that, like the funding mechanism,
ran parallel to the U.S.-Saudi system. Bin Laden
and his colleagues ran this parallel mechanism
and used it to arm the Afghans and themselves.
Before al-Qaeda was formed, therefore, its
leaders were well-versed in clandestine
procurement and transportation of arms,
communications gear, and military
accoutrements.
Since 1988, bin Laden and his lieutenants have
improved their procurement system to
accommodate the al-Qaeda group‘s needs, as
well as to arm its allies. There is no evidence
that al-Qaeda and its allies have ever suffered
more than a temporary shortage of conventional
weapons. Al-Qaeda also has created a second,
separate procurement channel for acquiring
weapons of mass destruction (WMD), particularly
nuclear weapons. This system benefits from
al-Qaeda’s successful recruitment of scientists,
engineers, technicians, and hands-on
practitioners of building such weapons from, at
least, Pakistan’s WMD programs. The extent of
this second system’s success is not known, but if
the targeted application of money, time,
expertise, and leadership pressure can yield
success, it would be a mistake to assume that
WMD-acquisition is too difficult for a non-state
actor like al-Qaeda.
Manpower and Logistics
Bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, and their colleagues
began their jihad careers building and managing
a network that supplied men for the Afghan war.
Bin Laden et al. brought non-Afghan Muslims
from across the Islamic world to Pakistan to
serve as fighters and as workers in hospitals,
arms dumps, refugee camps, clinics, and NGOs.
Their effort was successful and created a network
of travel routes, trusted facilitators, and way
stations where jihad-bound travelers could be
succored. By war’s end, this system had matured
to the extent that very few volunteers could not
reach the jihad.
At its founding, al-Qaeda faced the task of
turning this single-direction system—all roads led
to Afghanistan—into one that could continue
bringing men to South Asia for training, transport
trainees to camps in Yemen and Sudan, and
move trained fighters to combat theaters in
Tajikistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya. Al-Qaeda
obviously succeeded in a systemic expansion
which has accommodated ever larger numbers.
Indeed, manpower never has been a problem for
al-Qaeda; it is now present in 75-plus countries,
has sizeable contingents in Afghanistan and Iraq,
and has combat trainers, logisticians, and
veteran fighters involved in most of the world’s
Islamist insurgencies. Al-Qaeda’s manpower and
logistical capabilities—like those for funding and
procurement—can be described as effective and
relatively immune from disruption.
Training and Personnel Services
Bin Laden’s 1988 operational priority was for
al-Qaeda to train Muslim militants from around
the world at the groups’ camps, and provide
far-flung Islamist insurgencies with a cadre to
train fighters locally and be a “stiffening agent”
for local forces. The al-Qaeda cadre added to
Taliban forces in 1996, for example, added skill
and professionalism to Mullah Omar’s campaign
against the Northern Alliance around Kabul. The
al-Qaeda cadre had the same impact on
Kashmiri insurgent forces in the late 1990s.
Today, al-Qaeda’s training capability in
Afghanistan is constrained, but the steady pace
of combat in the insurgencies in the Philippines,
Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere
suggests training remains an al-Qaeda priority
and is being executed outside Afghanistan.
As for any military organization, al-Qaeda’s
personnel services for combatants and their
families are vital both to maintain morale and
prevent disgruntled fighters or their families from
publicly denigrating the group or, worse,
providing information about it to the enemy.
After a decade of war with the United States, we
know little about how al-Qaeda’s personnel
services work. We do know, however, that no
individual has come forward in the media to
attack al-Qaeda for the treatment he or she
received from the group, nor have there been
intelligence leaks about an ill-treated al-Qaeda
fighter or family member providing information
that damaged group—data Western governments
surely would have leaked if it existed. On the
other hand, anecdotal accounts abound of
al-Qaeda providing health care and financial aid
to the families of fighters killed in battle or
absent on operations; doing everything possible
to provide special care such as prosthetic devices
for wounded fighters; and delivering monthly
stipends to families of imprisoned fighters. In
sum, al-Qaeda’s personnel services seem to help
maintain high morale and stubborn loyalty
toward the organization.
Propaganda
From al-Qaeda’s first day to the present, bin
Laden’s priority has been to incite and instigate
Muslims to support and participate in a defensive
jihad against the United States and its allies. He
and his lieutenants have spent large amounts of
money, time and imagination to build a
world-class media and propaganda apparatus.
Today, that apparatus is in full operation. Bin
Laden and Zawahiri appear on and dominate the
international media at times of their choosing. As
important, al-Qaeda’s multifaceted Internet
presence keeps its religious views, political and
ideological commentary, and news reports
constantly before its most important
constituency, the Muslim world’s
computer-literate middle- and upper-middle
classes.
Al-Qaeda also has used the Internet to
drastically reduce the need for would-be
mujahideen to travel to places like Afghanistan,
Yemen, or Sudan for training. By mounting
military and intelligence manuals on the Internet,
al-Qaeda has created a situation where training
can be conducted in virtually any country on
earth, thereby increasing the chance of evading
the eye of Western governments.
Conclusion
Al-Qaeda’s post-bin Laden effectiveness will, in
significant measure, depend on leadership
qualities of his successor. Realistically, there is
little reason to think a potential successor will
have the same credentials and talents that have
powered bin Laden’s leadership. Yet, his
successor may not need equivalent credentials
and talents. Al-Qaeda is now a well-established,
17-year-old firm; indeed, the parts of it that
developed from mechanisms that supported the
Afghans against the Soviets have been operating
for 25 years. In short, al-Qaeda is now what its
founders intended: a reliable, professional
organization that has demonstrated long-term
durability. Thus, bin Laden’s successor will
inherit a proven, well-functioning organization,
one that will give him time to grow on the job
without the need to spend most of his time
keeping the organization running.
Posted By: Jamestown
1983-2003 © The Jamestown Foundation
http://www.countercurrents.org/india-sikand311005.htm
Delhi Bomb Blasts And
The Lashkar's Jihadist Agenda
By Yoginder Sikand
31 October, 2005
Countercurrents.org
Responsibility for last week's deadly bomb blasts in Delhi has been claimed
by a little-known outfit the Islami Inqilabi Mahaz ('Islamic Revolutionary
Front'), said to be sponsored by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-i Tayyeba.
Ruthless terror is the hallmark of the Lashkar, fired as it is by an irrepressible
hatred of non-Muslims, whom it sees as, by definition, anti-Islam.
The Lashkar is the armed wing of the Markaz Dawat wal Irshad ('Centre for
Invitation and Instruction'), an organisation affiliated to the Ahl-i Hadith sect,
which follows a version of Islam almost identical with that of the Saudi
Wahhabis. It is today the single most powerful militant outfit operating in
Kashmir. Its involvement in Kashmir goes back to the early 1990s, when
Pakistan began patronising radical Islamist outfits to counter the influence of
the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front which had inaugurated the armed
uprising against Indian rule. The Front's agenda of an independent and
secular Kashmir was clearly not to the liking of the Pakistani establishment,
who saw in radical Islamist outfits a more reliable ally, with their opposition to
Kashmiri nationalism and their advocacy of Kashmir's union with Pakistan. In
setting up the Lashkar the late Abdullah Azam a close aide of Osama bin
Laden, then associated with the International Islamic University, Islamabad,
also played a key role. Funds for the organization are said to have come
from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan's secret services agency, the Inter Services
Intelligence.
Like other radical Islamist outfits, the Lashkar sees Islam as a perfect, all-
embracing system. Islam is said to govern all aspects life in the form of the
shari'ah. For the establishing of an Islamic system an Islamic state is seen
as necessary in order to impose the shar'iah as the law of the land. If such a
state were to be set up and all Muslims were to live strictly according to 'the
laws that Allah has laid down', then, the Lashkar argues, 'they would be able
to control the whole world and exercise their supremacy'. Since Muslims
throughout the world are members of a global ummah, the Lashkar insists
that there should be a single global Islamic state with one Caliph ruling over
all the faithful.
The struggle for the establishment of the Islamic state can take various
forms, peaceful as well as violent. Islam, the Lashkar says, is 'a religion of
peace and harmony', and seeks to 'eliminate mischief and disorder, and to
provide peace, not only to Muslims but also to the entire humanity'. However,
it stresses, Muslims are commanded to take to armed struggle, or jihad, to
defend their co-religionists suffering from the oppression of others. As the
Lashkar sees it, such a situation is said to prevail over much of the world
today. While jihad in defence of Islam and of Muslims labouring under
oppression is presented as a liberation struggle, it is also seen as a means
for Islam to 'prevail on this earth', for Islam is seen as the only true religion.
Armed jihad must continue, the Lashkar insists, 'until Islam, as a way of life,
dominates the whole world and until Allah's law is enforced everywhere in the
world'. Since Islam is meant for all peoples, the Islamic State must
spearhead a movement to spread Islam all over the world, so the Lashkar
believes. In the course of this struggle, it is expected that it will encounter
conflict with other states and their ideologies. The conflict can be resolved
through peaceful diplomacy, but, if that fails, then, the Lashkar argues, the
only course left open is armed jihad. In this sense, the Lashkar believes,
jihad is 'the foreign policy' of the Islamic State.
The subject of armed jihad runs right through the writings and
pronouncements of the Lashkar and is, in fact, the most prominent theme in
its discourse although it has traditionally not been included as one of the 'five
pillars' of the faith. Indeed, the Lashkar's understanding of Islam maybe
seen as determined almost wholly by this preoccupation, so much so that its
reading of Islam seems to be a product of its own political project. In the
writings and speeches of Lashkar spokesmen jihad appears as violent conflict
waged against 'unbelievers' who are said to be responsible for the oppression
of the Muslims. The Lashkar claims that 'There is so much emphasis on this
subject that some commentators and scholars of the Quran have remarked
that the topic of the Quran is jihad'.
The global jihadist programme of the Lashkar presents itself as a
'liberationist' project, basing itself on widespread feelings of discontent and
suffering among many Muslims. 'All Muslims', the Lashkar believes, are
oppressed today, by such 'enemies' as the Hindus, the Jews and Christians.
'Wherever you look, you will find that non-believers are everywhere trying to
enslave Muslims and destroy them', it argues. Hence, it says, Muslims must
form a 'solid bloc' to defend themselves from these 'enemies', and if all
peaceful means fail they must resort to armed jihad for their liberation. This
Muslim bloc, it suggests, should be led by both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia,
and have its headquarters at Mecca.
The Lashkar sees jihad as the secret of Muslim power in the past when much
of the known world was under Muslim rule, and it is argued that when Muslims
'abandoned jihad and other injunctions they began to degenerate'. In
Lashkar discourse, jihad is projected as a religious duty binding on all
Muslims today. Thus, it is claimed that the prevailing global situation warrants
all Muslims to be involved in some way or the other in jihad against
non-Muslim 'oppressors'. In this grand enterprise there are different roles for
different people to play. Muslims are promised that they would receive great
rewards, both in this world and in the Hereafter, if they were to actively
struggle in the path of jihad. Not only would they be guaranteed a place in
Heaven, but they would also 'be honoured in this world', for jihad is, according
to a Lashkar spokesman, also 'the way that solves financial and political
problems'.
The Lashkar sees its involvement in the armed struggle in Kashmir as only
one stage of a global jihad against the forces of 'disbelief', stopping at
nothing short of the conquest of the entire world. As Qari Abdul Wahid, former
amir of the Lashkar in Indian-administered Kashmir, puts it, 'We will uphold
the flag of freedom and Islam through jihad not only in Kashmir but in the
whole world'. Likewise, Nazir Ahmed, in-charge of the public relations
department of the Markaz, the Lashkar's parent body, declares that through
the jihad that the mujahidin have launched in Kashmir, 'Islam will be
dominant all over the world, Inshallah (God willing)'.
In Lashkar discourse the conflict in Kashmir is seen not as a territorial dispute
between India and Pakistan, but as nothing less than a war between two
different and mutually opposed ideologies: Islam, on the one hand, and
disbelief, on the other. This is portrayed as one chapter in a long a struggle
between the two that is said to have characterised the history of Hindu-Muslim
relations for the last 1400 years ever since the advent of the Prophet
Muhammad. The Prophet is claimed to have singled out India as a special
target for jihad, or so the Lashkar insists. 'Whosoever will take part in jihad
against India', Lashkar leader Muhammad Ibrahim Salaf claims that the
Prophet had declared, 'Allah will set him free from the pyre of hell'.
The Lashkar sees the roots of the Kashmir problem as lying in its Muslim
rulers having been replaced, first by the Sikhs and then by the Hindu Dogras
through British assistance. With India (the 'Hindus') having taken over
Kashmir in 1947, a long reign of bloody terror is said to have been unleashed
on the Kashmiri Muslims. This is seen as a direct and logical consequence of
the teachings of Hinduism itself, because, it is alleged, 'the Hindus have no
compassion in their religion'. Hence, the Lashkar argues, it is the duty of
Muslims to wage jihad against the 'Hindu oppressors', for, it insists, 'it is the
Hindu who is a terrorist'. All Hindus are tarred with the same brush, described
in such essentialist terms as 'terrorists', 'traitors', 'cowards', 'enemies', etc..
Thus, Lashkar chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed declares, 'In fact, the Hindu is a
mean enemy and the proper way to deal with him is the one adopted by our
forefathers, who crushed them by force. We need to do the same'.
India is a special target for the Lashkar. As Hafiz Muhammad Saeed argues,
'The jihad is not about Kashmir only. It encompasses all of India'. The
Lashkar sees the jihad as going far beyond the borders of Kashmir and
spreading through all of India. The final goal is to extend Muslim control over
what is seen as having once been Muslim land, and, hence, to be brought
back under Muslim domination, creating what the Lashkar calls 'the Greater
Pakistan by dint of jihad'. Thus, at a mammoth congregation in November
1999, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed declared, 'Today I announce the break-up of
India, Inshallah. We will not rest until the whole of India is dissolved into
Pakistan'. On the same occasion, Amir Hamza, senior Lashkar official and
editor of its Urdu organ, ad-Da'wa, thundered: 'We ought to disintegrate
India and even wipe India out'. Those who take part in this anti-Indian jihad
are promised that 'Allah will save [them] from the pyre of hell', and 'huge
palaces in paradise' await those who are killed in fighting the 'disbelieving
enemies'.
If indeed the Lashkar was behind the Delhi blasts, it indicates that these
bombastic anti-Indian and anti-Hindu appeals of the Lashkar are no empty
rhetoric and that it is deadly serious about its designs of exporting terror
beyond Kashmir into the rest of the country, inflaming Hindu-Muslim conflict
and making the solution to the Kashmir dispute even more intractable.
Off Topic, calling all gardners, I couldn't pass this one by and not share it.
I use coke and spoiled cooking oils in a narrow mouthed large coke bottle, to trap bugs with, you will be amazed how many crawl in and die.
Coke is also a good cleaner for corroded battery cables and will loosen stuck bolts and the nuts on them.
granny.......
http://www.countercurrents.org/glo-vidal091104.htm
Things Grow Better
With Coke
By John Vidal
09 November, 2004
The Guardian
Indian farmers have come up with what they
think is the real thing to keep crops free of bugs.
Instead of paying hefty fees to international
chemical companies for patented pesticides, they
are reportedly spraying their cotton and chilli
fields with Coca-Cola.
In the past month there have been reports of
hundreds of farmers turning to Coke in Andhra
Pradesh and Chattisgarh states.
But as word gets out that soft drinks may be bad
for bugs and a lot cheaper than anything that
Messrs Monsanto, Shell and Dow can offer,
thousands of others are expected to switch.
Gotu Laxmaiah, a farmer from Ramakrishnapuram
in Andra Pradesh, said he was delighted with his
new cola spray, which he applied this year to
several hectares of cotton. "I observed that the
pests began to die after the soft drink was
sprayed on my cotton," he told the Deccan Herald
newspaper.
Coca-Cola has had a bad year in India.
Other farmers in Andra Pradesh state accused the
company of over-extracting underground water
for its bottling plants and a government
committee upheld findings that drinks made in
India by itself and PepsiCo contained
unacceptable amounts of pesticide residue.
But Mr Laxmaiah and others say their cola sprays
are invaluable because they are safe to handle, do
not need to be diluted and, mainly, are cheap.
One litre of highly concentrated Avant, Tracer and
Nuvocron, three popular Indian pesticides, costs
around 10,000 rupees (£120), but one-and-a-half
litres of locally made Coca-Cola is 30 rupees. To
spray an acre would be a mere 270 rupees.
It is clearly not Coke's legendary "secret"
ingredient that is upsetting the bugs. The farmers
also swear by Pepsi, Thums Up, and other local
soft drinks.
The main ingredients of all colas are water and
sugar but some manufacturers add citric and
phosphoric acids to give that extra bite to human
taste buds.
Yesterday a leading Indian agriculture analyst,
Devinder Sharma, said: "I think Coke has found
its right use. Farmers have traditionally used
sugary solutions to attract red ants to feed on
insect larvae.
"I think the colas are also performing the same
role."
The properties of Coke have been discussed for
years. It has been reported that it is a fine
lavatory cleaner, a good windscreen wipe and an
efficient rust spot remover.
Uncorroborated reports from China claimed that
the ill-fated New Coke was widely used in China
as a spermicide.
Yesterday a spokesman for Coca-Cola in Atlanta
said: "We are aware of one isolated case where a
farmer may have used a soft drink as part of his
crop management routine.
"Soft drinks do not act in a similar way to
pesticides when applied to the ground or crops.
There is no scientific basis for this and the use of
soft drinks for this purpose would be totally
ineffective".
http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-gatade220805.htm
See RSS, Think Al
Queda!
By Subhash Gatade
22 August, 2005
Countercurrents.org
The RSS may call itself a cultural organisation,
but an established US think tank has virtually
equated it with Al Queda and some other outfits,
terming them "new religious movements (NRMs)
that have also emerged as sources of violence". ..
The report titled "Exploring Religious Conflicts"
says "NRMs can be found in Hinduism (the RSS),
Israel ( Gush Emunim), Christianity ( the US
based identity movement) and Islam, including Al
Queda, a global network with a transcendent
vision that draws support in the defence of
Islam"...
For the RSS, the adverse comment comes close
on the heels of the Virginia based Terrorism
Research Centre (TRC) declaring it a terrorist
organisation and lumping it with a number of
Jihadi and secessionist outfits.( Report by S.
Rajagopalan, Hindustan Times, delhi, dated 11 th
August 2005)
I
The recent report on 'religious conflicts' by the US
think tank RAND Corporation has definitely
brought a fresh spate of bad news for the
beleagured RSS which is passing through one of
its worst crisis since its inception. Ruthlessly
tearing apart its well cultivated and projected
image that it is a 'cultural organisation' the said
report virtually equates it with Al Queda and some
other outfits, terming them "new religious
movements (NRMs) that have also emerged as
sources of violence".
Labelling the RSS as "an ultra Hindu nationalist
movement" it clearly states that the RSS
espouses a "strong and militant religious
philosophy based on exclusivity and hate",
blames it for violence directed at Muslims and
Christians and reiterates that it remains a threat
to the idea of India as a secular state.
For the RSS, the report has been so devastating
that despite a section of the media going public
with the inferences of the study and its critics
raising the temperatures further, none of the
media savvy spokespersons of the Parivar have
dared to comment on it. It appears that the
Sangh bosses have preferred to adopt the much
tested maun vrata a vow of silence over this.
Looking at the genesis of this study which has
emanated from a conservative think tank which is
very close to the US establishment , the maun
vratam seems to be the best option before them.
Gone are the days when the RSS and its men,
which are part of the plethora of organisations
which it has built, were patting themselves on
their backs for effecting a paradigm shift in its
relation vis-a-vis the USA. Now forget paradigm
shift, within a span of a few months this is the
third time in a row that the Parivar and its men
have received rebukes either at the hands of the
US establishment itself or through those
institutions/peoples who are working closely with
it. It was only last September that the Virginia
based 'Terrorism Research Centre' a leading think
tank specialising in terrorism studies with due
help from the US government, declared RSS as a
terrorist organisation and lumped it with a
number of Jihadi and secessionist outfits. The first
quarter of this year witnessed the denial of visa to
Narendra Modi, the poster boy of the Sangh
Parivar which rather stopped him from going to
US for luring Non resident Gujaratis to invest in
the state. And now comes the RAND study which
tells us to have a relook at the commonalities
between RSS and Al Qaeda and the danger they
like many of their ilk present before humanity.
II
Formally the RAND Corporation may call itself a
'..nonprofit institution that helps improve policy
and decision making through research and
analysis' but nobody can deny the umbilical chord
which unites it with the US establishment. A
product of the cold war competition with USSR
and founded in the period of Mccarthysim in US
polity when intellectual witch hunt was at its
peak, the institution has down the years carved
out a niche for itself as a very reliable
conservative 'thinktank' for the US establishment.
May it be the Korean war or for that matter the
Vietnam (mis)adventure of the USA or the
present preoccupation of the Bush led
establishment towards 'war against terror' RAND's
policy recommendations have been reflective to
service to power and in the most recent period
has turned its attention to bring about “a
reformation in the Muslim world.”
A mere perusal of the present study 'Exploring
Religious Conflicts' makes it clear that it is
basically a summary of the workshops hosted by
the RAND National Security Research Division
with due financial help from the CIA. The
introduction makes it clear that it has been
undertaken to 'assess religious motivations in
international politics, what may cause violence
with religious roots and how states have sought to
take advantage or contain religious violence.'
Looking at the mess in which the US finds itself
today especially in middle east, a mess of its own
making, the present study suggests some ways
out. There is no denying the fact that the bulk of
the 84 page report brought out by RAND is mainly
focussed on this present preoccupation of the US
establishment namely the 'war against terror' or
Islamic extremism.
Interestingly although funded directly by the CIA,
the conclusions of the study are at variance with
the way the Bushes, Cheneys or the Rumsfields
have viewed the unfolding situation before them.
The world very well knows how the neo cons have
reformulated rules of US engagement in world
politics and have discovered the rule of
'preemptive strike' supposedly to contain the
'rogue states'. The present study frankly states
that the use of military force to combat cosmic
war could be counter productive. It cautions the
US from even aspiring to the military destruction
of the opponent, even in the long run. It advises
the U.S. policymakers to try to adjust their mental
map of relations with the Islamic world from one
based on a historic sense of “conflict” to thinking
of relationships along a continuum that
encompasses a wide range of issues.
It is worth noting that while the present report
suggests restraint, two of the earlier reports
brought out by RAND very much resonate with
the neo cons thinking. The report issued in March
2004 entitled "Civil Democratic Islam : Partners,
Resources and Strategies" written by some Cheryl
Benard recommended a civil war among the
various parts of the Muslim community with a
hope that the end result will be that those who
support the US world view would prevail through
its help. The 600 pages report issued in December
2004 entitled “ US strategy in the Muslim World
after 9/11 suggests that Sunni, Shiite and Arab,
non-Arab divides should be exploited to promote
the US policy objectives in the Muslim world.
Ofcourse to put the things in proper perspective
the study under discussion namely 'Exploring
Religious Conflicts' also discusses similar
'potential new religious movements (NRMs), even
violent ones, apart from those spawned by
Islamic radicalism.' and notes that if Islam has its
Al Qaeda, Christianity has US based identity
movement, Jews have Gush Emunim and
Hinduism has its RSS ( Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh). According to the study ".Sometimes
referred to as cults, NRMs have two defining
characteristics – a high degree of tension between
the group and its surrounding society and a high
degree of control exercised by leaders over their
members. There is a discernible proliferation of
NRMs across the global landscape. While they
have gotten most attention in the richer
countries, they are found everywhere, including
countries of the Third World and the Middle East."
Coming to the RSS the ultra Hindu nationalist
movement it says it "..[e]spouses a strong and
militant religious philosophy based on exclusivity
and hate. After the assassination of Gandhi in
1948, the movement was banned for a few years
by the Indian government because of its acts of
violence and terrorism and its exhortation to
followers to resort to terrorist methods in the
promulgation of its religious ideas. In the 1990s,
under the government led by the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), its role and influence in India grew
and continues to grow even today. During the
BJP’s tenure in political office....the RSS
continued to gain momentum and was engaged in
violence, particularly against what it viewed to be
threats against the Hindu state, namely Muslims
and Christians. .."
III
For layperson it may appear incomprehensible
this sudden 'dawning of wisdom' upon the
western world especially the USA vis-a-vis RSS. It
may appear puzzling to them that why till date
sharing the vision of 'anti communism' as a glue
the US and its think tanks have suddenly woken
up to the danger the RSS presents to India's
secular state.
The reasons are not far to seek. But before
delineating the possible reasons one needs to
note that these changes in the evaluation of the
RSS vis-a-vis US establishment are of a short
term nature. Strategically speaking the USA has
always looked towards the RSS as a force which
can counterbalance the communist forces in the
unlikely event that the democratic experiment
fails in India prompting greater intervention by
the reds in the polity. One can remember the
early 50s study of the Communist Movement in
India done by Overstreet and Windmiller which
was done at the behest of the CIA where they had
even put forward this hypothesis and had
underlined that RSS would act as a bulwark
against the Communist movement.
- The need for tactical or short term changes in
the evaluation of the RSS has arisen because of
the Iraq-Afghanistan imbroglio where the USA
finds itself in a mess of its own making. As the
present study makes it clear that the "..[U]S
foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly its
strong and unswerving support of Israel and its
current war against terrorism and “Islam,” have
made the United States an object of hate. ..the
United States is perceived as evil and out to
destroy Islam; it therefore must be fought in
order to defend the faith."
One route open before the US regime it to shed
its 'anti Islam' image is to make friends with
moderate Islamic regimes may it be Pervez
Musharraf led Pakistan or Hosni Mubarak led
Egypt. The second option before it is by
distancing itself from groups, organisations which
cherish ideological hatred towards Islam or detest
Muslims as a community. Definitely the RSS
which wears its anti minority image on its sleeve
and has no qualms in rationalising pogroms of
Muslims or breaking of mosques serves the
purpose well.
There is no doubt that a major factor which has
prompted the USA to undertake this reevaluation
is the recent changes in the Indian polity namely
the exit of a government led by the Sangh Parivar
diehards. And despite a long history of support
provided by the Sangh Supremos namely the
Golwalkars and the Deorases in times of cold war
and despite the fact that Vajpayee-Advani led
regime had unilaterally offered it support when
US launched its 'war against terror' The US
government and its affiliated institutions lost no
time in recalibrating their evaluation of the RSS.
If Virginia based TRC ( Terrorism Research
Centre) called RSS as a 'terrorist organisation' (
September 2004) and lumped it together with 31
other jihadi and secessionist organisations like the
Hizbul Mujahideen and the Jaish-e-Mohammad
operating in India , the US government itself
denied a visa to the poster boy of Sangh Parivar
Narendra Modi when he wanted to meet the Non
resident Gujaratis to appeal to them that invest in
Gujarat. And the latest dressing down has come
at the hands of RAND report which has equated it
with the likes of Al Qaeda. Indeed for a self
proclaimed cultural organisation, this hatrick of
sorts of a different kind within a span of mere ten
months, must be a world record.
The public opinion inside the US or for that matter
other western countries also created its own
pressure on the respective governments. We are
aware that apart from the international level
human rights organisations visiting Gujarat in
2002 to seek more details, many a teams from
western countries themselves visited Gujarat
state when the world at large became aware of
the pogrom undertaken by the nazi loving Parivar
people. People also knew how the ascendance of
BJP at the centre has also seen unleashing of
attacks against the Christians all over India. The
tragic burning of Graham Steins and his two sons
by criminals owing allegiance to the Hindutva
ideology had been witnessed by the world.
Many a business delegations also visited the
'model laboratory of Hindutva' namely Gujarat to
ascertain the safety of their invested capital. It
was clear that a state which could attract enough
capital because of its infrastructure and related
facilities suddenly saw drying up fresh
investments after the carnage 2002.
Ofcourse the important role played by the civil
society organisations inside USA especially the
role of the secular diaspora from south asia in
influencing the public opinion cannot be denied.
The important role played by them in highlighting
the Gujarat genocide which officially saw killings
of mainly 2,000 Muslims organised with due
connivance of the BJP led state machinery or the
way they led a massive campaign inside USA
where they exposed how by utilising the US
Corporate Philanthropy the Sangh people have
been channelising millions of dollars to Hate
groups in India also created an impact. (Times of
India, Nov 22, 2002).The Project Saffron Dollar
launched by intellectuals, students and other
professionals compelled many a respectable US
companies to even stop funding the innocuous
looking funding arm of the Sangh linked IDRF
(India Development and Relief Fund)
The secular activists also demonstrated the
sameness of the Hindutva inspired groups in USA
with the other fanatic groups as far as modus
operandi is concerned. They showed how a very
popular Hindutva web site'Hindunity.org' (
www.hindunity.org) engages itself in venomous
propaganda against minorities and has even
prepared a 'hit list' of individuals, organisations
which are opposed to the anti human agenda of
the Parivar. They also brought to the notice of the
authorities the close connection between the
Hindutva groups and Zionist groups and how they
have been coordinating their activites. When the
Hindutva.org website was compelled to
discontinue its operations by the service provider
because of its venomous postings, a zionist group
came forward to host it. Although in his famous
book 'We and Our Nationhood Defined' the RSS
supremo Golwalkar has supported Hitler for his
experiments in ethnic cleansing by targetting the
Jews his followers were found to be enjoying the
good company of the Zionists without any
reservation. The only common thing which
connected these groups is their common hatred
towards Islam.
IV
Prof Ram Puniyani had written an article 'Is RSS
A Terrorist Organisation' (Countercurrents.org
2 June 2005 ) immediately after the Terrorism
Research Centre's categorisation about the RSS
that it is a 'terrorist organisation' made headlines.
In this article he explained the indoctrination
work of RSS which goes on twin tracks, namely
physical and bauddik (mental) one.
He explained :" It is the latter which motivates its
progeny to incite people to take up arms and kill
the ‘other’, the ‘enemy’ in the ruthless fashion.
The anatomy of a riot, violence, is very interesting
and complex both at the same time. How the
average dalit, adivasi, worker with empty stomach
and non existent future is mobilized as the foot
soldier of RSS agenda, is something social
scientists have to explain. RSS pracharak may be
at the same time sitting and giving a quiet
discourse on Hindu values, Hindu rashtra while
RSS ideology will grip the section of population to
unleash violence, to kill the innocents. It does
achieve the political goal of consolidation of
section of Hindus behind RSS; it does make them
come back to power or strengthen its power. The
definition with which we began was killing of
innocents for power or political agenda is
terrorism. And that’s precisely what RSS work
does. "
Contrasting between the Ladens or the AK 47
wielding terrorists and the RSS volunteers he
rightly says that he may appear to be apostle of
quietness. According to him to get the minorities
beaten and killed without taking up the arms
oneself this is the wiliest and cleverest part of the
RSS operation. And he righly concludes "The
violence is leased out by clever social and
psychological manipulation. In that sense AK 47
may miss the target but a mind poisoned and
initiated by Hate ideology propagated by RSS will
come out as violence some time or the other, here
or there, it’s just a question of time. Culture, the
cloak of this organization is the most subtly
disguised cover for the terrorist goals of this
organization."
On KGO.com, radio news:
3 alarm fire in Mission District, a large propane tank exploded and also smaller ones, in an apartment house, the cause is said to be "unknown".
There was a minute ago, an alert that said it was a 500 gallon propane tank.
Thanks to God, no one was hurt.
Damage to the adjoining building also.
Several months ago, the same happened, except at the time I heard it on the news, no one owned the large tank or knew how it got there.
I think it is the story at the top of the first search, says large structure fire, but it crashed me.
http://www.google.com/search?client=googlet&q=3%20alarm%20fire%20in%20Mission%20District%2C%20California
Black Panther turns himself in:
http://news.google.com/news?client=googlet&q=3+alarm+fire+in+Mission+District,+California&sa=N&tab=wn
Another version of the Mission District explosion, the first one, this is the San Francisco area.
http://news.google.com/news?client=googlet&q=Propane+tank+explosion&sa=N&tab=wn
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&client=googlet&q=unknown+cause+of+Propane+tank+explosion&btnG=Search
http://www.google.com/search?client=googlet&q=Propane%20tank%20explosion