Davey, give hubby a sleeping pill, and get on his computer and listen to Gunny Bob on the computer.
850koa.com
It is all mexican border.
the senator Allard this morning, had a mexican flag on his official congress website..........gunny bob phoned and it was taken down while he was on the phone.
The office said that "an outside site" built the website.
Gunny Bob is hot and naming the senators, who refuse to come
on his program, after he called with questions on how they were voting......on the closing of the border.
Listen to him, it is worth it tonight.
Have you read the thread about Jill's return and her statements, Laura Mansfield wrote it and also a second article in post 29. The comments are all worth reading, as there are several opinions there....
granny
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1606615/posts?page=29
Transcript of the "Mujahideen of Iraq" with
American hostage Jill Carroll
http://www.lauramansfield.com ^ | March 30, 2006 | mujahideen of Iraq
Posted on 03/30/2006 9:52:52 PM MST by Calpernia
The following is a trancript of the video released this morning on the
internet by the "Mujahideen of Iraq", showing a pre-release interview
that the jihadis did with American hostage Jill Carroll.
The interview, conducted in English except for a brief portion at the
end, can be downloaded from
http://www.lauramansfield.com/j/jolkorl2.rm
Male speaker: Dear Carroll. We are from the mujahideen in Iraq.
(Jill Carroll nods her head)
Male speaker: Please we want to ask you some questions.
Jill Carroll: mmmK
Male speaker: How did the mujahideen treat you?
Jill Carroll: They treated me very well, they treated me very well. Like
a guest. I was given very good food, kept very safe, treated very, very
well,"
Male speaker: Did you think the American army or the CIA would save
you at any time?
Jill Carroll: I thought maybe they might. Sometimes I thought maybe
that they might come, they might find me, they might find a way to
know where I am and come, and come get me. I did think maybe they
might.
Male speaker: Why did not they save you?
Jill Carroll: Well, I think the mujahideen are very, are very, are very
smart and even with all the technology and even with all technologies
and all the people that the American army has here, they still are
better at knowing how to live and work here, and more clever, despite
all the technology of the American army, they are still more clever,
and better at being here than the American army, they are still better
at what they do.
Male speaker: Does this mean anything to you?
Jill Carroll: Well I think it makes it very clear that the mujahideen are
the ones that will win in the end, in this war, I think it makes it very
clear that even with thousands of troops and airplanes and tanks and
guns that that doesn't mean anything here on the ground in Iraq, I
think it shows over time, over time, maybe, however many months
are left in the Iraqi occupation, that its pretty clear that the
mujahideen are the ones that will have the victory at the end of the
day. It shows that no matter what the Americans try to say is
happening here, or try to do with all there weapons, they are
mistaken, the are not going to be able to stop the mujahideen here in
Iraq.
Male speaker: What will you tell the American people about the
mujahideen when you go back to America?
Jill Carroll: Well, first of all I want them to understand the mujahideen
truly. There are a lot of lies that come out of the American
government calling the mujahideen terrorists, I think it is important
that the American people hear from me that the mujahideen are only
trying to defend their country, it's only a jihad to stop an illegal and
dangerous and deadly occupation. I think its important to see that the
mujahideen are people like we've seen throughout history resisting an
occupation, trying to fight a foreign force in their land. It's their
country and they have a right to fight for their own freedom. So I
think, I want people to understand that. That its not people that like to
kill, not people that like violence, but people that love their country,
and that want to see their country free of occupation.
And also I want them to understand that the situation in Iraq in
general, how difficult it is here. People don't have electricity, they
don't have water. Children don't have good safe streets to walk in.
Women and children are always in danger here. Houses are always
destroyed. People are killed left and right in the street without any
reason, people die every day from the bombings and the shootings
that go on and all these things, so I think people need to understand
in American how difficult life is here for normal average Iraqis, how
every day is a matter of survival, life or death for most Iraqis and
thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of Iraqis have lot
their lives here because of the occupation. I think Americans need to
think about that and realize day to day how difficult life is how
terrifying it is for most people to live here every day under the
occupation.
Male speaker: Do you have a message for Mr. Bush.
Jill Carroll: (smiles, laughs, and nods her head) Yeah. He needs to
stop this war. He knows this war is wrong He knows it was illegal from
the very beginning. He knows that it is built on a mountain of lies and
I think he needs to finally admit that to the American people and make
the troops go home. And he doesn't care about his own people and he
doesn't care about the people here in Iraq. He needs to wake up and
the people in America need to wake up and tell him what he's done
here is wrong so hopefully somehow he'll get the message that this
war is wrong, that this continued occupation is wrong. That he can
change his policies. It's as dangerous for Iraqis as it is for Americans
and he needs to accept it and admit that to the people.
Male speaker: You have said the Mujahideen will win the war against
the American army.
Jill Carroll: Oh definitely, definitely. It is very clear to see even now
they are already winning every day there are soldiers killed, every day
humvees blown up, helicopters are shot down every day, it is very
clear the mujahideen have the skills and the ability and the desire and
the good reasons to fight and for sure they will win.
Male speaker: What do you feel now that the mujahideen are giving
you your freedom while there are still women in Abu Ghraib living in
very bad situations.
Jill Carroll: Well, I feel guilty honestly. I've been here, treated very
well, like a guest. I've been given good food, never, never hurt while
those women are in Abu Ghraib. Terrible things are happening to them
with the American soldiers are torturing them and other things I don't
want, I can't even say, so I feel guilty and I also feels it shows the
difference between the mujahideen and Americans, the mujahideen
are merciful and kind that's why I'm free and alive. The American
army they aren't. I feel guilty and I also feel that it just shows that
mujahideen are good people, fighting an honorable fight, a good fight
while the Americans are here as an occupying force treating the
people in a very, very bad way so I can't be happy totally for my
freedom, there are people still suffering in prisons and very difficult
situations.
It shows the difference between the mujahideen and the Americans, it
shows the mujahedeen are good people fighting an honourable fight
while the Americans are here as an occupying force treating the
people in a very bad way
Vel the 5 guys in the hospital, bombs and the Queen.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606576/posts
Four held in royal visit 'terror' alert [Attempt to
bomb the British Queen?}
The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | March 31, 2006 | By Nick Britten
Posted on 03/30/2006 8:23:39 PM MST by aculeus
Four men were being questioned last night under the Terrorism Act
after being arrested in a town 36 hours before a visit by the Queen.
Buckingham Palace said that the royal visit to Stafford this morning
will go ahead as planned, despite the security scare.
Armed police swooped on Stafford General Hospital on Wednesday
night after a 28-year-old man was taken in with what nurses believed
were injuries related to bomb-making equipment. They were also
concerned that four men who visited him were acting suspiciously.
As police surrounded the accident and emergency unit, the four
attempted to flee but were caught 100 yards from the main entrance.
No shots were fired.
The men, aged 24, 26, 27 and 30, were taken to a police station in
Staffordshire for questioning while the patient was removed to
Nottingham City Hospital, where he remained seriously ill.
He was under armed guard and tests were being carried out on him to
establish the exact nature of his injuries. A Staffordshire police
spokesman said: "We were contacted last night by staff at the hospital
who developed concerns about the 28-year-old who had been taken
there for treatment yesterday afternoon.
''There were concerns about the nature of his illness and what they
felt was the suspicious behaviour of four men with him."
He said police were piecing together "the full train of events", but said
there was "no evidence that a terrorist incident has taken place nor
that there is any specific threat to the area". The force was liaising
closely with the Anti-Terrorist Branch in London. They were also
keeping Buckingham Palace closely in touch with the inquiry.
One police officer said that the incident had "set nerves jangling".
It was unclear last night whether security will be tightened further,
especially as the Queen and Prince Philip are due to chat with
members of the public in the market square during a walkabout as
part of their visit to commemorate the town's 800th anniversary.
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of
Telegraph Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium
without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606665/posts
Virgin Mary tombstones full of drugs
CNN ^
Posted on 03/31/2006 1:23:00 AM MST by Avenger
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal agents on Thursday said they had
broken up a ring of drug smugglers who used tombstones featuring
the Virgin Mary to move hundreds of pounds of cocaine into the United
States from Mexico.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Gas leak linked to explosion
Rocky Mountain News - Denver,CO,USA
By Rocky Mountain News. A natural gas leak is suspected in an explosion that
destroyed two Winter Park town homes and damaged a third this morning. ...
See all stories on this topic
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4583606,00.html
[I have thought for several weeks that the surge of killings in the groups of 20 or 40 tortured bodies in Iraq, might be the killing of the gays in the country]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606961/posts
Death for 'Apostates' and 'Sodomists'
Assyrian News Agency ^ | 3-21-06 | Andrew G. Bostom
Posted on 03/31/2006 12:09:16 PM MST by jmc1969
Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the supreme religious authority for
Shi’ite Muslims in Iraq and an icon for Shi’a worldwide, has apparently
decreed that gays and lesbians should be put to death “in the worst
manner possible.” Confirmation of this claim is provided at Sistani’s
own official website, specifically this page, item 5, from a question and
answer section, which translates:
Q: What is the judgment on sodomy and lesbianism?
A: Forbidden. Those involved in the act should be punished. In fact,
sodomites should be killed in the worst manner possible.*
Al-Sistani has been lionized as a moderate healing force in Iraq,
worthy of consideration for a Nobel Peace Prize (such informal
“nominations” coming from across the political spectrum, i.e., both
the New York Times’ Tom Friedman). His frank “ruling” which
sanctions the brutal murder of homosexuals, in conjunction with the
good Ayatollah’s earlier pronouncements on the debasing
uncleanliness of non-Muslims (i.e., his adherence to the orthodox
Shi’ite doctrine of najis) might dampen his Nobel prospects—although
one can’t be too sure in our moribund contemporary world.
(Excerpt) Read more at aina.org ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1606972/posts
Jihad camp to be built in Iowa on U.S. government
land (ACLU OK With It)
Militant Islam Monitor ^ | 23-Mar-06 | Joe Kaufman
Posted on 03/31/2006 12:28:42 PM MST by Jay777
North Liberty, Iowa. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has signed a
lease for up to 25 years with a group that wants to build a Muslim
youth camp at Lake Coralville.
The lease allows the Cedar Rapids-based Muslim Youth Camps of
America to build on 114 acres of federal land. Construction can start
once the group works out details with county and state regulators, the
corps said Wednesday.
continued......
March 31, 2006 Anti-Terrorism News
(Iraq) 3 Die When Mortar Strikes Baghdad Street
http://interestalert.com/story/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/03310006aaa06753.ap&Sys=siteia&Fid=WORLDNEW&Type=News&Filter=World%20News
Earlier in the day, soldiers discovered the bullet-riddled bodies of
six men, aged between 25 and 30 and wearing handcuffs, in western Baghdad
(Australia) Trio questioned after anti-terrorism operation
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1606111.htm
Three men are being questioned after a counter-terrorism operation in
Melbourne.
(Australia) "Jihad Jack" Thomas jailed for five years
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18665257%255E12377,00.html
Australian Muslim Convert Joseph "Jack" Thomas, known as "Jihad Jack",
has been sentenced to five years in prison for receiving funds from
al-Qaeda.
(Israel) Terrorists clash with PA security forces in Gaza
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498776074&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Palestinian Miltiant Killed in Airstrike
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PALESTINIANS_EXPLOSION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL
A top Palestinian PFLP militant was killed on Friday in Gaza City,
hospital officials said, and witnesses said he died in an Israeli airstrike
on his car.
Hamas defends suicide bombing in West Bank
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12088641/
The Islamist group Hamas defended on Friday a suicide bombing that
killed four Israelis as "resistance" against Israeli "crimes"
(Israel) Arab Bomber Dressed as Jewish Hitchhiker Murders Three
http://www.arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=101204
West Bank - Terrorist from Fatah's Al-Aksa Brigade dressed as a Jewish
hitchhiker and blew himself up inside the car of those who picked him
up near Kedumim, in Samaria - murdering three Israelis.
Port security measures advance in Congress
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060330-111610-1769r.htm
(Ports) Cargo containers inspected at "staggeringly low" rate
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/2547056.html
Government efforts to thwart terrorists riddled with blind spots
(Moussaoui Trial) Al Qaeda thug jury gets ring of steel
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/404677p-342560c.html
Jurors deciding the fate of convicted Al Qaeda thug Zacarias Moussaoui
are under unprecedented security because of the potential threat from
his fellow extremists
Lebanon: Six Soldiers Not Linked to Al-Qaeda - Court Rules
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.282407154&par=0
Beirut military tribunal has acquitted six Lebanese soldiers and a
Syrian national of charges that they belonged to a group linked to the
al-Qaeda terrorist network
US, Australia warn of possible terrorists attack in Indonesia
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/March/theworld_March995.xml§ion=theworld&col=
The US embassy in Jakarta joined Australia on Friday in warning of a
possible attack against Westerners in Indonesia this Sunday.
(Bangladesh) Banks told to find militants' accounts
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=79333&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24
Bangladesh Bank (BB) has sent a list of 68 militants to all commercial
banks to locate any suspect accounts.
Canadian men accused of funding terror
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=b4dde067-d626-4832-842b-71641c2056ff
Justice Department charged 19 with allegedly selling smuggled
cigarettes and counterfeit Viagra and giving profits to Hezbollah
Congressmen Grill Swiss Bankers Over Ties to Bin Laden, Iran, Cuba
http://www.nysun.com/article/30062?access=853047
Congressmen accuse UBS of helping Iran's nuclear program, facilitating
Osama bin Laden, and refusing to respond to congressional inquiries -
see my March 28 post
Iraq: Radical Shiite Cleric Accuses US of Collaborating With Al-Qaeda
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.282202845&par=0
Intelligence lessons of 7/7 (UK)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4861528.stm
Committee of MPs investigating intelligence failure to stop July 2005
London bombings blames it on lack of resources, not errors of judgement
UK cell followed al Qaeda leader orders: witness
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-03-28T173617Z_01_L28355964_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SECURITY-BRITAIN-TRIAL.xml
Al Qaeda's number three ordered British terrorism cell not to pray in
public and to pose as Western tourists when they travelled to training
camp in Pakistan
Negotiated peace sought to end revolt in SW Pakistan
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP105905.htm
Provincial assembly in Baluchistan sets up panel of peacebrokers to
negotiate with tribal chiefs leading revolt
(UK Trial) Witness says he plotted to kill Musharraf
http://www.dawn.com/2006/03/31/top8.htm
US informant Mohammed Babar told a British court on Thursday he was
involved in two plots to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf and had
bought guns, ammunition and grenades to carry out the killing
(Kashmir) Hizb denies links with Al-Qaida, Taliban
http://www.kashar.net/kashmir/complete.asp?id=2715
Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman: “We’ve nothing to do with Al-Qaida or
Taliban and neither we are present in Waziristan."
Taliban Continue Attacks in Afghanistan
http://www.tribune-democrat.com/editorials/feeds/apcontent/apstories/apstorysection/D8GLTJ000.xml.txt/resources_apstoryview
Suspected Taliban militants killed district chief and three staff in
ambush in eastern Afghanistan
Over 250 terror attacks pre-empted in SCO countries in 2005
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=11488460
Over 250 terror attacks were pre-empted in countries of Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2005
Army arrests three in Ramallah and four in Gaza
http://www.imemc.org/content/view/17702/1/
Israeli army arrests Al-Aqsa Martyr brigade and Islamic Jihad
operatives
Cancer in its midst (column)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060329-084827-8739r.htm
Chairman of American Islamic Forum for Democracy on perversion of Islam
and CAIR's role in it
Iran tests missile able to avoid radar
http://interestalert.com/story/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/0331000caaa06753.ap&Sys=siteia&Fid=WORLDNEW&Type=News&Filter=World%20News
Explosive Devices Found in Minnesota Home
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EXPLOSIVES_BUST?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=ENTERTAINMENT
More than 110 explosive devices and more than 20 pounds of highly
explosive materials in a home, in what authorities say was part of a large
bomb-making operation
City releases 911 calls from Sept. 11, editing out cries for help
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NY_ATTACKS_911_CALLS_BAOL-?SITE=NYNYD&SECTION=MIDEAST&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Commentary: Defeating Jihad
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21872
[a post for study and research, no url, from a news group]
"Pappy" Taylor still feared
Reuters
Friday, March 31, 2006
By Nick Tattersall
Sierra Leoneans are glad to see Africa's most notorious war crimes
suspect, ex-Liberian leader Charles Taylor, behind bars but fear his
presence could trigger more violence and would prefer to see him tried
abroad.
The former warlord was flown, handcuffed and surrounded by U.N.
peacekeepers, to the Special Court for Sierra Leone on Wednesday, after nearly
three years in exile, to face war crimes charges over his role in the
country's 1991-2002 civil war.
The U.N.-backed court has asked the Netherlands to hold the trial in
The Hague, citing fears that keeping him in Sierra Leone could provoke
unrest there and in neighbouring Liberia, where supporters have
threatened trouble if he appears in court.
"We do not want Charles Taylor in this place. Charles Taylor is a
serious war criminal. There is no place for him in Sierra Leone," said
Abubakarr Sapatah, 38, an off-duty security guard in the center of the
sprawling capital, Freetown.
"We've just come from war. He still has supporters in Sierra Leone, in
Liberia, in Ivory Coast. We're worried they'll try to help him," said
Sapatah, who lost a sister and brother in the war and saw Taylor-backed
rebels hack the arms off two of his friends.
Taylor was flown to Sierra Leone by U.N. peacekeepers based in Liberia
and put into a cell block next to the courthouse guarded by a dozen
blue-helmeted Mongolian U.N. guards.
Armed Sierra Leonean police patrol the barbed wire fence around the
compound and a rapid reaction force of several hundred Irish and Swedish
U.N. peacekeepers are on standby in Liberia.
"They would come by land, sea and air and they would come very
quickly," said Special Court spokesman Peter Andersen.
"This is not something we just started thinking about last week."
BITTER MEMORIES
Despite the reassurances, few in Freetown can forget the day in January
1999 when Taylor's rebels attacked the capital, descending from the
hills at night, mutilating civilians despite the presence of West African
ECOMOG peacekeepers.
"People fear they will do it again to get Charles Taylor free. They do
not believe in the international security," said Mohamed Conteh, 32, a
Taxi driver who was in Freetown that day.
It would not be the first time Taylor had evaded capture. He escaped
imprisonment in the United States in the early 1980s reportedly by
cutting the bars on the cell window with a hacksaw and scaling the wall using
a knotted sheet.
After almost three years in exile in Nigeria, Taylor was arrested on
the run on Wednesday in a jeep packed with money, trying to cross the
border to Cameroon.
Famed for his charisma, 58-year old Taylor was known simply as "Pappy"
to a generation of West African child soldiers, many of them high on
drugs as they wielded their Kalashnikovs.
Even from behind the barbed wire of the court compound, his presence
still instills fear in many who recall his words: "Sierra Leone will
taste the bitterness of war."
"I felt alive when he arrived because he's a cruel man being brought to
justice, but our fear is mercenaries will intervene," said Mohamed
Mansarey, whose right knee was shattered by a rebel bullet and whose
parents were killed in the conflict.
A rare voice of dissent comes from among the group of mostly young men
standing around him on the street corner.
"Let him be judged here in order for him to explain what led him to
bring war here," said Frangie Jalloh, a farmer before the war, now forced
to beg after rebels sliced off his right arm.
"I have had my hand chopped off. What more am I afraid of? If there is
the chance I would like to go and see him myself."
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
March 31, 2006: Iran starts War Games dubbed "Holy Prophet" in
Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman
According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's war
games have kicked off despite the three earthquakes earlier today.
The IRNA report follows:
A joint maritime wargame, dubbed as Holy Prophet (PBUH), started here
Friday in the Persian Gulf waters.
Combatants from the navy and airforce of the Islamic Republic Army and
police, missile units of the air force and Basij (voluntary) forces
took part in the joint wargame.
Some 17,000 of combatants have taken part in the wargame, spokesman of
the wargame Vice-Rear Admiral Mohammad Ibrahimi Dehghani said on
Friday.
Over 1,500 gunboats along with all types of fighters, bombers and
choppers have taken part in the wargame, he pointed out.
One unit of Shahab 2 missile is to be launched to resemble peace and
friendship among littoral states of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, he
said.
During the wargame various anti-offensive operations,
telecommunications, satellites, reconnaissance patrols and electronic systems are to be
conducted against the hypothetical enemies.
The wargame would be concluded on April 6.
[part 1]
The roots of jihad
Author: David_IL
Date: 19-03-06 07:34
PARIS - Friends and supporters of Al-Afif al-Akhdar are convinced: the life of the veteran fighter for
secularism and democracy in the Arab world is in danger. A year ago, the Tunisian Islamic movement
Al-Nahdha, which is persecuted by the authorities in its country, condemned him as the author of the
scandalous book "The Unknown in the Prophet's Life." A Tunisian citizen, Akhdar has for decades been waging
a stubborn campaign to expose the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism, including those espoused by Sheikh
Rashed al-Ghanoushi, the leader of Al-Nahdha, who has been in exile in London since 1991. In an unsigned
declaration on its Internet site, Al-Nahdha referred to Akhdar, without naming him.
Two years earlier, the fingers of Akhdar's right hand became paralyzed, and the paralysis gradually spread
almost to his whole body. He published the details of his illness in order to explain why he had stopped
writing. Akhdar and his supporters are convinced that Sheikh Ghanoushi backed the declaration, even if he
did not write it himself, which speaks of divine punishment being inflicted on the "true author" of the
book that vilifies the prophet Mohammed.
In response to the declaration, which was construed as a fatwa condemning Akhdar to death, the Arab
organization for the Protection of Freedom of Expression and the Press organized a petition "against
obscurantist religious extremism," which called for the protection of Akhdar's life and freedom. Within two
months, the petition was signed by more than 600 intellectuals and academics, most of them Arabs. Akhdar,
who in the meantime regained his capacity for movement thanks to medical treatment (though he is still
unable to write, because his fingers remain too stiff), recently contacted the London solicitor Daniel
Machover about the possibility of taking legal action against Sheikh Ghanoushi.
It was not by chance that he turned to Machover, an expert in international law who gained fame last year
when he tried to bring about the arrest of an Israeli officer, Major General (res.) Doron Almog, who had
just landed in London, on suspicion that he had perpetrated war crimes while serving in the Gaza Strip.
Akhdar wants Islamic terrorists to get the same treatment as people who have committed crimes against
humanity. In October 2004 he was one of three Arab intellectuals who asked the UN secretary-general and the
Security Council to establish an international tribunal to try such terrorists, including clerics who issue
fatwas for the liquidation of "infidels."
Machover is the son of Prof. Moshe Machover, one of the founders of the radical socialist organization
Matzpen, which was active in Israel in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1970s and 1980s, Akhdar and Moshe
Machover were members of a collective of Arab and Israeli revolutionaries who published the journal Khamsin
in Paris and afterward in London. Already then, Akhdar had identified the danger inherent in Islamic
fundamentalism and assailed the support of many left-wing activists for the "anti-imperialist" Islamic
revolution in Iran. In 1981 Hamsin published an article by him entitled "Why the Reversion fo Islamic
Archaism?" In the search for an analysis of the motivations and origins of Islamic terrorism following the
events of September 11, 2001, the article was republished on several anarchist and left-wing Web sites. The
article is signed Lafif Lakhdar, the author's user-friendly name for non-Arabs.
An Arab Spinoza
Akhdar, who is 72, conducts his struggle from an apartment in a poor Paris neighborhood, many of whose
residents are immigrants. He lives alone, "but with my 4,000 books I don't feel alone." Until 2002 he wrote
a weekly article for the London-based Arabic paper Al-Hayat, but was fired after he gave an interview to Al
Jazeera in which he condemned the barbarism of the corporal punishments that are meted out in Saudi Arabia,
such as amputation of limbs.
Since then, only a few Arab Web sites agreed to publish his articles, mainly Ilaf, a liberal Arabic Web
site whose owner pays him a modest monthly salary. Still, says Akhdar, whose first name, Al-Afif, means
"the modest one," his economic situation now is better than it was during most of his life. Just a few
years ago he was on the brink of starvation and traveled to the center of Paris every day (pensioners can
ride the Metro free) to have a free hot meal in a "restaurant for the poor."
His supporters believe that he deserves a great deal more. Dr. Shaker al-Nabulsi, a Jordanian researcher
who three months ago published (in Beirut) a book entitled "The Devil's Advocate," the first comprehensive
study of Akhdar's thought, wrote an ironic article about Arab society, which worries about ill and aging
singing stars but ignores the misery of an intellectual of Akhdar's stature. The article likens Akhdar to
the "prophet of liberty," Thomas Paine, who fought for human rights and secularism in the American War of
Independence and in the French Revolution. Yigal Carmon, head of the Washington-based MEMRI Institute,
which studies the Middle East media - the institute has translated and published several of Akhdar's
articles - likens him to Spinoza, who like him was persecuted and ostracized because he insisted on
grounding his thought, including his critique of religion, on reason.
"If we were living in a normal world, the entire world left would acclaim him," Carmon says. "He is an
amazing person, deeply immersed in Arabic and French culture, an intellectual with broad, diverse and
up-to-date knowledge, not only in philosophy, Islam and history, but also in psychology, and he is
thoroughly humane. The French, or the Europeans in general, who are coping with problems of immigration,
should have placed him at the head of an advisory council on integration, where he could explain, educate
and serve as a role model."
Akhdar, who is completely immersed in his present struggles, objects to the focus on him and his life.
"Seven lines are enough to present me to readers in Israel," he says. "It is far more important to
concentrate on explaining the dangers that inhere in jihadist Islam."
He was born to a poor Muslim family of fellahin; they lived in a hovel 13 kilometers from the nearest
village. Seven of his eight brothers and sisters died in childhood (his only surviving brother is a lawyer
in Tunisia). Apart from half a year in a French school, which was shut down during World War II, he
received no formal education, only Koran studies in the village, and he chose a religious university
because it was tuition-free and offered free lodgings and a modicum of food. ("For two weeks during the
religion lessons, I secretly read Darwin.') He then studied law and afterward worked for three years as a
lawyer.
In 1958 he represented an opponent of the regime who was convicted and executed. The authorities then
issued an order restricting Akhdar's movement. In 1961 he fled Tunisia with the help of Algerian freedom
fighters and spent nearly 20 years wandering the world using forged passports. He became a socialist in
Algeria ("First of all from the gut, because of the hunger - I didn't understand why others had and I
didn't - and then I found philosophical justification for the message of egalitarianism"). He was close to
Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella, and was present at the meeting of Abu Jihad and Che Guevara, but in
1965 had to flee Algeria after Ben Bella was deposed in a military coup.
He spent some time in Germany, both East and West, and visited the Middle East, where he formed an
unfavorable impression of the Baath regime in Syria, in part because of its attitude toward the Jewish
community. In 1968 he was a guest of the Fatah leadership in Amman, which housed him in the same apartment
as Yasser Arafat, rather than in a hotel, in order to protect him from Algerian intelligence agents. Over
the years he has incurred the wrath of nearly every Arab regime, and thus the danger of death is nothing
new to him. He has also been highly critical of the "progressive" national movements and of the Arab
Communist parties, which supported dictatorial regimes of oppression and feared to confront the clerics.
"He is in the vanguard," says Prof. Emmanuel Sivan, an expert in Islamic history from the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem, who corresponds regularly with Akhdar and visited him during his illness. "Earlier, he was in
the vanguard with regard to the Marxist camp and now, after the turnabout he experienced, he is in the
vanguard of the Arab liberal camp. He takes sacred cows and deals with them. He was the first who dared to
compile and publish in Arabic everything Lenin wrote about religion, and thus drew the enmity of the Arab
Communist parties. He was also one of the first who acknowledged the need to study Israeli society
methodically, and in recent years he has written much about what can be learned from Israeli democracy."
Akhdar was soon disappointed in the Fatah leaders, some of whom were influenced by the ideas of the Muslim
Brothers. "Abu Jihad told me that there is no chance of overcoming Israel by force of arms, but 'if enough
Palestinians are killed maybe the world will hear about us.'" He was far more impressed by Nayef Hawatmeh,
founder of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. "Hawatmeh argued that the only
justification for forming a fighting force is to topple the Arab regimes," he says. "He convinced me.
Hawatmeh also contributed a great deal to the entrenchment of the idea that the Israeli people and its
rights must be recognized, and of the need to arrive at a compromise with Israel, but since then there was
a great regression in his attitude toward the armed struggle."
Akhdar spent the next few years between Paris and Beirut, with a foray to socialist South Yemen. The civil
war in Lebanon induced him to stay in Paris for good. At the end of the 1970s he received a Tunisian
passport again, and for the first time in years emerged from the underground. He retranslated the Communist
Manifesto into Arabic, based on the German source (he insisted that the cover declare that it is "the first
genuine translation" and found a publisher only in the Israeli radical left), to which he appended a sequel
of his own, "The Origins of the Arab Bourgeoisie." Some readers discerned a Koranic influence in his
writing, to which he admits: "I integrate the poetic spirit of the early parts of the Koran, which are all
poetry, with the logical, spare and synonym-less structure of the French sentence."
During this period, he met the Israeli writer Shimon Ballas in Paris. In 1984, Ballas published his novel
"Last Winter," in which one of the protagonists is based on Akhdar. In the novel he is called Bashir
Halimi, a revolutionary of Moroccan origin.
Terror from Islam
The book that reveals "secrets" from the life of Mohammed, which was written by a certain Dr. Al-Makrizi -
though Al-Nahdha accused Akhdar of being the author - can be read in Arabic on a Christian Web site. A
perusal of the book shows clearly that its goal is to "prove" to Muslim believers that Mohammed is not
exactly the prophet who appears in their sacred writings and to persuade them to join the "true religion,"
namely Christianity. "The book was apparently written by an anti-Muslim Christian Egyptian who is not very
smart," Akhdar says. "It is Christian religious propaganda. How can they accuse me, when they say I am a
secular infidel atheist, of writing such a book? Am I a stupid Christian?"
And does the real author deserve to be the subject of a fatwa?
"No. The culture should be free, and every artist and every researcher should be free to write about all
religions without any restriction."
Does that include the Danish cartoonist?
"Yes. It includes humor and satire. In the history of Islam you have the poet Abu Nawas, who joked about
the Koran. He wrote, for example, "Your Lord did not say woe to the drunkards / But woe to the worshipers."
That is a secular principle: separation between religion and politics, and between religion and artistic
and literary creation, and between religion and scientific research. This is the greatest achievement of
modernity. The clerics must not be allowed to intervene in these matters.
"As for the cartoons, one has to see which Arab and Islamic forces protested the affront to Mohammed and
used it for their purposes. Syria was the first country to recall its ambassador from Denmark - the same
Syria which in 1982 killed 30,000 'Mohammeds' at Hama. Its protest intended to make people forget its
responsibility for the assassination of [former Lebanese prime minister Rafik] Hariri. Iran is the same
Iran that prevents the Sunnis in Tehran from building a mosque. It protested in order to divert attention
from its nuclear program.
"Saudi Arabia is the same Saudi Arabia that, as part of its plan to turn Mecca into a modern city, decided
to demolish the building in which Mohammed married Khadija - a rare historic site - in order to build a
public lavatory in its place. It protests in order to make [Muslims] forget its war against Al-Qaida.
Sheikh Yusuf al-Kardawi, who stirred up the Arab world against the cartoon in his television program on Al
Jazeera, did what all the Islamic movements did: He used the protest against the cartoon in order to show
Muslims why it is necessary to break relations with the 'infidels' and in order to foment an interreligious
war.
"One has to see who is using the cartoon for his purposes. The workers? The fellahin? No. It is those who
are demolishing Mohammed's house and protesting a cartoon."
Many Muslims are protesting the identification of Mohammed, and hence of Islam as such, with terrorism. Is
terrorism in fact ingrained in Islam?
"This is what the Islamists themselves say, like the spiritual mentor of Ayman al-Zawahiri , who is not
second in importance in Al-Qaida, but first in terms of religious law, as well as planning and thought. His
mentor is Sheikh Abed al-Qadr bin Abed al-Aziz (whose real name is A-Sayed Imam Abed al-Aziz a-Sharif), who
asserted, 'Terror is from Islam and anyone who denies this is a heretic'. He and others rely on a few
verses from the Koran, and I will give you, as an example, only one of them, from the Surah of the Spoils
of War [Surah 8:60]: 'Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds
of war, to strike terror into [the hearts of] the enemies of Allah and your enemies' [translation from
Abdullah Yusuf Ali, "The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an"]."
On what, then, do Muslims who deny the identification of Islam with jihad and terrorism rely on?
"There are two Islams from the period of Mohammed. There is Meccan Islam [referring to Mohammed's period in
Mecca], which is a 'Christian' Islam - that is, under Christian influence - and is essentially
peace-seeking. The use of violence, even for self-defense, was prohibited. In this Islam, jihad was
prohibited. This Islam was the basis for the mystical Sufi movement.
"When Mohammed was forced to move from Mecca to Medina, a second Islam - jihadist Islam - was born. And it
is this Islam that the contemporary terrorists have adopted. To justify the passage from the 'conciliatory'
peace of Mecca to the militant peace of Medina, Mohammed told the Muslims that jihad is permissible only
for self-defense [Surah of The Pilgrimage - Surah 22:39]: 'To those against whom war is made, permission is
given [to fight], because they are wronged.' Mohammed was wronged - he was expelled from Mecca, and the
purpose of the defensive jihad is to enable his return.
"Medinaist Islam is terrorist Islam. Sheikh Yusuf al-Kardawi says that terrorism in Islam is positive and
should be welcomed. Here he is drawing in part on verse 12 in the Surah of the Spoils of War: 'I will
instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: Smite ye above their necks and smite all their
fingertips off them.' Osama bin Laden, in a speech on the occasion of Id al-Adha in 2003, said that it is
best to follow the blessed terror about which al-Kardawi speaks."
Is there anything that can be done so that Meccan Islam will be strengthened and overcome Medinaist Islam?
"My answer is my plan for the reform of Islam, a reform of the Islamic discourse, of religious education,
the religious media, the sermons in the mosques, and so forth. The plan is to remove from the textbooks all
the violent and jihadist verses and leave them only in the source, in the holy writings."
Censorship?
"To a certain extent, yes. In Tunisia, this has been done since 1999. The plan is that instead of the
violent verses, schoolchildren will be taught the universal verses of peace which exist in the Mecca
period. For example, Verse 62 of the Surah of the Heifer, which says, 'Those who believe [in the Koran],
and those who follow the Jewish [Scriptures], and the Christians and the Sabians, any who believe in Allah
and the Last Day and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear,
nor shall they grieve.' And there are another two similar verses. The sages of the Sharia all said that
these are 'annulled' verses. We have to annul the annulment of these three verses and declare that it is
the verses against the Jews and the Christians that are 'annulled.'
"The plan I proposed includes the introduction of modern sciences in the institutions of religious
education, as well as comparative history of the religions and psychology and sociology of the religions,
so that students will be able to understand the religious text in terms of modern logic. And also courses
in philosophy and human rights, in order to instill modern values into Islam, in which there are now only
values of permitted-prohibited.
"Several Arab regimes have already begun to implement this plan, or parts of it. In Morocco, for example,
philosophy is now being taught in high schools. In Algeria, a year after I sent an open letter to President
Bouteflika, calling on him to eliminate Sharia instruction in high-school education, a law in this spirit
was enacted last October. And in October 2005, Libya, too, canceled the teaching of jihadist Islam and of
the verses that justify violence."
The ambush of history
Many are convinced that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is one of the major
reasons for Islamic terrorism. Is this so?
"Not at all. People who say this, including experts on whose opinions Western decision-makers rely, do not
truly understand the theology of Islamic terror. What are the goals of the terrorism perpetrated by
Al-Qaida? Zawahiri described this clearly in his book, 'Horsemen under the Prophet's Banner,' which he
effectively wrote as his last testament shortly before the terrorist offensive of September 11 (he was
certain that after the attack the United States would liquidate all of them).
"Here is what he wrote, on pages 327-328: 'The jihadist movement must strive for the Islamic nation to take
part with it in its jihad, and the Islamic nation will not take part as long as the masses of the Islamic
nation do not understand the slogans of the Mujahideen.' And he adds, 'Therefore the jihadist movement is
obliged to abandon the limitation of going into the fray solely under these slogans - al-hakimiya, al-walaa
and al-baraa' - meaning religious rule based on the Sharia, Islamic religious law; forging ties with
believers only; and total and immediate severance from the unbelievers.
"The goal of Islamic terror, then, is to establish a state that will implement the Sharia and divorce
itself completely from the infidels - from their religions, their customs, their dress, their institutions,
their sciences and their values.
"But al-Zawahiri is smart and is aware of the reality. 'Regrettably,' he writes, 'these slogans are not
comprehensible to the masses of the nation, who do not find within themselves readiness to sacrifice for
slogans they do not understand, even if the slogans are one hundred percent correct.'"
What solution does he propose?
"He knows that a great deal of time is needed before the masses will understand these slogans. However, he
writes, 'It is clear that our enemies will not give us all the time we need to educate the nation.' What,
then, is to be done? His answer: 'To our slogans [as listed above] we must add other slogans, which are
understandable to the masses of the Islamic nation, and instead of viewing them as being of secondary
importance, we must move them forward so that they take their place at the forefront' - on the same level
as the three original slogans."
What are the additional slogans he promotes?
"'The slogan that the Islamic nation has understood well for 50 years,' he writes. 'This is the slogan of
the call for a jihad against Israel.' You have to understand, for him this is a second-rank goal and its
use is solely as a Machiavellian means: If we tell them that the goal is a Muslim state that will amputate
thieves' hands, they will say no, but this goal is clear and simple.
"Another slogan that Zawahiri promotes is the liberation of the Islamic holy places in Saudi Arabia from
the American military presence in the Arabian Peninsula, and in Jerusalem from the presence of the Israeli
army. The liberation of Palestine is not the central goal of the terror, but the struggle for it helps the
terrorists recruit Muslims for the jihad against the Jews and against the 'Crusaders.' In contrast to the
left, they hate neither American imperialism nor Zionism; they hate the Christians and the Jews. Not
because of what the Jews and the Christians are doing to the Muslims, but only because they are Christians
and Jews who did not accept the true faith, Islam."
Is this also true of the Palestinian Islamic organizations, such as Hamas?
"Yes. True, Hamas asserts that its goal is the liberation of Palestine to the last clod, and its
transformation into Islamic Waqf [charitable trust] of all the Muslims in the world. This is undoubtedly an
unattainable goal, but its role is to mobilize the Palestinians and the Islamic nation for a jihad against
Israel and against its allies in the West.
"Incidentally, al-hakimiya, al-walaa and al-baraa are the foundation in the theology of all the Islamic
movements of the modern period. For example, Rashed al-Ghanoushi, in his book 'The General Freedoms in the
Muslim State,' says that Ibn Taymiyya viewed hatred of the infidels as a basic goal of the Islamic Sharia.
And this Ibn Taymiyya, who lived in the 14th century, is THE sheikh of the modern Islamic terrorists. And
who is an infidel? Not only those who believe in other religions. Ibn Taymiyya stated that the Shiites are
infidels, and he was the first to state that the Sufis are infidels, and the philosophers are infidels, and
in short anyone who departs a little from what true Islam views as the right path is declared an infidel."
We will return, with your permission, to Hamas.
"And to terrorism. Contrary to the declared goal of Hamas, the establishment of a Palestinian state in the
West Bank and Gaza can be realized, but its establishment will pull the ground from under the excuse for
terrorism (the liberation of Palestine), so that Hamas will be left only with the three slogans, which the
Islamic nation does not understand."
Taking into account the Hamas Charter, is there any prospect that this movement will reach a settlement
with Israel?
"The Hamas Charter is taken from the theology of Islamic Jihad. When Hamas announced the possibility of a
long-term hudna [cease-fire] with Israel, Western commentators, who are unfamiliar with jihadist theology,
wrote that Hamas had become more moderate. That is a foolish diagnosis. Bin Laden recently offered the
United States a long-term hudna - so has he become moderate, too?
"Like bin Laden, Hamas took this straight from the jihad theology. What does this theology say? When the
Muslim army is weak and is in an inferior position, it must ask for a hudna of three-four years in order to
exploit the time to strengthen itself. This is the 'long term' of jihad."
Is it possible to persuade the Hamas leadership to conduct peace negotiations with Israel?
"It is difficult. In such a case, jihad theology will view the Hamas leaders as heretics, because that
theology prohibits the ceding of even an inch of Muslim land to infidels. After the Oslo accord, Rashad
a-Ranoushi issued a fatwa in which he declared Arafat and the PLO leadership infidels and [said] that all
the sages of Islam view as a criminal anyone who cedes one iota of the soil of Palestine. But reality is
stronger than the Koran, and I have no doubt that the more rational of the Hamas leaders will deviate from
that religious law and accept Israel's existence."
So you also see a positive aspect in the Hamas electoral victory?
"Yes. History has laid an ambush for Hamas. The Hamas movement did not want to win, it wanted to be the
second most important force, after Fatah, and to delay the implementation of the 'road map.' After the
victory, the movement finds itself in a situation in which it must choose: either it forgoes its charter,
and the jihad, in order to negotiate with Israel, or the Palestinian people will forgo it."
Is there also a democratic lesson here - there is no need to seize power by force, there is the possibility
of winning at the polls?
"The Islamists are against democracy. For them, the legitimacy of government derives from Islamic religious
law, not from elections."
If Hamas loses the next elections, will its people give up power?
"Giving up power is forbidden in Islam: the ruler rules until his death. Hamas will not be ready for an
exchange of government as a result of an election loss, but in the end this will be decided by the balance
of power that will prevail at the time; it will depend on the true power that will accrue to the winning
side."
The president of the United States says that jihadist terror is the greatest threat to world peace. Do you
agree?
"Islamic terror is a great enemy of humanity, but so is rampant capitalism. The world is being managed
without wisdom and humanity is in constant danger of an ecological disaster, a nuclear disaster and a
biological disaster.
"Capitalism is a necessary historical stage. At first it was wild and left many victims in its wake. As a
result, a counter-movement arose, which succeeded in 'taming' it by stages, in 'civilizing' its barbarian
impulses. Now it is running wild again and we must fight to tame it anew."
Once you believed that the workers and their allies would succeed in toppling capitalism in a socialist
revolution.
"Today I think this is not possible. What will apparently happen is that capitalism will gradually change,
by itself and under pressure from its opponents, and will become something else. The workers do not want a
dictatorship of the proletariat, but they do want to receive services and commodities free. We have to
struggle for free health [care], free bread and milk (every year surpluses of milk are dumped - why not
distribute it to hungry children?), free culture, free public transportation."
There is a Belgian city that has already introduced free public transit.
"Really? That is very interesting. Michel Jobert, the foreign minister under Pompidou, told me that in 1970
the minister of transportation said that it was possible to run the Paris Metro for free, and it would cost
the government less. What did President Pompidou say to that? 'No, if we give them the Metro free they will
demand bread and milk free, too.'
"To this we have to add the change in democracy that is made possible by the media and communication
revolution, from a democracy of elected representatives over whom the voters have no supervision after
their vote and who can break their promises, to direct democracy, in which more and more decisions will be
made in referendums."
So you have changed your mind?
"Certainly. In the Muslim Arab culture you have to hold the views of your tribe and your religion, which
were set in previous generations, and you must not think for yourself or change your opinion. Every day I
read 70 pages of philosophical and scientific writing, and I change 70 times under the influence of the
facts and ideas I encounter. And then I am asked, 'Why did you say one thing 20 years ago and something
different now?'
"In the eyes of the Muslim Arabs, an intellectual is a kind of prophet, whose words are absolute truth. I
am not a prophet, I am a researcher of society. And science - what, really, is science? It is a mistake
that was corrected, a mistake that needs to be corrected. Very soon I will perhaps make a new correction."
[the end and urls]
http://albawabaforums.com/read.php3?f=3&i=155679&t=155679
So you have changed your mind?
"Certainly. In the Muslim Arab culture you have to hold the views of your tribe and your religion, which
were set in previous generations, and you must not think for yourself or change your opinion. Every day I
read 70 pages of philosophical and scientific writing, and I change 70 times under the influence of the
facts and ideas I encounter. And then I am asked, 'Why did you say one thing 20 years ago and something
different now?'
"In the eyes of the Muslim Arabs, an intellectual is a kind of prophet, whose words are absolute truth. I
am not a prophet, I am a researcher of society. And science - what, really, is science? It is a mistake
that was corrected, a mistake that needs to be corrected. Very soon I will perhaps make a new correction."
When we met in Paris 25 years ago, you told me that you would like to visit Israel in order to participate
with the workers in their struggle. In Shimon Ballas' book, too, the character based on you plans to go to
Israel, but in order to study Hebrew. What prevents you from visiting?
"Now, the illness. Because of my support for a compromise with Israel, I am occasionally asked, 'If the
government of Israel were to invite you to visit, what would you do?' And I reply: a government has to
invite a prime minister, a minister or a politician, not me. But if I receive an invitation from the civil
society, from nongovernmental organizations, I will not reject it. In any event, if you succeed in reaching
peace and the establishment of a Palestinian state, I will try to come even if I am very sick, in order to
celebrate with you and with the Palestinians."
Source
http://tinyurl.com/n7ask
Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
http://albawabaforums.com/read.php3?f=3&i=157401&t=157401
On Islamic threat
Author: David_IL
Date: 28-03-06 11:55
The Islamic threat is greater than German and Soviet threats were
Only four types of individuals can deny the threat to civilization posed by the violence-supporting segment
of Islam: the willfully naive, America-haters, Jew-haters and those afraid to confront evil.
Anyone else sees the contemporary reality -- the genocidal Islamic regime in Sudan; the widespread Muslim
theological and emotional support for the killing of a Muslim who converts to another religion; the absence
of freedom in Muslim-majority countries; the widespread support for Palestinians who randomly murder
Israelis; the primitive state in which women are kept in many Muslim countries; the celebration of death;
the "honor killings" of daughters; and so much else that is terrible in significant parts of the Muslim
world -- knows that civilized humanity has a new evil to fight.
Just as previous generations had to fight Nazism, communism and fascism, our generation has to confront
militant Islam.
And whereas there were unique aspects to those evils, there are two unique aspects to the evil emanating
from the Islamic world that render this latest threat to humanity particularly difficult to overcome.
One is the number of people who believe in it. This is a new phenomenon among organized evils. Far fewer
people believed in Nazism or in communism than believe in Islam generally or in authoritarian Islam
specifically. There are one billion Muslims in the world. If just 10 percent believe in the Islam of Hamas,
the Taliban, the Sudanese regime, Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism, bin Ladin, Islamic Jihad, the Finley Park Mosque
in London or Hizbollah -- and it is inconceivable that only one of 10 Muslims supports any of these groups'
ideologies -- that means a true believing enemy of at least 100 million people. Outside of Germany, how
many people believed in Nazism? Outside of Japan, who believed in Japanese imperialism and militarism? And
outside of universities, the arts world or Hollywood, how many people believed in Soviet-style
totalitarianism?
A far larger number of people believe in Islamic authoritarianism than ever believed in Marxism. Virtually
no one living in Marxist countries believed in Marxism or communism. Likewise, far fewer people believed in
Nazism, an ideology confined largely to one country for less than one generation. This is one enormous
difference between the radical Islamic threat to our civilization and the two previous ones.
But there is yet a second difference that is at least as significant and at least as frightening: Nazis and
Communists wanted to live and feared death; Islamic authoritarians love death and loathe life.
That is why MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) worked with the Soviet Union. Communist leaders love life --
they loved their money, their power, their dachas, their mistresses, their fine wines -- and were hardly
prepared to give all that up for Marx. But Iran's current leaders celebrate dying, and MAD may not work,
because from our perspective, they are indeed mad. MAD only works with the sane.
There is much less you can do against people who value dying more than living.
The existence of an unprecedentedly large number of people wishing to destroy decent civilization as we
know it -- and who celebrate their own deaths -- poses a threat the likes of which no civilization in
history has had to confront.
The evils committed by Nazism and Communism were, of course, greater than those committed by radical Islam.
There has been no Muslim Gulag and no Muslim Auschwitz.
But the threat is far more serious.
[a post for study and research, this 2002 article, says that al qaida is buying missiles from China, large enough to take down a B-52...granny]
from the August 09, 2002 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0809/p01s01-wosc.html
Al Qaeda massing for new fight
Afghan spies say the group has two new bases in Pakistan and
is acquiring missiles.
By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
ASADABAD, AFGHANISTAN - Three separate clashes with Al Qaeda
fighters this week, including Wednesday's foiled attack inside the city
of Kabul, point to the terrorist organization's resurgence in
Afghanistan.
But there may be much more to come.
According to exclusive interviews with Afghan military intelligence
chiefs in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, Al Qaeda has
established two main bases inside Pakistan – hundreds of miles north
of where US and Pakistani troops are now hunting – and is preparing
for a massive strike against the Afghan government. To blunt US air
superiority, Al Qaeda forces are attempting to acquire surface-to-air
missiles in China.
"Al Qaeda has regrouped, together with the Taliban, Kashmiri
militants, and other radical Islamic parties, and they are just waiting
for the command to start operations," says Brig. Rahmatullah
Rawand, chief of military intelligence for the Afghan Ministry of
Defense in Kunar Province. "Right now they are trying to find
anti-aircraft missiles that are capable of hitting America's B-52
bombers. When they find those, they will bring them here."
Spokesmen for the American military operations in Afghanistan say
they are able to confirm parts of the Afghan intelligence reports, and
add that they are prepared for any possible Al Qaeda military
offensive in the next few weeks or months.
"I can't say I have never heard these reports before about the areas
you are mentioning," says Lt. Col. Roger King, spokesman for the
US-led Operation Enduring Freedom at Bagram Air Base outside of
Kabul. "Some parts of the intelligence reports and the locations you've
described are similar to what we are hearing ourselves, and other
parts are different." He declined to say which parts were similar and
which parts were different.
The US is currently making sure it has enough troop strength in areas
where Al Qaeda is deemed to be most active, he says.
"If you look back over time, you find there are two fighting seasons in
this country," says Colonel King. "We're at the beginning of one, and
the other ended in May."
A US soldier on patrol near the Pakistan border in Paktika Province
was wounded by a sniper Wednesday night, and airlifted to a medical
facility in Germany yesterday.
In Kunar Province, Afghan intelligence sources say that their reports
were compiled this week, after Afghan spies, pretending to be Islamic
radicals, infiltrated the two Al Qaeda camps in Pakistan. The report
concludes that China itself may be involved in supporting the camps,
either by tacitly allowing Islamic radicals of the ethnic Uighur minority
in China's western Xinjiang Province to cross into Pakistan to join Al
Qaeda, or overtly offering to provide Al Qaeda with antiaircraft
missiles.
"That area, even though it is in Pakistan, is basically under the
government of China," says Afghan Brigadier Rawand. "There is a
possibility that the Chinese are also involved in this, and they may
give Al Qaeda the missiles."
Military experts agree that the ability of Al Qaeda to shoot down
American B-52 bombers would alter tactics and undermine US efforts
in the Afghan war. It was the B-52s, together with precision-guided
bombs and munitions, rather than troops on the ground, that
destroyed the Taliban's defenses outside of Kabul and other
strongholds and forced the Taliban and Al Qaeda to give up control of
Afghanistan.
"The Americans are proud of their control of the air, but they don't
take care of the ground," says Brig. Ghulam Haider Chatak, chief of
military intelligence for the eastern zone of Afghanistan, which
includes Kunar, Laghman, and Nangarhar provinces. "Now they could
lose both."
Here in Kunar Province, a lush green region of fertile well watered
valleys and tall forested mountains, US special forces carry out joint
operations with local Afghan forces mainly along the major roads to
Asadabad and within the capital itself.
Local military commanders, who report to the Ministry of Defense,
complain that the Americans are working only with one warlord,
Commander Zarin, and not with the official military units of President
Hamid Karzai's government.
"Unfortunately, in the last six months, the international coalition
forces haven't taken any bold steps against Al Qaeda," says
Commander Mohammad Zaman, military chief of Kunar Province,
under the command of the Afghan Ministry of Defense. "That's why Al
Qaeda and the terrorists are all present here. They have only changed
their outfits, from turbans to pukhols," floppy woolen hats favored by
Afghan fighters in the Northern Alliance.
Arab radicals and Taliban supporters walk the street of the capital
here, apparently without fear of capture, preaching their harsh version
of Islam and calling for an uprising against American and other
foreign troops supporting the Karzai government.
Bin Laden alive?
Meanwhile, intelligence sources say that just over the border in
Pakistan, most of the top Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership, including
Osama bin Laden himself, have been seen moving into northern
Pakistan from the tribal belt south of the Afghan town of Tora Bora.
Mr. bin Laden, the top Al Qaeda leader, was last seen three weeks ago
in the Pakistani tribal city of Dir, about 45 miles east-northeast of
Asadabad.
Osama's top lieutenant, Ayman Zawahiri, is now thought to be
directing operations from Al Qaeda's newly built base in the village of
Shah Salim, about 30 miles west of the Pakistani city of Chitral, near
the border of Afghanistan's Kunar Province. The other base is in the
Pakistani village of Murkushi on the Chinese border, about 90 miles
north of the Pakistani city of Gilgit.
To fight a new war against American forces, Al Qaeda is reportedly
broadening its base of support to include new like-minded members,
including the Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his
Pashtun-dominated radical Islamist Hizb-I-Islami party.
Mr. Hekmatyar's party, which received substantial Saudi funding, CIA
training, and Pakistani military support during the war against the
Soviet occupation of the 1980s, still enjoys support in Kunar and
other Pashtun-dominated provinces and is also the closest in
ideological terms to the Taliban.
From exile in Iran last fall, Mr. Hekmatyar called on all Muslims to
fight alongside the Taliban against any invasion of American forces.
With its renewed mission, Al Qaeda has taken on a new name, Fateh
Islam, or Islamic Victory. Their battle plan, Afghan intelligence
sources say, is to launch a massive attack on eastern Afghanistan, by
crossing along the poorly defended mountainous border of Kunar
Province, where opium and timber smugglers take their products out
of Afghanistan either undetected or with the compliance of corrupt
Afghan border officials.
On the streets of Asadabad itself, it's clear that Al Qaeda already has
established a network of informers and preachers. In mosques and
religious schools, Al Qaeda members have begun whipping up local
anger against the US presence in Afghanistan, and the
house-to-house searches in Kunar.
One Arab man, dressed in Afghan salwar kameez, but wearing the
traditional white headdress of a Saudi preacher, was seen this week
standing in the center of the main square of Asadabad, before being
led away by two young religious students toward a local mosque.
Another man, who teaches primary school in Asadabad, told the
Monitor there are plenty of Al Qaeda supporters in Kunar.
"I'm proud to be Al Qaeda," says Abdur Rahim, a soft-voiced man who
studied Islam for 16 years at a hard-line Islamic seminary in
Peshawar, Pakistan. "I'm 100 percent sure they will come back here.
It will be very soon, and the Taliban were 100 times better than these
warlords who rob us on the streets."
"The jihad is compulsory against the kaffirs [unbelievers], but we
cannot fight against their planes," he adds. Speaking of American
special forces based in Asadabad, he says, "These are infidels and
they have destroyed our religion. Jews and Christians, all of them, we
want Muslim forces, we don't want infidels."
As a crowd gathers, cautioning the Al Qaeda member to be quiet, Mr.
Rahim becomes even more outspoken. "Everyone here feels like me,
but some people have big hearts and others have little faith. These
people are quiet because they have little faith."
Other Afghans seem more pragmatic. Mohammad Malang, a timber
merchant in Asadabad's massive lumber market, says hundreds of
Arabs came through Kunar late last year, after the bombing campaign
began on the mountain hideout of Tora Bora, south of Jalalabad. Now,
when he carries wood to the border of Pakistan on his logging truck,
he sees plenty of Al Qaeda fighters coming and going through the
Afghan checkposts.
"The Americans pay us money and we give them Al Qaeda," he says
with a smile. "The Al Qaeda give us money and we give them shelter.
Nowadays we are not giving them shelter because of the US troops
here, but up there on the border, they are there right now up in the
forests. They come and go and nobody stops them."
Even some border security officials admit that it would be easy for Al
Qaeda to enter Kunar Province. "This is a long border, and we don't
have enough forces to patrol it," says Wazir Mohammad Sadiq, deputy
commander of checkpoints for the Kunar Border Security Force. "We
need the Americans there. They only come once a month, and they
never stay long. They just have a cup of tea, chat, and leave."
Haji Said Amin Khan, commander of a checkpost on the border, says
that his men used to stop every car coming from Pakistan, but was
ordered to stop this practice by Commander Jandad, the former
governor of Kunar.
"We were told not to stop certain people, like armed men, and even
now, people can come and go without questions," says Mr. Khan.
"But the problem is that we need thousands of men to patrol the
border in Kunar. There are four main roads into Kunar, and we have
checkposts on those roads, but there are lots of other smaller roads.
Al Qaeda is not stupid enough to come on the main roads, so they
take the other roads."
Commander Zaman, the military chief, says that his men are
preparing for a long war against Al Qaeda, even if they have to
continue fighting without any salaries or coordination with US forces.
"You can't defeat an ideology with a gun, so the best we can do is
create a new ideology, and make people feel that we are making the
situation better than before," he says. "If that works, that's great. But
if not, then we already have our enemy and their guns here among
us."
Afghan plea to US: 'Listen to us'
The vehicle was full of armed men who could have been friends, foes,
or just another group of Afghan men out for a ride.
But what is certain is that when the vehicle encountered a checkpoint
manned by US special forces soldiers on Tuesday night, a gunbattle
broke out. US forces say one of the Afghans aimed his Kalashnikov at
a US soldier and pulled the trigger. The Afghan's gun jammed, but US
soldiers opened fire, killing all four of the Afghan fighters. None of the
American soldiers was injured.
But the slain Afghans were friends, not foes. They were soldiers
working for the Afghan military chief, the sons of a prominent tribal
leader, and should never have been told by US soldiers to disarm, say
local military commanders.
Even before the gunfight, tempers in Asadabad were on edge. On
Monday, soldiers killed two men who fired at them from a hilltop.
And for the past two weeks, US special forces have been conducting
house-to-house searches in this dusty frontier capital of Kunar
Province near the Pakistan border, looking for heavy weapons and Al
Qaeda supporters. According to top Afghan leaders here, the invasive
procedures violate strong Pashtun traditions, which forbid outsiders to
enter their homes and see their women.
Afghan merchants, political leaders, and military commanders say
that local sentiments are turning sharply against the US forces here.
"So far the relationship with US forces here is just neutral, neither
positive nor negative, but it's going in the negative direction," says
Acting Gov. Haji Ali Rahman. "We hope the US forces will use their
cleverness and change their tactics. But if they continue to search
houses, even my own commanders will not work for me."
He smiles through his long grey beard. "The first revolt of the villagers
will be against us, because we are the ones who brought the US forces
here."
Public anger over the house searches has grown so much that
Governor Rahman called an emergency meeting of tribal elders this
week in Asadabad, where dozens of Pashtun leaders vented their
anger at the Americans. Some leaders called for Afghan forces to stop
cooperating with the US forces. This idea was quickly squelched, when
the Afghan military chief of the province, Brig. Mohammad Zaman,
pointed out that his troops – including the four men killed on Tuesday
night – haven't even been asked to conduct joint operations with US
forces in anti-Al Qaeda operations.
"Right now they are working with just one warlord, and they aren't
getting any results except angering the people," says Brigadier
Zaman. "They don't have to pay us, we will fight with our own guns,
our own rations. But at least they should listen to us."
Instead, the US forces are working with Commander Zarin, a local
warlord who was the first Afghan leader to help the US forces in Kunar
Province in the buildup to the fall of the Taliban last November. US
military spokesmen at Bagram airfield in Kabul say it is up to local US
commanders to decide who to work with, and in many cases the US
special forces continue to work with a local warlord they know rather
than with leaders deployed by the Kabul government.
"This is a common statement that you hear from local military chiefs,
'Why aren't you working with us?'" says Lt. Col. Roger King,
spokesman for the US military at Bagram. "In some cases, our forces
have been working with local commanders, or warlords, long before
the Ministry of Defense in Kabul was formed. We're in a transitional
phase, and you may see some of that coordination shifting over to
more official channels."
Full HTML version of this story which may include photos, graphics,
and related links
Copyright 2002 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
Google Alert for: al-Qaeda China
Moussaoui's Stunned Submission
PEJ News - Victoria,BC,Canada
... are using electro-shock against the alleged wanna-be “al-Qaeda†operative,
is ... technology†arsenal used by torturers in South Africa, China, and Lebanon. ...
Disingenuous on security
Washington Times - Washington,DC,USA
... They want to get rid of Al Qaeda but won't let us intercept their communications
... operations at some of our key ports over to the communist government in China.
...
See all stories on this topic
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20060330-085453-8010r.htm
Free At Last By Justin Peters
Slate - USA
... Nations like Russia and China fear that the US plans to use tenuous evidence ...
documents made public in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial to compare al-Qaeda and the
...
See all stories on this topic
http://news.google.com/news?ie=utf8&oe=utf8&persist=1&hl=en&client=google&ncl=http://www.slate.com/id/2139095/
The world is waking up to new era of power politics
Times Online - UK
... and Russia, as well as chronic shortages of electric power in China, India and ...
Al-Qaeda has threatened to attack what Osama bin Laden calls the “hinges†of
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8210-2113097,00.html
...
Al Qaeda massing for new fight | csmonitor.com
To blunt US air superiority, Al Qaeda forces are attempting to acquire surface-to-air
missiles in China. "Al Qaeda has regrouped, together with the Taliban, ... {already posted 2002 article, above}