The Arab Desk

Bikini vs. Burqa

2010-05-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

Last night I finished taping my new show “Front Page” with my co-host Ray Hanania which is a continuation of our older shows we have had in the past few years.

The topic of the show was the new Miss America 2010 Rima Faqih which Ray and I have written two opposing columns on. We have different opinions on this issue which shows diversity and fault lines in terms of how Arab and Muslim cultural thinking is dealing with a much more dominant and imposing Western culture. Ray is more like “hey lets just wear bikinis and be Americans” . The issue for me is that there is much more to freedom than just wearing a bikini or burqa.

Ray, as usual, went on to state his case against what he calls the “ Burqa” a style that only tiny fraction of Muslim women anywhere in the world practice and feel that it is appropriate for them and in some cases a form of protection.

Ray and others want to have these women “to be free”, by advocating that Bikini is an expression of freedom where as Burqa and an expression of “slavery”

The problem here is that, this argument is fallacious because it re-defines the issues that face not only Arab-Americans but also the issues of freedom and democracy in the Arab World as a Burqa Vs. Bikini.

I don’t care if Miss America, Rima Faqih wears a bikini or wears nothing at all. She is proud of her accomplishment so is her family and they ought to be! The “bikini” is apparently is her ticket to freedom, whatever that is, (which is not to say that before that she was pious and all covered up, pole dance aside), to stardom as well as to dating famous American men.. UPI has reported that Rima Faqih new boyfriend is Paris Hilton ex-boyfriend Doug Reinhardt.

Just as Rima has the right to wear whatever she likes to wear, why don’t we extend that right to other women who feel that women are best respected by not being objectified and that their education and advancement in society is their true ticket to better life for themselves and for their families.

Obama might cancel the US-Iraq troops agreement?

2008-11-17T14:17:00.001-08:00

Obama might cancel the US-Iraq troops agreement.

By : Ali Alarabi

Now that the Iraqi and the US governments have signed the Security agreement yesterday, pending the Iraqi parliament ratification, which will regulate the presence of US troops in Iraq until 2011 and beyond, the real work, however, has not even begun yet.

For the current US administration, it is important to sign this agreement, amended to satisfy domestic Iraqi demands, such as changing the name into the “ The US withdrawal agreement” so as to not leave the US troops in Iraq, come December 31, without a legal cover that protects their presence in the country.

More importantly however, for the out going George Bush’s administration is to legally bind the incoming administration of President Barack Obama with an agreement that represent its own thinking on troops presence and US basis in Iraq and in the Middle East.

The current administration thinking on US troops and its role around the world, however, predates George Bus’s administration, and it started with the Project of the New American Century, an organization formed by neocons such as William Kristol, John Bolton, and Donald Kagan, which at its core want to exercise a muscular US foreign policy that will exercise the US military power, if necessary, around the globe particularly the Middle East and South East Asia.

This Militarist approach to US policy, at its heart, wants to ensure US dominance over much of the global affairs particularly when it comes to strategic issues such as global security, i.e terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and Oil.

Iraq, after its occupation, lies as central to the current administration, the neocons thinking, in continuing with this policy to project the US power, through permanent basis in Iraq and the Arab Gulf countries.

As for the Iraqi government, it really has very little room to decide .The presence of 146 000 US Soldiers in Iraq today, represent the only guarantee that Iraq does not slip in a savage civil war that will leave the country in total ruins. And to keep the current political order in the country alive.

The government of Nouri Al Malki after consulting with Ayatollah Ali Sistani , went ahead and approved the Pact, to the delight of the Kurds who have vested interests in keeping the US troops in Iraq, while Muqtada Al Sadar and the Islamic Scholars Association, opposed the Pact calling it “ a surrender” and” a continuation of American occupation of Iraq”.

As for the incoming US president Barack Obama: he did not issue a statement on this particular issue; he nonetheless was very clear since 2002 in opposing the war in Iraq and voted against a war resolution in Congress.

Will an Obama administration honor this agreement between the current US government and the Iraqi government? I must say that Its doubtful that an Obama administration will stick with an agreement to station US troops not only in Iraq but also in the Gulf region on a philosophical grounds that runs contrary to his own thinking, as well as the thinking of the centrist wing of the democratic party that he represents, on how to run the US foreign policy.

The Democrats have no institutions comparable to the neocon Republicans, like the American Enterprise institute, AEI, who when not in power lay dormant planning their vision of US policy until they assume power in Washington.

Therefore Obama and his democratic controlled congress would not feel obligated to honor this agreement that was founded on a political philosophy they deem very dangerous to American interests around the world and that it has undermined US interests and brought an unnecessary war in Iraq.

Consequently, it is likely that the new US administration will start withdrawing the US troops much earlier what this agreement stipulates with emphasis on withdrawing combat units first, as Obama the candidate has said in several of his speeches that outlined his policy on the war in Iraq.

Obama, however, would not commit a major policy blunder if he withdraws the US from this agreement and cancel all together, certainly, it is not without precedent.

George Bush decided that the Anti-Ballistic Missile ABM treaty signed with the Soviet Union, in 1972, is no longer fit the new US policy in accordance with his ideological line and he therefore on June 13TH 2002 withdrew the US from this treaty. George Busch also decided to withdraw the US from the Kyoto treaty that limits greenhouse emissions upon assuming power in Washington from his predecessor Bill Clinton who signed the treaty.

As for the US changing its position on a treaty after change of power in Washington certainly is not restricted to Republicans. President Jimmy Carter for example decided to withdraw the SALT II from the Congress after it was put there for ratification in response to the Soviet invasion Afghanistan in 1979. Congress, however, was not in hurry to sign the treaty anyway for it was facing several objections and was stuck in Congress without ratification.

President Obama does not have to go along with a US foreign policy that projects the US military force around the globe and ensure US dominance through an interventionist military policy and preemptive wars.

Obama had voiced his objections loud and clear starting with his vote in the senate against the war resolution and his senate bill to withdraw the US from20Iraq to his latest statement on his website that as soon as his assumes power Washington he will direct his secretary of defense to end the war in Iraq and remove the US troops from that country.

Obama’s Revolution and the Impact on the Middle East.

2008-11-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

Obama’s Revolution and the Impact on the Middle East.

By: Ali Alarabi

Senator Barack Obama’s victory is no less important than storming the Bastille more than 200 years ago in 1789 which was perhaps the one iconic event that ushered the dawn of the French revolution that ended up changing the French people along with France and Europe and subsequently the entire world.

By all accounts, Obama’s victory is poised to start a revolution, not only because of its historic precedent as the first president of African decent which could be the single most important historical event in American history, when it comes to the issue of race, after Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation that freed the slaves in 1862. But it is important because Obama sees himself as his records shows that he is a man who through out his professional life had stood for changing the system to make it take into account the wretched of the Earth whom the “Ancien Régime” according to this view of the world, had deliberately ignored if not destroyed.

Obama is philosophically inclined to understand the third world that exists inside American borders and outside it, more and better. His days as a Chicago state senator had prepared him to work with disadvantaged people and poor communities. He understands that people need more than rhetoric to survive. Americans and a lot of people around the world are going through a vicious economic and political cycle that is wrecking havoc in their lives and shattering their dreams of stability and prosperity. People need American power to be a soft power, not a brute one, a force for good and stability, not a force to wage war and instability.

But the difficult question is that will an Obama administration withstand the storm some members of the “Ancien Regime” will try to wage against him and his new republic, or will his wagon be able to move forward and change things in this country as he promised the American people to do through out his campaign? This however remains to be seen, but it also depends on how he manages a democratic-majority Congress. but one thing for sure however and that if Obama succeeds in bringing the American people of all persuasions to come to terms with his agendas and to better understand his vision, he in this case will start the winds of change to blow not just in the American prairies but also around the world.

The Middle East is one area that will be directly and forcefully affected by Obama’s revolution. He had said in many different ways when it comes to Palestine /Israel issue that America should be a fair and an honest broker for peace in order to bring a Palestinian state to become a viable reality along side Israel. A problem could encounter Obama, however, if he pelages American might and treasure to side with Israel without responsibility or restrain, like his predecessors, or without conditions to end its occupation of Arab Jerusalem and all of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.

Barack Obama had also said that he will talk directly and face t face to America’s “current enemies” notably Syria and Iran, without preconditions and without setting up some kind of reward and punishment system that will insult them more than respect them.

Arab countries particularly Syria, in addition to Iran will be very relieved to see George Bush’s term ends without the wrath of US military being unleashed on their heads and seeing their country chopped up as in the case of Iraq. To put it simply, they are just happy to have survived George’s Bush tenure in the white House. Intact.

Iraq on the other hand is a different case. The Iraqi government and the Kurds are fearful of Obama’s intentions of withdrawing the troops from Iraq and leave them to deal with their complicated issues such as whether to keep the country intact or ending up dividing it up between the parties that came with the American forces to Baghdad or start dealing with each other without having the benefit of a handy American power to be used whenever there is trouble. Only Iran however will remain the true beneficiary of an American power vacuum in Iraq and will basically have free hand in Iraq treating Iraq or even re-making it as one of its own territories if Obama did what he said he will do.

A lot of high hopes and dreams are pinned on Obama’s historic presidency will it be like storming the Bastille more than 200 hundred years ago or end up in disappointment, only time will tell

Rahm Emanuel and chicago politics

2008-11-06T08:56:00.000-08:00

Since Rahm Emanuel of the democratic 5th congressional district, most likely will be President Obama chief of Staff, I am wondering why this particular congressional seat is seemingly more powerful than other Chicago area or Illinois congressional seats.

It looks to me that the 5th congressional district seat is the most important Congressional seat in Illinois, despite some of its former occupants have went to jail, but one became governor and the while Rahm had Emanuel served a stint in the Israeli Army in the early 90s and now is poised to become the White House Chief of Staff.

This Congressional seat has always been as far as I remember been occupied by powerful Chicago politicians and leaders who later on either went to Jail or become governors of the state, or eventually might end up in jail!

Historically, as far as I remember, that seat was occupied almost forever by former congressman Dan Rostenkowski, who rose to become the chairman of the powerful Ways and Means committee in the US Congress, and later was implicated in a corruption scandal, found guilty, and served time in a Wisconsin jail.

After Rostenkowski, came a little known Chicago attorney name Patrick Flanagan, who only served one term and nothing became of him,

Then came the current state of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich the son in law of Patrick Mill the long time powerful Chicago alderman who helped the husband of his daughter win this Congressional seat and later on fought with him publically on the pages of the Chicago newspapers (an enjoyable fight!)

Its worth noting that Governor Blagojevich is under suspicion by the federal investigators over his connections with Tony Rizko who later was convicted for corruption.

After the election of Blagojevich to the governorship of Illinois, the seat became vacant and two former White House staffers competed for that coveted seat.

One was Pete Dagher who later lost that election in 2002.

What’s interesting about Rahm Emanuel is that as soon as he ran for the seat, he managed to get the endorsement of Chicago Mayor, Richard M. Daley and governor Rod Blagojevich. While President Clinton was hesitant in the beginning of whom to endorse because both Dagher and Emanuel had worked for him at the White House, albeit Emanuel assumed a higher profile position especially during Clinton Impeachment trial. Later on, Clinton Endorsed Emanuel.

Despite his high profile endorsements and accumulating an impressive amount of campaign money, Emanuel was worried that Dagher could steal that seat from him since both worked for Clinton rendering White House experience of Emanuel a moot point.

I was told, back then, by senior person in Pete Dagher campaign that Emanuel had offered Dagher a job if he gives up his campaign and leave it for Emanuel. Dagher refused and lost the election.

As soon as Emanuel won the seat and moved to Washington, he was offered a powerful committee assignment that placed him in the top democratic leadership in the House.

Compare that with Jessie Jackson Jr. who has been serving in the House since the 90s from the 1st congressional district, yet he is missing in action in the House keeping a very law profile. Jackson won that seat after the debacle and scandalous former Congressman Mel Reynolds who later went to jail for his relationship with an underage “Catholic school” girl” (Remember Mel… J )

The 1st Congressional district was home to former Congressman Gus Savage who got himself in deep trouble for criticizing Israel and its powerful lobby AIPAC. Mel Reynolds ran for Savage’s seat as friendlier to Israel, he was supported by AIPACK and Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reisndorf who was one of his biggest financial backers.
Jessie Jackson Jr, comparing to Emanuel, has almost no power on the Hill, despite his seniority in Congress. Perhaps because the Younger Jackson never really got out of his father, the elder Jackson, shadow and limited himself to a local South Side profile.

Even Congressman Bobby Rush of the Chicago 2nd Congressional district, who is senior to both Emanuel and Jackson, is less powerful than Emanuel.
What does that say?
It says that Emanuel got better connections in Chicago especially with the Mayor and better connections in Washington which helped him taking over a powerful position with the Democratic Party and now as White House Chief of Staff.

US secret war in Iraq and the Israeli conenction

2008-09-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

US secret war in Iraq and the Israeli conenction

Bob Woodward’s newest book “the War within” which he reveals in it how the Bush administration has administrated the war in Iraq and in it he talks about a US secret program to counter the Iraqi insrugency. Woodward told CNN’s Larry king, earlier this week, that he has obtained secret information on the workings of US military in Iraq that enabled the US forces to stem the tide of violence and al-Qaeda terrorism in Iraq.

Though it looks like it is a super secret as to what kind of program the US forces had developed to counter the military-style attacks in Iraq against its forces, but this supposed super secret is not quite that big of a secret after all.

It was reported in the US and British press as far back as 2003 that the US forces is using the Israeli Army tactics and Israeli advisers for training and consultations to counter the insurgency in Iraq. In a 2003 article titled”Israel trains US assassination squads in Iraq” the British newspaper the Guardian Reported that ”The Israeli defense Force (IDF) has send urban warfare specialists to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the home of US special forces, and according to two sources , Israeli military “consultants” have also visited Iraq”

Israel has developed urban warfare tactics due its decades long occupation of Palestinian lands and its tight control over the population. Israel has been killing off the leadership of Palestinian resistance and organizations leaders through its “Arabaized units” known as Dovdovan” in Hebrew who operate by infiltrating and blending in with the local population as well as dress in Arab clothes and speak fluent Arabic in order to assassinate Palestinian leaders. The Israeli tactics however are illegal under international law because the Israeli presence in the Palestinian territories is also illegal.

Moreover, Israel was successful in its assassination program in part due to its use of huge network=2 0of spies and informants to pinpoint Palestinian members of organizations Israel deems terrorist and deals them a fatal blow. Though Israel has mastered this technique but it is far from subduing the Palestinians and eradicating their resistance to its occupation.

Elaborating on the Israeli connection in Iraq, the Guardian reported“ This is basically an assassination program. That is what is being conceptualized here. This is a hunter killer team” said a former senior US intelligence official .

Israeli presence in Iraq well documented in the press . Israel maintains a well established relations with Kurds in northern Iraq and it has set up shop to operate its intelligence network with the Kurdish and Iraqi leaders to spy on Iran and the Iraqi leadership as it was widely reported by the New Yorker Magazine reporter Seymour Hersh.

Hersh was perhaps the first western journalist to report on the assignation teams set up in Iraq by the US military with the help of Israeli army personal in Iraq and in the US in a well known piece in the New Yorker magazine titled “ Moving Targets” in December of 2003.

This ‘assassination teams” strategy, almost an exact copy of Israel’s assignation campaigns against Palestinians, was formulated during former defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who through his under secretary of defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone, has been deeply involved in developing the new special forces approach wrote Hersh in 2003 in the New Yorker.

Though it remains to be a well guarded secret as to how this program works but it appears to be working in reducing and in some cases stemming violence in vast regions of Iraq. And if we take into consideration that this program has succeeded in its goals, for the time being, especially in combination of other factors such as the decision of young shia leader Muqtada Sadr to freeze his Mahdi Army military confrontation with the US and Iraqi forces, and the decision of the Sunni tribes in al-Anbar to abandon Al-Qiada who shot itself in the foot by adopting harsh tactics and inflaming the secretion passions with it indiscriminate suicide bombing campaigns against shia and Sunni populations centers.

Another key player in this secretive program is General William” Jerry” Boykin a controversial General with fanatical anti-Muslim hatred and who had made some inflammatory remarks against the religion of Islam and Muslims. General Boykin remarked in 2003 to an evangelical group meeting about his experience in Somalia in the nineties that he worships the true God while his enemies, in Somalia, the Muslims=2 0worship “False God”

Boykin is a well know neocon whose world is black and white, a world raging with battles between good and evil as he sees it. In June of 2003,Boykin repeatedly equated the Muslim world with Satan in an interview with the Oregonian newspaper He remarked: “Satan wants to destroy this nation, he wants to destroy us as a nation, and he wants to destroy us as a Christian Army”

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Ali Alarabi is an award winning Arab-American journalist and columnist and member of Arab writers group syndicate. He can be reached at http://TheArabDesk.blogspot.com and by email at alialarabi1@aol.com.

© 2008 Ali Alarabi

Arab/Muslim Americans Should Not Vote for Obama

2008-08-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

published by: AL-Arab newspaper, London
Palestine Chronicle NewsPaper

By Ali Alarabi

The candidacy of Senator Barrack Obama is a remarkable one by all accounts, from a historical perspective it is an unprecedented feat that an African American stands for the highest office in America and a candidate who was not born into wealth or political family.

For Arab American and Muslim voters, however, an Obama-Biden ticket seems like good news for they have had to endure a long arduous 8 year journey of the Republican rule of Bush-Cheney administration that wrecked havoc in their personal lives, eroded their civil rights, a futile war in Iraq, and vehemently supporting Israeli’ s occupation and destruction of Palestinian lands and peoples.

Arab and Muslim voters thought, in Obama that they were witnessing a candidate with a shot of wining, that he was not part of the pro-Israeli establishment that fills the halls of power in Washington who usually go out of their way, sometimes slavishly, to support Israel at expense of Arab and Palestinian rights.

But Arab and Muslims voters did not have wait for too long for their disappointment to arrive when they felt that Obama had increasingly started treating them like a plague avoiding them at all costs so as not to upset the racists and bigots in this country.

In Detroit, last June, Obama's staff made sure to remove two Muslim American women from the seats behind Obama so as not to “ offend” American voters, as if Muslims voters are not “fully” Americans.

This insult to Muslims is too deep to let it go so easily, it also speaks volumes about the hatred and racism in the American society where Arab and Muslim Americans are usually at the receiving end of its repeated blows, and with no end in sight.

It appears to be that Obama candidacy feels that it has to go along with the racist sentiments against Muslims because, in America today, it is not a bad policy to discriminate against Muslims or disrespect them and demean their faith and value system and there will no political ramifications because of it. Except at the ballot box.

Obama went even further in his attempts to appease the right wing racists by repeatedly denying that he is not a Muslims, and he is not, but why does it being a Muslim or not has to be an issue in a country that the faith of the candidate is besides the point, not the point.

As for the Middle East, Obama’s trip to Israel last month as part of his world tour, was pilgrimage American politicians seemingly had to make in order to garner t he Jewish vote and financial support in this country. There, Obama visited an Israeli Synagogue a Christian Church, and, yet again, he had to show his anti-Muslims credentials by not bothering to visit a Muslim mosque. Therefore, Obama’s message to the Muslim American voters is that, “ I don’t care about you, I don’t care about your issues, and I don’t care about your vote.

Moreover, in Israel, Obama was quick to issue the now classic policy proclamation assuring Israeli politicians that if he was to be elected president he will continue America’s policy of ensuring Israel superiority and domination over the lives of all of its Arab and Muslim neighbors, a policy that defies the logic peace in the region and from the perspective America’s interests in that part of the world, it is an irresponsible policy to say the very least.

Arab and Muslim Americans should return the favor to Obama and give their support to a third candidate who albeit his or her chances of wining is next to impossible, but at least they should not support a candidate who does not care about them or about their issues

Hezbollah Sends a Different Message

2008-07-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

published by Palestine Chronicle, www.palestinechronicle.com

By Ali Alarabi

Last Wednesday prisoners exchange between Hezbollah and Israel in which Israel got the remains of the two soldiers whom Hezbollah snatched from their military jeep in a cross border raid that aimed to eventually swap them with Samir Kuntar, who has been languishing in Israel jails for thirty years. Samir Kuntar, now forty-eight years old, participated in daring military operation of the Palestine Liberation front, whose purpose was, according to reports, to capture Israelis to exchange them with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

For most Americans, Israel is a little country, with an image of being an oasis of democracy and sunshine surrounded by sea of bloodthirsty evil Arabs who are out to squeeze life out of it. If they can.

For this sea of Arabs, however, it is the other way around, ever since Jewish immigrants started coming by the boat load to the shores of Yafa and Haifa of what was then Palestine, Israel has been holding the Arabs by the throat dealing them fantastical defeats humiliating them at every round and at every battle.

The exchange of prisoners and soldiers’ remains between Hezbollah and Israel, last Wednesday though not the first, was by all account the first time ever the entire Arab Nation, from the Atlantic ocean to the Arab Gulf felt a sense of vindication and a measure of justice while the Israeli felt the bitter taste of their own medicine, at least for once.

‘Gone are the days of defeats” said the ever popular charismatic Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah to a million plus crowd gathered in Beirut to see the freed prisoners and to tens of millions more of Arabs who watched the beaming Nasrallah hugging=2 0the former prisoners and greet them before he disappeared to give a speech via video conference.

The jubilant Lebanese headed by president Michel Suliman and the entire Lebanese political class gave Samir Kuntar and four other Hezbollah fighters captured by Israel an electrifying heroes welcome.

For the rest of the Arab World, Hezbollah is viewed as a highly efficient organization with a military wing that perhaps, from a military point of view, is the best small fighting force in the world today, can bring them a victory over an enemy that had been the source of their torment for the past 60 years.

What Arabs were witnessing on TV screens, scenes they were unfamiliar with in that for the first time, victory celebrations and the return of their prisoners and the bodies of almost two hundred of former fighters.

In Israel the scene was a stark contrast to the victory parades in Lebanon. Israel felt a rude awakening, perhaps for the first time in which Israel does not hold a victory parade after one of its wars. The Israeli leaders felt a specially humiliating defeat in releasing their longest held prize, Samir Kuntar who was sentenced to multiple life times of 542 years, and whose release required the signature and the pardon of Shimon Perez the president of the country and the father of Israel’s nuclear bomb.

What Hezbollah did was remarkable by all accounts. In the year 2000 it succeeded in driving Israel out of Lebanon; it held several prisoners swaps with Israel that resulted in releasing its prisoners and several hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and withstood a relentless s bo mbardment of Beirut in 2006 to force it to give up its Israeli soldiers.

To put this in perspective; Egypt the regional heavy weight and who signed a peace tre aty with Israel in 1979 did not bother to claim or investigate the fate of thousands of its missing soldiers during the past wars with Israel, some of them are still buried in secret cemeteries called the “cemeteries of numbers” because Israel put only numbers on the graves without names or nationality or any other markers.

Jordan is another country that signed a peace treaty with Israel still has 26 of its citizens and soldiers held prisoners in Israeli jails some of them are Jordanian soldiers who were captured in 1967 war. The Jordanian government is still not making any real efforts to get its prisoners release or claim the bodies of its fallen soldiers. Israel is also holding 11500 Palestinian prisoners, one Saudi man, several Syrians and Yemenis and other Arabs in i ts jails .

Lebanon, for its part, the smallest country bordering Israel, and the weakest one and without a functional army, was able at achieve feats through Hezbollah that no Arab country as powerful as Egypt or as rich as Saudi Arabia was able to achieve.

The message that Hezbollah is sending here is that it liberated its land from the Israeli grip; it got back its prisoners and the remains of their soldiers without dealing directly with Israel or sign a peace treaty with Israel. As far as the other Arab countries that have diplomatic, open and secret ties with Israel, their peace resulted in Israel still occupies Arab lands and continues to hold thousands of Arab prisoners.

Targeting Sudan's president won't help

2008-07-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

published by the Philadelphia Inquirer
Posted on Tue, Jul. 15, 2008

Ali Alarabi

The possible indictment of Sudan President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC) comes as a dangerous and unhelpful development on the issue of Darfur and the unfortunate victims in that troubled region of Sudan.

The issue of Darfur is a political one involving militant groups that use violence to fight a legitimate government over perceived injustices. The issue is not supposed to be resolved through a criminal indictment of a head of state, but rather through political reconciliation between the state and the groups that fight it.

Indeed, there are legal questions with regards to the legality of the indictment and a possible international arrest warrant against Bashir. One question is whether Bashir is entitled to immunity.

The fact that Sudan is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC raises the question of whether this statute can bind only states that are a party to it and not those that are not, such as the United Sates. Another question is whether U.N. Security Council resolution 1593, which referred this case to the ICC, can imply the removal of a sitting head of state.

Aside from the humanitarian crises that arose out of this conflict, we must not forget that Sudan, the state, is entitled to preserve its geographical integrity and prevent any party, domestic or international, from breaking up the country through armed struggle.

In the United States, hundreds of thousands of Americans died in a civil war waged by the federal government against one of its regions in order to preserve the unity of the country and prevent its dismemberment. Even today, the United States government - or any government, for that matter - would not let any state or group simply split or break away from the country.

International law, however, appears to be aimed at punishing weak and third-world countries if they are deemed as misbehaving according to the standards of Western powers.

As this issue demonstrates, international law is designed to preserve the interests of the big powers against small, helpless nations.

Sudan is perceived as not playing by the rules set forth by the Western powers when it comes to its energy supplies, its stand on the Arab-Israeli conflict, and its position on Iraq.

Treated differently is Israel, a country that violates international law by continuing its occupation of Palestinian and other Arab lands. It has unilaterally declared Jerusalem as its capital even though international law clearly states that Jerusalem is an occupied city and therefore cannot be declared an integral part of Israel or have its geography or demographics changed by building Jewish-only settlements.

Furthermore, when it comes to the wall Israel is building on occupied territories, international law sided with the Palestinian legal argument and declared the wall illegal. Israel simply ignored the ruling, and no international body, no country, is willing to do anything about it.

There are also legal arguments, as well as moral ones, against those responsible for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, a country that did not attack or threaten the United States. Thousands of Iraqis were killed as a result of this war. In addition, millions were displaced or became refugees. So we see that Western powers can get away with virtually anything for political considerations, but poor nations must bear the full brunt of the law.

That said, Bashir should do more to help his country to come out of this ugly war and bring Darfur and its tribes back to the fold of Sudan on equal footing with a peaceful resolution to this tragic conflict. But with this threat of indictment, the international community is exacerbating the problem and making matters even worse, especially for all of the innocent victims in Sudan.

1948

2008-04-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

In May of 1948, Jews, later Israelis, in Palestine and around the world rejoiced at the proclamation of themselves - a new country in Palestine. They called it Israel.

Palestinians mourned. Fate had dealt them a stunning blow, their time had stood still, and life was no more. Palestinians watched helplessly as their country disappeared from the world stage and was replaced by another called “ Israel”. A new people with strange faces, strange languages, who came by the boat load from the shores of Europe to set foot on their land and claim the emptied homes as well as take away their orchards and olive trees.

In 2008, it has been sixty years since that fateful day in May when Palestinians suddenly found themselves strangers in their own land, strangers in the desert, refugees in hostile Arab lands, people without home, without a county.

In 1948 Palestinians were forced to pack whatever they could. Some did not have the chance, for they were cut down before they were able to flee the incoming terror and death.

Those who survived the onslaught left behind homes guarded only by their treasured ancient olive trees that witnessed their misfortunes.

Living a life in exile, in miserable refugee camps, in tent cities, subjected to cruelty and humiliation at the hands of their Arab brethrens. They were treated little better than animals, often times as suspects, as foreigners readily available to be sacrificed or deported to some desolate location; and in many cases simply killed off. Palestinians, however, lived on.

The world had failed the Palestinian people, While Israel and its people are treated as the legitimate owners of the land, received and welcomed in world’s capitals, but more painfully in Arab capitals. Palestinians are treated like outcasts that should be caged, and quartered in ghettos in hostile landscapes.

In 1948 Palestine was lost without a real fight.Five Arab Armies said to have wanted to liberate Palestine from the gripping hands of the Jewish Militias. Contrary to Israelis myths of heroic victory of biblical proportions over six massive armies; the combined Arab forces were no more than 20,000 soldiers. None of those armies had an air force or tanks to fight with. Lebanon, the supposed sixth Arab country, did not fight or send anything across the border. Jewish militias on the other hand totaled over 60,000 soldiers who received superior training in European and American armies, were equipped with top of the line weaponry, trained pilots and a lethal air force.

The same Arab defeat happened all over again in 1967. This time around, Palestine was swallowed whole, and yet again, without a real fight.

Betrayed, the Palestinians were the real losers in all of these wars. Their country was robbed in broad daylight, without a fight. Their society was destroyed and their institutions lay in ruins, and now they had to be content to live at the mercy of this government or that, or receiving hand outs and charity, or to be in prison and murdered in Israeli prisons.

In 2008 Palestinians in Gaza cannot leave that strip of poverty and misery without a gesture of mercy from the ruler of Cairo, or the strange man sitting Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. In Lebanon, the Lebanese government outlaws the Palestinian right to work in the country. The government,instituted Nazi-like laws that prohibit Palestinians refugees from working in 60 professions such as teachers, doctors or engineers. Palestinians carry no IDs, only some pale document that state their status as Refugees that live on the margin of that society in a ghetto with open sewers and no running water.
In Iraq,extremist Shia militias would kill any Palestinian on site upon discovering that he was “ one of them” meaning a Palestinian. Palestinians there carry no identity card; they carry their identity in their hearts.

tormented and murdered wholesale and in detail by their enemies, such atrocities however, did not lessen or succeed in erasing the memory of the homeland from the heart of every living Palestinian refugee, with or without an identity card. Until return, Palestinians are not going away, nor will they simply be content to disappear from existence, for every Palestinian, his existence depends on his resistance.

Palestinians in Iraq;life on edge

2008-04-08T03:24:00.000-07:00
Published by AlArab newspaper, London, UK.

http://english.alarabonline.org/display.asp?fname=2008\04\04-08\zopinionz\960.htm

By Ali Alarabi

The recent gruesome murder of Palestinian female doctor, Layla Ali Taha and her young daughter in Baghdad, this past Friday (4/5/2008)at the hands of Shia death squads, who murdered them in cold blood hacking them with kitchen knives then burning their bodies into charred remains shows not only the grave danger Palestinian face in Iraq, but it also shows a trend of a slow but simmering religious persecution and extermination of Palestinian Arabs at the hands of Iraqi Shias supported by Iran.

According to my Shia Iraqi sources,over 260 Palestinian were murdered in Iraq, in the past five years, at the hands of the Shia government soldiers and religious militias many of those victims were children and women. Among those killed was Shiekh Tawfiq Abdel Khaliq one of the most respected and honorable local Palestinian Imams, who happened to be traveling to an area of Baghdad and was stopped by a checkpoint manned by government shia soldiers and upon learning that he was a Palestinian, he was killed in cold blood.

Palestinians are being targeted because they are mainstream Muslims, they are not Shias and they are not Iraqis. Shia militias, receiving religious blessing from their Ayatollahs and supported by Iran military and financially, are orchestrating a campaign of murder and genocide against the helpless Palestinian refugees.

Shias extremists hold that those Palestinian refugees whose numbers were less than 25000 before the war, were living better than the entire 30 million Iraqis and that they were Saddam’s spoiled cronies and lived better life style while ordinary Iraqis starved.

The truth however is anything but that. Palestinians never had it better than any average Iraqi, true that under saddam they were not persecuted simply because they kept to themselves, and did not intervene in politics, for they were not Iraqi citizens to begin with despite living there for generations.

Palestinian refugees in Iraq lived in a government built system of buildings, a Ghetto that consists of 16 huge old elongated buildings, each building has 4 entrances, and each entrance has three floors and each floor has 4 apartments. That puts number of apartments in each building to 48 apartments and the grand total of apartments in the whole system would be 768 apartments all belong to the government. By law, Palestinians cannot own a property in Iraq, not today under Shia rule, not under Saddam and not before that.

Despite living in Iraq for generations, the only documentation they had was a government issued ID stamped with the word “ Palestinian” and sometimes issued travel documents if they needed to travel.

( Palestinian family in housing unit in Baladiyat)

Caging the Palestinians in this ghetto, in the Baladiyat area is not an indication of a community that lived the life of riches and leisure while Iraqis starved to death so claim the Shia Iraqis and several of their holy Ayatollahs. The Ghetto consists of small apartments and shacks built in buildings courtyards and on rooftops, in order to accommodate natural growth. Any visitor to the Baladiyat area would not see wide tree-lined boulevards filled with mansions or nice villas for the Palestinians to live in.

The Palestinians true crime is that they are Arabs and more, they are Muslims in a country that has been converted into an exclusively Shia country and looks more Iranian than Arab.

That said, however, there are many patriotic Shia Arabs whose identity is Arab and Muslim in the larger sense of word ,and who are committed to the betterment of their country away from the sectarian and mini religious wars simmering under and above the surface,which if persisted will doom the modern country of Iraq in a state of permanent disaster.

Iranians in Najaf and Karbala, Basra, and Baghdad already number in the millions according to Iraqi reports. Iranians live in Iraq freely without noticing any difference between Tehran and Baghdad or Karbala or Najaf. Persian has become a dominant language in Basra and Najaf and other southern cities. Iraqi Shia Arabs feel more kinship and closer to Iran in terms of their religion and belief system than to other Arabs.

As for Palestinians, the key to survive and to avoid an agonizing death at the hands Shia death squads is to never show any traces of Palestinian accent for it will for sure make them marked for death. Speaking Arabic in pure Iraqi Baghdadi accent is one way to survive on a day-by-day basis.

Another way to survive is not to venture outside the Ghetto unless it is absolutely necessary. The Ghetto has its own small business, doctors and other basic services needed to maintain a meager but precious existence. The local mosque, however, was not spared from Shia militias attempts to either burn it to the ground or from firing their guns inside it.

But for older Palestinians of the original generation that made Iraq home after 1948, perfecting an Iraqi accent could be a tricky adventure, for they still retain traces of their accents of villages and town in Palestinian cities they fled some sixty years ago such as Haifa, and Yafa. Luckily however, those older Palestinians who speak a Palestinian flavored Iraqi accent can be mistaken of being Iraqis from the northern city of Mosul, a city that looks and feels closer to greater Syria and its accent sounds closer to the Shami Arabic accent.

Most Palestinian professionals, doctors, lawyers, engineers and others have managed to leave the country by paying their way out, the same trend goes for Iraqi educated class. Iraq has seen most of its professional class especially doctors and scientists either killed off or fled the country forever.

Today, Palestinians numbers in Iraq had shrunk into 14000 thousands, almost half of what it was before the war. 2000 thousands of those are living in camp of Al-Waleed camp in the desert between Iraq, Jordan and Syria. No Arab country is willing to admit those hapless refugees or assist them. They are stranded in the desert under the care of UN higher commission for refugees and an Italian humanitarian agency, which work to arrange medical treatment for sick Palestinian children and place them along with their families in European countries that are willing to take them. Another 300 Palestinian refugees were taken in by Syria and placed in the middle of the desert in camp in the Hasakah province. Brazil had already accepted some of those refugees, and Chile also agreed to take a number of them. The only Arab country agreed to accept the Palestinian refugees is Sudan.

For Palestinians, to live in the Arab world, is to live a schizophrenic life style. Palestinians have to get accustomed to Arab governments and leaders rhetoric and speeches with words like “We support our Palestinian brothers” “ Israel is the enemy” long live free Arab Palestine” and death to Israel” the reality for Palestinians however is that they are the only ones who are doing the dying, thrown in the middle of desert, thrown in Arab government jails, getting killed, burnt to death, or hacked to pieces by the same “ brothers” who were chanting long live Palestine in the yesteryear.

Even Iranian president Ahmadi Najad whose militant pronouncements against Israel threatening her of death and destructions, rings hollow giving that only Palestinians are being killed and destroyed with his money and weapons on his behalf at the hands of his henchmen and subordinates in Iraq.
For those Palestinians in Iraq, life has been suspended and can only resume in another, more peaceful land.

(Ali Alarabi is an award winning journalist and columnist. He can be reached at alialarabi1@aol.com

The murder of Palestinians by Iraqi Shia

2008-04-07T03:30:00.000-07:00
Palestinian Doctor Layla Ali Taha and her young daughter were brutally killed yesterday, Thursday April/3/2008 by Shia death squads in their apartment in Zayounah area of Baghdad.

Dr. Layla and her daughter were attacked, stabbed and hacked with knives until death , then their attackers burned their bodies and the entire apartment.

This heinous crime comes as part of systematic extermination campaign of Palestinians by Shia death squads, who are supported by Iran, according to reports from Iraq.

Dr. Layla's and her young daughter charred remains will be brought to mosque for prayer and burial in the Baladiyat area om friday, the next day.

Palestinians in Iraq are facing more hardship and extreme danger because they are Palestinian Arabs and non Shia Iraqis. Palestinians who have been living in Iraq for over 60 years, since 1948,have never been allowed to own property, or have IDS, and have no Iraqi citizenship, or any other citizenship.

In the past 5 years, Palestinians were targeted by Shia militants and death squads for extermination and murder campaign designed to drive them out of the country.
Thousands of Palestinians have fled Iraq thus far, many were taken by Latin American countries, as far as Chile and Brazil, and some European countries. Arab countries have refused to admit those refugees in their countries, thus, perhaps inadvertently, helping Israel in keeping the Palestinian refugees as far as possible from the Middle East.

Over 260 Palestinians were murdered in the past five years by Iraqi shia death squads.

( The murder of dean of the Palestinian community in Iraq, Sheikh Tawfiq Abdel Khaliq,by Iraqi Shias on March,21/2006)

Palestinian in Iraq are living in mortal fear of being identified as Palestinians , and those who live outside the Palestinian ghetto, are being murdered when their neighbors identify them as Palestinians thus bringing Shia death squads to brutally kill them as in the case of Dr. Layla Taha.

Most of the remaining 14000 Palestinians who are trapped in Iraq are living in the Ghetto in the Baladiyat area in Baghdad , in addition to another 1000 Palestinian live in the city of Mosul.

Hillary Clinton and anti-Muslim Racism

2008-03-13T03:45:00.000-07:00
http://english.alarabonline.org/display.asp?fname=2008\03\03-12\zopinionz\994.htm

Hillary Clinton and anti-Muslim racism By Ali Alarabi

I must say that when I heard the national media repeatedly playing out the words of Ohio talk show host, Bill Cunningham — emphasizing the name of Hussein in Obama’s name — not only was Cunningham coming across as an anti Muslim, bigoted racist, but also the national media seemed to be applauding him by playing him over and over again like a broken record. It is not a good feeling, to say the least, to think that the media had become complicit in spreading hatred and racial discrimination simply because someone has a “Muslim” middle name.
I also take it that Muslims with an obvious Muslim first or last names are viewed as suspects. This latest hatred campaign directed at Senator Barak Obama for having the middle name of “Hussien” represents a low point in American politics and shows some American politicians that have made it a career to demean and assault Muslim Americans and Muslims in general.

Senator Barack Obama is not a Muslims, he had said it loud and clear, even if he was, then what? Does it mean that he cannot run for office because of his faith or Middle name?
This whole debate about senator Obama’s roots started by ultra conservative racists and picked up by Senator Hillary Clinton campaign, or the other way around, or even a combined effort against Senator Obama, is a desperate attempt to stop senator Obama train in its tracks, and is racist, clan-easque and certainly un-American.
Muslim Americans are an integral part of the American society. They work hard, pay their taxes, serve in the military and die in the line of duty.
My question to those hate-mongers is: how much more American you need to be to prove you are a patriotic American, it looks like it will never be enough for those racists. That said however, Muslims should not change their ethnic names or their religion so as bigots accept them as Americans! This whole idea of attacking Americans based on their faith, color and race , though not new or unusual, is nonetheless preposterous.

Dirty tricks by senator Clinton campaign was reminiscent of discrimination African Americans, Asian and native Americans have experienced here at home and even after coming home from battles in past wars risking their lives as soldiers for this country, only to face racial discrimination and be rejected as equals by certain segments of the American society.
Many Muslims were offended by Mr.Cunningham and other racists talk show hosts who kept repeating the word ” Hussien” so as to appeal to his fellow racist-Americans in a bid to create a psychological connection between senator Obama’s roots, and terrorists. Senator Obama is an American first and foremost, his faith should be a private matter, regardless of what it is, and non of the business of those bigoted individuals.
Senator Clinton, on the other hand is equally guilty for spreading false rumors and innuendos about Senator Obama’s heritage and distributing a picture of him in a traditional African clothes that includes a turban. And what’s with that! Senator Clinton and her husband former president Bill Clinton have donned Chinese, African, and Asian clothing on their foreign travels. it is very respectful to other nations and their national cultures to try to show respect and understanding. The real reason however for distributing pictures like this is actually more sinister and defamatory. More, it is a form of character assassination because it appeals to the psychology of fear and it creates a mental imagery between Senator Obama wearing a traditional African turban and America’s enemies who wear turbans. Clinton’s subliminal message could be something like a vote for Obama is a vote for America’s enemies or that Obama is one of them, in other words he is an enemy!

Senator Clinton, or i should say the Clintons because it appears that Senator Obama is running against both Hillary and Bill should focus on the real issues that face Americans instead of reaching to her old bag of dirty tricks and thus turning her election campaign into no more than a smear campaign against not only senator Obama, but also against patriotic Americans who happened to be Muslims.

*Al-Arab, London -
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- Ali Alarabi is an Arab American writer and syndicated columnist. He can be reached at alialarabi1@aol.com
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*Al-Arab, London -
-zopinionz

Language and war in the Middle East

2007-12-17T04:35:00.000-08:00
Published by AlARAB newspaper, London, 12/12/2007
Published in the Arab News, 12/19/2007. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. www.ArabNews.com

http://english.alarabonline.org/display.asp?fname=2007\12\12-16\zopinionz\960.htm

Language and war in the Middle East

By Ali Alarabi

Last November 26,President Bush signed an agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Malki that will regulate the presence of US troops in Iraq as well as the presence of American military bases in that country. Signed through a secure video conferencing system the agreement or the “ declaration of principles” as it was termed, called for an “ enduring” US presence in Iraq. As to why the US administration used the word “ Enduring” is of no mystery. The word “ Enduring” which according to Oxford English dictionary means among other things “ Permanent” or “eternal,” or “forever” it is pretty and seemingly harmless word comparing to the more politically charged word like “ permanent” which if used instead it would likely raise a firestorm among certain segments of the Iraqi people. For Bush and for others, the battle over words is apparently as important as the battle over nations.

On this peculiar use of such word, Tom Engelhardt wrote in Tomdispatch, of the Nation Institute on June 7, 2007 that:
“For a while, to avoid the taint of that word “permanent,” the major American bases in Iraq were called “enduring camps” by the Pentagon.Five or six of them are simply massive, including Camp Victory, our military headquarters adjacent to Baghdad International Airport on the outskirts of the capital, Balad Air Base, north of Baghdad (which has air traffic to rival Chicago’s O’Hare), and al-Asad Air Base in the Western desert near the Syrian border. These are big enough to contain multiple bus routes, huge PXes, movie theaters, brand-name fast-food restaurants, and, in one case, even a miniature golf course.”

Along the lines of using friendly terms that would not irate the Iraqis and in order to paint a friendly or even a happy face on American bases in Iraq, the US military opted to change the names of all of its bases in Iraq into Iraqi-friendly names. Names, Iraqis could relate to, at least on the subconscious level, and hopefully would see it and get used to it as part of their new reality.

Old bases names such as Banzai became Al-adala (Justice), while Eagle became Al-Amal (hope), and Headhunter became Al-Istiqlal (independence), Highlander became Al-Izdehar (prosperity).

Iraq today is country cannibalizing itself on a daily diet of blood and gore, yet we hear US politicians and their Iraqi minions speak of “ democracy” in Iraq and “ liberation of Iraq (a country is liberated and occupied at the same time)

The US administration hailed the Iraqi election in 2005 as the first Iraqi “democratic election”. It is unclear however how can that be called a “ Democracy” in the real sense of the word when we have Kurds vote for Kurdish politicians and Shias vote for Shia politicians under strict orders from the Iranian Ayatollahs in Najaf, and Sunnis vote for Sunni Politicians. This was religious tribalism in the first order where each community voted for its religious tribe without any other consideration.

This would be the same if American Mormons voted for a Mormon presidential candidate, Protestant citizens voted for a protestant candidate and Catholics for a Catholic candidate. This would be unthinkable and certainly no one in America would call that a “ democracy”
But whether for public relations or political considerations, often times, political language is dressed up in neutral or positive terms in order to cover deceptive and manipulative goals.

Such is the case of Israel, a country notorious for making up friendly and innocent-sounding names and words for its brutal and inhumane policies. Israeli settlements for example, though illegal to start with, yet mushroomed to become cities on Palestinian lands. Settlement building and expansion is termed as “ natural growth”.

On the other hand any Palestinian who is building an additional room to his house, or on his property is termed “ illegal” or “ building without permit” which in any cases will not get even when he applies for it. The results are demolishing the Palestinians homes for being “ Illegal”
Another example is the word “ terrorist” a much-contested term and its application depends on one’s worldview. Palestinians who resists the Israeli occupation are automatically labeled as “ terrorists” regardless of their affiliations or motivations. As if Palestinians, for fear of being labeled as “terrorists”, should be thankful for the Israeli occupation!. Israeli violence against Palestinians is never termed as terrorism by the world media or international bodies, despite it terrorizes the Palestinians on a daily basis, but rather, the words used are : “ self defense”. A biased use of language.

Another example of language manipulation by Israel is its medieval-looking wall that Israel simply calls “ a fence” The word fence normally conjures up an almost romantic imagery of a country home surrounded by white picket fence, or small wire fence to either keep animals in or out or for beautification reasons.

The reality of this Israeli “ fence” however is anything but romantic. it is actually a massive system of deep trenches to prevent the movement of vehicles, a 27 foot high concrete walls, rings of barbed wires, high watch towers, massive gates for people and vehicles and is supposed to be 436 miles long when fully completed.

It is very hard to imagine such medieval system of high walls and deep trenches as an innocent ‘ fence” but some people believe such obvious deception.

Despite the manipulative use of language, the realities in the Middle East, however, are still ugly and bloody and it takes more than sugar-coated words to change them.

Ali Alarabi is an award winning columnist and managing editor of TheArabDesk.com. Copyright Arab Writers Group Syndicate.

Sweet talk at Annapolis

2007-11-29T19:12:00.000-08:00
Published by the Omaha world-Herald

Sweet talk at Annapolis

By: Ali Alarabi

Although the speakers meeting in Annapolis were optimistic and almost encouraging in their speeches regarding bringing lasting peace to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, a peace, in the words of president Bush should usher the establishment of a viable Palestinian state side by side with Israel. President Bush speech, though was peppered with references to freedom of the Palestinian people and a “real” and “viable” Palestinian state, but in reality, however, Israel is making every effort to undermine the freedom of the Palestinian people and making the “reality and viability” of any future Palestinian state a virtual impossibility.

Ever since Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem in 1967, it had embarked on building illegal Jewish settlements on occupied lands, in itself a flagrant violation of international law, then populating those settlements with heavily armed Jewish militants, at the same time kept up pace to depopulate Palestinian cities from it residents through forced expulsions, economic hardship and military rule. Moving rapidly to change the nature of any possible future Palestinian state, Israel took over other arable lands and water resources from its Palestinians owners converting it to benefit illegal Jewish settlers.

Meanwhile the Israeli government is steadily with the building of the huge Spartan and medieval-looking wall, declared illegal by the International court, that is snaking around Palestinian towns and cities, galloping up Palestinian lands in its path and strangling Arab Jerusalem isolating it from the rest of Palestinian cities. Listening to president Bush in Annapolis, The most important aspect of his speech, however, was his wall-to-wall adaptation of the Israeli positions, as oppose to an independent American position in line with international laws and agreements, with regards to its settlement polices, the right of return of Palestinian refugees, and the conversion of Israel from a supposed democratic country for all of its citizens, Christians Muslims and Jews alike into an exclusively Jewish state.

The idea of Israel as ” Jewish homeland” for the Jewish people” as asserted by president Bush during his opening speech is a serious issue with serious implications especially that this idea if it were to be made a reality, would make over one million Arab citizens of Israel, Christians and Muslims an instant foreigners in their own native country.

Bush also used the term ” unauthorized outposts” in his speech and not illegal settlements, reflecting his acceptance of the presence of those settlements; illegal under international law on the very land he envisions it to be a Palestinian state. This position not only contradicts the president’s own vision but it also represents a departure from the traditional American position of opposing those illegal settlements.

Ehud Olmert on the other hand exploited the Annapolis gathering to extend Israel’s hand to Arab countries by sweet-talking them to open consulates and trade offices and normalize relations, regardless of the status of its occupation or the establishment of Palestine state. This, however, is the real goal of Israeli politicians from this meeting.

Negotiating with the Palestinians has been dragging on since 1993, and it has amounted to neither a Palestinian state, nor the promised prosperity nor a foreseeable end of occupation, but rather it led to increase of illegal settlements, 11000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, building a Spartan wall, an adamant refusal to admit its responsibility for the creation of Palestinian refugees problem and a complete destruction of the Palestinian economy.

Israeli politicians envision a normal diplomatic and trade relations with Arab countries while Palestinians will be reduced to a state chopped up into disjointed pieces dependent on Israel for its survival.
The only real thing Israel is offering the Palestinians, at this point, is more negotiations that eventually will drag on forever. Meanwhile it seems that there is no end in sight for its illegal settlements expansion, or its refusal to end its occupation.

Mahmoud Abbas, perhaps the most unpopular Palestinian leader ever, has nothing to offer the Israelis that he did not offer before. The problem however is that Abbas has lost control of Gaza to his arch rival Hamas, and his West Bank fiefdom is ravaged by Israeli check-points and military positions preventing the movement of people in and out of their homes, which left its economy shattered. For the Palestinian people A solution that does not include all of pre-1967 borders, and a just solution for the refugees which will offer them the right to return to their homes would be a hard sell, if not impossible to accept.

(Ali Alarabi is Arab American writer and journalist, he can be reached at: alialarabi1@aol.com. Copyright Arab Writers Group Syndicate, www.ArabWritersGroup.com.)

The origins of Turkey

2007-11-22T08:41:00.000-08:00
(president Bush pardons May)

Ever since President Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving day an official national holiday in his Thanksgiving proclamation in 1863, and Americans have been celebrating the day that marks the original pilgrims who in 1621 celebrated their first Thanksgiving by cooking the Turkey Bird, a truly native American bird.
Yesterday, President George W. Bush, in line with American presidential tradition spared the lives of the National Turkey and pardoned May and her alternate Flower declaring ” May they live the rest of their lives in blissful gobbling”

But how did this huge and colorful bird we call Turkey, came to be known as “Turkey” which is actually the name of a country.

Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis wrote in the New York Review of Books in 2003 that the reason Americans or “westerners” named the exotic bird they encountered in the new world “Turkey” because for one it was a strange, exotic and unknown bird to them, and since the Ottoman Empire at the time, the 17th century, was an unfamiliar and exotic landscape for most westerners especially that the Ottoman “Turkish” Sultan was also exotic looking with his colorful turban and attire. So according to Lewis analysis, the Western pilgrims named the exotic unknown bird they encountered “Turkey” because Turkey also represented an exotic unfamiliar place to them.

In everyday American lexicon, I noticed that when someone calling another a “ Turkey” often times it is said in ridicule by drawing on the original strangeness and exotic looks of the bird when Europeans settlers in America encountered it.

Interestingly, however, the Turks in their country Turkey, do not call the Turkey Turkey” but rather “ Hindi” from “ Hind” which is India, so it is called the Indian Bird.

The reason is that the Turks thought the Bird was originated in India.

In Arabic the bird is called the Ethiopian bird “ Deek Habash” (Deek is rooster or bird) because Ethiopia was called Abyssinia and Habash is Arabic for Abyssinia. One reason could be because Arabs thought the bird-originated Ethiopia, and another reason, which I think is more plausible, has to do with the black-feathered body of the bird itself. Ethiopia is a black African country which is right a cross the red sea from Arabia proper, the term Habash/Habashi is used alternately as being from Habasha (Ethiopia) and black.

In Egyptian Arabic the bird is called “ Deek Roumi” which means a Roman/western/European Bird. In line with Bernard Lewis analysis, the Egyptians associated the bird with the westerners or even the Roman Emperor because the Roman Emperor, much like his Ottoman Sultan counterpart, sported a crown and colorful attire.
In Iraq, though the bird in general called “ Habash’ but there are other local names for it like “ Ali Sheish” more commonly used by the Shias. “ Ali Sheish” is perhaps a corruption of the words “ Ala Sheish” which perhaps has to do with the way it is cooked on charcoal, like a Sheish kabob.

(Charelamn,Holy Roman Emperor)

In Macedonian Slavic the bird is called simply Misir which means “the Egyptian bird” (Misir, for male bird and Miserika for female) the Arabic word for Egypt is “Misir”

But what do they call this worldly bird in India?

By now I thought India would have the answer to this chase, but to my utter surprise, I found that the bird does not exist in India.
And I also found that there is no word for it in any of the Indic languages I researched!

I asked few Indians I know about it who told me that there is no Turkey or a name for it in India.

However, the common theme I found when digging the archeological etymology of the word “Turkey” was that in most European languages,in several variations, the Bird is always called or referred to as an Indian Bird or the bird from India or from the Indian city Calcutta.

The reason for that I think it had to do with the Greeks who originally called it “Indike ornitha” which means Indian Bird, which influenced many other European tongues afterward.

Therefore In polish its called “Indyk” while in Russian its “Indjuk”
while in Portuguese the bird is called “Peru” named after the country Peru.

The Chinese call the bird hu ji, in Chinese Mandrine, which roughly translates into “fire chicken”, while in Japanese it is called shichimenchoo, which means “the Seven-sided bird”

The common theme of the naming this bird in all languages and cultures has to do with they way people see and perceive the bird itself. This is of course a character in language itself and the way we human invent words and meanings to correspond with our cultures,perceptions and imagination.

Nonie Darwish. The native informant and Islamophobia

2007-10-31T12:20:00.000-07:00

A recent weeklong campaign undertaken by anti-Arab, anti-Muslim racist David Horowitz in university campuses across the US designed to intimidate and terrorize students and professors who do not share Mr. Horowitz views when it comes to Israel. Horowitz created an organization called Campus Watch group against what he calls Islamo-facisim. Islamofacists are anyone, student or a professor, Muslim or Christian, Arab or not whom does not share Mr. Horowitz nationalist support for Israel or dare to criticize its aggressive policies.

Aided by equally militant supporters, Horowitz is engaging in slandering college professors and defame their characters, and creating a list of those who simply, unlike him, do not hold Israel above criticism, or above the law, or put Israeli interests ahead of American interests.
Among those recruited to participate in Mr. Horowitz hatred campaign is an Arab and a former Muslim woman, named Nonie Darwish. Darwish is an Egyptian who is going around the country defending Israel’s right to occupy Arab lands and kill Arabs. She is also speaking against Arab and Muslim Americans accusing them of supporting terrorism.

As if it’s not enough for Arab Americans and Muslims in this country to deal with bigots, racists and extremist pro-Israeli militants, they now have to deal with Nonie Darwish, who joins the racist cacophony in order to blemish the faith and culture of Arabs by falsely claiming Arabs and Muslims in America are about to or desire to “declare war” on America.
As ridiculous as this lie may sound, not surprisingly however, it finds fertile ground and receptive ears among those who has made it a career to tarnish Arab and Muslim Americans.

But you really have to be very stupid or just got off a spaceship from Mars to believe Darwish’s and Horowitz’s bucket of lies. To the usefulness of pro-Israeli militants, Nonie Darwish functions as the Native Informant who uses her knowledge of the Islamic faith and Arab culture to twist and bend the fact to serve her purposes.

As a supporter of Israel and founder of “ArabsforIsrael.com,” which I suspect she may be is the only member; Darwish’s stories do not measure up under close examination.
For one, she is biased, and one-sided. She claims on her web site that she wants peace and blessing for Israel and the Jewish people in “our neighborhood.” Ironically, her concept of a “neighborhood” is one cleansed of Arabs, Muslims and Christian Palestinians. In her view, only Jews deserve to live in peace, but not Arabs.
She also boasts that she renounced “Jihad” for America, which is the sub title of her latest propaganda book. But what Jihad did she renounce? And who asked her to declare this alleged “Jihad” as if a person can wake up in the morning and “declare Jihad”, a ridiculous notion, and malicious deception if you ask me.
Moreover, there are over 56 Muslim countries in the world and no Muslim country or its citizens have declared “Jihad” or a war against the United States. Only terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaida are fighting the United States and wrongly claiming their fight as “Jihad.”

The truth of the matter is that Nonie Darwish is a one alienated and driven former Muslim woman who is angry at her former country Egypt and angry with the Arab/Muslim culture. Her anger for whatever reasons drove her into the arms of Horowitz and other pro Israeli supporters. Therefore she is not motivated by principles but rather by anger, greed and her desire for revenge.
Despite Israel’s policies of building illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands, and continuing its illegal occupation of Palestinians, Darwish sees no injustice or harm done to the Palestinian Christians and Muslims alike.

To put Darwish’s work in perspective, imagine if those Americans who are disillusioned with George Bush’s policies turned against their country and its citizens and went on to join the ranks of Al-Qaida and bin laden terrorist networks. It would be high treason to do so. Along those lines, I can only think of Adam Gadahn, an American citizen turned Al-Qaida spokesman, who betrayed his country and embraced the terrorist organization Al-Qaida that killed Americans and declared war on his country. For many of the Palestinian and Arab victims of Israeli violent occupation and aggression, Nonie Darwish is an Adam Gadahn.

Though in her web site she cites issues such as “honor killing” genital mutilations, and hate, as the primary reasons for her to work for Israeli interests. But it is very strange however and hard to understand what does honor killing or genital mutilations have to do with Peace or war with Israel?
Moreover, one must question Darwish’s motives for making Israel her primary country to defend, rather than America.

In light of Darwish’s behavior of turning against her country of birth, Egypt and the country her own father was killed defending, what if, one might ask, Nonie Darwish became disillusioned with her new country, America, or its justice system or culture? Would she betray her new country America just like she betrayed her old country Egypt!

The meaning of Ramdan for Muslims

2007-09-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

The month of Ramadan, which started last week, is perhaps the most celebrated event in a Muslim calendar year. To think of the significance of Ramadan and what it means to hundreds of millions of Muslims across the globe, American Christians might think of the significance of Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays combined, and then extended for thirty days. Then add another 5-day holiday immediately afterwards to celebrate the “breaking of the fast.” Combining its religious and social cultural significance, Ramadan for Muslims, is an everyday Thanksgiving and an everyday Christmas, that lasts thirty days.

Ramadan, however, first and foremost, is a religious month. Muslims believe that God (in Arabic, Allah) revealed the Quran to the Prophet Mohammad during this month. To recognize this event, it is marked by abstaining from all food and drink from sunrise until sunset accompanied by devoted worship and reciting the Quran.

Though the religious principle of fasting is found in all major religions, in Islam, however, it is for an extended period of time. Muslims are actually required to do more than just abstain from food and drink, or at least that’s the way it is supposed to be for all Muslims. But, of course, some people, like me for example, think of nothing else but food all day, just as many Christians might only think of food at Thanksgiving, rather than the historical significance of the holiday, or only on presents at Christmas time.

My Ramadan days normally consists of imagining how will I devour all kind of foods, and which deserts I will eat first. I am always looking at my watch, calculating when will I start eating!

A good Muslim, however, ought to take the month of Ramadan as an opportunity to purify his soul and body and devote an entire month to worship God and contemplate faith. Food deprivation, during the day, is supposed to make Muslims think of others who are less fortunate than they are, thus putting the rich on equal plane with the wretched. It is essential therefore that fasting should not just become about only food deprivation, but should rather be accompanied by deep commitment to faith, to moral Islamic goodness, and to the well being of the community.

Because Muslims are supposed to abstain from food and drink from sunrise until sunset, work activities become less, and people tend to work less during the day. I personally could hardly think of work while I am thinking of what am I going to eat in the evening.

One might argue that economic activities during day time might tend to slow down during this month, especially in the Islamic World. That’s true, but other economic activities associated with the Ramadan season seems to promote a boom in trade and business. People stock up on food items such as rice and meat during the day, for example, in order to prepare elaborate dinners at night after the fast is broken. Thinking of food all day, like me, they will tend to over eat.

This dynamic has shifted main economic activities and trade from daytime, were people are less energetic due to not eating or drinking, into the nighttime. Nightlife during Ramadan, therefore, becomes colorful and restaurants get decorated and filled with those who decided to break their fast by eating out.

So most of activities during Ramadan occur during the evening hours where it has evolved to become distinct culture for the whole month. As a result, Ramadan days and night have their own special foods, drinks, sweets, candy and even its own television shows.

In Egypt for example, Ramadan is observed in every aspect of life, Mosques are filled with praying and devote believers well into the night, Quran is recited extensively. At the same time, the city of Cairo takes a colorful approach and it becomes a beautiful panoramic city. Cairo’s streets are decorated with ribbons and colorful candle-lit-lanterns called “Fawanees” which are hung on the streets and around the houses to mark the special occasion. Other Egyptian cities might hang one big “Fanoos” (singular of Fawanees). For Egyptians, hanging Fawanees is a thousand years old Ramadan tradition that started during the rule of the Fatimied State which ruled Egypt more than ten centuries ago.

During Ramadan, Muslim families gather around for elaborate meals and specially prepared foods consisting of beef, lamp, rice, chicken and sweets, and sweetened drinks. This tradition, of course, fosters and strengthen familial ties, as families invite each other for dinner to break the fast, called “Iftar.” This togetherness, religiously encouraged, as a result, bring family members to become closer to each other as they share a meals every evening with each others or neighbors and other relatives.

The month of Ramadan also ushers in its own TV shows. Arab countries and TV production companies compete with each other to produce the best Ramadan shows vying for the most viewers for shows of drama, comedies and children shows.

After the fasting month is over, Muslims would celebrate the end of Ramadan and breaking the fast with a 5-day holiday called “Eid el-Fitr” which starts with “Salat el Eid,” which is the “Holiday Prayer.” Children put on their best clothes and receive gifts from adults. Families visit each other.

As for me, the end of Ramadan will mark starting a crash diet to shed some of the pounds I put during my thirty day long fasting!

Copy rights Arab writers group syndicate. www.arabwritersgroup.com

Another Take, September 11

2007-09-10T09:19:00.000-07:00
Published by the Chicago Daily SouthTown

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/news/opinion/guests/549331,091007anothertakealarabi.article

Another Take

September 10, 2007

Sept. 11 is perhaps the single most important factor that has changed and shaped the American peoples' views and opinions - as well as prejudices - when it comes to the Middle East, Arabs and Muslims.

The war in Iraq was made possible as a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy in which the victims of this terrorist act were exploited in the battle cry to launch and execute a war on a country that had committed no act of war or act of terrorism against the United States.

Iraq, ruled by Saddam Hussein, had no ties to the international terror network of al-Qaida. There were no terrorists present on Iraqi soil except in northern Iraq, which was a Kurdish-controlled territory and where the notorious terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi initially was based.

Though Saddam Hussein was a brutal tyrant and a criminal by all accounts, from an American perspective, and as far as American interests were concerned - he was not a threat to the United States nor to American citizens either at home or abroad.

So what are the factors that made it possible for the Bush administration to be able to convince half of the American people to accept its reasons to invade a foreign country that has done them no harm?

Those who populated and operated the halls of power in Washington were able to create an illusion of a connection between Osama bin Laden and his terrorist organization and Iraq, which happened to be an Arab and Muslim country. With the help of a cowed media, the administration was able to weave support for the war by tapping into an under-current of racist and bigoted views of Muslims and Arabs.

Americans, in general, are conditioned by popular culture to view Arabs and Muslims suspiciously and as the enemy.

Some Americans were motivated by their fundamentalist and apocalyptic religious views, which are pro-Israel and anti-Arab, while others were consumed by their desire for bloody revenge in a sense that so long as the person at the receiving end of the blows is an Arab and/or a Muslim, it matters not where or who or when we strike.

In the meantime, well-meaning Americans were led to believe that invading Iraq and ravaging the entire country would somehow be equivalent to extracting revenge and, by extension, a measure of justice for what occured on Sept. 11. This, of course, is far from the truth. We now know, thanks to many official investigations into this matter, that neither Iraq nor Saddam Hussein had anything to do with Sept. 11 or al-Qaida terrorism.

On the contrary, this war has transformed Iraq into al-Qaida's main base of operation and its proving ground and in the process has gifted the country to Iran through Iraq's corrupt Shia leadership and its "holy" Ayatollahs.

The nearly 3,000 victims of Sept. 11 were used, immorally and shamelessly, to the advantage of those who planned for this war. The victims' murders have been exploited to justify the psychological connection between the state of Iraq and bin Laden's terrorism. The terrorism of Sept. 11 and the victims have become a convenient justification to wage war, a justification we only recently learned has nothing to do with terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, Sept. 11 or even democracy or freedom.

Despite what now are discredited objectives of the war, much of the support for the war continues to come from certain segments of American society that view Iraq and other Muslim and Arab nations as an "enemy" that deserves to be punched back, just as bin Laden did to America on Sept. 11.

Never mind, however, that bin Laden, Zarqawi and al-Qaida have collectively killed more Arabs and Muslims than Americans. Yet, the supporters of this war still desire to punish all Arabs and all Muslims simply because bin Laden is an Arab and a Muslim. Fueling this racist attitude toward everything Arab and everything Muslim is popular culture and the constant badgering of Arab Americans and Muslim Americans on TV and in the mainstream media by racist commentators and writers.

On this sixth anniversary of this tragic event, we should realize and remember that Sept. 11 was neither a spontaneous act nor an act that occurred in a vacuum. Those who killed Americans did not wake up one day thinking we should kill Americans; men are not born terrorists or suicide bombers.

We need to address the underlying reasons and circumstances that created a fertile ground for the evil of terrorism to take root. America should honor its victims by bringing those who were responsible for this crime to justice and embark instead on a self-critical examination of its bad policies in the Middle East rather than continue to punish the innocent in order to satisfy a nation's thirst for vengeance.

Ali Alarabi, of Chicago, is managing editor of The Arab Desk at www.TheArabDesk.com. He can be reached at alialarabi1@aol.com. Copyright Arab Writers Group Syndicate.

The usual suspects

2007-08-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

There you go again, a woman traveling from Californian to Chicago yesterday, Wednesday, August 29 went to the flight crew and reported suspicious Arab-looking men who were “possibly speaking Arabic” after she boarded the plane heading to Chicago. The woman was reported to have told the crew that there were 4 to 7 men possibly speaking Arabic who acted in an “ odd behavior”

Later on, the woman wanted to get off the plane causing the plane to go back to the terminal and was delayed until the next day.
It was not known what constitute an odd behavior in the woman’s mind!

It turned out that the Arabic men were Iraqis who according the Associated Press were contracted by private company to train US marines, possibly, my guess, on Arabic language, cultural sensitivities and the significance of special Shia rituals in Iraq.

The most “ Odd” thing about this story was how in the world did that woman know that the men were speaking Arabic? It was a lucky guess of course because obviously the woman does not know or understand Arabic. The men could have been speaking Mongolian, Hebrew, Armenian, Bulgarian or Persian or even Martian language. But maybe, and I am speculating here, the moustaches gave them away as being Arabs!

The truth and the significance of story and countless others like it, is that the woman acted with a racist disposition when it comes to Arabs and Arab Americans or anyone who looks like an Arab.

Popular culture and Hollywood feed Americans a relentless and shamless daily diet of anti-Arab racism and hatred in shows and movies that portray Arabs as always villains and terrorists.

The TV show, 24,for example is a fantastical stupid show that the very reason of its existence is to portray Arabs and Muslims as the evil ones, the villains and the terrorists. Always. Hollywood role here is being the fountainhead that provide the racists, and the criminals with mental ammunition to perhaps go ahead and harm an innocent Arab American or a Muslim American whose only guilt is his ethnicity or religious belief. Hollywood is guilty of manufacturing deception and planting a culture of fear, racism, and hatred in the minds of millions of will-meaning Americans.

With that said,only the Arab money,however, is welcomed in America, as the gulf Arab countries are ready to pump over 20 billion dollars worth of worthless military hardware into the American economy thus putting and keeping millions of Americans at their jobs. Other than that, An Arab who comes to America, according to Arab press reports, would feel un-welcomed, disrespected, looked down upon, and often times treated with the most undignified fashion.

So when ordinary Americans get suspicious about something at an airport or a train terminal, they immediately look for the usual suspect, an Arab or someone who looks like him.

It would be very stupid to think that terrorist syndicates would send an advance surveillance team to any American city wearing fluffy white robes, sporting colorful turbans with a peacock feather coming out of the middle of it, and having nametags that reads “ Sheik Mombasa Bin Babil”

Anti-Arab stereotyping and racism, however, might prove to be lethal and an Achilles heel for which the real terrorists whose skin might lack enough pigmentation to look pleasing to any racist person in which case would cause him to pass as “Whitey” himself. And imagine a new wave of terrorists who have blonde hair and green eyes who then would be able to conduct surveillance, plant bombs without raising an eyebrow from ordinary people who are looking at an innocent man who happened to go the bathroom (odd behavior) or talking to his wife Fatima or his cousin Ali Baba (another odd behavior) or, God-forbid, speaking Arabic (the oddest behavior of all at any giving airport)

I bet if Barak Obama was not famous enough or running for national office, he would be taken off the plane for an odd or suspicious behavior such as reading a newspaper or going to the bathroom or for the oddest behavior of all; having a dark skin!

Restore Iraqi nationalism

2007-08-28T16:28:00.000-07:00
Published in Providence Journal, Monday,8-27-08

http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/CT_nuali27_08-27-07_QM6QP2Q.10af9af.html

U.S. must restore Iraqi nationalism
01:00 AM EDT on Monday, August 27, 2007

ALI ALARABI

CHICAGO

FORRMER NEW YORK Times Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Hedges wrote on Aug. 12 that “the war in Iraq is about to get worse . . . much worse,” especially after the Democrats washed their hands of responsibility to end this war. As Mr. Hedges put it, this war “will sputter and stagger forward until the mission collapses.”
One of the most conspicuous things about this war is that it has brought the words of Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis into full realization when he said in a 1991 essay entitled “Mideast states, pawns no longer in imperial games” that:

“It may turn out that the civil war that destroyed Lebanon was a pilot project for the whole region, and that with very few exceptions states will disintegrate into chaos of squabbling, feuding, fighting sects, tribes and regions.”

Mr. Lewis was referring to the civil war that ravaged Lebanon in 1975-1991. Iraq today is a failed chaotic state of feuding sects and tribes and precisely what Mr. Lewis had in mind of what could happen widely in the Middle East.
Those who planned for this war in Iraq, long before Sept. 11, 2001, appear to have worked to fulfill Mr. Lewis’s prophecy. The results have been disastrous both for the region, for the U.S., and for international peace and security. The threat of terrorism against the United States, as well as other countries has increased, and Iraqis are doing far worse today than they ever did under Saddam Hussein.
The problem that bedevils Iraq today, and is seldom mentioned in the press, is that it is no longer an Arab country, in terms of its national identity, despite being a majority ethnic-Arab country of Muslims and Christians with a significant Kurdish minority population.

The war has let a segment of Iraqi Shias realize their long-held dream to convert Iraq from an Arab country into a Shia country — that is, a country with a narrow Shia identity that will essentially serve as an extension of Iran. It also let the Kurds slice off a piece of the country for themselves, thus converting the modern state of Iraq into a dysfunctional failed state that belongs more to the Middle Ages than to the 21st Century, exactly what Mr. Lewis foresaw in 1991.
Mr. Hedges was right when he labeled the notorious Iraqi politician and former CIA operative Ahmad Chalabi an “Iranian spy.” Similarly, no significant Iraqi Shia politician can make any major decision whether to run for office or join the government without consulting Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the Iranian ayatollah whose words are taken by Iraqi Shias to be almost as holy as God’s and whose priorities and agendas are more important to them than the state of Iraq itself.

Most Shias, Arabs or not, have greater loyalty to Iran and its ayatollahs than their own countries. We see evidence of this phenomenon in the writings of such Shia nationalists as Fuad Ajami and Vali Nasr. Both teach at respected American universities and are proponents of a separate Shia identity as the basis for Shia nationalism under global Iranian leadership. It is worth noting, however, that Shiaism is basically no more than a political party that acquired religious thought and an intellectual argument over the centuries.

The United States is in a lose-lose situation. If it withdraws now, Iraq will plunge into total inferno. If it remains, American soldiers will continue to die for ever-changing objectives. A beacon of hope could emerge, however, if the United States encourages Iraqi nationalism to be once more the identity of Iraq for Shia, Kurds, Sunnis and other Muslims, and Christians. Only then Iraqis will look beyond their narrow religious and ethnic identities, stop slaughtering each other and embrace each other as equal citizens of a modern state.

Youssif, the face of Iraq

2007-08-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

Youssif is a small five years old Iraqi boy who was grabbed by terrorists, earlier this year, while playing outside his house, who then doused him with gas and set his little body on fire. “ I felt I was burning” said Youssif as he was talking to Arwa Damon CNN reporter in Iraq.

Youssif’s mother,Zainab, heard the cries and ran outside to see her son on fire. "His face was melting and his nose was pushed inside and then fainted” said the horrified mother.

The once playful outgoing boy has become withdrawn and traumatized because of his injuries

Youssif’s burnt face and the faces of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children exposed the collapse of an entire country from a stable secured country into a heap of rubble of what once was a proud nation called Iraq.

Good hearted decent Americans, individuals, organizations and hospitals came out in droves to help Youssif recover his once smiley face. CNN was overwhelmed by the out pouring support and offers to help, CNN.com reported.

The Children’s Burn foundation in Californian has offered to treat Youssif, and pay for all expenses including all of the travel and accommodations for his family to come to the US for treatment.

Dr. Peter Grossman will donate his services for free to help Youssif
Thousands of other Iraqi children have suffered the gruesome punishment similar to Youssif. Many lost limps, eyes and most of the time their young lives. Those are the silent innocent victims of this dirty war.

While Iraqi grown ups; from criminal leaders to thieving politicians to crook Ayatollahs are busy looting, burning and destroying their own country at the expense of young Iraqi children. Youssif and children like him will have to continue to suffer in silence with their faces melted down or their limps cut off.

One of the most shameful things about this war is that many politicians and states have collaborated in destroying Iraq and its people, non is interested in helping the Iraqi citizens children and adults alike.

As for Youssif, he will now have another chance to show his innocent smile once more away from the Hell-zone.

But in the clutch of circumstance, in the sinking depths of man, and in the foggy thicket of war, we became a beast of nature and forgot our humanity.

Youssif's melted face descended upon us to ask us; what have we done to his beautiful face? But we have no answer to give him; we are too ashamed to even look him in the eye.

The Muslims of the West, discontent and alienation

2007-07-27T05:19:00.000-07:00

When the British authorities discovered that the plotters and terrorist masterminds behind the attempt to blow up British airports, early this month, were trained doctors, it was a shocking development in some respect, but it is also a wake up call for governments that terrorism evolves and spawns keeping pace with anti-terrorism measures. In light of those terrorists incidents in Britain you just never know who could be or would be terrorist thus turning terrorist’s profiles upside down.

The negative aspect of these events, on the Muslim community as a whole, is that it once again refocused the watchful gaze of security and intelligence services on Muslim communities in the west but it is impossible for security services to watch every person or have a way to know what people hide in their hearts and minds. Therefore governments ought to take a different approach in dealing with terrorism threats, something along the lines of “Sociology of terrorism”

In the case of Britain, one place to look at is the relations between the Muslim immigrant community with the larger British society which parallels to some extent the relations of the US Muslim community with the larger society and its media, political and social institutions.

The source of Muslim discontent in Britain or in the US, in my opinion, is “Alienation" which is a shade of racism, with that I mean that Arabs or Muslims in general tend to be demeaned in the public domain, by the media or Hollywood and sometimes by ill-conceived government policies. Muslims views are under represented in western societies despite their large numbers as in the case of France and other European countries.

To have a Muslim or an Arab name is a sure guarantee to make you a suspect sometimes blatantly and sometimes in a subtle way depends on the location and circumstance.
Alienation impedes upward mobility and the progress of the community, it could also lead to gradual radicalization of individuals of whom terrorist organizations and their recruiters might find a fertile ground to recruit in their ranks and provide them with a vent to strike back at the society that they perceived alienated and discriminated against them.

The war in Iraq has exasperated the sense of alienation among Muslims in that they see their governments i.e. Britain or the US are waging an "unjust war" in their opinion, against a Muslim country without legitimate justification. They see that as an assault on their values, holy places and without an outlet for them to express their dismay or objection to this type of polices, they therefore find an easy vent or an outlet in extremist groups that eventually, perhaps, would evolve into acts of terrorism through exploiting their discontent and anger.

Alienation of person(s) from his surrounding and the larger society is certainly placing the individual in a mental ghetto that impairs vision and reason. A person who is placed in such environment will end up becoming an easy prey for terrorists to harvest.
It is prudent upon Western governments that Muslims in their societies must be assured of their place in the society without being prejudiced or looked down upon as suspects simply because they have foreign sounding names or because they look “different”

This could be done through integration not assimilation for the community does not need to melt down or dissolve into the larger society so it can be accepted.
Integration could be done through various government programs designed to foster a relation of trust and good citizenry between government, individual and community.
Assimilation on the other hand might create a backlash between two different set of value systems that not necessarily in conflict on all issues, but like everything in life, have some differences between them.

Lack of opportunities for Muslim in Britain and in the US is one way to prevent Muslim integration in that society and therefore increase their Isolation and Alienation. How can you feel like an American or British or French when you are constantly reminded that you are “an Alien” foreigner” or an “Arab” Muslim” and sometimes denied jobs and better opportunities because of who you are or where you come from.

The war in Iraq has my opinion increased the risks of terrorism in the western world almost ten folds. PR gimmicks by the US government officials like Karen Hughes who is trying to “win the hearts and minds” will not work. In the mind of Muslims across the globe, the US or British polices are designed to win them over is like when an accused notorious murderer who is trying to change your mind about him by taking you out to a steak dinner. You’ll eat the steak, but you’re not going to change your views of him.

Western governments must deal with their growing Muslim population as an integral part of the society that has its own problems and concerns which must be addressed and dealt with, not as an alien outpost or a security issue.

Palestinian tribalism: Fatah and Hamas

2007-07-10T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hamas military takeover of Gaza strip,last month, and its defeat of Fatah-controlled security apparatus ushers the Palestinian politics into a new round of chaos and more crises that divert the attention from the real issues of Israeli occupation and peace negotiation into Fatah-Hamas war. It is a dangerous state of affairs that the Palestinian people as a whole have found themselves victims of power struggle between two groups over a feckless Palestinian Authority that has little or no control or power over its own supposed territories.

As the fighting erupted and Hamas militants routed their Fatah adversaries, Hamas gunmen behaved as if they were storming the Bastille or liberating Al-Aqsa mosque when TV footage showed them praying on the ground or burning government buildings, killing off their rivals by throwing them off tall buildings alive which was a thuggish display of power. Hamas called its victory of occupying government and public buildings a “second liberation”

Hamas “victory” in Gaza is however hallow and an ominous sign not just of Hamas but also for the entire Palestinian people who found themselves in a situation that might undermine the goal of establishing a Palestinian state and rid the Palestinians of the Israeli occupation.

Humanitarian crises might ensue if Gaza remained blockaded by Israel preventing food supplies and fuel and medicine from entering Gaza in enough quantities for the whole population. Gaza which is more like a big prison than a normal place to live is about 45 miles long and between 6-10 miles wide inhibited by almost 1.5 million Palestinians most of them are refugees who lost their homes and property when Israel was founded in 1948.

Hamas however is not the only one to be blamed here; Fatah Movement which is now largely a shadow of its former self, is led by Mahmoud Abbas, a weak and spineless leader and is ravaged by internal divisions and large scale corruption. Its incompetent leadership has not been able to deliver to the Palestinian people neither a state nor security from Israel ever since the Oslo accords in the early nineties. Mohammad Dahlan, one of Fatah most notorious and corrupt leaders was universally condemned by both Hamas and some Fatah leaders as the one responsible for escalating this recent conflict with Hamas through his own private armed militias.

Dahlan is a much-hated figure within the Palestinian body politics for his corruption and mafia style leadership. He nevertheless has the support of some members of the US administration and the Israeli government.
( Dahlan and Israeli PM Olmert)

Ever since it won the election a year ago, Hamas was unable to behave as government that should deliver to its consistency a state through negotiations or deliver to them the basic needs and security. This happened partly because Hamas government faced cruel and unjust sanctions against its government and also because it found itself in a schizophrenic situation. Hamas stood to decide between two difficult choices whether it should keep its armed resistance to Israeli occupation and thus remain a perpetual opposition group or enter peace negotiations with Israel under some kind of Palestinian national umbrella and behave like a political party despite constant Israeli aggressions.
Hamas chose neither.

Having reached this point of having Gaza under its control and if Hamas insist on having its way especially that its political leaders in Damascus cannot escape the shadow of Syrian dominance and interferences the Palestinians might find themselves in a precarious situation of having their long desired state restricted to Gaza only while the West Bank will remain fragmented territory in Israeli orbit.

Meanwhile Israel has successfully played off the Palestinians against each other by supporting elements of Fatah against Hamas which is an Israeli and tactic that has proven working so well since 1918 when then Zionist leaders supported some Palestinians group against others.

Almost a century later, the Palestinian leadership is still fragmented and unable to deliver a minimum victory for its people or alleviate their suffering either in Palestinian areas or elsewhere.

Israel is of course is directly responsible for making this situation as it is now when it refused to deal with the PA led by Hamas organization or dealing with Abbas and his PLO the parent organization of the Palestinian Authority that came about as a result of the Oslo accords between the PLO and Israel

While Mahmoud Abbas the leader of the PA stands helpless to face Hamas growing power and boldness, he himself is dependent on Israeli and the US support and generosity and has little to offer to the Palestinian people. Israeli policies have practically reduced Abbas into the status of a “ beggar” begging for negotiating with Israel to resume peace talks, or “ begging” for some prisoners release, or “ begging” for the release of Palestinian Tax money collected and held by Israel but only to receive either outright rebukes or lip service from Olmert and other Israeli politicians.

With the forming of a new Palestinian government by independents headed by Salam Fayyad, a respected finance minister, the United States and the European Union have lifted their sanctions and resume aid to the Palestinians. This aid however will not be reaching Gaza any time soon and will be used by Abbas new government to pressure Hamas into submission or starve Gaza. Both choices will be very difficult to achieve in light of unified and clean Palestinian leadership and in the absence of genuine Israeli desire for peace.

Kuwaiti writer calls for killing of all Palestinians

2007-05-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

Reading what Kuwaiti writer Abdalla Hadlak wrote in the Kuwaiti daily Alwatan on 5/27/007 http://www.alwatan.com.kw/Default.aspx?MgDid=505814&pageId=80 ( for Arabic text)on the Lebanese crises of Fatah-Islam, I thought I was reading a neo-Nazi manifesto that wants to murder and exterminate the entire Palestinian people!(see below for my English translation)

Borrowing a passage from the Quran Mr. Hadlak titled his rampage against the Palestinians “Fight/kill them and Allah shall torture them through your hands” .

Not only did the writer twisted and corrupted the Quranic verse to serve his twisted purposes but he did not leave a rock unturned without hurling insults and accusations against the entire Palestinian people calling for their mass murder and torture and their total destruction.

Much of Hadlak rampage does not make any sense however. His arguments were very incoherent and flat out false and lack any sense of historical accuracy or sound logic, and neither were supported by any facts. His facts are, in fact, were non-existence and more, his entire piece had nothing to do with Lebanon or the crises brewing there, but rather it was an anti-Palestinian murderous manifesto.

He for example claims that “The majority of the 30,000 Palestinian refugees in the Nahr el-bared camp are terrorists”

Every time Hadlak uttered the word “Palestinian” he made sure to precede it with several adjectives such as “terrorists, lowly, backstabbers, hateful, untrustworthy in order to drive home his point that the entire Palestinian people are the lowliest creatures on this earth and they deserve nothing but to be “killed” tortured” and “their heads chopped off”

He claims that the Palestinian refugees are traitors to the Lebanese government, and traits such treason, backstabbing are inherent in them and that the Lebanese government, according to him, provides food, shelter, safety, comfort, security and leisurely life style for those refugees.

Therefore and because of Palestinian “terrorism” he calls on the Lebanese army to “chase them down (the Palestinians) cut them down, kill them down, and chop their heads off”

“O’ heroic Lebanese army, attack the Palestinian terrorists who follow the orders of Baath and Persian terrorism ,chase them down, cut them down, be severe on them and teach them a lesson they shall not forget (Fight/kill them and Allah shall torture them through your hands, embarrassing them, rendering you victorious over them thus quenching the chests of the believers – the Quran)”

The truth is that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live in poverty stricken camps, squalid conditions of open sewers and no running water system and a Palestinian refugee cannot bring in a bag of cement to the camp to fix his home if it needs t be fixed. On top of that the Lebanese law forbids Palestinians to hold over 70 jobs and profession.

However, not only did the entire Lebanese political class as well as all of the mainline Palestinian organizations inside or outside the camp say that the Palestinians and the refugees had nothing to do with Fatah-Islam. This piece of crucial information was conspicuously absent and did not register in the blood thirsty and twisted mind of Mr. Hadlak.

I am surprised (or maybe I shouldn’t) that such writings are considered “mainstream” in the Kuwaiti press. And if may venture to say that I have not heard even the staunchest Israeli extremist racist had ever said such murderous words comparable to what Hadlak had to say. Moreover, what Hadlak said of the Palestinian people in his recent and older columns are worst than what Hitler and the Nazis had said of the Jews.

The level of rhetoric of Hadlak and other Kuwaiti extremists such as another Alwatan columnist Fuad Hashem, would make Hitler sounds more like mother Teresa.

We can discern the source of Hadlak’s extremist views if we substitute the word Lebanon with Kuwait in 1990 during the time of illegal Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Kuwaitis accuse the Palestinians of supporting Saddam’s army during the occupation of Kuwait in 1990/1991, however this is far from the truth.

I spoke with “Abu Ala’ of Chicago, a Palestinian-American who moved to Chicago after living in Kuwait for 29 and owned a sheet metal fabrication factory there prior to the Iraqi invasion. Abu Ala’ told me that the Iraqi occupation authorities asked the Palestinian in Kuwait to come out and demonstrate in support of Saddam Hussein. The Palestinians there refused to do so.

One small Iraqi-made Palestinian organization called “Arab liberation Front” did support Saddam forces there because they were for all intents and purposes an Iraqi organization.
This “Arab Liberation front” was an Iraqi funded group made to serve Iraqi propaganda which like other Arab regimes uses the Palestinian cause to legitimize their rule in the eyes of the Arab peoples.

Much of the looting and killing, according to Abu Ala’ who remained there during the occupation and news reports during that time were done by the rag tag Iraqi popular army. And some of the looting of Kuwaitis homes were done by other Kuwaitis who knew that their neighbors had fled the country.

The late Yasser Arafat the object of intense Kuwaiti hatred and smear campaign did not support the occupation of Kuwait; however he did not support an American intervention and war and called for an intra-Arab solution to the crises.
Kuwaitis could never forget this of course and they are holding the entire Palestinian people responsible for the occupation and the destruction and death occurred in their country.

After the liberation of Kuwait by the American forces in 1991, the Kuwaitis turned around and started killing off Palestinians residents randomly, raping Palestinian women, kidnapping small children, raping them and according to stories of survivors of that period those young children ended up as body parts to older Kuwaitis in need of body organs. Abu Ala’ told me of “Abdel Karim” a Palestinian who worked for him at his factory when he came to him distraught and disoriented telling that his 13 years old daughter had disappeared.

Abdel Karim searched for his daughter frantically and never found her.
Over 400,000 thousand Palestinians who lived in Kuwait were expelled in a mass exodus out of that country to live yet another exile in another country.
The Kuwaiti police, army and civilians did all those horrific things with complete sense of righteous vengeance. No international body investigated the Kuwaiti crimes of rape, murder and stealing and looting Palestinian homes and properties.

For Abu Ala’ the invading Iraqi army hauled off his sheet metal factory that had over $ 1.5 million worth of machinery to Iraq. He was left helpless and penniless and had to leave Kuwait fearing for his life soon after.

While the United Nations made reparation and compensation to Kuwait and Kuwaitis after the war, Abu Ala’ saw very little of that money, because his factory was under a Kuwaiti name because Kuwaiti law forbids non-Kuwaitis from owning anything, and properties had to be registered by a surrogate Kuwaiti citizen.

Kuwait which was one of the most progressive Arab countries that had embraced the Palestinians and their organizations and causes physically and financially has been transformed into a bastion of intense anti-Palestinian hatred and animosity and the most Pro-Israeli sentiments in the Arab world.

For Abu Ala’ the irony was that the UN reparation commission had compensated the Kuwaiti surrogate citizen for Abu Ala’s own factory. That Kuwaiti citizen was glad to keep the money Abu’ Ala’ had to work 29 years of his life in Kuwait to make!
Now a succsful Palestinian-American business man, Abu Ala’ traveled to Kuwait for the first time since he left in 1991 using his American passport, he told me that Kuwait has changed a lot. “It is no longer the country I knew for 29 years”

“We used to love Kuwait and yearn for those years we lived in there in peace. But this time around I found that the love for Kuwait is no more”
Abu Ala’ still does not know what happened to Abdel Karim’s daughter and probably no one will ever know.

Kuwaiti writer calls to kill all Palestinians-English Translation

2007-05-29T09:49:00.000-07:00
Translated from Arabic text Alwatan newspaper published 5/27/2006 ( my translation)
http://www.alwatan.com.kw/Default.aspx?MgDid=505814&pageId=80 (for Arabic text)

By : Abdallah Hadlak

Is it Lebanon’s fate to keep suffering? Is it his fate to be afflicted by his ungrateful sons and the vindictiveness of those of whom it was generous to, helped, welcomed, sheltered, providing them safety after their fright, and were fed after their hunger, and sheltered after their wandering-life and their homelessness!

This is exactly what happened to Lebanon. After Allah had put out the hatred fire of the hatred Party which controls south of Lebanon and where it transformed the streets of Beirut into Hotels.

From the camps of those wandering refugees, a new terrorist organization appeared, naming itself “ Fatah-Islam” which is in reality “ Fatah-Satan” and its aims are to rebel against Lebanon the country that was generous to them (the Palestinians), and gave them shelter after their homelessness.

This is an organization that is supported by international terrorism twins, the Persian entity in Tehran, and the Baath party in Damascus and has strong connections with terrorists Al-Qaida and Hezbollah.

This “ Fatah-Satan” was born out of the womb of terrorism of Nahr el Bared near Tripoli in Northern Lebanon, has killed several members of the Lebanese Army.

This terrorist act reflects how vile, how treacherous, how lowly, and the betrayal and ungratefulness many Palestinians are known for.

The Lebanese Army however, responded to the terrorists and bombarded their positions inside the camp and arrested several of them who were involved in a bank robbery.

There are about 30,000 Palestinian refugee live in the Nahr el Bared refugee camp, most of them are terrorists who follow a terrorist group headed by Shaker Absi who was sentenced to death in Jordan for killing the American diplomat Laurence Foley in 2002.

Sabri Al-Banna “ Abu Nidal” headed another terrorist organization in the Jalil camp in Baalbek east of Lebanon. {This camp} was surrounded by the Lebanese army in September of 2002 after Abu Nidal terrorist group killed Lebanese soldiers in an operation similar to what’s happening now in the camp of Nahr el Bared for Palestinian terrorists refugees.

Iraqi intelligence agents killed the terrorist Abu Nidal in 2002, but not before he taught the Palestinian refugees the art of treachery, betrayal, treason, and lowliness and terrorism.
The clashes of Nahr el bared and Jalil camps were not he first. In August of 2002 the Lebanese army clashed with Palestinian terrorists in Ain Helweh which is the biggest camp for Palestinian refugee near Sidon in south Lebanon in a battle between two terrorist groups each one is follows a different war lord.

O’ Lebanese army, attack the Palestinian terrorists who follow the orders of Baath and Persian terrorism.

Chase them down, cut them down, be severe on them and teach them a lesson they shall not forget (Fight/kill them and Allah shall torture them through your hands, embarrassing them, rendering you victorious over them thus quenching the chests of the believers)
( The Quran)

Did these terrorists in the refugee camps forget what happened to people like them in Black September in Amman at the hands of King Hussein, may Allah’s mercy be on him. When the tanks of the just Jordanian army rolled over, smashed, and flattened the bodies of the Palestinian terrorist in the refugee camps. Those who tried to rebel, to commit treachery, and ungratefulness, the swords of the “ Hajaj” however, were their to meet them, and it exterminated them, it eradicated them, and chopped their terrorist heads off which was due to be chopped off anyway.

The organization of Fatah-Satan includes many Syrian terrorists and it belongs to the Syrian security organs, and was planning to conduct major operations on Lebanese soil.

Those clashes however are considered the heaviest since the Lebanese civil war 1975-1990.
Those are the Palestinians whom wherever they go, terrorism, corruption, unrest, sedition goes with them, and wherever they are, treason, hatred, and ungratefulness stays with them.

There is a relationship however between the violence in the Nahr el bared and the latest movements of the Security Council that aims to convene an international tribunal to try those involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

Deciphering MEMRI'S spin

2007-05-17T13:54:00.000-07:00
After the story of MEMRI translation unfolded and it was found out that MEMRI’s translation were erroneous, a bigger story in my opinion should have been addressed.

It is a story initself of how the US media jumped on MEMRI's version of “truth” like a predator leaping on its prey without double-checking the facts and verify the translation.
One thing should have raised a red flag was that MEMRI is an Israeli organization headed and founded by former IDF and Mossad officers. That alone should have put question mark in the mind of any objective journalist.
Another sub-story is why no major media outlet is willing to address such outright forgery and blunder on part of MEMRI.

Brian Whitaker columnist for the British newspaper the Guardian wrote a column on the story and how language could easily be twisted or misunderstood and thus changing the whole dynamics of events.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_whitaker/2007/05/arabic_under_fire.html

Mr. Whitaker column generated so many responses some of which were very insightful, and in here I will try to address some of the questions raised.

But why, I wonder, the US media rushed to cover a story about clumsy-made children show that supposedly a young girl said on it “we want to annihilate the Jews” but the same media never cover or even mention the avalanche of racism and hatred emitting from the Israeli press and government officials that treat Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians as little better than insects!

And why MEMRI, one ought to ask, don’t translate any of virulent comments made in Hebrew that call to kill and annihilate all the Arabs and were made by some of Israeli’s extremist Rabbis.
You see, the US media covered the story with a sense of shock in essences saying “how dare those savage Palestinians teach their children a thing or two about the occupation and resistance to it, children should live in a happy world of their own”

I agree with the notion that children should be shielded from those things, but that requires for a society to be stable and normal. The Palestinian society is anything but stable and normal. Thanks to Israel’s long and brutal occupation that traumatized the adults and the children alike.

I wonder if the media was actually expecting a Palestinian children show, in a society extensively brutalized by the Israelis to teach the children to throw flowers at the Israelis, or teach them to be submissive and accepting to a country that has taken away their land and homes! This of course, from an occupied Palestinian point of view is unthinkable. That’s why we hear the children on the show say stuff like “resist” I’ll be a martyr” and comments as innocent as “I want to draw a picture” (of course MEMRI never translated that)

Responding to Whitaker’s column, one reader asked if the girl on the phone could possibly have said “ Ihna Bidna xxxxx elyahood” ( We want…………….. the Jews) of course girl never said that at all, her words came out very clearly “ Bitookhoona elyahood” ( The Jews are shooting us)

But looking at this assumption with forensic linguistics in mind, we might uncover MIMRI’S linguistic deception

But even if we suppose the girl said “ Ihna bidna…… Elyahood) which again is only a supposition and for the sake of argument, still, that does not amount to “ we want to annihilate the Jews” But this supposition should offer us a clue as to why MEMRI went as far as falsely claiming that the girl had actually said “ We want to annihilate the Jews”

For MIMIRI, it looks like that they imagined that the girl said “ Ihna Bidna….elyahood” and then on this faulty assumption they built their whole story which is very sneaky to say the least.

Key to this clue is the word “ Bidna” which means, “ We want” But it could also mean a past tense of the word “ Ibada” (annihilation or extermination) which is a stretch and highly unlikely because such word is not in the common usage, and still does not make any sense because according to MEMRI’s translation the girl would have to express those words in the future tense and not in the past tense. Something like: (Ihna bidna Nubid Elyahood) “ Nubid is future tense of the word “ “Ibada” but there is no word NUBID at all anywhere.

The other thing that shows how sneaky MEMRI’s translation is their translation of the word “ Bidna” twice in the same sentence, once as “ we want” and the second as “ annihilate” even though “ Bidna” is past tense, supposing it was used, still MIMIRI made it a future tense.

So not only MEMRI invented those words but also translated one word twice to mean two different things in one sentence. I mean the girl who I think is about 3-4 years old has to have a college degree in classical Arabic literature to be able to utter such words with such organization and sophistication.

The word “Bidna” is originally two parts, the letter B is used to indicate present tense in the popular and slang usage of Arabic such as the words “ B-akul” I eat, B-amshi” I walk.
The letter B came from the word “ Budda” which means “ will” as in the will to do something after dropping the rest of word which is a common practice of slang usage of Arabic.
We thus arrive to the word “B-Tokhona”, they are shooting us, by adding the letter B to indicate present tense to the verb of “Tokh” shoot undermining the entire MIMIRI’S argument and translation.

( Thanks to Abdel Hamid for his advice on this column)

More on MEMRI'S forgery

2007-05-15T11:18:00.000-07:00
Here is an update on MEMRI’S flawed translation of Aqsa TV children show. In here I include more analysis on MEMRI’S manipulative choice of English words as well as full comparative translation text of the entire clip in Arabic and MEMRI’S English and the correct English Translation.

One major point included in the transcript (Thanks Hamza) is couple of words uttered by “Sanable” the girl on the phone which were left out by MEMRI, but included in here.
MEMRI left out the words (I want to draw a picture) said by the girl on the phone.

I did not conclude, after watching more clips of the show on Al-Aqsa TV, provided by MIMRI, that Farfoor was pretending to be Mickey Mouse, the Disney character, a point emphasized over and over by Israeli spokesman and MEMRI and was the point in some TV stories in the US media.
Farfoor ( a play-word that comes from the Arabic word “ Far” which means mouse) was simply wearing a Mouse costume in Tuxedo outfit.

The clip provided by MEMRI looked disjointed and without contextual continuity and integrity which lead me to think that there was some cherry-picking by MEMRI in piecing together selective clips that will provide a proof or evidence to a certain argument or stereotype. In so doing we are left to rely on MEMRI’s version of the story without having access to the original video in its entirety and contextual continuity and integrity.

This is problematic especially when translating/interpreting words from one language to another without the benefit of considering other factors that will make or doom any work of interpretation.
Since translation is not simply transferring words from language A to language B, it also involves advanced knowledge of the culture, religious references, historical past and political history.

Take for example the Lebanese opposition leader Walid Jumblaat when he was giving a speech in Beirut, on Feb 14th, of last year. The anniversary was of Lebanese PM Harriri Assassination and was carried live by CNN.
Jumblaat was giving a fiery speech against the Syrian president Bashar Asad, calling him among other names that he was from the “Hashasheen”.

The word Hashasheen is Arabic plural for people who use Hashish, a drug. But was Jumblaat calling Asad a drug addict or a drug user!
Hardly!

Of course the word “Hashasheen” was translated at CNN as “Assassins” for any other translation would have rendered the whole sentence wrong in meaning and in context, and even perhaps drawing protest from Jumblaat himself for misinterpreting him.

The reason for this choice was because the English word “Assassin” is of Arabic origin and came from the word “Hashasheen” “Hashasheen was a Shia organization headed by “Hasan Sabah” in the 12th century in northern Iran and spread terror and “assassination” against Muslim state officials throughout the Muslim world. The assassin normally used Hashish before his mission perhaps knowing that this would also mean his death as well.

Moreover, the Lebanese leader Jumblaat is an avid reader, an intellectual and has a degree in history so I am assuming that he was knowledgeable of this kind of historical data. Hence, I suppose, his reference to Asad as “Hashasheen” and on top of all that the anniversary was the “Assassination” of former Lebanese PM Hariri. So the word fits in nicely in meaning and in context.

Therefore there was no way that Jumblaat was calling Aasad a drug user or a crack head! Even thought that’s what it literally means! 

Based on what I have seen from MEMRI so far, they simply cannot claim to be professional or accurate in their translation of Arabic for they are not only non-native speakers who are educated in the ins and outs of the Arabic culture and history, but also treat the work of translation as a fishing expedition.

Though I am not making the argument here that only native speakers of Arabic can do translation work of Arabic, but it helps that the translator is native, an educated and expert in different aspects of the culture of that language.

Manipulation of words and interpreting them for self serving purposes is another aspect I uncovered when comparing Arabic words as they were uttered by speakers and their English translation and interpretation by MEMRI.

For example Yegal Carmon head of MEMRI said on Glen Beck’s show when commenting on the young caller on the phone “Sanable” saying “I’ll be a myrtar” by saying that “we know that this means “suicide bombing” This of course couldn’t be further from the truth. And note (see my previous piece for the transcripts) how MEMRI injected the word “Commit” with the word “Martyrdom” as in drawing a psychological association with the phrase “Suicide bombing” where Hamas and other Islamists call it “Martyrdom operation”

In MEMRI’S interpretations and state of mind, any reference to ‘Martyrdom” is “committing suicide bombing” a deliberate ignorance or deliberate manipulation.

The fact is that when the young caller said “I’ll be a martyr” she is not saying “I am committing” but rather “I am defending” the key word here is here is “defense” and the reason for that is simple “I’ll be a martyr” as in to die for my country, because from a cultural and Islamic religious point of view and law, to be a martyr, one has to die in Defense of his family, property, religion and country. Adding or omitting the word “commit” would put the phrase in an entirely different light.

The work of the interpreter is to get as close and as accurate to the original word in its native utterance as meant by the speaker; not to spin it to suit the interpreter or translator motives.

Also the whole story revolved around a key phrase which was “ we want to annihilate. The Jews”

As I pointed out previously that such phrase was never uttered in the segment posted on MEMRI’S website. But the words “annihilate the Jews” carries with them a huge psychological and horrific meaning especially in the western or European collective psyche for the horrors committed by the Nazis against the Jews and others in Europe.

In fact I have yet to hear any Arabic speaker say the Arabic sort-of equivalent of the word “Annihilate” because it is not part of the political discourse or even in the terrorist or extremist terminology. And after asking some Arab journalists colleagues with over 30 years of experience in the Arabic press, they too said that they never heard any speech or written statement that refers to "finish" of or “annihilate the Jews” Because it does not exist.The only Arabic word I can think of that is close to the word annihilate is ( Ibada) which is normally used with insects as in “ insecticide” ( Mubid Hashari)

MEMRI Clip No. 1442

A Mickey Mouse Character on Hamas TV Teaches Children about Islamic Rule of the World

4/13/2007

http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD157707

Black text: Arabic Transcript.
Blue text: Arabic transcript written in English alphabet.
Green text: My English translation.
Red text: MEMRI’s English translation.
Highlighted red text: Wrong MEMRI English translation.

سراء: سنابل، إنتي شو حتعملي .. يعني .. من أجل الأقصى؟ شو حتفدي .. يعني روحك من أجل الأقصى؟ شو حتعملي؟
Sarraa’: Sanabel, enti shoo hate’mali ... ya’ni ... min ajl el-Aqsa? Shoo hatefdi ... ya’ni roohek min ajl el-Aqsa? Shoo hate’mali?
Sarraa’: Sanabel, what are you going to do ... like ... for the sake of Al Aqsa? What are you going to sacrifice ... like your soul for the sake of Al-Aqsa? What are you going to do?
MEMRI: Sanabel, what will you do for the sake of the Al-Aqsa Mosque? How will you sacrifice your soul for the sake of Al-Aqsa? What will you do?

فرفور: حطـُـخ.
Farfour: Hatokh.
Farfour: I will shoot.
MEMRI: …

سنابل: بدي أرسم صورة.
Sanabel: B’di arsem soora.
Sanabel: I’m going to draw a picture.
MEMRI: I will shoot

فرفور: إيش حنعمل يعني كيف إحنا بدنا يا سنابل إنحرر ..
Farfour: Aish hane’mal ya’ni kaif ehna bedna ya sanabel enharrer ...
Farfour: What are we going to do ... Sanabel, like how are we going to liberate ...
MEMRI: Sanabel, what should we do if we want to liberate...

سنابل: بدنا انقاوم.
Sanabel: Bedna enqawem.
Sanabel: We are going to resist.
MEMRI: We want to fight.

فرفور: و بعدين؟ هادي حفظناها و بعدين؟
Farfour: Wo ba’dain? Hadi hfeznaha, wo ba’dain?
Farfour: Then what? We already know this one, then what?
MEMRI: We got that. What else?

سراء: إحنا بدنا..
Sarraa’: Ehna bedna …
Sarraa’: We are going to …
MEMRI: We want to...

سنابل: بطخّونا اليهود.
Sanabel: Betokhoona el yahood.
Sanabel: The Jews will shoot us.
MEMRI: We will annihilate the Jews.

سراء: إحنا بدنا اندافع عن الأقصى بأرواحنا و بدمائنا، ولاّ لأ يا سنابل؟

Sarraa’: Ehna bedna endafe’ an el-Aqsa b arwa7na wo b dema2na, wella la’ ya Sanabel?
Sarraa’: We are going to defend Al-Aqsa with our souls and blood, or are we not Sanabel?
MEMRI: We are defending Al-Aqsa with our souls and our blood, aren't we, Sanabel?

سنابل (صوت غير واضح): بدي استشهد
( أو - سنابل: باستشهد )
( أو - سنابل: بنستشهد )
Sanabel (audio not clear): Bdi astash-hed.
( Or – Sanabel: Bastash-hed )
( Or – Sanabel: Bnastash-hed )
Sanabel (audio not clear): I’m going to become a martyr. [Literally: I want to become a martyr]
( Or – Sanabel: I’ll become a martyr )
( Or – Sanabel: We’ll become martyrs )
MEMRI: I will commit martyrdom.

How MEMRI fooled the U.S Media with its Mickey Mouse Translation

2007-05-12T16:07:00.000-07:00
How easy was it for MEMRI to fool so many of the US media outlets with its translation of a children program on Hamas TV, where a child was supposedly have said the words “ we will annihilate the Jews”
It was very easy!
The controversy was fueled further when CNN decided to yank the video off the air because of major translation errors on part of MEMRI.

First let me just say that I reviewed the Arabic version of the MEMERI clip which looked discontinuous and disjointed because the context of the conversation in the show did not seem to be coherent. However, at the bottom of this page you will find my corrections of MEMERI translation errors.

The inflammatory words MEMRI blasted the US media with were when the young caller “Sanable” was supposed to have said “we will annihilate the Jews” were not even mentioned by the caller or by anyone else in that clip.

“Sanable actually said “The Jews are shooting us” which is entirely different word and different meaning and which makes me wonder as to where in the world the words “we will annihilate the Jews come from”

Was MEMRI actually playing verbal gymnastics? Yes indeed.
The issue here is not simply some error in the translation of this word or that, but actually making new words up and putting them in the mouth of that child to show defamatory evidence against the Palestinians.

MEMERI which stands for Middle East Media Research Institute was established by former Israeli intelligence agents, the Mossad, to police Arabic media for any evidence of anti-Israeli rhetoric.

Yegal… head of MEMRI was interviewed on CNN’S Glen Beck on his radio show and assured Beck that he stands by his translation and blasted CNN’s Arabic desk and Octavia Nasr head of the desk for uncovering the forgery by claiming that CNN’s Arabic desk do not know Arabic and they are “ hiding” while he is on the other hand out there ready and willing to debate and challenge anyone for his version of the translation.

In my professional opinion, MEMRI’s “translation” is not credible and flat out forgery.

Translation is not simply transferring words from language A to language B, it involves however much more than that. It involves advanced knowledge of the culture, religious references, historical past and political history and knowledge of the subtleties of the language and its usage in different situations by different people.

Here is MEMRI’s transcripts and my corrections are in black letters.

Host Saraa, a young girl: Sanabel, what will you do for the sake of the Al-Aqsa Mosque? How will you sacrifice your soul for the sake of Al-Aqsa? What will you do?

Sanabel, young girl on phone: I will shoot.

( It is rather Mickey’s character speaking the words and hand gestures “ I will shoot” Not Sanable the young girl on the phone)

Farfour, a Mickey Mouse character in a tuxedo: Sanabel, what should we do if we want to liberate...

Sanable: We want to fight. (The word used was we want to resist, not to fight the reference here is to resist the Israeli occupation.

Farfour: We got that. What else?

Saraa: We want to...

Sanabel: We will annihilate the Jews. Actually she is saying: (the Jews are shooting us)

Saraa:We are defending Al-Aqsa with our souls and our blood, aren't we, Sanabel?

Sanabel: I will commit martyrdom.

Sanabel actually said “ I’ll be a martyr” ( as in to die for my country, and the reason for that because from a cultural and Islamic religious point of view and law, to be a martyr, one has to have died defending his family, property, religion and country,although the child does not all of this, however the usage of the Arabic version of the word Martyr, carries in it those references. and not to “ commit” the word used in MEMRI translation to indicate action and/or planning. This point was elaborated further by YegaL head of MEMRI on Beck’s show by saying that the child meant “ committing suicide bombing”

Farfour: We've said more than once that becoming masters of the world requires the following: First, to be happy with our Arabic language, which once upon a time ruled this world. (Excellency in the world, not Mastery of the world two totally different meanings)

Saraa: Of course.

Farfour: Second... or maybe that's it?

Adult host: Farfour, I heard you talking in English.

Farfour: Yes. How are you, Saraa? I hope to be good time.

Saraa: What's with you, Farfour? Why are talking this way? Didn't we agree to talk in literary Arabic? (Standard Arabic not literary Arabic)

Farfour: But Saraa, this is the language of the advanced world, the language of the world that understands and invents things, isn't it?

Saraa: No, Farfour, you are wrong, because you don't know that the Muslims are the basis of civilization. If not for the Muslims, the world wouldn't have got to where it is today.
[...]

Farfour: My dear youngsters, we're back. We always miss seeing you on your weekly program "The Pioneers of Tomorrow," in which we are placing together the cornerstone for the ruling of the world by an Islamic leadership.

In the distant past the Islamic empire was a world power so the allusion was to a world where Muslims were a powerful and advanced nation, hence the references to Arabic language, the advanced western world,excellency in standard Arabic language, Islamic civilization. So clearly the context here was more educational to the children to instill a sense of pride of one’s culture and glorious history. And despite references for “resisting” the occupation, and “ I’ll die for my country, which in my opinion do not find highly unusual for an occupied and traumatized society such as the Palestinian society.Although it sounds here that Farfour is vowing for Islamic leadership of the world, but he actually was referring to a glorious Islamic past when Arabic was a universal language of medicine,philosophy and sciences.
One cannot be objective and say that this show is a representative of the Palestinian society any more than any right wing televangelist American who calls for “dropping a nuclear bomb on the state department or calling for the assassination of a president of another country and say that such outrageous statements are representative of the American people or culture

Palestinian American columnist wins SPJ Journalism Award

2007-05-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ray Hanania, a columnist for several U.S. and Middle East-based newspapers, was awarded the prestigious Peter Lisagor Award for Column Writing in the Community Newspaper category last week by the Society of Professional Journalists/Chicago Headline Club.

Hanania, who began writing his column in May 2004, was honored for three columns published last year titled: "Thanksgiving Tabouli Wars Is Now Served," "Graduates Who Defy Stereotypes" and "Reavis Reunion Creeps Up Like Receding Hair."

Named as runner-up finalists were Thomas Mucha of Crains Chicago Business Magazine for his "Small Talk" columns and Joseph Aaron of the Chicago Jewish News for "Talking and Listening," "Real Jewish People" and "Jews and Darfur."

The column titled "Graduates Who Defy Stereotypes" was about the 2006 all-girls graduating class of the Aqsa School in Bridgeview in suburban Chicago and how the news media ignores positive events in the Arab community and always focuses on negative issues. The column ran not only in the Southwest News-Herald, where Hanania is a staff political columnist, but also in several Arab American and Arab World newspapers including the Arab American News in Dearborn, the Arab News in Saudi Arabia, al-Mustaqbal in Chicago and in other community newspapers.

The Lisagor Awards are a highly competitive and prestigious journalism achievement representing journalists from community and daily newspapers, radio and TV media throughout Illinois.

In awarding the prize, the judges wrote: "Writing a regular column is a lot harder than it looks. General interest columnists have to be ready to show themselves and share their inner thoughts and beliefs with their readers -- something most of us were trained not to do in the course of our other job as fair and ideally objective reporters of facts. Ray Hanania's columns illustrate how the best of us are able to accomplish that, taking the random and (globally) inconsequential activities of daily life and crafting them into a deceptively simple sounding monologue that touches people with the familiarity of the experiences while shedding light on the serious and significant concerns of the larger world. Mr. Hanania manages that slight-of-hand with both wit and grace, and most difficult of all, a dash of humor that lightens outrage and makes it palatable, causing the reader to think about the greater issues roiling beneath the surface without compelling th em in any obvious way to challenge their assumptions. Instead they think about the world in ways they might have resisted if they were simply being bashed over the head with passionate and reasoned argument."

This is Hanania’s 3rd Chicago Headline Club/SPJ Award. He previously won Lisagor awards in 1984/85 and 2002/03 for column writing. Last year, Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" in a national contest hosted by the New America Media Association.

Hanania began his journalism career in 1976 writing for community newspapers and later for the Chicago Sun-Times. He covered Chicago City Hall from 1977 until 1992, and was also a weekend talk show host on WLS AM Radio. He is the author of eight books. He is a board member of the National Arab American Journalists Association (www.NAAJA-US.com).

The presentations were made at the Chicago Headline Club's 30th annual awards banquet at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza in Chicago.

The awards are named for Peter Lisagor, late Washington bureau chief of the Chicago Daily News. Reporters and editors from SPJ chapters in South Florida (Miami), Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Houston, Inland California and Western Washington (Seattle) reviewed more than 700 entries published or broadcast in 2006.
Plaques were presented for 65 reports, chosen for such attributes as enterprise, accuracy, scope, style and impact.

Homosexuals in the Kingdom

2007-04-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

The monthly Magazine the Atlantic, www.Theatlantic.com ran a story by Nadya Labi in its May issue on homosexuality in Saudi Arabia, and how gay men and women in Saudi Arabia live their lives in a seemingly strict society and yet maintain a thriving homosexual culture and even running a beauty pageant of gay men.

The story, titled " the closet Kingdom" is startling in that it shows a stark picture of Saudi Arabia different from the one we are used to hear about in the media, which is normally a country that is very strict socially and religiously.
Remarkably enough, the writer interviewed many Saudi men who appeared to be shameless about their homosexuality and also Saudi women who engage in lesbian activities with other women though done in secrecy but did not seem to bother them however.
Yasser, a young gay Saudi was quoted saying that “ it is easier to be gay here than straight” Yasser was of course referring to the strict separation of sexes in the Kingdom therefore making easier for Saudi men to congregate and if they were homosexuals to engage in homosexual activities with other men.

Gay westerners, quoted in the story, described Saudi Arabia as “ Gay haven” a gay South African man remarked that even though South Africa allows gay marriage yet there are more gays in Saudi Arabia than South Africa”
That said however, the idea of being gay in an “ Arab” contest is different from the western idea of being gay. Gay in a western sense is a sort of identity, whereas in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries is more like a” behavior” not an identity.
Arab Gulfies are known in the Arab world, the story goes, for their inclination toward homosexual relations with men and boys.
Osama Fawzi, editor of Huston based Arab Times, the most popular Arab American paper in the US and who had lived in the United Arab Emirates in the seventies said when I spoke on the phone for this column that “homosexuality is not unusual in the gulf societies, in fact for any respectable wedding in the UAE the family must bring a band of gay boys to entertain the guests”
In the UAE they call a gay man “ Saroukh” said Mr. Fawzi. “Saroukh” means rocket.
Kuwait is another Gulf country where homosexuality and pedophiles are found almost everywhere. Last year a story made headlines when two gay Kuwaitis got married and threw a wedding party in Egypt.

Fuad Al-Hashem a well-known Kuwaiti columnist for the Al-Watan newspaper is perhaps the best-known openly homosexual Kuwaiti. Though Mr. Hashem was married and had a daughter but that did not seem to prevent him from having sexual encounters with other men according to a public statement he made a few years ago.
In Oman, another gulf country where having sex with boys and gay relationship is not unusual. Oman is well known for those types of activities according to Mr. Fawzi.
This is all sound very strange especially for the manly Arab culture that stresses manhood and valor but for the Saudi and Kuwaiti pedophiles, however, they would still consider themselves as machismo men and not gay men. This contradiction in the way being Gay in the Gulf Arab societies and Gay in the Western sense is diminishing because of Arab Gays exposure to Gay rights in western societies and for some there is a need to be recognized as gays and lesbians.

Yasmeen is another young Saudi female who has sexual relations with another women in her college, and who said this type of behavior is very common in all-girls Saudi schools and colleges.
But the writer of the story made critical errors in trying to show that the Islamic faith did not condemn this type of behavior in more strict and obvious terms.

This however does not mean that Islam endorses this type of behavior, which was not common in the desert society and the Arab tribes Islam was born into. Homosexuality therefore would fall under more general rules of vice and virtue laws such as adultery and extramarital relationships.
Lack of mentioning homosexuality and not having a pronounced and a clear punishment for it in the Islamic jurisprudence system as in the case of adultery between a heterosexual man and a woman, does not give license or imply that such relationships were condoned. Homosexuality was and still is uncommon in the Arab and Muslim world, despite its pocket existence as in the case of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

Abu Al-Nuwas (The Atlantic erroneously identified him as Aby Nuwaf) was a famous poet during the Abbasid era, in the eighth century and wrote long poems about Alcohol and the love of boys but that should not be taken, as a representative of something like a “gay culture” as the writer of The Atlantic seemed to insinuate. The writer Nadya Labi gives the meaning in her report that Gay relationships were common and prevalent in those days or that Islamic morality and value system was or still lenient when it comes to such behavior.

The report also missed the whole idea when the writer spoke of Saudi men looking at boys with lust and want as an evidence of gayness or homosexuality instead of treating the subject pedophiles preying upon their young victims.

The culture of the gun

2007-04-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

The horrendous massacre at Virginia Tech came to remind us that we live in an unforgiving and violent world, even in our classrooms and living rooms.

Almost immediately, pro-gun commentators lashed out at the notion that the problem had anything to do with gun laws or gun control.
Arguments flared that had there been stricter gun control laws, Cho Seung Hui, who had a history of mental problems, would not have been able to obtain the guns legally, or would have been deterred or raised some red flags in his attempts to obtain them.
But look at the society we live in today. It is a very violent society; Americans are fed a daily fat diet of blood, gore and violence and we have become desensitized to it.
Cho Seung Hui may have had mental problems and issues of adjusting to his new society as a child since immigrating with his parents form South Korea.
That of course does not justify massacring 32 innocent young people, but it ought to make us stop and think of what the media and the society at large are telling young children.

Take for example pro wrestling, it is perhaps one of the stupidest “ sports” out there, where older men, puffed on steroid put out an act of gymnastic mayhem and violence and verbal threats to the delight of the deafening barbaric cheer of the crowd.

And what about video games; not only doest it teach children and adults alike the “ art” of shooting someone, and killing someone, but it also plants the seeds of violent behavior in one’s mind as a way to deal with his or her problems.
Violence, mafia, gangsterism, guns, shooing and killing is ever glamorized and glorified by the media and thus poison the well for everyone.
So, for a psychologically unstable Cho, traumatized by early racism,alienated and without friends and who grew up on a steady diet of violence everywhere, murdering 32 people was his way of venting and getting back at the society and a murderous punch.

The issue is not about more or stricter gun control or even abolishing gun ownership period with legitimate exceptions, which I am all for, but it is the broader issue of culture of violence that we seem to be oblivious about until we have massacres like Virginia Tech and Columbine High.
In these southern parts of the US, guns and gun ownership is a way of life, and part of everyday culture.
Many times I heard people or even friends saying something along the lines of “ if so and so come on my property, I’ll shoot’m” or something like “ if you pull a gun on me, you better shoot first, because you’ll be killed”. Threats of shooting and killing are almost everyday phrases and said with complete sense of normalcy. But perhaps there is a lot of machismo and jockeying around in these statements, nonetheless however, they illustrate the culture of the gun as a way to settle scores or disputes.
I was astonished; a few years back to find out that people, in the south can carry guns in their cars, and on their persons, giving certain requirements, are otherwise perfectly legal.
Many friends here are proud to show me their gun collections, which I normally refuse for I have a natural aversion to them and I am proud to say that I have never ever fired one.
One family I know is proud of its gun collection. The father owns over 12 guns, and some are used for deer hunting, while the wife owns a rifle, two pistols, and a small gun to carry around in the car. Their seventeen years old owns a rifle that he uses for target practice.
Pro gun arguments usually cite protection and deterrence as well as self-defense. But those arguments fail to understand that what their pro gun arguments are doing is spreading more guns and thus more potential for violence and murder.

Paul Hyde Greenville News columnist cited statistics, in his April 18 column, of murder incidents between the US and other developed European and Japanese societies where in 2001, “ firearms were used to murder six people in New Zealand, 56 in Japan, 96 in Great Britain, and 168 in Canada. In that same year, guns were used to murder 11, 348 people in the United States.

Don Imus and the hypocritical media

2007-04-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

Don Imus racist remarks where he called Rutgers women basketball players "napp-headed hoes" has perhaps changed the way main stream American media deal with vulgarity and racism on the air waves. Sponsors of his show have pulled out their adds and his media outlets at NBC and CBS dropped him from thier lineup thus punishing him further for his racist and sexist remarks .

I agree with the argument that Imus remarks were sexist and racist and he ought to be disciplined for it. It is important to send a message to other public figures that racism is not tolerated.

Imus, however, did not invent those ugly remarks; he basically took them straight out of Rappers book.

We know that rappers and hiphoppers use even filthier language than Imus and it seems that a lot of people are cheering for this type of so called “ Art”

Why is it ok for Imus to be punished, and rightly, for his remarks, while Rappers go on to say things that are even worst than what Imus said? Where are the community and civic leaders when it comes to this kind of culture of violence.

Not only that, many of the lyrics of this form of music glorifies murder, encourages shooting police officers, shooting other rappers, encourage the use of drugs and open sexuality and with it comes sexually transmitted diseases.

How many times have you seen a “Rapper” present himself or herself as a positive role model for younger people or anyone? Never!

In fact, the only time I see them in the news is when they are being accused of rape, assault, drugs charges, murder, or being murdered. Yet we call them “ Artists” as if what they do is some kind of Art that lift the human spirit and represent the high or even decent form of culture and civilized expression. Do young women get motivated to go to college, or flock to the voting booth after they attend some concert of a hoodlum calling them “ hoes” among many other things.

And what about Arab Americans and Muslims being degraded, and humiliated almost everyday on the airwaves by some “ main stream” radio and TV hosts.

Almost no one flinch when some talk show host degrade Arab Americans and utter racist remarks belittling them at every corner.

Despite the protestations of many Arab and Muslim American organizations against hosts like Michael medvid and others who made a career out of it, it seems that anti-Arab racism is being tolerated by the news media and in some instances it has become a common currency.

Racism and bigotry should not be tolerated against any racial or ethnic group. The media should not punish certain people for things they say against one group, while they tolerate bigotry and racism against another.

This Medival republic

2007-04-08T04:52:00.000-07:00
This medieval republic is suffering more now than it did under Saddam
AL ALARABI, For the Herald-Journal
Published April 8, 2007

It has been four years since the first shots were fired in the "shock and awe" war against Iraq. But the shocking truth is that Iraq is far worse off today than it was under Saddam Hussein in terms of economic development, stability, security and quality of life.
The recently published Brookings Institution Iraqi war index (www.brookings.edu/fp/
saban/iraq/index.pdf) catalogs the progress in Iraq in terms of security, U.S. troop involvement and quality of life. Category after category shows that Iraq is not only lagging behind its pre-war levels but that the slide is continuing downward.

Perhaps one would find so many moral arguments in favor of removing Saddam Hussein from power, and rightly so, however, according to a recently published U.N. report on the war in Iraq, more than 750,000 Iraqis were killed as a direct result of war, ethnic and religious violence. Moreover, there are more than 2 million Iraqi refugees in neighboring Syria

and Jordan in addition to 2 million more displaced inside Iraq, while 82 percent of Iraqis strongly oppose the presence of coalition troops, and 67 percent of Iraqis feel less secure because of U.S. occupation.

The United States has already spent more than $500 billion on this war, and this massive amount of money did not bring the level of security, quality of life, economic prosperity, education, health care and civil infrastructure to the pre-war level. What's even more shocking is that the "pre-war level" term refers to when Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, was languishing under brutal and suffocating sanctions.

Take, for example, some of the figures mentioned in the Brookings index: Of 34,000 doctors Iraq had before the war, 12,000 left the country, and 2,000 were murdered. And Baghdad residents get an average of only 5.7 hours of daily electricity compared to 16-24 hours of daily electricity before the war. Twenty-five percent of Iraqi children suffer from chronic malnutrition, and 40 percent of the professionals have left Iraq since the war began.

Sad to say, Iraq has become a medieval, intolerant republic of hatred and horror, ruled by anachronistic and cultist ayatollahs, and it has become a proving ground for terrorists of all kinds. Al-Qaida terrorists operate a daily horror show by killing innocent civilians, both Shias and Sunni. Shia death squads and terrorist groups such as the Mahdi Army and Badr Brigades rape Muslim women and destroy Muslim mosques.
Iraqi government troops and security forces also rape women and engage in kidnapping and murder of innocent civilians. The reason for the proliferation of terrorism in Iraq is that the United States supported a sectarian Shia rule instead of maintaining an Iraqi national identity that is not based on religious and ethnic background.

After the fog of war had subsided and Saddam's regime had collapsed, the Shia organizations descended upon Iraq (from Iran) like vandals looting the booty. And being Iranian financed, they sooner or later will turn their guns against the U.S. troops, if the United States engages Iran in some kind of military operation.

Reconciliation and rebuilding a democratic Iraq were nowhere on the minds of those organizations and their private terrorist militias when they took over the country. Judging by their performance in the past three years, revenge and blood was their mantra. The sending of more American soldiers into harm's way will support an Iraqi government that sees itself as strictly a cultist Shia government beholden only to Iran next door.

On Dec. 12, 1983, terrorists bombed the U.S. and French embassies, along with other facilities, in Kuwait City. Seventeen people were arrested, and as it turned out, they were from an Iraqi Shia terrorist group called Al-Dawa that bombed the U.S. embassy on behalf of Iran, which was at war with Iraq, a U.S. ally at the time. The Al-Dawa Shia party is the current Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki's ruling party in power in Iraq today.

Recent U.S. news reports uncovered that one of those terrorists convicted in that bombing is a current member of the Iraqi parliament.

It doesn't stop there. Other Shia groups, such as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), headed by Abdel Aziz-Al Hakim, were financed by Iran and their militias trained and equipped by Iran.

Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army is another Shia terrorist group that has killed Arabs, Muslims and Christians and bombed mosques. These actions serve the narrow sectarian Shia interests and eventually the interests of their paymasters in Tehran.

Millions of other Iraqis can barely make ends meet, while their leaders loot the riches of their country. What needs to be done in Iraq today is for the U.S. government to stop the ongoing process of transforming Iraq into Iran's banana republic, or the "Iranification of Iraq," and thus force the Iraqi Shia leadership to dissolve its own militias and terrorists groups and rebuild Iraq for all Iraqis -- Arabs and Kurds, Muslims and Christians.

Ali Alarabi writes frequently on Middle East issues and can be reached at alialarabi@charter.net

Iran, the abused wife

2007-04-04T10:06:00.001-07:00

With release of 15 British sailors is eminent followed a decision by the Iranian government to pardon them after they were captured possibly in its territorial waters nearly two weeks ago.

Iran has behaved irrationally, parading the British sailors on TV, showing them eating and in a good mood, showing them enjoying Iranian hospitality, sitting on rugs and also confessing and apologizing to the Iranian nation for their transgression.

Regardless of whether the British sailors have violated the Iranian waters or not, an incident happens all the time around the world, and it could be easily resolved.

But for Iran, the issue is more complicated. Iran is the subject of intense international sanctions over its nuclear program. It has some diplomats held captive in Iraq, It is often chided by the US and Britain over its policies and nuclear program. So this was a godsend opportunity for Iran to flex its muscles and show its western critics that it can cause them pain too.

Iran not only controls one of the world’s largest oil reserves, but it also controls the supplies routs through the strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf.

Iran also exercises a lot of power in Iraq through the Ayatollahs, the large Iranian expatriates living in Iraq, and Iraqi Shia parties who look for Tehran’s guidance and leadership. Therefore the Iranian leadership feels that it controls the levers of powers in their neighborhood, and they are right about that.

As a result of this crises Western and American consumers felt the pain of the Iranian-British crises first hand at the pump when the price of gas shot up dramatically.

But that does not explain the why Iran behaves in such immature and even adolescent way when it comes to international relations.

Modern Iran is an inheritor of a once great civilization and vast empire and feels that it ought to be treated and respected as if it is still that great empire. The problem for Iran however is that reality is harsh and painful and despite its glorious past it is now a weak, irrelevant third world country the west does not care about or recognize beyond its vast reserves of oil or whatever trouble it may makes in the neighborhood.

This lack of recognition enrages the Iranians and inflames their passions. At the beginning of the crises Iran was more concerned with a public apology from Britain and on a deeper level this would serve recognition from Britain for its past abuses of Iranians.
Although this sounds ridiculous and pathological, yet it is real in the minds of the Iranian leadership who fired up a lot of heated speeches and amusing rhetoric at the beginning of this crisis.

For Iran, the issue went from " Blatant aggression" to a pardon, and warm reception for the sailors, including a meeting with top Iranian leadership and pampering them with fine Iranian food which i am sure included squatting on fine Persian rugs. This is hardly the kind of treatment any country would accord to those who commit a “ blatant aggression” against it.
( British sailors meeting with Najad)

Iranians want the west and particularly the United States to have direct talks with them, that of course implies recognition which would put them an equal footing with the US as if it would make them feel as powerful as the super power itself if only they could sit face to face with it.

President Ahmadinajad unsolicited letter to President Bush last year was another example of Iran’s attempt to make or even force the US to hold talks with her. But president Bush did not give president Ahmadinajad the time of the day, and ignored his letter. That was painful and humiliating for the proud Iranian leadership.

Lets not forget that Iran has been abused by western powers through out its modern history and Britain in particular had basically robbed Iran of its precious oil at the beginning of the 20th century by giving the government of Iran a mere 15% of its own oil revenues.
Others wrongs by the West, especially Britain and America and their role in supporting the regime of the Shah and supporting Saddam Hussein in an 8 year devastating war are among a long laundry list of grievances that made the Iranians in general and the Islamic regime in particular hyper sensitive to any western incursion on their turf.

Iran should be treated with respect it deserves and to acquire whatever peaceful technology it needs, including nuclear, to develop its infrastructure within the framework of international law.

But Iran ought to change its behavior when it comes to international crises, which is more like the behavior of an abused wife, insecure and tormented from years of constant abuse and trauma from her former husband, but still unable to move forward after many years of divorce and with it the chance to start a new fresh chapter.

The march to Karbala

2007-04-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

( a Shia rendering of Imam Ali)

It has become all too often to hear and read about the mass murder of innocent Iraqi Shias civilians marching into the city of Karbala to commemorate religious beliefs and occasions. Slaughter of civilians occurs almost daily when suicide bombers blow themselves up especially among the marchers who were commemorating the Arba’en, which literally means “Fortieth “ the 40th day to the date of the murder of Hussein, the grand son of Prophet Mohammad, and who Shia hold as the third Godly appointed Imam or ruler of “Islamic state”

In order to understand the broad political and social changes unfolding in Iraq now we should examine the religious rituals and its forceful disposition in today’s Iraq.

For one, the march into the city of Karbala by millions of Shia, Iranians, Arabs, and others is not to be viewed as simply as a religious march on a religious occasion, something some Christians do to commemorate events in Jesus Christ’s life. But rather as an expression of a distinctly evolved Shia ritual, though steeped in history and symbolism of martyrdom and injustice, however it was banned by the previous Iraqi regime because it asserted in the eyes of that regime, a religious and political identity deemed incompatible and even dangerous to the national secular-modernism identity of the state and its political existence.

The previous Iraqi state forged a common identity of all Iraqis regardless of the type or branch of religion one’s have, so long as loyalty to the state is strictly observed. Dissent and opposition were brutally and criminally suppressed however.

It was not unusual in such state, therefore, to see men like Tarik Aziz, a Christian Iraqi Arab reaching the upper echelons of power as deputy prime minister and the voice of Iraq to English speaking world, or former Information minister, Mohammad Said Sahaf, better known for his comical briefings during the 2003 war. He was an Iraqi Shia.

Many explanations and arguments were made to explain why Iraqis who share a common heritage, common religion as well as a common language and common blood, and tribal ties have descended into this vicious way of slaughtering one another.

We could discern from the violent crash of the former Iraqi state that it has ushered a breakdown of a larger national identity common to all Iraqis, dismembering it into pre-modern layers of identity of the tribe, family, ethnicity and religious sects.

Judging from the behavior of the Shia men of religion, the ayatollahs and other custodians of Shia relics, it was evident that they have not ascribed to the larger identity of being Arab, Muslim or Iraqi, in the national sense of the word. Otherwise it is absurd to think that one could switch loyalty in a day or two and behave in such fashion indicative of deep resentment and animosity to his “ former” identity” and his former country.

It is evident form ritual marches by millions of Shias to the city of Karbala, ceremonies of self-mutilation, ritualistic mourning of revered dead Muslim figures that they are signs of a “neo Shia identity” an emerging identity asserting itself not just by brute force but also with pump and extravagance.

This identity is teetering on the brink of “ Shia Nationalism” which will be based on a distinct Persian identity or Shia-Persian nationalism.

However, an Arab Shia-nationalism cannot hold in Arab society, partly because Shia Arabs are a minority and only about 10% of the Arab Muslims, and do not have a separate culture, language and other aspects of national characters outside the Arab fold.

But Iran does. So the specter of Arab Shia embracing Shia nationalism as a caveat to Persian nationalism would mean that a force from within the Arab fold is now challenging it and poses a grave danger to the existing social and political order for the benefit of a non-Arab country.

This might lead to repercussions against Shias and enforce their image as tools of power hungry Iran.

If we look at Iraq today we see that almost everything in it is going under some sort of shiafication process as well as holification, which is an aspect of Shiasm itself.

Al-Thawra city (Revolution City) became Sadr City, named after the late Shia Aytaollah Mohamad Baqer Sadr, whole neighborhoods were cleansed of their residents if they were Shias or Sunnis, depending on the majority, Statues of ancient Muslim Caliphs were removed because of ancient Shia animosity toward them. Large paintings and murals of Ayatollahs now adorn the walls and the streets, paintings of Imam Ali and his sons Hasan and Hussein are seen during Karbala marches. Such sights were virtually unknown in the past.

The cities of Najaf and Karbala became the holiest of all holies; to the Shias it is as if the hands of God himself built them. For the word “ holy” which has a Greek heritage and etymology means something divine or divine intervention and presence

The shrines of Imam Ali and his sons became almost an object of worship an anathema in mainstream Islam that stresses that there should be no intermediaries between man and God, and no man, or city for that matter are holy in the divine sense of the word Including prophet Mohammad himself and the city of Mecca.

Scoial changes; Muta'a marriages:

On the social level, Muta’a marriages have become widespread, despite that it is considered illegal and an affront to Islamic morality and values of mainstream Muslims. Muta’a means pleasure, which is a Shia practice, whereby a contractual agreement of temporary marriage for strictly sexual favors that ranges from one hour to days or months, depending on the contract drawn for the man and the woman by special religious clerics in special offices or houses.

Altghough it was considered a taboo in the past but this practice has been esepcially known in the cities of Najaf and Karbala were Iranian pilgrims come to pay a religious visit the shrines of Imams , and at the same time “marry” a woman for few hours or so for sex, then everyone is happy and each go their separate way .

For the rest of the Muslim community, this is considered an outright prostitution

For main stream Muslims, these social and political development has giving them a jolt for which unlike the Shias, other Muslims have no clerical establishment of Ayatollahs, or seminaries or a religious structure comparable to the Shias, in fact Shiasm has more in common with Christianity, structurally speaking, than Islam.

For most of the Arab and Muslim world the Shias practices are being perceived as an alien and strange. Practices like the Mut’a marriages, “ Pilgrimage” to places other than or in addition to Mecca, the designation of Najaf and Karbla as “ Holy cities” all of this gives the impression of separateness from the larger Muslim community. And Shias have indeed separated themselves from the larger community of Muslims throughout the centuries in rituals and religious practices.

Shiaism as a political Party

Shiaism, it started off as a political opposition group,a political party,that favored a claimant to power ( Ali )against another ( Abu Bakr who was elected by the Muslim community) but in the course of centuries Shiasm developed an intellectual argument and a theology, and in some cases it branched off into a whole new religion outside the main body of Islam.

Its central difference between the main body of Islam and Shiasm is whether Imam Ali should be the ruler of the Muslim community after the death of the prophet in the 7th century or not.

Moreover, “Sunnis” do not harbor any animosity to the Prophet’s clan and family, who the Shias believe f as “Holy”, nor do they have any animosity toward the Shia Imams. It is all too common for “ Sunnis” to name their children as “ Ali, Hasan, Hussein, Hadi, Mahdi, Jafar, all of which are holy, perfect, and sinless super human beings in the Shia theology. Conversely, however, no Shia family will ever name their children such names like Omar, Othman, Bakr; names of Muslim Caliphs and whom Shias are taught at a young age to hurl insults damnation and ritualistic curses at them until the present day. It’s worth noting that damnations and curses against historic Muslim figures are recited at every Shia prayers.

Picture of Imam Ali on T-shirt)

This type of historic vendetta rendered quaint in other religions and societies but still persists among the Shias indicates that the Shias are psychologically stuck in a tragic moment of history and unable to move forward past that moment..

Furthermore, it was non Shia Muslims who showed the most support for an exclusive Shia organization such as Hezbollah, during its war with Israel last summer. Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Tunis Morocco, Algeria, are countries were Shiasm is virtually non-existent, yet it was where Hezbollah enjoyed the most support and sympathy in its war against Israel.
This shows that mainstream Muslims, unlike Shias, view themselves simply as Muslims, Not Sunnis.

Who are the Sunnis:
Sunnis cannot fairly be described as a “ Sunnis“. To label it as such would be an oversimplification because there is no such thing as a “ Sunni Identity” that corresponds with the Shia identity, nor there is a Sunni rituals or Sunni hierarchy such as Ayatollahs that will lead a Sunni establishment of sort or even Sunni states, for all of the Arab states, are secular in nature and in law, and nowhere mentioned in their modern constitutions the insistence on being a Sunni State with a Sunni head of State in contrast with Iranian’s constitution for example, the leading Shia state, that insists on the Shi’ism being the creed of the state and that of its head.

Hip-Hop in Jordan

2007-03-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

The pan Arab daily Al-Hayat reported back in late January “ Hip Hop to encourage Jordanian-European exchange”

The small item news said that the European Union is financing a dance workshop of 15 young men and women to better the skills of hip hop dancing in Jordan.

Those who are in charge of this workshop said that the hip-hop workshop is not about just dancing, but it’s more about encouraging cultural dialogue between civilizations.

You might want to call me an old school, but I really don’t understand how hip-hop dancing would encourage the so-called “ dialogue of civilizations”

Hip-Hop, though an almost mainstream art form in America and Europe, however it is still unaccepted by the majority of the societies in the western world for the culture of drugs, sex, and violence it brings. So why should it be accepted in such traditional societies such the one in Jordan, where society ills such drugs, and violence are at the very minimum. And for sure Jordan does not need such problems.

And if you think hip-hop is getting more popular, you are wrong. Recent surveys published by the American press shows that hip-hop is losing popularity among African American community; the community were hip-hop music is more popular.

Rap music glorifies violence,degrades women,incites murder,spreads drugs, and public sexuality, and it has made a significant impact at increasing the levels of crime, and violence and drug culture among the African American community, such problems are part of the reasons for the economical, educational and health disparities between African Americans and other segments of American societies.

Mohammad Badr, one of the participants in the workshop said “ it is a rare opportunity in Jordan, I have been hip-hop dancing with a group of 11 dancers for over four years, but we lack enough support to develop our talents”

I am not sure what Mohammad meant of “ enough support” to develop his talents, and where this support should come from. But thanks to the EU, hiphoppers and rappers got themselves some training so they can go out there and conquer the world! Give me a break!

Of all the problems the Arab world has, from high illiteracy rates, 40 and 60 percent in some areas, to reading habits to economic developments, the EU chose something Americans are dumping in their trashcan then repackaged it Jordan as “ dialogue of civilizations” Are you kidding me!

Maybe someone ought to question the wisdom of choosing Jordan as garbage dump for someone else’s trash.

Iraq war report card

2007-03-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

It has been four years since the first shots were fired in the “shock and awe” war against Iraq.
Though the stated goals of this war has shifted so many times over the years from Weapons of mass destruction, the war on terror, to remove Saddam Hussein, to bringing democracy and freedom.

Here is the report card for this war, The data gleaned here shows that fours years worth of “ democracy”, Freedom” and 500 billion of US dollars injected into Iraq, and over 82 billion dollars of Iraqi government revenues from oil sales, did not amount to the levels of Security, quality of life, economic prosperity, education, health care, and civil infrastructure of pre-wars level.

What’s more shocking is that the “pre-war level” term, was when Iraq under Saddam Hussein was languishing under brutal and suffocating sanctions, yet still, four years of shock
and owe, and Shia/Militias-democratic rule, did not reach the “ pre-war levels”
Strange as it seems to be, but the numbers speak for themselves.

All the data included here are from the Brooking Institution Iraq war index, www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.pdf

www.Iraqbodycount.org US mainstream media and US and Iraq government agencies.

US SPENDING IN IRAQ

The U.S spent $505 billion on the war effort so far
The Bush administration is requesting another $100 billion for 2007 and $140 billion for 2008, which would bring the cumulative total to over $700 billion.
Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 million in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors
Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings
Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion

COALITION TROOPS IN IRAQ AND US

Troops in Iraq - Total 155,035, including 141,000 from the US, 7,100 from the UK, and 6,935 from all other nations (other than Iraq).
US Troop Causalities - 3,205 US troops
Non-US Troop Casualties - Total 258, with 134 from the UK
US Troops Wounded - 24,042, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries (total excludes psychological injuries)
US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home
US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq - 60 total, at least 29 by enemy fire

Journalists killed:
Iraqis Europeans Americans Arabs Others Total
74 11 2 3 5 95

Iraqi Military and Police Casualties - 6,271
Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated - A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian causalities have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported at 50,000 to over 100,000, but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian causalities at over 600,000. ( Iraqibodycount.org , IBC )
Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated - 55,000

Daily insurgents attacks:
Feb 2004 July 2005 Nov 2006 Dec 2006
14 70 180 185

Iraqis kidnapped
January 2004 December 2004 December2005 March2006
2 per day in Baghdad 10 per day in Baghdad Up to 30 per day in Baghdad 30-40 per day in Baghdad

Iraqi prison population:
Peak prison population 2003 10,000
March 2007, 17,00 in US custody
In Iraqi custody, until September 2006 13,000

Estimated foreign fighters in the Insurgency:
January 2004 November 2006
500 800-2000

Nationality of Foreign Fighters:

Algeria SaudiArabia Sudan Syria Yemen Egypt Other countries
600 350 450 550 500 400 150

20% 12% 1 5% 18% 17% 13% 5%

NOTE ON NATIONALITIES OF FOREIGN MILITANTS GRAPH: Two other sources have cited the nationalities of non-Iraqi
Jihadists (one specifying those captured, the other those killed) in Iraq, and the three reports suggest somewhat different trends. Reuven Paz
cites Saudi Arabia as contributing the highest number of jihadists killed (94) from November to March, 2005, followed by Syria (16) and
Kuwait (11). Reuven Paz,“Arab Volunteers Killed in Iraq: An Analysis,” Global Center for International Affairs Center (GLORIA),
Occasional Papers, Volume 3 (2005), Number 1, March 2005.

Internally Displaced persons in Iraq
Since April 2003

2003 100,000
2004 200,000
2005 250,000
2006 685,000
2007 750,000

Iraqi refugees living abroad

Iraqi refugees living abroad 1.8 million
Iraqi refugees in Syria 600,00- 1 million
Iraqi refugees in Jordan 700,000- 750,000
Iraqi refugees in Egypt, Lebanon, Iran 175,000- 200,000
Refugees seeking asylum in Europe, first half of 2006 8,100

Refugees and asylum seekers:
2003-2004 366,000
2005 523,000
Total 889,000

*QUALITY OF LIFE INDICATORS
Iraqi Unemployment Rate - 27 to 60%, where curfew not in effect
Consumer Price Inflation in 2006 - 50%
Iraqi Children Suffering from Chronic Malnutrition - 25% in May 2006
Percent of professionals who have left Iraq since 2003 - 40%
Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity 9.6
Average Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity 5.7 h
Pre-War Daily Hours Baghdad homes Have Electricity 16 to 24 h
Number of Iraqi Homes Connected to Sewer Systems 37%
Percentage of Iraqi Homes with Access to Piped Water 78%
Water Treatment Plants Rehabilitated 22%
RESULTS OF POLL Taken in Iraq in August 2005 by the British Ministry of Defense (Source: Brookings Institute)
Iraqis "strongly opposed to presence of coalition troops 82%
Iraqis who believe Coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security - less than 1%
Iraqis who feel less secure because of the occupation - 67%

Index of political freedom in Iraq:
Israel 8.20
Lebanon 6.55
Morocco 5.20
Palestine 5.05
Iraq 5.05
Kuwait 4.90
Tunisia 4.60
Jordan 4.45
Qatar 4.45
Egypt 4.30
Sudan 4.30
Yemen 4.30
Algeria 4.15
Oman 4.00
Bahrain 3.85
Iran 3.85
UAE 3.70
Saudi Arabia 2.80
Syria 2.80
Libya 2.05

Note on Index:
Each country is scored on a 10-pint scale, with 1 being the lowest score, and 10 the highest.

Index of Press freedom
149 Gambia 54.0
150 Yemen 54.0
151 Belarus 57.0
152 Libya 62.5
153 Syria 63.0
154 Iraq 66.8
155 Vietnam 67.3
156 Laos 67.5
157 Pakistan 70.30
158 Uzbekistan 71.0
159 Nepal 73.5
160 Ethiopia 75.0
161 Saudi Arabia 76.0
162 Iran 90.9
163 China 94.0
164 Burma 94.8
165 Cuba 95.0
166 Eritrea 97.5
167 Turkmenistan 98.5
168 North Korea 109.0

Note on Index of Press Freedom: the lower the score attained, the higher the degree of press freedom in the respective country.

Political Parties in Iraq:
Registered for December 205 election Over 300

Doctors in Iraq
Iraqi Doctors registered before 2003 invasion 34,000
Iraqi doctors who have left Iraq since the 2003 invasion 12,000 (estimate)
Iraqi doctors murdered since 2003 invasion 2,000
Iraqi doctors kidnapped 250
Average salary of an Iraqi doctor 7.5 million Iraqi dinar per year or $ 5,100 per year
Annual graduates form Iraqi medical school 2,250
Percentage of above that will work outside of Iraq 20%

Note: numbers are estimates.

The new identities of Iraq

2007-03-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

“It may turn out that the civil war that destroyed Lebanon was a pilot project for the whole region, and that with very few exceptions states will disintegrate into chaos of squabbling, feuding, fighting sects, tribes and regions. “ Bernard Lewis, Mideast states, pawns no longer in Imperial games. Essay. 1991

What’s happening in The Middle East today, In Darfour, Lebanon and particularly in Iraq is exactly what Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis wrote about 16 years ago in the aftermath of the first Gulf war, and the invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Lewis words are eerie prophetic giving the amount of slaughter, hatred, tribal and sectarian violence fueling the passions in Iraq. Iraq has, more or less, been redrawn and subdivided based on religious sects and ethnicities. The Shias a religious sect stood to reap the fruits of the American invasion and occupation their country leaving others to fight it out and fight them as well. The Kurds have for all intents and purposes carved out a country of their own in the north of what soon to be called “ the former Iraq” while the Sunnis are left to set themselves up some kind of a country in western Iraq.

Ever since the removal of Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, Iraq and the Iraqis are going through profound changes in their political, economic, religious and social lives.

For certain segments of the Iraqi society, this change is welcomed for others it brought doom, but the one thing for sure is that all components of the Iraqi society share, that is a country reduced from an advanced industrious one into a heap of wreckage, a shell of its former self.

In 1991, the first Bush administration opted to leave Iraq without a fight, after liberating Kuwait and therefore leaving it intact. The second Bush administration, however, came into this war with a plan.

But why do Iraqis who share a common heritage, common ethnic stock for the most part, and have lived together in some political configuration or another for thousands of years.
Yet they have transformed their own country into an inferno of killing each other off based on one’s membership of a certain religious sect or ethnicity.

The current occurring of slaughter and hatred has to do with the breakdown of the Iraqi national identity that was the glue that held all Iraqis together regardless of their sects or ethnic groups. Iraqis see each other today differently. Your next-door neighbor has all of the sudden become the enemy, simply because he is not a member of your sect or tribe or ethnic group.

Through Iranian influence and the work of Iranian Ayatollah, Ali Sistani, Iraqi Shias are increasingly embracing their new identity of being just “ Shia” while Iran in the mean time has emerged as the bigger winner since dismantling the previous Iraqi order. The Shias of Iraq look for Iran for support, guidance, and of course weapons and money. Iran for its part had created, trained and equipped thousands of Iraqi Shia precisely for the day they take over their former enemy’s country in some kind of political arrangement that will swallow the oil-rich southern chunk of it under the guise of Shia confederation.

Abdel-Aziz Al Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic revolution in Iraq, SCIRI, an Iranian-sponsored outfit, has called for the establishing of an all- Shia enclave in the south. This, if it happened will be the second practical step to divide Iraq. Kurdistan being the first.
( Hakim)

To facilitate this, Iranians are living in Iraq by the hundred of thousands, particularly in the south and in the city of Najaf area, an unthinkable feat just few years past. Other Arab states stand powerless to influence these events in Iraq, even America is powerless in this regard and there is nothing it can do to change it.

Vali Nasr, Iranian author of the “ Shia Revival” a Mediocre book of polemics touting Shia-Persian nationalism as a new basis of identity for Arab and Pakistani Shias under the leadership of Iran, describes the smashing of the former Iraqi state and establishing a new “ Shia” order by using the term “opening” of Iraq, an old Islamic term used when conquering new territories. According to this view which is being fermented in the halls of power in Tehran and the religious seminaries in Qom and Najaf, other Arab countries are at risk of being “ opened” or conquered particularly those countries with restive Shia populations, such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, whom Nasr described its ruling family as a “ Sunni settlers” alluding to Iran’s territorial claims and ambitions for the Island country.

For " Sunnis" in Iraq, they would still identify themselves in Iraqi national terms and its overlapping larger sense of identity of being "Arabs" and "Muslims", and with the rest of Arabs in other Arab countries, without the narrow secterian bagage.

Israel stands to be the other beneficiary of the new Shia order in Iraq and the emerging Shia nationalism.

For Israel, Iraq has been removed as a powerful Arab country, now reduced to rubbles, thanks in part to the Iraqi Shias who rode America’s military might and enabled Israel in addition to Iran, to eliminate the possibilities of Iraq becoming a powerful industrial State.

Zbigniew Brzeninsky, President Carter former national security advisor, testified on February 1,at a hearing of the Senate Foreign relations committee said that in responding to Senator Joseph Biden that he can imagine several hidden motives for the war in Iraq:

“ One would be to gain American domination over the region’s oil, to put it very simplistically. Another could be to help maximize Israel security by removing a powerful Arab state. Another one could have been simply to get rid of an obnoxious regime with which the United States had accounts to settle going to back to 91 including the alleged assassination attempt against president Bush senior, there could be a variety of motives. But the official motives were weapons of mass destruction.”

Bob Inglis breaks with neo-cons

2007-02-25T14:07:00.000-08:00
Published: Sunday, February 25, 2007 - 2:00 am , Greenville News, South Carolina

Inglis made a courageous break with the 'neo-cons'
Iraq is worse off today, with U.S. helping shape the country into Iran's banana republic.

By Ali Alarabi

Fourth District Congressman Bob Inglis' decision to vote in favor of a nonbinding resolution against sending more U.S. soldiers to Iraq, and the controversy that erupted afterward here in Greenville, highlights the growing and healthy debate over the war in Iraq.

When I met Congressman Inglis late last year to discuss with him his opinion on issues of the Middle East, he showed genuine desire for a stable, safe and democratic Iraq and real concern for the safety and well being of American troops fighting there especially after he himself went to visit with the U.S. troops in Iraq last year.

He was an enthusiastic supporter of democracy and freedom in Iraq, and I am sure he still is. Congressman Inglis, however, deserves our full support for his courageous decision to break with the neo-cons over this war that has, as he put it," led us to slaughter." There is no need for more young American soldiers to die in this un-winnable war.

Untold billions of U.S. dollars went towards shoddy reconstruction projects. More billions of Iraqi oil money were looted by the new Iraqi Shia leaders who turned out to be even worse than Saddam ever was. Before this war, Iraq had no terrorist presence on its soil and was a secular modern state despite Saddam's brutality and criminality.

Today, sad to say, Iraq has become a medieval, intolerant republic of hatred and horror ruled by anachronistic ayatollahs, and it has become a proving ground for terrorists of all kinds. Al-Qaida terrorists operate a daily horror show by killing innocent civilians, both Shias and Sunni. Shia death squads and terrorist groups such as the Mahdi Army and Badr Brigades rape Muslim women and destroy Muslim mosques.

Iraqi government troops and security forces also rape women, and engage in kidnapping, murder and slaughtering of innocent civilians. The reason for the proliferation of terrorism in Iraq is that the United States supported a sectarian Shia rule in Iraq instead of maintaining an Iraqi national identity that is not based on religious and ethnic background. After the fog of war had subsided and Saddam's regime had collapsed, the Shia organizations descended upon Iraq (from Iran) like vandals looting the booty.

Nowhere on their mind was rebuilding a democratic Iraq and reconciliation. Judging by their performance in the past three years, revenge and blood was their mantra. The major problem with sending American soldiers into harm's way is that they are going to support an Iraqi government that sees itself as strictly Shia government beholden only to Iran next door.
The sectarian Shia rule in Iraq has more or less become the United State's Achilles' heel.

On Dec. 12, 1983, terrorists bombed the U.S. and French embassies, along with other facilities in Kuwait City. Seventeen people were arrested and as it turned out that they were from an Iraqi Shia terrorist group called Al-Dawa that bombed the U.S. embassy on behalf of Iran. Al-Dawa Shia party is the current Iraqi Prime minister Nouri Maliki's ruling party in power in Iraq today.

Recent U.S. news reports uncovered that one of those terrorists convicted in that bombing is a current member of the Iraqi parliament. This does not even stop there, other Shia groups such as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), headed by Abdel Aziz- Al Hakim, is another organization in power in Iraq, that was founded and financed, and its militias trained and equipped, by Iran.

Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army is another Shia terrorist group that has killed Arabs, Muslims and Christians, and bombed mosques. These actions serve the narrow sectarian Shia interests and eventually the interests of their pay masters in Tehran.

Perhaps one would find so many moral arguments in favor of removing Saddam Hussein from power, and rightly so. However, according to recent published U.N. report on the war in Iraq, it said that over 750,000 Iraqis were killed as a direct result of war, ethnic and religious violence. Moreover, there are over 2 million Iraqi refugees in neighboring Syria and Jordan.

Millions of other Iraqis can barely make ends meet, while their leaders loot the riches of their country. The situation today is far worst than it was under Saddam's regime. What needs to be done in Iraq today is for the U.S. government to stop the ongoing process of transforming Iraq into Iran's banana republic, or the "Iranification of Iraq," and thus force the Iraqi Shia leadership to dissolve their own militias and terrorists groups and rebuild Iraq for all Iraqis -- Arabs and Kurds, Muslims and Christians.

The revenge of the Shia

2007-01-15T13:50:00.000-08:00
( Muqtada Sadr)

Outrage could be the word to summarize the reaction of Arabs and Muslims across the Arab world and beyond to Saddam's gruesome execution by the Iraqi Shia leadership.

Images of Saddam being taunted as he was being led to his death by men loyal to Muqtada Sadr, leader of anti-Arab and Muslim death squads were audible and broadcasted across the Arab world on Aljazeera and on the internet.

Later on it was revealed by Iraqi sources that Muqtada himself was present at the execution along with Muwafaq Rubie, who allegedly was the one who taped Saddam's execution on his cell phone. Rubie is the national security adviser to Nouri Maliki.

Despite the fact that the Iraqi law says that the president and/or his vice president should sign the death warrant of Saddam and that the condemned should not be executed on a holiday.

But It was the Prime Minister, however, Nouri Maliki, who signed off on Saddam execution and sent him into the hands of the feared death squads of the Mahdi Army on a revered Muslim holiday.

The presence of non-government personal at the execution were clear violations of the new Iraqi law put forth to govern the Iraqis by Paul Bremer the former American ruler of Iraq.

The irony of all this was that the Iraqi Shia's leadership has committed exactly the same atrocities they accused Saddam of, and by some accounts it has committed in the span of 3 years far more crimes, mass murder, and religious and ethnic cleansing against Muslims and Arabs in Iraq, than the entire Baath party rule of Iraq which lasted over 35 years.

For example, according to US figures and press reports, Muqtada Sadr's Shia Army has killed thousands of Arabs and Muslim Iraqis,and acts of rape, and blowing up of Mosques were the bread and butter of the Mahdi Army.

Press accounts has also reported that Iraqi PM has asked and gotten the permission of the Shia religious class. Men like Ali Sistani, the Iranian religious leader who exerts an almost total control over Iraq. Sistani's power is such that no current Iraqi official can take a major step without consulting with the Iranian Ayatollah, thus making him a de facto ruler of the new Iraq.

In the midst of Shias boisterous celebrations over the execution of Saddam, Iraqi PM Maliki and other Shia leaders were quick to declare that they hoped for a closure and that the execution was necessary for Iraq to move forward!

The problem with MalikiÃ assertions, however, is that Saddam had been in Jail for three years and Iraq had moved forward ever since Iraqi Shia changed its national character from a national state, that is an Arab and a Muslim one, into just a Shia state, anti Arab and anti Muslim. A state bent on revenge and destruction so as to hasten the return of the Mahdi,a messianic figure, who will come back at the end of days.

According to Shia political theology, Imam Mahdi is the 12th and the last descendent of Imam Ali and will reappear at the end of days to rule Earth with Justice, and restore the rule of the Shia over all others. Imam Mahdi, according to the historical record, was 8 years old when he disappeared.

As fr as the popular sentiments across the Arab and Muslim world, the feelings were those of a great insult and trauma in that to see a former head of an Arab state being treated in such humiliating manner and hanged in a manner of pure act of vengeance, not Justice. Despite that Saddam did not have many people in the Arab world who thought kindly of him. But the way he was executed by his Shia executioners were repulsive enough to instill anti-Shia sentiments across the Arab and Muslim world.

The ramifications of this, in historic terms, would be in the way Shias will be viewed and treated in other countries were they are minorities in places such as Pakistan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia.

Its worth noting that it was only Iran, Israel, Hezbollah and Australia who cheered and supported the manner of Saddam execution.

The US government,and George Bush himself had rebuked the Iraqi government over its handling of Saddam's execution.

For Iraqi Shias, however, It was a sense of maximum triumphalism, The feelings as seen on TV screens across the Arab world, were almost as if they were killing the ancient Muslim ruler Muawaieh, a reviled figure in Shia religious thought and who and Imam Ali fought over political power in the 7th century.

Imam Ali, a member prophet Mohammad clan and his son-in-law, Shias hold that he and his sons were appointed by God to rule over all Muslims and by extension over Planet Earth.

Those ancient anti-Muslim, anti Arab sentiments were expressed by many Iraqi officials. Sadeq Mousawi an Iraqi PR official,based in London, declared on Aljazeera, on the Opposite Direction show, in the week after the execution, that Iraq will always remain an Alid ( or Aliwite) state in other words Mousawi was saying Iraq is now finally a Shia state, a non-Muslim, non Arab state.

Despite that Shiaism was a political movement in its origins which in later on acquired a theology and intellectual argument centuries after the death of Ali and his sons Hasan and Hussein.

Interestingly,Mousawi statement has revealed yet another famous Shia doctrine,that is Concealment in that Shias are authorized according to their religious beliefs to lie and conceal their true motives and opinion. The Arabic word for this doctrine is Taqiyya.

Surly Saddam's regime did not accord any shred of dignified death to his countless innocent victims, Shias and Sunnis, nor did he have any mercy over his subjects, but the New Iraq was born, supposedly,to rid the country and Iraqis from the same legacy they are committing now. Acts of terrorism, rape and murder in the name of Ali and Hussein are being committed on daily basis in Iraq.

Interesting facts about Saddam's execution:

It's worth noting that Saddam place of execution was the headquarters of Fifth Military intelligence Unit, which in his days was responsible for anti-Iranian counter intelligence, and espionage operations in Iraq. In other words the choice of this place was intended to extract an Iranian revenge up to the last minute of his life. And why not, The Iraqi Shia political and religious ruling class according to Arab press, is more or less an extension of Iran. Most of the current Iraqi Shia leadership,had lived, trainedequippedd andfinancedd by Iran before they assumed power in Iraq.

Ali Sistani,the Ayatollah sitting in Najaf and who hold the biggest power in Iraq is such example and could with few words move hordes of men into certain death to achieve his goals. For Ali Sistani, who was born in Iran, and Identifies himself with it has refused an Iraqi citizenship when it was offered to him when the Shias finally took over Iraq.

For him, his Iraqi followers are just Shia, niether Iraqis nor Arabs. (Hence his refusal to endorse a coalition of Iraqi political coalition that spans ethnic and sectarian lines, his explanation for his refusal was that such an Iraqi alliance would undermine the Shias monopoly of power)

What's next?
Iraq today is a failed state, ravaged by terrorism, sectarian mass murder and official corruption and plunder of state resources. The end for all this is not clear, Shia death squads roam the streets of Baghdad killing men and women based on their names and identity cards. While Sunni militants and terrorists are murdering innocent Shias.

But whats clear, however, is that the Iraqi government is not doing anythingmeaninfulll to stop this insanity, worst, thisgovernmentt is often times is seen as a willing participant and an accomplice in the frenzy of murder and destruction.

Sunni and Shia Iraqis who were just few years ago each other's neighbor and their fellow Iraqi citizen,today, thanks to the new rulers of Iraq, are murdering each other day and night.

( Iraq's Iranian Ayatollah Ali Sistani)

whats in the Turkey!

2006-11-23T21:43:00.000-08:00
( Ottoman Sultan)

It’s Thanks Giving, and for Americans it means a national day where the whole family gathers to celebrate this national holiday by eating a Turkey.

While it is known that Thanks Giving is celebrated to commemorate the original settler’s survival in the New World.
But where did the name “Turkey” come from? What kind of relation the name Turkey has to do with the country of Turkey?

Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis wrote in the New York Review of Books in 2003 that the reason Americans or “westerners” named the exotic bird they encountered in the new world “Turkey” because for one it was a strange, exotic and unknown bird to them, and since the Ottoman Empire at the time, the 17th century, was an unfamiliar and exotic landscape for most westerns especially that the Ottoman “Turkish” Sultan was also exotic looking with his colorful turban and attire. So according to Lewis analysis, the Western pilgrims named the exotic unknown bird they encountered “Turkey” because Turkey also represented an exotic unfamiliar place to them.

A Harvard scholar however wrote that Westerners who visited turkey in the 16th and 17th century saw a native Turkish bird called "çulluk" that looks like the Turkey bird however smaller, and when they encountered the Bird in the new world, they mistakenly thought it was the same bird.

But also, there is this theory that explains the reason for the naming mistake by the Europeans was that they called an African bird called now called " Guinea Foul" which came to Europe via Turkey as the "Turkey Cock" hence the name " Turkey" when the encountered the Turkey bird in the New World.

Interestingly, however, the Turks do not call the Turkey” Turkey”, the name for it in Turkish is “ Hindi” from “ Hind” which is India, so it is called the Indian Bird.

The reason is that the Turks thought the Bird was originated in India.

In Arabic the bird is called the Ethiopian bird “ Deek Habash” ( Deek is rooster or bird) because Ethiopia was called Abyssinia and Habash is Arabic for Abyssinia.

In Egyptian Arabic the bird is called “ Deek Roumi” which means a Roman Bird. Perhaps if I follow Bernard Lewis analysis, the Egyptians associated the bird with the westerners or even the Roman Emperor because the Roman Emperor, much like his Ottoman Sultan counterpart sported a crown and colorful attire.

( Charlemagne,Holy Roman Emperor)

In Macedonian Slavic the bird is called simply Misir which means “the Egyptian bird” (Misir, for male bird and Miserika for female) the Arabic word for Egypt is “Misir”

This like going after a wild Turkey chase!

But what do they call this worldly bird in India.

by now I thought India would have the answer to this chase, but to my utter surprise, i found that the bird does not even exist in India.

And I also found that there is no word for it in any of the Indic languages I researched!
Still, i asked few Indians i know about it.and they said that there is no Turkey or a name for it in India.

This is shocking eh!

However,the common theme I found when digging the archeological eytmology of the word “Turkey” was that in most European languages, the Bird is always called or referred to as an Indian Bird or the bird from India or from the Indian city Calcutta.

The reason for that I think it had to do with the Greeks who originally called it “Indike ornitha” which means Indian Bird.

In polish its called “Indyk” while in Russian its “Indjuk”
while in Portuguese the bird is called “Peru” named after the country Peru.

In Mandarin Chinese it is called the hu ji, which roughly translates into “fire chicken”, while in Japanese it is called shichimenchoo, which means “the Seven-sided bird”

The bird is perhaps truly native to the new World, America, but almost every country and major language in the world named him after another country that thinks is far away and exotic.

The Democrats are here

2006-11-08T06:29:00.000-08:00

It is a good day today for the Democrats. With the US national election in full bloom and the Democrats will have clear majority in the US House of representatives while the Senate, with the Democrats picking up three more seats, is still up for grab and it go either way.

The victory for the Democrats is a referendum on President George Bush’s performance and policies during his reign in the past six years.

The War in Iraq was a major factor in the Democratic sweep f the House. The sentiments of the American people were against this war and see it as a killing ground for American troops.

Republican candidates even tried to distant themselves from the unpopular president whose approval ratings kept sinking further with every new poll.

One Republican candidate even ran an add advocating leaving Iraq and “ divide the country if we have to” in order to just get rid of this nagging problem called “ Iraq”

Security and terrorism issues apparently did not top the issues for American voters, which were the Republicans strongest issues. But other domestic issues such as stem cell research, minimum wage and the economy played a major factor in the Democratic sweep of the House.

In the Arab world, the US election was followed very closely, its news topped Aljazeera broadcast as Americans were heading to the polls yesterday. But with Israeli killing off Palestinian civilians by the dozens in the town of Biet Hanoon in Gaza strip for a week now, it was hard for the US elections to remain on top of the news.

The US election will have special meaning for Iraq and its new leaders. Maliki and others in his Shia coalition have so much stock with the Republican administration. Maliki and other Shia leaders wish to see American troops remaining in Iraq until they consolidate their hold on power. But with new Congressional leaders hostile to this war, Maliki has so much to worry about now that the US congress will no longer give him a blank check anymore.

While Muqtada Sadr, the young Shia leader who’s “ Mahdi Army” is implicated in sectarian killings of Sunnis and other Shias, is looking forward for an American withdrawal from Iraq.

For the Palestinians, a democratic Congress might offer a reprieve form George Bush’s “ evangelically driven” policy regarding the Israeli Palestinian issue. Bush’s “ Vision” for peace remained just that, with his base of neo-conservative and evangelical Christians see that Israel has a divine right to occupy the Palestinians areas forever, or until Jesus comes.

The Democrats, however, are no less enthusiastic supporters of Israel than the Republicans. But without the “Evangelical baggage”. Joe Lieberman was reelected senator for Connecticut is a very staunch supporter of Israel and one of the war in Iraq biggest advocates. Despite his wining on an Independent platform, he will be caucusing with the Democrats.

Rham Emanuel, a rising Star Democrat from Illinois will end up holding key leadership position in the new Congress is a duel Israeli/American citizen and had served in the Israeli Army.

It does not look good for Palestinians regardless who is in control of the US Congress. Israel has killed over 80 Palestinian civilians in a week offensive inside the densely packed Gaza strip with no end in sight. The world stared at these tragic massacres retardedly.

The Arab world, Arab commentators argue, would like to see a more balanced approach of the US polices in the Middle East. With Democrats in power in Congress,it might put brakes on or at least slows down President Bush’s more aggressive polices in the Middle East and furthermore hasten the withdrawal of the US troops from Iraq even if that meant Iraq will plunge in a full-scale bloody civil war destroying the entire country, but that would be an Iraqi problem.

The verdict on Saddam

2006-11-06T05:37:00.000-08:00

Perhaps history will not be kind to Saddam Hussein, but history, for certain, will register that Saddam was sentenced to death by no less brutal state than his was.

By any respectable legal standards, Saddam’s trial was a joke, a kangaroo court, but the trial was not about legality or about legal justice, it was more like “a reality vengeance show” which is now has become a norm in the tribal Iraqi society.

Iraqis have killed and dragged the dead bodies of their past leaders in the streets of Baghdad since the inception of the modern state of Iraq. Starting with the HashimiteKing Faisal in the 50s all the way until the draconian rule of Saddam took strong hold over Iraq.

No doubt that Saddam has committed grave injustices and crimes against the Iraqi people, and have killed and caused to be killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. He deserves to be brought justice, the problem however, is that those who are administrating justice were themselves former terrorists and militia leaders who plotted, killed and assassinated Iraqis while Saddam was in power. It is an ironic twist of history.

Nouri Maliki for example, the current Iraqi prime minister himself was a terrorist who attempted to assassinate Tariq Aziz former foreign minister of Iraq during the eighties. His Iran-made-based organization, Dawaa party, has waged military campaign against Iraq from Iranian territory. If Maliki were an American citizen, his past actions (against the state, or the head of the state) would warrant a trial for high treason and he would be executed by American justice standards. He is now, however, a leader of Iraq. What is the difference is really there between him or any other new Iraqi chief and Saddam!

Since Iraqi “ liberation” 650.000 Iraqis were killed according to published reports, a staggering figure for three years worth of democracy in Iraq, and over 18 billion dollars were looted from the Iraqi oil revenues by the new rulers of Iraq. Not to mention that the “ new” Iraq is a failed state where sectarian militias and government death squads fight each other for turf and profits. The new regime cannot say that they are better than Saddam regime or that Iraq today is in better shape than it was under Saddam.

The sad reality is that the innocent victims of Saddam’s crimes, Kurds, Sunnis and Shias were victimized again when their own country is being looted, robbed, and torn into pieces by the new order of power.

Rezko and the Emir of Qatar

2006-10-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:Thursday:10-19-2006, 2:30 PM
Tony Rezko had arrived at Chicago O'Hare international airport today and was taken into custody by FBI agents on charges of fraud and extortion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While the feds are awaiting the return of Tony Rezko from overseas, a sideshow is opening up about how Tony Rezko made a web of friends and contacts by using them to channel campaign donations to Chicago area politicians and to his friend governor Blagojevich. And ultimately back to him through kickbacks as the indictment alleges.

Rezko’s contacts and partners are not restricted to Arab Americans, his partners include other Americans, which he did business with and as the government alleges conspired with to commit criminal conduct.

Rezko even was trying to get the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, to partner with him in one of his businesses! He was quoted in Springfield newspaper, last year saying, "I'm planning to get him to do business in Illinois," Rezko said of the emir. After the Emir visited Springfield in May of last year.
Rezko told columnist Bernard Shoenburg of the Star Journal Register, a Springfield newspaper, that he is “ friend with the Emir”
The Emir of Qatar later made a $1 million donation to the Lincoln presidential library and Museum in Springfield.This was also reported by Chicago Tribune last year.

( Emir of Qatar)

According to the SJR newspaper in Springfield , Rezko said that he made a trip to Qatar a month before the visit, apparently trying to get the Emir to come to Springfield. And to make the $1 million donation
“The expectation is within three months he will make a donation to the museum" Rezko said then.
This appears to be true to Rezko’s fundraising pattern. Bringing the Emir to come to Springfield,have dinner with the governor and pay a million dollar. A very expensive dinner if you ask me. knowing what we know now about Rezko's "business" methods, most likely he was trying to set the unsuspecting Emir up.

What did Rezko get out of it? It remains to be seen.

Relating to Rezko –Blagojevich affair (Blzko) the Chicago Tribune ran a story yesterday about Khalil Shalabi and how he got a $78000.000 a year state job apparently as a result of his campaign work and fund raising for Blagojevich in conjunction with Tony Rezko. Khalil Shalabi is one of the leaders of the Arab American Democratic Club.

The Arab American Democratic Club was the vehicle through which some members of the Arab community worked through Rezko, to donate and collect money for Blagojevich, and now one can infer from press reports and government indictments that those donations were made with a tacit quid pro quo understanding of all parties involved.

The Arab American Democratic Club, or the Democratic Club as it is known in the community was something like of a black sheep in the Arab community. It was a private club and according to many community leaders I spoke to for this story, the Democratic club hardly had anything to do with the community.

*The Beginning
The Democratic club, started in 1994 by Ray Hanania and others among them were Khalil Shalabi, Samir Khalil, Ayoub Talhami and Miriam Zayed.The DC was organized to help Miriam Zayed who in 1994 ran for election to high school board district 230 in the southwest suburbs of Chicago.

Miriam Zayed, an active community member, well meaning and an honorable lady, did not win.But because of some disagreements among the board members Ray Hanania left and since then it became Khalil Shalabi and Samir Khalil organization.

Ayoub Talhami, now a retired city engineer was, according to many people I talked to, in it in good faith and not for personal gains. He for a long time worked for the City of Chicago, and needed no connections or clout to get a job.

The first time I met Khalil Shalabi was in the early nineties when I went to his business for a story I was writing. I am not too sure what was it about then but Maybe it was about some community squabble!

His activism with Rezko and others in this league had finally paid off in a form of a state job. But because of state’s Inspector General investigations of his professional conduct while on state payroll had recommended his dismissal. “Blagojevich is moving to fire him” The Chicago Tribune reported yesterday.

For Samir Khalil, the first time I met him was at the West 63RD street Chicago Police station when the Commander of whom I was interviewing for a story pertaining to Arab Americans, invited him to sit with us. He owned Ski Insurance agency across the street. That was in the early nineties also. He is now sitting on some fire fighters commission in Palos Hills.
Illinois Board of Election records shows that he made a $1000.00 donation to Blagojevich campaign on 9-21-02.

The Democratic club gave Blagojevich $10,500.00 since 2002 according to state records.

Ali Ata is another member of the Democratic club who had made it all the way to head a state finance commission without having any finance experience, and according to the Chicago Sun-Times investigation earlier this year he actually failed to pay mortgage on a property he owned. He resigned amid state investigation.

( Ali Ata)
According to state records, Ali Ata made a total of $ 81,750.00 donations to political candidates. 85% of it went to governor Blagojevich and his father in law Alderman Dick Mell. Blagojevich got the lion share in the total of $ 65000.00, and 34th Ward Alderman Dick Mell got $4000.00

Ata’s donations to Blagojevich:
6-30-2000----- $1000.00
7-30-2000---- $4000.00
8-20-02----- $5000.00
9-04-02---- $25000.00
7-25-03----- $25000.00
6-20-05---- $5000.00
(source: Illinois board of elections)

Alderman Dick Mell Chicago’s 34th Ward got the total of $4000.00 from Ata.

12-25-02 $ 1000.00
12-29-03 $2000.00
1-19-05 $1000.00
(Source: Illinois board of elections)

(Blagojevich's father in-law,chicago 34th ward alderman, Dick Mell)

The Blzko scandal

2006-10-16T21:40:00.000-07:00
(Governor Blagojevich)

Tony Rezko story is making headlines in Illinois because of his powerful web of connections to most of Chicago area politicians, thanks to his donations to their political campaigns.

Since he was indicted last week, no one knows for sure where Rezko is. The FBI said that he was in an Amman Hotel; he also was reportedly in Qatar, where he is believed to be the Emir’s pal.
Rezko could go to his native Syria, and simply not comeback. In addition to his legal troubles, Rezko is in really big financial trouble. His house in the ritzy suburbs of Wilmette has over 3 million dollar lean to GE Capital after defaulting on payments. His businesses are faltering.

Rezko is also being sued by his former friend, also a native Syrian, Semir Serazi for defaulting on a million dollar loan, Serazi secured for Rezko.
Serazi, who heads the Semir and Liyla Serazi educational foundation,a businessman and a noted philanthropist, www.Serazi.com, is seeking 10 million dollars in his lawsuit.

( Semir Serazi)

Joe Duffy. Rezko’s attorney said that Rezko would be back to answer the charges mounting against him.

The question is that if Rezko goes to Syria and end up becoming a fugitive, would the Syrian government turn him in to the US despite that there is no extradition treaty with Syria.?

My guess is that the draconian Syrian government, eager to please, will gladly turn any Syrian in to any government, and might even torture him as a bonus, and a sign of good will to the Americans!

Tony Rezko is in a lot of trouble. The man has accumulated a confusing maze of companies and shell businesses that requires days of connecting them together to get a clear picture of those companies.
Rezko was awarded the "Entrepreneur of the decade " award from the Arab-American Business and professional Association.

( "Entrepreneur of the decade" Tony Rezko)

The main dough in Tony’s business is Pizza, but he was sued by the parent company,. He is also owns 7 Subway sandwich shops on Illinois toll way, thanks to his chummy connections to the governor.

Blagojevich administration was not very friendly to Arab Americans; perhaps it was to Rezko and his friends and associates whom all have gotten cushy jobs after “ donating “ some cash to the political campaign.

During the previous Republican Administration, an Arab American lady, Safia Shillo headed former lieutenant governor, Colleen Wood’s office of ethnic affairs. Safia Shillo was instrumental in helping the community to get access to government to solve social and political problems
Blagojevich came and abolished that office and fired Shillo. But to his credit he appointed other Arab Americans to state boards and commissions!!

The difference however was that those appointees were self-serving and interested in enriching themselves, and have rarely if ever helped or served the Arab American community.

The Blzko scandal is not even new in Chicago politics, which is still basically work the way it worked during Al Capone times but with heavy make-up.

Patrick Fitzgerald the assistant US attorney in Chicago, who is investigating the White House leak of Plame CIA connections, is also investigating City Hall as well as the Governor Mansion in Springfield.

( Governor Blagojevich and Rezko, ABC-7 picture)

Former Governor George Ryan is due to report to prison after the New Year to serve out his jail sentence after being convicted for corruption early this year.

Fitzgerald office has charged over 30 people for corruption in hiring schemes in the City Hall and 20 have been convicted so far.

Also this was not a very unique in the Arab American community. I mean, the City of Chicago has for many years what is called the “ The Advisory Commission on Arab affairs and Human relations” The problem is however is that the overwhelming members of the community, and the average Arab American “Billy Joe Mohammad” have never heard of it, nor have seen its “ helping hand” it’s a ghost Commission.
It is basically Daley’s men! Hardly have they done anything worthy for the community despite the major social, economical, and political upheavals the community had went through in the past few years.

( Mayor Daley)

Rezko’s scandal is just the beginning for the Governor Rod Blagojevich whose trouble started when his own father in law Alderman Richard Mill, one of Chicago's fossilized king makers accused him of corruption and money for jobs schemes after a family feud over business and political turfs.

After all, this is how it all started for former governor Ryan, whose corruption and subsequent conviction looks like a chum change comparing to Blzko scandal.

The rise and fall of Tony Rezko

2006-10-16T01:32:00.000-07:00

Antoin “ Tony” Rezko, 51, a millionaire businessman in Chicago area was indicted on allegations that he used his influence with governor Rod Blagojevich to extort money from companies that seek business with the state.

Rezko is a key Blagojevich fundraiser and adviser, and has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the governor campaign as well as to other state and city public officials.

The indictment alleges that Rezko along with co-conspirator Stuart Levin attempted to force businesses to pay certain associates finders and consultant fees in the range of millions of dollars before in order to be approved to do business with the state.The scheme according to the indictment and reports in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Suntimes worked like this:

Tony Rezko because of his influence with the governor recommends certain people to be appointed by the governor on State’s boards, commissions, and agencies who in turn would compel companies that seek to do business with the state to pay finder’s fees to consultants and other intermediary as well as make donations to Blagojevich campaign.

State agencies and Commissions such as the Teachers Pensions Funds have Billions of dollars to be invested. Board members appointed by governor can decided on companies that seek contracts with those commissions.

Some of this money finds its way to Rezko and Levine.
In one such cases the Chicago Tribune reported last Wednesday that:

“In one instance, the indictment alleges that Levine used his influence on the pension board in 2004 to withhold a planned allocation of $220 million in funds unless a kickback of $2 million was paid to a consultant of Rezko's and Levine's choosing or arrange for $1.5 million in campaign contributions to be made to an unnamed public official”

Rezko’s rise to prominence in the past two decades is something of an American dream success story. Born in Halab (Aleppo) Syria and moved to Chicago after high school and graduating from Illinois institute of Technology in degree in Engineering.

Rezko’s businesses and interests are wide and far, from communication company, to inner city rehab company that renovates buildings in low-income areas to Pizza. He reportedly owns between 25-30 Pizza restaurants named Papa Tony’s Pizza, after Papa John Pizza franchise terminated its affiliation with him.

Papa Tony’s Pizza is in financial trouble however, and Rezko might have sold it off.

Tony Rezko was scheduled to appear in court this past Friday but failed to appear due to his travel overseas. The FBI issued a warrant for his arrest. Patrick Fitzgerald the assistant US attorney for the Northern district of Illinois said that he will seek to designate Rizko a “ Fugitive” if he did not appear for last Friday hearing.

Rezko attorney Joseph Duffy, however, was able to convince the judge to give Rezko until the end of this week to make it back to the United Satiates to answer the charges against him.

The FBI in a statement said that Rezko was last know to have been in Amman Jordan and that he check out of his hotel and paid in cash.

Robert Grant Special agent in charge of the FBI, promised more indictments in this federal investigation dubbed “ Operation Board Game”

"This is a gathering storm of an investigation with a goal of rooting out the parasites that have plagued our public institutions," Grant said. "Our investigative efforts and those of our partners are ongoing, methodical, aggressive and relentless."

The Democratic Club
The Democratic club is an Arab American organization in Chicago area, and like its name, it is just a club of wealthy Arab American businessmen who held fundraising events for the democratic governor (last one was 2 weeks ago) and other democratic candidates.

The Democratic club seems to be a Rezko’s creature because some of the principle players in it are close associates of Rezko and were recommended and gotten state jobs by Rezko.

Ali Ata is one such associate and a Democratic club associate and who had gotten himself in a lot of trouble over his appointment to the finance commission without having any finance experience and subsequently resigned amid allegations of misconduct.

Ali Ata’s appointment would fit the pattern made by Rezko and his other associates.
They recommend people to the State jobs in order to personally profit financially and channel some of that money back to elections campaigns.

Arab Americans have long sought inclusion and access to the levers of power in Chicago politics and the state, in part to improve their lot as a community and to participate in the decisions that might effect and shape their lives.

(Ali Ata)

This however, was a scam the community had nothing to do with it nor anyone benefited from it except those who bought themselves jobs with the state.

The democratic club was not a community organization per se, it was a club of people who deliberately seek to make donations to democratic campaigns in exchange for jobs for themselves and their families.

That was the trade off.
Another new organization in the Arab community with an eye on "votes" and " Voting" American Middle Eastern Alliance, is the name of this new organization,www.amvote.org, and is headed by Republican powerhouse, Talat Othman, and Bill Haddad a democratic cook county Judge,some of the members are : Attorney Rohey Shalabi who was appointed by Mayor Daley to the Park Distict, and Shafiq Budran of ADC.Dr.Emil Totanchi, one of the top doctors in chicago area. All of these men I personally know,and highly respect, however, the question is whether such efforts, albeit in good faith, would lead to empowerment of the community or lead to further disenfranchisement. The Rezko scandal should serve us an example that too much power sometimes corrupts the best of men.

We know from experience that Mayor Daley likes to encourage ethnic communities in Chicago to form their own Democratic organizations with the help from City Hall.

We also know that the Hispanic Democratic Organization and its founding leaders the Mayor's Hispanic hands,were under Federal investigation and indictments were issued against some of it leaders accused of corruption, giving city jobs to friends and buddies, muscles voters to vote a certain way, and practically serve as the Mayor's foot soldiers in the Hispanic community.

The Mosque Foundation and the Park district.

In another looming scandal, the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, better known as the Harlem Mosque has decided to make an unprecedented donation of $100-150.000 to the Chicago park district at the former down town airport Meigs Field which was converted (City’s bulldozers plowed the runways in the middle of the night to head off any opposition) into a park by Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley.

What’s strange about this donation is that it’s coming from a religious institution, a non-for profit entity that depends on donations of the community to run its affairs.
In addition, the Mosque is not in the city of Chicago to begin with, and has nothing to do with the city of Chicago, let alone a park in a down town area.

Opposition to this donation is spearheaded by attorney Omar Najib , an attorney and a voting member of the Mosque foundation.

Najib accuses long time Harlem’s mosque imam, Sheik Jamal Said of forcing this donation on the Mosque board for political and personal reasons.

Sheik Jamal Said is a shrewd fundraiser, under his stewardship; the Mosque has become a multi million-dollar operation. Said is known to have collected millions of dollars from the community. He collected almost 2 million dollars during a month of Ramadan alone. One million dollar in one night and in a span of one hour.!

Attorney Omar Najib told me that he is considering filing a lawsuit against Sheik Jamal Said and attorney Rohey Shalabi to prevent this donation form going through.

Rohey Shalabi is the Mosque attorney and was appointed as a Park district commissioner by Mayor Daley a few years ago.

“ I was told by Mosque members that this donation (to the park district) is a PR for the Mosque” said Omar Najib when I asked him about why would the Mosque make this donation.

But Najib thinks that there are other political reasons behind this donation, which he thinks it has to do with Sheik Jamal Said.

Reshuffling the Cards.Gaza first

2006-10-02T20:45:00.000-07:00
(Olmert, Abbas and King Abdullah)
The recent gun fights between Fatah gunmen and Hamas gunmen not only shows the dangerous level of violence that sweeps the Palestinian areas now. The violence that claimed many dead and injured, also shows how bad the political situation has become especially after the election of Hamas to power.

Rioting on streets touting machine guns and torching down government buildings were Palestinian “ anti riot” police who were mostly Fatah loyalists and who were allegedly acting on orders from Fatah leaders to spread chaos and unrest for Hamas government in order to eventually unseat the democratically elected government.

Hamas government, which assumed power with an empty treasury, is facing the daunting task of paying salaries to an army of government employees while facing international pressure and sanctions to force it to recognize Israel.

Adding to this pressure is Abbas collusion with regional and international powers as well as Israel to isolate Hamas and eventually unseat its government.
What’s happening on the streets of Gaza were not simply acts of violence but rather part of a scheme designed to buttress Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah men, and infuse his war chest with tens of millions of hard cash and supply his loyal forces with Israeli and Jordanian weapons for a possible showdown with Hamas militants.

The plan to support Abbas against Hamas comes as part of a larger thinking that wishes to establish a broad regional alliance between Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Abbas to counter another regional alliance that is taking shape between Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah.
( Palestinian "anti riot" police, rioting)

But Hamas is chaotic and not moving forward either, its leadership in Damascus seems to be unwilling to accommodate Abbas or the regional powers other than Syrian and Iran. Hamas in unclear on how it wants to continue govern while it is unable to meet the basic necessities of the people of Gaza and the West Bank. In order to move forward and to stay a viable political power, Hamas has to show some pragmatism on some issues and must shed some of its political rigidity.

US secretary of State Condoleeza Rice who is visiting the region in these days will try to show US support and commitment to such regional alliance which will in the larger scheme of things serve the US interests in the region.
Those interests being:
1. Ensuring the safe flowing of oil at reasonable prices
2. Political stability in the region
3. Continuing unqualified support for Israel

Hezbollah’s recent success against Israeli attempts to smash it or at least weaken it made such alliance an urgent realty that prompted the US administration to call on its allies in the region to play a role in a new,active and "hostile containment" policy against the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah-Hamas alliance.

Iran’s nuclear ambitions are simply red lines for US policy in the region. At no point will the US live with a nuclear-armed Iran. For the US, a nuclear Iran is like giving a certified nut a machine gun and let him loose on the street. For that, a possible confrontation with Iran is looming before the end of George Bush’s term.

Meanwhile, the Intense violence on Gaza streets should be understood in light of two major events in the region.

1: the press reported a meeting between Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and an “ extremely senior ” Saudi Official. This official some reports speculate to be Prince Bandar Ben Sultan the former ambassador to US and now advising the king on National Security, or the meeting could have occurred with King Abdullah himself. If those reports were true, it would represent a tectonic shift for the Saudi Arabian policy, and underscores the seriousness of the US policy makers intentions not to allow Iran to go nuclear and also shows a yet-offensive US posture in the region.

The Saudis are also playing their own cards in Lebanon through their ally Saad Hariri, a Saudi Citizen, and others in the March 14th movement who oppose Hezbollah.

But the problem for Saudi Arabia in Lebanon, is that it does not have any divisions on the ground, it has no military power or borders with Lebanon, and Syria is in the other camp this time around. Also Israeli internal politics will not permit yet another war, at least in the foreseeable future. Therefore any confrontationS between Hezbollah and the Saudi allies, would smash the later and put Hezbollah in power in Lebanon.

2: Recent meetings at the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba between Abbas, Israeli PM Olmert, King Abdullah, and Mubark confirms that the coordination between those powers is at the highest level and has the current US administration full backing and support.

Elsewhere,the Jordanian government is actively seeking to drive a wedge and possibly split the largest Jordanian opposition bloc, the Muslim Brotherhood, along East Bankers-West Bankers lines, in other words it seeks to isolate pro-Hamas ( a sister organization) groups within the organization through Jordification of the group in line with " Jordan First" slogan.Thus deprive Hamas of local support in Jordan.

This, however, has nothing to do with Jordan in the strategic sense, but it is related rather to the larger regional configurations that are taking place and Jordan is part of it and already on the bandwagon .

For the Palestinians they are in a loose loose situation. They will not reap any major benefits out of their compliance with the new regional formation especially that Olmert is in no mood to dismantle illegal Jewish Settlements in Palestinian lands, and is not ready to allow a viable Palestinian state to emerge. But For Abbas and others in Fatah, this has become a secondary goal.
( A hearty moment)

Sexual content on Arab satellite channels

2006-09-30T10:34:00.000-07:00
(Originally Published by Media Monitors, Friday September 23 2005)

( May Hariri)

The subject of sex on television or in public in general in the Arab world is still in the realm of the taboo; it has always been dealt with in the mildest of manners so as not to offend the sensibilities of the Arab audience.

The Arab world is by nature and circumstance belongs to the traditional and conservative societies of the East, such as India, China, Japan and other cultures.
Arabs tend to be tradition-bound and conservative. Both Christians and Muslims
With this backdrop came the explosion of satellite channels that has entered every home in the Middle East with avalanche of good and bad programming.

Aljazeera for example comes across as a representative and respectful of popular Arab values, as well as feelings and attitudes toward current events, whether be it war, culture or religion. It is no small wonder that Aljazeera is viewed by 40 million people daily and is the number one satellite news channel in the Middle East and Arab Diaspora in the west.

Its strength seems to be coming from its understanding of its viewers taste and cultural sensibilities

At the other end, Satellite channels such as the Lebanese Broadcast channel, LBC, the Future (Mustakbal),owned by the Hariri family, ART, MBC and others MTV-like channels that peddles unprofessional, sleazy programs come across as very offensive to good taste, to Arab families and the Arab value systems in general.

The casual observer of those mostly Lebanon-based, and Dubai-based channels such as the LBC and the Future channel notice their emphasis on flavoring their programming with sexual innuendo, and sexually suggestive “entertainment”
LBC for example features “news readers” and reporters whose clothing for the most part revealing and unprofessional so as to, one might argue, to bring the attention of the audience to the “news readers” and reporters’ body features and not to the news!

Perhaps the vast majority of its shows regardless of its nature are from an Arab and Middle Eastern perspective is sexualized. We see for example women talking about the weather in tights, or semi dressed women doing a cooking show, or women in night club clothing talking about how to raise children and so on!
All that might not raise eyebrows or seems outlandish for the average American or European viewer.

Shouldn’t a news organization reflect the values of the society it operates within?
In this case it is not necessarily. Societal norms and values are of secondary importance to the owners and operators of those channels.
LBC was founded by former warlords of the Lebanese forces, a mix of Para-military and feudal bosses and Saudi investor-prince Walid Bin Talal. That alone shows that such satellite channels were created to serve and advance political agendas and not as professional news organizations.
( AlJazeera anchor Layla Al-Shayeb)

Lebanon serves as the perfect environment for such enterprises, it is a country of feuding medieval clans, who for centuries, and still today fight each other over power and treasure, and is where sexual entertainment and sexual tourism is geared toward rich playboys from the gulf and Europe to fatten up the pockets of warlords and their princely overlords.

Other channels like the Arab Radio and Television, ART, Middle East broadcast channel, MBC , are all virtually owned by Saudi royals, and, strangely all uses semi-dressed women to twist and turn, speaking in sexually suggestive tones and moves in an attempt to win an audience through sexualizing the imagination.
Conspicuously absent however, are the commercials, or the multi million-dollar advertising deals, and more importantly a rating system to determine market share and price index of airtime.

Sex sells,Freedom sexualized
It is universally true that most Television programming around the world uses sex appeal in their programming to garner a wide range of viewer ship as possible therefore increasing market share and ratings. The ratings and market share in turn will determine price and sales of advertisement.
Emily Barr, president and General Manager of ABC Television in Chicago was astonished when I asked her opinion about sexual content on some of the Arab satellite channels.

Mrs. Barr assumed that Arab Television should be more conservative than American and western ones, simply because the Arab society is generally more traditional and conservative in an Arab context.

(Freedom rally in Lebanon last year :) )

Mrs. Barr , whose news organization is number one in ratings in several news segments according to Nielsen ratings, Chicago is the third largest media market in the US, said that it was not uncommon that about fifteen years ago, for news directors to ask their women subordinates to be a bit more revealing in their dress.
That was the norm until Barbara Walters refused to go along with that idea and more and more women became news managers and news directors, and things changed toward morerespectful and professional attitude toward women in the business.

In the Arab World the trend is going in the opposite direction, news, media, and entertainment is increasingly going toward subtle and often times explicit sexual direction. At this point there seems to be no Arab Barbara Walters in sight.
Arab Satellite channels have virtually no advertising revenues, and from a business perspective they all are losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year, including Aljazeera, but the question remains why sexualizing the news and entertainment.
As a consequence, Arab and Muslim audience have to endure a barrage of sleaze and an avalanche of third-rate music videos done by third-rate singers, or “video clip” as it’s called in the Middle East.
( ALJazeera news team)

Part of the problem lies in negative westernization, which is the assumption that if Arabs imitate everything in the west, they become westernized.
This particular issue is rooted in the power relations between underdeveloped societies and super advanced European and American cultures.
The weak seems to gravitate toward the strong trying to emulate him so he can be like him and so he can reach an imagined sense of accomplishment, pride and superiority.

These segments the in Arab world and particularly in Lebanon, where this problem is more acute feel that if they act in the ways of the west ( in their mind, that basically means living a glamorous Hollywood life style) they themselves become modern and advanced. Some thinkers in the Arab and Muslim world called this phenomenon a “Westoxification”

But those westernized slices of Arab societies are misguided in their westernization. Freedoms of thought, press, opinion, or equal opportunity of citizens, let alone having the right to live as sovereign citizen in one’s own country, are all, in the modern sense, western inventions and hard won accomplishments, are almost non-existence in the Arab world.

( Flag of Saudi Arabia)
Perhaps encouraging those freedoms to take root in the Arab and Muslim world is much more important than spreading societal ills into traditional Arab homes.
The normalization of sexual promiscuity, largely perceived as a western import, in a society that is largely geared toward channeling sex into the institution of marriage, is likely to breed resentment and discontent against the west.
Another problem is that such covert-sexual programming and sexually coded music videos reach Arab homes and Arab children unencumbered and unfiltered and without warning.

(Barbara Walters)

In the absences of a rating system (as in the US) that warns parents about sexual content, and without civic organizations that monitor and lobby against such programming, there are hundreds of such organizations in the US. Moreover, the absence of Arab-wide agency similar to the United States Federal communication commission, FCC, which monitors the airwaves and fines violators of pubic indecency and public morality, the problem, will have overarching consequences.

Source:
by courtesy & © 2005 Ali Alarabi

A martyr: The hero of a people

2006-09-30T10:10:00.000-07:00
originally published by :The Oregonian - Commentary

Friday, November 12, 2004

A martyr: The hero of a people

by ALI ALARABI

Yasser Arafat's life symbolized a nation struggling in pain to be born
on the world stage. He was the living, charismatic symbol of a
would-be nation. An imperfect symbol, yet the only real Palestinian
voice for the past 50 years.

His enemies portrayed him as a bloodthirsty killer, a terrorist and
the embodiment of evil. But any attempts to dehumanize Arafat, and
thus weaken him, only lifted his popularity and swelled his influence.

Surely, some parts of the world may wince at the thought of glorifying
Arafat, but to the Palestinian people he was a larger-than-life hero
who helped legitimize and internationalize the Palestinian cause.

His 40-year dominance of Palestinian politics was unrivaled; his
leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization resulted in his
people gaining a diplomatic voice on the world stage. For that, this
man should be revered, not reviled.

For tens of millions around the world, he was a romantic figure, no
different from any other guerrilla leader fighting for a national
liberation movement. In their eyes, Arafat's armed resistance was used to advance political ends and nothing more.

Arafat was no more a terrorist than Nelson Mandela, who because of his
armed resistance also was labeled as a dangerous terrorist and a thug
by the former racist South African regime. Even Charles de Gaulle was
a terrorist in the eyes of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

Muchspeculation in the days leading up to Arafat's death focused on his
supposed vast wealth, yet his actions reflected a frugal life .

Arafat's image often suffered because one is judged by the company he
keeps. For him, that meant cronies and corrupt officials, many who
were loathed by the Palestinian people. Despite his authoritarian
rule, the opportunistic leeches that attached themselves to the cause
ultimately began to chip away at the man and his power base.

The internal problems were compounded in that he not only faced a
ruthless enemy in Israel, but also Arab rulers who plotted his death
and often attempted to control his fledging PLO through their proxy.
So Arafat had to operate in this difficult Middle East environment,
and perhaps because of it he adapted in a way unpalatable to much of
the world.

An Arab proverb sums up his world: "If you do not become a wolf, you
will be eaten by wolves." Arafat, by necessity, became a wolf for the
Palestinian cause. He was a lonely wolf, too. His predicament with the
Arab rulers drew these words from former President Carter: "I never
met an Arab leader who in private professed a desire for an
ndependent Palestinian state."

Knowing the difficulties of his cause, Arafat, by necessity, became a
realist. His pragmatism took him to work on establishing contacts with
Israeli leftists to advance peaceful relations based on United Nations
resolutions and international law.

For his enemies, Yasser Arafat will die a reviled man. But for the
long-suffering Palestinian people, he was a visionary, a martyr, a man
of conviction. He may not have succeeded in changing their lives, but
he without a doubt succeeded in changing their world.

Mr. Nasrallah's Opus

2006-09-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday evening, over a million and a half Lebanese gathered to hear the most popular man in the Middle East today. This man is Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah who appeared for the first time in months, an appearance came to crown his Magnum Opus ever.

According to press and security officials the crowed gathered in the southern areas of Beirut this past Saturday September, 23, was the largest ever in the history of Lebanon. They came to see and hear Hassan Nasrallah, arguably, the most popular man in the Arab and Muslim world today.

( Nasrallah Super star)

Hassan Nasrallah popularity stems from his effective leadership of Hezbollah,a group founded in 1982, after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Hezbollah is credited with liberating South Lebanon in 2000, through a war of attrition that lasted over two decades through which Hezbollah fighters honed their military and leadership skills against their Israelis nemesis.

Nasrallah who appeared for the first time publicly since the beginning of hostilities with Israel on July 12, dubbed his victory as “ Divine victory” engaging the public with his masterful rhetoric coupled with humility he is known for and dedicating the victory to the martyrs, the Lebanese, Arabs and Muslims.

( southern Beirut Saturday 9/23)

Nasrallah’s demeanor of being candid and honest appeals to the public and has been constant theme in his speeches and interviews throughout the war, in which he came across as a pan-Arab-Muslim leader, appealing to all Arabs and Muslims rallying them sometimes and often times thanking them, “the Nation” with striking simplicity and humility, a rare quality among Middle East leaders. His appeals did not go unheeded in the Arab street, It had made major difference in making the official Arab countries tone down their anti-Hezbollah rhetoric and press for cease fire after they were squarely and publicly against it.

Arabs and Muslims throughout the Middle East and around the world did not fail Nasrallah either. They took to the streets by the thousands, held up his posters; hoisted Hezbollah flags and banners proclaiming support and solidarity. This wave of support was unprecedented in the modern Middle East, for it sent shock waves in the Arab palaces and halls of power, and partly because Hezbollah, to the Arab populace, was making history that for once in their lifetime they felt they were witnessing an Arab party bloodies Israel’s nose and remains standing despite its merciless bludgeoning blows.

In commenting on Nasrallah’s speech and the ramifications of Hezbollah success against Israel; Dr. Khair aldean Hasib, president of Arab Unity Studies institute in Beirut,in an interview on Aljazeera Channel Open Dialogue program, when asked about the meaning of this success and how would it impact the future of the Arab world and perhaps the Middle East, This is an “ Earthquake” he said, “the change might not be immediate or apparent now, slowly but surely the politics of Arab World will change based on this historic event” he added. “ In Jordan, already the trade unions,and the opposition parties feel empowered in standing up to government policies, in Egypt too, the opposition has become more vociferous and emboldened by Hezbollah’s victory” added Mr. Hasib.1

Nasrallah’s first public appearance in months was not without grave risks to his life. Israel had made it known that it wants to kill the leader of Hezbollah. Acknowledging this danger, Nasrallah said, "My presence here is not without any danger. However, my heart and my soul would not allow me to address you from a distance and through some screen."

* Hidden diplomacy

Rosana Abu Munsef a columnist for Lebanese daily Al-Nahar wrote that “ there were hidden diplomacy before Nasrallah public appearance, in which there was an implied understanding that if Israel were to harm Nasrallah, the implications would be catastrophic, not only for Lebanon and Israel but also for the entire region"

" Harming Nasrallah would be considered a blatant violation of UNSC 1701 but such move on part of Israel would transform the conflict from a conflict between Hezbollah and Israel into a conflict between the state of Lebanon and Israel,which would drag the entire region into yet another destructive war" Abu Munsef added.2
unconfirmed reports claim that French fighter jets protected the Lebanese skies to deter any Israeli attempts to kill Nasrallah.

20.000 rockets and more!

In one of the most important parts of his speech; Nasrallah declared that Hezbollah is even stronger, {militarily) than it was before the start of hostilities in July 12. “ The resistance has replenished its military, organizational and firepower strength in the immediate days after the cessation of hostilities with Israel” said Nasrallah".

The resistance today is stronger than it was on July 12 the day the war started with Israel. With regard to Hezbollah rockets, Nasrallah declared that the resistance possess “over and above 20.000 rockets”

This astonishing declaration underscores Hezbollah ability of maintaining its supply routes with Syria despite extensive Israeli bombardment of all major roads and bridges that lead and connect Lebanon with Syria.

This comes after knowing that a week after the fighting broke out Israel bombed the entire road and bridge systems in Lebanon to cut off the supplies lines from Iran that runs through Syria. According to Nasrallah statement,it appears that Israel had destroyed much of Lebanon civilian infrastructure in vain.

The efforts to deprive Hezbollah of its arms, however,or at least preventing it form rearming itself were not a unilateral Israeli effort. In an almost simultaneous move with Israel, on July 12, the US administration moved to immediately trying to intercept arms shipments to Hezbollah.

On July 19, US spy satellites apparently photographed Iranian military planes being loaded with eight Chinese-designed C802 anti-ship “ Noor” missiles, the same kind of Missile that hit the Israeli ship across Beirut shores in July, and three launchers at the military terminal of Mahrebad Airport. The Turkish authorities apparently acting on a tip from the American intelligence refused to allow the transport planes to use Turkish air space on its way to Damascus. 3

This type of information about early US involvement in the war supports Hezbollah assertion that the war was preplanned and it was planned to occur in late September or early October in order to destroy Hezbollah with a preemptive strike.It also undermines Israel's casus belli to save its two captured soldiers as the reason for its massive bombardment of Lebanon.

moretellingly,the argument and analysis putforth by Seymour M. Hersh in his famed essay in August issue of The New Yorker magazine, supports this line of thinking, that the war was essentially a joint effort between Israel and the US, a war that from a US perspective, would serve as a dress rehearsal to an anticipated conflict with Iran.4.

It is no surprise that the chief of US diplomacy Ms. Condoleeza Rice refused repeated calls and resisted pressure form world leaders and from US’s Lebanese allies to convince Israel to halt its fire and agree to a some kind of cease fire especially after it became clear that Israel in its efforts to destroy Hezbollah, it was turnning the entire country of Lebanon into a one big pile of rubble.

Ms. Rice went on describing the war as a “ Birth Pangs” of the new Middle East. In Other words, the war against Hezbollah was necessary to rework the political map of the Middle east, beginning with obliterating Hezbollah or as Max Rodenbeck had put it, in that “ The Shia party will be brought to heel, and its revolutionary zeal, culturally as well as politically jarring to many Lebanese will be muted. A foreign army, and the vaunted and powerful Israeli one at that, would eliminate the last remaining nonstate actor of the civil war.” 5
( Hezbollah fighters parade)

Unfortunately for the US, Israel and their allies, Hezbollah turned out to be a tough nut to crack and a bigger surprise than they were expecting and even beat them to the punch. Thanks to years of diligence and preparation clocked in deep secrecy.

Moreover, Britain the closest US European ally was on it too. John Kempfner the Scottish writer wrote on August 7 that :

“I am told that the Israelis informed George W. Bush in advance of their plans to "destroy" Hezbollah by bombing villages in southern Lebanon. The Americans duly informed the British. So Blair knew. This exposes as a fraud the debate of the past week about calling for a ceasefire. Indeed, one of the reasons why negotiations failed in Rome was British obduracy. This has been a case not of turning a blind eye and failing to halt the onslaught, but of providing active support. 6

Hezbollah surprised even the most seasoned military observers and analysts with its performance in the battlefield and the strength of its military doctrine, logistical preparedness, level of training and the quality of its fighters.Those were matched by surprising military hardware and the quality of weapons that were not known to have had.

Hezbollah came into this war a guerrilla fighting force with a classical or regular army weapons, training,intelligence apparatus, and battle-hardened leadership.

For Hezbollah, victory means that they withstood the Israeli devastating onslaught and were at the same time able to punish Israel with painful loses to its elite units and even more devastating loses to its celebrated Mirkava tanks.

Key to understand Hezbollah's success in facing off with Israel and come out intact militarily and without any loses to its top military and political leadership include those general themes:

1. The native son : Hezbollah fighters were defending their own homes, land, towns and villages. they were not about to cut and run, this was a determined indoctrinated force.

2. Intelligence: Hezbollah has a superior Intelligence apparatus , one of the best in the region, with resources equal or even more than those of small independent countries.

Its intelligence units ran spying and code-cracking operations inside Israel and on the battle field during the war which enabled its command and control centers to react to constant military development on the battle field.

3:Training and armaments: Hezbollah has battle-hardened career soldiers with vestiges of a standing army . It also has weapons inventories that include its long range rockets that enabled it to strike back at Israel almost at will.

( South Beirut in July)

During the war and in a move that shows Hezbollah’s leadership strategic thinking and foresightedness; Hezbollah embarked on ambitious rearmament program to foil an Israeli or international attempt to prevent it from replenishing its inventories and thus weaken it in any possible future arrangements after the war.

For its part,Iran,Hezbollah's patron, fearing a Hezbollah demise, made sure that Hezbollah remains battle ready and fully equipped with Iranian weapons. Especially that a Hezbollah victory would strengthen Iran’s angling in the region and would give her the recognition it desperately wants as a regional power to be reckoned with.

For that, Western intelligence and diplomatic sources confirmed Iran's intent to supply Hezbollah with Surface-to-air-missile {SAM} systems. Also Iran, according to those sources will supply Hezbollah with Russian made SAMS including SAM-7, known as "Grail” in western military parlance, Strela-3 ( SA-14" Gremlin" ), and man portable Igla-1E ( SA-16 Gimlet) 7

*Intelligence War.

( Imad Mughaniyeh)

While fierce battles raged in the hills surrounding the southern towns of Bint Jubail, Aita al-Shaab,and Marwaheen between Israel's Mirkava tanks and Hezbollah highly mobile anti-tanks units, another cloak and dagger battle was raging between Hezbollah’s Intelligence and Israel’s Mossad and Military Intelligence.

Hezbollah intelligence capabilities has surprised even the Israelis during this war, it was widely known,however,that Hezbollah’s intelligence apparatus is much better than that of the Lebanese state and that Hezbollah’s operatives are planted deep under cover in different government agencies and security organs, Hezbollah intelligence has also infiltrated all of the Lebanese factions, which would make it very difficult for them to openly challenge them, in fact “ Hezbollah intelligence on the Lebanese factions is even better than Israel’s intelligence on those factions” noted a senior official in the Jordanian Department of General Intelligence. 8

During the first weeks of the war, Hezbollah was able to arrest and dismantle several Israeli spy rings in the Southern Beirut areas and arresting several local informants working for Israel.

Imad Mughaniyeh,one of the world’s most elusive and wanted men, whose picture is not even authenticated and no updated picture of him is known to exist;unconfirmed reports claim that Mughaniyeh is Hezbollah's Intelligence Chief . He is, also implicated in numerous acts of terrorism against US, French, Israeli targets in Lebanon and around the world. Mughaniyeh, some reports claim that he was put in charge of military operations in the south during the war.

Hezbollah also has what’s called “ Preventive Intelligence” which is something like the counter-espionage departments in western intelligence agencies. Preventive Intelligence, PI, is tasked with enforcing security and protecting the leadership and ensuring that members of the Party especially top leadership tiers rarely use communication technology that would enable Israel to spy on them. It has been rumored that Nasrallah has rarely used a telephone ever since he became the Secretary General of the group.

This strategy has paid off for Hezbollah. In an interview with Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah has suffered no loses in its first, second and third tier leadership. The only loses Hezbollah sufered as far as its leadership,were four or five village commanders who were 4th-tier leadership level.9

Hezbollah seems to have learned from the PLO mistakes during its days in Lebanon in the sixties and seventies. The rakish PLO suffered catastrophic loses in its top commanders and political leaders to Israeli Mossad assassination units whose spies have infiltrated the different PLO organizations in part due to the party and thuggish life style its leaders had adopted during their days in Lebanon.

Another lesson learned from the PLO fighters who flaunted themselves everywhere they went, was for Hezbollah to remain invisible among the population and lay low to hide its capabilities therefore cause its enemies to underestimate its real strength as this war has shown.

Hezbollah intelligence units for example were able to intercept and decode Israeli transmission traffic, and militray signals during the war signifying that Hezbollah had higher military capabilities than what American and Israeli officials thought. Throughout the war Hezbollah continued to surprise Israel by deploying different types of missiles and military tactics. 9

Hezbollah intelligence breakthrough enabled its fighter’s to thwart and hunt down Israeli Mirkava tanks destroying and damaging tens of them, an embarrassing defeat to Israel’s most celebrated tank, and the pride of Israel’s military industries,considered to be a moving fortress for its heavy armor.
( Israeli Mirkava MBT series)

“ We were able to monitor Israeli communications, and we used this information to adjust our planning," said a Hezbollah commander involved in the battles. 10

One of the major military lessons that came out of this war was that a small, well-trained, well-armed determined militias can inflict and even defeat well established super powerful armies. A lesson that was madeduring the nineties in the battle of Grozny, when the mighty Russian army suffered heavey losses and was unable to defeat the Chechen guerrillas for the city of Grozny despite obliterating the entire city.

Lebanon’s other battle.

Hezbollah’s victory might not be the best thing for several Lebanese segments and politicians who view Hezbollah's emerging regional power as a threat to the fragile balance between its many religious and political groupings. During his “ Divine Victory" Speech on Saturday, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah outlined his Party’s future plans in Lebanon.

1: A National unity government
2: New national election law, which would ensure more accurate representation of different Lebanese groups.

Nasrallah is demanding, in light of Hezbollah’s victory, a major realignment of the Lebanese political system that was based on sectarian representations of the 1930s and 1940s. The Shia today represent the largest segment of the Lebanese population, almost half of the population of Lebanon. Yet they are represented by 1940’s standards when they were considered the runt of Lebanon, mostly rural and mostly poor.

Today, Hezbollah stands to demand, and perhaps forcibly, a rearrangement in Lebanon’s political system based on its new realities.

(PM Siniora and parliament speaker Berri)

The problem, for Hezbollah, however, is that the political machination in post July-war Lebanon is already being aligned and polarized. Samir Geaga, one of the Lebanon’s leading Christian politicians, and former warlord, speaking to thousands of supporters the next day on Sunday in a rebuttal to Nasrallah’s speech,addressing his supporters with: “ O’Christians” an ominous sign and a grizzly reminder of Lebanese tribal- religious warfare between 1975-1990.

Fawaz A. Gerges, a Lebanese American who teaches at Sarah Lawrence College,wrote describing the break down of state and civil society in Lebanon during its bloody civil war, 1975-1990, the following:

“ Religious coexistence gave way to estrangement and suspicion. Waving holy banners, neighbor railed against neighbor. People seized upon their communal identity in a desperate effort to self-preservation. The state of war pushed people into their sectarian bunkers and turned an open, tolerant society into a jungle”12

The future of Lebanon today depends on its leaders ability to cause Fawaz Gerges's words to come to life again, or not.

References:

1:Al-Jazeera, Open Dialogue interview, Arabic 9/25/06
2:Annahar newspaper: Arabic, issue # 22783, 9/23/06
3: Jane’s Defense weekly, September 6 2006
4: The New Yorker magazine, issue of 2006-08-21
5:New York Review of Books Magazine, 9- 21,2006 issue
6:The New Statesman newspaper, 8/7/2006 issue
7: Jane's Defense weekly, 8/7/2006 issue
8:Jane's Defense Weekly 8/14/2006 issue
9: AlJazeera channle, Ben-Jeddo interview with Hasan Nasrallah
10:Newsday: 9/18/2006
11:Newsday 9/18/2006
12:Fawaz.A. Gerges: Journey of the Jihadest, Harcout Books, 2006

A public apology to Palestinian Christians

2006-09-20T20:11:00.000-07:00
( Old Palestinian Church at Yafa port)

After the unfortunate comments last week by Pope Benedict regarding his views ( or not) of Islam, things did not bode well for either Muslims or Christians.

The Pope should have known better, and perhaps ought to follow in the steps of his predecessor Pope John Paul II who was very much beloved by Christians, Muslims and Jews for his tireless work to promote dialogue and understandings between religions and nations.

Strangely and of all people around the globe some Palestinian Muslims decided to burn and destroy their fellow Palestinian churches and property!

Why! Perhaps we can call it stupidity, act of extremism and severe case of ignorance or actually all of these things.

Some Muslims who protested the Pope’s words,have proven his words to be true that they are “ violent creatures” that do not know any other way to express disagreement or discontent but only through violent means!

Aside of the validity of the Pope's remarks, which I find highly disrespectful to Muslims,let alone invalid, what’s more disrespectful, however, was the actions taken by some Muslims in torching down Christian properties in Palestine.

I find it abhorring and quite embarrassing to Palestinians and Muslims in general that Palestinians Christians came under assault, which to me represent an act of betrayal and a stab in the back.

( The late Edward Said throws a stone at the Israeli side of the border in Lebanon)

Palestinians Christians happened to be at the forefront of struggle and sacrifice for Palestinian rights and the quest for Freedom and independence.

People like world-renowned intellectual the late Edward Said who made the Palestinian cause an international issue in the academic world,and whose work inspired generations of Palestinians as well as millions of people around the world, and whose gallantry had lent itself to great many men empowering them unafraid.

Also Greek Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna, one of the greatest religious leaders In Palestine today, an ardent Palestinian patriot who defended both Muslims and Christians against repeated Israeli violations, and suffered indignation and many arrests by the Israeli authorities for his patriotic zeal.

(Ray Hanania)

Here in the US, I am fortunate to know great many Christian Palestinian colleagues, friends and brothers. Men like Ray Hanania a great friend and a mentor who tirelessly worked for his Palestinians identity and cause since the early seventies and who pioneered Arab American journalism in Chicago and in the country.

My friend and professor Mazen Qmsiyeh who not only dedicate a great deal of his time to work for Palestinian freedom for both Muslims and Christians,. But also suffered professionally as a result of his work. His work and devotion continues to inspire so many people for his exemplary dedication

Palestinian poet, author, and playwrite and best friend, Natalie Handal, who lives and breathes Palestinian issues personally and professionally and whose thoughts I find very inspiring and touching every time we talk and in her deep soul I often found insights to issues of identity and exile I wrestled with over the years. for that I am deeply indebted
( Natalie Handal on a cover of her latest CD, of Arabic Musical sound and her poetry)

Through this forum, I would like to publicly and deeply apologize to my friends and to the rest of the Palestinian Christians for the transgression committed against them and their property and churches in the Palestinian areas.

This crime I am sure does not represent the feelings of the general Palestinian public or authorities. The actions of a few do not represent the will and feelings of the whole.

It would be the same thing if Christians started burning down mosques and hunt for Muslims to kill them because Bin Laden killed Christians or as he often does when preaching of hatred and terrorism!

However, one must take a hard look at the reasons behind such acts of self-destruction, and I am not talking about the Pope’s remarks.

*The man in the prison
The way I see some of the Palestinian people behavior in West Bank and Gaza, is like a grown man who was abused as a child, and have grown disturbed, and unstable because of injures and violations during his childhood.

He is a traumatized, unstable, disturbed, and often times resort to violent expressions of himself at the slightest provocation.

The cause for this man’s misery and state of insanity, is the Israeli occupation, in itself a violent enterprise, built on enslaving, humiliating and exploiting an entire segment of humanity.
(Father Atallah Hanna arrested by Israeli Police)

Over 900,000 Palestinian civilians went through the Israeli prison system in the past 30 years according to official Palestinian figures. Israeli prison system tortured, humiliated, and destroyed the lives of Palestinians who were entangled by its web of violence.

After the prison experience, the Palestinian leaves bitter, unstable, injured, his manhood shaken, his humanity taken way, and then let loose in the society to either heal on his own or stay traumatized forever by the prison experience.

Generations of Palestinians went without meaningful education because of long prison terms and constant arrests.

For such man, violence becomes the only expression he knows to express his views. He was victimized before but helpless in prison shackles, but now he is provoked and insulted, but now without the shackles so he feels free to strike back with the only way he knows best. Which is violence.

Violence restores his lost confidence and the gun becomes the symbol of his lost manhood.

Unfortunately he directs his expected act of violence at harmless holy sites belonging to people who share him his own identity, nationality and language and above all the misery of being themselves occupied and victims of the same executioner

( The late Palestinian intellectual Edward Said)

The behavior of the late Yaser Arafat and now Mahmoud Abbas’s men did not help either, they too became abusers of the Palestinian people, often times behaving like Mafia bosses, thugs and sheer criminals instead of Politicians or statesmen.

Muslims should raise funds to repair Churches

( Mosque-Yafa)

This, however, does not justify attacking Christian places of worship, and therefore Muslims should help in raising funds to repair the damage incurred by those attacks.

This should represent a token of solidarity between Christian and Muslim Palestinians.

I call on Muslim religious leaders in the US especially in Chicago to reach out to Christian Palestinian religious leaders and work together to repair those damaged churches and repair the souls too.

Slave trading Arab shieks

2006-09-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

The Ruler of Dubai Sheik Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, has been accused of enslaving young children and force them to work is camel jockeys in Dubai.

The Associated Press reported Thursday September 14 that the lawsuit filed in Florida accuses the sheik and his brother Hamdan as well as others in Dubai royal family of kidnapping young boys mostly from poor and ruler areas in Pakistan and Bangladesh and force them to work as Camel jockeys. A very popular sport in this country.

Sheik Mohammad, or “Sheik Mo” as he is affectionately known is one of the richest people in the world and also known for his horse racing and owning some the best thoroughbreds in the world and for his stables and horse Farms in Kentucky and Florida.

In addition to his camel and horse racing activities, Sheik Mohammed Al-Maktoum is the Ruler ( or the Owner if you will) of Dubai which is one of the seven Emirates ( or city-states) that comprise the United Arab Emirates and also the Vice president and Prime minister of the UAE.

( self portrait of a camel)

Ansar Burney who documented the abuse and slavery of these children in an award wining documentary on HBO in 2004 has helped many of those kidnapped children some of whom were as young as 3 years old by taking them back to their countries and their families. (click to watch the video)

http://www.ansarburney.org/videolinks/video-hbo1.html (part one)
http://www.ansarburney.org/videolinks/video-hbo2.html ( part two)

The documentary shows how crazy the sheiks are about their camels. The camels for instance enjoy the finest medical facilities and have their own camel hospitals, have world class trainers and exercise equipments, eat the best and finest food, enjoy the luxury of Olympic size swimming pools. in short those camels live better life than 95% of the world population.

On the other hand, the young boys were kept in cramped dirty quarters that look more like prison camps than housing units,according to the documentary. The boys were also starved to stay under weight so they can jockey the camels and some were sexually abused and mistreated. Others were simply killed or trampled on by the camels.

According to reports Sheik Mohammad was shocked to have been served court papers while attending a horse show in Lexington,Kentucky last week where he was reported to have spent over 30 million dollars.( what's a 30 million! its nothing! )

The lawsuit which seeks class action status,demands compensation for over 30,000 children it claims were abducted, abused and enslaved by the sheiks over the years.

As a result of international pressure, however, and the ripple effects of Mr. Burney documentary the UAE and Qatar have placed a ban on the practice of using young boys as camel jockeys, in 2002,and thus placed a minimum age of 15 to jockey the camels. yet many reports however indicate that the practice is still wide spread and the law is on paper only.

Like other countries in the gulf, Dubai and its rulers have a money glut, they accumulated astronomical wealth and untold billions from selling off the national treasures of their countries. A lot of these billions are spent on buying camels, horses, women,slaves, and every vanity a man could think of.

In addition to owning hundreds of camels, horses, cars, planes, Sheik Mohamed also owns reportedly four wives, and 16 children, 7 boys and nine girls .The latest wife was Princess Haya of Jordan, daughter of the late King Hussein, who married him in 2004.
( Princess Haya, and slave trader his royal highness Sheik Mohamad Al-Maktoum)

Princess Haya, herself a horseracing enthusiast and has participated in several world championships and addition to these activities; Princess Haya is a good will ambassador of the United Nations and campaigns against Child abuse according to her web site. www.princesshaya.net

(a child camel jocky is begging for water)

The Visionary :

Sheik Mohammad is also an author, he has written a book called “ My vision” which is about his plans and vision of development and business. According to the sheik's web site, his book "My Vision" is “one of the most important books to be published in the Middle East in the past 50 years” !
http://www.sheikhmohammed.co.ae/

The lawsuit could be a major hurdle for the sheik because he is the vice president of the UAE, the prime minister and the ruler of Dubai, among many other things.

I am just not sure where does sheik "Mo" find the time to do the work of Vice president, Prime minister, and a ruler of Dubai or the time to sit and reflect to write a book called “ My Vision” while he is busy camel racing, slave trading, horse racing, attending horse shows, and also a real estate developer developing super expensive real estates in Dubai and also had the time to have 16 children too!

(Frankly I am a little confused as to how to address the Sheik, should I address him as Sheik Mo, Mr. Vice president, Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Ruler, Mr.Sheik, your honor, your majesty, your Royal highness, or Mr. Slave trader, child abuser , or perhaps I should just call him Superman)Please email me your suggestions.

like his farms or stables, Dubai for all intents and purposes is more or less a one big farm or stable for the Sheik. The population is 65% Indian, and for sure it feels like you are in India if you ever go there ( I never have) they basically run the country, while the sheiks are left to enjoy their camels, horses and women they keep in their stables and palaces.

Commenting on this observation, Ray Hanania, a stand up comedian and my co-host on Counter Point talk show in Chicago, said when introduced on the stage in Dubai:” I love being in India, I always wanted to go to India, but where is Taj-Mahal”!!

He also told me that the Indians in Dubai live in a “ ghetto” , but that ghetto he said is like “ Orland Park” a very rich suburb of Chicago that has million dollar homes! Hindi is the number language there, not Arabic!

It is amazing how wealth and money glut has transformed the gulf and its people, some for the better and some for the worst.

Though I am sure that there are well-meaning wealthy gulfian Arabs somwhere, however all what we hear about in the western press is of this princess or that princes either enslaving their servants or their extravagant spending habits and thier playboy life style and outlandish behavior.

I am not revealing a secret when I say that rest of the Arab peoples in the Arab world resent such behavior of these slave traders, sheiks & Sheikas. They have become a national embarrassment for their stupid adventures and their immoral behavior.

The Archduke conferring with his court about horses matter ( who has time to run a country!)

Arab gulfies often treat other Arabs with contempt and with a sense of superiority, because they feel that they don’t have to work or do anything, they simply contend that they can hire ( or perhaps buy! )other Arabs, Indians, south east Asians to do basically everything for them. This has evolved to become a national culture in the gulf, in which the idea of “ work” has become a demeaning lowly concept, while the feelings of being a Kuwaiti, or Saudi, or Emaratian for example is more or less akin to the feelings of belonging to the Aryan race in Nazi Germany.

Though there is no such thing, in general terms as the Kuwaiti, Emaratian or Saudi, heritage, culture, language or any aspect of uniqueness that separate gulfic Arabs from the rest of the Arab family.

Bill Gates, the richest man in the world created Bill and Melinda Gate foundation worth over 25 Billion dollars to help the children and poor people of the world get better health and better education, Billionaire Warren Buffet joined them in their foundation and put his money in to double the effort.

Ted Turner too dedicated a Billion dollar to UN to help under develop countries fight poverty.

Bill Gate, Warren Buffet, and Ted Turner to name a few noble men who use their wealth in noble causes to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of millions of people.

Where is Maktoum’s foundation, or the Walid Bin Talal (A Saudi royal-Billionaire) foundation to help the poor, or the children in the Arab world or in Africa or any where in the world!

The sense of philanthropy, charity and good well, seems to be an alien and strange concept to the Sheiks of whom i am speaking about on here. Why? I don’t know.

But it seems perfectly fine for them, or even rational, to provide their camels with great swimming pools and feed them the finest food, give them the best exercise facilities while at the same time abduct small boys, enslave them, tie them up on a camel back then sit and watch them with a complete sense of sadistic satisfaction.!

Flying while being an Arab

2006-09-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

I didn’t realize when I made my reservation that my trip would be on September 11, a fateful day, and a day that has literally changed the face of the world, forever.

The thought of flying on Monday morning September 11th worried me at varying degrees the whole weekend.

Throughout the weekend the image that kept creeping to my mind was that of actor Anthony Hopkins, as Hannibal Lector in the movie "Hannibal" where he was wheeled off on two wheeler hand truck, his hands chained to his chest, his mouth and face restrained by a horrific mask to prevent him from talking or perhaps biting, his legs were chained to the two wheeler to prevent him from any possible movement.

I confided my thoughts to my good friend Ray on the weekend where we got together to tape our cable talk show. He laughed at this stab of dark humor.

Humor from my other friends did not alleviate those thoughts much, especially when my other friend Ray (that’s another Ray! :) ) Suggested after I told him about it that: "they might even wheel you all the way off the Guantanamo bay".

I half smiled at the thought, I am an Arab, but I am not a terrorist, I murmured.

On this fateful day, my friend took me to the airport, it was a rainy day in Chicago, and that means heavy traffic and flight delays.

I checked in thought one of those airport machines that allow you to get your ticket by swiping your credit card. I wanted to do just that because for one I didn’t want to stay in line for long, but deep down I was trying to avoid drawing attention to my Arab ethnicity, today was not a good day to flash my Arab identity around, I will try to remain as invisible as possible though it does not mean I am ashamed of who i am or ashamed of my identity and culture.

And also I did not want to take a chance and deal with perhaps an overly suspicious or zealous counter person who once looking at my name, Ali, will be thinking, ha ha , here is one of them one of those Arabs trying to fly on September 11, how dare he! Here is the face of the enemy standing before me trying to be on a plane! he sure looks like an enemy, after all, all Arabs look alike.

To my surprise, the machine was very nice and very sweet to me; it checked me in right away, wow, so far so good, then after some easy questions that flashed on the screen about my name and my destination, I heard the sweet sound of ticket being printed out to me, it was all mine for the taking. I exhaled in restrained relief. It was painless first step.

But still I have to go through the lines of security and the preying eyes of those who man the machines and whose eyes scan for suspicious behavior or terrorists or perhaps for those who even look like terrorists.

These people are doing their job, the thought flashed in my head, I mean they are suppose to do that, its for my own safety and the safety of everyone else too, therefore I should not be afraid of them, I mean I don’t want to be on a plane and end up being hijacked, if that is to happen, God forbid, for sure the FBI, after looking at the passenger’s manifest and seeing the name Ali! Definitely will think that I am either the hijacker or one of them! Not good!

Then I walked through the security line with my ticket and driver license in hand ready and eager to pass through when suddenly I heard a voice behind me, SIR! …For a second my mind froze, thinking oh my God! That is it! I am busted for flying while being an Arab!

You dropped your ID back there sir, a soft female voice said, I looked and there was a sweet blond lady handing me my own driver license, it was my driver license for sure, there is my face was on it. Ohh thank you, thank you very much Ma’am I said it with an obvious sign of relief and appreciation. Can you imagine I walk up to the front of the line without an ID and just a ticket, for sure this will arouse suspicion of me, and the last thing I want is to be stopped, taken aside and being searched and frisked thoroughly and even investigated by the cops. This lady had just saved me a lot of trouble, even though she read my name on it, Ali! And for sure I look like an Ali, but still she handed it to me, and did not call the guards or somebody on me! Deep down I was grateful that she didn’t because I have heard horror stories about Arab Americans who got into a lot of trouble and humiliated simply because they were Arabs.

It was my turn up the line, I handed my license and my ticket, the young lady looked at both attentively and handed them back to me, I put my bag, my jacket, my other belongings through the X-Ray machine, and proceeded to walk through the metal detector, when the security on the other side said, take your shoes off sir. I promptly and dutifully obliged then proceeded to walk through the metal detector, which luckily for me remained quiet.

I collected my bag and put my jacket on and walked to my gate thinking the worst is over now. I called my friend Ray who dropped me off to tell him that I made it thus far and I am still walking on my own feet, I am not chained up or masked up or being wheeled off by stern looking guards.

I got to the gate and it was packed with passengers going to other cities, my plane was delayed due to the weather, so I sat drinking coffee and reading the papers while the TV over head showing memorial services and stories about 9-11.

After finishing reading the papers, I found myself in a standing area watching TV, and others also gathered around me watching the moving images of 9-11 tragedy. I looked at the faces of passengers seated across from me, there were many people young and old, men and women. Then I realized that it might not be a good idea standing just like that in full view of everyone, someone might spot me and alert everyone that there is an Arab in here!

At that moment I remembered a line I heard in the movie Menace II Society which was about the rough life of young African Americans in the ghetto, where an older actor was giving a troubled young black man an advise to straighten up by warning him with an ominous line “ It is very hard to be a black man in America, the hunt is on, and you are a prey” His words for sure sums up the feelings of Arab Americans post 9-11 world, many of us often times feeling like a prey and being hunted at the first sign of being identified as Arabs particularly at airports. For me, I was trying to be invisible and avoid being hunted.

Those fears might real or might be imagined, but nonetheless so many Arab Americans feel them.

My fears did not arise to an alarming level, however I mean, I never had any problems before; I was never stopped for simply looking like an Arab! And I did not see any staring eyes looking at me suspiciously, even though I scanned the multitude of faces around me, looking for some worried face eyeballing me, or trying to measure me up, or looking for any sign of me being a terrorist. But I found non, in fact no one had paid me any attention. Perhaps no one thought of me as stereotypically Arab, I mean I wore no turban like Bin Laden or any other” turbanite” I had no thick bushy long beard, I didn’t even have a light one, nor did I wear a bushy mustache like that of Saddam Hussein, in fact I clean shave my face every morning, but perhaps more importantly I was not wearing one of those long white fluffy robes nor did I sport big curvy hand-crafted dagger around my waist a symbol of manhood In some middle eastern societies.

Finally they called us to start boarding the plane, a process that was easy and fast, I took my seat next an older man who immediately took a nap, while I immediatly resumed reading a book about the history of Iran devouring its pages consumed by the historical events that shaped that nation that seems to be sitting on tenterhooks now.

An hour an half later we were on the ground, and I felt good that I made it thus far and hoped there will be no last minute surprises. And sure there weren’t any. I waited till I am physically outside the airport to call my friends, just to be sure, and to tell them that I made it safe without a mask, cuffs or being chained to a two-wheeler hand trucked like Hannibal lector.

On September 11 five years ago, there were many passengers on planes that did not make it to the ground safely. Those passengers did not have a chance to call their wives, husbands, and friends and loved ones to tell them that they made it safe to their destinations. My fears and worries were nothing comparing to the horror the victims of September 11 have went through knowing they will no longer see their loved ones again, nor will they even live to tell their own stories of fear and the terror they went through before they departed this world forever.

South Suburb or South Beirut?

2006-09-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

South Suburb of Beirut, or Southern Beirut?

The words “South Suburb of Beirut” were the most erroneous and common mistakes used during the war in Lebanon by members of the media when referring to a part of Beirut mostly inhibited by Lebanese Muslim Shia and a Hezbullah’s stronghold and the part that was turned into another Dresden by Israeli bombardments.

The mistake stems from erroneously translating the Arabic word “ Daheya” { Da-he-ya) into the English word “ Suburb” without taking into consideration the obvious difference in meaning and designation of the two words in these two different languages.

Daheya in Arabic simply means an area that is in a sense part of a larger area or city, and not an administratively independent town outside of a major metropolis as the English word” Suburb” indicates.

Much like Chicago’s Lincoln Park, or Inglewood, or Albany Park, which are all areas in Chicago but neither suburbs of it nor independent towns in it!

So, I would use the words “ South Beirut” since “ East Beirut” and West Beirut” are very commonly used in English and Arabic.

Moreover, the error is obviously is in the translation and lack of understanding of how words are conceptualized to mean certain things according to certain set of peculiar conditions, economic, religious or political... etc.

To explain this we can look at the way Arab cities were planned and structured. Unlike European or American cities in which the center of the town is the commercial, and business hub where people converge in the morning and fan out in the evening to their own “ Suburbs” which are basically residential areas.

Fouad Khouri, an Arab intellectual and author wrote that Arab cities do not have suburbs in the western sense of the word because each city consist of many areas or neighborhoods sometimes following ethnic lines, or socioeconomic lines, or religious lines each one of those areas has its own businesses, and residential areas as well.*

Arab Jerusalem for example has four quarters, or neighborhoods: Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Armenian. Cairo is described by Professor Janet Abu Lughod as having sub-cities* due to its semi-independent nature of its areas, which mean in a sense that each area support itself socially and economically while still legally and administratively part of Cairo and not cities on their own* *

Beirut too is no different than other Arab cities with its Christian East Beirut, Shia Southern Beirut, or Sunni West Beirut.

So when a member of the media here utters the words “ Southern Suburb of Beirut” the question that jumps to mind immediately is: what’s the name of this southern suburb Since the word suburb, in an American mind, implies an independent town with its own administrative apparatus.

The answer is of course is that this imaginary “ Suburb” has no name, because its not a town outside the city of Beirut.

it is simply South Beirut, much like Chicago, to use a city that I am most familiar with, South side of Chicago, or simply “ The South Side” of the West Side.
This should have been a very simple and straight forward case.

So too,” Beirut’s Daheya Janoubiya” which is how Arabic speakers in Lebanon and outside it refer to it which simply mean the (southern area of Beirut or Southside, or Southern Beirut) . And for short it is simply called the “ Daheya” which come to mean not only geographical designation but also a religious connotations, a Shia Muslim area in this case.

* Fouad Khouri, The Arab Mindset (1993) Dar AL Saqi, London} Arabic
** Janet Abu Lughod,(1971) Cairo, Princeton University press)

Tyre or Suur

2006-09-03T15:59:00.000-07:00
Suur After an Israeli air raid

While the war in Lebanon is slowly fading away from media prominence after it reached dominance. Those who worked in non-Arab media, especially non-Arabic speakers,or even Arabic speakers, were puzzled by the different spellings, pronos, or even names of Lebanese towns and villages.

The southern port city of “Tyre” stood out as a confusing word, since in Arabic it is called “Suur” alongside another city north of Beirut called “Byblos” or “Jubayl in proper Arabic.

Though I initially thought that this difference had to do with the Biblical usage and references, since the Bible was originally written in Greek, therefore the name Tyre though in English form.

The Semitic name of Tyre,however, is “ Suur” which means a mountain or a peak, in Canaanite. The Greeks, who occupied the area and the rest of the Levant adopted the local name “Suur” into Greek as “Turos” or “Tyros” when the letter u shifted to a y. thus becoming Tyros.

The reason for the shifting of the S, in Suur , into T in Turos, had to do with the difference in pronunciation in different Semitic tongues, of the sounds of S, Th. and T.

Then Tyros when Latinized became Tyrus, which later became Tyre in English.

The interesting thing I found that the Arabic name “ Suur” which has pre-Arabic roots, would have been “Tuur” , same phonetic sound as in Suur, the shift in the letter S ( actually a throttled S in Arabic) has to do with slight differences in carrying over from Canaanite, Aramaic then to Arabic ( the Semitic family).

Tuur, still means Mountain in Arabic and it is mentioned the Quran referring to Mount Sinai, as “Tuur Sinai.
So whether its Tyre or Tuur, these words harkens back to one root. Which is Suur, the official name of the city in Arabic today.

The city of Byblos/Jubayl, follows the same exact etymology as “Suur” in which the original name Jubayl, which means the little Mountain in Arabic ( by adding the sound of YA, in Arabic to a name like Jabal which means mountain, the mountain would become the little mountain interestingly enough, we find the same idea in English when we add the letter Y to a noun, it becomes smaller, such as , Jim/Jimmy, or kitty) was adopted by the Greeks as Byblos, by changing the phonetic sounds of Arabic into Greek ones thus giving rise to a seemingly different name of “ Byblos” which is actually is the same name as Jubayl, however,hellenized.

What's good for the goose.....

2006-07-03T01:40:00.000-07:00

Ever since Hamas militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier the world has all of the sudden took notice that there is something sinister going on in Gaza and West Bank.

The world concerns however, mostly lies with the Israeli soldier not with the wider conflict that has produced scores of Palestinians dead and wounded, and reduced much of their economy into rubble.

Even Pope Benedict had called for the Israeli soldier release.

Israeli actions do not make it any more moral or righteous than those of Hamas military wing, since kidnapping and killing of civilians is a common and habitual Israeli practice.

Only two days before the eruption of the crises, Israel had kidnapped two Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and had killed tens of innocent Palestinians few weeks before.

Hardly anyone of those world leaders including the concerned pope has uttered a word.

My question is: does the life of one Israeli soldier worth more than the lives of 3 million Palestinian being held captive and punished on wholesale scale!

The Israeli soldier was an active soldier in an occupying army in Gaza, not in his own house or picnicking with his family and friends on a beach in Tel-Aviv.

If Israel can kidnap and kill Palestinians at will, it should not be surprised by the Palestinian reaction, in fact Israel should expect that the bloodshed it spills will beget more bloodshed. It is a useless vicious cycle that serves no purpose.

Perhaps Israeli leaders ought to pay attention to the old saying, "wha's good for the goose is good for the Gander"

Israel has no moral case to claim here, in fact Israel has committed war crimes under international law and the Geneva conventions by kidnapping third of the elected Palestinian parliament and a fourth of the government and by destroying civilian infrastructure depriving over 750.000 civilian of power and water.

It is quite interesting that Hosni Mubark of Egypt went as far as threatening Hamas leaders if they did not release the Israeli soldier immediately, on the premise that Israel will consider freeing some Palestinian prisoners in the future. But Hamas military wing would have none of it, for they don't trust the Israeli intentions.

Hamas military wants Israel to free Palestinian men, women and children immediately in exchange for soldier. That infuriated Mubark, his threats to Hamas made him appear more like an Israeli politician and not the president of the largest and most powerful Arab country.

Mubark's reaction is quite understandable, at the home, he faces an active and vociferous opposition to his kingly rule, and he also needs an American and Israeli support to have his son "electd" after him as president, which might explain his anger. Moreover,Mubark's government contemptuous and humiliating treatment of Hamas leaders after its victory maybe have come back to hunt him in this crisis.
Other notable reactions:

Where is Uncle Kofie? .. You know... The guy who runs the United Nations!

I have yet to read or hear any thing worthy or of substance from him not even a verbal condemnation. But we know that Uncle Kofie who barley kept his job few years ago, cannot say or do anything that might upset his benefactors.

The Europeans have said that it is of " particular concern" in commenting on mass arrest of Palestinian members of parliament and sending the Palestinians back into an age of darkness.

I am puzzled at the European reaction, I don't know whether it was the word" particular"or the word "concern" that puzzled me more. They could have said it more simply or bluntly " we don't care" or " Israel can dresden the hell out Gaza and we will pretend that we have seen or heard nothing".

Arab governments faired even worst, they did not even use their customary gobbledygook of " we condemn" " we deplore" it is unacceptable" " we reject" it is unfortunate" blah blah blah

In Sudan and Morocco, citizens went out on the streets to express support for the Palestinians. In Oslo Norway, a cold and far away country, Norwegians held a rally in support of Palestinians.

Few days ago, in Baghdad, Shia militias, apparently acting in sync with the Israeli army, killed a 67-year-old Palestinian teacher, and killed four of his relatives who went to the morgue to claim his body.

For this crisis to end, Israeli leaders should come out of their "prison guard" mentality and start thinking of the Palestinian people as human beings in need of dignity and liberty like any other human including the Israelis themselves.

Winds of War

2006-06-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

Israeli fighter jets flew today over Syrian President Bashar Assad’s summer home in northern Syria an escalation that has put the Middle East on tenterhooks.

This move was apparently meant to send a strong message to the Syrians that Israel can reach anybody anywhere in Syria, meaning Hamas leaders, and that even Bashar Aasad himself is not safe in his own bedroom.

CNN reported that Syrian TV said that defenses had intercepted the Israeli aircraft and "forced them to separate and leave the area." It called the Israeli airspace breach "an unacceptable, hostile and provocative act.

Aljazeera reported today that Israeli soldiers have kidnapped 8 ( so far) Palestinian cabinet ministers and over 20 members of Palestinian Parliament in addition to scores of Palestinian government officials and activists across the West Bank. This massive military campaign is predicted to undermine and perhaps dismantle the entire Palestinian government. Such scenario if occurred, chaos and war will be the order of the day.

The only official Arab reaction thus far had come from the Qatari foreign minister, who had lamented, in Aljazeera interview, about the Arab governments paralysis in facing Israeli aggression.

Jordan’s king Abdullah, on the other hand, had earlier condemned the Palestinian military operation against the Israeli checkpoint that resulted in taking a soldier prisoner.

It is worth noting that neither King Abdullah nor Hosni Mobark of Egypt or any Arab president or king have called on Israel to stop its wholesale killing of Palestinian civilians, nor did they try to press the issue with the Israelis since some of those Arab governments have diplomatic relations and in some instances are bedfellows with the Israelis.

World leaders who have supported Israeli aggressions seem to neglect the fact that Israel has kidnapped Palestinians civilians from Gaza, only few days ago and has committed kidnapping, and assassinating against Palestinian almost on daily basis.

While Israel has refused to negotiate a prisoner swap with the Palestinian government therefore defusing the crisis, claiming that it will not negotiate with “ terrorists” Israel however, have in the past kidnapped several Hizbullah leaders in south Lebanon to use them as barraging chips for its pilot Ron Arad who's missing since 1982 and still hold some them after 25 years of captivity.

Last week, the Lebanese authorities uncovered an Israeli terrorist cell operating in Lebanese cities and was responsible for acts of terrorism, car bombings and assassinations against Palestinians and Lebanese activists.

The US government said (in its efforts to win the hearts and minds in the Arab world) that “Israel has the right to defend itself”. Though it is unclear how would Israel be defending itself while it masses an entire army around Gaza, and have bombed and destroyed a water plant, and an electrical grid leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians without water or power.

Palestinian minister for Prisoners affairs said that there are over 12000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, 155 of them are women, and 360 are children under 18, and that between 1967 and 1994 Israel had arrested and imprisoned over 650.000 Palestinian 85% of those were tortured and abused.

So basically Israel can almost declare war on the entire Arab world for its one soldier, and can kidnap, assassinate, car bomb, and blow up anybody anywhere while issues of international laws, international sovereignty, international airspace, matters very little if any at all.

Israeli aggressions go unchecked, and often times disguised in euphemistic terms, such as “ self defense” “ fighting terrorists”.

Once again, the Palestinians are left defenseless and alone facing the world’s most aggressive and militaristic state.

The arrogance of power

2006-06-28T08:44:00.000-07:00

Israeli army tanks, warplanes, gunboats and infantry soldiers are gearing up to invade Gaza to free the soldier kidnapped last Sunday in a daring tunnel military operation by Palestinian militias.

This upcoming mayhem is going to cap over two weeks of Israeli bombardments of Palestinian cities from the air, the sea, and from the land. The results were tens of Palestinian civilians were killed and wounded many of them were children.

Israeli politicians have threatened blood and gore and to assassinate Palestinian leaders if the captive Israeli solider was not released. Palestinians militias have offered the release of the solider if Israel would release the 150 Palestinian women and 300 children it holds captive in its prisons. Israel has refused to negotiate with the “ terrorists”

Israel has also refused to negotiate with Abbas, and before that with Arafat, Israel in fact has refused to negotiate peace with any of the 3 million Palestinian “ terrorist” it occupies and from time to time send its F-16s to swoop down and fire missiles on cars carrying Palestinian activists killing them, and killing more civilians in the process.

Before taking the Israeli solider captive, Israel had a free hand to bomb Palestinian towns; killing tens of civilians while the world paid little or no attention to the plight of Palestinians.

But when two Israeli soldiers were killed one taken prisoner, the world rose to help Israel obtain the freedom for its soldier and punish the Palestinians.

US, French and European officials urged calm, and offered help to Israel. Israel’s Arab allies, too, rose to help Israel free its solider from the hand of Palestinian “ terrorists”

The Egyptian government pressed Abbas, and since it has no favor with Hamas.(since in support of Israeli government position it refused to talk to Hamas unless it recognizes Israel)

The Jordanians also, offered their help to Israeli, but they too, have no influence with Hamas, since they support the Israeli position and shunned Hamas politicians.

None of the world leaders or Arab governments noticed the Israeli butchery of Palestinian civilians. That in the eyes of the Palestinian public in the West Bank and Gaza shows how hypocritical those leaders were. In the eyes of those leaders, Palestinians feel that they are less-human and their blood is cheap and it’s ok to be spilled and in large quantities but the Israelis are full human beings and their blood is all too precious.

Abbas has no real power with the Palestinian public, but I won’t be too surprised if his intelligence and security agencies are working day and night to free the Israeli solider to prove their worth and serviceability to the Israeli government.

Today, Israelis officials have threatened Hamas leader in exile, Syrian- based, Khaled Mashaal of assassination, claiming he was responsible for the planning of this operation.

Israeli accusations are all too familiar; in the past they would hold Yaser Arafat responsible for any violence against them, claiming he was not doing enough to combat the Hamas and other militants. Even after they destroyed all of the Palestinians police buildings killed its members thus leaving Arafat basically powerless.

Israel would perhaps threaten to assassinate any of the Palestinian leadership if any Israeli slipped on a banana peel.

Israel feels it can do whatever it please with the Palestinians, it can send its warplanes to bomb a moving car in a middle of Gaza street, have its navy warships bomb a beach killing civilians, or have its tanks fire lethal shells on Palestinian houses.

World leaders would bashfully ask Israel for “ calm” and “restraint” but more than likely Israeli atrocities and crimes would go unchecked and perhaps, Palestinians hold, that it has a measure of support in Washington, Paris, London, Amman, Baghdad, and Cairo.

Europe's handout

2006-06-20T12:04:00.000-07:00
The European countries have decided to give the Palestinians about 100 million dollars, on condition that a mechanism to be set up by July to give this aid directly to Palestinian government employees.

The Europeans are trying to bypass the democratically elected government of Hamas, so as to punish Hamas for not recognizing Israel or Oslo agreements between Israel and the Palestinian authority.

Or so they say.

To me, the Europeans actions were stupefying, on one hand they called for free, real and democratic election in the Palestinian areas, and on the other, they condemned, boycotted, and punished the Palestinians for electing the wrong party. Why bothering having an election if the designated winner should have been Abbas-Dahlan Kleptocracy all over again.

Perhaps Europe’s “ democracy talk” was just a vaporous talk, or maybe they’ve learned the art of hollow sloganeering from their Arab buddies.

Though the Palestinians did not elect Hamas for a 100-year term in office, but rather a mere 4-year term after which the choice will be for the Palestinian electorate to either retain them or fire them.

How about giving democracy a chance to grow and flourish where everybody thought it was impossible to take root.

The Palestinians have experienced a truly democratic expression, which is in unique measure conveys not only their desire of freedom of choice, but also their determination to rid themselves of a rotten growth that was going back in life rather than advancing it.

Moreover, it is very important to establish this mechanics of power as the only way for anyone to ascend to power or descend from it. . Democracy should be the safety valve against the abuses of leaders-for-eternity types.

I think it is rather conspicuous and at the same time hilarious that those who are calling on Hamas to recognize Israel are trying to be, in essence, Israelis more than the Israelis themselves. I have yet to hear any Israeli official calling on Hamas to recognize them so they can begin their “ Peace talks”

The Arab governments position is a mind boggling one. It is a position that is worthy of the theater of the absurd. For decades they shed crocodile tears for Palestine; but in a miraculous transformation they metamorphed into Israel’s cheerleaders and staunchest allies.

Lets say that Hamas has recognized Israel tomorrow. Then what?

Well… then there is nothing. Israel will not flinch

Essentially Hamas would be recognizing Israel's right to keep its military boots pressed hard and heavy on Palestinian necks.

But the real issue is not about recognizing Israel. If my own senses are not failing me, I am pretty sure that Israel does in fact exist, and I am sure that Hamas too, is aware of the fact that outside the Great Wall Israel has built there is a state called Israel and that it is a real country with an annual budget of over 50 Billion dollar, and an annual GDP of 154 Billion dollar (2005 est. according to CIA world fact book)

Compare that to a the Palestinians budget of around One Billion when Fatah was in power (Spent mostly on the well being of Armani -wearing, Mercedes-riding revolutionaries)

Hamas-government budget now is maybe…my own guess.... mmm is about 20,000 dollar

In the news today, Israeli planes bombed a metal shop in Gaza!

So I take it that Israeli air force has decided to destroy the Palestinian Strategic Aerospace Rocket-Defense Force(SARD) in Gaza, which is basically the Palestinian equivalent of NORAD, (North American Aerospace Defense Command).

Good job!

Perhaps in the next raid, Israeli Air defenses and Air force will bomb out all of Gaza’s donkey carts, tin shacks, wooden huts, fruit stands and all of the mechanic shops too.

Only then will peace arrive!

The Vichy state of Palestine

2006-06-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

(Picture of the Israeli Wall)

During the Nazi occupation of France between 1940-1944 a Nazi-puppet regime was set up in Paris after it surrendered to Germany. This regime, headed by former WWI hero, Marshal Petain, accepted Nazi occupation of France and collaborated with it against the best interests of the French and France itself. The French society was marred by civil strife and fractious politics out of which the Vichy State was born.

The tremors of civil war simmering in the West Bank and Gaza today looks more like France under the Nazi occupation during WW II. Political chaos, economic collapse and brutal occupation are conditions and an environment ripe for a Vichy-like regime to exist within the Palestinian areas.

A Palestinian Vichy state would only be possible after the democratically elected Hamas government is toppled and militarily defeated.

Recently, Israel, Jordan and Egypt have authorized shipments of weapons as well as millions of dollars to Abbas presidential coffers to combat Hamas military strength.Implicit in this infusion of money and arms shipments, however, is the thinking that a looming showdown with Hamas in inevitable, if not a necessary condition, to implement the Israeli vision of " Peace" that post-Hamas government ought to accept and sell to its people.

Conversely, however, many Palestinians are questioning the wisdom behind weapons supplies from Israel and its Arab allies while they, the Palestinians, are facing major food, health, and social crises due to tightening sanctions imposed on them after their democratic election.

Ever since it assumed power, Hamas was unable to deal with the mounting problems it inherited from the outgoing Ahmad Kurie government, whose tenure was tainted by corruption scandals. Though Hamas is still trying to find its ways in the business of governing, something Hamas has to mature up to at this critical time.

But problems like providing the basic needs and necessities for its citizens, providing security and order have proven to be tough challenges in the face of brutal economic and political sanctions.

Under those conditions, governing has become an elusive goal for Hamas, particularly when Fatah armed gangs roam the streets shooting at people, kidnapping government officials, bombing public buildings, wreaking havoc, and instill fear in the hearts of ordinary Palestinians, therefore turning Gaza and parts of the west Bank into lawless wilderness.

Israel is happy with Hamas victory that gave her an excuse that it will not negotiate with a terrorist government, despite that it did not negotiate or even talk with the man, it lobbied to be first prime minister and then president of the Palestinian authority.

While the Palestinians are busy killing each other off, Israel in the meantime, continues ahead with building its massive wall that looks a lot like the Great Wall of China, which will end up being the borders between Israel and the future Palestinians state, a state that looks more like a block of Swiss-cheese than a real contiguous state.

Israel will also go ahead with its plans to annex the entire Jordan valley and major parts of the West Bank which will leave the Palestinians with approximately half the size of the west bank. Basically crumbs to call a state. A Vichy state.

Hikind anti-Arab, anti-Muslim laws

2006-06-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

Dov Hikind anti-Arab, anti-Muslim racial laws

Dov Hikind a democratic Assemblyman in the NY state legislature has proposed a bill last week that would allow law enforcement agencies in NY State to target Muslim men by considering their race and ethnicity as a “terrorist profile”.

Newsday, a New York paper, reported that the law if passes it would "consider race and ethnicity as one of many factors that could be used in identifying persons who can be initially stopped, questioned, frisked and/or searched."

Dov Hikind proposed law is designed specifically to target Muslims and Arabs, simply because they fit a racist stereotype that an Arab or a Muslim, in his mind, is more likely to commit an act of terrorism.

“Suicide bombers and terrorists fit a very specific intelligence profile, and race and ethnicity is very much a part of that profile." Said Mr. Hikind

Quite obvious that Hikind whose official website declares him as “a champion of human Right and Jewish causes” feels that Arab and Muslim men deserve no Human Right considerations from him, or perhaps his views of Muslims and Arabs are clouded with prejudice and racism he declares he is against.

Mr. Hikind website also informs us that he was “ Inspired to action by the anguish his parents endured at the hands of the Nazis, Mr. Hikind has devoted his life and political career to redressing injustices in the form of discrimination, racism and anti-Semitism”

It’s also evident that Mr. Hikind has also devoted his career to the Hatred of Arabs and Muslims, and his proposed law, in my opinion, has nothing to do with terrorism or patriotism.

In Nazi Germany, like all Jews, Mr. Hikind parents were victims of racial profiling, racism, and were subject to racial laws that made them targets of the notorious Gestapo police.

I am afraid that Hikind racial laws would be the first step to a pogrom against Arabs and Muslims, similar to those of Nazi Germany in which Jewish persecution was legislated with Nuremberg laws in 1935, and culminated with Kristallnacht on the night November 9th, in 1938.

Remember that the Holocaust in which millions of Jews were murdered had its start not just in WW2, but rather it started when the Nazis in Germany published their anti-Jewish 25 point pogrom in 1920, and in 1937 they enacted the “ Law for the Restoration of professional civil service” according to which German Jews and other politically questionable individuals were excluded from the state civil service.

Murderous events like the Kristallnacht, and the Holocaust had their start in little noticed racial and ethnic laws. They were enacted when no one paid attention or cared, but eventually led to unspeakable crimes.

America today is not Nazi Germany of yesterday, but lets not make it feel like one for Arab and Muslim Americans.