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  Need Help With Hadith, Please
Posted by: umm Zachariah - 11-25-2004, 07:24 AM - Forum: Islam - Replies (8)


Assalamu aleikum brothers and sisters,


I do need some help, have got stuck [Image: dry.gif]


About breaking fast during Ramadan. Not due to the reasons acceptable, like travelling, womens period, sickness and so forth, BUT if someone eats intentionally during Ramadan. I did find a Hadith from Abu Dawud:


Book 13, Number 2390:


Narrated AbuHurayrah:


The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: If anyone breaks his fast one day in Ramadan without a concession granted to him by Allah, a perpetual fast will not atone for it.


Now my dilemma is, I have been 'told' this is of no value and the atonement for this should be the same as for example having sex with your wife of husband during the light hours during Ramadan. Freeing a slave or feeding 60 people or fasting 60 days without interruption.


Can someone help me out here please?


And I also wonder - do anyone know of a web-site where one can read explanations to Hadith, like we can read Ibn Kathir to have the tafsir for the Qur'an is there somewhere out the same possibility to for Hadith?


Surley would appreciate your knowledge and answer! [Image: smile.gif]


Wasalam

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  Osama Bin Laden's 'letter To America'
Posted by: NaSra - 11-25-2004, 07:09 AM - Forum: General - No Replies


<b>Full text: Osama Bin Laden's 'letter to America' </b>


Sunday November 24, 2002


In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,


"Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are fought against, because they have been wronged and surely, Allah is Able to give them (believers) victory" [Quran 22:39]


"Those who believe, fight in the Cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve, fight in the cause of Taghut (anything worshipped other than Allah e.g. Satan). So fight you against the friends of Satan; ever feeble is indeed the plot of Satan."[Quran 4:76]


Some American writers have published articles under the title 'On what basis are we fighting?' These articles have generated a number of responses, some of which adhered to the truth and were based on Islamic Law, and others which have not. Here we wanted to outline the truth - as an explanation and warning - hoping for Allah's reward, seeking success and support from Him.


While seeking Allah's help, we form our reply based on two questions directed at the Americans:


(Q1) Why are we fighting and opposing you?


Q2)What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?


As for the first question: Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:


(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us.


a) You attacked us in Palestine:


(i) Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation. The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals. And of course there is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its*price, and pay for it heavily.


(ii) It brings us both laughter and tears to see that you have not yet tired of repeating your fabricated lies that the Jews have a historical right to Palestine, as it was promised to them in the Torah. Anyone who disputes with them on this alleged fact is accused of anti-semitism. This is one of the most fallacious, widely-circulated fabrications in history. The people of Palestine are pure Arabs and original Semites. It is the Muslims who are the inheritors of Moses (peace be upon him) and the inheritors of the real Torah that has not been changed. Muslims believe in all of the Prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all. If the followers of Moses have been promised a right to Palestine in the Torah, then the Muslims are the most worthy nation of this.


When the Muslims conquered Palestine and drove out the Romans, Palestine and Jerusalem returned to Islaam, the religion of all the Prophets peace be upon them. Therefore, the call to a historical right to Palestine cannot be raised against the Islamic Ummah that believes in all the Prophets of Allah (peace and blessings be upon them) - and we make no distinction between them.


(iii) The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged. You must know that the Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone.


(You attacked us in Somalia; you supported the Russian atrocities against us in Chechnya, the Indian oppression against us in Kashmir, and the Jewish aggression against us in Lebanon.


© Under your supervision, consent and orders, the governments of our countries which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis;


(i) These governments prevent our people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so.


(ii) These governments give us a taste of humiliation, and places us in a large prison of fear and subdual.


(iii) These governments steal our Ummah's wealth and sell them to you at a paltry price.


(iv) These governments have surrendered to the Jews, and handed them most of Palestine, acknowledging the existence of their state over the dismembered limbs of their own people.


(v) The removal of these governments is an obligation upon us, and a necessary step to free the Ummah, to make the Shariah the supreme law and to regain Palestine. And our fight against these governments is not separate from out fight against you.


(d) You steal our wealth and oil at paltry prices because of you international influence and military threats. This theft is indeed the biggest theft ever witnessed by mankind in the history of the world.


(e) Your forces occupy our countries; you spread your military bases throughout them; you corrupt our lands, and you besiege our sanctities, to protect the security of the Jews and to ensure the continuity of your pillage of our treasures.


(f) You have starved the Muslims of Iraq, where children die every day. It is a wonder that more than 1.5 million Iraqi children have died as a result of your sanctions, and you did not show concern. Yet when 3000 of your people died, the entire world rises and has not yet sat down.


(g) You have supported the Jews in their idea that Jerusalem is their eternal capital, and agreed to move your embassy there. With your help and under your protection, the Israelis are planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Masjid. Under the protection of your weapons, Sharon entered the Al-Aqsa Masjid, to pollute it as a preparation to capture and destroy it.


(2) These tragedies and calamities are only a few examples of your oppression and aggression against us. It is commanded by our religion and intellect that the oppressed have a right to return the aggression. Do not await anything from us but Jihad, resistance and revenge. Is it in any way rational to expect that after America has attacked us for more than half a century, that we will then leave her to live in security and peace?!!


(3) You may then dispute that all the above does not justify aggression against civilians, for crimes they did not commit and offenses in which they did not partake:


(a) This argument contradicts your continuous repetition that America is the land of freedom, and its leaders in this world. Therefore, the American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change it if they want.


( The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which ensure the blockade of Iraq. These tax dollars are given to Israel for it to continue to attack us and penetrate our lands. So the American people are the ones who fund the attacks against us, and they are the ones who oversee the expenditure of these monies in the way they wish, through their elected candidates.


© Also the American army is part of the American people. It is this very same people who are shamelessly helping the Jews fight against us.


(d) The American people are the ones who employ both their men and their women in the American Forces which attack us.


(e) This is why the American people cannot be not innocent of all the crimes committed by the Americans and Jews against us.


(f) Allah, the Almighty, legislated the permission and the option to take revenge. Thus, if we are attacked, then we have the right to attack back. Whoever has destroyed our villages and towns, then we have the right to destroy their villages and towns. Whoever has stolen our wealth, then we have the right to destroy their economy. And whoever has killed our civilians, then we have the right to kill theirs.


The American Government and press still refuses to answer the question:


Why did they attack us in New York and Washington?


If Sharon is a man of peace in the eyes of Bush, then we are also men of peace!!! America does not understand the language of manners and principles, so we are addressing it using the language it understands.


(Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?


(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.


(a) The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them - peace be upon them all.


It is to this religion that we call you; the seal of all the previous religions. It is the religion of Unification of God, sincerity, the best of manners, righteousness, mercy, honour, purity, and piety. It is the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted. It is the religion of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with the hand, tongue and heart. It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme. And it is the religion of unity and agreement on the obedience to Allah, and total equality between all people, without regarding their colour, sex, or language.


(It is the religion whose book - the Quran - will remained preserved and unchanged, after the other Divine books and messages have been changed. The Quran is the miracle until the Day of Judgment. Allah has challenged anyone to bring a book like the Quran or even ten verses like it.


(2) The second thing we call you to, is to stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you.


(a) We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest.


We call you to all of this that you may be freed from that which you have become caught up in; that you may be freed from the deceptive lies that you are a great nation, that your leaders spread amongst you to conceal from you the despicable state to which you have reached.


( It is saddening to tell you that you are the worst civilization witnessed by the history of mankind:


(i) You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the Lord and your Creator. You flee from the embarrassing question posed to you: How is it possible for Allah the Almighty to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?


(ii) You are the nation that permits Usury, which has been forbidden by all the religions. Yet you build your economy and investments on Usury. As a result of this, in all its different forms and guises, the Jews have taken control of your economy, through which they have then taken control of your media, and now control all aspects of your life making you their servants and achieving their aims at your expense; precisely what Benjamin Franklin warned you against.


(iii) You are a nation that permits the production, trading and usage of intoxicants. You also permit drugs, and only forbid the trade of them, even though your nation is the largest consumer of them.


(iv) You are a nation that permits acts of immorality, and you consider them to be pillars of personal freedom. You have continued to sink down this abyss from level to level until incest has spread amongst you, in the face of which neither your sense of honour nor your laws object.


Who can forget your President Clinton's immoral acts committed in the official Oval office? After that you did not even bring him to account, other than that he 'made a mistake', after which everything passed with no punishment. Is there a worse kind of event for which your name will go down in history and remembered by nations?


(v) You are a nation that permits gambling in its all forms. The companies practice this as well, resulting in the investments becoming active and the criminals becoming rich.


(vi) You are a nation that exploits women like consumer products or advertising tools calling upon customers to purchase them. You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins. You then rant that you support the liberation of women.


(vii) You are a nation that practices the trade of sex in all its forms, directly and indirectly. Giant corporations and establishments are established on this, under the name of art, entertainment, tourism and freedom, and other deceptive names you attribute to it.


(viii) And because of all this, you have been described in history as a nation that spreads diseases that were unknown to man in the past. Go ahead and boast to the nations of man, that you brought them AIDS as a Satanic American Invention.


(xi) You have destroyed nature with your industrial waste and gases more than any other nation in history. Despite this, you refuse to sign the Kyoto agreement so that you can secure the profit of your greedy companies and*industries.


(x) Your law is the law of the rich and wealthy people, who hold sway in their political parties, and fund their election campaigns with their gifts. Behind them stand the Jews, who control your policies, media and economy.


(xi) That which you are singled out for in the history of mankind, is that you have used your force to destroy mankind more than any other nation in history; not to defend principles and values, but to hasten to secure your interests and profits. You who dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan, even though Japan was ready to negotiate an end to the war. How many acts of oppression, tyranny and injustice have you carried out, O callers to freedom?


(xii) Let us not forget one of your major characteristics: your duality in both manners and values; your hypocrisy in manners and principles. All*manners, principles and values have two scales: one for you and one for the others.


(a)The freedom and democracy that you call to is for yourselves and for white race only; as for the rest of the world, you impose upon them your monstrous, destructive policies and Governments, which you call the 'American friends'. Yet you prevent them from establishing democracies. When the Islamic party in Algeria wanted to practice democracy and they won the election, you unleashed your agents in the Algerian army onto them, and to attack them with tanks and guns, to imprison them and torture them - a new lesson from the 'American book of democracy'!!!


(b)Your policy on prohibiting and forcibly removing weapons of mass destruction to ensure world peace: it only applies to those countries which you do not permit to possess such weapons. As for the countries you consent to, such as Israel, then they are allowed to keep and use such weapons to defend their security. Anyone else who you suspect might be manufacturing or keeping these kinds of weapons, you call them criminals and you take military action against them.


©You are the last ones to respect the resolutions and policies of International Law, yet you claim to want to selectively punish anyone else who does the same. Israel has for more than 50 years been pushing UN resolutions and rules against the wall with the full support of America.


(d)As for the war criminals which you censure and form criminal courts for - you shamelessly ask that your own are granted immunity!! However, history will not forget the war crimes that you committed against the Muslims and the rest of the world; those you have killed in Japan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Lebanon and Iraq will remain a shame that you will never be able to escape. It will suffice to remind you of your latest war crimes in Afghanistan, in which densely populated innocent civilian villages were destroyed, bombs were dropped on Masjids causing the roof of the Masjid to come crashing down on the heads of the Muslims praying inside. You are the ones who broke the agreement with the Mujahideen when they left Qunduz, bombing them in Jangi fort, and killing more than 1,000 of your prisoners through suffocation and thirst. Allah alone knows how many people have died by torture at the hands of you and your agents. Your planes remain in the Afghan skies, looking for anyone remotely suspicious.


(e)You have claimed to be the vanguards of Human Rights, and your Ministry of Foreign affairs issues annual reports containing statistics of those countries that violate any Human Rights. However, all these things vanished when the Mujahideen hit you, and you then implemented the methods of the same documented governments that you used to curse. In America, you captured thousands the Muslims and Arabs, took them into custody with neither reason, court trial, nor even disclosing their names. You issued newer, harsher laws.


What happens in Guatanamo is a historical embarrassment to America and its values, and it screams into your faces - you hypocrites, "What is the value of your signature on any agreement or treaty?"


(3) What we call you to thirdly is to take an honest stance with yourselves - and I doubt you will do so - to discover that you are a nation without principles or manners, and that the values and principles to you are something which you merely demand from others, not that which you yourself must adhere to.


(4)We also advise you to stop supporting Israel, and to end your support of the Indians in Kashmir, the Russians against the Chechens and to also cease supporting the Manila Government against the Muslims in Southern Philippines.


(5) We also advise you to pack your luggage and get out of our lands. We desire for your goodness, guidance, and righteousness, so do not force us to send you back as cargo in coffins.


(6) Sixthly, we call upon you to end your support of the corrupt leaders in our countries. Do not interfere in our politics and method of education. Leave us alone, or else expect us in New York and Washington.


(7) We also call you to deal with us and interact with us on the basis of mutual interests and benefits, rather than the policies of sub dual, theft and occupation, and not to continue your policy of supporting the Jews because this will result in more disasters for you.


If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare for fight with the Islamic Nation. The Nation of Monotheism, that puts complete trust on Allah and fears none other than Him. The Nation which is addressed by its Quran with the words: "Do you fear them? Allah has more right that you should fear Him if you are believers. Fight against them so that Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of believing people. And remove the anger of their (believers') hearts. Allah accepts the repentance of whom He wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise." [Quran9:13-1]


The Nation of honour and respect:


"But honour, power and glory belong to Allah, and to His Messenger (Muhammad- peace be upon him) and to the believers." [Quran 63:8]


"So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be*superior ( in victory )if you are indeed (true) believers" [Quran 3:139]


The Nation of Martyrdom; the Nation that desires death more than you desire life:


"Think not of those who are killed in the way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive with their Lord, and they are being provided for. They rejoice in what Allah has bestowed upon them from His bounty and rejoice for the sake of those who have not yet joined them, but are left behind (not yet martyred) that on them no fear shall come, nor shall they grieve. They rejoice in a grace and a bounty from Allah, and that Allah will not waste the reward of the believers." [Quran 3:169-171]


The Nation of victory and success that Allah has promised:


"It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad peace be upon him) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it victorious over all other religions even though the Polytheists hate it." [Quran 61:9]


"Allah has decreed that 'Verily it is I and My Messengers who shall be victorious.' Verily Allah is All-Powerful, All-Mighty." [Quran 58:21]


The Islamic Nation that was able to dismiss and destroy the previous evil Empires like yourself; the Nation that rejects your attacks, wishes to remove your evils, and is prepared to fight you. You are well aware that the Islamic Nation, from the very core of its soul, despises your haughtiness and arrogance.


If the Americans refuse to listen to our advice and the goodness, guidance and righteousness that we call them to, then be aware that you will lose this Crusade Bush began, just like the other previous Crusades in which you were humiliated by the hands of the Mujahideen, fleeing to your home in great silence and disgrace. If the Americans do not respond, then their fate will be that of the Soviets who fled from Afghanistan to deal with their military defeat, political breakup, ideological downfall, and economic bankruptcy.


This is our message to the Americans, as an answer to theirs. Do they now know why we fight them and over which form of ignorance, by the permission of Allah, we shall be victorious


<b>source: </b>http://observer.guardian.co.uk/worldview...25,00.html

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  Can We Use Other Than The Language Of Arabic When
Posted by: NewBeginning - 11-25-2004, 04:26 AM - Forum: Islam - Replies (24)



Can we use other than the language of Arabic when we pray to Allah Almighty?


Well, there is no Noble Verse from the Noble Quran, nor there is any Saying (Hadith) from Prophet Muhammad peace be upon that directly say that praying to Allah Almighty has to be done with the Arabic language.


It is obvious that Prophet Muhammad taught us how to pray in Arabic, because that was the only language he spoke. And it is obvious that the Noble Quran was revealed also in Arabic. But to me, these are NOT good enough reasons or proofs to tell a new English-speaking Muslim convert for instance (such as an American, British or Australian) that he or she can not Islamically prostrate to Allah Almighty until they memorize few Noble Verses in Arabic so they can recite them in their prayers.


These new Muslims don't speak Arabic. To them, Arabic is nothing but babbling. It's like me reciting in Chinese. It will not mean anything to me, because I don't speak Chinese. This will disable the spiritual connection of the new non-Arabic Muslim convert with Allah Almighty. It is important to Allah that we have the spiritual connection with Him in our prayer. If we don't have it, then our prayer is worthless:


"Do ye enjoin right conduct on the people, and forget (to practise it) yourselves. And yet ye study the Scripture (i.e., the Noble Quran)? Will ye not understand? Nay, seek (Allah's) help with patient perseverance and prayer: It is indeed hard, except to those who bring a lowly spirit--Who bear in mind the certainty that they are to meet their Lord, and that they are to return to Him. (The Noble Quran, 2:44-46)" Notice here that Allah Almighty clearly says that prayer is hard except on those who have the spiritual connection with Him. So, unless the Muslim really knows what they are reciting in their prayers, there is no way they can establish that spiritual connection.


Allah Almighty doesn't care about our Physical prostration if it's not also spiritual: "The hypocrites--they think they are over-reaching Allah but He will over-reach them: When they stand up to Prayer, they stand without earnestness, to be seen of men, but little do they hold Allah in remembrance. (The Noble Quran, 4:142)" Notice here how the hypocrites for instance don't have that spiritual connection even if they physically prostrate to Allah Almighty.


"Recite what is sent of the Book by inspiration to thee, and establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do. (The Noble Quran, 29:45)" How can prayer restrain someone from shameful and unjust deeds if he doesn't have the spiritual connection with Allah Almighty because his prayer doesn't make any sense to him what so ever when he performs it?


Certainly the hypocrites as shown above don't have the spiritual connection, even though they do sometimes prostrate. So it is not the physical prostration alone that Allah Almighty is looking for. How can a new non-Arabic speaking Muslim brother or sister have the spiritual connection when his/her prayer doesn't make any sense to him/her?


I am not in anyway trying to put our Muslim brothers and sisters who don't speak Arabic in the same categories as the hypocrites. No, that is not what I am trying to do here. I am just using the case of the hypocrites in the Noble Quran to help strengthen the case of our non-Arabic speaking Muslim brothers and sisters in Islam.


So my advise, or my opinion, or my verdict, whatever you wish to call it, is that a Muslim should try his best to prostrate to Allah Almighty. If he doesn't speak Arabic, then it is ok for him to recite the Noble Quran in his mother language and to perform the rest of the prayer also in his mother language, including Glorifying Allah Almighty and making wishes to Him, until he is able to master few Noble Verses in Arabic from the Noble Quran, and is able to memorize and appreciate the true Arabic meaning of the Glorifying of Allah Almighty and the making wishes parts. Until he is comfortable with that, he should stick with his language and perform the prayer in his language.


And Allah Almighty knows best.

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  Islam's Acceptance Of Judaism And Christianity
Posted by: mertfaruk - 11-24-2004, 11:39 PM - Forum: General - Replies (1)

The Article

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  The West’s War Against Islam
Posted by: Rehmat - 11-24-2004, 04:19 AM - Forum: General - Replies (7)


To the Westerner, the Islamic world is a lurid hodge-podge of exotic imagery - a myth adapted from 1001 Nights - comprised of huge harems, wild sex orgies, opulent palaces, flying carpets, incredible wealth, fierce warriors, hordes of thieves, shrewd and dishonest traders, cruelty and religious fanaticism.


Take away the flying carpets, and the West could be described in similar terms - but neither description would be accurate.


Not only do we need to consider this distorted Western viewpoint - which by itself, and minus its negative aspects, would be mere ignorance and relatively harmless - but we all must consider that these distorted viewpoints are deliberately being used and often magnified to goad the West into a future criminal war against the Islamic world. These unjust views, already previously held and reinforced since the Gulf War, are now the standard thinking by many Westerners - and are being used to JUSTIFY such wars!


The West has at its disposal tremendous media facilities for the education of the public, but until now, these facilities of information, education and entertainment have been largely used purposely to misinform, to miseducate, and to instill hatred against the Islamic peoples. Just as certainly, this situation has not come about by accident.


The West's mainstream media are controlled by a small group of unscrupulous men who know exactly what they are doing, and who will stop at nothing in order to attain their often criminal and murderous ends. This same group of media manipulators and its predecessors broadcast and published anti-German propaganda in both world wars and included the Japanese as victims and targets of their hate campaigns in the Second World War. These men are brainwashing experts. On their account, millions of Westerners, who had never met a German or Japanese, were inflamed with murderous hatred - sufficiently so that they killed millions of persons who might otherwise have been their customers and friends……


http://www.radioislam.net/zundl/index.htm

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  I Am New Here To This Forum
Posted by: alliex - 11-24-2004, 01:57 AM - Forum: General - Replies (5)


Asalamalaykum,


Just wanted to say, I am new here and this looks like a great forum.


Wanted to say a special hello to UmmZachariah.


Alliex : [Image: biggrin.gif]

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  Muslim Anguish And Western Hypocrisy
Posted by: Deen - 11-23-2004, 06:54 PM - Forum: Current Affairs - No Replies


... <b>The ground will continue to erode beneath the feet of </b>


moderate Muslims, the constituency upon whom the White House placed its best


hopes.


Front Page


Muslim anguish and Western hypocrisy


By Spengler


Muslims who have made their life in Western countries while adhering to


Islam face a frightful dilemma. After the November 2 murder of Dutch


filmmaker Theo van Gogh (The assassin's master sermon, Nov 16), European


authorities have demanded that resident Muslims repudiate violence. Many


mainstream Muslim leaders, though, cannot bring themselves to denounce the


murderer of van Gogh, whose film Submission showed Koranic verses


superimposed on the naked skin of Muslim women.


Smugness oozes from European politicians who demand that Muslims repudiate


violence as a precondition for residence in the West. To repudiate the death


sentence for blasphemy would be the same as abandoning the Islamic order in


traditional society in favor of a Western-style religion of personal


conscience. The West spent centuries of time and rivers of blood to make


such a transition, and carried it off badly. Whether Islam can do so at all


remains doubtful.


As a matter of record, most European Muslim organizations declined to


disavow the murder of van Gogh. During a November 19 radio interview, for


example, Zahid Mukhtar, head of the Islamic Council of Norway, refused to


condemn van Gogh's murder, creating a scandal out of proportion to Norway's


small Muslim population. A Moroccan-born member of the Belgian Senate,


Mimount Bousakla, received death threats after remonstrating with the


umbrella organization of Belgian Muslims for its refusal to denounce the van


Gogh murder. She since has gone into hiding.


In Germany, most of the country's Muslim groups refused to take part in this


past Sunday's Muslim demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and


violence. In fact, the Turkish government organized the 20,000-person


demonstration without support from local Muslim organizations. Its sole


sponsor was DITIB, the Turkish government's Muslim association headed by an


appointee from Ankara. DITIB "already had tried in vain to organize a common


declaration by all German Muslims against Islamist terrorism", noted Der


Spiegel Online on November 19.


Muslim refusal to tolerate blasphemy has nothing to do with rage or


recalcitrance. It is a theological necessity. Executions for blasphemy would


attract no attention in Iran or Saudi Arabia. The trouble is that the


population of Islamic countries has spilled over en masse into the West.


Imams in Europe cannot pronounce differently on such matters than they would


in their home countries, and blasphemy cannot be tolerated by traditional


society.


"As for heretics, their sin deserves banishment, not only ... by


excommunication, but also from this world by death. To corrupt the faith,


whereby the soul lives, is much graver than to counterfeit money, which


supports temporal life. Since forgers and other malefactors are summarily


condemned to death by the civil authorities, with much more reason may


heretics as soon as they are convicted of heresy be not only excommunicated,


but also justly be put to death." Those are the words of the 13th-century


Catholic authority St Thomas Aquinas, the most influential of all Catholic


thinkers, presented by Catholic writers from Lord Acton to Jacques Maritain


as the antecedent of European democracy.


An apologist for St Thomas, Michael Novak of the American Enterprise


Institute, excused the hard line against heresy on the grounds that tough


times required it:


Thirteenth-century societies were highly fragile. Beyond ties of kinship,


many citizens experienced little to bind them to others. Most were subjects


of a few - and one ruling aristocrat was often overturned by another ...


geographical isolation was often intense, and shifting patterns of warfare,


baronial allegiance, and foreign occupation awakened acute local insecurity.


Under political anarchy, the common people and the poor suffered much. Under


all these uncertainties, the chief consensual bond among people was Catholic


faith and Catholic ritual. Virtually all unifying conceptions of


relationship and social weight, meaning and order, came from that faith. [1]


St Thomas did not merely support a death sentence for individual heretics,


but weighed in vigorously on behalf of the Crusade against the Albigensians,


which laid waste to most of Provence. Does Novak believe that today's Muslim


societies are any less fragile? If he believes that 13th-century conditions


justified the death penalty for heretics in Christian Europe, why should


Muslims not apply the same logic to their own societies?


In fact, the terrestrial power of the Church, along with its authority to


burn heretics, was pried out of her cold, dead fingers. It took the


frightful 30 Years' War to break the political power of the Church in


Europe, and the reunification of Italy to reduce the Vatican to its present


postage-stamp dimensions. The Church in the person of pope Pius IX responded


by excommunicating the entire government of Count Cavour.


Not until the Second Vatican Council of 1965 did the Church reconcile itself


to the role of a religion of conscience without temporal power. But the


disintegration of European Catholic life coincides with Vatican II. Church


attendance in most European countries has fallen to single-digit


percentages, and the lowest fertility rates are found in Spain and Italy,


formerly among the most Catholic. It is unclear whether Catholicism will


survive the transition to religion of individual conscience from temporal


power, and the prognosis is bleak. Even Michael Novak has his doubts:


What is the proper relation of Christian faith to the open society? A


relation that entails the persecution of heretics is clearly repugnant to


Christian faith. The special circumstances of the 13th century remain a


vivid case study in what not to do. But if the profession of Christian faith


is not to be constitutionally required, as certainly it should not be, just


how can Christian faith escape from being merely privatized and relativized?


And how can open societies themselves be saved from giving a posthumous


victory to such relativists as Hitler and Mussolini, who began by stating


that nothing in politics is right or wrong, that only power matters?


Only in one form does Christianity thrive without the policeman's baton in


the back of the shepherd's rod, and that is in its American evangelical


expression. The great monuments of European Catholicism lie exposed like the


bones of extinct mammoths, and in Latin America, the mice of American-style


Protestant denominations are eating the eggs of the Catholic dinosaurs.


Judaism suffered its own transition from a state religion to a private


religion of conscience, bloodily and against its will. The best account


comes from Rabbi Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton, an Episcopal priest.


Between the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 and the


establishment of Christianity as Rome's state religion in the 4th century


under the Emperor Constantine, the two religions traded places. Judaism


ceased to function as the state religion of Israel, and the legal philosophy


preserved in the Mishnah gave way to the theology of the Rabbinical writings


of the Talmud. The private and communal character of early Christianity gave


way to the public and political state religion of Constantine. [2]


The sorry state of today's Judaism should provide moderate Muslims poor


cause for optimism. Not much middle ground separates the Jewish orthodox,


who attempt to live by the medieval interpretation of Jewish scriptures, and


secular Jews, who find themselves everywhere at the cutting-edge of social


experimentation.


With its 139 major denominations, America's protean form of Christianity


might seem least likely to succeed. In reality, its superficial weakness


reveals underlying strength, for American Christians are immune to the


blandishments of mere "Christendom" (Soren Kierkegaard's dismissive term for


social habit), and better prepared to take the leap of faith. American


Christianity is by its nature born-again, evangelical, disruptive, an


unending moment of self-conversion.


Jews and Christians had centuries to accomplish the transition from public


and political religion to private and communal religion, whereas


circumstances press moderate Muslims to do this on the spot. The two older


religions did so under duress, chaotically, and with limited success.


Whether Islam can make such a transition at all remains doubtful. There is


an element of truth in Michael Novak's attempt to portray St Thomas Aquinas


as a democrat. Human freedom flows from the Judeo-Christian concept of


divine love, as Aquinas wrote:


Divine providence extends to all things. Yet a special rule applies where


intelligent creatures are involved. For they excel all others in the


perfection of their nature and the dignity of their end; they are masters of


their activity and act freely, while others are more acted on than acting.


They react to their destiny by their own proper activity, that is by knowing


and loving God, whereas other creatures show only some traces of this


likeness ... To begin with, rational creatures are governed for their own


benefit, whereas other creatures are governed for the sake of men. Men are


principals, not merely instruments. [3]


No such concept of divine love and the ensuing sovereignty of the individual


can be found in Islam. Love constrains the Judeo-Christian God, but not


Allah. "The God of Mohammed," wrote Franz Rosenzweig, "is a creator who well


might not have bothered to create. He displays his power like an Oriental


potentate who rules by violence, not by acting according to necessity, not


by authorizing the enactment of the law, but rather in his freedom to act


arbitrarily" (see Oil on the flames of civilizational war, Dec 2, 2003).


It is not clear where the present crisis will lead. A few European


politicians are demanding harsh measures to suppress Islamist radicalism.


The German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg's cultural minister, Annette Schavan,


proposes that a law to compel Muslim clergy to preach exclusively in German,


while the interior minister of Brandenburg, Joerg Schoenbohm, wants to take


away the citizenship of "hate preachers".


On the other hand, the Netherlands' justice minister, Piet Hein Donner, has


proposed to enforce a 1932 law against blasphemy to prevent future insults


to Islam. The proposal is astounding, for no Christian country has penalized


blasphemy of the most extreme variety in two generations. Would the


anti-blasphemy rule apply to scholarly demonstrations that alternative


variants exist of the Koran, or to linguistic arguments that the Koran has


been mistranslated (eg, Professor Christoph Luxenberg's claim that the


"seventy-two virgins" awaiting martyrs in Paradise really are white


raisins)?


The tragedy will continue to unfold, and at a faster pace. Jews and


Christians have learned to accept humiliation. God's love for the individual


soul remains valid despite worldly reverses, and failure in the temporal


realm provides cause for self-evaluation. Humiliation is intolerable to


Islam; Allah sets the spin of every electron around every nucleus by a


discrete act of will, and reverses in the temporal world challenge Islam's


promise of success.


The logic of events offers nothing to Muslims but humiliation. The


re-elected administration of US President George W Bush has put into action


a two-pronged attack, destroying the Sunni resistance in Fallujah and


neighboring cities, while holding a gun to the head of Iran in order to


forestall the emergence of a greater Shi'ite opposition, just as I predicted


(Bush, Marshal Foch, and Iran, Sept 21). Not a whimper of protest arose from


the Europeans, whose undivided attention was focused on the van Gogh affair


and its implications. The ground will continue to erode beneath the feet of


moderate Muslims, the constituency upon whom the White House placed its best


hopes.

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  Trouble In The Holy Land
Posted by: Deen - 11-23-2004, 06:51 PM - Forum: Current Affairs - No Replies


TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND


Pollard: Israel groomed


jailed terrorist to head PA


'They want to trade me for a murderer,' says Israeli spy of Sharon government


Posted: November 20, 2004


10:54 p.m. Eastern


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article....RTICLE_ID=41570


By Aaron Klein


© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com


Israel has been grooming convicted killer Marwan Barghouti to become the next Palestinian Authority leader, holding a series of clandestine meetings with him, incarcerated Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who media reports claim may be part of a prisoner exchange involving Barghouti, told WorldNetDaily.


Israeli officials said last week they may release several jailed Palestinians as a "goodwill gesture" toward the future PA leadership. There have been a few reports that Barghouti, who was recently sentenced in Israel to five life terms for planning gun ambushes and a suicide bombing, may be considered for release, but Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is said to have rejected the idea. Reports list Barghouti as the widely favored candidate for PA president.


Even with Jerusalem officially dismissing the possibility of releasing Barghouti, Israeli Interior Minister Avraham Poraz speculated last week, "We are looking for a partner for the Gaza withdrawal. It seems that this will have to include releasing prisoners ... [perhaps even] including Barghouti."


Israel's Army Radio also quoted unnamed Israeli officials speculating Barghouti could be released.


Barghouti is serving multiple life terms for his role in the killings of four Israelis and a Greek monk. Israeli security sources also tell WorldNetDaily Barghouti was one of the architects of the current intifada, the terrorist war waged on Israel after Arafat, at Camp David in 2000, turned down an offer of a Palestinian State in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.


Pollard's name has been publicly mentioned as a possible "American gesture" in a three-way prisoner exchange that would release Barghouti, allowing him to run in PA elections, and could also involve Egypt releasing imprisoned Israeli textile engineer Azzam Azzam.


But in an explosive development, Pollard, who today begins his 20th year of incarceration at the U.S. federal prison in Butner, N.C., for spying for Israel, has composed a speech to be delivered on his behalf in Jerusalem at a demonstration rally planned for later today. It states Israel has held clandestine meetings with Barghouti throughout the Palestinian leader's imprisonment, and has been grooming Barghouti as a candidate to succeed the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat.


In the speech, obtained in advance exclusively by WorldNetDaily, Pollard claims, "Officially Israel insists it will never free Marwan Bargouhti. He is a murderer sentenced to multiple life sentences. Freeing him, they claim, would undermine the rule of law. Unofficially, sources, including one very close to the prime minister, admit that Israel has been grooming Barghouti in prison to be the next leader of the Palestinian people."


Pollard says that "when news of the proposed three-way deal broke, my close contacts began to investigate, and learned important things from reliable sources in the U.S. and Israel."


"It is an open secret in Israel that top officials have been secretly meeting with Barghouti throughout his incarceration. He is taken out of his prison cell and brought to clandestine locations for these meetings, to enlist his help in promoting various initiatives with the Palestinians, such as cease fires. These secret sessions are part of the 'grooming' process," says Pollard.


Pollard says sources told his contacts that Israel, not the PA or Barghouti's military Tanzim, leaked the story last week about Pollard and the talks aimed at putting together the three-way swap for Barghouti's release.


"Officially, Israel reviles Barghouti and dismisses any possibility of releasing him. Unofficially, Sharon’s Government and his closest people believe Barghouti is someone that they can work with, someone who can control the Palestinian street. They see him as someone who can unite the warring factions among the Palestinian militias and hold them in check."


Pollard says sources told him Israel has been supplying positive material to the media about Barghouti.


"More than just whitewashing Barghouti, Israel is seeking to create the impression that there is such popular support amongst the Palestinian people for Barghouti that it cannot be resisted or denied. This is an attempt to create an atmosphere where the U.S. feels it must step in and direct events. The Americans can then 'force' Israel to release Barghouti, and Israel can do so with 'clean hands,'" says Pollard.


Pollard says Arab public opinion prevents Israel from releasing Barghouti outright, and has resulted in Israeli officials seeking Pollard's release.


"Israel must make it appear that it is being forced to free Barghouti, and that a high price has been paid for his release. Unless Israel gains something very valuable in return for Barghouti, the Palestinian 'street' will consider him a traitor, a collaborator, an Israeli stooge; his credibility will be zero and his life in danger," says Pollard.


"There are not many high-priced bargaining chips left, and fewer yet, of great value that won’t cost the Palestinians anything. They want to use my release as that chip."


Pollard says he is "completely opposed" to the possibility of being released from prison in a deal that would also release Barghouti, whom he refers to as "a mass murderer of Jews."


"I have always been opposed to gaining my freedom in exchange for the release of murderers and terrorists. My position has not changed. I deserve to be released because my sentence is unjust and because the U.S. has promised my release on more than one occasion, including a commitment by the president of the United States at the Wye Summit in 1998."


"Unfortunately, nothing I say about my own unwillingness to have any part in such a morally degenerate scheme will make any difference. The government will do whatever it must, to get what it wants, regardless of what I or anyone else may say or do."


Barghouti has been arrested several times, including a four-year stint that began in 1978 for planning terror attacks against Israelis. He was arrested again in 1985 before being deported to Jordan in 1987, where Israel says he played a key role in starting the first Palestinian intifada.


Barghouti was among hundreds of Palestinian deportees allowed to return to the West Bank upon the signature of the Palestinian-Israeli interim Oslo peace accords in 1993. But Israel says he continued to plot several Palestinian attacks, and was instrumental in the founding and supporting of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a terrorist group that carried out several suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.


Denying his involvement with the Aqsa Brigades after his arrest, Barghouti nevertheless praised some of the group's operations that involved attacks on Israeli military targets, but claimed from his prison cell that he opposed suicide bombings against civilians.


In the speech, Pollard quotes a book recently released by former U.S. envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross, who played a key role in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in which Pollard's release was reportedly pledged, as evidence of "the way the U.S. has made me into a high-priced political pawn."


In the book, "The Missing Peace," Ross writes that at the 1998 Wye River Summit President Clinton asked him if freeing Pollard would be important to Israel. "Yes," Ross writes he replied, "because he is considered a soldier for Israel and there is an ethos in Israel that you never leave a soldier behind in the field."


Ross added: "I also said I was in favor of [Pollard's] release, believing that he had received a harsher sentence than others who had committed comparable crimes. I preferred not tying his release to any agreement ..."


But, Pollard says, "no sooner does Ross acknowledge the injustice of my sentence and that I deserve to be freed unconditionally, than he advises the president not to free me. Why? Because of my great value as a political asset and a bargaining chip."


Ross writes he cautioned the president against releasing Pollard until greater concessions from Israel could be secured during final status talks. "[Pollard's release] would be a huge payoff [for Israel]; you don't have many like it in your pocket ... You will need it later, don't use it now," writes Ross.


"By understanding Ross’ attitude towards me as an asset, not a person," says Pollard, "it becomes possible for the first time to understand Prime Minister Sharon's indifference towards me ... He too sees me as a political asset, and not as a human being."


"Sharon is apparently reserving me for a time that my release will be the fig leaf for some very, very dastardly initiative. Perhaps something as dastardly as enabling another mass murderer of Jews to become president of the PA, just as Israel once did for Yasser Arafat," says Pollard.


Pollard, a former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst, was convicted in 1985 of one count of passing classified information to an ally, Israel, and sentenced to life imprisonment in spite of a plea agreement that was to spare Pollard a life sentence.


Pollard's sentence is considered by many to be disproportionate to the crime for which he was convicted – he is the only person in the history of the United States to receive a life sentence for spying for an ally. The median sentence for this particular offense is two to four years.


Aaron Klein is WorldNetDaily's special Middle East correspondent, whose past interview subjects have included Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben Ami and leaders of the Taliban.

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  Iraq: The Sunni-shi'ite Power Play
Posted by: Deen - 11-23-2004, 06:49 PM - Forum: Current Affairs - No Replies


THE ROVING EYE


The Sunni-Shi'ite power play


By Pepe Escobar


Iraqis are not fighting one another - at least not yet: they are fighting


the occupying power, although with different strategies. After Fallujah,


this situation is about to change.


For the average Iraqi, Sunni or Shi'ite - and Americans underestimate Iraqi


national pride at their peril - there's no question: the current Sunni


resistance morally prevails, because they are Iraqis fighting an


invader/occupier. This means the US occupation in essence lost even before


it began. Defining the resistance as "anti-Iraqi forces" - as the Pentagon


does - is nonsense: they are a legitimate popular resistance movement, while


the US-trained Iraqi police are largely identified for what they are -


collaborationists doing the dirty work of Iraqification, the Mesopotamian


version of failed Vietnamization. Hundreds of these US-trained forces ran


away before the battle even started in Fallujah. No wonder: they were


resistance moles. And most of Mosul's police also defected.


The resistance is now spread out all over the Sunni heartland -


contradicting US marine talk that the assault on Fallujah "broke the back of


the resistance". Added proof that the resistance is indigenous is that of


more than 1,000 men between the ages of 15 and 55 who the Pentagon says were


captured in Fallujah - there's no independent confirmation; only 15 have


been confirmed as "foreign fighters", according to General George Casey, the


top US ground commander. And these "foreigners" are mostly Saudis,


Jordanians or Syrians, described by Iraqis themselves as "our Arab


brothers", members of the large Arab nation. The real "foreign fighters" in


Iraq are the Americans.


Anger in Sunni-dominated Baghdad has reached a fever pitch, as an Iraqi


physician told a radio station he has examined bodies of people who seem to


have died of banned chemical weapons: the bodies are swollen, are yellowish


and have no smell. Asia Times Online sources in Baghdad say that people in


Fallujah believe the Americans may have used chemical weapons in the bombing


of Jolan, ash-Shuhada and al-Jubayl neighborhoods. They also say the


neighborhoods were showered with cluster bombs.


The political war


The Sunni Iraqi resistance is battling a political war. For the mujahideen,


the stakes are clear: under the current US-imposed situation, the Shi'ites


will be in power after elections scheduled for January. Saif al-Deen


al-Baghdadi, a hardcore Sunni Salafi and top member of the resistance in


Mosul, has qualified the Iyad Allawi government as representing "the


fundamentalist right wing of the White House and not the Iraqi people".


Apart from the "clash of fundamentalisms" implicit in this observation, the


fact is that for the resistance, softcore or hardcore, the Shi'ites are


being propelled to power by an alliance of fundamentalists - Washington plus


US-backed Allawi.


The Shi'ites are not doing enough to calm Sunni anger. When Shi'ite leader


Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani spoke out against the Fallujah offensive, it


was too late. In fact, the one who spoke was Sistani's top man in Karbala,


Ahmad al-Safi al-Najafi, who told thousands at the Imam Hussein Mosque that


Sistani viewed the assault on Fallujah as he viewed the assault on Najaf: he


favored a peaceful solution, he called for the withdrawal of "foreign


forces" (the Americans) and he condemned the death of innocent civilians.


The Sunni-Shi'ite divide is not monolithic. The powerful Sunni Association


of Muslim Scholars (AMS) - founded after the fall of Saddam Hussein - is


closely coordinating with the lumpenproletariat -based movement of Shi'ite


cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.


But events in Fallujah have set the political landscape on fire - with the


AMS urging all Iraqis to boycott the January elections. At the lavish


golden-and-marble Umm al-Qura Mosque in Baghdad - built by Saddam and


previously called "Mother of all Battles" - the AMS managed to rally 47


political parties, not only Sunni Islamist but eight Shi'ite parties, one


Christian, the Iraqi Turkmen Front and the Communist Party. Their joint


communique condemns the elections as "imposed by the US-backed interim


government and rejected by a clear majority of political and religious


powers"; stresses that "the US raids against Najaf, Karbala, Samarra, Mosul,


Baghdad and more recently Fallujah represent an obstacle to the political


participation in the occupied country"; and qualifies the attack on Fallujah


as "genocide". The whole idea comes from Sheikh Jawad al-Khalissi, a


Shi'ite, who is a descendent of one of the leaders of the 1920 revolt


against the British colonial power. In Iraq, history does repeat itself in


many ways.


The AMS is making it very clear to all Sunni Iraqis - and to all Iraqis for


that matter - that Fallujah had nothing to do with "stabilizing" the country


before elections, as the Pentagon and Allawi have claimed. And support for


the AMS is increasing fast, especially after the Americans arrested seven of


its leading members. On a parallel front, the Americans also arrested seven


aides to Sheikh al-Hasani, the leader of a splinter group of Muqtada's


movement. The popular response was swift: this past Wednesday more than


3,000 people demonstrated in front of the Green Zone in Baghdad demanding


their release.


To boycott or not to boycott?


What is Muqtada up to? Hashim al-Musawi, one of his top aides, told a crowd


in front of Kufa's mosque this week that they will also boycott the


elections because in Fallujah the Americans "violated all human values


enshrined in the Geneva Convention". This may be a diversionary tactic. Asia


Times Online contacts in Baghdad confirm that Muqtada is frantically


negotiating with Sistani: the crucial point is how many parliament seats


Muqtada will get if he joins a united list of all major Shi'ite parties in


the January elections. The Grand Ayatollah is putting all his efforts to


consolidate this list. And he is adamantly in favor of conducting the


elections on schedule.


The key question is how extensive a Sunni boycott would be. If the absolute


majority of Sunnis - up to 30% of the population - don't vote, plus some


Shi'ite factions, the elections have no legitimacy. The Kurds are also


extremely nervous. With a boycott, most of the 275 seats will be Shi'ite:


the Kurds would get around 30 - with no Sunni Arab allies to counteract what


many in Baghdad are already defining as the tyranny of a Shi'ite majority.


As for Prime Minister Allawi, his Iraqi National Accord is a mixed bag of


Sunni and Shi'ite ex-Ba'athists. Allawi does not want to be part of the


Sistani list. This may be a blessing in disguise for Iraqis, because in this


case Allawi may not even be elected to parliament: his little party has


scant popular legitimacy. And his "political capital" after Fallujah is


zero: not only did he authorize the massacre, but he installed martial law,


muzzled the press and exacerbated the inherent contradiction of his position


- how to behave as a strong leader when you depend on an occupying army.


It's important to note that not a single party - and especially the Shi'ite


parties - represented in Allawi's "cabinet" condemned Fallujah. Their


collective game is to blame the whole disaster on Allawi alone. But that may


not be enough to placate Sunni anger.


At the moment, with fighting in Fallujah still raging, and the resistance


hitting all over the heartland, this is how Sunni Iraq is reading what the


Americans say: If you fight us, we will kill you. And if you don't


participate in our elections, you go to jail. No wonder the resistance keeps


growing.


To stay or to go?


Imagine a Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi government next January having to face a


widespread Sunni guerrilla movement with only a ragged bunch of


guerrilla-infiltrated Iraqi security forces. Who're you gonna call? The


marines?


The Sistani-blessed government may ask the Americans to go. The Bush II


administration will obviously say no. The Sistani-blessed government may


launch selected raids against the resistance: not likely to break its back.


Moreover, in the eyes of most Iraqis, the Sistani-blessed government cannot


even afford to not ask the Americans to pack up and go. Sistani knows


Shi'ites are anti-occupation: nobody will tolerate a Sistani-blessed


government "protected" by an occupying army. Not to mention this would prove


the point now stressed by the Sunni resistance: the Shi'ites are allied with


American "fundamentalists".


This leaves an ominous prospect in place: an Iraqi Shi'ite, Sistani-blessed


government fighting a widespread Sunni guerrilla resistance in a bloody


civil war.

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  Reporter In Usa
Posted by: KeePtHeFaitH - 11-23-2004, 12:15 PM - Forum: General - Replies (10)

Hi. I m looking for Reporter in USA or UK. For real contact. I Prefer Non Muslim Reporter and with camara team....

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