Excerpted from a long, informative article in Jerusalem Post. Link is via Zogbyblog, which has lots of other good stuff, too...
The latest sign of [the Shiites'] determination came this past Saturday, when they published a petition signed by almost 500 business, cultural and social leaders of the community. Addressed to the crown prince, the petition calls on the government to create a national committee to propose "urgent measures" to remove all discrimination against Shi'ites and other religious minorities.
The petition refers to the "historic changes in the region" presumably meaning the war to liberate Iraq and urges the authorities to "adapt to new circumstances."
Or let the circumstances adapt the world around them...
Concentrated in the oil-rich province of al-Sharkiyah, Saudi Shi'ites form a good part of the kingdom's urban middle class. They are also strongly present in the liberal professions and the private business sector. And, yet, when it comes to public positions, Saudi Shi'ites shine with their absence. Of the top 400 government positions, only one undersecretary of state is held by a Shi'ite. Of the 120 members of the all-appointed Saudi parliament (al-Majlis al-Shura), only two are Shi'ites.
I'm surprised there are that many...
Worse still, the official theological organs of the state, exclusively held by clerics from the Hanbali Sunni school of Islam, publicly castigate Shi'ites as non-Muslims. Courts, controlled by the Hanbali clerics, do not admit testimony by Shi'ites. The same clerics have banned marriages between Hanbali Sunnis and Shi'ites, and declared all Shi'ite marriages as illegal.
Hanbali is yet another name for wahhabi. The treatment of the Shias sounds rather like the way the Paks treat the Ahmadiyah sect, only without as many random killings...
The Shiites counter by insisting that the Hanbalis, often wrongly known as Wahhabis, do not represent the overwhelming majority that they claim. "Saudi Arabia is a far richer mosaic of religious beliefs than many people imagine," says a Jeddah scholar on condition of anonymity. Apart from duodecimains (twelvers), who share the same beliefs as Iranian and Iraqi Shi'ites, there are Ismaili (sevener) Shi'ites a majority in the Najran area and Zaydi Shi'ites of Yemeni origin all over the kingdom.
I'm aware of some of the differences between the Ismailis and the Iranian flavor of Shiism. I don't know anything about the Yemeni version, except that it exists...
But even the Sunni majority, some 70% of the population, is not monolithic. Hanafi and Shafei Sunnis are probably a majority in the Red Sea provinces of the kingdom. The situation has become more complicated because many heterodox individuals, and at times whole villages and towns, practice taqiyah or dissimulation to escape persecution and discrimination by the majority.
Kind of like Arabian Moriscos...
Saudi state policy towards the Shi'ites has varied between benevolent neglect and active repression. The late king Faisal ibn Abdel-Aziz removed many restrictions against the Shi'ites in the 1960s and enabled them to benefit from state educational and health services. In the 1980s agitators dispatched from Iran tried to mobilize Saudi Shi'ites in support of a Khomeinist version of their faith. They failed.
Bad move on their part...
But their presence gave the hard-line Hanbali clerics a pretext for seeking new restrictions on Shi'ites. Some Saudi Shi'ites fled into exile, mostly to Iran and Britain. In 1987, however, King Fahd ibn Abdel-Aziz persuaded most of the exiles to return home in exchange for reforms in favor of the Shi'ites. With the rise of militant Hanbalism, one version of which is represented by the fugitive terrorist Osama bin Laden, Shi'ites, including Ismailis and Zaydis, have emerged as the strongest supporters of the royal family.
Given the alternative, a wise move, lacking anything better...
The rationale for their support is that if the al-Saudi dynasty is toppled, its place would be taken by fanatics like bin Laden, who publicly state that Shi'ites must either convert to Hanbalism, leave the country or face death.
Kind of the heart of the wahhabi philosophy: "Do what we say or we'll kill you."
Some radical bin Ladenists have used the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq as a pretext for fomenting violence against the Shi'ites. They claim that the Taliban regime in Kabul collapsed because Afghan Shi'ites, the Hazara and the Badakhshani, cooperated with the American "forces of invasion." They also blame the quick fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad on Shi'ites, a majority of the Iraqi population.
I notice they don't dwell on the ineptitude of the forces facing us in either case...
Some hard-line preachers told mosque congregations that the ultimate aim of the Shi'ites is "to destroy Muslim Arab states in the interest of the US, Israel and Iran." Such is the hatred of the Hanbali clerics for Shi'ites that they have issued an edict that humanitarian aid collected for Iraq should not be distributed among Iraqi Shi'ites. "Let the Shi'ites of Iraq be fed by their masters: America, Iran and Israel," thundered one radical Sunni preacher, Sheikh Utba Ibn Marwan, in a Riyadh mosque last week.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 08:24 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Saudi Arabia has encountered a new Al Qaida splinter group said to have directed a series of bombing attacks against Western targets in the kingdom. The Islamic group is called Al Muwahidoun and led by Saudi insurgents who fought with Al Qaida against the United States in the war in Afghanistan in 2001. Islamic sources said the group recruited Saudi nationals who had fled Afghanistan and returned to the kingdom over the last 18 months. Al Muwahidoun is led by three Saudi nationals intent on establishing a group that would focus on Saudi Arabia. The Saudis were identified as Ali Bin Khadir Al-Khadir, Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Fahd and Ahmed Bin Hamoud Al-Khaldi. On Tuesday, the three placed their names on a communique issued by a new Islamic faction called Al-Mujahidoun Al Jazeera, or the "Holy Warriors of the [Arab] Peninsula." Saudi officials have acknowledged Al Muwahidoun and said this was one of a series of Al Qaida splinter groups that emerged over the last year. The officials said Al Muwahidoun is believed connected to the Al Qaida cell of 19 insurgents being sought by Saudi authorities and believed responsible for the suicide bombing attacks on Western residential complexes on early Tuesday. Officials said 15 insurgents were involved in the attacks.
Don't know if it's an affiliate or just a work-alike. Since Qaeda did claim credit, I'd guess it's an affiliate or will be soon...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 11:10 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'd say an affiliate. Or maybe AQ is starting franchises.
Posted by: Kathy K ||
05/17/2003 19:10 Comments ||
Top||
Kuwait has heightened security measures at vital installations and compounds housing scores of foreigners as a precautionary measure amid reports some al-Qaeda groups are freely moving in the region. These sources told Al-Anba the Interior Ministry has issued directives to the State Security Department, the Criminal Investigation and the Special Police Patrols Departments to intensify security and surveillance measures around embassies, hotels, airline offices and residential complexes housing westerners, particularly American and British citizens, in addition to malls and commercial complexes. The sources added a relatively large number of security patrols have been deployed on the country's borders to foil attempts by terrorists to enter the country, especially those who are wanted by Saudi authorities, to infiltrate into Kuwait. The heightening of security measures in the country were put in place after recent terrorist attacks in Riyadh.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 10:23 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The time for action against anyone who supports the kind of terrorism perpetrated on Monday night in Riyadh is now. They have to be hit hard at the core of their organization to put an end to their malicious ideals that are based on violence and intolerance. At the same time, we have to face up to the root causes that have created this trend. By looking around us we can identify some of these causes.
We can, too. Let's see if we identify the same ones...
There are also less obvious causes that infest the impressionable minds of our youngsters. When an elementary grade child expresses glee and no sorrow at the loss of a non-Muslim life because his teacher told him that they deserve it and that they are going to hell anyway. When a college student treats expatriates in this country as if they were sub-humans, especially manual laborers and domestic helpers.
You mean raising your children on hatred, and maturing them into the idea they're part of a Master Race might make them into hateful, arrogant bastards who're content with the idea of slaughtering innocents to attain their ends? Good point.
When some misguided souls in the mosques preach a message of hate and prejudice against anyone who does not conform to their understanding of what a Muslim is and how they should dress and look. These kinds of exclusionary attitudes feed on the subliminal message that itâs OK to attack anyone who does not believe in the same things you do. Well, itâs not OK and enough is enough.
Agreed. Now let's see you stop it. You were planning on stopping it, weren't you?
Not to praise myself, but whenever someone attacks non-Muslims I always tell them that one of my dearest friends in the United States is a Christian. I have a better friend in her than in many of my Muslim friends. After our years in college we stayed in touch and continued sharing our times of happiness and times of grief. Does that make me less of a Muslim?
Oh, yasss... Some of my best friends are [fill in inferior class here]...
When I was asked about Islam while I was studying in the US, I answered that the best way to know about Islam is to read about the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), noting that he is the best example for all of us to follow. When the right time and place for me to speak up about Islam presented itself, I did so to the best of my ability without giving off- the-cuff edicts about things I didnât know or wasnât sure about it. I didnât try to persuade everyone I met to convert to Islam, but that doesnât mean I did not correct some of his or her misconceptions about Islam by educating myself first. The Prophet said that a Muslim can teach with his good behavior what a preaching, praying Muslim cannot. Iâm not surprised if non-Muslims who live here do not believe that Islam is a religion of tolerance, seeing how we are many times unfriendly toward them, disrespectful and arrogant.
Maybe it's something in the water. Or something in people's heads, injected at an early age. Cause -> Effect...
I also donât blame non-Muslims abroad for having a negative impression of Islam, seeing how some of us behave when we are in their countries. Muslims everywhere are having a tough time defending their religion, feeling helpless and oppressed, but itâs no excuse to resort to violence, which only creates more violence and friction.
If they didn't engage in mindless violence then they wouldn't have occasion to have to defend their religion, would they? Nobody would care...
What is happening to the Palestinians under the brutal hands of the Israeli occupying forces is a disgrace for all humanity and not just Muslims, and the Palestinians have every right to defend their land. The Afghansâ fight for liberation from the invading Russians was legitimate, and our support for the freedom of Iraq and other nations under any kind of occupation, injustice and torture is a duty. However, there is a big difference between that kind of fighting and the kind of terrorism we saw in Riyadh. What we, people of the world, need is to relate to each other on a humanitarian level, regardless of religious differences, political motivations and economic interests.
I'm confused. The Paleostinians are the foremost practitioners of suicide boomings. The Afghan Islamists are attempting a war of assassination and harrassment against the Afghan gummint. And the Chechen Islamists suicide boomed twice in the the past week, killing as many as were killed in Riyadh. Where's the difference? I don't see it, but the writer appears to. Maybe I'm just not smart enough — but then, I'm not an aherent of the Master Religion...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 10:18 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It's to late to stop the 'go booms'. Unless something like I said before happens. Blow up some Imans and prince's palaces, about 5 or 6 via airmail. Destroy their whole estate hopefully with them in it. Then deny doing it. The next day hit several more and deny it. Repeat as neccesary or until fully browned. I hate it, but these sickies are to dangerous and the Arab street needs to see that their leaders are losers.
#2
I'd have to agree with Lucky. The preachers of hate are allowed to continue spewing venom, directing attacks via fatwas. I saw Adel Al-Jubair on Fox doing the "we've done everything possible" song and dance last nite. Pitiful...and have you ever noticed how much he looks like Great Gazoo from the flintstones? Must be the giant cranium
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2003 12:21 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Lets see, "What we need is to relate to each other on a humanitarian level." I guess that means that we in the West turn a blind eye to the crazies and just hope that they get satiated before they get all of us? Maybe they all had bad childhoods and wet the bed until they were 15, so that makes it all OK. We'll just be patient and put up with the killings, maimings and pain and everything will be OK, because we are relating to each other.
#4
Frank G: You didn't read my comment last week, apparently. Adel looks like Atom Ant, especially when wearing his Saudi head dress. I don't know if the cranium is so big, as the rest of him is so miniatre. How 'bout it folks, any other suggestions? BTW, is Adel going to be on TV this Sunday morning?
Posted by: michael ||
05/17/2003 15:38 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Hey folks, c'mon. It's a POSITIVE thing that voices like this are being raised in Saudi Arabia. The writer is at least trying to get the SOME of the right message out. Is he saying everything we'd like to hear? No, but at least he's pointing out some of the real issues and wrongs in his part of the world.
That's progress and fairly courageous given where he's writing.
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
05/17/2003 16:41 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Michael - I can buy that. R McLeod - it's more important what the Princes do than what they say. A couple more need to have desert accidents while out on picnics, as well as the closing down of extremist mosques
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2003 17:24 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The princes and other fat-assed do nothings need to clean up their act now, but I am afraid that they are too rotted out on the inside to save themselves.
Maybe hugs all around will help, d'ya think?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/18/2003 0:25 Comments ||
Top||
Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed said yesterday that the authorities in the region have stepped up security to prevent any terrorist attacks against Americans in the city. âWe have taken the matter seriously,â the governor said commenting on a US State Department warning Americans of a possible attack in Jeddah. âSecurity agencies in Jeddah have intensified their preparations to the maximum after the malicious terror attack in Riyadh,â Prince Abdul Majeed told Asharq Al-Awsat. âGod willing, our country will be protected from terrorist plans. But we will deal with the situation very seriously.â Prince Abdul Majeed rejected all forms of violence and extremism. âWe will not allow anybody to terrorize peaceful people. The Riyadh incident has angered the whole world. Itâs a terrorist act. Itâs perpetrators will be given stiff punishment,â he said.
They haven't cut any holy men's heads off yet, though...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 09:58 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
If you haven't seen it, for some really interesting perepective check out the translation "Chirc is Not Talleyrand" on the Cinderalla Bloggerfella's blog. I couldn't find a way to link directly to the article, so you'll have to scroll down to read it. It's toward the bottom of the current page.
I think that it does offer some perspective on deVillepin's rather, in my opinion, DUMB moves of accusing the Whitehouse of running a disinformation campaign against the French. DeVillepin may think he's Talleyrand, but Talleyrand never had to deal with a "rude, unsophiscated American cowboy" so DeVillepin is, I think, just digging his hole deeper.
One way or the other, it's an article well worth reading.
Posted by: Ralph ||
05/17/2003 01:49 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Easy-Peasy to make a working link in blog*spot...try this:
The Romanian spy service said on Thursday that it averted terrorist attacks on Israeli and Western targets in Romania planned by Iraqi operatives before the war in Iraq.
Sammy's intel service had a nearly unbroken record of flubbing operations. That comes of picking people for their political reliability, rather than for talent...
The United States on Saturday confirmed a report that its facilities in Romania had been the target of Iraqi-planned terrorist attacks before the war, the embassy said Saturday. It did not detail the targets, but other Romanian officials said the US and the Israeli embassies were among them. Israeli Ambassador Sandu Mazor said he had been informed by the Romanian spy service about attacks on his embassy that were planned to take place during the Iraq war. According to the Romanian intelligence service, an Iraqi spy working under diplomatic cover was supposed to procure the weapons - AG-7 grenade launchers - to be used in the attacks. The attacks were to be carried out in the event of military action against Iraq. When the plans were uncovered in March, Iraqi agents were allegedly planning their plot, but the decision to attack was to be made at the Baghdad headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence services, the Romanian intelligence service said. Romanian authorities reacted at the time by declaring 10 Iraqi diplomats and 31 other people persona non grata, expelling some and barring others from entering the country.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 10:35 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Pakistani law enforcement officers arrested Friday, May 16, a group of alleged terrorists from southern city of Hyderabad on charges of links with Al-Qaeda, including its top computer expert who allegedly worked closely with Osama bin Laden. Safwan Ul Hasham was taken into custody from a Karachi-bound passenger bus near Hyderabad, a police spokesman told reporters. Later police raided an apartment in a nearby locality and recovered compact disks and other computer-related material and arrested ten companions of Hasham. Some of the arrested were said to be Arabs. Police sources said the confiscated material had undated video images of bin Laden. âIt appeared that Hasham was preparing a local language version of Osamaâs lectures to distribute among the followersâ a senior police officer told IslamOnline.net over the phone from Hyderabad. Hasham, a Saudi, was known to be Al-Qaedaâs top computer expert and was also in charge of intra organizational communications.
Surprised that he's a Soddy, huh?
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/17/2003 04:01 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The Turkish state is currently considering a "repentance law" aimed at Kurdish Freedom and Democracy Congress (KADEK), formerly known as Kurdistan Worker`s Party (PKK), guerrillas by offering reduced sentences to those who turn themselves in and denounce the cause. Responding to Turkeyâs attempt aiming to undermine the guerrillas amid U.S. and Turkish suggestions of ridding south Kurdistan of "terrorism", a statement was released by KADEK arguing that such a law would fail, like many similar limited amnesties before it. "The KADEK feels pride, not repentance, for half a century of struggle for freedom and democracy," the statement read.
Sounds like a "no" to me...
Arguing that the party was seeking to play a peaceful role in Turkish politics, the statement called for a complete amnesty and talks with Turkish authorities. "Our movement is not locked into worship of weapons ...Disarmament is possible through an amnesty as part of a democratic solution," it said.
... or it could be a "maybe." Perhaps we should negotiate?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 11:28 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Oh yes, let's negotiate:
KADEK: "Give us everything we want including control of the Kurd population, the SE portion of what you call 'Turkey', billions of dollars in 'reparations', pull your soldiers out, issue a formal apology, and have your top military commanders who oppressed us commit suicide."
TURKISH GOVT: "Go screw."
KADEK: "See, negotiations are useless! On with the Armed Struggle(TM)!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2003 12:10 Comments ||
Top||
General Kamal Mustafa Abdallah Sultan Al-Tikriti, former secretary general of Iraq's Republican Guard and a member of Saddam Hussein's inner circle surrendered today, US forces announced. He was placed in custody and figured high on the US list of most wanted Iraqis, Central command said. The general "surrendered to Coalition Forces early this morning in Baghdad," a Centcom statement said. He was the Queen of clubs in the US deck of playing cards distributed to troops to assist in the capture of leading figures in the regime ousted on April 9. The statement said the general was number 10 on the wanted list, but on the original list published by the US military last month he was number eight.
Secretary general of the Republican Guard, huh? Sounds pretty elite to me...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 09:51 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The statement said the general was number 10 on the wanted list, but on the original list published by the US military last month he was number eight.
I guess the list is like one of those restaurant plate holders... you remove a couple from the top and everybody else moves up.
#3
'After rehabilitation and release, General KMASAT plan to move to the United States and will most likely use his military experience as manager of an inner city convenience store. In other news...'
Posted by: Ned ||
05/17/2003 11:45 Comments ||
Top||
#4
He was Saddam's cousin, nice catch
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2003 12:40 Comments ||
Top||
The northern oil city of Kirkuk will become the latest community in Iraq to edge toward democracy next week when it installs a new municipal council, the U.S. military commander in the region said Saturday. The body will be elected by 300 community leaders chosen by U.S. authorities, said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division. They will elect 24 delegates to form a city council, along with six other members hand-picked by Odierno to represent the business community. A mayor and his deputy will be chosen by the council â subject to Odierno's approval.
Personally, I think Baghdad is going to be the last place to return to normality...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 09:43 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Baghdad will beat Tikrit by about a week.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/17/2003 11:52 Comments ||
Top||
EFL
Former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said last night that he expects to go to Iraq next week to become the head of the ministry of the interior for the Pentagon's reconstruction team. A White House spokesman said he was unable to confirm the appointment but added: "White House officials praised Kerik as a fine public servant and top-notch law enforcement officer." Sources said that Kerik, who served as police commissioner under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, was contacted directly by the White House to assume the law-enforcement job in Iraq. After New York City, Iraq should be a snap.
"I will be there at least six months - until the job is done," Kerik said. Kerik, who now works as an anti-terrorism expert for Giuliani's consulting firm - Giuliani Partners - rushed to the World Trade Center with the former mayor on Sept. 11, 2001, and was at the base of Tower Two when the second jetliner crashed into the skyscraper. OK, we can stop worrying about Iraqi lawlessness now. Not quite as brilliant as having Giuliani run the country, but it'll do.
It'll be awhile before we can stop worrying about Iraqi lawlessness. At the moment, it's a military problem, not a police problem.
Posted by: someone ||
05/17/2003 01:19 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Actually, Giuliani is already down in Mexico - they've got it as bad - so this is the best that could be done under these conditions. Ignore foreign/domestic criticism of "installing" him, round up as many of those 100,000 criminals given amnesty by Saddam last year as possible, and we've got it made :)
Posted by: Lu Baihu ||
05/17/2003 8:23 Comments ||
Top||
#2
watch out for those Mullahs: you do NOT want another Islamofascist state.
Train and arm the women and give them a sense of independance and basic civil rights. That will change the culture from the ground up.
#3
And let's make sure that the electricity and water systems are up to pre-war levels in Baghdad. Read a New York Post article the other day by John Foreman, and according to him, the combat troops are putting in 18 hours a day patrolling and nabbing perps. The Civil Affair guys, mostly reservists, are out of the office by 5 and unavailable until the next morning. The striking thing about the article is that the trigger men have so much empathy with the population, the guys who should don't.
I've never been in the military, but have known lots of retired guys, and the good, hardworking ones were the trooper kind and the assholes were the civil affair types. Let's not screw it up, guys.
Posted by: michael ||
05/17/2003 16:09 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I like the suggestion about training and arming the women and giving them a sense of independance and basic civil rights. Then turn them loose when they've got PMS, and get out of the way.
EFL
The U.S. executive selected by the Pentagon to advise Iraq's Ministry of Oil suggested today that the country might best be served by exporting as much oil as it can and disregarding quotas set by the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries. His comments offered the strongest indication to date that the future Iraqi government may break ranks with the international petroleum cartel. Enjoy, Prince Faisal.
"Historically, Iraq has had, let's say, an irregular participation in OPEC quota systems," said Philip J. Carroll, who formerly headed Royal Dutch Shell in the United States and now chairs a commission advising Iraq's oil ministry. "They have from time to time, because of compelling national interest, elected to opt out of the quota system and pursue their own path. . . . They may elect to do that same thing. To me, it's a very important national question." In an interview held in an anteroom off a cavernous ballroom at Saddam Hussein's former Republican Palace, Carroll also signaled that oil contracts signed under the old regime are now potentially void or subject to renegotiation. This is so enjoyable!
Hussein's government had an official policy of steering contracts for drilling services, joint production and machinery to companies based in France, Russia and China, whose governments tended to be more supportive of Iraq in the United Nations Security Council. Though Carroll did not single out any potentially imperiled contracts, he asserted that the old system of preferential treatment ended with the demise of Hussein. "There will have to be an evaluation by the ministry of those contracts and a determination of whether they were made in the best interests of the Iraqi people," Carroll said. "Certainly, where contracts are, shall we say, excessively beneficial to one party you know, like the French, and that party is not the Iraqi people, and there is a legal basis for not going forward, then I would expect that the ministry would want to have another look."
The Frenchies and the Russers saw this coming. I have no idea why they didn't avoid it, though...
Carroll stressed that his first priority is resuming enough production of oil, gasoline and cooking fuel to relieve painful domestic shortages. Questions about Iraqi exports and the country's participation in OPEC remain moot for now. Sanctions continue to bar sales of the country's oil abroad, except under a U.N.-governed program that allows exports to pay for food. And analysts say it may be more than a year before there is enough oil produced for export to even reach OPEC quotas. But Carroll also echoed one of the chief goals of the Bush administration — returning Iraq to its prewar export capacity as soon as possible to fund reconstruction. And to hell with the Oil-for-Palaces program then.
Flows of Iraqi oil to the world market unconstrained by OPEC quotas could further erode the cartel's already limited ability to set prices and might even trigger price wars, eating into the profits of its member countries. Such an outcome would surely delight the Bush administration as well as buyers of gasoline in the United States. With that in mind, commentators — particularly in Europe — have contended that the real purpose of Bush's war in Iraq was to put in place a government that would break OPEC. No, but it's a delightful side-effect.
Carroll repeatedly rejected suggestions that he is an instrument of any such policy. "In the final analysis, Iraq's role in OPEC or in any other international organization is something that has to be left to an Iraqi government," he said. "Who will listen carefully."
Already, officials within the oil ministry — now supervised by U.S. forces — are actively considering pulling Iraq out of OPEC and exporting as much crude as possible to maximize revenue once the oil fields have returned to full capacity. Asked about those talks, Carroll said: "That is a very good debate for Iraqis to have and I think they ought to do what they believe to be in their national self-interest." Iraq's oil production historically has comprised 90 percent of its economy while bringing in nearly all of its foreign exchange. That flow of oil and money is needed more than ever, Carroll said. "I do believe the assertion that Iraq is going to need every bit of financial wealth that it can lay its hands on," he said. If that means undercutting the Saudis and the Russians, well that's just too bad, eh?
Carroll's advisory board is today in fledgling state, counting only himself as chairman and his assistant, Fadhil Othman, a longtime official at Iraq's oil export agency. But as Carroll fills the board with others from the industry, financial experts and lawyers, he plans to embark on a series of studies to help the ministry set policy. Among the key questions the ministry will confront is whether to break up the state oil empire and put some of its pieces into private hands. All options, from maintenance of the old system to complete privatization, will be on the table, he said. Set up a trust like the one in Alaska.
Carroll was careful to avoid endorsing any particular structure, but he warned of the pitfalls of maintaining a system dominated by the ministry and the state companies. "Highly centralized models are not always as efficient as they should be," he said. "They are prone to corruption. They tend to be more prone to the government seeing them as a cash cow for funds for other purposes."
Kind of like what Sammy had... Matter of fact, exactly like what he had.
Still, Carroll also suggested that an overly aggressive privatization would risk putting the oil companies "in the hands of a few people, so that the nation receives little or no benefit, but all of a sudden you get instant billionaires." Yep. Set up the trust and put the money in the hands of the people there. They'll know what to do.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2003 01:06 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Do I hear ten dollars a barrel? How 'bout nine? O.K. eight, eight, who'll give me eight?
Posted by: Scott ||
05/17/2003 1:30 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Before the war started when people were asking who was going to pay for it? I pointed out that OPEC would through lower prices. Even at $20 a barrel payback time on the (financial) cost of the war is about a year.
Unfortunately and this has been totally ignored by the 'This war is about oil' crowd, the UK and Australia are net oil exporters, and will pay dearly for their principles.
Posted by: Phil B ||
05/17/2003 2:48 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Alberta has a good system too.
However, looking on the bad side, when the price of oil drops, it becomes unprofitable for many US Domestic producers (and the Russians) to pump the stuff out of the ground.
And this war was all about ooooooil? I'm sure some of Dubya's oilpatch pals are wishing it WAS.
#4
US special forces along with Iraqi Republican military attacked Saudiu Arabia as part of the blueprint for peace in the region. Most aggree it should have happend sooner. The mullahs have cried for help from France but none, as yet, has appeared. Yemen has declared its border closed.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2003 12:54 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Republican Guards...against the Saudi Forces. Reminds me about Churchill saying that he'd say a few good words about the Devil in the House of Commons.
Posted by: Brian ||
05/17/2003 20:06 Comments ||
Top||
Saturday morning sports page. EFL.
In the cramped locker room, young men tugged on uniforms, liniment was heavy in the air, and a restless crowd could be heard rumbling in the bleachers above. Then came the pep talk that gave the impending game its glory and its significance. "This is not a game for you only, but for all of Iraqi sports," Raad Hamoudi, the Iraqi national soccer team's star goalkeeper of the 1980s, told his old team, Police, before it took the field in the first professional match in Iraq since the war ended. "I want you to forget the hatred and any vengeance you may have in your heart. I want you to think about the present and the future."
Many Iraqis experienced sport as national therapy as soccer returned today to a parched field in the troubled city of Baghdad. The match — between same-city rivals Police and Zawra, a historic name for Baghdad — suggested a small but symbolic step toward normality and a chance for Iraqis to experience fun outside the shadow of fear. Soccer's hold on the national imagination, at least among Iraqi males, had made it a focus of the former government under Saddam Hussein. The president made his elder son, Uday, a sort of soccer czar, and Uday carried out the task with sinister motivational techniques that haunted many of the players on the field today. Beatings and even torture awaited losing national teams, some of which have been the region's best over the years, and imprisonment was not an uncommon punishment for those who missed important penalty kicks. I'm just betting that Uday was the kid always selected last in pick-up soccer games.
But many Iraqis, weary of the slow pace of recovery in their capital, also valued today's match for nothing more than what it was — 90 minutes of escape under a searing sun. Only the U.S. armored personnel carrier standing guard just beyond the high wall detracted from what otherwise appeared to be an ordinary afternoon at the stadium. More than 50 professional soccer clubs play across Iraq, Police and Zawra likely the most prominent among them. The rivalry is akin to a Redskins-Cowboys matchup, but only about 8,000 people filled the scalding concrete benches today in a stadium with a capacity of more than twice that. Abas Rahim, a speedy 24-year-old left wing for Police, is one of Iraq's finest players. After returning home from 1997 Junior World Cup qualifying matches in South Korea, Rahim was jailed for 21 days. He was the team captain, as well as the tournament's most valuable player, and he was punished for the team's failure. Five years later, after trying to quit the team, Rahim missed a crucial penalty kick against the Union Club in Qatar. He was held captive in Hussein's Republican Palace for seven days, he recalled, blindfolded the entire time. Today, he played unafraid. "The best team will win today's match," he said. "But today it doesn't matter."
Fans, who for years heard stories about player torture following meaningless games, watched without what some described as shame, frustration and a fear of their own for the men on the field. Hamoudi, who returned from exile in Jordan a month ago after fleeing in 1993 because of what he said were threats on his life from Uday Hussein, is paying the Police players out of his own pocket. He told them today that the reemerging Iraqi national team has been invited to play in Saudi Arabia three months from now in a tournament that will pay the winner $1.5 million. "And, thank God, it will not go into Uday's pocket," Hamoudi told the team.
The game started slowly, players shaking off more than a month of forced rest, with three messy fouls occurring in the first minute. Then Police scored with a perfect shot from the right wing — and for a moment nothing else mattered as the crowd rose to its feet. "That," Karim said with a smile, "was a marvelous goal." Police went on to win, 2-1. Pehaps the GI's over there can teach the kids some baseball. That would do a lot of good.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2003 01:00 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Or Cricket. That would certainly help deal with Iraqis who have too much time on their hands.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/17/2003 1:17 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I was watching Fox last night and they had a feature about this Shiite muslim woman. Tall, dark and beautiful: talking about religion and women's rights.
Now I am not feminist, but I hope women like her have a say in the future of Iraq.
#4
I played soccer with the Panamanians when I was stationed down there in the late 1960's, and with the local Germans when I lived on the economy in Germany in the 1970's - before my back problems forced me to quit. Those people take the game seriously, with a capital "S"! Let a few of the Army units set up a "peewee" soccer league, provide shoes and uniforms, provide a playing field free of mines, and they'll be our friends for life! Baseball and football may be nice, but soccer is an alternate religion!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/17/2003 12:06 Comments ||
Top||
#5
OP, excellent idea. You're right, soccer is the official alternate religion in most parts of the world. Youth soccer sponsored by the US/UK forces would be a major PR score. Do it quietly and make it look as though "hey, we like soccer too, we're just trying to help out a little", and local noses won't get out of joint.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2003 12:15 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Cricket? Do we want to lose the country!? The war was to remake Iraq in our image, that means it's time for baseball. Case in point, Japan.
Posted by: Brian ||
05/17/2003 20:08 Comments ||
Top||
The Philippine president authorized the military Saturday to use bombing and artillery attacks on terrorist cells in the southern region of Mindanao.
'Bout damned time!
In a live television address just hours before leaving for a visit to the United States, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said local governments had been warned of possible terrorist reprisals and relief agencies were on alert. Arroyo did not name the targeted groups, but communist guerrillas, the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Abu Sayyaf militant group are all active in the region.
I think I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the two are one...
"Today I authorize the Armed Forces of the Philippines to employ selective aerial and artillery attacks to dislodge embedded terrorist cells that have attacked hapless civilian communities and murdered scores of innocent Filipinos in Mindanao," Arroyo said. Arroyo said the "extraordinary punitive force" was to show her government's determination "to bring terrorists to justice." The announcement comes a week after a bomb exploded at a crowded market in the southern Philippine city of Koronadal, killing at least nine people and wounding 41. A rash of bombings and other attacks in the south, home to a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency, has left more than 210 people dead so far this year.
Where there is Islam, there are explosives. I hope Tom Ridge realizes that...
"We've seen that terrorism strikes anywhere, anytime, from the remotest barangays (villages) in Mindanao to the capitals of the world. The world in the post-Iraq war period has achieved greater strategic stability, but this has driven militant cells to deeper desperation," Arroyo said. The government has given the Moro Islamic Liberation Front until June 1 to renounce terrorism and turn over rebels responsible for the most recent attacks. The Abu Sayyaf, notorious for beheadings, kidnappings and other attacks, operates in the south and is to be the target of a six-month counterterrorism training exercises by U.S. forces that could start as early as next month. The group is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, and there has been recent talk of adding the designation for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
I think that'd be a really good idea...
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has denied any terrorist links. The group's spokesman Eid Kabalu has said such a declaration would mean "the government is closing its door to the peace process and (intends to) pursue a military solution."
Oh, no! Don't pull the plug on the peace processor!
"Then we have to defend ourselves at all costs," Kabalu said Wednesday. "It will be a bloody war."
What the hell has it been up until now?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 12:32 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I hope it works, but it is set up to fail.
The intel guys will screw up and the airdales will bomb a bunch of innocent civilians.
Then the guerillas will recall that page in the manual describing how to deke the intel guys into bombing civilians.
It's an old script.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
05/17/2003 16:36 Comments ||
Top||
Link is courtesy of Pejman...
Morocco arrested 27 suspects on Saturday in connection with suicide bombings that killed 41 people, and President Bush issued a fresh wake-up call to the world that al Qaeda remained a danger. Three French nationals, two Spaniards and an Italian were reported killed in the second major attack within a week on an Arab kingdom with historically close ties to the United States. "The acts perpetrated in Casablanca are the work of blind international terrorism. Morocco is determined to punish terrorist acts without mercy," said Hassan Aourid, a spokesman for Morocco's King Mohammed. A senior government source told Reuters: "Twenty-seven Islamists were arrested in police raids in Casablanca today in connection with the attacks."
"LeGume!"
"Yes, Inspector!"
"Round up the usual suspects!"
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the apparently coordinated nature threw suspicion on Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Some attackers made direct raids, but other blasts were triggered by car bombs. "The doorman, poor thing, they cut his head off... with a big knife... then they left one, two bombs," said an official at the Casa de Espana club, popular with Spanish businessmen and diplomats. Spain backed the U.S.-led war on Iraq. "Inside there was.... flesh all over the place," the official said. Club steps were covered with pools of congealed blood.
Cut the poor guy's head off â that's definitely Islamists.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 09:05 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
The Security Council has demanded an end to a wave of killings in northeastern Congo and urged Secretary-General Kofi Annan to try to round up troops for an emergency international force.
"Here, you! Stop that! Kofi, make them stop!"
Annan sent a letter Friday asking the council to approve the speedy deployment of "a highly trained and well-equipped multinational force" to the town of Bunia, which has been at the center of the ethnic violence. He expressed concern that "the rapidly deteriorating situation" would worsen and have serious humanitarian consequences.
Yes, by Gawd! Send a letter! To the Security Council! That'll do it!
The secretary-general has already asked France to lead the force and provide a battalion with up to 1,000 troops. But Paris won't accept unless other nations join and the deployment is for a limited period. Council diplomats said Annan has asked about 20 countries for troops and some indicated they were prepared to contribute, including South Africa and Angola. Pakistan's U.N. Ambassador Munir Akram, the current council president, said the council hopes to have a clearer idea about troop contributions early next week. Then, a resolution authorizing an emergency force would be drafted, and hopefully be approved later in the week, he said.
Dontcha love it when they only take a week or two to deal with an "emergency"? They're fixin' to get ready to discuss having a meeting about making plans to do something...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 12:57 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"an emergency international force"
And we get to pay the bill for it.
At least I don't see any signs that the US will be sending our boys and girls to participate in this particular Parade of Futility.
"Annan has asked about 20 countries for troops"
Ever see 20 monkeys try to screw a football?
Watch this deployment.
#2
This will go as expected: a total failure. It will point out even better the vast gulf between the French, et al., and the US/UK: we get stuff done, and they don't. Over time that's going to leave an impression in the Third/Developing World -- if you want stuff done, you'd best talk to the folks who know how.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/17/2003 22:41 Comments ||
Top||
A high-level North Korean official engaged in raising secret funds for Kim Jong Il is hiding in the United States after requesting political asylum there, South Korean media reports said Saturday. Kil Jae Gyong, 69, vice director of Kim's secretariat, sought asylum to avoid punishment for a failed drug trafficking attempt. "Kil and two of his assistants have recently asked Washington to allow them political asylum and they are in a safehouse in the United States or a place controlled by the United States," the source was quoted as saying.
It was either that, or the one-round splitting headache...
Analysts said Kil's defection and the information he may reveal could trigger tough U.S. measures to crack down on North Korea's narcotics trafficking, which earns hard currency for the communist regime. Kil, one of Kim's closest aides, is expected to give U.S. intelligence officials an unprecedented insight into the channels of North Korea's drug smuggling and counterfeiting of U.S. currency. Kil has been involved in raising secret funds for Kim since the early 1990s, mainly through drug smuggling and making fake U.S. dollars, intelligence officials said. In 1976, as ambassador to Sweden, Kil was expelled on suspicion of drug trafficking. He was expelled from Russia in 1998 when he was caught trying to use counterfeit U.S. notes with a face value of $30,000.
I think he was thrown out of Paraguay for holding up a liquor store...
A North Korean cargo ship with its crew of 26 have been held in Australia since April 20 on charges of smuggling 110 pounds of pure heroin worth $46 million. The Australian government has said an official of the North Korean regime had been aboard the state-run freighter, Pong Su. It was not immediately clear whether the official was Kil, but diplomatic sources said he had masterminded the drug trafficking attempt.
"If I defect, will you take the cuffs off me?"
"We'll think about it."
"You won't send me back to Paraguay, will you?"
Kil's defection came amid media reports that Kyong Won Ha, who has been described as the father of North Korea's nuclear program, has recently defected to the United States. Up to 20 North Korean nuclear scientists and military officers have also reportedly sought asylum.
Getting crowded out here, isn't it?
A 45-year-old son of Yom Ki Su, a high-level official of the North's ruling Workers' Party in charge of personnel administration, also recently defected during an official trip to a third country, Yonhap said.
That's gotta be hard on old Pop...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 12:47 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This is all good news and seems to reinforce the desperation aspect of Kimmie's behavior - the economy, such as it is, must be on life support.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2003 13:08 Comments ||
Top||
#2
This guy's a real sleaze ball, which probably explains why he was close to Kim jong-il. Coincidentally, when he was caught with the funny money in Russia, he was on a mission to import luxury caviar into North Korea. Just what a starving country needs, isn't it. Sick bastards, this bunch.
Posted by: The Marmot ||
05/17/2003 14:13 Comments ||
Top||
#3
With all these reported drug deals and conections in South America, what are the chances that the Panama Canal operated by the ChiCom's is being used as a free port or traffic depot for all kinds of bad guy operations? Since I've been reading RB it seems all the little pieces are pointing to a coordinated effort between Us & Them and there seems to be a lot of Them.
DUBAI - The time has come to "globalise the jihad", a senior leader of the Islamic fundamentalist Salafi movement in Morocco told a magazine published Friday, the same day suicide attacks rocked Casablanca.
"After September 11 (2001), the jihad (holy war) has become open everywhere," Abu Seif al-Islam, whose movement is considered sympathetic to terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, told the Saudi-owned weekly Al-Majallah referring to the suicide hijackings in the United States. Asked about the possibility of bin Laden's group al-Qaeda striking against Jews in Morocco, Abu Seif replied: "Morocco is at the heart of the conflict because it is impossible to target the 'Crusaders' in their homes and to exclude Morocco".
"Henceforth the battle is global. I think that when the conditions are right the al-Qaeda organisation will not hesitate" to hit Morocco. "The current tendency is not to let the enemy feel safe anywhere he may be," Abu Seif added, recalling that "the Sheikh bin Laden named Morocco in his last message."
"See? We had to do it. Binny told us to..."
In a February message attributed to the al-Qaeda leader threats were made against the North African kingdom. "Muslims must mobilise to free themselves from the yoke of apostate regimes subject to America," bin Laden purportedly said, naming Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen as candidates for liberation.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 12:05 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This bastard says:
"...don't let the enemy feel safe anywhere he may be."
Let's learn from our enemy.
They must be treated in the same way Simon Wiesenthal took (He just decided to retire last week)care of the nazis: they must be sure they will be hunted forever, everywhere. Forever, everywhere.
FoxNews reports that one Israeli has been killed and one injured in Hebron as Sharon and Abbas are to meet. The bomber walked up to a IDF soldier, who told him to stop, whereupon the boomer exploded.
FOLLOWUP, from AP...
A Palestinian suicide bomber disguised as an observant Jew blew himself up in a West Bank square crowded with Israeli settlers Saturday, killing himself and an Israeli man. The attack came just two hours before a planned meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, the first such summit since the outbreak of fighting 31 months ago. Another Israeli was in critical condition, paramedics said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's attack in the divided West Bank city of Hebron. However, Palestinian militias have said they would try to sabotage a U.S.-backed peace plan that calls on Abbas to disarm militants.
I think we can pretty well guess who dunnit. I'll either be Hamas, Islamic Jihad or al-Aqsa, or a combination of two out of three. Since Abbas could be on the verge of making Yasser look like the ineffective thug he is, I'd say al-Aqsa will be involved, wholly or in part. Hamas, seeing the prospect of the PA taking baby steps toward acting like a government instead of a cabal, would be my guess for the second party involvement...
Israeli military officials said the assailant apparently was disguised as an observant Jew. As he stood in Gross Square, near Jewish settler enclaves in downtown Hebron, he aroused the suspicion of Israeli soldiers patrolling there. When troops approached the suspect, he ran toward a group of settlers and blew himself up. The bomber and an Israeli man were killed.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 11:54 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Think I'm getting closer to that $20 payoff Alaska Paul..heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2003 13:09 Comments ||
Top||
Plans by Israelâs government to allow Jews to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem âwill, if put into effect, practically trigger a holy Islamic war  jihad itself  until the mosque and the city are liberated from Jewish occupation,â Grand Mufti Mohammed Rasheed Qabbani said Thursday. He added in a statement that claims by Jews that their ancient temple existed where the mosque is âare unfounded.â
Is there anything that doesn't trigger jihad? Think hard, now...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 11:46 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
These islamonazis are just stupid. We are already at war with them, all over the world, and every week they say that IF we do this or that or IF Israel does this or that they WILL declare a jihad...Maybe they have a collective Helzheimer...they have already declared it, they have already tried to destroy Israel with five or six wars (all lost), they have attacked us, we are at war...they are so stupid that they think they can scare us with a threat of something that is already happened?
I am disgusted to have enemies that are so stupid.
#2
I guess this means if the Jews DON'T pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque then there won't be war and we can expect peace in the Middle East. All this time, and the answer was right there in front of us all.
#3
...Well, the fact that the website is based out of Beirut should be something of a give away.
More worrisome tho is the fact that the way the Paleos think, 'the plan' (which I will bet you dollars to donuts doesn't exist anyways) will be turned into, "The Jews are coming to tear down Al-Aqsa and rebuild the temple - I read it in the Daily Star, so it muct be true!!"
Gawd, these people are idiots.
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/17/2003 21:40 Comments ||
Top||
Grand Ayatollah Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, denounced Friday this weekâs attacks in Saudi Arabia saying that, like the Sept. 11, attacks, they had harmed the international reputation of Islam.
We'd certainly not want to see that!
Fadlallah urged radical Muslim groups to avoid violence. Delivering the Friday prayers sermon in Al-Hassanein Mosque, Fadlallah said fanatical Muslim groups were causing problems for Muslims by targeting âcivilians who have nothing to do with their political objectives, as happened in America on Sept. 11 and as happened in Riyadh recently.â The Sept 11. attacks in the United States and the Riyadh bombings have led to âIslam being accused of terrorism and violence, and harmed Islam and Muslims,â Fadlallah told more than 2,000 worshippers.
It's not just that they've been accused of terrorism and violence...
Fadlallah accused fanatical Muslim groups of failing to consider the pros and cons of their attacks before they embarked on them. He said they should respect the Koran which lays down ârules for using violence against violence and determines when holy war may be launched to confront occupation.â
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 11:41 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I hope they listen to this guy.
Posted by: Cal Ulmann ||
05/17/2003 12:40 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Mullah Fudlullah is the spiritual founder of Hezbollah. He split with them a few years ago, and he's become more moderate lately. He's from Najaf, and I think he might have the idea of going back there.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2003 12:50 Comments ||
Top||
#3
This is like OJ Simpson complaining Scott Peterson has besmirched loving husbands (including ex's)
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2003 17:36 Comments ||
Top||
A Tehran prayer leader accused the United States Friday of wanting to undermine the Islamic beliefs of young Iranians by promoting drug use and sex.
Horrors! Oh, hold me, Ethel!
"The United States is seeking to undermine the Islamic beliefs of young Iranians by promoting the use of drugs and cigarettes, and encouraging girls and boys to have illicit relations," said Ayatollah Imami Kashani in a sermon at Tehran University. "The United States should know that every steps it takes to destroy other nations will backfire on itself. This circle has been historically proven," the former member of the conservative-dominated Guardians Council said. Iranian leaders often accuse the United States of promoting "corruption" among young people. Some 22 million of Iran's 65 million people are aged between 14 and 29, according to official figures.
Yasss... It's a well-known fact that we have elite doinking and beer-drinking squads roaming Iran, handing out cigarettes and Hustler...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 11:01 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Promoting sex among the young"
He means they wouldn't be interested if it weren't for us?
"Fatima, if you don't let me the Merkins will drop a JDAM on us... or maybe even two!"
Posted by: Matt ||
05/17/2003 12:28 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I guess the prayer leader was watching MTV.
Posted by: Cal Ulmann ||
05/17/2003 12:43 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Given that most of the people over 30 have been killed over the years by warfare and the puritanical "cleansing," the vast majority of the population are young, except for the clerics. So, yeah, the prayer leader probably was watching MTV. Why was HE watching? I've never seen a young Mullah, maybe he couldn't afford viagra?
#4
Don't any of you rememeber Kremlinology 101? The vice that the Politburo railed hardest against the United States for was the one that they themselves succumbed to and were battling most severely.
Therefore...draw your own conclusions on the morality of Iran.
Posted by: Brian ||
05/17/2003 19:47 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Speaking of Iran, I was recently pointed to an Iranian blogger's site that has been consistently interesting over the past two weeks.
He's a 20-something engineer. A bit younger than me, and I guess that by definition it's going to be particularly striking to me to see the differences in his life and mine, considering we're not quite so far apart...
Yemen and Iran Saturday signed a final statement which included a condemnation of terrorism in all its manifestations and sources. In the statement, both sides stressed the necessity of strengthening the international cooperation against terrorism in orderto bring it to a successful conclusion. President Mohammad Khatami, wrapping up a two-day official visit in the Yemeni capital, signed a final statement with the Yemeni side. In the statement, Yemen and Iran also expressed support for a declaration of the Middle East as a zone free of weapons of mass destruction and stressed the need for all countries to observe the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Picking up on the Syrian proposal, are they? Good propaganda move, and it positions them regarding the U.S. charges against them...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 10:51 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Could you have found this kind of rhetoric in the Arabian area prior to our war with Iraq? Who says there isn't something called "cause and effect"? I think the repercussions from Iraq's rapid demise are being felt heavily in the capitals of the Arab world... Somebody's sweating bullets over there!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/17/2003 11:48 Comments ||
Top||
A gunny guerrilla loyal to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was shot dead overnight in a Palestinian refugee camp, the latest in a series of attacks there. Two unknown gunmen fired 11 shots at Ibrahim Shreidi, a member of Arafat's mainstream Fatah movement, while he was shutting down his electronics shop in Ein el-Hilweh camp. Shreidi, 32, was killed instantly, the officials added.
"Instantly" as in, somewhere in the space of 11 rounds...
The motive for the killing was not immediately known. The violence is the latest in a series of cases of shooting and bombing in Ein el-Hilweh, the scene of a long-running power struggle between Arafat's Fatah group and militant Palestinian factions. The recent attacks appear to be connected to the March 2 killing of policeman Nazih Shreidi, a Fatah member, in the camp, which to 75,000 Palestinians. Ibrahim Shreidi was not closely related to Nazih Shreidi, the officials said.
I wonder how closely either of them was related to Abdullah Shreidi, the leader of the Usbat al-Nur nut group? All we see in this little tale is the occasional corpse; we don't see the ins and outs of the camp's internal Islamopolitix...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 10:42 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
just saw the Matrix, and 11 shots can take a loooong time lol
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2003 17:37 Comments ||
Top||
A senior Israeli security official told reporters Friday that Iran was largely responsible for the failure of Egyptian-led efforts earlier this year to have the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups agree to a cease-fire. Egypt had invited the militants to Cairo, urging them to halt attacks on Israel for a year. The official said Islamic Jihad is entirely dependent on Iranian funding, and that Hamas is increasingly relying on money from Tehran since a crackdown on Islamic militants following the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States.
The money's the key. It's not glamorous, but it's the key â no money, no arms, no ammunition, no explosives.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 10:29 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
A host of leading Muslim organizations in the U.S. are orchestrating a campaign to replace the "Judeo-Christian" phrase in describing the values and character that define the U.S. with a one that would not exclude its more than 8 million Muslim population, reported the Newhouse News Service. The change campaigners, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, American Muslim Alliance, the Muslim American Society and the American Muslim Council, stress it is high time for Americans to stop using the outdated phrase and replace it with "Judeo-Christian-Islamic" or "Abrahamic," in reference to Abraham (Ibrahim), the patriarch held in common by the three monotheistic religions.
Then we'd have to use the term "non-homicidal" when referring to just Christianity and Judaism...
Dr. Agha K. Saeed, founder and chairman of the American Muslim Alliance, a Fremont-based political group, underlined that "the new language should be used in all venues where we normally talk about Judeo-Christian values, starting with the media, academia, statements by politicians and comments made in churches, synagogues and other places."
Yeah, what the hell? Everybody else feels free to rearrange the language. Why not them, too?
U.S. President George W. Bush is always quick to add "mosques," when he mentions churches and synagogues. "These are not just let's-make-you-feel-good words," he said, asserting that "these are words that define how we're related to each other."
I thought he was just being polite...
Dr. Zahid Bukhari, vice president of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), says that an inclusive change of language could alter the perception that the U.S. as a Christian country is hell-bent on dominating Muslims in a modern-day crusade.
When the president shows up at a mosque for a foto-op and puts on a turban, I'm leaving for someplace else. I'm just not sure where, since the entire world seems to be infected with this "tolerance" silliness...
Sharifa Alkhateeb, president of the Washington-based Muslim Education Council, is quick to assert, "What we call Western culture is in fact based on Muslim Middle East culture, but the average American doesn't know that."
Well, I must be ignorant and certainly must be average, since the idea never even occurred to me. All this time I thought the Song of Roland and the Siege of Vienna were significant events in our history â where our fairly ignorant and brutal ancestors kept out the forces of even more ignorance and brutality, so that our society could mature while the other side's stagnated...
"We believe we're going to heaven and God's going to roast you infidels' stomaches in hell. We believe in several of the Ten Commandments, except the ones about killing people, coveting, telling lies, and that sort of thing. And we only do good deeds for Muslims, 'cuz why waste the money?"
"Islamic values are not only compatible with American values, they're almost identical. I personally believe the most Islamic country in the world is America, where we believe in freedom of religion, freedom of the press and equality of all."
"Gentle reader fwowed up..."
The call for new terms, which shows that words carry huge symbolic importance for Muslims trying to find their role in America after Sept. 11 and the Iraq war, has its proponents and opponents. The campaign is significantly backed by non-Muslim organizations, including the head of the National Council of Churches.
Oh, dear! Oh, golly! Wotta surprise!
Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the council, which represents 36 Christian denominations, said he prefers "Abrahamic" to "Judeo-Christian-Islamic" because it "rolls off the tongue a little easier."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 09:39 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
yeah, why not judeo-christian-buddhist-zoroastrian-hindu-shinto-atheist-islamic values?
Come off it, Western Society was built on Judeo-Christian ethics as promoted by the Roman Empire and developed by the English over a few hundred years.
It has nothing - NOTHING - whatever in common with Islamic philosophies or ethics. Islamic ethics and traditions are completely foriegn to those of a Western background/education upon which America's culture is based.
#3
As the West's centuries-old war with Islam resurges again, in large part based on the wealth we gave them from oil, I marvel at how we fight the overt assaults by terrorists but allow the covert infiltration. They are now emboldened to the point of openly trying to affect cultural norms in their long-term efforts to destroy Western culture and Western ideas. Wake up people, these purportedly peaceful clerics are not your friends. In their private meetings, in foreign languages, they say other things and accept other tactics to bring the end of the West.
#4
Well at least as far as the intolerant and self-righteous culture with the ends justifying any means, I guess that term could be applied to several of the more liberal locales
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2003 12:43 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Figures that Bob Edgar, head of the National Council of Churches Nobody Goes To Anymore would support this ridiculous idea. Considering that Islam and Islamic values had no influence whatsoever on the formation of this country while the Jewish influence was formidable(one proposal for the Great Seal pictured Moses at the Red Sea) and the Christian influence goes without saying, one can add titantic arrogance to the list of Muslim "virtues."
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
05/17/2003 13:00 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"Islamic values are not only compatible with American values, they're almost identical."
Don't think so, bub. Pay no attention to those buildings exploding in the name of the Prophet.
This isn't France or Belgium. Go sell this bullshit over there. Some of the clueless PC airheads will buy into this, but to most of us, the phrase "Religion Of Peace" is a sick joke.
#7
Oh, gosh. Here we go again. As a language student and teacher, the socio-linguistic question of what terms are acceptable or not is fascinating. Martin Luther King referred to himself as a Negro; later, after his loss, it became black, now Black in some quarters. Now we've got African-American. These terms have become more mainstream in the media and education because whites (Whites?)in the these fields felt/feel that whites are showing flexibility, understanding, and empathy with blacks, in the hope that giving blacks this recognition, everybody will get along better. Very Clintonian, leftish idea. But are things better for blacks because of these changing labels? No, opportunity and a good economy help blacks.
Soo, I'll stick with Judeo-Christian for the same reason set forth by Anon1. BTW, I use the term about once every two years.
Posted by: michael ||
05/17/2003 15:56 Comments ||
Top||
#8
It seems to me that America was founded by people who yearned to be free, and Islam yearns to enslave. What the hey, no big dif....!
True freedom is definitely worth fighting for. The sleeping giant has been awakened.
Hamas representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, stressed Hamas would never lay down arms.
"Nope. Nope. Never. 'Twouldn't be Islamic..."
Addressing thousands of Palestinian refugees in Al-Bas refugee camp in southern Lebanon, Hamdan said anyone who âbargains over the right of return is bargaining his head.â
"Yup. Yup. We'll have to kill 'im. It says so in the Koran someplace. You could look it up..."
He said thousands of Palestinians paid the ultimate sacrifice to achieve national unity, noting that âour message to those being incited by the Israeli enemy to trigger a civil strife is abundantly clear: the resistance will go non-stop, and Allah will curse those who start sparking such strife.â
"Yup. Yup. Allah will curse their moustaches..."
Commemorating the 55th anniversary of Nakba (the loss of Palestine and creation of Israel) on Thursday, May 15, Palestinians vowed continued resistance against the Israeli occupation forces and reiterated commitment to the right of return. With nostalgia for the Palestinian territories usurped by Jewish gangsters in 1948, the Palestinians exhorted the United Nations and world community to bring to an end the suffering of millions of Palestinian refugees worldwide.
"That's right. Kill all the Jews for us and give us our old homestead..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 09:22 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
There have been Jewish people in the Middle East for thousands of years; I guess they don't count, because they aren't the "right" religion. This whole culture is based on killing or hurting anyone who is different. "My cousin and I against the World, and my brother and I against my cousin." Even if Israel ceased to exist tomorrow, there would still be the killing and hatred and self righteous justification. Develop a synthetic substitute for their damn oil, and let them go back to the stone age where seem to want to go, and where they belong.
The dismantling of the infrastructure of Palestinian resistance movements, chief among which Hamas, will be the core of the meeting between Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon on Saturday, May 17, well-informed Palestinian sources told IslamOnline.net. The sources said the main reason behind the resignation of Palestinian minister of negotiations Saeb Erekat was âAbbasâ determination to break the infrastructure of resistance movements in return for Sharonâs preliminary acceptance of the roadmap.â The sources said Abbas tackled âthe bargainâ in a behind-the-scene meeting held few days ago and was attended by few Palestinian ministers, including Erekat. They stressed that Erekat tendered his resignation after failing to convince Abbas to backtrack on his decision. The sources added that Erekat asked that the agenda of the envisaged meeting not be limited to security issues, but extend to cover concrete steps needed to implement the roadmap and resume negotiations. Abbas, they said, spoke of the need to make some concessions on the Palestinian refugeesâ right of return, which irritated Erekat, who walked out of the closed-door meeting and resigned.
Compromise is un-Islamic. If the Roadmap gives them what they want, what do they need Armed Struggle™ for, other than having it for its own sake?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/17/2003 09:19 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
At least 39 people have been killed in suicide bomb attacks in Morocco's largest city, Casablanca, according to latest reports from the city. Dozens of others were injured in the attacks on Friday night, which targeted a Jewish community centre, a Spanish restaurant and social club, a hotel and the Belgian consulate. Five explosions occurred within 30 minutes of each other. A Moroccan Government official said all the blasts were triggered by suicide bombers carrying explosives. Interior Minister Mustapha Sahel said the attacks "bear the hallmark of international terrorism", adding that 10 suicide bombers were among those killed.
Posted by: George ||
05/17/2003 08:28 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I thought I would add this update.
Posted by: George ||
05/17/2003 8:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"and the Belgian consulate". Quick call Paris for advise on how to surrender!
Posted by: Don ||
05/17/2003 9:04 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The BELGIAN consulate?????? Don't those guys know who side Belgum is on?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/17/2003 9:13 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The really annoying thing about appeasement is when you realize it isn't working.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/17/2003 9:49 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Queda maybe have shifted their target focus back to the apostate muslim states rather than the infidel west?
After all, their primary target was the leadership of the Ummah (saudi princes et al in other nations) who were leading the "flock" astray into apostacy and unislamic behaviour.
They did hit the trade centre as an Islamo recruitment drive (loosely paraphrasing OBL: strong horse and weak horse , people will follow the strong horse... already enquiries about Islam are up over 500% even in Western countries blah blah blah).
Look at us, look at us! we no longer care about the infidels we want to unify the ummah first and make them truly islamic then Allah will give us what he has planned for us
#7
They're going after the apostates and the softest targets. Pussies.
But this crap will backfire. The more they attack in their own countries the less support they'll have. They tried this in Egypt and what happened? They were essentially wiped out. The hammer will come down, and very hard.
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
05/17/2003 16:51 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Belgians may not have been the target... or it might have been a two-fer:
"Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said his country believed the consulate was "collateral damage," with the real target a restaurant across the street.
The Positano restaurant is owned by a French Jew of Moroccan origin. Jean-Mark Levy said the bomb exploded in the middle of the narrow street and the consulate took most of the impact."
Posted by: Mark IV ||
05/17/2003 21:56 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I think Al Queda and various fundamentalist groups are trying to clear the Ummah. I think that Al Queda is trying to clear the Ummah of non-Muslims. It's a goal they think they can attain, and of all the things they would like to see happen, it's probably the most realistic of happening.
There are far less obstacles to committing violent acts in the Middle East than there are in America, thanks to tightened security. And Al Queda is not in a position to act in a time and place of it's choosing, as there is a great deal of pressure on them. The result is that they must make there presence felt wherever they can make it felt.
And that place is the Middle East. For decades, the governments of states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia have fed their populations a diet of rabid anti-Western propaganda. They used this population to justify their repression to American governments, and used the West as permanent scapegoats to their captive population.
Now the genie is out of the bottle, and the governments of the Middle East must choose between America and the genie. Choose wisely.
#10
Hey,Louy.(ya dumb ass)
It doesn't matter,murder is murder.
Yes Attley,"Times they are a changing".
It's going to be a long,bloody war.If we are going to win this war we have to keep the delusional,"Look for the good in all people,Look on the bright side"Liberials out of the Whitehouse.
Some people are just plain evile(sure wish I could use spell check)who earn a quick speedy death.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
