[Asharq al-Aswat] Even though it has been three decades since Juhayman al Otaibi and his followers stormed the Grand Mosque in Mecca, I still remember how people were preoccupied in the early morning of that day long ago in 1979 with finding out who was responsible for the incident. I remember how people's imaginations ran away with them and how they cast accusations in many directions before the bitter and painful truth came to light, and nobody could fathom what happened.
Today, thirty years later, the satellite television channel Al Arabiya and the Al Majalla magazine are looking back at this attack and its repercussions. They conducted an interview a few days ago with the researcher Nasser al Hazimi in order to listen to his [first-hand] account of this movement, and his ties to the real mastermind behind the group, Juhayman al Otaibi. Hazimi split from al Otaibi and the group just months before the siege of the [Grand] Mosque because he was unwilling to take up arms in the sacred mosque and holy land, and because he was unconvinced of the ideas that Juhayman was seeking to spread i.e. that his brother-in-law Muhammad Abdullah al Qahtani was the Awaited Mahdi. Nasser al Hazimi raised a number of important points and the following two should be looked at more closely:
- That religious mania dominated the group and caused it to reach erroneous conclusions; most prominently the focus on the idea that Mohammed Abdullah al Qahtani was the Awaited Mahdi and the attempt by Juhayman to fulfil some of the signs of the hour [Day of Judgment] mentioned in the Hadith.
- That Juhayman was an activist, and not someone who had an ideology that would outlast him.
This testimony that comes from within the group itself shows that there is a necessity to refute certain opinions that have sought to give Juhayman and his group an ideological dimension that they in reality did not possess. Even the few books attributed to Juhayman -- and there are doubts that he was the real author of these books -- do not convey any ideological depth that is worthy of closer examination, or which could influence [anybody] outside of this group. Those in the group had been brainwashed until they had reached a stage of surrendering [to Juhayman's ideas]; a state [where the group's members] lacked maturity, clarity, and understanding. The majority of the group were uneducated and so [easily] fell under the spell of the movement's leadership.
After [the Grand Mosque siege] some people tried to bring society closer towards religious extremism and intolerance, claiming that this would prevent a repeat of what happened. The truth is that the Juhayman movement was never a self-aware movement with ideological dimensions; rather this was a movement that in certain contexts was capable of making invalid religious provocations. Therefore, it should not be considered a protest movement that accepted the dominant patterns of social life at the time. Society [at the time] was living a normal life of tolerance, solidarity, and moderation, and people -- by nature -- were closer to uprightness and conservatism, and the wheel of development was moving at a steady pace towards maturity for society as a whole.
In conclusion, it is better to recall the Juhayman incident today -- thirty years later -- in order to re-evaluate what happened in a more objective manner; an evaluation that places this group, which was poor in terms of ideology, awareness and education, in its rightful place, away from any intimidation and exaggeration.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Don't know about the interpreters or translaters, but former Army Moooslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Capt. James J. Yee, The West Point graduate was accused in 2003 of being part of a spy ring at the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay.
After spending 76 days in solitary confinement, he was exonerated of spying. He resigned from the Army and received an honorable discharge and is now on the speaking circuit.
Hat tip, Instapundit
Based upon an Op-Ed in the Appeal-Democrat, it's suggested that, far from a political neophyte, Sarah Palin possesses a critical instinct for a governing style consistent with limited, cost-effective governing - and that she's resistant to being drawn in to the type of conventional wisdom that often moves politicians to the Left post-election.
You can't help but notice that just about everyone who is part of the political establishment detests Sarah Palin. And you can't help but notice that Palin couldn't care less.
#3
As Governor she demonstrated that the best way to avoid failure is to quit.
She was overrun by lawsuits I understand, because the Governor of Alaska does not enjoy immunity from them while in office. She couldn't do her job because of it.
#4
746, I think she left because she and everyone around her were being targeted with absurd lawsuits, preventing the state government from doing its job.
Posted by: Bisa ||
12/01/2009 13:03 Comments ||
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#5
In short she gave up her Governor ship because remaining wasn't good for the state or the people.
I know its hard for a leftist to wrap their brain around the concept of self-sacrifice for the sake of the greater good of others (usually leftists want to sacrifice someone else for their own 'greater good').
#1
So the word on the street is that this latest development is payback for the SEALs violating the ROE in rescuing the captain of the Maersk Alabama. The Chain of Command is asserting itself, letting everybody know what's going to happen to you if you don't follow orders.
As this was expressed to me, this opinion is based on very good, solid inside information. In my personal experience with Navy brass I have found they are very political and very politically correct. The Naval Command's reaction to the prisoner situation was so overblown and out of proportion that I somehow find this latest angle quite believable. Unfortunately.
Unbelievable? Hardly. His second sentence para 2 says it all, but unfortunately it's not just the Navy.
#2
I'll repeat an observation. It will not be the General Officer corps that will stand and fight when it comes between the Executive and upholding the oath to defend the Constitution. It'll be the middle grades who haven't been bought by power and position.
#5
The message has been loud and clear to the military for a while now. Do not capture prisoners.
The Phoenix Program in Vietnam had a very tight capture policy. If you cannot extract information from them in one hour, execute them. If you can extract information from them, you still execute them, then act on the information received.
Since US forces have always been loathe to execute captured enemy, they had ARVN with them to do so.
In practice, these SEALs should always bring along a trusted foreign elite forces observer. Someone who will be in charge of prisoners.
#7
P2K, I have know some Army General Officers who were willing to do the right thing and use their silver bullet, but not many who had been away from troop commands for very long. I have no experience of Navy flag officers, but find this petty, politically inspired, and immensely damaging to troop morale.
#8
Besoeker: A good way to describe the Phoenix Program would be to compare them to a "flying squad", in which time was of the essence. When intelligence had evidence on some corrupt official working for the Viet Cong or the North, they Program would put the bag on him, then only have a short period of time with which to identify and shut down his entire network.
At the same time, they would activate one of the trusted ARVN units to do a "night of the long knives" on the network, rounding them up before they could put up an alarm or scatter.
So I've been told by the old timers who were there, as I was not. While extremely effective, I do know the program got a LOT of very bad press back in the states. Unfortunately I was here for that.
Hypocrisy is the vice we find hardest to forgive, but it's also the one we most enjoy discovering in others. And nothing piques our interest more than eco-hypocrisy as practised by the "green" celebrities who have been spouting green virtue but spewing out hundreds of tons of carbon from their private jets or multiple holiday homes around the globe.
There was Sheryl Crow, who had called upon the public to refrain from using more than one square of toilet paper per visit ("except on those pesky occasions when two or three are required") and who was leading a Stop Global Warming concert tour across America. It was revealed that while Crow travelled in a biodiesel tour bus, her 30-person entourage followed in a fleet of 13 gas-guzzling vehicles.
John Travolta notoriously encouraged the British public to do its bit to fight global warming -- after flying into London on one of his five, yes, five private jets (one of which is a Boeing 707). In 2006 his piloting hobby produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions, more than a hundred times the output of the average Briton, according to the Carbon Trust.
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Posted by: Fred ||
12/01/2009 09:04 ||
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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.
