Keith Olbermann Criticizes the Military Commissions Act

Keith Olbermann tears apart the Bush Administration again, this time on the passing of the Military Commissions Act. This video is absolutely a must-watch.

Length: 9:00.

Pork-Based Ingredients in Popular Candy Products

An employee of Tootsie Roll Industries has recently confirmed that several of their popular candy products contain beef-based or pork-based ingredients.

Products with Beef-Based Ingredients

Charms Blow Pops

Products with Pork-Based Ingredients

Sugar Daddy Pops
Sugar Babies
Tootsie Rolls
Frooties
Tootsie Fruit Rolls
Tootsie Pops
Caramel Apple Pops
Junior Mints
Junior Caramels
Fruit Smoothie Pops

Amnesty International USA Feature on Conflict Diamonds

Amnesty International USA has a feature on their Web site about conflict diamonds from West Africa. There is currently a multi-million dollar diamond trade that is built on the murder, torture and forced amputation of limbs of thousands of innocent civilians.

A quote from the site:

“In many African countries, including Angola, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) diamonds have been, and continue to be linked to terrible human rights abuses either by insurgent groups to fuel conflict and carry out atrocities against innocent civilians or by unscrupulous government who are equally brutal.”

Read more:

• Amnesty International USA: Conflict Diamonds
• Buyer's Guide to Conflict-Free Diamonds (PDF)
• Amnesty Magazine: Blood Diamonds

‘Īd Mubārak!

!عيد مبارك

May Allāh accept all of the Muslims’ good deeds this Ramadān, forgive us all of our sins, and grant us all entry into Jannat al-Firdaws (the highest level of Paradise)! May Allāh alleviate the suffering of the needy around the world! May Allāh grant victory to His dīn (religion, complete way of life) and those to seek to adhere by it and elevate its status in every aspect of life! Āmīn!

_____
‘Īd al-Fitr (commonly spelled Eid al-Fitr) is an Islāmic religious holiday commemorating the end of the holy month of Ramadān.

‘Īd Mubārak (commonly spelled Eid Mubārak) - literally translated means "Blessed Feast" - is the traditional Muslim greeting on the occassion of ‘Īd al-Fitr.

They are being treated as Arabs and not Americans

Excerpts from a CNN article:

“The State Department has complained to the Israeli government about its discriminatory treatment of Arab-Americans traveling to the Palestinian territories...”

“‘They are being treated as Arabs and not Americans,’ one senior official said. ‘They basically treat them as second-class citizens.’”


How inherently racist is that statement? The State Department is upset that Arab-Americans are being treated like Arabs, which is automatically translated into “second-class citizens”. If the State Department recognizes this reality, why doesn’t it ask the Israeli government to stop treating all Arabs as second-class citizens?

Imagine if the State Department had demanded from the apartheid regime of South Africa that it stop discriminating against African-Americans visiting the country, but fell short of criticizing the apartheid itself.

All they care about is that Americans don’t get treated as lowly Arabs.

Pathetic.

Read more:

• CNN: U.S. to Israel: Ease up on Arab-Americans

Open Letter to Pope Benedict XVI from 38 Muslim Scholars

An open letter signed by 38 leading Muslim scholars and leaders around the world was sent to Pope Benedict XVI on October 12, 2006. Eight schools of thought and jurisprudence in Islam (from both Sunnī and Shī‘ī denominations) are represented by the signatories.

The letter aims to correct inaccurate statements made by the Pope, clarify the Islamic position regarding this statements, and extend an invitation to open mutual dialogue.

A PDF version of the letter can be downloaded from the Web site of Islamica Magazine*.

The full text of the letter is included below. Insertions are denoted by square brackets, and links have been added to the text of the original letter.

* Lingua Islamica is not affiliated in any way with Islamica Magazine.

---

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
And may Peace and Blessings be upon the Prophet Muhammad

OPEN LETTER TO HIS
HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
Do not contend with people of the Book except in the fairest way…
(The Holy Qur’an, al-Ankabut, 29:46).

Your Holiness,

WITH REGARDS TO YOUR LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF REGENSBURG IN GERMANY ON September 12th, 2006, we thought it appropriate, in the spirit of open exchange, to address your use of a debate between the Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and a “learned Persian” as the starting point for a discourse on the relationship between reason and faith. While we applaud your efforts to oppose the dominance of positivism and materialism in human life, we must point out some errors in the way you mentioned Islam as a counterpoint to the proper use of reason, as well as some mistakes in the assertions you put forward in support of your argument.

There is no Compulsion in Religion
You mention that “according to the experts” the verse which begins, There is no compulsion in religion (al-Baqarah, 2:256) is from the early period when the Prophet “was still powerless and under threat,” but this is incorrect. In fact this verse is acknowledged to belong to the period of Qur’anic revelation corresponding to the political and military ascendance of the young Muslim community. There is no compulsion in religion was not a command to Muslims to remain steadfast in the face of the desire of their oppressors to force them to renounce their faith, but was a reminder to Muslims themselves, once they had attained power, that they could not force another’s heart to believe. There is no compulsion in religion addresses those in a position of strength, not weakness. The earliest commentaries on the Qur’an (such as that of Al-Tabari) make it clear that some Muslims of Medina wanted to force their children to convert from Judaism or Christianity to Islam, and this verse was precisely an answer to them not to try to force their children to convert to Islam. Moreover, Muslims are also guided by such verses as Say: The truth is from your Lord; so whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve. (al-Kahf, 18:29); and Say: O disbelievers! I worship not that which ye worship; Nor worship ye that which I worship. And I shall not worship that which ye worship. Nor will ye worship that which I worship. Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion (al-Kafirun, 109:1-6).

God’s Transcendence
You also say that “for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent,” a simplification which can be misleading. The Qur’an states, There is no thing like unto Him (al-Shura, 42:11), but it also states, He is the Light of the heavens and the earth (al-Nur, 24:35); and, We are closer to him than his jugular vein (Qaf, 50:16); and, He is the First, the Last, the Inward, and the Outward (al-Hadid, 57:3); and, He is with you wherever you are (al-Hadid, 57:4); and, Wheresoever you turn, there is the Face of God (al-Baqarah, 2:115). Also, let us recall the saying of the Prophet, which states that God says, “When I love him (the worshipper), I am the hearing by which he hears, the sight by which he sees, the hand with which he grasps, and the foot with which he walks.” (Sahih al-Bukhari no.6502, Kitab al-Riqaq [The Book on Making the Heart Tender].)

In the Islamic spiritual, theological, and philosophical tradition, the thinker you mention, Ibn Hazm (d. 1069 CE), is a worthy but very marginal figure, who belonged to the Zahiri school of jurisprudence which is followed by no one in the Islamic world today. If one is looking for classical formulations of the doctrine of transcendence, much more important to Muslims are figures such as al-Ghazali (d. 1111 CE) and many others who are far more influential and more representative of Islamic belief than Ibn Hazm.

You quote an argument that because the emperor is “shaped by Greek philosophy” the idea that “God is not pleased by blood” is “self-evident” to him, to which the Muslim teaching on God’s Transcendence is put forward as a counterexample. To say that for Muslims “God’s Will is not bound up in any of our categories” is also a simplification which may lead to a misunderstanding. God has many Names in Islam, including the Merciful, the Just, the Seeing, the Hearing, the Knowing, the Loving, and the Gentle. Their utter conviction in God’s Oneness and that There is none like unto Him (al-Ikhlas, 112:4) has not led Muslims to deny God’s attribution of these qualities to Himself and to (some of) His creatures, (setting aside for now the notion of “categories”, a term which requires much clarification in this context). As this concerns His Will, to conclude that Muslims believe in a capricious God who might or might not command us to evil is to forget that God says in the Qur’an, Lo! God enjoins justice and kindness, and giving to kinsfolk, and forbids lewdness and abomination and wickedness. He exhorts you in order that ye may take heed (al-Nahl, 16:90). Equally, it is to forget that God says in the Qur’an that He has prescribed for Himself mercy (al-An’am, 6:12; see also 6:54), and that God says in the Qur’an, My Mercy encompasses everything (al-A‘raf, 7:156). The word for mercy, rahmah, can also be translated as love, kindness, and compassion. From this word rahmah comes the sacred formula Muslims use daily, In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Is it not self-evident that spilling innocent blood goes against mercy and compassion?

The Use of Reason
The Islamic tradition is rich in its explorations of the nature of human intelligence and its relation to God’s Nature and His Will, including questions of what is self-evident and what is not. However, the dichotomy between “reason” on one hand and “faith” on the other does not exist in precisely the same form in Islamic thought. Rather, Muslims have come to terms with the power and limits of human intelligence in their own way, acknowledging a hierarchy of knowledge of which reason is a crucial part. There are two extremes which the Islamic intellectual tradition has generally managed to avoid: one is to make the analytical mind the ultimate arbiter of truth, and the other is to deny the power of human understanding to address ultimate questions. More importantly, in their most mature and mainstream forms the intellectual explorations of Muslims through the ages have maintained a consonance between the truths of the Qur’anic revelation and the demands of human intelligence, without sacrificing one for the other. God says, We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and in themselves until it is clear to them that it is the truth (Fussilat, 41:53). Reason itself is one among the many signs within us, which God invites us to contemplate, and to contemplate with, as a way of knowing the truth.

What is “Holy War”?
We would like to point out that “holy war” is a term that does not exist in Islamic languages. Jihad, it must be emphasized, means struggle, and specifically struggle in the way of God. This struggle may take many forms, including the use of force. Though a jihad may be sacred in the sense of being directed towards a sacred ideal, it is not necessarily a “war”. Moreover, it is noteworthy that Manuel II Paleologus says that “violence” goes against God’s nature, since Christ himself used violence against the money-changers in the temple, and said “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword…” (Matthew 10:34-36). When God drowned Pharaoh, was He going against His own Nature? Perhaps the emperor meant to say that cruelty, brutality, and aggression are against God’s Will, in which case the classical and traditional law of jihad in Islam would bear him out completely.

You say that “naturally the emperor knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Qur’an, concerning holy war.” However, as we pointed out above concerning There is no compulsion in religion, the aforementioned instructions were not later at all. Moreover, the emperor’s statements about violent conversion show that he did not know what those instructions are and have always been. The authoritative and traditional Islamic rules of war can be summarized in the following principles:

1. Non-combatants are not permitted [as] legitimate targets. This was emphasized explicitly time and again by the Prophet, his Companions, and by the learned tradition since then.
2. Religious belief alone does not make anyone the object of attack. The original Muslim community was fighting against pagans who had also expelled them from their homes, persecuted, tortured, and murdered them. Thereafter, the Islamic conquests were political in nature.
3. Muslims can and should live peacefully with their neighbors. And if they incline to peace, do thou incline to it; and put thy trust in God (al-Anfal, 8:61). However, this does not exclude legitimate self-defense and maintenance of sovereignty.

Muslims are just as bound to obey these rules as they are to refrain from theft and adultery. If a religion regulates war and describes circumstances where it is necessary and just, that does not make that religion war-like, anymore than regulating sexuality makes a religion prurient. If some have disregarded a long and well-established tradition in favor of utopian dreams where the end justifies the means, they have done so of their own accord and without the sanction of God, His Prophet, or the learned tradition. God says in the Holy Qur’an: Let not hatred of any people seduce you into being unjust. Be just, that is nearer to piety (al-Ma’idah, 5:8). In this context we must state that the murder on September 17th of an innocent Catholic nun in Somalia—and any other similar acts of wanton individual violence—‘in reaction to’ your lecture at the University of Regensburg, is completely un-Islamic, and we totally condemn such acts.

Forced Conversion
The notion that Muslims are commanded to spread their faith “by the sword” or that Islam in fact was largely spread “by the sword” does not hold up to scrutiny. Indeed, as a political entity Islam spread partly as a result of conquest, but the greater part of its expansion came as a result of preaching and missionary activity. Islamic teaching did not prescribe that the conquered populations be forced or coerced into converting. Indeed, many of the first areas conquered by the Muslims remained predominantly non-Muslim for centuries. Had Muslims desired to convert all others by force, there would not be a single church or synagogue left anywhere in the Islamic world. The command There is no compulsion in religion means now what it meant then. The mere fact of a person being non-Muslim has never been a legitimate casus belli [justification for acts of war] in Islamic law or belief. As with the rules of war, history shows that some Muslims have violated Islamic tenets concerning forced conversion and the treatment of other religious communities, but history also shows that these are by far the exception which proves the rule. We emphatically agree that forcing others to believe—if such a thing be truly possible at all—is not pleasing to God and that God is not pleased by blood. Indeed, we believe, and Muslims have always believed, that Whoso slays a soul not to retaliate for a soul slain, nor for corruption done in the land, it shall be as if he had slain mankind altogether (al-Ma’idah, 5:32).

Something New?
You mention the emperor’s assertion that “anything new” brought by the Prophet was “evil and inhuman, such as his alleged command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” What the emperor failed to realize—aside from the fact (as mentioned above) that no such command has ever existed in Islam—is that the Prophet never claimed to be bringing anything fundamentally new. God says in the Holy Qur’an, Naught is said to thee (Muhammad) but what already was said to the Messengers before thee (Fussilat, 41:43), and, Say (Muhammad): I am no new thing among the messengers (of God), nor know I what will be done with me or with you. I do but follow that what is Revealed to me, and I am but a plain warner (al-Ahqaf, 46:9).Thus faith in the One God is not the property of any one religious community. According to Islamic belief, all the true prophets preached the same truth to different peoples at different times. The laws may be different, but the truth is unchanging.

“The Experts”
You refer at one point non-specifically to “the experts” (on Islam) and also actually cite two Catholic scholars by name, Professor (Adel) Theodore Khoury and (Associate Professor) Roger Arnaldez. It suffices here to say that whilst many Muslims consider that there are sympathetic non-Muslims and Catholics who could truly be considered “experts” on Islam, Muslims have not to our knowledge endorsed the “experts” you referred to, or recognized them as representing Muslims or their views. On September 25th 2006 you reiterated your important statement in Cologne on August 20th 2005 that, “Inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue between Christians and Muslims cannot be reduced to an optional extra. It is, in fact, a vital necessity, on which in large measure our future depends.” Whilst we fully concur with you, it seems to us that a great part of the object of inter-religious dialogue is to strive to listen to and consider the actual voices of those we are dialoguing with, and not merely those of our own persuasion.

* * *

Christianity and Islam
Christianity and Islam are the largest and second largest religions in the world and in history. Christians and Muslims reportedly make up over a third and over a fifth of humanity respectively. Together they make up more than 55% of the world’s population, making the relationship between these two religious communities the most important factor in contributing to meaningful peace around the world. As the leader of over a billion Catholics and moral example for many others around the globe, yours is arguably the single most influential voice in continuing to move this relationship forward in the direction of mutual understanding. We share your desire for frank and sincere dialogue, and recognize its importance in an increasingly interconnected world. Upon this sincere and frank dialogue we hope to continue to build peaceful and friendly relationships based upon mutual respect, justice, and what is common in essence in our shared Abrahamic tradition, particularly ‘the two greatest commandments’ in Mark 12:29-31 (and, in varying form, in Matthew 22:37-40), that, the Lord our God is One Lord; / And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy understanding, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. / And the second commandment is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Muslims thus appreciate the following words from the Second Vatican Council:

The church has also a high regard for the Muslims. They worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has also spoken to humanity. They endeavor to submit themselves without reserve to the hidden decrees of God, just as Abraham submitted himself to God’s plan, to whose faith Muslims eagerly link their own. Although not acknowledging him as God, they venerate Jesus as a prophet; his virgin Mother they also honor, and even at times devoutly invoke. Further, they await the day of judgment and the reward of God following the resurrection of the dead. For this reason they highly esteem an upright life and worship God, especially by way of prayer, alms-deeds and fasting. (Nostra Aetate, 28 October 1965)

And equally the words of the late Pope John Paul II, for whom many Muslims had great regard and esteem:

We Christians joyfully recognize the religious values we have in common with Islam. Today I would like to repeat what I said to young Muslims some years ago in Casablanca: “We believe in the same God, the one God, the living God, the God who created the world and brings his creatures to their perfection” (Insegnamenti, VIII/2, [1985], p.497, quoted during a general audience on May 5, 1999).

Muslims also appreciated your unprecedented personal expression of sorrow, and your clarification and assurance (on the 17th of September) that your quote does not reflect your own personal opinion, as well as the Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone’s affirmation (on the 16th of September) of the conciliar document Nostra Aetate. Finally, Muslims appreciated that (on September 16th) in front of an assembled group of ambassadors from Muslim countries you expressed “total and profound respect for all Muslims”. We hope that we will all avoid the mistakes of the past and live together in the future in peace, mutual acceptance and respect.

And all praise belongs to God, and there is neither power nor strength except through God.

© 2006

SIGNED
(listed in alphabetical order)

1. H.E. Allamah Abd Allah bin Mahfuz bin Bayyah
   Professor, King Abd Al-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia
   Former Vice President; Minister of Justice; Minister of Education and Minister of Religious Affairs, Mauritania
   
   
2. Professor Dr. Allamah Muhammad Sa‘id Ramadan Al-Buti
   Dean of Department of Religion, University of Damascus, Syria
   
   
3. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Çağrıcı
   Grand Mufti of Istanbul
   
   
4. H.E. Shaykh Professor Dr. Mustafa Ceric
   Grand Mufti and Head of Ulema of Bosnia and Herzegovina
   
   
5. H.E. Shaykh Ravil Gainutdin
   Grand Mufti of Russia
   
   
6. H.E. Shaykh Nedžad Grabus
   Grand Mufti of Slovenia
   
   
7. Shaykh Al-Habib Ali Mashhour bin Muhammad bin Salim bin Hafeez
   Imam of the Tarim Mosque and Head of Fatwa Council, Tarim, Yemen
   
   
8. Shaykh Al-Habib Umar bin Muhammad bin Salim bin Hafeez
   Dean, DarAl-Mustafa, Tarim, Yemen
   
   
9. Professor Dr. Farouq Hamadah
   Professor of the Sciences of Tradition, Mohammad V University, Morocco
   
   
10. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson
    Founder and Director, Zaytuna Institute, California, USA
    
    
11. H.E. Shaykh Dr. Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun
    Grand Mufti of the Republic of Syria
    
    
12. Dr. Shaykh Izz Al-Din Ibrahim
    Advisor for Cultural Affairs, Prime Ministry, United Arab Emirates
    
    
13. H.E. Professor Dr. Omar Jah
    Secretary of the Muslim Scholars Council, Gambia
    Professor of Islamic Civilization and Thought, University of Gambia
    
    
14. Shaykh Al-Habib Ali Zain Al-Abideen Al-Jifri
    Founder and Director, Taba Institute, United Arab Emirates
    
    
15. H.E. Shaykh Professor Dr. Ali Jumu‘ah
    Grand Mufti of the Republic of Egypt
    
    
16. Professor Dr. Abla Mohammed Kahlawi
    Dean of Islamic and Arabic Studies, Al-Azhar University (Women’s College), Egypt
    
    
17. Professor Dr. Mohammad Hashim Kamali
    Dean, International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), Malaysia
    Professor of Islamic Law and Jurisprudence, International Islamic University, Malaysia
    
    
18. Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller
    Shaykh in the Shadhili Order and Senior Fellow of Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought (Jordan), U.S.A.
    
    
19. H.E. Shaykh Ahmad Al-Khalili
    Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman
    
    
20. Shaykh Dr. Ahmad Kubaisi
    Founder of the Ulema Organization, Iraq
    
    
21. Allamah Shaykh Muhammad bin Muhammad Al-Mansouri
    High Authority (Marja’) of Zeidi Muslims, Yemen
    
    
22. Shaykh Abu Bakr Ahmad Al-Milibari
    Secretary-General of the Ahl Al-Sunna Association, India
    
    
23. H.E. Dr. Moulay Abd Al-Kabir Al-Alawi Al-Mudghari
    Director-General of the Bayt Mal Al-Qods Al-Sharif Agency,
    Former Minister of Religious Affairs, Morocco
    
    
24. H.E. Shaykh Ahmad Hasyim Muzadi
    General Chairman of the Nahdat al-Ulema, Indonesia
    
    
25. H.E. Professor Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr
    University Professor of Islamic Studies, George Washington University, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
    
    
26. H.E. Shaykh Sevki Omerbasic
    Grand Mufti of Croatia
    
    
27. H.E. Dr. Mohammad Abd Al-Ghaffar Al-Sharif
    Secretary-General of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Kuwait
    
    
28. Dr. Muhammad Alwani Al-Sharif
    Head of the European Academy of Islamic Culture and Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
    
    
29. Shaykh M. Iqbal Sullam
    Vice General-Secretary, Nahdat al-Ulema, Indonesia
    
    
30. Shaykh Dr. Tariq Sweidan
    Director-General of the Risalah Satellite Channel
    
    
31. Professor Dr. H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal
    Chairman of the Board of the Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Jordan
    
    
32. H.E. Ayotollah Muhammad Ali Taskhiri
    Secretary General of the World Assembly for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thoughts (WAPIST), Iran
    
    
33. H.E. Shaykh Naim Trnava
    Grand Mufti of Kosovo
    
    
34. H.E. Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Uthman Al-Tweijri
    Director-General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Morocco
    
    
35. H.H. Justice Mufti Muhammad Taqi Uthmani
    Vice President, Dar Al-Ulum, Karachi, Pakistan
    
    
36. H.E. Shaykh Muhammad Al-Sadiq Muhammad Yusuf
    Grand Mufti of Uzbekistan
    
    
37. Shaykh Abd Al-Hakim Murad Winter
    Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Divinity School, University of Cambridge, U.K.
    Director of the Muslim Academic Trust, U.K.
    
    
38. H.E. Shaykh Muamer Zukorli
    Mufti of Sanjak, Bosnia
    

Tunisia’s War on Hijāb

France and Germany only aim to prevent Muslim girls from wearing the hijāb (Islāmic headscarf for women) in public schools. Tunisia, ironically a Muslim country, aims to ban it even in public on the streets. It is bewildering to understand why governments feal so threatened by a piece of cloth.

“Does it harm the state when a woman wears a headscarf or not? We are not demanding the imposition of any particular dress on women, we are demanding public and personal freedom.”

Rachid al-Ghanoushi
leading Tunisian Islamist
who lives in exile in London

Read more from BBC about the war on hijāb in several countries. Particularly informational is the first link:

• Headscarves in the headlines
• Tunisia moves against headscarves
• Tunisia attacked over headscarves
• Court backs Turkish headscarf ban
• German state backs headscarf ban
• Egypt TV 'bans veiled presenters'
• French cabinet backs scarf ban

Riveting Commentary by Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann of MSNBC gave a scathing commentary on the blatant and incessant lies of the Bush administration.

The video clip is 11:16 long, but it is worth watching in its entirety. Nonetheless, notable quotes from his commentary are included below the video. You can also read the Full Transcript of His Commentary.



Bush Wallowing in Unexplored Political Gutters

The president doesn’t just hear what he wants.

He hears things that only he can hear.

It defies belief that this president and his administration could continue to find new unexplored political gutters into which they could wallow.

Yet they do.

Bush Failed the Test

Just 25 days ago, on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, this same man spoke to this nation and insisted, “We must put aside our differences and work together to meet the test that history has given us.”

Mr. Bush, this is a test you have already failed.

If your commitment to “put aside differences and work together” is replaced in the span of just three weeks by claiming your political opponents prefer to wait to see this country attacked again, and by spewing fabrications about what they’ve said, then the questions your critics need to be asking are no longer about your policies.

They are, instead, solemn and even terrible questions, about your fitness to fulfill the responsibilities of your office.

Bush: A Compulsive Liar that Never Listens

If this is not simply the most shameless example of the rhetoric of political hackery, then it would have to be the cry of a leader crumbling under the weight of his own lies.

We have, of course, survived all manner of political hackery, of every shape, size and party. We will have to suffer it, for as long as the Republic stands.

But the premise of a president who comes across as a compulsive liar is nothing less than terrifying.

A president who since 9/11 will not listen, is not listening — and thanks to Bob Woodward’s most recent account — evidently has never listened.

Civil Liberties Destroyed

Habeus corpus neutered; the rights of self-defense now as malleable and impermanent as clay; a president stifling all critics by every means available and, when he runs out of those, by simply lying about what they said or felt.

Condoleezza Rice: The Liar

Secretary of State Rice first cannot remember urgent cautionary meetings with counterterrorism officials before 9/11. Then within hours of this lie, her spokesman confirms the meetings in question. Then she dismisses those meetings as nothing new — yet insists she wanted the same cautions expressed to Secretaries Ashcroft and Rumsfeld.

Donald Rumsfeld: Unable to Accept Logical and Simple Advice

Mr. Rumsfeld, meantime, has been unable to accept the most logical and simple influence of the most noble and neutral of advisers. He and his employer insist they rely on the “generals in the field.” But dozens of those generals have now come forward to say how their words, their experiences, have been ignored.

Dick Cheney: A Chilling Figure Gripping Firmly to Figments of His Own Imagination

And the vice president is a chilling figure, still unable, it seems, to accept the conclusions of his own party’s leaders in the Senate, that the foundations of his public position, are made out of sand.

There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

But he still says so.

There was no link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaida.

But he still says so.

And thus, gripping firmly these figments of his own imagination, Mr. Cheney lives on, in defiance, and spreads—around him and before him—darkness, like some contagion of fear.

They are never wrong, and they never regret -- admirable in a French torch singer, cataclysmic in an American leader.

The Grand Finale

It is the terror and the guilt within your own heart, Mr. Bush, that you redirect at others who simply wish for you to temper your certainty with counsel.

It is the failure and the incompetence within your own memory, Mr. Bush, that leads you to demonize those who might merely quote to you the pleadings of Oliver Cromwell: “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.”

It is not the Democrats whose inaction in the face of the enemy you fear, Sir.

It is your own—before 9/11 - and (and you alone know this), perhaps afterwards.

Mr. President, these new lies go to the heart of what it is that you truly wish to preserve.

It is not our freedom, nor our country—your actions against the Constitution give irrefutable proof of that.

You want to preserve a political party’s power. And obviously you’ll sell this country out, to do it.

These are lies about the Democrats -- piled atop lies about Iraq -- which were piled atop lies about your preparations for al Qaida.

To you, perhaps, they feel like the weight of a million centuries -- as crushing, as immovable.

They are not.

If you add more lies to them, you cannot free yourself, and us, from them.

But if you stop -- if you stop fabricating quotes, and building straw-men, and inspiring those around you to do the same -- you may yet liberate yourself and this nation.

Please, sir, do not throw this country’s principles away because your lies have made it such that you can no longer differentiate between the terrorists and the critics.

Read more:

• MSNBC: A special comment about lying: Keith Olbermann on the difference between terrorists and critics
  

Police Recommend Rape Charges Against Israeli President

Israeli police say there is enough evidence to charge President Moshe Katsav with rape.

The police statement said, “There is sufficient evidence indicating that in several cases... the president carried out acts of rape, forced sexual acts, sexual acts without consent and sexual harassment.”

Read more:

• Aljazeera: Israel's president 'should face rape charge'


• The Independent: Police want Israeli president to be charged with rape


• Reuters: Police accuse Israeli president of rape


• BBC: Police back Katsav rape charges


• CNN: Rape charge recommended for Israeli president


• The New York Times: Israeli Police Recommend Charges Against President

Google Docs & Spreadsheets Set to Compete with Microsoft Word and Excel

Google announced today that they are combining their Writely service with Google Spreadsheets to launch Google Docs & Spreadsheets. The features are limited when compared to Microsoft Word and Excel, but considering that Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003 costs $399, and Google’s service is free, it’s definitely a lot more cost effective. That’s not to mention that you can access your saved files anywhere you get Internet, and that any time Google makes enhancements to its service, you don’t have to download an annoying update.

But considering that there are almost always strings attached to a good deal, one has to wonder what Google is after by offering this service for free. Are we giving up an additional degree of privacy by using Google for our documents and spreadsheets?

The one thing that is certain is that this should help loosen Microsoft’s near-monopoly on office-suite software, in shā’ Allāh (God-willing).

Read more:

• Official Google Blog: Better together: Docs & Spreadsheets
• Official Google Docs & Spreadsheets Blog: New Beginnings
  
• Google Docs & Spreadsheets
  

UCI Responds to Anti-Semitism Claims

Zionist groups have been attacking the right to free speech of the Muslim Student Union at the University of California, Irvine by pressuring the university to take action against the group for its programs in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. The university responded by defending the MSU’s right to free speech. In a statement, the university's Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Manuel Gomez said:

“Some individuals want us to place limits on freedom of expression. The university is legally obligated to protect speech on a content neutral basis. Inevitably the university must allow some speech that some may find offensive.

“UCI does not sponsor events encouraging intolerance. Indeed, while student and other groups may use our campus to espouse ideas that at times may be offensive, when they do so they are exercising their right to free speech.”

Read more:

• New University Online: UCI Responds to Anti-Semitism Claims

AP: Mongolian lawmakers debate use of Genghis Khan name

In the Muslim world, Genghis Khan is viewed as the leader of a barbaric army that massacared, raped, pillaged and destroyed everything in its path. In Mongolia, he is hailed as a symbol of national pride.

An excerpt from an Associated Press article that ran in USA Today:

“Since Mongolia emerged from the shadow of the Soviet Union in 1991, the isolated Asian nation has applied the moniker of its favorite son to more than half a dozen brands of vodka and beer and a variety of other commercial products.

“The trend reflects the immense pride Mongolians feel about a man who established an empire that stretched across Asia all the way to central Europe in the early 13th century.

“While Genghis Khan is reviled in much of the world as a symbol of barbarism, Mongolians see him as a symbol of order and civilization. He is a touchstone of national identity in a nation sandwiched between Russia and China and wary of being swallowed up by either.”

Read more:

• AP: Mongolian lawmakers debate use of Genghis Khan name

Amazing Qur’ān Recitation from Young Boy

Length: 2:30



Video originally taken from Ryadh-Quran.

The Merciful Are Shown Mercy by the All-Merciful

عن عبد اللَّه بن عمرو - رضي الله عنهما - قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: الراحمون يرحمهم الرحمن، ارحموا من في الأرض يرحمكم من في السماء

‘An ‘Abdi Llāhi bni ‘Amr, radiya Llāhu ‘anhumā, qāla, “Qāla Rasūlu Llāhi sallā Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ‘ar-rāhimūna yarhamuhumu r-Rahmān. Irhamū man fi l-ardi, yarhamukum man fi s-samā’.’”

On the authority of ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr - may Allāh be pleased with both of them - who said, “The Messenger of Allāh - may Allāh bless him and give him peace - said, ‘The merciful are shown mercy by the All-Merciful. Be merciful to those on Earth, and the One in the Heavens will have mercy upon you.’”

_____
This Hadīth was related by Imam al-Tirmidhī. The Arabic text for this Hadīth was taken from Salikah: A Student's Digest.

Released After 3 Years at Guantánamo, 78-Year-Old Detainee Has Failing Eyesight and Hearing, Uses a Walker

British newspaper The Guardian ran a story about Haji Nasrat Khan, a 78-year-old Afghan who was held at Guantánamo Bay for three years, despite his failing health.

An excerpt from the article:

It's hard to picture Haji Nasrat Khan as an international terrorist. For a start, the grey-bearded Afghan can barely walk, shuffling along on a three-wheeled walking frame. His sight is terrible - he squints through milky eyes that sometimes roll towards the heavens - while his helpers have to shout to make themselves heard. And as for his age - nobody knows for sure, not even Nasrat himself. “I think I am 78, or maybe 79,” he ventures uncertainly, pausing over a cup of green tea.

Yet for three and a half years the US government deemed this elderly, infirm man an “enemy combatant”, so dangerous to America’s security that he was imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay.

Read more:

• The Guardian: Three years on, Guantánamo detainee, 78, goes home
  

Tragedy Continues in Lebanon after Ceasefire

by Sabeen Shaiq

Twenty-five days after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, tragedy is still affecting the lives of Lebanese civilians. In a small village in southern Lebanon, Zebqine, families are starting to return home to assess the damage and collect any memories they can salvage. Two brothers, Hussein, 15 and Ali, 13 had returned home many times in the past few days to sift through the rubble that was once their home, but on Wednesday, September 6, 2006, while they were going through their home looking for their school books they were shocked by a sudden flash of a bluish-yellow light. An unexploded bomb that had landed in their home had been detonated.

At first Hussein did not know what happened, as there was no noise from the bomb. Hussein had though that Ali had playfully thrown something at him so he reached back to pull it off, then Ali yelled at him to stop. Hussein did not realize that he was actually pulling his skin off the back of his neck and face.

Like most residents in the south, they had been warned about going into their fields and had been shown pictures of the various types of cluster bombs that were dropped by Israel in the last few days of the war. But as their older sister Hiba shared, you would never expect to find a bomb in your own house.

Members of the humanitarian organization Islamic Relief visited the boys and their family in a hospital in Tyre (Sour) right after Hussein was coming out of surgery the next day. The boys were in good spirits considering their situation and pain they were in. They were lucky considering what could have happened if they had come across the numerous cluster bombs littering Lebanon. Hussein and Ali suffered second degree burns. Thankfully, they will physically recover and heal with time, but the emotional scars will linger permanently.

For Hussein and Ali, one of the hardest things for them and their family is losing their home along with all the memories, pictures, and belongings they have had since childhood. This is unfortunately a common theme in this village where 85% of the town’s homes have been completely destroyed and where 40 homes were destroyed just 5 minutes before the ceasefire.

As true in any war-torn area, even though the official conflict is over there are still a lot of lingering remnants that are greatly affecting the population. There is still a lot of work to be done. The people of Lebanon cannot be forgotten.

Shaiq visited Lebanon for a week-long needs assessment trip for Islamic Relief USA.

Hastert, Boehner Must Resign

Congress is full of some of the most corrupt people on Earth, whether Republican or Democrat. Leaders of the Republican party always try to portray themselves as people of family values, usually rooted in traditional, wholesome Chirstian beliefs. Their self-portrayal, however, is often in stark contradiction with their actions.

The events that have followed the Mark Foley scandal this week have revealed just how much hypocrisy exists in Washington. It has now been made public that several members of Congress knew that Foley was making sexual advances toward underage pages, including Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, and House Majority Leader John Boehner.

Not one of them took appropriate action. They simply remained silent.

What is worse is that Boehner refuses to accept responsibility for his lack of action. He says that the Foley issue was Hastert’s responsibility. What kind of Congressional leader does that? What kind of leader of a party that claims family values would do such a thing?

Furthermore, Hastert claims that he accepts responsibility, but he refuses to resign. What does that mean? Does he admit fault or not?

These are the biggest bunch of hypocrites alive today.

Any one who knew about this Foley's sexual advances towards minors and did nothing needs to resign immediately, especially Hastert. The Washington Times, a conservative newspaper, seems to agree.

Read more:

• The Washington Times Editorial: Resign, Mr. Speaker

University of Michigan Student Government Unanimously Passes Resolution Demanding Divestment from “Israel”

The Student Government at the University of Michigan - Dearborn took a bold step in unanimously passing a resolution demanding the University “cease all investment in companies that financially benefit from the actions of the Israeli military in illegally occupied territories.”

Determined in their cause, the Student Government will follow the resolution with a plan to “lead a university-wide initiative to collect sufficient petition signatures to convince university administration and the board of regents to form a committee to investigate moral or ethical implications of investments in companies and/or institutions that sustain Israel’s violation of international law.”

Needless to say, these bold actions will stir up considerable contraversey. We need to show our support. Please send an encouraging e-mail to ldibra@umich.edu and umdsg2@umich.edu.

The full text of the resolution is included after the links below.

Read more:

• PDF: Press Release: Student Government Resolution on Divestment
• PDF: Full Text of Student Government Resolution on Divestment
• The Detroit News: Students want U-M to divest from Israel

Full Text of the Resolution

General Assembly Resolution # 2006-001

Adopted Sep. 27th, 2006

Whereas, this wise body has been known to be one of strong moral and social conscience and has in the past supported justice and international law, and

Whereas, U.N General Assembly Resolution 194 resolves that the Holy Places - including Nazareth - religious buildings and sites in Palestine should be protected and free access to them assured, in accordance with existing rights and historical practice, and

Whereas, U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194 further resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible, and

Whereas, many of faith, including but not limited to Palestinians, are denied free access to religious buildings and sites, and

Whereas, Palestinian refugees have still not been allowed to return to their homes and allowed the chance to live in peace with their neighbors and furthermore, most of their property has been either demolished or destroyed by Israel and none have been compensated for their losses, and

Whereas, the aforementioned situations prove that Israel clearly and inexcusably is in continued violation of U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194, and

Whereas, U.N Security Council Resolution 242 calls for the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the territories occupied in the 1967 conflict and the termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every state in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force, and

Whereas, the State of Israel violates dozens of U.N. General assembly and Security Council Resolutions, causing conflict and suffering, and

Whereas, the territories of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula all were occupied in the 1967 conflict, and

Whereas, all of the aforementioned territories, except for the Sinai Peninsula, are still being illegally occupied by the state of Israel, in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, and

Whereas, the Fourth Geneva Convention states that the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into territories it occupies, and

Whereas, Israel has continuously displaced indigenous Palestinian civilians and encouraged Israelis to settle in the illegally occupied territories, and

Whereas, this is reaffirmed by U.N. Security Council Resolution 446, which states that "the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East", and

Whereas, Israel has also imposed degrading, humiliating, and inhumane living conditions upon the indigenous Palestinians and this is unacceptable and cannot be justified or excused by those of strong moral and social conscience or those who support international law, and

Whereas, the complete and conscious disregard for Palestinians living under occupation has resulted in excessive use of force leading to tremendous civilian casualties, curfews imposed on entire communities sometimes for weeks on end, state sanctioned destruction of the environment and agriculture of mostly Palestinian lands (often times to build illegal settlements in the Occupied Territories), banning of books by both Arab authors as well as non-Arab authors (including Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice"), disruption of movement within the West Bank and Gaza Strip at times cutting Palestinians off completely from neighboring areas, loss of the right to an education, organizing, employment, and proper health care, and

Whereas, numerous organizations around the world including but definitely not limited to Amnesty International, the United Nations, the Palestinian Red Crescent, and Israel's B'tselem have highlighted and reprimanded the practices of the Israeli military and the living conditions they impose upon the indigenous Palestinians and deem them to be gross human rights violations, and

Whereas, Israel engaged in a 34 day illegal aggression against the state and people of Lebanon beginning on July 12th, 2006 and ending with a cease fire resolution on August 14th, 2006, and

Whereas, during this 34 day aggression against Lebanon, Amnesty International reported “The Israeli Air Force launched more than 7,000 air attacks on about 7,000 targets in Lebanon between 12 July and 14 August, while the Navy conducted an additional 2,500 bombardments.(1) The attacks, though widespread, particularly concentrated on certain areas. In addition to the human toll -- an estimated 1,183 fatalities, about one third of whom have been children (2), 4,054 people injured and 970,000Lebanese people displaced… In a country of fewer than four million inhabitants, more than 25 per cent of them took to the roads as displaced persons. An estimated 500,000 people sought shelter in Beirut alone, many of them in parks and public spaces, without water or washing facilities… The evidence strongly suggests that the extensive destruction of public works, power systems, civilian homes and industry was deliberate and an integral part of the military strategy, rather than ‘collateral damage’.”

Whereas, the University of Michigan invests in numerous companies and these investments are worth millions of dollars, and

Whereas, Raytheon, General Electric, United Technologies, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman are all directly involved in the Israeli occupation, military aggression and profit from many of Israel's questionable policies in the occupied territories, and

Whereas, the investments in these six companies alone are valued at over $12,000,000, and

Whereas, University policy states that if a particular issue regarding the investment portfolio "involves serious moral or ethical questions," then "an advisory committee consisting of members of the University Senate, students, administration and alumni will be appointed to gather information and formulate recommendations for the Regent's consideration."

Therefore be it Resolved, that the University of Michigan- Dearborn Student Government will lead a movement to collect sufficient petition signatures demanding that the University of Michigan Board of Regents create an advisory committee to investigate the moral and ethical implications of the University's investments in companies that directly support and benefit from the ongoing illegal Israeli occupation, and

Be it Further Resolved, that on behalf of the students at the University of Michigan- Dearborn, we urge this committee to demand that the University of Michigan immediately divest from companies that are directly involved in the ongoing illegal occupation, because we deem these investments to be unethical. These companies may include Raytheon, General Electric, United Technologies, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman, and

Be it Further Resolved, that until Israel abides by international law, specifically but not limited to U.N General Assembly Resolution 194 and U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242, 270, 347, 425, 426, 427, 450, 459, 483, 481, 555, 586, 587, 599, 617, 768, 799, 938, 1288, and 1701 amongst others, we demand that the University cease all investment in companies that financially benefit from the actions of the Israeli military in illegally occupied territories.

Los Angeles Times: Jordan's King Risks Shah's Fate, Critics Warn

The Los Angeles Times ran an article with interesting analysis on the current political status of King ‘Abdullah II of Jordan.

An excerpt from the article:

A politically inexperienced king takes control of a Middle Eastern monarchy from his powerful father, surrounds himself with U.S. military hardware and spies, loses touch with his people and is finally ejected in a popular uprising.

That was the tale of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, the pro-American ruler of Iran whose ouster ushered in the reign of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and three decades of Islamic rule.

Now many in this Arab country of more than 5 million people fear that a similar fate could befall King Abdullah II, the Jordanian monarch who assumed power after his charismatic father died in 1999.

"Until now in Amman we don't have a Khomeini," said one mid-ranking official serving the Jordanian Cabinet. "If there was a Khomeini, then this family would be in trouble."

Read more:

• Los Angeles Times: Jordan's King Risks Shah's Fate, Critics Warn

Israeli Mother Who Lost Her Daughter Blames Israeli Army

Dr. Nurit's speech given at Connecticut College, New London, CT 09/27/06


This is a powerful speech by an Israeli mother who lost her daughter by a Palestinian bomber, and her two sons refuse to serve in the Israeli army. She blames Israeli atrocious policies towards Palestinians for the problem in the Middle East.

Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan is a Lecturer in Language Education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem specializing in discourse in Israeli education with emphasis on visual and verbal presentation of Palestinian and non-western Jews. In September 1997, Nurit's daughter Samarder was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber. She and her family are members of the Palestinian and Israeli Bereaved Families for Peace. Her two elder sons are active in the peace movements of the Refusenik and Combatants for Peace, a new movement of Israeli and Palestinian ex fighters. Dr. Peled-Elhanan is the recipient of the European Parliament 2001 Sakharov Prize for Human Rights and Freedom of Thought. She is now touring the US together with a Palestinian women (Hanan Abu Ghosh) who lost her 17 year old brother to Israeli gunfire.


Education or mind infection?
By Nurit Peled-Elhanan

http://www.qumsiyeh.org/nuritpeledelhanan/

I would like to dedicate these words to all the Palestinian boys and girls, and to all the Lebanese boys and girls, and to all the Iraqi boys and girls who have been massacred by mind-infected Israeli and American soldier boys, and who have recently joined my own little girl in the underground kingdom of dead children, which is growing under our feet as I speak. I would like to tell them not to worry: "You will be well received there, children, and no one will hurt you just because you wandered off on your way to school or because you wore a scarf on your head or because you lived in a certain place. Rest in peace, everyone is equally worthy in your new world. This is the world where Israeli children dwell side by side with Palestinian children. There they lay, victims and murderers, whose bloods have long been absorbed by the holy land which has always been indifferent to blood. There they rest, all of them, victims of deceit.

All of you dead children were deceived, because your death has achieved nothing at all and the world goes on living as if your blood had never been shed. Because the leaders of the world keep playing their murderous games, using you as their dice and our grief as fuel for their killing machines. Because Children are abstract entities for generals and grief is a political tool. Living at both sides, that of the victims and that of the killers, I keep asking myself, what are the means by which good Israeli children are turned into murdering monsters, what are the means by which they are so mind-infected as to kill and torture and humiliate other children, their parents and grandparents, and sacrifice their own life for nothing but the folly and megalomania of their chiefs. In the so-called Western enlightened world everyone feels very well-founded when they blame Islam for suicide bombing and terror. But who would ever blame Judaism for murder?

And yet, Ulta Orthodox Jewish children who have never left Brooklyn know that to kill Arabs is a 'mitzva' (holy commandment) for they are 'vilde hayeths' (wild beasts). And Israeli children actually commit the crimes of slaughter and tporture. Neither Judaism nor Islam nor any religion for that matter are the cause for murder and terror. Racist education is. American imperialism is, and Israeli ruthless regime of occupation is. The women and children who suffer most from western violence today are Muslim women but racism has its way and the blame for their suffering is attributed to their being muslim.

The western world today is infected with fear of Islam and of the muslim womb. Great France of liberte egalite and fraternite is scared of little head-scarved girls, Jewish Israel calls in public speeches and schoolbooks the Arab citizens of Israel a demographic nightmare and the enemy from within. As for the Palestinians refugees living under occupation, they are defined in Israeli History schoolbooks as a 'problem to be solved". Not long ago the Jews were a problem to be solved.

This in spite the fact that the people who are destroying the world today are not muslims. The people who are using the most sophisticated disastrous weapons to kill thousand of innocent civilians are not Muslims . They are Christian, and Jewish. Nevertheless people who belong to the Judeo-Christian cultures, who support American-British and Israeli crimes against humanity, and particularly against Muslims all over the world, people who send their children to fight these ruthless useless wars in the name of democracy and freedom which are cover names for greed and megalomania, dare call themselves enlightened and blame it all on some imaginary clash of civilizations.. What does this fear-stricken world offer as a solution to Palestinian , Iraqi or Afgan people who are harassed, abused, tortured and famished by western crimes and exploitation? The general offer this enlightened world gives them is: Be like us. Constitute a Democracy like ours, embrace our values which despise you, which consider you an inferior primitive lot to be cultivated or cleansed away.

This, ladies and gentlemen is the attitude that permit American soldiers to rape, torture and kill muslim men women and children by the thousands, that permits Israeli soldiers to order Palestinian women to strip in front of their children for security reasons, jailers to keep them in inhuman conditions, without necessary hygienic aids, without clean water or clean mattresses and separate them from their breast-fed babies and toddlers. To block their way to education, to confiscate their lands, to destroy their water wells, to uproot their trees and to prevent them from working their fields. This is what permits Israeli pilots to drop a hundred bombs of one ton a day on the most crowded area in the world -Gaza. This is what permits Israel to issue racist laws that separate mothers from fathers and children. Palestinian Iraqi and Afgan women are mothers like me. And when they lose a child, even if it is one of 12, their pain is equal to mine. But in addition to losing their children they also lose their homes and their livelihood and their future because the world does not listen to their sufferings and does not punish their murderers. Their honour as women and mothers is crushed. Their identity is destroyed and their cry is not heard. their faith and customs, their centuries-old ways of life are disregarded and despised.

Not only American soldiers but also Israeli soldiers who actually perform massacres of 'Arabs' - Palestinian or Lebanese - may never see an Arab human face until they are drafted to the army, but they learn, for 12 long years, that these people are primitive, bear children in order to send them to the streets and throw stones at our peace-keeping soldiers, uneducated because they don't receive our education, conniving and dirty because they have different notions about politeness, they dress differently and cover their heads with different pieces of cloth. Well, from my experience there are many more Kafiehs in the camp of peace lovers than there are kippas. Israeli children are deprived from knowing their immediate neighbours, their history and their culture and their merits. Israeli children are educated to see their neighbours as an unwanted element. This is not education, this is mind infection.

The scientist Richard Dawkins was the first to speak about viruses of the mind. Children, because their minds are gullible and open to almost any suggestion, are not immune to mental infections of all sorts of propaganda and fashion. They are easily persuaded to pierce their faces and tattoo their bottoms, to turn their hats around and bare their bellies, to believe in angels and fairies. They are equally easy to acquire political beliefs and to appropriate mental maps which will later influence their decisions on the question of the future borders of the state and on the necessity of war. All of Our children are mind-infected from an early age. So that by the time they are old enough to become real soldiers, they have already learned to be good soldiers, which means their minds are totally infected and they are incapable of questioning the 'truth' that has been inculcated to them.

This is part of the explanation one can give to the terrible deeds that are committed today by good Israeli boys, who are characterized once and again as "people of values". Therefore it is high time to ask, what values are these? The following lines are part of a personal preface by Tal Sela, one of my university students to his term-paper, which included the analysis of a History textbook:

On the 5th of September 1997 I found myself in LEbanon , on a rescuing mission . All my friends were in the battle, 12 soldiers were killed. The following days I was happy: " I am alive, I survived" I said to myself. However, a year later I was in deep depression. Sad and morose. I decided to consult a psychologist. After a few sessions I was able to gather up my forces again, both physical and moral. I could reorganize my thoughts. Then I understood that the mental crisis I had was in fact a moral crisis, a crisis of consciousness. What I actually felt was frustration, shame and anger. … How could I be so gullible and let myself be duped? How can I explain that a man of peace, exposes himself to such a morbid experience of his own free will? Today, like every two weeks, I drove peace activists to the military check-points of the Israeli army in the occupied Palestinian territories. I saw an officer put tight handcuffs on a taxi driver because he failed to obey the soldiers' order to park here and not there. "We told him a thousand times" the soldiers said. The man was lying on the ground in the worst heat of the summer, thirsty, for hours on end. His friend was luckier: He had to stand on his feet, in a cell, without handcuffs. What pushes these young Israeli boys to play the rôle of supreme judges until they lose all judgment? In my opinion it is the Grand Zionist Narrative which serves as a collective conscience to the whole Israeli society, explicitly as well as implicitly. This grand narrative is the system of values that makes us belong to this particular collective.

This is the system that dictates the relationships between us and the Palestinians. How else can one explain young people who were educated to love their neighbour as they love themselves killing their neighbours, destroying their educational institutions, their libraries and their hospitals, for no apparent reason other than their being neighbours? The only explanation is that their minds are infected by parents, teachers and leaders, who convince them that the others are not as human as we are, and therefore killing them is not real killing; it has other legitimating names such as "cleansing" "purifying", "punishment", "operation", "mission", "campaign" and "war". Although I speak about Israeli boys this is not an Israeli affair because, as you know, the epidemic is worldwide. My nephew, Doroni, 7 years old, who lives in the US, came home on Halloween day and said he wanted to be a soldier, and then to go to Iraq and save America. How many American young men, ignorant as he is of the absurdity of this statement, actually went to Iraq and died there without knowing why, but with the words "save America" on their lips? The question is, how were these false values imprinted on their minds and how can they be erased?

The human psyche, says Dawkins, has two great sicknesses: the urge to carry vendetta across generations and the tendency to fasten group labels on people rather than see them as individuals. We all suffer because of labels, but only those of us who died because of labels have realized that the way to fight labels is to refuse labels. The way to defeat false value systems is to expose them. The viruses of the mind are only partially weakened by young people like Tal and other Israeli refusniks such as 'Combatants for Peace'. But most of our mind infected children would not be free of the grip of those viruses until they find their final rest in the evergrowing, underground kingdom of dead children . Only there will they realize that is doesn't matter whether their head was bare or not in a synagogue or a church or a mosque, whether they were circumcised or not, whether they pronounced forbidden words, ate pig or cow or whether they had a hot chocolate after their salami pizza just before they were blown up by someone who didn't. Israeli, American, English, Italian mothers raise their children with all the love and care in order to sacrifice them to the god of death, as if their uterus is a national or rather an international asset. and fathers urge their children to commit themselves to armies whose interests have nothing to do with defense. And when these children die for the profits of somebody else their parents bear it with dignity and pride, as they were taught, put their dead children's photographs on the mantelpiece and sigh: He was so handsome in uniform. It is time to tell these parents that no-one is andsome in the uniform of brutality. It is time to tell them uniforms and ranks and medals have become ugly. Tell them their dignity and pride are misplaced.

It is time to tell Jewish people that the only way to discourage anti-Semitism is by condemning the only government in the world who deliberately sends young Jewish boys and girls to their certain death and who persecutes to the point of genocide a whole Semitic nation, explain to them that it is the Jewish government and the actions of its army, not some primordial hatred for the Jewish race, which are the reasons for the invention of the new sign we often see in pro-Palestinian demonstration, where the Star of David is equated with the swastika.

It is a terribly hard task for people who were educated in Israel or in the USA or in any other 'western' 'democratic' country, to admit we were raised on false racist values. On heterophobia. The only thing that can enhance such a change of spirit is the constant image of the mutilated small bodies of the victims of these values . Tomorrow is Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jews. On this day people are required to ask forgiveness. Not to forgive but to try and be forgiven. I would like to quote one stanza from a poem written by the late Hanoh Levin, one of Israel's greatest playwrights, in the 1970s:

Dear Father, when you stand on my grave
Old and tired and very lonely,
And you see how they burry me in the ground -
Ask me to forgive you my father.

We must all ask our children's forgiveness for not being more alert, for not fighting hard enough to keep our promises for a better world, for not refusing the evil viruses before and for letting them be the victims of the horrible, mental infection we are all suffering from, to look at their innocent, astonished, disillusioned small faces and ask ourselves: why does that streak of blood rip the petal of their cheek???

Tariq Ramadan: Why I'm Banned in the USA

Tariq Ramadan wrote an interesting article in today's Washington Post about the reasons that he has been denied entry into the United States.

Here are some excerpts:

“I am increasingly convinced that the Bush administration has barred me for a much simpler reason: It doesn't care for my political views. In recent years, I have publicly criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East, the war in Iraq, the use of torture, secret CIA prisons and other government actions that undermine fundamental civil liberties.”

...

“I donated to these organizations for the same reason that countless Europeans -- and Americans, for that matter -- donate to Palestinian causes: not to help fund terrorism, but because I wanted to provide humanitarian aid to people who desperately need it.”

...

“And yes, I believe we all have a right to dissent, to criticize governments and protest undemocratic decisions. It is certainly legitimate for European Muslims and American Muslims to criticize their governments if they find them unjust -- and I will continue to do so.”

...

“I fear that the United States has grown fearful of ideas. I have learned firsthand that the Bush administration reacts to its critics not by engaging them, but by stigmatizing and excluding them. Will foreign scholars be permitted to enter the United States only if they promise to mute their criticisms of U.S. policy? It saddens me to think of the effect this will have on the free exchange of ideas, on political debate within America, and on our ability to bridge differences across cultures.”

Read more:

• Tariq Ramadan’s Official Web Site
  
  
• Washington Post: Why I'm Banned in the USA by Tariq Ramadan