Torture and killing of a Sunni by his childhood friends
by Hala Jaber
A letter written by a young Iraqi woman about her brother’s brutal murder vividly illustrates how even lifelong friends are turning on one another in Baghdad’s bitter sectarian strife.
Rasha al-Duleimi, 26, describes the torture and killing of Seif, 23, by two of his childhood friends.
The rest of the family, all Sunnis, had left the mixed neighbourhood of Hay al-Risala in southwest Baghdad after the Shi’ite controlled Mahdi Army had killed their grandfather and an uncle.
As the breadwinner, Seif remained in Baghdad to run their grocery shop. Rasha stayed on to look after him. He assured her that despite the sectarian tensions he would be safe among his childhood Shi’ite friends.
On May 10 Rasha had an intuition and begged him not to go to work. “I knew when he left that day that he would not be coming back,” she recalled.
A telephone call an hour after Seif had left confirmed her instinct. “It was one of his oldest friends, it was the voice of Ahmad, our neighbour,” she recounted.
“We have him,” he told her and laughed before hanging up.
She knew exactly who the kidnappers were.
“I begged them in the name of humanity, in the name of our childhood friendship,” she wrote, “but they refused to heed my cries.”
Seif’s uncle, also called Ahmad, drove to Baghdad to negotiate with the captors but was taken hostage himself. After several hours, a telephone call confirmed that both men were dead.
“You will get back your loved one burnt with nitric acid and drilled to death,” said the caller, referring to the death squad’s favoured methods of torture.
An American patrol took the dumped bodies to the main morgue. Rasha’s mother fainted when she saw her son.
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Pertinent Links:
1) Torture and killing of a Sunni by his childhood friends
Showing posts with label sunni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sunni. Show all posts
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: SUNNI'S & SHI'ITES UNITE AGAINST THE UNITED STATES
Shia and Sunni militants unite to attack US
By Aqeel Hussein in Baghdad
American attempts to co-opt Iraqi insurgents in Baghdad have suffered a set back after Sunni and Shia Muslim militants in a key district of the city forged an alliance against United States forces.
In the first half of the year, US commanders teamed up with Sunni fighters loyal to the al-Girtani clan to attack al-Qa'eda cells in the Shorta and Amil areas near the airport. But after intense fighting, in which the extremists were defeated, the al-Girtani tribe reached across Iraq's sectarian divide, in what is believed to be the first partnership of its kind.
"We fought the Shia because of pressure from al-Qa'eda," said Turki al-Girtani, the tribe leader. "Now after they were beaten we have to refocus on the real enemy, which is the US army."
Girtani said his tribe approached the Mahdi army, an extreme Shia group, last month. "We told them that we forced al-Qa'eda to leave and we would be more friendly. We said the US army was watching us fighting, having fun at our expense."
He said the alliance had conducted attacks against the coalition and destroyed dozens of military vehicles. Co-operation between the two groups had resulted in displaced people from both sides recovering their lost homes, he added.
Naseer Abo Direi, the leader of the Mahdi army in the south-west of Baghdad, said: "Some of my colleagues in other parts of Baghdad are angry about our deal, but I lead this area and I believe it's the moment to start new future."
US commanders have not commented on the reported alliance but Abbas Ahmed, an Iraqi police chief, said there had been a lull in fighting across the community. "The fighting has stopped between Sunnis and Shia in this part of the city," he said.
Some residents rejected the deal, however, retaining old grievances. Hussein al-Maguisi said: "I'll still take revenge for my brother who was killed by the Sunnis. I'll join another branch of the Madhi army to fight them."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Shia and Sunni militants unite to attack US
By Aqeel Hussein in Baghdad
American attempts to co-opt Iraqi insurgents in Baghdad have suffered a set back after Sunni and Shia Muslim militants in a key district of the city forged an alliance against United States forces.
In the first half of the year, US commanders teamed up with Sunni fighters loyal to the al-Girtani clan to attack al-Qa'eda cells in the Shorta and Amil areas near the airport. But after intense fighting, in which the extremists were defeated, the al-Girtani tribe reached across Iraq's sectarian divide, in what is believed to be the first partnership of its kind.
"We fought the Shia because of pressure from al-Qa'eda," said Turki al-Girtani, the tribe leader. "Now after they were beaten we have to refocus on the real enemy, which is the US army."
Girtani said his tribe approached the Mahdi army, an extreme Shia group, last month. "We told them that we forced al-Qa'eda to leave and we would be more friendly. We said the US army was watching us fighting, having fun at our expense."
He said the alliance had conducted attacks against the coalition and destroyed dozens of military vehicles. Co-operation between the two groups had resulted in displaced people from both sides recovering their lost homes, he added.
Naseer Abo Direi, the leader of the Mahdi army in the south-west of Baghdad, said: "Some of my colleagues in other parts of Baghdad are angry about our deal, but I lead this area and I believe it's the moment to start new future."
US commanders have not commented on the reported alliance but Abbas Ahmed, an Iraqi police chief, said there had been a lull in fighting across the community. "The fighting has stopped between Sunnis and Shia in this part of the city," he said.
Some residents rejected the deal, however, retaining old grievances. Hussein al-Maguisi said: "I'll still take revenge for my brother who was killed by the Sunnis. I'll join another branch of the Madhi army to fight them."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Shia and Sunni militants unite to attack US
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./IRAN: BLOVIATIONS BETWEEN THE U.S.A & IRAN YIELD NOTHING - - - IRAN'S INFLUENCE CONTINUES TO GROW IN IRAQ
Little Progress In Baghdad Meeting Between US and Iran – Iranian Influence Is Growing As Shiite Militias Attack Al Qaeda Sunnis
There was very little progress Tuesday between the US and Iran at an informal meeting in Baghdad. The United States is learning that Iran has been a great beneficiary of the war in Iraq despite efforts to limit their influence. The Bush administration has made it clear that they want to be the sole weapons supplier for that country and has begun accusing Tehran of supplying some material and weapons.
...
The International Herald Tribune reports that there was little progress in Tuesday’s meeting. The “two countries squared off over U.S. allegations that Iran has increased the flow of aid to Shiite militias,” according to the Tribune. Critics in the US say that the American’s have become a separate militia in the country by supporting the Iran-friendly Shiite government of Iraq.
The US wanted to focus the meeting on Iraq while the Iranians want to expand the discussion to other issues, according to Sam Dagher with the Christian Science Monitor. Dagher said that the parties discussed the formation of a security subcommittee that would address issues relating to violent militias, border security, and Al Qaeda.
Since the overthrow of Saddam’s Sunni government, the Shiite government of Iraq has begun trading with the Shiite government of Iran. Tehran has begun making loans to the government of Iraq for specific projects. It is evident that their influence has grown and this is detrimental to Al Qaeda, a wholly Sunni terrorist organization. There are no Shiites in Al Qaeda.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Little Progress In Baghdad Meeting Between US and Iran – Iranian Influence Is Growing As Shiite Militias Attack Al Qaeda Sunnis
There was very little progress Tuesday between the US and Iran at an informal meeting in Baghdad. The United States is learning that Iran has been a great beneficiary of the war in Iraq despite efforts to limit their influence. The Bush administration has made it clear that they want to be the sole weapons supplier for that country and has begun accusing Tehran of supplying some material and weapons.
...
The International Herald Tribune reports that there was little progress in Tuesday’s meeting. The “two countries squared off over U.S. allegations that Iran has increased the flow of aid to Shiite militias,” according to the Tribune. Critics in the US say that the American’s have become a separate militia in the country by supporting the Iran-friendly Shiite government of Iraq.
The US wanted to focus the meeting on Iraq while the Iranians want to expand the discussion to other issues, according to Sam Dagher with the Christian Science Monitor. Dagher said that the parties discussed the formation of a security subcommittee that would address issues relating to violent militias, border security, and Al Qaeda.
Since the overthrow of Saddam’s Sunni government, the Shiite government of Iraq has begun trading with the Shiite government of Iran. Tehran has begun making loans to the government of Iraq for specific projects. It is evident that their influence has grown and this is detrimental to Al Qaeda, a wholly Sunni terrorist organization. There are no Shiites in Al Qaeda.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Little Progress In Baghdad Meeting Between US and Iran – Iranian Influence Is Growing As Shiite Militias Attack Al Qaeda Sunnis
Sunday, July 08, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ/IRAN: AL SADR IS BACK IN IRAN
Iraq's Sadr back in Iran, military sources say
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has gone back to neighbouring Iran, U.S. military sources in Baghdad said today.
Earlier this year, U.S. officials said the anti-American cleric was hiding in Iran to avoid a major security crackdown in Baghdad, although his aides say he never left Iraq.
"Our sources do show Moqtada in Iran," one U.S. military source said, declining to speculate on why Sadr had gone back.
A senior aide to Sadr denied the cleric had left Iraq.
Sadr disappeared from public view shortly before the launch of a U.S.-led offensive in Baghdad in February but re-emerged in the holy Shi'ite Iraqi city of Kufa on May 25.
Analysts had speculated Sadr had returned to reassert his authority over his Mehdi Army militia, which the U.S. military says has begun breaking into splinter groups.
The United States accuses Iran of fuelling sectarian violence with its support for Shi'ite militias such as the Mehdi Army. Tehran rejects this, accusing Washington of fomenting instability in the region.
Sadr has said nothing about where he had been while he was out of public view for months other than to describe it as a "successful disappearance".
His lower profile has coincided with a growing rift between his movement and Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Sadr pulled his six ministers out of Maliki's cabinet in April when the prime minister refused to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Iraq's Sadr back in Iran, military sources say
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has gone back to neighbouring Iran, U.S. military sources in Baghdad said today.
Earlier this year, U.S. officials said the anti-American cleric was hiding in Iran to avoid a major security crackdown in Baghdad, although his aides say he never left Iraq.
"Our sources do show Moqtada in Iran," one U.S. military source said, declining to speculate on why Sadr had gone back.
A senior aide to Sadr denied the cleric had left Iraq.
Sadr disappeared from public view shortly before the launch of a U.S.-led offensive in Baghdad in February but re-emerged in the holy Shi'ite Iraqi city of Kufa on May 25.
Analysts had speculated Sadr had returned to reassert his authority over his Mehdi Army militia, which the U.S. military says has begun breaking into splinter groups.
The United States accuses Iran of fuelling sectarian violence with its support for Shi'ite militias such as the Mehdi Army. Tehran rejects this, accusing Washington of fomenting instability in the region.
Sadr has said nothing about where he had been while he was out of public view for months other than to describe it as a "successful disappearance".
His lower profile has coincided with a growing rift between his movement and Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Sadr pulled his six ministers out of Maliki's cabinet in April when the prime minister refused to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Iraq's Sadr back in Iran, military sources say
Saturday, June 30, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: IS MALIKI'S FRAGILE COALITION GOVERNMENT ABOUT TO GO BUST?!?
Sunni bloc in Iraq boycotts government
BAGHDAD: Embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s national reconciliation programme suffered a major blow yesterday as the key Sunni Arab bloc ordered its six ministers to quit his government.
In protest at an arrest warrant issued against one of its ministers, Sunni lawmaker Omar Abdul-Sattar Mahmud said the National Concord Front will request that its ministers suspend their participation in Maliki’s cabinet.
“The National Concord Front demanded that its members in the cabinet suspend their participation until the government meets their demands,” he said.
“With all respect to the judicial system, we condemn the unfair warrant, we demand that the case be investigated further, that the minister’s reputation be restored, and that the security forces be punished,” he said.
An Iraqi court has issued an arrest warrant for Culture Minister Asaad Kamal al-Hashemi for allegedly masterminding an attack on fellow Sunni MP Mithal Alussi in February 2005.
Alussi escaped the ambush in Baghdad but his two sons were killed.
On Tuesday, Iraqi forces raided Hashemi’s house and detained dozens of his bodyguards.
Alussi, an independent lawmaker, said the warrant issued was for “terrorist activities” including the slaying of his sons, and that two gunmen detained for the murder had confessed to launching the ambush on Hashemi’s orders.
The Front’s move comes at a time when US and Iraqi forces are carrying out a massive security crackdown in Baghdad in a bid to provide political space for Maliki to step up his reconciliation efforts.
Maliki is under pressure to quell the raging Sunni insurgency by winning the trust of the disenchanted former elite.
An MP from the Shia United Iraqi Alliance considered close to Maliki rejected the Sunni bloc’s charges and insisted that Hashemi’s case was a purely judicial matter.
“They are proclaiming the minister’s innocence in spite of all the evidence that has been presented in the case,” Sami al-Askari said in an interview with Al Hurra television.
“The problem we are confronting is that there are some parties in the government and the parliament that are trying to bring down the government and hinder its work.”
Askari said he believed Hashemi, who has been on the run and is believed to be hiding in the Green Zone, was being sheltered by the US government. The US embassy has said it has no involvement in the case.
The defection of the Sunni ministers comes as a hard blow to Maliki’s fragile coalition, which is under pressure from Washington to pass benchmark legislation aimed at healing Iraq’s myriad internal conflicts.
Parliament is currently discussing major legislation on the distribution of oil revenues, the revision of the country’s de-Baathification policies and amendments to the constitution.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Sunni bloc in Iraq boycotts government
BAGHDAD: Embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s national reconciliation programme suffered a major blow yesterday as the key Sunni Arab bloc ordered its six ministers to quit his government.
In protest at an arrest warrant issued against one of its ministers, Sunni lawmaker Omar Abdul-Sattar Mahmud said the National Concord Front will request that its ministers suspend their participation in Maliki’s cabinet.
“The National Concord Front demanded that its members in the cabinet suspend their participation until the government meets their demands,” he said.
“With all respect to the judicial system, we condemn the unfair warrant, we demand that the case be investigated further, that the minister’s reputation be restored, and that the security forces be punished,” he said.
An Iraqi court has issued an arrest warrant for Culture Minister Asaad Kamal al-Hashemi for allegedly masterminding an attack on fellow Sunni MP Mithal Alussi in February 2005.
Alussi escaped the ambush in Baghdad but his two sons were killed.
On Tuesday, Iraqi forces raided Hashemi’s house and detained dozens of his bodyguards.
Alussi, an independent lawmaker, said the warrant issued was for “terrorist activities” including the slaying of his sons, and that two gunmen detained for the murder had confessed to launching the ambush on Hashemi’s orders.
The Front’s move comes at a time when US and Iraqi forces are carrying out a massive security crackdown in Baghdad in a bid to provide political space for Maliki to step up his reconciliation efforts.
Maliki is under pressure to quell the raging Sunni insurgency by winning the trust of the disenchanted former elite.
An MP from the Shia United Iraqi Alliance considered close to Maliki rejected the Sunni bloc’s charges and insisted that Hashemi’s case was a purely judicial matter.
“They are proclaiming the minister’s innocence in spite of all the evidence that has been presented in the case,” Sami al-Askari said in an interview with Al Hurra television.
“The problem we are confronting is that there are some parties in the government and the parliament that are trying to bring down the government and hinder its work.”
Askari said he believed Hashemi, who has been on the run and is believed to be hiding in the Green Zone, was being sheltered by the US government. The US embassy has said it has no involvement in the case.
The defection of the Sunni ministers comes as a hard blow to Maliki’s fragile coalition, which is under pressure from Washington to pass benchmark legislation aimed at healing Iraq’s myriad internal conflicts.
Parliament is currently discussing major legislation on the distribution of oil revenues, the revision of the country’s de-Baathification policies and amendments to the constitution.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Sunni bloc in Iraq boycotts government
Sunday, June 24, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./U.K./IRAN/IRAQ: U.K. HELICOPTER SHOT DOWN BECAUSE OF A C.I.A. STATE DEPARTMENT SQUABBLE
Iran supplied missile that hit UK helicopter
A ROYAL NAVY helicopter that crashed in flames in Basra last year, killing all five on board, was shot down by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile supplied to Iraqi militants by Iran, according to US officials.
America knew that the Mahdi Army, the radical Shi’ite militia, had obtained the shoulder-launched missile from the Iranians but failed to tell the British because of a row between the State Department and the CIA over the reliability of the source, US intelligence sources said.
The Lynx helicopter, from 847 Naval Air Squadron, based at Yeovilton, Somerset, was carrying a three-man crew plus Wing Commander John Coxen, the most senior officer to die in Iraq, and Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill, the first British servicewoman killed in action since the second world war.
Witnesses told an inquest in Oxford last week that they saw a ball of yellow flame, typical of a particular type of missile, heading for the Lynx. Private Stuart Drummond said: “I thought it was a missile. The helicopter exploded. It was engulfed in flames and went down.”
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Iran supplied missile that hit UK helicopter
A ROYAL NAVY helicopter that crashed in flames in Basra last year, killing all five on board, was shot down by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile supplied to Iraqi militants by Iran, according to US officials.
America knew that the Mahdi Army, the radical Shi’ite militia, had obtained the shoulder-launched missile from the Iranians but failed to tell the British because of a row between the State Department and the CIA over the reliability of the source, US intelligence sources said.
The Lynx helicopter, from 847 Naval Air Squadron, based at Yeovilton, Somerset, was carrying a three-man crew plus Wing Commander John Coxen, the most senior officer to die in Iraq, and Flight Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill, the first British servicewoman killed in action since the second world war.
Witnesses told an inquest in Oxford last week that they saw a ball of yellow flame, typical of a particular type of missile, heading for the Lynx. Private Stuart Drummond said: “I thought it was a missile. The helicopter exploded. It was engulfed in flames and went down.”
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Iran supplied missile that hit UK helicopter
DAR AL HARB - AUSTRALIA: SUNNIS & SHI'ITES IN AUSTRALIA STAND AS ONE AGAINST ISRAEL...ARE YOU REALLY SURPRISED?!? I CERTAINLY AM NOT...
Aussie Muslims unite against Israel
Richard Kerbaj
AUSTRALIA'S Sunni Muslims have pushed aside ideological differences with their Shia counterparts to form a united front against Israel and declare their support for the Iranian-backed terrorist network Hezbollah.
The unity among the two Muslim sects, which have been at war with each other for centuries, comes as the nation's Jewish community accuses top Shia spiritual leader Kamal Mousselmani of creating hatred towards Jews by calling Israel a "terrorist" state and expressing his allegiance to Hezbollah militants.
The Howard Government yesterday also accused Sheik Mousselmani of sending the wrong message to his followers through his adverse views on Israel.
Sunni Muslim leader and community spokesman Keysar Trad yesterday said his sect largely championed Sheik Mousselmani's support for Hezbollah (Party of God), which was revealed by The Weekend Australian.
"Sunnis outside of Lebanon, yes, they still have a great deal of respect for Hezbollah," he said.
But Mr Trad, who does not believe the Lebanese-based Hezbollah is a terrorist group, said Sunni Muslims in Lebanon were less inclined to back the terrorist organisation because of political differences with the Shi'ites.
"I don't believe that Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation," he said. "I agree with (Mousselmani) that the state of Israel has ... consistently engaged in acts of terror which have brought a great deal of pain to the poor Palestinian population and the Lebanese population."
The new mufti of Australia, Sunni spiritual leader Fehmi Naji el-Imam, last year called Hezbollah militants "freedom fighters" during an anti-war rally in Melbourne. Sheik Fehmi's spokesman said yesterday the cleric could not be reached.
Sunni Muslim spiritual leaders contacted by The Australian, including several who formerly served on John Howard's Islamic advisory council, yesterday refused to put their support for Hezbollah on the record for fear of upsetting the federal Government and jeopardising future community funding.
A senior Sydney-based cleric who refused to be named said "you won't see any Muslim standing with Israel against Hezbollah even if they hate Hezbollah's politics".
The Australia-Israel and Jewish Affairs Council executive director, Colin Rubenstein, said Sheik Mousselmani was an embarrassment to his community whose views brought into sharp focus the Shia extremism on which Hezbollah was founded.
"One would think that the sheik should be telling his followers to obey Australian law rather than being so supportive of such an organisation with such an appalling track record," he said.
Hezbollah's military arm, the External Security Organisation, is a proscribed terrorist organisation in Australia, and supporting Hezbollah's political and military wings is illegal under UN counter-terrorist financing declarations.
Dr Rubenstein said Hezbollah was committed to the destruction of Israel and espoused "genocidal intentions for Jews everywhere".
This follows The Weekend Australian's revelations in which Sheik Mousselmani attacked the Howard Government's support for Israel against Arabs and said Hezbollah was a resistance group, not a terrorist network.
It was also revealed that national security authorities have stepped up their investigations into the nation's Shia community, whose members were not as closely monitored as Sunni Muslims.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock yesterday said Israel was entitled to exist and the federal Government's foreign policy was against any terrorist group that threatened Israel's sovereignty.
"Those who threaten its sovereignty do so, in our view, in breach of international law and we've always counselled not only Hezbollah but Hamas and Fatah to recognise the right of Israel to exist," he said.
Pertinent Links:
1) Aussie Muslims unite against Israel
Richard Kerbaj
AUSTRALIA'S Sunni Muslims have pushed aside ideological differences with their Shia counterparts to form a united front against Israel and declare their support for the Iranian-backed terrorist network Hezbollah.
The unity among the two Muslim sects, which have been at war with each other for centuries, comes as the nation's Jewish community accuses top Shia spiritual leader Kamal Mousselmani of creating hatred towards Jews by calling Israel a "terrorist" state and expressing his allegiance to Hezbollah militants.
The Howard Government yesterday also accused Sheik Mousselmani of sending the wrong message to his followers through his adverse views on Israel.
Sunni Muslim leader and community spokesman Keysar Trad yesterday said his sect largely championed Sheik Mousselmani's support for Hezbollah (Party of God), which was revealed by The Weekend Australian.
"Sunnis outside of Lebanon, yes, they still have a great deal of respect for Hezbollah," he said.
But Mr Trad, who does not believe the Lebanese-based Hezbollah is a terrorist group, said Sunni Muslims in Lebanon were less inclined to back the terrorist organisation because of political differences with the Shi'ites.
"I don't believe that Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation," he said. "I agree with (Mousselmani) that the state of Israel has ... consistently engaged in acts of terror which have brought a great deal of pain to the poor Palestinian population and the Lebanese population."
The new mufti of Australia, Sunni spiritual leader Fehmi Naji el-Imam, last year called Hezbollah militants "freedom fighters" during an anti-war rally in Melbourne. Sheik Fehmi's spokesman said yesterday the cleric could not be reached.
Sunni Muslim spiritual leaders contacted by The Australian, including several who formerly served on John Howard's Islamic advisory council, yesterday refused to put their support for Hezbollah on the record for fear of upsetting the federal Government and jeopardising future community funding.
A senior Sydney-based cleric who refused to be named said "you won't see any Muslim standing with Israel against Hezbollah even if they hate Hezbollah's politics".
The Australia-Israel and Jewish Affairs Council executive director, Colin Rubenstein, said Sheik Mousselmani was an embarrassment to his community whose views brought into sharp focus the Shia extremism on which Hezbollah was founded.
"One would think that the sheik should be telling his followers to obey Australian law rather than being so supportive of such an organisation with such an appalling track record," he said.
Hezbollah's military arm, the External Security Organisation, is a proscribed terrorist organisation in Australia, and supporting Hezbollah's political and military wings is illegal under UN counter-terrorist financing declarations.
Dr Rubenstein said Hezbollah was committed to the destruction of Israel and espoused "genocidal intentions for Jews everywhere".
This follows The Weekend Australian's revelations in which Sheik Mousselmani attacked the Howard Government's support for Israel against Arabs and said Hezbollah was a resistance group, not a terrorist network.
It was also revealed that national security authorities have stepped up their investigations into the nation's Shia community, whose members were not as closely monitored as Sunni Muslims.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock yesterday said Israel was entitled to exist and the federal Government's foreign policy was against any terrorist group that threatened Israel's sovereignty.
"Those who threaten its sovereignty do so, in our view, in breach of international law and we've always counselled not only Hezbollah but Hamas and Fatah to recognise the right of Israel to exist," he said.
Pertinent Links:
1) Aussie Muslims unite against Israel
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.K./IRAQ: BRITISH FORCES WOULD LIKE TO SNEAK OUT OF IRAQ, WITHOUT ANYONE BEING THE WISER
That other noble cause
BY RICHARD NORTON-TAYLOR
SENIOR military officers, defence officials and even ministers are making no secret of their view that British forces in Iraq are on a hiding to nothing, that their very presence is counterproductive. The army would like to sneak out without anyone noticing, leaving the south in the hands of Iranian-backed Shia militia.
Afghanistan, they say, is different. There, British troops are fighting for what ministers call a "noble cause". But the problem, they now privately admit, is that the spiral of violence in Iraq is plainly being repeated in Afghanistan, albeit without the sectarian violence.
In one of the bloodiest days since the Taleban was overthrown in 2001, at least 24 people were killed on Sunday by a suspected suicide bomber in the centre of Kabul and at least seven children were killed by US air strikes on a school near the Pakistan border. Yesterday, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, Acbar, which represents nearly 100 aid and humanitarian organisations, roundly condemned foreign, particularly US, troops for the "disproportionate or indiscriminate use of force".
As its influence grows inexorably in Iraq, Iran is now meddling increasingly in Afghanistan. As a result of British and US foreign policy, says a senior Whitehall official, "the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are on a roll". Shortly before Sunday's attack in Kabul, another well-placed senior Whitehall official commented: "One of the most damaging legacies of Iraq is the spreading of suicide bombings." These officials have no agenda, certainly no political axe to grind. They are professionals whose job is to defend British interests and security from domestic and foreign threats. Their comments are therefore all the more telling.
British soldiers used to say they preferred gunfights with the Taleban in southern Afghanistan to the improvised explosive devices and sniper fire in southern Iraq. They are now facing the prospect of being at the receiving end of the Taleban's shift away from open combat to the "asymmetric" attacks familiar from Iraq.
Ministers describe Afghanistan as a noble cause because, they say, vital British interests are at stake — the country cannot be allowed to become a failed state again, a base for terrorists, and so on. Senior military officers echoed these warnings. No doubt many of them genuinely believe in the strategic importance of Afghanistan for the west. But they are also desperately frustrated, not so much because of the lack of support from other countries or because of equipment shortages, but because of the scant resources devoted to winning Afghan "hearts and minds". Students of staff colleges, they also know that in the long history of warfare, never has aerial bombing succeeded in defeating an insurgency.
Des Browne, the defence secretary, says he appreciates the significance of the point and that Robert Gates, his new American counterpart, has also grasped it. What seems clear, however, is that the policy of the west — as enacted by Nato — in Afghanistan remains hopelessly confused and contradictory.
Take the opium poppy crop. "We've got to stop talking about poppy eradication when British soldiers need the cooperation of Afghans, many of whom are poppy farmers," General Sir Mike Jackson, the former head of the army, recently told the independent Iraq Commission inquiry in a swipe at the US. Yet the poppy harvest, allowed to reach record levels, also helps fill the coffers of the Taleban and feeds corruption. Without a huge injection of foreign aid — and there is no evidence that anyone wants to provide it - it may not be long before British commanders start saying: "Let's get out of Afghanistan as well as Iraq."
Pertinent Links:
1) That other noble cause
BY RICHARD NORTON-TAYLOR
SENIOR military officers, defence officials and even ministers are making no secret of their view that British forces in Iraq are on a hiding to nothing, that their very presence is counterproductive. The army would like to sneak out without anyone noticing, leaving the south in the hands of Iranian-backed Shia militia.
Afghanistan, they say, is different. There, British troops are fighting for what ministers call a "noble cause". But the problem, they now privately admit, is that the spiral of violence in Iraq is plainly being repeated in Afghanistan, albeit without the sectarian violence.
In one of the bloodiest days since the Taleban was overthrown in 2001, at least 24 people were killed on Sunday by a suspected suicide bomber in the centre of Kabul and at least seven children were killed by US air strikes on a school near the Pakistan border. Yesterday, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, Acbar, which represents nearly 100 aid and humanitarian organisations, roundly condemned foreign, particularly US, troops for the "disproportionate or indiscriminate use of force".
As its influence grows inexorably in Iraq, Iran is now meddling increasingly in Afghanistan. As a result of British and US foreign policy, says a senior Whitehall official, "the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are on a roll". Shortly before Sunday's attack in Kabul, another well-placed senior Whitehall official commented: "One of the most damaging legacies of Iraq is the spreading of suicide bombings." These officials have no agenda, certainly no political axe to grind. They are professionals whose job is to defend British interests and security from domestic and foreign threats. Their comments are therefore all the more telling.
British soldiers used to say they preferred gunfights with the Taleban in southern Afghanistan to the improvised explosive devices and sniper fire in southern Iraq. They are now facing the prospect of being at the receiving end of the Taleban's shift away from open combat to the "asymmetric" attacks familiar from Iraq.
Ministers describe Afghanistan as a noble cause because, they say, vital British interests are at stake — the country cannot be allowed to become a failed state again, a base for terrorists, and so on. Senior military officers echoed these warnings. No doubt many of them genuinely believe in the strategic importance of Afghanistan for the west. But they are also desperately frustrated, not so much because of the lack of support from other countries or because of equipment shortages, but because of the scant resources devoted to winning Afghan "hearts and minds". Students of staff colleges, they also know that in the long history of warfare, never has aerial bombing succeeded in defeating an insurgency.
Des Browne, the defence secretary, says he appreciates the significance of the point and that Robert Gates, his new American counterpart, has also grasped it. What seems clear, however, is that the policy of the west — as enacted by Nato — in Afghanistan remains hopelessly confused and contradictory.
Take the opium poppy crop. "We've got to stop talking about poppy eradication when British soldiers need the cooperation of Afghans, many of whom are poppy farmers," General Sir Mike Jackson, the former head of the army, recently told the independent Iraq Commission inquiry in a swipe at the US. Yet the poppy harvest, allowed to reach record levels, also helps fill the coffers of the Taleban and feeds corruption. Without a huge injection of foreign aid — and there is no evidence that anyone wants to provide it - it may not be long before British commanders start saying: "Let's get out of Afghanistan as well as Iraq."
Pertinent Links:
1) That other noble cause
Thursday, June 21, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM: "WHEN JIHAD BECOMES AN INDIVIDUAL DUTY, IT APPLIES TO WOMEN TOO"
Palestinian MP From Hamas Dr. Yunis Al-Astal on Women's Participation in Jihad - From Islam's Beginnings To Modern Female Suicide Bombers
The following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Yunis Al-Astal, a Palestinian MP representing Hamas, which aired on Al-Rafidein TV on June 17, 2007.
VIDEO CLIP
"When Jihad Becomes an Individual Duty, It Applies to Women Too"
Yunis Al-Astal: "The most exalted form of jihad is fighting for the sake of Allah, which means sacrificing one's soul by fighting the enemies head-on, even if it leads to martyrdom. Martyrdom means life next to Allah."
[...]
"When jihad becomes an individual duty, it applies to women too, because women do not differ from men when it comes to individual duties."
[...]
Interviewer: "What are the purposes behind women's participation in the jihad of conquest and invasions?"
Yunis Al-Astal: "I have mentioned some of these purposes. [Women] prepare food, they bring water, they tend to the wounded and convey them from the battlefield, they protect the [soldiers'] possessions, and so on. But in many cases, women participated in combat, especially if the Islamic army was weakening, and you could see that the enemy was about to gain the upper hand. In such cases, a woman would draw out her sword, or pull out a pole from her tent, and would resist to the best of her ability."
[...]
"Let's take another example. Safiyya, the aunt of the Prophet Muhammad, used a pole to kill a Jew in the Battle of the Trench. Likewise, in the Battle of Hunayn, Umm Sulaym had a dagger, and when asked about it, she said: 'If an enemy of Allah comes near me, I shall stab him with this dagger.' History has recorded, in shining letters, the fact that Al-Khansaa sacrificed her four children at the battle of Al-Qadisiyya. She inflamed their emotions and she herself incited them to fight until they attained their martyrdom, and then she thanked Allah for honoring her with the killing of them all."
[...]
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Palestinian MP From Hamas Dr. Yunis Al-Astal on Women's Participation in Jihad - From Islam's Beginnings To Modern Female Suicide Bombers
2) Video Clip
3) MEMRI.ORG
4) MEMRITV.ORG
The following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Yunis Al-Astal, a Palestinian MP representing Hamas, which aired on Al-Rafidein TV on June 17, 2007.
VIDEO CLIP
"When Jihad Becomes an Individual Duty, It Applies to Women Too"
Yunis Al-Astal: "The most exalted form of jihad is fighting for the sake of Allah, which means sacrificing one's soul by fighting the enemies head-on, even if it leads to martyrdom. Martyrdom means life next to Allah."
[...]
"When jihad becomes an individual duty, it applies to women too, because women do not differ from men when it comes to individual duties."
[...]
Interviewer: "What are the purposes behind women's participation in the jihad of conquest and invasions?"
Yunis Al-Astal: "I have mentioned some of these purposes. [Women] prepare food, they bring water, they tend to the wounded and convey them from the battlefield, they protect the [soldiers'] possessions, and so on. But in many cases, women participated in combat, especially if the Islamic army was weakening, and you could see that the enemy was about to gain the upper hand. In such cases, a woman would draw out her sword, or pull out a pole from her tent, and would resist to the best of her ability."
[...]
"Let's take another example. Safiyya, the aunt of the Prophet Muhammad, used a pole to kill a Jew in the Battle of the Trench. Likewise, in the Battle of Hunayn, Umm Sulaym had a dagger, and when asked about it, she said: 'If an enemy of Allah comes near me, I shall stab him with this dagger.' History has recorded, in shining letters, the fact that Al-Khansaa sacrificed her four children at the battle of Al-Qadisiyya. She inflamed their emotions and she herself incited them to fight until they attained their martyrdom, and then she thanked Allah for honoring her with the killing of them all."
[...]
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Palestinian MP From Hamas Dr. Yunis Al-Astal on Women's Participation in Jihad - From Islam's Beginnings To Modern Female Suicide Bombers
2) Video Clip
3) MEMRI.ORG
4) MEMRITV.ORG
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM: ARAB MOSLEM LEADERS ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE SYRIA/IRAN AXIS & THEIR MACHINATIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Arab leaders uneasy over Hamas victory in Gaza
By Michael Slackman
CAIRO: The fight over control of the Gaza Strip has frightened Arab leaders because it was characterized by the same dynamics that have been roiling the region. It pitted a Western-backed leadership in power for years against a newly empowered, radical Islamist group aligned with Syria and Iran.
The Western-backed group lost and the Iranian-Syrian group won, again.
That outcome demonstrated the rising threat to the status quo posed by political Islam in places like Cairo, Amman and Riyadh. And it gave Iran yet another foothold on Arab borders.
"We have a big problem here that is much deeper," said Abdel Moneim Said, director of the state-financed Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies in Cairo. "It is related to the bankruptcy of the shape of the modern Arab political entity and its inability really to convince the people with where they are going. Then you have the success of the other side, like Hamas, in making a clearer, simpler message."
As the shock has set in, the Western-friendly governments of the region have tried to spin victory from defeat. They have fallen in squarely behind Mahmoud Abbas and his emergency government in the West Bank, offering money and support. There is even a talk of emotional relief over the division among Palestinians, because it has ended the gridlock created after Hamas won control of the Parliament and government in free elections.
"At the official level, I would say it is seen as a relief," said Randa Habib, a political analyst and journalist in the Jordanian capital, Amman. "Things were totally at a standstill. I won't say they wished this happened. But it is not very far from that."
Egypt quickly moved to isolate Hamas. It relocated its diplomatic offices from Gaza to Ramallah in the West Bank. It also doubled efforts to tighten the security seal around Gaza. The goal was to quickly demonstrate that siding with the status quo would bring economic prosperity and a greater chance of a Palestinian state. The goal was also to squeeze Hamas into accepting a regional formula defined by peace between Arabs and Israel, and alliance with the West.
"Abbas is accepted by all the Arabs," said Mohammad Abdullah al-Zulfa, a member of Saudi Arabia's Shura Council, an advisory body with no legislative authority. "I think all the Arabs are with Abbas because all Arabs are with the peace initiative. The whole world is behind Abbas."
But of course it is not that simple. Not all of the Arabs are with Abbas, and not all the Arabs support peace with Israel. The challenge posed by this crisis is the challenge Arab leaders have faced as they have tried to resuscitate their legitimacy and slow a rising tide of political Islam. Egypt is struggling to hold down the popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood. Jordan is struggling to hold down the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the brotherhood. Much of the region has been roiled by Al Qaeda-minded terrorist groups.
As a result, Arab states, with the exception of Syria, have pushed for peace between Israel and the Palestinians as the first and most essential step to stabilizing the region, securing their own rule and countering Iran's rising influence. That agenda, however, aggravates a divide between the rulers in places like Cairo and Amman, and the street, where anti-American sentiment is widespread and Israel-as-the-enemy is a given.
It has, in a sense become a race to see which comes first, a successful peace process that can help secure the leadership of those now in charge, or the growth of a political Islamist movement that can stop the peace process in its tracks and crack the foundations of the status quo.
The conflict between the Palestinians is another lap in that race. "There are two constants in the Arab street: hatred toward Israel and hatred toward the U.S.," said Hassan Abu Hanieh, a Jordanian researcher with expertise on Islamist groups. "These are two firm facts. They don't change and anybody who cooperates with Israel and the U.S. is automatically hated."
There is a bit of hedging going on, part of the race, as one side hopes that a prosperous West Bank will lead to peace and the other hopes that a stable Gaza will continue to erode the footing beneath those allied with the West.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Arab leaders uneasy over Hamas victory in Gaza
By Michael Slackman
CAIRO: The fight over control of the Gaza Strip has frightened Arab leaders because it was characterized by the same dynamics that have been roiling the region. It pitted a Western-backed leadership in power for years against a newly empowered, radical Islamist group aligned with Syria and Iran.
The Western-backed group lost and the Iranian-Syrian group won, again.
That outcome demonstrated the rising threat to the status quo posed by political Islam in places like Cairo, Amman and Riyadh. And it gave Iran yet another foothold on Arab borders.
"We have a big problem here that is much deeper," said Abdel Moneim Said, director of the state-financed Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies in Cairo. "It is related to the bankruptcy of the shape of the modern Arab political entity and its inability really to convince the people with where they are going. Then you have the success of the other side, like Hamas, in making a clearer, simpler message."
As the shock has set in, the Western-friendly governments of the region have tried to spin victory from defeat. They have fallen in squarely behind Mahmoud Abbas and his emergency government in the West Bank, offering money and support. There is even a talk of emotional relief over the division among Palestinians, because it has ended the gridlock created after Hamas won control of the Parliament and government in free elections.
"At the official level, I would say it is seen as a relief," said Randa Habib, a political analyst and journalist in the Jordanian capital, Amman. "Things were totally at a standstill. I won't say they wished this happened. But it is not very far from that."
Egypt quickly moved to isolate Hamas. It relocated its diplomatic offices from Gaza to Ramallah in the West Bank. It also doubled efforts to tighten the security seal around Gaza. The goal was to quickly demonstrate that siding with the status quo would bring economic prosperity and a greater chance of a Palestinian state. The goal was also to squeeze Hamas into accepting a regional formula defined by peace between Arabs and Israel, and alliance with the West.
"Abbas is accepted by all the Arabs," said Mohammad Abdullah al-Zulfa, a member of Saudi Arabia's Shura Council, an advisory body with no legislative authority. "I think all the Arabs are with Abbas because all Arabs are with the peace initiative. The whole world is behind Abbas."
But of course it is not that simple. Not all of the Arabs are with Abbas, and not all the Arabs support peace with Israel. The challenge posed by this crisis is the challenge Arab leaders have faced as they have tried to resuscitate their legitimacy and slow a rising tide of political Islam. Egypt is struggling to hold down the popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood. Jordan is struggling to hold down the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the brotherhood. Much of the region has been roiled by Al Qaeda-minded terrorist groups.
As a result, Arab states, with the exception of Syria, have pushed for peace between Israel and the Palestinians as the first and most essential step to stabilizing the region, securing their own rule and countering Iran's rising influence. That agenda, however, aggravates a divide between the rulers in places like Cairo and Amman, and the street, where anti-American sentiment is widespread and Israel-as-the-enemy is a given.
It has, in a sense become a race to see which comes first, a successful peace process that can help secure the leadership of those now in charge, or the growth of a political Islamist movement that can stop the peace process in its tracks and crack the foundations of the status quo.
The conflict between the Palestinians is another lap in that race. "There are two constants in the Arab street: hatred toward Israel and hatred toward the U.S.," said Hassan Abu Hanieh, a Jordanian researcher with expertise on Islamist groups. "These are two firm facts. They don't change and anybody who cooperates with Israel and the U.S. is automatically hated."
There is a bit of hedging going on, part of the race, as one side hopes that a prosperous West Bank will lead to peace and the other hopes that a stable Gaza will continue to erode the footing beneath those allied with the West.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Arab leaders uneasy over Hamas victory in Gaza
Thursday, June 14, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: WERE THE PROTECTORS OF THE 'GOLDEN MOSQUE' SHI'ITE OR NOT?!?
Al-Maliki accuses security of involvement in mosque attack
Baghdad - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki accused Thursday the security forces guarding the Shiite al-Askariya mosque in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra of being involved in the bombings of its two minarets Wednesday, as a series of attacks on both Sunni and Shiite mosques took place over the past 24 hours across Iraq.
'We received information that some of those in charge of protecting the mosque had a role in the attack,' al-Maliki said in a statement broadcast by official al-Iraqiya TV.
During his visit to the al-Askariya mosque after the attack, al-Maliki threatened he would take whatever necessary measures against those responsible for the attacks.
The Iraqi government has extended the curfew imposed on Baghdad after the bombing in Samarra until Saturday morning, Iraqi Independent News Agency, reported Thursday.
Meanwhile, a source close to Shiite cleric and militia leader al-Sadr's office in Basra said that Sunni and Shiite religious clerics met in the office to discuss the repercussions of the attacks targeting the minarets of two Shiite shrines in Samarra on Wednesday.
...
Would those 'protectors' be Shi'ah?!?
Pertinent Links:
1) Al-Maliki accuses security of involvement in mosque attack
Baghdad - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki accused Thursday the security forces guarding the Shiite al-Askariya mosque in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra of being involved in the bombings of its two minarets Wednesday, as a series of attacks on both Sunni and Shiite mosques took place over the past 24 hours across Iraq.
'We received information that some of those in charge of protecting the mosque had a role in the attack,' al-Maliki said in a statement broadcast by official al-Iraqiya TV.
During his visit to the al-Askariya mosque after the attack, al-Maliki threatened he would take whatever necessary measures against those responsible for the attacks.
The Iraqi government has extended the curfew imposed on Baghdad after the bombing in Samarra until Saturday morning, Iraqi Independent News Agency, reported Thursday.
Meanwhile, a source close to Shiite cleric and militia leader al-Sadr's office in Basra said that Sunni and Shiite religious clerics met in the office to discuss the repercussions of the attacks targeting the minarets of two Shiite shrines in Samarra on Wednesday.
...
Would those 'protectors' be Shi'ah?!?
Pertinent Links:
1) Al-Maliki accuses security of involvement in mosque attack
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM: RANKING OF HOLINES = POPULAR DEVOTION
Top-Ranked Shrines
How do they choose the holiest sites in Islam?
By Melonyce McAfee
...
Ranking of holiness is determined by popular devotion, not by any official list. And since Islam isn't very centralized, what's holy to one sect may not be as important to another. For example, some Muslims think Imam Ali wasn't even buried in Najaf, but in Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan. So they'd choose to visit Ali's shrine in Mazari Sharif before the one in Najaf. And Ismaili Shiites do not believe Musa was the seventh imam; they think it was his brother Ismail. So why bother going to Musa's tomb?
So if moslems believe that mohammad urinated on some stone in the middle of the Sahara, they would probably go there and worship that stone...
MOSLEMS, SUNNI OR SHIITE, THY NAME IS IDOLATERS
Pertinent Links:
1) Top-Ranked Shrines
How do they choose the holiest sites in Islam?
By Melonyce McAfee
...
Ranking of holiness is determined by popular devotion, not by any official list. And since Islam isn't very centralized, what's holy to one sect may not be as important to another. For example, some Muslims think Imam Ali wasn't even buried in Najaf, but in Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan. So they'd choose to visit Ali's shrine in Mazari Sharif before the one in Najaf. And Ismaili Shiites do not believe Musa was the seventh imam; they think it was his brother Ismail. So why bother going to Musa's tomb?
So if moslems believe that mohammad urinated on some stone in the middle of the Sahara, they would probably go there and worship that stone...
MOSLEMS, SUNNI OR SHIITE, THY NAME IS IDOLATERS
Pertinent Links:
1) Top-Ranked Shrines
Monday, June 11, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./IRAQ: AMERICA'S EXIT STRATEGY, FOR IRAQ, ARM & TRAIN SUNNI'S
US pits Iraqi Sunnis against al-Qaeda
By Jim Muir
There are growing signs that the US is increasingly turning to a new tactic in facing the Sunni-led insurgency in Iraq.
On Sunday, US military commanders and Iraqi provincial officials held a meeting with 130 Sunni tribal sheikhs in Saddam Hussein's old hometown of Tikrit.
According to the US, the tribal leaders reached a "historic agreement" to play a more active role in defending their troubled province, Salahuddin, against al-Qaeda and other radical insurgent groups.
It is the latest move in what is clearly becoming one of the main thrusts of the US exit strategy here - to empower and arm Sunni Arab tribes and factions, provided they pledge to resist outside militants like al-Qaeda.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) US pits Iraqi Sunnis against al-Qaeda
By Jim Muir
There are growing signs that the US is increasingly turning to a new tactic in facing the Sunni-led insurgency in Iraq.
On Sunday, US military commanders and Iraqi provincial officials held a meeting with 130 Sunni tribal sheikhs in Saddam Hussein's old hometown of Tikrit.
According to the US, the tribal leaders reached a "historic agreement" to play a more active role in defending their troubled province, Salahuddin, against al-Qaeda and other radical insurgent groups.
It is the latest move in what is clearly becoming one of the main thrusts of the US exit strategy here - to empower and arm Sunni Arab tribes and factions, provided they pledge to resist outside militants like al-Qaeda.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) US pits Iraqi Sunnis against al-Qaeda
DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: A MEETING BETWEEN OVERLORD AND DHIMMIS
Kirkuk: Muslims and Christians united for dialogue, only way to save Iraq
Sunnis and Shiites, tribal leaders, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians meet at luncheon organised by the city Chaldean archdiocese to fight those who would like to destroy peaceful coexistence between religions. Prime Minister al-Maliki’s spokesman says the government is opposed to the Nineveh Plains plan and the country’s division in ghettoes. Ayatollah al-Sistani receives Christian leaders and expressed his solidarity towards them.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Kirkuk: Muslims and Christians united for dialogue, only way to save Iraq
Sunnis and Shiites, tribal leaders, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians meet at luncheon organised by the city Chaldean archdiocese to fight those who would like to destroy peaceful coexistence between religions. Prime Minister al-Maliki’s spokesman says the government is opposed to the Nineveh Plains plan and the country’s division in ghettoes. Ayatollah al-Sistani receives Christian leaders and expressed his solidarity towards them.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Kirkuk: Muslims and Christians united for dialogue, only way to save Iraq
Thursday, June 07, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM: SHI'ITE ISLAM, ASCENDING
Before you read the following articles, if you are not familiar with how difference between Shi'ites & Sunnis' came to be, please read this first:
The origins of Shiite Islam
A split between Muslims started with the battle over who should lead the faithful after the prophet Muhammad's death.
By Staff
Shiite Muslims are the product of the violent schism that followed the death of the prophet Muhammad in AD 632, and through the centuries have generally been the losers in the struggle to lead the faithful and to divide patronage and power. That has left them with a sharp feeling of dispossession, of being a people denied their destiny by corrupt rulers.
The split started with a fight over who should lead the faithful after Muhammad's death. One side believed that direct descendants of the prophet should take up the mantle of caliph – the leader of the world's Muslims. They were known as the Shiat-Ali, or "partisans of Ali," after the prophet's cousin and son-in-law Ali, whom they favored to become caliph. They became known as Shiites.
The other side, Sunnis, thought that any worthy man could lead the faithful, regardless of lineage, and favored Abu Bakr, an early convert to Islam who had married into Muhammad's family. "Sunni" is derived from the Arab word for "followers" and is shorthand for "followers of the prophet."
...
Shiites Rising: Islam's minority reaches new prominence
Shiite Muslims are leading an 'axis of resistance' that unnerves Sunnis and challenges the US and Israel.
by Scott Peterson
"Divine victory." That's how Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah portrayed the 34-day war last summer when a few thousand Hizbullah soldiers fought Israel's vaunted military to a standstill.
Lebanon's most renowned Shiite cleric stood before a sea of yellow Hizbullah flags on Sept. 22, 2006, in a rare moment of triumph for a Shiite leader; and it reverberated throughout the Middle East.
For more than 1,300 years, Shiites have been an oppressed Islamic minority. Even today they represent just 10 to 15 percent of the world's Muslims. But Sheikh Nasrallah's clout is part of a broader rise of Shiite power. Iraq and Iran (Shiite-led states) control the world's second- and third-largest oil reserves, respectively. And Shiite leaders - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iraq's Moqtada al-Sadr, and Nasrallah - are household names with support that crosses national and sectarian lines.
US policies, experts agree, have played a key role in this elevation. Arab Sunni leaders warn of an emerging "Shiite Crescent." But more than political and economic power, they worry about the Shiite world view.
Shiism is suffused with a culture of resistance, an identity that finds spiritual meaning in fighting injustice and through martyrdom. The result is a Shiite-led "axis of resistance" with Iran and Hizbullah at its core, versus a US-led Western alliance that includes Israel.
Is a battle for a "new" Middle East under way? Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seems to think so. Last month, he declared that "great war of wills" is taking place. Iran standing up tothe US and the West has "exploded a bomb in world politics that is a hundred times more powerful than the [atomic] bomb ... exploded in Hiroshima."
Today the Monitor begins a two-part special report on the Shiite ascension - in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon - and its future.
and now, part two:
Shiites Rising: Sect leaders craft message for masses
by Scott Peterson
Emerging for the first time after months in hiding from US forces and Shiite rivals, Moqtada al-Sadr swept into Iraq's Kufa mosque in late May to deliver a potent sermon.
"No, no, no to Satan! No, no, no to America! No, no, no to occupation! No, no, no to Israel!" he roared, wearing a white shroud over black robes to indicate his readiness for martyrdom.
But along with strident calls to resist, the cleric struck another theme that is increasingly heard from ascendant Shiite leaders: Muslim unity.
"I want to say now that the blood of Sunnis is forbidden to everyone," preached the cleric. "They are our brothers in religion and in nationality."
The message is a pan-Islamic blend of Shiite ideology and nationalism heard also in Lebanon from Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and in Iran from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) The origins of Shiite Islam
2) Shiites Rising: Islam's minority reaches new prominence (Part One)
3) Shiites Rising: Sect leaders craft message for masses
The origins of Shiite Islam
A split between Muslims started with the battle over who should lead the faithful after the prophet Muhammad's death.
By Staff
Shiite Muslims are the product of the violent schism that followed the death of the prophet Muhammad in AD 632, and through the centuries have generally been the losers in the struggle to lead the faithful and to divide patronage and power. That has left them with a sharp feeling of dispossession, of being a people denied their destiny by corrupt rulers.
The split started with a fight over who should lead the faithful after Muhammad's death. One side believed that direct descendants of the prophet should take up the mantle of caliph – the leader of the world's Muslims. They were known as the Shiat-Ali, or "partisans of Ali," after the prophet's cousin and son-in-law Ali, whom they favored to become caliph. They became known as Shiites.
The other side, Sunnis, thought that any worthy man could lead the faithful, regardless of lineage, and favored Abu Bakr, an early convert to Islam who had married into Muhammad's family. "Sunni" is derived from the Arab word for "followers" and is shorthand for "followers of the prophet."
...
Shiites Rising: Islam's minority reaches new prominence
Shiite Muslims are leading an 'axis of resistance' that unnerves Sunnis and challenges the US and Israel.
by Scott Peterson
"Divine victory." That's how Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah portrayed the 34-day war last summer when a few thousand Hizbullah soldiers fought Israel's vaunted military to a standstill.
Lebanon's most renowned Shiite cleric stood before a sea of yellow Hizbullah flags on Sept. 22, 2006, in a rare moment of triumph for a Shiite leader; and it reverberated throughout the Middle East.
For more than 1,300 years, Shiites have been an oppressed Islamic minority. Even today they represent just 10 to 15 percent of the world's Muslims. But Sheikh Nasrallah's clout is part of a broader rise of Shiite power. Iraq and Iran (Shiite-led states) control the world's second- and third-largest oil reserves, respectively. And Shiite leaders - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iraq's Moqtada al-Sadr, and Nasrallah - are household names with support that crosses national and sectarian lines.
US policies, experts agree, have played a key role in this elevation. Arab Sunni leaders warn of an emerging "Shiite Crescent." But more than political and economic power, they worry about the Shiite world view.
Shiism is suffused with a culture of resistance, an identity that finds spiritual meaning in fighting injustice and through martyrdom. The result is a Shiite-led "axis of resistance" with Iran and Hizbullah at its core, versus a US-led Western alliance that includes Israel.
Is a battle for a "new" Middle East under way? Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seems to think so. Last month, he declared that "great war of wills" is taking place. Iran standing up tothe US and the West has "exploded a bomb in world politics that is a hundred times more powerful than the [atomic] bomb ... exploded in Hiroshima."
Today the Monitor begins a two-part special report on the Shiite ascension - in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon - and its future.
and now, part two:
Shiites Rising: Sect leaders craft message for masses
by Scott Peterson
Emerging for the first time after months in hiding from US forces and Shiite rivals, Moqtada al-Sadr swept into Iraq's Kufa mosque in late May to deliver a potent sermon.
"No, no, no to Satan! No, no, no to America! No, no, no to occupation! No, no, no to Israel!" he roared, wearing a white shroud over black robes to indicate his readiness for martyrdom.
But along with strident calls to resist, the cleric struck another theme that is increasingly heard from ascendant Shiite leaders: Muslim unity.
"I want to say now that the blood of Sunnis is forbidden to everyone," preached the cleric. "They are our brothers in religion and in nationality."
The message is a pan-Islamic blend of Shiite ideology and nationalism heard also in Lebanon from Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and in Iran from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) The origins of Shiite Islam
2) Shiites Rising: Islam's minority reaches new prominence (Part One)
3) Shiites Rising: Sect leaders craft message for masses
DAR AL ISLAM - AFGHANISTAN/IRAN/TALIBAN: THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND
Iran helping Taliban
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 7 (UPI) -- Iran is shipping weapons, including roadside bombs, to the Taliban in Afghanistan, a NATO analysis claimed.
"This is part of a considered policy, rather than the result of low-level corruption and weapons smuggling," said the NATO analysis. The document was reported by ABC News.
NATO said it had tracked weapons shipments in April and May from Iran into Afghanistan.
"We believe these intercepted munitions are part of a much bigger flow of support from Iran to the Taliban," the analysis said.
Iran and the Taliban had been enemies but they may share a common enemy.
"I think their goal is to make it very clear that Iran has the capability to make life worse for the United States on a variety of fronts even if they have to do some business with a group that has historically been their enemy," Seth Jones of the Rand Corp. told ABC.
Pertinent Links:
1) Iran helping Taliban
KABUL, Afghanistan, June 7 (UPI) -- Iran is shipping weapons, including roadside bombs, to the Taliban in Afghanistan, a NATO analysis claimed.
"This is part of a considered policy, rather than the result of low-level corruption and weapons smuggling," said the NATO analysis. The document was reported by ABC News.
NATO said it had tracked weapons shipments in April and May from Iran into Afghanistan.
"We believe these intercepted munitions are part of a much bigger flow of support from Iran to the Taliban," the analysis said.
Iran and the Taliban had been enemies but they may share a common enemy.
"I think their goal is to make it very clear that Iran has the capability to make life worse for the United States on a variety of fronts even if they have to do some business with a group that has historically been their enemy," Seth Jones of the Rand Corp. told ABC.
Pertinent Links:
1) Iran helping Taliban
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: CHRISTIAN CHURCH HAS BEEN FORCIBLY TURNED INTO A MOSQUE, BY "TOLERANT MOSLEMS"
Extremists turn Baghdad church into mosque: report
As a funeral was held for murdered Mosul priest, Fr Ragheed Ganni, Muslim extremists in Baghdad attacked two churches, killing guards at one and forcibly turning the other into a mosque.
Citing an AINA report, Catholic News Agency reports the attacks on two churches in the Baghdad district of Dora. At St John the Baptist's in Hay Al-Athoriyeen, several security guards who protect the church were killed, and St Jacob's in Hay al Asya was vandalized and forcibly turned into a mosque. St Jacob's had previously been attacked in October 2004.
The attacks coincided with the funeral Mass for Fr Ganni which was being celebrated in Karamles by Archbishop Faraj Rahho of Mosul amidst tight security. The minister of finance of the regional Kurdish government, Sarkis Aghajan, attended the service.
Meanhile, AsiaNews reports that groups in northern Iraq are pushing for the creation of an "Assyrian region" near the border with Kurdistan.
To this end, they are exploiting the anti-Christian persecution to confirm the urgency of carrying out their plan. A project being called for by those who know little of the situation in Iraq, it may be on the agenda for meetings between Bush and the Vatican.
However, the plan is not supported by Iraqi Catholics, who refer to it as a "diabolic and dangerous" plan that "risks creating a division" among Christians, AsiaNews says.
"Concentrating in a single territory a community which is already being targeted, without safety guarantees, means exposing it to enormous risks: those who want to eliminate Christians from Iraq will thus have an easy time of it," a layman from the Iraqi diaspora told AsiaNews.
Iraqi priests in Europe also noted that the Niniveh project "reduces Christians to an ethnic group and puts and end to the Church's mission which is that of working and witnessing the Gospel among nations."
And the INFIDEL U.S. FORCES are doing what for their fellow infidels?!?
Nothing...It is all for the ungreatful hate filled moslems...
A Final Appeal: Save Christian Iraq
by Sandro Magister
It is the only country where the liturgy is still celebrated in Aramaic, the language of Jesus. But Christianity is in danger of dying out there. Killings, aggression, kidnappings. And now also the "jiza," the tax historically imposed by Muslims on their "infidel" subjects, those who have still not fled the country.
...
Who Are Christians of Iraq?
Most people think of the Middle East as mostly Arab and Moslem but it is not the case. Before the seventh century invasion of the Middle East by Moslem Arabs the predominant population of Mesopotamia (today's Iraq), Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt was none Arab Christians. The growth of Islam in these countries was not due to a sudden influx of Arabs but gradual conversion to Islam by the native population who later were termed Arabs. It was not until the eleventh century when Moslems became a majority in Iraq.
Early Assyrian Churches and Monasteries in northern Iraq
Christians of Iraq trace their ancestry to the ancient Assyrians and Baby-lonians.They are known by various names such as Assyrians, Chaldeans for those who belong to the Chaldean-Church and Syriacs for the members of the Syrian Orthodox church. There is no specific statistics about the total population of Christians in Iraq but they are estimated to be about one million .
During the relatively tolerant period of the Abassid Caliphate (758-1258) Assyrians scholars of both Nestorian and Jacobite denominations contributed greatly to the advancement of the Islamic civilization by translating the available knowledge form the Syriac and the Greek languages into the Arabic. This usheredan era which is known as the "Golden Age". The first directors of the "House of Wisdom"an institution specifically established by AI-Mamun in 830 AD to translate all the available existing knowledge including, medicine philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and other sciences into the Arabic were Assyrians. To show the extent of the Assyrian contribution to educating the Arabs it suffices to say that from a hundred Galen's treaties ninety six were translated form the Syriac language the rest directly from the Greek. Many Greek books no longer existed in their native language. Yuhanna ibn Masswaya a physician and teacher was the first director of the House of Wisdom and the president of the first Arab University. He has been credited with having written nearly fifty works. His students were known to be well versed in logic and the writings of Galen. He conducted an assembly in Baghdad on regular basis known as "Majlis" which was a combination of lecture room and consulting hour where he saw patients, lectured his students and discussed scientific topics for the benefit of the general public. One of his most famous students was Hunayn ibn-Isahq who became the second director of the House of the Wisdom. (Arab Civilization to AD 1,500", D. M. Dunlop, New York 1971 p.220)
Hunayn is considered to be the greatest and the most productive translator of all. "According to Ibn-abi-Usahbi'ah he was the author of more than one hundred original works, but few of these are extant". (Whiple 27) He translated twenty books of Galen into Syriac, and fourteen treaties into Arabic. He revised sixteen translations made previously by Sergius of Ras al-'Ayn (Rish-Ayna). The Arab translators such as Khwarizmi, al-Kindi and al-l-Hajjaj, the first translator of Euclid's Elements, received their training from Hunayn, and Thabit beit Qurra.
Translation from the Syriac language to Arabic was so widespread that even the Nestorian Patriarch Timothy who was a good friend of al-Mehdi and his sons Musa, Harun and Ali is known to have translated the 'Topics of Aristotle' first from the Syriac in (782-3), later retranslated it from the Greek original with the help of the malikite Patriarch. Christian Doctors were famous for their extensive medical skills.
The Medical training and teaching facilities of Jundi Shapour designed, built, and managed by the Assyrian scholars was transferred to Baghdad. The Jundi Shapour Bimarestan became model for hospitals built in Baghdad, Damascus, Allepo and Cairo. (Whipple 28) The teaching and training of the Physicians was done in the hospital as it is presently the case in the British Medical Schools. Ahamd Eisa gives a list of twelve physicians from Jundi Shapour practicing in Baghdad. (Whipple p.28)
Members of the Bakht-Eisho family served as court doctors for seven generations. The Beit Qarra family of Harran who were still practicing a corrupted form of the ancient Assyro-Babylonian religion contributed greatly to the Arab Knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. The rise of the Arabic as a language of education contributed to the decline of scholarship in the Syriac language.
The arrival of the Crusaders followed by the Mongols inflamed Moslem passions against the none Moslem communities. Because of continued massacres the Assyrians population gradually declined in number but survived mostly in the plain of Nineveh, Southeast Turkey, Mountains north of Mosul, and and northwest Iran.
Turkey's world war one massacres resulted in the death of 750,000. During Saddam's wars with the Kurds hundreds of Assyrian villages were destroyed their inhabitants were rendered homeless, driven out of their historic homeland, and scattered as refugees in large cities or the neighboring countries. Dozens of ancient churches some dating to the early centuries of Christianity were bombed and turned into rubble. The teaching of the Syriac language was prohibited and Assyrians were forced to give their children Arabic names in an effort to undermine their true identity. Those who wished to hold governmental jobs had to sign ethnicity correction papers which declared them arabs.
The fall of Saddam which was hoped to bring peace to Iraq has unleashed religious violence against the Christian community in Iraq. Unless special attention is given to their plight by the US and the Iraqi government this ancient people will continue to suffer grievously as they have in the past.
Pertinent Links:
1) Extremists turn Baghdad church into mosque: report
2) A Final Appeal: Save Christian Iraq
3) Who Are Christians of Iraq?
4) Christians of Iraq.com
As a funeral was held for murdered Mosul priest, Fr Ragheed Ganni, Muslim extremists in Baghdad attacked two churches, killing guards at one and forcibly turning the other into a mosque.
Citing an AINA report, Catholic News Agency reports the attacks on two churches in the Baghdad district of Dora. At St John the Baptist's in Hay Al-Athoriyeen, several security guards who protect the church were killed, and St Jacob's in Hay al Asya was vandalized and forcibly turned into a mosque. St Jacob's had previously been attacked in October 2004.
The attacks coincided with the funeral Mass for Fr Ganni which was being celebrated in Karamles by Archbishop Faraj Rahho of Mosul amidst tight security. The minister of finance of the regional Kurdish government, Sarkis Aghajan, attended the service.
Meanhile, AsiaNews reports that groups in northern Iraq are pushing for the creation of an "Assyrian region" near the border with Kurdistan.
To this end, they are exploiting the anti-Christian persecution to confirm the urgency of carrying out their plan. A project being called for by those who know little of the situation in Iraq, it may be on the agenda for meetings between Bush and the Vatican.
However, the plan is not supported by Iraqi Catholics, who refer to it as a "diabolic and dangerous" plan that "risks creating a division" among Christians, AsiaNews says.
"Concentrating in a single territory a community which is already being targeted, without safety guarantees, means exposing it to enormous risks: those who want to eliminate Christians from Iraq will thus have an easy time of it," a layman from the Iraqi diaspora told AsiaNews.
Iraqi priests in Europe also noted that the Niniveh project "reduces Christians to an ethnic group and puts and end to the Church's mission which is that of working and witnessing the Gospel among nations."
And the INFIDEL U.S. FORCES are doing what for their fellow infidels?!?
Nothing...It is all for the ungreatful hate filled moslems...
A Final Appeal: Save Christian Iraq
by Sandro Magister
It is the only country where the liturgy is still celebrated in Aramaic, the language of Jesus. But Christianity is in danger of dying out there. Killings, aggression, kidnappings. And now also the "jiza," the tax historically imposed by Muslims on their "infidel" subjects, those who have still not fled the country.
...
Who Are Christians of Iraq?
Most people think of the Middle East as mostly Arab and Moslem but it is not the case. Before the seventh century invasion of the Middle East by Moslem Arabs the predominant population of Mesopotamia (today's Iraq), Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt was none Arab Christians. The growth of Islam in these countries was not due to a sudden influx of Arabs but gradual conversion to Islam by the native population who later were termed Arabs. It was not until the eleventh century when Moslems became a majority in Iraq.
Early Assyrian Churches and Monasteries in northern Iraq
Christians of Iraq trace their ancestry to the ancient Assyrians and Baby-lonians.They are known by various names such as Assyrians, Chaldeans for those who belong to the Chaldean-Church and Syriacs for the members of the Syrian Orthodox church. There is no specific statistics about the total population of Christians in Iraq but they are estimated to be about one million .
During the relatively tolerant period of the Abassid Caliphate (758-1258) Assyrians scholars of both Nestorian and Jacobite denominations contributed greatly to the advancement of the Islamic civilization by translating the available knowledge form the Syriac and the Greek languages into the Arabic. This usheredan era which is known as the "Golden Age". The first directors of the "House of Wisdom"an institution specifically established by AI-Mamun in 830 AD to translate all the available existing knowledge including, medicine philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and other sciences into the Arabic were Assyrians. To show the extent of the Assyrian contribution to educating the Arabs it suffices to say that from a hundred Galen's treaties ninety six were translated form the Syriac language the rest directly from the Greek. Many Greek books no longer existed in their native language. Yuhanna ibn Masswaya a physician and teacher was the first director of the House of Wisdom and the president of the first Arab University. He has been credited with having written nearly fifty works. His students were known to be well versed in logic and the writings of Galen. He conducted an assembly in Baghdad on regular basis known as "Majlis" which was a combination of lecture room and consulting hour where he saw patients, lectured his students and discussed scientific topics for the benefit of the general public. One of his most famous students was Hunayn ibn-Isahq who became the second director of the House of the Wisdom. (Arab Civilization to AD 1,500", D. M. Dunlop, New York 1971 p.220)
Hunayn is considered to be the greatest and the most productive translator of all. "According to Ibn-abi-Usahbi'ah he was the author of more than one hundred original works, but few of these are extant". (Whiple 27) He translated twenty books of Galen into Syriac, and fourteen treaties into Arabic. He revised sixteen translations made previously by Sergius of Ras al-'Ayn (Rish-Ayna). The Arab translators such as Khwarizmi, al-Kindi and al-l-Hajjaj, the first translator of Euclid's Elements, received their training from Hunayn, and Thabit beit Qurra.
Translation from the Syriac language to Arabic was so widespread that even the Nestorian Patriarch Timothy who was a good friend of al-Mehdi and his sons Musa, Harun and Ali is known to have translated the 'Topics of Aristotle' first from the Syriac in (782-3), later retranslated it from the Greek original with the help of the malikite Patriarch. Christian Doctors were famous for their extensive medical skills.
The Medical training and teaching facilities of Jundi Shapour designed, built, and managed by the Assyrian scholars was transferred to Baghdad. The Jundi Shapour Bimarestan became model for hospitals built in Baghdad, Damascus, Allepo and Cairo. (Whipple 28) The teaching and training of the Physicians was done in the hospital as it is presently the case in the British Medical Schools. Ahamd Eisa gives a list of twelve physicians from Jundi Shapour practicing in Baghdad. (Whipple p.28)
Members of the Bakht-Eisho family served as court doctors for seven generations. The Beit Qarra family of Harran who were still practicing a corrupted form of the ancient Assyro-Babylonian religion contributed greatly to the Arab Knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. The rise of the Arabic as a language of education contributed to the decline of scholarship in the Syriac language.
The arrival of the Crusaders followed by the Mongols inflamed Moslem passions against the none Moslem communities. Because of continued massacres the Assyrians population gradually declined in number but survived mostly in the plain of Nineveh, Southeast Turkey, Mountains north of Mosul, and and northwest Iran.
Turkey's world war one massacres resulted in the death of 750,000. During Saddam's wars with the Kurds hundreds of Assyrian villages were destroyed their inhabitants were rendered homeless, driven out of their historic homeland, and scattered as refugees in large cities or the neighboring countries. Dozens of ancient churches some dating to the early centuries of Christianity were bombed and turned into rubble. The teaching of the Syriac language was prohibited and Assyrians were forced to give their children Arabic names in an effort to undermine their true identity. Those who wished to hold governmental jobs had to sign ethnicity correction papers which declared them arabs.
The fall of Saddam which was hoped to bring peace to Iraq has unleashed religious violence against the Christian community in Iraq. Unless special attention is given to their plight by the US and the Iraqi government this ancient people will continue to suffer grievously as they have in the past.
Pertinent Links:
1) Extremists turn Baghdad church into mosque: report
2) A Final Appeal: Save Christian Iraq
3) Who Are Christians of Iraq?
4) Christians of Iraq.com
Monday, June 04, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: A SUNNI-SHIITE AUTHORITY TO BE SET UP IN IRAQ
Union of Muslim Scholars to be set up in Iraq
BAGHDAD, June 4 (KUNA) -- Muslim scholars will hold a conference in the Iraqi capital Baghdad later on Monday to establish a Sunni-Shiite authority.
The conference, due to group 130 senior Muslim scholars, will hold without any political interference or participation, said Sheikh Ahmed Abdel Ghafur al-Samarra'i, the head of the Sunni Waqf in Iraq, in a press statement.
Al-Samarra'i, who is a member of a preparatory committee, said the conference aimed to activate the Makka agreement to strengthen the brotherly ties among Iraqi people, and to hold on the nation solidarity especially among the Sunnis and Shiites, to be capable of handling extremism and sectarian issues.
Pertinent Links:
1) Union of Muslim Scholars to be set up in Iraq
BAGHDAD, June 4 (KUNA) -- Muslim scholars will hold a conference in the Iraqi capital Baghdad later on Monday to establish a Sunni-Shiite authority.
The conference, due to group 130 senior Muslim scholars, will hold without any political interference or participation, said Sheikh Ahmed Abdel Ghafur al-Samarra'i, the head of the Sunni Waqf in Iraq, in a press statement.
Al-Samarra'i, who is a member of a preparatory committee, said the conference aimed to activate the Makka agreement to strengthen the brotherly ties among Iraqi people, and to hold on the nation solidarity especially among the Sunnis and Shiites, to be capable of handling extremism and sectarian issues.
Pertinent Links:
1) Union of Muslim Scholars to be set up in Iraq
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIAN IN IRAQ CONTINES & GROWS, THE U.S. OF A. DOES NOTHING
Baghdad, the Mahdi army imposes the veil on Christian women
Baghdad (AsiaNews) – “Extremist Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq are at war over everything, but united by one common denominator: the persecution of Christians”. So say the faithful of Baghdad. A letter is circulating the capital, warning Christian women to wear the veil in accordance with domestic segregation. The letter is signed by the Mahdi army, linked to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Iraqi Shiite cleric, who the US considers the greatest threat to security in the country. Upon till now the Sunni group of “the Islamic State in Iraq” was the most violent threat to the Christian community: from their imposition of the jizya – the “compensation” demanded by the Koran from non Muslim subjects – to their expropriation of property and forced conversions to Islam.
Aina news agency today published an English translation of the letter. In the text the words of the martyr Mohammad Sadiq al-Sadr are underlined, when he inquired “Was the Virgin Mary (peace be upon her) unveiled so that Christian women be allowed to be unveiled? Was Fatima al-Zahra unveiled? And were the wives of the Caliphs in the First Caliphate or others unveiled? No and then no…Allah forbid and far be it from all of them”. It then warns that “In the name of the Supreme Being, She is an adulteress, and she even proclaims sinfulness, challenges and fights Allah and his Prophet and ignores and neglects religion”. In answer to the question “What measure should be taken against a woman who disobeys her father, husband, or her guardian by not committing to the legal veil?” the answer is that husbands and fathers “must guide and educate her religiously in order to convince her. If she is not convinced still, then they must imprison her at home and do not expose her to the forbidden interaction with men”. In the end it warns that “special committees have been established to follow up on this matter”. It is signed by “The People's Foundation for the Master al-Mahdi Army”.
...
and
Christian Minorities in the Islamic Middle East : Rosie Malek-Yonan on the Assyrians
This transcript was typed from a recording of the program. The ABC cannot guarantee its complete accuracy because of the possibility of mishearing and occasional difficulty in identifying speakers.
Stephen Crittenden: Welcome to The Religion Report.
EASTERN MUSIC
Stephen Crittenden: The plight of Christian minorities in the Islamic Middle East is one of the 20th century tragedies to which we pay least attention.From the Copts in Egypt, to the Maronites, the Melkites in Lebanon, Orthodox and Chaldeans, the Christian population of the Middle East is a fraction of what it was, and more vulnerable than ever. Nowhere is the situation worse at the moment than in Iraq. And few groups are more vulnerable than the ancient Assyrian Christian community. In fact, this week the Italian journalist Sandro Magister, has warned of the end of Christianity in Iraq.
In early May in a heavily Christian suburb of Baghdad, a Sunni extremist group began broadcasting a fatwah over the loudspeakers of the neighbourhood mosque: the Assyrian Christian community had to convert to Islam or leave, or die. Their Muslim neighbours were to seize their property. The men were told they had to pay the gizya - the protection money Jews and Christians traditionally had to pay to their Muslim overlords - and families were told they could only stay if they married one of their daughters to a Muslim.
More than 300 Assyrian families have fled, mostly to the north into the Kurdish region of Iraq where they are not welcome either They are sleeping in cemeteries, they have no food, more than 30 of their churches have been bombed, their children are being kidnapped and murdered.
Rosie Malek-Yonan is an Assyrian-American. She is a successful film and television actor who has appeared in many popular shows including Dynasty, Seinfeld, E.R. and Chicago Hope. Her novel, The Crimson Field, is a fictionalised account of the little-known Assyrian genocide that took place at the hands of the Ottoman Turks during World War One at the same time that the better-known Armenian genocide was taking place. She recently directed a documentary film on the same subject. And last year she was invited to give testimony before the US Congress about the plight of Assyrian Christians in Iraq. Rosie Malek-Yonan spoke to me from her home in California.
Rosie Malek-Yonan: The Assyrian people are the indigenous people actually of Mesopotamia, before it even was Iraq. All of that area was Mesopotamia and is the original homeland of the Assyrians. They date back to over 6,000 years and were always concentrated in that region.
Stephen Crittenden: And Christianity was accepted by Assyrians, well virtually in apostolic times, right at the very, very beginning?
Rosie Malek-Yonan: Right. Assyrians were actually the first nation to accept Christianity as an entire nation, not just individuals, but the entire nation, and we built the first church of the east.
Stephen Crittenden: And what about language? Aramaic for church, but what language does a typical Assyrian family in Baghdad speak at home?
Rosie Malek-Yonan: Well the language that we typically speak is the modern Assyrian, which comes from the ancient Aramian, which is the language of Christ. The church liturgy still uses the ancient language, and we grew up learning it, and understanding it and knowing it, but it's not typically used at home. At home we generally will speak the more modern Assyrian dialect.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Baghdad, the Mahdi army imposes the veil on Christian women
2) Christian Minorities in the Islamic Middle East : Rosie Malek-Yonan on the Assyrians
Baghdad (AsiaNews) – “Extremist Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq are at war over everything, but united by one common denominator: the persecution of Christians”. So say the faithful of Baghdad. A letter is circulating the capital, warning Christian women to wear the veil in accordance with domestic segregation. The letter is signed by the Mahdi army, linked to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Iraqi Shiite cleric, who the US considers the greatest threat to security in the country. Upon till now the Sunni group of “the Islamic State in Iraq” was the most violent threat to the Christian community: from their imposition of the jizya – the “compensation” demanded by the Koran from non Muslim subjects – to their expropriation of property and forced conversions to Islam.
Aina news agency today published an English translation of the letter. In the text the words of the martyr Mohammad Sadiq al-Sadr are underlined, when he inquired “Was the Virgin Mary (peace be upon her) unveiled so that Christian women be allowed to be unveiled? Was Fatima al-Zahra unveiled? And were the wives of the Caliphs in the First Caliphate or others unveiled? No and then no…Allah forbid and far be it from all of them”. It then warns that “In the name of the Supreme Being, She is an adulteress, and she even proclaims sinfulness, challenges and fights Allah and his Prophet and ignores and neglects religion”. In answer to the question “What measure should be taken against a woman who disobeys her father, husband, or her guardian by not committing to the legal veil?” the answer is that husbands and fathers “must guide and educate her religiously in order to convince her. If she is not convinced still, then they must imprison her at home and do not expose her to the forbidden interaction with men”. In the end it warns that “special committees have been established to follow up on this matter”. It is signed by “The People's Foundation for the Master al-Mahdi Army”.
...
and
Christian Minorities in the Islamic Middle East : Rosie Malek-Yonan on the Assyrians
This transcript was typed from a recording of the program. The ABC cannot guarantee its complete accuracy because of the possibility of mishearing and occasional difficulty in identifying speakers.
Stephen Crittenden: Welcome to The Religion Report.
EASTERN MUSIC
Stephen Crittenden: The plight of Christian minorities in the Islamic Middle East is one of the 20th century tragedies to which we pay least attention.From the Copts in Egypt, to the Maronites, the Melkites in Lebanon, Orthodox and Chaldeans, the Christian population of the Middle East is a fraction of what it was, and more vulnerable than ever. Nowhere is the situation worse at the moment than in Iraq. And few groups are more vulnerable than the ancient Assyrian Christian community. In fact, this week the Italian journalist Sandro Magister, has warned of the end of Christianity in Iraq.
In early May in a heavily Christian suburb of Baghdad, a Sunni extremist group began broadcasting a fatwah over the loudspeakers of the neighbourhood mosque: the Assyrian Christian community had to convert to Islam or leave, or die. Their Muslim neighbours were to seize their property. The men were told they had to pay the gizya - the protection money Jews and Christians traditionally had to pay to their Muslim overlords - and families were told they could only stay if they married one of their daughters to a Muslim.
More than 300 Assyrian families have fled, mostly to the north into the Kurdish region of Iraq where they are not welcome either They are sleeping in cemeteries, they have no food, more than 30 of their churches have been bombed, their children are being kidnapped and murdered.
Rosie Malek-Yonan is an Assyrian-American. She is a successful film and television actor who has appeared in many popular shows including Dynasty, Seinfeld, E.R. and Chicago Hope. Her novel, The Crimson Field, is a fictionalised account of the little-known Assyrian genocide that took place at the hands of the Ottoman Turks during World War One at the same time that the better-known Armenian genocide was taking place. She recently directed a documentary film on the same subject. And last year she was invited to give testimony before the US Congress about the plight of Assyrian Christians in Iraq. Rosie Malek-Yonan spoke to me from her home in California.
Rosie Malek-Yonan: The Assyrian people are the indigenous people actually of Mesopotamia, before it even was Iraq. All of that area was Mesopotamia and is the original homeland of the Assyrians. They date back to over 6,000 years and were always concentrated in that region.
Stephen Crittenden: And Christianity was accepted by Assyrians, well virtually in apostolic times, right at the very, very beginning?
Rosie Malek-Yonan: Right. Assyrians were actually the first nation to accept Christianity as an entire nation, not just individuals, but the entire nation, and we built the first church of the east.
Stephen Crittenden: And what about language? Aramaic for church, but what language does a typical Assyrian family in Baghdad speak at home?
Rosie Malek-Yonan: Well the language that we typically speak is the modern Assyrian, which comes from the ancient Aramian, which is the language of Christ. The church liturgy still uses the ancient language, and we grew up learning it, and understanding it and knowing it, but it's not typically used at home. At home we generally will speak the more modern Assyrian dialect.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Baghdad, the Mahdi army imposes the veil on Christian women
2) Christian Minorities in the Islamic Middle East : Rosie Malek-Yonan on the Assyrians
Thursday, May 24, 2007
DAR AL ISLAM - IRAQ: SUNNI LEADERS (INCLUDING OF ARMED RESISTANCE) TALKING WITH MUQTADA AL-SADR...IT APPEARS THE TALKS HAVE PRODUCED RESULTS
Sunni resistance warms to Muqtada
by Gareth Porter
Talks between representatives of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Sunni leaders, including those of armed resistance factions, have produced early results. The aim is to create a Sunni-Shi'ite united front against both al-Qaeda and the US occupation. The fear is that Muqtada could still be drawn into a war of his own against the US. - Gareth Porter
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Sunni resistance warms to Muqtada
by Gareth Porter
Talks between representatives of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Sunni leaders, including those of armed resistance factions, have produced early results. The aim is to create a Sunni-Shi'ite united front against both al-Qaeda and the US occupation. The fear is that Muqtada could still be drawn into a war of his own against the US. - Gareth Porter
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Sunni resistance warms to Muqtada
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