Daily Islam, Translated by Jihad Unspun
A plan to destroy Hamid Krazaiâs plane on his way back from USA has been foiled by the arrest of the plotters. Sources said yesterday, five men were arrested as they waited for his jet to fly over, in a mountain range 32 kilometers west of the capital Kabul. The men confessed that they were assigned to destroy Hamid Karzaiâs plane. They were arrested after a tip off by unknown persons to the International Security Assistance Force. Further evidence that the Secret Army of Doom isn't as watertight as Hekmatyar seems to think it is. Now, if those very large Afghans have just gotten that shipment of truncheons in, and their moustachios have grown out sufficiently, we might learn something of substance...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 08:07 am ||
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The leader of Afghanistan's most radical Islamic group says Afghans are tired of a central government that has no control beyond Kabul and has permitted ''foreigners and outsiders'' to direct Afghan policy. Abdurrab Rasul Sayyaf suggested in an interview that Western forces, which he said have nearly completed their mission of driving out the former Taliban regime and Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda fighters, should leave soon. ''We have our own laws, our own habits, our own behaviors,'' said Sayyaf, who has no official role in the current government. Speaking in English, he added, ''My aim is that the purposes of our beliefs should be implemented. That is what I want, for the Afghans to be independent, a country independent of outsiders.'' "The purposes of our beliefs should be implemented"? That's Afghan for, "I want to take power and kill everybody who doesn't agree with me." He can't do that with the U.S. there and the rest of the world watching over our shoulder...
Sayyaf's remarks were the first public indication that he is losing patience at being shut out of the new coalition ruling Afghanistan. He also appears to be accelerating efforts to influence events here through his speeches and other contacts, Western officials said. They said he was hailed as Afghanistan's future leader when he showed up at the Saudi Embassy earlier this week. That's because he's owned and operated by the Soddies. Of course they dote on him...
His aspirations could cause problems for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is promoting a secular government. An Islamic, isolationist Afghanistan also would hamper the United States in continuing its war on terrorism and its efforts to promote regional economic and political stability. 'Nother words, it'd just be more of the same...
Sayyaf, a guerrilla fighter in the 1979-89 war against Soviet forces, is the pre-eminent conservative Islamic leader in Afghanistan. His weekly messages from mosques in the Kabul area are carried on radio. According to Western officials, he is supported by hundreds of thousands of Afghans, many of whom believe he should lead the country. Not sure which "Western officials" they've been talking to...
Sayyaf and his followers seek a strictly Islamic nation where foreigners, especially non-Muslims, have no influence. But his interpretation of Islam is not as harsh as the Taliban's. Tom Squitieri, the writer, can't bring himself to use the word "wahhabi." Spelling problem? "Salafist" is probably easier to spell, and means the same thing.
After the 1979-89 war, Sayyaf founded the University of Sawal al-Jihad outside Peshawar, Pakistan. U.S., British and other Western intelligence officials have described the institution as a training school for terrorists. Among the graduates: members of the radical Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines. They took their name from the university's founder. Sayyaf refused to recognize Karzai's government after it was formed last December. But he has since participated in several political events, including the loya jirga (grand council) in June that established Afghanistan's two-year transitional government. He's miffed because they wouldn't let him be in charge...
Interviewed at his heavily guarded hillside headquarters an hour's drive north of Kabul, Sayyaf would not say whether he believed the U.S.-led intervention that forced out the Taliban nearly a year ago had merit. But he said it was time for the U.S. and other international forces to leave. ''They (the Americans) said they came for two purposes. The first was to give punishment to the Taliban and its regime, which was keeping terrorists. The second was to eliminate the bankers of the terrorists,'' he said. ''They have punished the Taliban, and they are almost finished eliminating the bankers. They should go, because we want to have good relations and good friendship with the United States in the future.'' "When we're in charge."
He dismissed charges that he and his supporters are responsible for any of the recent terrorist attacks against the United States, its allies or the Karzai government. And Tom forgot to mention his alliance with Hekmatyar, too. Wonder how he missed that?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 10:57 am ||
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Here's a suggestion: let the Afghanis partition their country. The ethnic Tadjiks and Uzbeks, along with all the other non-certifiable ethnics in the north, have one country (let's call it "Afghanistan") with Kabul as its captial. They get western aid and assistance so long as they play reasonably nice with each other and run a secular republic. In the south, let the ethnic Pashtuns have a state (let's call it "Insanestan") with Kandehar as its captial. They can do what they want as long as they stay inside the very thick, very high coils of razor wire we put around the place. The Soddis can visit whenever they want.
Think I can get the Nobel peace prize for that one?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/28/2002 14:47 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2002 15:14 Comments ||
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Afghanistan is a dog's breakfast of mutually hostile ethnic groups. Each appears to want to dominate the others, and Islam is hardly a unifying force. If they don't recognize their own territorial integrality, why should we? What if Russia, China and the U.S.A. created a security zone outside of the Pashtun areas, mutually propped secular republics, and protected them from jihadi primitives? It could be done if all parties recognized multilateral benefits from same. The status quo is not working, and cannot be made to work.
Afghanistan's chief justice proposed on Thursday that one of the country's most notorious commanders should face public execution after being convicted on dozens of counts of murder. Fazl Hadi Shinwari told Reuters he had written to Afghan President Hamid Karzai recommending that Abdullah Shah â known as "Zardad's dog" after his even more notorious boss â should face the death penalty. If Karzai agrees, it would be the first execution since the fall of the fundamentalist Taliban last year. Shah, 43, has already been sentenced to 20 years in prison by a primary court for a series of murders, including of three of his wives and five of his children. "He was caught some months back when he tried to kill his fourth wife by throwing hot water on her," Shinwari told Reuters. "We have witnesses and petitions from a number of people against him," he added. "He himself has confessed to killing his family members and he should be punished severely." They call him a "commander," but his bio reads more like "bandit." Apparently the guy's a first-class psycho...
Islamic laws propose execution and that is what I am saying should be done." Zardad, who is believed to hiding in Britain under a false name, is himself wanted for robbing and killing travellers passing through his stronghold at Sarobi, a notorious blackspot on the main road from Kabul to Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 11:05 am ||
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Three U.S. Congressmen arrived in Baghdad Friday, September 27, 2002, to examine the humanitarian situation in the sanctions-hit country amid repeated war threats by U.S. President George W. Bushâs administration. "We want every diplomatic effort made to resolve this [crisis] without war," said Democrat Jim McDermott (WA). "We're sure we did something to bring on this crisis, and I just want to say that I'm sorry we did it, whatever it was..."
"We have no interest in having war and we want our administration to pursue every avenue before war. It has to be the last option. And our opinion is that we do not think the United States should ever make a first strike." "We'd rather see several major American cities in rubble before that would happen, and we'd hesitate then..."
"The result we want, we will not have it. The result people talk about is having democracy in the Middle East, but I don't think a war against Iraq is the way to start," McDermott said. "The way to start is, ummm... something else."
McDermott acknowledged that he and his fellow traveling Democrats, David Bonior of Michigan - a strong supporter of Muslim causes - and Michael Thompson of California, represented a minority view in the United States. But "I have a very strong feeling about putting people into a war, especially a war where it is not clear what it is about, or why we are doing it. From my point of view, we should do everything we can to prevent war," he said. "Cuz we're, like, against war and stuff, and we think everybody should just be nice, and ain't Bush stoopid?"
The trio's visit was the second to Iraq by anti-war U.S. lawmakers, West Virginia Democrat Nick Rahall having visited earlier this month. I remember reading about that. Wonder why he didn't put a press release on his website?
The three Democrats flew into Baghdad from Amman on a Jordanian plane. "We talked to the [U.S.] State Department before we came and we have the necessary documents from them so we are perfectly within our rights," McDermott said. "I mean, it ain't like we're aiding and abetting anybody..."
He said two non-profit groups, the Seattle-based Church Council and the Life Foundation of Detroit, "wanted us to come here and look at the humanitarian situation here in Iraq".
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 09:20 am ||
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Will these fine fellows stay in one of the dictator's palaces, that were paid for by money that could have helped the "humanitarian situation"?
#2
Detroit has a large Arab-American population and Bonior has long been known as an apologist for the Arab cause. McDermott's ethics were exposed when he released an illegally taped Newt Gingrich/John Boehner cell call....please cancel all return flights til the JDAMS drop
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/28/2002 12:10 Comments ||
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The latest joke going around WV is that the Iraqi were smart - they sent Rahall back.
Posted by: Joy ||
09/28/2002 20:54 Comments ||
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Saying, "This is the guy who tried to kill my dad," U.S. President George W. Bush late Thursday, September 26, personalized the conflict with Baghdad, making war against sanction-hit Iraq a "uniquely American issue." Y'know, I've always wondered why we didn't bulldoze Iraq when that happened. I put it down to the president at the time not really giving a crap, since it wasn't him. But then I thought I was being ungenerous... for awhile.
"Other countries of course, bear the same risk. But there's no doubt his hatred is mainly directed at us," said the American President at a political fundraiser in Houston. "After all this is the guy who tried to kill my dad." And the Emir of Kuwait. They should think about that every time they hesitate...
As Bush's father, former president George Bush, traveled to Kuwait in April 1993, officials there disrupted a car-bomb plot they claimed they traced back to Saddam. The plot was aimed at Kuwait's emir and the former president, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Then-U.S. president Bill Clinton cited the plot as justification for a June 1993 U.S. missile attack on Baghdad's intelligence headquarters. Yup. That "sent them a message." The message was: "Dear Sammy, We won't kill you for trying to kill Bush, but we might if you try to kill Clinton, but probably not. But don't push it, okay? Love, Clinton."
Bush had also referred to that U.S. charge in his September 12 address to the U.N. General Assembly, but had deliberately referred only to "a former American president."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 09:47 am ||
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Iraq yesterday said it would not accept the new rules that the United States wants to impose on UN weapons inspections. "The stance from the inspectors has been decided and any additional procedure that aims at harming Iraq won't be accepted," Iraq's Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told reporters. I did't notice that part that said they had a choice in the matter...
Under threat of force, the United States wants to radically change the ground rules for UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, demanding access to any site and protecting inspectors with a security force, according to those familiar with a draft UN resolution. The proposed UN Security Council resolution, backed by Britain, would declare Iraq has already violated current UN demands and authorise military action if Baghdad fails to comply by accounting for its weapons of mass destruction. The document, to be introduced early next week, has been submitted to Russia, China and France which, along with Britain and the United States, have veto power in the 15-nation Security Council. Dunno what they're promising the Chinese and the Frenchies, but we can pretty well bet it's something. Just hope it's not something that's going to bite us in the collective butt ten years from now...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 09:52 am ||
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Okay, I can see what we might promise the Rooskies -- they get a free hand in Georgia, good deals on oil and a guarentee on any deal they have with Iraq.
I simply don't see what the US/UK can promise either France or China that would make them willing to support the resolution, if they're of a mind to oppose it (as I suspect they are). What would the French WANT from us? I really can't think of anything that's realistic. We aren't going to sign the Kyoto accord, or join the ICC, for example.
Likewise, what would China want? We're NOT going to walk away from Taiwan -- Bush would be impeached by his own party. China already has favorable trade terms, and we're already carefully looking the other way whilst the Chinese pound on their western, muslim minorities.
If this is a horse-trade, what's our horse with these guys? I can't see it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/28/2002 14:59 Comments ||
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One thing they may not wish is for the UN to lapse into irrelevance. If the UN does not support us in enforcing its own 16 resolutions Saddem Hussein has flouted what use are they? But for the French and possibly the Chinese the UN may remain a point where they can bring diplomatic pressure to bear on the US in an effective way. So if they veto our resolutions they risk destroying their own diplomatic venue. Of course, they may not fully realize this, even after Bush's speech to the UN. As for Russia, we may guarantee their debts owed by Iraq but I doubt we'll throw Georgia to them.
Posted by: Michael Lonie ||
09/29/2002 0:15 Comments ||
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More than 15kg of weapons-grade uranium has been seized in Turkey. Paramilitary police found the chemicals - worth $5m on the black market - in a taxi in the southern province of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria and is about 155 miles from Iraq. It was held in a lead container hidden beneath the vehicle's seat. We can probably launch any time now...
America and Britain has insisted Iraq could produce a nuclear bomb within a year if it could obtain fissile material from abroad. Like weapons-grade uranium...
The find is likely to be seized upon by both countries who are pressing for a military strike on Iraq to end its alleged nuclear weapons programme. "Our investigation on whether the uranium was destined for a neighbouring country is continuing," a Sanliurfa police official was quoted as saying. "SÌkrÌ, don't hit him there! He'll get cancer or something... Well, guess it doesn't matter, does it? Heh heh."
Authorities believe the uranium came from an east European country, Turkish news agency Anatolian reported. Which one? Not... Ukraine? Mr Powell would probably like to talk to them about that, too...
Police in Istanbul seized more than 1kg of weapons-grade uranium last November that had been smuggled into Turkey from an east European nation.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 10:20 am ||
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So now we have to think: How much does he have? Should conventional forces be sent into Iraq, in face of WMD? What do the National Security Act Directives (which impose a functional role on the President) order here?
Holy S#$%!!!
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/28/2002 10:38 Comments ||
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I understand it takes about 15 kilos to make a nuke. Smaller quantities could be used in "dirty bombs"...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2002 11:35 Comments ||
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We don't know that Mr. Hussein would use it to make a weapon....maybe he'll use it for the public good. President Bush needs to depoliticize seizures of weapons grade uranium and let the U.N. inspections have a chance..yadda yadda yadda
Posted by: Tom Daschle ||
09/28/2002 11:47 Comments ||
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You should understand that I'm repeating this at, at best, secondhand or thirdhand - "friend of a friend" stuff, so take with a couple of large grains of salt until confirmation can be obtained - but comments I've read on other blogs which are discussing this incident say that (1) the Iraqis already _have_ the nuclear devices built, they just need the fissile materials; and (2) according to DEBKA or some such source (see what I mean about grains of salt?), there are at least two teams of Iraqi agents on the loose in Europe searching for sources for said fissile material.
All that being said, though, I had a really ugly thought. The Turks intercepted one 15kg shipment of uranium, just about enough for one implosion-type weapon (though not nearly enough for a more primitive "gun" type weapon, such as we used on Japan). We really have no guarantee at all (and this is the ugly thought) that that was the _only_ shipment of weapons-grade uranium. _How many more did manage to get through_???
Posted by: Joe ||
09/28/2002 14:29 Comments ||
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Steve DenBeste, as always, has an article on-point to Joe's question. Borrowing from his analysis, Saddam would prefer to have about ten working devices. Say each one needs about 15 kg of fissable material. So that's 150 kg needed to implement a strategy. What strategy?
Simple. Explode one bomb underground. Every seismometer in the world will notice. Then Saddam tells the world, "I get what I want or I set off one of my many, many bombs in San Antonio, or Milan, or Liverpool." What intelligent western leader would call his bluff? What American would? Sure, we can turn Iraq into obsideon, but the consequences to us -- losing a single city -- is more than we could bear. DenBeste notes the psychological power of deterrence in the classic case of a person driving a new, shiny Jaguar in a street confrontation with a person driving a rusty Pinto. The Pinto wins every time.
All Saddam needs is a Pinto. He needs a couple hundred kilos of U-235. Test one bomb to prove that their bomb works, and use the rest to intimidate the world. It will work, and unfortunately it's what the Ed Asners of the world are missing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/28/2002 14:55 Comments ||
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Steve, it's worse than that. All he really needs is enough to make one working bomb. After that, he can bluff.
Posted by: Kathy K ||
09/29/2002 4:58 Comments ||
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Eritrea's ambassador to the UN has warned that an umbrella organisation - known as the Alliance of Eritrean National Forces - has bases in foreign countries and requested international assistance to counter "terrorist elements". In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Ahmed Tahir Baduri said the Eritrean Jihad "terrorist movements" which were "members of the Al-Qaeda network", were part of this Alliance. "The government of Eritrea requests full co-operation and joint action from the countries where these terrorist elements live, plan and launch their operations," he said. He also pledged that Eritrea would "continue to fight terrorism in all its forms". Kofi was saying that the fight against terrorism should be under UN auspices. No doubt he's gonna hop right on this and get them all cleaned out, just to show the UN can do it...
The Alliance of Eritrean National Forces - which includes several exiled groups - was established in 1999. According to its charter, it says it "will use all necessary means to overthrow the regime of [the ruling] People's Front [for Democracy and Justice, PFDJ]" and set up a "government of national unity". "National unity" never seems to include the people they're trying to hunt down and kill, for some reason...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 10:29 am ||
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The League of Nations failed in that part of the world, and the United Nations will also fail. It was the small countries that destroyed U.N. credibility with their leaps of faith on behalf of dubious "freedom fighters." It is an ugly world and innocent civilians are in the cross-fire of this ugliness.
Sudan denied rebel claims that it lost more than 1,000 soldiers in a failed attempt to recapture the key southern garrison town of Torit. The declarations of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) spokesman Yasser Armane "are unfounded", said a statement from the office of army spokesman Mohammed Beshir Suleiman. "It is the SPLA that lost this large number of dead and wounded," said the statement, carried by the official SUNA news agency. Armane told AFP Friday that "more than 1,000" soldiers were killed "in six days of fighting" around the town of Torit in East Equatoria province. Wonder which side holds the town?
Suleiman also criticized the SPLA for saying Friday it was ready to order a temporary ceasefire in exchange for a resumption of peace talks suspended by Khartoum after Torit fell on September 2. "The SPLA proposal for a revival of negotiations is a result of the losses it suffered on the ground in fighting at Torit," his office said, adding that the rebels had made the move to gain world public support. On Friday, Armane said the SPLA "maintains its invitation to the government to resume negotiations and is prepared to observe a temporary ceasefire on all Sudanese territory during the talks." Sounds like a good time for a ceasefire, then. The fact that they're asking for a ceasefire after inflicting 1000 losses on the government troops may indicate they lost 999 themselves. Or it could mean that after beating the snot out of the gummint forces, they're willing to negotiate from a position of strength. Maybe the gummint forces shouldn't have attacked the south on the same day they were signing a treaty...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 03:11 pm ||
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Washington D.C. police braced for a fresh confrontation on Saturday with up to 20,000 childrenbeauzeaux anti-globalization activists who have so far largely failed to disrupt meetings of the world's top financial policymakers. Police Chief Charles Ramsey said 649 people were taken into custody on Friday, out of between 1,500 and 2,000 protesters who tried in vain to shut down the downtown core during a summit of G7 finance ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. Wonder if they let that guy go potty yet? If not, he's peed himself by now...
Another 10,000 to 20,000 people are expected to join a Saturday demonstration aimed at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank during the lenders' annual meetings. Organizers said activists would encircle the heavily barricaded World Bank and IMF buildings in a bid to prevent delegates from leaving. "Herbert, the building is surrounded by beauzeaux."
"Really, Willard? Shall we stay inside?"
"Yes. Good idea."
"We'll send out for pizza and then destroy Paraguay's economy."
"Sounds good to me. But no anchovies!"
"Hopefully it will be peaceful, but we are prepared for it if it's not," police spokesman Tony O'Leary told Reuters. "Today's events are more organized than what we saw yesterday, so we are expecting more people to be out there." They're the ones that got lost in a herd, marching down the wrong street. Doubt if they could get much less organized. Guess that's why they call 'em anarchists...
About 3,000 police in riot gear stood on guard in downtown D.C. on Saturday morning. Metal barricades blocked off the World Bank and IMF headquarters, and surrounding streets have been closed to traffic. "Bob, I'm bored."
"Me, too, Albert. Howcome we have to do this every time these guys meet?"
Organizers have received permits for a march across town on Saturday, where activists will demand poor country debt relief, the end of structural adjustment programs and more transparent decision-making at the Bank and Fund. A separate Global AIDS March will converge with the group near the lenders' headquarters mid-afternoon. 'Cuz everyone knows the World Bank finances AIDS...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 10:33 am ||
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When police dragged the blindfolded Al Qaeda suspect Ramzi Bin Al Shaiba out of a bullet-ridden apartment block in Karachi and past the waiting cameras the arrest was hailed as a crucial breakthrough in the fight against Osama Bin Ladenâs network. But a report in The Guardian on Thursday said the newspaper had learnt the target of the raid, a much more senior Al Qaeda figure who agents had been tracking for several days, slipped away from the drab concrete building hours earlier. The newspaper said Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the Kuwaiti who heads Al Qaedaâs military command, is still on the run in Karachi. Damn. I was hoping they'd get him...
The capture of Al Shaiba, the alleged 20th hijacker, was little more than a lucky break in an otherwise unsuccessful operation, the report said. "We were not aware of Ramzi but we were told Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was there," the report quoted a Pakistani intelligence source as saying. "Over the past two weeks, Pakistani investigators say they have twice traced Mohammad to apartments in Karachi," The Guardian said. The two seemed to be hanging around together. I'd more suspect that the coppers were hoping to take them both, but were hoping more for Khalid than for Ramzi...
At times they have come frustratingly close to their target: in the same raid that netted Al Shaiba police found a four-year-old girl who they believe is Mohammadâs adopted daughter.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 08:07 am ||
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JI Ameer and MMA's vice President Qazi Hussain Ahmad has said that the MMA has come into the field to counter enemy conspiracies against Pakistan and Islam. He said, "During the last 55 years, the ruling elite had changed our independence into the slavery of world financial institutions. He said the MMA would reverse this process. "We'll get back to real, Islamic slavery, by Allah!"
Earlier, police had barred the MMA from holding a public meeting at Jinnah Park. The police had uprooted the tents, removed chairs and other apparatus installed there for holding the meeting. But JI leaders were of the view that the PML-QA which was backed by the military rulers held a public meeting previous night at City's main bazaar by blocking all roads and the administration facilited for that. Oooh. Perv's favoring the parties that favor him, huh? Terrible when dictators do that, ain't it?
They termed it worst kind of discrimination because the MMA was not allowed to hold meeting even inside four walls. Qazi said the MMA was made to counter the US atrocities against Islam and it would stand up to this formidable task. He said it would stay after the elections because it was made upon great demands of the people and would become the voice of Pakistani masses. And they don't expect to win the elections...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 08:07 am ||
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"The government has moved to save the nation from this disgrace," Pakistani daily The News said today in a front page story titled, "Beauty queen or an ultimate disgrace", while carrying the picture of "Miss Pakistan", Neelam Noorani, taking part in the pageant. "Miss Noorani, seen as a disgrace by many Pakistanis, was wearing ceremonial strap prominently inscribing "PAKISTAN", the daily said. Horrors! Quick, Ethel! Hand me my pills!
Pakistan government has asked its diplomats in Tokyo to dissuade organisers of Miss International Beauty contest on September 30 from allowing Ms. Noorani to compete as "Miss Pakistan." "Nope. Nope. We simply can't have that. The brazen hussy!"
51 girls from around the world compete for the Miss International crown on September 30 in Tokyo. Pakistani Government's secretary for culture, sports and tourism, Tariq Januja, called it a shameful development. The Pakistani government would not allow it because it was in contrast to Pakistan's social and cultural values, he added. "We cannot allow this," Janjua said adding that such contests were in total "contrast" to the social and cultural values of Pakistan. "Our religion, Islam, also disapproves all such acts," Janjua said "When she returns home she will be punished by gang rape and then probably stoned. Pakistan's social and cultural values allow this, yes, demand this!"
The organisers of Miss Pakistan don't seem to be greatly inhibited though. The only concession to Islamic modesty they make is they don't ask contestants to catwalk in a swimsuit. Judges have to use their discretion regarding the physical proportions of the young women in loose clothes covering the body from neck to ankle. "Hop in this here potato sack, girly... Now, your headscarf... No makeup, mind you... Don't forget your veil... Here's your combat boots, so you don't show an ankle... Okay, now go out there and wow 'em!"
Much of the outrage in Pakistan is regarding the swimsuit parade mandatory for all international beauty pageants. Pak contest organisers follow the usual Pakistani logic for organising such contests (of course, fully clothed). That would be convoluted and likely illogical logic, right?
One of the Pakistani organisers says Pakistan, like India, is a nuclear armed country. If India can have so many beauty queens, why can't we? That is like saying if India can detonate a nuclear bomb, why can't we? The two are obviously linked... I don't see where, but it's obvious they are someplace...
Common Pakistanis (that may not include the Westernized class) are horrified at the idea of a Muslim woman walking the ramp in a swimsuit. That is an outrage to the Islamic idea of modesty. And not even chaperoned by a close male relative! The very idea!
Pakistan's leading intellectual ... Kind like saying "the Baptist church's leading hooker", isn't it? ...
Akbar S Ahmad makes the pertinent point in his book Postmodernism and Islam that the ubiquitous T shirt and blue jeans that conquered much of the world as the preferred casual wear among both young men and women failed to catch up in the Muslim world. That happened, says Ahmad, because the idea of modesty is deeply rooted in the Islamic mind and Muslims flinch from wearing body-hugging clothes. Got big butts, do they?
Pakistan's sibling rivalry with India is quite understandable. India does have a number of women who have won beauty contests like Miss Asia, Miss World, and Miss Universe. Young women like Ms. Noorani grew up seeing Indian women winning contest after contest in international pageants. Young Pakistani women like Ms. Noorani wonder if the Indians, who speak the same language, are of the same racial stock, and have the same habits as Pakistanis, can do it, why can't the Pakistanis. Other than the fact that they don't have great, big butts, no reason...
There is one distinction, however. Hinduism, like Greco-Roman paganism, is not ideologically opposed to the public display of human form. Hindu iconography often celebrates the beauty of uncovered human figure like the ancient Greeks. In fact, rather moreso. I didn't know the human body could assume some of those positions. Tried one of them once, and threw my back out...!
However, in the later ages, practised Hinduism moved towards covering most of a woman's body, and even veiling the face. Something to do with when the Muslims showed up...
Unlike Pakistan, India has produced its own share of Miss World and Miss Universe women over the decades. In the 1970s, there were Persis Khambata and Rita Faria; in the 1990s, Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen, who brought home the crown. Then again, they don't come from a country that's crawling with people who think they should be killed for being beautiful...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 09:38 am ||
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If three Muslim men rape a woman in a closed room within the "Islamic Republic of Pakistan," Zuna rape laws are unenforceable under Sharia. In fact, victims have been exterminated for making accusations by oath, that were made mute by the enforcement prohibitions. Mushareff has made repeated calls for retention of Sharia, if fact he did so before the JI's fatman, Qazi Hussein Ahmad, earlier this month.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/28/2002 10:49 Comments ||
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Suspected Islamic militants blew up a vehicle carrying a legislative candidate in India's Jammu-Kashmir state on Saturday, killing three of her supporters and one armed police escort, police said. Khaleda Mustafa, a member of the opposition Nationalist Congress Party, was seriously wounded in the attack as she campaigned in her constituency in Anantnag district, about 45 miles south of Srinagar. Anantnag is one of the districts which go to the polls in the third round of voting, scheduled for Tuesday. One passer-by was wounded in the attack, carried out by a remote-controlled explosive device. Democracy's just a Jewish plot, anyway...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 11:21 am ||
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Israeli occupation forces killed a member of the Islamic resistance group Hamas in the southern West Bank town of Al-Khalil (Hebron), Palestinian sources said Friday, September 27. Israeli forces shot and killed Mahmoud Jamal Yagmur, 21, as they chased the Palestinian activist from his home in a bid to abduct him, witnesses said. "Mahmoud! Stop or we'll shoot!"
"You'll never take me alive, coppers! Ow!"
"Dang! He was right!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 08:17 am ||
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On the eighth day of his siege, Palestinian President-for-Life Yasser Arafat (1929-2002?) showed no sign of backing down, as one of his advisers predicted far-right Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would give up on his demand for the handing over of some 20 of his Palestinian Authority and security forces holed up with their President in the Ramallah Headquarters. "The Israelis will have to withdraw in a couple of days from the Muqataa and finish the siege," Bassam Abu Sharif told AFP. That's not something he wants to do... We'll see who can hold out the longest.
"Sharon knows he cannot blow up the building because that will be a catastrophe for Israel," and its image abroad, he said, suggesting Washington would eventually pressure the occupation army into lifting the siege on the Palestinian President. That's what they're counting on... Powell probably knows they're counting on him. Sounds like it's time for a trip to Budapest, or Helsinki, so he's not there to answer the phone...
Israeli tanks stormed the compound September 19, and the siege has prompted a flow of condemnations from the international community and even a rare rebuke from the United States. None of which is unexpected...
Sickness among the 73-year-old Presidentâs 250-strong Authority and security forces was reported Thursday, as living conditions continued to deteriorate in Arafat's crumbling office, the only building still standing in the devastated Ramallah Headquarters. "Yasser, can I go home? I have a stomick ache!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 08:51 am ||
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In Gaza, Israeli forces shot and wounded two Palestinians late Thursday, September 26, during a major incursion by the Israeli occupation army into the area of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Palestinian security and medical sources as saying. The two Palestinian men were hit by shrapnel from Israeli tanks shells. About 30 Israeli tanks and armored cars and two bulldozers stormed Deir el-Balah during the night and destroyed the house of an Islamic Jihad activist, a Palestinian security told AFP. "Hey, Mahmoud! There's some tanks and a bulldozer! Let's throw some rocks at 'em!"
"Hokay."
"Ow!"
"Ow!"
Israeli tanks staged an incursion into the Palestinian autonomous town of Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip. Four tanks opened fire as they advanced about 100 meters (yards) into Beit Hanun accompanied by a military bulldozer. "Achmed! There they are again! Get some rocks..."
"Uh... I gotta go home. Mom's waitin' dinner..."
Several tanks also circled Beit Lahia, also in northern Gaza, as occupation soldiers carried out house-to-house searches. "Mahmoud? Uh... No. I ain't seen 'im..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 08:59 am ||
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Malay Muslim MPs in Singapore are stepping up efforts to reach out to non-Muslim groups to help explain, clarify and share concerns of the Muslim community in Singapore. The move comes in the wake of the second round of arrests of Muslim citizens accused of terrorism. Starting to get a little worried, are they?
Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, Yaacob Ibrahim, said that the national steering committee for Inter-Racial Confidence Circles, which he chairs, is looking at concrete steps to strengthen multi-racial bonds. One suggestion is for children to learn more about world religions in school so that they can better understand the various communities. "This is one suggestion that has come up on how best we can work further with the various stakeholders to sort of ensure that our children at a very early age are given the opportunity to gain a better understanding," said Mr Yaacob Ibrahim. Better clarify that, Mr Ibrahim. Does that mean that all the non-Muslim kiddies are going to have to take classes in Islam? Or that all the little Muslim kiddies are going to have to learn something about other people's religions — to include a little admonition that they should be respected? The problem from where I sit isn't that non-Muslims don't know enough about Islam, but that Muslims don't know enough about other religions and cultures.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 08:07 am ||
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#1
Yeah, when Muslims are in the minority, they reach out. When they are a majority, the crush minorities.
#2
How about turning in the jihadis in their midst and refusing to support them ony more? That would be a marvelous way to reach out to the people the jihadis are trying to kill.
Posted by: Michael Lonie ||
09/29/2002 0:22 Comments ||
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A Singaporean man detained by authorities over alleged terror links met previously in Malaysia with Zacarias Moussaoui, the government said Friday. The meeting took place in neighboring Malaysia. Moussaoui visited Malaysia in 2000, according to authorities in that country. Another little piece of contacts analysis. The hip bone's connected to the neck bone; all you have to do is track how...
Since Sept. 11, Singapore has arrested 31 people it claims are members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional Islamic group that allegedly plotted with al-Qaida operatives to attack Western interests in Southeast Asia. The Straits Times newspaper on Friday named the suspect as Faiz Abu Bakar Bafana, 39, who is a now a Malaysian resident. And the Malays aren't amused by this nonsense, either...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/28/2002 11:33 am ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
