| Author | Message | | Alpha | | Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:25 pm Post subject: |
| With regard to what Israel is currently doing in Lebanon, take a look at the following (pages 141-144 from Bamford's 'A Pretext for War' book):
...About the same time, beginning on April 11, 1996, a series of shock waves rumbled through the Muslim world as a result of Israel's massive bombardment of Beirut and southern Lebanon, which Israel had by then been occupying for fourteen years. Known as "Operation of Grapes of Wrath," it was the first time Israel had attacked Beirut since Ariel Sharon's ill-fated 1982 invasion of Lebanon. According to Israeli writer Israel Shahak, the real purpose of the attack was to capture as much Lebanese territory as possible.
"It is quite obvious," wrote Shahak, "that the first and most important Israeli aim to be established in the 'Grapes of Wrath' is to establish its sovereignty over Lebanon -- to be exercised in a comparable manner to its control over the Gaza Strip."
Two days after it began, on April 13, ambulance driver Abbas Jiha from the village of Mansouri was busy rushing patients wounded in the fighting to a hospital in the town of Sidon. On his return to Mansouri, panic had broken out and explosions were taking place. People began pleading for him to take them to Sidon. Jiha quickly squeezed four of his children into his ambulance along with ten other people, including a family, and began driving toward Sidon.
Suddenly, an Israeli helicopter began chasing his ambulance. Minutes later, two missiles were fired, one of which exploded through the rear door, engulfing the vehicle in fire and smoke and hurling it sixty feet through the air. Thrown clear, Abbas Jiha began running toward the flaming heap of twisted metal. "My God, my God," he screamed, shaking his fist at the sky, "my family has gone." In all, six people were killed, including Jiha's nine year-old daughter and his wife.
Israeli officials later admitted the ambulance had been targeted but claimed, falsely, that the vehicle was owned by Hezbollah and was transporting one of the group's fighters. Jiha had no connection with terrorist groups, and the thought that Israel could target an ambulance packed with innocent people, including many children, outraged Muslims throughout the Middle East.
On April 18, one week into Operation Grapes of Wrath, a reporter for London's newspaper The Independent was traveling in southern Lebanon with a United Nations convoy. Robert Fisk, Britain's most highly decorated foreign correspondent, spent a quarter of a century covering the Middle East and was the recipient of the British International Journalist of the Year Award seven times, including for 1996. As the vehicles were approaching the small village of Qana, Fisk could hear the sound of artillery, he recalled.
The convoy had stopped at Qana that morning and noticed it was crowded with about eight hundred refugees. They had been transported there for their safety by armored UN vehicles from nearby villages that had come under Israeli bombardment. When the convoy finally arrived in Qana shortly after two in the afternoon, fire was everywhere and proximity shells were bursting in the air. Antipersonnel weapons designed to explode about two dozen feet above ground, they would shower down razor-sharp shrapnel, butchering anyone beneath.
"It was a massacre," wrote Fisk in a front-page story. "Israel's slaughter of civilians in this terrible 10-day offensive -- 206 by last night --- has been so cavalier, so ferocious, that not a Lebanese will forgive this massacre. There had been the ambulance attacked on Saturday, the sisters killed in Yohmor the day before, the 2-year old girl decapitated by an Israeli missile four days ago. And earlier yesterday, the Israelis had slaughtered a family of 12 -- the youngest was a four-day-old baby -- when Israeli helicopter pilots fired missiles into their home."
The Israeli government later claimed the attack on the UN refugee camp at Qana was a mistake. But a formal, top-level United Nations investigation came to a different conclusion. "It is unlikely" that Israeli gunners simply erred, said the report, and demanded that Israel pay $1.7 million in damages. "Contrary to repeated denials," said the report, "two Israeli helicopters and a remotely piloted vehicle were present in the Qana area at the time of the shelling." Amnesty International also conducted an investigation of the massacre, and they concluded "that the IDF [Israeli Defense Force} intentionally attacked the UN compound."
Arieh Shavit, a columnist for the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz, noted: "How easily we killed them [in Qana] without shedding a tear. We did not denounce the crime, did not arrange for a legal clarification, because this time we tried to deny the abominable horror and move on." And the international edition of Time magazine noted, "Around the Middle East... Qana is already a byword for martydom. The southern Lebanese village figures as a shrine drawing up to 1,000 pilgrims a day: busloads of schoolchildren, Cabinet ministers from Beirut, even a daughter of Iran's President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Black banners overlooking rows of graves decry the 'barbarity' of Israel."
While largely ignored by the American press, the massacre at Qana was front-page news in London, much of Europe, and throughout the Middle East, where the story continued for days. Already burning with hatred for America and Israel, the pictures of headless Arab babies and other grisly photographs that appeared throughout the media were likely the final shove, pushing bin Laden over the edge and leading him to dedicating his life to war against what he would call the Israeli - United States alliance. From then on, he would often use the massacre at Qana as a battle cry, and it would become the match lighting the fuse that would eventually lead to the World Trade Center on a Tuesday morning five years later.... | |  | | Alpha | | Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:32 pm Post subject: |
| Corvuswire <corvuswire@verizon.net> wrote:
Dear Captain Ruther:
You don't need a Political Science degree to know bin Laden attacked America for several reasons, not the least of which was the (former) U.S. military occupation of Saudi Arabia, and U.S. funding and arming of Israel.
I don't know what your point is, but my point is, FUCK ISRAEL!
WE THE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO CUT OFF ALL CONGRESSINAL FUNDING AND ARMS TO ISRAEL!
THAT'S MY POINT! WHAT'S YOURS?
.R O N
bin Laden sez................excerpts from a May 1998 interview with ABC's John Miller:
"The Western regimes and the government of the United States of America bear the blame for what might happen. If their people do not wish to be harmed inside their very own countries, they should seek to elect governments that are truly representative of them and that can protect their interests."
"The enmity between us and the Jews goes far back in time and is deep rooted. There is no question that war between the two of us is inevitable. For this reason it is not in the interest of Western governments to expose the interests of their people to all kinds of retaliation for almost nothing. It is hoped that people of those countries will initiate a positive move and force their governments not to act on behalf of other states and other sects. This is what we have to say and we pray to Allah to preserve the nation of Islam and to help them drive their enemies out of their land."
"The leaders in America and in other countries as well have fallen victim to Jewish Zionist blackmail. They have mobilized their people against Islam and against Muslims. These are portrayed in such a manner as to drive people to rally against them. The truth is that the whole Muslim world is the victim of international terrorism, engineered by America at the United Nations. We are a nation whose sacred symbols have been looted and whose wealth and resources have been plundered. It is normal for us to react against the forces that invade our land and occupy it."
Mr. bin Laden, you have issued a fatwah calling on Muslims to kill Americans where they can, when they can. Is that directed at all Americans, just the American military, just the Americans in Saudi Arabia?
"Allah has ordered us to glorify the truth and to defend Muslim land, especially the Arab peninsula ... against the unbelievers. After World War II, the Americans grew more unfair and more oppressive towards people in general and Muslims in particular. ... The Americans started it and retaliation and punishment should be carried out following the principle of reciprocity, especially when women and children are involved. Through history, American has not been known to differentiate between the military and the civilians or between men and women or adults and children. Those who threw atomic bombs and used the weapons of mass destruction against Nagasaki and Hiroshima were the Americans. Can the bombs differentiate between military and women and infants and children? America has no religion that can deter her from exterminating whole peoples. Your position against Muslims in Palestine is despicable and disgraceful. America has no shame. ... We believe that the worst thieves in the world today and the worst terrorists are the Americans. Nothing could stop you except perhaps retaliation in kind. We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets, and this is what the fatwah says ... . The fatwah is general (comprehensive) and it includes all those who participate in, or help the Jewish occupiers in killing Muslims."
"After our victory over the Russians in Afghanistan, the international and the American mass media conducted fierce campaigns against us ... . They called us terrorists even before the mujahedeen had committed any act of terrorism against the real terrorists who are the Americans. On the other hand, we say that American politics and their religion do not believe in differentiating between civilians and military, between infants and animals, or among any human groups."
"Our mothers and daughters and sons are slaughtered every day with the approval of America and its support. And, while America blocks the entry of weapons into Islamic countries, it provides the Israelis with a continuous supply of arms allowing them thus to kill and massacre more Muslims. Your religion does not forbid you from committing such acts, so you have no right to object to any response or retaliation that reciprocates your own actions. But, and in spite of this, our retaliation is directed primarily against the soldiers only and against those standing by them. Our religion forbids us from killing innocent people such as women and children. This, however, does not apply to women fighters. A woman who puts herself in the same trench with men, gets what they get."
The American people, by and large, do not know the name bin Laden, but they soon likely will. Do you have a message for the American people?
"I say to them that they have put themselves at the mercy of a disloyal government, and this is most evident in Clinton's administration ... . We believe that this administration represents Israel inside America. Take the sensitive ministries such as the Ministry of Exterior and the Ministry of Defense and the CIA, you will find that the Jews have the upper hand in them. They make use of America to further their plans for the world, especially the Islamic world. American presence in the Gulf provides support to the Jews and protects their rear. And while millions of Americans are homeless and destitute and live in abject poverty, their government is busy occupying our land and building new settlements and helping Israel build new settlements in the point of departure for our Prophet's midnight journey to the seven heavens. America throws her own sons in the land of the two Holy Mosques for the sake of protecting Jewish interests."
"The American government is leading the country towards hell. ... We say to the Americans as people and to American mothers, if they cherish their lives and if they cherish their sons, they must elect an American patriotic government that caters to their interests not the interests of the Jews. If the present injustice continues with the wave of national consciousness, it will inevitably move the battle to American soil, just as Ramzi Yousef and others have done. This is my message to the American people. I urge them to find a serious administration that acts in their interest and does not attack people and violate their honor and pilfer their wealth."
"I am one of the servants of Allah. We do our duty of fighting for the sake of the religion of Allah. It is also our duty to send a call to all the people of the world to enjoy this great light and to embrace Islam and experience the happiness in Islam. Our primary mission is nothing but the furthering of this religion. ... Let not the West be taken in by those who say that Muslims choose nothing but slaughtering. Their brothers in East Europe, in Turkey and in Albania have been guided by Allah to submit to Islam and to experience the bliss of Islam. Unlike those, the European and the American people and some of the Arabs are under the influence of Jewish media." ...
"In today's wars, there are no morals, and it is clear that mankind has descended to the lowest degrees of decadence and oppression. They rip us of our wealth and of our resources and of our oil. Our religion is under attack. They kill and murder our brothers. They compromise our honor and our dignity and dare we utter a single word of protest against the injustice, we are called terrorists. This is compounded injustice. And the United Nations insistence to convict the victims and support the aggressors constitutes a serious precedence which shows the extent of injustice that has been allowed to take root in this land."
These excerpts are from the following link:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/interview.html | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:41 pm Post subject: |
| See the LINK: Osama bin Laden Has Been Angry About U.S. Support of Israel for Decades
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2006/08/osama-bin-laden-has-been-angry-about.html
Nearly everyone in the region thinks the US policies are wrong, why in the world wouldn't bin Laden share the same grievances? It makes no sense to insist bin Laden isn't actually angered by the same policies nearly everyone else is. (unless of course you are trying to dupe the public into thinking the policies have nothing to do with why we are being attacked)
In 1984, Jamal Ismail met Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was 27 at the time and he made it clear even then that he didn't like U.S. support of Israel. Ismail said that bin Laden did not talk much but he did know how bin Laden felt about U.S. support of Israel:
"I knew from the beginning that [bin Laden] was not willing to drink any soft drinks from American companies, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Sprite, 7-Up. He was trying to boycott all American products because he believed that without Americans, Israel cannot exist." p39 The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader Peter Bergen
The NYT's Thomas Friedman lies about bin Laden and Palestine but the fact is bin Laden has talked about Palestine for years. Peter Bergen points out that lies have been pushed: "conventional wisdom has it that bin Laden adopted the Palestinians issue only recently. Reading this declaration [the first declaration of war, issued in 1996] SHOULD PUT THAT CANARD TO REST." p164 The Bin Laden I Know, Peter Bergen
A chutzpah award goes to CNN's Anderson Cooper for pushing that canard even after reading Bergen's book.
Anderson Cooper's pro-Israel bias is so extreme that even after reading Bergen's book, he still insisted on pushing the same canard. Cooper was actually interviewing Peter Bergen and says to him: "It -- it's interesting, also, to hear them reference Palestinians. As -- as I read in your book "The Osama Bin Laden I Know: The Oral History of Osama bin Laden," I mean, bin Laden wasn't talking about Palestinians from the get-go."
Bergen looked uncomfortable in having to explain to Cooper, "Well, he -- he has always been interested in the Palestinian issue." Yet he also adds, "But he -- but they weren't really involved." which isn't correct! If encouraging militants to attack the U.S. for specific reasons like U.S. support of Israel and other foreign policies in the Middle East isn't being involved then what is? - ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES Aired July 27, 2006
In the 1996 declaration, bin Laden wrote, "I still feel the pain of Al Quds [Jerusalem] in my internal organs" "My Muslim Brothers of The World: Your brothers in Palestine and in the land of the two Holy Places are calling upon your help and asking you to take part in fighting against the enemy --your enemy and their enemy-- the Americans and the Israelis" "It should not be hidden from you that the people of Islam had suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed on them by the Zionist-Crusaders alliance and their collaborators; to the extent that the Muslims blood became the cheapest and their wealth as loot in the hands of the enemies. Their blood was spilled in Palestine and Iraq. The horrifying pictures of the massacre of Qana [when Israeli forces struck a UN compound on April 18, 1996, killing one hundred] in Lebanon are still fresh in our memory. " p 165 Bergen (see the 1996 declaration of war)
Osama bin Laden delivered in a videotaped message which aired on the Arab language network Al-Jazeera October 29, 2004. Transcript of his speech translated by CNN. In this speech, bin Laden says his motivation to attack the twin towers is rooted in U.S. support for Israel's attack on Lebanon:
"But after the injustice was so much and we saw transgressions and the coalition between Americans and the Israelis against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it occurred to my mind that we deal with the towers. And these special events that directly and personally affected me go back to 1982 and what happened when America gave permission for Israel to invade Lebanon.
And as I was looking at those towers that were destroyed in Lebanon, it occurred to me that we have to punish the transgressor with the same -- and that we had to destroy the towers in America so that they taste what we tasted, and they stop killing our women and children."
Osama bin Laden explained once again that Bush's claims about why they attack us are wrong:
"Contrary to what [President George W.] Bush says and claims -- that we hate freedom --let him tell us then, "Why did we not attack Sweden?" It is known that those who hate freedom don't have souls with integrity, like the souls of those 19. [The 19 hijackers of 9/11] May the mercy of God be upon them.
We fought with you because we are free, and we don't put up with transgressions. We want to reclaim our nation. As you spoil our security, we will do so to you."
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2006/01/why-did-we-not-attack-sweden-in-oct.html
There is no logical reason to think bin Laden would not be in agreement with Abdallah Azzam, who was born in Palestine and was an "early spiritual mentor" of Osama bin Laden, about Palestine. (see page 2 of "Al-Qaeda" by Jason Burke )
There is no evidence that bin Laden isn't actually angered by the specific foreign policies he complains about.
It is extremely unlikely that bin Laden didn't actually object to the specific foreign policies that he complains about, millions and millions of other people object to the same policies, by what "logic" would it be that bin Laden would be in a extremely small minority that "doesn't care" about the policies or thinks they are fine?
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2005/07/craigslist-comment-bin-laden-might.html
It is beyond the pale for Zionists to lie to us about why we were attacked on 9/11.
Mainstream media certainly has not made it easy to understand what motivated the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11.
-Tom
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2006/06/just-out-of-curiosity.html
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2006/06/it-is-beyond-pale-for-zionists-to-lie.html
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2006/06/mainstream-media-certainly-has-not.html
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2006/01/why-did-we-not-attack-sweden-in-oct.html
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2006/08/osama-bin-laden-has-been-angry-about.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743278917/ref=nosim/representativ-20
See the LINK: Osama bin Laden Has Been Angry About U.S. Support of Israel for Decades
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2006/08/osama-bin-laden-has-been-angry-about.html | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:56 pm Post subject: A Taste of What Is to Come |
| August 12, 2006
A Taste of What Is to Come
by Charley Reese
The plot to blow up several American and British airplanes over the Atlantic is merely a taste of things to come. Fortunately, this particular plot was foiled by Scotland Yard and the British counterintelligence people. The death toll might well have exceeded that of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
The lesson to be learned is that terrorism is a tactic, and you can't wage war against a tactic. Just because you block one punch doesn't mean that others won't follow.
The root cause of terrorism is politics. People who feel offended, abused, or injured by the policies of the major powers but have no armies with which to defend themselves often resort to terror. It's the only weapon available to the weak.
When you find yourself the target of terrorist tactics, you can't kill your way out of it. That's because, if left unchanged, the same policies that produced the terrorists will keep on producing them. As a matter of fact, the more terrorists you kill, the more you create, especially in cultures where revenge is an important ingredient.
What is needed is a reassessment of our foreign policy. For example, why are we hated by so many Palestinians? The answer is easy: We have been grossly unfair to them. Whatever the Israelis wished to do to them - kill them, destroy their homes, uproot their orchards, confiscate their lands, subject them to all kinds of humiliation - has been perfectly OK with the U.S. government. The last American president who was unafraid of offending the Israelis was Dwight Eisenhower. In 1956, he told them to get out of the Sinai or he would freeze all of their assets. They got out of the Sinai.
Today, there is no avoiding stating the plain truth: We have a problem. The government is totally paralyzed and is unwilling to issue even the mildest rebuke to Israel, no matter how outrageous its behavior. Why? Because the Israel lobby is so powerful, American politicians are afraid of it. I don't blame the Israel lobby for the cowardice of American politicians. American supporters of Israel have a right to lobby the government. But we don't elect politicians to serve a foreign country. We elect them to serve the interests of the American people. The politicians need to learn how to say "no" when our interests and Israel's interests conflict.
For more information on the lobby, read They Dared to Speak Out, edited by former Rep. Paul Findley, and The Passionate Attachment, by former diplomat George Ball.
The American invasion of Iraq created more hatred of the United States. It's hard to think of a more stupid decision. We removed a check against Iran and completely destabilized Iraq, which is now in danger of breaking apart. That may have been our secret intention, since a broken Iraq will be weak and easy to dominate. The only trouble is, it is much more likely to be dominated by Iran than by us. We are now being harshly criticized by the elected Iraqi officials who owe their jobs to the 2,600 American dead.
We have stationed a large number of American military forces in the Persian Gulf. This is resented by most of the people. It is also stupid. What do we think? That some pirates will sail out of the Indian Ocean and steal all of the oil? Whoever runs the governments in the area will gladly sell their oil to us or anybody else.
The only way to win the war on terrorism is to revert to our republican roots and give up imperialism. We're no good at imperialism anyway. Our foreign policy should be just what George Washington said it should be - trade and commerce with all, entangling alliances with nobody, and absolutely no interference in the internal affairs of any other country.
That's not going to happen unless Americans clean house in Washington, and what will happen if they don't clean house is that our children and grandchildren will live under the threat of terrorism because of the stupidity, greed, corruption, and cowardice of the American political establishment.
Find this article at:
http://www.antiwar.com/reese/?articleid=9523
US Support of Israel PRIMARY MOTIVATION for tragic attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993 and on 9/11:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/08/05/the-gorilla-in-the-room-is-us-support-for-israel.php
http://www.nowarforisrael.com
http://nomorewarforisrael.blogspot.com | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:49 pm Post subject: Brit Muslim groups write letter: foreign policy terror cause |
| Brit Muslim groups write letter: foreign policy terror cause
Foreign policy in support of Israel's agenda in the Middle East is the root cause of terror problem in UK and USA:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4786159.stm | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:49 pm Post subject: |
| I don't know how credible the following is, but it is still concerning if only some of it is:
Taliban, Ramadan , Afghanistan
Muslims again ordered to leave the United States, next attack imminent
By Paul L. Williams
& Jeffrey Epstein, America 's Truth Forum
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Urgent news from Peshawar . The head of the Islamabad-based Al-Quds Media Center has received a message from a senior Taliban leader who calls upon all Muslims living in the United States to leave the country as soon as possible "because God's punishment will fall upon America in the month of Ramadan."
Jamal Ismail, a senior journalist at Al-Quds, received the call Thursday from Mulla Masoom Afghani. "Afghani said he was speaking from somewhere in the Kandahar province," Ismail said. "He read the message in Arabic, which I recorded. In it he advised Muslim residents of America to get out to escape harm because the United States could face big attacks in the month of Ramadan."
This is the second notice for Muslims to leave America . The first was issued to Hamid Mir, the only journalist to interview Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in the wake of 9/11. Mir received the warning from Abu Dawood, the newly appointed commander of the al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan , who said:
Final preparations have been made for the American Hiroshima, a major attack on the U. S.
Muslims living in the United States should leave the country without further warning.
The attack will be commandeered by Adnan el Shukrijumah ("Jaffer Tayyer" or "Jafer the Pilot"), a naturalized American citizen, who was raised in Brooklyn and educated in southern Florida .
The al Qaeda operatives who will launch this attack are awaiting final orders. They remain in place in cities throughout the country. Many are masquerading as Christians and have adopted Christian names.
Al Qaeda and the Taliban will also launch a major strike (known as the "Badar offensive" against the coalition forces in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan.
Mir interviewed Dawood on September 1 at the tomb of Sultan Mehmud Ghaznawi in Ghazni, about 120 kilometers south of Kabul . Dawood and the al Qaeda leaders who accompanied him were clean-shaven and dressed as Western reporters. The al Qaeda commandeer had contacted Mir by cell-phone to arrange the meeting. The contents of the encounter are as follows:
Q: How did you have my local mobile number?
A: We watched you on Geo TV walking in the mountains near Kabul with British troops. You were embedded with our enemies. We were sure that you are staying in one of the few hotels or guest houses in Kabul . We were looking for you in Serena and Intercontinental hotels, but then some Taliban friends informed us that they had your phone number and you might visit them in Zabul [an Afghani province]. We got your number from Commander [Muhsen] Khayber. [Khayber was responsible for a homicide bombing in Casablanca that killed 32 people]. Don't worry about that. We will not make any harm to you. We just want to warn you that you better don't take any rides in the tanks and humvis of the Western Forces; they are not safe for any journalist in Afghanistan .
Q: Thanks for your concern; can I know your name?
A: Yes my name is Abu Dawood, if you remember, we have already met in Kunar two years ago, but at that time I had a long beard, now I have a small one. You were there in the mountains, close to Asadaabad [a small village in the Kunar province of eastern Afghanistan ] and you met some Al Qaeda fighters. I was among them.
Q: OK. I just want to say that I am a journalist, I have to speak to both sides of a conflict, for getting an objective view and that is why I was traveling with the British troops; now I am sitting with you and that is my real job. I have interviewed Osama bin Laden as well as Condoleezza Rice, General Pervez Musharraf and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan . I hope you will appreciate my objective approach?
A: You have claimed to be objective, but you and your TV channel have always given much time to the propaganda of our enemies. Anyhow, it was our moral responsibility to warn you that you better try to avoid traveling with the British, American, Canadian, French, Spanish and Italian troops in Afghanistan, we will target all of them, we don't want that people like you suffer by our attacks, it is not good for you, and at least you should not be killed with the enemies of Islam. I am sure, brother Khayber have informed you that the Taliban will launch a big operation against the Crusader Forces, in the holy month of Ramadan; don't come to Afghanistan in Ramadan. You will see a lot of fadaee amalyat ["suicide bombings"] in coming days, Kabul will become a graveyard of NATO and ISAF.
Q: Yes Khayber told me about the "Badar operation" in Ramadan. I think you are an Afghani but you are not a Talib, are you a member of Al Qaeda?
A: You are right. But we are with the Taliban, just helping them, fighting under their command. Every Al Qaeda fighter can become a Talib, but every Talib cannot become Al Qaeda.
Q: So where is Sheikh Osama bin Laden?
A: I don't know exactly, but he is still in command of Al Qaeda, and he is in contact with his Mujaheddin all over the world.
Q: Why there was no new video statement from him, in last two years?
A: Because the CIA can feed his fresh picture to the computers fitted on their Predator planes, and these planes can get him, like Nek Muhammad or Akbar Bugti. But he has released many audio messages this year. Listen to him carefully. Don't underestimate his warnings. America is playing with the security of Muslims all over the world, now it is our turn again. Our brothers are ready to attack inside America . We will breach their security again. There is no timeframe for our attack inside America ; we can do it any time.
Q: What do you mean by another attack in America ?
A: Yes a bigger attack than September 11th 2001. Brother Adnan [el Shukrijumah] will lead that attack, Inshallah.
Q:Who is Adnan?
A: He is our old friend. The last time, I met him in early 2004, in Khost. He came to Khost from the North Waziristan . He met his leaders and friends in Khost. He is very well known in Al Qaeda. He is an American and a friend of Muhammad Atta, who led 9/11 attacks five years ago. We call him "Jaffer al Tayyar" ["Jafer the Pilot"]; he is very brave and intelligent. Bush is aware that brother Adnan has smuggled deadly materials inside America from the Mexican border. Bush is silent about him, because he doesn't want to panic his people. Sheikh Osama bin Laden has completed his cycle of warnings. You know, he is man of his words, he is not a politician; he always does what he says. If he said it many times that Americans will see new attacks, they will definitely see new attacks. He is a real Mujahid. Americans will not win this war, which they have started against Muslims. Americans are the biggest supporters of the biggest terrorist in the world, which is Israel . You have witnessed the brutality of the Israelis in the recent 34-day war against Lebanese civilians. 9/11 was a revenge of Palestinian children, killed by the US-made weapons, supplied to Israel . The next attack on America would be a revenge of Lebanese children killed by US-made cluster bombs. Bush and Blair are the Crusaders, and Muslim leaders, like Musharraf and [Afghani President Hamid] Karzai are their collaborators, we will teach a lesson to all of them. We are also not happy with some religious parties in Pakistan and Egypt , they got votes in the name of Mujaheddin, and then, they collaborated with Musharraf and [Egyptian President] Hosni Mubarak. Now look at all of them, Musharraf and Karzai don't trust each other, the CIA and ISI don't trust each other, all the hypocrites and enemies of Mujaheddin are suspecting each other; this help to us is coming from Heavens. Allah is with us.
Q: But if you attack inside America again, then Muslims living in America will face lot of problems, why would you like to create new problems for your brothers and sisters?
A: Muslims should leave America . We cannot stop our attack just because of the American Muslims; they must realize that American forces are killing innocent Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq ; we have the right to respond back, in the same manner, in the enemy's homeland. The American Muslims are like a human shield for our enemy; they must leave New York and Washington .
Q: But your fighters are also using the American Muslims as their shield, if there are no Muslims in America , then there would be no Al Qaeda, may be the Americans would feel safer?
A: No, not at all. We have a different plan for the next attack. You will see. Americans will hardly find out any Muslim names, after the next attack. Most of our brothers are living in Western countries, with Jewish and Christian names, with passports of Western countries. This time, someone with the name of Muhammad Atta will not attack inside America , it would be some David, Richard or Peter.
Q: So you will not attack America , until Muslims are there?
A: I am not saying that, I am saying that Muslims must leave America , but we can attack America anytime. Our cycle of warnings has been completed, now we have fresh edicts from some prominent Muslim scholars to destroy our enemy, this is our defending of Jihad; the enemy has entered in our homes and we have the right to enter in their homes, they are killing us, we will kill them.
Ramadan represents the ninth month of the Islamic year, the month in which the Koran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed. According to Muslim tradition, the actual revelation occurred on the night between the 26th and 27th days of the month. On this "Night of Determination," Allah determines the fate of the world for the coming year.
Long time investigative journalist, Paul L. Williams is the author of such best-selling books as The Dunces of Doomsday, The Al Qaeda Connection , Osama's Revenge: The Next 9/11. He has been the subject of a PBS documentary and the subject of programs on the Discovery and History channels. He is a frequent guest on such national news networks as Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR.
Jeffrey M. Epstein is the founder and President of America's Truth Forum, which hosted the first-ever and critically acclaimed symposium on the threat of radical Islamist terrorism. Mr. Epstein has been featured on Fox & Friends and has appeared on numerous local and national television and radio talk shows.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/paul-williams101406.htm | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:10 am Post subject: |
| Subject: [IntelligentMinds] CP: Christisons: The Democrats Don't Care; Screw the Palestinians, Full Steam Ahead
CounterPunch. org
November 13, 2006
The Democrats Don't Care
Screw the Palestinians, Full Steam Ahead
By KATHLEEN and BILL CHRISTISON
At a panel on the defense and foreign policy impact of the midterm election, sponsored two days after the election by Congressional Quarterly, Steven Simon, late of the Clinton administration and still a member of the Democratic, pro-Zionist mainstream at the Council on Foreign Relations, pronounced on prospects for Palestinian- Israeli peace and essentially declared it not worth anyone's effort. Using words, a tone, and a body language that clearly betrayed his own disinterest, he said that Hamas is "there" (exaggerated shrug), that the Israeli government is in turmoil after its Lebanon "contretemps" (dismissive wave of the hand), that both sides are incapable of significant movement, and that therefore there is no incentive for anyone, Democrat or Republican, to intervene (casual frown indicating an unfortunate reality about which serious people need not concern themselves). There is simply no prospect for more unilateral Israeli withdrawals and therefore for any progress toward peace, Simon said in conclusion -- signaling not only a total lack of concern but an utter ignorance of just what it is that might bring progress, as if Israeli unilateralism were truly the ticket to peace.
Thus spake the Democratic oracle. Not that anyone who knows the Palestinian- Israeli situation from other than the selective focus of the Zionist perspective had any expectations in the first place. No one ever thought the new Democratic Congress would hop to and put pressure on Israel to make peace. Just remember John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, to say nothing of Bill Clinton, when any question of the Democrats' stance arises. And don't forget Nancy Pelosi, who rushed to condemn Jimmy Carter for using the word "apartheid" in the title of his new book and for whom, according to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency profile, support for Israel is personal and "heartfelt." One Jewish activist and long-time friend described her as "incredibly loyal" (interesting term) and as feeling Jewish and Israeli issues "in her soul."
For more, click on:http://www.counterpunch.org/christison111320 06.html | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 10:10 am Post subject: Israel's reign of terror must be stopped |
| Commentary
Israel's reign of terror must be stopped
By Linda S. Heard
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Nov 16, 2006, 00:30
While channel surfing the other day I came across a rerun of Gandhi just in time to witness the scene where British troops gun down unarmed fleeing protestors.
As a Brit, I experienced a moment of shame which I was able to quickly suppress with the thought this brutal act happened long ago. Nobody today would fire on a crowd of civilians and if they did they would be prosecuted for war crimes right? There would be an international outcry. The UN would be scrambling to pass condemnatory resolutions or worse. Isn't that right?
Actually that's wrong. There is one country that has virtually been handed carte blanche to commit any atrocity it likes. It can humiliate, imprison and starve an entire people with seeming impunity. It can wage wars on its neighbour, using cluster bombs, depleted uranium tank shells and white phosphorous without barely a peep from the so-called international community.
It can level entire neighbourhoods, murder hundreds of women and children without even a rap on the knuckles from the UN Security Council. It can develop weapons of mass destruction to its heart's content and the international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, so outspoken on Iran and North Korea, stays silent.
That country is, of course, Israel.
Just days after I watched the Gandhi movie, I saw a real-life rerun of that nightmarish scene in the form of Israeli soldiers firing on unarmed women moving towards a mosque in the town of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza. They were desperate to protect their men folk who were trapped within the mosque.
These were men without whom those women and their children could not survive. They didn't hesitate to move forward even as the bullets tore at their sisters, felling them to the ground. Their sacrifice was humbling.
One of those women, Jameela Al Shanti, describes how they got the strength and the courage to keep going. "It is not easy as a mother, sister or wife to watch those you love disappear before your eyes," she wrote.
"Perhaps that was what helped me and 1,500 other women to overcome our fear and defy the Israeli curfew last Friday - and set about freeing some of our young men who were besieged in a mosque while defending us and our city against the Israeli military machine."
I couldn't help thinking that deliberately firing at women was a low even for Israel, whose spokespeople later made lame excuses that their soldiers targeted militants dressed as women.
But those whose broken and bloodied bodies were carried to the hospitals and morgues were not gun-toting militants. They were someone's mother, someone's daughter.
But just days later, Israel surpassed itself by shelling residents of Beit Hanoun as they slept. Nineteen civilians died in that attack, including eight children, many of them toddlers. You won't see this massacre on CNN or the BBC.
The sight of lifeless children with missing limbs or eyes is not for the sensitive eyes of Western viewers or advertisers. But those images are out there for anyone with a strong stomach and an even stronger heart.
They've been carried on Arab satellite channels and recorded for posterity on YouTube. There is one in particular taped by a woman who is quietly sobbing in the background.
Vestige of humanity
Anyone with any vestige of humanity or compassion would condemn this massacre termed "a technical error" by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. A technical error is a term used by airlines when planes are delayed or television stations when satellite uplinks fail to materialise.
There was no technical error. It was one more horror in Israel's siege of Beit Hanoun, a hellish city bereft of water, electricity, jobs and freedom.
Once again, the United Nations didn't fail to disappoint. On Saturday, Security Council members voted on a resolution, proposed by Qatar, urging the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and condemning the killing at Beit Hanoun.
And once again, the US, which supplied Israel with the weapons used to kill those women and children, flourished its veto, while its sycophants Britain, Japan, Slovakia and Denmark, fine democracies all, shamefully abstained.
If only the leaders of those proud nations possessed a crumb of the courage displayed by the women of Beit Hanoun, the world would be a better place.
There is, however, one tiny bright spot. The Arab League appears to have woken from its long stupor. On Sunday it condemned the US veto and America's unfriendly stance towards the Arab world.
It further called for an investigation into the massacre and asked for international troops to be sent to protect the people of Gaza from Israeli aggression.
The Arab League has also expressed its intention to break the US-led embargo against delivering aid to the Palestinian National Authority and encourages other countries to follow suit. This is a positive move forward. Let's hope that body will put its money where its mouth is.
The Palestinians can't eat words. They cannot be saved with official declarations or comforting platitudes. Now is the time for Arabs to show just how much clout they have in the international arena.
The Palestinians have been alone and friendless for far too long through no fault of their own. They need their brothers as never before. Don't let them down.
Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
Copyright © 1998-2006 Online Journal
Email Online Journal Editor | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:47 am Post subject: |
| Ties to Israel nothing new for Senate's next majority leader
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jennifer jacobson / jta, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 26, 2006
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As a young lawyer struggling to make a living in Las Vegas, Harry Reid never failed to buy Israel bonds to benefit the United Jewish Appeal.
"I'd say, 'Harry, you can't afford to give that much,' " close friend Neil Galatz recalls. "He'd say, 'I can't afford not to.' "
Reid, 67, is not Jewish, but his wife, Landra, was born Jewish. The couple converted to Mormonism shortly after they were married more than 40 years ago.
They raised their five children as Mormons but Galatz and others say Reid is fully aware that if they had lived in a different time and place - say, Nazi Germany in the 1940s - the family could have been targeted because of its Jewish roots.
Those close to Reid say it's this realization that has prompted the Democratic senator's longtime support for Israel.
As the newly elected majority leader in the US Senate, Reid will play an instrumental role in crafting US policy in the Middle East. Friends and political observers are confident his position on Israel won't change.
Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), who is Jewish, can attest to this. Berkley has known Reid for more than 30 years, having walked precincts for Reid when Berkley was a high school senior and Reid was running for Nevada state assembly.
"We have been close friends and political allies, as well, ever since," she says.
Berkley describes her colleague as quiet, thoughtful, intelligent and tough.
"This is a man that was raised in Searchlight, Nevada, in a home that had a dirt floor and no indoor plumbing," she says. "He is the very embodiment of the ideals of America: that it doesn't matter where you're from, you can rise to become one of the most powerful people in this country."
Berkley remembers Reid attending dinners in Las Vegas where he bought Israel Bonds not because he had to, but because he wanted to.
"He had a passion and a commitment not only to the Jewish community, but to the survival of the State of Israel," she says.
Reid helped start Nevada's first Jewish political action committee in the 1980s, she recalls.
He's "always been part and parcel of our community," says Art Marshall, a past president of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas and a close friend of Reid's. "He's a good guy."
Marshall notes that Mike O'Callaghan, one of Reid's mentors who later became Nevada governor, was himself very involved in the Jewish community. Following O'Callaghan's example, Reid was actively involved in helping Jews leave the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Meyer Bodoff, president of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, also praises Reid. Bodoff says the federation gave Reid its highest honor two years ago, an award that has been given out only three times.
Bodoff lauded Reid for helping the federation receive its first federal grant for a retirement community. He also praised his support for Israel.
Galatz, a Las Vegas lawyer, has known Reid since the early days of their careers, when the two lawyers used to try personal injury cases against each other. When Reid first ran for Senate in the 1980s, Galatz served as his finance campaign chairman.
Galatz describes Reid, a former boxer and runner, as a "workaholic" with a "good heart."
Reid has a healthy respect for Judaism and likes to honor his wife's past, Galatz says: When his mother-in-law was still alive, Reid and his wife would light Shabbat candles on Friday nights, and the couple still has a mezuzah on the front door of its home.
As Senate majority leader, Reid may face pressure from Arab organizations and other political groups to stop supporting Israel, arguing that it would ease other crises in the Middle East, Galatz says. While that concerns him, Galatz is confident Reid will use his skill as a consensus builder to secure Israel's future and be a successful majority leader.
"This is not a guy who's going to force his will on people and make earth-shattering speeches," Galatz says. "What he is going to do is work effectively with the senators by trying to meld together opinion and consensus. This is one hell of a strong point in a U.S. senator."
But political journalist and commentator David Broder contends that Reid's oratorical skill, or lack thereof, could end up hurting him.
"As minority leader, Reid was remarkably effective in keeping the Democratic caucus united, but far less successful as a public spokesman for his party," Broder wrote in a recent Washington Post column. "His partisan comments were often too sharp, his television appearances less than commanding. In his new role, he will be far more exposed, and his flaws more conspicuous."
But Reid knows how to use those perceived flaws to his advantage, says Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who has known Reid for more than 40 years.
Reid's unassuming demeanor may make people think he's a pushover, but that's far from true, Goodman says: "When you do business with him, he's hard as nails."
That's exactly what the pro-Israel community has come to count on.
In May 2005, before a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Reid told of his recent trip to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. There, Reid said, he and his wife learned the fate of her father's family, the Goldfarbs.
Landra's father, Israel Goldfarb, immigrated from Ukraine to the United States in the early 1900s, but family members who remained in Europe weren't so lucky: Seven of them were killed by the Nazis, and their names are listed in Yad Vashem's book of martyrs and heroes.
Reid told the group of what a "difficult yet moving and inspiring moment" that had been. And on one particular point, the consensus-builder vowed to give no ground.
"The people of Israel have a right to live in peace," he said. "On this point there can never be any compromise."
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This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1162378483246&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 8:09 pm Post subject: |
| BGJDAVID wrote:
Subject: Jay Bookman's refreshing article
For many years the Jewish Anti-Defamation League along with the Israeli lobby, the media, and other supporters of Israel have effectively silenced many critics of Israel with their label "anti-Semite" making public debate on the issue virtually impossible. Now, with Jimmy Carter's book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," the tide seems to be changing. Jay Bookman's "My Opinion" article in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution is one refreshing truth that all Americans need to read. Please pass it on. Thanks.
Jim David
ajc.com | Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Anti-Semitism label confines open debate
Published on: 12/18/06
Jimmy Carter may be right or he may be wrong; in fact, like the rest of us, he's almost certainly some of both.
But Carter is not by any stretch of the imagination anti-Semitic. In fact, merely by making that ridiculous accusation, people such as Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, have proved Carter right about some of the central observations in his controversial new book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."
JAY BOOKMAN
MY OPINION
• E-mail Bookman
Recent columns:
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In that book, and in the debate it has inspired, Carter has noted the very narrow range of acceptable opinion in this country regarding Israel and Palestine, and believes that silenced debate has hurt U.S. both the United States and Israel.
"When I go to Jerusalem or to Tel Aviv or Nazareth or anywhere in Israel, the discussions and debates are intense and constant about Israeli policies in the West Bank and whether they are advisable or not," Carter has said. " ... but in this country, zero."
He's absolutely right: The debate about Israeli policies is far more heated and frank within Israel than here in the United States. As one telling example, consider this paragraph by Israeli columnist Larry Derfner, writing recently in the Jerusalem Post:
"Nobody and nothing in the world has an army of advocates, defenders, PR people, marketers, spin-meisters and image-polishers like Israel has. This army isn't made up just of the government but of Jews and Judeophiles all over the world, especially in the U.S. It includes the entire alphabet soup of American Jewish organizations, right-wing 'media watchdogs' like CAMERA and Honest Reporting, hundreds of Jewish newspapers and Web sites, Alan Dershowitz, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Republican Party, the Christian Right, FOX News and an assortment of other forces."
In Israel, apparently, nobody thought twice about such a statement. But those same words written here in the United States would be prima facie evidence of anti-Semitism.
Even the comparison of the situation in the Palestinian territories to South African apartheid isn't unsayable within Israel. To the contrary, it has been an undercurrent of debate there for years.
"I'm terribly sorry, while there are important differences between the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the former apartheid regime of South Africa, after 39 years of occupation the similarities have come to outweigh the differences," Derfner wrote recently in another column in The Jerusalem Post.
Top Israeli political figures have made the comparison as well.
"The things a Palestinian has to endure, simply coming to work in the morning, is a long and continuous nightmare that includes humiliation bordering on despair," said Ami Ayalon, the former head of Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency. "Is the option of Jewish democracy with apartheid acceptable? I think not."
And Yossi Alpher, a former senior adviser in the Israeli government, once warned that with their unwavering support for Israel's approach to Palestine, neoconservatives in the Bush administration have encouraged Israel to create "an apartheid reality that is the very antithesis of the democratization that they preach for the region."
Foxman professes to be most outraged by Carter's assertion that pro-Israeli groups have helped squelch open debate about the Middle East, accusing Carter of peddling "this shameless, shameful canard that the Jews control the debate in this country, especially when it comes to the media.''
There is indeed a shameless, shameful canard to that effect, and it is classic anti-Semitism, attributing to Jews some secret conspiratorial control of world affairs. But that is not the argument that Carter is making. Carter's point — and Foxman proves it — is that it has become impossible to express sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians in this country without fear of being shouted down as anti-Semitic.
There is no question that anti-Semitism is alive and virulent. It is undeniable fact that Israel is unfairly targeted in the United Nations and other forums, in part because of anti-Semitism and in part because Israel is hated as a creation of the West imposed on the Arab world, a living and enduring symbol of Arab weakness.
However, Israelis also bridle when they believe their country is being held to a higher standard than other nations, and they insist that it be treated like any other normal country.
Normal countries, however, are subject to normal criticism among the community of nations. In Israel's case, there will always be a danger that such criticism will slide into anti-Semitism, but people of good faith can surely distinguish one from the other.
• Jay Bookman is the deputy editorial page editor. His column appears Mondays and Thursdays. | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
