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Yvonne Ridley speaks at UC Irvine
Yvonne Ridley speaks at UC Irvine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkN6P8Bp7jE
Via Jonathan at Red County/OC Blog, Yvonne Ridley, the far, far left-wing British journalist who was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2001, converted to Islam after her release, and has been on the jihadi apologist speaking circuit ever since, gave a pro-Taliban lecture at UC Irvine earlier this month. Watch as this dangerous dhimmi, who calls the Koran a “magna carta for women”, defended terrorist leader Abu al Zarqawi, and celebrated Chechen jihadist/Beslan massacre mastermind Shamil Basayev as a “shaheed,” entertains Muslim students with tales of stupid Westerners who just don’t understand her Taliban brothers and sisters:
November 23, 2007
A Warm and Fuzzy Taliban?
http://www.ocblog.net/ocblog/2007/11...-and-fuzz.html
I guess the Taliban isn't so bad after all, well..... that's what Islamic activist and journalist Yvonne Ridley implies as she recounts her experiences as captive. As I wrote in my submission to New University, Ridley painted a rosy picture of the regime:
Or that any of the 9-11 hijackers were ever trained under their asylum. Ridley’s Taliban is in fact a glorious and merciful one: one of handsome and valiant soldiers, glowing ivory-clad clerics, and cure-all doctors as she expressed in her speech last Tuesday. Wow! I guess we Westerners are pretty naïve.
This reminds me of that scene in The In laws, when Alan Arkin warms up to the "lovable" Latin American Dictator who talks to his hand puppet just before Arkin and Peter Falk go before the firing squad. I digress.
I attained footage of Ridley's lecture at UC Irvine which you can watch below. Listen to the cackling audience during Ridley's speech -- mostly of MSU members -- who are humored about how ignorant and misunderstanding we Americans are about the former Afghan regime. Also listen as she doesn't mention the Taliban's involvement in the asylum of the September 11th hijackers.
Update: In a speech to UC Davis students, Ridley wasn't reluctant to display her hatred to our brave soldiers. http://media.www.californiaaggie.com...70-page2.shtml
"Thank God I was captured by the most evil, brutal regime in the world and not the U.S. military," she said.
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11-25-2007 09:16 PM
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who calls the Koran a “magna carta for women”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/3663771.stm
A Muslim in the family
Roger Childs Producer, A Muslim in the Family
In the current climate, converting to Islam is not an obvious choice or an easy one, either for converts or their families. So, why have 14,000 Brits (and counting) now taken that leap of faith? In A Muslim in the Family, Rageh Omaar tries to find out.
For the four converts featured in the documentary, conversion is a positive step - but one that demands sacrifices of them and can cause worry and confusion for those closest to them.
Ultimately, though, it is a hopeful film. At a time when many people talk about "a clash of civilisations" between Islam and the West, converts just might become a living bridge between Islam and the West.
Shahnaaz Malik
Shahnaaz Malik feels liberated from the beauty contest, which she says dominates western culture. Shahnaaz Malik grew up in a white family in Slough and converted to Islam when she married her Asian boyfriend, Naseer.
Back then, he wasn't even a practising Muslim, but over the last six years, she has brought him back to the faith.
First, she started wearing a headscarf or hijab. Then, this year, without any prompting from Naseer, she started wearing the full burkha veil.
"Ninjas, we call them," says Nas, a little bemused. Not that Shahnaaz is discouraged.
She feels liberated from "the beauty contest", which she says dominates western culture.
Interestingly, her veil provokes abuse from both Asian and white people.
And she hasn't dared to tell her family about it yet. Well, they're going to find out now... !
Aqeel Burton
Aqeel Burton rejected Christianity because it seemed to him a white person's religion. Aqeel Burton was brought up in Manchester by Jamaican Christian parents, but rejected his parents' faith, because it seemed to him a white person's religion. Not that Islam seemed any less exclusive.
The only Muslims he knew at school were Asians. It was only when a Jamaican friend converted that Aqeel became interested in the faith. He read the Koran and found that where before, his head had been full of questions, in Islam, he found answers.
A former professional boxer, Aqeel no longer fights, because of his new faith, but he still trains, and finds that the discipline of boxing goes hand-in-glove with the demands of his new faith.
John Standing
John Standing's parents can't understand why John feels the need to change his name to Jamal Udeen. John Standing used to try to talk his Muslim girlfriend, Nasera, out of her faith. It was only when she stood firm that he decided to read the Koran for himself. Within months, he'd converted to Islam.
His father, Tony, admits that John seems a calmer, kinder person since his conversion, but can't help worrying that John's been brainwashed. He's also warned him that, if he gets involved in violent extremism, the family will disown him... Not that they expect him to.
What they can't understand is why John feels the need to change his name to Jamal Udeen; why he's abandoned a promising musical career (John believes Islam forbids music); and why he's now talking about emigrating to a Muslim country.
Does Islam really demand all those changes?
Yvonne Ridley
Yvonne Ridley says the Koran is a magna carta for women. Yvonne Ridley was the journalist captured by the Taliban while reporting undercover in Afghanistan, soon after 9/11.
Held on spying charges, she feared she would be stoned. Instead, she was treated with respect. She promised her captors that, after her release, she would study Islam. She read the Koran looking for an explanation of the Taliban's treatment of women, only to find there wasn't any. "It's a magna carta for women!"
She converted last summer and has found that her new faith has helped put behind her three broken marriages and a reputation as the "Patsy Stone of Fleet Street."
But she still can't persuade her mum that converting was a good idea.
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Talk about Stockholm syndrome -- she was captured by the Taliban and became one of them. She needs some serious psychological help.
http://www.yvonneridley.com/index.asp
See also Profile: Yvonne Ridley
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1570394.stm
This woman is so unhinged that even al-Jazeera had to fire her.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/666/re6.htm
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?
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... celebrated Chechen jihadist/Beslan massacre mastermind Shamil Basayev as a “shaheed” ...
Shaheed Abdallah Shamil Abu Idris
Publication time: 18 July 2006, 19:09
News has just arrived (July 10, 2006) on my desk that Abdallah Shamil Abu Idris, the Military Amir of the Mujahideen of Caucasus, has become a Shaheed.
He's probably better known to most readers of this column as the fearless Chechen commander Shamil Basaev although the likes of Vladamir Putin have always regarded him as an enemy of Russia.
Precise details are sketchy at the moment although the report before me comes from the Military Council of State Defense Council Majlisul Shura of CRI Abu Umar and it states very tersley that he died as a result of an "accidental spontaneous explosion of a cargo vehicle with explosives on July 10, 2006, in Ekazhevo village, Ingushetia".
Three other fighters also died along with the famous Chechen rebel leader. May Allah (swt) grant all of them what they deserve.
The news provided one of those awful coincidences which make you shudder and reminds you of your own mortality ... you see I was leafing through a manuscript of his unpublished work called Book of a Mujahiddeen when the news arrived.
The paragraph I was reading said: "A Mujahid is looking closely into a child's eyes, for they are the ones that get to see the world without sorrows. When a Mujahid wants to know wether someone beside him is trustworthy, he tries to see it with the eyes of a child."
Basaev led an admirable struggle to bring independence to Chechnya and resorted to targetting Russian civilians in the latter years of his struggle to try and bring the plight of the Chechen struggle to the wider world.
He will probably be best remembered for masterminding the siege of the Moscow Theater and then the taking hostage of the children at a school in Beslan which sent shudders of revulsion around the world. On both occasions the overhelming numbers of civilian casualties had been killed at the hands of russian troops who bungled security raids on both operations.
As yet, I've no further details about his death but the report says any boasts from the Kremlin that he died as a result of a Special Forces operation are simply not true. "There was not any special operation that took place. Shamil and other our brothers became Shaheeds (insha Allah) of Allah's own will (swt). The Supreme one has his own plan and decision. And about the special operation, Mujahideen will show how it should be carried out ... ", - the representative of Military Council of of State Defense Council Majlisul Shura of CRI stated.
As you can imagine Putin's military spin doctors are claiming to have wiped out a dozen fighters, including Basaev, in a special operation while one of the Ingush puppet militia blamed his death on the careless use of explosives.
Friendly fire? An own goal or a Russian military initiative? The lines are becoming blurred already and I guess by this time next week their will be scores of different stories going around about how the Chechen leader expired ... or has he? Yes the conspiracy theories have just begun.
What I do know for a fact is that Putin will have cracked a smile and supporters of the mujahiddeen will believe he has become a martyr.
I also know that this grotesque war on the noble Chechens will continue and the blatant misuse of the War on Terror will continue unabated as a Kremlin device to terrorise the people of Chechnya.
His death will not stop the flow of innocent blood, and if anything times are going to get much, much worse for Chechens both home and abroad.
In particular, I fear for the safety of my friend Ahmed Zakayev who was given political asylum in Britain despite the best efforts of Putin to label him as Russian's own Usama bin Ladin.
The lies which poured forth from the Kremlin fooled no one and so the British courts ruled in his favor allowing him to remain a Chechen leader in exile for the time being. But just how safe he will be is anyone's guess. He is busy trying to highlight the plight of his people at seminars, rallies and meetings. Zakayev is admired across Europe and is very much seen as a moderate which actually makes him more of a target since Putin wants to demonize every single Chechen and their leaders.
You see Putin has stepped up his war on the Chechen people ... wherever they may be. Legislators in Russia have just unanimously endorsed a Kremlin request that President Vladimir Putin be allowed to send special forces to hunt down terrorists anywhere in the world.
Well George W Bush has given the CIA similar freedoms in secret nods and winks, so why shouldn't the Russian leader get in on the act?
Putin is quite open in his objectives though. He has been biding his time for some months now and the murder, last month, of five Russian diplomats in Iraq provided the right opportunity.
He has now ordered that those responsible be hunted down and "eliminated", and the Russian security services have offered million for information leading to their capture. Watch out for a Russian version of Guantanamo Bay opening up soon in the frozen wastes of Siberia.
Senators in the Federation Council upper house of the Russian parliament rapidly approved the bill on July 7 and all Putin has to do is now sign it into law. Looking increasingly like the Witch Finder General, Putin blamed international terrorists for the killing and said the permission would remain in force until "the elimination of the threat of terrorist acts being carried out abroad against the Russian Federation or Russian citizens."
( continues )
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?
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The Mujahedin Shura Council, an al-Qaida linked group, claimed responsibility for their abduction 3 June and subsequent execution of the diplomats. The group had demanded that the Kremlin pull its troops out of Chechnya in exchange for freeing the diplomats.
Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov says that special forces are on standby to catch the "scum" that killed the diplomats, and officials say the step is entirely in line with international practice.
"This is not the use of the death penalty - it is a reaction to aggression using the means the country thinks it should use to protect its own interests and the interests of its citizens," Putin said.
International response has been quite muted so far, but this is a new depth which has been plumbed in the never-ending War on Terror.
Just how does Putin define a "terrorist"? The madman has just given his forces permission to go across the globe taking out, eliminating, assassinating and vapourising anyone who the Russian leader does not like. Extrajudicial executions of suspected terrorists and radicals abroad could become commonplace. There should be international outrage instead of mild disinterest.
It is well known that Putin despises Ahmed Zakayev. So can we expect a Kremlin-backed hit squad to come to London and start shooting ... hmm, I thought that was the job of the trigger happy cops from the capital's Metropolitan Police Force! They've already managed to kill a Brazilian man after mistaking him for a Muslim terrorist, and one young Muslim man was gunned down in his own home during a bungled raid by the plods from the Met.
You see this is what happens when you crush and ignore peoples' human rights. I am afraid the behavior of the Bush Administration has opened stable doors across some of the most brutal and despotic regimes in the world ... and the horses are bolting.
The extra judicial killing actually began in 2004, when two Russian agents were jailed in Qatar for wiping out Chechen leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev with a car bomb on Kremlin orders.
For some bizarre reason the weak-kneed, lily-livered Qataris sent the two agents back to Russia and I can assure you the two assassins are not locked up in any sort of gulag where they should be left to rot for what they did.
Why, oh why, do most Gulfies have the backbones of amoeba? I mean what can Russia do to the Qataris? I know that the need for visas were set aside when I lived in the tiny state which sticks out of the gut of Saudi Arabia. As a result we had every sort of mafia, pimp, drug-dealer and prostitute plying their trade across Doha within weeks.
The Qataris should have stood firm and refused to hand over the convicted killers. I mean they have given up a huge slice of Qatar to the US Southern Command, so the Russians are hardly likely to launch an attack.
Now we have international gun law with Putin ordering his agents to seek and destroy the killers of the Russian diplomats in Iraq.
Putin made the statements during a meeting in Moscow with Saudi Arabia's Prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. Russia would be grateful to all its friends for any information on the criminals who killed our citizens in Iraq, Putin told the Saudi prince.
"Sod off!" should have been the reply from the prince, but no, not a peep. What is it with the folk who live on the Arabian Peninsula?
Has everyone gone completely insane, barking mad or what?
Dubya has managed to turn the globe into some sort of stage set where gun law rules. The trouble is it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the heroes from the villains.
The same Russian hit squad which took out Aslan Maskhadov, Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev and the Saudi Samir Saleh Abdullah Al-Suwailem aka
Khattab, is now probably on some hunt and kill mission as I write.
And exactly who will be helping the hit squads? Because trying to find members of and supporters and backers of the Mujahedin Shura Council will be like hunting for a needle in a haystack?
Ivan Safranchuk, head of the Moscow office of the Russian-based Center for Defense Information, admits Russian agents will have to rely on the assistance of US-led coalition forces, the Iraqi government, and Saudi secret services. Hmm, and I bet those craven little butt kissers from Jordan and Egypt's intelligence services aren't too far behind in volunteering.
Yes, I can see a Coalition for the Killing pulling together, and with all the flawed intelligence going around the world today, they could very well be coming after you or me!
Yvonne Ridley
DailyMuslims.com
http://www.kavkazcenter.com/eng/cont.../18/5002.shtml
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?
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... defended terrorist leader Abu al Zarqawi ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1529185/posts
Something Rather Repugnant
[Yvonne Ridley - Zarqawi Apologist][/b]
Tajdeed (Party for Islamic Renewal - Muhammad al-Massari) ^
November 23, 2005 | Yvonne Ridley
Posted on 11/27/2005 12:01:09 AM PST by ganeshpuri89
While the killing of innocent people is to be condemned without question, there is something rather repugnant about some of those who rush to renounce acts of terrorism.
They rather remind me of trembling slaves all scuttling forth for the approval of the boss class in the hope of receiving a few crumbs from the big man's table ... oh, if only they knew how pathetic they really are.
I was reminded of such a vision just the other day when family members of Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi renounced the terrorist leader after he claimed responsibility for the November 9 bomb attacks on three Amman hotels that killed 61 people.
The extended family of al-Zarqawi, whose real name is Ahmed Fadheel Nazzal al-Khalayleh, not content with condemning his actions then went one step further - they reiterated their strong allegiance to Jordan's King Abdullah II in half-page advertisements in the kingdom's three main newspapers.
I'm not sure of their sudden urge to swear an oath of allegiance to the monarch was prompted by the fact al-Zarqawi had threatened to kill the king in an audiotape released two days earlier.
"A Jordanian doesn't stab himself with his own spear," said the statement by 57 members of the al-Khalayleh family, including al-Zarqawi's brother and cousin. "We sever links with him until doomsday."
I doubt the statement will be regarded as a serious blow to al-Zarqawi. I know he loves his mum - let's face it, we all love our mothers but who could really give a flying fig about some great, great aunt or ancient uncle once removed from a half cousin's wife's mother? OK, so he will no longer enjoy the protection of the tribe ... well that's not going to be a big deal either because they don't sound like the sort of tribe which would head off to help him in Iraq.
I mean he is hardly likely to bump into his cousins in downtown Fallujah or Ramadi to repel the foreign invaders and occupiers (that's the Americans and Brits to you and me).
The newspaper adverts droned on: "As we pledge to maintain homage to your throne and to our precious Jordan ... we denounce in the clearest terms all the terrorist actions claimed by the so-called Ahmed Fadheel Nazzal al-Khalayleh, who calls himself Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. We announce, and all the people are our witnesses, that we - the sons of the al-Khalayleh tribe - are innocent of him and all that emanates from him, whether action, assertion or decision."
The statement said anyone who carried out such violence in the kingdom does not enjoy its protection.
The al-Khalayleh tribe is a branch of the Bani Hassan, one of the area's largest and most prominent Bedouin tribes, which help form the bedrock of support for the royal family's Hashemite dynasty.
Relatives hold senior posts in the army and other government departments. Obviously they are keen to maintain that tradition.
Look, every family has its black sheep or that mad little aunt in the attic, but most of us just keep our own counsel.
However, this decision by al-Zarqawi's clan is a cowardly move. I mean who is benefiting from these newspaper adverts?
Several days before the adverts appeared, dozens of men from the al-Khalayleh tribe held a rally to denounce al-Zarqawi. "If my son was a terrorist, I wouldn't hesitate to kill him," said distant relative Mousa al-Khalayleh during Friday's rally, claiming he spoke on behalf of the tribe. "This is the slogan raised by the tribe as of this moment." Hmm, I wonder if Mousa would be that vocal if he was sitting in the company of al-Zarqawi.
This is not the first time the extended family has publicly washed its dirty linen. There was a similar message sent last year by some members of al-Zarqawi's clan to Abdullah. That message, which contained fewer signatories, severed links with the terrorist for claiming a failed plot in April 2004 that targeted the Amman headquarters of Jordan's intelligence agency, the prime minister's office and the US Embassy.
Officials have said thousands of people would have been killed had the attacks been carried out.
And how are the Jordanian royals reacting to this attack and threat? Well I suspect they are the real family which is quaking with fear and were so intimidated that they felt bound to 'ask' al-Zaqarwi's family to renounce his actions.
After the hotel explosions we had Queen Noor of Jordan, looking more like a Bollywood actress than a queen, delivering a little lecture on Islam to the effect that she and the Jordanian monarchy love Islam while the "terrorists" hate Islam.
What Queen Noor failed to explain on her CNN broadcast was that the three hotels, Hyatt, Days Inn and Radisson, are all US-owned and are seen as dens of iniquity by Jordan's reserved Muslim community.
Western TV viewers were also treated to images of "demonstrators" in Amman, waving Jordanian flags, condemning the assailants and telling Zarqawi to "burn in hell." What I can now tell you is that according to my man in the local Amman souk these demonstrators were Jordanian troops out of uniform as well as government lackeys. Their numbers were swollen with Christian and Muslim bedouins, all funded by the government ... no doubt courtesy of the boys from Virginia (CIA).
Few Jordanians would be seen dead carrying those tiny little flags which had been mass produced in a nearby factory only hours earlier.
Of course the Jordanian media - not the sharpest tools in the box - failed to ask any of the relevant questions.
I would want to know, for instance who paid for the half page adverts taken out in the country's top three newspapers? I would want to know who PAID for the 'spontaneous' demonstrations? Why did the security services - naturally a wee bit edgy after the bombings - allow such a demonstration to take place?
King Abdullah's name would be near each answer, I reckon. Naturally jumpy, I bet he panicked and, realising that he's no longer immortal, tried to put on a show to the world that he's really loved and adored by his people.
So for two days we were treated to a motley crew of around 1000 marching and protesting up and down the streets. I'm sorry Abdullah, I wasn't convinced.
That isn't to say I wasn't upset by the images which came blasting out of my TV. I mean we can not simply shrug our shoulders at the deaths of 61 people. But let's have a closer look at those who perished:
* Five of those who died were Iraqis who were working closely with America? in other words, collaborators. One Saudi, Indonesian and three Chinese intelligence officers were also wiped out. Shame, but those who live by the sword .....?
* And then there was the wedding party. OK, so the guests were part of Jordan's upper echelons of society, others had flown in from America and were known for their close ties to the monarchy. But that still doesn't mean they should be punished for their status in life.
Interesting though, that the bombers chose the bars serving alcohol for their martyrdom operations in two of the hotels. Now while we know alcohol is strictly haram, it's an Islamic ruling which the King of Jordan chooses to openly ignore, and in a Muslim country.
King Abdullah is a chip off the old block, really. Well they say the apple does not fall far from the tree. You see he is protected by his CIA bosses and looked after by Mossad. Daddy Hussain, was also a CIA stooge who was even prepared to openly support Israel at a time when the secular Arab regimes were supposedly united against Israel. Abdullah's grandfather too betrayed the Palestinians which also explains why he was killed by a Palestinian.
The late King Hussain slaughtered thousands of Palestinians during the notorious days of Black September. So bad was his retribution that Palestinians preferred to suffer the self-humiliation of seeking refuge in Israel than remain at the mercy of King Hussain.
And let's not forget it was King Hussain who handed over Jerusalem after pretending to put up a resistance.
Like his son, he couldn't care less what his own people think. Despite their overwhelming opposition to the illegal war in Iraq, the wishes of the Jordanian people were ignored - so much for democracy in the Middle East.
This is one of the most backward states in the whole region when it comes to democracy.
The regime routinely tortures its subjects - and anyone else's come to that. There's almost a shuttle service running to Jordan where obliging grunts from Jordan's intelligence services happily torture 'clients' sent to them by Uncle Sam.
In fact, to be brutally frank, Jordan provides backing, support and intelligence to the American military which is carrying out genocide in neighbouring Iraq. Thousands of residents have been wiped out in the cities of Tal Afar, Qaim, Karabila, Haditha and Husayba, as they had done earlier with Falluja. Masjids, schools and hospitals have been trashed, but not one peep of criticism comes out of Jordan or its mealy-mouthed media.
How on earth can these malignant rulers and corrupt journalists sleep at night? Hmm, I suppose when you have no backbone or conscience then it doesn't matter how lumpy the mattress is.
As I said earlier in this column, it is very hard to justify the deaths of innocents. But you know, I wonder if you see that attack on the Jordanian hotels in a different light now?
( continues ... )
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?
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But let's get back to the original theme of this column - black sheep and family honor. I think I'd rather put up with a brother like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi any day than have a traitor or sell-out for a father, son or grandfather.
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An ignorant rant from start to finish. The last line is a shining jewel in the crown of human stupidity.
Calling this person ignorant and stupid is wishful thinking. She is both knowledgeable and quite clever, which is precisely what makes her a dangerous enemy.
Like many religious converts, she is zealous and committed to her new faith. The fact that this faith allows for "open season" on all opponents, limited only by a highly flexible standard of pragmatism (does killing my enemy now, advance the cause of Islam, or should I negotiate a truce with them for now, even carry on large scale trade and cooperate in various economic enterprises for now, and only resume the slaughter when my forces are in a better position to prevail) should be well understood by its antagonists. This account of the situation in Jordan is one of many possible views from inside the Islamic system, and also illustrates why most of the victims of Islamic reasoning about jihad are Muslims: it is very easy, using the various conflicting passages on strategy in Quran and Hadith, to label other Muslims at different points on the jihad-temporary truce spectrum as "sell outs" and "traitors" and treat them accordingly, i.e., slaughter them.
Of course, Christendom has gone through similar extended periods of mutual slaughter, from the Crusades (in which Western Christians massacred Eastern Orthodox Christians, and vice versa) to the religious wars leading up to and through the Reformation, which shattered the institutional unity of Christendom in the West). Whether these periods of intercine mayhem are entirely behind us (I speak of Christians now) remains to be seen. Whether Islam can address its own internal proclivity to mass mayhem, both within and beyond its own ranks, and reach some less self-destructive and sustainable "perpetual truce" with itself and its non-Islamic neighbors also remains to be seen. I have my doubts, but know better than try to predict future developments. For now, it is sufficient to understand that Islam, given its own assumptions and methodology for dealing with truth and those "outside the fold", is not to be trusted. If a Muslim tells me the time, I will check my watch.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/666/re6.htm
It took the House of Saud seven decades to face up to the consequences of having aligned itself domestically with a Jihad- inspired Wahhabi religious establishment while also forming alliances with Western powers needed to guarantee its external security. One result of that inherent contradiction was 11 September, an attack against the Saudi-American alliance in which 15 of the 19 suicide hijackers were Saudi nationals.
Qatar, at least, seems to have taken only seven months to wake up to the absurdity of bankrolling an anti-war, and especially anti-US, pan-Arab satellite news station while also benefiting economically from allowing the US-led war on Iraq to be coordinated from a US airbase on its soil.
In the present period of wheeling, dealing and horse-trading involving Qatar and the US, there is evidently no room for the likes of Yvonne Ridley to promote their anti-US, and pro-Islam, agendas on Al-Jazeera. Ridley is finding other outlets, though. The BBC has just finished filming a documentary on her ordeal and she is finalising a book deal with a US publisher about her brief stint at the most controversial news organisation in the world.
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?
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