Archive for August 3, 2005

Al-Arabiyya TV reported yesterday that ordinary Americans are sad over the death of King Fahd. I know ordinary Americans and none of them are sad over the death of a king who presides of over a system that beheads people like Zarqawi. A system that is based on institutionalized misogyny, religious intolerance, unrepresentation, and fanaticism. [...]

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

The view from the house in Sawfar. 

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

The view from the house in Sawfar in Mt. Lebanon. 

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

The view from the house in Sawfar. 

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

This is my mother’s house on the property–see below, where we spent every summer of my childhood (until the civil war). (The entire property was sold during the war. There are people living there now. I asked their permission when I took the pictures).

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

My grandfather’s house in Sawfar. So I asked my mother yesterday about the history of this house. She said that her father (Sa`id Al-`Alayli) purchased this house in the early 1920s. It was being built as a local hotel, and bought it with the property around it that entailed terraces of fruit trees (mostly apple). [...]

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

By the way, New York Times’ coverage of the funeral of King Fahd is not qualitatively different from that in the Arab media. Not a single critic of the King is interviewed, and the reference to tributes to the king in the Arab media leaves out this crucial piece of information: that it is owned [...]

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

NYTimes says this: “Estimate Revised on When Iran Could Make Nuclear Bomb.” I will give you my estimate on when Israel can make a nuclear bomb? It is NOW. NOW.

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

I love those articles in the New York Times that are intended to justify the continuation of the occupation. Take this one: “The reformed Iraqi Ministry of Defense, a crucial element of any American plan to withdraw troops, is riddled with crippling problems that have raised concerns about its ability to keep Iraqi units paid, [...]

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

“Documents Tell of Brutal Improvisation by GIs”

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

“Before the war in Iraq began, the CIA recruited and trained an Iraqi paramilitary group, code-named the Scorpions, to foment rebellion, conduct sabotage, and help CIA paramilitaries who entered Baghdad and other cities target buildings and individuals.”

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

What are Arab newspapers’ columns like? Well, this is from Jihad Al-Khazin’s in Al-Hayat: [King Fahd] “is in the vastness of a merciful God, and nobody is more able to continue the march than `Abdullah Bin `Abdul-`Aziz, and nobody is more able to assist the king than his Crown Prince Sultan Bin `Abdul-`Aziz.” Oh, and [...]

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

My comments on King Fahd in German.

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

This is Zionism: this Palestinian child (and his family) were held at an Israeli occupation checkpoint, and not allowed to go through. 

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

If you can read Arabic, you will feel my pain. This is an opinion page of an Arabic newspaper filled with tributes to King Fahd, by “liberal” Arab columnists. This is Arab “liberalism.” Spare me.

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

Make no mistake about it: US occupation troops are still “liberating” Iraqis. See for yourselves. 

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad

At the funeral of King Fahd, Jalal Talbani (of Iraq), Mahmud `Abbas (of Palestine), and Hamid Karzai (of Afghanistan) were seated together. Here: you see them arguing: each was asserting that HE is the best US puppet in the region. Karzai won the argument when he stressed that he was the first among them to [...]

Posted on August 3, 2005 by As'ad