Archive for March 13, 2007

“Vatican set to punish priest who is advocate for poor”

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

“From Bush’s favourite to a national disgrace”

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

The puppet is nervous: “Iraqi leader says Washington may oust him if oil law not passed by June 30″

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

An Ethiopian domestic servant killed herself in Beirut yesterday by jumping from a seventh-floor apartment. As usual, Lebanese police will NOT investigate the death of foreign domestic servants in Lebanon.

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

F. is right. We should remember what Seymour Hersh has said about Fatah-Al-Islam in his last article on Lebanon: “Alastair Crooke, who spent nearly thirty years in MI6, the British intelligence service, and now works for Conflicts Forum, a think tank in Beirut, told me, “The Lebanese government is opening space for these people to [...]

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

By the talented and original artist, Sahar Burhan.

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

The founding declaration of Fath-Al-Islam when it split off from Fath-Al-Intifadah in fact criticized the corruption and links with “intelligence services”, in clear reference to the Syrian control of Fath-Al-Intifadah. At the time, when the Syrian government arrested Abu Khalid Al-`Amlah and accused him of leading the schism, it accused Hariri Inc of funding Fath-Al-Islam.

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

Blaming the Palestinians: a Lebanese Sport. The official spokesperson of Fath-Al-Islam, Abu Salim, said in a press conference that accusations against his [kooky] organization are not new. He reminded the press that in the past they have been accused of working for Hariri Inc, then Hizbullah, then Syrian mukhabarat, then Al-Qa`idah, and now the bombings [...]

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

The American Left and the Middle East, Part X. MERIP magazine has a special feature on Shi`ites in the Middle East. The issue has a special section on Lebanon. The section features Elias Khuri (a founding leader of the Hariri-supported, Yasar Dimuqrati organization, which is an official member of the March 14th Movement), and Fawwaz [...]

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

A severe political crisis in the Kingdom of Jordan. A sad day for the royal family. (thanks FT)

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

“Lewis, author of “The Arabs in History” and “Islam and the West”, among many other books, also gave a ringing endorsement for the ill-fated Crusades, which spanned two centuries starting in 1095, when various European armies tried to regain the “Holy Land” for Christendom.” (thanks Mouin)

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

Kamal Salibi gives an alternative view of Lebanese conflicts.

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

Concoct a plot, and then find the right Syrians and Palestinians to frame them. There is really nothing new about the claim of a plot by the Lebanese government today. In fact, Hariri rag, Al-Mustaqbal, claimed back in 29 of November* that Fath-Islam was sent by the Syrian regime to plant bombs in Lebanon, and [...]

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

I am told that the March 14th website has changed its account of the so-called “confession” of Fath-Islam group regarding the bombing in `Ayn `Alaq. Earlier today, the site mentioned that a Saudi was one of those arrested; later, the reference to the Saudi was taken out.

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

“Since the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration has been aggressive in shepherding the oil law toward passage. It is one of the president’s benchmarks for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a fact that Mr. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Gen. William Casey, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and other administration officials are [...]

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

“The night before Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual conference, House Democrats removed language from an Iraq supplemental bill that would have prevented President Bush from attacking Iran without Congressional approval. “Conservative Democrats as well as lawmakers concerned about the possible impact on Israel had argued [...]

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

The Lebanese governments seems intent on framing Palestinians and Syrians, and blaming them for the bombing in `Ayn `Alaq, and possibly other bombings. I of course don’t believe the claims of the Lebanese government. Remember what the Babylonian Talmud says about liars?

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

“And in March 2006, in perhaps the most gruesome crime committed by American troops in Iraq, a group of 101st Airborne Division soldiers stationed in Mahmudiya raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and killed her and her family after drinking several cans of locally made whiskey supplied by Iraqi Army soldiers, military prosecutors said.” So what [...]

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

“So you had been out of Arabic from the mid-’90s to 2002 when they hired you to teach soldiers Arabic prior to their Iraq deployment.That’s right, with zero experience. I’d never been to a Middle Eastern country.” (thanks Dustin)

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad

Some people are just good at subservience and prostration. Fu’ad Mater is certainly one of them. In the 1960s, he was a propagandist for the Nasserist regime when he wrote for An-Nahar (as its Arab correspondent); in the 1970s, he was a propagandist (and biographer) of Saddam Husayn who rewarded him with the magazine At-Tadamun, [...]

Posted on March 13, 2007 by As'ad