Archive for March 23, 2007
“The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is likely to remain open for the remainder of the Bush presidency despite Bush’s stated desire to close it, the administration said yesterday. “It’s highly unlikely that you can dispense with all those cases between now and the end of the administration,” White House spokesman Tony Snow [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
Ki-Moon on Israel (from UNIIC Press summary): “excerpts of Ban Ki Moon’s interview with Yediot: Yediot: Ban Ki-moon concerned by smuggling of weapons between Lebanon and Syria: UN has not seen a secretary-general as sympathetic to Israel in 60 years. The United Nations has not seen a Secretary-General as sympathetic to Israel in 60 years, [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
Kanan Makiya explains the problems in Iraq (and the problems according to him, of course, is that US occupation troops were not greeted with “sweets and flowers” as he had promised and hoped): ““There were failures at the level of leadership, and they’re overwhelmingly Iraqi failures,†he said.” But then there is good news: “Mr. [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
Thug-in-chief, Muhammad Dahlan, unplugged (notice that Dahlan now always surrounds himself in public speaking events with women and children just in case he is targeted by assassins). (thanks Mohamed)
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
“In supporting Mr. Sarkozy, Mr. Chirac may be motivated in part by self-interest. When he leaves office in May, he loses the presidential immunity from prosecution. He could face legal action — or at least the threat of it — over allegations that he was involved in a kickback scheme when he was mayor of [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
“The United States provided intelligence to the Ethiopians and sent in a small contingent of Special Forces ground troops after American officials labeled the Islamists a terrorist threat.”
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
“Shiite community leaders and residents in the neighborhood of the raid gave a significantly different account. They said American forces had stormed not one but two mosques, both linked to Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American Shiite cleric. As the soldiers entered one of the mosques they opened fire on worshipers who tried to flee, said Salah [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
The Jordan government expels 23 Iraqis from Jordan. They were accused of “spreading Shi`itism.” (thanks Nasser)
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
Yet another Israeli “explanation” of its humiliation in South Lebanon: “Restraint eroded IDF deterrence.” Am I the only one who has not noticed Israel’s “years of restraint”?
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
“What won’t the Shin Bet security service do to break the spirit of a Palestinian detainee? Before, interrogators used threats and told detainees that their loved ones were being arrested because of them. Now they even put on the show. Under false pretenses, agents brought the wife and the aged father of a security detainee [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
Apparently, Israel is only looking for love and affection: “Israel seeks friends through MySpace page”
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
I like it that the British government, in explaining the presence of its frigate in Shat Al-`Arab, said that the sailors and marines were on “a routine mission.” Routine mission in the Gulf? You belong there? But the best defense of the presence of UK occupation troops was provided by the leftist Guardian: “The frigate [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
The book is coming out soon. I have two chapters. It is already on amazon. (There are contributors with whom I strongly disagree, I should point out). I also would have named it “The Israeli War on Lebanon” but the choice of the title is not mine.
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
Trying to reconcile religion–any religion, especially Christianity, Islam, and Judaism–with feminism is like reconciling smoking with good health.
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
This is from the official “moral police” in Jiddah in Saudi Arabia (the offical logo appears on top). It says:“The most important characteristics of the `aba’at (garb) of Muslim woman1. That it be thick, and not show what is underneath, and that it does not have the quality of stickiness; 2. that it be covering [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
“Those poor Israeli occupation soldiers.” Under this picture, the New York Times had this caption: ” Israeli soldiers check the IDs of Palestinians at a West Bank checkpoint near Nablus, a task that troubles some soldiers.” Those poor Israeli soldiers. They shoot at little children. Those poor Israeli soldiers. They enforce a brutal occupation, and [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
Hariri rag, Al-Mustaqbal, claims that a French woman who was raped in Lebanon was raped “with her consent.” They even put that in the headline.
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
“Ms. Curry had accompanied Mr. Kristof on her first two visits to the region. “I was a little nervous about traveling with a hotshot anchor to a place that can be dangerous and difficult,†Mr. Kristof wrote. “We stayed that time in a little $4-a-night hotel, several people to a ramshackle room, with a pit [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
No articles in the US press bother me more than those articles. Ever since I moved to the US, I came to realize that most of those who are critical of Israeli occupation (of only 24% of Palestine), do so not out of sympathy for the victims but out of love for the occupiers. Look [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad
Notice that for American liberal Zionists like Friedman, the dispute with Saudi Arabai–or with any other tyrannical government is not about tyranny itself but it is all about…Israel: “If King Abdullah wants to lead — and he has the integrity and credibility to do so — he needs to fly from the Riyadh summit to [...]
Posted on March 23, 2007 by As'ad