Hands

How can man, who is so limited in all facets of life, be arrogant enough to think that within him lay all the answers? 

How can man follow his heart, when this heart ventures haphazardly in many directions based on his selfish lusts and false passions?

How can man determine the laws to govern his life based upon what most people find acceptable when history has taught us that the majority is usually wrong? 

How can man, who at one point had total physical & emotional dependence on his parents, grow up to condemn his parents?

How can man, who can be destroyed from a microscopic virus, think he is invincible? 

How can man, who shutters at the thought of his loved ones dying, wage wars against others because of political ambitions?

How can man, who works to purify his body, be heedless of purifying his soul?

How can man, who sees oppression taking place, remain silent?

How can man, who has many faults, ignore his own while he tries to find faults in others?

How can man be knowledgeable in his speech, yet ignorant in his heart?

Qur’an, Chapter 95: The Fig:

I swear by the fig and the olive,

By Mount Sinai,

And this City of security

Surely We created man of the best stature

Then do We abase him (to be) the lowest of the low,-

Except such as believe and do righteous deeds: For they shall have a reward unfailing.

Then what can, after this, contradict you, as to the judgment (to come)?

Is not God the best of the Judges?

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Defence

Greetings everyone,

I found this wonderful website called Defence for Children International.  Please check it out if you have some time.  I was shocked to read the story of Ezzat, a young Palestinian boy who was attacked and abused by Israeli soldiers.  Such atrocities unfortunately happen all the time in the region, yet the mainstream media continues to turn a blind eye because it’s political suicide in my country to criticize the Illegal Israeli occupation. 

Here’s a link to the site: http://www.dci-pal.org/english/home.cfm

Peace be upon you all.

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Mr. Edward Peck on his meeting with Sayyed Nasrallah - 1

Mr. Edward Peck on his meeting with Sayyed Nasrallah - 2

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Interfaith 012

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Maliki

PM: Talks on US-Iraq treaties stall

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:36:22

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says talks with the United States on a controversial long-term security treaty have stalled.

Maliki said Friday that the negotiations have reached a "dead end" because of US demands that infringed Iraq's sovereignty, Reuters reported.

"We have reached a dead end, because when we started the talks, we found that the US demands hugely infringe on the sovereignty of Iraq, and this we can never accept," Maliki told journalists during a visit to Jordan.

The treaty would provide a legal basis for the presence of US troops in Iraq after their UN mandate in the country expires.

Washington has also been pushing for a long term strategic framework agreement on the two sides' political, economic, security and cultural ties.

Maliki said Iraq had not accepted Washington's demand that its troops would be granted immunity from prosecution in Iraq and could launch military operations without Baghdad's permission.

"We can't extend the US forces permission to arrest Iraqis or to undertake terror fighting in an independent way, or to keep Iraqi skies and waters open for themselves whenever they want," the Premier said. "One of the important issues that the US is asking for is immunity for its soldiers and those contracting with it. We reject this totally."

Iraqi religious and political figures consider the treaties as humiliations that would turn the country into a de facto US colony.

Iraq's most revered Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani had earlier warned that he would not allow the treaties to be signed as long as he is alive.

The US tried to push through the treaties under a virtual news blackout about the issue. The White House also suggested that the treaties are pacts that would not require parliament endorsement.

© Press TV 2007. All Rights Reserved. 

My opinion:  The Bush administration has let the cat out of the box.  The move to sign this controversial long-term treaty will place Iraq into chaos.  It is proof that Bush invaded Iraq only to rule it by proxy and to use the country as a platform to attack others in the region.  This reminds me of a similar proposal by the American government with the dictatorial Shah of Iran.  A deal was reached with Iran (I believe in the 60’s or 70’s) that gave American soldiers, diplomats, and contractors immunity in the country.  The Iranian people were furious and I think the quote was, “The American dog has more rights in your country (Iran) than you do.”  And we all know what happened to the Shah of Iran.

Only God knows the future, but if this deal is signed, I think this will be the result…

1. A full-scale uprising by millions of Iraqis, including repeated attacks on the Green Zone as a result of direct orders from Ayatollah Sistani (a man who has so far rejected violence & has called on Iraqis to practice restraint)
2. Sunnis and Shias will unite at a time when the American government is doing whatever they can to pin them against each other. 
3. Many more Iraqis will side with Iran than already are
4. Blocs of the government will resign
5. All out chaos all over the country will take place
6. A dramatic American troop increase will occur to deal with the “growing threat of violence” they were responsible for creating making it IMPOSSIBLE for a Democratic American president to reduce troops in the future or eventually withdraw. 

-This is a move of desperation from the Bush administration to attempt to save face due to his failed policies.  I do think however, that this deal will never be signed.  Many Iraqi politicians and parliament members are the heads of competing factions and they have one thing in common, the want to preserve their country from being a U.S. colony.  

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Ooobama

At about 9 a.m. today I received a phone call from a co-worker.  “Hey, guess who’s coming here today?”  I replied in a simple tone, “I don’t know who?”  “Barack Obama!”  Confused, I inquired more and I found out that he had a campaign rally about ½ mile away from my place of employment.  After discovering that it was way too late to try to convince by boss to let me leave early, plus the fact that I probably needed tickets to attend, I decided to let it go. 

However, it did set the stage for a lot of dialogue here at work.  The right-wingers here usually keep out of the conversations because we quickly bring forth the facts of the current debacles of the Bush administration.  The topic of discussion was, “How does he do it?”  It’s an enigma how the McCainers and even Hillary’s followers have seeming tried everything to tarnish his image and yet, he resiliently stays ahead of the game.

For example, the whole "Revered Wright" issue, the recent comments from the guest pastor at the Trinity Church in Chicago, the claim that Hamas supported Obama, baseless allegations of his financial dealings with an alleged "terrorist", etc. etc. 

Recently, McCain boasted about the so-called success in Iraq (and no it wasn’t April fools).  He claimed that we were at a pre-surge troop level at this time which the media (to their credit for once) totally proved that he hadn’t a clue what he was talking about.  We came to a consensus that had Obama made such a statement, the republican blogosphere would be filled with pundents claiming Obama wasn’t fit for the presidency.  Not to mention McCain’s lack of knowledge on the differences between Shiites and Sunnis. 

                So the question is:  How does Obama do it?

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My opinion:  What are we doing?  This war was a disaster from the start.  The Iraqi people and American people are all suffering because of this.  I consider this to be the worst foreign policy blunder in our contemporary history!  This situation is beyond salvation.   I don’t think we have a choice but to leave.  This conflict is affecting not only the Middle East, but the entire world.  Future generations from the region and America will have to suffer the consequences of this war.  I as an American cannot stand by while this administration from hell have destroyed what America stood for.  Please view these articles, my dear brothers and sisters.  I wanted to release these in time for Memorial Day but I was not able to.  Peace be to the world!

War-related birth defects in Fallujah

Fri, 30 May 2008 02:18:44

Fallujah1

Picture: Three-year-old Fatima Ahmed                       

Families in Fallujah are calling for an investigation into the rise of birth defects after the US used phosphorus over the Iraqi city in 2004.

They have raised concerns about the weapons used by American forces in 2004, including constant bombardment with uranium depleted artillery shells and other depleted uranium ammunition- when Fallujah suffered the heaviest blitze following the overthrow of the Saddam regime of the entire war in Iraq.

Hikmat Tawfeeq, deputy chairman of the Fallujah-based human rights group Al-akhiyar said: "We have around 200 cases of deformities recorded by our society. Most of these cases are birth deformities which have arisen after the bombing of Fallujah."

Campaigners say officials are reluctant to speak out publicly because of US pressure but at Fallujah's children's hospital one doctor told Sky News in the past month she has seen one or two cases of birth deformities every day.

An opthalmologist said he deals with four or five cases of newborn babies every week suffering from some form of eye deformity.

At one of the cemeteries in Fallujah, undertaker Mahmoud Hummadi said he usually buries four to five bodies of newborns every day and most of them are deformed.

Fallujah today still bears the scars of a time when it represented the backbone of the Sunni insurgency - a power-base America decided it had to break.

Fallujah2

April and November 2004 saw some of the heaviest bombardments of the war in Iraq, including the controversial use of white phosphorous.

It is a highly flammable material which ignites when it comes into contact with oxygen, causing severe burns.

In a statement to Sky News the US military said it had used white phosphorus in Fallujah but primarily as a smokescreen and not as an incendiary weapon.

(Picture on the right) Phosphorus over Fallujah in 2004

The families say doctors have raised concerns to them about what kinds of materials were used by the Americans in order to achieve their military goals.

Fatima Ahmed is three years old. Small and lifeless she barely moves, burdened by two heads on her tiny frame.

Her mother Shukriya says doctors have been unable to diagnose exactly what has caused Fatima's condition.

But her father Jassim, when asked who he held responsible for his daughter's condition, said: "It's because of the war - it's the flagrant aggression they launched against us. What they dropped in Fallujah God knows."

MMA/HAR

'US bribing Iraqi MPs to sign deal'

Thu, 29 May 2008 18:10:04

Iraqparliament

The US has offered bribes to Iraqi MPs to lure them into endorsing a security deal that critics believe would make Iraq a US colony.

Sources in Iraq's parliament told Press TV on Thursday that Washington has offered three-million dollars in bribe to the lawmakers who sign the "framework accord."

Under the agreement, the US would be allowed to set up at least 13 permanent military bases in Iraq and US citizens would be granted immunity from legal prosecution.

Iraqi lawmakers, however, vowed that they would never sign the agreement which would turn their country into 'a US colony'.

The accord has faced strong objections from religious and political figures inside and outside Iraq.

Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has also protested the deal, calling on the people to hold demonstrations after every Friday prayers against the accord.

The country's most revered Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has formerly objected to the deal, saying he would not allow the government to sign such a deal with "the US occupiers" as long as he was alive.

SB/RE

From Iraq Veterans Against The War

http://ivaw.org/

Antiwar

Why we're against the war

Q: Why are veterans, active duty, and National Guard men and women opposed to the war in Iraq?

A: Here are 10 reasons we oppose this war:

The Iraq war is based on lies and deception.

The Bush Administration planned for an attack against Iraq before September 11th, 2001. They used the false pretense of an imminent nuclear, chemical and biological weapons threat to deceive Congress into rationalizing this unnecessary conflict. They hide our casualties of war by banning the filming of our fallen's caskets when they arrive home, and when they refuse to allow the media into Walter Reed Hospital and other Veterans Administration facilities which are overflowing with maimed and traumatized veterans.

For further reading: www.motherjones.com/bush_war_timeline/index.html

The Iraq war violates international law.

The United States assaulted and occupied Iraq without the consent of the UN Security Council. In doing so they violated the same body of laws they accused Iraq of breaching.

For further reading:

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/imtconst.htm

http://www.westpointgradsagainstthewar.org/

Corporate profiteering is driving the war in Iraq.

From privately contracted soldiers and linguists to no-bid reconstruction contracts and multinational oil negotiations, those who benefit the most in this conflict are those who suffer the least. The United States has chosen a path that directly contradicts President Eisenhower's farewell warning regarding the military industrial complex. As long as those in power are not held accountable, they will continue... 

For further reading:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0714-01.htm

http://www.publicintegrity.org/wow/

Overwhelming civilian casualties are a daily occurrence in Iraq.

Despite attempts in training and technological sophistication, large-scale civilian death is both a direct and indirect result of United States aggression in Iraq.  Even the most conservative estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths number over 100,000. Currently over 100 civilians die every day in Baghdad alone.For further reading:

http://www.nomorevictims.org/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1338749,00.html

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70A1EF73C5A0C758DDDA10894DE404482

Soldiers have the right to refuse illegal war.

All in service to this country swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. However, they are prosecuted if they object to serve in a war they see as illegal under our Constitution. As such, our brothers and sisters are paying the price for political incompetence, forced to fight in a war instead of having been sufficiently trained to carry out the task of nation-building.

For further reading:

http://thankyoult.live.radicaldesigns.org/content/view/172/

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qa6ZHYcG_EM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1dAXQeH7y9g&mode=related&search=

http://girights.objector.org

Service members are facing serious health consequences due to our Government's negligence.

Many of our troops have already been deployed to Iraq for two, three, and even four tours of duty averaging eleven months each.  Combat stress, exhaustion, and bearing witness to the horrors of war contribute to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a serious set of symptoms that can lead to depression, illness, violent behavior, and even suicide. Additionally, depleted uranium, Lariam, insufficient body armor and infectious diseases are just a few of the health risks which accompany an immorally planned and incompetently executed war. Finally, upon a soldier's release, the Veterans Administration is far too under-funded to fully deal with the magnitude of veterans in need.

For further reading:

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/

http://www.vets4vets.us/

The war in Iraq is tearing our families apart.

The use of stop-loss on active duty troops and the unnecessarily lengthy and repeat active tours by Guard and Reserve troops place enough strain on our military families, even without being forced to sacrifice their loved ones for this ongoing political experiment in the Middle East.

For further reading: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_loss_092704,00.html

The Iraq war is robbing us of funding sorely needed here at home.

$5.8 billion per month is spent on a war which could have aided the victims of Hurricane Katrina, gone to impoverished schools, the construction of hospitals and health care systems, tax cut initiatives, and a host of domestic programs that have all been gutted in the wake of the war in Iraq.

For further reading:

http://www.costofwar.com

The war dehumanizes Iraqis and denies them their right to self-determination.

Iraqis are subjected to humiliating and violent checkpoints, searches and home raids on a daily basis.  The current Iraqi government is in place solely because of the U.S. military occupation.  The Iraqi government doesn’t have the popular support of the Iraqi people, nor does it have power or authority.  For many Iraqis the current government is seen as a puppet regime for the U.S. occupation.  It is undemocratic and in violation of Iraq’s own right to self-governance.

For further reading:

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

Our military is being exhausted by repeated deployments, involuntary extensions, and activations of the Reserve and National Guard.

The majority of troops in Iraq right now are there for at least their second tour.  Deployments to Iraq are becoming longer and many of our service members are facing involuntary extensions and recalls to active duty.  Longstanding policies to limit the duration and frequency of deployments for our part-time National Guard troops are now being overturned to allow for repeated, back-to-back tours in Iraq.  These repeated, extended combat tours are taking a huge toll on our troops, their families, and their communities.

For further reading:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-military12jan12,0,7198945.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Q: Why do Iraq Veterans Against the War call for the immediate withdrawal from Iraq?

A: There are several reasons why immediate withdrawal is the critical first step toward solving the problems in Iraq.

The reasons and rationale given for the invasion were fraudulent.

There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq during the time of the invasion according to US officials and former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix. The idea that Al Qeada and the 9/11 terrorist attacks were connected to Saddam Hussein and the Baath party were proven false in the 9/11 Commission Report. Members of the Bush Administration have admitted that they “misspoke” in the run up to the war.

The presence of the US military is not preventing sectarian violence.

The US occupation of Iraq has proven to be unable to prevent sectarian violence and halt an escalation towards a civil war. Despite having an average of 140,000 troops in country since the occupation began, internal violence and attacks against civilians and Iraqi security forces have been on a steady incline.

The occupation is a primary motivation for the insurgency and global religious extremism.

The insurgency can be broken down into many individually named factions with various goals, beliefs, and techniques. However, our membership of veterans believe that the occupation of Iraq is the primary thing encouraging the insurgency and giving it legitimacy in the eyes of many Iraqis. Likewise, other people of the Islamic faith are encouraged to resist America ’s policies internationally based on how they perceive our military operations in the Middle East.

We can no longer afford to fight this war of choice.

The financial burden is destroying our domestic programs that could be used to protect us from natural disasters, provide medical programs, or help improve education. We are jeopardizing the US economy and putting strains on the budgets of important government agencies like the Veterans Affairs Department.

National security is compromised.

Funds that could be used to protect our ports and transportation are being stripped away while our National Guard units are on constant deployments instead of being used to protect and defend us here at home.

The world is becoming more dangerous.

International terrorist attacks have increased and it has become more dangerous for Americans to travel abroad. Approval for US policy has decreased and the dislike of Americans has increased.

Our national “moral authority” is being undermined.

The US has lost credibility to much of the world as the defender of liberty and freedom and our national identity is eroding. We can no longer deploy our armed forces for peace keeping measures with the good faith of the international community. We need to regain the respect and faith of the global community. This begins by withdrawing our troops from Iraq and helping the Iraqi people rebuild their country and society.

The majority of American citizens, Iraqi citizens and US military would like to see an immediate end to the war in Iraq.

If we are truly a democracy and we aim to create a democracy in Iraq our leaders will represent the will of the citizens and lead according to their wishes.

The military is broken.

We are abusing the small population of armed service members with multiple deployments while using inadequate vehicles and equipment. Less than one half of a percent of the American population is serving in the active armed forces, which is the least amount in the last century. Only 25% of the troops in Iraq are there for their first tour, while 50% are there on their second tour, and the remaining 25% are there three times or more. We continue to involuntarily extend soldiers with Stop-Loss, recall them repeatedly for additional service using the Individual Ready Reserve, and send soldiers with diagnosed medical problems into combat.

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7.7 TRILLION - The Bush Administration Debt

I saw this presentation on CSPAN (An American station that covers governmental affairs).  It showed Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) describing the irresponsibility and embezzlement (that’s what I call it) of this administration.  One shocking figure he discussed was the fact that Bush’s administration has outspent all previous US presidents COMBINED!  He and his cronies have indebted Americans for generations.  Our grandchildren will be paying for it.  And we were told that this Iraq war would pay for itself.  In my home state of Michigan, we have reached an all-time milestone of $4 per gallon of gasoline.  With all of the corruption and irresponsible spending, Republicans are even boasting about their “fiscal responsibility.”  The entire presentation was about 15 minutes long but this was the only one I could find on YouTube.  With just the Iraq war spending alone, I’ve made a list of what we could have done with that money:

-eliminate world hunger

-provide health insurance for years for all Americans

-build bridges that don’t collapse (like what happened in Minnesota last year)

-provide sustenance for life for all of the innocent Iraqis that have been killed in this war

-and countless other things.

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http://www.democracynow.org/2007/3/2/gen_wesley_clark_weighs_presidential_bid