In The Red Zone

No picnic

They say freedom means they can do what they want. This is not freedom. Freedom does not mean you can transgress traditions. There are traditions and rules in an Eastern society that are different from a Western society. Every Iraqi has a right to act against these transgressions.

-- Heider Jabari, spokesman for Moqtada al-Sadr

They focused on the women.  They were beating them viciously.

-- Basra student Osama Adnan

(Anthony Shadid, Washington Post)

Thus the reaction from Moqtada al-Sadr's religious goon squad to a gathering of some 700 students in a Basra park on March 15.  Outraged at the sight of young people picnicking, listening to music and freely intermingling--worse, many women were not wearing hejab--between 20-40 of Sadr's blackshirts attacked the Springtime fete with guns, sticks and heavy electrical cables, injuring and robbing several, hauling at least 10 away in pick-up trucks. 

The assault triggered several days of protests by students and their families, who demanded an apology and the disbanding of the school's morality police.  Surprised at the public outcry, Sadr's office issued an apology--of sorts.  "There was a mistake in our execution, but we had the right to intervene," said Mr. Jabari.

Mr. Shadid notes that despite the fright and injuries the students suffered in the melee, they have

managed what no local party or politician has yet done:  They interrupted, if briefly, a tide of religious conservatism that has shuttered liquor stores in a city that once had dozens, meted out arbitrary justice and encouraged women to wear a veil and dress in a way considered modest.

"The students broke through the barriers of fear," said Ali Abbas Khafif, a 55-year-old writer and union organizer jailed for 23 years under former president Saddam Hussein. "This was the first mass response to religious power."

Still, unlike what we've seen across the Middle East (I refer you to my piece in Monday's National Review Online), the Basra students' rebellion against tribal Islam may be fleeting "in a city," Mr. Shadid writes, "where Islamic activism and guns go hand in hand.  Even in their moment of triumph, many secular students acknowledge they are fighting a losing battle; some suggest it is already lost."

(Beginning next month I will be in Basra, where I will observe and report on these developments first hand.)

But let's parse these events and see what we can make of them.   Oppression thrives in secret; exposure to the light of public scrutiny reveals the true face of illegitimate power and constellates perhaps the most potent and revolutionary reaction to its brutality--revulsion.   No doubt many Basrans and Iraqis view Sadr's actions as necessary, if not admirable.  But most, I'll wager, interpret the sight of masked armed men publicly beating helpless students--helpless female students--as despicable, contemptible, pathetic.  The noble and strong do not act this way; the craven and cowardly do.  Cravenness, cowardice--these are taboo, psychic stains to be avoided.  Despite being armed with guns, truncheons and public sentiment that was hostile to civil rights, the reactionaries lost on the day that Bull Connor unleashed his dogs on peaceful marchers of Birmingham.  Moqtada al-Sadr has taken another step into the barren wastes of Connor Country.  It will take time, but he, like the Alabama sheriff and his ilk, will shrivel and die as well.

Nor should we overlook the fact that his Al Mahdi Army seized the opportunity to exercise their righteous might on females.  More than a vile display of bullying, these actions expose the misogyny that lies at the base of religious oppression.  The image of the park, the spring weather, the relaxed and natural fellowship among young people and the intimations of erotic interplay between them--disrupted suddenly by black-clad men brandishing weapons and spouting religious slogans:  it is, in a microcosm, the very essence of the patriarchal psyche that structures its existence, power and raison d'etre on the suppression of the female spirit. They call it tradition, they call it religious piety, but strip away the moralistic cant and intimidating rhetoric and its true nature becomes clear: fear and loathing of women. 

Posted by Steven Vincent at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Not sure where or why this idea originated, but there's some sort of quickie lit-quiz bouncing around the blogosphere, and evidently 'tis my turn to reply.  Since I've been "tagged" by superblogger Arthur Chrenkoff, I shan't question the particulars nor tarry long ere I respond.    Besides, I'm a sucker for surveys.

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

Since Tim Blair beat me to Michael Moore--and I figure time and historical neglect will justly consume the collected wisdom of Ted Rall--I should be mature about this and answer something like Protocol of the Elders of Zion or Mein Kampf or The Turner Diaries.  But the childish part of me wants to say James Joyce's Ulysses, just to spare future generations of undergrads the horrors of reading that inexplicably overrated novel. 

Unless this question means which book do I want to memorize.   In that case, the Odyssey--Homer's Ulysses.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Sure.  Mary Jane Watson.  I mean John Romita's Mary Jane, going back to the "Face it, tiger, you just hit the jackpot!" era all the way to today.  Forget that pale washed-out Kirsten Dunst.  She couldn't even hold a candle to Gwen, let alone the real MJ.  Oh wait, this question was about a fictional character, wasn't it...?

The last book you bought is:

Edwin Black's Banking on Baghdad, as I prepare for my next trip to Iraq.  Other than Middle East-oriented tomes, I think my latest purchase was George Marsden's biography of Puritan minister Jonathan Edwards.

The last book you read:

The Edwards bio and a 1992 history of Shiite revolutionary movements in Iraq, the name of which escapes me.  And yes, I think there are thematic connections between the two.

What are you currently reading?

I have a terrible habit of serial-reading.  At the moment, I am immersed in Shakespeare's King Henry VI, Part I, Ross King's novel Domino, Gavin Young's Return to the Marshes, Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and one or two other books about Arab and Islamic history.  Usually I finish everything, given enough time.

Five books you would take to a desert island.

Besides wilderness survival guides, textbooks on hut- and ship-building, a first aid manual and Signal Flares for Dummies?  Besides, as well, the Encyclopedia Britannica (1968 version), Shakespeare's collected works and the Bible?  My quintet would be:

Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow
Virgil's Aenead (+ my Latin dictionary, is that cheating?)
Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil
The I Ching
and a collected volume of Marvel's Silver Age comics, preferably selections from Ditko's Spider-Man and Kirby's Thor and FF--especially FF 48-50, the Galactus trilogy.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

Chester, because he's been kind enough to allow me to contribute to his blog;
Jeff Harrell because he did a bang-up interview with me for ITRZ (as did Arthur); and
Solomon, because I like his site's graphics almost as much as his viewpoint.  Have fun, guys.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More than just a physiological function, memory has its moral injunctions, as well.  To remember--the word is derived from the Latin word rememorari, "to be mindful of"--enjoins us not to forget, not to let slip into oblivion, but to maintain a space in our thoughts for the presence of something, or someone.  This space can range from celebrating the 4th of July to solemnly vowing before the gates of Auschwitz, "Never again."  At the same time, the word connotes the opposite of dis-member, implying that the act of memory is also an act of reconstruction, of piecing together again, of making what is now broken, or perhaps dissipated, whole again.

Traditionally, war memorials serve this purpose.  Not the celebrations of victory--the Iwo Jima statue, for example, or Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza--but rather the more somber monuments, like the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, or photographs of Khmer Rouge victims displayed in the former detention center of Tuol Sleng in Cambodia.  These momuments in particular combine the injunctions not to forget, of "Never again," with a yearning to somehow conjure the missing, imagine their presence, be cognizant of their names, or at least their human form.  In short, to put together, re-create, re-cognize and re-member the dead.

How to do this in our current war?  How do we memorialize not the soldiers fallen in battles from Kandahar to Mosul, but the estimated 20,000 civilians a year murdered in airliners, skycrapers, buses, nightclubs, train stations, in their homes, in traffic, on the street?  As I wrote in In the Red Zone, one of the most obscene aspects of terrorism is that it induces us to turn our face from mourning the victims for fear of confronting the depravity that killed them.  We comfort ourselves with the belief that terrorism is not evil but a reasonable, if extreme, response to the evil we have inflicted upon others.  At the same time, we mourn the loss of our soldiers through a morose and psychologically suspect obsession with mortality counts--while the death toll of civilians slaughtered by terrorist continues to mount, untallied.

Some people want to change this.  In the March 20th New York Times, Glenn Collins writes of how many families of those killed on 9-11 are reaching out "to make common cause with thousands of other international victims, not only to foster mutual support, but also to discredit global terrorism itself."  Through this communal act of remembering, of "being mindful of" the dead, "they hope to challenge the terrorists' attempts to stereotype vicims as infidels, capitalist tools or ciphers lacking humanity" and make it "more embarrassing, or even impossible, to romanticize or legitimize terrorist acts."  Or, as Mr. Collins writes,

Some in victims' groups said they hoped they could help stop what they see as the news media's fascination with terrorists, who, they charged, are rewarded with attention for their attacks.

Last February, the second International Congress of Victims of Terrorism met in Bogota, Colombia.  Here, Collins tells us, four member of 9-11 Families groups, in addition to representatives from Oklahoma City bombing victims organizations--spoke at a conference "attended by those who experienced terrorist attacks in Colombia, Indonesia, Israel, Spain, Northern Ireland, Chile, Argentina and Beslan, Russia."

"There is no good terrorism or bad terrorism," Collins quotes William Frazier, director of the Northern Ireland-based Families Acting for Innocent Relatives.  "The activity itself must be labelled despicable; it is only about death."

A movement to de-legitimize terrorism by focusing on the identities of those extinguished by its obscenity will take time to develop, of course, and will follow whatever organic channels and internal structures of growth such a meme requires.  The internet, this powerful tool of global consciousness, can help, however---if in no other way than insuring that marches, such as the one which took place on March 24 in Baghdad receive more than this paltry notice.  Like all evil, terrorism thrives by turning human beings into objects, things, devoid of individuality and soul.  Memory is but a consolation for the presence of loved ones who have been lost, but it can, at least, insure that the terrorists will not have the final claim on their legacy.  Memory re-claims, as well. 

I write this on Holy Saturday.  For Muslims, especially Shia Muslims, this day falls close to their commemoration of divine sacrifice, Ashura.  In both cases, men obedient to God were mutilated by ignorance and moral blindness.  Centuries later, we still re-member these men, performing in our minds the miracle of re-creation that Muslims see manifested in the living power of their faith and that Christians believe actually occurred in Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago.  The lesson is the same, either way:  to remember is to re-claim, re-store, make whole again.  It is the path not of insurrection, but--at least in the realm of the spirit--re-surrection.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 08:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The deadly snicker

Bullets and explosives may kill anti-Iraqi fascists, intelligence may round up and imprison their cells.  But the most lethal weapon--the power that corrodes, weakens and will eventually break their morale--is laughter.  When the world, especially the Muslim world, ceases to perceive Islamoterrorists with admiration and fear, but with ridicule and contempt, the ability of the reactionaries to inspire, recruit and execute plans--and people--will diminish and fade, like a desert wind. 

And so it is with much curiosity and hope that we read this article by Steve Negus and Dhiya Rasan in yesterday's Financial Times.  The headline and first few grafs say it all:

Television helps break mystique of holy warrior

Say the word mujahid--or holy warrior--these days and many inhabitants of Baghdad are likely to snigger.

An appellation once worn as a badge of pride by anti-American insurgents has now become street slang for homosexuals, after men claiming to be captured Islamist guerrillas confessed that they were holding gay orgies in the popular Iraqi TV programme Terror in the Hands of Justice.

For Iraqis opposed to the predominantly Sunni Islamist insurgency [the show] has broken the mystique of a force that used to strike terror into the hearts of anyone working with the Americans or the new government.

Adds Mr. Negus:

One long-bearded preacher known as Abu Tabarek confessed recently that guerrillas had held orgies in his mosques, knowing their status as holy warriors would win them forgiveness of sins.

This is the end.  Of course, the anti-Iraqi criminals will continue to kill--as evident by their attacks yesterday on police and female translators.  But the psychic engine driving Iraqis to enlist in the so-called "insurgency" has been honor-shame dynamic.  Shamed by their swift fall from power, many Sunni Arab men seek to rehabilitate their sense of masculinity, self-esteem and social status by inflicting pain upon those who humiliated them:  America and her allies.  But when participation in the "insurgency" no longer absolves shame, but stains the reputation even further, the other psychic obstacles to maintaining a futile insurrection will prove increasingly difficult to surmount.  When your older brother is accused of holding sexual orgies in mosques, how willing will you and your friends be to follow his footsteps into the "insurgency?"

This shame-honor dynamic is less operative with the foreign jihadists who comport to to fantasies of omnipotence and godhood.  Accordingly, we will probably witness a slow diminution of home-grown Iraqis in the fascist ranks, replaced by increasing numbers of ever-more fanatic minions of Mssrs. Zarqawi and bin Laden.

Lastly, the shame-honor dynamic concerning the "insurgency" combined with outbreaks of feminine erotic energy (see below) suggest a fundamental shift in the psychic orientation in the Middle East.  It's too early to make sweeping predictions, of course.  And its possible that I am only focusing on a few fledgling shoots of new growth, ignoring the withered, blasted fig trees of tribal-religious repression that have stood for centuries, casting their long shadows over the region.  Deserts are not known for rapid change.  But hope, like waters from  the well of Zamzam, springs eternal.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

They 'shura like being there

Images via Discarded Lies of the ungodly goings-on at the Hussainiyya Hullabaloo in Tehran.  (See below)

Look what happens when the authorities allow the sexes to intermingle!  Obviously this sort of irreligious behavior must stop.  Instead, let us return to more traditional means of observing Ashura, without the dangerous distractions of carnal thoughts, flirtation and women. 

Posted by Steven Vincent at 06:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Present at the Creation

We are witnessing the genesis of two momentous memes.  The first is women + eroticism + sexual freedom = democracy.  This was one of the daemons that infused rock and roll (before Sgt. Pepper killed it) with such infernal energy and exploded into the Sexual Revolution 40 years ago.  Message to the Middle East:  hold on tight, folks. You're on the edge of something deep and wild. 

The other is the end of the Iraq War.  I know I'm anticipating, and there are certain to be disappointments to come.  But a meme is not a prediction.  It is in part the formulation of a general consensus--ijma', for you Islamic scholars out there--that, if adopted, germinates, spreads, infects and inspires, eventually forming the way we view reality.  Does the way we view reality determine reality?  I'll leave that to better minds than mine to hash out.  I should add, though, that meme-wise, not only is the Iraq War ending--but, Juan Cole and Daily Kos and Moveon and CODEPINK notwithstanding, the good guys evidently won.

The meme to push now:  Islamofascism is ludicrous, pathetic, contemptible and worse, no fun.  It's so, like, yesterday, so looo-ser.  Why follow the teachings of some bearded boogeyman who looks like his face would crack if he laughed, when you can party in downtown Beirut with the "Babes of Democracy"?  Perhaps we should break out the old slogans and offer them to the Middle East - you know:  "Make love, not war" and "War is not good for children and other living things"?  How about:  "Make a World at Peace, not a World in Pieces?"  Just a thought.

But really, you have to ask yourself, how can your basic theocratic regime run by sexually repressed and repressive mujtahids survive when it faces problems like these acts of widespread sinfulness taking place at Iranian celebrations of Ashura?  Doesn't anyone recall that Mohammad maintained at least 14 wives and innumerable slave girls (at least one of whom he "visited" each night)--and that beautiful women and perfume were the Prophet's (pbuh) particular passions?  And doesn't the situation in Iran today seem like America in, oh, say, 1954?  (Having been in Iran in 2000, I vouch for that observation.)  Yes, yes! I see him now!  Striding across the plains of Persepolis, oud in one hand, a copy of Rumi in the other, curling that insouciant lip and swiveling them slender hips--ladies and gentlemen, the Persian Elvis! 

Update:  What would The King, er, Shah (Caliph?) think of this legislative proposal?

Update II:  Apparently, dissatisfaction with the turban-heads is not restricted to the young and restless.  (The news is a little old, but have we heard about this?)  Oh, and Happy Noruz to you Persians out there.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 08:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Our Man in Waziristan II

Last January, I composed a post arguing that Mr. Brilliant Terror Master Himself, Osama bin Laden, might actually be serving the overall geo-political interests of Great Satan through his own megalomanical overestimation of his charisma, power and historic situation.  In other words, the God Complex, kicking in big time.

As one of my proofs, I noted ObL's annointment of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as his "emir" in Iraq--an appointment destined to reduce the Wahhabi's Q-rating in the Land Between the Rivers to less-than-zero.  Especially as the Iraqi civilians casualty figures mounted.  But of course, as Michael Scheuer reminds us over and over again, Osama is just so brilliant and pious and patient and oh-so-able to run rings around the hapless U.S. that he couldn't have made such a stupid, stuipd mistake--

Except he did.  And it hasn't been lost for a moment on the Iraqi people.  I don't have any hard evidence for this supposition--just an exemption from the CIA analysts' equivalent of the Stockholm Syndrome to which Mr. Scheuer seemed to have succumbed after studying ObL for so many years--but now we see via Instapundit this short piece from Strategypage.  (I direct you to Instapundit, where Mr. Reynolds also links to an e-mail from Iraq that is a must-read.)  Osama and his Z-Man proxy are undermining their own cause, and helping us win the war.  These are the all-mighty great terror strategists?

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Democratic Divas

Ah, the inscrutable East.  Or in this case, Middle East.  In Baghdad, I'd often go down to my hotel lobby to find men seated before the television set smoking cigarettes and drinking tea, watching with rapt attention as some dark-eyed houri shimmied in come-and-get-me lasciviousness to the strains of an Arabic pop song.  Fifty feet past the lobby and its luxurious canopy of air conditioning, Iraqi women trudged down the street in blinding sun and 130-degree-heat, their bodies encased in stifling head-to-toe black robes.  The only bumps-and-grinds they were going to experience were from the bundles in their hands, the kids on their arms and the grit in their eyes from the noisome Baghdad smog.

The contrast between fantasy and reality seemed lost on the men, enthralled as they were by the latest music video from Lebanon or Egypt.  And they weren't the only ones, it seems.  These erotic--highly erotic, when you consider the puritanism of the surrounding Muslim society--images of female pop stars are becoming increasingly popular.  So much so, in fact, that in an article in Tuesday's Financial Times, Cairo-based reporter Heba Saleh notes a backlash is forming.  Or, as she quotes Mohammed Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood member of the Egyptian parliament:

Music videos are a tool for moral destruction.  There is no doubt about that.  They are against our religion and our morals.

Seeing--but not often, I assure you--the nihilistic dreck that passes for "entertainment" on MTV, I'm not disinclined to agree with Mr. Mursi.

But we've already gone through our sexual revolution, and are now in our Thermidor phase.  The Middle East has yet to storm the Bastille of sexual repression and tribal-religious domination of women; this is one reason (besides the obvious) why the coarsely named "babe revolution" in Lebanon has seized the world's attention. Encoded in those images of attractive, laughing women, arms outstretched in gestures of freedom, is a visual language that spells more than just political freedom--but sexual liberation, as well. 

Cairo University student Mohammed Wagdi explains his fascination with images of performers like Lebanon's Nancy Ajram, Elissa and Haifa Wahby, in addition to the Egyptian star Ruby.

I like music vidoes, because they introduce me to fashion.  Not all of them are indecent.  I like watching the spectacle, though the music is not always that good.  But there should be no censorship, whoever wants to watch should be able to.  Just like on the internet.

That last line is interesting.  Someday, an enterprising scholar will have to research the impact of online pornography on the socio-political thinking of young Arab males (hint:  check the bookmarked sites on any Middle Eastern internet cafe that doesn't have blockers.)  But I digress...

Notes Khaled Agha, marketing director for Rotana, the region's largest music producer,

The success of the music video industry is a kind of reaction against sexual repression in the Arab world.  But the degree of openness that exists now has allowed some people who have no musical talents, but who look good, to become singers.

The same might be said of all the cookie-cutter bubbleheads who prance across the collective pop culture screen of America, but it's different in the Middle East.  Here, Ashlee Simpson exists mainly to introduce young girls into the soft-core delights of Capitalist society; there, Ruby and Nancy Ajram are awakening young men and women to the revolutionary power of women, sexual freedom and democracy.  There, the video is the political; the revolution is being televised.

But then there's the aforementioned backlash.  Apparently, a video of Ruby performing on an exercise bike created such outrage in Egypt that the country's musicians union tried to ban her from singing; Egyptian TV does not broadcast the singer's songs.  And one video was pulled from circulation, Ms. Saleh writes, for depicting "what was considered an indecent image of a horse."   One can only wonder...

Ms. Saleh closes her interesting piece with a quote from Amina Khairy, a "social commentator" for Egypt's Al-Hayat newspaper.

Music videos present an ideal world full of beautiful girls.  Most of them are shot in fantastic houses with wonderful gardens.  It's a virtual world, which fascinates just like American movies used to fascinate, but this one is closer because it is peopled by Arabs.

Today, however, with images of real women--many of them "beautiful girls"--seeming to blossom in the massive pro-democracy rallies in real-life downtown Beirut, this fascinating world of feminity, fashion, eroticism, excitement, a quickening of the pulse and spirit is moving from the video screen into real life.   As in the West during the 1960s, pop culture is becoming political.  We can only hope that they avoid the mistakes that we made, and that women in the region can someday feel free to throw off those obscene abiyas, chadors, burkhas and what have you, and finally feel the sun and breeze on their uncovered skin. 

Posted by Steven Vincent at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Canadians against suicide bombing.  I can't tell how old this petition is, or vouch for the sponsoring organization, but it's still nice to see that our northern neighbors are more than just self-righteous puck-brained, maple syrup-slurping anti-American moralizing ingrates.  Irshad Manji, of course, excepting. 

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Headline, Financial Times, Tuesday, March 15, 2005:

White House quiet as Darfur killings go on

Debate is focusing on whether the U.S. is unable or unwilling to end the conflict 

Not England, not the EU.  Not China, the number one importer of Sudanese oil; not Russia, Sudan's premier weapons provider.  Not even France--well, of course not even France.  No, when trouble--serious, this-is-genocide trouble--erupts in the world, who do you call?  Not England, not the EU, not China... 

That ol' hegemonic, imperialistic, neo-colonial, Kyoto Protocol ignoring environment destroying war-mongering--did I say racist?--globalizing rogue nation, the United States of America.  Let's hope the sheriff exerts some authority.

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Back on the "babes of democracy" front, Michael Totten, by way of Instapundit (you don't need a link there, do you?) has a nice round-up of Beirut rally photographs, both for and against Assad.  Check out the comments: I particularly like the Lord of the Rings reference. 

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At last, Saudi women--gaining their own identities!  Sort of. 

Posted by Steven Vincent at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Obscene phone call

Your brother has been killed in a martyrdom operation.  Congratulations.

-- an anonymous caller claiming to represent an anti-Iraqi group called "Brothers in the Gulf"

According to the NYT's Dexter Filkins, the al-Banna family of Jordan received this call three days after the February 28 bombing at Hilla, Iraq, which killed more than 130 people.  When Iraqis heard reports that a Jordanian perpetrated the atrocity, hundreds protested in front of the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, burning a Jordanian flag.  (For more on this story, and some peculiarities of the flag, see Power Line.)

According to Mr. Filkins's story, Mansur Banna, father of the suspected bomber,  Raad, claims that his son was a pro-American youth who enjoyed the 18 months he spent in southern California, from 2000-2002.  As for Mr. Mansur himself, he denied any hostility toward the U.S.  "The Americans are in Iraq, trying to make a new Iraq.  Please tell the Americans we support them."

Nevertheless, the al-Banna family reportedly composed an obituary in a local newspaper for Raad, which described their son as a "martyr" who had died doing God's work.

Update:  The inestimable Baghdad Dweller offers a translation of the Jordanian news article that incited the Iraqi rioting.  I have to admit, I did not know about the  phenomenon of "divine weddings," but BD's assessment of the moral repugnance of the practice seems precisely on-target.  This is perversity on a frighteningly profound level.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

World's smallest violin

Why are our brothers the mujaheddin denounced?  Those who left their countries, their wives and children, and sacrificed their blood, all to protect your honor and expel the invaders from your land?

-- From Zurwat al-Sanam (Top of the Camel's Hump), the catchily-titled internet magazine published by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

(Robert F. Worth, New York Times; reg. req.)

Admittedly, I don't get out into the blogosphere as much as I used to, but it seems to me this story did not receive the play it merited.  We know that Al Qaeda maintains a steady propaganda effort in cyber-space--they evidently have a self-styled "media department"--but Mr. Worth notes how plaintive and defensive the terrorists' tone has become.

In the above quote, for example, they complain about the bad press they receive for murdering Iraqi Army and police officers.  Mr. Worth also notes this monstrous example of Al Qaeda's capacity for mendacity and rationalization:

One of the basic rules of our religion is not to spill a drop of Muslim blood unless it is justified, because the destruction of the world is no less an offense than that.

Thousands of bereaved Iraqis might beg to differ with the terrorist organization's description of its actions.

Not content with simply parodying the West by establishing a "media department," Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has even lodged some familiar complaints about the international press, and how it only reports "bad news" about the group.

Where are the media correspondents in Iraq, and where is the media coverage in Mosul, Anbar, Diyalia, Samarra, Basra and southern Baghdad?.

Seems they'll have to wait for Michael Scheuer's next book.

What's going on here?  Mr. Worth quotes Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute, a nonprofit group that monitors Islamic web sites.

I think they feel they are losing the battle.  They realize there will be a new government soon, and they seem very nervous about the future.

One of Al Qaeda's most potent weapons is the terror they instill in people's imaginations. As with all fascist groups, however, an element of the ridiculous co-exists with this ability to intimidate.  The group is still lethal, and will no doubt wreak further havoc in Iraq, and elsewhere.  But the absurdity that lays at the core of Islamofascism--the overblown rhetoric, the monotonous street demonstrations and robot-like denunciations of America and Israel, the emotionally pinched and sexually repressed leadership and their rampant narcissism--is beginning to take center stage. Al Qaeda will continue to bring death.  But its doom is already being inscribed in the hearts and minds of its global audience, where, increasingly, the terrorists' actions are inspiring anger, resistance and, most devastating of all--contempt.

And this, from the feminist front:

Web pundits are calling it the "babe theory of political movements."  (Didn't I read that most bloggers are male?).  Apparently lifted from P.J. O'Rourke, it postulates that in a fluid moment of democratic upsurge, street demonstrations and media coverage, the side with the most attractive women wins.  By that measure the Lebanese opposition is on the verge of sweeping pro-Syrian forces into the "40 years old and still living with mom" category of history. 

Without putting too fine a point on matters here, the "babe theory" is actually a clever way of expressing a profound point.  The edifice of Middle Eastern autocracy and its particularly virulent outgrowth--terrorism--rests upon the repression of women.  Liberate female energies from political cage of tyranny and the religious prison of Islamic doctrine and the authority of the bearded mullahs and "pious" terrorists and sexually repressed holy men will crumble like the desiccated dust of the mummies they are. 

We are releasing a genie into the Middle East--and the world--whose power is incalcuable.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 06:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Arab street turns another corner

It was only a matter of time:  anti-jihadist protests breaking out in Baghdad.  If the Iraqis hold true to often-quoted Arab proverb--"the enemy of my enemy is my friend"--are we about to see a "street"-change in their attitudes toward the U.S.? 

(Credit:  Instapundit)

And this looks like encouraging news from Egypt.

But just in case you were wondering what the real truth was behind today's headlines, check out these, um, viewpoints here, here and here... (and in case you're interested in the source of these exposés, here.)

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Stern rebuke

Here is a great story involving a German blogger and his successful effort to force Germany's Der Stern magazine to correct its reporting on the Giuliana Sgrena incident.  Another victory for the Blogosphere.

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What political ideology has killed over 100 million people worlwide, but the EU refuses to ban its symbol?  Hint:  it's not National Socialism.

For a fascinating essay related to this subject, go here.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 09:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

No turbans in government

We neither want to establish a religious nor a secular state in Iraq, we want a state that respects the identity of the Iraqi people and the identities of others

-- Shia political official Ali al-Dabagh, quoted by AP's Rawya Rageh

Writes Mr. Rageh: 

Kurds and alliance officials said both sides agreed that Iraq would not become an Islamic state, a desire also expressed by the country's most powerful Shiite cleric - Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Sistani, as well?  This sounds like extremely good news.  Let's hope this Shia-Kurdish comity holds. 

It's interesting to note how the AP structured this article.  Here's the lede:

Ukraine withdrew 150 servicemen from Iraq on Saturday, beginning a gradual pullout, as Shiite and Kurdish politicians refined plans to form a coalition government that officials said includes an agreement not to turn the country into an Islamic state.

In other words, the AP placed the major positive news of an initial Iraqi agreement to separate mosque and state after noting the minor fact of Ukraine's troop withdrawal.  Translation:  because good news helps justify the war effort, we better downplay it as much as possible.

Am I over-reading?  Mention of the Shia-Kurd agreement comes in the 16th graf of the story--after we are treated to a compendium of bad news from Iraq:  from suicide  bombings at Mosul, to the friendly-fire death of a Bulgarian soldier to a completely egregious mention that over 1,500 U.S. servicemen have died in the country.  And the MSM wonders why it has engendered so much recent criticism!  It's not because of pajama-clad bloggers, but rather insufferably biased reporting. 

Journalism follows--or used to, at any rate--the precepts of the "inverted pyramid," where the most important facts of a news story received the biggest space and earlier placement in a column.  With the AP, however, the guiding technique seems more a "pyramid of denial."

Posted by Steven Vincent at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Without a prayer

From the AP:  "Thirty Muslims walked off the job at a Dell Inc. plant after alleging the company refused to let them pray at sunset."

Hopefully, this is one of those quarrels involving foreign cultural and religious traditions that American democracy somehow always works out in the end--like the minor dust-up in New York last year over a Sikh traffic cop who fought for, and won, his right to wear a turban on duty.

Still, the salat imbroglio brings a couple of questions to mind:  Muslims have been working in this nation--and presumably at Dell--for years without insisting on their right to pray five times a day.  Why now, all of a sudden? 

Secondly, in my journeys through Iraq, Iran and Jordan--not to mention a quarter century spent in this multi-ethnic stew called New York--I've never seen Muslims suddenly cease their activities and set to praying.  I've seen stores in Muslim nations temporarily close (even as customers inside continued shopping) and restaurants respectfully turn down the house music as the muezzin called to believers--and I've witnessed worshipers enter mosques for mid-day devotions.  But see people on the street or at working stop what they're doing in order to observe mandatory prayer time?  Never.  I'm sure it happens.  Maybe someone can enlighten me on this point, because I find it curious that Dell employees seem to want to behave with--shall we say--uncommon scrupulousness.  Converts, I wonder?

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The Shias' Christian virtues

He who did this is a criminal. He killed Muslims and wanted to ignite sectarian strife. But God willing, we'll not allow that.

-- Ibrahim Moussa, speaking from his hospital bed after being wounded by a recent suicide bombing of a Shiite funeral in Mosul.  The attack killed Mr. Moussa's brother.

(Sindbad Ahmed, Associated Press)

According to press reports, fascist "insurgents" are targeting Shia funerals, increasingly preventing these Iraqis from assembling in large family groups to bid the departed final respects.  During Saddam's reign, the Baathists would frequently execute people, and forbid surviving family members from ever visiting their graves.  Today, these same psycopaths are inflicting a similar form of evil that does not stop with murdering the innocent, but seeks to deny the living the ability to mourn their dead.

With this in mind, it is astonishing how few calls for vengeance--or actual reprisals--have arisen from the Shia community.  Many observers--myself included--perceived Arab culture as so sunk in traditions of honor and revenge that such restraint seemed unlikely, if not impossible.  So far, it seems, we have been wrong--and I, for one, am quite happy to be in error.   The steadying influence of Ayatollah Sistani has much to do with the Shias' patience--one reason why I support his nomination for the Noble Peace Prize. 

However, humans can only endure so much; Mr. Ahmed does quote a less conciliatory Iraqi, Sher Qassim Mohammed Ali.

I lost seven of my sons, brothers and cousins. I want to know who carried out this attack … we will avenge those who did it.

Such grief is incomprehensible.  As is the evil of the men who inflict it.  As is the Shias' forbearance as they turn the other cheek to receive these blows again and again and again. 

*

Seems not everyone agrees with my support for the "Old Scarecrow." 

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Here's some news from a different sort of Arab "street" you don't often hear about.  Perhaps that's the best reason for democratic reforms--they will make you rich.

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It's a few days old, but here's a story on the Kuwaiti demonstration for women's rights.  Scroll down for yet another example of the MSM passing up no opportunity to run a photo of some Middle Eastern "hottie."  No complaints here.

*

Good news from Egypt:  politician Ayam Nour is free--until his trial, at least.  Not that American pressure had anything to do with this.  No, of course not.

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No Sympathy for the Devil

So you're thinking of a career in magic?  Better read first what yesterday's Gulf Times has to say about what it takes to sell your soul to Satan.   

And if that didn't persuade you, read the rest here.

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"How cool would it be to gain 'trusted user' status on a CIA blog?"

Pretty cool, I'd say.  During the Cold War, American intelligence agencies subsidized works by writers, poets and artists that advanced for a world audience such democratic values as freedom of expression.  I've never understood the scandal this government funding caused when it came to light during the 1960s, and why the artists and periodicals which received it were so stigmatized.  What's wrong with using art to help topple dictatorships?

Well, maybe the notion of the government enlisting the aid of creative types is beginning to revive, at least among certain internet-savvy segments of the public.  This essay from Wired makes a good pitch for "spy blogs."  Not only that, but I never thought I'd see the post-COINTELPRO day when working for the CIA would once again be considered "cool."  Times they certainly are a-changin'...

(Thanks to reader Ron G.)

Posted by Steven Vincent at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Islam's Rosa Parks moment? 

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None dare speak its name

This is a real shame.  Just compare how often Islam is connected to terrorism and how seldom it is linked to women's rights.  The discussion is certainly skewed.

-- Dutch parliament member--and fugitive from Isalmist death threats--Aayan Hirsi Ali, on the fact that the parliament of Strasbourg, France, omitted references to "Islam" from printed material accompanying its debate on women's rights.

(Raphael Minder, Financial Times)

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I've written about this issue before, now here's a supporting view on the worrisome trend in Iraq militias. 

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Damned if you do, damned if you don't

Why don't they realize that once America makes a case for something, the Middle East will go in the opposite direction?  Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, but now its hand is strengthened because of American opposition.

-- an unnamed Arab diplomat, speaking about a perceived "backlash" to U.S. demands that Syria withdraw from Lebanon and the Hezbollah disarm.

Somehow, it seems unlikely that if Washington began encouraging the nations of the Middle East to drive Israel into the sea, subject women to shari'a and blame the Western world for all their problems, peaceful co-existence, equal rights and a spirit of Muslim self-criticism would sweep the region.  Just a hunch on my part.

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Number One with a bullet

Turkish people love this stuff.

-- Ankara book store manager Rukan Binerbay, explaining the appeal of a surprising best-seller in his country called Kavgam, which has sold an estimated 100,000 copies  We in the West know this book by another name:  Mein Kampf.

(Vincent Boland, Financial Times)

*

Overpriced tickets.  Oppressive commercials.  Overloud and over violent trailers.  Michael Moore.  Sequels.  Whoopie Goldberg.  The Oscars.  "Not in Our Name."  Did I mention Michael Moore?  Well, here's another reason to boycott the movies.

And here's a visual.

*

"Majority of Iranians want to emigrate," via Regime Change Iran.

This comes as no surprise.  The Iranians have long wearied of the theocratic despotism they so fervently welcomed 25 years ago.  "We live in a nation where to survive you must be dishonest with people and yourself," our guide told Warrior Woman and I when we spent a month in the country in 2000.  During that time, numerous Iranians approached us to ask in halting English, "Can you help me get to the United States?"

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Children beheaded in Iraq.  A cri de coeur from Hammorabi.

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Our friends the Uzbeks. 

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Taking it to the streets

Hundreds of people braved freezing temperatures on Saturday [March 5] to march through the streets of Berlin's Turkish community, in a rare public protest at the rise in "honour killings" in the city.

The protesters, including many Turkish women and a few Turkish men, took the streets following the killing last month of Hatun Surucu, a 23-year-old Turkish woman shot dead in a south Berlin street.

And here's another street demonstration, this one in Kuwait.

Hopefully similar protests will take place here.

(Credit:  WLUML)

*

Cross-dressing, Saudi-style.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 07:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Free to be illiberal

Iraqi society is tribal, Islamic and very conservative.  Most people don't feel ownership to the existing secular famiily law, and we must change it to follow shari'a.  Forcing secularism on our society is also a form of dictatorship.

-- Women's rights activist Fatima Yaqoub, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal's Farnaz Fassihi

First, a word of explication.  Iraq's "existing secular family law" dates from 1959, and was--and in many ways still is--one of the most progressive, pro-feminist statutes promulgated by any Middle Eastern government. 

Second, we should not be surprised by Ms. Yaqoub's sentiments.  There are many feminists in Iraq who believe the Koran, and shari'a law, are the proper avenues for women's liberation.  Some argue that Islam provides women distinct rights which counter the patriarchal customs of tribalism.  Others--Ms. Yaqoub apparently among them--believe that women must not contravene Islamic law and, by extension, Allah.  Western reporters have tended to ignore voices like these, because they don't fit our concept of "feminism":  how can a woman be both for women's rights and affirm shari'a?  But there are many Iraqi women who agree with Ms. Yaqoub, more than we think, or wish.

Third, Mr. Fassihi puts his reportorial finger on an important point when he writes

Shiite politicians are already seeking ways to dampen opposition to changing family laws.  Some politicial analysts say the Kurds may look the other way if the constitution guarantees them continued autonomy.  Shiites also have said they would support exemptions for religious minorities such as Christians.

In other words, the Shiites seem ready to bargain away many chits in return for their right to control the lives of Muslim women.  It is that important to them.  As I've argued before, we face a situation similar to the Reconstruction Era when, in order to assure nationwide stability and expedite the end of an unpopular occupation, the North abandoned the Abolitionist cause and allowed the South to re-enslave its black citizens.  No doubt Washington will look the other way again.  African-Americans were expendable over a century ago; today, in another time, and another land, it is women.  But the result is the same.  In the name of order and stability, freedom for an entire class of people will be deferred for an indefinite period of time--or until the next revolution occurs.

Let's close with another quote from the redoubtable Ms. Yaqoub, as she explains the advice she gave a young Iraqi woman::

I told her that our country has had three wars and there are not enough men for every woman to marry.  So she should not be so selfish and share her husband like a good Muslim wife.  I reminded her that God had allowed men to take more than one wife and you don't defy God's orders.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Less bling for the buck

A country that is now aspiring to an "ownership society" will not find happiness in--and I'll use hyperbole here for emphasis--a "sharecropper's society."  But that's precisely what our trade policies, supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, are taking us.

-- Warren Buffet, in a letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.  Noting that if the trade deficit continues for another decade, we will be paying three percent of our national income to foreigners "as a tribute for the over-indulgences of the past," he added,

This annual royalty paid [to] the world which would not disappear unless the US massively underconsumed and began to run consistent and large trade surpluses would undoubtedly produce significant political unrest in the US.

It's a sad and disturbing state of affairs when saving money risks creating social upheaval. 

(Dan Roberts, Financial Times)

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The sick man of Europe

We were shocked by images of the police beating women and young people...We are concerned to see such disproportionate force used against demonstrators.  We ask the Turkish authorities to carry out an arrest investigation into this event to prevent similar incidents in the future.

-- a statement by EU representatives regarding Sunday's disruption in Istanbul of a march commemorating International Women's Day

(Vincent Boland, Financial Times)

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Just as soon as we finish democratizing the Middle East

U.S. urged to end world poverty

-- headline, New York Post, March 7

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Copping a plea

Please send this message.  I am not Sadam Hussein.  I want to cooperate.

-- Syrian president Bashir Assad, speaking to Time magazine

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The people of Hilla threatened to go into civil disobedience if their conditions about punishing the negligent and bringing the criminals for justice is not met

If what Hammorabi reports is true, why aren't we hearing more about it?

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In the first substantial shift of public opinion in the Muslim world since the beginning of the United States’ global war on terrorism, more people in the world’s largest Muslim country now favor American efforts against terrorism than oppose them.

(Via Words From Iraq)

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Arthur Chrenkoff keeps doing his share for the war effort with another "Good News from Afghanistan." 

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Belonging to a particular religion or culture should never be the reason for receiving less than ideal health care.

Exactly right.  All the more reason for Muslims to adapt themselves to our culture, and not vice versa. 

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Very quietly, we can be sure.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The National Review's Deroy Murdock on war and language and dead on target.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Mohammad al-Durra case:  here's an idea that's long overdue.  Nous pouvons toujours rêver. 

Posted by Steven Vincent at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

They weren't Muslim.  As Jeane MacIntosh and Todd Venezia report in today's New York Post, the people who killed the Armanious family were two thugs with the Christian-sounding names of Hamilton Sanchez and Edward MacDonald.  This revelation comes after a steady stream of accusations that Muslims might have taken revenge on the Copts for posting internet messages critical of Islam.  In the days following the murder, understandably upset individuals leveled harsh denunciations of the religion, and threatened Muslims who attempted to show solidarity with the Armanious's friends and relatives. Even now, some people won't accept the fact that their rush to judgment was wrong.

But it was.  As prejudgment and guilt by association usually are.  True, the degree of animosity directed at Muslims was relatively low, particularly when compared to other outbreaks of xenophobia and scapegoating this nation has witnessed.  Still, for that reason alone, it's worth reminding ourselves of one of the fundamental concepts of democratic freedoms:  presumed innocence.  This means religions, too--they, no less than people, are guiltless until proved otherwise.  And if it is wrong to abandon democratic principles in the name of multicultural "tolerance." it is equally wrong to jettison those principles in moments of terror and fear.  Cultures that falter in either of these directions soon become lost.  Just ask the Dutch. 

Posted by Steven Vincent at 04:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

She'll fix that leaky Iraqi border right quick.

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And what exactly are British taxpayers getting for their money?

The Financial Times, March 4, 2005:

The U.S. paid Iraqi opposition leaders millions of dollars a year for intelligence on Saddam Hussein's regime that later proved flawed, according to official documents published by the British government. 

A confidential paper drawn up by the Foreign Office in July last year, said the Iraqi National Congress [INC], led by Ahmad Chalabi, was "in receipt of approximately $4m per annum from the U.S. government."

The disclosure was made under new freedom of information laws.

An Australian Broadcast Corporation interview with Ahmad Chalabi, February 9, 2002:

[M]ost of the funding that the United States provided for the INC came after the Inspector General provided their report, by the when the Inspector General had come here, the United States had given us about 4 and a quarter million dollars. Since that time they've increased that by about 11 million dollars

Like they say, you can look it up.

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And speaking of the exchequer of the Sceptred Isle, here's a proposal to use public funds to help construct a Muslim Redoubt in an English town. 

Posted by Steven Vincent at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Paki-bashing

In 2002, a  Pakistani man is accused of having an illicit affair with a woman.  His punishment?  The man's village council orders the gang rape of his sister.  The assault outrages world opinion and a Pakistani court convincts and sentences six men to death.  Yesterday, Pakistan's High Court overturned the convictions of five of the men, citing a "technicality."  According to the New York Times' Salman Masood (reg. req.) when the rape victim, Mukhtar Mai, heard of the acquital, she broke into tears.

Nor is that the only affront to women's dignity perpetrated by Islamabad: Honor killing legislation quashed as being "un-Islamic; "Hudood Ordinances" allowed to stand because they are "Islamic."  What does that tell us about...Islam? 

And this:  why does the plight of Palestinians cause Muslims worldwide to quiver with outrage and indignation--yet the far more pervasive and lethal oppressive of Muslim women engenders only a few muted cries from human rights organizations?

And where are American feminists on this issue?  Check out the play that NOW's website gives the issue of honor killing.  (Hint:  none.) 

Posted by Steven Vincent at 02:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Who says Islam has no sense of humor?

(Thanks to Ron G.)

*

Hague crimes

Every evening, plainsclothes police officers escort two members of the Dutch Parliament to armored cars and take them to hiding places for the night.  One of them, Geert Wilders, has been camping out in a cell in a high-security prison where his life, he said, has become "like a bad B movie."  His colleague, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, has grown increasingly miserable sleeping on a military base.

From Marlise Simons' New York Times article, headlined "2 Dutch Deputies on the Run, From Jihad Death Threat."

Can we talk?  I visited Amsterdam exactly once, during my post-college Grand Tour in the 1970s, and found myself surprisingly uncomfortable.  Oh, the people were fine, the food good, the beer plentiful--rather, it was the air of permissiveness that unnerved me.  The smug acceptance of drugs and prostitution, the alleyways filled with young people crouched over bongs, the self-congratulatory sense among the Dutch that they had moved beyond the shoebuckled Puritanism of America to discover the pure joy of harmless hedonism.  Oh yes, and the consensus among all young hipsters of the day that of course the Netherlanders were right:  hadn't Sigmund Freud, Norman O. Brown and Herbert Marcuse taught us that civilization was constructed on a foundation of repressed instinct and desire?

At the time, I was no stranger to gratified instinct and desire.  Still, I kept thinking, when everything is permitted, nothing has meaning.  When sin becomes validated as virtue, it loses its delicious power to entrance, enthrall and enhance the good.  Too much sympathy for the Devil, and we simply invite him into our homes.

I wonder if we're not seeing this take place in the Netherlands today.  A complacent society, convinced that the ease and convenience of toleration is in fact its virtue, has evidently lost its ability to draw distinctions, make value judgments, say no.  Instead, it imprisons its own people as criminals, grants the criminals the rights of free citizens, and expresses its rage in impotent acts of vandalism.  The murder of one filmmaker has triggered more anti-Muslim violence in that tiny country that the slaughter of 3,000 people did in ours.  Why is that?  Could it be because we have an infuriating habit of making moral judgments?  That the oppressive shades of our Puritan ancestors still whisper to us the difference between good and bad, harmless and harmful?  And that true forbearance begins when a society obeys its own instincts for right and wrong, rather than suppress them in a fuzzy multiculturalism that cannot disguise its inability to defend itself?  How foolish we Americans are.

*

Arrests made in  the Armanious family murder case.

*

U.S. troops shoot and wound freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena on her way to the Baghdad airport.

Evidently, an Italian secret service agent who negotiated her freedom was killed.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 05:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In England, legal protections for Muslims, but not for gays.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Think back on the bleak days of 2003--and the withering criticism you received about your support of the war from your Euro- and Leftist friends in 2004.  Then read this.

(Via Instapundit)

Posted by Steven Vincent at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Martin Denny 1911-2005

Not much to do with the Middle East here, but let us mark the passing of a great musician, creator of without doubt the finest instrumental of our--and perhaps any--time, Quiet Village.  For a visual tour of his oeuvre, go here.  And tonight, let us kick back in the Barcalounger, put Hypnotique on the Hi-Fi and raise a Mai Tai in Martin's honor.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Every day is Ashura, and every land is Karbala...

So say the Shia.  Ashura is their Eastertide, the festival of mourning in which Shiites commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain at Karbala in 680 AD.  Although devotionalists observed Ashua late last month, photographs of its various worldwide incarnations are still appearing on the web.  To get an idea of what this amazing--and not a little disquieting--event looks like, check out these photos from Karachi.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Syria's business

Both of them stood up and said loud and clear to Syria, 'You get your troops and your secret services out of Lebanon so that good democracy has a chance to flourish."

-- President Bush, talking about the joint press conference held by Condoleezza Rice and French foreign minister Michel Barnier.

(Nedra Pickler, New York Sun)

*

We are in the corner now.  The problem is that pressure will never stop, not even when we leave Lebanon.

-- Youssef Marish, publisher of the Syrian weekly Al Mobky

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[T]hey see that if they fix themselves, they will die.

-- Syrian opposition leader Michel Kilo, speaking of the Assad government

(Hassan M. Fattah, New York Times)

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We see the situation and the people--we are not blind.

-- Hizbollah spokesman Mohamed Affif

Unlike in Iraq, Shia Muslims in Lebanon are not pressing for democracy.  This has put Hizbollah in a bind:  increasingly the Shia terrorists are caught between the will of the people and they support the terrorist group receives from Damascus. 

(Roula Khalaf, Financial Times)

Posted by Steven Vincent at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Najaf vs. Qom?  The Daily Star weighs in.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Pyrrhic, at best

[It was] a victory for all Muslims who wish to preserve their identity and values despite prejudice and bigotry.

-- Shabina Begum, a 16 year-old Muslim girl whom Britain's Court of Appeal ruled must be allowed to wear a jilbab, or long robe, to school.  Begum told reporters that the school's earlier refusal to let her wear the traditional Muslim attire "was a consequence of an atmosphere that has been created in Western societies since 9/11--an atmosphere in which Islam has been made a target for vilification in the name of the 'war on terror.'"

Someone should remind Ms. Begum that an "atmosphere" did not fly two passenger jets into the World Trade Center that day.

Update:  A former British Archbishop is not pleased by the ruling.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 08:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Loaded magazine

There's a great difference between the sincere mujahedeen emirs who give up leadership for the sake of their religion and nation, and the region's kings and presidents, who refuse to unite the nation and scrap borders drawn by the crusaders.

-- Osama bin Laden, guest blogging on Al Qaeda's new internet magazine, Zurnat al-Sanam.

They might want to rethink the title, though.  It means "Tip of the Camel's Hump."

(Rawya Rageh, AP)

Posted by Steven Vincent at 07:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Belgian melt-down over its Muslim population continues.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 06:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"Legitimate Islamic option," or "putrefied death?"  At least Dar Al-Hayat is raising the question.

Perhaps this report would clarify matters.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 05:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mullah TV

America, Enemy of God, America the mad demon...light the pure flames to destroy the serpents...O Men of the seven continents, awake!  Awake!  Light the pure flames to destroy the serpents; this impure octopus with seven heads...must be killed.

-- from a music video, seen on Tehran TV, produced by those swingin' hipsters, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. 

Even so, Iran's version of MTV is more poetic than this passage of a sermon given last January by Iranian Ayatollah Mohammad Ememi-Kashami at Tehran University:

If you [Americans] behave with disrespect even just a little bit, [Iran] will punch you in the mouth so hard that all your devouring teeth will fall out.

We have been warned.

(MEMRI)

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Saud-istic behavior

One Moroccan woman got help from the husband’s family to get a divorce after he moved her into a tent and started using her as an ashtray.

Read more about Love, Wahhabi Style here.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 03:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Terms of engagement, via Christopher Hitchens

In Iraq, Muslim militants place bombs in the mosques of those Muslims they regard as heretics.  In Afghanistan and Pakistan, too, the Salafi and Wahhabi extremists commit murder against Muslims they deem unclean or unorthodox.  And in the West, there are non-Muslims who excuse such atrocities as "resistance."  These are often the same as those who hailed what they thought of as the "street."  I don't think they should be indicted for hate crimes, but they should be made to understand that what they say is hateful and criminal, as well as sectarian.  The battle for clarity of language is a part of this larger context, and it is time for the opponents of terror and bigotry to become very much less apologetic and defensive on this score.

(Salon)

Here, here.  Hear, hear.  (Thanks, BH!)

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Note:  After a brief blogging-hiatus to complete some (paying) assignments (as in this month's Reason, where I have an article on a topic only tangentially related to Iraq), I've decided to make some changes in Redzone's format.  Less original material, more links.  Easier to read, easier to write, more user- and producer-friendly, etc.  In addition, I'll post material all through the day, to satisfy that web-surfing itch of mine, and no doubt yours. 

And now, onto the day's events...

Like reading too much Wahhabi propaganda

Everybody makes mistakes.

-- Ahmd Omar Abu Ali, in a letter written to his parents from a Saudi Arabian prison.

As we know, the U.S. government has charged Mr. Abu Ali with plotting to assassinate President Bush and to carry out other terrorist attacks.  According to FBI agent Barry Cole, the 23 year-old confessed to him while Saudi custody that he had joined an Al Qaeda cell and planned to hi-jack an airliner to use in a manner similar to 9-11.  He allegedly gave Mr. Cole a letter to his parents, who live in Falls Church, Virginia, in which he acknowledged he would probably be sent to jail because of the terrorism charges. 

For more thoughts on the Abu Ali case, see my post on Chester.

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Shiite happens

Maybe now, after all that has happened in Iraq, we will take something political from the story of Hussein.  Now the issue will take another route, because Shiites have started the growth of their political culture.

-- Saudi Shiite Nabih al-Ibrahim

(Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times)

The headline for MacFarquhar's article says it all:  "Saudi Shiites, Long Kept Down, Look to Iraq and Assert Rights."  This may yet prove the most pregnant turn of events in the post-Jan. 30 environment.  For my take on "Shia power," go here  and here.

*

Remember, it wasn't easy in 1775 either

The plan is to open the national assembly next week [between March 6 and 10]. We will open the parliament whether or not there is an agreement.

-- Jawad al-Maliky, deputy to Shiite candidate for Prime Minister, Ibrahim Jaafari.

(Al Jareeza)

*

With the business end of an M-16

The language used by the White House indicates a campaign similar to the one that preceded the attack on Iraq.  We are essential for the peace process, for Iraq.  Look, perhaps one day the Americans will come and knock on our door.

-- Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, speaking to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica

(Eli Lake, New York Sun)

*

Too late

Things are starting to change.  When the Sunnis talk to us now, they insist they are separate from the terrorists because they don't want Iraqi blood on their hands.

-- United Iraqi Alliance member Salama Al-Khafji

(Farnaz Fassihi, Wall Street Journal)

Posted by Steven Vincent at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 2, 2005:

If you apply for a job then you're an "agent" and if you want to see democracy and freedom in your country then you're an "infidel" and if you say that resistance is terrorism then you're a "traitor".

In all cases your blood is cheap and you have to die.

This is the philosophy of the criminal gangs we're facing and this morning they declared it again in the bloodiest way they could find.

-- Omar at Iraq the Model

Iraqi Bloggers Central has other reactions to the bombing at Hilla.  Read them all.

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Gross!  "Chemical" Ali's still living up to his name.

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Racial profiling in the U.K.?

Posted by Steven Vincent at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's linked via Instapundit, so you've probably seen it already, but its worth checking out what's happening to Muslim women in Berlin.  And follow this link, too.  Multiculturalists, take note.

Why the civilized world does not stand up en masse and say enough! to this barbaric tradition beggars the imagination.

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Union leaders.  Women.  Lesbians.  Gays.  If this were happening in a Central American country--where all good activists want to pen their motorcycle diaries--the Left would be up in arms.  Alas, it is only Iraq, only Arabs.  And it's Bush's war.

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But this is part of Bush's war, too.

Posted by Steven Vincent at 07:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)