London Terror & Europe's Alert

From: houari_ (Original Message) Sent: 7/7/2005 5:01 PM
Salam alikom,
This morning, we heard about four blasts have rocked London's subway system.
Accurist , gringo and friends who live there, please let us know how are you doing ???
I called you several times but your phone lines are not working. I hope you and your families are doing good and safe.







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Recommend Message 2 of 10 in Discussion

From: katkoutah220v Sent: 7/8/2005 10:00 AM
salam

yes i also tried to call yesterday several times to gringo but no answer, lines keep giving me a busy signal i hoppe you're doing ok gringo,

and sorry about what happend

we only have to say la 7awla wa la kowata illa billah

salam




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Recommend Message 3 of 10 in Discussion

From: RoboticMotoguelma Sent: 7/8/2005 2:36 PM
Reports say that gringo was safe and he was jogging in a field far from London at that time (footing) , the only danger he faced, he was attacked by a wild group of bees that pushed him to run faster and faster till he was stopped down a hill where a cow scared the s%%%t out of him, he ran faster again and this time he could not stop, reports confirmed he 's still running , people have witnessed some bruises on his face of course caused by those bees , atleast he is now considered as a London's Forest Gump. Run Forest Run !!!

Just to make you smile. :)



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Recommend Message 4 of 10 in Discussion

From: Aminah Sent: 7/9/2005 4:14 PM
URGENT ALERT: Precautionary advice for UK Muslims

07 July 2005

There has been an increase in anti-Muslim feeling , particularly after 9/11. IHRC urges caution on the part of the Muslim community, after today's events.

------------------------------------------------------------
Islamic Human Rights Commission
------------------------------------------------------------
1. Precautionary measures for the community
2. 24 Safety Tips for Muslim Women
3. A final note from IHRC

1. PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES FOR THE COMMUNITY


There has been an increase in anti-Muslim feeling across Europe, the USA and Australia, particularly after 9/11. Whilst we all pray for no such backlash after the attacks in London today, IHRC urges caution on the part of the Muslim community.

Incidents have already reported to the Islamic Human Rights Commission.

In light of the present situation, IHRC urges that precautionary measures be taken:

• Be vigilant
• Do not open suspect packages
• Monitor access to car parks and other enclosures under your control. Report suspicious vehicles to the police.
• Review security arrangements regularly to ensure they are adequate for any event you intend to host.
• Ask your local crime prevention officer to carry out a crime prevention survey of your building.
• Encourage staff to take security seriously and establish regular training for them. Ensure they are aware of contingency plans and
procedures for the building. Make guidelines readily available to all staff including ‘out of doors’ house keeping staff.
• Consider having a fire safety review carried out by the London Fire and Emergency planning Authority.
• Consider installing CCTV. If you do have CCTV ensure it records properly & images are of good quality.
• Report all harassment, whether it is verbal, physical or psychological, to the police and the Islamic Human Rights Commission (020 8904 4222, info@ihrc.org)
• If a satisfactory response is not received from the police, contact the IHRC
• Liaise with the police, and get advice on how to best tackle the problem of harassment.

As Muslims, we must remain firm in our beliefs and have patience. We should remember that:

Allah does not lay on any soul a burden except to the extent to which He has granted it; Allah brings about ease after difficulty. (65:7)

If Allah assists you, then there is none that can overcome you, and if He forsakes you, who is there then that can assist you after Him? And on Allah should the believers rely. (3:160)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. 24 Safety Tips for Muslim Women
By Samana Siddiqui
courtesy & copyright soundvision.com

http://www.soundvision.com/info/terrorism/sistertips2.asp


As Muslims and their institutions become targets of harassment in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack, Muslim women, especially those who dress Islamically, have become major targets.

Reports of Muslim women being yelled at, threatened, having their Hijabs pulled off and having guns pointed at them have surfaced. It is necessary that the whole community rallies to defend Muslim women. But sisters also have to take personal precautions when they go outside. Like it or not, they will be targets.

Here are some safety tips for sisters:

1. Always be aware of your surroundings

This applies whether you are traveling alone or in groups. Don't just focus inwardly on your thoughts if you are alone, or your friends if you are together. Keep one eye out for your environment, looking out for suspicious characters, possible danger, etc.

Also, don't assume that because your area has been "safe" thus far, that it will continue to be so.

2. Travel in groups

"There is safety in numbers" is not just a cliché. It's true. Make a point of travelling together with other sisters, whether it's on public transportation, on campus, in cars, etc.

3. Change the route you normally travel by

If you've taken the same bus, train or highway to get to work or school, change your route. Even if it takes you a little longer, your safety is more important. By changing your route, you can avert possible attacks or
harassment from those who know your schedule, method and route of travel well. Please note though that you should avoid short cuts that take you through unfamiliar or unsafe areas.

4. Look confident

Walk with a straight posture and your arms swinging by your sides. Avoid slouching or walking like a victim. This makes you an easy target for attackers.

5. When riding by public transportation choose the right seat

If you are riding by bus or train, do not sit on the window seat as you may be "blocked in" by a potential assailant. Always select the seat next to the aisle so that you can quickly leave if necessary.

If you are taking public transportation alone after peak hours, sit as close to the driver as possible and/or choose the section of the bus/train that is most crowded. Try to get a seat near the exit as well.

6. If you are driving alone

Don't think that if you are in a car, you're safe. Windows should be up and doors locked even when driving to avoid unwanted passengers at intersections. When you are walking to your car, always have your keys
ready, so that you can quickly get into your car.

But don't just get in right away. Always check your car before entering, especially the back, for any intruders.

7. Never leave your car door unlocked

Even if it means for one minute to drop something off in the mailbox that's
a few feet away. Attackers have been known to lie in wait for such an
opportunity.

8. Be careful in parking lots

Always be alert in parking lots, especially when it's dark. Ask someone to escort you to your car. Between cars and inside cars, it's easy for someone to hide and wait until an unalert person comes along.

9. If you are travelling by taxi

Always check the identification of the driver (usually located near the visor) and ensure that it matches the driver. Once inside, don't sit behind the driver as it may be easy for the driver to lock the rear passenger door. Always choose the adjacent seat .

In addition, avoid flagging taxis. Always order taxis so the driver can be traced if something happens.

10. Don't use the walkman

If you're used to listening to your walkman while outside, drop this habit, especially in isolated areas. With your walkman on, you cannot hear the approach of a possible attacker.

11. Note "safe houses" along your route

Mentally note houses at intervals on each route you take that can be used as "safe houses" if you are attacked, such as shops or houses that you know to be occupied by a friend or acquaintance.

12. When you make a call from a phone booth

After dialling the number you wish to call always turn around so that you have your back to the phone and may see who or what is coming your way. You will then be able to tell the person to whom you are speaking that you may be in trouble and you may be able to use the weight of the phone as a weapon. The door of a telephone box could be used to wedge in the limbs of the attacker.

13. Do not open the door of your home without checking

DO NOT open the door to your home without first checking from a window, peephole or by asking and verifying who it is. Instruct children to do the same.

14. Report any suspicious activity around your home

If you see people loitering on the streets near your house, call the police on a non emergency number and report it.

15. Invest in a cell phone

This is an invaluable safety device. Keep it with you at all times and keep emergency numbers on it. Also, keep it next to your bed before you go to bed at night. Cell phones were first popularized by women as a security device, business people came later.

16. Parking tips

Avoid parking in areas that are not well lit. Where possible, park close to a school or work entrance or in a parking garage that has an attendant.

If you see a suspicious person approaching or hanging around near your parked car, turn around and go back to an area where there are other people. Try to get an escort to your car through the campus or job security or local
police.

17. Tell others about your whereabouts

Parents, spouses and friends should know where you are going and when you will be back, so that your absence will be noticed. Arrange a call in system with a friend if you live alone, whereby you call when you arrive home.

18. Trust your instincts

If you are walking somewhere and feel strange or scared, don't ignore this feeling. Take extra precautions by walking a little faster to get to a more populated or well-lit area or change the route you've been driving on.

19. If you think you are being followed, change your route and activity.

You can cross the street, change directions, or enter a populated building or store. Do whatever is necessary to avoid being alone with the person who is following you. Inform a police officer or security official about the follower.

20. Attract attention if you are in a dangerous situation.

Get others' to pay attention to what's happening to you if you are under attack or being harassed. You can alert others by honking a car horn or loudly describing what is happening.

21. NEVER admit that you are alone

If someone calls your home and asks if you are alone, NEVER admit it. Ask who the caller is. If they refuse to identify themselves, calmly hangup. Keep the radio on in the house so that callers will get the impression that others are in the home too. Instruct children to do the same when they pick up the phone.

22. Obscene phone calls

If you receive an obscene call or a crank call, do not talk to the caller. Hang up if the caller doesn't say anything, or as soon as s/he shouts obscenities. Hang up the phone calmly and do not slam it down. Note down the date and time of the calls. If they are persistent, inform local police.

23. If you are a student

Avoid studying in isolated classrooms in parts of the college campus that are not regularly patrolled by the school's security officers.

24. In large buildings take the elevator, not the stairwell

Stairwells are usually quiet and dark. Most people take the elevator. But if someone creepy gets on, don't hesitate to get off at the same time. Or, if someone is already on the elevator who you feel strange about, do not get on and wait for the next elevator.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. A final note from IHRC

At times like this, it is essential to realise that the only superpower is Allah subhana wa ta ala, the All-knowing, the All-powerful. To Him belongs all in the heavens and the earth, and we should not forget the power of praying and turning to Allah. We would like to recommend taking every opportunity to pray for peace and security for all.




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Recommend (1 recommendation so far) Message 5 of 10 in Discussion

From: Algerian Community Team Sent: 7/11/2005 3:17 PM
(Original Message) From: Muchkill_Algeria



The reality of this barbaric bombing

If we are fighting insurgency in Iraq, what makes us think insurgency won't come to us?

By Robert Fisk


07/08/05 "The Independent" - - "If you bomb our cities," Osama bin Laden said in one of his recent video tapes, "we will bomb yours." There you go, as they say. It was crystal clear Britain would be a target ever since Tony Blair decided to join George Bush's "war on terror" and his invasion of Iraq. We had, as they say, been warned. The G8 summit was obviously chosen, well in advance, as Attack Day.

And it's no use Mr Blair telling us yesterday that "they will never succeed in destroying what we hold dear". "They" are not trying to destroy "what we hold dear". They are trying to get public opinion to force Blair to withdraw from Iraq, from his alliance with the United States, and from his adherence to Bush's policies in the Middle East. The Spanish paid the price for their support for Bush - and Spain's subsequent retreat from Iraq proved that the Madrid bombings achieved their objectives - while the Australians were made to suffer in Bali.

It is easy for Tony Blair to call yesterdays bombings "barbaric" - of course they were - but what were the civilian deaths of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the children torn apart by cluster bombs, the countless innocent Iraqis gunned down at American military checkpoints? When they die, it is "collateral damage"; when "we" die, it is "barbaric terrorism".

If we are fighting insurgency in Iraq, what makes us believe insurgency won't come to us? One thing is certain: if Tony Blair really believes that by "fighting terrorism" in Iraq we could more efficiently protect Britain - fight them there rather than let them come here, as Bush constantly says - this argument is no longer valid.

To time these bombs with the G8 summit, when the world was concentrating on Britain, was not a stroke of genius. You don't need a PhD to choose another Bush-Blair handshake to close down a capital city with explosives and massacre more than 30 of its citizens. The G8 summit was announced so far in advance as to give the bombers all the time they needed to prepare.

A co-ordinated system of attacks of the kind we saw yesterday would have taken months to plan - to choose safe houses, prepare explosives, identify targets, ensure security, choose the bombers, the hour, the minute, to plan the communications (mobile phones are giveaways). Co-ordination and sophisticated planning - and the usual utter ruthlessness with regard to the lives of the innocent - are characteristic of al-Qa'ida. And let us not use - as our television colleagues did yesterday - "hallmarks", a word identified with quality silver rather than base metal.

And now let us reflect on the fact that yesterday, the opening of the G8, so critical a day, so bloody a day, represented a total failure of our security services - the same intelligence "experts" who claim there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when there were none, but who utterly failed to uncover a months-long plot to kill Londoners.

Trains, planes, buses, cars, metros. Transportation appears to be the science of al-Qa'ida's dark arts. No one can search three million London commuters every day. No one can stop every tourist. Some thought the Eurostar might have been an al-Qa'ida target - be sure they have studied it - but why go for prestige when your common or garden bus and Tube train are there for the taking.

And then come the Muslims of Britain, who have long been awaiting this nightmare. Now every one of our Muslims becomes the "usual suspect", the man or woman with brown eyes, the man with the beard, the woman in the scarf, the boy with the worry beads, the girl who says she's been racially abused.

I remember, crossing the Atlantic on 11 September 2001 - my plane turned round off Ireland when the US closed its airspace - how the aircraft purser and I toured the cabins to see if we could identify any suspicious passengers. I found about a dozen, of course, totally innocent men who had brown eyes or long beards or who looked at me with "hostility". And sure enough, in just a few seconds, Osama bin Laden turned nice, liberal, friendly Robert into an anti-Arab racist.

And this is part of the point of yesterday's bombings: to divide British Muslims from British non-Muslims (let us not mention the name Christians), to encourage the very kind of racism that Tony Blair claims to resent.

But here's the problem. To go on pretending that Britain's enemies want to destroy "what we hold dear" encourages racism; what we are confronting here is a specific, direct, centralised attack on London as a result of a "war on terror" which Lord Blair of Kut al-Amara has locked us into. Just before the US presidential elections, Bin Laden asked: "Why do we not attack Sweden?"

Lucky Sweden. No Osama bin Laden there. And no Tony Blair.









MID-EAST REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org
Phone: (202) 362-5266 Fax: (815) 366-0800




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Recommend (4 recommendations so far) Delete Message 6 of 10 in Discussion

From: Mokhtar_alger Sent: 7/12/2005 7:10 AM
دمعة على لندن

لحسين بن محمود


بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم


القلب يألم والنفس تأسف على تفجيرات لندن ..

قطارات وباصات تهشّمت في قلب لندن ..

آهِ لندن ..

كم غرق في أتون سياساتك من الناس وأنتن !!

آه لندن ..

خمسون أشقر صُبغوا بالدم الأحمر !!
خمسون اشقر ولون العين أخضر ..
خمسون أشقر ..
آه على الخمسين أشقر ..

بكاء على أطلال لندن !!

خرج المفكر والسياسي يدندن
والكاتب والمفتي وإمام يؤذن !!
وشيخ شيوخ وأمير وملحّن ..
لا لا لا ، لا لا لا ... الكل يدندن :

آه لندن ..

اسقطت خلافة ومنعت الأذان في اسطنبول : لندن ..
قتلت نساء وشرّدت الأطفال في العالم : لندن ..
هتكت أعراضاً وسفكت بحراً من الدماء : لندن ..
اقتسم العالم قبل قرن : فرنسا ولندن ..
هل نسينا ما فعلت بالمسلمين لندن !!

ألم تسلّم اليهود فلسطين ..
ألم تقطّع بلاد المسلمين ..
ليس في الأرض بقعة إلا وثأر دفين !!
ألم تدمّر على رؤوس الأفغان بيوت طين !!
ألم تقتل في العراق مليون ونصف سجين !!
ألم تهدم المساجد على رؤوس الآمنين !!

أنسيتم ما فعلت في فلسطين !!
أنسيتم رجالاً في الأقصى مصلين !!
أنسيتم ما فعلت في الشام ومصر والصين !!
وجزيرة العُرب ، ولورنس اللعين !!

مسكينة لندن ..
مظلومة لندن ..
مقهورة لندن ..

نعوذ بالله .. ليس للإرهاب دين ..

كم خَلق الإرهاب في لندن من دموع ..
كم أوقد الإرهاب لمقتولٍ شموع !!
كم خلّف الإرهاب من قلب جزوع !!
في قلب لندن ..


آه لتفجيرات لندن ..
ثم آه لتفجيرات لندن ..

فجّرت فينا حنيناً وشوقاً للندن ..

استنكر شارون هذا الفعل الجبان ..
وأزبد بوش ، وللفعل أدان ..

وقد عرفنا فتوة المفتي قبل أن يفتي بزمان :
ليس للإرهاب في الدين مكان ..
على المسلمين القتل وللصليبي أمان ..

يُقبَر المسلمين بصمت وهوان ..
كي لا يعرف التاريخُ أين المكان ..
ولجُرح الصليبي ألف بيان وبيان ..
ثم بيان ، وبيان ، وبيان ، وبيان ..
وبيان يتلوه بيان تلو بيان .....

بكى على لندن جميع الثقلان ..
وأظهر العالم إشفاق وحنان ..
الحب ظاهر باد للعيان ..

ولو كنتَ ابن أباك فأسرر بالجِنان ..
بكاء على مسلم في هذا الزمان ..
فقبْل البرق ترى تكبيل اليدان ..

والرجلان ..

إنك لا تبكي على مصاب لندن !!

كيف لا يبكون من حاد الله ، وللقرآن أهان !!
كيف لا يبكون من يهزأ بنبي الإنس وجانّ !!
ألا يبكون من يقتل إخواننا في كل مكان !!
ألا يبكون من يسوم الحرائر ذل وهوان !!

عراقية تخلط ماء بعجين ..
الأطفال جوعى وليس في العجين طحين !!
وهل لطحين من سبيل والزوج سجين !!
في سجن بصرة لندن ..

من فجّر قطارات لندن !!

لا أظنه عراقياً ، فلو كان لزاد على المليون مئين ..
لا أظنه أفغانياً ، إذا لا يُبقي في لندن غير طين ..
لا أظنه فلسطينياً ، إذا لصيّر مبنى البرلمان عجين ..
لا أظنه عربياً ، فللعُرب مع لندن حساب مكين ..

بل لا أظنه مسلما ،
فكيف يبقي مسلم على مخلوق بلندن !!

هل هي أحقاد أفريقيا خرجت بعد عقود من زمن !!
أم أنها آهات آسيا التي زرعت فيها بريطانيا الفتن !!
أم أنها حرب أفيون مع الصين ، فالصين لا تنسى المحن !!
أم هو انتقام الروس أم الآيرش ، واسكوتلاندا تشكو لمن !!

لا بد للإرهاب أن يحنّ للندن ..

على ضفاف النيل من أثيوبيا إلى مصر الحزينة ..
في أدغال أفريقيا وجنوب القارة ذكريات حزينة ..
في الهند في شرق آسيا في غرب أفريقيا السجينة ..
بل في قلب أوروبا للندن أسرار دفينة ..

قِبلة للذكريات لندن ..

دمة على أحداث لندن ..

قتلت مليون ونصف مليون في العراق ،
وقتل الإرهابي خمسين أصفر!!
شرّدت خمس ملايين أفغاني للدمع أراق ،
وقتل الإرهابي خمسين أصفر !!
هتكت أعراض الرجال والنساء الرِّقاق ،
وقتل الإرهابي خمسين أصفر!!
كيف لا أبكي على أحداث لندن ، وليس إلا :
خمسون ينالون الفراق !!

خمسون في قطارت لندن !!

أي إرهاب هذا يا بنيّ !!
هكذا قالت عجوز من قندهار ..

أي إرهاب هذا يا بنيّ !!
مساجد تُنسف في وضح النهار ..

أي إرهاب هذا يا بني !!
مصاحفٌ تُمزّق في إقليم طُخار ..

أي إرهاب هذا يا بنيّ !!
خمسون علج وباص وقطار !!

أي إرهاب هذا يا بني !!
وبلير في البرلمان ينهق كال**** !!

أي إرهاب هذا يا بني !!
والقدس لم ترى بعد القرار !!

أي إرهاب هذا يا بني !!
قرنين من حديدٍ ممزوجٍ بنار

أي إرهاب هذا يا بني !!
آثارهم في سهولٍ وبراري وقفار !!

أي إرهاب هذا يا بني !!
واختك تصرخ من خلف الجدار !!

أي إرهاب هذا يا بني !!
وا حر قلبي ، عقلي فيك حار ..

أتظن الإرهاب قتل خمسين فقط !!
ها هو الكافر الحربي لأنفاسه التقط ..
لم يكن مثل هذا الإرهاب في الإسلام قط ..
أشعِل الأرض نارا وضع على الحروف نقط ..

دينك الإسلام سلام وصفاء
دينك العدل وهدي وضياء
دائهم أنت وهم للكون وباء

أسمِع القوم كلام الأنبياء
ثلاثاً ، ثم أخبرهم بالجزاء
إسلام أو صَغَار أو شقاء

وأعدوا واقتلوا هكذا في القرآن جاء
لك في قتل كل حربي من النار وجاء

لقد قال نبيك أن لكل داء دواء
وقد جاء في الأمثال من غير مراء
داوِها بالتي كانت من قبل داء

ليس في الأمر كبير بحث أو عناء
داء لندن الإرهاب فعجّل بالشفاء

فلتتبع سياسات بليرَ لندن



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Recommend Message 7 of 10 in Discussion

From: NarjisFlower Sent: 7/21/2005 6:46 PM
Do not know if anyone is interested, but I am now living in Algeria. I cannot believe the difference between the reality of the people living here and what is portrayed to the American public by the media.

If anyone is interested in my recent adventures, you can email me at this address.







Narjis



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Recommend Message 8 of 10 in Discussion

From: Annaba235 Sent: 7/22/2005 7:07 AM
More updates on London's Terror.. 5 minutes Ago..
Police in London shot a man wearing a thick coat at a subway station and cordoned off a mosque on Friday, a day after the city was hit by a second wave of terror attacks in two weeks.

Police had no immediate details on the situation at the mosque in east London. The circumstances of the shooting at Stockwell station were not immediately clear, nor was the man's condition. One witness said he was dead.
British Transport Police said the Northern and Victoria Tube lines, which pass through Stockwell, were suspended because of shooting.

Passengers said they saw police pursuing a man who appeared to be of Pakistani or Indian descent. Some said police shot him when he tripped.

But one witness told the British Broadcasting Corp. that police "pushed him onto the floor and unloaded five shots into him."

"He looked like a cornered fox. He looked pertrified," Mark Whitby said, adding that the man appeared to be dead.

Whitby said the man did not appear to be carrying anything but was wearing a thick coat that looked padded.

Another witness said there were at least 20 police officers involved in the chase.

"The next thing I saw was this guy jump over the barriers and the police officers were chasing after him and everyone was just shouting, 'Get out, Get out!'" said Chris Wells, 28.

Subway passenger Briony Coetsee said she heard gunshots shortly after the shouts to get out.

Alistair Drummond, of the London Ambulance Service, said paramedics had been called to the station at 10:10 a.m.

Mohammed Abdul Bari, chairman of the East London Mosque, said the mosque had received a bomb threat by telephone Friday morning.

The bomb squad came and were searching the premises. More than 6,000 people were expected for Friday afternoon prayers but there were only about a dozen people inside at the time of the threat.



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Recommend Message 9 of 10 in Discussion

From: Dj. Sent: 7/22/2005 2:06 PM
I have been living in the States for over twenty years now, and I am not sure I could say that there is much media coverage to warrant any kind of expectations when one goes and lives in Algeria. I understand that there was sporatic coverage here and there especially pertainng the last decade, but that did not seem to have any lasting impressions. In fact average Americans, in my experience, do not even know where Algeria is.

Could you please elaborate on what your expectations were, and how you came to the impression that they were not correct?
----- Original Message -----
From: NarjisFlower
To: HOUARI,new york
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 3:30 AM
Subject: Re: An American Muslim Living in Algeria


New Message on HOUARI,new york



An American Muslim Living in Algeria

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Reply to Sender Recommend Message 7 in Discussion

From: NarjisFlower


Do not know if anyone is interested, but I am now living in Algeria. I cannot believe the difference between the reality of the people living here and what is portrayed to the American public by the media.

If anyone is interested in my recent adventures, you can email me at this address.







Narjis



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Recommend (1 recommendation so far) Message 10 of 10 in Discussion

From: houari_ Sent: 7/29/2005 6:42 AM

Nobody's Fault

The underlying theme of most Western politicians can be summed up in the phrase "It's not my fault." This is the motto of the Age of Irresponsibility.

Have you ever wondered how, if all the problems we face are nobody's fault, they became problems in the first place? It's been my personal experience that when I tracked down the source of nearly all of my problems, it was me. I was fortunate to grow up when the most commonly heard phrase was "No excuses."

It's the not-my-fault syndrome that explains why both President Bush and Great Britain's Tony Blair react so angrily when someone suggests that terrorist attacks are a response to American and British foreign policy. If they are a response, then obviously the attacks are the fault of the policy-makers.

So, to avoid any share of responsibility whatsoever, both Bush and Blair propagate the line that terrorists are complete nut cases acting purely irrationally because of crazy hatred of our wealth and freedom. This is particularly clever political propaganda since it asserts that we are hated, not for our faults, but for our very virtues.

It's pure hogwash, of course. Anyone who knows anything about the Middle East and terrorism knows that nearly all of the terrorist leaders are university-educated and come from middle-class to upper-class families. Why would bin Laden, himself a multimillionaire, hate wealth? Why would a man who freely chose a life of hardship when he could have been a decadent playboy despise freedom? Bin Laden fought for the freedom of Afghanistan. For whose freedom have Bush and Blair ever fought?

Bin Laden is certainly one of terrorism's wordiest leaders, but in all his speeches and messages of which I'm aware, he's never criticized wealth or freedom. He has been quite specific. He wants the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf ended. He criticizes our support for Arab dictators and for Israeli abuses of Palestinians. He wants us out of the Persian Gulf, and he wants an end to Israel.

Now, acknowledging what he believes is not agreeing with him. You can agree or disagree, but it is both stupid and dishonest to deny that bin Laden believes what bin Laden says. The Bush-Blair ploy is the same as if Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill had said of Adolf Hitler, "Well, he's not really anti-Semitic and he's not really interested in controlling Europe, he just hates us Brits and Yanks because we are such virtuous people." The fact is that Hitler followed the plan outlined in "Mein Kampf," the book he wrote before he came to power, almost to the letter. He did or tried to do exactly what he said he would do for the reasons he said made those actions necessary.

It's this irresponsibility that sickens me. I long for a leader with the guts to speak the truth. What's wrong with saying to the American people: "The terrorist attacks against us have nothing to do with Islam. They are a response to our policy of supporting Israel and the Arab governments we like, our military presence in the Persian Gulf, and our decision to attack Iraq. I think our objectives are worth the price, but if you disagree, vote against me in the next election."

It's been so long since honest speech has come out of a politician's mouth, I'd probably faint if I heard any.

It's not just foreign policy. Public education is entirely within the control of politicians, yet they deny any responsibility for its failures. They control Social Security and Medicare and deny any responsibility for the problems in those programs. They vote for the deficits and they write the tax laws, but they deny any responsibility for red ink or impossible-to-understand tax codes.

Insoluble political problems do not exist. The only question we face is, Do we have the brains and guts to preserve our country and its institutions and to demand accountability from our politicians?



By Charley Reese, July 2005