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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Sha'ban 16,1427/September 10, 2006 #60

Palestinian woman, outstanding physician, "detained" by Israeli occupation forces. Please scroll down. Also, Syed Munawar Hasan, top Pakistani Islamist interviewed by New Trend in Islamabad about women and Hudood Ordinance. Go to end for a letter in defense of ISNA.

CNN's SCANDALOUS LIE ABOUT DR. OMAR 'ABDEL RAHMAN
[This letter was sent to CNN and the entire corporate as well as progressive U.S. and Arab media as well as Muslim English media on September 1, 2006. Ms. Amanpour is keeping mum]

Ms. Christiane Amanpour
CNN

RE: Your comments on Shaikh Omar 'Abdel Rahman in "CNN PRESENTS" Program: "Know your Enemy: In the footsteps of Osama bin Laden."
[August 23, 26 and 27]

Dear Ms. Amanpour

I watched your two-hour program on bin Laden with great interest. As a teacher of journalism, I must say that your program was seriously flawed in its presentation of "facts," in its lack of context and in its attempts to link unrelated personalities.

I will limit my criticism to one of the most blatant errors in your story. You claimed that the famous Egyptian Islamic scholar and teacher Dr. Omar 'Abdel Rahman issued a FATWA, or religious ruling, calling for the killing of American civilians.

I would like to know who fabricated this FATWA for you. Was it Peter Bergen? If not, did you manufacture it from whole cloth? I challenge your claim for the following reasons:

1. Dr. Omar 'Abdel Rahman [also known as the blind shaikh] was arrested by the U.S. in 1995 and has been in U.S. prisons since then.

2. During the "conspiracy" trial against him, the prosecution had all his speeches translated into English in its vain effort to to find "terrorist" inclinations in it. NO SUCH FATWA EXISTS IN THESE TRANSLATIONS.

3. After his conviction, he was sealed away from the world in solitary confinement in a cell in Minnesota, Missouri, Colorado, etc where he has been denied all visits other than a visit from his wife in Egypt which was a one-time event.

4. The blind Shaikh's attorney, Lynne Stewart, and his one-time paralegal, Ahmed Abdel Sattar, were convicted for publishing a message from Dr. Abdel Rahman. These transmissions too did not include anything which can be called a FATWA to kill American civilians. One ruling was attributed to him calling for attacks on Zionist Jews at the time when photos of a Palestinian child being shot by Israelis were published. This was falsely attributed to the blind Shaikh but it too did not say anything about American civilians.

I am confident that you have fabricated this story of the Fatwa issued by Shaikh Omar. If you have a source for it, do let your viewers know the source.

Shaikh Omar's struggle was against the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, a puppet of the U.S. who subjugates the Egyptian people through arbitrary arrests, torture and random terrorism with funds provided by the U.S.
The blind Shaikh is an internationally renowned scholar of the Qur'an and teaches Jihad as an obligation on Muslims who face dictatorship, oppression and occupation. He never taught attacks on civilians. He considered America a place where he could seek refuge from tyranny. He did not realize that the U.S. is totally committed to support of the Mubarak regime.

Sincerely
Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D
Associate Professor of English

Letter on the above from our Peers

Dear Dr. Kaukab,

Greetings.
What a coincidence.
Ms. Samar Fatany wrote an article on this.
Did you read it?
Anyway my office will be sending it to you.
God bless you.

Khaled Almaeena
Editor in Chief, Arab News

Letter from a Pakistani American newspaper about NT #58

Dear Siddiqui Sahib,
Your newsletter is well written.
It will be worth reading two articles.
Both type in search field a) Blood Borders and b) Constant Conflict. on www.informationclearinghouse.info.
The reality will come out clear and open from lies and cover ups.
You could also e-mail to www.dailymuslims.com just as you do to galaxy dastak.
Truly.
Muhammad Khan
New York

Analysis
Islamic Perspective on 9.11 by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D
9.11: What? Who? Why? Blame? Conspiracies? Any Way to Peace? Osama: Dead or Alive? on September 11, 2006 nearly 3,000 Americans and other nationals closely linked to the U.S. were killed in one day. Such an attack has never happened on the continental U.S. in the entire history of this country. The damage inflicted went into trillions of dollars. The World Trade Center [WTC], a flagship symbol of the American economy, was brought down in a cataclysmic episode which tumbled one tower of the WTC on to the other, bringing both down in an inferno of fire which kept blazing and sparking and simmering for SIX months.

The Pentagon too was hit almost simultaneously and partially destroyed. This structure is a symbol of America's global military power. Its image is of mythic significance and it evokes such awe that it has become part of American idiom.

The third plane was heading towards the White House when it went down in Pennsylvania.

The most important reason for the terror generated in America is owing to the martyrdom operation carried out by the 19 hijackers. The idea that young Muslim men could systematically and in cold blood sacrifice themselves to hit America made it clear that it's almost impossible to stop people who want to give up their own lives.

The second most important reason for the terror was the failure of American INTELLIGENCE SERVICES, both the CIA and the FBI, to detect and catch the assailants. For the first time, the American people felt vulnerable and even helpless.

The third most important reason was the possibility, if not probablity, that the attacks might be repeated.

Fourthly, the Bush administration looked pathetically inept and incompetent. President Bush was in a Florida school when the news came. For a while he had no idea what to do. Vice President Cheyney was whisked away to a secret location. Strong men in the American power structure were shaken to the core. A hardened news anchor, Dan Rather, broke down and wept while reading the news of the catastrophe on CBS. Bush responded to 9.11 in a typically bureaucratic fashion. His first aim was that he should not be blamed and should continue as the President of the United States. Studies from within the Bush administration now indicate that Bush and Condileeza Rice had been informed by the CIA of the possibility of a serious attack within the U.S. They ignored the warnings though the CIA memos were staring them in the face. After the 19 broke through the security network, the Bush administration went to great lengths to avoid blame. One way of doing this evasion was to launch wars, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq.

Readers should remember that preparations for war on Afghanistan and Iraq had been started before the Bush era. Clinton was definitely not going to let an Islamic Emirate, led by the ascetic Mullah Omar, survive in Afghanistan. Mrs. Clinton personally started the campaign to vilify the Taliban about the burqa and the oppression of Afghan women to provide the psychological ground for military intevention in Afghanistan.

The Neo-Cons, mostly Jewish, had worked long and hard to prepare the u.S. for an assault on Iraq through a massive demonization of Saddam, comparable only to the propaganda blitz against Hitler.

As America reeled under the impact of the 9.11 attacks, the pro-Israel, largely Jewish, lobby decided to use America against the world of Islam. This country was reduced to the condition of a powerful wrestler who receives a serious blow from his opponent but can't find him. As I saw it at that time, USA was like the one-eyed giant, cyclops, who was blinded by Odysseus and his men and in his fury and pain hurled huge boulders in the general direction of the fleeing Greek fighters.

The Israeli lobby was quick to point out to the American people that Israel had been the first to bear the brunt of Arab "suicide bombers" looking for virgins in Paradise. Thus Israel won the empathy of the American people, and the Bush administration easily surrendered American foreign policy to Israel and America's Jews.

WHY were the 19 Islamic Fighters Able to Get through the Security net?

Most importantly it was the element of surprise. This kind of thing has never been done before. Even though U.S. intelligence sensed what was going on and spotted some of the infiltrators, it could not imagine the total radio-wireless silence and iron discipline of the group.

The planning seems to have been done with meticulous attention to every possible factor. For instance, the flights chosen for hijacking were trans continental and carried the maximum fuel possible.

Thirdly, the anti-terrorist organizations, historically, knew of airline hijackings in which the hijackers made demands. These were a different kind of hijackers, unarmed, making no demands but using planes as weapons. Americans are taught on an ongoing basis that the 9.11 attacks were motivated by pure EVIL and were launched by Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaida because they hate democracy, freedom and the American way of life.

However, seen in its context, 9.11 came after the occupation of Palestine by the Jews and America's open ended support not only for the existence of the terrorist entity known as "Israel" but also for the wars and atrocities Israel has inflicted on Muslims since 1948.

Iraq was devastated by the U.S. air force during the FIRST GULF WAR in an orgy of bombing which went on non-stop for 42 days.

After Iraq had been deprived of its industrial base, the U.S. and its surrogates [the U.N, Saudi Arabia's regime and Israel] imposed an embargo and sanctions, the like of which have never been seen before. Nearly a million Iraqis, mostly children, died a slow death owing to the sanctions regime.

The Saudi family had linked up with the U.S. to such an extent that the bleseed land of Arabia became an American business and military base. The Saudi rulers invited the U.S. armada which was to attack Iraq into Arabia and paid ALL its expenses. This military presence was in clear volation of the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Throughout the Muslim world, with the exception of Iran, the U.S. installed puppet regimes which scurried to create "little Americas" in each country in violation of Islamic norms. Such cultural imperialism is seen as an act of war in Islam. For instance, in Egypt, night clubs and liquor bars and gambling dens and prostitution were supported by the dictator in spite of protests by the Egyptian people.

Al-Qaida took the line that there was no point in fighting Israel and the corrupt "muslim" regimes as long as their real base of support, the global power of the U.S., was not challenged.

IS OSAMA BIN LADEN ALIVE?

Some observers think that he is dead, or that he has been captured and the U.S. will announce his capture at the "appropriate" time. However, there are indications that he and almost his entire team are alive. If Osama had been killed or captured, Mullah Omar, mujahideen leader Haqqani and Mullah Dadallah, the field commander of the Taliban would not have been quiet about it. In Iraq, al-Qaeda seems to have become a power which would be expected to say something if Osama were killed or captured. If all the tapes, including detailed ones from Ayman al-Zawahiri, are fake soon someone will reveal them as fakes.

Why do the Muslims hate democracy and freedom?

This question implies that the U.S. is going into Muslim lands to implement democracy and to bring freedom. Islam has its own political system known as the Caliphate. Islamic countries are certainly not interested in America's ideas of democracy and freedom. Most Muslims can see that the U.S. supports the most barbaric regimes around the world and its claims of democracy and freedom are nothing more than a charade.

Within the U.S. and Britain, the people are quite unable to change governmental policies. In Britain up to 80% of the people opposed the war but could not stop Blair. In the U.S., power belongs to those who are the richest. More money is spent here to buy votes than the national budgets of Muslim countries. Within the context of wealth, a tiny Zionist minority controls America's foreign policy

What happened to America's Muslims?

America's Muslims are controlled by tiny groups of wealthy opportunists who are closely linked to, and in some cases, working for the U.S. government. After 9.11, the U.S. government bullied America's Muslims big time. The real leaders of America's Muslims as well as those who showed any signs of linking up with Islamic forces overseas were imprisoned. Some were sentenced to incredible numbers of years in prison.

The Bush administration tried to use U.S. Muslims to create a new version of Islam known as "moderate Islam" or "american Islam." With the help of groups like CAIR-ISNA-ICNA-MPAC and through middle eastern despots like King Abdullah of Jordan, the U.S. launched a full scale offensive with these purposes: WHY DO MUSLIMS ESPOUSE CONSPIRACY THEORIES about 9.11?

Muslim intelligentsia are very much in love with America and see it as dominant and invincible. For the middle class Muslim, the idea of standing up to America's armed might is unthinkable. To go further and consider a 9.11 type attack on America is nothing less than a nightmare.

In addition, the Muslim intellectual looks with contempt at the long-bearded "maniacs" who are messing up his entire future by attacking America.

Thus the Muslim intellectual mentally denies the possiblity of 9.11 being an Islamic attack. Rationalization sets in and there are claims that the 'Jews did it.' The asumption here is that Jews are so powerful, they can do anything. Al-Manar, pro-Iran Lebanese TV, claimed right after 9.11 that 4,000 Jews did not turn up on the day of the attack. How did al-Manar know right away withiut investigation? Through vague "Arab diplomatic circles!"

Conspiracy theorists did not notice that a CIA station located in WTC, used to spy on the UN, was obliterated in the attacks. They do not seem to note that families of the WTC victims are quite vocal and well-connected. A Jewish conspiracy connected to 9.11 would have come out in five years and would have been disastrous for Israel.

The Way to Peace?

Peace does not seem possible in the near future. The U.S. has not realized that it cannot win against Islam. The more the U.S. attacks, the more Muslims get radicalized. If this process continues, al-Qaida and other armed Islamic groups will gain massive support. At this time, an estimated less than one per cent of the world's ONE BILLION plus Muslims support al-Qaida and related organizations with money and in actual fighting. If this estimated number goes up to even 5%, the U.S. position will become untenable. So the question of a U.S. military victory over Islam seems impossible if one considers the stalemate in Iraq, the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the defeat of Israel at the hands of Hizbullah.

The way to peace is through USA's admission that those who fight for Islam are not "terrorists." They are simply Islamic fighters. Wherever Muslims win freedom, Islamic forces will gain power. They were thwarted by the Algerian junta, in a bloodbath which the U.S. supported, and now appear victorious in Hamas, though the U.S. cut off all funds.

Self-determination is an Islamic value and an American value as well. Let the Muslims decide their own fate. If U.S. support for kings, dictators, despots and tyrants is withdrawn, the war will end.

Israel is an alien presence in the Arab world. It has no legitimacy other than through the barrel of the gun. No genuine Muslim is going to accept Israel. If today Hamas accepts Israel, it will be replaced by another Islamic force. America must face the fact that the Jews can peacefully be repatriated to the countries they came from. Surely, the considerable funds which go every year to Israel can be used to repatriate the Jews. They should have nice homes with running water and subsidised electricity in Russia, Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, even USA and Germany instead of their current existence in barely disguised military encampments in the lands which are Palestinian.

Hizbullah has shown that the tide is turning. Why do Americans have to support Israel and then arm and fund a bunch of dictators so that Muslims opposed to Israel may not take power?

Interview with Top Pakistani Islamist

First Criticism of ISNA/ICNA from Pakistan

Women in Pakistan: Is Sharia [Islamic law] Hurtful to Women?

Why Don't Pakistanis Protest NATO Military Operations Against Taliban?

[Islamabad, Pakistan: On September 7, 2006 New Trend interviewed Syed Munawwar Hasan, Secretary General of Jamaate Islamic and key coordinator of the Islamic coalition MMA .]

New Trend: Western news sources as well as secularist Pakistani sources are saying, particularly on the Internet, that women in Pakistan are being victimized under Sharia by way of the Hudood Ordinance. Why is the Islamic coalition supporting the Hudood ordinance which is oppressing women?

Syed Munawar Hasan: It's not surprising that western media and their supporters are trying to propagandize against Sharia [Islamic Law]. What did you expect them to say?

NT: It's being said that in Pakistan if a woman is raped, she has to bring 4 witnesses otherwise she will be accused of adultery under the Hudood Ordinance

SMH: Punishment for adultery requires 4 witnesses. She can't be punished if 4 witnessdes are not there. That goes against those who are making up these stories.

NT: But is it not true that there are women in Pakistani prisons who complained of rape and were themselves imprisoned under Hudood Ordinance?

SMH: That's what the Islamic movement is saying, that the fact of women being in prison shows that Sharia is NOT being implemented. Police, like the rest of our government, is extremely corrupt. People go to police for help and themselves end up in serious trouble. None of these women should be in prison.

NT: But this situation still doesn't make sense to me. Maulana Fazlur Rahman is quoted as saying that women should be subjected to the punishment for adultery if they do not bring witnesses to their being raped. How can you support Fazlur Rahman?

SMH: We must clarify to your readers in America about the realities of the Islamic struggle in Pakistan. The government here wanted to strike a blow at Sharia [Islamic Law] in the name of "giving women their rights." The real purpose was to please America. We challenged the government's moves. [Islamic women representatives in the assemblies {parliament} stood up and tore up the bill presented by the government against Sharia.] Yesterday we held a big rally in Rawalpindi to support the Hudood Ordinance. The government is now in a bind having been exposed in its sneak attack on Islamic Law. Sharia is the biggest defender of women's rights. If policemen misuse the Law, it means that the implementation should be corrected, not that the Law is wrong.

NT: Next issue: You know that in neighboring Afghanistan, NATO's military formations are attacking the Islamic people of that long suffering country. Is it not amazing that Pakistanis cannot see the gross violation of international law being carried out in a fraternal Muslim country on their border? What business does NATO have in Islamic Afghanistan? What right do Germany, USA, UK, Canada, France, Italy, Holland, Spain have to send troops to carry out military operations against a Muslim nation?

SMH: The answer is coming from the Taliban. They are killing the NATO troops. NATO is giving out fake numbers about how many Taliban they have killed but they are themselves being killed. You will see that the Taliban will defeat them.

NT: But, isn't there a body of Pakistani lawyers which could challenge the legality of NATO's actions in the International Court of Justice?

SMH: The Islamic world is resisting aggression. It's all one struggle, be it Hizbullah, or Hamas or Taliban, or Hizb al-Mujahideen [in Kashmir]; they are all fighting back.

NT: But I am referring to the legal issues, not Jihad. Why don't you challenge the legality?

SMH: These international issues should be brought up by America's Muslims. I thought they have the capacity. Why are you all so quiet in America, so silent? Look at ISNA, ICNA, Ikhwan, they don't say anything! Even at the national ISNA Convention, they didn't have Islamic scholars. Instead they had U.S. government officials. Why don't you speak on these issues?

NT: We do speak, through New Trend and Jamaat al-Muslimeen. It's your people in ISNA, ICNA, those whom you considered friends of the Islamic movement, who don't say anything, and are totally sold out.

SMH: I don't know who are "our people." You are all "our people" too!

NT: Next criticiam: Jamaate Islami and MMA won the elections in Frontier Province and parts of Baluchistan by a landslide because the voters thought you would support the Taliban. Instead you have treated the Taliban as "uncouth barbarians" and left them alone.

SMH: We are concerned about all the issues facing the Muslims, including the tragic military action in Baluchistan. Don't you see our work in the new agreement in Waziristan? The government has had enough from the Islamic resistance there. It has agreed that it will no longer carry out military operations against the Islamic fighters. This is a big defeat for the government. All its efforts to crush the people of Waziristan, in which it killed hundreds of people and lost hundreds of its own, have come to nothing.

NT: Thank you for your time and for being so frank and open.

[New Trend is not so sure that Br. Hasan should be happy about the last point. According to CNN, General Musharraf has set up 97 military posts on the Afghan border and 50 posts behind the border to ensure that Pakistanis do not enter Afghanistan to help the Taliban. On the date of the interview, General Musharraf was in Kabul, promising full support to Karzai in the war against the forces of Islam. Musharraf's methodology has changed: He wants to control the border instead of trying to fight the entire Waziristani people who support Taliban. The border is easier to control if all troops are concentrated on it.]

Free Dr. Rifqa elJa'abri [courtesy al-Awda.]

Dr. Rifqa Motlaq elJa'abri, 43 years old, from Hebron [correct name Al-Khalil], administrative detainee, is held in Hashron Prison (Tel Mond). The Israeli army arrested her on 15 August and placed her under administrative detention order for six months.

Administrative detention means that the detainee is being held without a charge or a trial, and the detention can be extended arbitrarily.

Dr. Rifqa Motlaq elJa'abri was born in Hebron.

Dr. elJa'abri, studied general medicine in Yemen and then she specialized in obstetrics and gynecology in France. She underwent her internship and residence training in Almakassed Hospital in Jerusalem.

She worked in hospitals in Hebron such as Almohtaseb Hospital, which belongs to the Red Crescent committee, located in the old city of Hebron. She has her own clinic in Hebron, and she is the head administrator of Alnaqaa, charitable medical center in Bethlehem. This center offers emergency help for sick people and makes surgical operations available, especially for poor people who cannot pay for other hospitals.

Release Dr. elJa'abri Immediately! !!
Following is an announcement of the Medical Association–Jerusalem
(Palestinian association) :
Medical Association – Jerusalem

Condemnation
The Medical Association – Jerusalem condemns the arbitrary arrest of Dr. Rifqa Motlaq elJa'abari at the hands of the Zionist occupation authorities.

Dr. el Ja'abari's arrest took place while she was carrying out her humanitarian obligations in the public service.

The Medical Association calls on the international human rights organizations to act for her release.

LETTER In Defense of ISNA: Reader refers to three of the points NT raised about ISNA

Assalamu Alaikom,

Well, there is the accusation that ISNA is hostile to Islam, when it's leaders are know Muslim scholars who are classically trained.

I doubt that all ISNA leadership have "clearance", I know several have suffered detention at airports.

ISNA's use of calculations is not an attempt to divide, for they are NOT the first to pursue this method. Most Muslim scholars are split on the issue as are most countries. In fact, it appears to be an move to unify North America.

The attempt to equate Dr. Mattson with Asra Nomani is really unfair.

Again, I offer sincere advice to discuss your issues with people prior to making accusations and always give proper evidence to any claim, otherwise it can be misconstrued as defamation rather than constructive criticism. Also, remember to give brothers and sisters 70 excuses until you understand that the intentions are bad.

Finally, kindly remove me from the e-mail list, as I get too many e-mails and have a hard time keeping up with them.

Dina El-Nakhal

2006-09-10 Sun 01:22:45 cdt
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