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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Muharram 8, 1429, January 17, 2008 #4

Please make sure children don't read the last item in this issue of New Trend. It gives a glimpse of the horrors the U.S. and it's Shi'ite allies are perpetrating on Iraqi women. Scroll all the way down.
See two letters challenging New Trend's Pakistan reporting and editor's responses. Scroll down

War news in brief
From our media monitor:

SUDAN: Darfur story Wrecked by Researcher:

January 11, 2008: [On C-Span.] The organizers of a program on Sudan did not expect anyone to debunk the propaganda story they have built up about Darfur. They had brought in school children of African descent to be brainwashed. Peter Bechtold, Chairman of North African Studies, World Affairs Council, took them by surprise. He used charts, statistics, cultural studies, numerous personal interviews and systematic analysis to show that the whole Darfur "genocide" story is nothing more than utter rubbish and nonsense. He pointed out that in the last few years 95% of the killing has been among the 15 rebel groups vying for outside support. He was merciless against Samantha Powers' stories of rape in Darfur. He said that Ms. Powers does know Arabic or any other language of the area. She believed all the stories of rape her interpreter told her. The women who were questioned hardly spoke and did not say anything like what Ms. Powers was told.

Bechtold is a linguist and he gave examples to show how easily Americans can misunderstand the Sudanese. He pointed out that the Janjaweed are not connected to the Sudan government and the stories of air raids are largely lies. He indirectly blamed the Zionists for the anti-Sudan campaign.

IRAQ: Fighting is heating up again. U.S. air force is being used against tiny Islamic resistance units in Salahuddin province. On January 16, an Islamic female martyrdom operator hit Shi'ites supporting the U.S. in the city of Baqubah. There were serious casualties.
[Why women? The article we have at the end of this issue could explain why.]

PALESTINE: ISRAEL SLAUGHTERING DEFENSELESS MUSLIMS: Three days of Mourning

January 15, 2008: Israeli tank units supported by helicopters broke into northern Gaza. In an orgy of murder and mayhem, the invading Jews killed 19 defenseless Palestinians and wounded 52, most of them supporters of Hamas, the elected representatives of the Palestinian people. Among those killed was 24 year old Hussam, son of a top Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar.

The Jewish military destroyed acres of Palestinian farmland full of olive trees and cucumber, tomato and squash plants.
The excuse for the Israeli attack is that some Palestinians keep firing [largely ineffective] rockets at the territory the Jews have occupied near Gaza's borders.

PAKISTAN: Small Islamic Victory in South Waziristan: Clashes Spread to Mohmand Agency: Bombing of Swat Continues

At about 2 AM on January 16, 20068 an Islamic unit of Pakistani Taliban stormed a heavily armed Pak fort in the rugged Srarogha area of Southern Waziristan from which Pak paramilitaries were firing mortars and artillery at Islamic villages. [As reported in the last New Trend] Pakistani military command claimed that it had repelled the Islamic advance and inflicted heavy casualties. The claim was not correct. The entire 40 man Pak force was wiped out. At least 30 were killed and the rest captured. Two of the Taliban were also killed. It is reported that the Paks fought hard because they belonged to a sect hated in the area.

January 15: For the first time, Islamic fighters used automatic weapons to attack a Pakistani security forces convoy in the Mohmand Agency. Two of the military vehicles were destroyed and 7 Pak forces killed. A report says that the mujahideen first asked the Pak force to surrender. Pakistani heavy artillery opened up and claimed to have killed the Taliban but the report was denied by the Taliban. Pakistan has arrested 31 men suspected of supporting the mujahideen. Meanwhile, in Swat Pak helicopters continued hitting the mountain hideouts of Islamic resistance. Details are not available.

AFGHANISTAN: Islamic Raid on Norwegian Foreign Minister's Meeting in Luxury Kabul Hotel Sends Shock Waves

January 14, 2008. While the Norwegian foreign minister, Jonas Stoere, was speaking at Kabul's best hotel, known as Serena, an elite Taliban group attacked. The Karzai rulers tried to hide the seriousness of the attack but by January 16 [see NY Times] it became clear that at least three Americans, a French woman, a Norwegian and an Afghan guard were killed in the attack. [Norway has 300 troops among NATO's occupation forces in Afghanistan.] Taliban presence in Kabul bodes ill for Karzai and NATO.

January 15: Confused Dutch troops in the Helmand province were tricked by the Taliban into firing at each other. Two of the Dutch troops and 2 of their support Afghan troops were killed.

[Taliban attacks are now widespread in Afghanistan. Mullah Umar is said to be leading them with grassroots support. We will mention only the January 8 attack in Nangarhar province in which 2 U.S. troops were killed.]

Personal; A Health Note from South Beach
excerpted by Sis. Labeebah [Bahrain]

The Power of Potassium

Most people aren't aware of the power of potassium, but it's a mineral you should get to know. Potassium plays a role in fluid regulation, muscle contraction, and mineral balance, but its best-known role is in blood pressure regulation, a function that earned it a health claim by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). The claim states that "diets containing foods that are good sources of potassium and low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke," and is valid only for foods that contain at least 350 mg of potassium.

While potassium is easy to come by in foods, according to the Institute of Medicine, many Americans don't get enough of it. If you're following the guidelines set forth by the South Beach Diet®, chances are, you're already consuming many potassium-rich foods. Just in case, here's a peek at some good sources of potassium:
Phase 1
Asparagus Artichokes Avocado Bamboo shoots Broccoli Brussels sprouts Beans (black, kidney, lentil, lima, soy)
Cauliflower Celery Cod Halibut Kale Low-fat or nonfat plain yogurt Mushrooms Okra Pinto beans Spinach
Soy beans Turnip greens Tomatoes Tomato juice Vegetable juice White beans

Phase 2
Bananas Cantaloupe Dried apricots Grapefruit Kiwifruit Oranges Strawberries Sweet potatoes


One word of caution: If you have kidney problems, consult your physician before increasing your potassium consumption.

Personal 2
Top Level Bangladeshi Islamic Scholar Gets Prestigious Award

University of Southern Queensland (USQ) maths and computing Associate Professor, Dr Shahjahan Khan, became the first Australian statistician to receive a prestigious Gold Medal from the Islamic Countries Society of Statistical Sciences (ISOSS), during the 9th ISOSS conference in Malaysia last month.
Co-hosted by the Institute of Statistics Malaysia (ISM) and organised by Professor Khan, the conference attracted more than 350 professional Statisticians from around the world, including Australia, Canada, UK, USA, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Dr Khan said he was delighted to receive the award for his outstanding research and leading contribution to the development of statistics and services to ISOSS. He believes that the award has put statistics at USQ on the map.
"It's a prestigious award and, I am proud to be the first Australian statistician to receive this award," Professor Khan said.
Founding President of ISOSS, Professor Munir Ahmad, Professor Ali S Hadi (USA/Egypt) and Professor Hanif Mian (Pakistan) also received a gold medal award.

Pakistan: January 11, 2008.
Shaheed Abdul Rashid Ghazi's Nephew Leads the Red Mosque [Lal Masjid] which is back in Islamic Hands
[This sarcastic report appeared in an Indian newspaper. Read it carefully because it does give some important insight into the ongoing struggle of the Red Mosque, though Jamia Hafsa is no more - editor]

Lal Masjid's new chief takes old line: democracy is no solution

At a time when Pakistan's political debate is centred around restoration of democracy, the hardline cleric of the controversial Lal Masjid, located in the heart of Pakistan's capital, says he is "against democracy" and would rather have the country governed by the rules of Islam.

Maulana Amir Siddique, the head of Lal Masjid and nephew of Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was killed last July in the Pakistan Army operation on the mosque-madarsa complex, told The Indian Express: "In democracy, the weightage of votes by an illiterate or a drug addict is the same as that of an educated, pious person. Numerical majority doesn't mean that the capable are being elected."

The Maulana says he feels sorry about Benazir Bhutto's death, but adds, "We lost thousands of our daughters and sisters in the Lal Masjid operation, who were staying in the adjacent madarsa."

"In today's elections, people are gaining power using money. What else can you expect from people who consume nicotine or alcohol? They get sold out to people who lure them with money," says the 42-year-old madarsa-educated Maulana, who took charge of the family-run Lal Masjid about three months ago when it re-opened following the Pakistan Supreme Court's order.

Though the Lal Masjid has been supported by various influential parties in the past, including General Zia-ul Haq, Maulana Siddique claims they are not with any political formation.

"We feel that democracy is not the solution, because it's the writ of Allah that is supreme and not the writ of the people," he says. However, he qualifies his "anti-democracy" stance by saying he believes in an individual's democratic rights of freedom.

His Lal Masjid isn't red anymore — the government has repainted it limestone yellow and the minarets and the dome are white. "They wanted to wash away the blood and the smoke and the soot on the walls... but, can you just whitewash blood-stained walls," he asks.

The Lal Masjid, once the centre for hardline Deobandi teachings, now just holds prayer services. The almost two-acre Jamia Hafsa madarsa complex has been razed to the ground completely.

His aide, Syed Ali Hussain, a telecom engineering student from Islamabad's Jamia Hamdard, says, "We don't know how many of our brothers and sisters are buried beneath this ground. There were around 3,000 students... even if we subtract 1,300 young men and women who surrendered, there are still 1,700 students missing."

The Maulana describes "possession of weapons including rocket launchers and machine guns" as pure government propaganda, but says, "there were 13-14 guns in the seminary for self-defence... and according to UN guidelines, one can keep weapons for self-defence".

The Maulana adds that "violence always begets violence, it never achieves peace". "The siege of Lal Masjid was not an action, but a reaction... in our Islamic traditions, there is no room for violence," he says.

On whether he supports "suicide bombing", the cleric doesn't give a straight answer. "The Ulemas who are engaged in jehad are better placed to answer this question, but we have to see the root cause of why people turn to suicidal missions

Re: Letter: Why are assailants of Security Forces in Pakistan Described as Martyrs?

Salam:

I have a very simple question for Kaukab Siddique. I read the most hypocritical disclaimer in the New Trend in the beginning of his newsletter. But the views expressed support very strongly the hellish actions of the most deranged terrorists and misguided fanatics. You describe the most un-Islamic actions of the suicide bombers as MARTYRDOM OPERATIONS. That phrase indicates to me that you approve and support these terrorist murders of innocent human-beings.

The question to Kaukab Siddique is basically very clear. Do you condemn the deliberate murder of innocent individuals or do you have sympathies with the suicide-murderers whose actions you describes as MARTYRDOM OPERATIONS?

I have included this disclaimer and then the description of the murderous attack on the police in Lahore. You have used this term MARTYRDOM OPERATION numerous times for such suicided attacks on innocent people. Would appreciate a clarification of this term and justification from the Qur'an for describing these actions as MARTYRDOM.
You also describe Taliban as 'Islamic' and have termed Baitullah Mahsud as Islamic leader. What is 'Islamic' about them? Please clarify the term Islamic and the actions of these people that are Islamic.

Maria Malik

Editorial note: Dear Maria Malik: We are against war. If sanity prevails, all issues can be solved through peaceful discussions. We pray for peace. New Trend's task is to help readers understand what is going on in the Muslim world. We have to be honest in our reporting. The Muslim nations of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnia, Somalia, Sudan have undergone genocidal war/sanctions at the hands of the U.S. and its allies. Similar conditions have emerged in Pakistan. The reports we receive, from a variety of sources, agree that General Musharraf and his men are involved in bombardment and destruction of Muslim communities in North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Swat, Bajaur, parts of Baluchistan and in parts of Karachi. As far as we know, those who are attacking Musharraf's troops and police are fighting for Islam while Musharraf and his military/police are fighting for the CIA and the Bush Administration and for the large sums of money they are getting. Those who give their lives for Islam are known as martyrs [shaheed, singular, shuhada, plural]. If you have some evidence that these young men, and women, who give their lives in attacking Musharraf's military and police are not martyrs for Islam, but are trying to commit suicide which is not permitted in Islam, do send us the evidence. New Trend is open to correction. The word martyr is used for those who in some way or the other give their lives in attacking overwhelmingly powerful anti-Islam forces. Here is what the Qur'an says. Note the second sentence in the quote which the Lahore assailant was reciting:

"Allah has purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs [in return] is the Garden [of Paradise]. They fight in His Cause, and slay and are slain: A promise binding on Him in truth, through the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur'an: And who is more faithful to his Covenant than Allah? Then rejoice in the bargain you have concluded: That is the achievement supreme." [9:111]

These people who are fighting against Musharraf don't seem to care for their own lives because they believe that Allah will give them the highest possible position. This is what the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, has taught: He was asked: Who is the best among all of mankind? He, pbuh, replied: "It is the true believer who fights in Allah's Way with his goods and his life." [ Sahih of Bukhari , segment on "The best among Mankind."]

Another reason why Muslims willingly become martyrs in circumstances like those in Pakistan are these teachings of the Prophet, pbuh: "All the sins of the martyr are forgiven right away." [ Hadith in the Jami of Tirmidhi, chapter on Fadail al-Jihad.]

The reader should write to Bush and Musharraf to stop the ongoing massacres of civilians which their armies have perpetrated.
Let's pray for peace.

Letter: A Reader's View of the Red Mosque Tragedy Corrected by the Editor

I am not sure why are you painting all secularist with one brush. I am for secular state but I condemn the attack on innocent men and women of Lal Masjid. They were used as pawns by both the government and their religious leaders. I also condemn Rashid Ghazi's statement that he delivered on his radio that his women will throw acid on women faces if they do not cover themselves. That is exactly the reason I am for a secular but democratic state where everyone including women and minority are considered equal and same. State do not impose their interpretation of religion on citizens. There is no religious police roaming around covering women's head and faces.

On one hand you are against seculars because they condone the attack on religious extremists but on the other you are cheering and encouraging suicide attacks on innocent civilians in Pakistan by calling these brainwashed teenager, martyr. They are being used by the state agencies to prolong the rule of current tyrant, Musharraf. I guess it is ok to kill in the name of religion but it is un-Islamic to say anything bad about these killer. I am sure your response, as always is, will be, you hate Islam. Whoever does not believe in your brand of violent martyrdom, hates Islam.

Ghazala Kazi

Editor's note; Dear Ghazala Kazi: The allegation you have attributed to Abdul Rasheed Ghazi came from the BBC, not from him. In Islam, all are equal under the Law, and the Red Mosque was the most advanced in Pakistan in supporting the rights of women. They were too politically aware to be used by anyone. It's indeed sad that you do not read what New Trend published in direct interviews with Red Mosque leaders, including the woman leader. You are repeating what the BBC said. To read New Trend's interview with Umm Hasan, go to: http://newtrendmag.org/webmaster.htm , and enter "Umm Hasan" in the search box at the top of the page. Here is the first Q and A from that interview:

"New Trend: Sis. Umm Hasan, I decided to interview you after I saw that the forces opposed to Islam are busy trying to discredit Jamia Hafsa on the Internet. It is obvious that your Islamic university is having a tremendous impact on the situation in Pakistan, located as you are in the capital of Pakistan. BBC interviewed you ....

Umm Hasan: BBC gave a totally distorted picture of our struggle. It said that we wanted to use violence and throw acid on the faces of women who do not wear Islamic covering. That would be totally unislamic and against Shari'a [Islamic Law]. BBC tried to defame us."

HOMELAND SECURITY, BUSH'S PRAETORIAN GUARD*
by Edward Miller, MD. [The writer, a veteran contributor to New Trend, lives near San Francisco.]

"Whether it's yanking poor black Americans out of public housing in New Orleans, or shooting Mexican immigrants in the mesquite along our southern borders, this militarism of FEMA and ICE is a threat to us all, and a blot on our humanity."

" The principles of a free constitution are irrevocably lost when the legislative power is nominated by the executive. "
Edward Gibbon ( 1737-1794 )

January 23, 2003 saw the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, the most significant realignment of the U.S. government in the last fifty years. Two weeks later, on February 6, 2003, Administrator Christine Todd Whitman established the EPA's Office of Homeland Security, fulfilling the Agency's need for a coordinating body. This 484-page Homeland Security Act (HSA) was pushed through Congress following 9/11, " to defend the US from further terrorist attacks." Its passage consolidated more than 20 existing federal agencies into a single Homeland Security Department, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (ICE ). Not since President Truman created the Department of Defense in 1947 had the federal government undergone such dramatic restructuring.

The aim of this consolidation was to detect terrorist threats by removing information firewalls between government agencies, and centralizing, that unprecedented flood of surveillance data made possible by the PATRIOT ACT . Civil liberties groups objected strongly to the Homeland Security Act, contending that it reduced privacy, increased government secrecy and power and strengthened government protection of special interests.

The Total Information Awareness Office was the most controversial of the Act's provisions. TIA was given a startup budget of $200 million, and a mandate to achieve a state of "Total Information Awareness." Admiral John Poindexter, who had lied to Congress about his role in the Iran Contra affair, was placed in charge of the Office.

Under the HSA, any person or agency who voluntarily submit "critical infrastructure information" to a federal agency is assured confidentiality of the information and the source, and the supplier of the information cannot face prosecution based on vulnerabilities that the information revealed. The American Civil Liberties Union, (ACLU) says the proof that HSA is determined to conduct massive surveillance on the American people is their "deep involvement" with Matrix, a private, Florida-based company which makes data-mining software that can access billions of private-sector records on American citizens in seconds.

Although the American people were told that the Homeland Security Act ( HSA) was a direct result of September 11, it is widely known that the Hart-Rudman Commission, (officially the "US Commission on National Security for the 21st Century"), created under Clinton in 1998, actually authored the blueprint for what became the HSA, and published it in a report called the "Road Map for National Security: Imperative For Change." Of the 14 members of the Hart-Rudman Commission, nine were members of the Council on Foreign Relations. whose roster has included most of the neoconservatives populating the Bush Administration, including Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Robert Zoellich, George Tenet and Paul Wolfowitz.

In 2002, President Bush signed legislation to create a new Cabinet Department of Homeland Security, and appointed a former federal appeals court judge, Michael V. Chertoff as Secretary of Homeland Security

The inclusion of both ICE and FEMA under DHS has tended to militarize these two agencies whose previous interaction with the public had been exemplary and non confrontational.. FEMA was absorbed into DHS as of 2003 and as a result, became part of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate of Department of Homeland Security, employing more than 2,600 full time employees.

FEMA, or Federal Emergency Management Agency, was originally conceived under Nixon, refined under Carter, and given teeth under Reagan and Bush Administration. FEMA had one original concept when it was created, to assure the survival of the United States government in the event of a nuclear attack on this nation. It was also provided with the task of being a federal coordinating body during times of domestic disasters, such as earthquakes, floods. FEMA's performance, managed under HSA , during and after the New Orleans disaster has come under condemnation. Not only was the chain-of-command under HDA an example of costly malfunction, but in the aftermath of the hurricane, the handling of housing, food supplies, transportation of the homeless and even emergency medical care, was widely criticized. Opening fire on supposed looters, military trucks roaming the New Orleans streets full of Blackwater employees, armed to the teeth and wearing camouflaged uniforms has never been explained, and as reported on KPFA's Flashpoint on 20 December, after the New Orleans City Council voted 7/0 to destroy some 40 units of public housing, FEMA officials began forcibly removing these mostly blacks both from their public housing and housing and from thousands of FEMA-supplied trailers, eventually leaving well over 20,000 homeless and impoverished ( mostly blacks) to survive on the streets during the chill of the Christmas holidays

The recent subordination of our long-established and efficient Immigration Service,( now ICE) under Michael Chertoff, is also encouraging the same inhumane militarization employed when he took over FEMA in the New Orleans disaster

On November 10th. 2003 Homeland Security had Launched Operation Ice Storm (PHOENIX, AZ) Top law enforcement and government officials joined with the Department of Homeland Security to announce Operation ICE Storm, an unprecedented multi-agency initiative led by the Department's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to combat human smuggling and the violence it has generated in Arizona and nationwide. "ICE Acting Assistant Secretary Michael J. Garcia laid out details of the effort, which includes the formation of a task force made up of federal, state, and local agencies, pledged to dismantle organized crime outfits that have turned human smuggling into a bloody but profitable venture. "

This militarization of ICE, which organization had for years functioned without violence, played out in a New England town when, at 8:30 AM on March 6th, 2007, some 300 ICE agents raided a clothing factory on the New Bedford waterfront, with a warrant charging that the owner encouraged illegal immigrants to work. At least 300 workers who could not immediately prove they were in the country legally were initially detained, and most transferred to nearby Fort Divans for processing. These textile workers, mostly women from El Salvador, Equador, Guatemala and other Central American countries were all victims of our CIA- sponsored political and economic upheavals in their own countries. These workers' children in school during the raid, on returning home experienced the terror of forced separation from their parents, some of whom had already been flown away to prisons as far as Texas and Florida. Many of the children, born in the US were US citizens.

Over 140 ICE raids have resulted in a population of Mexican descent-children rendered parentless and flown to orphanages set up in Mexico. KPFA's Flashpoint recently reported that one Mexican orphanage in the State of Sonora presently houses some 6,000 ICE-orphaned children, many US citizens. A recent example was the seizure of an immigrant woman, who was 8 months pregnant and had just dropped off her 6-grader at an Oakland school, by armed ICE officers who invaded the offices of the school (Flashpoint December 20).

Whether it's yanking poor black Americans out of public housing in New Orleans, or shooting Mexican immigrants in the mesquite along our southern borders, this militarism of FEMA and ICE is a threat to us all, and a blot on our humanity

* Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard was formed by the emperor Augustus to help prevent assassins from reaching the emperor. He made the Praetorians a standing force, and to avoid the appearance of despotism, stationed only three of these cohorts in the capital, dispersing the remainder in the adjacent towns.

Racism in America: The Case of an African-American, John White, who used a gun to defend his Family
by Aisha [Jamaat al-Muslimeen, New York City.]

Update on the John White case: Mr. White was convicted of 2nd degree manslaughter on December 22, 2008. Sentencing is scheduled for February 21, 2008. His defense team has already filed an appeal.

A web site has been established to raise money for John White's legal defense fund - http://JohnWhiteLDF.com
The web site provides background of the incident:
  1. Either Daniel Cicciaro (shooting victim) or one of his friends added an offensive message threatening rape against a white female classmate and signed Aaron White's (John White's son) name at MySpace.com.
  2. When Aaron White came to a party at a schoolmate's house Daniel Cicciaro told him to leave. Aaron left. There was lots of alcohol being served in spite of the fact that parents of this student were home!
  3. A drunk Daniel Cicciaro called Aaron White's house and told him that he and his friends were going to come over and rape his mother among other things.
  4. Daniel Cicciaro shows up drunk at the White's house yelling racial slurs. John White comes out with a gun in hopes of scaring the four young men off.
  5. As Mr. White turns to go back into his home, Daniel Cicciaro grabs his gun and it goes off killing him.
The judge, Barbara Kahn, is known for being very hard on non- white defendants. The jury consisted of 12 people, 11 of whom were white and 1 black. Two of the jurors, a white "South African" and a white woman, have stated that they were pressured by other white jurors to go along with a conviction so that they could be home for Christmas. When these two jurors continued to vote to acquit some of these same white jurors told the that the Cicciaro family would have them killed anyway. This is not normal, "Hurry up, I gotta get home" pressure. Their lives were being threatened. The judge was sent a message that there was a hung jury and she told the juries that they were going to deliberate for as long as it would take until a verdict was reached.

These two wayward jurors have submitted signed statements to John White's defense team for his appeal. There were so many rules broken before this shooting accident occurred: underage drinking, terroristic threats, slander, etc....

The judge's misconduct alone should be grounds for an overturned verdict. The arrogance of the Cicciaro sitting a few feet from John White's family winking and smirking with the white prosecutor on this case is a reminder of those ridiculous "not guilty" verdicts after only 5 minute "deliberations" by all-white juries.

On February 21, 2008, Mr. White will also be fighting to be free on bail but, a few people say he chances are slim dealing with this judge. His family has received a steady flow of racist death threats every day ever since this August 22, 2006 incident.

Unfortunately, this is the experience of many people of African-descent under a society that prescribe to the white supremacy lie. Even if you earn your keep and stay out of trouble, these racist devils can still make trouble for you. Riverhead, NY is very much a white enclave for those who fled the inner cities to escape black people at the urging of money hungry Realtors.

EXPORTING RAPE
by Jeff Archer [The writer lives in San Diego, California.]

In my last column, I ran a picture of the cover of a propaganda comic book concocted by the CIA that had the line "Rescued from Rape and Slavery" at the bottom. Tens of thousands of these were dropped from airplanes on the island of Grenada just after the U.S. invasion of the tiny island in 1983.
During the buildup to the illegal March 2003 invasion of Iraq, George Bush regularly mentioned the "Iraqi rape rooms" and how the Iraqi public would be freed of these horrible institutions by U.S. liberation.
In fact, on October 8, 2003, George Bush told the Republican National Committee Presidential Gala, "Iraq is free of rape rooms and torture chambers."
On September 2, 2003, Paul Bremer, the bible-toting, combat boot-wearing viceroy of Iraq made his own statement about ridding Iraq of rape:

The Iraqi people are now free. And they do not have to worry about the secret police coming after them in the middle of the night, and they don't have to worry about their husbands and brothers being taken off and shot, or their wives being taken to rape rooms. Those days are over.

Bremer and Bush must be commended for their public stance against rape, but their words were utter fantasy. They get a 100% score for lying. There were no rape rooms in Iraq and the actions Bremer stated are more in tune with what the U.S. brought to Iraq, not what was there before March 2003.
The facts show that instead of halting rape epidemics in countries the U.S. invades, the occupiers introduce rape to these nations; nations in which rape was virtually non-existent.
Let's take a look at statistics supplied by the Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems that covered the years 1998 to 2000. The United States led the world by a huge margin in the number of rapes: 89,100. There were 65 countries listed, Monserrat being #65 with seven rapes. Iraq did not even appear on the list. Here are some more interesting facts supplied by the report: The U.S. leads the world in areas of crime, violence and rape, but it considers itself the moral police of the planet. A similar scenario would be to have Al Capone lead the FBI in its war against the mob. Or, having Ted Bundy supervise a task force aimed at apprehending mass murderers. The only problem with this hypocrisy consists of the U.S. public believing Reagan when he said the U.S. rid Grenada of rape or believing Bush when he said the U.S. had eradicated rape in Iraq. Rape was not prevalent in either country, but the assertions are so dramatic that the U.S. is considered a humanitarian savior.
In the case of Iraq, rape, much like Starbuck's, was brought into the country by U.S. military personnel and civilian contractors. The first inklings of Iraqis being raped by U.S. troops came from the Abu Ghraib torture scandal. Then, accusations began flowing in of U.S. soldiers raping Iraqi females (and a few males). At first, the denials were immediate and meant to put an end to the subject. But, so many allegations came forth that it was impossible to deny them. The U.S. strategy changed from denial to ignoring the issue.
On December 20, 2007, the Australian newspaper The Age ran a story titled "Woman Testifies She Was Raped by U.S. Contractors in Iraq." Here are a few features:

A US woman who said she was raped by US contractors in Iraq testified in Congress today, telling legislators that she was kept under armed guard in her trailer after reporting the incident.
Jamie Leigh Jones, now 23, said that she was gang raped inside the Baghdad Green Zone in July 2005 while she was working for the Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc, which has support contracts with the US military.
The US Department of Justice failed to send an attorney to the House of Representatives sub-committee hearing, which Democrat John Conyers blasted as "outrageous" and "unacceptable".
Jones told committee members that on her fourth day in Baghdad some co-workers, who she described as Halliburton-KBR firefighters, invited her for a drink. "I took two sips from the drink and don't remember anything after that," she said.
The next morning Jones woke up groggy and confused, and with a sore chest and blood between her legs. She reported the incident to KBR and was examined by an army doctor, who confirmed she had been repeatedly raped vaginally and anally ...
... The rape was so brutal she is still undergoing reconstructive surgery, Jones said.
Jones tried to get her case resolved first through KBR channels, then through the US Department of Justice. When neither course seemed to work, she gave an interview with ABC television news.

KBR has been silent on the matter, though according to ABC News the company circulated a memo among employees signed by company president and CEO Bill Utt saying that it "disputes portions of Ms. (Jamie Leigh) Jones' version and facts."
Jones said that she knows of at least 11 other women who were raped by US contractors in Iraq.
KBR used identical methods as those employed by the U.S. government: denial. Plus, KBR said that Jones lied.
Rape is now commonplace in much of Iraq. U.S. soldiers and civilians are equal opportunity participants; they have raped U.S. and Iraqi women. Unfortunately, it is not only U.S. citizens who are the aggressors. Some members of Shia "death squads" have taken lessons from the occupiers and are now using rape as a security tool. Whether it be an Iraqi or an American, virtually no offenders have been brought to justice. In one case last year, a woman accused several Iraqi policemen of raping her. The evidence showed that she was violated. Within a day, Maliki not only refuted the woman's accusations, he gave medals of commendation to the rapists. After all, he was following the lead of his U.S. puppeteers.

2008-01-20 Sun 07:00:28 cst
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