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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Shawwal 22,1430/ October 11, 2009, # 48

American Muslim woman doing Ph.D needs feedback on Mental Health survey. Please scroll down to the end.

US troops withdrew from Kamdesh, 10 miles from Pakistan, and the Taliban flag is flying there. This is the first US military retreat this year. Scroll down for more War News. [ See previous issue of NT for Kamdesh fighting .]

From Imam Badi Ali [Jamaat al-Muslimeen North Carolina]

Spotlight number #1: Remember that the biggest violations of the rights of the Muslim world are sometimes committed under the name of "peace." America's apparently most peace loving president, Carter, managed to break Egypt away from the Muslim world. Sadat recognized Israel and under Carter's efforts, Begin the terrorist was presented as a man of peace! [Compare with the more blatant Bush claim that Sharon was a man of peace!]

Spotlight number #2: Look at the condition of many of the countries in the Arab world. Dictators rule for decades and then nominate their children or relatives to succeed them in power. Look at who is supporting these forces of corruption whose armies, with Muslim names, are the biggest oppressors of Muslim populations. These "rulers for life" know the weaknesses of Muslims and under their tutelage puppet "Islamic scholars" give fatwas to provide religious cover to the dictators.

Dr. Shabazz Honored by Lincoln University Alumni Faces Secret anti-academic Move
by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D

Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz is one of the most celebrated scholars and teachers in the African American community, the world of mathematics and the Muslim communities of America. Some of his students are prominent Ph.Ds in mathematics.

Recently we heard that he had been elected to the Board of Trustees of Lincoln University as the representative of the alumni. Then there was silence!

Now I have received a number of emails indicating that a closed meeting was held at Lincoln Univerity in which the President of Lincoln University, Dr. Ivory Nelson, brought up some weird charges against Dr. Shabazz and dissuaded the Trustees from letting him be seated as the representative of the alumni.

Lincoln university is supposed to be the bastion of academic freedom and liberal thought. Why this strange situation against Dr. Shabazz?
Till now the Lincoln University Faculty have not been informed of the situation. I would not have known of the conspiracy against Dr. Shabazz if I had not seen the "open letters" sent out by some of the alumni. The students have not been informed either though Dr. Shabazz graduated from Lincoln University.

What's going on here? Surely power corrupts. Is that the bottom line?

Muslim woman's love breaks through Israeli subjugation of Palestine. A true Islamic love story brings out the daily reality of Israeli institutionalized crimes againt humanity.
Scroll all the way down. [Courtesy Enrique Ferro in Al-Awda.]

Peace Prize? Compared to Bush and Republican camp followers like Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Lieberman, McCain and O'Reilly, Obama looks like a man of peace. Right wingers want war [openly] against Islam. Is Obama, so different in tone from Bush, really looking for peace? See our next three items from Cindy Sheehan, Shamim Siddiqi and Kaukab Siddique.

Our America: #1
Obama Planning Blood Bath in Pakistan and Afghanistan
by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D

US General McCrystal had asked for 40,000 more troops for Afghanistan. Obama has gone one step farther and is planning to send 60,000 more.[Source: MSNBC, Rachel Maddow Show. MSNBC is very close to Obama, mouthpiece of Zionism.]

Already, NATO forces outnumber the Taliban 4 to one, 25,000 Taliban vs 100,000 NATO. There is no comparison in firepower. Obama plans to flood Afghanistan with troops. New Trend observers say, a blood bath is coming in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. An attempt will be made to kill ALL Islamic leaders. The resistance will have to place very young commanders in senior positions. It appears that in the long run, islamic resistance will defeat America because of the rising tide of Islam among the YOUTH and women, but the suffering will be great, perhaps even worse than the Soviet invasion.
For naive Pakistani elites, see below our documentation of the VERY CLOSE relationship between Gen. Kayani and US generals. Please scroll down. Also we are reposting the video of General Kayani's troops severely beating up elderly Islamic men. This posting now has an Islamic sound track with it. [Keep children away.] Please see below.
We urge President Obama to speak against the torture of civilians by General Kayani's men and to tell Kayani to stop extra judicial killings of "suspected Taliban." This is cold blooded murder of civilians and Obama will have to take blame for it because Gen. Kayani's army is paid for, from cap to boot, by America. The Pakistani jet aircraft which have been bombing villages in Swat, Dir, Darra Adam Khel and Waziristan are also American.

Our America:#2

Prominent US Muslim Scholar says:
Peace not Part of Obama's Objective:Peace Prize for him is Absurd: Note his silence on Gaza.
Qaddafi should have received it.

by Shamim Siddiqi [New York]

President Obama in no way deserves to be awarded the coveted Nobel Prize for "Peace", the object that is totally missing from his program except for some rhetoric. He is the continuation of American War Lord, Bush, the imposter of Third Crusade over the Muslim world. The Jewish and Indian lobby that is surrounding him from all sides will be strengthening their position further.

If the Nobel Committee wanted to throw the Peace price away in mud, it should have given it to the life-long dictator of Libya for his speech delivered recently in the UN.

President Obama has gone one step ahead of Bush in extending his war front to Pakistan and discrediting its "dedicated" military for "mingling" with the designs of Taliban and Al-Qaidah and is determined to subjugate this country by offering a scanty Peanut-Aid package with a lot of strings and rider classes attached to it and building a pentagon model in its Embassy in Islamabad with the tacit "approval" of "MR 10% " of Pakistan and his henchmen in power.

Simultaneously, we must keep in mind that Iraq is till bleeding fast and Iran is counting days when Israel is likely to make her often-repeated pre-emptive attack over its nuclear installations with open approval or instigation of the President of the USA as it did in Iraq in eighties.

Peace, in fact, has become an illusion with the passage of time and he is presiding over it. Peace position elsewhere in the world also stands bleak.

*Chechnia is bleeding while USA is now on friendly terms with the Soviet hierarchy;
*Sinkiang is in the total grip of America's bosom friend China. What did Obama do to ameliorate the sufferings of Muslims there?;
*Kashmir is bleeding every day: think what Obama did to get it out of the tyrannical clutches of his friend India: rather he is collaborating with Indian leadership on all fronts?

I am at a loss to understand what motivated the Nobel committee to award Peace prize to Obama except some political expediencies and removing the anti-missile center from the courtyard of Soviet Union. So his agenda of his peace is for the Europe and not for the suffering humanity around the world. That is why President Obama was surprised to hear this news as in his very heart of heart he knows that he would not be able to solve any of the problems that he is confronted with either at home or globally. This is especially true of the Muslim world that is a crying vociferously for PEACE and it is no where there due to American interference in the affairs of the Muslim world. His speech in Cairo of June 3, 09 has already evaporated in the air as he did nothing so far to fulfill the goal set by him. At least he could undo the treacherous war game of Bush let loose in the Muslim world.

The Noble Price for peace, unfortunately, has been thrust on a head where it does not suit at all.

"Fa Taberu Ya Ulul Absar" [So learn a lesson, O ye who have the intelligence!] Al-Hashr. 59: 2]

Our America: #3
The Nobel Peace Prize for Obama! Why not Bush!
What Peace Really Means

By Cindy Sheehan [Famous opponent of Bush's war now speaks about Obama.]


I guess to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee it means presiding over the further destruction of the population of three countries that didn't harm anyone.

I guess it means voting for every war-funding bill while one is a Senator.

I guess it means continuing the use of the obscene and immoral drones.

I guess it means continuing torture and building larger prisons to pre-emptively and indefinitely detain suspected "terrorists."

I guess it means using the politics of fear to justify your wars. "Afghanistan is a war of necessity." "There are still people in the world who want to hurt Americans."

I guess it means increasing your military budget.

I guess it means paying back your donors on Wall Street and in the insurance companies to profoundly harm people in your own country.

I guess it means hiring hostile people like Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, Stanley McChrystal and Petraeus.

I guess it means extending the damaging embargo on Cuba and threatening "crippling economic sanctions" for Iran.

I guess since the committee awarded the prize to Jimmy Carter who gave rise to the Taliban and al Qaeda in Iran giving billions to those who fought against the USSR (talk about Blowback), it tells the people of Afghanistan if you are killed, we will give your killer the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jesus Christ, why didn't they just give it to George Bush?

The US Peace Movement was put on life support with the election of Democrats. I hope now that we have a president who is just a tool of the war machine AND a Nobel Peace Laureate that it hasn't put the final nail in the coffin of the Peace Movement.

Peace to us means, not just an absence of war but, an absence of preparing for war.

Peace to us means that innocent people won't suffer for profit.

I guess to the Establishment: War is Peace.

Our America: #4 [From the horse's mouth]
A tiny minority controls America's Wealth. This is not a Conspiracy Theory

At Least 139 of Forbes 400 Richest Americans Are Jewish
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
http://blogs.jta.org/philanthropy/article/2009/10/05/1008323at-least-139-of-the-forbes-400-are-jewish

I've spent the past couple of days buried in Google, going through Forbes' recently released list of the country's 400 richest citizens and trying to figure out who is Jewish .. .. Some quick stats: We are reasonably certain that 139 of the richest 400 Americans are Jewish, including 20 of the richest 50. Those top 20 control some $211.8 billion in personal wealth

Our America: #5 [Obama Day 263]
President Obama Expresses Total Support for Homosexual Movement

October 10, 2009: President Obama addressed the biggest homosexual organization in America. To repeated ovations by the "Gay" crowd, he pledged total support to organized homosexuality. He went beyond the issue of economic rights for homosexuals by claiming that sexual partnerships between "gays" are as "admirable" as those between men and women.

No American president has ever given this kind of support to homosexuals.

October 11: Following the impetus given by Obama, the "Gay-Lesbian-bisexual-transgender" organizations held a large rally in front of the Capitol. They ridiculed religious values and pressed Obama for immediate acceptance of their demands.
[The Muslim world should be very concerned. There are already indications that America will use the "rights of Gays" as a tool to undermine Muslim communities around the world.]
[Black churches oppose homosexuality but most Christians are in retreat. If people like Ann Coulter are supposed to represent Christianity, it is understandable that the homos are winning.]

Jamaat al-Muslimeen [News]
P.O. Box 10881
Baltimore, MD 21234

Outreach to 111 people: Report on Rally against Musharraf + Pak Torture Video + Nestle Boycott

October 9, 2009: After Juma' Salat at the Newark Islamic Center in Delaware, Jamaat al-Muslimeen distributed lierature to 111 Muslims. It consisted of 3 items: 1. A report on the Jamaat's rally against Musharraf at the Meyerhoff on Sept. 29. 2. A report and link to the video showing U.S.-backed General Kayani's men beating up elderly Pakistanis suspected of supporting the Taliban. 3. A brief item on Boycott of Nestle linked to Nestle's refusal to buy milk from State farms in Zimbabwe but doing good business with Israel

About 70% of the worshippers were Pakistanis. The rest were Africans, Arabs and African-Americans.
One of the officials, a nice talking bearded man from Pakistan or India, tried to stop the distribution but went away when told that it is an important Islamic document not easily available to the Muslim community.

Women's Movement Launches Blog Talk Radio Program
[From Sis. Anisa Abdel Fattah]

On Sunday, October 25th, 6:00pm, the National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) will launch its blog talk radio program "America in Focus." It will, insha Allah, be a one hour call- in program where you can call in and discuss US foreign and domestic policies. Our first episode will be, "Health Care Reform in the United States?:"Yes We Can"! Call in and voice your views on health care reform, pro or con, or in between. Every view is welcomed. No cussing! ( Well, maybe just a little). The call in # is:
(646) 381-4631.

Our next episode, which will air Sunday, November 1st, 6:00pm will be "War! What is it good for?" This will be a one hour discussion with a leading anti war activist who will guide us through an examination of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, and perpetual and preventive war theories. Call in # (646) 381-4631.

Join us each Sunday at 6:00pm for "America in Focus." NAMAW real talk radio!
http://www.blogtalk radio.com/Crimsonrose

Free Dr. Aafia
LATEST NEWS & EVENTS

Greetings!

Ask your friends and family to subscribe!

It is very important to have a strong showing of support for Dr. Aafia as her court date draws near! We appreciate your support and assistance.

May God bless you!

The next upcoming court date: All able are encouraged to attend!


There will be a court hearing for Dr. Aafia's case next week:

WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 1:30pm (time may get moved)

WHERE: Federal Court, 500 Pearl Street, New York

Please advise your networks and encourage people in New York area to attend. It is likely that Judge Richard Berman will require Dr. Aafia to be brought to court under a force order that requires forced strip searches.

For those who cannot attend, please say a special prayer.

Upcoming events highlight the importance of Dr. Aafia's case


Please save the date for the city closest to you and kindly invite friends to support and attend the following:
Details about locations and timings will be forthcoming. Special guests will include Yvonne Ridley, the British journalist who initially broke Dr. Aafia's story leading to her "emergence" in Afghanistan.


Q & A by Br. Kaukab Siddique
DOES A MUSLIM WIFE HAVE TO OBEY HER HUSBAND AND HER MOTHER?

Question from Br. Yusuf [Detroit]: I have read in an Islamic publication "Al-Jumuah" vol.15, issue 05 in a fatwa given by Dr. Ajeel an-Nashmi as follows: "obeying her husband is an obligation of the wife in matters that involve no disobedience of Allah and that are included in the guardianship of a husband over his wife. Likewise, it is obligatory for a woman to listen to her mother where no disobedience of Allah or conflict with the wife's obedience of her husband is involved." How can New Trend claim that women have equality when this fatwa is giving the wife third position, after husband and mother?

Answer by Kaukab Siddique: Neither the Qur'an nor the authentic Hadith compiled by Bukhari and Muslim oblige a wife to "obey" her husband or her mother. Nor does Islam teach that the husband is the "guardian" of the wife. These are non-Islamic concepts imported from Hinduism and Judaism. Note the following:

To understand any social interaction, be it that of husband and wife or that of government and people, we must keep in view the BINDING PRINCIPLE which Islam provides for ALL such interaction. The Qur'an says that Muslims are people who:
"...conduct their affairs by mutual consultation." [42:38]

So, the proper way for the wife (as for the husband) is CONSULTATION/discussion and not obedience.

Similarly, men and women are EACH OTHERS' GUARDIANS, not the husband the guardian of the wife:
"The believers, men and women, are protecting friends and guardians (AWLIYYA) of each other ...." [9:71]

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was commanded by Allah to take a pledge from women when they wanted to become part of the Muslim community. It makes plain the rules about a woman's behavior in all matters. OBEDIENCE TO THE HUSBAND is NOT included. See the Qur'an 60:12

Read the numerous Hadith narrated by 'Ayesha, r.a. She used to even question the Prophet, pbuh, about the meaning of verses of the Qur'an. Nowhere do you read the Prophet, pbuh, telling her to obey him because he was her husband.

Men are clever in using religion to subjugate their wives. 'Ayesha, r.a., was aware of this tendency and she undermined this male claim as follows:
"'Ayesha, r.a., narrates: I swear by Allah that the messenger of Allah , pbuh, never asked women to accept anything except what Allah commanded him." [Hadith, Sahih of Muslim, kitab ul-amarat.]

A huband and wife are equal in all respects as far as the Qur'an and the Hadith are concerned. Only TAQWA [Allah conscious behavior] makes one better than the other. For instance, if a wife knows more Qur'an or Hadith than the husband, then he must listen to her.

As far as mothers are concerned, their claim in social relationships is based on LOVE, not on obedience. Islam teaches children to love, cherish, care for, help their mothers. Authority, however, which obliges one to obey, belongs to Allah alone.

Torture and humiliation
Re-Posting Gen. Kayani's torture Video [This time with Islamic sound track in background.]
na-Pak Army's Treatment of Elderly Civilian Islamic men

Viewer descretion advised.
Do not let children see this. Here is General Kayani's "soft" treatment of Islamic elders. Imagine what happens in hard core torture. The troopers are mouthing abuses in Urdu like "sisterf....r" etc while they punch, kick and lash the bearded elders who call on Allah and ask Allah to bear witness to their innocence.
This might help to understand why Islamic youth are becoming martyrdom operators to hit na-Pak army and its supporters.
The curse of Allah will envelope all Pakistanis if General Kayani and his American-Israeli bosses are not stopped.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRGFp58wjCg
With thanks to
Br. Yusuf El-Irlandi, Esq.

Al-Aqsa Facing destruction at Jewish hands
Tens of thousands in Gaza demonstrate in support of the Aqsa Mosque
[ 09/10/2009 - 09:17 PM ] [With thanks to Sis. Anisa Abdel Fattah, Banglavision]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip heeded the call of Hamas Movement to demonstrate in support of the Aqsa Mosque that had been under Israeli siege for more than a week now.

In a massive rally held in Khan Younis city in southern Gaza Strip, Hamas's political leader MP Yahya Mousa urged foundations of the civil society to free themselves from the chain of foreign financial support, and to expose the big conspiracy concocted against the Aqsa Mosque.

"The Aqsa isn't only in danger, but it is about to be destroyed... the Aqsa is part of our faith, and it is the center point of the struggle between truth and falsehood, and it is about time for the Arabs and the Muslim Ummah to wake up and defend it", asserted Mousa as he addressed the masses.

"We are prepared for the final battle with the Israelis, and the Arabs should unite, and we say to them: you have no excuse if the Aqsa is destroyed... the Muslim peoples should go to and demonstrate in the streets, and to the Arab rulers we say: are you not ashamed of being a toy in the hands of the Zionists?", he added.

Mousa also called on the "honorable" persons in Fatah faction to correct their faction's path, and to get rid of the disgrace brought to them and to their movement by Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and his retinue because, he added, the history of Fatah now was at the brink of collapse, otherwise Fatah would become worse than the defunct Lahd Army in southern Lebanon.

In this regard, Mousa invited the Palestinian people to continue demonstrating and to revolt against the leadership in Ramallah till Abbas resigns or is ousted by force, and if this crime [Abbas's decision to delay a UN vote on the Goldstone report] passed unpunished, Abbas would next sell the entire Palestinian cause.

"No one is allowed to remain neutral in this matter because the Palestinian people wouldn't forgive any one betraying them or trading with their blood", he underscored, accusing the Ramallah leadership of becoming a burden on the Palestinian national action, and of mortgaging itself to the international conditions, which is a lost project.

Furthermore, Mousa reiterated his Movement's concern to end the Palestinian political rift and to achieve the national reconciliation, but he called on Cairo to adjourn the signing of the reconciliation agreement till the shame brought by Abbas on the Palestinian issue is removed.

For his part, Hamas's legislator Abdul Rahman Al-Jamal called on the Ramallah-based PA to release all Palestinian resistance fighters detained in the West Bank jails, strongly criticizing Abbas for ordering a delay on a crucial UN vote on the Goldstone report.

"The fanatic Jewish groups and the IOF troops were encouraged and stormed the Aqsa Mosque and arrested Muslim worshippers inside it after Abbas's harmful decision, and the Israeli aggression on the Aqsa Mosque was coordinated with a team of traitors inside the Muqata'a in Ramallah", Jamal charged.

http://www.palestin e-info.co. uk/en/default. aspx?xyz= U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MD I46m9rUxJEpMO% 2bi1s7kN52Uec6s6 URrnLrB8dsoWtR7B MUrUg2hjcMBotOWW 5bGkrUklMrNKEXh9 B%2fB9skU4j53gV4 pfkQS7bmpBQa04kn BjV9mJXCkwrCWO7P ilc%3d

Documentation
General Kayani and US Generals Working Unitedly against Islamic Forces in Pakistan & Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (APP): U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones on Sunday praised Pakistan's recent gains against militants as he underlined the importance of the regional context of a strategy providing way forward in insurgency troubled Afghanistan. "The Pakistan army and the Pakistani government have done much better since March when the strategy was announced against the insurgents on their side of the border," he said appearing in CBS channel program Face the Nation.

The top national security adviser to President Barack Obama also said Afghanistan is not in imminent danger of falling to the Taliban.

Jones, a retired Marine general, discussed the U.S. policy to defeat al Qaeda in the region and implications of a troops surge in Afghanistan as suggested by top American commanders based in Afghanistan.

"It is Afghanistan for sure, it is also Pakistan, and it is the region, which is why we reshaped ourselves to deal with this issue in that way," he said citing the Obama Administration' s regional strategy set in motion earlier this summer to defeat al Qaeda and its allies with a combination of development, diplomatic and security efforts.

"There are things going on in Pakistan that are very encouraging," he acknowledged. The national security adviser noted a growing relationship between the militaries of the two allies.
"The relationship between the United States' military and Pakistani military is a growing one, it is on the ascendancy."

"We hope that will lead to a campaign against all insurgents on that side of the border, and if that happens, that's a strategic shift that will spill over into Afghanistan."

Latest War News: IRAQ EXPLODES AGAIN, literally

October 10, 2009: In the city of Ramadi, the police headquarters of the regime installed by the US was hit by a series of coordinated bomb attacks which killed 14 people, including 8 police officers, and wounded 50.

Attacks are also reported from Tikrit and Mosul. According to the US- installed regime's figures, 60 of its troops were killed in the fighting in September along with 6 US troops. They also admit that the major city of Mosul plus Diyala province and parts of Kirkuk and Anbar province are under the control of al-Qaida in Iraq. [The US media are not reporting on Iraq at all.]

Latest War News: Pakistan: Islamic Fighters Hit General Kayani's Headquarters in Rawalpindi
October 10-11, 2009: It is unheard of audacity. The General HeadQuarters [GHQ] of Pakistani military chief Gen. Kayani were attacked by a handful of fidayeen. The regime captured one of them, badly wounded, and has identified them as members of the Punjabi Taliban who have emerged during the last year in armed support of Pak Taliban in Waziristan and Swat and the Taliban in Afghanistan. They are from the poor sections of Punjab's population. According to the BBC, around 45% of Punjab's people support the Taliban.

The attack began at mid-day on October 10. The mujahideen battled elite Pakistani troops killing 6 of them in the process, including a Brigadier and a Lt. Col for a loss of 4 of their own. The remaining five captured a group of Pakistani military officials and staff and held them through the night.

The outraged Pakistanis sent in their best commandos and stormed the group of five fidayeen at dawn. Four of them along with 2 Pak commandos and three of the captives were killed in the final assault. One of the mujahideen known as Dr. Usman or Aqeel was captured after he was badly wounded.

General Kayani's whereabouts are unknown. If he was in the GHQ, he must be in a state of shock.
[NT reporter says: General Kayani's forces, with the full support of the US and Israel, have been torturing and killing pious Muslims in Swat. A dissident trooper leaked out a video of Kayani's men assaulting village elders suspected of Taliban sympathies or being fathers or grandfathers of Taliban youths.]

Mysterious Explosion in Peshawar Should be Investigated

October 9, 2009: A truck bomb exploded in a crowded Peshawar street killing 49 innocent people and wounding 150. The government media quickly changed the story to "suicide bomber" in an attempt to blame the Taliban. However, no parts of any bomber's body have been found. The Taliban who usually take credit for successful attacks have not done so in this case which wouldn't make sense if one of their "suicide bombers" gave his life for this tragic attack.

Suspicion is created by the fact that the Pakistani military wants to discredit and demonize the Pak Taliban before it launches its major operation against Waziristan. The video of Kayani's troops assaulting Islamic elders in Swat indicates that General Kayani can go to any extent to fulfil the wishes of the Pentagon and Israel.

Taliban Attack on UN Office in Islamabad

October 3, 2009: A Taliban bomber entered the heavily guarded UN Food Agency office in Islamabad and exploded. Five of the UN staff were killed and 12 wounded. Pak Taliban have taken credit for the attack and stated that they consider the UN an extension of the USA. The bomber was 24 years old and his body parts have been sent for DNA testing to check his origin.

All UN offices in Pakistan closed down after the attack.

[Pakistani Urdu media used as a source here do not mention that one of the injured was a very fine young man, an American Muslim, who had gone to Pakistan to help the people. It seems that the Taliban are so angry at the dislocation of 4 million people by the army in Swat and Dir that they do not want any help from western countries. We wish the badly injured American Muslim a quick recovery and our good wishes go to his family.]

Latest War News: Afghanistan: [Fighting is widespread. This is a sample.]
Taliban Attack Indian Embassy in Kabul

October 8: In Kabul, very large explosions hit the Indian embassy and Karzai's Interior Ministry, killing 17 people and wounding 76. Both buildings were damaged. It's the upscale area of Kabul where fancy shops cater to western visitors and NATO. The explosions destroyed scores of shops and set cars on fire.

The Taliban took credit for the attack and identified the martyrdom operator who carried out the attack as a young man named Khalid.

[NT analysts say: India immediately blamed the Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, for the attack. The Taliban oppose Indian presence because India supports Karzai. Pakistani intelligence, ISI, helps the US target the Taliban and has sealed off Pakistani infiltration into Kashmir to stop the freedom struggle against India. It appears that both India and Pakistan distribute disinformation for their own propaganda purposes. Taliban are an Islamic force and are not seen by any evidence as supporting Pakistan or India.]

Even an Ordinary Afghan Woman Wants to Fight Back

KOTALAK, Afghanistan (AFP) - An elderly Afghan woman, her hair dyed red and a black shawl draped over her shoulders, shouts as she aims a gun at US Marines who are arresting her husband as a suspected Taliban insurgent.
A Marine points his assault rifle at her and is ready to pull the trigger until the woman drops her rusty pistol.
Members of the 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines, accompanied by Afghan soldiers, were sweeping villages for militants early this week as part of Operation Germinate.

Africans In Afghanistan to Help the Taliban in Jihad: Karzai's Man Worried

Kabul: October 10, 2009: "The enemy has changed. Their number has increased," Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak told lawmakers in a speech. He said about 4,000 fighters, mostly from Chechnya, North Africa and Pakistan "have joined with them and they are involved in the fighting in Afghanistan."

Polish Troops Come Under Taliban Attack

October 10: Two troopers from Poland were killed and 4 wounded when their convoy came under Taliban bomb attack. An American soldier who was wounded died of his wounds.

Road Construction For NATO Military Hit by Taliban Martyr

October 9, 2009: "A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the Sky construction company in the Jadran district of Paktia province, local governor Abdul Wali Jadran told AFP.
"Six security guards of the company were killed and another three were wounded in the blast," Jadran said.

10/07/2009
Gaza Love Story
The Bride Who Crawled Through a Tunnel The Bride Who Crawled Through a Tunnel

By Ulrike Putz in Nuseirat, the Gaza Strip
May and Mohammed together in Gaza
May and Mohammed together in Gaza
He lived in the Gaza Strip, she in the West Bank. It seemed as though the Israeli blockade would prevent their marriage. Then May risked her life to crawl through a smugglers' tunnel into Gaza and join Mohammed. Now they face an uncertain future together.
When Mohammed Warda first took his bride in his arms she looked "as if she had just stepped out of a grave that was filled with earth." He had spent an hour sitting nervously by a big hole in the ground in the Gaza Strip, while May crawled backwards through the tunnel, keeping her eyes closed because of the sand that trickled from the roof. Her groom had to pay $1,500 (€1,021) for her to be smuggled through a tunnel from the Egyptian side of the border to the Gaza Strip. And 23-year-old May knew the whole time that the risky undertaking could cost her her life.

Mohammed had been honest with her when he phoned her, telling her of the dangers she faced. First of all there were the Egyptians who were trying to cut off the tunnels, sometimes by throwing gas grenades down the shafts. Dozens of people working on the tunnels had been killed in recent months by these methods. Furthermore there were the Israeli air strikes to contend with: Ever since Israel failed to halt the smuggling during the Gaza war they launched at the beginning of the year, its air force had taken to sporadically striking the border with Egypt. And then there was the danger that the tunnel could simply collapse. "I knew that I could be buried alive at any moment," May says. After almost an hour underground she staggered into Mohammed's waiting arms. "I was shocked," the 26-year-old says. "I felt so bad that she had gone through this ordeal for me."
Internet Engagement
May and Mohammed's story began one evening three months earlier. The entire clan had gathered in the Warda family's humble apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Ten family members were sitting in front of their most prized possession: a computer with a webcam that kept them in touch with their relatives in the West Bank. A red-faced Mohammed Warda was holding the mouse, and his cousin May appeared on the screen surrounded by her relatives. "Why are you so red?" was the first question May asked the man her family had agreed would be her future husband. Mohammed mumbled something before the fathers took over the conversation. "Are you agreed?" they asked. Mohammed and May smiled at each other via the webcam and nodded. The families cheered.
An engagement contrived by one of the fathers, spouses who are already second cousins: So far, the story of Mohammed and May sounds like an everyday tale from the Arab world. However, their story differs from those of the many other couples who enter into arranged marriages in a few vital ways. First of all, the two fell in love in the weeks following their online engagement. May and Mohammed got to know each other by phone, webcam and e-mail and a virtual romance blossomed. Secondly the barrier to their love and marriage was formed by politics of the highest order.
The Gaza Strip has been sealed off by an Israeli blockade ever since the radical Islamist group Hamas had prevailed in a violent power struggle there in 2007. One and a half million people are trapped in one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, according to the United Nations. The fact that the Palestinians living there are forbidden from leaving the Gaza Strip or moving to the West Bank has been described by the UN as "collective punishment."
That meant that if the couple were going to marry, it would have to be May who left the West Bank. She and her mother took a shared taxi to Jordan and then travelled on to Egypt. She then had to bid her mother farewell at the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza. She didn't know if she would ever see her family again. And she knew she would have to crawl through the infamous smugglers' tunnels into the Gaza Strip, if she was ever to be happily married.
Blinded by Love
It took four days and thousands of kilometers for May to travel from Ramallah to Gaza. "After our online engagement I applied to the Israelis five times, asking for permission to join May in the West Bank -- to no avail," Mohammed explains. So they decided that May would have to come to him. "She was willing to do it immediately, that is how much she loves me," says Mohammed, beaming in his parents' living room. They have no furniture apart from the table where the computer stands and the foam mattresses that line the walls. During the day the mattresses serve as sofas and at night the family sleeps here. Mohammed is sitting on one of these mattresses, May close by his side. They can hardly see the poverty that surrounds them, they are still so blinded by their love story.
One could look at Mohammed and May's story as a romantic tale, in which two lovers overcame all the odds to be together. However, in reality, this is the sad story of a young couple who suffer under circumstances that are unlikely to change. They belong to neither a nation nor a state, and are as much victims of the internal rivalries between the Palestinians as of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Their shared future looks pretty grim.
Glowing Happiness Could Soon be Over
In addition, they are starting off married life with serious money worries. Paying for May to be smuggled through the tunnel, the wedding, the sparse furniture in the single room where they now live in Mohammed's parents' home -- these all cost more than they could really afford. "I have $4,000 in debts and I don't know how I am going to pay it back," says Mohammed. He gets around $250 a month from the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank.
Before the Hamas takeover in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed had been a body guard for their rivals Fatah. Now that Hamas is at the helm, he is destined to stay unemployed. Fatah is no longer paying for his work but for his loyalty. It is unlikely he will find a job under the present circumstances. The blockade has decimated economic activity in the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 40 percent of the population without a job.
It is slowly dawning on the young couple that those first glowing days of happiness could soon be over. May misses her mother. "My father died four weeks before I left home and now my mother has lost her only daughter," she says. She also misses the job she had in a boutique in Ramallah. "Love is cruel," the 23-year-old admits. She had no illusions that she would be living the good life in Gaza, she says. "But I didn't expect it to be this bad."
May still hasn't seen the Mediterranean, although the sea is only a short 20-minute drive away from her in-laws' home. The journey would cost a dollar and Mohammed and May just don't have the money to spare.

Reader Response is needed
Survey explores Muslim Americans' perceptions of mental illness

Dear Respected Brother/Sister,

You are being asked to participate in a research project entitled "Muslim Americans' Conceptions of Mental Illness," which is being conducted by Anisah Bagasra, MA. I am a doctoral candidate in Psychology at Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center and Instructor of Psychology at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. This study is the final leg of my dissertation research and the culmination of two years of survey development and testing.

The purpose of this research is to explore Muslim American's perceptions of mental illness, attitudes toward mental health services and standard therapies. The study also collects demographic information that emphasizes religious commitment and acculturation. This study is designed to give a voice to Muslim Americans who wish to express their beliefs and attitudes towards mental health and mental illness, something that is not talked about much in our community. This survey is anonymous. No identifying information will be included in the final report. Your participation is voluntary. You may choose not to take the survey or to stop responding at any time. You must be at least 18 years of age to participate in this study and identify as a Muslim who is also a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or live in the United States regularly for at least 8 months out of the year.

The survey consists of four sections and will take approximately 20 to 25 minutes to fill out. Your completion of the survey serves as your voluntary agreement to participate in this research project and your certification that you meet the definition of a Muslim-American who is 18 or older.

Please follow the link to the survey below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=vZafC_2bbZZkXA14DftDnNw_3d_3d

If you have an additional few minutes, please cut and paste this message and send to friends and family your believe would be interested in participating in the study.

Questions regarding the purpose or procedures of the research should be directed to Anisah Bagasra at (803) 535-5742 or abagasra@claflin.edu or by mail (at the address above).
Thank you for taking valued time out of your day to contribute to research designed to reduce health disparities that exist within the Muslim community. Your honest responses will contribute to the enhancement of mental health services for our community.

I know many of you have participated in the previous surveys that I have been designing and testing. Your continued support has been vital to my research and progress as a doctoral student.

Peace and Blessings,

Anisah Bagasra, MA
PhD Candidate in Psychology
Saybrook Graduate School

Anisah Bagasra
Instructor of Psychology
Department of History & Sociology
Claflin University
Orangeburg, SC 29115
(803) 535-5742
abagasra@claflin.edu

2009-10-12 Mon 19:50:19 cdt
NewTrendMag.org