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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Mohurram 29,1431,/ January 15, 2010 # 3

Top Pakistani leader says: Palestine and Pakistan: One Family of Faith: One Struggle.
Munawar Hasan warns, if Dr. Aafia is convicted by US, Pakistanis will rise up in her support.

Good news: Our long time reader and human rights activist Khalid Khwaja has made contact with the
attorney of the 5 US Muslim youths in Sarogodha, Pakistan, who were victimized by CAIR-FBI. We have contacted some of the families of the five in USA. They are too terrified to speak out.
Inshallah, the youths will not be easily extradited to the tender mercies of the US. Look at what happened to Bangladeshi Muslim youth Shifa Sadequee in similar circumstances. We post Shifa's entire message. Scroll down for this innocent son of Islam imprisoned in Atlanta.

Jamaat al-Muslimeen Urges Readers to Attend Dr. Aafia's Hearing on 1.19
Innocence vs Arrogance. Please scroll down for details.


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

Spotlight #1: The worldwide response to Haiti's cataclysm shows thee fitra or goodness of human nature with which Allah has blessed human beings. It is very natural that when people see human suffering, they respond with compassion and generosity. Unfortunately we Muslims do not have the global power of TV to project our suffering. We are sanctioned and starved and uprooted and multilated and killed in Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Swat, Waziristan but the world does not see our suffering.

Spotlight #2: We see a superpower mobilizing to help the people of Haiti. We see the military forces red in tooth and claw, streaming with our blood, now claiming to be saviors of the oppressed people of Haiti. Kill there, help here, its all part of the same game of deception. Till now even the word GAZA has not been uttered by the people in power here. They do not let the people see the broken bodies of our children. We must use our media, like New Trend, to project the ONENESS of HUMANITY. The suffering of Haiti is part of the suffering of the oppressed worldwide, not separate and specific as the oppressors would have us believe.

From the Secretary General of Jamaat al-Muslimeen, Sis. Ashira Na'im
We Urge the Muslim Ummah: Urgent Help for the People of Haiti: Humanity is one in Suffering

"Feed the Hungry, take care of the sick, free the captives." [Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him, Sahih Bukhari]

As we hear and see the news of the devastating earthquake that has killed thousands and wounded an untold number, we must be moved to action to lend a helping hand to ease the suffering in whatever way we can. We know that there is need for rebuilding of the shanty structures that provide at least privacy and some semblance of a "home" to many of the people.

If we put just what we can together, Insha-Allah we can help rebuild those houses. Jamaat representative in Brooklyn, New York is in touch with Haitian communities for years and your donations will not be wasted.

Allah has said to us: Holy Quran Sura Al-Ma'un ,107:1-7 THE NEIGHBORLY ASSISTANCE

1. Do you see the one who denies the Judgement (to come?
2. That is the one who repulses the orphan (with harshness)
3. And encourages not the feeding of the needy
4. So woe to the worshippers
5. Who are heedless of their prayers
6. Thos who want but to be seen (of men)
7. But refuse (to supply) (even) neighborly needs.

Let us not be like those spoken of in the above sura. Remember, the peolple of Haiti are a symbol to us: These people sit at the door of the wealthy US and have been in a destitute need long before this earthquake which has brought the country and its deplorable living conditions to our tv screens.

Make your tax deductible donations payable to our sister agency
Family Extended Educational Tide,
and mail to
P.O. Box 39732, Baltimore, MD 21212.
You will receive your receipt with tax number for your deduction.

Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen Teaches the Spiritual Aspect of Death & Destruction in Haiti

On January 15, 2009 the Juma khutba at Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen was given by Br. Azzam, a young African American brother who grew up with the masjid over the years. The brother quoted from the Qur'an and Hadith to say that Haiti shows us that we all have to pass away from this world to the next. This can happen in a matter of seconds for entire populations, he said, so we should not get too attached tro our worldly pursuits and daily desires. We must prepare for the Hereafter because that existence is much more important and more lasting than the one we live in.

Br. Azzam quoted a beautiful hadith about what happens to the believer after death and how one is transported from this existence to the next in the fragrance and light of Allah's blessings.

After the prayers, the imam of the masjid, Br. Muammar, made an impassioned plea to the Muslims to donate whatever they can for the people of Haiti.

Analysis
US-Zionist Power Structure is Responsible for the Horrific Suffering in Haiti
Attempt to Rehabilitate War Machine and George Bush
by Kaukab Siddique, PhD

"... They treat men's oppression as if it were the wrath of Allah!..." The Qur'an 29: 10

President Obama looks serious. He is promising all kinds of help to Haiti. Haitian immigrants here illegally will not be deported!
All this is well and good but we Muslims are not fooled. Compare the funds Obama has promised to Haiti to what flows EVERY YEAR to the terrorist entity known as Israel. There is no comparison. In fact the aid USA gives to ALL of Africa COMBINED is smaller than what it gives to Israel. poor Haiti is next door to us but America's power structure undermined its survival. America lives in luxury and recognizes Haiti only when it is in its death throes!

The story is decades old. Remember the dictators of Haiti who looted its wealth? Papa Doc. 'Baby Doc" etc were all supported by the USA.
Remember the hatred spread against Haiti through the rumor that Haitians carry AIDS when AIDS was strongest in the White homiosexual groups.

A clearly discriminatory immigration policy was carried out against Haiti. While rich Cubans poured in just because they were opponents of Castro, the poorest Haitians were not allowed to enter the USA even under desperate conditions.

Look at the area of earthquake devastation. The corrupt rich Haitians had set up their palaces in the capital Port-au-Prince. The UN military also settled there, bringing corruption and oppression with them. The extreme wealth in the capital attracted the poor and the disenfranchised but they were kept deprived and lived in shanties. The earthquake overwhelmed the capital city but little damage has been done to the countryside. Is that a sign?

Haiti was deprived of a modern infrastructure. A similar earthquake, 7.0 on the Richter scale killed 69 people in California. It has killed tens of thousands [estimated] in Haiti. One air strip in a country next door to America. No facilities! Conditions worse than Bangladesh.

Obviously this a prime example of hidden racism rising up from the depths of the agony of Haiti to remind us of the criminal neglect of the American power structure. Obama is part of the American power elite, the Zionist-capitalist system. Could he not see for all these years of his political life, the slow death of Haiti. Now he comes out to express his superior morality. Is it because this is an election year and Obama does not want Haiti to become his New Orleans?

Very impressively he announced a 100 million dollars. Very impressive! but it is insignificant if 50,000 are dead and 3,000,000 are homeless. Obama is not doing his math. A BILLION dollars are spent every week on the occupation army in Iraq although the US is no longer in a position to carry out military operations there and is preparing to withdraw.

How cruel is this "funding" when trillions of dollars have been given to Wall Street bankers. Do human beings matter or everything is a political game?

The icing on the cake is Obama's bringing in George Bush to help in the rehabilitation of Haiti. Looks like the only people from whom Obama accepts pressure is the EXTREME right wing. The mass murderer George Bush is now to be rehabilitated as the joint savior of Haiti! American politicians think they can fool all the people all the time!

Heavily Funded Jewish Group Attacks Jamaat al-Muslimeen & Dr. Siddique

[A reader in Chicago has informed us that the so-called Anti-Defamation League, ADL, has updated its attack on Jamaat al-Muslimeen and is still carrying it on its web site. Readers might remember that this attack began when Jamaat al-Muslimeen organized a Peace Conference in Baltimore in 2008. The full text of ADL's attack is given next followed by Dr. Siddique's response.]

[Jamaat al-Muslimeen (JAM) is a small Muslim organization based in Baltimore that promotes Holocaust denial and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. Its leader, Dr. Kaukab Siddique, is an associate professor in the English department at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

[While Siddique claims that JAM is "not against the Jews as a collective," JAM promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and portrays Jews as a pernicious global power. Siddique has said, "Mohammed has taught us not to follow Jews but to go against them in all things" and, "We are against the Jews because they have usurped Palestine and they take interest on loans and have built up the exploitative economic structure."

While JAM claims to be an international movement, it appears to be active mostly in the Northeast of the United States. In addition to organizing events, JAM produces an online newsletter, New Trend Magazine, which promotes the work of David Irving and other Holocaust deniers.

Siddique, who met Irving on at least one occasion in Baltimore in 2004, has also denied the Holocaust. "There is no evidence available that Hitler planned or ordered the wholesale decimation of Jews," Siddique has said. "The Jewish narratives of the gassing of six million Jews too cannot be substantiated." He has also called the Holocaust "a Jewish milk cow."

JAM rejects Western style democracy, specifically American governance, which it claims is "under Zionist control." Siddique has described the U.S. as "satanic system," arguing that "America's power structure does not accept the SOVEREIGNTY of Allah."

JAM's Central Committee met in Greensboro, North Carolina on May 24, 2008. During the meeting, at which Siddique presided, the Committee passed several resolutions including:

"Israel is an illegal and illegitimate entity. We call for global unity to defeat Israel. Groups engaged in trying to gain authority under Israeli occupation are violating the rights of the people. There cannot be ANY NEGOTIATIONS with Israel, either DIRECT or INDIRECT, because Israel is an occupier."

"Racism, the exploitation of women and the corporate-Zionist control of the media are three basic problems in America which the Islamic movement must tackle."

One of JAM's main focuses is advocating on behalf of what it calls "political prisoners" in the U.S. Among the prisoners it supports is Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian cleric convicted of conspiring to bomb New York City landmarks. ]

Rebuttal by Dr. Kaukab Siddique: If Jamaat al-Muslimeen is a small organization based only in Baltimore, why is the ADL worried about it. ADL should read the Old Testament. Probably the ADL missed the story of David and Golaith. We have it in the Qur'an and we know that if a few people follow the Truth from Allah, they will win regardless of the odds. Muhammad, pbuh, was only ONE person against ALL of kufr and he won.

A movement does not go around getting people to fill in mermbership forms and getting huge crowds of thoughtless people to congregate and have fun.
The Islamic movement begins by speaking against the false gods [such as America's power structure and Jewish-zionist control of America.] We are reaching more Muslims than anyone else in America, be it through direct emails, or through discussion groups, or through a million hits on our web site or by way of private distribution. No wonder the ADL is worried.

What ADL has tried to present is probably aimed at non-Muslims, particularly the government, and aims at directing their negative attention against us. However, most Muslims would agree that Israel has usurped Palestine by force of arms. Only craven little cliques like CAIR would see Israel as a legitimate entity.

As for going against the Jews, that's a clear command of the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh. Does ADL know anything about Islam or is it learning "Islam" from CAIR.

The Jews do not accept Jesus, pbuh, or Muhammad, pbuh. Islam accepts both.

As for the Holocaust story, why does the ADL consider it sacrilege to respect and honor David Irving. After all Irving is the greatest historian of the Second World War. I am not a betting man , but if were I would bet that no one in the ADL has read Irving's books. Censorship is ADL's thing.

If the holocaust story is true, the ADL should send us the copy of an order from Hitler commanding his forces to exterminate the Jews. Irving gave that challenge long ago. International Jewry couldn't provide an order from Hitler. Nor is there any evidence of gassing.

Collaborators of the Jewish lobby, like CAIR, who have infiltrated Muslim communities, claim that the holocaust story should not be criticized. A man named Hamza Yusuf has gone to the extent of saying that the Qur'an's authenticity would be questionable if the holocaust is questioned. There are a few allies of the Jews within Muslim ranks, but most Muslims agree with me that the holocaust story is more of a holohoax than a fact. It should be open to discussion and critical analysis. The genocide imposed on Palestine by the Jews is a fact which Israel denies. The ADL and International Jewry are the real holocaust deniers.

ADL supports Israel which has usurped Palestine by force of arms. Israel has no legitimiacy. Without the Zionist control of US media, Israel would be condemned by the American people themselves. ADL wants to abuse a "small" group like Jamaat al-Muslimeen in spite of Zionist control of the media. That's how weak the moral position of ADL's camp is. These Jews are afraid that the American people will find out what they are doing in Palestine.

ADL would have us believe that racism and the exploitation of women are not facts. Go figure!

America treats its opponents as criminals. The Blind Shaikh Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman is supposed to be a terrorist while the tyrant of Egypt Hosni Mubarak is an honored guest in the White House. Israel has used American power to suppress Islam in America. All our leaders are in prison or turned into non-persons through censorship.

Jamaat al-Muslimeen is the only Muslim organization at the national level which has consistently opposed US imperialism and Zionism. ADL is concerned because it would like US Muslims to become clones of CAIR and other lackeys.

Brazil Cowed Down

Jewish Senator Pulls Power Play and Helps Fellow Jew Win International Custody Battle
Why Allah Forbids Associating with the Kuffar

by Sis. 'Aisha [Jamaat al-Muslimeen New York City]

On December 17, 2009, David Goldman, of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, was awarded custody of his nine year old son, Sean Goldman. Sean had been living in Brazil with his stepfather, Joao Paulo Lins e Silva.

In 2004, David's then-wife, Bruna Bianchi, took Sean to her native Brazil for what David thought was a two week vacation. During that time, Bruna divorced David and married Joao Paulo Lins e Silva. The custody battle had been brewing since. Bruna died while giving birth to a daughter, in 2008.

Recently, David Goldman received the support of New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama but, it did not seem as if there was any likelihood of him getting his son back anytime soon or at all. This Brazilian family is very wealthy and had many ties to government agencies possibly owing to the fact that Sean's stepfather, Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, is an attorney from a powerful family.

However, in a series of blows over the course of the last few weeks, many of the supreme court justices ruled against the Bianchi's family's efforts to keep Sean. Many in Brazil believe that these, unusually, quick rulings in Goldman's favor was a result of New Jersey State Senator Frank Lautenberg playing a key role in delaying a trade bill with Brazil worth $2.75 billion dollars a year.

Bruna Bianchi's family has decided to drop all legal pursuits in this case.

This is a prime example of a Jew using his position of power to get the results he wanted for a fellow Jew. Many politicians in these ethnic congressional caucuses (Black, Latino, Asian Congressional Caucus) refuse to make these types of moves, especially since the Zionist and White supremacist lobbies worked so hard to rid political offices of real activists such as, Atlanta, GA's Cynthia B. McKinney and Harlem, NY's Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., respectively.
It would have been great to read headlines about higher ranked African-American Senators or Congressmen delaying votes on important bills until New Orleans was restored or a more powerful civilian complaint review board was set up to investigate nationwide accusations of police criminality but, no such action has ever been taken.

Muslim politicians number even less in rank and population in the House of Representatives. There is no code of law for how to behave as an African-American or any other ethnic group in the U.S. but, we Muslims have the Qur'an as our guide. The roadblocks encountered and concessions these boot-licking Muslim politicians feel compelled to make serves as an excellent example for why Allah forbids Muslims from associating with the kuffar.

The Qur'an also explains kuffar behavior and how they have set up entire systems of operation that benefit ONLY them. This explains how a Zionist like Sen. Frank Lautenberg can delay important bills to promote HIS cause while well-meaning politicians, who question America's relationship with Israel, continue to encounter roadblocks. This is why Cynthia B. McKinney is no longer in the congressional office.

Pakistani Collaborator Justifies Genocide in Swat

Military Metaphysics and the Native Informer: The case of Pervez Hoodbhoy

By Muhammad Idrees Ahmad

During a talk in Dublin a few years back a respected left luminary postulated that one cause of rising extremism in Pakistan was the increasing number of young people turning to seminaries instead of scientific academies for their education. He attributed this insight—one that is sure to leave most Pakistanis bemused—to 'a friend, a nuclear physicist in Pakistan'. Anyone even remotely familiar with Pakistan of course would know that the education system there is highly stratified: people with money send their children to private schools and those without to decrepit public institutions. Further down are the underclasses who are often forced to choose between educating their children or feeding and sheltering them. The dilemma is often resolved by sending children to seminaries, the much-maligned madaris (plural of madrassa) where they get food, shelter, and education. Few, if any, go to the madaris by choice (though almost all except the Westernized elite send their children to mosques at some point for basic religious education). So the speaker's comment was odd, Mary Antoinette-ish. And given its quality, it was not hard to guess who its source, the nuclear physicist in question, might be. After reading Pervez Hoodbhoy in Counterpunch on December 14, 2009, one would have to be a fool to question his familiarity with Riverside Drive. However, Hoodbhoy would sound less fatuous if he were equally familiar with Peshawar Road.

In the title and conclusion of his article Hoodbhoy sardonically asks where, if he is the tool of Western embassies—as he says his critic M. Shahid Alam alleges—is his cheque. All one can say in reply is that if he hasn't received one, then that is a shame since he has certainly earned it at least from Her Majesty's Government.

In April-May of 2009 the self-styled 'ex-extremist' co-director of the Quilliam Foundation (QF) Maajid Nawaz went on a British government-funded tour of Pakistan as part of what the BBC described as the 'ideas' arm of the 'war on terror'. The thinktank, whose operations are underwritten by the UK government to the tune of £1 million, has links to the neoconservative Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC). Together their members run The Spittoon, a blog where under various pseudonyms they smear opponents, mainly antiwar, pro-Palestinian voices (one frequent contributor is Alexander Hitchens, son of Christopher, who is trying to forge a career in the lucrative 'terrorism expert' industry). Its members also publish on Harry's Place, a notorious Zionist weblog that has been described as 'a hard right wing hate site...the UK equivalent of the US's Little Green Footballs'. The thinktank also maintains good relations across the Atlantic where Nawaz was earlier hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a spinoff of AIPAC, the leading Israel lobby institution.

Although the thinktank takes its name from a 19th century Islamist Abdullah Quilliam, a British convert to Islam and an anti-Imperial activist, its targets are mainly people who fit that same profile: Muslim anti-Imperialists. British author Ziauddin Sardar reports that at its launch advisor Abdel-Aziz al-Bukhari argued that Muslims should 'love, obey and respect' the government. One of the Foundation's key functions is to cast doubt on the link between British foreign policy and the rise of extremism. For these 'reformed' extremists, civil liberties are a dispensable luxury. After it was revealed that the British government's counter-radicalism programme was being used to gather intelligence on innocent people, QF co-director Mohammed Mahbub 'Ed' Husain defended the government's actions, arguing that they were 'morally right'. This proved too extreme even for CSC director Douglas Murray who accused Husain of holding 'extreme views' that were 'appallingly illiberal'. The foundation, Murray argued, is 'using public money to advocate increasingly totalitarian attitudes'.[1]
So who invited Nawaz and the Quilliam Foundation to Islamabad? Pervez Hoodbhoy, of course—to 'reopen minds', you see.[2]

Since Nawaz came with a foreign office security detail in tow (suits and body armour courtesy of the British taxpayer), Hoodbhoy can't claim innocence about the purpose of the trip. At least the BBC's Tim Whewell was forthright: 'Backed by the British government,' he intoned dramatically, 'Maajid Nawaz is heading for the frontline in the war on terror to fight the ideas he once promoted'. Whewell was soon faithfully reproducing the Hoodbhoy meme, telling viewers how more Pakistani children were forsaking secular education for the madrassas. The clueless reporter took viewers down a madrassa corridor where he found 'a sign of radicalization before they [the students] have left—Saudi-style head-dresses'! In his interview with Whewell, Hoodbhoy spoke about the growing assertion among students of their Islamic identity and then sagely mused: 'something...something has happened...something very important, something fundamental has changed'.

Hoodbhoy however is no mere tool; he is equally adept at taking his own message to foreign capitals. After attending his lecture at the Middle East Institute in Washington, a senior IPS journalist told me he was astounded by the extreme hawkishness of Hoodbhoy's views. Counterpunch readers could not have missed the fact that Hoodbhoy was rather selective in choosing which war to condemn; he had nothing to say about Afghanistan, a war he supports. He speaks passionately about all the horrors that according to him afflict Pakistan today, but makes no mention whence they arise. In fact, for the past several years, Hoodbhoy has been advocating vigorous military action to quell the frontier unrest. During the years when the military was devastating the tribal belt using airpower and artillery, if Hoodbhoy had any objection at all, it was that Musharraf was not going far enough. He then turned to Western audiences, with alarmist stories about the looming Islamist threat to enlist support for his domestic crusade. He didn't shrink from maligning even his own colleagues, branding some the 'urban Taliban': 'There are indeed more than a few scientists and engineers in the nuclear establishment with extreme religious views', he told Counterpunch readers last July.

Under US pressure in May 2009 the Pakistani military launched a major incursion into Swat precipitating the largest refugee crisis since Rwanda. In his inimitable style Hoodbhoy described the incident that triggered this utterly avoidable human tragedy as 'a miracle of sorts'. He denounced as 'apologists for the Taliban' all who urged caution, chief among them 'opinion-forming local TV anchors', and lamented that the 'government's massive propaganda apparatus lay rusting'. Anyone who suggested that the US presence next door or the indiscriminate drone attacks as possible destabilizing factors he accused of harbouring 'festering resentments which [produce] a paranoid mindset that blames Washington for all of Pakistan's ills'. At a time when most agreed that the problems were political and needed to be resolved accordingly, Hoodbhoy was gung-ho, advising the state to use 'all possible means, including adequate military force'. In 2008 when eleven Pakistani soldiers were killed by US forces at a border post, Hoodbhoy described the resulting outrage as an instance of 'anti-Americanism'. An incredulous Hoodbhoy wrote in Dawn that 'some newspaper and television commentators want Pakistan to withdraw from the American-led war on Al Qaeda and the Taliban, to stop US fuel and ammunition supplies into Afghanistan, and hit hard against Afghan troops when provoked'. That newspapers and television commentators should reflect what according to an IRI poll is the wish of 80% of Pakistanis? Such temerity! (For background on Pakistan's domestic 'war on terror' franchise, see my 'Pakistan creates its own enemy')

Pakistanis recognize that what they face is a political crisis at its core, and a law enforcement issue at its margins. The use of force on civilian populations is not going to resolve it; it will only expose vulnerabilities, swell the numbers of the aggrieved, and compound the threat of retaliation.[3] Already Hoodbhoy is holding up the predictable—and predicted—blowback as confirmation of what he calls the 'militant fanaticism of Pathan tribals'. This is an unfortunate use of words, considering, as the former CIA station chief in Kabul Graham Fuller notes, and the former chief secretary of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province Rustam Shah Mohmand confirms, this is increasingly seen as an ethnic war against the Pashtuns.

In Hoodbhoy's monochrome vision there are no shades of gray, his worldview is Manichean: You are with us, or you are with the terrorists. Opponents can only be driven by 'evil': there are no innocents. Violence is its own explanation, there is rarely a cause. To suggest one is to be an 'apologist for extremism'. This is no leftist talking, this is Sharon-speak.

For someone who invokes Edward Said's name to demand immunity from criticism, Hoodbhoy also appears remarkably innocent of the concept of orientalism. In his writings he never shies away from indulging in the essentialist culture talk that characterizes the worst of the genre. His trope about a modern, enlightened, rational West, and a traditional, superstitious, irrational Islam would be familiar to most readers of Said. For Hoodbhoy culture explains why Islam has failed the test of modernity. History never happened; 'colonialism' and 'empire' are frivolous concepts used by Muslims to deflect attention from their own failings.

Turning to the age-old question of Islam's alleged incompatibility with science, in an article for the Guardian, Hoodbhoy waxes wise about its 'arrested development'. After acknowledging the golden era of Islamic science, he distinguishes 'modern science' from 'ancient science'. Far from being a narrative of progress, one enabling the other, for Hoodbhoy, these are two distinct, culturally determined, paradigms standing in binary opposition. 'If a civilisation did great ancient science', he writes, 'this does not automatically mean that it is equally qualified for doing modern science'. Especially, if it is a 'culture that questions rather than obeys'. One can only guess what Said would have thought of this sapience.
Returning to the question of Pakistan, Hoodbhoy ends his Counterpunch article by defending what he claims are among 'the finest people around'. Two of them—Najam Sethi and Ahmad Rashid—he hails for having fought the Pakistani military in the mountains of Baluchistan in their youth (like the youth fighting in the mountains of Waziristan, one might ask?). However, he is too polite to mention that all of these fine people are presently at war with a more formidable enemy: Pakistan's dashing, obstreperous, free press. Earlier this year Sethi alleged:

the media created sympathy for the Taliban and support for the Red Mosque terrorists...they made this "America's war" by spreading the idea that if the US were to leave the region, the Taliban and al-Qaida would dissolve...this same media drummed up support for dangerous peace deals between the Taliban and the army or government.

The media of course are 'supporters of the Taliban' in the same sense that opponents of the Iraq war were 'supporters of Saddam Hussein'. After the media failed to show Hillary Clinton the deference that Sethi thought they should have, in an interview with the New York Times, he denounced them as 'part of the problem'. Ahmed Rashid, Pakistan's leading apologist for the 'war on terror', is equally vehement, dismissing the leading figures of Pakistan's lively, muckraking media as 'untrained, semi-educated and unworldly'. He also blasted the military for refusing to see the war as their own, rather than as an American war.

More upset with the media's insolence toward Hillary Clinton was Irfan Husain, a liberal columnist for Dawn. After accusing Pakistan's leading television anchors of 'muddled, ill-informed thinking', he compared 'how angry they all looked' with 'Ms Clinton [sic]' who, according to Husain, was 'relaxed and articulate...a patient adult, gently chiding and cajoling a bunch of sulking teenagers'. Husain once served on the advisory board of the Pakistan-Israel Peace Forum, an Astroturf lobbying group co-founded by Michael Berenhaus, a leading right-wing Israel lobbyist, to advocate for the normalization of relations between Pakistan and Israel. Husain argued that Pakistan should base its foreign relations on 'enlightened self-interest', and the only people who would oppose recognition of Israel were religious parties who have failed to provide 'cogent reasons... [t]he best they could do was to express their anger over the treatment the Israelis have been meting out to Palestinians under their occupation'. Husain is also not averse to reproducing neoconservative propaganda in his columns: he once wrote about the Muslim 'fifth column' in UK and the Islamic menace in 'Londonistan', and approvingly cited Christopher Hitchens for the insights. Like fellow 'finest people around', Husain is also a staunch advocate of military solutions.

In his classic work The Power Elite, C. Wright Mills described as 'military metaphysics' the cast of mind that sees political problems as military ones, and deems force as the sole means of resolving them. This mindset appears to pervade the ranks of Pakistan's Westernized liberal elite—rightly called the 'brown sahibs'—who have been baying for blood since 2002. Yet, despite their unabashed warmongering, they continue to receive platform in progressive publications by invoking the names of leftist luminaries that they have associated with. If past associations rather than present deeds guarantee respectable audience, we would have to be equally attentive to Christopher Hitchens's pronouncements. Surely the layout of Edward Said's Riverside Drive apartment is as familiar to Hitchens as it is to Hoodbhoy. Western commentators have all too often turned to people in their own image (Anglophone, secular, liberal) when analyzing societies they know little about; they would perhaps gain more if they looked for interlocutors based on shared principles instead. Hoodbhoy may have been a visitor to Edward Said's apartment, but in his politics he is closer to his bete´ noire´ Bernard Lewis. So long as he continues to consort with dubious outfits like the Quilliam Foundation, or fails to restrain his extreme militarism, there is good reason to doubt his left-liberal credentials, past acquaintances notwithstanding.

Muhammad Idrees Ahmad is a Glasgow-based sociologist and the co-founder of Pulsemedia.org. He can be reached at m.idrees@gmail.com.
-- Notes -
[1]This indictment is particularly poignant coming from a man who has himself been accused by James Brandon, a former employee now working for Quilliam, of being one of the leading 'preachers of hate', one of the right's 'non-violent extremists' who has 'routinely demonised Muslims collectively'.

[2] According to BBC's laudatory coverage, QF's tour included bussing a group of students down from Peshawar under the pretext that they were attending a 'seminar on peace' only to be delivered as a captive audience for Nawaz's rancid propaganda.

[3] Interestingly, in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 Hoodbhoy expressed similar concerns, however, his views had evolved to their present position by the first anniversary of the atrocity.

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's hearing
Innocence versus Arrogance
A Biased Judge, Vicious Officers
"...U.S. marshals again forcibly removed her, physically pushing her at times."

Free Dr. Aafia
LATEST NEWS & EVENTS

Greetings!
We would like to thank all the people in the New York area and those who traveled from other cities to attend Dr. Aafia's hearing on Monday, January 11th.

Despite the time changes, the court was filled with supporters. Our family is deeply touched and humbled by the tremendous solidarity and support that has been demonstrated. Aafia continues to need the moral support as the process of her trial continues in New York. The following are the dates for the opening statements of the trial:

COURT DATE:
DATE: Tuesday, January 19, 2010
TIME: 9:00Am
PLACE: Federal Court, 500 Pearl Stree, Manhattan, New York.

We would like to personally request that anyone who can attend, please come to the proceedings. We know Aafia will be pleased to know that she has not been forgotten.

U.S. Veterans Group - Injustices in Dr. Aafia's Case

WOMAN KIDNAPPED, RAPED AND HELD 5 YEARS IN SECRET BAGRAM PRISON NOW

FACING TRIAL FOR ATTACKING CIA TORTURE SQUAD
By Gordon Duff/STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor

Next week, a mother of 3 children is facing trial for, supposedly, wrestling an M-16 away from a CIA torture squad and trying to kill them. How did the CIA get her? They bought her. She was sold to them by a corrupt official in Pakistan as a "terror suspect," a common problem and a well known ploy in the George W. Bush phony war on terrorism.....

For more: http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file= article&sid=10088&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

FROM THE COURT ROOM

Quote of the Day: "Why is there even a trial?" A spectator commenting after hearing that there are no allegations of terrorism and there is no forensic evidence to support the charges.

EXCLUSIVE CONTENT!

Summary of Court Hearing from January 11:
Aafia Siddiqui vs USA

The following is a summary based on a compilation of eyewitness accounts (It is not a transcript or complete account of a hearing that lasted about 2 hours):

The hearing was held at 2:30PM in courtroom 21-B of the federal court in Manhattan under presiding judge Richard Berman.

Approx 6 reporters and 25 -30 people where in attendance, mainly supporters of Dr. Aafia.

Dr. Aafia was brought to court by two US marshals, this time including one female officer.
The purpose of the hearing was to determine what evidence will be allowed in the trial.

The key points made were:

Prosecution categorically stated that they will not be alleging that Aafia is a member of Al-Qaeda or any terrorist organization, the Taliban or etc., but they wanted to be able to use these phrases in the context of the trial.

Defense objected to that as being highly prejudicial. Judge Berman did not rule.

The prosecution also wanted to bring Aafia's education into evidence to show that she studied at MIT and therefore had knowledge of sciences and chemicals. The defense objected that there is nothing in charges about any chemical weapons. They reminded the court that the government had limited this case to just the shooting and now wanted to bring in selective outside information only to confuse and prejudice the public and cover up the holes in their case.

Again the judge did not rule.

The defense wanted to exclude any items claimed to be on Aafia person since the Afghan police who arrested Dr. Aafia would not be brought to court and two of the Afghan police officers were NOT even able to identify Aafia as the person they arrested! The defense then argued that any materials allegedly in Aafia's possession would be heresay.

The defense argued that Aafia simply did not do any of what is in the charges. The forensic evidence showed the following:
The asserted that only shooting that occured was that Aafia Siddiqui was shot.

The defense stated that based on all the evidence they have been shown, they are so confident that Aafia never even touched the gun, that the would concede "intent" if it could be proven that Aafia in fact picked up the gun.

They would question the credibility of any witness that claimed otherwise.

The defense wanted to limit expert testimony regarding importance of fingerprints. Prosecution argued that lack of fingerprints was not unusual.

The defense wanted to show video deposition of Afghani police. The judge said he was uncomfortable with technology but would consider it and he put the onus of providing equipment on the defense.

The defense pointed out that one of the FBI agents who initially went to the scene has a history of disciplinary action and that history should be brought into the case. The prosecution stated that it was not relevant.

The judge stated that he will issue his rulings on Wednesday, January 13 at 9:00AM.

The jury selection is set to start on January 13 at 10:00am after judge's rulings.

Judge Berman did not allow jury questionnaire and said he will decide what questions the defense is allowed to ask potential jurors. He wanted to limit the number and type of questions to allow for quick jury selection. This will make it hard for the defense to filter potentially prejudicial jurors.

The defense requested that any jurors with Indian or Hindiu sensitivities be disqulified because some of Aafia's statements could be misconstrued to seem unfavorable to those groups.

No Daubert hearing for expert witnesses will be held.

The prosecution's experts will be admitted despite defense objections to their qualifications.

The defense complained that the prosecution has still not turned over the list of witnesses they intend to call so defense has no idea who those witnesses are. It had previously been agreed that the defense would get those names at least 1 week before the start of trial which meant start of jury selection per the judge. The judge agreed, but the prosecution argued that the judge moved the date up one week and they now wanted start of trial to be defined as start of opening statements so they will give the list of names by end of day on jan 12. The judge let the prosecution redefine the date. The prosecution also said they would only give names, no other information. The defense objected as that gives them no way to prepare properly to examine the witnesses.

There were procedural issues that needed resolution between defense and prosecution which the judge asked the 2 sides to resolve among themselves.

The defense again asked about allowing Aafia to be spared the strip searches and have a video link. The judge said he wanted now for her to have the right to confront her accuser so she must be forced to court.
(It should be noted that the defense made the argument that if Aafia's ability to face her accusers is so paramount, why is this not applied to the "evidence" when those who accuse her of having this evidence are not being brought to court and so she has no right to confront them? However she still must be strip searched and brought to trial against her will for the sake of this same right?)

At the conclusion of the hearing, Aafia made one appeal to the public saying that she was for peace and wanted to help. She said that she was not against America and many injustices are being done to her. Many people in the audience cried as the U.S. marshals again forcibly removed her, physically pushing her at times.

The defense lawyers pleaded with the US marshals and the MDC prison legal representative, Christa Colvin, to allow even a 5 minute meeting between Aafia and her brother but the US marshals refused. When her brother attempted to say a few words to her, the marshals turned Aafia's head away so she could not respond.

Online Petition in support of Dr. Aafia

This is an online petition that was established by a prominent Pakistani columnist.

Please sign on if you agree.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/afiasiddiqui/index.html

Stand for humane treatment and stand against injustice! Standing for Dr. Aafia brings light to all missing persons, victims of extraordinary rendition and people held in secret prisons. It sends the message that all human beings, especially - our sisters - Muslim women have rights!

God Bless,

The Free Dr. Aafia Campaign

The Suffering of Obama's Bangladeshi Victim: Shifa al-Sadequee

Greetings of Peace,

Hope this message reaches you well. Some folks have contacted us to receive the statement Shifa made on his sentence hearing day. As some of you may know, the Judge did not allow him to complete his last statement and both the media and the Judge twisted his statements. We have obtained both the transcript and Shifa's hand written statement which he had prepared to deliver and share on that day.

We ask that you keep a open mind as you read through the documents and be patient with the PDF files. You may also find the documents on www.freeshifa.com

Shifa's Hand Written Statement For the Sentencing Day (42 pages) http://freeshifa.com/images/Contents/Document1.pdf

Court Transcript of The Sentence Hearing http://freeshifa.com/images/Contents/sntc%20transcript.pdf

In Solidarity.
--
www.freeshifa.com
www.ipetitions.com/petition/FreeShifa
www.youtube.com/user/FreeShifa
www.flickr.com/photos/freeshifa
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62107787609&ref=mf

Pakistan: Top Islamic leader Mobilizing the Masses
Information and photos by Shamsuddin in Lahore
Pakistan and Palestine: One Family: One Struggle

On January 11, Syed Munawar Hasan, Jamaate Islami leader, addressed a large gathering on Multan road in Lahore.
He called for unity with Palestine and an end to the siege of Gaza. He said the Muslims will not permit the US to
dictate policies to them although the leaders are subservient.
Munawar Hasan strongly condemned Egyptian building of a steel wall to help Israes siege of Gaza. He praised
British leader Galloway for delivering supplies to Gaza and for attempting to break the Zionist blockade.
In an extensive speech he also condemned the US drone attacks on Pakistani villages and said that killing of innocent
people by the US drones is a crime against humanity and a violation of international law.

The crowd also chanted slogans against the Swiss ban on mosqie minarets and French discrimination against Islamic dress.

In a separate gathering, Munawar Hasan condemned the US trial of Dr. 'Aafia Siddiqui. He said it is a kangaroo court
which is oppressing this distinguished daughter of Islam. He warned that if the US decides to "convict" Dr. Aafia, the
Pakistani people will launch a countrywide movement for her release. Thousands of people chanted: FREE DR. Aafia.
O Daughter of Islam: We will never abandon you.

Two photos of the large gathering follow.


2010-01-16 Sat 18:29:56 cst
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