Woman. Muslim. American.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15501311&BRD=2318&PAG=461&dept_id=4840\
45&rfi=6

The car had been following Sarwat Husain for more than
10 miles, from near downtown where she had attended a
meeting about the Patriot Act at the Esperanza Peace &
Justice Center, almost to Loop 1604. No matter how
Husain detoured or doubled back, the car shadowed her.
At a stoplight, the car pulled alongside hers. "I just
kept looking straight ahead, but I could tell they had
rolled down the window and were screaming at me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Britain isolated over role in Afghanistan

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1627502,00.html

Britain is locked in an intense dispute with its
European allies in Nato over a plan, fraught with
political and security problems, to take control of
peacekeeping in Afghanistan. British military
involvement in the country is to be stepped up early
next year when it assumes command of the Kabul-based
International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), and
sends troops to a hostile southern province known for
opium cultivation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Muslim graves desecrated in Birmingham cemetery

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article324949.ece

Hundreds of police officers were drafted on to the
streets of Birmingham last night after dozens of
Muslim grave headstones were damaged at a city
cemetery, triggering concerns about fresh race riots.
The desecration was discovered yesterday morning by
relatives visiting the Muslim part of Handsworth
Cemetery in Birmingham.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Father and sons found guilty of honour killing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1635047,00.html

A father and his two sons are facing life in prison
after they were found guilty yesterday of the honour
killing of a university student who was stabbed 46
times. Chomer Ali, 44, ordered his two sons, Mohammed
Mujibar Rahman, 19, and Mamnoor Rahman, 16, to kill
his daughter's boyfriend, Arash Ghorbani-Zarin, 19,
last November after he discovered that she was
pregnant. Manna Begum, 20, had been dating the victim
against the wishes of her father, who had set up an
arranged marriage and he was killed "to vindicate the
family's honour".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scores killed as ferry capsizes off Pakistan

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article324700.ece

At least 60 people on their way to a memorial died
today when their overloaded ferry capsized in the
Arabian Sea off southern Pakistan, a navy spokesman
said. The accident occurred near the remote coastal
town of Kharo Chao, about 110 miles southeast of the
port city of Karachi, said navy Lt. Cmdr. Salman Ali.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10,000 protest against Bush

http://www.guardian.co.uk/argentina/story/0,11439,1634791,00.html

Around 10,000 protesters chanted "Get out Bush!" today
on the streets of the Argentinean resort which is
hosting the Summit of the Americas. Celebrities
including the Argentinean soccer legend Diego Maradona
are among the demonstrators who have gathered at the
resort of Mar Del Plata, where the two-day summit
starts later today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are more Muslims that some numbers tell

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/13067012.htm

In my neighborhood in far western Pembroke Pines, two
of my favorite supermarket clerks are Muslim. A Muslim
family runs the neighborhood dollar store. A neighbor
pasted an Arabic greeting near his front door, while
women wearing hijabs walk in the neighborhood. And the
closest house of worship? A mosque being built in a
Pembroke Pines pasture. As Ramadan comes to an close
this week, I think of all the Muslims I now know --
and how many are probably not being counted in various
religious studies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The aid honeymoon is over, so what next for Aceh's
homeless?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tsunami/story/0,15671,1607384,00.html

The anniversary of the Boxing Day disaster is looming,
but government inertia has left the village the
Guardian has been monitoring playing a reconstruction
waiting game. The community noticeboard in Nusa is
conspicuously underemployed. There are no updates on
reconstruction programmes and the only bulletin on
livelihood is a dog-eared one from June. The only
recent notice advertises monthly distribution of rice,
cooking oil, noodles and sardines to those who lost
their homes in December's tsunami. Nearby, on the wall
of a barrack - as temporary accommodation has been
dubbed - are five designs from which the refugees must
choose their replacement homes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Palestinians hit by sonic boom air raids

· UN condemns night noise attacks as indiscriminate
· Agencies say they cause trauma and miscarriages

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1607450,00.html

Israel is deploying a terrifying new tactic against
Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip by letting
loose deafening "sound bombs" that cause widespread
fear, induce miscarriages and traumatise children.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Palestinians 'terrorised' by sonic boom flights

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article324316.ece

Human rights groups launched a High Court battle to
stop the "physical and mental harm" to Gaza's civilian
population they say is caused by Israel's new weapon
against militant attacks: the sonic boom. Miscarriages
have increased sharply and children have been driven
to panic by Israeli jets systematically breaking the
sound barrier over Gaza, according to a petition filed
with the court yesterday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Albania protest halts Greek visit

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4397470.stm

The Chams say they were badly treated by Greece
Greek President Karolos Papoulias has cut short a
visit to neighbour Albania, after a minority group's
protest which Athens described as disruptive. Up to
200 demonstrators from the Albanian Muslim Cham clan
gathered outside a hotel where Mr Papoulias was due to
meet counterpart Alfred Moisiu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amnesty International on terror laws: Dangerous.
Ill-conceived. An assault on human rights

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article324062.ece

Tony Blair's plans for tough new anti-terror
legislation have been subjected to a damning critique
by Amnesty International, as MPs prepare to debate the
measures today. In a submission to MPs, Amnesty
International denounced the proposals to increase
police powers of detention and make a new offence of
the glorification of terrorism. It called them
"ill-conceived and dangerous" , amounting to an attack
on "the independence of the judiciary and the rule of
law".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iranian envoys sacked as hardliners' influence grows

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article324041.ece

Five Iranian ambassadors have been sacked as the
country's hardliners tighten their grip on foreign
policy following the election of the conservative
president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran's ambassador to
Britain, Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli, is among the
casualties of the purge. A press spokesman for the
Iranian embassy said: "The ambassador's term has been
terminated after one year of serving in London."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pakistani rape victim is Glamour's woman of year

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1606513,00.html

Mukhtaran Bibi, a Pakistani rape victim, is to receive
a "Woman Of the Year" award today from the US magazine
Glamour. The 31-year-old Punjabi villager will also
receive $20,000 (£11,350) at a ceremony in New York's
Lincoln Centre alongside 11 other nominees including
Catherine Zeta-Jones. "This is a story that I think is
going to shock everyone who hears it," said Cindi
Leive, editor-in-chief of Glamour.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Turkey told to speed up reforms

http://www.guardian.co.uk/turkey/story/0,12700,1606472,00.html

The pace of reform in Turkey over human rights, free
speech and freedom of religion has slowed to an
unacceptable level, the European commission will tell
Ankara next week. A month after European leaders
hailed the start of Turkey's EU membership talks as
"historic", Ankara is to be criticised for failing to
meet its side of the bargain by intensifying reforms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Israel dragging heels over Gaza agreements

· Security cited as crossings closed and goods blocked

· Palestinians reject call for monitoring of borders

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1606541,00.html

The Israeli government is de-stabilising Gaza and the
Palestinian Authority by closing down its links with
the outside world, according to the Palestinian
minister in charge of negotiations with them. Ghassan
Khatib said that Israel was making the current
situation worse by imposing a closure on Gaza and
deliberately slowing vital negotiations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inmates killed as troops end prison rebellion

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1606440,00.html

At least four inmates were killed when Kyrgyz police
and troops stormed three prisons to quell unrest.
Police killed two others at a prison colony in
Moldovanovka and a further two at a jail in Petrovka,
both outside the capital, Bishkek, said the deputy
justice minister, Sergei Zubov.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Israeli clampdown amid rise in 'sonic bombs'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1605781,00.html

The Israeli defence ministry has barred foreign
journalists from entering the Gaza Strip in an
apparent attempt to limit reporting on the killing of
Palestinian civilians, the firing of artillery shells
and the use of "sonic bombs" to terrify the local
population.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Basra explosion kills 20 among festive crowds

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1605966,00.html

· Car blast in market area as end of Ramadan nears
· Second attack close to British army base
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Made in Iran: A film about three Britons who went to
Afghanistan and ended up in Camp X-Ray

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article323779.ece

Two American guards are shackling a shaven-headed
prisoner in a Camp X-ray orange boiler suit, putting
him in goggles and ear muffs. He wails as if in real
pain. But this is not Cuba, it is Iran, seen more
often in the West as the sort of radical theocracy
evoked by its President's comment last week that
Israel should be "wiped off the map". And next to the
cages where prisoners loll against wire mesh, the
British director Michael Winterbottom is squinting
through a camera lens, a small crew hovering near by.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anti-Prophet Danish Cartoons on OIC Summit Agenda

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/05/article01.shtml

COPENHAGEN, November 5, 2005 (IslamONline.net & News
Agencies) –Caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
recently published in Denmark's main daily, which have
triggered an outcry among Muslims in Denmark and
abroad, will be high on the agenda of the upcoming
Islamic summit in Saudi Arabia. "We have been informed
by our foreign minister that this caricature affair
will be on the agenda at a special summit of the
Organization of Islamic Conference," Mohab Nasr
Mostafa Mahdy, Egypt's deputy ambassador, told Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quake victims remembered as Islamic month of fasting
ends
Ramadan takes on poignant meaning for physicians who
saw suffering
By JAMAAL ABDUL-ALIM
jabdul-alim@...
Posted: Nov. 3, 2005

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/nov05/367970.asp

West Allis - During a recent medical relief trip to
the earthquake-ravaged region of Pakistan, local
physician Maqbool Arshad met a man who lost his son in
the calamity that he described as if it were "Qiyamah"
- or the Day of Resurrection.

"His description was so vivid as he was talking to us,
it was as if he was seeing everything unfold in front
of his eyes again," Arshad wrote in a diary of the
experience, which lasted five days last week.

"It was as if 'Qiyamah' was unfolding, as mountains
were splitting, rocks fell with thunderous noises and
buildings were collapsing," he wrote. "People were
screaming and running all over trying to look for
their loved ones, trying to pull them from the rubble
and trying to help those who were severely hurt or
bleeding."

Arshad shared his experience with fellow believers
Thursday at the Eid-al-Fitr, or the ceremony meant to
mark the end of the monthlong Islamic fast of Ramadan.

He was among the 4,000 or so worshippers who gathered
for the event, held in the Wisconsin Exposition Center
at State Fair Park, where the prayer leader offered up
special supplications on behalf of those suffering.
Fasting recalls less fortunate

The speaker, Zulfiqar Ali Shaw, religious director of
the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, said one reason for
fasting during Ramadan is to make the fortunate of
society more empathetic toward those seized by
misfortune.

Arshad - who is planning a return trip - said his
experience in Pakistan made this Ramadan like no
other.

"The pain and anguish I saw in the eyes and the faces
of the victims in Balakot and in the hospitals in
Abbotabad and Islamabad was unforgettable," Arshad
says.

How does one maintain faith after such devastation?

"It is very traumatic," Arshad says. "The things that
are happening, they stay in your mind and keep coming
back. So you wish you could help them in one way or
another.

"There is some resilience one builds up. But when you
see little children and families completely destroyed
and injured, it's very taxing. It is painful.

"The only thing is when you're able to help somebody.
That is what keeps your faith."

Milwaukee physician Saleem Awan, who was born and
raised in the city of Balakot in northwestern
Pakistan, traveled to Pakistan with the delegation
from the Islamic Society. He already had a lot on his
mind - an uncle and two cousins died in the earthquake
- as the group arrived in Balakot.
Physician's hometown ruined

He was shocked to see the town of his birth now, he
said during an interview.

"The entire town had collapsed. . . . I met a few of
my relatives and there were very moving stories about
how kids were trapped underneath the rubble of the
school and they had nothing with them to rescue them.
They could hear the voices of the kids crying for
help, but they had nothing in their hands to dig them
out from underneath the rubble."

Arshad, a pulmonologist, was joined in the expedition
by Shah and physicians Saleem Awan and Saleem Torania.
They visited several hospitals, dropped off medicine
and medical supplies, and tended to the injured.

The Islamic Society of Milwaukee has raised more than
$175,000 in cash donations and more than $250,000
worth of medical supplies and equipment from various
donors, both within and outside of the Muslim
community.

Arshad is planning a return trip in December.

With 80,000 dead from the earthquake, and 3 million
homeless, Arshad worries what will become of those
injured in the earthquake as winter sets in.

He thinks of the descriptions related by the man who
lost his son, and of the scenes from his trip.

"He told us that as evening sets in, an eerie quiet
descends on the town and the loneliness becomes very
painful, as he remembers his son, friends and other
family members.

"Most of the surviving townspeople sleep under the
open sky shivering in the cold, staring in the
darkness, trying to make sense of the dreadful
darkness which befell them."

Tom Heinen of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed
to this report.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Muslims celebrate this Eid with aid
Many forgo traditional gifts to help victims of Asia
earthquake
By TARA DOOLEY
Nov. 4, 2005, 6:49PM
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3435069

Any other year, Dr. Kashif Ansari would be celebrating
Eid al-Fitr with a gathering of friends and family. He
would be decked out in a new suit for an elaborate
feast and the exchange of gifts, traditions of the
Muslim holiday.

Not this year.

With the start of Eid today, Ansari will observe the
traditionally festive holiday with prayer, as is
required by the faith. But there will be few new
clothes or gifts, he said. A banquet will be held as a
fundraiser for survivors of the Oct. 8 earthquake in
South Asia that killed more than 73,000 people and
left millions of others homeless, most in Pakistan.

"None of the families I know are (buying) new
clothes," said Ansari, who is involved in relief
efforts through the Association of Physicians of
Pakistani Descent of North America. "In Houston,
everybody I talk to has said, 'No, not this year.' "

Eid starts after the sighting of the crescent moon,
which happened Wednesday. It comes at the end of
Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar,
during which Muslims fast in daylight hours. Observing
Ramadan, which began Oct. 5, is considered one of the
five main pillars, or tenets, of the faith.

Another of the five pillars is giving to charity. And
many Muslims donate the required 2.5 percent of their
assets during Ramadan.

"Ramadan and charity are like brother and sister,"
said Naeem Baig, a spokesman for the Islamic Circle of
North America, which is providing earthquake aid. "We
know from the life of the Prophet ... that during the
month of Ramadan his generosity is described as a
'rain that comes with the wind.' "

Many Muslims, especially those of Pakistani descent,
said they plan to tone down their Eid festivities this
year. Some said they plan to give the money earmarked
for feasts and finery to relief efforts in the
Pakistan tent cities that are being set up for
survivors.

"It is very, very low key," said Anjali Khusro of
Khazana Jewels, who has experienced lower than normal
holiday sales this year. "People are not in the mood
of celebrating Eid. They are in the mood of giving."

Ramadan is the most important time of the year for
Muslim charities. Since the federal investigations of
Islamic aid groups with suspected ties to terrorists
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, some Muslims have
opted to donate only to neighborhood causes.

But with the earthquake striking a predominantly
Muslim country three days after start of the holy
month, donors have responded generously, relief
organizers said. Islamic Relief had to hire temporary
employees to keep up. "Donations have been coming in
at record pace," said Arif Shaikh, spokesman for the
nonprofit headquartered in Los Angeles.

Since the earthquake, the agency has received $4
million in cash contributions, Shaikh said. Money has
been used to provide medicine, food, winterized tents,
mattresses and blankets.

Similarly, the relief arm of the Islamic Circle, ICNA
Relief, experienced a marked increase in donations. In
the three days after the earthquake the group received
$800,000, Baig said. In Houston, ICNA Relief
volunteers held fundraisers at local restaurants and
collected medicine to send to Pakistan, said Ayub
Badat, a volunteer operation manager for the agency.

The group also raised money to buy two ambulances
which will be shipped Friday to Pakistan.

The Islamic Society of Greater Houston collected
roughly $275,000 in donations earmarked for Pakistan,
President Rodwan Saleh said, and he added that the
majority of the group's Muslims are of Pakistani
descent.

"Everybody is paying, paying, giving, giving," said
Badat, who plans to travel to Pakistan next week.

Indeed, Muslim charities have been in overdrive since
last year's tsunami in Southeast Asia struck a little
more than a month after Ramadan had ended, when people
had already donated to their favorite causes. Many
charities, such as Islamic Relief, also supported
relief efforts after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Efforts in Pakistan will continue for years, relief
groups said. Though some are concerned that generosity
may decrease with the end of Ramadan when donors feel
tapped out, Baig thinks the aid will continue.

"The Muslim community in North America ... is a very
blessed community when it comes to financial
resources," he said. "I am very hopeful it will
continue."

tara.dooley@...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pakistan puts off warplane purchase to aid quake
relief

Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Saturday November 5, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,1635046,00.html

Pakistan will postpone the purchase of a fleet of F-16
warplanes to prioritise emergency aid for earthquake
survivors the president, Pervez Musharraf, said
yesterday.

The announcement came days after the military leader
was criticised for refusing to cut Pakistan's massive
defence budget in the wake of the disaster that has
killed more than 73,000 people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We need more, says Musharraf
Staff and agencies
Friday November 4, 2005

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,1627627,00.html

Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, today
accused the international community of double
standards in not doing more to help the survivors of
the Kashmir earthquake.

He said the international relief appeal had attracted
fewer donations than those that followed the Indian
Ocean tsunami or Hurricane Katrina because it had
affected less western tourists.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pakistan quake toll tops 73,000

Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Thursday November 3, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/naturaldisasters/story/0,7369,1607377,00.html

The official death toll from Pakistan's massive
earthquake soared to more than 73,000 yesterday as a
top government official warned it could rise further.
The American military resumed flights into the
disaster zone a day after it claimed one of its pilots
came under rocket attack while delivering aid.

Federal Relief Commission Major General Farooq Ahmed
Khan told reporters 73,276 people perished in the
October 8 quake, up from an earlier estimate of about
57,600. A further 1,300 died in Indian-controlled
Kashmir. "There is a likelihood of a further
increase," he said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quake relief helicopter was fired on, say US pilots
By Jan McGirk in Islamabad
Published: 02 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article324047.ece

A rocket-propelled grenade has been fired at an
American cargo helicopter bringing aid to earthquake
victims in the Pakistani-controlled portion of
Kashmir, US pilots said.

The Chinook helicopter, flying over the devastated
town of Chakothi near the Line of Control, was not
hit, and there were no injuries or damages, but the
alleged incident calls into question the massive
American airlift of humanitarian aid to Pakistan, one
of its allies in the "war on terror".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

US helicopter attacked during quake aid mission

Associated Press in Islamabad
Wednesday November 2, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/naturaldisasters/story/0,7369,1606484,00.html

Assailants fired an apparent rocket propelled grenade
at a US military helicopter ferrying relief supplies
to quake victims in Pakistan's portion of divided
Kashmir yesterday, causing no injuries or damage, the
US military said.

The attack occurred as the helicopter was delivering
relief to survivors near Chakothi, a town ruined by
the earthquake near the "line of control" that
separates Pakistan's portion of Kashmir from the area
controlled by India.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kashmir border opens for quake families - with a
10-day wait for security checks
By Justin Huggler in Delhi
Published: 01 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article323784.ece

India and Pakistan's agreement to allow Kashmiris to
help their earthquake-affected relatives across the
ceasefire line that divides their homeland is the most
dramatic opening of the de facto border for decades.
But for any Kashmiris who want to take advantage of
the opening, it is not quite so simple as it sounds.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thousands of child victims bear physical and mental
scars of a lost generation

Pakistan earthquake survivors need not just surgery
but help to talk about the trauma of October 8

Declan Walsh in Mansehra
Tuesday November 1, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/naturaldisasters/story/0,7369,1605785,00.html


They call it the "Pepsi ward". In the chaos of
Mansehra hospital, one long tent is made from a soft
drinks banner draped over a wooden frame. Halfway
down, in bed 18c, Aisha Bibi screamed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

s day of joy
Published: Nov 4, 2005
By YONAT SHIMRON, Staff Writer

http://www.newsobserver.com/lifestyles/story/2830961p-9280720c.html

At daybreak Thursday, thousands of Muslims from across
the Triangle converged on the Exposition Center at the
State Fairgrounds to ceremoniously end their monthlong
fast and usher in Eid al-Fitr, the feast of the fast
breaking. At the 30-minute communal prayer, men and
women wore new clothes, children were handed balloons
and just about everyone exchanged hugs and kisses.
Many Muslims said they looked forward to three days of
celebration, with feasts, family and friends.

WHAT IS IT?

The climactic ending of the monthlong fast of Ramadan
is known Eid al-Fitr (EED al FIH-trr). It is the
happiest time of the Muslim year, a celebration in
which Muslims exchange gifts, visit relatives and give
to the needy. Eid al-Fitr is the first of the two
major Muslim holidays. The second, Eid al-Adha, comes
at the end of the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca.

HOW LONG DOES IT LAST?

Traditionally three days, though in accommodation to
U.S. work schedules, many Muslims took off only the
first day, Thursday. Mustapha Bendjellal, a manager at
Amana Auto Care Center in Raleigh, said the entire
shop closed down Thursday. It will reopen today.

WHAT IS THE CUSTOMARY GREETING?

"Eid Mubarak," or "blessed eid."

HOW MANY TURNED OUT TO PRAY?

Some guessed the number at 4,000 to 8,000. "I've been
here since 1994, and there are a lot more people,"
said Adel Fathy of Cary.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Many public and private social events. Aneesah
Al-Uqdah of Raleigh was looking forward to a picnic
from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Roberts Park in
Raleigh.

WHAT'S IN IT FOR KIDS?

"The money and gifts are the best part," said
13-year-old Hanan Jaber of Raleigh. "And hanging out
with friends."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Essence of Eid
11/25/2003 - Religious Social - Article Ref:
IC0212-1799

http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=IC0212-1799

The celebration of Eid ul-Fitr culminates a month of
fasting wherein the faithful have spent their time
praying and beseeching God for forgiveness and mercy.
For many, Ramadan was not just an abstention from food
and drink. Rather, it was an exercise in patience and
discipline. Eid is the celebration for those who
fasted and obeyed God's rules and teachings. It is for
those who spent the month of Ramadan in complete
devotion to Allah. Eid is a time when the entire
Muslim community comes together to share in each
others joy and blessings and also to lessen the burden
of those who may be suffering.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eid Prayer
http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/hajj/Adha/eid_prayer.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan
By Lee Keath in Cairo
Published: 03 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article324310.ece

Muslims across the Islamic world finished their final
sunrise-to-sunset fast yesterday and completed some
last-minute shopping for sweets, clothes and toys in
preparation for a three-day holiday to mark the end of
the holy month of Ramadan.

From the Philippines to Morocco, Muslims are
celebrating the start of the Eid al-Fitr holiday. In
the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, children paraded
through the streets with long candles or rode through
the streets waving flags. Children in the West Bank
town of Ramallah set off fireworks. Stalls in street
markets in Lebanon, Syria and Egypt were packed with
sweets and other treats.

Eid al-Fitr - Arabic for the "festival of breaking the
fast" - is a time for family gatherings that leave the
streets of towns and cities virtually deserted.
Ramadan is the month in Islam's lunar calendar when it
is believed that the first verses of the Koran were
revealed to the prophet Mohamed in the 7th century.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Muslim event grows with population

By Margaret Ramirez
Tribune religion reporter
Published November 2, 2005

This story contains corrected material, published Nov.
3, 2005.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0511020009nov02,1,755322.st\
ory

When Kifah Shukair celebrates the end of the sacred
Muslim month of Ramadan this week, she will rise
before dawn with her family and attend morning
prayers. The rest of the day will be spent in a flurry
of festivity--visiting relatives, exchanging gifts,
feasting on delicious foods.

But as Shukair and other Muslims mark the joyful
occasion of Eid al-Fitr, some find themselves longing
for the grander celebrations of their native lands.

"In Muslim countries, it's all around you," said
Shukair, a Palestinian-American who lives in Chicago
Ridge. "Everyone everywhere is glorifying God and you
can hear prayers echoing even throughout the streets.
... Here, we're celebrating and happy and it still
feels festive. But instead of Eid being all around
you, it's confined to one little area."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eid-ul-fitr Photo Gallery
http://www.islamonline.net/english/Eid/Snapshot/1426/egypt/01.shtml
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Glittering `Eid Mubarak
By Fatima Sajid**
Nov. 1, 2005

http://www.islamonline.net/English/ArtCulture/2005/11/article01.shtml

The jangling and clinking of shimmering and glittering
glass bangles, the soft fragrance of roses and lilies,
the colorful clothes, and the unmistakable aroma of
henna—all these and much more are an essential part of
the `Eid festivities of Pakistan. After a month of
fasting and subjugating oneself to Allah and praying
for forgiveness, insight, wisdom, and purity, `Eid
Al-Fitr arrives with much festivity and celebration.
From the night that the Shawwal moon has been sighted,
which is called Chand Ra’at (chand means “moon” and
ra’at means “night”), the first sight of the moon is a
cause for prayer and thanks to the Almighty for the
blessings of the month of Ramadan. For the ladies, it
is a night of preparation for the next day. Henna is
applied in intricate patterns on the hands and even
feet for the enthusiasts, and clothes for the next
morning are ironed and laid out, especially kept ready
for the men in the house to wear early morning for the
`Eid prayers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spanish Muslims Perform First 'Open-Air' `Eid Prayers
By Al-Amin Andalusi, IOL Correspondent

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/04/article04.shtml

MADRID, November 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – For the
first time in the southern European country, Spanish
Muslims performed `Eid Al-Fitr prayer in open-air
courtyards on Thursday, November 3.

In the northeastern city of Zaragoza, some 3,000
Muslim worshipers turned out early on Thursday for the
prayers, celebrating the first day of the Muslim
occasion, which marks the end of the holy fasting
month of Ramadan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

German President, Bishops Wish Muslims Happy `Eid
By Ahmad Al-Matboli, IOL Correspondent

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/04/article03.shtml

BERLIN, November 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – German
President Horst Koehler on Thursday, November 4,
together with bishops of different denominations
wished the Muslim minority in the country a happy `Eid
Al-Fitr, calling them part and parcel of society.

Impressed by the show of Muslim unity on the first day
of `Eid, which marks the end of the holy fasting month
of Ramadan, Koehler urged the German people to enhance
coexistence between one another irrespective of their
race and religion.

Bishops of the country's different Churches were also
keen on offering their traditional congratulations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on Eid at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Eid/

Bush 'operating secret gulag in eastern Europe'
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 03 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article324307.ece

The Bush administration has been accused of operating
secret detention facilities beyond the reach of the
law and outside official oversight at bases in two
eastern European countries. The facilities - said to
be located in Poland and Romania - are part of a
larger "gulag" used by the US to hold prisoners seized
in the so-called war on terror.

Using the flight logs of a plane used by the CIA for
transporting prisoners and other unspecified
information, a leading human rights group said it
believed the facilities were located in the two former
Soviet bloc countries and first used in 2003.

Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch told The
Independent: "These are the areas we are highly
confident about, based on the flights logs and other
information we have."

The investigation by the New York-based group has
focused on the logs of a Boeing 757 jet with the
tailgate marker N313P. This plane has been widely
identified as being used by the CIA for the
transportation and "renditioning" of terror suspects
outside the US. Until recently, it was registered to a
Massachusetts-based company believed to be a front for
the CIA.

Using this data Human Rights Watch discovered that, in
September 2003, it flew directly from Kabul to Szymany
airport, near the remote Polish town of Szczytno,
north of Warsaw, home to a training facility for the
Polish intelligence service.

From there, the plane flew directly to Mihail
Kogalniceanu air base, close to the Romanian city of
Constanta on the Black Sea coast. The Pentagon is
involved in negotiations to take over the airbase's
operation. Throughout 2004, the plane made a number of
other visits to Kogalniceanu, on which the US has
spent at least $3m upgrading facilities in preparation
for taking it over.

In 2003 Kogalniceanu was used as the temporary
location for more than 3,500 US troops on their way to
northern Iraq. Last October, US Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld visited the base and met senior
Romanian military officials.

"The flight from Kabul in September 2003 happened at a
time when we know a number of ghost detainees were
being moved," said Mr Malinowski. "It's hard to
imagine why this plane would be flying there
otherwise."

Various human rights group have long monitored secret
detention facilities used by the CIA around the world,
known as "black sites". It is known the US sends
prisoners to countries such as Jordan, Pakistan and
Egypt for the so-called "renditioning" of detainees.

>The CIA is also understood to operate such facilities
in Iraq and at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. The
British Government has denied previous claims that a
detention centre also operated on the island of Diego
Garcia.

Yesterday, The Washington Post, which first reported
that the agency had established detention facilities
in two unidentified Eastern European countries, also
reported the CIA had last year moved one of its
prisons on Guantanamo Bay. It said it had shut down
the facility because it was concerned that a Supreme
Court ruling would force them to place detainees
before a civilian court.

Under the Geneva Conventions, the Red Cross is
afforded access to all prisoners of war. Simon
Schorno, spokesman for the International Committee of
the Red Cross in Washington, said some of these "ghost
prisoners" may have been arrested by law enforcement
officials rather than captured in combat situations.
He said: "We are concerned about the fate of an
unknown number of prisoners captured during the
so-called international war on terror."

Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst, said he believed
news about the detention facilities was emerging
because agency members were concerned. "Once again the
Bush administration is out of control," he said.

Marek Purowski, a spokesman for the Polish Embassy in
Washington, said he would investigate the allegations.
"I have to deny it. I cannot believe it is true," he
said. The Romanian embassy did not return calls
seeking comment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

East Europe 'has secret CIA jails for al-Qaida'

Jamie Wilson in Washington and Ian Traynor in Zagreb
Thursday November 3, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1607426,00.html

The CIA has been interrogating al-Qaida prisoners at a
Soviet era compound in eastern Europe as part of a
covert jail system set up after the September 11
attacks, according to the Washington Post. The secret
facility is part of a network of "black sites"
spanning eight countries, the existence and locations
of which are known only to a handful of US officials
and usually only the president and a few top
intelligence officers in the host countries.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons
Debate Is Growing Within Agency About Legality and
Morality of Overseas System Set Up After 9/11

By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 2, 2005; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/01/AR2005110101644.\
html

The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its
most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era
compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and
foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.

The secret facility is part of a covert prison system
set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at
various times has included sites in eight countries,
including Thailand, Afghanistan and several
democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small
center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according
to current and former intelligence officials and
diplomats from three continents.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EU Vows Action Against Members Hosting CIA Prisons

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/04/article06.shtml

WASHINGTON, November 4, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News
Agencies) – The European Commission has warned that
any European country proved to host secret CIA-run
jails could face "severe action" by the European
Union, Britain's The Daily Telegraph reported Friday,
November 4.

Franco Frattini, the justice commissioner, said
potentially sever legal and political consequences
awaited any EU member, or any country seeking EU
membership, if it was confirmed that it had cooperated
with the CIA secret prisons program.

Frattini said that all EU member-states are bound by
international legal obligations, in particular the
European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms and the Convention against Torture.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on American War Crimes:
http://www.islamawareness.net/WarCrimes/American/

Paris on fire: poverty and exclusion blamed for
gang-related rioting
By John Lichfield in Paris
Published: 05 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article324953.ece

Is Paris burning? From the centre of the world's most
beautiful city, you would hardly know anything much
was happening. The tourists still crowd into the new
Louis-Vuitton store on the Champs-Elysées. Well-heeled
Parisians are planning their Sunday lunch with maman
or making an early getaway for a weekend in the
country.

But beyond the Paris ring-road (the Boulevard
Périphérique), especially to the north, east and
south, there is a different world: a world of tower
blocks, sink schools, 20 per cent unemployment,
violent youth gangs, police brutality, and - it should
be said - many thousands of people trying their best
to make a living and keep their children out of
trouble.

Since Thursday 27 October, it is this twilight world
which has been plunged into fire and destruction.
Night after night, the violence has spread,
leapfrogging from one suburb to another. Gangs of
youths in five or six areas each night, mostly north
and east of Paris, have taken their turn to burn
hundreds of cars, set fire to public buildings, or
factories or warehouses, to storm buses or throw
stones or shoot live bullets at the police. On
Thursday night, a gang of youths invaded a bus full of
passengers, flung petrol on the floor and set the
vehicle alight. A disabled woman, unable to flee like
other passengers, was gravely burnt.

On the same night, the contagion of violence spread to
Trappes, south-west of Paris, where a bus garage was
set ablaze, destroying 27 buses. In total, 519
vehicles were burnt in the area on Thursday - bringing
the total to more than 2,000 in the past week.

Who are the real victims of most of these attacks -
the burnt man; the owners of the incinerated cars; the
kids who can no longer go to the gymnasium at Le
Blanc-Mesnil, burnt to the ground on Wednesday; the
people unable to go to work from Trappes yesterday
because all the buses had been destroyed?

The victims are, of course, other relatively poor
residents of the banlieues, the double ring of often
pleasant, sometimes grim, public housing estates that
surround the French capital.

Why such violence? Why such blind destruction of the
painfully acquired property of equally poor
neighbours? What cause in nature makes such hard
hearts that would set fire to a 56-year-old
handicapped man?

The first point that should be made is that these are
not, in the classic sense, race riots. There are
almost no mono-racial ghettoes in France. The gangs
attacking the police, and their neighbours' property,
have a sense of exclusion from rich, white society.
But they reflect the bizarre ethnic mixture of the
banlieues. Maybe 50 per cent are of Arab or African
origin, and 30 per cent are black, with a sprinkling
of French kids and the descendants of European
immigrants. Of five youths tried for rioting in a
court in Bobigny on Thursday, two were of Arab origin,
and three were white, one of Italian extraction. Only
one of the five was not born in France.

Despite the inflammatory rubbish written by some
right-wing commentators in the French press about a
"Paris intifada", this is not an Islamic insurrection
or a political revolution of any kind. If you speak,
as I have over several years, to kids in the youth
gangs in Paris suburbs, they have no political or
religious sense whatsoever. If you ask them who they
hate, they say: "We are racists. We hate the kids who
live in that estate over there."

The gang members - a minority but often a large
minority of kids in one area - are educational
failures or unemployed or from fatherless homes.

They can be charming to speak to. But their attitudes,
dominated by violence, theft and contempt for women,
betrays a complete breakdown of the French
"republican" and educational model.

The initial cause of the unrest was the still
unexplained death by electrocution of two teenage boys
at Clichy-sous-Bois last Thursday. Their companions
insist they were chased into a power sub-station by
police and left to their fate. All sides now agree the
boys had done nothing wrong. The government insists
that there was no police chase, but a criminal
investigation has been - belatedly - opened.

The riots - even if they spread to the suburbs of
other cities - will burn themselves out in a few days,
just as they have before. There is already a backlash
against the rioters.

That is not to minimise what has been going on - far
from it.

The wrong lessons will probably be learnt once again.
The right will blame the Islamist-influenced
West-haters. The left will blame the police.

And next time, the kids in the gangs might forget
their feuds and decide to take out their hatred on
Paris itself.

Is Paris burning? Not yet.

Diary of violence

* THURSDAY 27 OCTOBER

Two African teenagers, aged 15 and 17, die in
electricity sub-station in Clichy-sous-Bois, and a
third is seriously burned after police investigate a
break-in. Rampaging youths attack firemen called to
help.

* FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER

16 people hurt as youths set fire to 40 cars in
Clichy-sous-Bois, where a shot is fired at police.

* SATURDAY 29 OCTOBER

14 people detained in Clichy-sous-Bois amid more
rioting. Local residents hold peaceful march.

* SUNDAY 30 OCTOBER

Police announce detention of 22 people and say
Clichy-sous-Bois is "under control."

* MONDAY 31 OCTOBER

Six police hurt after youths fire tear gas into a
mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois.

* TUESDAY 1 NOVEMBER

Riots spread to three other Paris suburbs, where 19
people are detained. Prime Minister Dominque Villepin
intervenes for first time to call for calm.

* TUESDAY 1 NOVEMBER

Riots spread to nine Paris suburbs where 69 cars set
on fire and 34 people arrested.

* THURSDAY 3 NOVEMBER

Hundreds of extra police deployed as nine Paris
suburbs ablaze again.

* FRIDAY 4 NOVEMBER

Rioting spreads outside Paris for first time, as
youths set fire to cars in Dijon, Rouen and the
Marseille region. 520 cars torched in Paris suburbs.

  Gangs of youths have taken their turn to burn
hundreds of cars, set fire to public buildings, or
factories or warehouses, to storm buses or throw
stones or shoot live bullets at the police
Is Paris burning? From the centre of the world's most
beautiful city, you would hardly know anything much
was happening. The tourists still crowd into the new
Louis-Vuitton store on the Champs-Elysées. Well-heeled
Parisians are planning their Sunday lunch with maman
or making an early getaway for a weekend in the
country.

But beyond the Paris ring-road (the Boulevard
Périphérique), especially to the north, east and
south, there is a different world: a world of tower
blocks, sink schools, 20 per cent unemployment,
violent youth gangs, police brutality, and - it should
be said - many thousands of people trying their best
to make a living and keep their children out of
trouble.

Since Thursday 27 October, it is this twilight world
which has been plunged into fire and destruction.
Night after night, the violence has spread,
leapfrogging from one suburb to another. Gangs of
youths in five or six areas each night, mostly north
and east of Paris, have taken their turn to burn
hundreds of cars, set fire to public buildings, or
factories or warehouses, to storm buses or throw
stones or shoot live bullets at the police. On
Thursday night, a gang of youths invaded a bus full of
passengers, flung petrol on the floor and set the
vehicle alight. A disabled woman, unable to flee like
other passengers, was gravely burnt.

On the same night, the contagion of violence spread to
Trappes, south-west of Paris, where a bus garage was
set ablaze, destroying 27 buses. In total, 519
vehicles were burnt in the area on Thursday - bringing
the total to more than 2,000 in the past week.

Who are the real victims of most of these attacks -
the burnt man; the owners of the incinerated cars; the
kids who can no longer go to the gymnasium at Le
Blanc-Mesnil, burnt to the ground on Wednesday; the
people unable to go to work from Trappes yesterday
because all the buses had been destroyed?

The victims are, of course, other relatively poor
residents of the banlieues, the double ring of often
pleasant, sometimes grim, public housing estates that
surround the French capital.

Why such violence? Why such blind destruction of the
painfully acquired property of equally poor
neighbours? What cause in nature makes such hard
hearts that would set fire to a 56-year-old
handicapped man?

The first point that should be made is that these are
not, in the classic sense, race riots. There are
almost no mono-racial ghettoes in France. The gangs
attacking the police, and their neighbours' property,
have a sense of exclusion from rich, white society.
But they reflect the bizarre ethnic mixture of the
banlieues. Maybe 50 per cent are of Arab or African
origin, and 30 per cent are black, with a sprinkling
of French kids and the descendants of European
immigrants. Of five youths tried for rioting in a
court in Bobigny on Thursday, two were of Arab origin,
and three were white, one of Italian extraction. Only
one of the five was not born in France.
Despite the inflammatory rubbish written by some
right-wing commentators in the French press about a
"Paris intifada", this is not an Islamic insurrection
or a political revolution of any kind. If you speak,
as I have over several years, to kids in the youth
gangs in Paris suburbs, they have no political or
religious sense whatsoever. If you ask them who they
hate, they say: "We are racists. We hate the kids who
live in that estate over there."

The gang members - a minority but often a large
minority of kids in one area - are educational
failures or unemployed or from fatherless homes.

They can be charming to speak to. But their attitudes,
dominated by violence, theft and contempt for women,
betrays a complete breakdown of the French
"republican" and educational model.

The initial cause of the unrest was the still
unexplained death by electrocution of two teenage boys
at Clichy-sous-Bois last Thursday. Their companions
insist they were chased into a power sub-station by
police and left to their fate. All sides now agree the
boys had done nothing wrong. The government insists
that there was no police chase, but a criminal
investigation has been - belatedly - opened.

The riots - even if they spread to the suburbs of
other cities - will burn themselves out in a few days,
just as they have before. There is already a backlash
against the rioters.

That is not to minimise what has been going on - far
from it.

The wrong lessons will probably be learnt once again.
The right will blame the Islamist-influenced
West-haters. The left will blame the police.

And next time, the kids in the gangs might forget
their feuds and decide to take out their hatred on
Paris itself.

Is Paris burning? Not yet.

Diary of violence

* THURSDAY 27 OCTOBER

Two African teenagers, aged 15 and 17, die in
electricity sub-station in Clichy-sous-Bois, and a
third is seriously burned after police investigate a
break-in. Rampaging youths attack firemen called to
help.

* FRIDAY 28 OCTOBER

16 people hurt as youths set fire to 40 cars in
Clichy-sous-Bois, where a shot is fired at police.

* SATURDAY 29 OCTOBER

14 people detained in Clichy-sous-Bois amid more
rioting. Local residents hold peaceful march.

* SUNDAY 30 OCTOBER

Police announce detention of 22 people and say
Clichy-sous-Bois is "under control."

* MONDAY 31 OCTOBER

Six police hurt after youths fire tear gas into a
mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois.

* TUESDAY 1 NOVEMBER

Riots spread to three other Paris suburbs, where 19
people are detained. Prime Minister Dominque Villepin
intervenes for first time to call for calm.

* TUESDAY 1 NOVEMBER

Riots spread to nine Paris suburbs where 69 cars set
on fire and 34 people arrested.

* THURSDAY 3 NOVEMBER

Hundreds of extra police deployed as nine Paris
suburbs ablaze again.

* FRIDAY 4 NOVEMBER

Rioting spreads outside Paris for first time, as
youths set fire to cars in Dijon, Rouen and the
Marseille region. 520 cars torched in Paris suburbs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disabled woman set on fire as Paris riots spread

· Passengers caught in blaze as youths ambush bus
· New attacks thwart hopes that troubles may be over

Jon Henley Paris
Saturday November 5, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1635043,00.html

A 56-year-old physically disabled woman was being
treated in the burns unit of a Paris hospital
yesterday after the bus she was travelling in was set
alight by youths in the northern suburb of Sevran.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Failure to quell rioting creates a crisis for France
By Hugh Schofield in Aulnay-sous-Bois
Published: 04 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article324589.ece

A badly rattled French Government was yesterday
fighting to contain a wave of suburban violence that
has pitted police against rioters in run-down
neighbourhoods of northern and eastern Paris for seven
nights in a row.

More than 315 cars were burned overnight on Wednesday
in street battles that have extended well beyond the
original flashpoint of Clichy-sous-Bois - where two
adolescents were accidentally electrocuted to death a
week ago - to several other parts of the capital's
"banlieues" with high immigrant populations.

Police said four live bullets were fired at them at La
Courneuve, though none hit its mark. In the town of
Antony two firebombs were hurled at a police station,
and elsewhere another unmanned police station was
ransacked by youths.

In Aulnay-sous-Bois - a town not far from Charles de
Gaulle airport that combines some of the worst
suburban squalor with areas of bourgeois gentility - a
Renault dealership lay in black cinders after being
torched by rioters with the loss of most of its stock
of vehicles.

Passers-by and patrolling policemen were taking
photographs with their mobile telephones, while
further down the street - near a notorious estate
known as the "City of the 3,000" - more burned-out
cars littered the pavement.

"It's hard to just sit here and watch the rich people
driving past in their swanky vehicles. They have
everything and we have absolutely nothing," said Ziad,
20, the ringleader of a group of young men who took
art in the riots.

"Sarkozy says we are like dogs. Well - we'll show him.
Ever since he came to the government, life has been
crap," said Abdul.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the hardline interior minister in the
government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin,
has become the bogeyman of the young rioters - who
sense that they are to a winning ticket when they
criticise his "provocative" use of language.

The minister has drawn widespread condemnation from
the left - and distinct unease within the cabinet -
for his outspoken attacks on the racaille - or scum -
that he blames for introducing a culture of drugs and
petty crime in the worst-affected areas of the
banlieues. After an earlier incident during the summer
he said crime-ridden areas should be "cleaned with a
powerhose".

Last night he was back on the attack, saying that
"what matters is facts not words" and claiming the
violence of the last week was all "perfectly
organised". "What we have been witnessing is not in
the least spontaneous, and we are trying to identify
the organisers ... When you have live bullets fired at
the forces of law and order ... the person who does it
is purely and simply a yob," he said.

M. De Villepin - who is M. Sarkozy's undeclared rival
in the 2007 presidential election battle - initially
had some satisfaction at his interior minister's
discomfiture. But now he too is under growing
criticism for letting the situation drift and failing
to offer more in the way of a solution than another
vague "action plan" for later this month.

"It is time to start to manage seriously what has
become a serious crisis," said Le Monde newspaper.

Ministers are hoping that a mix of factors - worsening
weather, the return to classes after half term and the
end of Ramadan - will combine soon to bring the wave
of copy-cat riots to a halt, but there is deep
pessimism about the future. The banlieues have been
the scene of regular outbreaks of riots for more than
15 years now - and though each peters out eventually,
the next round is always worse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

French unrest spreads outside Paris
Staff and agencies
Friday November 4, 2005

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1634739,00.html

A disabled person was badly burned in an attack on a
city bus and more than four hundred cars were torched
during an eighth night of rioting in Paris suburbs.
Government officials cited a falling number of direct
clashes with police to claim that the situation was
becoming calmer, but the violence also spread out of
the capital's immediate vicinity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chirac calls for calm as violence spreads through
capital's suburbs

· Youths clash with police for seventh night running
· Immigrant ghettos erupt at poverty and despair

Jon Henley in Aulnay-sous-Bois
Thursday November 3, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1607332,00.html

President Jacques Chirac warned yesterday of a
"dangerous situation" and the prime minister,
Dominique de Villepin, called an emergency cabinet
meeting after a wave of serious urban unrest spread to
more than a dozen towns and housing estates around
Paris.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Misleading' ministers blamed over Paris riots
By John Lichfield in Paris
Published: 01 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article323783.ece

The French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has
sought to calm the fury which has generated four
nights of riots in a Paris suburb following the deaths
of two teenagers. M. Sarkozy - himself under fire for
making misleading statements in relation to the deaths
- spoke yesterday to the parents of Ziad, 17, and
Banou, 15, who were electrocuted after climbing the
wall of a sub-station in Clichy-sous-Bois last
Thursday. A third boy, also 17, was badly burnt.
Friends and companions insisted yesterday that the
boys were being chased by police and that the officers
did nothing to help them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on France at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Europe/France/

Halal foods more widely available
By Sheila Himmel
Mercury News

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/13059052.htm

Tahir Anwar has lived in San Jose 23 years and eaten
only foods permitted by strict Islamic guidelines. It
was not so easy in the beginning. His parents used to
order halal (literally ``permitted'') meat from
Stockton and Sacramento.

Anwar's father was the first leader, the imam, of the
South Bay Islamic Association. Now Anwar, 28, is the
imam. And his observant congregants can buy meat from
half a dozen markets in Silicon Valley, dine at more
than 30 restaurants, eat at one of the six company
cafes at Cisco Systems in San Jose.

They can buy pork-free halal pepperoni pizza and dine
at white-tablecloth restaurants.

Halal meat sales have doubled or tripled in the past
year at Facciola Meat of Fremont, says John
Rothenberg, a buyer at the Bay Area's largest meat
distributor. The bigger orders have come from
workplaces like Cisco, as well as restaurants and
stores, for meat across the board: chicken, lamb,
beef, veal and goat.

An estimated 200,000 Muslims live in the Bay Area,
says Safaa Ibrahim, executive director of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations, based in Santa Clara.
Last year, about 100,000 attended the three-day
community celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the
end of the holy month of Ramadan. This year's
celebration begins Thursday or Friday, depending on
when the new moon is sighted, at the Santa Clara
County Fairgrounds. About 100,000 Bay Area residents
attend a mosque, but they don't all follow strict
halal practices.

It's getting easier, though, because non-Muslim stores
-- including many Albertsons supermarkets -- are
carrying halal products. ``My grocery store just
opened a halal meat section,'' says Ibrahim, who shops
at International Food Bazaar in Santa Clara, which is
owned by Palestinian Christians.

More Bay Area Muslims are buying halal meat, says
Ibrahim, ``because it's readily available.''

They can also consult www.zabihah.com, which is a kind
of Zagat Survey of the American Muslim world.
Zabihah.com was founded in 1998 by Shahed Amanullah,
who lives in Berkeley but currently is studying in
Washington, D.C. (Zabihah means that animals are
slaughtered according to Islamic rites.) He started
the online guide with 20 or 30 halal restaurants and
stores in the Bay Area. Friends gradually added to the
site, and now it has gone national with nearly 4,000
restaurants and food stores.

One of the newest entries is San Jose Halal Market.
The halal grocery is notched between the Mexican-style
Vallarta Seafood and Dr. Quyen Duong's Family &
Cosmetic Dentistry in a South Capitol Avenue shopping
strip. The store, owned by M. Ismail Chaudhry, sells
Petaluma-grown halal chicken, as well as fresh lamb,
beef, veal and goat. The freezer case is a United
Nations of hot links, beef empanadas, samosas, chicken
nuggets, spring rolls, cheese pizza and cotto salami.

Zabihah.com has been so successful that Amanullah is
now studying for an MBA so he can expand and, as he
says, ``monetize'' the site.

Some halal rules are similar to those for kosher
foods. However, halal is certified not by a central
authority but by word of mouth. ``You just trust the
owner of the store,'' Anwar says.

In restaurants and at companies like Cisco, ``as long
as food we're being served is halal, it's fine to eat
somewhere that isn't totally halal. Kosher is also
permissible. If we can't find halal meats, we are
allowed to have kosher. The method of slaughter is
quite similar.''

The big problem for halal-observant Muslims occurs
when they travel. ``We can't walk into any Denny's and
have a steak,'' Anwar says. ``We go vegetarian on
those occasions.''

South Africa has a Muslim association that certifies
mainstream products like Kellogg's cereals and Kraft
cheese. They carry the group's stamp.

There are no equivalent standards in the United
States, though you will see some products marked halal
or stamped by the manufacturer with a circle H or a
circle M. Muslims read ingredients to make sure foods
like cereal and cookies contain no animal products.

The zabihah.com Web site requires users to register
before submitting reviews, and reviews are monitored.
Diners are cautioned: ``Please verify the claims
yourself if you are unsure.'' Halal status is
described as:

• Halal sign in window.

• Halal certificate on display.

• Owners are known Muslims.

• Verbal assurance from staff.

These are phrases that ``conform to the lingo of the
patron,'' Amanullah says.

``Some cities have councils that go around issuing
certificates,'' but not in the Bay Area, Amanullah
says. However, the California Legislature passed a law
in 2002 that makes it illegal to represent non-halal
meat as halal.

As with Jews' observance of kosher rules, halal
observance varies widely.

``Some Muslims just say a prayer before eating,''
Ibrahim says.

Another school of thought is that buying meat raised
and slaughtered by other ``people of the Book''
(Christians and Jews) is fine. ``I grew up eating
kosher meat,'' Amanullah says. ``Some say only meat
hand-slaughtered by a Muslim. I try not to get too
political.''

At Cisco Systems' headquarters in San Jose, Tahir
Anwar helped chef Steve Castronovo make the company
cafe available to observant Muslims.

``We have a large Muslim population at Cisco,''
Castronovo says. ``They gave us guidelines. The good
news for us was, they didn't care how it was cooked,
they just wanted halal foods.''

And more good news: When the computer networking
company introduced halal meals two years ago, the
number of employees dining in the company cafe jumped
20 percent.

Castronovo gives his workers a page of halal
guidelines with instructions like: ``Make sure all
protein is stored in meat walk-in on designated halal
shelf. NO EXCEPTIONS.''

Halal menus are offered three days a week, at about
the same price as other entrees. The halal meals have
featured tri-tip sandwiches on rosemary focaccia rolls
with house-made onion rings; and roasted chicken with
apple-peach salsa, jasmine rice and warm baby spinach
salad. ``I could run chicken piccata without wine and
sell it to everybody,'' Castronovo says, as long as
the halal portion was cooked in a separate container.

Previously, Muslims ate mainly at the salad bar,
brought their own food or went out to lunch.

``A roasted turkey plate was the first thing we ran,
and oh my gosh, there was a line out the door,'' says
Castronovo, a classically French-trained chef who grew
up in the Almaden Valley.

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise
to sunset, so Cisco suspends the halal meals. But
Thursday, Cisco employees can observe the end of
Ramadan with chef Surinder Thapar's halal curried
goat, turkey kebabs and butter chicken.
Contact Sheila Himmel at shimmel@... or
(408) 920-5926. Fax (408) 271-3786.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHAT IS HALAL?

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/dining/13059029.htm

1. Pronounced hah-LAL, meaning permitted or lawful, as
in this verse from the Koran: ``Eat of that which
Allah hath bestowed on you as food lawful and good.''

2. Foods that are definitely halal: fish, plants that
are not intoxicant, fresh vegetables, fresh or dried
fruits, legumes and nuts, grains.

3. Meat such as beef, lamb, poultry and goat must be
raised cleanly and humanely, and must be zabihah --
slaughtered according to Islamic rites. A blessing is
said by the person performing the slaughter, who must
be a Muslim.

4. Foods not permitted (haram) include pork, alcohol
and products made with non-halal animal content, such
as gelatin or a cheese made with rennet. Halal markets
sell permitted cheese and gelatin products.

Source: www.eat-halal.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on Halal food at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Food/

Guantanamo Desperation Seen in Suicide Attempts
One Incident Was During Lawyer's Visit

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 1, 2005; A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/31/AR2005103101987_\
pf.html

Jumah Dossari had to visit the restroom, so the
detainee made a quick joke with his American lawyer
before military police guards escorted him to a nearby
cell with a toilet. The U.S. military prison at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had taken quite a toll on
Dossari over the past four years, but his attorney,
who was there to discuss Dossari's federal court case,
noted his good spirits and thought nothing of his
bathroom break.

Minutes later, when Dossari did not return, Joshua
Colangelo-Bryan knocked on the cell door, calling out
his client's name. When he did not hear a response,
Colangelo-Bryan stepped inside and saw a three-foot
pool of blood on the floor. Numb, the lawyer looked up
to see Dossari hanging unconscious from a noose tied
to the ceiling, his eyes rolled back, his tongue and
lips bulging, blood pouring from a gash in his right
arm.

Dossari's suicide attempt two weeks ago is believed to
be the first such event witnessed by an outsider at
the prison, and one of several signs that lawyers and
human rights advocates contend point to growing
desperation among the more than 500 detainees there.
Lawyers believe Dossari, who has been in solitary
confinement for nearly two years, timed his suicide
attempt so that someone other than his guards would
witness it, a cry for help meant to reach beyond the
base's walls.

Two dozen Guantanamo Bay detainees are currently being
force-fed in response to a lengthy hunger strike, and
the detainees' lawyers estimate there are dozens more
who have not eaten since August. Military officials
say there are 27 hunger strikers at Guantanamo Bay,
all of whom are clinically stable, closely monitored
by medical personnel and receiving proper nutrition.

The hunger strikers are protesting their lengthy
confinements in the island prison, where some have
been kept for nearly four years and most have never
been charged with a crime. The most recent hunger
strike came after detention officials allegedly failed
to honor promises made during a previous hunger
strike.

Military authorities do not publicly discuss
individual detainees and declined to comment on
Dossari. Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, spokesman for Joint
Task Force Guantanamo, said yesterday that there have
been a total of 36 suicide attempts by 22 different
detainees, including three in the past 20 months.
Martin said all detainees are treated humanely and
"any threat of injury or suicide" is taken seriously.

He added that rapid intervention in suicide attempts
has prevented deaths. No detainee has died at the
military prison, he said.

The protests come amid rising international concern
about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Human rights organizations and the United Nations have
complained about the lack of access to the detainees
and voiced concern about allegations of physical and
psychological abuse, including prolonged solitary
confinement.

U.S. officials are trying to return many of the
detainees to their home countries, but the process has
been fraught with delays and diplomatic wrangling.

Three U.N. experts said yesterday that they would not
accept a U.S. government invitation to tour Guantanamo
unless they are granted private access to detainees, a
concession the U.S. has not been willing to make,
citing the ongoing war on terror and security
concerns. Last week, the United States invited the
U.N. representatives on torture and arbitrary
detention to the facility, and the experts said
yesterday that they hope to visit in early December.
But they described their demand for access to the
detainees as "non-negotiable."

"They said they have nothing to hide," Manfred Nowak,
U.N. special rapporteur on torture, said yesterday at
a news conference in New York. "If they have nothing
to hide, why should we not be able to talk to
detainees in private?"

Colangelo-Bryan said he fears that many detainees
would rather die than be held indefinitely. He said he
was shocked but not surprised by Dossari's Oct. 15
suicide attempt, given his "horrible ordeal."

He said he knows only that medical personnel
apparently were able to revive Dossari, he had surgery
and is in stable condition.

Detainees "see it as the only means they have of
exercising control over their lives," Colangelo-Bryan
said in publicly describing the incident for the first
time. "Their only means of effective protest are to
harm themselves, either by hunger strike or doing
something like this."

Martin said claims that hunger strikers are near death
are "absolutely false." He said the latest protest
began on Aug. 8 and at one point had 131 participants
but is now much smaller.

"This technique, hunger striking, is consistent with
the al Qaeda training, and reflects the detainees'
attempts to elicit media attention and bring pressure
on the United States government," Martin said. The
military also has long argued that terrorist groups
have instructed fighters to invent claims of abuse if
incarcerated.

Dossari has told Colangelo-Bryan that he has endured
abuse and mistreatment on par with some of the worst
offenses discovered at any U.S. detention facility
over the past four years. In declassified notes
recording the meetings, Dossari describes abuse and
torture that stretches back to his arrest in Pakistan
in December 2001, through the time he was turned over
to U.S. forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and
ultimately to his stay in Guantanamo Bay.

Dossari, 26, said U.S. troops have put out cigarettes
on his skin, threatened to kill him and severely beat
him. He told his lawyer that he saw U.S. Marines at
Kandahar "using pages of the Koran to shine their
boots," and was brutalized at Guantanamo Bay by
Immediate Response Force guards who videotaped
themselves attacking him.

The military says the IRF squads are sent into cells
to quell disturbances.

Dossari told his lawyers that he had been wrapped in
Israeli and U.S. flags during interrogations -- a
tactic recounted in FBI allegations of abuse at
Guantanamo -- and said interrogators threatened to
send him to countries where he would be tortured.

Dossari maintains that he is not connected to
terrorism and does not hate the United States. A
fellow detainee said that he saw Dossari at an al
Qaeda training camp, his lawyer said.

Colangelo-Bryan is a private New York lawyer with the
Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents
some of the detainees. The group plans a "Fast for
Justice" rally today in Washington to bring attention
to the Guantanamo Bay hunger strike.

Colangelo-Bryan said Dossari has tried to commit
suicide before. Prolonged solitary confinement has
given him almost no contact with others and access to
only a Koran and his legal papers.

"In March, he looked at me in the eye and said, 'How
can I keep myself from going crazy?'" Colangelo-Bryan
said.

Researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on Guantanamo Prisoner Abuse at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Persecution/Guantanamo/

West turns a blind eye as activists crushed before
Azerbaijan poll
By Andrew Osborn in Baku
Published: 05 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article324954.ece

Briefly the democracy activists of Azerbaijan had
dared to dream of an "Orange revolution", but the
oil-rich former Soviet republic will contest what were
supposed to be the country's first democratic
elections tomorrow in an atmosphere of fear.

The two-month election campaign has seen some of the
opposition's most idealistic young campaigners jailed,
brutally beaten by police, threatened with torture,
cleverly framed and discredited and effectively
neutralised as a political force.

Defiant to the last, they insist they are still on
course to capture more votes than the government, but
their hopes of replicating the success of campaigners
in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan who toppled
corruption-sodden Soviet-era regimes look slim.

The run-up to tomorrow's parliamentary elections was
neither free nor fair, and there are serious
international concerns about the equity of voting
itself. But even if there is a row over falsified
elections the democracy activists look ill-equipped to
convert any popular discontent into regime change.

The millionaire Aliyev family dynasty, which has ruled
the country with an iron fist for most of the past
three decades and has multi-million pound property
interests in London, has simply proved too clever and
too willing to use force and intimidation.

Ilham Aliyev, the country's 40-year-old President,
took over the mantle of his father, Heidar, in 2003
and has crafted a public image of himself and his
regime as a permanent feature of Azeri life. He enjoys
good relations with Washington and London, which have
major interests in Azerbaijan's new oil pipeline,
wields complete control over the broadcast media and
has thousands of fiercely loyal riot police at his
disposal.

The Aliyev mark is stamped all over Baku. Statues and
billboards featuring the avuncular features and
musings of the late Heidar Aliyev, who died in 2003,
are everywhere. The cult of personality affords little
room for alternative voices.

The Yeni Fikir (New Thinking) pro-democracy youth
movement knows all about the regime's dislike of
opposition. Set up last year, it was supposed to be
the spearhead of the Orange movement and was the first
opposition grouping to make orange, the colour of
Ukraine's successful revolution, its own.

Crafted in the image of similar youth groups in the
former Yugoslavia, Georgia and Ukraine, it began to
hold noisy rallies. However, today it looks a spent
force.

In August its leader, Ruslan Bashirli, 26, was
arrested at his home by men in black masks. He was
accused of trying to forcefully overthrow the
government and of plotting dissent with security
service agents from Armenia, Azerbaijan's sworn enemy.

The authorities claimed that the Armenian agents had
suggested using live gunfire during an opposition
rally in order to destabilise the country. America's
National Democratic Institute, a non-profit
organisation closely aligned to the US Democratic
Party, was also accused of complicity in the plot.

Secret footage of Bashirli's "traitorous meeting" was
broadcast on giant public screens in Baku and the
young activist was thrown into jail for three months,
a stretch that has since been extended to five. His
fellow activists say he was framed.

Other activists have fared little better. Said
Nuriyev, another leading light in Yeni Fikir, was
arrested soon after Bashirli and is now under house
arrest in a Baku hospital where he is recovering from
a long-standing blood disorder.

Attempts to visit him - even by some of his own close
family members - have been refused and when his fellow
activists tried to see him they were barred from the
hospital grounds and beaten by more than 100
baton-wielding policemen.

The movement's third big hitter, Ramin Tagiev, 26, has
also been arrested and has similarly been accused of
fomenting violent change. He has been given a three-
month prison sentence and his friends and family have
found it almost impossible to get news of his
well-being.

Attempts to discredit Yeni Fikir did not end there. On
one occasion activists returned to their campaign
office to discover a white carrier bag containing four
hand grenades and some TNT explosive.

Ahmad Shahidov, an activist who has not yet been
locked up, says he believes it was another attempt to
discredit his organisation. "The President was due to
make a visit right across the street on the same day.
We think they wanted to accuse us of wanting to kill
the President."

With local and foreign media looking on, the activists
eventually got the police to take the explosives off
their hands.

Human Rights Watch says another activist, Sarvan
Sarhanov, was detained by the police for six hours
during which time they urged him to go on television
to make a statement denouncing the movement. They
brought a pair of pliers into the interrogation room
and threatened to use them on his hands, but he did
not comply and was eventually freed.

"These guys were just young people who had had enough
of living in a country where everything in their lives
was controlled by one family," Murad Gassanly, an
activist for the opposition Freedom Bloc told The
Independent.

"What happened to them shows what you get here if you
become politically active. Anything against the regime
carries serious repercussions."

The mainstream opposition has not been allowed to hold
rallies in central Baku, or to put up its posters in
many areas. It has been starved of all important air
time and many of its rallies have ended with
demonstrators being rushed to hospital after police
beatings.

The opposition estimates that 1,500 activists have
been detained since 5 September, 2,000 injured, 400
arrested and held for over a month, and 200 sentenced.
Thirty prospective parliamentary candidates have also
detained or beaten up.

Mr Aliyev has dismissed opposition criticism out of
hand. He says that tomorrow's elections will be free
and fair and that there is no need for a velvet
revolution.

Last-minute concessions such as marking voters' hands
with invisible ink and allowing exit polls mean, he
insists, that the elections will be the country's
freest yet.

America is watching closely and while Washington
concedes that things could be better, the consensus
seems to be that Mr Aliyev, the custodian of the
Caspian Sea's oil riches, is a man they can do
business with. Azerbaijan's border with Iran means,
analysts say, that for America, stability is
paramount.

History of a dynasty

* 1993: Heydar Aliyev declares himself President.

* 1994: Three members of special police force arrested
after assassinations of deputy head of parliament and
Aliyev's security chief. Later in the year, Azerbaijan
signs contract with oil companies for use of three oil
fields.

* 1995: Aliyev's New Azerbaijan Party wins election
alleged to contravene international standards.

* 1998: Opposition activists arrested at protests
against elections.

* 2001: Azerbaijan becomes full member of Council of
Europe.

* 2002: Work starts on pipeline to carry oil from
Azerbaijan to Turkey.

* 2003: Aliyev appoints son Ilham as Prime Minister.
Three people killed in opposition demonstrations. In
December, Aliyev dies in US hospital, aged 80.

* 2005: Oil starts flowing through pipeline. Police
use force to break up opposition demonstrations in
Baku before elections.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Azerbaijan opposition activists arrested on eve of
election

Nick Paton Walsh in Baku
Saturday November 5, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,1635080,00.html

The authorities in Azerbaijan were accused last night
of arresting opposition officials at a critical moment
in the run-up to tomorrow's parliamentary elections.
Two parties in the opposition Freedom bloc said their
campaign managers had been detained by police,
undermining their attempt to challenge the supremacy
of the ruling New Azerbaijan party (YAP) of President
Ilham Aliev. "We see this as pressure on our party and
an attempt to wreck [our] election campaign,"
opposition spokesman Isak Avazoglu told Reuters.

The election in the Caspian country, an increasingly
important oil source for the west is seen as a
significant test of Azerbaijan's poor human rights
record.
The vote has been preceded by talk of revolution. Mr
Aliev has accused two of his ministers of funding a
coup attempt with the exiled opposition leader, Rasul
Guliev. The men, along with at least 10 other
prominent businessmen and officials, have since been
arrested.

On Thursday night, he told his cabinet: "We will not
allow you to conspire with the opposition sitting here
and give it money to overthrow the president ... I was
elected by the people and I answer to them. But you
answer to me."

Mr Aliev succeeded his father as president in an
election marred by fraud two years ago. He has been
courted by western countries, keen to access oil
reserves and influence a country sandwiched between
Russia and Iran. But he has often proved an awkward
ally, his police frequently battering protesters and
torturing dissidents.

Reno Harnish, US ambassador to Baku, said yesterday he
thought the election could meet international
standards, bringing Azerbaijan closer to the west.
"Security, energy and democracy are indivisible
interests" for the US there, he said.

Last week Mr Aliev bowed to western pressure and
ordered the hands of voters be marked by indelible
ink. A quarter of the 2,000 registered candidates have
also dropped out at the last minute.

An official close to international election observers
expressed concerns last night over the pressure on
voters and candidates from authorities. "It looks like
it will be a messy weekend," the source said. An
electoral crisis could fuel unrest from within Mr
Aliev's own party, Baku's billionaire bureaucrats
still reeling from the recent arrests.

Yet protests are assured from the Freedom, or Azadlig,
opposition coalition, whose three leaders, all of whom
seek the presidency, have formed a rickety alliance
under an orange banner to increase their share of
parliament's 125 seats. Ali Kerimli, the pro-western
leader of the Popular Front party, said the government
may try to use up to 2 million people incorrectly
registered as voters to steal the election. "We will
do all that we can so that there is not a bloody
crisis," he said. Murad Gassanly, 26, a UK-educated
spokesman for Azadlig, said they would attempt mass
protests if they judged the vote had been fixed.

"The US does not want a change here, as happened in
Ukraine and Georgia, because this is an oil country,"
he said. "But the west's big mistake is
underestimating the role of radical Islam. Bush and
Cheney will not be in power in two years, but then the
opposition will not be using orange flags, but green
ones."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Empowering women through Islam
By Erline Andrews
Wednesday, November 2nd 2005

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_woman_mag?id=112858211

"Empower women" and "Islam" are two ideas most people
might find incompatible. But this is a reflection of
the many misconceptions about the religion, says Bibi
Neeza Halim, president of ASJA Ladies, a Muslim
organisation that has been working to empower women
for more than six decades.

"Islam is stereotyped as treat(ing women) unfairly,"
says Halim. "Why then does it attract women-educated
women? Islam is unique. It provides rights. (Women)
can vote, own property, work to help the community and
to be educated at the same time."

ASJA Ladies is the female arm of the Anjuman
Sunnat-Ul-Jamaat Association (ASJA), one of the
largest associations in Trinidad and Tobago, with over
60 mosques throughout the country.

The purpose of ASJA Ladies, says Halim, is the
"development of society. Women's progress is linked to
the development of society".

The organisation runs a home for women fleeing
domestic violence and a pre-school catering to the
less privileged. They also "sponsor" individual women
and children.

Listening to Halim describe some ASJA Ladies' cases
(among them a poor HIV-positive mother and a pregnant
15-year-old) is a reminder that despite talk of 2020
vision and economic growth, Trinidad and Tobago is
still a place where the most vulnerable is often made
to suffer.

The ladies also run a home for the aged and hold
seminars on "economic empowerment, social issues,
health, lifestyle, spirituality, and domestic
violence". They do a variety of things to raise
funds--lunches, a family day--but, as with many NGOs
in Trinidad and Tobago, gathering money remains a big
challenge.

The average member of the public may not be aware of
most of what ASJA Ladies does because its members
"work behind the scenes", says Halim. But the public
is regularly informed when a Muslim is arrested, a
media practice Halim disparages.

"That's unfair," says Halim. "You don't pinpoint a
Catholic person."

But Halim points to examples that the perceptions of
Muslims are changing and Islam is becoming more
accepted.

She commends the Tourism Development Company's
assistance in setting up an Eid display in the atrium
of the Piarco airport and boasts about the number of
professional women in ASJA who wear their hijabs to
work without hassle.

Contrary to detractors' expectations, says Halim, the
hijab is not a limitation.

"The way I dress is not a barrier to anything I do,"
says Halim. "I go in any sphere (and) people look up
to me. I get a certain amount of respect and I feel
good about that."

Halim is a "career enhancement" tutor with the Youth
Training and Employment Partnership Programme (YTEPP).
She teaches in centres across the country.

Career enhancement tutors, Halim explains, "fine tune"
trainees, giving them lessons in "communications
skills, life skills, literacy, numeracy and personal
development".

In the YTEPP, Halim teaches young men and women. She's
encouraged by what she sees.

"You see women challenging the men," says Halim. "You
have women doing stuff like welding, auto mechanics,
masonry, (and) they're just as good.

"I feel women's progress (increased) in the 21st
century because now you have young women who can dream
different dreams and they've reached beyond their
boundaries."

Halim says she's been involved in community-advancing
activities since she was a young woman in Guyana. She
taught there before marrying a Trinidadian and moving
here 37 years ago.

Her husband is a renowned entomologist, MKI Halim, who
specialised in bees, hence the name of the pre-school
she runs out of her home in Curepe--Honey of a
Preschool.

In the past, Halim taught literacy education. She's a
member of the women's committee of the Muslim Credit
Union. She was vice-president of ASJA Ladies before
being elected president two years ago.

"I like to keep busy doing the right things," she
says.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cultivating independence

South Darfur has witnessed aid workers being taken
hostage and hundreds more families being evicted in
recent weeks. British nutritionist Hatty Newhouse
recounts events in her diary

Thursday November 3, 2005

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sudan/story/0,14658,1614552,00.html

It's probably the biggest camp in the world for people
who have been made refugees in their own country by
war. Kalma camp, just 40 minutes' drive south-east of
Nyala, regional capital of south Darfur, has been
unstable for months. About a week ago it erupted.
The camp houses around 100,000 people who have been
forced to flee their homes because of the recent
Darfur conflict, or the previous conflict in south
Sudan. And 10 days ago frustration escalated into a
hostage situation. Thirty-four aid workers were held
hostage by camp residents and it took several days'
negotiation before the situation was resolved.

The Kalma crisis was developing as I arrived in Nyala
and started my job as a nutrition adviser for
ACT-Caritas, a grouping of Protestant, Catholic and
Orthodox aid agencies that have come together for the
first time in one of the biggest emergency relief
operations in south and west Darfur.
Next to Kalma is another camp, Bilel, where we support
a nutrition centre. The camp is run by our local
partner agency, the Sudan Development Organisation
(Sudo).

The day the Kalma situation blew up, two of our
nutritionists were approaching the camp, on the road
to Bilel. They were lucky. They ran into the column of
evacuating aid vehicles and left the area before the
worst trouble began.

I've spent this week meeting and planning with the
nutrition team, and am now looking forward to getting
into the field. Next week I leave for Kubum, my home
for the next few months and a town about five hours
west by road. We have a field station there serving a
mainly Arab population.

I'll oversee 13 nutrition centres and outreach
projects, where we hand out oil, sugar and a fortified
mix of ground corn and soya bean to pregnant and
breastfeeding mothers and to mothers for their
malnourished young children.

We classify a malnourished child as one below 85%
weight-for-height, a measure which indicates how
wasted a child is according to a World Health
Organisation formula.

One of my colleagues here is Petros, who's been in
Darfur for almost five months. (He's Norwegian, but
originally from Eritrea and his real name is
Gebregziabher Petros - but none of us can pronounce
that, so we call him Petros).

Last night he told me an amazing story. His first job
early this summer was in an isolated village called
Kurdol, west Darfur. Like Kubum, the area has a high
Arab population, but Kurdol is mainly made up of the
Fur tribe.

Kurdol was attacked almost two years ago but the local
Fur people did not abandon their homes. Now about
4,000 live in the village and there's an Arab
population in surrounding areas.

Petros had done an assessment and was shocked to find
malnutrition in 30% of the children. One four-year-old
Arab boy, Abdallah Hajar, was seriously ill with
marasmus, a form of severe malnutrition.

The team set off with Abdallah and his parents to to
the nearest hospital, in a town called Garsila. The
rain was beating down. They needed to get there before
nightfall and it was only 30 miles, but in that
weather, it was a five- to six-hour drive.

The two-vehicle convoy reached a dip in the road where
it crosses two deep wadis (seasonal rivers). Both
vehicles ploughed through the first, but then the
second wadi swelled and both vehicles got stuck on an
island between the two rivers.

Night descended. The area was insecure and they were
highly vulnerable. Abdallah was wimpering. And they
could only wait.

At daybreak they tried to cross the second wadi, but
the first vehicle jammed in the mud. Then local people
from nearby Amar village streamed into the wadi and -
without even being asked - physically lifted the car
out.

The second car then ploughed into the wadi - and got
stuck. Again the villagers raised the vehicle (with
Abdallah inside) and carried it out.

The convoy sped on to Garsila and Petros left Abdallah
in the care of an international medical NGO that
offers emergency intervention.

A week later he returned to see the little boy. But
the hospital bed was empty. Abdallah was dead.

Petros' team returned to Kurdol. They met the local
sheikhs, heads of Kurdol village, to discuss the
nutrition project. With the sheiks' encouragement,
local people gathered together, erected a wooden frame
and bound together dried grass and rushes for walls
and the roof. In two days they built a centre.

Massive lorries brought the corn, soya bean mix by
road from Zalingi. Then came the day of opening - and
it was chaos.

The local Arab population were to receive food on the
second day; the Fur population on the opening day. But
the Arabs thought they might not get their share. So
men on camels turned up brandishing guns and knives.

Petros called a meeting of the Arab sheiks and
reassured them. The distribution was still chaotic,
but violence was averted. Soon the centre settled into
a pattern of distributing to Fur on the first day, and
to Arabs on the second.

Nutrition programmes often pose a dilemma: we need to
stop children starving but we don't want to make
people dependent. Any muppet can throw bags of ground
corn and soya bean out of a lorry.

So we need to know when to withdraw or change the
criteria for support; and we try to encourage people
to gain food by growing their own crops, fruit and
vegetables whenever possible.

Petros has grown tomatoes, water melons and started a
mango plantation in Kurdol, to encourage villagers to
diversify and to get the micronutrients they need.
Some farmers in Kurdol are excited by what's been
grown and have started to do the same.

But in this respect Kurdol is unusual. Cultivation is
simply not an option across all of Darfur, because the
biggest problem for many is that they can't go home.

They are trapped in camps, too frightened to return.
Even if they plant seeds, their crops may be destroyed
before they can be harvested. And whenever this
happens, it's a major blow, taking away their chance
of self-sufficiency and independence until harvest
time comes around again.

· In Britain the charities Cafod, Christian Aid, the
Methodist Relief and Development Fund and the Scottish
Catholic International Aid Fund are members of the
ACT-Caritas network, as is Trocaire in Ireland.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on Sudan and Darfur at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Africa/Sudan/

FAITH NO BAR
- India was not made in heaven, but in the hell of
Partition
MUKUL KESAVAN
mukulkesavan@...

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051030/asp/opinion/story_5415078.asp

What do Sania Mirza and Irfan Khan Pathan have in
common? They’re both good-looking, for one. And tall.
Sania must be five-foot-seven and Pathan hovers around
the six foot mark: that’s tall for Indians. They’re
both gifted athletes and more importantly, their
styles are forthrightly based on power, not the guile
and delicacy for which so many of their predecessors,
the great Indian losers of the past, were famous.
Sania Mirza hits her groundstrokes harder than the
Williams sisters while Pathan’s a swing bowler and an
aggressive batsman. Also, young as they are, they’re
already media properties: both players do charming
television commercials for souped-up motor fuels which
air on prime-time. And they’re Muslim.

For some that last observation is irrelevant,
gratuitous, even oppressive. Ever since Pathan and
Mirza vaulted out of obscurity, journalists have made
a meal of their Muslim-ness. If you haven’t been
living in a cave for the last two years you probably
know that Pathan’s father is the Imam of a mosque in
Baroda. Sania has been held up as a mould-breaking
Muslim girl in the Western press for the skin her
skirts show and the things her shirts say. Sometimes
she gets fed up of the attention and asks to be left
alone, to be given the room to be just another
eighteen-year-old. We’ve been told more than once that
Irfan Pathan and Sania Mirza are ‘practising’ Muslims
who pray five times a day. (There’s a decent joke
about that odd locution in an English novel I read
recently. It goes like this: ‘“Practising Muslims?” he
said. “Keep it up then. Maybe ye’ll get it right one
day.”’)

Sympathetic critics have asked journalists to stop
playing-up their religious identity. One wrote that
Pathan should be spared the burden of representing
India’s Muslims because it is his excellence as a
cricketer that has brought him to our notice, not his
devotion to his faith. It’s the argument from
fairness: we don’t ask Sehwag if he’s a bell-ringing,
prasad-eating, havan-doing Hindu, so why are we so
curious about the nature and extent of Pathan’s piety?
Besides, a secular world view entails separating
religious identity from public life and cricket’s very
nearly the only worthwhile part of Indian public life,
so shouldn’t we leave their faith out it?

No, we shouldn’t. As far as the argument from
secularism goes, it mistakes a received understanding
of Western secularism with the Indian take on it.
Thanks to our colonial past and the colonial state’s
willingness to play Indian communities off against
each other, Indian nationalism was strenuously
pluralist simply to prove that it represented every
human species in India: Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Muslim
etc. So it isn’t surprising, unnatural or bad that the
great Indian public recognizes the symbolic importance
of species representation in every sort of Indian
grouping, whether it be a cabinet or a classroom or a
cricket team.

We can see this alertness (and anxiety) about
representation in the debates about caste-based
reservation, about the absence of women in India’s
legislatures and, not least, in the interest in Pathan
and Mirza as Muslims. Whether we agree with a policy
of affirmative action and reservations or not, we can
agree that the purpose behind reservations is to make
room for groups of people who, because of social
prejudice or indifference or lack of opportunity, have
gone unrepresented in education and government. Behind
the talk of reserving a third of all seats in
parliament for women is the recognition that there’s
something not quite right about a political system
where less than ten per cent of all members of
parliament are women. This is not to argue that only
women can be represented by women or only Dalits by
Dalits: it is simply an intuition that such
lopsidedness, such absences indicate institutional
obstacles to participation, the absence of a level
playing field. There are those who reasonably argue
that affirmative action doesn’t, cannot, fix this
problem, that it is a pernicious tokenism, but very
few would disagree that the near-absence of whole
categories of people from public institutions is a
reason for concern.

When I went looking for a school for my son a decade
ago, I used to stroll up to notice-boards outside
classrooms and school offices, hoping to find class
lists. If I found them I’d browse through the names
looking for clues. If there were no Muslim names (and
there were schools where there weren’t any) my
enthusiasm for the school would wane. Was this an
excess of political correctness? No, not at all. If a
good school in Delhi could get by without Muslim
students despite the city’s substantial Muslim
population, it either meant that Muslims didn’t apply
to it or the school didn’t care enough to do what NGOs
like to call ‘outreach’ and both implications, as far
as I was concerned, were bad signs.

When my son found a place in a school where Muslim
students were a normal part of its enrolment, I felt
grateful and reassured that he would grow up in a
school that reflected in an approximate way, the world
in which it functioned.

This is why we shouldn’t feel self-conscious about
celebrating the Muslimness of Sania Mirza and Irfan
Pathan because their success tells us that in one
sphere of public life, competitive sport, religious
identity is no obstacle to success. There are no
minority quotas in Indian sport. This is not to argue
that quotas in particular and positive discrimination
in general are always bad things. In South Africa,
setting racial targets for the national team might
have been a crude but necessary way of hustling a
white cricketing establishment rooted in apartheid
into integrating the top level of South African
cricket. But it is precisely because there are no
Muslim quotas in sport that the success of Sania Mirza
and Irfan Pathan is particularly gratifying. If Indian
cricket was a matrimonial ad, it would read ‘Faith No
Bar’. (The same can’t be said for caste and cricket
but that’s another story.)

So the next time Sania Mirza wins a tournament or
Irfan Pathan takes four wickets in an ODI, don’t let
secular scruple prevent you from ticking off the fact
that they’re Muslim. Nor should you feel guilty about
being more interested in Kaif than Yuvraj Singh for
reasons other than cricket. Take a minute, relax and
let yourself live in (and think out of) your own
history. It would be perfect, of course, if religious
identity didn’t matter in India and we went about our
lives in a state of secular absent-mindedness. The
problem is, India wasn’t made in Heaven; it was made
in the violent hell of Partition. Miraculously we
still grew into a secular, pluralist republic, but we
don’t take the miracle for granted. In our anxious,
superstitious way, we keep taking our temperature,
touching wood, looking for auspicious signs. For us,
Sania Mirza and Irfan Pathan are more than good
players, they are good omens.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More about Islam and Muslims in India at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Asia/India/

'We're a good people'
Porter Township Muslim family negotiates negative
stereotypes from new community

http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2005/11/06/news/top_news/a1d46adaeb426c2e\
862570b10003a27e.txt

PORTER TOWNSHIP | To combat rumors that he and his
family were terrorists, Basit Syed followed the advice
of his elders and opened his home to strangers. "Let
them in the house, let them look in the closets," said
his uncle, Amir Ali, who was visiting from Chicago.
"Look around the grounds and see if there's anything."
The shed behind their ranch-style house, at the end of
a gravel road near Lake Eliza, is not a hiding place
for chemicals, Syed was quick to show. It's a shelter
for their pet rooster and rabbit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Relief effort

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/13079171.htm

Mohammed Shaffi had steeled himself to speak about the
earthquake that destroyed his home village in Kashmir
last month. But when he tried to take the podium
Thursday morning at the First Presbyterian Church in
Palo Alto, he broke into sobs. ``Fifty-two members of
my family have died,'' he said in a choked voice. The
45-year-old Saratoga grocery store owner covered his
face with his hands.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UK Pacifist Donates Kidney for Palestinian Child

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/07/article06.shtml

CAIRO, November 7, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Anne Wix
decided to put off her wedding party and go all the
way from Britain to the occupied Palestinian
territories to save the life of a three-year-old child
through a kidney transplant surgery to translate her
solidarity as a peace activist into action. “We met
Wix three years ago in the West Bank refugee camp of
Masah while she was protesting along with a group of
peace activists the construction of the Israeli
separation wall and since then we have become close
friends,” Fareed Timaa, the father of Lina, told the
London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper Sunday,
November 6.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mosque attack plotter is murdered in prison

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1635877,00.html

A Jewish Defence League activist imprisoned for
plotting to blow up a California mosque and the office
of a Lebanese-American congressman has been killed in
jail. Earl Krugel, 62, was attacked at a federal
prison in Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday. The Federal
Bureau of Investigation has launched a murder inquiry.
Krugel's wife, Lola, said the FBI told her another
inmate had struck her husband on the head from behind
with a cement block. "Earl never saw it happening,"
she told the Associated Press news agency. "He was
exercising."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Azerbaijani ruling party claims victory in
parliamentary elections

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1635825,00.html

Azerbaijan's ruling party claimed victory in
parliamentary elections last night, but opposition
activists alleged widespread fraud and promised to
take to the streets tomorrow. Asked if the ruling Yeni
Azerbaijan party would retain its 75 seats in the
125-seat parliament, its secretary, Ali Ahmedov, told
reporters: "Our information is that, yes, at the very
least we have achieved that target."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iraq plans hotel and theme parks for a tourism boom

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article325277.ece

A £48m, five-star, 23-storey hotel rising in the city
centre; an opulent palace complex being turned into a
theme park; cheap flights to the picturesque "Venice
of the east" - all the trappings of a country gearing
up for a tourist boom. Except the country in question
is Iraq. With a new constitution and elections in the
offing, officials insist there is a new beginning. The
tourist board has 2,400 staff and 14 offices.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mohammad Doesn’t Mean 'Killer' in Holland

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/07/article02.shtml

THE HAGUE, November 7, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – It is
a stereotype to call all Americans named Charles as
“serial killers” for no other reason than carrying the
name of one of the most famous murderers in US
history, Charles Manson. In the Netherlands, it is a
similar demonization to call thousands of Dutch
Muslims named Mohammad B “murderers” just because they
share the killer of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh his first
name and the initial of his middle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Somali prime minister escapes death in grenade attack

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1635815,00.html

Gunmen threw grenades and a landmine exploded
yesterday near the convoy of the Somali prime
minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, killing at least five
bodyguards and wounding several others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three killed as Hindus attack Muslim village

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1635820,00.html

A group of Hindus attacked a Muslim village in
northern India on Saturday night, police said
yesterday, setting fire to homes and killing three
people. The attack was prompted by rumours that cows,
considered holy by Hindus, had been slaughtered for
the Islamic Eid-al-Fitr celebrations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Insurgents reportedly killed in street battles

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1635835,00.html

Insurgents armed with assault rifles and
rocket-propelled grenades fought about 3,500 US and
Iraqi troops yesterday in the streets of Husayba, in
the second day of an offensive against al-Qaida
strongholds and smuggling routes along Iraq's border
with Syria.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inquiry into jail killing of Jewish extremist

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article325228.ece

The authorities have launched an investigation into
the killing of the Jewish extremist Earl Krugel, who
was apparently murdered by a fellow inmate last Friday
at a medium-security federal prison in Phoenix,
Arizona. Krugel, 62, a member of the Jewish Defence
League (JDL), was serving a 20-year sentence for his
part in a conspiracy unmasked in 2001 to bomb a mosque
in Los Angeles, and an office of the Arab-American
Congressman Darrell Issa, a California Republican.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Azeri opposition calls for street protests against
'rigged' election

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article325263.ece

Oil-rich Azerbaijan appeared to be slipping into a
political crisis after pro-democracy activists keen on
engineering a Ukraine-style orange revolution accused
the government of rigging parliamentary elections,
setting the stage for mass public protests and
possible violence. President Ilham Aliyev looked set
for victory last night, with an exit poll projecting
Yeni Azerbaijan with 56 seats, down from 75. The exit
poll also showed the main Azadliq (Freedom) coalition
of opposition parties receiving 12 seats. Independents
and minor parties, most of them government allies, won
the rest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

US asks Muslims to register before air travel

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=57807&headline=Muslims~urged~to\
~register~before~air~travel

Washington, November 5: The head of Civil Rights for
the US Department of Homeland Security is urging
Muslim air travellers to register with the Federal
government before flying to reduce the chances they
might be stopped at an airport because their name is
on or similar to names on an anti-terrorism watch
list.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No intifada, no cause, just poor kids defending their
territory
By John Lichfield
Published: 07 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article325218.ece

Is this France's intifada? Do the riots have wider
significance for the West?

Talk of an intifada is absurdly misleading. Firstly,
the rioters are far from being all Muslim (although
more than half are from Islamic backgrounds). Second,
they have no sense of political or religious identity
and no political demands. Their allegiance is to their
quartier and their gang. Their main demand, so far as
can be established, is to be left alone by police and
the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sark-ozy, to continue
with their life of low-level violence and drugs
trading. The wider significance is therefore not
politico-religious but a warning of what happens if
problems of deprivation and violence are allowed to
fester.

Who are the rioters? How valid are their grievances?

Judging by the youths who have been arrested, and by
comments by social workers and "big brothers" - older,
more responsible young people - the rioters are almost
exclusively kids involved in permanent gang violence,
theft and drug dealing.

They are mostly aged 17-22 with some as young as 10.
Depending on the district, maybe half of the rioters
may be second or third generation. French-born young
people of Arab descent. Maybe 30 or 40 per cent are
black, often from families which have migrated to
France more recently, legally or illegally. The
remainder are local French youngsters or from eastern
or southern European immigrant families.

Their immediate grievance is a threat by M. Sarkozy to
"clean out" the suburban gangs as "scum". Many
residents, of all races, in the banlieus would agree
with M. Sarkozy's sentiments, but not his inflammatory
language.

Such an approach fails to grapple with the question of
how these kids came to be so viciously asocial in the
first place. They tend to be from troubled or broken
homes or to be willing educational failures in the
often chaotic school system of the poor suburbs.

Are they as well organised as M. Sarkozy suggests?

M. Sarkozy has spoken darkly of organisation of the
riots by drugs overlords or Islamist radicals. His own
senior police officers, and social workers dismiss
this as luridly unrealistic. The gangs from different
areas detest, and fight, one another. But there is
evidence of an organised, and tactical, approach in
each district, with leaders directing groups by texts.

How dangerous is it to travel to Paris?

The burning of 32 cars in Paris on Saturday night was
a disturbing development. If the suburban rioters were
to invade Paris en masse, the potential for bloodshed
is obvious. Police believe this is unlikely. The gangs
like to operate on their own turf or invade the
territory of nearby gangs. They feel too exposed in
Paris. That, at least, is the theory.

Has the government made things worse? What could
authorities have done?

The biggest mistake was M. Sarkozy's threatening
language, which was taken by the gangs as a challenge.
Once two or three districts had had their night in the
firelight, and on the news, every other quartier
wanted to prove it could be just as violent. Now it is
the turn of marginalised kids in suburban towns to
have a go.

M. Sarkozy and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
seemed to use the crisis as another theatre for their
personal joust before the 2007 presidential election.
A more considered and apologetic approach after the
initial two deaths may have calmed tempers.

What should be done to stop this happening again?

M. de Villepin will announce next week a programme of
infastructure investment and job-creation schemes in
750 poor quartiers. This will be a start. It would
also help to end the undeclared colour bar in French
society which keeps brown and black faces off
mainstream television, out of politics and even some
public sector jobs. How many black and brown
railwaymen are there in France? Not many. The key
problem, however, is the failure of schools to grapple
with the descent of a larger section of suburban kids,
generation by generation, into asocial violence and
nihilism. Union influence means the youngest and least
experienced teachers often end up in the toughest
class-rooms.

When and how will the riots end?

In tears or in rain. It is a miracle no one has died
since the first two boys. A tragedy might bring the
kids to their senses. Or it might not. Police,
meanwhile, have been praying for a downpour, which has
usually ended outbreaks in the past. The forecast for
this week is fine and dry all over France.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

French Fatwa Prohibits Rioting, Urges Calm
Additional Reporting by Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/07/article01.shtml

PARIS, November 7, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News
Agencies) – French Muslim leaders on Sunday, November
6, issued a fatwa banning Muslims from joining the
unlawful riots raging across the country.

“It is not acceptable to express feelings of
desperation through damaging public properties and
carrying out arson,” read the religious edict issued
by the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF)’s
Fatwa Body.

“Under Islam, one cannot get one of his/her rights at
the expense of others,” stressed the fatwa, a copy of
which was obtained by IslamOnline.net.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chirac calls emergency meeting of top ministers
Jon Henley
Monday November 7, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1635941,00.html

President Jacques Chirac called an emergency meeting
of his top ministers last night as urban unrest
escalated further, touching the historic heart of
Paris for the first time.

Late last night rioters shot and injured 10 police
officers, two seriously, when security forces
confronted 200 stone-throwers. One officer was treated
in hospital for shotgun wounds to the throat, and
another for leg wounds. The gunmen were among crowds
attacking police in Grigny, south of Paris.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colour-blind policy has fed Muslim radicalism
From Charles Bremner in Paris

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1860457,00.html

THE biggest explosion of street violence in France
since the late 1960s has jolted the country into
confronting its failure to include its seven million
residents of Arab and African origin in the national
mainstream.

President Chirac and Dominique de Villepin, his Prime
Minister, seem at a loss, however, to propose anything
beyond the “republican” strategy that successive
governments of Left and Right have followed since the
first riots erupted on the immigrant estates 15 years
ago.

M de Villepin has promised a “major plan” to ease the
plight of the immigrant communities — the latest of
many over the past two decades — but, meeting
community leaders on Saturday, he made clear that this
would be more of the same: a mix of tax incentives for
business in “difficult districts” plus more money for
schools, police, other public services and better
counselling for jobseekers.

Under the ethnically colour-blind “French model”, the
immigrant workers who came in the 1950s and 1960s from
the former colonies in North and black Africa were to
be regarded as equal citizens. They and their
descendants would take advantage of the education
system and generous welfare state to assimilate with
“white” France. To promote the idea of assimilation,
neither the State nor any other body publishes
statistics on ethnic or national origin.

In practice, France turned its back on the minorities,
shunting them into suburban cités denying access to
the so-called ascenseur social (social elevator) that
was supposed to lift immigrants into the mainstream.
Unemployment on the estates is up to three times the
10 per cent national average. Laws supposed to promote
integration and oppose multiculturalism, such as the
ban on Muslim headwear in schools, have often
heightened resentment and the feeling of exclusion.
This has in turn fed the rise of Muslim radicalism,
which has now become the dominant creed of the young
in the French ghettos.

France has always deemed its model superior to the
Anglo-Saxon approach of diversity, which has enabled
ethnic minorities to retain strong bonds in cultural
and religious communities. France calls this
“comunitarism” and says that it promotes ghettos,
exclusion, poverty, race riots and religious extremism
that can ultimately lead to actions such as the London
bombings.

Three decades on from the big inflow of immigrants,
everyone now agrees that the French model has not
worked, although almost no one says that the American
and British approach has produced better results.
Some, such as Nicolas Sarkozy, the iconoclastic
Interior Minister who is at the centre of the present
crisis, have provoked outrage by saying that France
should copy aspects of the Anglo-American model,
starting with policies to favour the entry of ethnic
minorities into education and jobs. M de Villepin
slapped down M Sarkozy last week for promoting
dangerous “un-French” ideas that could encourage the
Muslim extremism that has recently infected Britain.

Mainstream Muslim leaders who have been consulted by
the Government have all hammered home the message.
“The young have the feeling that they have been
abandoned, left at the roadside,” Larbi Kechat, rector
of the rue de Tanger mosque in Paris, said.

Some change in the French approach has been appearing
over the past couple of years. Proposals are afoot to
take a firmer hand with the racial discrimination that
is still widely applied with impunity to jobseekers.

Paradoxically, the figure most associated with a
radical new approach is M Sarkozy. His proposals for a
break with the French model have received little
welcome. Both Left and Right see them as a breach of
France’s republican tradition and believe that
affirmative action would play into the hands of the
anti-immigrant Far Right, led by Jean-Marie Le Pen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#

Violence sweeps France in 10th night of riots

Alex Duval Smith in Paris and David Smith
Sunday November 6, 2005
The Observer

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1635454,00.html

France was reeling from a 10th night of violence
yesterday as rioting swept from the suburbs of Paris
to become a nationwide crisis.

In towns and cities across the country, youths armed
with gasoline bombs torched scores of vehicles,
nursery schools and other targets. Police said that at
least 607 vehicles were set alight, with more than
half outside the Paris region.

The Foreign Office yesterday warned British tourists
to 'exercise extreme care in the affected areas'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

La Haine: Schools, synagogues and hundreds of cars
burn. It's Paris 2005
The 1996 hit film showed a French capital in flames as
its underclass rioted. That was fiction. This time
it's for real. Hugh Schofield reports from the streets
of a suburb its inhabitants now call Baghdad-sur-Seine


http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article325153.ece

Published: 06 November 2005
France's worst urban violence since 1968 spread this
weekend, with riots in Toulouse, Marseille, Lille and
Rouen after more than a week's unrest in the deprived
areas around Paris. On Friday there were attacks on
schools, a town hall and a synagogue, and more than
750 cars were burnt out. At least 250 people were
arrested.

At Aulnay-sous-Bois, one of the worst-affected towns
in the eastern Paris suburbs, a group of five or six
adolescents in baseball caps and hooded sweatshirts
lounged last week in the parking lot of the notorious
estate known as the City of the 3,000.

Across the dual carriageway that fronts the grim
complex, a Renault garage lay in black cinders. Police
and passers-by took photographs with their mobile
phones. Elsewhere in the town, which is in most parts
a safe and genteel area not far from Charles de Gaulle
airport, burnt-out cars littered the pavement. A faint
smell mixing tear gas and smoke still lingered in the
air.

Among Abdelkarim and his friends, no one bothered to
deny that they were in the thick of it the night
before. "In the olden days this used to be a huge
forest. It was called the Forêt de Bondy. In those
days there used to be highwaymen who cut the throats
of the people in the carriages when they came through.
That's what we are - like pirates," laughed
Abdelkarim, 20.

His story was of poverty, discrimination, dreams of
his ancestral homeland of Morocco - and also of
anti-Semitism, regular consumption of hashish and a
swaggering satisfaction with his record of car theft,
prison and violence. "Look around you - there is
nothing here. We live four to a room. Our parents go
to work like zombies. But we have nothing. Even the
jobs around here go to people from elsewhere. This
parking lot is like our living room," he said.

The surroundings are indeed grim. The City of the
3,000 consists of a series of long low-rise buildings
made of the cheapest 1970s materials and painted an
unsavoury off-white. Patches of scrubby grass are
covered in rubbish and upturned wheelie bins.

"The police know us all by name. But when they come
they still beat down the door and order our parents to
lie on the ground. And when they ask where we are
from, we give our addresses, but they say: 'You're not
from here. You're from Africa,'" he said.

Though he modestly declined the appellation,
Abdelkarim is the local "caid" - the Arabic word means
leader - and he happily boasted of the €2,000 which he
makes from each car stolen. "You want prostitutes, DVD
players, jewellery? I can get anything you want," he
said.

One of his friends, Karim, aged 15, pulled back his
sleeves to reveal gold bracelets and then opened his
shirt to show a gold chain. Both nicked, he winked.
Another boy held a mobile phone. "Come and look," he
gestured, laughing. It was a short film of a Chechen
guerrilla cutting off the head of a Russian soldier.

These are the people who since 27 October have had the
French government running scared. Their grievances -
racism, poverty, lack of jobs - have changed little
since the first disturbances in the banlieues broke
out more than 15 years ago, later portrayed in the
1996 film La Haine (Hatred).

But where before protesters demanded financial aid and
change within the system, many of today's rioters seem
motivated more by a nihilistic rejection of all that
surrounds them. "I hate France, and the French hate
us," said Abdelkarim. "The wicked get punished. See
what happened after the Americans made war on Iraq?
Allah sent the hurricane. We are getting our revenge."

For President Jacques Chirac - and his uneasy cabinet
tandem of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy - this stark
aggression is proof of the colossal failure of past
policies to integrate France's five million-strong
Arab minority. Successive governments have invoked the
mantra of republican equality to block special
measures to favour immigrants, arguing that the
country's system of integration would work in time.

But in practice Arabs continue to suffer from
widespread discrimination in employment and housing.
Unofficial statistics - there are no official ones -
show that a hugely disproportionate number of young
Arab males are in prison or out of work. Alienation
has been fed by the almost total absence of Muslim or
African leaders in politics and the media. While
Britain has dozens of MPs and other public figures of
African or Asian origin, France has virtually none.

Meanwhile, there is the constant affront of being
obliged to live in the bleak out-of-town estates that
have become synonymous with deprivation and violence.
Even before this latest wave of rioting, some 28,000
cars were burnt in small-scale riots in France in the
first 10 months of the year. "From my window I can see
the Eiffel Tower," said Abdelkarim. "But Paris is
another world. This is Baghdad."

Britain has had a different experience of immigration.
Communities have been encouraged to maintain their
identities - anathema in France - and moved into the
inner parts of the main towns and cities. There is
poverty, but employment. In Birmingham two weeks ago
the riots were between two groups competing for space.
In France the target is different: wealth, authority,
the nation.

Benyahya Makhlouf, a 53-year-old taxi driver who
emigrated from Algeria 20 years ago, said that he
sympathises with the protesters. "They packed them
into these estates and it was like living in a cage.
Of course they were going to explode," he said. "The
children just give up."

But Mr Makhlouf also supported the hardline policing
ideas of Mr Sarkozy. "How am I supposed to inculcate
the work ethic in my son, when his friends have Nikes
given to them by their drug-dealer fathers? At least
Sarkozy wants to restore order."

The name evokes different emotions among the rioters.
"Ever since Sarko came into the government, life has
been merde," said Kamel, 16. "He treats us like dogs -
well, we'll show him how dogs can react." On this
point, he and the outspoken minister, who talks of
"cleaning out" the "racaille" (riff-raff), are
speaking the same language. He sees the riots as a
clear attempt by the caids to take back control, and
is determined to stop them.

PAST PROTESTS

From the storming of the Bastille, the image of Paris
has been inseparable from that of revolution.
Sanctified in the words of the 'Marseillaise', this
reverence for the revolutionary spirit has lent a
degree of legitimacy to violent protests.

1789 Mother of revolutions. The Paris mob - the
sans-culottes of legend - overthrow the monarchy.
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are guillotined

1830 The Bourbons, restored after Napoleon's defeat in
1815, are driven out as Paris rises up, sending
Charles X into exile

1848 Amid unrest across Europe, a small riot in Paris
causes the constitutional monarch Louis Philippe to
flee

1871 After France's defeat by Prussia on the
battlefield, riots break out again in Paris, giving
birth to the revolutionary but short-lived Paris
Commune

1968 Students pull up the Latin Quarter's cobblestones
in revolt against Charles de Gaulle's rule. Workers go
on strike too, weakening the government fatally
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

France's disaffected Muslim businessmen

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4405790.stm

France has been stunned by rioting in low-income
suburbs dominated by immigrants. But ghetto youths are
not the only French people of foreign origin to feel
sidelined.

As part of a series on French Muslims, Henri Astier
spoke to two businessmen about their perception of
prejudice against them.

Yazid Sabeg is a rarity among France's business elite.
He is North African. And those two facts, he believes,
are not unconnected.

"A lot of people don't like my face," says the
55-year-old industrialist.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Explosion in the suburbs

The riots now sweeping France are the product of years
of racism, poverty and police brutality

Naima Bouteldja
Monday November 7, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1635795,00.html

In late 1991, after violent riots between youths and
police scarred the suburbs of Lyon, Alain Touraine,
the French sociologist, predicted: "It will only be a
few years before we face the kind of massive urban
explosion the Americans have experienced." The 11
nights of consecutive violence following the deaths of
two young Muslim men of African descent in a Paris
suburb show that Touraine's dark vision of a
ghettoised, post-colonial France is now upon us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on France at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Europe/France/

Police investigate claim that officer threw Qur'an
into rubbish bin

· Chauffeur says he was insulted and manhandled
· Met says it is taking inquiry 'very seriously'

Vikram Dodd
Monday November 7, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1635975,00.html

An investigation is under way into claims by a British
Muslim man that a police officer desecrated his Qur'an
by throwing it into a rubbish bin while arresting him,
the Guardian has learned.

The incident is alleged to have happened last Monday
in south London and the man also alleges he was
assaulted while being detained at his home.

Muslims believe a copy of the Qur'an is sacred and
must be treated with respect at all times. Throwing it
in a bin could be viewed as a grave insult amounting
to desecration.

The allegation comes from Mohamed Osman, 29, who says
the officer said "fuck you and your Qur'an" before
grabbing the holy book and his prayer mat from him.
The constable is then alleged to have thrown them into
a nearby bin. Mr Osman works as a chauffeur and has
had many celebrity clients in the past, including the
Beckhams, Prince and Sir Elton John.
He has also served six weeks in jail for handling
stolen goods and has been arrested several times, but
charges were dropped. He said he had never before made
a complaint about the behaviour of officers.

Police were called to the south London home he shares
with his father and sister after a row about money. Mr
Osman said he believed his sister, a medical student,
was "out of line" over her spending and said he had
financially supported her in the past. He admits to
raising his voice and saying she deserved a smack for
her behaviour, but says he has never been and would
never be violent.

During the row his sister called the police, and when
they arrived at about 11pm Mr Osman was upstairs in
his room packing for a business trip to Leeds.

He says officers were at first civil and said he
should just leave for the night, which he agreed to
do.

He said officers had waited about 10 minutes while he
took his clothes and files to his car for his trip,
and on his third and final walk to his car one officer
became impatient and taunted him about his past
trouble with the police.

Mr Osman said he had been clutching his Qur'an and
prayer mat in his right hand when one officer said,
"You have had a few arrests, you don't want one more."

Mr Osman said he had pulled out a piece of paper to
write down the officer's number, and the constable
then said, "Fuck you and your Qur'an," before grabbing
the religious items in both his hands and throwing
them into a bin with an overarm action.

He claims that the officer then started restraining
him, banging him against a wall, forcing him to the
ground and stamping on him, with the officer saying,
"I won't leave marks." He was handcuffed before being
taken downstairs.

He further alleges the officer threatened to run him
down and again threatened him after Mr Osman said he
would make a formal complaint.

Mr Osman said: "He violated my human rights and my
beliefs - it's like he threw everything I believed in
in the bin."

Scotland Yard insiders say they recognise the
incident's potential to poison already fraught
relations with British Muslims.

The disciplinary investigation will be monitored by a
"Gold" group, which is established when the force
fears an incident or allegation threatens its
reputation with a particular community. Among its
members are senior police offices and a Muslim
representative.

According to Mr Osman's account, his father and sister
were downstairs during the incident and did not
witness it.

This means any disciplinary complaint will come down
to his word against that of the police, unless
forensic evidence somehow supports his account and
leads to questions about the testimony from officers.

Mr Osman has handed over the Qur'an for forensic tests
to officers from the Met's directorate of professional
standards, who are investigating his complaint.

Azad Ali, who chairs the Muslim Safety Forum, said:
"This is the first time I'm aware of where it is
alleged that the Qur'an has been desecrated by police
officers. If it is true it will have a huge impact.

"The police need to treat this investigation
professionally and thoroughly and be seen to be doing
so."

A Scotland Yard source said: "We are taking it very
seriously. The investigation is as much in the
interests of the officers as the complainant."

In an official statement the force confirmed that it
was investigating a complaint.

'My son is gone - my world is gone with him'

Dan McDougall reports from Srinagar, Kashmir, where a
new wave of terrorist violence has dashed hopes of
peace

Sunday November 6, 2005
The Observer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/kashmir/Story/0,2763,1635385,00.html

Their journeys were unconnected, but nevertheless
brought them together on a bright winter's morning in
the Kashmir Valley. They had, most likely, walked
along identical routes from their homes in a
ramshackle suburb of Srinagar, their feet scrunching
on the same vast carpet of shrivelled brown maple
leaves which has recently covered the city.

They didn't know each other. A mother shopping for her
family, a father walking to work, a 14-year-old boy
hurrying into town to meet friends in the build-up to
the end of Ramadan and the Muslim Eid al-Fitr
celebrations.

Their paths converged at an army roadblock at 10.24am
last Wednesday. Outside the checkpoint, two soldiers,
rifles slung over their shoulders, hugged themselves
against the cold. Sitting on a pile of sandbags,
another soldier clutched a hot mug of masala chai to
warm his hands.
The suicide bomb that took all their lives was later
described by the Islamic militant group
Jaish-e-Mohammed as a 'humble welcome gift' to Ghulam
Nabi Azad, Kashmir's incoming chief minister, who was
to be sworn into office later that day. The terrorist
group identified the driver of the bomb-laden vehicle
that struck the checkpoint as Mohammed Mubashir
Hussain, a 19-year-old from the Pakistani zone of
divided Kashmir.

In the wake of the 8 October earthquake that struck at
the heart of Kashmir, there was widespread optimism
among more liberal political commentators in New Delhi
and Islamabad that, as in post-tsunami Banda Aceh, a
peaceful solution could be found to a violent internal
conflict amid the rubble of a natural disaster.

They pointed out that the Pakistani President, Pervez
Musharraf, had accepted an unprecedented offer of
earthquake aid from India. IA Rehman, head of the
independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan,
described the acceptance as a major development in
relations between the two countries.

'When people are afflicted on such a grand scale,
rivals come to their senses. They realise they need to
work together,' he said. Rehman, like many others, had
failed to factor in the conflict in Kashmir which has
claimed 65,000 lives in the past decade and which the
CIA describes as the world's most dangerous
'low-intensity' conflict.

Signs of a return to serious unrest in this remote
Himalayan valley were there almost immediately after
the earthquake brought Pakistan-administered Kashmir
to its knees. As Indian military officials speculated
that the disaster had destroyed hundreds of militant
camps along its border with Pakistan, wiping out the
infrastructure of dozens of terror groups intent on
driving out the Indian military, the region's first
female suicide bomber struck at a checkpoint along the
highway linking Srinagar with the northern town of
Baramullah, killing two soldiers and injuring two
dozen others.

The significance of the landmark attack was quickly
forgotten. Forty-eight hours later, just 10 days after
the earthquake, Islamic militants scaled the high
security perimeter fence around the home of Ghulam
Nabi Lone, Indian-administered Kashmir's popular
education minister, and shot him through the head,
also killing one of his bodyguards.

Last Saturday the Kashmiri militants struck again,
detonating three massive bombs in busy market areas of
New Delhi, leaving 62 dead and hundreds injured.
Right-wing Indian political experts claimed the
bombings were a blunt message from Islamist guerrillas
in Pakistan that the Kashmir earthquake had not put
them out of commission.

Mourning has become second nature to the people of
Kashmir, where a deadly civil war has been fought
since an Islamic insurgency against Indian rule in the
region began in 1989.

In the courtyard of Ruqaya Akhter's modest two-storey
home in Srinagar's down-at-heel Kanipora suburb, a
colourful canvas tent, known locally as a saibaan, has
been erected. It is the festival of Eid al-Fitr, but
nobody here is celebrating the end of the traditional
Ramadan fast. Inside the intricately embroidered
marquee, more than two dozen women gather around
Ruqaya, beating their chests in traditional displays
of bereavement.

In the garden, perched awkwardly on borrowed plastic
stools, the men sit separately from their wives. Some
solemnly read verses from the Koran to themselves,
their lips moving in perfect synchronicity. Others
smoke cigarettes or sit warming their hands over
little clay pots of glowing embers. The scent of
burning woodfire hangs heavy on the breeze.

Ruqaya's husband, Iqbal Ahmded Dar, 32, is thought to
have been the first to die in the suicide bomb
strapped to Mohammed Mubashir Hussain's chest
detonated at the military checkpoint on Wednesday
morning.

'Everything is burning around me, why is he gone?'
cries Ruqaya as she clutches the hands of her two
young daughters, Irtica, 11, and Aurosa, seven.

'What will happen to us now? We have done everything
God has asked, we have fasted for a month and today is
supposed to be a celebration for our friends and
family. My husband was a hard-working man, a building
contractor, but we have no savings. I cannot provide
for my daughters. His death has left us with nothing.
What will the government do?'

Fighting against her own weakening voice, Ruqaya tells
me she heard the blast that took her husband's life.

'The girls were at school and I was washing clothes
when I heard the bomb. It was only three kilometres
away but it was loud. I never thought anything more
about it until my husband didn't come home after
evening prayers.'

Unable to identify her husband's body, which was torn
apart by the blast, Ruqaya was shown his charred
identity card as proof of his death. Outside the
house, children play in the dirt streets, ignoring the
patrolling paramilitaries and convoys of armoured
trucks that rumble past them.

Further along the road, the family of schoolboy Irshad
Ahmad are also in mourning - he was a victim of the
same attack. From the courtyard of the murdered
teenager's grey-brick home, the same, familiar, sound
of wailing floats out on to the streets as passers-by
huddle against the cold. This weekend should have been
a celebration for the 14-year-old, a time to sit in
Srinagar's bustling cafes enjoying sweets and the
occasional surreptitious cigarette with his friends to
mark the end of Ramadan.

'I heard the bomb go off a few kilometres away,' said
Irshad's father, Ghulam Rasool, 45, in the bare front
room of his home. 'I looked outside and saw mothers
rushing up and down the streets looking for their own
children but I knew Irshad had gone into town for some
new clothes to celebrate Eid. It was my older son Ajaz
who found out and he ran home to tell me.

'When I reached the hospital, my boy was dead. Only
his face was intact, most of his body was gone. They
asked me to identify him then they left me standing
there alone. I walked out of the hospital alone with
no answers.'

The cries of Irshad's mother, Mehmood, float into the
house from the courtyard in haunting cadences. Like a
mantra she calls to Allah: 'Where is my son? My whole
world is gone without him.' Friends and relatives hold
the mourning housewife, as if believing that if they
let go she will fall apart.

In Srinagar the first winter winds are blowing down
from the mountain ranges, filtering through the narrow
valleys from the mist-shrouded snowfields. The air
numbs your face and fingers as you walk on the
streets.

Here in Kanipora, hollow-faced men stand idle on every
street corner, hands tucked into the folds of their
traditional pherans, the Kashmir woollen cloak. There
is little work and most seek solace in their religion.

Surrounded by friends and brothers, Abdul Salam is
praying in the patch of scrubland at the back of his
half-built three-storey home. As he returns inside, he
removes his prayer cap and quietly places a garish
assortment of plastic flowers next to a cracked frame
containing a faded image of his 45-year-old wife,
Manzoora.

'We cannot find any other photographs of her, only
this one. What if there are no more? Is this all I
have left?' he says quietly.

'We have four grown-up children. People ask me if I'm
angry at the bomber, but how can I blame him? How can
I blame a man I do not know? He has his own reasons, I
just don't understand why my wife has been taken from
me.'

The thread that binds the three families affected by
Wednesday's suicide bombing is clear, a desperate
desire for 'aman', or peace.

Indian officials blame Pakistan for the continuing
violence in Kashmir, even since the earthquake.
Islamabad claims it is simply an 'indigenous struggle
against Indian military oppression'.

What the Delhi bombings show is the continuing
emergence of new, more hard-line, Kashmiri militant
groups. A little-known group called Inquilab
(Revolution) said it was behind the blasts which
killed 61 and injured 188. Last week, the Indian Prime
Minister, Manmohan Singh, indicated the possibility of
Pakistani involvement in the New Delhi attacks and
called on Islamabad to do more to fight terrorism.

According to some political analysts, government
mandarins in New Delhi have become victims of their
own propaganda.

'In the wake of the earthquake the Indian military
were very quick to claim that the disaster had wiped
out the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistani
Kashmir,' said Kapil Kak, director of India's
independent Institute of Strategic and International
Studies.

'These recent attacks are a calling card from Islamic
terrorists in Kashmir that, while the earthquake may
have killed 61,000, they are very much in business,'

For women like Ruqaya Akhter, the consequences of
terrorism are brutally simple: faced with a winter
without financial, emotional or physical support from
her husband, she is now unlikely to find the peace she
wants.

For her and her daughters, the future can hold only
abject poverty and further insecurity.

Outing Secret Jails
By DOUGLAS WALLER
Posted Monday, Nov. 07, 2005

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1126713,00.html

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the CIA was eager to whisk
captured terrorists off to secret locations around the
world where its operatives could interrogate them out
of the reach of the U.S. legal system and human-rights
organizations. But four years later, with about three
dozen of al-Qaeda's most hard-core agents in CIA
custody, America's new spy chief seems less
enthusiastic about the leeway his operatives have had.
At a secret briefing for U.S. Senators on Oct. 26, a
senior U.S. intelligence official tells TIME, Director
of National Intelligence John Negroponte was pointedly
neutral on Vice President Dick Cheney's Capitol Hill
lobbying to have the CIA exempted from legislation
banning mistreatment of detainees. "It's above my pay
grade," the spymaster said, then artfully dodged
another question about whether the harsher
interrogation tactics Cheney wants the agency to be
free to use actually produce valuable intelligence.

Negroponte's surprising hedge comes at a time when the
once dominant Bush hard-liners, including the Vice
President, appear increasingly isolated within the
Administration. An intense internal debate has erupted
over whether new Pentagon procedures for handling
captured terrorists should adopt the Geneva
Conventions' ban on cruel and degrading treatment. A
senior Administration source says National Security
Adviser Stephen Hadley, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and top military officers favor including the
Geneva standards, while Cheney has managed to round up
only a few senior Pentagon civilians, such as Under
Secretary of Defense Stephen Cambone, to back his
opposition to them. Adding to the pressure is the
growing international controversy over what amounts to
a clandestine CIA prison system. The Washington Post
reported last week that the agency at different times
has had top al-Qaeda detainees stashed at "black
sites" in several East European countries, as well as
in Thailand, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Counterterrorism sources have confirmed to TIME that
the CIA has had covert detention centers in Thailand
and Guantánamo Bay, which are no longer operating, and
that the agency continues to run similar facilities in
Afghanistan and Eastern Europe. In Afghanistan, the
agency's prison was once located in an old brick
factory near Kabul's airport, nicknamed the Salt Pit
by the CIA and the Darkness Prison by inmates.
Detainees who have escaped or been released from the
prison claim they were kept in cold, dark cells
underground, fed once every three days and sometimes
chained wet and naked to the wall overnight.

At the request of senior U.S. officials, the Post
didn't identify the East European sites. But Human
Rights Watch, which has tracked flight routes for a
Boeing 737 the CIA has used to transport prisoners,
says agency detention facilities have probably been in
Poland and Romania, staunch U.S. allies in the Iraq
war. Officials from both countries have denied holding
CIA prisoners, as have Thai authorities.

The CIA refuses to comment, but Hadley insists that
prisoners being held secretly are treated humanely:
"The United States will not torture." Friso Roscam
Abbing, spokesman for the European Union, to which
Poland belongs and Romania aspires, says secret
prisons would be illegal under E.U. rules requiring
member states to abide by such legal conventions as
due process and the right of prisoners to a lawyer.
But Abbing added that the E.U. would accept the
denials of Poland and Romania "unless we see hard
evidence to the contrary."

So far the CIA has been able to escape the kind of
congressional scrutiny the Pentagon endured after the
Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. Only a few senior
members of the congressional intelligence committees
are briefed on the CIA's secret prisons, and the
agency refuses to publicly disclose its interrogation
procedures. But the agency may not be able to enjoy
such latitude in the future. Cheney is meeting fierce
resistance from Senator John McCain, a former Vietnam
POW, in the Vice President's campaign to persuade
Congress to exclude the CIA from a measure that McCain
easily got through the Senate prohibiting cruel and
degrading treatment of any prisoner in U.S. custody.
And Negroponte's muteness on Cheney's push to exempt
the CIA seemed to signal a reply of "thanks, but no
thanks" from the chief of the spies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pssst ... Nobody Loves a Torturer
Ask any American soldier in Iraq when the general
population really turned against the United States and
he will say, "Abu Ghraib."

By Fareed Zakaria
Newsweek

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9939154/site/newsweek/

Nov. 14, 2005 issue - As President Bush's approval
ratings sink at home, the glee across the globe rises.
He remains the most unpopular political figure in the
world, and newspapers from Europe to Asia are
delighting in his troubles. Last week's protests in
Mar del Plata were happily replayed on televisions
everywhere. So what is the leader of the free world to
do? Well, I have a suggestion that might improve
Bush's image abroad—and it doesn't require that Karen
Hughes go anywhere. It would actually help Bush at
home as well, and it has the additional virtue of
being the right thing to do. It's simple: end the
administration's disastrous experiment with officially
sanctioned torture.

We now have plenty of documents and testimonials that
make plain that the administration created an
atmosphere in which the interrogation of prisoners
could lapse into torture. After 9/11, high up in the
administration—at the White House and the
Pentagon—officials and lawyers were asked to find ways
to bend and stretch the traditional rules of war.
Donald Rumsfeld publicly declared that the Geneva
Conventions did not apply to the war against Al Qaeda.
Whether or not these legalisms were correct, their
most important effect was the message they sent down
the chain of command: "Push the envelope."

For example, when Rumsfeld read a report documenting
some of the new interrogation procedures at Guantanamo
in November 2002, including having detainees stand for
four hours, he scribbled a note in the margin, "Why is
standing limited to 4 hours?... I stand for 8 hours a
day." (Rumsfeld probably does not stand for eight
hours, scarcely clad and barely fed, with bright
lights, prison guards and attack dogs trained on him.)
The signal Rumsfeld was sending was clear: "Get
tougher." No one at the top was outlining what
soldiers should not do, which lines they should not
cross, which laws they should remember to adhere to
strictly. The Pentagon's own report after
investigating Abu Ghraib, by Gen. George Fay, speaks
of "doctrinal confusion ... a lack of doctrine ...
[and] systemic failures" as the causes for the
incidents of torture. In a 2 million-person
bureaucracy, such calculated ambiguities will
inevitably lead to something like Abu Ghraib.

And the incidents clearly go well beyond Abu Ghraib.
During the past few months, declassified documents and
testimony from Army officers make abundantly clear
that torture and abuse of prisoners is something that
has become quite widespread since 9/11. The most
recent evidence comes from autopsies of 44 prisoners
who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan in U.S. custody.
Most died under circumstances that suggest torture.
The reports use words like "strangulation,"
"asphyxiation" and "blunt force injuries." Even the
"natural" deaths were caused by "Arteriosclerotic
Cardiovascular disease"—in other words, sudden heart
attacks.

Sen. John McCain has proposed making absolutely clear
in law that the United States does not permit the
torture of prisoners—returning America to the position
it had taken for five decades. McCain's amendment,
endorsed by Colin Powell, passed the Senate last month
by 90 to 9 in a stunning rebuke of administration
policy. But Republicans in the House are trying to
kill it. Vice President Cheney is making great
exertions to gut it with loopholes. The White House
has threatened to veto the entire defense budget, to
which McCain's proposal was originally attached,
unless his ban is removed. White House spokesmen don't
answer questions about the bill plainly, and Cheney
simply refuses to explain his views at all. (As the
writer Andrew Sullivan has noted, someone needs to
remind the vice president that he is an elected and
accountable public servant, not a monarch.)

This is a case of more than just bad public relations.
Ask any soldier in Iraq when the general population
really turned against the United States and he will
say, "Abu Ghraib." A few months before the scandal
broke, Coalition Provisional Authority polls showed
Iraqi support for the occupation at 63 percent. A
month after Abu Ghraib, the number was 9 percent.
Polls showed that 71 percent of Iraqis were surprised
by the revelations. Most telling, 61 percent of Iraqis
polled believed that no one would be punished for the
torture at Abu Ghraib. Of the 29 percent who said they
believed someone would be punished, 52 percent said
that such punishment would extend only to "the little
people."

America washes its dirty linen in public. When
scandals such as this one hit, they do sully America's
image in the world. But what usually also gets
broadcast around the world is the vivid reality that
the United States forces accountability and punishes
wrongdoing, even at the highest levels. Initially,
people the world over thought Americans were crazy
during Watergate, but they came to respect a rule of
law so strong that even a president could not break
it. But today, what angers friends of America abroad
is not that abuses like those at Abu Ghraib happened.
Some lapses are probably an inevitable consequence of
war, terrorism and insurgencies. What angers them is
that no one beyond a few "little people" have been
punished, the system has not been overhauled, and even
now, after all that has happened, the White House is
spending time, effort and precious political capital
in a strange, stubborn and surely futile quest to
preserve the option to torture.

Write the author at comments@....
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The FBI's Secret Scrutiny
In Hunt for Terrorists, Bureau Examines Records of
Ordinary Americans

By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 6, 2005; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110501366.\
html

The FBI came calling in Windsor, Conn., this summer
with a document marked for delivery by hand. On
Matianuk Avenue, across from the tennis courts, two
special agents found their man. They gave George
Christian the letter, which warned him to tell no one,
ever, what it said.

Under the shield and stars of the FBI crest, the
letter directed Christian to surrender "all subscriber
information, billing information and access logs of
any person" who used a specific computer at a library
branch some distance away. Christian, who manages
digital records for three dozen Connecticut libraries,
said in an affidavit that he configures his system for
privacy. But the vendors of the software he operates
said their databases can reveal the Web sites that
visitors browse, the e-mail accounts they open and the
books they borrow.

Christian refused to hand over those records, and his
employer, Library Connection Inc., filed suit for the
right to protest the FBI demand in public. The
Washington Post established their identities -- still
under seal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd
Circuit -- by comparing unsealed portions of the file
with public records and information gleaned from
people who had no knowledge of the FBI demand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on American War Crimes at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/WarCrimes/American/

Uzbeks banish BBC after massacre reports
By Monica Whitlock
BBC News, London

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4407086.stm

BBC accounts of an uprising in the Uzbek town of
Andijan earlier this year - when government troops
opened fire on protesters - have resulted in the
closure of the BBC bureau in the capital, Tashkent.

There is a recording we made from Andijan so chilling
that people cannot speak while it is playing.

It is an open line to the mobile phone of one of the
demonstrators. You can hear a wall of automatic
gunfire, like siege fire, and among it people
muttering their last prayers: "Allah-u Akbar, Allah-u
Akbar - God is great."

As the shooting grows louder and louder, the voices
become thinner until, after more than an hour there is
a click, and silence.

The man with the phone was killed.

This recording and many, many others from Andijan are
the reason why we have been forced to leave
Uzbekistan.

Andijan carnage

There were TV films in which ordinary men and women
spoke out about their children being tortured in jail,
strung upside down, frozen in iced water.

There was the weeping 15-year-old who told us how
troops had ambushed him and his mother as they tried
to run away from the shooting across the border into
Kyrgyzstan.

There was the mother who risked her life to show us
the clothes of her dead son, a young baker who had
simply gone to watch the demonstration and never come
home.

He was shot more than 20 times. We counted the holes.

There was the gravedigger who told us how he and all
the gravediggers in Andijan had been forced to the
hills outside the city to make nameless pits for the
uncountable corpses wrapped in plastic and buried in
secret.

Each one of these stories flew in the face of the
government version: that what happened at Andijan was
an attempted coup by Islamic terrorists.

Eviction notice

The government denounced the BBC and blocked it. But
they could not stop it.

Someone, night after night, pushed printed pages from
the BBC News website under peoples' doors in Andijan.

With a soft, warning knock they disappeared.

In Tashkent, people who never thought twice about
politics sat huddled around radios in the evening,
craning to hear every story on the BBC.

Word spread, from street to street. And anger grew.
Anger, first about the killings, then anger about the
scale of what many saw as a huge, official lie.

So I should not have been surprised when the foreign
ministry summoned me and read out a prepared
statement, accusing me of complicity with terrorists.

They made it clear that I had to leave, quickly.

A day later, I was gone and the unravelling of the
bureau had begun.

So I should not have been surprised.

But I was.

Raw reporting

We had been in Uzbekistan for so long - the only
international broadcaster to set up there in the early
1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed and Uzbekistan
became a country.

In those days, we worked from a little house on Ulitsa
Ivleva (Ivleva Street), famous among the tiny band of
journalists and others who were drawn to Central Asia.


There were always guests, a lunch for anyone who
dropped in, sometimes even people camping in the
garden.

Communications were so poor that the whole office
sometimes took it in turns for hours raising a
dialling tone on the phone.

Long, hot nights were lost trying to send a fax,
waiting anxiously for acknowledgement that it got
through.

And all because in this fascinating, unknown land
every story was fresh and new. No press releases, no
press pack, just amazing, solitary journeys up
mountains and through deserts to report real news.

Home sweet home

As time wore on, the office expanded.

We reported in Uzbek, in Russian, in Persian, Kazakh
and Kyrgyz, as well as English.

We moved to a bigger place with phones that worked
nearly all the time except, of course, when it snowed.


But our spirit remained.

Lunch stayed central to the workings of BBC Tashkent.
Around our now huge kitchen table sat 10, 15 people or
more, chatting in an assortment of languages.

Who were they all?

We were not always sure. Someone's cousin, someone's
child, an Afghan poet, a musician who had been banned.


From time to time, one would leap up and chase out the
swallows who tried, with success, to nest in the
office year after year.

Visitors from the wider BBC were surprised by the
Tashkent office.

They were not sure what to make of the place but they
always succumbed to its grace and gentleness - our
drivers who would bargain them down not up, the
intense sunshine, the friendliness, the kindness.

Temporary measures

It is all over now.

Next spring the swallows will build their nests in
peace.

Our staff have scattered all over the world.

Ordinary people who have been with the bureau from the
first days have rolled up their lives into suitcases
bulging with knives and forks, quilts and pans.

They are starting their lives all over again.

But reporting is not just about bureaux. It is about
telling the stories that need to be told, whatever it
takes to do that.

We will continue to report on Uzbekistan and - as soon
as we can - we will be back in the country.

Governments, after all, do not last forever. Even
those so frightened of the truth that they get rid of
anyone who speaks it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More on Uzbekistan at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/CentralAsia/Uzbekistan/

'Unrest' in Iran Arabic province

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4410506.stm

Ethnic unrest has broken out in Iran's Arabic-speaking
province of Khuzestan, according to Iranian media.

One newspaper reported that around 200 protesters
gathered in the city of Ahvaz to shout anti-government
slogans.

Iranian news agency Mehr said protesters in
traditional Arabic dress threw bottles and rocks at
police before ringleaders were arrested.

Iran blamed bomb blasts last month and in June across
the region, which borders on Iraq, on UK agents.

'Foreign-instigated'

In April, days of rioting by Arabs in the oil-rich
province led to several deaths and hundreds of arrests
after protests at government plans to encourage more
ethnic Persian Iranians to move to the province.

The province is home to about two million Arabs.

Iran said the violence in the province was
foreign-instigated, adding that several people with
links to the UK had been arrested.

The unrest in April revealed a glimpse of deep ethnic
tensions, says the BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran.

She says the subject was so sensitive that the office
of the Arabic language television station Al Jazeera
was closed and has not yet been allowed to reopen.

The authorities are sensitive to reports of unrest in
Khuzestan, which contains most of Iran's oilfields.

We need bigger opposition, says Egypt's ruling party

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1637169,00.html

Egypt holds its first round of parliamentary elections
today in a closely watched test of the government's
self-proclaimed reform agenda. President Hosni Mubarak
has promised ambitious political reforms to open up
the one-party state he has ruled for 24 years. But
months of protest followed when it became clear the
proposed changes would be strictly limited.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interfaith bus tour lets religions learn from each
other

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/13102052.htm

Forty years ago, the Roman Catholic Church issued the
declaration "Nostra Aetate," on its relations with
non-Christian religions. When the Vatican II document
was issued on Oct. 28, 1965, it noted the "fullness of
religious life" and said the Church "rejects nothing
of what is holy and true" in the other religions. The
document's anniversary was discussed as part of an
interfaith bus tour Sunday that visited St. Luke
Catholic Church, Agudas Achim-Beth Israel synagogue in
Belleville and the Masjid Islamic Center in Swansea.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Israelis living near Gaza seek aid to relocate after
rocket fire

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1637234,00.html

Israelis living near the Gaza Strip are demanding
relocation packages similar to those offered to
settlers, claiming they are on the new frontline in
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the past month militants have fired more than 40
home-made rockets from Gaza at the Israeli towns of
Nahal Oz, Netiv Haasara, Yad Mordechai and Sderot.
Since 2000 five people have been killed by such
rockets, known as Qassams, but their main effect is
fear and uncertainty.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Australia foils 'catastrophic' terrorist chemical
attack

http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,12070,1636811,00.html

Australian authorities believe they have foiled a
major terrorist attack after arresting 17 people in
overnight raids on homes in the country's two biggest
cities, Sydney and Melbourne.
The arrests come less than a week after Prime Minister
John Howard said he had received intelligence about a
"terrorist threat" to Australia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washington elite bring Chalabi in from the cold

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1636593,00.html

Ahmed Chalabi comes in from the cold today, arriving
in Washington to meet senior Bush administration
officials for the first time in two years - despite
lingering allegations that the Iraqi politician
provided bogus pre-war intelligence, and a continuing
investigation into whether he passed US secrets to
Iran.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A victory over death and hate

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1864009,00.html

IN A LAND synonymous with violence and bloodshed, the
fate of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy stands out as an
extraordinary example of human compassion surmounting
the most bitter of ethnic divides.
Ahmad Khatib was shot dead last Thursday by an Israeli
soldier who mistook his toy gun for a real weapon.
Less than a week later his organs have given new life
to Jews and Arabs alike after his parents gave them to
Israeli hospitals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paris heat not from Muslims
November 8, 2005

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/paris-heat-not-from-muslims/2005/11/07/11312\
12007304.html?oneclick=true

The violence erupting in France reflects social, not
religious, grievance, reports James Button in Paris.

THEY wear hoods, baggy jeans and brand-name sneakers.
Their heroes are American rappers like 50 Cent. They
have begun to describe their assumed antagonists as
"white". They have a particular hatred for police and
when they go to fight them they say they're "dancing
with wolves".

They are the young men who started the riots that have
laid waste the outer suburbs of Paris, violence that
is spreading across France and has now reached the
heart of the nation's capital.

The riots, described as France's worst since May 1968,
have been linked to the threat of radical Islam. But
both descriptions are misleading. The violent unrest
is better compared to the riots that burnt down
African-American ghettos across the United States in
the 1960s.

"It is nothing to do with radical Islam or even
Muslims," says Olivier Roy, research director at the
French National Centre for Scientific Research and one
of the world's leading authorities on political Islam.

He says that although many rioters are from Muslim
backgrounds, "these guys are building a new idea of
themselves based on American street culture. It's a
youth riot — they are protesting against the fact that
they are supposed to be full French citizens and they
are not."

While black Americans in the 1960s objected to police
use of the word "boy", today's young French rioters
have a similar demand: they want police to stop
insulting them with use of the familiar form for you:
"tu".

"The police in France are very badly trained on these
issues," says Frenchman Jacques Reland, director of
the European Research Forum at London's Metropolitan
University. "They don't understand the culture of
these estates. They are very rough and often racist."

The riots began after two teenagers were electrocuted
after they fled a police identity check. An interim
report has said the police did not chase the boys to
their deaths.

Although unemployment in some suburban areas is as
high as 40 per cent, so far the riots have lacked a
political focus.

While the violence stayed out of the centre of Paris,
the average French person could ignore it. One could
walk boulevards at night and see the cafes full; six
stops away on a suburban train the streets were in
flames.

But on Saturday, the 10th night of the riots, youths
whom a police chief called "prepared, structured and
armed" came into the city centre and torched 51 cars,
several close to the Place de la Republique, the
square that is the symbolic heart of the nation.

As the riots spread they are taking on a life of their
own, as young men from each suburb and even each
high-rise block compete to be the toughest.

"We see what the others are up to on TV and we try to
match them," said Moussa, a teenager of Malian
background.

He said he and a dozen friends gathered every night to
watch TV reports in their public housing estate in the
western Paris suburb of Les Mureaux.

Dr Roy doesn't rule out the possibility of some of the
young men turning to radical Islam. Some militant
Muslims are using the riots as a recruiting tool,
while others are trying to play a mediating role.

But so far the differences between the young men and
the religious radicals is too great, says Dr Roy.

"Radical Islam asks these guys to give up their lives
dealing drugs and going to nightclubs. Many of these
guys don't want to do that. They want to have cars and
girls and smoke hashish."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

France declares state of emergency
By Anne Penketh in Paris
Published: 09 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article325744.ece

The French government has declared a 12-day state of
emergency for the first time in mainland France. This
includes imposing curfews ­ that came into force last
night ­ to curb riots that have erupted nightly in
suburbs across the country for almost two weeks.

Although the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy,
stressed after a special cabinet meeting that the
tough new powers would be used "parsimoniously" ,
there was widespread criticism , from both
centre-right politicians, and left-wing mayors who
threatened to flout the curfews declared by regional
officials.

Despite the curfews, just over 600 cars were burned in
unrest overnight in France, although that was about
half as many as on Monday night, said Claude Guerin,
M. Sarkozy's chief of staff. The number of protesters
detained is beleived to have risen from about 150 to
more than 200.

In a parallel move to the introduction of curfews, the
Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, announced a
range of new social policies aimed at balancing the
repressive measures against the mainly teenage
protesters who have clashed with police in riots that
have left at least one person dead in France's worst
unrest in decades as he acknowledged the impact of the
riots on the country.

"France is wounded," he said. "It cannot recognise
itself in its streets and devastated areas in these
outbursts of hatred and violence which destroy and
kill."

But M. de Villepin was criticised for a lack of
sensitivity in invoking a 1955 emergency law used
during the Algerian war of independence. Many of the
youths living in the troubled suburban estates are of
north African origin, and the Algerian war has been a
taboo subject for decades in France. Human rights
organisations and leading opposition politicians said
the reminder of the conflict at a time when France was
again confronting violence from its community of north
African origin was unwise.

Jack Lang, a former Socialist minister, noted that the
law had a particular connotation: "Was it necessary to
use this arsenal, which is linked to the colonial
wars, to apply it to neighbourhoods where the children
and grandchildren of the colonial period live?"

Since it was applied in Algeria, the emergency law has
only been used once more, in the French Pacific
territory of New Caledonia in 1985. It contains
provisions for two-month jail sentences or a fine for
those who breach the curfew, and gives police the
power to search houses.

M. Sarkozy explained that the state of emergency can
only be extended beyond 12 days if approved by
parliament. Amiens became the first city to enforce
the overnight curfew for youths aged under 16 last
night, and more are expected to follow. A mayor in the
Paris region had jumped the gun by announcing a curfew
in Le Raincy on Monday night, but it was not enforced
by police.

M. de Villepin announced the crackdown, including
police reinforcements, in a television interview on
Monday night in an attempt to halt the burning of
property by gangs of youths on the estates, which
followed the electrocution of two teenagers outside
Paris on 27 October.

But as he spoke, fresh rioting broke out in Toulouse
on the 12th consecutive night of rioting. Police said
that although the violence had diminished on Monday
night in the Paris region, 1,200 cars were burnt
across the country before dawn and 330 people had been
arrested.

M. de Villepin defended the policy during a debate in
the National Assembly, saying: "It is the moment of
truth for the republic."

Although the ruling UMP party hailed the curfews as
"an exceptional measure for an exceptional situation"
the centre-right mayor of Drancy, Jean-Christophe
Lagarde, said in his region outside Paris the
situation had already begun to ease without "extreme
measures".

M. Sarkozy's inflammatory comments about "hosing down"
estates to clean them of "scum" are widely seen as
having contributed to the riots. However, his
popularity does not appear to have suffered and
President Jacques Chirac is unlikely to fire M.
Sarkozy at this stage, to avoid creating the
impression of giving in to the rioters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'We hate France and France hates us'

· Rioters vent anger at government and police
· Curfews imposed under law used in Algerian war

Jon Henley in Sevran
Wednesday November 9, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1637213,00.html

They are gathered, as every night, on the edge of the
car park at the foot of the block. Far enough into the
shadows not to be easily seen; close enough to the
stairwell to leg it inside if the police come near.

Sylla, Sossa, Karim, Rachid, Mounir and Samir are the
names they give. The oldest is 21, the youngest 15.
One is an apprentice plumber; another is on work
experience as a cook at a cafe in nearby
Aulnay-sous-Bois; one is claiming benefit; two are
(sort of) at school. Three are "known to the police".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

French mayor declares curfew as rioting spreads

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article325453.ece

A curfew was in force last night in a riot-hit town
north of Paris as Dominique de Villepin, the Prime
Minister, warned that such a radical measure could
become widespread as part of a crackdown against
rioters across France.

Amid fears that the violence was spiralling out of
control, French authorities announced that a record
number of 1,408 cars had been set on fire across
France ­ including 426 in Paris ­ on the 11th
consecutive night of rioting on Sunday. The first
fatality of the riots was also reported. Jean-Jacques
Le Chenadec, 61, from the Paris suburb of Stains, had
been in a coma since being beaten by youths on Friday
as he and a companion were putting out a fire in a
rubbish bin outside their block of flats.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How Much More French Can I Be?"

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1126720,00.html

People like me--the descendants of immigrants, whether
Arab, black or Asian--are turning to our roots and
embracing our heritage, just the opposite of what our
parents did when they arrived. My grandparents, for
example, who came to France from Algeria to live, work
and build a better life, accepted the role of guest.
They did all they could not just to fit in but to
become invisible. Calling attention to themselves
usually meant trouble--endless ID and visa checks from
police, racist remarks and insults--so they avoided
that. They tried as much as possible to integrate, and
in doing so shut away their customs, language and
heritage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Founding principle called into question

Jon Henley in Paris
Tuesday November 8, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1636671,00.html

The government cannot admit it, but more and more
voices in France are being raised to say that the
country's worst urban unrest since the student
uprising of 1968 reflects the failure of a whole
model.

"The crisis is total," one leading sociologist, Michel
Wievorka, said yesterday. "This is a structural
problem that neither the right nor the left have dealt
with for 25 years. France cannot cope with the
shortcomings of its republican model. The whole system
needs to be rethought."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

De Villepin orders security crackdown

· PM brings in curfews and deploys 1,500 more police
· Suburbs promised funds and housing improvement

Jon Henley in Paris
Tuesday November 8, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1636656,00.html

France's 11 nights of urban violence claimed their
first death yesterday, as the prime minister,
Dominique de Villepin, went on primetime television to
announce stiff extra security measures and to pledge
more resources for the country's riot-torn housing
estates.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Protest threat follows claim of poll fraud in
Azerbaijan
By Andrew Osborn in Baku
Published: 08 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article325458.ece

Azerbaijan's pro-democracy opposition has revealed
plans to attempt a Ukraine-style orange revolution
tomorrow by bringing tens of thousands of protesters
on to the streets in a risky but peaceful bid to
overturn the results of allegedly rigged parliamentary
elections.

News of the planned demonstrations came as
international election monitors delivered a damning
indictment of Sunday's vote and almost-final results
showed that the Azadliq (Freedom) bloc of
pro-democracy parties had won just five of the 125
seats. The ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party and an array
of mainly pro-government independents looked to have
won most of the remainder. A reliable source in the
opposition told The Independent that the Azadliq bloc
was so shocked by the results and the scale of fraud
that it had decided to put what he called "a
contingency plan" into action.

"We're going for the revolutionary scenario," he said.
"If they had given us 30 seats we wouldn't be in this
situation. But five seats! What were they thinking? We
have bought orange tents from Turkey, set aside funds
to buy food and got hold of portable toilets. If we
can get 30,000 people on the streets the police will
find it hard to disperse us."

The authorities have authorised the opposition to hold
a three-hour rally in Baku, the capital, tomorrow. But
such rallies are not open-ended and any attempt to
install a permanent presence on Victory Square in the
capital, Baku, is likely to spark police violence.

Elin Suleymanov, a senior aide to President Ilham
Aliyev, whose family has ruled this oil-rich nation
for the majority of the past three decades, told The
Independent that the authorities would have no choice
but to clamp down on violent demonstrations: "If they
want to protest then fine but they must do so within
the law. If they do so outside the law the police will
be forced to act as they have in the past."

Demonstrations after the rigged 2003 presidential
elections were brutally suppressed and at least one
protester died.

President Aliyev went on state television to say that
his government would look at Western criticism and
take "serious measures", but that violations had
occurred in few districts.

The opposition has called for recounts in four-fifths
of the country's constituencies and its grievances
received international recognition yesterday after the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europeand
the Council of Europe said the poll failed to meet
international standards and was seriously flawed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Officials give ground after election fraud allegations


Nick Paton Walsh in Baku
Wednesday November 9, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1637181,00.html

Election officials in the Caspian state of Azerbaijan
yesterday annulled the results of Sunday's
parliamentary vote in one out of 125 districts and
ordered a recount in another, a symbolic concession to
US and EU criticism of the election after allegations
of fraud.
Protests are expected today in the capital Baku, the
opposition claiming it would muster 30,000 people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

US criticised for use of phosphorous in Fallujah raids

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 09 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article325757.ece

A leading campaign group has demanded an urgent
inquiry into a report that US troops indiscriminately
used a controversial incendiary weapon during the
battle for Fallujah. Photographic evidence gathered
from the aftermath of the battle suggests that women
and children were killed by horrific burns caused by
the white phosphorus shells dropped by US forces.

The Pentagon has always admitted it used phosphorus
during last year's assault on the city, which US
commanders said was an insurgent stronghold. But they
claimed they used the brightly burning shells "very
sparingly" and only to illuminate combat areas.

But the documentary Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre,
broadcast yesterday by the Italian state broadcaster,
RAI, suggested the shells were commonly used and
killed an unspecified number of civilians. Photographs
obtained by RAI from the Studies Centre of Human
Rights in Fallujah, show the bodies of dozens of
Fallujah residents whose skin has been dissolved or
caramelised by the effects of the phosphorus shells.
The use of incendiary weapons against civilian targets
is banned by treaty.

Last night Robert Musil, director of the group
Physicians for Social Responsibility, called for an
investigation. He told The Independent: "When there is
clear testimony that use of such weapons has done
this, it demands a full investigation. From Vietnam
onwards there has been a general condemnation of [the
use of white phosphorus] and concern about the
injuries and consequences."

The 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
bans the use of weapons such as napalm and white
phosphorus against civilian - but not military -
targets. The US did not sign the treaty and has
continued to use white phosphorus and an updated
version of napalm, called Mark 77 firebombs, which use
kerosene rather than petrol. A senior US commander
previously has confirmed that 510lb napalm bombs had
been used in Iraq and said that "the generals love
napalm. It has a big psychological effect."

John Pike, director of the Washington-based military
studies group GlobalSecurity.Org, said the smoke
caused by the bombs could confuse or blind the enemy
or mark a target. "If it hits your clothes it will
burn your clothes and if it hits your skin it will
just keep on burning," he said.

Experts said that, if not removed, white phosphorus -
known as Willy Pete - can burn to the bone. The fumes
from phosphorus cause severe eye irritation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The media are minimising US and British war crimes in
Iraq

The reporting of the Iraqi death toll - both in its
scale and account of who is doing the killing - is
profoundly dishonest

George Monbiot
Tuesday November 8, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1636606,00.html

We were told that the Iraqis don't count. Before the
invasion began, the head of US central command,
General Thomas Franks, boasted that "we don't do body
counts". His claim was repeated by Donald Rumsfeld in
November 2003 ("We don't do body counts on other
people") and the Pentagon last January ("The only
thing we keep track of is casualties for US troops and
civilians").
But it's not true. Almost every week the Pentagon
claims to have killed 50 or 70 or 100 insurgents in
its latest assault on the latest stronghold of the
ubiquitous monster Zarqawi. In May the chairman of the
joint chiefs of staff said that his soldiers had
killed 250 of Zarqawi's "closest lieutenants" (or so
500 of his best friends had told him). But last week,
the Pentagon did something new. Buried in its latest
security report to Congress is a bar chart labelled
"average daily casualties - Iraqi and coalition. 1 Jan
04-16 Sep 05". The claim that it kept no track of
Iraqi deaths was false.

The report does not explain what it means by casualty,
or if its figures represent all casualties, only
insurgents, or, as the foregoing paragraph appears to
hint, only civilians killed by insurgents. There is no
explanation of how the figures were gathered or
compiled. The only accompanying text consists of the
words "Source: MNC-I", which means Multi-National
Corps - Iraq. We'll just have to trust them.
What the chart shows is that these unexplained
casualties have more than doubled since the beginning
of the Pentagon's survey. From January to March 2004,
26 units of something or other were happening every
day, while in September 2005 the something or other
rose to 64. But whatever it is that's been rising, the
weird morality of this war dictates that it is
reported as good news. Journalists have been
multiplying the daily average of mystery units by the
number of days, discovering that the figure is lower
than previous estimates of Iraqi deaths, and using it
to cast doubts on them. As ever, the study in the line
of fire is the report published by the Lancet in
October last year.

It was a household survey - of 988 homes in 33
randomly selected districts - and it suggested, on the
basis of the mortality those households reported
before and after the invasion, that the risk of death
in Iraq had risen by a factor of 1.5; somewhere
between 8,000 and 194,000 extra people had died, with
the most probable figure being 98,000. Around half the
deaths, if Falluja was included, or 15% if it was not,
were caused by violence, and the majority of those by
attacks on the part of US forces.

In the US and the UK, the study was either ignored or
torn to bits. The media described it as "inflated",
"overstated", "politicised" and "out of proportion".
Just about every possible misunderstanding and
distortion of its statistics was published, of which
the most remarkable was the Observer's claim that:
"The report's authors admit it drew heavily on the
rebel stronghold of Falluja, which has been plagued by
fierce fighting. Strip out Falluja, as the study
itself acknowledged, and the mortality rate is reduced
dramatically." In fact, as they made clear on page
one, the authors had stripped out Falluja; their
estimate of 98,000 deaths would otherwise have been
much higher.

But the attacks in the press succeeded in sinking the
study. Now, whenever a newspaper or broadcaster
produces an estimate of civilian deaths, the Lancet
report is passed over in favour of lesser figures. For
the past three months, the editors and subscribers of
the website Medialens have been writing to papers and
broadcasters to try to find out why. The standard
response, exemplified by a letter from the BBC's
online news service last week, is that the study's
"technique of sampling and extrapolating from samples
has been criticised". That's true, and by the same
reasoning we could dismiss the fact that 6 million
people were killed in the Holocaust, on the grounds
that this figure has also been criticised, albeit by
skinheads. The issue is not whether the study has been
criticised, but whether the criticism is valid.

As Medialens has pointed out, it was the same lead
author, using the same techniques, who reported that
1.7 million people had died as a result of conflict in
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). That finding
has been cited by Tony Blair, Colin Powell and almost
every major newspaper on both sides of the Atlantic,
and none has challenged either the method or the
result. Using the Congo study as justification, the UN
security council called for all foreign armies to
leave the DRC and doubled the country's UN aid budget.

The other reason the press gives for burying the
Lancet study is that it is out of line with competing
estimates. Like Jack Straw, wriggling his way around
the figures in a written ministerial statement, they
compare it to the statistics compiled by the Iraqi
health ministry and the website Iraq Body Count.

In December 2003, Associated Press reported that
"Iraq's health ministry has ordered a halt to a count
of civilians killed during the war". According to the
head of the ministry's statistics department, both the
puppet government and the Coalition Provisional
Authority demanded that it be stopped. As Naomi Klein
has shown on these pages, when US soldiers stormed
Falluja (a year ago today), their first action was to
seize the general hospital and arrest the doctors. The
New York Times reported that "the hospital was
selected as an early target because the American
military believed that it was the source of rumours
about heavy casualties". After the coalition had used
these novel statistical methods to improve the
results, Blair told parliament that "figures from the
Iraqi ministry of health, which are a survey from the
hospitals there, are in our view the most accurate
survey there is".

Iraq Body Count, whose tally has reached
26,000-30,000, measures only civilian deaths which can
be unambiguously attributed to the invasion and which
have been reported by two independent news agencies.
As the compilers point out, "it is likely that many if
not most civilian casualties will go unreported by the
media ... our own total is certain to be an
underestimate of the true position, because of gaps in
reporting or recording". Of the seven mortality
reports surveyed by the Overseas Development
Institute, the estimate in the Lancet's paper was only
the third highest. It remains the most thorough study
published so far. Extraordinary as its numbers seem,
they are the most likely to be true.

And what of the idea that most of the violent deaths
in Iraq are caused by coalition troops? Well according
to the Houston Chronicle, even Blair's favourite data
source, the Iraqi health ministry, reports that twice
as many Iraqis - and most of them civilians - are
being killed by US and UK forces as by insurgents.
When the Pentagon claims that it has just killed 50 or
70 or 100 rebel fighters, we have no means of knowing
who those people really were. Everyone it blows to
pieces becomes a terrorist. In July Jack Keane, the
former vice chief of staff of the US army, claimed
that coalition troops had killed or captured more than
50,000 "insurgents" since the start of the rebellion.
Perhaps they were all Zarqawi's closest lieutenants.

We can expect the US and UK governments to seek to
minimise the extent of their war crimes. But it's time
the media stopped collaborating.

www.monbiot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/WarCrimes/American/

Diarrhoea affects quake victims

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4420232.stm

Hundreds of earthquake survivors living in camps in
Pakistani-administered Kashmir have acute diarrhoea,
World Health Organization officials say.
Doctors are investigating whether the outbreak has
been caused by cholera.

The UN has said 350,000 people urgently need shelter
before the onset of winter and medical aid is still to
reach many others living in remote areas.

Pakistan's official death toll is 73,000 although
donors and aid agencies have placed the figure much
higher.

"In one camp we visited yesterday there were 55 cases
of diarrhoea and there are so many spontaneous camps
that we believe there are hundreds of others," WHO
worker Rachel Levy told the AFP news agency in
Muzaffarabad.

Doctors in the city are trying to contain the outbreak
before it spreads further.

They are treating the most serious cases with
intravenous drips and making efforts to improve water
supplies and sanitation in the tent camps which have
sprung up around the city.

An estimated three million people are homeless in the
earthquake. UN officials have warned that the death
toll may rise further as winter approaches.

Body count

Confusion over the official figures emerged on Tuesday
after a finance ministry adviser, Iqbal Ahmed Khan,
put the death toll at 87,000.

He said his information came from officials from the
World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

The banks, working with local government and aid
agencies, said they found previously unlisted
casualties in areas which had been cut off by
landslides, Mr Khan said.

However, a spokesman for Pakistan's Federal Relief
Commission told the BBC News website that the official
toll was still just over 73,276.

In addition, India says nearly 1,400 people were
killed in Indian-administered Kashmir.

LoC opened

On Wednesday, a second crossing opened on the Line of
Control (LoC) that divides disputed Kashmir between
India and Pakistan.

But Kashmiri residents are still unable to cross the
LoC to help relatives and loved ones on the other
side.

India and Pakistan have struck a deal to open five
points along the heavily militarised LoC to help
earthquake victims, but procedural difficulties are
slowing things down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHO Fears Possible Cholera outbreak in Kashmir

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/09/article05.shtml

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, November 9, 2005
(IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Hundreds of
earthquake victims in Pakistani Kashmir have acute
diarrhea and doctors are investigating whether they
are cases of cholera, the World Health Organization
(WHO) warned Wednesday, November 9.

"In one camp we visited yesterday there were 55 cases
of diarrhea and there are so many spontaneous camps
that we believe there are hundreds of others," WHO
technical officer Rachel Lavy told Agence
France-Presse (AFP).

"Acute watery diarrhea fits very closely with the
definition of cholera. That is one of the things it
can be," Lavy said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Torture, Shaming Us All
By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, November 8, 2005; Page A19

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/07/AR2005110701296.\
html

PETRA, Jordan -- Somewhere north of here, Bassam and I
switched roles. He pulled the car over and I took over
the driving. The idea was to keep talking, to fight
the painful monotony of the desert road, and so we
talked of family -- Bassam has four children -- and of
the economic situation, his time in Kuwait and
finally, because I had been avoiding the subject, what
he thought of America and Americans. This is how Abu
Ghraib came up.

I did not mention the prison near Baghdad where Iraqi
prisoners were abused. Nor did I mention Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, where the United States keeps detainees --
forever and ever, it seems. These were places that
Bassam brought up. He was, it was plain to see,
confounded and disgusted by America.

You have to know something about Bassam. He is not
partial to Iraqis. For 30 years he lived in Kuwait. He
built an engineering business there -- something to do
with oil wells and power. He had employees and an
office and vehicles. When the Iraqis invaded in 1990,
they vandalized his business. They stole his cars.
They wrecked everything he built. Eventually he
returned to Jordan, where he had been born. He is now
a driver.

Bassam's English is pretty good. He had no trouble
distinguishing between Americans and their government.
The former he liked, the latter he did not. It all had
to do with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, these places of
abuse and alleged torture. Here his English started to
fail him. The degradation of Muslims -- not Iraqis,
mind you, but Muslims -- appalled him. He started to
say why, but he could not. I kept my eyes on the road
as he fumbled for the right words. "We are Muslims,"
he said haltingly. I looked over. He was visibly
upset.

So was I. I have traveled this region for years and
always I kept my head high as an American. There are
things we do not do. There are things we stand for. Go
ahead, hate us for supporting Israel or for some
similar reason, but if you were Bassam -- any Bassam
anywhere in the world -- you had to know that America
did not abuse prisoners and most especially did not
torture them. Other governments did that. Not us. The
culprits at Abu Ghraib were punished.

Now, though, we are witnessing a debate in Washington
that any American at one time would have thought
impossible: whether to allow "cruel, inhuman, or
degrading treatment or punishment of persons under
custody or control of the United States government."
The words are taken from the amendment introduced by
Sen. John McCain, which would prohibit such practices.
It has passed twice, the first time by 90 to 9, the
second by a voice vote. It has the support of a former
POW, McCain; a former Navy secretary, John Warner; a
Reserve military judge, Lindsey Graham -- and, outside
the Senate, former military men such as Colin Powell.
Nonetheless, the administration vows a veto.

The Bush administration's effort is being led by Vice
President Cheney, who -- give him credit -- is
indomitably shameless. Given the ridiculous things he
said in the run-up to the war, you'd have thought the
man would have sought the contemplative life and
retreated to some swell retirement community. But he
not only perseveres, he has become the unashamed
lobbyist for torture. He must have a reason.
Apparently it is this: Sometimes ya gotta play rough.

Maybe so. But all the time -- day in and day out --
the military and the CIA and all branches of
government are entitled to clear rules about what is
and is not allowed. The Abu Ghraib idiots sure didn't
seem to know the rules, and neither did anyone around
them. Moreover, as McCain and others keep saying, the
only way you can reasonably expect an enemy to be
decent to American POWs is if we are decent to them.

The practical advantages of banning torture are
persuasive -- and a needed reassertion of U.S.
principles. Merely doing so, however, is not likely to
convince people throughout the world that rhetoric is
now actual policy. After all, lots of countries
routinely torture prisoners; none that I know of
admits to the practice.

But if the day ever comes when George Bush shames us
all by vetoing a ban on "cruel, inhuman, or degrading
treatment," then I will, if I should be taking this
drive to Petra again, keep my eyes firmly on the road.
I could still look at Bassam. But I wouldn't want him
to look at me.

cohenr@...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inquiries into 'secret CIA detention centres'
Agencies
Wednesday November 9, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1637501,00.html

The Council of Europe, the continent's human rights
watchdog, has opened an inquiry into reports of secret
CIA detention centres in Romania and Poland, the
European commission said yesterday.
It follows a Washington Post report this month which
said the intelligence agency has been interrogating
al-Qaida captives in eastern Europe.

The CIA has also taken the first step toward a
criminal investigation of the leak, possibly of
classified information, on which the newspaper based
its report, a US official said yesterday. The agency
has sent a report to the US Justice Department.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pentagon Plans Tighter Control of Interrogation
By ERIC SCHMITT and TIM GOLDEN
Published: November 8, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/08/politics/08abuse.html

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 - The Pentagon has approved a new
policy directive governing interrogations as part of
an effort to tighten controls over the questioning of
terror suspects and other prisoners by American
soldiers.

The eight-page directive, which was signed without any
public announcement last Thursday by Acting Deputy
Defense Secretary Gordon R. England, will allow the
Army to issue a long-delayed field manual for
interrogators that is supposed to incorporate the
lessons gleaned from the prisoner-abuse scandals last
year.

The Army intends, for example, to ensure that
interrogation techniques are approved, up to the
highest levels in the Pentagon, that interrogators are
properly trained and that personnel in the field are
required to report any abuses, Army officials said.

Such changes have been under consideration since the
abuses at Abu Ghraib prison were disclosed in April
2004, and reflect continuing problems with abuses by
troops in Afghanistan and Iraq since then.

The Senate has approved a measure by Senator John
McCain, Republican of Arizona, i to ban abusive
treatment of prisoners in American custody.

The new interrogations directive is also part of a
wider effort by the Defense Department, which began
last December, to review the treatment of prisoners in
military custody.

A second directive, governing all aspects of prisoner
detentions, not just interrogation methods, has caused
sharp debate within the Bush administration. At issue
is whether the Pentagon's broad guidelines on
detention should include language from the Geneva
Conventions barring the use of "cruel," "humiliating"
and degrading treatment.

Some Pentagon officials said the interrogations
directive was issued now in part to mollify critics in
Congress, where new strictures on intelligence are
being debated and where an amendment to a military
spending bill by Mr. McCain would prohibit the use of
cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners.

A Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said that the
timing of the interrogations directive was unrelated
to the initiatives on Capitol Hill and that the
instruction consolidated and codified many procedures
that had been put in place as a result of a dozen
military investigations into prisoner abuse in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

"This directive provides the overarching Department of
Defense policy that mandates humane treatment of
detainees," Mr. Whitman said.

President Bush, in remarks in Panama City after
meeting with President Martín Torrijos of Panama,
sought to deflect recent reports of detainee
mistreatment and secret interrogation sites around the
world. "Our country is at war, and our government has
the obligation to protect the American people," Mr.
Bush said. "Anything we do to that end, in that
effort, any activity we conduct, is within the law. We
do not torture."

The new Directive 3115.09, "DoD Intelligence
Interrogations, Detainee Debriefings, and Tactical
Questioning," assigns responsibilities for
interrogation activities to senior Pentagon civilians
and commanders; establishes requirements for reporting
violations of the policy; and requires that Central
Intelligence Agency interrogators follow Pentagon
guidelines when questioning military prisoners.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CIA prisons leak 'to be probed'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4419960.stm

The US Central Intelligence Agency has taken the first
step toward a criminal inquiry into who told the media
that it runs secret jails abroad, reports say. The
investigation will examine possible leak of classified
information, unnamed officials are quoted as saying.
Last week the Washington Post newspaper alleged that
the CIA was running detention centres for terror
suspects in unnamed Eastern European countries.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prisoner Accounts Suggest Detention At Secret
Facilities
Rights Group Draws Link to the CIA

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 7, 2005; Page A11

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/06/AR2005110601049.\
html

Three Yemeni nationals who were arrested in late 2003
say they were transferred to U.S. custody and kept
isolated in at least four secret detention facilities
that Amnesty International officials believe could be
part of a covert CIA prison system.

The three detainees have not said they were physically
abused while in U.S. custody, but they describe being
whisked away in airplanes to unknown locations where
they were interrogated by Americans in civilian
clothes, according to an Amnesty International report.
At one prison, the detainees were guarded by people in
all-black "ninja" suits, who communicated using hand
gestures.

Muhammad Assad is one of three Yemeni men arrested in
2003. He believes he was arrested because of ties to a
charity that was "blacklisted" after Sept. 11. (By
Anne Fitzgerald For The Washington Post)

During their separate incarcerations, the detainees
were never visited by the International Committee of
the Red Cross, never had access to lawyers, were
unable to correspond with their families and had no
contact with the outside world, the report said. Their
families believed they were dead or were told that
they had gone to Iraq to fight the United States.

The accounts, taken in independent interviews by
Amnesty International researchers over the past few
months, appear to be consistent with reports of a
network of secret CIA detention facilities, according
to the report. The detainees could not determine where
they were because they were hooded during the flights,
but because of the travel time they assumed they were
in Europe or the Middle East, according to Amnesty
International.

"We've tried working out where they might have been,
but it's so subjective," said Anne FitzGerald, senior
adviser on research policy for Amnesty International,
who interviewed the detainees in two Yemeni prisons.
"It's clear they were in facilities that were designed
to hold many people, not just them. But they really
didn't know where they were."

The CIA declined to comment Friday.

In a telephone interview from London last week,
FitzGerald said she believes the detainees' stories
are credible because they were each detained
separately and were unable to communicate with one
another before the United States turned them over to
the Yemeni government in May. One of the detainees has
never met the other two and is now kept in a separate
facility, yet his story is consistent, she said.

Muhammad Assad was arrested in his home of Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania, on Dec. 26, 2003, for alleged
passport problems. A Yemeni native, Assad had lived in
Tanzania for 20 years.

After his arrest and initial questioning, Assad was
taken to a waiting airplane, and his family was told
that he was deported to Yemen, according to Amnesty
International. Yemeni authorities denied that Assad
had entered the country, and Tanzania later informed
Assad's father that he had been turned over to U.S.
officials.

Assad believes he was arrested because of his
connections to a charity that was "blacklisted" after
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks for allegedly
funding terrorism. The al Haramain Islamic Foundation,
a Saudi Arabian charity, had rented space in a
building Assad owned. It is the only topic Assad was
questioned about in his 15 months of incarceration.

He was first taken on a small airplane that flew for
about two to three hours, and was interrogated for two
weeks by Arabic-speaking people, according to the
report. He was then flown elsewhere, a flight that he
believes lasted about 11 hours, with a one-hour
stop-over. When he arrived, his surroundings were much
colder, and he was interrogated by white men who spoke
what he believed to be American English.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More info at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/WarCrimes/American/

Aussie Muslims Urge Gov't to Stop Random Arrests

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/09/article09.shtml

SYDNEY, November 9 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies)-
A day after the pre-dawn "terror arrests" within the
Australian Muslim minority, Islamic leaders made a
direct plea to the federal government on Wednesday,
November 9, to put a stop to the random arrests.

"My people are afraid that it is on occasions like
this the rednecks can create havoc," the Australian
Associated Press (AAP) quoted the president of the
Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC) as
telling reporters.

"I want the government to assure my community that
they will not allow the rednecks in this country to
exploit this situation and create disharmony in this
society," Ameer Ali said.

Ali had a meeting with Attorney General Philip Ruddock
at Parliament House on Wednesday to express these
concerns.

Ali, who is on the government's Islamic advisory body,
said violence against Muslims was on the rise before
the raids and he feared it could increase without
extra protection.

"A bunch of youngsters entered a Muslim house (in
Western Australia) and attacked a lady in the house
and later admitted to police that they did that
because they are Muslims," Ali said.

"The law enforcers (should) give some extra protection
to the places of worship, the Muslim schools and areas
where the Muslims are living in concentration so there
will be more police patrols taking place so these
elements can be kept out."

Seventeen people, including a Muslim imam, were
arrested and charged in pre-dawn raids in Sydney and
Melbourne, with police claiming that the swoops were
to foil a "large-scale terrorist attack".

The raids came nearly a week after Australia's
anti-terror laws were amended to give police greater
powers as Australian Muslims warned that the raids
will spark renewed anti-Muslim hatred as analysts said
home-grown militants in Australia and other countries
are driven by the Iraq occupation.

Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations director
Kuranda Seyit said the raids were the Muslim
communities' "worst nightmares come true".

"We work to create a positive climate (between
Muslims) and the non-Muslim community but that's been
put back seriously in the last couple of days," he
said.

Reassurance

The attorney general, following his meeting with Ali,
has promised Islamic leaders a briefing on new
anti-terror laws introduced to parliament last week,
but said the laws would go ahead despite concerns by
Muslim leaders that they may unfairly target Muslims.

"All of the measures that we are seeking to put in
place are balanced and appropriate for the
circumstances that we face," Ruddock said.

Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch US ally who has
sent Australian troops to US-led wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, also directly offered ‘reassurances’ to
Muslims, AAP said.

"Nothing that this government has done or will do is
directed against them as a group," he said.

"People who support terrorism are as much their
enemies as they are my or your enemies.

"There is nothing in our laws, nor will there be
anything in our laws that targets an individual group,
be it Islamic or otherwise," he said.

Muslims, estimated at 300,000, make up 1.5 percent of
Australia's population of 20 million.

Filmmaker's daughter dies in Jordan blasts

http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20051110-055902-38\
85r

AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- A daughter of a
prominent Syrian filmmaker was among those killed in
Wednesday's triple bomb attacks in Jordanian hotels,
officials said Thursday.

Medical and government officials confirmed that Rima
Akkad, 33, died of her injuries late Wednesday.

Her father, renown international filmmaker Mustafa
Akkad, was seriously injured in the neck, but was
reported in stable condition.

The two were at the Hyatt Hotel in Amman when a bomb
ripped through the lobby as two other explosions
rocked the nearby Radisson SAS Hotel and the 3-star
Days Inn Hotel.

Akkad directed the 1977 "The Message" on the life of
Prophet Mohammad, which starred Anthony Quinn and
Lauren Papas.

He is known for his film, "Omar al-Mukhtar, Lion of
the Desert," about a Libyan leader who fought the
Italian occupation of the north African Arab country.

He is also responsible for the horror Halloween
blockbuster movies.

Sources close to Akkad, 68, said he and his daughter
were in Jordan to attend a wedding celebration in the
Red Sea resort city of Aqaba on Friday.

They said his daughter had just arrived from Beirut to
meet him and were in the lobby when the explosion
detonated.

Officials said at least 57 people, mostly Jordanians,
were killed in the triple attack, and more than 100
others were injured.

Medical and government officials said foreign
casualties also included Iraqis, Palestinians,
Bahrainis, Saudis, Americans, Swiss, Germans,
Indonesians, Chinese, Koreans, and one Israeli Arab.

Security officials suspected al-Qaida affiliated
suicide attackers carried out the explosions, the
first of their kind in the high-security Arab kingdom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hollywood producer, daughter died in bombing

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10002363/

AMMAN, Jordan - Moustapha Akkad, the Syrian-born
producer of the “Halloween” horror films, died Friday
from wounds sustained in the triple hotel bombings in
Amman, a hospital official said. His 34-year-old
American daughter Rima Akkad Monla was also killed in
the attacks.

The filmmaker lived in Los Angeles and was 75,
according to his sister Leila who lives in Damascus,
Syria.

Akkad’s death pushed the toll from Wednesday’s attacks
in the Jordanian capital to at least 60, including
three suicide bombers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bombing Victims Mourned in D.C. Area
At Mosque, Muslims Console Men Whose Families Lost
Members at Wedding

By Tara Bahrampour
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 11, 2005; Page A20

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111002221.\
html

After thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of
their capital yesterday to protest hotel bombings that
killed 59 people there, Muslims gathered in Falls
Church last night to offer condolences to two local
families that lost at least 17 relatives in the
attacks.

As men filed in to the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center
for evening prayers, many embraced Allam Hwail and
Allam Al-Alami, Palestinian Jordanians who have known
each other for years. It wasn't until yesterday that
they realized that they both were related to the
families that had gathered Wednesday at the Radisson
SAS Hotel in Amman for a wedding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amman Blasts “Despicable”: IAMS
By Ayman El-Masry, IOL Correspondent

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/12/article04.shtml

BEIRUT , November 12, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The
International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS)
condemned on Saturday, November 12, the deadly attacks
in the Jordanian capital of Amman , with no less
denunciation to the "contemptible" practices of the
US-led occupation forces in Iraq .

"We categorically condemn the despicable blasts in
Amman as well as the horrifying practices of
occupation forces in Iraq as both target the
innocent," the Dublin-based association said in a
statement Friday, November 11, wrapping up the fourth
Governors of Board meeting in the Lebanese capital
Beirut.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quiet suburb remembers the hoodlum who is now
America's most wanted man in the Middle East

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article326633.ece

The residents of 13 Ramsi Street, in Zarqa were not
talking to foreign visitors yesterday.

This two-storey house in the rundown, deeply
conservative, Kassarat neighbourhood of Zarqa in
Jordan is the family home of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the
one-time local hoodlum turned born-again jihadist and
the most wanted man in the Middle East.

A disembodied voice which may have been that of
Zarqawi's sister-in-law, Um Sayel, said through the
intercom: "You are talking to a woman. Please don't
stay near our house. We have nothing to tell you." A
boy of perhaps nine years old, possibly the son of
Zarqawi's brother Mohammed, who a neighbour said was
still living in the house, silently emerged through
the front door to put the rubbish out. Otherwise there
was no sign of life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Husband and wife among bombers, claims al-Qaida

Conal Urquhart in Amman
Saturday November 12, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1640971,00.html

A husband and wife team blew themselves up at one of
the Jordanian hotels attacked on Wednesday, al-Qaida
said yesterday. In its third statement posted on the
internet, al-Qaida in Iraq said that it had sent four
Iraqis to Jordan to launch suicide attacks, including
the wife of one of the bombers.

Jordanian police believe they have found the bodies of
three male bombers but not a female. It is possible
that the woman was not carrying a bomb and her corpse
is one of the unidentified bodies at the Radisson
Hotel. The Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels were also
targeted in the attacks, which killed 57 and injured
93.

The announcement came as Jordanian police arrested 120
Jordanians and Iraqis for questioning and thousands of
Jordanians protested against the bombings after Friday
prayers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shocked Jordanians take to the streets in protest at
triple suicide bombing

Conal Urquhart in Amman
Friday November 11, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1640162,00.html

Crowds of Jordanians took to the streets in protest
yesterday as the country was left reeling by a triple
suicide bombing that targeted the capital's hotels,
killing 56 people.

Cars loaded with flag-waving youths blocked the
streets of the capital Amman, and thousands of
protesters called for death to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
the Jordanian-born militant whose group claimed
Wednesday night's attacks.

Last night, King Abdullah vowed to "pull from their
holes" the militants responsible for the carnage at
the Radisson, Grand Hyatt and Days Inn hotels.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Al-Qa'ida claim responsibility for Jordan hotel
bombings

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article326028.ece

Al-Qa'ida issued an internet claim of responsibility
for the three hotel bombings in the Jordanian capital
that killed up to 57 people and injured at least 115.

The al-Qa'ida claim, which could not be independently
verified, linked the deadly blasts to the war in Iraq,
calling Amman the "backyard garden" for US operations.
Jordan became a target because it was "a backyard
garden for the enemies of the religion, Jews and
crusaders...a filthy place for the traitors...and a
centre for prostitution."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Al-Qaida accused after suicide bombers attack hotels
in Jordan, killing at least 57

· Targets were popular with foreigners based in Iraq
· Blair and Bush offer help to ally in war on
terrorism

Conal Urquhart in Tel Aviv
Thursday November 10, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1639054,00.html

At least 57 people were killed and more than 100
injured when suicide bombers blew themselves up at
three hotels in Amman, the capital of Jordan, last
night.
The hotels were popular with foreigners and many of
the guests were involved in work in Iraq. The attacks
destroyed the fragile calm that Jordan has enjoyed
despite its proximity to Iraq and the support of its
ruler, King Abdullah, for American and British policy
in Iraq.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Resorts did not heed the warnings of Egypt attacks

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article326101.ece

After the bomb attacks on hotels in the luxury
Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, it was only a
matter of time as to when the softest of targets would
be blown up in Jordan.

Guests entering the main Egyptian hotels have to
negotiate concrete blocks at the entrance, taxi
drivers are questioned, and car boots checked. Armed
guards accompanied by sniffer dogs are on hand. But
the lesson does not seem to have been learned in
Jordan, a major draw for tourists from around the
world who visit the ancient city of Petra and the Dead
Sea and follow in the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia
at Wadi Ram.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Militants attack mosque in bid to reignite French
riots
By John Lichfield in Paris
Published: 12 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article326605.ece
Molotov cocktails were hurled at a mosque in southern
France last night in an apparent attempt by far-right
militants to reignite the smouldering embers of a
fortnight of urban riots.

Earlier, the Paris police of chief ordered a ban on
all large gatherings in the French capital from 10am
today, following a series of internet appeals to
young, multi-racial suburban rioters to invade the
centre of the city.

Although police say that they have no definite warning
of an assault on the capital, police reinforcements
have been assembled and "potentially troublesome"
gatherings banned as a precaution.

Both the attack on the mosque in Carpentras in the
Rhone valley - a known hot-bed of ultra-right activity
- and the internet calls for an attack on Paris run
contrary to a clear reduction in the level of violence
over the last four nights. It appears that there some
militant elements would like to see the violence
continue.

The French authorities also made it clear yesterday
that they would take a harsh line with violent police
officers. One policeman was placed in custody and four
others put under investigation following the alleged
assault on a 19-year-old alleged rioter in police
custody at la Courneuve near Paris onThursday. Police
unions reacted furiosly to the decision.

Yesterday afternoon, 300 residents of troubled suburbs
of Paris demonstrated against violence on the Champ de
Mars, close to the Eiffel Tower. The multi-racial
demonstrators, carrying white handkerchiefs or flags,
urged the gangs, who have left a trail of arson and
destruction in poor suburbs all over France in the
past fortnight, to bring their violence to an end.

However, the demonstrators, organised by a group
called Banlieue Respect (respect for the suburbs),
also urged the government and wealthier French
citizens to heed the warnings of the past two weeks.

The riots "express the frustrations of 30 years of
denial or recognition to [people] who are French by
law but treated in reality as second-class citizens,"
read a statement issued by the marchers.

Although the attack on the mosque in Carpentras,
during Friday prayers, caused no injuries, it was
clearly intended to provoke the rioters. Many, but by
no means all, of the youths who have rioted in the
past two weeks come from Muslim backgrounds.

The Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, described the
attack on the mosque as "discraceful and utterly
unacceptable". He sent a message of regret to the
Muslim community in Carpentras.

For the past three nights, there has been a marked
reduction in the level of rioting across France.
Poorer districts in the Lyons, Toulouse and Bordeaux
conurbations continued to be hit by arson attacks and
clashes between rioters and police last night.
However, the greater Paris area, where the riots began
more than two weeks ago, was once again relatively
calm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Experts: French rioters not tied to Islamic militants
The Associated Press

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/13127901.htm

France has been rocked by riots since Oct. 27, and
many of the youths throwing rocks and gasoline bombs
are the French-born children of immigrants from North
Africa and West Africa. The country is home to more
than 5 million Muslims, many living in impoverished
housing projects that have been epicenters of the
unrest.

QUESTION

Are Islamic militants groups leading the violence?

ANSWER

French authorities have been cautious about not
stigmatizing any groups in connection with the
violence. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said
“structured gangs” are behind the unrest, and has not
made any reference to extremist Islamic groups.
Officials say they have turned up no link between the
rioting and extremist religious groups.

“For the moment, we see no link at all with the
networks that we work on,” said Jean-Francois Ricard,
a French anti-terrorism judge. Any speculation about a
connection between Islamic terrorism and rioters would
be “premature,” he said.

QUESTION

Do Muslims have specific grievances?

ANSWER

Muslims were incensed when a police tear gas bomb
landed near a mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois, northeast of
Paris, four days after the rioting began. Villepin
said he understood that the incident provoked the
“emotion of the Muslims of France” and expressed his
regrets. But he said police did not target the mosque.

France has a severe shortage of mosques. Many Muslims
say they are humiliated by the need to pray in cramped
quarters in the basements of housing projects. Even in
Paris, some Muslims pray in trash-strewn streets on
Fridays because some mosques are so small.

For years, immigrants from North Africa and their
French-born children have complained about
discrimination, governmental neglect and a lack of
access to jobs in France.

QUESTION

Could Islamic radicals benefit from the violence?

ANSWER

Terrorism experts say that while radical Islamic
groups might seek to capitalize on simmering
discontent in some French communities, it could take
years.

Terrorism expert Guillaume Bigot, co-author of “The
Day That France Will Shake,” says youths tend to want
an economic fair shake and inclusion in society —
vastly different motivations from what drives Islamic
radicals.

“The Islamic radicals aren’t controlling these
children who are setting fire to cars — I can
guarantee you that,” Bigot said. But he said that
could change if any youths are killed by police
forces.

QUESTION

What is the government doing?

ANSWER

Villepin, in a speech to parliament Tuesday,
criticized discrimination in France that has alienated
many Muslims and laid out new economic incentives,
social funding and educational programs aimed at
disadvantaged communities.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has led France’s
recent campaign to expel radical Muslim prayers who
preach hatred, and more than three dozen have been
sent home since 2003. Tuesday, he urged regional
prefects to expel foreigners who are convicted of
crimes as part of the violence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Police ban Paris rallies amid fears of violence

Kim Willsher in Paris
Saturday November 12, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1640959,00.html

French police chiefs have banned demonstrations and
public rallies in Paris, fearing that rioters who have
rampaged through the suburbs plan to descend on the
capital.

The head of the Paris Préfecture, Pierre Mutz, said
text messages and blogs had been circulating for
several days calling for youths to make their way to
the city centre tonight for what he described as
"violent actions". Around 2,200 members of the police
and security forces were put on alert around Paris
yesterday, a bank holiday, after concerns that rioters
might disrupt the Armistice Day commemoration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

French Mosque Attacked, Suburbanites Urge Peace

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-11/12/article02.shtml

PARIS, November 12, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News
Agencies) – A mosque in the French city of Carpentras
in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region came under
Molotov cocktails attack on Friday, November 11,
during the weekly Friday prayer as dozens of
suburbanites took to the streets to protest at the
continued riots and call for peace.

The attack is "disgraceful and utterly unacceptable,"
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told the Muslim
community in the small town in a message of regret,
Britain's The Independent newspaper reported Saturday,
November 12.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With curfews in force and riots waning, has France
finally turned the corner?

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article326311.ece

Curfew notices were posted in the tower blocks
overlooking the Normandy town of Evreux yesterday as
the authorities took the first steps to punish the
heavy-handed tactics of French police dealing with the
riots.

Eight police officers were suspended after two of them
beat up a youth they had arrested in a suburb north of
Paris. The youth, who suffered head and foot injuries,
was arrested in La Courneuve on Monday.

The unrest appears to be on the wane after the
government declared a state of emergency, including
curfews, to quell almost two weeks of clashes between
police and rioters on the suburban estates.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chirac admits riots had 'exposed inequality'

Jon Henley in Paris
Friday November 11, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1640101,00.html

Jacques Chirac yesterday acknowledged that the urban
violence in France had exposed the "undeniable
problems" faced by many inhabitants of immigrant
communities, and said that they had to be responded to
quickly.

The French president said discrimination and
inequality were feeding the rebellion of young people
in deprived suburbs. "Whatever our origins, we are all
the children of the republic, and we can all expect
the same rights," he said.

In only his second public comment since rioting broke
out two weeks ago, President Chirac defended his use
of emergency measures but said the government had to
do more to ensure all French citizens were treated
equally. "We will have to draw all the consequences of
this crisis, once the time comes and order has been
restored, and with a lot of courage and lucidity. We
need to respond strongly and quickly to the undeniable
problems facing many inhabitants of the deprived
neighbourhoods."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sarkozy orders deportation of foreign rioters

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article326032.ece

France's Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, announced
that he has ordered the expulsion of all foreigners
convicted over two weeks of rioting.

Four cars were torched in Toulouse last night, but the
violence by gangs of youths in poor suburbs of French
cities subsided, as arrests, exhaustion and boredom
started to take their toll on the rioters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Kashmir earthquake: Failures on the road to
disaster
Refugees from far-flung mountain villages are on the
move in search of shelter before the first snowfalls.
The relief effort for the homeless is desperately
underfunded and disease has struck the camps. Justin
Huggler reports from the Neelum Valley
Published: 10 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article326039.ece

Time is running out for Yassir Batt. A month on from
the Kashmir earthquake, he still has no shelter to
sleep under. When night falls, he and his brothers
huddle together around a fire beside the ruins of
their home in the mountains above Muzaffarabad.

In a week or two, the snow will arrive here. Higher up
the valley, the locals predict that the next time it
rains, it will be as snow. Yassir is 13 years old. If
he does not have any shelter when the snow comes, he
will die.

Below in the city of Muzaffarabad, people are living
crammed together, five families to a single tent.
There just aren't enough tents to go around and not
enough room in them. Some of the men have to sleep
outside. The ground is covered with human faeces and
open sewers run through the refugee camps. There has
been a serious diarrhoea epidemic and, although aid
workers will only whisper it, there are growing fears
of a cholera outbreak.

These are the people the international community has
failed. With winter looming, the relief effort remains
desperately underfunded. Within weeks, the "second
massive wave of death" warned of by UN secretary
general Kofi Annan may begin.

The road to the remote Neelum valley, north of
Muzaffarabad, was finally opened yesterday, a month
after the earthquake. Before the bulldozers had even
finished clearing away the last of the rubble, the
people started coming down out of the hills. They
walked, some for more than 30 miles, to Muzaffarabad
to beg for food and tents, then they turned around and
set off back up into the hills, carrying whatever they
had been able to get with their bare hands.

It was a Biblical scene, the people pinched with
hunger and coated with dust. Many were clearly
exhausted, but such was their desperation they had to
go on. They carried their food and tents in anything
they could get their hands on, old suitcases and bits
of sack.

Aleem Usmani was carrying 10kg of flour in one hand
and a bag full of supplies in the other. He had a 21km
walk back to his village ahead of him, much of it up
steep hillsides. "When you are hungry enough, you can
carry it," he said. "No aid has come to my village, no
NGO has reached there." His village, Ghanjer, lies
high on the mountainside.

The charity World Vision says that aid still has not
reached 250,000 earthquake survivors in Pakistan.
Further up the valley, in the village of Khori, we
found Yassir beside the ruins of his home. The family
managed to get hold of one small tent, but it was only
big enough for the women and the youngest of the
children. Yassir has to sleep outside with the men.

Yassir and his brothers can already see the snow on
the mountain peaks in the distance. Soon it will be
here and they cannot stay outside. Yassir is one of
many waiting for the ceasefire line that divides
Pakistani- and Indian-held Kashmir to open. His father
was killed in the quake, and now he and his brothers
want to cross the ceasefire line to spend the winter
with their uncle. It is the only place they know they
will get shelter from the snow.

The family fled here from Indian-held Kashmir in the
1990s when fighting between Indian soldiers and
militants was at its heaviest. Now they want to flee
back from the prospect of winter without shelter.
India and Pakistan have agreed to open the ceasefire
line at five points but so far only one has opened.

The only organisations bringing aid up the Neelum
valley are Islamic militant groups that once fought
across the ceasefire line in Indian Kashmir. Yassir's
village has been adopted by the Hizbul Mujahedin
faction, who gave the family their tent.

Many of the other villagers have given up on waiting
for tents and resorted to building crude shelters.
Ghulam Hussein has made a basic shelter for his and
his brother's families with bits of aluminium roofing
rescued from the wreckage of his home for walls, and
thin plastic sheeting for a roof. Twenty people live
crammed inside, including Mr Hussein's one-year-old
child.

"We cannot live here when the snow comes," he says.
The plastic sheeting roof will not take the weight of
snow.

Scenes like this are being repeated in villages all
over Pakistani Kashmir and not just in places that
have been cut off by landslides. The village of Maira,
in the mountains above Bagh, has been accessible for
weeks, but its people are still sleeping under plastic
sheets stretched across simple wooden frames.

In the cities it is little better. The refugee camp at
the university campus in Muzaffarabad is a desperate,
squalid place. There are just 12 latrines for 3,000
people, and many have resorted to defecating in the
open, where children play.

At dusk the people's faces glow red in the lights of a
thousand cooking fires. Made with whatever fuel the
people can lay their hands on, including plastic
waste, they give off an acrid smoke that chokes and
stings the eyes.

Tariq Bashir lives here in a tent shared by three
families. At night 20 people are crammed inside. But
he is one of the lucky ones: he has a winterised tent
that can withstand the snow. Most of the tents here
cannot; many are not even waterproof.

At night armed gangs roam the camp and there have been
shootings and stabbings. This week four people were
wounded when a fight broke out between two rival
religious groups.

But that is the least of the camp's concerns. There
were 200 cases of acute diarrhoea in the camp this
week, including cases of dysentery. So far, none has
proved fatal, but a quarantine centre is being set up
for those affected to prevent the infection spreading,
and tests are being carried out to determine the cause
of the outbreak.

However, health workers' worst fear is an outbreak of
the cholera. "I don't know by the protection of which
God it is that we haven't had a fatality here until
now," said Traqi Habib Guddat, a German volunteer for
the NGO Humanity First, which has set up a field
hospital in the camp.

Governments have not yet made good their pledges

As relief organisations struggle to get help to the
needy, foreign governments have failed to match their
pledges with hard cash for the earthquake victims.

Pakistan's government says it has received just $9.5m
(£5.4) out of $2bn pledged by foreign donors for
earthquake relief.

The United Nations says it has received only $133m
towards its appeal for $550m, despite total offers of
more than $1.3bn. The organisation needs $42m to
maintain the Pakistan relief effort at current levels
and stop the situation deteriorating before winter
sets in.

The UN stresses that reconstruction is a long way off.
"We are still in the emergency life-saving phase,
still trying to reach people in inaccessible areas,
still trying to establish relief camps and get
supplies of food and medicine through before roads are
cut off by snow. This is unprecedented. In similar
disasters this life-saving phase is normally over
within a couple of weeks,'' said a spokeswomen.

The speed and size of the response of outside
countries appears small compared with the response to
the 26 December tsunami. A month after that, the UN
appeal was 80 per cent complete; the Pakistan appeal
is only 24 per cent complete a month after the quake.

Oxfam has calculated the amount of money contributed
by the main donor countries as a percentage of their
economies, arriving at a "fair share" figure.

By this measure, Sweden, with 170 per cent of its fair
share, tops the table. Britain is 12th at 24 per cent
and the US 16th at 6.9 per cent. However, the US tops
the list of individual donors. Spain, Portugal,
Greece, Finland and Austria have contributed nothing.

The UNsays the reasons for the slow reaction appear to
be a combination of factors. In many countries, it is
the end of the budget year. It has also been a year of
natural disasters, and aid for the tsunami, famine in
Africa and Hurricane Katrina has taken its toll on the
ability of some nations to help.

As the response to 'The Independent's' appeal has
shown, public contributions have been greater than
governments'. In Britain, £30m has been donated by the
public. Although this is much smaller than the £300m
offered after the tsunami (including £3m raised by
'Independent' readers), the Disasters Emergency
Committee says it is "very pleased with the response".

Terry Kirby

The Independent's Asia Quake Appeal

Independent readers have raised a massive £546,928 in
response to the appeal launched one month ago to help
the Kashmir earthquake victims.

The Asia Quake Appeal was launched on 12 October
through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which
is co-ordinating aid from 13 British charities,
including Oxfam and Save the Children. A spokeswoman
praised the generous response, but warned that "with
winter drawing in, there is still a desperate need for
more funding."

Ninety pounds will buy a winterised tent, while £42
buys a family survival kit that lasts for 20 days, and
£15 buys seven blankets. Readers can still donate via
The Independent website
(www.independent.co.uk/donate).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Life and loss in Kashmir

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4420388.stm

After burying his brother and sister who were killed
by the earthquake in Pakistan, Syed Adnan Ali Naqvi
left home to help the relief effort in the remotest
parts of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

He sent this account of his experiences to BBC
Urdu.com and has been sending regular updates to the
website ever since then.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Court backs Turkish headscarf ban

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4424776.stm

Turkey can ban Islamic headscarves in universities,
the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. The
court rejected an appeal by a Turkish woman who argued
that the state ban violated her right to an education
and discriminated against her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iran starts to lose faith in its hardline President

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article326035.ece

Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is facing a
crisis of public confidence after his nominee for oil
minister was forced to withdraw in the face of
accusations of corruption. The storm over the
appointment, the most important and lucrative in
Iran's cabinet, is the latest in a series of
controversies to engulf the President. His political
inexperience, unorthodox beliefs and trust in untested
religious conservatives is causing widespread concern
in Iran.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Photo exhibit of Muslim women causes stir

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=3617650

November 8, 2005 - A photo exhibit of Muslim women
that was displayed at Harper College in suburban
Palatine is causing quite a controversy. Some Muslim
students complain that the pictures portray them as
prisoners of their own religion. Many Muslim students
say since the display went up two weeks ago they have
been getting a lot of strange looks and odd questions
from their classmates. The professional photographer
who took the pictures says, in some ways, that's the
point. The exhibition begins as an artistic display of
Muslim women in traditional dress but quickly evolves
into a political statement. A woman covered from the
waist up in a burqa but wearing nothing from the waist
down. Another portrays a face imprisoned by the hajad,
or scarf many Muslim women wear to cover their heads.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accepting Diversity Is Hard but Necessary

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111001504.\
html

Multiculturalism is such an easy target. The word
itself has the whiff of politically correct
bureaucracy, as if it had been coined by committee.
The very concept lacks rigor, since it seems to
require deciding exactly what qualifies as a
"culture." And if you want to make fun of the whole
idea, all you need is Google and a little patience.
Eventually you'll find, say, an elementary school
where one Muslim kid enrolled and suddenly the
curriculum was changed to include a unit on Ramadan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Palestinians hope to harvest fruit of withdrawal - if
Israelis don't let it rot

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1640987,00.html

Mohammed Badel stroked the tomato plants and
pronounced that the Jewish settlers could not have
done better. Two months ago, Mr Badel was plucked from
retirement to transform thousands of acres of
greenhouses inherited on Israel's retreat from Gaza
into a model of Palestinian enterprise. The
agricultural engineer with decades of experience in
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the occupied territories
wondered if it could be done.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Journalist 'staged attack to gain asylum in west'

Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Friday November 11, 2005
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1639945,00.html

A journalist who helped expose the massacre of
protesters in Andijan in May has been accused by
Uzbekistan's state security services of staging an
attack on himself to gain asylum in the west.

Alexei Volosevich, whose website and news agency
reported the massacre in which at least 500 civilians
died, was attacked by five men near his home on
Wednesday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thousands join protest in Azerbaijan but flame of
revolution fails to ignite

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article326027.ece

Azerbaijan's pro-democracy movement brought some
15,000 noisy, orange-clad supporters on to the streets
yesterday in an attempt to kick-start a velvet
revolution, but the event did not generate the
momentum activists had hoped for. The rally was seen
as a litmus test of the opposition's support base and
followed flawed parliamentary elections last Sunday
that were heavily criticised by the US State
Department and the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interrogation broke UN pact, CIA report warned

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1638857,00.html

The CIA's inspector general warned last year that
interrogation procedures approved by the Bush
administration could violate the UN convention against
torture, it emerged yesterday.
The leaking of the inspector general's classified
report represented an embarrassment for President
George Bush, only a few days after he emphatically
declared: "We do not torture." It also comes at a
sensitive time when the vice-president, Dick Cheney,
is lobbying to have the CIA exempted from legislation
establishing stricter interrogation rules.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Muslim leaders blame Iraq war for 7 July bombings
By Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent
Published: 11 November 2005

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article326339.ece

Tony Blair's foreign policy has been blamed by Home
Office advisers for fuelling the extremism that led to
the London bomb blasts in July.

Senior Muslims appointed by Charles Clarke to
investigate the causes of the attacks, in which 52
commuters died, also warned that the Home Secretary's
anti-terror legislation could prove dangerously
counter-productive.

Ministers have always denied there was any link
between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the
radicalisation of young British Muslims. But they were
contradicted in the final report of seven working
parties of Muslim leaders set up after the London
attacks by the Home Office.

It concluded: "British foreign policy - especially in
the Middle East - cannot be left unconsidered as a
factor in the motivations of criminal radical
extremists. We believe it is a key contributory
factor."

The report added: "The Government should learn from
the impact of its foreign policies on its electors."

The working groups said "radical impulses" among the
Muslim community were often triggered by "perceptions
of injustices inherent in western foreign policy".

They said: "Criticism of some British foreign policies
should not be assumed to be disloyal. Peaceful
disagreement is a sign of a healthy democracy. Dissent
should not be conflated with 'terrorism', 'violence'
or deemed inimical to British values."

Their conclusions echoed a leaked Home Office/Foreign
Office memorandum in July which concluded that the
Iraq war was a key cause of young Muslims turning to
terrorism.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman acknowledged
that the Government had to do more to explain the
"fundamental point" of its policy in Iraq and
Afghanistan, which is to bring democracy to those
nations.

Hazel Blears, the Home Office minister, said: "They
are telling the Government some fairly challenging
things and not just telling the Government what they
think we wanted to hear."

The working parties' report also attacked the
controversial plan in the Terrorism Bill, which
completed its turbulent Commons passage yesterday,
over a new offence of "glorifying" terrorism.

"The proposal ... as currently formulated could lead
to a significant chill factor in the Muslim community
in expressing legitimate support for
self-determination struggles around the world," it
said.

Plans to give the police powers to close down mosques
which were being used by Islamic extremists could
deprive law-abiding communities of their place of
worship. And moves to ban radical Islamist
organisations, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and
al-Muhajiroun, could send them underground and make
them "more problematic in the future".

Mark Oaten, the Liberal Democrat home affairs
spokesman, said: "These findings confirm what the
Government's own leaked documents have shown - that
the war in Iraq has encouraged home-grown terrorism.
Proposals such as banning non-violent Muslim
organisations and closing down mosques will simply
make matters even worse."

The working groups recommended setting up a media unit
to counter "Islamophobic" media reporting, setting up
a British-Islam website to counter extremist Muslim
sites on the internet and a drive to teach English to
imams.

Scrap over civil service and looming battle with Lords
threaten Blair

The Lords

Tony Blair faces a fresh battle over planned
anti-terror laws as peers warned of continuing unrest
over key proposals despite the dramatic defeats
inflicted by MPs.

Opposition parties warned that the Government faced
yet more pressure over the Terrorism Bill when it
comes to the Upper House later this month.

The House of Lords is likely to accept the plan to
increase powers to hold suspects without charge for up
to 28 days, although peers are likely to call for
extra safeguards. But sources said peers were still
deeply concerned by plans for a new offence of
inciting and glorifying terrorism. Major defeats in
the Lords would increase pressure on Mr Blair, and
threaten to embarrass the Government when the
legislation returns to the Commons in the new year.

The Terrorism Bill completed its passage through the
Commons yesterday and will have its second reading in
the Lords on 21 November.

Yesterday Conservatives and Liberal Democrats warned
they were worried by plans to outlaw indirect
incitement to terrorist acts.

They warned that it was essential to force prosecutors
to prove intent. And they called for measures to
protect academics, libraries and journalists from
prosecution if they published material which might
subsequently aid extremists.

Ben Russell

Work and Pensions

A further blow to Tony Blair's authority has been
inflicted by a senior civil servant in a row over his
drive for cuts in benefits for the sick and disabled.

Sir Richard Mottram, Permanent Secretary at the
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has blocked the
appointment of a senior member of the No 10 Policy
Unit to spearhead the changes.

Gareth Davis was chosen by Mr Blair to become head of
policy at the DWP after the resignation of David
Blunkett as Secretary of State.

Mr Blair appointed John Hutton to replace Mr Blunkett
and promoted Mr Davis with clear orders to overcome
resistance in DWP to his radical proposals, which
include replacing part of the Incapacity Benefit with
vouchers for training.

One minister said: "Mottram said he was in charge of
civil servants in his own department and he was not
having it. It's now a question of who is running the
policy."

In Whitehall, the refusal by Sir Richard to rubber
stamp the appointment of Mr Davis is seen as a blow
against Mr Blair's autocratic style.

Government sources confirmed last night that Mr Davis
would remain at No 10. There are suspicions in Downing
Street that DWP chiefs oppose the radical changes
being demanded by Mr Blair.

Colin Brown
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Terror bill chilling for Muslims, Blair warned

Alan Travis and Patrick Wintour
Friday November 11, 2005
The Guardian

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,15935,1640202,00.html

The anti-terror bill will create a "significant chill
factor" in the Muslim community, censor those who
criticise British foreign policy and drive extremists
further underground, the government's advisers warned
yesterday.

The fears were voiced by the Muslim community working
groups set up by the Home Office to prevent the growth
of extremism after the July terror attacks. The
warning centres on the remaining provisions in the
proposed legislation - such as the ban on the
"glorification" of terrorist acts - that are likely to
become the next focus of parliamentary dissent after
Tony Blair's defeat on holding terrorist suspects for
90 days without charge.

The Muslim community's police and security working
group report makes clear that many believe the present
anti-terror regime is already excessive, and that the
measures risk provoking further radicalisation of
young British Muslims.
It says the proposal to make "inciting, justifying or
glorifying terrorism" a criminal offence "could lead
to a significant chill factor in the Muslim community
in expressing legitimate support for
self-determination struggles around the world". It
could also lead to a fear of using "legitimate
concepts and terminology" because of the anxiety of
being misunderstood by authorities ignorant of
Arabic/Islamic vocabulary. For instance, a speech on
jihad could easily be misunderstood as glorifying
terrorism, and the "extremely thin line" between
empathising with the Palestinian cause and justifying
the actions of suicide bombers could not be drawn with
any legal certainty.

It fears that a proposed Foreign Office database of
"foreign extremists" and a Home Office list of
extremist websites, bookshops and organisations of
concern will lead to a clampdown that will be seen as
"censorship of all those who might criticise British
foreign policy or call for political unity among
Muslims: 'This is disingenuous to say the least,
carrying the dual risk of radicalisation and driving
the extremists further underground'."

The reports published by the Home Office yesterday
said British foreign policy had been "a key
contributory factor" in driving extremist groups, and
perceptions of injustices inherent in western foreign
policy were triggering "radical impulses" among
British Muslims.

Ifath Nafwaz, the deputy convenor of the security and
policing working group, said: "There is huge concern
about the anti-terrorism legislation - that it is
excessive and is going to drive people underground. We
ask for a dialogue to be opened up with the
community."

The anti-terrorism minister, Hazel Blears, admitted
that the Muslim community was telling the government
"some fairly challenging things", but insisted that
the legislation was aimed at terrorists and not at the
Muslim community. Ministers this week strengthened the
test necessary to bring a prosecution for "glorifying
terrorism", with prosecutors now having to demonstrate
"reckless intent" to make a charge stick. It is
expected that this will prove the main battleground
when the terror bill goes to the Lords in 10 days'
time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More about London Bombings at:
http://www.islamawareness.net/Terrorist/London/