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Obama is projected to win NC tonight and that is great because it is just further proof of how Obama can carry the south. Since Bill there hasn't been a Dem that has been able to carry the south and because of that there hasn't been a Dem in office. With Obama we have the best chance of getting that southern vote and getting a Democrat into office for the next 8 years! Go Obama!
Author: Omar Sacirbey
Link
Lu Gronseth listens regularly to WWTC, a conservative talk-radio station in Minneapolis, and even advertises his mortgage-loan business on the station. But when he learned that a nationally syndicated radio show host had told WWTC listeners that Muslims should be deported and made rude comments about what they could do with their religion, Mr. Gronseth pulled his ads from the station.
So have at least two other Minnesota businesses, at the urging of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C., as have a handful of national companies, including OfficeMax, JCPenney, Wal-Mart, and AT&T. But the comments by host Michael Savage in October â�" and previous anti-Muslim speech â�" have not created the furor that knocked radio icon Don Imus off of MSNBC and CBS Radio after he denigrated a black women's basketball team. That leaves many Muslims-Americans â�" and non-Muslims like Mr. Gronseth â�" suspicious that Americans have a double standard when it comes to Islam. Read More »
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Lu Gronseth listens regularly to WWTC, a conservative talk-radio station in Minneapolis, and even advertises his mortgage-loan business on the station. But when he learned that a nationally syndicated radio show host had told WWTC listeners that Muslims should be deported and made rude comments about what they could do with their religion, Mr. Gronseth pulled his ads from the station.
So have at least two other Minnesota businesses, at the urging of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C., as have a handful of national companies, including OfficeMax, JCPenney, Wal-Mart, and AT&T. But the comments by host Michael Savage in October â�" and previous anti-Muslim speech â�" have not created the furor that knocked radio icon Don Imus off of MSNBC and CBS Radio after he denigrated a black women's basketball team. That leaves many Muslims-Americans â�" and non-Muslims like Mr. Gronseth â�" suspicious that Americans have a double standard when it comes to Islam. Read More »
Have you seen the news? President Bush is negotiating a deal with Iraq to keep our troops there indefinitely--it could include permanent bases and a massive military presence for years! Bush is trying to tie the hands of the next president.
Congress can stop him from setting up permanent bases in Iraq and block an indefinite occupation--but they need to hear a groundswell of pressure from us immediately and loudly so they act on this quickly.
I just signed a petition demanding that Congress stop the president from committing to a massive military presence in Iraq for decades. Can you join me?
Petition
Thanks!
Congress can stop him from setting up permanent bases in Iraq and block an indefinite occupation--but they need to hear a groundswell of pressure from us immediately and loudly so they act on this quickly.
I just signed a petition demanding that Congress stop the president from committing to a massive military presence in Iraq for decades. Can you join me?
Petition
Thanks!
Source: Oriental Harbor
Link
Oriental's Episcopal Church has 'un-invited' a Muslim group that was to speak at the church to quell a parishoner revolt against '"non-Christians" and keep peace in the parish.
"Concern was expressed that non-Christians should not be given a voice in our church," Senior Warden George Robinson wrote in the church's October newsletter, The Moorings. "Others felt that to gain understanding, particularly about 'the enemy' was important."
The Muslim group was invited after a local Methodist congregation had them speak and thought it added to understanding between faiths, according to the newsletter. The Muslim group was invited to St. Thomas Episcopal Church as part of its "One God" series of seminars.
But some members objected, and at a September meeting at the church where both sides presented their cases, the church's Rev. Jeremiah C. Day apparently stepped in to quell controversy, saying the group would be un-invited, based on the newsletter.
The Muslim group was the idea of the church's Christian Education Committee.
"So what was the result of all the discussion? Father Day suggested that ministers in the community might have a forum for the whole community. Pat Webster, of the Christian Education Committee �¢ï¿½" the group suggesting a Muslim speaker �¢ï¿½" suggested we could spend some time together trying to develop a tolerance for diversity," Webster wrote on Page 5 of the October newsletter.
"Consequently, the Muslim speaker is not coming to St. Thomas, as Father Day noted, to keep peace in the parish.
Link
Oriental's Episcopal Church has 'un-invited' a Muslim group that was to speak at the church to quell a parishoner revolt against '"non-Christians" and keep peace in the parish.
"Concern was expressed that non-Christians should not be given a voice in our church," Senior Warden George Robinson wrote in the church's October newsletter, The Moorings. "Others felt that to gain understanding, particularly about 'the enemy' was important."
The Muslim group was invited after a local Methodist congregation had them speak and thought it added to understanding between faiths, according to the newsletter. The Muslim group was invited to St. Thomas Episcopal Church as part of its "One God" series of seminars.
But some members objected, and at a September meeting at the church where both sides presented their cases, the church's Rev. Jeremiah C. Day apparently stepped in to quell controversy, saying the group would be un-invited, based on the newsletter.
The Muslim group was the idea of the church's Christian Education Committee.
"So what was the result of all the discussion? Father Day suggested that ministers in the community might have a forum for the whole community. Pat Webster, of the Christian Education Committee �¢ï¿½" the group suggesting a Muslim speaker �¢ï¿½" suggested we could spend some time together trying to develop a tolerance for diversity," Webster wrote on Page 5 of the October newsletter.
"Consequently, the Muslim speaker is not coming to St. Thomas, as Father Day noted, to keep peace in the parish.
Apartheid
By Adrianne Appel
Credit:Gitgat
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
BOSTON, Oct 28 (IPS) - South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu compared conditions in Palestine to those of South Africa under apartheid, and called on Israelis to try and change them, while speaking in Boston Saturday at historic Old South Church.
"We hope the occupation of the Palestinian territory by Israel will end," Tutu said.
"There is a cry of anguish from the depth of my heart, to my spiritual relatives. Please, please hear the call, the noble call of our scripture," Tutu said of Israelis.
"Don't be found fighting against this god, your god, our god, who hears the cry of the oppressed," Tutu said.
Tutu spoke with political activist and lecturer Noam Chomsky and others to a largely religious audience about "The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel," a conference sponsored by Friends of Sabeel North America, a Christian Palestinian group.
Israeli policy toward Palestine is an inflammatory topic in the U.S. and is not commonly discussed in large, public forums.
In Boston, complaints were lodged with Old South Church in the weeks prior to the event, in an effort to halt the conference. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting complained that Sabeel is "an anti-Zionist organisation that traffics in anti-Judaic themes," according to press reports.
Outside the church Saturday, Christians and Jews United for Israel demonstrated against Tutu and the conference.
"Sabeel is an organisation that seeks to demonise Israel. Tutu several years ago made anti-Semitic comments," May Long, president of the group, told IPS. Long did not hear Tutu's speech, she said.
Tutu was an inspirational leader in the South African fight against apartheid, which officially ended 13 years ago. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and today continues to speak around the globe for peace and justice, and to call for Palestinian rights.
The 76-year-old Tutu also appears to have won a battle against prostate cancer, which he was last treated for in 2000.
"Because of what I experienced in South Africa, I harbour hope for Israel and the Palestinian territories," said Tutu, who invoked passages from the Christian bible throughout his talk.
Tutu drew parallels between the apartheid of South Africa and occupied Palestine of today, including demolitions of Palestinian homes by the Israeli government and the inability of Palestinians to travel freely within and out of Palestine.
"I experienced a d������©j��� vu when I encountered a security checkpoint that Palestinians must negotiate every day and be demeaned, all their lives," Tutu said.
Tutu said that Palestinian homes are being bulldozed, and new, illegal homes for Israeli's built in their place.
"When I hear, 'that used to be my home,' it is painfully similar to the treatment in South Africa when coloureds had no rights," Tutu said.
Tutu is a pacifist and he said only non-violent means should be used to confront the oppression at play in Palestine.
"Palestinians ought to try themselves to restrain those who fire the rockets into Israeli territory," Tutu said.
Tutu said that while fighting apartheid in South Africa he drew inspiration from the Jewish struggle as the bible describes it.
"Spiritually I am of Hebrew decent. When apartheid oppression was at its most vicious, and all but knocked the stuffing out of those of us who opposed it, we turned to the Hebrew tradition of resistance," and the belief that good will triumph over evil, and that a day of freedom from oppression will come, he said.
"The well-to-do and powerful complain that we are mixing religion with politics. I've never heard the poor complain that 'Tutu, you are being too political,"' he said.
"I am not playing politics when it involves children who suffer," Tutu said. "A human rights violation is a human rights violation is a human rights violation, wherever it occurs."
Tutu recently bumped up against U.S. discomfort with discourse about Palestine, when a Minnesota university president yanked an invitation to Tutu that had been extended by a youth group.
Rev. Dennis Dease, president of the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul Minnesota, said he did not want Tutu to speak because the Nobel Laureate's position on Palestine was viewed by some as anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic.
Dease also fired Cris Toffolo as head of the university's peace and justice programme, who had supported the invitation to Tutu.
Dease apologised to Tutu three weeks ago.
Tutu said Saturday that he accepted Dease's "handsome apology", but that he will not consider speaking at the school until Toffolo is reinstated and her record cleared.
At the conference, Chomsky said the U.S. provides heavy financial support to Israel and has a profound influence on Israeli policies, including those toward Palestine and foreign trade.
"If the U.S. doesn't like what Israel is doing, it just kicks Israel in the face," Chomsky said. In 2005, Israel wanted to sell improved missiles to China. The Bush administration halted the sale, Chomsky said.
"It blocked them and refused to allow Israeli officials to come to the U.S. The U.S. demanded an apology from Israel. It dragged Israel through the mud," Chomsky said.
The U.S. began its close relationship with Israel after the Israeli victory in the 1967 "Six Day War" against Egypt, Syria and Jordan, Chomsky said
By Adrianne Appel
Credit:Gitgat
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
BOSTON, Oct 28 (IPS) - South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu compared conditions in Palestine to those of South Africa under apartheid, and called on Israelis to try and change them, while speaking in Boston Saturday at historic Old South Church.
"We hope the occupation of the Palestinian territory by Israel will end," Tutu said.
"There is a cry of anguish from the depth of my heart, to my spiritual relatives. Please, please hear the call, the noble call of our scripture," Tutu said of Israelis.
"Don't be found fighting against this god, your god, our god, who hears the cry of the oppressed," Tutu said.
Tutu spoke with political activist and lecturer Noam Chomsky and others to a largely religious audience about "The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel," a conference sponsored by Friends of Sabeel North America, a Christian Palestinian group.
Israeli policy toward Palestine is an inflammatory topic in the U.S. and is not commonly discussed in large, public forums.
In Boston, complaints were lodged with Old South Church in the weeks prior to the event, in an effort to halt the conference. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting complained that Sabeel is "an anti-Zionist organisation that traffics in anti-Judaic themes," according to press reports.
Outside the church Saturday, Christians and Jews United for Israel demonstrated against Tutu and the conference.
"Sabeel is an organisation that seeks to demonise Israel. Tutu several years ago made anti-Semitic comments," May Long, president of the group, told IPS. Long did not hear Tutu's speech, she said.
Tutu was an inspirational leader in the South African fight against apartheid, which officially ended 13 years ago. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and today continues to speak around the globe for peace and justice, and to call for Palestinian rights.
The 76-year-old Tutu also appears to have won a battle against prostate cancer, which he was last treated for in 2000.
"Because of what I experienced in South Africa, I harbour hope for Israel and the Palestinian territories," said Tutu, who invoked passages from the Christian bible throughout his talk.
Tutu drew parallels between the apartheid of South Africa and occupied Palestine of today, including demolitions of Palestinian homes by the Israeli government and the inability of Palestinians to travel freely within and out of Palestine.
"I experienced a d������©j��� vu when I encountered a security checkpoint that Palestinians must negotiate every day and be demeaned, all their lives," Tutu said.
Tutu said that Palestinian homes are being bulldozed, and new, illegal homes for Israeli's built in their place.
"When I hear, 'that used to be my home,' it is painfully similar to the treatment in South Africa when coloureds had no rights," Tutu said.
Tutu is a pacifist and he said only non-violent means should be used to confront the oppression at play in Palestine.
"Palestinians ought to try themselves to restrain those who fire the rockets into Israeli territory," Tutu said.
Tutu said that while fighting apartheid in South Africa he drew inspiration from the Jewish struggle as the bible describes it.
"Spiritually I am of Hebrew decent. When apartheid oppression was at its most vicious, and all but knocked the stuffing out of those of us who opposed it, we turned to the Hebrew tradition of resistance," and the belief that good will triumph over evil, and that a day of freedom from oppression will come, he said.
"The well-to-do and powerful complain that we are mixing religion with politics. I've never heard the poor complain that 'Tutu, you are being too political,"' he said.
"I am not playing politics when it involves children who suffer," Tutu said. "A human rights violation is a human rights violation is a human rights violation, wherever it occurs."
Tutu recently bumped up against U.S. discomfort with discourse about Palestine, when a Minnesota university president yanked an invitation to Tutu that had been extended by a youth group.
Rev. Dennis Dease, president of the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul Minnesota, said he did not want Tutu to speak because the Nobel Laureate's position on Palestine was viewed by some as anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic.
Dease also fired Cris Toffolo as head of the university's peace and justice programme, who had supported the invitation to Tutu.
Dease apologised to Tutu three weeks ago.
Tutu said Saturday that he accepted Dease's "handsome apology", but that he will not consider speaking at the school until Toffolo is reinstated and her record cleared.
At the conference, Chomsky said the U.S. provides heavy financial support to Israel and has a profound influence on Israeli policies, including those toward Palestine and foreign trade.
"If the U.S. doesn't like what Israel is doing, it just kicks Israel in the face," Chomsky said. In 2005, Israel wanted to sell improved missiles to China. The Bush administration halted the sale, Chomsky said.
"It blocked them and refused to allow Israeli officials to come to the U.S. The U.S. demanded an apology from Israel. It dragged Israel through the mud," Chomsky said.
The U.S. began its close relationship with Israel after the Israeli victory in the 1967 "Six Day War" against Egypt, Syria and Jordan, Chomsky said
Source: CAIR
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/2/2007) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today urged members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose confirmation of Judge Michael Mukasey as Attorney General.
Mukasey, whose nomination seemed assured at the outset of Senate hearings, has refused to classify so-called "waterboarding," an interrogation method that simulates drowning, as torture. Instead, Mukasey insisted that he needed a classified briefing on the issue to make a final determination.
SEE: Getting Waterboarded
The Independent of London reports "���¢�¯�¿�½���¦waterboarding has been considered torture for over a century and the US military is banned from using it���¢�¯�¿�½���¦" (Independent, 11/01/2007)
According to a report by Human Rights First and Physicians for Human Rights: "The United States has historically prosecuted waterboarding as a war crime: in 1947, the United States convicted a Japanese military officer of a war crime and sentenced him to fifteen years of hard labor for using a form of waterboarding against a U.S. civilian."
To read the full report, click here.
On Friday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said: "No American should need a classified briefing to determine whether waterboarding is torture." Senator John McCain(R-AZ) has also said, "It is torture."
"Waterboarding is torture, and the use of such brutal techniques erodes America's moral leadership in the world," said CAIR National Legislative Director Corey P. Saylor. "Torture is not a legacy we want to pass on to our children."
Sen. McCain, among many others, has also pointed out that such methods are ineffective tools in efforts to protect national security. McCain said, "If you inflict enough physical pain on anybody, they will tell you anything you want to know."
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: CAIR National Legislative Director Corey P. Saylor, (202) 384-8857, E-Mail: csaylor@cair.com
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/2/2007) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today urged members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose confirmation of Judge Michael Mukasey as Attorney General.
Mukasey, whose nomination seemed assured at the outset of Senate hearings, has refused to classify so-called "waterboarding," an interrogation method that simulates drowning, as torture. Instead, Mukasey insisted that he needed a classified briefing on the issue to make a final determination.
SEE: Getting Waterboarded
The Independent of London reports "���¢�¯�¿�½���¦waterboarding has been considered torture for over a century and the US military is banned from using it���¢�¯�¿�½���¦" (Independent, 11/01/2007)
According to a report by Human Rights First and Physicians for Human Rights: "The United States has historically prosecuted waterboarding as a war crime: in 1947, the United States convicted a Japanese military officer of a war crime and sentenced him to fifteen years of hard labor for using a form of waterboarding against a U.S. civilian."
To read the full report, click here.
On Friday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said: "No American should need a classified briefing to determine whether waterboarding is torture." Senator John McCain(R-AZ) has also said, "It is torture."
"Waterboarding is torture, and the use of such brutal techniques erodes America's moral leadership in the world," said CAIR National Legislative Director Corey P. Saylor. "Torture is not a legacy we want to pass on to our children."
Sen. McCain, among many others, has also pointed out that such methods are ineffective tools in efforts to protect national security. McCain said, "If you inflict enough physical pain on anybody, they will tell you anything you want to know."
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: CAIR National Legislative Director Corey P. Saylor, (202) 384-8857, E-Mail: csaylor@cair.com
Source: CAIR
Link
A divide is emerging on the presidential campaign trail over battling terrorists: how exactly to label the fight. While Democrats tend to talk about terrorism in general, Republicans increasingly pin the threat directly on Islam.
All the major Republican candidates regularly weave some form of the phrase "Islamic extremism" into their stump speeches. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has taken the rhetoric to a new level, running a television advertisement about "this century's nightmare, jihadism."
Democratic candidates generally don't emphasize linking Islam and terrorism. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton talks more of "global terrorism," while Sen. Barack Obama refers to "stateless terrorism."
"In four Democratic debates, not a single Democratic candidate said the word 'Islamic terrorism,'" former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said at a Republican debate. "Now that is taking a political correctness to extremes."
Those who like the Republican candidates' choice of language say it reflects the reality of who threatens America the most. "Everybody ought to call an ace an ace," says Jim Gorsh, a 62-year-old retiree who heard Mr. Romney speak in Clinton, Iowa, earlier this month.
Others, including some Arab-American groups, say the constant references to Islamic terrorists, even if meant to refer only to a single radical strand of Islam, may end up tarring the entire religion. After a group of conservative academics declared last week "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," David Halperin, a senior vice president at the Democratic-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, criticized the effort. "To continue to harp on the idea that Islamo-fascism is the source of terrorism is to suggest that all Muslims are terrorists," Mr. Halperin said.
The Republican tone might alienate Arab-American voters, says James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute, a Washington-based advocacy group. There are about 3.5 million Arab-Americans in the U.S., according to Dr. Zogby, and they make up as much as 7% of the electorate in one key state, Michigan. "People are quite startled and frightened" by the Republican phraseology, he said.
Mr. Romney, whose father, George Romney, was a Michigan governor, says his rhetoric is designed to win over Muslims, not offend them. "In the end, only Muslims themselves can defeat the violent radicals," he says in "Strategy for a Stronger America," a pamphlet describing his proposed policies. "But we must work with them."
Mr. Romney's invocation of the word "jihad" is a source of controversy. "Jihad" is an Arabic word found in the Quran that roughly translates to mean "struggle." What that struggle is, or how it should be carried out, is less clear. Terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, use it to refer to holy war, or religious struggles to purify Islam. Many Muslims prefer a more peaceful definition, representing a quest for self-betterment. . .
The interpretation of jihad as extremist and violent disturbs Nihad Awad, executive director of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. He says Mr. Romney's use of "jihad" legitimizes claims by terrorists that they are fighting on behalf of Islam.
Democratic presidential candidates rarely invoke Islam when discussing terrorism. In a 3,800-word speech titled "A New Strategy Against Terrorism," former Sen. John Edwards used the word "Islamic" once. He did so in that instance to say Republicans were making a mistake by using rhetoric that could frame the battle against terrorists as a war of civilizations
Link
A divide is emerging on the presidential campaign trail over battling terrorists: how exactly to label the fight. While Democrats tend to talk about terrorism in general, Republicans increasingly pin the threat directly on Islam.
All the major Republican candidates regularly weave some form of the phrase "Islamic extremism" into their stump speeches. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has taken the rhetoric to a new level, running a television advertisement about "this century's nightmare, jihadism."
Democratic candidates generally don't emphasize linking Islam and terrorism. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton talks more of "global terrorism," while Sen. Barack Obama refers to "stateless terrorism."
"In four Democratic debates, not a single Democratic candidate said the word 'Islamic terrorism,'" former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said at a Republican debate. "Now that is taking a political correctness to extremes."
Those who like the Republican candidates' choice of language say it reflects the reality of who threatens America the most. "Everybody ought to call an ace an ace," says Jim Gorsh, a 62-year-old retiree who heard Mr. Romney speak in Clinton, Iowa, earlier this month.
Others, including some Arab-American groups, say the constant references to Islamic terrorists, even if meant to refer only to a single radical strand of Islam, may end up tarring the entire religion. After a group of conservative academics declared last week "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," David Halperin, a senior vice president at the Democratic-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, criticized the effort. "To continue to harp on the idea that Islamo-fascism is the source of terrorism is to suggest that all Muslims are terrorists," Mr. Halperin said.
The Republican tone might alienate Arab-American voters, says James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute, a Washington-based advocacy group. There are about 3.5 million Arab-Americans in the U.S., according to Dr. Zogby, and they make up as much as 7% of the electorate in one key state, Michigan. "People are quite startled and frightened" by the Republican phraseology, he said.
Mr. Romney, whose father, George Romney, was a Michigan governor, says his rhetoric is designed to win over Muslims, not offend them. "In the end, only Muslims themselves can defeat the violent radicals," he says in "Strategy for a Stronger America," a pamphlet describing his proposed policies. "But we must work with them."
Mr. Romney's invocation of the word "jihad" is a source of controversy. "Jihad" is an Arabic word found in the Quran that roughly translates to mean "struggle." What that struggle is, or how it should be carried out, is less clear. Terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, use it to refer to holy war, or religious struggles to purify Islam. Many Muslims prefer a more peaceful definition, representing a quest for self-betterment. . .
The interpretation of jihad as extremist and violent disturbs Nihad Awad, executive director of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. He says Mr. Romney's use of "jihad" legitimizes claims by terrorists that they are fighting on behalf of Islam.
Democratic presidential candidates rarely invoke Islam when discussing terrorism. In a 3,800-word speech titled "A New Strategy Against Terrorism," former Sen. John Edwards used the word "Islamic" once. He did so in that instance to say Republicans were making a mistake by using rhetoric that could frame the battle against terrorists as a war of civilizations
IRAQ: MORE THAN 1,000,000 IRAQIS MURDERED
Opinion Research Business, 9/19/07
Link
In the week in which General Patraeus reports back to US Congress on the impact the recent 'surge' is having in Iraq, a new poll reveals that more than 1,000,000 Iraqi citizens have been murdered since the invasion took place in 2003.
Previous estimates, most noticeably the one published in the Lancet in October 2006, suggested almost half this number (654,965 deaths).
These findings come from a poll released today by ORB, the British polling agency that has been tracking public opinion in Iraq since 2005. In conjunction with their Iraqi fieldwork agency a representative sample of 1,499 adults aged 18+ answered the following question:-
Q: How many members of your household, if any, have died as a result of the conflict in Iraq since 2003 (i.e. as a result of violence rather than a natural death such as old age)? Please note that I mean those who were actually living under your roof.
None 78%
One 16%
Two 5%
Three 1%
Four or more 0.002%
Given that from the 2005 census there are a total of 4,050,597 households this data suggests a total of 1,220,580 deaths since the invasion in 2003.
Detailed analysis (which is available on our website) indicates that almost one in two households in Baghdad have lost a family member, significantly higher than in any other area of the country. The governorates of Diyala (42%) and Ninewa (35%) were next.
Opinion Research Business, 9/19/07
Link
In the week in which General Patraeus reports back to US Congress on the impact the recent 'surge' is having in Iraq, a new poll reveals that more than 1,000,000 Iraqi citizens have been murdered since the invasion took place in 2003.
Previous estimates, most noticeably the one published in the Lancet in October 2006, suggested almost half this number (654,965 deaths).
These findings come from a poll released today by ORB, the British polling agency that has been tracking public opinion in Iraq since 2005. In conjunction with their Iraqi fieldwork agency a representative sample of 1,499 adults aged 18+ answered the following question:-
Q: How many members of your household, if any, have died as a result of the conflict in Iraq since 2003 (i.e. as a result of violence rather than a natural death such as old age)? Please note that I mean those who were actually living under your roof.
None 78%
One 16%
Two 5%
Three 1%
Four or more 0.002%
Given that from the 2005 census there are a total of 4,050,597 households this data suggests a total of 1,220,580 deaths since the invasion in 2003.
Detailed analysis (which is available on our website) indicates that almost one in two households in Baghdad have lost a family member, significantly higher than in any other area of the country. The governorates of Diyala (42%) and Ninewa (35%) were next.
Kurds Cultivating Their Own Bonds With U.S.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, 4/23/07
Link
The 30-second television commercial features stirring scenes of a young Iraqi boy high-fiving a U.S. soldier, a Westerner dining alfresco, and men and women dancing together. "Have you seen the other Iraq?" the narrator asks. "It's spectacular. It's joyful."
"Welcome to Iraqi Kurdistan!" the narrator continues. "It's not a dream. It's the other Iraq."
With Sunni and Shiite Arabs locked in a bloody sectarian war, Iraq's Kurds are promoting their interests through an influence-buying campaign in the United States that includes airing nationwide television advertisements, hiring powerful Washington lobbyists and playing parts of the U.S. government against each other. A former car mechanic who happens to be the son of Iraq's president is at the center of Kurdish efforts to cultivate support for their semi-independent enclave, but the cast of Kurdish proponents also includes evangelical Christians, Israeli operatives and Republican political consultants.
In the past year, the Kurds have spent more than $3 million to retain lobbyists and set up a diplomatic office in Washington. They are cultivating grass-roots advocates among supporters of President Bush's war policy and evangelicals who believe that many key figures in the Bible lived in Kurdistan. And they are seeking to build an emotional bond with ordinary Americans, like those forged by Israel and Taiwan, by running commercials on national cable news channels to assert that even as Iraq teeters toward a full-blown civil war, one corner of the country, at least, has fulfilled the Bush administration's ambition of a peaceful, democratic, pro-Western beachhead in the Middle East.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, 4/23/07
Link
The 30-second television commercial features stirring scenes of a young Iraqi boy high-fiving a U.S. soldier, a Westerner dining alfresco, and men and women dancing together. "Have you seen the other Iraq?" the narrator asks. "It's spectacular. It's joyful."
"Welcome to Iraqi Kurdistan!" the narrator continues. "It's not a dream. It's the other Iraq."
With Sunni and Shiite Arabs locked in a bloody sectarian war, Iraq's Kurds are promoting their interests through an influence-buying campaign in the United States that includes airing nationwide television advertisements, hiring powerful Washington lobbyists and playing parts of the U.S. government against each other. A former car mechanic who happens to be the son of Iraq's president is at the center of Kurdish efforts to cultivate support for their semi-independent enclave, but the cast of Kurdish proponents also includes evangelical Christians, Israeli operatives and Republican political consultants.
In the past year, the Kurds have spent more than $3 million to retain lobbyists and set up a diplomatic office in Washington. They are cultivating grass-roots advocates among supporters of President Bush's war policy and evangelicals who believe that many key figures in the Bible lived in Kurdistan. And they are seeking to build an emotional bond with ordinary Americans, like those forged by Israel and Taiwan, by running commercials on national cable news channels to assert that even as Iraq teeters toward a full-blown civil war, one corner of the country, at least, has fulfilled the Bush administration's ambition of a peaceful, democratic, pro-Western beachhead in the Middle East.
'Gated Communities' For the War-Ravaged
Karin Brulliard, Washington Post, 4/23/07
Link
The U.S. military is walling off at least 10 of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods and using biometric technology to track some of their residents, creating what officers call "gated communities" in an attempt to carve out oases of safety in this war-ravaged city.
The plan drew widespread condemnation in Iraq this past week. On Sunday night, Prime Minister Nouri-al Maliki told news services that he would work to halt construction of a wall around the Sunni district of Adhamiyah, which residents said would aggravate sectarian tensions by segregating them from Shiite neighbors. The U.S. military says the walls are meant to protect people, not further divide them in a city that is increasingly a patchwork of sectarian enclaves.
The military sees a simple virtue in the barriers.
"If we keep the bad guys out, then we win," said 1st Lt. Sean Henley, 24, who works out of an outpost in southern Ghazaliyah, a Sunni insurgent stronghold on Baghdad's western edge that is among the first of the gated communities. The square-mile neighborhood of about 15,000 people now has one entrance point for civilian vehicles and three military checkpoints that are closed to the public.
Karin Brulliard, Washington Post, 4/23/07
Link
The U.S. military is walling off at least 10 of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods and using biometric technology to track some of their residents, creating what officers call "gated communities" in an attempt to carve out oases of safety in this war-ravaged city.
The plan drew widespread condemnation in Iraq this past week. On Sunday night, Prime Minister Nouri-al Maliki told news services that he would work to halt construction of a wall around the Sunni district of Adhamiyah, which residents said would aggravate sectarian tensions by segregating them from Shiite neighbors. The U.S. military says the walls are meant to protect people, not further divide them in a city that is increasingly a patchwork of sectarian enclaves.
The military sees a simple virtue in the barriers.
"If we keep the bad guys out, then we win," said 1st Lt. Sean Henley, 24, who works out of an outpost in southern Ghazaliyah, a Sunni insurgent stronghold on Baghdad's western edge that is among the first of the gated communities. The square-mile neighborhood of about 15,000 people now has one entrance point for civilian vehicles and three military checkpoints that are closed to the public.
Three-mile structure in Baghdad is a disputed part of security plan
Joseph Giordono and Monte Morin, Stars and Stripes, 4/19/07
Link
BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division in a Baghdad district are "building a three-mile protective wall on the dividing line between a Sunni enclave and the surrounding Shiite neighborhood," according to a U.S. military press release issued Wednesday.
Troops with the 407th Brigade Support Battalion began constructing the wall on April 10 and will continue work "almost nightly until the wall is complete," the release read.
"The area the wall will protect is the largest predominately Sunni neighborhood in East Baghdad. Majority-Shiite neighborhoods surround it on three sides. Like other religiously divided regions in the city, the area has been trapped in a spiral of sectarian violence and retaliation," according to the release.
In January, when the new Baghdad security plan and troop "surge" were announced, the "gated community" concept was reported by several news agencies as one tactic to be used.
But after a regularly scheduled news briefing in Baghdad on Wednesday, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the top spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq, said he was unaware of efforts to build a wall dividing Shiite and Sunni enclaves in Baghdad and said that such a tactic was not a policy of the Baghdad security plan.
"We have no intent to build gated communities in Baghdad," Caldwell said Wednesday.
Joseph Giordono and Monte Morin, Stars and Stripes, 4/19/07
Link
BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division in a Baghdad district are "building a three-mile protective wall on the dividing line between a Sunni enclave and the surrounding Shiite neighborhood," according to a U.S. military press release issued Wednesday.
Troops with the 407th Brigade Support Battalion began constructing the wall on April 10 and will continue work "almost nightly until the wall is complete," the release read.
"The area the wall will protect is the largest predominately Sunni neighborhood in East Baghdad. Majority-Shiite neighborhoods surround it on three sides. Like other religiously divided regions in the city, the area has been trapped in a spiral of sectarian violence and retaliation," according to the release.
In January, when the new Baghdad security plan and troop "surge" were announced, the "gated community" concept was reported by several news agencies as one tactic to be used.
But after a regularly scheduled news briefing in Baghdad on Wednesday, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the top spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq, said he was unaware of efforts to build a wall dividing Shiite and Sunni enclaves in Baghdad and said that such a tactic was not a policy of the Baghdad security plan.
"We have no intent to build gated communities in Baghdad," Caldwell said Wednesday.
Greg Mitchell, Editor and Publisher, 4/19/07
Link
The most powerful indictment of the news media for falling down in its duties in the run-up to the war in Iraq will appear next Wednesday, a 90-minute PBS broadcast called "Buying the War," which marks the return of "Bill Moyers Journal." E&P was sent a preview DVD and a draft transcript for the program this week.
While much of the evidence of the media's role as cheerleaders for the war presented here is not new, it is skillfully assembled, with many fresh quotes from interviews (with the likes of Tim Russert and Walter Pincus) along with numerous embarrassing examples of past statements by journalists and pundits that proved grossly misleading or wrong. Several prominent media figures, prodded by Moyers, admit the media failed miserably, though few take personal responsibility.
The war continues today, now in its fifth year, with the death toll for Americans and Iraqis rising again -- yet Moyers points out, "the press has yet to come to terms with its role in enabling the Bush Administration to go to war on false pretenses."
Among the few heroes of this devastating film are reporters with the Knight Ridder/McClatchy bureau in D.C. Tragically late, Walter Isaacson, who headed CNN, observes, "The people at Knight Ridder were calling the colonels and the lieutenants and the people in the CIA and finding out, you know, that the intelligence is not very good. We should've all been doing that."
At the close, Moyers mentions some of the chief proponents of the war who refused to speak to him for this program, including Thomas Friedman, Bill Kristol, Roger Ailes, Charles Krauthammer, Judith Miller, and William Safire.
But Dan Rather, the former CBS anchor, admits, "I don't think there is any excuse for, you know, my performance and the performance of the press in general in the roll up to the war�We didn't dig enough. And we shouldn't have been fooled in this way." Bob Simon, who had strong doubts about evidence for war, was asked by Moyers if he pushed any of the top brass at CBS to "dig deeper," and he replies, "No, in all honesty, with a thousand mea culpas�.nope, I don't think we followed up on this."
Instead he covered the marketing of the war in a "softer" way, explaining to Moyers: "I think we all felt from the beginning that to deal with a subject as explosive as this, we should keep it, in a way, almost light - if that doesn't seem ridiculous."
Link
The most powerful indictment of the news media for falling down in its duties in the run-up to the war in Iraq will appear next Wednesday, a 90-minute PBS broadcast called "Buying the War," which marks the return of "Bill Moyers Journal." E&P was sent a preview DVD and a draft transcript for the program this week.
While much of the evidence of the media's role as cheerleaders for the war presented here is not new, it is skillfully assembled, with many fresh quotes from interviews (with the likes of Tim Russert and Walter Pincus) along with numerous embarrassing examples of past statements by journalists and pundits that proved grossly misleading or wrong. Several prominent media figures, prodded by Moyers, admit the media failed miserably, though few take personal responsibility.
The war continues today, now in its fifth year, with the death toll for Americans and Iraqis rising again -- yet Moyers points out, "the press has yet to come to terms with its role in enabling the Bush Administration to go to war on false pretenses."
Among the few heroes of this devastating film are reporters with the Knight Ridder/McClatchy bureau in D.C. Tragically late, Walter Isaacson, who headed CNN, observes, "The people at Knight Ridder were calling the colonels and the lieutenants and the people in the CIA and finding out, you know, that the intelligence is not very good. We should've all been doing that."
At the close, Moyers mentions some of the chief proponents of the war who refused to speak to him for this program, including Thomas Friedman, Bill Kristol, Roger Ailes, Charles Krauthammer, Judith Miller, and William Safire.
But Dan Rather, the former CBS anchor, admits, "I don't think there is any excuse for, you know, my performance and the performance of the press in general in the roll up to the war�We didn't dig enough. And we shouldn't have been fooled in this way." Bob Simon, who had strong doubts about evidence for war, was asked by Moyers if he pushed any of the top brass at CBS to "dig deeper," and he replies, "No, in all honesty, with a thousand mea culpas�.nope, I don't think we followed up on this."
Instead he covered the marketing of the war in a "softer" way, explaining to Moyers: "I think we all felt from the beginning that to deal with a subject as explosive as this, we should keep it, in a way, almost light - if that doesn't seem ridiculous."
Megan Blaney and Mona Shadia, Daily Bulletin, 5/1/07
Link
Muslims around the region Tuesday lamented President Bush's veto of a bill that set a timeline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
"There is no military solution," said Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council. "Right now the military operations are just that - operations. The operation can be a success but the patient is dead."
Al-Marayati said the ongoing violence is not a reflection on the capabilities of American soldiers, but that the conflict in Iraq can not be solved with military action.
"Our military is wonderful. It's made up of dedicated young men and women," he said. But, he said, the resolution of Iraq's crisis must "be done through political channels."
One of the necessary ingredients of that is the involvement of the American Muslim community, he said.
"That engagement has been missing," he said. "We have a lot to offer." . . .
Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Southern California Council on American Islamic Relations, said most Muslims agree the presence of the American troops in Iraq is causing more hostility.
Setting a timetable "doesn't mean they have to withdraw tomorrow, but it means that we have to have a clearly set strategy on how and when we need to withdraw," he said. "This is what Iraqis are asking for and this is what Americans are demanding."
Link
Muslims around the region Tuesday lamented President Bush's veto of a bill that set a timeline for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
"There is no military solution," said Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council. "Right now the military operations are just that - operations. The operation can be a success but the patient is dead."
Al-Marayati said the ongoing violence is not a reflection on the capabilities of American soldiers, but that the conflict in Iraq can not be solved with military action.
"Our military is wonderful. It's made up of dedicated young men and women," he said. But, he said, the resolution of Iraq's crisis must "be done through political channels."
One of the necessary ingredients of that is the involvement of the American Muslim community, he said.
"That engagement has been missing," he said. "We have a lot to offer." . . .
Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Southern California Council on American Islamic Relations, said most Muslims agree the presence of the American troops in Iraq is causing more hostility.
Setting a timetable "doesn't mean they have to withdraw tomorrow, but it means that we have to have a clearly set strategy on how and when we need to withdraw," he said. "This is what Iraqis are asking for and this is what Americans are demanding."
Michael Hinkelman, Philadelphia Daily News, 5/3/07
Link
The leader of a major Arab-American advocacy group said yesterday that there was a "rising tide of Islamaphobia" in America and that more Muslim-Americans are being targeted and threatened now than immediately after 9/11.
Salam Al-Marayati and FBI officials here spoke with reporters yesterday after a federal civil-rights charge was lodged against a Philadelphia woman for sending a threatening note to her Arab-American boss.
Al-Marayati and FBI agent Brian Lynch said the case was unusual because of the cooperation among the Arab-American community, the FBI and the victim.
Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said most Muslim-American victims of hate crimes are reluctant to alert authorities because they don't trust the government.
But he said the victim in this case, a hotel manager, "broke through the fear and barrier of engaging" with community organizations and the FBI.
Lynch said that the feds want victims of hate crimes to come forward but that the FBI can investigate them only if they involve the threat of force; are motivated by bias involving race, religion or ethnicity, and interfere with a person's civil rights.
Al-Marayati said if Muslim-Americans don't report hate-crime incidents, they will be forced to live in "psychological, if not physical, ghettoization."
There were 37 such incidents reported in Philadelphia in 2005, up from 20 in 2004, according to the FBI.
Link
The leader of a major Arab-American advocacy group said yesterday that there was a "rising tide of Islamaphobia" in America and that more Muslim-Americans are being targeted and threatened now than immediately after 9/11.
Salam Al-Marayati and FBI officials here spoke with reporters yesterday after a federal civil-rights charge was lodged against a Philadelphia woman for sending a threatening note to her Arab-American boss.
Al-Marayati and FBI agent Brian Lynch said the case was unusual because of the cooperation among the Arab-American community, the FBI and the victim.
Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said most Muslim-American victims of hate crimes are reluctant to alert authorities because they don't trust the government.
But he said the victim in this case, a hotel manager, "broke through the fear and barrier of engaging" with community organizations and the FBI.
Lynch said that the feds want victims of hate crimes to come forward but that the FBI can investigate them only if they involve the threat of force; are motivated by bias involving race, religion or ethnicity, and interfere with a person's civil rights.
Al-Marayati said if Muslim-Americans don't report hate-crime incidents, they will be forced to live in "psychological, if not physical, ghettoization."
There were 37 such incidents reported in Philadelphia in 2005, up from 20 in 2004, according to the FBI.
SANTA CLARA, CA, 4/5/07) - The San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) today commended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the spirit of dialogue and mutual respect she exhibited during her visit to the Middle East.
SEE: House Speaker Pelosi in Saudi Arabia After Meeting Syria's Assad (AP)
In a statement, CAIR-SFBA said:
"We applaud Speaker Pelosi's initiative to use constructive dialogue as a tool for resolving conflicts. America's stature in the Islamic world has been harmed by the Bush administration's emphasis on the use of military force, or the threat of force, rather than dialogue and diplomacy. Speaker Pelosi's visit to the Middle East is a vital step forward in both improving our nation's international image and building better relations with important nations in that volatile region.
"In particular, Speaker Pelosi's visit to the Umayyad mosque in Damascus will contribute greatly to promoting mutual understanding between the West and the Muslim world. It is through mutual understanding that religious divisions and extremism can be challenged and reduced.
"We urge President Bush to implement the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group by working with Congress and Speaker Pelosi to formulate a new strategy that focuses on diplomacy and dialogue, not military force and belligerent rhetoric."
CAIR-SFBA also commended other Democratic and Republican members of Congress who are making similar visits to the region.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: CAIR-SFBA Communications Coordinator Abiya Ahmed, 408-986-9874, E-Mail: aahmed@cair.com
SEE: House Speaker Pelosi in Saudi Arabia After Meeting Syria's Assad (AP)
In a statement, CAIR-SFBA said:
"We applaud Speaker Pelosi's initiative to use constructive dialogue as a tool for resolving conflicts. America's stature in the Islamic world has been harmed by the Bush administration's emphasis on the use of military force, or the threat of force, rather than dialogue and diplomacy. Speaker Pelosi's visit to the Middle East is a vital step forward in both improving our nation's international image and building better relations with important nations in that volatile region.
"In particular, Speaker Pelosi's visit to the Umayyad mosque in Damascus will contribute greatly to promoting mutual understanding between the West and the Muslim world. It is through mutual understanding that religious divisions and extremism can be challenged and reduced.
"We urge President Bush to implement the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group by working with Congress and Speaker Pelosi to formulate a new strategy that focuses on diplomacy and dialogue, not military force and belligerent rhetoric."
CAIR-SFBA also commended other Democratic and Republican members of Congress who are making similar visits to the region.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: CAIR-SFBA Communications Coordinator Abiya Ahmed, 408-986-9874, E-Mail: aahmed@cair.com
WASHINGTON, DC - Mar. 19, 2007 (MASNET) The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation wishes to express its appreciation to the tens of thousand of people who braved the cold and wind to join the ANSWER Coalition, MAS Freedom Foundation, and the National Council of Arab American (NCAA) for the historical march on the Pentagon. The crowd, estimated at over 30,000, followed the historical route taken 40 years ago by those protesting the war in Vietnam.
Led by a contingent of Iraq war veterans, active-duty service-members, Gold Star families, and veterans from other past and present wars, the demonstration received a large amount of media coverage. CNN has featured the demonstration, which the report described as a march of tens of thousands, in its rotation since yesterday. The major French newspaper, Le Monde, ran a significant article under the headline, "More than 50,000 People Protest Against the War in Iraq," about the March on the Pentagon as the U.S. component of the world-wide protests marking the beginning of the fifth year of the war against Iraq. The rally was broadcast live on C-span and Al-Jazeera and received wide-spread media coverage. C-span will be replaying the rally, check http://www.cspan.org/ for times.
Hosting from the stage were national co-chairs Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of the MAS Freedom Foundation; Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Partnership for Civil Justice; and Peta Lindsey, ANSWER Coalition. Other MAS Freedom Foundation speakers included Dr. Esam Omeish, President of MAS and Khalilah Sabra, Director of the MAS Freedom Foundation-NC
"It is apparent to the majority of the American people that if we wait for Bush and the politicians to end this war then nothing will happen. It will take the collective persistence of the American people to stop this madness that has brought so much death and destruction to the Iraqi people. The momentum around this issue is with the people, and that's why thousands came to Washington, braving the cold weather and marched in the mud. But better mud than blood. We must continue the resistance to this war. "Stated Bray, Executive Director of the MAS Freedom Foundation.
Again MAS Freedom Foundation wishes to thank the participants, volunteers, the MAS chapters, the CCMO, the Islamic party and area mosques, ANSWER Coalition, and other coalition partners for a job well done.
Led by a contingent of Iraq war veterans, active-duty service-members, Gold Star families, and veterans from other past and present wars, the demonstration received a large amount of media coverage. CNN has featured the demonstration, which the report described as a march of tens of thousands, in its rotation since yesterday. The major French newspaper, Le Monde, ran a significant article under the headline, "More than 50,000 People Protest Against the War in Iraq," about the March on the Pentagon as the U.S. component of the world-wide protests marking the beginning of the fifth year of the war against Iraq. The rally was broadcast live on C-span and Al-Jazeera and received wide-spread media coverage. C-span will be replaying the rally, check http://www.cspan.org/ for times.
Hosting from the stage were national co-chairs Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of the MAS Freedom Foundation; Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Partnership for Civil Justice; and Peta Lindsey, ANSWER Coalition. Other MAS Freedom Foundation speakers included Dr. Esam Omeish, President of MAS and Khalilah Sabra, Director of the MAS Freedom Foundation-NC
"It is apparent to the majority of the American people that if we wait for Bush and the politicians to end this war then nothing will happen. It will take the collective persistence of the American people to stop this madness that has brought so much death and destruction to the Iraqi people. The momentum around this issue is with the people, and that's why thousands came to Washington, braving the cold weather and marched in the mud. But better mud than blood. We must continue the resistance to this war. "Stated Bray, Executive Director of the MAS Freedom Foundation.
Again MAS Freedom Foundation wishes to thank the participants, volunteers, the MAS chapters, the CCMO, the Islamic party and area mosques, ANSWER Coalition, and other coalition partners for a job well done.
Liza Porteus, Fox News, 2/22/07
Link
The father of a North Carolina ninth grader who was given 'anti-Muslim' literature in class says the material handed out is not an issue of free speech, but of slander and defamation.
"First of all, it slanders, things like, Mohammed is a 'criminal,' is 'demon possessed' ... that just made my blood boil," said Tariq Butte, whose daughter Saira, was one student who participated in the ninth grade orientation seminar at Enloe High School in Wake County, N.C., where the material was distributed.
Butte is not a practicing Muslim; his wife is Christian and his kids are taught to accept and respect all religions.
"So for a person like me to feel like that - I've never been to a mosque - to feel like that � for me to feel such hideous attacks, they were not just pointing out failures or weaknesses in Islam or Muslims, they were just attacking."
A representative from the Kamil International Ministries Organization, a Christian group based in Raleigh, was invited by a teacher to come and speak to the class. He handed out literature class that compared the teachings of Jesus with accusations against Islam's Prophet Muhammad; Muslims Jesus as a prophet of God equal to the prophet Muhammad. . .
The Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote to the Adelphos Burns, superintendent of the Wake County Public School System, asking for an apology to the students, as well as disciplinary action against the teacher, a review of policies regarding what outside speakers are allowed to speak in class, and more diversity training for starr.
"It is unconscionable for a teacher at any public school to abuse his or her position of trust by forcing such hate-filled, inaccurate and intolerant materials on students," CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar wrote in the letter. "One can only imagine what a Muslim student in the class might have experienced and how students of other faiths will now regard their Muslim classmates."
CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told FOXNews.com on Thursday that so far, the group hasn't received any formal response. Cochran, the school's principal, also did not immediately return calls to FOXNews.com for comment.
At the very least, Hooper said, someone from the Muslim community should have been invited to come in the same day as the Kamil representative to give the Muslim perspective.
"At least that would have been something, but to just bring in this person, presented by an authority person like a teacher, 'here's someone who's going to teach you Islam ... if he was going to stage a public forum and denounce Islam, that's fine," Hooper said.
"This was a captive audience with captive minds who were offered no rebuttal to this type of bigotry."
Link
The father of a North Carolina ninth grader who was given 'anti-Muslim' literature in class says the material handed out is not an issue of free speech, but of slander and defamation.
"First of all, it slanders, things like, Mohammed is a 'criminal,' is 'demon possessed' ... that just made my blood boil," said Tariq Butte, whose daughter Saira, was one student who participated in the ninth grade orientation seminar at Enloe High School in Wake County, N.C., where the material was distributed.
Butte is not a practicing Muslim; his wife is Christian and his kids are taught to accept and respect all religions.
"So for a person like me to feel like that - I've never been to a mosque - to feel like that � for me to feel such hideous attacks, they were not just pointing out failures or weaknesses in Islam or Muslims, they were just attacking."
A representative from the Kamil International Ministries Organization, a Christian group based in Raleigh, was invited by a teacher to come and speak to the class. He handed out literature class that compared the teachings of Jesus with accusations against Islam's Prophet Muhammad; Muslims Jesus as a prophet of God equal to the prophet Muhammad. . .
The Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote to the Adelphos Burns, superintendent of the Wake County Public School System, asking for an apology to the students, as well as disciplinary action against the teacher, a review of policies regarding what outside speakers are allowed to speak in class, and more diversity training for starr.
"It is unconscionable for a teacher at any public school to abuse his or her position of trust by forcing such hate-filled, inaccurate and intolerant materials on students," CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar wrote in the letter. "One can only imagine what a Muslim student in the class might have experienced and how students of other faiths will now regard their Muslim classmates."
CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told FOXNews.com on Thursday that so far, the group hasn't received any formal response. Cochran, the school's principal, also did not immediately return calls to FOXNews.com for comment.
At the very least, Hooper said, someone from the Muslim community should have been invited to come in the same day as the Kamil representative to give the Muslim perspective.
"At least that would have been something, but to just bring in this person, presented by an authority person like a teacher, 'here's someone who's going to teach you Islam ... if he was going to stage a public forum and denounce Islam, that's fine," Hooper said.
"This was a captive audience with captive minds who were offered no rebuttal to this type of bigotry."
EX-AIDE SAYS RICE MISLED U.S. CONGRESS ON IRAN
Reuters, 2/14/07
Link
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misled the U.S. Congress when she said last week that she had not seen a 2003 Iranian proposal for talks with the United States, a former senior government official said on Wednesday.
Flynt Leverett, who worked on the National Security Council when it was headed by Rice, likened the proposal to the 1972 U.S. opening to China. He said he was confident it was seen by Rice and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell but "the administration rejected the overture."
Reuters, 2/14/07
Link
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misled the U.S. Congress when she said last week that she had not seen a 2003 Iranian proposal for talks with the United States, a former senior government official said on Wednesday.
Flynt Leverett, who worked on the National Security Council when it was headed by Rice, likened the proposal to the 1972 U.S. opening to China. He said he was confident it was seen by Rice and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell but "the administration rejected the overture."
VIOLENCE KEEPS AMERICAN MUSLIMS FROM MAKING PILGRIMAGE TO IRAQ
Deborah Horan, Chicago Tribune, 3/9/07
Link
CHICAGO - His brothers in Iraq are trekking on foot to pay homage to a Shiite saint, lost among the throngs of pilgrims who walk for days each year to reach the Shrine of Imam Hussein in the southern city of Karbala. This year, Ali Meshal is not with them.
Like scores of other Shiites, Meshal, 40, who works in a tobacco store in Bradley, Ill., journeyed instead to a smaller shrine dedicated to Hussein's sister in Damascus, Syria. Traveling to Iraq is simply too dangerous, Meshal said.
"In the Shia religion, (pilgrimage to) Karbala is a big, huge thing for us," Meshal said. "Karbala is heaven. But I couldn't fly. It's not safe to drive. I couldn't get to Iraq so I stayed in Syria."
Meshal read with concern reports of dozens of pilgrims slain Tuesday by a suicide bomber in Hillah, a way station on the road to Karbala. Like other Shiites here, he said he is bracing for more attacks by Saturday, the holy day of Arbaeen, which marks the 40th day of mourning the death in battle of Hussein, the prophet Mohammed's grandson, in 680 A.D.
"I'm afraid any day something could happen to my family," said Meshal, whose three brothers are making the 45-mile trek to Karbala from their homes in Najaf.
While Sunni Muslims also revere Mohammed's grandson, Shiites have elevated Hussein to sainthood. Shiites make annual pilgrimages to his shrine and mourn his death with wailing and self-flagellation, rituals Sunnis don't observe. The crowds of Shiites marching to Karbala thus become easy targets for Sunni insurgents.
Deborah Horan, Chicago Tribune, 3/9/07
Link
CHICAGO - His brothers in Iraq are trekking on foot to pay homage to a Shiite saint, lost among the throngs of pilgrims who walk for days each year to reach the Shrine of Imam Hussein in the southern city of Karbala. This year, Ali Meshal is not with them.
Like scores of other Shiites, Meshal, 40, who works in a tobacco store in Bradley, Ill., journeyed instead to a smaller shrine dedicated to Hussein's sister in Damascus, Syria. Traveling to Iraq is simply too dangerous, Meshal said.
"In the Shia religion, (pilgrimage to) Karbala is a big, huge thing for us," Meshal said. "Karbala is heaven. But I couldn't fly. It's not safe to drive. I couldn't get to Iraq so I stayed in Syria."
Meshal read with concern reports of dozens of pilgrims slain Tuesday by a suicide bomber in Hillah, a way station on the road to Karbala. Like other Shiites here, he said he is bracing for more attacks by Saturday, the holy day of Arbaeen, which marks the 40th day of mourning the death in battle of Hussein, the prophet Mohammed's grandson, in 680 A.D.
"I'm afraid any day something could happen to my family," said Meshal, whose three brothers are making the 45-mile trek to Karbala from their homes in Najaf.
While Sunni Muslims also revere Mohammed's grandson, Shiites have elevated Hussein to sainthood. Shiites make annual pilgrimages to his shrine and mourn his death with wailing and self-flagellation, rituals Sunnis don't observe. The crowds of Shiites marching to Karbala thus become easy targets for Sunni insurgents.
U.S. SOLDIERS ACCUSED OF SHOOTING CIVILIANS IN SADR CITY
KIRK SEMPLE, New York Times, 3/10/07
Link
BAGHDAD, March 9 - American soldiers were accused Friday of opening fire on a car carrying a family in the Baghdad district of Sadr City, killing a man and his two young daughters and wounding his son.
The allegations were made by the man's wife, who was in the car, and members of the Iraqi police, who were at the scene. The American military command said in a statement on Friday that it was investigating an episode in Sadr City involving "an escalation of force," but it could not confirm any details of the account given by the man's wife.
KIRK SEMPLE, New York Times, 3/10/07
Link
BAGHDAD, March 9 - American soldiers were accused Friday of opening fire on a car carrying a family in the Baghdad district of Sadr City, killing a man and his two young daughters and wounding his son.
The allegations were made by the man's wife, who was in the car, and members of the Iraqi police, who were at the scene. The American military command said in a statement on Friday that it was investigating an episode in Sadr City involving "an escalation of force," but it could not confirm any details of the account given by the man's wife.
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