Mosquerade: US Troops Would Not Hesitate to Strike Insurgents In Mosques

Apr 7, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

After the insurgents holed up in the mosque struck a humvee vehicle with an RPG, lightly wounding five soldiers, the marines opted for their heavy weaponry. First a warplane fired off guns, then a Cobra helicopter shot off a Hellfire missile at the mosque and finally an aircraft dropped a laser-guided precision bomb, Byrne said.

The roar of jets shook the city, caught in the midst of a brutal urban battle pitting the marines against the insurgents who have bled the coalition forces for months and ambushed and mutilated four US contractors last week.

Byrne said the marines carried out the raid as precisely as they could because there are people living nearby. Marines also came under fire around a second mosque in the city that the marines had searched the previous day...

The head of the Marines First Division, General James Mattis, defended the attack, warning if rebels used places of worship in their war against US forces, his troops would not hesitate to strike them at sacred sites. "If they barricade themselves inside a mosque, we are not going to care about the mosque anymore than they do," Mattis said. [Emphasis added]

Iran’s Proxy War Against America

Apr 6, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

What the other news accounts left out was one significant, but well-established fact: Al-Sadr works for Iran. He is an Iranian agent. His authority comes from Iran. Last April, an Iranian cleric, Kadhem al-Husseini al-Haeri, issued a religious edict and distributed to Shiite mullahs in Iraq, calling on them "to seize the first possible opportunity to fill the power vacuum in the administration of Iraqi cities." The edict, or fatwa, issued April 8, 2003, showed that Shiite clerics in Iraq are receiving significant direction from Iran. The edict said that Shiite leaders have to "seize as many positions as possible to impose a fait accompli for any coming government." [...] On April 7, the day American troops effectively toppled Hussein's government by seizing its main seats of power in Baghdad, al-Haeri sent a handwritten letter to the city of Najaf, appointing Moktada al-Sadr as his deputy in Iraq. Haeri wrote: "We hereby inform you that Mr. Moktada al-Sadr is our deputy and representative in all fatwa affairs." It added: "His position is my position."

In reality these so-called [Arba-in] Pilgrims are Iranian Intelligence officers and Arab mercenaries trained, by the Islamic republic regime, with the task of creating more complication for America in its War Against Terror and to avoid the stabilization of Iraq.

The loyalty of many of [Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr] supporters has now passed to another son, Hojatoleslam Muqtada al-Sadr, a mid-level cleric about 30 years of age. Unlike his father, Muqtada has no formal religious standing to interpret the Koran, and relies for religious authority on an Iran-based Iraqi exiled cleric, Ayatollah Kazem al-Haeri.

Several months ago Al-Sadr visited Iran where he was warmly received by the Ayatollah Khamenei and Hashemi Rafsanjani. According to Arab sources, Khamenei probably compared Al Sadr to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah, when wishing him luck in kicking out American forces in Iraq "like the Hezbollah did to Israel in Lebanon".

Shiite Arabs in Iraq express relatively little support for attacks against coalition forces such as those that occurred Sunday. And while most do express confidence in religious leaders and call for them to play a role in Iraq today, most do not seek a theocracy, and very few see Iran as a model for Iraq. A nationwide poll of Iraqis conducted in February for ABCNEWS also found that very few Shiites express support for Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia mounted the deadly attacks against the U.S.-led occupation.

On the Iraqi front, Iran's mullahs have stepped up their campaign to increase their influence in that country. Tehran has two main objectives in Iraq: to create a client regime there and to rid itself from its Iraq-based main opposition, the Iranian Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK). Since coming to power in 1979, the mullahs have considered Iraq the ideal springboard to export "Islamic Revolution" throughout the region. They view a pro-Tehran Iraq as a counterweight to the advancement of democracy in the Middle East. Clearly, a secular democratic Iraq would be a strategic blow to Tehran. For now, US policy makers should expect Iran to address the threat it perceives from the US in Iraq with terrorist violence. The Tehran regime has mounted an increasingly sophisticated, multi-phased and multi-faceted campaign in Iraq.

In the holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq, al-Sadr's militia was in control of government, police and spiritual sites, a coalition source said. Al-Sadr also was busing followers into Najaf from Sadr City, a Baghdad neighborhood, according to the coalition source, who said that many members of his outlawed militia, Mehdi's Army, were from surrounding provinces. Al-Sadr -- who is wanted on murder charges in connection with the killing of a rival last year -- reportedly has taken refuge in the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines. A posting on al-Sadr's Web site said he has called for a general strike.

Cuba’s Forgotten Prisoners

Apr 6, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

The 41-year-old man sits in a filthy 18-by-24-foot cell that he shares with 10 other prisoners. He knows he is fortunate because up to 18 men are routinely squeezed in cells of that size.... The water is rationed and the little that is available is contaminated. His food rations are meager and substandard. He suffers from chronic gastrointestinal conditions, which have worsened since his imprisonment. He now suffers from parasites, high cholesterol, hypertension, and has lost 20 pounds.

Jorge Olivera Castillo is one of the 300 political prisoners inside Cuba's jails, yet the world seems blind to their plight.

 

There is no international outcry about his living conditions.

 

No visits from the International Red Cross since 1989.

 

No congressional delegations or pop-ins from Greek Orthodox patriarchs or Robert Redford, Sean Penn,
Danny Glover, Oliver Stone, or Harry Belafonte.

 

Nor--even though he is black--any support from the NAACP, whose leader Kweise Mfume visited Cuba in 2002 on a "goodwill mission."

 

There is no outcry from the National Writer's Union, whose pet prisoner is Mumia Abul Jamal.

Mr. Olivera was arrested on March 18, 2003, during Cuba's greatest crackdown on independent journalists and dissidents, when 75 persons were arrested. This occurred the day after the 59th Session of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights convened in Geneva....

Cuba denies that it holds any prisoners of conscience and says that all inmates described as political prisoners are merely common criminals.

European Union Fascism: E.U. Should Leave Microsoft Alone

Apr 4, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

Once again Microsoft is being attacked for its success. This time the perpetrator is not the U.S. government but the European Union, which is demanding that Microsoft remove Media Player from Windows and pay a fine of $600 million. This is another unjustifiable assault on Microsoft's property rights. Microsoft, like any other company, should have the right to decide what features should or should not be included in its products.

The alleged justification for the European Union's assault on Microsoft is that it "has abused its virtual monopoly power" and engaged in "unfair" competition by making its Media Player an integral part of its operating system. But there is nothing abusive or unfair in taking advantage of one's earned market share to offer customers a better deal than the competition. In fact, the only thing that is abusive and unfair in this case is the government's use of force to penalize one company in order to help its less efficient competitors.

Need Creates Rights?

Apr 3, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

Syracuse University now says we need to spend $26,000 per pupil to ensure an "adequate" education ["$10B May Not Be Enough To Fix Schools," William F. Hammond Jr., New York, March 26, 2004]. This would mean an extra $16.5 billion or so for New York City's 1.1 million pupils.

Back on March 2, 2004, we were told it would cost us only an extra $9.6 billion, and before that, merely an extra $6 billion. But as Assemblyman Steven Sanders said, "It's not a matter of what the state can afford...it's a matter of finding how much money is required to achieve a level of adequacy."

If we entitle people to something no matter the cost, we shouldn't be surprised when costs increase without limit. As I wrote to you then, if we have the option of arbitrarily proposing ends with total disregard for means, why stop at $9.6 billion? Why not $20 billion? $200 billion?

Why not just wish adequate education into existence and save the trouble and expense of having schools? The bankrupt idea that a need creates a right always leads to failure, for it places wishes above facts. And isn't that the very essence of dishonesty?

Public schools, Ms. Moskowitz says, cannot expect to receive a large cash infusion if state legislators and the public do not trust the city to spend the money wisely. She says that when [Joel] Klein came aboard as schools chancellor, she told him: "You need to think of yourself as having inherited the former Soviet Union. No matter how good you are, and no matter how smart and committed, it's not capitalism."

Which Foreign Leaders Support Kerry?

Apr 3, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has attacked Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a dubious democrat hostile to U.S. interests, delivering a slap in the face to the leftist leader who had portrayed Kerry as a potential friend. The Kerry statement on his Web site made front-page news in Venezuela on Monday, nearly two weeks after Chavez had publicly praised the Democrat contender, hailing his health care plans and likening him to assassinated U.S. President John Kennedy. 

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad endorsed Democratic contender John Kerry in the U.S. presidential race Thursday, saying he would keep the world safer than President Bush. "I think Kerry would be much more willing to listen to the voices of people and of the rest of the world," Mahathir, who retired in October after 22 years in power, told The Associated Press in an interview. "But in the U.S., the Jewish lobby is very strong, and any American who wants to become president cannot change the policy toward Palestine radically," he said.

"John Kerry rejects any association with former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an avowed anti-Semite whose views are totally deplorable. The world needs leaders who seek to bring people together, not drive them apart with hateful and divisive rhetoric. "This election will be decided by the American people, and the American people alone. It is simply not appropriate for any foreign leader to endorse a candidate in America's presidential election. John Kerry does not seek, and will not accept, any such endorsements."

Black History Month vs. Condoleezza Rice

Apr 2, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

A friend of mine from Arkansas writes the following: "Thought you'd appreciate this little anecdote. A co-worker of mine has a daughter in public elementary school, here in Pine Bluff. They're still doing Black History Month stuff, apparently, because the kids were told to come to class dressed as a famous (and presumably accomplished) African-American. My co-worker's kid was told to come as Tina Turner. My co-worker informed the teacher that her child would come as Condoleezza Rice instead. The teacher refused to allow it, on grounds that Rice 'is for white people.' Nice, huh?"

Hamas: Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss

Apr 2, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

From his hospital bed on June 10, 2003, after suffering light shrapnel wounds following an Israeli missile strike on his car in
Gaza City: "By God, we will not leave one Jew in Palestine. We will fight them with all the strength we have. This is our land, not the Jews."

"I congratulate them. They will teach the Jewish mothers in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and everywhere that our blood is not cheap."

"There is no difference between Akko, Haifa, Gaza, Jaffa, or Nablus. The Palestinian Intifada will continue until the last Zionist is banished." 

The land of Palestine is an Arab, Islamic land which was occupied with the force of weapons by the Jewish Zionists and we will not get it back except with the force of weapons. 

Much rests on the assertion that Yassin was on the spiritual, not military or operational-side of Hamas. Perhaps [New York] Times editors should read their own copy.

In the April 4, 2002 issue, the paper ran a front-page interview in which Hamas "political" leaders argued, in their own words, that they ran the "military" side of the operation.

In "Mideast Turmoil: Gaza; Arabs' Grief in Bethlehem,Bombers' Gloating in Gaza," by Joel Brinkley, Hamas political leaders boasted that they decide "when their followers should attack and when they should back off."

One "political" leader,Dr.Abdel Aziz Rantisi--yesterday named as the new Hamas leader in Gaza--told the Times that he generates attacks by making public statements that are followed by the group's military wing, "because we are the political leaders."

According to the Times, "analysts here suggest that the leaders' roles are actually more direct. During the 45-minute interview in Sheik Yassin's compound, for example, aides twice brought him urgent news about developments in Ramallah, and he issued clear, direct orders."

The false distinction implied by designating Yassin a "spiritual" leader was not lost on the European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, who denounced the Israeli action as contravening international law. The EU foreign ministers said the assassination was an "extrajudicial killing," a charge that is based on the assumption that Yassin was a noncombatant and therefore entitled to a trial rather than a summary execution.

Steamed Condoleezza Rice

Mar 31, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

After days of intense pressure, the White House on Tuesday agreed to allow national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify publicly and under oath before the commission investigating the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Miss Cleo Does Airport Security

Mar 30, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

A self-described psychic's tip that a bomb might be on a plane prompted a search with bomb-sniffing dogs that turned up nothing suspicious, but forced the cancellation of the flight. American Airlines Flight 1304 at Southwest Florida International Airport was canceled Friday because some crew members had exceeded their work hours by the time the search was finished, officials said.

We have the most sophisticated weapon/bomb screening devices ever created, but I doubt they are much good when controlled by new-age mystics.

One Nation, Under No God

Mar 30, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

Iraqi Islamism Watch: Majority Rule

Mar 30, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

Al-Sadr railed against the United States' occupation of Iraq. "I seek the spread of freedom and democracy in the way that satisfies God," he said. "They have planned and paved the ways for a long time, but it is God who is the real planner -- and the proof of this is the fall of the American twin towers." He then referred to the September 11 attacks as "a miracle from God." "As we say, 'The rain starts with a drop,' " he said. [Emphasis added]

Sheik Sahib Abdullah Warwar Qureishi is a wakil, or religious representative. He is one of about 200 in Baghdad who answer to Sistani, many of them providing the organizational power behind the campaign's momentum. [...] Some of the youngest of the sheik's followers pleaded for more direct action. "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line," said Jawad Rumi, 33. "The shortest distance from Earth to Heaven is jihad." [...]

Jassim Jazairi, a 35-year-old cleric in a black turban, runs the branch of the Murtada Foundation on Baghdad's Palestine Street, one of two in the capital.[...]

"Even now, when we hold forums and we talk about [Sistani's] reservations, the people almost respond with violence," Jazairi said. "They're emotional, and they're ready to act."

Jazairi predicted that protests would come next, to force amendments to the constitution. He insisted they would stay nonviolent -- "peaceful resistance," as he put it. To him, they were another step in the politicization of the Shiite community, led by the clergy. [Emphasis added]

The United States should demand that the new Iraqi constitution include an explicit separation of state and Islam. The threat posed by a new regime in which Islamic fundamentalism has political power is unacceptable. It makes no sense to have gone to war to overthrow a secular tyranny only to replace it with a religious one that is potentially far more dangerous to America. But to make such a demand would require the current administration to identify Islamic fundamentalism as our ideological enemy and to recognize that the separation of state and religion is a crucial requirement of freedom not only in Iraq, but here in America as well.

JAMIE S. GORELICK, commission member: And would you agree that our principal adversary right now is Islamic extremists and jihadists? COLIN L. POWELL, U.S. secretary of state: I would say that they are the source of most of the terrorist threats that we are facing.

Caving In to China

Mar 29, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

[L]ast Saturday, China was working hard to keep Washington from allowing the freely expressed sentiments of the Taiwanese to influence American policy. China's foreign minister,Li Zhaoxing,called Secretary of State Powell on the telephone, pressing him "to stick to the one-China policy." According to a Chinese government spokesman, Mr. Powell "reiterated U.S. support for Beijing's insistence that Taiwan is a part of one China, governed by the mainland," deliberately misstating American policy.

A rebuttal from Washington would be helpful. The "one China" policy America adheres to does not accept that Beijing governs Taiwan. American policy seeks the peaceful resolution of the conflict and neither supports nor opposes Taiwan's independence.

Exposing “Social Promotion”

Mar 29, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

In "Mayor Forces End of Social Promotion," an unidentified "student representative" announces, "People shouldn't be fired for what they believe in." Oh, really? So then the Pope shouldn't be fired if he decided that Catholicism was wrong? And Democrats shouldn't vote for Kerry, because then we'd be firing Bush because of what he believes in?

A person should be judged by what he believes in. Unless he is a hypocrite, he acts on his convictions. When someone's beliefs and actions place him in irreconcilable conflict with the institution that has hired or appointed him, he should be summarily dismissed. That was the case with those on the education panel who would have voted to continue the nefarious practice of "social promotion." Mayor Bloomberg showed courage and integrity in firing those panelists.

Social promotion? How can someone call himself an educator when he believes that ignorance doesn't exist as long as we don't call it ignorance?

Character Assassination or Character Suicide?

Mar 28, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

I've noticed the Democrats are calling the Administration's response to Clarke "character assassination". Odd, considering the response has largely consisted of pointing out Clarke's own words. Wouldn't that more accurately be called "character suicide"?

On Clarke, Kerry said: "Every time somebody comes up and says something that this White House doesn't like, they don't answer the questions about it or show you the truth about it. They go into character assassination mode."

I don't know how good Clarke was at counter-terrorism, but as a media performer he is a total dummy. He seemed to think that he could claim the lucrative star role of Lead Bush Basher without anybody noticing the huge paper trail of statements he has left contradicting the argument in his book.

USC Receives $1 million Capitalism Ethics Grant from BB&T

Mar 27, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses

The University of South Carolina announced Wednesday a $1 million grant from North Carolina-based BB&T to promote the study of capitalism...

...USC will get the funds over the next couple years, said business school dean Joel Smith III, and will use the money to create a capitalism ethics class, a capitalism-focused professorship, a lecture series and a room in the business library dedicated to the works of authors that support free enterprise such as Ayn Rand.

John Allison, chairman and CEO of BB&T, said USC and the bank jointly developed the focus of the endowment. "If you look at a lot of business education programs, they do a good job of teaching people the technical part of business," Allison said. "But they don't often explain the philosophical foundations for capitalism, and anybody can make better decisions if they understand the context."