hi,
could everyone in the astonomy club do me a favor? could you all re-introduce
yourselves? i'll start. my name is ash, i'm from ohio, i love to watch
meteors,comets,nebulas and all of the galaxies. i'm trying to find some
constellations where i live but i haven't been out much. the skies here are
great, the coldest days are usually the clearest but right now its rather warm.
p.s.
yevett i thought you might me interested in reading c.s. lewis's books the first
one is called "out of the silent planet"
peace,
ash
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
hi,
could everyone in the astonomy club do me a favor? could you all re-introduce
yourselves? i'll start. my name is ash, i'm from ohio, i love to watch
meteors,comets,nebulas and all of the galaxies. i'm trying to find some
constellations where i live but i haven't been out much. the skies here are
great, the coldest days are usually the clearest but right now its rather warm.
oh, one more thing, everyone interested in space should get daniel greene's book
"the elegant universe" its very good and rather interesting. if your like me and
don't like to spend money just get it from the library.
p.s.
yevett i thought you might me interested in reading c.s. lewis's books the first
one is called "out of the silent planet"
peace,
ash
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Charlene here plattsburgh,NY
--- ash bob <volcanicash_13@...> wrote:
> hi,
> could everyone in the astonomy club do me a favor?
> could you all re-introduce yourselves? i'll start.
> my name is ash, i'm from ohio, i love to watch
> meteors,comets,nebulas and all of the galaxies. i'm
> trying to find some constellations where i live but
> i haven't been out much. the skies here are great,
> the coldest days are usually the clearest but right
> now its rather warm. oh, one more thing, everyone
> interested in space should get daniel greene's book
> "the elegant universe" its very good and rather
> interesting. if your like me and don't like to spend
> money just get it from the library.
>
> p.s.
> yevett i thought you might me interested in reading
> c.s. lewis's books the first one is called "out of
> the silent planet"
>
> peace,
> ash
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
http://shopping.yahoo.com
Alrighty then...
Name here is Yvette hailing from PA, my main activities
astronomically involves analyzing a lot of Mars pictures for an
Intel Science Talent Search project. It will likely not be finished
in time for the deadline (less then three weeks away, eep) but for
now, that's what I'm up to. I also do a good deal of Ham radio so
lately I've been doing a lot of predicting the effects of those
solar flares for the local Hams... I also saw the aurora a couple
nights ago for the first time! Exciting stuff.
Clear skies and later days,
Yvette
PS- Ash, thanks for the book suggestion, I'll look into it!
--- In astroteenagers@yahoogroups.com, ash bob <volcanicash_13@y...>
wrote:
> hi,
> could everyone in the astonomy club do me a favor? could you all
re-introduce yourselves? i'll start. my name is ash, i'm from ohio,
i love to watch meteors,comets,nebulas and all of the galaxies. i'm
trying to find some constellations where i live but i haven't been
out much. the skies here are great, the coldest days are usually the
clearest but right now its rather warm. oh, one more thing, everyone
interested in space should get daniel greene's book "the elegant
universe" its very good and rather interesting. if your like me and
don't like to spend money just get it from the library.
>
> p.s.
> yevett i thought you might me interested in reading c.s. lewis's
books the first one is called "out of the silent planet"
>
> peace,
> ash
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hi I AM thabith m/18 from India.. once was active in the group but now As my
exams ar russhing in I preffer to be a silent reader... but I never am thinking
to be out of the group... I will be there to help u ppl and seek help from
simultaneously... at present I completed my 12th grade and am now preparing for
entrance test of aerospace engineering in the indian institute of tech.
my ambition is to become a scientist... and serve the world
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hey that is how i am, I dont have time to write in
these clubs!
--- GES HU <guess_hu3123@...> wrote:
>
> Hi I AM thabith m/18 from India.. once was active
> in the group but now As my exams ar russhing in I
> preffer to be a silent reader... but I never am
> thinking to be out of the group... I will be there
> to help u ppl and seek help from simultaneously...
> at present I completed my 12th grade and am now
> preparing for entrance test of aerospace engineering
> in the indian institute of tech.
>
> my ambition is to become a scientist... and serve
> the world
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears
http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Personals
- New people, new possibilities. FREE for a limited time!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
If you delete this ... you seriously don't have a heart.
This is 100k Hong Kong send to the world people's emails, Forward in Nov.
My dear internet friend:
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Attacks the Hong Kong police-terrorist needs the world people's power.
Please one people forward 10 emails to the world and forward one email to the
Hong Kong government ceo@... .
100k*1m*10m*100m.....
Thanks my dear internet friend.
Help! Hong Kong police-terrorist's use Brain Voice Read / Write Machine Murder
Hong Kong people's.
Hong Kong police use Brain Voice Read / Write Machine Murder Hong Kong people's,
100% true story, please send e-mail your dear people and the local news,
100K*1M*10M*100M....., thank my dear Internet friend.
Hong Kong police terrorist organization:
The devil machine made in England, the Hong Kong police now use, install the
police communication network, 24 hours murder Hong Kong people'S, this murder
defeat, exposes the Hong Kong police terrorist organization.
By the 2001-1-1~2003-11-1 34 months, murder by the police knew that:
1. installs the small machine in the Hong Kong people's head ----- installs is
extremely easy, not to have the voice to be troublesome, the victim did not
feel.
2. Input/output voice ----- input/output the voice extremely clearly, in the
mountain, the sewer, the elevator, input - output voice is extremely clear, does
not use the dry battery.
3. Murder Hong Kong people's ----- terrorists is the Hong Kong police up to 50,
murder many Hong Kong people's up to 2 years.
Hong Kong people twaaaaa 2003-11-3
English search engine: enaaaaa
Brain Voice Read / Write Machine photo: http://enaaaaa.why.to
Chinese photo : http://twaaaaa.why.to
Hong Kong government.
Chief Executive : http://www.info.gov.hk/ce/eindex.htm E-mail :
ceo@...
Letter to the Hong Kong government
Chief Executive is Mr Tung Chee Hwa
====+====+====+====+==== 24 Month
Legislative Council members ( 60 ) Mr / Ms
====+====+====+====+==== 24 Month
The Commissioner of Police is Mr Tsang Yam Pui
====+====+====+====+====+==== 29 Month
---------------------------------
Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo!Messenger
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
WHAT?
--- "Shadi Fadda [f_shadi@...]"
<m00n_shy@...> wrote:
>
> To reply: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/f_shadi/
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Dear Group Members,
> I am the owner of this group, and for last few
> weeks my e-mail
> address was used illegally by Zionist hackers, in
> sending junk mail,
> # of them a day to hundreds of mailing lists/groups,
> trying to make
> my e-mail listed as junk, at least by those who
> didn't read them. I
> thought this (the one you received today blaming
> f_shadi@...
> to be a Zionist hacker) to be a nice example just it
> was too stupid.
> The sender of the mail as you could see (in From:)
> was put to be me
> f_shadi@... and the same one is blamed (I was
> sending people
> an e-mail blaming myself). In this case hacker was
> not smart enough,
> so I felt it would be good to show my members how
> successful to us,
> and disturbing to Zionists, is spreading of daily
> news "truth" from
> inside Palestine!
> Yours,
> Shadi
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
http://shopping.yahoo.com
BAGHDAD, IRAQ — If you want to feel the pulse of a city — or so the saying goes
— talk to local cabbies. Personally, I've found this advice rather ill-advised
in New York, where taxi drivers are more likely to offer some alarming
conspiracy theory than rough-hewn wisdom from the street. In Baghdad, though,
the chestnut is true: Cabbies are good meters of public opinion. Ranging from
working-class guys to teachers and other professionals forced by economic
hardship to drive for a living, these men are generally honest and observant.
Best of all, they're mostly pro-American.
When asked about their opinion of the U.S., drivers will smile, brush their
palms together in a "good riddance" gesture and crow, "Saddam gone! America
good!" Others will flash the thumbs-up gesture and exclaim, "America, thank
you!" One cabbie became so worked up over the liberation of his country, he
exclaimed, "We love U.S.A., do you believe me? They bring us freedom! We need
U.S.A!" Worried, perhaps, that I was not American (I try to avoid revealing my
nationality unless directly questioned), he added, "We also need Britain, Spain,
Poland — even Turkey!"
Some cabbies, however, take a more temperate view of the U.S. "America not good,
not bad," one driver mused. "Right now good, because they want what we want. But
in the future — ?" Another told me, "Bush finish Saddam — good. Now America go
home" — a sentiment echoed by many of his colleagues. Others express qualified
support for the occupation, but complain about the slow restoration of law and
order: "Iraq people very tired. When will America bring peace?"
Occasionally, you meet cabbies who are straightforwardly anti-U.S. "America no
good," one maintained. "We thought when American people come we sleep safe in
our homes. But no, Iraqi people very afraid. When I drive, my mother prays I
have no troubles with thieves, fedayeen, the U.S. Army." The more critical the
hack, I've found, the greater the chances he is a Sunni Muslim: Long favored by
Saddam, Sunnis stand the most to lose in a democratic Iraq, where power will
almost certainly shift to the more numerous Shias. This, in part, explains one
Sunni's diatribe: "America good only for America, not Iraqi people. Where are
their promises of security, jobs, peace? Where is freedom?" When I asked what
"freedom" meant he replied, "Good government respectful of Islam — not freedom
to drink alcohol on the streets or believe what you want or have women do what
they want." I had the feeling this last possibility was the real scenario he
feared.
Still, even the most anti-American drivers treat me with respect. Which is good,
considering that cabs are my main means of transport (unlike many NGOs and
high-profile journalists, I can't afford to thunder around town in a
dreadnought-like SUV). They are ubiquitous, these groaning, rattling,
overheating Volkswagen Passants, Chevy Malibus, and Nissan Sunny Super Saloons,
each car a marvel of mechanical persistence in the face of ten years of
crippling sanctions. Windows fail to open, upholstery is torn or nonexistent,
shocks are gone, while exhaust fumes frequently seep into the vehicle's
interior, adding another nuance to Baghdad's palette of aromas. The windshields
of many cabs are spider webbed with cracks and bullet holes from the war: In one
cab, you could actually trace the trajectory of projectiles as they pierced the
front window and burrowed into the upholstery of the backseat. By the same
token, even though newer cabs increasingly appear on Baghdad streets, many
drivers — and their fares, as well — prefer these broken-down jalopies,
believing they make less-attractive targets for carjackers and thieves.
Cabbies work 12-hour shifts, making around $7.50 working days, and $8.00 working
nights — a "good:" amount, one driver told me. Fares are incredibly cheap: to
travel four miles from my hotel to Coalition headquarters I offer $2.00 — an
amount some Iraqi hacks have actually refused, claiming it's too much.
(Fortunately for these drivers, gas is also inexpensive, around 15 cents a
gallon.) In a small, but telling, detail of Iraqi life, a single passenger rides
in the front seat — to sit in the back, New York-style, implies that you are
somehow subservient to the driver, a gaffe abhorrent to the Arab sense of
egalitarianism.
Not everyone agrees with my informal cab poll. An Iraqi woman critical of both
the U.S. and her own people argues that "Iraqis always curry favor from
whoever's in power. If Saddam ever came back, the taxi drivers would sing `Oh,
Father Saddam, we love you." Perhaps (although I doubt it). Still, how would she
explain this cabbie, perhaps my most memorable in Baghdad to date? A big, burly,
genial fellow, he picked me up on al-Rasheed Street, his Super Saloon festooned
with strips of artificial flowers and the familiar 1970's rock-star-like images
of the Shia icons Hussein and Ali. When I asked for his opinion on the
occupation, he bellowed, "U.S. good! U.S. fantastic!" After I revealed that I
was American, he cried, "God bless President Bush!" Calling Karl Rove, I
thought.
Over the tape-recorded sermons of a Shia cleric, my driver related how last
spring he took his two children on a pilgrimage to the holy cities of Karbala
and Najaf, something he couldn't do under Saddam. "I was so happy, my family
happy!" His comments began tumbling out one after another. First he criticized
"Arab media — Al-Jazeera and Arabia TV. They only say bad things about U.S.,
only talk about bombs and killing Americans. Never about how things are growing
in Iraq, getting better." Then he turned to the entire Arab world. "They fear
Iraq will become a democracy, then every country will want to become democratic
and the rulers will be in trouble-they only want people with one thought, one
mind." As for Iraq's future, he had great optimism, provided that the new
constitution included religious freedom for everyone — "Muslims, Christians,
Jews, because Mohammad said 'Let there be no forcing of religion.' Mohammad said
we are all brothers and to kill a man is to kill your brother."
By the time I reached my hotel, I had a Koran-sized lump in my throat. I peeled
off a wad of dinars, but the cabbie refused to take the money. After I implored
him to accept payment, he finally took the bills, slipped them in his shirt
pocket, then took them out and handed them back to me. "You give me the money,
now I give it back to you — a gift to my friend from America." Then, turning up
the volume on the imam's sermon, he gave me a big missing-toothed smile and
drove off in a cloud of exhaust. Watching him disappear into traffic, I had
tears in my eyes, and they weren't from the Baghdad smog.
This September, as the U.K. outlawed Hamas, the Hamas publication Filisteen
Almuslima (Muslim Palestine) continued to be published in and distributed from
London to the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. In fact, the cover of the
September issue carries the horrifying picture of the bloody casualties and the
dissevered No. 2 bus in Jerusalem, as well as the glorified image of the
homicide bomber who murdered 23 innocent civilians, many of them babies, and
wounded 136. Inside, the magazine praises and justifies the terrorist attack
against Israelis and glorifies the terrorist, Raid Misk, as a heroic role model
for potential homicide bombers against oppressors of Islam everywhere. It quotes
the Koranic verse, which according to Hamas, givesIslamic religious
justification for homicide bombings:
Among the believers, there are men who have been true to their covenant with
Allah: some of them [have already fulfilled their vows and] found their death
[in battle]; and some still wait [their turn]. However, they have not in any way
broken [their vows]. [Surah 33 (al-Ahzab), verse 23]
And Filisteen Almuslima is not the only Islamist magazine published in and
distributed from England — inciting hate, spreading anti-Western, anti-American,
anti-Semitic messages, with pro-jihad, pro-terrorist propaganda and calls for
homicide bombings. Risalat al-Ikhwan (Message of the Brotherhood) is also a
London publication with Muslim subscribers worldwide. This magazine serves as
center stage for spreading radical Islamist ideology in the best tradition of
the Muslim Brotherhood. This Egyptian terrorist organization was outlawed by
Gamal Abd al-Nasser in the 1950s, and despite its influence on Hamas and other
internationally outlawed terrorist organizations, it is still out in the open in
Western countries.
On August 20, 2003, Risalat al-Ikhwan carried a letter by the Muslim
Brotherhood's head, Muhammad Mamoun al-Hudeibi, stating:
the Americans, armed with weapons of mass destruction, intend to destroy and
devastate Iraq as well as... eliminate and force out millions of Iraqis, in
order to put their hands on the Iraqi oil and redefine the map of the region in
a way which will reflect its division and rift.
Al-Hudeibi ends his letter by calling on all Arab Muslims to "raise the banner
of jihad."
In another statement yet, al-Hudeibi wrote:
...we need to remember that this nefarious attack [on Iraq] by the forces of
evil and heresy against our nation is not a matter of recent years alone...
[But] victory has always belonged to truth and to those fighting for it, those
who have demonstrated patience and strength of will, fought a holy war...Oh,
youth of Islam, oh, ye clerics, oh, my brothers... there can be no victory
without sacrifice, no domination without jihad.
The U.K. has become a global hub for Islamist propaganda. These and similar
publications and their affiliated websites also raise funds for jihad. Yet,
bringing these to the attention of the British authorities has resulted, thus
far, in the statement: "We're looking into it." They had better be; waiting for
another 9/11 (or Bali, or...) is no strategy for fighting terrorism.
The prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, informed the world this month,
among other things, that "Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to
fight and die for them." Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. national security adviser,
described Mahathir's comments as "hateful, they are outrageous."
But she then added, "I don't think they are emblematic of the Muslim world." If
only she were right about that.
In fact, Mahathir's views are precisely emblematic of current Muslim discourse
about Jews - symbolized by the standing ovation his speech received from an
all-Muslim audience of leaders representing 57 states. Then, a Saudi newspaper
reports, when Western leaders criticized Mahathir, "Muslim leaders closed ranks"
around him with words of praise ("very correct," "a very, very wise
assessment").
Although anti-Jewish sentiments among Muslims go back centuries, today's
hostility results from two main developments: Jewish success in modern times and
the establishment of Israel. Until about 1970, however, Muslim resentment
remained relatively quiet.
But in the 1970s, political radicalization combined with an oil boom gave states
like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Libya the will and the means to sponsor
anti-Jewish ideas worldwide. With barely a Muslim voice to counter
ever-more-outlandish theories, these multiplied and deepened. For the first
time, the Muslim world became the main locus of anti-Jewish theories.
By now, notes Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America, "Hatred of
Jews is widespread throughout the Muslim world. It is taught in the schools and
preached in the mosques. Cartoons in Muslim newspapers routinely portray Jews in
blatantly anti-Semitic terms."
Indeed, Mahathir is hardly the only Muslim ruler to make anti-Jewish statements.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said in 2001 that Israelis try "to kill the
principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus
Christ." The Iranian ayatollahs and Saudi princes have a rich history of
anti-Jewish venom, as of course do Egyptian television and Palestinian
textbooks.
Of the myriad examples, one stands out for me: a June 2002 interview on Saudi TV
with a 3-year-old girl named Basmallah, made available by the Middle East Media
and Research Institute:
Anchor: Basmallah, are you familiar with the Jews?
Basmallah: Yes.
Anchor: Do you like them?
Basmallah: No.
Anchor: Why don't you like them?
Basmallah: Because . . .
Anchor: Because they are what?
Basmallah: They're apes and pigs.
Anchor: Because they are apes and pigs. Who said they are so?
Basmallah: Our God.
Anchor: Where did he say this?
Basmallah: In the Koran.
The little girl is wrong about the Koran, but her words show that, contrary to
Rice's analysis, Muslim anti-Semitism extends even to the youngest children.
That Mahathir himself is no Islamist but (in the words of New York Times
columnist Paul Krugman) "about as forward-looking a Muslim leader as we're
likely to find" also points to the pervasiveness of anti-Jewish bias.
In its attitudes toward Jews, the Muslim world today resembles Germany of the
1930s - a time when state-sponsored insults, caricatures, conspiracy theories
and sporadic violence prepared Germans for the mass murder that followed.
The same might be happening today. Wild accusatory comments like Mahathir's have
become banal. Against Israelis, violence has already reached a rate approaching
one death per day over the past three years. Outside Israel, violence against
Jews is also persistent: a Jewish building blown up in Argentina, Daniel Pearl's
murder in Pakistan, stabbings in France, the Brooklyn Bridge and LAX killings in
the United States.
These episodes, plus calling Jews "apes and pigs," could serve as the
psychological preparation that one day leads to assaulting Israel with weapons
of mass destruction. Armaments chemical, biological and nuclear would be the
successors of Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Dachau. Millions of Jews would perish in
another Holocaust.
As in the 1930s, the world at large - including the U.S. government - again
seems not to note the deadliness of processes now underway. Anti-Jewish rhetoric
and violence are decried, to be sure, but with little sense of urgency and even
less of their cumulative impact.
Condoleezza Rice and other top-ranking officials need to recognize the power and
reach of the anti-Jewish ideology inculcated among Muslims, then develop active
ways to fight it. This evil has already taken innocent lives; unless combated it
could take many more.
BAGHDAD, IRAQ — If you want to feel the pulse of a city — or so the saying goes
— talk to local cabbies. Personally, I've found this advice rather ill-advised
in New York, where taxi drivers are more likely to offer some alarming
conspiracy theory than rough-hewn wisdom from the street. In Baghdad, though,
the chestnut is true: Cabbies are good meters of public opinion. Ranging from
working-class guys to teachers and other professionals forced by economic
hardship to drive for a living, these men are generally honest and observant.
Best of all, they're mostly pro-American.
When asked about their opinion of the U.S., drivers will smile, brush their
palms together in a "good riddance" gesture and crow, "Saddam gone! America
good!" Others will flash the thumbs-up gesture and exclaim, "America, thank
you!" One cabbie became so worked up over the liberation of his country, he
exclaimed, "We love U.S.A., do you believe me? They bring us freedom! We need
U.S.A!" Worried, perhaps, that I was not American (I try to avoid revealing my
nationality unless directly questioned), he added, "We also need Britain, Spain,
Poland — even Turkey!"
Some cabbies, however, take a more temperate view of the U.S. "America not good,
not bad," one driver mused. "Right now good, because they want what we want. But
in the future — ?" Another told me, "Bush finish Saddam — good. Now America go
home" — a sentiment echoed by many of his colleagues. Others express qualified
support for the occupation, but complain about the slow restoration of law and
order: "Iraq people very tired. When will America bring peace?"
Occasionally, you meet cabbies who are straightforwardly anti-U.S. "America no
good," one maintained. "We thought when American people come we sleep safe in
our homes. But no, Iraqi people very afraid. When I drive, my mother prays I
have no troubles with thieves, fedayeen, the U.S. Army." The more critical the
hack, I've found, the greater the chances he is a Sunni Muslim: Long favored by
Saddam, Sunnis stand the most to lose in a democratic Iraq, where power will
almost certainly shift to the more numerous Shias. This, in part, explains one
Sunni's diatribe: "America good only for America, not Iraqi people. Where are
their promises of security, jobs, peace? Where is freedom?" When I asked what
"freedom" meant he replied, "Good government respectful of Islam — not freedom
to drink alcohol on the streets or believe what you want or have women do what
they want." I had the feeling this last possibility was the real scenario he
feared.
Still, even the most anti-American drivers treat me with respect. Which is good,
considering that cabs are my main means of transport (unlike many NGOs and
high-profile journalists, I can't afford to thunder around town in a
dreadnought-like SUV). They are ubiquitous, these groaning, rattling,
overheating Volkswagen Passants, Chevy Malibus, and Nissan Sunny Super Saloons,
each car a marvel of mechanical persistence in the face of ten years of
crippling sanctions. Windows fail to open, upholstery is torn or nonexistent,
shocks are gone, while exhaust fumes frequently seep into the vehicle's
interior, adding another nuance to Baghdad's palette of aromas. The windshields
of many cabs are spider webbed with cracks and bullet holes from the war: In one
cab, you could actually trace the trajectory of projectiles as they pierced the
front window and burrowed into the upholstery of the backseat. By the same
token, even though newer cabs increasingly appear on Baghdad streets, many
drivers — and their fares, as well — prefer these broken-down jalopies,
believing they make less-attractive targets for carjackers and thieves.
Cabbies work 12-hour shifts, making around $7.50 working days, and $8.00 working
nights — a "good:" amount, one driver told me. Fares are incredibly cheap: to
travel four miles from my hotel to Coalition headquarters I offer $2.00 — an
amount some Iraqi hacks have actually refused, claiming it's too much.
(Fortunately for these drivers, gas is also inexpensive, around 15 cents a
gallon.) In a small, but telling, detail of Iraqi life, a single passenger rides
in the front seat — to sit in the back, New York-style, implies that you are
somehow subservient to the driver, a gaffe abhorrent to the Arab sense of
egalitarianism.
Not everyone agrees with my informal cab poll. An Iraqi woman critical of both
the U.S. and her own people argues that "Iraqis always curry favor from
whoever's in power. If Saddam ever came back, the taxi drivers would sing `Oh,
Father Saddam, we love you." Perhaps (although I doubt it). Still, how would she
explain this cabbie, perhaps my most memorable in Baghdad to date? A big, burly,
genial fellow, he picked me up on al-Rasheed Street, his Super Saloon festooned
with strips of artificial flowers and the familiar 1970's rock-star-like images
of the Shia icons Hussein and Ali. When I asked for his opinion on the
occupation, he bellowed, "U.S. good! U.S. fantastic!" After I revealed that I
was American, he cried, "God bless President Bush!" Calling Karl Rove, I
thought.
Over the tape-recorded sermons of a Shia cleric, my driver related how last
spring he took his two children on a pilgrimage to the holy cities of Karbala
and Najaf, something he couldn't do under Saddam. "I was so happy, my family
happy!" His comments began tumbling out one after another. First he criticized
"Arab media — Al-Jazeera and Arabia TV. They only say bad things about U.S.,
only talk about bombs and killing Americans. Never about how things are growing
in Iraq, getting better." Then he turned to the entire Arab world. "They fear
Iraq will become a democracy, then every country will want to become democratic
and the rulers will be in trouble-they only want people with one thought, one
mind." As for Iraq's future, he had great optimism, provided that the new
constitution included religious freedom for everyone — "Muslims, Christians,
Jews, because Mohammad said 'Let there be no forcing of religion.' Mohammad said
we are all brothers and to kill a man is to kill your brother."
By the time I reached my hotel, I had a Koran-sized lump in my throat. I peeled
off a wad of dinars, but the cabbie refused to take the money. After I implored
him to accept payment, he finally took the bills, slipped them in his shirt
pocket, then took them out and handed them back to me. "You give me the money,
now I give it back to you — a gift to my friend from America." Then, turning up
the volume on the imam's sermon, he gave me a big missing-toothed smile and
drove off in a cloud of exhaust. Watching him disappear into traffic, I had
tears in my eyes, and they weren't from the Baghdad smog.
The prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, informed the world this month,
among other things, that "Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to
fight and die for them." Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. national security adviser,
described Mahathir's comments as "hateful, they are outrageous."
But she then added, "I don't think they are emblematic of the Muslim world." If
only she were right about that.
In fact, Mahathir's views are precisely emblematic of current Muslim discourse
about Jews - symbolized by the standing ovation his speech received from an
all-Muslim audience of leaders representing 57 states. Then, a Saudi newspaper
reports, when Western leaders criticized Mahathir, "Muslim leaders closed ranks"
around him with words of praise ("very correct," "a very, very wise
assessment").
Although anti-Jewish sentiments among Muslims go back centuries, today's
hostility results from two main developments: Jewish success in modern times and
the establishment of Israel. Until about 1970, however, Muslim resentment
remained relatively quiet.
But in the 1970s, political radicalization combined with an oil boom gave states
like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Libya the will and the means to sponsor
anti-Jewish ideas worldwide. With barely a Muslim voice to counter
ever-more-outlandish theories, these multiplied and deepened. For the first
time, the Muslim world became the main locus of anti-Jewish theories.
By now, notes Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America, "Hatred of
Jews is widespread throughout the Muslim world. It is taught in the schools and
preached in the mosques. Cartoons in Muslim newspapers routinely portray Jews in
blatantly anti-Semitic terms."
Indeed, Mahathir is hardly the only Muslim ruler to make anti-Jewish statements.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said in 2001 that Israelis try "to kill the
principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus
Christ." The Iranian ayatollahs and Saudi princes have a rich history of
anti-Jewish venom, as of course do Egyptian television and Palestinian
textbooks.
Of the myriad examples, one stands out for me: a June 2002 interview on Saudi TV
with a 3-year-old girl named Basmallah, made available by the Middle East Media
and Research Institute:
Anchor: Basmallah, are you familiar with the Jews?
Basmallah: Yes.
Anchor: Do you like them?
Basmallah: No.
Anchor: Why don't you like them?
Basmallah: Because . . .
Anchor: Because they are what?
Basmallah: They're apes and pigs.
Anchor: Because they are apes and pigs. Who said they are so?
Basmallah: Our God.
Anchor: Where did he say this?
Basmallah: In the Koran.
The little girl is wrong about the Koran, but her words show that, contrary to
Rice's analysis, Muslim anti-Semitism extends even to the youngest children.
That Mahathir himself is no Islamist but (in the words of New York Times
columnist Paul Krugman) "about as forward-looking a Muslim leader as we're
likely to find" also points to the pervasiveness of anti-Jewish bias.
In its attitudes toward Jews, the Muslim world today resembles Germany of the
1930s - a time when state-sponsored insults, caricatures, conspiracy theories
and sporadic violence prepared Germans for the mass murder that followed.
The same might be happening today. Wild accusatory comments like Mahathir's have
become banal. Against Israelis, violence has already reached a rate approaching
one death per day over the past three years. Outside Israel, violence against
Jews is also persistent: a Jewish building blown up in Argentina, Daniel Pearl's
murder in Pakistan, stabbings in France, the Brooklyn Bridge and LAX killings in
the United States.
These episodes, plus calling Jews "apes and pigs," could serve as the
psychological preparation that one day leads to assaulting Israel with weapons
of mass destruction. Armaments chemical, biological and nuclear would be the
successors of Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Dachau. Millions of Jews would perish in
another Holocaust.
As in the 1930s, the world at large - including the U.S. government - again
seems not to note the deadliness of processes now underway. Anti-Jewish rhetoric
and violence are decried, to be sure, but with little sense of urgency and even
less of their cumulative impact.
Condoleezza Rice and other top-ranking officials need to recognize the power and
reach of the anti-Jewish ideology inculcated among Muslims, then develop active
ways to fight it. This evil has already taken innocent lives; unless combated it
could take many more.
This September, as the U.K. outlawed Hamas, the Hamas publication Filisteen
Almuslima (Muslim Palestine) continued to be published in and distributed from
London to the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. In fact, the cover of the
September issue carries the horrifying picture of the bloody casualties and the
dissevered No. 2 bus in Jerusalem, as well as the glorified image of the
homicide bomber who murdered 23 innocent civilians, many of them babies, and
wounded 136. Inside, the magazine praises and justifies the terrorist attack
against Israelis and glorifies the terrorist, Raid Misk, as a heroic role model
for potential homicide bombers against oppressors of Islam everywhere. It quotes
the Koranic verse, which according to Hamas, givesIslamic religious
justification for homicide bombings:
Among the believers, there are men who have been true to their covenant with
Allah: some of them [have already fulfilled their vows and] found their death
[in battle]; and some still wait [their turn]. However, they have not in any way
broken [their vows]. [Surah 33 (al-Ahzab), verse 23]
And Filisteen Almuslima is not the only Islamist magazine published in and
distributed from England — inciting hate, spreading anti-Western, anti-American,
anti-Semitic messages, with pro-jihad, pro-terrorist propaganda and calls for
homicide bombings. Risalat al-Ikhwan (Message of the Brotherhood) is also a
London publication with Muslim subscribers worldwide. This magazine serves as
center stage for spreading radical Islamist ideology in the best tradition of
the Muslim Brotherhood. This Egyptian terrorist organization was outlawed by
Gamal Abd al-Nasser in the 1950s, and despite its influence on Hamas and other
internationally outlawed terrorist organizations, it is still out in the open in
Western countries.
On August 20, 2003, Risalat al-Ikhwan carried a letter by the Muslim
Brotherhood's head, Muhammad Mamoun al-Hudeibi, stating:
the Americans, armed with weapons of mass destruction, intend to destroy and
devastate Iraq as well as... eliminate and force out millions of Iraqis, in
order to put their hands on the Iraqi oil and redefine the map of the region in
a way which will reflect its division and rift.
Al-Hudeibi ends his letter by calling on all Arab Muslims to "raise the banner
of jihad."
In another statement yet, al-Hudeibi wrote:
...we need to remember that this nefarious attack [on Iraq] by the forces of
evil and heresy against our nation is not a matter of recent years alone...
[But] victory has always belonged to truth and to those fighting for it, those
who have demonstrated patience and strength of will, fought a holy war...Oh,
youth of Islam, oh, ye clerics, oh, my brothers... there can be no victory
without sacrifice, no domination without jihad.
The U.K. has become a global hub for Islamist propaganda. These and similar
publications and their affiliated websites also raise funds for jihad. Yet,
bringing these to the attention of the British authorities has resulted, thus
far, in the statement: "We're looking into it." They had better be; waiting for
another 9/11 (or Bali, or...) is no strategy for fighting terrorism.
BAGHDAD, IRAQ — If you want to feel the pulse of a city — or so the saying goes
— talk to local cabbies. Personally, I've found this advice rather ill-advised
in New York, where taxi drivers are more likely to offer some alarming
conspiracy theory than rough-hewn wisdom from the street. In Baghdad, though,
the chestnut is true: Cabbies are good meters of public opinion. Ranging from
working-class guys to teachers and other professionals forced by economic
hardship to drive for a living, these men are generally honest and observant.
Best of all, they're mostly pro-American.
When asked about their opinion of the U.S., drivers will smile, brush their
palms together in a "good riddance" gesture and crow, "Saddam gone! America
good!" Others will flash the thumbs-up gesture and exclaim, "America, thank
you!" One cabbie became so worked up over the liberation of his country, he
exclaimed, "We love U.S.A., do you believe me? They bring us freedom! We need
U.S.A!" Worried, perhaps, that I was not American (I try to avoid revealing my
nationality unless directly questioned), he added, "We also need Britain, Spain,
Poland — even Turkey!"
Some cabbies, however, take a more temperate view of the U.S. "America not good,
not bad," one driver mused. "Right now good, because they want what we want. But
in the future — ?" Another told me, "Bush finish Saddam — good. Now America go
home" — a sentiment echoed by many of his colleagues. Others express qualified
support for the occupation, but complain about the slow restoration of law and
order: "Iraq people very tired. When will America bring peace?"
Occasionally, you meet cabbies who are straightforwardly anti-U.S. "America no
good," one maintained. "We thought when American people come we sleep safe in
our homes. But no, Iraqi people very afraid. When I drive, my mother prays I
have no troubles with thieves, fedayeen, the U.S. Army." The more critical the
hack, I've found, the greater the chances he is a Sunni Muslim: Long favored by
Saddam, Sunnis stand the most to lose in a democratic Iraq, where power will
almost certainly shift to the more numerous Shias. This, in part, explains one
Sunni's diatribe: "America good only for America, not Iraqi people. Where are
their promises of security, jobs, peace? Where is freedom?" When I asked what
"freedom" meant he replied, "Good government respectful of Islam — not freedom
to drink alcohol on the streets or believe what you want or have women do what
they want." I had the feeling this last possibility was the real scenario he
feared.
Still, even the most anti-American drivers treat me with respect. Which is good,
considering that cabs are my main means of transport (unlike many NGOs and
high-profile journalists, I can't afford to thunder around town in a
dreadnought-like SUV). They are ubiquitous, these groaning, rattling,
overheating Volkswagen Passants, Chevy Malibus, and Nissan Sunny Super Saloons,
each car a marvel of mechanical persistence in the face of ten years of
crippling sanctions. Windows fail to open, upholstery is torn or nonexistent,
shocks are gone, while exhaust fumes frequently seep into the vehicle's
interior, adding another nuance to Baghdad's palette of aromas. The windshields
of many cabs are spider webbed with cracks and bullet holes from the war: In one
cab, you could actually trace the trajectory of projectiles as they pierced the
front window and burrowed into the upholstery of the backseat. By the same
token, even though newer cabs increasingly appear on Baghdad streets, many
drivers — and their fares, as well — prefer these broken-down jalopies,
believing they make less-attractive targets for carjackers and thieves.
Cabbies work 12-hour shifts, making around $7.50 working days, and $8.00 working
nights — a "good:" amount, one driver told me. Fares are incredibly cheap: to
travel four miles from my hotel to Coalition headquarters I offer $2.00 — an
amount some Iraqi hacks have actually refused, claiming it's too much.
(Fortunately for these drivers, gas is also inexpensive, around 15 cents a
gallon.) In a small, but telling, detail of Iraqi life, a single passenger rides
in the front seat — to sit in the back, New York-style, implies that you are
somehow subservient to the driver, a gaffe abhorrent to the Arab sense of
egalitarianism.
Not everyone agrees with my informal cab poll. An Iraqi woman critical of both
the U.S. and her own people argues that "Iraqis always curry favor from
whoever's in power. If Saddam ever came back, the taxi drivers would sing `Oh,
Father Saddam, we love you." Perhaps (although I doubt it). Still, how would she
explain this cabbie, perhaps my most memorable in Baghdad to date? A big, burly,
genial fellow, he picked me up on al-Rasheed Street, his Super Saloon festooned
with strips of artificial flowers and the familiar 1970's rock-star-like images
of the Shia icons Hussein and Ali. When I asked for his opinion on the
occupation, he bellowed, "U.S. good! U.S. fantastic!" After I revealed that I
was American, he cried, "God bless President Bush!" Calling Karl Rove, I
thought.
Over the tape-recorded sermons of a Shia cleric, my driver related how last
spring he took his two children on a pilgrimage to the holy cities of Karbala
and Najaf, something he couldn't do under Saddam. "I was so happy, my family
happy!" His comments began tumbling out one after another. First he criticized
"Arab media — Al-Jazeera and Arabia TV. They only say bad things about U.S.,
only talk about bombs and killing Americans. Never about how things are growing
in Iraq, getting better." Then he turned to the entire Arab world. "They fear
Iraq will become a democracy, then every country will want to become democratic
and the rulers will be in trouble-they only want people with one thought, one
mind." As for Iraq's future, he had great optimism, provided that the new
constitution included religious freedom for everyone — "Muslims, Christians,
Jews, because Mohammad said 'Let there be no forcing of religion.' Mohammad said
we are all brothers and to kill a man is to kill your brother."
By the time I reached my hotel, I had a Koran-sized lump in my throat. I peeled
off a wad of dinars, but the cabbie refused to take the money. After I implored
him to accept payment, he finally took the bills, slipped them in his shirt
pocket, then took them out and handed them back to me. "You give me the money,
now I give it back to you — a gift to my friend from America." Then, turning up
the volume on the imam's sermon, he gave me a big missing-toothed smile and
drove off in a cloud of exhaust. Watching him disappear into traffic, I had
tears in my eyes, and they weren't from the Baghdad smog.
The prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, informed the world this month,
among other things, that "Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to
fight and die for them." Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. national security adviser,
described Mahathir's comments as "hateful, they are outrageous."
But she then added, "I don't think they are emblematic of the Muslim world." If
only she were right about that.
In fact, Mahathir's views are precisely emblematic of current Muslim discourse
about Jews - symbolized by the standing ovation his speech received from an
all-Muslim audience of leaders representing 57 states. Then, a Saudi newspaper
reports, when Western leaders criticized Mahathir, "Muslim leaders closed ranks"
around him with words of praise ("very correct," "a very, very wise
assessment").
Although anti-Jewish sentiments among Muslims go back centuries, today's
hostility results from two main developments: Jewish success in modern times and
the establishment of Israel. Until about 1970, however, Muslim resentment
remained relatively quiet.
But in the 1970s, political radicalization combined with an oil boom gave states
like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Libya the will and the means to sponsor
anti-Jewish ideas worldwide. With barely a Muslim voice to counter
ever-more-outlandish theories, these multiplied and deepened. For the first
time, the Muslim world became the main locus of anti-Jewish theories.
By now, notes Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America, "Hatred of
Jews is widespread throughout the Muslim world. It is taught in the schools and
preached in the mosques. Cartoons in Muslim newspapers routinely portray Jews in
blatantly anti-Semitic terms."
Indeed, Mahathir is hardly the only Muslim ruler to make anti-Jewish statements.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said in 2001 that Israelis try "to kill the
principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus
Christ." The Iranian ayatollahs and Saudi princes have a rich history of
anti-Jewish venom, as of course do Egyptian television and Palestinian
textbooks.
Of the myriad examples, one stands out for me: a June 2002 interview on Saudi TV
with a 3-year-old girl named Basmallah, made available by the Middle East Media
and Research Institute:
Anchor: Basmallah, are you familiar with the Jews?
Basmallah: Yes.
Anchor: Do you like them?
Basmallah: No.
Anchor: Why don't you like them?
Basmallah: Because . . .
Anchor: Because they are what?
Basmallah: They're apes and pigs.
Anchor: Because they are apes and pigs. Who said they are so?
Basmallah: Our God.
Anchor: Where did he say this?
Basmallah: In the Koran.
The little girl is wrong about the Koran, but her words show that, contrary to
Rice's analysis, Muslim anti-Semitism extends even to the youngest children.
That Mahathir himself is no Islamist but (in the words of New York Times
columnist Paul Krugman) "about as forward-looking a Muslim leader as we're
likely to find" also points to the pervasiveness of anti-Jewish bias.
In its attitudes toward Jews, the Muslim world today resembles Germany of the
1930s - a time when state-sponsored insults, caricatures, conspiracy theories
and sporadic violence prepared Germans for the mass murder that followed.
The same might be happening today. Wild accusatory comments like Mahathir's have
become banal. Against Israelis, violence has already reached a rate approaching
one death per day over the past three years. Outside Israel, violence against
Jews is also persistent: a Jewish building blown up in Argentina, Daniel Pearl's
murder in Pakistan, stabbings in France, the Brooklyn Bridge and LAX killings in
the United States.
These episodes, plus calling Jews "apes and pigs," could serve as the
psychological preparation that one day leads to assaulting Israel with weapons
of mass destruction. Armaments chemical, biological and nuclear would be the
successors of Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Dachau. Millions of Jews would perish in
another Holocaust.
As in the 1930s, the world at large - including the U.S. government - again
seems not to note the deadliness of processes now underway. Anti-Jewish rhetoric
and violence are decried, to be sure, but with little sense of urgency and even
less of their cumulative impact.
Condoleezza Rice and other top-ranking officials need to recognize the power and
reach of the anti-Jewish ideology inculcated among Muslims, then develop active
ways to fight it. This evil has already taken innocent lives; unless combated it
could take many more.
This September, as the U.K. outlawed Hamas, the Hamas publication Filisteen
Almuslima (Muslim Palestine) continued to be published in and distributed from
London to the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. In fact, the cover of the
September issue carries the horrifying picture of the bloody casualties and the
dissevered No. 2 bus in Jerusalem, as well as the glorified image of the
homicide bomber who murdered 23 innocent civilians, many of them babies, and
wounded 136. Inside, the magazine praises and justifies the terrorist attack
against Israelis and glorifies the terrorist, Raid Misk, as a heroic role model
for potential homicide bombers against oppressors of Islam everywhere. It quotes
the Koranic verse, which according to Hamas, givesIslamic religious
justification for homicide bombings:
Among the believers, there are men who have been true to their covenant with
Allah: some of them [have already fulfilled their vows and] found their death
[in battle]; and some still wait [their turn]. However, they have not in any way
broken [their vows]. [Surah 33 (al-Ahzab), verse 23]
And Filisteen Almuslima is not the only Islamist magazine published in and
distributed from England — inciting hate, spreading anti-Western, anti-American,
anti-Semitic messages, with pro-jihad, pro-terrorist propaganda and calls for
homicide bombings. Risalat al-Ikhwan (Message of the Brotherhood) is also a
London publication with Muslim subscribers worldwide. This magazine serves as
center stage for spreading radical Islamist ideology in the best tradition of
the Muslim Brotherhood. This Egyptian terrorist organization was outlawed by
Gamal Abd al-Nasser in the 1950s, and despite its influence on Hamas and other
internationally outlawed terrorist organizations, it is still out in the open in
Western countries.
On August 20, 2003, Risalat al-Ikhwan carried a letter by the Muslim
Brotherhood's head, Muhammad Mamoun al-Hudeibi, stating:
the Americans, armed with weapons of mass destruction, intend to destroy and
devastate Iraq as well as... eliminate and force out millions of Iraqis, in
order to put their hands on the Iraqi oil and redefine the map of the region in
a way which will reflect its division and rift.
Al-Hudeibi ends his letter by calling on all Arab Muslims to "raise the banner
of jihad."
In another statement yet, al-Hudeibi wrote:
...we need to remember that this nefarious attack [on Iraq] by the forces of
evil and heresy against our nation is not a matter of recent years alone...
[But] victory has always belonged to truth and to those fighting for it, those
who have demonstrated patience and strength of will, fought a holy war...Oh,
youth of Islam, oh, ye clerics, oh, my brothers... there can be no victory
without sacrifice, no domination without jihad.
The U.K. has become a global hub for Islamist propaganda. These and similar
publications and their affiliated websites also raise funds for jihad. Yet,
bringing these to the attention of the British authorities has resulted, thus
far, in the statement: "We're looking into it." They had better be; waiting for
another 9/11 (or Bali, or...) is no strategy for fighting terrorism.
BAGHDAD, IRAQ — If you want to feel the pulse of a city — or so the saying goes
— talk to local cabbies. Personally, I've found this advice rather ill-advised
in New York, where taxi drivers are more likely to offer some alarming
conspiracy theory than rough-hewn wisdom from the street. In Baghdad, though,
the chestnut is true: Cabbies are good meters of public opinion. Ranging from
working-class guys to teachers and other professionals forced by economic
hardship to drive for a living, these men are generally honest and observant.
Best of all, they're mostly pro-American.
When asked about their opinion of the U.S., drivers will smile, brush their
palms together in a "good riddance" gesture and crow, "Saddam gone! America
good!" Others will flash the thumbs-up gesture and exclaim, "America, thank
you!" One cabbie became so worked up over the liberation of his country, he
exclaimed, "We love U.S.A., do you believe me? They bring us freedom! We need
U.S.A!" Worried, perhaps, that I was not American (I try to avoid revealing my
nationality unless directly questioned), he added, "We also need Britain, Spain,
Poland — even Turkey!"
Some cabbies, however, take a more temperate view of the U.S. "America not good,
not bad," one driver mused. "Right now good, because they want what we want. But
in the future — ?" Another told me, "Bush finish Saddam — good. Now America go
home" — a sentiment echoed by many of his colleagues. Others express qualified
support for the occupation, but complain about the slow restoration of law and
order: "Iraq people very tired. When will America bring peace?"
Occasionally, you meet cabbies who are straightforwardly anti-U.S. "America no
good," one maintained. "We thought when American people come we sleep safe in
our homes. But no, Iraqi people very afraid. When I drive, my mother prays I
have no troubles with thieves, fedayeen, the U.S. Army." The more critical the
hack, I've found, the greater the chances he is a Sunni Muslim: Long favored by
Saddam, Sunnis stand the most to lose in a democratic Iraq, where power will
almost certainly shift to the more numerous Shias. This, in part, explains one
Sunni's diatribe: "America good only for America, not Iraqi people. Where are
their promises of security, jobs, peace? Where is freedom?" When I asked what
"freedom" meant he replied, "Good government respectful of Islam — not freedom
to drink alcohol on the streets or believe what you want or have women do what
they want." I had the feeling this last possibility was the real scenario he
feared.
Still, even the most anti-American drivers treat me with respect. Which is good,
considering that cabs are my main means of transport (unlike many NGOs and
high-profile journalists, I can't afford to thunder around town in a
dreadnought-like SUV). They are ubiquitous, these groaning, rattling,
overheating Volkswagen Passants, Chevy Malibus, and Nissan Sunny Super Saloons,
each car a marvel of mechanical persistence in the face of ten years of
crippling sanctions. Windows fail to open, upholstery is torn or nonexistent,
shocks are gone, while exhaust fumes frequently seep into the vehicle's
interior, adding another nuance to Baghdad's palette of aromas. The windshields
of many cabs are spider webbed with cracks and bullet holes from the war: In one
cab, you could actually trace the trajectory of projectiles as they pierced the
front window and burrowed into the upholstery of the backseat. By the same
token, even though newer cabs increasingly appear on Baghdad streets, many
drivers — and their fares, as well — prefer these broken-down jalopies,
believing they make less-attractive targets for carjackers and thieves.
Cabbies work 12-hour shifts, making around $7.50 working days, and $8.00 working
nights — a "good:" amount, one driver told me. Fares are incredibly cheap: to
travel four miles from my hotel to Coalition headquarters I offer $2.00 — an
amount some Iraqi hacks have actually refused, claiming it's too much.
(Fortunately for these drivers, gas is also inexpensive, around 15 cents a
gallon.) In a small, but telling, detail of Iraqi life, a single passenger rides
in the front seat — to sit in the back, New York-style, implies that you are
somehow subservient to the driver, a gaffe abhorrent to the Arab sense of
egalitarianism.
Not everyone agrees with my informal cab poll. An Iraqi woman critical of both
the U.S. and her own people argues that "Iraqis always curry favor from
whoever's in power. If Saddam ever came back, the taxi drivers would sing `Oh,
Father Saddam, we love you." Perhaps (although I doubt it). Still, how would she
explain this cabbie, perhaps my most memorable in Baghdad to date? A big, burly,
genial fellow, he picked me up on al-Rasheed Street, his Super Saloon festooned
with strips of artificial flowers and the familiar 1970's rock-star-like images
of the Shia icons Hussein and Ali. When I asked for his opinion on the
occupation, he bellowed, "U.S. good! U.S. fantastic!" After I revealed that I
was American, he cried, "God bless President Bush!" Calling Karl Rove, I
thought.
Over the tape-recorded sermons of a Shia cleric, my driver related how last
spring he took his two children on a pilgrimage to the holy cities of Karbala
and Najaf, something he couldn't do under Saddam. "I was so happy, my family
happy!" His comments began tumbling out one after another. First he criticized
"Arab media — Al-Jazeera and Arabia TV. They only say bad things about U.S.,
only talk about bombs and killing Americans. Never about how things are growing
in Iraq, getting better." Then he turned to the entire Arab world. "They fear
Iraq will become a democracy, then every country will want to become democratic
and the rulers will be in trouble-they only want people with one thought, one
mind." As for Iraq's future, he had great optimism, provided that the new
constitution included religious freedom for everyone — "Muslims, Christians,
Jews, because Mohammad said 'Let there be no forcing of religion.' Mohammad said
we are all brothers and to kill a man is to kill your brother."
By the time I reached my hotel, I had a Koran-sized lump in my throat. I peeled
off a wad of dinars, but the cabbie refused to take the money. After I implored
him to accept payment, he finally took the bills, slipped them in his shirt
pocket, then took them out and handed them back to me. "You give me the money,
now I give it back to you — a gift to my friend from America." Then, turning up
the volume on the imam's sermon, he gave me a big missing-toothed smile and
drove off in a cloud of exhaust. Watching him disappear into traffic, I had
tears in my eyes, and they weren't from the Baghdad smog.
The prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, informed the world this month,
among other things, that "Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to
fight and die for them." Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. national security adviser,
described Mahathir's comments as "hateful, they are outrageous."
But she then added, "I don't think they are emblematic of the Muslim world." If
only she were right about that.
In fact, Mahathir's views are precisely emblematic of current Muslim discourse
about Jews - symbolized by the standing ovation his speech received from an
all-Muslim audience of leaders representing 57 states. Then, a Saudi newspaper
reports, when Western leaders criticized Mahathir, "Muslim leaders closed ranks"
around him with words of praise ("very correct," "a very, very wise
assessment").
Although anti-Jewish sentiments among Muslims go back centuries, today's
hostility results from two main developments: Jewish success in modern times and
the establishment of Israel. Until about 1970, however, Muslim resentment
remained relatively quiet.
But in the 1970s, political radicalization combined with an oil boom gave states
like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Libya the will and the means to sponsor
anti-Jewish ideas worldwide. With barely a Muslim voice to counter
ever-more-outlandish theories, these multiplied and deepened. For the first
time, the Muslim world became the main locus of anti-Jewish theories.
By now, notes Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America, "Hatred of
Jews is widespread throughout the Muslim world. It is taught in the schools and
preached in the mosques. Cartoons in Muslim newspapers routinely portray Jews in
blatantly anti-Semitic terms."
Indeed, Mahathir is hardly the only Muslim ruler to make anti-Jewish statements.
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said in 2001 that Israelis try "to kill the
principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus
Christ." The Iranian ayatollahs and Saudi princes have a rich history of
anti-Jewish venom, as of course do Egyptian television and Palestinian
textbooks.
Of the myriad examples, one stands out for me: a June 2002 interview on Saudi TV
with a 3-year-old girl named Basmallah, made available by the Middle East Media
and Research Institute:
Anchor: Basmallah, are you familiar with the Jews?
Basmallah: Yes.
Anchor: Do you like them?
Basmallah: No.
Anchor: Why don't you like them?
Basmallah: Because . . .
Anchor: Because they are what?
Basmallah: They're apes and pigs.
Anchor: Because they are apes and pigs. Who said they are so?
Basmallah: Our God.
Anchor: Where did he say this?
Basmallah: In the Koran.
The little girl is wrong about the Koran, but her words show that, contrary to
Rice's analysis, Muslim anti-Semitism extends even to the youngest children.
That Mahathir himself is no Islamist but (in the words of New York Times
columnist Paul Krugman) "about as forward-looking a Muslim leader as we're
likely to find" also points to the pervasiveness of anti-Jewish bias.
In its attitudes toward Jews, the Muslim world today resembles Germany of the
1930s - a time when state-sponsored insults, caricatures, conspiracy theories
and sporadic violence prepared Germans for the mass murder that followed.
The same might be happening today. Wild accusatory comments like Mahathir's have
become banal. Against Israelis, violence has already reached a rate approaching
one death per day over the past three years. Outside Israel, violence against
Jews is also persistent: a Jewish building blown up in Argentina, Daniel Pearl's
murder in Pakistan, stabbings in France, the Brooklyn Bridge and LAX killings in
the United States.
These episodes, plus calling Jews "apes and pigs," could serve as the
psychological preparation that one day leads to assaulting Israel with weapons
of mass destruction. Armaments chemical, biological and nuclear would be the
successors of Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Dachau. Millions of Jews would perish in
another Holocaust.
As in the 1930s, the world at large - including the U.S. government - again
seems not to note the deadliness of processes now underway. Anti-Jewish rhetoric
and violence are decried, to be sure, but with little sense of urgency and even
less of their cumulative impact.
Condoleezza Rice and other top-ranking officials need to recognize the power and
reach of the anti-Jewish ideology inculcated among Muslims, then develop active
ways to fight it. This evil has already taken innocent lives; unless combated it
could take many more.
This September, as the U.K. outlawed Hamas, the Hamas publication Filisteen
Almuslima (Muslim Palestine) continued to be published in and distributed from
London to the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. In fact, the cover of the
September issue carries the horrifying picture of the bloody casualties and the
dissevered No. 2 bus in Jerusalem, as well as the glorified image of the
homicide bomber who murdered 23 innocent civilians, many of them babies, and
wounded 136. Inside, the magazine praises and justifies the terrorist attack
against Israelis and glorifies the terrorist, Raid Misk, as a heroic role model
for potential homicide bombers against oppressors of Islam everywhere. It quotes
the Koranic verse, which according to Hamas, givesIslamic religious
justification for homicide bombings:
Among the believers, there are men who have been true to their covenant with
Allah: some of them [have already fulfilled their vows and] found their death
[in battle]; and some still wait [their turn]. However, they have not in any way
broken [their vows]. [Surah 33 (al-Ahzab), verse 23]
And Filisteen Almuslima is not the only Islamist magazine published in and
distributed from England — inciting hate, spreading anti-Western, anti-American,
anti-Semitic messages, with pro-jihad, pro-terrorist propaganda and calls for
homicide bombings. Risalat al-Ikhwan (Message of the Brotherhood) is also a
London publication with Muslim subscribers worldwide. This magazine serves as
center stage for spreading radical Islamist ideology in the best tradition of
the Muslim Brotherhood. This Egyptian terrorist organization was outlawed by
Gamal Abd al-Nasser in the 1950s, and despite its influence on Hamas and other
internationally outlawed terrorist organizations, it is still out in the open in
Western countries.
On August 20, 2003, Risalat al-Ikhwan carried a letter by the Muslim
Brotherhood's head, Muhammad Mamoun al-Hudeibi, stating:
the Americans, armed with weapons of mass destruction, intend to destroy and
devastate Iraq as well as... eliminate and force out millions of Iraqis, in
order to put their hands on the Iraqi oil and redefine the map of the region in
a way which will reflect its division and rift.
Al-Hudeibi ends his letter by calling on all Arab Muslims to "raise the banner
of jihad."
In another statement yet, al-Hudeibi wrote:
...we need to remember that this nefarious attack [on Iraq] by the forces of
evil and heresy against our nation is not a matter of recent years alone...
[But] victory has always belonged to truth and to those fighting for it, those
who have demonstrated patience and strength of will, fought a holy war...Oh,
youth of Islam, oh, ye clerics, oh, my brothers... there can be no victory
without sacrifice, no domination without jihad.
The U.K. has become a global hub for Islamist propaganda. These and similar
publications and their affiliated websites also raise funds for jihad. Yet,
bringing these to the attention of the British authorities has resulted, thus
far, in the statement: "We're looking into it." They had better be; waiting for
another 9/11 (or Bali, or...) is no strategy for fighting terrorism.
i am SORRY everyone.. for all the junk mails everybody got from me....Actually i
didn't know who is f_shaadi@... and all about the zionist hacker thing.It
seems that somebody somewhere had been using my email.if u get msg like this
-->from:m00n_shy@... , "m00n_shy@..., that's definitely not me..i
get 1197 email messages per day myself..
Sorry.sory,sorry,sorry,sorry,sorry,sorry *1000000000
astroteenagers@yahoogroups.com wrote:
>
> Dear Group Members,
> I am the owner of this group, and for last few
> weeks my e-mail
> address was used illegally by Zionist hackers, in
> sending junk mail,
> # of them a day to hundreds of mailing lists/groups,
> trying to make
> my e-mail listed as junk, at least by those who
> didn't read them. I
> thought this (the one you received today blaming
> f_shadi@...
> to be a Zionist hacker) to be a nice example just it
> was too stupid.
> The sender of the mail as you could see (in From:)
> was put to be me
> f_shadi@... and the same one is blamed (I was
> sending people
> an e-mail blaming myself). In this case hacker was
> not smart enough,
> so I felt it would be good to show my members how
> successful to us,
> and disturbing to Zionists, is spreading of daily
> news "truth" from
> inside Palestine!
> Yours,
> Shadi
---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Ilmi sent you an eCard! To view your eCard, click on the following link:
http://www.00fun.com/lottasorry.shtml
---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
This September, as the U.K. outlawed Hamas, the Hamas publication Filisteen
Almuslima (Muslim Palestine) continued to be published in and distributed from
London to the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. In fact, the cover of the
September issue carries the horrifying picture of the bloody casualties and the
dissevered No. 2 bus in Jerusalem, as well as the glorified image of the
homicide bomber who murdered 23 innocent civilians, many of them babies, and
wounded 136. Inside, the magazine praises and justifies the terrorist attack
against Israelis and glorifies the terrorist, Raid Misk, as a heroic role model
for potential homicide bombers against oppressors of Islam everywhere. It quotes
the Koranic verse, which according to Hamas, givesIslamic religious
justification for homicide bombings:
Among the believers, there are men who have been true to their covenant with
Allah: some of them [have already fulfilled their vows and] found their death
[in battle]; and some still wait [their turn]. However, they have not in any way
broken [their vows]. [Surah 33 (al-Ahzab), verse 23]
And Filisteen Almuslima is not the only Islamist magazine published in and
distributed from England — inciting hate, spreading anti-Western, anti-American,
anti-Semitic messages, with pro-jihad, pro-terrorist propaganda and calls for
homicide bombings. Risalat al-Ikhwan (Message of the Brotherhood) is also a
London publication with Muslim subscribers worldwide. This magazine serves as
center stage for spreading radical Islamist ideology in the best tradition of
the Muslim Brotherhood. This Egyptian terrorist organization was outlawed by
Gamal Abd al-Nasser in the 1950s, and despite its influence on Hamas and other
internationally outlawed terrorist organizations, it is still out in the open in
Western countries.
On August 20, 2003, Risalat al-Ikhwan carried a letter by the Muslim
Brotherhood's head, Muhammad Mamoun al-Hudeibi, stating:
the Americans, armed with weapons of mass destruction, intend to destroy and
devastate Iraq as well as... eliminate and force out millions of Iraqis, in
order to put their hands on the Iraqi oil and redefine the map of the region in
a way which will reflect its division and rift.
Al-Hudeibi ends his letter by calling on all Arab Muslims to "raise the banner
of jihad."
In another statement yet, al-Hudeibi wrote:
...we need to remember that this nefarious attack [on Iraq] by the forces of
evil and heresy against our nation is not a matter of recent years alone...
[But] victory has always belonged to truth and to those fighting for it, those
who have demonstrated patience and strength of will, fought a holy war...Oh,
youth of Islam, oh, ye clerics, oh, my brothers... there can be no victory
without sacrifice, no domination without jihad.
The U.K. has become a global hub for Islamist propaganda. These and similar
publications and their affiliated websites also raise funds for jihad. Yet,
bringing these to the attention of the British authorities has resulted, thus
far, in the statement: "We're looking into it." They had better be; waiting for
another 9/11 (or Bali, or...) is no strategy for fighting terrorism.
This September, as the U.K. outlawed Hamas, the Hamas publication Filisteen
Almuslima (Muslim Palestine) continued to be published in and distributed from
London to the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. In fact, the cover of the
September issue carries the horrifying picture of the bloody casualties and the
dissevered No. 2 bus in Jerusalem, as well as the glorified image of the
homicide bomber who murdered 23 innocent civilians, many of them babies, and
wounded 136. Inside, the magazine praises and justifies the terrorist attack
against Israelis and glorifies the terrorist, Raid Misk, as a heroic role model
for potential homicide bombers against oppressors of Islam everywhere. It quotes
the Koranic verse, which according to Hamas, givesIslamic religious
justification for homicide bombings:
Among the believers, there are men who have been true to their covenant with
Allah: some of them [have already fulfilled their vows and] found their death
[in battle]; and some still wait [their turn]. However, they have not in any way
broken [their vows]. [Surah 33 (al-Ahzab), verse 23]
And Filisteen Almuslima is not the only Islamist magazine published in and
distributed from England — inciting hate, spreading anti-Western, anti-American,
anti-Semitic messages, with pro-jihad, pro-terrorist propaganda and calls for
homicide bombings. Risalat al-Ikhwan (Message of the Brotherhood) is also a
London publication with Muslim subscribers worldwide. This magazine serves as
center stage for spreading radical Islamist ideology in the best tradition of
the Muslim Brotherhood. This Egyptian terrorist organization was outlawed by
Gamal Abd al-Nasser in the 1950s, and despite its influence on Hamas and other
internationally outlawed terrorist organizations, it is still out in the open in
Western countries.
On August 20, 2003, Risalat al-Ikhwan carried a letter by the Muslim
Brotherhood's head, Muhammad Mamoun al-Hudeibi, stating:
the Americans, armed with weapons of mass destruction, intend to destroy and
devastate Iraq as well as... eliminate and force out millions of Iraqis, in
order to put their hands on the Iraqi oil and redefine the map of the region in
a way which will reflect its division and rift.
Al-Hudeibi ends his letter by calling on all Arab Muslims to "raise the banner
of jihad."
In another statement yet, al-Hudeibi wrote:
...we need to remember that this nefarious attack [on Iraq] by the forces of
evil and heresy against our nation is not a matter of recent years alone...
[But] victory has always belonged to truth and to those fighting for it, those
who have demonstrated patience and strength of will, fought a holy war...Oh,
youth of Islam, oh, ye clerics, oh, my brothers... there can be no victory
without sacrifice, no domination without jihad.
The U.K. has become a global hub for Islamist propaganda. These and similar
publications and their affiliated websites also raise funds for jihad. Yet,
bringing these to the attention of the British authorities has resulted, thus
far, in the statement: "We're looking into it." They had better be; waiting for
another 9/11 (or Bali, or...) is no strategy for fighting terrorism.
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