Beheading Internet Hoax

Benjamin Vanderford, 22, faked his own beheading!
He he posted the 55-second clip, which shows a knife sawing against his neck, on an online file-sharing network in May. It circulated in cyberspace before crossing over to major media, airing on television.

The tape, which carried an Arabic title that translates as “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Slaughters an American,” shows Vanderford sitting on a chair, his hands behind his back, rocking back and forth.

The tape then shows a hand with a knife cutting at the motionless man’s neck, but it did not show any militants.

It’s unbelievable how someone can go on and make a joke out of something like this. It’s totally disgusting.
But if goes to prove anything, it proves how easy it is to make up this stuff and fake it and that we shouldn’t believe stuff like this without it being researched and proven.

[Via ABC News, Al Jazeera]

US troops destroy Iraq’s ancient past

Irreplaceable historical sites and religious artefacts in Iraq are being destroyed by the US-led occupation forces.

Sites including Babylon, one of the world’s most renowned archaeological treasures, are being damaged by the occupation forces, according to minister Mufid al-Jazairi.

Heavy equipment, helicopters and other machinery used by Polish-led forces based at Babylon, 100km south of Baghdad, are causing irreparable harm, he said.

He also said workers employed by US contracting firm Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) had been digging and building in the area around Babylon, causing further damage.

What a shame!
These people simply have no respect or appreciation for such great world heritage!

[Source: Al Jazeera]

Anybody but Bush or Kerry

Ahmed Amr has this to say on the upcoming elections and the Muslim American votes:

“…why bother kicking Bush and his neocons out of office only to see them replaced by Kerry and his neo-branded neocons. Why should any American put up with the disgraceful sight of Kerry licking Ariel Sharon’s boots?

[…]

Over night, in the wake of the terror attacks of 9/11, I saw my status as an American reduced from first class citizenship to a second-class national of suspect origins…

[…]

Ask yourself a few simple questions. Does your government consider you less of an American than you were four years ago? Did you personally do anything to deserve a demotion to second class citizenship? Did the Democrats stand up for you when your civil rights were assaulted? Did Kerry or Edwards utter a word in your defense?

[…]

So, this November, vote your dreams, not your fears. Vote for the land you want your children to inherit and against political parties that cast you aside. Vote for Ralph Nader…”

Ahmed Amr

[Full Article: Anybody but Bush or Kerry]

The Case Against George W. Bush

“Does anyone really favor an administration that so shamelessly lies? One that so tenaciously clings to secrecy, not to protect the American people, but to protect itself? That so willfully misrepresents its true aims and so knowingly misleads the people from whom it derives its power? I simply cannot think so. And to come to the same conclusion does not make you guilty of swallowing some liberal critique of the Bush presidency, because that’s not what this is. This is the critique of a person who thinks that lying at the top levels of his government is abhorrent. Call it the honest guy’s critique of George W. Bush.

The most egregious examples OF distortion and misdirection – which the administration even now cannot bring itself to repudiate – involve our putative “War on Terror” and our subsequent foray into Iraq.

During his campaign for the presidency, Mr. Bush pledged a more “humble” foreign policy. “I would take the use of force very seriously,” he said. “I would be guarded in my approach.” Other countries would resent us “if we’re an arrogant nation.” He sniffed at the notion of “nation building.” “Our military is meant to fight and win wars. . . . And when it gets overextended, morale drops.” International cooperation and consensus building would be the cornerstone of a Bush administration’s approach to the larger world. Given candidate Bush’s remarks, it was hard to imagine him, as president, flipping a stiff middle finger at the world and charging off adventuring in the Middle East.”

Ron Reagan

This is just a small excerpt. You really should read the rest of the article: The Case Against George W. Bush

[Via Dianne]

Anti-Israel is not Anti-Semitic!

“Our government is pouring petrol on the flames by instructing its representatives around the world to stigmatize all criticism of its actions as anti-Semitism. This way it sticks the label of anti-Semitism on the entire world, from the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice to humanitarian organizations.

It is easy to create this confusion when one does not differentiate between ‘Jewish’ and ‘Israeli’. Everything becomes mixed up: anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, criticism of Israel, criticism of Sharon. Such a mix-up is convenient for those interested in manipulations, but it not good for the Jews. ‘Jew’ and ‘Israeli’ are not the same.

Israel is a state like any other state. It was indeed created by Jews and a majority of its citizens are Jews. But Israel is an independent and separate entity. It is permissible (and, in my opinion, desirable) to criticize the policy of our government, much as it is permissible for us to criticize that of any other state. There is no necessary connection between such criticism and anti-Semitism.”

Uri Avnery

[Via: Aron’s Israel Peace Weblog]

Sudan Sanctions

Now, call me ignorant or stupid even, but explain to me how UN sanctions on Sudan could help end the crisis that’s happening in Darfur?

The US and EU are pushing for these sanctions if the Sudan government doesn’t move in to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.

Darfur is a region as big as France, and Sudan is one of the poorest countries on Earth. How in hell are they supposed to get the necessary means to control this situation and solve it alone?
And instead of stepping in and helping them with whatever is possible, sanctions are imposed on them?
I really don’t see the logic in this.
How will that solve any problems?
Sanctions only affect the people of the country, not the governments, haven’t they learned this yet?!

I think that the US and EU should stop babbling and throwing blame and instead put their money where their mouths are and help end the crisis.

When the problem is solved, then maybe we can see who is to blame for it. But not now while thousands of people are dying.

Arab attitudes to US hardening

The Arab world’s opinion of the US has further deteriorated in the last two years over widespread impressions of an “unfair Middle East policy”, two new polls have found.

An overwhelming percentage of 3,300 Arabs polled said US policies, rather than American values, shaped their overall attitudes towards the US.

The polls underscored the frustrations with the Iraq war. The majority said the war would result in more chaos, more terrorism against the US, and less democracy.

Respondents answered “nothing at all” when asked to identify “the best thing that comes to mind” about America. Top responses to the “worst thing” about the US included “unfair Middle East policy”, US responsibility for “murdering Arabs” – primarily in Iraq – and the perception of US preoccupation with “Arab oil”.

[Source: Financial Times]

I Am Israel

The following is a short, succinct article that tells a lot, written by Hashem Said, a young Palestinian student in Washington State University, for which the paper – under pressure, as usual, from pro-Israeli activists – had to apologize.

This was forwarded to me back in 2002, and I stumbled upon it today while sniffing around my old emails, and I thought I’d share it with you guys here.

I am Israel
By Hashem Said
The Daily – Washington State University, Feb. 25, 2002

I am Israel – I came to a land without a people for a people without a land. Those people who happened to be here, had no right to be here, and my people showed them they had to leave or die, razing 480 Palestinian villages to the ground, erasing their history.

I am Israel – some of my people committed massacres and later became Prime Ministers to represent me. In 1948, Menachem Begin was in charge of the unit that slaughtered the inhabitants of Deir Yassin, including 100 men, women, and children. In 1953, Ariel Sharon led the slaughter of the inhabitants of Qibya, and in 1982 arranged for our allies to butcher around 2,000 in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla.

Continue reading I Am Israel

Why Al-Qaeda wants President Bush to be re-elected

Aaron Swartz presents three reasons why Al-Qaeda wants President Bush to be re-elected.

  1. Reuters reported a letter from an al-Qaeda group that said “it supported U.S. President George W. Bush in his reelection campaign, and would prefer him to win in November rather than the Democratic candidate John Kerry, as it was not possible to find a leader ‘more foolish than you (Bush), who deals with matters by force rather than with wisdom.
  2. A top CIA expert on al-Qaeda has concluded that al-Qaeda loves President Bush, and might go so far as to plan an election attack to rally the country around Bush.
  3. Even administration officials concede “al-Qaeda has morphed into a loose and expanding association of regional terror cells [and] the Iraq war has fueled rather than doused the fires of jihad.”

I truly agree.
I think President Bush is doing more harm than good. He is fueling the growth of such terrorist organizations through the use of dumb force and creation of more hatred towards the US throughout the world.

The situations Bush keeps creating are the ideal ones for an organization like Al Qaeda to grow and recruit more and more members.
Of course they’d want him to stay.

[Via Boing Boing]