Garling Gauge

Al Qaeda Boy, 12, Beheads Man

All while crying out, ‘Allah o Akbar’ (god is great). The benefits of religion are truly endless.

Fox News BANS Guantanamo Ad With Danny Glover

Danny Glover on Constitutional Rights

Fox News doesn’t seem to like pokes at El’Presidente’. According to Talk Left:

This is a big week for the Center for Constitutional Rights with the Supreme Court about to hear oral arguments in the Guantanamo case, Al Odah v. United States. To raise consciousness on the case, it tried to buy an ad on Fox News.

Rescue the Constitution

James Oliphant of The Swamp described the event as follows.

A liberal advocacy group says Fox News has refused to air its ad, which depicts a replica of the Constitution being put through a shredder.

In the ad, actor Danny Glover says, “The Bush administration is destroying the Constitution. They can be stopped. Rescue the Constitution.”

The ad was developed by the Center for Constitutional Rights and was intended to run as a case involving detainees at Guantanamo Bay reaches the Supreme Court Wednesday. The center represents several detainees in the case. It is scheduled to run on MSNBC and CNN.

According the website Media Matters for America, Fox News sent the center an email saying the channel couldn’t run the ad seemingly because the center couldn’t prove that the actual Constitution, the document from 1789, was being physically shredded by the Bush adminstration.

The email reads:

We cannot approve the spot with it being Danny Glover’s opinion that the Bush Administration is destroying the Constitution. If you have documentation that it is indeed being destroyed, we can look at that. Sorry about that,

In response, the center’s executive director, Vincent Warren, said in a statement: “Fox’s literal interpretation of the ad is utterly ridiculous. To believe we are insinuating that President Bush has destroyed one of our most treasured historical documents is foolish and emblematic of the political bias of Murdoch’s media empire. Surely there are other advertisements that Fox airs that use metaphors to express their message—political or not.”

Sign the letter to send President Bush a copy of the Constitution for as a Christmas gift.

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Categories: Politics, Fox News, Terrorism

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Napolitano of Fox News Against Patriot Act

President George W Bush on March 9 signs document to renew the Patriot Act

Civil liberties in war time

- Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano makes an argument against the Patriot Act. Good for him.

A Nation of Sheep: I’m guessing this was shown at 4AM

Gentle reminder: VA Joe’s summary of the Patriot Act (edited):

The Patriot Act expanded the authority of U.S. law enforcement agencies in order to help them combat terrorism. Following are some of the provisions of the act:

• Increased ability of law enforcement agencies to search telephone and e-mail communications
• Increased ability of law enforcement agencies to search medical, financial and other records
• Eased restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering within the United States
• Expanded the Secretary of the Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions, particularly those involving foreign individuals and entities
• Enhanced the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related acts
• Expanded the definition of terrorism to include “domestic terrorism.” This new definition increased the number of activities to which the Patriot Act applies.

Argument of Support

The United States needs the Patriot Act to ensure its safety against terrorism. The Patriot Act does not unjustly impinge on civil liberties or violate the Constitution. To the contrary, without it our rights and liberties would be at greater risk. The Patriot Act is a necessary safeguard for America that addresses the realities of a post Sept. 11 world.

Argument Against

The Patriot Act goes too far in attempting to protect America, violating the Constitution and civil liberties. In particular, it goes too far by allowing indefinite detentions of immigrants; searches of homes and businesses without permission or knowledge of those being searched; expanded powers of the FBI to search telephone, email, and financial records without a court order; and the expanded access of law enforcement agencies to government records. Federal courts have ruled at least one provision of the act as unconstitutional.

A staunch libertarian, Napolitano is a supporter of Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul. Paul’s “Champion of the Constitution” message is appealing, especially after the constitutional breaches of the Bush administration, but his stance on social issues is troubling. He is against the death penalty though, so at least he’s making progress.

Andrew Napolitano at Future of Freedom Conference

Napolitano isn’t the only conservative voice against the patriot act. Read what others have to say here and here.

Motto in ‘Historical Review of Pennsylvania’, attributed to Ben Franklin

Help end the Patriot Act. Vote Democratic.

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Related Articles

• Brains Vs. Bravado: Hillary Vs. Bush on the ‘War on Terrorism’
• Another 9/11 Helps US?
• Iraq War: Why Defunding is Politically Viable
• Cheney Calls Invading Baghdad a Quagmire
• Alan Greenspan: Iraq War For Oil
• Rove: Iraq is Lose-Lose for Next President

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200603/11/eng20060311_249863.html
http://www.futureofthebook.com/stories/storyReader$605

Condoleezza Rice: U.S. Funds Iraqi Insurgency

….blah…blah….Yes….blah…blah….

Testifying at a congressional hearing on the Iraq war, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted that U.S. funding for the Iraqi government is being siphoned off to fund the insurgency.

Iraq Hearing with Secretary Rice

Chairman Waxman: “Is money that’s being taken from corruption, through corruption, from the Iraqi government funding the terrorists that are killing our troops?”

Rice: ……blah blah ………Yes……….blah blah…………

Bonus: Waxman raps Rice’s State Department

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Category: Iraq war
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Brains Vs. Bravado: Hillary Vs. Bush on the ‘War on Terrorism’

Republican vs. Democratic minds

Reported in Salon by Tim Grieve, Republican President Bush and Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton “have both just had the opportunity to address the war on terrorism in the context of a relatively sophisticated, academic discussion.

Suffice it to say, they used their opportunities differently.”

First we have excerpts from the president’s October 23, 2007 speech at the National Defense University:

” We’re at war with coldblooded killers who despise freedom, reject tolerance, and kill the innocent in pursuit of their political vision … And one of the real challenges we face is, will we have confidence in the liberty to be transformative? Will we lose faith in the universality of liberty? Will we ignore history and not realize that liberty has got the capacity to yield the peace we want? So this administration, along with many in our military, will continue to spread the hope of liberty, in order to defeat the ideology of darkness, the ideology of the terrorists — and work to secure a future of peace for generations to come. That’s our call.”

Compare the vague, emotional, dogmatic references made by the president to that of Sen. Clinton, responding to “Guardian America’s Michael Tomasky on whether terrorists ‘hate us for our freedoms’ or actually have ’specific geopolitical objectives.’ ”

“Well, I believe that terrorism is a tool that has been utilized throughout history to achieve certain objectives. Some have been ideological, others territorial. There are personality-driven terroristic objectives.

The bottom line is, you can’t lump all terrorists together. And I think we’ve got to do a much better job of clarifying what are the motivations, the raisons d’etre of terrorists. I mean, what the Tamil Tigers are fighting for in Sri Lanka, or the Basque separatists in Spain, or the insurgents in al-Anbar province may only be connected by tactics. They may not share all that much in terms of what is the philosophical or ideological underpinning.

And I think one of our mistakes has been painting with such a broad brush, which has not been particularly helpful in understanding what it is we were up against when it comes to those who pursue terrorism for whichever ends they’re seeking.”

Grieve asks if Bush’s talk of “coldblooded killers” plays better on the campaign trail, while “Clinton’s refusal to ‘lump all terrorists together’ suggest that she has thought about the issue in a slightly more penetrating way.”

When comparing the mindset of most reasonable beings compared with our current president, “slightly more penetrating” is the understatement of the year. Bush has demonstrated a predilection for broad ideals and obtuse decision making during his administration. More than one author of note have commented on his lack of curiosity about the world and the intricacies of public polices. Needless to say our president has earned a global recognition as a dummy.

Just before Clinton’s reelection to the Senate, Raymond Hernandez of the New York Times noted that “since taking office, Mrs. Clinton has managed to cultivate a bipartisan, above-the-fray image that has made her a surprisingly welcome figure in some New York Republican circles, even as she remains exceedingly popular with her liberal base.”

In addition, a September Pew Research Center poll show the public view Clinton as both smart and tough. “No other candidate – Democrat or Republican – comes close to Clinton in being linked with each of these traits.”

That combination is certainly helping her in the polls. Roger Simon of the Politico has written that unlike the 1992 election on the economy, in this election cycle, ‘it’s strength, stupid.’ But toughness won’t do it alone, as demonstrated by Bush’s disastrous Iraq policy and immature statements like “we’re kicking ass [in Iraq].” America is in dire need of a leader with thought on the global stage.

“Well, let’s put it this way”, wrote Grieve, “Can you imagine a reporter asking Bush — as Tomasky asked Clinton — whether he thought the war on Iraq fits “within the tradition we associate with Truman and Acheson”?

“And if a reporter were to ask such a question, can you imagine Bush answering by saying that ‘it’s hard to take what was a philosophy with respect to the use and containment of power during the Cold War and try to shoehorn it into a post-Cold War context’?”

Bush would never construct such a sentence. He would, as usual, speak broadly about the ‘global war on terror’ and how the United States will do whatever it takes regardless of the consequences. In essence, gobbledegook.

Bush approaches national threats and foreign policy as a fearful aggressor cloaked in the broad ideals of a misunderstood visionary, who’s only hope at redemption lies in his own posterity. A Truman on acid.

Our too-late-to-turn-back-now trailblazing president feels misunderstood by the masses ever since he turned the American nation-state into a schoolyard bully that doesn’t understand why he keeps losing friends: “Maybe if I win one more fight they’ll see things my way”.

Conversely, on the surface, Clinton appears to have a greater understanding of the intricacies of the world and the consequences of American policies. If the presidential winds continue blowing in her direction, we might just have a chance to compare how the nation and the world respond and fare to Clinton brains vs. Bush’s bravado.

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More on Hillary Clinton, Bush

• Bill Clinton Gauges the Republican Candidates
• Hillary Clinton Claims She Can See Invisible
• Carville Predicts Hillary Clinton Vs. Jeb Bush in ‘08

http://www.joemurray.com/bush_ear_debate.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/yvs454

Suicide Bombing As Western Art

Western culture gets bombed

America’s foreign policy decisions and focus on the Middle East is changing our culture.

Stopped at gunpoint in Logan International Airport in Boston, MIT student Star Simpson was arrested for wearing “fake bomb” art, consisting of a sweatshirt with wires, a battery, a circuit board, and lights. “Socket to me” and “Course VI” were written on the back, referring to MIT’s major in electrical engineering and computer science. She was charged with disturbing the peace and possessing a hoax device.

Simpson’s arrest is but another indication of evolving American culture absorbing and reflecting the effects of our foreign policy, terrorism, the Iraq war, and Middle East turmoil.

Fox News appears shocked that art would reflect reality

Just north of Washington, University of Calgary student Broadbent designed a suicide vest as a commentary on symbolism and current events. Excerpts from the Gauntlet:

“[This project is] about creating an object, an idea that is worth discussing,” explains Broadbent. “There are some statements built into this, but my first objective was to deal with relevant, current-day topics like the politics of the time, and to do it in a way that causes dialogue”

As it involves issues of race and religion, suicide bombing is also an extremely sensitive issue.

“I know that when you are dealing with an issue like this, that it is obviously racially sensitive,” he says. “But to raise it this way, is to raise it in a way that is not directed at any one ethnic group or any one religion specifically. I understand the sensitivity around this and I understand this is a serious topic. This has never at any time been a joke; it’s been a pretty serious endeavour.”

The Vest Chris Tait / the Gauntlet

Wearing a vest of her own, Suicide Bomber Barbie unites the extremes of Western culture’s perverse aesthetic idealism with tragic desperation. Excerpts from the Culture Net:

Bombs aren’t her only accessory. A bag with metal fragments finishes the look.

Simon Tyszko’s Suicide Bomber Barbie conflates Western commodification with Palestinian desperation. Religious and capitalist dogmas struggle within Barbie’s idealised form, in an artwork of potent incongruity. It is a work whose political stridency is tempered by a well placed humour.

By his appropriation of a consumerist icon, the artist creates an emphatic subversion of this process, the artist seeking to help create the conditions of political change.

A recent interview with a nine year old Palestinian girl had her saying she had wanted to be a doctor, but could now no longer study or sleep at night, and now only wanted to be a martyr. Tyszko says of her that ‘she has effectively bought the notion of suicide bombing as a lifestyle choice – it has become aspirational, an off the shelf peer led option.’

Suicide Bomber Barbie draws attention to certain kinds of moral, emotional, and political equivalence, which uncomfortably exist within the nationalistic and political systems that contain them. That these systems are dysfunctional, goes without saying.

Sadly, martyr Barbie was constructed half a decade ago, evidence of a historical influx of suicide bombing art. The infusion of suicide bombings in Western culture leading to the recent arrest of Star Simpson is evidently showing its effect.

A year after Suicide Bomber Barbie, the Greek newspaper Ta Nea reported on an art show glorifying a successful female suicide bomber who attacked a Jerusalem supermarket.

Caption quote of artist Alexandros Psychoulis: “I am trying to get into the psychology of a person who is preparing the vests which women wear in suicide attacks.”

Mary Adamopoulou explains the story behind it (edited):

First scene. A pregnant woman is pushing a cart in the supermarket. Next to her, knitted women’s vests with a lot of outside pockets like the ones worn by Palestinian women in suicide attacks are spread out. The apparent image of tranquility and peace stops when one glances further down. In the second scene:a blown up supermarket - shelves, products, human parts have become one.

A real story was the motivation for “Body Milk” a title that brings to mind both female cosmetics and human milk, according to Alexandros Psychoulis: that of an 18 year old Palestinian girl, Ayat Al Akra, who carried out a suicide bomb attack last March in a supermarket in Israel.

An army of women who in the past had carried out similar actions had chosen the supermarket as their place of action, whereas men primarily preferred cafes and buses. Why were women therefore choosing the market to express their greatest protest?

I observed my female friends. They feel at home and complete in the supermarket. I came to the conclusion that the supermarket is a woman’s space.

Perhaps because by her nature woman is a provider and the supermarket operates like a super female provider, magnifying woman’s nature. If she therefore blows herself up there, perhaps she will feel like she is magnifying her existence and her act.

Back on the US front, political cartoons have often been first to express the nation’s zeitgeist. Suicide bombing is prevalent here as well.

Daryl Cagle - Slate.com

While the West is free to create and publicize art depicting suicide bombing, it does not always go over well. Last year a Danish cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed’s turban as a lit bomb caused outrage in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Palestinian militants burn the Norwegian flag in a Gaza protest

Criticism was also reflected back:

“What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?” -Jordanian journalist

These artworks depicting suicide bombing have a beginning in the areas of the world most affected by them. A year before Suicide Bomber Barbie thought of leaving Ken in a bang, BBC reported that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat shut down an art exhibit recreation of a suicide bombing scene.

2001 art exhibition at An-Jajah University

The exhibition, at An-Najah University in the West Bank town of Nablus, was organised to mark the first anniversary of the Palestinian intifada.

A security official confirmed that Mr Arafat ordered the early closure of the show which featured a recreation of last month’s attack on a Jerusalem pizzeria.

“The president was gravely disturbed and offended by the images in the exhibit,” the official said.

Star Simpson’s artwork and arrest attest to the cultural infusion of suicide bombing as art and America’s self-created fear of terrorism. While for many suicide bombing is a real physical threat to contend with, our art and culture strongly reflect how our society’s mindset navigates the dangers of the world.

People have a choice as to how to respond to the world around us, including the dangers that we face. Fear can be a tool to gauge potential harm but can also be used as a tool of control, and of this we must be mindful.

FDR’s “The only thing we have to fear is, fear itself” comes to mind.

Listen to it:





19 year old MIT student Star Simpson & a close up of her artwork


What does the expression of suicide bombing in Western and American art mean, and how should we respond?


Suicide bombing is a sad and horrific aspect of human civilization, one that moderates, rationalists, and atheists can help mitigate, and one that America helps incite through an often dishonorable foreign policy.


When mass amounts of people do something crazy it is important to understand the influences behind that behavior.

Blowback. Many people get it. Many Republicans don’t.

I’ll let someone else summarize:

“There is one simple way for the United States to decrease very significantly, the plague of terror in the world, and that is just to stop supporting and participating in it.”

-Noam Chomsky, May 2002

• Another Ignorant President?
• Iraq War: Why Defunding is Politically Viable
• Another 9/11 Helps US?
• LINK: Online Gaming & the Suicide Bombing Mentality
  

• Meat Head: Raw Photography of Julia Kissina
• ‘Women in Art’ Tops Viral Video Chart
• Lego Artist Makes It Big

http://tinyurl.com/2w6o5p, http://tinyurl.com/24w4g4, http://tinyurl.com/2mx8vv, http://tinyurl.com/35c28x, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/, http://www.theculture.net/barbie/, http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2007/09/star_simpson_ar.html, http://www.usefulwork.com/shark/archives/001121.html

Transcription of Osama Bin Laden Video, September, 2007

World’s most wanted man: Exiled Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, April 1998, Afghanistan.

Transcripts of video below

PDF Transcript (takes a minute to load)

All praise is due to Allah, who built the heavens and earth in justice, and created man as a favor and grace from Him. And from His ways is that the days rotate between the people, and from His Law is retaliation in kind: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and the killer is killed. And all praise is due to Allah, who awakened His slaves’ desire for the Garden, and all of them will enter it except those who refuse. And whoever obeys Him alone in all of his affairs will enter the Garden, and whoever disobeys Him will have refused.As for what comes after: Peace be upon he who follows the Guidance. People of America: I shall be speaking to you on important topics which concern you, so lend me your ears. I begin by discussing the war which is between us and some of its repercussions for us and you.

To preface, I say: despite America being the greatest economic power and possessing the most powerful and up-to-date military arsenal as well; and despite it spending on this war and its army more than the entire world spends on its armies; and despite it being the major state influencing the policies of the world, as if it has a monopoly on the unjust right of veto; despite all of this, 19 young men were able - by the grace of Allah, the Most High - to change the direction of its compass. And in fact, the subject of the Mujahideen has become an inseparable part of the speech of your leader, and the effects and signs of that are not hidden.

Since the 11th, many of America’s policies have come under the influence of the Mujahideen, and that is by the grace of Allah, the Most High. And as a result, the people discovered the truth about it, its reputation worsened, its prestige was broken globally and it was bled dry economically, even if our interests overlap with the interests of the major corporations and also with those of the neoconservatives, despite the differing intentions.

And for your information media, during the first years of the war, lost its credibility and manifested itself as a tool of the colonialist empires, and its condition has often been worse than the condition of the media of the dictatorial regimes which march in the caravan of the single leader.

Then Bush talks about his working with al-Maliki and his government to spread freedom in Iraq but he is in fact is working with the leaders of one sect against another sect, in the belief that this will quickly decide the war in his favor.

And thus, what is called the civil war came into being and matters worsened at his hands before getting out of his control and him becoming like the one who plows and sows the sea: he harvests nothing but failure.

So these are some of the results of the freedom about whose spreading he is talking to you. And then the backtracking of Bush on his insistence on not giving the United Nations expanded jurisdiction in Iraq is an implicit admission of his loss and defeat there.

And among the most important items contained in Bush’s speeches since the events of the 11th is that the Americans have no options but to continue this war. This tone is in fact an echoing of the words of neoconservatives like Cheney, Rumsfeld and Richard Perle, the latter having said previously that the Americans have no choice in front of them other than to continue the war or face a holocaust.

I say, refuting this unjust statement, that the morality and culture of the holocaust is your culture, not our culture. In fact, burning living beings is forbidden in our religion, even if they be small like the ant, so what of man?! The holocaust of the Jews was carried out by your brethren in the middle of Europe, but had it been closer to our countries, most of the Jews would have been saved by takng refuge with us. And my proof for that is in what your brothers, the Spanish, did when they set up the horrible courts of the Inquisition to try Muslims and Jews, when the Jews only found safe shelter by taking refuge in our countries. And that is why the Jewish community in Morocco today is one of the largest communities in the world. They are alive with us and we have not incinerated them, but we are a people who don’t sleep under oppression and reject humiliation and disgrace, and we take revenge on the people of tyranny and aggression, and the blood of the Muslims will not be spilled with impunity, and the morrow is night for he who awaits.

Also, your Christian brothers have been living among us for 14 centuries in Egypt alone, there are millions of Christians whom we have not incinerated and shall not incinerate. But the fact is, there is a continuing and biased campaign being waged against us for a long time now by your politicians and many of your writers by way of your media, especially Hollywood, for the purpose of misrepresenting Islam and its adherents to drive you away from the true religion. The genocide of peoples and their holocausts took place at your hands: only a few specimens of Red Indians were spared, and just a few days ago, the Japanese observed the 62nd anniversary of the annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by your nuclear weapons.

And among the things which catch the eye of the one who considers the repercussions of your unjust war against Iraq is the failure of your democratic system, despite it raising of the slogans of justice, liberty, equality and humanitarianism. It has not only failed to achieve these things, it has actually destroyed these and other concepts with its weapons - especially in Iraq and Afghanistan - in a brazen fashion, to replace them with fear, destruction, killing, hunger, illness, displacement and more than a million orphans in Baghdad alone, not to mention hundreds of thousands of widows. American statistics speak of the killing of more than 650,000 of the people of Iraq as a result of the war and its repercussions.

People of America: the world is following your news in regards to your invasion of Iraq, for people have recently come to know that, after several years of the tragedies of this war, the vast majority of you want it stopped. Thus, you elected the Democratic Party for this purpose, but the Democrats haven’t made a move worth mentioning. On the contrary, they continue to agree to the spending of tens of billions to continue the killing and war there, which has led to the vast majority of you being afflicted with disappointment.

And here is the gist of the matter, so one should pause, think and reflect: why have the Democrats failed to stop this war, despite them being the majority?

I will come back to reply to this question after raising another question, which is:

Why are the leaders of the White House keen to start wars and wage them around the world, and make use of every possible opportunity through which they can reach this purpose, occasionally even creating justifications based on deception and blatant lies, as you saw Iraq?

In the Vietnam War, the leaders of the White House claimed at the time that it was a necessary and crucial war, and during it, Rumsfeld and his aides murdered two million villagers. And when Kennedy took over the presidency and deviated from the general line of policy drawn up for the White House and wanted to stop this unjust war, that angered the owners of the major corporations who were benefiting from its continuation.

And so Kennedy was killed, and al-Qaeda wasn’t present at that time, but rather, those corporations were the primary beneficiary from his killing. And the war continued after that for approximately one decade. But after it became clear to you that it was an unjust and unnecessary war, you made one of your greatest mistakes, in that you neither brought to account nor punished those who waged this war, not even the most violent of its murderers, Rumsfeld. And even more incredible than that is that Bush picked him as secretary of defense in his first term after picking Cheney as his vice-president, Powell as secretary of state and Armitage as Powell’s deputy, despite their horrific and bloody history of murdering humans. So that was a clear signal that his administration - the administration of the generals - didn’t have as its main concern the serving of humanity, but rather, was interested in bringing about new massacres. Yet in spite of that, you permitted Bush to complete his first term, and stranger still, chose him for a second term, which gave him a clear mandate from you - with your full knowledge and consent - to continue to murder our people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Then you claim to be innocent! This innocence of yours is like my innocence of the blood of your sons of the 11th - were I to claim such a thing. But it is impossible for me to humor any of you in the arrogance and indifference you show for the lives of humans outside America, or for me to humor your leaders in their lying, as the entire world knows they have the lion’s share of that. These morals aren’t our morals. What I want to emphasize here is that not taking past war criminals to account led to them repeating that crime of killing humanity without right and waging this unjust war in Mesopotamia, and as a result, here are the oppressed ones today continuing to take their right from you.

This war was entirely unnecessary, as testified to by your own reports. And among the most capable of those from your side who speak to you on this topic and on the manufacturing of public opinion is Noam Chomsky, who spoke sober words of advice prior to the war, but the leader of Texas doesn’t like those who give advice. The entire world came out in unprecedented demonstrations to warn against waging the war and describe its true nature in eloquent terms like “no to spilling red blood for black oil,” yet he paid them no heed. It is time for humankind to know that talk of the rights of man and freedom are lies produced by the White House and its allies in Europe to deceive humans, take control of their destinies and subjugate them.

So in answer to the question about the causes of the Democrats’ failure to stop the war, I say: they are the same reasons which led to the failure of former president Kennedy to stop the Vietnam war. Those with real power and influence are those with the most capital. And since the democratic system permits major corporations to back candidates, be they presidential or congressional, there shouldn’t be any cause for astonishment - and there isn’t any - in the Democrats’ failure to stop the war. And you’re the ones who have the saying which goes, “Money talks.” And I tell you: after the failure of your representatives in the Democratic Party to implement your desire to stop the war, you can still carry anti-war placards and spread out in the streets of major cities, then go back to your homes, but that will be of no use and will lead to the prolonging of the war.

However, there are two solutions for stopping it. The first is from our side, and it is to continue to escalate the killing and fighting against you. That is our duty, and our brothers are carrying it out, and I ask Allah to grant them resolve and victory. And the second solution is from your side. It has now become clear to you and the entire world the impotence of the democratic system and how it plays with the interests of the peoples and their blood by sacrificing soldiers and populations to achieve the interests of the major corporations.

And with that, it has become clear to all that they are the real tyrannical terrorists. In fact, the life of all of mankind is in danger because of the global warming resulting to a large degree from the emissions of the factories of the major corporations, yet despite that, the representative of these corporations in the White House insists on not observing the Kyoto accord, with the knowledge that the statistic speaks of the death and displacement of the millions of human beings because of that, especially in Africa. This greatest of plagues and most dangerous of threats to the lives of humans is taking place in an accelerating fashion as the world is being dominated by the democratic system, which confirms its massive failure to protect humans and their interests from the greed and avarice of the major corporations and their representatives.

And despite this brazen attack on the people, the leaders of the West - especially Bush, Blair, Sarkozy and Brown - still talk about freedom and human rights with a flagrant disregard for the intellects of human beings. So is there a form of terrorism stronger, clearer and more dangerous than this? This is why I tell you: as you liberated yourselves before from the slavery of monks, kings, and feudalism, you should liberate yourselves form the deception, shackles and attrition of the capitalist system.

If you were to ponder it well, you would find that in the end, it is a system harsher and fiercer than your systems in the Middle Ages. The capitalist system seeks to turn the entire world into a fiefdom of the major corporations under the label of “globalization” in order to protect democracy.

And Iraq and Afghanistan and their tragedies; and the reeling of many of you under the burden of interest-related debts, insane taxes and real estate mortgages; global warming and its woes; and the abject poverty and tragic hunger in Africa: all of this is but one side of this global system.

So it is imperative that you free yourselves from all of that and search for an alternative, upright methodology in which it is not the business of any class of humanity to lay down its own laws to its own advantage at the expense of the other classes as is the case with you, since the essence of man-made positive laws is that they serve the interests of those with the capital and thus make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

The infallible methodology is the methodology of Allah, the Most High, who created the heavens and earth and created the Creation and is the Most Kind and All-Informed and the Knower of the souls of His slaves and the methodology that best suits them.

You believe with absolute certainty that you believe in Allah, and you are full of conviction of this belief, so much that you have written this belief of yours on your dollar.

But the truth is that you are mistaken in this belief of yours. The impartial judge knows that belief in Allah requires straightness in the following of His methodology, and accordingly, total obedience must be to the orders and prohibitions of Allah Alone in all aspects of life.

So how about you when you associate others with Him in your beliefs and separate state from religion, then claim that you are believers?!

What you have done is clear loss and manifest polytheism, and I will give you a parable of polytheism, as parables summarize and clarify speech.

I tell you: its parable is the parable of a man who owns a shop and hires a worker and tells him, “Sell and give me the money,” but he makes sales and gives the money to someone other than the owner. So who of you would approve of that?

You believe that Allah is your Lord and your Creator and the Creator of this earth and that it is His property, then you work on His earth and property without His orders and without obeying Him, and you legislate in contradiction to His Law and methodology.

This work of yours is the greatest form of polytheism and is rebellion against obedience to Allah with which the believer becomes an unbeliever, even if he obeys Allah in some of his other orders. Allah, the Most High, sent down His orders in His Sacred Books like the Torah and Evangel and sent with them the Messengers (Allah’s prayers and peace be upon them) as bearers of good news to the people.

And everyone who believes in them and complies with them is a believer from the people of the Garden. Then when the men of knowledge altered the words of Allah, the Most High, and sold them for a paltry price, as the rabbis did with the Torah and the monks with the Evangel, Allah sent down his final Book, the magnificent Quran, and safeguarded it from being added to or subtracted from by the hands of men, and in it is a complete methodology for the lives of all people.

And our holding firm to this magnificent Book is the secret of our strength and winning of the war against you despite the fewness of our numbers and materiel.

And if you would like to get to know some of the reasons for your losing of your war against us, then read the book of Michael Scheuer in this regard.

Don’t be turned away from Islam by the terrible situation of the Muslims today, for our rulers in general abandoned Islam many decades ago, but our forefathers were the leaders and pioneers of the world for many centuries, when they held firmly to Islam.

And before concluding, I tell you: there has been an increase in the thinkers who study events and happenings, and on the basis of their study, they have declared the approach of the collapse of that American Empire.

Among them is the European banker who anticipated the fall of the Soviet Union, which indeed fell. And it would benefit you to read what he wrote about what comes after the empire in regard to the United States of America. I also want to bring to your attention that among the greatest reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union was their being afflicted with their leader Brezhnev, who was overtaken by pride and arrogance and refused to look at the facts on the ground. From the first year of the Afghanistan invasion, reports indicated that the Russians were losing the war, but he refused to acknowledge this, lest it go down in his personal history as a defeat, even though refusal to acknowledge defeat not only doesn’t do anything to change the facts for thinking people, but also exacerbates the problem and increases the losses. And how similar is your position today to their position approximately two decades ago. The mistakes of Brezhnev are being repeated by Bush, who - when asked about the date of his withdrawing of forces from Iraq - said in effect that the withdrawal will not be during his reign, bur rather, during the reign of the one who succeeds him. And the significance of those words is not hidden.

And here I say: it would benefit you to listen to the poignant messages of your soldiers in Iraq, who are paying - with their blood, nerves and scattered limbs - the price for these sorts of irresponsible statements. Among them is the eloquent message of Joshua which he sent by way of the media, in which he wipes the tears from his eyes and describes American politicians in harsh terms and invites them to join him there for a few days. Perhaps his message will find in you an attentive year so you can rescue him and more than 150,000 of your sons there who are tasting the two bitterest things:

If they leave their barracks, the mines devour them, and if they refuse to leave, rulings are passed against them. Thus the only options left in front of them are to commit suicide or cry, both of which are from the severest of afflictions. So is there anything more men can do after crying and killing themselves to make you respond to them? They are doing that out of the severity of the humiliation, fear and terror which they are suffering. It is severer than what the slaves used to suffer at your hands centuries ago, and it is as if some of them have gone from one slavery to another slavery more severe and harmful, even if it be in the fancy dress of the Defense Department’s financial enticements.

So do you feel the greatness of their sufferings?

To conclude, I invite you to embrace Islam, for the greatest mistake one can make in this world and one which is uncorrectable is to die while not surrendering to Allah, the Most High, in all aspects of one’s life - i.e. to die outside of Islam. And Islam means gain for you in this first life and the next, final life. The true religion is a mercy for people in their lives, filling their hearts with serenity and calm.

There is a message for you in the Mujahideen: the entire world is in pursuit of them, yet their hearts, by the grace of Allah, are satisfied and tranquil. The true religion also puts peoples’ lives in order with its laws; protects their needs and interests; refines their goals; protects them from evils; and guarantees for them entrance into Paradise in the hereafter through their obedience to Allah and sincere worship of Him Alone.

And it will also achieve your desire to stop the war as a consequence, because as soon as the warmongering owners of the major corporations realize that you have lost confidence in your democratic system and begun to search for an alternative, and that this alternative is Islam, they will run to you to please you and achieve what you want to steer you away from Islam. So your true compliance with Islam will deprive them of the opportunity to defraud the peoples and take their money under numerous pretexts, like arms deals and so on.

There are no taxes in Islam, but rather there is a limited Zakat (alms) totaling only 2.5%. So beware of the deception of those with the capital. And with your earnest reading about Islam from its pristine sources, you will arrive at an important truth, which is that the religion of all of the Prophets (peace and blessings of Allah be upon them) is one, and that its essence is submission to the orders of Allah Alone in all aspects of life, even if their Shari’ahs [Laws] differ.

And did you know that the name of the Prophet of Allah Jesus and his mother (peace and blessings of Allah be on them both) are mentioned in the Noble Quran dozens of times, and that in the Quran there is a chapter whose name is “Maryam,” i.e. Mary, daughter of ‘Imran and mother of Jesus (peace and blessings of Allah be upon them both)? It tells the story of her becoming pregnant with the Prophet of Allah Jesus (peace and blessings of Allah be upon them both), and in its confirmation of her chastity and purity, in contrast to the fabrications of the Jews against her. Whoever wishes to find that out for himself must listen to the verse of this magnificent chapter: one of the just kings of the Christians - the Negus - listened to some of its verses and his eyes welled up with tears and he said something which should be reflected on for a long time by those sincere in their search for the truth.

He said, “verily, this and what Jesus brought come from one lantern”: i.e. that the magnificent Quran and the Evangel are both from Allah, the Most High; and every just and intelligent one of you who reflects of the Quran will definitely arrive at this truth. It also must be noted that Allah has preserved the Quran from the alterations of man. And reading in order to become acquainted with Islam only requires a little effort, and those of you who are guided will profit greatly. And peace be upon he who follows the Guidance.

The End

——

Transcription provided for your interest. This website does not condone the actions of Al-Qaeda.

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• Is it Live, or is it Al-Qaeda?
• Bush, Bin Laden, & Grey Hair
• Another 9/11 Helps US?
  

Translation from Wolf Pangloss
http://tinyurl.com/22ly7d
http://wolfpangloss.wordpress.com/2007/09/07/text-of-bin-laden-speech/

Is it Live, Or is it Al-Qaeda?

2006 video of Ayman al-Zawahiri posing before a false background

Technology exposes terrorists’ cozened cinema

Reported on Wired by Kim Zetter, researcher and computer security consultant Neal Krawetz unveiled a new program today enabling digital photographs and video images to be analyzed for alterations and enhancements.

Presented at the BlackHat security conference in Las Vegas, the program Krawetz wrote creates quantization tables in a JPEG file to determine how the image was compressed, ascertaining the type of camera or Photoshop version last used on the image.

Comparing that data to the metadata embedded in the image he could determine if the photo was original or had been re-saved or altered. Then, using error level analysis of an image he could determine what were the last parts of an image that were added or modified.

Krawetz presented an analysis of al-Qaeda videos, revealing what parts of the images were added in later, such as the background to the al-Zawahiri video above:

The image shows al-Zawahiri sitting in front of a desk and banner with writing on it. But after conducting his error analysis Krawetz was able to determine that al-Zawahiri’s image was superimposed in front of the background — and was most likely videotaped in front of a black sheet.

The writing on the banner was also added to the image afterwards.

2006 video images of Azzam al-Amriki with Error Level Analysis

By using error level analysis on the above video image, Krawetz revealed that the religious books have the same error level as the subtitles and As-Sahab logo, implying they were inserted later into the video.

Error level analysis involves re-saving an image at a known error rate (90%, for example), then subtracting the re-saved image from the original image to see every pixel that changed and the degree to which it changed. The modified versions will indicate a different error level than the original image.

The books also have a different color range - another indication of technical slight of hand.

The article’s concluding sentence is hair-raising, and should give Homeland Security pause:

It’s also possible, he says, that such details could be added to a picture to send a message in code to al Qaeda operatives.

010100010100100010udrenanstd tihs aqladea?0010110010101001010101

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See also:

• Bush, Bin Laden, & Grey Hair
• Transcription of New Osama Bin Laden Video

Tancredo Treatens to Bomb Saudi Arabia as Terrorist Deterrent

“The harsh approach is vital in order
to prevent a worldwide collapse”

According to Chris Dorsey of IowaPolitics.com, Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo has threatened to attack Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia as a deterrent to a nuclear attack by radical Muslims.

Tancredo remarked:

“If it is up to me, we are going to explain that an attack on this homeland of that nature would be followed by an attack on the holy sites in Mecca and Medina,” the GOP presidential candidate said. “That is the only thing I can think of that might deter somebody from doing what they would otherwise do.

If I am wrong fine, tell me, and I would be happy to do something else. But you had better find a deterrent or you will find an attack. There is no other way around it. There have to be negative consequences for the actions they take. That’s the most negative I can think of.”

Fear appears to be powerful ally for Tancredo.

The harsh approach is vital in order to prevent a worldwide collapse, Tancredo told nearly 30 people Tuesday morning at the Family Table restaurant.

By threatening to attack the Saudi Arabian holy sites to deter religious zealots, the presidential aspirant lumps Muslim extremists with the entire populace of Islamic faith, estimated at 1.2 billion by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Should the Vatican fear reprisal if a Catholic terrorist attacks the U.S. or any of our allies?

To suggest that we would attack the cities of a sovereign nation and ally in retribution for a terrorist attack is manic. In his cloudy zeal to keep America safe, Rep. Tom Tancredo’s brings out the worst of what fear has to offer. Under a Tancredo administration, America would be perceived as a great menace. Terrorists would try to attack the United States just to provoke an ‘attack on Islam’.

Tancredo’s obtuse, schoolyard mentality to global conflict is frightening. As president, Tancredo’s foreign policy would certainly exacerbate America’s plummeting standing on the world stage.

If I am wrong fine, tell me, and I would be happy to do something else.

You’re wrong Mr. Tancredo, dangerously wrong indeed.

August 4, 2007 UPDATE from Political Wire:

“Tom Casey, a deputy spokesman for the State Department, told CNN’s Elise Labott that the congressman’s comments were ‘reprehensible’ and ‘absolutely crazy.’ Tancredo was widely criticized in 2005 for making a similar suggestion.”

http://tinyurl.com/y3chpe
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/meast/9804/03/hajj.pilgrims/saudi.arabia.mecca.jpg
http://www.foxnews.com/images/236759/1_62_110206_missiles.jpg
http://www.deenislam.co.uk/gallery/artefacts/medina.JPG
http://demnotes.com/wp-content/tancredoreagan1small.jpg

Independence Day, 2007

BBC journalist freed

“Army of Islam” frees BBC journalist Alan Johnston after 114 days.

• Reuters
• CNN
• BBC