Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

Iraq

Iraq: 'Al-Qaeda video' recruits snipers to avenge Gaza

2009-01-30

(AKI) - (By Hamza Boccolini) - A new video purportedly from Al-Qaeda in Iraq urges Muslims to become snipers in order to avenge the Palestinian deaths caused by Israel's three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip. The 30 minute documentary, entitled "From the Islamic State: Dedicated to Gaza, the courageous," underlines the military and religious aspect of a sniper in Islam. It begins by showing images of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, while images of Arab heads of state are seen cheering after a raid. The aim of the video - produced by production house al-Furqan - is to invite Muslims from all over the world to do the same and kill the first unbeliever that crosses his path. "You must know that with a bullet whose cost does not exceed one dollar, you can kill a person who gets paid much more by their country. "If you feel that your heart is being squeezed and you are sorry about what is happening to Muslims, become a sniper and learn how to become one. Then approach God's enemy and his closest prophet and put a bullet in his heart or head and you will see how much better you feel," said the message. An image of Pope Benedict XVI also appears in the video, shaking the hand of Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. In one part of the video, the Muslim holy book or Koran is quoted. "Fight them and Allah will punish them by your hands, lay them low, and cover them with shame. He will help you over them and cool the chests of the believers," said the video, quoting Sura number 9 verse 14. The video also stressed the importance of suicide bombing and snipers, but also their so-called historical use in defending Islam. "Just like using suicide bombers represented an important evolution and a decisive weapon for the jihadist fight, the use of snipers is important as the bases for its establishment are rooted in the history of Islam when during important battles, the Prophet (Mohammed)'s fellow warriors used this tactic against their enemies." "This because the surprise effect wins in a sniper, because death comes from where the enemy did not expect it." According to the Al-Qaeda militants, the first person in the history of Islam to use sniping was the Prophet Mohammed, who allegedly invited his warriors to use this technique in battle. The video also shows how al-Qaeda has killed dozens of US soldiers by using snipers in the past few years. To become a sniper, - the video says - the person must be in excellent physical and mental state. "He must convince himself he is a sniper and must use cunning ways, and always remain patient." The video concludes with images of a Palestinian man asking Muslims for help after an Israeli bombardment. Established in 2006, the Islamic State of Iraq is an umbrella organisation containing several radical insurgency groups including its predecessor, the Mujahideen Shura Council and Al-Qaeda in Iraq. It aims to establish a caliphate in the Sunni Arab dominated regions of Iraq.

Link

Arabia

Saudi Arabia: Foreign worker beheaded in death sentence execution

2008-10-15

(AKI) - A Filipino worker was beheaded by sword on Tuesday in the coastal city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia after he was found guilty of killing a Saudi citizen in the Islamic holy city of Mecca by suffocating the man and piercing his neck with a pen. Somehow I'm not feeling real sorry for the dear departed... The worker, Jenifer Bidoya, also known as Venancio Ladion, was found guilty by Saudi Arabia's highest court, the Supreme Judicial Council. The first sentence was issued in April 2007 by a Sharia (Islamic) law court in Jeddah. The execution was carried out despite appeals by Philippine President Gloria Arroyo to Saudi's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. The family of the victim also refused to forgive Bidoya. Sharia law has both public and private liability, thus even if the king would have pardoned Bidoya, the family's insistence on carrying out the execution means it had to be carried out. Authorities also said that a Saudi man, Fahd al-Shadoukhey, was beheaded on Tuesday after being convicted of theft and rape while under the influence of alcohol. There are hundreds of thousands of Filipinos that work in Saudi Arabia, one of the first countries to accept immigrant workers from Manila in the 1970's. The execution comes amid reports by rights group Amnesty International claiming that the number of executions in the kingdom has sharply increased and that a disproportionate number are foreigners from Asian and African countries.. Picked right up on that, didn't they? AI says the way in which the death penalty is imposed is unfair, secretive and harsh. Not much gets by Amnesia International, does it?

Link

Olde Tyme Religion

Dialogue among the Religions. The Vatican Prepares the Guidelines

2008-06-12

Enough with the ceremonies. And more conviction in proclaiming the Gospel. New signs of openness come from Saudi Arabia. Algerian philosopher Mohammed Arkoun criticizes the pope, but even more the cultural void in the Muslim world ROMA, June 11, 2008 – The plenary meeting that the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue held at the Vatican last week was the first of this pontificate, and took place with a new president – Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran – and with experts who were also newcomers to a great extent. And the aim of the plenary session was itself new: to develop new guidelines for the bishops, priests, and faithful in relating to other religions. This objective, Cardinal Tauran said, was decided "after many years of hesitation over its appropriateness." On Saturday, June 9, at the end of the three-day meeting, Benedict XVI received the participants in the Sala del Concistoro. He encouraged the publication of the guidelines because, he said, "the great proliferation of interreligious meetings in today's world requires discernment." This last word is used in ecclesiastical language to urge critical analysis and the choices that stem from it. In effect, the relationship with men of other religions has been and is being practiced in different and sometimes contradictory ways within the Catholic Church. In the Muslim countries, for example, the most widespread practice among Catholics is that of the silent testimony of Christian life. There are reasons of prudence that justify this practice. But against those who justify it always and everywhere, the congregation for the doctrine of the faith published a doctrinal note last December 3, presenting instead a thesis previously voiced by Paul VI in "Evangelii Nuntiandi" in 1975: "Even the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it is not [...] made explicit by a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus." The guidelines that the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue is preparing to publish will point in this direction. In introducing the plenary assembly, Cardinal Tauran said: "We know that the Holy Spirit works in every man and every woman, independently of his religious or spiritual creed. But on the other hand, we must proclaim that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. God has revealed to us the truth about God and the truth about man, and for us this is the Good News. We cannot hide this truth under a bushel basket." Speaking to 200 representatives of other religions during his recent visit to the United States, Benedict XVI expressed himself no less clearly: "It is Jesus whom we bring to the forum of interreligious dialogue. The ardent desire to follow in his footsteps spurs Christians to open their minds and hearts in dialogue. [...] In our attempt to discover points of commonality, perhaps we have shied away from the responsibility to discuss our differences with calmness and clarity. [...] The higher goal of interreligious dialogue requires a clear exposition of our respective religious tenets." This does not eliminate the fact that there is common ground for action among men of different beliefs, as the guidelines will insist. Introducing the plenary session, Tauran also said: "The Ten Commandments are a sort of universal grammar that all believers can use in their relationship with God and neighbor. [...] In creating man, God ordered him with wisdom and love to his end, through the law written within his heart (Romans 2:15), the natural law. This is nothing other than the light of intelligence infused within us by God. Thanks to this, we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God gave us this light and this law at creation." During the same days when the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue was holding its plenary assembly at the Vatican, there were new developments in relations between the Catholic Church and Islam. In Saudi Arabia, in the holy city of Mecca, king Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud inaugurated on June 4 a conference of 600 representatives from the vast Muslim world, with the aim of "telling the world that we are the voice of justice and moral human values, of coexistence and dialogue." To this end, Abdullah confirmed his desire to "organize meetings with brothers belonging to other faiths," in particular Judaism and Christianity. Islamism, according to the Saudi sovereign, "has defined the principles and opened the road for a dialogue with the faithful of other religions," and this road "passes through the values common to the three monotheistic religions". These values "reject treason, alienate crime, and combat the terrorism" practiced by "extremists among [our] own people," who "have joined forces in a flagrant aggressiveness to distort the rightfulness and tolerance of Islam." Spoken by the king of Saudi Arabia – a nation of rigid Wahhabi Islamism and the place of origin of Osama bin Laden and of most of the authors of the attacks on September 11, 2001 – these words are of indisputable significance. At the Vatican, "L'Osservatore Romano" emphasized them in its reporting. Moreover, King Abdullah said that he had gotten the "green light" for his project of interreligious dialogue from the Saudi ulema, and that he wants to consult with Muslims of other countries as well about the possibility. At the conference in Mecca, he brought together in a single room the sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Sayyid Tantawi, a leading Sunni authority, and the Shiite ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of Iran and member of the Assembly of Experts, the center of the regime's supreme power. In Israel, the proposals of King Abdullah were received favorably by the Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger, and the Sephardic chief rabbi Shlomo Amar. The final statement of the conference, called "The Appeal from Mecca," announced the creation of an Islamic center for relations among civilizations. This will organize moments of dialogue with representatives of other religions, cultures, and philosophies, and will promote the publication of books on this topic.

Link

Arabia

Saudi Royals May Fight for Control After Fahd's Death

2005-08-02

EFL -- The accession of Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who is crowned as King of Saudi Arabia tomorrow, may only delay a struggle for power in the Royal House of Saud. ``This is the largest royal family in the world and there will be a struggle as princes compete for positions of power,'' said Mai Yamani, a gulf region specialist at the London-based research center Chatham House. ``The big question is who will Abdullah appoint as his deputy -- it's the post they all want.'' I think the big question is whether Abdullah's going to have enough time before pegging out to move his own kids and allies into positions of power. And whether he's dumb enough to take any helicopter rides or to go for a drive in the desert. Abdullah will be one of two octogenarians controlling affairs in the kingdom. Abdullah's half-brother, Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, currently minister of defense and also in his 80s, will become Crown Prince. King Fahd, ruler of 23 years, died Aug. 1 in the capital, Riyadh. ... also in his dotage 80s... With Saudi Arabia holding the world's largest oil reserves, concern about the future direction of the kingdom helped drive oil prices to a record $62.30 a barrel on Aug. 1. Any reassurances from Abdullah and Sultan to western political and business leaders may be undermined as other royals dispatch their assassins jockey for position, said John Bradley, a Middle East historian. ``Saudi Arabia will see continuity under Abdullah but the issue of succession becomes serious now, bearing in mind that Abdullah and Sultan are themselves very old and are only a short- term solution,'' said Bradley, author of ``Saudi Arabia Exposed,'' in a telephone interview. That's pretty much a statement of the obvious. I think we mentioned it here yesterday... According to a report released Aug. 1 by research group Oxford Analytica, Abdullah has heart problems and is likely to be transitional ruler unlikely to fundamentally change the kingdom. He's already done probably as much as he's going to do, since he's been running thing ever since King Fod became a broccoli... The report also said the incoming Crown Prince Sultan has been treated for cancer. We keep hearing these cancer stories, but nobody ever seems to croak from it. Muammar was supposed to be in the terminal stages three years ago. Yasser was supposed to have it. Part of Fahd's legacy was to change the laws of succession in 1992, allowing for grandsons of the country's founder, Abdulaziz Ibn al-Saud to become king, Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.K., told reporters in London yesterday. The law decreed that the most capable prince would be selected as king by the Saud family, opening the way to a power struggle by removing the automatic nature of succession. "There can be only one!" "Most capable" can be translated as "last man standing"... ``Sultan and other senior princes all have sons from more than one wife who are potential rivals for positions of power,'' Bradley said. Welcome to the Middle Ages where succession is still a contact sport Potential leaders include Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, 56, the son of the incoming crown Prince Sultan and former Ambassador to the U.S.; Prince Salman ibn Adbul Aziz, 71; Interior Minister Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, 70, and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, 48, the world's fifth-richest man and largest shareholder in Citigroup Inc. Bandar and Alwaleed have extensive contacts with western business and political figures. The so-called "moderate" branch of the family tree. Prince Naif is a controversial figure, who Bradley doesn't believe the U.S. and other western nations would welcome as a contender to the throne. Shortly after the Sept. 11 2001 attacks on the U.S., Naif said he didn't believe Saudis were among the hijackers and that the attack was a Zionist conspiracy. Voted "Most likely to smother his brothers in their sleep" ... and only half as bright as he thinks he is... As the most influential member in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Saudi Arabia has led supply increases over the past few years, in a bid to satisfy a surge in world demand and benefiting from the sale of more barrels. It has also helped moderate demands for higher oil prices from other members of the group of 11 oil exporters, including Iran and Venezuela, aiming not to undermine demand for crude. ``I don't expect any change in policies, only continuity,'' Prince Turki al-Faisal said. I wouldn't expect any overt changes in the coming months, but I expect there will be a lot of activity in the background, to include a few untimely departures from this vale of tears — let's call it a spike in the number of auto and aircraft accidents... Bradley says the royal family must introduce additional social reforms to quell a population where the official unemployment rate is 25 percent and more than one-third of the population is under 14 years of age. Or crack down even harder, which is more likely under Naif. Abdullah had been in charge of day-to-day affairs in Saudi Arabia since Fahd suffered a stroke in 1996. Fahd's reign was marked by pro-U.S. policies, tense relations with Islamic clerics and an opening of the oil industry to foreign investment. But, odds are, he ain't going to keep living much longer at his age. Muhammad-Ali Zainy of the London-based Center for Global Energy Studies said future Saudi leaders must confront Islamic fundamentalists and may need to reduce the role religion plays in education. `They are already deep into Islamization, teaching people religion,'' he said in an interview. ``What really produced these fanatics and terrorists is too much focus on religion.'' We've noticed Bandar was posted in Washington for 22 years and maintained close ties with the Bush family. President George W. Bush cited Bandar's ``charm, wit and humor'' and called him a ``tireless advocate for close ties, warm relations and mutual understanding between the United States and Saudi Arabia over 20 years,'' in a statement issued after his resignation from the diplomatic post July 21. Yeah, yeah, we know. So did every one else in Washington. The relationship between Bandar and the U.S. administration didn't lead to either country's intelligence service detecting the presence of 15 Saudi nationals in the U.S. in the months before Sept. 11, 2001. Those nationals joined with four other Islamic activists to carry out the hijackings. Still, Bandar's experience and relationship to the current crown prince could give him an advantage among the younger rivals for the crown. The big question is, did all those years hob-nobbing in Washington dull his skills at the close quarter knife fighting now being played out Oxford Anayltica said the appointment of a ``second deputy prime minister'' to assist the crown prince will be a ``significant pointer'' in the direction of the kingdom. The person holding that position has traditionally become the next in line for crown princes, the report said. ``Two rival camps, the so-called reformers and the hardliners, are forming,'' Chatham House's Yamani said. ``If Abdullah can appoint a more open-minded younger figure, then there may be hope.'' Let the games begin! "Mahmoud! I shall be calling on my half brother, Prince Ahmed. Fetch me my silken cord and the small bottle of 'special' seasoning!" "Yes, effendi!" "And... ummm... hire a new food taster. The last one died!"

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-4 More