Jefferson Corner

The assassination and cold-blooded murder of Pierre Jumael is a reminder that the Lebanese Civil War is not over yet and it will not be over until such time the Lebanese decide for themselves if they want a continuation of the war or they want a new, democratic and non-sectarian Lebanon.
I am one of those who may not forgive the Phalange Party and its leader Samir Geagea or the late Bashir Jumeal for the crimes committed in Sabra and Shatilla and the tens of thousands of innocent Lebanese killed during the war and the tens of thousands remain missing and specially their alliance with the criminal Israeli Defense Forces against Lebanon and against the Lebanese.
However the murder of the young and innocent Pierre Jumael is a cowardly act and it is intended to ignite the civil war again, and it is intended to make Lebanon again a blood path. I agree with Jihad Alkhazen when he said in his column today in Alhayat, that “ he does not accuse any one and does not exonerate any one” in this murder. However we know that both Syria and Israel have always played a major hand and roll in all political and sectarian assassination and always will have blood on their hands. The Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad is not different from his late father’s regime, with many murderers and killers high in government.
The murder of Rafiq Harriri, Basem Flehan, Samir Qasir, Gibran Tueni, George Hawi and the attempted murder of Marman Hamadi and May Shydiaq is a reminder of the long and murderous arms of the Syrian Ba’athist regime. No one believes that the late Ghazi Kan’an simply killed himself; he was murdered by the regime. Who else but Syria that killed Salim Al-Louzi and the late Kamal Jumblat?
What is surprising is the fact than non of the above murders have been solved and non of those accused of these murders and the murders of thousands of Palestinians in Sabra and Shatilla and Tel –Za’ater have ever been brought to trial. This is the sad thing about Lebanon. No one within Lebanon either have the determination, the skills not the courage to come forward and open a board of inquiry into all these murder and bring these murders to close, even it the accused are in absentia. No one can convince me that in all Lebanon, there are no competent and qualified criminal investigators that can open public hearing into these murders and attempted murder.
The murder of the young and innocent Pierre Jumael must be urgent calls for all Lebanese from all walks of life and from all political persuasions and religious sects to rise up to the occasion and have the courage once and for all and bring about a closer for the Lebanese Civil War. The first step will be for the Lebanese to hold a “referendum” on ending the sectarian system that is the cancer of Lebanon. It is time to go beyond Taif and to come up with something more original. Taif was to end the civil war, but not to rebuild Lebanon into a new modern and democratic state with religious and sectarian affiliation have no place and no role in Lebanese politics. It is time for all Lebanese to be equal citizens with equal opportunities. Let us never forget that Israel is the enemy number one for Lebanon, and always makes sure that the civil war never ends. It is time for the Lebanese to tell Syria and Israel that they are mature enough and that they will rebuild a new Lebanon that will be a challenge to Israel, Syria and the US and to all Arabs. May Allah/God have mercy on the soul of Pierre Jumael. Yes, he died a martyr for Lebanon.

The case of the “top” Islamic cleric in Australia. Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly and his assumption that unveiled women invite rape and a similar retarded “fatwa” from Sheik Mohamed Kamal Mustafa, the former imam of the Spanish southern town of Fuengirola who published a book called” Women in Islam” in which he finds justifications if not promotion of “wife beating” as a way to solve marital problems and we need to add to that the likes of Syed Ikram Jilani of Oslo among others, raises serious problems and issues about how low can these “Islamic” clerics takes Islam.
Perhaps unlike other religions with a well defined hierarchy of “priest hood” and rabbinic hierarchy, there are no such hierarchies in Islam, and any Islamic hierarchy of “imams” is an invention of modern states but not of the Holy Quran. The Holy Quran has more faith and trust in the judgment of individuals that did trust in these new “inventions”.
These days, every Mohamed, Ali and Mahmoud or Taj eldin who failed at other professions becomes expert on Islam and takes over a mosques, such as the case in England, USA, Australia, among others, where mentally retarded and semi-illiterates becomes imams and start giving fatwas left and right and start to be the ugly, illiterate and retarded face of Islam.
As a testimony of how low these mentally retarded and illiterate imams came to be we are not surprise that some of these think that the mentally retarded and murderers Taliblans are the “perfect” caliphates putting forward the Taliban state as a model of an Islamic state. There must be something very wrong with these people. Simply mentally sick.
If Islam and early Muslims who opened the world to Islam where of such mentality and attitude, for sure Islam would not have left Mecca and would have been a religion that died before it started. These people and so many like them forget that Islam is a religion and faith of knowledge, of science, of education, of travel and most of all of social justice, with very strict and high standards of criminal accusation and convictions.
With so many of these illiterate and retarded imams, who not only hijacked our mosques, but also hijacked our faith, perhaps it is time for Islam to have another renaissance, similar to that of Europe in the Middle Ages. Perhaps what we need now more than ever is a “reformation movement” that will redefine again Islam as the way it was intended for “all ages”. Enough with today’s imams going back to thousands of years to find true and intelligent answers to days issue and concerns of Muslims. We all know that the “door” of “Ijtihad” or prudence was closed some centuries ago, as if modern day scholars are unable to reach for the truth except to going back in time. If Islam is the faith for all times, then we need scholars for the future and not only for the past and yes, why not for a new ‘reformation” movement that can take Islam to the future instead of keeping it in the past. Perhaps it is time for Muslims and those attending mosques to get more educated and more enlightened “imam:” than the retards we are getting these days to lead us in prayers. When I go to mosques I want to hear an intelligent and enlightened sermon, not to hear some imbecile who happens to recite few suras and never read another book in any language to give and share his ignorance with the believers. I am sure there are enough Islamic scholars in the US to take charge and lead us forward and liberate Muslims from retarded imams such as Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly or Sheik Mohamed Kamal Mustafa or someone like Abu-Hamza Al-Masry. It is time to throw out these retards out of the mosques and reclaims our mosques again. Who said that Al-Azhar have to be the only “religious” reference for Muslims. There are enough intelligent and smart scholars in the US and Europe to lead the way to an Islamic Renaissance.

Aljazeera International was launched last week with generous funding by the Emir of Qatar. I have to admit I am one of those living in the west for such a long time, who simply stopped watching US television and CNN with the exception of PBS when I am home.
From what I read in the press and reviews, Aljazeera International will be broadcasting 24/7 and promoted as the international satellite channel with a mission to bring the views of those long neglected by the US and western media.
Shortly after September 11, the New York Times, CBS and ABC, the German and Japanese televisions visited our house in Fairfax, Virginia to see where someone like me, and Arab-American, professional and a US Army veteran gets the news and of course it is from Aljazeera, certainly not Fox News or CNN.
My biggest complaint about the US and western media is the fact that it does not give fair coverage of the Palestinians under occupation, Israel’s continued occupation, its destructions of entire town and villages and uprooting of trees and its failure to cover the crimes of Israel and its crimes of occupation and give coverage only to the “innocent” Israeli victims and its captive soldiers and never mention the more than 10,000 innocent Palestinians hostages in Israeli jails. Even an organization like the BBC gives 5% coverage to the Palestinians while giving Israel 95% of its coverage.
One of the main reasons that I watch PBS is the in-depth coverage of major news, its independence of certain pressure political and religious lobbies and groups and most of its famous program “Front Line” There is no other similar program with such in-depth coverage of issues and topic. If I want to get my information right, I turn to PBS and watch Front Line and of course I do watch Aljazeera. These are my two souce of news, with Alarabia to follow.
Yes, it is time for Aljazeera International and yes, it is also time for people of the world to have a different perspective on the news from that of CNN, Fox and BBC, and yes, it is time for the news from Africa, Asia and the Middle East to be a focus of an international news organization and not simple sound bites.
The Arabs should have invested in such an international news organization some 20 years ago. However all is not lost and it is never too late. Israel and its Zionist agenda always have an open forum in US media especially Fox News and major newspapers and the Arab point of view hardly ever get a hearing. There is never fair coverage.
I am watching Aljazeera International now as I write this note, and all I can say, it is very professional and yes, it does give major coverage to Arab and Muslim issues and yes, there is nothing wrong with that and yes it is time to challenge the primacy of the CNN.
I thank Qatar for the challenge it has taken to bring issues of concern by the people in the Middle East, Africa and Asia to the forefront and give the people of the world a different perspective on the news and issues coming out of the region. It is time for the people of Africa, Asia and the Middle East to tell their stories without going through censorship and without going through filters and too much editing by news editors sitting in New York, Washington or London and who can be fired at any time for taking Israel and its crimes on. News editors are always at the mercy of the Israeli lobby and serve its wishes.

Sometime I wonder when the Arabs and Muslims will get a sense of honor and feel the shame and take responsibility for the actions of Arab states when it comes to international crimes committed toward citizens of Arab states.
The long time silence over the crimes committed by the central government in Khartoum and its twenty years war against the people of South Sudan resulting in the death of over 2 million people and now the silence toward a similar crimes committed by the central government in Sudan and its allies in Darfur. How can any Arab and Muslims ever be so silent about what is going on in Sudan?
The central government of Sudan over the years justified its war against the animist and Christian south that its war is against imperialist and colonial interventions in the south that undermines the unity of Sudan and at times justified its war as a way to implement Sharia law in a region of the country without any Muslim majority.
While it true that colonial powers did support the south in the war with the central government and its it true that missionaries played a an important role in keeping the war going hoping to recruit more and more animist to its Christian ranks. However all of this could never justify the war the Sudanese government waged against its own people in the south and imposing Sharia could never be justified under any and all circumstance with the killing of millions of people and the wasting of the very few precious resource the country have. The central government in Khartoum is responsible for the war in the south and is responsible for the crimes its forces and its allies wage against the people of Darfur. Frankly, I could never find any justification for such wars and could never find any excuses for the central government in Sudan.
Now that the conflict in the south seems to be on its way of getting solves, the problem in Darfur and the daily killings going on and the uprooting of indigenous people and the racial uprooting and ethnic cleansing going on in Sudan, require the immediate intervention of the Arab states and the Arab League with the central government of Khartoum to its is crimes against its own people in Darfur.
One also has to question the wisdom of the government in Khartoum and its justifications of its actions in Darfur when the people of Sudan need urgently investment in development. One has to wonder how much infrastructure could have been built in Sudan if the government put all of its sources in development and not in stupid wars that only kills people, destroy infrastructure and keep army generals well fed and fat. How many rails line could have been rebuilt? How many schools and clinics could have been built with the billions wasted on such useless and criminal actions against its own people?
But then the Arab league and Arab states are not know for being ahead of time, always behind time. There was a chance to avoid the invasion of Iraq and Mr. Amr Musa made sure the Arab League does not take any action that calls for Saddam to step aside, thus saving the more than 600,000 victims and saving Iraq from destruction and disintegration. The same is true when recently the Arab League decided to break the total boycott of the Palestinian people and allow Arab Banks to provide funding to the Palestinian Authority and the people. This action was done of course in anticipation of the US agreeing to a lifting of siege over the Palestinian government when Hamas step aside. One has to wonder what this Arab League is for and what service it provide. With all due respect to Mr. Amr Musa, the time ran out for the Arab League and its time for it to fold and close shop. It is an organization without any bones and without any courage and leadership and without any sense of shame.

” Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new and then you find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by sword the faith he promote” quoting the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus in 1391, as a scholar and a leader of the faith the Pope could not make such a simple case of “misunderstanding”. No one quote an emperor who was deadlock at war with the Ottoman Muslim and make it his theme of calling for dialogue without bad intentions. I am sure the Pope is well aware of the atrocities and mass killing of Muslims, Jews and Christians by the hundreds of thousands committed by armies of his church during the Crusade. I do not feel offended by such statement, since it expected in this day and age. I suggest to Muslims to stand in line and wait their turn for an apology from the head of the Catholic Church after the Pope make public apologies to the tens of thousands of innocent young Catholics who were raped and sexually violated by the church army of thousands of clergymen. The church and the Pope were all silent about these rapes that costed the church tens of billions of dollars in settlements without ever repairing the physiological damage done to these young men.

22 Oct 2005

All Arab criminal regimes always hid behind Arab nationalism. Saddam killed millions and was an agent of the CIA (a must see PPS documentary- Front Line) while serving the interest of the US and the UK and his war on Iran was nothing but a proxy war on behalf of the West. Of course not to mention that lunatic in Tripoli.
Hafiz Assad, the long time champion of Arab nationalism was also a big time criminal who managed to kill tens of thousands and who appointed a war criminal who killed thousands of Palestinians as a minister in Lebanon. The Phalangist under the watchful eye of the Syrian murdered over 4,900 Palestinians in Tal-Zaater.
The Ba’athist regime in Syria is not different from its brothers under Saddam, committing murder and getting away with it. So-called Palestinians nationalist in Syria are bought and sold by the Syrians and do Syria’s bidding, and Ahmed Jebril and Abu-Musa are agents of Syria, in the same way Saddam used Palestinians to commit crimes against the Kuwaitis. The murder of Rafiq Hariri finally caught up with the thugs running Damascus. These same thugs that can arrange the murder of thousands could not protect couple of Palestinians who where murdered in Damascus by the Israeli Mossad. A country that is run by stupid intelligence and security organizations will always fail.
For a long time, Syria has been committing murder and getting away with it. Syria killed Kamal Jumblat and got away with it, killed Ahmed Laouzi and got away with it. Conspired with the Phalanges of Lebanon in the massacres of thousands of Palestinians and got away with it. It was a party in the killing of many Lebanese nationalist, like the late George Hawi and Samir Qassir, and for sure organized and supervised the killing and murder of Rafiq Hariri.
However, Syria should not be the only that is blamed for the big mess in Lebanon. The Lebanese and especially the Lebanese politicians are also to blame for playing Syria’s game in Lebanon. There were the “kiss ass” big times. All Lebanese politicians at one time or the other took their cues and instructions from “Anjar” the border town, which was the seat of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon. The late Ghazi Kana’an ran Syria as it was a grocery store, and Syria ran Lebanon not for the sake of its security, but for the sake of all of the money, corruption and bootlegging could bring to Syria. It was the dollars and the Euros that Syria and its Baathis where after. Syrian could not and was unable to protect is own soldiers from frequent raids by Israel, how could it protect the Lebanese from Israel?
Perhaps the worst things after the Ba’athist in the Arab world are the Lebanese politicians. A very unique breed of sophisticated corrupt politicians unlike anywhere else. Who in their right mind would expect that the Lebanese as sophisticated as they are, (you know the high class there, converse only in French,) how could these politicians ever accept and promote sectarian politics, where citizenship and rights arising from it are based on “religious confession” of whether a Lebanese is a Muslim, Druze, Shiite, or Christians, and even Christians are not all equal? It is a country that after couple of hundred thousands dead, gave leadership of the country to warlords and war criminals. It is the only country in the Arab world, where the throats of innocent people were slashed based on the pronunciations of “tomato”. The Palestinians pronounced at “Bandoura” and the blue-blooded Lebanese pronounce it “Banadoura”. The letter A made the difference in life and death in Lebanon during the civil war. Yet with all of this Lebanon remains a country of sectarian warlords. I hope the Syrian people will put the Baathist out of business and not wait for the Americans to come in and take Bashar and his thugs out.