Saturday, October 18, 2008

liberal Muslims and liberal imperialists

The cartoon below - by the wonderful Brazilian, Carlos Latuff, - depicts the "difference" between the two pro-empire US candidates McCain/Obama. This should serve as a warning to Muslims. Already we are seeing so-called Muslim leaders hooking up with the liberal imperialists, in anticipation of an Obama (a liberal imperialist) presidency.

This change, from the neo-con imperialists to the liberal imperialists, will result in largely cosmetic shifts in how the US continues its atrocities against Muslims and Islam around the world, but it will have important ramifications for how we are going to continue the work of exposing the native informants. Expect many more Muslim "leaders" to hook up with the Obama team, and shamelessly pander to his policies.

Hamza Yusuf, for example, ignoring Islamic precepts that forbid Muslims to support anyone who has promised to attack other Muslims, at an ISNA conference, endorsed Obama:

The well-known preacher Hamza Yusuf, who is particularly influential among the young, received thunderous applause when he called on America’s Muslims to vote for the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Barack Obama.


Obama’s pledge to withdraw US troops from Iraq is, according to Yusuf, reason enough to vote for him. Says Yusuf: “Iraq is the Arabic word for Vietnam.”



Since when did Islamic scholars think of their job description to include endorsing imperialist presidential candidates - who have promised to do nothing, other than to further strengthen the hands of the enemies of Muslims and Islam.

Sure, Obama has promised a reduction of forces in Iraq - but not a complete withdrawal, nor an end to the occupation. Giving Hamza Yusuf the benefit of the doubt, that he does not understand Obama's Iraq policies (most people don't), but did he fail to read up on Obama's other clear cut anti-Muslim policies?

Obama has promised to escalate the war in Afghanistan, and drop bombs on Pakistan (that he applauded Bush for doing)? If he is not reading up, or closely examining policy statements, then he might better serve Muslims by not making statements on topics about which he appears to be seriously naive.


US Presidential hopeful Barrack Obama has termed the cross-border raids by the US forces into Pakistan as a small step in the right direction.

Obama supported the raids but described them as “baby steps” by the Bush’s administration


Obama criticized the war in Iraq as a strategic blunder, not an act of aggression that has resulted in the slaughter of over one million innocent people. He presented the US occupation, which has shattered Iraq as a functioning society, as though the Bush administration was favoring that country at American expense. “Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we’re wallowing in deficits,” he complained.

So Obama came to this year’s AIPAC conference determined to dispel all remaining doubts that he’s a Friend of Israel. “We will also use all elements of American power to pressure Iran,” he assured AIPAC.” I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power. Everything and I mean everything.” He swore he wouldn’t talk to the elected representatives Palestinians, Hamas. To thunderous applause he declared, "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided,"


An even more troubling development is an endorsement by several liberal Muslim "leaders" of the repugnant violent attacks, and invasions of Muslim majority countries.

Following is from a report put out by the liberal imperialist group called "U.S. Muslim Engagement" (more on that group, and this report in the next few days but you can check out who is who in that group by clicking here ).


During the past several years, it has become clear that military force may be necessary, but is not sufficient, to defeat violent extremists in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, or to prevent attacks elsewhere.


The liberal imperialists (such as Obama) are very clear that they have no intention of stopping the violent attacks, and invasions. But what they want is a kinder, gentler, hypocritical face on these attacks, and a more efficient killing and propaganda machine.


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Tarek Fatah and Frontpage rag and Quilliam in America

A couple of good postings around the web:

Dr. Maxtor does a write up on Tarek Fatah:

But what drew my attention was T-Fat's interview(google it) on FrontPageMag. Yes, thats the same internet neocon rag founded by judeofascist David Horowitz(remember "islamofascist awareness week"?).


Traditional Islamism has a write up on the British regime's Quilliam Foundation tour of the US --- exposing not only Quilliam Foundation, but also the "think tanks" and pro-Zionist organizations who hosted them... click here to read all about it...

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Malaria No More ?

The group that invited Hamza Yusuf to speak at the event sponsored by the Tony Blair Foundation has got to be one of the most political "charity" organizations I've come across.

Imam Zaid, in his last clarification, encouraged Muslims to work towards eradicating malaria, and recommends that "this is an issue that should transcend politics."

Unfortunately, the reality is that we live in a political world, and I think it would be very naive to think that we can just ignore how some charities work, and the kind of political individuals who are involved in such organizations.

There is a notion that we can just ignore the war crimes (or minimize the crimes by calling them "politics") of Bush/Blair and their ilk, and work with them on single issues, such as "malaria." I think that is plainly absurd - how can one work with people who are complicit in the killing of hundreds of thousands, upwards of a million, with one hand, while pretending to "do good" with the other? Perhaps we need to be reminded:

And when they are told, "Do not spread corruption on earth," they answer, "We are the ones who put things right!" (Qur’an 2:11)


Malaria No More's board of directors is a study in charity politics, composed of individuals with high powered resumes - not a single one appears to have any prior direct experience with the issue (malaria) (The science and health advisory board (four individuals) does appear to have some who might be familiar with the issues):

Four or five of those on the board of directors, are members of the notorious pro-empire, Council on Foreign Relations.

Two members especially stand out:

John Bridgeland, the vice chairman: co-directed the policy transition for the Bush-Cheney Presidential Transition team and was Deputy Policy Director for the Bush-Cheney 2000 Presidential campaign.


And

Ann M. Veneman (Executive Director, UNICEF)

"The notion that Veneman would be placed in a position to decide how to feed and care for the planet's most destitute children is every bit as alarming as the notion that Wolfowitz would be charged with providing aid to developing countries."

"Indeed, as Ravi Narayan, coordinator for the global secretariat of the People's Health Movement, wrote in a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the members of the executive board of UNICEF: 'Ms. Veneman's training and experience as a corporate lawyer for agribusiness do not qualify her for the substantial task of leading the agency most responsible for the rights of children worldwide. There is no evidence in her tenure as U.S. secretary of agriculture, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, or deputy undersecretary for international affairs of the USDA of her interest in the world's children or their health and well-being.


The CEO is especially interesting, he is the founder of "priceline.com" - now, that might be a more or less business venture - but how exactly does that transfer over to malaria?

Well their website answers that question - and should serve as a red flag to anyone seriously interested in working to improve health care conditions - malaria, or otherwise:

Malaria No More is not a typical global health organization. We aren't strictly a funding body, or a grassroots movement, or an advocacy shop, or an on-the-ground implementer. Rather, we are a uniquely entrepreneurial organization with elements of each. What unites these disparate activities is leverage.


Lets go ahead and give 'em the benefit of the doubt --- but why would Muslims want to affiliate ourselves with a group that debuts with a Bush event?

On December 14, 2006, the President and the First Lady hosted a White House Summit on Malaria.

Attendees included representatives of the U.S. government, including key leaders from the President's Malaria Initiative/U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department, the National Security Council.


And lets briefly compare this group with the highly respected and effective public health organization, Doctors Without Borders. You'll find that half of the members of their Board of Directors are Medical Doctors, and their advisory board are mostly made up of community based individuals (who understand the need and how to effectively respond) - Not high flying political/big business individuals (who have zip connection with the issues, and no way have the know how to respond effectively). Click here for an article on Doctors Without Borders's work on malaria.

Perhaps Malaria No More has made some difference, fine and well ---- but puleeze, lets not delude ourselves that they are beyond, or transcending politics. Muslims very much need to evaluate the politics of groups that approach us (especially important for those of us in leadership capacity) - otherwise, we may well find ourselves in cahoots with some of the worst war criminals.

And then we'll only have ourselves to blame.

Monday, October 06, 2008

smiling with a war criminal (and the war criminal smiling)

I'm still working on a post regarding the group, Malaria No More. Meanwhile, here are some pictures (from the Tony Blair Foundation/Malaria No More event) that were proudly posted on the Muslim Students Association National website. I don't know who all the individuals are - but the web site notes that:

Both MSA National Vice President Randa Kuziez and MSA National West Zone USA Respresentative Yasmin Elhady were invited to participate in the intimate 100-person audience, while thousands of internet users logged in to watch the live streaming video.


I am assuming that the pictures below include either or both MSA officials.

NOT a single word on their web site about Blair's complicity in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine ... not one word.






Saturday, October 04, 2008

New clarification by Imam Zaid

Imam Zaid has written a new clarification regarding Hamza Yusuf's participation at the Tony Blair Foundation event. The original posting on this site has been modified to include the new statement.

For now, I will keep the original statement by Imam Zaid as a matter of record.

HOWEVER, I do think this is somewhat of a novel situation - because of the kind of erroneous charge that were made against an individual - and, after consulting some others, I may decide to either only have excerpts of the original statement available, remove it altogether, or come up with some other alternative.

There were hundreds, and thousands who came just to this site searching for "tony blair hamza yusuf" (at least two or three days *before* the event took place - and I think there were a couple of other sites that had the info. up several days before I did) - with hundreds from the San Francisco Bay Area, where main offices of Zaytuna is located.

The only comments (that I stopped publishing) people were leaving on this site (before Imam Zaid's initial statement) were in defense of Hamza Yusuf attending the event. I do hope that they they now recognize, just how serious of a problem it is for for an Islamic scholar to share a panel with a war criminal.

See also Traditional Islamism's blog entry on this issue.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Tony Blair Foundation, the liberal imperialists, and the case of Eboo Patel

Muslims, and non-Muslims who oppose the taghut, contemporarily manifested as imperialists and neo-colonialists, sometimes misunderstand and misanalyze the situation to only focus on the Republican neo-cons in the US. This erroneous single minded focus results in their support of liberal imperialists and war mongers such as Obama in the US, and the Labor (sic) Party in the UK.

There is a certain assumption that it is OK to hang out with the Democrats, Clintons, Obama, and members of the UK labor party, since they are not members of the neo-con cabal. An exception to this assumption has been Tony Blair who, because of close association with Bush, ended up being completely discredited, and whoever went near him got discredited. But Tony is now attempting to rehabilitate himself - hoping that the world will simply forget about his war crimes.

Tony Blair, however, still does belong to the liberal imperialist camp. I expect that he will focus on recruiting liberal and progressive type Muslims who would 1) be all too willing to ignore his war crimes, and who 2)have been critics of so-called "fundamentalists" and/or have been involved, in one way or the other, in the project of pacification of Muslims (Radical Middle Way, being one example).

No Muslim who has a memory of Tony's crimes, and truly has a heart connection with the Muslim umma, would ever willingly agree to work with him on any project.

Think about it, suppose an unrepentant and unpunished man responsible for the murder of your family, your husband, your wife, your children, was to invite you to work on a project to clean up some trash in your neighborhood. What would you do? Would you be willing to dishonor the memory of your family, and say, well, he is doing some good, and just go and join him? Knowing fully well what he has been responsible for?


"Indeed this community (ummah) of yours is one community (ummah), and I am your Lord, therefore, worship only Me. (Qur'an 21:92)


and there is the well known hadith:

"The Muslim Ummah is like one body. If the eye is in pain then the whole body is in pain and if the head is in pain then the whole body is in pain." (I don't know the source, if someone does know, please drop in a comment).


Sure, if Blair or Bush or other war criminals were serving a life term in prison (without the possibility of parole) and as part of their sentence, they were required to pick up trash, OK, I can see that... Maybe you are a Muslim, working as prison guard, and would be supervising them to make sure they get the job done right... no one would have any objections in such a situation.

Amongst those that Tony has recruited is one, Eboo Patel, a liberal Muslim, who has been making the rounds in the US on National Public (sic) Radio (aka National Petroleum Radio) - and was listed by the liberal "alternative" Utne Reader in 2002, as one of "thirty social visionaries under thirty changing the world."

Lets take a closer look at Eboo Patel to see just how much of an "alternative" he is...

1. Eboo Patel's organization "Interfaith Youth Core" is going to be a major part of the Tony Blair Foundation:

The Faiths Act Fellowship is an initiative of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and is coordinated by Interfaith Youth Core.


2. Patel has some big time, not so alternative, names backing him up:

Through the Clinton Global Initiative, a project that brings together worthy causes and big-name benefactors, the ex-president (Bill Clinton) has spotlighted Patel’s work and brought him to the attention of Queen Rania of Jordan, who helped set up an international exchange program, and actress Markie Post of “Night Court,” who held a fundraiser and opened doors in Hollywood.


Remember Clinton? That is the guy who continued the devastating economic sanctions on the people of Iraq for 8 long years. Remember Clinton's secretary of state, Madeline Albright?

In 1996 then-UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright was asked by 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl, in reference to years of U.S.-led economic sanctions against Iraq, “We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?”

To which Ambassador Albright responded, “I think that is a very hard choice, but the price, we think, the price is worth it.”


The most monumental of Clinton's war crimes, however, has been his policy of sanctions on Iraq, supplemented by the maintenance of intense satellite surveillance and regular bombing attacks that have often resulted in civilian casualties. UNICEF reports that in 1999 more than 1 million Iraqi children under 5 were suffering from chronic malnutrition, and some 4,000-5,000 children are dying per month beyond normal death rates from the combination of malnutrition and disease. Death from disease was greatly increased by the shortage of potable water and medicines, that has led to a 20-fold increase in malaria (among other ailments). This vicious sanctions system, causing a creeping extermination of a people, has already caused more than a million excess deaths, and it is claimed by John and Karl Mueller that Clinton's "sanctions of mass destruction" have caused "the deaths of more people in Iraq than have been slain by all so-called weapons of mass destruction [nuclear and chemical] throughout all history" (Foreign Affairs, May/June 1999). U.S. mainstream reporters, who have so eagerly followed the distress of the Kosovo Albanians, somehow never get to Iraq for pictures of the thousands of malnourished children.


And last, but by no means the least, like Vali Nasr, like Reza Aslan, Eboo Patel is also connected to the "brain of imperialism" The Council of Foreign Relations.

He (Eboo Patel) is on the Religious Advisory Committee of the Council on Foreign Relations (from bio in Newsweek)


Coming up next - we'll take a closer look at some of the staff at Tony's foundation, and Saleema Abdul Ghaffur.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

God Save the Deen

Eid Mubarak!

This article is a few months old, and has made its rounds on the net, but given its relevancy, worth reading again... stay tuned to this site for more on the Tony Blair Foundation, and their supporters....

The complete article is available here, below are selected excerpts.


God save the Deen

By

Fahad Ansari

Since the events of 9-11, there has been a relentless campaign launched to reform Islam to transform it into something more palatable to Western society. The vision is a secular and cultural Islam at peace with the world through her submission to her oppressors rather than to Allah; an Islam devoid of jihad, shari’ah and khilafah – the very things we are commanded by Allah to implement in order to establish Allah’s deen on this earth. Detailed studies such as that of the RAND Corporation in the US outline the means towards achieving this goal. A 2003 report by RAND entitled Civil Democratic Islam categorises Muslims into four categories: fundamentalists, traditionalists, modernists and secularists. Its recommendations include

- financially supporting and promoting the modernists and their viewpoints
- supporting the traditionalists against the fundamentalists
- promoting Sufism
- challenging the fundamentalists’ interpretation of Islam, revealing their links to jihad groups, demonstrating their inability to rule, portraying them as terrorists and encouraging journalists to dig up dirt on them
- encouraging division among the fundamentalists
- selectively supporting the secularists and discouraging the secularist alliance with anti-US forces on such grounds as nationalism and leftist ideology

A joint Home Office and Foreign Office document from 2004, Young Muslims and Extremism, indicated that a similar strategy was at play in Britain. Codenamed ‘Operation Contest’, the document speaks of measures through which government endorsements could be used to promote certain elements within the Muslim community such as supporting “moderate” Islamic media outlets, promoting Muslim organisations, individuals and forums that are seen as government friendly, and encouraging “moderate” Muslims to challenge the “extremists”.

...


Much of this has occurred in the context of the Radical Middle Way Project, a speakers tour funded by the Foreign Office through the Home Office with the objective of fighting extremism or in other words, pacifying Muslims. One example of how this Project is being used to turn people away from struggling for justice will suffice. A few months ago, a sister I know, who is very active in campaigning against injustices at home and abroad, was bought tickets by her friends to attend three lectures by a leading speaker of the Radical Middle Way Project. Her friend told her they believed she was becoming too “extreme”. I would describe this sister as many things – active, passionate, radical – but extreme, hardly. If it’s because of her belief in jihad, shari’ah and khilafah that she is extreme, then the vast majority of Muslims are extremists, and I will proudly add my name to that list.


Shockingly, while the government has repeatedly harped on about the need for British Imams, it is funding this roadshow of scholars flown in from places as diverse as US, Canada, Yemen and Mauritania. One should not question the intention of the scholars themselves but it does seem that they have allowed themselves to become pawns of the government, being manipulated by it to complete its agenda. The roadshow has served as a platform to bash so-called Wahhabi groups in the most cynical manner, as we begin to divide ourselves even more upon the lines our enemies have drawn for us. In doing so, these speakers ironically take on the very characteristics they so vehemently attack.

Running alongside all this has been the pop-nasheed culture, which sister Yvonne Ridley has already spoken volumes about so I will not delve too deeply. Suffice it to say that the culture is symbolic of the inferiority complex we suffer, wishing to be more Roman than the Romans themselves, entertaining ourselves for the sake of entertainment. The end result of all this has been a dilution of the deen of Allah, a weak and pacified Islam willing to accept the status quo in which Muslims are oppressed and subjugated; an Islam in which Muslims are content to sing and sway the night away to nasheeds, to concentrate on bettering their life in the West and to condemn the actions of their brothers and sisters who courageously resist occupation and oppression with whatever they have. Even making dua for them now has become a crime – how long before we are told by our imams not to even pray for the mujahideen?

...

As an antidote to post-7-7 syndrome, British Muslims themselves organized their own roadshow (Roles and Responsibilities of Muslims in Britain) earlier this year in which scholars, community leaders and activists who have grassroots support in their communities spoke. This wasn’t about foreign imams telling British Muslims how to behave in Britain; this was about British imams, born, raised and resident in this country, speaking to British Muslims. Despite the record turn-outs for the tour, no support or even sign of recognition was forthcoming from the government as in addition to condemning terrorism, Muslims were told not to forget about Palestine, to continue to be active and to stand up for justice, irrespective of the consequences. The masses heard the message and are sure to spread it.

Slowly but steadily, more and more Muslims are waking up with the realisation that it is not terrorism or extremism that is being targeted but Islam itself. Our enemies will continue to attempt to divide us and to reform Islam as they have done throughout the centuries. But we must always bear in mind our Lord’s words that “they plot, but Allah also plotteth; and Allah is the best of plotters” (Surah al-Anfal; 30)