Al-Megrahi and the Swiss Bankers

By Joseph El-Khoury

The Al-Megrahi controversy illustrates one of the basic misunderstandings that poison East-West Relationships. The scenes of celebrations upon his return cannot have come as a shock to those who remember the history of Colonel Kaddafi(Gaddafi) and his consistent talent at irritating, insulting and keeping everyone on their toes. This is not about a clash of cultures or an Arab insensitivity to the suffering of others. Leaving aside whether Al-Megrahi is guilty of Lockerbie or whether the Libyan people feel his detention was a political one, the public display of jubilation are unlikely to have been spontaneous and can only have been blessed and orchestrated by a regime bent on sending messages as part of a conversation with London and Washington of which we know little. Capricious tyrant or Machiavellian visionary? The jury is still out on that one. What is clear is that the West is showing a great deal of tolerance in the name of pragmatic cooperation.

I remember a conversation with A Libyan doctor in self imposed exile who complained above all of the ‘unpredictability’ of a regime run by an unpredictable man. In a way Kaddafhi is not different from a Henry VIII changing wives like you would change socks, then creating a church to accommodate his personal needs. These, after all are the prerogatives of absolute Monarchs...and Rock stars. Kaddafi probably aspires to both status: omnipotent and dramatic. He is a figure as recognisable as Michael Jackson since the 1980s and will mostl likely become a pop-art icon for years to come. But the values of the 16th century are no longer in operation. This is 2009, supposedly dominated by liberalism, governance, accountability, fairness and...Democracy. Wars are being waged in the name of these values in Iraq and Afghanistan at a high cost for all those involved. Unfortunately, and since September 2001, Kaddafhi has been sold to Western public opinion as a repentant bad guy, turned anti-terrorist campaigner and business partner. Dropped were concerns over sustained human rights abuses, oppressive policies and lack of political freedom. Libya had become in 8 years the ideal investment spot, as longs as you managed to woo the ruling inner circle by accepting invitations to share food in the presidential tent or admiring the artwork of the heir to the throne Seif El Islam in a London Gallery. Britain, but also the US and others have only their governments to blame for marketing the regime as a model for the future Middle East.

Only a few days prior to Al Megrahi’s release on compassionate grounds -A decision that can only be praised if its premises are genuine- Switzerland was apologising to Kaddafi’s other son Hannibal for having smeared his image following allegations him and his wife had abused their staff while sojourning in the country. Libya had retaliated by withdrawing funds deposited in Swiss Banks and cancelling contracts. The sight of Swiss officials begging for forgiveness was more repulsive than the scenes in Tripoli. It was also more symbolic of the hypocrisy framing East-West relationships, a relationship of business and political powerhouses over which the average Arab has no influence.

'We Understand Islam'

By Joseph El-Khoury

Hamas spokesperson Ghazi Hamad’s desperate efforts to portray his movement as moderate and mainstream felt a tad rehearsed, triggering sniggers from other panel members during an Aljazeera English debate on the latest events in Gaza.

The heavy fighting over the weekend pitted Palestinian security forces, essentially under Hamas control, against a relative newcomer on the Islamist scene, known as the ‘Jund Ansar Allah’ or ‘Soldiers of the supporters of God’. This Salafi organisation of a few hundred members and apparently linked to the kidnapping of BBC Journalist Alan Johnston a few years ago, had been growing steadily and recruiting aggressively among the disaffected youth in the impoverished city of Rafah in Southern Gaza. As part of his diatribe Mr Hamad declared: ’These guys don’t understand Islam, We understand Islam’; an accusation that ironically had been levelled at them by Fatah in the past. Similarly he claims that his organisation never forces its beliefs on others, while the reality in Gaza reveals a systematic islamization of society organised by Hamas since it took over control of the district.

Only a few weeks earlier we read press releases indicating that Female lawyers were instructed to wear the veil while conducting official court business. Other reports suggest that Hamas is no longer content of focusing its task on fighting the Israelis but is determined to remodel Gazan life according to its religious and moral principles. Realistically, the movement doesn’t really have much choice, having dug itself into a hole by evicting Fatah to the West Bank and failed to emulate Hezbollah in the latest Gaza war, it is limited to capitalising on its religious platform.

Obviously they are not responsible for every brand of Islamism within Palestinian society, but on this account had so far only been rivalled by Islamic Jihad, a much more elitist organisation with no limited grass root support. In addition, any discerning observer with basic understanding of political Islam, will be aware of the radical differences between organisations such as Hamas (and Hezbollah) on one hand and the Global Jihadists of Al Qaeda. Their lumping together by the Western media only mirrors Israeli propaganda which equates between Palestinian resistance to occupation (regardless of how misguided and counterproductive) and the delusional behaviour of a group of religious fanatics. It is easy to forget that the West used military force in Iraq to bring to power political parties that would find themselves to the Right of Hamas ideologically, but what is ‘Kosher’ in Iraq is ‘Haram’ in Palestine.

Nonetheless, it is Hamas, aided by the Israeli blockade, which bears a large part of responsibility for creating an atmosphere where Islam could be used as a political tool in settling disputes and labelling opponents. A number of commentators have highlighted the rehabilitating benefit for the militants of having dealt a deadly blow to those who dared be more ‘Muslim’ than them. Others feel that this is not the last we will hear from the Salafis and that the appalling human situation in the strip has the potential to breed further unbridled fanaticism.

'Jesus' comes to Afghanistan

It seems the Taliban are not the only extremists thriving in Afghanistan. In this clip broadcast on the English AlJazeera some elements within the US Army unashamedly draw a parallel between their duty as soldiers and their obligations as Evangelical Christians. Encouraged by a head chaplain (also a senior officer), they use militaristic vocabulary to justify their proselytizing strategy, with the use of Bibles translated in Pashtoun and other local languages.

Although this is probably not a reflection of the majority of US Servicemen, it is worrying that the Christian version of the Madrasas seem to operate unchecked in Bagram Air-Base. Over the past decade Killing in the name of! has become mainstream again and the rest of us are caught up in these anachronistic religious wars . It is high time for the seculars to step in.

Arabdemocracy

قوانين الطوارئ غير المعلنة في دول العالم الحرّ

وائل عبد الرحيم

حفلة الجنون التي انطلقت في العالم بعد تفجيرات 11 سبتمبر 2001، لم تقتصر طبعاً على سلسلة الحروب المنهجية التي شنتها الولايات المتحدة الأميركية على عدد من دول العالم، أو على تصنيفها أمم العالم وحكوماته بين دول محور شرّ واخرى خيّرة وما بين ذلك وفقاً لتجاوب هذه الحكومات مع الأجندة الأميركية، بل تعدّت ذلك إلى تشديد قاس للرقابة على الحريات الفردية والسياسية في العالم، بدءاً بأميركا نفسها مروراً بدول الاتحاد الأوروبي وصولاً إلى الدول المسمّاة نامية.
هذا ما أنتج عشرات قوانين مكافحة الإرهاب وتعديلاتها التي كانت نتيجتها الاولى تراجعاً في الحريات العامة وإدخال الرقابة إلى مجمل دوائر العمل العام وحتى الحياة الخاصة للمواطنين.

وبالحديث عن الولايات المتحدة وقوانين مكافحة الإرهاب والأمن الداخلي ولوائح المشتبه بهم التي تضمّ مئات آلاف الأشخاص الذين لم يصدر بحقهم حكم واحد يدينهم او يجرّمهم بل هم مجرد مشتبه بهم، فقد استطاعت إدارة الرئيس السابق جورج بوش ان تحوّل هذا البلد إلى سجن كبير مراقب بشكل محكم.

تكفي الإشارة إلى لائحة المراقبة التي تعدّها إدارة امن النقل في الولايات المتحدة الأميركية Transportation Security Administration TSA والتي تثير جدلاً في الأوساط الأميركية ولا سيما الصحافية وبين جماعات حقوق الإنسان والحريات المدنية.

فهذه اللائحة السابقة على احداث 11 سبتمبر تضخمت بعد هذا التاريخ وانطلاق "الحرب على الإرهاب" لتشمل اكثر من مليون شخص داخل وخارج الولايات المتحدة بمعدل زيادة 20 الف اسم شهرياً. _تضخمت اللائحة من 158 ألف في العام 2004 إلى 754 ألف في مايو / ايار من العام الماضي – USA Today-. وفي حين ان الـ FBI ومسؤولين حكوميين يقولون إنها تضم فقط 400 الف اسم بل إن مسؤولاً في TSA هو كيب هاولي يقول إنها لا تضم أكثر من 50 الفاً، إلا ان القضية تبقى المعايير التي يتم على اساسها إدارج الأسماء والتي اقل إجراء متخذ هو منعها من السفر او ركوب الطائرات. وتُتخذ هذه الإجراءات دون أي مذكرات اتهام يوجّهها القضاء بل عبر اقنية امنية بحتة. وغالباً ما يتم إدراج اسماء مرموقة على هذه اللائحة.

هذا غيض من فيض في اميركا لكنه يشير إلى الاتجاه الذي كان طاغياً في المرحلة السابقة، والذي لن ينهيه قرار باراك اوباما إغلاق معتقل غوانتنامو على اهمية هذا القرار.
وفي اوروبا، ليست الصورة بأفضل كثيراً، فقد سبق لمحكمة العدل الأوروبية أن وجّهت تحذيرا للاتحاد الأوروبي لتجاهله كفالة حقوق المتهمين في قضايا تتعلق بالإرهاب وحرمانهم من حق الدفاع عن أنفسهم. وقررت المحكمة أن المتهمين الواردة أسماؤهم في اللائحة السوداء للأمم المتحدة، لهم حق الاستئناف لنقض الحكم أمام محكمة أوروبية. كذلك صدر تقرير عن مركز شاتهام يشير إلى انه أنه ومنذ 6 سنوات وحتى الان لم تنجح الأمم المتحدة ولا الاتحاد الأوروبي في إرساء معايير مشتركة ومقبولة وعادلة للتعامل مع المشتبه بتورطهم في الإرهاب. ويشير التقرير إلى ان الاتحاد الأوروبي وضع لوائح سوداء للمشتبه بهم بمعزل عن الأمم المتحدة. كما يعتبر التقرير ان الطريقة التي وضعت بها اللوائح تخالف المعايير المعتمدة في الاتحاد الأوروبي للعدالة.

وإلى لوائح مراقبة الإرهاب التي نسفت القاعدة الأساسية في العدالة وعاقبت على النيات واخذاُ بالشبهات، (في ما يشبه تطبيقاً للأحكام العرفية والطوارئ)، عمليات الترحيل القسرية للمهاجرين واللاجئين السياسيين، فقد نبّه تقرير لمنظمة العفو الدولية صاتدر في يونيو / حزيران 2008 إلى أنه لم يُتخذ أي إجراء يحول دون مزيد من المشاركة الأوروبية في عمليات الترحيل والاعتقال السرية، ودعا إلى إجراء تحقيقات مستقلة بصورة عاجلة.

ويلقي تقرير منظمة العفو الدولية "حالة الإنكار: دور أوروبا في عمليات الترحيل والاعتقال السرية" مزيداً من الضوء على حجم الدور الأوروبي في برامج الترحيل والاعتقال السرية الأميركية، وعلى استمرار تقاعس الدول الأوروبية عن الاعتراف بالانتهاكات التي ارتكبها مواطنوها أو ارتُكبت على أراضيها، أو إجراء تحقيقات فيها.

وقالت منظمة العفو الدولية إن "الحكومات الأوروبية تعيش حالة إنكار وما فتئت تتحاشى الحقيقة لمدة أطول مما يجب"، وأضافت "إن مشاركتها في عمليات الترحيل والاعتقال السرية تتعارض بشكل صارخ مع مزاعمها بأنها جهات فاعلة تتحلى بروح المسؤولية في الحرب على الإرهاب".

وفي بريطانيا يدور جدل بشان مشروع قانون يصنّف المتطرف لا ارتكازاً على أفعاله فحسب او على نيات جرمية وإنما على معتقداته التي من ضمن ما تشمل اعتبار شخص ما متطرفاً إذا كان يؤيد العمل المسلح ضد الاحتلال الإسرائيلي في الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة، ما حدا بمسؤولين سابقين في اجهزة الاستخبارات البريطانية إلى التحذير من مخاطر هذه السياسة الأمنية التي لن تجلب الأمن إلى بريطانيا إذا استمرت في تجاهل الدوافع الحقيقية للعنف، خصوصاً ان قانون مكافحة الإرهاب البريطاني مع كل التعديلات التي طرات عليه والتي اجازت التوقيف الاحتياطي لمدد تطول بحق مشتبه بهم قد عدّ انتهاكاً جديداً لحقوق الإنسان.

وفي سياق آخر ولكنه متعلق، حكمت المحكمة العليا في الدنمارك أخيراً على ستة دنماركيين بالسجن لبيعهم قمصانا لصالح القوات المسلحة الثورية في كولومبيا (فارك) والجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين المدرجتين على قائمة الاتحاد الاوروبي للمنظمات الارهابية، مع العلم ان الجبهة الشعبية مثلاً ممثلة في السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية التي يتعامل معها الاتحاد الأوروبي بصفتها شرعية، ولديها نواب في المجلس التشريعي، وهي توقفت عن ممارسة العمل العنفي خارج الأراضي المحتلة منذ اكثر من ثلاثة عقود على الأقلّ. المحكمة ارتكزت ضمن ما ارتكزت على تقارير لمنظمتين حقوقيتين عالميتين هما هيومن رايتس ووتش ومنظمة العفو الدولية تعتبر ان المنظمتنين المذكورتين قامتا بأفعال إرهابية.

مهما كان من امر هذه الإجراءات والسلوكيات التي ينتقدها المدافعون عن الحريات المدنية واالناشطون السياسيون في الغرب، وبمعزل عن الرؤى المسطّحة والبيروقراطية لبعض كبريات جمعيات الدفاع عن حقوق الإنسان، فإن الأكيد هو أنها تؤشر على مدى الضرر الذي الحقته الحرب على الإرهاب بحق الديمقراطيات الغربية والتشويه الذي اصاب مفهوم القانون في الغرب بحيث اصبح من السهل تطويعه لكي يتم تحت ستاره ارتكاب ما كان يعتبر في السابق من المعصيات.

وإذا كان باراك اوباما مثّل بالنسبة للكثيرين من حمائم الديمقراطية الغربية نهاية كابوس حقيقي هدّد أفكارهم يوماً ما، فإنه ربما على هؤلاء قبل غيرهم ان يلتفتوا إلى حقيقة ان السياسات التي اورثتها حقبة الحرب على الإرهاب لا تزال قائمة بل هي تشتد وتطال باسم هذه الحرب حقوق المهاجرين والمواطنين على حدّ سواء في الدول الغربية.

انفجار في القاهرة

وائل عبد الرحيم

كأنه لا يكفي المصريين أن يواجهوا يومياً مصاعب الحياة والفقر والقمع وفساد النظام السياسي الاجتماعي حتى يعود الإرهاب الغبيّ ليستهدف عاصمتهم.
الانفجار الذي ضرب منطقة الحسين الأحد جاء بعد ثلاثة أيام فقط من الإفراج عن أيمن نور، حدثٌ رغم التساؤلات التي تحيط به أرخى ظلال ارتياح نسبي على بعض من جوانب الحياة السياسية في القاهرة.
من الطبيعي جداً أن يكون هذا التفجير مثار استنكار الجميع في مصر وخارجها، وبغضّ النظر عن التحليلات الأمنية والاستخباريّة بشأن من يقف وراء هذا العمل، فإن الجزئية المهمة من الصورة قد تكون في المعاناة اليومية التي يعيش فيها عشرات ملايين المصريين، الأغلبية الساحقة القابعة على مسافات قريبة جدا من خط الفقر، وأحيانا تحت هذا الخط، في ظل غياب تنمية اقتصادية وبشرية مقبولة.
ففي تقريرها عن التنمية البشرية لعام 2007 ذكرت الأمم المتحدة أن 14 مليون مصري يعيشون تحت خط الفقر، بينهم أربعة ملايين لا يجدون قوت يومهم، لتبقى مصر في المركز 111 بين دول العالم الأكثر فقرًا.
وذكر التقرير أيضاً أن نسبة السكان الذين يعيشون تحت خط الفقر عند مستوي إنفاق دولار واحد في اليوم تبلغ 3.1%، بينما تبلغ نسبة مستوي إنفاق دولارين في اليوم 43.9%.، وهي نسب مهولة إذا أخذنا بالاعتبار أن تعداد الشعب المصري يفوق الثمانين مليوناً.
فضلاً عن الشعور بسحر هذه المدينة التي يحكي كلّ شارع فيها صفحة من التاريخ الحديث والقديم، وإلى طيبة ناسها وعفويتهم، لا بدّ لزائر القاهرة أن يلاحظ فوضى عارمة تختصر كل تفاصيل الحياة العامة والخاصة للمصريين.هي فوضى بناء، وفوضى نمو، وفوضى في توزيع الثروات التي تنعم بها قلّة قليلة تحتكر السلطات والمال في ظل نظام اقتصاد مافيوزي ليس هو بالنظام الليبرالي الحرّ ولا بالاشتراكية المندثرة.
لكن اللافت للنظر أيضاً هو حجم اللامبالاة التي يعبّر عنها المصريون تجاه هيبة النظام التي لم يعد يكفي انتشار الأمن المركزي الدائم في المفترقات الرئيسة والفرعية لشوارع القاهرة ليحفظها.
لم يعد النظام قادراُ على فرض هيبته على الناس، وبات شتمً النظام على لسان الجميع وغير مموّه بالتفريق بين حكومة أحمد نظيف أو العائلة الرئاسية المالكة، بل يسمّون الأشياء بأسمائها. ومن مظاهر انهيار هيبة النظام انتشار ظاهرة تقاضي الإكراميات بشكل مفرط ليس بين العاملين في القطاعين الخاص والعام فحسب بل في أجهزة تنفيذية حسّاسة من مهامها حفظ الأمن في الداخل وعلى منافذ البلد. تجد هذا حتى في المطار!
كما يعامل المصريون نظام حكمهم، فهم لا يقدّرون أكثر أحزاب المعارضة التقليدية التي يراها الكثيرون الوجه الآخر لنظام الحكم الحالي، وفاقدة للصدقية في قضايا كثيرة لا تقف فقط عند حدود توريث الحكم وهو حديث الشارع اليومي، وإنتما تتخطاه لتضع علامات استفهام كبيرة حول شفافية هذه الأحزاب والفساد الذي لا يبدو أنها نجت منه هي الأخرى.
إذن "هي فوضى"، وغياب شديد الوضوح للعدالة، وأمور كثيرة بات الحديث عنها من البديهيات وجزءاً من تكرار رتيب.
ربما يكون انفجار الحسين حدثاً محدوداً في سياقه، لكنه يأتي كإشارة تحذير لمن يهمه الأمر عن المخاطر الحقيقية التي تتهدد "الأمن القومي" في مصر. فليست الأفكار هي التي تهدّد هذا الأمن الذي يحميه نظام طوارئ النظام، بل هي البيئة الخصبة لولادة أنواع كثيرة من التهديد الأكثر خطراً وأخطرها: اليأس.

الجهاد يتألق في مجتمع علم الكلام

وائل عبد الرحيم

تنتشر في العالم موجة خوف واسعة من الإرهاب الإسلامي المتمثل في عنف الجماعات والتنظيمات الإسلامية المسلحة الذي يطال اهدافاً مدنية وغير مدنية تحت مسميات الجهاد. لست هنا بوارد نقاش موسّع لـ"الفكر الجهادي" او تحليل جذوره ومشروعيته.
برأيي، وبكل بساطة، إن مشروعية "الجهاد" هذا تسقط فوراً بمجرّد مقارنة بسيطة بين منظومة القيم التي يحملها وتناقضها مع أبسط القيم الإنسانية المتعارف عليها من حرية وعدالة ومساواة.
ولا أقيم اعتباراً لقيمتي الخير والفضيلة التي يحاول الفكر "الجهادي" الإسلامي ان يستبطنها، فهاتان القيمتان بالتحديد كانتا ايضاً في صلب العقائد الفاشية التي عرفها التاريخ الحديث.
كذلك لا اعير اهتماماً كبيراً لقيمة "الأصالة" التي يروّج "الجهاديون" لها في عالمنا العربي والامتداد الإسلامي، فلست اعترف بغير أفكار الأنوار والتحديث حتى في الدين، واقول ذلك وانا اشدّدّ على علمانيتي غير القابلة للتصرف او المساومة مع احترامي الكبير للفكر الديني المتنور الذي يقبل الفكر الآخر ويحاوره على قاعدة الانتماء المشترك إلى القيم الكبرى وإلى الانسانية.
ومع هذا أجدني مدفوعاً إلى محاورة تاريخية للأصالة الحقيقية وإن لم أكن في موقع المتبني الكامل لها، ولا في استخدامها لغة للكتابة. تشدّني أصالة جمال الدين الأفغاني ومحمد عبده، وأطالع بإعجاب أفكار شكيب أرسلان في إصلاح الخلافة الإسلامية ضمن دولة دستورية حديثة.. فأُعجب بالأصالة الأصيلة دون ان أتبناها مقدار استهجاني للفاشية الحديثة المقتبسة من طلائع القمصان السود والخضر في أوروبا ومن تطرف جماعات التتريك الثقافي القومي في بداية القرن العشرين.
وأنا استعيد هذه المقاربة بين الفاشية الأوروبية ونسختها التركية، وكذلك العربية، وبين الأصالة في الفكر التجديدي الديني وغير الديني، أذهب الى اعتبار الجهاد بمفاهيمه الحالية أحد اقذر التعبيرات عن انحدار مفاهيم الانتماء الثقاقي والقومي والديني.
ولئن كنت أشدّد على آنية هذا الوصف لمفهوم الجهاد، فهذا لأن الكثير من صرخات الثورة الوطنية في مشرقنا العربي كانت "حيّا على الجهاد" في مواجهة مستعمر من هنا وآخر من هناك. هكذا أسمعها في صرخات فرسان جبل العرب تحت راية الدرزي سلطان الأطرش، او في صولات رجال جبل العلويين بزعامة ابراهيم هنانو، او في جهاد عزالدين القسام في فلسطين التاريخية.
أما المفهوم الحالي لـ"الجهاد" المفتوح ضد "اعداء الله والمسلمين" فهو يأتي في زمانه ليتوجّ الانحدار المتوالي في الفكر القومي والديني على حدّ سواء.
ويجب ان أضيف أن تطرفي في الحكم على الفكر الجهادي ليس نابعا من لجوء اصحاب هذا الفكر إلى العنف لتحقيق اهدافهم فحسب، فلم يكن العنف وحده هو القاعدة الرئيسية لتظهير المواقف من الجماعات والأفكار والسلوكيات المختلفة.
والقائل إن "الإرهاب" الإسلامي جاء في التاريخ الحديث تتويجاً لما سبقه من إرهاب شيوعي، أحاججه بأن العنف كان دائماً سلوكا وممارسة متجذرة في صلب الحركات السياسية إلى اي اتجاه انتمت، ولست مجبراً على تعداد الوقائع والأحداث التاريخية فيمكن لأي باحث جادّ ان ينجز هذا العمل. لكن المعيار في قياس الحركات السياسية ليس في استخدامها للعنف وطبيعة هذا الاستخدام فحسب، على اهمية ذلك، بل المشروع الذي تحمله.
والحال ان الإرهاب الإسلامي حتى قبل ان يفجرّ براكين الدماء يحمل مشروع الإرهاب نفسه دولةً شموليةً متأخرةً في انتمائها إلى الحداثة، دولة قروسطية تحتكر الحقيقة وتفرض احادية الدين وتبشرّ باللامساواة بين "المؤمنين والكفّار" وتفترض سلفاً بعصمة الأمير أو الجماعة لا فرق.
دولة قانونها قطع الرقاب والأيادي، دولة ترجم العشّاق، عدوّة للتراث، وتسكت الأصوات، ولا فرق إن كانت هذه الدولة في محور الشرّ أو من دول الاعتدال.
إنها دولة - أيديولوجيا متأخرة حتى عن الفاشية الأوروبية التي تستبطن حداً أدنى من الانتماء إلى التاريخ الحديث والسعي إلى الازدهار والبعد عن الغيبية، على الأقل في تمظهرها الأدبي.
ما أناقشه هنا، بالتحديد، ليس فقط تعارض الفكر "الجهادي" مع القيم الإنسانية المتعارف عليها والمقبولة والسائدة، بل الخلايا النائمة لهذا الفكر، النائمة في لبوس سلمي مهادن، والبيئة الثقافية والتربوية التي تشجعه.
فأحد أبرز الأخطار التي يواجهها العالم الإسلامي هو سيطرة الفاشية الإسلاموية على نظام التربية وجهاز الدين الرسمي والادوات الثقافية للإسلام السياسي.
لهذه السيطرة تجليات عديدة، ربما أبرزها مناهج التعليم في العديد من الدول العربية، والتي تحوي ثوابت خطيرة منها أن الأصل في الانتماء هو لدين الإسلام، وأن ما عدا ذلك ضلالة، وأن المسلمين هم الناجون من النار، والآخرون مشركون يجب إما هدايتهم او تنظيم وجودهم، وأنه حتى في الإسلام توجد فرقة ناجية والآخرون على ضلال أيضاً... الخ..
وهذا اساس التربية الإسلامية التي تدرّس وتلقن لملايين اطفال العرب، ولمن لا يصدّق فليراجع مناهج التربية في دول الخليج والأردن وحتى في مصر التي أسهم دعاتها الهاربون من الناصرية في تزويج "حركية" حسن البنا إلى سلفية أحفاد الشيخ محمد بن عبدالوهاب.
بعد المدرسة، توجد ادوات السيطرة الثقافية الأخرى، وهي لا تقتصر على الأجهزة الدينية الرسمية، بل تمتد إلى وسائل الإعلام والثقافة والنشر فتكثر الفضائيات الدينية، والبرامج الدينية، وتنبري فضائيات إخبارية مهمّة لنقاش ما كان من خلاف بين علي وعمر بذريعة الإشكال الحالي الذي يسببه الاشتباك السياسي بين السنّة والشيعة.
في كل ذلك يتألق هذا النوع من الجهاد القاتل، ويأخذ بريقه من نقاشات قروسطية يدّعي من يحتضنها انها الغالبة على مجتمعاتنا المحافظة ناسياً ان التدين بشكله الحالي هو الطارئ وليس الأصل، واعني بذلك التديّن العدائي الشمولي الذي يدّعي امتلاك الحقيقة ويغلّب الانتماء الديني على غيره من ولاءات وطنية واجتماعية وثقافية.
ويتألق الجهاد القاتل في أجواء مؤتمرات حوار الاديان التي تنظمها دول تمنع حرية العقيدة حتى ضمن الطائفة الواحدة، ويتبارى العالم للّحاق بفتاوى طلاب الفقه وعلم الكلام التي هي أيضاً انحدرت فبتنا نسمع الجدل حول جواز إرضاع الموظفة لزميلها الموظف حتى يحلّ لها العمل معه في مكان واحد، او النقاش العقيم والتحايلي بشأن الدعارة المنظمة تحت مسميات المسيار أو زواج السفر أو السياحي.
ويتألق الجهاد القاتل في مجتمع مثقفي الشاشات والصحف فينقاش نظريات تردّ أسباب الأزمة الاقتصادية العالمية إلى التفسيرات الغيبية ونظريات نهاية العالم وقرب القيامة أو الحشر.
في ظل هذه الموجة من المصطلحات والنقاشات القروسطية، والتي تكثر فيها تعابير الحلال والحرام، يتألق الجهاد بمفهومه المدّمر، ويجد مشروعيته المدّعاة.
وفي ظل هذا السيل الجارف من إقحام الغيبيات في كل شيء يصبح من الطبيعي جدّاً أن يبرز الجهاد كمحصلة طبيعية لسيطرة الفكر الديني القروسطي على مختلف أوجه الحياة، فيحرّف أولويات الإنسان العربي ويصبح تعبيراً عن ضياع الهوية السياسية والاجتماعية، وممراً لمختلف أنواع الاختراقات والتوظيف السياسي والأمني.
الجهاديون الحاليون ليسوا حالة غريبة عن مجتمع علم الكلام، بل هم تطور طبيعي له، وهم حماته، وحراسه، وطلائعه المسلحة.

The Mumbai Attacks: Al Qaeda Decentralized

By Bachir Habib

“Let us not fool ourselves; it is a serious situation when the people in India feel this is their 9/11”.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistani Foreign Minister

What happened in India last week sets a new tone for the war on terror. From an American led campaign that generated, for years, passionate debates around the globe, the war on terror has acquired since the Mumbai attacks a totally new local and regional dimension imposing a new Modus Operandi and complicating the modalities of the so called “Global War on Terror”.
From the Madrid train bombings in March 2004, to the 07/07/ London bombings in 2005 and the self styled Iraqi Al Qaeda long struggle, we have been hearing about new ways and tactics the terrorist organization is using to bypass the vigilance and the high security plans introduced in major Western capitals since September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
The way the Mumbai attacks have been planned and put in practice confirm the change in the nature of the struggle, at least from Al Qaeda’s point of view. It has been made clear that Al Qaeda managed to change its fighting style, showing creativity and the capacity to adapt to new conditions where the “sleeping cells” strategy isn’t as efficient. Instead of manipulating undercover sleeping cells hierarchically related to Osama Ben Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri, the Mumbai attacks prove that Al Qaeda is now a decentralized entity, granting its trade mark label to any Islamic group willing to start a local franchise of the Ben Laden movement.
Some technical lessons should be learnt after the attacks in India last week. The more important one is how powerful a local terrorist group can be when it operates in its natural environment. In that sense, the group that perpetrated the attacks in Mumbai managed to turn one coordinated assault into a series of independent successful operations. The only difference with the Al Qaeda style has been the absence of the suicidal dimension. While suicide attacks have been the strongest tool for Al Qaeda (9/11 and Madrid bombings), the decentralization of the movement unveils new dangerous and deadly capabilities of Islamic terrorism without the need to make suicide a key to success. On the contrary, the decentralization method proves, at least in the Indian case, that terrorists can plan and carry out commando operations that last for days and cause chaos and fear. It is useful here to remind that as few as 10 militants may have been involved in the Mumbai assaults, attacking multiple locations including two hotels, a major railway station, a hospital and a Jewish centre. And to cap it all, the Islamist commandos even had the audacity to search for people with Western passports in order to take them hostage.

Al Qaeda’s decentralization appears as a real new global threat, and there is a high probability that it will lead to the decentralization of the war against it, with all the complications that follow. The attacks in Mumbai, after Delhi held Islamabad responsible for offering a safe haven to terrorists, directly resulted in the inauguration of a new era of tension with neighboring Pakistan. Decentralizing the fight against Al Qaeda is a high risk strategy specifically in the Arab and Islamic world, where the “War on Terror” label may serve as an excuse for some states to try and win through aggression what should be achieved through negotiations.

Obama vs.Osama

By Joseph El Khoury

In a cold cave somewhere in the rugged mountains of the Pakistani-Afghan border, a group of bearded men stare at their Battery powered TV screens with obvious signs of disappointment. Jihad suddenly got tougher! The Bush-Cheney tandem, with which they shared an obsession for world domination and a weakness for guns, will be missed. In their place emerges a peculiar coalition of liberals, moderates and pragmatists led by a Black man called Barack Hussein Obama. The rhetoric will have to evolve and the slogans refined to adapt to the scenery.
Osama Ben Laden will have to restyle himself to avoid that too many Muslim kids turn to Obama for inspiration. If a Black man can become the most powerful on Earth why can’t we dream of a day that an individual from Arab stock can achieve a similar position, and by peaceful means?

Against all odds, America has shown that it is capable of changing course and chastising those who dragged it, and the world, into a failed ‘war on terror’ that was no less bloody and destructive than the ‘war of terror’ declared by Ben Laden and co. There is no reason to believe that Mr Obama will be less hawkish in Afghanistan or less pro-Israeli in Palestine. He has made it clear all along this campaign and is unlikely to change course with the eyes of Conservative Americans (McCain’s share of the popular vote was 46%) scrutinising his every move with distrust. The policy changes will most likely affect Iraq and the relations with Iran, both areas where the Al-Qaeda influence is in retreat. The bearded men will dig deep and rewrite their discourse as their motivation was never to reason the US or bring it to adopt a fair approach to the problems affecting Arabs and Muslims. Theirs is a fight in the name of an Ultra-Orthodox version of one religion among many and by definition can only end with their annihilation as a project.
In the meantime I suspect we will be hearing from them, whether through another Ayman Al-Zawahiri video or attacks on soft targets across the world. They will remind us that while once totalitarian project has been defeated another one still lurks in the shadow.
The Neo-Conservatives were defeated at the hands of the American people and it is hoped that the change in US administration will convince Muslim societies that bearded men in caves are no way to build a future.

The Fear of the Muslim Doctor

The following article in the British Medical Journal created controversy. Based on the report ‘Scientific Training and Radical Islam’ published by an Organisation called Centre for Islamic Pluralism it rings alarm bells over the so-called radicalisation of professionals of Muslim background working in the West. It specifically highlights doctors for the nature of the caring professions and the privileged standing they enjoy in traditional societies. It also places its concerns in the context of the attacks on Glasgow airport carried out by a small group of junior doctors in training at British hospitals which coincided with the preparation of the report. The BMJ article received passionate responses from medical professionals, some praising it and others criticizing its premise and its conclusions while a third group felt it did not go far enough in challenging the religious dogma. Whatever your views it makes for interesting reading.

Arabdemocracy

Radical Muslim doctors and
what they mean for the NHS

Irfan Al-Alawi, International Director (London),

Stephen Schwartz, Executive Director (Washington, DC)
Centre for Islamic Pluralism
BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL [London] Views & Reviews

The disclosure that the leading alleged conspirators in last year’s bombing attempts in London and Glasgow were Muslim doctors sent a shockwave through the worldwide non-Muslim public. The same question was asked everywhere: how can those who are trained to heal turn to terrorism?
Our organisation, the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, has compiled a report, Scientific Training and Radical Islam, which we were preparing when the London and Glasgow events occurred.
The report is now complete and available as a free download at www.islamicpluralism.eu. It is a distillation of field research, interpretation of major source materials in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and English, and collation of individual perspectives from a team of Muslim researchers. All members of the team are experienced in the observation of Islamist movements throughout the world. The report offers answers to the questions asked by personnel in the NHS, which employed three of the suspects in the London and Glasgow incidents. Firstly, did the doctors who were alleged to have been involved in such a conspiracy represent a freak phenomenon, marginal and uncharacteristic of Muslim medical staff? And secondly, were they radicalised before or after coming to Britain?

Our replies to both questions, based on our observations, are discomfiting. Many Muslim doctors, in Muslim and non-Muslim countries, have embraced the extremist doctrines of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Saudi Wahhabis, and the Pakistani jihadists. Such trends are also filtered through such groups as al-Muhajiroun, now banned in the United Kingdom but which recruited medical students, and Tabligh-i Jama’at, an Islamist movement that is particularly prominent in the UK. Also, radicalisation of elite professionals is more a product of conflict within Islam itself than of social conditions in Britain. But the problem is not one of religion: rather, it is ideological.
Two explanations for the radicalisation of the Muslim doctors have gained currency. Firstly, that it is due to the same forces that are said to motivate other radical Islamists: deprivation and corruption in countries with a Muslim majority and the humiliation of the Palestinians and Iraqis at the hands of Israel and the European and US powers. Secondly, that it has been due to the overproduction and unemployment of doctors in countries like Egypt and Pakistan. That view was elaborated mainly by observers of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, after the group’s success in penetrating and taking over professional associations, including those representing engineers, lawyers, and journalists, as well as doctors.
Our report suggests that neither of these explanations is adequate. The politics of victimised peoples and the economics of professional underemployment cannot account for radicalisation of professionals in Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Saudi kingdom and Iran have remained independent of foreign rule, and neither has trouble employing its doctors; yet in both countries radical ideology is common among medical and other professionals.
Most of the world’s Muslims, including doctors, are neither fundamentalists nor followers of radical sharia and do not become tainted with Islamist prejudices. But our report suggests that many Muslim doctors and other professionals are attracted to an ideology that projects a solution to all human problems in a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, along with a demand for exclusive governance that is based on the radical Wahhabi and related forms of religious law or sharia.
Medical and other professionals represent an elite in Muslim societies and have become an important component in the intra-Islamic "jihad" to impose an ultra-militant outlook on more than a billion Sunni Muslims across the globe. Such professionals have a moral and social standing that can influence others to stray from mainstream Islam, which sees itself as one faith among many.
Furthermore, some Muslim doctors working in non-Muslim countries may bring from their native environments a propensity for radical ideology. In Muslim societies the physician is often seen as something very like a religious scholar—just as clerics are often consulted for physical ailments. Medical education, even if conducted in Western institutions, may not break down belief in this paradigm.
Indeed, the ordinary Muslim may consider the successful Muslim doctor to be superior to the mainstream cleric, and the radical Islamist doctor may easily usurp religious authority from a traditional imam. This disturbing phenomenon is visibly growing. A member of our centre, Khaleel Mohammed, has noted that in the Muslim diaspora in the English speaking countries "Muslim leaders have not traditionally been chosen for their Islamic knowledge but for their stature in society—a medical doctor, a computer scientist."
The role of Muslim doctors in taking extremist ideology to the Islamic masses has been well expressed by Mahmoud Abu Saud, an Islamist author active in several countries. He wrote, "The doctor has a big say and great weight in influencing his patients and in righteously guiding their orientation. Besides, he should be actively involved in propagating true Islam among Muslims and non-Muslims . . . the best missionary service to be rendered by a medical doctor is to behave at the time in accordance with his Islamic teachings."
Abu Saud offered these comments in his contribution to one of the most revealing sources on this topic, a volume titled Islamic Medicine, edited by Shahid Athar and published in Pakistan in 1989. Dr Athar is an endocrinologist. His work reflects an attitude also seen in the Islamic Code of Medical Ethics, published by the International Organization of Islamic Medicine in 1981, which states: "The Physician should be in possession of a threshold knowledge of jurisprudence, worship and essentials of Fiqh [Islamic religious law], enabling him to give counsel to patients seeking his guidance about health and body conditions, with a bearing on the rites of worship."
In an aspect of the problem that is little known or understood by Westerners, the version of Islam presented by radicals as "modern" and in keeping with the social status of the medical professional is one that is stripped of tradition and spirituality.
How, then, may medical professionals and the government in the UK, and the West in general, respond to this challenge? The Islamic Medical Association estimates that about 10 000 Muslim doctors and nurses practise in the UK. Vetting of Muslim doctors for radicalism may prove ineffective and will doubtless create a civil liberties problem. It is more important for the UK authorities to monitor closely the activities of radical Islamist groups and to act decisively against those that legitimise or incite violence. Most important of all is to strengthen the authentic and proven anti-extremist trends in the Muslim communities themselves. To that end, we call for the organisation of new professional associations of traditional and moderate Muslim medical personnel, engineers, and lawyers, to repudiate extremist ideology. The radical Islamist doctor may easily usurp religious authority from a traditional imam.

For more information on the centre go to www.islamicpluralism.org
For the responses to the article go to www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/336/7648/834

These Terrorists who resemble us

By Joseph El-Khoury

I was at the gym the other day. Cycling hard next to other Middle-Class fitness enthusiasts while watching the continuous news broadcast on Sky News. Flashing again and again on the screen were portraits of those accused of the plot to blow up transatlantic flights using concealed liquid explosives. I wasn’t particularly interested in the plot itself, depicted in a series of cartoons, which seemed to involve diet coke and a prolonged stay in the aircraft’s toilet. What I found myself doing instead was checking the reactions of fellow gym goers to my right and left. 'Did I look suspicious to them?!' Was my first thought. After all didn’t all Middle-Eastern men look similar to the untrained Caucasian eye? And was that Racism? It is rarely said that we are all more adept at distinguishing subtle differences within our own ethnic group: A fact that was first highlighted to me by a friend from Botswana many years ago when she unemotionally threw in my face ‘All white men look the same’ and that included me apparently. But she was right, I find it hard to distinguish between a Japanese, a Korean and a Chinese. Similarly I could easily pick up a Saudi, an Egyptian and a Syrian in a crowd while for most Americans they are all “A-rabs” (with emphasis on the A) with no distinguishing features between them. So going back to my gym session, I felt slightly uneasy and paranoid. I say paranoid because frankly these guys on screen were from a South Asian background and bore no resemblance to me. In normal times I should have dismissed my fears completely, but these are not normal times. And after being stopped at numerous airports and even driving my car on a central London Street for ‘random’ police checks my suspicions that I do stand out have unfortunately been confirmed.

Let’s face it! It is a bad time to be a young Arab male. But what for me has been a mere nuisance, has the potential of a humiliating damaging effect on the self-esteem of generations of young Middle Eastern, Asian, African men who from a young age are bombarded with images of ‘evil men’ who look like their fathers, uncles and them. Moreover, this phenomenon is not new and precedes 9/11, the 1980s and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Whether in works of fiction or on the 10 o'clok news these dark skinned men are almost always depicted as evil, unreliable, deceitful, untrustworthy, irrational, fanatic, immoral. Whenever in addition, the script require them to be attractive, the character is played by a European actor with European features, suitably dressed and tanned for the occasion. The problem is so extensive that someone managed to write a book about it in 2001(Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood vilifies a people by Jack G.Shaheen).And if Hollywood has the power to create such an image then it has the power to modify it. What a better way to contribute to the ‘war on terror’ than to release an Arab Batman or a Pakistani Spiderman. Or even better… just tell the truth!

The Doctor, The Patient and the Terrorist

Imagine this scene in Baghdad. Having just ended a lengthy phone conversation, the acting medical director of a mental establishment asks a nurse to bring two female patients into his office. The purpose is not a therapeutic intervention or a change in medication but the start of a process that will lead to two suicide bombings in a busy street market. The director is subsequently arrested and confesses to having been convinced by Al-Qaeda operatives of the use of mentally ill and vulnerable patients in terrorist attacks.

Obviously mental disability comes in different shapes and forms but on one extreme the possibility remains that these two ladies were either not given a choice or did not have the mental capacity to make the choice of martyrdom. Having committed their act under coercion, it cannot be reasonably recognized as holy even by the most reactionary religious expert and its only symbolic value resides in the level of desperation reached by those behind the attacks.

They say that the degree of civilization of a society is recognized at the way it treats its weakest elements. I fully agree with this statement and as a doctor feel strongly that the medical profession is in a privileged position to uphold this principle. According to the following report at least one Iraqi doctor failed at the universal duty of care embodied in the Hippocratic Oath while another paid with his life the price of safeguarding human dignity.

Joseph El-Khoury
Arabdemocracy

From the Times February 12th 2008.

Hospital boss arrested over al-Qaeda attack by human boobytraps

Martin Fletcher in Baghdad

The acting director of a Baghdad psychiatric hospital has been arrested on suspicion of supplying al-Qaeda in Iraq with the mentally impaired women that it used to blow up two crowded animal markets in the city on February 1, killing about 100 people.

Iraqi security forces and US soldiers arrested the man at al-Rashad hospital in east Baghdad on Sunday. They then spent three hours searching his office and removing records. Sources told The Times that the two women bombers had been treated at the hospital in the past.

“They [the security forces] arrested the acting director, accusing him of working with al-Qaeda and recruiting mentally ill women and using them in suicide bombing operations,” a hospital official said.


Ibrahim Muhammad Agel, director of the hospital, was killed in the Mansour district of Baghdad on December 11 by gunmen on motorbikes. Colleagues suspect that he was shot for refusing to cooperate with al-Qaeda. Even before Sunday’s arrest, US officials believed that al-Qaeda was scouring Iraq’s hospitals for mentally impaired patients whom it could dupe into acting as suicide bombers. They said that al-Qaeda had used the mentally impaired as unwitting bombers before. “We have fairly good reason to believe this is not the first time they have recruited mentally handicapped individuals,” said one senior officer, though he did not think there had been more than half a dozen cases.

The attraction of mentally impaired women to al-Qaeda was obvious, he said. Being women they could get close to targets with less chance of being stopped or searched; being mentally impaired, they were “less likely to make a rational judgment about what they are being asked to do”.

The February 1 attacks were the deadliest – and most chilling – to hit the Iraqi capital in months. One of the women was given a backpack full of explosives and ballbearings, the other a suicide vest laden with explosives. They were sent into the middle of al-Ghazl and New Baghdad markets, which were packed with people. Their explosives were then detonated by remote control.

The Times was shown photographs of the two young women’s severed heads, which were recovered from the wreckage. One very obviously had Down’s syndrome. The other had the round face, high forehead and other features often associated with Down’s syndrome, but her symptoms were less pronounced.

An insight into the way al-Qaeda thinks came in a letter written by one of its leaders in Anbar province that the US military seized in November and released in part on Sunday. “It is possible to use doctors working in private hospitals and where the infidels/ apostates are treated who have serious conditions to be injected with [air bubbles] that will kill them,” it said.

The US military believes that al-Qaeda is adopting these extreme tactics because the prevalence of check-points and concrete barriers is making car bombings harder, and fewer foreign suicide bombers are reaching Iraq. The number of car bombs has fallen steadily from a peak of 112 last March to 27 last month. Conversely, there were 16 pedestrian suicide bombs in January – the second-highest total in 13 months.

Foreign jihadists – invariably male – used to carry out 90 per cent of the suicide bombings in Iraq, but the US military believes that tighter controls have halved the influx to 50 or 60 a month. The officer conceded that protecting public places against individual suicide bombers was almost impossible. “You really can’t stop a determined bomber from blowing themselves up,” he said. “The key is continuing to take down the terrorist network that conducts these operations.”

30 Dollars to learn to shoot a Palestinian

Israel has the right to defend itself. At any cost, in any proportion and in defiance of international law and human rights conventions. At a time when European audiences are shocked by stories of African child-soldiers and while Palestinian mothers are blamed for selfishly sacrificing their stone-throwing youth, for the reasonable price of 30 US Dollars The Israeli organization Magen Yehuda finds it acceptable to train 7 year olds at the art of ‘self-defense’. This is not only targeted at Israeli citizen but also at visitors of the country and tourists who are invited to share the ‘experience’ of Israelis faced with the specter of daily terrorism. For a people eager for peace as we are told, some of them appear to be enjoying the war games and the M-16s a bit much.For the more adventurous check out the practical artillery tour at

http://moral.co.il/apage/14523.php

Who wouldnt want friendly neighbours like these!

Arabdemocracy

The Death of Joseph El Khoury

By Joseph El-Khoury

Joseph was killed on the afternoon of the 15th January 2008 along with Fouad Kamal Abbas and Ghassan Ali, a Syrian national in the car bomb that targeted a US embassy vehicle on the coastal highway north of Beirut. The Lebanese expressed relief at the press release from the embassy that ‘ No Americans were hurt in the attack’. Joseph’s views on the political debate in Lebanon or the role of the US in the region are not known. We know of him that he was young, married and on his way back from work when he was blown up to shreds in the explosion. We can only assume he was listening to the radio or engaged in his own thoughts. Those responsible for his murder had nothing personal against him. Their ‘message’ was for the American president on his Middle Eastern tour and his departing affable representative in Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman. Unfortunately Joseph happened to be in the way, disposable and unremarkable. The message did get through but its impact on the visit was minimal. The schedule of coffee drinking and engaging in silly tribal rituals with the Sheikhs continued as planned. Life goes on…. Until the next attack.
Rest in peace Joseph!
The image is taken from http://www.nowlebanon.com/

Benazir Bhutto and March 14th

By Joseph El-Khoury


The assassination of Benazir Bhutto did not come as a surprise. Since her return from exile to Pakistan in October, it was only a matter of time before she was maimed, silenced or annihilated. I found myself reacting in a similar way to the time I witnessed the last car bomb in Lebanon: A mixture of fear, anger and an intense desire to retaliate against those who justify violence in the name of divine inspiration. Leaving to one side the war on terror, the Bush administration and Capitalist globalization, I can’t help myself thinking that political Islam is in crisis and that the bloodshed on the back of chronic instability is the most obvious symptom of this crisis. I say this as an external observer since being a non-Muslim I cannot conceive of embracing political Islam as a solution to the problems of this world. Others clearly do! Nonetheless Muslims are not the only faith group in the Middle-East. Their majority status does not confer on them the right to impose a doctrine and a code of life that is alien to their compatriots. On the other hand and more importantly, Islamists do not accept geographic and ethnic limitations on their project. Political Islam is global or is not. To Bin Laden and friends everything else is short of apostasy and heretical belief. From their perspective whether you are Muslim or not is irrelevant and I am asked to make a choice under the threat of …beheading. Going back to the late Benazir and the martyrs of the Lebanese March 14th alliance what they have in common is death, overwhelming in its irreversibility. I am not tempted to ignore past accusation of corruptions just like I will not suddenly praise dead politicians that I despised in their lifetime. But what is unavoidable is that by dying these figures will occupy the moral high ground. A ground that Pervez Musharraf, the great survivor of Pakistani politics, will struggle to acquire. Same goes for the Hezbollah-led Lebanese opposition. Interestingly it is this same Hezbollah which originally acquired its privileged status through the martyrdom of its young men on the Israeli front which today denies this same treatment to its opponents in the Lebanese government.

The Terrorist’s Act of Faith

“Untouchables? Surely not. More like vulnerable…very vulnerable. You are proud of your great army? This army supposed to protect you. Well we can hit this army at its head, at its heart and we can shoot it down. In the same way that, yesterday, we shot down freedom itself. We can reach all of you: The press, the media, the army, the political class, the average citizen and the youth. No one is safe. Anyway no one can protect you. We will strike at the break of dawn. Whether school buses full of children are nearby isn’t cause for concern. We do not have a conscience or a sense of morality. We only have resentment and hatred. We are barbarian souls motivated by a destructive energy who celebrate distress, mourning, desperation and death. We feed on the blood of your elites and your leaders. We will continue to nail you one at a time into humiliation, silence, submission and annihilation. No one will be able to help. All the world’s democracies are powerless in the face of tyranny and here they are observing your demise without moving a finger, while we continue to act with total impunity. You are weak because you love life. Look at yourselves… You make us laugh”.

Michel Hajji Georgiou, L’Orient Le Jour, 13-12-2007

This translated extract was written from the perspective of the supposed perpetrators of the spite of assassinations in Lebanon over the past 3 years. It catches well the state of paranoia and helplessness felt by many Lebanese and other Arabs in the face of a faceless and nameless terror. The latest attack only a few days ago targeted the prominent army General Francois Hajj.

Michel Hajji-Georgiou is a Lebanese journalist and columnist at L’Orient Le Jour. Earlier this year he was awarded the Gebran Tueini international award presented by the World association of newspapers for his contribution to freedom of speech.

Related links:

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=87367

http://www.lorientlejour.com/

http://www.annahar.com/

Picture:

http://www.euronews.net/