PLO: “Israel killed 274 residents, including 50 children, 18 women, since the beginning of 2008”

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

Thursday March 13, 2008 22:13 by Saed Bannoura – IMEMC

The National and International Department of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) reported that the Israeli army killed 274 Palestinians, including 50 children and 18 women since the beginning of 2008.

File

 

The report documents the Israeli violations against the Palestinian people. It stated that the Israeli army carried war crimes during its offensive against the Gaza Strip, and explained that the army used different sorts of weapons against civilians, who were the vast majority of the casualties in the latest offensive.

The report indicated that two infants (20 days old and 7 months old) were among the Palestinians who were killed by the army. Eighteen women were also killed and one resident was shot and killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

The report added that 979 Palestinians were shot and injured in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the year, among them were 35 residents who suffered permanent disabilities.

32 patients died in the Gaza Strip due to the siege after the Israeli Authorities refused to allow them to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, most of them were children. Five more residents died at roadblocks in the West Bank after the army obstructed their transfer to hospitals and medical facilities.

The Israeli army kidnapped nearly 1500 Palestinians, including 10 children, since the beginning of the year, and one detainee died due to medical negligence.

The report also stated that the Israeli government continued its violations in Jerusalem by expanding settlements, annexing lands and constructions in the Old City.

The Israeli government illegal grabbed 1500 Dunams of Palestinians lands in Al Esawiyya and Anata towns, near Jerusalem.

The government also released bids for constructing more than 1100 houses for settlers in Abu Ghneim settlement, and continued its excavations under the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Settlers in Jerusalem illegally occupied several Palestinian houses, while the government registered some of these houses to the settlers.

The Israeli authorities bulldozed and shelled 43 houses, most of them were in Jablia, in the Gaza Strip, and 40 other houses were partially destroyed. Other houses were demolished in Jerusalem.

Israel continued the construction of the Annexation Wall in the West Bank and confiscated 1676 Dumans of land which belong to Palestinian residents of Al Thahiriyya, Doura, Arab Al Ramadeen towns near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

1500 Dunams were annexed from Palestinian towns east of Jerusalem as Israel continued to construct the settler-only roads surrounding the city.

The PLO department warned that the ongoing Israeli violations and the ongoing siege in the Gaza Strip would only create further tension and lead to further civilian casualties.

It demanded the International Community to intervene and stop the Israeli violations and attacks against the Palestinian people and their lands.

source: http://www.imemc.org/article/53463

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-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

HOW ISRAEL REMAINS ‘THE ONLY DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST’

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

March 14, 2008 at 5:55 pm (Israel, Occupation, Palestine, Sarcasm, Torture, War Crimes)

The following photos and sketches speak for themselves….

America, Without you this would not be possible… from the bottom of our hearts (oops, forgot we don’t have one) Thank You!

Brave IDF soldier ‘defending himself’ against ruthless Palestinian

Israeli soldiers pose in front of their ‘trophy’, dead Palestinian

Israel thanks you for supporting these torture techniques…

(as described by actual victims)

Squashing genatils

Sacking and handcuffing for DAYS!

Another position for sacking and handcuffing.

Sacking and hand – foot cuffing with detaining in a dark, narrow well

source: http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/how-israel-remains-the-only-democracy-in-the-middle-east/

===

-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

Lectures on the Holocaust: Public Controversies 2.2

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

Lectures on the Holocaust: Public Controversies 2.2

By: atheo on: 14.03.2008 [04:02 ] (118 reads)

Written by Germar Rudolf

2.2. Gas Chambers in the German Reich Proper

R: During the International Military Tribunal, Sir Hartley Shawcross, chief prosecutor for the United Kingdom, stated:88

“Murder conducted like some mass production industry in the gas chambers and the ovens of Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Maidanek, and Oranienburg =Sachsenhausen.”

R: These claims of mass murder in homicidal gas chambers in those camps are based upon witness testimonies like the one by Charles Hauter, who was a prisoner in the Buchenwald camp:89

“An obsession with machinery literally abounded when it came to extermination. Since it had to occur quite rapidly, a special form of industrialization was required. The gas chambers answered that need in a very different way. Some, rather refined in conception, were supported by pillars of porous material, with which the gas formed and then seeped through the walls. Others were simpler in structure. But all were sumptuous in appearance. It was easy to see that the architects had conceived them with pleasure, devoting great attention to them, gracing them with all the resources of their aesthetic sense. These were the only parts of the camp that had truly been constructed with love.”

R: The French government was particularly fanciful in their description of the alleged gas chamber at Buchenwald in an official document:90

“Everything had been provided for down to the smallest detail. In 1944, at Buchenwald, they had even lengthened a railway line so that the deportees might be led directly to the gas chamber. Certain of the gas chambers had a floor that tipped and immediately directed the bodies into the room with the crematory oven.”

L: But didn’t you just state in the previous chapter that there was no gas chamber at the Buchenwald camp?

R: Quite right, and this fact is basically agreed upon by all historians today. Yet during the immediate postwar years, things were a little different. As another example, take the confession by Franz Ziereis, last commander of the Mauthausen camp, who was shot into the stomach three times and was therefore – not sent to a hospital, but instead interrogated by a former inmate of Mauthausen, Hans Marsalek, while bleeding to death. In his “deathbed confession,” Ziereis is said to have testified the following:91

“SS Gruppenführer Glücks gave the order to designate the weak prisoners as sick and to kill them by gas in a large installation. There, around 1-11/2 million persons were killed. The area in question is named Hartheim and is located 10 kilometers in the direction of Passau.”

L: Who would take such a “confession” of a deadly wounded man seriously, who is bleeding to death and who does not only not receive any help, but who is also “interrogated” by one of his former inmates?

R: Well, today no one really does. But right after the war and during the Nuremberg Military Tribunal, these confessions were taken seriously.92 The room in Hartheim castle that is today claimed to have been this gas chamber measures some 280 sq ft.93

L: Excuse me? A million people or more killed in a tiny chamber of a castle?

R: Yes, three to five times as many people are said to have been killed in this tiny room, if we follow Ziereis or Marsalek, respectively, than Americans ever died during WWII in the European theater of war.

Anyway, it took some 15 years before these outrageous claims were challenged. In the beginning of the 1960s, a storm went through the German media: an activist of the political right had publicly questioned the existence of homicidal gas chambers in the Dachau concentration camp, even though every visitor could view this gas chamber in Dachau. The journalists were shocked, the cry to bring charges was heard.94 But nothing came of it, for among other reasons German historiography at that time wasn’t itself entirely certain of the existence of homicidal gassings in Dachau. During the course of the argument, for example, Martin Broszat of the German federal Institute for Contemporary History (Institute für Zeitgeschichte) – he later became Director of that Institute – wrote a letter to the editor of the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, in which he stated:95

“Neither in Dachau nor in Bergen-Belsen nor in Buchenwald were Jews or other prisoners gassed. The gas chamber in Dachau was never entirely ‘completed’ and put into operation. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners who perished in Dachau or other concentration camps in the territory of the Reich proper, were victims above all of the catastrophic hygienic and supply conditions …. The mass extermination of the Jews by gassing began in 1941/1942 and took place exclusively at several … locations, above all in the occupied Polish territory (but nowhere in the Reich proper): in Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Sobibor on the Bug, in Treblinka, Chelmno, and Belzec. There, but not in Bergen-Belsen, Dachau or Buchenwald, those mass extermination facilities disguised as shower baths or disinfection rooms were set up ….
Dr. Martin Broszat, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Munich”

L: What was the German Reich proper?

R: That is Germany within the borders of December 31, 1937, thus before the reunification with Austria, the Sudetenland, and the Memel region.

L: Broszat contradicts himself here though: If no extermination facilities were set up in Dachau, how can he say at the same time that the mass extermination facilities in Dachau were never completed?

R: This internal contradiction is absolutely symbolic of the disagreement among historians with respect to this question. But Broszat was not alone in having this opinion. On January 24, 1993, no less a person than the famous “Nazi hunter” Simon Wiesenthal joined Broszat in his opinion, when he wrote in the U.S. magazine Stars and Stripes (see p. 185):

“It is true that there were no extermination camps on German soil and thus no mass gassings such as those that took place at Auschwitz, Treblinka and other camps. A gas chamber was in the process of being built at Dachau, but it was never completed.”

R: Both, however, contradict other researchers, as for example a work which was published in 1983 by authors who the mainstream considers to be the most reputable authorities in this field. The main editors of it were Eugen Kogon…

L: Didn’t we just make his acquaintance as a propagandist exposed by Rassinier?

Ill. 7: Memorial plaque at the alleged site of the “gas chamber” in the Ravensbrück concentration camp: “Location of the gas chamber – December 1944 – Spring 1945″

R: … Adalbert Rückerl, the then Director of the Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen zur Aufklärung nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen (ZStL, Central Office of State Administrations of Justice for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes) in Ludwigsburg…

L: What’s that?

R: … That is the official federal German “Nazi hunter” authority. The third editor was the communist and Chairman of the Auschwitz Committee, Hermann Lang-bein.96

L: An objective group, that is for certain!

R: Objective or not, we don’t want to get into a discussion of that here. The fact is, the claim was made in this book that there were homicidal gas chambers in the Neuengamme, Sachsenhausen, and Ravensbrück camps of the Reich proper, in which hundreds or even thousands of victims are supposed to have been gassed.97 So whereas the official book claims that there were mass execution facilities set up at camps located in the German Reich proper, the official German Institute for Contemporary History stated that there were no such facilities ever set up in those camps. Both cannot be true.

In the case of Dachau, the editors begin by assuming the existence of gas chambers, but write with reservation:98

“It has not been conclusively proven that killings by poison gas took place at the Dachau concentration camp.”

R: It is a further fact that in the museums of the former camps at Sachsenhausen, Dachau, and Ravensbrück, all located within the borders of the German Reich proper, anyone can view the sites where the gas chambers are supposed to have been located. In the Dachau concentration camp, the gas chamber is even shown in its alleged original condition.

L: Alleged – how so?

R: There is no documentation proving that the present condition corresponds to the original. Furthermore, as I just quoted, this alleged gas chamber is said to have never been completed, whereas it certainly seems complete today. So who completed it?

In the Ravensbrück concentration camp there is merely a memorial plaque, see Illustration 7.

L: So it is generally agreed upon that some of the gas chambers claimed after the war by witnesses or even government officials, like the one in Buchenwald, never existed. And their existence in other camps on the territory of the Old Reich is disputed as well.

R: Quite so, although in mainstream historiography the tendency prevails since the1980s to maintain the claim that these gas chambers did indeed exist. Just imagine what would happen if it would be generally admitted that no gas chambers existed in those camps at all. This would logically include the admission that many witnesses lied and that the conclusions of government officials, criminal trials, and investigative commissions were false. How could one then stem the flood of doubts that would necessarily result from this admission of a large-scale fraud? How could you then maintain the claim that gas chambers existed in the eastern camps in Poland, for which the evidentiary basis is just as shaky as for those camps in the Reich proper, as we will see later?

In order to prevent a revisionist landslide, the dogma needs to be upheld by all means and with all its aspects, however dubious they may be.

continues at the link:
http://www.ziopedia.org/books/holocaust%10revisionism/lectures_on_the_holocaust%3a_public_controversies/

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-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

Lectures on the Holocaust: Public Controversies 2.1

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

Lectures on the Holocaust: Public Controversies 2.1

By: atheo on: 14.03.2008 [03:59 ]

Written by Germar Rudolf

2.1. Communists Step Forward!

R: At the beginning of this second lecture, I would like to speak about the French history and geography teacher Paul Rassinier, who can be viewed as the father of critical historiography dealing with the Holocaust. Before the Second World War, Rassinier was an avowed communist, and for that reason he was also active as a partisan fighter in the Resistance after France fell to the Wehrmacht. As such, he was arrested in the war by the German occupation forces and deported into the Buchenwald concentration camp.

L: I thought the Wehrmacht shot partisans on the spot?

R: According to international law valid at that time and still today as well, the shooting of partisans by martial law is absolutely legal, but in 1943 the Wehrmacht changed its policy in this regard, since the German troops simply had too many partisans to deal with, and because the mass execution of partisans aroused the local population against the German occupation forces to such a degree that the partisans gained the moral upper hand thereby and won ever broader support from the populace.79

L: Which can well be viewed as only understandable.

R: Yes, the struggle of the civilian population against an occupying power may indeed be illegal, but it is morally understandable and is always viewed as glorious if the contested occupying power loses the war. But however that may be, the fact is that at that time the Germans preferred deploying Paul Rassinier and his fellow prisoners as forced labor in firms important to the war effort rather than executing them. So, after several weeks in quarantine custody in Buchenwald, Rassinier finally landed in the Dora-Mittelbau camp, where the German assembled their rockets to remotely attack the British mainland. Toward the end of the war, he, along with the other prisoners, was transferred aimlessly from one place to the other by the SS, which by this time was pretty headless. Rassinier reports concerning the violent excesses of the unnerved SS men during this transport. Rassinier finally escaped his guards and was liberated by advancing American units.80
In the post-war period, Rassinier sat in the French parliament as a representative of the Socialists.
As is probably generally known, during the period directly after the war, a number of former concentration camp inmates began to publish articles and books about their experiences.
One of these concentration camp authors was a French priest called Abbé Jean-Paul Renard, who had written:

“I saw how thousands upon thousands of people entered the showers in Buchenwald, from which then lowed suffocating gas instead of a liquid.”

R: When Rassinier objected to this that he knew from his own experience that there were no gas chambers, Abbé Renard responded:81

“Well, this is a poetic expression, so to say.”

R: Another of these former inmates turned authors was Eugen Kogon, who was a political prisoner during the war and a former fellow inmate of Rassinier in the Buchenwald concentration camp. When Rassinier read Kogon’s book,82 he became so upset over what, in his view, were the distortions, exaggerations, and plain lies written in it – particularly the blotting out of the responsibility of his communist comrades for many of the atrocities committed in the camps – that he wrote a book of his own, in which he criticized Kogon’s account.83

L: Therefore Kogon was wearing glasses with his own political distorting lenses. R: In his Introduction, Kogon himself wrote that he had presented his manuscript to former leading camp prisoners “in order to dissipate certain fears the report could turn into a sort of bill of indictment against leading camp inmates.” When the reproach was made to Kogon that his book Der SS-Staat was a polemical pamphlet, a suit for slander was the result, which Kogon nonetheless lost. In its judgment, the court stated:84

“This accusation that Kogon’s book was an unscientific pamphlet does not appear to have been made up out of whole cloth, insofar as the plaintiff has written a sociological assessment of the behavior of human beings in the concentration camp from the perspective that it ought not turn into a bill of indictment against leading camp inmates.
… If one considers that there were two members of the USSR and eight Communists among the fifteen representative men to whom he read his report in order to dissipate fears that he would present a bill of indictment, then the impression given is that, regardless of the mention of atrocities committed by Communists, this circle of persons above all would be spared, …. Such considerations must be foreign to a scholarly work. Pure science does not inquire as to whether the result makes this person or that person uncomfortable. Where questions of expediency co-determine the content, objectivity is lost. Therefore, when the defendant, as a fellow-prisoner, expresses his opinion that the ‘SS State’ is a pamphlet, then he is making free use of his constitutional right to free expression of opinion, without thereby infringing upon the right of personal honor of the complainant ….”

L: Consequently, Kogon’s book is a whitewash for himself and his communist friends, who impute everything to the evil SS and other prisoners.

R: And precisely this Eugen Kogon in his day played a key role in Germany in the “work of bringing to light” the Holocaust.
In later books, Rassinier concerned himself on an ever broadening basis with claims of German atrocities during the Second World War and especially with the question of whether there had been at that time a German policy of systematic extermination of the European Jews. In Le Mensonge d’Ulysse, Rassinier still assumed that there had been gas chambers somewhere, because he thought that there must be fire where there is smoke. Yet as his research progressed, Rassinier came more and more to the conclusion that there never was a systematic program to exterminate the Jews, and with every book his certainty grew that there were never any gas chambers in which Jews had been killed in masses.85 Thus, in his book Le Drame des Juifs Européens he wrote in 1964:86

“Each time when I was told during the last fifteen years that there was a witness in the part of Europe not occupied by the Soviets who claimed to have experienced a gassing himself, I immediately traveled to him in order to listen to his testimony. But in every case it ended the same way: With my folder in my hands, I asked the witness a series of precise questions, to which he could respond only with quite obvious lies, so that he finally had to admit that he had not experienced this himself, but that he had related only the story of a good friend, who had died during his internment and whose honesty he could not question. This way I traveled thousand upon thousands of miles throughout all of Europe.”

R: I recommend Rassinier’s books to whoever has an interest in these historical works of critical Holocaust historiography. I would like to point out at the same time, however, that Rassinier’s works are not free of error. Yet which works are, anyway, especially when they are those of a pioneer! Rassinier had only limited access to primary source material, so that his works necessarily had to remain full of gaps. For that reason, regarded from the standpoint of today, the persuasiveness and exactitude of his arguments are of less interest than is the author himself: a French communist, partisan fighter, and former concentration camp prisoner was the first who publicly opposed the mainstream lies and exaggerations in connection with the Holocaust.87

L: That surprises me. I had always believed that Nazis or neo-Nazi were the first. R: That is a widespread but false cliché. It was a victim of the National Socialists, an ideological deadly foe of National Socialism, who tried to honor the truth.

L: Well, certainly no one can accuse that man of having wanted to clean anyone’s dirty linen.

R: Ultimately it doesn’t matter who presents an argument, so long as it is sound.
But I agree with you that one is rather more inclined to listen to someone in this matter who has sat behind the barbed wire than to anyone who stood in front of it with a rifle. Although, frankly one can say that both groups of persons can have had an interest from contrary motives in blotting out certain things and exaggerating others or even inventing them.

Therefore, we will affirm that the father of critical, revisionist Holocaust research was a radical leftist, an anti-fascist, a concentration camp prisoner.

L: Did Rassinier encounter trouble due to his critical attitude?

R: Oh yes! A criminal proceeding was instituted against him, which in the final analysis was stayed, however. He was continuously defamed in the French media and, other than in his own publications, only rarely had the opportunity to get a word in himself. Yet compared with the persecution against later critical researchers, Rassinier got off lightly.

http://www.ziopedia.org/books/holocaust%10revisionism/lectures_on_the_holocaust%3a_public_controversies/

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-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

‘No link between Saddam and al-Qaeda’

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

From correspondents in Washington

March 14, 2008 10:14am

A DETAILED Pentagon study confirms there was no direct link between late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda network, debunking a claim President George W Bush’s administration used to justify invading Iraq.

Coming five years after the start of the war in Iraq, the study of 600,000 official Iraqi documents and thousands of hours of interrogations of former Saddam Hussein colleagues “found no smoking gun (ie direct connection) between Saddam’s Iraq and al-Qaeda,” said the study, quoted in US media today.

The US administration appeared to bury the release of the study, making it available only at individual request and by mail – instead of posting it on the internet or handing it out to reporters.

A Pentagon spokesman said he did not know why the Joint Forces Command was not posting the report online, but denied that it was an attempt to limit its distribution.

“We don’t have a reason to do so. I think when you see the report it will show a Nazi-esque catalogue of Saddam’s ties to terror, both within his own country and elsewhere in the Middle East,” said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

Previous reports by the blue-ribbon September 11 commission and the Pentagon’s inspector general in 2007 reached the same conclusion that there were no ties between Saddam and al-Qaeda but none had access to as much information.

“The Iraqi Perspective Project review of captured Iraqi documents uncovered strong evidence that links the regime of Saddam Hussein to regional and global terrorism,” said a summary of the Pentagon study to which America’s ABC News provided a link on its website.

“State terrorism became a routine tool of state power” but “the predominant target of Iraqi state terror operations were Iraqi citizens,” the summary said.

ABC reported the study initially was to be posted on the US military’s website accompanied by a background briefing with the study’s authors.

But the Pentagon scrapped those plans and took the unusual step of offering only to send the report by mail to those who asked for it.

Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney and top aides have insisted there were links between Saddam and al-Qaeda, citing the alleged ties as a rationale for going to war in Iraq.

“The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al-Qaeda is because there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda,” Bush said in June 2004.

The study says Saddam Hussein’s regime did not have clear ties to al-Qaeda, which was responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, but had associations with other terror groups including Palestinian militants.

The regime “often co-operated directly, albeit cautiously, with terrorist groups when they believed such groups could help advance Iraq’s long-term goals,” it said.

“The regime carefully recorded its connections to Palestinian terrorist organisations in numerous government memos.

“One such example documents Iraqi financial support to families of suicide bombers in Gaza and the West Bank,” the study said.

source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23373592-401,00.html

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______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

Why George W. Bush Should Stand Trial for Capital Crimes

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

Why George W. Bush Should Stand Trial for Capital Crimes

Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

March 14, 2008

There is probable cause now to try George W. Bush for capital crimes in connection with the US program of torture at Abu Ghraib as well as the war of aggression against Iraq. There is evidence that George W. Bush ordered this program which most certainly resulted in numerous violations of the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremberg Principles.

(a) Offense.— Whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, commits a war crime, in any of the circumstances described in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death.-US Codes, TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 118 > § 2441; How Current is This?

Certainly, the Bush regime has sought to make ‘legal’ Bush’s crimes ex post facto, after they had already been committed. The argument that Bush, as ‘President’, may pardon himself or grant himself retroactive immunity from prosecution is just silly. If that were the case, every President might have tried to get away with it by simply making it all up as one goes along –the very anti-thesis of the ‘rule of law’, indeed, ‘Due Process of Law’, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. If mere Presidents were allowed this kind of power, they might as well rule by decree, as Bush has presumed to do. As I have pointed out not even European monarchs were permitted to get away with that. King Charles I was beheaded for less. [See: Why Bush Made Plans to Invade the Netherlands; Bush's Unitary Executive Ends the Rule of Law, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Separation of Powers]. George W. Bush has never denied that ‘torture’ was conducted upon his order. Abu Ghraib was not only about ‘waterboarding’ it was about a panoply of torture procedures –all of them perpetrated upon Bush’s order. Bush has never denied that he ordered any procedure that we associate with Abu Ghraib. He has merely tried to justify it, as he tried to do in the following interview with Matt Lauer of the Today Show.

Bush: Bully and War CriminalBush does not deny. He merely tries to justify ‘alternative procedures’ –in English: torture and murder. We are supposed to conclude that because he has an ‘obligation to protect the American people’, he is above laws that make his actions punishable by death. I suppose that anyone, having committed crimes for which death is the penalty, might try the same thing. Less privileged criminals, however, should not even think about trying to make their capital crimes legal by decree.I have bad news for Bush. Even if his regime were ‘legitimate’ his various decrees bypassing both Congress and the Constitution are unlawful. Bush is not above the law, though he may think he is. Likewise, King Charles I of England may have thought himself above the authority of Parliament but found out otherwise too late to keep his head attached to his body.

Bush has clear legal responsibility for his torture policies, the war deaths in Iraq and the admitted murders he confessed to in the 2003 SOTU address.

All told, more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. Many others have met a different fate. Let’s put it this way — they are no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies. (Applause.—Bush Boasting of Having Ordered Mass Murder, State of the Union Address, 2003

And let’s not forget his plans to murder civilian journalists in Qatar, testified to by two UK officials who were prepared to put their careers (and freedom) on the line to make sure the story got out. Bush discussed murdering these al jazeera journalists with Tony Blair.

If Bush had any confidence in his actions he would lay his cards on the table. He doesn’t, so he won’t. The Office of Legal Counsel is refusing to hand over legal advice provided to Bush that supposedly justifies his executive orders. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) was able to review three of these documents and was shocked by what he read:

An Executive order cannot limit a President. There is no constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new Executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous Executive order. Rather than violate an Executive order, the President has instead modified or waived it.

The President, exercising his constitutional authority under article II, can determine whether an action is a lawful exercise of the President’s authority under article II.

As [the] Whitehouse further notes….“In other words, the president can decide whether his own interpretation of the law is lawful.”

And that’s about the whole ball game, folks. Once the President becomes a fully fledged “unitary executive” the law disappears up the kazoo. It simply loses all meaning.

But Bush is aware that his actions would not stand the pesky scrutiny and the ordinary morals of ordinary citizens. And so he hides his handiwork. It’s the same story on the just completed Pentagon report confirming that Saddam Hussein never had any connections to al Qaeda. It won’t be published on the web since that would embarrass Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld and identify them as liars and war criminals. Instead, if people want a copy they can write to the Pentagon and the military will send them a CD of their findings in a plain sealed envelope. Isn’t that nice? Clearly no frog-marching will be happening for Georgie Boy. And why should it? In his own words:Damien, 70 Reasons to doubt

Photos from Abu Ghraib document that these procedures resulted in death. Bush’s efforts to exempt himself from the law are themselves unconstitutional. Those Federal laws make Bush’s orders to torture capital offenses. Let’s cut to the chase; George W. Bush has committed capital crimes. I say let’s get on with the trial.

As an expert witness in the defense of an Abu Ghraib guard who was court-martialed, psychologist Philip Zimbardo had access to many of the images of abuse that were taken by the guards themselves. For a presentation at the TED conference in Monterey, California, Zimbardo assembled some of these pictures into a short video. Wired.com obtained the video from Zimbardo’s talk, and is publishing some of the stills from that video here. Many of the images are explicit and gruesome, depicting nudity, degradation,
simulated sex acts and guards posing with decaying corpses. Viewer discretion is advised.–Awful New Photos from Abu Ghraib

Bush’s attempts to justify torture citing his obligation to protect the American people. His case is not convincing. When all the stats are analyzed, it will be proven that by giving presumed enemies a cause celebre to wage war upon the US and its people, terrorism will have increased and the American people put in greater danger. Certainly, official FBI stats, compiled and published by the Brookings Institution, proved conclusively that while Ronald Reagan waged his equally absurd ‘war on terrorism’, terrorism, in fact, got much, much worse. Americans are endanger by these reckless right wing, GOP policies. Federal Judges may convene Grand Juries of their own motions. I urge a courageous and honorable Federal Judge to do precisely that. I would encourage such a judge to charge this panel with a full investigation of the capital crimes for which there is probable cause to try Bush now. Bush should be subpoenaed to appear before such a panel and prosecuted for obstruction of justice if he refuses. Bush’s decrees designed to place himself above the law are null and void,themselves unlawful. Bush should be compelled under oath to tell the truth or risk an indictment for perjury. Should he perjure himself, he thus risks prosecution for capital crimes, and, likewise, should he decide to confess his complicity in war crimes for which the penalty is death. Bush must stand trial now for having committed capital crimes.Additional resources

• Robert Fisk On Dictator Bush and the Swingin’ Corpse of the Dictator We Created
• Should Blue States Refuse to Pay for Red State War Crimes, Follies, Profligacy
• States want to secede from the United States
• “Vermont Passed A Resolution To Secede From The US”
• States Most Likely to Secede

source: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m42028&hd=&size=1&l=e

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US Military committed War Crimes in Fallujah

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

US Military committed War Crimes in Fallujah

Open Letter to the International Criminal Court of Justice

Spencer Spratley

Global Research, March 14, 2008 Prosecutor International Criminal Court of Justice The Hague The Netherlands To the Most Honourable Judge Luis Moreno-Ocampo, I am writing your honour to ask that the International Criminal Court of Justice investigate allegations that American military forces committed war crimes in Fallujah, Iraq in the year 2004. The crimes which allegedly occured there are numerous and disturbing to any sane, decent, and moral human being. There have been numerous reports that American military forces used chemical weapons during the assault on Fallujah (namely, white phospherous). It also appears that the American military killed large numbers of unarmed civilians (including many infants and young children). There have also been allegations that American miliatry forces denied or delayed medical care to the residents of the town of Fallujah. In addition, you may be aware that video footage exists of an American soldier shooting a wounded, unarmed Iraqi man in the town of Fallujah. There is also video and audio of an Apache helicopter pilot being given the order to “take out” a large number of unarmed people running down a road in Fallujah. And, surely, the destruction of so many homes, businesses, and mosques was unwarranted, a complete “overkill”, and constitutes a war crime. It left very large numbers of civilians homeless, without a livelihood and forced to face the painful reality that their places of worship lie in ruins. The links which follow are but a few of the sources and foundations for these allegations. I implore your honour, in the name of decency and justice, to open an investigation into this matter and bring to justice any, and all, individuals who are found responsible for commiting war crimes and crimes against humanity. 1) In Dahr Jamail’s website, ” MidEast Dispatches” http://dahrjamailiraq.com/, he provides a gallery of 72 photographs that he himself took in Fallujah. The gallery can be found here: http://dahrjamailiraq.com/gallery/album28?page=1 2) The Centre for Research on Globalisation website http://www.globalresearch.ca contains video of an Apache helicopter killing unarmed people who were running down a road. The video can be found here: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/FAL409A.html 3) There are two documentary videos which document what happened in Falujah in 2004. One is called “Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre”. In this video, a member of the Americna military recounts how the order to use white phospherous was broadcast over radios. The video also offers evidence of other crimes. Here is a link to the video: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8905191678365185391&q =Fallujah%3A+hidden+massacre&total=38&start=0&num=10&so=0&ty … The Seond video is entitled, “Fallujah, Operation Phantom Fury” and can be found here: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=5763436135046925462&q = fallujah&total=2736&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7 4) The following article from the Guardian newspaper also presents a compelling account of what happened in Fallujah in 2004: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/nov/22/usa.iraq1 5) The following is a link to the Democarcy Now website which contains video evidence of the execution of a wounded Iraqi. The linked page also contains a discussion between Amy Goodwin (the host) and attorney Jules Lobel of the Center for Constitutional Rights about potential crimes committed in Fallujah. Here is the link: http://i3.democracynow.org/2004/11/19/u_s_war_crimes_in_fall ujah 6) This is another video which documents the execution of a wounded person in Fallujah: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/145745/fallujah_raw_footage/ 7) The following is a video in which Dahr Jamil explains what happened in Fallujah: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=6522901172037059005&q =fallujah+war+crimes&total=18&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=searc … 8) And yet another video which documents the crimes committed in Fallujah: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2563239062034747546&q =fallujah+ war+crimes&total=18&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6 9) This news article contains eyewitness accounts of what happened in Fallujah, including reports of American soldiers shooting at ambulances. The article appeared in the NewsWales website: http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Politics&F=1&id=6831 10) The following website also contains information about a variety of crimes committed in Iraq since the beginning of the invasion: http://www.brusselstribunal.org/ I believe that there is sufficient evidence to launch an investigation into what happpened in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. I pray that you will agree and take all necessary steps to ensure that justice is served. Thank you for your time and consideration. I have sent copies of this email to four individuals at media outlets and research centres as well as three private citizens due to a fear of retaliation by the United States governemnt. Sincerely, Spencer Spratley Mississauga, Ontario Canada L5J 2C7

source: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m42015&hd=&size=1&l=e

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Iraq War Legal or Illegal? Guide for Dummies!

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

Iraq War Legal or Illegal? Guide for Dummies!

By: stоpwar on: 14.03.2008 [08:57 ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Khut8xbXK8&NR=1

nearly 1 million views so far…

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BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW

China attacks US rights record

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

China attacks US rights record

By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer

Thu Mar 13, 2:22 PM ET

BEIJING – China lashed out Thursday at a U.S. report critical of its human rights record, accusing Washington of causing the modern world’s “biggest human rights tragedy” in Iraq and of hypocrisy for passing judgment on other nations.

China’s State Council, or cabinet, said the U.S. record on human rights was “tattered and shocking” and criticized America for its violent crimes, large prison population and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The invasion of Iraq by U.S. troops has produced the biggest human rights tragedy and the greatest humanitarian disaster in the modern world,” the council said in its report.

“It is high time for the U.S. government to face its own human rights problems with courage … and give up the unwise practices of applying double standards on human rights issues and using it to suppress other countries.”

The State Department took China to task this week for widespread human rights violations in an annual report that details increased attempts by authorities to control and censor the Internet and tighten restrictions on freedom of speech and the domestic press.

It noted that “China’s overall human rights record remains poor.”

The counter-accusations come five months before Beijing hosts the Olympics Games, which have already put the spotlight on the country’s human rights record. China is preparing to increasingly defend itself against accusations on everything from its restrictions on religion, its oil purchases from Sudan, and its control of Tibet.

The U.S. report gave a chilling account of alleged torture in China, including the use of electric shocks, beatings, and shackles. It also details claims by citizens forced from their homes to make way for Olympic projects in Beijing.

China has voiced strong opposition to the State Department’s annual rights reports, and says it respects and safeguards human rights.

“We resolutely oppose the U.S. issuing such a human rights report every year, and pointing fingers at other countries’ human rights. It never reflects on its own human rights, so it cannot justify itself,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news briefing.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Susan Stevenson replied that the U.S. is “open to constructive criticism of its record.”

“Issues countries have raised regarding the United States’ actions are mirrored in the active debate of our government, free press, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and civil society. They’re a testimony to our commitment to a free, open democratic society,” she said.

“The United States looks forward to the day when the Chinese press, NGOs and civil society are allowed to operate freely and to voice open criticism of China’s practices.”

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. stands by its report.

“Our assessment isn’t one that is out of the mainstream of international opinion concerning the human rights condition in China,” he said.

Beijing’s report cites FBI crime statistics released last fall showing that violent crime had increased by 1.9 percent from 2005 to 2006, with 1.41 million cases reported nationwide. Multiple cases are listed, including the April 2007 shooting rampage at Virginia Tech University, which left 33 dead and more than 30 injured.

The Chinese report cites news articles saying that 30,000 people die in the U.S. from gunshots every year and gun killings have climbed 13 percent since 2002.

It notes the U.S. has the largest prison system in the world, with the highest inmates-to-population ratio and points to police brutality and other instances where law enforcement officials violated civil rights.

It also says that workers’ rights to unionize have been restricted in the United States, with union membership dropping in 2006. It refers to a Human Right Watch report that Wal-Mart stores fought unionization drives by eavesdropping on employee conversations, using camera surveillance and firing workers who favored unions.

Link

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9/11 Real Victims : “I am Human”

bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful

=== News Update ===

9/11 Real Victims : “I am Human”

IslamOnline.net & Newspapers

Jawad is among some 275 men and boys held at Guantanamo bay detention. (Reuters) CAIRO — Mohammed Jawad has felt an overwhelming sense of bitterness and anger after being forced by his prison guards in Guantanamo to attend the first session of his military trial at the notorious US detention camp, The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday, March 13. “I’ve been brought here illegally,” Jawad told the military judge. “I am innocent. It’s an injustice to me.” Jawad was only 16 when he was arrested in 2002 by Afghan policemen, who handed him over to US forces. Shortly afterwards, he was sent the notorious US Bagram base in Afghanistan then to Guantanamo prison in Cuba. He was accused of attempted murder and intent to inflict bodily harm for allegedly throwing a grenade that injured two US soldiers and their translator. He categorically denied this, saying he was arrested unfairly because he was in the vicinity of the incident at the time.<> “I have not violated any law,” he said in his Pashto language through a translator. Some 275 men and boys are held at Guantanamo, which the US established in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 to imprison terror suspects from Afghanistan and other countries. By declaring them “enemy combatants”, the US denies detainees legal rights. The widely criticized military commissions were established by the United States to try non-US prisoners. They are the first US war crimes tribunals since World War II. Several rights groups have called on the international community to challenge the USA to drop these military commissions and conduct trials in front of civilian courts. American analysts and former CIA agents said the planned military trials of six alleged 9/11 conspirators, including alleged mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammad, would show America’s dirty laundry of torture tactics and human rights violations and refuel a debate about the legality of the Guantanamo tribunals. “I’m Human” Jawad mocked the US parroting about freedoms and justice it brought to Afghanistan after toppling Taliban. “The American government said the Taliban has been very cruel in Afghanistan, that they killed people without any trial and imprisoned people without trial,” Jawad told the judge. “When I was in detention at Bagram, Americans killed three people. They beat people and arrested us without trial. We’re not given any rights.” Slumping onto the defense table, Jawad said that he had been tortured while in Bagram and Guantanamo. “Since I was arrested I’ve been treated unfairly. I have been tortured,” he said. “I am a human being.” Holding his head in his hands through much of the two-hour hearing, Jawad suffers from a permanent headache from the fluorescent lights his guards often kept on at his cell. Throughout the session, Jawad was also behaving bizarrely. He removed his translation earphones and laid his head on the table in front of the judge and moaned. “Don’t bother me anymore,” he told the judge. Army Col. James Michael Sawyers, the military lawyer appointed by the court to represent Jawad, said it was apparent that years behind bars in Guantanamo have left the young prisoner with deep psychological scars and mental problems. “What we had very clearly today I believe is a direct result of taking a 16- or 17-year-old boy and putting him in confinement for five years without contact with the outside world,” Sawyers said. Guantanamo has become synonymous with torture and maltreatment in recent years. Some prisoners have taken their lives to end their distress, while many have gone on extensive hunger strikes. Others have gone insane like American Jose Padilla, who saw his interrogators as a father-figure, and Australian David Hicks, who suffers from agoraphobia. source: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1203758005322&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout === -muslim voice- ______________________________________ BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment » Cara Rasul Hadapi Islamofobia Posted by musliminsuffer on March 15, 2008 bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful === News Update === Jumat, 14 Maret 2008 Cara Rasul Hadapi Islamofobia Oleh : Rifqi Fauzi Mahasiswa Jurusan Hadis Universitas Al Azhar Kairo Mesir Akhir-akhir ini hinaan terhadap Islam kembali mencuat, malah makin banyak kasusnya. Kartun Nabi Muhammad SAW yang dulu menuai kritik kembali di muat di Denmark. Di Berlin dalam sebuah pameran poster, dipajang poster yang menghina Kota Makkah dengan menyebut Kabah sebagai batu bodoh. Di Belanda, Geert Wilders membuat film anti-Islam dan melecehkan Alquran. Di Amerika Serikat, pada tanggal 27 Februari lalu dalam sebuah acara primetime di ABC News yang berjudul ‘What Would You Do?’ menayangkan masyarakat Amerika yang masih banyak memandang Islam sebagai sebuah ajaran yang menakutkan. Ini menunjukkan bahwa masyarakat Barat masih terus dan makin banyak yang benci dan memandang bahwa agama Islam adalah ajaran yang berbahaya. Tentunya sebagai Muslim kita harus tahu cara yang tepat dalam menghadapi kasus-kasus ini sehingga jangan sampai reaksi Muslim malah bukan menghilangkan Islamofobia Barat, tetapi menambah stigma buruk bagi Islam. Faktor penyebab Secara umum adanya Islamfobia, yang kebanyakan terjadi di dunia Barat, disebabkan beberapa faktor. Pertama, dalam Alquran Allah SWT telah mempertegas bahwa sampai kapan pun kaum Yahudi dan Nasrani tidak akan pernah rida terhadap Islam (lihat QS Albaqarah [2]:120). Alquran telah banyak menceritakan penghinaan terhadap Nabi Muhammad SAW yang dilakukan oleh orang kafir, di antaranya beliau dituduh sebagai penyair (QS Al Anbiyaa’ [21]:5), dihina sebagai dukun (QS Al Haaqqah [69]:42), dituduh sebagai tukang sihir (QS Adz Dzaariyaat [51]:52), dihina sebagai orang gila (QS Al Hijr [15]: 6). Ada juga hinaan terhadap status beliau sebagai anak yatim dan orang miskin (QS Az Zukhruf [43]:31). Hinaan bahwa Nabi tidak perlu makan dan menikah (QS Al Furqaan [25]:7). Beliau dituduh bahwa Alquran diajarkan oleh orang Nasrani (QS An Nahl [16]:103). Hinaan bahwa beliau tidak akan mempunyai keturunan setelah kematian putranya yang bernama Qosim (QS Al Kautsar [108]:1-3), dan kasus lainnya. Faktor kedua, yang menjadikan Barat membenci Islam adalah karena Islam merupakan tantangan ideologi yang bertentangan dengan prinsip atheis. Naquib Al-Attas mengungkapkan dalam bukunya, Islam and Secularism, bahwa Islam bukan hanya tantangan bagi kekristenan Barat, tetapi juga tantangan bagi prinsip-prinsip aristotellianisme dan epistemologi serta dasar-dasar filosofi yang diwarisi dari pemikiran Yunani dan Romawi. Unsur-unsur itulah yang membentuk komponen dominan, mengintegrasikan elemen-elemen penting dalam berbagai dimensi pandangan hidup Barat. Islam pun dianggap tidak sejalan dengan pandangan hidup mereka. Dr Basim Khafaji mengatakan bahwa Barat melihat Muhammad telah mempersembahkan pemahaman yang mungkin bisa menghancurkan pemikiran Barat dari asasnya, yaitu sentralisasi Allah Ta’ala dalam kehidupan manusia. Hal itu bertolak belakang dengan teori Barat yang dibangun di atas logika dan akal pemikiran manusia (Sohib Jasim, Akar-Akar Penghinaan Terhadap Islam dalam Pemikiran Barat, 2006). Faktor terakhir adalah isu terorisme yang selama ini didengungkan oleh Amerika dan sekutunya. Ini telah merasuki pemikiran bangsa Barat sehingga mereka takut dan membenci Islam. Teladan Rasul Aisyah pernah bertanya kepada Rasulullah, ‘’Wahai Rasulullah, pernahkah engkau mengalami hari yang lebih buruk dari Perang Uhud?’’ Rasulullah menjawab, ‘’Suatu hari aku pernah menemui kaum yang sangat kejam yang belum pernah aku temui, yaitu hari di mana aku menemui kaum kampung aqobah (di Thaif), ketika aku ingin menemui (untuk meminta perlindungan, sekaligus menyebarkan islam) Ibnu Abi Yalil bin Abdi Kulal (salah satu pembesar di Thaif), tetapi dia tidak memenuhi keinginanku, lalu aku pulang dalam keadaan wajahku berdarah (karena perlakuan warganya yang melempaliranya dengan batu). Ketika aku berhenti di Qarnul Tsa’alib (Miqat Qarnul Manajil), aku melihat ke atas dan awan memayungiku sehingga aku merasa teduh. Lalu, aku melihat Jibril memanggilku, seraya berkata: ‘’Sesungguhnya Allah telah mendengar perkataan (hinaan) kaummu dan penolakan mereka kepadamu. Allah telah mengutus malaikat penjaga gunung terhadapmu.’’ ‘’Ya Muhammad,’’ sahut malaikat pen-jaga gunung. ‘’Jika engkau mau supaya aku melipatkan Akhsyabain (dua gunung di Makkahm, yaitu gunung Abi Qubaisy dan gunung yang menghadapnya) ini di atas mereka, niscaya akan aku lakukan.’’ Namun, Rasulullah SAW malah berdoa (tidak ada sedikit pun keinginan untuk membalasnya). Bahkan, aku berharap mudah-mudahan Allah mengeluarkan dari tulang rusuk mereka (keturunan) yang menyembah Allah yang Esa dan tidak menyekutukan-Nya dengan sesuatu pun (HR Bukhari Muslim). Dalam kisah lain, salah seorang dari kaum Quraisy biasa melempari kotoran jika Rasulullah SAW lewat di depan rumahnya. Ketika orang Quraisy itu tidak terlihat lagi, Rasulullah pun menanyakan tentang kabarnya. Ketika ada kabar bahwa orang itu sakit, Rasulullah langsung menjenguknya tanpa ada dendam sedikit pun. Akhirnya, orang itu pun masuk Islam karena melihat akhlak mulia Rasulullah SAW. Dari kisah di atas, banyak pelajar yang bisa kita renungkan. Pertama, ketika cacian dan perlakuan tidak manusiawi datang menghadapi Rasulullah, maka yang dikedepankan oleh beliau bukan dengan kembali mencaci, tapi dengan menunjukkan sikap baik. Secara tidak langsung ini adalah dakwah terhadap mereka yang membenci Islam. Terbukti akhlak baik Rasulullah dan sahabatnya telah mengantarkan Islam bisa tersebar luas dengan waktu yang singkat. Dengan ini maka umat Islam dituntut lebih memperbaiki lagi akhlaknya sehingga yang membenci tahu akan keagungan umat Islam. Kedua, umat Islam harus senantiasa introspeksi, apakah kita pernah menjelaskan tentang Islam kepada orang-orang yang menghina Islam? Karena boleh jadi mereka membenci Islam karena belum tahu tentang hakikat Islam. Jika belum, maka kita harus memberikan penjelasan tentang Islam dengan berbagai pendekatan. Kalau Rasulullah dahulu suka memberikan surat-surat yang ditujukan kepada para raja, maka sekarang pun kita bisa berdakwah lewat buku, dengan menerjemahkan karya-karya Islam ke dalam bahasa yang dipakai Barat. Atau bisa dengan pendekatan seni dan budaya yang lebih bisa diterima oleh mereka. Ketiga, mungkin ini yang luput dari kita selama ini, yaitu mendoakan mereka untuk mendapatkan pintu hidayah. Rasulullah SAW tahu bahwa berdakwah saja tidak cukup. Hidayah adalah urusan Allah maka jalan terbaik untuk memintanya adalah dengan doa. Maka, jika yahudi dan Nasrani tidak akan pernah ridha akan Islam, maka biarkanlah Allah SWT yang membalikkan hatinya menjadi mencintai Islam. Tentunya, tujuan penulis bukan untuk melarang berdemo. Demonstrasi saja tidak cukup untuk menghilangkan islamofobia, apalagi jika berdemo dengan cara brutal dan merusak. Maka, yang timbul bukan islamofobia hilang, tapi mungkin akan semakin menjadi-jadi. Ikhtisar Rasul wajib menjadi teladan dalam berdakwah. Masih banyak orang yang salah memahami Islam. http://republika.co.id/kolom_detail.asp?id=326918&kat_id=16 === -muslim voice- ______________________________________ BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment » Tak Mungkin Belajar Islam pada Orang Junub Posted by musliminsuffer on March 15, 2008 bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful === News Update === From: “abdul rahman” <Inspiring.Rahman@gmail.com Subject: [INSISTS] “Tak Mungkin Belajar Islam pada Orang Junub” Belajar Islam ke negara-negara Timur Tengah, itu biasa. Belajar Islam ke negara-negara Barat, ini baru beda dari biasa. Padahal, negara-negara tersebut­setidaknya menurut catatan sejarah­bukan negara yang menjadi tempat berkembangnya Islam, seperti Timur Tengah. Meski demikian, peminatnya dari tahun ke tahun terbilang tidak sedikit.   Menurut data Direktorat Perguruan Tinggi Islam Departemen Agama tahun 2005, pengiriman mahasiswa untuk belajar Islam ke negeri Barat dimulai pada tahun 1950-an. Jumlah mahasiswa yang berangkat berjumlah tiga orang, yaitu: Harun Nasution, Mukti Ali, dan Rasyidi. Ketiga orang tersebut belajar di McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies (MIIS), Kanada. Dan sekarang, perkembangannya jauh lebih besar dan lebih dasyat.   Umumnya, sebagian lulusan studi Islam di Barat terpengaruh gaya berfikir ala Barat yang liberal dan sekuler. Tapi tak semuanya begitu. Ada juga yang kritis. Professor Rasjidi, misalnya adalah seorang lulusan program Islamic Studies di Universitas McGill, Kanada. Tapi ia justru ikut “menghadang gerakan anti sekularisme dan liberalisme”. Namun menurut mantan Menteri Agama RI pertama ini, pada umumnya belajar Islam di Barat sangat terpengaruh oleh pemikiran orientalis.   Bagaimana sebenarnya belajar di Barat? Dan bagaimana seharusnya sikap seorang Muslim? Bolehkan seorang Muslim belajar tentang Islam pada seseorang yang tidak meyakini Iman Islam? Fakultas khusus Islamic studies   Nah, *hidayatullah.com*[/url] kali ini mewawancari Dr. Syamsussin Arif. Syamsuddin adalah peneliti INSISTS (Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought and Civilization). Cendekiawan muda Betawi ini menyelesaikan doktornya di ISTAC-Kuala Lumpur dan juga pernah menyelesaikan disertasi untuk doktor keduanya di Orientalisches Seminar, Universitas Frankfurt, Jerman. Kini, selain sebagai peneliti INSISTS, sehari-hari ia mengajar di Universitas Islam Internasional Malaysia (IIUM). Di bawah ini adalah petikan wawancaranya.   *Lutfie Assyaukanie dari aktivis Islam Liberal (JIL) pernah berkata, “Asiknya belajar Islam di Barat.” Anda juga pernah belajar Islam di Barat. Apa Anda merasakannya?*   Kalau yang dimaksud mempelajari seluk-beluk ajaran Islam secara serius lagi mendalam, dengan tujuan menjadi ulama pewaris Nabi dalam arti yang sesungguhnya, maka universitas- universitas di Barat bukanlah tempatnya.   Bagaimana mungkin seorang yang tidak beriman kepada Allah dan hari akhir, tidak pernah bersuci, tidak pernah shalat, disebut ahli hadis, ahli tafsir, ahli fiqh? Bagaimana mungkin orang yang seumur hidupnya dalam keadaan junub disejajarkan dengan Imam as-Syafi’i, Imam Ahmad, Imam al-Ghazali? Hayhaata hayhaata, saa’a maa yahkumuun (Aduhai, aduhai, sungguh suatu keputusan yang buruk).   Namun kalau tujuannya mempelajari cara sarjana Barat mengkaji Islam, maka saya kira bukan masalah. Adapun soal asiknya belajar di Barat itu memang betul. Tapi, tentu bukan hanya di Barat. Lebih tepatnya di negeri orang.   Bagi orang Barat, belajar di Timur itu mengasikkan. Banyak kejutan karena serba tak pasti. Berbeda dengan suasana di negeri asal mereka yang semuanya teratur dan serba terencana, sehingga hidup sehari-hari menjadi monoton dan menjemukan.   Sebaliknya, bagi orang Timur, hidup di Barat itu nyaman dan menyenangkan. Lingkungannya bersih, transportasi murah, lancar, aman, dan lain sebagainya. Jadi, yang asik bagi saya itu suasana hidup di Barat, bukan belajar Islam di Barat.   *Menurut Anda, perlukah Muslim Indonesia belajar studi Islam di Barat?*   Nah, pertanyaan ini sudah betul. Belajar studi Islam di Barat, bukan belajar Islam. Jawabannya, menurut saya, tetap perlu, meski harus diikat dengan niat dan syarat yang jelas. Niatnya meningkatkan pengetahuan, menambah pengalaman dan memperluas wawasan lillahi ta’ala, bukan li-dun-ya yushibuha.   Di Barat, Anda bisa mempelajari metodologi riset yang biasa disebut technique of scholarship. Metode ini menggabungkan penguasaan bahasa, budaya, dan sejarah dengan kecakapan filologi dan ketajaman analisis falsafi. Adapun syaratnya, yang bersangkutan harus sudah matang dulu secara intelektual maupun spiritual.   *Sebenarnya, apa efeknya jika belajar studi Islam di Barat?*   Efeknya banyak. Bisa positif dan bisa negatif. Positifnya, Anda dilatih untuk serius dan teliti dalam mengkaji suatu masalah. Anda juga akan paham mengapa dan untuk apa orang-orang Barat itu menekuni studi Islam.   Efek negatifnya juga ada. Anda menjadi skeptis (senantiasa meragukan). Namun, menurut saya, soal efek ini tergantung orangnya. Kalau yang bersangkutan suka jahil dengan agamanya sendiri dan buta akan tradisi intelektual Islam, apalagi kalau sudah minder, tentu mudah sekali terpukau dan terpengaruh oleh hasil kajian islamolog Barat.   *Dalam beberapa kasus, orang mengaku menemukan Islam di Barat. Bagaimana ini bisa terjadi?*   Saya kira itu ungkapan frustasi yang berlebihan. Sebuah jawaban untuk pertanyaan yang telah menggangu para pemikir Muslim dari mulai Abduh, Iqbal, Rahman hingga al-Attas: limaadza ta’akhkhara l-muslimun wa taqaddama ghayruhum? Mengapa umat Islam tertinggal, sementara umat-umat lain maju pesat?   Keterbelakangan umat bukan disebabkan oleh ajaran Islam, sebagaimana kemajuan Barat bukan dikarenakan agamanya. Kemajuan, kebersihan, kesehatan, ketertiban, itu soal mentalitas, soal disiplin, kejujuran dan kerja keras. Meminjam ungkapan almarhum Ustadz Rahmat Abdullah: ” Umat Islam ini bagaikan mobil tua yang remnya pakem, sedangkan Barat itu bagiakan mobil mewah yang remnya blong.”   *Menurut Anda, apakah studi Islam di Barat atau Eropa itu selalu kental misi orientalisme?*   Saya tidak ingin memukul-rata. Namun, pada banyak kasus memang tak dapat dipisahkan dari agenda-agenda tertentu yang jelas berpihak pada kepentingan politik, ekonomi, dan budaya mereka. Hal ini dapat dimaklumi dan terlalu naif untuk kita pungkiri.* [Agus Amin, Cholis Akbar. Diambail dari majalah Suara Hidayatullah/www.hidayatullah.com]   Dr Syamsuddin Arif * [Peneliti INSISTS dan pengajar di : [Universitas Islam Internasional Malaysia (IIUM)] === -muslim voice- ______________________________________ BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »   Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Andreas09 by Andreas Viklund. Follow Follow “Muslim in Suffer” Get every new post delivered to your Inbox. 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