OPEN Forum 2009, A Program Worth Attending

In Pakistan Eidgahs, the places where Eid prayers are offered have their own unique culture. Eidgah is a place of hustle and bustle, where a small group of people is very serious about offering its religious duties the most solemn way, and where most others are present to show off their new clothes, meet people they normally meet on Eid days i.e., once or twice a year, and to have a good time. Every Eidgah starts coming more and more alive as the prayer time gets closer, the venue initially hums with low-scale chatter, becomes dead quiet when the prayers are offered, and springs into revelry as the prayers end. If its keynote speech can be equated with the Eid prayer then the annual OPEN (Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America) Forum venue is indeed the Eidgah Pakistanis living in the Bay Area flock to, quite religiously. There got to be some people who attend that program to learn new things, or to hear the distinguished keynote and other speakers the program features, but for this scribe and for many of his friends OPEN Forum is an opportunity to meet people you normally meet once in a while, and to have a good time on a summer Saturday. The most noticeable activity at the OPEN Forum is the exchange of business cards—in between the panel discussions and speaking sessions, everywhere you look you would see people shaking hands and trading contact information. At OPEN Fora entrepreneurs-at-heart look for opportunities to start new businesses, to either become a part of the team they have always dreamt of becoming a part of, or to assemble the right talent to put together the dream team. It is an event to see and to be seen at. If this correspondent is in town, he never misses the opportunity to attend an OPEN Forum. He thoroughly enjoyed the Forum when Imran Khan was the keynote speaker. His report on that event is here:
http://www.pakistanlink.com/Community/2005/July05/15/06.HTM
Then last year, OPEN Forum 2008 had a whole bunch of inspirational speakers, from Mike Moritz to Howard Dean. His report on that program is here:
http://www.pakistanlink.com/Community/2008/June08/27/01.HTM
And video highlights are here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0u7YYi2wm8
And this year, the OPEN organizers—all of them are volunteers, very hardworking indeed--are promising the program to be another memorable gala. Read about the OPEN Forum 2009 here:
http://www.opensiliconvalley.org/
At the OPEN Forum 2009 you will learn the real deal behind the buzz phrases: from Cloud Computing to Genentech to Social Networking software, and you would hear from very knowledgeable speakers including former Congressman Tom Campbell.

Don’t miss the most celebrated Pakistani event of the San Francisco Bay Area; be there at the OPEN Forum 2009, on Saturday, June 13, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

[Image courtesy of OPEN Silicon Valley.]

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=20934

The real question is: What is on Iftikhar Chaudhry's mind?

What kind of Supreme Court are we going to see after his reinstatement on March 21?
Would Chaudhry's old suo-moto style of judiciary now burgeon, or would it dwindle in favor of pragmatism?
And whatever style the Supreme Court adopts would determine if future candidates for Pakistan's top government positions would still salivate over the few perks those jobs offer, or would they shiver over the responsibility of looking after the well-being of 170 million mostly impoverished people.
C.

[Photo, courtesy of The Guardian.]

Long March, for long awaited fundamental reforms

Now too much relies on Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry's well-being. Hope there is a big group of people guarding him, day and night.

[Photo, courtesy of Dawn.com]

Waiting to have a cup of tea with Greg Mortensen



Approaching Greg Mortenson from a distance you would first encounter a very large circle of glossy advertising material featuring poor but fair-complexioned, photogenic children learning in schools built by the Central Asia Institute (CAI), Mortenson's non-profit organization; you would then meet a huge readership of 'Three Cups of Tea', Mortenson's bestselling book; and then there would be singers singing the 'Three Cups of Tea' song; and then finally you would meet the inner circle of diehard Mortenson fans holding their guru in the highest esteem. Being mesmerized by this setup it is easy to forget an important tenet of journalism i.e., take a fresh, unbiased, independent look at the subject.

After attending two programs in the San Francisco Bay Area that featured Greg Mortenson, I made a list of things to do, before I would write a newspaper report on Mortenson and his excellent work:
1. Call the office of Central Asia Institute in Pakistan and ask them a few questions.
2. Read independent reports in the Pakistani newspapers on Mortenson's work.
3. Meet Pakistanis who have visited schools built by Mortenson and have talked to the villagers about the impact the schools are having.

I must confess to my readers that I failed in all three of the above. My call to the Central Asia Institute about their office telephone numbers in Pakistan is still unanswered (CAI's web site does not provide that information). The Pakistani English newspaper reports I have read so far all derive information from western sources which in turn rely on information provided in the book 'Three Cups of Tea' or obtained from Mortenson's interviews. Search Google in Urdu for Mortenson and you would find two (2) links on Mortenson—both sources relying on western news reports. Search the man in Farsi and you would find that the only Mortenson (or Mortensen) the Farsi/Darri world recognizes is actor Viggo Mortensen. You wonder what kind of ungrateful bunch Greg Mortenson is dealing with.

So let me limit the scope of this report to Greg Mortenson's recent visit to Northern California. Mortenson's March 3 visit to the Bay area was arranged by the Fremont branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). In the afternoon, Mortenson spoke to children and adults at Guy Emanuele Pavilion of Logan High School in Union City. Around 1800 people attended that program. In the evening Mortenson gave a speech at the Diamond Palace in Fremont. Almost 900 awe-struck people listened to Mortenson's life story and how he got into building schools for children in far flung northern areas of Pakistan and in Afghanistan.

The audio of Greg Mortenson's speech at the Diamond Palace is here:
http://www.archive.org/details/GregMortensonAtLoganHighSchoolUnionCity

Photos of Mortenson event at the Logan High School are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cemendtaur/GregMortensonAtLoganHighSchoolUnionCity#

Photos of Mortenson event at the Diamond Palace are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cemendtaur/GregMortensonAtTheDiamondPalaceFremont#

Cricket, A Dangerous Game

Or, at least when played in Pakistan. For that matter, anything you do in Pakistan comes with huge risks these days. When the rest of the world refused to play cricket in Pakistan, the Sri Lankan team said 'No' to that boycott. The Sri Lankans wanted to show their support for Pakistan and its cricket fans. Little did they know they would be punished for their empathy. In hindsight, the Sri Lankan team should have insisted on playing cricket in Pakistan how George W. Bush played in Pakistan i.e., in the boundary of their embassy.

Photo of Sri Lankan Cricket team leaving Qaddafi Stadium in army helicopter, courtesy of AP.
Photo of President Bush playing cricket in the US Embassy in Islamabad, courtesy of
http://www.mykaussie.com

US Government now owning more banks and other businesses

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090227/ap_on_bi_ge/citigroup_rescue

It has something to do with Afghanistan. One socialist superpower went to Afghanistan, became bankrupt, and changed its economic system to capitalism. Now another superpower, this time a capitalist one, went to Afghanistan, is getting financially weak, and is in the process of changing its economic system from capitalism to socialism.

Afghanistan, that little poor country, is in the business of humbling superpowers and turning around their economic systems 180 degrees.

[Citi Bank logo, courtesy of Citi Bank.]

A non-state actor's response to the Mumbai Attacks Dossier

It has been almost a month that the Indian Government handed over a 'Mumbai Attacks Dossier' to Pakistan . It has been claimed that the dossier clearly implicates Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan based organization of religious leanings, in the Mumbai attacks that killed over 170 people.



The dossier given to Pakistan , and to other countries, was made public by the Daily Hindu. We thank that fine newspaper.



If you go through the compilation superficially, you would be impressed by the details provided in the 69-page dossier. But do a more diligent reading, taking notes as you turn pages, and you would find that the document raises more questions than it answers.



Let's start with the biggest hole in the story the dossier tells us. The source of the Mumbai attack story, as narrated in the dossier, is one person, Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist captured alive. The dossier does not name a single witness ready to corroborate the pre-attack part of the story—the most important part that tells you the origin of the terrorists. And what do we know about the identity of the person in captivity? It appears there is a consensus. Pakistan has accepted India 's claim that the person in custody of the Indian police is indeed Ajamal Kasab, a resident of Faridkot, district Okara. But our credibility in this police investigation stops right there. How do we know if Kasab is indeed the narrator of the story being told in the dossier? And even if he is, why should we believe the confession was not extracted out of him under duress? Let's be honest. We trust the Indian Police as much as we trust the Pakistani Police i.e., NOT AT ALL. Our police can make a dog out of a cat. Police obtained confessions are a joke in our part of the world; day in and day out such 'incriminating' statements are rejected by independent courts. The dossier does have photographs of 'material evidence' collected from various places--this evidence would have been a powerful proof had we not seen cases of police-planted evidence.



But for the sake of argument, let's disregard the biggest hole in the story and keep reading the dossier. According to the dossier, "The terrorists started in a small boat from Karachi at approximately 0800 hrs on November 22, 2008. After traveling for about 40 minutes, they were shifted to a larger boat, 'Al-Husseini', which, according to the captured terrorist, belongs to Zaki-Ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Chief Commander of the LeT. There were already seven LeT members on boards."



Does Al-Husseini really exist? Why is there no news of this ship? Is the whole Pakistan collaborating with ISI and LeT to hide the facts from the international media?



"The terrorists spent the entire day on board the Al-Husseini. On November 23, 2008, at about 1500 hours, the captured terrorist noticed another boat docked next to the Al-Husseini. This was an Indian registered fishing vessel called MV Kuber, which had five crewmembers."



What does it mean that the terrorist noticed a boat docked next to Al-Husseini? We thought the terrorists were actively moving towards India . This sentence in the dossier makes it sound like the terrorists were on a fishing trip.



From media reports it appears that subsequent to the release of the dossier Kasab "provided" important details about how the terrorists got control of MV Kuber. But we are not told why the Kuber crew was not in communication with the Indian Coast Guard.



But let's keep reading the dossier. The ten terrorists are now aboard MV Kuber; Mr. Solanki, the captain of MV Kuber, is steering the ship towards Mumbai. Did any radio communication take place in that long journey: any communication with another ship, with Coast Guard? Is there any record of such communication?



"The ten terrorists performed watch duties on board MV Kuber. Log sheets maintained by them have been seized (Annexure-V).



"The MV Kuber reached a point four nautical miles off Mumbai at 1600 hours on November 26, 2008.



"As soon it was dark, the team leader, Ismail Khan, contacted their handler in Pakistan , who directed them to kill Amar Singh Solanki, the captain of MV Kuber."



Here is a crime scene we need more information about. The dossier does mention MV Kuber as material evidence but we don't get to see any photos of the ship, the position in which Solanki's body was found, etc. The next version of the dossier should include the autopsy report of Solanki indicating time and cause of death.



"After killing Solanki, the terrorists, along with their weapons and IEDs, boarded the inflatable dinghy. They traversed the last four nautical miles to Mumbai in about 1 hour and 15 minutes, reaching the locality of Badhwar Park (Cuffe Parade) in South Mumbai at about 2030 hours."



The maritime expertise demonstrated by the terrorists would make you believe that the terrorists not only got training from ISI, they were probably also trained by the Pakistan Navy.



From media reports the marina at Badhwar Park seems to be a busy place--and the terrorists had to reach a bustling beach because they had to catch taxis. If Badhwar Park is such a busy place then we need testimonies of people who saw a dhingy full of ten men and their bags reaching that marina. There have been news reports about one Anita Uddaiya who claims to have seen six (6) people landing at the beach in a rubber boat. But after Uddaiya's recent claim of being taken to the US by FBI and brought back to India within three days there are serious doubts about her mental stability. Furthermore, Uddaiya's statement about seeing six people reaching Mumbai contradicts with dossier's claim of ten terrorists reaching together.



"After alighting, the ten terrorists divided into five teams according to the pairing decided earlier. Mohammed Ajmal Kasab was paired with the group leader, Ismail Khan.



"They took taxis to different target destinations. IED devices were planted in two taxis and they later exploded—one at Wadi Bunder and the other at Vile Parle—killing the two taxi drivers."



How many taxis did the terrorists take? Two? Because of the visibility of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, other taxi drivers present at Badhwar Park must have remembered ten men with large bags getting into two taxis. Can we please have the testimonies of those taxi drivers or other people who were there at that time?



And how did ten terrorists with large bags fit into two taxis: it would be five terrorists and ten bags—one bag for gun and ammunition, the other for IED (improvised explosive device), as mentioned in the dossier--per taxi. Was there any argument about the fare? Do we have any witnesses of the situation? We can only imagine each team of terrorists putting its luggage in the trunk—fitting the bulky bags with some difficulty—and then three people sitting in the back seat, and two squeezing in the front passenger seat, with the front-sitting terrorist in the middle possibly placing his right leg on the driver side of the gear shaft. But then this tight squeeze in a taxi is not enough, one of the terrorist has to reach under the driver's seat and install an IED.



Apparently, the IED's in the taxis exploded after some time, i.e., after the terrorists left the taxis. How did the terrorists pay the taxi fare? Did the terrorists have Indian currency? And which team was dropped off where? Is there any evidence of people seeing those drop-offs? The two taxis are crime scenes as well. The dossier must give more information about them.



"CST Railway Station. At about 21:20 hrs, two terrorists (Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab and Ismail Khan) entered the station and started firing indiscriminately from their Kalashnikov rifles and also lobbed grenades. The carnage resulted in 58 dead and 104 injured.



"They were challenged by a small number of policemen at the station. They left the station, crossed an over-bridge and fled into a lane towards Cam Hospital . Near Cama Hospital they were challenged by a police team and there was an exchange of fire. As they exited the lane, they fired on a police vehicle carrying three senior police officers and four policemen. Believing that all the occupants had been killed, they pulled out the bodies of the three police officers and hijacked the police vehicle.



How does it work that seven armed people in a vehicle are overpowered by two men fleeing on foot?



"However, only six were killed and one policeman survived the assault. He is Constable Arun Jadhav and is an eyewitness to the events."



Amazing how we only have a policeman who is eyewitness of this very important event. What about other people? Civilians walking by, vehicles that traveled on that road?



"After traveling some distance, the terrorists abandoned the police vehicle and hijacked another passenger car."



"The car came up against a police barricade at Girgaum Chowpatti and, in an exchange of fire with the police, Ismail Khan was killed and Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab was captured.



"An Assistant Sub-Inspector, Tukaram Ombale was killed while overpowering Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab. Two police officers were injured.



We need to know more detail of this 'police encounter.'



"The police recovered two Kalashnikov rifles, eight magazines, two pistols, ammunition, empty cases and five hand grenades from the two terrorists."



Eight magazines, ammunition, and five hand grenades is a lot of material to have in possession, after i) generously using ammunition at the railway station, ii) using ammunition in a police encounter that killed six policemen, and iii) using more ammunition in another police encounter in which the terrorists were finally maimed.



"Second Target: Leopold Cafe and Bar. At about 21:40 hrs, two terrorists (Hafiz Arshad and Naser) entered the Cafe and started firing indiscriminately using AK-47 assault rifles."



"One grenade was lobbed and it exploded. Ten persons were killed and many injured. After about five minutes, the two terrorists ran towards the Taj Mahal Hotel, situated about half a kilometer from the Café.



"Police later recovered from the scene of the attack five AK-47 magazines (of which three were empty and two contained 13 bullets), empty cases of ammunition, one metal butt of an AK-47 rifle and two mobile phones."



What happened to the other terrorist's AK-47?



"Taj Mahal Hotel.

Four terrorists (Shoaib and Javed and the two terrorists who attacked the Leopold Café and Bar, namely, Hafiz Arshad and Nasir) targeted the Taj Mahal Hotel. The first pair entered the main lobby at 21:38 hrs and opened fire, killing 20 persons in the first few minutes. The second pair entered the hotel from the North Court entrance at 21:43 hrs and fired indiscriminately and hurled grenades."



What was the first pair of terrorists doing while the second pair took care of business at Leopold Cafe? Was the first pair already in the hotel killing people, when the second pair entered? How did the two pairs meet each other amid chaos, in a place totally unfamiliar to them?



Annexure II



The first picture purportedly shows "pickle made in Pakistan ." The picture is fuzzy, but those who can differentiate between Urdu and Farsi scripts can clearly see that in picture is a detergent box from Iran --in Farsi it reads, "Pak bara-e Pakeezgi."



In the same annexure, two later pictures do correctly identify the box of 'detergent' but the country of manufacture is not corrected. I believe the Indian officials are confused because of the brand name of the detergent, Pak ('clean' in Farsi).





Annexure-III



"This is the point from where the militants switched on their GPS and started their journey, as well as planned to return to this very point after completion of work."



We thought they were suicide attackers and had no plans to go back.



Later the dossier again mentions the return path:



"It seems that T007 and MAP were the RV for their intended return after the attack. The route to be followed would have been T007 through T001."





Annexure V
The dossier is discrepant in the names of the terrorists. Five names (Ajmal Kasab, Babar Imran, Hafiz Arshad, and Abdur Rehman) mentioned in the main document do not appear in the log of Kuber guards (Annexure V). Similarly names of four people (Saquib, Muheeb, Hijazi, and Mujahid) present in the Kuber log are not present in the main document.


-----



In short, the devil is in the details; the more you scrutinize the individual parts of the Indian police narrative of the Mumbai attacks the more suspicious you become of the construct. The families of over 170 innocent people killed in Mumbai terrorist attacks deserve a more convincing document from the Indian Government.

[Photo courtesy of Gurinder Osan/Associated Press.]

A Terrorist Sworn In

Impeach Obama Now campaign has distributed the following letter on the Internet.

Dear Fellow Countrymen,

The morning after horror has dawned on the conscientious people of this great nation of ours. As if a faltering economy, two wars going bad were not enough to sap our spirits we now have a terrorist as our president. It is hard not to notice dark clouds gathering over us. The Western Civilization is under attack from within.

This charlatan sworn in yesterday as the President of the USA wants to hide his revealing middle name by abbreviating it to a harmless H—so that you may believe H is for Harry. No, People, H is not for Harry or Harvey or Hansen. This terrorist's name is Barack Hussein Obama. In fact it would be very appropriate to abbreviate the other two irrelevant names and call him B Hussein O. That is his real identity. B HUSSEIN O. Ladies and Gentlemen, Now how many Husseins have you met that were either not terrorists or did not have terrorist tendencies?

And People, You must understand what this man is all about. His father was a Muslim, a terrorist. His father may have passed away but you can bet he has plenty of relatives on the terrorist side of his family—people who are looking for any opportunity to harm us, the Americans.

And you know where this man spent his childhood. Yes, in Indonesia, a terrorist country. And what did he do in Indonesia? He went to a madrassa. And what do they teach in a madrassa? Do you think they are taught Physics and Chemistry in a madrassa? Do you think the madrassa students are doing experiments to find out the focal point of a concave mirror, or they are busy in doing titration experiments? NO. They are hard at work learning hatred: hatred, hatred, hatred of others, hatred for all those who are not Muslims. That is what they are taught in a madrassa, day in and day out. They have grade classes in madrassa, but they are called Hate Grades: Hate Grade 1, Hate Grade 2, and so on.

Open a madrassa curriculum book and you would find, Chapter 1: How to Hate Christians, Chapter 2: Hating Hindus Made Easy, Chapter 3: Powerful Strategies to Hate Jews, Chapter 4: How to Hate Buddhists and Enjoy It Too. The madrassa students are sometimes asked to read books outside their curriculum but those books are also about hate, perennially popular titles like "Love Ties You Up, Hate Sets You Free", "The Joy of Hatred", "An Idiot's Guide for Mastering Hatred", and "How to Hate Everyone in 5 Minutes (Or Less)."

Do you know which book sold most copies in Saudi Arabia, last year? It was "All You Wanted to Know About Hatred And Were Afraid to Ask." Ladies and Gentlemen, These people don't have 'love' in their day-to-day vocabulary. In their culture, the process of making babies is not called love-making; it is called hate-making. That's why after reading his nuptial sermon the Imam looks at the newly-wed couple and says; "Now the two of you are free to hate each other."
And it was because of this absence of 'love' in their culture that our McDonald's had a hard time coming up with a culturally sensitive marketing refrain in the Muslim world—it finally settled on "I'm hatin' it."

People, Four centuries ago our forefathers got rid of these people from the continent of Europe—we threw them out of Spain. It was our greatest mistake in the near past to start giving them political asylums, or bring them here on student visas. And that is how the current terrorist president was born. Now we have to suffer because of that terrible mistake.

You must understand that these Muslims are not like us. Unlike the Western Civilization these people are not trying to solve the problems of this world: thinking about global warming, about patching holes in the ozone layer, or worrying about distant asteroids hitting the world and jeopardizing our existence. No, nothing like that. These Muslims just want to breed like rabbits and take control of the world.

The Muslim population of the world is increasing exponentially. It is not obvious here in North America right now, but in Europe go to any city, go to its outlying neighborhoods, turn any corner and you would find a Muslim coming your way, or a woman in veil. The situation is out of control. Whoever came up with the idea that "a good Muslim is a dead Muslim" was a genius. We need to start this process of making good Muslims, NOW.

And don't be deceived, People, In appearance one Muslim may not look like another Muslim but deep inside they are all the same: products of an assembly line of hate. Hatred is the only human emotion they are capable of holding. In mosques, the terrorist training centers, where these people go five times a day or at least once a week, the only thing they are taught is hatred. And if their Imam ever fails in delivering a sermon full of hate they get angry with him. You know what these people do when they get angry. The Imam knows it too and that's the reason the Imam gets everybody remove their shoes outside the mosque.

What is the first thing your president—yes, B Hussein O may be your president, but I can never accept a terrorist as my president—what does this president want to do? He wants to close Gitmo, so that he can release his terrorist brothers. What do you think those dangerous criminals are going to do when we let them go? Yes, they are going to attack us. Next thing you know this terrorist president would turn back on his election promise of bombing Pakistan.

Ladies and Gentlemen, This con artist was a bit political in making important cabinet appointments in his first term. But you can bet he would be bolder in his second term. That is, if God forbid you elect this beast again. In his second term he is going to appoint Al-Zawahiri as the Secretary of State and Osama Bin Laden as his Secretary of Defense. So, please People, stop this degenerative civilization from taking over our country. Impeach this terrorist now. Impeach B Hussein O, NOW.

Photo, courtesy of
http://www.necn.com/Boston/Politics/2009/01/20/Obama-takes-oath-of-office/1232473414.html

Palestinians look for a sliver of hope in Obama Presidency 

Allen Hafman 

 

Remember Barack Obama's pre-election visit to Israel and his position on the issue of Hamas rockets being fired at the Israeli town of Sderot? Newspapers quoted Obama saying that "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I'm going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing." Well, it appears Obama is reconsidering his earlier stance to take into account the historical background of the Middle East situation. An Obama aid, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, told Guardian President-elect Obama was closely monitoring the situation in Gaza and had shown sympathy for the Palestinians. The aid reported Obama saying, "Yes, I said what I said in Sderot, but there is a caveat. If I am renting the house that is under rocket attack, and I find out that the person claiming to be the owner of the house is in fact someone who has expelled the real owner by force, and that expulsion has infuriated the real owner to the point where he is throwing rockets at this property, then it would be unwise of me to do anything but to speak to the 'landlord' and ask him why he rented me a property that he acquired by force." Now that's jaw-dropping honesty and the president-elect is likely to attract the wrath of a powerful lobby. But meanwhile the word is out and the debate has begun. Ex-president Jimmy Carter, whose book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" has already made him a pariah among supporters of Israel in the US, welcomed Obama's "deeper understanding of the issue." Talking to reporters in Atlanta, Carter said he would like to meet Obama and explore latter's vision of peace in the Middle East. Carter told reporters, "In this day and age no country can put people in concentration camps. But that is exactly what Israel is doing. Palestinians have been pushed in concentration camp type environments. I am sure Obama is as much a friend of Israel as I am and he too wants to see Israel strong and prosperous. But we also happen to be people who consider every human life, be that of an Israeli or a Palestinian, of equal importance. The logic that Israel can get stronger by discriminating on the basis of religion or by being tough on some people is fundamentally flawed. That is neither how a nation gains strength, nor how a modern democracy should operate. You just cannot move forward generating that kind of animosity towards yourself. South Africa did not survive that way, and Israel cannot survive with that type of arrangement." When Guardian contacted AIPAC, the Pro-Israel US lobby, its spokesman declined to issue a rejoinder vis-à-vis Obama's latest comments. The spokesman reiterated the lobby's official stance that, "Both the US and Israel are victims of Islamic terrorism. That commonality makes the two countries natural allies in the global war on terror. To ensure their existence these two modern democracies must fight the menace of Islamic fundamentalism." Commenting on AIPAC's stand, political scientist Norman Finkelstein said, "Yes, both the US and Israel are indeed victims of terrorism, but for very different reasons. The US is a victim of a terror machine, the international Jihad cartel, which the US built. But Israel is experiencing terrorism because the European settlers have initiated the terror by displacing an indigenous population." Speaking on the historical background of creation of Israel, Finklestein said, "It stands to reason that if the Nazis persecuted the Jews then after the Nazis were defeated the Jews should have been compensated with Nazi land NOT Arab land." Finkelstein added, "The European colonization experience in the Americas succeeded because we brought with us chickenpox that decimated large indigenous populations and we assimilated the rest of them. Israel could neither obliterate the local population--although people like Ariel Sharon tried very hard--nor it wants to assimilate it because Israel wants to remain a Jewish state." In a statement issued from his hideout in Damascus Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said, "Any peace proposal missing the condition of expulsion of all foreigners who settled in Palestine after 1946 would be unacceptable to Hamas and the Palestinian people." Other Hamas leaders were less obstinate in their stand and signaled that any change in the unequivocal support of Israel by the US would be taken up with enthusiasm by the Palestinians. With the Israel-Palestine debate raging again, Professor Noam Chomsky had a few ideas on an amiable solution to the conflict. Chomsky said, "It would be foolish of Hamas to believe progeny of people who settled in today's Israel is going to go back to their ancestral homeland, wherever that might be. Does anyone believe Poland would take back Livni? One state, from Elat to Golan, from Mediterranean to River Jordan, without any walls, with equal voting rights, is the only solution. And then it would take years for many 'Truth and Reconciliation' commissions to bring today's warring communities together, but I am hopeful it can be done." Photo, courtesy of http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/8866/350-369.html

Mumbai Attacks: Big tragedy, large holes in the story

Look at the two pictures of the alleged sole surviving perpetrator of Mumbai attacks. Do these faces match? NO.

Why should we trust the police? Ajmal Kasab's father is talking, but he does not know how, when, and in what circumstances his son was captured by the police.


Photo on left, courtesy of Reuters
Photo on right, courtesy of
http://www.topnews.in/mumbai-terrorist-kasab-may-not-spill-beans-even-if-given-truth-serum-296199

Noshi Gilani Now Taken

Famous Pakistani poetess Noshi Gilani got married to Australia based poet Saeed Khan on October 25. The wedding took place in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Valima is scheduled to be held on November 2 in Khanpur, Hazara district. That leaves Noshi Gilani’s fans wondering if the couple would settle in Sydney, California (Gilani’s adopted home), or in Pakistan.

[Photo courtesy of Saeed Khan.]

Sponsorship from hell: Osama endorses Obama

BY ALLEN HAFMAN – 1 HR 10 MINS AGO

It has only been twelve hours since the bombshell audio tape was handed to Aljazeera TV’s office in Peshawar, Pakistan, but the tremors generated by the recording are being felt across the length and breadth of the American political landscape, if not across the globe. Osama Bin Laden has struck again. In his latest audio message, the world’s most wanted man has endorsed Barack Obama in the US presidential elections, addressing the erstwhile favorite as Barack Hussein and calling Obama his 'Akhi' (brother in Arabic). How would Osama's support of Obama play out on November 4 is open to speculation, but one thing is for sure: the race that till yesterday appeared lifeless because of its predictability is very much alive now.

As played on CNN, Bin Laden’s seven minute audio speech is full of outrageous material, albeit delivered in a calm tone. The rant has the trademark Bin Laden stuff: historical background to prove that the Muslim world is under siege, call for Muslims to unite and wage jihad against the West, etc. but the most relevant part is in the last two minutes when Bin Laden delves into the American politics. Making his inclinations very clear in the recording, Osama speaks with fondness for Obama and berates the Republicans. He calls McCain evil and says if he were around in 1973 he would have bought McCain from the North Vietnamese.

In fact, the content of the latest Bin Laden audio tape is so outlandish that the Obama campaign appears nonplus in dealing with it. Eight hours after the tape was played on CNN Obama’s staff still had to come up with an official response to the endorsement from hell. The out of the blue sponsorship has thrown Obama’s camp in disarray with some members trying to come up with a cogent response and others trying to fit a conspiracy theory--McCain’s secret ties with Al-Qaeda, GOP’s bribe to Al-Jazeera TV--to the “plot.” But talking privately to the reporters campaign staff expressed its disbelief and dejection on this latest development. One Obama staffer who did not want to reveal his identity in the press said, “This endorsement has surely derailed our (Obama’s) political juggernaut. It is almost as if the Titanic hit the iceberg.”

Bin Laden’s last videotape appeared in October 2004. Though another Bin Laden video was released in 2007, many experts believe it was recorded back in 2004. Lately, Al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden’s right hand man, has been more active in issuing statements to the media. The latest message from Bin Laden is being critically analyzed by experts for its authenticity. But the damage done by the tape to the Obama campaign is already measurable. The latest Zogby tracking poll results show Sen. John McCain leading Sen. Barack Obama 49% to 42% in Colorado. The poll has a 3% margin of error. Pundits are predicting similar shift in voters’ loyalties in the other eight battleground states--Washington, New Mexico, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire.

Though Obama campaign may not be ready yet to issue a statement on Bin Laden’s endorsement of its leader, other prominent Democrats are talking. Speaking to a small crowd outside a Washington DC shopping center, Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee said, “We will not let terrorists decide the political future of the US.” And Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi told the reporters, “This is not 2004. American voters are much more intelligent and resolute this time. People who are going to vote for Obama are unfazed by the message from a terrorist. They are still going to vote for Obama.”

Whereas Bin Laden’s taped message has sent Democrats scrambling for reassurances to the voters, Republicans are undoubtedly joyful by the latest development. Sen. John McCain, 72, still has to formulate an official message for the American public, but his staff members are finding it hard to hide their jubilation. McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds told the reporters, “A man is known by his associations. The American public understands it should not be voting for someone so adored by our enemies." Talking to the media another McCain staffer called Bin Laden’s endorsement heavier than Collin Powel's, “in fact, so heavy that it would sink the ship.”

Ben Porritt, a spokesman for Sarah Palin, told a group of journalists in New Hampshire, “It is the miracle Palin talked about just days ago. We are going to win. It is now pretty much written on the wall.”

And Republicans are not the only ones visibly amused by the latest turn of the events. Bin Laden’s endorsement of Obama has given reasons for Hillary Clinton’s supporters to rejoice as well. Though Clinton herself has not issued an official statement, a close associate told reporters Hillary 2012 was now “a strong possibility.”


(A.H. Cemendtaur in California and Angelina Matriati in London contributed to this report)