"As the U.S. military struggles against persistent sectarian violence in Iraq, military officers and security experts find themselves in a vigorous debate over an idea that just months ago was largely dismissed as a fringe thought: that the surest -- and perhaps now the only -- way to bring stability to Iraq is to divide the country into three pieces."

Mark another victory for the Bush Doctrine: "Egypt Extends Restrictive Emergency Laws: Laws Permit Indefinite Detention Without Trial and Limit"

Anthony Shadid is a fine foreign correspondent. Read this piece on Dubai. I have read many articles on Dubai, in more than one language, and none are as good as this one. Notice that he tries to cover all the bases, and does not allow himself to be duped by the glitz. Notice that he wrote about the foreign workers, and their plight, and he even made a passing reference to the sleaze and prostitution of the city, sanctioned by the ruling family no doubt. Some elements were missing: like nothing about women, and not much about the politics of the royal family, and their foreign connections, and the politics of the UAE, or the presence of US. Also, the quotation attributed to Lebanese economist (and pro-Gulf regimes) Nasir S`idi, about absence of corruption in Dubai is just outright silly and false. But Shadid writes unlike most American foreign correspondent. He has become the resident correspondent-specialist: not like the roving and rotating US correspondent who pontificates on issues under the sun.

I told you that rich white kids have found a safe cause in Darfur. It has been turned into kitsch. I read today that 10,000 people showed up for the rally in DC. How many of them showed up to spot Cloony or other celebrities? What is next for the Darfur-is-Kitsch crowd? Will they now sell dolls of Darfur refugees? Hollywood celebrities are capable of ruining or spoiling even the most just causes.

"In Zarqawi's home town"

"An American journalist jailed for two years in Afghanistan on charges of torturing terrorists in a makeshift jail was freed yesterday, two months early."

"A US congressional inspection team set up to monitor reconstruction in Iraq today publishes a scathing report of failures by contractors, mainly from the US, to carry out projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In one case, the inspection team found that three years after the invasion only six of 150 health centres proposed for Iraq had been completed by a US contractor, in spite of 75% of the $186m (£100m) allocated having been spent."

James Zoghby was in Saudi Arabia. He met with Prince Al-Walid Bin Talal, who now supplies him with an annual sum. A press release later quoted Zoghby offering effusive praise for the Prince. But the money that Al-Walid gives to Zoghby is one where the conditions of "no strings attached" apply. Of, course.

...off to Washington, DC. Will return Monday night.

"Mr. Lewis's ideas about the Middle East are also more current today than they were 30 years ago. His name is invoked almost constantly by critics of neoconservatives for the counsel he provided to Vice President Cheney about Iraq and the Middle East. Mr. Lewis first met with the vice president in 1990 on the eve of the first Gulf War. On the eve of the Iraq war, Mr. Cheney went on NBC's "Meet the Press" and called Mr. Lewis "one of the great students" of the Middle East."

"Vice President Cheney will speak Monday at the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, at a conference titled "Islam and the West." Cheney will speak at a luncheon honoring Bernard Lewis, a historian and Princeton University's Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies. The daylong conference includes speeches by Cheney, U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (D., Del.), and others. Biden, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will "lay out a new strategy for how to move forward in Iraq," according to a news release from his office."

"He doesn't know why he was brought to Guantanamo Bay. He had hoped he would be freed at his military hearing in December 2004. Instead, he was accused of associating with the Taliban and of funneling money to anti-coalition insurgents. When he asked for evidence, he was told it was classified. And so he sits in prison, far from his wife and three children. More than anyone, he misses his 11-year-old daughter, Hajar. When he talks about her, his eyes fill with tears and his head droops."

"In corrupt and capitalist LA the rich and famous fight in the foyer"

Full text. "When President Richard Nixon took office, he was confronted with evidence that Israel would soon have nuclear weapons. Now, with the aid of recently declassified documents, Avner Cohen and William Burr recount the untold story of the tense debate that erupted in the Nixon administration over whether Israel should be prevented from crossing the nuclear threshold. Nixon's final decisions would form the basis for the U.S.-Israeli policy of "don't ask, don't tell" that Cohen and Burr argue is now a burdensome anomaly."

" Iraqi oil gangs syphon off billions"

Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, 1879. Degas.

"A majority of Iraqis say their country is in dismal economic shape and getting worse, according to a new poll conducted by a conservative American think tank, with three of four respondents also describing security in the country as "poor....Only 1% said they trusted American and coalition forces for their personal protection."

Bush Praises "dear Dictator".

"Parsons Corp., the Pasadena engineering firm that won one of the largest rebuilding contracts in postwar Iraq, fell dramatically short of a number of goals, according to interviews and documents that cite shoddy work and negligent government oversight. The firm was to have rebuilt Iraq's health and security infrastructure. However, an audit and interviews show it will finish only 20 of 150 planned health clinics, and nearly $70 million of medical equipment meant for the clinics sits unused."

""There's two kinds of Iraqis here, the ones who help us and the ones who shoot us, and there's an awful lot of 'em doing both," said Hoover, 26, of Newark, Ohio. "Is it frustrating? Yes, it's frustrating. But we can't just stop working with them.""

Book Burners that you find cute and holy: "The Vatican stepped up its offensive against "The Da Vinci Code" on Friday when a top official close to Pope Benedict blasted the book as full of anti-Christian lies and urged Catholics to boycott the film."

" With the reptilian nickname "Professor Crocodile", Ayatollah Mohammed Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi is seen as the real ideological force behind the president."

" With their bare hands and the most basic of tools, prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have fashioned a secret garden where they have grown plants from seeds recovered from their meals. For some of the detainees - held without charge for more than four years and who the US say are now cleared for release - the garden apparently offers a diversion from the monotony and injustice of their imprisonment."

"In further evidence of their astute connection with the Iraqi culture, the cabinet secretaries showed up there without even knowing the correct name of their latest puppet. It turned out that Jawad al-Maliki, the new prime minister-designate, considered "Jawad" his exile name and had reverted to Nuri Kamal al-Maliki....A State Department report on global terrorism counted 8,300 deaths of civilians in Iraq from insurgent attacks — more than half of all those killed by terrorists worldwide — and noted that violence is escalating. The elections have clearly not quelled the violence, and terrorists are said to be trying to turn Iraq's Anbar province into a base for Al Qaeda and other militants. (And since it's our State Department, you've got to figure it's soft-peddling things.)"

"Settlers attack IDF jeep driving Palestinian children from school"

"Palestinian sources reported that five people were injured from Israel Defense Forces artillery fire on Saturday.... According to the sources, one of the five casualties, a 49-year-old man, was seriously wounded. The other four, a 50-year-old woman and three children, ages 14, five, and three, were all lightly wounded."

"the Raging Grannies of Tucson, Arizona"

Hazem Saghiyyah: is a competent and effective Arab neo-consrvative, as much as I stand opposed to all what he says and writes. And he has all the flaws and inconsistencies of Arab "liberalism." I can never reconcile myself to Saghiyyah's views after he said this to the Washigton Institute for Near East Policy, of all places: "Hence, the Arab mainstream has yet to internalize President Bush's vision of democratization." I like the old writings of Saghiyyah: I think that his old (funny) writings on Lebanon were the best, especially his book Mawarinah min Lubnan. Now, I never agree with Saghiyyah. But I saw him on Future TV: he referred to the March 14th Movement as "sectarian." I agree with him in his call for the non-intervention of clerics, ALL clerics in Lebanon of all sects, in politics.

"Reform" in Egypt. Bush Doctrine marches on.

From a Hizbullah parade: please, PLEASE, keep the kids out of these shenanigans. And shame on the parents who sent their kids, and shame on the party that put them through this. Comrade Che turned away anybody who was less than 18. These are children. CHILDREN.

"Breaking the Last Taboo: The United States of Israel?"

The Boulevard Montmartre at Night, 1897. PISSARRO, Camille.

"Ferment Over 'The Israel Lobby'"

Terry Roed-Larsen is one of the most detestable characters on the world stage today. He is the UN High Commissioner for Lebanon, and interferes in the most minute details of Lebanese affairs, to the glee of the Lebanese groups that chant and shout about Lebanon's sovereignty and independence, and his latest report even dared to speak about foreign (only Syrian and Iranian) intervention in Lebanon, without darling to speak about other foreign interventions in Lebanon. He never embarks on a mission in the Middle East before taking his orders from the National Security Council at the White House. Yesterday, on LBC-TV he explained the "UN' position on Emile Lahhud: he said that the secretary-general can't deal with leaders unless they are legally and constitutionally elected. I kid you not. Of course, you don't expect an LBC-TV anchorperson to challenge him on that point. If that was true, the UN would not be talking to any Arab leader.

"It's guilty until proven innocent for U.S. Muslim charities"

" Nearly five years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan's security situation continues to be dragged down by endemic corruption, roving militias, and a growing nexus between narco-warlords and remnants of the Taliban, officials and analysts say."

Now I understand why the Bush administration keeps praising "reforms" in Egypt.

"Israel was elected to be a vice-chair of the UN Disarmament Commission" (What is next? Saudi Arabia as vice-chair of the UN Feminist Commission?)

"Correspondent Helen Thomas has interrogated every US leader since Kennedy"

"Musharraf insists: I'm not George Bush's poodle"

"Of all the religions in the United States, Islam is the only religion for which the government has a foreign policy, according to Abukhalil. “You do not have American foreign policy for Buddhism, for Judaism, Presbyterian [or] Quakers, but for Islam, you do,” Abukhalil said. “This is because Islam is not a reference to a religion here. Muslims are referred to as people who inhabit a world that is apart from anything else.”"

All these armed Israeli occupation soldiers are needed to subdue this....CHILD.

Lebanese security forces practicing how to defeat "bad guys." Oh, ya.

I previously mocked the practice of placing laptops before Lebanese ministers during meetings of the Council of Ministers. I stand corrected. I am told that the Ministers run regressions during the meetings.

Rich kids at Harvard don't plagiarize: they "internalize" other people's works. (And the word "internalize" was supplied to them by the PR expert that parents provide when their kids get caught): "Ms. Viswanathan's parents sent her to a private college counselor, Katherine Cohen of IvyWise, who is also the author of a book on writing college applications. Ms. Cohen showed some of Ms. Viswanathan's writing to Suzanne Gluck, her agent at the William Morris Agency. Ms. Viswanathan said that she had written a piece in the vein of "The Lovely Bones," the 2002 best seller by Alice Sebold, but that Ms. Gluck thought that it was too dark. "They thought it would be better if I did a lighter piece. They thought that was more likely to sell.""

"One-third of about 410 military and civilian personnel investigated by the authorities on accusations of abusing detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan or Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have faced disciplinary action, according to a report issued yesterday by human rights groups."

'Une Baignade, Asnières', 1884. Georges Seurat.

Egyptian state police arrested AlJazeera's correspondent in Cairo. Do you think that "democracy advocates" in the US government (and Congress) will utter a word of protest?

"Iraqi Strife Seeping Into Saudi Kingdom" (thanks Kamal)

"We didn't invite them," said Kamal Saadi, a Shiite legislator close to the new prime minister-designate, Nouri Maliki. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld paid a surprise visit to Baghdad on Wednesday to express support for Iraq's new leaders, but drew criticism from Iraqi politicians who said they feared the unannounced visit might do more harm than good."

This MAY get American public attention: "The cost of the war in Iraq will reach $320 billion after the expected passage next month of an emergency spending bill currently before the Senate, and that total is likely to more than double before the war ends, the Congressional Research Service estimated this week."

I can't believe that the Independent newspaper would print this pro-Saudi propaganda piece as a "news dispatch."

"A prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, held without charge for more than four years, has tried to kill himself a dozen times in an attempt to escape the misery and isolation of his incarceration. On one occasion he tried to take his life during a visit by his lawyer."

"Children of Kyrgyzstan" (Make sure to listen to the Kyrgyz music when you put the slideshow on)

"The CIA has operated more than 1,000 secret flights over EU territory in the past five years, some to transfer terror suspects in a practice known as "extraordinary rendition", an investigation by the European parliament said yesterday."

Critics of Hariri and supporters of Syria are pushing and peddling a new book that appeared in German about Hariri assassination by some German journalist. New TV first reported about it, and then it was circulated on the "internet"--where Walid Jumblat finds his documents. But I have not commented on it because it has as much credibility as the kooky conspiracy-theory books on Sep. 11. The book contains not a shred of evidence, and even distorts some facts, and quotes some Lebanese who blamed the Mossad as "evidence." The book also inaccurately reports that some right-wing Lebanonese group in the US had Hariri on an "assassination list" that was posted on its website. How silly is that?

Unarmed Palestinians facing their armed occupiers.

"The Swedish government has suddenly cancelled plans to take part in international air force exercises because Israel will also be participating." (thanks Julie and Rania)

A "highly-placed" source in Beirut tells me that Sanyurah's government may not be getting the US military assistance that Sanyurah had requested or hoped for during his excellent adventure in Washington, DC. Apparently, the US will make any military or security assistance to Lebanon conditional on disarming Hizbullah.

Musa Abu Marzuq on Syrian TV: I was taking a look at Syrian TV the other day. Syrian TV is very schizophrenic these days. It shifts from LBC-TV-style dance and music, to a very tedious political discussion. I saw Musa Abu Marzuq, deputy chairperson of Hamas' politburo, the other day. How incredible was his analysis of world developments. He basically was taking note of a non-existent difference between EU and US as far as the policy toward Hamas is concerned. He kept elaborating on this ostensible European position, and was banking on a "positive development" in EU's foreign policy apart from the US. He was analyzing a European stance that does not exist, except in his imagination.

And there are still some Arabs who really eagerly expect Russia to re-emerge as a superpower and...save the Arabs. Russia will sell all the Arabs for a free potato: "Russia Helps Israel Keep an Eye on Iran"

Oh, ya. Rich white college kids now found a new safe cause. How nice. Their parents will be so proud of them. They should buy them new SUVs for x-mass.

First Bin Laden, and then Zarqawi. Bin Laden a pothead? My friend Amer is now convinced that Bin Laden is either a pothead, or a person who suffers from a severe case of ADD, or both. He was comparing him to a pothead he knows who also is afflicted with ADD. We were discussing the latest Bin Laden tape, and Amer was amazed at the extent to which Bin Laden rambles on and on, and then tediously elaborates and then goes back to the first topic, and on and on and on. But then again: he must have so much time on his hands. Again: this was your typical Bin Laden speech, when he has plenty of time on his hand, and he wants to comment on all issues around the world. But Bin Laden is not Nasser, and the “masses” are not hanging on his every word. But he does not know that. Cults, and Al-Qa`idah is a cult, are often so divorced from reality that they are certain of their own victory and of their imagined omnipotence, even when evidence to the contrary surrounds them. They become prisoners of their own bizarre world, and their own closed rhetoric, and totally divorced of reality. This allows Al-Qa`idah types to conclude from all what transpired after Sep. 11 that Islam (their version of Islam to be more precise) is spreading, and that Westerners are converting to Islam in record numbers. I read that on their sites. It was not easy reading the (incomplete) text that Al-Jazeera posted. I wonder what was missing. I know something is missing because at one point it says that he attacked Saudi Labor Minister, Ghazi Al-Qusaybi, and Saudi and other Gulf journalists. I wanted to know who they were. But it was not easy for me to read the full text, twice: it was quite rambling and tedious: his speech making is now similar to Saddam in that regard. Where are the polemicists of the French Revolution, or of the First International, or of the Russian Revolution? Bin Ladan made one effective (from his perspective) speech following Sep. 11, and then his speeches were not effective in delivering the message that he wanted to deliver. When I saw Zarqawi (more on that later) today, I thought that Zarqawi is articulate but not eloquent. Bin Laden is more eloquent, sometimes, and is as articulate. And Bin Laden can play to the camera, and is more media savvy than Zarqawi who was most awkward today when he was speaking: he looked shy when he started to speak, and his eyes were cast down, while the camera moved, perhaps to signal to him to look up, to no avail. Bin Laden sounded strong and firm in this speech, unlike previous speeches. But the content is not new at all. Different people are offering differing opinions of Bin Laden: some are saying that he is strong and others are saying that he is desperate. Only the White House can spin the situation to the effect that the production of Al-Qa`idah’s propaganda is evidence of the success of the Bush’s Doctrine. Bin Laden seems to feel safe enough to offer this long speech. There is a lot on the Danish Cartoon controversy: a whole lot. He started with it, and then came back to it before the end. And that poem at the end: it is so weak and unoriginal (First line: “The darkness of night is erased by day; and the humiliation of the face is erased by weapons”). Where is the good enthusiastic Arabic poetry when you want it? And who is the poet dude? No imagery and no allegories: just direct messages, and the rhymes are so predictable. I don’t know what to make of Bin Laden’s strong emphasis on the Danish cartoons: he also, typically, offered the opinions of the classical (most extremist) jurists: certainly Ibn Taymiyyah, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, and Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziayyah. That only confirms in my mind the need to write a book someday on Ibn Taymiyyah. But that really requires time: Ibn Taymiyyah was most prolific—his collected works are in tens of volumes, large volumes, but I am most stunned at his influence among present-day Muslim fundamentalists: the mainstream and the Bin Ladenite. French Orientalism early in the 20<sup>th</sup> century took note of Hanbalism and Ibn Taymiyyah. Of course, studies of Salafism is now trendy: but much of what I have seen is tabloidish. Bin Laden also mentioned Salman Rushdi: was that a secret message, a call to violence? You don’t know with those people; you don’t know their modus operandi. He spoke about Sudan, Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, East Timor—kid you not, Afghanistan, and the Clash of Civilization, which he endorsed. But after reading it carefully, I was stunned how different the text was from the Western media reports about the text: who are the people who translate for the Western media? Is that MEMRI too? Or is that the MBNBC translator of Arabic—one of the worst, who translated once fava beans as “victory,” kid you not? The message was all over the place that it is not clear what to make of it. I still believe that Bin Laden’s messages are aimed at the larger Arab and Islamic worlds, and not to the followers and core members of the movement, as the messages of Zarqawi and Dhawahiri are. Bin Laden wholeheartedly endorsed the Clash of Civilization thesis, and identified China as a Buddhist nation—just as Huntington strained to identify countries and cultures with identifying religions. He was quite indignant on East Timor, for some reason, and of course on Sudan. But unlike what was reported in the Western press, Bin Laden made it very clear that it is Iraq that is the center stage, not Sudan. So keen Bin Laden is on speaking to the larger Islamic and Arab worlds that he did not rehash Al-Qa`idah’s disagreements with Hamas, which you read on their websites and in their magazines. He only mentioned in passing that Al-Qa`idah is opposed to elections in Palestine. Now Zarqawi was a different show altogether: it was rather bizarre: showy and macho. Certainly he was feeling safe enough in the presumably Sunni areas of Iraq, to wonder around in open air, and in areas that can easily be identified by somebody who wants to know. Zarqawi was surrounded by his “senior aides”, not to be confused with the hundreds of Zarqawi’s “senior aides” who have been killed by US troops in the last few years. His message was bombastic and purely rhetorical. It had the logo of Shura Al-Majahidin: the organization (comprising some 8—or 6 in some accounts--different groups fighting in Iraq) that was announced back in January. We still don’t know if Zarqawi leads Shurah Al-Mujahidin or `Abdullah Rashid Al-Baghdadi does. Zarqawi gave no hints, although he spoke as Khadim (servant) of Jihad, thus mocking the title of the Servent of the Two Holy Sites in Saudi Arabia (in English the word “khadim” is wrongly translated as “guardian”—a classist translator for sure). Zarqawi was seen huddling with “senior aides” over a large map, and at one point somebody showed him a laptop, and there were plenty of weapons around. He did his usual pejorative reference to Shi`ites as “rafidah”—rejectionists, and attacked Sunnis in Iraq too. Zarawi does not approve of anybody, it seems, while Bin Laden divided the Muslims into three categories: 1) a group that aligned itself with the enemies of the Prophet; 2) a group that did nothing regarding the “insults to the Prophet”; 3) a group that went about fighting on behalf of the Prophet. Again, this is a movement that has no chance of mass success, although it aims at mass appeal. It reminds me of Duverger’s distinctions between parties that seek to win elections, and parties that stick to its ideology no matter what. Certainly, Al-Qa`idah is not eager to win elections any time soon. But Hamas went form one to the other in 10 years. Most ominous was an opinion that was offered by Lebanese Islamist thinker, Fathi Yakan (whose writings have influenced fundamentalists in the Arab and Muslim worlds in the last 50 years, and who recently broke with Al-Jama`ah Al-Islamiyyah which he had helped found) in an interview with NBN-TV. He said that somebody more scary and more tough than Bin Laden will be coming out. All of us today are not lucky to be living in the age of Bin Laden and…Bush.

Bathers at La Grenouillère, 1869. Monet.

Visiting Jordan, Abu Mazen expressed his "total care for the security and well-being of Jordan, just as Jordan cares over the security and well-being of Jordan." Oh, ya. Jordan really cared about the well-being of Palestinians when Jordanian troops shelled the hell out of refugee camps.

"The Overseas Class"

"Lebanon's Sri Lankan maids tell their story"

"Oh, I normally would not accept such a role, but this one was compelling." Ya. "Playing a Terrorist: An Actor's Dilemma"

Another evidence of the Bush Doctrine: "In Egypt, resurgence of militant Islamists"

I will wear my Ghawwar's Qibqab: "Webb was wearing combat boots with his suit Tuesday, in contrast to the cowboy boots that Allen is known for. He said he is wearing them to show support for his son and others in the military and urged supporters to put on boots -- "any kind other than cowboy" -- and "join this journey.""

Non-Muslim suicide bombers don't get any press coverage.

Lies and Fabrications...FROM LEBANON. The daily From Lebanon segment continues on LBC-TV. The other day, they featured Gavin Malouf. Yes, that Gavin Malouf. The world famous Gavin Malouf who apparently played ping pong or some other sport while attending a university in New Mexico. According to LBC-TV, Malouf inherited some company form his American father, Sir George (I kid you not, they referred to his father as "Sir George" perhaps not knowing that we don't--not yet anyway--have those titles here in the US). After he inherited the company, Gavin, according to LBC-TV, became "the youngest director" in the history of sports companies, EVER. And his company was "rated" the most philanthropic. Today, LBC-TV featured Abu Salim At-Tabl. I kid you not. But toward the end of the segment, they said that Abu Salim's fame reached "Africa, Australia, and America." Now that is true. I was quite surprised when I came to the US that average Americans all seem to know Abu Salim At-Tabl and Fahman. But I wonder why LBC-TV did not think that Abu Salim was famous in Japan and China? I mean, if Abu Salim is famous in Iowa, why can't he be famous in China and Japan? Come on. Don't be modest, o Lebanonese buffoons. O Lebanonese nationalists: do you know how easy it is to mock you and ridicule you? No, you don't. You have no idea.

Now this one. Nadim Gemayyel wants to be a leader. Oh, ya.

The racist Hariri rag, Al-Mustaqbal, uses the phrase "Syrian barbarism" (under the picture below).

Here, Munah As-Sulh describes Faruq Al-Baz as the "greatest physicist in the US."

804 innocent Syrians are still missing in Lebanon.

The Absurdity of Lebanonese Nationalism. Finally: a cure for cancer...from Lebanon. This Lebanonese newspaper would like to report to you that the internationally-known Lebanese chemist, Nabil Habib, discovered a cure for cancer (and that he registered his breakthrough in US and Belarus--oh, ya). He--the proud Lebanonese that he is--named the medicine Lebanus Cedra, after the Cedars of Lebanon. Is that not nice? Is that not sweet? Would you not say that this person, to whom humanity owes a great deal, deserves an award? We don't know how this chemist "discovered" the cure, but my speculation is that he mixed olive oil, hummus, ful, and Baba Ghannuj together. What a potent mixture. (To its credit, the Ministry of Health (and the Minister of Health in