"The IDF has increased the number of West Bank roadblocks by three percent in the last six months, according to a UN report cited by Israel Radio on Sunday."

"Former Iraqi Deputy Premier Ahmad Chalabi told Iranian state-owned media Friday the United States is seeking to establish secret military bases in Iraq."

"Baghdad has sent back to Saudi Arabia eight of its citizens jailed in Iraq ahead of a new extradition treaty between the two countries, a spokesman for the Saudi interior ministry said on Sunday." (thanks Olivia)

This is Zionism: "A Palestinian woman died of injuries on Sunday after she was shoved to the ground by Israel Defense Forces soldiers conducting an arrest raid in a West Bank village, witnesses and a medical official said." (thanks Zaki)

Lebanese Communist Party leader, Khalid Hdadah, was for some reason reluctant to identity the party that attacked communist and even the tombs of communists who fought Israel in the village of Kfar Rumman in South Lebanon. He finally named the offending party in an interview on New TV. Hdadah should not have covered up the case. There are stories around South Lebanon of harassment of communist and secular party members by Amal and Hizbullah. When the communists started the resistance against Israeli occupation of South Lebanon, Amal regional leaders were collaborating with Israeli occupation, and Hizbullah was not even born yet. They are in no position to act superior in that regard. Both parties engaged in the 1980s in attacks and assassinations of communists.

"Mikhail, who is reluctant to give her full name, had scandalised members of her ultra-orthodox Jewish community by leaving her husband and embracing a secular lifestyle. The men, all members of the theologically conservative Haredi branch of Judaism, tackled her to the ground, slammed her head against the floor and tied a rag around her mouth. One assailant sat on her head as the others kicked her while demanding to know the names of the men she was seeing." (thanks Shadi)

I commend Andrew Wander for this piece (there are good journalists at the Daily Star but they are not allowed to be good): "US government-funded training for Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) is being provided by Dyncorp, a private military contractor whose conduct during similar missions in Iraq and Afghanistan has been heavily criticized, The Daily Star has learned." (thanks Kristin)

"Section 212(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

`(G) SHARIA LAW SYSTEM- Any alien who fails to attest, in accordance with procedures specified by the Secretary of Homeland Security, that the alien will not advocate installing a Sharia law system in the United States is inadmissible.'." (thanks Maryam)

Have you ever encountered a more sophisticated mind since the death of Hegel? "If I were to draw a picture of America today, it would be of the space shuttle taking off. There is all this thrust coming from below. But the booster rocket — Washington — is cracked and leaking energy, and the pilots in the cockpit are fighting over the flight plan. So we can’t achieve escape velocity to enter the next orbit — the next great industrial revolution, which is going to be E.T., energy technology."

"None of that is true, Mr. Duyet insisted. All fabrication. All political posturing by Mr. McCain. “Some Americans still carry a prejudice toward Vietnam,” he said. “So McCain has to say he was beaten to gain the votes of these people.”"

"“I’ll call right now my interrogator that tortured me and my friends a gook,” Mr. McCain said in 2000, using a particularly offensive term for Asians. “You can quote me.”"

I read about the explosion at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. It largely hosts foreign visitors like myself. I had lunch there twice: they serve good all-you-can-eat lunch buffets. The food is OK (not as spectacular as Serena's) but the temperature was too high for my taste.
PS A friend suggested that it sounded insensitive. It was not meant to be. I also was surprised: that I found hotels in Islamabad very well-protected: much more than hotels in Beirut, for example. Condolences to victims.

The War Within by Bob Woodward should be read by all those who want to understand the American war and occupation of Iraq. There are many things that have not been mentioned in the media reviews of the book. Woodward is unlike himself in this book: he has more cited sources and more (very brief and in passing) analytic conclusions than usual. You really are struck that none of the civilians who handle Iraq at the White House know the Middle East, or have studied the Middle East. Those who know the Middle East were in the military and were skeptical from the beginning. Gen. Abizaid for example drew the right conclusion early on: "We need to get the fuck out." (p. 5). You read that Ahmad Chalabi was seen by the US government as the future leader of Iraq--kid you not. Apparently, Chalabi had promised to show up in Iraq with 10,000 to take over the country. (p. 49) What is lacking in reviews of the book is the most damning conclusion: that the Bush administration was lying to the American public throughout: statements that were made in public were contradicted by classified reports that were read in private meetings. In fact, the best case scenario for Iraq was according to them a Mubarak-like dictator. In the words of Sen. McConnell: "I'd settle for Egypt."(p. 81) And you read about the pathetic sectarian figure: the puppet prime minister, Nuri Al-Maliki. The puppet is at pains to dismiss accounts of public opinion surveys that point to Iraqi public rejection of American occupation. He assures US officials: "We do not have public opinion polls in Iraq...There are definiately those who talk about the Americans leaving. But it is the top-level people who will decide, and we want you to stay." (p. 111) Some people spoke of "bringing Saddam back" as plan B for Iraq. (p. 123) And Gen. Moseley summed up his views on Israelis and Palestinians: "Pack of assholes on both sides."(p. 174) And it is quite amusing to see that Bush and Rice and other officials refer to Middle East leaders as their examples of Middle East public opinion. Bush was thus bragging that he is supported in Iraq by Musharraf, Karzai, and Saudi king. (p. 209). And you read that puppet Maliki was offended when ambassador Khalilzad would dictate orders to him. He wanted more respect as a puppet. (p. 210) And you really have to read Secretary Rice analyzing Arab public opinion. I mean, who can you blame such people: her chief adviser on Arab affairs is Elliott Abrams, for potato's sake. She insists that "Many of the Arabs see Iran now as more dangerous problem than Israel." (p. 220) Such is the quality of Middle East expertise at the White House. I remember that chief Middle East hand at Clinton's White House, Bruce Reidel telling Middle East Quarterly that Arab public opinion is not displeased with the sanctions that were imposed on Iraq in the 1990s. (He now advises Obama on the Middle East, I heard). You read how Gen. Petraeus orders another US puppet, Iyad `Allawi: "Get in the game." (p. 332). And Bush summs up his views of Iranians: "These are assholes." (p. 334) And you think that Sarah Palin is woefully ill-prepared to be president? When Bush is a two-term president? And you read about the Saudi King: how unhappy he is about the Iraq situation. He was expecting a replacement of Saddam by another Sunni dictator. He was angry with the Americans over that and would refuse to discuss the matter. And like Saudi media, he would refer to Shi`ites as "Safavids"--he is as ignorant as his media, not knowing about the glories of the Safavid dynasty.(p. 347) You read that Hadley at the White House decides where puppet Maliki should go and visit.(p. 354) And Hadley was handing out copies of a column by Thomas Friedman.(p. 420). If this is where they get their wisdom on the world, can you blame their ignorance? And Bush refer to the American imperial occupation in the Middle East as "freedom hegemony" when somebody told him to refrain from using the term "military hegemony."(p. 425). That is all folks.

Regina Snayfir was a fighter in the Lebanese Forces militia in the 1980s. She later saw first hand scenes of torture and murder and left in disgust. She wrote a revealing account about her experience, and how the Maronite Patriarch did not react when she informed him about the dungeons of torture in Lebanese Forces' prisons. She also said (in her memoir, Alqaytu As-Silah) that when she underwent military training, she remembered the most fanatic anti-Islam bigot who spoke to the fighters during training. She said that Walid Phares was the most passionate in mobilizing Christians to fight Muslims at that military base that she was at.(pp. 119-122).

This is courage. In the last weeks of the Bush administration, columnists in Saudi media began to criticize Bush and his doctrine. Here, Hazim Saghiyyah eulogizes the Bush doctrine, although he himself had called on Arabs (in a talk at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy) to internalize the Bush doctrine: "Hence, the Arab mainstream has yet to internalize President Bush's vision of democratization."

Kooky Wahhabi science. A Saudi "medical" study "proves" that Ramadan fasting increases the fertility of men and women alike. Good night.

My article in Al-Akhbar: "Your age, o Ibn Baz"

Can New TV town it down a bit in their news coverage of the American financial crisis? Today, they started the broadcast with this headline: "The US is days away from total financial collapse."

Dahlan Army: "About 500 members of a security force loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas crossed into Jordan on Thursday for U.S. funded training, the second such battalion to do so."

"The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR) published its weekly report on the Israeli violations in the occupied Palestinian areas in the period between 11 - 17 Sep. 2008. During the reported period, Israeli soldiers carried out 47 invasions, killed one Palestinian child, wounded 22 civilians -- including four children -- and kidnapped 39 civilians including five children." And Hillary Clinton is busy demonstrating against threats to Israel. The US press has not reported the daily threats against Lebanon from Israeli leaders. Also, there is a funny game that US press plays: Israel would make threats against some Arab country. And then somebody in that Arab country would say: IF Israel attacked us, we will fight back against Israel. It is then that the US press takes notice and then headlines: the Arabs are threatening Israel. The Arabs are threatening Israel.

"The number of detainees the US military is holding in Iraq will probably exceed 15,000 by year's end – another factor America's next president must weigh when considering how much to downscale the US role in the country."

"A US soldier was sentenced Thursday to seven months in prison for conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the deaths of four detainees in Iraq last year, an army spokeswoman said." He will be out in two weeks.

"Rwanda became the first country in the world where women outnumber men in parliament, according to provisional results announced Thursday at the close of a four-day legislative vote."

"Foreign troops killed an ally of President Hamid Karzai in southern Afghanistan during an overnight gunbattle, officials said Thursday. The Afghan president said the death resulted from a "misunderstanding between foreign and local forces.""

"Shlomo Hillel, a government minister and an active Zionist in Iraq, adamantly opposed the analogy: "I don't regard the departure of Jews from Arab lands as that of refugees. They came here because they wanted to, as Zionists." In a Knesset hearing, Ran Cohen stated emphatically: "I have this to say: I am not a refugee." He added: "I came at the behest of Zionism, due to the pull that this land exerts, and due to the idea of redemption. Nobody is going to define me as a refugee."" (thanks David)

I have three books to report to you about: especially 1948 by Benny Morris.

Another Lebanese genius. This one invented a way to link your phone to your shoe. (thanks anonymous)

"In his address to the Council, Tutu also charged that "the international community is failing to fulfil its role in respect of the suffering of the people of Gaza." "It is the silence of the international community in the face of what is happening there which most offends. This silence begets complicity," he said."" (thanks Jonathan)

"During that period, in Mr Bergman's telling, Israel failed miserably to penetrate the Shia organisation. Time and again, long before the war of 2006, Hizbullah surprised Israel with its feats of espionage, novel tactics and new weapons. By contrast, he says, Israel's efforts against Hizbullah looked more like those of a bumbling Inspector Clouseau than a James Bond. To buttress these claims, the author gives plenty of chapter and verse, describing numerous specific Israeli operations, mostly failures, and naming and quoting some of their former commanders."

"A Special Forces soldier will be court-martialed early next year on charges that he killed an Afghan civilian and cut off his ear near a remote village, the Army said Thursday." Let me save you time: he will be found innocent, and the ear will be accused of posing an imminent danger to the soldier.

"Who in Bolivia is receiving millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars? That is what many Latin America policy analysts in Washington want to know. "Washington has decided to keep its ties to Bolivia's opposition shrouded in secrecy," said Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, an independent think tank." (thanks Olivia)

Another Lebanese genius. A car that runs on Hummus fuel (and olive oil). "David Frem, 25, a student of American University of Science and Technology is the proud designer of the first super car in Asia." (thanks Mohamad)

Terrorist cows arrested.

"A new survey of the USA's religious beliefs and practices finds 55% of all adults — including one in five of those who say they have no religion — believe they have been protected from harm by a guardian angel." I notice that my guardian angel--knowing about the basics of Arabic culture--carefully protects me from shoes flying in my direction.

`Ala' Al-Awsani on Egyptian regime's-sponsored "alternative religiousity." (thanks Fady)

""What's wrong with a miniskirt? You can cause an accident because some of our people are weak mentally," he said." When the colonized parrot the words of the colonizers. (thanks Maryam)

Case closed. Stop whining o people of Afghanistan. "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates sought Wednesday to defuse growing tensions with the Afghan government over civilian deaths, expressing his “sincere condolences” and promising speedier compensation and investigation after such casualties."

"Nearly 1,500 civilians have been killed by either the Taliban or NATO and US forces so far this year, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday. More than half of those deaths are attributed to the Taliban. And US Air Force data suggests that its bombing accuracy is actually improving."

"“This regime is clinically dead and we merely await its funeral,” writes the author, Hamdi Qandil, a prominent Egyptian journalist and critic of the regime."

"Anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim attitudes have been rising nearly in tandem in several European countries, apparently reflecting concerns over immigration, globalization and economic ills, according to a new international survey." (Look how this sentence provides justification for hate).

"U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison congratulated the third class of 167 Internal Security Forces (ISF) police recruits who graduated from the U.S.-funded police training program, the U.S. embassy said in a statement. "The cadets were trained in a ten-week, state-of-the-art program, taught by U.S. instructors and curriculum developers with the assistance of Lebanese police and legal professionals," it said on Tuesday." (thanks Seham)

"70 newspapers in swing states have been paid to distribute Obsession this weekend and next, which means not all the DVDs have been delivered yet. Check the list at the end of this post to see if your newspaper is one of them, and let them know how you feel about their participation in this shameless propaganda campaign.) This week, 28 million copies of a right-wing, terror propaganda DVD are being mailed and bundled in newspaper deliveries to voters in swing states. The 60-minute DVDs, titled Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, are landing on doorsteps in a campaign coinciding with the 7th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Funding is coming from a New York-based group called the Clarion Fund, a shadowy outfit whose financial backers are unclear." (thanks Mohamed)

My hotel room in Austin has a lowest temperature of 65. Not cool enough for Angry Arab: my house is set at 61 degrees. Also, Dimassi restaurant does not have good Lebanese food: Fadi's in Houston is the best in Texas and beyond.

"Obama told the rabbis he identified with the Jewish new year's themes of "renewal and rededication." reaffirmed his personal commitment to Israel's security, calling it "sacrosanct."" (thanks Olivia)

"Although it would be 30 years before any of its personnel admitted it, the "madness" was perpetrated by the most extreme of the Jewish nationalist underground groups, Lehi, more commonly known to the British as the Stern Gang, ordered by a three-man leadership which included the future Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Shamir. What cost the life of the count who ran the Swedish Red Cross during the Second World War and was the nephew of King Gustav V, was not the two Arab-Jewish truces he had managed to negotiate – the second of which was close to collapse when he was killed. It was the longer-term peace plan which sought, however vainly and perhaps naively, to tackle the very issues which still lie at the heart of the world's most intractable conflict today: borders, Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem." (thanks Nabeel)