“This is thousands and thousands of potential terrorist attacks … It’s like they knocked off the Fort Knox of explosives.”
— Joseph Cirincione, director of the Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, speaking about the approximately 350 tons of explosives that have been thieved from the al-Qaqaa military complex in Iraq.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, informed the UN Security Council of the theft last night. According to ElBaradei’s report, these explosives — which consist primarily of HMX and RDX, crucial ingredients in the types of plastic explosives that have been used to devastating effect in car bombs in Iraq — went missing during America’s watch. It was during the “theft and looting of governmental installations,” that occurred in the days following April 9, 2003, that these explosives disappeared into the ether. Mission accomplished, indeed, Mr. Bush.
The current spate of Islamically affiliated violence and activity — from the storming of the Ka’aba in Saudi Arabia in 1979 to the September 11 attacks — is the last dying breath, albeit protracted, of Islamic violence, insists Sadik J. Al-Azm.
Sadik J. Al-Azm is Professor Emeritus of modern European philosophy at the University of Damascus, and in his recent article published in the Boston Review, he makes the case that the world is not headed, in any significant sense, toward a clash of civilizations. In Al-Azm’s conception, we are witnessing the last days of serious Islamic violence; while Islamist violence certainly seems to be going out with a bang, and not with a whimper, it is certainly on its way out.
Writing about the September 11 attacks and Juhaiman Al-’Utaibi’s 1979 storming and occupation of the Ka’aba in protest against what he perceived as the hypocritical Saudi regime, Al-Azm states: “But both acts of terrorism exposed the essential weakness of today’s Islamists: the embrace of the inevitable emergence of a new Islamic order is itself a symptom of a self-deluding fantasy that has afflicted the Arab and Muslim world for more than two centuries.”
Al-Azm continues to state that the primary motivating factor of Islamist violence is the heart-breaking disconnect between the halcyon days of Islamic civilization, on one hand, and “being the object of a history made, led, manipulated, and arbitrated by others,” on the other. Therefore, Al-Azm explains:
“So what else can the Muslim or Arab do but muddle through his sad perplexity in the 21st century with the conviction that perhaps one day God or history or fate or the revolution or the moral order of the universe will raise his umma to its proper role once again. Under these circumstances, various kinds of direct-action violence (including terrorism in some of its most spectacular forms) present themselves as the only means of relief from this hopeless impasse.”
Not many scholars would argue with the claim that Islamist violence is a function of desperation and frustration with real and perceived oppression. However, Al-Azm neglects to highlight the historical and contemporary sources for the continued growth of Islamist movements from the 1960s onwards, which include the Arab defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, the failure of “modern secular nationalism,” the Egyptian-Israeli war and Arab oil embargo in 1973, the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Wahhabi-oil connection, the concrete consequences of modernization in the Muslim world such as rapid population growth, an increase in urban population, mass literacy, a large young segment of the population, and high poverty and unemployment rates. While desperation is a crucial factor, there are also concrete forces at play.
For Al-Azm, the West and the Islamic world are “two supposedly clashing sides … so unequal in power, military might, productive capacity, efficiency, effective institutions, wealth, social organization, science, and technology that the clash can only be of the inconsequential sort.”
The question that Al-Azm doesn’t sufficiently answer, however, is how long this protracted death of Islamic violence is supposed to last. Is it merely a question of time until geo-political factors eventually tame Islamic violence? If the current bloody catastrophe in Iraq is merely a particularly bloody blip in an otherwise calming picture, why does the violence show little sign of abating? And most importantly, what will the new, less violent Islamist worldview look like, and what form will it take? What exactly is it that the world is transitioning toward?
As I tap the keys on my computer keyboard, the ferocious winds outside my beachfront condo are howling and rattling the storm shutters. It seems to be saying “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll try to blow your condo down.” Or, perhaps it is saying, “Feel my power and respect it.” You know, I like the second voice far more than the first one.
You might well ask, “What are you doing staying in a beach evacuation area, on a barrier island, in the middle of a hurricane named Frances?” Some subjective folks could possibly answer … “Where there is no sense, there is no feeling.” However, the simple answer is, it is for me, a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one that I would not have wanted to miss.
Proceeding at just five miles per hour, Frances probably will be known as the slowest-moving, most widespread hurricane in the history of Florida hurricanes. With wind gusts up to 105 miles per hour, the enchantress who is guiding the storm is in no hurry to move on. It is moving over a 300-mile coastal front. South, Central and Northern Florida are all experiencing the effects of the power of Hurricane Frances.
All local TV stations give 24-hour coverage, hyping up the fear and anxiety, continually pounding viewers with all the terrible things that could occur. I think people already know what damage can be done in a hurricane without being brainwashed continually on every station. To be fair, the meteorologists do a super job in tracking the storm and locating its land fall, but all the rest of the hype is magnifying unnecessary stress.
How much better it would be if they showed tension-easing meditation classes, stress-reducing programs and played pacifying, soothing music to help people relax and enjoy whatever nature brings. We’re going to experience a hurricane regardless. Accordingly, as long as we have battened down the hatches, if we can have a choice to enjoy the storm or fear it, I think most folks would choose enjoyment.
Everyone will have many diverse experiences in their lives, and the way they are envisaged will be recorded in their memory banks as a good or bad experience. With the correct mindset, the optimum positivity can always be established from the most detrimental, negative events.
In my eighth floor condo, which has an east and west vista, I look out towards the ocean. It is only 100 feet away from the edge of our development, (maybe not even that far). I watch huge waves bouncing into the air and crashing down with an almighty roar. The ocean waves are putting on a show of strength that I have never seen before. I am in awe of the magnificent beauty of its rollicking and heaving movements. Tossing and turning super wave energies, magnetically electrified with super potency and strength. It seems there is some greater power that is holding back the tide and stopping it from engulfing the whole development. I can understand why the ancient Greeks believed in so many gods with unique powers. I am thankful to the mythical water god for putting on such a splendid show. However, I must say, I am extraordinarily grateful to the wind enchantress that is holding back the waves.
As I look to the West, I can see a deserted road. On the A1A, I observe an empty, boarded-up shopping mall. Wind and rain lashes over a car park, as palm trees cavort an excruciating dance for survival. I see many empty houses and condos all boarded up. It has a very eerie sense to it, with the atmosphere of a ghost town. Even the birds have flown to safety, having the sense to take shelter in some nook or cranny.
I live in a holiday town that is accustomed to lots of traffic and people laughing as they cross the road with beach chairs in their hands. They go to lay in the sunshine and enjoy bathing in the calm Atlantic ocean. But not today, for this day belongs to Hurricane Frances. I suppose this could conceivably be my last day on earth, if that normally smooth ocean decides it wants to take over my space with a tidal storm surge wave. I should be feeling anxiety, panic, and trepidation. Instead, I cannot get beyond my joyful feelings of being privileged in having a grandstand seat to the most spectacular show of nature’s power I am ever going to witness first hand. As bedtime beckons, I know my dreams will be sailing in space, on the wings of the enchantress.
Sunday morning arrives and because of the size of Frances, we can still expect a full day of storms once the slow moving eye heads more inland towards the Florida Panhandle. I find my telephone line has gone down. But I am thankful I still have electricity, for over two million homes are without it.
Thankfully, the life-threatening tidal storm surge has been put off for another day, another time. I am thankful to the universal powers that control the tides. One other thing about Frances; she was a very quite storm, for there was not one clap of thunder nor one streak of lightning as far as I am aware. She went about her nature’s business in a very dignified, leisurely manner.
Perhaps I have been hypnotized by the lady enchantress’ magnetic awesome power? And perhaps I do have a few slates loose in my exploratory mind? But, I would not have missed this experience for all the money in the world. I think most folks in Florida now realize it is nature that controls mother earth, not humans. I take my hat off and gently bow my head in respect to the powerful lady Frances, who sure knows how to kick up one phenomenal storm.
I do not recommend anyone follow my example and stay near the beach during a hurricane. I did take a gamble and it was not an intelligent thing to do … This was one off experience. I guess that is why some folks climb mountains. You can be assured, I have great respect for the power of nature and will seek a safer haven from any future hurricanes. But, that said, I did enjoy every moment of being embraced by one of mother nature’s most powerful productions.
Maybe next hurricane season I will take a vacation to Europe and see what a storm I can kick up there.
Sixteen months after principal shooting was wrapped, the cast and crew met Wednesday night at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a special screening of the film Ray. There are times when high hopes and expectations can make what you’re waiting for lose its gleam and color. This wasn’t one of them. For all of us in that audience, the wait was worth it.
The film was finished in time for Ray Charles to view it, and what he saw pleased him. Just tell what happened, he is reported to have said to Hackford, don’t sugarcoat it.
Hackford’s labor of love shines as a result. The film honors Ray Charles regardless of whether the characters sharing the screen with actor and chameleon Jamie Foxx love him or hate him. In Ray, Taylor Hackford has created a reverential tribute to Mr. Charles, and he’s done so with an invisible hand, neither hiding his flaws nor pushing his praises. Writer Jimmy White has scripted a story which brings to light the severity of the initial obstacles Ray Charles faced, then leaves them behind as Ray’s extraordinary devotion to music, and his faith in his mother and in himself, lead him to make a mark on the world which has crossed borders of all kinds.
Ray is the story of a man who changed the world by transcending the obstacles, and holding fast to the gifts, that his identity attracted to him like bees to honey.
“This novel will become world famous and will be a source of satisfaction for the author, after the false accusations levelled against him.”
— Miroslav Toholj, publisher of the forthcoming book by Radovan Karadzi, a former Bosnian Serb leader who is one of the most wanted men in the world and who has been accused by the United Nations of various charges, including genocide and crimes against humanity.
The book, which will be titled Miraculous Chronicles of the Night, is a semi-autobiographical historical novel. Radovan Karadzi, who has evaded the United Nations and has been in hiding for the past eight years, has been indicted twice of war crimes by the UN tribunal in The Hague, and he is charged with massacring Bosnian Muslims and Croats in the former Yugoslavia. Karadzi has been charged by the UN of organizing the slaughter of up to 6,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in July of 1995 “in order to kill, terrorise and demoralise the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat population.”
Miroslav Toholj was previously a Bosnian Serb information minister and an associate of Radovan Karadzi.
According to an article by MSNBC’s chief economic correspondent Martin Wolk, the rising price of oil now surpasses terrorism as the primary concern of economic forecasters. That’s ironic, given the frequency of oil spills in general, and the immediate environmental disaster discovered last Thursday in the Pacific Northwest’s Puget Sound.
Eric Nalder and Phuong Catle’s piece in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer provides a partial list of oil spills occurring along the West Coast of the United States over the past 20 years. They report that these mishaps occur at a rate of about once a month. Forensic chemists working to determine the source of these spills face not only the challenge of pinpointing suspects who may be unaware of ship leaks, but must also take into account the possibility that guilty parties may be leading them astray by tampering with evidence. In the article, Jim Bruya, a fingerprinting chemist in Seattle, noted:
“There have been cases where a ship’s crew, knowing it will be asked for a sample, has mixed fuels from two tanks filled at different locations to permanently contaminate evidence.”
In Puget Sound, oil cleanup crews are working 12-hour shifts “until they’re finished,” said Jake McLean, a supervisor for the Seattle-based National Response Corporation. The “Dalco Passage Mystery Spill” was reported on the morning of October 15, but weather conditions prevented cleanup crews from slowing the damage for several hours. “…We don’t know how big it is, where it came from, or where it’s headed,” State Department of Ecology spokeswoman Mary Ellen Voss said late Thursday. As of Monday evening, according to Department of Ecology spokesman Larry Altose, the list of suspects has been narrowed down from a dozen to two.
Environmental activists are angered by the slow response of government agencies to contain the damage.
“We know quite a lot about currents and tides in Puget Sound. And so even though it’s dark … knowing the approximate location of a spill could alert the agencies to the possibility of oil coming to shore in certain areas,” explained Kathy Fletcher, executive director of the environmental group People for Puget Sound.
Who needs terrorists? Fellow Americans, we can ruin the environment ourselves, by contributing to the latest fad: the philosophy of apathy.
“Slutty,” isn’t the first word that springs to my mind when thinking of the Islamic hijab — the headscarf worn by some Muslim women both as a sign of Islam and of womanhood — but that’s how Tissa Hami describes it. And people love her for it.
Iranian-American Tissa Hami, who performs wearing the traditional Islamic hijab, has been invited to perform as a guest comic on the Boston leg of the Allah Made Me Funny “Official Muslim comedy tour,” the purpose of which is “to make a comprehensive effort to provide effective, significant, and appropriate comedy with an Islamic perspective, which is both mainstream and cross-cultural.”
Preacher Mos, who has written for Saturday Night Life and for the comedian Damon Wayans, is the master of ceremonies of the tour, and he explains that “the purpose of my comedy reflects my Islamic beliefs that say we, as Muslims, cannot be isolationist. My choice of dialogue is laughter, with a message of overall commitment to improving society as a whole.”
Likewise, Hami’s aim seems to be education wrapped in the palatable form of stand-up comedy — she wants to show that “we’re not all terrorists, we’re not all fanatics. That not all Muslim women are oppressed and voiceless.” Hami (whose pre-comedy resume is littered with the Ivy League schools and Wall Street firms) absorbs the religious intolerance and cultural mistrust that has blossomed in post 9/11 America, reconfigures it, and ultimately forces her audience to confront both the humor and tragedy of the current socio-political climate. Her website warns: “People who disapprove of her act will be taken hostage.”
“My message to our troops is, ‘Thank you for what you’re doing. We’re standing with you strong. We’ll give you all the equipment you need. And we’ll get you home as soon as the mission’s done, because this is a vital mission.’”
As The New York Times reports this morning, members of an Army reserve unit who refused to deliver a fuel and provisions shipment to troops north of Baghdad are currently under investigation for insubordination. Reports that 18 soldiers have been held at gunpoint for two days remain unconfirmed by the Pentagon, but relatives insist that the soldiers acted out of conviction as they felt they were being ordered to undertake a suicide mission.
The troops claim their trucks were deadlined — unsafe and unsuitable for combat operations. Despite Pentagon claims that this remains an “isolated incident,” these claims echo concerned rumbles heard earlier in the war: American soldiers are ill-equipped and insufficiently prepared for their duties. As John Kerry pointed out in the first debate, parents shouldn’t have to purchase body armor for their enlisted children as a birthday present.
The gap between the President’s rhetoric and the reality American troops face grows ever wider.
If 99 percent of public schools in California will fail to meet the academic targets stipulated by the No Child Left Behind program, could the underlying principles of No Child Left Behind be fundamentally flawed?
According to a study referenced in today’s LA Times, a staggering number of schools — 1,200 campuses, or 13 percent of the state’s public schools — may be classified as “failures” by the end of this academic year. By 2013-2014, 99 percent of the state’s schools may be classified as failures.
No Child Left Behind is one of President Bush’s pet programs, and its aim is to revitalize schools by threatening to punish them with the ousting of principals and teachers and the importation of external managers if the schools fail to achieve designated levels of math and English proficiency. The law, enacted nation-wide two years ago, requires all public schools to have every student to test as proficient in English and math by 2013-2014. President Bush insisted that the status quo in public schools perpetuates the “soft bigotry of low expectations,” and that, through his program, no child would be left behind. But if fully 99 percent of California’s public schools will be failures by 2013-2014, could it be that there is something flawed with the program itself? With the perennial lack of funds and stringent testing requirements, every child, it seems, is being left behind. President Bush may well just be replacing the “soft bigotry of low expectations,” with a belligerent refusal to realistically consider — and thereby improve — the status quo.
For many, the Internet truly has come to feel as necessary as clocks or cell phones. This seems to be more so for young people acclimated to the amenities of the modern world. The Japanese already have a word for those who cloister themselves away from the world, only to interact with it through the Internet. They call them “hikikomori.”
Japanese police found two cars yesterday with nine people in all who are believed to have committed suicide. And they believe they met and coordinated their deaths online.
It’s a sad story, knowing that a group of young people, in their teens and early 20s, felt so hopeless that they carried out their deaths. Some critics of the Internet will say it’s dangerous, that it enables this kind of group self-killing. The organizers of a website where suicide is discussed say they offer a compassionate service to those who need it.
Maybe we shouldn’t blame the tools for the actions of the user. Still, maybe what’s missing is some human, tangible, offline compassion so the hikikomori around the world no longer choose to be stranded.
Christopher Reeve’s death Sunday came as a tragic surprise to many, not simply because the world lost the actor best know for portraying Superman in the movies, but because we lost one of the rare, real-life superheroes.
A real-life superhero gives hope to the seemingly hopeless, strength to the powerless, and a voice to the voiceless. Although Reeve’s outspokenness on the topic of stem cell research was controversial, his message of triumph over the most challenging obstacles continues to be a source of hope for the community of people with disabilities, and the way he lived his life is inspirational beyond the borders of any one community or group.
An activist who chose to do and not just to debate, Christopher Reeve will long be remembered as Superman. But he’ll forever be remembered as a real-life superhero.
While President Bush has spent the summer insisting that “the American people are safer,” it seems that America and the world are still free falling down the rabbit hole of terror.
Juan Cole, a professor of history with an expertise in Middle Eastern history and Shiite Islam at the University of Michigan, has roundly condemned the war that President Bush has been waging on terror. Writing on the series of bombs that, on Thursday, October 7th, rocked the Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad, a meeting of radical Sunni Muslims in the Pakistani city of Multan, and the Hilton Hotel — packed with Israelis — in the Egyptian resort town of Taba, Juan Cole asserts:
If we analyze these violent, destabilizing attacks, one thing becomes abundantly clear: The Bush administration is losing the war on terror. If, 3 years after September 11, Ayman al-Zawahiri can arrange for al-Qaeda to blow up yet another building, this time in Egypt, killing scores, that is a sign of failure. If an al-Qaeda-aligned group like the Army of the Prophet’s Companions is permitted by the Pakistani state to gather freely in Multan, to blow up Shiite mosques, and to incur a violent Shiite counter-strike, that is a sign of failure. If radical Sunni groups, or ex-Baathists aligned with them, are able at will to fire Katyusha rockets into the Baghdad Sheraton at a time when the US has militarily occupied Iraq, that is a sign of failure.
If a certain brand of belligerent and pig-headed optimism is failing to see us through, perhaps, Mr. Bush, it is time for a change of strategy.
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