Clipmarks | BobbyRutan's 'islam' clips

Making a Comeback: Male Belly Dancers in Egypt

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 00:17:17 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More: Mesbaah is shimmying in a society that has long struggled with ever-changing limits of social tolerance. A carved relief at a pharaonic-era tomb near Cairo shows today's dance prohibitions were yesterday's norm. It depicts a chorus line of men at a religious festival; each wears a sash knotted on his left hip, a fashion for dancing men and women that lingers today.

Male performers were once considered more reputable than females. In his book "The Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians," Edward William Lane, an Englishman who lived in 19th-century Cairo, observed that male dancers were preferred by Cairenes who thought women "ought not to expose themselves." From 1834 to 1849, women dancers, known as ghawazee, were banned from the city.

Rakia Hassan, 62, a retired dancer, recalls that in her childhood, males peddled their skills along with women on Muhammed Ali Street, then a one-stop shop for belly dancer hires.

Me: Never even knew males use to belly dance.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

"We can do more with our muscles," said Farid Mesbaah, a former metal worker. (Dana Smillie/Bloomberg )

Farid Mesbaah, male belly dancer, hopped on a car in the Shobra District of Cairo and strutted his stuff

He clanged metal castanets, magically converted his hips into pistons and twirled his head around like a centrifuge

The crowd seated at tables lining a dirt alley clapped rhythmically. Young men in jeans jumped up to wiggle along

Male belly dancing, a centuries-old Egyptian tradition, is making a comeback - against the odds, considering its periodic suppression by government and religious officials

The problem for Mesbaah is that his craft has long been associated with homosexuality - a taboo in Egypt

"I just like to dance," says Mesbaah, who has seven children. "It's very sensual. I've been doing it since I was little

When performing, he is on the lookout for possible hostility. "If I think the audience is unfriendly, I just leave," he says

Tags: culture, islam, middle east, arts, dance, tradition

Britain Drops Label "War on Terror"

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:45:57 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: And to think that those of us who suggested that describing this ideological battle as a war only aided fanatics were labeled as unpatriotic traitors. What a deference 6 years makes.

Clip Source: www.military.com

The words "war on terror" will no longer be used by the British government to describe attacks on the public, the country's chief prosecutor said Dec. 27.

Sir Ken Macdonald said terrorist fanatics were not soldiers fighting a war but simply members of an aimless "death cult."

The Director of Public Prosecutions said: 'We resist the language of warfare, and I think the government has moved on this. It no longer uses this sort of language."

London is not a battlefield, he said.

His remarks signal a change in emphasis across Whitehall, where the "war on terror" language has officially been ditched.

Officials were concerned it could act as a recruiting tool for Al Qaeda, which is determined to manufacture a battle between Islam and the West.

The term "Islamic terrorist" will also no longer be used. Officials believe it is unhelpful because it appears to directly link the religion to terrorist atrocities.

Tags: "war on terror" is not a strategy, it is only a political tool

TV Show seeks to Humanize Arab-Israelis

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:34:59 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More: But "Arab Work" is more than a wacky sitcom about life for the Arab minority in Israel. It's a risky attempt to use slapstick humor to lampoon both sides in this deadly, divisive arena.

"It's not perfect, but under the right circumstances it can be for Israeli-Arabs what 'The Cosby Show' was for blacks in America," said Vered Livne, the executive director of Agenda, an Israeli media strategy firm. "It has a chance to lower the barriers that Israeli Jews put up when they hear an Arab voice."

Recent studies have found that discrimination against Arab-Israelis is on the rise. In one poll, 60 percent of Jewish Israelis said they felt hatred or hostility when they heard someone speaking Arabic. Three-quarters said they wouldn't live in the same buildings with Arabs. More than half said Arabs and Jews should be separated in places of entertainment.

Clip Source: www.mcclatchydc.com

Amjad is a neurotic Arab-Israeli journalist who desperately wants to fit in. He teaches his daughter Passover songs and wears a yarmulke when he takes his family to a Jewish Seder. He trades in his beat-up old Subaru for a more expensive "non-Arab" car so that he won't get stopped at Israeli checkpoints

But nothing Amjad does seems to exorcise his feelings of alienation as the central character in "Arab Work," a groundbreaking new Israeli prime-time television sitcom that features an Arab-Israeli family struggling to assimilate in the Jewish nation

For a half-hour every week, "Arab Work" uses irreverent and self-deprecating humor to challenge the Israeli media's predominant image of Arabs as dangerous adversaries

A recent Agenda study found that Israeli networks

hire virtually no Arab-Israelis

News programs devote about 1 percent of their time to Arab-Israelis, a group that makes up 20 percent of the country's population

When Arabs do appear

they're usually presented as threatening

Tags: culture, arabic, jewish, israel, palestine, islam, mideast

IRAQ: Reduction in Violence = Ethnically Cleansed Neighborhoods

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 07:36:37 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More: Christoff’s conclusions echo that of ret. Gen. James Jones last month, who observed “progress” in a Shi’a-led ethnic cleansing campaign.

Also in attendance at the hearing was Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) Stuart Bowen. In his quarterly report to Congress released today, Bowen acknowledged the reduction in violence but stated that it has not been accompanied by tangible political reconciliation, a finding that was neglected by the traditional media in its reporting today. In Baghdad, for example, Provincial Reconstruction Team officials note:

Despite reduced violence, officials are pessimistic that lasting reconciliation is occurring. … In Diyala, there is a desire to work toward reconciliation, but it will take years to overcome ill-will between tribes.

Earlier this month, Gen. David Petraeus confidently declared, “There’s a local reconciliation” in Diyala province.

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

the Bush administration has been quick to jump on reports of reduced violence in Iraq

The “violence is thankfully coming down,” said White House spokesperson Dana Perino. Violence is “down significantly from last year,” declared President Bush

before the House Appropriations Committee today

Joe Christoff of the Government Accountability Office stated that this recent reduction in violence should be taken with a grain of salt, as it coincides with increased sectarian cleansing and a massive refugee displacement

I think that’s [ethnic cleansing] an important consideration in even assessing the overall security situation in Iraq. You know, we look at the attack data going down, but it’s not taking into consideration that there might be fewer attacks because you have ethnically cleansed neighborhoods, particularly in the Baghdad area

It’s produced 2.2. million refugees that have left, it’s produced two million internally displaced persons within the countryas well

Tags: "mission accomplished", awol liar, bush, cheney, neoconservatives, war, terror, islam, iraq

U.S. General: Iraq War is about Oil, Arab World "One Big Gas Station"

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:52:18 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan

Clip Source: thinkprogress.org

‘We’ve Treated The Arab World As A Collection Of Big Gas Stations’

During a round table discussion on “the Fight for Oil, Water and a Healthy Planet” at Stanford University on Saturday, Gen. John Abizaid (Ret.), the former CENTCOM Commander, said that “of course” the Iraq war is “about oil“

“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,” the retired general said. “Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back. Osama and 9/11 is the distilled essence that represents everything going on out back.”

“Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.

Though Abizaid says that Bush’s Iraq policy seeks to keep oil “prices low

the per-barrel cost of oil has risen dramatically since the U.S. first invaded. In March 2003, the price of oil was roughly US$35 a barrel. Today, prices reached “above $85 a barrel for the first time

Tags: lies, bush, cheney, conservatives, republicans, iraq, oil, islam, 9/11, death

Christian Bishops: Bush has done more to wipe out Christianity in Iraq than any other.

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:06:27 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More: As one bishop noted, the Bush “surge” has resulted in religious cleansing of Baghdad with most Christians forced to flee the areas in which they have lived for hundreds of years.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

There were approximately 1,000,000 Christians living in peace under the regime of Saddam Hussein, but now thanks to America’s adventure in bringing democracy to their land, a majority of these people have fled for safety.

Chaldean Catholics, who were the largest Christian denomination, once had 80 churches functioning in Baghdad, today only 8 are still active.

A delegation of Christian bishops representing a cross section of all denominations claimed Bush policies had completely disrupted the lives of Christians in Iraq.

As one told the newspaper, Azzaman, “This democracy this man(George Bush) has brought us is that of tanks, kidnappings, random killings, car bombings, and massive marauding armies who go about their work with impunity.”

It is rather ironic that George Bush, who claims to be a born again Christian, has done more to wipe out Christianity in Iraq than any other figure in the history of that country.

This is another unreported story about Bush’s failures in Iraq.

Tags: iraq, christianity, islam, war, bush, conservative, iran, cheney, lies

"Camel Jockeys, Krauts, and Nips", Conservative Darling

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:40:58 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan

Clip Source: mediamatters.org

On the October 1 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, during a discussion with right-wing pundit Ann Coulter, co-host Alan Colmes said, referring to a chapter in Coulter's new book,

"[Y]ou're quoted as saying, 'Maybe I'm winning the camel jockeys over,' "

to which Coulter responded: "Yes ... That's actually in the book. That's not a made-up quote."

Colmes then asked: "So you have no problem referring to Arabs as camel jockeys?"

Coulter responded: "Oh. Yeah. No. They killed 3,000 Americans. I'll be very careful with my language."

In response, Colmes said: "[W]hen you refer to an entire ethnicity as camel jockeys, it sounds bigoted,"

to which Coulter again asserted: "Yes, and it's so mean after they killed 3,000 Americans, and I shouldn't be mean to them," adding, "We have sure moved away from the day when we called them Krauts and Nips."

Tags: ann coulter, republican dream girl, has an adams apple, wtf, islam, conservatives, bush, faux news

Bush Aide: "I Hate All Iranians"

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:29:47 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: Alright, I'll fire the first shot. That looks like a Nazi inspired outfit to me.

Clip Source: www.mailonsunday.co.uk

Britsh MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America's stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush's senior women officials: "I hate all Iranians."

And she also accused Britain of "dismantling" the Anglo-US-led coalition in Iraq by pulling troops out of Basra too soon

Hard line: Debra Cagan stunned the MPs with her comments

The six MPs were taken aback by the hardline approach of the Pentagon and in particular Ms Cagan, one of Mr Bush's foreign policy advisers.

Tory Stuart Graham, who was on the ten-day trip, would not discuss Ms Cagan but said: "It was very sobering to hear from the horse's mouth how the US sees the situation."

"She seemed more keen on saying she didn't like Iranians than that the US had no plans to attack Iran," said one MP. "She did say there were no plans for an attack but the tone did not fit the words."

Another MP said: "I formed the impression that some in America are looking for an excuse to attack Iran. It was very alarming."

Tags: haters, conservatives, republicans, iran, iraq, war, bush, democrats, liberal, islam

Revealed: W knew Saddam was Willing to Bargain for Exile

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:50:30 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: W is suppose to be our first MBA President but he can not even conduct a cost benefit analysis.

Cost: Whatever minuscule amount compared to what we have spent that Saddam would settle for; and any bogus information his generals had convinced him existed.

Benefits: 28,000 soldiers not wounded; 3800 soldiers not killed; 600,000 to 1,000,000 Iraqis not killed; $600 Billion to $1 Trillion dollars not wasted; standing and trust within the world community preserved.

Ultimate cost to Bush: not looking tough; not having Iraqi oil under the control of US oil producers.

Clip Source: news.independent.co.uk

A transcript of an eve-of-war conversation between President George Bush and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has revealed a previously undisclosed initiative to avert war in Iraq by spiriting Saddam Hussein out of the country

Yes, it's possible," Mr Bush told the Spanish leader. "The Egyptians are talking to Saddam Hussein ... He seems to have indicated he would be open to exile if they would let him take one billion dollars and all the information he wants on weapons of mass destruction

The conversation

offers a unique insight into Mr Bush's brusque interaction with one of the few foreign leaders he trusted

Tony Blair and President Bush were officially open to a diplomatic resolution of the Iraq crisis – including a negotiated exile of Saddam - but the Spanish Ambassador's notes reveal peace was never really an option

Mr Bush does admit that averting war would be "the best solution for us" and "would also save us $50bn," greatly underestimating the cost to the US treasury

Tags: bush, lies, war, iraq, republican, democrat, liberal, conservative, saddam, islam

Banned from Iraq: Blackwater Mercenaries

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:16:45 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More: Blackwater is one of many security firms contracted by the U.S. government during the Iraq war. An estimated 25,000-plus employees of private security firms are working in Iraq, guarding diplomats, reconstruction workers and government officials. As many as 200 are believed to have been killed on the job, according to U.S. congressional reports.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee estimated in February that nearly $4 billion had been spent on security contracts amid the insurgency that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003 -- costs that have forced the delay, cancellation or scaling back of some reconstruction projects.

Sunday's incident highlighted concerns in the U.S. Congress about a subject that one lawmaker, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois, has called "one of the biggest gray areas of the entire war effort" -- the legal status of private security firms in Iraq.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Iraq's Interior Ministry has revoked the license of Blackwater USA, an American security firm whose contractors are blamed for a Sunday gunbattle in Baghdad that left eight civilians dead

In addition to the fatalities, 14 people were wounded, most of them civilians, an Iraqi official said.

"We saw a convoy of SUVs passing in the street nearby," Hussein Abdul-Abbas, owner of a mobile phone store in the area, told the AP. "One minute later, we heard the sound of a bomb explosion followed by gunfire that lasted for 20 minutes between gunmen and the convoy people who were foreigners and dressed in civilian clothes. Everybody in the street started to flee immediately."

An Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf, said, "We have revoked Blackwater's license to operate in Iraq. As of now they are not allowed to operate anywhere in the Republic of Iraq. The investigation is ongoing, and all those responsible for Sunday's killing will be referred to Iraqi justice.

Tags: blackwater, iraq, war, terror, islam, bush, conservative, liberal, democrat, republican

Iraq Body Armor

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 07:18:27 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: When will people stop carrying his water?

Clip Source: www.mcclatchydc.com

About the Cartoonist

Rex Babin / Sacramento Bee (September 12, 2007)

Tags: petulent child, bush, iraq, war, islam, iran, coward, conservative, republican, democrat

Petraeus Political Ambitions Guide Decision Making

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:32:33 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More:

Mr Khadim is sceptical that the "surge" is working. Commenting on the US military alliance with the Sunni tribes in Anbar province, he said: "They will take your money, but when the money runs out they will change sides again."

Clip Source: news.independent.co.uk

General David Petraeus, expressed long-term interest in running for the US presidency when he was stationed in Baghdad, according to a senior Iraqi official who knew him at that time

Sabah Khadim, then a senior adviser at Iraq's Interior Ministry, says General Petraeus discussed with him his ambition when the general was head of training and recruitment of the Iraqi army in 2004-05

I asked him if he was planning to run in 2008 and he said, 'No, that would be too soon

General Petraeus's open interest in the presidency may lead critics to suggest that his own political ambitions have influenced him in putting an optimistic gloss on the US military position in Iraq

His critics hold him at least partly responsible for three debacles: the capture of Mosul by the insurgents in 2004; the failure to train an effective Iraqi army and the theft of the entire Iraqi arms procurement budget in 2004-05

It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history," Iraq's Finance Minister, Ali Allawi, said

Tags: bush, petraeus, surge, terror, islam, war, republican, conservative, democrat, election

Iraqis disagree with Bush/Petraeus Propaganda Spin

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:11:36 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More:

Meanwhile, the level of satisfaction in other quality-of-life categories -- including the availability of jobs, supply of clean water and freedom of movement -- has decreased since March.

The poll reveals a disconnect between U.S. commanders' view of a steadily improving situation in Iraq and a bleaker outlook among Iraqis.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Seven out of 10 Iraqis believe the U.S. troop buildup in Baghdad and Anbar province has made security worse in those areas, and nearly as many say their own lives are going badly

reveals a disconnect between U.S. commanders' view of a steadily improving situation in Iraq and a bleaker outlook among Iraqis

Fewer than one-quarter of Iraqis report that things in Iraq are going well, down from 35 percent in March, while the number of people who expect conditions to improve in the next year has declined precipitously

before Iraq's historic open elections, 69 percent of residents said they believed life would be better in a year. That number decreased to 40 percent last March and 23 percent in the new poll

Many Iraqis say the violence has decreased because their freedom of movement has been severely restricted, not because fewer insurgents are planning violent acts

Six out of 10 people believe that security is worse in Iraq than six months ago, while just 11 percent believe security has improved

Tags: iraq, war, terror, islam, bush, republican, democrat, conservative, liberal, politics

Bush knew Saddam had NO Weapons of Mass Destruction

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:08:32 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: But the CIA officers working on the Sabri case kept collecting information. "We checked on everything he told us." French intelligence eavesdropped on his telephone conversations and shared them with the CIA. These taps "validated" Sabri's claims, according to one of the CIA officers. The officers brought this material to the attention of the newly formed Iraqi Operations Group within the CIA. But those in charge of the IOG were on a mission to prove that Saddam did have WMD and would not give credit to anything that came from the French. "They kept saying the French were trying to undermine the war," said one of the CIA officers.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

CIA director George Tenet briefed President Bush in the Oval Office on top-secret intelligence that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, according to two former senior CIA officers. Bush dismissed as worthless this information from the Iraqi foreign minister, a member of Saddam's inner circle, although it turned out to be accurate in every detail. Tenet never brought it up again

Nor was the intelligence included in the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002, which stated categorically that Iraq possessed WMD.

No one in Congress was aware of the secret intelligence that Saddam had no WMD

They described what Tenet said to Bush about the lack of WMD, and how Bush responded, and noted that Tenet never shared Sabri's intelligence with then Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"The president had no interest in the intelligence," said the CIA officer. The other officer said, "Bush didn't give a fuck about the intelligence. He had his mind made up."

Tags: bush, cheney, lies, war, terror, iraq, islam, republicans, democrats, politics

Cheney Aide, "We're One Attack Away From Our Goal"

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:32:07 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: More revealing is Goldsmith's description of how the Bush administration systematically violated one law after the next employing tactics that are truly the hallmark of the most lawless third-world dictators.

They literally decided they would break whatever laws they wanted based on patently baseless memos issued by obedient followers like John Yoo. Not only did they do this in complete secrecy from Congress, they refused even to allow Executive Branch officials who were told to follow orders to see the legal basis for what they were told to do.

Goldsmith's first experienced this extraordinary concealment, or "strict compartmentalization," in late 2003 when, he recalls, Addington angrily denied a request by the N.S.A.'s inspector general to see a copy of the Office of Legal Counsel's legal analysis supporting the secret surveillance program. "Before I arrived in O.L.C., not even N.S.A. lawyers were allowed to see the Justice Department's legal analysis of what N.S.A. was doing,"

Clip Source: www.salon.com

In October of 2003, Jack Goldsmith -- a right-wing lawyer

was named by the Bush administration to head the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel

During his tenure, he discovered numerous legal positions which the administration had adopted

that he found baseless and even unconscionable -- from torture to detention powers to illegal surveillance -- and he repudiated many of them, thereby repeatedly infuriating the most powerful White House officials, led by Cheney top aide David Addington

"We're one bomb away from getting rid of that obnoxious [FISA] court," Goldsmith recalls Addington telling him in February 2004

Their goal all along was to "get rid of the obnoxious FISA court" entirely, so that they could freely eavesdrop on whomever they wanted with no warrants or oversight of any kind. And here is Dick Cheney's top aide, drooling with anticipation at the prospect of another terrorist attack so that they could seize this power without challenge

Tags: cheney, bush, fascism, republican, democrat, election, politics, terror, islam, war