Nomads This thread dates back to the emergence of the short lived Islamic Courts of Mogadishu, looking back, and pondering how things have turned out to be, I am sad, really sad, how close the country was to peace and stability, and how the show was stolen from those who gave their lives in the liberation of the Nation from the bloody warlords. For all their past crimes and national treason, y'd think that the warlords would end up in jail! Jail! you must be kidding pal, the bloody warlords are the new elected and legitimate parliament and government Ala Americana, legitimized in part by men like Sheikh Shareef, whose wishy washy loyalty has been anything but firm on any given position or principle, Any hope for Somalia? Nur

Ismahaan sis There are many Prophetic traditions ( Hadeeth) that prohibit worshiping at graves, or the graves themselves and rules of how high they should be built as a control of taking them as an idol, and if graves are found to be built in violation of the Traditions of the Prophet SAWS, to cut them to proper height ( TASWIYATUL QUBUUR- heap of sand) The Hadeeths in this caregory are over 40 hadeeths, but the gist of them are: 1. Christians and Jews have taken their prophets graves as Churches and Synagogues, so it was forbidden for Muslims to do the same. 2. Christians in Abyssinia ( present day Ethiopia/Eritrea/parts of Somalia) used to worship at the grave of their saints. The companions reported to the Prophet after their return from exile in Abyssinia, and as a result the Prophet forbade their construction and worship. 3. The prophet SAWS ordered the downsizing of graves ( Taswiyah) in a funeral, the Tirmidhi hadeeth the prophet SAWS said: Who can go to Madina , to destroy all idols, downsize all graves (to acceptable height not exceeding a heap of sand around thirty centimeters), and to deface all ( Idol) pictures. A man said, " I can do it O prophet of Allah" he went to Madina and came back and said " O Messenger of Allah, I broke all idols, and downsized all graves, and defaced all (idol) pictures. The Messenger of Allah SAWS said: Whoever does that again( Idolatry, Raising graves for worship, or drawing idol pictures for worship), has declared open disbelief ( Kufr) of that which Allah has revealed on Muhammad SAWS Nur

Xiin bro. After all these side skirmishes die out (I Find Mzee Ngonge's argument compelling one for differentiating between the Maghrib prayer analogy and the complex Riddah issue), I am patiently waiting out for your point-per-point counter rebuttal of my long peace in which the religious basis of Riddah of the TFG could be scholarly substantiated if a real case would be presented to a Sovereign Islamic Sharia court in the Sovereign portion of what used to be Somalia( Where Ethiopia and its allies have no authority or warlord/Mercenary proxy power). Nur

Akhi al kareem Your conclusion left a lot to be desired, I am indeed dismayed that you have not benefited from my long contribution in this thread, nor made any reference to it in your conclusion for me to consider it as a sober conclusion that reflects your scholarly debate. I removed myself from acting like a judge for a purpose, but, as person, I do have my opinion on this issue, rightfully or wrongfully, but what was important to me in this thread of yours was that you should have read every line that I have written to make your conclusion credible, but, its apparent that you have either ignored my writing at will, or you failed to understand the gist of my thesis. Either case, let me ask you this: We have two groups here, one group as you have said, is religious, and they kill the other group because they believe them to be Murtaddeen, while the TFG , a political group are killing them due to political motives. You conclude, that we should give a chance to govern to a coalition of window dressing wadaads and the group that was known to kill and assassinate Islamists on behalf of foreign paymasters, and who have traded the nation for mere Dollars , who were behind the longest and fiercest clan civil war Somalia has known , who also have committed so much mischief in Somalia since 1991. And despite your huffing and puffing of how terrible they are, you are very supportive and forgiving, as if their crime is far less that the crime of their opponents. To simplify my question for you yaa akhi. Which Case is more serious. A and B are brothers , they both belong to the same religion live in the same house. C is their historical common enemy and belongs to a different religion which is increasingly hostile to their collective religion. C finds B to share same values like his. 1. A kills B because A believes B to be a Murtad ( Apostate) because A violated Islam by becoming slave for C who hates Islam and works for its dilution and destruction. 2.B kills A because C paid him to Kill A, because C hates A's religious interpretation that becomes an obstacle in C plans in their region. ? Your Conclusion: Let us give B a chance ? Nur

Akhi al Kareem Positive Allah SWT says in Quraan, "Icdiluu, huwa aqrabu littaqwaa" Be just, that is closer to TAQWA and in another instance, a Muslim must be a witness against himself/herself " Wa low calaa anfusikum". I have followed the events in Somalia for a long time and I have formed a solid opinion on the TFG, which in itself disqualifies me from a formal judicial prosecution of the TFG. If a Sharia court convenes on their case today, and I was invited as a jury in the case, I would have advised not to include me, or Xiin, for that matter, but a fresh audience who only judges the evidence and the Islamic Xukum on the accusation of Apostacy. I have no doubt that to many readers, there is no doubt that the TFG are Kuffar, and to many, they have no doubt that they are not, and precisely, that is the role of an impartial Islamic Court of Sharia to reach a verdict by looking only into the evidence without emotions or bias. Nur

ِAkhi Xiin In this debate, I have provided the preliminary intellectual ( Caql) and religious ( Naql) grounds of what makes a group or an individual an apostate. My thesis was not meant to be exhaustive nor an official online prosecution of the TFG. The second ingredient that is required to make a sound judgement of apostasy against the TFG by a competent judge, would be specific incidents, public statements or kufr actions that deem a group or a specific person an apostate(Takfeer al Mucayan), by a neutral( Witnesses who have no preconceived animosity nor bias against the TFG, which technically relieves me of this daunting responsibility due to my long history on these forums of disliking these clowns), witnesses who are just and responsible (CUDUUL)(Not a prosecution by the libelous news networks as in the case against the Somali resistance) that can incriminate or acquit the accused members of the TFG, who in Islam have the right to defend themselves or seek counsel, in an impartial(not favoring any side), transparent (Procedures are well known and observed by the public) and an open-to-the-public Sharia court of law. Nur

Akhi Xiin Does the following Statement summarize your permanent position: Xiinfaniin's Somali Leaders Exceptionalism Theory: Xiinfaniin's theory states that Western Appointed Somali leaders known as the TFG, regardless of what they have done in the past, or are engaged in the present, remain intimately glued in the fold of Islam as long as they don't claim openly to have opted out of Islam by loudly saying DIINTA ISLAAMKA WAAN KA BAXNAY. No action they commit, national sovereignty they cede to the enemy, alliance with proven opponents of Islam they commit to, or any utterance of contempt of Islam they broadcast in the media can warrant their apostasy from the Islamic fold, and for the sake of unity, all Somalis, regardless of their ideological persuasion must rally behind their western appointed leaders to make peace in Somalia in order to stop the indiscriminate artillery shelling and civilian slaughter of the frustrated African Union Mercenaries who are only responding to the resistance fighters attacks, and who are in Somalia to make peace based on a western vision for the country. If all Somalis rally behind the corrupt Clan based warlord-cum-Sufi Government, the west will be happy with us and peace will flourish in Somalia.? Nur

As Salaamu Caleikum Wa Raxmatu Allahi Wa Barakatuh An Open Message to Silent Readers. Knowledge increases when we share, so if you need knowledge take it, if you have it, please contribute and participate in this forum. Visitors of this site can greatly benefit if there are more topics under discussion, as this page thrives on UGC ( User Generated Content), the more Nomads who share their knowledge, the more reward from Allah they get. So, if you have benefited from these pages, please be responsible in giving back some knowledge to help others. Baarkallahu Feekum Nur

Polonyi bro. Thanks for sharing the above discussion on DEEN and the meaning of the word YIDHHIRAHU. I wholeheartedly concur with the writer. The last remark I made that: "That is why Jihad, an important pillar in Islam was ordained, for the preservation and for defending the faith, and not for transgression of others". does not contradict with the writers point of view, preservation of the faith, and Deen is the first of the Moral of the Sharia, and it inherently includes dissemination of message of Islam to mankind worldwide so the Deen of Allah will become prevalent ( Yudh hirahu ). Regarding the meaning of the word Yudh-hirahu, Allah SWT says in Surah Al Saff verse 14 : " O you who believe! Be you helpers (in the Cause) of Allah as said 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), to Al ­Hawariun (the disciples): "Who are my helpers (in the Cause) of Allah?" Al­ Hawarieen (the disciples) said: "We are Allah's helpers" (i.e. we will strive in His Cause!). Then a group of the Children of Israel believed and a group disbelieved. So We gave power to those who believed against their enemies, and they became the DHAAHIREEN uppermost. Nur

Polanyi bro. You are right, in this context it is DEEN. However the DEEN. is based on FAITH., so by eliminating FAITH. from public life, it follows that DEEN., which means a way of life based on Allah's revelation is jeopardized. Nur

Brother Abtigiis you are making good sense, Every country in the world has a law, and anyone who chooses to live in it must abide by it, if not comfortable, there are countries that are willing to take that person. In Islam, the private lives of the citizens is non of the government's business, According to the Holy Quraan, unlike the new Western ant-terror laws, an Islamic state does not have right to: 1. Spy on citizens private lives ( So in effect , JB can enjoy his booze if so he chooses, and if his privacy is violated, can sue and win a case against state) Allah SWT says in Surah Al Xujuraat verse 12 : O you who believe! Avoid much suspicions, indeed some suspicions are sins. And spy not, neither backbite one another. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? You would hate it (so hate backbiting) . And fear Allah. Verily, Allah is the One Who accepts repentance, Most Merciful. 2. Enter private properties without the permission of the owner. Allah SWT says in Surah Al Nur, verse 27: O you who believe! Enter not houses other than your own, until you have asked permission and greeted those in them, that is better for you, in order that you may remember. 3. Use the element of surprise to find suspected would-be law breakers by entering dwellings from other than the appropriate doors. Allah SWT says in Surah Baqarah Verse 189: .....it is not Al-Birr (piety, righteousness, etc.) that you enter the houses from the back but Al-Birr (is the quality of the one) who fears Allah. So enter houses through their proper doors, and fear Allah that you may be successful. Conclusion: Islamic Privacy Laws hence protect the individual's private life and leave its judgement to Allah and the day of judgement, while, the public behavior is governed by the Law of Sharia. Nur

Dear JB Much thanks for your wise response, I respect your perspective, and it is exactly how the Democratic West prioritizes its options on life ( Only Their Lives, since they have killed millions of Jews in Europe, millions during colonization of Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Latin America, and caused death of millions who perished in world wars) and faith. Somalia falls in the East, and embraces Islam which is different than Christianity, whose present version is founded by the conquering Roman Kings who separated faith from the rule of law of the conquering King. Caesar and the church have settled their argument long time ago, God owns the Church and Sundays, and Caesar owns the rest. As an enlightened person, I am sure that you can differentiate Somalia and its religious and cultural background from the Democratic west and its religion and culture, if the west have forsaken the collective application of faith in public life for apparent reasons ( no shared faith or values), it would be healthy for the west to respect diversity of outlooks of other cultures and that particularly in Somalia, faith is valued more than wealth and life, that is why we are very poor, and that there are different strokes for different folks, Islam governs every aspect of a Muslim community's life, and as such preserving Islam takes a priority over preserving life if its an exclusive choice. That is why Jihad, an important pillar in Islam was ordained, for the preservation and for defending the faith, and not for transgression of others. Nur

Baarkallahu feek sister fazliyah, Indeed Quran is the greatest book of wisdom, and memorizing this wisdom at young age is very fundamental. The holy Quran narrates the story of the wisdom from a parents perspective Luqman’s Wisdom The following are the words of wisdom of Luqman as described in the Quran. Later, another section quotes his wisdom as narrated by other reliable narrators as mentioned by Ibn Katheer in his book “Stories of the Prophets”. Luqman’s wisdom in the Quran Luqman’s wisdom in the Quran is described in the context of him explaining it to his son. It is described in the Quran in the following verses. * Regarding not to associate anyone in the worship and oneness of Allah – And (remember) when Luqman said to his son when he was advising him: “O my son! Join not in worship others with Allah. Verily! Joining others in worship with Allah is a great Zoolm (wrong) indeed. (Quran: Luqman: 13) * Being dutiful to ones parents – And We have enjoined on man (to be dutiful and good) to his parents. His mother bore him in weakness and hardship upon weakness and hardship, and his weaning is in two years give thanks to Me and to your parents, unto Me is the final destination. (Quran: Luqman: 14) * Being dutiful to ones parents except where they tell you to deviate from the Right path But if they (both) strive with you to make you join in worship with Me others that of which you have no knowledge, then obey them not, but behave with them in the world kindly, and follow the path of him who turns to Me in repentance and in obedience. Then to Me will be your return, and I shall tell you what you used to do. (Quran: Luqman: 15) * Every person is accountable for everything that he does – “O my son! If it be (anything) equal to the weight of a grain of mustard seed, and though it be in a rock, or in the heavens or in the earth, Allah will bring it forth. Verily, Allah is Subtle (in bringing out that grain), WellAware (of its place). (Quran: Luqman: 16) * Enjoining Prayers “O my son! perform AsSalat (prayers), enjoin (people) for Al-Maroof (Islamic Monotheism and all that is good), and forbid (people) from AlMunkar (i.e. disbelief in the Oneness of Allah, polytheism of all kinds and all that is evil and bad), and bear with patience whatever befalls you. Verily! These are some of the important commandments ordered by Allah with no exemption. (Quran: Luqman: 17) * Do not be arrogant and proud “And turn not your face away from men with pride, nor walk in insolence through the earth. Verily, Allah likes not each arrogant boaster. (Quran: Luqman: 18) * Be humble and lower your voice “And be moderate (or show no insolence) in your walking, and lower your voice. Verily, the harshest of all voices is the voice (braying) of the donkey.” (Quran: Luqman: 19) Other words of wisdom from Luqman (not narrated in the Quran) [ibn Katheer] * Luqman on being granted respect and honor Narrated Ibn Wahb: I was told by ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Ayyash Al-Fityani after’ Umar, the freed slave of ‘Afrah as saying: “A man came to Luqman, the wise and asked: Are you Luqman? Are you the slave of so and so? He said: “Yes!” The man said: You are the black shepherd! Luqman said: As for my black color, it is obviously apparent, so what makes you so astonished? The man said: You became frequently visited by the people who pleasingly accept your judgments! Luqman said: 0 cousin! If you do what I am telling you, you will be like this. The man said: What is it? Luqman said: Lowering my gaze, watching my tongue, eating what is lawful, keeping my chastity, undertaking my promises, fulfilling my commitments, being hospitable to guests, respecting my neighbors, and discarding what does not concern me. All these made me the one you are looking at.” Lowering of the gaze usually refers to not looking at men / women (other than your spouse) with a bad desire and to look at them only for valid reasons as prescribed in the religion. Refer to Islam-qa.com for detailed explanation on this topic. * Luqman on the value of Wisdom Narrated Damurah after As-Sariy Ibn Yahia as saying: Luqman said to his son: “O my son! Verily, wisdom has brought the indigent to the courts of kings. ” * Luqman on propagating wisdom to others and to take it seriously when given by others I was told by my father after ‘Amr Ibn ‘Uthman after Damurah Ibn Hafs Ibn ‘Umar as saying: “Luqman placed a bag of mustards beside him and started to advise his son, giving him with every piece of advice a mustard till it all ran out. He said: O my son! I gave you advice that if a mountain was given, it would split………” * Luqman on the need to have a pleasing tongue and sound heart Yazid Ibn Hamn and Waki’ told us after Abul AShhab after Khalid Ar-Rab’i as saying: “Luqman was an Abyssinian slave who worked as a carpenter. One day, his master ordered him to slaughter a goat and bring him the most pleasant and delicious two parts thereof. Luqman did so and brought him the tongue and heart. The master asked: Did not you find anything more pleasant than these? Luqman said: No! After a while, the master ordered him to slaughter a goat and to throw the most malignant two parts thereof. Luqman slaughtered the goat and threw the tongue and heart. The master exclaimed and said: I ordered you to bring me the most delicious parts thereof and you brought me the tongue and heart, and I ordered you to throwaway the most malignant parts thereof and you threw the tongue and heart, how can this be? Luqman said: Nothing can be more pleasing than these if they were good, and nothing can be more malicious than these if they were malignant.” * Luqman on “Speech is silver and silence is golden” Luqman said to his son: “O my son! I have never regretted because of keeping silent. If words are silver, silence is golden.” * Luqman on the need to have kindness, mercy and love for others Abu Mu’awiyah told us after Hisham Ibn ‘Urwah after his father as saying: “Wisdom dictates: O my son: Let your speech be good and your face be smiling, you will be more loved by the people than those who give them provisions.” And, he said: “It is stated in the wisdom - or the Torah – : “Kindness is the head of wisdom.” And, he said: “It is stated in the Torah: “As you show mercy (to others), mercy will be shown to you.” * Luqman on giving And, he said: “It is stated in the wisdom: “You will gain what you give (or, harvest what you grow).” * Luqman on friendships And, he said: “It is stated in the wisdom: “Love your friend and the friend of your father.” * Luqman on patience, knowledge, and goodness `Abdur Razzaq told us after Mu’amir after Ayyub after Abu Qulabah as saying: Luqman was once asked: Who is the best one in terms of patience? He said: It is the one who practices no harm after observing patience. Those who asked him said: Who is the best one in terms of knowledge? He said: It is he who adds to his own knowledge through the knowledge of others. They asked: Who is the best from among the whole people? He said: It is the wealthy. They said: Is it the one who has properties and riches? He said: No! But, it is the one if whose good was sought, he would not hold it back or prevent it. And, it is the one who does not need anything from others. * Luqman on the need to keep good company and to consult scholars ‘Abdullah Ibn Ahmed said: I was told by Al-­Hakam Ibn Abu Zuhair Ibn Musa after Al-Faraj Ibn Fudalah after Abu Sa’id as saying: Luqman said to his son: “O my son! Let only the pious men eat your food, and consult the scholars over your affairs.” Finally, wisdom in matters is one of the blessings that Allah grants to His creation. The Almighty says in the Quran: “He grants Hikmah to whom He pleases, and he, to whom Hikmah is granted, is indeed granted abundant good. But none remember (will receive admonition) except men of understanding.” (Quran: Al-Baqara: 269) Source Nur

Good to hear from you after a long while brother Awakener, I think Somalia needs cool headed people like you. Bro. If there is a conflict situation in which either life is lost, or faith will be lost, which one is more important in Allah's view: 1. Preservation of Life 2. Preservation of Faith Nur

Analysts expect that the American Marines will land on Somali beaches in the coming weeks if not days. Its said that the demolition of 500 houses near the Mogadishu airport was to create a buffer zone for the security of theses forces who will take positions to aid the African occupation troops and to strengthen the ailing Somali TFG government against the opposition fighters. Have a Nice World War, Folks By John Pilger March 25, 2010 "ICH" -- Here is news of the Third World War. The United States has invaded Africa. US troops have entered Somalia, extending their war front from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen and now the Horn of Africa. In preparation for an attack on Iran, American missiles have been placed in four Persian Gulf states, and “bunker-buster” bombs are said to be arriving at the US base on the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. In Gaza, the sick and abandoned population, mostly children, is being entombed behind underground American-supplied walls in order to reinforce a criminal siege. In Latin America, the Obama administration has secured seven bases in Colombia, from which to wage a war of attrition against the popular democracies in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay. Meanwhile, the secretary of “defence” Robert Gates complains that “the general [European] public and the political class” are so opposed to war they are an “impediment” to peace. Remember this is the month of the March Hare. According to an American general, the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan is not so much a real war as a “war of perception”. Thus, the recent “liberation of the city of Marja” from the Taliban’s “command and control structure” was pure Hollywood. Marja is not a city; there was no Taliban command and control. The heroic liberators killed the usual civilians, poorest of the poor. Otherwise, it was fake. A war of perception is meant to provide fake news for the folks back home, to make a failed colonial adventure seem worthwhile and patriotic, as if The Hurt Locker were real and parades of flag-wrapped coffins through the Wiltshire town of Wooten Basset were not a cynical propaganda exercise. “War is fun”, the helmets in Vietnam used to say with bleakest irony, meaning that if a war is revealed as having no purpose other than to justify voracious power in the cause of lucrative fanaticisms such as the weapons industry, the danger of truth beckons. This danger can be illustrated by the liberal perception of Tony Blair in 1997 as one “who wants to create a world [where] ideology has surrendered entirely to values” (Hugo Young, the Guardian) compared with today’s public reckoning of a liar and war criminal. Western war-states such as the US and Britain are not threatened by the Taliban or any other introverted tribesmen in faraway places, but by the anti-war instincts of their own citizens. Consider the draconian sentences handed down in London to scores of young people who protested Israel’s assault on Gaza in January last year. Following demonstrations in which paramilitary police “kettled” (corralled) thousands, first-offenders have received two and a half years in prison for minor offences that would not normally carry custodial sentences. On both sides of the Atlantic, serious dissent exposing illegal war has become a serious crime. Silence in other high places allows this moral travesty. Across the arts, literature, journalism and the law, liberal elites, having hurried away from the debris of Blair and now Obama, continue to fudge their indifference to the barbarism and aims of western state crimes by promoting retrospectively the evils of their convenient demons, like Saddam Hussein. With Harold Pinter gone, try compiling a list of famous writers, artists and advocates whose principles are not consumed by the “market” or neutered by their celebrity. Who among them have spoken out about the holocaust in Iraq during almost 20 years of lethal blockade and assault? And all of it has been deliberate. On 22 January 1991, the US Defence Intelligence Agency predicted in impressive detail how a blockade would systematically destroy Iraq’s clean water system and lead to “increased incidences, if not epidemics of disease”. So the US set about eliminating clean water for the Iraqi population: one of the causes, noted Unicef, of the deaths of half a million Iraqi infants under the age of five. But this extremism apparently has no name. Norman Mailer once said he believed the United States, in its endless pursuit of war and domination, had entered a “pre-fascist era”. Mailer seemed tentative, as if trying to warn about something even he could not quite define. “Fascism” is not right, for it invokes lazy historical precedents, conjuring yet again the iconography of German and Italian repression. On the other hand, American authoritarianism, as the cultural critic Henry Giroux pointed out recently, is “more nuance, less theatrical, more cunning, less concerned with repressive modes of control than with manipulative modes of consent.” This is Americanism, the only predatory ideology to deny that it is an ideology. The rise of tentacular corporations that are dictatorships in their own right and of a military that is now a state with the state, set behind the façade of the best democracy 35,000 Washington lobbyists can buy, and a popular culture programmed to divert and stultify, is without precedent. More nuanced perhaps, but the results are both unambiguous and familiar. Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck, the senior United Nations officials in Iraq during the American and British-led blockade, are in no doubt they witnessed genocide. They saw no gas chambers. Insidious, undeclared, even presented wittily as enlightenment on the march, the Third World War and its genocide proceeded, human being by human being. In the coming election campaign in Britain, the candidates will refer to this war only to laud “our boys”. The candidates are almost identical political mummies shrouded in the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes. As Blair demonstrated a mite too eagerly, the British elite loves America because America allows it to barrack and bomb the natives and call itself a “partner”. We should interrupt their fun. www.johnpilger.com

Nomads Its not easy to be driven to learn Arabic language if there is no need for it. But in the middle ages, Arabic was the language of civilization. Muslim Scholars drawing their inspiration from the Quraan were in the forefront of scientific discoveries and philosophy. We need to learn Arabic to serve Allah better and to . Nur

Deep Background By Philip Giraldi March 26, 2010 "American Conservative" -- Even in World War II, the United States did not attempt to assassinate U.S. citizens who went over to the enemy, but that has now changed with President Obama’s overseas contingency operations. On Feb. 3, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Intelligence Committee that the United States government has developed procedures for killing American citizens abroad who are “involved” with groups threatening to carry out terrorist acts directed against other Americans. Three U.S. citizens have already been approved by the White House for summary execution as soon as actionable intelligence is developed to enable a pilotless drone’s hellfire missiles to do the killing. One is Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi; the second is American al-Qaeda member Adam Perlman, who goes under the name Adam Yahiye Gadahn; and the third is believed to be a Somali from Minnesota who has joined the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab in the Horn of Africa. Anwar al-Aulaqi, linked in the media to the Christmas underwear bombing and with Major Malik Nadal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, has denied any involvement in either incident. Perlman, a propagandist for al-Qaeda, is in Waziristan. Killing these men would involve using military drones to attack targets in three countries with which the United States is not at war. The Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution guarantee a citizen due process and a public trial, as well as the right to confront his accuser. The Obama administration is arguing that these American turncoats do not have constitutional rights because they are not physically in the United States and are actively engaged in planning terrorist acts that the government has the right to disrupt by killing them preemptively. Blair has also explained that there are “defined policies and legal procedures,” but as the criteria for inclusion on the kill list are secret, due process is likely limited to the ruminations of a senior bureaucrat and a government lawyer, neither of whom has a mandate to protect the rights of the suspect. Furthermore, Blair’s use of the world “involved” suggests that the definition of terrorist activity might be somewhat elastic. The result is that secret information used to make a secret decision can very definitely get you killed in the Obama White House’s Brave New World. It will also kill many of your friends and family, as the hellfire missiles are notorious for their infliction of collateral damage. Killing dissident citizens without due process is not a unique practice. Libyans, Iranians, and Soviets all did it in the 1980s and 1990s. But it is unusual in a liberal democracy where there are restraints on depriving a citizen of his life. The odd thing is that no one who matters seems too disturbed. No congressional committee protested, the New York Times only ran a short discussion thread on its online opinion page, and the Washington Post relegated the story to page 3 without any follow-up. Philip Giraldi, a former CIA Officer, is a fellow with the American Conservative Defense Alliance.

Cream sis Desecration of graves is forbidden in Islam as well as Grave Worship. The above news report about the religious group that is alleged to have desecrated the grave of dead "Saints" is written by a Somali correspondent for the BBC World Service, wholly owned by the British government and not by a reliable neutral news source for this particular incidence. Allah SWT says in Surah Al Xujuraat V6 in the Holy Quraan: O you who believe, if a news is brought to you by a Faasiq ( Out Law, From Law of Allah), VERIFY the news ( get the total picture, the CONTEXT and MOTIVES etc) lest you defame a group of people with ignorance, and later regret what you have committed (your libelous statements) The British Government is on record to have indirectly supported the toppling of the Islamic Courts of Somalia, which for the first time brought the semblance of governance to Somalia in 16 years, by the proxy Ethiopian Army, which among many crimes against humanity, have desecrated mosques, raped Somali women and killed scores of civilians in a two year period. BBC did not cry for the dead, nor protest the civilian slaughter, the raped and maimed Somalis then, now that a rival group to the poodle criminal warlord government that they staunchly support is in a predicament, its understandable that their propoganda effort is reaching out for hired Somali pens who can inspire new round of civil war, this time religious in nature, between what the author termed in an inflammatory way, as a duel between the Wahabism, and the Sufi orders in Somalia. Before you get mad at any group in Somalia, do some research about the history of this rivalry, American Intervention for the past 20 years, and the creation of the Synthetic "Sufi Fighters" group of Somalia, reminiscent of Sunni- Shia Civil War in Iraq, created by British SAS to do the dirty work that Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi and the TFG combined, failed to deliver, financed with over 300 Million Dollars of indirect foreign investment to prolong Somalia's woes. Nur

Akhi Xiin Its been couple of months that I kept you on hold for my complete response on the the Dawlah Riddah topic, At last, I found ample time to make the finishing touches and I hope that the scholarly aspect of the topic is helpful to assess the Religious ruling of the DKMG in Somalia. I pray for their salvation, and Hidaayah, Amin. Nur

Warning: For Mature Audience only! Following article includes some objectionable language, the context of this language however vividly portrays the authors feelings and grievances, I hesitated to post, but the strength of her message forced a rare exception. War After War After War Another Year, Another Post ....The Westerner is a bag of slimy hypocrisy...like nasal snots...and am not just talking about governments here, am talking of "people". By Layla Anwar March 19, 2010 "Arab Woman Blues" -- Remembering, not that I have ever forgotten...remembering not that I have been given a chance to forget... This post may not be a coherent, cohesive one... who gives a fcuk ? I certainly don't...there is nothing coherent or cohesive about occupation and exile...and it's not like am up for a Pulitzer price in Literature either... This post may be a collection of rambling lines...so what ? I've heard nothing but ramblings and rumblings for the past 7 years...and am no more royalist than the king... This post might have no beginning and no end, this post might be a reflection of a state of limbo...who cares? It's been a limbo for two decades already... The Westerner is a bag of slimy hypocrisy...like nasal snots...and am not just talking about governments here, am talking of "people". You'd have every aspect of your life destroyed because of their "free choice" as in "democratically" electing their governments, and they get all flustered if you give them the royal finger...and tell them -- fcuk you people of the lie...you are nothing but deceit. I mean how could you ? How could you insult them, use foul language, indulge in vulgarity, how could you speak their own language ?! Only they, are allowed to fcuk you and the "good kind souls" among them come and "save you" from their fcuking your life... That's the West for you - in one simple paragraph. Oh and you have to be so grateful too...because they "reached out" for you...but you just don't want to be saved, you are a stubborn, obstinate creature - you want Justice...that does not go too well in their books...you know why ? because these people don't care about justice, their whole lives are based on blatant injustices...their whole lifestyle is based on injustices, their whole system is based on Injustice...oh yes it sure is...and you need not be a reader of contemporary history either...but these bassttaards want you with permanent blinkers on...like those donkeys they can lead by making them smell a carrot dangling in front... And if you reject, loudly reject both the donkey and the sheep, you are not one of them....and you will never be one of them... Ah these Arabs, ah these Muslims, terribly unruly...then they would pull out some article or another and stick it under your nose and tell you -- see, see how terribly oppressive, oppressed, you people are -- see ?! And that after they've blown your home, your family, your kids, your life to fcuking pieces...like a jigsaw puzzle... And you go searching for the pieces, trying to make it whole again...but you know you can't...you know it has become an impossibility...but never mind, as long as you don't insult those sons of bittches...as long as you keep your "dignified" posture, on four, looking for the pieces...while they shove another article under your nose telling you how oppressive, oppressed you are... We were all gathered in the dark room, in one corner of the room, huddled, almost piled up on top of another...like corpses about to be collectively buried in some anonymous mass grave...there was a little candle burning, flickering, imperceptibly so...maybe the only warmth, for we were shivering... Each round we'd think the time has come...the time has come with the walls shaking and the windows shattering...we stopped replacing them...we just used garbage bags and tape instead...maybe that was a symbol for what was to come later...tape your mouth, seal your lips while your life has become a pile of garbage... I remember each one would give the other "instructions", if you so and so is still alive, he/she should not forget to do so and so...and with every round, we'd say our prayers all over again, asking forgiveness for our short lived lives, our failures and omissions, and remind one another of the will...if you are still alive, remember, promise you will remember... I suppose another way of reaching immortality in those deadly minutes that preceded and followed every round of Freedom... At first there were sirens, and some would scream "ghara, ghara, here they come again" (air raid, air raid) as if we had a say in the matter, as if we could stop it, as if we controlled the sky or those who rode it...so we huddled again and again...like terrified animals before a storm, before an earthquake... When the sirens stopped working, it was the brave ones who went to the mosques and start chanting Allahu Akbar - God is the Greatest...these became our sirens -- Allahu Akbar... In the aftermath of each round of Freedom and Liberation, each would take a deep breath, and try to reach someone else, another relative, a neighbor, to check on them... Rosaries - praying beads would be left on each one's seat, marking it as -- this is my place, this is where I was when it all happened...marking our territory with praying beads...half angels and half animals, surviving on prayer and instinct...awaiting death... It's funny how it is all coming back, as if it was yesterday...it's like a closed locked door and I just turn in the key, open it and here it is all over again... There are things I don't want to remember, but they impose themselves on me, imperiously so...and it's like one scene takes me to another one, like in a train ride...like a film I can't stop...like a film I am anxiously waiting for to end... One scene leads to another, like in a labyrinth...no wonder this is a door I never wanted to open... War after War after War...back in the tunnel, swirling back...subtracting years, 1991, the fireworks of another liberation. 1980, 1973, 1967...I remember them all...one by one... What is there to say ? Apart from swinging from shivers to numbness back to shivers, back to nothing... The same scene repeats itself...windows shattering, plastic and tapes, glued to the radio for the latest news, hoping batteries won't run out, and more sirens...all the sirens sound the same...Baghdad and beyond -- same sirens, same wars... Israeli air raids in 1967 and 1973, I was there too...I laugh when I think about it, laugh sarcastically, as if Destiny wanted me to be a witness... I remember another shelter...this one was very damp...it was in the basement of a building...not really a shelter but more like an underground storage room...it smelled bad...humidity and piss...I remember Dad grabbing the radio, and Mom pulling me by the arm - Yalla Layla, let's go...and I'd hear the thunder outside shaking the earth beneath my feet...and after so many rounds of "punishment" from the Sky, I'd say to my mother - do we really have to go to this dark room, can't we just die here in our home ? I remember her just pulling me by the arm down the stairs -- no time for a reply, every minute counted...hurrying down the stairs whilst everything shook...and ending up in that dark humid, smelly room, smelling of rot and piss...there would be several families there...again each family would take a corner, gather and huddle together...waiting for the final verdict, waiting for the final sentence, waiting...to see if God, the Universe, MIG fighter jets...decide who will live and who will die that day... And so it is in this part of the world, from 2010 to all the way back...their raids and bullets fly over your head taking you from up and their articles take you from down....and they still shove them under your nose telling you how oppressive - oppressed you are... Well I did warn, I did say I am not sure how or when this will end...I knew when I turned that key into that locked door, I was opening a can of worms... Needless to say I had much difficulty falling asleep, and when I eventually did, I was woken up every hour or so with terrible nightmares. I am not sure if nightmare is the correct word, more like very powerful dreams, one sequence after another, that left me drenched in cold sweat, gasping for air... I could not fall asleep, even though I was dead tired...I kept tossing and turning and out of the blue images of my dying grandmother flashed before my eyes...I saw when uncle handed me her medical report, the first thing I read was - Prognosis Negative. It was too late to do anything. Not that there was much we could do in view of the circumstances...the family decided not to tell her how ill she was...but she knew... I remember being by her side and holding her frail transparent hands, with the blue veins showing, all dried up...I said " Bibi, it will all be fine " - she smiled and said "I know why am so ill, it's the wars, they killed me...I kept the frights inside and now they are killing me..." Do those who pride themselves on Liberation and Mission Accomplished ever think of how "frights kept inside" actually act like delayed time bombs and bullets? Do the Medical Associations of the "civilized" world, ever consider the long term effects, of such a "negative prognosis" ? I very much doubt it...I very much doubt that Bibi or the thousand others will ever cross their callous indifferent minds... So against this background of specific memories, I finally managed to doze off, only to be shaken out of this much desired state by a potent sequence of a dream... I dreamt it was pitch black all around me...I was in some airport tarmac, I had just landed and about to cross a border...I was carrying no luggage, there was no suitcase waiting for me...I only had a small plastic bag with essentials in it... I saw my dad waiting for me on the other side of the fence...I had to go through customs but I had no papers, no documents...they checked and checked again the contents of my plastic bag, I was delayed...I told my dad, I will join them later on, I am being kept here for a while... The second sequence was also very potent...I then saw myself in a gathering of men, Arab men from different nationalities...supposedly "supporters of the cause", they were just sitting drinking coffee and smoking...and theorizing...they were Lebanese, Palestinians, Syrians, for the most part...and at the same time they were trying to sell me things, goods, stuff that was worthless...I said to one of them, but I have already paid you so much, and I got nothing in return, why should I pay you more...you have given me nothing...so he retorted - come on you know how much we care about you, we even gave you a discount... I replied - a discount for what, you gave me nothing, I gave you everything I had... So one of the guys hugged me and said - you know we are brothers and I said - are we really ?....I left this gathering very upset, and headed to the empty street, again it was pitch black...again I was carrying nothing but this plastic bag... The third sequence was the most telling....as I was walking down that dark street, a car pulls up on the curb, I noticed it had no lights, I felt danger...the man in the car said - have no fear I live here in this street...but he had an Egyptian accent and he was driving a car that had no Egyptian license plates...and in the dream I was not in Egypt...I knew he was lying and that I was in trouble...He got out of the car, he was a very big man, looked like a monster, he just put his hands on my mouth and he tried to rape me...I fought back as hard as I could, I wanted to scream, shout, but he suffocated my voice with his big hands, I had a small alarm in my hand, like a small siren, emitting the same sound when the bombs were about to fall...I sounded the siren, it was loud...I could hear it in the empty street, I was waiting for my "brothers" to show up -- no one did.... I woke up trembling...I felt so nauseous I wanted to vomit, but I had nothing in my stomach to vomit...I laid in bed for a while gathering my senses, reminding myself it was just a dream...only to realize that it was no dream, it was reality... Iraq was betrayed and raped by the Arab "brothers" first.. An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle... Who am I ? The eternal Question . Have not figured it out fully yet . All you need to know about me is that I am a Middle Easterner, an Arab Woman - into my 40's and old enough to know better. I have no homeland per se. I live in Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Egypt simultaneously...All the rest is icing on the cake. Copyrights reserved 2006-2010

Maa shaa Allah, Tabaaraka Allah, that was a great video sis, thanks for sharing. Nur

US 'may back Somali offensive' Al-Shabab, said to have links to al-Qaeda, dominates much of southern and central Somalia [EPA] US special operations forces could help the Somali government with an offensive to dislodge al-Shabab fighters from the capital, Mogadishu, a US newspaper report says. Citing an unnamed US official on Saturday, the New York Times website said the offensive could begin in a few weeks. Washington believes al-Shabab has links to al-Qaeda, which has expanded its influence in Yemen across the Red Sea. "What you are likely to see is air strikes and Special Ops moving in, hitting and getting out," the official is quoted as saying. American advisers have helped supervise the training of the Somali forces to be deployed in the offensive, the paper said. Washington has provided covert training to Somali intelligence officers, logistical support to peacekeepers, fuel for the manoevures, intelligence on fighters' positions and money for bullets and guns, the report said. US officials said it was part of a continuing programme to "build the capacity" of the Somali military, and that there has been no increase in military aid for the coming operations. Humanitarian aid The New York Times report also says that Washington is using its clout as the biggest supplier of humanitarian aid to Somalia to encourage private aid agencies to move quickly into "newly liberated areas" to help civilians in an effort to make the government more popular. IN DEPTH The revelations follow a statement by a senior US military official that the US was considering joining a European Union effort to train a new army for Somalia's weak UN-recognised government. Major-General Richard Sherlock, head of plans for the US Africa Command, said on Thursday there was considerable scope for co-operation with the EU training programme. "We will look to contribute to the international effort to support Somalia's transitional government," he said. The EU mission is part of a wider international effort to help stabilise the country. Under the EU plan, about 200 European military instructors will start training a unit of up to 2,000 Somali troops in May at a military base in Uganda. Al-Shabab's clout Somali officials have, in recent weeks, hinted that government soldiers, backed by the African Union forces, will soon attempt to wrest back control of al-Shabab-held areas of Mogadishu. Al-Shabab controls much of Somalia and operates openly in Mogadishu, confining the forces of the government and African Union peacekeepers to a few blocks within the city. The group wants to topple the government and impose its own strict version of sharia, Islamic law. US military intervention in Somalia in the early 1990s, commanding a major international relief operation ended in disaster when the UN force became drawn into fighting with local commanders. During the so-called Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993, a total of 18 US soldiers were killed in one day.

Proof that 9/11 Truthers Are Dangerous By Washington's Blog March 08, 2010 "Washington's Blog" -- Most Americans don't know what kind of people 9/11 truthers really are. So they can't figure out whether or not they are dangerous. Below is a list of people who question what our Government has said about 9/11. The list proves - once and for all - that people who question 9/11 are dangerous. Email this list to everyone you know, to prove to them that 9/11 truthers are all dangerous nut cases. Senior intelligence officers: * Former military analyst and famed whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg said that the case of a certain 9/11 whistleblower is "far more explosive than the Pentagon Papers". He also said that the government is ordering the media to cover up her allegations about 9/11. And he said that some of the claims concerning government involvement in 9/11 are credible, that "very serious questions have been raised about what they [u.S. government officials] knew beforehand and how much involvement there might have been", that engineering 9/11 would not be humanly or psychologically beyond the scope of the current administration, and that there's enough evidence to justify a new, "hard-hitting" investigation into 9/11 with subpoenas and testimony taken under oath. * A 27-year CIA veteran, who chaired National Intelligence Estimates and personally delivered intelligence briefings to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, their Vice Presidents, Secretaries of State, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many other senior government officials (Raymond McGovern) said “I think at simplest terms, there’s a cover-up. The 9/11 Report is a joke”, and is open to the possibility that 9/11 was an inside job. * A 29-year CIA veteran, former National Intelligence Officer (NIO) and former Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis (William Bill Christison) said “I now think there is persuasive evidence that the events of September did not unfold as the Bush administration and the 9/11 Commission would have us believe. ... All three [buildings that were destroyed in the World Trade Center] were most probably destroyed by controlled demolition charges placed in the buildings before 9/11." (and see this). * A number of intelligence officials, including a CIA Operations Officer who co-chaired a CIA multi-agency task force coordinating intelligence efforts among many intelligence and law enforcement agencies (Lynne Larkin) sent a joint letter to Congress expressing their concerns about “serious shortcomings,” “omissions,” and “major flaws” in the 9/11 Commission Report and offering their services for a new investigation (they were ignored) * 20-year Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer, the second-ranking civilian in U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence, and former CIA clandestine services case officer (David Steele) stated that "9/11 was at a minimum allowed to happen as a pretext for war", and it was probably an inside job (scroll down to Customer Review dated October 7, 2006). * A decorated 20-year CIA veteran, who Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh called "perhaps the best on-the-ground field officer in the Middle East”, and whose astounding career formed the script for the Academy Award winning motion picture Syriana (Robert Baer) said that "the evidence points at" 9/11 having had aspects of being an inside job * The Division Chief of the CIA’s Office of Soviet Affairs, who served as Senior Analyst from 1966 - 1990. He also served as Professor of International Security at the National War College from 1986 - 2004 (Melvin Goodman) said "The final [9/11 Commission] report is ultimately a coverup." * Professor of History and International Relations, University of Maryland. Former Executive Assistant to the Director of the National Security Agency, former military attaché in China, with a 21-year career in U.S. Army Intelligence (Major John M. Newman, PhD, U.S. Army) questions the government's version of the events of 9/11. Congressmen: * According to the Co-Chair of the Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 and former Head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham, an FBI informant had hosted and rented a room to two hijackers in 2000 and that, when the Inquiry sought to interview the informant, the FBI refused outright, and then hid him in an unknown location, and that a high-level FBI official stated these blocking maneuvers were undertaken under orders from the White House (confirmed here) * Current Democratic U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy said "The two questions that the congress will not ask . . . is why did 9/11 happen on George Bush's watch when he had clear warnings that it was going to happen? Why did they allow it to happen?" * Current Republican Congressman Ron Paul calls for a new 9/11 investigation and states that "we see the [9/11] investigations that have been done so far as more or less cover-up and no real explanation of what went on" * Current Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich hints that we aren't being told the truth about 9/11 * Current Republican Congressman Jason Chafetz says that we need to be vigilant and continue to investigate 9/11 * Former Democratic Senator Mike Gravel states that he supports a new 9/11 investigation and that we don't know the truth about 9/11 * Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chaffee endorses a new 9/11 investigation * Former U.S. Democratic Congressman Dan Hamburg says that the U.S. government "assisted" in the 9/11 attacks, stating that "I think there was a lot of help from the inside" * Former U.S. Republican Congressman and senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, and who served six years as the Chairman of the Military Research and Development Subcommittee Curt Weldon has shown that the U.S. tracked hijackers before 9/11, is open to hearing information about explosives in the Twin Towers, and is open to the possibility that 9/11 was an inside job 9/11 Commissioners: * The Commission's co-chairs said that the 9/11 Commissioners knew that military officials misrepresented the facts to the Commission, and the Commission considered recommending criminal charges for such false statements (free subscription required) * 9/11 Commission co-chair Lee Hamilton says "I don't believe for a minute we got everything right", that the Commission was set up to fail, that people should keep asking questions about 9/11, and that the 9/11 debate should continue * 9/11 Commissioner Timothy Roemer said "We were extremely frustrated with the false statements we were getting" * 9/11 Commissioner Max Cleland resigned from the Commission, stating: "It is a national scandal"; "This investigation is now compromised"; and "One of these days we will have to get the full story because the 9-11 issue is so important to America. But this White House wants to cover it up" * 9/11 Commissioner Bob Kerrey said that "There are ample reasons to suspect that there may be some alternative to what we outlined in our version . . . We didn't have access . . . ." * And the Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission (John Farmer) - who led the 9/11 staff's inquiry - recently said "At some level of the government, at some point in time...there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened". He also said "I was shocked at how different the truth was from the way it was described .... The tapes told a radically different story from what had been told to us and the public for two years.... This is not spin. This is not true." Other government officials: * U.S. General, Commanding General of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, decorated with the Bronze Star, Silver Star, and Purple Heart (General Wesley Clark) said "We've never finished the investigation of 9/11 and whether the administration actually misused the intelligence information it had. The evidence seems pretty clear to me. I've seen that for a long time." * Former Deputy Secretary for Intelligence and Warning under Nixon, Ford, and Carter (Morton Goulder), former Deputy Director to the White House Task Force on Terrorism (Edward L. Peck), and former US Department of State Foreign Service Officer (J. Michael Springmann), as well as a who's who of liberals and independents) jointly call for a new investigation into 9/11 * Former Federal Prosecutor, Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Department of Justice under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan; former U.S. Army Intelligence officer, and currently a widely-sought media commentator on terrorism and intelligence services (John Loftus) says "The information provided by European intelligence services prior to 9/11 was so extensive that it is no longer possible for either the CIA or FBI to assert a defense of incompetence." * The Group Director on matters of national security in the U.S. Government Accountability Office said that President Bush did not respond to unprecedented warnings of the 9/11 disaster and conducted a massive cover-up instead of accepting responsibility * President of the U.S. Air Force Accident Investigation Board, who also served as Pentagon Weapons Requirement Officer and as a member of the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review, and who was awarded Distinguished Flying Crosses for Heroism, four Air Medals, four Meritorious Service Medals, and nine Aerial Achievement Medals (Lt. Col. Jeff Latas) is a member of a group which doubts the government's version of 9/11 * Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan (Col. Ronald D. Ray) said that the official story of 9/11 is "the dog that doesn't hunt" * The former director of the FBI (Louis Freeh) says there was a cover up by the 9/11 Commission * Director of the U.S. "Star Wars" space defense program in both Republican and Democratic administrations, who was a senior air force colonel who flew 101 combat missions (Col. Robert Bowman) stated: "If our government had merely [done] nothing, and I say that as an old interceptor pilot—I know the drill, I know what it takes, I know how long it takes, I know what the procedures are, I know what they were, and I know what they’ve changed them to—if our government had merely done nothing, and allowed normal procedures to happen on that morning of 9/11, the Twin Towers would still be standing and thousands of dead Americans would still be alive. [T]hat is treason!" Numerous other politicians, judges, legal scholars, and attorneys also question at least some aspects of the government's version of 9/11.

Liz Cheney Says Terrorists Have No Rights. Also, you're a terrorist. By Dahlia Lithwick March 06, 2010 "Slate" -- It can be argued that when Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol accused nine lawyers in Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department of being the "al-Qaida Seven," working in the "Department of Jihad," they were simply exercising their First Amendment right to say anything that would get them on a talk show. This is, after all, America. The right to cynically accuse someone of being a terrorist is protected under the Constitution. You would think, however, that when Cheney and Kristol launched their execrable "Keep America Safe" Web ad, they would have been very, very careful with their words. In the ad they accuse seven Justice Department lawyers and two colleagues—all of whom had represented Guantanamo detainees—of being members of the Department of Jihad. A screen shot of Osama Bin Laden and a creepy voice-over asks of these attorneys, "Whose values do they share?" Thanks to people like Kristol and Cheney, people take accusations of this sort very seriously. The Justice Department reports being swamped with panicked phone calls since the ad started running this week. In 2010, calling someone a Bin Laden-loving jihadist isn't just meaningless partisan hackery. Ten years ago, these were just words. Ten years ago, someone accused of being a terrorist had recourse to the same panoply of rights as everyone else. Ten years ago, an accused terrorist still had the right to a trial, for instance. But thanks to people like Liz Cheney and her dad, the Sixth Amendment right to a "speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury" is gone, once you've been branded a terrorist. Just ask Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. After 9/11, once you're branded an enemy combatant, you can be held for years without any of your constitutionally protected rights, including the right to be told of the charges against you or to confront the witnesses against you. Thanks to people like Cheney, those alleged to be members of al-Qaida are stripped of their Sixth Amendment right to prove they are not. But that's not all. Ten years ago, if you labeled someone a terrorist, he had an Eighth Amendment right to be free from torture, since the very idea of "cruel and unusual punishment" was anathema, even for our enemies. But thanks to people like Liz Cheney and the brave souls at the Bush Office of Legal Counsel, it's OK to torture terrorists these days. As long as you're pretty sure they're terrorists. This is good news for the Cheney way of thinking, because it means that you can abuse a possible terrorist into admitting that he actually is a terrorist without all that fact-finding necessitated by a criminal trial. But there's even more. Ten years ago, if some paranoid hysteric accused you of being an al-Qaida sympathizer or a jihadist, you could find a lawyer to help you make the case that you were not. But in the ever-expanding war on the Bill of Rights being waged by Liz Cheney, once you're designated a terrorist, you lose your Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Because just by representing you—even if you're acquitted—your lawyers become terrorists, too! Given that the Bill of Rights pretty much evaporates once you've been deemed a jihadi lover of Bin Laden, you might think Liz Cheney would be super-careful tossing around such words They have very serious legal implications. Not to mention that some of her dad's favorite people, from Alberto Gonzales to Ted Olson, scolded the then-top Pentagon official for detainees, Charles "Cully" Stimson, for suggesting on a talk radio show in 2007 that American corporations should boycott law firms that provided pro bono assistance to detainees. Stimson was forced to apologize and resign for his comments. Lucky for Cheney, she doesn't work for the Pentagon, so she doesn't have to resign. She merely has to be ridiculed by Bill O'Reilly. Liz Cheney isn't careful about the words she throws around. She uses terrorist and killer the way normal people use words like salt and pepper. To her, they are just words. That's probably the scariest part of all. When the "al-Qaida Seven" and their two DoJ colleagues fought to defend alleged terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, they weren't fighting to protect jihadist murderers. They were defending the U.S. Constitution—the great whomping chunks of the Bill of Rights that Cheney and her friends are so eager to write out of existence. They did it because that's what lawyers are ethically obligated to do. They did it because—as Spencer Ackerman points out—the Military Commissions Act of 2006 expressly provided that detainees get defense lawyers. And they did it, as Jay Bookman notes, for the same reason John Adams agreed to represent British soldiers charged with killing civilians during the Boston Massacre in 1770. Because long before Liz Cheney was born and long after she's gone, the Bill of Rights requires serious people to take it seriously. I should probably disclose at this juncture that I know several members of the nefarious "al-Qaida Nine." If I ever get to meet the rest of them, I will buy them a beer. Which, through the magic of Liz Cheney's transitive guilt property, doubtless makes me a jihadist as well. Liz Cheney will weasel her way out of this week's hyperbole. She's already trying to parse her way out of the embarrassing fact that the Bush Department of Justice and Rudy Giuliani's law firm also housed traitorous Gitmo lawyers. Now, Keep America Safe says its problem is only with pro bono Gitmo lawyers. Yesterday, Cheney told Washington Times radio she "doesn't question anybody's loyalty." She just objects to the criminal justice model of dealing with terror. Those words jihad and al- Qaida? Having helped make them the foulest words in America, she wants you to think they're mere words. Too late. Wednesday night, Liz Cheney told Bill O'Reilly that Guantanamo prisoner Omar Khadr "killed Americans." His trial doesn't start until July. So before you call the Justice Department to question the loyalty of the "al-Qaida Nine," ask yourself whether you really want to take the Bill of Rights out of the hands of the lawyers, courts, and officials sworn to defend it. Having worked for years to ensure that the word jihadist is legally synonymous with guilty, Cheney cannot be allowed to use it casually to describe anyone she simply doesn't like.

The author concurs with some of my observations I posted here on SOL Islam page back in November 2001. Specifically this statement: FBI Chief: "Mr. President, we also have reports of Anti Globalization suspects " Bush: "These are good looking, clean-shaven white boys, no one will accept that they are terrorists." http://www.somaliaonline.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/3/13#000000 Nur