Originally posted by Brown: ^we were talking about debt relief. What Shy was talking about is the MIGHTY AIR POWER the USA has, you have to admit they do have some major A$$ whooping BOMBS. Good Brown, Shyhem “didn’t see anything wrong that the developed nations did†as well. The might that he seems to admire doesn’t make right! It can, however, vandalize ancient civilizations and sabotage the livelihood of many innocent women and children. There is a world of difference, good Brown, between voicing your objections to a certain economic and political dogma and the irrational hate you seem imply. The destructive quality of America’s weaponry has not earned my esteem and respect. I am not impressed yet! I do realize, however, that it takes a well-seated convictions and a set of principles to take a stand against Bush’s hegemonic policies in particular, and west’s unfair lending practices in general. And that may as well be a foolish daring for some, and admirable bravery and valor for others. In that sprit, Shyhem may have a point!

This article appeals to my intrinsic sentiment toward Ethiopia and its motives. It invokes my religious and patriotic passions, and, I suppose, I should be looking for my old and rusty AK-47 and head to the frontline trenches! BUT again, I realize and sadly so that Ethiopia is no new foe to us and it has crossed the border, invaded major cities, and caused death and destruction many times in the last ten years or so! The freedom fighters that I am about to join were/have been arrested by Ethiopian security and its allies in Hargiesa, Mogadishu, Baidoba, and Galkaio. The M-o-o-r-y-a-a-n-i-s who are vowing to fight today with Ethiopia, were the same ones whom Ethiopia paid yesterday to assassinate or arrest its enemy in Mogadishu! So what should I do? I should sit it out and wait, as it’s quite possible that the only solution to dilute Ethiopia’s regional hegemony and prevent Somalia’s disintegration is to have a functioning government that could reinstate the national army of its own, albeit by the calculated support of Ethiopia, and establish stability of sort. Of course I still think foreign troops without Ethiopia is visible. I should be ready though for the day when the attacking army of the evil infidels invades!

macalimuu, As gloomy as it may seem to some, Somalia’s troublesome days are behind and a period of relative stability is in sight. The lyrics, as it were, are better than the music, and Allah’s mercy is never far away. I can see Mogadishu warlords taking the challenge and getting their act together and forming formidable political block that could enable them to use their political capital. I can envision Islamic courts becoming mainstream Islamic party that has a solid grass-root support and effectively lessen, and perhaps prevent, the influence of alien ideologies. I can as well see the separatist forces coming to their senses and appreciate the value of the national unity and territorial integrity of Somalia. What I don’t image---perhaps don’t want to imagine---is a perpetual inter-clan fighting and a divisive civil war. Your predictions are quite pessimistic in nature and give a gloomy picture of Somalia. Your usage of term genocide is not fitting, dear brother. As Ali Mazrui observed, Genocide is a communal crime that Muslim societies are not capable of doing. There’re two attributes that every Muslim ought to posses: patience and optimism. Perhaps you need to take some lesson from أمرؤ القيس and his long and tedious trip to Ceasar where he counseled his sole companion not to waive in the face of challenge. Here are some verses of that legendary qasiidah of his. بكى صاحبي لمارئ الدرب دونه وأيقن أنا لاحقان بقيسر Ùقلت له لاتبكي عينك Ùإنما نحاول ملكا أونموت Ùنعذر

Good reminder, indeed. Thanks, Saaxiib.

Please Hear What I'm Not Saying ------------------------------------------------- Don't be fooled by me. Don't be fooled by the face I wear for I wear a mask, a thousand masks, masks that I'm afraid to take off, and none of them is me. Pretending is an art that's second nature with me, but don't be fooled, for God's sake don't be fooled. I give you the impression that I'm secure, that all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well as without, that confidence is my name and coolness my game, that the water's calm and I'm in command and that I need no one, but don't believe me. My surface may seem smooth but my surface is my mask, ever-varying and ever-concealing. Beneath lies no complacence. Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness. But I hide this. I don't want anybody to know it. I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed. That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind, a nonchalant sophisticated facade, to help me pretend, to shield me from the glance that knows. But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only hope, and I know it. That is, if it's followed by acceptance, if it's followed by love. It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself, from my own self-built prison walls, from the barriers I so painstakingly erect. It's the only thing that will assure me of what I can't assure myself, that I'm really worth something. But I don't tell you this. I don't dare to, I'm afraid to. I'm afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance, will not be followed by love. I'm afraid you'll think less of me, that you'll laugh, and your laugh would kill me. I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing and that you will see this and reject me. So I play my game, my desperate pretending game, with a facade of assurance without and a trembling child within. So begins the glittering but empty parade of masks, and my life becomes a front. I tell you everything that's really nothing, and nothing of what's everything, of what's crying within me. So when I'm going through my routine do not be fooled by what I'm saying. Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying, what I'd like to be able to say, what for survival I need to say, but what I can't say. I don't like hiding. I don't like playing superficial phony games. I want to stop playing them. I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me but you've got to help me. You've got to hold out your hand even when that's the last thing I seem to want. Only you can wipe away from my eyes the blank stare of the breathing dead. Only you can call me into aliveness. Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging, each time you try to understand because you really care, my heart begins to grow wings-- very small wings, very feeble wings, but wings! With your power to touch me into feeling you can breathe life into me. I want you to know that. I want you to know how important you are to me, how you can be a creator--an honest-to-God creator-- of the person that is me if you choose to. You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble, you alone can remove my mask, you alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic, from my lonely prison, if you choose to. Please choose to. Do not pass me by. It will not be easy for you. A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls. The nearer you approach to me the blinder I may strike back. It's irrational, but despite what the books say about man often I am irrational. I fight against the very thing I cry out for. But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls and in this lies my hope. Please try to beat down those walls with firm hands but with gentle hands for a child is very sensitive. Who am I, you may wonder? I am someone you know very well. For I am every man you meet and I am every woman you meet. ------------------------------------------------ Charles C. Finn Source

Originally posted by Rahima: Lets just say we agree on this-which part of Somalia hasn’t?- probably just Kismaayo. Kismayo, good Rahima, is no Mogadishu. It’s a regional capital and never had the status and prestige of Mogadishu! Mogadishu, on the other hand, used to be clan neutral and diverse city. To compare the two is missing the point, good sister! Originally posted by Rahima: Honestly, it is those outside of Mogadishu and those of us in the west that propagate the so-called power of these warlords. Most of these warlords have almost next to no influence over the majority of the people of Mogadishu- I just wish that people would stop over-exaggerating their power. So the southern warlord running the city and controlling it is a popular myth! And I must’ve lost in touch with the reality!

It seems the proponent of Mogadishu as a suitable city to host Mr. Yusuf are losing the argument miserably. And supporters of foreign troops failed to articulate how that venture could bring stability when large segment of the society are hostile to it! Here is where my argument has some merit and deserves some consideration. But first some facts of mine: Fact#1:Whatever Mogadishu was before the civil war; today it’s radically a different city. Since the civil war, Mogadishu has become the political and economic power center of just one clan. The rest of the Somali clans were expelled and forced to leave their properties and their city. When the dust settled and tribal sentiment subsided, no substantial reconciliation steps have been taken by the ‘expellers’ and thus, the city remains under the illegitimate control of that clan’s powerful warlords. That is the true status of Mogadishu. Fact#2: Ethiopia has historically been and still remains the sworn enemy of Somalia. For Ethiopia to send troops to stabilize Mogadishu is analogues to India sending troops to Waziristan in Pakistan. It will be a destabilizing factor, not stabling one, a barrier, and not an enabler. It could invoke religious and clannish emotions and trigger unwanted war. In short, it won’t serve its declared purpose; to enable this government to govern and bring stability to Somalia. If Mr. Yusuf wants to use these troops to affect vengeance and settle old scores with Mogadishu warlords is a different story! Based on fact#1, this government need not go to Mogadishu. Frankly, it shouldn’t go to Mogadishu until true and comprehensive reconciliation is undertaken. Rather it should relocate to Baidoba. For one, it would be goodwill gesture for that community given the grievances and injustices that’s done to them during the civil war. For another, it will be a lot cheaper place to relocate; the government can literally build its institutions from nothing and will probably cost eighth of what it would in Mogadishu! Yep, it’s about economics sxb! And lastly, foreign troops may not be needed. If they are, their symbolic presence will suffice. And by the way, for that evil Ethiopia, I despise them. And to my dismay I have no nukes to explode! So we have to apparently live with that reality for now!

Originally posted by Rahima: But there is hope. The developing nations should not think that they are powerless in the face of their oppressors. Their best weapon now is the very scale of the debt crisis itself. A coordinated and simultaneous large scale default on international debt obligations could quite easily damage the Western monetary system, and the West knows it. There might be a war of course, or the threat of it, accompanied perhaps by lectures on financial morality from Washington, but would it matter when there is so little left to lose? In due course, every oppressed people comes to know that it is better to die with dignity than to live in slavery. Lenders everywhere should remember that lesson well. Well said. In a more general note, I can’t wait----and not sure if its coming--- when the third world separates itself from the west’s financial system. When the tools of its hegemony, like’ free trade and free market’, globalization, and like, are no longer accepted. But to end this well-defended and established practice will be costly and painful divorce. But it’s a long overdue one.

Originally posted by NGONGE: ^^^^ I wouldn't have used كلاب and عبد but the general message was the same. I suppose I should be offended by Al Shafici’s famous words now. :rolleyes: No offence intended, saaxiib! If you found Al Shafici's words offensive, however, I apologize and express my deepest sorrow to the feelings that I unintentionally hurt! I am a rare breed in this world of unyielding nomads, you see! :cool: And by the way where was I 1989-1992? I was in the capital when the war broke out. But within 4 days, we ---my family---left the capital and headed Kismayo and within two months I was in Mombassa, Kenya.

Originally posted by NGONGE: I was an adolescent youngster, inexperienced and carefree. Life was great and easy back then. I had just purchased my new Nintendo console and was eager to play the Super Mario game that all my friends were raving about. The phone rang. I ignored it. It carried on ringing and ringing. In the meantime, Super Mario was crushing all those turtles. My mother walked into the room, slapped my head and muttered something then answered the phone. I carried on playing my game. Some time went by before I sensed that something was not right with the room! My mother was not on the phone anymore! I turned round and looked at her (another turtle killed Mario). She was staring at me with an angry look! She waved the phone handle on my face and said, “It’s for YOUâ€. I panicked. Who could it be? I took the phone of her hands and uttered a tentative HELLO! It was my friend (Cali Matag). He heard about my new computer game and was asking if he could come over and play. I told him that he could. He said that he’d drop by in an hour’s time. I hurriedly agreed and impatiently tried to end the conversation so as to get back to my game. I said BYE. He said BYE. Just as I was about to put the phone down, I heard him say, “By the way, did you hear about the war in Somalia?†تموت الأسد ÙÙŠ الغابات جوعا ولحم الضأن تأكله الكلاب وعبد قدينام علي حرير وذو نسب Ù…Ùارشه التراب

Originally posted by AYOUB_SHEIKH: Waxaa tuban kun tamar laawe oon, tacabba eegayne. Talaatiin gu qaar joogay baan, toob u xaasiline. Tanna xoogsi kama soo taraan, taana laga waaye. Taf la jiidiyo bay hayaan, tookha dibadeede. Tays malaha taaloogiyo, tima la xiiraaye. Thanks AYOUB_SHEIKH. War ninku ma Yurub buu tagay? Waxaad mooddaa inuu iyada ka sheekayno! And yes, it's a clasic with every sense of the word. His descriptions are fitting to this generation just as they were then. He was indeed a true nomad.

Alle-ubaahane Maxaa laga rabaa? Si baa wadaadka loo daba-galay baad mooddaa! Mise aanooyin horaa loo heystaa? Awal baad dekeno hore qabtey oo didisay cawshiiye'e Maantana biciidkan damcaad daba ordaysaaye'e Fediyaamo deerooy haddaanaan daba kaa toogan! Odaga sida ha loo dhaamo. Oo halaga xishoodo. Haddii kale................?????? Ha lays jirooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooy

Wait a minute! What are you guys talking about! Is Giardian n Protector = Cawralo? I mean that Cawralo who was known to be faithful and loyal to her husband, fearful of her Allah, and watchful of her deeds. If that's her, then she is right to be cautious and keep her husband to herself, and for her only! Alas, who can blame her by loving her husband so much that she doesn’t want to share! As for the sheikhs, reserve those harsh words and appreciate the character of this Cawralo. She is realy unique! I am talking about this Cawralo: Qosol gabana labadeede fool qaar haddaad aragtid Qabno geela lama siisto iyo qaalmo goodirahe'e Qoorta xaddiyan oo dhexdaad qabatin moodaaye Talaabada qallooc uma dhigtee waa qotomisaaye'e Qalbigaa ku faaraxa markay qaaddo laafyahe'e ******** I will came back ***********

What Sistani Wants He refuses a new air conditioner, yet his office is Internet-wired. He wants women to take political office, but not to shake the hands of men outside their families. He is easily the most powerful man in Iraq. Yet he's an Iranian. Feb. 14 issue - It's interesting that most published accounts describe Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani as a tall, slender man, towering over his aides and visitors. Actually he's on the short side, about 5 feet 8, but the error is understandable. The housebound cleric has hardly set foot out of his tiny abode in the slums of Najaf in six years. He never gives speeches, never even presides at Friday prayers at the golden-domed Imam Ali shrine, the holiest place in Shiite Islam, only a few hundred feet from his home. But he does receive visitors, hundreds a day, normally, always seated on a thin cushion on the floor of his barrani, or receiving room, wearing a gray robe that is often threadbare, and a large black turban. He won't be photographed (the few grainy images of him were taken without official permission), and he never gives interviews. He is the very picture of an ascetic Islamic prelate, a picture that would not have looked much different if it had been painted five centuries ago. His visitors invariably leave impressed, often describing the encounter in mystic terms; small wonder they remember him as tall. This is the image that Sistani has carefully crafted over the years, but there's another side to it. He may live humbly and poor, but he also presides over a multimillion-dollar network of charities and religious foundations from Pakistan to England. He may not get out very much, but he has a highly developed network of representatives in every Shia neighborhood in Iraq. One of his sons-in-law runs an Internet company with 66 employees in the Iranian city of Qom, and Sistani's own office is one of the best-wired in Iraq. The interim government installed a T-1 connection to the Internet, so his representatives can stay in touch by e-mail. When he has new visitors, his staff Googles them and prints out a briefing paper. When folks in Baghdad, 90 miles north, need to call his office, they dial a local number that patches through. And he may refuse to have his photo taken, but he doesn't object to his followers' plastering the few available grainy shots on campaign posters and mosques around the country. All that makes sense. Al-Sayid Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani is now indisputably the most powerful man in Iraq. The elections he demanded, on the terms he insisted upon, were an unexpected success; the party he crafted, and then blessed, has won a landslide victory. The United Iraqi Alliance, better known as the Shia List, racked up more than 65 percent of the votes counted as of last weekend. That's at least enough to choose the leaders of the new government, and when final results come in, it may come close to the two-thirds margin necessary to dictate the terms of Iraq's new constitution. "Ayatollah Sistani is very elated," says Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a member of the United Iraqi Alliance and national-security adviser to the interim government, who spoke to him by phone as results came in last week. But it raises the question: who is Ali Sistani, really? Is he the ayatollah with a 20-page bibliography of arcane Shia theology to his credit, whose conservative views on the role of Islam in society will reshape the new Iraq? Or a great modernizer who issued a fatwa saying women should vote even if their husbands objected? "The language that Sistani uses in Arabic is quite distinctly drawn from the Enlightenment, from Rousseau and from Jefferson: a legitimate government derives from the choice of its people," says Juan Cole of the University of Michigan, an expert on the Shia. But the ayatollah also has insisted that Iraq's new constitution must be in line with Islamic principles, and recognize Islam as the nation's religion. Iraq's women are encouraged to vote as they want but, under Sistani's teachings, they won't be able to shake the hand of any man other than a father, brother or husband. (Sistani also forbids music for entertainment, dancing and playing chess.) "It's the Shiite equivalent of the Christian Coalition," says Cole. "The Christian Coalition doesn't want pastors to rule America, but it does want Christian ideals to govern policy." Sistani is both a savior and a frustration to American policymakers. "Yes, he's a kingmaker. Yes, he's powerful," says one U.S. official. "But he won't meet face to face." No American official has ever been able to see Sistani, whose aides say he thinks such a meeting would justify the U.S. occupation. But while he has condemned the occupation, he has never issued a fatwa against it—something that would be certain to bring millions of Shia into the streets. The Sunni-based rebellion has been difficult enough, but hardly a mass movement, and Sistani actually helped end the brief Shia rebellion led by Moqtada al-Sadr. "It's masterful," said the U.S. official, with grudging admiration. "Frankly, I have a lot of respect for his political savvy." Those who suspect Sistani's true intentions are quick to note that the country's most powerful man is not even an Iraqi, but an Iranian. He came to Najaf, Shiite Islam's holiest city, more than 50 years ago as a disciple of the then Grand Ayatollah Abul Qasim al-Khoei. Until last August, Sistani never left, nor did he give up his Iranian citizenship. Al-Rubaie said he offered to get him an Iraqi passport after Saddam's regime fell, but Sistani's response was characteristic: "He said, 'Dr. Rubaie, what would I do with this? I'm a man going to his grave. I haven't left Najaf for 13 years. Why do I need it?' " When he developed heart trouble last August, he went to London for treatment on his Iranian passport. Although Sistani made it a religious obligation to vote in Iraq's elections, he wasn't qualified to cast a ballot himself. His followers say he's above nationality, as the Roman Catholic pope would be. "He's the spiritual leader of all the Shia in the world," says Sheik Jalaladin al-Saghir, imam of an important mosque in Baghdad. "Iranians as much as Iraqis." Sistani was a contemporary in Najaf of the then far more famous Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran. Khomeini spent many years there in exile, crafting his philosophy of velayat al-faqih, or "rule of the jurisprudent," which laid the foundation for the theocracy Khomeini established after the Iranian revolution. The concept was that clerics should create a perfect Muslim state, which would make their followers perfect Muslims. Sistani followed a different, quietist philosophy, whereby clerics kept their distance from politics. He was elevated to the status of mujtahid at the unheard-of age of 31, meaning he was able to make religious rulings, something usually reserved for older clerics. But by all accounts, Sistani and Khomeini were never friends. Sistani's power is partly financial. As one of only a handful of grand ayatollahs, he is revered throughout the Islamic world and has far more personal followers in Iran than the theocratic hard-liners there. Shia pledge a fifth of their disposable income to their personal marja, or "object of emulation," and such support translates into a huge income—one that has flowed far more freely to Sistani since the end of Saddam's regime. It has had no effect on the ayatollah's austerity. He rarely eats meat, insisting on a peasant diet of yogurt and rice. Once when he was sick, says Sheik al-Saghir, an aide brought him fruit juice to drink. "He refused. He said, 'People are not finding potable water and you're bringing me juice? No'." When his air conditioner broke down, goes an oft-told story in Najaf, aides brought him a new one that wouldn't be as noisy. Instead, he insisted on repairing the old one and giving the new one to a poor family. When the 74-year-old Sistani went to London for heart treatment, the well-heeled Al-Khoei Foundation there (which Sistani is said to control) put him up in a comfortable Mayfair town house; he had the double bed removed and slept on a mattress on the floor. All of that gives him enormous credibility with Iraq's Shia, who had little power in Saddam's regime and were overwhelmingly poor. The Sunni insurgents, both foreign extremists like Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi and their Iraqi allies, have targeted Shias and their leaders just as much as the Iraqi government and American troops, even setting up highway checkpoints on roads leading to Najaf and killing any Shia they find. Mohammed Bahr Aluloom, a Shia politician, was so incensed by the wave of sectarian murders last November that he went to Sistani to argue for a Shia militia to fight back. "We're not going to have our families attacked by terrorists," Aluloom still insists, banging his wooden cane on the floor. "Everything has its limits. Once that limit is passed, all that's left is God and your weapon." But Sistani spoke very quietly to him. "Please don't do this," he said. "Please be civilized. We don't want to start a civil war. This is the most important point." Aluloom obeyed. Sistani himself has been tested repeatedly, losing close aides and followers to assassins and narrowly missing assassination attempts several times. On Shiite Islam's holiest occasion—the Ashoura festival, which marks the death of Imam Hussein—terrorists set off suicide car bombs in the midst of crowded pilgrims, killing hundreds. But Sistani ordered no retribution. "It's enough [for him] to say, 'Don't do such a thing,' and they don't," says al-Saghir, who can tick off 21 assassination attempts that he himself has survived in the past 18 months. American policymakers found how effective Sistani's edicts could be when he issued a fatwa in January 2004 condemning plans by the Coalition Provisional Authority to have a phased-in handover of power without early elections. Overnight there were demonstrations by hundreds of thousands, and though peaceful, their message was clear. "U.S. forces can't deal with large demonstrations," says Cole. "You can't shoot them, so you have to cede space, both physically and politically." Sistani also showed how pragmatic he could be; when the United Nations said quick elections were not feasible, Sistani agreed to the drafting of a transitional administrative law (TAL) that eventually led to last week's elections. Al-Rubaie remembers the all-night session when Iraqis wrote the TAL, and Sistani stayed on a satellite telephone until they hashed out the wording of a clause on the future role of Islam. "I don't think this is going to be a stumbling block now," al-Rubaie says, "because that paragraph in the TAL he has drafted himself. We read it to him, and he was crossing all the T's and dotting all the I's." The real dotting and crossing begins this week as the victorious United Iraqi Alliance chooses the new government. The list is a mixture of Shia religious parties, secular groups, independents and even a few Sunnis and Kurds. There are figures as diverse as Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shiite and onetime American favorite, and Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). Sistani chose an intimate of his, nuclear physicist Hussein Shahristani, to form a six-person committee that put the list together, with every third candidate a woman. Seats in the national assembly will be awarded based on the proportion of votes each slate gets, and the alliance will easily have a majority in the 275-member body, which then forms the government. Shahristani, one of the leading contenders for prime minister under the new government, is quick to issue assurances to Sunni Arabs in Iraq. "We do not believe in the dominance of the majority or majority rule," he says. "We insist on a government of national unity, with fair representation of Sunni Arabs." Sistani will take no part in deciding exactly who will make up the government, Shahristani says. "He refuses even to meet with the alliance now," Shahristani says. "He says, 'You were elected, so it's up to you now. Don't drag me into it'." But he has set down some guidelines that will have to be followed. "He rejects any role for the clerics in the governance or administration of the country," says Shahristani. Al-Rubaie, also a member of the United Iraqi Alliance's executive committee, confirmed that. And Sistani will insist that Islam is the national religion, with no laws that contradict Islamic principles. But at the same time, as he once told a Shia politician, "there is nothing written in the Qur'an about elections." For that, he said, he reads textbooks on democracy. Some of the strongest members of the alliance are religious parties who in the past have openly advocated an Islamic state on the Iranian model. Hussein al-Mousawi, who heads the Shiite Council, a secular party, called the leading members on the victorious list "extremist Shiite Islamists who believe in the rule of religious clerics." Now, however, it's hard to find any who will admit that. The leading party in the alliance is SCIRI, but even its leaders have lately adopted a moderate tone. How much influence will Iran have on Iraq's new leaders? Sistani has carefully kept his distance from official Iranians, refusing, for instance, to receive a delegation from Tehran's foreign ministry last year. But Iranians have poured into Shia areas in southern Iraq, and even bought up some of the houses in Sistani's neighborhood, either to be close to him, or to keep an eye on him. Recently the Ahl ul Bait World Assembly, a religious charity closely linked to Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, opened an office in Najaf to promote the doctrine of clerical rule. "Sharia will be the foundation for the constitution," says an Iraqi representative, Sheik Bassem al-Shommari. "All the laws must be taken from Sharia because the country has a Muslim majority." Many of Iraq's defeated Sunnis are deeply worried, not so much about Islamic law as about the power of Shia ayatollahs to reinterpret it, something considered blasphemous by Sunnis. And secular Iraqis worry how much their country will change if rules of Islamic dress and social practices are imposed. Alcohol, freely available in Iraq now, will almost certainly be banned. But will minority Christians be exempt from that? Sistani will be watching. Right now, he may be the only one who knows exactly how far Iraq will go. Source: Newsweek

Shyhem wrote: ****Warning to somalis**** Watching aljazeera is bad for u'r personal development.Aljazeera fans are known to be depressed and irritated hence the need to pick fights with strangers on the net. Care you explain how watching Al-Jaziira is bad for one’s personal development?

On the outset, let me condemn the digging of Italian graves in Mogadishu. That I think was, to say the least, unwise venture. That much I agree with Mr. Goth’s article. The rest of his writing, or approach, reveals a confused character of his. He seems to want to defend this religion, if that’s his true intent, by measuring it with a wrong yardstick. Goth’s comparison of Taliban movement and Mogadishu Islamic courts with the Nazis signify his intolerable amplification of facts. Theirs, Nazi’s that is, was an aggression and a hateful crime driven by racial superiority, which Muslims are incapable of doing. The Mogadishu Islamic court, on the other hand, is a clerical project for the benefit of that troublesome city’s residents. Its mission is to partially restore security and safeguard human dignity and decency. There are a lot of success stories brought by these courts. And great many people are deeply appreciative of it. When these courts erred in either imposing disproportional and harsh punishment or in participating in clan politics or, like in this case, act irrationally, the appropriate response should be to criticize those particular acts and not to their existence and core principal. I have in fact disagreed with certain acts of theirs. Mr. Goth sadly misses that point. And he seems to be on a mission to discredit and defame the Islamic Courts. His lack of sincerity becomes apparent when he sings the popular songs of the West! Where the West’s charity is magnified and the victims of their ‘collateral damage’ are downplayed. If Goth wanted to talk about savagery and barbarism, he could’ve written about Iraq, Afghanistan, and indeed Palestine. There is where the humans are bulldozed a live in their homes, shot in their houses of worship, and entire cities are flattened in the name of liberation and freedom. In short, and in the words of Michael Parenti, Bashir Goth is indeed a character besieged, "not from without but from within, subverted not from bellow but from above." And provided he recognizes his ailment, his cure can easily be attainable and readily be available to him :IT’S in the Qur’an.

Rebuttal to “Somalia must remain two†-------------------------------------------------- Yasmiin Abdi yasmiin@myway.com I read a letter titled “Somalia Must remain two,†here at the Yemen Times online. It is very disturbing to see such a baseless and blatant lie published on a prestigious place like the Yemen Times Letters section. Mr. Jamal Yusuf, a secessionist wrote that the People of Lascanod did not live in that area during the colonial times. Maybe Mr. Yusuf has no knowledge of Somalia’s history, if he did he would have know that: The people of Lascanod, Buhodle and Eastern Erigavo or regions know as SSC, they lived that area all their lives, not only did they lived there but they were the fighter know as the Dervish movement and lost thousands and thousands of men, women and children defending Somalia from the brutal Imperial British colonial. They refused the British to take hold of their country and they wage a war that dragged over two decades, 21 years to be exact. They were the first people in Africa that were ever attacked by plane. The second argument which says: this area was always part of British Somaliland. The Northern ******s who live in the regions known as Sool, Sanaag and Ceyn never signed agreement with Britannia to annex Northern Somalia from the rest of Somalia and when they received their independence from the colonial they went back to the way Somalia was. Somalia has always been and will be one. Somali Unity is non-negotiable. The people of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn chose to remain with the rest of Somalia, and no one can force them to do otherwise. Everyone knows who started this war; it is started by the secessionist/ Somalilander who wants to force the will of the people of SSC and force the people of SSC to take a name they fought not to be call for over a century ago, Somaliland is a name given by their former enemy Britannia. If the secessionists don’t want to be part of Somalia that is their prerogative, the door is open for them. Let them find a country that recognizes three cities, Hargeysa, Burco and Berbera as a country. But kindly, they should refrain from claiming or clinging to lands that never belong to them. That is how wars start, when one becomes greedy and decided to take other’s Possession. Source: Yementimes

Muadow, taasi xoogaa reer-magaalnimo ah bay u baahantahay. Wadaaduna hal-abuurka iskuma fiicna marka gabayga laga saaro. Anigu waxaan aad uga fekeraa siday wadaadaddii hore nabi-ammaanada iyo Alla-bariga afcarabi ugu allifi jireen! Taas waxaa dheeraa habkey ugu luuqeyn jireen. Jiilkaasi waa tegey.

Alle-ubaahane, Gabaygaagu madiixi ayeydey buu egyahay! Weliba keeda waxaa wehlin-jirey luuq quruxbadan! Tallo: Marka hore isku day inaad Af-soomaali ku gabaydo.Haddey taasi kaa suurowdo ood hal-abuur leedahay, dee waad isku deyikartaa inaad Englishna haweysatid. Haddese waxaan ku iraahdo ma'aqaan!

Xu wrote: .....Africa is still reeling from the effects of colonial rule. True. Dr. Ali Mazrui thinks so too. Try this link The Africans by Ali Mazrui to see his material.

Good read, indeed. I enjoyed every bit of it. I liked Hirad’s citation of the much-celebrated Siinley poetry debate and his tacit sarcasms of the poor professor! In a more serious note though, I think the effort and argument made by Somaliland intellectuals and their foreign supporter’s, Like Lewis, is faulty. Hirad’s article is one more attempt to expose the inconsistencies of that argument. Let’s face it folks, if Somalia (Republic) were to disintegrate it would be on tribal lines, and not on colonial borders! And if that were to happen the proposed Somaliland would’ve never materialized, and it won’t unless of course reasonable solution is found for the contested regions. And may be, as Hirad argues, Somaliland’s political stability lies with a just and negotiated Union (Somalia) and not with independent Somaliland that has a constant and destabilizing tribal conflicts. So, you see, the lyrics are better than the music!

The news of Zamzam’s release brings relief and joy to her immediate family and friends.It also brings sense of vindication and triumph for the Somali media, which to its credit kept her story alive both in the print and the cyber. What this news won’t do is to undo the bad legacy that Zamzam’s unlawful detention leaves for her captors. And the political consequences of her incarceration may be far reaching than initially anticipated by Reyaale’s government. The fiasco of Zamzam: the imprisonment; the subsequent torture and suffering; and the denial of due process; has negated one fundamental argument for Somaliland’s bid to secede. It exposed the inconsistency of the unceasing claims and depictions of Somaliland as a beacon on the hill. A bright star in the darkness! A country where judicial due processes are granted and people’s democratic aspirations are respected! Contrast that with Somalia (South), so the argument went, where a complete collapse had befallen. But that was believable before Zamzam’s debacle unfolded.It exposed the dark reality and the nature of that state. A state that still has not overcame the clannish emotions, to which it traces its origins, and its vengeance yearning character. Zamzam’s story also highlighted how Somaliland is pre-occupied with that old habit of settling scores. In its totality, the way SL government abused that little and innocent child was a voluntary self-disclosure of a sort! BUT it was a much-needed one for people like me who were impressed with Somaliland’s self-governance and its successful presidential election. The notion of independent and internationally recognized Somaliland is indeed tempting proposition for many Somalilanders, but the means to reach it are full of ironies. Baashi, a nomad of SOL, has discovered few of those ironies by simply doing some ‘cold reasoning’ in his writings. One obvious paradox that has come to light in the Zamzam’s story though is Somaliland‘s much publicized, with full legitimacy, grievances of the human right abuses of the former regime and its, Somaliland’s, cruel mistreatment of this girl. It is as though this state wants to have it both ways. Another irony, which I don’t want to get in to it, is its insistence to include other Somalilanders in its union, some times by force, in the name of territorial integrity. It is like the old irony of starting ‘prescribed fire’ to prevent a big and wild fire! Or so it seems! Despite the outcome of Somaliland’s bit for recognition and even with her release, Zamzam will leave an ever-lasting scar on the face of her captors. Salaam.

Bisinka iyo Burdaha! Wiil-Duco maxaad tiri? Yaab iyo yaabkiis! Fajjac iyo amakaag baa Ilaahay na tusay! Ma Xamar caddey baa dhul laga waayey inta qubuuraha la fagtay Masjid laga dhisayo? Mise waa: Xadro iyo xamdi Eebe kaama ahee Xinkay baad usoo xam leedahay! Salaamaat.

This question of weather Puntland is immune from federal laws or not is irrelevant, or so I think. One obvious reason is the undeniable fact of the lack of federal government, let alone federal laws, in Somalia. What’s relevant to debate though is weather these business dealings, between Pl government and Ethiopia, are beneficial for the good people of Northeast province. What business interest is in there for Puntland to import Qaad from Ethiopia and export natural resources out? Is it not loose-loose business proposition for Puntland? A debate along those lines might be helpful, I think. Pardon me if I stir things out as I venture in to this unsafe territory of SOL, politics forum that is, where abundance of trigger-happy nomads with preemptive mode can strike any time!

NGONGE keep the good job, sxb. Following is one of the classic Arabic poems. It’s the famous قصيدة of al-Farazdaq which he excessively praised Hussien ibn Ali. It was said that this poem is unmatched in its literary beauty and elegance in the commendation-- مدح – category of Arabic literature. So this is for you and those who enjoy the أدب العربي. ---------***************************------------ هذَا ابْن٠ÙاطÙÙ…ÙŽØ©ÙŽ Ø¥Ùنْ ÙƒÙنْتَ جاهÙÙ„ÙŽÙ‡Ù * بÙجَدّÙه٠أنْبÙياءÙاللَّه٠قَدْ Ø®ÙتÙموا هذَا الَّذي تَعْرÙÙ٠الْبَطْحاء٠وطْأَتَه٠* Ùˆ الْبَيْت٠يَعْرÙÙÙÙ‡Ù Ùˆ الْحÙلّ٠و الْحَرَم٠مَنْ جَدّÙه٠دانَ Ùَضْل٠الْأَنْبÙياء٠لَه٠* Ùˆ Ùَضْل٠أÙمَّتÙه٠دانَتْ لَه٠الْأÙÙ…ÙŽÙ…Ù ÙˆÙŽ لَيْسَ قَوْلÙÙƒÙŽ مَنْ هذا بÙضائÙرÙÙ‡Ù * ألْعÙرْب٠تَعْرÙÙ٠مَنْ أنْكَرْتَ Ùˆ الْعَجَم٠أللَّه٠شَرَّÙÙŽÙ‡Ù Ù‚Ùدْماً Ùˆ Ùَضَّلَه٠* جَرى بÙذاكَ Ù„ÙŽÙ‡Ù ÙÙÙŠ لَوْحÙه٠القَلَم٠مÙشْتَقَّةٌ Ù…Ùنْ رَسول٠اللَّه٠نَبْعَتÙÙ‡Ù * طابَتْ عَناصÙرÙÙ‡Ù Ùˆ الخÙيم٠و الشّÙيَم٠يَنْشَقّ٠ثَوْبÙ†الدّÙجى عَنْ نور٠غÙرَّتÙÙ‡Ù * كاَلشَّمْس٠يَنْجاب٠عَنْ Ø¥ÙشْراقÙهَا الْقَتَم٠إÙذا رَأَتْه٠قÙرَيْشٌ قالَ قائÙÙ„Ùها * Ø¥Ùلى مَكارÙم٠هذا يَنْتَهي الْكَرَم٠يÙغْضÙÙŠ حَياءً Ùˆ ÙŠÙغْضى Ù…Ùنْ مَهابَتÙÙ‡Ù * Ùَما ÙŠÙكَلَّم٠إÙلاّ Ø­Ùينَ يَبْتَسÙم٠يَكاد٠يÙمْسÙÙƒÙه٠عÙرÙانَ راحَتÙÙ‡Ù * رÙكْن٠الْحَطÙيم٠إÙذا ما جاءَ يَسْتَلÙÙ…Ù ÙƒÙلْتا يَدَيْه٠غÙياثٌ عَمَّ Ù†ÙŽÙْعÙÙ‡Ùما * يَسْتَوْكÙÙان٠و لا يَعْروÙÙ‡Ùمَا الْعَدَم٠سَهْل٠الْخَلÙيقَة٠لا تÙخْشى بَوادÙرÙÙ‡Ù * ÙŠÙزÙينÙه٠إÙثْنان٠حÙسْن٠الْخÙلْق٠و الْكَرَم٠حَمّال٠أَثْقال٠أَقْوام٠إÙذا ÙÙدÙحوا * Ø­Ùلْو٠الشَّمائل٠تَحْلو٠عÙنْدَه٠نَعَم٠لا ÙŠÙخْلÙÙ٠الْوَعْدَ مَيْمÙونٌ نَقيبَتÙÙ‡Ù * رَحْب٠الْÙÙناء٠أَريبٌ Ø­Ùينَ يَعْتَزÙم٠عَمَّ الْبَرÙيَّةَ بÙالْإÙحْسان٠Ùَانْقَشَعَتْ * عَنْهاَ الغَيابَة٠و الْإÙمْلاق٠و الْعَدَم٠يÙنْمى Ø¥Ùلى Ø°Ùرْوَة٠الْعÙزّ٠الَّتي قَصÙرَتْ * عَنْ نَّيْلÙها عَرَب٠الْإÙسْلام٠و الْعَجَم٠مÙنْ مَعْشَر٠حÙبّÙÙ‡Ùمْ دينٌ Ùˆ بÙغْضÙÙ‡ÙÙ…Ù * ÙƒÙÙْرٌ Ùˆ Ù‚ÙرْبÙÙ‡Ùم٠مَنْجى Ùˆ Ù…Ùعْتَصَم٠إÙنْ عÙدَّ أَهْل٠التّÙقى كانوا أَئÙمَّتَهÙمْ * أَوْ Ù‚Ùيلَ مَنْ خَيْر٠أَهْل٠â€Ø§Ù„ْأرْضÙ†قÙيلَ Ù‡Ùم٠لا يَسْتَطÙيع٠جَوادٌ بÙعْدَ غايَتÙÙ‡Ùمْ * Ùˆ لايÙدانÙÙŠÙÙ‡Ùم٠قَوْمٌ Ùˆ Ø¥Ùنْ كَرÙموا Ù‡Ùم٠الْغÙيوث٠إÙذا ما أَزْمَةٌ أَزَمَتْ * Ùˆ الْأÙسْد٠أÙسْد٠الشَّرى Ùˆ الْبَأْس٠مÙحْتَدÙم٠لا يَقْبÙض٠الْعÙسْر٠بَسْطاً Ù…Ùنْ Ø£ÙŽÙƒÙÙÙ‘ÙÙ‡ÙÙ…Ù * سÙيّÙانَ ذلكَ Ø¥Ùنْ أَثْرَوْا Ùˆ Ø¥Ùنْ عَدÙموا ÙŠÙسْتَدْÙَع٠السّÙوء٠و الْبَلْوى بÙØ­ÙبّÙÙ‡ÙÙ…Ù * Ùˆ ÙŠÙسْتَرَبّ٠بÙه٠الْإÙحْسان٠و النّÙعَم٠مÙقَدَّمٌ بَعْدَ Ø°Ùكْر٠اللَّه٠ذÙكْرÙÙ‡ÙÙ…Ù * ÙÙŠ ÙƒÙلّ٠بَدْء٠و مَخْتوم٠بÙه٠الْكَلÙم٠يَأْبى Ù„ÙŽÙ‡Ùمْ أَنْ ÙŠÙŽØ­Ùلَّ الذَمّ٠ساحَتَهÙمْ * Ø®Ùيمٌ كرÙيمٌ Ùˆ أَيْد٠بÙالنَّدى Ù‡ÙضÙم٠أَيّ٠الْخَلائÙق٠لَيْسَتْ ÙÙŠ رÙقابÙÙ‡ÙÙ…Ù * Ù„ÙأَوَّلÙيَّة٠هذا أَوْلَه٠نَعَم٠مَنْ يَعْرÙÙ٠اللَّهَ يَعْرÙÙÙ’ أَوَّلÙيَّةَ ذا * ÙَالدّÙين٠مÙنْ بَيْت٠هذا نالَه٠الْأÙÙ…ÙŽÙ…Ù