Sultan Salahuddin Ayubi & The Crusades : (Documentary film)

Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi, the hero of hundreds of battles, was the person who for twenty years braved the storm of the Crusaders and ultimately pushed back the combined forces of Europe which had come to swarm the Holy Land. The world has hardly witnessed a more chivalrous and humane conqueror.

The Crusades represent the maddest and the longest war in the history of mankind, in which the storm of savage fanaticism of the Christian West burst in all its fury over the Muslim World.The Crusaders met with initial success and conquered a major part of Syria and Palestine, including the Holy city of Jerusalem. But their victories were followed by such brutalities and massacres of innocent Muslims which eclipsed the massacres of Genghes Khan and Hulaku.

90 years later…Salahuddin Ayyubi becomes the Sultan of Syria and Egypt.At that time, there was a truce between the Sultan and the Franks in Palestine but, according to the French historian Michaud, `the Mussalmans respected their pledged faith, whilst the Christians gave the signal of a new war’. Contrary to the terms of the truce, the Christians attacked a Muslim caravan passing by his castle, massacred a large number of people and looted their property.Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi was now free to act. By a skilful manoeuvre, Salahuddin entrapped the powerful enemy forces near the hill of Hittin in 1187 and routed them with heavy loses. The Sultan did allow the Christians to recover and rapidly followed up his victory of Hittin. In a remarkably short time, he reoccupied a large number of cities which were in possession of the Christians including Nablus, Jericko, Ramlah, Caesarea, Arsuf, Jaffa and Beirut. Ascalon, too, submitted after a short siege and was granted generous terms by the kind-hearted Sultan.

The Sultan now turned his attention to Jerusalem which contained more than sixty thousand Crusaders. The Christians, could not withstand the onslaught of the Sultan’s forces and capitulated in 1187. The humanity of the Sultan towards the defeated Christians of Jerusalem procures an unpleasant contrast to the massacre of the Muslims in Jerusalem when conquered by the Christians about ninety years before.

When the Sultan captured Jerusalem in 1187, he gave free pardon to the Christians living in the city. Only the combatants were asked to leave the city on payment of a nominal ransom. In most of the cases, the Sultan provided the ransom money from his own pocket and even provided them transport. A number of weeping Christian women carrying their children in their arms approached the Sultan and said `You see us on foot, the wives, mothers and daughters of the warriors who are your prisoners; we are quitting forever this country; they aided us in our lives, in losing them we lose our last hope; if you give them to us, they can alleviate our miseries and we shall not be without support on earth’. The Sultan was highly moved with their appeal and set free their men. Those who left the city were allowed to carry all their bag and baggage. The humane and benevolent behaviour of the Sultan with the defeated Christians of Jerusalem provides a striking contrast to the butchery of the Muslims in this city at the hands of the Crusaders ninety years before. The commanders under the Sultan vied with each other in showing mercy to the defeated Crusaders.

The fall of Jerusalem into the hands of the Muslims threw Christendom into violent commotion and reinforcements began to pour in from all parts of Europe. The Emperors of Germany and France as well as Richard, the Lion-hearted, king of England, hurried with large armies to seize the Holy Land from the Muslims. They laid siege to Acre which lasted for several months. In several open combats against the Sultan,, the Crusaders were routed with terrible losses.

In 1193,Sultan Salahuddin Ayyubi passed away in Damascus.He was one of the most humane and chivalrous monarchs in the annals of mankind. In him, nature had very harmoniously blended the benevolent and merciful heart of a Muslim with a matchless military genius. The messenger who took the news of his death to Baghdad brought the Sultan’s coat of mail, his horse one dinar and 36 dirhams which was all the property he had left. His contemporaries and other historians are unanimous in acknowledging Salahuddin as a tender-hearted, kind, patient, affable person— a friend of the learned and the virtuous whom he treated with utmost respect and beneficence. `In Europe’, says Phillip K. Hitti, `he touched the fancy of the English minstrels as well as the modern novelists and is still considered the paragon of chivalry’.

Picture speaks a Thousand Words (in this case a million or more)

THE BIGGEST ROBBERY OF THE 20TH CENTURY

IS IT GOLD !!!! NO

IS IT DIAMOND !!!!!! NO

IS IT MONEY !!! NO

IS IT OIL !!!!!! NO

CAN YOU GUESS ?????

Scroll down

.

.

.

THE BIGGEST ROBBERY OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Afghanistan: never again

Afghan Mujahideen pose on top of a downed Soviet helicopter from the USSR's failed invasion/occupation.

by I. M. Mohsin

The subject of the article is part of a quote from the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov. Attending a seminar in Singapore on regional security, he confided that his government was rendering useful help to the ISAF and the US in Afghanistan, including intelligence input. During the question-answer session with the delegates in the Shangri-La Dialogue, it was insinuated if such help could include committing Russian forces to join other allies against the Taliban. The Russian Deputy PM promptly retorted: “Never again a Russian soldier would enter Afghanistan.”

I think you understand why. It’s like asking the US whether they would send troops in Vietnam. Emphasising his point he followed it up by stating: “It is something like that. It is totally impossible.” In between he also conceded that he could not disclose the scope and pace of cooperation between his country and the US on Afghanistan to the media. However, he had had serious discussions with his counterparts at this forum like the others.

Considering the quagmire effect which the US is experiencing in Afghanistan, such conferences or dialogues are regular exercises all over the world wherein politicians and intellectuals from the ISAF generally project their mental prowess with analysis relying on media coverage and a reference to history. More often than not, most of them have not even a nodding acquaintance with Afghanistan and FATA, and their culture. Thus, while such exercises are scholastically and for projection purposes in the media, they yield precious little information about the ground realities and the sufferings of the people either due to atrocious use of force, ‘collateral damage’ or ‘friendly fire’. Like all foreign forces, the US often takes a long time to concede that it has committed an atrocity.

Perhaps, accepting responsibility for a miscalculation or overreaction to an assumed threat induces such self-defence mechanism. No wonder arguments are always found to confound any crisis which may have been crime in some other situation wherein no US personnel is involved. In nine years, no US trooper has been held accountable. Hence, war communications are utilised to whittle down what would be a war crime for killing innocent civilians, per se. The only ones who paid for their sin were the Germans whose costly mistake in Kunduz made the then Defence Minister to resign.

Despite all the media hype and help from the former enemy, Russia, which finds a way to avenge the loss of the Soviet Empire from the principal enemy – the Pashtuns, a US policy-shift appears to be on in Afghanistan. Hillary Clinton had recently claimed that the US was fully braced for interacting with a multipolar world. The way Hamid Karzai went ahead with his peace jirga, despite the US silence, indicates that he had acquiesced to his mentors in Washington DC. It touted the old charm offensive propagated by the Afghan President for quite some time by way of befriending the “alienated brothers.”

Are Pro Semitism Forces Losing The Battle?

by Debbie Menon

A year ago, Americans were reluctant to discuss Zionism or anti-Zionism or read the stuff, even “moderate  Arabs and Muslims” (whatever that means) , shied away from the communities around these two camps and lacked the strength to support the few that might have had, the guts to stand up and confront real controversy.

There are hundreds of journalists who would not want to go within twenty miles of an anti-Zionist for fear of being castigated as questionable and “controversial characters” because this was how most of the rest of the Industry responds to them (the Messenger) against what had become a very successful adhominem attack intended to destroy their effectiveness by attacking their credibility.  He is an… (fill in the blanks with any epithet you wish to choose from the (Anti Defamation League ) ADL’s List Of Epithets Recommended For Use In Order To Destroy The Credibility of Critics.

Therefore, one could rarely ever quote or identify an anti-Zionist, eg: Israel Shamir, but simply crib from his message, the truth and logic of his arguments, and present them as a weapon in defense of the truth.

On the other hand, American-Israeli academicians and historians have spent a lifetime knowingly or unknowingly academically helping the Zionists. Now in the past one year there seems to be a growing awareness in the U.S. and the world and ADL (Anti Defamation League) have started crying Wolf  LOUD… “anti-semitism” as they call it has been on the rise.  It is obviously NOT anti-Semitism, even though they have always called it that and, for decades it has successfully stilled a lot of legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies.  I think the world is becoming aware that this is not Anti-Semitism, anti-racism, or any of the bigotry terms which ADL, The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, and the other “defenders,” including their legal staffs who bring suit, and political arm-twisters who force legislation throughout the world have been calling it, and we are just hearing more reasonable and legitimate criticism of a system which ought to be criticised and discussed more openly in public, in the public interest.

And, I believe we are seeing and hearing more of it because more of the public are realizing this daily.

And, I also believe that the “defenders.” are screaming like stuck pigs and those “defenders”  are using the only tools they know how, which have worked so well for so many years, but which are rapidly losing their edge from overuse, mis-use and abuse, the misapplied and false charges of slanderous bigotry and anti-semitism.

The Zionists are so powerful, they will use all means at their disposal to stem this groundswell .  But, they are now, standing on a slippery slope and it is hurting them to feel that they are losing their footing. We can expect to hear a lot more screaming, smoke, loud noises and even some blood, bombs and gunfire from them before they allow themselves to be swept from the pinnacle of Mount Zion.  I agree with some of the Jewish doomsayers that when it happens it is going to be a very bad day for Jews, and many of the innocent few, are going to suffer in the backlash against the criminal many who have perpetrated this outrage against the rest of the world for so long. But, they tolerated it and permitted it, in their name for so long, the same as have Americans tolerated and permitted America’s criminal history for the past decades in the name of their ideals of Freedom and Democracy.

Afghanistan: US dead end

by I. M. Mohsin

A host of confusing signals is coming out of the US which reflect concerns to ensure its security. President Barack Obama announced, as usual, a nicely-worded doctrine which would anger the rightwing while inducing the thinking Americans to ponder where they are headed. What they are reaping now is what was sown by the neocons and their accomplices, as George W. Bush appears to have been only a cover-up for the promotion of a certain lobby. The Americans themselves and all their well wishers must be feeling sore at how they were fooled to grant two terms to a guy who had no inkling of what was happening.

Now their new President has to tell them that it was ruinous for the US to talk like “you are either with us or against us”, as it may have suited a cowboy of yore but not an occupant of the White House. As things go awry in Afghanistan and regular blood-letting in Iraq by the status quo, the US commanders and their troops are feeling the heat all the way. What to talk of south, even north is acting hostile after about nine years of foreign occupation. In this scenario, it is even more demoralising for the US that the new British coalition is highly conscious of the poor progress of this war, as well as the history of the region.

Surely a visit by UK’s foreign and defence secretaries would have made the US miss Tony Blair, the ‘lapdog’ who allegedly coaxed up all controversial intelligence with the connivance of Italy’s Berlu-sconi to mislead the world on Bush’s gaffes.

The NATO troops in Afghanistan also appear to be fed up as all kinds of progress is drying up. Lately, their commander has emphatically called for the convening of Loya Jirga to reach an understanding among all parties to the war. This is what Karzai has been advocating which the US hesitates to support openly, while the Taliban have cold-shouldered it. The fact that even the Saudis support a negotiated settlement in Afghanistan is very important, more so as they have a great understanding with the US on important issues. So the troops deployed by the US must be under tremendous pressure due to the ‘enemy attacks’ all over that gets compounded by the uncertainty in their camp. Its net result is that generally the EU countries are unwilling to risk any more troops in Afghanistan. Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democrats have suffered some electoral reverses which represent the despondency about their troops’ involvement in Afghanistan. The German President’s resignation would only boil the cauldron further.

Israel’s Attack on Freedom Flotilla

Gaza Freedom Flotilla came under fire early on Monday by Israeli navy forces in international waters more than 150km (90 miles) off the coast of Gaza. The six-ship aid fleet was soon stormed by commandos descending from helicopters.At least 20 people were killed in the takeover of the Gaza aid convoy.

Pakistani envoys seeks US, UN help to track down Gaza-bound Pakistanis

The three Pakistanis -- prominent TV personality Syed Talat Hussain, his producer Raza Mahmood and an NGO, Nadeem Ahmad Khan -- were travelling with the international aid flotilla, carrying aid supplies for Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.

WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS-Pakistani envoys in Washington and New York moved quickly, making contacts with senior US and UN officials to seek their help in asertaining the whereabouts of Pakistani citizens, who were aboard a Gaza-bound humanitarian mission, which came under deadly Israeli attack in international waters.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to US Husain Haqqani is in touch with senior White House and State Department officials over the welfare of Pakistanis, an Embassy spokesman said.

The three Pakistanis — prominent TV personality Syed Talat Hussain, his producer Raza Mahmood and an NGO, Nadeem Ahmad Khan — were travelling with the international aid flotilla, carrying aid supplies for Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.

Talat Hussain Last Interview

Last Interview of Talat before he went missing. At least 20 passengers have been reported dead and over 60 wounded, Aaj News reported.

In New York, Pakistan’s acting Ambassador to the UN Amjad Hussain Sial spoke to Secretary-General’s Chef de Cabinet Vijay Nambiar and requested the UN chief’s assistance in ‘ascertaining the whereabouts, safety, security and safe return’ of three Pakistani citizens.

Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who condemned the Israeli attack, is attending a conference in Kampala, Uganda.

The Chef de Cabinet assured the Ambassador of UN’s full cooperation and assistance in this regard, Pakistani mission spokesman Mian Jehangir Iqbal said.

The acting Ambassador termed the ‘unwarranted and unprovoked’ action by the Israeli forces a gross violation of international law and all norms of humanity.

In Washington, the Pakistani Embassy in Washington Monday established an operation room to coordinate efforts for rescue of the Pakistani citizens.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council met in emergency session Monday afternoon less than 24 hours after Israel’s lethal military operation.

According to diplomatic sources, the Council sought consensus on a statement to condemn the attack. It was not seeking a resolution, which would be binding on all parties involved.

At least nine civilians died and 30 more were seriously injured when the Israeli military boarded the boats which were seeking to run the Israeli blockade on Gaza.

Behind closed doors, all 15 Security Council members were expected to express their views on the bloody Mediterranean incident. Israeli and Palestinian representatives would also be heard, officials said.

Before the session, Riyad Mansour, the permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, said the attack was a ‘massacre’ and a crime ‘against international law and international humanitarian law’.

He asked the Security Council to order an independent international investigation on the incident. The investigation, he noted, should bring those responsible for the attack before the courts.

The UN in Uganda, also called for a ‘full investigation to determine exactly how this bloodshed took place’.

Lebanon’s Nawaf Salam, the Security Council President for May, called the meeting at Turkey’s request. The United Nations headquarters in New York were officially closed Monday, for the US Memorial Day public holiday.

According to the UN Charter, the Security Council is responsible for peace and security around the world.

Protests in Pakistan against attack on Freedom Flotilla

People from all walks of life here on Monday staged protest against Israeli attack on Freedom Flotilla, a boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and relief goods for people in Gaza.

ISLAMABAD: The pre-dawn Israeli attack on a flotilla which left more than 20 civilians dead brought hundreds of demonstrators to the streets in the federal capital on Monday.

Protestors, including journalists, traders, students, parliamentarians and religious leaders, demanded that Israel be held accountable for its actions.

“What do you expect from a state that even the United States fears and can’t do anything to stop them except use empty diplomatic threats?” Marvi Memon, MNA from PML-Q said.

People chant slogans and raise banners on Monday afternoon to protest against the Israelli attack on a flotilla of ships carrying aid for Gaza

The protestors demanded the international community to sever diplomatic ties with Israel and termed the raid international terrorism.

“Israel should make no mistake that their inhuman behaviour will be dealt with in the severest manner,” a protestor told The Express Tribune.

The protestors were carrying anti-Israel banners and placards and chanting slogans against the Jewish state. Most of the messages on the banners called upon the international community to take notice of this “atrocity” and take the steps to prevent Israel’s “brutal activities.”

Palestine problem is not only the problem for the people of Palestinian origin but the Muslims of the whole world

by Afshain Afzal:
Like Friday, March 12 and March 5th 2010, as usual, there is lot of tension in the Palestinians areas due aggression by Israeli police in trying to stop peaceful Muslim protesters. There were prayers all over Palestine and around the world for the protection of Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Muslims’ holy places in Palestine. The world bodies like United Nations Organization (UNO) and the International Non Governmental Organizations, which claim to be the sole spokes-bodies for the human right throughout the world are silent spectators as if nothing has happened.

Over six decades back, on the recommendations of UNO’s Special Committee on Palestine, General Assembly partitioned Palestine to accommodate illegal and illegitimate Jew immigrants against the wishes of the Muslim world and other nations which opposed and voted against it. To this unjust partition is associated most of the unrest in Arab world, Middle East and other parts of the world. The recent tension was part of international conspiracy due to Israeli announcement of February 21, 2010 that the Cave of the Patriarchs (Ibrahim Mosque) in Hebron and Rachel’s Tomb (Bilal Mosque) in Bethlehem will be part of a list of sites for preservation and rehabilitation as national heritage. To add fuel to the fire, Israelis approved 1600 new house at Jerusalem. The latest move, in which US along with the Britain are equally involved, aims to create tension in the Middle East and rest of the Muslim world and to single out those countries which oppose the US-British-Israeli conspiracy. Ironically, US being main architect behind this conspiracy has criticized the move as “provocative and unhelpful” and Israeli behaviour ‘insulting’ despite the fact that everything is being done by its consent.

In protest against Israeli Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announcement regarding Muslims’ holy place, several thousands of Palestinian Muslims carried out peaceful protests on March 5th but were charged by Israeli policemen near Al- Aqsa Mosque, who fired stun grenades to disperse at the assembly. Around 60 of Palestinian protesters fainted or injured and were treated for teargas inhalation, 5 policemen were also slightly injured.

Time To Tell The Truth About Israel …Without Fear Of The Mind Police The Thought Censors Don’t Like It? Tough

The David Icke Newsletter

So, yet again, the people of the virtual-concentration camp, known officially as ‘Gaza’, are being bombarded from the sky by the bully-boys of Tel Aviv.

State-of-the art Israeli jets, paid for by the United States, bomb civilian targets in this tragic, poverty-stricken wasteland which acts as a holding camp for the human beings the Israeli government would rather be dead. Waiting in the wings are Israeli tanks preparing for a possible ground invasion of Gaza, again paid for by the United States.

The world watches as a nation of people, the Palestinians, are systematically crushed and destroyed by the tyrants who call the shots in Israel on behalf of that country’s real power structure the House of Rothschild.

And, taxpayers of America (and elsewhere), you are paying for this calculated slaughter.

The Palestinian ‘territories’ of Gaza and the West Bank

American aid to Israel accounts for something like a third of all US overseas aid when Israel is home to just .001 per cent of the global population and has one of the highest incomes per head in the world. This is even without all the ‘private’ donations from US corporations and individuals which are tax-deductible even when given to the Israeli military, unlike any other foreign power.

According to 2007 figures, the United States government gave more than $6.8 million to wealthy Israel every day while to the desperate and devastated Palestinians of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank they gave just $300,000.

US military ‘aid’ to Israel increased by more than a quarter to an average $3 billion a year in 2007 ­ a figure guaranteed for ten years. This and other support makes Israel the biggest recipient of United States foreign military funding since the Second World War.

The United States is also Israel’s biggest supplier of fighter planes, weapons and other military technology. As a result, Israel has the world’s largest F-16 fleet outside the “United States Air Force” US Air Force. In their book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt write:

‘Since the October War in 1973, Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing the amounts provided to any other state. It has been the largest annual recipient of direct U.S. economic and military assistance since 1976 and the largest total recipient since World War ll. Total direct U.S. aid to Israel amounts to well over $140 billion in 2003 dollars.

Israel receives about $3 billion in direct foreign assistance each year, which is roughly one-fifth of America’s entire foreign aid budget. In per capita terms, the United States gives each Israeli a direct subsidy worth about $500 per year. This largesse is especially striking when one realizes that Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to South Korea or Spain.’

Why do they do this? Because the House of Rothschild controls Israel and the House of Rothschild controls the political system of the United States. The network that links the two is called ‘Zionism’, a Rothschild creation  just like Israel itself.

The might of this Zionist cabal spanning Israel, the United States, Europe and beyond is yet again, like the playground bully that it is, attacking the little kid in the calipers  the people of Gaza.

At the time of writing the death toll is 430 Palestinian men, women and children with more than 2,000 injured. They are bombing the unarmed innocent knowing there will be no credible response the way all bullies operate. Oh, brave men of Israel; oh how Yahweh would be so proud:

‘When the LORD your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy.’

Deuteronomy 7:1-4

What we are seeing in Gaza, and have seen so many times, both there and in the Lebanon, is merciless Old Testament slaughter: cold, calculated, heartless slaughter.

‘So they sent twelve thousand warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children. “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not a virgin”.’

Judges 21:10-24

‘Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all  old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin your task right here at the Temple”.’

Ezekiel 9:5-7

‘So they began by killing the seventy leaders. “Defile the Temple!” the LORD commanded. “Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those you kill! Go!” So they went throughout the city and did as they were told.’

Ezekiel 9:5-7

The parallels are endless between the bloodthirsty ‘God’ of the Old Testament and the actions of the heartless, soulless, Artificial Intelligence that controls Israel, most notably the biological robots of the House of Rothschild who thus have no soul, no empathy, no more mercy for the consequences of their actions than a desktop computer.

Imagine if Iran or anyone else outside Israel and the United States (both Rothschild assets) was doing what the Israeli military is doing in Gaza. There would be global condemnation, not least from Israel and the United States, resolutions passed in the UN Security Council and talk of the need for sanctions or military intervention to ‘save the innocent’.

But when Israel does it we have vacuous calls for a truce, an end to the violence while ‘understanding Israel’s position’, and, in terms of soon-to-be President ‘Change’ Obama, silence. It’s all a fraction of what others would face because Israel is a wholly-owned asset of the Rothschilds and so is not subject to the same rules as anyone else. As former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, said:

‘Israel may have the right to put others on trial, but certainly no one has the right to put the Jewish people and the State of Israel on trial.’

And Prime Minister Golda Meir betrayed the same Zionist arrogance:

‘This country exists as the fulfilment of a promise made by God Himself. It would be ridiculous to ask it to account for its legitimacy.’

Ah, it’s all in the Old Testament? Gotcha, right, well do as you like then.

The ‘Jewish homeland’ was from the start a Rothschild fiefdom orchestrated through the global secret society network of interbreeding families known as the Illuminati.

During the Israeli military attacks on the Lebanon in 2006, the Israeli writer, Barry Chamish, told of a meeting with Evelyn Rothschild’s grandson, who abandoned the family to be a Mormon (so actually he didn’t, even if he thought he did).

Chamish said he learned that just seven families were enjoying the ‘fruits of the war’ with the Lebanon. The grandson had said of the Rothschilds: ‘They created Israel as their personal toy. It makes them richer and gives them more control. It’s not going to be destroyed.’

The Rothschilds funded the early European settlers in Israel, manipulated events in Germany that led to the horrific treatment of Jewish people and others, and then used that as the excuse to reach their long-term goal – a Rothschild-Illuminati stronghold in Palestine using the Jewish population as fodder to be used and abused as necessary.

McC-hrystal’s much-vaunted new strategy in Afghanistan is running into the throes of a crisis

By I. M. Mohsin:

The payback for the atrocious policies pursued by the neocons appears to be on. General Stanley McC-hrystal’s much-vaunted new strategy in Afghanistan is running into the throes of a crisis. Starting with a massive attack on Marjah in Helmand, which put up traditional resistance, the tactical retreat of the ‘enemy’ occasioned rather optimistic reactions from the US high command. Perhaps playing to the gallery, the general announced that the whole of the southern part would be taken over by the US forces to “hold and build.”

Furthermore, Marjah itself is reported to be having an uneasy calm which is manipulated by the ‘cash flow’ being made to the local people to ingratiate them. No wonder all has been quiet on this front for about a fortnight, while some attacks against the foreign troops including the Bagram Bastion have taken place in other provinces. In the meantime, either as propaganda or strategy, it was indicated that the next push would be against Kandahar. Accordingly, several reports projected a massive mobilisation of the forces.

Consequently, last Saturday the Taliban launched awful attacks in Kandahar. As per the BBC, quoting AP, one local Muhammad Anwar termed it “like Doomsday for all of Kandahar people.” It killed atleast 35 people including some policemen, besides injuring double that number. Referring to McChrystal’s statement pledging to “trample the Taliban” in the area, AFP quoted Yousuf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the ‘enemy’, as emphasising: “This was an answer to General McChrystal…this was to sabotage the operation and to show we can strike anywhere, any time we want.” Nevertheless, the situation in Kandahar is pretty grim and well reflects the ground realities. Although such statements from the general maybe meant to boost the morale of their forces deployed in the operation, as well as the American electorate, but apparently these are counterproductive.

The American policy in Afghanistan appears as an anomaly. On the one hand, it is pursuing – through their acolyte Karzai – to negotiate with the Taliban that would be mediated by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s. No wonder President Karzai has been running around to comply with the agenda set in Washington DC. On the other hand, military operations are being undertaken in the south to ‘wipe out the Taliban’. Unfortunately, the killings of civilians, as a result of such moves, get billed against the US.

It should be remembered that America’s massive military presence in the area is supposed to provide security to the local people. However, when that gets breached due to its actions or the enemy’s reaction, the Afghans are resentful. As a corollary, the recent spate of bombing in Pakistan has killed about 100 people with many injured. The people here have little faith in governance but they believe such depredations to be the outcome of our support for the US war; so while Lahore saw a deadly spectacle like Kandahar last week, the point-scoring among politicians was an affront to the nation.

As such the US is losing considerable goodwill also in Pakistan. Some Pakistanis see the current set-up as being a proxy of the US which fans the extremism further. Still others, while appreciating the grit of our army and police are upset by US failure to provide the Pakistani forces with the latest equipments necessary for waging a successful campaign.

As if Afghanistan was not enough of a teaser, the trauma caused by the Israeli land grabbing in East Jerusalem and the rebuff given by Benjamin Netan-yahu to Joe Biden on the subject lately is the “most unkindess cut of all.” Biden, like Hillary Clinton, has been an effusive supporter of the Jewish lobby. Since the Obama Administration took-over, it has been trying to act goody-goody about all the violations of human rights committed by Israel against occupied Palestine. Despite the diplomatic overtures by Oba-ma’s special representative for Middle East, George Mitchell, the Israeli government has found it convenient to insult the US president by their defiance.

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land U.S. Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: How Israel manipulates and distorts American public perceptions Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts. Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how–through the use of language, framing and context–the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one.