Interesting: "It was not immediately clear whether Saniora would also visit the southern city of Najaf to meet Iraq's Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. One official said such a visit was planned, but later the same person said it was uncertain if the ayatollah would be available."
'Some figures in Lebanon's powerful Shiite militia Hezbollah have close personal ties with the religious hierarchy in Najaf, and some Lebanese Shiites trace their family origins back to what is now Iraq.'
All kinds of good stuff in this article.
al-Qaeda at 20
Justin Raimondo was on al Jazeera yesterday, with Christopher Hitchens and Nazar Janabi from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Riz Khan was the host.
The show was about al-Qaeda: after 20 years of existence, what is it’s future? Is it recruiting? Those were the questions we were supposed to address. And yet the idea that Al Jazeera was actually having Hitchens on – a militant atheist, who wants to invade practically every country in the Middle East, and has nothing but disdain for the religious and cultural ethos of the region – answers the question of why al-Qaeda is still around, albeit unintentionally.
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008...-on-al-jazeera/
Muhannad Ali,
It's good that the Shia Theocratic Republic of Iraq is establishing closer ties to their fellow Jew-Hating Hebz'allah Theoocratic Republic of Lebanon. Maybe your infidel hating cousin's wife can host some receptions for them and speculate on how long it will take the Shia to drive the Christians out of Lebanon, as they've done in Iraq.
Muhannad Ali? Jew-hating? Christians out of Lebanon? 
http://iraqimojo.blogspot.com/se...ch?
q=christians
Lebanon uses about 100,000 bpd of oil,about the same as Jordan. Any markets or pipelines to the west should be welcome news for Iraq. Northern oil fields use a pipeline through Turkey,and they'll probably be the source for exports to Lebanon and Jordan. Unfortunately,the bulk of exports are from the south,and those have to go through the Persian Gulf. Iran can hurt Iraq big time by shutting the Strait of Hormuz. It would be nice if Iraq,KSA,Bahrain,UAE,and Kuwait(all of which would be adversely impacted if the Strait of Hormuz were shut down) could build a pipeline system going north and west. Either through Iraq and Turkey,or traversing KSA and then the Suez Canal. Iran is constantly holding the threat over Gulf countries heads.
Mister Ghost,
You have a rather unusual style of haunting...
Foreign Policy In Focus contributor Benjamin Tua, a retired Foreign Service Officer, served in Israel from 1982-85. The Council for the National Interest Foundation arranged the visit in the region in which he participated:
On the Brink of Peace in the Middle East?
Benjamin Tua | August 21, 2008
Editor: John Feffer
Email this page to a friend
Comment on this article
Foreign Policy In Focus
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5483
Mr. Ghost,
Where do you get your wild accusations from, sources like Christian Zionist Jihad Watch?
Theoocratic Republic of Lebanon? LOL!
Hezbollah and the Shia do not want to drive the Christians out of Lebanon.
There happens to be a very large constituency of Lebanese Christians under the Orange Party leadership of Michel Aoun who are political allies with the Lebanese Shia under the leadership of Hezbollah and Amal.
Big Three Block Iran Attack
William O. Beeman | August 18, 2008
Editor: John Feffer
"The United States is in a huge foreign policy muddle in the Middle East. It wants to dominate and control Iran but requires the support of the world community to accomplish its aims. Diplomacy and sanctions require only a low level of support. On the other hand, to launch a military attack or green-light one by Israel, the United States needs far more backing...."
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5472
DJ,
That was a great clip!
Check it out everyone:
http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008...-on-al-jazeera/
There happens to be a very large constituency of Lebanese Christians under the Orange Party leadership of Michel Aoun who are political allies with the Lebanese Shia under the leadership of Hezbollah and Amal.
Marion, did you I call you a retard yet today?
Check it out everyone:
Oh! A link from antiwar.com with the words "al jazeera" in it! I'll heard *right* over!
Craig, watch the video. It is interesting - Nazar Janabi says Al Qaeda defeated itself by killing Iraqi Sunni Arabs, the people they were supposed to protect. All Raimondo had to say was that Al Qaeda wouldn't be in Iraq if the US hadn't invaded, and that the US supported the mujahideen in Afghanistan, as if this is a new revelation.
Hmmm... why would antiwar.com be want to repeat the same things that have been reported in the mainstream media for the last couple years? Are they that far behind? They are just figuring out what happened now? :D
Check out the clip. Nazar Janabi and Hitchens are awesome. Raimondo looked confused and did not answer the questions asked of him.
Hitchens mentioned how AQ and the Taliban murdered the Shia and Iranian peace delegation in Mazar e Sharif, and how Iran nearly invaded Afghanistan to destroy AQ and the Taliban in 1998. A hapless Clinton persuaded Iran not to invade. I wish Clinton had kept his mouth shut.
Hitchens asked Raimando about AQ terrorist attacks against India and the Philippines. He also asked Raimando to explain why AQ murdered UN representatives because of East Timur.
Raimando was either too ashamed to admit his racist anti Philippino, Indian, East Timur, Persian Shia views, or a complete air head. I am guessing the later. I wonder how people like Raimando are apparently smart enough to HTML program a website, but are so dumb in so many other respects.
Raimando refused to share any ideas on how to fight Takfiris. He didn't seem to even want to fight Takfiris. Maybe he thinks that all 7 billion of us humans have sinned, and deserve all that is coming our way? Many leftists seem to share the Catholic "we are all sinners" mentality.
Mojo, there is evidence that Saddam backed AQ linked anti-Shia groups against Iran. Zarkawi actually fought alongside these groups in the 1980s to kill Pakistani (and possibly Afghan) Shia. It is simply untrue to say that Saddam did not work with AQ linked networks. It is also true that Saddam and AQ linked networks didn't trust and hated each other. But that didn't prevent them from working together.
Has anyone noticed that Craig said to K, that he wasn't going to address me any more, yet he still is addressing me?
And yet I, without announcing it, am the one who hasn't been addressing him ...
Christians United for Israel and Attacking Iran
T"hough the national sentiment favors wrapping up the Iraq War, there exists a small but powerful movement for starting a new military conflict with Iran. The bipartisan drumbeats for aggression reverberate throughout the corridors of Congress. House Resolution 362 and Senate Resolution 580, for example, call on the United States to prevent Iran from "acquiring a nuclear weapons capability through all appropriate economic, political, and diplomatic means."..."
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5471
Check out some of the speakers:
EXCERPT:
"....Another panelist, Representative Mike Pence (R-IN), urged the attendees to make their support for HR 362 known to their members of Congress.
We attended this "the Rapture" meets "Clash of Civilizations" session – on the only day open to the press. We listened to the never-ending chorus from Bauer, Pence, Representative Elliot Engel (D-NY), and The Weekly Standard editor William Kristol who kept telling the assembled crowd why Americans must fear "Islamo-fascists"/"Islamo-radicals"/"death worshippers," and their other scary names for Muslims. Panels curiously closed to the press at the three-day conference included "Iran: Eye of the Storm," "Radical Islam: In Their Own Words" and "How to Stop Funding the Enemy: Divestment, Sanctions and Boycotts."....."
Marion does not respond to the questions asked of her:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments...1992179/
#301305
http://www.haloscan.com/comments...1992179/
#301335
http://www.haloscan.com/comments...1992179/
#301341
http://www.haloscan.com/comments...2579248/
#301240
How many questions and requests have I asked of you and others here that have gone unanswered or non responded to anand?
Why do I have to respond to every question, yet you don't hold yourself and everyone else here to the same standards?
And while I am a single person, as opposed to a team of people like yourselves, you are expecting me to respond to all of your questions...?
How about holding yourself to your own standards by responding to my requests for providing your links and/or evidences to back up all of your accusations and allegations stated here, which most of the time you don't bother to do...Do you see me always whining like you do, when you don't respond to my questions?
No you don't, because as I have better things to do....
Marion, I do back up my "allegations." They are in the above links. But there are so many comments here at Mojo that you seldom read read those particular comments of mine.
I don't consider what I say "accusations;" they are merely observations. Why do you always assume I am criticizing Iran or Shia? I am pretty pro Persian and pro Shia if you haven't noticed, and most of my observations have a positive connotation with respect to Persians, Shia, and Shia clerics.
Marion, I am not your enemy. Mojo isn't either. I am pretty sure K and M don't. Or Mirandian. Or CH. Or Lynette. Even Maury probably doesn't hate you. He thinks you are insane. But he doesn't hate you. Andrea seems too warm hearted to hate anyone.
Yeah, you irritate Craig a bunch. So what? The rest of us have spoken up for you. I have told him that I think you are well intentioned but confused.
So Marion, please lighten up. It's all cool 
"And while I am a single person, as opposed to a team of people like yourselves, you are expecting me to respond to all of your questions...?" -Marion
WHAT!?
Marion, you have Bruno, Marion Fan, Anand from Absurdstan, DJ, hmmm, Xoid, IVAW, Anders and many, many more all on your "team" spamming this blog.
I agree that with friends like that it might be better to be on your own, but work with what you've got.
But be honest. You won't answer Anand's questions because thinking about the answers would cause your brain to melt like a Tower 7 steal beam hit with a Zionist heat ray.
Has anyone noticed that Craig said to K, that he wasn't going to address me any more, yet he still is addressing me?
That isn't what I said> I said I wasn't going to try to have serious discussion with you anymore. And that instead I would just ridicule you, like I do with Bruno. I'm not surprised that somebody with your low IQ doesn't understand the difference, though.
And yet I, without announcing it, am the one who hasn't been addressing him ...
Sorry dear, but it looks to me like you just announced it? :P
Marion does not respond to the questions asked of her:
I noticed that a long time ago, anand. I even answered one of her "challenges" that I prove she actually said what she said. She completely ignored it. Marion is a hypocrite. As well as a retard.
As well as a retard.
Craig
Wow Craig, how "christian" of you.
You are a hateful, abusive bully.
DJ, it's interesting that somebody like you who uses multiple identities in order to make cowardly personal attacks on people talks about "abusive bullies" - or about Christian values, for that matter. It's also interesting that you can't decide whether you are a male or a female, and have such a fascination with rape. I don't know what your behavior would tell a psychologist, but it tells me you are pretty fucked up in the head.
"Has anyone noticed that Craig said to K, that he wasn't going to address me any more, yet he still is addressing me?" -Marion
This is, in fact, the opposite of what Craig said, Marion. I implored Craig to stop addressing you, if he truly thought you were a lost cause. Instead he insisted that he wants to keep insulting you.
"Oh! A link from antiwar.com with the words "al jazeera" in it! I'll heard *right* over!" -Craig
Sorry for the confusion Craig. I posted as Anonymous by mistake. I reposted DJ's (oh sorry I mean "Xoid's") clip because, despite the source, I thought it was great to see Antiwar.com post their own flustered fruity founder getting a spanking from Hitchens that sent him crying back to San Fransisco. And on Al Jazzeera no less!
Craig, Nazar Janabi was also pretty cool in that clip. I felt bad about Raimondo. He seemed so over his head. How can someone who edits and updates a website as active as antiwar.com know so little about Al Qaeda, Takfiris and the middle east. It was truly stunning to see.
Tariq Ali might be an idiot, but he actually "knows" at least something about the topic (having grown up in Pakistan.)
I always look for people who are facsinated about the people of the greater middle east, their culture, history, what makes them tick. People with great love and curiousity about islam and all its varied diverse cultures.
Raimando is as curious as a door nail. He reminds me of President Bush :P
"You won't answer Anand's questions because thinking about the answers would cause your brain to melt like a Tower 7 steal beam hit with a Zionist heat ray."
dude don't you know that bombs brought down all the towers on 9/11? Bombs planted by Mossad agents - the same Mossad agents who mass murder Iraqis today! Viva la resistance!
"Marion, you have Bruno, Marion Fan, Anand from Absurdstan, DJ, hmmm, Xoid, IVAW, Anders and many, many more all on your "team" spamming this blog."
In other words,Bruno and DJ.
"and many, many more"
And DJ.
:D
Hassan Nasrallah
By Noam Chomsky
Jul 22, 2008
http://www.zcommunications.org/b.../blog/view/
1798
"Osama Bin Laden: A Chomsky Fan"
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/...ently-produced/
"Craig, watch the video. It is interesting - Nazar Janabi says Al Qaeda defeated itself by killing Iraqi Sunni Arabs, the people they were supposed to protect."--Mojo
I remember saying something along this line here myself that Al Qaeda is defeating itself and yet not a single one of you thought it was interesting at the time...
I suppose it is was because I also happen to believe that both Al Qaeda and the occupation have been feeding off from each. I don't necessarily believe that Al Qaeda went to Iraq to protect the Sunnis but to even more create civil strife between the Sunnis and other Iraqis in order to recruit Sunnis in Iraq who were not necessarily Baathists to fight against their fellow Iraqis. And this has effectively helped give the U.S. just the excuse it needs to continue its occupation of Iraq.
Why would Al Qaeda want to prolong the U.S. occupation of Iraq? For a number of strategic reasons, to help it recruit more members and fighters to its ideology, to create chaos so that it can manipulate the people into simultaneously fighting against themselves and the occupation, to make more than one war front in the region which makes it harder for the foreign occupier to effectively fight, etc.
And why would the U.S. want to continue the occupation, because it wants to control the region for its interests.
I also argue that as long as the occupation remains in Iraq it effectively gives the Al Qaeda leaders the excuse it needs to encourage its fighters to go to Iraq and simultaneously helps them recruit disenfranchised Sunni Iraqis to fight against their fellow Iraqis who are they just happen to consider as infidels...
And I argue that if the occupation, which has also been dividing the Iraqi people, were to end, the Iraqis will have no choice but to find a way to over come their differences which is the best deterrent factor against Al Qaeda, as well as the foreign occupiers divide and conquer strategies...
So Osama Bin Laden is allegedly a fan of Chomsky, yet Bin Laden doesn't agree with Chomsky on Sayed Hassan Nasrallah...And even though Chomsky is not a fan of Osama Bin Laden...
Bin Laden is obviously confused....
"Chavez boosts Chomsky book sales"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ameri...cas/
5379650.stm
""Marion, you have Bruno, Marion Fan, Anand from Absurdstan, DJ, hmmm, Xoid, IVAW, Anders and many, many more all on your "team" spamming this blog.""--Maury
Maury you happen to a lot more about Bruno, Marion Fan, Anand from Absurdstan, DJ, hmmm, Xoid, IVAW, Anders, etc. than I do...
Just because we happen to agree with each other on the occupation of Iraq being illegal and that the Iraqis have the right to resist that occupation doesn't make us a team working together...
We argue as individuals, not as a team ..
In other words we do not team up together to argue against individuals like you all tend to do...
Correction : Maury you happen to know a lot more about....
”So Osama Bin Laden is allegedly a fan of Chomsky”
Marion
Osama Bin Laden just said he was. I know that isn’t sufficient proof for you. I’m sure the tape was doctored by the Zionist Neo-con conspiracy.
Marion, you should learn to work as a team; you might find a job.
Marion, I am the one who said:
"Marion, you have Bruno, Marion Fan, Anand from Absurdstan, DJ, hmmm, Xoid, IVAW, Anders and many, many more all on your "team" spamming this blog."
Oh I know you guys don't work well as a team. You three don't strike me as the types that "play well with others".
And I can assure you, as an atheist that when you say things like:
"There is a major difference between submitting to an Infallible Allah, Our Creator, and learning from and taking the advice of fallible Imams who were created by Allah Our Creator" -Marion
Bruno gets a little shiver down his spine. I doubt he would ever admit it in front of you, but trust me, it's there.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments...?
a=53780#301494
Marion refuses to even read the questions asked of her, or evidence of Khomeini and the senior Quom clerics' collaboration with Israel against Saddam, and with the West against Mossedegh and the Shah.
"I remember saying something along this line here myself that Al Qaeda is defeating itself and yet not a single one of you thought it was interesting at the time..."
No doubt you hid that one-liner in an avalanche of goobleygook last time too. You know what they say about a million monkeys typing...
"And I argue that if the occupation, which has also been dividing the Iraqi people, were to end, the Iraqis will have no choice but to find a way to over come their differences which is the best deterrent factor against Al Qaeda, as well as the foreign occupiers divide and conquer strategies..."
Marion,Iraq was conquered after three weeks back in '03. As the "conquerer",the U.S. could have ruled Iraq for decades,if not centuries,if it so chose. Just like Russia could stay in Georgia for decades if they choose...and there's not a damned thing anyone can do about it. And yeah,we could have easily divided Iraq into ethnic enclaves and perched ourselves over the oil until every last drop was gone. Who was going to stop us Marion....you? The UN? Certainly not Bruno. Fortunately for Iraq,the American people would never stand for something like that. We see ourselves as liberators,not rulers.
Iraqis have already rejected Al Qaida....so your premise that the U.S. has to pull out to make that happen is obviously wrong.
"dude don't you know that bombs brought down all the towers on 9/11? Bombs planted by Mossad agents - the same Mossad agents who mass murder Iraqis today! Viva la resistance!" -Mojo
Common misconception Mojo. You see, Mossad miscalculated. Steel melts at 100,000 Jewish degrees. And as the learned O'Donnell has taught us, steel must completely liquefy before a building can collapse.
The agent's planted bombs were just not enough.
So the Democratic Entity had to activate it's secret heat ray which is, along with it's one million invisible nuclear warheads, hidden in Georgia.
I risk assassination by reveling this information.
K, I can’t believe you just spilled the beans. This will be reported to illuminati commander Z.
Opps.
I remember saying something along this line here myself that Al Qaeda is defeating itself and yet not a single one of you thought it was interesting at the time...
That's because everyone here has known that for 2 years now, Marion. What is interesting is that you and the antiwar.com dude have just discovered it... no doubt, you discovered it when you could no longer claim the resistance was winning, right?
As much as I dislike Riverbend, I have to admit she was the first one I saw claiming that the Sunni resistance in Iraq was wanting to work with Americans. I disbelieved her at the time, and thought she was up to something. But it turns out she was right.
"Marion refuses to even read the questions asked of her, or evidence of Khomeini and the senior Quom clerics' collaboration with Israel against Saddam, and with the West against Mossedegh and the Shah.
anand"--anand
To make it easier for me and help me save me time, why don't you just copy and past the excerpts from the articles which specifically claim Khomeini's collaborations, followed by the website address. And which article makes the claim that Khomeini stopped supporting the Shah after he allowed women to wear bikinis on the beaches?
K,
Bruno and I don't have to agree on everything to be in agreement concerning the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq...
"It has now become clear to you and the entire world the impotence of the democratic system and how it plays with the interests of the peoples and their blood by sacrificing soldiers and populations to achieve the interests of the major corporations."
Osama Bin Laden
NOAM CHOMSKY IS “among one of the most capable of those from your own side,”
Osama Bin Laden
http://www.hoover.org/publicatio...ew/
3458371.html
"The Intellectual Origins of America-Bashing"
By Lee Harris
"The utopian leanings of latter-day radicalism"
Marion, here is some academic work so you can rise above being a living cliché.
Khomeini's collaborations:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments...1992179/
#301305
http://www.haloscan.com/comments...1992179/
#301335
http://www.haloscan.com/comments...1992179/
#301341
http://www.haloscan.com/comments...2579248/
#301240
Marion, read the evidence yourself.
"And which article makes the claim that Khomeini stopped supporting the Shah after he allowed women to wear bikinis on the beaches?"
Khomeini and the senior Quom clergy turned against the Shah in part because of the degradation of values among young people. Why do you think they turned against the Shah (who they helped install in power against Mossadeq in 1953.) To be clear, I am aware of no clip where Khomeini claims to turn against the Shah because of beaches. But seriously Marion, don't you think beaches and perceived immorality were contributing factors?
Iran had one of the fastest growing economies in the world 1953 to 1973. There were massive reduction in poverty and increases in living standards. The Shah was quite popular in 1973, which unfortunately allowed him to avoid transforming Iran into a free democracy. This was on of his great mistakes.
When the Iranian economy went into a tailspin 1973-1979 (like the global economy more generally), the Shah's popularity plummeted and the Shah's many core supporters turned against him. Khomeini, with the help of the West, road this wave of unpopularity and economic recession to drive the Shah out of power and install himself as dictator.
Mojo/K/Maury/Aton/Kafir/CH/Lynette/Mirandian/Craig /David et all, I think the reason Marion is so unfamiliar with Persia, Quom, and Khamenei is because she married a Lebanese Shia family and only sees Iran through their limited perspective (She might not have visited Quom.) She might be more knowledgeable of Hezbollah and Lebanon.
She also does not seem to be very interested in Shia theology. She seems more interested in politics and current events.
Marion, there is no shame in knowing less about Iran, Quom and Shia theology than other people. It is okay. I don't think you would support Khamenei and his faction (most of the clerics in Quom oppose him) as strongly as you do if you knew more about Iran, Khamenei, Quom and Shia theology.
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