Victory And Jihad In Bilad As-Sham Claims Killing Of Hariri; Lebanese Army On High Alert

Others resort to the all-purpose bogeyman:

Others where quick to blame the assassination of Hariri on Israel. One official, speaking on the condition of anonymity said "who wants to create further tension with Lebanon? The Zionists in Israel of course!".~ JW

Riiiiiiiight. I can just see someone high up in the Israeli government: *light bulb!* 'I Know! Let's make the border situation with Lebanon even worse than Arafat did!'

How Stupid are some of these islamists, anyway?

And how stupid are those who argue Arafat was any kind of good for 'palestinians,' when Everywhere he ever went, 'palestinians' became his terror tool:

http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/Yassir_Arafat_1929-2004.asp

How Stupid are some of these islamists, anyway?

Extremely. After all, their idea of the ultimate weapon is a suicide bomber vest.

f.g.

If one were of a conspiratorial nature, one might posit the following:

Rafik Hariri, a fixer-businssman in the Khashoggi (Lockheed-conduit) tradition, returned years ago to Lebanon to make more money, and finally, in the last year, began to realize that Syria, and its collaborators such as Lahoud (a Christian, but a Syrian collaborator in the Hobeika (of the Sabra murder-and-mayhem) vein, , stood in the way of Lebanon's renewal. It would appear that Syrians, or Muslims who are intent on the Bilad al-Shams (the "Greater Syria" which, of course, takes in the lands of Lebanese Christians and Israeli Jews alike) wanted to punish him for his anti-Syrian effrontery.

But there is another Avenue de Paris along which the mind might stroll. This is the French connection. More exactly, the Jacques-Chirac connection. Chirac has come a long and continuously corrupt way since that summer he spent as a soda jerk at a Howard Johnson's (where he acquired that famous "love for America" that he likes to invoke whenever he is accused of being "anti-American").

Over the past few years the most attentive foreign friend of Jacques Chirac, arriving nearly monthly for a quiet tete-a-tete in which the visitor would always bring some mysterious gift in a briefcase that for some reason was never talked about in the French press, was Rafik Hariri. Hariri lived in a world, was raised in a world, got rich in a world, of mysterious connections, of bribe-giving and bribe-taking. That made sense to him, as it did to the Al-Saud family, and to Jacques Chirac. It did not occur to them that this was unusual, or something to be ashamed of -- just that it was something to be hidden from the view of Western publics.

Could it be that Hariri, toward the end, had become not merely a businessman determined to rebuild Beirut and make a fortune, but a real Lebanese patriot, and that his turning on Syria also meant that he had ended his role as conduit between Saudi Arabia and Jacques Chirac? Could it be that there were disturbing signs that he might reveal the full corruption of Chirac because he was now not turning and turning again on the Corniche, but on the Street Named Straight? Could Jacques Chirac himself have given a signal to his many Arab friends that he wanted to ensure Hariri's silence.

Or, alternatively, had not only Hariri, but Chirac turned on Syria, and begun to support Aoun and the Christians, and so Hariri, a known financial "angel" for Chirac, was murdered both in order to punish Hariri for his new independence, and as a way to deprive Chirac of those monthly injections of cash, Kniphausen hawks, and the like.

French food for thought.

No one, of course, has been more publicly indignant about Hariri's murder than Jacques Chirac. In a future movie about Chirac, Hollywood will need a new and more sinister Claude Rains (not, as in Casablanca, the crooked made straight, but rather someone to play the sinister crook who remains a crook). Perhaps John Malkovich will be available.

The French security services, or the French patriots in those services, ought to begin to reveal more of what they know about Jacques Chirac. He remains a menace to France, and to the idea of the West.

Hugh: interesting theory. I agree that John Malkovich would be perfect for the role - he does "sinister" better than any other actor I can think of. As a bonus, I believe he isn't one of the looney liberal Hollywood clique.

Islam has such a wonderful way of dealing with problems.

Reuters - Lebanese Vent Anger

Surely this will help:

"Mosque minarets across Beirut blared out readings from the Koran."

On NPR Michael Hudson, he of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown, and a loyal carrier of the Arab Muslim torch, managed to do what I was waiting for him to do: as delicately as he could, and without naming Israel, he tried to suggest with his sly cui bono argument that it could not have been Syria, for it would not have been in Syria's interest, and despite the crowing on Al-Jazeera and the identification of a Muslim suicide bomber, he did not identify any Muslim group.

No, he hissed like the serpent in Paradise Lost, it had to be someone else. Who stood to profit if Syria were put under greater pressure, and who would benefit from Lebanese fury at Hezbollah (why Hezbollah would be the object of fury was entirely unclear) -- if not....

The listener, of course, was naturally being directed by the inimitable Michaal Hudson, whose long career will deserve special mention in future books identifying all those who helped to mislead the American government, and Americans, about Islam over so many decades (other chapters may be devoted to ARAMCO, one on such ex-ambassadors as John C. West, James Akins, Charles Freeman, Andrew Kilgore, etc., another on such venal or stupid C.I.A. agents, from Raymond Close to Michael Scheuer, another on academic chairs and institutions which is where Michael Hudson will along with Esposito and a few dozen others in MESA Nostra be discussed -- all in some update of John Roy Carlson's "Under Cover").

So, in the Michael-Hudson view, so slyly put forth, the Mossad was of course behind the Muslim suicide-bomber who killed Hariri. Someone should inform Al-Jazeera, and the various crowing Muslim websites, and the Lebanese population now busy beating up Syrian migrant workers. Perhaps Michael Hudson can fly over to announce his discovery. And whom does he think was responsible for 9/11? After all, that didn't make the Muslim world, or Saudi Arabia, look good, now did it?

I saw pretty decent Arab (English language)coverage of this today on Mosaic. According to them the Group is previously unheard of and is called Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria. And the reason he was assassinated was because of his ties to Saudi Arabia. Bet Michael Hudson didn't mention that did he, I wonder how much it costs the Saudis for Hudsons loyalty.

Hariri was the 100th richest man in the world, origins are of a middle class from Sidon, and he got rich by his connnections with Prince Fahd of the Saudis, and the construction business. He had most of the contracts for building Riyadh in the wake of the 1978 Oil Embargo that brought the Kingdom so much instant wealth.

Read what the Chicago Tribune had to say about Jihad Unspun

Seeing for yourself is also advisable. The following was posted on JihadUnspun (source of story is the equally excrable Al-Jazeera):

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Israeli Soldiers Murder Boy In Hebron Before Anniversary Of Al-Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre
Feb 15, 2005
Source: Al-Jazeera

Israeli occupation soldiers have shot and killed a Palestinian boy in downtown Hebron, alleging that he tried to attack soldiers with a sharp object. However, Palestinian witnesses dispute the claim, testifying that soldiers stationed outside al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron's Old Quarter murdered 13-year-old Sabri Fayiz Rajub in cold blood.

"The soldiers were shouting at the boy, and then shot him in the leg, however as he fell down and was shivering with pain, another soldier shot him in the chest, finishing him off.

"It was cold-blooded murder," said Hilmi Jaabari, a witness.

Incorrect Reports

He dismissed earlier media reports and Israeli accounts of the incident that Rajub tried to attack soldiers with a knife as "pure fabrication."

"I saw no knife, in fact, the boy never got that close to the soldiers. So how could he ever pose a real threat to them? "But even if he had a knife, they could have dealt with him in any other way, other than killing him?"

The Israeli army Arabic correspondent Eitan Arusi said the occupation army was investigating the incident.

Through the years, Israeli occupation soldiers have killed numerous Palestinian civilians, claiming the victims had tried to stab soldiers. However, most of these claims were never independently verified and no investigations were undertaken.

Al-Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre

The latest killing comes ten days before the 11th anniversary of al-Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in Hebron (al-Khalil).

On 25 February, 1994, an American Jewish immigrant, Baruch Goldstein, attacked prayer halls at al-Ibrahimi Mosque in the compound, using a machine gun, killing at least 29 worshippers as they prostrated during the early morning prayers.

Dozens of other worshippers were also wounded in the massacre which observers of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict agree precipitated the phenomenon of human bombings. Goldstein was killed by the survivors. The bulk of the Israeli right, including the Talmudic messianic settler movement known as Gush Emunim, embraced Goldstein, arguing that he did the right thing in light of the Torah and Talmud.

Killer Rewarded

One rabbi, Dov Lior, in fact elevated Goldstein to the rank of Saints. Goldstein was buried in Kiryat Arba'a and his tomb eventually became a pilgrimage site serving as an attraction for Jewish extremists from around the world.

Hebron is home to more than 170,000 Palestinians and nearly 400 Jewish extremists who have been heavily armed with automatic weapons and who advocate the extermination, enslavement or expulsion of non-Jews in Israel and the occupied territories.

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Aside from the ludicrousness of finding some significance in one of the very, very few incidents of Jewish Israelis engaging in an act of terror, the inference that 170,000 Palestinians are held hostage by 400 Jewish extremists, and, at that, in a city that was, about a century ago, a predominantly Jewish settlement that was cleansed of its Jewish inhabitants by rampaging Muslims is priceless.

And then there's the whole issue of credibility on the Palestinian side. This is probably another story of the sort of the infamous Al-Durrah scam (aided and abetted by Charles Enderlin and France 2), or the more recent
story about the 10 year old Palestinian girl whose death was the result of Palestinians firing into the air and not the IDF, or the 16 year old, claimed as a martyr by Hamas, who was killed by rocket-firing Palestinian terrorists the youth and his family were trying to drive off of their farm.

To paraphrase Mark Twain: There are lies, there are damned lies and there are Palestinian lies.

"How Stupid are some of these islamists, anyway?"

Not stupid...just antisemitic.

Of course, anytime anything goes wrong in an Arab country, it's Israel's fault. How silly are we to suppose otherwise!

"How Stupid are some of these islamists, anyway?"

Not stupid...just antisemitic.

Posted by: MJ at February 15, 2005 03:00 PM

Since when does one preclude the other?

How Stupid are some of these islamists, anyway?"

Not stupid...just antisemitic.

I'm sorry. They are stupid in the most classic sense. Anyone, any group, that sees suicide as a path to God is just plain stupid.

Stupid: Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes.

Killing yourself and others to get to some invisible (and imaginary b.t.w.) paradise shows some extremely poor decision making skills wouldn't you agree?

If anything should be considered sacred it is life, not the supernatural or the false hopes that beliefs in it provide.

f.g.

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction". Blaise Pascal