Another person who found Osama bin Laden "a very nice man."
From Newsday:
In his testimony before a military tribunal, Saifullah Paracha said he first met Osama bin Laden, somewhat by happenstance, on a charity mission to Afghanistan in 1999.
"He delivered the Koran and said he was a prophet. He said very nice things. Very impressive," said Paracha, a prominent Pakistani entrepreneur who split his time between Karachi and New York.
As Paracha tells it, he offered bin Laden his business card, explained that he was involved in television and asked whether he would consider appearing in a film to discuss "the terrorism program."
The project never panned out, but the meeting was one of a series of associations that led the U.S. government to declare Paracha an enemy combatant in 2003 and detain him at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Moderate Muslim sighting ahead:
A moderate Muslim who lived in New York from 1971 to 1986 and owns a garment import business with a Jewish partner, Saifullah acknowledged doing business with men since identified as al-Qaida plotters but said he thought they were ordinary Pakistanis.
Sounds like the WERE ordinary Pakistanis.
"He delivered the Koran and said he was a prophet."
I thought Mohammed said that he was the last of the prophets.
jay
Osama is the Madhi who along with the 12th imam will create chaos in the world leading to a utopian Islamic caliphate covering the entire world, or something.
There must a reason why a river by the name of De-Nile runs through a Muslim country.
"Osama is the Madhi who along with the 12th imam will create chaos in the world leading to a utopian Islamic caliphate covering the entire world, or something."
If so, Beagle, he will have to duke it out with the Iranian number one Thug Ahmadinejad or whatever his name is. He too thinks he is the new Mahdi.
"Osama is the Madhi who along with the 12th imam will create chaos..."
I don't think Sunni Muslims believe in that 12th Imam business. Osama is a Sunni.
solution=eliminate islam
contest..what should Hugh assume as nom de guerre
when he goes on jeopardy?
i propose Juan Fidalgo
Osama is probably a "prophet" like Mohamed.
And it is a well-known fact that Moh didn't prophesy anything.
Prophesying means predicting something important about the future, but since Mohamed was illiterate, as Osama apparently is, they think they are prophets.
Those destructive village idiots with beards haven't got access to the dictionary to get the meaning of words right.
Democracy in the Middle East:
"One man; one vote; once."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EGYPT_BROTHERHOOD?SITE=OHDEF&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Banned Group Earns Foothold in Egypt Vote By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 19, 7:07 PM ET
A surprise showing in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary elections has given the Muslim Brotherhood its strongest political foothold ever heading into Sunday's vote, hinting at what democracy might look like in the Arab world's largest country.
Secularists and Christians were unsettled by the Brotherhood's initial showing, with the country's oldest Islamic fundamentalist group taking 34 seats, doubling its presence in parliament.
The victories have established the Brotherhood as the leader of the opposition and have proven what the government feared: that the banned group is popular among Egyptians despite, or because of, frequent crackdowns and the government's media campaign against it.
The unanswered question remains: Does Brotherhood success stem from its platform — summed up in its slogan, "Islam is the solution," vague but appealing to some in conservative Egypt — or to widespread discontent with President Hosni Mubarak's government.
Stunned by its own showing, the Brotherhood expects to win more Sunday and in the Dec. 1 third round, polls being held in provinces that include its traditional strongholds.
Some members of the Coptic Christian community were worried by the Brotherhood's showing.
"What worries me is the (Brotherhood's) vague call for implementing Islamic law," said Georget Qelliny, a Copt and former lawmaker.
She added that she was skeptical of the Brotherhood's pledge to protect the rights of all Egyptians.
Banned since 1954, the Brotherhood is not allowed to run as a political party, but it fields candidates as independents. It had 15 members in the outgoing parliament.
The group, founded in 1928, calls for implementing Islamic law but has long been vague about what this means. Its members are conservative — advocating the veil for women and campaigning against perceived immorality in the media, for example — but the group insists it represents a more moderate face of Islam than the puritanical Wahhabi version that dominates Saudi Arabia.
In the past year, Brotherhood members have presented themselves as advocates of democratic reform and have tried to reach out to Christians, though most in Egypt's Christian minority oppose them.
The government generally tolerates the group, which renounced violence in the 1970s, but hundreds of members have been detained in recent months amid increased protests against Mubarak, Egypt's leader for 24 years.
On Friday and Saturday, police detained more than 80 supporters of Abdel Hamed el-Senoussi, an Islamist candidate who is running in Sunday's elections.
A police official in Qena, southern Egypt, confirmed the detentions but would not give a reason. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
El-Senoussi, who is running as an independent, is widely regarded as a Muslim Brotherhood candidate, though he says he is not a member of the movement.
The United States has been urging Mubarak, its steadfast ally in the Middle East, to allow greater democracy. But U.S. officials also are eyeing the Brotherhood with concern.
"I think there are some serious questions about the extent to which some of those parties would defend those rights, if they were in power," especially the rights of women and religious freedom, Elizabeth Cheney, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for the Near East, told The Associated Press earlier this fall.
"A willingness to participate in the democratic system isn't proof of that somebody is a democrat. You have to be willing to protect that system and defend the rights of others," said Cheney, the daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney.
The Brotherhood won 34 seats in the first round, while the ruling NDP seized 112, after joining candidates who ran as independents, in the 454-member legislature.
The NDP is expected to retain a large majority in the body. But the Brotherhood's showing is more than about numbers. After the first round, it already is stronger than the entire opposition bloc was in the outgoing parliament.
Brotherhood lawmakers likely will be a more energized and outspoken force in parliament than the traditional opposition parties. Critics fear they will push their conservative religious agenda.
If the Brotherhood can garner 65 seats, it would be able to nominate a candidate to run for president in 2011 elections. The election wins already boost its campaign to be legalized as a political party, something the government has vowed never to allow.
Brotherhood leaders say they expect the ruling National Democratic Party to pull out whatever dirty tricks it can to prevent further embarrassing gains in the next two rounds, in which about 100 Brotherhood candidates are running. The first round was plagued by allegations of intimidation of opposition supporters and mass voting by government backers.
Brotherhood election workers already have complained that security forces banned campaign meetings in some areas of the nine provinces voting Sunday. There are 1,706 candidates from different parties and movements competing in 72 constituencies.
The movement, founded by Hassan el-Banna as an Islamic resistance movement to British occupation, has branches in many Arab countries — forming a strong opposition bloc in parliament in Jordan, for example — and the militant group Hamas grew out of its ranks among Palestinians.
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Questions or Comments
Privacy Policy -Terms of Service - Copyright/IP Policy - Ad Feedback
Wasn't allah doing Osama ' in ' by kidney damage but people interferred? He should have been dead a long time ago but, for people who believe in letting allah do as allah will, they sure step in a lot. So an earthquake hits exactly where Osama is hiding out. Maybe allah got him that time? Do they take that as a sign? Nah! Instead of thinking the actions they ARE doing need to stop because they are angering their god , they think they aren't doing enough of the actions they are already doing. They always think their god is telling them something, - well - here's your sign. Except they read it wrong.
mentat...good posting.
THe idea that an entire religion can be an enemey is very hard for good people with liberal values to understand. The only problem is that, following the news, it appears to be true.
However, we must be realistic about what we can achieve with a war against Islam. Can we really force 1/6 of the earth into religious submission? No, I don't think we have a chance in hell.The egypt story does highlight the importance of secular Arab strongmen like Mubarak and (sigh...)Saddam.Yes, compared to wetsern democracies, they are tryants. However, in a region dominated by a religion that can best be described as, well, not exactly progressive, men like Mubarak and Hussein perform a VITAL service- keeping the RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS, like Bin laden and Ahmadinejad, in check.
Mubarak is considered an ally- he clamps down hard on the bortherhood, and maintains peace with Israel. Saddam was once our friend, and was in fact propped up by US (yes, me and you) for many years. With Saddam gone, and our war going badly,the chance of a new, more dominant and aggressive RELIGIOUS Iran is a very scary and very real possibility.
We have to be realistic with what we can acheive, and secular Arab strongmen and not as bad as the alternative.
Just like those newsreels of Hitler, frolicking with Eva and the dogs, playing with the Goebbels kids... just a regular dude.