Not that the Taliban have any sudden affinity for animal rights: The apparent target was a police commander who stood up to the group in the '90s. "80 die in bombing at Afghan dog fight," by Allauddin Khan for the Associated Press:
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide bombing at an outdoor dog fighting competition killed 80 people and wounded scores on Sunday, an Afghan governor said. It appeared to be the deadliest terror attack in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
A prominent militia commander who stood up against the Taliban was killed in the attack and officials said he may have been the target.
Several hundred people, including Afghan militia leaders, had gathered to watch the competition on the western edge of the southern city of Kandahar. Witnesses reported gunfire from bodyguards after the blast but it was not immediately clear how many of the casualties might have been caused by bullets.
Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid said 80 people had been killed in the attack. Abdullah Fahim, a Health Ministry spokesman, said 70 were wounded.
Khalid blamed the attack on "the enemy of Afghanistan," which typically means the Taliban. The attack's apparent target, Abdul Hakim Jan, served as a commander of an auxiliary police force, a government-backed security force made of area tribesmen that is often shorthand for a local militia operating with government approval.
But a Taliban spokesman denied the militant group was behind the attack.
"That is not our work and I will not take responsibilty for it," Qari Yousef Ahmadi said.
The Taliban often claim responsibility immediately after major attacks against police and army forces — often naming the bombers — but shy away from claiming attacks with high civilian casualties.
Kandahar, the Taliban's former stronghold and Afghanistan's second largest city, is one of the country's largest opium poppy producing areas. The province has been the scene of fierce battles between NATO forces, primarily from Canada and the United States, and Taliban fighters over the last two years.
Unlike in the U.S., where star Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison for his role in a dogfighting operation, dog fights are a popular form of entertainment in Afghanistan.
German shepherds, bully kuttas and Afghan mastiffs do not fight until death but rather until one dog pins another or one of the fighters runs away. The dogs have clipped ears and tails and carry the scars of battle.
The events can attract hundreds of spectators who cram into a tight circle around the spectacle. The sport was banned under Taliban rule.
Yes, dog fighting certainly is bad. But in their mindset, apparently suicide bombings and other acts of jihadist violence are nonetheless just fine.
The blast crumpled several Afghan police trucks and left bloodstains around the barren dirt field. Afghan soldiers donated blood at Kandahar's main hospital after the attack, said Dr. Durani, who goes by only one name.
"There are too many patients here," he said. "Some of them are in very serious condition."
Wali Karzai, brother of President Hamid Karzai and the president of Kandahar's provincial council, said the target of the attack was Jan.
Jan was the provincial police chief in Kandahar in the early 1990s and was the only commander in the province to stand up against the Taliban during its rule, said Khalid Pashtun, a parliamentarian who represents Kandahar.
"Hakim Jan is one of the important, prominent jihadi commanders in Kandahar," Pashtun said. "There were so many people gathered and of course the Taliban and al-Qaida usually target this kind of important people."
Still not an "interior spiritual struggler."
Jan was most recently appointed the commander of an auxiliary police force — a government-backed security force made of area tribesmen that is often shorthand for a local militia operating with government approval — to protect the Arghandab, a strategic area north of Kandahar.
But.....are the dogs okay?
Jan has been described as
an anti-Taliban militia leader,
a powerful tribal elder and former Kandahar police chief
A prominent militia commander who stood up against the Taliban,
a senior Afghan National Auxiliary Police commander
He has been a player in most of the goings-on in the Arghandab for the last 20 years.
Was he a Good Guy? Bad Guys killed him.
I JUST HOPE THAT NO DOGS WHERE INJURED AS A RESULT AS THE POOR MUTTS ALREADY SUFFER ENOUGH
For any who thought that dogs where taboo click on the link below and scroll down for pix from one of these disgusting dog fights they have in Afghanistan
Warning some of the pixs are graphic
http://illustratedpig.blogspot.com/2008/02/moslem-what-have-you-to-say-to-this.html
well I betpeople for the treatment of animals
is crying about dogs, and not the people and some of the more radical members that belong to F.O.E.
Might be wondering, how to duplicate it in the USA
Poor dogs!!!
Oh. So, these were dogs being forced to fight each other. For a moment I thought it was an air battle between the Taleban and US airforces.
Why am I suspicious of this claim? Why do I think it might be more excuse-making and minimalizing about the jihadis by our media? "Well, yes, they have dog fighting, but unlike our evil and violent dogfighting, they practice a peaceful and tolerant form of dogfighting." Is the reporter an expert on Afghan dogfighting practices? I bet if someone were to fact-check this, it'd turn out to be B.S. faster than Hesham Islam's resume.
doglover said
I don't know about PETA, but I know I feel more pity for the dogs in this story than the people involved in this "sport" and involved in intra-Islamic violence. My Giveadamn Meter © is stuck on zero when I hear about Hakim Jan and the 80 other jihadi dogfighting aficianados.
And as Robert highlighted, it is a Muslim who describes Hakim Jan as a "jihadi". Surprise surprise: I don't think he means an "inner spiritual struggler". As long as it's not a filthy kufir using the word, they have no problem using it.
What makes me sick is, that billions is being poured into this land of baboons, yet one of our best allies has been betrayed
RIP KOSOVO
http://illustratedpig.blogspot.com/2008/02/on-this-day-feb-17-betrayal.html
Hmm, since dogs are najis (unclean) to Muslims -which somehow doesn't prevent Afghani Muslims from watching and wagering on dog fights- I wondered if they are trained to help the blind.
In the U.S., a number of cases have arisen where Muslim cabdrivers refused to allow guide dogs into their cabs for religious reasons. See: http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/538
But then there is this, from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3087362.ece "A RETRIEVER is in training to become the first dog in Britain to be permitted to enter a mosque, acting as a guide for its blind Muslim owner.
The animal has been chosen because it salivates less than usual, thus reducing the risk of flicking spittle onto other worshippers at the Al Falah mosque in Leicester.
Keeping pet dogs is considered “haram” (the Arabic word for “forbidden”) in Islamic teaching, because they are regarded as unclean, particularly their saliva.
The mosque took its decision after advice from imams and scholars at the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), who carried out a full review of Islamic teaching on dogs."
The MBC apparently found some wiggle room, and I thought the doors of ijtehad were closed?!
The "the enemy of Afghanistan" is tribal Islam.
Yet another suicide bomber. Ho-hum.
Is it just me, or does anyone else think killing 80 people is excessive collateral damage, when the target was one man?
The mass murderer(s) got their guy, though, so I guess it's okay.
Hmm, since dogs are najis (unclean) to Muslims -which somehow doesn't prevent Afghani Muslims from watching and wagering on dog fights- I wondered if they are trained to help the blind. - Lex
And so are pigs. Why both najis? Let's think a moment... they both eat shit! What brilliant deduction of logic, for that perfect man. Not bad reasoning for a caravan raiding Arab desert warlord! (pbuh)
Don't anyone think for one eye blink that the Taliban forbade dog fighting out of a desire to prevent cruelty to animals; they didn't. The ban was on all sporting events. Sporting events prevent the people from their duty to worship Allah and Mohammed every waking milisecond.
Abscedere, yep they killed eighty to get one, but the seventy-nine were sinners according to true-blue Muslims.
//emperors-clothes.com/analysis/lovein.htm
This is OT Re: US-backed Kosovo "Independence" just declared. This is just a little bit about the thugs our elected "leaders" are giving their praises and total backing to. Only a small part of their evil. The evil that the US and NATO are pushing into Europe.
Ruslan Tokhchukov, EnragedSince1999.
Keep this in mind: the State Department REGULARLY attacks secular measures adopted in European countries. If American Imans fatwahed in favor of allowing wagers on fighting among "unclean" animals, the State Dept would accept same as an exercise of religious freedom.
How far should the mortal Muslim enemy be indulged in the West? That is being discussed in the Canadian province of Quebec. Unfortunately, a co-chair of the commission on "Reasonable Accomodation" is Charles Taylor, a co-founder of the New Left Review. The NLR initiated the alliance between the Left and political Islam. A major theme in NLR is: treatment of Islamist groups as part of the revolutionary-democratic movement to world socialism. Talal Asad and M al-Tabawi are early NLR carriers of the Islamofascist infestation of atheistic Marxism. Of course, atheists and communists are slaughtered in Islamic states, where there is no permitted exercise of freedom of conscience. Still, Marxists like Taylor only see their allies' total enmity to capitalism and "bourgeois freedom." Marxists take a leap of faith, by operating on the fiction that Islamofascists will accept radical secular models.
http://www.accommodements.qc.ca/communiques/index-en.html
In fact, all the leftist submitters to the Bouchard-Taylor commission, are endorsing anti-secular practises. The indulgence-license mentality is best described in this brief submitted by pro-veil morons:
http://www.accommodements.qc.ca/documentation/memoires/Montreal/al-hidaya-association-debating-reasonable-accommodations-can-a-progressive-nation-overcome-racism.pdf
"If the French model of secularization is adopted in Quebec we will only harvest consequences similar to those manifested in France. Quebec will turn from a harmonious civil culturally rich province to a place of ghettos where resentment, anger, and stigma prevail, leading into rivalry and violence which of course the (federal) government would suppress by force (which touches on the sovereignty of Quebec and its independent identity); another right of expression suppressed.
Not long ago, these problems were lived in our neighboring country were racism against blacks was institutionalized."
The Commission conclusion is pre-determined, on Charles Taylor's ideological agenda: Muslim political activism must be allowed to flourish, because it challenges Western Civilization. A free-range must be created for jihadis so that they can build a base, upon which the foundations of communism will rise.
Nice try AP; the Taleban banned dog fights because dogs are haram, not because of compassion for dogs. Ten bucks says there was no rule against letting the roosters go at it.
Kosovo Establishes Islamic Heroin Republic With EU & US Blessing
http://sheikyermami.com/2008/02/17/kosovo-establishes-islamic-heroin-republic-with-eu-us-blessing/
Re my last entry, it has to be said that Jihad Watch is lax in understanding the Left-Islamo alliance, notwithstanding its hold on the Euro-Parliament of Dhimmis.
I have to point to Mr Spencer's reliance on Hugh-Fitz, whose Christian non-interference agenda inhibits objectivity.
Attitudes to religion in general aren't declared here. Therefore, as an Atheist, I believe that religion is the implantation of fiction on the brain. Hugh-Fitz would strongly disagree, because he bears the implant of god-fiction, and he evades situations where cognitive-dissonance would jar him into reality.
Re Taliban "morality," it has been falsely reported that they banned the opium trade. In fact, in Kamal Matinuddin's book, "The Taliban Phenomenon, 1994-7" he writes that they took a "15%" cut of proceeds. More omininous was their indulgence of heroin production which was non-existent in Afghanistan, prior to Taliban rule.
As for heroin, the UN reports that under the Karzai (a Pashto supremacist) farce - which is eradicating the non-Pashto opium industry - heroin factories are flourishing on the border with Pakistan, which now has 4,000,000 heroin addicts, thanks to Bush-Karzai. Helmond District, which produces most of the world's heroin, has been allowed to re-Talibanize, because Bush wants to keep a political opening for a negotiated settlement with Taliban/al-Qaeda. The Saudis - which strongly supported Taliban - want Salifist power in the Afghanistan government. As do they want it in Palestine, where Bush is working for the Saudi "two-state, 1967 lines" farce.
Reminder: after the Superbowl incident involving Janet Jackson's exposed breast, Bush imposed $750,000 fines on broadcasters who violate his moral standards. Yet he allows raw heroin to flood world markets. Great moral leadership. Excellent food for Obama.
I'll be especially interested to hear Hugh's take on this.
But I'm enjoying my "brain implant" more and more all the time (and it looks so natural, to boot).
special_guest wrote, ""Well, yes, they have dog fighting, but unlike our evil and violent dogfighting, they practice a peaceful and tolerant form of dogfighting." :^) Is that like "Benign Beheading?"
Speaking of cock fights, a Google search of the question "Are roosters haram?" turned up a funny March 20, 2007 JW thread: http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015726.php
Excerpt: "We’ve got the ability to capture a nice bunch of blue-eyed, blond-haired officers and feed them to our fighting cocks. Iran has enough people who can reach the heart of Europe and kidnap Americans and Israelis.” ~Reza Faker – believed to have close links to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
P.S. The comments are hilarious!
Fasten your seat-belts:
From today's Australian:
Hardline imams sought to fight terror
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23230521-2702,00.html
'Let the fox guard the chicken coop', sez former Scotland Yard 'terrorism expert'
HARDLINE Muslim spiritual leaders who preach the fundamentalist Salafi brand of Islam espoused by Osama bin Laden have become the latest recruits in combating global terrorism.
Australian security agencies have been urged by former Scotland Yard counter-terrorism expert Robert Lambert to enlist key Salafi leaders - who are widely perceived to be part of the radicalisation problem - to help prevent young Muslims from embracing al-Qa'ida's ideology.
* Wanna bet that former Scotland Yard 'counter-terrorism expert' Robert Lambert is now also a well paid 'consultant' to the Sowd's?
Not sure where you're coming from supercargo, but Hugh has indicated many times that he is an atheist. Just google; "hugh fitzgerald" "atheist" for proof.
Pez and everybody else, once again, dogs are not the issue; roosters are not the issue. Sport is the issue. Do you all remember when the true-blue Muslims in Somalia were running around making people stop watching the soccer matches on TV? The Taliban outlawed kite flying!
Muslims are only allowed to do a few things; sport is not one of them unless it can be applied to jihad training.
You people who are greiving for the poor dogs remind be of when I was in a theater watching "Dances with Wolves." The only time I heard any audience reaction was when the wolf was shot by a soldier.
"Poor Dog"
"Oh, they shot the dog."
Disgusting bunch of weepy children wrapped up in adult skin.
Check this opinion:
http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=4814
Excerpts:
. . . the Noble Qurãn on no less than five places warns about this worldly life - that this life is but a sport and a past-time. The two words used are 'lahw' and 'laáb' which the Jurists have defined as games, sports, and past-times. Basically 'lahw' and 'laáb' do not bring any benefit and together takes one away from the remembrance of Allah Taãla and the Hereafter.
Jurists have commented that a sport/game :
a) which has no religious Or worldly benefit is not permissible;
b) which has worldly or religious benefit is subjected to the following conditions:
i) that none of it should be contrary to the Shariáh
ii) that it (the sport/game) should not resemble the sport/games specifically identified with other religious communities e.g. Yoga;
c) which may have some worldly and/or religious benefit but includes an impermissible act e.g. wrestling (exposing the awrah).
Before 911, right before it, an Afghani Northern Alliance leader that opposed the Taliban was assassinated. 911 attacks soon followed. I'm not saying this is the same but it should be noted. It's been quiet for awhile.
On another note, Rageboy singing "infidels" (jingle bells) on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk7IN3RNwko
"The only games allowed by Islam are shooting and horse racing, and only for fighting...."
-Ayatollah Khomeini
Clearly no one at the dogfight was a true Muslim.
From another Islamic opinion:
Rasulullah (Sallallaaahu Álayhi Wasallam) said, "Every game of man is Haraam except three: a man plays with his wife, breaking (training) one's horse and archery."
In another Hadith, Ibn Umar (Radhiyallaahu Ánhu) reports that Rasulullah (Sallallaaahu Álayhi Wasallam) said, "Teach your children swimming and
archery."
AK-47 is not mentioned.
shiva:"What makes me sick is, that billions is being poured into this land of baboons, yet one of our best allies has been betrayed. RIP KOSOVO"
Well said as usual, shiva. There is a kind of logic in the madness though.
NATO are defending a Koran inspired Constitution in Afghanistan
and murdering Infidels in Kosovo to further the Jihadists cause.
Can't accuse NATO of not having an agenda.
Pelayo wrote: "You people who are greiving for the poor dogs remind be of when I was in a theater watching 'Dances with Wolves.' The only time I heard any audience reaction was when the wolf was shot by a soldier.
'Poor Dog'
'Oh, they shot the dog.'
Disgusting bunch of weepy children wrapped up in adult skin."
I confess to being one of the "weepy children" who teared up when the wolf was shot in that film, but that was primarily because it was such a crappy film there were no human characters worth shedding a tear over. I have no time for loony animal-rights activists, but at the same time I have no time for the smugly righteous who see compassion for lower life forms as an unforgivable indulgence. Compassion for animals is a sign of civilization. So-called cultures that abuse, neglect, torture, and otherwise mistreat animals generally don't have a very good record for how they treat each other, either.
From above: Compassion for animals is a sign of civilization.
It is also a sign of a decent human being...
There are some societies where dog is eaten regularly.
By the way, proper slaughter of food animals according to Kosher and Islamic rules is a rather inhumane way to kill an animal.
There are some societies where dog is eaten regularly.
That's a fact, too bad those people don't have something better to eat. Probably would eat most anything. I understand in China, everything except pavement, is food. Not enough Big Mac's I suppose.
Certain cultures do eat dogs. I wonder when that started and why. A good dog is more useful alive than eaten...The intelligent long ago stated that dogs are mans best friends. I guess the people who eat, or brutalize them, them are a little slow in getting the message...
Duh_swami, I got a very nasty bite once by a cute little dog while on my paper route. I would have gladly sampled its deep fried front leg and shoulder - meatier than a chicken leg and thigh.
Do I like dogs? Sort of, I like my dog.
Getting a little off-topic in these here parts.
I love animals -- especially cats. One cat in particular.
But I don't expect everyone to share that enthusiasm, any more than I expect everyone to share my enthusiasm for, say, sushi, a certain tv crime drama, or Chopin. Especially not as a prerequisite for making common cause against jihadists.
And I don't think it's fair to tar those who are cruel to animals and those who are simply disinterested with the same brush, just as it wouldn't be fair to dismiss all pet owners and nature enthusiasts as immoderately devoted, or silly.
Now... how 'bout that Taliban?
"The only games allowed by Islam are shooting and horse racing, and only for fighting...."
-Ayatollah Khomeini
So, having sex with animals is permissible in Islam because it involves a different kind of game. I think I'm beginning to understand, and this actually scares me somewhat :(
OK, Marisol - back on track -
To get one person, apparently, they killed 79 others and several uncounted dogs. The 79 may have been Taliban opponents and allies of the targeted militia commander. It's like Capone wiping out the Moran gang on a cold Valentine's Day many years ago.
Large crowds attract large bombs.
I have observed that threads usually drift off course when the thread has been dissected and there is nothing pertinent left to add.
Unless we start discussing dogs again, I'm finished with this one for the time being.
Islam: cruelty is our signature.
Yeah, I gotta say that I feel most sorry for the dogs in all this. They are the real victims here. No one should make excuses for barbaric practices. Having studied the wars in Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion, I, too, highly doubt the AP's account of the Afghan dog-fights coming to a benign conclusion. This is the same backwards society that also pits dogs against bears and other wild animals as a "sport." Anyone who was watching the dogfight was seriously disturbed; no amount of cultural relativism can change that. So there seems to be a bit of karma coming full circle in this. I feel much sorrier for people who were killed by the suicide bombing in the pet bazaar in Baghdad than this bombing.
And yes, Pelayo, large crowds will attract large bombs. The Taliban and al-Qa'ida will stop at nothing to target their enemies.
Despite the Moslems' disparagement of dogs, these animals appear to fascinate them.
Take this spectator sport of Moslems, taken from Zack Lieberberg's Psalm 137 (By the Rivers of Babylon):
[Zack Lieberberg speaking]
" . . . they gave me my first-hand experience of living among Muslims and the basis for understanding them, their grievances, and their dreams. More often than not, those bits of understanding were gained from isolated, seemingly meaningless episodes.
"One such episode occurred on a summer morning, before dawn, when, for a reason I no longer remember, I had to go somewhere with a friend of mine. I was waiting for him near the Aeroflot ticket office where he was supposed to pick me up. He was late. I felt sleepy and bored. The streets were empty, with the exception of a small group of people standing in a tight circle near the corner at the end of the block. Judging by their clothes and by the heavy bags they were holding, they were Azeri peasants on their way to the marketplace. They were all looking at something located at their feet inside the circle. They resembled people watching the victim of a fatal accident while waiting for the authorities to pick up the body.
"But there had been no accident. I decided to come closer to take a look. The group paid no attention to me. They were completely absorbed in the spectacle unfolding on the sidewalk in front of them. They were watching it in reverent silence. Their rough, peasant faces were solemn and seemed illuminated by an inner light of the kind that can sometimes be seen on the face of a man when he is reading a favorite book which he hadn't touched for years. He knows what's going to happen, but that knowledge does not diminish his pleasure. Not having ever witnessed an execution, I imagine that those who have might have a somewhat similar expression on their faces: the complex combination of the sadness of the event, the physical revulsion at the inevitable details, and, overall, the profound feeling of rightfulness of what's happening.
"Inside their circle, nervously glancing at the silent, immobile spectators, two stray dogs were hurriedly mating.
"For a few moments after they disengaged and went their separate ways, the peasants continued standing there, looking at the now empty stage, keeping their dramatic silence while the light gradually faded from their unshaven faces. Finally, one of them moved, and the entire group slowly came back to life. Without a single word, they looked at each other's faces, and the degree of mutual understanding I saw in their eyes could only be a result of shared intimacy. At last, they too began moving apart, and, for a fraction of a second, the disintegrating group looked almost as dramatic as Rodin's The Citizens of Calais."
Psalm 137
I care more for one dog than for all the muslims in the entire world! And not because I'm a bleeding heart animal rights activist, but because dogs are better than most people, and 1000 times better than a muslim. I seriously do not give a rat's ass for the Afghans, the Pakistanis, the Iraqis, the Iranians, the Palis.....not one man, woman or child of them. Dogs are innocent. These islamic vermin are not.
Dogs are innocent. These islamic vermin are not.
Exactly!!!
When did dogs become haram in Afghanistan? Weren't Afghan hounds the best hunters? If I remember correctly they were always taken hunting, to run and bring down a deer because they were so good at it.