Chrenkoff: Good Guys Wear Black

This is repulsive.

"Star Wars" director George Lucas says that although he wrote the original film during the Vietnam War, his six-part saga could apply to the war in Iraq.

''In terms of evil, one of the original concepts was how does a democracy turn itself into a dictatorship,'' Lucas told a news conference at Cannes, where his final episode had its world premiere.

''The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable.

''On the personal level it was how does a good person turn into a bad person, and part of the observation of that is that most bad people think they are good people, they are doing it for the right reasons,'' he added.

Arthur Chrenkoff has a few choice words for Mr. Lucas; go read his "Open Letter" at the link.

Free Muslims Against Terror - Update 2

The Autonomist has a good post with photos.

Good comment from the thread at LGF:

the low crowd turnout had two causes:

1) muslems didn't show up, and...

2) people who claim to want to see moderate muslems to denounce jihad didn't show up.

the former, as pointed out, face ostracism and reprisals when they return home.

what was your excuse?

Now, I live in the Pacific Northwest, and I didn't have the chance to fly 3,000 miles to "the other Washington" to participate. But I know that there are things I can do in my community, and I'm doing them. Perhaps the same is true for you. No, the turnout for this event wasn't great, but it was a start, and it tells us we've got our job cut out for us. Let's keep working.

Africa Report

YU students rally against Sudan genocide. A group of students at New York's Yeshiva University organized a rally against genocide in Sudan, reports Kesher Talk: 'It got a respectable crowd, considering that it took place on Mother's Day. The rally was generated by a group of students at Yeshiva University, and there were many references to Jewish values from the podium and many kippot and tzitzit in the crowd. (Of course, the so-called social justice groups that staged the May Day rally in Union Square were nowhere to be seen.)' Judith also reports some welcome - though out-of-character - words from a Human Rights Watch representative. Read the full article at the link. (Kesher Talk)

Sudan violence rises. A recent news item reports: 'Rape, kidnapping and attacks on civilians increased last month in Sudan's Darfur region despite a growing international effort to end the bloodshed, a senior United Nations (UN) official said on Thursday. Hedi Annabi, the deputy head of UN peacekeeping operations, said African Union (AU) troops were effective in helping to stem the violence where deployed but underlined the importance of the AU's plans to beef up the force. "Instability, violence and civilian suffering in this troubled region continue," he said to the UN Security Council, adding there were also attacks on aid and relief workers. He called the attacks a "worrying trend in light of the role played by the humanitarian community in sustaining the 2.45 million conflict-affected civilians in Darfur".' A State Department report at AllAfrica notes: 'Because Jingaweit [Janjaweed]militia continue to attack civilians in Darfur and thus perpetuate a lack of security in the region, bringing short-term stability to the area will require considerable strengthening of the African Union (AU) mission in Sudan, a senior U.N. official said May 12. Assistant Secretary-General Hedi Annabi told the U.N. Security Council that organized violence continues and that attacks on civilians, rape, kidnapping and banditry actually increased in April. Although there was no evidence of direct involvement of regular government forces, there were widespread reports of abuse by the pro-government Jingaweit militia.' (AllAfrica)

Egelund: Horn of Africa crisis highlights neglect. United Nations Undersecretary General Jan Egelund cited Ethiopia and Eritrea, as well as Southern Africa, as regions slipping beneath the industrial world's radar. According to a State article at AllAfrica: 'Speaking with journalists after a private briefing to the U.N. Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Africa, Egeland said, "In general there is too little attention and there is too little investment" in Africa's humanitarian challenges. "Today a majority of our activities in Africa are badly underfunded. The majority [of projects] are less than 20 percent funded so far this year." Calling the situation in northern Uganda "one of the worse humanitarian crises in the world," the U.N. aid official warned, "We will have a break in the food pipeline in June unless we get more resources." "Already in the Horn of Africa and in parts of southern Africa we are having very meager rations and decreasing rations. In Ethiopia and Eritrea we are not able to feed all [the people] we should be feeding," Egeland said.' (AllAfrica)

Ethiopia: Election observers arrested. A recent bulletin from Stratfor (subscription service) reports: 'Ethiopia's opposition parties said May 14 that many of their election observers were arrested across the country, in addition to one candidate from the opposition United Ethiopian Democratic Forces. The opposition parties said that more than 100 observers remain in detention ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15.' (Stratfor)

Hair

Judith at Kesher talk has an excellent post in response to Andrew Sullivan's recent dishing on the subject of hair.

Sully quotes a reader who suffers from that horribly debilitating social affliction: a hairy back.

A very hairy back.
Like Robin Williams’ arm hair hairy .... There. I've said it. I've admitted it. The weight is off my shoulders, though the follicles remain. I feel much better. Knowing there are people out there like you, people who support folks with back hair almost makes life worth living again. I say almost because I do have a couple of other hurdles to clear. Like biting my fingernails rather than a manicure. And I like red meat and regular beer. But then, recovery is a process, right?"

The question then arises of people who use depilatories. Judith takes up the debate:

I personally find this fad repulsive. I haven't seen as many naked guys lately as I would like, but to whatever extent I have been exposed to the hairless pubes look, it grosses me out. If I wanted to lech on smooth hairless boys, I would be a pedophile. Men have pubic hair, pre-pubescent boys don't. Women have pubic hair, pre-pubescent girls don't. Any guy who would be turned off because I don't shave down there is going to be politely shown the door.

Judith then lets another genie out of the bottle:

I have never shaved, period. Anywhere. I have never been very hairy and as I've gotten older the body hair has gotten even thinner, so at this point it looks like I shave my legs and pits, but I don't. ...

Now, I have always wondered: Why is it that straight men have this fixation on women's armpit hair (or its absence)? Is a woman with - gasp - unshaved armpits some kind of freak? Apparently it is an abomination - nay, a crime against nature - for a woman to fail to shave under her arms. "Female armpit hair" appears to have replaced "bra-burning" the new cliche of the Scary Feminist. Or as Judith says:

What gets me is the extremes of emotion this subject generates. To listen to blog comments when the topic comes up, women who don't shave are the most repulsive civilization-destroying creatures out there, almost as bad as terrorists. And of course any woman who doesn't shave must be a brain-dead New Age antiwar moonbat hippie. ...

My social life isn't quite as glamorous as I might wish, but I can tell you one thing - I'm not going to judge a date on how scrupulously she shaves her armpits. Sheesh.

Free Muslims Against Terror - Update

Davids Medienkritik doesn't sugarcoat it - turnout at the march in Washington, DC by the Free Muslims Against Terror was disappointing. Coverage from the MSM was sparse and overtly hostile, but you already knew that. Tune in to Little Green Footballs for the inevitable snarky comments (as well as a few positive ones). Perhaps Adrenalyn says it best: The name should really be "Three Muslims Against Terror".

A Message About Iraq

This message was forwarded by Andrea "Pajamas" in Minnesota. This Ali is not Ali Fadhil of ITM / Free Iraqi fame, but another Iraqi.

I am sending you this message to thank you for your support to the Iraqi people. I would love to tell you that people like you give us a huge hope to live in a better condition. I know that things are not going very well in Iraq at the moment, but we are trying our best to defeat our enemies. The problem with us Iraqis is that the number of countries surrounding us have dictators, from the smallest security service man to the highest rank in the government. These people send their brain washed children and support them. They are countries like, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan, Egypt etc. + many Palestinians who want to solve their problems in Iraq. I wish we can see better days in Iraq soon and hope your country men will be safer.
By the way I live in London at the moment and going to Dubai tomorrow for 2 weeks. I was a regular reader to the brothers blog and comment section for a long time, but was unable to keep up with them.
Thank you again for your support and I hope Mr. Coleman will kick George Galloway's and Kofi Anan's As*es. Keep in touch.

Best Regards,

Your Iraqi friend Ali

Thanks, Andi, for passing this on.

Culture of Life: The Reading Hour

We had television in our family while I was growing up, but we didn't have much of it. Mom and Dad were pretty strict about what got watched and what didn't: "Captain Kangaroo" and "Lost in Space" early on, but no Saturday morning cartoons; later, "All in the Family", "Mary Tyler Moore", and "Bob Newhart", but none of the other sitcoms, which Mom considered coarse and vulgar. Actually I should clarify that Mom set the TV schedule - Dad didn't watch television, period. And they never, ever used television as a "babysitter".

Instead of sitting in front of the television tube, the four of us (my parents, my sister, and I) would sit around taking turns reading aloud, usually a chapter at a time, from some book. Both my parents were literary people and had excellent taste in books. This ritual, which lasted throughout our school years, helped us to bond as a family (and believe me, we had plenty of problems, so we needed all the help we could get) and did wonders for my literacy and speaking skills. It is one of the main reasons I feel comfortable writing and (to a lesser extent) speaking.

The best writing reads well aloud; indeed, the best writing is meant to be read aloud. Even in modern times, novelists like Toni Morrison and Theodore Sturgeon have affirmed the value of live reading. I read silently a lot, but even then I am conscious of how a passage sounds when read out loud; sometimes I will read a paragraph or two to my empty living room just to enjoy the sound of it. Personally, I do not think it is possible to write well without an awareness of the sound of the spoken word.

The books we read:

Madeleine L'Engle - A Wrinkle In Time
(I was too young to catch the Kennedy-era references - "Camazotz", indeed! - but I took its warning against cold intellectualism to heart; and I never forgot Meg's words, "Like and equal are not the same thing at all!" In retrospect, I think there must have been a strong anti-Communist message.)

Lucy Boston - The Legend of Green Knowe (series)
(Even though I was too old, I had nightmares about the trees near our house.)

Susan Cooper - The Dark Is Rising (series)
(Another wonderful fantasy series drawing on the lore of ancient Britain.)

Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist
(I remember being troubled by the constant references to Fagin as "the Jew"; but it didn't lessen my admiration for Dickens as a writer. "A Christmas Carol" is still one of my favorite works of literature.)

Louis Slobodkin - The Spaceship Under the Apple Tree (series)
(Delightful stories of first contact in small-town America. Among my favorite lines: "General Store? Who is this General Store?" The bond between Eddie and his ET pal Marty - who, like Eddie, was always getting into trouble - was very warm.)

Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
(The relationship between the cross-gendered Jo and Laurie fascinated me.)

... I could add a lot more titles to the list if I thought about it, but those are just the ones that pop up for me now.

If I could make just one request of today's parents, it would be: Read with your kids. Don't just read to them, when they're at the storybook age (do that, certainly); but also get in the habit of sharing good books with them as they grow up. That is a gift they will keep for a lifetime.

"The Accretion of Truth"

Doubt is the prerequisite of truth. I don't buy the Millite idea of inevitable progress. But I do believe that one by-product of a free society is the advance of science and a better understanding of human nature. So we do not view women as we did a century ago. This is not simply a random, relativist change: it's because we now know the truth about the equality of women, we experience it daily, and our blind prejudices and cruelties have far less power . . . Ditto with race. And, so some extent, with abortion. Our ability, for example, to see the development of a fetus, to understand its development with far greater precision and detail than ever before, has inevitably sharpened our awareness of its humanness . . . And the reason our view of homosexuality has changed is not because we are somehow losing our sense of what is true or false: it is because we have a better, more informed view of what is true and false. This is not relativism. It is the accretion of truth. - Andrew Sullivan, quoted at The American Scene (hat tip: Ramesh Ponnuru at The Corner

PDX LiberalHawks Meet-Up a Success

Agents of the Portland Mukhabarat converged on the Horse Brass Pub Monday night and commandeered two tables to welcome Michael J. Totten back from Lebanon. Jason, Martin, Patrick, Richard and Sean were there, and Jason's fiancee Danica joined us as well. Ann from Portland Clasroom TV was kind enough to accept my invitation to the meet-up.

Stories were told, beer was drunk and spilled, and fish and chips were consumed. Michael shared stories of Lebanon, including his impressions of the Druze - nice, quiet folks, but don't mess with them. We learned the etymology of a certain word which entered the English language after WWI, and of its unique significance in baseball. And, of course, we laid the foundations of the next phase of the neocon-Zionist conspiracy ... oh, wait, I'm not supposed to talk about that part.

Thanks to all who attended, apologies to any whose names I might have overlooked, and I know we're all looking forward to the next event - which, it was decided, will feature round tables. Hopefully Michael W., new to the PDX LiberalHawks group, will be able to join us next time.

Truth Warrior

Thanks to Ann for passing this on. Truth Warrior (Osam Altaee) is an Iraqi refugee living in Lebanon. He has a fascinating, and horrifying, story to tell; he is also severely critical of the UNHCR.

From his website:

I'm an Iraqi. I was born in the south of Iraq in a small town called ‘Al Khodor’ which is nearly 250 kilometers south of Baghdad in the Almothana province. When I was ten years old, I met an old Kurdish woman from Kurdistan, where people were fighting against the Iraqi regime for freedom and democracy. This old woman told me the stories of how our army murdered all the men gender of her family and destroyed her village. This fact built in my heart a blind haters for the army. And when I was thirteen years old, my father did not join the party al-ba'ath. To punish him, someone of the aforementioned party submitted a false report against him in which, he accused my father of dealing into politics against the Iraqi regime, which was a forbidden issue. Subsequently, my father has been jailed for four years in Abu Ghraib prison.
These were the two main reasons that drove me to hate the Iraqi regime and to believe so deeply in long lasting peace and endeavor to handle problems in a good manner. I became against the policies of Saddam, which aim to use the force and arms against the Kurdish and Iran; I had lot of troubles. They pursued me to the college and hindered me from pursuing my studies. Then I was obliged to join the army during the war between Iraq and Iran. Since the war was originally against my believes, I decided to react. I did in no way want to join the army. I choose to physically harm my body. Desperately, I have decided to cut my left foot and arrange it to look like as I had an accident. I used two thinks to accomplish the mission: A fuse of a hand grenade and a motorbike. At night I attached the fuse to my foot when riding the motorbike and enlightened the fuse, when it exploded, I capsized the motor and opened the tank of petrol to put some on my foot and fire started on it and the motor. I was sure my plan looks like an accident because the fire will hide the traces of the explosive powder. I was then taken to a hospital; the doctor discovered the traces of the explosion and did a report indicating that what happened was not an accident but a premeditated act, which will cost me a military trial. I had deserted the army after one year when I finished my treatment.

After years of living in fear and terror (the details in my ebook THE TRUTH WARRIOR), I found I could not continue to live under the tyrannical rule of Saddam and fled to Lebanon seeking refugee status. I thought I would find a community of people there that provided protection and support for people in need. What I found, instead, was the UNHCR ...

From an e-mail:

I am SAM, an Iraqi refugee living in Lebanon at the moment; I have spent the last 10 years of my life as a refugee registered with the UNHCR in Beirut. The last 4 years, I have spent as an activist for peace and human rights (especially refugees and asylum seekers) on the Internet; I'm also books author and ebooks publisher. I have launched many campaigns to improve our situation as refugees in Lebanon and hopefully bring more understanding to our problems worldwide. I helped make many changes and improvements at the UNHCR office in Beirut; I used the Internet as the field for my activities (you can read more about that in my free ebook 'MY CAMPAIGNS'). All my ebooks could be download from my websites, all my ebooks are free.

This is my newest campaign, it's about the illegal and humiliating actions of the UNHCR, who using photos of refugees as banners and human-buttons to collect money. ...

Once again, that website:
Truth Warrior.

Truth Warrior is also linked at The Iraqi Holocaust.

Iraqi Holocaust blog

For new readers and as a reminder to regular readers: please visit The Iraqi Holocaust for information on torture, mass murders, and atrocities against the people of Iraq under the Ba'ath regime of Saddam Hussein. For more detailed reports, see Iraqi Holocaust Files.

And don't forget to pass these links on to a friend.

Arab Blog Roundup

Hammorabi: Zarqawi's days are numbered. Iraqi-American blogger Sam at Hammorabi writes: 'Top aide for Zarqawi has been captured by the Iraqi forces North of Baghdad. Ghasan Al-Rawi and another two of his top supporters have been arrested 10 days ago. They provided logistic, financial and safety support to Zarqawi. They are involved in numbers of terrorist attacks and organizing others. Iraq provided 25 million dollars for information to capture zarqawi. Zarqawi himself believed according to some local reports as having possible infection in his blood possibly due to some kind of injuries. He was admitted and investigated in Ramadi which provided safe heaven to many terrorists. Irrespective of his illness he is not more than Saddam in hiding. His days according to the available information are counted. ...' Go to the link for the full story, and take a look at the photo of the Iraqi schoolgirl. She lost at least 20 friends and classmates in a terrorist bombing.

Fayrouz: Here and there. Another Iraqi-American, Fayrouz, posts an e-mail she received from a Marine veteran of the 1990-91 Desert Storm conflict. Also more on Iraqi victims of terrorism, and another photo. Read her post on the march against terror, too.

"The Party is the Party." What is the Ba'ath Party? One thing it is not, says Syrian blogger Karfan, is a "political entity".

Karfan wonders when in monkey's name this “Thing” became a real party. Yes, granted we call it “The Party”and “Baath Party”, but these are mere names of some “thing” that exists and we had to call it a name. It does not mean anything like a political party or any political or organizational entity. It just exists around us and between us like that black-cloud of pollution on top of Damascus and Banias, like the sewage stink, or like the Mukhabarat's Peugeot white cars. “Baath Party”, “People's Assembly”, “Cultural Center”, and “People's Army” are just names of things that had nothing to do with those names. ...

Omar at Iraq the Model says Karfan's post has abolished whatever differences he once thought existed between the Syrian Ba'ath and its Iraqi version. "they're identical twins, I swear!" Omar goes on to say:

Reading this article took me back to Iraq in 2002; every single tiny detail is exactly the same; the army, the Ba'ath party and its hateful regional convention, the worn out-slogans and the numbness you can see clearly on many faces.

Syria's self-styled "Heretic", Amraji, has some thoughts on national and cultural identity:

What is the meaning of national belonging and cultural authenticity in the Age of Globalization? Being true to oneself might indeed be the best strategy for coping with this Age, or any other age for that matter. But how can one be true to a divided fragmented self?

Obviously, this will not be easy. Still the mere acknowledgement of the existence of this problem sets one apart from the prevalent intellectual scene around here, where everyone seems sure, acts sure, or is required to be sure, of who he/she happens to be. You don’t even need to give an answer here to be a heretic.

But, once you begin to dabble with potential answers, you become more than just a heretic, more than a simple outsider, you become an outcast. This is actually quite the refreshing thought, when you think about it.

Amarji goes on to warn of the dangers of isolationism - and he gives a potent metaphor for the traumatized peoples of the contemporary Middle East.

Ali at Free Iraqi joins President Jalal Talabani in congratulating Tony Blair. Ali recalls listening to Blair's speeches with other Iraqis in the weeks prior to the war. Read the post for Ali's description of their reactions.

Alaa is back and blogging at The Mesopotamian again. He has some thoughts on the jihadists:

I hope this will not be understood as some kind of class prejudice, however facts are facts and must be looked at objectively and things called by their real names. Also, 99 % of those men belong to particular clans, tribes and a certain sect, that I am sure you will not have much difficulty at guessing which. This is quite painful, because, we in the cities are very mixed and many of our families are a mélange of Shiaa, Sunnis, and even Christians. However, most of these men actually are seen to be of provincial origin. This reinforces my conviction, which I have expounded long ago in some of my earlier posts, and which can be simply expressed as follows:

The problem in Iraq is not so much a sectarian issue, but rather more to do with the nature of our peasant problem.

The whole thing can be traced back to our history, and particularly the Revolution of 1958 that deposed the Monarchy that essentially consisted of a social system based on the hegemony of the cities allied with feudal Lords or Shiekhs ( as they were called here). I believe that all what has happened ever since is a sequel and natural consequence of that particular event, which is of paramount importance in our recent history. This matter requires much research and analysis, and is difficult to deal with in the scope of a brief blog post.

It's great to have Alaa back; let's hope we hear more from him soon. Meanwhile, go check out his post.

Just in case you didn't get the memo, Egyptian Sandmonkey wants you to know that all Islamic reformists are apostates.

Nope, it's not a Mullah or a mufti who issued this glorious fatwa this time, it's the fellow Egyptian journalist Rim Azmi whose article "Muslims in Name, Apostates in Fact," ran in the weekly Al Ahram El Ararby. I thought it was such a great informative article - it made me realize that i am a western wannabe asskissing apostate- that i figured i should post some paragraphs and leave some comments of my own.

Shall we?

Read the whole Al Ahram article, with Sandmonkey's commentary, at the link.

Kuwaiti Girl wants to be an astronaut. Or, to be more exact, a cosmonaut: she's set her star on the Russian space program. (She is also a certified Sergei Kirkalev groupie.) Follow her blog as she keeps up on the latest space missions and struggles with the Russian language. Still, there are a few Russian space traditions she'll probably leave to others.