A sheriff's deputy helping a woman along a busy highway was slammed by a pickup truck but escaped with only minor injuries.
Video from a state patrol vehicle showed the truck clipping Ramsey County Deputy Glen Pothen's patrol car Wednesday, sliding at an angle and slamming into Pothen's back, with his head appearing to slam backward onto the hood of the truck.
The Minnesota State Patrol (search) released the video to remind drivers that it is state law to slow down and move over to other lanes of traffic when they see law enforcement officers along highways.
Pothen, 35, was treated at a hospital and released.
"When I saw the tape this morning, I already knew that the deputy had survived and in fact wasn't seriously injured, and my thought was, 'I'm watching a fatality crash,"' state patrol Capt. Jay Swanson told KARE-TV. "My thought was, 'In a couple days I'm going to be going to another funeral."'
The incident was being investigated. The driver of the pickup said authorities had seized his truck, but it was unclear if he would face any charges.
Watch the video by clicking the title above.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Prosecutor in probe of DeLay PAC raises funds for other side
Earle's speech on political corruption keys on the GOP leader, whom he likens to a bully
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who denies partisan motives for his investigation of a political group founded by Republican leader Tom DeLay, was the featured speaker last week at a Democratic fund-raiser where he spoke directly about the congressman.
A newly formed Democratic political action committee, Texas Values in Action Coalition, hosted the May 12 event in Dallas to raise campaign money to take control of the state Legislature from the GOP, organizers said.
Earle, an elected Democrat, helped generate $102,000 for the organization.
In his remarks, Earle likened DeLay to a bully and spoke about political corruption and the investigation involving DeLay, the House majority leader from Sugar Land, according to a transcript supplied by Earle.
"This case is not just about Tom DeLay. If it isn't this Tom DeLay, it'll be another one, just like one bully replaces the one before," Earle said.
"This is a structural problem involving the combination of money and power," he added. "Money brings power and power corrupts."
The crowd of 80 to 100 Democratic activists responded by making donations that exceeded the event's fund-raising goal.
Reasons for speaking
Earle and his staff of prosecutors have obtained indictments of three DeLay associates on charges that their political committee, the DeLay-led Texans for a Republican Majority, broke state campaign finance laws with the use of corporate donations on its way to helping establish Republican control in the state House.
Earle said Wednesday he knew the group that met in Dallas was raising money for Democrats, but that it was not his reason for speaking.
"I'd make the same speech to any group, Republican or Democrat, as long as the group was interested in honest, open government," Earle said in a telephone interview.
The prosecutor said he did not recall making other fund-raising speeches for anyone besides himself since he began investigating DeLay.
"We are investigating anybody who has committed a crime," he said when asked if DeLay is a target of the probe.
Political analysts said Earle's appearance left him open to questions about his motives.
"It may help Tom DeLay establish his case that Ronnie Earle's investigation is a partisan witch hunt," said Richard Murray, a political scientist with the University of Houston.
"It clearly fuels the perception that his investigation is politically motivated. It was probably not a wise move," said Larry Noble, a former Federal Election Commission lawyer who heads the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics.
"It is somewhat less serious because he is a (Democratic) elected official," Noble said. "Otherwise, it would be a serious problem."
DeLay spokesman Dan Allen said Earle has wasted public money on an investigation that has amounted to a public relations campaign, "and now a fund-raising effort for Democrats by Mr. Earle."
'Pot-and-kettle' comparison
Allen said DeLay has not been contacted by Earle or any government investigator about anything related to the investigation.
Russell Langley, a co-founder of Texas Values in Action Coalition, said Earle was among those who inspired formation of the committee and that the prosecutor's participation in the campaign was proper.
"Throughout his career he has represented honesty and integrity in government. ... As long as he was raising money legally, we didn't see any problem with it," Langley said.
He added that he was not concerned about whether Earle's fund-raising appearance might compromise his stance as an independent investigator of potential crimes involving Republicans.
"We weren't worried about that, considering Tom DeLay's partisanship," he said. "That would really be a pot-and-kettle comparison."
Title of address
In his speech, titled "Public Safety and the Tone of Corruption in Government," Earle recounted some of his investigations of alleged public corruption by Democratic and Republican officeholders.
"He talked ... about improving ethics in government," said Marc Stanley, who hosted the party at his Dallas home. "There were a few questions about whether he was receiving pressure not to indict Tom DeLay. He answered that he lives out on a farm and he wasn't worried about pressure whatsoever."
Former House Speaker Jim Wright, a Fort Worth Democrat who was forced to resign from Congress in 1989 after the House Ethics Committee began investigating whether he improperly profited from a book publishing deal, was among those who attended the event. He is scheduled to speak at the committee's next fund-raiser in June.
DeLay has become a lightning rod for criticism by Democrats in Texas and elsewhere, especially because he led efforts to change the state's U.S. House district boundaries to the electoral advantage of Republicans.
Questions about his overseas travels, connections to lobbyists and political fund raising have become a rallying point for Democrats looking ahead to elections in 2006.
"I think Tom DeLay ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence," Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told Massachusetts Democrats on Saturday.
Dallas lawyer Ed Ishmael, another co-founder of the Democratic committee to which Earle spoke, is described on the group's Web site as "a leader in the Howard Dean presidential campaign" of 2004.
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who denies partisan motives for his investigation of a political group founded by Republican leader Tom DeLay, was the featured speaker last week at a Democratic fund-raiser where he spoke directly about the congressman.
A newly formed Democratic political action committee, Texas Values in Action Coalition, hosted the May 12 event in Dallas to raise campaign money to take control of the state Legislature from the GOP, organizers said.
Earle, an elected Democrat, helped generate $102,000 for the organization.
In his remarks, Earle likened DeLay to a bully and spoke about political corruption and the investigation involving DeLay, the House majority leader from Sugar Land, according to a transcript supplied by Earle.
"This case is not just about Tom DeLay. If it isn't this Tom DeLay, it'll be another one, just like one bully replaces the one before," Earle said.
"This is a structural problem involving the combination of money and power," he added. "Money brings power and power corrupts."
The crowd of 80 to 100 Democratic activists responded by making donations that exceeded the event's fund-raising goal.
Reasons for speaking
Earle and his staff of prosecutors have obtained indictments of three DeLay associates on charges that their political committee, the DeLay-led Texans for a Republican Majority, broke state campaign finance laws with the use of corporate donations on its way to helping establish Republican control in the state House.
Earle said Wednesday he knew the group that met in Dallas was raising money for Democrats, but that it was not his reason for speaking.
"I'd make the same speech to any group, Republican or Democrat, as long as the group was interested in honest, open government," Earle said in a telephone interview.
The prosecutor said he did not recall making other fund-raising speeches for anyone besides himself since he began investigating DeLay.
"We are investigating anybody who has committed a crime," he said when asked if DeLay is a target of the probe.
Political analysts said Earle's appearance left him open to questions about his motives.
"It may help Tom DeLay establish his case that Ronnie Earle's investigation is a partisan witch hunt," said Richard Murray, a political scientist with the University of Houston.
"It clearly fuels the perception that his investigation is politically motivated. It was probably not a wise move," said Larry Noble, a former Federal Election Commission lawyer who heads the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics.
"It is somewhat less serious because he is a (Democratic) elected official," Noble said. "Otherwise, it would be a serious problem."
DeLay spokesman Dan Allen said Earle has wasted public money on an investigation that has amounted to a public relations campaign, "and now a fund-raising effort for Democrats by Mr. Earle."
'Pot-and-kettle' comparison
Allen said DeLay has not been contacted by Earle or any government investigator about anything related to the investigation.
Russell Langley, a co-founder of Texas Values in Action Coalition, said Earle was among those who inspired formation of the committee and that the prosecutor's participation in the campaign was proper.
"Throughout his career he has represented honesty and integrity in government. ... As long as he was raising money legally, we didn't see any problem with it," Langley said.
He added that he was not concerned about whether Earle's fund-raising appearance might compromise his stance as an independent investigator of potential crimes involving Republicans.
"We weren't worried about that, considering Tom DeLay's partisanship," he said. "That would really be a pot-and-kettle comparison."
Title of address
In his speech, titled "Public Safety and the Tone of Corruption in Government," Earle recounted some of his investigations of alleged public corruption by Democratic and Republican officeholders.
"He talked ... about improving ethics in government," said Marc Stanley, who hosted the party at his Dallas home. "There were a few questions about whether he was receiving pressure not to indict Tom DeLay. He answered that he lives out on a farm and he wasn't worried about pressure whatsoever."
Former House Speaker Jim Wright, a Fort Worth Democrat who was forced to resign from Congress in 1989 after the House Ethics Committee began investigating whether he improperly profited from a book publishing deal, was among those who attended the event. He is scheduled to speak at the committee's next fund-raiser in June.
DeLay has become a lightning rod for criticism by Democrats in Texas and elsewhere, especially because he led efforts to change the state's U.S. House district boundaries to the electoral advantage of Republicans.
Questions about his overseas travels, connections to lobbyists and political fund raising have become a rallying point for Democrats looking ahead to elections in 2006.
"I think Tom DeLay ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence," Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told Massachusetts Democrats on Saturday.
Dallas lawyer Ed Ishmael, another co-founder of the Democratic committee to which Earle spoke, is described on the group's Web site as "a leader in the Howard Dean presidential campaign" of 2004.
DeLay guiltier than bin Laden?
Howard Dean says GOP leader should go to jail, but Osama shouldn't be prejudged
Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean extended the American tradition of presumption of innocence to terror kingpin Osama bin Laden, but reiterated today that Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay � who has neither been indicted nor convicted � is "guilty."
On Saturday, in an address to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention, Dean said DeLay ''ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence," referring to allegations of unethical conduct against the GOP leader.
Today, the Democratic chief reiterated his comments � which were condemned by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. � telling the Arizona Republic: "There's corruption at the highest level of the Republican Party, and they're going to have to face up to that one of these days, because the law is closing in on Tom DeLay.
"I think he's guilty ... of taking trips paid for by lobbyists, and of campaign-finance violations during his manipulation of the Texas election process."
Though Dean has already convicted DeLay and figuratively sent him to jail, during last year's presidential campaign, the former Vermont governor made it a point to give bin Laden, the most wanted terrorist on the planet, the benefit of the doubt.
"I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found," Dean said during the 2004 Democratic primary campaign. "I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials."
Frank said of Dean's DeLay comment: "I think it was inappropriate. I'm a great critic of Tom DeLay's ... but to say that he's a criminal, at this point there's no basis for that."
DeLay could be criminally charged in Texas in relation to the use of campaign funds for shaping the state's congressional districts to favor Republicans. Three of his associates have been indicted in that case. Another shadow over DeLay involves lobbyist Jack Abramoff allegedly paying the cost of overseas trips he arranged for the Republican leader and others.
Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean extended the American tradition of presumption of innocence to terror kingpin Osama bin Laden, but reiterated today that Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay � who has neither been indicted nor convicted � is "guilty."
On Saturday, in an address to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention, Dean said DeLay ''ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence," referring to allegations of unethical conduct against the GOP leader.
Today, the Democratic chief reiterated his comments � which were condemned by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. � telling the Arizona Republic: "There's corruption at the highest level of the Republican Party, and they're going to have to face up to that one of these days, because the law is closing in on Tom DeLay.
"I think he's guilty ... of taking trips paid for by lobbyists, and of campaign-finance violations during his manipulation of the Texas election process."
Though Dean has already convicted DeLay and figuratively sent him to jail, during last year's presidential campaign, the former Vermont governor made it a point to give bin Laden, the most wanted terrorist on the planet, the benefit of the doubt.
"I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found," Dean said during the 2004 Democratic primary campaign. "I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials."
Frank said of Dean's DeLay comment: "I think it was inappropriate. I'm a great critic of Tom DeLay's ... but to say that he's a criminal, at this point there's no basis for that."
DeLay could be criminally charged in Texas in relation to the use of campaign funds for shaping the state's congressional districts to favor Republicans. Three of his associates have been indicted in that case. Another shadow over DeLay involves lobbyist Jack Abramoff allegedly paying the cost of overseas trips he arranged for the Republican leader and others.
Al-Zarqawi defends slaying of Muslims
Al Qaeda's leader in Iraq defended the killing of "innocent Muslims" in suicide bombings against U.S. forces, saying it was legitimate under Islam for the sake of jihad (holy war), according to an audio tape attributed to him on Wednesday.
"The killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom (suicide) operations has been sanctified by many scholars even if it means killing innocent Muslims. This legality has been agreed upon ... so as not to disrupt jihad," Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said on the tape posted on an Islamist Web site.
The Jordanian militant, Washington's biggest foe in Iraq, quoted Muslim scholars to justify the loss of Muslim lives in suicide attacks in Iraq. His message appeared aimed at winning Sunni Muslim support for the insurgency.
"Protecting religion is more important than protecting (Muslim) lives, honour or wealth," said the man who sounded like Zarqawi. "The shedding of Muslim blood ... is allowed in order to avoid the greater evil of disrupting jihad."
The authenticity of the tape could not be verified and it was not clear when it was recorded.
More than 400 people have been killed in an escalating cycle of violence and suicide attacks since a new Iraqi government was named late last month. Zarqawi's group has claimed responsibility for most of those attacks.
The speaker said it was crucial to step up suicide attacks to weaken his enemy's modern military might. "These operations are our lethal weapons against the enemy.
"God knows that we were careful not to kill Muslims and we have called off many operations in the past to avoid losses ... but we cannot kill infidels without killing some Muslims. It is unavoidable," he added.
"We know that some mistakes may happen and victims may fall and this causes us grief, but what can we do in the face of this reality in which the enemy has penetrated our land."
He said Muslims killed unintentionally in such attacks were "martyrs who died for Islam".
The speaker blasted the Shi'ite Muslim community, calling them "rejectionists who fought alongside the worshippers of the cross and spearheaded every war against Muslims (Sunnis)".
Iraq's Sunnis lost power to the county's majority Shi'ites after the U.S. war toppled Saddam Hussein.
Addressing Iraq's Sunnis, the speaker added: "We are the spearhead of the Ummah (Sunni nation) and its first line of defence in the face of the crusaders' advance. If the jihad's power subsides then the Ummah will witness calamities and disasters."
"The killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom (suicide) operations has been sanctified by many scholars even if it means killing innocent Muslims. This legality has been agreed upon ... so as not to disrupt jihad," Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said on the tape posted on an Islamist Web site.
The Jordanian militant, Washington's biggest foe in Iraq, quoted Muslim scholars to justify the loss of Muslim lives in suicide attacks in Iraq. His message appeared aimed at winning Sunni Muslim support for the insurgency.
"Protecting religion is more important than protecting (Muslim) lives, honour or wealth," said the man who sounded like Zarqawi. "The shedding of Muslim blood ... is allowed in order to avoid the greater evil of disrupting jihad."
The authenticity of the tape could not be verified and it was not clear when it was recorded.
More than 400 people have been killed in an escalating cycle of violence and suicide attacks since a new Iraqi government was named late last month. Zarqawi's group has claimed responsibility for most of those attacks.
The speaker said it was crucial to step up suicide attacks to weaken his enemy's modern military might. "These operations are our lethal weapons against the enemy.
"God knows that we were careful not to kill Muslims and we have called off many operations in the past to avoid losses ... but we cannot kill infidels without killing some Muslims. It is unavoidable," he added.
"We know that some mistakes may happen and victims may fall and this causes us grief, but what can we do in the face of this reality in which the enemy has penetrated our land."
He said Muslims killed unintentionally in such attacks were "martyrs who died for Islam".
The speaker blasted the Shi'ite Muslim community, calling them "rejectionists who fought alongside the worshippers of the cross and spearheaded every war against Muslims (Sunnis)".
Iraq's Sunnis lost power to the county's majority Shi'ites after the U.S. war toppled Saddam Hussein.
Addressing Iraq's Sunnis, the speaker added: "We are the spearhead of the Ummah (Sunni nation) and its first line of defence in the face of the crusaders' advance. If the jihad's power subsides then the Ummah will witness calamities and disasters."
Saudis Shred Bibles, Rights Campaigners Claim
Bibles found in the possession of visitors to Saudi Arabia are routinely confiscated by customs officials, and in some cases copies allegedly have been put through a paper shredder, according to religious rights campaigners.
Reports from the Islamic world of the abuse of Bibles and other items important to Christians emerge from time to time, but generally have little impact - in contrast to the wave of Muslim anger sparked by a Newsweek report, since retracted, of Koran desecration by the U.S. military.
"The Muslims respect the Koran far more than Christians respect the Bible," says Danny Nalliah, a Sri Lankan-born evangelical pastor now based in Australia.
During the 1990s, Nalliah spent two years in Saudi Arabia, where he was deeply involved with the underground church.
"It's a very well-known fact that if you have a Bible at customs when you enter the airport, and if they find the Bible, that the Bible is taken and put in the shredder," he said in an interview this week.
"If you have more than one Bible you will be taken into custody, and if you have a quantity of Bibles you will be given 70 lashes for sure - you could even be executed."
Nalliah had not himself seen a Bible being shredded but said the practice was widely acknowledged among Christians in the kingdom.
Abuse of Christians and their symbols was not restricted to the destruction of Bibles, he added.
A friend of his, a fellow Christian in Saudi Arabia, told him of witnessing a particularly unpleasant incident involving a Catholic nun.
The man had been in the transit lounge at the airport in Jeddah - the gateway to Mecca, used by millions of Hajj pilgrims each year - when a nun arrived at the customs desk.
"Some fool [travel agent] had put her on a transit flight in Jeddah. You don't do that to a Catholic nun, because she's going to be tormented."
"They opened her bag, went through her prayer book, put the prayer book through the shredder ... took the crucifix off her neck and smashed it, tormented her for many minutes."
Eventually another Muslim official objected to their conduct, came across and "rescued" her, pointing out to the customs officials that she was not entering the country but only in transit and would be leaving on the next plane.
Briefed beforehand about the risks, Nalliah said he did not carry a Bible when he arrived in the kingdom in 1995.
Subsequently, however, he took possession of hundreds of Bibles that had been smuggled into Saudi Arabia to be used by believers there.
Nalliah said he had a close call one morning when armed members of the notorious Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice - the religious police, or muttawa - hammered at his front door at 1 a.m.
With 400 smuggled Bibles "sitting on the dining room table," he believed his life to be in serious danger. "That was a crime equal to rape, murder, armed robbery, and in Saudi Arabia you get the same punishment," he said - the death penalty.
Nalliah said he had prayed earnestly and, in what he could only describe as a miracle, the men left without entering his home.
'Contraband'
Claims of Bible desecration in Saudi Arabia have been made by others.
"One Christian recently reported that his personal Bible was put into a shredder once he entered customs," the late Nagi Kheir, spokesman for the American Coptic Association and a veteran campaigner for religious freedom in the Middle East, wrote in an article several years ago.
"Some Christians have reported that upon entering Saudi Arabia they have had their personal Bibles taken from them and placed into a paper shredder," the U.S.-based organization International Christian Concern said in a 2001 report.
In its most recent report on religious freedom around the world, the State Department made no reference to Bible destruction, but said they were considered contraband.
"Customs officials routinely open mail and shipments to search for contraband, including ... non-Muslim materials, such as Bibles and religious videotapes," it said. "Such materials are subject to confiscation, although rules appear to be applied arbitrarily."
In a 2003 report on Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent watchdog set up under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, said: "Customs officials regularly confiscate Bibles and other religious material when Christian foreign workers arrive at the airport from their home countries initially or return from a vacation."
Inquiries about the legality of Bibles and about the shredder claims, sent to the Saudi Embassy in Washington and the Saudi Information Ministry in Riyadh, were not answered by press time.
Koran vs. Bible
After Nalliah left Saudi Arabia in 1997, he went to the U.S. and took part in the lobbying effort on Capitol Hill in support of what eventually became the International Religious Freedom Act, signed into law the following year.
He heads an evangelical ministry in Australia, where late last year he and a colleague became the first people to be found guilty under a controversial state religious hatred law, after Muslims accused them of vilifying Islam during a post-9/11 seminar for Christians.
Nalliah said this week it did not surprise him that Muslims have reacted strongly to the claims that U.S. interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay base, where terrorism suspects are held, had thrown a Koran into the toilet.
While Bible scholars say the Bible is written by men who were inspired by God, Muslims believe the Koran is "the copy of an original that is sitting in heaven, and has been sent down [by revelation to Mohammed]."
The book is seen as something sacred in itself, he explained, its words having come "directly from Allah. That's why they are so mad when they think something [unseemly] is being done to the Koran."
A Muslim will never keep a Koran at ground level, for instance.
The Pentagon says a January 2003 memo issued to U.S. personnel at Guantanamo Bay instructed them to "ensure that the Koran is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas."
Even in Western societies, Nalliah noted, copies of Bibles could often be found in witness boxes of courts, ready for use when witnesses are sworn in. But the Koran will generally be kept in safe storage elsewhere, covered in cloth, to be brought in when required by a Muslim witness.
He said such reverence for the Koran stood in stark contrast to some Muslims' feelings about the Bible, however.
Nalliah said the Koran was "confusing" on this score. In places (e.g.: sura 29:46-47) it appeared to urge Muslims to respect the Bible and those who believe in it; elsewhere it exhorts them to fight those who don't accept Islam until they pay tribute and accept inferior status (sura 9:29-31).
According to author and Islam scholar Robert Spencer, "a devout Muslim might very well mistreat a Bible, because traditional Islamic theology regards it as a corrupted and unreliable version of the genuine revelations that were given to Moses, Jesus, and other Prophets."
Spencer noted that in sura 9:30 the Koran says those who believe Jesus is the Son of God are under Allah's curse.
"Throughout history, most Muslim theologians have held that the New Testament has been tampered with since it teaches that Jesus is the Son of God."
Some of the more notorious reported incidents of Muslims abusing Christian symbols implicate Palestinian radicals, including the trashing of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002; and the desecration of Maronite churches in Damour, Lebanon in 1976.
In the Damour episode, Yasser Arafat's PLO killed more than 500 of the Christian town's inhabitants before turning it into a stronghold, and used the interior of the St. Elias church for a shooting range, according to published accounts.
Reports from the Islamic world of the abuse of Bibles and other items important to Christians emerge from time to time, but generally have little impact - in contrast to the wave of Muslim anger sparked by a Newsweek report, since retracted, of Koran desecration by the U.S. military.
"The Muslims respect the Koran far more than Christians respect the Bible," says Danny Nalliah, a Sri Lankan-born evangelical pastor now based in Australia.
During the 1990s, Nalliah spent two years in Saudi Arabia, where he was deeply involved with the underground church.
"It's a very well-known fact that if you have a Bible at customs when you enter the airport, and if they find the Bible, that the Bible is taken and put in the shredder," he said in an interview this week.
"If you have more than one Bible you will be taken into custody, and if you have a quantity of Bibles you will be given 70 lashes for sure - you could even be executed."
Nalliah had not himself seen a Bible being shredded but said the practice was widely acknowledged among Christians in the kingdom.
Abuse of Christians and their symbols was not restricted to the destruction of Bibles, he added.
A friend of his, a fellow Christian in Saudi Arabia, told him of witnessing a particularly unpleasant incident involving a Catholic nun.
The man had been in the transit lounge at the airport in Jeddah - the gateway to Mecca, used by millions of Hajj pilgrims each year - when a nun arrived at the customs desk.
"Some fool [travel agent] had put her on a transit flight in Jeddah. You don't do that to a Catholic nun, because she's going to be tormented."
"They opened her bag, went through her prayer book, put the prayer book through the shredder ... took the crucifix off her neck and smashed it, tormented her for many minutes."
Eventually another Muslim official objected to their conduct, came across and "rescued" her, pointing out to the customs officials that she was not entering the country but only in transit and would be leaving on the next plane.
Briefed beforehand about the risks, Nalliah said he did not carry a Bible when he arrived in the kingdom in 1995.
Subsequently, however, he took possession of hundreds of Bibles that had been smuggled into Saudi Arabia to be used by believers there.
Nalliah said he had a close call one morning when armed members of the notorious Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice - the religious police, or muttawa - hammered at his front door at 1 a.m.
With 400 smuggled Bibles "sitting on the dining room table," he believed his life to be in serious danger. "That was a crime equal to rape, murder, armed robbery, and in Saudi Arabia you get the same punishment," he said - the death penalty.
Nalliah said he had prayed earnestly and, in what he could only describe as a miracle, the men left without entering his home.
'Contraband'
Claims of Bible desecration in Saudi Arabia have been made by others.
"One Christian recently reported that his personal Bible was put into a shredder once he entered customs," the late Nagi Kheir, spokesman for the American Coptic Association and a veteran campaigner for religious freedom in the Middle East, wrote in an article several years ago.
"Some Christians have reported that upon entering Saudi Arabia they have had their personal Bibles taken from them and placed into a paper shredder," the U.S.-based organization International Christian Concern said in a 2001 report.
In its most recent report on religious freedom around the world, the State Department made no reference to Bible destruction, but said they were considered contraband.
"Customs officials routinely open mail and shipments to search for contraband, including ... non-Muslim materials, such as Bibles and religious videotapes," it said. "Such materials are subject to confiscation, although rules appear to be applied arbitrarily."
In a 2003 report on Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent watchdog set up under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, said: "Customs officials regularly confiscate Bibles and other religious material when Christian foreign workers arrive at the airport from their home countries initially or return from a vacation."
Inquiries about the legality of Bibles and about the shredder claims, sent to the Saudi Embassy in Washington and the Saudi Information Ministry in Riyadh, were not answered by press time.
Koran vs. Bible
After Nalliah left Saudi Arabia in 1997, he went to the U.S. and took part in the lobbying effort on Capitol Hill in support of what eventually became the International Religious Freedom Act, signed into law the following year.
He heads an evangelical ministry in Australia, where late last year he and a colleague became the first people to be found guilty under a controversial state religious hatred law, after Muslims accused them of vilifying Islam during a post-9/11 seminar for Christians.
Nalliah said this week it did not surprise him that Muslims have reacted strongly to the claims that U.S. interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay base, where terrorism suspects are held, had thrown a Koran into the toilet.
While Bible scholars say the Bible is written by men who were inspired by God, Muslims believe the Koran is "the copy of an original that is sitting in heaven, and has been sent down [by revelation to Mohammed]."
The book is seen as something sacred in itself, he explained, its words having come "directly from Allah. That's why they are so mad when they think something [unseemly] is being done to the Koran."
A Muslim will never keep a Koran at ground level, for instance.
The Pentagon says a January 2003 memo issued to U.S. personnel at Guantanamo Bay instructed them to "ensure that the Koran is not placed in offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas."
Even in Western societies, Nalliah noted, copies of Bibles could often be found in witness boxes of courts, ready for use when witnesses are sworn in. But the Koran will generally be kept in safe storage elsewhere, covered in cloth, to be brought in when required by a Muslim witness.
He said such reverence for the Koran stood in stark contrast to some Muslims' feelings about the Bible, however.
Nalliah said the Koran was "confusing" on this score. In places (e.g.: sura 29:46-47) it appeared to urge Muslims to respect the Bible and those who believe in it; elsewhere it exhorts them to fight those who don't accept Islam until they pay tribute and accept inferior status (sura 9:29-31).
According to author and Islam scholar Robert Spencer, "a devout Muslim might very well mistreat a Bible, because traditional Islamic theology regards it as a corrupted and unreliable version of the genuine revelations that were given to Moses, Jesus, and other Prophets."
Spencer noted that in sura 9:30 the Koran says those who believe Jesus is the Son of God are under Allah's curse.
"Throughout history, most Muslim theologians have held that the New Testament has been tampered with since it teaches that Jesus is the Son of God."
Some of the more notorious reported incidents of Muslims abusing Christian symbols implicate Palestinian radicals, including the trashing of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002; and the desecration of Maronite churches in Damour, Lebanon in 1976.
In the Damour episode, Yasser Arafat's PLO killed more than 500 of the Christian town's inhabitants before turning it into a stronghold, and used the interior of the St. Elias church for a shooting range, according to published accounts.
Poll: Newsweek worse than CBS
Media watchdog wants cash for victims to make magazine's retraction 'sincere'
As fallout continues from Newsweek's retracted report about a Quran flushed down a toilet where Muslim terror suspects are held, a new online poll by users of America Online shows most feel the magazine's story is worse than last year's fabricated-documents fiasco by CBS News.
With more than 58,000 respondents in the unscientific survey, 60 percent of AOL users said Newsweek deserves more criticism than CBS, which used phony documents to put President Bush's National Guard service in a negative light.
Though CBS News management originally stood by the authenticity of its documents, network anchor Dan Rather finally issued an on-air apology for the broadcast, claiming the network had been "misled."
In the AOL poll, users were asked, "Which organization handled the post-report fallout better?" The answer was nearly split down the middle, with 51 percent saying CBS, and 49 percent saying Newsweek.
As far as Newsweek's post-report response, a large majority � 63 percent � rated it "poor." Sixteen percent called it "fair," 12 percent said it was "good" and 10 percent believe it was "excellent."
"This is just like the CBS scandal," writes one poll participant in an associated messageboard. "The real question is why the Muslims didn't get this upset by any of the previous stories telling of desecrations to the Quran. The rest of the media won't look at that. They'll feed on the flesh of wounded competition � and America will be less informed because of it."
Michael Isikoff
Others took direct aim at Michael Isikoff, one of the Newsweek reporters who wrote the blurb about the Quran in the toilet, which sparked violent protests in the Mideast and Asia, leading to at least 15 deaths.
"Writing a story based on lies and innuendo and unproven 'facts' is not journalism and is not doing his job," said Jennifer Combs of Silverton, Ore. "Inciting riots is criminal and he ought to be doing a nice long jail sentence along with his editors who allowed the story to go to press!"
Jeffery S. Richardson, an attorney in Tallahassee, Fla., wrote:
Congress needs to subpoena Mr. Isikoff, and if necessary, raid his offices and put him in the can until we find out his source. The First Amendment gives you the right to say what you will, but it does not relieve you of responsibility for what you say. Neither does the law provide a special 'reporter' protection from our common duty to provide testimony and evidence. This is a very important issue and we need to make haste in showing the Muslim world that we have investigated this matter fully. It is also important that Newsweek accept responsibility for [its] error in judgment and its predictable results, and make amends to those people that their error affected.
Others think the news magazine is getting a bad rap.
"Pointing the finger at Newsweek is like blaming the gas-gauge when the car runs out of gas," wrote a poster from northern Florida. "Who is responsible and who can be confronted, are the 'better questions.'"
"Newsweek may have erred causing increased Moslem ire," writes Ron Field, "but what about this administration which erred or lied on [weapons of mass destruction] and which has resulted in an ongoing war that has resulted in the deaths of thousands?"
Isikoff, meanwhile, is vowing to continue digging into the controversy, telling Newsday, "We are continuing to investigate what remains a very murky situation. It's not like us or them [the Pentagon] have gotten to the bottom of this."
Referring to the violent protests, Isikoff said, "Things turned out horribly, but it was unforeseen. A very strange set of circumstances led to a very horrible chain of events. And we all feel terrible about it."
But the veteran journalist, noted for his chronicling of former President Bill Clinton's sexual affair with intern Monica Lewinsky, is also defending his reporting on the toilet story.
He told Newsday a top Pentagon official did not dispute the Quran charge when shown the story before publication.
"If it was wrong, why didn't you [Pentagon officials] demand a correction right away?" Isikoff said. "... They didn't say a word until 11 days after the piece ran, when rioting had begun."
The AOL poll also asked its users: "Will this cause long-term damage to American-Islamic relations?"
With more than 132,000 people voting on that question, almost three out of four respondents � 73 percent � said yes.
With that in mind, the media-watchdog group Accuracy in Media is calling on the Washington Post Company, which owns Newsweek, to compensate the victims of the violence caused by its story and help pay to rebuild properties that were destroyed.
"This goodwill gesture would help show that the Newsweek correction, apology and retraction are sincere," said AIM editor Cliff Kincaid.
As fallout continues from Newsweek's retracted report about a Quran flushed down a toilet where Muslim terror suspects are held, a new online poll by users of America Online shows most feel the magazine's story is worse than last year's fabricated-documents fiasco by CBS News.
With more than 58,000 respondents in the unscientific survey, 60 percent of AOL users said Newsweek deserves more criticism than CBS, which used phony documents to put President Bush's National Guard service in a negative light.
Though CBS News management originally stood by the authenticity of its documents, network anchor Dan Rather finally issued an on-air apology for the broadcast, claiming the network had been "misled."
In the AOL poll, users were asked, "Which organization handled the post-report fallout better?" The answer was nearly split down the middle, with 51 percent saying CBS, and 49 percent saying Newsweek.
As far as Newsweek's post-report response, a large majority � 63 percent � rated it "poor." Sixteen percent called it "fair," 12 percent said it was "good" and 10 percent believe it was "excellent."
"This is just like the CBS scandal," writes one poll participant in an associated messageboard. "The real question is why the Muslims didn't get this upset by any of the previous stories telling of desecrations to the Quran. The rest of the media won't look at that. They'll feed on the flesh of wounded competition � and America will be less informed because of it."
Michael Isikoff
Others took direct aim at Michael Isikoff, one of the Newsweek reporters who wrote the blurb about the Quran in the toilet, which sparked violent protests in the Mideast and Asia, leading to at least 15 deaths.
"Writing a story based on lies and innuendo and unproven 'facts' is not journalism and is not doing his job," said Jennifer Combs of Silverton, Ore. "Inciting riots is criminal and he ought to be doing a nice long jail sentence along with his editors who allowed the story to go to press!"
Jeffery S. Richardson, an attorney in Tallahassee, Fla., wrote:
Congress needs to subpoena Mr. Isikoff, and if necessary, raid his offices and put him in the can until we find out his source. The First Amendment gives you the right to say what you will, but it does not relieve you of responsibility for what you say. Neither does the law provide a special 'reporter' protection from our common duty to provide testimony and evidence. This is a very important issue and we need to make haste in showing the Muslim world that we have investigated this matter fully. It is also important that Newsweek accept responsibility for [its] error in judgment and its predictable results, and make amends to those people that their error affected.
Others think the news magazine is getting a bad rap.
"Pointing the finger at Newsweek is like blaming the gas-gauge when the car runs out of gas," wrote a poster from northern Florida. "Who is responsible and who can be confronted, are the 'better questions.'"
"Newsweek may have erred causing increased Moslem ire," writes Ron Field, "but what about this administration which erred or lied on [weapons of mass destruction] and which has resulted in an ongoing war that has resulted in the deaths of thousands?"
Isikoff, meanwhile, is vowing to continue digging into the controversy, telling Newsday, "We are continuing to investigate what remains a very murky situation. It's not like us or them [the Pentagon] have gotten to the bottom of this."
Referring to the violent protests, Isikoff said, "Things turned out horribly, but it was unforeseen. A very strange set of circumstances led to a very horrible chain of events. And we all feel terrible about it."
But the veteran journalist, noted for his chronicling of former President Bill Clinton's sexual affair with intern Monica Lewinsky, is also defending his reporting on the toilet story.
He told Newsday a top Pentagon official did not dispute the Quran charge when shown the story before publication.
"If it was wrong, why didn't you [Pentagon officials] demand a correction right away?" Isikoff said. "... They didn't say a word until 11 days after the piece ran, when rioting had begun."
The AOL poll also asked its users: "Will this cause long-term damage to American-Islamic relations?"
With more than 132,000 people voting on that question, almost three out of four respondents � 73 percent � said yes.
With that in mind, the media-watchdog group Accuracy in Media is calling on the Washington Post Company, which owns Newsweek, to compensate the victims of the violence caused by its story and help pay to rebuild properties that were destroyed.
"This goodwill gesture would help show that the Newsweek correction, apology and retraction are sincere," said AIM editor Cliff Kincaid.
Muslims Skeptical of Newsweek Retraction
The now-retracted report that American interrogators flushed a Quran down a toilet did not spark violent protests in the Middle East as it did in Afghanistan and Pakistan - but it added another layer of bitterness among many Arabs who see the United States as anti-Muslim.
Across the Islamic world, many were unconvinced by Newsweek's retraction of the report. From Afghanistan to Egypt, some people believed the U.S. had pressured Newsweek to deny the story, using the magazine as a "scapegoat."
In many countries, politicians - skeptical of Newsweek's about-face - said the United States should make public the details of its investigation into the reported desecration.
"Although the magazine that published this piece of information has backed off it, we call on the American administration to investigate the incident, which we consider a major crime against more than 1.2 billion Muslims in the world," Jassem al-Kharafi, the parliament speaker in Kuwait - a top U.S. ally - said in the Al-Watan daily Wednesday.
U.S. officials have said they found nothing to substantiate the Newsweek report that interrogators at the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, flushed a copy of the Quran down the toilet to unnerve an inmate.
Across the Islamic world, many were unconvinced by Newsweek's retraction of the report. From Afghanistan to Egypt, some people believed the U.S. had pressured Newsweek to deny the story, using the magazine as a "scapegoat."
In many countries, politicians - skeptical of Newsweek's about-face - said the United States should make public the details of its investigation into the reported desecration.
"Although the magazine that published this piece of information has backed off it, we call on the American administration to investigate the incident, which we consider a major crime against more than 1.2 billion Muslims in the world," Jassem al-Kharafi, the parliament speaker in Kuwait - a top U.S. ally - said in the Al-Watan daily Wednesday.
U.S. officials have said they found nothing to substantiate the Newsweek report that interrogators at the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, flushed a copy of the Quran down the toilet to unnerve an inmate.
Prosecutor Wants Murder Charges on Pantano
A prosecutor seeking murder charges against a Marine officer who fatally shot two Iraqis during a search for a terrorist hideout has criticized a report that recommends no court-martial in the case.
An investigating officer concluded in a report to his superior last week that key witnesses and evidence failed to back up the charges against 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, a former Wall Street trader who rejoined the service after the Sept. 11 attacks. But Maj. Stephen Keane, senior trial counsel for the Marines, said Wednesday that prosecutors "showed a case where a set-up took place, and the accused at best invited self-defense, and the investigating officer did not comment on those elements."
Pantano's civilian lawyer, Charles Gittins, said Wednesday those issues were addressed in court and in the reports.
Military authorities may choose to accept investigating officer's recommendation, give some form of administrative punishment or go ahead with a court-martial.
An investigating officer concluded in a report to his superior last week that key witnesses and evidence failed to back up the charges against 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, a former Wall Street trader who rejoined the service after the Sept. 11 attacks. But Maj. Stephen Keane, senior trial counsel for the Marines, said Wednesday that prosecutors "showed a case where a set-up took place, and the accused at best invited self-defense, and the investigating officer did not comment on those elements."
Pantano's civilian lawyer, Charles Gittins, said Wednesday those issues were addressed in court and in the reports.
Military authorities may choose to accept investigating officer's recommendation, give some form of administrative punishment or go ahead with a court-martial.
Zarqawi's Group Plans to Kill More Shiites, Americans
The leaders of Iraq's most notorious terrorist group recently held a secret meeting in neighboring Syria, where they plotted the recent wave of insurgent violence that has killed hundreds of people and was intended to break the postelection lull in violence, a top U.S. military official said.
The Syrian meeting, possibly attended by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi himself, has led to one of the bloodiest periods since the U.S.-led invasion two years ago. Nearly 500 people have been killed - including an Oil Ministry employee gunned down in front of his house Thursday - since the country's new Shiite-dominated government was announced April 28. Several Shiite and Sunni Muslim clerics were among the victims, raising fears that sectarian tensions could ignite a civil war.
Amid the violence, Iran's foreign minister met Thursday with Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric in the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.
Kamal Kharrazi, the highest level official from any of Iraq's six neighbors to visit Iraq since Saddam Hussein's ouster two years ago, met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. No details were available, but both men have called for calm in Iraq amid an increased number of apparent tit-for-tat killings between the Shiite and Sunni populations.
Also this week, a chilling, rambling Internet audiotape purportedly by al-Zarqawi surfaced. It denounced Iraq's Shiites as U.S. collaborators and said killing them is justified.
"God ordered us to attack the infidels by all means ... even if armed infidels and unintended victims - women and children - are killed together," said the speaker purported to be al-Zarqawi. "The priority is for jihad so anything that slows down jihad should be overcome." The tape could not immediately be authenticated.
The Jordanian born al-Zarqawi and his key militant leadership have met at least five times in foreign countries during the conflict, most recently during the past 30 days in Syria, according to the senior U.S. military official, who briefed reporters on condition he not be named.
He did not identify the other countries but said neighboring Iran, a Shiite theocracy, was not one of them.
He said the military obtained information during questioning of insurgent prisoners, from Iraqi military sources and field intelligence in determining that the most recent meeting had taken place in Syria.
He said that U.S. forces were constantly disrupting insurgent activities, but success was not guaranteed and could take "many years."
"If we fail, the different groups would be at each other's throats and warfare would continue for some time," he said. "If we take our foot off their throats, this country could be back into civil war and chaos."
The Syrian foreign and information ministries were unavailable for comment on the alleged terrorist gathering on their soil. Iraq's presidential adviser for security affairs, Gen. Wafiq al-Samarie, said he had no information about an al-Zarqawi meeting in Syria.
The Syrian meeting, possibly attended by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi himself, has led to one of the bloodiest periods since the U.S.-led invasion two years ago. Nearly 500 people have been killed - including an Oil Ministry employee gunned down in front of his house Thursday - since the country's new Shiite-dominated government was announced April 28. Several Shiite and Sunni Muslim clerics were among the victims, raising fears that sectarian tensions could ignite a civil war.
Amid the violence, Iran's foreign minister met Thursday with Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric in the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.
Kamal Kharrazi, the highest level official from any of Iraq's six neighbors to visit Iraq since Saddam Hussein's ouster two years ago, met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. No details were available, but both men have called for calm in Iraq amid an increased number of apparent tit-for-tat killings between the Shiite and Sunni populations.
Also this week, a chilling, rambling Internet audiotape purportedly by al-Zarqawi surfaced. It denounced Iraq's Shiites as U.S. collaborators and said killing them is justified.
"God ordered us to attack the infidels by all means ... even if armed infidels and unintended victims - women and children - are killed together," said the speaker purported to be al-Zarqawi. "The priority is for jihad so anything that slows down jihad should be overcome." The tape could not immediately be authenticated.
The Jordanian born al-Zarqawi and his key militant leadership have met at least five times in foreign countries during the conflict, most recently during the past 30 days in Syria, according to the senior U.S. military official, who briefed reporters on condition he not be named.
He did not identify the other countries but said neighboring Iran, a Shiite theocracy, was not one of them.
He said the military obtained information during questioning of insurgent prisoners, from Iraqi military sources and field intelligence in determining that the most recent meeting had taken place in Syria.
He said that U.S. forces were constantly disrupting insurgent activities, but success was not guaranteed and could take "many years."
"If we fail, the different groups would be at each other's throats and warfare would continue for some time," he said. "If we take our foot off their throats, this country could be back into civil war and chaos."
The Syrian foreign and information ministries were unavailable for comment on the alleged terrorist gathering on their soil. Iraq's presidential adviser for security affairs, Gen. Wafiq al-Samarie, said he had no information about an al-Zarqawi meeting in Syria.
Union rep: U.S. troops killing journalists
President of Newspaper Guild echoes claim of ex-CNN exec
The president of a group representing reporters worldwide is accusing U.S. soldiers of committing atrocities without offering any evidence to back the charge up.
Appearing in St. Louis on Friday, Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley complained: "What outrages me as a representative of journalists is that there�s not more outrage about the number, and the brutality, and the cavalier nature of the U.S. military toward the killing of journalists in Iraq."
In case anyone missed the point, Foley restated her allegation:
"They target and kill journalists ... uh, from other countries, particularly Arab countries like Al -, like Arab news services like Al-Jazeera, for example. They actually target them and blow up their studios with impunity. ..."
Foley's remarks, which were aired Wednesday night on Sinclair Broadcasting's "The Point," drew outrage from the program's host, Mark Hyman.
"These completely irresponsible remarks speak for themselves," Hyman told his viewers. "Foley should immediately deliver evidence that supports her horrible allegations or she should immediately resign as Newspaper Guild president."
The Sinclair host added: "Unfortunately, the damage may have already been done. Her remarks could lead to further bloodshed, including against Americans."
Foley's comments echo those from former CNN news chief Eason Jordan, who was forced to resign earlier this year after leveling similar charges at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The president of a group representing reporters worldwide is accusing U.S. soldiers of committing atrocities without offering any evidence to back the charge up.
Appearing in St. Louis on Friday, Newspaper Guild President Linda Foley complained: "What outrages me as a representative of journalists is that there�s not more outrage about the number, and the brutality, and the cavalier nature of the U.S. military toward the killing of journalists in Iraq."
In case anyone missed the point, Foley restated her allegation:
"They target and kill journalists ... uh, from other countries, particularly Arab countries like Al -, like Arab news services like Al-Jazeera, for example. They actually target them and blow up their studios with impunity. ..."
Foley's remarks, which were aired Wednesday night on Sinclair Broadcasting's "The Point," drew outrage from the program's host, Mark Hyman.
"These completely irresponsible remarks speak for themselves," Hyman told his viewers. "Foley should immediately deliver evidence that supports her horrible allegations or she should immediately resign as Newspaper Guild president."
The Sinclair host added: "Unfortunately, the damage may have already been done. Her remarks could lead to further bloodshed, including against Americans."
Foley's comments echo those from former CNN news chief Eason Jordan, who was forced to resign earlier this year after leveling similar charges at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
It's Not Just Newsweek
By Michelle Malkin
If you want to get an earful, just ask an American soldier how he feels about our news media. You will invariably hear an outpouring of dismay and outrage over antagonistic and reckless reporting.
I have stacks of letters and e-mails from soldiers and their families sharing those frustrations. During the Vietnam War, those sentiments would get packed away-private hurts to be silently borne for decades.
But today the Internet has allowed soldiers on the front to disseminate their views-breaking through the media's entrenched, anti-military bias-in unprecedented ways.
In the wake of Newsweek's publication of its unsourced, mayhem-inducing and now-retracted item about Koran desecration by U.S. military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, a sergeant in Saudi Arabia immediately responded on a blog called The Anchoress (theanchoressonline.com):
I have placed my life and the life of my fellow soldiers in danger in order to achieve a measure of the freedoms we enjoy at home for the Iraqi and Afghani people. As soldiers, we all understand that we may be asked to participate in wars (actions) that we (or our countrymen) don't agree with. The irresponsible journalism being practiced by organizations such as Newsweek, however, [is] just inexcusable. At this point, because of their actions and failure to follow up on a claim of that magnitude, they've set the process back in Afghanistan immensely...I don't regret serving my country, not one bit, but to have everything I'm doing here undermined by irresponsible journalists leaves me disgusted and disappointed.
Military bloggers across the Web this week echoed the sergeant's disgust with American journalism. And it's not just Newsweek.
It's the New York Times and CBS News and the overkill over abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. It's the Boston Globe publishing porn photos passed off by an anti-war city councilor as proof that American GIs were raping Iraqi women.
It's the constant editorial drumbeat of "quagmire, quagmire, quagmire."
It's the mainstream media's bogus reporting on the military's failure to stop purported "massive" looting of Iraqi antiquities.
It's the hyping of stories like the military's purported failure to stop looting of explosives at al Qa Qaa right before the 2004 presidential election-stories that have since dropped off the face of the earth.
It's the persistent use of euphemisms-"insurgents," "hostage-takers," "activists," "militants," "fighters"-to describe the terrorist head-choppers and suicide bombers trying to kill American soldiers and civilians alike. It's the knee-jerk caricature of American generals as intolerant anachronisms. It's the portrayal of honest mistakes in battle as premeditated murders.
It's the propagandistic rumor-mongering spread by sympathizers of Italy's Giuliana Sgrena and former CNN executive Eason Jordan about American soldiers targeting and/or murdering journalists.
It's the glorification of military deserters, who bask in the glow of unquestioning-and largely uncorroborated-print and broadcast profiles.
And it's the lesser-known insults, too, such as the fraudulent manipulation of Marine recruits by Harper's magazine. In March, the liberal publication plastered a photo of seven recruits at Parris Island, S.C., under the headline, "AWOL in America: When Desertion Is the Only Option." None of the recruits is a deserter. When some expressed outrage over the deception, the magazine initially shrugged.
"We are decorating pages," sniffed Giulia Melucci, the magazine's vice president for public relations, to the St. Petersburg Times.
As Ralph Hansen, associate professor of journalism at West Virginia University and a rare member of academia with his head screwed on straight, observed: "Portraying honorable soldiers as deserters is clearly inappropriate. And I don't see any way Harper's could claim that they weren't portraying the young Marines as deserters. A cover is more than just art. I think that someone had a great idea for a cover illustration and forgot that he or she was dealing with images of real people."
The members of our military are more than just an expedient means to a titillating magazine cover or juicy scoop or Peabody Award.
Too often since the war on terror" was declared, eager Bush-bashing journalists have forgotten that the troops are real people who face real threats and real bloodshed as a consequence of loose lips and keyboards.
It's not just Newsweek that needs to learn that lesson.
(Michelle Malkin is author of "Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores.")
If you want to get an earful, just ask an American soldier how he feels about our news media. You will invariably hear an outpouring of dismay and outrage over antagonistic and reckless reporting.
I have stacks of letters and e-mails from soldiers and their families sharing those frustrations. During the Vietnam War, those sentiments would get packed away-private hurts to be silently borne for decades.
But today the Internet has allowed soldiers on the front to disseminate their views-breaking through the media's entrenched, anti-military bias-in unprecedented ways.
In the wake of Newsweek's publication of its unsourced, mayhem-inducing and now-retracted item about Koran desecration by U.S. military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, a sergeant in Saudi Arabia immediately responded on a blog called The Anchoress (theanchoressonline.com):
I have placed my life and the life of my fellow soldiers in danger in order to achieve a measure of the freedoms we enjoy at home for the Iraqi and Afghani people. As soldiers, we all understand that we may be asked to participate in wars (actions) that we (or our countrymen) don't agree with. The irresponsible journalism being practiced by organizations such as Newsweek, however, [is] just inexcusable. At this point, because of their actions and failure to follow up on a claim of that magnitude, they've set the process back in Afghanistan immensely...I don't regret serving my country, not one bit, but to have everything I'm doing here undermined by irresponsible journalists leaves me disgusted and disappointed.
Military bloggers across the Web this week echoed the sergeant's disgust with American journalism. And it's not just Newsweek.
It's the New York Times and CBS News and the overkill over abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. It's the Boston Globe publishing porn photos passed off by an anti-war city councilor as proof that American GIs were raping Iraqi women.
It's the constant editorial drumbeat of "quagmire, quagmire, quagmire."
It's the mainstream media's bogus reporting on the military's failure to stop purported "massive" looting of Iraqi antiquities.
It's the hyping of stories like the military's purported failure to stop looting of explosives at al Qa Qaa right before the 2004 presidential election-stories that have since dropped off the face of the earth.
It's the persistent use of euphemisms-"insurgents," "hostage-takers," "activists," "militants," "fighters"-to describe the terrorist head-choppers and suicide bombers trying to kill American soldiers and civilians alike. It's the knee-jerk caricature of American generals as intolerant anachronisms. It's the portrayal of honest mistakes in battle as premeditated murders.
It's the propagandistic rumor-mongering spread by sympathizers of Italy's Giuliana Sgrena and former CNN executive Eason Jordan about American soldiers targeting and/or murdering journalists.
It's the glorification of military deserters, who bask in the glow of unquestioning-and largely uncorroborated-print and broadcast profiles.
And it's the lesser-known insults, too, such as the fraudulent manipulation of Marine recruits by Harper's magazine. In March, the liberal publication plastered a photo of seven recruits at Parris Island, S.C., under the headline, "AWOL in America: When Desertion Is the Only Option." None of the recruits is a deserter. When some expressed outrage over the deception, the magazine initially shrugged.
"We are decorating pages," sniffed Giulia Melucci, the magazine's vice president for public relations, to the St. Petersburg Times.
As Ralph Hansen, associate professor of journalism at West Virginia University and a rare member of academia with his head screwed on straight, observed: "Portraying honorable soldiers as deserters is clearly inappropriate. And I don't see any way Harper's could claim that they weren't portraying the young Marines as deserters. A cover is more than just art. I think that someone had a great idea for a cover illustration and forgot that he or she was dealing with images of real people."
The members of our military are more than just an expedient means to a titillating magazine cover or juicy scoop or Peabody Award.
Too often since the war on terror" was declared, eager Bush-bashing journalists have forgotten that the troops are real people who face real threats and real bloodshed as a consequence of loose lips and keyboards.
It's not just Newsweek that needs to learn that lesson.
(Michelle Malkin is author of "Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists, Criminals, and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores.")
Official PA sermon: Muslims will rule America
Government-paid sheik says Jews a virus to be destroyed
An Islamic preacher on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority gave a fiery sermon broadcast on PA television in which he vowed Muslims would rule America and called Jews an AIDS-like virus that will soon be finished off.
"Allah has tormented us with 'the people most hostile to the believers' � the Jews," said Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris in his Friday sermon, which is viewable on the Middle East Media Research Institute website.
Mudeiris said that with the establishment of the state of Israel, "the entire Islamic nation was lost, because Israel is a cancer spreading through the body of the Islamic nation, and because the Jews are a virus resembling AIDS, from which the entire world suffers.
"You will find that the Jews were behind all the civil strife in this world. The Jews are behind the suffering of the nations."
Mudeiris then recounted how nations have tortured and driven out Jews over the centuries, insisting it was deserved in each case due to provocation. He referred to Britain in the sixth century, France at the time of Louis XIX, Portugal, Czarist Russia and finally Nazi Germany.
"It was the Jews who provoked Nazism to wage war against the entire world, when the Jews, using the Zionist movement, got other countries to wage an economic war on Germany and to boycott German merchandise," he said. "They provoked Russia, Britain, France and Italy. This enraged the Germans toward the Jews, leading to the events of those days, which the Jews commemorate today."
The sheik said Jews are committing "worse deeds than those done to them in the Nazi war."
They have inflated their suffering, he said, "in order to win over the media and gain the world's sympathy."
Mudeiris said Allah has made all of the great superpowers in the past disappear, and "he who made them disappear will make America disappear too, God willing. He who made Russia disappear overnight is capable of making America disappear and fall, Allah willing."
"We have ruled the world before, and by Allah, the day will come when we will rule the entire world again," he said. "The day will come when we will rule America. The day will come when we will rule Britain and the entire world � except for the Jews."
The sheik said: "The Jews will not enjoy a life of tranquility under our rule, because they are treacherous by nature, as they have been throughout history. The day will come when everything will be relieved of the Jews � even the stones and trees which were harmed by them. Listen to the Prophet Muhammad, who tells you about the evil end that awaits Jews. The stones and trees will want the Muslims to finish off every Jew."
An Islamic preacher on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority gave a fiery sermon broadcast on PA television in which he vowed Muslims would rule America and called Jews an AIDS-like virus that will soon be finished off.
"Allah has tormented us with 'the people most hostile to the believers' � the Jews," said Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris in his Friday sermon, which is viewable on the Middle East Media Research Institute website.
Mudeiris said that with the establishment of the state of Israel, "the entire Islamic nation was lost, because Israel is a cancer spreading through the body of the Islamic nation, and because the Jews are a virus resembling AIDS, from which the entire world suffers.
"You will find that the Jews were behind all the civil strife in this world. The Jews are behind the suffering of the nations."
Mudeiris then recounted how nations have tortured and driven out Jews over the centuries, insisting it was deserved in each case due to provocation. He referred to Britain in the sixth century, France at the time of Louis XIX, Portugal, Czarist Russia and finally Nazi Germany.
"It was the Jews who provoked Nazism to wage war against the entire world, when the Jews, using the Zionist movement, got other countries to wage an economic war on Germany and to boycott German merchandise," he said. "They provoked Russia, Britain, France and Italy. This enraged the Germans toward the Jews, leading to the events of those days, which the Jews commemorate today."
The sheik said Jews are committing "worse deeds than those done to them in the Nazi war."
They have inflated their suffering, he said, "in order to win over the media and gain the world's sympathy."
Mudeiris said Allah has made all of the great superpowers in the past disappear, and "he who made them disappear will make America disappear too, God willing. He who made Russia disappear overnight is capable of making America disappear and fall, Allah willing."
"We have ruled the world before, and by Allah, the day will come when we will rule the entire world again," he said. "The day will come when we will rule America. The day will come when we will rule Britain and the entire world � except for the Jews."
The sheik said: "The Jews will not enjoy a life of tranquility under our rule, because they are treacherous by nature, as they have been throughout history. The day will come when everything will be relieved of the Jews � even the stones and trees which were harmed by them. Listen to the Prophet Muhammad, who tells you about the evil end that awaits Jews. The stones and trees will want the Muslims to finish off every Jew."
Desecration of Koran Had Been Reported Before
Newsweek magazine's now-retracted story that a military guard at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet has sparked angry denunciations by the White House and the Pentagon, which have linked the article to Muslim riots and deaths abroad.
But American and international media have widely reported similar allegations from detainees and others of desecration of the Muslim holy book for more than two years.
James Yee, a former Muslim chaplain at the prison who was investigated and cleared of charges of mishandling classified material, has asserted that guards' mishandling and mistreatment of detainees' Korans led the prisoners to launch a hunger strike in March 2002. Detainee lawyers, attributing their information to an interrogator, have said the strike ended only when military leaders issued an apology to the detainees over the camp loudspeaker. But they said mishandling of the Koran persisted.
Erik Saar, a former Army translator at Guantanamo Bay who has written a book about mistreatment of detainees at the military prison, said in interviews and in his book that he never saw a Koran flushed in a toilet but that guards routinely ignored prisoners' sensitivities by tossing it on the ground while searching their cells.
And numerous detainees, whose stories are uncorroborated, have said to various media outlets that at detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan, the Koran was stepped on, tossed on the floor and placed in latrines.
"They tore the Koran to pieces in front of us, threw it into the toilet," former detainee Aryat Vahitov told Russian television in June 2004.
But American and international media have widely reported similar allegations from detainees and others of desecration of the Muslim holy book for more than two years.
James Yee, a former Muslim chaplain at the prison who was investigated and cleared of charges of mishandling classified material, has asserted that guards' mishandling and mistreatment of detainees' Korans led the prisoners to launch a hunger strike in March 2002. Detainee lawyers, attributing their information to an interrogator, have said the strike ended only when military leaders issued an apology to the detainees over the camp loudspeaker. But they said mishandling of the Koran persisted.
Erik Saar, a former Army translator at Guantanamo Bay who has written a book about mistreatment of detainees at the military prison, said in interviews and in his book that he never saw a Koran flushed in a toilet but that guards routinely ignored prisoners' sensitivities by tossing it on the ground while searching their cells.
And numerous detainees, whose stories are uncorroborated, have said to various media outlets that at detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan, the Koran was stepped on, tossed on the floor and placed in latrines.
"They tore the Koran to pieces in front of us, threw it into the toilet," former detainee Aryat Vahitov told Russian television in June 2004.
Palestinians used Bible as toilet paper
Muslims' desecration of holy book received little notice
While Muslims have responded with deadly outrage to the now-retracted report by Newsweek of alleged Quran desecration by U.S. interrogators, there was little outcry three years ago when Islamic terrorists holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity reportedly used the Bible as toilet paper.
Catholic priests in the church marking the spot where Jesus was believed to have been born said that during the five-week siege, Palestinians tore up some Bibles for toilet paper and removed many valuable sacramental objects, according to a May 15, 2002, report by the Washington Times.
Newsweek is under fire for a report in its May 9 edition that sparked protests and rioting across the Muslim world resulting in 17 dead, scores injured, relief buildings burned down and a setback to years of coalition-building against terrorists.
Newsweek's Periscope column written by Michael Isikoff and John Barry included a brief item alleging U.S. military investigators at the Guantanamo Bay prison found evidence that interrogators placed copies of the Quran down the toilet in an effort to get prisoners to talk.
Despite Newsweek's retraction, the outrage in the Muslim world continues.
In Saudi Arabia yesterday, the country's top religious authority, Grand Mufti Adul-Aziz al-Sheik, condemned the alleged desecration and called for an investigation "to alleviate the sorrow that befell Muslims."
"We condemn and denounce this criminal act against Muslims' most sacred item," al-Sheik said.
Afghanistan's government said Newsweek should be held responsible for damages caused by the demonstrations, and Pakistan said the magazine's apology and retraction were "not enough."
In contrast, during the 2002 church siege, the muted complaints of Christians under the Muslim-dominated Palestinian Authority gained little traction.
The Palestinian gunmen, members of Yasser Arafat's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, seized church stockpiles of food and "ate like greedy monsters" until the food ran out, while more than 150 civilians went hungry, the Washington Times report said.
The indulgence lasted about two weeks into the 39-day siege, when the food and drink ran out, according to an account by four Greek Orthodox priests trapped inside. A church helper told the Times the quantity of food consumed by the gunmen in the first 15 days should have lasted six months.
Angry Orthodox priests showed reporters empty bottles of whiskey, champagne, vodka, cognac and French wine on the floor along with hundreds of cigarette butts.
"They should be ashamed of themselves. They acted like animals, like greedy monsters. Come, I will show you more," said one priest, who declined to give his name.
Computers were taken apart and a television set dismantled for use as a hiding place for weapons.
"You can see what repayment we got for 'hosting' these so-called guests," said Archbishop Ironius, according to the Times report.
While Muslims have responded with deadly outrage to the now-retracted report by Newsweek of alleged Quran desecration by U.S. interrogators, there was little outcry three years ago when Islamic terrorists holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity reportedly used the Bible as toilet paper.
Catholic priests in the church marking the spot where Jesus was believed to have been born said that during the five-week siege, Palestinians tore up some Bibles for toilet paper and removed many valuable sacramental objects, according to a May 15, 2002, report by the Washington Times.
Newsweek is under fire for a report in its May 9 edition that sparked protests and rioting across the Muslim world resulting in 17 dead, scores injured, relief buildings burned down and a setback to years of coalition-building against terrorists.
Newsweek's Periscope column written by Michael Isikoff and John Barry included a brief item alleging U.S. military investigators at the Guantanamo Bay prison found evidence that interrogators placed copies of the Quran down the toilet in an effort to get prisoners to talk.
Despite Newsweek's retraction, the outrage in the Muslim world continues.
In Saudi Arabia yesterday, the country's top religious authority, Grand Mufti Adul-Aziz al-Sheik, condemned the alleged desecration and called for an investigation "to alleviate the sorrow that befell Muslims."
"We condemn and denounce this criminal act against Muslims' most sacred item," al-Sheik said.
Afghanistan's government said Newsweek should be held responsible for damages caused by the demonstrations, and Pakistan said the magazine's apology and retraction were "not enough."
In contrast, during the 2002 church siege, the muted complaints of Christians under the Muslim-dominated Palestinian Authority gained little traction.
The Palestinian gunmen, members of Yasser Arafat's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, seized church stockpiles of food and "ate like greedy monsters" until the food ran out, while more than 150 civilians went hungry, the Washington Times report said.
The indulgence lasted about two weeks into the 39-day siege, when the food and drink ran out, according to an account by four Greek Orthodox priests trapped inside. A church helper told the Times the quantity of food consumed by the gunmen in the first 15 days should have lasted six months.
Angry Orthodox priests showed reporters empty bottles of whiskey, champagne, vodka, cognac and French wine on the floor along with hundreds of cigarette butts.
"They should be ashamed of themselves. They acted like animals, like greedy monsters. Come, I will show you more," said one priest, who declined to give his name.
Computers were taken apart and a television set dismantled for use as a hiding place for weapons.
"You can see what repayment we got for 'hosting' these so-called guests," said Archbishop Ironius, according to the Times report.
Muslim protests planned in advance?
Muslim protests throughout the Middle East regarding a now-retracted Newsweek report that claimed U.S. Army interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a Quran down the toilet are being organized by anti-Western jihadists and were planned several months ago with the magazine article serving as a convenient trigger, a senior Israeli security source told WND.
He warned that if not quelled, the gatherings can turn into violent mass anti-American revolts.
"Jihadists have been planting the seeds for quite some time for mass anti-American protests in the Middle East, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where pro-Taliban elements have been looking for an excuse to revolt against what they see as Western imposed governments," the security official said. "The Newsweek article was just the excuse they needed."
He warned that if not quelled, the gatherings can turn into violent mass anti-American revolts.
"Jihadists have been planting the seeds for quite some time for mass anti-American protests in the Middle East, particularly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where pro-Taliban elements have been looking for an excuse to revolt against what they see as Western imposed governments," the security official said. "The Newsweek article was just the excuse they needed."
Clinton Praises Iraq Changes as Good for Region
Former President Clinton said Wednesday the political changes in Iraq, including parliamentary elections in January, will help bring stability to the region.
Clinton met with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and a number of Danish lawmakers during his visit. The former president spoke with reporters before flying to Jordan for a poverty conference. "The Sunnis and the Shiites, the Kurds and all the various tribes can work out accommodations that will allow them to build a stable society, I think that will be good for Iraq and good for the Middle East," Clinton said at the end of a two-day visit to Denmark.
In January, Iraq held the its first democratic parliamentary elections to choose a 275-member National Assembly and provincial legislatures.
"There is no point living in the past," Clinton said. "Look at where we are now. Everyone, all freedom-loving people would be better off with a genuinely representative, effective, free government in Iraq whatever your feelings are about what went on before."
Clinton met with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and a number of Danish lawmakers during his visit. The former president spoke with reporters before flying to Jordan for a poverty conference. "The Sunnis and the Shiites, the Kurds and all the various tribes can work out accommodations that will allow them to build a stable society, I think that will be good for Iraq and good for the Middle East," Clinton said at the end of a two-day visit to Denmark.
In January, Iraq held the its first democratic parliamentary elections to choose a 275-member National Assembly and provincial legislatures.
"There is no point living in the past," Clinton said. "Look at where we are now. Everyone, all freedom-loving people would be better off with a genuinely representative, effective, free government in Iraq whatever your feelings are about what went on before."
NBC Airs New Quran Desecration Rumors
NBC's "Today" show aired unsubstantiated claims on Tuesday that U.S. troops had desecrated the Quran on at least two occasions, in a report that echoed a now retracted Newsweek story that has inflamed the Muslim world and led to deadly riots.
The "Today" broadcast also covered an allegation that U.S. troops had gang-raped an Iraqi woman.
Commenting on the impact of Newsweek's blunder, NBC Middle East correspondent Richard Engel said the magazine's Quran desecration story was just one of several circulating throughout Iraq.
"There's one rumor spreading today in local newspapers," Engel said. "It's been on the local television and it was also broadcast on the Al-Jazeera television network. It's that U.S. Marines, while raiding a mosque in Ramadi, kicked a Quran and then took it and spray painted in black paint a cross right on top of the Quran."
Engel said another rumor "came out a couple of weeks ago [and] was in a local newspaper.
"It said that during a search of a woman's bag, U.S. soldiers with a team of dogs were sniffing through her bag. She had a Quran in her bag. The dog pulled the Muslim holy book out of the bag with its mouth and the soldiers started laughing."
The NBC newsman then sourced an allegation by a female terrorist suspect who had been detained at Abu Ghraib, who aired her claim in an Iraqi newspaper.
"[She said] she was raped every night by six American soldiers," Engel reported, before adding that U.S. officials deny the claim.
Syndicated talk radio host Laura Ingraham, who aired portions of Engel's report on her broadcast Tuesday night, was outraged, telling her audience, "We have an NBC reporter repeating rumors that are clearly being spread by terrorists to inflame sectarian violence in Iraq and to start a civil war."
The "Today" broadcast also covered an allegation that U.S. troops had gang-raped an Iraqi woman.
Commenting on the impact of Newsweek's blunder, NBC Middle East correspondent Richard Engel said the magazine's Quran desecration story was just one of several circulating throughout Iraq.
"There's one rumor spreading today in local newspapers," Engel said. "It's been on the local television and it was also broadcast on the Al-Jazeera television network. It's that U.S. Marines, while raiding a mosque in Ramadi, kicked a Quran and then took it and spray painted in black paint a cross right on top of the Quran."
Engel said another rumor "came out a couple of weeks ago [and] was in a local newspaper.
"It said that during a search of a woman's bag, U.S. soldiers with a team of dogs were sniffing through her bag. She had a Quran in her bag. The dog pulled the Muslim holy book out of the bag with its mouth and the soldiers started laughing."
The NBC newsman then sourced an allegation by a female terrorist suspect who had been detained at Abu Ghraib, who aired her claim in an Iraqi newspaper.
"[She said] she was raped every night by six American soldiers," Engel reported, before adding that U.S. officials deny the claim.
Syndicated talk radio host Laura Ingraham, who aired portions of Engel's report on her broadcast Tuesday night, was outraged, telling her audience, "We have an NBC reporter repeating rumors that are clearly being spread by terrorists to inflame sectarian violence in Iraq and to start a civil war."
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Zarqawi wounded, 'bleeding heavily'
IRAQ'S most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been seriously wounded, according to a doctor who claims to have treated him last week.
The doctor told an Iraqi reporter in the western city of Ramadi that Zarqawi was bleeding heavily when he was brought into hospital on Wednesday. After treating his wounds, the doctor tried to persuade him to remain, but the Jordanian-born terrorist's minders drove him away.
The claim was supported at the weekend by a senior commander in the Iraqi insurgency who had been to Ramadi to investigate the report. The doctor, who refused to specify the nature of the wounds and asked not to be identified, was detained by the Americans on Friday for questioning, residents said.
Zarqawi, described as Osama bin Laden's emir in Iraq, is the US's top target. He has been blamed for suicide bombings and for the execution of Western hostages, including British engineer Ken Bigley. There is a $US25million ($32.8million) bounty on his head.
According to the doctor, Zarqawi was escorted into Ramadi hospital by smartly dressed men. "He was bleeding heavily and his escorts were well dressed with a look about them that was different from the casualties and family members we had been receiving from the al-Qaim offensive," he was quoted as saying.
"I treated his injury and asked that he remain in hospital for further observations and told him that we would have to register him and take down his name and details. But he became very nervous and agitated. He refused and told me he would not be staying.
"The three men with him asked me politely that he be allowed to leave hospital immediately and that I supply them with a prescription and a list of medication."
The doctor, who recognised Zarqawi from television, followed them to their vehicle to try to convince them that the patient should remain. At that point, he said, he saw machineguns. They threatened to kill him if he told anyone what he had seen. They then produced a wad of US dollars to secure his silence. The doctor said he had refused to take the cash.
The doctor told an Iraqi reporter in the western city of Ramadi that Zarqawi was bleeding heavily when he was brought into hospital on Wednesday. After treating his wounds, the doctor tried to persuade him to remain, but the Jordanian-born terrorist's minders drove him away.
The claim was supported at the weekend by a senior commander in the Iraqi insurgency who had been to Ramadi to investigate the report. The doctor, who refused to specify the nature of the wounds and asked not to be identified, was detained by the Americans on Friday for questioning, residents said.
Zarqawi, described as Osama bin Laden's emir in Iraq, is the US's top target. He has been blamed for suicide bombings and for the execution of Western hostages, including British engineer Ken Bigley. There is a $US25million ($32.8million) bounty on his head.
According to the doctor, Zarqawi was escorted into Ramadi hospital by smartly dressed men. "He was bleeding heavily and his escorts were well dressed with a look about them that was different from the casualties and family members we had been receiving from the al-Qaim offensive," he was quoted as saying.
"I treated his injury and asked that he remain in hospital for further observations and told him that we would have to register him and take down his name and details. But he became very nervous and agitated. He refused and told me he would not be staying.
"The three men with him asked me politely that he be allowed to leave hospital immediately and that I supply them with a prescription and a list of medication."
The doctor, who recognised Zarqawi from television, followed them to their vehicle to try to convince them that the patient should remain. At that point, he said, he saw machineguns. They threatened to kill him if he told anyone what he had seen. They then produced a wad of US dollars to secure his silence. The doctor said he had refused to take the cash.
Scott Thomas: cognizant and communicative, but does it matter?
Here's a story just emerging, and sent to us from Purple Kangaroo(The Empire Journal first covered it here and here) about a man with severe brain damage whose wife wants to remove his feeding tube. The man, Scott Thomas, is apparently aware, responsive and able to communicate. Reminiscent of several similar cases, Scott received his injury last November while alone at home with the person who now wants him to die.
"According to Ms. Patton, her son speaks a limited vocabulary, gives affirmative and negative hand signals and has successfully answered questions of where he lives, where he attended school and his situation. She states that he is aware and oriented. She says he has steadily progressed towards recovery since his injury."
Scott Thomas' wife and mother are in a legal battle for guardianship. His wife Eliza wants to move him to hospice and have his feeding tube withdrawn. Scott's mother, Pamela Patton, claims that Scott has indicated to herself and to nursing staff that Eliza tried to kill him by hitting him on the head and that he doesn't even want to see her. According to Scott's mother, Eliza has ordered medical personnel to not give Mrs. Patton or other family members any information about Scott's medical condition.
"In November, Scott's mother received a six-month temporary guardianship of her son but Eliza is now seeking to become Scott's guardian even though he has indicated to nursing staff and others that his wife allegedly tried to kill him by striking him in the head."
A guardianship hearing is scheduled June 3 before Fourth Judicial Circuit Court Judge William Wilkes in Jacksonville."
Mrs. Patton is arranging to have Scott Thomas examined by Dr. William Hammesfahr, the neurologist who examined Terri Schiavo and said he saw signs of physical violence. Personally, I hope Mrs. Thomas will also get opinions from other more widely known and respected neurologists rather than banking on the neurologist who helped lose the Terri Schiavo case and is otherwise relatively unknown.
Apparently the Schindlers have also gotten involved. "Terri Schiavo's family is asking Mrs. Eliza Thomas to err on the side of life. According to them, the dehydration and starvation death suffered by their daughter in March of this year was anything but a peaceful and painless death."
Purple Kangaroo offers, "if Mrs. Patton has already succeeded in receiving temporary guardianship of Scott Thomas in preference to Eliza Thomas, she should have a fairly decent chance of getting permanent guardianship."
This is a story that all of us need to be watching, with interest. It might be a good idea for some of us to continue looking into the issues and make sure that the right information is propagated throughout the blogosphere. It sounds like the mom needs some support. The Empire Journal is good at investigation, but the Blogsforterri team and it's readership is more apt to get the message out.
"According to Ms. Patton, her son speaks a limited vocabulary, gives affirmative and negative hand signals and has successfully answered questions of where he lives, where he attended school and his situation. She states that he is aware and oriented. She says he has steadily progressed towards recovery since his injury."
Scott Thomas' wife and mother are in a legal battle for guardianship. His wife Eliza wants to move him to hospice and have his feeding tube withdrawn. Scott's mother, Pamela Patton, claims that Scott has indicated to herself and to nursing staff that Eliza tried to kill him by hitting him on the head and that he doesn't even want to see her. According to Scott's mother, Eliza has ordered medical personnel to not give Mrs. Patton or other family members any information about Scott's medical condition.
"In November, Scott's mother received a six-month temporary guardianship of her son but Eliza is now seeking to become Scott's guardian even though he has indicated to nursing staff and others that his wife allegedly tried to kill him by striking him in the head."
A guardianship hearing is scheduled June 3 before Fourth Judicial Circuit Court Judge William Wilkes in Jacksonville."
Mrs. Patton is arranging to have Scott Thomas examined by Dr. William Hammesfahr, the neurologist who examined Terri Schiavo and said he saw signs of physical violence. Personally, I hope Mrs. Thomas will also get opinions from other more widely known and respected neurologists rather than banking on the neurologist who helped lose the Terri Schiavo case and is otherwise relatively unknown.
Apparently the Schindlers have also gotten involved. "Terri Schiavo's family is asking Mrs. Eliza Thomas to err on the side of life. According to them, the dehydration and starvation death suffered by their daughter in March of this year was anything but a peaceful and painless death."
Purple Kangaroo offers, "if Mrs. Patton has already succeeded in receiving temporary guardianship of Scott Thomas in preference to Eliza Thomas, she should have a fairly decent chance of getting permanent guardianship."
This is a story that all of us need to be watching, with interest. It might be a good idea for some of us to continue looking into the issues and make sure that the right information is propagated throughout the blogosphere. It sounds like the mom needs some support. The Empire Journal is good at investigation, but the Blogsforterri team and it's readership is more apt to get the message out.
Monday, May 16, 2005
RNC: Kennedy Sought to Abolish Filibuster
The Republican National Committee came out swinging Sunday after Sen. Ted Kennedy lambasted the Republican drive to end the Senate filibuster.
"Sen. Ted Kennedy's hypocritical and obstructionist comments this morning are more evidence Democrats would rather launch partisan political attacks than confront the issues facing our nation," the RNC statement said.
The RNC noted that in 1995, Sen. Kennedy supported abolishing the filibuster.
In 1995, Democratic Senators Bingaman, Boxer, Feingold, Harkin, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, Lieberman and Sarbanes all voted to end the filibuster.
The Republicans also chastised Kennedy for flip-flopping on previous statements he made indicating that filibusters should not be used to block judicial votes.
In 1998, Kennedy said: "We owe it to Americans across the country to give these nominees a vote. If our Republican colleagues don't like them, vote against them. But give them a vote."
Editor's note:
"Sen. Ted Kennedy's hypocritical and obstructionist comments this morning are more evidence Democrats would rather launch partisan political attacks than confront the issues facing our nation," the RNC statement said.
The RNC noted that in 1995, Sen. Kennedy supported abolishing the filibuster.
In 1995, Democratic Senators Bingaman, Boxer, Feingold, Harkin, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, Lieberman and Sarbanes all voted to end the filibuster.
The Republicans also chastised Kennedy for flip-flopping on previous statements he made indicating that filibusters should not be used to block judicial votes.
In 1998, Kennedy said: "We owe it to Americans across the country to give these nominees a vote. If our Republican colleagues don't like them, vote against them. But give them a vote."
Editor's note:
Gen. Myers: Detainee Flushed Koran Pages
Newsweek magazine's decision to apologize on Sunday for reporting last week that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a copy of the Koran down the toilet wasn't the first hint that the story that has outraged Muslims worldwide may not be true.
On Thursday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Richard Myers told reporters that the only evidence of any Koran desecration unearthed so far was a log notation describing a Muslim prisoner tossing pages from his holy book into the toilet. "A detainee was reported by a guard to be ripping pages out of a Koran and putting them in a toilet to stop it up as a protest," Gen. Myers said, in quotes picked up by the Washington Times. "But not where the U.S. did it."
The top military man said that a review of interrogation logs offers no evidence "that there was ever the case of the toilet incident" as reported by Newsweek.
The magazine's misreport prompted anti-American riots in Afghanistan that have so far resulted in the deaths of 17 people - not to mention demands for an apology from President Bush.
Muslim clerics in the Middle East have yet to comment on Gen. Myers' revelation that it was likely one of their own who treated the Koran like toilet paper.
On Thursday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Richard Myers told reporters that the only evidence of any Koran desecration unearthed so far was a log notation describing a Muslim prisoner tossing pages from his holy book into the toilet. "A detainee was reported by a guard to be ripping pages out of a Koran and putting them in a toilet to stop it up as a protest," Gen. Myers said, in quotes picked up by the Washington Times. "But not where the U.S. did it."
The top military man said that a review of interrogation logs offers no evidence "that there was ever the case of the toilet incident" as reported by Newsweek.
The magazine's misreport prompted anti-American riots in Afghanistan that have so far resulted in the deaths of 17 people - not to mention demands for an apology from President Bush.
Muslim clerics in the Middle East have yet to comment on Gen. Myers' revelation that it was likely one of their own who treated the Koran like toilet paper.
Newsweek Apologizes for False Koran Report
The White House is saying that Newsweek must do more than simply say "We're sorry" for its report that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, placed the Koran in washrooms to unsettle suspects, and in one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."The Pentagon is blaming the magazine's irresponsibility for the deaths of at least 15 people in Afghanistan after protests broke out following the report.
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