Obama authorizes secret support for Libya rebels

source * Covert authorization approved in last couple of weeks

* U.S. seeking more information about rebels

* Some legislators concerned about supplying rebels arms

By Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the last two or three weeks, according to four U.S. government sources familiar with the matter.

Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA and the White House declined immediate comment.

News that Obama had given the authorization surfaced as the President and other U.S. and allied officials spoke openly about the possibility of sending arms supplies to Gaddafi's opponents, who are fighting better-equipped government forces.

The United States is part of a coalition, with NATO members and some Arab states, which is conducting air strikes on Libyan government forces under a U.N. mandate aimed at protecting civilians opposing Gaddafi.

In interviews with American TV networks on Tuesday, Obama said the objective was for Gaddafi to "ultimately step down" from power. He spoke of applying "steady pressure, not only militarily but also through these other means" to force Gaddafi out.

Obama said the U.S. had not ruled out providing military hardware to rebels. "It's fair to say that if we wanted to get weapons into Libya, we probably could. We're looking at all our options at this point," the President told ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.

U.S. officials monitoring events in Libya say that at present, neither Gaddafi's forces nor the rebels, who have asked the West for heavy weapons, appear able to make decisive gains.

While U.S. and allied airstrikes have seriously damaged Gaddafi's military forces and disrupted his chain of command, officials say, rebel forces remain disorganized and unable to take full advantage of western military support.

SPECIFIC OPERATIONS

People familiar with U.S. intelligence procedures said that Presidential covert action "findings" are normally crafted to provide broad authorization for a range of potential U.S. government actions to support a particular covert objective.

In order for specific operations to be carried out under the provisions of such a broad authorization -- for example the delivery of cash or weapons to anti-Gaddafi forces -- the White House also would have to give additional "permission" allowing such activities to proceed.

Former officials say these follow-up authorizations are known in the intelligence world as "'Mother may I' findings."

In 2009 Obama gave a similar authorization for the expansion of covert U.S. counter-terrorism actions by the CIA in Yemen. The White House does not normally confirm such orders have been issued.

Because U.S. and allied intelligence agencies still have many questions about the identities and leadership of anti-Gaddafi forces, any covert U.S. activities are likely to proceed cautiously until more information about the rebels can be collected and analyzed, officials said.

"The whole issue on (providing rebels with) training and equipment requires knowing who the rebels are," said Bruce Riedel, a former senior CIA Middle East expert who has advised the Obama White House.

Riedel said that helping the rebels to organize themselves and training them how use weapons effectively would be more urgent then shipping them arms.

According to an article speculating on possible U.S. covert actions in Libya published early in March on the website of the Voice of America, the U.S. government's broadcasting service, a covert action is "any U.S. government effort to change the economic, military, or political situation overseas in a hidden way."

ARMS SUPPLIES

The article, by VOA intelligence correspondent Gary Thomas, said covert action "can encompass many things, including propaganda, covert funding, electoral manipulation, arming and training insurgents, and even encouraging a coup."

U.S. officials also have said that Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whose leaders despise Gaddafi, have indicated a willingness to supply Libyan rebels with weapons.

Members of Congress have expressed anxiety about U.S. government activites in Libya. Some have recalled that weapons provided by the U.S. and Saudis to mujahideen fighting Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s later ended up in the hands of anti-American militants.

There are fears that the same thing could happen in Libya unless the U.S. is sure who it is dealing with. The chairman of the House intelligence committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, said on Wednesday he opposed supplying arms to the Libyan rebels fighting Gaddafi "at this time."

"We need to understand more about the opposition before I would support passing out guns and advanced weapons to them," Rogers said in a statement. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by David Storey)

'American intervention is largely about oil' - IslamPolicy on Russia Today exposing CIA Assets -

CNN Unwelcome: Muslims Next Door

State of the Ummah: Analyzing Libyan Uprising and Intervention

Untitled from Younus Abdullah Muhammad on Vimeo.

At the end the voice echoes, we apologize. Forward any questions or comments to the comments section or email at islampolicy@gmail.com

Michael Scheuer Runs into 2 Imperialist Witches and their Broomsticks!!!

Hey Anderson, I didn't know you interned at the CIA when you were at Yale for 2 years, nice bro, that explains the sexual tendencies and experimentation with hallucinogens... we'll do that live interview next week then, right??? CNN is a serious propaganda outlet...

سنخوض معاركنا معهم :: فيديو كليب مميز ::we will fight them

In what world has Yassir Qadhi been living and from where did he get his knowledge ???????

I think he needs some lessons on Fiq Al Waqia

Waa Mu'thasima

Syria's President Offers Future Reforms, Blames Conspiracy for Protests

Reducing Control Making Light of Arab Uprisings! - Younus Abdulllah Muhammad - Islam Rising Conference 2011

A global assortment of radical Islamists held an online conference last weekend, calling for the destruction of the West and the violent implementation of Islamic law.

It isn't clear how many people tuned in to the Rise of Islam Conference 2011, but many of the speakers are considered fringe elements, even among Islamists. They represented English-speaking Islamist groups from all over the world. Jamaican Islamist Abdullah al-Faisal and British leaders Abu Izzadeen and Anjem Choudary hammered home their views about why and how Islam will dominate the world. But American Abdullah Younus Muhammad, currently living in Morocco, took the spotlight with his open endorsement of al-Qaida's war on the West.

"O Muslims, there is no honor, there is no dignity, there is no victory, unless Islam is a complete system established," said Muhammad, of islampolicy.com. "We do not believe in mass protest movements. We do not believe in each one teach one as the way forward. We believe that when a sufficient amount of Muslims have might to take all the powers that be, they go out and march forth in the way of Allah."

He cited Osama bin Laden's 1996 "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places" in calling on Muslims in the West to do more.

America considered the defeat of the Soviet army in Afghanistan and the fall of communism to be "a victory over the entire world" and a victory for liberal democracy, Muhammad said. "And it is this system that they continue to try to perpetuate, and to try to force down the throats of people all over the world, that is the true enemy, that is the true empire that Islam is waging a war against today."

In bin Laden's 1996 declaration, he called for a combination of "operations" with political and economic moves, Muhammad said, describing how American Islamists could aid al-Qaida's cause. They should "pay more attention, give more effort to propagation, spend more time promoting and defending the message of the mujahideen wherever they may be … Publish their words; don't just call yourself jihadi and say 'I am allying with them,' speak as if you are speaking on their behalf."

In practical terms he advised that Muslims boycott American goods to open an economic front to coincide with al-Qaida's military front. "If the economic boycott is coupled with the mujahideen's strikes, then the enemy's defeat is imminent, Insha'allah [if Allah wills]. And vice versa, if the Muslims do not cooperate with and support their mujahideen brothers by severing economic deals with the U.S. enemy, then they are paying him money which is the foundation of wars and armies, hence promoting the war and the Muslim suffering from it."

Other speeches, although militant in their own right, paled in comparison. Abdullah el-Faisal, a Jamaican Islamist militant who has been deported from Kenya and Britain, explained why Islam is destined to dominate the world. "If communism is dead in the grave, what makes you think capitalism will survive? What makes you think capitalism will survive? It can't survive. Allah says … Truth has come and falsehood has vanished, and falsehood is by nature a vanishing thing."

Abu Izzadeen, a British Islamist who once called bin Laden "the only true leader of Muslims" and was convicted of terrorist financing charges, talked about shaking British society through Muslim pressure.

"We are not aiming to control a mosque in East London or South London or West London. No! We are aiming for the society to bow down to La Illah Illa Allah [This is no god but Allah]," Abu Izzadeen preached to calls of "Allahu Akbar" from the crowd. "To see the Queen bow down to La Illah Illa Allah, Prince Harry and William to bow down to La Illah Illa Allah. Even his new wife to wear the hijab and the khimar, and the niqab. We aim higher, akhi [my brother], because this deen [religion] is superior and nothing will supersede Islam."

Anjem Choudary, a leading British Islamist who tried to spark a new American movement called "Shariah4America," reinforced the idea of bringing Islamic law to America and the West. "That Rasul Allah [the messenger of Allah] said, that before the Day of Judgment, Islam will enter every single household, whether with dignity or whether humiliation, dignity because they will embrace Islam, and humiliation because they will be Kuffar [non-believers] but they will be under the Sharia."

Supporters of freedom and democracy, he said, ultimately are doomed because of God's will. "The messenger Muhammad (saws) came with the guidance and the Haq [truth], the Deen [religion] of truth, for it to be dominant on all other ways of life, no matter how much the polytheists, the disbelievers, those Kuffar, dislike it or hate it. Our objective, therefore, is the domination of the world by Islam."

Read more at: http://www.investigativeproject.org/2713/no-holds-barred-at-islamist-confab

Ex-CIA Bob Baer on CIA involvement in Libya -

Criticizing as if the CIA is late in arrival, truth be told they've been there from the beginning and it is heading to a bigger war.

New Website Calls for EXIT FROM AFGHANISTAN

This is a call the seems to suggest that massive discontent with the war is formulating (even on the right)... We isssued a call earlier in the year to identify that the insurgency was the only effective government in Afghanistan and that they were willing to work with the international community apart from US Empire.... this imperialist intervention must end... please check out the new site, comment on your support for it and reanalyze our past article on Information Clearing House HERE, where we discuss the mineral diascoveries and US plans for them...

source BOCA RATON, FL, March 30, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A registered Republican that voted for President Barack Obama announces the launch of www.ObamaEndYourWar.com. The nonpartisan website is dedicated to ending the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan. Americans are urged to drive with their headlights on during the day to illuminate a bright pathway for President Obama to find his way out of Afghanistan.


ObamaEndYourWar.com will serve to focus public attention on the 10 year old war. The call to action, driving with your headlights on during the day, gives Americans a simple method to express their opposition to continuing the war. According to the website, many compelling reasons have been overshadowed by other world events.

The China Solution:

The website offers a new exit strategy for the U.S. to leave Afghanistan entitled The China Solution. According to a U.S. Government report published in the NY Times, "The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials."

"There is stunning potential here," Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. "There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."

The website founder, Greg Washio, comments, "The discovery presents a historic opportunity for China and Afghanistan to negotiate a long term security and development treaty. China has the military, capital and mining expertise to help Afghans rebuild their nation. In exchange for the minerals rights, China would rebuild infrastructure and a new railroad system to ship the minerals. They would also eradicate the opium crop to avoid a heroin epidemic in China. Opium growers would get jobs in mining or participate in other areas of the expected economic boom."

He argues that "China is in a much better position to help Afghanistan than the U.S. China has close proximity, a huge army with non-Christian solders and can earn a reasonable profit for their effort."

ObamaEndYourWar.com asks for volunteers and contains a blog where others can share views and ideas. Pages provide information about the history of Afghanistan, opium production and related topics.

Greg Washio commissioned an art poster to support the effort. The colorful poster features President Obama in the foreground with U.S. troops, a burned-out village and the Afghan mountains in the background.

OUR ARTICLE FOLLOWS *please encourage the site to include it in their coverage by sending a copy of it to the founder's email at imailto:info@obamaendyourwar.com:

High Time Progressives Support the Insurgency and End this War
The Real Battle for Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan - As Ground is Laid for Resource Plunder
By Younus Abdullah Muhammad

October 27, 2010 "Information Clearing House" ---- A recent interview conducted for Forbes online entitled In the Shadow of the Taliban, Afghanistan Mining Sector Open for Business (HERE) documents the pillar points of the elite establishment's post-occupation policy for the war-torn country. In remarks that represent initial efforts to usher in an era of multinational exploitation of Afghanistan's vast resources, the latest economic dimensions of the conflict become clear.

In parallel efforts to what was witnessed in Iraq as the war there grew more complicated, the new Afghan elite are now being pressured to assume more indigenous responsibility for the fiscal strings that propel the war. Because there is no present flowing crude, gas, or pipeline, the country has been destroyed (again), and the people do not represent a reliable or sufficient tax base to maintain the civil wars and looting coming after occupation, the nation's mineral wealth will become the subject of focus for potential corporate plunder.
Pressure for heavy returns and limited regulation will allow foreign investors to make a killing on high risk investments while labor costs will be as low as anywhere in the world and the absence of financial regulation will allow for all kinds of new corruption, speculation and embezzlement. Regular Afghans will never see a dime. It is the latest attempt to implement the neoliberal economic policies that are the norms of 'globalization' as America, on behalf of the corporations and international elite it serves, tries to turn a profit and sustain control of the corporatist world order.

The interview was conducted with Afghan Minister of Mines, Wahidullah Shaharani, during his recent trip to the United States where he held bilateral and multilateral meetings with the US Departments of State, Treasury, and Commerce; USAID; the World Bank; IMF and others before engaging on a month long tour with fellow diplomats holding conferences and public speakings that touted the economic prospects of Afghanistan and the 'successes' of the American partnership. The quotes included by Forbes, a magazine largely in favor of the international elite, are troubling in some prominent ways. Here is a selected section with comments,

Forbes: The Aynak project had allegations of corruption. How is Hajigak going to be different?

Shahrani: There was a lengthy bidding process for Aynak for which the government received support from the World Bank. We recognize there have been reported allegations. But the process was very transparent and MCC was the clear winner. Companies’ bids are public for everyone to see. The process for awarding the Hajigak deposit will be transparent and open.

The Aynak project refers to copper mines that were granted to a Chinese State Corporation so enthusiastic about the prospects it outbid its competitors by $1 billion. The contract represented the first major international exploitation of Afghanistan in the post-American era. As in Iraq, Chinese State Corporations were authorized to receive initial contracts so to play down speculation that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were of the imperialist variety. The press plays along; the New York Times critically commented that, "while the United States spends hundreds of billions of dollars fighting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda here, China is securing raw material for its voracious economy. The world’s superpower is focused on security. Its fastest rising competitor concentrates on commerce." In truth of point the occupation itself is commerce for many American individuals and corporations.

PressTV - 'Iran to notch up highest growth in 2015'

PressTV - 'Iran to notch up highest growth in 2015'

A Goldman Sachs report on global economics indicates that Iran is forecast to reach the highest economic growth between 2015 and 2025 and join the world's largest economies.

The report titled "Global Economics Paper No: 153", issued by the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. on March 28, 2007, says 11 emerging economies dubbed as "N-11" countries, including Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Turkey, Vietnam and the Islamic Republic are expected to notch up striking economic growth rates between 2015 and 2025.

According to the US-based banking group, Iran has the strong possibility of becoming one of the world's largest economies in the 21st century, thanks to its relatively stable and steady economic rise, and a marked increase in the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is estimated to reach about $716 billion in 2025.

Three thousand Islamists due to return from abroad | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today's News from Egypt

Three thousand Islamists due to return from abroad | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today's News from Egypt

A lawyer who works with various Islamist groups has predicted that 3000 leading figures of the Jama'a al-Islamyia and ُEgyptian Islamic Jihad groups will return to Egypt in a few days, as their names have been dropped from the “wanted” list maintained by Egyptian security forces.

“They are coming back from Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Kenya, Iran and London,” said Ibrahim Ali.

He added that airport security two days ago permitted entry to Sayed Ragab Mohamed, an Islamist group member who had been living abroad for two decades, spending 18 years in the United Arab Emirates and two years in Iran.

He said the Jama'a al-Islamyia requested the authorities to drop death sentences that had been issued in absentia by military courts against some of its members so that they could return to Egypt.

Among those waiting to come back are Osama Rushdi, who lives in London, Hussein Shemeis, who was convicted of the assassination attempt on ousted President Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa, and Mohamed Shawki al-Islambolly, brother of Khaled al-Islambolly, who assassinated former President Anwar Sadat.

Noam Chomsky: On Libya and the Unfolding Crises

Link to Entire Interview HERE: Noam Chomsky: On Libya and the Unfolding Crises -

With regard to the Middle East – the “most strategically important region of the world,” in Eisenhower’s phrase -- the primary concern has been, and remains, its incomparable energy reserves. Control of these would yield “substantial control of the world,” as observed early on by the influential liberal adviser A.A. Berle. These concerns are rarely far in the background in affairs concerning this region.

In Iraq, for example, as the dimensions of the US defeat could no longer be concealed, pretty rhetoric was displaced by honest announcement of policy goals. In November 2007 the White House issued a Declaration of Principles insisting that Iraq must grant US military forces indefinite access and must privilege American investors. Two months later the president informed Congress that he would ignore legislation that might limit the permanent stationing of US Armed Forces in Iraq or “United States control of the oil resources of Iraq” – demands that the US had to abandon shortly after in the face of Iraqi resistance, just as it had to abandon earlier goals.

While control over oil is not the sole factor in Middle East policy, it provides fairly good guidelines, right now as well. In an oil-rich country, a reliable dictator is granted virtual free rein. In recent weeks, for example, there was no reaction when the Saudi dictatorship used massive force to prevent any sign of protest. Same in Kuwait, when small demonstrations were instantly crushed. And in Bahrain, when Saudi-led forces intervened to protect the minority Sunni monarch from calls for reform on the part of the repressed Shiite population. Government forces not only smashed the tent city in Pearl Square – Bahrain’s Tahrir Square -- but even demolished the Pearl statue that was Bahrain’s symbol, and had been appropriated by the protestors. Bahrain is a particularly sensitive case because it hosts the US Fifth fleet, by far the most powerful military force in the region, and because eastern Saudi Arabia, right across the causeway, is also largely Shiite, and has most of the Kingdom’s oil reserves. By a curious accident of geography and history, the world’s largest hydrocarbon concentrations surround the northern Persian Gulf, in mostly Shiite regions. The possibility of a tacit Shiite alliance has been a nightmare for planners for a long time.

In states lacking major hydrocarbon reserves, tactics vary, typically keeping to a standard game plan when a favored dictator is in trouble: support him as long as possible, and when that cannot be done, issue ringing declarations of love of democracy and human rights -- and then try to salvage as much of the regime as possible.

The scenario is boringly familiar: Marcos, Duvalier, Chun, Ceasescu, Mobutu, Suharto, and many others. And today, Tunisia and Egypt. Syria is a tough nut to crack and there is no clear alternative to the dictatorship that would support U.S. goals. Yemen is a morass where direct intervention would probably create even greater problems for Washington. So there state violence elicits only pious declarations.

Libya is a different case. Libya is rich in oil, and though the US and UK have often given quite remarkable support to its cruel dictator, right to the present, he is not reliable. They would much prefer a more obedient client. Furthermore, the vast territory of Libya is mostly unexplored, and oil specialists believe it may have rich untapped resources, which a more dependable government might open to Western exploitation.

When a non-violent uprising began, Qaddafi crushed it violently, and a rebellion broke out that liberated Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, and seemed about to move on to Qaddafi’s stronghold in the West. His forces, however, reversed the course of the conflict and were at the gates of Benghazi. A slaughter in Benghazi was likely, and as Obama’s Middle East adviser Dennis Ross pointed out, “everyone would blame us for it.” That would be unacceptable, as would a Qaddafi military victory enhancing his power and independence. The US then joined in UN Security Council resolution 1973 calling for a no-fly zone, to be implemented by France, the UK, and the US, with the US supposed to move to a supporting role.

There was no effort to limit action to instituting a no-fly zone, or even to keep within the broader mandate of resolution 1973.

The triumvirate at once interpreted the resolution as authorizing direct participation on the side of the rebels. A ceasefire was imposed by force on Qaddafi’s forces, but not on the rebels. On the contrary, they were given military support as they advanced to the West, soon securing the major sources of Libya’s oil production, and poised to move on.

The blatant disregard of UN 1973, from the start began to cause some difficulties for the press as it became too glaring to ignore. In the NYT, for example, Karim Fahim and David Kirkpatrick (March 29) wondered “how the allies could justify airstrikes on Colonel Qaddafi’s forces around [his tribal center] Surt if, as seems to be the case, they enjoy widespread support in the city and pose no threat to civilians.” Another technical difficulty is that UNSC 1973 “called for an arms embargo that applies to the entire territory of Libya, which means that any outside supply of arms to the opposition would have to be covert” (but otherwise unproblematic).

Some argue that oil cannot be a motive because Western companies were granted access to the prize under Qaddafi. That misconstrues US concerns. The same could have been said about Iraq under Saddam, or Iran and Cuba for many years, still today. What Washington seeks is what Bush announced: control, or at least dependable clients. US and British internal documents stress that “the virus of nationalism” is their greatest fear, not just in the Middle East but everywhere. Nationalist regimes might conduct illegitimate exercises of sovereignty, violating Grand Area principles. And they might seek to direct resources to popular needs, as Nasser sometimes threatened.

It is worth noting that the three traditional imperial powers – France, UK, US – are almost isolated in carrying out these operations. The two major states in the region, Turkey and Egypt, could probably have imposed a no-fly zone but are at most offering tepid support to the triumvirate military campaign. The Gulf dictatorships would be happy to see the erratic Libyan dictator disappear, but although loaded with advanced military hardware (poured in by the US and UK to recycle petrodollars and ensure obedience), they are willing to offer no more than token participation (by Qatar).

While supporting UNSC 1973, Africa -- apart from US ally Rwanda -- is generally opposed to the way it was instantly interpreted by the triumvirate, in some cases strongly so. For review of policies of individual states, see Charles Onyango-Obbo in the Kenyan journal East African (http://allafrica.com/stories/201103280142.html).

Beyond the region there is little support. Like Russia and China, Brazil abstained from UNSC 1973, calling instead for a full cease-fire and dialogue. India too abstained from the UN resolution on grounds that the proposed measures were likely to "exacerbate an already difficult situation for the people of Libya,” and also called for political measures rather than use of force. Even Germany abstained from the resolution.

Italy too was reluctant, in part presumably because it is highly dependent on its oil contracts with Qaddafi – and we may recall that the first post-World War I genocide was conducted by Italy, in Eastern Libya, now liberated, and perhaps retaining some memories.

Al Qaeda declares south Yemen province as "Islamic Emirate" | Al Bawaba

Al Qaeda declares south Yemen province as "Islamic Emirate" | Al Bawaba

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has announced Yemen's Abyan province as an "Islamic emirate". The statement was issued by the group and posted on the internet. "From now on, women who go out to the markets need to be accompanied by a relative, who carry a proof by identity cards, or passports," it said.

Earlier this week, it was reported that gunmen took control on the presidential palace complex, communications facilities and a local ammunitions factory.

Following the announcement of al-Qaeda, Yemeni opposition parties called their members and supporters to form popular committees , in order to" protect citizens, public and private properties from the chaos that is planned by the regime, which wants "to stay as long as possible and distort the purity of this great people's revolution. "

On Saturday, the building of the presidential palace and the local radio station in the Directorate of "Jaar", Abyan governorate, south of Yemen, was surrounded by gunmen. The gunmen have distributing leaflets calling for the security men to surrender and hand over their weapons.

Religioscope: Arabia: protest and revolution - An Interview with Saad Al-Faqih

Religioscope: Arabia: protest and revolution - An Interview with Saad Al-Faqih - Whole interview at link:

Mahan Abedin - Do you expect big movement on Friday?

Saad Al-Faqih - I am anticipating movement but with caution. The supporters for change are ready to move. Organisation is taking place behind the scenes. The events of recent weeks have all been in favour of the opposition. But what works against the opposition is the near absence of the culture of demonstrations, vigil and civil action in Arabian society. Moreover, the regime has successfully employed the sectarian card and even utilised the international broadcasting media to portray the opposition as Shia-based. We are working very hard to neutralise this message and tell the people inside the country that the Shias have nothing to do with the events planned for Friday and that the Shias have their own activities which are scheduled to take place on different dates.

Mahan Abedin - You readily admit that the Saudi regime is brazenly using the sectarian card to divide and weaken its opponents. But as one of the key opposition groups shouldn't you be doing the exact opposite? Shouldn't you be bringing the Shias under a national umbrella and thus pose a united front to the regime?

Saad Al-Faqih - We would like to but the problem is that sectarian polarisation runs deep and the people in Arabia and elsewhere in region are highly charged about the sectarian issue. The Saudi regime and some Sunni groups have worked very hard in recent years to convince many Saudi Sunnis that all our problems are linked to Iran and the Shias. So the problem is not dictatorship, corruption, poverty, lack of opportunity, not even Israel but it is Iran! That is the propaganda of the Saudi regime and its domestic, regional and international allies. There is an incendiary sectarian media battle in the region with about six TV channels mobilised on either side and they are constantly fanning the flames of sectarian hatred and misunderstanding. This is the prevailing environment in which we all have to operate.

Nevertheless, we try to avoid portraying Shias in a negative light by presenting them as a minority with a unique set of grievances which should be respected. I have publicly urged some Saudi Shia leaders to reduce their voice for the time being, until we achieve our core objective.

Mahan Abedin - They are not listening?

Saad Al-Faqih - No, they are not listening!

Al Shabaab Launch Project to Reform the Roads of Mogadishu - Allahu Akbar!!!

Wakeup Call for Muslims in Islamic Countries : Dr Israr Ahmad (English subtitle)

The Fed, and why $105 oil prices may be a bubble | The Oil and the Glory

The Fed, and why $105 oil prices may be a bubble | The Oil and the Glory

President Barack Obama says demand is at the heart of oil prices -- the global economic recovery, he told an audience yesterday at Georgetown University, is responsible for tripling the price of oil from the dregs of $32 a barrel in fall 2008 to more than $100 a barrel now.

Not so, says Phil Flynn, an oil trader at PFG Best whose stuff I follow -- Ben Bernanke is to blame. Flynn has been saying this for a long time -- specifically that the federal government's economic stimulus, and most recently the Federal Reserve's irritatingly named policy of "quantitative easing," are behind the swelling that we observe in our fists as we shake them in anger while filling up at the pump. He repeated this again two days ago on his blog.

Finally, I decided to ring Flynn and ask what on Earth he means. Read on for his reply, and why oil prices may actually be heading back down.

First, some background: According to SourceWatch, the total of the federal money disbursed -- the bank bailouts, the mortgage relief, the purchase of mortgage bonds, plus the Fed's purchase of U.S. Treasury bonds from banks (otherwise known as quantitative easing) -- has been about $4.7 trillion since fall 2008. The Obama administration said this week that the original portion of the money -- the $700 billion TARP program signed by President George W. Bush, plus the $787 billion approved on Obama's watch -- will end up costing taxpayers just $25 billion because most of it has been paid back or the assets sold.

Yet the economy is still lethargic. The Fed is keeping interest rates at about 0 percent. On top of that has come the stimulus programs of the rest of the world. So all this spending, and the easy money, is effectively producing a negative interest rate. It is like throwing sacks and sacks of dollars in the air at a casino.

So, again, why is this set of facts responsible for higher oil prices? One simple reason, says Flynn, is that the stimulus, low interest rates, and quantitative easing have been to a large degree successful -- barely anyone any longer believes the entire global system is about to go down the toilet, and the U.S. economy is growing again. Indeed, the global economy is growing, especially China's. Buildings, cars, and all kinds of stuff are being built; some of it is even being bought. The factories producing these goods require oil in order to operate. And so there has been the rise in oil demand that Obama cited, though fired up by government spending.

But Flynn says that ginning up oil prices even more is that, when you put a lot of money out there, people and entities that have it in their hands look for the most profitable place to put it. In this case, that's been the world's emerging markets, especially Asia, which can really put it to work with those big construction projects and so on. So the concentration of those trillions in the emerging economies has supercharged demand, and oil-buying.

The Fed has a rationale for this action. Not only is it stimulating economic activity, but it is desperate to keep the U.S. economy from reversing course into the sphere of another dreadful, jargonistic word -- deflation. That would be the tailspin in which Japan has been for a decade, a price-drop spiral that discourages the economic growth you need so young people get new jobs, and we get higher salaries.

But a party can't last forever, and the Fed will sometime have to take its foot off the accelerator. That's when Flynn sees a significant possibility of oil prices plummeting, even with the political disruption going on in the Middle East.

Taking stock of where we are, I asked Flynn how much of the rise from $32 a barrel to today's $105 a barrel the Fed and the federal government are responsible for. "You could almost make the argument that 90 percent or 100 percent is due to the stimulus, because no one knows whether the economy would have gone into a double-dip recession without it," he said.

How far oil prices could drop depends on how steady demand stays after the end of stimulus programs, and whether the Arab Spring results in more oil supply disruption, or even which countries are next to be roiled. If Oman keeps having trouble, that's not a big deal; if it's Saudi Arabia, it is.

Flynn thinks there could be significant air in the price -- "if you believe that the stimulus saved the global economy, you have to say $50 a barrel," Flynn says.

Speaking literally, that would mean roughly $55-a-barrel oil, which given the news seems unlikely. Prices can be sticky going down. But a significant drop in prices -- by $10-a-barrel or a $20-a-barrel? That is not hard to imagine.

Fed's Data Dump Leaves Investors in the Dark - CNBC

Fed's Data Dump Leaves Investors in the Dark - CNBC

The Federal Reserve released an avalanche of files Thursday detailing—for the first time ever—its loans to banks under its emergency funding facility known as the “discount window.”

But investors and bank customers won’t find it very useful.

The disclosure came in the form of computer disks handed to reporters in Washington, DC. Those disks contained nearly 900 PDF files that must be individually opened and read. The files include tables with loans made by the Fed, as well as emails between Federal Reserve officials. The disks aren’t searchable and the Fed didn’t include an index.

The release of the data in such a user-unfriendly manner is reminiscent of the way Goldman Sachs dumped tens of thousands of documents on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The commissioners publicly scolded the investment bank for the document “dump.”

Jeremy Scahill and Ex-DIA Analyst Joshua Foust on "The Dangerous U.S. Game in Yemen" & CIA Ops in Libya

Oil near $105 as Gadhafi takes back Libya oil port, Singapore General News - Maktoob News

Oil near $105 as Gadhafi takes back Libya oil port, Singapore General News - Maktoob News

SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices rose to near $105 a barrel Thursday in Asia after control of a key oil port swung back to forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, dimming hopes of a quick rebel victory and a restart of crude exports. Benchmark crude for May delivery was up 37 cents to $104.64 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 52 cents to settle at $104.27 on Wednesday.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Islamic Revival

Rabi-us-Sani 23, 1432 A.H, Tuesday, March 29, 2011

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful.

by Hunzala Mujahid

The start of 2011 has been an auspicious time for the Islamic World. Almost ten years since America and its eastern and western allies declared a Crusade against the Islamic World to destroy the light of Islam once and for all, the tides of history have turned once again. When the Americans started their war of ‘Infinite Justice’ all parties knew that this clash of civilisations will have far-reaching consequences for the coming century. But few could have guessed how unforeseen they were to be.

Today, the great might of America, the greatest western power since the Roman Empire, has been brought to its knees. Its allies are abandoning the banner of falsehood from left and right. And everywhere, the dictators of Muslim countries, so complicit in these crimes against the Islamic Ummah, are facing the wrath of our Muslim populaces.

The rulers of the Muslim nations have proven to be the greatest enemies of Islam in this war against the Muslims. They have not only been complicit in all the atrocities and war-crimes being perpetuated by the Westerners against Muslims, but have even out-classed their masters in killing and torturing the Muslim citizens. They faithfully carried out the orders given to them by White House in arresting, imprisoning, torturing, and murdering tens of thousands of their citizens in the so-called ‘war against terrorism’. It seems that the sole purpose of these governments is to suppress their own populace and advance the interests of America and Israel in these regions.

Most of these rulers came to power through force, and for them insuring the survival of their barbaric regimes has always been of paramount importance. To achieve this end, they were even willing to subservient not only the national interests and aspirations of their people but also of the entire Islamic Ummah. They built ruthless security apparatuses and cruel intelligence services, not to defend their people and country from external threats, but rather to suppress their very own citizens. They sold their faiths and their people for the small price of ensuring a few more days in their empty palaces.

Alhamdulillah! alhamdulillah! It is with great joy that we hear about our Muslims brothers and sisters in these distant lands rising to challenge these agents of the West, and seeking to replace them with leaders that will rule them with justice and Islamic principles. There are many in the West (and their followers in the east) that have given a twist to this narrative and claimed that these protests are a great victory for the West and a loss for quote Islamists unquote.

Nothing could be further from the truth than this distortion of the realities. The Muslim populaces of these countries rose against their rulers precisely because these leaders prioritised the wishes of their Western masters over the aspirations of their people. The laws implemented by these rulers over the past ten years, in the name of fighting terrorism (but in reality to suppress their people even further) were one of the main catalysts for these rebellions.

The Muslim people of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya did not seek to remove their corrupt leaders only to elect, in their places, other equally corrupt leaders who will seek the same policies of neglecting their own nation, transferring all the wealth of their nation to foreign banks, and aligning their foreign policies according to directives from Washington and Langley.

No! The Islamic Ummah has spoken, and they have spoken overwhelmingly for independence and self-sufficiency from foreign powers. The martyrs of Tunis, Benghazi, and Tahrir Square gave up their lives for their beliefs and their people. Their main demands were resonant throughout. They want their governments, to work for the people, not against them. They want police, security forces, and intelligence services to protect the people from external threats, not to suppress them for foreign interests. They want a just social order. They want their governments to provide basic education for their children, employment opportunities, a fair and Islamic justice system, accountability for corrupt officials, and some measure of equality and redress for the poor and the oppressed. They are tired of their governments forcing its people to flee their country and live a life of servitude and hardship in foreign lands so that their families at home do not die from starvation. They are tired of their governments implementing policies that benefit American, France and Israel, and bring only misery and privation for its people.

By the Grace of Allah the revival within the Islamic Ummah is manifesting itself more clearly every day. We, the Muslim people of Afghanistan, send our messages of felicitation and support, to all our Muslim brothers throughout the Islamic world, in their efforts to rid themselves from the shackles of slavery and corruption. Any Muslim nation, that wishes to build their country into a strong and independent nation, must first rid themselves from their corrupt and too often drunk, leaders and replace them with pious, accessible and accountable leaders to will work hard to serve their people, and establish the rule of Allah in their country.

The only way in which the Islamic nations can regain their rightful position as the leading, most powerful and advanced nation of the world is, if it abandons its slavery to foreign notions such as dictatorship, democracy, nationalism, nation-state, and other equally fallacious ideas. These are ideas that were transplanted on our nations to continue the slavery of Muslim nations to their colonial masters long after they had physically left these lands. One only has to look at the colonialist policies of Britain in India, Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, and of Italy in Northern Africa and France in Western Africa to understand how much they tried, and focussed on educating an elite class within these societies who were completely enslaved and brainwashed with these notions. It was these very same elitists who were then left by their colonial masters in charge of affairs after they exited the countries. For over half a century, these elitist have bombarded our children with ideas of democracy, human rights, separation of politics and religion, and secularism; all in the name of enlightenment and modernism. But the conduct of these leaders has been far from enlightened or modern. Their enslavement to these foreign notions has prevented them from seeking any original solution to the issues facing their nations, and all they have to done is to hold to the tails of their former masters and say: ‘Take us to hell and back, and you will find us steadfast in your path’.

How can anyone expect to live a life of dignity and advancement with such leaders in charge?! The only option for Muslims is to throw these elitist leaders from positions of power and replace them with leaders that will resolve all issues in accordance with Islam. Islam is the fountain through which we will gain back our dignity and honour. It is the only system of government that looks at the needs of its people and responds to those needs. It is better than dictatorship because its does not protect the corrupt elites, and it is better than democracy because it does not rule on behalf of the rich. It is the only system of law before which, the powerful and the weak, the rich and the poor, the black and the white are all equal. It is the only system that takes from the rich what they have taken unlawfully and gives to the poor what is lawfully theirs. In short, it is the only system through which we can achieve dignity, glory, and social justice.

The Muslim people of the world, your Afghan brothers say to you, that we have seen every system of government possible under the face of this earth; from kingship to dictatorship to communism to democracy to Islam. We can tell you that none of these can compare with Islam. Islam is the only system of government that works at the grassroots, from the houses, the local masaajid, and local shuras, its permeates up all the way to the Ameer ul Mu’mineen, who is always in contact with the people, responding to their needs and addressing their concerns. Anyone who doubts this has only to look at the lives of the Four Righteous Caliphs. The Arabs were the most backward people on the face of earth until Allah blessed them with Islam, and then they became the vanguard for the most powerful and advanced Ummah on this earth. If the Muslims want to find dignity, glory and social justice again, then the only option for them is to return to Islam.

As a final note, I would like to remind us of the quote of Umar (R.A) the second Righteous Caliph, who said: “We are people whom Allah exalted by Islam. If we still seek exaltation in things other than Islam, Allah will humiliate us.”

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan