The Americans are not the only ones torturing their prisoners. CBS 60 Minutes had a glimpse of “Saudi Justice”:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/06/60minutes/main615986.shtml this week.
bq. Why did the Government of Saudi Arabia frame seven westerners for a series of car bombings they didn’t commit? Those car bombings, which began in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in November 2000, killed three members of the expatriate community and severely injured several others. To Western observers, they were clearly the work of Islamic fundamentalists. But the Saudis were not about to admit that. So five Britons, a Canadian and a Belgian found themselves arrested, systematically tortured into false confessions and eventually convicted of those bombings.
Moral Outrage Mr. Koffi Annan ?

The French have decided to ban the wearing of any religious symbols by people in public places and the main focus is on the head scarfs worn by Muslim women. Democracies like United States and India do not enforce any ban on public display of religious symbols worn by people. But France thinks this ban is required to assimilate Muslims into the mainstream. So when such an issue comes up, “the question is”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=324469
bq. Thus the issue has become, in large part, who controls women? Are they subject to French laws ? and the deeply held principle of church-state separation ? or to their fathers, husbands, brothers and mullahs? Are they free? And a second issue is even broader: Do religious citizens of a democratic country owe first service to their religion or their nation?
The second question is more important. And here is the answer given by the Grand Sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque in Egypt, “Mohammed Sayed Tantawi”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3358363.stm
bq. He said Muslim women had to obey the rules of the host country in which they live, under what he described as dire necessity.
I think this is a very important statement, which sets the order of loyalties very clear. But as “Niraj”:http://www.nirajweb.net/mt/niraj/archives/002057.html notes, such a measure would be considered as a violation of both freedom of speech and freedom of religious statutes in United States.

“One dictator gets caught”:http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20031214_1313.html
bq. “He was just caught like a rat,” said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of 4th Infantry Division, which led the hunt in the area for one of the world’s most wanted men and conducted the raid that caught him. “When you’re in the bottom of a hole, you can’t fight back.”
“Another one just escapes”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64187-2003Dec14.html
bq. Pakistan’s military President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escaped a “terrorist” attack on Sunday after a bomb tore up a section of road in the northern city of Rawalpindi a minute after his convoy passed, officials said.
bq. “The president’s motorcade passed a minute before the blast,” a military spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan, said. “He is safe and sound.”
*Update* via “Instapundit”:http://www.instapundit.com/archives/013020.php: :CNN reports the head of Palestinian Hamas has issued a statement expressing outrage that Saddam would encourage martrydom in others, yet personally go down without a fight. The impact of this should not be underestimated.
Hamas now knows what an Arm Chair Quaterback means.
“Saddam’s arrest discouraging among Arab world”:http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7491356.htm
bq. “There is disappointment in nationalist circles in the way he was captured, that he didn’t commit suicide so he wouldn’t undergo an embarrassing interrogation,” Victor Nahmias, an Arab affairs expert, said on state-run Israel Radio. “Here was the symbol of heroism and here is an American non-Muslim (tugging) at his beard. It’s hard for proud Arabs to take.”

Gerald Posner who wrote “Why America Slept”:http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/EI17Aa01.html was on MSNBC last night with Keith Olberman. The issue was the news that Saudis were going to “acquire nukes”:http://www.nirajweb.net/mt/niraj/archives/001902.html. Posner thinks that this was leaked as a warning to the Americans, to tell them, if they screw the relations and get too investigative, then Saudis will acquire them using petro dollars.
One country that will be happy to sell it would be Pakistan.
bq. Concerns about Saudi plans to buy nuclear weapons were raised after Prince Sultan toured Pakistan’s secret nuclear facilities in May 1999. The prince toured the Kahuta uranium enrichment plant and an adjacent factory where the Ghauri missile is assembled with Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif and was briefed by A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atom bomb.
And this is a facility which even Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was not allowed to visit. Also Saudi Arabia had funded Pakistan’s “nuclear and missle program”:http://www.pakistan-facts.com/article.php/20021121111140587
bq. Quoting reports, DIA’s senior China analyst Thomas Woodrow said in a research paper that “Saudi Arabia has been involved in funding Pakistan’s missile and nuclear program purchases from China, which has resulted in Pakistan becoming a nuclear weapon-producing and proliferating state”. According to the paper, there was also a probability that Riyadh was “buying nuclear-capability from China through a proxy state with Pakistan serving as the cut-out.”
So if Saudi Arabia wants to go nuclear, it will plain easy for them. Scary thought.

A national pastime in Russia used to be tax evasion. So the Govt. came up with a plan to collect taxes — a 13% flat tax system. Due to this
bq. “Russia Misuses Benefits From Its Flat-Tax System:”:http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/4/15/170208.shtml As the Russian media reported, in addition to one low rate, Russia’s flat tax is much more favorable to savings and investments. In this country, income is taxed once when Americans earn it and a second time when Americans invest it. Russia’s flat tax does not double-tax corporate income or impose a capital gains tax on stocks, bonds and home sales. Also, with few exceptions, there is no double tax on bank deposit interest.
bq. As a result of this system, which established one of the lowest tax rates in Europe, Russia’s economy grew by more than 5 percent last year while most other nations were hit by recessions. In establishing a flat tax, Russia followed Hong Kong and Bermuda and such former Soviet republics as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, whose populations also enjoyed rapid growth in part because of their tax system.
I read the editorial in Wall Street Journal which advocates the same for United States. Is this something which can be done in India ?

“The anti-war crowd has some explaining to do”:http://www.townhall.com/columnists/jonahgoldberg/jg20030411.shtml
bq. I want to rub it in the anti-war crowd’s face so badly. I want to hear the protesters explain why it’s a bad thing we released more than 100 children from an Iraqi gulag for underage political prisoners. I want them to talk about how they were fighting for the Iraqi people as the Iraqi people hug and kiss the American forces in Baghdad and greet the human shields with signs reading “Go Home You Wankers.” I want them to explain why it wasn’t worth it.
(Link via “MercuryBlog”:http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/weblog/)
Continue reading “Explain!” →

So what did not happen during the war ?
* There were no widespread fires in the oil fields.
* There was no use of chemical weapons.
* Missiles were not launched at Israel.
* Bridges and dams were not blown up.
What was proved
* Muslim Unity is a myth
* Anti-War movement is just anti-US movement
* UN is a waste of money
* Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf is the best standup
(Few points taken from CNBC Capital Report)

Ashwini asks:
Why is it OK for the mob ?
bq. Numerous African nations are at war, why are there no global protests? Aren?t the Africans worth your time? Don?t they too deserve to lead peaceful lives? How different are these wars from the current Iraq war? Suicide bombers are killing foreign nationals thereby fighting a proxy war against the countries of those killed. Why is there no global outrage? Aren?t these lives worth anything? Pakistan sends murderous jihadis into Indian Jammu and Kashmir on a regular basis and people are killed everyday by these jihadis. These are political killings just as war killings are. Where are the global peace protests against the Pakistani govt ? Numerous govts are killing their own people, torturing them and destroying their properties. They are at war against their own people but where are the peace protests? Or is a peace protest valid only when you protest against certain countries? The silence is deafening and the selective protestation seems hollow
Why is no one writing articles titled “Kilimanjaro, Nile, Niger, Congo” in the Guardian. Why is no one holding candles in Marina Beach for these people ?

TriNetre – The Third Eye says:
bq. “You know the world’s gone mad when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America’s Cup, France is accusing the USA of arrogance and the German’s don’t want to go to war!”
there is nothing more i can add to that.

Some of the sickest souls in the world have found a breeding ground:
“Relief efforts for Iraqi victims of war have religious overtones”:http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/living/people/family/5506901.htm
bq. But a fraction of the agencies view the war
as more than a relief effort. They see it is a golden opportunity to
convert this predominantly Muslim country to Christianity, and along
with supplies, they carry the New Testament and the message of Jesus
Christ.
Once Iraq is done, here are some suggestions
* Pakistan (mainly North Western Province)
* Iran (Salman Rushdie will vouch for their willigness to convert)
* Saudi Arabia