Tidbits: Arab Journalistic Honesty, Eliminate Hamas, Violent Iranian Mullahs, Serb War Criminal By Andrew L. Jaffee, 6/13/2003	Home   Search   Forum   Terms

"The perils of journalism in the Arab world" - Honesty in the Arab press: I found a great article at Lebanon's English-language newspaper The Daily Star. The story, written by Massoud Derhally, a Jordanian-Palestinian journalist, discusses the problems that real journalists face in the Arab world (like censorship and intimidation). Derhally interviewed an Arab reporter frustrated by Islamists refusing to condemn the 9/11 terrorist attacks:

“The terrorist attacks blew up in my face somehow,” he says. “I was very angry. It’s a horrible attack against civilians, an attack that doesn’t agree or fit with any of our moral standings, whether Islamic, local or Bedouin. You just don’t go and kill innocent people, children and women and claim you are doing it on behalf of religion. I am a practicing Muslim, and I felt insulted.” The disinclination of religious activists to condemn the attack antagonized him even more. “It took them five days to come out with a word and when they (did) it was a reluctant word,” says Khashoggi. “You don’t wait to issue a statement on a terrorist attack, which happened in the neighborhood, next door to you, right at home. They knew the facts, they knew who did it … and again they were talking about Sept. 11, 2001 conspiracy theories saying it couldn’t be those young people of jihad. I became furious … and started criticizing the fanaticism.”

Eliminate Hamas - Israel is doing what Abu Mazen should be doing: "Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the army to 'completely wipe out' Hamas." Good. There'll be no peace as long as the Palestinians are ruled by murderous terrorists. Since Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Abu Mazen won't take care of his peoples' terrorists, the Israelis will have to do it for him. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wants to put a "peace-keeping" force between the Israelis and Palestinians. This is ridiculous. While Israel is a fully-developed democracy with well-established social and security institutions, the Palestinian territories are a Wild West run be terrorists. Any UN force would show the usual pro-Palestinian bias and simply serve to protect terrorists from Israeli justice. Unacceptable. Discuss.

Iran's Mullahs Get Violent - Student protestors attacked by ruling leadership's thugs: Iranian Islamist thugs attacked a group of students holding an anti-government protest today in Tehran. According to the BBC, "Such condemnation of [Iranian government leader] Ayatollah Khamenei is said by correspondents to be unprecedented in Iran. The authorities have accused the United States and Iranian exiles of fomenting the unrest. Yes, poor mistreated dictator Khamenei. Freedom-loving Iranians will win eventually, but it will be painful. Discuss.

Cleaning Up the Garbage - Serbs arrest another war criminal: Serbian special forces today arrested Veselin Sljivancanin, allegedly involved in the 1991 massacre of 200 civilians in eastern Croatia. I hope people haven't forgotten the Serb atrocities against Slovenians, Croatians, Bosnians, and Kosovars carried out in the 90's. Actually, there has been steady progress in bringing the war criminals to justice. We have President Clinton to thank for being the only world leader at the time to stand up to the Serb nationalists. Remind you of something... er, ah... Iraq? Discuss.