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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (729)	12/18/2002 7:04:33 PM
From: lorne	Respond to of 15987

FBI nabs suspected fund-raisers in U.S. Dallas-area arrests said result of investigation into Texas computer firm, Palestinian charity December 18, 2002 The FBI offers proof it's cracking down on the terror money trail, swooping in on suspected fund-raisers in the Dallas area today and arresting four men with ties to a North Texas computer firm and a Palestinian charity. Agents arrested four brothers, Ghassan Elashi, Bayan Elashi, Basman Elashi and Hazim Elashi, who worked at Infocom, a computer company based in Richardson, Texas. Ghassan is the vice president of the firm, according to the Associated Press. A fifth brother is already in jail on charges of illegally exporting computer goods to the Middle East, but sources tell KXAS-TV he will also be named in the indictment. Officials of Infocom were also leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, reports AP. Holy Land Foundation was shut down in December after the Treasury department accused the self-described charity of being a Hamas front and seized its assets. The Council on American-Islamic Relations defended the foundation claiming, "there has been a shift from a war on terrorism to an attack on Islam." The charges for the Elashi brothers, to be announced this afternoon by Attorney General John Ashcroft in Washington, D.C., accuse the brothers of funneling money to the terrorist group Hamas, blamed in a wave of bombings in Israel. KLIF radio reports there may be as many as four more arrests made. A law enforcement source told AP that authorities were seeking a man believed to be an official in Hamas, a Middle Eastern militant group. The FBI said the arrests stem from a multiyear investigation into Infocom and the charity located across the street. Former deputy assistant director of the FBI Danny Coulson told Fox News the investigation into Holy Land Foundation dates back to 1994. Coulson said agents involved in the probe were frustrated by Clinton administration roadblocks because the organization was considered a religious organization. "That all changed after Sept. 11," he said. Ironically, Infocom was first raided a week before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks against the United States. worldnetdaily.com

To: KLP who wrote (729)	12/19/2002 6:54:43 AM
From: zonder	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15987

Taliban were "killing" the ancient statues of Buddha? I said, and am sure most of us did at the time, that "if these people could do that to something that really belonged to all mankind, what on earth would they do with real people if they could...." Of course I remember seeing those statues go up in smoke, no link necessary. I was very sorry to see them distroy these statues that stood so many centuries. However, I did not ask "what would they do to real people" because I already knew. Reports from the region have been quite bloody over the years, and especially the women were living in hell - overnight, women were barred from working for a living and could not even go out of their homes for a long while. Those who had no husband or father to take care of them practically starved in some cases. Many took their own lives. Still, I have to point out to you that they probably did not realize those statues could possibly be important for anyone. Compare their behaviour to East Mediterranean countries in the past century, which led to the Louvre and the British Museum to hold whole Greek temples and Assyrian palace entrances brought piece by piece, countless statues, artifacts, etc. Those people did not realize there could be any worth in these artifacts and practically gave them away. Do you know why the Taliban thought it was a brilliant idea to blow up those huge Buddha sculptures in Afghanistan? It was not to be nasty to ancient civilizations, oddly enough. It was the simple (and dumb) reason that Prophet Mohammad has forbidden his own description in pictures and sculptures, with the fear that they would be used for veneration. And he wanted people to love/venerate/pray to God, and not to himself. This degenerated (as religious things do) into "No descriptions of anyone in any form" which led to Islamic Art to be dominated by geometric patterns in color. So all the Taliban saw were some giant statues of humans, to which others could pray (or something). So they had to be destroyed, at least facially. I am far from defending them, mind you. Just telling you how simple their thought process was, from a religious point of view. In their ignorance and absolute religious belief, I am sure they did not think of it as destroying the world's cultural heritage. (Anyone who could think that 'deep' would probably not be a Taliban <g> ) We are no longer going to roll over and let the "crazies" kill Americans at will without trying to stop them. I don't think you ever did. US was always very attentive about protecting Americans. Besides, I am not contesting the necessity to defeat this wave of religious fundamentalism. The question is "HOW?". I fear the present methods serve to increase support from their base (Did you know 'Al-Qaeda' means "The Base" on which a sculpture stands?), their public. Invading countries one by one will be self-defeating to the eventual goal of security and prosperity, I am afraid. Beware of people and civilizations that try to physically enforce their beliefs on yours. Definitely.