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To: gmccon who wrote (33102)	12/18/1998 10:49:00 AM
From: Donaldm	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

<<Worst of all, Clinton will keep funding the $billion a day "show" in a worthless desert for months, for the obvious.>> Please provide the source for the cost stated above.

To: gmccon who wrote (33102)	12/18/1998 11:03:00 AM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 95453

Iraq: Fighting is 'allowed' during the holy month of fasting The Times, Friday December 18 By Michael Binyon, Diplomatic editor THE approach of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, has been a key factor in determining the timing and duration of the British and American airstrikes on Iraq. President Clinton told the American people in his television address that he had decided to act immediately because to take action during Ramadan would be "profoundly offensive to the Arab world". His words suggested strongly that the operation would end before Ramadan, expected to begin on Sunday morning after the sighting of the new moon tomorrow. Mr Clinton may have been responding to reports that there would be an outburst of anger across the Muslim world against the Allies if the attack continued into Ramadan. It is certainly a convenient pretext to convince his Republican opponents that the timing had nothing to do with the impeachment hearings. But, in fact, the onset of Ramadan makes little difference. According to Koranic tradition - building on pre-Islamic customs - warfare is strongly discouraged in the four lunar months after Ramadan. But no mention is made of an injunction against fighting in the Koranic chapter (Sura al-Baqara) specifying observance of Ramadan. "It is a month of heightened devotion, when Muslims fast during the day and should pray at night," a spokesman for the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies said. "Any news of violence or killing is, therefore, very disturbing indeed, as it upsets the spiritual atmosphere." But he said that it was not more offensive to start a war during the holy month than it was to continue fighting one. Diplomats note that neither Iran nor Iraq stopped fighting during Ramadan during their long war in the 1980s. And the joint Egyptian-Syrian attack on Israel in 1973 was launched during Ramadan. By tradition the fast begins the morning after the senior Muslim in a local community sees the new moon. This, therefore, can vary according to geography, with the possible difference of a day between Morocco and Indonesia. Normally the two most influential sightings are by the Rector of al-Azhar and by the senior sheikh in Mecca. Most Muslim countries now leave the decision on the start of the month to the local ministry of religious endowments, which consults clerical authorities.