Magharebia
Published on Magharebia (http://www.magharebia.com)
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2008/02/21/feature-01
Morocco dismantles widespread domestic terrorist network
21/02/2008
Investigations into a suspected terrorist network in Morocco led to the arrests of three senior political party officials, Morocco's interior ministry announced on Wednesday. The group, trained in part by Hezbollah, is believed to have links to al-Qaeda.
By Sarah Touahri and Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia in Rabat – 21/02/08
[Sarah Touahri] Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday (February 20th) Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said Moroccan investigators have dismantled a "major Jihadist terror network" established in Tangier in 1992.
Moroccan authorities announced Monday (February 18th) that security services had dismantled a "major Jihadist terrorist network, which was preparing to perpetrate acts of violence in the country." Painstaking intelligence work led to the identification and subsequent arrest of the group's main active members.
Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa told the press on Wednesday that the investigations had uncovered a number of branches of the network, originally established in 1992 in Tangier. The group had connections to terrorist organisations active in Morocco and abroad, including al-Qaeda. Benmoussa said the network was preparing to assassinate top-level civilian and military officials and Moroccan Jewish citizens.
In all, 32 people representing a broad cross-section of society have been detained. Many are educated professionals, one is a police superintendent and three more are senior political party leaders. The network is reportedly led by Moroccan Abdelkader Belliraj, a resident of Belgium.
The interior ministry said searches of the residences and workplaces of members of the "Belliraj Cell" in Casablanca and Nador led to the seizure of large quantities of weapons, ammunitions and explosives, as well as supplies intended to conceal the terrorists' identities.
The ministry added that police helped to identify the sources of financing for the Belliraj cell, including armed robbery, sale of stolen goods, and direct contributions by members. The terrorist organisation also reportedly smuggled some 30 million dirhams into the country in 2001 that were invested in money-laundering endeavours in tourist, real estate and commercial projects in several Moroccan cities. Real estate purchased by the group was also used to house some of the terrorists.
The interior minister also revealed that the group received explosives and arms training from Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2002.
The Moroccan public was perhaps most shocked by the arrests of Secretary-General Mustapha Lmouaatassim and El Amine Regala of the Al-Badil Al-Hadari (Civilised Alternative) party, as well as Mohamed El Merouani, leader of the unrecognised Al Oumma (The Nation) party.
According to the interior minister, the terrorist network was found to be instrumental in the creation of the Al-Badil Al-Hadari party. As a result, Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi decreed the dissolution of the party, under Article 57 of the law governing political parties.
Al-Badil Al-Hadari contributed to the creation of an Islamist association in 1995 before becoming a full-fledged party in 2005. The party fielded candidates in the September 2007 legislative elections but failed to win any seats.
Al Oumma began as a partisan offshoot of Al Haraka Min Ajli Oumma (Movement for the Nation). Founded in 1998, the party applied for government recognition in 2007 but has yet to be approved.
"The creation of the Al-Badil Al-Hadari association in 1995 and Al Haraka Min Ajli Al Oumma in 1998," Chakib Benmoussa explained, "was just a front for the members of the [terrorist] network."
Saad Al Othmani, Secretary-General of the Justice and Development Party expressed his surprise at the arrests, saying the political leaders were "all known for moderation, rejection of violence and extremism, and for working within the framework of institutions and established national principles."
"We are sure that there is some sort of an error," he said, "and we hope it will be corrected."
Meanwhile, Mohamed Moujahid, leader of Morocco's Unified Socialist Party, said the charges are "in contradiction with their stances that call for modernity, democracy and human rights".
Mohamed Ziane, leader of the Moroccan Liberal Party, commented on the case, saying, "Political struggle has nothing to do with violence. The proponents of a culture of violence have no place in politics. This rule applies to both leftist and rightist ideologies."
In a statement issued Tuesday, Ibrahim Borja, Vice-Secretary-General of Al-Badil Al-Hadari condemned Mustapha Lmouaatassim's arrest, describing him and El Amine Regala as proponents of democracy and rejecters of all forms of extremism and terrorism, and called for their immediate release.
He said the arrests were a crackdown on people trying to effect a real democratic transition in Morocco. Mohamed Ben Hammou, leader of the Citizenship and Development Initiative party, said if the allegations prove true, then it is both shocking and frustrating. "Morocco is our country. We should defend it, particularly when we accept a position of political responsibility. We have to be vigilant when it comes to extremism. No one has the right to go down any route other than the democratic one," he declared.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Morocco dismantles widespread domestic terrorist network
Friday, February 1, 2008
Haddad Adel: Islamophobia major concern of contemporary era
Tehran, Jan 30, IRNA
Iran-Egypt-Haddad Adel
Majlis Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said on Wednesday that 'Islamophobia' which has escalated in the West in the aftermath of September 11 incident is regarded as a major concern in the contemporary era.
The speaker arrived in Cairo on Tuesday heading a high-ranking delegating to attend a biennial inter-parliamentary meeting of the Islamic countries where he is to give a keynote speech.
Addressing the fifth inter-parliamentary meeting of the Islamic countries, he underlined that it is about hundred years that world Muslims have fallen victims to terrorism.
The enemies try to depict a rough and inhuman image of Islam and Muslims through false propaganda and vicious slanders, Haddad Adel pointed out.
Another challenge threatening world Muslims is attempts by their enemies to sow discord among them, he said and invited fair western intellectuals to sit at negotiating table with Muslim intellectuals to help remove such unfounded slanders.
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has designated the current Iranian year as the "Year of National Unity and Islamic Solidarity" to urge world muslims to forge unity, he said.
"We should prepare grounds for parliaments of Islamic countries to play a much more active role in the world of Islam," he said.
Referring to massacre of the Palestinians by the Zionist forces, he said "We are now witnessing heinous atrocities by the Zionists in the Gaza Strip being perpetrated with support of certain big powers," he said.
The Iranian Majlis speaker also pointed to the threats posed by the Zionist regime against Lebanon and its supporters in Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur and other Islamic regions.
On Iran's peaceful nuclear activities, he said Iran and IAEA have had very good cooperation and the reports issued by IAEA along with the report released by 16 US intelligence agencies confirmed the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.
He strongly criticized the Zionist regime for possessing hundreds of nuclear warheads and for refusing to abide by international rules and regulations.
1430**1412
from
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-236/0801301475154147.htm
Fareed Zakaria Says The War Is Over! Awesome!
It's called the MRAP, or "Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle." With a price-tag of as much as $1 million each, these new armored transports are designed with a wedge-shaped hull in order to deflect explosive blasts away from the cabin, therefore shielding the soldiers inside.
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And much like the surge, it doesn't appear to be working.
On Tuesday, an American gunner was killed when his MRAP vehicle hit a roadside bomb south of Baghdad. His comrades inside were wounded despite the MRAP armor. Reports didn't say whether or not the bomb was what's called an "explosively formed penetrator" or EFP roadside bomb which critics have warned has the power to rip through an MRAP's armored hull.
We make better armor -- they make deadlier bombs. Don't be afraid, though. Six months from now we're going to win the shit out of this war. But wait! Don't nobody move! Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria, says the war has ended!
The Democrats are having the hardest time with the new reality. Every candidate is committed to "ending the war" and bringing our troops back home. The trouble is, the war has largely ended, and precisely because our troops are in the middle of it.
Okay. The war has largely ended because our troops are -- huh what? The war is over but if our combat soldiers come home, the war won't... be... over... anymore? The only thing I can make sense of here is that this is exactly the Bush Republican position on Iraq: The surge worked, the war is over, but no-one can come home because the surge worked and the war is over. Hooray for God's America!
And -- nyuck nyuck! -- this really has the Democrats flummoxed. Ya' think? I can't imagine why this Bush Logic would confuse people. It's not unlike being flummoxed by your roommate when he suddenly insists he's a reptilian Sleestak creature; then demands that you make linguistic sense of his constant Sleestak hissing. There's no sense to be made here other than the utter lack of common sense.
What's more disturbing is that The Very Serious Mr. Zakaria defined this as a "new reality." Maybe by "new" he meant "not a" or "I'm about to make shit up about [reality]."
Nevertheless, we can clearly gather that there are now two Iraqs.
There's Fareed Zakaria's awesomely successful "New Reality Iraq" which the traditional media and the Bush Republicans are observing -- mouths locked in frozen grins, and sweaty palms robotically smacking together in a deluded, drone-like round of applause. In the New Reality Iraq, nothing is ever achieved now; everything is achieved six months from now. Maybe. In the New Reality Iraq, Senator Graham bought a wicked-awesome rug for a dollar.
And then there's what I've been calling "Bizarro Iraq": an opposite, alternate Iraq in which the surge didn't work because the political benchmarks the increased troop levels were meant to facilitate... weren't achieved. In Bizarro Iraq, failing to meet those political benchmarks cost us the highest level of American military deaths in the war so far: 901 Americans killed in action and 6,071 wounded during 2007. In Bizarro Iraq, there's no such thing as victory because, in Bizarro Iraq, the president's illegal invasion and occupation, the president's torturing, the president's shock & awe, and the president's criminally botched reconstruction has fostered what are sure to be decades of catastrophic blowback against Americans and American interests.
In Bizarro Iraq, this is just a glimpse at January:
BAGHDAD -- The street battles between members of a messianic cult and Iraqi troops raged for a second day as the death toll from the fighting in two predominantly Shiite southern cities rose from 50 to at least 68. Iraqi authorities said at least 36 people were reported killed in Basra, Iraq's second largest city, and at least 32 in Nasiriyah, including Iraqi security forces, civilians and gunmen. At least 10 people were reported slain in Nasiriyah Friday. - JANUARY 20, 2008
BAGHDAD -- Nine American soldiers were killed in the first two days of a new American drive to kill al-Qaida in Iraq fighters holed up in districts north of the capital, the U.S. military said Wednesday. [...] Six soldiers were killed and four were wounded Wednesday in a booby-trapped house in Diyala province, where joint U.S.-Iraqi forces were driving through a difficult web of lush palm and citrus groves, farmland and fertile river bottoms. - JANUARY 9, 2008
BAGHDAD, Iraq CNN -- A well-respected Sunni leader who was key in helping reduce violence in his northern Baghdad neighborhood was among at least 15 people killed in three separate suicide bombings Monday, officials said. -JANUARY 7, 2008
And all of the following items were reported on January 6, 2008...
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest killed nine people and wounded 12 others in Baghdad's central Karrada district, a police official said. Another police source said nine people were killed and 17 wounded.
BAGHDAD - A parked car bomb killed three people and wounded 15 outside a restaurant in the Qahira district in northern Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - Twelve bodies were found in various districts across Baghdad on Saturday, police said.
BAGHDAD - Three blasts killed one person and wounded four in Nahda district in central Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb wounded seven people travelling in a minibus in the southern Baghdad district of Doura on Saturday, police said.
MUQDADIYA - Four human heads were found on Saturday in Muqdadiya, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police and hospital officials said.
DIYALA PROVINCE - One U.S. soldier died after a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Diyala Province on Saturday, the U.S. military said.
BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed Ismail Abbas, the leader of the Awakening Council in Shaab district, outside his home in northern Baghdad, police said.
Does this litany of death and violence indicate to you that the war has "largely ended" or does it indicate to you that the people telling us the war has "largely ended" are "largely nuts"? The answer to that question determines whether you're observing Bizarro Iraq or Zakaria's New Reality Iraq. On second thought, don't worry about it -- six months from now we'll reach a turning point in the war which we've already won because the surge worked but the troops will have to stay there or else we won't win.
I can't imagine why Senators Clinton, Obama and Edwards would want to end this goddamn thing.
Bob Cesca's Goddamn Awesome Blog! GO!
from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/fareed-zakaria-says-the-w_b_82916.html?view=print
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Daniel Pipes: A failure on all fronts
Posted: January 15, 2008, 3:03 PM by Marni Soupcoff
Daniel Pipes
George W. Bush's policies toward the Middle East and Islam will loom large when historians judge his presidency. On the occasion of concluding his eight-day, six-country trip to the Middle East and entering his final year in office, I offer some provisional assessments.
His hallmark has been a readiness to break with long-established bipartisan positions and adopt stunningly new policies, and by late 2005 he had laid out his novel approach in four major areas.
- Radical Islam Prior to 9/11, American authorities viewed Islamist violence as a narrow criminal problem. Calling for a "war against terror" in September, 2001, Bush broadened the conflict. Specifying the precise force behind terrorism in October, 2005, he termed it "Islamic radicalism," "militant jihad-ism" and "Islamo-fascism."
- Pre-emptive war Deterrence had long been the policy of choice against the Soviet Union and other threats, but Bush added a second policy in June, 2002: pre-emption. U.S. security, he said, "will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our lives." Nine months later, this new doctrine served as his basis to invade Iraq and eliminate Saddam Hussein before the latter could develop nuclear weapons.
- Arab-Israeli conflict Bush avoided the old-style and counterproductive "peace process" diplomacy and tried a new approach in June, 2003, by establishing the goal of "two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side, in peace and security." In addition, he outlined his final-status vision, specified a timetable, and even attempted to sideline a recalcitrant leader (Yasser Arafat) and prop up a forthcoming one (Ehud Olmert).
- Democracy Deriding "Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East" as a policy that "did nothing to make us safe," Bush announced in November, 2003, "a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East," by which he meant pushing regimes to open up to citizen participation.
So much for intentions. How, in fact, have things worked out?
At the end of his first term, I concluded that the Bush policies, other than the Arab-Israeli one, stood "a good chance of working." No longer. Today, I perceive failure in all four areas.
Bush's once-improved understanding of radical Islam has been reversed, to the point that he uses lengthy and inelegant euphemisms to avoid referring to the problem by name, relying on formulations like "a group of extremists who seek to use religion as a path to power and a means of domination."
Pre-emptive war requires convincing observers that the pre-emption was indeed justified, something the Bush administration failed to do. Only half the American population (and a far smaller proportion of people in the Middle East) accept the need for invading Iraq. This has created domestic divisions within the United States and external hostility greater than at any time since the Vietnam War. Among the costs: increased difficulty in taking pre-emptive action against the Iranian nuclear program.
Bush's vision of resolving a century of Arab-Israeli conflict by anointing Mahmoud Abbas as leader of a Palestinian state is illusory. Would a sovereign "Palestine" alongside Israel drain the anti-Zionist hatred and close down the irredentist war against Israel? No. Rather, the mischievous goal of creating "Palestine" will inspire more fervour to eliminate the Jewish state.
Finally, encouraging democracy is clearly a worthy goal, but when the Middle East's dominant popular force is totalitarian Islam, is it such a great idea to rush headlong ahead? Yet rushing ahead characterized Washington's initial approach -- until the policy's damage to U.S. interests became too apparent to ignore, causing it largely to be abandoned.
At a time when George W. Bush arouses such intense dislike among his critics, someone who wishes him well, like myself, criticizes reluctantly. But criticize one must; to pretend all is well, or to remain loyal to the person despite his record, does no one a favor. A frank recognition of mistakes must precede their repair.
I respect Bush's benign motivation and good intentions while mourning his having squandered a record-breaking 90% job-approval rating following 9/11 and his bequeathing to the next president a polarized electorate, a military reluctant to use force against Iran, Hamas ruling Gaza, an Iraqi disaster-in-waiting, radical Islam on the ascendant and unprecedented levels of global anti-Americanism.
Conservatives have much work ahead to reconstruct their Middle East policy.
- Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/01/15/daniel-pipes-a-failure-on-all-fronts.aspx
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Aspects of learning int eh present and the past
Definition of learning :
Learning refers to an intensive activity that increases the capacity and willingness of individuals, groups, organizations, and communities, to acquire and productively apply new knowledge and skills, to grow and mature, and to adapt successfully to changes and challenges. It has several forms and aspects that change from one time to anther.
Variation in aspects of learning:
Aspects of learning have changed progressively from a very ancient structure to a modern form to serve learners in an easy and efficient way. It is a continuous emergence to the archaeological inscriptions and drawings, figures and images that is used by people in the past that can be considered as means of education aimed to deliver messages to another recipient that is compatible with his learning abilities at that period of time. Afterward, people learn through self-education and stimulation. There are many movies and series that dramatize the way people used to learn. What we observe is a small mosque with dozens of small boys. The Imam is the only teacher whose main concern is to deliver the right message to his students, and increase their knowledge abilities and potentials. The material he uses is exclusive to the holly Quran teachings and some of the Arabic language.
Aspects of learning in the Quran :
The words of God carry significant indications of learning aspects. These words come out to existence either through the prophet words or in God's books. Some of the hints are transmitted in Quran:
And We ordained laws for him in the tablets in all matters, both commanding and explaining all things, (and said): "Take and hold these with firmness, and enjoin thy people to hold fast by the best in the precepts: soon shall I show you the homes of the wicked,- (How they lie desolate). (Al A'raf, 7.145) [1]
24. Seest thou not how Allah sets forth a parable? - A goodly word like a goodly tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches (reach) to the heavens,- of its Lord. So Allah sets forth parables for men, in order that they may receive admonition.
25. It brings forth its fruit at all times, by the leave of its Lord. So Allah sets forth parables for men, in order that they may receive admonition.
26. And the parable of an evil Word is that of an evil tree: It is torn up by the root from the surface of the earth: it has no stability. (Ibrahim, 14.24,25,26) [2]
In Christianity, The monks learn from Christ the sole of his teachings. In their teaching process, they depend on a live environment using methods that transfer learning into a discovery. They used to form alphabets from bones and give them to children to play and learn spelling.
Later than that, with the modern renaissance in
Moreover, in 1905, appears what is called "museums schools". These schools serve learning a lot through offering mobile conferences, photographs, slides, films, drawings, paintings… From 1941 to 1945, the World War II consists of new aspects of learning through the growth of the audio-visual tools that has military and industrial uses. Moreover, through the fax invention and the radio technology, learning adopts new aspects. Throughout Radio and Television, people become more connected to each other than before. Also, in the forties of the twentieth century, there is the creation of the computer technology which encloses the main role of the evolution of learning and human knowledge, which is the best reliable aspect of learning in the world. Furthermore, In 1980, Technology products accelerates a lot to an extent that some of it passes the light speed. This technology is used in the video and interactive multimedia system. Finally, in 1990, Internet achieved The Extreme Growth among learners in the globe. It grows rapidly and excessively in the
On the basis of what I have talked about above, Man's aspects of learning are very old and variable to the place and time. I can divide these aspects into four steps:
1- Visual means: they are called by that name for the reason that they relay on sight as the principal source of education. Man sees reality fulfilled his environment, he realizes that and understand his realization through direct sensory expressions.
2- Audio-Visual: This is to confirm that it uses more than one sense property in the educational process such as sight and hearing. Cinema helps with that a lot through providing knowledge by animated pictures and its sound effects.
3- Information technology (IT) schools: Such schools are used to serve theoretical and practical methods in the context of the educational process. The function of this schools is to give access to new aspects of learning and education.
4- Technology of learning and education: It is a common concept that people link technology learning with the new modern innovation, electronic machines, and computers. It is the a consequence of the industrial revolution. Unlike education, people should use all use all these things for his benefit to achieve better goals in this field.
Within the framework above, we can say that the new aspects of learning can be used in a great deal to help students deal with their educative program. We, thanks to Technology availability, are capable to speak about Sparknotes[3]or Bookmooch[4]. But, still, old aspects of learning give us very important intellects in deferent specialties and fields
References
Alsharaf, Hisham ;Fajr network; Attaalim bayna lmadi wa lhader "Learning between the present and the past"; http://69.57.136.227/?act=artc&id=2321 accessed 17/01/2008
[1] The Holly Quran. Al A'raf, 145 Trans. Yusuf Ali.
[2] Ibid, Ibrahim,.24,26
[3] Study guides and discussion forums offered on various academic subjects. Literature section includes brief analyses of characters, themes and plots. http://sparknotes.com
[4] Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at http://bookmooch.com
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