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AFP: Syria-based Iraqis protest against Iraq-US pact DAMASCUS (AFP) — Almost 2,000 Syria-based Iraqis staged a protest on Wednesday against the Iraq-US military pact, saying that the agreement would place Iraq under US domination. Men, women and children took part in the demonstration in the Sayeda Zeinab suburb south of Damascus nearly a week after the Baghdad parliament ratified the pact. "We denounce the security agreement, a shameful and dishonourable agreement of American occupation," read one banner outside a shop in the mostly Shiite neighbourhood. "Iraqis in Syria denounce this disastrous agreement," read another. One demonstrator carried a placard reading: "This disastrous accord puts Iraq under American control." After months of wrangling, the Iraqi cabinet on November 24 ratified the agreement, which is now due to be formally endorsed by the country's presidential council. The agreement would replace a UN mandate which expires at the end of ...

I have heard enough of these slander and non-sense: Islamic Terrorists, Islamofascists, Muslim Terrorists…etc! Once again terrorism has no religion!!! There are Christian who are terrorists, so are Hindus, Jews and many other religions; and, secularists or Marxists who aren’t associated themselves with religion and still participate in terrorist act. George Bush is a terrorist with WMD in his hands, he used conventional weapon as well as chemical weapon against Iraqis, but he is not a Christian Terrorist. Osama is a terrorist, but he is not a Muslim Terrorist. Terror can be waged by any one, but the claim is different when it comes to Islamic followers. When alqaida wage war against the west using a terror methods, there claim was to “free Muslims from the West” hence non Muslims and some ignorant Muslims to call them “Muslim Terrorists” why? The reason is if you call Terrorists who happened to be Muslims “Islamic Terrorists” rather than alqaida or some other groups, it mak...

U.S. Muslims worry about new federal rules - Security- msnbc.com : DETROIT - Some Arab- and Muslim-Americans say new Justice Department guidelines that boost the FBI's power to investigate suspected terrorists could target innocent people. The revised guidelines going into effect Monday will allow agents to use undercover sources to gather information, interview people without identifying themselves and spy on suspects without evidence of wrongdoing. Critics say the rules will allow for abuses, including more racial and religious profiling. "That's an extraordinary power," said Mike German, a former FBI agent who now advises the American Civil Liberties Union. "There is anxiety the Middle Eastern community will be targeted," said lawyer Nabih Ayad, who has defended a number of Arab Americans charged in national security cases. "There is always a danger in the implementation when you give such discretion in the hands of agents." Current rules date t...

Bush to Olmert: Why are you giving Syria the Golan for nothing? - Haaretz - Israel News WASHINGTON - U.S. President George Bush believes that Israel is offering Syria the Golan Heights without getting anything in exchange, according to sources briefed on his White House meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week. After Olmert updated Bush on Israel's indirect talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad, the U.S. president demanded, "Why do you want to give Assad the Golan for nothing?" the sources said. "It's not for nothing," Olmert insisted. "It's in exchange for a change in the region's strategic alignment." Bush persisted: "Why should you believe him?" And to that, Olmert did not reply. The Bush administration has long had reservations about Israel's talks with Syria and refuses to play any active role in them. Infuriated by Syria's involvement in anti-American terror in Iraq, as well as its undermining of Lebanon...

Pakistan's war on Taliban swells refugee camps Pakistan - Muhammad Khan is not sure who fired the mortar shell that nearly cost him his right arm. But when he regained consciousness, the elderly farmer from the village of Badano knew that clashes between the Pakistani military and local Taliban militants had degenerated into a full-blown war, and it was time to leave. "The Taliban was making trouble for us. Then the military helicopters and bombs came, exploding throughout the day," he said, showing his injured arm and a neighbor's crude stitch-work that saved the limb. "We were suffering from all sides." Some 200,000 Pashtun tribal members have fled their homes in the past three months during an army offensive to expel Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in Bajur, a largely lawless area that borders Afghanistan and is rumored to be the hiding place of al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. Droves of displaced people are flocking to relief camps outside tribal areas fo...

Al Jazeera English - Americas - Chavez hails election victory Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has hailed the victory of his allies in local elections, praising the outcome as a sign of the strength of the country's democratic system. "Who can say there's a dictatorship in Venezuela?" Chavez said on Monday. "A new stage is beginning. For me, as the leader of the Venezuelan socialist project, the people are telling me: 'Chavez, keep on the same path,'" he said. However, the country's opposition won five states and Caracas, the capital, out of a total of 22 state polls, gaining ground on Chavez's Socialist Party. More than 65 per cent of 17 million eligible voters turned out to vote for governors, mayors and heads of regional councils in Sunday's polls.

Informed Comment: Wertheim: There is Racism and There is Racism II After I wrote my article “There is Racism and There is Racism’’, I received quite a few often very emotional reactions. At the Trouw website, in personal emails and at any number of blogs. Some of the readers who responded are just as concerned as I am that the latest developments can lead to violence. The distinction I drew between the two kinds of racism and the mechanisms that go along with them have encouraged them in their efforts to head us all in a more peaceful direction. Others reacted with indignation. But all things considered, it is clear that a newspaper article like this about such a complicated issue can also evoke misunderstandings. . . In your article in Trouw you agree with Harry de Winter, who compares Islamophobia to the Holocaust. That is total nonsense! Harry de Winter compares Islamophobia to how the public mind set was primed for the Holocaust in the 1930s. How considerable percentages of the Eur...