cdw
03-28-2003, 08:55 PM
Pak oil tanker explodes in Kandahar
The News: Jang (Pakistan)
March 28, 2003
KANDAHAR: A bomb blew up a tanker carrying fuel to a US military base in southern Afghanistan, but there were no casualties, an Afghan security official said on Thursday. The explosion late Wednesday occurred just two kilometres from the Kandahar airport, where thousands of US soldiers are stationed, said the security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The tanker, carrying 45,000 litres of fuel, had arrived from Pakistan and was en route to the US base when the explosion occurred. Another seven oil tankers were nearby, but escaped damage.
Red Cross Worker Killed in Afghanistan
Associated Press
Friday March 28, 9:07 AM
An international Red Cross staff member was fatally shot by gunmen Thursday in southern Afghanistan, prompting the humanitarian aid agency to suspend operations across the country.
Ricardo Munguia, a water engineer, was killed while on assignment with several Afghan colleagues in Uruzgan province, said Annick Bouvier, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
"He was shot in cold blood by a group of unidentified assailants who stopped the vehicles in which the ICRC staff were traveling," Bouvier said.
Further details were not immediately available.
Meanwhile, ICRC operations in Afghanistan have been suspended until further notice. The organization supplies medical aid and other types of assistance and monitors breaches of international humanitarian agreements.
"Appalled by this brutal and unacceptable act, the ICRC shares the grief and outrage of his family, friends and colleagues and expresses its sincere condolences to his family," Bouvier said.
Munguia, 39, was a citizen of both Switzerland and El Salvador. He joined the Swiss-based ICRC in 1999 and served in Colombia, the Republic of Congo and Angola.
Aid workers with other agencies, including the United Nations, have complained about insecurity in Afghanistan, where much of the territory is still controlled by warlords.
In January, bandits attacked a U.N. refugee agency convoy in eastern Afghanistan, sparking a shootout that killed two UNHCR security guards and at least four other people. UNHCR suspended its operations in Khogiani and Hesarak districts of eastern Nangarhar province after the attack.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Taliban suspect arrested in Afghanistan
via Daily Times (Pakistan)
March 28, 2003
BAGRAM AIR BASE: The US military said on Thursday it had arrested another person with suspected links to the Taliban militia in a major operation in southern Afghanistan.
US military spokesman Colonel Roger King said the alleged extremist was the ninth person apprehended so far, as part of Operation Valiant Strike, an offensive involving hundreds of US and Romanian troops in the mountains east of southern Kandahar.
“Operation Valiant Strike continues in the Sami Ghar mountains. Eight more objectives were cleared and coalition forces detained one person suspected of ties with the Taliban in the past 24 hours,” Colonel King told reporters.
The week-old offensive backed by helicopter gun-ships began within hours of the US-led strikes on Iraq. The US military insists the timing of the operation is purely coincidental.
So far troops have discovered four weapon caches, at least one was described as “significant” by the military spokesman. “The coalition forces have encountered no hostile forces beyond an initial firefight during a pre-operation sortie,” said Colonel King. —AFP
Springtime for the Muslim Brotherhood
By Cam McGrath
Asia Times (Hong Kong)
March 28, 2003
CAIRO - Western "military adventurism" and the inability or unwillingness of Arab regimes to face perceived threats to Islam are giving a new lease on life to the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic fundamentalist group.
"Since September 11 we have seen an increasing popularity of all Islamic movements and ideas around the world," says Diaa Rashwan, a specialist on Islamist groups at the al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is the leading Islamic movement and its ideas have been redistributed among the Egyptian people. This will continue to increase because of the way in which the US and British governments are administrating their war in Iraq," says Rashwan.
Founded in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood once employed terrorism as a means to achieve its goal of turning Egypt into an Islamic theocracy. The group renounced violence in the 1980s, opting instead for peaceful democratic methods to achieve moral and social reform. Outlawed since 1954, but generally tolerated by the government, the party now issues statements, organizes events and fields political candidates in local and national elections.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its sister concerns in other countries exist largely as clandestine but militant groups marked by their rejection of Western influences. In Jordan, the Islamic Action Front is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood holds 16 seats in Egypt's parliament, making it the largest opposition group in the 454-member legislature. Leading members hold respected positions in professional syndicates and its followers number in the millions. "For the government, the Muslim Brotherhood is a political enemy, not a terrorist group," explains Rashwan, adding that the government of President Hosni Mubarak continues to ban the organization as a measure to limit its political power.
The Brotherhood has faced many challenges in recent years, including frequent police roundups of its members and the recent death of the group's "supreme guide" Moustafa Mashhour. Led now by 81-year-old Ma'moun al-Hodeiby and an inner circle of aging leaders, analysts say that the group's static theories on Islamic law, women, freedom of expression and inter-faith unity have made it a political dinosaur.
"The present, never mind the future, is the enemy of the Brotherhood, which has not adapted to the modern age," said an article published recently in al-Hayat, a pan-Arab daily. "The Brotherhood does not possess the tools to understand modernity and doesn't dare contradict the ideologies and struggles of its great past, which it values at the expense of reality."
Yet despite this, the Muslim Brotherhood is witnessing a revival. President George W Bush administration's "war on terror" is alienating Arabs and Muslims, giving movements like the Brotherhood a newfound popularity. "We used to think of the Brotherhood as anachronistic," says civil servant Mahmoud Abdel Raouf. "Now people who were never religious are joining the Brotherhood. Bush is pushing us in this direction."
Egyptians in general loathe the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, but every bomb on an Afghan or Iraqi civilian further cements their rejection of America. As the largest opposition group to the pro-US Egyptian government, and one espousing moral and religious ideas that most Egyptians can relate to, it is only natural that the Muslim Brotherhood grows stronger.
"The failure of Arab regimes to solve the problems and conflicts, especially the US war against Iraq ... gives the Muslim Brotherhood more credibility in the street and gives us more [resolve] to handle this conflict," Essam el-Erian, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood member told Inter Press Service. "We are furious and sad about what is happening now, and we are seeking to open any portal to join the Iraqi people to defend Islam because we know it is our duty."
Al-Azhar, Egypt's most prestigious Islamic institution, issued a fatwa (religious decree) this month that it is the duty of all Muslims to defend Iraq against foreign invasion. "If the enemy descends on the land of Muslims, jihad becomes an Islamic obligation ... because our Arab and Islamic community will be facing a new Crusade targeting our land, honor, faith and nation," it declared. El-Erian is at pains to clarify that jihad does not mean an all-out religious war against Western Christendom.
"Jihad is misunderstood in the West because of the high slogans of al-Qaeda and violent groups who have distorted its meaning," he says. "Jihad is an Islamic term that means to do your best effort to fulfill your goal by peaceful means or by defending against an enemy." He condemns the actions of al-Qaeda and other violent Islamist groups, which he says have seriously undermined Islam's image. There is, however, no denying the Brotherhood's violent past.
Still respected for carrying out guerrilla activities that drove British forces out of Egypt in 1952, the Muslim Brotherhood soon fell out with the nationalist government it helped form. The group was banned after sharp differences emerged over how Egypt should be governed. It rejected the idea of a secular state, demanding that the country be governed according to Sharia - Islamic law.
Thousands of Brotherhood members were arrested following the group's failed attempt to assassinate President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1954. Three more attempts were made on Nasser's life, but he died of heart failure in 1970. Angered by his successor's peace treaty with Israel, four Brotherhood members gunned down President Anwar Sadat during a military parade in 1981.
President Hosni Mubarak ordered mass arrests of Brotherhood members on taking office in 1981, but eased up as the group made good on its promise to renounce violence. Al-Qaeda mastermind Ayman al-Zawahiri is one of many former Brotherhood members who either left or were booted out of the group because they were unwilling to accept its strict adherence to nonviolent, domestic political reform. "We are against our regime, but by peaceful means and not by terrorist edicts," says el-Erian. "The world is large enough for all of us. All of us have a role in this world and no one can eradicate the other."
(Inter Press Service)
The News: Jang (Pakistan)
March 28, 2003
KANDAHAR: A bomb blew up a tanker carrying fuel to a US military base in southern Afghanistan, but there were no casualties, an Afghan security official said on Thursday. The explosion late Wednesday occurred just two kilometres from the Kandahar airport, where thousands of US soldiers are stationed, said the security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The tanker, carrying 45,000 litres of fuel, had arrived from Pakistan and was en route to the US base when the explosion occurred. Another seven oil tankers were nearby, but escaped damage.
Red Cross Worker Killed in Afghanistan
Associated Press
Friday March 28, 9:07 AM
An international Red Cross staff member was fatally shot by gunmen Thursday in southern Afghanistan, prompting the humanitarian aid agency to suspend operations across the country.
Ricardo Munguia, a water engineer, was killed while on assignment with several Afghan colleagues in Uruzgan province, said Annick Bouvier, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
"He was shot in cold blood by a group of unidentified assailants who stopped the vehicles in which the ICRC staff were traveling," Bouvier said.
Further details were not immediately available.
Meanwhile, ICRC operations in Afghanistan have been suspended until further notice. The organization supplies medical aid and other types of assistance and monitors breaches of international humanitarian agreements.
"Appalled by this brutal and unacceptable act, the ICRC shares the grief and outrage of his family, friends and colleagues and expresses its sincere condolences to his family," Bouvier said.
Munguia, 39, was a citizen of both Switzerland and El Salvador. He joined the Swiss-based ICRC in 1999 and served in Colombia, the Republic of Congo and Angola.
Aid workers with other agencies, including the United Nations, have complained about insecurity in Afghanistan, where much of the territory is still controlled by warlords.
In January, bandits attacked a U.N. refugee agency convoy in eastern Afghanistan, sparking a shootout that killed two UNHCR security guards and at least four other people. UNHCR suspended its operations in Khogiani and Hesarak districts of eastern Nangarhar province after the attack.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Taliban suspect arrested in Afghanistan
via Daily Times (Pakistan)
March 28, 2003
BAGRAM AIR BASE: The US military said on Thursday it had arrested another person with suspected links to the Taliban militia in a major operation in southern Afghanistan.
US military spokesman Colonel Roger King said the alleged extremist was the ninth person apprehended so far, as part of Operation Valiant Strike, an offensive involving hundreds of US and Romanian troops in the mountains east of southern Kandahar.
“Operation Valiant Strike continues in the Sami Ghar mountains. Eight more objectives were cleared and coalition forces detained one person suspected of ties with the Taliban in the past 24 hours,” Colonel King told reporters.
The week-old offensive backed by helicopter gun-ships began within hours of the US-led strikes on Iraq. The US military insists the timing of the operation is purely coincidental.
So far troops have discovered four weapon caches, at least one was described as “significant” by the military spokesman. “The coalition forces have encountered no hostile forces beyond an initial firefight during a pre-operation sortie,” said Colonel King. —AFP
Springtime for the Muslim Brotherhood
By Cam McGrath
Asia Times (Hong Kong)
March 28, 2003
CAIRO - Western "military adventurism" and the inability or unwillingness of Arab regimes to face perceived threats to Islam are giving a new lease on life to the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic fundamentalist group.
"Since September 11 we have seen an increasing popularity of all Islamic movements and ideas around the world," says Diaa Rashwan, a specialist on Islamist groups at the al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is the leading Islamic movement and its ideas have been redistributed among the Egyptian people. This will continue to increase because of the way in which the US and British governments are administrating their war in Iraq," says Rashwan.
Founded in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood once employed terrorism as a means to achieve its goal of turning Egypt into an Islamic theocracy. The group renounced violence in the 1980s, opting instead for peaceful democratic methods to achieve moral and social reform. Outlawed since 1954, but generally tolerated by the government, the party now issues statements, organizes events and fields political candidates in local and national elections.
The Muslim Brotherhood and its sister concerns in other countries exist largely as clandestine but militant groups marked by their rejection of Western influences. In Jordan, the Islamic Action Front is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood holds 16 seats in Egypt's parliament, making it the largest opposition group in the 454-member legislature. Leading members hold respected positions in professional syndicates and its followers number in the millions. "For the government, the Muslim Brotherhood is a political enemy, not a terrorist group," explains Rashwan, adding that the government of President Hosni Mubarak continues to ban the organization as a measure to limit its political power.
The Brotherhood has faced many challenges in recent years, including frequent police roundups of its members and the recent death of the group's "supreme guide" Moustafa Mashhour. Led now by 81-year-old Ma'moun al-Hodeiby and an inner circle of aging leaders, analysts say that the group's static theories on Islamic law, women, freedom of expression and inter-faith unity have made it a political dinosaur.
"The present, never mind the future, is the enemy of the Brotherhood, which has not adapted to the modern age," said an article published recently in al-Hayat, a pan-Arab daily. "The Brotherhood does not possess the tools to understand modernity and doesn't dare contradict the ideologies and struggles of its great past, which it values at the expense of reality."
Yet despite this, the Muslim Brotherhood is witnessing a revival. President George W Bush administration's "war on terror" is alienating Arabs and Muslims, giving movements like the Brotherhood a newfound popularity. "We used to think of the Brotherhood as anachronistic," says civil servant Mahmoud Abdel Raouf. "Now people who were never religious are joining the Brotherhood. Bush is pushing us in this direction."
Egyptians in general loathe the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, but every bomb on an Afghan or Iraqi civilian further cements their rejection of America. As the largest opposition group to the pro-US Egyptian government, and one espousing moral and religious ideas that most Egyptians can relate to, it is only natural that the Muslim Brotherhood grows stronger.
"The failure of Arab regimes to solve the problems and conflicts, especially the US war against Iraq ... gives the Muslim Brotherhood more credibility in the street and gives us more [resolve] to handle this conflict," Essam el-Erian, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood member told Inter Press Service. "We are furious and sad about what is happening now, and we are seeking to open any portal to join the Iraqi people to defend Islam because we know it is our duty."
Al-Azhar, Egypt's most prestigious Islamic institution, issued a fatwa (religious decree) this month that it is the duty of all Muslims to defend Iraq against foreign invasion. "If the enemy descends on the land of Muslims, jihad becomes an Islamic obligation ... because our Arab and Islamic community will be facing a new Crusade targeting our land, honor, faith and nation," it declared. El-Erian is at pains to clarify that jihad does not mean an all-out religious war against Western Christendom.
"Jihad is misunderstood in the West because of the high slogans of al-Qaeda and violent groups who have distorted its meaning," he says. "Jihad is an Islamic term that means to do your best effort to fulfill your goal by peaceful means or by defending against an enemy." He condemns the actions of al-Qaeda and other violent Islamist groups, which he says have seriously undermined Islam's image. There is, however, no denying the Brotherhood's violent past.
Still respected for carrying out guerrilla activities that drove British forces out of Egypt in 1952, the Muslim Brotherhood soon fell out with the nationalist government it helped form. The group was banned after sharp differences emerged over how Egypt should be governed. It rejected the idea of a secular state, demanding that the country be governed according to Sharia - Islamic law.
Thousands of Brotherhood members were arrested following the group's failed attempt to assassinate President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1954. Three more attempts were made on Nasser's life, but he died of heart failure in 1970. Angered by his successor's peace treaty with Israel, four Brotherhood members gunned down President Anwar Sadat during a military parade in 1981.
President Hosni Mubarak ordered mass arrests of Brotherhood members on taking office in 1981, but eased up as the group made good on its promise to renounce violence. Al-Qaeda mastermind Ayman al-Zawahiri is one of many former Brotherhood members who either left or were booted out of the group because they were unwilling to accept its strict adherence to nonviolent, domestic political reform. "We are against our regime, but by peaceful means and not by terrorist edicts," says el-Erian. "The world is large enough for all of us. All of us have a role in this world and no one can eradicate the other."
(Inter Press Service)