Month: August 2009

“So far, there has been no known friction with conservatives over the new excavations” of non-Muslim sites, but “hard-liners have been known to raze even ancient Islamic sites to ensure that they do not become objects of veneration”: Digging up the Saudi Past: Some Would Rather Not (AP / Washington Post) McChrystal compares “the US…

Critics dismiss the charges as “blood libel” and “anti-Semitic”; Alison Weir examines the evidence and testimony for  such charges: Israeli Organ Harvesting (Counterpunch) Larijani moves to depoliticize the issue: Prosecutor in Iranian Opposition Trials Is Fired (Washington Post) Other Middle Eastern nations could benefit from emulating the school program designed to promote tolerance and unity…

The founder of the rebel movement denies Agwai’s parting assessment: UN Peacekeeping Chief Says Darfur War Over (Christian Science Monitor) Legislation proposed to protect journalists actually consolidates government regulation and could serve to severely restrict freedom of the press: Protecting Journalists in Iraq (Guardian) Ahmadinejad says, “those caught up in the unrest should be freed,…

As supreme leader Khamenei dismisses the idea that protesters were backed by Western forces … Iran Protests Not ‘Foreign Backed’ (Al Jazeera) … Grand Ayatollah Montazeri echoes our open letter to Khamenei, complaining “that this ruling system is neither a republic nor Islamic and that nobody has the right to express opinion or criticism”: Senior…

With the election much closer than previously believed, Abdullah produces video evidence which he claims illustrates “that state-engineered fraud has been underway”… Karzai Slightly Ahead in Partial Vote Count (Washington Post) The documents underscore that officials in Washington so closely supervised the program that an investigation limited to ” so-called rogue interrogators would be completely…

Senator Wyden suggests the investigation passes over “Justice Department lawyers and senior Bush administration officials” while “lower ranking troops who committed abuses were hung out to dry’”… C.I.A. Abuse Cases Detailed in Report on Detainees (NY Times) … Meanwhile, the Obama administration will continue the practice of transferring prisoners abroad with “diplomatic assurances” that torture…

As accusations of abuse, rape and “Abu Ghraib-style sexual humiliations” damage the credibility of Ahmadinejad’s regime… Iranian Boy Who defied Tehran Hardliners Tells of Prison Rape Ordeal (Times Online) … the legislature allocates $20 million to investigate human right abuses by the US in retaliation of the $55 million spent by the US to document…

Deprived of both his visiting professorship at Erasmus University and his advisory position to the city of Rotterdam, Tariq Ramadan sends an open letter to his detractors: Choosing the Path of Critical Debate on Iran (MR Magazine) Some don’t share the optimism over the fact that Sunnis and Shia began fasting on the same day…

If upheld, the ruling would take away what attorney David Cole calls “a blunt sledgehammer that permits the government to shut down charities indefinitely without any finding of wrongdoing”: Federal Court Rules U.S. Seizure of Muslim Charity’s Assets Unconstitutional (The Public Record) In the wake of the arrest of five New Jersey rabbis for illegal…

Ahmadinejad’s proposed cabinet filled with “loyalists and little-known figures” faces a hard sell in the parliament: Critics Purged as Ahmadinejad Nominates New Iran Cabinet (AP / Guardian) Iran Parliament to Reject Ahmadinejad Ministers:  Lawmakers (Reuters) An assassination scheme approved in 2004 was only brought to the attention of Congress this June: C.I.A. Sought Blackwater’s Help…