British MP intervenes for Aafia Siddiqui

Quite by chance I had the fortune of meeting British MP Lord Nazir Baron Ahmed, [of Rotherham in the County of South Yorkshire] at the Friday prayer. He was passing through Boston on his way to New York where he planned to speak to Aafia Siddiqui's lawyer in order to put some pressure on the US authorities to allow the sister to be hospitalized and treated for her gunshot wound as well as severe post-traumatic stress. In a phone conversation the next day, the Honorable Lord Ahmed shared with me how he came to know about her tragic fate.

This summer, probably during their fact-finding mission to Darfur reported earlier in my blog, the famed reporter Yvonne Ridley approached Lord Ahmed to ask if he could find out anything about the legendary mystery of the "Grey Lady of Bagram."

When Pakistani detainee Moazzem Begg was released without charge, he reported to the media that he still felt haunted by a woman's sobbing cries and hysterical screams coming from Cell #650 at the US-run torture den in Afghanistan. Saudis liberated from Bagram during the daring Taliban prison break-out also reported that they had seen her.

Ahmed submitted some questions to the UK government, including whether the British intelligence service was involved in the interrogation of this woman, were they aware of abuse, and whether this lady was Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, the MIT and Brandeis-educated neuroscientist that mysteriously disappeared in Pakistan in March 2003 along with her 6 month old baby, and children aged 5 and 6?

Ahmed addressed a similar interrogatory letter to the US ambassador in the UK, who passed it along to the British embassy in Kabul.

Pakistani politician Imran Khan held a press conference in Islamabad in order to rally public support for the "Grey Lady of Bagram." The Pakistani government denied any knowledge of Prisoner 650 or Aafia. The UK denied having custody of her and said she was in the hands of the US. The US claimed that Prisoner 650 was "a different woman," who had been released in 2005 to her (unnamed) country of origin.

Yet that same day this past July, when Kabul received the letter from Lord Ahmed, according to US authorities, Aafia Siddiqui was reportedly arrested while she was wandering around in Afghanistan "as if she were on bloody holiday," in the words of Lord Ahmed, who rejects the dubious claim that was suddenly found in Afghanistan, carrying chemical, biological and radioactive weapons information as well as jars of chemicals in her purse. Siddiqui has no military expertise. Her primary focus of study was children's cognitive development.

Human Rights Watch attorney, Carol Mariner states: "US federal prosecutors allege that the day after her arrest, while she was still in Afghan custody, she grabbed a gun from the floor and fired it at a team of US soldiers and federal intelligence agents visiting the Afghan police compound where she was being held.

Lord Ahmed however informed me that according to witnesses, the US had told the Afghan authorities to hand Siddiqui over and the Afghan police were resisting. As they were negotiating, Siddiqui began to walk towards the US soldiers as she complained that the Afghan police were abusing her. One of the American soldiers panicked and shot the petite, unarmed woman in the stomach.

According to a cageprisoners.com report by Abu Sabaya, Siddiqui has never received adequate medical treatment for her bullet wound except for a botched bullet-removal surgery under US custody, in which one of her kidneys and part of her intestine were removed with the result that she is unable to properly digest food and that her entire torso is covered with layers of scar tissue. She was brought, emaciated and in horrifying condition, to trial in New York in a wheelchair in September 2008. Not only was she in severe pain then, but her condition has reportedly since worsened significantly. Her next trial was then postponed indefinitely a couple weeks ago under the excuse that she had refused the body cavity strip search required for her to leave her cell.

After much international media outcry, Aafia's American-born son was located in an Afghan prison and was handed over to his relatives in Pakistan, while Siddiqui was transferred to a Federal Prison in New York. No one knows what happened to her young daughter or her baby, although there is talk throughout Pakistan that one of them was killed, said Lord Ahmed.

Aafia's lawyers believe that she has spent the last five years as a secret captive of Pakistani or American authorities. Before her abduction on March 18, 2003, the FBI had issued an alert requesting information about her. Siddique was then living in Pakistan, after having completed her studies in the US.

Pakistani papers reported that she had been "picked up in Karachi by an intelligence agency," during a time when dozens of "terrorist suspects" were being rounded up, including random tourists, in order for Pakistan to collect the head bounty fee for America's "war on terror." Siddique was reportedly handed over to US authorities.

During her years as an undergraduate and graduate student, Aafia was like a force of nature in her missionary zeal. She was very active in the Muslim Students' Association, in helping to manage a religious information (daw'ah) table in the MIT student center, in teaching Quran to recent converts to Islam, in prison ministry, and in collecting winter boots to send to Bosnia.

A 2004 article from Boston Magazine quotes her: "Imagine our humble, but sincere daw'ah effort turning into a major daw'ah movement in this country! Just imagine it! And us, reaping the reward of everyone who accepts Islam through this movement, through years to come. Think and plan big. May Allah give this strength and sincerity to us so that our humble effort continue, and expands until America becomes a Muslim land."

It is very possible that Boston neocons pinpointed this sincerely religious, sweet and idealistic student for neutralization. During the conflict over the Roxbury Mosque several Boston Jewish organizations conspired in deliberate character assassination of the founders of the Roxbury Mosque as "terror supporters" in an effort that included a bogus legal and media campaign in which the NE Israeli Consulate participated with the aim of causing a scandal in the hope that the multi-million dollar mosque building project would either be shut down or collapse.

In the course of the conflict, the David Project as well as other organizations and individuals collaborated with Steve Emerson and Rita Katz, two professional anti-Islam propagandists with links to the neocon establishment, to develop a list of incriminating sounding accusations and suspicious links that would be used to defame Muslim leaders in the Boston and national media. Although the accusations were baseless, the mysteriously well-funded organizations created a hostile and malicious media campaign with innuendo-laden press releases by the David Project front group, "Citizens for Peace and Tolerance."

It is more than highly probable that one of these shadowy Zionist advocacy groups conspired against Siddiqui, used the same techniques developed during the Roxbury Mosque controversy and passed the same sort of faked evidence to the FBI. Had she been in the US, probably after a brief investigation, the FBI would have found nothing and left her alone, but because Pakistan was under heavy pressure to produce terrorists for the US to imprison, and because US Constitutional protections do not apply to the Americans in Pakistan, the young woman was abducted while she was on the way to the train station.

Although all the evidence the FBI seems have on her and her husband seem to be some debit card donations to Islamic charities, the US government later alleged that they were both linked to al Qaeda. Siddiqui's husband, Ali 'Abd al-'Aziz Ali (also known as Ammar al-Baluchi), disappeared from Karachi around March 28, 2003.

Siddiqui's husband was finally located in September 2006 in Guantanamo, where he had been transferred from CIA custody. He is currently on trial for allegedly "sending money to suicide squads" according to the Miami Herald. Prosecutors are charging him, along with his uncle Khalid Sheik Mohammed, whom they absurdly refer to as the "9/11 Mastermind," of conspiring with Osama bin Laden to plan and to finance the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

This is a very curious charge, given that the FBI has publicly admitted that they have no evidence connecting Osama bin Laden to 9/11 according to information which is freely available on the FBI website, while "suicide squad" is a term found only in comic books.

Baluchi, a computer engineer, who speaks near-perfect English, has refused to accept legal representation and has chosen to represent himself in the military tribunal.

The Miami Herald quoted him as saying, ''I am in the wrong court. I am not a criminal. My case is political. Even though the government tortured me free of charge for all these years, I cannot accept lawyers under these circumstances.''

The ACLU, whose lawyers were poised to argue on his behalf, blamed Pentagon regulations for thwarting any possibility of the development of a trust relationship with the potential client, who had been tortured for five years and had unsurprisingly come to mistrust all Americans.

His uncle, Khalid Shayk Muhammad, who confessed to planning 9/11 "from A to Z" while he was being waterboarded, also admitted to a long list of other terrorist acts, including the London train bombing of 2005, which he could not have possibly committed since he was in Guantanamo at the time of its occurrence.

Lord Ahmed asked the US authorities for permission to see Siddique in New York, and the US Justice Department said they would facilitate a visit. However, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has repeatedly tried to obstruct his access. Ahmed has since decided it would not be useful for him to visit Siddiqui anyway as she has reportedly gone mad.

She is locked in solitary confinement in New York's Metropolitan Detention Center and can only speak to her lawyer through the slot for her meal tray. She is in tremendous physical agony and speaks of waiting for God to take her and her children. She apparently believes her young children are in there with her but this belief is probably the tragic maternal hallucinations of an emotionally destroyed human being, whose children had been stolen out of her arms by armed soldiers. According to one media report, she refused her dinner asked that the food be given to her son.

Siddiqui's lawyer feels that she is so mentally traumatized and incoherent that she is not fit to stand trial. She absolutely needs to be moved immediately to a prison hospital for treatment of her gunshot wound as well as to obtain some psychological help.

Without making any attempt to explain themselves the Federal authorities are obstructing her access to medical treatment. The US government is pressuring the judge and demanding that she remain alone in her cell. The American ambassador N.W. Peterson objected to Siddiqui receiving medical treatment, claiming that she is a "security threat."

It is fairly clear to the author that the US wants her to die in order to prevent her from testifying about her prison experience, or else in order to inflame the Pakistani public into rioting against the US.

Pakistan is passionately demanding Aafia Siddiqui's re-patriation. She has huge public support.

Benazir Bhutto's widower Asif Ali Zardari, the recently elected President of Pakistan, said in a televised speech, "Aafia Siddiqui is my sister."

Lord Ahmed will continue to work with the US Justice Department, Homeland Security, and other intelligence agencies, Siddiqui's lawyers and the Prosecution to help facilitate family and doctor visits for her, and to bring about Siddiqui's return to Pakistan.

Aafia's brother in Texas has recently been offered access to see her.

Doctor reports back from Darfur

On August 10, 2008, Dr. Samina Khan gave a talk in a private home in Boston about her recent trip to Sudan, where she attended the Peace and Reconciliation Conference on July 25 and 26, 2008 in Al-Fashir, Darfur. Two representatives from Dorchester People for Peace, Jeff Klein and Hayat Imam, were among the attendees, as well as David Rolde and Elaine Antonia of BAZA (Boston Anti-Zionist Action).

Dr. Khan, a kidney specialist at Tufts Medical Center joined a Muslim delegation led by British parliamentarian, Lord Nazir Ahmed in collaboration with Sudan's University of Science and Technology, to help resolve the inter-tribal conflicts in Darfur, which have killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. She represented "Claiming Our World," an organization providing mentorship to women in underdeveloped countries.

While the Jewish-organized Save Darfur Coalition has focused on punitive economic measures and military intervention, the Muslim delegation aimed for a grassroots solution to regional problems without interference from foreign political agendas and oil companies.

The delegation met with 250 leaders and representatives of Darfur's 178 tribes, the governor of Darfur, the city chairman of Al-Fashir, leaders of all the Sudanese political parties, including the former prime minister Imam al-Mahdi, representatives from Sudan Women's General Union, representing 4 million members, and a Sufi religious organization. Professors from Sudan's University of Science and Technology moderated the conference.

Dr. Khan toured Darfur's oldest IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp near Al-Fashir, capital of North Darfur, which hosts over 50,000 people that fled their homes in surrounding villages four years ago. With the help from the UN and international charities, the Sudanese government provides water, sanitation, a daily meal, safety, health care and schooling for the children. She said most kids know basic English.

Nearby, foreign contractors are building fancy hotels and fast food joints with our tax dollars to service the UN aid workers. Supplies arrive via air transport because Darfur has no paved roads.

"People come from all over the world to cash money out of this," said the doctor.

She reported that the general public and even the opposition parties fear that the frivolous genocide allegations against President Al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court before would invigorate foreign-aided rebels and derail the ongoing peace negotiations.

While visiting al-Fashir hospital, Dr. Khan asked the hospital superintendent for a list of needs. The Sudanese Health Ministry immediately released the money for new dialysis machines upon her request. She will return this year to set up a teaching program.

Dr. Khan visited the Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir at the president's house in Khartoum. He was very enthusiastic about this tribal reconciliation initiative.

Dr. Khan was impressed with the eloquence and intellect of everyone she met in Sudan, and by the high level of women's participation in Sudanese society. Women contribute significantly to the Sudanese work force. President Al-Bashir agreed to meet with the women from the British Muslim delegation and from the Women's Union to discuss their concerns for the peace process. The women told the doctor that if the men won't end the war, they would take things into their own hands.

A peace formula drawn up by local leaders at the conclusion of the conference, advised that the historic tensions between nomadic herders and farmers would decrease with more water access, human and veterinarian health care, disarming the citizenry and simultaneously creating an official local police force, and rural development projects.

Dr. Khan felt it important to counteract the media demonization stories about Sudan. For example, there is no government militia called the "Janjaweed," and there is no ethnic conflict between Blacks and Arabs, nor between Muslims and Christians. Everyone in Darfur is Black and speaks Arabic. They are all Muslim. The humanitarian situation in Somalia is far worse, where the US has bombed. In fact the UN has been sending refugees from Iraq to live in Darfur.

"They have so many resources if you just take away the negative publicity. They need real guidance. Don't leave them alone but don't bash them all the time. Let the government and others take care of the people. [There's] a lot of potential in that country," said Dr. Khan.

The demonization in the media and the ICC arrest warrant against President Al-Bashir seem to be a prelude to attempting to overthrow the Sudanese government leading to privatization and foreign exploitation of Sudan's natural resources. Hostile US sanctions make it illegal for any American to invest in developing Sudan except through military corporations.


This article also appears at eaazi.blogspot.com

Diary of a Desperate Housewife

This an exerpt from my 800 page unpublished novel, "Diary of a Desperate Housewife," which begs the question of how one's seemingly nice Jewish neighbors could support Israel even during the Jenin Massacre. Our antagonistic protagonist, Fatima Shaykh, is a New Jersey Muslim version of Judy Blume's "Wifey." This unsent letter, written to Fatima's teenage neighbor, represents Fatima's attempt to understand Jews; a quest which becomes a Faustian nightmare.

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When you tied those blue and white ribbons around your tree, I never understood what would have caused you to stoop so low as to cheer on the genocide of the Palestinian people. You have a large house on the prestigious North Side of town. What makes you so comfortable with the destruction of the homes of others? You have a father, who adores you and works hard to support you and your mother. He gives you anything you want and need. What makes you so gleeful and self-complacent when other children's fathers are dragged out of their homes to be arrested without charge, imprisoned indefinitely and tortured? Since you are clearly willing to accept the murder of Palestinian families for the sake of confiscating their property for the arrogant indulgence of 'the Jewish people,' how can any of your American neighbors feel safe from you? How dare you insult my family with your ribbons of Jewish supremacism? Who do you think you are? Perhaps the real question is: who do you wish you were?

You were adopted by a Cohen family, whom God had punished by denying them children. For every Palestinian child murdered by Israel, God makes another Jewish couple infertile. Your contemptuous behavior is surely a result of low self-esteem. Your parents made you think there is nothing more important than being one of the priesthood of the Jews, the pretended descendants of Aaron.

When you turned three years old, your parents hung all your pacifiers on a tree in the backyard and told you that a magic bird was coming to fly away with them. It worked like a charm. They taught you that to be a good girl is to believe your parents' lies. They have never stopped lying to you, and like a dutiful daughter you believe their lies. You did not want to have to reject your false inheritance out of shame for the crimes your people committed in order to give you what you have.

Your father and mother sent you to the Holy Land to play with guns, but they did not explain to you that no matter how many IDF soldiers you suck off, you will never be a Jew. Even if some Palestinian killed you, as he would have every right to do, the Israeli government would never allow your body to be buried in a Jewish cemetery. You are nothing to them but human trash. In your misguided and vain attempt to make yourself marriageable to Jews, you helped incur the anger of two billion Musims and every decent person in the world against the country we share. Every one of them has the right to kill you, IDF soldier in uniform, except me, because for me, it's personal. So I wrote this book for you. Since your parents refused to stop you from traumatizing your neighbors, then it is my duty as your "wicked stepmother" to rein you in, little princess. The Jews sent Americans to die for Israel. I trust that when the Americans realize what you did, they will back me up. This book is dedicated to you, for I hate you more than I hate my own life.

Who is behind the Ron Paul media blackout?

Who is behind the Ron Paul media blackout?

Pat Robertson is connected to this group of rumormongers. Many of David Horowitz’s talking points end up in Pat Robertson’s sermons and on his website. Horowitz is the guy who said Ron Paul supporters are terrorists. Pat Robertson is backing Giuliani. The Lobby has a huge power over FOX news and that is probably why Giuliani gets all the TV time even though nobody votes for him.

The pro-Israel mailing lists are very very detailed and RonPaul needs to learn from this. We are the first group of people who have even begun to compete against the communication monopoly of the Israel Lobbyists. But they have target audience databases not only a list of email addresses. They arrange their database by personal interest. For example “Homosexual Israel supporters.” They probably sent an email to that list telling them that Dr. Paul hates homosexuals. Then they went to their “Christian fundamentalist Israel supporters” list and told them that Dr Paul is not a real Christian. Then they probably emailed the “Black Churches” list with accusations that Dr. Paul is going to cut off food stamps, etc. They have a thousand front organizations so it’s not always obvious who is behind the various PR campaigns. Special interest groups will employ people to join chat groups and spread their slander. The New Republic article smearing Dr. Paul as having insulted MLK was just one of many smear pieces circulated on the internet and sent as press releases to every news agency in America.

Whenever news breaks all over the nation on every station on the same day, you know you are dealing with the email networks of the Israel Lobby. Example - Save Darfur became a news story sensation overnight. Even though the killing has been going on for years and years, all of a sudden, on the same day, there is a front page story in every major newspaper on the planet about “Genocide in Sudan!” Compare that to Bosnia, where the news came in like a trickle, with many people doubting its veracity, and conflicting reports. With the Save Darfur campaign, there is NO VARIATION in opinion about Sudan from the left wing to the far right.

The only people who weren’t sold on the “Genocide in Sudan” story were the international investors.

I just signed off the “Jewish Libertarians” list and boy have they been busy smearing Dr. Paul. Their entire reason for existence seems to be to paralyze the Libertarian party by creating internal friction. (I’m not blaming all Jews just this particular yahoogroup). Apparently the CATO Institute, which claims to be Libertarian, hates the good doctor because their definition of Libertarianism is not the traditional, Constitutionally based “live and let live” but “I can bomb and plunder anyone I want. Na na na na na.”

Dr Paul’s most powerful opponents are the billions of dollars a year Israel Lobby and that’s who is keeping him out of the debates and telling FOX to treat him the same way as they told Columbia University to treat Ahmedinejad. I assume the Jewish retirees in Florida are swamping the media stations demanding that they nix Dr. Paul just like they write letters to their Congressman demanding that we bomb Iran. One of their journalists in the New York Times wrote a hit piece against Ron Paul as a Nazi.

This is a coordinated effort by people who are not loyal to a particular candidate but are only loyal to continued US taxpayer funding of Israeli wars and continued subsidies for American Jews to get mortgages with 2% interest rates on stolen property of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.