From your info., What was the real motive behind the US bombing of the wedding in Afhganistan? Was it a mistake as they claimed?
Answer
US media has reported that US forces suspected the Taliban leader Mullah Omar to be in the area. Uruzgan province is known to be his support base. That might also explain why four villages were bombed for nearly two hours and then the US forces went in to photograph everyone, including badly injured women, some of whom were virtually naked because their clothes had been burnt by the bombs dropped on them.
There is, of course, no evidence that Mullah Omar was in the area. This was a wedding party and in the Afghan tradition, they were firing in the air. This was another excuse advanced by the Americans for attacking the area.
Naturally, there is growing resentment among the Afghans against the US policy of shooting first and checking the facts later.
To tie this issue in with the manner in which the western media covered the event, they simply parroted the US military position that our forces were fired upon and they returned fire; that they do not know what the total casualties were but they are still checking. Further, that when the compensation package was announced for the victims or their relatives, it ranged from $400 to $2,000 - that presumably is the worth of an Afghan life.
Name
Nisreen
- United States
Profession
Question
What independent news sources can we turn to about the muslim world to get away from the biased sources in the west. Can you name some media sources where people can get more accurate news especially about events in the muslim world.
Answer
This is an excellent question. We can berate the western media for its bias but we need to develop our own sources of Information. Here are some:
We produce the Crescent International. You can subscribed to it for $40/Year or $75/Two Years. An Internet version is also available at:
www.muslimedia.com
Please note the spelling.
There are a number of other websites where you can get alternative information. Similarly, there are alternative magazines in the west, separate from the corporate controlled and manipulated media. One is Z-Magazine. There are also some websites such as "We Hold These Truths;" or "Common Dreams". These people do quite a bit of independent research and point out some of the ways in which news is manipulated.
On TV, I would recommend two but they are not in English: Al-Jazeera and Al-Manar. Both will give quite a bit of information normally blocked off from the corporate controlled media. There are reports that both TV stations have toyed with the idea of producing some English news; if they do, that would be great. In the meantime, we just have to wait (that is, if you do not know Arabic) or seek information through the Crescent International/muslimedia etc.
Name
Ahmed
- United States
Profession
Question
can one eat kosher certified meat
Answer
Submit your question in the live fatwa session tomorrow.
Name
Muh. Idries
- United Kingdom
Profession
Question
There have been some reports that the train fire in Gujurat that sparked the riots in India, was not started by muslims and forensic evidance showed that was a fire started inside the train. What value can we give to this report and if true can events such as this be so thouroughly covered up and reported in such a skewed manner.
Answer
The Forensic Science Laboratory of India released a report on July 3, after doing intensive investigation, that the fire was actually started from inside the train. They showed by repeating the experiment based on the Hindus' allegation that Muslims had thrown gasoline on the coach (or bogie, to use the Indian expression), and then set it on fire. When the experiment was repeated at the same spot by splashing gasoline on the coach, it all spilled to the bottom of the coach. But the scientists' investigation discovered that the bottom of the coach was not damaged by fire at all; almost all the damage was on the inside. If the coaches had indeed been destroyed by gasoline thrown from the outside, the bottom part of the coaches would have sustained more damage; instead, almost all the damage was inside the compartments.
Second, they also discovered that the incendiary devices used in the train fire were the same used against Muslim homes in Gujarat. Even the Indian Government has not denied that Hindu mobs attacked Muslim homes and burnt a large number of people alive.
The Forensic Science Laboratory is an Indian body although the scientists working for it are independent of the government.
Now to your question whether events such as these can be covered up in such a manner. Most people form their opinion about an event based on how the information is first reported. Since the news came from Indian sources (the only exception was a report in the Gujrat Samachar newspaper) in which two young reporters repudiated the allegations and said that Hindu mobs had insulted Muslim vendors at Godhera station which led to altercation between them.
It is also a fact that forensic reports and scientific analysis takes much longer to produce, hence those who are first with the news, usually create the kind of impression they want to create. While the tragedy in Gujarat is not over, much of the world has already forgotten about it.
Name
A.R.
-
Profession
Question
Why is the United States so adamant about persuing a war with Iraq given the fact that Iraq has not posed any immediate danger to apparent US interests?
Answer
Since its perceived victory in Afghanistan and the feeling in Washington among superhawks that they can do whatever they like in the world, they feel that Iraq would be an easy target. Also, from the US/Israeli point of view, the greater the turmoil in the Muslim world, the easier it would be for US/Israeli agenda to succeed.
There are other reasons also; war is considered a good way to boost support for George Bush. Remember, before 911, he was perceived by most Americans to be an illegitimate president; since 911, his approval ratings have skyrocketed.
Now another factor has crept in: the emerging corporate scandals - Enron, worldcom, etc - have shown how corrupt corporate America is. These are companies with close links to George Bush. Remember the movie "Wag the Dog"? When American presidents are in trouble, they just use foreign adventures to divert public attention.
Thus, in the present atmosphere, Iraq provides a useful diversion. And, if (and there is a big IF), the US succeeds, then their next target would be Iran because the US has decided that it will not tolerate any political expression of Islam anywhere.
Political Islam is viewed as the only challenge to US hegemony and imperial ambitions.
We must also not forget that as a result of US/British sponsored sanctions against Iraq, more than 1.5 million Iraqi have been starved to death or have died because of lack of medicines or clean drinking water since 1991. This constitutes a crime against humanity and successive US governments, manipulated by the Zionists, are guilty of this crime.
Name
íæÓÝí
- Morocco
Profession
Question
ÈÓã Çááå ÇáÑÍãä ÇáÑÍíã
ßíÝíÉ ÇáÎæÝ ãä Çááå
Answer
Please submit your question to the Arabic site of Islam Online.
Name
Zubayda
-
Profession
Question
There seems to be so lttle coverage of the atrocities going on in Chechnya by the Russian military. why has this tradgedy been ignored in the Western media as opposed to other conflicts such as bosnia and Albania although the types punishments that chechnians have undergone have been considerably more brutal on occassion( example is the bombing of cities iuntil there is not a building standing such as in the case of Grozny). why is checnya being ignored by the world even the muslims.
Answer
It used to be in the news more often prior to 911 but since then, Russia has joined America's war on terrorism, so the Chechens have been transformed overnight from freedom fighters to terrorists. This is a good example of how the western media manipulates public opinion. Their reporting is colored by their own interests. Thus, the Chechens are now branded as "terrorists" and their suffering receives little or no coverage because doing so would embarrass Russia and work against US interests.
Your other point about the silence in the Muslim world is also very relevant. It is not only disgraceful but also shows that the Muslim world media is neither independent nor does it have the interests of the Muslims at heart.
For events of what is happening in Chechenya, one must turn to the independent Muslim media sources such as Crescent International or websites, such as this one (Islamonline) to get information about what is happening in Chechenya and its very brave and courageous people.
