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COMMON SENSE By: Hassan Al-Haifi Horrible, disgusting and very tragic! These are the only words that can describe the lunatic attacks on the World Trade Center, the American economic and financial citadel in New York, and the other American citadel in Washington D.C., the Pentagon. While it is not officially stated, but it seems that the inclination of the investigation is to direct the blame on so called "Islamic fundamentalists". While it is unfortunate that any Moslem should allow himself to partake in such madness, it should be understood that it is impossible to find any fundamentals in Islam that would sanctify such a contempt for human life, especially of innocent people, of whom there is even a high probability that some are Moslems and Arabs. Not only are the attacks themselves to be condemned, but the very methods used, which one can find justified by any strategic references or precedence in Islam, or any other human struggle in the past. The only conclusion to draw from the results and the aftermath of this sadistic mayhem is that the intentions of the attacks are deliberately intended to damage the image of Islam and to serve the Zionist cause by leaps and bounds. It is no wonder that the Israelis were quick to jump and quickly point to the horrors of "Islamic terrorism" and quickly rushed their tanks and bulldozers into the West Bank and the rest of the Palestinian enclaves destroying homes and civilian property, not wasting one moment of time to take advantage of this heinous crime to encroach in as much of whatever is left of Palestine under Arab control. It seems as though they were synchronized actions. Whatever the intended motives behind the attacks are, it is important to point out that the heinous murder of unarmed civilians is deplored in Islam and warrants serious action by civilized Moslems everywhere to counter these crazy elements in Islam, who are reared from their childhood years, in so called "Quranic schools", which are undercover institutes that have their roots in clandestine activities, in order to become menaces to Islam, in particular, and to the world at large. Time and again, this column has pointed to the dangers these elements pose and where they come from, not to mention the very likely possibility that they are tied to the Zionist movement itself, by some clandestine strings, that have yet to be unraveled. Since Ariel Sharon undertook his infamous walk through the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a year ago or so, this observer and many other Arab commentators have pointed out that the world is in for some dangerous repercussions, unless the civilized world comes to grips with itself and realizes that the kind of demagoguery being preached by Ariel Sharon and the other Zionist demagogues is dangerous for the whole world and not just the Middle East. Because fanatical Moslems enjoy sensationalism to propagate their misguided representations of Islam, especially among the uncultured Islamic masses, who are susceptible and poor, not to mention the lucrative opportunities, thanks to the petrodollars that fund these movements and the other clandestine funding sources, which to prudent Moslems are really the anathema of the pure and innocent teachings of the Prophet Mohammed (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), because of all this Islam and Moslems are being accused of acts that make the stomachs of wise and knowledgeable Moslems turn and that invoke pity and sorrow for all who suffer from such mad representation of Islam. We categorically wish to make it clear that Islam is fully innocent of such horrible acts, and there is just no way that God can ever accept such acts as a form of Jihad to be awarded here and in the hereafter. In Islam, it is absolute that the ends do not justify the means, and these fundamentalists who preach or adopt such infidel philosophies, are bound to be punished for, first of all, distorting Islam, and second of all because of all the innocent lives that are needlessly and unjustifiably lost. To date, we have yet to see where and how these remote controlled fanatics have served Islam, themselves or the rest of humanity. All their activities have evoked more controversy, within the Moslem World, than all the enemies of Islam could ever hope for. It is worth noting that the United States had once strongly supported these movements and trained many of its people, including Osama Ben Laden, as valuable allies in the fight against Communism during the Cold War years (One wonders who lobbied for them!) There is much that lends credence to a strong tie up between these movements and the Zionist cause, because there is a lot of similarities in their modus operandi, and because they end up serving the very same cause. Any movement that sanctifies the death of not only innocent non-Moslems, but also innocent Moslems (who may disagree with their fanatical and misguided renditions of Islam, or who just happen to be along the way, when their desires for sensationalism arises), is not only distant from Islam, but distant from humanity itself. We urge the American people and all civilized people of the world to understand that the majority of Moslems are baffled by the heinous nature of these crimes and find them to be void of any regard to the humane teachings of Islam, which the perpetrators of these crimes are deliberately trying to misrepresent. On the other hand, I disagree with Mr. Dennis Ross who insists that the incidents would have happened anyway if American Middle East Policy was different than its blind support of Israel to date. Surely, Mr. Ross fails to understand human nature very well and is trying to cover the fact that it is misguided US policy in the Middle East that nurtures this kind of animosity, and allows fanatics to find the ground support they need to carry out their acts of terrorism. Or is it that Mr. Ross is trying to cover up for his failure to "mediate" a Mid-East peace despite the many years he had a chance to do so? It must be borne in mind that the breed of people who carry out such acts are part of a dangerous cult that is scientifically bred to be free from any sense of logic or humanistic culture their roots, history and source of support are familiar to most enlightened Moslems. Further more they are bound to take advantage of the sensitivities in the street to carry out any extreme acts that will nurture street applause among the overwhelmingly misinformed masses. Our sympathy goes to the families of the innocent victims of these heinous acts and to the people of New York City and the United States, and on behalf of the majority of truly faithful Moslems, who know that such actions are the anathema of Islam, which no true Moslem could ever stomach or approve of. The observer could only suspect that these acts are more conducive to Zionist motives, if not designs, to inspire the West into a new Cold War against Islam, because Israel is afraid of Islam as the only force that stands in the way of its chauvinistic scheme and staunch Zionists openly harbor contempt for Islam and Moslems, in general and Arabs in particular. But then, only Ariel Sharon knows for sure. Mohammed Hatem Al-Qadhi mhalqadhi@hotmail.com The terrorist attacks against vital institutions in the USA last Tuesday astonished everybody in the world. It was a heinous and monstrous crime that claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people and injured thousand others. Such sophisticated terror operations at one time and in different places stunned people as they think this could happen everywhere in the world but America, the dinosaur of the world. F.B.I investigations reveal that the operations have been carried out by cells of terrorism stationed in different countries. Plan for such attack must have taken much time. In fact, the American officials described the infamy a war against America and I say it a war against civilization and noble values of all human beings. It is not justified, whatever the excuse, to slaughter thousands of people. What is the crime of the innocent people who have been victimized by the attacks. If some people are not happy with the American government policy, is it justifiable to kill civilians? Will this action stop this policy? Absolutely not! The American reflex reaction against these disgusting attacks will be rather more aggressive. The US leadership pledged that the attacks will not go unpunished. All countries said perpetrators and infiltrators should be held accountable and presented to justice. The US counter attacks will hit many people in different countries. Other countries will take part in the attacks against terrorism worldwide. This means violence will be globalized and the affect of the horrific attacks in Washington and New York will hit the world at large. Again, the attacks against the World Trade Center, world's biggest economic institution, will not hit the US economy. Rather, it will target economies worldwide. This has been clear in the stalling of many economic centers all over the world. In fact, the impact of the infamy on USA will be globalized in terms of economy and politics. Political observers believe that the US need not to accuse others without conducting intensive investigations to the attacks that made hell break loose in the US. The US president, George Bush, has been very wise when he urged his people not to take any offensive reaction against Americans of Arab or Muslim background. These US Muslims or Arabs have nothing to do with the problem. Some of their relatives have been even victimized by the evil act. I believe no human beings would feel happy with the killings of people just because they are Americans. Good people all over the world have condemned the crime as they feel there is no justification for victimizing such a huge number of people. Therefore, US leadership should not be hasty in taking revenge action against countries or people before making sure of their involvement in the attacks. This is because such random counter attacks by the USA will breed counter terrorist attacks, particularly if the hit people or countries are later proved innocent. As a matter of fact, the USA can not fight against terrorism alone as terrorism is like something abstract or mirage. Cells of terrorists are found everywhere, even in the USA now. It is an organized crime that threatens peace and stability worldwide. Therefore, all countries should take part in joint venture to curb terrorism. A conference organized by UN to this purpose should start now. High professionalism is needed to the effort. A well-studied action plan should be made to this end. In other words, what US needs now is wisdom rather than use of force so that it can find out these terrorists, bringing them to justice and punish the countries that harbor them. Finally, I do here express heart-felt condolences and great sorrow to the US embassy staff and the American people in general on the death of innocent people by the attacks. I believe the American people will overcome the tragedy soon. May God bless the victims. Amen! Mohammed Al-Haj Al-Kamali Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts The system of admission fees in universities is still in full swing, according to the decree issued by the Cabinet. There is no exception to that decree except for the sons and daughters of the teaching staff. The discount of admission fees for the teaching staff has reached 50 percent, and to the administrative staff up to 75 percent. So the state is obliged to give free education from the basic levels to the secondary levels. But university education is pertaining to that side i.e. to the free education. In addition to this, what is paid to the university in admission fees isn't equal to what is supported by the government for the benefit of public education. There is no obstacle in the augmentation of university fees. Let's give an example. Each year the student pays 1750 YR for tuition fees, but what do you think of the student who pays daily 500 YR for a bunch of qat?? I think the media should concentrate deeply on this aspect. The students who have poor grades can go to the vocational or technical institutes. If the student's objective is only to get a job and nothing else, I strongly advise them to register their names in the vocational institutes. The university has registered all the accepted students through the Committees of the Students Affairs. The university has done its best to specify the number of students according to the capacity of colleges. Therefore, the academic study in the university and particularly in the Faculty of Art needs diligent students. The student along with the university faces various problems, such as, outputs of the basic education, scarcity of potential faculty, and distance learning which entails vigorous efforts and constitutes a heavy burden. Consequently, in my point of view, the decree of the Supreme Council for the universities to cancel distance learning is a first step to correct the path of learning in the universities. In this way we will come out with fruitful results. |
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