Tuesday, May 03, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Some 2,000 of Col Muammar Gaddafi's supporters turned out for the funeral of the Libyan leader's youngest son, as the regime intensified its attack on the besieged city of Misurata.In the capital, Tripoli, a crowd of more than 1,000 people attended the funeral of Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, the leader's second youngest son, who was killed in an allied air strike on Saturday night.
Col Gaddafi himself did not attend, but two of his other sons, Saif al-Islam, who has the highest profile and was seen as his father's intended successor, and Hannibal were both seen in the crowd.
Some mourners fired weapons into the air. Others chanted "revenge for the martyrs" and carried placards reading "We are all with Gaddafi's Libya", according to news organisations.
The body, covered in a green cloth and with a wreath was delivered to the Al-Hani Cemetery in a black ambulance.
Three of Saif al-Arab's children, identified by the authorities as being a child each of Hannibal, their oldest brother, Mohammed, and their sister Aisha, were also buried. » | Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Monday, May 02, 2011
Related »
VATICAN RADIO: Vatican Press Office Director Fr Federico Lombardi’s response to journalists’ questions on the killing of Osama bin Laden:Osama bin Laden - as we all know – was gravely responsible for promoting division and hatred between peoples, causing the death of countless innocent lives, and of exploiting religions to this end.
Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of each and every one of us before God and before man, and hopes and commits himself so that no event be an opportunity for further growth of hatred, but for peace. [Source: Vatican Radio] | Monday, May 02, 2011
Mattar Ibrahim Mattar is one of two members of Bahrain's opposition Al Wefaq party who have been arrested by authorities in the Gulf country.
Mattar is considered a moderate critic of the Sunni-led Bahraini government, and has worked closely with human rights organisations and journalists to uncover violations committed by the government since it launched a crackdown on anti-government protests.
Al Jazeera's correspondent in Manama, who cannot be named for security reasons, spoke to him.
BBC: US officials say Osama Bin Laden's body was treated with respect and buried at sea, but some Muslims argue there was no good reason for not burying it on land.
Islamic tradition requires the dead to be buried as soon as possible, unless an autopsy is required.
The US military took this requirement very seriously, burying the body within hours.
"Traditional procedures for Islamic burial were followed," an official said.
Religious rites were carried out on the deck of a US aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson. The body, shrouded in a white sheet and placed in a weighted bag, was then placed on a flat board, tipped up, and eased into the Arabian Sea.
This occurred at 0600GMT, approximately 12 hours after the firefight during which Osama Bin Laden was shot in the head.
After this first shot, reports ABC News['] The Blotter, he was shot again, to make sure that he was dead.
The body was then flown to Afghanistan and Bin Laden's identity was confirmed. Officials say a DNA sample was taken that matched that of several other family members. Some sources say facial recognition technology was also used.
From Afghanistan, the body was, it appears, flown to the USS Carl Vinson.
"A military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker," a US defence official said. » | Monday, May 02, 2011
BBC: The funeral of the youngest son of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has taken place in the capital, Tripoli.Libya says Saif al-Arab, 29, and three of Col Gaddafi's grandchildren died on Saturday when Nato missiles hit his villa in the leader's compound.
His funeral was attended by several thousand people as Nato planes circled in the skies above.
Mourners chanted calls for revenge as the coffin, wrapped in a green Libyan flag, was lowered into the ground. Visible emotion » | Monday, May 02, 2011
BBC: Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has denied that the killing of Osama Bin Laden in his country is a sign of its failure to tackle terrorism.
In a forthright editorial in the Washington Post, Mr Zardari said his country was "perhaps the world's greatest victim of terrorism".
Bin Laden was shot dead by US forces in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad - Pakistan was not involved in the raid.
US officials have suggested Pakistan must have known he was there.
Bin Laden was the founder and leader of al-Qaeda. He is believed to have ordered the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, as well as a number of other deadly bombings.
He was America's most wanted man but had eluded them for decades.
But US officials say they are "99.9%" sure that the man they shot and killed in a raid on a secure compound in the small city of Abbottabad and then buried at sea was Bin Laden.
The compound in Abbottabad is just a few hundred metres from the Pakistan Military Academy - the country's equivalent of West Point or Sandhurst[.]
US officials have said it is "inconceivable" that Bin Laden did not have a support system in Pakistan. (+ video) » | Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Monday, May 02, 2011
BBC: US President Barack Obama has hailed the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden as a "good day for America," saying the world is now a safer and a better place.
Bin Laden was killed in a raid by US special forces on a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
He is believed to have ordered the attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, as well as a number of other deadly bombings.
He topped the US "most wanted" list.
But his details on the list have now been updated with a simple banner indicating his current status: "Deceased".
DNA tests carried out after the operation indicated with "99.9%" certainty that the man shot dead was Osama Bin Laden, US officials said.
He was buried at sea after a Muslim funeral on board an aircraft carrier in the north Arabian Sea, Pentagon officials said.
The US has put its embassies around the world on alert, warning Americans of the possibility of al-Qaeda reprisal attacks for Bin Laden's killing.
CIA director Leon Panetta said al-Qaeda would "almost certainly" try to avenge the death of Bin Laden.
The US president's chief counter-terrorism advisor, John Brennan said that al-Qaeda, though weakened, remained a danger.
"It may be a mortally wounded tiger but it still has some life in it," he said. (+ video) » | Monday, May 02, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Hamas, the militant group which has just signed a deal to join the Palestinian government, on Monday condemned the killing of Osama bin Laden.While many Middle East leaders welcomed America’s military action, the mixed reaction across the region cast a shadow over both the “Arab Spring” and the future of talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Many Arab leaders facing popular uprisings, including Col Gaddafi of Libya, have claimed the protests are backed by al-Qaeda. Those claims have largely been rejected by protest groups but many in the West are concerned at the possibility that greater freedom of expression will allow more room for Islamic militants to operate.
The Hamas prime minister of the Gaza strip, Ismail Haniya, said: “We condemn the assassination of a Muslim and Arab warrior and we pray to God that his soul rests in peace.
“We regard this as the continuation of the American oppression and shedding of blood of Muslims and Arabs.”
The Hamas reaction put it immediately at odds with Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, with which it is due to sign a unity deal today to join the Palestinian government.
The intransigent tone will confirm Israeli and American fears that the reconciliation between the two feuding Palestinian factions will make a peace deal impossible. » | Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Monday, May 02, 2011
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Am Ende verbarg sich der meistgesuchte Mann der Welt nicht in den zerklüfteten Bergen Afghanistans, sondern in Abbottabad, einer beschaulichen Stadt nördlich Islamabads, die wegen ihres angenehmen Klimas pensionierte Offiziere anzieht. Bin Ladins Anwesen war von meterdicken Mauern umgeben.Auffallend vage äußerte sich die pakistanische Regierung zu den Vorkommnissen in ihrem Land. „Die Operation“, hieß es am Montag in einer Mitteilung des Außenministeriums, „wurde von den amerikanischen Streitkräften ausgeführt im Einklang mit der erklärten Politik, nach der Osama Bin Ladin in einer direkten Aktion von amerikanischen Streitkräften eliminiert wird, wo immer er gefunden wird.“ Auch weiterführende Äußerungen aus Regierungskreisen ließen im Dunkeln, ob und wenn in welchem Maße pakistanische Sicherheitskräfte an der Operation gegen die Ikone Al Qaidas beteiligt gewesen sind. » | Von Jochen Buchsteiner | Montag, 02. Mai 2011
LE POINT: Les autorités américaines assurent qu'elles ont respecté les rites islamiques. Des responsables musulmans s'indignent.
La dépouille d'Oussama Ben Laden, le chef d'al-Qaida tué dimanche lors d'une opération commando américaine, a été immergée pour éviter, notamment, de creuser une tombe qui serait devenue un lieu de pèlerinage, a-t-on appris, lundi, auprès de responsables américains. "L'immersion a déjà eu lieu", a déclaré un responsable américain sous le couvert de l'anonymat, confirmant une information de plusieurs médias américains. "Oui, je peux le confirmer", a dit un autre responsable gouvernemental interrogé lundi matin. Le lieu et les circonstances de cette "immersion" n'ont pas été précisés.
Selon deux autres responsables américains, le choix de l'immersion du corps avait été en partie arrêté pour éviter de laisser une tombe qui se serait transformée en lieu de pèlerinage pour les djihadistes. Un des responsables qui a voulu garder l'anonymat a dit qu'un tel endroit aurait pu devenir un haut lieu de recrutement. "Nous nous assurons que son corps est traité en accord avec la pratique et la tradition musulmanes. C'est quelque chose que nous prenons très au sérieux", avait auparavant affirmé un haut responsable américain lors d'une conférence téléphonique. "Contraire aux règles de l'islam" (Mosquée de Paris) » | Le Point.fr | Lundi 02 Mai 2011
In Bahrain, human-rights workers say at least 50 medical staff are still missing after a crackdown on hospital care for injured anti-government demonstrators.
There are fears that some of the detained staff could face stiff sentences for treating protesters. Among them is Dr al-Dallal, a prominent physician arrested on March 17 during a military raid at Salmaniyah Hospital in Manama.
His wife, Fareeda al-Dallal, was also arrested and beaten under custody last Tuesday. Al Jazeera spoke to her about her arrest and the fears she has about the safety of her husband.
YNET NEWS: Op-ed: As Muslim population mushrooms, we may be seeing last days of Europe as we know it
We are living through the self-extinction of the European civilization that shaped the age we live in. In his new bestselling book “Civilization,” renowned Harvard historian Niall Ferguson writes: “If the Muslim population of the UK were to continue growing at an annual rate of 6.7% (as it did between 2004 and 2008,) its share of the total UK population would rise from just under 4% in 2008 to 8% in 2020, to 15% in 2030 and to 28% in 2040, finally passing 50%in 2050.”
Ferguson is not alone in using the term “Eurabia” to describe an Islamicized, senescent European continent. Historian Bat Ye'or spent her career studying the phenomenon and Professor Bernard Lewis told German daily Die Welt that “Europe will have Muslim majorities at the latest by the end of the 21st Century.”
The global number of Muslims is expected to jump by 35% in the next 20 years, growing twice as fast as the non-Muslim population, according not to these “Eurabia mongers,” but to the famous US Pew Forum, which published projections Muslim population growth between 2010 and 2030.
The most frightening figures are in Europe. Some of the biggest increases in Europe’s Muslim population in absolute numbers over the next 20 years are expected to occur in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany. The Muslim populations in Italy and Sweden are projected to “more than double in size.” Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, warned about Italy’s “slow demographic suicide” and Italian Father Piero Gheddo, a doyen of Vatican’s missionaries, warned that "Europe will be dominated by Islam in the space of a few generations."
A low European fertility rate, massive immigration from Muslim countries and a confident Islamist minority are turning the cradle of Western civilization into its grave. As historian Walter Laqueur has warned, these are “the last days of Europe.” Losing precious gifts » | Giulio Meotti* | Monday, May 02, 2011
*Giulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism
Osama bin Laden is dead. It's news many people, especially in the United States have been waiting for ten years to hear.
US forces tracked him down, with the help of Pakistan officials, to a mansion in a small town outside Islamabad.
Al Jazeera's Imran Khan tracks down a witness account.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: China has banned smoking in public places in an attempt to placate the World Health Organisation, however, there are no penalties for those who flout the rules.
China has the world's most serious smoking problem, and more than a million Chinese die each year from smoking related diseases, according to the China Centre for Disease Control.
The country's 300 million smokers are now banned from smoking in public places indoors, such as hotels, restaurants and bars. However, smoking in the office is still allowed.
The ban appears to have come in response to pressure from the United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO), which castigated China for failing to comply with a global anti-tobacco treaty. The WHO has said China's decision to finally implement a ban is a "groundbreaking" move. » | Malcolm Moore, in Shanghai | Sunday, May 01, 2011
It seems very strange to me that they should rush to bury him at sea. I know that in Islam, bodies have to be buried quickly; but here was a man who did not deserve to have Islamic customs adhered to. Forensic evidence would have been far more important than following custom. I hope that Obama and his special US forces had the good sense to hold back DNA evidence, and many photos of the mutilated body. The first thing I thought when I saw the supposed photo of him lying dead was this: His beard was far whiter in recent times than the photograph suggests. Now this proves nothing, of course, since it is quite a common practice for Muslim men to dye their whiskers. But it does lead one to ask oneself that question.
I am sure I speak for the many when I say: Show us the conclusive evidence of this man's death, Obama! We need to see it NOW. With an election coming up, and you being so behind in the polls, it is rather difficult to feel convinced by the meagre evidence, if any, that you have given us. Telling us that Osama is dead proves nothing. – © Mark
This is a compilation of two comments I wrote earlier today which also appeared here
TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – WILL HEAVEN: Why that photo of a dead Osama bin Laden is a photoshopped fake » | Will Heaven | Monday, May 02, 2011
BBC: Osama Bin Laden came to the world's attention on 11 September 2001, when the attacks on the United States left more than 3,000 people dead and hundreds more injured.
In a matter of three years, the Saudi-born dissident had emerged from obscurity to become one of the most hated and feared men in the world.
Osama Bin Laden was born in 1957, apparently the 17th of 52 children of Mohamed Bin Laden, a multimillionaire builder responsible for 80% of Saudi Arabia's roads.
His father's death in a helicopter crash in 1968 brought the young man a fortune running into many millions of dollars, though considerably less than the widely published estimate of $250m.
Mujahideen
While studying civil engineering at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden came into contact with teachers and students of the more conservative brand of Islam.
Through theological debate and study, he came to embrace fundamentalist Islam as a bulwark against what he saw as the decadence of the West.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 changed Bin Laden's life forever. He took up the anti-communist cause with a will, moving to Afghanistan where, for a decade, he fought an ultimately victorious campaign with the mujahideen.
Intelligence experts believe that the US Central Intelligence Agency played an active role in arming and training the mujahideen, including Bin Laden. The end of the war saw a sea change in his views. (+ video) » | Monday, May 02, 2011
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE – BLOGS – DANIEL WARNER: The death of Osama bin Laden is a major event, perhaps more important in its symbolism than in the reality of the end of Al Qaeda and terrorism. Ten years after the attacks in the United States, the "leader" of the group credited with the attacks has been killed by American forces in Pakistan.Bin Laden had been personified as the head of the Axis of Evil. But, that is to assume that the nebulous network called Al Qaeda was organized in a hierarchical structure as a traditional military organization. It is also to assume that the War on Terror was a traditional war against a traditional enemy who could be overcome by military force.
Amid the chest-pounding satisfaction of the American people that justice has finally been done remains the fundamental question of what drove suicide bombers into the Twin Towers. The root causes of the terrorist acts around the world have been neither identified nor properly dealt with. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a stalemate, with a forthcoming announcement of a Palestinian state in September looming on the horizon. Continue reading and comment » | Daniel Warner | Monday, May 02, 2011
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Dix ans après les attentats du 11 septembre, les Etats-Unis ont mené une opération militaire au Pakistan au cours de laquelle le chef d'Al-Qaïda a été tué. Son corps a été immergé en mer. Al-Qaïda compte encore dans ses rangs et en liberté plusieurs figures importantes.
Le président des Etats-Unis Barack Obama a annoncé dimanche soir que le chef d’Al-Qaïda, Oussama Ben Laden, avait été tué au Pakistan par les services spéciaux américains. Cette opération met fin à une longue traque de l’auteur des attentats du 11 septembre 2001.
«Ce soir, je suis en mesure d’annoncer aux Américains et au monde que les Etats-Unis ont mené une opération qui a tué Oussama Ben Laden, le dirigeant d’Al-Qaïda, un terroriste responsable du meurtre de milliers d’innocents», a déclaré M. Obama lors d’une allocution solennelle à la Maison Blanche.
M. Obama a précisé que le chef d’Al-Qaïda avait été tué lors d’un échange de tirs dans une résidence où la présence de Ben Laden avait été évoquée en août dernier. Aucun Américain n’a été blessé dans l’opération, a indiqué M. Obama, ajoutant que les Etats-Unis étaient en possession du corps de leur ennemi. » | AFP | Lundi 02 Mai 2011
ARAB NEWS: DAMMAM: Prominent Riyadh-based Saudi journalist Jamal A. Khashoggi, who fought alongside Afghans and other Arabs including Osama Bin Laden in the war against the erstwhile Soviet Union in the 1980s, described Bin Laden’s killing as no big news. “If you ask me, it is no news because I expected this to happen a long time ago,” he told Arab News in an exclusive interview.Khashoggi said the fact that Osama survived for this long after Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was the real story. “It was a big failure of US intelligence,” he said.
According to him it is a very peculiar thing to happen in a very peculiar year. “The news of his killing comes at a time when the Al-Qaeda ideology has been completely rejected by the Arab world. Al-Qaeda was in eclipse … to be very specific it was buried in January 2011 in Tahrir Square in Cairo,” he said, referring to the massive people’s movement that swept aside longtime Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak.
“In a sense it is the right ending for Osama because the recent development in the Arab world clearly indicated that there was no place for him or his ideology,” said Khashoggi. “The rise of the nonviolent movement in the Arab world was the complete rejection of the Al-Qaeda philosophy.”
Khashoggi said he felt sorry that Bin Laden chose the wrong path when he was at the crossroads of history. “He hijacked our religion and chose the path of violence. I remember how we were all in the grip of violence in the early and mid-2000s, here in Saudi Arabia, Algeria … there were suicide bombings, bomb blasts, killings. His ideology did not conform with my understanding of Islam,” he said. » | Siraj Wahab | Arab News | Monday, May 02, 2011
CNN MONEY: NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. stocks are poised for a higher open, as investors cheer news that Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces Monday.
The founder and leader of al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, was killed by U.S. forces in Abbottabad, north of Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
In an address to the nation Sunday night, President Barack Obama called bin Laden's death, "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al Qaeda." » | CNNMoney staff | Monday, May 02, 2011
TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – CON COUGHLIN: Rejoice! It’s taken ten long, hard years, but the Americans have finally got their man. Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, is dead. As Ronald Reagan once said of a former bunch of Islamist terrorists, you can run, but you can’t hide.Perhaps the most remarkable feature of bin Laden’s death is that he was found hiding in a modern complex outside one of Pakistan’s most prestigious military colleges.
I have always maintained that bin Laden, who has suffered from a severe kidney condition for many years, could not have survived on the run for so long without outside help and support. My personal hunch was that he was being protected by elements within Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency, which previously enjoyed a close relationship with bin Laden.
The fact that the American special forces that tracked bin Laden to his bolt-hole could not even tell the Pakistani authorities what they were up to tells you all you need to know about the level of Pakistani complicity in bin Laden’s survival for so many years after the worst terrorist attack in world history. Read on and comment » | Con Coughlin | Monday, May 02, 2011
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Der amerikanische Präsident Barack Obama hat in einer Fernsehansprache mitgeteilt, dass der Kopf des Terrornetzes Al Qaida bei einer Kommandoaktion der amerikanischen Streitkräfte getötet worden ist. Laut Fernsehberichten wurde der Leichnam Bin Ladins im Meer beigesetzt.Der Kopf des Terrornetzes Al Qaida, Usama bin Ladin, ist tot. Der amerikanische Präsident Barack Obama teilte in einer Fernsehansprache mit, dass Bin Ladin am Sonntag bei einer Kommandoaktion getötet worden sei: „Der Gerechtigkeit wurde Genüge getan.“ Pakistan habe die Vereinigten Staaten dabei unterstützt, Bin Ladin aufzuspüren.
Ein Vertreter der pakistanischen Sicherheitsbehörden bestätigte den Tod Bin Ladins, ohne Details seiner Tötung zu nennen. Usama bin Ladin galt als Drahtzieher der Terroranschläge im September 2001 in den Vereinigten Staaten, bei denen fast dreitausend Menschen um[s] Leben kamen. Die Vereinigten Staaten haben nach der Mitteilung vom Tod des Al-Qaida-Führers ihre im Ausland befindlichen Staatsangehörigen vor möglichen Vergeltungsmaßnahmen des Terrornetzes gewarnt und ihre Botschaften weltweit in Alarmbereitschaft versetzt. Jubel in Washington » | FAZ.NET mit dpa/AP/AFP/Reuters | Montag, 02 Mai 2011
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