B_D, What is this fixation you have with taqiyya?

Mate, I grew up in an Indian Muslim family. Not once did my parents or any of my teachers talk about taqiyya. In fact, when I was in my 20's I read in a Sunni textbook that taqiyya is a shia concept that Sunnis reject as it allows you to tell lies.

Later, when I studied shiism, I realised the stuff I read from the Sunni textbook was wrong also.

The point is that taqiyya is something you keep harping on about as if to suggest that Muslims are all a bunch of 2-faced lying dimwits who cannot be trusted. But if you take a walk down Haldon Street Lakemba or Auburn Rd Auburn or Sydney Rd Coburg and do a straw poll, you'll find most people have never heard of taqiyya.

Anyway, back to the topic ...

Irfan Yusuf,

Why should anyone believe you? You only talk about the 'nice' things pertaining to Islam and calling anyone who doesn't accept your nonsense 'Nazis'.

You are probably using taqiyya now to cover up its existence. Misrepresenting me the other day as someone interested only in those whose "blood is white-coloured" is all part of it, too.

You are one of the worst advertisements for Islam. With friends like you, they don't need enemies.

Leigh, here's my honest opinion of you.

Anyone who regards John Howard as a pinko and leftie on immigration issues can be realistically described as a Nazi.

The shoe fits you. Wear it.

Now show me the taqiyya in the above 2 paragraphs.

7 civilians dead from Israeli missile strike

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060725/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_israel

The real enemy is Saudi Arabia but the cowardly Israelis are not allowed to attack them lest your price for gasoline goes up.

Now who built, sold and paid for the rockets?

My reading of Israeli strategy (with US agreement) in Lebanon is this:

Israel has limited military (but highly political) objectives in Lebanon.

Its seems that the Israelis intend only a limited air and ground offensive - to course some Hezbollah launch sites to become active - so they can be detected and destroyed.

The broader bombing campaign (including Lebanon's capital) appears to have been a way to create the current international crisis that can be "resolved" by ceasefire and the deployment of a much larger multinational force (than the present UN force) in south Lebanon.

It appears Israel is not intending to create a significant buffer zone in south Lebanon. Therefore "reliance" will be placed on an effective multinational force to create a deep buffer zone.

Multinational forces have been unable to create lasting, effective buffer zones in this area before. This time there is the added difficulty of increasingly longe range Hezbollah rockets.

The required deeper, and consequently more sparsely manned, buffer zone will be doomed to fail. Hezbollah and Israel will continue to strike each other while the multinational force remains ineffectual.

This failure will give Israel (and the US?) the green light to attack the sources of the rockets (already "officially" designated as Syria and Iran). This will be seen as decisive action by an international community that would have grown tired of the Lebanon quagmire.

So the current Isreali strategy of limited reaction, then expectation of multinational force failure, are preliminaries for the (already justified) attack on Syria and Iran.

Somewhere in this gameplan is an appeal to the WMD threat, which may be justified in Iran's case.

Pete
http://spyingbadthings.blogspot.com

Ifran, if John Howard is a pinko in relation to Immigration; I'd hate to meet anybody to his right. Where has Leigh been in relation to Detention Centres and the Immigration Department; a disgraceful period in Australia's history.

Once the bombing ends in Lebanon who will help in the reconstruction of the country. I bet Israel won't. Who is going to support those made homeless or who no longer have employment?
In the meantime the USA talks about diplomacy while sending munitions to Israel to use on Lebanon; how much credibility as an honest broker can they expect to have with Arab nations.

Bombing Lebanon will polarise the population and create hate for the future. Iraqis are now starting to complain that Iraq has been destabilised through the shock and awe bombing to the extent of it now being less safe than when Sadam led the country. Sadam was a monster; there is no question about that. But it is a dreadful irony that “democracy” has brought previously unknown dangers to Iraq. Iraq has become a quagmire; and now the Middle East is being further destabilized through the bombing of Lebanon.