Babar Ahmad: 7 years illegally detained, 7 years of injustice

Peace and Blessings to all readers,


I request your help with a very important cause, especially for those of you who live in the United Kingdom. A British citizen has been illegally detained for 7 years. Babar Ahmad has been detained in the UK for 7 years without trial fighting extradition to the USA under the controversial no-evidence-required Extradition Act 2003. In June 2011, the Houses of Parliament, Joint Committee on Human Rights urged the UK government to change the law so that Babar Ahmad’s perpetual threat of extradition is ended without further delay. Since all of the allegations against Babar Ahmad are said to have taken place in the UK, we call upon the British Government to put him on trial in the UK and support British Justice for British Citizens.


I not only appeal to all Muslims, since a Muslim is the brother (or sister) of another Muslim, and as the Prophetic hadith states: "Feed the hungry, visit the sick and set free the captives." - Sahih Al-Bukhari; but I also to appeal to all who believe in upholding justice for the falsely accused. In a post-9/11 area, many governments have failed to fulfil a fundamental human right- the right of an individual to be given a fair trail. 


For any reader who lives in the UK, please sign the following petition and please forward it to family, friends and colleagues. Keep in mind that anyone could be the next Babar Ahmad- the fasely accused and illegally detained without evidence. Wouldn't you want someone to stand up for you and declare your innocence?


http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/885


PS: Please check your email, junk folder most likely, and confirm your vote/signature by clicking on the link. Thank You.

The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy

THE GREAT BENEFACTOR

Since the October War in 1973, Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing the amounts provided to any other state.  It has been the largest annual recipient of direct U.S. economic and military assistance since 1976 and the largest total recipient since World War II.  Total direct U.S. aid to Israel amounts to well over $140 billion in 2003 dollars. [2]

Israel receives about $3 billion in direct foreign assistance each year, which is roughly one‐fifth of America’s foreign aid budget.  In per capita terms, the United States gives each Israeli a direct subsidy worth about $500 per year. [3]

This largesse is especially striking when one realizes that Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to South Korea or Spain. [4] Israel also gets other special deals from Washington. [5]

Other aid recipients get their money in quarterly instalments, but Israel receives its entire appropriation at the beginning of each fiscal year and thus earns extra interest.  Most recipients of American military assistance are required to spend all of it in the United States, but Israel can use roughly twenty‐five percent of its aid allotment to subsidize its own defense industry.  Israel is the only recipient that does not have to account for how the aid is spent, an exemption that makes it virtually impossible to prevent the money from being used for purposes the United States opposes, like building settlements in the West Bank.

Moreover, the United States has provided Israel with nearly $3 billion to develop weapons systems like the Lavi aircraft that the Pentagon did not want or need, while giving Israel access to top‐drawer U.S. weaponry like Blackhawk helicopters and F‐16 jets.  Finally, the United States gives Israel access to 2intelligence that it denies its NATO allies and has turned a blind eye towards Israel’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. [6]

Footnotes:

[2] According to the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) “Greenbook,” which reports “overseas loans and grants,” Israel has received $140,142,800 (in constant 2003 dollars) from the United States through 2003. Downloaded from the “Greenbook” web site [http://qesdb.cdie.org/gbk/] on November 8, 2005.


[3] According to the “Greenbook,” Israel received about $3.7 billion in direct aid from the United States in 2003. Israel’s population according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies [IISS] and the CIA is 6,276,883. IISS, The Military Balance: 2005‐2006 (Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2005), p. 192; http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/.  
That averages out to $589 per Israeli. If one assumes the same population size and $3 billion in total aid, then each Israeli receives $478.


[4] See http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/; World Bank Atlas (Washington, DC: Development Data Group, World Bank, September 2004), pp. 64‐65.


[5] For a discussion of the various special deals that Israel receives, see Clyde R. Mark, “Israel: U.S. Foreign Assistance,” Issue Brief for Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, April 26, 2005).  


[6] Avner Cohen, Israel and the Bomb (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999); Seymour M. Hersh, The Samson Option: Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy (New York: Random House, 1991).

 

So much for Revolution?

2011 has been a year of revolutionary change in the Middle East. First, with the downfall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, then of Ben Ali in Tunisia. Following them, protests in Algeria, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain... it has many people asking: which country is next?

Today, March 19th, 2011, the US and its allies have declared war on Libya. This is 8 years after the US-led invasion of Iraq. Coincidence? Their excuse for doing so is only an echo of that in Iraq and Afghanistan.. "to protect the people from their tyrant leader". But is it really? If that really were the case, then wouldn't, or rather shouldn't, the US and it's allies come to the aid and assistance of the Palestinians being under the tyrant rule of apartheid Israel? Of course it's not.

It is now feared that the "revolution" so desired in Libya, may now just be the beginning of much unwanted bloodshed.

The real reason for this infringement of Libyan sovereignty is of course... oil. The same reason for the Iraq invasion. The revolution by the people is been undermined by this invasion. Without a doubt, the US and it's allies are not interested in helping the Libyan people at all. Their only interests are greed and the need for some control in the Middle East.

This invasion should be a strong wake up call for people in the Middle East. If the US continues on invading, thinking that its decisions will remain uncontested, let the people prove it wrong. Power belongs to the people and only they should decide how their country should be run, and NOT by foreign invasion.

May Allah help the people of Libya during this time of crisis, and 8 years later, may the people of Iraq regain their honour and glory. May Allah help all the oppressed peoples around the world. Ameen ya Rabb.