"I am calling on all the people of Iraq and the whole Middle-East to unite and do what they can to support the ongoing rescue efforts and the relief and rebuilding that follows."
- Ahrar Party Leader Ayad Jamal Aldin
It made me wonder how much in donations are coming from Kuwait and Qatar, both in the top five in income per capita according to the CIA World Factbook. I wonder if the Saudi royal family is helping in the worldwide effort.
PS: From Alms in Wiki: "In Islam, zakat, or the giving of alms, is the Third of the five pillars of Islam. Various rules attach to the practice, but in general terms, it is obligatory to give away 2.5% of ones savings and business revenue, as well as 5-10% of ones harvest, to the poor. The recipients include the destitute, the working poor, those who are unable to pay off their own debts, stranded travelers, and others who need assistance, with the general principle of zakaah always being that the rich should pay it to the poor. One of the most important principles of Islam is that all things belong to God, and that wealth is therefore held by human beings in trust."
36 comments :
In 2006, some Saudis thought 'zakat' included funding the insurgency in Iraq:
"Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, according to key Iraqi officials and others familiar with the flow of cash.
Saudi government officials deny that any money from their country is being sent to Iraqis fighting the government and the U.S.-led coalition.
But the U.S. Iraq Study Group report said Saudis are a source of funding for Sunni Arab insurgents. Several truck drivers interviewed by The Associated Press described carrying boxes of cash from Saudi Arabia into Iraq, money they said was headed for insurgents.
Two high-ranking Iraqi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, told the AP most of the Saudi money comes from private donations, called zaqat, collected for Islamic causes and charities."
Stupid you are still here? I thought you would be off to join the puppet police? Are you still thinking about it stupid? How long will it take you stupid? I am going to Starbucks today stupid.
"Saddam...uday...starbucks..arabjarab...arabjarab...i love America...i love America...arabjarab..sunni this...shia that...honor killings....honor killings...arabjarab arabjarab.."
You should be happy that you can go to Starbucks without fearing death, and you should be happy your relatives in Amman can also enjoy Starbucks without worrying about being bombed.
Iraqis are not as lucky as you, Habis el Urduni.
August 2009: "Two bombers wearing suicide vests blew themselves up in a popular cafe crowded with young people in northwestern Iraq on Thursday evening, killing 21 and wounding 30 others, according to local hospital officials.
It was the third major bombing in a week in a stretch of Iraq in and around Mosul, where ethnic tensions, insurgent activity and political disputes have created a volatile mix that threatens the security gains made elsewhere in the country.
The attack on Thursday was carried out in the city of Sinjar, which is populated primarily by Yazidis, Kurdish-speaking followers of a pre-Islamic faith with its roots in Zoroastrianism that is based in an area near the border with Syria.
Viewed as apostates by Sunni extremists, the Yazidis have been the victims of attacks in the past."
Stupid you are at your stupidest when you try to sound clever. Does anyone honestly tell you how stupid you sound when you think you are being clever. Who cares about the Saudi family other than you who wants to be just like them. Stupid you are dying to be another Saudi regime, puppets, slaves, taking orders from the American terrorist army. You, well not really you, but the people you cheer, are trying hard to establish another KSA or Jordan in Iraq, another US colony with obedient puppets. The only difference is that you want a Shia version of US puppets. So do you see how stupid you are.
You want to talk about Haiti the poorest country in the West stupid? It is the poorest because of the America you love so much stupid. Here read this stupid. It is not from memri so maybe you will learn something.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/14-13
In 2003 I saw "Life and Debt", a movie about Jamaica and how US policies have resulted in poverty and huge debt in Jamaica. Good movie. It also points out that starting in 1973 Jamaica had to borrow huge amounts of money in order to pay for the high cost of petrol. Jamaica imports many goods, and their economy is affected by transportation costs. The rise in oil prices plunged Jamaica into debt. So the Saudis and OPEC, in their protest of America and Israel, stopped selling their oil and caused economic catastrophe in countries that had nothing to do with Israel or Palestine. Well, maybe Bob Marley was a Zionist. I'm sure the Arabs would have come up with any excuse to justify their actions, just like you do today, Habis el Urduni.
US policy may have resulted in poverty in many Caribbean nations, but I do not see Haitians blowing up markets to protest US policy. I do not see Jamaicans bombing cafes because they are angry with the US. I don't see Cubans mass murdering Americans to protest the US embargo of their country, which has lasted for decades.
Stupidity without limits
The excellent documentary Life and Debt for those who are interested. Great soundtrack.
"The Saudis will no doubt conclude that Haitians are infidels and giving alms to them is improper."
Actually YES! They would probably agree with Pat Robertson.
Christians and Jews do not bomb markets, hmar el urduni.
Christians may not bomb markets. But the Israeli army has intentially bombed palestinian children. So, I may have to disagree with you on this one.
http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=6&i=2719
"A Kenyan woman is accusing her Saudi employer of throwing her out of a third floor window, breaking her legs and hands. Another maid, just rescued by relatives, said she had to live on dog food because her employers neither fed her nor allowed her out of the house.
Ms Fatma Athman, of Kisauni, Mombasa, returned to the country last week with broken limbs and stories of near-slavery in Saudi Arabia where she was employed as a maid last May. She was lucky, she said, she landed in a swimming pool and not on the pavement. Now she is dependent on others to help her even with the simplest of chores."
Damn. Thanks C.H.
There is a listing of countries that are sending aid to Haiti at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_to_the_2010_Haiti_earthquake
The Muslim countries that are listed as sending help to Haiti are Bangladesh, Bosnia, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey & the UAE. No mention of Saudi Arabia sending help.
Here is a listing of charities that are sending help to Haiti:
http://www.interaction.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti
One group that is not on the list, but should be is the Salvation Army, which has an extensive mission in Haiti. You can donate by going to http://www.salvationarmyusa.org
or by calling 1-800-SALARMY
About the (beeping) Saudis: Mojo, I remember back in 2002 at the height of the suicide bombers in Israel, the Saudi Sheiks had a telathon to raise money to support the families of suicide bombers!
(Had to make a real effort not to commit violence on my innocent TV set when I saw that.)
Thanks for the info, David All. It is embarrassing how many Arabs supported suicide bombings in public places in Israel. My father was disgusted by the attacks that killed innocent Israelis and said in the late 90s that this is the difference between Sunni extremists and Shia extremists. Shia militants do not suicide blow themselves up in cafes, he argued.
Thanks for the Wikipedia site on the Haiti international relief effort.
"The Kuwaiti government made a US$1 million donation to the Kuwait Red Crescent Society for distribution to the Haiti relief effort."
I think Kuwait could give a lot more!
"Qatar sent a 26-member rescue team and C-17 strategic transport aircraft loaded with 50 tons of relief materials."
That's more like it.
C.H. and Mojo, thanks for the story about the abuses the Kenyan maids suffered at the hands of their Saudi employers. It is similar to other stories about Saudis abusing their servants, especially the women, who come from poor African and Asian countries such as Kenya, Ethopia and Bangladesh
Mojo, thanks as well for the story about the financial support that at least some wealthy Saudis gave to the Sunni insurgency in Iraq. As you have mention in previous posts, the Saudis also provided the largest group of foreign suicide bombers in Iraq.
You welcome, Mojo.
Your father was right that Shia extremists have not committed suicide bombings against civilians.
I agree with you Mojo that wealthy Kuwait can do a lot more to help Haiti like the way Qatar is.
Saturday, 16 January 2010, by Robert Fisk:
'Prince al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia is quite a man.
He says he doesn't want to be the prime minister of Lebanon – everyone who wants to be the prime minister of Lebanon says that – but he is immensely wealthy. True, his bank balance has sunk from $23.7bn to a mere $13.3bn since 2005 (thus sayeth Forbes magazine). But he's just announced that he wants to construct the world's tallest building – a 1km-high goliath which will dwarf his neighbour emir in Dubai who last month opened the paltry 25,000ft Burj Khalifa amid the sand dunes of his bankrupt creditors. The nephew of King Abdullah, al-Waleed understandably calls his company Kingdom Holdings. He also happens to be a major shareholder in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp – which is why you won't be reading these words in The Times. Long live Kingdom Holdings, I suppose.
Because yesterday morning, I was taking an al-Jazeera television crew around the repulsive, obscene, outrageous, filthy, stinking slums of the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps not far from my home in Beirut, a place of such squalor that the gorge rises that human beings even live there. Sabra and Chatila – yes, the site of that infamous massacre in 1982 when Lebanese Christian militiamen allied to Israel slaughtered up to 1,700 Palestinian civilians while the Israeli army surrounded the camps, watched the killings – and did nothing. They were the survivors of the great exodus or ethnic cleansing of 1948 – or their sons or grandsons – who fled Galilee for the "temporary" safety of Lebanon and, like the visa applicants of the movie Casablanca, wait and wait – and wait – to go home. Which they will never do. "I am very positive," Prince al-Waleed said when he announced his new priapic tower, to be constructed in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. "We are always looking for new investments."
Now I know that there are a lot of fine philanthropists in the Gulf, Prince al-Waleed among them, but what is one to make of all this? Afghanistan is collapsing in blood; Iraq remains a state of semi-civil war; the Israelis continue to thieve land for Jews and Jews only from the Arabs who hold the title deeds to that property – and Prince al-Waled wants to build a tower reaching a kilometre into the sky. Do the Saudis – who gave so much largesse to the Taliban (we have to forget this, of course, along with the fact that the Saudis provided most of the murderers of 9/11, which is why we bombed Kabul rather than Riyadh) – not have the slightest idea of what is going on around them?'
"Christians may not bomb markets. But the Israeli army has intentially bombed palestinian children. "
They have not, unless by "children" you mean 17-year olds with AK-47s or rocket launchers. Setting the age for "children" to be up to 18 leads to many confusing statistics.
It would be better to confine the word "children" to those who are too young to fight. Under 13, for instance.
Mojo, Habis;
Poverty has many causes. It is simplistic to blame it all on American policy. Internal unrest, widespread corruption and cultural attitudes that resist progress all play a role.
Haiti has more NGOs per capita doing charity than any other country in the world. There's little to show for it. After the disaster relief is done, Haiti will go back to being the dysfunctional mudpit it once was.
Don Cox;
The same thing is done by everyone with an agenda to sell. Like those activists who make quotes like 'X number of children are killed every year by firearms' while failing to mention that most of those 'children' are 16 and 17 year old gangbangers settling scores.
Whether the term "children" defines an age group under 18, or not, does not make the use of phophorus bombs okay to use. I don't think this is the same mentality as an agenda to sell. The fact remains children were bombed with the use of phosphorus bombs that the Israeli army intentially used on human beings. So yes, Israeli armys do bomb humans, age is no importance to them.
I do, and I don't agree with that either. Killing is killing regardless of what someone's ethicity or age is. I just simply don't agree with the statment that Jews don't bomb.
Yes it is sad that violence seems inherent to man’s nature.
There once was a dream named America. That through, law, democracy and personal liberty, man’s true nature will finally reveal itself. He will choose family, progress, peace, and business.
The true America is a far cry from the dream, but we always try our best. I assure you that our intentions are to support Iraqi democracy which institutes the self determination of the Iraqi people. Peace is our purpose.
"I just simply don't agree with the statment that Jews don't bomb."
But in my comment I said "Christians and Jews do not bomb markets."
Still you make a good point, Anon. Even Jewish civilians have attacked innocent Palestinians. It was a Jewish settler named Goldstein who walked into a Hebron mosque in 1994 and sprayed dozens of Palestinians with bullets while they prayed. That incident sparked rage among the Palestinians, and that's when the suicide bombings escalated.
You must admit though that in general Jews and Christians do not bomb public places like Sunni extremists have in Iraq.
Aton said...
Yes it is sad that violence seems inherent to man’s nature.
There once was a dream named America. That through, law, democracy and personal liberty, man’s true nature will finally reveal itself. He will choose family, progress, peace, and business.
The true America is a far cry from the dream, but we always try our best. I assure you that our intentions are to support Iraqi democracy which institutes the self determination of the Iraqi people. Peace is our purpose.
Saturday, January 16, 2010 1:07:00 PM PST
.............................
The self-consciuos deceit is evident in this comment. Cant really ask for more proof of American stupidity and murder
Anonymous, if you are Palestinian, then you have my support. The Palestinians have gotten a raw deal.
What do you think the world can do the facilitate Palestinians helping themselves? Obviously the Palestinians are great people who don't need help from anyone else.
Anand;
What the Palestinians can do for themselves is act like ADULTS.
The world doesn't have much patience for people who turn their young into human bombs, steal billions of donated aid dollars, attack the interests of those donor countries because of a Danish cartoon, destroy the greenhouses left for their economic benefit, continually elect corrupt and venal thugs to power, launch a rocket war from Gaza AFTER the Israelis took down their settlements etc etc etc ..
The Israelis have a lot to answer for but they have done what no another country in that part of the world has done - made the desert green and built a first world prosperous country with a respected scientific industry and competitive economy while the rest of the area is still living in the tenth century (with the possible exception of Turkey)
And that is why people tend to favor Israel instead of Palestinian stagnation and self destructiveness.
People don't tend to favor Israel, that is only the case in America where 60 million turn up to vote for Sarah Palin.
Freeq, the supposed accomplishments of the yids are not relevant, they pale in comparison to their barbarity in Palestine and Lebanon.
The fact that you would even bring that up is distateful. We say that the jews killed 600 children in Gaza, and you respond: "Ah, but they have Teva Pharmaceuticals!"
What an ugly rebuttal to make, even if it is true.
"children were bombed with the use of phosphorus bombs "
Why is that important, they Saudis just did it to the Yemen Shi'a last week, are you condemning that too. But my point was, how is it better to be bombed with high explosives?
Dolly complains about the deaths of Palestinian children after she wished for bombing Shia neighborhoods in Iraq.
Our Muslim "brothers and sisters" are angered by the killing of Muslim children only when America or Israel does the killing.
July 2005: "At least 26 Iraqis, almost all of them children, have been killed by a suicide car bombing in south-eastern Baghdad.
...A bomb blast in Baghdad in September last year killed at least 34 children.
This attack also saw the victims gather round US troops who were handing out sweets, to mark the opening of a water treatment plant."
Nov. 2007: "A roadside bomb killed three Iraqi children and injured seven as they gathered around American troops handing out toys on Sunday, police and government officials told CNN."
Thanks for your Palestinian support Anand. I think it's such a complex issue. As to what the world can do to help the Palestinian people. First off, the arab countries are not united. Their not intefering with the Pali/Israeli conflict because they are getting paid by the U.S., to not help the Palestinians. The U.S. is contolled by zionist, so support for Israel will remain.
As far as Palestinians not acting like adults. I completely disagree with Freeq. YES, suicide bombings are not a resolution to the issue. But when someone's country is taken from them, are forced to abide by the Israeli army's rules; such as, have curfews, or else they will be shot. Are harrassed, or hung from the top of high buildings. The Palestinian people are living in oppression. How do you expect people that are oppressed to behave? They are obviously angry. I guess shooting children that throw stones at Israeli armies should be justified. I guess that is behaving like an adult?? Maybe Israel can help guide us by becoming better adults. I guess brainwashing our children at a young age to grow up to HATE Palestinians is the way to go.
And YES, I'm condemning the use phosphorus bombs on anyone. It's against international law. It's inhumane.
I'm not angered only when America and Israel does killings. I think it's disgusting what is happening in Iraq! There is no justification for suicide bombers. Iraq is not in a strong place right now. It seems to be the extremists feel they have power to go there, and take over. And by taking over they feel suicide bombings are the answer. It's just like I said in the begining, it all comes down to arabs not being united.
"it all comes down to arabs not being united."
Not sure why you would want or expect such a diverse group to be "united", but I bet I can tell you why that will never happen. All the Arabs are run by dictators. Dictators need absolute allegiance and they all have only one agenda, remaining in absolute power. Like herding cats, you'll never have that unity you seek unless you try and change the political and social power systems now in place all across the M.E., specially Palestine where there is a new and religious kingdom to be had in one hand. Not only is that why there is so much violence there, but why the "Arab" countries will not work united against the Zionist. They are all afraid that the other guy will gain the upper hand and use the influence to their own advantage. Even the US is guilty of this.
"God Will It"
And the Zionist running the US, yeah right try the Oil lobby, try to get anything past with out their support or at least without their objection. Why do you think we support Israel, to keep the wolves at bay.
so support for Israel will remain.
Indeed, as surely as Arab support for the Palestinians.
So make peace with it and move on with your life.
"It's just like I said in the begining, it all comes down to arabs not being united."
That's because people usually unite for things other than ethnicity.
"That's because people usually unite for things other than ethnicity."
What are the other things that people usually unite for?
Dolly, I am not sure you are authentic? Might you be an internet persona?
Anonymous, I found your comments informative. Look forward to learning more from you about Palestine. Are you still reading Mojo's blog?
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