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Reformist Writer Dr. Kamel Al-Najjar: "If the Muslims are Serious About Presenting the Radiant Face of Islam… They Must… Acknowledge Their Dark Past" In January 2006, the Austrian-Iraqi Association for Development held its first conference on extremism and terrorism around the world, in Vienna. The conference was attended by Arab, Muslim and European researchers, intellectuals and diplomats. In the closing statement, the participants made the following recommendations: to present the humane and rational side of Islam which calls for co-existence and acceptance of the other; to condemn all forms of violence and terrorism; to promote dialogue and cooperation among all...

Wolves, wolf-hybrids suspected culprits in bloody predations... his herd of 700 sheep. But something had gotten there before him. Everywhere he looked, it seemed, there was a sheep that had been attacked and bloodied. "It was terrible," he said. "Some of them just had a chunk of flesh tore out, in some cases clear to the bone, the size of an orange. A few were bit in the neck." A few of the sheep could be doctored, but many of them died... of the 60 that were attacked, 21 died and 39 were injured. On top of that, the percentage...

As Jesse Jackson visits Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez at the presidential palace to denounce assassination and what he calls the ‘Rumsfeld-Robertson connection’, outside in the streets - violent protests have engulfed Caracas in a sign of Chavez’s tightening grip on power. El Universal has the story in Spanish here and Globovision has the story in Spanish here. Miguel explains it in English for us here.

Mel Gibson had Hollywood insiders scratching their heads when he announced that his film "The Passion of the Christ" would have dialogue only in Latin and Aramaic. Now comes word that the next movie Gibson will direct, "Apocalypto," will be filmed in an obscure Mayan dialect. The movie will star a neophyte cast indigenous to the region of Mexico where Gibson will shoot the film, according to the trade paper Variety, which says it will "presumably" have the "same kind of subtitles Gibson reluctantly added to 'The Passion of the Christ.'" Earlier reports claimed the movie would be set 3,000...

Dig reveals more of isles' bloody history JOHN ROSS NEW evidence of bloody clan battles at a medieval stronghold in the Western Isles has been unearthed by archaeologists. A team from Glasgow University has revealed a fortified settlement on Dun Eistean, a sea stack on the north-east coast of Lewis, thought to have been a refuge and spiritual home for the Clan Morrison 400 to 800 years ago. The discovery of musket balls, a lookout tower and a defensive wall around the perimeter of the island points to battles with the Morrisons' fierce rivals, including the Macaulays. Rachel Barrowman and...

Never underestimate a revolutionary regime. In particular, never underestimate the durability of the revolutionaries' fervour to fight for their cause. The French revolution began in 1789, but it was only after two decades of war that the fight was finally knocked out of the revolution's heirs, and repeatedly - in 1830, 1848 and 1870 - they threatened to make a comeback. The Russian revolution began in 1917, but the Soviet Union posed a mortal threat until the mid-1980s. As for the Chinese revolution of 1949, it was only last month that the regime in Beijing was threatening to go nuclear...

The Sunday morning pundits preach that the terrorist attacks around the world continue because American troops remain in Iraq. These so-called “experts” claim that Iraq is a training ground for attacks in Europe and America. Have these armchair-terror-experts forgotten the 50-year Islamic training ground called Israel? These “experts” also seem to believe that this split between so-called “moderate” Muslims and the Islamic terrorists is something new. These “experts” have missed the mark by about 1300 hundred years. The present Islamic terrorists are a result of the split within Islam between Muslims who wish to live in the 21st century, secular...

Bloody past is catching up with Liberian despot By David Blair in Calabar (Filed: 02/07/2005) After impoverishing his country, killing thousands and stealing a fortune, Africa's most notorious fallen tyrant is facing a rising clamour for him to face justice. Charles Taylor, the deposed president of Liberia, benefits from asylum in Nigeria despite being the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant and an indictment on 17 counts of war crimes. Charles Taylor: Africa's most prominent fugitive A life steeped in bloodshed has not prevented Taylor from enjoying Nigeria's official hospitality and a grace-and-favour residence in a government lodge in the...

Aziz blames bloody campaign to suppress the Shias on Saddam By Our Foreign Staff (Filed: 28/06/2005) Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi politician who was one of Saddam Hussein's closest associates, blames the bloody suppression of a Shia uprising on his former boss in a video released yesterday. The footage, given out by the tribunal prosecuting members of the deposed regime, is likely to demoralise Saddam loyalists involved in the Iraqi insurgency because it contradicts claims by Aziz's lawyer that he would never betray Saddam. 68-year-old Tariq Aziz [right] appears before the special tribunal Under questioning from an investigative judge six...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

The Lieberman-Cheney Vice Presidential Debate MODERATOR: From Centre College in historic Danville, Kentucky, good evening, and welcome to this year's only vice presidential debate sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. I'm Bernard Shaw, moderator. Tonight we come to you from the hall in the Northern Center for the Arts on the campus of Centre College. Thank you to President John Rausch, the faculty, students and community leaders state-wide, we thank you for hosting this debate. The candidates are the Republican nominee, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney of Wyoming, and the Democratic nominee, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. The Commission,...

TARAWA, Kiribati (AP) - On the beach at "Bloody Tarawa," where U.S. Marines died by the hundreds, the broken bottles, crushed boxes and plastic bags are now piling up by the millions. Rotting under the equatorial sun, the garbage of an open dump is spreading over a section of World War II's Red Beach, a strip of sand hallowed in American military history. It's a sign of the crisis of solid waste that threatens to overwhelm the tiny atolls of the Pacific, tropical "paradises" whose beauty already is often marred by layers of debris - rubbish with nowhere to go....

BLOODY KING LINKED TO SAXON BEACH FIND By Richard Wright A RARE gold sword belt ornament which could have belonged to the seventh century Saxon king, Caedwalla, has been found on an Island beach - and there could be another hidden under the sands. Discovery of the intricate gold decoration encrusted with garnets is regarded as being especially historically significant because it could have belonged to the king reputed to have put a quarter of the Island population to the sword in his attempt to convert them to Christianity. Enthusiast Darren Trickey, 21, had gone out for a few minutes...

Orgies of bloody murder have left Congo traumatised By Declan Walsh, in Bunia, D R Congo 31 May 2003 When the came for Joseph Nzeloy, the Congolese gunmen had an argument. Should they kill the farmer's family by slicing open their stomachs, cutting their throats or chopping off their heads? After a thought, they decided. With a gun to his temple, Mr Nzeloy, 62, watched as the killers grabbed his wife, eight children and two brothers, and bound them. Then, one by one, they sliced their throats. Mr Nzeloy survived after being left for dead. "I heard everything but could...

Popular uprising against Iraqi regime. Dozens of Fedayeen killed.

The Bloody Borders Of Islam Published: Dec 6, 2002   WASHINGTON - Is Islam an inherently violent religion?  And there is no denying the fact, stated most boldly by Samuel Huntington, author of ``The Clash of Civilizations?,'' that ``Islam has bloody borders.''From Nigeria to Sudan to Pakistan to Indonesia to the Philippines, some of the worst, most hate- driven violence in the world today is perpetrated by Muslims and in the name of Islam.In Pakistan, Muslim extremists have attacked Christian churches, killing every parishioner they could. Just last month in Lebanon, an evangelical Christian nurse, who had devoted her...

US military chiefs break ranks to say war 'will be bloody'Marine Corps and Army generals distance themselves from Pentagon as inspections chief prepares to brief UN By Rupert Cornwell in Washington 19 December 2002 The senior commanders of the US forces most directly involved in the ground part of any war with Iraq are said to fear the campaign could be a more protracted and bloody affair than some in the Pentagon's civilian leadership expect. The Washington Post says Army chief General Eric Shinseki and General James Jones, commandant of the Marine Corps, are worried at excessive confidence that Iraqi...