Assault on Dhahian, Sa’ada:Is the fight against terror in reverse gear? [Archives:2004/749/Opinion]

For more than two decades the people who have sought to instill a terrorist culture have been given a free hand to set up their schools for “teaching the Quran” to innocent children, under the guise of false religious pretensions, when in fact they were scientifically rearing them to form a grass roots base for this new extremism that has damaged the interests and image of Islam, in Yemen and elsewhere, just when Islam was reaching its mass appeal throughout the world.
Yes, these dubious advocates of Islamic militancy have even been allowed to set up paramilitary camps throughout the remote areas of Sa'ada Governorate and the Southern and Eastern provinces. All this, while the government kept a closed eye attitude, despite the pleadings of some of the enlightened religious and non-religious dignitaries and common folk of these areas for the government to do something about these dangerous bastions of heretical Islam.
Yet the recent onslaught on the hijra hamlet of Dhahian has baffled the observer, by its sheer intensity and the relatively weak rationale for staging such an aggressive onslaught. Apparently the President of the Republic, Ali Abdullah Saleh is not party to the arrangement of the attack on innocent students and teachers, who propagate a far more tolerant and transparent approach to Islam and it is said that he has ordered a halt to operations pending further investigation of the matter. However, the pleadings of the victims of this quasi military attack with the use of heavy and light weaponry against a mostly unarmed hamlet with children and women amidst the rampage warrant a serious assessment of how much power should be used to quell any kind of protest in a democratic country. It seems that the people of the area have admitted to demonstrating some sympathy for the plight of our Palestinian brothers, which is legitimate and worthy of praise, considering the tragic situation we see unfolding in the occupied territories of what remains of Palestine. Yet it is also apparent that those with evil intentions of projecting a devious image of Islam, sought to interpret the protest in an all together different context. This is understandable, because those who are behind this disregard for the equal rights of Yemenis of all religious persuasion, and who regard anyone who disagrees with them as “infidels”, would like nothing more than to eliminate this innocent school of tolerant Islam from an area they are seeking to dominate with their own fanatical imported ideology. Needless to say, we are waging a war against terror, and Dhahian represents an appropriate approach to counter the continuing aggressive propagation of the extremist rendition. That is why the backers of the extremists are circulating wild claims of civil disobedience by these harmless good citizens and “acts of disloyalty”. The people of Dhahian are not demanding any special treatment as has been accorded these extremist elements and are simply asked to be allowed to live in peace, like all the other citizens of Yemen have a right to enjoy. They also request that an independent investigation be carried out to determine if anything they have done warrants such a large scale military undertaking, which does not discriminate between man, woman and child.
We implore the President of the Republic to look sympathetically at the pleadings of the poor people of Dhahian, who are victims of false innuendos and misrepresentations of the facts and the endorsement of these pleadings by leading enlightened religious authorities of Yemen, who are known for their moderation and patriotism to Yemen.

The Ugly Sword of Terror
While Common Sense seeks to confine each article to a single theme, the unfortunate barbarity inflicted upon the South Korean hostage in Iraq is testimonial to the tragic consequences of an ill conceived and unjustified invasion and continuing occupation (never mind the June 30 “Sovereignty Day”) by an America that for once has been hijacked from rational superpower conduct and sensible policy.
The most important point to raise is that, notwithstanding the overzealous attempt to project a religious affiliation by these butchers emanating from dubious and clandestine roots, of which Islam is completely innocent, is a deception of paramount dimensions. It should be made clear that the majority of real pious and faithful Moslems deplore such sadism. We also remind the perpetrators that they are not producing any meaningful outcomes by this madness, except to serve the enemies of Islam by providing them with the rationale for unleashing a hatred of Islam and the corrupted image of the religion they so sadistically convey. In which case, the observer is at a loss in finding any association to Islam these renegades wish to claim.
Again, as in the Nick Berg murder, one is inclined to believe that the perpetrators, by their tasteless use of the media to project their ugliness are unusually clothed in military attire that is not common to guerilla type “resistance” forces and their body physique seems to differ from that of the earlier video tapes of resistance fighters. On another note, where did the orange prison garb of the poor Korean (and Berg) victims come from? Is it that the garb had raised considerable suspicions by even many American skeptics when Berg was murdered and thus the perpetrators sought to show that they had more than one and thus cover up for the possibility that Berg may still have been a captive of the Coalition Forces at the time of his capture. This is what many Americans in fact suggested to this observer and the emails are still available if anyone wishes to delve further. Whatever the case, it is imperative to note that Moslems are innocent of the actions of barbarians like these and the behavior and approach of these hoodlums are in fact anathema to Islam. Any efforts to suggest otherwise are exactly what apparently the perpetrators are seeking to convey, notwithstanding their hypocritical attempt to convey affiliation to the pure and merciful faith of Islam. The question remains, what evil force is really behind such clandestine degenerates?
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