US weighs options on Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: A senior White House official has said US President Barack Obama is calling on his national security team to revise the options for the war strategy in Afghanistan.

The president’s call for revision comes as US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry expressed serious reservations about sending additional troops to the country. Eikenberry is a retired army general who commanded US forces in Afghanistan from 2005-2007. Officials say Eikenberry sent two classified cables to Washington last week expressing doubts about Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s erratic behavior and corruption within his government.

Eikenberry’s misgivings center on a concern that bolstering the American presence in Afghanistan could make the country more reliant on the US. US diplomats say they have seen no sign the Afghan president plans to address the problems they have raised repeatedly with him. The White House announced this week the president had so far rejected all options offered by his national security advisers, and Eikenberry’s dramatic intervention at the 11th hour will only stir up the debate over additional troop reinforcements.

Eikenberry’s comments are also in direct opposition to the views of his successor, current US and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who wants up to 40,000 more troops as soon as possible. On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton entered the fray, saying the US is concerned about corruption and poor governance in Afghanistan and has raised those issues with Karzai.

Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have previously backed a major increase in US forces to drive the Taleban from populated areas and provide Afghan security forces and the government an opportunity to snuff out corruption and undertake development projects. The leaking of Eikenberry’s reservations about government corruption also comes at a sensitive stage in Obama’s relationship with Kabul.

Eikenberry is said to have questioned Karzai’s suitability as a long-term strategic partner because of widespread corruption in his first administration and the presence of warlords and drug smugglers in positions of influence.

Wednesday’s White House meeting lasted for over two hours and was Obama’s eighth session in two months on the subject.

Meanwhile, US public opinion polls on Afghanistan show wavering support.

One by the Pew Research Center put Obama’s favorable job rating on Afghanistan at 36 percent, sharply down from 49 percent in July.
Source: Arab News

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Filipino Muslims Help Free Kidnapped Priest

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines – The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim group, has helped in the release of an abducted Irish Catholic priest, an effort praised by the government as a confidence-building measure. "Our forces on the ground exerted moral influence on the kidnappers to get the priest out," Mohaqer Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Thursday, November 12.

Father Michael Sinnott, an Irish Catholic priest, was kidnapped last month by six gunmen from his home at the Missionary Society of St. Columban compound in the southern city of Pagadian.

The abductors reportedly demanded a two-million-dollar ransom for his release.

But the Society of Saint Columban, Philippine authorities and the Irish government confirmed no ransom was paid.

"We got them to release him through pressure, by talking with their relatives, moral persuasion," explained Iqbal, the MILF official.

"We convinced them to hand him over to us."

Sinnott was released Thursday after one month of captivity in the jungles of south Philippines.

"I am very fine thank you," a smiling Sinnott told reporters at an air force base in the southern port city of Zamboanga before flying to the capital Manila.

"I would like to thank everyone who helped to get me free and all my friends who prayed for me while I was in captivity."

Manila had earlier accused MILF for involvement in the priest’s abduction, a claim refuted by the Muslim group which had condemned the move and promised help.

Sinnott confirmed that his captors were not MILF members, but members from a local Muslim tribe.

"It was not MILF, I’m very sure of that," he told reporters, adding that the abductors treated him "me very well."

"The conditions there were very primitive, but they did their best to make things as easy as possible for me."

Military officials confirmed Sinnott, 79, was handed over to police and government officials just before dawn on Thursday.

"He was turned over to us by the MILF," Southern Philippine military commander Major-General Ben Dolorfino said.

"This is a big confidence-building measure in forthcoming peace talks."

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde echoed the dame message.

"The MILF played towards this end is of course very contributory to the progress of the peace talks."

The government and MILF are negotiated a peace agreement to end a conflict that killed more than 120,000 people since its eruption in the late 1960s.

MILF has been struggling for an independent Muslim state in the mineral-rich southern region of Mindanao.

Mindanao, the birthplace of Islam in the Philippines, is home to more than 5 million Muslims.

Manila suspended last year peace talks with the MILF and junked an 11-year peace process to solve the conflict in the south.

The move came after the Supreme Court froze a peace deal that would have created a Muslim homeland in the south over protests from Christian groups.

But steps toward resumption of peace talks have seen advance over the previous months, with the two parties signing an agreement in October to protect the civilian population and civilian properties during armed conflict.

Rafael Seguis, the government's chief negotiator with MILF, asserted Thursday that they are aiming to secure a peace deal before President Gloria Arroyo steps down next year.

Deputy Presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo believes the release of Sinnot augurs well for the future of the peace talks.

"This would be a good start because both parties have shown their sincerity and their commitment to the peace talks by helping and cooperating with each other."

Source: IslamOnline

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Copenhagen Mosques Face Resistance

CAIRO – Plans to build two mosques in the Danish capital Copenhagen to serve the Muslim community are facing some resistance and stirring a hot debate in the Scandinavian country, especially over funding from overseas. "There’s very strong pressure — people living here don’t want it," Per Nielsen, a 56-year-old retired history teacher, told The New York Times on Thursday, November 12.

Copenhagen City Council has given the green-light to build two mosques to serve each of the Sunni and Shiite communities.

But the plans are opposed by the anti-immigrant Danish People’s Party (DPP), which is preparing for the November 17 local elections.

"We are against the mosque," said Martin Henriksen, a DPP official, referring to the mosque dedicated to Shiites.

"It’s obvious to everyone that the Iranian regime has something to do with it… The Iranian regime is based on a fascist identity that we don’t want to set foot in Denmark."

Imam Abdul Wahid Pedersen, a Muslim leader who chairs a 15-member committee promoting construction of one of the two mosques, defended the plans.

"If someone wants to chip in, that is O.K.," he told NYT.

"But they will have no influence on running the place."

Denmark has a Muslim minority of nearly 250,000 out of its 5.4 million-strong population.

Islam is the country's second largest religion after the state-run Lutheran Protestant Church.

Support

Copenhagen Deputy Mayor Klaus Bondam, 45, defended the right of Danish Muslims to build mosques.

He said they are not concerned about the funding for the mosques as long as the sources were listed openly.

Bondam noted that the ongoing debate on the mosques construction helps give ammunition to the anti-immigrant DPP.

In the 2007 parliamentary election, the DPP took 25 seats in the 179-member legislature, remaining the third largest party in Denmark.

While not being a part of the cab, it maintains a close cooperation with the government parties on most issues.

Some welcome the constructions of the new mosques as a step to improve ties between Denmark and its Muslims.

"I wrote a front-page story saying we somehow had to reconnect to the Muslims, to collect money to build a mosque as a sign of solidarity," said Herbert Pundik, former editor of Politiken daily.

"The steam went out of the project."

Denmark has had tense relations with its Muslims and the Muslim world at large after a mass-circulation daily published in 2005 satirical cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

Preben Anderson, a 61-year-old bricklayer, also supports mosque construction.

"We have churches. We have to have mosques."

Source: IslamOnline

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Fort Hood Shooter Charged with Murder

FORT HOOD, Texas – An army psychiatrist accused of a shooting rampage last week at the Fort Hood military base in Texas has been charged with 13 counts of murder. "US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged with 13 specifications of premeditated murder under the military code of justice," Chris Grey, a spokesman for the army's criminal investigation division, told reporters.

The Army is not ruling out bringing future charges.

"We are doing everything possible and we are looking at every reason for this shooting," said Grey.

Hasan is the sole suspect in last week’s shooting spree which killed 13 soldiers and wounded more than 30 others.

He has emerged from a coma after being wounded by police gunfire but remains hospitalized at an intensive care unit in guarded condition.

The FBI has said that its investigations indicate Hasan "acted alone and was not part of a broader terrorist plot."

"We still believe that there was only one gunman at the scene involved in the actual shootings," said Grey.

Fort Hood Shooter No Hero: Scholars

US Muslims Condemn Fort Hood Attack, Fear Backlash

Muslims Help Fort Hood Victims

President Barack Obama vowed justice on Tuesday as he eulogized the dead of the Fort Hood shootings.

Standing in front of 15,000 tearful mourners, he said the killer would "be met with justice, in this world, and the next."

Hasan's civilian attorney, retired Army Col. John Galligan, said that he has spoken with his client, but that Hasan was heavily sedated.

Investigation

Obama has ordered a review of how US intelligence agencies handled information they may have gathered about Hasan.

"I directed an immediate review be initiated to determine how any such intelligence was handled, shared, and acted upon within individual departments and agencies and what intelligence was shared with others," Obama said in a statement.

Preliminary results will be provided by November 30 to John Brennan, Obama's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism.

Intrigue over Hasan mounted after the FBI revealed he had contacts with Anwar Al-Awlaki, an American-born imam of Yemeni background said to have radical views.

Al-Awlaki preached in 2001 at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., where Hasan used to pray. Two of the 9/11 attackers reportedly prayed at the same mosque.

Some reports suggested that the imam, who now lives in Yemen, praised what Hasan did and described him as a "hero."

Source: IslamOnline

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