Osama Bin Laden was not “funded and trained by the CIA”

“The USA would have worked with Bin Laden had he been willing, but Bin Laden would never have worked with the USA. He hated the USA and was even then plotting to go to war with the USA. He didn’t need “funding” as he was rich and was in Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to give his own money away to jihadists who supported his takfiri salafist ideology. He didn’t need training as he was already experienced in the construction business and in finance, had a degree in engineering, and had the backing of many trained fighters, mostly Egyptian radicals who were also extremely anti-USA. The “CIA trained and funded Bin Laden” meme is a complete and utter myth.” Continue reading »

FBI “Manufactured” Terrorism: It Is a Serious Issue But It’s Not That Simple

The following was written in response to an article entitled, “Most Terrorist Plots in the US Aren’t Invented by Al Qaeda — They’re Manufactured by the FBI”. The article is published by Alternet at: http://www.alternet.org/books/most-terrorist-plots-us-arent-invented-al-qaeda-theyre-manufactured-fbi?paging=off The article is an excerpt from the book “The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism” by Trevor … Continue reading »

Switzerland or Afghanistan?

Reblogged from Atheistica: Kacem El Ghazzali No one doubts that the first victims of Islamic law are Muslims, Every day the rights and freedoms of millions of Muslims are violated in the name of Islam and the laws of Allah, you can choose between being a citizen of a secular state like Switzerland, where civil … Continue reading »

Towards a Peaceful, Stable, Democratic Post-Assad Syria: Is the Syrian National Coalition’s proposed transitional government the way forward?

These questions have no easy answer, but a cursory look at the individuals that make up the Syrian opposition coalition, formally known as the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and informally as the Syrian National Coalition, gives some reasons to hope, as well as some cause for concern. Founded in Doha, Qatar in November of 2012, the Syrian National Coalition was the brainchild of longtime Syrian dissident Riad Seif, who was elected co-vice president along with Suheir Atassi, a secular feminist. Former “moderate” Sunni imam Moaz al-Khatib was elected president.

In the short month since its creation the Syrian national Coalition has received praise, criticism, cooperation, condemnation, and skepticism. Whether it is operating in good faith and is up to the task of justly and competently governing post-Assad Syria during the transitional phase remains to be seen. In any case the international community must remain steadfast in efforts to prevent further mass atrocities in accordance with the United Nations’ responsibility to protect initiative as asserted in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document, paragraphs 138 and 139 and in UN Security Council Resolution 1674 and in its support for a free, democratic, secular, pluralist Syria under which all Syrians will be afforded equal protect before the law in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Continue reading »

Can drug induced hallucinations lead to sympathy with religious extremists?

“The day after my ayahuasca trip, I went to the mosque and did some regular Muslim prayers, feeling as though I had been cleansed of so much angst and alienation that had fueled my weird and punky shit over the years. I can even go to a Salafi mosque and just look for the good … Continue reading »

One does not have to be an atheist to be a secularist

One does not have to be an atheist to be a secularist by Abel Ashes I think we have to be careful to draw a clear distinction between “secularism” and “atheism”. I myself am both a secularist and an atheist, but secularism is a political stance in favor of keeping religion out of politics, not … Continue reading »

Glen Doherty fought Christian theocracy in the U.S. military and died protecting the U.S. Embassy in Libya from Islamic theocrats

VIDEO: US Military Missionaries (V3 Abridged) This kind of fundamentalist Christian manipulation of the U.S. military is extremely unconstitutional and counterproductive. It leads to mistreatment of non-Christian troops, be they Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, unitarian/universalist, agnostic, atheist, or other and makes the U.S. look like a Christian theocracy overseas lending credibility to the ridiculous claims … Continue reading »