LAST DAYS OF GRANADA

MashAllah an awe-inspiring anecdote from our history and one of the earliest BT broadcasts. This is the kind of courage and sense of self respect we ought to have to fight the threats we face today.... thought should share it with you again....

LAST DAYS OF GRANADA

About 1610 A.D. Muslim Empire in Spain had been confined to about one tenth of the country in south east – Granada and the outlying areas. The entire power of Christian Spain under King Ferdinand of Castile had besieged Granada. War had gone on for years. Its inhabitants were in great distress. General Musa bin Abil El Gazani was the commander-in-chief of the Granada army. He was for a fight to the finish. But the King of Granada, Abdullah El Zaquir had had it. So had the Vazir, Abdul Qasim Abdulmali. They had reconciled themselves to a deal with the Christians. General Musa bin Abil made the following speech before the King, his Vazir, Army officers and nobles:

THE IMMORTAL SPEECH

“Leave this useless weeping. Oh! Ye men of Granada, to the eyes of children and the delicate maidens! Let us be men, and consume our hearts, not in the shedding of unmanly tears, but in pouring forth our blood even to its latest drop. Let us go forth with the strength of desperation in our muscles and offering the breasts of brave men to the enemies’ lance, let us die in the battle as befits us. I am ready to lead you. Oh, my brethren, with a heart that shall not show death of the wherefore should we now refuse the honorable irresolution battlefield; better for us to be accounted by the coming world among the number of those who have been ready to die in defense of their country, than of those who stood inactive while their native land was given over to the grasp of the stranger, and who coldly looked on at the downfall of their country. But if indeed our hearts fail us, if we have not the valour that would urge us to go forth in a last effort for our homes, then let us listen to these base conditions with the patience of heart and serenity of countenance which become us as men, and let him who can do so bend his neck to the hard yoke of a perpetual and debasing slavery. I see well that the spirit of the multitude hath become feeble; their hearts have sunk; there is no means left for escaping the loss of the empire; but there is ever one refuge for the breast of the noble- he can seek shelter in death; and I prefer to die while in freedom, rather than to live for the sorrows to come. For do you believe that the Christians will be faithful to the promises they make you? Will the King who hath led them to conquest be as generous a victor as he is a fortunate enemy? Be certain he will not. Do not deceive yourselves; these Christians are thirsting for our blood, and they will sufficiently appease their desire for that sacrifice. Death is the least of the evils that menace you: more fearful are the torments and humiliation which our inimical fortune is preparing for us; the plunder and sack of our houses, the desecration of our mosques; the outrage and degradation of our wives and daughters; cruel in wrongs of every kind; unjust demands; oppressive enactment; tolerance and the burning pile of the bigot, on which these Infidels will not fail to consume our miserable bodies. All these things we shall see with our eyes; those will see them, that is to say, who now fear the honorable death I propse- for myself by Allah! I shall not see them.” The brave man looked around him, but met no responsive glance; he made a last effort, and added the following words: “Death is certain to all, and very near to every man here present: why, therefore, should we not employ the short time that remains to us , in seeking vengeance of our enemies? Up, my brethren! Let us die in the defense of our liberty: our mother earth will receive that which she hath produced, or if to any of us there shall be given no grave to conceal him, there will at least not be wanting the heaven that shall cover him. God forbid that any man should affirm that the nobles of Granada to have proved incapable of dying for their country.” ………………….

Over there in Granada, in 1610, nobody stirred. General Musa El- Ghazani got up, proceeded to his house, took his arms and horse, mounted, rode to the Elvira gate, and charged the Christian beleaguers. Thereafter, none saw him again. He was the greatest son of Granada. -onlooker Saturday, October 2, 1971

Thank You
Waqas Yaqoob

www.globalanalyze.blogspot.com

Iran says Israel's undeclared arsenal of approximately 200 atomic warheads is the only obstacle in the way of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. In a Monday address to the third session of the preparatory committee for the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York, Iranian delegates hit out at the lack of world action on Israel's possession of atomic nuclear weapons -- which can be launched from land, sea and air. According to the delegates, the Israeli military's indiscriminate and deliberate use of white phosphorus shells against Palestinian civilians shows that “Tel Aviv is not fit to possess nuclear weapons”. “Israel's nuclear arsenal represents the single greatest threat to countries in the region,” said the delegates, while criticizing the West's hands-off approach to Tel Aviv's development of nuclear weaponry. “Washington echelons and their European counterparts actually helped equip Israel with nuclear weaponry, in complete violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” the delegation asserted. Israel is widely regarded as the sixth-largest nuclear power in the world and the sole possessor of an atomic arsenal in the Middle East. It reportedly houses at least 100 bunker-busting bombs, which come in the form of laser-guided mini-nukes with the ability of penetrating underground targets. Over the past decades, US presidents have largely colluded with Israel's so-called policy of nuclear opacity. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has revealed that former US president Richard Nixon and his chief foreign policy adviser Henry Kissinger privately endorsed Israel's atomic arsenal in 1969 and banned any inspection of its Dimona nuclear center. Although Tel Aviv was not a signatory to the NPT, the US leadership went on to to provide it with advanced weapons such as krytrons (nuclear triggers) and supercomputers. The Iranian delegation called for a non-discriminatory disarmament process, saying the West's silence on Israeli nuclear weapons sends a negative message about double standards.

It’s About the Banks, Stupid!

By JACKIE CALMES
Published: May 11, 2009
WASHINGTON — President Obama has lately begun pointing to optimistic signs for the economy, but the continuing crisis still bedevils his budget projections and his domestic agenda.


Brendan Smialowski/Bloomberg News
Peter Orszag, the budget director, who appeared with President Obama last week, disclosed the latest revisions in his blog.

The administration, in final budget and tax details released Monday, disclosed a double wallop of bad news from government number-crunchers. First, its Office of Management and Budget reported that the economy had added — both for this year and next — $90 billion to the historically high deficit estimates the administration issued just two months ago.
And the Treasury released revised figures showing that Mr. Obama’s proposal for financing fully half of his health care initiative over the next decade — a 28 percent limit on deductions for Americans in the top two income tax brackets — would raise $267 billion, or roughly $50 billion less than he initially projected. That further complicates the president’s struggles, together with Democrats in Congress, to pay for overhauling health care.
To fill the revenue gap, the Treasury outlined several new ideas for raising nearly $60 billion over 10 years, mainly from tightening rules for inheritance taxes but also from changes in taxing some types of life insurance and other products.
Separately, the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer, released a preliminary report standing by the administration’s claim that the $787 billion, two-year economic stimulus package that became law in February will save or create 3.5 million jobs by the fourth quarter of 2010, compared with what would have happened without the spending and tax cuts.
The budget office’s revised deficit projections bring the expected shortfall this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, to $1.84 trillion, from a February projection of $1.75 trillion. For the 2010 fiscal year, the new estimate is $1.26 trillion, up from $1.17 trillion.
Measured against the economy, this year’s shortfall would be 12.9 percent of the gross domestic product. Next year’s deficit would be 8.5 percent of G.D.P. Even before the revisions, the deficit projections were the highest in more than 60 years, since the end of World War II.
Economists generally agree a country’s annual deficits should not exceed 3 percent of economic output. Mr. Obama, in his 10-year budget outline in February, projected the United States would fall just below that level in the last months of his term, in the 2013 fiscal year. Many analysts consider his economic assumptions too rosy, however, which casts doubt on his deficit forecast.
The president’s budget director, Peter R. Orszag, disclosed the deficit revisions Monday in his blog on the budget office’s Web site. He said they were “driven in large part by the economic crisis inherited by this administration.” He cited Treasury estimates that revenue collections would be $30 billion to $50 billion less this year and next compared with February calculations, and higher-than-expected costs for bank bailouts.
Congressional Democrats echoed the reference to the inheritance from President George W. Bush. “It took eight years for the previous administration to dig this hole. It is going to take time to climb our way out,” Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said in a statement.
Congressional Republicans seized on the new deficit projection to tweak the Democratic administration for its boast last week that its “line-by-line scrub” of the federal budget had produced proposals to save $17 billion in the 2010 fiscal year.
The Senate Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said in a statement that “the administration acknowledged today that since the president took office, their projections for the deficit grew five times faster than the proposed cuts would save, and that’s assuming all the cuts are enacted” — which they will not be, members of both parties in Congress say.
Mr. Obama’s proposal to limit high-income Americans’ deductions had already hit a wall of opposition in Congress, with the Democratic chairmen of the House and Senate tax-writing committees, among others, objecting that it could depress tax-deductible contributions for charities, colleges and other recipients. The proposal was intended to raise $318 billion of a proposed $635 billion, 10-year reserve fund to introduce cost-saving changes into health care and to expand coverage to the uninsured; the other half was to come from Medicare savings.
Of the new Treasury proposals to raise $60 billion through 2019, more than $24 billion would come from estate and gift taxes that would affect less than three-tenths of 1 percent of estates in any year, according to a senior Treasury official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity. The main change would affect how a taxpayer values property transferred to a family member either at death or during the taxpayer’s life.

* Taliban plant roadside bombs in populated streets, destroy two schools, kill prayer leader

* Troops secure Shangla top, key towns By
Sajjad MalikRAWALPINDI:

The security forces said on Sunday they had killed up to 200 Taliban in 24 hours during the on-going operation in Swat as they secured the Shangla top and important towns and ridges in Dir and Buner.Troops engaged the Taliban in their Peochar headquarters and at hideouts in Kanju, Mingora, Banai Baba, Namal, Qambar, Fizagath, Tiligram and Chamtalai, the Inter-Services Public Relations directorate said in an update.Taliban’s indiscriminate mortar fire and roadside bombs planted in populated areas killed an unspecified number of civilians. The Taliban also blew up two schools at Barikot and Maniar, and killed a local prayer leader, Zahid Khan, at Nishat Chowk. Thousands of fearful civilians - many on foot or donkey-pulled carts - streamed out of the conflict-ridden valley as the authorities relaxed the curfew from 6am to 3pm.The security forces secured the Shangla top advancing up to Biladram town, encountering improvised roadside bombs and fierce Taliban resistance on Chamtalai bridge.The troops resumed the operation from the important Point 2245 and Point 2266 heights captured on Saturday, and advanced up to Shalwal Kandao, where one soldier was killed. The security forces also destroyed a Taliban training camp at Banai Baba, where up to 150 Taliban were confirmed dead.In Dir, troops secured Kala Dag and advanced up to Haya Sarai and continued to secure positions on Gulabad heights. The Taliban abducted a TV reporter from Chakdara.Helicopter gunships fired at Taliban hideouts in Barwada Char in Buner, and two Taliban ammunition dumps were destroyed.Troops secured key ridges around Sultanwas, surrounding the Taliban.

Pakistan: Up to 700 militants killed
انشاءاللہ, soon, the fitna would be crushed! پاکستان زندہ باد

The Pakistani government says the country's military offensive against militancy claims the lives of up to 700 militants in northwestern Pakistan. Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters on Monday that 20 Pakistani soldiers were also killed in fighting against the militants. The minister added that the operations would continue to completely destroy the militants. The military has already deployed over 15-thousand troops to the conflict zones in the Buner and Dir districts as well as the Swat Valley. Earlier on Sunday, Pakistan's military -- backed by helicopter gunships and heavy artillery -- pounded militants hideouts, a Press TV correspondent reported. Islamabad said that the Sunday clashes killed about 200 militants in northwestern Pakistan's Swat Valley. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated 150,000 to 200,000 civilians had fled the scene of the fighting in the North-West Frontier Province. A UN spokesman warned that "massive displacement" of civilians is likely with government forces using helicopter gunships, tanks and artillery.

Pakistan calls on Swat residents to move towards safety
Sun, 10 May 2009 06:14:56 GMT