Kerry says U.S. looking to accelerate fall of Syrian regime

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a meeting in Rome on (Giuseppe Lami / EPA / February 27, 2013)

By Paul Richter

 

February 27, 2013, 2:00 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Wednesday that the United States and allies are jointly planning new ways to accelerate the fall of the Syrian regime, amid signs that Washington may begin directly providing non-lethal aid to opposition fighters.

Speaking in Paris one day before a gathering of Syrian opposition officials and world leaders in Rome, Kerry said U.S. officials and allies are discussing ways to convince Syrian President Bashar Assad "that he can’t shoot his way out of this. ... We are examining and developing ways to accelerate the political transition that the Syrian people want and deserve.”

As many as 70,000 people have died in the almost two-year-long war between forces loyal to Assad and opposition fighters, according to the United Nations.

Administration officials, who have been under growing political pressure to expand the U.S. role, said they are weighing whether to begin directly supplying equipment such as armored vests and armored vehicles, which are non-lethal but valuable on the front lines. They remain opposed to providing arms, despite pleas from the rebels and many top U.S. officials.

Directly supplying aid would be significant for an administration that has been intent on limiting its involvement in the fight, and could presage other moves toward deeper involvement, analysts say. To date, the administration has provided humanitarian and non-lethal military aid through the political opposition and aid agencies, rather than directly to the fighters.

Such a decision "would be a big step, in that the former policy line of staying clear of armed groups would have to be redrawn," said Andrew Tabler, a leading Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “That has policy implications going forward.”

Tabler said that in the absence of a “political track” -- negotiations between the two sides to end the conflict -- direct aid to the fighters was “inevitable.”

The administration has been reluctant to provide arms because of the difficulty of knowing which of the dozens of loosely connected armed groups are trustworthy, and which might end up aligned with dangerous militants. But critics have argued that in the absence of U.S. arms, militant factions grow stronger and the U.S. fails to build ties that could be valuable when it comes time, after the war, to build a new Syria.

“Hesitation and half-hearted support such as non-lethal equipment is no longer sufficient to stop Assad’s barbarism,” said Hussam Ayloush, national chairman of the Syrian American Council, a pro-opposition group. “We have a moral duty, as one of the world’s most powerful nations, to provide the Syrian people with every means to defend themselves and their families.”

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said the administration is trying to help the opposition “become stronger, more cohesive and more organized. As part of this effort, we will continue to analyze every feasible option that would accelerate a political transition to a post-Assad Syria.”

The best Jihad and the crippling Arab proverbs

I love Arabic poetry and proverbs. Most of them promote honor, heroism, selflessness, sacrifice, love, courage, and justice. But there are a few popular proverbs that need to be forever purged from the Arab culture because they lead to cowardice, dishonor, defeatism, apathy, selfishness, and lack of self-respect. Here are a few examples (I know that the rough translation sounds funny):

امش الحيط الحيط وقل يارب السترة
Walk beside the walls and pray for your safety (i.e. Avoid taking risks)

مين تزوج أمي بسمي عمي
Whoever marries my mother, I will call him my uncle (i.e. Go with the flow and blindly submit to authority)

اليد التي لا تقدر عليها بوسها وادع عليها بالكسر
The hand which you cannot resist, kiss it in submission, and then pray that it may be broken (i.e. Submit to injustice, and only resist it with empty hopes)

حط راسك بين الروس وقول يا قطّاع الروس
Place your head among all the other heads that are about to be cut, and then invite the executioner to proceed (i.e. Blindly follow others, even if it is in cowardice and helplessness)

ابعد عن الشر وغنّيله
Avoid trouble and sing to it (Usually used to convince people that getting involved in undoing injustice will only bring trouble)

الباب اللِّي بيجيك منهْ الريح، سدُّهٌ واستريح
The door from which wind will come, shut it and be safe (i.e. Don't rock the boat. Avoid trouble)

 الف مرة جبان ولا يقولوا مرة واحدة الله يرحمه
One thousand times coward is better than saying may God bless his soul (i.e. It is better to live as a coward without dignity and rights than to risk one's life and die)

For years, many Arab (especially Syrian) parents repeated those proverbs to their children to sway them from challenging repressive and brutal rulers. A whole generation of people who behaved like sheep developed, a generation of mostly subdued, humiliated, terrorized, intimidated, and apathetic people. With the exception of a few brave ones -- most of whom were executed, tortured, or exiled -- most Arabs witnessed and endured occupation, abuse, humiliation, dispossession, and denial of basic human rights for them, their neighbors, relatives, friends, and loved ones.  Most bore this abuse with resigned attitudes of complicity, apathy, and silence; some even responded with acceptance, justification, or opportunism.

In some countries like Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Tunisia, citizens allowed their psychotic and sadistic rulers to deprive them of political opinions or even of their hopes and dreams for a better day. Those victims, through the propagation of defeatist proverbs, justified their silence as a self-preservation and protection of loved ones and innocently helped extend the rule of fear, complicity, and helplessness for decades in their societies. Those proverbs and the attitudes they inspired are responsible for half a century of dictators who, until recently, believed that they had an unquestionable right to own the country, subdue its people, and murder dissenters.

When the Palestinians erased those destructive proverbs from use, the Intifada (uprising) against the brutal Israeli occupation started. And when other Arabs abandoned those proverbs and their resulting culture of fear, apathy, cowardice, and dishonor, the masses launched the Arab Spring and the popular Arab revolutions for freedom.

Out of a defeated and broken population came out amazing stories of heroism, courage, selflessness and sacrifice for justice, freedom and dignity, in Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Palestine (Gaza and now in Bab Al-Shams), and many other places. Arabs, and all other nations, must permanently erase those proverbs from their psyche and culture to ensure that dictators are never allowed to return and for the remaining ones to reform or be dumped into history's  trash, along with Assad, Saddam, Mubarak, Ben Ali, Qaddafi, and all those like them.

A nation is in good condition as long as its culture advances a sense of dignity, love for freedom, and pursuit of happiness, equality, justice, and peace for all.

In the Qur'an (17:70), God says:
"And indeed We have honored the Children of Adam"

The honor and dignity bestowed by God on all people cannot be taken away by another human being, unless that person accepts to forfeit that God-given right.
 
Truly, a nation is in good shape as long as its people dare to speak out and stand against injustice.

In the Qur'an (4:135), God commands us:

“O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to God"

The prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:  "The best Jihad is speaking truth to an unjust (repressive) ruler."
أفضل الجهاد كلمة عدل عند سلطان جائر
And that is my jihad today.

20 important lessons I learned through my activism for social justice

20 important lessons I learned through my activism for social justice, in no specific order.

1)  You are not alone in caring for social justice. Many others care too and are just waiting to be connected.

2) Never assume you can succeed alone. Learn to collaborate and partner with others.

3) No one religion has an exclusive monopoly on good values. There are many good people in every religion and community.

4) Charge your spirituality to prevent burning out. Unless you are charged, you cannot help charge others.

5) Pray to change your opponents more than to defeat them.

6) But also pray that evil be defeated if it is not going to be changed, before it causes more harm

7) Be patient. Change is a process, a long process often opposed by many challengers and haters.

8) Never become the immoral and unjust people you are opposing. They are not your role model.

9) Have faith that justice and truth will certainly prevail. They always do, with God’s help.

10) Know your potential and limitations

11) Keep a balanced life: God, you, family, friends, work, and activism

12) Be around positive, humble and pleasant people with integrity. They are contagious.

13) Stay away from negative, arrogant, unpleasant and unethical people. They are contagious too.

14) Seek advice. Appreciate sincere criticism. Be open to correcting yourself.

15) Plan your day, plan your goals, and plan your destiny. God will help you.

16) Seek excellence in all that you do and say.

17) Renew your pure and sincere intentions. Remember whom you are trying to please.

18) Remember, you can’t be an expert in everything. Find talented people and work with them.

19) Treat others the way you wish to be treated.

20) Frequently, ask yourself: what have I done during my life? What was the positive change I helped bring?

What Christmas means to this Muslim

As a Muslim who grew up with many Christian relatives, friends, and neighbors, I was always surrounded by Christmas and its festivities. At the many private and Christian schools that I attended, I remember, like all my peers, enjoying the candy and mostly the presents. Though it was not a Muslim holiday, Muslims that I knew appreciated the festive, generous and caring spirit that came with that holiday.

As I grew up, I learned that the holiday is a commemoration and celebration of the birth of Jesus (peace be upon). Yes, I know that historians agree that Jesus was definitely not born on that specific date. And I know that this specific date and some of its traditional practices are actually rooted in a Roman pagan holiday. And I realize that today's Christmas has been so commercialized and mostly devoid of its spiritual meaning. And for Muslims in specific, I know that we strongly disagree with our Christian brothers and sisters on the deity of Jesus. However, to me Christmas is about remembering the great blessing sent by God to mankind: Jesus the son of Mary.

As a Muslim, this day serves to remind me about the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, his teachings, his sacrifices, and his believing and persevering mother. It is a day to thank Allah (God) for sending us Jesus and all other prophets before and after him. To Muslims, Jesus is one of the most important prophets sent by the Almighty, he is the Messiah/Christ who was mentioned and praised throughout the Quran. Like Christians, Muslims await his second coming after which he will lead a struggle to bring peace and justice to our suffering world.

I might not have a Christmas tree (btw, that's one of the leftover pagan aspects of the holiday), I might not host a Christmas dinner or exchange Christmas gifts, and I will not attend a Christmas mass; however, I will certainly pray in gratefulness to God for sending us Jesus. I will join my Christian friends and relatives in celebrating Jesus's birth by recommitting myself to his true teachings of faith in God, and justice, care, mercy, and love for fellow human beings.

Have a safe, blessed, and merry Christmas.

Muslim brothers sacrifice big NFL paychecks for spiritual journey to Mecca

Muslim brothers sacrifice big NFL paychecks for spiritual journey to Mecca

Hussam Ayloush's Speech at CAIR-LA's 16th Annual Banquet

November 2, 2012

Hussam Ayloush on Gaza, Israel, and the truce on KTLA TV

Explaining First Amendment to Muslims outraged by video

Posted on | September 18, 2012

Press Enterprise
David Olson

A motorcycle goes up in flames during a protest in front of the U.S. consulate Tuesday in Chennai, India. AP Photo

I attended the annual Council on American-Islamic Relations media breakfast in Anaheim this morning.

It’s an event that the Greater Los Angeles chapter of CAIR puts together every year to link reporters with Muslim sources, offer information on Islam and discuss issues in the news.

Of course, Islam has been in the news a lot lately, as Muslims in more than 20 countries have protested an anti-Muslim video produced in Southern California. Steven Klein, a consultant for the film and an anti-Muslim activist for years, lives in Hemet.

CAIR has repeatedly condemned the violent reaction to the video.

But Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the local CAIR chapter and a Corona resident, and Mohammed Faqih, imam of the Islamic Institute of Orange County, said American Muslims could do more.

Faqih said Muslims in the United States can act as “a bridge between east and west,” so Americans better understand Muslims and Muslims around the world better understand American culture and laws.

Ayloush said one reason for the violent reaction to the video was a lack of understanding of the First Amendment.

“We have not explained what the First Amendment means,” he said.

In much of the world, insulting or denigrating a religion is illegal. Many Muslims in other countries wonder why the U.S. government doesn’t ban the video.

Even Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi asked why the U.S. government didn’t punish the filmmakers.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week explained free-speech protections by stating, “We do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views no matter how distasteful they may be.”

Ayloush said that in the past few days, he has been explaining the First Amendment to Muslims abroad.
He said Muslims from the Middle East have told him that the United States has a double standard. Surely the U.S. government punishes people who criticize Israel, deny the Holocaust occurred or insult Jesus, they say.
But Ayloush explains to them that Americans are allowed to criticize Israel and that – no matter how repugnant the beliefs are – people are allowed to deny the Holocaust existed or to insult Jesus (who is a prophet for Muslims).

“People are shocked,” Ayloush said. “They didn’t know that.”

Ayloush also explains that the same First Amendment that protects the hateful video allows Muslims and others to worship freely.

“That helps,” he said. “They understand.”

Coptic Christians, Muslims and Steven Klein

Posted on | September 17, 2012 

Press Enterprise

David Olson

As the bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles and an official with the Muslim Public Affairs Council were holding a joint news conference in Los Angeles Monday to condemn the anti-Muslim film “Innocence of Muslims” and the violence that has surrounded it, I was meeting with Hussam Ayloush, the Corona resident who is executive director of the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.


Ayloush said he hoped that one positive effect of the uproar over the video, and of extremist Copts’ involvement in it, would be more interfaith efforts between Coptic Christians and Muslims.
Ayloush said when he saw media coverage of the Copts over the weekend, he flashed back to the days following 9/11.

Just as many Americans had little familiarity with Islam before 9/11, most Americans knew little or nothing about Coptic Christians until the past week.

And as with Islam, what they saw was extremists, not the beliefs and lives of the majority of Copts, Ayloush said.

“This is not what the Coptic people and religion stand for,” he said.

Television viewers also saw people who, like some Muslims, appear very different from most Americans: Copts with long beards, foreign accents and long black robes. That can create a view among Americans that Copts aren’t Americans as others.

Ayloush said he has worked for years with Arab Christians and enjoys warm relations with them. The Syrian-born Ayloush grew up in Lebanon and attended a Christian school there.

He was buoyed by the joint news conference Monday and hopes there will be more interfaith efforts among Copts and Muslims.

Ayloush and I have chatted a few times about the video and the violent reaction to it. He and CAIR have strongly condemned the violence.

Ayloush said he has long been familiar with Steven Klein, the Hemet insurance agent who was a consultant on the video.

Klein has a satellite-television show in which he has discussed his disdain for Islam.

“I hate Islam,” Klein said in an Aug. 30 broadcast of his “Wake up America” show on The Way TV, an Arab Christian station based in the San Gabriel Valley city of Duarte. “I don’t ever want to see it (Islam) again.”

In the show, Klein said, “The Lord Jesus Christ has caused me to be a terrorist to the terrorists.”
He introduced a video clip of a man singing about guns and then shooting off guns by saying, “This is going to be the ultimate solution to the Muslims.”

Klein and his supporters have distributed virulently anti-Islam leaflets outside mosques throughout California – including Ayloush’s Corona mosque – and at dozens of Southern California high schools, including campuses in Temecula, Murrieta, Corona, Norco and Menifee. Ayloush’s own daughter received one of the leaflets at Corona’s Santiago High School.

The handouts say Mohammad had sex with children, committed incest and participated in genocide. One of the leaflets had Ayloush’s photo on it.

Ayloush said CAIR had deliberately avoided calling attention to Klein’s leafleting campaign.
“Our dilemma is there are a lot of crazy people out there and we don’t want to give them publicity,” he said.
Klein said one reason for his anti-Islam leafleting is so Muslims find out the “truth” about Islam and leave the faith.

But Ayloush believes the leafleting at mosques was meant to provoke Muslims to react violently, to confirm the stereotype of Muslims as violent people. Even though Klein leafleted mosques throughout Southern California, Ayloush said he is unaware of any violent reaction to the handouts.

Ayloush said if Klein had really wanted to convert Muslims, he would not have insulted the very people he was allegedly trying to reach.

Ayloush said it’s not uncommon for evangelical Christians to stand outside his and other mosques with leaflets and with signs that say something along the lines of “Visit our Church.” They’re clearly hoping to convert Muslims.

“I think it’s kind of out of place to do that,” Ayloush said. “But I have to say, they do it in the most respectful way. They don’t offend me. It’s not the right place to market your religion. But that’s fine.”

Ayloush said those Christians smile and carry materials that are focused on what they see as the positive aspects of Christianity.

The leaflets that Klein and his supporters handed out were different.

“It described the Prophet Mohammad and the religion of Islam in the most vulgar and offensive manner,” Ayloush said. “I have not a shred of doubt in my mind that what this was about was not to teach people who are Muslim about Islam or make people who are Muslim Christians. He is being driven by pure hatred and disdain for all Muslims.”

My commens on politicians exploiting the tragic deaths in Libya

Local Leaders Speak Out On Death of U.S. Ambassador

J. Christopher Stevens and three embassy staffers died in assault on American consulate in Libya Wednesday.

• By John Crandall
• Email the author
• September 12, 2012

   

 

Local Muslim leaders Wednesday condemned the slaying of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others, while Rep. Dana Rohrabacher joined Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in criticizing President Barack Obama and the way State Department officials handled the attacks in Cairo and Benghazi.

"We strongly condemn the disgraceful killings of the American ambassador (Christopher Stevens) and his staff in Libya," Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said.

Ayloush joined other Muslim leaders at a news conference in Anaheim in denouncing the slayings of Stevens, foreign service officer Sean Smith and two others.

"We condemn it in the strongest terms possible," Ayloush said. "There is absolutely no justification whatsoever to engage in such behavior."

Ayloush also condemned the online movie suspected of sparking the outrage and demonstrations that turned violent in Cairo and Libya Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"It is certainly not a random act," Ayloush said of the movie, which he said was deeply offensive to Muslims. "The timing is certainly suspect, releasing it on the anniversary of 9/11."
The movie "lacks any intellectual basis," Ayloush said.

"It only includes vulgar and offensive scenes to incite and provoke such behavior from those who lack rationality in dealing with hate messages," Ayloush said. "The extremists who produced the movie threw bait and the extremist Muslims took the bait."

The movie and the reaction to it show "a conflict (between) people who believe religion unites us versus those who use and abuse religion to promote their narrow agendas of hate and extremism," Ayloush said.

Meanwhile, Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, echoed Romney's criticism that Obama has appeased extremists and denounced a statement posted on Twitter before the attacks in Cairo that called for religious tolerance and criticized the movie.

"Today's White House response to the violent attacks in Libya and Egypt was totally unacceptable, as was the disgraceful statement issued by the embassy in Cairo," Rohrabacher said.

"Ill-advisedly included in the response to the killing of an American diplomat was an expression of understanding of the Muslim outrage over what they considered to be denigration of Islam.
"This was not the place, nor the appropriate context, for the White House to demonstrate sensitivity to Muslims around the world. Even mentioning that in any way is a projection of weakness. Placating radical intolerance will not deter further attacks on our diplomats or facilities overseas."

Rohrabacher said the State Department should “issue an immediate apology to the American people and fire those officials responsible for the initial statement."

In an interview with CBS, Obama shot back at Romney's criticism.

"Gov. Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later, and as president, one of the things I've learned is you can't do that," Obama said. "It's important for you to make sure that the statements that you make are backed up by the facts and that you've thought through the ramifications before you make them."

Ayloush also slammed Rohrabacher's and Romney's criticism of the president.

"What a disgraceful and shameful attempt, a cheap attempt, by certain politicians to exploit this tragedy to score a few political points against the president, who, so far, has shown tremendous leadership in containing this mayhem, which was neither started by our country nor the good people of Libya or Egypt," Ayloush said.

"At this point, we're all American. We have to stop acting as Democrats and Republicans when there is such a tragedy or a risk of a wider conflict."

Ayloush said he was "disappointed" in Romney's comments as well.
"I was very disappointed with Romney's statement. This is not the time to play politics," Ayloush said. "Four innocent people lost their loves."

Ayloush said Muslims around the world have reacted with outrage at the killings, and he noted Stevens was popular among Libyans because of his role in last year's rebellion.

"I'm watching Arabic news, I'm on Facebook, reading the Tweets, and people in the Muslim world are as outraged as we are," Ayloush said. 

Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said the news of the attacks was "heart breaking."

"I was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith and two other Americans in Libya this morning," Sanchez said. "These violent attacks on our American diplomats are heartbreaking and unacceptable, and I extend my deepest condolences to the families of these diplomats, who have loyally served our nation and have represented America abroad with excellence."

The attacks "reverse the progress Libya has made toward a more open society," Sanchez said.

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Orange, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, said he was "saddened and angered" by the attacks.

"U.S. diplomats are working around the world to protect and promote U.S. interests," Royce said. "In the case of Ambassador Stevens, he played a ritical role in helping Libyans rid themselves of a tyrant."

Royce added that "nothing can ever justify such violence. Those responsible for these deaths, and those who have incited this violence, must pay a price."

Santa Clarita Republican Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said, "This morning we were reminded once more of what a dangerous world we live in, and the risk many Americans take to serve our country abroad. My  thoughts and prayers -- together with those of this committee -- are with the families of those we've lost in Libya."

Gov. Jerry Brown said, "All Californians mourn the loss of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the other three Americans killed in Libya on Sept. 11.

"As a graduate of Piedmont High School and UC Berkeley, Ambassador Stevens represented the very best that California and the United States have to offer.

"His dedicated service to our country and our world will never be forgotten.”

--City News Service