Irshad Manji, the notorious "Muslim Refusenik" who supposedly advocates a principled, pluralist and secular Islam, has an op-ed in the Aug. 16 New York Times—where she once again betrays her disturbing flirtation with the very imperialism that fuels the fundamentalist backlash. The maddening thing about her is that she makes some vital points—only to blow her own credibility with obvious double standards. She is correct to call out the silence of (most) Islamic leaders on the Darfur genocide and the mutual Sunni-Shia carnage in Pakistan. But then she blows it by repeating the Dick Cheney line that terrorist attacks cannot be motivated by "foreign policy grievances" because the US hadn't invaded Iraq when 9-11 happened. How can she say this with a straight face while accusing others of "myopia"? There were "foreign policy grievances" galore in September 2001. The two al-Qaeda communiques in the immediate aftermath of the attacks (Oct. 7, 2001, Oct. 9, 2001) both invoked the US troop presence in Saudi Arabia, the Iraq sanctions and Washington's support of Israel. Just because the US has made the situation much worse in the intervening years doesn't mean that there were no "foreign policy grievances" behind 9-11! And however criminal al-Qaeda's tactics and however totalitarian its ideology, these grievances are legitimate—a reality we ignore to our own peril. Indeed, it smells like Manji fails to invoke the Sunni-Shia carnage in Iraq (which is even worse than in Pakistan), because there it is so evidently the fruit of Bush's blundering military adventure...

Lebanese scholar Gilbert Achcar writes via e-mail: "Many of you have certainly seen an interview allegedly done with [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah by a Turkish radical left newpsaper... I have enquired about it, and a source in Beirut in close touch with Hezbollah has confirmed to me that it is a forgery." However, Counterpunch has seen fit to keep the evident forgery on its website, despite growing questions about its authenticity (albeit, with a note at the end acknowledging the controversy). The pseudo-interview is interesting because of what it reveals about the willful illusions the radical left cultivates about radical Islam. Here it is:

This July 29 report online at The American Muslim argues that an hisotric peace dialogue between Hamas leaders and Orthodox Israeli rabbis was (by strong implication, consciously) sabotaged by the Lebanon aggression. It also repeats the oft-heard claim that the July 12 abduction of two Israeli soliders which sparked the crisis actually took place on the Lebanese side of the border, contrary to the official story of a cross-border raid by Hezbollah.

This Aug. 17 New York Times by Scott Atran op ed ends on an ominous note, but is generally an offering of much-needed optimism. The highlighted passage notes an historic compromise in Hamas' traditionally rejectionist position.

Is Hamas Ready to Deal?
WHATEVER the endgame between Israel, Hezbollah and Hamas, one thing is certain: Israel’s hopes of ensuring its security by walling itself off from resentful neighbors are dead. One lesson from Israel’s assault on Lebanon and its military operation in Gaza is that the missiles blow back.

Like Guatemala's genocidal Romeo Lucas Garcia a few weeks back, Paraguay's brutal former dictator Alfredo Stroessner has died a free man in comfortable exile—despite vain efforts to have him extradited back home to face justice. We have noted that there have been some recent arrests of those involved in the bloody Operation Condor network established by the Southern Cone dictators in the '70s to coordinate their "dirty war" against leftist dissidents. But the masterminds, like Stroessner and Augusto Pinochet, appear untouchable. From the London Times, Aug. 17 (emphasis added). The term "longest-serving" is likely an unintentional irony. "Longest-ruling" would have been a better choice. The only things Stroessner ever "served" were his own power, Paraguay's deeply reactionary landed elite, and US imperialism's anti-communist designs.

Another escalation is reported in the struggle of Maya campesinos in Yucatan state to hold their communial (ejidal) lands that the government seeks to expropriate for a new airport, part of the "Metropolisur" regional development plan. An Aug. 18 communique from La Otra Campaña Yucatán, translation via Chiapas95:

Ricardo Lopez Espinosa, a community leader in the conflicted central Mexican village of San Salvador Atenco and a member of the local People's Front in Defense of the Land (FPDT) was freed from jail in Molino de Flores Aug. 17 but still faces charges following his arrest two days earlier in connection with an attack on a state police patrol June 5. Lopez Espinosa denies involvement in the attack, and says his arrest by state police in Atenco was illegal. (La Jornada, Aug. 18 via Chiapas95)

From EFE, Aug. 14 via Chiapas95 (our translation):

MEXICO -- Mexico's Federal Preventative Police (PFP) today used blows and tear gas to break up a group of legislators who support leftist candidate Manuel Lopez Obrador at one of the gates of the federal Chamber of Depuites which they had been blockading.