Only in America! - the most powerful country in the world where crime does pay - at least for the health care. Ironically the US government continue to spend billions of US$ on unproductive "projects" including wars. So being poor in capitalistic America means being hopeless. Leaving the desperados to resort to extreme measure for survival. The man was quoted to have said "If you don't have your health you don't have anything."  

Man robs bank to get medical care in jail

By Zachary Roth zachary Roth Tue Jun 21, 10:36 am ET

Some people who need medical care but can't afford it go to the emergency room. Others just hope they'll get better. James Richard Verone robbed a bank.
Earlier this month, Verone (pictured), a 59-year-old convenience store clerk, walked into a Gastonia, N.C., bank and handed the cashier a note demanding $1 and medical attention. Then he waited calmly for police to show up.
He's now in jail and has an appointment with a doctor this week.
Verone's problems started when he lost the job he'd held for 17 years as a Coca Cola deliveryman, amid the economic downturn. He found new work driving a truck, but it didn't last. Eventually, he took a part-time position at the convenience store.
But Verone's body wasn't up to it. The bending and lifting made his back ache. He had problems with his left foot, making him limp. He also suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis.
Then he noticed a protrusion on his chest. "The pain was beyond the tolerance that I could accept," Verone told the Gaston Gazette. "I kind of hit a brick wall with everything."
Verone knew he needed help--and he didn't want to be a burden on his sister and brothers. He applied for food stamps, but they weren't enough either.
So he hatched a plan. On June 9, he woke up, showered, ironed his shirt. He mailed a letter to the Gazette, listing the return address as the Gaston County Jail.
"When you receive this a bank robbery will have been committed by me," Verone wrote in the letter. "This robbery is being committed by me for one dollar. I am of sound mind but not so much sound body."
Then Verone hailed a cab to take him to the RBC Bank. Inside, he handed the teller his $1 robbery demand.
"I didn't have any fears," said Verone. "I told the teller that I would sit over here and wait for police."
The teller was so frightened that she had to be taken to the hospital to be checked out. Verone, meanwhile, was taken to jail, just as he'd planned it.
Because he only asked for $1, Verone was charged with larceny, not bank robbery. But he said that if his punishment isn't severe enough, he plans to tell the judge that he'll do it again. His $100,000 bond has been reduced to $2,000, but he says he doesn't plan to pay it.
In jail, Verone said he skips dinner to avoid too much contact with the other inmates. He's already seen some nurses and is scheduled to see a doctor on Friday. He said he's hoping to receive back and foot surgery, and get the protrusion on his chest treated. Then he plans to spend a few years in jail, before getting out in time to collect Social Security and move to the beach.
Verone also presented the view that if the United States had a health-care system which offered people more government support, he wouldn't have had to make the choice he did.
"If you don't have your health you don't have anything," Verone said.
The Affordable Care Act, President Obama's health-care overhaul passed by Congress last year, was designed to make it easier for Americans in situations like Verone's to get health insurance. But most of its provisions don't go into effect until 2014.
As it is, Verone said he thinks he chose the best of a bunch of bad options. "I picked jail."
(Photo: Ben Goff/The Gaston Gazette)

Proper Greetings in Islam

I like a posting by Saifuddin which reminds me on the basic Islamic greetings rituals which many of us tend to take for granted. Indeed, greetings in Islam, has profound and inspiring effects on the Ummah. I therefore would like join Saifuddin in reminding the Ummah to give salaams to our fellow Believers and shake hands as a means to attain purity. His posting appears below:


 

Proper Greetings in Islam

September 25, 2007 by Saifuddin

I have on occasion come across Muslims who are sincere but ignorant of some of the finer points of Islamic lifestyle according to the traditions of the Holy Prophet (may Peace and Blessings be upon him). This however, is easy to do in this day and age where there are so many forgotten traditions of the Holy Prophet which if we saw today we may think they are some strange bidat! One of these forgotten traditions is one of the most basic and fundamental elements of our dear religion, the Islamic greeting. The Islamic greeting, as-salaamu ‘alaikum; God’s Peace be upon you, is an element of good Islamic manners. In the proper conduct of greetings one may find keys to good social behavior and the proprieties of friendship and exchanges in Islamic framings. God says in the Qur’an (BismillaharRahmanirRahim),

“When you are greeted with a greeting, greet with better than it or return it. Allah takes count of all things”. (004:086)

So clearly it is preferred to return a greeting by adding to it. But there have been so many times where I have greeted a Muslim and received no greeting at all! And perhaps times where a Muslim has greeted me and received only an equal greeting in return, or worse. These days we greet people we know, and only people we know. When we receive a greeting from someone we don’t know we are silent looking oddly as if someone has violated an unwritten code of ethics. But this unwritten code of ethics is un-Islamic by nature and egoistic at best.

One aspect of our Islamic greeting would puzzle me when I first began studying the Arabic language and that was, the fact that we salute a single individual in the the plural saying, as-salaamu ‘alaikum, ‘alaikum implying “upon you all”. This plural pronoun was also used in response. Al-A’mash, Ibrahim an-Nakha’i discussed this item saying,

“When you salute a single individual, you must say: as-salaamu ‘alaikum [using the pronoun -kum], for the angels are with him.”

It should be interesting to note that our greeting, seemingly of a simple nature, holds many keys within it. And like other keys or secrets, there are protocols upon their use. For example a hadith, tradition of the Prophet (may Peace and Blessings be upon him), reported in the Sahih of Muslim as narrated by Abu Huraira (may Allah be well pleased with him) says that according to God’s Messenger (may Peace and Blessings be upon him),

“The rider should salute the walker, the walker the sitter, and the few the many.”

Shaikh Ahmad Fathu’llah Jami’s Sifat al-Mu’minin (The Attributes of the Believers) gives a clear and concise commentary on this hadith explaining that,

“He began mentioning the rider, because of his elevated rank, and because pride might otherwise deter him from being the first to salute. The same principle was then applied to the walker [in relation to the sitter]. It has also been said: “Since the sitter is in the state of dignity, calm and composure, he is entitled to that prerogative [of being saluted], rather that the walker, whose state is the opposite.” As for the salutation offered by the few to the many, it is a mark of respect for the majority of Muslims. As recorded by al-Bukhari, this Prophetic tradition includes the addition words:
“The younger should salute the adult.”

Another custom of the Holy Prophet (may Peace and Blessings be upon him) is shaking hands while offering salaams. This custom in particular, you will find upon meeting me that I have a fondness for, perhaps to a fault. Today, we must ask ourselves, how much of this, seemingly simple custom are we following? And if we are not what have we adopted in its place? Especially when there is blessing and reward for us in these simple customs. For instance concerning the shaking of hands, the Prophet (may Peace and Blessings be upon him) says,

“When two Muslims shake hands, their sins fall to the ground, as leaves of the tree fall to the ground.”

MashaAllah! And we pass the opportunity to rid ourselves of sins on a daily basis. Yes, mashaAllah to us! There are so many customs for greetings that are lost. But those that we have we should try our best to apply and to raise our children with, to train our children to exercise so that they can benefit from them for generations and not lose these gems, these salutations of the Prophet in later generations. Some of these customs I had never seen in regular life until I attended regular association with a shaykh. Some of which have happened more recently, these customs include:

• When entering an empty house, you must offer the salutation of peace.
• You are saluting yourself on Allah’s behalf.
• You are saluting the believing jinn who occupy the house.
• Through the blessings of peace, you are seeking safety from the devils and harmful influences present in the house.
• Custom requires the person who initiates the salutation to be in a state of ritual purity (wudu’) as well as the respondent.
• When two people meet, custom requires them to try and forestall each other in offering the salutation, as a demonstration of humility.

Seeing Shaykh Effendi, Abdul-Kerim following these simple customs very closely, and witnessing its profound effects on people Muslim and non-Muslim is inspiring which is one of the reason I wrote this post. The other reason is as a reminder, a reminder for you and for me to give salaams to our fellow Believers and shake hands as a means to attain purity.

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http://wasalaam.wordpress.com/2007/09/25/proper-greetings-in-islam/

10 Symptoms Men Choose to Ignore

Do not ignore these 10 symptoms of any symptoms for that matter. Listening to your partners advise does not necessarily make you sissy or less manly.  It is your health stupid! Check out this article:

http://health.yahoo.net/articles/healthcare/10-symptoms-he-shouldnt-ignore

Rules of the game in Mid East changing

It is getting clearer each day that the current development in the Mid East is untenable even to the Israelis.  Slowly but surely, change are appearing thus forcing modification to the rules of the game played by Israel and their western supporters.

In fact since the Islamic revolution in Iran, the situation has taken a turn and has with time benefited the Muslim Ummah. For all their crimes and wars imposed on the Arabs, the latest development in the region should make the Israelis and the western powers become very worried and afraid.

Conversely, even in Israel, the situation is changing especially in the recent years. The ongoing insecurities culminating from an Israel not living at peace with any of its neighbours, have produced a phenomenon of many Israelis seeking a European passport, based on their family roots, just in case.

Several studies in Israel and one conducted by AIPAC and another by the Jewish National  Fund in Germany show that perhaps as many as half of the Jews living in Israel will consider leaving Palestine in the next few years if current political and social trends continue.

A 2008 survey by the Jerusalem-based Menachem Begin Heritage Center found that 59% of Israelis had approached or intended to approach a foreign embassy to inquire about or apply for citizenship and a passport.

Today it is estimated that the figure is approaching 70%. Approximately 200,000 or 22% of Russians coming to Israel since 1990 have so far returned to their country.

In short, the Israelis are getting disenchanted with the precarious situations in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories. Their main concern may include the following:

• Corrupt and scandalous leaders – lost of faith in or respect for Israeli leaders, many of whom are considered corrupt.
• Feelings of anxiety and guilt that Zionism has hijacked Judaism and those traditional Jewish values are being corrupted.
• The increasing difficulty of providing coherent answers to one’s children, as they become more educated and aware of their family history, and indeed honesty to oneself, on the question of why families from Europe and elsewhere are living on land and in homes stolen from others who obviously are local and did not come from some other place around the World.
• The negative effect of “fear mongering policy” designed to keep its citizens supporting the Israeli government’s policies keep families on edge and as a result they decided not to raise their children under such conditions.

In short, what the Zionist occupiers of Palestine territories saw from Tahir Square in Cairo may have convinced them that the Arab and Palestinian resistance (and the Muslim Ummah in general), will develop into a massive movement, such that no amount of weapons or apartheid administration can insure a Zionist future in Palestine.

See the video - a Jewish woman feeling the pains and guilt for the Zionist injustice and atrocities inflicted on the Palestinian.

SYRIA: Who is Behind The Protest Movement? Fabricating a Pretext for a US-NATO "Humanitarian Intervention"

Professor Michel Chossudovsky in his article (Who is Behind the Protest Movement in Syria?) appended below said there is evidence of gross media manipulation and falsification from the outset of the protest movement in southern Syria on March 17th.  
The Western media has presented the events in Syria as part of the broader Arab pro-democracy protest movement. The media has accused the Syrian police and armed forces of indiscriminate shooting and killing unarmed "pro-democracy" demonstrators. The media failed to mention that among the demonstrators there were armed gunmen as well as snipers who were shooting at both the security forces and the protesters.
The death figures presented in the reports are often unsubstantiated. Many of the reports are "according to witnesses". The images and video footages aired on Al Jazeera and CNN do not always correspond to the events which are being covered by the news reports.

It seems that the ultimate purpose of the western media coverage is to trigger sectarian violence and political chaos within Syria by covertly supporting Islamic terrorist organizations.

The emerging pattern reaffirms the ‘creative chaos project’ through sectarian sedition which aims to break the solidarity of the forces opposing the Israeli and its backers. The alliance between Iran and Syria and their endless support for Hisbullah and the Palestinian struggle is the real target. The quantity of weapons and the emerging armed gangs raise a number of question marks, as foreign hands stand behind them with the aim to unleash Israel’s hand in the region.

Some analyst observed that the events taking place in Syria were not spontaneous, but rather organized and prepared a long time ago. In fact the Syrian authorities blame armed groups and foreign elements for the violence and have repeatedly denied allegations that security forces are responsible for the death of protesters, saying they have been given clear instructions not to hurt civilians.

The Syrian people would triumph in the face of the scheme targeting their country. The calls for political reform were just and patriotic but I don’t think the true people of Syria would choose reform through anarchy.  In fact the western powers speak of human rights in Syria and yet forget them when it comes to the longstanding Israeli atrocities and human rights abuses in the Palestinian occupied territories.

The West Asian region is witnessing the impact of people’s power movement. However, the soul of this movement especially after the Egyptian revolution is the desire for a change that will strengthen the forces that oppose to western unconditional support for Israel and oppose to the Zionist illegal occupation of Arab land. Ameen.

SYRIA: Who is Behind The Protest Movement? Fabricating a Pretext for a US-NATO "Humanitarian Intervention" By Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, May 3, 2011

There is evidence of gross media manipulation and falsification from the outset of the protest movement in southern Syria on March 17th. The Western media has presented the events in Syria as part of the broader Arab pro-democracy protest movement, spreading spontaneously from Tunisia, to Egypt, and from Libya to Syria. Media coverage has focussed on the Syrian police and armed forces, which are accused of indiscriminately shooting and killing unarmed "pro-democracy" demonstrators. While these police shootings did indeed occur, what the media failed to mention is that among the demonstrators there were armed gunmen as well as snipers who were shooting at both the security forces and the protesters. The death figures presented in the reports are often unsubstantiated. Many of the reports are "according to witnesses". The images and video footages aired on Al Jazeera and CNN do not always correspond to the events which are being covered by the news reports. There is certainly cause for social unrest and mass protest in Syria: unemployment has increased in recent year, social conditions have deteriorated, particularly since the adoption in 2006 of sweeping economic reforms under IMF guidance. The IMF's "economic medicine" includes austerity measures, a freeze on wages, the deregulation of the financial system, trade reform and privatization. (See IMF  Syrian Arab Republic — IMF Article IV Consultation Mission's Concluding Statement, http://www.imf.org/external/np/ms/2006/051406.htm, 2006) With a government dominated by the minority Alawite (an offshoot of Shia Islam), Syria is no "model society" with regard to civil rights and freedom of expression. It nonetheless constitutes the only (remaining) independent secular state in the Arab world. Its populist, anti-Imperialist and secular base is inherited from the dominant Baath party, which integrates Muslims, Christians and Druze. Moreover, in contrast to Egypt and Tunisia, in Syria there is considerable popular support for President Bashar Al Assad. The large rally in Damascus on March 29, "with tens of thousands of supporters" (Reuters) of President Al Assad is barely mentioned. Yet in an unusual twist, the images and video footage of several pro-government events were used by the Western media to convince international public opinion that the President was being confronted by mass anti-government rallies.  Tens of thousands of Syrians gather for a pro-government rally at the central bank square in Damascus March 29, 2011. (Reuters Photo)   Syrians display a giant national flag with a picture of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad during a pro-government rally at the central bank square in Damascus March 29, 2011. (Reuters Photo) The "Epicenter" of the Protest Movement. Daraa: A Small Border Town in southern Syria What is the nature of the protest movement? From what sectors of Syrian society does it emanate? What triggered the violence? What is the cause of the deaths? The existence of an organized insurrection composed of armed gangs involved in acts of killing and arson has been dismissed by the Western media, despite evidence to the contrary. The demonstrations  did not start in Damascus, the nation's capital. At the outset, the protests were not integrated by a mass movement of citizens in Syria's capital.  The demonstrations started in Daraa, a small border town of 75,000 inhabitants, on the Syrian Jordanian border, rather than in Damascus or Aleppo, where the mainstay of organized political opposition and social movements are located. (Daraa is a small border town comparable e.g. to Plattsburgh, NY on the US-Canadian border). The Associated Press report (quoting unnamed "witnesses" and "activists") describes the early protests in Daraa as follows: The violence in Daraa, a city of about 300,000 near the border with Jordan, was fast becoming a major challenge for President Bashar Assad, .... Syrian police launched a relentless assault Wednesday on a neighborhood sheltering anti-government protesters [Daraa], fatally shooting at least 15 in an operation that began before dawn, witnesses said. At least six were killed in the early morning attack on the al-Omari mosque in the southern agricultural city of Daraa, where protesters have taken to the streets in calls for reforms and political freedoms, witnesses said. An activist in contact with people in Daraa said police shot another three people protesting in its Roman-era city center after dusk. Six more bodies were found later in the day, the activist said. As the casualties mounted, people from the nearby villages of Inkhil, Jasim, Khirbet Ghazaleh and al-Harrah tried to march on Daraa Wednesday night but security forces opened fire as they approached, the activist said. It was not immediately clear if there were more deaths or injuries. (AP, March 23, 2011, emphasis added) The AP report inflates the numbers: Daraa is presented as a city of 300,000 when in fact its population is 75,000;  "protesters gathered by the thousands", "casualties mounted". The report is silent on the death of policemen which in the West invariably makes the front page of the tabloids. The deaths of the policemen are important in assessing what actually happened. When there are police casualties, this means that there is an exchange of gunfire between opposing sides, between policemen and "demonstrators". Who are these "demonstrators" including roof top snipers who were targeting the police.  Israeli and Lebanese news reports (which acknowledge the police deaths) provide a clearer picture of what happened in Daraa on March 17-18. The Israel National News Report (which cannot be accused of being biased in favor of Damascus) reviews these same events as follows: Seven police officers and at least four demonstrators in Syria have been killed in continuing violent clashes that erupted in the southern town of Daraa last Thursday. .... On Friday police opened fire on armed protesters killing four and injuring as many as 100 others. According to one witness, who spoke to the press on condition of anonymity, "They used live ammunition immediately -- no tear gas or anything else." .... In an uncharacteristic gesture intended to ease tensions the government offered to release the detained students, but seven police officers were killed, and the Baath Party Headquarters and courthouse were torched, in renewed violence on Sunday. (Gavriel Queenann, Syria: Seven Police Killed, Buildings Torched in Protests, Israel National News, Arutz Sheva, March 21, 2011, emphasis added) The Lebanese news report, quoting various sources, also acknowledges the killings of seven policemen in Daraa: They were killed  "during clashes between the security forces and protesters... They got killed trying to drive away protesters during demonstration in Dara’a"    The Lebanese Ya Libnan report quoting Al Jazeera also acknowledged that protesters had "burned the headquarters of the Baath Party and the court house in Dara’a"  (emphasis added) These news reports of the events in Daraa confirm the following: 1. This was not a "peaceful protest" as claimed by the Western media. Several of the "demonstrators" had fire arms and were using them against the police:  "The police opened fire on armed protesters killing four". 2. From the initial casualty figures (Israel News), there were more policemen than demonstrators who were killed:  7 policemen killed versus 4 demonstrators. This is significant because it suggests that the police force might have been initially outnumbered by a well organized armed gang. According to Syrian media sources, there were also snipers on rooftops which were shooting at both the police and the protesters. What is clear from these initial reports is that many of the demonstrators were not demonstrators but terrorists involved in premeditated acts of killing and arson. The title of the Israeli news report summarizes what happened:  Syria: Seven Police Killed, Buildings Torched in Protests.  The Daraa "protest movement" on March 18 had all the appearances of a staged event involving, in all likelihood, covert support to Islamic terrorists by Mossad and/or Western intelligence. Government sources point to the role of radical Salafist groups (supported by Israel) Other reports have pointed to the role of Saudi Arabia in financing the protest movement. What has unfolded in Daraa in the weeks following the initial violent clashes on 17-18 March, is the confrontation between the police and the armed forces on the one hand and armed units of terrorists and snipers on the other which have infiltrated the protest movement.   Reports suggest that these terrorists are integrated by Islamists. There is no concrete evidence as to which Islamic organizations are behind the terrorists and the government has not released corroborating information as to who these groups are. Both the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood (whose leadership is in exile in the UK) and the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Party of Liberation), among others have paid lip service to the protest movement. Hizb ut Tahir (led in the 1980s by Syrian born Omar Bakri Muhammad) tends to "dominate the British Islamist scene” according to Foreign Affairs. Hizb ut Tahir is also considered to be of strategic importance to Britain's Secret Service MI6. in the pursuit of Anglo-American interests in the Middle East and Central Asia. (Is Hizb-ut-Tahrir another project of British MI6? | State of Pakistan). Hizb ut-Tahrir anti-Assad rally in Tripoli, Lebanon (40 km from Syrian border), April 22, 2011. Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in Syria  Syria is a secular Arab country, a society of religious tolerance, where Muslims and Christians have for several centuries lived in peace. Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Party of Liberation) is a radical political movement committed to the creation of an Islamic caliphate. In Syria, its avowed objective is to destabilize the secular state. Since the Soviet-Afghan war, Western intelligence agencies as well as Israel's Mossad have consistently used various Islamic terrorist organizations as "intelligence assets". Both Washington and its indefectible British ally have provided covert support to "Islamic terrorists" in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and Libya, etc. as a means to triggering ethnic strife, sectarian violence and political instability. The staged protest movement in Syria is modelled on Libya. The insurrection in Eastern Libya is integrated by the Libya Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) which is supported by MI6 and the CIA. The ultimate objective of the Syria protest movement, through media lies and fabrications, is to create divisions within Syrian society as well as justify an eventual "humanitarian intervention". Armed Insurrection in Syria An armed insurrection integrated by Islamists and supported covertly by Western intelligence is central to an understanding of what is occurring on the ground. The existence of an armed insurrection is not mentioned by the Western media. If it were to be acknowledged and analysed, our understanding of unfolding events would be entirely different. What is mentioned profusely is that the armed forces and the police are involved in the indiscriminate killing of protesters. The deployment of the armed forces including tanks in Daraa is directed against an organized armed insurrection, which has been active in the border city since March 17-18.  Casualties are being reported which also include the death of policemen and soldiers. In a bitter irony, the Western media acknowledges the police/soldier deaths while denying the existence of an armed insurrection. The key question is how does the media explain these deaths of soldiers and police? Without evidence, the reports suggest authoritatively that the police is shooting at the soldiers and vice versa the soldiers are shooting on the police. In a April 29 Al Jazeera report, Daraa is described as "a city under siege". "Tanks and troops control all roads in and out. Inside the city, shops are shuttered and nobody dare walk the once bustling market streets, today transformed into the kill zone of rooftop snipers. Unable to crush the people who first dared rise up against him - neither with the secret police,  paid thugs or the special forces of his brother's military division - President Bashar al-Assad has sent thousands of Syrian soldiers and their heavy weaponry into Deraa for an operation the regime wants nobody in the world to see. Though almost all communication channels with Deraa have been cut, including the Jordanian mobile service that reaches into the city from just across the border, Al Jazeera has gathered firsthand accounts of life inside the city from residents who just left or from eyewitnesses inside who were able to get outside the blackout area. The picture that emerges is of a dark and deadly security arena, one driven by the actions of the secret police and their rooftop snipers, in which soldiers and protestors alike are being killed or wounded, in which cracks are emerging in the military itself, and in which is created the very chaos which the regime uses to justify its escalating crackdown. (Daraa, a City under Siege, IPS / Al Jazeera, April 29, 2011) The Al Jazeera report borders on the absurd. Read carefully. "Tanks and troops control all roads in and out",  "thousands of Syrian soldiers and their heavy weaponry into Daraa" This situation has prevailed for several weeks. This means that bona fide protesters who are not already inside Daraa cannot enter Daraa. People who live in the city are in their homes: "nobody dares walk ... the streets". If nobody dares walk the streets where are the protesters? Who is in the streets? According to Al Jazeera, the protesters are in the streets together with the soldiers, and both the protesters and the soldiers are being shot at by "plain clothes secret police", by "paid thugs" and government sponsored snipers. The impression conveyed in the report is that these casualties are attributed to infighting between the police and the military.   But the report also says that the soldiers (in the "thousands") control all roads in and out of the city, but they are being shot upon by the plain clothed secret police. The purpose of this web of media deceit, namely outright fabrications  --where soldiers are being killed by police and  "government snipers"-- is to deny the existence of armed terrorist groups. The later are integrated by snipers and "plain clothed terrorists" who are shooting at the police, the Syrian armed forces and local residents.   These are not spontaneous acts of terror; they are carefully planned and coordinated attacks. In recent developments, according to a Xinhua report (April 30, 2011), armed "terrorist groups" "attacked the housing areas for servicemen" in Daraa province, "killing a sergeant and wounding two". While the government bears heavy responsibility for its mishandling of the military-police operation, including the deaths of civilians, the reports confirm that the armed terrorist groups had also opened fire on protesters and local residents. The casualties are then blamed on the armed forces and the police and the Bashar Al Assad government is portrayed by "the international community" as having ordered countless atrocities. The fact of the matter is that foreign journalists are banned from reporting inside Syria, to the extent that much of the information including the number of casualties is obtained from the unverified accounts of "witnesses".  It is in the interest of the US-NATO alliance to portray the events in Syria as a peaceful protest movement which is being brutally repressed by a "dictatorial regime".  The Syrian government may be autocratic. It is certainly not a model of democracy but neither is the US administration, which is characterized by rampant corruption, the derogation of civil liberties under the Patriot legislation, the legalisation of torture, not to mention its "bloodless" "humanitarian wars":  "The U.S. and its NATO allies have, in addition to U.S. Sixth Fleet and NATO Active Endeavor military assets permanently deployed in the Mediterranean, warplanes, warships and submarines engaged in the assault against Libya that can be used against Syria at a moment's notice. On April 27 Russia and China evidently prevented the U.S. and its NATO allies from pushing through an equivalent of Resolution 1973 against Syria in the Security Council, with Russian deputy ambassador to the UN Alexander Pankin stating that the current situation in Syria "does not present a threat to international peace and security." Syria is Russia's last true partner in the Mediterranean and the Arab world and hosts one of only two Russian overseas naval bases, that at Tartus. (The other being in Ukraine's Crimea.)" (Rick Rozoff,   Libyan Scenario For Syria: Towards A US-NATO "Humanitarian Intervention" directed against Syria? Global Research, April 30, 2011) The ultimate purpose is to trigger sectarian violence and political chaos within Syria by covertly supporting Islamic terrorist organizations. What lies ahead? The longer term US foreign policy perspective is "regime change" and the destabilization of Syria as an independent nation-state, through a covert process of "democratization" or through military means.   Syria is on the list of "rogue states", which are targeted for a US military intervention. As confirmed by former NATO commander General Wesley Clark the "[The] Five-year campaign plan [includes]... a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan" (Pentagon official quoted by General Wesley Clark). The objective is to weaken the structures of the secular State while justifying an eventual  UN sponsored "humanitarian intervention". The latter, in the first instance, could take the form of a reinforced embargo on the country (including sanctions) as well as the freezing of Syrian bank assets in overseas foreign financial institutions. While a US-NATO military intervention in the immediate future seems highly unlikely, Syria is nonetheless on the Pentagon's military roadmap, namely an eventual war on Syria has been contemplated both by Washington and Tel Aviv. If it were to occur, at some future date, it would lead to escalation. Israel would inevitably be involved. The entire Middle East Central Asian region from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Chinese-Afghan border would flare up. Related Video VIDEO: Humanitarian Intervention in Syria and Libya - by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky - 2011-05-01 Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (Emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and Editor of globalresearch.ca. He is the author of The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003) and America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005). He is also a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages.  He spent a month in Syria in early 2011. Read about Osama Bin Laden in Michel Chossudovsky's international best-seller. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Centre for Research on Globalization. The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements contained in this article. The CRG grants permission to cross-post original Global Research articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author's copyright must be displayed. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: publications@globalresearch.ca www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner. For media inquiries: media@globalresearch.ca Copyright © Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2011

Do Not Sleep Before You Have Completed Four Tasks

Fatimah Az-zahra’(daughter of the prophet s.a.w ) said: “One night the prophet came to me and said, Oh Fatimah, do not sleep before you have completed the four tasks:

1. To finish reciting the whole Al-Quran
2. Have the prophets to intercede for you in the Hereafter
3. Have all the believers to be pleased with you
4. Perform your hajj and ‘umrah”

I (Fatimah Az-zahra’) then said to Rasulullah s.a.w, “Oh Rasulullah, you ask me to perform tasks, but which I would not be able to accomplish!”

Rasulullah s.a.w smiled and said:

1. If you recite Surah Al-Ikhlas (3 times), it’s as though you have completed the whole Qu’ran.
2. If you say salawat upon me and upon all the other prophets, we will intercede for you on the Day of Judgement.
3. If you ask for forgiveness for the believers, they will be pleased with you.
4. And if you read “subhaanAllah, walHamdulillah, walaa-ilaha- illallah,-wallaahu akbar”, it’s as if you have performed your hajj and umrah.”