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History and Origins of Recent Wave of Terrorism

By Mamnoon Ahmad Khan

   

Introduction

I clearly remember that thirty years back I haven’t heard the word terrorism or terrorist. There was only one term in use which was Israel’s aggression on Arabs and Palestinians. But after the Russian (formerly USSR) invasion on Afghanistan, the scenario changed. Russian brutalities were not hidden from the world. They not only destroy this independent country but they destroy its future generations. On many villages after killing their inhabitants they crushed the whole village with bulldozers. Even they did not forgive innocent children. Russians threw toy bombs in towns and villages from helicopters and when a child found it and started to play with it blew up. As a result so many Afghan children died or became handicapped. 

Soviet Aggression in Soviet-Afghan War

Over 1 million Afghans were killed.15 million Afghans fled to Pakistan and Iran, 1/3 of the prewar population of the country. Another 2 million Afghans were displaced within the country. In the 1980s, one out of two refugees in the world was an Afghan.2 Along with fatalities were 1.2 million Afghans disabled with the blessings of the Russian  landmines (mujahedeen, government soldiers and noncombatants) and 3 million maimed or wounded (primarily noncombatants).3

Irrigation systems, crucial to agriculture in Afghanistan’s arid climate were destroyed by aerial bombing and strafing by Soviet or government forces. In the worst year of the war, 1985, well over half of all the farmers who remained in Afghanistan had their fields bombed, and over one quarter had their irrigation systems destroyed and their livestock shot by Soviet or government troops, according to a survey conducted by Swedish relief experts 4

The population of Afghanistan’s second largest city, Kandahar, was reduced from 200,000 before the war to no more than 25,000 inhabitants, following a months-long campaign of carpet bombing and bulldozing by the Soviets and Afghan communist soldiers in 1987.5Land mines had killed 25,000 Afghans during the war and another 10-15 million land mines, most planted by Soviet and government forces, were left scattered throughout the countryside to kill and maim.6 A great deal of damage was done to the civilian children population by land mines. A 2005 report estimated 3-4% of the Afghan population was disabled due to Soviet and government land mines. In the city of Quetta, a survey of refugee women and children taken shortly after the Soviet withdrawal found over 80% of the children refugees unregistered and child mortality at 31%. Of children who survived, 67% were severely malnourished, with malnutrition increasing with age.7

Critics of Soviet and Afghan government forces describe their effect on Afghan culture as working in three stages: first, the center of customary Afghan culture, Islam, was pushed aside; second, Soviet patterns of life, especially amongst the young, were imported; third, shared Afghan cultural characteristics were destroyed by the emphasis on so-called nationalities, with the outcome that the country was split into different ethnic groups, with no language, religion, or culture in common.8

The Geneva Accords of 1988, which ultimately led to the withdrawal of the Soviet forces in early 1989, left the Afghan government in ruins. The accords had failed to address adequately the issue of the post-occupation period and the future governance of Afghanistan. The assumption among most Western diplomats was that the Soviet-backed government in Kabul would soon collapse; however, this was not to happen for another three years. During this time the Interim Islamic Government of Afghanistan (IIGA) was established in exile. The exclusion of key groups such as refugees and Shias, combined with major disagreements between the different mujahedeen factions, meant that the IIGA never succeeded in acting as a functional government.9

Before the war, Afghanistan was already one of the world’s poorest nations. The prolonged conflict left Afghanistan ranked 170 out of 174 in the UNDP’s Human Development Index, making Afghanistan one of the least developed countries in the world.10

 Once the Soviets withdrew, US interest in Afghanistan ceased. The US decided not to help with reconstruction of the country and instead they handed over the interests of the country to US allies, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Pakistan quickly took advantage of this opportunity and forged relations with warlords and later theTaliban, to secure trade interests and routes. From wiping out the country’s trees through logging practices, which has destroyed all but 2% of forest cover country-wide, to substantial uprooting of wild pistachio trees for the exportation of their roots for therapeutic uses, to opium agriculture, the past ten years have caused much ecological and agrarian destruction.11

Captain Tarlan Eyvazov, a soldier in the Soviet forces during the war, stated that the Afghan children’s future is destined for war. Eyvazov said, “Children born in Afghanistan at the start of the war… have been brought up in war conditions, this is their way of life.” Eyvazov’s theory was later strengthened when the Taliban movement developed and formed from orphans or refugee children who were forced by the Soviets to flee their homes and relocate their lives in Pakistan. The swift rise to power, from the young Taliban in 1994, was the result of the disorder and civil war that had warlords running wild because of the complete breakdown of law and order in Afghanistan after the departure of the Soviets.12

 

Israeli  Brutalities since the Arab-Isreal War 1967

       According to eyewitness accounts by Israeli officers and journalists, the Israeli Army – the army that claims to hold itself to a higher moral standard than other armies – executed as many as 1,000 Arab prisoners during the 1967 war.

Historian Gabby Bron wrote in the Yediot Ahronot in Israel that he witnessed Israeli troops executing Egyptian prisoners on the morning of June 8, 1967, in the Sinai town of El Arish.

Bron reported that he saw about 150 Egyptian POWs being held at the El Arish airport where they were sitting on the ground, densely crowded together with their hands held on the back of their necks. Every few minutes, Bron writes, Israeli soldiers would escort an Egyptian POW from the group to a hearing conducted by two men in Israeli army uniforms. Then the man would be taken away, given a spade, and forced to dig his own grave.

I watched as (one) man dug a hole for about 15 minutes, Bron wrote. Afterwards, the (Israeli military) policeman told him to throw the shovel away, and then one of them leveled an Uzi at him and shot two short bursts, each of three or four bullets.

Bron says he witnessed about ten such executions, until the grave was filled. Then an Israeli Colonel threatened him with a revolver, forcing him to leave the area.

The reality is that Israel encouraged and then took advantage of that war for many political, economic, and territorial reasons. To grab these advantages, Israel attacked on Syria and captured the Golan in the last days of the war.

Sabra and Shatila Massacre Sep.16, 1982

Today, 27 years later, Israeli aggression against Palestinians continues.

 

The scars left by the Sabra and Shatila massacres are indescribable.
Photo courtesy: Piotr_360

 

On Sept. 16, 1982, members of the Lebanese Christian Phalange militia – with direct approval and support of then-Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon – entered Sabra and Shatila and initiated a 36-hour long assault, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of unarmed Palestinian and Lebanese civilians.

Journalist Robert Fisk, who was on the scene on September 19, 1982, reported seeing the “blackened bodies of babies tossed into rubbish heaps alongside discarded U.S. army ration tins, Israeli army equipment and empty bottles of whiskey.”

The infants had been shot in the head. Some had had their throats slit. Scores of men had been shot in the back of the head or mutilated by axes. Women had been raped. Pregnant women had fetuses torn from their bodies.

The United Nations, which issued a formal declaration of genocide in 1982, also calls the Sabra and Shatila massacre one of the most heinous events in the 20th century.

How many died is not known, but figures range from about 1,000 to at least 3,500, a number estimated by the late Israeli journalist Amnon Kapeliouk.

“The exact figure (of victims) can never be determined because, in addition to the approximately 1,000 people who were buried in communal graves by the International Committee of the Red Cross or in the cemeteries of Beirut by members of their families, a large number of corpses were buried beneath bulldozed buildings by the militia members themselves,” wrote Dr. Laurie King-Irani, an adjunct professor of anthropology at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. “Also, particularly on 17 and 18 September, hundreds of people were carried away alive in trucks towards unknown destinations, never to return.”

Dr. King-Irani also was the North American Coordinator of the International Campaign for Justice for the Victims of Sabra and Shatila, which hosted the Web site indictsharon.net.

Yet the perpetrators of the massacre were never brought to justice. An internal Israeli investigation called the Kahan Commission – which was political and not judicial – found Sharon to be indirectly but personally responsible. He resigned as defense minister but retained a government cabinet position. He served as prime minister from 2001 to 2006. A case that had been filed in November 2001 on behalf of some survivors against Sharon and others for committing war crimes under Belgium’s universal jurisdiction law was later rejected by a Belgian appeals court.

Sharon told the Israeli Knesset that the decision to send in the Phalangists had been made at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 15. The Israeli Command received the instructions that the “mopping up of the camps will be carried out by the Phalanges or the Lebanese army,” Dr. King-Irani writes, citing the Kahan Commission report, page 125.

Today, 27 years later, Israeli aggression against Palestinians continues. Operation Cast Lead in December and January killed more than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 5,300. Israel’s continuing siege has squeezed the 1.5 million residents there into an inhumane and unthinkable crisis.

All the Muslims of the world should honor the victims and survivors of Sabra and Shatila by keeping their memories alive. Where their voices have been silenced, we must raise our voices loudly and clearly and call for an end to the brutal occupation of Palestine and for the right of refugees to return to their homeland.

The Jenin Massacre of April 2002

A monstrous war crime that Israel has tried to cover up for a fortnight has finally been exposed. Its troops have caused devastation in the centre of the Jenin refugee camp, reached yesterday by The Independent, where thousands of people are still living amid the ruins.

A residential area roughly 160,000 square yards about a third of a mile wide has been reduced to dust. Rubble has been shovelled by bulldozers into 30ft piles. The sweet and ghastly reek of rotting human bodies is everywhere, evidence that it is a human tomb. The people, who spent days hiding in basements crowded into single rooms as the rockets pounded in, say there are hundreds of corpses, entombed beneath the dust, under a field of debris, criss-crossed with tank and bulldozer treadmarks.

In one nearby half-wrecked building, gutted by fire, lies the fly-blown corpse of a man covered by a tartan rug. In another we found the remains of 23-year-old Ashraf Abu Hejar beneath the ruins of a fire-blackened room that collapsed on him after being hit by a rocket. His head is shrunken and blackened. In a third, five long-dead men lay under blankets.

A quiet. sad-looking young man called Kamal Anis led us across the wasteland, littered now with detritus of what were once households, foam rubber, torn clothes, shoes, tin cans, children’s toys. He suddenly stopped. This was a mass grave, he said, pointing.

We stared at a mound of debris. Here, he said, he saw the Israeli soldiers pile 30 bodies beneath a half-wrecked house. When the pile was complete, they bulldozed the building, bringing its ruins down on the corpses. Then they flattened the area with a tank. We could not see the bodies. But we could smell them.

A few days ago, we might not have believed Kamal Anis. But the descriptions given by the many other refugees who escaped from Jenin camp were understated, not, as many feared and Israel encouraged us to believe, exaggerations. Their stories had not prepared me for what I saw yesterday. I believe them now.

Until two weeks ago, there were several hundred tightly-packed homes in this neighbourhood called Hanat al-Hawashim. They no longer exist.

Around the central ruins, there are many hundreds of half-wrecked homes. Much of the camp — once home to 15,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war — is falling down. Every wall is speckled and torn with bullet holes and shrapnel, testimony of the awesome, random firepower of Cobra and Apache helicopters that hovered over the camp.

Building after building has been torn apart, their contents of cheap fake furnishings, mattresses, white plastic chairs spewed out into the road. Every other building bears the giant, charred, impact mark of a helicopter missile. Last night there were still many families and weeping children still living amid the ruins, cut off from the humanitarian aid. Ominously, we found no wounded, although there was a report of a man being rescued from beneath ruins only an hour before we arrived.

Those who did not flee the camp, or not detained by the army, have spent the bombardment in basements, enduring day after day of terror. Some were forced into rooms by the soldiers, who smashed their way into houses through the walls. The UN says half of the camp’s 15,000 residents were under 18. As the evening hush fell over these killing fields, we could suddenly hear the children chattering. The mosques, once so noisy at prayer time, were silent.

Israel was still trying to conceal these scenes yesterday. It had refused entry to Red Cross ambulances for nearly a week, in violation of the Geneva Convention. Yesterday it continued to try to keep us out.

Jenin, in the northern end of the occupied West Bank, remained a closed military zone, was ringed Merkava tanks, army Jeep patrols, and armoured personnel carriers. Reporters caught trying to get in were escorted out. A day earlier the Israeli armed forces took in a few selected journalists to see sanitised parts of the camp. We simply walked across the fields, flitted through an olive orchard overlooked by two Israeli tanks, and into the camp itself.

We were led in by hands gesturing at windows. Hidden, whispering people directed us through narrow alleys they thought were clear. When there were soldiers about, a finger would rise in warning, or a hand waved us back. We were welcomed by people desperate to tell what had occurred. They spoke of executions, and bulldozers wrecking homes with people inside. This is mass murder committed by Ariel Sharon, Jamel Saleh, 43, said. We feel more hate for Israel now than ever. Look at this boy. He placed his hand on the tousled head of a little boy, Mohammed, the eight-year-old son of a friend. He saw all this evil. He will remember it all. So will everyone else who saw the horror of Jenin refugee camp. Palestinians who entered the camp yesterday were almost speechless.

Rajib Ahmed, from the Palestinian Energy Authority, came to try to repair the power lines. He was trembling with fury and shock. This is mass murder. I have come here to help by I have found nothing but devastation. Just look for yourself. All had the same message: tell the world.

 

Recent Israeli aggression in Gaza

Israel has perpetrated an unprecedented barbaric slaughter on defenseless civil Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel’s intent seems to have been not only the destruction of some locations in the Gaza Strip, but the annihilation of Gaza and the burial of its population under piles of rubbles and blood lakes.

 

The time chosen by Israel to launch its aggression mounts anxiety amongst Arabs.

Worldwide concerns about the deep financial crisis, the transitional period in the White House, and Hamas’s declaration of the end of its truce with Israel without any Palestinian or Arab support that may halt Israel’s hostile intentions, all trigger anxiety that Israel is preparing for the worst to terrorize the entire Arab region.

Israel launched its aggression on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008 on three stages:

Stage One: Air bombardment as of Dec. 27, 2008 to Jan. 2, 2009.
Stage Two: Ground attack as of Jan. 3 to 10, 2009.
Stage Three: Starting on Jan. 10 with advance inside large cities, occupying more  territories and setting a buffer zone along the borders of the Strip, which finally ended on Jan. 18.

Throughout the three stages, more than 1300 people have been killed and more than 5300 injured of which more than a half are women, children, and aged persons. 

Blame the Victim, Not the Aggressor

US Foreign Minister, Condoleeza Rice accused Hamas for the violence. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon could only express “deep alarm,” and where was Barack Obama? An AP photo showed him on vacation “working out” at the Semper Fit Center at the Marine Corp Base Hawaii in Kailua, Hawaii on Saturday, and CBS News reported that he’s “closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza, but there is one president at a time,” according to Brooke Anderson, his chief national security spokesperson.

In a July 2008 interview, The New York Times asked Obama if Israel should negotiate with Hamas in Gaza. He replied that “I don’t think any country would find it acceptable to have missiles raining down on the heads of their citizens….I expect Israelis to do (all they can to stop them)….In terms of negotiating with Hamas, it is very hard to negotiate with a group that is not representative of a nation state, does not recognize your right to exist, (and) has consistently used terror as a weapon. Hamas is a terrorist organization….it’s hard for Israel to negotiate with a country like that.”

Hamas was democratically elected. It’s the legitimate Palestinian government. It’s falsely called a terrorist organization, and it has every right to resist an illegal occupation under international law. It observed a unilateral ceasefire for months and extended peace overtures numerous times in the past. Israel spurned them by dividing Gaza and the West Bank, co-opting Mamoud Abbas, inciting Fatah against Hamas, isolating Gaza, and pursuing a policy of aggression, killings, targeted assassinations, mass incarcerations, and torture with full support from Washington, the West, and (from his comments above) the incoming Obama administration.

The UN Refugee Works Relief Agency’s (UNWRA) operations head for Palestinian refugees, John Ging, expressed outraged on what’s happening. Earlier he said: Gazans got nothing from the months of ceasefire. There was no “restoration of a dignified existence. We had our supplies restricted (during the period) to the point where we were left in a very vulnerable and precarious position” with very little food left until it ran out.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) campaigns for Palestinian justice in areas of civil, human and political rights according to international law. Along with the Palestine Return Centre (PRC), the Palestinian Forum of Britain (PFB), the British Muslim Initiative (BMI), Stop the War, Friends of al Aqsa, the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), and Respect, Islamic Human Rights Commission it organized emergency protests opposite Israel’s London Embassy on December 28 and 29 to demand an end of the Gaza siege and ongoing aggression. The urgency was highlighted by saying: Israel’s Cynicism (Is) Supported by the West’s Complicity” as it called for public solidarity to end it.

For her part, Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni ordered the Ministry to “take emergency measures (to) open an aggressive and diplomatic international public relations campaign,” according to Haaretz. In other words, Israel will spin its wanton aggression into justifiable self-defense and get dominant media help to sell it.

On December 27, The New York Times took the lead. It reported that “Israeli airstrikes hit Hamas security facilities in Gaza on Saturday in a crushing response to the group’s rocket fire….Israeli military officials (called the attack) an effort to force Hamas to end its rocket barrages into southern Israel. Thousands of Israelis hurried into bomb shelters amid the hail of rockets,” making it seem like Israel resembled London during the blitz when, in fact, Hamas attacks are mere pin pricks and only respond to first-strike Israeli attacks.

The Times and dominant media are silent on this. They continue spreading spurious lies about Hamas being “officially committed to Israel’s destruction, and when it won Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 and then ‘forcibly’ took over Gaza in 2007, it said it would not recognize Israel, honor previous Palestinian Authority commitments to it, or end its violence against Israelis.”

All of the above is untrue. The Times continues to report falsely. Hamas wants peace, has repeatedly been conciliatory, and its founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, said earlier that armed struggle would end “if the Zionists ended (their) occupation of Palestinian territories and stopped killing Palestinian women, children and innocent civilians.”

Israel rejects all overtures. More recently, Hamas offered peace and Israeli recognition in return for a Palestinian state inside pre-1967 borders – its Occupied Territories that it’s entitled to under international law.

As early as 1988, the PLO under Yasser Arafat accepted a two-state solution with Palestinians willing to settle for only 22% of their pre-1948 homeland – a generous offer that, if accepted, would have had two sovereign states living peacefully alongside each other as neighbors.

Israel rejects this out of hand. It chooses dominance over peace, violence over reconciliation, and imperial conquest above the rule of law. It’s colonizing the West Bank, ethnically cleansing the population, and continues to terrorize Gaza. “The newspaper of record” is selective about “fit news to print,” so uncomfortable truths are suppressed. It reported that one Israeli was killed Saturday and another four wounded, one seriously, but didn’t explain that previous rocket attacks caused no deaths or injuries.

After many months of siege compounded by ongoing attacks, Gaza is gravely affected, but so is the West Bank. Under the Fatah government, no rockets are launched, yet Israel maintains a violent occupation, continues to seize Palestinian land, expand its illegal settlements, and lets its residents terrorize Palestinians with impunity, even in cases of wanton killings and destruction of property.

 

 US administration supports Israeli aggression against Gaza

 On 31 December, Associated Press reported that the UN Security Council had held an emergency meeting on an Arab request for a legally binding and enforceable UN resolution that would condemn Israel and seek to force the Zionist state to stop its military attacks on Gaza.

The draft resolution also called for the immediate protection of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the opening of border crossings for humanitarian aid.

But the draft, which was presented by Libya on behalf of the 22-member Arab League, was immediately rejected by the United States as “unbalanced”. Despite this US veto, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN observer, told Associated Press that Arab nations would be working “day and night” to get the UN Security Council’s approval for a binding resolution in the announced terms.

As with the 2006 war in Lebanon, the government of President George W. Bush has strongly supported the Israeli attack on Gaza. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe even called Hamas “nothing but thugs”. Moreover, the US administration has been working to block all diplomatic proposals for a cease-fire in order to give Israel the green light to increase its attacks on Gaza.

While Israeli fighters, warships and artillery continued to destroy civilian buildings, bridges and mosques, US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice did not hesitate to blame Hamas for the Israeli aggression and showed US backing for Israel’s rejection of cease-fire initiatives from the European Union and several Arab capitals.

Washington and Israel did not accept the victory of Hamas in the 2006 parliamentary election.

In June 2007, they promoted a coup d’état to bring down the national unity government that Fatah and Hamas had previously set up during their negotiations in Jeddah. The coup failed and from then on, the Bush administration backed the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip, which has often prevented 1.5 million Palestinians from receiving food, fuel, medicines and so forth.

The goal of this blockade is to make life for the people of Gaza so intolerable that the Hamas administration will fall.

The United States is not only protecting Israel in the diplomatic front but it has also given Israel some weapons that have been used on the Palestinians, including the GBU-39 missile — a new bunker-buster weapon.

Israel received 1,000 missiles of this type in early December in addition to the 3 billion dollars a year in US military aid, including F-16 fighters and Apache helicopters and the fuel and spare parts needed to keep them in operation.

Israeli attacks have killed hundreds of Palestinians (scores of them children), while the US Administration continues to insist that Hamas is “responsible” for the fighting.

US President Barack Obama’s Senior Adviser, David Axelrod repeated the same lies as President George W. Bush: that Hamas had been the first to break the ceasefire agreement. Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi agreed. She issued a statement concerning the Israeli aggression on Gaza in which she wrote, “When Israel is attacked, the US must continue to stand strongly with its friend and democratic ally.”

On the night of November 4, the day of the US election, Israel fired missiles on Gaza. It then continued to bomb Gaza over the following six weeks killing dozens of Palestinians. “The escalation towards war could, and should, have been avoided. It was the State of Israel which broke the truce, in the tunnel raid … two months ago,” the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom wrote in a press release.

The army continued its calculated raids and killings. The truth is that the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza is a crime against humanity for which not only the Israeli government but also the American one bears full responsibility.

In fact, for the US to support and be an accomplice in Israeli war crimes is serving a far more strategic purpose. What it is actually doing is setting up a “new order” in the Middle East which will ensure continued US domination in the region and control over its oil resources.

Israel is but a small partner in this bloody effort. The US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, threats against Iran and Syria and the Israeli war against Lebanon in 2006 are all part of this US application of the Israeli doctrine to dominate and divide the Arab and Muslim worlds.

In spite of all this military and diplomatic support, the officials of the US Administration fear a possible Israeli failure, similar to what happened in Lebanon in 2006 and have urged Israel to settle a timetable and exit strategy, foreign diplomats told the Los Angeles Times.

“US officials are concerned that the campaign could drag on without destroying Hamas, and might even bolster support for the militant group – just as the Israeli campaign in Lebanon strengthened Hezbollah. You are not hearing that same confidence you did in 2006 that the Israeli military can impose a new strategic reality,” said one Arab diplomat in Washington.

According to numerous observers, the war will weaken the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas and strengthen his Hamas rivals, even though Israel will continue its Gaza invasion.

The fighting has also ruined the already damaged reputation of the US-backed regimes of Egypt and Jordan, both of which have diplomatic relations with Israel and are regarded by the Arab people as corrupt and accomplices in the Israeli aggression. The stability of these regimes is seriously threatened.

Some observers believe that Israel wanted to create an international crisis at a time when Obama was on the verge of becoming the US President, in order to gauge the new Obama government’s sensibilities to the killing of Palestinians.

Israel wanted to determine Obama’s policies even before they are decided by his administration in order to make it complicit in its crimes against the Palestinians.

Obama’s submission to Israel has been put in doubt by the Israeli media. In March 2007 Obama told a small gathering of Democratic activists in Iowa: “Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people.” The comment made headlines and earned him the outrage of pro-Israel groups.

As a candidate in the recent presidential election, Obama changed his tone and said that Israel had the “right” to full sovereignty over all of Al Quds (Jerusalem), a position that guarantees that there will not be a lasting peace in the region, as Arabs and Muslims will never renounce their legitimate rights to the city.

Obama’s right-hand man, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, is a rabid Zionist who worked for the Israeli army during the 1991 [Persian] Gulf War.

Now, these measures were seen as a means to avoid criticism by the influential pro-Israeli lobby in Washington, which has deeply infiltrated both the US Republican and the Democratic parties.

Obama’s initial reaction to the Gaza massacre was “no comment”. This has led many people to start wondering if his self-declared principles of safety and dignity are also going to be applied to the Palestinian people.

There is no doubt that the United States will pay a high price for its support of Israel’s state terrorism.

Many protesters from all over the world are burning US flags and showing their complete rejection of US policies that promote Zionist terror.

Although US mainstream media, which are under Zionist or corporate control, continue to falsify the reality regarding the extent of Israeli aggression and occupation, the internet and satellite channels of the Muslim world are offering professional coverage of the developments in Palestine.

Washington’s continued support for Israeli crimes will lead any initiative aimed at recovering its destroyed credibility in the Muslim and Arab worlds to failure.

How the CIA created Taliban and Osama bin Laden

 Is this a call to jihad (holy war) taken from one of Islamic fundamentalist Osama bin Laden’s notorious fatwas? Or perhaps a communique issued by the repressive Taliban regime in Kabul?

In fact, this glowing praise of the murderous exploits of today’s supporters of arch-terrorist bin Laden and his Taliban collaborators, and their holy war against the “evil empire”, was issued by US President Ronald Reagan on March 8, 1985. The “evil empire” was the Soviet Union, as well as Third World movements fighting US-backed colonialism, apartheid and dictatorship.

How things change. In the aftermath of a series of terrorist atrocities — the most despicable being the mass murder of more than 6000 working people in New York and Washington on September 11 — bin Laden the “freedom fighter” is now lambasted by US leaders and the Western mass media as a “terrorist mastermind” and an “evil-doer”.

Yet the US government refuses to admit its central role in creating the vicious movement that spawned bin Laden, the Taliban and Islamic fundamentalist terrorists that plague Algeria and Egypt — and perhaps the disaster that befell New York.

The mass media has also downplayed the origins of bin Laden and his toxic brand of Islamic fundamentalism.

Mujaheddeen

In April 1978, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in Afghanistan in reaction to a crackdown against the party by that country’s repressive government.

The PDPA was committed to a radical land reform that favoured the peasants, trade union rights, an expansion of education and social services, equality for women and the separation of church and state. The PDPA also supported strengthening Afghanistan’s relationship with the Soviet Union.

Such policies enraged the wealthy semi-feudal landlords, the Muslim religious establishment (many mullahs were also big landlords) and the tribal chiefs. They immediately began organising resistance to the government’s progressive policies, under the guise of defending Islam.

Washington, fearing the spread of Soviet influence (and worse the new government’s radical example) to its allies in Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf states, immediately offered support to the Afghan mujahedeen, as the “contra” force was known.

Following an internal PDPA power struggle in December 1979 which toppled Afghanistan’s leader, thousands of Soviet troops entered the country to prevent the new government’s fall. This only galvanised the disparate fundamentalist factions. Their reactionary jihad now gained legitimacy as a “national liberation” struggle in the eyes of many Afghans.

The Soviet Union was eventually to withdraw from Afghanistan in 1989 and the mujahedeen captured the capital, Kabul, in 1992.

Between 1978 and 1992, the US government poured at least US$6 billion (some estimates range as high as $20 billion) worth of arms, training and funds to prop up the mujahedeen factions. Other Western governments, as well as oil-rich Saudi Arabia, kicked in as much again. Wealthy Arab fanatics, like Osama bin Laden, provided millions more.

Washington’s policy in Afghanistan was shaped by US President Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and was continued by his successors. His plan went far beyond simply forcing Soviet troops to withdraw; rather it aimed to foster an international movement to spread religious fanaticism into the Muslim Central Asian Soviet republics to destabilise the Soviet Union.

Brzezinski’s grand plan coincided with Pakistan military dictator General Zia ul-Haq’s own ambitions to dominate the region. US-run Radio Liberty and Radio Free Europe beamed Islamic fundamentalist tirades across Central Asia (while paradoxically denouncing the “Islamic revolution” that toppled the pro-US Shah of Iran in 1979).

Washington’s favoured mujahedeen faction was one of the most extreme, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The West’s distaste for terrorism did not apply to this unsavoury “freedom fighter”. Hekmatyar was notorious in the 1970s for throwing acid in the faces of women who refused to wear the veil.

After the mujahedeen took Kabul in 1992, Hekmatyar’s forces rained US-supplied missiles and rockets on that city — killing at least 2000 civilians — until the new government agreed to give him the post of prime minister. Osama bin Laden was a close associate of Hekmatyar and his faction.

Hekmatyar was also infamous for his side trade in the cultivation and trafficking in opium. Backing of the mujahedeen from the CIA coincided with a boom in the drug business. Within two years, the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was the world’s single largest source of heroin, supplying 60% of US drug users.

In 1995, the former director of the CIA’s operation in Afghanistan was unrepentant about the explosion in the flow of drugs: “Our main mission was to do as much damage as possible to the Soviets… There was a fall out in terms of drugs, yes. But the main objective was accomplished. The Soviets left Afghanistan.”

Made in the USA

According to Ahmed Rashid, a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review, in 1986 CIA Chief William Casey committed CIA support to a long-standing ISI proposal to recruit from around the world to join the Afghan jihad. At least 100,000 Islamic militants flocked to Pakistan between 1982 and 1992 (some 60,000 attended fundamentalist schools in Pakistan without necessarily taking part in the fighting).

John Cooley, a former journalist with the US ABC television network and author of Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism, has revealed that Muslims recruited in the US for the mujahidin were sent to Camp Peary, the CIA’s spy training camp in Virginia, where young Afghans, Arabs from Egypt and Jordan, and even some African-American “black Muslims” were taught “sabotage skills”.

The November 1, 1998, British Independent reported that one of those charged with the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Ali Mohammed, had trained “bin Laden’s operatives” in 1989.

These “operatives” were recruited at the al Kifah Refugee Centre in Brooklyn, New York, given paramilitary training in the New York area and then sent to Afghanistan with US assistance to join Hekmatyar’s forces. Mohammed was a member of the US army’s elite Green Berets.

The program, reported the Independent, was part of a Washington-approved plan called “Operation Cyclone”.

In Pakistan, recruits, money and equipment were distributed to the mujahedeen factions by an organisation known as Maktab al Khidamar (Office of Services — MAK).

MAK was a front for Pakistan’s CIA, the Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate. The ISI was the first recipient of the vast bulk of CIA and Saudi Arabian covert assistance for the Afghan contras. Bin Laden was one of three people who ran MAK. In 1989, he took overall charge of MAK.

Among those trained by Mohammed were El Sayyid Nosair, who was jailed in 1995 for killing Israeli rightist Rabbi Meir Kahane and plotting with others to bomb New York landmarks, including the World Trade Center in 1993.

The Independent also suggested that Shiekh Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian religious leader also jailed for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, was also part of Operation Cyclone. He entered the US in 1990 with the CIA’s approval. A confidential CIA report concluded that the agency was “partly culpable” for the 1993 World Trade Center blast, the Independent reported.

 

Bin Laden

Osama bin Laden, one of 20 sons of a billionaire construction magnate, arrived in Afghanistan to join the jihad in 1980. An austere religious fanatic and business tycoon, bin Laden specialised in recruiting, financing and training the estimated 35,000 non-Afghan mercenaries who joined the mujahidin.

The bin Laden family is a prominent pillar of the Saudi Arabian ruling class, with close personal, financial and political ties to that country’s pro-US royal family.

Bin Laden senior was appointed Saudi Arabia’s minister of public works as a favour by King Faisal. The new minister awarded his own construction companies lucrative contracts to rebuild Islam’s holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina. In the process, the bin Laden family company in 1966 became the world’s largest private construction company.

Osama bin Laden’s father died in 1968. Until 1994, he had access to the dividends from this ill-gotten business empire.

(Bin Laden junior’s oft-quoted personal fortune of US$200-300 million has been arrived at by the US State Department by dividing today’s value of the bin Laden family net worth — estimated to be US$5 billion — by the number of bin Laden senior’s sons. A fact rarely mentioned is that in 1994 the bin Laden family disowned Osama and took control of his share.)

Osama’s military and business adventures in Afghanistan had the blessing of the bin Laden dynasty and the reactionary Saudi Arabian regime. His close working relationship with MAK also meant that the CIA was fully aware of his activities.

Milt Bearden, the CIA’s station chief in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989, admitted to the January 24, 2000, New Yorker that while he never personally met bin Laden, “Did I know that he was out there? Yes, I did … [Guys like] bin Laden were bringing $20-$25 million a month from other Saudis and Gulf Arabs to underwrite the war. And that is a lot of money. It’s an extra $200-$300 million a year. And this is what bin Laden did.”

In 1986, bin Laden brought heavy construction equipment from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan. Using his extensive knowledge of construction techniques (he has a degree in civil engineering), he built “training camps”, some dug deep into the sides of mountains, and built roads to reach them.

These camps, now dubbed “terrorist universities” by Washington, were built in collaboration with the ISI and the CIA. The Afghan contra fighters, including the tens of thousands of mercenaries recruited and paid for by bin Laden, were armed by the CIA. Pakistan, the US and Britain provided military trainers.

Tom Carew, a former British SAS soldier who secretly fought for the mujahedeen told the August 13, 2000, British Observer, “The Americans were keen to teach the Afghans the techniques of urban terrorism — car bombing and so on — so that they could strike at the Russians in major towns … Many of them are now using their knowledge and expertise to wage war on everything they hate.”

Al Qaeda (the Base), bin Laden’s organisation, was established in 1987-88 to run the camps and other business enterprises. It is a tightly-run capitalist holding company — albeit one that integrates the operations of a mercenary force and related logistical services with “legitimate” business operations.

Bin Laden has simply continued to do the job he was asked to do in Afghanistan during the 1980s — fund, feed and train mercenaries. All that has changed is his primary customer. Then it was the ISI and, behind the scenes, the CIA. Today, his services are utilised primarily by the reactionary Taliban regime.

Bin Laden only became a “terrorist” in US eyes when he fell out with the Saudi royal family over its decision to allow more than 540,000 US troops to be stationed on Saudi soil following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

When thousands of US troops remained in Saudi Arabia after the end of the Gulf War, bin Laden’s anger turned to outright opposition. He declared that Saudi Arabia and other regimes — such as Egypt — in the Middle East were puppets of the US, just as the PDPA government of Afghanistan had been a puppet of the Soviet Union.

He called for the overthrow of these client regimes and declared it the duty of all Muslims to drive the US out of the Gulf States. In 1994, he was stripped of his Saudi citizenship and forced to leave the country. His assets there were frozen.

After a period in Sudan, he returned to Afghanistan in May 1996. He refurbished the camps he had helped build during the Afghan war and offered the facilities and services — and thousands of his mercenaries — to the Taliban, which took power that September.

Today, bin Laden’s private army of non-Afghan religious fanatics is a key prop of the Taliban regime.

Prior to the devastating September 11 attack on the twin towers of World Trade Center, US ruling-class figures remained unrepentant about the consequences of their dirty deals with the likes of bin Laden, Hekmatyar and the Taliban. Since the awful attack, they have been downright hypocritical.

In an August 28, 1998, report posted on MSNBC, Michael Moran quotes Senator Orrin Hatch, who was a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee which approved US dealings with the mujahedeen, as saying he would make “the same call again”, even knowing what bin Laden would become.

“It was worth it. Those were very important, pivotal matters that played an important role in the downfall of the Soviet Union.”

Hatch today is one of the most gung-ho voices demanding military retaliation.

Another face that has appeared repeatedly on television screens since the attack has been Vincent Cannistrano, described as a former CIA chief of “counter-terrorism operations”.

Cannistrano is certainly an expert on terrorists like bin Laden, because he directed their “work”. He was in charge of the CIA-backed Nicaraguan contras during the early 1980s. In 1984, he became the supervisor of covert aid to the Afghan mujahedeen for the US National Security Council.

The last word goes to Zbigniew Brzezinski: “What was more important in the world view of history? The Taliban or the fall of the Soviet Empire? A few stirred up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?”

 

Conclusion

A moment’s thought would show that any invasion that replaced the Taliban with a western puppet in Kabul would merely restore the Taliban as champions of Afghan sovereignty. The Americans sponsored them to be just such a puppet in the 1980s, funding some 60,000 foreign mercenaries to join them against the Russians. Intervention reaps what it sows.

Americans don’t want to acknowledge their mistakes but this is realty that [currently] Americans have made Taliban look like illegitimate child.  It was the Pakistani ISI with the blessing of CIA, who brainwashed Taliban when they were small kids living in the Tents in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, next to Afghanistan. They taught them to hate Russians. They taught them to fight, and they didn’t teach them anything else. Then they were just children growing up in Pakistan. And they are the ones who made them very religious and they are the ones who made them terrorists. They are the ones to teach them kill people and they did not teach them anything else.

Now America is savagely killing her own made Taliban without any mercy as they are non living things. These killings comprised of Taliban and a large number of Pakistani and Afghani civilians.

America has spread the circle of its drone attacks to Pakistan Administered Tribal Areas in the doubt of Taliban hideouts. Resulting a heavy loss of civilian lives consisting of innocent women and children while no or few Taliban causalities. The remaining members of these ill-fated families bearing fire of revenge in their hearts became suicide bombers. These suicide bobbers commonly known as terrorists, attack Pakistani forces and civilians causing heavy loss of life and property. Pakistan is paying an unbearable price for killing her own people (American made Taliban) in the so called War against Terror. America has injected terrorism in the form of Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan in an effort to defeat Russia. Now this jinni of Aladdin (Taliban) is out of the lamp while American and Pakistani forces are not capable enough to put this jinni back into the lamp. If military operations against Taliban succeeded in restoring law and order in the region it would not be durable. Dialogue and a policy of tolerance is the only way to win the hearts of these Pukhtoons, otherwise the history showed us that they are born fighters and no military might is capable to subdue them. In the light of all historical facts I come to this conclusion that Israel, Russia and America are equally responsible of recent wave of terrorism which has engulfed the major portion of Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan. If American policy makers don’t react on time then these acts of terrorism can happen any where around the globe!!

Notes

 

^ Death Tolls for the Major Wars …  Kaplan, Soldiers of God (2001) (p.11)  Hilali, A. (2005). US-Pakistan relationship: Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co. (p.198)  Kaplan, Soldiers of God (2001) p.188  ”MINES PUT AFGHANS IN PERIL ON RETURN,” By ROBERT PEAR, New York Times, Aug 14, 1988. p. 9 (1 page)  Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, H. (2002). Children of War: The Real Causalities of Afghan conflict. Ferozesons, Lahore, December 11, 2007,(p.89)  Hauner, M. (1989). Afghanistan and the Soviet Union: Collision and transformation. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. (p.40)  Barakat, S. (2004). Reconstructing war-torn societies: Afghanistan. New York: Palgrave Macmillan (p.5)  Barakat, S. (2004). Reconstructing war-torn societies: Afghanistan. New York: Palgrave Macmillan (p.7)

10.   Panetta L. (2002) Collateral Damage and the uncertainty of Afghanistan. Daily Dawn Karachi August 17, 2002.

11.   Kirby, A. (2003). War ‘has ruined Afghan environment.’  National Journal of Environment, Fall 2007edition,(p.75)

12.  Hauner, M. (1989). Afghanistan and the Soviet Union: Collision and transformation. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. (p.51)

 

The show covered the CIA’s research on LSD for use as a truth serum, or to create a Manchurian Candidate. It also discussed the death of Frank Olson. In regards to the LSD experiments on prison inmates, they told of how the inmates were primarily black and were rewarded with heroine. Can anybody tell me the name of this particular program? Also, can anyone provide credible sources of information on these occurrences?

By Elizabeth West

The motorcycle didn’t spring full-blown into this world. Rather, it evolved from the earlier bicycle. Women loved bicycles for the mobility and freedom they allowed. In fact, Susan B. Anthony said, “The bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world.”

In the 1880s, bicycles were a huge fad. Then, in 1885, Gottlieb Daimler made one that had an engine. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a bicycle, because it had four wheels instead of two. Two were safety wheels. This bike went a magnificent and stately 12 miles per hour.

An idea was born, and soon other motorized bicycles were invented. Perhaps the first true motorcycle was a charcoal fired two -wheeler made in 1869 by Sylvester Roper of Massachusetts.

Within two decades, motorcycles were being mass-produced. The first such bike was the Orient-Aster, which was made by the Metz Company of Waltham, Massachusetts. This state clearly loved its bikes. Another early cycle was the beloved Indian, made by the Hendee Manufacturing Company in Springfield, Massachusetts. (Later, the company changed its name to Indian Motorcycles.)

In 1902, Harley Davidson sold its first three motorcycles, and soon there were dozens of manufacturers. They had names like Marvel, Exelsior, and Henderson. The Depression killed off all but Indian and Harley, and soon only Harley remained.

Women enjoyed the motorcycles as much as they had enjoyed bikes. After all, they were economical and fun. They also didn’t have the stigma that they acquired later. Early riders were seen as adventuresome, not as outlaws.

In 1915, Indian motorcycles offered front and rear shocks. Since these cushioned the ride, people began to consider long-distance travel as a real option. That year, a mother-daughter team, Avis and Effie Hotchkiss, rode from New York to San Franciso. They didn’t take the direct route. Instead, they meandered about, covering 5,000 miles.

The next year, two society women in their 20s, sisters Adeline and Augusta Van Buren bought a pair of Indian Powerplus Bikes. They were the first people ever to climb up and down Pike’s Peak. They, too, completed a transcontinental ride. Their 3,300-mile trip took almost two months, and they had to contend not only with many unpaved roads, but also with social mores. Once they were arrested for publicly wearing trousers.

In the 1920s, Harley published a magazine called The Enthusiast. It sponsored Vivian Wales on a 5000 mile trip to a Harley factory. Another early motorcycle heroine was Bessie Stringfield, a.k.a. the Motorcycle Queen of Miami . She made 8 solo-cross country trips and was a motorcycle dispatch rider.

Bessie had started out with two strikes against her: she was a woman and she was African-American. At first, she couldn’t even get a motorcycle license in Miami, Florida. However, a police officer interceded in her behalf.

Motorcycles were also used in wartime, which gave them a lot of public exposure. About 20,000 Harleys were used during the WWI. They were ridden by couriers, soldiers, and others.

As motorcycle popularity grew, it was only natural that some people became highly skilled in its use. They showed off these skills in motordromes, which had been around since the turn of the century but grew in popularity during the 1930s. A motordrome often advertised itself as “A Wall of Death.”

Essentially, it was a giant barrel with a platform on top for viewers. They could look down on motorcyclists, who sped around the inside of the walls, held in place by centrifugal force. One of these early daredevils was Margaret Gast, who billed herself as “The Mile a Minute Gal.” She was not the only woman daredevil. May Williams and Jean Perry also performed on the walls.

By 1940, the United States had its first women’s motorcyle club, The Motormaids. Today, there are scores of such clubs. Anyone who wants more information about the history of women and motorcycles may want to check out the book Hear Me Roar: Women, Motorcycles, and the Rapture of the Road. I haven’t read it, but I’ve read several descriptions of it and seen the table of contents. It looks like fun.

For more Motorcycle news for please visit http://www.allaboutbikes.com

Tamil Cinema also referred to as the Kollywood film industry is over 93 years old has its birth in the year of 1916 and it has got bigger and bigger with lot of new actors and actresses joining tamil film industry and also it has grown a lot in terms of technology and finance. The Kollywood film industry is one the biggest film industries in india apart from Bollywood and tollywood. The orgin of the word “Kollywood” is from the word Kodambakkam, a region in Chennai which laid the roots for tamil cinema along with the word “Hollywood” which was grouped together as “Kollywood”. 

A lot of actors have come in and gone out in its history and it still keeps growing in a fast pace. Tamil films are respected all over the world and are translated in various languages nowadays including English, French, Spanish, japaneese and more.  Kanthaswamy, the recent Kanthaswamy has been dubbed in Spanish and Italian since it was shot in those countries and has been sold in USA box office also for a whopping amount.

The first theatre was established in Chennai during the year 1916 in which movies without voice (termed as pesumpadam) were released. The year 1916 marked the era of silent films in Tamilnadu, which is the predecessor of modern films. R. Natraja Mudaliar was the first producer, director and cinematographer for Tamil Cinema who was trained in London for cinema production. He made his first film Keechaka Vadham in 1917 which was the first feature film without any background voice that was made in Tamil.

The first talking film came into entry during the year 1931 with the superhit blockbuster Kalidas.  The movie directed by H.M. Reddy was a superb historic epic and was produced by Ardeshar Irani and released in October 31. The actors were T.P.Rajalaxmi who was the heroine with lot of experience as stage artist and the film was a huge success in the box office.Kalavarishi directed by P.P. Rangachari was the 100% talking movie release in the year 1932.

After that a lot of directors and producers came to invest in tamil cinema entertainmentand lot of movies were produced. Seetha Kalyanam a movie was released by Prabath Film Company starring S. Rajam as Rama and his sister Lakshmi as seta in the movie.

 

M.K. Thiyagaraja Bhagavathar was the first box-office superstar in tamil cinema and he entered kollywood in the year 1934. His first movie Pavalakkodi which introduced the lead pair himself and S.D.Subulakshmi was a big hit and mad a huge gross in box office. Electrical arc lights were available at that time and grand sets were erected to take pictures in light. The technology of cinema got improvised. Mostly Tamil movies were shot in Bombay and calcutta prior to 1934. 

The first tamil movie to be shot in Tamilnadu was Srinivasa Kalyanam. Lava Kusa was the most famous tamil talkie movie produced by S. Soundararaja Iyengar. This movie was big success as it had good dialogues and songs. Nandhanar was another movie which got good appreciation from audience and the hero gave K.B. Sundrambal who sang the songs in the movie and played the hero in the movie One Lakh which was a big big amount in those days.

Then comedy also began to mix in tamil movies with comedy track separately mixed in the end in movies like Mahatma Kabirda, Madayargal Sandhippu and lot more. Same movies were also released in different names.

Pathi Bhakthi, a stage play was made into a movie in the year 1936 with M.K. Radha playing lead role in the movie. The movie Sati Leelavati was the first one starring T.S. Balliah a famous actor those time, on screen was the first time. M.G. Ramachandran played a role in this movie. T.P. Rajaalakshmi made her debut as director with the movie Miss Kamala. Pattinathar was a movie produced by Vel Pictures and released during the same year. Chanda Kantha directed by Raja Sandow showcasted actor P.U. Chinnappa who made his debut in the movie.Thiyagaraja Bhagavatha also made success with double action in the movie Satyaseelan. He played the role as a king as well as a songster in the court. 

P.U. Chinnappa was a famous actor who acted in films like ‘Aryamala’ (1941), ‘Kannagi’ (1942), ‘Manonmani’ (1942), ‘Kubera Kusela’ (1943), ‘Jagathalapradaban’ (1944) and all these movies were big hits in box office which made him a great star.

With lot of talkie films entering the tamil cinema, the scenario was changed. The history of Tamil cinema is very ancient and dates back to 1920s. M.K. Thiyagarja Bagavatha, P.U. Chinnapa, M. G. Ramachandran, Nambiar, Sivaji , Ashokan , N.T. Rama Rao were all famous actors in those days who got name and fame among the public by doing great roles in the silver screen. Modern actors like Kamal Hassan, Sarathkumar, Superstar Rajinikanth, AJithkumar, Surya, Madhavan, Siddharth have also enhanced the pride of tamil cinema by giving their valuable contributions. Actresses like Banumathi, Savithri, Saroja Devi, Meena, Roja, Ramba, Kushboo, Ramya Krishna, Trisha, Asin have also contributed greatly to Tamil cinema.

Tamil cinema can be divided into two broad categories, the one before 1950-70 and other after 1970 to this modern day. Lot of genre of tamil films have been produced including fiction, romance, science, comedy, action, sentiments and lot more. Lot of famous music directors like M.S. Vishwanathan, A.R. Rahman, Isaigani Illayraja, Harris Jeyaraj have produced quality music for making tamil movies a big success.

Some of the famous directors are,  Natraja R. Mudaliar who made the movies like Keecha Vadham and Draupadi Vastrapaharanam.  He had his own studio which was burnt in 1923 after which he retired. Another famous director was Raja P.K. Sandow who made the flick Nandhanar. T.P. Rajalakshi was a famous actress and she also directed movies. She learnt dance and music at a famous school. Her guru was Sankaradas Swamigal who is considered as the father of modern theatres. She directed the movie Miss Kamala and Madurai Veeran. Another famous director was Subramanyam Krishnaswamy who was born in Papanasam. He directed his first film Pavalakodi and also did the movie Balayogini which was big hit and said about the caste system. He made several movies like Seva Sadan in 1938, Mana Samrakshnam and lot more.He also made a movie Thiyagabhoomi which told about Gandhi. 

T.R. Sundaram who made his debut with Sati Ahalya was a famous director and producer who made movies in Tamil as well as Malayalam. He made the movie Burma rani in 1944. He made the first color movie Alibabavum narpathu Thirudargalum in 1955 with M.G.R. in the lead role.  

FAMOUS ACTORS IN TAMIL CINEMA

MAKKAL THILAGAM M.G.R:

M.G. Ramachandran, who is known for playing great roles and superb dialogues achieved a lot in Tamil cinema. He was born in 1917 and died in 1987. He made a lot of movies that changed the views of the society. His movie Nadodi mannan showed how a government should be and it was a great movie to watch. He became the Chief minister of tamilnadu during the year 1977 and served the country till his death in 1987. His movie Ulagam Suttrum Vazhiban was shot all over the world in placed like Honkkong, Singapore and the first movie to be shot abroad. His movies Enga Veetu Pillai, Adimai pen were all famous hits of all time. He received a lot of awards for his movies.

NADIGAR THILAGAM SIVAJI GANESAN:

Sivaji was well-known for his excellent acting in lot of movie with superb expression of dialogues in movies. He made his debut in Kollywood through the movie Parasakthi in 1952, along with actress Pandari Bai, for which the script was written by chief minister Karunanidhi. He has acted in various majestic roles like Veerapandia Kattabomman, Emperor Sivaji and lot more. He won the best actor award in an international film festival titled the Afro-asian film festival which is held in Cairo, Egypt during 1959. He received various awards such as Padmashri in the 1966, Padma Bhusan(1984) and Kalaimamani during 1987.

KADAl MANNAN GEMINI GANESHAN:

Gemini ganeshan who is always referred to as Kadhal Mannan was the tamil actor to play lot of romantic roles in lot of movies. Ganeshan has acted in various box-office hits during his lifetime. He got the Padma Shri award during the year 1971. He married the film actress Savithri. He made his debut with the movie Miss Malini. Later he acted in the movie Chakravarthi, in which he played the role of Lord Krishna. He played a villain role in Thai Ullam which made his good name and fame among people during 1953. Later he starred as the hero in Manampol Mangalyam, in which he paired with Savithri who later became his wife. 

SUPERSTAR RAJINIKANTH:

Rajinikanth, the versatile Superstar was born in Karnataka Bangalore during the year 1950. His real name is Sivaji Rao Gaekwad and he is famous for his style and dialogues in the movies. He received a Padma Bhusan award for his contributions to Tamil Cinema. 

He is also a great philanthropist and serves public with his donations through the organization which he holds. He also has done some screen writing and produced some movies. He made his debut in the movie in Apoorva Ragangal which was released in the year 1975 by K. Balachander. 

He starred in an English movie also titled Blood stone during the year 1988 which got good votes in India and abroad. He also starred in Bollywood movie Andha Kannoon but it did not get much support from the public. He is currently doing top budget movies like Endhiran, which the most expensive movie south India. He is the highest paid Indian actor with a salary of 26 crores for the movie Sivaji- the boss. He is next to Jackie Chan in Asia who Is the highest paid actor in Asia. 

ULAGANAYAGAN KAMAL HASSAN:

Kamal Hassan known as Ulaganayagan was born in 1954 in Paramakudi, Madra. He is known for his excellent acting, script writing and he has also produced films on his own. He made his debut as a small kid starring in the movie Kalathur Kannama and was a very good child artiste. He then made his debut as a mature artist with Rajinikanth in the movie Apoorva Ragangal. He has learnt classical dance on his own and he is a good dancer. He acted in the movie Salangai Oli as a classical dancer which was big hit. He is also a lyricist and playback singer. He has sung several songs in his own movies like that of Aalavandhan, Anbe Sivam and also in other’s movie like Pudupettai and lot more… He has received a lot of awards including Film fare awards, Padmashri, Academy award for best Foreign language film, National film awards and lot more.

His movies like Nayagan (1987), Moondram Pirai (1982) were big hits and he is well known for superb acting in these movies.

ILLAYATHALAPATHY VIJAY:

Vijay the son of famous director Chandrasekar was born in 1974. He made his debuit with his father’s movie Nallaya Theerpu in 1992. He has acted in lot of romantic movies including Kadhalukku Mariyadha in 1997, Thullatha Manamaom Thullum, Priyamanvale, Kushi and lot more all of which were big success in box office. He made difference by acting in heroic roles like Ghilli, Pokkiri, Villu which were also good success. He starred in double action in the movie Azhagiya Tamizh magan which was not a big success. He received lot of awards including Film Fare award for the best actor.

He is currently working for the movie Vettaikran which is produced by AVM productions and is directed by Babu Sivan, which is his 49th movie.

ULTIMATE STAR AJITH KUMAR:

Ultimate Star, Ajith Kumar, who is currently starring in the movie ASAL, was born in the year 1971. He appeared in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi movies and is also a professional racer. He made his debut with Telugu flick Prema Pustangam in the year 1992. His kollywood debut was Amaravathi which was not a big hit. Later he acted in the movie Aasai which was big hit. He then starred in Kadhal Kottai where he romances with Devayani which was a good love story which was a big success. He starred in double action for the movie Vaali during the year 1999 which was directed by S.J Suryah and this movie was a big success and he got filmfare award for best actor in this movie. He starred in action movies like Dheena, Amarkalam, Villian which were also big hits. 

His movie Citizen which was a very good story made big gross in market. He lost his name in the middle by acting in movies like Jee, Attakasam and few of them which were big flops. Later he gained his name with movies like Varalaru in 2006 which was triple action role. His movie Billa directed by Vishnuvardhan with actresses like Nayanthara and Namitha made big success in box office in the year 2007.  Now he is currently working with director Saran for his 49th movie ASAL which is about a gang war with Ajith as the underground Don. 

TECHNOLOGY GROWTH IN TAMIL CINEMA:

1. M.Edwards was the first to screen a movie in South india at Victoria public hall, Chennai.

2. The Electric Theatre was introduced in 1900 which was built by Major Warwick in anna salai.

3. The first cinematography and touring cinema was formed in south india by Swamikannu Vincent in 1905. He made several short films on life history of jesus. 

The first Indian owned cinema house in South India was built by R. Venkiah in 1914.It is still screening movies in same location.

4. 1916 S.M.Dharmalingam Mudaliyar and Nataraja Mudaliyar started the first film producing concern in South India at Chennai.Nataraja Mudaliyar made Keechavathanam the first feature film to be made in South India.

5. The pre-censorship of films was introduction in 1918 through the Indian cinematography act.

6. The film journal titled Movie Mirror was introduced in 1927 which was the first film magazine in Tamil cinema. The author was S.K. Vasagam.

7. The General Pictures Corporation was formed in Chennai during the year 1929, making it as entertainment spot for south India.

8. The first talkie movie was released in the year 1931, titled Kalidas in which T.P. Rajalakshmi played the lead role, which was a mix of Tamil and Telugu.

9. A. Narayananan, started the first Sound mixing studio in Chennai which was called Srivivasa Cinestone during the year 1934.

10. The first studio in Vellore was built by Vajravelu under the name Sundarabharathi Studio in the year 1935.

11. The movie Kausala, was released in the year 1935, which was the first movie made by South India Film Corporation.

12. The first tamil journal titled Cinema Ulagam was launched by P.S. Chettiar in the year 1935, who was the chief editior and publisher of the magazine.

13. The oldest studio in south India, the Modern Theatres was established in the year 1936. The first Tamil Talkie was released titled Miss Kamala which was directed by the first woman director T.P. Rajalakshmi.

14. The first tamil film to run more than a year in single cinema house was released titled “Chinthamani” during the year 1937.

15. The long documentary Mahatma Gandhi was released in 1940, and D.K. Pattamal sang the first play back song for the long documentary movie.

16. K. Ramnath formed the Cine Technicians of South India during the year 1940.

17. The movie Harishchandri , a tamil movie was dubbed into Kannadam by A.V. Meyyappa Chettiar, thus becoming the first dubbed film in south India.

18. The film Haridas was played continuously for 110 weeks in the theatre Broadway talkies in Chennai, during the year 1944.

19. The first Tamil film artiste, K.B. Sundhrambal who played the legendary role of Avvayiar was nominated to the Madras legislative council in 1951.

20. In 1952 India’s first International Film Festival was organised in Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta .

21. In The first movie in Tamil without any songs was released in 1954 titled Andha Naal.

22. In 1955 Kanavanne Kan Kanda Deivam, the first Tamil film to have some sequences in Geva colour, was released. This was the first partly colour movie in Tamil.

23. The first full-length colour movie was produced by Modern Theatres titled Allibabavum narpathu Thirdugargalum.

24. 1956 The Madras Film Society was formed by Ammu Swaminathan and 

Rajammal Anantaraman.

25. The association of film artists, titled the Tamizh nadigar sangam was started in the year 1959.

26. The first Institute of Film Techonology in south India, was started in 1960 in Adyar, Chennai.

27. In 1967, Makkal Thilagam M.G.R won the election for the first time from Parangimalai Constituency.

28. The first cinemascope flick in Tamil Raja Raja Cholan was made in the year 1973 with Chevaliyar Sivaji Ganeshan in the lead role as king.

29. The first 3D movie in Tamil, titled Annai Bhoomi was made during the year 1985.

30. The first movie with 70mm view was released during the year 1986 which was titled Maveeran. Later Oomai vizhigal another movie was also released during the year 1985. 

 

SOME OF THE FAMOUS TAMIL MOVIES OF ALL TIME……

While there are commercial films to entertain audiences, serious films are also being filmed to educate the masses while entertaining them. Tamil film industry has never backed away from experimenting. Even today it keeps on releasing films that surprise the audiences either with their theme or technology.

BALAYOGINI (1931): 

This movie was directed by K. Subramanyam, with actors K. Vishwanathan, R. Balasaraswathi and Baby Roja playing lead role. It had a good moral stating about the difference between low-caste and high-caste people in the society.

AMBIKAPATHY: (1937)

This movie was directed by Ellis. R. Duncan and released in the year 1937. It had Thiyagarja Bhagavatha in lead role with N.S. Krishna, T.S. Baliah, Serukalthur Sama and P.R. Mangalam as additional cast. The movie was 11th century epic with Kambaramanyam as the theme behing and it was a big success. 

THYAGABHOOMI: (1939)

This movie starring S.D. Subbulakshmi and PapanasamSivan along with Baby roja was released in the year 1939 and directed by K. Subramanyam. This movie is about great patriot Mahatma Gandhi, who faces the villager’s anger for giving support to Harijans, He leaves to the city with his daughter and faces a lot of problems but does service for the society. 

NANDANAR (1941): 

This movie was directed by Murugadasa, and had Dandapani Desikar and Narayana Rao in the lead roles. It is about a low-caste worker trying to worship in Chidambaram Temple and his raise as a famous saint.

CHANDRALEKHA (1948):

This movie was directed by S.S. Vasan with T.R. Rajakumari, M.K. Radha, Ranjan and Sundaribai playing lead roles. It is a spectacular dance drama and famous till today. It was in production for 5 years.

AVVAIYYAR (1953):

This wonderful movie was released in year 1985 directed by Kothamangalam Subbu, starring K.B. Sundrambal, Kushala Kumari , M.K. Radha and Gemini Ganeshan in the lead roles. The life of a saint Avvaiyar and the various miraculous happenings around her are portrayed beautifully in the movie. It is one of the most famous Bakthi movies of those times.

ALIBABAVUM 40 THIRUDARGALUM – FIRST COLOR MOVIE (1955):

Alibabavum 40 thirudargalum was the

First colour movie in Tamil. This movie had M.G. Ramachandran and Bhanumathi playing the lead role. The music for the movie was scored by Dhakshinamoorty. T (Tiruchengodu).R(Ramalinga).Sundaram produced the movie and it was a very big hit in those days. M.G.R did his next movie Nadodi Mannan also in colour.

KADALIKKA NERAMILLAI: (1964)

This movie with actor Ravichandran, Kanchana, Nagesh and Muthuram playing lead roles was an excellent romantic and comedy story taken in Ooty. It was directed by C.V. Sridhar. A person tries to marry his empoyer’s daughter and does some forgery for that.

ULAGAM SUTRUM VALIBAN: (1973) 

The first movie to show different places around the world to tamil audience directed by M. G Ramachandran with himself in the lead role along with S.A. Ashokan and M.N. Nambiar playing lead roles. It’s about M.G.R being a scientist who discovers a weapon that could destroy the whole world if used negatively. M.G.R plays dual action and his brother rescues the formula for it from the villains. It was shot in Singapore, Thailand and Hongkong.

MURATTU KALAI: (1980) 

Superstar Rajinikanth’s all-time big hit movie directed by S.P. Muthuraman, with rajini, Jaishankar and ashokan in the lead roles. The film had lot of action and fight scenes making rajini a famous actor. The song “Poduvaga En manasu Thangam” was a big hit in those days.  

 

GENTLEMAN (1993): 

Shankar who is a great director made his debut in kollywood through this mega action blockbuster with action king Arjun in the lead role. The film had a great theme where the actor supports free education for the society and it had good comedy track with Koundamani and senthil in the lead roles. 

 

KADHALAN (1994):  

Actor PrabuDeva and Nagama along with comedian Vadivelu made a big success with this Shankar’s romantic love story Kadhalan. The movie was a huge commercial success with lot of action, romance, dance, comedy and it was a superb movie to watch for teenagers. Prabhudeva does excellent dance and all the songs were a big hit in those days.

INDIAN (1996):

The next movie with a theme for the society by director Shankar with actors Kamal haasan, Goundamani and Senthil with Manisha Koirala and Urmila. The film was later released as Hindustani in Bollywood. It won National film award in 1997 and Kamal Hassan received the best actor award for this movie. 

 

1998 – JEANS:

Shankars next block buster movie starring eternal beauty Aishwarya Rai  along with Prashanth, Lakshmi, Nassar, Raju Sundaram, S.V.Sekhar, Senthil, Raadhika and Geetha. The story of Jeans is that of a disapproving father in the path of love. Jeans won the Filmfare Best Movie Award South in the year of its release.  

 

1999 – MUDHALVAN: The film stars Arjun, Manisha Koirala and Raghuvaran. This film was a tremendous success at the box office and continued Shankar`s dream run. It won the Filmfare Best Movie Award South in the year of its release. It was also done in Hindi as Nayak.  

 

2005 – ANNIYAN: 

Anniyan was yet another hit movie from director Shankar with Vikram playing the role as split personality and this movie received a lot of appreciation from public. The film made a huge gross in box office and was produced with a whooping budget of 26.38 crores. The movie had a theme behind it and vikram played 3 roles in it including Ambi, Remo and as Anniyan all of which are the same character as split personality. 

A lot of movies are getting produced in Tamil Cinema and new actors and actresses are entering the silver screens. Some new actors have made big success in the market and some of them have absolutely failed. Actors like Surya, Ajith, Vijay, Vikram top among the young generation actors making success in every film they act. Lot of good music directors like A.R. Rahman who recently won the Oscars for his music in Slumdog millionaire also makes Tamil Cinema Proud. Other famous music directors include Harris Jeyaraj, G.V. Prakash, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Bharadwaj and Vidyasagar. Good playback singers include S.P.Balachander, Susheela, Unni Krishnan, Hariharan, Chitra, Shankar Mahadevan and lot more.. Lot of technology enhancements has made Tamil Cinema a respected industry in India. Nowadays even technologies are imported from Hollywood. Now the recent movie Endhiram, starring superstar Rajinikanth has technicians from Hollywood working for it. Also, the movie Sulthan – the warrior is the first full animation movie in Tamil directed by his daughter Soundariya Rajinikanth.

Recent movies Yavarum Nalam, Achamundu Achamundu have been hosted in 12th Shangai International film Festival which is also a great pride for Tamil cinema. 

So, Tamil Cinema is continuously growing both in quantity and quality with lot of new actors, new actresses, and new technicians making it biggest film industry in South India. 

Tamil cinema news, kollywood news

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By Michael Webster Syndicated Investigative Reporter. May 24, 2009 at 6:00 AM PST

 

 

Opium trafficking provides the Taliban and other terrorist groups with much of their income

 

 

The combined forces of the NATO and Afghanistan-led military forces seized 92 tons of opium poppy seeds and other drugs, “severely disrupting” a key narcotics center and command base of the insurgency.

 

The operation in Helmand province Friday, ended overnight when precision air strikes obliterated the drugs. The area was emptied of civilians overnight on Friday, before precision airstrikes were launched, the statement said.

Masses of heroin-processing chemicals and bomb-making materials collected in the sweep of Marja, southwest of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, were also destroyed by the air strikes according to U.S. military.

“A total of 60 militants were eliminated as they mounted an ineffective and uncoordinated defense against friendly forces,” a joint US and Afghan military statement said, issuing a final tally for the whole operation.

The international and Afghan forces then seized the poppy seeds, along with tar opium, processed morphine, heroin and hashish The statement said the troops had “seized the single-largest drug cache by Afghan-led forces in Afghanistan to date”.

Helmand, where thousands of NATO military forces helped Afghanistan troops, is the main producer of Afghan opium, which accounts for more than 90 per cent of the world’s supply.

 

Most of it is turned into heroin and smuggled to markets in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The vast province is a known stronghold for the Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgency.

The US military also said that a large amount of weapons and bomb-making equipment was seized during the operation.

The operation had confirmed that Marja was a “hub of multiple types of militant and criminal activity”, the statement said.

“The four-day operation severely disrupted one of the key militant and criminal operations and narcotics hubs in southern Afghanistan,” US military spokesman Colonel Greg Julian said.

 Afghan and international officials say the Taliban earn millions of dollars a year from the drugs trade.

 

There is a connection between Middle East terrorists and the drug trade dates back more than two decades, when the United States and pro-Western governments opposed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. At that time the focus was on training and equipping fierce mujahideen fighters to resist communist occupation forces, but the means to that end were often the same drug money. Today it is the same thing but growing. The drugs raised in Afghanistan finds its way via smuggling routes into markets in both Europe and the United States where they are sold. In turn millions of dollars and Eros are used to fund terrorist and their terror not only in Afghanistan but around the world. Most of these same terrorist drug organizations that fuel the terror network also help to fund the Taliban attacks in Afghanistan. Part of this illicit cash provides operating capital for international terrorist Osama Bin Laden and others.

 

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzal brother is believed by the U.S. Government to be a major player in growing, processing and trafficking Afghanistan drugs worldwide.

 

Afghanistan produces over 80 percent of the world’s opium supply and 90 percent of the opiate products that are not used in Afghanistan are destined for Europe and smaller amounts to the US. Unlike their counterparts in Colombia, the terrorists in Afghanistan enjoy the benefits of a trafficker-driven economy that lacks a national government who has any interest in combating it.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzal recently at a news conference said,  “all, drug production and trafficking goes hand in hand with terrorism, the money that’s created from drugs feeds terrorism in Afghanistan and the rest of the world”.
  
US Drug Enforcement Administration DEA intelligence confirms the presence of a major linkage between the Taliban and international terrorist Osama Bin Laden.  Bin Laden is believed to also be involved in the drug trade. The dangerous sanctuary in Pakistan enjoyed by al-Qaeda and Taliban terrorists is based on the Taliban’s support for the drug trade, which also is a primary source of income for corrupted government officials in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Credible DEA source information indicates both countries’ intelligent agencies are corrupted and benefit directly from the profitable drug trade globally. It is common knowledge that in addition to the Taliban reaping large amounts of cash from drug trafficking, they have for years directly taxed and derived financial benefits that way from the opium trade as well.

 

Former U.S. Drug czar John Walters has acknowledged that “the struggle between narco-trafficking has to be linked with the fight against terrorism” because “drug-trafficking groups contribute to the financing of corruption and terrorism.”

 

Afghanistan produces more opium than any other country. DEA has seen no decrease in availability, and no increase in the price of Southwest Asian Heroin in the United States and European consumer countries. This indicates that significant amounts of opiates still remain available and are plentiful in the supply pipeline. According to the United Nations, up to 60% of Afghanistan’s opium crop is stored for future sales.  

 

The Columbian and Mexican drug cartels now believed to be working with international terrorist is the most pervasive organizational threat to the United States.

 

The U.S. indicates an increase in worldwide demand for heroin, and the resulting profitability of poppy growing in the regions of the world where terrorist organizations most flourish. U.S. and other forces have been in Afghanistan for several years — despite having ousted the ruling Taliban government, which support al-Qaeda terrorists. Fighting an ongoing guerrilla war against supporters of Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in hopes of creating a stable government in Kabul and the country in general is proving to be slim. The insurgency is well entranced and taking new territory and holding it against NATO and Afghanistan forces.

 

The illegal drug market is one of the most profitable in the world. It is extremely difficult to know the global value of the drug trade since it is a business that is illegal, underground, and hard to trace. The United Nations Drug Control Program estimates that it is worth $400 billion per year, equivalent to 8% of world trade. In the United States, alone, the drug trade is worth upwards of $100 billion per year. It is now close to 20 years since the U.S. government has been fighting the “War On Drugs,” but despite the billions of dollars spent, an enormous amount of drugs continues to flow into the country. And now even more drugs coming in from Afghanistan.

 

However, with poppy sales on the rise in Afghanistan local warlords whose allegiance rests comfortably with anti-U.S. factions and those whose loyalty is up for sale can be counted on to continue cultivating this highly coveted crop to raise money for local armies fighting to expel American and allied troops from Afghanistan.

More heroin production will mean that more drugs will be sold on American streets by the kinds of characters who would do business with terrorists. Street crime and corruption will certainly be a booming industry in the next few years. The selling of these drugs threatens NATO and coalition soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. It means unfortunately more body bags coming home from the frontlines.

 

Sources:

U.S. State Department

Drug czar John Walters

DEA

United Nations

Maseh Zarif for Diplomatic Courier

Brookings Institution

Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry

US Defense Department

AP

Indian Embassy

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