Ayaan Ali Hirsi and the Big Bad Wolf

ouch, a bit mean there! and far right masters? sort of doesnt match up with her run-in`s with the right wingers such as iron rita in holland, but lets not get all balanced out :)

> Hirsi Ali is clearly moving around the world with a clear-cut agenda: to bash Islam...
Like it should be. Everyone with a conscience and a good heart must bash the devil. At
every opportunity.

> But it seems she is pretty happy to be a liar and a cheat...
At least she is not condoning the beheadings like you ...

> ...and instead got her co-writer killed...
So hirsi ali got her co-writer killed. What sense of ``aisa-to-hona-hee-tha``.

And humans continue to shelter these vermin ...

> we`d realize that Islam and women`s oppression are antithetical terms that really don`t
> deserve to exist in the same sentence...
LOL.
Another paliative vomitted...

Bina Shah: La ilaha Illal Lah my ass. Islam will get its proverbial zabeeha and it`s getting it aplenty already. Just like its sisters xianity and judaism got earlier. While you guys at Khayabaan-e-Jami can keep drinking the islamist cool aid.

``instead got her co-writer killed... ``

my answer: you guys deserve neo-cons and Bush bit&hslapping your dictator in front of national press.

Re: # 3
> you guys deserve neo-cons and Bush bit&hslapping your dictator in front of national
> press...
Actually they deserve more ..

wiseguyin:
What is really curious is the way questioning islam could turn supposedly civilised, educated human beings into blood seeking, murder justifying savages.

`` instead got her co-writer killed.``

``She`s now been found to have lied on her asylum application: ``


This is patently incorrect. The information about her lying to get asylum was in public domain since 2002. The minister along with the sitting dutch gov. has resigned over the issue.

Re: # 5
Actually these poor things have to put on a facade, amongst humans. Irony is, it seems
to be working - I am yet to see a legislation in ANY civilized (or uncivilized, for that matter)
country where Muslim Immigration or citizenship is banned.
The facade comes off inadvertently like in this article ... (you have already pointed out some
of the pertinent lines).

Sick.

A classic example of an islamist lying through her teeth.


This is from the BBC:

``In 1992, she gave a false name and date of birth to the immigration authorities to escape an arranged marriage.

But she declared the falsification when she was vetted for parliament in 2002. The parliamentary motion - introduced by the coalition Liberal party that both women belong to - was supported by a majority. ``


What can you say about Islamists - they are an unique species - if you follow her logic, Van Gogh`s grandson got himself killed!

Now THAT`S Islam for you.

sponsored by a far-right organization called the American Enterprise Institute


Here we go again...the AEI is hardly ``far-right``...``far right`` to the Islamofascists who were after Hirsi Ali`s blood perhaps...

Bina Shah: I didn`t expect you to be an apologists for the Islamofascists...

Re: # 9

``...the AEI is hardly ``far-right``(Arjun mian)

Arjun mian is right -- AEI is real hardcore far-right...

Bina - Beautiful! Very well written. However, I have slightly different take on Ayaan. You cut through her lies, deceits, and fabrications, and you find that she is just like any other human being with a drive to make a living. She is also a victim of west`s hunger for characters like herself in the aftermath of 9/11. Had it been another time, or were she of a different religion, her fairy tales would not have amounted to getting even a dollar from europe`s welfare system. She was milked for all her utility. And given the current climate in US, she will be perfectly placed with AEI - the think tank most responsible for weaving the web of lies that have resulted in 150,000 iraqi deaths and 2500 american.

In her quest for fame and wealth, she is no different than the rest of us who make our living by working for western companies who in return work for western causes. We do so quietly, she has to do it vocally. She is an opportunist. But so am I. She lies through her teeth and obscenely exaggerates the issues in Muslim societies. But I as a consultant do the same when I tell my clients about issues in their companies. If she were to not exaggerate or lie, she would not be doing the job that west pays her to do. If I were to not create new revenue streams by artfully manufacturing issues at my client’s site, I would not be doing the job that my firm pays me to do.

Lets face it, it is not about Islam. It is not about reform. It is all about what ``ticks``. And what ticks now is the ``reformation`` of Islam. More importantly, it is much more profitable to write about reforming Islam than about reforming, say, american health care system in which thousands of americans die each year due to lack of health care and medications.

So lets not vilify Ayaan. She is just a cog, like the rest of us, who serves the wheel.

Hisri may not have been a Muslim woman of implacable credentials -- but her message about the oppression and degradation of Muslim womanhood was implacably true.....AEI or no AEI...

``Women must stand up for themselves, they must speak out against injustice, no matter what form or shape it takes. Islam cannot be used to justify oppression over women or their bodies or their futures.``(author)

this is exactly what Ayaan Hisri Ali will say -- may be in wrong company -- may be a little too fast and too ahead of her times, for her religion or ethnicity -- but that does not diminish the truth of her message -- which is again same as that of the author -- yet we vilify Ayaan -- why?

New York Times, 7/14/94

Following is an open letter from Salman Rushdie to Taslima Nasrin, a
Bangladeshi physician, newspaper columnist and author of the novel
``Shame,`` who is under death threats from Muslim clerics and faces
criminal charges from the Government for allegedly criticizing the
Koran. Mr. Rushdie, who has been in hiding since being sentenced to
death by Iranian religious leaders in 1989, is organizing an
international protest on Ms. Nasrin`s behalf by other prominent
writers.

By Salman Rushdie

I am sure you have become tired of being called ``the female Salman
Rushdie`` - what a bizarre and comical creature that would be! - when
all along you thought you were the female Taslima Nasrin. I am sorry
my name has been hung around your neck, but please know that there are
many people in many countries working to make sure that such
sloganizing does not obscure your identity, the unique features of
your situation and the importance of fighting to defend you and your rights
against those who would cheerfully see you dead.

In reality it is our adversaries who seem to have things in common,
who seem to believe in divine sanction for lynching and terrorism. So
instead of turning you into a female me, the headline writers should
be describing your opponents as ``the Bangladeshi Iranians.`` How sad it
must be to believe in a God of blood! What an Islam they have made,
these apostles of death, and how important it is to have the courage
to dissent from it!

Great writers have agreed to lend their weight to the campaign on your
behalf: Czeslaw Milosz, Mario Vargas Llosa, Milan Kundera and more.
When such campaigns were run on my behalf, I found them immensely
cheering, and I know that they helped shape public opinion and
government attitudes in many countries.

You have spoken out about the oppression of women under Islam, and
what you said needed saying. In the West, there are too many eloquent
apologists working to convince people of the fiction that women are
not discriminated against in Muslim countries or that, if they are, it has
nothing to do with the religion. The sexual mutilation of women,
according to this argument, has no basis in Islam. This may be true
in theory, but in many countries where this goes on, the mullahs
wholeheartedly support it. And then there are the countless crimes of
violence within the home, the inequalities of legal systems that value
women`s evidence below that of men, the driving of women out of the
workplace in all countries where Islamists have come to, or even near
to power.

You have spoken out about the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh after
the destruction of the Ayodhya mosque in India by Hindu extremists. Yet
any fair-minded person would agree that a religious attack by Muslims
on innocent Hindus is as bad as an attack by Hindus on innocent
Muslims. Such simple fairness is the target of the bigots` rage, and
it is that fairness which, in defending you, we seek to defend.

You are accused of having said that the Koran should be revised
(though you have said that you were referring only to Islamic religious code).
You may have seen that only last week the Turkish authorities have
announced a project to revise these codes, so in that regard at least
you are not alone. And even if you did say that the Koran should be
revised to remove its ambiguities about the rights of women, and even
if every Muslim man in the world were to disagree with you, it would
remain a perfectly legitimate opinion, and no society which wishes to
jail or hang you for expression it can call itself free.

Simplicity is what fundamentalists always say they are after, but in
fact they are obscurantists in all things. What is simple is to agree
that if one may say ``God exists`` then another may also say ``God does
not exist``; that if one may say ``I loathe this book`` then another may
also say ``But I like it very much.`` What is not at all simple is to
be asked to believe that there is only one thruth, one way of expressing
that truth, and one punishment (death) for those who say this isn`t
so.

As you know, Taslima, Bengali culture - and I mean the culture of
Bangladesh as well as the Indian Bengal - has always prided itself on
its openness, its freedom to think and argue, its lack of bigotry. It
is a disgrace that your Government has chosen to side with the
religious extremists against their own history, their own
civilization, their own values. It is the treasure-house of the intelligence, the
imagination and the word that your opponents are trying to loot.

I have seen and heard reports that you are all sorts of dreadful
things - a difficult woman, an advocate (horror of horrors) of free love.
Let me assure you that those of use who are working on your behalf are
well aware that character assissination is normal in such situations, and
must be discounted. And simplicity again has something valuable to
say on this issue: even difficult advocates of free love must be allowed
to stay alive, otherwise we sould be left only with those who believe
that love is something for which there must be a price - perhaps a terrible
price - to pay.

Taslima, I know that there must be a storm inside you now. One minute
you will feel weak and helpless, another strong and defiant. Now you
will feel betrayed and alone, and now you will have the sense of
standing for many who are standing silently with you. Perhaps in your
darkest moments you will feel you did something wrong - that those
demanding your death may have a point. This of all your goblins you
must exorcise first. You have done nothing wrong. The wrong is
committed by others against you. You have done nothing wrong, and I
am sure that one day soon you will be free.

It`s a shame. Ayaan Hirsi Ali got her her way at the expense of millions of others. Another fine example of how Media turns blind at times.

REF: Wikipedia.org

The citizenship controversy

In May 2006 the Dutch television program ``Zembla`` reported that Hirsi Ali had given false information about her real name, her age and the country she arrived from when originally applying for asylum in the Netherlands. The program also presented evidence that she was untruthful about the main reason for her asylum application being forced marriage.

Hirsi Ali admitted that she had lied about her full name, her date of birth, the manner in which she came to the Netherlands, and about Islam. However several sources, including her first book The Son Factory, which was published in 2002 stated her real name and date of birth, and Hirsi Ali also publicly stated her real name and date of birth in a September 2002 interview published in the political magazine HP/De Tijd. and in an interview in the VARA gids (2002). So these details were considered by many to be public knowledge. Furthermore, Hirsi Ali has asserted that she had made full disclosure of the matter to VVD officials when she was first invited to run for parliament in 2002.

Media speculation arose that she could lose her Dutch citizenship because of this `identity fraud`, rendering her ineligible for parliament. In a first reaction Minister Rita Verdonk [16] said she would not look into the matter, but after Member of Parliament Hilbrand Nawijn officially asked her for her position, she declared that she would investigate Hirsi Ali`s naturalisation process. This investigation took three days. The findings were that Hirsi Ali never received Dutch citizenship after all, because she lied about her name and date of birth. Hirsi Ali had stated that she was Ayaan Hirsi Ali, born in 1967, but she is actually Ayaan Hirsi Magan, born in 1969. Therefore the Dutch government`s position is that Hirsi Ali`s Dutch citizenship is invalid and declared null and void.

On May 15, 2006, after the broadcast of the ``Zembla`` documentary, news stories erupted saying that Hirsi Ali is likely to move to the United States in September 2006. There she is expected to work on her book Shortcut to Enlightenment and work for the center-right think tank American Enterprise Institute.

On May 16, Hirsi Ali resigned from Parliament after admitting to lying on her asylum application. On that day she gave a press conference in which she restated that although she felt it was wrong to be granted asylum under false pretences, the facts had been publicly known since 2002 when they were reported in the media and in one of her publications. In the press conference she also restated that she spoke the truth about the reason for asking asylum which was the threat of forced marriage despite the claim to the contrary in the Zembla program by some of her relatives. The reason, she stated for resigning immediately were not the continuous threats, making her job as a parliamentarian ``difficult`` but ``not impossible`` but the news that the Minister would strip her of her Dutch citizenship.

After a long and emotional debate in the Dutch Parliament all major parties supported a motion, requesting the Minister to explore the possibilities of special circumstances in Hirsi Ali`s case. Although Verdonk remains convinced that jurisprudence does not leave her any room to consider such circumstances, she decided to accept the motion. During the debate she astonished MPs by claiming that Hirsi Ali still has Dutch citizenship during the period of reexamination. Apparently the decision she made public, wasn`t a decision after all, but merely a report of the current position of the Dutch government. Hirsi Ali still has six weeks to react to this before any final decision about her citizenship is taken. Verdonk was heavily criticized for not acting more prudently in a case that has so many political implications.

Apart from a Dutch passport, Hirsi Ali does still have a Dutch residency permit (similar to a Permanent Resident Card) on the grounds that she is a political refugee. According to the Minister, this permit cannot be taken away from her since it was granted more than 12 years ago, in 1992.

In a reaction to the announced move, former VVD minister Hans Wiegel stated that her departure ``would not be a loss to the VVD and not be a loss to the Tweede Kamer``. Wiegel said that Hirsi Ali was a brave woman, but that her opinions were polarizing. Former parliamentary leader of the VVD, Jozias van Aartsen, was more positive about Hirsi Ali, saying that it is ``painful for Dutch society and politics that she is leaving the Tweede Kamer``. Another VVD MP, Bibi de Vries, claimed that if something were to happen to Hirsi Ali, some people in her party would have ``blood on their hands.``

Christopher DeMuth (President of the AEI) has confirmed in a letter that recent events in the Netherlands will not affect the appointment. On May 16 he stated that he was still looking forward to ``welcoming her to AEI, and to America.``

United States Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has later stated that ``we recognise that she is a very courageous and impressive woman and she is welcome in the US.``

On May 23 2006 Ayaan Hirsi made available to the The New York Times some letters she believes provide insights into her 1992 asylum application. In one letter, her sister warned her that the entire extended family was searching for her (after fleeing to the Netherlands) and in another letter her father denounced her.

Rita VerdonkOn June 27, 2006, the Dutch government announced that Hirsi Ali would keep her Dutch citizenship. On the same day a letter was disclosed in which Hirsi Ali expressed regret that she had misinformed Minister Verdonk. Apparently Hirsi Ali was allowed after all to carry the name Hirsi Ali because the Dutch government believes that Somalis are allowed to carry the name of their grandfather according to Somali family law. As it turned out, her grandfather used the last name Ali until his thirties and only then switched to Megan. The fact that this grandfather was born in 1840 complicated the investigation. Also, the issue of the false date of birth on retrospection was not that important according to the Minister.

Later in the same day Hirsi Ali through her lawyer and in television interviews made a statement declaring that she signed the letter which was drafted by the Justice Department under duress. She felt she was pressured into signing the statement in exchange for the passport but that she agreed to do this, swallowing her pride and in order not to complicate her pending visa application for the US (although to this date she still carries her Dutch passport, despite the upheaval). An intimate friend of Hirsi Ali, Leon de Winter presented in his weblog a detailed account of events taking place on June 27 leading to Hirsi Ali signing the statement confirming in his view, the involuntary nature of her action.

In a special parliamentary session on June 28 questions were raised concerning the alleged coercion of the Hirsi Ali statement by minister Verdonk, the dismissal by the minister of the false date of birth as a relevant issue and whether Somali law prevails over Dutch law.