Habib Siddiqui

The UK has stepped up its criticism of US conduct of the  Iraq  war, with the foreign secretary saying the single most disastrous mistake was the mass removal of supporters of the Ba’ath party from the Iraqi army, which he claimed led directly to the  formation of Islamic State . Philip Hammond said the move by Paul Bremer, an American diplomat  in charge of running Iraq  in 2003, to dismantle the country’s army had proved a disastrous mistake, as it had sent 400,000 unemployed soldiers on to the streets. On Thursday the Chilcot report on the UK’s involvement in Iraq  delivered a scathing critique  of Tony Blair’s decision to go to war on the basis of bogus intelligence and a catastrophic lack of planning for the aftermath of the invasion. Hammond, giving evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: “Many of the problems we see in Iraq today stem from that disastrous decision to dismantle the Iraqi army and embark on a programme of d...

The excerpts of the Chilcot report can be read by clicking here . The UK chose to join the invasion before peaceful options had been exhausted . Blair deliberately exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein Blair promised George Bush: ’I will be with you, whatever’ The decision to invade was made in unsatisfactory circumstances George Bush largely ignored UK advice on postwar planning There was no imminent threat from Saddam Britain’s intelligence agencies produced ‘flawed information’ The UK military were ill-equipped for the task UK-US relations would not have been harmed if UK stayed out of war Blair ignored warnings on what would happen in Iraq after invasion The government had no post-invasion strategy The UK had no influence on Iraq ’s postwar US-run administration The UK did not achieve its objectives in Iraq The government did not try hard enough to keep a tally of Iraqi civilian casualties

Saudi Arabia said a suicide bomber who attacked Prophet Mohammed's Mosque in the city of Medina on Monday was a 26-year-old Saudi citizen with a history of drug abuse. Twelve Pakistanis and seven Saudis have been detained in relation to attacks that day. Naer Muslim Hamad crossed a parking lot next to the prophet's mosque in Medina and detonated an explosive belt near a security headquarters, killing four soldiers, the state news agency SPA quoted an Interior Ministry spokesman as saying. "When security guards intercepted him he blew himself up," said the spokesman. The statement also named three individuals who carried out bombings in the province of Qatif on Monday. It said none of them had obtained Saudi IDs. All of the men were in their early 20s and one had previously taken part in anti-government rallies. Suicide bombers hit three Saudi cities on Monday in apparently coordinated attacks that targeted U.S. diplomats in Jeddah and Shi'ite Muslim worshippers in...

With the nation still struggling to come to terms with  last week’s high profile cafe attack , Bangladesh found itself once again the victim of a terror attack today, with an unidentified group of militants attacking a massive prayer gathering to celebrate Eid al-Fitr. One of Islam’s most important holidays, Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan, and some 300,000 people were gathered at the site of the attack , when militants showed up and started  throwing  bombs, quickly getting into a gun-battle with police. The attack killed four people, including two police, and wounded over a dozen others. The Bangladesh government said it had anticipated the threat and had a lot of security in the area, explaining how they managed to stop the attack before the toll was much, much higher. It is believed the  intended target of the attack  was Maulana Masud, a key liberal cleric in the area, who has been campaigning publicly against Islamist radicals. He had a securi...

CAIRO (Reuters) - Audio from the flight deck voice recorder of EgyptAir MS804 indicates an attempt to put out a fire on board the jet before it crashed into the Mediterranean, sources on the investigation committee said on Tuesday. The Airbus A320 plunged into the eastern Mediterranean en route from Paris to Cairo on May 19. All 66 people on board were killed. The cause of the crash remains unknown.  The fire originated from the lavatory.

Book Review: 'Who Wrote The Bible?' By Richard Elliot Friedman By Dr. Niaz Ahmed Is the Bible authentic? Surely, it is one of, if not the most influential book in our modern time. It has, and currently is being studied in depth not only as sacred text, but also as literature, and history. Richard Elliot Friedman, a renowned biblical scholar, and author of, “Who Wrote the Bible?” is a Harvard graduate, and currently the professor of Jewish studies at the University of Georgia. In his book, he focuses primarily on the author (or authors, as you will see later) of the five books of Moses (IE. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). This compilation is known as the Pentateuch (from Greek, meaning “five scrolls”), or as you may well know, the Torah (from Hebrew, meaning “instruction”). From the long course of biblical analysis throughout history, to the formation of the Documentary Hypothesis of Julius Wellhausen, and finally to his own analysis, Friedman thoroughly expl...

As Myanmar looks to reconcile the differences between its Buddhist majority and Rohingya Muslim minority, it could do worse than follow Nelson Mandela’s lead. That is the view of Adama Dieng, who is a UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide But Dieng forgets that Suu Kyi is no Mandela. She has been a racist and bigot to the core for decades, very much unlike Mandela. That info was somewhat hidden for the non-Buddhist world who had fancied all the good opinions about her. Slowly she unmasked her true ugly image in the last few years when the Rohingya crisis started in 2012 to show how dedicated Buddhist she has been to the Sasana and Sangha. Many political novices thought that such tactics were part of her broader scheme to get the Buddhist majority vote in the last year's election. But she did not fool us, and now with all the power of the state in her disposal, she has not changed the evil ways of the past to make a difference in the lives of the persecuted Muslims. She e...