بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Abu Musab and Abdul Kareem

The 60th Anniversary of the nakba (catastrophe) took place last week where the western world joined hands with the terrorist, apartheid, Zionist state of Israel to celebrate its 60th birthday.

President George W. Bush said on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war that he had no regrets about the unpopular war in Iraq despite the "high cost in lives and treasure" and declared that the United States was on track for victory. Marking the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion with a touch of the arrogance he showed early in the war, Bush said in a speech at the Pentagon, "The successes we are seeing in Iraq are undeniable."

Egypt won its sixth Africa Cup of Nations title, beating Cameroon 1-0 in the final.

Within seconds of the final whistle being blown, the Egyptian capital erupted into a cacophony of noise and a blur of light. Streets in Cairo were packed after news of the win came through. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian football fans had taken to the streets after Egypt's victory in the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament.

The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: "You see the believers as regards their being merciful among themselves and showing love among themselves and being kind, resembling one body, so that, if any part of the body is not well then the whole body shares the sleeplessness (insomnia) and fever with it." [Bukhari]

The following article, written on the 8 th January/30th Dhul Hijjah, has been translated from Arabic and is an analysis of the reasons for President George W Bush's Middle East tour.

Bush's visit comes in the US election year when the president has the least authority to take decisions on international issues. This is why during the 1950's and 60's when Britain was the US's direct rival in the international arena, it used be very active during the election year when the US presidents and their parties would be preoccupied in electoral activities and as soon as the new president succeeded, the British would lie low.

The decision by the US administration to impose sanctions upon three of Iran’s state owned banks and the revolutionary guards as well as to label the Quds division-a unit within the revolutionary guards- as a terrorist outfit has raised the issue of whether a military attack against Iran is more likely than before.

Certainly, the evidence of the past few weeks appears to suggest growing US efforts to militarily prevent Iran’s nuclear technology development and a renewed campaign to garner support, domestic and international, for an attack on Iran.