Monday, August 27, 2007

Fasten your seatbelt..last words about the Flying Terrorist

Believe it or not - but my little video of the Flying Terrorist has been a major hit on the Internet - esp. youtube.com. It is ranked 19th in this month youtube popularity chart (in section People and Blogs) at around 255.000 hits.

The same Flying Terrorist clip was watched around 60.000 times via some kind of Dutch server. So that makes a total of around 315.000 hits. Not bad.

Just two short - and final - comments on The Flying Terrorist.

Lot's of people thought the Flying Terrorist was hilarious, funny, way to go etc. Well, those politically incorrect people did not get the point. I'm really getting a litle bit tired of those jokes like "oh, he just did not reach his 72 virgins". Five people even dubbed my video and put their own version on youtube with silly music under it (It's raining men - hallelujah).

Politically correct people though claimed they were "disgusted" or "sick" after viewing the clip. Their armchair remarks went, mostly, like this: 'Even if it is a terrorist, it is still a human being and - thus - a terrible thing to show his death on the Internet.' Or: "What you call a terrorist, others call a freedom fighter."

To those people I can only say: You guys for sure did not get the point. Because, yes, there IS a difference between the death of a terrorist and the death of an innocent civilian. Absolute evil and absolute good might not exist in this world - but there is a difference between a culprit and a victim, between action and reaction. There IS a difference between the Nazi bombings of Rotterdam, Guernica, London and the Allied bombings of Dresden or Berlin. A difference between Apartheid state terror and ANC attacks. A difference between advancing Serb forces and the defending Bosnian Army. A difference between 9/11 and the War on Terror. A difference between Fatah al Islam murderers (Flying terrorist guy) and the regular Lebanese army trying to stop them.

If you refuse to see that difference, well, then we better all just stay home so the motherf****** in this world can start their party. Or like Edmund Burk, an Irish statesman, once said: 'When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle'

Harald Doornbos

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Harryzzz is back - with a vengeance...

Holiday over - real world not. As of this Monday regular blogging will start again on Harryzzz.....

Cheers to everyone.

Harald Doornbos

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Little Holiday

I'll still try to post something every now and then, but am currently on a little......

Harald Doornbos

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Little explanation on the Flying Terrorist

First - thanks to everybody for posting comments.

Second - two dominating questions of the posters.

1. How are you sure it was a terrorist?

2. How do you know it was a human being?

Let me start with answering question number 1.

I know it was a terrorist (or more neutral - a Fatah al Islam fighter) because, at the moment there are only Fatah al Islam militants left in the camp. The Lebanese army has laid siege of the camp for almost three months now. That means you can not walk in or out of the camp anymore.

True - until a couple of weeks ago around 3000 Palestinian civilians still lived in the camp (by then 27.000 had already fled, mostly to the nearby Badawi refugee camp).

But these last 3000 civilians left around three weeks ago. Really, some people who comment here should follow the news a little better.

The only 'civilians' who stayed behind were 60 people, mostly women, who are married to Fatah al Islam fighters or are in other ways family members of the militants.

So lets call these women 'civilians', although they stayed with the fighters voluntarily (I mean 29.940 other Palestinians left).

Aha! So there is a change, you might now claim, that the blown up person in the clip was an 'innocent woman'.

My answer: No, there isn't. If you know anything about Islam, you will probably by now realize that an Al-Qaeda style organisation would NEVER EVER use women as fighters. I mean - be real. Yes, over the last couple of years, there have been a couple of female suicide bombers. This is though still extremely rare and mostly used in case male suicide bombers don't have access to a certain targets. But women just do not participate in battle. This is, within the Al Qaeda mindset, entirely haram (sinful).

The 60 'civilians' in the camp, are hiding in basements and tunnels. Most of these shelters are build by the PLO in the '80s during the Lebanse civil war. But with mainstream Fatah (PLO) crumbling, Fatah al Islam took over the Nahr al Bared camp in or around January of this year. They are using these underground PLO bunkers to try to stay alive. Also Fatah al Islam fighters basically stay underground. The shelling by Lebanese forces is so extreme these days, that there is a very small chance of surviving in the open.

Fatah al Islam fighters though still occupy some buildings above ground. Mainly the ground- and first floors of a couple of flats around a destroyed mosque. They still have snipers actively targeting the outskirts of the camp. How I know this: Well, on Tuesday I had to hide a couple of times behind a concrete wall because a Fatah al Islam sniper was shooting at us.

This all said: There is no doubt that the person who flew through the air was a Fatah al Islam fighter. No doubt.

And why call them terrorists? Well, Fatah al Islam beheads innocent people. They kill civilians. A couple of days ago I visited a 25 year old Palestian guy who lived and worked in the Nahr al Bared camp as a watch salesman. He was shot in the head - without any reason - by Fatah al Islam militants, two weeks prior to the beginning of the trouble in the camp. This is what the militants would do pretty often. Just randomly kill someone to frighten the others. The 25-year old guy survived the bullet in his head and sits now like a vegetable in a hospital. He lost his memory, has basically no clue who or where he is. Thank you very little Fatah al Islam! His parents, who are Palestinians, told me: "These terrorists should all be killed - there is just no other way."

Luckily for Fatah al Islam and Al Qaeda, the West is packed with apologists. Westerners who have no clue what radical Islam really stands for and who have no idea what Al Qaeda's actions and ideology really means to its main victims: Normal, smart, peaceful and middle-of-the-road Muslims.

Anyway. I admit that there is a 0.000006 percent chance that the person depected in the clip wasn't a Fatah al Islam fighter but an innocent jogger who got lost in Beirut, ran 90 kilometers to Nahr al Bared, fought himself a way through the Lebanese army lines and then was hit by a mortar. Please, again, be real.

Answer on question 2: Well, the flying object in the clip was a human being and not a chair or so. First of all, take a look at the clip, especially when he falls back to earth you clearly can see arms, legs etc.

Secondly: I put the camera next to me on a concrete wall (the same that protects us from sniper fire). I was kind of babbling with civilians next to me and, with them, chekcing out the heavy shelling 600 meters away. For already an hour shells exploded every couple of seconds. The moment the mortar in the clip hit and the person was catapulted into the air, suddenly everybody on the balcony started to shout: "Look, look. My god, that is a person!" So actually from the position we were in, we could all see it pretty clearly with the naked eye.

Last thing: How is it possible that a human being is being thrown in the air and not instantly torn to pieces by the impact of the explosion?

I have no answer to this question. I guess that most people who get hit by a mortar indeed die on the spot and never take off into the air. This, as it seems to me, looks very much like a 'freak-accident'. Maybe out of 10 million people who die because of shelling, one gets thrown in the air like in the video.

That's why its such unique footage.

Still - everybody is free to believe what the clip is all about. I have though something to admit to people who doubt the whole clip. Actually, after the person in the video fell back to earth, he stood up, removed the dust from his jacket and said in fluent Norwegian: " Gud - Jeg kjenne leve!" ("God, I feel alive!"). We later had a drink with him in a nearby pub. And the strange thing was - He was actually Danish.

Harald Doornbos

Friday, August 10, 2007

THE FLYING TERRORIST - a world exclusive!

No, this isn't (see video below) the new clip of Randy Crawford's song 'One Day I'll Fly Away'. Nor is it the new Super-, Spider- or He-Man.

This is exclusive footage of an Al-Qaeda inspired terrorist getting directly hit by a Lebanese army mortar.(If you wanna know why it is a terrorist and NOT a civilian, please click here) But that isn't the end, it is basically the beginning. Immediately after the mortar hits the building, the militant is - literally - catapulted 40 meters into the air. Eventually he falls back to earth and disappears in the smoke of the explosion. This little clip, to me at least, shows the madness of war.

I shot this footage, accidentally, on Tuesday with my little and cheap Sony digital camera while visiting the outskirts of the Nahr al Bared refugee camp, north of the Lebanese city of Tripoli. As I am a print reporter and hardly ever work for TV, I never carry professional camera equipment with me. This said though, I have never heard of a similar scene being caught on camera. If I'm wrong, please let me know.

The Lebanese army and Al-Qaeda inspired terrorists of Fatah al Islam are already engaged in a three month long battle inside the Nahr al Bared refugee camp. This mini-war has, up to now, killed at least 145 Lebanese soldiers and an unknown number of terrorists. Well, as the clip will show you, at least since Tuesday there was one terrorist less.

Before people start to freak out - You can watch this video without getting nightmares. I was standing around 600 meters away (my little camera was, by chance, rolling), so you don't see any details at all. I mean, I had to visit a professional video editor here in Beirut to zoom in on the footage.

In this little clip, I've repeated the same 10 seconds scene a couple of times to make it clear to viewers what is actually happening.

First part is a medium zoom-in version of the original in real time. Lebanese mortar hits a building and out of the plume of smoke, a little human figure is being catapulted into the air. You can hear the shouting of exited Lebanese civilians next to me saying "Lake, lake!" which means "Look, look!". From the place where we were standing, you could see the Flying Terrorist actually pretty clearly. The people next to me had never seen something like this. "Yes, we see the bombing, the shelling and the shooting," a man told me, "But you just never ever see these Fatah al Islam terrorists". Over the weeks, I have been in the outskirts of the camp for a total of more than 100 hours and had only once, for a fraction of a second, seen a militant firing his machine gun from a window. And then suddenly this: A Flying Terrorist.

The second part is the same version but in slow motion, third is with a little red circle around the unlucky militant, fourth and fifth are very much zoomed in (bad quality, the more you zoom in, the worse the quality of the picture gets), sixth part is the original version the way my little Sony captured it. The total length of the whole clip is around 58 seconds.


Although the death of any person is - in theory - never a happy occasion, I can't be that sad about the end of this guy's life. Fatah al Islam is a very dangerous Islamic Doomsday cult. 99.9 percent of Lebanese people hate them and consider the group a total disgrace to Islam. Fatah al Islam members suddenly started beheading Lebanese soldiers on May 20th of this year (I've got a video of two beheaded soldiers - am for sure NOT going to put that on youtube, because it is so disgusting you aren't gonna sleep for a week. Why behead somebody AND pull his eyes out?).

After firing thousands of mortars into the camp, the Lebanese army is clearly getting more and more experienced. This one was spot on. And a lucky shot for this reporter. Because in journalism (especially in war reporting) it rarely happens that you are at the right place, at the right moment.

Harald Doornbos

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Tomorrow: A World Exclusive on this blog!

Tomorrow will be a special day on this blog. I'll post a world exclusive video on Harryzzz of a Fatah al Islam militant (bascially Al Qaeda) who gets directly hit by a mortar and is catapulted 40 meters into the air. I shot the video myself, last Tuesday, while on assignment in the outskirts of the Nahr al Bared camp, north of the Lebanese town of Tripoli.

To my knowledge, this is the first time ever that such war footage was shot on camera. I mean - you literally see the guy flying through the air.

I shot the flying terrorist from pretty far away (with a little, cheap digital camera) so it isn't bloody. Don't expect any morbid details.

Nevertheless - to me this is amazing, never seen before footage. I've spent yesterday and today getting the video professionally zoomed in. So check this blog tomorrow morning. It's truly a unique witness to the insanity of war.

Harald Doornbos

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

100.000 hits and counting…

This little blog received today its 100.000th unique hit! Not bad for three months of blogging about a subject hardly anybody really cares about and many find predictable: The Middle East.

The 100.000th hit came from a person in the US. So at least today: God Bless America!

Most visitors to Harryzzz though came from Turkey, the Netherlands and Lebanon. So a big thank you, teşekkür ederim, bedankt and shukran to everybody.





Harryzzz will only keep on going stronger. With analyses from the spot, silly stuff from the spot and news from the spot. Because that’s what Harryzzz is about – writing about topics FROM THE SPOT.

It is very easy to write stuff on the Middle East from your living room in, let’s say, San Francisco, Birmingham or Rome. Bush is an idiot, Muslims are stupid, the Iraq invasion a mistake, Musharraf an American puppet, Hezbollah a bunch of terrorists, Al-Qaeda some kind of imaginary organization set up by Western imperialism.

My problem with this kind of blogging is that questions of wars, conflicts, culture and traditions stay very abstract.

That is why I will only touch subjects that are very concrete to me. Basically: I want to see things first hand before I will tell you about it.

Just an example: According to hundreds of blogs the Al Qaeda inspired terrorist group Fatah al Islam in Northern Lebanon was created by the Lebanese government. But how the hell can you be sure of this if you live in London or New York? Did you ever investigate this very important topic? Or did you just surf the web and quote some kind of conspiracy piece? It turns out that most left wing bloggers claim that the Lebanese government did it themselve, while right wing bloggers say Fatah al Islam was set up by neighbouring Syria. No side though has ever investigated it. The thing most bloggers do is - selectively - copy and paste the World Wide Web according to their own political preferences.

I honestly admit that I do not know who is behind Fatah al Islam. Reality is mostly pretty complex. But I visit the Northern Lebanon very frequently to check out all possibilities, speak to people who might know, meet witnesses etc. Eventually I will publish through Harryzzz the results of all these efforts.

I, for instance, will not write a lot on this blog about Iran. This because I’ve only been there thrice and only for about a week each time. Of course I have my personal opinion on the regime in Iran, but I try to keep this to myself. Because it really doesn’t matter what I think about Iran. My opinion on Iran is extremely irrelevant. I can tell you that Tehran has a very modern tube system (really, much nicer than the London underground, In Tehran they have flat screen TV’s in the tube). I can tell you about the Arab-Persian tension in South-Western Iran because I’ve visited that area and spoke to many people there. But I will never bore you with my personal ideas on things I haven’t seen or experienced first hand.

So keep on checking Harryzzz! I’ll keep on doing my best making this a (rather) interesting blog!

Monday, August 06, 2007

Aoun wins Metn - just

Here are the results of the Metn by-elections.

Representing the oppositional Free Patriotic League of general Michel Aoun, candidate Kamil Khoury (see interview below) won 39,534 votes, against 39,116 votes for Amin Gemayel, leader of the governing Falange party. A difference of only 418 votes or around 0.5 percent.

The seat in West Beirut was easily won by the candidate of the governing Future Movement of PM Fuad Siniora.

It is interesting to see that Sunni Muslims are overwhelmingly voting for a pro-Western, American backed government. While Christians are very much divided and are seriously flirting with the anti-American camp and with pro-totalitarian Syria.

Harald Doornbos

Only in Lebanon - Both sides win elections!

I just came back from the christian Arab suburbs of East-Beirut where supporters of Amin Gemayel and Michel Aoun both were celebrating an election victory in the Metn area. That is strange. Because according to my information: If two people run for one seat - well, there kind of must be one winner or one looser. I mean, you can't both have 51 percent of the votes. At the other hand, you never know in Lebanon.

On the main road in the Jediedeh area (East Beirut suburbs); Hundreds of Aoun spporters, all dressed in their party colour orange. Saw a couple of yellow Hezbollah flags as well. Aoun and Hezbollah are allies.

About hundred meters further, lot's of Gemayel supporters on scooters waving flags of the Falange and of the Lebanese Forces.

In the middle: Lebanese oldiers in riot gear doing their best to keep both sides seperated. The army doesn't want to be photographed, so no pics of soldiers.

Jediedeh looks like a huge army barrack. On all roads soldiers, on every corner armoured personnel carriers, jeeps or small tanks. Around 100 meters from my house, the harmy has set up some kind of checkpoint.

Until now, no major disturbances. This because as long as both sides feel they won, the party atmosphere will prevail. But wait until the election committee announces the offical results and proclaims one winner...well, the other winner might not find that announcement very funny.

Made both pictures. Aoun supporters on Sunday night. Some carrying orange, others waving the yellow Hezbollah flag.

Harald Doornbos

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Q&A: With Kamil Khoury - Candidate for Aoun's party in Metn

By-elections, today in Metn and West Beirut, lead to tension in Lebanon.

Government supporters claim that pro-Syrian death squads did not just kill MP's Pierre Gemayel and Waleed Eido to get rid off two pro-government members of parliament. Both men were killed to make new elections possible, thus giving the pro-Syrian opposition a chance to gain its number of seats in parliament. According to Lebanese law - in case of the death of an MP, his party can not replace the victim but new elections have to be called for. This, more or less, means that if you don't like the election results, you get another chance at the polls by killing the winner (Don't get caught of course!)

Days before, I spoke to Kamil Khoury, the candidate in Metn for the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM). The FPM is the party of general Michel Aoun, a Christian leader who is anti-government and works closely together with the radical Shi'ite movement Hezbollah. Mr. Khoury runs against Amin Gemayel, also a Christian and a former president of Lebanon. Mr. Gemayel is pro-government, his Falange party works closely together with Sunni Muslims of the Future Party of Rafiq Hariri, who was killed in 2005. Amin Gemayel is the father of the late Pierre Gemayel.

Q - Mr. Khoury, do you think you will win in the Metn area?
A - Kamil Khoury: "I hope we’ll win and with as high results as possible. I see that we have big chances. People trust us."

Q: But critics say it is highly strange and morally wrong that you try to win the seat of an opponent who was killed?
A: "Voting is a democratic right. In Lebanon, it is time to end political legacy and emotions when it comes to elections. There is a martyr in every house in this country and we bend in awe to them. But this is an empty parliamentary seat, which the people should decide upon."

Q: Why didn't you wait with contesting the late Pierre Gemayel's seat until his mandate is over. I mean - he was elected for four years, so it seems logical that his party can appoint his replacement until his mandate ends?
A: "In democracy, people decide. Lebanese should give their trust to either sides. Maybe those who voted for the son don’t want the father to take his place. Many loved in Pierre his youth spirit and ambitions, unique traits not found in the father. Let the people decide their representative."

Q: Government supporters claim your party is pro-Syrian because the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) is in an alliance with the very openly pro-Syrian Party of God or Hezbollah. Are you pro-Syrian?
A: "If the FPM wins, I can’t see how the Syrians will have influence in Metn. We are not allies with the Syrians. If the Syrian Baathist party is sunning for elections then I can understand such argument. We fought the Syrians in peaceful means when they were in our country. We stood against them. Now we call for equal diplomatic ties with the Syrians and demarcation of borders."

Harald Doornbos

Friday, August 03, 2007

SAY IT WITH MUSIC: THE FINAL TOP 10 !


The suggestions are in, the votes have been counted, the final results are in!

After many hours of deliberations, the jury (basically me sitting in only a boxer short behind my lap top in a sweaty Beirut) has decided which 10 songs are crappy, insane, silly, weird or loud enough to be used to drive Fatah al Islam (FaI) militants out of a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of Lebanon. (see post below).

Many thanks to all the people who took time to come up with excellent songs. I mean, the purpose wasn't to please your mama, but to annoy the FaI militants in the Nahr al Bared camp. Some suggestions though were great, but not usable. Celine Dion would definitely drive me crazy, but here in the Middle East they LOOOOVE her. Really, I've met Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan who were going on and on about the Titanic. Queen, Phil Collins and ZZ top are way too melodic.

1. EXCLUSIVE UNDERGROUND CLIP OF FATAH AL ISLAM MILITANTS DANCING ON THE SONG "GIRL WITH THE LEEK". Listen to the song once and like it. Twice - visit toilet. Five days - death! Juicy detail: The FaI fighters are surprisingly small! Dave, thanks! You won a piece of shrapnel from the camp. Really, once the fighting is over, I'll get it.


2. Jantje Smit, with the Dutch song I only sing this song for you. After hearing this song for five days, even the FaI guys must doubt a possible victory. For people who don't speak Dutch: it's about Jantje's grandmother. He says he loves her, he feels like being naked with her on a boat and wants her inheritance. What an annoying kid this Jantje! Thanks anonymous!


3. "HAVA NAGILA" PLAYED ON ANCIENT JEWISH TEMPLE LYRE! A kosher classic!


4. Bohemian Polka by Weird Al Yankovic. With a beautiful lesson in it. "I'm just a poor boy - nobody loves me." My god - five days this song.... Thanks anonymous!


5. ATARI TEENAGE RIOT. Because it's loud, loud, loud. We will not negotiate! Thanks Hoxha!


6. The Casualties - because of the noise and, of course, their hair! Thanks Philip!


7. Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song. Just totally freaky! Thanks waverider!


8. Hardrock Halleluja - based on Lordi. Well, you get the point...


9. Another Hava Nagila. I just love this Thai version. Too silly for words.


10. Suzanne by Leonard Cohen.

Why the hell this beautiful, quiet song on number 10?

Well, because of this: I've been joking a lot about Fatah al Islam in the Nahr al Bared camp. I think humour is a healthy way of looking at a situation.

But it is a serious matter too. Do not forget - FaI are a bunch of fanatics who out of the blue started to behead Lebanese soldiers. Yes, that is right, they cut people's throat. I've seen a video of their actions. Cutting throats, even taking out the eyes of innocent Lebanese conscripts.

By now over 120 Lebanese soldiers were killed - they all have families, whose lives were destroyed forever.

And 30.000 Palestinians left the camp after the fighting started. Although they allowed Fatah al Islam in their camp, the Palestinians too are loosing everything they once possessed. The camp is being fully destroyed, not one house will survive the shelling by the Lebanese army.

Even the members of Fatah al Islam - where did it go wrong in their lives? I understand that people sometimes are angry, even hate. But so much destruction, so much hate, such a passion for death. In a way, poor guys. A life without love, without a future, without an identity - a culture of repression and violence. The result: A truly evil doomsday sect.

I don't want to sound too melodramatic, but in this conflict it seems that every victim is a culprit and every culprit a victim.

So enjoy Leonard Cohen's song. Because life can sometimes be so simple and so beautiful:

Suzanne takes you down,

To her place near the river.

You can hear the boats go by,

You can spend the night beside her.



Harald Doornbos

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

So you thought Mr. Bush was an idiot....

...Well, wait till you hear presidential hopeful Barack Obama speaking tough words on Pakistan:

"If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will," Mr Obama said on Wednesday during a speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, in Washington.

Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, must do more to end terrorist operations in his country, Mr. Obama went on. If not, Pakistan would risk a troop invasion and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of US aid during an Obama presidency.

Wow - Attack Pakistan if we can kill or catch a couple of Al Qaeda-members there. What a wisdom!

I lived for three years in Pakistan, from September 12th 2001 until October 2004, and still frequently visit the country.

It is clear to me that Mr. Obama - although seemingly a nice guy - has NO CLUE about the complex situation in Pakistan.

An American attack on Pakistani soil is, by far, the most sensitive topic in Pakistan. Taliban, Al Qaeda and actually millions of ordinary Pakistanis constantly claim that the only reason America supports president Musharraf is to invade Pakistan - dismantle Pakistan's nuclear bomb, destroy the country and kill millions of Muslims. I always tell people in Pakistan that this doom-scenario is a little bit far fetched and part of the big passion for conspiracy-theories among many Muslims.

And then - bang! Barack Obama threatens Pakistan with the exact scenario that the Islamists are already talking about for many years now. Even I have to admit - the mullahs were right!

I've always been amazed how NONE of American scholars, politicians or Russia experts ever saw the collapse of communism coming. I've been utterly shocked that the Bush administration NEVER had a plan B after the initial victory over the Iraqi army.

Now Mr. Obama follows in the footsteps of these ignorant, bla-bla-bla people. All these politicians, specialists, professors or PHD wankers who sit on their asses in fancy offices or think-tank in Washington but never ever travel the world or visit the places that they specialize in.

Just watch the Sunday news shows on American TV. Some fat guy in a suit saying: "It is obvious that Musharraf should do much more." Really - how do you mean more? Should he bomb the Tribal Area's. Should he kill the 1.5 million brainwashed students at every madrassa, or quran school. Maybe it would be a good idea if president Musharraf kills every Pakistani. No Pakistan, no problems.

They all seem to forget that president Musharraf handed hundreds of Al Qaeda operatives over to the US. They ignore the fact that Musharraf walks an extremely fine line between his policies of moderate Islam and up to 60 percent of the population who - according to a survey done after 9/11 - think Osama bin Laden is a great guy.

Or listen on American TV to these members of the Bush administration - expensive suits, and nice haircuts the price of a three monthly salary in Pakistan - criticizing Pakistan "for not fencing the border with Afghanistan so the Taliban and Al Qaeda can not escape to Pakistan". Really? It is true that this border isn't fenced. But it is not just some minor border - it is over 2600 km long and passes through Pakistan's most hostile areas (geographically and politically) in NWFP province and Baluchistan.

And by the way - How many Mexicans are still illegally entering the US just by walking from Mexico to the US because of a lack of fencing and patrolling on the US-side?

How the hell can Pakistan, which is a very poor country, fence the Afghan/Pakistani border.

And something else - On both sides of the border live Pasthun tribes. Until 1893 the Pashtuns considered Pashtunistan or Pakhtunistan their country. (In that year the British created the Durand line, now the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan - hereby cutting Pashtunistan in half and weakening the Pashtun tribes - see red areas on the map). The fence will be considered by millions of Pasthuns as a permanent division of their land. So - unless defended by literally a million Pakistani soldiers - the 2600 km long fence will last about two minutes.

This of course is all getting way to complex for Mr Obama an many others in Washington. Let's go for the easy slogans that brought so much happiness to Iraq. Pakistan must do more - otherwise we bomb them.

Believe me - if the US would invade Pakistan or even launch air strikes on Pakistani territory without a green light from Islamabad, Islamist forces will get rid of president Musharraf and take over the country. You think Iraq is bad - wait till Pakistan gets out of control (not 20 million, but 150 million people and bordered by Afghanistan). And the Islamists will be happily supported by millions of Pakistanis whose utter fear now has become reality. "Better a Taliban Pakistan, than no Pakistan," a man told me on the streets of Islamabad three weeks ago. I can't blame him.

Sometimes I wonder: Why do many American (and other Western) politicians show a striking resemblance of me during my mathematics class at secondary school? (Really, I didn't understand a f*** off it)

Anyway, in the new tough world of Barack Obama, Pakistan might be handed to Osama.

This guy just should never become president of the USA. Vote for Hillary (and a little bit for Bill of course)!

Harald Doornbos