Iraq- Muqtada al-Sadr is Going Religious, or is it Political?
Muqtada al-Sadr has gone back to college, to Grad School, or its equivalent in Shi'a theology. Arab media quote Muqtada that his father had advised him early on to finish his studies. His father and two brothers were assassinated by Ba'ath regime agents in 1999. An uncle and aunt were tortured and murdered by Ba'ath security in Baghdad in 1980. (It is possible that some of these very same guys are being rehired in the New Iraq Security Forces even as I rant, Of course they would be older, with more extended bellies).

Al-Sadr leads a political faction with thirty members in Iraq's parliament. He has twice declared an effective ceasefire with US forces, freezing all activities by his Mahdi militias, although US commanders still target what they call 'renegade factions' of the Sadrist movement. The freeze has coincided with the US surge. Muqtada himself has periodically railed against 'renegade' elements.
Lately the Sadrists had threatened to lead prtests if the new law on provincial (regional) councils is hindered. The law has not been ratified by the Presidential Council.

Al-Qaeda Rampant?
Arab media report that a wanted al-Qaeda man, has again appeared at a Yemeni court last week and then allowed to walk out free. His name is Jaber al-Banna and is on the Most Wanted list in the United States and has a $ 5 million reward for his arrest.
Reports say that he has posted bail to be able to go free, but it is not known if the bail posted exceeds ten US dollars.

Future Soccer Moms and the Mufti:
Alarabiya reports that the Mufti General of Saudi Arabia has intervened in a university to stop a race (running as in a track meet or cross country) among female students. Earlier a soccer (Football) game between female students of two Saudi colleges had created a controversy in the conservative quasi-fundamentalist kingdom. The soccer game was held in a closed stadium where only females were allowed entry- perhaps the boys were outside imagining things?

The Mufti Abdulaziz Aal al-Shaikh is a direct descendant of Mohammed bin Abdul-Wahab, an early political ally of the al-Saud dynasty whose name is given to the Wahhabi sect.
There is another Mohammed Abdelwahab, who is even more famous across the Arab world, and for good reason: the late great Egyptian composer and singer with that same name. But he was not much into fatwas.

Is It the Jordan River Water?
A Jordanian man has stabbed his brother to death after finding out that the brother has been violating their sister. The crime was discovered by the girl's husband on their wedding night when it turned out she was not a virgin. She confessed that the brother was the guilty party. The killer was sentenced to one year in prison. Interesting.

Another Jordanian man has killed his sister and a Syrian shepherd, claiming he had caught them in a compromising position. He fired six bullets into his sister and four bullets into the Syrian shepherd (that is nepotism) after he caught them 'together' early morning. A medical exam confirmed that the girl was still a virgin when she was shot.
It turns out the man was helped by two cousins who did not believe in mixed dating (mixed presumably being men-women and Jordanian-Syrian dating, apparently no Jordanian sheep were involved).
No word about the take of the sheep on all this- normally sheep are not allowed to testify in Jordanian courts.

In Jordan, the law limits sentences for "honor" killings to a range of between three months and one year. A kiss can be very costly in Jordan, but in Jordan life can be almost as cheap as it was in Afghanistan under the Taliban.

Enough about life and death in the moderate New Middle East- I won't mention the famous birth pangs this time.

Arabian Frustration:
Alarabiya reports that police in the town of al-Khubar in eastern Saudi Arabia have intervened to stop a marriage, on the wedding night. Apparently some of the bride's brothers were disgruntled, and had sued against the marriage on the ground that the two are not campatibe in terms of clans, i.e not tribally compatible.

Arab Parliament Redux (Again):
Arabs can rejoice: the Provisional Arab Parliament has formed a committe to study and propose solutions for all inter-Arab problems. From now on all Arab problems and crises will be resolved forthwith. Rejoice my people.
(Actually it may not be a bad idea, it may turn out to be more effective then the Summits or the Arab League). Still, I would recommend that they move it to Strasbourg.
Cheers
Mohammed