By Syed M.Aslam
June
03 - 09, 2002
*** "BUSH, BLAIR,
SHARON: THE AXIS OF EVIL."
(French protestors carrying a banner during US
President George W. Bush's arrival in Paris)
*** "WE WANTED to
do something different and help raise consciousness of the
environment."
(A scuba-diving couple who got married in a
shark-filled tank in Singapore's Underwater world to raise awareness
about shark fishing and to discourage serving of shark fin soup at
weddings)
*** "IT'S EVEN
BETTER the second time. You see things on your second climb that you
didn't notice the first time."
(Peter Hillary, the son of one of the first two
people to conquer Mount Everest, Edmund Hillary, after his second
Everest climb recently)
*** "THIS COULD
BEGIN with a world tour to apologise for the past sins of Empire as a
first step to making the Commonwealth more effective and
relevant."
(London based policy body, Demos, advising
Britain's Queen Elizabeth to embark on a world tour to apologise for
the 'past sins of the British Empire')
*** "AS LONG AS
the root of evil is there, the violence will stay. The root of evil is
the Israeli occupation."
(The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Monsignor Michel
Sabbah, blasting Israel as root of evil in the Middle East at the
first mass after the end of five-week Israeli siege)
*** "UNITED
KINGDOM STANDS four square behind India in its fight against
terrorism."
(British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw talking to
reporters during his second visit to New Delhi since December)
*** "WE DO NOT
WANT WAR and we will not start one, but if Bush, the savage U.S.
President should attack (us) with your green light, Iran will turn
into Karbala)
(Iran's prominent conservative member of
parliament, Ali Emami-Rad's live speech on state radio)
*** "POVERTY IS
OUR ENEMY and not human beings. Do you get the message?"
(Father of India's missile programme Abdul Kalam
alluding to communal violence in the state of Gujarat which claimed
lives of hundreds of Muslims. Kalam is himself a Muslim)
*** 'WE NOW HAVE
president who thinks in terms of good and evil and that comes from
watching too many Hollywood movies ..."
(US actor/director Sean Penn stressing the need for
fresh perspectives that did not rely on Hollywood clichés to define
real-life events such as September 11)
*** 'THE
AMERICAN-TAILORED reforms are not in the interest of the Palestinians
... and are not currently required. Now, we need resistance, and we
need to defend ourselves against Israel."
(Leader of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas
rejecting reform programme by President of Palestinian Authority,
Yasser Arafat)
*** "MUHAMMAD, FATIMA
AND OSAMA are Canadian names."
(Canada's frontline leader Alexa McDonough assuring
Muslims in her country of equal rights at a Muslim Conference in
Toronto)
*** "WE SEE ANY
AID coming from governments, and especially the US government ... as
unacceptable."
(Dissident organizations in Cuba rejecting
financial aid offered by US President George W. Bush)
*** "QUITE OFTEN
what happens is you have donor pledging meetings with people talking
big sums and then you don't actually see the money appear on the
ground."
(Interim leader of Afghanistan Hamid Karazi
commenting on billions of dollars of aid pledged to his war ravaged
country)
*** "YOU HAVE TO
HAVE a lot of nerve to go to Miami and speak of honest and clean
elections."
(President of Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo
Alarcon, accusing the US President Bush for pandering to Cuban exiles
in Miami by thanking them for getting him elected. He was referring to
the disputed voting results in Florida during November 2000 US
presidential election)
*** "YOU HAVE TO
induct new blood into the family."
(Unnamed Mafia source confirming launching of
recruitment drive in New York even if from outside the traditional
Italian-American community)
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