Nasser Hejazi (1949-2011)

 
What a way to start the week.  Nasser Hejazi was not only the best goalkeeper in the history of Iranian football, he was a true gentleman.  Always well mannered, yet determined and serious.  My first memory of Hejazi was at the 78 World Cup when he was furious after an own goal in the Scotland game and how he finished the Peru game despite being visibly injured.  Our goal was conquered eight times during the WC, but to Hejazi's credit four goals were penalty kicks and one was an own goal.  Here's a video of Mr. Majid Varess' interview with Nasser Hejazi at the 1980 Asian Nations Cup in Kuwait.  Rest in peace Ghahreman.  Roohet shad.



 

Guess who stands steadfast behind the Syrian regime?

Iran's Foreign Ministry! (click here for the news story)

" Iran's Foreign Ministry said the wave of unrest that swept across Syria in recent weeks is a plot by the U.S. to drive a wedge between the Syrian people and their government, the English language satellite Press TV reported on Friday. "

Native Americans' objection to "Geronimo" as code name for Bin Laden raid

He was a Native American military leader.  Sure, he was a warrior and probably killed many American soldiers.  But he was fighting Mexico and America's expansion to the West, his ancestral lands.  Code Name for Bin Laden?!  Not Cool. 

Here's the Washington Post article.

“I was celebrating that we had gotten this guy and feeling so much a part of America,” Tom Holm, a former Marine, a member of the Creek/Cherokee Nations and a retired professor of American Indian studies at the University of Arizona, said by phone Tuesday. “And then this ‘Geronimo EKIA’ thing comes up. I just said, ‘Why pick on us?’ Robert E. Lee killed more Americans than Geronimo ever did, and Hitler would seem to be evil personified, but the code name for bin Laden is Geronimo?”

“It’s how deeply embedded the ‘Indian as enemy’ is in the collective mind of America,” she said. “To this day, when soldiers are going into enemy territory, it’s common for it to be called ‘Indian country.’ ”

Bin Laden's burial @ sea does not follow Islamic tradition or law!

This is from CNN:

"Osama bin Laden's body was buried at sea according to Islamic law because no country was willing or able to take his body for burial on land, senior Defense officials said.  "When there is no land alternative, Islamic law dictates that the body be buried within 24 hours, and that was the basis," one official said."  A second senior Defense official said there was no country willing or able to accept the body for burial, and U.S. forces "took pains to observe Muslim law.""

 

What?  How about an unmarked grave somewhere?  How about after proper preparation for burial, taking his body in the middle of the night and bury it anywhere in Pakistan?  No land alternative?  Come on.  There is no land alternative when the deceased dies on a ship and land is more than 24 hours away.  That's not what happened here.  What the administration is saying regarding Islamic tradition and law is not accurate.  They just did not want to bury him on land, preventing any chance of the site being identified.  That's all and that's if they really killed him!         

Osama Bin Laden buried @ sea?!

What?! And according to the Islamic tradition, a U.S. official has said. Islam only allows sea burial if there is no access to land, which means death on sea. And that is not where Bin Laden was killed. He died on land, presumably. It would have been nice to release photos of the body. It has been done in the past. Not sure why not this time. Conspiracy theorists will have a field day.