Word: secularization
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...organizational nexus that ties al-Qaeda to Baghdad. The group has existed in various forms since the 1990s, when its leader, an Islamic cleric named Najmadin Fatah who goes by the nom de guerre Mullah Krekar, took inspiration from Afghan mujahedin to launch a rebellion against the two feuding secular factions that divvy up Iraqi Kurdistan. Krekar, who carries a Norwegian passport, is a veteran of the mujahedin known for his ruthlessness. "He is not normal," says a Kurdish intelligence official. "He enjoys killing people...
...telling allegation, made again last week by New York Times columnist William Safire, is that Saddam secretly runs Ansar. According to Safire's unsourced pronouncement, a Saddam intelligence operative and a senior bin Laden agent helped coordinate an assault by Ansar militants to assassinate the secular, pro-American Kurdish leadership last year. Both, he claimed, were captured when Kurdish forces put down the revolt. Safire also fingered Saddam's agents as the men behind Ansar's crude attempts to make poison weapons that drew Pentagon attention...
...trouble is, the issue puts him in a tricky political bind. Mahathir and his party cannot afford to appear anti-Islamic or they could alienate Muslim Malay voters, who constitute around 60% of the country's population. On the other hand, non-Malays expect him to keep the country secular-especially the Chinese community, which accounts for about 20% of the population...
Stylishly dressed and cosmopolitan, Salah Abdel Shafi, 39, sits in his brother's elaborate hotel overlooking the Gaza beach. As he describes the new political movement he is starting with other secular Palestinian intellectuals, the economist also acknowledges that he is considering ditching the whole project and resettling in Germany, where he was educated. His ambivalence is understandable, given the magnitude of the task he has set for himself. Abdel Shafi wants to cultivate moderation within a community that is brimming with bile. The aim of his movement is to create a new Palestinian agenda that will not frighten...
...assignment, now optional, is unlikely to be legally vulnerable. Says Duke University law professor Jefferson Powell: "It's pretty clear that this book has a secular nature," and few courts would see an attempt to establish Islam. But some undergrads do. "Three students from my hometown who were coming to Carolina decided not to because of the reading requirement," says sophomore Sean Godley. "I can't help but wonder what would happen if they had us read parts of the Bible, and see the public outcry." Incoming freshman Robert Sullivan says he's upset about the extra work...