Saturday, November 26, 2005

I watched an interview with `Ali Sadr Ad-Din Al-Bayanuni, the General Inspector of the Muslim Brothers in Syria. Under free conditions, I think that he would be the most powerful man in Syria, and this of course restrains the US behavior toward Syria, although--as I always tell people--the foolishness of current officials of the US government can't be underestimated. Personlly, I say this in Arabic on Al-Jazeera at every opportunity, I would never support any Arab government, and never wish to add a day to its longevity, and would never shed a tear over the demise of any, ANY, Arab regime. Basically, under the Muslim Brothers, the Syrian people would replace one authoritarian rule with another. But I was not surprised at the strictness of his worldview. Al-Bayanuni said that no women's clothing that would "incite chaos" be allowed in "his" Syria. Now what is that clothing? I have never seen women's clothing lead to "chaos" before. And this Al-Bayanuni lives outside of London. One wonders where he got that. And he then added, as he watched the look of surprise on the face of his most skilled interiviewer, Sami Kulayb, that this is the case in several Muslim countries where "indecent dress" for women are banned. We are talking about a guy who will receive his inspiration from the fanatics of the House of Saud. When asked about his view of movies and plays, he said that he would not object to "useful" plays and movies. Let me guess: he would approve of Mustafa Aqqad's movie, the Message, but not of his 40 Halloween movies. (This reminds me. Who will now produce those lovely Halloween movies?)