BloggeRhythms 7/8/2013

Scanning Drudge this morning, I clicked on a link titled, “World's largest yacht sets sail for first time.”

Curious about who’d bought it, I found that the owner’s name would not be disclosed, but the craft’s name was “Azzam,” believed to “have been ordered by a Middle-Eastern billionaire,” arousing my interest even further.

My search next led me to the Wikipedia encyclopedia which contained only one match: Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, described as follows: A highly influential Palestinian Sunni Islamic scholar and theologian, who preached in favor of defensive jihad by Muslims to help the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet invaders. He raised funds, recruited, and organized the international Islamic volunteer effort of Afghan Arabs through the 1980s, and emphasized the political ascension of Islamism.

He is also known as a teacher and mentor of Osama bin Laden, who persuaded bin Laden to come to Afghanistan and help the jihad, though the two differed as to where the next front in global jihad should be after the withdrawal of the Soviets from Afghanistan. He was killed by a bomb blast on November 24, 1989’

Azzam's trademark slogan was "Jihad and the rifle alone: no negotiations, no conferences and no dialogues." In Join the Caravan, Azzam implored Muslims to rally in defense of Muslim victims of aggression, to restore Muslim lands from foreign domination, and to uphold the Muslim faith.”

Now, I fully realize my simple search provides nothing on which to form even the slightest conclusion, and that from what I learned so far, I can establish absolutely no certainty.

Nonetheless, letting my imagination wander based on what I’d found, the only Middle-Eastern business I know of that could yield enough money to buy this boat would be oil. And since the 590 foot long vessel cost £400 million, at an exchange rate of 1.4941dollars per pound, that comes to about $596 million dollars.

So, taking my supposing’s to the next step, I couldn’t help but think there’s likely a guy in the desert, dedicating his new half-billion dollar toy to someone desiring to expand the jihad, and paying for it with our hard-earned money. Yet, if tired, outdated, environmental restrictions were lifted, those dollars would still be here, funding our economy like they should be. Instead however, it seems we just bought a sand-surrounded camel jockey a boat. And, to me,  it just doesn’t get any dumber than that.

If you’re interested in the yacht, here’s a link: World's largest yacht sets sail for first time

That’s it for today folks.

Adios