Goodbye, First Amendment?

As Islamic nations pressure the UN to outlaw "defamation of Islam" -- by which they mean any honest examination of the motives and goals of jihad terrorists -- Obama's pick for Attorney General sends a disquieting signal. A message from Jihad Watch reader Paul:

Eric Holder, Obama's pick for US attorney general, gave a TV interview in 1999 calling for "reasonable restrictions, reasonable regulations in how people interact on the Internet."

The quote transcript may be seen here.

Will the OIC's "Islamophobia" campaign -- set for a crescendo in Geneva and the US next year -- goad him into action?

Dark days ahead.

Indeed. If Obama accepts the OIC's definition of "Islamophobia," it will become impossible to speak openly about what the jihadists are doing and why. We will be rendered mute and thus defenseless before the advancing jihad.

US asks oil-rich Muslim countries for $300 billion

But what will they want in return? Or will they help out from the kindness of their hearts? This request could end up being a pivotal element in the effort to make Western finance fully Sharia-compliant.

"US seeks 300 billion dlrs from Gulf states: report," from AFP, November 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – The United States has asked four oil-rich Gulf states for close to 300 billion dollars to help it curb the global financial meltdown, Kuwait's daily Al-Seyassah reported Thursday.

Quoting "highly informed" sources, the daily said Washington has asked Saudi Arabia for 120 billion dollars, the United Arab Emirates for 70 billion dollars, Qatar for 60 billion dollars and was seeking 40 billion dollars from Kuwait.

Al-Seyassah said Washington sought the amount as "financial aid" to face the fallout of the financial crisis and help prevent its economy from sliding into a painful recession.

The daily said the United States plans to use the funds to help the ailing automobile industry , banks and other companies suffering from the global financial turmoil....

The daily also said that the United States has asked Kuwait to forgive its Iraqi debt estimated at around 16 billion dollars.

Florida school board chooses not to reappoint Hamas supporter to "diversity committee"

Why was this guy on the committee in the first place? An announcement from Americans Against Hate:

School Board Chooses Not To Reappoint Hamas Supporter To The School Board’s Diversity Committee

(Fort Lauderdale, FL) On Tuesday, November 18th, the day his term ended, members of the Broward County School Board made a conscious decision not to reappoint or reassign Jawhar Sadallah Badran, a.k.a. Joe Badran, to the School Board’s Diversity Committee or any other committee ruled over by the School Board.

Badran, on March 1st, was videotaped making statements in favor of Hamas. The statements included him saying that Hamas was “not a terrorist organization.” As well, in July of 2006, Badran described himself to the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel as a suicide bomber. He stated, “Hamas and Hezbollah are committing acts of defense against the acts of the Israelis. The only weapons that we have are to strap bombs on our bodies and do whatever damage and destruction we can.”

Badran was also an admitted member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group affiliated with Hamas and a group currently named as a co-conspirator by the U.S. Justice Department for a federal trial dealing with the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas....

Settling for a spitball

A letter to the Jerusalem Post, November 21 (thanks to Mladen), regarding the Israeli government's response to the jihad against Israel:

Sir, - Jay Goldstein's letter ("...means our 10 for your one," November 19) proposed firing 10 bombs for every rocket fired from Gaza.

I'll settle for even one bomb for every rocket from Gaza. I'd settle for one rocket for every rocket. I'd even settle for one spitball for every rocket from Gaza.

When is our government going to actually respond?

DANIEL STERMAN
Jerusalem

Stealth Jihad exposed on radio

Yesterday I was on five radio shows and one TV show discussing the stealth jihad in America, but in all the excitement of madly rushing to catch planes (missed one, another was canceled yesterday -- I should have stuck to the Maxwell), trains, and cabs to get where I was supposed to be, I wasn't able to post any notice of them here. Here's hoping today will be quieter. Today I'll be discussing the book Stealth Jihad and related matters with the following courageous journalists. You may wish to and even be able to listen to some of these online. All times PST:

5:00 AM Allman In the Morning

6:42 AM Lynn Wooley Show

8:04 AM Armstrong and Getty

12:05 PM The Gathering Storm

1:00 PM Michael Medved Show

2:05 PM Jerry Doyle

UK Sharia judge calls for legal recognition of polygamous marriages

Here is a prime example of the stealth jihad in action: a "Sharia judge" in Britain uses the laws and customs of a Western pluralistic society in order to advance acceptance of an Islamic legal principle that has not hitherto been considered acceptable in that Western society. Rosa Freedman makes some good points against this in this article, and one additional point is that once the principle is accepted that English law must be adapted to accommodate Islamic law, soon the principles regardinging Islamic rule of the nation's political structures will also be advocated -- and then what will those who are pushing accommodation do?

"Dangerous liaisons," by Rosa Freedman in The Guardian, November 19 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

The bodies of the Knights Templar were surely spinning under their effigies last night, as someone they would have regarded as an infidel delivered a lecture within the walls of Temple Church entitled "Family Law, Minorities and legal Pluralism: Should English Law give more Recognition to Islamic Law?".

The lecture focused on Islamic marriages and divorces in this country, with Sheikh Faiz ul-Aqtab Siddiqi (of the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal) speaking candidly on many areas. One such topic was that of polygamy, and the refusal of English law to recognise such relationships. Siddiqi boldly stated:

In a jurisdiction where rights are afforded to a mistress, or many mistresses, and where there are same-sex marriages … polygamous marriages should not be such an alien concept.

Siddiqi is a practising barrister, and has been involved with the process of reforming English law to accommodate Muslim cultural practices, especially within the area of family law. As a religious leader, he is at the conservative end of the spectrum. However, he is a well-respected member of a number of unifying Muslim organisations and is at the forefront of attempts to find common ground between sharia law and English law.

Later, after a question from the floor, he clarified his position as being one of confusion as to why relationships such as extra-marital affairs should be recognised under English law, and furthermore how men could be permitted to marry other men, and women other women. He argued that if such relationships were not considered abhorrent, then current attitudes towards polygamy could not, and should not, be justified.

The main problem with using this argument in favour of recognition of polygamous marriages both inside and outside this country is that of proof as to whether these marriages have been entered into willingly and freely by the women involved. No one forces a person to have an extra-marital affair, or to enter into a civil partnership, but there is widespread evidence of the forcing of women into polygamous relationships in many religions and in many parts of the world. To compare consensual relationships with forced ones, whether physical or emotional coercion is used, is completely misguided....

Read it all.

Bostom: Osama Bin Lenin?

Andrew G. Bostom here offers a brief review of The Mind of Jihad by Laurent Murawiec (Cambridge University Press, 2008, 342 pp). A version of this essay will also be appearing in print in the December issue of Mideast Outpost.

Ibn Hudayl, a 14th century Granadan Muslim author of an important treatise on jihad war, elucidated the allowable tactics which facilitated the violent, chaotic Islamic conquest of the Iberian peninsula, and other parts of Europe:

It is permissible to set fire to the lands of the enemy, his stores of grain, his beasts of burden – if it is not possible for the Muslims to take possession of them – as well as to cut down his trees, to raze his cities, in a word, to do everything that might ruin and discourage him…[being] suited to hastening the Islamization of that enemy or to weakening him. Indeed, all this contributes to a military triumph over him or to forcing him to capitulate.

And these repeated attacks, indistinguishable in motivation from modern acts of jihad terrorism, like the horrific 9/11/01 attacks in New York and Washington, DC, and the Madrid bombings on 3/11/04, or those in London on 7/7/05, were in fact designed to sow terror. The 17th century Muslim historian al-Maqqari explained that the panic created by the Arab jihadist horsemen and sailors, at the time of the Muslim expansion in the regions subjected to those raids and landings, facilitated their later conquest,

Allah thus instilled such fear among the infidels that they did not dare to go and fight the conquerors; they only approached them as suppliants, to beg for peace.

Continue reading "Bostom: Osama Bin Lenin?"

Not "a shred of evidence" that al-Qaeda suspect Aafia Siddiqui was tortured

The similarities between Aafia Siddiqui and Safia Jilani continue: both appear to be making up stories of suffering, and both are receiving "treatment" for (fictitious?) traumas "suffered." Of course, claiming torture is an old jihadist strategy. And if that doesn't work, you can always insist on wanting to "get on with your life," to get sympathy from infidels.

"Prosecutor: No sign al-Qaida suspect was tortured," from the Associated Press, November 20 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):

NEW YORK (AP) - A prosecutor says the U.S. government hasn't found a "shred of evidence" that a Pakistani woman accused of trying to kill a U.S. soldier and FBI agents was abducted or tortured in the five years before her arrest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Raskin said investigators looked for information to support reports that Aafia Siddiqui (ah-FEE'-uh see-DEE'-kee) was detained in 2003 and held for years. He says it was more likely that Siddiqui disappeared in 2003 because she went into hiding after marrying an al-Qaida operative and because she knew 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

Raskin says the U.S. was responding to repeated allegations in published reports and found "zero evidence" that Siddiqui was abducted, kidnapped or tortured.

He spoke at a hearing in New York yesterday on a psychologist's conclusion that the 36-year-old Siddiqui is mentally unfit for trial.

Siddiqui is a former Boston-area resident who was educated at MIT and Brandeis University. She's confined to the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth facility after she was brought to the United States in August to face attempted murder and assault charges.

Pakistan: "Unknown miscreants" destroy girls' school

Maybe they were Buddhists? Disgruntled nuns? At any rate, two women were also killed during clashes -- though none were sprayed in the face with acid, this time.

"Pakistan: Girls school destroyed by militants," from AKI, November 20 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):

Mingora, 20 Nov. (AKI/DAWN) - Four militants and two women were killed and several others sustained injuries while a girls’ school was destroyed in Pakistan.

The school was located in the area of Bar Bandai in the volatile Swat valley.

Military sources said the security forces pounded militant hideouts killing four and injuring several others on Wednesday in the ongoing search operation in the restive Swat region.

Curfew was imposed in the troubled areas of Kabal tehsil.

Two women were killed and four combatants were injured as some misfired shells fell on their houses in Khwazahkela tehsil.

The government girls’ primary school was destroyed by unknown miscreants by planting explosives in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.

The four-room school building was completely destroyed and its furniture and records were damaged in the explosion.

Pakistani government condemns US strike against "stronghold of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters"

"Summons" and scolds US ambassador (once again). More on this story. "Pakistan protests US drone attacks, Taliban warns of reprisals," from AFP, November 20:

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan's government on Thursday condemned the latest US missile strike in its territory while a militant Taliban group warned that another drone attack would bring reprisals within the country.

Odd that. Why would two supposed enemies condemn a strike that hurts one of them? If the Pakistani government is against the Taliban, and if the US strike has obviously pained the Taliban, shouldn't Pakistan, if not supportive of its "friend and ally" (the US), at least be neutral?

Speaking in parliament, Pakistani premier Yousuf Raza Gilani denounced the latest US spy drone attack which killed six people Wednesday at Bannu district in northwest Pakistan, including a major Al-Qaeda operative.

"These attacks are adding to our problems. They are intolerable and we do not support them," Gilani told the national assembly.

The foreign ministry also summoned Anne Patterson, the American ambassador to Islamabad, to lodge a strong protest over the air raids that have fuelled public anger, foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said in the capital.

Sadiq said the US diplomat was told that "continued drone attacks undermined public support for government counterterrorism efforts and stressed that these attacks must be stopped".

"It was underscored to the US ambassador that such attacks were a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he added.

Top Pakistani Taliban leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur on Thursday warned of reprisals by militants across Pakistan if the US carried out any further drone attacks in tribal territory, a spokesman for the commander said..

Bahadur's group has been accused by the United States of launching attacks across the border in Afghanistan, but it abstains from violence in the Pakistani territory under an understanding with military authorities.

"We will start revenge attacks across other districts if the US drone attacks do not stop after November 20," Taliban spokesman Ahmadullah Ahmadi said in a statement.

US spy drones have carried out more than 20 attacks in recent months but Wednesday's Bannu raid was the first outside the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan, known as a stronghold of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters....

NY Times says Iran has fuel for one nuclear weapon

But Iran will have to take "additional steps." "Iran Said to Have Nuclear Fuel for One Weapon," by William J. Broad and David E. Sanger for the New York Times, November 19:

Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts analyzing the latest report from global atomic inspectors.

The figures detailing Iran’s progress were contained in a routine update on Wednesday from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been conducting inspections of the country’s main nuclear plant at Natanz. The report concluded that as of early this month, Iran had made 630 kilograms, or about 1,390 pounds, of low-enriched uranium.

Several experts said that was enough for a bomb, but they cautioned that the milestone was mostly symbolic, because Iran would have to take additional steps. Not only would it have to breach its international agreements and kick out the inspectors, but it would also have to further purify the fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that Western experts are unsure Iran has yet achieved....

Tampa Mayor proclaims "Unindicted Co-Conspirator in Hamas Funding Case Day"

Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) with dhimmi academic John Esposito at CAIR's banquet in Tampa

That is, "Council on American-Islamic Relations Day."

"CAIR urges Muslims to define themselves," from WMNF, November 17 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) held its 6th annual banquet Saturday at the Tampa Convention Center. Speakers included Georgetown University professor John Esposito and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim in Congress.

Following prayers, about 600 people gathered to hear about the theme American Muslims: Defining Ourselves. Ellison said that during the recent presidential campaign, others groups attempted to define Islam and what it means to be Muslim. Many even tried to define Barack Obama as a Muslim, but the strategy didn’t work, Ellison said.

Ellison detailed some of the challenges that Muslims faced during the campaign, including two Muslim women wearing hijabs being forbidden by the Obama campaign from standing behind the candidate at a Detroit rally.

One way that non-Muslims tried to define Muslims during the campaign was through mass distribution of the DVD Obsession, which characterizes some members of the faith as violent extremists. But a University of South Florida religious studies graduate student, Catherine Lafuente, said propaganda like that won’t influence her. She is not a Muslim and her father died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

John Esposito is a professor of religion, international affairs and Islamic studies at Georgetown University. His most recent book is, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think. Esposito said that a CAIR poll from two years ago pointed out the recent “political mainstreaming” of American Muslims.

Muslim-Americans worry about many of the same things that other Americans do, Esposito said.

Several Tampa Bay elected officials attended Saturday's banquet, including Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White and his newly elected colleague Kevin Beckner, Hillsborough School Board member Susan Valdes, and Temple Terrace Mayor Joe Affronti, who received a bridge builder award.

A civil rights award was presented to the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, and WMNF received a community service award. Maritza Betancourt is the city of Tampa’s Human Rights Investigator in the Division of Community Affairs. She read a proclamation from Mayor Pam Iorio.

“By virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of Tampa, I do hereby proclaim November 15, 2008, as ‘Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Day’ in the city of Tampa, Florida.”

Here's a little refresher from CBN:

CAIR claims to be the nation's leading Muslim civil rights group. But the group's critics say it's focused more on making Islam a dominant force than with fighting bigotry.

In 1998, CAIR founder Omar Ahmad told the San Ramon Valley Herald, "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."

Others point to a 1991 memo by the radical Muslim Brotherhood challenging American Islamic groups.

The memorandum, presented as evidence during a terrorism trial last year, reads that these Muslim groups "must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands" until Islam reigns supreme.

Not that any of that matters. Here is a statement from CAIR, via Pamela:

“By December 31, 2010, we will be supporting a $12,000,000 budget... We will have a presence covering all states, with at least 28 state chapters... We will impact local Congressional districts with each chapter influencing at least two legislators...We will focus on Congressmen responsible for policy that directly impacts the American Muslim community. For example, Congressmen on the judiciary, intelligence, and homeland security committees. We will develop national initiatives such as lobby day and placing Muslim interns in Congressional offices. In concert with local chapters we will sustain an ongoing media campaign to change the hearts and minds of Americans...”

'Stealth Jihad' Reveals A New War on U.S. Soil

Rowan Scarborough reviews Stealth Jihad in Human Events:

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Robert Spencer [whose “Jihad Watch” is featured weekly in HUMAN EVENTS] has been a one-man warning system against radical Islam.

A scholar who has spent most of his professional life studying Islam, his string of books dissects the world's largest religion as a bastion of intolerance and hate, justified by the teachings of spiritual leader Mohammed and various holy men.

As one of his previous titles, the "Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam," suggests, Spencer does not buckle in fear of the type of backlash that can materialize as a death-threatening fatwa against a critical author.

Now comes a new warning from Spencer. In "Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam Is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs," Spencer factually outlines how Muslim radicals are methodically undercutting American values of individual freedom, quoting leaders of this anti-American movement who say their ultimately goal is the creation of an Islamic state right here in the good old U.S.A.

Say it can't happen? Just look at our kinsmen in Europe. Their guilt, and tolerance for anything anti-Western have nurtured a growing population of fanatics. Mosques have sprung up where firebrand clergy preach hate and violence. Some Muslim neighborhoods have become no-go zones for non-believers who dare not trespass where harsh Sharia law reigns.

"Such segregated Muslim communities are spreading throughout Europe at an alarming pace," Spencer writes.

Continue reading "'Stealth Jihad' Reveals A New War on U.S. Soil"

International Islamic organization attempts to criminalize criticism of Islam at the UN

This is a key element of the Stealth Jihad: the attempt to silence those who speak about the ideological underpinnings of jihad terrorism. Most Americans probably aren't aware that there are serious discussions at the UN about criminalizing discussion of the motives and goals of Islamic jihadists, and even fewer probably realize what the implications of this are for the United States and the First Amendment in the coming years.

"The OIC & the UN: Islamophobia and 'defamation of religion,'" by Elizabeth Kendal for the WEA, November 15 (thanks to Paul):

Durban I -- the UN's first World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance -- which was held in Durban, South Africa, in early September 2001 ended with a walkout over its virulent anti-Semitism. Yet sadly it now seems clear that the Durban Review Conference (or Durban II), which will be held in Geneva in April 2009, is shaping up to be even worse.

As a prelude to Durban II, a Second Preparatory Session of the 20-state Preparatory Committee -- of which Libya has been elected chair with Cuba, Pakistan and Iran as vice-chairs -- was held in Geneva from 6 to 17 October 2008. The resulting "Draft Outcome Document for the Durban Review Conference 2009" is now available on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) website at LINK 1.

It is clear from the draft document, as well as from reports emanating from the subsequent 63rd UN General Assembly meeting held in Geneva during the first week of November, that a central focus of Durban II will be "Islamophobia", which is being presented as "a new form of racism".

Muslims, the draft declaration asserts, are at dire risk of a racial "holocaust" due to "a new form of racism" -- "Islamophobia" -- which is incited through "defamation of Islam".

What race is Islam again?

The draft declaration recommends that local, national and international laws and human rights covenants be reviewed and amended as necessary so that "defamation of Islam" is made a criminal offence, losing the protection it has long enjoyed under the "pretext" of "freedom of expression, counter terrorism or national security". It recommends that legal instruments be established to punish offenders -- that is, those who "defame" Islam by associating it with violence, human rights abuses or terrorism....

I trust, then, that among the first to be prosecuted for "defaming Islam" will be the likes of al-Zawahri, Omar Bakri, Anjem Chaudry, Abu Bakar Bashir, et al.

US airstrike deep inside Pakistan kills six jihadists

Just as Pakistani officials meet with NATO brass to "discuss" these strikes within Pakistan. Friend and Ally Hanging By a Thread Update: "Suspected U.S. Airstrike Kills 6 Fighters in Pakistan," by Candace Rondeaux for the Washington Post, November 20:

KABUL, Nov. 19 -- A suspected U.S. airstrike deep inside Pakistani territory Wednesday killed six insurgent fighters and wounded several others, according to a Pakistani security official.

The airstrike in the district of Bannu in the North-West Frontier Province appears to be the first such attack outside Pakistan's tribal areas. It came as the country's top military officer met with NATO officials in Brussels to discuss the cross-border missile strikes, which have been increasingly frequent in recent months and which the United States considers necessary for combating al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The attacks have stoked tensions in Pakistan and drawn public rebukes from the government.

An unmanned U.S. Predator aircraft fired at least two missiles early Wednesday at a house near North Waziristan, one of seven semiautonomous tribal territories that line Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. A Pakistani security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly said the six who were killed were thought to be foreigners suspected of links to al-Qaeda.

Details about those killed could not be confirmed. A Pakistani military spokesman declined to comment. The United States generally does not acknowledge such attacks and has not issued any public comments on the use of Predator airstrikes on Pakistani soil....

Somali jihadists reaping benefits of piracy

That by itself is nothing new, but the increasingly brazen attacks on increasingly high-value targets are. "Pirates 'working with Islamists'," by Martin Plaut for BBC News, November 19:

Somali pirates have been accused of forming what is described as an "unholy high seas alliance" with some of the country's Islamist insurgents.

Jane's Terrorism and Security Monitor says certain insurgents are using pirates to smuggle weapons and supplies and help provide bases in return.

The London-based newsletter says pirates are also training Somali hardliners in naval tactics.

The links are traced to 2007, after Ethiopian forces invaded Somalia.

The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which took control of much of southern Somalia in 2006, had cracked down on pirate operations in Hobyo and Harardheere. [...]

But after the UIC were ousted, various Islamic groups formed links with the pirates.

Maritime force

Bruno Schiemsky - who formerly monitored UN arms shipments into Somalia - says these links take a variety of forms:

Islamists have used the pirates to bring in arms shipments and foreign fighters, providing weapons and training in their use in return. They also help with bases from which the pirates operate

Hardliners, known as the Shabab, now have a degree of control over several pirate groups and provide operating funds and specialist weapons in return for a share of the ransoms being paid to free the ships and crew.

As many as 2,500 young Somalis have been trained by the Shabab at points all along the Somali coast.

The Islamists are using the pirates to train their own forces in naval tactics so that they can provide protection for arms being smuggled in Somalia from Eritrea.

The article provides details of three arms shipments brought into the country by pirates.

It says two shipments in May were for Sheikh Hassan Abdulle Hersi, who is also known as Hassan Turki, an Islamist leader who is based in southern Somalia near Kismayo. [...]

Another shipment arrived in July and is reported to have contained large quantities of weapons including specialist sniper rifles, heavy machine guns, guided anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft guns, as well as ammunition. [...]

The maritime force organised by the Shabab - along the lines of the Sea Tigers operated by the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers - is said to be located in southern Somalia.

All of that makes the promises in this next article ring hollow: "Somalia Islamists vow tough anti-piracy drive," from Agence France-Presse:

MOGADISHU (AFP) — A hardline Islamist alliance controlling Somalia's main southern port of Kismayo on Wednesday promised tough measures to protect ships and traders from marauding pirates.

"We will set up marine forces and will protect all ships and vessels from the pirates off the coastal areas we control," Sheikh Hasan Yaqub, spokesman for the Islamist administration in Kismayo told AFP.[...]

Kismayo, one off the largest cities in Somalia, was captured in August by an alliance of Shebab fighters -- who are conquering much of the country -- and warlord Hassan al-Turki, who is on a US terrorism list.

Yaqub said that on Wednesday alone, 20 small ships bringing goods from the United Arab Emirates had offloaded their cargo in Kismayo under the watch of the local authorities' security forces.

"We will never allow those gangs to cause havoc in our waters anymore and we will protect all vessels," he said.

Omar Abdiyare, one of the Somali traders whose vessel arrived in Kismayo Wednesday, said local businesses had asked the Islamist rulers to set up an anti-piracy force.

"We are very concerned at the growing number of attacks by pirates so we asked Islamists to protect our ships as much as possible off the coastal areas they control," he said.

The Kismayo administration has imposed a very strict form of Sharia law in recent weeks. Under Islamic law, piracy is punishable by death.

One can't help but wonder if this is all going to lead up to endless semantic quibbling about when piracy is or is not "really" piracy.

Senator calls on Justice Dept. to cut off outreach efforts with Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups

In my book Stealth Jihad I discuss Muslim Brotherhood efforts to insinuate Islamic law, bit-by-bit and piece-by-piece, into the United States, and to foster acceptance of the idea that American law must give way whenever Islamic law contradicts it. Groups that are assumed to be "moderate" are fronting this effort -- but now one Senator is pushing back.

"Senator Pushes DOJ on Islamists," from IPT News, November 19 (thanks to Rosanne):

The Department of Justice (DOJ) should cut off outreach efforts with organizations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamist extremist groups, a report from a ranking Senate subcommittee member recommends.

"Justice Denied: Waste & Mismanagement at the Department of Justice," is an 86-page report issued in October by the office of U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), the ranking Republican on the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security. [...]

But just as important is its detailing of DOJ outreach with questionable Islamist organizations, including two which are unindicted co-conspirators in a major Hamas support investigation. Those efforts should stop, the report said:

"It is the legal right and obligation of DOJ to bar, withhold or rescind funding for or collaboration with any entities that do not advance the mission of the Department, which is the security and stability of the United States, including its culture, its people, and its form of government."

[...]

Coburn has been focused on issues of Islamist outreach. In July, he and Arizona U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl wrote to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, asking that State set a deadline for cutting off funding to organizations with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The letter also asked that procedures be created to prevent future funding of such groups.

In 2007, Coburn pushed an amendment to the FY 2008 Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill which barred DOJ from underwriting any conferences with organizations identified "as an unindicted co-conspirator by the federal government in any criminal prosecution." The Senate passed the provision but when the Senate and House of Representatives met to create one final bill, it was taken out.

Why? And by whom?

The Coburn report on DOJ singles out the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Both are unindicted co-conspirators in the Hamas support trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and five former officials. CAIR and ISNA appear in prosecution exhibits involving the Palestine Committee, a group created by the Muslim Brotherhood to help Hamas. CAIR actually is listed as a committee member, as are the group's co-founders Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad. ISNA is listed among friendly organizations.

The report notes what it calls an "alarming" agenda for the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. It was written by another Palestine Committee member, Mohamed Akram, in 1991 in a document called "the General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America." In the memo, Akram defined the group's role in America as "a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions."...

Read it all.

Spencer: Phoenix Imam Tells Muslims To Disregard U.S. Laws

In Human Events this morning, an update on the stealth jihad:

“A Muslim must try his best to abide by the rulings of Sharia [Islamic law] whenever possible as much as he can. He should not allow himself to be liable to those western laws that contradict the clear-cut Islamic rulings.” The rulings of Sharia, mind you, include stoning for adultery, amputation of the hand for theft, and institutionalized discrimination against women and non-Muslims. But the speaker was not some fanatic Wahhabi in Saudi Arabia; it was the Phoenix-based imam Omar Shahin, president of the North American Imams Foundation. This is probably one reason why, as The Arizona Republic reported Monday, the FBI has stepped up scrutiny of Shahin and other Muslim leaders in Phoenix.

Omar Shahin has been in the news before. He is the spokesman for a group of six imams who sued US Airways after being removed from a flight in 2006 when passengers and crewmembers reported that they were behaving suspiciously. The imams were handcuffed and later interrogated, then released with no charges, whereupon Shahin led a news conference to condemn prejudice against Muslims. All six imams later sued the airline, airport police and an FBI agent, claiming they had been singled out solely because they were Muslim. “We did nothing,” Shahin maintained in a report on Boston Herald.com -- and the Council on American Islamic Relations seized on the incident as evidence of American “Islamophobia.” “We are concerned that crew members, passengers and security personnel may have succumbed to fear and prejudice based on stereotyping of Muslims and Islam,” said CAIR’s executive director, Nihad Awad, in the same report.

Continue reading "Spencer: Phoenix Imam Tells Muslims To Disregard U.S. Laws"

Al-Qaeda top dog Zawahri calls Obama "house negro," says he has "chosen a stance of hostility to Islam and Muslims"

His hostility to Muslims shows in his support for Israel -- at least in Zawahri's world. "Al-Qaida No. 2 insults Obama in new audio message," by Maamoun Youssef and Lee Keath for AP, November 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

...Al-Zawahri also called Obama—along with secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice—"house negroes."

Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term "abeed al-beit," which literally translates as "house slaves." But al-Qaida supplied English subtitles of his speech that included the translation as "house negroes."...

The 11-minute 23-second video features the audio message by al-Zawahri, who appears only in a still image, along with other images, including one of Obama wearing a Jewish skullcap as he meets with Jewish leaders. In his speech, al-Zawahri refers to a Nov. 5 U.S. airstrike attack in Afghanistan, meaning the video was made after that date.

Al-Zawahri said Obama's election has not changed American policies he said are aimed at oppressing Muslims and others.

"America has put on a new face, but its heart full of hate, mind drowning in greed, and spirit which spreads evil, murder, repression and despotism continue to be the same as always," the deputy of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden said.

He said Obama's plan to shift troops to Afghanistan is doomed to failure, because Afghans will resist.

"Be aware that the dogs of Afghanistan have found the flesh of your soldiers to be delicious, so send thousands after thousands to them," he said.

Al-Zawahri did not threaten specific attacks, but warned Obama that he was "facing a Jihadi (holy war) awakening and renaissance which is shaking the pillars of the entire Islamic world; and this is the fact which you and your government and country refuse to recognize and pretend not to see."

He said Obama's victory showed Americans acknowledged that President George W. Bush's policies were a failure and that the result was an "admission of defeat in Iraq."

But Obama's professions of support for Israel during the election campaign "confirmed to the Ummah (Islamic world) that you have chosen a stance of hostility to Islam and Muslims," al-Zawahri said.

Spencer on radio today

Here is today's lineup of the courageous radio shows willing to discuss the reality of the stealth jihad in America today, as I detail in this book. Some of these may be catchable online, or if you're in the area call in and give me a piece of your mind. All times PST:

5:00 AM KEYS Morning Show

7:05 AM Lee Rogers Show

8:05 AM Doug Giles, Clash Radio

1:35 PM Greg Knapp Experience

2:00 PM KFUO St.Louis

4:05 PM WSOY Direct Line

Illinois Muslim student pleads not guilty to fabricating hate-crime hoax

Pious hoaxer?

Safia Jilani Update: she is charged with fabricating a hate crime in which a man hit her on the head and scrawled a hate message against Muslims on a nearby bathroom mirror. The entire campus united behind her; Muslim students were offered escorts to and from classes; and all of Elmhurst College was afroth with righteous indignation against the haters. The only problem is that it looks as if Safia Jilani made it all up -- and now the poor thing is "in treatment." It wouldn't be surprising if she suddenly came down with a mental illness, a la Aafia Siddiqui.

"Muslim student pleads not guilty in reporting Elmhurst College attack," from the Chicago Tribune, November 18 (thanks to Pamela):

A Muslim student who allegedly made a false claim that a masked man attacked her after he wrote anti- Islamic slurs in a women's restroom at Elmhurst College pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of disorderly conduct. Safia Jilani, 19, made no public comment.

Outside the DuPage County courtroom, her attorney, Terry Ekl, said "she is in treatment, and I hope the public wouldn't judge her until all the facts are known."

He declined to specify the type of treatment.

But I'm sure he'll think of something.

Italy: Police raids target suspected jihadist group

"Justice and Charity." Oh, and also a caliphate. "Italy: Police anti-terror raids target suspected Islamists," from Adnkronos International, November 18:

Trieste, 18 Nov. (AKI) - Italian anti-terrorism police have carried out at least 135 raids and are investigating 11 foreigners in various Italian regions who are suspected of links to an alleged Morocco-based Islamist group. The organisation, called 'Al-Adl Wal Ihsan' or Justice and Charity, is being investigated for association to commit international terrorist acts.

Several apartments and cultural centres thought to be linked to the Moroccan movement are being investigated as well as 11 foreigners.

According to investigators, the 'Justice and Charity' movement is a front for a group seeking the restoration of an Islamic caliphate in Morocco and the abolition of the monarchy.

Justice and Charity is believed to be Morocco's largest opposition Islamist movement. However, the group claims it wants to transform Moroccan society through non-violent means and social work.

And there's no better place to transform Moroccan society than... Italy?

Justice and Charity is tolerated by the Moroccan government but reportedly has no legal status to organise meetings.

The group has repeatedly accused the government of imprisoning its members and limiting its funding resources.

The anti-terrorism investigations are taking place in the regions of Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Lombardy, Veneto in northern Italy and in the central Emilia Romagna and Marche region.

Spencer: Muhammad and Aisha, a Love Story

Here is my review of Sherry Jones's notorious -- and dreadful -- novel of Muhammad and Aisha, The Jewel of Medina, from Middle East Quarterly:

Jones, correspondent for the Bureau of National Affairs news agency, never expected her novel about Aisha, daughter of Abu Bakr, the first caliph, and favorite wife of the prophet of Islam, to become a battleground in the war over free speech between the West and the Muslim world. Rather, as she explained, "I have deliberately and consciously written respectfully about Islam and Mohammed … I envisioned that my book would be a bridge-builder."[1]

The Jewel of Medina became a cause célèbre when Random House dropped it in August 2008 just before publication, citing fear of threats from Muslims—threats, it bears noting, that had not yet materialized. Subsequently, three Muslims were arrested in London for firebombing the offices of the book's new British publisher, Gibson Square, which also then dropped the book.[2] It has now been published in the United States by Beaufort Books, which, in a press release, said that it "knows how to look for trouble."

But whoever reads The Jewel of Medina, after suffering through stilted Hollywood historical epic dialogue larded with Arabic tidbits for authenticity's sake, will wonder what the fuss was all about. True to her word, Jones offers a portrait of Muhammad that is so flattering as to be worthy of British religion writer Karen Armstrong, who compared Muhammad to Gandhi.[3]

Continue reading "Spencer: Muhammad and Aisha, a Love Story"

Muslims demand removal of Senator Lieberman from Homeland Security Committee

Poor Lieberman. A few months back, his aides contacted me about testifying in front of him and Congress regarding the Muslim Brotherhood. During our conference call, his aides seemed to have determined that my characterization of the Brotherhood was not very "nuanced" (evinced by the incessant question, "But some of the Brotherhood are ok, right?" to which I would always answer "No.") Anyway and as expected, that settled that, and I was never re-asked to testify. But even though they took all these "safeguards," here Lieberman is: accused by Muslims of being, in essence, an Islamophobe.

"Arab Americans want Lieberman to lose chair," from JTA, November 18:

WASHINGTON (JTA)—An Arab-American group called on Senate Democrats not to return Sen. Joe Lieberman to his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee.

The letter from the Arab American Institute to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader, cited in particular a report on Islamist extremism and the "Homegrown Terrorist Threat" completed in May under Lieberman’s watch.

"While this committee report appropriately observed the value of outreach and engagement with Arab Americans and American Muslims as vital to securing the freedom and safety of our nation, the overall findings of the report make the dangerous and unsubstantiated claim that the threat posed by violent extremists now comes ‘increasingly from within’ the United States and falsely characterizes Arabs and Muslims in America as ‘susceptible to radicalization,’ " said the letter from institute President James Zogby.

The letter also cites the reported involvement of Lieberman (I-Conn.) in a sequel to the controversial documentary "Obsession," a film that critics say unfairly tarnishes broad sectors of Muslim society as extremist.

Lieberman, the Democrats’ 2000 vice presidential nominee and the first Jew on a national ticket, broke with the party in 2006 over his support for the Iraq War, and he backed Republican candidate John McCain for president. Still, Lieberman continued to caucus with Democrats and vote the party line on most domestic issues. In a 51-49 split, his was the critical vote giving Democrats the majority...

"Western liberties—freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, equality before the law, including women’s rights and the rights of non-Muslims—are increasingly threatened by a growing deference to the laws of Islam"

Marc Charisse, editor of the Evening Sun of Hanover, Pennsylvania, recently announced his intention to drop Diana West's column from the newspaper because, as he put it, West "never met a Muslim she didn't hate."

This ready conflation of the defense of Western civilization and its rights and freedoms against Sharia supremacism with "hatred" is, of course, something we see at Jihad Watch every day. Here is Diana West's blazingly brilliant response:

To the Editor:

I am responding to Editor Marc Charisse’s column about my work, a column I found striking for its mud-slinging crudity. In Charisse’s words, my work, the product of careful research and reporting, may be summed up thus: West “never met a Muslim she didn’t hate.” There is no more apt word than “grotesque” to describe such an irresponsible and flippant mischaracterization of my weekly column, which very often grapples with the terrible, largely unspoken reality that Western liberties—freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, equality before the law, including women’s rights and the rights of non-Muslims—are increasingly threatened by a growing deference to the laws of Islam. To underscore my point, I don’t write about “Muslims.” I write about Islam, the supremacist ideology constructed on laws (sharia) that justify censorship, repression, violence, inequality, and even maiming and murder of those whom the sharia leaves voiceless and powerless: dissenters, Muslim apostates, non-Muslims and women. I write about its agents—violent jihadists as well as soft jihadists, all of whom are working to extend the rule of this law across the non-Muslim world. And I write about politically correct non-Muslims who, as a public point of what is hailed as tolerance and inclusiveness have surrendered their common sense, their courage and, increasingly, their countries to the advance of this Islamic law.

“Pull the plug” on me if you like. But do not slander me or my work as a manifestation of hatred toward individuals. If anything, it is a manifestation of fear—fear that our liberties are not just under assault but have already been diminished, and are destined for still more restriction in that “sharp new subtext” Charisse says the recent presidential election has added “to the subject of Muslims.” Whatever that means.

I’ll take Charisse’s assessment of my work as “confrontational” as a compliment, even if he didn’t mean it that way. After all, what columnist worth his space, from Paul Krugman to Pat Buchanan, isn’t confrontational? But as for branding my ideas as “inappropriate” and “out of place”—well, isn’t that less the language of an American newsroom than an old Soviet politbureau?

Diana West

You may wish to respond to Charisse's column here.