December 2003 Archives

"German authorities said on Tuesday they had uncovered plans by suspected Islamic extremists to launch a suicide car-bomb attack on a military hospital in the northern city of Hamburg." This from News24.com, with thanks to Nicolei.

"Dirk Nockemann, the Hamburg senator responsible for internal affairs, said the militant Islamic group, Ansar al-Islam, which is alleged to have links to al-Qaeda, was likely to be behind the plans. Citing United States intelligence sources, he said members of the group had planned a suicide-bomb attack, while an alternative target was the major US Rhein-Main air base in central Germany.

"Security at the hospital was immediately stepped up on Tuesday and surrounding streets sealed off. . . .

"The military hospital has 305 beds and handles some civilian services as well as military patients. US authorities believe Ansar al-Islam has links to Al-Qaeda, the extremist network responsible for the September 11 2001 attacks in the United States. The group's stronghold in northern Iraq was devastated by US air strikes in early April during the US invasion of Iraq. However, US commanders have said Ansar al-Islam has made a strong comeback, infiltrating Iraq from Iran and setting up operations in the Baghdad area.

"German intelligence services believe about 100 Ansar al-Islam militants are in Germany, mainly in the south of the country."

Few non-Muslims in America seem to recognize the realities of the institutionalized oppression that non-Muslims must endure under Islamic law. But the Vatican seems to be becoming quite aware of these realities: "Too many Islamic countries treat their Christian minorities as second-class citizens and bar them from building churches while Western states let their Muslims build mosques freely, according to a senior Vatican official." This from Reuters, with thanks to Nancy Block.

"Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who recently retired as the Vatican's foreign minister, told the French Catholic daily La Croix Wednesday that Christianity and Islam faced 'an enormous task' of learning to live together in mutual tolerance. Tauran was the latest and highest-ranking Catholic official to voice concern about Vatican relations with Muslims, an issue seen as central for whoever succeeds the ailing Pope John Paul.

"'There are too many majority Muslim countries where non-Muslims are second-class citizens,' said Tauran, the church's top diplomat for 13 years before he had to step aside on being made a cardinal by Pope John Paul in October. Stressing the need for respect for minorities, he singled out 'the extreme case of Saudi Arabia, where freedom of religion is violated absolutely -- no Christian churches and a ban on celebrating Mass, even in a private home. Just like Muslims can build their houses of prayer anywhere in the world, the faithful of other religions should be able to do so as well,' the French-born cardinal said.

"Leading church figures have increasingly expressed concern about Islam in view of friction between Muslims and Christians in Africa and the Middle East and the difficult integration of Muslim minorities in traditionally Christian Europe.
La Civilta Cattolica, a Jesuit journal published with Vatican approval, said last October Islam had a 'warlike face' throughout history and charged Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Pakistan discriminated against Christians.

"This was seen as a departure from the more balanced approach the Vatican has taken toward the Muslim world, where it usually stressed both positive and negative aspects of its relations. In Rome that same month to celebrate Pope John Paul's 25th anniversary as pontiff, several cardinals cited relations with Islam as a key issue for the next papacy, akin to the Communist challenge at the beginning of the Polish pope's reign.

"The head of the United States bishops' conference, Bishop Wilton Gregory, spoke of potential religious violence. Referring to Islam in the West and in Africa, he said: 'It's growing in places it didn't exist before and it is growing in places where Christianity is growing. The world cannot afford a violence that is born of religious intolerance.'

"Saudi Arabia has rejected criticism of its ban on churches, arguing the Vatican would not let mosques be built on its land. Abid Ullah Jan, a Pakistani writer based in Canada, wrote that the Civilta Cattolica article signaled the Vatican had 'joined the ranks of intellectual warriors who are battling Islam with renewed zeal since the fall of the Soviet Union.'

"Since becoming cardinal, Tauran has taken a lower-profile post as Vatican librarian but has also been appointed to several important Church commissions for foreign affairs, Catholic doctrine, Eastern churches and bishops' appointments."

While most American textbooks present a whitewashed and incomplete picture of Islam -- one that has bordered on outright proselytization in some cases -- textbooks in the Islamic world do not tend to return the favor. "Virulent anti-Semitism, calls for Jihad and support for the elimination of Israel are entrenched in every level of Syria's school system, according to a study released by B'nai Brith International of 68 Syrian school textbooks spanning grades 1-12." This report is from the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Jean-Luc.

"Conducted by the New York-based Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, the 30-page study titled, 'Jihad, Jews and Anti-Semitism in Syrian School Texts,' found that Syrian children are taught to hate Jews and Israel with such ferocity that genuine reconciliation between the two peoples appears unlikely in the near future.

"The study also highlights Syria's contradictory role in the international arena. Listed as one of seven sponsors of international terrorism by the US State Department, Syria also holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council and co-chairs its Human Rights Commission, based in Geneva.

"Among the many examples of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment provided in the study, which looked at government-funded texts only, is an excerpt from a 10th grade social studies text that describes Zionism as 'a racist-imperialist-colonialist-aggressive-expansionist political movement.' In an 11th grade reader, Zionism is termed the 'new Nazism' and a 'model of racist evil.'

"Eighth-graders are taught that, 'It is known that the Jews of today do not have any connection to Palestine,' and sixth-graders learn that 'The Prophet [Mohammed] knew about the treacherous intention harbored in the Jews' souls.'

"By age 15, Syrian children are read in their Islamic studies textbooks that Jews deserve to be liquidated: 'Co-existence with them or having them as neighbors, is an enormous danger that threatens Islamic and Arab existence with destruction and extinction. Their criminal intention should be turned against them by way of their elimination.'

"Calls for 'martyrdom' and terrorism are also tracked in the study. An Islamic studies text for grade-5 students describes praises Palestinian youth for 'rushing towards death, trying to reach it ahead of one another,' and 6th-graders learn: 'There is neither excuse nor forgiveness for the one who refrains from Jihad for the cause of God, for the purification of Palestine of the Jews.'

"B'nai Brith executive vice president Dan Mariaschin said that the study highlights the dim prospects for peace between Israel and Syria. 'Without education for peace, not incitement, good relations between Syria and Israel are unlikely,' he said." That's an understatement.

"Al-Qaeda has turned its terror sights to the sea, targeting luxury cruise liners in an expansion of its 'jihad' against the West." This from News.com.au, with thanks to Jean-Luc.

"Owners of the recently launched $1.3 billion Queen Mary 2 yesterday confirmed threats of terror hang over its maiden voyage early next year."

Jemaah Islamiya, the Indonesian radical Muslim terrorist group, has been widely reported as wanting to establish an Islamic state in Southeast Asia, incorporating Malaysia, Indonesia, Mindanao, and other areas. But Australia has usually been kept out of the equation -- until now. According to News.com.au, "occupation of Australia's Top End is a key goal of terror organisation Jemaah Islamiyah, a leading London-based academic has claimed.

"Anthony Paul, from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the al-Qaida-backed terror organisation wanted to incorporate northern Australia into a Muslim state that would also include South-East Asia. Writing in the respected Malaysian-based New Straits Times, Mr Paul said north Australia was part of Jemaah Islamiyah's plans for regional domination.

"Mr Paul compared JI's strategy to export global revolution with the former Soviet Union's expansionary plans. 'Instead of a world dominated by communist nation states, al-Qaida's vision is of a vast new Islamic nation -- a single caliphate (Muslim state) stretching from southern Spain to the Philippines. Jemaah Islamiyah promotes a more localised manifestation of the same dream -- a caliphate for South-East Asia and northern Australia.' . . .

"The NT Government yesterday called for the Federal Government to maintain a steady security focus in northern Australia. 'From our point of view the Federal Government needs to keep a firm focus on northern Australia because of its location,' a spokesman said. 'It can't just think of capital cities to the south, because we're close to the major population centres of the north.'

"Solomon MHR David Tollner said: 'The Federal Government's focus is very much to the north and it has shown a commitment to maintaining sound relations with our near neighbours.'" I hope he doesn't mistake "sound relations" for dhimmitude. (Thanks to Jean-Luc.)

"Hamas and Islamic Jihad have vowed to step up their attacks against Israel in the aftermath of Thursday's killing of the head of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip." This from the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Jean-Luc.

"Leaders of the two groups said over the weekend that the killing of Muqled Hamed and two of his companions in an IAF rocket attack on their car dealt a fatal blow to efforts to arrange a temporary truce with Israel."

So in response to the killing of the leader of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, they are no doubt going to blow up more people on buses and restaurants. The fact that so many people don't see what's wrong with that picture is an index of the general decline of civilization.

A reader named "Abu Bara" has posted the following as a comment to an earlier article here. He writes as a Muslim calling people to Islam; this is dawah, the indispensable precursor to jihad.

I tend to think the message was really written by a Muslim, as it sounds like many similar calls that I have read over the years. Also, it contains many small things that would be unusual for a non-Muslim posing as a Muslim to know how to formulate properly.

Please note in particular Abu Bara's statement that "Muslims are obliged to defend themselves under strict guidelines set down by Allah(swt) if the criteria is met then such defence is permissible. The acts of 9/11 fulfilled this criteria and hence were totally justified, there is no argument amongst the Islamic Scholars regarding this."

Note also that he invites questions. If, therefore, you have ever wanted to ask a radical Muslim anything -- about justifying 9/11 or anything else -- now's your chance.

"Islam calls all people to Tawheed: To believe that there is none worthy to worship follow or obey in truth except for Allah(swt) and accept Muhammad(saw) as His Final Messenger.

"If we look to the world we find that everything is weak, limited or dependant. Man is weak; plants depend on sunlight; the sun is powered by nuclear reactions that are themselves limited.

"At present we are all living in societies where the Law of God is not present, where man has taken legislation into his own hands rejecting his Creator both explicitly and implicitly. Consequently when the Law of God is not executed corruption spreads as Allah(swt) has informed us in the Koran. Today we see this in the form of homosexuality, alcoholism, Sexually transmitted diseases, money laundering via interest based transactions...the list is endless.

"As Muslims we believe the only solution is to refer to our Creator who has given us the answers through Koranic revelation and Prophetic revelation. We reject all other ways of life and then believe in Allah(swt) His names and attributes exclusively:

"[2:256] Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth(Islam) stands out clear from Error(non-Islam): whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.

"All of a Muslims actions are purely for the sake of Allah(swt) not from personal desire hence when judging actions such as 9/11 reference must be made to the text to see whether it conflicts. Muslims are obliged to defend themselves under strict guidelines set down by Allah(swt) if the criteria is met then such defence is permissible. The acts of 9/11 fulfilled this criteria and hence were totally justified, there is no argument amongst the Islamic Scholars regarding this.
Humanity for example stems from mans ration and desire, if we look to man for answers and obey and follow him we will stray. Allah(swt)created man and he has commanded all of mankind to worship follow and obey Him exclusively.

"[3:85]If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those who have lost.

"[3:185] Every soul shall have a taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full reward. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained the object of Life: For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception.

"If you have any questions, by all means post them and i will do my best to answer them.

"Come to the call of Islam,

"Saiful Islam."

Even though revelations had already come out about the Ford Foundation's involvement in funding terrorist groups, Alyssa A. Lappen's Front Page piece today is eye-opening. Some of the new information even involves Khaled Abou El Fadl, the prominent Muslim academic who was recently embroiled in an imbroglio with an Egyptian newspaper he says misquoted him.

Read it all: it is full of enlightening information (plus an abundance of supporting links). But here are a few highlights:

"To most Americans, it may seem unlikely that the U.S. Constitution could -- or should -- ever be revised to conform to strict Islamic law. But an educational program funded by the Ford Foundation has explored that very possibility, challenging our right to unfettered freedom of speech. The program, administered by the woefully misnamed Constitutional Rights Foundation, asks students to ponder how the Constitution could be amended or otherwise interpreted to prohibit blasphemy against Allah. . . .

"Just how piddling are the offenses in question? Ask a group of young party-goers in Seattle. They printed a flyer advertizing a "rave" and unknowingly decorated it with a verse from the Koran. Ali-Salaam Mahmoud, head of the Sea Tac, Washington Majid As Salaam mosque demanded the rave promoters recall and destroy their 50,000 brochures. The rave promoters did not comply, but 400 Seattle Muslims organized a taxi work stoppage in protest. Several Jewish and Christian leaders supported the offended Muslims. . . .

"In Islam, cursing Allah or misusing the Koran is equivalent to blasphemy. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the legality of the offending brochure. Even if the rave promoters had knowingly used the Koran script, their right to distribute it would still be protected. No U.S. citizen is required to defer to this or any other religion; indeed, the Constitution confers on Americans the right to ridicule religion if they choose. . . .

"The Los Angeles-based Constitutional Rights Foundation was established in 1962 to 'instill in our nation's youth a deeper understanding of citizenship' and 'values expressed in our Constitution and Bill of Rights.' Its $3 million annual budget creates and distributes teaching materials ostensibly to support the Bill of Rights. However, CRF's Service Learning Network in 2002 issued online 'diversity' teaching units featuring terrorism and Islam sections--plus a whitewashed history of Islamic law and a proposed blasphemy amendment to the U.S. Constitution. CRF created the Islamic Issues segments for the winter 1998 edition of its quarterly newsletter.

"Its final Islamic study unit does ask students to consider Islamic views on the Salman Rushdie case--and a proposed blasphemy amendment to the U.S. Constitution stating, 'The First Amendment shall not be interpreted to protect blasphemous speech. States shall be free to enact anti-blasphemy laws as long as they prohibit offensive speech against all religions.' Students are asked to define blasphemy, explain the 'strong' Islamic reaction to Rushdie's novel, and assume the role of a U.S. Senator considering the amendment. They are not asked to discuss the Sharia punishment for blasphemy, which traditionally has been death. Such condemnations occur to this day. . . .

"The same Ford Foundation that funded anti-Semitic NGOs at the UN Conference Against Racism in Durban also finances CRF's Service Learning Network. . . . UCLA Islamic law professor Khaled Abou El Fadl was academic reviewer for CRF's 1998 Origins of Islamic Law unit, reissued online in 2002. He read the other units as well, according to Hayes, who adds that he continues to advise CRF on Islamic history together with University of Southern California Middle East 'expert' Lori Brand and UCLA associate history professor Michael Morony. Curiously, Hayes says the adviser for the blasphemy unit 'did not want to be identified.'

"In May 2003, El Fadl's reputed 'moderation' earned him a seat on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (CIRF). In November 2002, he reported receiving death threats a year earlier, after writing that the September 11 attacks reflected a crisis at Islam's core. In April 2003, in a 10,000-word Boston Review essay El Fadl claimed that Sharia 'fulfills the criteria of justice and legitimacy,' is 'based on the rule of law,' and binds the governed to governor. Sharia 'deprives human beings of arbitrary authority over other human beings,' he claimed, and could therefore provide a 'normative stance' considering 'justice and diversity to be core values' of a democratic constitutional order.

"Sharia offers no democratic foundation, however. Far from protecting diversity or justice, Sharia historically has provoked and sanctioned oppression and wholesale genocide of non-Muslim minorities. Such policies continue to this day in Islamic countries like Pakistan, Sudan and Indonesia, where Muslims perpetrate genocide against Christian and other minorities with little sanction." But I doubt you will find Professor El Fadl acknowledging that.

Michael Ray Stubbs

"Philippine authorities said Tuesday they were set to deport two American brothers arrested for suspected links to terrorism and for allegedly meeting charity groups believed to be al-Qaida fronts in the country." So says AP.

"One of the men, Michael Ray Stubbs, worked as a heating and air conditioning technician at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory -- a major nuclear weapons lab outside San Francisco -- for about 10 years ending in 2000. Officials said the FBI was looking into whether he had access to sensitive information.

"Michael Ray Stubbs, 55, and his brother James, 56, a convert to Islam, were arrested on immigration violation charges Dec. 13 in the town of Tanza in Cavite province, 21 miles southwest of Manila, the Bureau of Immigration said.

"The brothers denied any wrongdoing when they appeared at a news conference in handcuffs. Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo told reporters Tuesday that James Stubbs met with members of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group, as well as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front separatist movement, two groups loosely linked by Philippine officials to al-Qaida.

"'These are all fabricated lies,' James Stubbs shouted as Domingo addressed the news conference. An irritated Domingo responded: 'This is the Philippine government. They're violating immigration laws and they're being charged and they are going through immigration proceedings.'

"The brothers, born in Missouri, would be deported to the United States as 'undesirable aliens ... based on intelligence reports that they were seen meeting with known leaders of various terrorist cells in the country with links to al-Qaida,' the immigration bureau said. Domingo said they were under surveillance before their arrest.

"The two had tourist visas but also carried documents indicating they were soliciting funds for the construction of Muslim schools and mosques, Domingo said. She said there was no evidence linking the two to any past or planned terrorist plots, but said James Stubbs allegedly called for the overthrow of the U.S. government in statements to local authorities. James Stubbs said he has a Filipino wife and was in the Philippines because she was pregnant.

"A naval intelligence officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. officials were concerned that Michael Ray Stubbs may have passed sensitive information from Livermore to his brother. Susan Houghton, a spokeswoman for the Livermore lab, confirmed that Michael Ray Stubbs used to work there for about 10 years until 2000. 'We are aware of what the Philippines officials did,' she said. 'We have been working closely with the FBI on this issue since he was arrested in the Philippines a few weeks ago.' She said Stubbs' clearance was terminated after he left on medical leave in March 2000.

"The U.S. Embassy declined to comment on the allegations. Spokeswoman Karen Kelley said she understood the brothers retained legal council to address the charges.

"According to Philippine military intelligence reports, James Stubbs left his job as a teacher in California to study Arabic in Sudan. He met in May with several charity groups suspected of being al-Qaida fronts and founded by Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil -- believed to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law. Abdeljalil was arrested in September in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga on charges of having an expired visa. After he was interrogated, he was ordered deported.

"The charities were not immediately identified, but the immigration bureau said they were used to channel funds to al-Qaida cells in the Philippines."

Reuters offers a harrowing account of life for Christians in today's Iraq. In accordance with dhimmi restrictions on selling alcohol, liquor salesmen are being targeted by radical Muslims. Meanwhile, Iraqi police turn a blind eye to Muslims committing genuine offenses.

"Bashir Toma Elias was killed by a single shot to the head in the middle of Basra's bazaar on Christmas Eve as he prepared to head home to celebrate with his wife and five children. The killing of the Iraqi Christian alcohol merchant sowed fresh fear in a community afraid of increasing religious intolerance in mainly Shi'ite Muslim southern Iraq.

"His widow Jihan cried hysterically outside the Chaldean Church in the affluent Manawi Pasha neighbourhood after Christmas Mass, held in the morning because the lack of security prevented holding a midnight service. 'We buried Bashir and our priests are celebrating while we are being slaughtered,' said 40-year-old Jihan. 'Where is the peace they preach?'

"Bashir, 48, was the latest liquor store trader fatally shot in the country's second largest city since the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April. Residents say the killer escaped as passers-by looked on, in a city still plagued by crime and mob rule despite the British military presence. Since the war that toppled Saddam, armed groups have looted and set ablaze several liquor stores in the once freewheeling city, where Shi'ite religious parties now wield power and seek to impose strict moral regulations, similar to Iran.

"More than 400 liquor stores run by Christians, the only community allowed to sell alcohol under the former Baathist government, were forced to close in the immediate aftermath of the US led occupation of Iraq. Basra was once a cosmopolitan trading centre and playground for rich Kuwaitis and Saudis who flocked to its casinos and nightclubs in the midst of an austere region where alcohol was banned.

"'Alcohol selling has changed from Christians to Muslims. Now it's Muslims who sell after taking the trade from us,' said an embittered Joseph Hanna, a Christian property developer and hotel owner who blames militant Shi'ite groups for the killings. 'We fear for our lives and our interests from the extremist Shi'ites who are targeting us as Christians,' said Misak Victor, another liquor merchant.

"Iraqi Christians are terrified of armed Shi'ite groups, which have names like God's Vengeance, God's Party and the Islamic Bases Organisation. Their members roam the streets to chase mobsters, drug addicts and prostitutes, exacting their brand of what they call God's law.

"The number of parties carrying Islam's banner is a force to reckon with in the post-Saddam political order, holding sway in local councils and competing with a beleaguered police force in imposing order in the unruly streets. Abdullah Faisal, head of the Islamic Bases Organisation, says Islam venerates his young 'martyrdom seekers', who have a mandate from God to stamp out vice.

"But Faisal says the killings of liquor traders were carried out by undisciplined militant Islamic groups and that Islam opposed the summary executions witnessed in Basra. 'Some Islamic movements have challenged liquor merchants. There was burning and killings,' he said. 'Religion doesn't allow this even though we confront vice and crime.'

"Unlike the majority Shi'ites long persecuted by Saddam Hussein, many Christians found that Saddam's Baath party and its secular pan-Arabist nationalist ideology tolerated them. 'We never saw harm under Saddam Hussein,' said Tareq Boutros, a former liquor store owner who now runs a garment business.

"Christian Iraqis fear that militant Shi'ite militias want to impose an intolerant brand of Islam on minorities and rival Muslim sects. They say Shi'ite power in postwar Iraq has allowed them to dominate a new police force, which they say is corrupted by a mix of local mobsters and militant Islamic parties. 'You now find police in the streets, but I am certain if a murder takes place in front of them they would not deal with it. If you talk to a police officer he will tell you I cannot do anything,' said Sami Shamas, a mathematics teacher.

"'Those who sell drinks are killed but thieves who steal homes or kidnap girls are left free,' said an angry Christian who refused to give his name.

"Families cite growing intolerance in Basra's society at large, with schoolgirls and female university students under intimidation from teachers to wear the veil. 'Our daughters are being fought. They are telling them you have to wear a veil and become a Muslim,' said Abdulahad Wissam, a Christian who runs a chain of household goods stores.

"Fears of worse to come have prompted more than 2,000 families from the community of at least 100,000 Christians in the city to pack up and leave. Most headed to northern Iraqi cities such as Mosul where their ancient communities trace their ancestry, their leaders say. 'A lot of Christian families have left for Mosul and Baghdad,' said goldsmith Naji Ahanyous. 'If this situation continues there will not be one Christian in Basra.'" And that's just the way the Shi'ites want it.

"General Electric has felt the heat of a 'significant' number of Paul Harvey listeners and has decided to resume advertising on the newsman's radio program after initially pulling its commercials due to complaints about a negative comment the broadcaster made about Islam." This from WND.

"As WorldNetDaily reported, in a Dec. 4 news item in which the legendary newsman described the bloody nature of cockfight gambling in Iraq, he said: 'Add to the thirst for blood a religion which encourages killing, and it is entirely understandable if Americans came to this bloody party unprepared.' The Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, subsequently demanded an apology from Harvey, which was broadcast by a substitute anchor on the daily program Dec. 9. . . .

"Gary Sheffer, spokesman for GE, confirmed that a radio ad for a lighting product was pulled from the show. The company decided to restore its advertising last week, however, after hearing from people upset with the initial decision. 'We have had significant feedback from Mr. Harvey's listeners,' Sheffer told WorldNetDaily. He says those contacting GE have expressed support for the newsman and asked that the advertising be restored."

"Jerry Bussell, Governor Kenny Guinn's adviser on homeland security, tells The Associated Press that the airspace over the Las Vegas Strip will be closed New Year's Eve.

"A spokeswoman with the US Department of Homeland Security says the agency has received the state's request to close the airspace and is coordinating any action with the FAA. A spokeswoman with McCarran International Airport says the ban, known as a temporary flight restriction, will implemented on New Year's Eve from 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM. The TFR will involve a ten nautical mile radius from the center of McCarran Airport. The TFR will not affect commercial airliners or medical, police or military flights. Private planes and tour helicopters will not be allowed to fly in the restricted air space. McCarran will remain open and operational.

"Las Vegas has been mentioned as a possible terrorist target, but officials have yet to say that was the reason behind the ban. Authorities are expecting more than 200,000 people to flock to the Strip this New Year's Eve."

We'll get a sense of whether or not dhimmitude has entered the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court on January 9, when the high court "will discuss whether to hear arguments in a case in which a Muslim sued Mississippi over the Confederate battle emblem in the state flag." This from AP, with thanks to Nicolei.

"Lower federal courts had rejected John Ellis Briggs' argument that the Mississippi flag contains a Christian symbol - the St. Andrew's Cross - and that the symbol represents state endorsement of a particular religion. Briggs' lawsuit seeks punitive damages of up to $77.77 million. It also seeks to have the symbol 'removed from display in public places.'"

This is pure judicial terrorism. It's abundantly clear that neither Mississippi nor any other state endorses Christianity; to target an arcane symbol that nobody understands as a symbol of Christianity (it's much more likely to inspire thoughts of the Confederacy) and to demand punitive damages on this basis is -- at best -- craven opportunism. It also stinks more than a little of dhimmitude, recalling the classic prohibition in Islamic law against Christians displaying crosses.

"Since 1894, Mississippi's flag has contained the Confederate battle emblem, a blue X with 13 whites stars over a field of red. Experts differ on whether the X in the Confederate battle emblem is the St. Andrew's Cross. David Sansing, professor emeritus of history at the University of Mississippi, said Monday what people have claimed for years is the St. Andrew's Cross is not. 'What is in the Confederate battle flag is a blue saltier. The St. Andrew's Cross is a white diagonal cross on a blue field,' Sansing said. 'The man who designed the (Confederate battle) flag makes no reference to the St. Andrew's Cross.'

"Sansing said the designer of the flag described it to Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard as a blue saltier on a red field with one star for each of the 13 Southern states. Sansing said the St. Andrew's Cross dates back to the Middle Ages and represents the X-shaped cross on which the apostle Andrew was crucified. Andrew was the patron saint of Scotland. The St. Andrew's Cross is Scotland's national flag. 'So, he's (Briggs) wrong to begin with. It's not a Christian symbol,' Sansing said.

"Briggs filed suit in federal court in Gulfport in 2001. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2002. Briggs appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against him in June. The 5th Circuit said it could not accept that 'every X, or every X the straight-line connection of whose four points would form a square, is predominantly a religious symbol.'

"Appeals Judge Will Garwood, writing for himself and Judges E. Grady Jolly and Jerry E. Smith, said it was clear that a community's display of the flag was not an endorsement of religion. Garwood said the debate over the flying of the Confederate battle flag, or its being a part of a state flag, has centered on its symbolism of the Confederacy and to what extent the symbol extolled or excused slavery. 'None of this concerns any religious symbolism related to any presence of the St. Andrews Cross in the flag,' Garwood wrote.

"Garwood said that in 1894 - and in 2001, when voters declined to change the flag - the Mississippi flag included the canton corner of identical design that was created by Confederate generals in 1861. He said the design was used by Confederate forces throughout the Civil War and became well known, at least throughout the South. Garwood said those decisions had no religious intent."

"Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network is deeply 'involved' in international drug trafficking and is using the money to buy arms, and possibly radioactive material for use in a 'dirty' nuclear bomb, according to senior US officials.
'Bin Laden does not mind trafficking in drugs, even though it is against the teaching of Islam, because it is being used to kill Westerners,' said a Defence official." This from SifyNews, with thanks to Nicolei.

The article says of bin Laden: "'He has allies and associates who are not members per se but who move products for him and take drugs and buy arms and give the arms to al Qaeda,' the official said.

This is no surprise; we have seen it before. The Taliban's Abdul Rashid banned hashish "because it is consumed by Afghans and Muslims," but stated: "Opium is permissible because it is consumed by kafirs [unbelievers] in the West and not by Muslims or Afghans."

Despite his profit margin, however, Osama bin Laden or his ghostwriter didn't hesitate in November 2002 to excoriate the U.S. for its drug use: "You are a nation that permits the production, trading and usage of intoxicants. You also permit drugs, and only forbid the trade of them, even though your nation is the largest consumer of them."

Sify continues: "Al Qaeda's drug operation came to the surface earlier this year when three boats operated by al Qaeda linked persons and carrying two tons of hashish, 85 pounds of heroin and 150 pounds of methamphetamines were seized, the officials were quoted as saying by 'The Washington Times'.

"Though the intelligence community still does not have a firm grasp on the scope of al Qaeda's drug operations and how much money it raises, estimates are in the millions of dollars.

"Bin Laden, officials said, reaps the profits in two ways. His allies regulate smuggling routes out of Afghanistan into Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and other countries, essentially placing a tax on each shipment to let it pass. Or, alternatively, al Qaeda takes the drugs as payment and uses them to buy arms.

"The officials said that there are also unconfirmed intelligence reports that al Qaeda has bought radioactive material for use in a 'dirty bomb'--a conventional bomb packed with radioactive material."

"Two American brothers were arrested for possible links to terrorism, a Philippine official said Monday." This from AP, with thanks to Nicolei.

"Michael Ray Stubbs and his brother James, a convert to Islam, have been held at an undisclosed location since they were arrested earlier this month 21 miles southwest of Manila, an immigration intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.

"The official said the brothers were of Middle Eastern origin but gave no other details. It was not clear what charges they could face or why authorities believe they may be linked to terrorism.

"The two were to be brought before the media on Tuesday, when more information was expected. It was also not known where they were from in the United States. The U.S. Embassy could not immediately be reached for comment."

"Saudi nationals helped Saddam Hussein recruit and finance al-Qaida insurgents as part of preparations to confront U.S. troops in Iraq." This from WND, with thanks to ohmyrus.

"Iraqi officers who have been interrogated by the United States and coalition officials reported the Saudi role in recruiting and training of al-Qaida units in Iraq. The officers said Saddam, through Saudi contacts, had invited al-Qaida insurgents to form suicide and other units to stop the U.S. military in March.

"Saddam's contacts with al-Qaida, the officers told interrogators, preceded the group's Sept. 11, 2001 strikes on New York and Washington. They said Saudi envoys arranged for al-Qaida insurgents to enter Iraq and begin training in camps around Baghdad."

"'Europe is becoming a Muslim continent,' a new public relations booklet prepared by the World Zionist Organization warns." This from Haaretz, with thanks to Nicolei.

"The booklet, a Hebrew-language copy of which was obtained by Haaretz, was prepared for a conference of leaders of Orthodox communities worldwide that opens today in Jerusalem, and will be distributed to all of the approximately 200 rabbis and community leaders in attendance. Entitled 'A Guide to Anti-Semitism and Terror for Diaspora Communities,' the booklet was prepared by the WZO's Spiritual Services for the Diaspora unit, 'with the goal of raising awareness of the issue,' according to unit chairman Rabbi Yehiel Wasserman.

"The booklet states that dialogue on the basis of mutual concern for religion is impossible with Muslims, even moderates, because Islam has no common theological concepts with Judaism.

"Regarding the dangers posed by Muslims in Europe, the document states that 'what began 40 years ago as an innocent migration by the unemployed' has become 'an attempt at conquest aimed at changing the face of the Western world and history.'

"The document warns in particular against contact with young, Western-educated Muslims, claiming many have been 'born again' as extremists."

This is the bitter fruit of multiculturalist education that exhorts young people to recover their ethnic heritage and cling tightly to their traditions. When these are Islamic traditions that reject secularism, what will be the outcome?

"Wasserman said the booklet is still undergoing revisions and that some of these statements will be 'softened.'

"Muslim anti-Semitism is expected to occupy a prominent place at the conference. Rabbi Yitzhak Haleva, the chief rabbi of Turkey, said yesterday that the attacks on two Istanbul synagogues last month was the first evidence of the existence of Muslim anti-Semitism in Turkey. Immediately after the attacks, he added, some people began blaming the Jews, but these accusations died down following the bombings five days later of the British consulate and the Istanbul headquarters of the HSBC Bank.

"The French rabbis attending the conference, meanwhile, were divided over a recent statement made by the country's chief rabbi, Joseph Sitruk, in which he urged French Jews to wear hats rather than kippot (skullcaps) in 'sensitive' areas, such as subway stations, in order to avoid anti-Semitic attacks. The chief rabbi of Paris, David Messas, said yesterday that Jews 'should be proud of their Judaism' and simply avoid places where a kippa might endanger their lives.

"With regard to the French government's decision to pass a law that would forbid students to wear kippot, headscarves or large crosses in schools, Messas and the other French rabbis said that if the law passes, they will tell their congregants to obey it and go to school bareheaded.

"However, although French rabbis have joined Muslim leaders in opposing the law, Messas believes that it will ultimately aggravate Jewish-Muslim relations, because 'the Jews, unlike the Muslims, will accept the law, and therefore, we will again find ourselves on opposite sides of the fence.'"

"Comedians and dramatists delight in 'pouring scorn' on Christianity but are 'timid' about mocking Muslims, a broadcasting watchdog chief said yesterday." This from the Telegraph, and Nicolei.

"Islam was accorded far more respect on television and radio than other religions because satirists were 'cautious' and 'self-censoring' when faced with the prospect of causing offence to Muslims, said Lord Dubs, chairman of the Broadcasting Standards Commission.

"'In portraying Muslims they have held back, they have censored themselves, they are timid,' the Labour peer said. 'I have seen them pour scorn on Christianity more than on other religions. Christianity is an easier and more acceptable target followed, to a lesser extent, by Jews and Hindus.'

"His remarks come on the eve of an announcement by the BSC that it is to impose one of the stiffest penalties it can draw on after Channel 4 re-broadcast a remark by Jamie Oliver about 'Jesus --ing Christ'.

"The BSC had already upheld a complaint that the comment, made by the celebrity chef in an episode of the fly-on-the-wall series Jamie's Kitchen, was offensive to Christians. The regulator was angry when the offending remark was aired again in an unedited repeat of the programme.

"A spokesman for Channel 4 said the repeat went out later than the original programme, at 10pm rather than 9pm, and it had been thought that the audience at the later time would not be offended. In a rare intervention of this kind by the BSC, Channel 4 will be forced to broadcast the commission's new adjudication on air and have it published in a newspaper.

"The commission is subsumed from today into the new super-regulator Ofcom. Lord Dubs admitted that the BSC had also shown bias in favour of Muslims. 'We have tried to treat the religions equally. I doubt we have succeeded. I think we have shaded a bit on the side of Islam,' he said.

"The Right Rev Richard Holloway, the former Bishop of Edinburgh and a member of the BSC board, said Oliver's remark would never have been aired had it been about the Prophet Mohammed.

"'There is much more sensitivity to disturbing Islam,' he said. 'It is partly because the Muslim community does not have a tradition of humour about religion, although Christian leaders will stand up for things that are fundamentally important.'" Christians are also unlikely to kill those who offend them.

"Western-made terrorists motivated by Marxist, anarchist and neo-Nazi ideology are forming alliances with jihadists and are planning copycat-style attacks and others utilizing funding from Islamists, according to intelligence sources, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

"While old-line non-Muslim terrorists seem to have been in hibernation, since Sept. 11, 2001, they are waking up to the need to act and the availability of funds from al-Qaida and other similar jihadist groups, according to the premium, online intelligence newsletter.

"Danger spots were recently identified in Europe, Asia and North America. Recent assessments indicate that daily reports on the success of Islamic terror in disrupting normal life are creating an urge within the ranks of western terrorists to return to action.

"Such groups dominated the terror scene in the 1960s and 1970s. The U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the resistance to globalization, xenophobic tendencies and anti-Semitism have all combined to pour oil on old flames, encouraging new alliances as a result.

"Experts attempting to draft the profile of non-Islamic terrorism in the 21st century are turning their interest toward militant Muslims' efforts to recruit terror contractors and to use the services of European terrorists and anarchists.

"Intelligence sources say they expect the jihadists to sub-contract terrorist attacks to small cells of two to three people familiar with their modus operandi. These groups sometimes operate in gangs of more than 10 individuals. European-style terrorism differs from the Islamic jihad type in that it often targets individuals to be assassinated or kidnapped. It has also been marked by taking large groups of innocent hostages for negotiation purposes.

"Jihad organizers are acquainted with the sleeper terror groups of Europe and North America, and they know these groups are in dire need of funds. These 'underground' groups need to travel and change their identities frequently.

"Sleeper terror groups are careful not to deal directly with money laundering, drug dealing or organized crime. This is due in part to ideological beliefs, but more because of the need to keep a low profile, away from the eyes of law enforcement agencies.

"Interrogation of non-Muslim terrorists apprehended during the last two years in Europe and Asia, reveals a desire to become copy-cats of the Islamic jihad and a growing need to be placed once again on the international scene. Intelligence agencies are beginning to dust files of old-style terror organizations, which some agencies now describe as the 'Red Jihad.'

"Israeli, British, Turkish and Greek counter-terror experts, have warned of signs pointing to jihadi groups trying to establish contacts with European and American organizations. The technique of hiring terror services, or partnerships with other terror operators was once popular with the Palestinians. The results of these unholy unions in the past have been the Air France hijacking by a group of Arabs and Germans to Entebbe, Uganda, in 1976, the Lufthansa hijacking to Mogadishu in 1977, and the Japanese Red Army attack on Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv in 1972.

"Al-Qaida, Jamaah Islamiah and Wahabbi groups see nothing wrong in using non-Muslims to further their cause. As the origin of most anti-terror activities focuses mainly on the Middle East and Asia, it is clear a western terrorist could be more successful in penetrating a number of security and defense circles. In cases of a precision attack against individuals or institutions, European or American Caucasian terrorists will be more successful in disappearing from the radar screen.

"Over the years, scores of Europeans, Americans and Asians, have been trained in Arab terror bases in Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Iraq. A number of those were later involved in attacks on international air traveling, including airports. . . .

"In a related development, last Month, G2B reported Carlos the Jackal, the legendary terrorist of the 1970s, has converted to Islam and pledged his allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

"Carlos, aka Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, has just published a book in French to announce his conversion to Islam and present his strategy for "the destruction of the United States through an orchestrated and persistent campaign of terror."

"Titled 'Revolutionary Islam' and published under the name Ilich Ramírez Sánchez-CARLOS, the book urges 'all revolutionaries, including those of the left, even atheists,' to accept the leadership of Islamists such as bin Laden and so help turn Afghanistan and Iraq into the 'graveyards of American imperialism.' . . .

"Carlos claims that terrorism is 'the cleanest and most efficient form of warfare.'"

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer's new article, "The Conspiratorial Mind of the Arab World," is available today at FrontPage magazine.

"Saudi Arabia has arrested two Islamic suicide pilots who were preparing to fly two light aircraft into a packed British Airways (BA) jet, a British Sunday newspaper said, quoting a senior opposition politician." This from The Age, with thanks to Nicolei and Mrs. Obelix.

"The suspected suicide pilots were arrested in the last few weeks after they were found red-handed with aircraft loaded with explosives near Saudi Arabia's main airport in the capital Riyadh, The Mail on Sunday said.

"'My understanding is that they were found on the flight line and that the plan was to fly them into a passenger jet either about to land or take off,' said Patrick Mercer, the opposition Conservative spokesman for Homeland Security, according to the newspaper.

"Mercer, who said he had been informed of the plot by an 'unimpeachable' source, intended to raise the matter at the House of Commons immediately after MPs returned from their Christmas break on January 5, the newspaper reported.

"Mercer claimed, according to the same source, that the Saudi authorities tried to cover up the incident near King Khalid International Airport and withheld information from authorities abroad."

Reader "my.joy18" has kindly forwarded to me an Arab News question and answer piece entitled "Sept. 11 Attacks Nothing but Terrorism." Alas, I have been occupied with many other things the last few days, and didn't immediately put it up. Now it is gone without a trace. I wonder if that has anything to do with its content: it declares that while the September 11 attacks were terrorism because they targeted innocent people, in Israel it's a different story. "To resist Israel by all means available to us is justified under divine and human law." Including, evidently, blowing up innocent people on buses and in restaurants, and gunning down little babies.

As ghastly as this sounds, it is in accord with Islamic law, which does indeed forbid the killing of the innocent -- provided that they are not aiding the war effort. Apparently the author of this answer shares the widespread view among Islamic scholars that there are no innocent non-combatants in Israel: by virtue of simply being there, everyone in the country is a kafir harbi, an unbeliever at war with Islam. Thus everyone in the country is fair game.

As a favor to the folks at Arab News, I'll preserve the article for posterity in its entirety here:

"Edited by Adil Salahi

"Q. Could you please tell me whether the Sept. 11 attacks were acts of jihad or terrorism? Would those who were killed in them be martyrs? What about other acts such as those done by Hamas and similar groups?

"S. Hanif

"A. Islam does not approve of indiscriminate killing in any situation. When Muslim armies went out to war in the early period of Islam, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and his successors like Abu Bakr and Umar gave them clear instructions.

"They ordered the army not to kill a child, a woman, an elderly person, a priest or anyone who is not engaged in the fighting or helping the enemy fighters. The attacks on the US that took place on Sept. 11 involved hijacking planes and flying them into buildings.

"The passengers in the planes were innocent bystanders and the people in those buildings were the same. Those who launched this attack did not consider them so, because they followed a mistaken view that everyone who pays taxes to the US government is aiding war against Islam. This view is seriously defective, because people have to pay taxes or they will be in great trouble with their government. Besides, to ask every citizen in the world to have an informed opinion on the justice of our cause and then to take an attitude of peaceful disobedience to their government is to live in a dreamland. Had people been able to judge things in this way, they would all be very religious. God says in the Qur'an that He could have made all mankind a single community, but He has not done so. So, how can we impose our views or beliefs on people?

"I cannot understand how a Muslim could justify boarding a plane, intending to kill all its passengers by flying it into a building used by thousands of civilians. This is simply terrorism and cannot be justified under Islamic law. The operations launched against Israeli occupation are totally different. They are undertaken against occupiers who have turned the local people, Muslims and Christians, from their homes and lands, desecrated mosques and terrorized the population into leaving their land. To resist Israel by all means available to us is justified under divine and human law. It is indeed Israel and its supporters that are engaged in a gigantic and continuous act of terrorism."

The Sharia mandates second-class status for non-Muslims, and forbids a non-Muslim man to marry a Muslim woman. This provision seems to have come West already: "A Grant County man has been charged with trying to kidnap his sister from her Sedro-Woolley home in what police believe was an attempt to punish her for marrying outside her Muslim faith." This from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"Khalil Nassar, 21, and a 24-year-old acquaintance, Antonio Cortez, were charged Wednesday with attempted kidnapping, said Robin Webb-Lakey, a Skagit County senior deputy prosecutor. Nassar also was charged with felony harassment. The two men told police they were simply planning to visit Nassar's sister, according to an affidavit signed by Sedro-Woolley Police Sgt. William Tucker and filed in Skagit County Superior Court. Nassar and Cortez were arrested Monday morning after a police officer found them parked a block away from the sister's apartment in downtown Sedro-Woolley, police Lt. Doug Wood said.

"The two men were in a rented van. Police found rope, gloves, coveralls and a hardhat in the vehicle, according to the affidavit. Police believe the coveralls and hardhat were to be used as a disguise, Wood said. The two men remained in jail Friday pending payment of bail, set at $250,000 for Nassar and $150,000 for Cortez.

"The 18-year-old sister called police in Sedro-Woolley in early December to complain that she and her 19-year-old husband, who is a Christian, were being harassed by her father, according to Tucker's statement to the court.

"Previously, the Grant County Sheriff's Department had investigated complaints made by both families while the couple lived in the Moses Lake area, according to court documents. The couple was engaged at the time. Both families told Grant deputies that the other threatened them.

"The young couple relocated to Sedro-Woolley, but the woman's family continued to call her cellular phone and ask for her to return, according to Tucker's statement.

"During one of these conversations, the woman taped her brother saying he would return her to her family 'dead or alive,' Tucker said in his affidavit. Nassar's father, Sadallah Nassar, told the Skagit Valley Herald that the accusations were false. 'My son went to visit his sister. That's it,' Sadallah Nassar said. 'He wanted to see how she's been, how she is, nothing else.'

"Police reports also say the two men who were arrested told officers they were only in the area to visit the young woman, but officers were bothered by inconsistencies in the two men's stories, according to court records. 'We determined they made a substantial attempt to retrieve her,' Wood said.

"In some conservative strains of Islam, marrying outside the faith is particularly problematic for women. Farhat J. Ziadeh, a University of Washington professor emeritus who specializes in Islamic law, said from the Muslim perspective that Islamic law exists to ensure a continuation of the faith. 'The man is the head of the family and the children follow the man's religion and they don't want anyone to be cut off from Islam,' Ziadeh said."

"Sabih Kahn, 18, founder of a Muslim football league, right, prepares to throw the ball as teammate Muhammad Akhtar, 18, heads down field for a pass during a training session at Heritage Park in Irvine, Calif., Sunday, Dec. 21, 2003. Critics say names of some of the teams such as Intifada, which is used by Palestinian fighters, and Mujahideen glorify terrorism. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)"

Radical Muslims are fighting around the world to institute Sharia law, with its institutionalized oppression of non-Muslims -- dhimmitude. A new glimpse at what a Sharia state would look like comes from Kuwait, where "an Islamist parliamentarian has said he was coordinating with other MPs to ban music education at schools in Kuwait as 'anti-Islamic and a waste of time'." This from News.com.au, with thanks to Nicolei.

In Islam Unveiled I explore some elements of the Islamic legal tradition that lead radical Muslims today to consider music sinful. Here is more confirmation that what I was writing about wasn't ancient historical, or some eccentric invention of the Taliban.

"MP Daifallah Buramia al-Mutairi, in a statement received today, said he could submit such a proposal to parliament, which is due to start a debate on the emirate's education policies next week.

"'Music lessons use up the students' time without any benefit. Parents do not send their children to learn how to play music, but for useful scientific education that is good for them and for their nation,' the MP said.

"Mutairi was a medical doctor before he was elected to parliament for the first time in July's general elections, backed by his tribe for his religious views. Arguing that music contravened Islam, Mutairi said he would propose substituting music lessons with Islamic education."

Amir Butler, Executive Director of the Australian Muslim Public Affairs Committee (AMPAC), has written an op-ed in the Jakarta Post entitled "Trotsky's idea clearly similar to forced democracy upon Muslim World."

Well, I wouldn't have thought of comparing Bush to Trotsky, although Woodrow Wilson has crossed my mind. But the main point of Butler's editorial is that democracy and Islam are not compatible -- an opinion shared by many Muslims, as I have pointed out many times.

Says Butler: "On Nov. 6, George W. Bush announced that America, through it's interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan was leading a 'global democratic revolution'. That he should have made such remarks on the eve of Leon Trotsky's birthday -- the architect of 'global socialist revolution' -- was of course just coincidence.

"However, the similarities between Trotsky's idea that socialism should be spread at the barrel of a gun and the idea that democracy can be forced upon the Muslim world through violent occupation and threat of invasion are obvious."

Of course, the Jews are behind all this: "Contemporary American foreign policy is Trotsky's revenge. The neoconservative movement that holds Washington in its thrall is itself merely a warmed-up version of Trotsky's Fourth International. As Michael Lind wrote in Britain's The New Statesman (April 7, 2003), the neocons are 'products of the largely Jewish-American Trotskyist movement of the 1930s and 1940s, which morphed into anti-communist liberalism between the 1950s and 1970s and finally into a kind of militaristic and imperial right with no precedents in American culture or political history.'" (Thanks to Nicolei.)

At long last, a group of Islamic scholars is going to cut through all the confusion and explain what the word jihad really means: "The Council of Religious Ministers for Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (MABIMS) will publish a comprehensive working paper for explaining Jihad (crusade or holy war) to their Ummah (followers of Islam) by its target date next year.
Such a move is needed to avoid confusion and will also serve as a guideline for Muslims, especially young Turks, who could be misguided by certain elements, caused by lack of definition to the phrase's real meaning." This from Borneo Bulletin.

The article makes a start: "Jihad is a religious conviction for able Muslims towards defending the integrity of Islam. Those who may die because of Jihad are promised good returns and paradise in the afterlife."

Hmmm. If someone could die during jihad, it must involve more than just a personal spiritual struggle. Heck, it may even involve violence. (For an overview of what Muslims really teach about jihad, see my book Onward Muslim Soldiers.)

By Joe Kaufman and Beila Rabinowitz

In December 2002, the Washington Post published an alarming report stating that "U.S. intelligence officials had identified approximately 15 cargo freighters around the world that they believed were controlled by al Qaeda or could be used by the terrorist network to ferry operatives, bombs, money or commodities over the high seas." It further stated that, since September 2001, the U.S. maintained a list of up to 50 al Qaeda "mystery ships."

The greatest fear, according to the Post article, is a scenario where one or more of these vessels would be used to blow holes in cruise ships, as what happened to the USS Cole and the French oil tanker Limburg, both off the coast of Yemen.

One American location that has been of particular concern regarding this is Miami, where just recently a 50-foot wooden freighter, undetected by authorities, ran aground whilst 220 undocumented Haitian passengers took to the shore. Bruce Stubbs, an ex-Coast Guard captain and now security consultant asked, "If the Coast Guard can't stop 200 people on a freighter from coming into the port of Miami, how can they stop a terrorist with a dirty bomb?"

This question becomes that much more difficult to answer, when the port you're discussing is governed by those that possibly harbor sympathies for the attackers themselves.

Khalid Salahuddin, or Brother Khalid as he is affectionately known, is the Deputy Director for the Seaport of Miami. He received the position via an appointment from Director Chares Towsley, shortly after scandal had rocked the port when illegally diverted port funds had made their way into Democratic Party coffers.

As Deputy Director, Salahuddin's responsibilities are many. He solicits Miami business via cargo and cruise ships; he attends and participates in various diplomatic functions, including trade missions, symposiums, news conferences and government briefings, with members of the international community; and he oversees port employment.

That last part came under scrutiny in late 2001, when an NBC 6 news report emerged questioning the hiring practices of the port. In it, it was stated that, out of 1300 members of the three major Longshoremen's unions listed in port records checked, every one in five were convicted felons in Florida, with offenses that included "attempted murder, armed robbery, assault and battery, trafficking in cocaine, grand theft, auto theft, and sex with a child."

When confronted about this, Salahuddin had this to say: "From our standpoint, what benefit would it do to kick him out on the street? We see none"

The report also had something ominous to say about easy access to the port. Jim McDonough, Florida Drug Control Director stated, "I think we have to be very prudent about who we put in the hen-house. We generally don't put the wolf in the hen-house, based on the promise that reform has taken place."

But almost two years later, is the wolf still guarding the hen-house?

Aside from being the Deputy Director of the port, Salahuddin is also the imam of what is said to be the oldest and largest mosque in South Florida, Masjid Al-Ansar. That in itself doesn't pose a problem, but his views and affiliations do.

Before coming to "the pure teachings of al-Islam," and before becoming a "true believer," Salahuddin was a member of the Nation of Islam, the organization headed by the virulently anti-Jewish and anti-American Louis Farrakhan.

This bit of information is found on a website for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which is selling a tape featuring Salahuddin. ISNA is an organization that serves as "an umbrella group for hundreds of Islamic organizations in North America, some of which promote the Islamic fundamentalist doctrine of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad" (Steven Emerson, American Jihad, 2002). Upon his death, Salahuddin gave a memorial speech for Hamid Iqbal Siddiqui, an East Zone Representative for ISNA.

The other individual featured on this video is Maulana Shafayat Mohamed, the spiritual leader of Darul Aloom, the Islamic center where "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla worshipped and where Imran Mandhai and Mossa Jokhan are said to have plotted attacks on a National Guard armory and South Florida electrical power stations.

On February 16, 2002, Salahuddin officiated a fundraising event sponsored by the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA), a group whose website boasts anti-homosexual material and contains a graphic link to www.islamonline.net, a site which features religious/legal opinions in support of suicide bombings.

On September 21, 2002, Salahuddin was one of the main speakers in an event sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR was formed by three leaders of a front for the terrorist organization Hamas and has had numerous high ranking members suspected of and convicted of terrorist activity. The Executive Director of CAIR, Nihad Awad, has stated that he supports Hamas.

Other speakers at this event were:

• Muhammad Musri, who like Salahuddin also has his speeches sold by ISNA, believes about Arab Christians that claim they converted from Islam that they "are lying and that they were actually Christians all along" and that "they are using tales of conversion to get financial backing from evangelical ministries." And he took a jab at Christianity, when he said, "We don't want the Muslims to end up with 700 determinations of Islam."

• Zulfiqar Ali Shah, the ex-Ameer (President) of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), an organization which "proclaims in writing its support for jihad, or holy war, against the 'enemies of Islam'" and whose "hatred of Jews is so fierce that it has taunted Jews with a repetition of what Hitler did to them." Ali Shah gave a lecture on how "stories and descriptions [in the] Old Testament" have been "corrupted by the hand of man" and how "many teachings presently in the Old Testament actually go against all human logic and morality."

• Hassan Sabri, the imam of the Islamic Center of South Florida, who came to the U.S. via the Palestinian territories on a "special travel document" that expired 16 years ago. On April 6, 2002, Sabri attended an anti-Israel rally outside the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, where allusions to Nazis and genocide were broadcast. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called the references "a disgusting trivialization of the Holocaust."

• Mohammed Qazi, the Orlando President of the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), a group that has been described as "Radical Islamic activists." Hillary Clinton returned a $50,000 donation the AMA had made to her New York Senatorial campaign for statements made by members of the group she deemed "offensive and outrageous."

• Sayed Hemayed of the Muslim American Society (MAS). The July 4, 2003 edition of the MAS's on-line publication, The American Muslim Magazine, features an article titled 'Reaching the Roots of Terrorism,' which validates terrorism, including suicide bombing, as "a reaction to injustice."

• Ahmed Bedier, the Florida Communications Director of CAIR, who used his position, on numerous occasions, to defend Sami al-Arian. Al-Arian was arrested for his role as the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, was found to have aided in the murder of Americans, and has screamed "Death to Israel." Bedier has openly complained that the post 9/11 climate "has been an effective tool to silence anti-Israeli views in the country."

• Altaf Ahmad Ali, the Florida Executive Director of CAIR, who used a joint press conference with the FBI to defend 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Ali, on a radio show just one month after 9/11, wavered on the question of whether or not the people that died in the 9/11 attacks were innocent.

• Parvez Ahmed, the Florida Chairman of the Board of CAIR, who is the registered agent for the Independent Writers Syndicate, an organization created by CAIR which distributes violent and hate-filled commentaries to publications throughout North America. It syndicates such radical Islamist authors as: Hesham A. Hassaballa, Arsalan Tariq Iftikhar, Riad Z. Abdelkarim, and Fedwa Wazwaz.

• Khalid Hamza, the co-founder of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, a mosque that's website features material from a web based book ('This Is The Truth') that is published by the Al-Haramain Foundation, a Saudi-backed organization that raised millions of dollars for the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. Hamza was denied tenure from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) for "misstating his qualifications on his resume and behaving unprofessionally in the classroom" and used a Texas A & M University internet forum to defend Sami Al Arian.

• Rafiq Mehdi, the imam of Masjid Al-Iman, the mosque where 'dirty bomber' Jose Padilla converted to Islam and where Adham Hassoun worshiped. Hassoun was the Florida registered agent for Benevolence International Foundation, a charity "charged with financing Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network."

• Akhtar Hussein, an attorney who had his license suspended in 2002 for improper council in two cases, one involving cocaine distribution and the other involving possession of firearms and car theft, and who had his license suspended in 1994 for two years, due to his own felony conviction. Hussein was also the lawyer for Adham Hassoun. He called the government's case against Hassoun "ridiculous."

Khalid Salahuddin's mosque is tied to another attorney with troubles. The registered agent for Masjid Al-Ansar is Nashid Sabir, a lawyer that has numerous business dealings with ex-State Representative Willie Logan. In 1997, the Bar admonished Sabir for missing a key hearing for one of his clients. In 2001, the Bar found probable cause to believe he violated ethics rules in the 1997 deportation case of a Dominican man. And in 2002, Sabir was reprimanded for professional misconduct regarding an immigration case.

And just like Akhtar Hussein, Sabir also provided legal services to a radical. In 2002, Sabir was the lawyer for convicted terrorist Imran Mandhai (see above). But that makes sense, because, while he's the registered agent for Masjid Al-Ansar, he's also a Founding Director and the Assistant Secretary for Darul Aloom, Mandhai's house of worship.

The website of Masjid Al-Ansar contains only two outside links, one to Yahoo Maps and one to iviews.com, a site that features rabidly anti-Jewish and anti-American writings. Prior to being arrested earlier this year on firearms and conspiracy charges in relation to a group associated with al Qaeda, Randal Todd "Ismael" Royer served as iviews.com's Washington Bureau Chief.

All of these things must be taken into account, when considering the sensitive nature of the position Khalid Salahuddin holds at the Seaport of Miami.

On Oct 15, 2003, a forum was held by the Coordinating Committee on Public Safety to discuss Florida's unique security concerns. The meeting, which was attended by law enforcement and state government officials, highlighted the Port of Miami's vulnerability to attack. A proposal was put forth regarding the building of a "security wall" around the port. However, when the time comes, no wall can hold out the terrorists, when they have a sympathizer sitting in charge, right on the inside.

Joe Kaufman is the Chairman of Americans Against Hate. You could visit Joe's personal interactive website, at joe4rep.com. Beila Rabinowitz is an international journalist and translator. (Thanks to Faithfreedom.org.)

A letter to AP was recently sent to Jihad Watch from the author of the Letter to Reuters:

"Dear Editor:

"Your 'Year in Photos' has six glaring omissions, therefore, six major distortions. You chose 6 photos depicting 'Palestinian' suffering at the hands of Israelis but none of Israeli suffering at the hands of 'Palestinians.' I call them six distortions because they convey the false message that 'Palestinians' suffer and that Israelis are the cause. They omit the reality that Israelis are the victims of 'Palestinian' attacks and are trying to defend themselves. They omit the truth that if the terror ceased, the Israelis would be out of their face in almost no time.

"You might have attempted a little reality just to create the impression that you worried about that other false concept: balance. But, being journalists, I don't have to lecture you about your job. You know your responsibilities. You also know the truth but you prefer to conceal it. The fact is, there is no 'balance' on the two sides. The 'Palestinians' promote, enthusiastically support and carry out terror against Israelis. Their own polls indicate that their support for terror is a societal phenomenon. You prefer to conceal the barbarism of the perpetrators by portraying them as victims.

"Still, for the sake of presumed 'balance,' you might have at least indicated that the 'Palestinians' contribute a little something to their misery by making Israelis miserable as well. You might have shown images of Jewish children dying in their strollers, for example, bombed out buses with the remains of scattered schoolwork, or destroyed restaurants splattered with blood or body parts. Actually, for this latter image, you could have appealed directly to the Palestinian Authority. They gladly would have obliged you with photos of their traveling exhibit of the Sbarro Pizza Parlour bombing! They are proud of it, you know. They actually took it on an international tour. You might have caught that one. You say you missed it? Sorry, I don't mean to tell you how to do your job.

But, your silence tells me you don't care for that idea. Well then, try this angle: Displaying photos of Israeli medical teams saving the lives of terrorists alongside their Jewish victims. And what about Arab and Christian victims of suicide bombers? It does happen, you know. After all, Arabs and Christians ride Israeli buses, go to restaurants, etc. If you don't wish to emphasize Jewish suffering at the hands of 'Palestinian' terrorists, why not Arab and Christian suffering? There is no such thing as a 'smart' suicide bomb, you know. The shrapnel goes everywhere. One of the most dramatic images I have ever seen, and one you, apparently, missed, is an x ray of a victim of a suicide bombing. These make great works of art. They are innovative as well. Nothing like them has ever been seen before in history! Imagine, a human brain, kidney or heart studded with nails, nuts and bolts--the shrapnel shows up very well in print and could have made a dramatic impression. The only thing you can't see is the rat poison. But, best of all, you cannot tell from the film if the victim is Arab, Jewish or Christian!

But, if you only want to focus on 'Palestinian' victimhood, here's another idea: 'Palestinian' victims of summary execution by 'Palestinian' police. Their tortured and mutilated corpses are displayed in public-- to serve as an example to others-- and you can even photograph them with toddlers at play in the foreground. And, if you want to appeal to your feminist readers, why not a photo of a victim of an honor killing or a mutilation? The husband, brother or son who wielded the knife or vial of acid would not shy away from being photographed with his victim. He would, no doubt, however, insist on wearing his black or other colored mask in case he turns out to be a person of note. Still, it would be a poignant photo. Actually, you would have two victims: 1) The victim of the execution; and 2) The executioner. Yes, he is a victim too! His evil wife, mother, sister or cousin victimized him by tarnishing his honor. In killing her, he made a personal sacrifice to restore honor to the family name. So, not only is he a victim, he is a martyr! Moreover, the mask is a badge of courage and comes in handy for other activities as well. Trust me, you are missing some great photos! But, if you really want to score with the feminists, you can get photos of women executioners, too, like the one of the mother who killed her daughter for being raped and impregnated by the girls two older brothers. If you had been quick on your feet, you could have gotten her to pose with the corpse. Once she killed her daughter, the neighbors started talking to her again, so she is considered a heroine in her village. A photo would have done her proud. The point is, there is no shortage of subject matter and if you like depicting 'Palestinians' as victims, you needn't confine yourself to the suffering inflicted upon them by Israelis.

But, forgive me, for I digress. In fact, this is nothing but talk. You are not going to take my suggestions to heart. Why risk being accused of conspiracy in a Zionist plot to depict 'Palestinians' as terrorists and Israelis as victims? Much too dangerous. You know what almost happened to the Italian journalist who smuggled out the film of the two Israelis who were torn to pieces by the victimized 'Palestinian' mob a few years ago. She had to flee for her life! The Italian TV station that employed her subsequently issued a letter of apology to the Palestinian authority for having broadcast the incident. The Palestinian Authority actually printed the letter in the government-controlled press! You didn't know that? Come on! You're journalists. It's your job to know! You say you didn't?

Incidentally, there was a great photo of two Arabs displaying the entrails of their human prey before a frenzied, hysterical mob going wild at the sight of Jewish blood. Now that was a winner! You missed that one too? Oh well, whatever....

P.S. If you would like to know why I surround the word 'Palestinian' with quotation marks, here are a few reasons:

The Palestinian Identity

Statement by Zuheir Mohsein, Member of the Supreme Council of the PLO:
"There are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. We are all part of one nation. It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our Palestinian identity, because it is in the interest of the Arabs to encourage a separate Palestinian identity in contrast to Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity is there only for tactical reasons. The establishment of a Palestinian state is a new expedient to continue the fight against Zionism and for Arab unity."

Trouw (Dutch newspaper) March 31, 1977:
"One always finds in Palestine Arabs who have been in the country only a few weeks or a few months...Since they are themselves strangers in a strange land, they are the loudest to cry: 'Out with the Jews!'...Amongst them are to be found representatives of every Arab country: Arabs from Transjordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, the Sudan and Iraq." (Ladislas Farago, Palestine at the Crossroads (New York: Putnam 1937) p17

The Jordanian Foreign Minister said (Adwa'min pp. 4-5):
"Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan, and Jordan hails every Palestinian who seeks to do his duty to his cause and his country."

Declaration of the 8th Palestinian National Congress:
"Jordan is linked to Palestine by a national relationship and a national unity forged by history and culture from earliest times? The creation of one political entity in East Jordan and another in Palestine would have no basis either in legality or as to the elements universally accepted as fundamental to a political entity." (R. Hamid (ed.) Muqararat al-majlis al-watani al-filastini 1964 Resolutions of the PNCs 1964-1974, Beirut, PLO Research Centre, 1975, p178 Declaration of the 8th Palestinian National Congress)

"This (Jerusalem) for them (the Arabs) was not in 'Palestine'? For the Arabs (And the Turks) the whole of the region lying between the Taurus Mountains and the confines of Egypt, and between the Mediterranean and the edge of the desert, was 'Syria' a term which had been in use since remote antiquity." (Sir Geoffrey Furlonge, Palestine is My Country, The Story of Mussa Alami (New York, 1969) p. 7

Abdul Malik Dahamshe, an Israeli Arab Knesset member, said at a solidarity visit in Damascus, Syria [David Makovsky, Jerusalem Post, January 24, 1995]:
"Palestine and Syria are one homeland. The Arab people will win by the
sword; the victory will be won by the Jihad of the Arab world."

Statement by Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi to the Pell Commission in 1937:
"There is no such country as 'Palestine'; 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented!"

Arab MK, Abdul Darawshe said [Jerusalem Institute of Western Defence, Bulletin 3, August 15, 1997]:
"There is no difference between one Palestinian and another. We are all
Palestinians and we are all Syrian Arabs."

Statement by Ahmed Shuqeiri, to the UN Security Council in 1949:
"It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria."

Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) number two in the PLO leadership (Al Sachrah, Kuwait, Jan. 6, 1987):
"We will take Palestine and turn it into a part of the greater Arab nation."

We noted the Ford Foundation's no-strings-attached support for Palestinian terrorists last month; now, Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has taken note as well. Opinion Journal notes that "in response to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency series detailing Ford's support for Palestinian NGOs crusading against Israel, the Iowa Republican has announced that the Senate Finance Committee will review the matter."

One matter he should review is that of "PNGO--an umbrella group of 90 Palestinian NGOs that's also received more than $1 million from Ford. Its director is quoted as admitting that PNGO gets almost no Arab support and that Ford is its biggest funder. Yet this is the same group that denounced as 'unacceptable' a U.S. government requirement that Palestinian NGOs partnering with tax-exempt American charities sign a pledge promising that no funds would ever find their way to 'advocate or support terrorist activities.'" (Thanks to Nicolei.)

From the Daily Times of Pakistan: "Rashid says Muslims can't deny jihadi culture."

"Rashid" is Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad. He "told a Pakistani television channel on Friday that one of the attackers of Thursday's suicide bomb attack on President Musharraf seemed to be a foreigner. He also said the jihadi culture in Pakistan could not be changed and he who denied jihad had no place in Islam, adding 'But whether or not it is jihad can only be decided by the State.'

So there cannot be jihad against Musharraf, I suppose? I suspect opinions on that in Pakistan will differ.

Meanwhile, about the "jihad culture" in Pakistan, another piece in the Daily Times says that "law-enforcement agencies have identified 45 religious organisations believed to have links with international jihadi networks or thought to be involved in terrorist and sectarian activities in Pakistan, sources told Daily Times on Friday.

"According to the sources, major groups believed to have links with Al Qaeda, like the Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HJI) and Jamiatul Mujahideen Al Alami have not been banned yet. They not only had roots in Pakistan, but also in Kashmir, Myanmar, Bangladesh and the Philippines, sources said.

"HJI chief Qari Saifullah Akhtar, who reportedly lives a in some Gulf state, was allegedly former Taliban leader Mulla Umar's advisor and believed to have a direct link with Al Qaeda. The sources said several of his organisation's several activists who were arrested by law-enforcement agencies for terror attacks in Karachi had divulged this information.

"The sources said Harkatul Mujahideen Al Alami, which was accused of an attack on President Pervez Musharraf last year in Karachi and the suicide attacks on French engineers, was formed by the HJI, Harkatul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) and Jamiatul Mujahideen Al Alami." (Thanks to Nicolei.)

MEMRI has published extracts from sermons in Palestinian mosques over the last three years. Anyone wanting real answers to hoary questions such as Why Do They Hate Us? and How Do They See Us? should read this material carefully.

Says compiler Steven Stalinsky: "Each Khatib (preacher) is a paid employee of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The sermons are broadcast live every Friday at noon from mosques under control of the PA and are shown on PA television." He lists the sermons' common themes, including "calls for the destruction of the U.S., the perceived American Crusader war against Islam, honoring Shahids and the rewards of the martyrs, educating children to martyrdom, and antisemitism, including calls for the killing of Jews."

A few extracts:

"Allah willing, this unjust state will be erased - Israel will be erased; this unjust state, the United States, will be erased; this unjust state, Britain, will be erased." -- Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi

"Allah, destroy the U.S., its helpers and its agents. Allah, destroy Britain, its helpers and its agents. Allah, prepare those who will unite the Muslims and march in the steps of Saladin. Allah, we ask you for forgiveness before death, and mercy and forgiveness after death. Allah, grant victory to Islam and the Muslims..." -- Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Ikrimeh Sabri

"Allah the almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements with them... Allah, deal with the Jews, your enemies and the enemies of Islam. Deal with the Crusaders, and America, and Europe behind them..." -- Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya

I know that some Palestinian Christians are aware that they are included in this group. I also know that some aren't.

"If, God forbid, something happens to Iraq, the aggression and the Crusade will turn tomorrow against the Koran... God forbid, his second assault is on the Koran, [he wants] to change verses and to mess with Allah's book, to Americanize the region, Americanize the religion, Americanize the Koran, Americanize Muhammad's message... To my brothers in Iraq, to the President of Iraq, to the Iraqi leadership, to the Iraqi people... Strike, my brother; may your right arm, oh proud Iraq, be strong... strike Allah's enemies with it. Strike with it the enemies of humanity... from the pulpits of Al-Azhar and other mosques around the world, that any Muslim who does not stand by Iraq and support it against the American-British-Crusaders cruel attack... Allah, grant victory to the Iraqi army... Allah, defeat America and its allies... Allah, purify the Islamic soil from the American and British treason and defilement... Allah, make their possessions a booty for the Muslims, Allah, annihilate them and their weapons, Allah, make their children orphans and their women widows..." -- Sheikh Muhammad Abu Al-Hunud

"If we go back in the time tunnel 1400 years, we will find that history repeats itself... Byzantium represents America in the west... America will collapse, as Byzantium collapsed in the west... The Prophet [Muhammad] could, by means of unbroken ranks, conquer Byzantium, the greatest power compared to today's America - and this without a single martyr falling from among the Muslims... The Prophet could, by means of the unity of the Muslim ranks and its awakening, defeat the America of that time, as we will defeat America as long as it supports our enemy, as long as America insists on being against our people and against our cause and our holy places, and against our people and our leadership... Indeed, we consider America to be our No. 1 enemy... America is our No. 1 enemy, and we see it as our No. 1 enemy as long as we learn from the lessons of the Battle of Tabouk [which took place in October 630 AD] :'Make ready for them whatever you can of armed strength and of mounted pickets' [Koran 8:60]. We are prepared and ready, but victory is from Allah..." -- Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris

"[Even when] a martyr's organs are being chopped off, and he turns into torn organs that spread all over, in order to meet Allah, Muhammad, and his friends, it would not be [considered] a loss... This is the honor given to our martyrs, the martyrs of the Islamic nation, who were killed due to their loyalty to Allah... The sacrifice of convoys of martyrs [will continue] until Allah grants us victory very soon. The willingness for sacrifice and for death we see amongst those who were cast by Allah into a war with the Jews, should not come at all as a surprise... Oh believing brothers, we do not feel a loss... The martyr, if he meets Allah, is forgiven with the first drop of blood; he is saved from the torments of the grave; he sees his place in Paradise; he is saved from the Great Horror [of the day of judgment]; he is given 72 black-eyed women; he vouches for 70 of his family to be accepted to Paradise; he is crowned with the Crown of glory, whose precious stone is better than all of this world and what is in it..." -- Sheikh Isma'il Aal Radhwan

Sheikh Isma'il is speaking, of course, of the kind of martyrs who commit murder and are killed in the process.

"Blessings to those who wage [Jihad] with their body... Blessings to our Shahids who sacrifice their souls easily for the sake of Allah... Blessings to the happy Shahids within the entrails of the green bird in Paradise. Blessings to the Shahids whose sins are forgiven with the first drop of their blood." -- Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris

"Know that a Shahid [who falls] on this land is considered more than one Shahid someplace else. Yes, there are traditions that a Shahid here [in Jerusalem] is worth 70 Shahids in a place other than this good land..." -- Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris

"We tell them: in as much as you love life - the Muslim loves death and martyrdom. There is a great difference between he who loves the hereafter and he who loves this world. The Muslim loves death and [strives for] martyrdom. He does not fear the oppression of the arrogant or the weapons of the blood-letters. The blessed and sacred soil of Palestine has vomited all the invaders and all the colonialists throughout history and it will soon vomit, with Allah's help, the [present] occupiers." -- Sheikh Ikrimeh Sabri

"A young man said to me: 'I am 14 years old, and I have four years left before I blow myself up'... We, the Muslims on this good and blessed land, are all - each one of us - seekers of Martyrdom... The Koran is very clear on this: The greatest enemies of the Islamic nation are the Jews, may Allah fight them... Blessings for whoever assaulted a soldier... Blessings for whoever has raised his sons on the education of Jihad and Martyrdom; blessings for whoever has saved a bullet in order to stick it in a Jew's head..." -- Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi

"Shame and remorse on whoever refrained from raising his children on Jihad... Blessings to whoever waged Jihad for the sake of Allah; blessings to whoever raided for the sake of Allah; blessings to whoever put a belt of explosives on his body or on his sons' and plunged into the midst of the Jews, crying 'Allahu Akbar, praise to Allah, There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger'... Allah, show us a black day for the Jews, like the day of 'Aad and Thamud. [14] Allah, turn them into pillage for us. Allah, we strive for martyrdom for your sake..." -- Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi

"I feel the martyr is lucky because the angels usher him to his wedding in heaven. I feel the earth moves under the occupiers' feet... There is no doubt that a child [martyr] suggests that the new generation will carry on the mission with determination. The younger the martyr - the greater and the more I respect him... They [mothers of martyrs] willingly sacrifice their offspring for the sake of freedom. It is a great display of the power of belief. The mother is participating in the great reward of the Jihad to liberate Al-Aqsa... I talked to a young man... [who] said: '... I want to marry the black-eyed [beautiful] women of heaven.' The next day he became a martyr. I am sure his mother was filled with joy about his heavenly marriage. Such a son must have such a mother." -- Mufti Sheikh Ikrimeh Sabri

"Palestine will be, as it was in the past, a graveyard for the invaders - just as it was a graveyard for the Tatars and to the Crusader invaders, [and for the invaders] of the old and new colonialism... A reliable Hadith [tradition] says: 'The Jews will fight you, but you will be set to rule over them.' What could be more beautiful than this tradition? 'The Jews will fight you' - that is, the Jews have begun to fight us. 'You will be set to rule over them' - Who will set the Muslim to rule over the Jew? Allah... Until the Jew hides behind the rock and the tree. But the rock and tree will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, a Jew hides behind me, come and kill him.' Except for the Gharqad tree, which is the tree of the Jews. We believe in this Hadith. We are convinced also that this Hadith heralds the spread of Islam and its rule over all the land... Oh Allah, accept our martyrs in the highest heavens... Oh Allah, show the Jews a black day... Oh Allah, annihilate the Jews and their supporters... Oh Allah, raise the flag of Jihad across the land... Oh Allah, forgive our sins..." -- Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi

"All spears should be directed at the Jews, at the enemies of Allah, the nation that was cursed in Allah's book. Allah has described them as apes and pigs, the calf-worshipers, idol-worshipers... Whoever can fight them with his weapons, should go out [to the battle]; whoever can fight them with a machinegun, should go out; whoever can fight them with a sword or a knife, should go out; whoever can fight them with his hands, should go out; This is our destiny... The Jews have exposed their fangs. Nothing will deter them, except the color of their filthy people's blood; nothing will deter them except for us voluntarily detonating ourselves in their midst. They have nuclear power, but we have the power of the belief in Allah... We blow them up in Hadera, we blow them up in Tel Aviv and in Netanya." -- Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi, referring to the Qur'an's Suras 2:62-5, 5:59-60, and 7:166

"Oh beloved of Allah... One of the Jews' evil deeds is what has come to be called 'the Holocaust,' that is, the slaughter of the Jews by Nazism. However, revisionist [historians] have proven that this crime, carried out against some of the Jews, was planned by the Jews' leaders, and was part of their policy... These are the Jews against whom we fight, oh beloved of Allah. On the other hand, [what is our belief] about the Jews? Allah has described them as donkeys." -- Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi

"Oh Muslims, oh brothers, believers, everywhere, our Prophet used to deal in Friday's sermons with current events of his time and I will follow him and also discuss some religious rulings connected to the current international events following the [attacks] that took place in America on the 11th of this month. First, there is a religious legal rule that man is innocent, namely, in Islam, a human being is innocent until he is proven guilty. It is not allowed to blame a human being and then tell him 'prove you're innocent.' Therefore we tell America: 'It is forbidden to accuse a person before the beginning of the investigation.' Until now, the American administration could not present proof to convict the accused in the [attacks] in New York and Washington, [because] it is possible that there are other elements inside America who carried out these [attacks]." -- Mufti Sheikh Ikrimeh Sabri

Here's Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes with Arafat:

"[To Arafat]: Your state-controlled television carried a sermon by a sheikh telling worshippers that martyrs will go to paradise and marry 70 beautiful virgins. Do you believe that's a correct interpretation of the Koran?

"Arafat: I am not now in a position to translate for you what had been mentioned in our Koran."

Hanan Ashrawi played dodgeball with Tony Snow:

"Tony Snow: What I would like to do is read to you just a few statements that appeared on Palestinian TV on August 3 of this year, in a sermon broadcast over the television network, here is the quote: 'All weapons must be aimed at the Jews... Whom the Koran describes as monkeys and pigs. Whoever can fight the Jews with his weapons should go out to the battle; whoever can fight with a machine gun should go out; whoever can fight with a sword or knife should go out; whoever can fight them with his hands should go out... Nothing will deter them, except the color of their filthy people's blood; nothing will deter them except for us voluntarily detonating ourselves in their midst.' That is from Sheikh Ibrahim Madhi. Now, the question is, that being on your national TV, should people not view that as an endorsement of those tactics?

"Hanan Ashrawi:Well, frankly, I haven't heard this sermon, but had it been actually said, I certainly question the sources, but had it been broadcast, certainly I would condemn it.

"Tony Snow: We understand that, as a matter of fact, hate language is used by both sides. The unusual factor here is that it is on a television channel that you and the Legislative Council and Yasser Arafat control. You're responsible for the content...

"Hanan Ashrawi: No we don't control it.

"Tony Snow: You don't control your own television network?

"Hanan Ashrawi: No, no. There is no censorship or control on those and I never heard this speech, and I will have to take your word for it, although I would like to know your sources."

David Bedein writes at FrontPage about Christmas in the Palestinian Authority, noting that "this is the first Christmas since the Palestinian Authority adopted an official constitution based on Koranic 'Sharia' Law, which means that all Christians who live under the PA are now subject to Islamic Law.

"Over the past three years, while attention has focused on Israeli and Palestinian casualties of the current war, at least one hundred Christians who live in areas ruled by the Palestinian Authority have been arrested and imprisoned for holding church services or conducting public Christian
practices without authorization.

"Some of these Christians were set free when the Israeli army liberated the jails in the Palestinian Authority at the time of the Israeli army incursion into Palestinian cities in April, 2002. Those freed Christian prisoners from the Palestinian jails now take refuge by hiding throughout Israel, as they surreptitiously work to try to get their families out of Palestinian cities to join them and emigrate to any safe haven they can find in the West

"I have met with a few of these Christian Palestinians. One of them, whom I shall call Joseph to protect the confidentiality of his identity, described the ordeal that he has experienced. He and his brother live in hiding while badgering the US consulate for help to try to get US visas for their families, and have done so ever since their liberation by Israel more than 18 months ago. Joseph described to me how his family cannot openly practice Christian holidays in Bethlehem under the watchful eyes of the PLO's Islamic police force. After all, the only place in the West Bank where the PLO army currently operates is in the Bethlehem area. Joseph also described how the US-funded Palestinian public school system has become Islamicized, and how his late nephew was literally tortured to death at age 12 by his schoolmates because he expressed love and respect for his uncle as a practicing Christian.

"Last Spring, the Vatican Ambassador to the Holy Land, Archbishop Msgr. Pietro Sambi, known as the Papal Nuncio, warned a US Congressional delegation that the new Palestinian Authority's approved state constitution, funded by US AID, provided no juridical status whatsoever for any religion other than Islam in the emerging Palestinian Arab entity. The Papal Nuncio also expressed his concern to visiting US lawmakers that the PA had adopted 'Sharia' Islamic Law, based on the model of the 'Sharia' from Koranic edicts as practiced in Iran or in Saudi Arabia.

"Article (5) of the official Palestinian State Constitution reads as follows: 'Arabic and Islam are the official Palestinian language and religion. Christianity and all other monotheistic religions shall be equally revered and respected'. In other words, As Archbishop Sambi noted, 'other' religions such as Christianity, let alone Judaism, are only to be 'respected', while being denied any juridical status under the new Palestinian State Constitution.

"The status of Islam as the official religion of any future Palestinian Arab entity is also expressed in Article (7) of the official Palestinian State Constitution which states that 'The principles of Islamic Sharia are a major source for legislation. Civil and religious matters of the followers of monotheistic religions shall be organized in accordance with their religious teachings and denominations within the framework of law, while preserving the unity and independence of the Palestinian people.' The constitution's translation can be accessed on the home page of the website www.israelbehindthenews.com.

"Islamic nations which have adopted the 'Sharia' law, have mandated the absolute supremacy of Muslims over non-Muslims as matter of law, more than of simply of attitude.

"What worried the Archbishop was that all Christian churches and all Christian schools will be placed under the arbitrary authority of Islamic Fundamental Law, which allows nothing more than 'tolerance' of other religions at best.

"For the past seven months, the US embassy has been asked to comment on the US-funded Palestinian State Constitution. No response has been forthcoming from anyone in the US government, except for denials that it exists. Yet the author of the PA State Constitution, Mr. Nabil Shaath, affirms the existence of the PA State Constitution, as presented by the Vatican's ambassador.

"The PA state constitution's imposition of Sharia Islamic Law is most certainly in effect.

"Calls to the US embassy and US consulate to determine whether the US government is looking into the situation of Christians under the rule of the Palestinian National Authority have not been answered.

"After all, it was US AID which financed the creation of the PA State Constitution, which meant the imposition of the Islamic Law throughout the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.

"Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran which have adopted Sharia Islamic Law, have made life quite difficult for Christians. Under Sharia Islamic Law, Christians are considered 'dhimmis', second class citizens.

"A research study released last Christmas by the Jerusalem Center For Public Affairs entitled 'The Beleaguered Christians', notes that in Egypt, 'Muslim, but not Christian, schools receive state funding....It is nearly impossible to restore or build new churches....Christians are frequently ostracized or insulted in public, and laws prohibit Muslim conversions to Christianity.'.

"That same study notes that Saudi Arabia 'is one of the most oppressive countries for Christians. There are no churches in the whole country. Foreign workers make up one-third of the population, many of whom are Christians. For their entire stay, which may be years, they are forbidden to display any Christian symbols or Bibles, or even meet together publicly to worship and pray. Some have watched their personal Bibles put through a shredder when they entered the country.' In Iran, 'the printing of Christian literature is illegal, converts from Islam are liable to be killed, and most evangelical churches must function underground.'

"Bethlehem is understood by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus. When Israel retook control of Bethlehem in 1967, the majority of Bethlehem's residents practiced various denominations of the Christian faith. However, with Israel's withdrawal due to the Oslo Accords and after less than ten years of Palestinian Authority rule the Middle East has witnessed a dramatic exodus of Christians from the city. This Christmas, less than 5% in the city of Jesus's birthplace is Christian. The mainstream media have hesitated to report that fact.

"President George W. Bush's administration has envisioned a democratic Palestinian entity that is devoid of terror. Instead, officials of US AID have fostered a constitution which envisions creation of the Islamic totalitarian state of Palestine, completely devoid of religious freedom and human rights.

"This Christmas, an Islamic army occupies Bethlehem. This Christmas, no Church can operate in Bethlehem without Islamic approval. And Christians in the Palestinian Authority are not seeing a Merry Christmas as a result. This is the legacy of what the US AID has facilitated, with or without the knowledge of the White House."

Yes, there was a militant Muslim organization in Knoxville, Tennessee, that was helping fund jihad in Bosnia and Chechnya in the 1990s, but it's no longer active. See? Nothing to be concerned about at all. KnoxNews reports that "a former member of a secretive Islamic fundamentalist organization in Knoxville helped funnel money to militant fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya during the 1990s, but local Muslims said Tuesday the group is no longer active." (Thanks to Nicolei.)

"Mustafa Saied, a former University of Tennessee student and member of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the Wall Street Journal in a story published Tuesday that money raised at the Annoor Mosque ostensibly for poor civilians actually went to Muslim warriors."

In Onward Muslim Soldiers I explore the thought of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan Al-Banna, as well as that of one of its greatest exponents, Sayyid Qutb. I also details its ties to Hamas and other modern-day terrorist groups.

"Knoxville Muslims raised $6,000 to pay for tents, Saied told the paper, but in 1995 a representative of the Benevolence International Foundation, a Chicago-based nonprofit, told him a portion of the money was diverted to fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya. FBI Special Agent James Van Pelt of the Knoxville office said he isn't aware of any criminal prosecution of any people or groups arising from the activities described in the article. 'If something like that would happen today, the person could be guilty of (giving) material support to terrorists,' Van Pelt said.

"The foundation's leader pleaded guilty in 2002 to buying supplies for fighters in the two countries. The U.S. Treasury Department alleged the group also had ties to al-Qaeda, though the charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement.
The paper reported that Saied was part of an active group of Muslim Brotherhood members in Knoxville before he left the campus in 1996, a few credits short of graduating. The Muslim Brotherhood is an international fundamentalist political group.

"Rosalind Gwynne, faculty adviser to the UT chapter of the Muslim Student Association said she was surprised to find out the Muslim Brotherhood had been active on campus. There can be as many as 300 students in the association at any one time, and the mix can vary from year to year, she said. Knoxville's mainstream Muslims said they weren't aware of the group's presence here either. 'I've lived here for 30 years, and this is the first time I ever heard about it,' said Hanan Ayesh, a founder of the Annoor Academy, a Muslim school.

"Most of those involved in the Muslim Brotherhood here were foreign students who get involved in Islamic politics before moving back to their countries of origin, said Mostafa Alsharif, a lifelong Knoxvillian. 'The majority of Muslims in the United States couldn't care less about the Muslim Brotherhood. They're going to stay in the United States. There's no need to be affiliated with something like that,' Alsharif said. Alsharif said the Muslim Brotherhood isn't active here anymore. 'It's not the reality of what's happening in Knoxville today at all,' he said.

"The lengthy Wall Street Journal article detailed Saied's activities in Knoxville nearly a decade ago. Now an adherent of a less strident form of Islam, Saied is an executive at a Florida environmental-testing firm. Said's tale offers a glimpse into how secretive organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood operate in the United States. 'Anti-American sentiment is usually reserved for closed-door discussions or expressed in languages that most Americans don't understand,' Saied told Wall Street Journal reporter Paul M. Barrett. 'While such rhetoric has been drastically reduced since 9/11, it is still prevalent enough to be a cause for concern.'"

Calling CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper: Ibrahim, my friend, what is CAIR doing to counter such rhetoric?

"Saied told Barrett he and other fundamentalist Muslims would meet once a week to drink tea and eat sweets while discussing fundamentalist Islam in secret. Saied said the Knoxville chapter viewed violence as something 'we don't do here, unless necessary.'

"Saied told Barrett he feels guilty about his years as an extremist and is applying for U.S. citizenship. He worries, according to the article, that areas of 'venomous hatred toward Western society' persist on some campuses and in certain Islamic communities."

Islamic communities aren't alone on this one. There is a great deal of venomous hatred toward Western society on college campuses among non-Muslim students.

"Some in the local Muslim community fear that reports of such extremist activities -- even those that occurred nearly a decade ago -- will prompt other Americans to persecute law-abiding Muslims. Ayesh said she sometimes feels like she had more freedom when she first came to America 34 years ago than her children have today."

It's easy to throw around unfocused accusations. Mrs. Ayesh, do you have time for a couple of questions? Please detail some instances of persecution of law-abiding Muslims in America. I know that CAIR lists many, but quite a few of those have turned out be much less than what CAIR claims to be. Illegal immigrants don't count, although even in their case I don't equate deportation with persecution; in any case, you said "law-abiding." Also, and more importantly, please explain: exactly what could you do 34 years ago in America that your children can't do now? And one last thing: exactly what are you and you fellow moderate Muslims doing to eradicate Islamic radicalism -- or even the anti-American rhetoric referred to above -- from the American Muslim community? I'll look forward to your answers; you can contact me here.

"A military leader of the radical group Islamic Jihad and four other Palestinians were killed on Thursday, and seven people wounded, when Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at a car here, Palestinian medical sources said." This report is from News24.com, with thanks to Jean-Luc.

"Islamic Jihad leader Moqbel Hamid was killed when a missile struck the car in which he was traveling, the sources said. The Israeli army said in a brief statement that it had targeted Hamid.

"'During an operation in the Gaza Strip this evening, the car of a senior Islamic Jihad official responsible for a series of deadly attacks' was targeted, a statement said."

Did the attack on Maher cause the postponement?

"An Egyptian security court has postponed sentencing in the trial of 23 Egyptians and three Britons accused of plotting to oust Arab governments." So says Al-Jazeera, with thanks to Nicolei.

"They stand accused of belonging to and trying to reactivate the banned Islamic Liberation Party, and aiming to overthrow governments in the region. The group, which emerged in Jordan in the early 1970s, seeks to restore the caliphate - one Islamic government for all Islamic states - through military coups across the region. The accused face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. . . .

"In July, the supreme state security court said the verdict would be pronounced in December, but the presiding judge declared on Thursday that a final decision would be taken on 25 March, without giving a reason for the delay.

"'There is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet,' cried some of the accused as they were led from the court after the adjournment. . . .

"'It's possible that the attack on the Egyptian minister (Maher) could be behind the delay,' said Homira Nisbett, wife of another accused, Ian Malcolm Nisbett.
Maher was assaulted on Monday by a group of Palestinians, who called him a traitor while he visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.

"'The delayed verdict following the attack on Ahmed Maher worries us, notably because it coincides with the arrests in the past 48 hours of 80 people accused of belonging to the Liberation Party,' said defence lawyer Montasser al-Zayat."

The tiny minority of extremists, repudiated and despised as they are by the vast majority of Muslims, is printing the faces of its heroes on trading cards. And the kids love 'em: "Palestinian children are collecting cards showing gunmen and soldiers the way American kids trade baseball cards, and some educators are concerned that the uprising hobby is helping to breed a new generation of militants." So says AP, with thanks to Nicolei.

"The cards are an enormous hit, according to Majdi Taher, who makes them. He said that 6 million cards have been sold over two years and 32,000 albums this month alone in the two main population centers of the northern West Bank - huge numbers in a territory about 1 million Palestinians live, and he plans to expand his business.

"The card craze reflects reality in the West Bank, where three years of Palestinian-Israeli violence has become the dominant reality for children. Israeli soldiers enforce curfews, confining residents to their homes, and often carry out raids in towns and villages, looking for militants. Sometimes children throw rocks at Israeli soldiers or are caught up in exchanges of gunfire. At least 319 Palestinian children under the age of 18 have been killed in the conflict.

"In the West Bank, Palestinian militants carry their weapons openly on the streets and gain the adulation of the young. More than 100 Palestinian suicide bombers have carried out attacks against Israelis, becoming folk heroes in their home towns.

"The collectable cards depict real-life Middle East action figures familiar to the children: An Israeli soldier shooting a large gun, a soldier forcing Palestinians off their land, a small Palestinian child dressed in militant's clothing holding a toy gun and Palestinian boys throwing stones."

The cards also have gained approval in high places: "The albums are sold in cardboard boxes shaped like Israeli tanks and include a dedication from Nablus governor Mahmoud Alul. A child who fills an album with all 129 pictures can win a computer, a bicycle, a watch or a hat.

"Some teachers and parents are concerned about the new fad, trying to forbid their children from buying the pictures, saying they are teaching children violence and forcing them to grow up too quickly. 'I take hundreds of these pictures from children every day and burn them,' said Saher Hindi, 28, a teach at a Nablus elementary school. 'They turn children into extremists.'

"The desire to fill the albums has captivated children in Nablus and Ramallah, teachers say, keeping them from their homework as they spend all their money on the cards. It's a business success for Taher, who said he plans to expand the sale of the cards and albums to other West Bank towns. The former candy salesman said he means for the album and pictures to be a history lesson. Children who are now seven cannot remember incidents from the start of the fighting three years ago, Taher said.

"'I am writing the history of the intefadeh (uprising) in pictures,' Taher said. 'I collected these pictures from journalists, and I want people to remember this all their lives.'"

Las Vegas -- as a symbol of Western decadence -- has surfaced in the past as a target of Islamic terrorism, and now it has come up again: "U.S. government officials said yesterday they believe some of the passengers boarding one of the three Air France flights from Paris to Los Angeles that were canceled this week because of security concerns might have intended to hijack it and crash-land in Las Vegas or another city along its flight path." So says the Washington Post.

"Police in Paris questioned 13 people who had checked in for two Air France flights that were canceled Christmas Eve because of a terrorism warning from U.S. authorities, but no evidence of wrongdoing was found, the French Interior Ministry said. All 13 were released.

"But U.S. officials said they are suspicious about some of the passengers who did not show up at the airport to claim their seats on the ultimately aborted Flight 68 from Paris to Los Angeles. One of those who did not appear for the Christmas Eve flight apparently is a trained pilot, one U.S. official said.

"'We still have an interest in talking to those people who didn't show up,' said one U.S. official knowledgeable about the investigation. 'There might be more to come on this.' Despite French statements suggesting some of the American fears about the Air France flights were unfounded, U.S. government officials said they believe they might have averted a terrorist attack by arranging for the flights' cancellation. Officials said they feared that al Qaeda operatives planned to hijack one of the flights and use the plane as a missile to attack a site on or near its route.

"Moreover, U.S. officials said intelligence indicators suggest that al Qaeda might have set other terrorist operations in motion that do not involve aviation and are not centered in California. As on other occasions when terrorist fears are heightened, U.S. officials said their main concern is that al Qaeda might use a chemical or biological weapon, or a radiological 'dirty' bomb.

"'Our fear is that other things are going on' that have nothing to do with jetliner flights in or out of U.S. airports, said one U.S. official briefed on high-level intelligence. 'The concern is that there still could be a lot of activity that was underway.'

"Another government official with access to the classified reports said U.S. security officials 'are really concerned something major will happen' despite the cancellation of the three incoming and three outgoing Air France flights between Paris and Los Angeles on Christmas Eve and yesterday. One scenario embraced by a number of U.S. security officials is that al Qaeda operatives were in the final stages of planning an attack in this country, and were awaiting final direction from al Qaeda superiors to proceed."

In connection with scholar Bernard Lewis's strange misapplication of the Qur'anic verse declaring that there is "no compulsion in religion," Bassam Madany of Middle East Resources has kindly directed me to his article " Bernard Lewis on 'Triumphalist Religions.'"

In it, Madany points out that Lewis's equation of the missionary impulses of Christianity and Islam is theologically and historically inaccurate, as well as severely misleading in today's political climate. Madany is a Christian (as am I), but anyone, Christian or not, who is not wearing idelogical blinders can see that there is a serious difference in the teachings of the two religions on these matters. Many like to imagine that all religions are equivalent in their ability to inspire murderous impulses; for anyone to point out that the facts are otherwise is not a function of Christian or any other faith, but simply of an ability to look honestly at the facts of the case.

Madany begins by expressing his admiration for Lewis: "In the June 2003 issue of WRFNET.com web journal, I shared a summary of 'An In-Depth Interview' with Bernard Lewis, the well-known scholar on Islam and the Middle East, which had appeared on the cable channel C-Span 2, in April 6, 2003. I ended my article, with an analysis of the interview and some critical remarks. Much as I have admired this author's way of telling the story of Islam across the last fourteen centuries, I was dismayed by his silence on certain dark aspects of this civilization, especially its treatment of the conquered peoples. I had hardly finished my work on that article, when I noticed that the May 2003, issue of The Atlantic Monthly, had an article by Bernard Lewis with the rather shocking title, 'I'm Right, You're Wrong, Go To Hell: Religions and the Meeting of Civilization.'

"Again, I must reiterate how much I like the works of Bernard Lewis. His style, whether in writing, or in speaking, is gripping. He excels in telling the story of different peoples and their specific civilization. His goal is to explain, elucidate, and instruct. This is very praiseworthy at this juncture in world history when so many trouble spots in the world happen to be within the household of Islam.

"Having said this, I am both chagrined and disappointed that this great scholar tends, in this Atlantic Monthly article, to posit equivalence, between Christianity and Islam, in their respective outlook on the world, and more specifically, as they sought and still seek, to win converts to their specific faiths.

"To begin with, Bernard Lewis reminds us that, 'only two civilizations have been defined by religion. Others have had religions but are identified primarily by region and ethnicity.' These two religions are Christianity and Islam, they 'are the two religions that define civilizations, and they have much in common, along with some differences.'

"Having thus set Christianity and Islam apart from the rest of world religions such as Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, professor Lewis classifies the latter as relativist religions, while the former two as triumphalist religions. 'For some religions, just as "civilization" means us, and the rest are barbarians, so "religion" means ours, and the rest are infidels. Other religions, such as Judaism and most of the religions of Asia, concede that human beings may use different religions to speak to God, as they use different languages to speak to one another. God understands them all... The relativist view was condemned and rejected by both Christians and Muslims, who shared the conviction that there was only one true faith, theirs, which it was their duty to bring to all humankind. The triumphalist view is increasingly under attack in Christendom, and is disavowed by significant numbers of Christian clerics. There is little sign as yet of a parallel development in Islam.'

"Professor Lewis regards Islam and Christianity as triumphalist religions. Both faiths consider all 'others' as infidels. While, according to him, some Christian leaders are nowadays 'disavowing' the triumphalism that has marked Christianity throughout history, there is no such parallel movement among Muslim leaders. In our globalized world, triumphalism (whether Christian or Muslim) is not conducive to world peace. In order to put across his thesis in the clearest way, Bernard Lewis sums up his disapproval of triumphalism, both in Islam and Christianity, with these words:

"'For those taking the triumphalist approach (classically summed up in the formula "I'm right, you're wrong, go to hell"), tolerance is a problem. Because the triumphalist's is the only true and complete religion, all other religions are at best incomplete and more probably false and evil; and since he is the privileged recipient of God's final message to humankind, it is surely his duty to bring it to others rather than keep it selfishly for himself.'

"The first point I would like to make is that, great as the scholarship of Bernard Lewis is, his lumping together of the 'triumphalism' of the two religions is neither proper, nor objective. One has to be careful in categorizing the faith of others. As a Christian, I find the title of his article very offensive. It is a caricature of Christianity to sum up its attitude to the 'other' as being, 'I'm Right, You're Wrong. Go to Hell.'

"Throughout history, Christians, beginning with the apostolic age, sought to win converts through preaching and witnessing. It was none other than the Risen Lord that gave his church the marching orders: 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.'
Matthew 28:18b-20 (NIV)

"The greatest missionary of the First Century was Paul. After his conversion, his life was dedicated entirely to the spread of the faith and the organization of churches in the Mediterranean world. He described his mandate in the opening words of his Letter to the Romans: 'I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.' Romans 1:16 (NIV)

"Paul's message consumed him. He was absolutely convinced that the Risen Savior had entrusted with the message that brings salvation to all kinds of people regardless of their ethnic or religious background. As to the primary means for converting 'others,' God had ordained the preaching of the Gospel. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, 'For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.' 1:21 (NIV)

"In contrast with this peaceful spread of Christianity, Islam spread primarily through conquest. When studying the history of Islam back in Syria in the late forties, my teachers at the Syrian College used to glory in the 'Futuhat' (Conquests) of the Arabs. By 732 A.D., one century after the death of Muhammad, Islam had conquered territories stretching from Spain in the west, to India in the east. While Christians and Jews were allowed to remain in their respective religions, pagans were forced to Islamize. Furthermore, the People of the Book (as Christians and Jews were called) had to submit to some stringent rules that greatly limited their freedoms. Originally, the Christian populations of the Middle East formed the majority of the population, but a few centuries later, they became minorities in such areas as Syria, Palestine, and Egypt.

"Professor Lewis should not have posited equivalence between Christianity and Islam as far as the method for gaining converts. As a historian, he should know better than that!

"The second point in my criticism of the article of Bernard Lewis is that he fails to see the great contrast between what he calls the 'triumphalism' of the two religions. Yes, Christians do believe in the ultimate triumph of the Gospel. Their faith is summarized in these great words of Revelation 11:15b 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.' (NIV) And in one of the most familiar passages of this NT book, we hear the heavenly choir sing these triumphant words: 'Hallelujah! For Lord God Almighty reigns.' 19:6b (NIV)

"Islam, throughout history, has been triumphalist. Notwithstanding its many setbacks, especially after the leader of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, abolished the caliphate, Muslims have never ceased to believe in the final triumph of their faith. I still remember reading a poster in the window of a Palestinian grocery store in a suburb of Chicago, these Arabic words: 'Al-Islam li-sa'adat al-bashariyya' i.e., Islam is for the happiness of all mankind.

"Today, the inevitable triumph of Islam remains the core belief of the radical Islamists. They do not and would not hesitate to use any means to bring about the triumph of Islam, even if that meant total confrontation with the rest of the world.

"On the other hand, if Christianity is described as a triumphalist faith, its triumphalism is related to an eschatological event. While the gospel has many implications and applications for the here and now, its complete fulfillment takes place beyond the horizon of this world order. Nowhere is this made plainer than in Romans 8. Let's listen to that great confession of Paul as he describes the ultimate triumph of the Christian faith: 'I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits with eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. ... For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. For who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.' Romans 8:18-21, 24, 25 (NIV)

"I was on the air for thirty-six years preaching and teaching the Word of God in Arabic. I was fully aware that most of my audience in North Africa and the Middle East were Muslims. I heard from many, many of them, mostly appreciating what I was teaching on the basis of the Book that their tradition praises. Throughout all these years, both in broadcasting and in correspondence with Muslims, it never, ever, entered my mind that my approach or attitude could have been summed up in the strange formula used by Bernard Lewis in his Atlantic Monthly article. My personal commitment to the Augustinian and Calvinist traditions kept me from ever resorting to such a crude formulation of the Christian message. I could have never even thought of 'I'm Right, You're Wrong. Go to Hell.' My method was irenical, and not confrontational, as I proclaimed the 'Injeel,' the Good News of salvation. My preaching was summed up in the familiar words of John 3:16, 'For God so loved the world...' My responsibility has always been to be faithful to the Biblical message. I did not coerce listeners to faith in Jesus Christ, since I believe that conversions are the sole prerogative of the Holy Spirit. He is, as the Nicene Creed puts it 'the Lord and Giver of life.'

"Yes, I do believe in the ultimate triumph of my Christian faith. But I know that this triumph will not come because of any military campaign, or through any worldly means. The victory of Christ over the world will become visible to all at his Second Coming. Paul described the triumph of Jesus Christ in this memorable words: 'Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.' Philippians 2: 9-11 (NIV)

"Therefore, there is no equivalence between Christianity and Islam, neither in their core beliefs, nor in the way they conceive of history, and its End. Much as I still appreciate the works of Bernard Lewis, I was compelled to write this article because his thesis in this article is flawed, both historically and theologically."

Evidently American Muslims in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles should keep their bags packed: six weeks after warnings for Muslims to leave those cities were posted on radical Muslim websites, they have appeared again. WorldNetDaily reports that "known al-Qaida affiliated websites are warning Muslims to leave New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles ahead of massive attacks it claims have been planned for those cities.

"The statements, posted on sites such as Al-Lewa - Arabic for 'The Banner' - are part of the alarming increase in 'chatter' among terrorist operatives in recent weeks cited by Homeland Security officials for raising the terror threat level to high, or orange, reports the New York Post. Officials told the paper the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency consider the messages 'pieces of the overall puzzle.'"

Another possibility is that the recent warnings are actually the same as those that surfaced in November: "Counterterrorism experts uncovered and translated statements boasting of an impending wave of terror that started Nov. 15 after the suicide bombings in Istanbul, Turkey. 'The next al-Qaida attacks will be most violent and will target the U.S.,' read one claim translated by Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute. 'Our Muslim brothers in America, this is our final warning. We ask you, as fast as you can, to leave the following cities immediately: Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles,' read a second message posted Thursday by a group calling itself the Islamic Bayan Movement.

"According to the messages, the jihadists apparently are pleased with the terror alert issued by government agencies and the anxiety it prompts for travelers this holiday week. Katz said one message published quoted al-Qaida's mouthpiece, the Global Islamic Media Society, in saying it took delight that Americans are now 'living in a state of anxiety and constant fear.'

"'You will forget about Manhattan events. Be prepared,' the statement concluded."

Now that it has come to light that Pakistan may have given nuclear secrets to Iran and North Korea, we must ask what may have been the motivations of those who did so. In an editorial entitled "Jihad and loss of internal sovereignty," the Daily Times of Pakistan acknowledges that jihad was likely to have been high on the list.

The editorial focuses on two news items: "According to a Foreign Office spokesman in Islamabad, investigations show that 'certain individuals might have been motivated by personal ambition or greed' in facilitating possible nuclear technology transfers from Pakistan to Iran. The government says it will take to task anyone found involved in such activity. In another interesting report, we learn of a top Chinese 'terrorist' by the name of Hasan Mahsum who was shot dead in Pakistan's South Waziristan area during a military operation last October. Mr Mahsum was supposed to have links with Al Qaeda.

"Two conclusions can be immediately drawn from these news items. First, that the sale of our nuclear secrets was probably more a result of lack of state control over individuals working in our nuclear establishment than any conscious or permitted state policy. Two, the killing of Hasan Mahsum should surprises us about the extent of penetration of our country by persons accused of terrorism by the countries of their origin. Both cases point to a lack of internal state control and jurisdiction in the past decade."

This lack of internal state control, says the editorial, became particularly acute in connection with jihad ideology: "Internal control was lost after the compulsion of importing warriors led to their immunity from the law inside Pakistan. Once such immunity was granted through special agencies handling jihad, larger sections of the state began to be included in it. Jihad, when it is not declared by the Islamic state, tends to eat at the fabric of the state's sovereignty. Just as foreign mujahideen had a free run of the country, the personnel involved in the strategy of jihad gradually assumed immunity. In this context, the nuclear programme became an integral part of the strategy of deniable proxy jihad. In 1999, for example, when scientists from our nuclear establishment were decorated on Pakistan Day, most of them were proud to sport flowing beards, overtly displaying their political and religious viewpoint!

And: "In her second tenure, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto got the ISI to register the 'foreign' mujahideen in Peshawar in the wake of Egypt's complaint that Mohammad Shawky al-Islambouli, a brother of the killer of President Anwer Sadat, was being sheltered there. The ISI came up with 5,000 names: 1,142 Egyptians, 981 Saudis, 946 Algerians, 771 Jordanians, 326 Iraqis, 292 Syrians, 234 Sudanese, 199 Libyans, 117 Libyans and 102 Moroccans. The world now knows how Pakistan became the bridge between Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and the 'takfeer'-based Algerian-FIS breakaway organisation called the GIA whose terrorists had lived in the guesthouses in Peshawar. There is also an established connection with Iraqi Mulla Krekar's Kurdish organisation whose members also came to join the jihad in Peshawar. Krekar, originally Najmuddin Feraj Ahmad, taught at Islamabad's Islamic University where he also met Abdallah Azzam, Osama's man in Peshawar. The University routinely employed Egyptian fundamentalist clerics in its faculty. Ramzi Yusuf, the first bomber of the Trade Center in New York, frequented the hostel of the University and this appeared in the Pakistani press. Similarly, one can explain how the Indonesian terrorist Hambali, the Bali bomber, and his brother wound up in Karachi. There are hundreds of examples of how the country simply gave away its internal sovereignty. Pakistani scientists and doctors began going to Afghanistan and meeting Osama bin Laden in the wake of the international terrorists. Just like the jihadi leaders who vowed divine rage, most of them were in it for money. Doctors were found in Lahore with huge amounts of dollars in their possession.

"If 9/11 had not happened and the UN Security Council had not forced Pakistan to reimpose internal controls, more and more Pakistanis would have found their way into the toils of global terrorism. We already have our plate full. We have to clean up and return to normalcy after years of chaos. But first we must correctly grasp the enormity of the task ahead of us."

Abu Bakar Bashir

Here is an example of why Muslims and non-Muslims so often talk past each other: Abu Bakar Bashir, the Indonesian Muslim leader who is or has been the head of the radical Muslim group Jemaah Islamiyah (although he denies it) has said that "the Bali bombers and an Indonesian bomb-maker killed by the Philippine military in October were not 'terrorists' but God's fighters." This from AFP, with thanks to Nicolei.

A man with this perspective could easily say that Islam condemns terrorism. But he would believe that "terrorism" is a label used by the West to discredit jihad warriors such as the heroic Osama bin Laden. And indeed, this is just the view of Abu Bakar Bashir:

"Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who recently became a martyr, is a jihad [holy war] fighter, not a terrorist," Bashir told a gathering of prisoners at Salemba prison in Central Jakarta that journalists and his supporters were allowed to attend.

Convicted Bali bombers "Imam Samudra, Mukhlas, Amrozi and his friends are not terrorists either, they are fighters of the army of God," Bashir said, who is serving time for immigration offences. Bashir, 65, also praised Osama bin Laden as a Muslim fighter. He has praised bin Laden, head of the Al Qaeda terror network, in the past but his public accolade for Bali bombers was the first.

A court in Bali has sentenced Samudra, Amrozi and Amrozi's brother Mukhlas to death for their roles in the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, mostly Westerners, on October 12, 2002. Self-confessed bomb-maker Al-Ghozi, a senior operative of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) extremist network that is linked to al-Qaeda, was killed by Philippine troops in October after escaping from a Manila jail three months earlier. The JI network is blamed for a string of bloody attacks including church bombings which killed 19 people on Christmas Eve 2000, the Bali blasts on October 12, 2002, which killed 202 people and the August Jakarta Marriott hotel blast that claimed 12 lives.

But as far as Bashir is concerned, it's all -- that's right -- America's fault.

Bashir said Indonesian Muslims had been targets of slander from the United States, which he warned the authorities not to support. "I warn police if they remain supportive of the US, they can laugh now but will later cry for the rest of their lives," he said.

Bashir even blames his jail time on the U.S.:

Earlier in the day Bashir's lawyers filed a petition to the Supreme Court against an appeal court ruling that he must serve three years in jail. In September he was convicted of treason through taking part in a JI plot to overthrow the government. But the court said there was no proof that he headed the JI terror network, as prosecutors alleged. The appeal court this month cleared Bashir of treason. It upheld his conviction for immigration offences and forging documents but cut his jail term from four years to three. His lawyers want him cleared of all charges. Bashir has denied any links to terrorism and said he was framed by Washington because he campaigns for Islamic sharia law.

A Muslim leader in Australia has publicly taken issue with a radical Muslim fatwa that instructs Muslims not to wish Christians Merry Christmas or to join in the celebrations of the unbelievers in any way. Unfortunately, however, other Muslims in Australia have defended the radicals.

"Australia's radical Muslims are trying to sabotage Christmas, according to the nation's most senior Islamic leader, Sheikh Taj Din al-Hilali." This from news.com.au, with thanks to Agent Azure.

"The accusation from the Islamic mufti is based on a Wahabist edict from Saudi Arabia, which he said had been circulating among Australia's fundamentalist Muslims. The edict tells conservative Muslims how they should respond to Christmas, which is not celebrated by followers of Islam.

"Sheikh al-Hilali said the strongly worded edict, issued some years ago, amounted to religious intolerance and would not be supported by mainstream Muslims. 'Other Australians would look at people who believe this as people who live on Mars, not Earth,' he said.

"The edict says Muslims must not greet anyone with the phrase 'Merry Christmas' and must not return the season's greetings to anyone who offers them.

"It also says that Muslims must not:

"Offer or accept any food or drink linked with the celebration of Christmas.

"Send greeting cards for or import or sell anything related to Christmas.

"Put up Christmas lights or keep Christmas trees or have any signs relating to the Christmas season.

"According to Sheikh al-Hilali, the edict also asks: 'How can you Muslims participate with Christians in their festivals and celebrations? How can you greet them on this occasion in relation to the falsehood in their religion which is a symbol of their misguided, disbelieving creed? Isn't that giving support from you for their false religion?'"

These kinds of restrictions on Muslims not only participating in Christmas, which would be understandable, but even extending good wishes to Christians, are actually rather common worldwide. You can even find them among Muslims in the United States. This one is from Illinois (with thanks to "Allah.") They are, of course, manifestations of the same assumptions of superiority (of Muslims) and corruption (of Christians) that give rise to the institutionalized oppression of dhimmitude.

"But several fundamenalist sheikhs who have seen the edict disputed Sheikh al-Hilali's interpretation. They said the edict was not intended to spoil Christmas for Christians, but merely to keep Muslims away from a celebration their religion does not recognise.

"Although many religions did not recognise the Christian celebration of Christmas, Sheikh al-Hilali said all Muslims needed to be tolerant of other people's faiths. Sheikh al-Hilali, a moderate Muslim, has been highly critical of Australia's fundamentalist Islamic leaders, who he said had been weak in condemning terrorism and had 'followed in the footsteps of Osama bin Laden'.

"'They want that reputation - to appeal to simple Muslims - that they are people applying jihad. These people bring a rigid and incorrect understanding of Islam to Australia and they bring harm to their religion,' he said in an interview with The Australian. Sheikh al-Hilali's criticism of the Christmas edict is a further reflection of the tension between mainstream Muslim leaders and fundamentalist clerics.

"Fundamentalist Muslims, who adhere to a strict and conservative version of Islam, make up only a small proportion of Australia's 280,000 Muslims. But this small group is the main focus of ASIO." That would be the Australian Security Intelligence Organization.

By Bassam M. Madany

In the aftermath of World War II, several changes had to be made to the map of the world. For example, the boundaries between Germany and Poland were adjusted, and what used to be East Prussia became part and parcel of Poland. The Indian subcontinent was partitioned in 1947 by Great Britain into India and Pakistan. That resulted in great upheavals and bloodshed. Many Muslims left India for the new Islamic state, while most Hindus who found themselves in what became Pakistan, had to relocate and settle in India. Eventually, almost all of the old and new nations learned to accept each other's existence. Not so in the Middle East where one situation has defied solution. I refer to the Palestinian-Israeli problem.

Back in 1946, the United Nations decided to divide the land of Palestine between its Arab and Jewish populations. The Palestinians and their Arab neighbors opposed the partition plan. So, when the State of Israel was born on May 15, 1948, war broke out between the nascent Jewish state and its Arab neighbors. Since then, several wars took place between the antagonists. Now, more than half a century later, peace in the Holy Land remains elusive. It is very hard to believe that ten United States presidents have had to deal with this problem, from Harry Truman to George W. Bush.

Personally, I have been aware of this unending crisis since my youngest days. One of my earliest recollections is my attempt to decipher the Arabic script of a headline in a Beirut newspaper in 1936. It dealt with a Palestinian leader, a forerunner of Yasser Arafat, who was leading a rebellion against the British that administered the Holy Land under a mandate given by the League of Nations. He and his followers were resisting the influx of European Jews into Palestine after the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany.

Then, for two summer seasons in 1943 and 1944, I worked (in Syria and Lebanon) as a civilian in a branch of the British Army, known as the RASC (Royal Army Service Corps.) My superior was a Jewish sergeant from Tel Aviv; the second in command was a Palestinian Christian corporal from Jerusalem, whose brother was a well-known singer on the radio station of the PBC (Palestine Broadcasting Corporation.) Both used to talk about their aspirations and dreams for the future. Once in a while I wonder what happened to them since 1948.

Years have passed, and I have been living in the United States since 1958. Geographically, I am far away from the Middle East, still I cannot forget the Palestinian problem. My entire ministerial calling has been with the lands of my birth. For thirty-six years, I broadcast the Gospel to the Arabic-speaking world of North Africa and the Middle East. Thousands of listeners used to correspond with me, and many of them were Palestinians.

In 1966 while traveling in the Middle East, I paid a visit to two elderly sisters who lived near the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem. At the time, it was located in an area under the control of Jordan. Late in May 1967, I received an air mail letter from them, telling me about their fears as the war clouds were gathering. Hostilities between Egypt and Israel were imminent. Having no where else to go, they planned to stay in their little home. After the end of the Six-Day War, I saw pictures of the awful devastation that took place near the place where the two sisters lived. I never heard from them again!

Then, in June 2001, I received a heart-rending message from an Evangelical pastor in the West Bank. He told me of the sad incident that occurred as he and his family, were on their way to Jerusalem to attend the graduation of one of their sons. At the checkpoint separating their town from East Jerusalem, the Israeli Army stopped their car. The pastor and his family were not allowed to proceed further. They missed that very important occasion in the life of their son.

Why has this problem persisted, defying all attempted solutions undertaken by well-meaning world leaders? I have not stopped reflecting on this subject, reading about it, and around it. I say around it, since quite often, we tend to isolate this problem from its larger context. You see, this matter does not just involve Palestinians and Israelis; it has to do with the Islamic concept of the world. After the first Arab Islamic armies conquered the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain, they regarded the world as being either within Daru'l Islam, (i.e., the Household of Islam) or falling into the domain of Daru'l Harb, (i.e., the Household of War.) Once a specific area came within their domain, it had to remain Islamic for ever!

This brings me to comment on a very helpful book. The author is Bernard Lewis. For several years, he lectured at the University of London. Then he moved to the USA where he taught at Princeton University. He retired in 1986, but continues to write and lecture on Islam and the Middle East. He has authored more than two dozen books on this subject.

Professor Lewis' book, The Multiple Identities of the Middle East, was published by Random House, NY, in 1998. It offers some needed background for the understanding of the people and politics of the Middle East. One of its main themes deals with a complexity that arises from the fact that Middle Easterners identify themselves both ethnically and religiously. However, the religious element is and remains the dominant one. The root for this outlook is embedded in the history of the last 1400 years.

Within the vast Islamic empire, the conquerors classified people according to their religions affiliation. One was either a Muslim or a follower of one of the earlier religions. Muslims enjoyed all the rights and privileges accorded to them by the Islamic Shari'a Law. As for others, such as Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, they were given the status of dhimmis, i.e., the "protected ones." This "protection" was actually a mere euphemism as it entailed many restrictions imposed on non-Muslims. Thus, one's identity was not primarily defined by an ethnic or geographic factor, but by one's religious faith. This classification continues to the present day. A Middle Easterner's primary identity resides in his or her religious faith; secondarily it is defined by the state within which he happens to live.

For example, on my Lebanese Identity Card, I was registered as a Protestant Christian. In the 99-member Lebanese Parliament (before the upheavals of 1975), we had one Protestant representative! The president of the republic had to be Maronite, i.e., of the Roman Catholic faith, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of the Parliament, a Shi'ite Muslim. Usually, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs went to a Christian of the Greek Orthodox Church! This way of identifying Middle Easterners created a serious crisis whenever relations between the various religiously-defined groups were strained. Quite often, Muslims even though living within a distinct country such as Lebanon, felt that their ultimate identity (and therefore loyalty) resided elsewhere, within the Islamic Umma. That kind of allegiance practically nullified the modus vivendi that had existed in Lebanon since the 1920s, and that led eventually to the loss of freedom in a land that used to be known as the Switzerland of the Middle East.

As Bernard Lewis put it: "During the centuries-long confrontation between the states of Europe and the Ottoman Empire, the Europeans always saw and discussed their relations in terms of Austrians, Frenchmen, Germans, Englishmen, and other nationalities versus Turks; the Turks saw it in terms of Muslims versus Christians. In pre-modern Muslim writings, the parochial subdivisions of Christendom are given scant importance. In the worldview of Muslims, which they naturally also ascribed to others, religion was the determinant factor of identity, the focus of loyalty and, not less important, the source of authority" (P. 22).

In these words, we notice how the religious factor is of utmost importance in our relations with the Middle East or any nations within the vast Islamic world that surrounds it. Secular Western writers tend to ignore the critical importance of religion in Islam and what constitutes a Muslim's ultimate loyalty. They tend to forget the fact that in contrast with Christianity, Islam is an amalgam of religion, politics, and culture, in one indivisible entity. If this thesis is correct, and I believe that the history of the last 1400 years supports it, then we may ask: why do some writers and politicians continue to ignore this fundamental fact about Islam? Islam is more than religion, and has always maintained an exclusivist political worldview. It has no room for non-Muslim entities (i.e., states) to freely exist within the context of the Household of Islam.

The history of Pakistan affords us a modern example of why Muslims believe that they ought to live in an environment that is officially and legally Islamic. Before the end of the British rule, the most outspoken representatives of Indian Muslims requested the Raj not to leave before the partition of the subcontinent. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, this is why the Islamic state of Pakistan was carved out of India. That event signified that at the end of European colonial presence in Asia and Africa, Muslims would not tolerate living under non-Muslim rule. Since they identify themselves primarily as Muslims, their first loyalty goes to the Islamic Umma. Ideologically, Muslims feel at home only within Daru'l Islam.

Back to the book of Bernard Lewis. "In the modern world, the political role of Islam, internationally as well as domestically, differs significantly from that of its peer and rival, Christianity. The heads of state or ministers of foreign affairs of the Scandinavian countries and Germany do not from time to time foregather in a Lutheran summit conference. Nor was it customary, when the Soviet Union still existed, for its rulers to join with those of Greece and Yugoslavia and, temporarily forgetting their political and ideological differences, to hold regular meetings on the basis of their current or previous adherence to the Orthodox Church. Similarly, the Buddhist nations of East and Southeast Asia, the Catholic nations of southern Europe and South America, do not constitute Buddhist or Catholic blocs at the United Nations, nor for that matter in any other political activities.

"The very idea of such a grouping, based on religious identity, might seem to many modern Western observers absurd or even comic. But it is neither absurd nor comic in relation to Islam. Some fifty-five Muslim governments, including monarchies and republics, conservatives and revolutionaries, practitioners of capitalism and disciples of various kinds of socialism, friends and enemies of the United States, and exponents of whole spectrum of shades of neutrality, have built an elaborate apparatus of international consultation and even, on some issues, of cooperation. They hold regular high-level conferences, and, despite differences of structure, ideology, and policy, have achieved a significant measure of agreement and common action" (P.26).

"There are also large and growing numbers of Muslims living as minorities in countries with non-Muslim majorities in Asia and Africa, and latterly also in Europe and the Americas. For these minorities, especially in the democratic West, the question of relations between Muslims and others arises in a new and largely unprecedented form" (P. 112).

As we focus our attention on the Palestinian-Israeli problem, we have to recognize that the basic identity of a Palestinian Muslim is intimately connected with his religion. And since his religion has supplanted both Judaism and Christianity, neither of these faiths possesses any legitimate claim to land of Palestine. The underlying problem is theological, thus it remains radically different from all other international problems.

The secularized West cannot and does not understand this basic religious motif for the Palestinian's refusal to accept Israel as a valid political entity within the vast Islamic world. It is up to Christians to speak boldly about this subject, and to point out to all parties in this conflict that genuine coexistence in our globalized world is a must. The continual refusal to accept the existence of Israel as a sovereign state leads to more violence and to acts of terror that spill beyond the borders of the Holy Land.

"Guerrillas from Afghanistan's ousted Taliban militia and the al Qaeda network it once sheltered are using Pakistan as a sanctuary, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said Wednesday." This from Reuters.

"Speaking at a police graduation ceremony, Zalmay Khalilzad also said senior al Qaeda members including Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar must be brought to justice.

"'The remnants of extremist Taliban, al Qaeda and Hekmatyar want to take Afghanistan to the bad old days,' Khalilzad said. 'They use Pakistan as sanctuary.'

"The Taliban and Hekmatyar have declared a 'jihad,' or holy war, against U.S. forces in Afghanistan and U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai.

"The fate of bin Laden and al-Zawahri remains unknown, but they are widely believed to be hiding along the rugged Afghan-Pakistan border." Or somewhere below it.

"Afghan officials, including Karzai, have long complained Pakistan is not doing enough to clamp down on militants using its territory to launch deadly raids into Afghanistan. U.S. officials are usually less forthright, recognizing the importance of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's support for the U.S.-led war on terror.

"Pakistan has arrested hundreds of suspected guerrillas, including senior figures, and handed many over to U.S. custody, but senior officials say some militants could be hiding out along its remote Afghan frontier."

The reality of Christmas today around the world is the subject of Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer's new article "A Holly Jihadi Christmas," available today at WorldNetDaily.

The Wall Street Journal (under subscription, so no link) today contains a commentary by Jonathan Eric Lewis, "The Coptic Path." (Thanks to Jerry Gordon.)

In it, Lewis cuts through the politically correct misinformation that usually chokes of any discussion of the fact that the Coptic Christians Egypt are, "to put it with supreme understatement, less free than we are to practice the religion of [their] own choosing." Lewis states forthrightly that "for Egypt to democratize, it must end its discrimination against its Coptic population, arrest and prosecute the Islamic extremists who have repeatedly targeted the Christian community, and include the Coptic community in all aspects of civic and political life."

This would also constitute a useful question for the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other American Muslim advocacy groups: do you support equality of rights for the Copts in Egypt, and an end to restrictions on the freedom of Egyptians to convert from Islam to Christianity? If not, why not? And if not, do you someday hope to institute a system like Egypt's in the United States?

Lewis also stands out from most commentators in his accurate awareness of the realities of Islamic history -- including dhimmitude: "Having had to live under dhimmi, or inferior non-Muslim, status for much of their history, Copts nevertheless produced a rich corpus of theological literature for Near Eastern Christianity, particularly during the 13th-century Coptic Renaissance. It was not until 19th-century Ottoman reforms, however, that Coptic Christians were freed from their subservient status under Islamic rule and were released from paying the jizya, a discriminatory tax mandated for non-Muslims."

But they have still not been released from the discriminatory attitudes and practices that dhimmitude has ingrained into Egyptian culture.

"General Electric has pulled a lighting ad from Paul Harvey's syndicated radio show, heard here on WABC (770 AM), after receiving complaints from listeners over Harvey's comment that Islam 'encourages killing.'" This from the New York Post, with thanks to seafarious.

"Harvey, 84, made the comment Dec. 4 while describing cockfighting in Iraq. 'Add to the thirst for blood a religion which encourages killing, and it is entirely understandable if Americans came to this bloody party unprepared,' he said. Harvey apologized six days later through an on-air substitute - a day after GE pulled its ad (for a lamp).

"'We're considering whether to resume advertising [on the show],' a GE spokesman said yesterday. 'No decision has been made yet.'" Are they waiting for a go-ahead from the Council on American Islamic Relations?

Many times I have been confronted by people who tell me that the Bible contains incitement to violence too, and so the Qur'an's incitement to violence is either beside the point or disingenuously one-sided. Among many important and necessary answers to this is the fact that jihad terror exists no matter what evil anyone else may be doing, so it's just irrelevant to invoke the Bible. Another is the empirical fact that when people speak of "Ramadan violence," they generally refer to violence done by radical Muslims, while the common understanding is that "Christmas violence" refers to violence done not by Christians, but to them. There is good reason for this common usage: no matter how politically incorrect the fact may be, there is no global network of Christian terrorists, but there is such a network of Muslims. (There are other essential answers to the question regarding the Bible and the Qur'an, which I discuss at some length in Islam Unveiled.)

A summary of Christmas terror past and present, courtesy Elizabeth Kendal of the World Evangelical Alliance, with thanks to Freedom Now News:

"Christmas 1999: A series of terror attacks planned against Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land and Amman (Jordan) were thwarted.

"Christmas Eve 2000: At around 9 pm, 18 bombs exploded almost simultaneously outside churches in seven cities across central Indonesia, killing 15 people and wounding 96. Another 31 unexploded bombs were recovered.

"Christmas Day 2002: In Pakistan, three girls were killed and 14 believers wounded when two masked men dressed in burkas threw grenades into a church in the village of Chianwala, 65km northwest of Lahore. Explosives were also found near a church in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad.

"Christmas 2003 is equally foreboding:

"* INDONESIA: a Jakarta police chief has warned that intelligence information suggests Jakarta could well be the target of a bombing campaign this Christmas. Police officers will be stationed at more than 240 churches throughout Jakarta and its suburbs.

"* IRAQ: intelligence indicates that Iraq also may experience major terror attacks over Christmas, although reports admit it is unclear what the targets might be.

"* ITALY: security will be increased at some 8,000 major Christian sites in Italy, including St Peter's Square, after a warning from Mossad (Israeli Intelligence Service) that there was a 'high index of probability' that 'an important symbol of Christianity' would be the target of a terror attack between Christmas and New Year. The Via della Conciliazione, the main road leading to St Peter's Basilica, will be closed every night until 25 December, a precaution officials say was unprecedented.

"* SRI LANKA: the situation in Sri Lanka is extremely tense due to the death last week of the prominent and much revered Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Ven. Soma Thero, a champion of Buddhist nationalism. He was in Russia receiving an award at the time of his death. An autopsy revealed he suffered a fatal heart attack. However, Sri Lanka's 'Supreme Council of Monks' has called for his death to be investigated, saying they suspect foul play. Sri Lankan media have speculated there is a Christian conspiracy. According to the Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (EASL), tensions are running so high that churches across the nation are postponing Christmas celebrations. Ven. Soma Thero's funeral will take place on 24 December, Christmas Eve. EASL is requesting prayer for the nation."

MEMRI reports that recent editions of the Al-Qaeda magazine, The Voice of Jihad, contain debates on whether or not the organization should strike within Saudi Arabia. "There has been no dispute," says MEMRI, "over striking American or Western targets around the world - only regarding attacks within the kingdom."

A "high ranking Al-Qa'ida member," Abd Al-'Aziz bin 'Issa bin Abd Al-Mohsen, is quoted thusly: "Jihad members and Mujahideen sympathizers were divided: Some said we must attack the invading forces that defile the land of the two holy places [i.e. the Arabian Peninsula], and must cause the Americans to become preoccupied with themselves and their bases so they won't leave them to crush the countries and lands of the Muslims, country by country.

"Others said we had to preserve the security of this base and of this country [i.e. Saudi Arabia], from which we recruit the armies, from which we take out the young people, and from which we receive [financial] backing. It must therefore remain safe.

"My opinion is an intermediate opinion, between the two groups. It is true that we must keep the enemy preoccupied with himself and not give him a sense of security, because as soon as he secures his bases and his lines of supply, he will have an opportunity to use them to attack our brothers in different parts of the countries of the Islamic world. But we must prepare ourselves and be ready for this momentous event the best way we possibly can. We told them: 'Wait, we are readying ourselves.' Then we attacked the Americans.

"It is also true that we must take advantage of this country [Saudi Arabia] because it is the primary source of funds for most Jihad movements, and it has some degree of security and freedom of movement. But we must strike a balance between this and America's invasion of the Islamic world and its hobbling of the Jihad movement and even of other Islamic movements…"

Another Al-Qaeda member, Louis Attiya Allah (an alias), says that the negative effect of Saudi attempts to portray the November 8 Riyadh bombing as an operation against Muslims (which it doesn't seem to have been anyway) "is temporary and will disappear if, for example, the Mujahideen strike another blow in America. Then sympathy will return to what it was in the past, and may even increase."

Says Voice of Jihad editorial writer Suleiman Al-Dosari: "Our number-one enemy is the Jews and the Christians, and we must make ourselves available and invest all our effort until we destroy them – and we are capable of doing this if Allah allows us to – because they are the main obstacle to the establishment of the Islamic state."

Plus this, also from Louis Attiya Allah: "The world order must be removed from the region and defeated, first of all militarily. Then, the Islamic state must be reestablished, in accordance with the Islamic regime. . . . The experience [of an Islamic state] is real, and it existed 1,300 years ago. The peoples of the East ruled themselves and lived according to their own rules long before the West was in the region. There is nothing to prevent the revival of these rules, which are based on the Koran and the Sunna . . . No political program has a chance of succeeding if we do not defeat the West, militarily and culturally, and remove it from Muslim countries. Then, it will not be difficult for the nation, with the help of its tremendous resources, to rebuild life according to religious Islamic principles. We will become the masters of the world, as the world's economic fate depends on us because we have the resources the world needs and all the elements of controlling the world are in our hands."

And: "The Jihad movement in the Arabian Peninsula will not be stopped by the borders of the so-called Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, because the entity called by this name is an artificial entity that has no religious foundation. There is no religious consideration that prevents, for example, the transfer of Jihad outside this entity to Yemen or to the countries called the Gulf States. All these types of nation-states have no significance, and they have no [religious] protection preventing their removal when the Jihad goes into action."

And finally, another indication of how deeply these men have imbibed the 7th-century world of the Qur'an: "The main enemies of the nation, the Byzantines, will not come to their end until Judgment Day, and therefore there is no point in talking of stopping the battle… The most important thing is that the Mujahideen will safeguard the burning ember of Jihad. The more martyrs' blood is shed for the sake of this ember, the greater its light; it will burn the enemies more quickly and victory will draw near, Allah willing…"

The Byzantines? Last I looked the Byzantine Empire fell on Tuesday, May 29, 1453, the black day when jihadist invaders finally broke into Constantinople and massacred its gallant, vastly outnumbered defenders. But to Al-Qaeda, the world is and will ever be as it is in the Qur'an and the traditions of Muhammad (the 30th sura of the Qur'an is entitled Al-Rum — that is, The Byzantines). Those who dismiss these as motivating factors for radical Muslims should take note.

"Authorities raised the terrorist threat assessment over the weekend after new intelligence indicated that operatives of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terror network, possibly trained and licensed to fly passenger jets, may now be pilots for some foreign airlines, ideally positioning them to carry out suicide attacks, U.S. officials told NBC News on Monday." This from MSNBC.

"Reinforced cockpit doors intended to thwart hijackers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks would now protect any terrorist pilot at the controls, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

"Authorities would not describe the terror threats in detail publicly, but the U.S. officials told NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski that the threat alert would remain at 'orange,' or high, through the end of January, which they said was an indication of its seriousness."

Also, "new intelligence indicates that al-Qaida remains intent on attacking large gatherings of people with chemical or biological weapons, official said. They said law enforcement agencies were looking closely at two rural locations — one in the East and the other in the Southwest — that were believed to be high on the terrorist target list.

"Most troubling, the officials said, were indications that al-Qaida may already possess a radiological weapon, or so-called 'dirty bomb.' They did not elaborate.

"Experts said a potent dirty bomb could spread radioactive material for a half-mile in all directions. People in the fallout zone would be bombarded with radiation levels that they would not otherwise be exposed to from natural sources for a full year.

"While it may not particularly deadly, the psychological impact of a dirty bomb could be devastating, experts said.

"'The point of a dirty bomb is not mass casualties,' terrorism specialist Roger Cressey, chief of staff for President Bush’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board from November 2001 to September 2002, said in an interview. 'It's much more to instill fear and panic into the general population.'"

Last night I completed an article about conspiracy theories running rampant in the Muslim world (watch for it soon), and this morning CBN News has a piece about the same thing.

"Rumors and conspiracy theories seem to run rampant through the Arab world.
Today, the rumor that may generate the most fear and anger is that the U.S. has launched a Christian holy war against Islam, with an intent to stamp out Muslims, and the story is being pushed by the Arab media."

Most significantly, "the stories are spreading through the airwaves by some of America's so-called allies in the region."

The article brings us some quotes from Al-Jazeera talk radio: "According to Egyptian Caller, Majdee Hussien, 'The Muslim nation has come under a criminal Christian and zionist invasion. The U.S. forces are accompanied by missionaries to kill the women and children in Iraq and to kill the Iranian pilgrims.' One Saudi Arabian, Ali Zoudeide, said, 'As it says in the Koran, they are going to fight you until you will abandon your religion.'"

Ali Zoudeide is not alone: millions of Muslims are looking to the Qur'an as revelatory of the contemporary situation, particularly in regard to Muslim relations with Jews and Christians. This breeds a deep suspicion that will be hard, if not impossible, to overcome.

"Jordanian police used an outdated arrest warrant two days ago in another foiled attempt to detain Siham Qandah, a Christian widow fighting to retain custody of her two minor children in Jordan." So says Compass Direct in an update of a story posted here some time ago.

But when police in the northern Jordanian town of Husn came to arrest Qandah on the evening of December 16, she was not at home with her daughter Rawan, 15, or son Fadi, 14. Qandah's lawyer inquired about the police raid yesterday morning at the Irbid civil court, only to learn that in fact the arrest warrant being used by the police was dated last June. Although the local court had decreed six months ago that Qandah must turn over her children to a Muslim guardian or be jailed, the arrest warrant has been blocked since September by a restraining order issued by a higher court in Amman.

In light of the known restraining order, it was not clear whether the police actually intended to arrest Qandah, or were simply part of another ploy by the children's court-appointed Muslim guardian to intimidate and harass Qandah.

After a flurry of telephone calls yesterday following the attempted police raid, a leading cleric in Jordan's ecclesiastical court summoned Qandah to Amman today and offered her legal representation by a new lawyer. He proposed that this attorney file a new case to challenge the validity of her late husband's alleged conversion to Islam. When Qandah replied she had no money to hire another lawyer, he assured her that all the costs would be covered.

So Qandah signed papers to give this new lawyer her power of attorney. While she was still in the priest's office, he telephoned a judge in the Islamic court, asking him to meet with Qandah while she was in Amman. When the Muslim official agreed, the widow went directly to meet with him and explain her case.

But on the way out of the building, she came face to face with Abdullah al-Muhtadi, her estranged brother and the very man trying to take her children away from her. She had not seen him for years, despite repeated court subpoenas for him to appear at legal appeals over the children's custody. But in an apparently deliberate confrontation in a public place, al-Muhtadi talked loudly and abusively to his sister for several minutes in the hall of the building, the widow said.

"He kept repeating loudly, 'Are you threatening me?' Qandah said, "while he was forcing me to talk with him in front of everyone passing by!" Qandah said she told her brother, "You have no right to take away my children. They are all I have left in this world." But he vowed he would fight to the end to get them, saying she had "no right" to have them. "I will prove that you are not a good mother," he told her. "You are trying to make them Christians. But they are Muslims, and they need to be receiving Islamic teaching."

After Qandah was widowed nine years ago, a local Islamic court produced a so-called "conversion" certificate, attesting that her soldier husband had converted to Islam three years before he died in Kosovo. Although both her children are baptized Christians, their father's alleged conversion forcibly changed their legal identity from Christian to Muslim.

Under Jordan's application of Islamic law, the courts were required to name a Muslim guardian for the children, in order to handle their orphan benefits. So since her brother converted to Islam as a teenager, Qandah asked him to fill this role.

However, over the next few years, al-Muhtadi began to appropriate some of the monthly orphan stipends for himself, and in 1998 he filed a lawsuit demanding custody of his niece and nephew so he could raise them as Muslims. In February 2002, Qandah lost her last appeal before the Supreme Court of Jordan, which awarded the children's custody to her brother.

Although al-Muhtadi is said to be a mosque prayer leader, the courts serving him with subpoenas to appear in subsequent cases filed by Qandah have declared they do not know his residence or whereabouts.

"Siham's brother has a number of other court cases filed against him for all sorts of illegal practices," one source told Compass. "He has had all these charges against him for years, but he has never been convicted of a single one. Her brother knows very well how to manipulate judges, to convince them he is a good Muslim who is only acting in the very best interests of his niece and nephew," the source said. "He has even convinced one leading judge that the $20,000 he withdrew from their orphans' trust fund had been used for the children!"

Qandah is convinced that her brother's motives are primarily driven by greed, although she fears that he also wants to marry her daughter to a Muslim once he gains custody of her. "Our government won't let Siham and her children leave Jordan, and they won't solve her problem here either," a friend of the widow said. "After nine years of fear and harassment, she needs to be allowed to live in peace."

Those are the words of a young Pakistani bemoaning the spread of the jihad ideology in his homeland. (Of course, it's the Americans' fault.) This comes from the Calcutta Telegraph.

The article asserts that the wind has gone out of the sails of the jihad movement in Pakistan: "The 'jihad project', a number of Pakistanis believe, is over. But they also think that their establishment does not seem to have fully realised this fact. The so-called jihadis have little support among the Pakistani masses. They are also realising that after 9/11, jihad is a word that shuts doors internationally."

Now, why would anyone have a problem with a struggle for self-improvement?

"Within Pakistan, the internal impact of the jihadi culture on society has been so great that youngsters are speaking out against it. Amra Ali, a young art critic, said: 'We were used by the Americans who first projected these jihadis as freedom fighters and branded them terrorists after 9/11. These terrorists that were created have had an impact on our society — today, there is a gun in front of every house. A Kalashnikov culture has taken birth in our society. Even our mosques need to be protected from the extremists.'"

If Amra Ali studied some history, he might realize that America did not create the jihadis. As I explain in Onward Muslim Soldiers, the modern jihad movement began in Egypt in the 1920s — but it considers itself to be in fundamental continuity with a movement that is as old as Islam itself.

Another young man, "Naveed Akhtar, a 27-year-old, went to the extent of saying: “I don’t think states should be based on religion. Earlier, Hindus and Muslims used to fight. Now, in our country, Muslims are killing each other. Up to the time of Partition, the difference between the Shias and the Sunnis, the Barelvis and the Deobandis did not warrant their killing each other. So where has this sectarianism come from? Who is giving these maulvis money to create strife in our society?”

"'The jihadis remain a force. But they cannot be a real threat without some support from the establishment,' Ghazi Salauddin, a senior journalist, said.

"Iqbal Haider, a former senator and human rights lawyer, felt the jihadi forces had damaged Pakistan. 'They have grievously hurt Pakistan’s international image, economy and society. What is the achievement of their so-called jihad? Our society has been brutalised by them,' he said.

"General Pervez Musharraf himself has been a target of these groups and after the latest assassination attempt against him, he has admitted to several other such bids in the past. Yet there are those in Pakistan who believe there is reluctance in sections of the establishment to let go of the jihadis. 'The pattern of this regime’s policy since 9/11 is to do under pressure the minimum necessary to keep Washington sweet. They have not realised that the jihad project is passé,' Rashed Rahman, former editor of The Frontier Post, said.

"This view is supported by the fact that even by its own admission, out of the 500 people that Islamabad has handed over to the US, 490 are al Qaida members and only 10 are Taliban. There are periodic bans on the jihadi groups but they resurface in a different garb. 'Two years ago, a ban was imposed on internal jihadi groups. But the regime chose to look the other way while these groups continued to function. Once again, two years down the road, pressure is mounting on Pakistan. So there is a fresh wave of bans, freezing of assets, etc. What is interesting about this new campaign is that except for the Shia leader, Allma Sajid Naqvi, accused of the murder of Azam Tariq, the leader of a virulently anti-Shia group called the Sipah-e-Sahaba, no other leader or member of a banned group has been arrested,' Rahman pointed out."

And why is that, exactly?

"He said: 'It is a policy of "preservation" rather than elimination that the Pakistani establishment is following.' Rahman argued that a three-way nexus had developed between 'the domestic jihadis, the Afghan jihadis and the Kashmir jihadis — retaining one means retaining the others and abandoning one means abandoning the others'. Those supporting the jihadis 'had merely put their head down in Afghanistan when the Americans had blood in their eye and waited for the storm to pass. Then they quietly put together a fresh triangular alliance between the Taliban, al Qaida and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar who was resurrected from exile in Iran. That forms the backbone of the resistance in Afghanistan today', he added. 'The nexus between the different kinds of jihadis is now causing rancour with the Americans. In Afghanistan, they are at the receiving end of it. And vis-à-vis India, it does not fit in with their grand design for the region of promoting trade, investment and possibly hoping that India would act as a counterweight to the new emerging power of China.'

"Rahman felt that regardless of Musharraf’s secular credentials, 'because of international, regional and domestic pressures, the regime will find it increasingly difficult to revive and continue with its past policies towards the jihadis'."

This morning, FrontPage magazine's lead story is my exploration of Saddam's reasons for getting himself included in the genealogy of the Prophet Muhammad. It could well have been part of an attempt to position himself as the chief of the global jihadist movement, trumping the Taliban's Mullah Omar as Osama bin Laden's spiritual leader. The piece is called "Saddam: Former Leader of the Global Jihad?"

A letter that was recently sent to Reuters was kindly forwarded to Jihad Watch:

"Dear Editor:

"Why do you slant the news in favor of terrorists? Why do you call suicidal maniacs driven by the ideology of Jew-hatred and genocide 'activists' and 'freedom fighters'? You know they are funded by Saudi Arabia, Iran and other terrorist supporting countries. You know they have sophistocated weapons. Why do you not reveal their true intentions?

"Why do you conceal the facts about Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah etc? Why do you not mention that they are waging chemical and biological warfare against Israeli civilians? Surely you know that their bombs are laced with rat poison in order to compound suffering and insure death. Surely you know that many of the suicide bombers have AIDS, hepatitus and other diseases -- that is why they are chosen -- and that their tissue fragments become imbedded in the tissue of their victims. If you do not know about these details, why not interview Israeli emergency room doctors? They will tell you more than you want to know. They will show you x rays of victims with nuts, bolts and nails lodged in brains, hearts, muscle and other vital organs that cannot be removed surgically. Have you ever inquired of your 'freedom fighters' why they pack their bombs with shrapnel and lace them with poison? Is their love of liberty so great that shrapnel imbedded in babies' brains is a must? Why not ask these questions?

"Perhaps you have asked them in private, amongst yourselves. If you have not, then I give you more credit than you deserve. I cannot believe that you are so willfully ignorant that you have not already encountered this information on your own. It is not being hidden from view. Any idiot can stumble upon it. Then, if you do know these facts, why are you not stating them publicly? In your position, only public statements matter. It is your job to represent the facts. If you are in business to promote your political agenda and it is pro-'Palestinian' -- as it appears to be -- then say so publicly so that the world will not be fooled. Otherwise, you are merely propagandists, deliberately indoctrinating the unsuspecting with concepts of heinous irrationality. Do you really want people to believe there is a moral equivalency between a suicide bomber and its Israeli victims or the Israeli soldiers defending civilians against barbaric terror?

"Your denials are unacceptable. Too much evidence supports all of the assumptions presented here. Please respond."

"Egypt’s foreign minister, on a peace mission to Israel, was rushed to hospital after being attacked today by Muslims at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem." This from The Scotsman.

Why was he attacked? Evidently for holding peace talks with Ariel Sharon: "Ahmed Maher had left talks with Israeli premier Ariel Sharon to pray at the Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, in the Old City.

"Witnesses said Muslim extremists shouted at him and tried to attack him. Bodyguards surrounded the minister and whisked him out of the compound. They said he was heard saying, 'I’m going to choke, I’m going to choke' as he was being taken away. . . .

"Israeli police said protesters threw shoes at Maher. Muslims remove their shoes at the entrance to mosques. . . . Earlier Maher held talks with Israeli leaders about resuming peace talks with the Palestinians."

The Yahoo group Daleel Al-Mojahid (Guide for the Jihadi) has gotten attention in the past few months for passing on threats against Americans. Those threats didn't turn out to be substantive, but the man posting there now offers an oblique excuse: "We promise you a big surprise coming soon which was delayed due to the stupid play of bush and his wizards in the black house."

The "stupid play" seems to have been the capture of Saddam. Daleel assures us that "Saddam is in Iraq and he is still in his right place, so keep on your jihad as we get ready to make a strong come back and diminish these crusaders in the right time at the right moment. From Chechnya to Afghanistan passing by Iraq we will defeat the United States of America with Gods hands and power, we will teach bush and his wizards and turn his magic upon them soon."

You see, the Americans just captured a "Saddam look-a-like." Then they were "taking him out of Iraq and making him go under 6 surgery's to his face which shows so clear in the pictures that were given out, in his eyes and in his cheeks and to his noose and the rest of the face!"

His "noose," eh?

With the terror threat is high this week, Daleel offers a glimpse into the jihadist mindset. Despite earlier wolf-crying episodes, he is full of new threats. One is addressed "to all the crusaders." It declares, "we have warned you alot of times to get out from our muslim lands and stop funding the jewish state but you dont listen and you will never listen."

Therefore, in the coming attack, "Sowrds [sic] of islam will strike the head of the big snake and cut it as we have cut its tale and slapt the rest of its body. and then the world will watch and say (how could a big and great empire like this fall on its knees with out a breath?) and we say what god says in his holy book the Quran (how many times has a small bunch of people been able to win a big and huge army with the word of god!!)." This one concludes: "alaah akbaar and to a new era of islam."

Another message adds: "We can tell you that the wire has been led up and it's in its final stages and nothing will stop it but God and the wisdom of the Arab rules and the non Arab rules, we can tell you that we are people from you and with in you, planning with you and have knowledge of all your planes."

Daleel is all heart. He even apologizes to the human race for what he says is to come: "we apologize from now to the human race from the hardship that will affect them as an aftermath to the attack, but it is a less hardship for us than to see continents slaved, we apologize in advance to the American people and to the European community's but you have stud [stood] hand in hand with your governments and left the Jews take control of the rest of the world."

He lists a number of demands that must be met in order to forestall the attack. These include "The complete and right away stop of your (masked) invasion of our Islamic lands in any part of the world east or west"; "The dismantle of the so called (United Nations and its council) in an international decision"; and "the pricing of oil is left to us and we promise you to make it available at a reasonable price for poor and for rich nations."

The conclusion: "We have given you the solution, so either you are with us or
against us, that's your way of thinking isn't it! But we know that you are not with us but you will be forced to be (and we have warned). It is not in our morals to attack you with such a big attack with out a warning, we wont do what you did to us times and times before under the rule of the devilish tree that was planted by (whom you know) feeding it and giving it water with your blessings as you enslaved your self's and your people under their rule.

"All you have to do now is to stand up for once a real stand for your own good and the good of your nation and people that will be attacked by total destruction (cave of darkness), and history will re-write that your punishment was a combined punishment of all the nations that came before you and walked your same path. And you will then cry like women in your underground caves.

The jihad will be televised: "And it will be fair enough for you to see that for us knowing that you will run away hiding in your underground caves, we will give you a prior few minutes notice before our blessed attack so that you will be able to watch your destruction with your own satellite as we would be by then have passed the sky's of the seventh sky to heaven and your nation to the fires of hell, and what and end for letting you govern them and move them to the direction of hell and what a direction!"

He ends up with the truly Satanic juxtaposition of "Praise to God almighty" with "Islamic Jihad Brigade (Black Death Squad)," of which he is apparently is claiming to be a member.

ADDENDUM: In light of a comment posted here, I thought I should clarify: I do not take the threats above seriously, although there seem to be other threats that have led to the heightened threat level. Aaron Weisburd at Internet Haganah has discovered that Daleel Al-Mojahid is posting from Dubai, and doesn't seem to have any real connection with Al-Qaeda. I present his ravings above not as the contents of a real threat, but (as I said above) as a glimpse into the jihadist mindset, which, alas, is shared by millions today. (One other thing: are real terrorists using the Internet? Sure.)

The fundamental hallmark of dhimmi status is the jizya, the special tax that non-Muslims have to pay in Muslim societies. While this tax is still part of the Sharia, it is enforced almost nowhere in the Islamic world today (although radical Muslims are laboring to change that). But the Palestinian Authority has hit on a new way to get the infidels' money: "The Palestinian Broadcasting Authority has sent letters in the past few days to international and Arab television and satellite broadcasting networks, notifying them of an unprecedented decision by the Palestinian Authority to charge fees from any networks wishing to broadcast on Christmas from the area near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem." This from Haaretz, with thanks to Mary Beth Roderick.

"Fees will be charged all three dates of Christmas: December 24, for Catholics, Protestants and others; January 6 for Orthodox Christians; and January 18 for Armenians.

"The letter was sent by the deputy head of the authority, Ali Abu Rian. He explained that this year - as opposed to previous years - the Palestinian police and the Broadcasting Authority will supervise and arrange all the broadcasts from the Manger Square outside of the church. The fees will be $1,000 for users' fees and another $500 for film and sound crews for each of the three planned holiday dates.

"Every year dozens of television stations from all over the world broadcast the Christmas ceremonies from Bethlehem and the PA is expected to receive a large sum from the broadcast fees. In addition, the mass and ceremonies inside the Church of the Nativity will be produced and filmed exclusively by the official Palestinian television station, and no other stations will be allowed to film inside the church. . . .

"The price for broadcasting the Midnight Mass for each of the three different Christmas dates is $2,000 for foreign television stations, while the news agencies will be charged $6,000 for each date. According to the letter, print journalists and stills photographers will not be charged for covering the ceremonies. . . .

"Before the start of the intifada, the Palestinian Authority had charged for the exclusive pictures of the ceremonies inside the church, in which Yasser Arafat participated, but this year's letter added the charges for filming outside of the church in the area of Manger Square. This area is filled with hundreds of journalists every year.

"The Christian communities that are part of the ceremony are also incensed over the fees. One of the patriarchs who serves in the Palestinian Authority said, 'They are trafficking in Christian holidays, which should be available to every Christian.' The patriarch had previously raised the issue with Arafat, and sources say that in the past various groups had charged journalists for rights to broadcast.

"This year, for the first time since the start of the current intifada, a number of tourist groups are visiting Bethlehem, and hotel and shop owners in the city are hoping for some recovery in the holiday trade.

"Palestinian sources say that they approached Israel with a request a few weeks ago to allow Arafat to participate in the Christmas Mass this year, but the request was denied."

"Iran on Sunday criticized French President Jacques Chirac's 'extremist decision' to back a ban on Islamic headscarves and other conspicuous religious signs at schools." This from AFP, with thanks to LGF.

It's amusing to see the government of Iran calling any other entity "extremist," but it gets worse: "'We regard this as an extremist decision aimed at preventing the development of Islamic values' in France, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in his weekly press conference."

You know, I think Asefi is right. This decision is aimed at preventing the development of Islamic values. That is, Islamic values like government according to the Sharia, under which non-Muslims and women live under institutionalized oppression. Islamic values like stoning for adultery and amputation for theft. If those are the Islamic values that the French hope to prevent by banning the hijab, I'm all for them.

"This decision goes against civil rights and will undermine the image of France in the Islamic world," he added.

I expect that it will. I also am well aware of the terrible persecutions that non-Muslims in Iran have suffered under the rule of the Islamic Republic. If Asefi really cares about civil rights, let him fight to bring them to Iran.

That said, I must also note that civil rights, as has been said in other contexts, is not a suicide pact. The proposed banning of the Jewish kippa and Christian crucifix along with the hijab is just silly multiculturalist posturing. Neither of them constitute a statement that one supports the overthrow of French secularism. It is a pity that the French don't have the courage to acknowledge that there are significant elements of the French Muslim population that are totally opposed to secularism, and that since no such populations exist in the Christian and Jewish communities, no across-the-board action is necessary.

Peter Brookes in today's New York Post offers a useful summary of many recent stories about jihad recruitment in the West:

"After two years, al Qaeda and its allies continue to find new foot soldiers to wage a jihad against the West.

"Italian police, for instance, made multiple arrests in the last few weeks related to jihadist recruiting networks for Iraq (by al Qaeda franchise Ansar al Islam) and presumably elsewhere. The network had recruited at least 200 Islamic militants, 70 of them from Italy.

"Italian authorities say an Arab male suicide bomber from Italy helped conduct the attack on the U.N. headquarters in August that killed 22, including U.N. envoy, Sergio de Mello. And another from Italy attacked the al Rasheed hotel in October, where Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz stayed during a visit to Iraq.

"Terrorist recruiting often comes through Islamic religious schools and mosques, as well as through Web sites and Internet chat rooms. And the new recruits are coming from the darnedest places, in addition to Italy: France, Germany, Britain, Spain, Norway, Canada and the United States.

"Arab Muslim males living abroad are one natural recruitment target, but some others are more surprising: young Caucasians, Latinos, Black Muslims and even women. Legal residents and travelers with valid passports are especially appealing for al Qaeda's recruit because they arouse less suspicion and can move more freely across international borders.

"Elsewhere in Europe, pockets of potential trouble exist.

"* France's community of Muslim converts is a rising concern. In this predominantly Catholic nation, many decide to convert to Islam to buck the establishment, much as did the U.S. flower children of the '60s and early '70s. The French government estimates the number of converts at about 100,000. Frenchman Pierre Robert, known as the 'Blue-eyed Emir of Tangiers' was recently sentenced to life in prison in Morocco for recruiting and training Moroccan extremists after the May 16 suicide bombing in Casablanca that killed 45 people.

"* Two Britons of Pakistani descent were radicalized by Muslim clerics before carrying out bombings in Tel Aviv earlier this year.

"* Germany, home to 3.2 million Muslims and the way station of three of the 19 hijackers of 9/11, has concerns as well. Take Christian Ganczarski, a Caucasian German convert with ties to former al Qaeda operations kingpin Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: The French arrested Ganczarski in June as a suspected conspirator in the bombing of a Tunisian synagogue on the island of Djerba, which killed 21, in April 2002.

"Officials believe that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed used a number of non-Arab Europeans, including Swiss and Spaniards, to support the Tunisian synagogue suicide bomber Nizar Nawar and confuse authorities.

"In the United States, Jose Padilla, a Latino gang member convert originally from New York, was arrested in May 2002 in Chicago for plotting to detonate a 'dirty bomb' in the United States. He was reportedly recruited by Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, Abu Zubaydah, and was directed by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. (Zubaydah was arrested in March in Pakistan.)

"The vast majority of Islamic converts, of course, don't become terrorists. But we should be aware that the pool of suspects isn't limited to Arab males from the Middle East.

"Law-enforcement officials note that many converts are ferociously ideological and anxious to show their zeal and worth to their new faith, including joining a jihad. Osama bin Laden reportedly views converts as an especially potent weapon and a unique talent pool for the cause.

"Perhaps the most surprising trend is the uptick in women terrorists. Islamist groups have long opposed female martyrs, but women are increasingly undertaking violent terrorist acts, according to Harvard University's Jessica Stern, a well-known terrorist expert. Because women are less prone to violence, they usually raise less concern among security personnel, making them ideal recruits for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, Stern adds.

"All of this is not to say that everyone is suspect. But we do need to remain vigilant (especially during the holiday season). Though two-thirds of al Qaeda's senior leadership have been killed or detained since 9/11, a new generation of jihadis is stepping up to the plate for a swing at the ball. Sometimes these rookies hardly resemble the old team, but they're just as dangerous.

"We must adapt, just as our enemy is adapting. And, unfortunately, thinking outside the box for us is a continuing requirement, not a luxury, in the War on Terror."

One of the keenest analysts of the Middle East and jihad terrorism, Walid Phares, explains at FrontPage magazine the significance of the new Code Orange alert:

Phares notes that "one main sound bite" dominated the airwaves yesterday: "Beware of crying wolf." But he says that on the contrary, "the concern that repetitive calls for Orange alert may well weaken the whole system is a glaring consumer-driven fallacy. One of the strategic tools in the War on Terror is popular mobilization, which, combined with such an alert, can deter a terrorist strike by threatening to expose terrorist networks and their operations."

Phares makes a key point: "Because of our failing intellectual elites, we are having a hard time situating terror threats as they unfold. Many journalists perceive the Jihadist threat according to their own standards. In reality, however, we need to evaluate al-Qaeda's intentions based on their own mindset, not ours. We are facing a terrorist threat produced by a different political culture. The way it thinks, perceives its surroundings, and reacts to its environment is far from identical to ours, and the division is not religious or economic as much as it is ideological.

Also: "Al-Qaeda has a pattern of menacing Americans at home the closer they are to holidays -- or important national dates such as the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. That pattern was tested and is ideologically grounded. The war is against the 'infidels.' For international Jihadists, it is crucial to strike fear in the heart of the enemy during its peak celebration of happiness and religious fervor. And on more practical realms, the launchers of the 9/11 attacks are still banking on its dividends. They know that the horrific images of that day of infamy are still present in the minds of all Americans. The terrorists continue to use the psychological interests of the 'big day.' If they have a greater weapon, they would use it while preemptively terrorizing their victims."

And: "Bin Laden doesn't care about the presence of Saddam, but he cares about his absence. Who will inherit the zaama (leadership) of the jihad? To us, it doesn't seem important. To the Sultan of the holy war, it is crucial. Osama needs to strike at the heart of the enemy, to harvest the anger produced by the 'dishonor' of the captured Arab dictator."

This is another important point which I develop in a forthcoming article.

"Psychologically, and by jihad logic, bin Laden has to do something, and something big. Did al-Qaeda wait until last week to plan the potential inland attack? Not at all. The cells have mandated the planning ages ago. The decision to use their resources was made based on Jihadist strategic needs."

There is a great deal more. Phares's insights are head and shoulders above those of most commentators. Read it all.

As unbelievable as it may seem, The Suburban and Wayne Times of Pennsylvania reports that "last Friday the FBI informed Radnor Township Police that a 'credible threat' of terrorist activity existed against a business formerly located at 120 E. Lancaster Ave., Wayne.

"'When we have information of a possible threat we have to treat it very seriously,' said FBI Special Agent Linda Vizi, who declined to comment on any specifics due to the ongoing investigation.

"The FBI has said this threat will continue from Dec. 15 until Jan. 1. The threat has been made against a Christian satellite television service known as SAT-7, which relocated its offices from above the State Farm Insurance Company to Easton, Md., 'several weeks ago,' according to the township.

"SAT-7 bills itself as a satellite television service for Christians in the Middle East and North Africa. They also have offices in the United Kingdom, Lebanon, Egypt, Denmark and Cyprus."

Local officials are urging residents to go about their business as usual. That's good: we cannot allow terrorists to paralyze us.

"The SAT-7 Web site, www.sat7.org, explains their mission: 'The unrestricted ability to broadcast from satellite is of particular significance to the Christian communities of the [Middle East and North Africa]. They have the responsibility of witnessing to Christ in an area where increasing numbers of people are illiterate and many have been exposed to negative propaganda about the Gospel, the Christian Church and Christ himself.'"

Middle East Newsline reports that a major arms supplier to Muslim states has been North Korea. That nation "was said to have delivered 400 ballistic missiles to clients in the Middle East and sharply increased sales over the last year.

"The South Korean Defense Ministry told parliament in a report that Pyongyang delivered 400 Scud-class missiles to a range of Middle East countries since 1985. The report said the missile export constituted the largest source of hard currency for the Stalinist regime.

"The report said the best clients of North Korea were Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The report did not say how much Pyongyang earned from the exports. But the Yonhap News Agency said the figure was $110 million.

"'Since the middle of the 1980s, North Korea has exported 400-odd Scud missiles along with missile-related parts to the Middle East region,' Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Ki-Beom, quoting the report, said."

During the 1990s, foreign jihadists streamed into Bosnia to wage jihad there. Many of these career warriors have now travelled to Iraq, but evidently not all of them: "Greece has determined that its national security interests are being threatened by Al Qaida-aligned Arab agents in Bosnia." This from Middle East Newsline.

"The Cabinet of Prime Minister Costas Simitis has convened to discuss what officials termed the threat from an estimated 2,000 Bosnian Arabs to the Olympic Games in August 2004. Officials said Western intelligence agencies have assessed that some of those Arab nationals could be training to carry out attacks on Israeli, U.S. or other targets during the Olympics in Athens.

"Officials said the threat of an Al Qaida-related attack will be one of the scenarios in a series of exercises scheduled to take place in February and March 2004. They said the United States has been pressing to revise security arrangements agreed upon a year ago.

"'Greece, as well as every other country, has the fundamental obligation to safeguard its internal and external security,' Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said. 'And it is evident that military planning for the country's security takes into consideration the simple fact that the country is a member-state of NATO and, consequently, our military planning takes NATO planning into consideration.'"

I have said for quite some time that the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia is going to have to be addressed, and addressed thoroughly, if we are going to be consistent in the war on terror. But there are few signs that this is going to happen anytime soon. Here is more evidence that Washington is still busy placating the House of Saud: "The Bush administration has termed Saudi Arabia as the worst violator of religious freedom in the Middle East, but refrained from placing the kingdom in a category that would have resulted in U.S. arms sanctions." This from Middle East Newsline.

"A State Department report cited Saudi Arabia as the most flagrant violator of religious freedom in the region. They said the Saudi kingdom continues to display hostility toward non-Islamic religions despite numerous U.S. appeals.

"'Freedom of religion does not exist in Saudi Arabia,' the report said. 'Muslims not adhering to the officially sanctioned version faced harassment at the hands of the [religious police].'

"But the report, dismissing a recommendation by a congressionally-mandated U.S. commission, avoided placing Saudi Arabia in a category termed 'countries of particular concern.' The six countries in that category have been subject to a range of U.S. sanctions, including a ban on the delivery of U.S. military platforms. Saudi Arabia is the biggest client of U.S. weaponry and has been negotiating several major deals to modernize the kingdom's military and National Guard."

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, reviews two new books on Islam in today's issue. Kristof, who famously portrayed suspected terror group leader Sami Al-Arian as "a rumpled academic with a salt-and-pepper beard," actually takes issue with Demi's biography of Muhammad on the grounds that "it comes across not just as respectful, which would be fine, but as reverential. For example, Demi recounts as fact that Muhammad was visited by the angel Gabriel during Ramadan in 610, and then under divine inspiration began to recite the Koran. Sure, Muslims believe that, but I felt funny reading this aloud -- as historic fact -- to my 6-year-old daughter."

I don't know why Kristof chose to read a hagiographical biography of the Muslim Prophet to his daughter in the first place, but I think this statement is interesting. Statements of Islamic belief presented as fact were just what parents objected to in the recent textbook case in California. It's good to know that the parents who complained that this sort of thing shouldn't be done in public schools would have an ally in Kristof.

Kristof continues: "'Muhammad was called upon to be God's messenger,' Demi writes, 'to make known God's will to the whole of humanity and to show the way to human dignity, progress and real happiness.' On the next page, the Koran is described as 'the eternal and infallible word of God.' Hmm. Why not just say that Muslims consider the Koran to be the infallible word of God, and leave it at that? Multiculturalist parents may want to expose their children to the world's major religions, but I doubt they want to indoctrinate them."

Precisely. This exact distinction must be made in America's public schools.

Kristof: "It's a pity, because there's an intellectual struggle in America now about how to portray Islam. Some conservatives, particularly evangelical Christians, see it as 'a very evil and wicked religion,' as the Rev. Franklin Graham put it. Some Arabists insist that Islam is warm, fuzzy and far more tolerant than other religions, because it accepts Judaism and Christianity as legitimate and just believes they are incomplete. I fall somewhere between the camps. Islam clearly has a problem with fundamentalism and violence, and it hasn't adapted as well to modernity as some other religions. But the common American perception of overseas Muslims as violent hotheads is the complete opposite of the warmth and hospitality one mostly finds traveling in places like Yemen, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. It would have been nice to have an introduction to Muhammad or Islam that didn't seem to be written by propagandists for either side."

This is a false opposition. There is a good deal more nuance among critics of Islam, and particularly of Islamic radicalism, than one may surmise from Kristof's broad-brush evocation and dismissal of Graham. Moreover, to dismiss such critics as "propagandists" is not, of course, to engage the substantive issues they raise.

And to invoke "the warmth and hospitality one mostly finds traveling in places like Yemen, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia" is particularly unfortunate choice as a counterweight to the alleged prejudices of these critics. (Thanks to Avi Goldwasser and Jerry Gordon.)

Abderrazak Mahdjoub (AP)

"Authorities in Europe have shut down a network that recruited at least 200 Islamic militants to carry out attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq, Italian investigators told The Associated Press." Thanks to LGF.

Just in case you got any idea that these were mainstream Muslims, the report assures you otherwise: "The volunteers were drawn from Muslim youths living on the fringes of society in Western Europe, with loose connections to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida and Ansar al-Islam, a militant group in northern Iraq. One recruit from Italy may have been involved in a rocket attack on the Al-Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad in October, when the U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying there, officials told AP.

"There are also suspicions that some of the Muslim militants have been involved in suicide attacks in Iraq, although there was no hard evidence, one senior Italian official involved in the investigation told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity. . . .

"Italian investigators said they believe they shut down the recruiting network in Western Europe with a dozen recent arrests of the ringleader, his aides and others in Italy and Germany who played peripheral roles. Western European officials can't rule out that the operation moved east, however, sending volunteers to the Middle East from Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, the senior Italian official told AP. . . .

"Europe has a large Muslim population, including some extremists, and is seen as a potential breeding ground for terrorism. The Italian probe is believed to be first to have traced the movements to the attacks against American targets since the United States invaded Iraq. August Hanning, head of Germany's foreign spy agency, has cited evidence that Islamic extremists have left Britain, Bosnia and Germany to fight in Iraq. 'We know of holy warriors who have gone to Iraq to fight the "infidels,"' Hanning told reporters last month. He refused to give details, but said the number was 'relatively small.'"

Of one suspect, Abderrazak Mahdjoub, a German official said a curious thing: "If he said, 'I'm going to Iraq to kill nonbelievers,' we would have arrested him, but if he says he's going to support his brothers, we can do nothing," said Heino Vahldieck, head of the Hamburg office in charge of tracking extremists." Do they think he was going to bring his brothers tea and blankets?

"Officials offered no hard evidence that Islamic recruiters have moved east, but there have been unsubstantiated reports of Islamic fighters training in Bosnia.
In October, Polish authorities arrested an Algerian terrorist suspect who was carrying a British passport when he was stopped at Krakow's airport. Authorities were looking for possible contacts in Poland while seeking details from foreign intelligence services."

Qaddafi

Al-Jazeera reports that "Libya has announced it is to eliminate all its weapons of mass destruction. The North African country's foreign ministry said in a statement Libya 'had decided on its free will to... completely eliminate the internationally banned weapons of mass destruction.'

"The statement said the agreement was reached after meetings with 'experts' from Britain and the United States. No details were immediately available on the nature of these meetings, where they took place and when. The text, of which an excerpt was obtained by Reuters, said the decision was in line with Libya's pledge to make the Middle East and Africa a nuclear-free area. . . .

"In a surprise announcement to the White House press corps, US president George Bush said Colonel Muammar Qadhafi had agreed, after nine months of secret dealings with Washington and London, to destroy all of his weapons of mass destruction. 'With today's announcement by its leader, Libya has begun the process of rejoining the community of nations,' said Bush. 'And Colonel Qadhafi knows the way forward,' he said. 'Libya should carry out the commitments announced today. Libya should also fully engage in the war against terror. . . . Libya has a troubled history, but America and Britain will be
vigilant," he said. "Libya can regain a secure and respected place among nations and over time can achieve far better relations with the United States."

Gee, this couldn't have anything to do with Saddam Hussein and Iraq, could it? (Thanks to Jean-Luc.)

Many have pointed to the Taliban's involvement in drug production as proof that the Islamic character of the regime was only window dressing. However, such analyses overlooked the sharp division between Muslims and non-Muslims that is an essential part of the radical Muslim world view. I illustrate this in Islam Unveiled, quoting Abdul Rashid, at that time the head of the Taliban’s anti-drugs control force: "Opium is permissible because it is consumed by kafirs [unbelievers] in the West and not by Muslims or Afghans."

Now comes evidence that Al-Qaeda is involved in the same dirty business: "A US warship has seized two tonnes of hashish from a small dhow in the northern Arabian Sea this week in what was believed to be an al-Qaeda smuggling operation." This from ITV, with thanks to Jean-Luc.

"The Navy said about Monday's incident near the Strait of Hormuz in which the guided-missile destroyer Decatur stopped the 40-foot boat: 'An initial investigation uncovered clear ties between the smuggling operation and al-Qaeda. . . . The smuggling routes are known to be used by al-Qaeda and four of the 12 crew members are believed to have links to the organization.'"

To: The UN Secretary, U.S.Congress, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

WE THE UNDERSIGNED wish to bring to the attention of the World Community the continuing plight of Coptic Christian Citizens living in the sovereign Nation of Egypt:

1.Coptic Christian Citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt have been continually persecuted in Egypt. More than forty cold-blooded massacres have been committed against Coptic Christians in recent years, resulting in the injury and murder of men, women, and children, and untold loss of businesses and property.

2. On Friday November 7, 2003, in the village of Gerza-Ayiat-Giza, eleven Coptic Christian Citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt were injured, and dozens of homes and businesses were burned by a mob of approximately 500 radical Egyptian Muslims armed with knives, sticks, kerosene and benzene. Fields and crops were also burned by this violent mob. Many of the injured who were bleeding and suffering with broken bones were unable to leave their homes to seek medical attention as they feared to leave their children while this violent angry mob was permitted to go unchecked. The local Police refused to document this event, and refused to allow local Coptic Christians to file complaints against the perpetrators of this attack. Not a single individual to date has been arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

3. In October of 2003, more than 22 Coptic Christian Citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt were arrested, many of them converts from Islam to Christianity. These Christians were beaten, interrogated and tortured. The women among them may have been raped. All of this has been done in an attempt by the Islamic Authorities to persuade these Christians to renounce their Christian Faith and return to Islam. Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

4. On August 19, 2003, over 300 Egyptian Soldiers were ordered by the local governor to destroy a fence surrounding the historic 4th century Monastery of St. Anthony in El Zaaferane, Red Sea Governorate in spite of the fact that this fence was authorized and constructed by the previous governor of the Red Sea, State Security and the Ministry of the Interior in 1991-1992. The monks in
residence at this Monastery used their bodies as shields to prevent the Egyptian Government Security Forces from attacking the Monastery.

5. On April 5, 2003, an Egyptian Army Unit attacked the Charity Isle of Patmos, a Coptic Christian Center, the sole purpose of which is to provide treatment and support for mentally and physically handicapped children and orphans. This Center is legally registered with the Egyptian Authorities. This attack was conducted with armed vehicles, a bulldozer and tear gas, against unarmed helpless children. Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

6. On February 11, 2002, a newly constructed and completed Coptic Christian Church was stormed by dozens of radical armed Muslim Egyptians. These individuals set fire to this newly constructed house of worship, and additionally set fire to 35 homes and 3 automobiles belonging to Egyptian Coptic Christians. Ten Coptic Christian Citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt were wounded in this attack. In addition, these radicals also attacked two buses carrying parishioners to the church. Local police failed to arrive on the scene for more than four hours. Muslim radicals were observed preventing fire trucks from entering the village to extinguish the fire inside the Church. Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes with one notable exception. The Church Priest, Father Luka Ibrahim Sargious was arrested and questioned.

7. On February 24, 2001, over 100 Egyptian Policeman stormed and destroyed with bulldozers the Coptic Church of St. Bola located in Shobra Elkhaima after the local Bishop had asked for permission to hold prayers.

8. On Friday, December 31, 1999, New Year’s Eve, a dispute between a Muslim trader and a Christian shop-owner in the village of El-Kosheh erupted into violence, which resulted in the deaths of 21 Coptic Christians. Over 260 Christian homes and businesses were destroyed. During the violence local Police forces either stood passively watching the mayhem, or worse, became actively involved in the attacks. 96 suspects were arrested and “prosecuted” by the Egyptian Courts, however an Egyptian State Security Court acquitted all 96 suspects on February 5, 2001. The Sohag Criminal Court found four men guilty. One Muslim perpetrator received a sentence of 15 years for the killing of the sole Muslim victim, which in fact was in another village and not part of the El-Kosheh massacre. The other three men received two and one-half year sentences for setting a truck on fire. Not a single individual responsible for the deaths of these 21 Christians was brought to justice. This miscarriage of justice may now be viewed by the Muslim community as a green light to kill Christians in Egypt.

9. On August 14, 1998, two Coptic Christians were murdered, again in the village of El Kosheh. The Egyptian Authorities’ response to these murders was to arrest 1000 Coptic Christians, many of whom were tortured in an effort to force confessions. Local Coptic Christians insisted that the murderers were Muslim.

10. On March 13, 1997, hundreds of radical Egyptian Muslims attacked the village of Bahgoura, Nagi-Hammady. Nine Coptic Christians were killed. The homes and businesses of Coptic Christians were burned and destroyed. Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

11. On February 12, 1997, a group of radical Egyptian Muslims attacked and murdered 12 Coptic Christian Sunday School students praying inside their church in the village of Abu Quorcas. Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

12. On February 25, 1996, hundreds of radical Egyptian Muslims attacked the Coptic village of El-Badary, Asyut, looting homes, animals and crops, and destroying homes and fields. Seven Coptic Christian citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt were murdered. Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

13. On October 10, 1994, a mob of radical Egyptian Muslims attacked the village of El-Qousya, Asyut, looting and destroying homes and businesses, resulting in the deaths of seven Coptic Christian citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt. Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

14. On March 11, 1994, at St. Mary’s Monastery in the village of El-Mouharak, Asyut, a mob of radical Muslim Egyptians attacked and killed an Archpriest, a Monk, and three laymen in front of the Monastery. Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

15. On May 4, 1992, in the village of Manshyet El-Nasr, Dairout, Asyut, a group of radical Muslim Egyptians attacked and murdered 12 Coptic Christian citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt in their field, looted their animals and crops.
Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

16. On May 12, 1990, in the city of Alexandria, a group of radical Muslim Egyptians ambushed and murdered a Coptic Priest and six other Coptic Christian citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt. Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

17. On June 17, 1981, 22 Coptic Christian citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt were burned inside their homes and businesses in the village of El-Zawia El-Hamra, Cairo, during religious rioting. The Egyptian Internal Minister at that time, General Hassan Abu Basha declared after his resignation from office that 81 Coptic Christian citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt were killed, over one hundred were seriously wounded, and 80 homes were looted and destroyed. Not a single individual was ever arrested or prosecuted for these crimes.

1. 1. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT
Coptic Christian citizens of Egypt do not differ from their Muslim neighbors either ethnically or linguistically. All speak Arabic. All are Egyptian citizens.
According to the Islamic sharia Law, anyone who denounces his religion of Islam should be executed, his marriage annulled and his children and property confiscated.
The Egyptian constitution, second article states that “Egypt is a Muslim country and the Islamic Sharia law is the main source of legalization.” This statement contradicts article number forty as contained in the Egyptian constitution, which states that all “all citizens are equal regardless of color, creed, or religion.”
The Sovereign Nation of Egypt is a Signatory to the United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations without dissent, which states in part that:
Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of persons.
Article 5: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, not to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 18: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.
Article 20: (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and
(2) (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
WE CALL UPON THE GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT to educate it’s Muslim population as to the rights of their Coptic neighbors to live in peace and security, free from harassment and violence, and to ensure that it’s Coptic Christian citizens are afforded the same rights as its Muslim citizens.
WE, THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT:
To reveal to the World Community ‘the whole truth’ concerning the persecution of Coptic Christian citizens of the Sovereign Nation of Egypt, to identify all those responsible, either actively or complicity, for these continuing atrocities;
To arrest and bring to trial’ all suspects implicated in the murders of 21 Coptic Christians in the village of El Kosheh in 199/2000;
To provide all victims of the violence of El Kosheh with reparation and support for material and emotional loss;
To lay the foundations for Egypt which respects and promotes Human Rights for all its citizens without distinction.
WE, THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE UNITED NATIONS TO FORMALLY CONDEMN THE EL-KOSHEH INCIDENTS AND TO FORMALLY CONDEMN ALL PERSECUTION OF COPTIC CHRISTIANS TAKING PLACE IN THE SOVEREIGN NATION OF EGYPT.
WE, THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE UNITED NATIONS TO ESTABLISH AN INQUIRY COMMISSION TO FULLY INVESTIGATE THE EL-KOSHEH INCIDENT OF 1999,2000, AND TO PROSECUTE THE GUILTY THROUGH THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL.

WE, THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE UNITED NATIONS TO ENACT A RESOLUTION DEMANDING THE IMMEDIATE CESSATION OF VIOLENCE, HARASSMENT, DISCRIMINATION AND RELGIOUS INTOLERANCE PERPETRATED AGAINST COPTIC CHRISTIAN CITIZENS OF THE SOVEREIGN NATION OF EGYPT.
WE, THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO WITHHOLD A MINIMUM OF $300,000,000 IN UNITED STATES TAXPAYER FUNDED FINANCIAL AID TO THE SOVEREIGN NATION OF EGYPT UNTIL SUCH TIME AS A FEDERAL COURT IN THE UNITED STATES RULES ON AWARDING PUNITVE DAMAGES AND COMPENSATION TO THE FAMILIES OF THE DECEASED, AND TO SURVIVORS OF THE EL-LOSHEH MASSACRE.
WE THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE PRESIDENT OF THE SOVERIEIGN NATION OF EGYPT, HOSNY MUBARAK, REQUIRING THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT CORRECT THE FLAGANT DENIAL OF JUSTICE WHEREBY ONLY THE ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF A MUSLIM BY MUSLIMS WAS PUNISHED IN REGARD TO THE EL-KOSHEH INCIDENT OF 1999/2000, WHILE THE MURDERS OF 21 COPTIC CHRISTIAN CITIZENS OF EGYPT WENT UNPUNISHED.
WE THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE PRESIDENT OF THE SOVEREIGN NATION OF EGYPT, HOSNY MUBARAK, REQUIRING THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT CARRY OUT AN INDEPENDENT INQUIRY INTO THE ACTIONS OF THE EGYPTIAN SECURITY FORCES IN 1998.
WE THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE PRESIDENT OF THE SOVEREIGN NATION OF EGYPT, HOSNY MUBARAK, REQUIRING THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT CONDUCT A THOROUGH REVIEW OF THE EGYPTIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN THE EL-LOSHEH INCIDENT OF 1999/2000, PUNISH THOSE FOUND GUILTY OF OFFICAL MISCONDUCT, AND INQUIRE AS TO WHY THE LOCAL EGYPTIAN SECURITY FORCES FAILED TO STOP THE MASSACRE OR TO INTERVENE IN ANY WAY.
WE THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE PRESIDENT OF THE SOVEREIGN NATION OF EGYPT, CARRY OUT THESE INQUIRIES INTO THE EL-KOSHEH INCIDENT OF 1999/2000, AND CONDUCT TRIALS INDEPENDENT OF THE LOCAL SECURITY FORCES AND LOCAL AUOTHIRIES.
WE THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE PRESIDENT OF THE SOVEREIGN NATION OF EGYPT ENSURE THAT SUBSEQUENT INQUIRIES AND TRIALS BE CONDUCTED WITH THE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS GUARANTORS AND INTERNATIONAL OBERVERS.
WE THE SIGNATORIES OF THIS PETITION, CALL UPON THE PRESIDENT OF THE OSVEREIGN NATION OF EGYPT, HOSNY MUBARAK, REQUIRING THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF EGYPT PUBLICALLY DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST BISHOP WISSA AND FATHERS GABRAIL AND ANTONIOUS IN CONNECTION WITH THEIR PROTEST OF POLICE BRUTALITY IN 1998, RETURN THEIR BAIL, AND DISCIPLINE JUDGE AFIFY FOR HIS ABUSIVE COMMENTS ABOUT THEM WHEN THEY WERE NOT ON TRIAL.

To sign this petition click here. (Thanks to Freedom Now News.)

Have you ever heard of the "Mother Theresa of Africa"? This name had been given to an Italian nun, Sr. Annalena Tonneli, who worked in Somalia for thirty years, "founding," according to the Barnabas Fund, "a TB hospital, orphanages and schools." Evidently a woman of such accomplishment was an affront to Islam: she was murdered in Borama, Somaliland, on October 5, 2003, "by two armed men in front of the hospital."

The Barnabas Fund also reports that "in another attack on 20 October, a British couple in their sixties, Richard and Enid Eyeington, working for SOS Children’s villages in Somaliland were shot dead by several gunmen in their home inside the school compound while watching television. Also, in November a Kenyan Christian working for the Seventh Day Adventist mission in Gedo, South West Somalia, was murdered by Islamist radicals. The attacks appear to be deliberately anti-Christian and anti-Western.

Another event earlier in the year illustrates the continuing power of traditional Islamic legal restrictions on conversion from Islam: "In February 2003 a radical Somali Islamist group, Kulanka Culimada, based in Mogadishu issued a press release in which they called for all Somali Christians to be treated as apostates from Islam who ought to be killed. This was in response to a bold move by the tiny persecuted Christian community in Somalia that had sent several delegates to peace talks currently being held in Nairobi (initiated in 2002) to demand the right of freedom of religion and assembly, political representation, and free movement. The Christian representatives were shouted down by Muslim delegates who insisted Somalia had no Christians and who declared Islam to be the official religion of Somalia. This seems to mirror prejudices widely held by Muslim Somalis which justify violence against Christians, both indigenous and expatriate. . . .

"Most Somalis, over 99.5%, are Muslims who regard Christianity as a foreign religion of their historic enemies in Ethiopia and of their former colonial masters the Italians and the British. There is a long history of conflict between Muslim Somalis and Christian Ethiopians, so anti-Christian sentiment runs deep. Most Somalis take it for granted that a true Somali is a Muslim and converts to Christianity must be traitors. . . .

"Aid and mission work by Christian bodies in the colonial period resulted in a tiny Christian community of between five hundred to a thousand, mainly in the south. Church property and institutions were nationalized in 1972 and all mission work was stopped in 1974. Many Christian Somalis have fled abroad as a result of the wars, chaos, civil strife and instability which followed the collapse of Somalia in 1991. Christian churches were driven underground and have suffered much persecution. A number of believers have been imprisoned and martyred over the years. Evangelism is prohibited, and believers worship on Friday to avoid association with foreign Christianity. Most church buildings have collapsed and are in ruins." (Thanks to bgordon.)

"Authorities are evaluating a surge of information related to possible terrorist threats to a number of cities in the United States, including New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., ABCNEWS has learned.

"Threat information is coming from intelligence intercepts, interrogation of recent detainees and other methods, sources say. Intelligence and law enforcement officials are currently evaluating the threat information.

"Sources say the threat to New York City possibly involves a female suicide bomber, but no specific target has been identified and intelligence sources are still evaluating the credibility of this threat. The New York City Police Department released a statement saying it has 'no credible intelligence pointing to a specific or imminent terrorist threat' in the city.

"In the threats received for other cities, including Los Angeles and Washington, no mode of attack has been identified and no location or specific cells were named. Senior officials from the Department of Homeland Security, intelligence and law enforcement have a planned meeting Monday to evaluate the recent surge in information related to possible terror threats.

"'We have remained concerned about the volume of reporting of threats and that is why the Department of Homeland Security has sent out several bulletins over the past few weeks to homeland security officials and law enforcement personnel, urging all to continue be on heightened state of alert especially, as we enter the busy holiday season,' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said today at a news conference."

Mullah Krekar

Global jihad alert: The Norway Post says that "Arabs have been recruited in Norway for war against the Americans in Iraq. This is the opinion of Italian police, who have been questioning Mullah Krekar in Norway, Aftenposten reports.

"Mullah Krekar was Monday questioned by Italian investigators in an Oslo court. Senior public prosecutor Erling Grimstad confirms that the questioning has taken place. The opinion of the investigators is that Krekar's group Ansar al-Islam has cooperated with Al Qaida in recruiting arabs in Norway and other countries for fighting against the American forces in Iraq.

"Mullah Krekar said that he doubted that such recruiting has taken place, and he is 100 per cent sure that no one from Norway has travelled to Iraq. The newspaper Washington Post wrote Wednesday that the Italian investigators believe the terrorist organization Al Qaida and Ansar al-Islam cooperate on a network which recruits Arab volunteers for the fight against the US in Iraq.

"They believe this recruiting has been going on in both Italy, Germany, Spain and Norway." (Thanks to Nicolei.)

The tiny minority of extremists in Thailand has taken to naming babies "Saddam Hussein." This from The Australian, with thanks to Nicolei.

"'He's a cross between a hero and a tyrant, but we choose to remember his good side,' Rohcidee Lertariyapongkul, chairman of the Muslim Youth Association of Thailand, was quoted as saying in the Bangkok Post. 'One way to do it is to let our babies bear his name.'" How generous!

"Thailand is predominantly Buddhist, but its southernmost provinces are Muslim-dominated. Some Thai Muslims don't believe the man captured near Tikrit, Iraq, and purported to be Saddam is really him, and dismiss the capture as US propaganda, Rohcidee said.

"Navi Tohyor, a 36-year-old father from the southern province of Narathiwat, said he and his wife have named their newborn son Saddam. 'What Mr. Saddam did is right and legitimate,' Mr Navi said. 'He stood up against the US, the foreign invader. He's a fighter, not a bandit. I'm proud to name my son after him.'"

Beila Rabinowitz & William A. Mayer write in PipeLine News about the Florida Conference, kicking off today, that I discussed here on December 3:

The Universal Heritage Foundation will today, they say, "give locals an opportunity to combine both the fun of the Magic Kingdom with Islamic fundamentalism and the Muslim Caliphate." Rabinowitz and Mayer note a "sudden venue change," as well as "the conflicting nature" of the explanations offered for this change, and ask: "What are these people trying to hide?"

They continue: "The UHF is an Islamic 'propagation' center founded by the Islamic Circle of North America and the Muslim American Society - two of the largest and most radical Muslim organizations in the United States. . . .

"The 'Islam for Humanity' conference flyer proclaims a message of brotherhood and understanding. . . . However, UHF director Zulfiqar Ali Shah and president Ashraf Shaikh who are hosting more than 25 participants, seem to have a decidedly different agenda. The roster of these participants reads like a Who’s Who of militant Islam and many of them represent institutions and organizations linked to international terrorism.

"Actually to be perfectly factual, the roster of only a few days ago read more like the sinister Who’s Who list than the current one, and there is a reason for that. The organizers of the 'Islam for Humanity' event know that they are being observed, and are making changes along the way to attempt to blunt in advance the growing criticism that the presence of such notorious people naturally brings about.

"'We want to awaken the conscience of America: because if you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come,' he told the crowd. 'Please all Americans, do remember that, that Allah is watching everyone. If you continue doing injustice, and tolerating injustice, the wrath of God will come.' - Muzammil Siddiqui, the former president of Islamic Society of North America, Imam of the Islamic Society of Orange County in California and hastily removed, previously scheduled speaker at the UHF Conference.

"There are others.

"'In a similar vein, CAIR board member Imam Siraj Wahaj calls for replacing the American government with a caliphate, and warns that America will crumble unless it "accepts the Islamic agenda." Wahaj, it should be noted, served as a character witness for Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the Muslim cleric convicted for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.' Front Page Magazine March 5, 2003 – Wahaj was also a scheduled speaker at the Conference who now appears to be AWOL from the event.

"Possibly the most controversial 'special guest' speaker scheduled - Saudi Sheik Abul Rahman Al-Sudais – has been apparently pulled also. Al-Sudais is the head Islamic cleric of Saudi Arabia. He has called upon Muslims to 'kill Jews and American worshippers of the cross.' . . .

"Critics, including terrorism expert Steven Emerson, accuse the American based Islamic group [Islamic Circle of North America] as having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood is the ideological godfather of all radical Islamic movements - including Hamas and Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda.

"Documents show Hamas officials have participated in previous ICNA events. UHF director Zulfiqar Ali Shah is past president of the ICNA. Ali Shah was also the principal at the Sunrise School of Islamic Studies whose co-founder, Mohammed Javed Qureshi, was 'dirty bomber' suspect Jose Padilla's direct supervisor at a local Taco Bell. . . .

"Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) not one usually associated with spreading right-wing conspiracy theories, said that, 'The Wahabi presence in the United States is a foreboding one…My fear is that if we don’t wake up and take action now, those influenced by Wahabism ’s extremist ideology will harm us in of yet unimaginable ways.'

"Regarding the Universal Heritage Foundation's patron organization, the ICNA [Islamic Circle of North America] counter terrorism expert Steven Emerson stated that: 'The ICNA’s hatred of the Jews is so fierce that it taunted them with a repetition of what Hitler did to them.' In his book - American Jihad - Emerson writes that, 'The ICNA openly supports militant Islamic fundamentalist organizations, praises terror attacks, issues incendiary attacks on western values and policies, and supports the imposition of Sharia [Islamic code of law].' . . .

The article concludes by examining "the ongoing story of Pastor Lee Wasson’s Kissimmee Christian Academy. The Academy provides a faith-based curriculum from second grade through high school. Unfortunately, the Academy’s 6 acres of fenced grounds are adjoined by a 25 acre parcel that, by happenstance, serves as the location of the UHF compound. . . .

"Together, the 31 acre combined properties comprise what used to be David People’s South Eastern Academy - a travel & culinary school - which eventually filed for bankruptcy. It was in this bankruptcy proceeding that Super Stop Petroleum Company became the landlord to both UHF and the Kissimmee Christian Academy, the chief corporate officer of Super Stop?

"Denise Qureshi. There is a possible alias with the name however, Muhammed K. Qureshi is another possibility. Qureshi [or the Qureshis, as the case may be] own an impressive list of holdings, at least one, apparently with Shahida A Siddiqui. . . . Since the Pastor’s landlord became Qureshi’s petroleum company, he has been continuously harassed and the particular form of harassment has taken its toll on the students, the parents and the financial health of the school.

"Eviction proceedings, inexplicable power outages, cessation of running water followed by suspicious floods – all seemingly calculated to take place at or near the first of the month when tuitions are due, have resulted in the student population falling by nearly 50% since mid-summer, when the new land lord took over.

"Wasson has a lease through the end of the school year, yet the harassment continues. Because of circulating rumors of possible violence many parents are not allowing their children to even venture near the school, this Friday [the day the UHF event is slated to begin] simply because of their fear of possible extremist repercussions, so the school will again have to close, imperiling the educative process, not to mention the school's already shaky finances.

"Keeping in mind that the location of the conference was changed after this statement, this is how Pastor Lee Wasson synopsizes the story. 'The Islamic conference in Kissimmee Florida is being held on property purchased by a "petroleum" company in south Florida. It is a 31-acre former college campus. This petroleum company has been trying [unsuccessfully so far] to evict our Christian School and small church from one of the buildings there. We lease a 10,000 sq. ft. building right in the middle of where this conference is scheduled and where Universal Heritage is opening their college. They have actually pictured our building on their website and call it the "Islamic Training Center." We have sued them. Now, according to the Islamic group as told to me today by Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, the Universal Heritage Foundation has no association with the petroleum company save an old friendship with the company president which led them to the property.'"

ADDENDUM: William A. Mayer of Pipeline News, a coauthor of this piece, has written in to note that the link we had was to a site that had reprinted this piece without permission and to give us the correct link. Apologies and thanks to Mr. Mayer; the link is now repaired.

"Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner has written to United States Attorney General John Ashcroft alerting him to the fact the Palestinian Security Service commander assigned to investigate the October bombing attack on American personnel in Gaza was very likely the terrorist who planned it." So says IMRA, with thanks to LGF.

"Gaza Commander Col. Rashid Abu Shabak's has been entrusted by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation with hunting down the terrorist cell responsible for the October 15, 2003 bombing which left three Americans dead.

"The three Americans, John Branchizio, 37, of Texas, John Linde Jr., 30, of Missouri, and Mark Parsons, 31, of New Jersey, were security personnel guarding a convoy of diplomatic vehicles which was attacked by Palestinian Arab terrorists who detonated a powerful roadside bomb at the Beit Hanoun junction in Gaza. The Americans were visiting Gaza to interview candidates for Fulbright scholarships.

"Darshan-Leitner's letter accuses the Palestinian commander of being the mastermind behind numerous terror attacks perpetrated by Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization in Gaza. Shurat HaDin urges the Department of Justice to investigate Abu Shabak's involvement in prior roadside bombings.

"Not surprisingly, there have been no arrests made by the Palestinians in the
current investigation."

"Despite a higher risk of birth defects, marriages and eventual offspring from unions between nephews and nieces will not be banned in the Netherlands." Why not? "Marriages between cousins are particularly common in Turkish and Moroccan communities and [Health Minister Hans] Hoogervorst said a ban would be 'disproportionate' and impossible to enforce." This from Expatica News, with thanks to seafarious.

Hoogervorst "said he considered the risks of birth defects would be overshadowed by the violation of the personal freedom of choice if he banned marriages between first cousins. . . .

"Besides the slightly higher chance of birth defects, the chance of baby mortality is three to five times higher than non-cousin marriages. The [Christian Democrat] CDA is also concerned about hindered integration and forced marriages. . . . Meanwhile, Minister Hoogervorst said nephew and niece couples stand a 5 to 7 percent chance of having a handicapped child, 1.5 times more than 'normal' couples. He said the difference was not large enough to warrant a ban, representing a deep interference in personal lives. . . .

"CDA MP Sterk also said the party's concerns could not be easily brushed away and that it still saw sufficient reason for a ban. But Minister Hoogervorst said marriages between cousins were deeply entrenched in Turkish and Moroccan culture."

What do you think will happen when other deeply entrenched features of Muslim culture start to make their way into Western Europe? Will European officials balk at stoning for adulterers, or will they explain how deeply entrenched this practice is in certain Muslim countries?

Hysteria? Fear mongering? Consider this: Hani Ramadan, a prominent Muslim leader in Switzerland and brother of the famed European Muslim spokesman Tariq Ramadan, was dismissed from a teaching position in Geneva after publishing an article in the French journal Le Monde in September 2002, defending stoning as punishment for adultery.

AMECA
American Middle-East Christian/Jewish Association
P.O. Box 8152, Hemet, CA 92545
909-766-8820; sak@direcway.com

December 17, 2003

Dear Dr. Laura,

AMECA will conduct a First Amendment Rally in honor of you, Congressman Cass Ballenger and Paul Harvey, re: CAIR. Also we will bus survivors of Sudan to the outreach to show how radical Islam still enslaves humans.

AMECA: we are all Americans -- many of us fled the Middle East. We are Christians and Jews. To guarantee peace and safety, we are working together with Courageous Christians United, the premier expert in the entire U. S. on First Amendment Outreaches. This will be coordinated with the police.

We need your help. A few timely spots on your show will help rally many of your friends to this First Amendment Outreach. Not just for us but CAIR too: that everyone -- including CAIR -- might come to learn that in America we ALL can enjoy our First Amendment Rights, intimidation and extortion free!

As time permits, will you help publicize this outreach on your show? Please call us with any questions.

Thanks, God bless, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Semper Fidelis!
Steve Klein, CEO, CCU.
AMECA
American Middle-East Christian/Jewish Association

A FIRST AMENDMENT OUTREACH for:

1. Support for Dr. Laura Vs CAIR

2. Support for Congressman Cass Ballenger Vs CAIR

3. Support for Paul Harvey Vs CAIR

4. Slaves under Islam: The Sudan Slavery Tragedy.

WHERE: CAIR office, 2180 West Crescent Ave, Anaheim, CA.

WHEN: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 19, 2004. A Federal Holiday. 10:30 - 12:00 Noon.

WHY: To support all who are being intimidated by CAIR.

WHO: American Middle-East Christians and Jews. Official Spokesperson: Mrs. Ezola Foster.

HOW: Because of all those of you who love The First Amendment.

Look for our Press releases to go out just before this First Amendment Outreach.

Contact: Steve Klein, sak@direcway.com 909-766-8820

Joseph D'Hippolito has a devastating op-ed in today's Orange County Register about suicide bombings, asking "Why do so many downplay suicide bombings that target Israeli civilians?"

"As December began, Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center met with Pope John Paul II in Rome. Rabbi Hier was trying to convince the pope to declare suicide bombing 'the crime of the 21st century,' according to reports.

"For a man of the pope's stature -- a man who experienced the Nazis' brutal occupation of Poland and who lost friends to the Holocaust -- even to be reminded along such lines is telling.

"While the world wrings its hands over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and cries platitudes, it fails to acknowledge that the Palestinian campaign of suicide bombing is much more than terrorism.

"It's genocide.

"Perhaps humanity has been conditioned to think about genocide solely in terms of cattle cars, gas chambers, ovens and shouts of 'Heil Hitler!' Perhaps humanity doesn't want to be roused from fashionable illusions about its innate goodness.

"Yet what other word describes the desire to obliterate a nation by targeting innocent civilians on buses, in restaurants and markets, in cafes and discos? Though the Palestinians take a low-tech approach, their sadism surpasses even the Nazi assembly line of death. Suicide bombers routinely stuff such anti-coagulants as rat poison into their explosive vests -- so that those who aren't killed immediately bleed to death slowly -- and nails, bolts, screws and ball bearings as shrapnel to maximize their victims' injuries.

"During one suicide bombing, a nail pierced the skull of Eran Mizrahi, who was celebrating his 16th birthday in a Jerusalem restaurant. The injury left Mizrahi paralyzed and catatonic. 'It is common knowledge here that light injury can [mean] losing a limb,' Immanuel Legomski, a neurotherapist and rabbi, told WorldNetDaily.com. 'Serious almost always means most of these victims wish they were dead.'

"What kind of a culture would encourage such barbarism? A culture that celebrates death, where not even children are immune.

"Vendors in Gaza sell candy-filled replicas of grenades, which Associated Press photographed. Palestinian TV, monitored by Palestinian Media Watch, shows children hoping for shahada, or 'martyrdom.'

"'Shahada is a very, very beautiful thing,' said Walla, an 11-year-old girl and a panelist on a call-in show.

"'Every Palestinian child - say, someone aged 12 - says, "Oh Lord, I would like to become a shahid (martyr),"' added Yussra, another 11-year-old girl on the show.

"The Palestinian Authority's education ministry pollutes innocent minds through its textbooks, as a 2001 report by the Committee for Monitoring the Impact of Peace noted. One fifth-grade language text builds a lesson around this sentence: 'The jihad against the Jew is the religious duty of every man and woman.'

"Suicide bombing, therefore, is not just genocide against Israelis. It's genocide against an entire generation of Palestinians who unquestioningly accept a cynical government's manipulation of Islam. However, the West chooses to ignore these facts.

"In April, the World Council of Churches published a letter sent by an ecumenical group to the United Nations' Security Council. That letter about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict not only downplayed suicide bombing but also blamed Israel for it: 'Such violence directed against Israeli citizens, while abhorrent, does not justify the occupation which gives rise to such acts, nor the misguided incursions and assaults now under way in response to them.'

"Pope John Paul II, who originated the phrase 'culture of death' to condemn Western societies that tolerate abortion, contraception and capital punishment, has failed to so describe the Palestinian Authority. Otherwise, why would Rabbi Hier seek a papal audience?

"If the religious West doesn't register legitimate outrage, the secular West certainly won't. It would be pretty hard to stimulate the moral imaginations of Europeans, for example, when a poll shows 60 percent of them think Israel is the world's greatest threat to peace.

"When Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel was asked what humanity learned from the Holocaust, he cynically replied, 'That you can get away with it.'

"For the second time in 70 years, humanity is proving Wiesel correct."

I have received a lengthy statement from a gentleman named Trevor Stanley criticizing various aspects of Jihad Watch. You can find it in the comments section here. Ordinarily it is wise not to reply to critics, but this message is so lengthy and thoughtful, and it touches on issues that are not only inflammatory but also frequently misunderstood, that I thought it would be useful to reply here to Mr. Stanley, and in so doing perhaps to introduce a few helpful distinctions and clarifications.

Says Mr. Stanley: "You claim that no muslim group has ever renounced terrorism, or renouncing violence against innocents."

This is in fact not the case. I have never claimed that no Muslim group has ever renounced terrorism or violence against innocents. To make such a claim would have been preposterous, for I have had the same experience as Mr. Stanley, who says: "I have repeatedly found Muslim groups denouncing such violence." What Mr. Stanley may be thinking of is the fact that no Muslim group has ever renounced the doctrines of violent jihad that radical Muslims use to justify terrorist acts. But many of these very groups decry terrorism and simply don't think of what they're doing in that category; they see themselves as performing religious acts and regard "terrorism" as a label devised by the West to discredit them.

Stanley: "For one thing, there is a consensus of all four schools of Sunni Islamic Law that violence against innocents, or violence outside a state of war, is unacceptable."

That is correct, and I have affirmed it on this site many times (see the first sentence here, for example), as well as in my book Onward Muslim Soldiers. Unfortunately, however, this is not a blanket prohibition. The Shafi'i school of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence stipulates that "it is not permissible . . . to kill women and children unless they are fighting against the Muslims." The Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyya, a favorite of modern Muslim radicals, directed that "as for those who cannot offer resistance or cannot fight, such as women, children, monks, old people, the blind, handicapped and their likes, they shall not be killed unless they actually fight with words (e.g. by propaganda) and acts (e.g. by spying or otherwise assisting in the warfare)."

This loophole is exploited by Osama bin Laden and other radical Muslims to justify actions such as the destruction of the World Trade Center: the people in it, you see, were aiding America's putative war against Islam, and thus could lawfully be killed. I am not saying that the radicals' reasoning here is correct on Islamic grounds or universally accepted within the Muslim world, but only that it has an appeal based on traditional Islamic law.

Madeleine Bunting worries in The Guardian that France's ban of the hijab will lead to "many more years of confrontation between the French state and Muslims, and a dangerous reinforcement in the Muslim community of the perception of Islamophobia, of exclusion and persecution."

Bunting seems to disregard the confrontational nature of the wearing of the hijab in the first place, and of its character as an assertion of a political and social system profoundly at variance with that of France. That kind of confrontation is apparently just fine. (Thanks to "Allah.")

Here is more evidence that jihadis think of themselves as fighting a struggle that did not begin with them and will not end with them, but is part of a 1,400-year-old jihad: "Expecting their own capture or death, South-East Asian Islamic extremists sent their sons to Pakistan for training in how to attack Western targets so they could take over as the next generation of terrorist leaders." This from The Mercury, with thanks to nicolei and Jean-Luc.

"In a crackdown on the practice, five Malaysian students, including four teenagers, have been jailed without trial after raids on Islamic boarding schools in Karachi, which had sent them on field trips to get experience of Islamic militant operations. The students had weapons and explosives training in Afghanistan and Kashmir, and some met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before the US-led Afghan war started in late 2001, Malaysian police said.

"Three of the five students are the sons of members of an alleged Malaysian cell of Jemaah Islamiah - the al-Qaeda-linked terror network operating throughout South-East Asia - who were jailed two years ago. A fourth is the brother of a jailed militant suspect.

"Hambali, once operations chief for JI, arranged for some of his students to get Pakistan-based training, a senior Malaysian government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Hambali has been in US custody since August, but ran an Islamic school in Malaysia for years before going on the run just before the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. His plan was to train future JI leaders, with the students returning home by 2006 to take up jihad, or holy war, said another Malaysian official. . . . The five were indoctrinated in an extreme version of Islam in Pakistan and were learning how to attack US targets - including organising suicide missions - in Malaysia and elsewhere, authorities said. No specific plots were described.

"Under interrogation, the students said their instructors told them 'they must take up arms, especially against Westerners', the Malaysian security official said."

Our friends at Al-Jazeera report that "an international human rights organisation has condemned France for attacking freedom of religion." Thanks to nicolei.

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights said on Wednesday a proposed new law which would ban Islamic headscarves and other religious insignia in schools would contravene the most basic human rights. The stinging criticism came after French President Jacques Chirac backed the proposed law because he said France needed to safeguard its secular identity.

But the IHF said wearing the hijab is an essential part of a Muslim woman's religious identity, and the state cannot tell people how to dress unless others' human rights are being violated. 'For many Muslim women wearing a headscarf is a deeply personal choice and a sign of their religious conviction and has nothing to do with Islamic fundamentalism,' the IHF said in a statement.

Contrast that statement to this one from Islamic-world.net:

The Qur'an clearly and directly asks all human beings to surrender to God(Allah) in complete submission and accept His guidance in every field of activity. 'Oh you who believe! Enter into Islam fully and whole-heartedly, and follow not the footsteps of Satan, for he is to you an avowed enemy,"(2:208). Because Islam is a complete way of life this Divine Guidance is for all matters private and public, political and economic, social and cultural, moral and legal. In the Godless secular nations they require a separation of religion and state. Politics is to be made free from religious influence. In Islam politics is a necessary element of the religious domain. Allah has told us He is to be the sole determiner of what is right and lawful. 'Command is for none but God; He has commanded that you obey none but Him - that is the right path,' ([Qur'an] 12:40). And, 'If any do fail to establish and rule by what God has revealed, they are the unbelievers, the unjust or the evil doers,' ([Qur'an] 5:44,45,47)."

(Thanks again to nicolei.)

In light of this, French secularists are right to be concerned. As Al-Jazeera puts it, "ardent secularists fear the headscarf is an outward sign of a refusal to assimilate fully into French society." Indeed it is, for it is just one manifestation of a vision of Islam as a total way of life that also asserts primacy over the political and cultural spheres.

"Indonesia's capital could be the target of a bombing campaign during the Christmas and New Year festivities, a Jakarta police chief has warned." So says AFP, with thanks to nicolei.

"'Based on intelligence information that we have received, the prominent issue that needs to be addressed is bombings,' Inspector-General Makbul Padmanegara was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying.

"Police officers would be stationed at more than 240 churches throughout Jakarta and its suburbs, he said, as police sought to prevent a repeat of Christmas Eve 2000 bombings which left 19 people dead across Indonesia. . . .
The US embassy last week warned that it saw a 'particularly high' risk of terror attacks in Indonesia over Christmas and the New Year.

"'The potential for additional bombings of places where Americans and Westerners are known to live, congregate, shop or visit...is particularly high during the weeks around Christmas through the New Year,' an embassy official said."

"Two Christians from Alexandria originally detained in October have been rearrested. They were first arrested as part of a widespread sweep targeting converts from Islam and those who helped them obtain new identities." This from The Barnabas Fund.

"Last night at 8.00pm local time, Aziz Zakher Sarkis and Sharif Kameel Nazer were taken back into custody. The two Christians were seized without a warrant. They are accused of helping Muslim converts to Christianity obtain new identities. Officer Sayed Zaki presided over the arrests and he is known for his particularly aggressive attitude towards converts. The two are being held without charge, and indeed no charges have yet been officially lodged against any of the original 22 arrested in late October, the rest of whom are still out on bail. In the wake of this latest development converts throughout Alexandria are now living in a state of dramatically heightened fear believing they could be next.

"The 22 were originally arrested for falsifying official documents. A Christian who converts to Islam in Egypt can receive new ID papers with a new Muslim name within 24 hours. However, it is impossible for a Muslim who converts to Christianity to change their name to a Christian one at all. Thus they will always be regarded as Muslims in the eyes of the law. This means that female converts to Christianity will be prohibited from marrying Christian men (also illegal under Egyptian law), any children will be treated as Muslims, and educated as such at school, and converts will have to be buried as Muslims. There are also a myriad of other matters making it virtually impossible for converts to follow their faith freely and safely whilst they retain an official Muslim name. Thus many converts feel compelled to apply for official papers using an assumed Christian name and thus lay themselves open to charges relating to the falsification of IDs." (Thanks to bgordon.)

During Afghanistan's Loya Jirga council to frame a new Constitution, chairman Sebaghatullah Mojadeddi, who has been described as a "moderate jihadi," aroused the ire of female delegates by reminding them of Qur'anic and Sharia provisions that discriminate against women.

According to the New York Times: "Don't try to put yourself on a level with men, he told the women. Even God has not given you equal rights, he added, because under his decision two women are counted as equal to one man. He was referring to a provision of Islamic law, itself displeasing to many women, that says that the testimony of two women is equivalent to that of one man in some cases. He did not bother to couch the sentiment in a legal context, presenting it instead as a general principle."

Said Rangina Hamidi of Afghans for Civil Society: "We all are kind of not only in shock, but also surprised that he said it. . . . For him to sit in a gathering of this importance, knowing the past history of women, the suffering. . . . It was uncalled for."

But what else could he say if Islam is going to be the foundation of a new Afghan government? Not only is the Sharia incompatible with equality of rights for women, but if Mojadeddi is consistent he will also declare that Allah has not given equality of rights to non-Muslims in Islamic societies either. As the cause of Sharia advances in Europe, this is something that everyone who believes in the equality of rights for all should note carefully. (Thanks to nicolei.)

"A Pakistani man, who received training to join Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist network in Kashmir, has been sentenced in the US to ten-and-a-half years in prison." This from IndiaExpress. He is indeed Pakistani, but he has been in the U.S. studying electrical engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

"Mohammad Aatique, 31, was first to be sentenced among a group of 11 people indicted in Pennsylvania and Virginia in July for training with assault rifles. Aatique, an electrical engineer by profession, had entered into a plea bargain with the prosecution under which he pleaded guilty to going to Pakistan after September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to train with Laskhkar.

"Of the remaining suspects, three have pleaded guilty of weapons charges and the trial is set to begin in February next year. A US Federal Court in Pennsylvania yesterday gave Aatique mandatory 10 years sentence for firearms violations but only six months for conspiring to violate the US Neutrality act.

"He could have got five years on the conspiracy charge but the judge decided on a lesser prison term as he was considered among people in lower in hierarchy of conspirators. The government had raised no objections to the period of Aatique's prison term, apparently satisfied with his cooperation during the probe of what prosecution called 'the Virginia jihad network.'"

Al-Muhajiroun's Sheikh Omar Bakri (BBC)

In a recent article about jihadist and radical Muslim organizations on the Internet I mentioned Al-Muhajiroun, the British Muslim group headed by Sheikh Omar Bakri, an open supporter of Osama bin Laden who has declared that his goal is to establish an Islamic state in Britain.

Now Al-Muhajiroun has issued a press release about the capture of Saddam Hussein. Their site doesn't seem to be set up for direct links, so to find the release click on anything from the home page and then on Press Releases.

The release says that in order to understand "what really happened" regarding Saddam's arrest, "we need certain political foundations giving insight into events occurring around the world both past and present, such as the collapse of the Khilafah [Caliphate] in 1924 forming the basis of recent Muslim history, since this was a milestone signifying the last rule, solely in accordance with the Shari'ah, on State level. In addition, we must bear in mind how the kuffar (i.e. non-Muslims) have been conspiring against Muslims throughout history, indeed the struggle between Haq (truth) and Baatil (falsehood) has always existed since the time of the Messenger Muhammad (saw). It is also vital that any analysis be from the perspective of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Messenger Muhammad (saw) and his prophecies i.e. that certain events will occur prior to the Day of Judgment. This will shed proper light on the global Christian Crusade, led by the USA, against Islam and Muslims."

This is common talk from radical Muslims: they all speak of wanting to restore the Caliphate -- the unified rule of the Islamic community worldwide by a single leader, recognized as Muhammad's successor -- expand Sharia rule everywhere, and wage jihad against Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslims. On the Internet, a piece like this, with its appeals to Islamic teachings and Muslim pride, stands as a recruitment tool for radical Islam.

The press release then gives a series of reasons why Al-Muhajiroun believes that Saddam was "not in fact arrested on Saturday the 13th of December 2003, but at least 10 days beforehand." The first one coincides with the most paranoid speculations of the far Left: "the delay in announcing the capture of Saddam Hussain by George Bush was timed to have the maximum impact for George Bush personally, His government generally and future plans for the region particularly."

Reason #5 hangs the case that this is a war on Islam upon Saddam's beard: "The US were keen to link the capture to Islam, Muslims and the so-called war against 'Terrorism'. This connection was obvious with talk of Saddam's beard, a clear Islamic symbol of a Muslim male and the Taliban. This is totally in line with their plea that they are fighting international terrorism (which their allies interpret as Muslim fundamentalist or Mujahideen). Psychologically, the beard being shown before and then after it has been shaved, together with Saddam being shown on his prayer mat, is vividly intended to motivate their own people, demoralize the enemy (i.e. Muslims) and destroy the Islamic inspiration. Especially when the supposed symbol of Muslim resistance (i.e. Saddam) is amazingly caught in a spider' hole."

Apparently Al-Muhajiroun missed the fact that Bush passed up going to church so as not to be seen speaking outside it about Saddam: "The link to a Christian victory against the perceived infidels, akin to the crusades of old, is the announcement just two days after the Christmas festivities were begun in the US, rounding off the Christian year with a victory for their Deen [religion] against the Muslims and Islam."

But Al-Muhajiroun is not downhearted: "However, the truth is that it was the Mujahideen who were fighting the US and UK occupiers all along and their Jihad will be much clearer now that the confusion caused by Saddam's presence has been removed. . . . The truth is that the Mujahideen have been carrying out wholesale bombing against the occupiers: some 42 operations a day. These operations are also 'suicide' ones, not a hallmark of the Iraqis but rather those who want to trade their life for paradise i.e. the likes of Al-Qaeda and other Mujahideen."

And finally: "Promised increased operations by the Mujahideen will underline the fact that the war in Iraq is and has always been one of Islam against Kufr (i.e. non-Islam) and that Terrorism translates for the US, UK and their allies as Islam and Muslims. However, despite Bush's antics news from the Muslim camp is that victory has been promised to the Muslims already by Allah (SWT) in this life and the next - it is just a matter of time before it is clear for all to see (Insha'allah)."

All this paranoid raving would be unworthy of attention were it not for the fact that people believe it, and have taken up arms on the basis of this kind of thinking. (Thanks to nicolei.)

Raussi Uthman, a Muslim who "who was convicted of hate crimes for burglarizing and burning down a Jewish temple three years ago, was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison." So says AP.

Uthman "also must pay $856,278 in restitution."

The story says that "no one was injured in the fire at Temple Beth El in Syracuse, which caused more than $700,000 in damage."

Uthman worked from the CAIR playbook at the sentencing: "'This sentence has nothing to do with your heritage,' Judge Joseph Fahey told Uthman, who claimed he was being discriminated against. 'It is based solely on your conduct. It is the same sentence I would impose on a Nazi, Ku Klux Klansman or any bigot that would have burned down a house of worship. My only regret is that it can't be longer.'

Uthman's accomplice, Ahed Shehadeh, "who is serving a five-year sentence for burglary and aiding and abetting an arson, testified that Uthman dedicated the arson to God, crying out in Arabic, 'I did this for you, God!'

"Uthman's attorney argued the accomplice set fire to the temple to cover up their burglary, then implicated Uthman and concocted a religious motivation in order to cut a deal with prosecutors." Yes, of course. A simple burglary, that just happened to be carried about by two Muslims against a synagogue. What a coincidence!

Tatiana Menaker writes in FrontPageMagazine.com that "San Francisco State University has long been a major center of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda."

She reviews a university film festival, "Exploring the Israeli-Palestinian Issue through Film." Says Menaker: "What is strikingly serious in all these films is that if one were to count the most often used words, these words would be 'humiliation' and 'Kill the Jews!' Even in the most peaceful and idealistic documentary, made by a Jewish director, a young boy asked what he wants to do when he grows up is prompted by his father: 'Kill the Jews!' When asked to draw a picture of his future he draws himself killing Israelis. . . .

"Nathan Scharansky, an Israeli minister, can hardly be described as a person easily susceptible to panic. A dissident and political prisoner, he was not scared to stand alone against the KGB in a Soviet Gulag. But after touring six American Universities last month, he wrote that the situation 'on campuses in the United States and Canada is more serious than we think. And this is truly frightening.'

"So Jewish students are subjected to constant malicious anti-Semitic attacks disguised as pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist rallies, at which the participants get so excited that they often start screaming Nazi-like slogans."

An influential group of Muslim scholars in Indonesia have declared that suicide attacks, and terrorism in general, is forbidden by Islamic law." So says VOA News. "Members of the Indonesian Ulama Council, which brings together Muslim scholars to discuss the implementation of Islamic law, say that killing - especially of innocents - is contrary to the teachings of the religion.

"The move comes after increasing criticism that Indonesia's powerful Islamic groups were doing too little to condemn terrorism in the country.

"The ruling says that killing innocent people is forbidden, and that seeking martyrdom with such actions as suicide bombings is only justified in war zones. It states clearly that Indonesia is not a war zone."

This is, again, weaselly. What if Indonesia becomes a war zone? It sure looked like one in Bali last year: "A regional terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, or JI, has used Islam to justify a series of bloody attacks in Indonesia. They include last year's bombing of a nightclub on Bali, which killed more than 200 people, and August's attack on an U.S. run hotel, which killed 12.

"Captured members of the group say the attacks were part of a holy war against the West, particularly the United States. They accuse the West of waging a war against Muslims.

"The new ruling specifically excludes religious struggle, or jihad, which it says is an obligation of every Muslim when the religion is under attack.

"The ruling is unlikely to have a dramatic effect on JI and similar groups, but it is an important expression of the hostility the majority of Indonesians have toward terrorism and terrorists."

It is unlikely to have a dramatic effect on JI because they already have a detailed justification for their actions, based on Islamic theology. Until the ulama definitively refute this, they're just talking to themselves.

"The Dubai Supreme Court has set a landmark ruling declaring that deportation orders should not be removed on appeal whenever expatriates are found guilty of religious crimes. Expatriates are often sentenced to deportation after completing a punishment such as a jail term or fine. But when this sentenced is referred to the Appeal Court and Supreme Courts this can be removed.

"However, in the case of religious crime it should always be upheld, so long as the conviction stays." This from Gulf News, with thanks to nicolei.

"A special clause has been placed in the legal texts, making clear that a deportation order should never be reduced and should always be followed up.
A general rule stipulates deportation as a punishment for all types of religious crimes. The landmark ruling was based on the case of a Christian priest sentenced to a year in jail and deportation for 'evangelising' without gaining permission.

"On April 27, the Dubai Court of First Instance suspended the sentence for three years because of the age and record of the offender. Judges said they had shown leniency because the 54-year-old Filipino priest was unlikely to repeat his crime. The convict had been charged with opposing Islam and its teachings and calling on people to convert to Christianity by distributing publications, recordings and Bibles in public during Ramadan. The court impounded the publications and recordings but did not confiscate the Bibles.

"On May 25, the Appeal Court cancelled the deportation order and upheld the rest of the ruling. But the General Prosecution appealed that ruling in the Supreme Court, which set its new landmark ruling and confirmed the deportation order. The priest was reported to the authorities by an Egyptian government employee who told the police that the Filipino had given him a package containing recordings, pamphlets and brochures promoting Christianity, as well as a Bible.

"Agents of the Central Investigation Department moved in and arrested the priest in a sting operation." A sting operation.

The Herald Sun reports that "ASIO is monitoring more than 100 Australians whom it lists as suspects or 'persons of interest' in the war on terror.

"The security agency is also working to identify another mystery Australian who trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. He is described only as blond and caucasian. It is unknown whether he returned to Australia, remained in the Middle East, or was killed in the Afghanistan war.

"The chief executive of security consultants Intelligent Risks, Neil Fergus, said there were several Australians identified as having trained with al-Qaeda, and about 100 Jemaah Islamiyah supporters in Australia who were known to authorities."

Although many doubt that Al-Qaeda has the ability to carry out a strike in Australia at this point, The chief executive of security consultants Intelligent Risks, Neil Fergus, says: "As shown in the past, al-Qaeda will not simply cease and desist; they have quite remarkable determination.'

"Of al-Qaeda sympathisers and camp trainees in Australia, Mr Fergus said: 'There are several people who have links, and in the main you would have to say they have been engaged in proselytising for the group and raising funds. Western intelligence services have gone to extreme lengths to identify all those who have trained in the camps, through sensitive sources or interrogation. The indications are there are probably at least a few other Australians who have trained in an al-Qaeda camp.'

"Mr Fergus said captured US Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh may have identified two Australians at an Afghanistan camp, not just Abu Jihad, whom he named as a Melbourne painter in a December 2001 FBI interview. He said Australian officials had originally believed one of those men to be Jack 'Jihad' Thomas, but that possibility now appeared less likely because the suspect was described as blond.

"'He (the suspect) may not have returned to Australia; trying to ID him is the first step, and trying to find his whereabouts,' he said." (Thanks to Jean-Luc.)

Recruitment for jihad in Pakistan: "A 15 year old Christian boy from the province of Sind has been kidnapped and taken to an Islamic religious school where he was beaten and forced to become a Muslim." This from the Barnabas Fund.

"Zeeshan Gill was kidnapped in broad daylight on the way home from school, on 7 November. He was taken to a madrasa (Islamic religious school), where he was beaten to submission and forced to say the Islamic creed. Henceforth, his captors informed him, he was a Muslim and if he tried to run away or return to Christianity, they would kill him. He was made to fast daily. Furthermore his captors even started to give him training in the use of guns and grenades.

"His anxious mother, Razia, who works in the Civilian Hospital Sargodha, Sind, was informed of his whereabouts three days later by the mosque attached to the school. She was informed that Zeeshan had willingly embraced Islam and would not be returning to her. In desperation she turned to local court officials who sent a bailiff to the madrasa. There he met Zeeshan and listened to his account, but the terrified boy simply repeated that he had converted willingly. The bailiff was not deterred and ordered the director of the madrasa to appear before court, with Zeeshan, on 14 November.

"Razia was present at the court hearing that day. When she listened to her son give evidence, she was amazed to hear him reiterate, in the apparent safety of the courtroom, that he had embraced Islam of his own freewill and would only go home with her if she converted as well! Razia begged the judge to let her meet Zeeshan alone. The judge replied that would be fruitless as her son was clearly a sensible boy and, even though a minor, had the right to become a Muslim. Since this was an irrevocable decision, she was now powerless, the judge informed her, to do anything about it.

"On 20 November Zeeshan was allowed to go home to collect his clothes; however the madrasa sent along an escort with him. Then four days later his captors told him that he was imminently to be sent on jihad in Kashmir, where he would have to 'spread Islam at 120kph'. His director let him go home to say his goodbyes - unaccompanied. It was at this point that Zeeshan felt able to reveal the truth to his mother, that he had been kidnapped, forcibly converted and held against his will.

"The family immediately fled southwards, where they were put in contact with the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) in Lahore, who in turn informed Barnabas Fund of Zeeshan's case." (Thanks to bgordon.)

"With the rise of Islamic fundamentalism since Saddam Hussein's ouster in April, many Christians in Iraq say their situation has worsened, and some now fear meeting together because of the security threat." This from WND.

"A prominent Christian judge was killed in Mosul, bombs were found at two Christian schools and many Christian students and families received threatening notes demanding conversion to Islam, the Christian Broadcasting Network reported.

"The number of Christians in Iraq, who comprise about 3 percent of the population, has dropped from nearly 2 million to about 800,000 since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

"CBN said authorities defused a series of cluster bombs at two Christian schools one week after the Nov. 4 assassination of Judge Ismail Youssef, who was attacked outside his home in the northern city of Mosul.

"Students at the schools, one in Mosul and one in Baghdad, said they received notices warning they must convert to Islam or be killed, according to British-based Christian aid and monitoring group Barnabas Fund.

"An Iraqi Christian woman named Eman said a group of Muslim men approached her while returning home on a bus and ordered her to cover her head, CBN reported. 'They told me that if I didn't put on a veil, they would slaughter me,' she said. 'Can you imagine this? I am a Christian, and we don't believe in wearing the veil.'

"Another Iraqi Christian, Ameer, said just days after the war began, his family's Muslim landlord sent a group of men to the house and forced them to leave. 'They threw our furniture and all our belongings out on the street,' he said, according to CBN. 'It was so embarrassing. Now I have no home and nowhere to go. My family is very poor.'

"An Iraqi Christian named Samir said while he greeted Saddam's fall, like many others, his hopes have been dimmed because of fears a worse regime could take over, run by fundamentalists. Many fear an Iranian-type of government, run by radical clerics, he said.

"The Barnabas Fund said Christians all over Iraq have received a notice from Al-Badr, the militia of the main Shia group, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which has a representative on the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council established by the U.N.-led coalition.

"The notice reads:

"'In the name of God: the Merciful, the Compassionate.
"'Do not adorn yourselves as ignorant women did before the time of Islam (Sura 33.33).
"'The leadership of the Islamic Badr Brigade hopes that the head of this noble family will stand with the Muslim brethren and follow basic Muslim rules. The veil should be worn and the honorable teachings of Islam that have come to us from ages past must be adhered to. We are Iraqis and Muslims; we will not tolerate sin. If this announcement is not complied with, we shall either inflict some unbearable punishment, kill offenders, kidnap them or destroy them in their homes with fire or by bombing.
"'This order applies to the daughters of this family, their mother and the little girls.
"'The Islamic Badr Brigade, Najaf'

"CBN said Shiite Muslims are becoming more aggressive and vocal in the [Chaldean] Christian community led by Bishop Ishlemon Warduni. Not long after the war began, followers of the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini converted a Baath Party building next to his church into a mosque and mounted several loudspeakers in its direction. 'This is very unsettling,' Warduni told CBN. 'During our church services, we can hear the Muslim call to prayer and it is very loud. It is frightening a lot of the Christians. Many are afraid to even come to the church. Attendance is very low.'

"A church member added, 'It is very difficult to come to church and to see this mosque here. They are in our face. Why are they blaring their Muslim prayers right in front of our church and during our services? They are trying to intimidate us Christians.'

"Shiites, who make up about 60 percent of Iraq's more than 22 million people, are expected to dominate the interim government developing under the guidance of the U.S.-led coalition, and some observers warn Iraq is on its way to becoming an Islamic state. CBN notes a close adviser to Paul Bremer, the American administrator in Baghdad, said in a recent interview Iraq is likely to embrace some form of Islamic law, or Sharia. 'The end constitutional product is very likely to make many people in the U.S. government unhappy,' he said. 'It's not going to look the way people imagined it looking. Any democratically elected Iraqi government is unlikely to be secular and unlikely to be pro-Israel. And frankly, moderately unlikely to be pro-American.'

"Sheik Hadi Hussein Al-Ghazragi, leader of a prominent Shiite group gathering nationwide support, has insisted Islamic law 'must be the foundation of this country and constitution.'

"'All the citizens, including Christians, Jews and others who belong to different religions, must follow the strict rules of Islam,' he stated.

"Under Saddam, Christians in Iraq were allowed to worship but not evangelize publicly. During this interim period, they have a window of opportunity to 'share the message of Christ to all people,' an Iraqi pastor named Hartinian told CBN, which notes some Christians are conducting street services and versions of the Arabic Bible are in high demand. 'My prayer is that the church will expand the walls of the church. The church is not only inside the walls of this church, but is also outside the walls,' Hartinian said. 'We know that sharing this message is incredibly difficult, but this is what we believe in, and as long as we have Christ with us, this is the day of salvation. This is the day the God is going to touch the people of Iraq.'"

Adverse publicity has compelled "two Saudi Arabian extremists, both supporters of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network," to cancel "plans to visit the U.S. this month to speak at an Islamic conference in Houston." This from WND.

"However, one will still make an appearance through a satellite television hookup from Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is asking the State Department to expel two Saudi diplomats scheduled to appear at the conference.

"According to the Saudi Information Agency, an independent news service critical of the Riyadh regime, at least two Saudi diplomats will join the conference to hear Sheikh Abdallah Ibn Jebreen, the bin Laden-praising Wahhabi cleric.

"A second cleric, Muhammad Saalih al-Munajid, who runs a website that promotes intolerance of Christians and Jews and calls for holy war on Shiite Muslims, has canceled his appearance.

"In a recent audiotape obtained by SIA and recorded in October, Ibn Jebreen called bin Laden a great warrior in the path of God: 'Osama is a man who fought in the path of God for a long time. May God aid him and bring victory to him and by him.'

"SIA said Ibn Jebreen issued at least two fatwas in support of the Taliban and encouraged young people to enlist in al-Qaida. He issued another fatwa calling on Saudis to aid Iraqis fighting U.S. forces. . . .

"Schumer is also raising questions about whether the Saudi Embassy is sincere about following through on its pledge last week to stop sponsoring Islamic-affairs programs that spread fanatical Islam. A report this week by the Saudi Press Agency quotes the Saudi Islamic affairs minister, Sheikh Saleh Bin Abdulaziz, denying the Islamic-affairs programs will be closed and declaring them 'part of the kingdom's message.'"

A matchbook found in South Korea: all the coolest jihadis have them

Global jihad alert: "Agents from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network made repeated visits to South Korea recently scouting for US targets, a lawmaker said, citing a closed-door intelligence briefing to parliament." So says AFP.

"Ham Seung-Hui, a member of the Millennium Democratic Party, said that South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) was now on anti-terrorism alert to respond to reported al-Qaeda activity in South Korea. 'The NIS briefing said suspected al-Qaeda members had checked security of the US troops in South Korea on two or three occasions recently,' Ham told AFP.

"One suspected al-Qaeda member was detained at a South Korean airport for 10 hours last year prior to being expelled, he said, citing the intelligence briefing. Another was expelled earlier this year from South Korea. He was believed to be examining security at South Korean aiports and carrying out the same task in the Philippines. . . .

"'Recently, the al-Qaeda network is increasingly turning its attention to Northeast Asian countries, amplifying chances of terror in the region,' the lawmaker said." I wonder if Al-Qaeda ops made a trip north to see Uncle Kim.

Syed Ahmed Bukhari

"Describing former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's capture as the 'blackest day for the Islamic world', the chief cleric of India's largest mosque said he would be remembered as the symbol of Islamic resistance." So says The Times of India, with thanks to nicolei.

"'Arab rulers need not be jubilant on Saddam Hussein's arrest because America would now make the whole Arab world their slaves,' said Syed Ahmed Bukhari, chief cleric of Delhi's Jama Masjid."

Bukhari demonstrated his mastery of the leftist rhetorical appeal: "In a statement issued here on Monday, Bukhari said US President George W Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon were more dangerous, cruel and barbaric than Saddam. He called on 'all peace-loving people' to stand up against the cruelty, tyranny and oppression against Muslims."

"Leaders of the Hamas as well as Islamic Jihad in Gaza, commenting on the capture of Saddam, have said that despite his arrest, the resistance of the Iraqi people will never end.

"In a joint statement, both Palestinian movements had called on the people of Iraq never to surrender and to 'continue resistance against the U.S. occupation until it withdraws all of its forces from all Iraqi lands.'

Nafez Azzam, a prominent Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip said that the capture of Saddam Hussein was just a 'small symbolic and moral victory for the U.S., but would certainly not stop Iraqi resistance'.

He said that the Iraqi resistance would continue "carrying out painful strikes against the American occupation on their lands.' . . .

"A top leader of the Hamas movement, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi told Reuters that the U.S. would 'pay a very high price for the mistake' of arresting ousted leader Saddam Hussein. 'What the United States did is ugly and despicable. It is an insult to all Arabs and an insult to Muslims.'" Evidently Rantissi found the gassing of the Kurds, the mass graves, the morgue prisons, and all the other highlights of Saddam's tenure less insulting. (Thanks to nicolei.)

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer's article "Internet Jihad" appears today at FrontPage magazine.

Remember Denis MacShane? He's the British Foreign Office minister who drew the ire of British Muslims last month by urging British Muslims to choose between the "British way" of democratic dialogue and the way of Islamic terrorism. Muslim leaders demanded, and received, several apologies from MacShane, who said: "I apologise to anyone who felt that I suggested that British Muslims sympathise with such terrorist actions."

Of course they don't. Except, that is, for the good folks of the British branch of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, who have issued a statement about the capture of Saddam Hussein. It says:

"While the leaders of Western militant democracies such as the US and UK celebrate the capture of Saddam Hussein, Muslims in Britain will not be rejoicing until Bush, Blair and the band of Western inspired dictators and tyrants in the Muslim world stand alongside him in the dock to answer for their crimes."

It decries "the imposition of Western secular liberal values over the barrel of a gun" and adds that "Imran Waheed, a UK based doctor and Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, said, 'One form of tyranny and oppression in Iraq has been replaced with another. Western values and governments must be put in the dock. The true celebration for Muslims and non-Muslims will only occur on the day when militant secularism and its colonialist worldview is discarded in history’s dustbin. That day is fast approaching.'

Dr. Waheed wants an Islamic Sharia state in Iraq: "Only the Islamic Khilafah is a practical alternative to the continued US and UK occupation of Iraq.”

The release adds a statement about Hizb-ut-Tahrir's goals and its nonviolence. "Hizb ut-Tahrir is an independent political party whose ideology is Islam. The party works throughout the Islamic world, including Iraq, to resume the Islamic way of life by re-establishing the Islamic Khilafah [Caliphate]. The party adheres to the Islamic Shari’ah in all aspects of its work. It considers violence or armed struggle against the regime, as a method to re-establish the Islamic State, a violation of the Islamic Shari’ah."

Interesting. I wonder what Hizb-ut-Tahrir would make of Sharia stipulations such as this one from a manual approved by the prestigious Al-Azhar Univerisity in Cairo: the Muslim community must make "war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians . . . until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax" ('Umdat al-Salik, o9.8).

"In the Western world, the party seeks to explain the Islamic ideology to Muslims, to create a dialogue with Western thinkers about Capitalism and its ills and to present Islam as an ideological alternative."

In Kyrgyzstan, Hizb-ut-Tahrir is growing: AP profiles Hizb-ut-Tahrir activist Dilyar Jumabayev, beginning with a poster he has displayed outside his house, which says: "All Muslims of the world unite against the infidels."

"'Through his black beard, Jumabayev shows an easy smile, but his words are vehement. 'Muslims now realize who their enemies are. The United States and Britain want Muslims to fight against each other,' he said.

"Jumabayev, 32, is a member of the secretive Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, or Party of Liberation, which is spreading across Central Asia. The growth is believed fueled in part by secular governments' heavy-handed efforts here to crack down on what has become the largest such extremist movement in the region. It has as many as 20,000 members.

"Hizb ut-Tahrir is not recognized as a terrorist group by the United States and is so far not connected to any acts of violence. But Kyrgyz security officials warn that it has become a fertile recruiting ground for al-Qaida and its allies, such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, although they often fail to provide hard evidence proving such ties. . . .

"Hizb ut-Tahrir was founded in the 1950s in the Middle East and calls for an Islamic caliphate, or state, to be set up across Central Asia. It claims to eschew violence, setting it apart from other groups to which governments allege it is linked.

"Since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, Hizb ut-Tahrir has found fertile ground for expansion in the Muslim countries of Central Asia, capitalizing on the discontent of many in their newly independent countries. . . . The number of Hizb ut-Tahrir members in the two southern Kyrgyz regions where the group is most active rose from 1,393 to 1,598 since last year, according to police figures obtained by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The group is also believed to be spreading to the north beyond its traditional base in the conservative Fergana Valley, and is also active in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

"In Kara-Suu, Hizb ut-Tahrir member Jumabayev said he doesn't disagree with the IMU terror group or even al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden: 'He is certainly my brother. Saddam Hussein is also my brother. No matter whether he is Arab, Kurd, Turk or Palestinian, he is also Muslim,' he said.

"Still, Jumabayev firmly disavowed violence, which he called a 'sin.' 'It's easy to kill,' he said, recalling his time in the Soviet army when he was sent off to Azerbaijan where soldiers violently quelled mass protests in the late 1980s amid the Soviet collapse.

"A trader and tailor, Jumabayev joined Hizb ut-Tahrir three years ago because it 'explained the meaning of life.' He now said he pays one-tenth of his income for membership and belongs to a five-person cell. Jumabayev said they don't have to look hard for new members: The government condemnations draw people's natural curiosity. Although Jumabayev said upper leaders denied him permission to speak to an American reporter because he was the 'enemy,' Jumabayev spoke freely and said he wasn't afraid of retribution for his beliefs -- even claiming to be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice.

"'My daughter asks me when I will enter heaven and my son asks when I will become a martyr,' he said." Hmm. I thought he disavowed violence.

"A library that banned the display of posters promoting Christmas services for fear of offending other religions hosted a party to celebrate a Muslim festival only days earlier." This from the Telegraph, with thanks to nicolei.

"Church officials in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, were told by the town's public library last week that their posters could not be displayed because they pertained to a 'religious preference group'.

"It emerged yesterday, however, that a party to celebrate Eid, the breaking of the fast of Ramadan, had been held there less than a week previously. The party was organised by Rehana Nazir, the multicultural services librarian at Buckinghamshire county council, and was advertised with leaflets distributed at the library. About 20 children, and several adults, attended.

"Michael Stillwell, 66, from High Wycombe, who was given a leaflet by library staff said: 'It seems like pure hypocrisy to hold a festival from one religion and to then ban a simple poster.' . . .

A library official was having none of the complaints: "Margaret Dewar, the councillor who is responsible for libraries, said: 'I am appalled at the attitude of these so-called Christians making such a fuss about this policy. The way they have reacted to the children's party is just shocking. It is quite a different thing having a party organised by a library to promote cultural understanding and accepting notices for religious services. The policy is that we do not display posters on our noticeboard. If we accepted one poster, we would have to them from everyone. We have to draw the line somewhere.'" And where they are drawing it is quite clear.

More evidence of the global reach of the tiny minority of extremists: "China released a wanted list of Muslim separatist groups and individuals on Monday, accusing them of acts of terror and appealing to foreign governments to ban the groups and track down and hand over the wanted individuals."

"One day after the United States announced the capture of toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, China's ministry of public security fingered four groups in the restive north-west and 11 ethnic Uighur suspects, all of whom remain at large.

"'They have planned, organised and carried out a series of violent terrorist activities such as bombings, assassinations, arsons, poisonings and attacks,' Zhao Yongchen, deputy chief of the ministry's anti-terror bureau, said in a statement.

"He appealed to other governments to ban the groups, prohibit them from receiving support or asylum and freeze their accounts; and to prosecute and investigate the wanted individuals and hand them over to China. . . .

"Many Turkic-speaking Uighurs want to establish an independent state in the Xinjiang region, which they would call East Turkestan. China has blamed pro-independence activists for a string of bombings and riots since the 1980s in Xinjiang, which borders the former Soviet Central Asian republics and Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as in other parts of the country. . . .

"Many Western diplomats and scholars also doubt there is a unified Uighur independence movement. They say most Uighurs are struggling against cultural and economic inequities and, living with heavy police and military presence, lack the coordination to execute sustained violence."

More irrelevance from "Western diplomats and scholars." What difference does it make if the independence movement is unified or not, or can execute "sustained" violence or not, if such groups exist and are capable of any kind of violence?

Moreover, China is linking them to the global jihad movement: "One of the groups police named on Monday was the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (Etim), which Washington added to its terrorist list in 2002 at Beijing's bidding. China says Etim members trained at bases run by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan and, with Taliban backing, returned to Xinjiang to plot violence. Police said Hasam Mahsum, a key figure in Etim, was among the 11 wanted.

"The other three organisations were the Eastern Turkestan Liberation Organisation, the World Uighur Youth Congress and the Eastern Turkistan Information Centre. . . . In one of the more recent incidents, police said Etim hatched a plot in March to blow up train tracks linking Xinjiang to the neighbouring province of Gansu, but gave no further details."

I just completed an article about jihadist websites (I'll let you know when it's available), and reader Nancy Block has kindly referred me to two more. The sorts of things they say are readily available on the Net, are read by Muslims, and no doubt go a long way in recruiting terrorists.

First this morning is Islamic-World.net, where we are told that "because Islam is a complete way of life," the Qur'an and the Sunnah's "Divine Guidance is for all matters private and public, political and economic, social and cultural, moral and legal."

That is a clear call to establish states governed by Islamic law, the Sharia. Every radical Muslim from Osama bin Laden on down has declared this as his intention. "In the Godless secular nations," says the site, "they require a separation of religion and state. Politics is to be made free from religious influence. In Islam politics is a necessary element of the religious domain. Allah has told us He is to be the sole determiner of what is right and lawful. 'Command is for none but God; He has commanded that you obey none but Him – that is the right path,' ([Qur'an] 12:40). And, 'If any do fail to establish and rule by what God has revealed, they are the unbelievers, the unjust or the evil doers,' ([Qur'an] 5:44,45,47)."

How will the proponents of democracy in the Islamic world disabuse these people of the notion that to institute democracy would be to exchange God's law for human laws?

"What has a secular political system given the Western world? Admittedly, it has allowed them to gain great wealth, power and technological expertise; but, at what expense? Their secularism has brought with it skepticism in thought, confusion in values, expediency in standards, vulgarity in behaviour, and opportunism in diplomacy. Modern man has learned to fly through the air like a bird and swim through the oceans like a fish, but he has failed to learn how to live on the Earth like a human being.

"The political system in Islam is to help those it governs be successful in the practice of a right Islamic way of life. 'And grant from Thee a ruling authority as an aid for me,' ([Qur'an] 17:80). An Islamic world society cannot have a secular political system. For the Islamic world to exist there must be an Islamic State."

And from alminbar.net, a lovely sermon entitled "The Menace of the Jews."

Some highlights from a summary provided at the site: "Jews are a source of evil and enmity against them is part of our faith. . . . Nationalism has not and can never bring any benefit to the Muslims. . . . Our war against the Jews can only be conducted according to the principles of Islaam. . . . The miserable predicament of contemporary Muslims and the role of the sick-hearted Muslims and hypocrites in calling for peace settlements. . . . The Jews never keep their covenants and our war against them is continuous."

Then comes the sermon itself: "The Jews, who are the nation of pigs and monkeys . . ."

This is an extremely common designation for Jews among radical Muslims. It is based on Suras 2:62-65, 5:59-60, and 7:166 of the Qur'an, in which Allah curses a group of Jews and transforms them into pigs and monkeys.

Picking up where we left off: ". . . are nothing but a source of evil, corruption, tribulation and war. Hatred against the Muslims is inherited by every generation of Jews who in turn teach it to their children. Our enmity and hostility against them is based on our faith. The Jews have never and will never lower the banner of war against us Muslims; it is a war between truth and falsehood, belief and disbelief. It is a war between the truth of Islaam and the falsehood of Judaism. The Jews will never stop adding fuel to the fire of war, nor will they ever stop plotting against us. Whenever the fire of one battle is extinguished, they light another. . . .

"Nationalism has been devastated and humiliated repeatedly in its war against the monkeys and pigs over the past forty years. The nationalists, who fought for the sake of land and olive fields, have strayed far away from Islaam and have refused to base this war against the Jews on Islamic principles. The Jews rush towards their religion searching for ways of unity, strength and victory, while the nationalists run away from their religion. They have kept their people pre-occupied with empty slogans which are of no benefit. . . .

"The reality of our war against the Jews is that it is a religious war which cannot be conducted except according to the principles of Islaam which are clearly defined. Allaah says that which translates as: 'Fight those who do not believe in Allaah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allaah and His Messenger have made unlawful and do not adopt the religion of truth [i.e., Islaam] from those who were given the scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah (protection tax) willingly while they are humbled.' (At-Tawbah: 29)."

At-Tawbah is the 9th sura of the Qur'an. "From those who have been given the scripture" refers primarily to Jews and Christians. So this sermon is a prime example of a radical Muslim quoting the Qur'an to justify violence on the contemporary scene. I have quoted this verse and other verses of the Qur'an many times in discussions with Muslim spokesmen, and they have invariably assured me that the great book is peaceful, and that Muslims do not understand such passages as calling them to violence. Indeed, many have suggested that it is I who make the equation between the Qur'an and violence, out of bigotry or hatred. No doubt many gullible non-Muslims in the U.S. and Europe believe that sort of appeal. But this sermon is just one of many examples of the fact that it is not Western non-Muslim analysts who have made a connection between the Qur'an and violence; it is Muslims themselves. Until they stop doing so and renounce the theological ideas quoted above, religious violence will continue in our age.

In a long story about the goings-on at the White House after Saddam was captured, the Washington Post reports that "the administration was so conscious of how the news would play in the Arab world that Bush canceled plans to attend St. John's Church, an Episcopal congregation in Washington, yesterday morning because he did not want that to be the setting for his first public appearance after the capture."

Good thinking. This will probably put an end to all the "Crusader Bush" rhetoric in the Islamic world.

This just in from Afghanistan's Loya Jirga: "A former president and moderate Jihadi leader has been elected to head the Afghan constitutional assembly, which is to debate and approve the country's nation-building document, officials said on Monday." So says Xinhuanet of China.

What on earth is a moderate jihadi? Someone who believes in slaying not all, but just some of the unbelievers wherever he finds them?

"Sibghatullah Mujadadi was elected late Sunday as chairman of the constitutional Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, to oversee fierce debates on many issues of the country's future constitution expected in the coming days. Mujadadi, known for his outspokenness among Afghan political leaders, won an overwhelming vote in an election for the head of the assembly.

"Out of 489 delegates attending the election following the opening ceremony, 252 of them cast their votes in favor of Mujadadi, the assembly's acting chairman Pir Syed Ahmad Gilani announced. Mujadadi, who leads the moderate party of the Afghan National Liberation Front, is among important Jihadi figures who fought against the Soviet occupation of the country in 1980s.

"He became a rotatory president of the power-sharing Mujahidin government formed among different anti-Soviet factions in 1992, but the loose coalition collapsed eight months later, resulting inyears of civil conflicts in the country.

"The Loya Jirga, opened by former king Zahir Shah earlier on Sunday morning, is expected to discuss and ratify a new constitution which would pave the way for next year's general elections.

"Over 500 delegates from across the war-battered Afghanistan gathered at the assembly to decide on fundamental issues, like Islam's role, women's rights and the future political system, for a country, which had been ruled by the hard-line Taliban regime for six years.

"Many of the bearded delegates wearing traditional turbans welcomed Mujadadi's election as chairman of the constitutional assembly with applause and the Islamic slogan of 'God is Great'.

"'We the Afghans gave huge sacrifice for Islam and want the constitution to be based on Islamic principles,' said a cheerful Mujadadi, who was nominated by President Hamid Karzai as Loya Jirga delegate three days before the assembly opening."

From The Cutting Edge in Australia: "It was not your typical wedding. The guests shouted 'Jihad! Jihad!' and sang 'May a volcano shatter the infidels'. The wedding video, shot in Hamburg in the 1990s, featured many names that would later feature in inquiries into the September 11 attacks.

"Evidence of al-Qaeda's Hamburg cell was one of many things the CIA and the FBI overlooked or underestimated in the '90s, despite mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden was planning a big terrorist action on US soil following the 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre.

"American authorities caught snatches of the plan, but never saw the big picture until it was too late. In 1994, Philippines police arrested a terrorist who told of plans to crash a plane into the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The information was passed to America, but nothing happened.

"In Kuala Lumpur in 2000, al-Qaeda members met under the noses of CIA agents, who did not manage to bug their flat but did observe them repeatedly visiting Malaysia's twin towers. And all the while, al-Qaeda members were booking into American flying schools.

"This German documentary, made in the light of the joint congressional inquiry into September 11, interviews many key players. The last slip-up came on September 10, when the National Security Agency taped an al-Qaeda phone call: 'Tomorrow is zero house. Tomorrow the great game begins.' It was not translated until September 12."

A question: what has changed since then to keep the FBI and CIA from overlooking or underestimating evidence of radical Muslim activity since then?

Omar or Osama?

We may get a fresh indication of how tiny the tiny minority of extremists really is from this new poll. The Middle East Broadcasting Centre is holding voting for the "Greatest Arab of All Time," and surprise of surprises, Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are in the running.

"An Arabic television channel began accepting nominations last week, after buying the format for the popular programme from the BBC. Thousands have already logged on to the website for the series or sent text messages to vote for their preferred candidate." This from the Telegraph, with thanks to nicolei.

"Both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have already received votes. Other nominations include Saladin, famous for having recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders; Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader; King Abdul Aziz al Saud, the creator of modern Saudi Arabia; and Omar Sharif."

Well, Omar Sharif gets my vote in that crowd. But I suspect that Osama may outpoll him.

Saddam and Arafat in happier days (BBC photo)

The tiny minority of extremists was downhearted yesterday: "Palestinians in the West Bank reacted with shock and disbelief to the capture of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, with many expressing deep disappointment that the man who symbolized defiance against the US and Israel surrendered without resistance." This from the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Maria Sliwa.

"For many ordinary Palestinians, the TV footage of a disheveled Saddam obediently submitting to a medical exam by his U.S. captors was painful to watch: it sealed the defeat of the one Arab leader they felt always stood by them. . . .

"Saddam should have put up a fight or committed suicide, they said, and his surrender is a stain on Arab honor. 'It is a big defeat for all Arabs and Muslims,' said Raji Hassan, 29, watching TV with friends in a Gaza City coffee shop."

Arafat wasn't feeling too well either: "The Palestinian Authority declined to comment on the arrest of Saddam, but a senior PA official in Ramallah said Yasser Arafat was 'saddened' by the news from Baghdad. 'President Arafat was sad to see an Arab leader in an humiliating position,' said the official. . . .

"In the past three years, Saddam was the only Arab leader to pay millions of Dollars to the families of Palestinian victims of the violence. Families of suicide bombers received up to $10,000, while those whose houses were destroyed by the IDF were given $20,000.

"The payments further boosted Saddam's popularity among the Palestinians, particularly at a time when Arafat was handing out smaller sums to his people. Earlier this year, Palestinians demonstrated in favor of Saddam when the US threatened to invade Iraq and topple his regime. At the rallies they chanted, 'O beloved Saddam, bomb Tel Aviv.' . . .

"On the streets of Ramallah on Sunday, many Palestinians expressed sorrow and shock at the capture of Saddam. Jihan Ajlouni, a 24-year-old university student, said, 'This is a big loss for the Arab nation. Saddam was one of the great Arab leaders who supported the Palestinian people and many Arabs. We feel very sad today, and we say to all the traitors and collaborators: Don't rush to celebrate because there are millions of Saddams in the Arab world.'

"Fathi Salman, 50, a taxi driver, described the arrest of Saddam as a 'black day' for the Palestinians. 'This is a black day for all the Palestinians and all the Arabs and Muslims,' he said. 'I still can't believe that President Saddam has been captured by the Americans. Saddam was the only Arab leader who cared about us. He supported the Palestinian cause from the beginning. His arrest is a major setback for the Palestinians. It's a pity that he didn't fight.'

"Khairiyeh Said, 43, a high-school teacher, said she wept when she watched Saddam in captivity. 'I was sitting with my friends when we heard the bad news,' she added. 'We all started crying because we love Saddam and we hate [US President George W.] Bush and [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon. This is a big victory for Bush and Sharon and all the enemies of the Palestinian people. We hope the Iraqi resistance will now teach the American dogs a good lesson.'

"Michael Hanna a 28-year-old engineer was one of the few Palestinians who said they were happy that Saddam was captured by the Americans. 'Saddam is responsible for the killing of thousands of his own people and he deserves to die,' he said. 'I have no sympathy for him or other Arab dictators. I hope he will be put on trial and executed. This should be a lesson for other corrupt and tyrant Arab leaders. I hope the Iraqi people will now be able to live in peace because they have suffered for a long time under Saddam and his sons.'

"Palestinian legislator Hatem Abdel Kader said he too hope that Saddam's captue would serve as a lesson for the rest of the Arab dictators. 'I think the Iraqis can finally celebrate their birthday,' he said. 'This is the fate of all tyrants. This is a humiliating end for a dictator, but we wish he had been caught by the Iraqis and not the Americans.'

"Abdel Kader, one of the top Fatah leaders, said many Palestinians were disappointed that Saddam did not try to defend himself. 'It would have been better if he had been killed,' he added. 'At least he would have died in an honorable way. It's a happy and sad ending for a dictator and I hope that this would be a lesson for all the other Arab dictators. This shows that all tyrants are cowards.'"

"Mohammed Horani, a legislator from Arafat's ruling Fatah movement, said he had expected Saddam to be more courageous. 'I had expected him to have fought back, or at least end his life,' he said. 'But then again, all dictators are cowards.'"

Saddam has been captured, but the jihad continues. Although the jihadis have received a huge blow, the ideological basis of the global jihad movement, which is not based on the charismatic appeal of any leader but on elements of Islamic theology and law, ensures that the movement will continue. Jihadis fought for Saddam despite his dubious piety because Islamic law stipulates that jihad must continue even if a Muslim leader is a tyrant; they certainly won't be giving up now that he is out of action.

A bit of evidence for this comes from Afghanistan, where "a Taliban commander once held at the US military base in Guantanamo but released in July is reportedly back in Afghanistan and in charge of attacks against US forces there."

"Sources in Pakistan and Afghanistan have told Time magazine that Mullah Shehzada, who was among 16 Afghans freed from the US base in Cuba, masterminded a jailbreak in Kandahar in October in which 41 captured Taliban burrowed under prison walls with help from bribed guards.

"A deputy to Taliban army chief Mullah Fazal Mazloom before his capture during the 2001 Afghanistan war, Shehzada allegedly seized control of Taliban operations against US forces and their Afghan allies in the southern part of the country once he was back in Afghanistan.

"Asked why Shehzada had resumed attacks on US forces, Taliban spokesman Hamid Agha said: 'Once a Taliban, always a Taliban. Now he wants revenge.'

"The Pentagon declined to comment on the report, the weekly said." That's understandable. After all, somebody there made the decision to free this man.

The Mandaeans, a still-existing Gnostic sect of ancient origin that Elizabeth Kendall of the World Evangelical Alliance calls the "first cousins to Christians," are being persecuted by Shiite Muslims in Iraq. Few, of course, have noticed. Five Mandaean houses of worship have been closed by Muslims in Iraq in the past few months. Several fatwas by Shiite clergy have been issues against the Mandaeans since the fall of the Hussein regime, stating that they are unclean people. Since they are not technically "People of the Book" -- who enjoy a specific (although still inferior) status in Islamic law -- they are more vulnerable than even Christians and Jews.

There have also been several horrendous murders by Muslim mobs against
Mandaean men and a number of rapes of Mandaean women. They are particularly vulnerable while celebrating their liturgy, as it includes frequent baptisms by rivers. So, their mandis (their houses of worship) must always be by rivers and they are visible -- and therefore vulnerable -- while performing their baptism rituals, wrapped in white cloths with white hoods.

Also, their cultural patrimony is being destroyed. Here is a recent firsthand account of their plight, forwarded to me by Fr. Keith Roderick:

"The Mandæans have a vast literature in Aramaic, written in Mandæic script. Much of this literature is very ancient. The man usually thought to be the most ancient Mandæan scribe, Zazai of Gawazta, is datable to around the year AD 270. Recent research in the colophons of Mandæan manuscripts dates a woman scribe, Slama daughter of Qidra, to approximately AD 200. The Mandæan Holy Book, the GINZA (Treasury), contains the teachings of John the Baptist. For two millenia, the Ginza has been transcribed by Mandæan priests, always in the same format. The Ginza is separated into a right and left part, Ginza Right and Ginza Left, and the two parts are organized in such a way that on reaching the end of Right Ginza, a reader must turn the volume upside down to read Ginza Left. The two parts face each other in the manner of two inscribed bowls enclosing the text within. Some scholars think that this may very well be the Ginza's model, for traditional Mandæan inscribed clay bowls are often found buried in this same fashion. The Ginza does not incorporate the Old Testament but does include much related to it. For example, the Ginza includes an interesting recension of psalm 114, which some scholars have argued preserves the original better than does the Massoretic Text (while other scholars have not accepted that view). On 19 December this year the Mandæan Church will celebrate their Commemoration of Noah. Tractate 8 of Right Ginza is words of wisdom of John the Baptist, a fascinating document which I hope (D.V.) to do some work on next year. The Ginza is always a codex, as is the Drasia d-Iahia, while other Mandæan books are commonly scrolls. Christians early adopted the codex form exclusively for their Scriptures and other books, while Jews continued to use scrolls exclusively. Mandæans continue to use both forms. The Ginza contains significant parallels and points of contact with both the Old Testament and the New Testament, particularly in tractate GR 8, which is made up of words of wisdom from John the Baptist.

"Supplementary to the Ginza is the Drasia d-Iahia, (sometimes called Book of
the Angels) which, besides much else, also contains some material attributed to John the Baptist. This appears to be later than the Ginza. The Qolasta is the canonical prayer book of the Mandæans. It includes interesting references to John the Baptist's mother, Elizabeth and her cousin Mary. Most Mandæan manuscripts remain in Mandæan hands in Iraq and Iran. These include many works unknown in the West. We fear that these may now be destroyed by Muslims. Three days ago a heartbroken Mandæan priest was telling me how his beloved library of 20,000 books, including 40 esoteric Mandæan manuscripts with wonderful Mandæan artwork, had been destroyed by Shi'ite Muslims shortly after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. The Mandæan Corpus should be seen as part of the cultural inheritance of mankind. Its destruction by ignorant Muslim fanatics would be a loss to all humanity."

Saddam in custody

As news came out of Muhammad Atta's having been trained in Iraq, Saddam has been captured. "Without a single shot being fired, U.S. military forces captured former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as he hid in the bottom of a hole in a home near Tikrit, officials announced at a Baghdad press conference." The story is from Fox.

Atta

"Mohammed Atta, the hijacker believed to be the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, was trained in Baghdad by Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal, claims Iraq's coalition government." So says WND.

"The leaders says a handwritten secret memo to Saddam Hussein gives details of a visit by Atta to the Iraqi capital in the summer of 2001, just weeks before the attacks, reports the London Telegraph.

"'We are uncovering evidence all the time of Saddam's involvement with al-Qaida,' said Dr Ayad Allawi, a member of Iraq's ruling seven-man presidential committee, according to the London paper. 'But this is the most compelling piece of evidence that we have found so far,' he said. 'It shows that not only did Saddam have contacts with al-Qaida, he had contact with those responsible for the September 11 attacks.'

"The memo, obtained exclusively by the Telegraph, was written by Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, the former head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.

"Dated July 1, 2001, it outlines a three-day 'work program' for Atta at Abu Nidal's base in Baghdad, the Telegraph said. Abu Nidal, headquartered in Baghdad for more than 20 years, was responsible for the failed assassination of the Israeli ambassador to London in 1982.

"Habbush, according to the memo, says Atta 'displayed extraordinary effort' and demonstrated his ability to lead the team that would be 'responsible for attacking the targets that we have agreed to destroy,' the Telegraph reported.

"The paper said the memo's second part, titled 'Niger Shipment,' has a report on an unspecified shipment believed to be uranium. The memo says it had been transported to Iraq via Libya and Syria.

"Allawi insists the document is genuine, although Iraqi officials refuse to disclose how they obtained it. The Telegraph noted although Atta is known to have resided in Florida in the summer of 2001, intelligence experts believe he easily could have slipped out of the U.S. because he was known to have used more than a dozen aliases.

"Abu Nidal died in August 2002. Arab intelligence sources dispute the official Iraqi version of his death - that he committed suicide after his arrest by Iraqi agents. The sources said Abu Nidal, or Sabri Al Bana, was killed by Iraqi agents in his Baghdad office several days before his death was reported Aug. 19. The news about the memo comes after the New York Times reported a former Iraqi intelligence officer has denied claims he met with Atta in Prague."

Here is a report from WorldNetDaily with more on the California judge's ruling that it's fine for public school students to be taught Islam out of a workbook that teaches the religion as fact. As I said yesterday, I am an expert witness in this case and so I can't say much pending an appeal; however, you will be hearing a great deal more about this case from me in the future.

"Requiring seventh-grade students to pretend they're Muslims, wear Islamic garb, memorize verses from the Quran, pray to Allah and even to play 'jihad games' in California public schools has been legally upheld by a federal judge, who has dismissed a highly publicized lawsuit brought by several Christian students and their parents."

This may be a bit heated. The "jihad game," as I recall, was actually just a question-and-answer game. The problem is that many of the answers took for granted the truth of the Islamic religion.

"As WND reported in July of last year, the suit was filed by the Thomas More Law Center against the Byron Union School District and various school officials to stop the use of the 'Islam simulation' materials and methods used in the Excelsior Elementary School in Byron, Calif.

"In her 22-page ruling announced Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton said Excelsior is not indoctrinating students about Islam when it requires them to adopt Muslim names and pray to Allah as part of a history and geography class, but rather is just teaching them about the Muslim religion."

Here again: some did memorize parts of the Qur'an, including the Fatiha (Sura 1), which is a widely-used prayer in Islam, but they didn't actually pray. That may be a distinction without a difference, but the thing was bad enough without exaggerating its faults.

"When WorldNetDaily first reported the story in January 2002 - shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks committed by 19 Islamist terrorists - major controversy ensued nationwide.

"The World History and Geography class in question is part of a curriculum being taught to seventh-graders all over the state, and is included in the state's curriculum standards required by the state board of education. Although the standards outline what subjects should be taught and will be included in state assessment tests, they don't mandate how they're to be taught.

"In the three-week course, Excelsior teacher Brooke Carlin had students assume Islamic names, recite prayers in class, memorize and recite verses from the Quran, and had them simulate Ramadan fasting by going without something for a day. The final test required students to critique Muslim culture.

"The Islam simulations at Excelsior are outlined in the state-adopted textbook 'Across the Centuries,' published by Houghton Mifflin, which prompts students to imagine they are Islamic soldiers and Muslims on a Mecca pilgrimage. The lawsuit also alleges students were encouraged to use such phrases in their speech as 'Allah Akbar,' which is Arabic for 'God is great,' and were required to fast during lunch period to simulate fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

"Nevertheless, the judge ruled the program was devoid of 'any devotional or religious intent,' and as therefore educational, not religious in nature.

"However, Richard Thompson, chief counsel for Thomas More, points to what he calls an obvious double standard. 'While public schools prohibit Christian students from reading the Bible, praying, displaying the Ten Commandments, and even mentioning the word "God," students in California are being indoctrinated into the religion of Islam,' he told WND on filing the lawsuit. 'Public schools would never tolerate teaching Christianity in this way. Just imagine the ACLU's outcry if students were told that they had to pray the Lord's Prayer, memorize the Ten Commandments, use such phrases as "Jesus is the Messiah," and fast during Lent,' he added.

"According to Thompson, 'Although it is constitutional for public schools to have an instructional program about comparative religion or teach about religion and utilize religious books such as the Bible in courses about our history and culture, the Byron Union School District crossed way over the constitutional line when it coerced impressionable 12-year-olds to engage in particular religious rituals and worship, simulated or not.'

"However, Byron Superintendent Peggy Green defended the program: 'Dressing up in costume, role-playing and simulation games are all used to stimulate class discussion and are common teaching practices used in other subjects as well.'

"And Excelsior Principal Nancie Castro maintained, 'At no point do we teach or endorse religion; we teach about religions' impact from a historical context. ... This is the state-approved curriculum, using state-adopted textbooks and has been part of the instructional program in California for over a decade.'

"Yesterday, Thompson told WND that his legal team believed from the start that, regardless of who won the first round, this case would go to appeal - and that is exactly where he wants it to go. With some irony, Thompson points out that the appeal would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"'This is the court that said, in the "Under God" Pledge case, that the mere expression "One nation under God" [recited in a public school] violates the Constitution,' said Thompson. 'It will be very interesting to see how they deal with this Byron School District case where students are basically required to become Muslims for three weeks!'

"While the Thomas More Law Center is intent on appealing the case, it is awaiting word from the plaintiffs as to their intent."

In an unsigned editorial, National Post ridicules the idea that Canadians need be concerned about the prospect of the implementation of the Sharia.

The editorial explains that a possible Sharia court in Canada "will invite consenting Muslims to submit disputes about marriage, money and other civil matters to arbitrators schooled in the precepts of Islamic religious law. Assuming the decisions are otherwise consistent with federal law . . . , these Sharia judgments would then be enforceable in Canadian courts."

That consistency with federal law makes all the difference: "The question of how much would be left of Sharia after courts strip away everything that is sexist or otherwise prohibited is an interesting question -- but not one we need to deal with here. Our point is that giving Muslims the right to apply Sharia in the resolution of mundane civil disputes will not lead to the stoning of adulterous women -- or any other scandalous result. In other words, while the combination of Ontario arbitration law and Sharia may titillate the blogosphere, Canadians have little to fear."

That sounds reasonable, and I'm sure that that is indeed the framework within which Sharia is being introduced in Canada. However, I wonder what will happen when a group that is growing rapidly in numbers and influence begins to call for changes in that federal law on multiculturalist grounds, charging that their freedom to be who they are is being infringed by statutes that restrict full implementation of Sharia among themselves. Then if that group becomes a majority in the country, I wonder if any among them will remember the pronouncements of many learned jurists of their faith to the effect that once their group is a majority in a nation, Sharia must become of the law of the land.

Will any of this happen? Maybe not. But I wouldn't go so far as to assume that it cannot happen.

Federal law-enforcement authorities yesterday identified a Somali man arrested this week in Minneapolis on suspicion of associating with the al Qaeda terrorist network as a Canadian citizen and college student." So says the Washington Times.

"Mohammed A. Warsame, who was taken into custody on Tuesday on a material witness warrant, also has been tied to Zacarias Moussaoui, the suspected al Qaeda member who faces trial in Virginia on conspiracy charges in the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, authorities said.

"Mr. Warsame, according to authorities, is believed to have knowledge of Moussaoui's activities in the Minneapolis area when the French Moroccan is suspected of seeking flying lessons prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. . . .

"Authorities also confirmed that Mr. Warsame is believed to have information on Moussaoui's activities in an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan. Moussaoui was arrested before the September 11 attacks by FBI agents and held on immigration charges.

"Mr. Warsame's wife, Fartun Farah, 28, described her husband as a responsible man, telling the newspaper through a translator that 'he is not a terrorist. He loves the United States just like his home country of Canada.'"

One sees this kind of thing so often, I must note that someone who wants to see America or Canada become an Islamic state and who is willing to kill to help bring this about see it all as a function of loving one's country. If a radical Muslim loves his country, he wants to see it become a Sharia state. So for his wife to say this really says nothing about whether or not he is a terrorist.

"Authorities said Mr. Warsame has been a student at Minneapolis Community Technical College for the past two years, where he was pursuing a career in computer sciences.

"Moussaoui, 35, is the only person directly charged in the September 11 attacks that killed about 3,000 people. Some law-enforcement officials have described him as the intended '20th hijacker' had he not been in custody for immigration violations at the time. He has acknowledged belonging to al Qaeda, but has denied any involvement in the September 11 conspiracy. His trial has been delayed indefinitely while the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond rules on his right to question three al Qaeda operatives now being detained by the U.S. military. The government has refused to make the detainees available, saying Moussaoui's access to the prisoners posed a threat to national security."

Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi (Middle East Times)

Speaking of Islamikazes, Hamas official Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi has announced that "Bodies of Qassam men (Hamas suicide bombers) will continue to blow up in the depth of the Zionist entity." He said this before what Reuters described as "a cheering crowd in Jabalya refugee camp."

Hamas, "sworn to the Jewish state's destruction, has led the three-year-old Palestinian uprising. It views with suspicion the U.S.-led 'road map' to peace calling for steps leading to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, alongside Israel. 'We will not allow any of those burnouts to sell out Palestine,' Rantissi said in an apparent allusion to Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, who on formally taking office last month vowed to restart the stalled plan if Israel reciprocated.

"Rantissi also railed against the 'Geneva Accord,' a symbolic peace initiative calling for most Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza to be dismantled and for Israel to have the right to decide how many Palestinian refugees to take back. 'I tell those that signed the Geneva Accord that Palestine (Israel and the occupied territories) will never be Jewish,' Rantissi told a crowd including dozens of gunmen. . . .

"Scores of Hamas militants on Israel's wanted list turned out for today's rallies, having spent months dodging Israeli helicopter-gunship strikes and special forces. 'I tell the Palestinian people not to be deceived by the relative calm,' Rantissi said. 'Jihad is coming and Sharon and his Zionist gangs will realize Palestine has its own fighters.'"

"A federal judge has ruled that a California school district didn't violate the Constitution when it taught seventh-graders about Islam." This from AP, with thanks to nicolei.

"Parents who sued the Byron Union School District said students were required to participate in role-playing. It included wearing Muslim clothing, saying Islamic prayers and giving up candy for a day to demonstrate the principle of daytime fasting during Ramadan.

"Critics said the lessons crossed the line between instruction and indoctrination.
School officials said parents were given the option of not having their children participate.

"Federal Judge Phyllis Hamilton found that there was no evidence that students were doing activities with devotional or religious intent.

"But the plaintiffs' attorney says the ruling reveals 'a double standard when you're dealing with religious issues in public schools -- one for Christians and one for all the other faiths.'"

I was an expert witness in this case, and will be bringing you much more information about it as circumstances allow.

Dr. Mohammed al-Shiekh Mahmood Sayam

Dr. Mohammed al-Shiekh Mahmood Sayam, who first called for "intifada against Zionism" in 1987, was recently interviewed by Asia Times Online. The interview reveals a great deal about the radical Muslim mindset.

Sayam numbers among his intellectual mentors several of the fathers of modern radical Islam whom I profile in Onward Muslim Soldiers. He acknowledges "learning from Syed Qutub (Sayyid Qutb) [the Muslim Brotherhood ideologue executed by the Egyptian government] that Islam should prevail over all the world. From Imam Banna [Hasanul Banna (Hasan Al-Banna), founder of the Muslim Brotherhood] I learned that jihad should be the way. From Imam Modudi [Syed Abul Ala Modudi (Maududi), founder of the Jamaat-i-Islami in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh] I learned that Koranic teachings should be dominant in the system of state. From the book of Imam Nadvi [Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi, the Jamaat-i-Islami India chief who later became a writer], The Rise and Fall of Muslim and its Influence on Human History, I learnt of the role Muslims should play in the world community."

Sayam traces a very important development: the evolution of the Palestinian movement from a nationalist to a religious one. "The dynamics of the movement changed," he says. "Leaders like George Habash and Yasser Arafat ran the movement on nationalist lines. Their decades-old struggle only resulted in frustration and retreats from basic Palestinian rights. In fact, Palestinians do not want to abdicate their rights, and as a result they joined Islamic organizations. Today's Palestinian does not want to compromise his position, and this is true of Muslims around the world."

Sayam also says that "if in the first place the Palestinians had been allowed to live in their homes there would have been no question of an intifada, the Islamic Jihad or Hamas. The whole episode is a reaction to the tyrannies imposed on us."

There's no doubt that if Israel hadn't been established, these movements would have no purpose. But the existence of radical Muslim movements elsewhere in the world demonstrates that Israel is not the source of the trouble.

Sayam says disingenuously: "Palestinians did not flourish on the aid given by Saddam, though it is correct that he supported bereaved families whose members were killed in struggle or whose houses were demolished."

"Families whose members were killed in the struggle": i.e., suicide bombers.

Also: "The intifada flourishes on public jihad funds raised all over the world, and we continue to receive these funds." (Thanks to nicolei.)

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Trouw)

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the courageous ex-Muslim Dutch MP whom I profile in Onward Muslim Soldiers, has run afoul of the dhimmis in her own party. "The Dutch Liberal VVD party has moved to stop its outspoken MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali from waging a solo campaign against Islamic schools in the Netherlands. The Somali-born politician had to hide out in the US temporarily in 2002 when her life was threatened due to her criticisms of Islam." This is from Expatica, with thanks to nicolei.

"VVD leader and Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm has indicated that he wants to see a halt to the creation of additional Islamic schools in the Netherlands, but Hirsi Ali has been accused of pushing the issue publicly without clearance from the party.

"Hirsi Ali was brought up as a Muslim in Somalia, but has attacked Islam for repressing women. In an interview with Trouw in January this year, Hirsi Ali described Islam as 'backward' and the Prophet Mohammed as a 'perverse tyrant'.

"'Mohammed is, judged by Western standards, a perverse man. A tyrant. If you don't do what he says, things won't go well for you. That makes me think of megalomaniac dictators in the Middle East, Osama Bin Laden, Ayatollah Khomeini and [former Iraqi dictator] Saddam Hussein.' She also said by modern standards the Prophet Mohammed had been perverse to marry a 12-year-old girl.

"More recently, Hirsi Ali has added her voice to growing criticism of Islamic schools in the Netherlands. The schools have been accused of fostering intolerance and preaching anti-Western doctrines.

"But a report by the government's schools inspectorate found, in contrast, that Islamic schools often contribute to integration into Dutch society. . . . Banning Islamic schools is a particularly thorny in a country where the freedom of religion is enshrined in the constitution. The VVD's main partner in the centre-right government coalition is the Christian Democrat CDA party.

"The CDA is worried trying to block Islamic schools could lead to a restriction on all religious education, including Christian schools.

"In 2002, populist politician Pim Fortuyn made it politically acceptable to question the country's multicultural policies and he was the first to say publicly that Islam was backward."

I don't approve of calling Islam "backward" myself. That implies a progressivist view of human development that I don't buy. The problem with Islam, as Fortuyn knew and Hirsi Ali knows, is not that it is backward or forward or sideways. It is that it contains elements that are exploited by radicals to wage war against secular societies, commit violence against innocents, and systematically mistreat non-Muslims and others. This is why Hirsi Ali is struggling against these schools. This is what moderate Muslims must decisively repudiate. (Thanks to nicolei.)

Did you hear? There was an international human rights conference in Saudi Arabia! There is a very good reason why you probably haven't. Joseph Kéchichian explains in Gulf News: "Although proceedings ended on October 15, a formal Declaration was not published until December 4 without, it is worth noting, serious analysis."

The conference, Kéchichian explains, was "held under the auspices of the Saudi Red Crescent Society." It "set out to identify 'different concepts of human rights in peace and armed conflicts,' and to distinguish whatever obstacles hindered the 'protection of human rights' in the Muslim world. It also purported to suggest a few solutions that would be compatible with Islamic law (Shariah)."

Well, there's your trouble right there. The Sharia simply isn't compatible with the idea of universal human rights, which it denies to dhimmis and others. Don't take my word for it: in Islam Unveiled I quote Sa'id Raja'i-Khorassani, who served in the 1980s as Permanent Delegate to the United Nations from the Islamic Republic of Iran. He declared that the idea of universal human rights was "a Judeo-Christian invention," foreign to Islam. His boss, the Ayatollah Khomeini, called Iran's approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights one of the Shah's "most despicable sins." Sure, there are millions of Muslims who no doubt accept the idea of universal human rights, but Khomeini's perspective is widespread, and there are many explicit provisions of the Sharia that are in direct contradiction to ideas of religious freedom and other issues.

Thus the assertion of this conference's Declaration "that human life and dignity are embedded in Shariah" is yet to be proven. (Thanks to nicolei.)

Here's an outstanding example of both dhimmi police work and dhimmi reporting: Reuters reports that "a car exploded in northern Italy early on Thursday, killing the 33-year-old Kuwaiti driver in what police said appeared to be more of a suicide bid rather than an attack on a nearby synagogue.

"'We think we're dealing with a suicide...It was more of an act of desperation than a subversive one,' a policeman in Modena, northern Italy, told Reuters. 'The man had shown uneasiness and problems relating to people in the past.'"

Yeah, those radical Muslim suicide bombers are such well-adjusted people, clearly a Muslim who has shown signs of "uneasiness" and "problems relating to people" must have been next to the synagogue by coincidence when he blew himself up.

"Jordanian-born Al Catib Muhammad Shafir Ammay, who had Kuwaiti citizenship, set himself on fire about 5 a.m. (0400 GMT). Police approached, and the car, which ran on flammable liquid propane gas (LPG), exploded, police said. No one else was hurt. The blast blew out windows and garage doors of nearby buildings. Police said the car was parked on a small, side street about 50 to 80 meters (yards) from the synagogue's main entrance."

This couldn't have any connection to the synagogue attacks in Turkey last month, or to the suicide bombing of Italians in Iraq? Naah. Just a random Jordanian from Kuwait, randomly exploding himself . . . again at random . . . just by chance next to, well, a randomly located synagogue . . . could just as easily have been a randomly located mosque . . . just a chance phenomenon all in all . . .

France has closed two nursery schools because, well, they were radical Muslim institutions. Don't laugh: in an environment where children are made to memorize the entire Qur'an before they learn their multiplication tables (and before they have a ghost of a chance of understanding what they're memorizing), it's quite possible that radical Muslims could be trying to indoctrinate even preschoolers. Possibly also they used the schools as a front for other activities.

The AP report says that "French officials have closed two Paris region nursery schools with alleged Islamic fundamentalist tendencies, the Interior Minister announced. 'Le Jardin des Enfants' and 'La Tribune des Enfants' in the Hauts-de-Seine region west of the capital were shut last week after officials were alerted to their suspected ties to radical Islam and administrative irregularities.

"Announcing the closures, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy described the schools as 'illegal schooling establishments under Salafist influence.'

"Salafists promote a strict interpretation of Islam. Sarkozy was speaking Wednesday in parliament. He said 101 people have been detained, and that 42 remain in prison, this year in France's battle against Islamic terrorism.

"'Those who don't respect the republican values and the laws of our country will be sent back to their countries and their establishments will be closed,' he said."

Iraqi Ba'ath Party members are not, of course, generally radical Muslims; Saddam Hussein was very tough on Islamic radicalism. Nevertheless, at this point, with Ba'athists fighting alongside jihadis against American forces in Iraq, it is a peculiar manifestation of the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" mentality that Yale played host to a couple of Ba'ath Party members yesterday. Would the International Affairs Council, the Orville Schell Human Rights Center, Women's and Gender Studies Program, the Women's Center, and the Yale Coalition for Peace, who together sponsored the event, really want to see a radical Muslim or resurgent Ba'athist regime in Iraq? Maybe they have so imbibed the subservient dhimmi mentality at this point that they really do.

In any case, for those who may be misled by Saddam's coolness to the mullahs into thinking that ultimately there is a major or serious distinction between Ba'athist Arabism and jihadist Islam, consider a statement of the founder of the Ba'ath Party, Michel Aflaq. Aflaq, an Orthodox Christian, converted to Islam and urged other Christians to do so, saying, "Islam is Arab Nationalism" (quoted in Sylvia Haim, Arab Nationalism, 1962, p. 64, with thanks to Bat Ye'or).

Jamie Kirchick of Yale reports on the event: "The speakers were introduced by the Rev. Patricia Ackerman, who conveniently hides behind the cloth as a not-so-subtle way of legitimizing her odious political agenda. She opened the event by stating that it was her intention to encourage 'interaction and dialogue,' and then went onto harp about how the second Iraq war will 'go down in history as a terrible, terrible disaster.' Hard to start a 'dialogue' when you use such incendiary language."

It got worse. One speaker, Amal Al-Khedairy, was confronted with a quote from a New Yorker story about her. Speaking of Saddam Hussein, she was quoted as saying: "There is something Americans never understand . . . And that is that this President [Saddam] is from these people, and he understands them. He shares their values. This country needs to be ruled with firmness, you know. And this firmness needs a little bit of cruelty."

Kirchick says that she explained that "she had been misquoted, that she had said 'firmness' instead of 'cruelty.'"

Of course. So she actually said: "And this firmness needs a little bit of firmness." Mm-hmm.

The other speaker, Iraqi journalist Nermin Al-Mufti, actually defended Saddam's secret police: "At least they knocked on the door." Says Kirchick: "Perhaps. By some accounts, so did the Gestapo. . . . Is it not clear to Rev. Ackerman that having Al-Mufti speak about Saddam Hussein is like having Josef Goebbels speak about Adolph Hitler?" (Thanks to Jerry Gordon.)

Sami Al-Arian (l) and James Yousef Yee (r) (AP)

Some documents have been shredded relating to the prosecution of Sami Al-Arian, the former professor who is accused of running a Palestinian Islamic Jihad cell in Florida. It was an accident, says the clerk's office for the Middle District of Florida, but it could severely damage the prosecution's case.

The documents in question: "three warrants and an affidavit that allowed investigators to search the home and offices of Sami al-Arian in 1995." On these depend "thousands of pieces of evidence gathered during the 1995 searches of al-Arian's home and offices -- coupled with bank records and intelligence wiretaps that were declassified last year," all of which "helped bolster the U.S. Department of Justice's case against him, officials said."

The defense is taking full advantage: "'We simply don't know whether the search and seizures were constitutional, but we have a right to know and we're going to find out,' said Tampa lawyer Linda Moreno, who along with Washington, D.C., attorney William Moffitt is representing al-Arian."

In fact, this could be a major boon for Al-Arian: "Legal experts said al-Arian's attorneys may have been handed a big break in what many view as a daunting case -- one that includes 20,000 hours of wiretapped conversations. . . . Miami lawyer Richard Strafer, a criminal appellate expert, said al-Arian's legal team could capitalize on the mistake because the initial warrants and affidavit formed a foundation for the overall indictment. 'The goal is to find the first illegal [warrant] and the dominoes start falling because everything becomes tainted,' Strafer said."

Meanwhile, in Georgia, "the criminal proceedings against Capt. James J. Yee, the former Muslim chaplain at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, fell into confusion on Tuesday and stalled as the military prosecutors asked for extra time to determine whether documents that were found in Captain Yee's luggage when he was leaving the base were, in fact, classified."

They have to find out whether or not the documents were classified? They don't know?? "The hearing was postponed until Jan. 19 to give the prosecutors time to review the documents that set off a major investigation into whether Captain Yee was a spy, a contention from which the government has since emphatically distanced itself."

This kind of bungling is not only appalling; it's dangerous. Al-Arian, despite years of investigations and mountains of evidence, could walk on a technicality, without the implications of that evidence ever being fully examined. He may not go back to his old bad habits after this experience, but still: while it's good to show the scrupulousness of our justice system, it would also send a signal that we may not have the nerve for this kind of prosecution. As for Yee, if he wasn't mishandling classified material, he never should have been bothered in the first place. There are other cases involving misuse of classified documents at Guantanamo, and this case is diverting time and manpower from them.

Of course, both these case still bear a great deal of watching. But I certainly hope that someone will put a stop to the bungling.

A church in the Pakistani village of Dajkot was attacked during a prayer service by a mob of Muslims. The "well attended prayer meeting" was interrupted by Muslims shouting, "You infidels, stop praying and accept Islam!"

The mob "entered the church and started beating the worshipers. The Muslim attackers desecrated the Holy Bible and broke every thing in the church. Its learned that most of the Muslim attackers were drunken and tried to rape women in the church which was prevented by some Christian youth who were also assaulted by sticks and were seriously injured." This from Pakistan Christian Post.

However, the police "refused to lodge any report," and at the local hospital, Muslim doctors ignored the injured Christians at the direction of an influential local Muslim.

Many Christians in the village have now moved elsewhere for safety reasons.

"Police are investigating whether Jack Thomas, the Melbourne man allegedly linked to al-Qa'ida, trained with a Jemaah Islamiah terrorist at a boot camp in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney." This from The Australian, with thanks to Jean-Luc.

"Sources have confirmed Mr Thomas, who is also known as Jihad Jack, has figured prominently in investigations."

"However, national security sources said yesterday that the training conducted there was in low-level hand-to-hand combat and survival techniques, and did not involve weapons or breach anti-terrorism laws. 'Karate training in the bush is a . . . long way short of a breach under the terror legislation,' a source said."

I can't believe how short-sighted this is! If Jemaah Islamiyah has a training camp in Australia, it doesn't matter if they're just practicing karate. Whatever they're doing is part of a much larger operation that murders civilians and is working to establish a Sharia state in South Asia. Australian authorities should view the camp in this light.

"Similar types of training are also understood to have taken place at two other undisclosed sites in NSW: one in Cooma, near the Snowy Mountains, and the other near Nelson Bay on the north coast. The sources say weapons have been known to be used at only one site - Braidwood in southern NSW, well before the Olympics. Authorities are still unsure about exactly what took place there, or whether the training posed an actual terror threat."

Meanwhile, in France, "Islamic radicals held training camps for potential recruits across France through 2002, Le Parisien newspaper reported Wednesday, adding that French investigators believe they have successfully dismantled the network running the camps. Recruits were sent to seven sites - including one in the Normandy city of Dieppe, one in the southeastern Alps, and a site in the Fontainebleau forest outside Paris - for rugged, outdoor exercises and religious and political indoctrination, the daily said.

"The purpose of the sites was to take untested candidates and determine whether they were fit for jihad in battle zones like Afghanistan and Chechnya, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed intelligence officer.

"Most recruits came from Paris-region mosques where religious leaders preached a hardline brand of Islam, the newspaper said."

The tiny minority of extremists may have found a new South Asia home base: "Bangladesh may be emerging as a haven for Islamic terrorists in South Asia, intelligence reports say." This from Straits Times, with thanks to nicolei.

"A report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) expressed concern about serious attacks by radicals on cultural groups in Bangladesh, hints of collusion with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda and the government's alleged unwillingness to crack down on terrorism. . . .

"After reading the report, Bangladesh's High Commissioner in Ottawa steadfastly denied his country had become a terrorist sanctuary. 'We condemn terrorism in any country, in any form, in any place,' Mr Mohsin Ali Khan said on Tuesday. 'Bangladesh is against any terrorist attack and it will not allow its soil to be used by any terrorist group.'"

Oh, good. That means there aren't any terrorists in Bangladesh.

"But the United States said on Tuesday that it had received information about possible threats against its embassy in Dhaka. It warned Americans in Bangladesh to be vigilant, particularly in places frequented by foreigners. 'The US government has recently received information regarding several possible threats against the US Embassy in Dhaka and other US interests in Bangladesh,' said the State Department. 'American citizens in Bangladesh should remain vigilant, particularly in public places frequented by foreigners, including but not limited to hotels, restaurants, shopping areas and places of worship.'"

Hot on the heels of news about a jihadist conference in Florida, "the director of a U.S. group that seeks democratic reform in Saudi Arabia complained yesterday about an upcoming conference in Texas that will feature addresses broadcast from Riyadh by clerics who have praised holy war and Osama bin Laden."

"Ali Ahmed, head of the Washington-based Saudi Institute, also noted that instructors at a Virginia Islamic institute who hold diplomatic credentials issued by the Saudi Embassy are scheduled to speak at the gathering.

"Keynote speakers at the three-day event in Houston, scheduled to begin Dec. 24, have espoused intolerance for Christians, Jews and Shiite Muslims. One of them, Sheikh Allamah Ibn Jibreen, has publicly urged young Saudis to join al Qaeda and fight U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Saudi Institute.

"Ahmed said he believes it is outrageous that the Saudi government is allowing the clerics to espouse their views while repressing groups, such as his, that urge reform.

"Saudi Embassy officials declined to discuss the upcoming conference. 'The embassy has no comment on something that hasn't happened yet,' said Michael Petruzzello, whose public relations firm represents the embassy. 'The preaching of incitement or extremism is prohibited in Saudi Arabia. If that's what happens, they'll deal with it after the conference.'

Oh. So they'll be allowed to preach incitement and extremism, despite their previous track records, and then punished afterwards while the effects of their words reverberate in Texas?

"Last week, a Saudi official said that the embassy would cease sponsoring the Fairfax-based Institute for Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America (IIASA), as part of Riyadh's recent efforts to curb the spread of extremist Islamic rhetoric. The diplomatic credentials of 16 clerics and instructors at IIASA who are accredited with the Saudi Embassy are being withdrawn, the official, who asked not to be identified, said this week. . . .

"Jibreen, who is to speak via video hookup from Saudi Arabia, is an influential cleric whose Web site is linked to the IIASA site. Ahmed said Jibreen praised bin Laden in a speech recorded in Saudi Arabia as recently as two months ago. 'Osama is a man who fought in the path of God for a long time,' Jibreen said, according to a translation provided by the Saudi Institute. 'May God aid him and bring victory to him and by him.'"

Two months ago! But haven't the Saudis been announcing that they're cracking down on extremism longer than that? After all, Adel Al-Jubeir told Tony Snow on FoxNews last May that "the crown prince has made it very clear in his address to the nation, we will go after the terrorists, those who support them, those who condone them. He issued a warning to anyone who uses religion to justify such acts, and he described anyone who does so as a partner to the terrorists who will suffer their fate." How did they miss Jibreen?

Not to mention these others: "Another cleric scheduled to speak via video hookup is Muhammad bin Abd al-Rahman al-Arifi, a student of Abdur-Rahman Baraak, a well-known cleric who has also praised bin Laden. A third cleric, Muhammad Saalih al-Munajid, who runs a Web site that promotes intolerance of Christians and Jews and calls for holy war on Shiite Muslims, has canceled his appearance. His Web site is also listed as a source of Islamic teaching by the IIASA."

Muhammad Saalih Al-Munajid is a charming fellow whom I quote in Onward Muslim Soldiers: Muslims, he said, must "educate the children to Jihad and to hatred of the Jews, the Christians, and the infidels."

"Saudi officials made the decision on the diplomatic visas after looking into claims that the IIASA, a satellite campus of al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, promoted an extremist brand of Islam that denigrates other religions."

You don't say!

"Last month, U.S. authorities revoked the diplomatic visa of Jaafar Idris, a well-known Islamic scholar who has lectured at IIASA and was slated to speak at the Texas conference.

"U.S. law enforcement officials have complained that a large number of Saudis with diplomatic visas do not have legitimate diplomatic business in this country."

That's interesting. What are they doing here?

"A Saudi official has said that Riyadh, concerned about the promotion of religious extremism, will close Islamic affairs offices in its embassies and no longer will provide diplomatic status to Saudi clerics teaching overseas."

Not so fast: another Saudi official has denied published reports saying that Saudis were going to close these notorious Islamic affairs offices. So the Saudi commitment to anti-terror efforts is still very much in doubt. (Thanks to "Allah.")

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (BBC)

"A new video from a rebel warlord in Afghanistan is urging an uprising against U.S. forces." This from AP.

"The recording features the renegade warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, saying that U.S. and NATO forces have been unable to restore security to the country. He urged Afghans to join in a holy war to drive out what he called 'infidel forces.'"

Note that he doesn't just call for an uprising. He calls for jihad, because no doubt he is aware that that kind of language is what will resonate most with the largest possible number of Afghans.

Although Hekmatyar had previously made conciliatory motions toward the Karzai regime, now "U.S. officials say the warlord's fighters have allied with remnants of the old Taliban regime in attacks on troops and international aid workers."

Metin Kaplan

"German police have raided hundreds of addresses in an operation targeting suspected Islamic militants. The searches were aimed at suspected members of the Caliphate State group, one of a number of groups banned after the 11 September attacks in the US." So says the BBC.

It's interesting to note that as Islamic advocacy groups press in the name of pluralism for recognition of what they present as Islam's great contributions to European history, other Muslims are working to establish Islamic states that will be governed according to Islamic law and thereby subjugate the non-Muslim populations.

"More than 5,000 police took part in the dawn raids in 13 of Germany's 16 states, searching apartments and seizing evidence. The federal prosecutor's office said the targets included the residences of four people suspected of planning attacks on as yet unspecified interests.

"The Caliphate State group calls for establishing an Islamic state in Turkey and is considered by the German Government to be potentially violent and a threat to security and social peace.

Mr Schily has described the group as a 'breeding ground for Islamic terrorists'.

"He said the raids were launched because Caliphate State members were violating a government order from December 2001 to disband, and the measures taken would be a clear warning to other Islamic extremists in the country.

"The Caliphate State was set up in 1984 by Metin Kaplan of Turkey, who finished a four-year prison term in March for inciting group members to murder a rival Islamic leader. Germany is currently trying to extradite Kaplan to Turkey, where he is wanted on treason charges."

Of course, we have heard threats before, and nothing happened. Muslims were warned to leave New York, Washington, and Los Angeles in November; can they come back yet?

Maybe only until February: MEMRI says that "the London-based Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that 'information sources close to Al-Qa'ida said that the organization, headed by Osama bin Laden, is gearing up for a big operation to coincide with Eid Al-Adha [February 2, 2004].' [Eid Al-Adha is a major Muslim holy day celebrated on the tenth day of Dhul Hijjah, the month of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.]

"The information coordinator for the Sahab Institute, which is associated with Al-Qa'ida, said that a new videotape of bin Laden will be circulated shortly before the holiday. He added in an interview with the Internet site Al-Anbaa [The News] that the videotape will surface in conjunction with 'a great event that will shake the region.' He refused to confirm or deny that he was in possession of a pre-taped videotape of bin Laden, and stated only that: 'When the event occurs it will be broadcast by Al-Jazeera television.'" I'm sure it will.

Esam Sohail in FrontPage makes a most welcome and long overdue statement: Silence in the war on terror is something Americans of Arab and Muslim descent cannot afford anymore."

He details some of the "dubious pronouncements" of, among others, Abdurrahman Alamoudi (formerly of the American Muslim Council, Nihad Awad of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Maher Hathout, senior adviser to the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and then declares: "A vast majority of America’s three million Muslims, some of them my relatives and friends, do not subscribe to that nonsense. They passionately love the country that has given them the chance to reach their dreams and they grieve for their friends and family lost in terrorist attacks. They hope their children grow up in a safe America, and they resent the stigma attached to their faith as a result of Islamist terror."

Now, these organizations have condemned terror also. But their "dubious pronouncements," and dubious actions, cast doubts on their words. The fact that Sohail condemns these organizations is a very good sign that his denunciation of terror is more truly substantive.

"It is unfortunate," says Sohail, "for every decent person concerned that the American Muslim community is defined through the likes of CAIR and MPAC. The power to change that unflattering image, however, is in the hands of Muslim America. By making the civic decision to actively join the front ranks in the American struggle against senseless terror, American Muslims make America’s fight undoubtedly their very own. Anyone, like myself, who has traveled widely in the Islamic world and America will notice the paradoxical difference in terms of Muslim religious freedoms. Unlike Pakistan or Iran or Saudi Arabia where smaller Muslim sects are ruthlessly suppressed, the United States provides a haven for all varieties of Islam to be practiced freely. Defending this freedom is not just George Bush’s fight, it is rightly American Muslims’ fight as well.

"The first order of business in this fight ought to be to reclaim Islam’s transcendent beauty by reclaiming America’s mosques, cultural centers, charities, and civic organizations from self-styled leaders who lack moral clarity on the defining issue of terrorism. Apart from creating a solid moral foundation for an essentially moral struggle, such an internal cleansing of Islamic institutions will send a much-needed message of reassurance to the rest of America.

"Secondly, America’s Muslims can use their strong transnational links to help build global social resistance against the petty merchants of religious bigotry. The prestige and social and familial networks that many successful immigrants have in their former homelands can be harnessed to turn up the heat on individuals and institutions in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Middle East that condone terror.

"Thirdly, perhaps most importantly in the short term, Muslim America can and must become the first line of defense in the uprooting of those in the United States whose anti-American hatred is shielded behind a community’s religious faith and traditional hospitality. In their homes and hearts, amidst their councils and convocations, ordinary Muslims can make a huge dent in the ideological foundations of terror by simply saying, 'If you don’t like America, you are not welcome amongst us.'

"Finally, as befitting any comprehensive struggle, America’s Muslims can and must become full partners in her direct confrontation with those who engage in terrorism and those who support or finance it. Apart from active service with the military and intelligence communities, Muslims here can play other key support roles. Be it as eyes and ears of law enforcement in ethnic neighborhoods, as cultural advisers to FBI field offices, or as public cheerleaders of terror-fighting agencies, American Muslims can contribute vitally to the nation’s pledge to uproot terrorism.

"Putting their hearts, souls, minds and resources on the line in this great American undertaking, this country’s Muslims can forever put to rest the nagging doubts about their loyalties. A true jihad against the al-Qaeda types could be the winning shot in the arm that the war on terror needs. Not to mention that in purely theological terms, defending America may well be something that is incumbent upon every Muslim in the United States.

"Just ask U.S. Army PFC Lana Sbitani, a Muslim American Military Policewoman in Hawaii who follows the timeless words of the Prophet Muhammad, ‘Patriotism is an unbreakable part of your faith.’

"‘I find no conflict between my religion and the idea that I must defend my country’, says Sbitani.

"America’s Muslims have an active choice between the ideals of Lana Sbitani or the ideologues of CAIR and AMC, a choice where silence passivity is construed as an endorsement of the latter. This vital choice will decide the place of Islam at America’s diverse family table."

I would like to see how Sohail would respond to the theological arguments of Islamic radicals, which enable them to gain recruits around the world. But denouncing CAIR, AMC, and the rest of that rogue's gallery is a most welcome development.

In FrontPage magazine, the ever-insightful Walid Phares analyzes yesterday's anti-terror demonstrations in Iraq — and the response, both incredulous and sinister, from Al-Jazeera and the Western media:

"Yesterday's demonstrations in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities were a benchmark: Iraq's resistance to terrorism has begun. Ironically, the first TV station to report such a revolutionary development was none other than al-Jazeera, the jihad channel across the Arab world. But the exclusive airing of such footages was not so innocent. The Qatar-based media understood much faster than Western networks the real dimensions of these marches. Therefore it decided to report it first, and, through condescending coverage, demean it in the eyes of Iraqi and Arab viewers, a traditional-yet-efficient subversive tactic. But whatever were the desperate attempts to pre-empt the unfolding realities, the latter rolled on.

"Almost 20,000 men and women - twice the number reported by al-Jazeera - marched across central Baghdad, while others repeated the move in different cities of Mesopotamia yesterday. The demonstrators, from all walks of life and from all religions and ethnicities of Iraq, shouted one slogan in Arabic: 'La' la' lil irhab. Na'am, na'am lil dimucratiya.' That is: 'No, no to terrorism. Yes, yes to Democracy!'

"Taking the streets of the former capital of the Ba'athist prison, Iraqi Shiite, Sunni, Kurds and Christians bonded together against the 'enemies of peace.' . . . But there was even a more significant element in the marches. Cadres from the 'Hizb al-Dawa al Islamiya' - a rather conservative Islamic 'movement' whose members were walking under the same banners of resistance to terrorism. Why? Well, we need to understand the Shi'a drama. By the day, mass graves are being uncovered with thousands of bodies of men, women and children, all massacred by the Saddam security. How on Earth would the Shiite majority ever accept the return to power of the Sunni-controlled Ba'ath Party?

"Let's note two matters about these demonstrations. First, they were almost not reported in much of the Western media. Until late last night in Europe and the Western Hemisphere, news focused on the operations against Coalition forces. But the Iraqi people's genuine calls for democracy were not heard, not seen, and not factored in the game. The BBC and CNN downplayed the events, while al-Jazeera mislead the Arab world about them. The jihad network spent more editorial energy undermining the objectives and the credibility of the event than reporting it.

"The anchors, to the disbelief of many viewers in the Arab world, said the marchers were 'expressing views against what they call terrorism' (emphasis added). Al-Jazeera evidently reserves to itself the definition of terrorism. Since September 11, the network has systematically added 'what they call terrorism' to each sentence reporting terror attacks by al-Qaeda, other jihadist factions and the Saddam. In sum, that is not terrorism, but a Western view of what is legitimate violence. But al-Jazeera's sour surprise with the first steps of popular resistance to jihadism in Baghdad took the network by surprise. As it was airing the segment, its anchors lost linguistic balance and added this time: 'The demonstrators are criticizing what they call violence!' Hence, the editors in Qatar were trapped ideologically. They couldn't even accept the idea that Arabs could be marching against violence, so they described tens of massacres and bombings as 'alleged violence,' (ma yusamma bil unf). The al-Jazeera debacle was probably the most important victory of the demonstration. . . .

"While the underdogs are barking freely in the streets of Baghdad, challenging the Ba'athist shadows and the jihadist terrorists, human rights and democracy groups in the West lack the courage to come to the rescue of their fellow progressive forces in the Middle East. As a group of Iraqi students told me, 'Isn't it terrible to see that Western elites came here to demonstrate in support of Saddam against the Coalition, and when we took the streets to demonstrate against the Saddam war crimes, they didn't show up?'

"A bomb attack on the US embassy near here was foiled when a Lebanese man and a Palestinian were arrested as one of them tried to carry explosives into the embassy compound, the Lebanese army said." So says AFP, with thanks to LGF.)

"The incident came just a week after the US State Department renewed a warning for US citizens to 'consider carefully' any travel to Lebanon, alerting them to continuing high anti-American sentiment there amid heightened tension in the Middle East. . . .

"The army did not identify either of the men, nor did it say whether they had any accomplices. It was not immediately known whether they belong to any political organization.

"Security sources said the Lebanese man, who was carrying a package containing sticks of dynamite, was nabbed by embassy security personnel and quickly turned over to the army. . . .

"Last Thursday, the State Department, updating a May 6 warning, noted that US interests had been the targets of terrorists in Lebanon in the past and that those responsible for many of the attacks remained at large.

"'Recent events in Lebanon, such as bombings directed at US franchises and the November 2002 murder of a US citizen in Sidon, underscore the need for caution and sound personal security precautions,' it said.

"The alert added that the perpetrators of anti-American attacks who remain at large 'retain the ability to act.'

"It also pointed to the presence of Asbat al-Ansar, a group apparently affiliated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network that has targeted US Lebanese interests, in Lebanon's Ain el-Helweh refugee camp.

"The warning added that the security situation in Lebanon was 'sufficiently serious' to require US diplomats and other government personnel to live and work under tough travel restrictions.

"At the end of September, 31 Lebanese and Palestinians went on trial before the military tribunal in Beirut, charged with participating in bomb attacks at three different American fast food restaurants and the attempted car-bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in the Christian sector of the capital.

"In October, Yemeni Ibn al-Shahid was arrested in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. Believed to be associated with Asbat al-Ansar, he was charged with being the mastermind of the attacks. The verdict in the trial is expected on Saturday.

"The current embassy complex was built after its predecessor, located on the Beirut seafront, was blown up by terrorists in 1983 during the 15-year-long Lebanese civil war. Only two months before that, 239 US marines were killed in a suicide bombing of their barracks in Beirut. They had been sent to Beirut as part of a multinational force that moved in following the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon."

Paul Harvey

In response to a demand for an apology from the Council on American Islamic Relations, Paul Harvey has issued this statement through an assistant: "Last week [Harvey] told you about bloody cockfights in Iraq and mentioned the relationship between Islam and violence. He says he received several letters from dear friends in the American Muslim community who expressed their disgust with those who have hijacked their religion to achieve their goal through violence. They reminded all of us that Islam is a religion of peace, that terrorists do not represent Islam."

Last week Harvey said that Islam "encourages killing." This new statement is not exactly an apology, but it is an affirmation of CAIR's central thesis: Islam is a peaceful religion that has been hijacked. Evidently the hijackers are a wily bunch, as they have even penetrated into CAIR itself: three of CAIR's employees have recently been arrested on terrorism-related charges. It would be refreshing to see CAIR stop attacking people like Harvey, who have abundant reasons to think that Islam and killing have something to do with each other, and instead focus on efforts to ensure that radical Islam and the doctrines of violent jihad are eradicated from the Muslim community in the U.S. and around the world.

Lee Malvo's drawing of Osama bin Laden, "servant of Allah"

Michelle Malkin has a superb piece in the New York Post today, in which she reminds us of how many people dismissed the possibility that the D.C. snipers might be jihadists.

"* CNN downplayed Muhammad's religious conversion - calling him by his old name, John Allen Williams, when his identity was first revealed. Malvo was cast as a clueless dupe with no true convictions.

"* Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) argued: 'There is no indication that this case is related to Islam or Muslims.'

"* Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper railed against conservative commentators such as the indomitable Mark Steyn, who had taken note of Muhammad's Islamic faith and his reportedly expressed anti-American sentiments after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"Roeper . . . smugly concluded: 'An awful lot of conservatives really, really wanted the snipers to be terrorists. But they were wrong. I'll say that because they never will.'

"Now it is time for Roeper, CAIR and the militant 'Religion of Peace' propagandists to face the facts once and for all. A chilling stack of evidence, introduced by Malvo's own lawyers last week at his capital murder trial, exposes accused sniper Malvo as an unrepentant Muslim extremist.

"He may not have been a card-carrying member of al Qaeda, but as Claremont Institute fellow John Hinderaker notes on Power-lineblog.com, Malvo was more of a 'freelance' Islamofascist - as legions of aggrieved fanatics around the world are.

"Malvo's violent drawings and anti-American and anti-Semitic rantings show him to be every bit as blood-thirsty, hatemongering and martyr-craving as any Sept. 11 hijacker or Palestinian suicide bomber. Among Malvo's jailhouse artwork:

"Exhibit 65-006: A self-portrait of Malvo in the cross hairs of a gun scope shouting, 'ALLAH AKBAR!' The word 'SALAAM' scrawled vertically. A poem: 'Many more will have to suffer. Many more will have to die. Don't ask me why.'

"Exhibit 65-016: A portrait of Saddam Hussein with the words 'INSHALLAH' and 'The Protector,' surrounded by rockets labeled 'chem' and 'nuk.'

"Exhibit 65-043: Father and son portrait of Malvo and Muhammad. 'We will kill them all. Jihad.'

"Exhibit 65-056: A self-portrait of Malvo as sniper, lying in wait, with his rifle. 'JIHAD' written in bold letters. . . .

"Exhibit 65-067: A suicide bomber labeled 'Hamas' walking into a McDonald's restaurant. Another drawing of the Twin Towers burning captioned: '85 percent chance Zionists did this.' More scrawls: 'ALLAH AKBAR,' 'JIHAD' and 'Islam will explode.'

"Exhibit 65-103: A lion accompanies chapter and verse from the Koran ('Sura 2:190'): 'Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you and slay them wherever ye catch them.'

"Exhibit 65-109: Portrait of Osama bin Laden, captioned 'Servant of Allah.' [Pictured above.]

"Exhibit 65-117: The White House drawn in crosshairs, surrounded by missiles, with a warning: 'Sep. 11 we will ensure will look like a picnic to you' and 'you will bleed to death little by little.' . . .

"Exhibit 65-101: Malvo's thought for the day: 'Islam the only true guidance, the way of peace.'"

How could he call it "the way of peace"? No problem. It must be emphasized that Islamic radicals believe that what they are doing is in service of ushering in the peace of Allah wherever they are victorious. They don't see this as in the least incompatible with violence.

Malkin continues: "Ten Americans were murdered at the hands of the Beltway-area snipers. Malvo's lawyers say he was insane and 'brainwashed.' No more so than your average madrassa student in Jeddah or America-hating cave dweller in Tora Bora. Malvo is, in his own words, a 'believer' of Allah and a 'soldier' for 'JIHAD.'

"Stop telling me Islam had nothing to do with it."

The media, by the way, is still getting it wrong. In looking around for the drawing above, I came across headlines like "Malvo's drawings reveal 'Matrix' obsession" and "Malvo's drawings attack U.S., racial bias." Sure, but a lot of people like "The Matrix" and are angry about racism, without going out and murdering people at gas stations. There was another element involved in this case that many are still reluctant to acknowledge.

UPDATE: Reader "corrupt mayor" tells me that the "poem" quoted above is actually a Bob Marley song, "Natural Mystic."

"An Indonesian accused of the bombing of Jakarta's Marriott hotel has told police the Australian International School and two other sites had been surveyed before the terrorists chose their target." So says The Australian, with thanks to nicolei.

"Forced to reconstruct the plan of the August 5 suicide bomb attack yesterday, Thohir explained that the five-star hotel was chosen over the school, the Citibank Landmark building and the western supermarket Kemchicks because it was frequented by Americans and owned by Americans.

"Thohir and his co-accused Ismael showed how the explosives were mixed and packed into a vehicle under the supervision of Azahari bin Husin, a leading Jemaah Islamiah terrorist and now one of the most wanted men in Indonesia.

"'I just feel guilty because there are some Muslim victims,' Ismael said of the blast that killed 11 Indonesians and a Dutch banker. 'Our purpose was to get Americans, because they oppress Muslims.'" Asked whether the bombing was a suicide attack, Ismael nodded.

"The Islamic Center of Greater Toledo in Perrysburg Township yesterday sponsored a four-hour symposium that considered how the media deals with religious issues, diversity, and tolerance." So says the Toledo Blade, with thanks to nicolei.

The article says that "Imam Farooq Aboelzahab, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, said he often is questioned during tours of the center about how Islam and terrorism are interconnected. The question shows the perception many Americans have of his religion, he said."

Imagine! Where would they get the idea that Islam and terrorism have any connection? It must be from all that unfair reporting out there. Surely they couldn't have gotten the idea that there was such a connection from Muslims like the Senegalese imam Mamour Fall, who praises Osama bin Laden as "a great man, a great strategist, a great Muslim." Or from Maulana Masood Azhar, who has said that "in Islam the only meaning of jihad was killing" and that it was "a conspiracy against Islam to say that Jihad was not killing." Or from any of the actions of the global network of terrorists that commits violence almost daily, quite explicitly in the name of Islam.

No, if people asked Imam Farooq about the connection between Islam and terrorism, they must have been influenced by biased reporting.

"European Muslims," according to Al-Jazeera, "have criticised the likely omission of all reference to Islam in the upcoming European Union constitution."

European Muslims "argue that Muslim Spain was a beacon to other parts of Europe in the Middle Ages, and was renowned for its advanced society."

This shows how useful the politically correct revisionism about Muslim Spain has become. In Onward Muslim Soldiers, I detail the realities of Muslim Spain that have been papered over by multiculturalist myth.

Said Dalil Boubakeur, imam of Paris's Grand Mosque: "If we stick to this Judaeo-Christian definition, in that case, let us at least bring in Islam." He spoke of the "cultural and artistic contribution of Islam everywhere in Europe."

Masud Shadjareh of Islamic Human Rights Commission in London added: "I think there is definitely a hidden agenda by xenophobes to have Europe designated as a Christain entity with a Christian history. If this happens then it effectively excludes Islam. I think this campaign may be motivated by a desire to keep Muslim Turkey out of the European Union. . . . I don't think there is a problem if religion isn't mentioned at all because that means nothing is being excluded. But if Christianity is specifically mentioned then, by implication, you are excluding other religions including Islam. This, of course, means you are denying that Europe is a multi-racial and multi-cultural place."

What Boubakeur and Shadjareh do not mention, of course, is that most of Europe was indeed for centuries a "Christian entity," with which the Muslim empire was in a perpetual state of war for a millennium, attacking from Spain (after it was conquered) in the West and Turkey in the East. They would be more honest if they acknowledged that France, Germany, Italy, etc. — as well as Spain itself — do indeed have a "Christian history," and that they are trying to change all that now. But no doubt they realize they stand more chance of success if they try to deny it altogether and rely on the short historical memories of Westerners.

It's ironic, also, that while they are trying to shame Europeans into denying their heritage, they would almost certainly defend stoutly the Islamic identities of Egypt, Syria, and even Turkey and other Muslim countries, despite the undeniable Christian histories and cultural patrimonies of those nations. (Thanks to nicolei.)

Asia Times recently interviewed a "failed jihadi" — a former jihad commander in Pakistan who now works as a "medical researcher for a Canadian company." (Thanks to nicolei.)

He left the struggle, he explains, because he realized that he was being used as a pawn by the Pakistani army in its conflict with India. Although he is not now actively fighting, he is still committed to the cause of jihad, explaining: "This is a matter of heart and soul, and cannot be given up. Do not get me wrong, I am committed to my cause, but cannot be cannon fodder for a simple 'military game' of two armies. Have you seen a horse and cart? The horse's owner puts leather blinkers close to its eyes so that it can only see what its master wants it to see, not look here or there. This is how the Pakistani army treats jihadi organizations. This is possible with animals, but not with a walking, talking and thinking human being."

About this man, the article says: "He was always considered extraordinary. He was an excellent pupil, a good cricketer, a natural student leader, and a popular teacher in the medical career that he chose to pursue. Then he decided on a radical change in direction. He would become a jihadi, undergo a six-month training program, and then die as a martyr in the Kashmir Valley." Why did he choose to do this? He himself explains that "I come from a Salafi [Wahhabi] family so I was a practicing Muslim to some extent. After completing my medical education I joined a college where I taught. I came close to a few Salafi scholars whose appeal for jihad inspired me. I prepared a program of six months under which I would go to Kashmir and sacrifice my life in the way of Allah."

This man was disillusioned by the cynicism of his commanders, whom he regarded as waging a struggle for power and territory in the name of jihad. Unfortunately, he left behind many others who had come to no such realization, and were soldiering on. This illustrates the potency of figures like Osama bin Laden, and why they take pains to present themselves as devout and wholly committed Muslims (which, of course, they are). In Onward Muslim Soldiers I discuss how jihadis insist on purity of intention. The flamboyant jihad commander Abu Abdel Aziz fought in Afghanistan and Bosnia in the 1980s and 1990s. In a 1994 interview he ruled out all mixed motives for jihad: "we have to make Jihad to make [Allah's] word supreme, not for a nationalistic cause, a tribal cause, a group feeling or any other cause. This matter is of great importance in this era, especially since many groups fight and want to see to it that their fighting is Jihad and their dead ones are martyrs. We have to investigate this matter and see under what banner one fights."

Abu Abdel Aziz (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Writing in Asia Times, Syed Saleem Shahzad has a provocative thesis about the Riyadh bombings: "The suicide bomb attack at the Muhaya residential compound in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh on November 9 in which at least 17 people were killed - most of them foreign Arabs - was neither an episode of global jihadi terrorism nor part of a conspiracy to destabilize the House of Saud."

What was it, then? "A Pakistani undercover intelligence operator who recently returned from Riyadh told Asia Times Online that the attack was in fact the result of a deep divide within Saudi society between strict religious conservatives with little exposure to the outside world, and a more 'liberal' element with the money and power to indulge in restricted activities.

"The compound attacked on November 9 was inhabited mainly by Lebanese, Palestinians and Egyptians, and it had earned notoriety as a 'pleasure ground' for Saudi 'playboys' in a country in which prostitution is outlawed. Apparently, some of the female residents of the compound were well known for their 'exotic erotica', for which they were showered with money and gifts.

"According to an Associated Press report, 'Muhaya had a coffee shop where residents of both sexes chatted over water pipes and watched foreign movies and other entertainment on a big screen television. It was located next to a pool where women swam in bikinis.'

"The goings-on in the compound were seemingly known to the authorities, including agents of the Saudi religious police - the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - but nothing had been done about it, much to the anger of conservatives who wanted to 'eliminate the evil in their society' and what they called the 'Arab brothel of Riyadh'."

So it was "conservatives," says Shahzad, who bombed this "brothel." He concludes that "the motives behind the Riyadh bomb blast were local and social, not political and global," although "it shows possible problems ahead."

This assertion actually coincides with the fact that the Riyadh bombing was intended to target non-Muslims — a claim made by radical Muslims (such as Britain's Al-Muhajiroun group, which declares that "unlike the media hype, which would have you believe that the targets are Muslims, the operations this Ramadan (and before) were clearly targeted at non-Muslims in Muslim countries and, in particular, those representing or connected with regimes at war with Islam and Muslims") and non-Muslims alike. Radical Muslims generally regard non-Muslims as being completely morally bankrupt, and the places where they live as hotbeds of vice — whether they are in reality or not.

So this Pakistani intelligence officer's information could be accurate even though his assessment that these attacks were not examples of jihad terrorism probably isn't. (Thanks to nicolei.)

ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION
Geneva, Switzerland

URGENT APPEAL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DAY (10 DECEMBER 2003)
To UN Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, Dr Bertrand Ramcharan

Islamist and Arab Judeophobia as a Growing Phenomenon of a revived Culture of Hate: The Continuing Use of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and the Medieval Blood Libel

On the 55th anniversary of the General Assembly’s adoption of the UDHR, we wish to express to you and to all your colleagues in UN bodies our deep dismay and grave concern over the continuous use of a genocidal century-old forgery, The Protocol of the Elders of Zion, as well as the medieval ‘blood libel’ accusating Jews of killing Christian children each year to mix their blood in the Passover Matzah. Two very recent examples highlight this revived culture of hate, which is regularly propagated in Arab/Muslim lands – uncondemned.

The new Alexandria Library was recently renovated with the help of the governments of Egypt and Italy and the collaboration of UNESCO – and in memory of the great Hellenistic Library of antiquity that had been a unique foundation of world knowledge and understanding. Thus, it was with consternation and sadness that we learned of the first exhibition in its manuscript museum that purported to display the sacred texts of the three monotheistic religions, while including an Arabic translation of The Protocol of the Elders of Zion, exhibited alongside the Hebrew Bible or Torah [sic] in the display case concerning Judaism. As director Dr Yusef Ziedan has explained: “it is only natural to place the book [The Protocols] in the framework of an exhibit of Torah [scrolls]”, as “it has become one of the sacred [tenets] of the Jews, next to their first constitution.” (Al-Usbu , Egypt, 17 Nov. 2003).

This Arabic translation by Muhammad Khalifa Al-Tunsi (from an English version of The Protocols) was first published in 1951 in Egypt, and often reprinted (1st Arabic edition from the French forgery: 1925/1927, Cairo).

In Syria, and elsewhere, there has been a continued rehash of the 1840 Damascus ‘Blood Libel’ accusation, particular by Defence Minister Mustafa Tlass in his 1983 book, The Matzah of Zion, constantly reprinted since as
a Tlass-editions best-seller in several languages, and confirmed by him again in 2003. This, even after the grisly scandal at the Commission on Human Rights in 1991 when Syria’s delegate brandished an illustrated and gory Arabic edition of The Matzah of Zion – to prove “the historical reality of Zionist racism.” General Tlass actually wrote in the preface to his book: “The Jew can kill you and take your blood in order to make his Zionist bread.”

During last month’s Ramadan, Hizbollah’s satellite TV channel Al-Manar — viewed worldwide — broadcast “Al-Shatat” (“Diaspora”), a 30-part Judeophobic/antisemitic “Syrian TV series recording the criminal history of Zionism” (as described in the Syria Times, Damascus, 11 Nov. 2003). Episode 20 depicts a rabbi teaching Jews of the perennial, spiritual need to cut a Christian child’s throat, mix in his blood and “taste the holy Passover matzo.”

Fortunately, a protest from UNESCO’s Director–General Koichiro Matsuura early last week led to the withdrawal of The Protocols from the Alexandria Library display on 6 December (IHT of 8 Dec. 2003), a welcome example of the power of enlightened protest. We await a protest against this Syrian ‘blood libel’.

On 17 June 2003, at a symposium in Vienna on “Antisemitism,” you stated: “Denial is not an option. Many people of course would like to deny the reality of anti-Semitism.” Your message then was clear: “So when you reflect on anti-Semitism as a continuing concern, I would invite you to consider programmes of educational activities that can help deal with this phenomenon.” In your posted ‘Human Rights Day Message’, dated 5 Dec. 2003, you “plead for stronger messages of protection, nationally, regionally and internationally,” asking: “what more can be done to strengthen human rights protection … Today I plead for stronger human rights protection.”

Therefore, we solemnly call upon you as Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights — and to the whole Human Rights community — to speak out and redouble UN efforts for the elimination of all hate-generating, especially genocidal, forgeries on websites and in the media, and to engage in wide educational programmes which will develop understanding and mutual respect among peoples and between religious communities.

René Wadlow
David G. Littman
__________________________________________________________________
DOCUMENTATION: MEMRI – SPECIAL DISPATCH SERIES N° 619 (3 Dec. 2003) N° 623 (8 Dec. 2003) ‘URGENT APPEAL’: HUMAN RIGHTS DAY (10 DECEMBER 2002) TO UNHCHR SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO FROM THE ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION IN 2002 (E/CN. 4/2003/NGO/4)
Pierre-André Taguieff, Les Protocols des Sages de Sion: Faux et Usages d’un Faux (pp. 378- 80)

Italian authorities have been wiretapping jihadists, and now the Alphabet City Yahoo group has posted some of the transcripts. (Thanks to LGF.) These are extraordinarily revealing in all sorts of ways.

Italy's Il Nuovo explains: "Here is the text of intercepted conversations from the inquiry into the recruitment of future Islamic terrorists in Italy. It paints a worrying picture of a little known phenomenon with deep roots. In the context of the investigation in Milan into the Ansar al-Islam transnational terrorist organization, what has emerged is a 'fresco' of the world of radical Islamism full of secret projects but also a propensity for subversion that is completely different from the one that we were accustomed to seeing here in Italy in connection with our own form of domestic political terrorism.

"Thus over and above the more strictly investigative aspect, a thorough read through some of the documents or wiretaps conducted in the course of the investigation can be revealing in terms of the group's plans but also, and above all, in terms of its political, religious, and social implications. We can gain a clear idea of the prestige and program of Emir Krikar, the acknowledged leader of Ansar al-Islam, a group that is in turn linked to al-Tawid whose leader is Emir Abu Musab al-Zarkawi, still a leading member of Al-Qa'ida."

Some excerpts from the transcripts:

[Man] And that is not the end of it. There are so many things to change in order to eliminate God's enemies, the policy of Israel and those who pursue it.

[Abu Umar] That is our hope...

[Man] On 16 of last month there was a confidential meeting with the shaykhs in Poland; the final decision was to completely change the Hizb al-Tahrir front and to build a new organization that concerns itself with the national territory and with the international territory but we need highly trained people at every level.

[Abu Umar] It takes time.

[Man] We have time; we are moving very gradually. There are people
already on the inside.

[Abu Umar] What do you mean?

[Man] Now Shaykh Adel and Shaykh Abd al-Wahab have set up various groups in which there are various brothers who have come back from Chechnya.

[Abu Umar] How about Shaykh Adlen?

[Man] He moved before I came here. I met him in 1987. But let us now return to our topic. Our project needs intelligent and highly educated people. Where the Jihad part is concerned, there is Abu Serrah who is planning to set up a battalion of 25 to 26 units but the plan needs to be thoroughly prepared.

[Abu Umar] As long as the Devil does not work his way into it.

[Man] The first thing that I will tell you is that we are aware that we are under surveillance. We know that half the brothers are in jail, including those who have been accused of gathering funds. I repeat, the plan must be studied in detail because the thread begins in Saudi Arabia; the person taking care of this plan is Abu Salman (or Abu Suleyman) who is of the same blood as Emir Abdullah so there is no need for any comment.

At that point both men laugh.

[Man] But the mosques have too high a profile; they must be left alone. We need new structures; we are seeking from seven to nine buildings. We recently bought a four-story building.

[Abu Umar] Are we not concerning ourselves with the mosques?

[Man] Yes, we are concerning ourselves with them. We are also concerning ourselves with financing them, but money has to generate money because the aim is also to form an Islamic army with the name of Force 9 (source translator's note: the term used is Kawa).

[Abu Umar] How are things going in Germany?

[Man] I cannot complain. There are 10 of us; we are taking an interest in Belgium, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey and Egypt, Italy and France, but the nerve center is still London... Shaykh Adlen has given a great deal of money; as I told you this plan has no need of any further comments or words.

[Abu Umar] I hope that this will cause our youth to shine.

[Man] That is our objective; each of us has a task, for instance if one has 10 operatives available, he becomes their leader and then it is up to him to decide whether to organize them into smaller groups or to keep them like that. The important thing is to use one's intelligence.

[Abu Umar] Even if they are foreigners (source translator's note: not Arabs)?

[Man] That is not important. We need also foreigners; we have Albanians, Swiss, British... It is enough that they be of a high cultural level. In Germany we have interpreters and interpreters that translate books; we have also in telecommunications [as published], also in Austria; the important thing is that their faith in Islam be sincere.

[ . . . ]

[Man] Never worry about money, because Saudi Arabia's money is your money; the important thing is not to rush ahead, because it is all new; there are old things too, but the training is completely new. The man who wanted to set up the plan is close to Emir Abdullah and we are grateful to Emir Abdullah. Get prepared.

[ . . . ]

[Man] . . . Dear Abu Umar, technology is needed to fight God's enemies.

[Abu Umar] That is true.

[Man] That is why the shaykhs insist on having highly educated people.

[Abu Umar] Yes, yes.

[Man] It is necessary to have a great deal of intelligence. If Shaykh Abu Khalil, Shaykh Abu Qatada, and Shaykh Aden the Syrian are under surveillance, there are other people who run the group in their stead, who handle the situation; second, one needs to be careful of the way he speaks, one must not just throw words about carelessly, one must control his tongue; our groups are spread from Algeria throughout the world. For instance a person can manage the group perfectly well from Poland, like Shaykh Abd al-Aziz; he has a group called the Katilea group, its organization is stunning, it is a perfect organization, communication is possible even via a book.

[Abu Umar] What, has he written a book?

[Man] Even more. He, in books, they are books, but they are full of dollars. [sentence as published]

[Abu Umar] He sends dollars via books?

[Man] Yes, and other things too.

[Abu Umar] How? Through the mail?

[Man] Yes, also through the mail.

[Abu Umar] With such ease?

[Man] Yes, because it is not Europe. Europe is now under surveillance by air and by land, but in Poland, in Bulgaria, and in countries that are not members of the European Community it is all easy. First, they are corrupt, you can buy them with dollars. I take the substance from there and I place it here and there; they are countries that are less monitored, there are not too many eyes; but the country from which all kinds of things depart is Austria. Three I meet with all the shaykhs and all our brothers are there... At this juncture that has become the country of international communications. It has become the country of contacts; as I told you before, all the contacts arrive from Austria or from Poland. The most convenient country is Austria, and all the other neighboring countries. If you are on the wanted list, you have two options. Either you hide there (in Austria) or in the mountains. Above all the mosque of Sahafi (or Sahawi), the old mosque, has been a very hot mosque for a long time, very hot; they are very united especially after the event that occurred recently.

[Abu Umar] There is only one God and Muhammad is his Prophet.

From another transcript, of two jihadis conversing in prison:

[Mera'i] I have been reciting the Koran all night.

[Mohammad] So have I.

[. . . ]

[Mera'i] The enemies of God, sons of dogs; stupid questions. Have you been to Iran? Yes, so what? What is the problem with my having been to Iran? Have you been to Syria? Stupid questions.

[Mohammad] They told me that I am Sudanese.

[Mera'i] You tell them yes, no, perhaps, I have forgotten; take them for a ride. These people here, the Americans' servants, they are slaves.

[ . . . ]

[Mera'i] Very soon they will be getting news, a splendid thing to behold... and they pay because they are dogs, they are like dogs, they are sons of dogs, they are cursed, they are the enemies of God; the others in front and them behind on a lead. They have no worth; they are dogs. They are devils. The American power does not frighten me. Are you afraid of them? Whatever questions they ask you, do not answer. Or else tell them that you do not know. Tell them that it is the Koran that answers.

[Mohammad] The enemy of God came to touch my Koran.

[Mera'i] And did you let him?

[Mohammad] No.

[Mera'i] Tell him to go away and not to touch it even with his finger.

[Mohammad] He told me that he wanted to check it and I told him that I would open it, page by page; he made me open it three times.

[Mera'i] Enemies of God. They will undoubtedly ask you about the people who were in Afghanistan; they want the head (the leader -- Il Nuovo editor's note). They like life; I want to be a martyr, I live for the jihad . There is nothing in this life; life is afterward; above all, brother, the indescribable feeling is that of dying a martyr. God, help me to be your martyr. [Mera'i ends]

They recite verses from the Koran. [ . . . ] There follows more chat in the course of which the two men insult the Americans and their allies, then recite verses from the Koran and the anthem of the jihad , then:

[Mera'i] Do you know the anthem of the jihad against the Americans?

[Mohammad] Yes!

[Mera'i] By Shaykh Abu Faysal. Come on, let us recite it together. [Mera'i ends]

The two men recite the anthem.

[Mera'i] We have freedom and we go to paradise, but they will have only woes. Come on, brother, paradise is ours. We have not lost the day. We have learned so many things.

[Mohammad] But when they arrest people, do they usually put two of them together?

[Mera'i] No!

[Mohammad] So how come they put us together?

[Mera'i] They conducted a roundup and everything is undoubtedly full.

[Mohammad] Bizarre.

According to a statement from the Saudi Press Agency (courtesy IMRA), the Islamic Centers in Saudi embassies are not closing down -- contrary to a Washington Post report. The Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance, Sheikh Saleh Bin Abdulaziz Bin Mohammed Al Al-Sheikh, "replying to a question on the Washington Post newspaper's report on the Kingdom's closure of religious cultural centers in its embassies, he noted that this news item is incorrect, adding that the centers are working and they are part of the Kingdom's message."

These Islamic centers have been discovered to be hotbeds of Islamic extremism. The one in Washington's embassy openly espoused violence. According to a statement on its website, "the Muslims are Required to Raise the Banner of Jihad in Order to Make the Word of Allah Supreme in this World. . . . The Muslims are required to raise the banner of Jihad in order to make the Word of Allah supreme in this world, to remove all forms of injustice and oppression, and to defend the Muslims. If Muslims do not take up the sword, the evil tyrants of this earth will be able to continue oppressing the weak and [the] helpless..."

Sheikh Saleh also "pointed out that the eighth session of the Executive Council of Endowments and Islamic Affairs Ministers due to start here on Wednesday will focus on significant topics topped by terrorism and occupation of parts of the Arab and Muslim World. In an arrival press statement here today, he said that it is improper to attribute terrorism to Islam and other divine religions since Islam's emblem is peace, indicating that all religions lay stress on mercy, peace and amicability. He affirmed that divine messages have nothing to do with any call for terrorism, extremism and violence, stressing that Islam calls for moderation."

Great. I trust then that he will he renounce the theology of jihad as explained by a man who has served as Chief Justice of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh 'Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Humaid. I quote him in Onward Muslim Soldiers. He says that for Muslims, fighting (with weapons, that is) is "obligatory" against "all those who worship others along with Allah." In the Muslim view that includes Christians and Jews (cf. Sura 9:30: "And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old. Allah (Himself) fighteth against them. How perverse are they!"). It also, of course, includes virtually everyone else. Sheikh 'Abdullah cites three chapters of the Qur'an in support of this view: suras 2, 3, and 9. What will Sheikh Saleh say to him?

(New York Daily News photo)

Stanley Crouch strongly criticizes the ending of registration of visitors from Muslim countries in the New York Daily News: "Since 9/11, I have been supportive of every homeland security measure used to single out for close scrutiny those with Islamic backgrounds and those from Islamic countries. I supported measures like annual registrations, periodic checks and a policy of refusing to allow such immigrants onto these shores.

"None of that support had anything to do with hating Muslims or disrespecting Muslims or profiling Muslims. It had to do with war and how differently one expects a society to go about protecting itself during a war.
For those who did not notice it, the destruction of the World Trade Center and the murder of nearly 3,000 people was an act of war by an Islamic group of terrorists bent on killing as many Americans as possible.

"So I am opposed to the recent decision by Attorney General John Ashcroft and the homeland security team to back away from such close scrutiny. The argument behind the decision is that only 11 of the 85,000 Muslims who were checked turned out to have connections to terrorist organizations.

"Only 11? That is more than half the number of those who went on the 9/11 murder raid that ended with the Pentagon aflame, a plane crashed in Pennsylvania and the largest single act of mass murder in the history of this nation.

"Those who oppose putting the spotlight on Muslims seem to think that in a time of so much high technology 11 people is a small number. It is not. The kinds of things that small groups of people can now do are far different from the kind of devastation small groups of fanatics could bring off in the past, when the machines were much less powerful, the explosives were much less deadly and we were not connected to one another by an Internet that is surely a terrorist target.

"I do not think, therefore, that arguments about the preferential immigration policies that once favored certain Europeans or the bigoted attitudes that Irish, Italian, Jewish and Latino immigrants once faced in this country have anything to do with the present war. This is very different from state troopers stopping Negroes in New Jersey for no other reason than they were black.

"If the most that Muslim immigrants had to do was show up and register once a year, so what? Whatever bureaucratic discomforts they experienced would have ceased when this war ended.

"Those discomforts were also quite different from what they would have experienced in the countries from which they came had they been Christians residing there immediately following a terrorist attack by Christian fanatics that murdered 3,000 Muslims. They would have been slaughtered in frighteningly large numbers, no questions asked. Anyone who has a television knows that.

"So, John Ashcroft and the homeland security team, boo-boo on you. You punked out."

"Southeast Asian radicals" -- radical Muslims, that is, not Maoists -- "are divided over the wisdom of attacking hotels, nightclubs and other 'soft targets' where Muslims may be killed alongside Westerners -- an internal split that could weaken the terrorist enterprise, authorities told The Associated Press."

This is because a Muslim must not kill another Muslim: "If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein forever" (Sura 4:93). Radical Muslims get around this by considering the Muslims they're killing to be essentially unbelievers (i.e., "infidels like the Turks," to use a phrase from Osama bin Laden's meeting with a Saudi sheikh shortly after 9/11). Obviously this justification can't be used everywhere.

But anyway, no one has any trouble with killing non-Muslims: "Some militants inside the al-Qaida-linked Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah want their jihad, or holy war, to focus on fighting Christians in certain regions of Indonesia rather than bombing Western targets where Muslims die, too, according to government officials, defense attorneys and an intelligence adviser to Indonesia.

"The debate among Indonesian militants appears to have intensified after the Aug. 5 bombing of the JW Marriott in Jakarta - whose 12 fatalities were mostly Muslim. A prominent group of Muslim defense lawyers told AP they would not accept any Marriott bombers as clients.

"After the Marriott bombing, several senior militants close to Zulkarnaen, Jemaah's Islamiyah's purported operations chief, expressed displeasure because most the victims were Muslim, said the senior intelligence adviser who asked that his name not be used."

By Jerry Gordon and Alyssa A. Lappen

An anti-American geyser erupted December 5 at a daylong Columbia University conference, entitled "US Imperialism in the 21st Century." The university's Center for Comparative Literature and Society and co sponsored the event with its controversial Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures program to honor MEALC founder, the late polemicist Edward Said. It filled the Teatro at Casa Italiana to capacity, apparently through email notices sent "entre nous" to like-minded students and faculty.

The event--chaired by newly tenured MEALC professor and former Palestine National Committee negotiator Rashid Khalidi--capped a period specially marking the university's intellectual decline. Fresh from the University of Chicago, Khalidi filled the $4 million, anonymously endowed Edward Said chair to advance Palestinian and Arab causes at Columbia, and appear frequently on PBS and NPR.

Neither Columbia nor the taxpayer-funded TV and radio networks publicize Khalidi's reverence for the memory of mass murderers like Black September terrorist Abu Iyad [1] or his support for violence: Palestinian society "comes through during these uprisings," he said in October 2000. "It is civil society that carried the first uprising." [2]

On December 5, MEALC's targets were U.S. global imperialism and Israel's Second Intifada--what London University Middle East analyst Ephraim Karsh more aptly calls it "Arafat's War." The U.S. global war on terror seeks to defeat the state and Islamic terror sponsors that perpetrated and facilitated the September 11th attacks. Israel seeks to defeat a terrorist infrastructure that over the last three years responsible for more than 20,000 suicide and other attacks that maimed or killed nearly 7,000 Israeli civilians.

Two afternoon and evening panels presented uniform, monochrome anti-imperialist, anti-American and anti-Israel scripts. MEALC's Akeel Bilgrami, for example, urged moderate Muslims to turn (like him) to vocal criticism of the U.S. Speakers praised potential of the Internet to "spread the word" and make it "much harder for the Imperialists (Bush et al) to lie and hide things from us."

What do they consider the "truth?" Speakers claimed that:

* The US, and particularly the Bush administration, are hegemonic, imperialist aggressors. The Bush "regime" does not bully other countries, but reshapes them to be totally dependent on the U.S.

* The US has been baiting the Islamic world to enrage Muslims and transform Western Europe.

* The Bush administration has successfully divided Western and Eastern Europe.

* The Bush administration espouses a grand hegemonic strategy in which the Middle East is central.

* Yasser Arafat is "one of the most legitimate leaders in Palestine." This is why the U.S. government targets him (says Sorbonne University of Paris professor Gilbert Achcar).

* The Bush administration aims to tighten its hegemony and seeks the vassalage of other countries and of the people in the U.S.

* Israel is an occupier and oppressor, working with the US.

* The U.S. and Israel "viewed 9-11 as a good thing" that justified further oppression of Palestinians, a ramped up Global war on Terror and conquest of Iraq.

* The Palestinian Authority "militants" and Iraqi and Afghan "guerrillas" commit armed "resistance" and terrorism due to intense forces of oppression and occupation imposed by the U.S. and Israel.

* The Bush regime wields great influence over faith-based Christians, who want him involved in foreign affairs.

* Straussians alias Neo-conservatives run right-wing U.S. think tanks and the pro-Israel U.S. Defense Department.

* Bush did not anticipate "getting blowback" from Iraq, local guerrillas and international "freedom fighters."

* At the core of Bush administration policy is an overt embrace of armed preemption in Iraq, within the Arab Muslim heartland, according to Professor Khalidi.

* The Bush "imperialist occupation" of Afghanistan and Iraq exceeds the efforts of any prior U.S. administration to establish a "new security paradigm," announced in September 2001 and promoted internally among Defense Department Neo-conservatives.

* Iraq was not connected to the attack on the World Trade Center.

* The U.S. intentionally exaggerates the savagery of Saddam Hussein against Iraqi people and others in the region.

* The US "obstructs democracy" in the name of democracy and the Bush administration operates in Orwellian fashion.

* The depiction of Islamic beliefs by Muslim apostate, author and playwright Salman Rushdie (lionized at a spring Columbia festival that produced "Midnight's Children) is inaccurate and irreverent.

* Al-Jeezera--the 24/7, Qatar-based Arabic language satellite TV propaganda network--portrays the truth concerning the Middle East and Gulf region to the Arab/Muslim "street."

The last speaker, Rahul Mahajan, founded the radical Empire Notes blog and bills himself as an "anti-war activist." Despite a raging snow storm, he kept the hall full--even toward the end--and passed a clip board soliciting e-mail subscriptions to his daily "news" updates.

From comments at the Teatro, many seemingly intelligent people subscribe completely to the potentially toxic anti-American, anti-"imperialist," anti-global, notions, all of which also carry Middle East Arab and Muslim hatred of the modernizing West, the U.S.--and of course "its ally and regional colonial power," the Jewish state of Israel.

Last year and this, several other MEALC events roiled Columbia's campus, all supported by Dean Lisa Anderson. In September 2002, the School of International and Public Affairs co-sponsored an African Studies Institute seminar--"South African Conversation on Israel and Palestine." Its Chair, Professor Mahmood Mamdani, attempted to glue a false apartheid analogy to Israel's counter terror tactics. Lately, U.S. coalition forces have lately adopted Israeli techniques--including checkpoints, curfews and "virtual cantonments"--to contain Ba'athist guerrillas in Iraq. [3] Aiding him was radical leftist Jeff Halper, whose Israel Committee Against Housing Destruction (ICAHD) claimed that destroying the homes of Palestinian terrorists in the disputed territories was only a mendacious "displacement" of Palestinians. MEALC anthropologist Nadia Abu El-Haj and political science professor Andre du Toit, visiting from the University of Cape Town, concurred.

Only one participant objected. Wasn't "displacement" of more than 900,000 Mizrahi and Mahgrebi Jews before and after the Israeli War of Independence analogous? Arab pogroms targeted Jewish people and confiscated billions of dollars in Jewish assets and property. Mamdani's panel declared the question intellectually dishonest, and Jewish and Palestinian displacements incomparable.

When the program ended, a participant approached the questioner. "You are a Zionist racist pig," he said. Sic Gloria transit mundi, Columbia.

In fall 2002, MEALC also sponsored a Palestinian film weekend featuring "Jenin, Jenin." This blatant propaganda intercuts supposed "eyewitness" accounts with haunting imagery suggesting that the IDF committed a "massacre" in the refugee camp. The film ignores the United Nations conclusion, following a controversial investigation that in fact that no such massacre had occurred. "Jenin, Jenin" contrasts sharply with the fact Jenin terrorists murdered 23 IDF soldiers as they methodically tried to dismantle and defuse bomb factories and arms without accosting innocent Palestinian civilians.

Recent Harvard Divinity School graduate Rachel Fish single-handedly shut down the United Arab Emirates' Zayed Center, whose academic program advanced Holocaust-denial, anti-American conspiracy theories, and anti-Semitic hatred in its "research" and lectures. Yet at Columbia, terrorist sympathizer Professor Khalidi and his conference panelists issue material in the same under the aegis of an anonymously funded Edward Said bully pulpit and no one rebuts their calls to implement "resistance against Imperialism," build a U.S. "anti-imperialist movement," "protest power" and "disrupt and tame U.S. hegemony."

Monitoring such events can prove extremely uncomfortable. Those who ask probing questions invite hoots, verbal assaults, psychological intimidation and possibly even violence. The sponsors do not want intruders in "their forums," so to speak. Yet exposure is the most important weapon we have.
Americans should take heed. Overseas, the purveyors of radical Islam mass manufacture hate ideology to suppress their masses. By feeding their people a diet of revulsion for Western ideas, tyrants and murderers have successfully squelched democracy, equality, liberty and economic progress.

Now, proponents of radical Islam are importing the same ideologies into the U.S. and onto American campuses.

Undoubtedly, the most damaging aspect of such anti-Americanism is the ease with which it hides inhumanities perpetrated under the banner of Jihad and--in conquered societies--attendant Dhimmitude, institutional Islamic debasement of non-Muslim minorities.

Columbia trustees should, of course, demand that academics return to the honest and free exchange of competing ideas.

Their failure creates a vacuum that invites other Columbia stakeholders--press, public, parents, alumni, and government funding officials--to supply the necessary disinfectant.

Notes:
[1] Khalidi, Rashid, Under Siege: PLO Decision making During the 1982 War (1985); pp. ix and 103; see also Middle East Report, March-Apr. 1991.
[2] Elgrably, Jordan, "The Crisis of Our Times: Nationalism, Identity and the Future of Israel/Palestine: An Interview with Rashid Khalidi," OpenTent.org, Oct, 2000.
[3] Eland, Evan, "Winning over Arabs using Israeli Tactics," The Independent Institute, Dec. 10, 2003;
Jerry Gordon is a Columbia University Graduate School of Business alumnus and activist in Jewish and anti-Dhimmitude causes. Alyssa A. Lappen is a journalist, essayist, editor and poet. Maria Sliwa is executive director of Freedom Now News

Addendum:

US Imperialism in the 21st Century
Conference, December 5, 2003
Casa Italiana, Columbia University

Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, the US declared a global "War on Terrorism" and increased its powers of repression at home and intervention abroad.

This one-day conference aims to: explain the political and economic causes of the perpetual US drive for global domination; assess its impact on the US and the rest of the world, especially on Africa, Europe, and the Middle East; and scrutinize new forms of anti-war activism, challenge, and opposition.

Our main objective is to critically examine both the strengths and weaknesses of 'War on Terrorism' as a strategy for US global supremacy and the resistances it has generated.

8:30-9:30am Breakfast Reception
9:30am Opening Remarks by Bashir Abu-Manneh & Hamid Dabashi

9:45am-1200pm The Politics and Economics of Expansion
Chair: Vivek Chibber (NYU)
Panelists:
David Harvey (CUNY) "From Globalization to the New Imperialism"
Gerard Dumenil (Universite Paris X-Nanterre) "Neoliberal Dynamics- Imperial Dynamics"
Ellen Wood (York University, Canada) "War Without End"
Robert Buzzanco (University of Houston) "Cracks in the Empire"

12:00-2:00pm : Lunch Reception

2-4:15pm Imperial Geopolitical Relations
Chair: Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University)
Panelists:
Peter Gowan (London Metropolitan University, UK) "American Primacy: How to Triumph to Disaster"
Gilbert Achcar (University of Paris-VIII) "The Middle East in Washington's Strategy for World Hegemony"
Irene Gendzier (Boston University) "Has the US Agenda in the Middle East Changed?"
Mahmood Mamdani (Columbia University) "Africa and the Origins of Terror in the Cold War"

4:15-5pm Coffee and Tea Break

5-7:15pm Solidarity and Anti-Imperialism
Chair: Partha Chatterjee (Columbia University)
Panelists:
Mike Davis (U.C. Irvine) "The Urbanization of Empire: Megacities and the Laws of Chaos"
Akeel Bilgrami (Columbia University) "Democracy, Solidarity, and Conflict"
Frances Fox Piven (CUNY) "Counter Movements: Globalization and Protest"
Rahul Mahajan (Empire Notes) "What do Iraq and Venezuela Have in Common? Building a Movement Against U.S. Imperialism
(Sponsored by the Center for Comparative Literature and Society & by the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures.

Grover Norquist (Christian Science Monitor)

Frank Gaffney has written in FrontPage magazine an article that is much needed and long overdue: "A Troubling Influence," about the extensive ties that conservative activist Grover Norquist has with radical Islamic elements.

This is a lengthy and exhaustively documented piece about a man who has stood as a singular obstruction to efforts to alert people to the gravity of the threat from radical Islam. All of it should be read carefully, but here are a few highlights:

The association between Grover Norquist and Islamists appears to have started about five years ago, in 1998, when he became the founding chairman of an organization called the Islamic Free Market Institute, better known as the Islamic Institute. The Institute's stated purpose was to cultivate Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans whose attachment to conservative family values and capitalism made them potential allies for the Republican Party in advance of the 2000 presidential election. . . .

Unfortunately, some associated with the Islamic Institute evidently had another agenda. Abdurahman Alamoudi, for one, a self-described "supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah," the prime-mover behind the American Muslim Council (AMC) and a number of other U.S.-based Islamist-sympathizing/supporting organizations, saw in the Islamic Institute a golden opportunity to hedge his bets.

For years, Alamoudi had cultivated ties with the Democratic Party and its partisans, and contributed significant amounts to its candidates. These donations had given Alamoudi access to the Clinton White House and enabled him and his associates to secure the right to select, train and certify Muslim chaplains for the U.S. military. . . .

The right to select military chaplains not only offered Alamoudi and his colleagues the chance to recruit still more Islamists with specialized and highly useful skill-sets. It also was an invaluable legitimating credential to be wielded against those who might otherwise regard the American Muslim Council and its leader with suspicion, or worse.

It would, therefore, have been important to retain this role even if the Democratic presidential candidate, Al Gore, were to lose and Republicans come to power. Hence, Abdurahman Alamoudi took an interest in one of the GOP's most assiduous and influential networkers, Grover Norquist.

It seems unlikely that even in Alamoudi's wildest dreams he could have imagined the extent of the access, influence and legitimacy the American Muslim Council and allied Islamist organizations would be able to secure in Republican circles, thanks to the investment they began in 1998 in a relationship with Norquist.

The investment began when Alamoudi wrote two personal checks (a $10,000 loan and what appears to be a $10,000 gift) to help found Norquist's Islamic Institute. In addition, Alamoudi made payments in 2000 and 2001 totaling $50,000 to Janus-Merritt Strategies, a lobbying firm with which Norquist was associated at the time. . . .

The founding director of Grover Norquist's Islamic Institute, Khaled Saffuri, is a Muslim Palestinian by birth. Prior to joining Alamoudi's group (where he served for almost three years), Saffuri was active in Muslim-support operations in Bosnia, a hot-bed for Islamic radicals from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere anxious to establish a beachhead on the continent of Europe. In recent years, he has acknowledged personally supporting the families of suicide bombers - even though, in public settings, he strenuously denies having done so. He denounced President Bush for shutting down the Holy Land Foundation, a Saudi charity that the U.S. government determined was funneling American Muslims' donations to terrorist organizations overseas. . . .

From time to time, one or another of the Islamic Institute's associates would make a presentation to the generally standing-room-only crowds of influential Washington conservatives, would-be politicians, think-tank denizens, journalists, and an increasing number of lobbyists. Over the years, topics they addressed included: the plight of Palestinians under Israeli occupation; the much-maligned and badly misunderstood Islamist government of Sudan (in fact, a designated state-sponsor of terrorism); the innocent nature of the process whereby Muslim chaplains have been selected for the armed forces; the honored status of women in the Muslim world; and efforts to promote Islamic causes and candidates in Republican circles. . . .

Saffuri had also arranged for the Bush campaign to enlist Sami al-Arian, a well-known Florida-based activist - despite the fact that the professor made little secret of his radical Islamist sympathies - to help engender Muslim support in his state. A photograph of Mr. Bush taken with al-Arian in March 2000 subsequently received considerable attention after the professor was arrested last February on 40 terrorism-related counts. Of particular concern are those alleging his functional direction over the past 19 years of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one of the most murderous terrorist organizations in the Middle East.

Al-Arian's arrest was made possible by the USA-PATRIOT Act. With this legislation's enactment after 9/11, it became possible for the first time in decades, for U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies to share sensitive information - such as the voluminous wiretaps of Sami al-Arian coordinating Palestinian Islamic Jihad operations from his professor's office in Tampa.

Not surprisingly, the Islamist front recognizes the threat this and other provisions of the PATRIOT Act represent to their operations in America. They are determined to rescind it and, if possible, remove its principal architect and most effective defender, Attorney General John Ashcroft. Accordingly, they have become an integral part of the left-wing coalition, which includes the ACLU, the pro-Castro National Lawyers Guild and many Islamic 'solidarity' groups, in waging a national campaign against the PATRIOT Act. It seems hardly coincidental that the preeminent conservative figure to join the campaign and lead the recruitment of other conservatives is Grover Norquist. . . .

. . . over the years, and particularly as the Bush Administration's Muslim outreach effort ramped up in the aftermath of 9/11, Grover Norquist was able to gain extraordinarily high-level access for a number of troubling individuals and groups. An undated White House memo, evidently prepared by Suhail Khan in early 2001 and intended to coordinate Muslim and Arab-American public liaison events, shows that Norquist's Islamic Institute was instrumental in establishing Islamist connections with the Bush administration. The Islamic Institute provided the White House with a list of Muslim invitees, with the name, date of birth and Social Security number of each. As the founder of the Islamic Institute, Grover Norquist tops the list. . . .

Grover Norquist's efforts to legitimate and open important doors for pro-Islamist organizations in this country must be brought to an immediate halt. They have already created political vulnerabilities for this President and his Administration. But for the influence exerted by Norquist and his friends, President Bush might long ago have reached out to peaceable, tolerant, pro-American Muslims. In particular, the past 26 months could have been spent building up Muslim spokesmen and groups who share this President's vision of a world in which democracy, liberty and freedom of religion prosper - and who could help cultivate those values in Muslim lands and communities overseas.

Instead, the President has been put in the position of repeatedly embracing individuals and organizations who are part of the problem. They have capitalized on their preferred treatment to exclude non-Islamist Muslims from meetings with the Bush team, to secure government contracts and favors, to raise funds and to dominate other Muslim- and Arab-Americans. We have thus been denied allies and strengthened our foes in what the President calls 'the Battle of Ideas.'

Grover Norquist has been confronted many times over his activities in behalf of the radical Islamic front in this country. He has responded by denouncing his critics as racists and ducking the issue. Even now and despite all the foregoing evidence to the contrary, Norquist insists that he has not helped or in any other way facilitated the Islamists political influence operations. Indeed, he denies that there is such a subset of the Muslim population. And, to this day, he demeans any who challenge him on that score as 'racists and bigots.' It is evident that Grover Norquist will not voluntarily do the right thing by the President, the movement or the country, which would mean terminating his ties to a network that has shown itself to be dangerous, and by ceasing to work on behalf of the radical Islamic front. Because he will not do this himself, conservatives must act to see that he is politically isolated so that the damage he can do is minimized.

Thanks to Mohamed ibn Guadi for the link.

Says MEMRI: "On November 21, 2003, Somali journalist Bashir Goth wrote an extensive article detailing how Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi Islam has corrupted the Islam of his native Somalia."

He calls Wahhabism an "alien, perverted version of Islam that depends on punctilious manners more than it depends on deep-rooted faith. A strange uniformity... has crept into the social manners of our people. The unique fashion and identity of our people has changed forever. We have become a people without fashion, without culture, and without identity..."

"It is a pity... to see that, at a time when Saudi Arabia, the home of Wahhabism, is reassessing the damage that Wahhabism and extremism had done to their country's name and to the reputation of Islam all over the world... that Wahhabism has to find a save-haven in our country. . . .

"The most conspicuous foot soldiers of Wahhabism are the moral police known as Mutawi'un, who roam in the streets like riot police and force people to perform rituals or adhere to Wahhabism's code of decency in dressing and other mannerisms. [This] religious police... forced a group of schoolgirls to their deaths by forcing them to go back to an inferno that had been their school. Their crime? Forgetting the head coverings in their haste to save themselves...

"This is the Wahhabism that the Saudi-oriented clerics want to impose on Somaliland. This is the sect that produced 15 of the 19 suicide bombers of Sept. 11... It is a closed [mindset] that turned Islam into a fragile creed that lives in constant fear of children's toys and games such as Barbie dolls and Pokemon... This is the brand of distorted Islam that the neo-Muslim clerics want to enforce on our people. . . .

"It is time to tell these sick men that the bare breast of the woman suckling her child is not about pornography, but about motherhood. The girls and boys sitting next to each other in class are not indulging in a sex orgy, you demented paranoiacs, but enjoying a healthy educational environment. The girl walking in the street without a headcover and wearing a big smile is not about flirting; it is about beauty of life. The woman holding a lively conversation with a male friend in a coffee house or a shopping mall is not about illicit affairs; it is about a much-needed human relationship and a healthy exchange of intellectual ideas. The woman wearing the traditional diric and hagoog and regally strolling in the street is not about indecency but about culture. The nightingale voices of our female singers are not about eroticism, you philistines, but about art, music and enjoyment of one of God's marvelous gifts...

"It is time we have to speak out. If we don't do it today, we won't be able to do it tomorrow. Because there will be no tomorrow as our country descends into 7th century Arabia." (Thanks to nicolei.)

Siham Qandah and her children

Compass Direct reports on the face of tolerant Islam in enlightened, moderate Jordan: Siham Qandah, a Jordanian Christian woman, is fighting for the custody of her two children against her estranged brother, a convert to Islam who has won a court ruling giving him permission to take the children and raise them as Muslims.

Even the Jordanian royal family has gotten involved, although it doesn't seem to have the power or inclination to overturn the court's decision. "Everyone is giving me promises," says Qandah, "but no one is really doing anything. I am only counting on God and all the prayers of His people."

Last September, "Qandah was handed another court ultimatum to turn over her children to their Muslim guardian or face arrest within three days. However, the Irbid civil court order ignored a previous restraining order issued by a higher court in Amman stipulating that Qandah cannot not be arrested or forced to surrender her children until a case pending to disqualify the children's Muslim guardian is resolved. At present, Qandah remains under the protection of this temporary injunction.

"Widowed nine years ago, Qandah has a daughter Rawan now 15, and her son Fadi turned 14 last month. Both children are baptized Christians, but the alleged conversion of their father to Islam three years before he died has forcibly changed their legal identity from Christian to Muslim.

"In moderate Jordan, this would rarely pose a custody problem for their Christian mother. But Qandah asked her estranged brother, who had converted to Islam as a teenager, to help her meet Jordan's legal requirements by becoming her children's court-appointed Muslim guardian.

"The brother began to appropriate some of their orphan benefits. Then, displeased to learn that his sister continued to raise them as Christians, he filed a court suit, demanding custody of the children so he could raise them as Muslims. After a four-year legal wrangle, the Supreme Court of Jordan ruled in his favor, turning down the mother's last legal appeal on February 28, 2002."

Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin carries a disquieting story about Refael and Margaret Chaiken, who were discharged for attending services for Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. It's behind a paid subscription so I can't link to it, but it is nonetheless worth noting.

Although "army regulations require accommodation of religious practices," the Chaikens were told not to do so.

"Refael Chaiken, 27, is a veteran of the Israeli army, holds dual citizenship and was looking forward to using his much-needed Arabic-language skills in aiding the U.S. war efforts in the Middle East. Margaret Chaiken, 26, holds a master's degree from the Sorbonne and speaks fluent French and Hebrew."

Nonetheless, they were discharged, although "G2B sources say Muslim soldiers are routinely exempted from physical training during the entire month of Ramadan."

Also, "the dismissal of the Chaikens comes at a time when the Army has finally admitted what WorldNetDaily and G2B have been reporting for more than two years - a severe shortage of qualified Arabic interpreters and interrogators." (Thanks to Jerry Gordon.)

As noted here yesterday, one of the world's most violent terrorist organizations is targeting Jews overseas. Tonight the Chief Reporter for Canada's National Post, Stewart Bell, will discuss startling revelations about Palestinian terrorist groups that are bringing their war to the North American Continent.

You can hear Bell on the Tovia Singer Show, Tuesday, December 9 from 10 PM to Midnight EST on Arutz-7 Israel National Radio and around the world on the Internet at http://www.toviasingershow.com.

You can call into their on-air studio line toll-free from Israel, USA, & Canada at 1-800-270-4288; England at 00 800 3-700-7000; and South Africa at 09 800 3-700-7000. To call in live through the Internet using your PC mic, the Tovia Singer Show is multi-cast on Paltalk Radio at www.paltalkradio.com. (Thanks to Jerry Gordon.)

Mamour Fall and family (Photo thanks to LGF)

"I know bin Laden. People want me to insult him and I will not do it. He is a great man, a great strategist, a great Muslim, and that is what interests us and not the fact that he is accused of killing people." These are statements of Imam Mamour Fall, a Senegalese imam who was deported from Italy last month. (The report is from Reuters, with thanks to nicolei.)

Says Fall: "Me, I am a Muslim who wants to apply all that Allah outlined in the Koran, like the Jihad (holy war), solidarity between the Muslims. What we can do today is defensive Jihad. If an Islamic territory is attacked as America and its allies are doing today, every Muslim has the duty to attack these invaders."

Fall's explanation of defensive jihad closely follows precisely delineated elements of Islamic law, as I explain in Onward Muslim Soldiers. They are echoed by radical Muslims around the world, who are exploiting them today to justify their actions and recruit terrorists.

But Reuters, ever on the job, assures us that most Senegalese Muslims reject Fall's radical Islam: "He's a minority voice in Senegal, but Imam Mamour Fall is not afraid to speak out for Osama bin Laden. Fall's support for America's No. 1 enemy strikes an especially jarring note in Senegal, a relaxed mainly Muslim country on West Africa's coast where religion is confined to mosques and churches and doesn't stray into politics."

How does Reuters know that that Fall's views are only held by a minority in Senegal? Did they take a poll?

Or maybe they just asked "Muslim preacher" Alioune Sall, who is quoted thusly: "Islam has never called on the faithful to devote oneself to violence. Islam is a religion of peace par excellence. . . . There are Muslims who commit terrorist acts, but this should never be blamed on Islam. Islam rejects all forms of violence. . . . If bin Laden is the author of the attacks he is accused of, he will answer to God. Because this religion that is a religion of peace does not allow anyone to take another person's life."

This is, Reuters tells us, a "widespread view." Great. But I do wonder what Sall would say to fellow Muslims like Maulana Masood Azhar, a radical Muslim leader who has said that in Islam the only legitimate meaning of jihad is killing.

Meanwhile, Reuters says that "the head of a U.N.-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone has said he had proof al Qaeda operatives were working in Liberia -- but their activities seemed limited to diamond trading and money laundering rather than recruiting among battle-hardened youths."

Oh. Just laundering money, eh? Well, that's ok, then.

And: "In neighboring Mauritania, fears of extremism run deeper as pro-Western President Maaouya Ould Sid-Ahmed Taya fears foreign-backed zealots are trying to turn his country into a hotbed of Islamic extremism. Taya has won the backing of the United States, which regards Mauritania as a possible breeding ground for Islamic militants. But even here, Islam is traditionally tolerant and there are few signs that more radical preachers are making serious inroads."

Well, that's reassuring. Thanks, Reuters! Here's hoping our luck holds. But until all these anti-terrorist Muslims start convincing radicals on a large scale that their form of Islam is defective, it would be worthwhile to stay alert.

A powerful article in today's Opinion Journal by Anne Bayefsky: "The U.N.'s Dirty Little Secret: The international body refuses to condemn anti-Semitism."

Says Bayefsky: "Last week, the U.N. once again proved itself incapable of rising to the moral challenges embraced in its founding Charter: 'tolerance,' 'the dignity and worth of the human person' and 'equal rights.' A draft resolution on anti-Semitism--which would have been a first in the U.N.'s 58-year history--was withdrawn in the face of Arab and Muslim opposition."

Bayefsky's phrase "Arab and Muslim opposition" would have been better simply as "Muslim opposition" or at least as "Arab Muslim opposition": there were no non-Muslim Arabs involved. And why would Muslims have opposed such a resolution? A primary reason is because anti-Semitism is deeply ingrained in Islam (see, for example, Allah's curses on Jews, turning them into apes and pigs, in the Qur'an, Suras 2:62-65, 5:59-60, and 7:166). And because Islamic law, the Sharia, simply does not allow for "'tolerance,' 'the dignity and worth of the human person' and 'equal rights'" the way the West understands these things.

Bayefsky: "Daily incidents of anti-Semitic violence around the globe are reported in the media. Yet while leaders of the Free World condemn synagogue bombings in Turkey, firebombings of Jewish schools in France, and the hate speech of Malaysia's president who now heads the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the U.N. moves in the opposite direction, encouraging the proliferation of this centuries-old hatred.

"In marked contrast, other forms of intolerance continue to consume the U.N.'s attention and resources. A special rapporteur mandated by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights reports regularly to the U.N. on 'discrimination against Muslims and Arab peoples in various parts of the world' including any 'physical assaults and attacks against their places of worship, cultural centers, businesses and properties.' An entire 2003 Commission resolution 'combating defamation of religions,' mentions only prejudice against Muslims, Arabs and Islam.

There is much more of great value in Bayefsky's article. Meanwhile, for indispensable background on this phenomenon, see this statement on Muslim anti-Semitism submitted to the UN Commission on Human Rights by the Association for World Education, a non-governmental organization.

Some excerpts:

"During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (autumn 2002), the Egyptian Dream Satellite TV channel serialized - with government authorization - 41 episodes of 'Knight Without a Horse,' a melodrama based on the 100 year-old-forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

There is a related TV serial running in Syria now.

"It is disheartening to witness some of the principal leaders of the Arab-Muslim world convening for the sake of vilifying another religion and people, shunning neither expressions of abuse, nor the worst invectives. [Vice-principal of Tanta institute, Egyptian Sheikh Kamal Ahmad Own, The Jews are the Enemies of Human Life as is Evident from their Holy Book.]

"Islam, from its origins, includes extreme anti-Jewish and anti-Christian components. These traditional attitudes relating to Jews are now being invested with new life and vigour by the spiritual leaders who took part in this Fourth Conference, in the subsequent Fifth Conference, and in similar learned gatherings held from time to time in other Arab centres."

"The superiority of Islam over all other religions is brandished as a guarantee that the Arabs will ultimately triumph. The grandeur of Islam must be reflected in future secular successes. Arab defeats and reverses are explained away as having been ordained by a providential design, in order to teach the Arabs a lesson because of their spiritual negligence -- and as a purgatorial ordeal.

"Jews are frequently denoted as the "enemies of Allah" or the "enemies of humanity." This latter expression is even to be found in the opening speech of Vice-President Al-Shafe'i. The expression 'dogs of humanity' is used by Mr. Hassan Khaled, the Mufti of the Lebanon."

"The State of Israel is the culmination of the historical and cultural depravity of the Jews. It has to be destroyed, having been established through aggression, which is its congenital and immutable nature. This task should be achieved by a Jihad, a Holy War."

Again, there is much more to this. Please read it all.

The Barnabas Fund reports that in Egypt on December 3, "police decided to release the last of the 22 converts and their supporters who were arrested between 21 and 24 October in Alexandria. Up until then it seemed that police were determined to make an example of Christian convert from Islam, Mariam Girgis Makar. They even employed the services of a scholar from the Al-Azhar Islamic University in Cairo to help them bring charges concerning crimes against Islam. . . .

"They were originally arrested on charges related to falsifying their names on documents. A Christian who converts to Islam in Egypt can receive new ID papers with a new Muslim name within 24 hours. However there is no reciprocal arrangement for a Muslim who converts to Christianity. There are a myriad of factors making it virtually impossible for converts to follow their faith freely and safely whilst they retain an official Muslim name. Thus many converts feel compelled to apply for official papers using an assumed Christian name.

"Converts such as Mariam living in Egypt have recently issued a declaration calling upon the government to make three changes. Firstly they would like Muslims to be able to change their names to Christian ones, to make conversion from Islam less dangerous. Secondly they would like just treatment for Christians who once converted to Islam, but then chose to reconvert to Christianity. Such people would have received Muslim names on their conversion to Islam, but are unable to recover their old Christian names when they return to Christianity. Thirdly the converts would like the office reopened which used to administer conversions to Christianity. Conversions to Islam can be officially performed in an office at Al-Azhar University. A similar office used to be available for Muslims who wished to become Christians; it was based in the headquarters of the Coptic Church, but was closed in 1970."

Raed Hijazi

A military court in Jordan has "upheld a guilty verdict and death sentence for the third time Monday against" Raed Hijazi, "a Jordanian-American convicted of conspiring to carry out poison gas attacks on American and Israeli targets in Jordan three years ago." So says AP.

"Hijazi, wearing a navy blue prison uniform and sporting a long beard, asked Buqour after hearing the verdict: 'What have I done to deserve this (harsh sentence)?'

"'God is greater than you,' he shouted. . . .

"Hijazi -- who was born in San Jose, Calif., and carries Jordanian and American passports -- had pleaded innocent to seven charges, including possession of arms and explosives and conspiring to blow up Jordanian sites frequented by American and Israeli tourists during the New Year 2000 celebrations.

"Military prosecutors said Hijazi planned to attack sites including Mount Nebo, from which tradition says Moses saw the promised land, and a Christian settlement along the Jordan River where John the Baptist is said to have baptized Jesus Christ. . . .

"Hijazi testified in his trial early last year that he had no links to Osama bin Laden and that he did not plot terror attacks because to do so would be against the teachings of Islam."

A significant detail: "The military showed documents saying Hijazi was exposed to radical Islam as a student at California State University, Sacramento, in 1991 and heard testimony that he took military training in Afghanistan."

A Hamas Rally (AFP)

"Israel said on Monday it had arrested a Palestinian with Canadian citizenship on suspicion he planned to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in North America on behalf of the Islamic militant group Hamas." This from Reuters.

"A statement by the Shin Bet security agency said Jamal Akal, 23, was arrested in November while leaving the Gaza Strip, where he had visited his birthplace in the Nuseirat refugee camp.

"'During (Akal's) interrogation, it arose that during his visit he was trained by Hamas in order to assassinate a senior Israeli official in the U.S. and to attack members of the U.S. and Canadian Jewish communities,' the Shin Bet statement said.

"It did not name the senior Israeli official but said Akal had been instructed to select Jewish targets in the United States or Canada that he would target using a locally bought rifle or homemade bombs."

WorldNetDaily reports that "Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network plotted to detonate a dirty nuke bomb floated into London on one of its armada of mystery ships, but the plan was foiled by security forces, says an official.

"The device was to be delivered on a cargo ship and moored at a dock ready to be detonated when the wind was right, according to the People newspaper in London. If it had exploded, it would have contaminated a huge area and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of terrified people. . . .

"The bomb would have been unlikely to cause many deaths because the radiation given off would be weak. The plan was to cause panic and paralyze the City.

"Bin Laden still has a fleet of rogue ships which could be used as floating bombs.

"Last week London Mayor Ken Livingstone revealed four al-Qaida attempts to target London had been thwarted. Others were targeting the Jewish community in north London with ricin, hitting an airliner at Heathrow with a ground-to-air missile and an attack on a soft target like a disco."

In mid-November we told you about a MEMRI report on a Syrian TV series carried on Hizballah's satellite channel Al-Manar. In the words of Syria's Daily Times, the series chronicled "the criminal history of Zionism." Now MEMRI has augmented its original report with a partial transcript of the 20th episode, "which depicts Jews carrying out a 'Blood Libel,' in which a Christian child is ritually murdered and his blood is used to bake Passover matzas."

Here is the evil history of Zionism, as imagined by Hizballah:

Scene 1:

Rabbi: "Well, we have a mission from the leadership, and we must carry it out quickly."
Young Jewish Man: "What is it?"
Rabbi: "Listen. We want the blood of a Christian child before Passover, for the matzos."
Rabbi: "Don't think too hard... Joseph, the son of Helen, your neighbor."
Young Jewish Man: "Joseph? Why Joseph specifically?"
Rabbi: "I'll explain it to you later. First do it."

Scene 2:

Rabbi: "Nathan is very late."
Young Jewish Man: "True. I'm beginning to worry."
Rabbi: "If anyone suspects anything, we'll abort the operation, and tell Nathan to say that he brought Joseph here just for a walk."
Nathan: "Hello."
Young Jewish Man: "Hello."
Young Jewish Man: "Did anyone see you?"
Nathan: "No."
Young Jewish Man: "Are you sure?"
Nathan: "Of course."
Rabbi: "Let's start immediately."
Joseph: "Nathan, I want to go home."
Nathan: "Of course, my dear. We'll go in a little bit."
Joseph: "Nathan, where are you taking me?"
Nathan: "Don't be afraid, Joseph. Don't be afraid."
Joseph: "Nathan, take me back!"
Nathan: "Don't be afraid, my dear, don't be afraid."
Joseph: "Nathan! Help me! Mama! Mama!"
(The men hold Joseph while his throat is slit and his blood is poured into a metal basin.)

Scene 3:

Jewish Man: "Hello."
Rabbi: "Hello."
Rabbi: "Good Passover."
Jewish Man: "Good Passover."
Rabbi: "Isn't it a mistake to have Passover without inviting the rabbi?"
Jewish Man: "Never mind, Rabbi. You know me. I'm not religious."
Rabbi: "This is why I am looking for you. I want to let you taste the holy Passover matzo. Then maybe you will come back to your religion."
Jewish Man: "No thanks. I don't want to."
Rabbi: "No, no. You must eat this, if not for my sake, for the sake of God."
Jewish Man: "Thank you."
Rabbi: "How is it? Tasty?"
Jewish Man: "Plain. Like all the matzos in the world."
Rabbi: "No, make no mistake. This one is tastier and holier because it was kneaded with pure blood, the blood of Joseph."

To see portions of this episode, go to www.memri.org/video.

The Hardline Movement, according to Aaron at Internet Haganah, who kindly pointed this out to me (thank you very much, Aaron), seems to be aiming to "recruit for jihad 'revolutionaries' of all types, who, over time, can be brought into the fold of Islam, inshallah. In other words, all you have to do is share the desire to bring down 'Amerika.'"

For background on the Hardline Movement, "see the related taliyah.org site. . . . Note also the focus at taliyah.org on jailhouse jihad. See for example: Islamic Revolution in Amerikkka," written by Mustafa (Al-Khemi) Lancaster, a prisoner in San Quentin.

Some time ago I wrote an article about Jack "Jihad" Thomas, the Australian convert to Islam who was accused of being an Al-Qaeda terrorist. He had been described as "just an average Aussie," whose apparent turn to radical Islam took place under mysterious circumstances, but seemed most likely to have stemmed from a religious appeal based on core texts of his new faith.

Anyway, Jihad Thomas may soon be in the clear, but not because he is innocent: "The case against alleged al-Qaeda terrorist Jack 'Jihad' Thomas has collapsed after a damning confession he made has been found to be inadmissible." This from The Age.

"It is believed the 42-page confession, considered to be one of Australia's most important intelligence documents, mentions plans to set up a terrorist cell in Melbourne. Mr Thomas made the alleged confession to federal police while in custody in Pakistan this year.

"Federal police flew to Pakistan to interview Mr Thomas about two months after his arrest. He was cautioned, warned, and the interview was taped according to Australian law, but his request for a lawyer to be present during the interrogation was denied.

"It is believed that Mr Thomas, a Melbourne taxi driver, told police he had been recruited by al-Qaeda and was assigned to return to Australia to set up a sleeper cell and scout for possible terrorist targets.

"Police have asked lawyers from the office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions if the statement could be used in an Australian court. The DPP's advice was it would be deemed inadmissible."

Maulana Masood Azhar (BBC News)

"Chief of banned militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed Maulana Masood Azhar has said that in Islam the only meaning of Jihad was killing, even as another militant group supporter asked Pakistan to declare that suicide bombing against West was Jihad." This from Press Trust of India.

"In Islam the only meaning of jihad was killing, and those who projected the concepts of Jihad Akbar and Jihad Asghar were against Islam," Azhar was quoted by an Urdu daily Nawa-e-Waqt as saying.

Jihad Akbar is the "Greater Jihad," which Muslims identify as a spiritual struggle. "Jihad Asghar" is "Lesser Jihad," which includes violence. In Onward Muslim Soldiers I detail how radical Muslims including Abdullah Azzam, Osama bin Laden's mentor, and Hassan Al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, rejected the concept of the "Greater Jihad" as being founded upon inauthentic traditions of Muhammad. Azhar evidently shares this view.

Not only that: Azhar "said it was a conspiracy against Islam to say that Jihad was not killing." What would that make Ibrahim Hooper, who has asked Paul Harvey for an apology for saying that Islam was "a religion which encourages killing"? Would Azhar regard Hooper as a conspirator against Islam -- or merely as a practitioner of war as deceit, in the spirit of the Prophet Muhammad's equation of the two (cf. Sahih Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 52, no. 268)? Or, conversely, will Hooper demand an apology from Azhar?

Also:

Another supporter of militant groups in Pakistan, Justice (Retd.) Javid Iqbal said at a seminar in Lahore that Pakistan and the Islamic world should declare that suicide bombing against the West was actually Jihad. It was the United States that was doing terrorism and not the suicide bombers of various organisations, he was quoted by the daily Jung as saying.

More of the celebrated Islamic tolerance for other religions comes from Egypt: "A Coptic Christian secretly married to a woman convert from Islam was arrested for the second time last week while trying to leave Egypt for Canada." This from Compass Direct.

"Boulos Farid Rezek-Allah Awad, 31, was stopped at the Libyan border on November 25, the first day of the Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan. He was detained by Egyptian border police for 12 hours, from mid afternoon until 3 a.m. the next morning. Once the authorities had confirmed the Coptic Christian's identity, he was refused exit permission and then released.

"Rezek-Allah returned to Cairo, only to be summoned to the security police's Lazghouly headquarters after the holidays had concluded. There he was questioned and threatened by Hussein Gohar, a security police officer monitoring his case since he was first arrested nine months ago.

"When Gohar again demanded to know the whereabouts of the Christian's wife, Rezek-Allah told him that she had managed to leave the country ahead of him. Vowing that he would find her, the officer declared to Rezek-Allah, 'I'll bring her back and cut her into pieces in front of you.'

"When he was released from questioning three days ago, police told Rezek-Allah he was blacklisted and would never be allowed to leave Egypt.

"Rezek-Allah is accused of breaking Egyptian law by marrying a Muslim woman, Enas Yehya Abdel Aziz. Now 27, the woman had changed her name to Enas Badawi Yousef Guirguis after becoming a Christian three years ago."

It is against Islamic law in general for a non-Muslim man to marry a Muslim woman, although a Muslim man may marry a non-Muslim woman.

"Under Islamic law enforced in Egypt, a Christian man can only marry a Muslim woman if he agrees to embrace her faith. But in Rezek-Allah's case, his wife had abandoned Islam and converted to Christianity. It remains illegal in Egypt for Muslims to change their legal religious status to Christian, since this 'insults' Islam."

During a previous arrest, "interrogators beat, insulted and hung the pharmacist by his arms, and accused him of evangelizing Muslims and falsifying legal documents. Under torture, he admitted that when he married his wife Enas, he knew she was a former Muslim who had secretly changed her identity. . . .

"Seeing no other solution, Rezek-Allah decided to fly to Canada to take his final pharmacy-license exams. He already had a valid immigration visa for Canada, granted when he passed his initial qualifying exam the previous year. But shortly after he boarded an Air Alitalia flight at the Cairo airport on August 11, security police came aboard and arrested him off the plane. . . .

"On October 19, the public prosecutor hearing Rezek-Allah's case agreed to drop the charges against him if he agreed to the cancellation of his illegal marriage certificate. However, the court left Enas named as the 'first accused' on charges of falsifying an official document and blaspheming against a heavenly religion."

Why don't more moderate Muslims speak out against terrorism? There are many reasons, but one of them is no doubt physical intimidation. Certainly this is true in other contexts: "A senior reformist Iranian member of parliament close to President Mohammad Khatami was beaten up by Islamic radicals, amid rising factional tension in the country as elections approach, reports said Saturday." This from Agence France Presse.

The main reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), accused the Ansar Hezbollah group of attacking Mohsen Mirdamadi, chairman of parliament's national security and foreign affairs committee, on Friday.

Another reformer, Ahmad Shirzad, accused Islamic hardliners of "giving Tehran's opponents 'the arguments for presenting Iran as an oppressive regime, that violates human rights, opposes freedom of speech and is anti-democratic.' Well, yes. "Yas-e-No quoted a Sanandaj deputy, Kazem Jalalizadeh, as saying a military officer had told him beforehand he would go personally to the airport to 'break Shirzad's legs'."

Conservatives hit back Wednesday when deputy Ali Emami-Rad accused some reformists of being 'Zionists' and Khatami's government of supporting 'counter-revolution.'

The LA Times reports on a group of Muslim football teams with some provocative names: "Monikers for the flag-football teams include Mujahideen, Intifada and Soldiers of Allah and are accompanied on the league's Web site, http://muslimfootball.com, by logos of masked men, some with daggers or swords.

"An organizer of the Jan. 4 event, geared for American Muslims in their teens and 20s, said the names are a sign of football bravado and a show of support for Muslims in the Middle East.

"'A lot of the kids on our team are from Palestinian origin,' said Tarek Shawky, Intifada's 29-year-old captain and quarterback. 'We are in solidarity with people in the uprising. It's about human rights and basic freedoms.'

"'I think they should be more sensitive and show respect to other people's sensitivities,' said Muzammil Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of Orange County and a national Muslim leader. 'The words themselves do not have bad meanings, but people associate them with what's going on in the world around them.'

"But others say Palestinian fighters in the Intifada are terrorists and shouldn't be glorified. Another provocative name, Mujahideen, means 'holy warrior,' and is associated with a variety of Islamic resistance movements, including two on the U.S. government's list of terrorist groups.

"'What exactly are they honoring here?' asked Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. 'The continued targeting of innocent women and children by homicide bombers deserves to be condemned across the board. It's deeply, deeply disturbing.' . . .

But one Islamic scholar said she wonders why the team names should be controversial.

"'Who cares? Why are people so sensitive?' said Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, a professor at Georgetown University. 'Intifada is something that Muslims and Palestinians all approve of. It means "just get off my back." Is the only way we accept [Muslims] is if we devalue their faith?'

Like Osama bin Laden, these Mujahedin won't be able to put Crusaders on their schedule, much as they may desire to do so. Teams with that name have long been falling to PC sensibilities: "In 2000, Wheaton College replaced its Crusader label after 70 years, with the more politically correct Thunder. Twenty miles down Interstate 5 from Irvine, where the football tournament will be held, a new Catholic high school in San Juan Capistrano changed its name before it opened last year, from the Crusaders to the Lions, a move applauded by local Muslim leaders.

"Some of those same officials say they oppose the controversial names for the Muslim football teams, but emphasize that they reflect youthful hyperbole more than any dark meaning." Yet self-proclaimed (and well-armed) mujahedin are much easier to find in the world today than crusaders are.

Also, don't these names suggest that the radical Muslims who take the same names for more sinister purposes may have more support among the general Muslim population than we are usually led to believe? (Thanks to LGF.)

After 9/11, Saudi Arabia, "America's longtime ally and the world's largest oil producer had somehow become, as a senior Treasury Department official put it, 'the epicenter' of terrorist financing." Of course, this is common knowledge by now, but U.S. News and World Report has a detailed report on how it happened, and what exactly the Saudis have done -- and how "U.S. officials did painfully little to confront the Saudis not only on financing terror but on backing fundamentalists and jihadists overseas." Maybe this report will help bring about the long overdue adjustments in the U.S.-Saudi relationship. (Thanks to LGF.)

Rexhep Idrizi (Photo: kitezh.com)

Many Americans on the Left like to equate radical Muslims with Christian conservatives. Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, even George W. Bush -- they're all our own version of the Taliban, you see. I have encountered this phenomenon on many a radio call-in show, and I always try to point out one obvious distinction: Christian conservatives do not advocate or commit murder.

Overheated rhetoric that equates opposition to gay marriage with the Sharia's prescription of capital punishment for homosexuals obscures the fact that the Sharia is a deadly serious thing. There are many in the world today who will institute its punishments if they have the power to do so, and are willing to commit violence in order to increase their power.

Evidence comes from Australia today: "a complaint made to Victoria Police alleges the chairman of the Board of Imams, Rexhep Idrizi, was reading from the Koran when he made derogatory comments about homosexuals and said they should have 'their heads chopped off'.

"Imam Idrizi's alleged outburst occurred before 1000 worshippers at a prayer service to celebrate the conclusion of fasting for Ramadan at the Albanian Mosque in Drummond St, Carlton.

"Imam Idrizi, whose son was jailed last year for bashing gays, said yesterday the claims were unfounded and he had a video of the service, in Albanian, to prove it.

"'It's just spite from idiots,' he said. 'All I said was that homosexuality is prohibited in Islam. I wouldn't encourage anyone to attack my enemy. And if you put this in the paper, it's discrimination against Islam and we will defend ourselves."

Hmm. Has he been taking lessons from CAIR?

"But worshipper Asip Demiri, who was at the service, told the Sunday Herald Sun that Imam Idrizi had verbally attacked homosexuals. 'I couldn't believe it. I was sitting there with my son and he comes out with comments as if the Koran says it's OK to attack homosexuals,' Mr Demiri said. 'He told us they should have their heads chopped off.' . . .

"Last year, Imam Idrizi's son was jailed for four years and eight months, with a minimum of 15 months, for bashing gays. Muhamed Idrizi, 20, and four others attacked a cyclist with a machete and bashed and robbed two other men. The court heard that the group had gone on what he called a 'p--fter bashing' mission."

According to Newsweek, Al-Qaeda has shifted its primary focus from Afghanistan to Iraq. At a meeting during Ramadan, "according to Taliban sources, Osama bin Laden’s men officially broke some bad news to emissaries from Mullah Mohammed Omar, the elusive leader of Afghanistan’s ousted fundamentalist regime. Their message: Al Qaeda would be diverting a large number of fighters from the anti-U.S. insurgency in Afghanistan to Iraq. Al Qaeda also planned to reduce by half its $3 million monthly contribution to Afghan jihadi outfits."

That Al-Qaeda can manage $3 million a month to jihadis in Afghanistan or anywhere else will come as a surprise to many, who still consider Islamic terrorists to be a tiny group on the radical fringe, talking tough as they skulk around in caves.

"All this was on the orders of bin Laden himself, the sources said. Why? Because the terror chieftain and his top lieutenants see a great opportunity for killing Americans and their allies in Iraq and neighboring countries such as Turkey, according to Taliban sources who complain that their own movement will suffer. . . . Bin Laden believes that Iraq is becoming the perfect battlefield to fight the 'American crusaders' and that the Iraqi insurgency has been '100 percent successful so far,' according to a Taliban participant at the mid-November meeting who goes by the nom de guerre Sharafullah."

This Newsweek piece is full of silly Democratic Party cheerleading about how "bin Laden’s shift of focus could be unsettling news for George W. Bush," despite Bush's own statement that "we are fighting that enemy [in Iraq] today so that we do not meet him again on our own streets." Nonetheless, it contains some useful information about global terrorist machinations.

Maja Bradaric (Photo: Dominicus College)

A 16-year-old girl was murdered in Holland, and about all that authorities have revealed about why is that it wasn't an honor killing, as was previously reported in the Dutch media: "The authorities have denied a newspaper report on Monday that there was a family link between the culprit and murdered schoolgirl 16-year-old Maja Bradaric." This from Expatica News, via Rantburg, with thanks to seafarious.

"It refuted claims made in newspaper De Telegraaf that Maja was killed by her 18-year-old nephew, Goran M., a Bosnian Muslim of Nijmegen. It is alleged in the report that Goran committed premeditated murder, an NOS news report said. Sources close to the investigation claimed the schoolgirl, also of Bosnian descent, was killed because she had become too 'westernised' and in regards boyfriends, had turned her back on the Muslim culture, bringing shame to her family circle.

"But the sources refused to label the murder an honour killing, a term frequently applied to deaths among the Muslim community. Such killings are designed to reverse any dishonour a victim has allegedly brought to a traditional Islamic family.

"Meanwhile, it is also alleged that Goran's 18-year-old Muslim friend, Ferdi 0., helped him carry out the murder. . . . The prosecution has said the motive for the killing was relationship-based, but there was no indication of sexual assault. Two 18-year-old suspects have confessed to the murder. . . . Several weeks before her death, Maja had become a member of an internet website to search for boyfriends. She wrote in discussion forums under the profile name xxSweetyxx and said one of her greatest hobbies was to 'hunt for boys'."

Could this have been an honor killing, with Dutch authorities unwilling to admit that this practice, a scourge of the Middle East, has arrived in Europe? It's not certain given the scantiness of available details, but I'll keep you posted as circumstances allow.

With Abu Bakar Bashir's already light sentence reduced even further, terrorists in Indonesia are "regrouping, retraining, and recruiting" — and "could be planning more deadly bombings." So says AP, with thanks to nicolei.

"Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has emerged as a key battle ground in the United States-led war on terrorism since Islamic militants bombed two nightclubs on the country's Bali island last year, killing 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

"The Al-Qaeda-linked south-east Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah was blamed for the Oct 12, 2002, Bali attacks. It has also been implicated in the Aug 5 blast at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 people and injured around 150.

"'We are up against determined enemies who attack us again and again,' security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at an international conference here on the economic challenges facing Indonesia in 2004.

"Indonesia was criticised before the Bali bombings for failing to act on warnings that militants were targeting the sprawling archipelago. Since then, police have arrested more than 90 militants, but public displays of support for the war on terror, or recognition that Islamic terrorists remain a threat, are rare.

"Many government officials are wary about being seen as cooperating too closely with the United States -- something they fear could alienate Muslim voters in polls scheduled for 2004."

But surely the vast numbers of moderate Muslims who condemn terrorism in all its forms will offset this effect, no?

Dr. Nawal Al-Sa'dawi

She has spoken courageously for years, and now she has done it again:
MEMRI reports that "the Egyptian author Dr. Nawal Al-Sa'dawi, known for her fervent Arab-nationalism and feminism, gave a comprehensive interview to the liberal Arabic website www.elaph.com on September 20, 2003."

"Al-Sa'dawi called for amending the Egyptian constitution and eliminating the article that declares Islam to be the official state religion, 'because we have among us Copts, and because religion is a matter between man and God and no one has the right to impose his faith, his God and his rituals on others. Therefore, I am one of the die-hard opponents of a religious state, because our God should not be involved in politics in any fashion."

The interviewer responded to Al-Sa'dawi with typical whitewash: "However, the Copts lived happily and in paramount fairness under the wings of Islam."

Al-Sa'dawi replied: "We are the sons of one homeland, and we are partners in it, so that no one has to live 'under the wings' of anyone else."

"As for the 'Islamic culture,' Al-Sa'dawi said that it was 'part of a general culture based on Christianity, Judaism, and the Pharaoh's heritage. There is no pure culture, but an intertwined relationship among the cultures. I am against differentiating between a Western culture and an Eastern culture. . . .

"Al-Sa'dawi disagreed with the interviewer's opinion that, within the democratic process, Islamic groups have the right to try to establish their rule. She said: 'They don't have such rights. They are blood-spilling criminals. They included my name and the names of other respected intellectuals and dedicated people in death-lists. If we were to review all their crimes, we would have realized that they were too many to count. If your ideas are different than mine, this is not a reason to kill me… We should distance our God from politics… You can worship the God who satisfies you and fulfills your interests, but you should not impose Him on me or the state, because all the citizens in the state are equal… Why should I, as a woman, be less of a citizen than a man just because the official state religion is Islam? Why does a man marry four wives, and I cannot [marry four husbands]? This is humiliating…"

But then Al-Sa'dawi says: "…How is it possible that a man marries four women? This is moral corruption and an offense to the Koran and Islam."

I don't know how she can say that in light of the Qur'an's permission to men to "marry women of your choice, two or three or four" (Sura 4:3).

"'But, the Prophet was married to nine wives,' commented the interviewer.

"'Why do you compare yourself to the Prophet?' answered Al-Sa'dawi. 'He did not tell you that you have to do what he did. There is an important Hadith [oral tradition] that says that one of his wives found him, during her night, in another woman's bed and said to him: "My night, in my bed Messenger of Allah!!!" and he answered her after this scolding: "Shut up and don't mention it, I will not do it again," because a prophet and a messenger should be an example of fairness. If the Prophet – who was a human being, erred sometimes and was fair at other times – did make a mistake, why do you want me to follow his errors? I will say it again that man, because of his moral corruption, selects what suits him from Islam…"

Unfortunately, Al-Sa'dawi is doing the same thing, since there is no indication that the Prophet ever regarded his multiple marriages as one of his mistakes.

In any case, the response from Egyptian clerics to Al-Sa'dawi's remarks was less than kind. "The Egyptian Islamic weekly Al-Haqiqa asked several senior Egyptian clerics to respond to Al-Sa'dawi. The responses can be categorized into two groups. One group maintained – as stated by Dr. Muhammad Al-Sayid Al-Glind, head of the Islamic Philosophy Department at Dar Al-'Uloum (Cairo), that 'the best way to silence this woman is not to respond to her, so that she does not get published.'"

"Dr. Rif'at Fawzi, a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Um Al-Qura, said: 'If we allow killing Al-Sa'dawi [as a punishment for "heresy"] we would be committing the same mistake that we did with Salman [Rushdie], who would not have been marketable and whose book "The Satanic Verses" had no value, but when the Fatwa to kill him was issued, he became famous and his book was widely marketed in the world and was translated to many languages. It is better to ignore Al-Sa'dawi.'

I know that tactic well! I believe they may have picked up this one from the Western media!

"However, others maintained that Al-Sa'dawi should be punished. Dr. Abd Al-Mun'im Al-Berri, former head of 'The Front of Al-Azhar Clerics,' explained that 'we should ask her to repent within three days, but if she persists with these ideas, she should be punished according to what the Islamic Shari'a [religious law] determined for those who abandon Islam. The ruler, meaning the head of state or government, should carry out the punishment.' Sheikh Mustafa Al-Azhari explained that the punishment for anyone who fights Allah and His Prophet is execution, crucifixion, the amputation of opposite limbs or banishment from earth."

Al-Azhar, of course, is the leading, most influential Islamic institution in the world. Al-Azhari's answer strictly follows the tenets of Islamic law. (Thanks to Ali Dashti and Diego.)

"A string of recent arrests of terror suspects has shown that Al Qaeda and groups linked to it have established a network across Europe that is moving recruits into Iraq to join the insurgency against American and allied forces, European intelligence and law enforcement officials said this week." This from the New York Times.

"Over the past year, the officials estimate, the network of recruiters working in at least six European countries — Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Britain and Norway — has assisted hundreds of young men trying to get to Iraq. The network provided high quality fake documents, training, money, and infiltration routes into the country, the officials said.

"They said the evidence indicated that the campaign to recruit young militant Muslims for Iraq had become better organized and coordinated in recent months."

You mean there were militant Muslims in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Britain and Iraq? Wouldn't that fact indicate that concern about the Muslim populations in those countries doesn't stem simply from "racism"?

"According to an investigating judge in Italy, the new network is building on an underground that helped smuggle fighters out of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the fall of 2001, when Taliban and Qaeda forces were routed by American-led allied troops. But since the end of last year the flow of recruits, including young men from Europe and North Africa, has turned toward the new front in Iraq, the judge said. 'In August and September people were approaching the borders of Iraq, in Turkey and Syria,' he said. 'These people got very close and it's very easy for them to slip in.'

"An Italian investigation of a terrorist group with links to Al Qaeda led to the arrest of three men in Italy and Germany last week. Two of the men who were arrested in Milan were accused of providing false passports and money to the network for Iraq. Six men arrested in northern Italy in April were also accused of aiding the recruiting operation.

"Officials in Italy said the conclusions emerging from their case were supported by investigations in other European countries. . . .

"It is not clear how significant a role foreign terror recruits may have in the surge of violence in Iraq. President Bush and L. Paul Bremer III, the American administrator in Iraq, have said that 'jihadists' and foreign terrorists have entered the country. But American military leaders there say they have not seen signs of a large influx of foreign fighters. They say that about 300 people of 5,000 prisoners in Iraq are holding non-Iraqi passports."

Why the sneer quotes around "jihadists"? That's how they describe themselves.

How extensive is this effort? Armando Spataro, coordinator of terrorism investigations at Milan's Justice Department, says that "almost all Western European countries have been touched by recruiting." . . .

"Investigators in several European countries, including Italy, Germany and Britain, have focused on the participation in Iraq recruitment of a terrorist organization named Al Tawhid. The group is led by Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian who collaborated with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and has been implicated by American and European intelligence agencies in recent terror attacks in Jordan."

Tawhid is a term of Islamic theology. It refers to the absolute unity of Allah, and its implications.

Paul Harvey

This morning I posted at Jihad Watch a New York Times article in which a mujahid quotes this part of Sura 9:5 of the Qur'an: "Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them." He was using this verse to explain why he was in Iraq fighting Americans. I also posted a story about a Hamas plot in Canada that sounds as if it was inspired by this verse: the Hamas operative "wanted to kill a Jew wherever he meets him, like in the street if he would see an Orthodox Jew, he had orders to kill him on the spot." Sura 9:5 is known in Islamic theology as the "Verse of the Sword." Osama bin Laden praises Allah for it.

With this sort of thing going on in the world, it's understandable that the great radio commentator Paul Harvey would get the idea that Islam is "a religion which encourages killing." But the Council on American Islamic Relations saw his remarks as another opportunity to practice its trademark intimidation through canny manipulation of PC shibboleths. Says WorldNetDaily: "A Muslim lobby group increasingly known for its demand of apologies from public figures, is calling on legendary radio commentator Paul Harvey to say he is sorry for asserting Islam encourages killing."

Says CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper: "We had hoped that a respected broadcast professional like Mr. Harvey would not join the growing number of Islamophobic hate-mongers in our society." This is a familiar Hooper tactic: smear anyone as a hatemonger who dares to speak about the radical Islam he, as a "moderate" Muslim, is supposed to abhor. He has called me similar names on MSNBC, although he has never taken the trouble to answer any of the many troubling questions about CAIR. CAIR is even suing a Congressman for claiming that CAIR is "the fund-raising arm for Hezbollah" (thanks to nicolei, agent azure, and all the others who sent me this link). CAIR may not be fundraising for Hezbollah, but there are plenty of other questions about the organization that I hope will be answered if this case goes to trial — although I expect they are counting on the Congressman to fold under the pressure and issue an abject dhimmi apology, making a trial unnecessary.

Hooper says that Harvey "falsely attributes to Islam two things that are specifically prohibited by our faith, murder and cruelty to animals." Harvey, according to WND, "described the bloody nature of cockfight gambling in Iraq" and said: "Add to the thirst for blood a religion which encourages killing, and it is entirely understandable if Americans came to this bloody party unprepared."

Leaving aside the part about cruelty to animals, I am sure that Hooper is familiar with the Verse of the Sword. Instead of trying to intimidate Harvey, he would make better use of his time by trying to craft a peaceful understanding of this verse and others like it in the Qur'an that radical Muslims are using around the world today to "encourage killing." And by lifting a finger to root out terrorist activity from America's mosques. It is the radical Muslims who are doing the killing, and Hooper with his threats, bluster, and disingenuousness, who should apologize — not Paul Harvey.

And that, my friends, is the rest of the story.

As Jacques Chirac speaks out against the veil, the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan speaks out against France: "Jordan's powerful Muslim Brotherhood Movement Saturday condemned France's trend towards banning Muslim women from wearing the veil, or headdress." This from UPI.

"Spokesman for the movement, Yahya Shaqra, accused France of applying 'double standards' by its plans to issue legislation banning the veil in schools, universities and official places, saying it was part of the 'Western campaign targeting Islam.'

"Shaqra told United Press International that while France 'claims to be a pioneer in protecting personal freedoms, it also bans the veil, although it directly violates individual freedoms.'

"The Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, last week sent a letter to French President Jacques Chirac through the French Embassy in the Jordanian capital, Amman, to protest the move.

"Islam requires Muslim women to cover their hair, bodies, arms and legs in public."

Speaking of double standards, I'm waiting for the Muslim Brotherhood to send a letter to the Nigerian federal government hospital in Azare, Nigeria, protesting their firing of Christian nurses for refusing to don the veil.

General Aslam Beg

"Why don't moderate Muslims speak up in favor of US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair when they resolve 'to crush global terrorists who hate freedom?'" Arnaud de Borchgrave asks this question, which has occurred to many of us.

Then he supplies a disquieting answer from Pakistani General Aslam Beg: "One of Pakistan's most respected former army chiefs supplied a chilling explanation this week: Because the 'terrorists' are the 'freedom fighters' of a 'Muslim world facing unprecedented oppression and injustice.' . . .

"In a lengthy e-mail, Beg said the Bush-Blair 'strategy to combat global terrorism' is 'a declaration of total war on freedom movements, and it is the Muslim world that will be at the receiving end.'"

It's one thing when a radical Muslim member of a terrorist group spouts this sort of thing (thanks to nicolei for the link), but Beg holds a position of influence in Pakistan's government — and he is by no means singular in his views. Says Borchgrave: "The anti-coalition resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan, as seen by Beg, is 'a new reality emerging – a surging tide of their élan and vitality.' By the standards of Pakistan's coalition of six politico-religious parties that govern two of Pakistan's four provinces and hold 20 percent of the seats in the federal assembly, Beg is a moderate."

"Musharraf estimates that the number of extremists in Pakistan amounts to 'no more than 1 percent of the population.' That's 1.5 million religious fanatics who are holding, according to Musharraf, '99 percent of the population hostage.' But what happens when the moderates speak – only to echo the extremists? That certainly appears to be the case of Beg, a soft-spoken man who is a leading geopolitical thinker in a country that is one of nine nuclear powers in the world. Pakistan is also a Muslim nation where anti-Americanism is the issue that unites all shades of political opinion.

"Beg argues that it is the United States that originally sponsored the rent-a-jihadi, or holy warrior, when the CIA sought the support of jihadis from all over the Muslim world to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Some 60,000 mujahideen passed through a system that was sponsored by the US, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Their numbers are now growing daily, says Beg, and they 'form the core of the global Muslim resistance... engaged in fighting in Chechnya, the Palestinian territories, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Iraq.'

"'They are highly motivated, selfless, and fearless people, obeying no earthly authority,' he says, 'they are hard to subdue by military force, and recognize no international borders in pursuit of their goals... they have frustrated the designs of the two superpowers and are surging forward to carve out their own destiny.' The Bush administration dismisses the 'Islamic resurgence' by 'maligning such liberation movements as terrorism.' But, adds Beg, the United States will soon find that Iraq and Afghanistan are 'quagmires' from which 'safe exits' will become increasingly difficult. As for Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, 'all wars of liberation have splinter groups who lose sense of direction and indulge in wanton acts of terrorism.' But the United States has only itself to blame. . . ."

Beg, according to Borchgrace, speaks of American "anomie": "For Beg, this 'anomie' stems from America's alleged lack of ethical values, which, in turn, begets violence, ergo Bin Laden is not responsible for 9/11; America is. This is a switch on the still widely held belief in the Muslim world that the CIA and Mossad were co-conspirators in the 9/11 plot, whose objective was to provide a rationale for military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq. This taradiddle also had its roots in Pakistan when Gen. Hamid Gul, a former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency and a classmate of Beg, said he had evidence that the US Air Force was also involved in the plot (the fact that no US fighter planes took off to shoot down the hijacked aircraft). Both Beg, the head of a think tank, and Gul, who is 'strategic adviser' to politico-religious parties, are held in high regard by the Pakistani military.

"Either way, the warped, apprentice-sorcerer thinking goes a long way to explaining the recent Pew Foundation's survey on global attitudes toward the United States: As a trustworthy leader, Bin Laden scored higher than Bush in most Muslim countries.

"There are no quick fixes for change. Despite all the constantly repeated assurances given to the United States about reform, Pakistan's madrassas, or religious schools, are still churning out 750,000 jihadi-prone male teenagers a year. The madrassas were the spawning grounds of the Taliban. Today, a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan continues to enjoy the same logistical support – and casualty insurance."

How do radical Muslim groups get recruits? With rhetoric like this: "I strongly encourage young Muslims to join the jihad for Allah’s sake, to protect our land and to drive Christians and Jews out of Muslim countries."

This comes from an Al-Qaeda recruitment video obtained (how?) by NBC News.

The "jihad for Allah's sake," jihad fi sabil Allah, is a term that is precisely defined in Islamic theology as referring to the taking up of arms. A young Muslim who is well instructed in his faith will recognize that this is part of his religious responsibility.

The NBC report also says that "there’s a videotape aimed at American and Saudia Arabian rulers and another that includes what appears to be well-produced footage of the 9/11 attacks — raising still other questions.

"The menacing new al-Qaida video obtained by NBC News features a new look — a terror cell that claims to be training inside Saudi Arabia mugs for the camera with most faces blurred to conceal identities.

"Their attire and weapons look like a professional assault team and they appear to be practicing an entry drill consistent with tactics used in bombings this year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where small teams of shooters breach security to get car bombs in place.

"It’s apparently the latest propaganda piece from al-Qaida, with dire warnings for the West and the Saudi royal family.

"Terrorism analyst Ben Venzke, who supplies material to U.S. law enforcement, downloaded the material from a known al-Qaida Web site: 'It’s significant that al-Qaida is training terrorists within Saudi Arabia because it would appear they are preparing for a continued campaign of regular strikes both against the Saudi regime and Western interests,' Venzke said. . . .

"The tape appears to be real, because it was posted late Wednesday night on a known al-Qaida Web site — produced by a company that has made other bin Laden tapes.

"The tape also contains what U.S. counterterror experts say may be never-before-broadcast video of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York’s World Trade Center shot from across the East River in Brooklyn. The FBI says it is familiar with the video, which was provided by a friendly bystander.

"But that raises the question — how did a tape that was not widely circulated end up on a known al-Qaida site?

"Experts emphasize that these videos serve many purposes. 'The release of the tapes clearly has a way of globalizing others to carry out suicide operations,' said terrorism expert and NBC News consultant Steve Emerson."

In Onward Muslim Soldiers I explain what should be obvious to everyone by now: that the jihad ideology of radical Muslim groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad poison prospects for a negotiated settlement in Israel. Here is more evidence: "A Palestinian militant group participating in Egyptian-mediated ceasefire talks vowed fresh attacks on Israel and said in a Friday statement it would not abide by any agreement to stop." This from Reuters.

"Islamic Jihad's statement appeared to skewer expectations that Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie could come away from talks in Cairo among 13 Palestinian militant groups with an agreement to cease attacks on Israelis. . . .

"'We remain committed to the choice of resistance as a strategic (one) to...dismiss the occupation from our land,' said the statement issued by the Islamic Jihad's armed wing in Gaza. 'We will not abide by any agreement or any dialogue that will abandon these principles...and our painful reaction in the heart of (Israel) will not be delayed,' the statement added."

"We want the world to know that Bush, the biggest criminal of all, and Blair, that monkey of the desert, will not be able to control the Iraqis. We will not allow them to kill Iraqis. I am speaking before God, on my behalf and that of the other mujahedeen."

This quote comes from a New York Times interview with a mujahid, a jihad warrior, in Iraq.

The Times explains: "His choice of the word 'mujahedeen' was perhaps one of the most telling details about what this insurgency would like to be.

"The word means 'holy warrior,' and for many Muslims it connotes brave struggles against occupiers over centuries, against the crusaders a millennium ago or against the Russians in Afghanistan a mere two decades ago. These resisters would like that honorable title bestowed on them. The recruiting leaflets the American military says were found here called for Iraqis to join them on a 'jihad,' or holy war, against the Americans — prompting a large United States military raid on the town this week."

It's not just a connotation, it's a law. As I explain in Onward Muslim Soldiers, the schools of Islamic jurisprudence all teach that it's the duty of every Muslim to wage defensive jihad against invaders. This is how radical Muslims worldwide are framing America's presence in Iraq.

Nevertheless, the Times continues on its oblivious way, refusing to acknowledge what it is in the process of telling us: "It was hard to pin down any single motive for the fighter here, who said he served in the Iraqi Army for six years, ending in 1998, and who gave the nickname 'Fighter for the Sake of God.' In compact and articulate answers, the man seemed a fanatic neither for God nor for Mr. Hussein.

All right. He's not a fanatic for "Mr. Hussein," since he says: "We are not fighting for Saddam." However, where is the evidence that his fanaticism isn't religious? He goes on to say: "We are fighting for freedom and because the Americans are Jews. . . . The religious principle is that we cannot accept to live with infidels. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him, said, `Hit the infidels wherever you find them.' We are also a tribal people. We cannot allow strangers to rule over us."

What he represents as a saying of Muhammad is actually the Qur'an's "Verse of the Sword": "Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them . . ." (Sura 9:5). (Thanks to LGF.)

"The terrorist group Hamas recruited and trained a Palestinian-Canadian to carry out attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in Canada and the United States, an Israeli embassy official said yesterday." So says the National Post, with thanks to LGF.

"In what is being described as a new direction for the radical Palestinian group, Hamas allegedly gave weapons and explosives training to the 23-year-old Canadian in an attempt to expand its war against Israel to North America.

"The embassy official said that Jamal Akkal of Windsor has confessed he was assigned to assassinate visiting Israeli dignitaries, booby-trap the cars of Jews and Israeli diplomats, and murder Jews whenever the opportunity arose.

"'He is a member of Hamas,' said Ofir Gendelman, second secretary at the Israeli embassy in Ottawa. 'Basically, he is part of a new cell that planned terrorist attacks in North America against Israeli and Jewish targets.

"'This is very, very dangerous, a novelty so to speak in terrorist activities done by Hamas,' the embassy spokesman added. 'Hamas has always, or most of the time, concentrated on Israel and the territories. In some cases they plan to execute terrorist attacks in Jordan, but this is the first time that we are getting information about terrorist attacks in North America by Hamas.'

However, "Jamil al-Qhateb, the lawyer representing Mr. Akkal, said the Canadian admits he was approached by Hamas to carry out attacks in North America but said he never agreed to do so, and that his confession was extracted under duress."

"You know how they take all this information. For 20 days they interrogated him without sleep. He was all the time sitting in the chair ... and what he has said, I think that [was] because he was tired or because he didn't sleep at all."

20 days without sleep. Mm-hmm.

What's more, LGF also links to a related story: Canadian "Senior Foreign Affairs officials will call the Israeli ambassador on the carpet next week to chide him over his 'inappropriate' comments about an alleged confession by a Canadian arrested in Israel. The ambassador, Hiam Divon, has said that Jamal Akkal, a Canadian citizen of Palestinian extraction, confessed to being recruited by Hamas to attack Jewish and Israeli targets in Canada. Foreign Affairs complained that he's pre-judged the case."

According to Akkal's lawyer: "He said he asked Mr. Akkal if he planned to conduct attacks in North America and he said he did not. He also said allegations that Mr. Akkal underwent Hamas military training were overblown. 'It's just eight bullets he was shooting, that's it, and they tell him it's military training.'" Why was he firing eight bullets?

Akkal, meanwhile, "admitted during his investigation that during his stay in the Gaza Strip ... he was drafted into the military wing of Hamas and had a series of military trainings that included the use of small arms and preparation of explosive devices," according to Gendelman. "The aim of this training was committing a series of terrorist attacks against Israeli and Jewish interests in North America. One of the plans was shooting at an Israeli VIP, a minister that would come to visit North America. He was supposed to tail that minister, get close to him and shoot him."

"Another scenario was booby-trapping cars of Israelis and Jews.... And he also wanted to kill a Jew wherever he meets him, like in the street if he would see an Orthodox Jew, he had orders to kill him on the spot."

This was perhaps inspired by the Qur'an's "Verse of the Sword": ". . . Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them . . . " (Sura 9:5).

Gendelman: "He admitted to all those. He said in the investigation that he was planning to do all those things. So we are not talking about allegations but about facts."

Chirac

French President Jacques Chirac, of all people, has "denounced Muslim head scarves on schoolgirls as offensive and expressed concern about Islamic fundamentalism Friday as momentum grew in France to bar all religious symbols from public schools." This from Reuters.

What's offensive about them? "Speaking on a visit to Tunisia, Chirac said the strictly secular French state could not let pupils wear what he called 'ostentatious signs of religious proselytism' and saw 'something aggressive' in the wearing of traditional Muslim veils.

"Chirac's comments to pupils at a school maintained by the French government in Tunis sharpened the head scarf debate in France, in which popular concerns about Islam, women's rights and Muslim immigration have developed into a broad movement to ban the veil.

"More than 60 prominent French women, including actresses Isabelle Adjani and Emmanuelle Beart and designer Sonia Rykiel, issued a petition Friday, urging a ban on 'this visible symbol of the submission of women.'

"'We cannot accept ostentatious signs of religious proselytism, whatever they are and whatever the religion,' said Chirac, who is due to receive a special report on enforcing secularism next week in preparation for a possible ban.

"'In our public schools, a veil has something aggressive about it which presents a problem of principle, even if only a small minority wears it.'

"Critics say banning a bit of cloth ignores the root cause of problem, the failure to integrate France's 5 million Muslims into French society.

"Muslim women and girls argue that banning them would infringe on their freedom of religion.

"Only a handful of schools have expelled girls for insisting on wearing veils, but polls show a majority of voters favor a ban."

Dhimmi news from "secular" Egypt: "Christian groups have raised concerns about a woman being held in a Cairo jail for illegally altering her identity card to reflect her conversion from Islam to Christianity." This from Middle East Times.

"Middle East Concern said Mariam Girgis Makar has been held for six weeks, after she was accused of altering her own identity card and helping others to alter theirs.

"Twenty people arrested for similar offenses at the same time as Makar have since been released; another died of illness in prison, according to Middle East Concern.

"Although the Egyptian constitution allows freedom of religion, critics say all religions are not treated equally in the country. For example, converts to Islam can get their identity cards changed within 24 hours, while converts from Islam find it impossible to change their cards at all, Middle East Concern said in a press release.

"The rights group said the difficulties faced by Christian converts in Egypt forced people to use illegal means of altering their state-issued identity cards.

"Middle East Concern also drew attention to the death in custody of Isam Abdel Fath, a Muslim civil servant who allegedly received bribes to help alter identity cards. Prison authorities said Abdel Fath died due to medical complications while in custody.

"Egyptian law stipulates that identity cards must be carried at all times."

"A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a crowded commuter train in southern Russia today, killing at least 40 people in what President Vladimir V. Putin denounced as a terrorist act intended to disrupt parliamentary elections here this weekend." So says the New York Times.

"The explosion, which occurred at 7:42 a.m., wrenched apart the second carriage of the train only moments after it left the station in Yessentuki, near the foothills of the Caucasus, not far from Chechnya. . . .

"While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, Sergei N. Ignatchenko, chief spokesman for the Federal Security Service, said in an interview that it bore all the characteristics of terrorist acts by Chechnya's separatist fighters. . . .

"Over the spring and summer Russia suffered a wave of terrorist attacks, many of them carried out by suicide bombers. The attacks -- at a rock concert in Moscow, a bus stop and military hospital in Mozdok and government buildings in Chechnya -- killed more than 250 people. . . .

"Officials have attributed the attacks -- as well as the siege of a theater in Moscow last October that ended with the deaths of 129 hostages and 41 guerrillas -- to Chechens aided by international Islamic extremists."

Here is their motivation: traditional jihad theology.

This morning the Washington Post contains a story about the ongoing debate over the role of Islam in Iraq's future government. It quotes Judith S. Yaphe, who is identified as "a senior research fellow at National Defense University and a former senior CIA Iraq analyst." She says that Islam is "the first problem and a very big one."

"'I don't know how flexible [the United States] will be,' she said, but warned that there would be trouble if Congress insisted on separation of mosque and state."

That is certainly true.

But then Yaphe says: "This is an Islamic state. You can have freedom of religion, because the Koran protects Christians and Jews, but 95 percent there are Muslim."

Is Yaphe, to say nothing of her friends at the CIA, aware of what Islamic law actually says about the "protection" of Christians and Jews? It's nothing like the Western understanding of freedom of religion. In Onward Muslim Soldiers I go straight to core texts of Islamic jurisprudence to show what "freedom of religion" means in the context of the Sharia. "The subject peoples," according to a manual of Islamic law, must "pay the non-Muslim poll tax (jizya)" and "are distinguished from Muslims in dress, wearing a wide cloth belt (zunnar); are not greeted with 'as-Salamu 'alaykum' [the traditional Muslim greeting, 'Peace be with you']; must keep to the side of the street; may not build higher than or as high as the Muslims' buildings, though if they acquire a tall house, it is not razed; are forbidden to openly display wine or pork . . . recite the Torah or Evangel aloud, or make public display of their funerals or feastdays; and are forbidden to build new churches." If they violate these terms, the law further stipulates that they can be killed or sold into slavery at the discretion of the Muslim leader. (See 'Umdat al-Salik, o11.3, 5).

That's an understanding of freedom of religion that's compatible with or equivalent to Western secularism? Tell me another. (Thanks to "Allah.")

"The King Fahd Academy in Bonn," according to Newsweek, provoked an uproar two months ago when German television reporters infiltrated its classrooms and videotaped a teacher inciting a holy war 'in the name of Allah' and advocating martial-arts training--including the use of crossbows--for young students. Local German officials announced their intention to shut the school down after receiving intelligence reports that Muslim militants from throughout Germany--some of them with suspected terrorist connections--were flocking to the area to send their children to the academy."

However, the school was not shut down. German authorities, in a sharp example of their awareness of their burgeoning identity as dhimmis, backed off: "But after expressing its own alarm, the German government quickly changed its tune. German Interior Minister Otto Schily recently praised the King Fahd Academy as an 'important cultural institution' and denounced the media campaign against the school as a threat to Saudi-German relations."

What brought about this new flowering of German dhimmitude? "The reason for the change, sources tell NEWSWEEK, was hardball diplomatic pressure from Riyadh. In early October, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made an official visit to Saudi Arabia where he met with the ailing King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, the country's de facto ruler. During the trip, Schroeder told Saudi officials that the teaching of hard-core jihadi ideology at the King Fahd Academy 'must be stopped,' according to German press reports.

"The Saudis pledged to curb extremism and fire any radical teachers."

That's fine, if it's true. But the Germans caved in the most short-sighted, craven way to another pressure tactic: "But they also quietly passed along another message to Schroeder: that schools attended by the children of German diplomats and businessmen in Saudi Arabia could face similar harassment or even closure if the King Fahd Academy was shut down. As a result, the Schroeder government promised to back off any plans to close the King Fahd Academy for 'foreign-policy reasons,' a German official told NEWSWEEK."

Nor is the school in Bonn a singular case. "The German experience underscores a broader concern among U.S. and other Western intelligence officials about the role that Saudi-funded mosques and schools are playing in the fomenting of radical Islamic ideology. The Saudi government pumps tens of millions of dollars every year into such institutions around the world--including Islamic centers, mosques and schools named for King Fahd in Los Angeles, Moscow, Edinburgh and Malaga, Spain. These schools are known for spreading Wahhabism--the puritanical, hard-core brand of Islam that is the official Saudi state religion and, in its more extreme versions, can be difficult to distinguish from the radical Islamic thought preached by Osama bin Laden and his followers, some intelligence officials say."

Meanwhile, as the Saudis make promises to crack down on extremism, "a prominent Saudi dissident, Mai Yamani, daughter of that country's former oil minister, Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, said the Saudis are incapable of true reform. She described the Saudi royal family as 'deeply connected' to the country's hard-core Wahhabi clerics and says the family has given them vast power over the country's schools and mosques in exchange for religious legitimacy. 'Not only has the state embraced the hard-liners,' she said, 'the hard-liners are the state, fully embedded in its structure.'"

Oh, and as for Germany: in Berlin, "the German capital's first mosque has just opened and there are plans for a dozen more." But of course everyone knows that no Islamic radicalism will ever be taught in these places.

We have seen jihadist activity in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. Now -- Bolivia: "Bolivia's state news agency said authorities in La Paz detained 16 Muslims on Thursday after a tip-off from French police that some of them were planning to hijack a plane and attack targets in the United States. . . ." This from Reuters, with thanks to LGF.

"It quoted Interior Minister Alfonso Ferrufino as saying most of those arrested were Bangladeshis and that they were detained at Viru Viru airport near the southern Bolivian city of Santa Cruz on Thursday morning.

"'(Ferrufino) said that the tip-off from French police said that the 16 Muslims were planning to hijack a plane en route from La Paz via Santa Cruz to Buenos Aires to attack targets in the United States,' the news agency report said."

We all know that jihad is a spiritual struggle within the soul of the believer, and that if it extends to the battlefield at all, it refers only to self-defense, right? Every day, of course, more evidence comes that large numbers of Muslims around the world don't think of it this way at all.

This time it comes from an Australian named Zak Mallah. Says The Australian: "For the past two years he had been a vocal critic of the domestic intelligence agency and the Department of Foreign Affairs. He brought himself to the attention of authorities by suggesting he wanted to participate in a jihad act in Lebanon.

"However Mr Mallah had said he was referring to jihad in a metaphorical, not literal, sense."

Hmm. What's a metaphorical jihad, as opposed to a literal one? A war of words? The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune? Whatever this could have meant, it appears that Mallah may in fact have had something more "literal" in mind:

"Police last night laid terrorism charges against Sydney man Zak Mallah after taking possession of a jihad-style video and uncovering what they allege was a specific threat by him to kill an ASIO officer." ASIO is the Australian Security Intelligence Organization.

"Mr Mallah, 20, of Condell Park, was charged at Bankstown police station with committing an action in preparation for a terrorist act and threatening a commonwealth officer.

"The video includes readings from the Koran and Mr Mallah holding a placard reading: 'I will take you hostage.' . . .

"The Weekend Australian revealed two weeks ago Mr Mallah had prepared a typed script claiming he was now prepared to die for his cause. . . .

"On September 14, NSW police arrested and charged Mr Mallah after finding a firearm and 100 rounds of ammunition in his unit."

Meanwhile, another report adds that "Keysar Trad, a director of the Lebanese Muslim Association, said outside the court that he had spoken to Mallah by phone on Wednesday night." Said Trad: "Personally, I don't think he is a threat. He has not been a regular at the mosque at Lakemba. But since we started counselling we have tried to bring him to the mosque. He will require spiritual assistance." Indeed. But is the spiritual assistance offered in the Lakemba mosque of the type favored by Jamal Badawi, or by Abu Zobayer? (Thanks to nicolei.)

UPDATE: Here is the beginning of a letter from Zak Mallah: "Peace be upon those who follow the guidance. This is Zak Mallah, Australian-born, Australian-bred. I start my letter with verses from the Koran, which outline the causes and reasons for my actions." Kaysar Trad is also quoted in this article, saying: "He has previously expressed a confused understanding of the religion of Islam, particularly on the rulings of jihad and self-defence. And that needs to be rectified by education." That rectification, if it can be successfully done, needs to be carried out on a global scale.

More evidence of the deep inroads that radical Islam has made in Europe: "Germany's chief federal prosecutor is considering whether to take over an investigation into an Islamic group suspected of trying to smuggle suicide bombers into Iraq, a spokesman said Thursday.

"It follows the arrest of an Iraq at Munich railway station Tuesday and reports that police had broken up an Islamic terrorist group.

"Media reports from Munich said the group was believed to be a cell of Ansar al-Islam (supporters of Islam) which has alleged links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

"A spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutors Office in Karlsruhe said chief prosecutor Kay Nehm was looking to see if there was any need to take over the investigation from Munich prosecutors.

"Normally the Karlsruhe office would be responsible for investigating terrorist groups."

Joko Harmono files this report from Indonesia:

Christians slain by Terrorists during Church Service
by Joko Harmono

POSO, INDONESIA, Nov 30 2003: Tonight, as the congregation in Tabamawo, 120 km (70 miles) east of Poso, sat attentively, taking in the sermon being delivered by their pastor's wife, Sandra Tengker, two gunmen arrived on motorcycles, coming to the Church door and delivered their fatal shots.

It was 7.30 pm and the service was nearing its end. The Christians had spent a time in prayer praying for the Indonesian Government and for peace in the land when the terrorists broke in. Ruslam (32) and Arifin (28) were slain being shot several times each in front of the congregation and their families, leaving their young wives and children in shock. Moda (37) is still fighting for his life and has been transported to the Ampana District Hospital. Moda was shot through the face and in the back and even if he survives will need much intensive care. Two others were wounded and survived, Sandra Tengker, the pastor's wife and Yulmin (23).

Another terrorist attack occurred just fifteen minutes earlier at 7.15 pm, 175 km (110 miles) away to the west, on the other side of Poso, reports Ferdinand Saerang of Poso Watch. "Kilo Trans a majority Christian village consisting of Balinese Christians and Balinese Hindus was attacked during evening prayers at the local church by 20 well-armed and well-trained gunmen shooting wildly into the houses," he said. It was a miracle that there were not more deaths and injuries. The community was spared the bullets ripping through their homes as they were in church praying.

Two Balinese Hindu men were caught up in the panic of the attack. Mr. I Made Simson aged 27, died instantly, and Mr. I Ketut Sarman (Village Chief) aged 43 died on route to the Poso Hospital. Several others were wounded and then the terrorists disappeared into the night.

The Jakarta English daily, Jakarta Post reporter, Irvan NR, reports that, "Attacks on villagers resumed in October of this year, initiated by a group of masked gunmen, claiming 10 lives. Police reinforcements were dispatched to Poso, but the violence has not subsided," he said.

All the attacked villages are Christian majority villages and this is not a communal conflict. It is a one-side organized massacre of innocent people carried out in the name of Allah by violent hate-charged Islamic extremists trying to extend the authority and wealth of their religion. Such bigoted violent terrorism must not be allowed to continue. It is a disease that must be exterminated.

Alyssa Lappen files an alarming report in FrontPage today, detailing the murder of Jews in Paris -- and the fact that the major French media outlets considered the news unfit to print.

". . . two Paris Jews were brutally murdered and disfigured--because they were Jewish. A minor tabloid, Le Parisien, reported the grisly events. But not a single major French newspaper--Le Monde, Figaro or Libération--covered the stories, according to an interview with a victim's mother, distributed by Rosenpress in Revue-Politique.com. In one case, the police advised the family not to call the crime anti-Semitic.

"Sebastian Sellam, 23, was a popular disc jockey at a hot Parisian night club called Queen. At about 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday November 19, the young man known as DJ Lam C (a reverse play on his surname) left the apartment he shared with his parents in a modest building in of Paris' 10th arrondissement near la Place Colonel Fabien, heading to work as usual. In the underground parking lot, a Muslim neighbor slit Sellam's throat twice, according to the Rosenpress interview. His face was completely mutilated with a fork. Even his eyes were gouged out.

"Following the crime, Rosenpress correspondent Alain Azria reported, Sellam's mother said the Muslim perpetrator mounted the stairs, his hands still bloody, and announced his crime. 'I have killed my Jew. I will go to heaven,' he reportedly said. The alleged murderer's family was well known for rabid anti-Semitism, Mrs. Sellam reportedly told Rosenpress, a point confirmed by the victim's brother. Within the previous year, Sellam's mother reportedly said, the family found a dead rooster outside their apartment door with its throat slit, and their Mezuzah was ripped from their door post. Leaving dead roosters is reportedly a traditional warning of impending murder."

Why would this man think he would go to heaven for killing a Jew? Maybe because of this hadith: "When judgment day arrives, Allah will give every Muslim, a Jews or Christian to kill so that the Muslim will not enter into hell fire" (Mishkat Al-Messabih, no. 5552).

"The homicide especially traumatized the Paris Jewish community: According to Rosenpress, another gruesome murder, also allegedly committed by a Muslim, occurred earlier that evening. Chantal Piekolek, 53, was working in her Avenue de Clichy shoe store when Mohamed Ghrib, 37, stabbed her 27 times in the neck and chest.

"Piekolek's 10-year-old daughter hid in the storeroom behind the shop with a girlfriend and heard the entire crime. There was no evidence of sexual assault, according to Rosenpress. Paris reporters believe the cash remained in the shop's register, but this detail remained unconfirmed at press time. . . .

"Initial reports in small news outlets naturally terrified and confused the French Jewish community. Intense anti-Semitism has been building for more than a decade, according to Nidra Poller, an American expatriate in Paris for several decades. Anti-Semitic crimes frequently go unreported in the major press, she said, suppressed by French authorities, victims fearing retribution--and news agencies. Jewish community members thus usually learn of attacks as they did during previous centuries in North African and Eastern European ghettoes--by word of mouth.

"In 2001, a rabbi in Poller's neighborhood was kidnapped and held hostage in a car for two hours. Another religious Jew was kidnapped in similar fashion, Poller reported. A Jewish woman and her husband, whom she had just picked up at a local hospital, were abused and threatened with murder for several hours by their Muslim taxi driver, she said. . . .

"French Jews live in constant fear, Poller said. Everyday activities, such as taking a taxi, going to synagogue or shopping can bring attacks. The entire community is traumatized. This pattern was effectively repeated with the November murders in Paris after initial reports indicated that both cases were anti-Semitic crimes. . . .

"Given intense and worsening anti-Semitism in France and Europe, there seems little hope that the government will actually investigate the arson, much less prosecute the perpetrator if it finds one. After all, EU officials deny the severity of the problem. Last week, they shelved an EU report on the subject for fear of antagonizing Muslims, who were behind many of the incidents examined. . . .

"Poller left France for a U.S. speaking tour in November with one week's news publications to read on her flight--two weekly magazines and three major newspapers. All of them, she said, were 'reeking with hatred [for Jews].' They also sympathized extensively with terrorists. News reports are not factual. 'They are sermons,' Poller said. A profile of philosopher Gilles Deleuze in the weekly Nouvel Observateur, for example, praised his defense of the Palestinians, citing an article he wrote on 'le grandeur de Arafat,' despite his personal responsibility for more than 1,000 civilian murders."

One of Malvo's drawings

Hoping to shed light on what they believe was an insane mind, defense attorneys for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo presented a judge yesterday with dozens of sketches that the teen-ager scribbled in his jail cell while awaiting trial for last fall's sniper attacks -- crimes that Malvo depicted in his art as 'jihad' in America.

This from the Baltimore Sun.

Filled with rambling anti-American messages and hand-drawn images of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and a mix of characters from The Matrix movie, the drawings offer an eerie glimpse of Malvo and the possible motivation behind the sniper siege that spread terror around the nation's capital.

"I would take you out at your dinner table. ... You will not escape, America. Not now, not ever," Malvo wrote on one sketch, which shows the cross hairs of a rifle superimposed over a police officer. Another sketch shows cross hairs aiming at the White House. . . .

While the letters and drawings express a wide range of militant sentiments, the most recurring theme is that of jihad - or holy war - against America.

"We did not start this flame, we merely picked up the torch," he wrote on the drawing showing bin Laden near a police officer in a rifle's sights. "Ye shall all die! Every last one." . . .

And another: "I have been accused on my mission. Allah knows I'm gonna suffer now."

Recruitment of jihad warriors isn't just something that goes on in far-off places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jordan, Egypt, and Paraguay: it has also been going on in the Texas prison system.

CBS-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth has "uncovered a disturbing half-hour videotape apparently used as a recruitment tool in the Beto One Prison Unit in East Texas."

The confiscated video is titled 'A Message to the Oppressed' and carried a militant Islamic sermon in praise of terrorists to inmates before authorities seized it during Islamic services.

The tape features the anti-Semitic exhortations by the California-based Imam Muhammad Abdullah who claims that the 9-11 terrorist attacks were actually carried out by the Israeli and U.S. governments.

'Are we to believe that some person that some people walked in airports and hijacked airplanes and then just went and blew up buildings blew up the Pentagon? This is ignorance to the max.'

The Imam's tape ends by giving credit to Hamas, al-Jihad and Hizballah. All three groups are listed as terror organizations by the State Department....

Some terrorism experts say the videotape is new evidence of militant Islamic groups infiltrating prisons through religious programs. The Senate judiciary subcommittee on terrorism concluded recently that U.S. prisons and jails are a key area of recruitment for Al Qaeda and other terror organizations....

'There have been cases domestically here in the United States and some of the training we have received indicates that there is a possibility that there is a recruiting effort going on inside prisons,' said John Moriarty, Inspector General of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 'As a matter of fact, in other states, other than Texas, there has been confirmation of that.'...

Comments Mark Briskman of the Anti-Defamation League: "You have a potential in this prison system, as these people begin to get out, in terms of recruiting them into whether it's al Queda or Hamas or Islamic Jihad, and possibly be recruited to fight overseas or possibly be recruited to perform terrorist acts in the United States."

The article notes:

Some prison chaplains say the discovery of the tape raises [concern] that religious freedoms in jail appear to have been abused to help spread a militant message that encourages terrorism.

Indeed.

In a continuation of the article, we meet Omar Rakeeb, who has "carried an Islamic outreach from his mosque in Midland as a Muslim chaplain to federal and state prisons."

He brought the videotape into the Beto One Unit, but he denies any knowledge of it: "'I didn't have anything to do with showing the tape,' Rakeeb said. He said an inmate ordered the tape to the chaplain's office. . . . Rakeeb was unable to explain who removed the tape from Rakeeb's office and who else, besides him, had access to a VCR to show it to inmates. . . .

The 55-year-old Chaplain said when asked about the message that he's not familiar with what Anti-Semitic means.

He declined to disavow the theory that Israel and Jews orchestrated the attacks that killed more than 3,000 innocent American office workers.

'Well, I heard that. I saw it in different...I heard it, I believe on TV and I read it somewhere on the Internet and heard people talking like that,' Rakeeb said. 'Usually, I just treat it as news, whether it is true or not, I have no way of knowning.'

The FBI warns that militant Muslim prison chaplains sympathetic to terrorists are trying to recruit inmates as future operatives.

(Thanks to LGF.)

Many Muslims have pointed out since September 11 that Islam forbids killing women, children, and the innocent. Of this there is no doubt, but there is a key distinction: as I explain in Onward Muslim Soldiers, the Shafi'i school of Sunni jurisprudence stipulates that "it is not permissible . . . to kill women and children unless they are fighting against the Muslims." The Hanbali jurist Ibn Taymiyya, a favorite of modern Muslim radicals, directed that "as for those who cannot offer resistance or cannot fight, such as women, children, monks, old people, the blind, handicapped and their likes, they shall not be killed unless they actually fight with words (e.g. by propaganda) and acts (e.g. by spying or otherwise assisting in the warfare)."

This is one reason why Samir Qantar, who murdered a four-year-old Israeli girl, her father, and a policeman in a notorious 1979 raid, has said: "In our opinion there are no civilians in Israel." In Onward Muslim Soldiers I quote Muammar Qaddafi's son, Seyf-al-Islam (Sword of Islam) Qaddafi, saying the same thing: "There are no civilians in Israel."

This is also why Muslims can meet in a mosque and plot the murder of children in a nearby school: "Israeli police raided a West Bank mosque on Wednesday, capturing two Palestinians who allegedly were planning to attack a school. One was reportedly wearing an explosives belt." This from AP, with thanks to LGF.

". . . Israeli troops raided the mosque in the West Bank village of Bardala, nine miles south of Beit Shean. Tadji Sawafta, a local official, said two men were arrested.

"Dore Gold, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the Palestinians were planning a suicide attack on a school in the Israeli town of Yokneam. One was wearing an explosives belt like those used by suicide bombers, Israeli media said."

Shoe bomber Richard Reid: did he have help? (AP photo)

"A British man arrested last week in southwestern England was charged Wednesday with conspiring with convicted 'shoe-bomber' Richard Reid in an explosives plot, police said." This from AP.

"Sajid Badat was charged with three offenses, including that between Sept. 1, 2001, and Nov. 28, 2003, he 'unlawfully and maliciously conspired with Richard Reid and others unknown' to cause an explosion 'likely to endanger life or cause serious injury' in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, London's Metropolitan Police said.

"Badat, 24, also was charged with two counts of possessing or controlling an explosive substance.

"He was arrested Nov. 27 after police found explosive material at his home in Gloucester.

"Shortly after the arrest, Home Secretary David Blunkett said the security services and police believed the suspect had 'connections with the network of al-Qaida groups.'

"Ibrahim Master, chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said last week that the suspect had been a student at the College of Islamic Knowledge and Guidance in Blackburn, northern England.

"Reid was sentenced to life in prison for a Dec. 22, 2001, bombing attempt aboard a Paris-to-Miami flight. When he pleaded guilty in October 2002, Reid said he was a member of al-Qaida, pledged his support to Osama bin Laden, and declared himself an enemy of the United States.

"Reid had tried to ignite plastic explosives hidden in his shoes on American Airlines Flight 63. Prosecutors said there was enough plastic explosives in his shoes to blow a hole in the fuselage and kill all 197 people aboard."

Meanwhile, Daniel Pipes writes an insightful essay in the Jerusalem Post about reactions to Badat's arrest in the British Muslim community -- and their implications: "But he was good to his mother: Murdering for militant Islam."

Pipes notes that virtually everyone interviewd about Badat said that he was a quiet, gentle soul, and that they couldn't imagine him doing such a thing. He reminds us that similar reactions recur "almost every time a supporter of militant Islam has either been arrested on terrorism-related charges or engaged in an actual terrorist operation."

Pipes concludes: "Such high regard for terrorists has several important implications. First, it points to the adherents of militant Islam being indeed 'normal, good-natured young' people, and not misfits. In common with other totalitarian movements, militant Islam finds support among many accomplished, talented, and attractive individuals - which renders it all the more dangerous a threat.

"Second, the fact that those who murder on behalf of militant Islam often enjoy psychological soundness, educational attainment, sporting success, economic achievement, or social esteem suggests that Islamist violence cannot be reduced by adopting the 'root causes' approach of addressing personal poverty and despair. The phenomenon needs to be fought head-on.

"Third, that terrorists are (unsurprisingly) skilled at hiding their intentions has the unfortunate consequence of making them harder to discern and therefore spreads suspicion to the larger Muslim community. This in turn points to that community's heightened responsibility and incentive to ferret out potential terrorists in its midst." CAIR is, unfortunately, unlikely to heed these words.

While CAIR and other American Muslim advocacy groups try to strong-arm the American public and law enforcement agencies into accepting on faith that all American Muslims are benign, peaceful people, a veritable who's who of Islamic radicals is planning a conference in Florida. "Some anti-hate groups are outraged that a Saudi cleric who called on God to 'terminate' the Jews and urged Muslims to shun peace with Israel is the invited keynote speaker at an Islamic conference scheduled this month in Osceola County." This from the Orlando Sentinel, with thanks to LGF.

The organization that is bring Shaikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais to Florida, the Universal Heritage Foundation, "envisions a home base in Florida's tourist corridor that would attract Islamic scholars and promote tolerance among religious groups." However, "some anti-hate groups . . . fear Shah may be inviting radicals to Central Florida who will stir up prejudice and divisiveness. . . .

Zulfiqar Ali Shah, chairman and chief executive officer of the UHF, "said his motives are pure. He also said he wasn't aware that the man invited to be the keynote speaker, Al-Sudais, was quoted in various newspapers in April 2002 as calling Jews 'the scum of humanity, the rats of the world, the killers of prophets and the grandsons of monkeys and pigs.'"

I wonder if Shah reads the Qur'an, where Jews are called monkeys and pigs in Suras 2:62-65, 5:59-60, and 7:116.

"Al-Sudais is senior imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca. . . . Rita Katz, who heads a nonprofit anti-terrorism research center in Washington, D.C., said American Muslim leaders should not invite individuals like Al-Sudais, who are 'virulently intolerant of the West and other religions.'

"'He's incredibly antisemitic, and widely publicized as so,' said Katz, who heads the SITE Institute. 'Post 9-11, why are they seeking someone so radical?' she asked, noting that Al-Sudais represents the conservative Saudi Wahabi sect of Islam.

"Joe Kaufman, president of a South Florida group called Americans Against Hate, said Al-Sudais should be denied entry into the United States because of his antisemetic remarks, which were broadcast on Arabic TV and radio.

"'The biggest fear is that the group this person will be speaking to is largely a who's who of the most radical figures in our country from the most radical organizations in our country,' Kaufman said. 'This could spark a violent act.'

"No federal or state agency said it plans to prevent Al-Sudais from entering the country.

"The Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced Kaufman as an advocate of a radical Jewish group. Kaufman fired back that the council is connected to Palestinian militants. Both sides deny the accusations.

"Altaf Ali, Florida director of the council, said Al-Sudais and the other speakers are highly respected and that it has been "open season" on Muslims since the 9-11 attacks.

"'I personally have never heard any of these individuals say anything hateful,' Ali said. 'Anybody associated with a mosque is immediately [considered] a terrorist suspect. We are being found guilty by association.'

"In addition to Al-Sudais, the announced speakers include:

"Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an 'unindicted person who may be alleged as (a) conspirator' in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, according to former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White. His Masjid al-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, N.Y., hosted the blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who was convicted in a conspiracy to bomb the Holland and Lincoln tunnels in New York. Wahhaj testified as a character witness for Rahman. Wahhaj, whom his supporters say is 'mainstream,' has made numerous anti-American statements.

"Imam Maulana Shafayat Muhammad, principal of the Darul Uloom Institute & Islamic Training Center in Pembroke Pines. Dirty-bomb suspect José Padilla attended his mosque. Padilla, Brooklyn-born Muslim convert, is accused of plotting with al-Qaeda to explode a bomb containing radioactive materials in the United States.

"Muzzamal Siddiqui, who has spoken at pro-Hezbollah rallies, supported the creation of an Islamic state in the United States and praised martyrdom for the Islamic cause, according to the SITE Institute. In spite of his statements, Siddiqui has been a guest at the White House, and he spoke at Washington National Cathedral post 9-11.

"Sayyid M. Syeed, secretary-general of the Islamic Society of North America and former director of academic outreach at the International Institute of Islamic Thought. Federal agencies raided the institute last year on suspicion of funneling money to suicide bombers.

"Areej Zufari, spokeswoman for the Islamic Society of Central Florida, said attempted censure of the speakers is un-American." Evidently Zufari would have us welcome with open arms those who would destroy us.

Charles at LGF notes that "Shah himself is former president of the Islamic Circle of North America, a group allied with the militant fundamentalist movement of Jamaat-e-Islamiya in Pakistan and