Former Exec: American Company Paid Terrorist Group to Protect Overseas Interests

This is insane if true--and it certainly sounds real on first pass. It reminds me of the Clinton plan to deal with N Korea.

This tale of Echo Bay paying protection money to the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf in order to continue conducting its mining operations unhindered, is beautifully synecdochic. For the behavior of Echo Lake in the Philippines is merely an echo of what European policymakers have been doing, with increasing fervency, over the last three decades. The "Euro-Arab Dialogue, the migration of Muslims into the Bilad al-kufr, or Land of the Infidels, that has proceeded virtually unhindered until last year, the promotion in the press, on the state-owned television channels, and in all the corridors of power, of a pro-Arab policy that deliberately misidentifies the nature of the Arab and Muslim war against Israel (a classic and unappeasable Jihad, intended to remove the Infidel sovereignty altogether, albeit in stages, and not merely a campaign to adjust its borders)is part of the Echo-Bay-like payoff. By permitting, and even echoing, the deliberate and endless vilifcation of Israel on radio, television, and in the press, European political leaders are softening up their own populations for what they, those leaders, regard as necessary (unnecessary!) appeasement, and also help to divert what would be fury directed at European elites, by an aroused populace, if it were finally to fully comprehend the dangers posed by Muslim populations allowed to come into their midst, and to flourish. For if they do not study Islam too carefully, if they allow themselves to believe that devout Muslims may feel a real, not a fleeting or feigned or highly circumscribed loyalty to an Infidel nation-state, and if they can be convinced that Muslim behavior can be explained as justified outrage at the behavior of Israelis, instead of what it really is, the expression of hostility based on doctrine, toward all Infidels, not merely sanctioned but positively required by the tenets taken from Qur'an and hadith, and reflected quite clearly in the historic treatment of non-Muslims under Muslim rule. That is why Israel, as a whipping-boy, proves so useful and so soothing. For the Arabs, the attention to Israel keeps attention away from the tenets of Islam, and from the other examples of that world-wide phenomenon (in the Sudan, in northern Nigeria, in the Moluccas, in the Philippines, in Jammu and Kashmir, in Pakistan, in Bangladesh, all over), as well as delaying the recognition of the threat posed by Muslim populations within Europe. Attention focused on Israel, which is then subject to a campaign of deliberate vilification, allows those Europeans who want to believe, until the last minute, when the last boat leaves for North America, that it is just Israel standing in the way -- so let us, then, throw it to the wolves. Other Muslims, to the extent that they follow the Arab example, such as Pakistanis who have only their Muslim identity to cling to, are likely to follow the same line. Far less fervent in their "Palestiniani" focus, because far less sympathetic to Arabs generally, are Turks, Persians, Berbers and Kurds, who have thier own historic fish to fry. In Echo-Bay Europe, the attitude toward Israel ranges from almost wilful miscomprehension of that country's attempt to protect its own citizens, to something far more sinister; the behavior of the Arabs, not only the "Palestinian" Arabs, is justified in every conceivable and inconceivable way. Europeans are postponing the day of reckoning with what these poulations of Muslims, within their own countries, means for them, Muslim populations means for them, in creating a world that is far more unpleasant, difficult, expensive, and dangerous for the native non-Muslims, than it would otherwise be.

Were migration to be stopped, were mosques and madrasas closed down (such closures can be justified not only by links to terrorism by the members of such mosques and madrasas, but also by any evidence uncovered of incitement to hatred and violence, which should be easy to find, since Qur'an and hadith are full of such incitement; it takes a real effort, as Kemalist Turks know, to come up with sermons and other texts that are not saturated with such incitement and hate. The sermons (khutbas) at Friday Prayers, will have to be monitored (as Ataturk had them monitored, or as the French police monitor them today). Instead of arresting this or that imam, mosues may be unceremoniously closed. Saudi money, to pay the mortgages, may be seized (and here one should applaud the law firm of Motley, for its lawsuit against Saudi Arabia may do more good against the Jihad than any current action in Iraq), or its transmission throttled. If our oceanographers do things right, we will hear the long, withdrawing roar of the Islamic tide, and not only from the beach before the white cliffs of Dover. No need for the conduct of "Muslim" life in the Lands of the Infidels to be quite so inviting, quite so all=-expenseses-paid, quite so easy, as it hitherto has been. A little change in the family fare would also be good. Instead of the Bin Laden tapes, and endless propaganda about the bestial behavior of American or Israeli soldiers, easily available to Muslims in Europe and the United States (there are said to be 180,000 paid subscribers to the Al-Jazeera Channel in the United States; any such subscriber, if he is not a member of the FBI, or a similar organization, should be considered suspect, given the violently anti-American presentation of the world he, and his large brood, take in). ArabSat, which makes Al-Jazeera possible, can be put out of commission. Strange accidents happen in all sorts of strange spaces (inner, outer, cyber, De Sitter, you name it). One can well imagine what Generals Kimmitt, Sanchez, Abizaid, and all the American soldiers who have had to endure the Iraqi welcome, were they to be asked whether they thought Al-Jazeera should be put out of its misery, with its blend of lies and incitement to murder (a cross between TASS and Der Stuermer), would answer. Though last week General Kimmitt suggested that those who listen to those lies should instead "change the channel," that will really not be enough.

Instead, one really must insist, in the interests of public decency, and Infidel lives, for Parental Controls to be put on the murderous Arab satellite channels. The Pentagon, in loco parentis, is fit for the task. The primitive and frenzied mobs in Fallujah, or Ramallah, the people who ran amok in East Timor, or in the Moluccas, or in southern Philippines or Thailand, should not be further encouraged. Time to limit the media content of what has been so widely and easily available to Muslims in the United States and Western Europe. Propaganda is a weapon of Jihad, and it is somethiing up with which we need not put. Due to technical difficulties, this station is off the air. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Qur'an, hadith, and shari'a prescribe, and circumscribe, the loyalty of Muslims: it must be given to, and only to, fellow Muslims. Whatever allegiance is sworn to an Infidel nation-state (as Great Britain now insists) is only a means to obtain a permanent presence in the Infidel land; it can only be a feigned allegiance by Muslims,for otherwise they would be traitors to Islam. Though some in the West are accused of "dual loyalty"(Pat Buchanan muttering darkly about the "amen corner" for Israel), the real problem is Islam is not "dual loyalty" but rather single loyalty -- to Islam alone. Were those whose duty it is to instruct us, and to protect us, to do the work of learning about Islam, not from Espositos and Armstrongs but from those who do not flinch fromo the unpleasant truth, we Infidels would be much safer, and our societies much easier, and less expensive, to defend.

When Bin Laden offers a temporary truce (which is all Infidels can ever be offered), and Europeans huffily reject it, and applaud themselves for their own refusal to compromise, one must remind them that they have been compromising for the past three decades, and they continue to do so, as they did a few days ago when they rejected the American endorsement of Sharon's plan, and insisted that everything Israel did had to be the product of "negotiations" with those who wish to destroy it. Self-applause by the Europeans (it used to be only Russian performers on stage who would join in the audience's applause, and seem, to Americans, to be applauding themselves) is premature. Let them stop voting with the Arabs at the U.N., and perhaps a clap or two can be offered them. For Europe long ago, in the spirit of Echo Bay with Abu Sayyaf, decades ago began to distance itself from the United States, to begin tentatively to consider how most plausibly to abandon Israel (and the abandonment of Israel, or its disappearance, would have untellable consquences for the collective Western psyche, and for the very idea of the West). It embraced a "Euro-Arab Dialogue" that consisted entirely of European acceptance of Arab demands on the teaching and promotion of Arab culture, and the Arab and Muslim view of things. And now put the peoples of Europe are in a real fix; some of them realize it, some still do not. (Note to realtors: get ready to flog land in Maine and Minnesota and Mississippi and Manitoba, in Kansas and Quebec, to many Europeans who will soon be seeking the insurance of a nearctic home. Note to art curators: prepare 20 airline hangars in the Middle West. Label each one -- Uffizi, Prado, Louvre, Alte Pinakothek, National Gallery, Rijksmuseum, and so on -- then wait. Those sculptures in Florence and Rome, those paintings in Paris and Amsterdam and the Hague, those frescoed madonnas in Umbria, all will have to be supplied with placdes of refuge far from Islam. The blowing-up of the Bamiyan Buddhas, the destruction wrought on the churches of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Byzantium, or the tens of thousands of Buddhist and Hindu temples -- well, a little imagination will give you a hint of what may come. A land-order business is about to be born -- in orders for land. Interested parties may contact me for further details). When the peoples of Western Europe fully realize what has been done to them, against their own interests, by their own foolish elites, they will turn on them in fury. And unless rational discussion begins now, they could also turn violently on the Muslims who have come to live among them, unless they chose to endure the slow asphyxiation of their own societies, just as the Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians of the Middle East and North Africa endured such a fate, through many centuries, with the results we all see, in the current level of civilized discourse, of free and skeptical inquiry, exhibitged by the people who live in Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, and so on.

Echo Bay bought a truce, or hudna, with $2 million. Western Europe has been paying off off in a different currency, though the traditional kind has also been used (chiefly to supply hundreds of millions of dollars to the Jihadists of the Palestinian Authority). It is much easier for the Muslim recipients to breed, and feed, a half-dozen or dozen children, and still have time to build bombs or rally around others who do so, if you don't have the old 9 to 5 to worry about, but can always rely on Infidels to willingly supply your basic wants.

And the extortion is so absurd. There is nothing to be gained. Remember the "oil weapon" that was said to be so fearsome? There never was an "oil weapon." It is all the Arabs have, and they are desperate to sell, at prices which will maximize their projected revenues over time. No matter how often this is pointed out by economists (Adelman, Kanovsky et al)and non-economists (Feith), it seems constantly to be forgotten. But there remains a money weapon. Money pays for madrasas and mosques (80% of the mosques in the United States are supported by Saudi money). Money buys journalists directly and indirectly, politicians (those million-dollar honoraria for speeches in Kuwait City, for example, or those slightly-less large sums laundered through Arab-endowed lecture series at compliant American universities, go a long way to win friends and influence people -- really, it's hard to be angry with people who hand you a million dollars for an hour's talk), ambassadors to the Arab oil countries (even while they are still on the job), CIA agents (such as a station chief in Jiddah, who quit to go into business with the Saudis), and so many other uses, including the buying-up of influential media. As there is not any real way to monitor the money in Arab banks, what with the diversion and transference of funds for zakat, the only way to limit the "money weapon" is to limit the money. No defense against the Jihad can be made with soldiers and tanks and planes alone. The money must diminish. There were local Jihads -- in the Dutch East Indies, in the Moplah Insurection, in Xinjiang, in Mandatory Palestine -- but until the oil wealth came, the Jihad was containable. Every effort should be made to diminish the amount of money that flows into Muslim coffers, all of them.

Europeans who turn down Bin Laden deserve no praise until they recognize the folly and cruelty and injustice of their to promote the endless campaign against Israel, with the transparent invention of the "Palestinian people" and the Jihad disguised as a struggle of limited scope, involving "two tiny peoples, each struggling for its homeland, etc." Blair,and the ignoramus Jack Straw differ only in the degree of cynicism in their subscribing to such a belief; the crook Chirac, with his expensive tastes (is there no one who can answer what the Lebanese Arab fixer and middleman Rafik Hariri brings to Paris in his suitcase every month, for his private tete-a-tetes with Chirac? And can anyone tell us what were the first words out of Chirac's Muslim grandchild's mouth?), the preening poseur Dominique de Villepin, not to mention Chris Patten, so tough in Hong Kong, such jelly with the Muslims, Javier Solana (who manages with a straight face to promote the justice of the "Palestinian cause" even as he denies the slightest validity to that of the Basques, who have a much more authentic claim to being a separate and distinct people than the "Palestinian" Arabs ever did), Romano Prodi (when Italy took over all of the Sudtirol afer World War I, renamin it the Alto Adige, and managed to "complete the helmet" at the top of the Boot, as the Italian national anthem recognizes, it unapologetically incorporated into Italy a formerly-Austrian territory that was 97% German-speaking. It could not claim, as Israel can with the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) that the Sudtirol represented a mortal threat. It could not claim that Italy was surrounded by the enemies of Deutschtum and could not afford to let the Sudtirol remain in Austrian hands, as Israel can claim about the Arabs. It could not claim that it had a long-standing legal, historic, and moral claim,tin addition to the possession which came about as the reuslt of a victorious war, as Israel can about the West Bank and Gaza. Yet Prodi, who has been a promoter of appeasement, albeit in a slightly more veiled fashion than some others, seems never to have been bothered by the sheer inconsistency of his position. One would mind less if he showed himself eager for a referendum in the Alto Adige, or eager to show deference to the far-less menacing sudtirolese acts against the Italian state (defiant speeches by Eva Klotz, an occasional power-transmission tower blown up, not much else), or willing to give it up so that the "legitimate rights of the Tyrolese people" could be recognized. Would not this egregio signore point to the historic threat posed by Austria, or to the massacres and destruction wrought by Germans and Austrians alike in Italy, once Italy had left the war? No, Prodi would hardly recognize the similarity, just as Javier Solana simply does not recognize the superiority of any Basque claim, or Catalan one, for that matter, to what "Palestinian" Arabs may present.

Furthermore, Western Europeans, in their longstanding appeasement of the Arabs (hardly modified by the noisy rejection of Bin Laden's hudna, or truce) have refused to recognize the fantastic asymmetry between Israel's size, population, and natural resources, when compared to that of the 22 Arab Muslim states that surround it, and whose peoples are consumed by the need to eliminate the sovereign Infidel state in their midst, and whose presence so spoils their view of the world-map). The only thing holding them back from open attack is the doctrine of darura, or necessity, for unless success is likely, if not assured, such attacks may be delayed. Whatever the reasons Romano Prodi can use to convince himself that it is entirely right and proper that Italy hold on to the Alto Adige, and that it was right and proper in 1920 as well, those reasons are far more convincing in the case of Israel, in its attempt to control, as it must, the invasion routes, aquifers, and heights of the entire West Bank. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, con tutte le salse. Italice, for the egregious Prodi of the EU: Non si avere due pesi e due misure. Got that?

When it comes to Israel, the bosoms of EU bureacrats still return the appeasing echo, and the European dawn still comes up like thunder, 'crost distant Echo Bay.

A spooky thought has been haughting me for some time now. Osama Bin Laden , and Jihadist in general are not just a bunch of religious fanatics, there is a practical functional realistic side to them as well.

What if they deep down are counting on generating enough pressure so that the ruling class of the Western world, Europe and North America will sell out, so to speak, the population to the Jihad? The capitalist really don't care what religion you are, just so they can make money out of you.

Indonesia had a secular society until one day President Shurato decreaded the start of " the Islamitisation of society ". Could such a similar sinister scheme in fact be underway in Europe? More accurately an appeasement in exchange for a monetary kick back for the capitalist?

Capitalist selling out populations for a short term monetary gain is a spooky thought that this Echo Bay story confirms in my mind. From the American prespective it is obvieous that Suadi Arabi is up to it's stinky arm pits in supporting terrorism. Yet our government has not made an issue of this over the decades. In the context of The War On Terrorism, the American public is in effect being sold out to Saudi Arabia at lest for the present. Not to mention Israel's security also.

Hopefully in the near future we will crack down on Suadi Arabia and Pakistan as well. Bringing about democratic change to those bastions of terrorism. The stratigic thinking may be that the American imposed revolutions of governace in Afghanistan and Iraq will spark similar change internally in the whole region. A classic case in point is Iran. Which has had a limited democracy over the past couple of decades and now seems ready to dump the religious totalitarianism altogether.

The problem is that Islamic society does not allow you to decide or determine jack. The ruling religious elite determines everything in a regimented totalitarian social contract. What worries me is that such a model may be appealing to some capitalist here in the Western World. And such a prospect may be the Jihadist ultimate end game. That they can better deliver a controlled subserviant population to the ruling class in hopes that the capitalist elite will take them up on their offer. Spooky thought indeed.

BRAVO Hugh! So very well said. I must leave off my email address as the immoral thieving computer jihadis enjoy having a field day with this and other "infidel's" computers. I relish taking away some of their fun.
The Temple Mount: who can seriously believe (but the uneducated, undereducated or the seriously brainwashed masses of Muslims) that Mohamet (I will spell his name however I wish) who never, ever stepped even a single little toe into Israel actually "ascended spiritually" in Jerusalem? This rather late Arab fabrication, i.e. bald faced lie is, apparently, the "religious" basis related by many Muslims who lay claim to the Temple Mount. It's really too bad Muslims were ever given any trust or authority over it as now selfish Arab minds apparently believe that once they steal something, it then belongs to them and only them (and as you know some Muslims will tell any fabrication, no matter how outrageous or ludicrous, necessary to support their imperialistic views). They love throwing the word "imperialist" around, but they are the ones that are looking for the very kind of expansionism so many 'activist' Muslims love to so often accuse others of, particularly Americans. If Jews or Christians had done exactly what the Muslims have done as with the case of the Temple Mount, the Muslims, especially the Arabws, would be spitting nails.
How would they like it if someone started a new religion, invaded their country, took over their holiest site, held it for hundred's of years, and then we claimed our "prophet" arose spiritually from there {and besides Mohamet really was of our religion} and it is now ours and we will go around the world propagandizing and murdering to not only insure it is ours, but to force everyone to believe the way we do. They wouldn't stand for it and neither shall we!
More likely (and hopefully) Mohamet descended exactly where he expired. I truly hope the story about him being posisoned by a Jewess , whose husband Mohamet had murdered did actually poison him and thereby make his last couple years on the earth truly miserable is true. That may sound hateful to some, but for all the misery that evil man has caused the entire world {including many of Islam's own adherents, I truly hope, if he did not repent of his many evils i.e. lying, stealing and murder and assasin approving to name a few of his moral short comings, that he is intensely suffering where ever he is.
Muslims can try to make Moses, Abraham or any other Jew into a Muslim, but Abraham and Moses were definately NOT Muslims and they would not even qualify to be Muslims today if they were alive today as he did NOT do the "five pillars" and did NOT teach them. When Mohamet and the Arabs plagerized from the religion of the Jews, they weren't smart enough then, apparently, not to be blatantly obvious}.
Some claim Mohamet at least did do a good thing by bringing Arabs out of paganism Frankly, I most Arab Muslims would have been much better off remaining pagans; they would likely have developed, by now, better behavior than that of "monkeys" and "dogs" that some of the "peace and love" Muslims are exhibiting today.
Surely non-Arab Muslims would have been much better off without paganism. They have undermined far superior cultures as in the case of the Egyptians and Persians. The way the Islamic religion, as written in the Qu'ran and as interpreted by many Muslims, the religion is exactly what a few Christian leaders have been truthful and frank enough to say: It is pure "evil".
I am not a Jew , but I choose to support Israel and not imagine any reason to ever stop supporting Israel. How anyone can choose to support terrorists or even people whose religion says the Creator says it's okay to lie, cheat, steal and murder if the victim is an "infidel", over Israel or Jews is simple beyond my comprehension.
Just because the Arabs invaded Israel {a FACT they love to ignore}does NOT mean they get to keep it. Their view is absurdly lucicrous, i.e. if we steal it we get to keep it and not only call it our own. claim it was always ours.
As for anyone with a gripe about a "Jewish" Israel: If Muslims can have all the rest of the Middle East then Jews can have a country of their own; it was theirs in the beginning along with the other Israelite tribes. I do expect Jews to be kind, tolerant and respectful of the few Christians left {if there are any left by that time} and be respectful toward Christians and Christian Holy places {as most Jews have always wisely done, even if only for their tourism value}. If Muslims want to visit "holy" places, then let them recognize that the Jews and Christians came before them.
I am still very angry with the Saudis for many reasons. It isn't bad enough the Saudis corrupted their own society; they had to corrupt the Pakistanis and others as well.
We Americans should not allow any further Saudi funding of religious institutions until Saudi Arabia allows freedom of religion and building of synagogues and churches in their nation.
Anyone who thinks this war is not a war the Islamofascists have declared on free nations are deceiving themselves and being naive as the Europeans.
The Arabs blame Israel for the situation of the Arabs there. At every turn, the Arabs in Israel made their choices. It is they who chose violence, they who chose corrupt terrorists for leaders. It is they who chodse to buy weapons and fund terrorists and terrorism rather than choose to build institutions. It has been entirely their OWN failures. Blaming others whenever their sick, twisted, greedy ideology fails is just another facet of a bankrupt religion. They could have made other choices and still have the opportunity to make other choices. If a strong, secular, democratic Arab faction were to arise it would likely be supported by US citizens and, in my view, would give them the best hope for both them and their children. I am waiting for the day when the Muslims love their own children more than they hate Jews. If that doesn't happen, then surely they should know that if faced with our own annihiliation, they will not be around to enjoy their "victory". We shall see how much they all 'really' want to die. Maybe they do; in that case I say, "Oh well", it is written.
Please excuse the typos, I am not done reconstructing my machine after some members of the "peace and love" religion exhibited their "peace" and "love".
Shalom

Fantastic Hugh. Perhaps there are things that we don't know that you haven't told us. I can't imagine that this situation can proceed much longer without a drastic change occuring.

But I certainly don't want a flood of Europeans (or anyone else) as they have their own ancient hatreds and proclivities that could wreak havoc here. Let's find a way to "help" the Europeans solve their own problems in Europe, but if they come, they, too will have to leave all of their nasty cultual animosities behind. That, of course, is an "understood."

Nevertheless, Hugh, your excellent post gives us much to think about. Please continue to keep us informed.

wesley said: What if they deep down are counting on generating enough pressure so that the ruling class of the Western world, Europe and North America will sell out, so to speak, the population to the Jihad? The capitalist really don't care what religion you are, just so they can make money out of you.

I worry about the same thing.
It's up to us to make sure our interests are protected...

what is amazing is that this story was broken by the sierra club. had not a mining operation been involved, i'm sure they would have rejected it for the preferred left-wing position of being sympathetic to the indiginous Abu Sayyaf independence movement.

great posts. while i can really appreciate your insights and depth, hugh, i must admit that i tend to believe that if the europeans have their backs up against the wall, their historical memory for war will surface again. also, russia will not sit around forever and allow a demographic muslim shift to threaten their national security.