May 2004 Archives

Garnaoui's trial is reminiscent of the mafia trials of the early Sixties, what with the witness amnesia, missing evidence, etc. The European bungling reported here reminds me of the Yee, Al-Arian, and Mayfield cases stateside. From the Washington Post, :

BERLIN -- The defendant, a Tunisian man with a bushy beard, sits inside a bulletproof glass box in the courtroom. Since his arrest more than a year ago, German authorities have declared the suspect, Ihsan Garnaoui, to be a terrorist and a threat to national security, a man who plotted attacks against U.S. and Jewish targets here.

But since his trial began earlier this month, prosecutors have struggled to make their accusations stick. Witnesses for the state have displayed shaky memories. Security officials have refused to allow two confidential informants to take the stand. And a key police report is missing.

This silly and naive policy is what results from the pervasive fundamental misunderstanding about the causes and roots of terrorism. From Reuters, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

LONDON - Britain signalled its commitment to its Muslim community yesterday as a leaked document revealed a project to 'win the hearts and minds' of Islamic extremists and Al-Qaeda sympathisers.

The government project codenamed Contest, which was leaked to the Sunday Times newspaper, suggested Britain might be harbouring as many as 10,000 Al-Qaeda sympathisers. ...

'We don't comment on leaks, but the government is taking its relationship with the Muslim community very seriously,' said a government spokesman. 'But that is only one part of the strategy against terrorism.'

Moderate Muslim preachers would receive state funding under the plan, while radical foreign imams would be asked to pledge allegiance to the British way of life or face a ban, said the Sunday Times.

Oh, you mean they will promise to be loyal? Great idea! That will take care of any problem!

'The aim is to prevent terrorism by tackling its underlying causes...to diminish support for terrorists by influencing relevant social and economic issues,' Cabinet Secretary Sir Andrew Turnbull was quoted as saying in a letter prior to a May 19 meeting to discuss Contest.

The project is said to have been prompted by the March 11 attacks on Madrid commuter trains, killing 191, and the discovery of over half a tonne of bomb making material in a London warehouse.

'Muslim-friendly workplaces' could be set up, along with moderate Muslim television and radio stations.

In a note to Home Office Permanent Secretary John Gieve, Sir Andrew called for a blueprint to win 'the hearts and minds' of Muslim youth.

'Al-Qaeda and its offshoots provide a dramatic pole of attraction for the most disaffected,' he wrote. 'The broader task is to address the roots of the problem, which include discrimination, disadvantage and exclusion suffered by many Muslim communities.'

Despite the assumptions of some Western analysts, Islamic radicalism never was remotely close to being a personality cult centered around Osama. But just in case someone didn't get the point, here is some information about some lesser-known but powerful terrorist leaders. From AP, with thanks to Peter Rockas:

From the dusty Sahara to the jungles of Indonesia and in the cauldron of unrest that is US-occupied Iraq, a new generation of Osama bin Ladens is emerging to take the place of elders who have been killed, captured or forced underground. The new class has already written a new history of terror in blood - from Istanbul to Madrid to Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

'These are the men that are the new 21st-century terrorists,' said Mr Evan Kohlmann, a US-based terror expert.

At the fore of this group is 38-year-old Abu Musab Zarqawi, a former Osama commander who has links to terror groups from North Africa to the Caucasus.

If you thought being a terrorist might be a cushy career choice, you're wrong.

Increased risk means the life expectancy of today's generation of terrorists will probably be short.

'But these guys don't care,' said Mr Evans, of Jane's. 'They consider themselves to be the first members of the new Islamic vanguard. There will be plenty more Zarqawis bubbling up to the surface.'

Why? Not just because of American policy. There were Zarqawis long before there was a United States of America.

Why was this man released? From The Age, with thanks to GMG:

An Australian man arrested on terrorism charges in Lebanon should not have been given bail when facing serious firearms charges in NSW, Police Minister John Watkins said today.

Saleh Jamal was arrested on Friday in Lebanon along with a Lebanese Australian, known only as Haitham M, a Lebanese national, a Palestinian and another man whose nationality was unclear.

If found guilty the men could face life in prison.

Prosecutor Jean Fahd yesterday told reporters the men were linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

NSW Police yesterday confirmed they were seeking more information from Lebanese authorities through the Australian Federal Police about Jamal's arrest.

He was wanted for breaching bail conditions while facing charges in connection with the 1998 shooting attack on the Lakemba police station in Sydney's southwest.

He was also facing charges on other firearm-related offences.

Mr Watkins said Jamal had met bail conditions until he fled Australia some time earlier this year.

''I don't believe that this person should have got bail in the first place, but after spending two years in jail awaiting bail, the court did give him bail,'' he told reporters.

''Certain questions need to be asked as to what happened to this person in the months after that and how this person left Australia, presumably with false documents.

''That's a matter I'll be raising with the federal government.''

Mr Watkins said new laws to come into effect on July 1 would ban bail for anyone charged with a serious firearms offence.

He doubted Jamal would ever be brought back to Australia to face charges if found guilty in Lebanon.

''We would like to get this person back here to NSW but ... I believe it will be a very long time before we get him back here because he'll probably be incarcerated in the Middle East,'' Mr Watkins said.

NSW Opposition Leader John Brogden today said he was appalled Jamal could flee the country.

''I'm stunned that somebody who is implicated in shootings, in particularly shooting up a police station in Sydney, is allowed to go free on bail and we now discover that they are a potential terrorist,'' Mr Brogden told reporters.

''This is an appalling situation. We need to not only improve our bail laws, but what we desperately need to do is improve our intelligence so people like this are not getting bail.

''This guy should have been in jail from the outset, rather than now overseas and involved in terrorist activities.''

From Jamal's family, the expected reaction:

''I think that he never did this thing, this is what my feeling, 'cause I know him, I know my son,'' his father Mahmoud Jamal told Channel Nine.

From The Telegraph, and IR1948:

A London school funded by the Saudi Arabian government is facing complaints from parents that it is teaching British children "fundamentalist" Islam while giving girls an inferior education. The King Fahd Academy in Acton, west London, named after the current Saudi ruler, devotes up to 50 per cent of lessons to religious education and teaches almost all classes in Arabic, with boys and girls following different curricula.

Former teachers and parents have come forward to criticise the academy's religious teachings for instilling "hostility to the outsider". They also claim that there is discrimination against female pupils. The school was opened 19 years ago for the offspring of Saudi diplomats in London. Since then, many children of British Muslims have joined the school. In 2002, only 37 per cent of the 738 pupils were of Saudi origin.

Among those who currently attend the academy are the children of Abu Hamza, the cleric from Finsbury Park mosque who was arrested last week after the United States applied for his extradition on terrorism charges.

Originally the British and the Saudi curricula were taught side by side. Five years ago, however, the Saudi Arabian government ordered the school to phase out British lessons and to teach Saudi-style classes.

The school is segregated and younger boys and girls are now taught different courses, to comply with Saudi education policy, which states that a girl's education should "enable her to be a successful housewife, an exemplary wife and a good mother" or prepare her for work which is "suitable to her disposition as a woman".

Girls at the academy do barely any physical education and the only type of technology they will learn is "home technology".

Dr Mai Yamani, a research fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, had two daughters at the school, but removed them when she became uncomfortable about the education they were receiving. "I moved my eldest daughter at the age of seven. Her new school said that, in their opinion, she had been 'totally untaught' to that point. They had to put her in a class with much younger children, which was terrible for her.

"The books they taught the girls from kept going on about idolatry and sin and how to avoid it. It was about the fires of hell, torture in the grave and how to make sure that your ways are not those of the infidel.

"The school is trying to make sure that the Saudis who go there abide by the system of state control in Saudi Arabia. The method is 'loyalty to the system and hostility to the outsider'.

"Three years ago I interviewed some of the pupils for a book and some of them were talking as if they didn't live in London at all."

Dr Yamani, the daughter of the former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Yamani,

...an apt a name as there ever was for an oil minister...

believes that girls at the school are given an inferior education to that provided to boys and that they are taught to "know their place".

She added: "They consider that the mind of a girl is less capable of absorbing education." Another parent who has two teenage girls at the school is unhappy with the direction the academy is taking.

"It used to be a wonderful school that taught the two traditions side by side. Now only one lesson in six is taken in English. The children would not have the standard to even read the paper by the time they reach A-level," he said.

"It has arrived at a situation where the school seems to be saying: 'This is the only correct version of Islam'. It's such a fundamentalist approach." ...

Pupils in Saudi Arabia are obliged to spend half of the school timetable studying a rigid interpretation of Islam. A recent review of the curriculum by the Saudi government concluded that almost a fifth of lesson plans contained tracts preaching anti-Western and anti-Semitic views. The Saudi education department is now considering a redraft of the whole curriculum.

He lived by the sword, he died by the sword. From Reuters, with thanks to Nicolei:

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - A senior pro-Taliban cleric in Pakistan was gunned down Sunday outside his mosque in the southern city of Karachi, and his death unleashed violent protests in which at least 17 people were hurt.

Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, who had called for a "jihad," or holy war, against the United States after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, was fatally wounded, police said.

The mob seems to have heard that fast food can kill.

In the middle-class neighborhood of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, an enraged mob threw stones at an outlet of American fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken, and broke its windows, police said. A government-run National Saving Center was also attacked.

More on Siddiqi, from WND. (Thanks to FreedomNowNews.)

WASHINGTON - The California imam who helped convert an al-Qaida suspect to Islam headed a Muslim activist group under investigation here for possible financial ties to terrorist front groups.

Adam Gadahn allegedly traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to train at al-Qaida camps following his conversion while attending the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove, Calif., in the late 1990s. Siddiqi is head of the mosque there.

Congress is reviewing the financial records of the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA, as part of a post-9-11 investigation into alleged ties between tax-exempt Muslim organizations and terrorist groups.

Siddiqi served as president of ISNA from 1996 to 2000. He still serves on its board. ISNA did not return phone calls to its Indianapolis headquarters.

From Reuters, with thanks to Nicolei:

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - "Are you Muslim or Christian? We don't want to kill Muslims. Show us where the Americans and Westerners live," Islamic militants told an Arab after launching a shooting spree on Westerners in Saudi Arabia.

The four gunmen, aged 18 to 25 and wearing military vests, grabbed Abu Hashem, an Iraqi with a U.S. passport, in front of his home in the Oasis compound in Khobar but let him go when he told them he was a Muslim.

"Don't be afraid. We won't kill Muslims even if you are an American," he quoted them as saying.

That's odd. I keep hearing terrorism is caused by American foreign policy.

Abu Hashem, the director of a Saudi firm who has been in Khobar for six months, said he wanted to move to Bahrain.

He said the four gunmen had been polite and calm.

"They gave me a lecture on Islam and said they were defending their country and ridding it of infidels," he told Reuters at Qusaibi hotel.

"The gunmen were so polite. I cannot comprehend this politeness they showed me because I am a Muslim and this cruelty to others," said Abu Hashem, who declined to give his first name.

In response to the above, an urgent press release from the World Lebanese Cultural Union (thanks to Walid Phares):

WORLD LEBANESE CULTURAL UNION (INGO) Office of the Secretary General www.wlcu.org

CONCERNS ABOUT LEBANESE VICTIMS OF TERROR IN SAUDI ARABIA

The World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU), the legitimate representative of the Lebanese Diaspora expresses its utmost concerns as a result of the Terrorist attacks in Khubar in Saudi Arabia. From media reports and sources within the community, the WLCU has learned that the armed Terrorists have targeted Lebanese nationals among other nationals and are holding a number of them as hostage, till this hour.

The WLCU was particularly concerned by the fact that the Terrorists have once again targeted a particular religious community among the Lebanese nationals, as reported by survivors and the media. The attacks of last October were a warning. Today's attack confirms our concerns about the security of the Lebanese community, in Saudi Arabia.

The WLCU condemns these attacks, and calls on

1) The Saudi Government to do all it can to protect Lebanese lives.

2) The UN to intervene and help rescuing thousands of Lebanese workers and business people in Saudi Arabia.

3) The Lebanese Government to take all measures needed to face the terrorist threat against its own citizens and nationals abroad. The Lebanese Government is responsible for the security of these citizens. It must condemn the perpetrators firmly and crack down on their support organizations based in Lebanon. Failing to do so, will engage the responsibility of the Lebanese Government as well.

As developments are taking place, the WLCU will monitor the situation of the community in Saudi Arabia and remain in contact with its branches in the Arabian Peninsula as well as with concerned Governments around the world.

The Office of the Secretary General.

For media contacts, please contact the Commission on Information of the WLCU at wlcuuscanada@aol.com

From AP, with thanks to DC Watson:

JERUSALEM — A senior Hamas commander, his assistant and a bystander died in a fiery Israeli airstrike in Gaza City early Sunday, hours before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to confront his Cabinet over his plan to pull soldiers and settlers out of Gaza. Hamas called the attack a "cowardly assassination crime" and said it killed Wael Nassar, 38, a top Hamas commander; his assistant, Mohammed Sarsour, 31; and an unidentified bystander. The two Hamas leaders were on the motorcycle when it exploded, witnesses said.

The Israeli military said its air force carried out the strike, aimed at "two senior Hamas commanders who were responsible for many attacks against Israelis, including suicide bombings, and were planning further attacks."

Witnesses said they saw a flash in the sky before the motorcycle exploded. Outside the hospital morgue, angry Palestinians, most of them Hamas supporters, chanted "God is great." Amplified statements from local mosques mourned Nassar, one of the founders of the Hamas military wing, called Izzedine al-Qassam. Nassar planned many Hamas attacks against Israelis, Palestinians said.

Notice that the Palestinians confirm what Israel said: this man planned many attacks against Israelis.

Samuel Masih's grieving family (Reuters)

Don't you think that if this were a Muslim beaten with a hammer in his hospital bed by a Christian cop, that this story would be on the front page of the New York Times and in the frontline of media coverage worldwide?

Said the cop: "I have offered my religious duty for killing the man. I'm spiritually satisfied and ready to face the consequences." From WND, :

Samuel Masih was buried in Lahore, Pakistan, yesterday following injuries he received from a Muslim policeman who beat the 27-year-old Christian with a hammer as he lay in his hospital bed recovering from a bout of tuberculosis.

Masih had been in jail since Aug. 23, 2003, awaiting trial on charges of blasphemy under Pakistan's strict "Law 295" – which forbids desecrating the Quran and "defiling" the name of Islam's prophet, Muhammad. On the day of his arrest, Masih was collecting garden rubbish, which he heaped temporarily against the wall of a mosque in Lahore's Lawrence Gardens section while collecting more that he planned to burn later. This action brought the blasphemy charge, which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence.

He had been held in the Lahore Central Jail for nine months when he had a severe tuberculosis attack and was transferred to a local hospital. According to reports in the Lahore Daily Times, the constable assigned to guard the prisoner's room at the hospital, Officer Faryad Ali, savagely beat Masih with a hammer used for cutting bricks after learning he had been accused of strewing garbage near the mosque's walls.

Faryad Ali, who has been jailed and charged with murder, reportedly told investigators it was his religious duty as a Muslim to kill the Christian man. According to Voice of the Martyrs, he is reported to have said, "I have offered my religious duty for killing the man. I'm spiritually satisfied and ready to face the consequences."

"This is another example of the danger our brothers and sisters in Pakistan face every day," said Todd Nettleton, VOM spokesman.

Baboo Emmanuel, Masih's father, told the Daily Times he did not know his son was in jail until approximately four months ago. A whitewasher by trade, Masih was frequently away for extended periods while working. But even when informed of his incarceration for blasphemy, the family did not pursue the case because of fear of the police. No one defended him on the charge.

"Poverty, society’s pressure and the lawless wild police system prevented me from following my son's case, Masih's father told the Daily Times.

The Christian minority's fear of the police and Pakistan's blasphemy laws were themes echoed by Lahore Archbishop Lawrence J. Saldanha who led the procession of 500 mourners at Masih's funeral.

"Sections 295 B and C and Section 298 A, B and C of the PPC are vague and can be interpreted in ways that cause suffering and death and devastating pain to society," Saldanha said. "The existence of these laws gives rise to injustices. It is usually the poor and weak who are the victims."

Masih's father, emboldened by the support of several human rights NGOs and media publicity, is asking the government to investigate the basis for the blasphemy charge against his son. No one in his senses would attempt blasphemy, he insisted to the Daily Times. "Particularly a person who belongs to a minority would never dare to do so because of the extreme sentence provided in the law," he said. Emanuel believes his son became a victim because he belonged to a minority.

According to human rights groups, Pakistan's blasphemy law is much abused and frequently used to settle personal grudges. Where convictions are made, most are overturned on appeal. However, Reuters notes that several Christians and Muslims accused of blasphemy have been killed by "religious fanatics" while in prison or police custody.

"This is a brutal act of terrorism committed by the police constable and a clear misuse of blasphemy law," said Shahbaz Bhatti, president of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance. "This is the time that government should abolish blasphemy law."

President Pervez Musharraf has called for a review of Pakistan's system of strict Islamic law, including the laws against blasphemy introduced in the 1970s during the regime of military dictator Gen. Zia-ul-Haq.

For skeptics of WND, here is Reuters story that, although less informative, confirms the facts above. (Thanks to Fanabba.)

Why is it so easy to get people to sign up? Why won't American Muslim spokesmen move beyond "the Qur'an forbids suicide" and answer that question? From AFP, with thanks to Twostellas:

TEHRAN: Hundreds of Iranian men and women, even children, declared their willingness to carry out suicide attacks in Iraq and Israel following Friday prayers in Tehran.

The "volunteers" signed their names and gave their telephone numbers to an obscure group calling itself the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the World Islamic Movement.

A spokesman, Mohammad Yasser Samadi, said the action was to "show our friends in Iraq and all other Muslims that we are ready to give our lives to defend our honor.

"Suicide operations are the best way to fight the oppressors and they have already shown their worth in Lebanon and during the war between Iran and Iraq," he said, referring to the neighbours' bloody 1980-88 conflict.

However, there was no evidence the action was anything more than symbolic, and Samadi said they would renounce suicide operations if asked to by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

As far as I know, there is no sign that he has asked them to yet.

A police officer listens to Tamer Ahmed of CAIR

Can you imagine, during World War II, German-Americans or Japanese-Americans giving lectures to law enforcement officials on how to avoid discrimination? No, Ibrahim, I am not advocating internment camps. I am pointing out that in a saner age, groups from which sprang enemies of the nation were anxious to prove their loyalty and help out with the war effort.

In other words, when will CAIR hold a seminar for law enforcement officials on how to spot radical Muslims, where they are likely to congregate, what the warning signs are when a Muslim is tempted to turn radical, how a radical Muslim can be converted to the gentler variety they supposedly espouse, and so on?

When will, as Agent Azure wondered, CAIR hold a seminar on how to prevent honor killings, which have already begun to happen in North America? Or hold a seminar on how to distinguish taqiyya from truth in Muslim spokesmen?

From the Sacramento Bee, with thanks to Agent Azure:

During a traffic stop, the driver avoids eye contact with the police officer.

If the person is Muslim, the gesture isn't necessarily a sign of evasion or deceit. The person could be following religious teachings about modesty when dealing with someone of the opposite sex.

"It's a sign of respect," said Tamer Ahmed, an executive committee member of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Such information was relayed during a presentation on American Muslims and Islam that CAIR, a Muslim civil rights organization, provided to Elk Grove police supervisors Thursday afternoon.

Elk Grove is the first law enforcement agency in the Sacramento region to which the Sacramento Valley chapter has provided diversity training. The training is scheduled to be given to the Sacramento Police Department's graduating recruits next month. There also is discussion about having patrol officers in the Sacramento and Elk Grove police departments go through the seminar.

With more than 50,000 Muslims living in the greater Sacramento area, law enforcement needs to be aware and sensitive to what Islam is, and to the beliefs and customs. The information can help police when they interact with Muslims, Ahmed said.

"There's a lot of misunderstandings about who Muslims are and what they believe in," he said.

Hate crimes and incidents against Muslims have risen dramatically after Sept. 11, 2001, and since the war in Iraq began. In a report released earlier this month, the council's national office logged 1,019 incidents of violence and discrimination against Muslims in 2003, the largest number of complaints recorded by the Washington, D.C.-based group.

You can read about the tendentious nature of that report, albeit swallowed whole by this reporter and many others, here.

The Muslim community needs law enforcement to protect them from the backlash, while police officials want the cooperation of the community in its investigations, said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman at CAIR's national headquarters. Outreach efforts need to be happening from both sides, she said.

"In order to build trust, you need to show sincere efforts to learn about the community," she said. ...

The seminar was designed to bridge the cultural gap so officers can understand why, for example, there might be a delay in opening the door when officers go to a Muslim home. Don't assume the family is not cooperative; it may be a woman is putting on her hijab or head covering, Tamer Ahmed said.

Elk Grove Police Lt. Barbara Bravos, who worked with CAIR's Sacramento Valley chapter to arrange the training, said it is important that officers are attuned to different cultural and religious practices.

"Our intent is the more knowledge we have about each other, the easier it's going to be to do business and get the information we need," she said.

Sgt. Art Olsen said the workshop can help correct stereotypes and misinformation that people may have about Muslims.

"It's venues like this where we're educated and we overcome those biases," he said.

Homa Arjomand

"An abuse of multiculturalism"! Or maybe a manifestation of the flaws that are inherent in the idea. A courageous column on Homa Arjomand and Sharia in Canada, from Margaret Wente in the Globe and Mail, with thanks to Mentat and Keith Cassidy:

Homa Arjomand knows what it's like to live under sharia law. In Iran, she endured it until someone tipped her off that she was about to be arrested and imprisoned. Many of her activist friends had already been tried and executed. She, her husband and two small children (the youngest was barely one) escaped on a gruelling trip by horseback through the mountains. That was in 1989.

Today, she lives in a suburb northeast of Toronto. Her job is helping immigrant Muslim women in distress. And now she is battling the arrival of sharia law in
Canada.

"We must separate religion from the state," she says emotionally. "We're living in Canada. We want Canadian secular law."

Sharia law in Canada? Yes. The province of Ontario has authorized the use of sharia law in civil arbitrations, if both parties consent. The arbitrations will deal with such matters as property, marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance. The arbitrators can be imams, Muslim elders or lawyers. In theory, their decisions aren't supposed to conflict with Canadian civil law. But because there is no third-party oversight, and no duty to report decisions, no outsider will ever know if they do. These decisions can be appealed to the regular courts. But for Muslim women, the pressures to abide by the precepts of sharia are overwhelming. To reject sharia is, quite simply, to be a bad Muslim.

Ms. Arjomand's cellphone is constantly ringing -- with calls of support, or calls for help, or updates on various crises. A client of hers has just that day died of cancer, leaving behind a nine-year-old daughter. The husband was brutally abusive, and now the dead woman's family is terrified that he's going to take the daughter, who was born in Canada, and go back to Iran. Ms. Arjomand has been trying to get Children's Aid to intervene.

In the burgeoning Muslim communities around Toronto, it's customary to settle family disputes internally, by appealing to an imam or an older person in the family. "I have a client from Pakistan who works for a bank," Ms. Arjomand tells me. "She's educated. She used to give all her money to her husband. She had to beg him for money to buy a cup of coffee. Then she decided to keep $50 a month for herself, but he said no."

They took the matter to an uncle, who decreed that because the wife had not been obedient, her husband could stop sleeping with her. (This is a traditional penalty for disobedient wives.) He could also acquire a temporary wife to take care of his sexual needs, which he proceeded to do. Now the woman wants a separation. She's fighting for custody of the children, which, according to sharia, belong to the father.

The law permitting a sharia court was passed in 1991, when Ontario sought to streamline the overloaded court system (and save money) by diverting certain civil cases to arbitration, including arbitration conducted on religious principles. Jewish courts have operated in the province this way for many years. "People can agree to resolve disputes in any way acceptable," said Brendan Crawley, a spokesman for the Ontario attorney-general. "If they decide to resolve disputes using principles of sharia and using an imam as an arbitrator, that is perfectly acceptable under the arbitration act."

Promoters of Islamic law in Canada have been working toward this goal for years. Last fall, they created the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice, which has already chosen arbitrators who have undergone training in sharia and Canadian civil law. The driving force behind the court is a lawyer and scholar named Syed Mumtaz Ali, who was quoted last week saying "to be a good Muslim," all Muslims must use these sharia courts.

Many Muslims, including many women, are enthusiastic about giving Islamic law an official place in Canada, and they emphatically deny that it will harm women's interests. On the contrary. They insist that under Islam, a woman's rights are protected. "We follow the Islamic law, secure with a perfect sense of equality between the sexes," wrote Khansa Muhaseen and Nabila Haque in a letter to the Toronto Star, where the sharia debate has been raging fiercely.

Opponents of the new tribunals argue that the government's imprimatur will give sharia law even greater legitimacy. Sharia law is based on the Koran, which, according to Muslim belief, provides the divine rules for behaviour. What is called sharia varies widely (in Nigeria, for example, it has been invoked to justify death by stoning). The one common denominator is that it is strongly patriarchal.

Alia Hogben is president of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, a pro-faith group with members from every Muslim culture. But the council was never consulted about the new sharia courts, and it strongly opposes them.

"This is a very difficult position for us to be in because we are believing women," says Ms. Hogben. "But to apply Muslim family law in Canada is not appropriate." In Britain, she adds, the government has flatly rejected councils for sharia law.

Both Ms. Hogben and Ms. Arjomand -- the former an observant Muslim, the latter not -- are lobbying hard for Ontario to change the arbitration law.

(Ms. Arjomand has launched a petition, which you can find through a web search for "International Campaign Against Sharia Courts in Canada.")

When Ms. Hogben's family came to Canada 50 years ago, the Muslim population was tiny. In the 1970s, she and her husband started a tiny mosque in Toronto that they shared with Albanians and Bosnians. Today, Canada's Muslim population numbers more than 600,000, and many Muslims live in self-contained enclaves where there is little interaction with the outside world. Ms. Hogben welcomes the stronger sense of identity among Muslims now. But she warns that many of the new arrivals have brought with them a far more rigid version of Islam. "A lot of money is being poured into North America from very traditional groups from Saudi Arabia and Libya," she points out. These groups are not known for their tolerance of other versions of Islam, or for their progressive attitudes toward women.

Immigrant women are among the most vulnerable people in Canada. Many don't speak English, are poorly educated, and are isolated from the broader culture. They may live here for decades without learning the language, and stay utterly dependent on their families. They have no idea of their rights under Canadian law.

Both Ms. Hogben and Ms. Arjomand say that we are sacrificing these women on the altar of multiculturalism.

"This is an abuse of multiculturalism, says Ms. Hogben. "There is a lack of courage [on the part of governments], and also a fear of offending Muslim sensitivities."

"I chose to come to Canada because of multiculturalism," says Ms. Arjomand, who gave up a career in medical science to work with women who are victims of abuse. "But when I came here, I realized how much damage multiculturalism is doing to women. I'm against it strongly now. It has become a barrier to women's rights."

Costello

Of course, the religious group that is spying on others looking to collect info for court cases is ... you guessed it. There is a major case going on in Australia right now in which two Christian preachers are being sued by a Muslim group for talking about Islam and violence. The trial, however, has somewhat backfired on the Muslims, who have been compelled on the witness stand to read from their own sacred books. But in any case, Costello is right: all this comes from bad laws that should be repealed. From The Australian, with thanks to Nicolei:

FEDERAL Treasurer Peter Costello today slammed Victoria's religious vilification laws, saying religious harmony would not be promoted by representatives of different religious groups spying on each other to collect evidence for court cases.

In an address to the national day of thanksgiving commemoration in Melbourne, Mr Costello said differing views of religion should not be resolved through civil lawsuits.

He said religious leaders should be free to express their doctrines and their comparative views of other doctrines, although advocating violence or terrorism should be an offence.

Mr Costello conceded his thanksgiving day speech, presented at Melbourne's Scots Church, had already sparked some controversy.

Earlier this month The Age newspaper reported criticism from the Islamic Council of Victoria which suggested he could be giving legitimacy to those the Islamic Council was suing under Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001.

That relates to a controversial case in which the council is suing two fundamentalist Christian ministers for allegedly accusing Muslims of being terrorists and rapists.

The council lodged the complaint on behalf of two Muslim men and a Muslim woman who were among 250 people who attended the fundamentalist Christian seminar.

Mr Costello said he had no intention of seeking to influence the court case.

"Since the issue has been raised, I will state my view," he said.

"I do not think that we should resolve differences about religious views in our community with lawsuits between differing religions.

"Nor do I think that the object of religious harmony will be promoted by organising witnesses to go along to the meetings of other religions to collect evidence for the purpose of later litigation."

Mr Costello said no-one liked vilification.

"But if rival camps start sending informants to rival meetings so they can take legal proceedings against each other in publicly funded tribunals we shall not enhance our openness or tolerance," he said.

"The proceedings that have been taken, the time, the cost, the extent of the proceedings, the remedies that are available all illustrate in my view that this is a bad law."

Mr Costello lamented that the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition seemed to be fraying, with evidence of moral decay all around.

And with good reason. Read on. From The Age, with thanks to Twostellas:

For those schooled in Shakespeare, the doomed romance of Melbourne teenager Mustafa and his Muslim lover Khadji has all the hallmarks of a modern-day tale of Romeo and Juliet.

But for Victorian County Court judge Michael McInerney, the violent family feud that erupted over the forbidden love affair also provided a salient message about the need for Muslim religious leaders to educate immigrants about Australian culture and laws.

The court heard that three members of Khadji's devoutly religious Turkish family were so desperate to find 18-year-old Khadji, who had absconded with her boyfriend Mustafa, they kidnapped and assaulted Mustafa's teenage brother and cousin. Khadji's aunt, sister and brother-in-law all pleaded guilty to charges relating to the boys' terrifying ordeal.

In his sentencing remarks yesterday, Judge McInerney said there was no excuse for the "very serious crimes" and he hoped a Muslim priest who had been present in court would educate the Turkish community.

"The community must understand that whatever the tenets and concerns of the Muslim religion, they in no way justify the breach of the law while in Australia," he said.

The court heard that on the night of December 11, 2002, Khadji's aunt, sister and brother-in-law waited for several hours in a car while the teenagers' extended families discussed wedding plans for the couple. Khadji had disappeared with Mustafa that day. When Mustafa's brother and cousin came outside for a cigarette, Khadji's aunt, Sukriye Yigiter, demanded the cousin's mobile phone, assuming he was speaking to Mustafa. The boys were punched in the face and forced into the car when they denied knowledge of Mustafa and Khadji's whereabouts. Yigiter repeatedly called Mustafa's brother and his family "liars and dogs" and threatened to imprison the boys for 10 days at her Meadow Heights home until they told her where her niece was. Khadji's brother-in-law, Regaip Dincer, dragged the boys into Yigiter's living room, where she struck Mustafa's brother twice on the shin with a metal birdcage stand. "I'm crazy, everyone knows I'm crazy," Yigiter screamed. The ordeal ended 30 minutes later, when Yigiter's brother-in-law returned after the wedding meeting and drove the distressed boys home.

"Certainly this has many elements of Romeo and Juliet about it," prosecutor Marc Sargent said during the hearing. Yigiter's lawyer, Tara Hartnett, said her client's actions had to be seen in the context of the shame the episode had brought on the devout Muslim family. She said Yigiter and Khadji's parents had been suspicious of Mustafa's intentions and were concerned he would not marry Khadji. "The circumstances of the offending revolve around culture, they involve religion, they involve loyalty, they involve trust," Ms Hartnett said. "From where Mrs Yigiter was standing they involved a breach of a promise. They involved, from her perspective, the destruction of not only her niece's life but also the reputation of the immediate and extended family."

The court heard Khadji returned to her family home a week after the ugly feud. Mustafa's family did not approach Khadji's family to arrange a wedding and the lovers split up within a week. "The difficulty that caused was enormous," Ms Hartnett said. "It was clear (Khadji) and (Mustafa) had had a sexual relationship. (Khadji's) family, including her aunt, were strict Muslims and because she is not a virgin there are difficulties in relation to her marrying another Muslim. She would be able to marry someone who is a widower or a single father but it excludes her from marrying others. The shame on her family is enormous."

"The old ways don't stay in the village, they come with immigration," Judge McInerney said during the hearing.

Yigiter, 40, of Meadow Heights, and Regaip Dincer, 21, of Upfield, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and recklessly causing injury. Yesim Dincer, 23, of Upfield, pleaded guilty to assault and false imprisonment.

Doesn't he know that the Qur'an forbids suicide?

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan police have arrested a man suspected of trying to recruit students to carry out suicide attacks on international peacekeepers in Kabul, a spokesman for the multinational force said on Saturday.

Pakistan sends a message to India.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan successfully test-fired on Saturday a ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, as part of efforts to boost defenses in its rivalry with India.

If they murder people how can they be "innocent"?

BANGKOK, May 29 (AFP) - Assailants decapitated an elderly Buddhist in Thailand's Muslim south Saturday and vowed more such killings if Muslims continued to be arrested for the months-long unrest in the region, police said.

It was the first decapitation in the violence, which has claimed some 190 lives since January, police said.

Sieng Patkaoe, 63, was attacked by men with machetes early Saturday as he tapped rubber trees on his plantation in the southern province of Narathiwat, district police said.

Sieng's severed head was left along a village road. His body, found some 60 metres (yards) away, had a note pinned to it threatening more killings, police said.

"If innocent Malayu (the predominant ethnic group in the Muslim south) continue to be arrested, we will murder more Buddhists," police quoted the note as saying. It was written in Thai and printed by computer, they said.

The U.S. Embassy said one American was confirmed dead

More trouble in Saudi Arabia:

DAMMAM, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Saudi security forces stormed an expatriate residential complex Saturday seeking gunmen who had taken hostages after a shooting rampage on two compounds housing oil company offices, killing at least six people - including a 10-year-old boy.

At least one American and two other Westerners were among those killed in the second deadly attack on oil industry targets in the Saudi kingdom this month. There were reports the death toll could be as high as 15.

Saudi forces fired shots inside the residential complex in the eastern city of Khobar, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They gave no further details.

Earlier, a police officer inside the housing compound told The Associated Press that all hostages had been released and negotiations were under way.

And here's an Update from AP: Saudi Forces Hunt Militants After Attack. Islamic militants, no less. Who'd have guessed?

And also a list of recent attacks in Saudi Arabia.

"While many of us will be blessed to live a longer life, few of us will ever live a better one," — John McCain

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) - Former pro football player Pat Tillman was "probably" killed by friendly fire as he led his team of Army Rangers up a hill during a firefight in Afghanistan last month, the U.S. Army said Saturday.

Just as the army that investigated Abu Ghraib way back in January, now they have investigated Tillman's death and issued a public report.

Such transparency conflicts with the fevered imaginings of those who think Bushitler and Ashcroft are rounding up dissenters and dragging them to the Ministry of Love, while shadowy neo-cons fling truth down the memory hole.

I just flew back to the US from another country last Tuesday, and security still seemed lax at the departure point. Of course, the US has no direct control over that, but surely some sort of efforts could be made. Meanwhile, security is, at least according to this report, stepping up efforts stateside. From AP, :

WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal official in charge of the nation's airports said Friday security has been "stepped up a notch" in the face of renewed terror warnings this holiday weekend and said authorities are asking the public to be vigilant.

"If they see anything unusual, report it - an unattended package, something that just doesn't look right, even odd behavior in the terminal or on the aircraft," FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said on NBC's "Today" show.

She said photographs of seven suspected terrorists released Wednesday by the FBI "are everywhere" and that screeners have been redeployed to some of the busiest airports in anticipation of heavy Memorial Day holiday travel.

From MEMRI, :

The London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that "an Iranian intelligence unit has established a center called The Brigades of the Shahids of the Global Islamic Awakening to replace the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Department of Liberation and Revolutionary Movements, which had been in charge of helping and training revolutionary forces across the world." [1] The article went on to report a speech given by an official of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, threatening the U.S. with suicide and missile attacks at already-selected sensitive targets, and threatening to "take over" Britain. The following is the report: [2]

Iran Stands Ready to Attack the West

"A source close to [Revolutionary Guards] intelligence confirmed that P.R. has been appointed secretary-general of a new office that has begun registering the names of suicide volunteers to be sent to Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon.

"[The newspaper reported that it had obtained] a tape with a speech by H.A., a [Revolutionary] Guards intelligence theoretician, who teaches at the Revolutionary Guards' Al-Hussein University. [In the tape, H.A.] spoke of Tehran's secret strategy aimed at taking over the Arab and Muslim countries by means of helping revolutionary forces and organizations. H.A. is regarded as one of the advisors of a branch in the organization, and has published a number of works on exporting the [Islamic] revolution and the method of the struggle against the world arrogance [i.e., the U.S.].

"In his speech at a secret conference attended by students who are members of the Ansar Hizbullah movement at Al-Hussein University, [H.A. said]: 'Iraqi oil constitutes 11% of the world oil reserves, and it has fallen into the hands of the U.S. and Britain. The value of the intelligence documents that the U.S. obtained because of its takeover of Iraqi intelligence is greater than $1000 billion. Whereas our [Iran's] Foreign Ministry was expressing willingness to reconstruct the statue of the Buddha [destroyed by the Taliban in 2001] in Afghanistan – that is, to build an idol, which is an act that is against the principles of Islam – the U.S. managed to force its rule on Afghanistan.

"'(President Muhammad) Khatami speaks of the dialogue between civilizations, and I have grave doubts about this. It is a dubious idea. We do not want to take over the British Embassy, since they (the British) have already cleared the embassy of documents; we must take over Britain [itself].'

"After [H.A.] harshly attacked Khatami and the reformists, he said in his speech: 'The West sees us as terrorists, and depicts our strategy as terrorism and repression. Had our youth agreed to Khatami's teachings and interpretations, it would never have fought the arrogance, and would never have defended the holy places – because Khatami speaks always of being conciliatory, of patience, and of rejecting terrorism, while we defend [the line of] toughness and war against the enemies of revolutionary Islam. I take pride in my actions that cause anxiety and fear to the Americans.

"'Haven't the Jews and the Christians achieved their progress by means of toughness and repression? We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilizationand for the uprooting of the Americans and the English.

"'Our missiles are now ready to strike at their civilization, and as soon as the instructions arrive from Leader ['Ali Khamenei], we will launch our missiles at their cities and installations. Our motto during the war (in Iraq) was: Karbala, we are coming, Jerusalem, we are coming. And because of Khatami's policies and dialogue between the civilizations, we have been compelled to freeze our plan to liberate the Islamic cities. And now we are [again] about to carry out the program.'

"In his speech, he added: 'The global infidel front is a front against Allah and the Muslims, and we must make use of everything we have at hand to strike at this front, by means of our suicide operations or by means of our missiles. There are 29 sensitive sites in the U.S. and in the West. We have already spied on these sites and we know how we are going to attack them.'

"In another part of his speech, he emphasized, 'If Israel dares attack the [nuclear] installations at Bushehr, our losses will be very low, because [only] one structure will be destroyed – while we [i.e., Iran] have means of attacking Israel's nuclear facilities and arsenals such that no trace of Israel will remain.'"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), May 28, 2004.

[2] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), May 28, 2004.

From Reuters, :

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- A bomb blast derailed a passenger train in a Russian region bordering Chechnya on Saturday, but no one was seriously injured, a railways spokesman said. blockquote>

From Thailand's Nation:

In a stall recently set up near the historic Krue Se Mosque, a young man is busy selling VCDs, CDs and books that mostly cover various aspects of Islam. One of the VCDs is entitled "Global Jihad Movements".

The stall owner, a native of Pattani who spoke on condition of anonymity, tells me while I glance at his extensive range of products that VCDs on jihad have sold out quickly after the April 28 incident at the mosque which left 32 suspected insurgents dead.

In all, 108 suspected insurgents died on April 28, while five security personnel also perished.

The Islamic word jihad has often been associated with international terrorism since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

"The VCDs on jihad have been selling like hotcakes," he says.

The young businessman tells me that he usually sells his goods at major mosques in Pattani and Yala, including the Central Mosque of Pattani. He set up a stall at Krue Se Mosque after April 28.

"There are a series of VCDs on jihad movements in Afghanistan, Chechnya and also about [Osama] bin Laden," he says, adding that his merchandise comes from Malaysia.

It is hard to know what the buyers of these VCDs have in mind. Perhaps they want to know more about how fellow Muslims pursue jihad - the struggle against any act of aggression in defence of Islam - in other countries.

Jihadwatch is occasionally discovered by those hoping to learn more about how to wage violent jihad and who are subsequently disappointed to learn that the site is against it.

The illustrious and deservedly beloved Hugh Fitzgerald has sent me this precise,
perceptive, and courageous address by Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Notes Hugh: "Goh Chok Tong has given no indication of being a devout follower of Pat Robertson. Nor is there any record of his changing his name from something reminiscent of Perle or Wolfowitz... He does, however, live between Malaysia and Singapore, and has a lifetime of experience with Islam."

Chris Patten would do well to read this speech carefully. What follows here are some good excerpts, but it is all excellent. Read it all.

The war against terrorism could shape the 21st century in the same way as the Cold War defined the world before the fall of the Berlin Wall. To win, we must first clearly understand what we are up against. Terrorism is a generic term. Terrorist organizations such as the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka or ETA in Spain are only of local concern. The virulent strain of Islamic terrorism is another matter altogether. It is driven by religion. Its ideological vision is global. It is most dangerous. The communists fought to live whereas the jihadi terrorists fight to die, and live in the next world. My perspective is formed by our own experiences in Southeast Asia which post Sept. 11 has emerged as a major theater for terrorist operations. In December 2001, Singapore arrested 15 people belonging to a radical Islamic group called the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). They were plotting even before Sept. 11 to attack American and other Western interests in Singapore. In August 2002, we arrested another 21 members of this group. Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand have also made many arrests of terrorists. The JI regional leadership spanned Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Southern Philippines. Its tentacles even probed into Australia. JI's objective was to create a Daulah Islamiyah, an Islamic state in Southeast Asia. This was to be centered in Indonesia but would include Malaysia, Southern Thailand, Southern Philippines, and, inevitably, Singapore and Brunei. But the most crucial conclusion our investigations revealed was this: the existence of a transregional terrorist brotherhood of disparate Southeast Asian groups linked by a militant Islamic ideology to each other and to Al Qaeda. Whatever their specific goals, these groups were committed to mutual help in the pursuit of their common ideology: they helped each other with funds and support services, in training and in joint operations.

In 1999, JI formed a secret caucus called the Rabitatul Mujahidin, meaning Mujahidin Coalition, to bring together various militant Southeast Asian Islamic groups. It was responsible for the bombing attack against the Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia in Jakarta in August 2000. The brain behind the attack was Hambali, the link man between Southeast Asian terrorism and Al Qaeda. Fortunately, he is now under arrest.

But the threat remains. It stems from a religious ideology that is infused with an implacable hostility to all secular governments, especially the West, and in particular the U.S. Their ultimate goal is to bring about a Caliphate linking all Muslim communities. Their means is jihad which they narrowly define as a holy war against all non-Muslims whom they call "infidels."

Likewise, JI's ultimate goal is a Caliphate, by definition not confined to Southeast Asia. The dream of a Caliphate may seem absurd to the secular mind. But it will be a serious mistake to dismiss its appeal to many in the Islamic world, though the majority do not believe in killing and dying for it.

But there are radicals and militants who do. The terrorist brotherhood in Southeast Asia and its links to al Qaeda were first forged through the struggle against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Ibrahim Maidin, the leader of the Singapore JI cell, underwent military training in Afghanistan in the early 1990s. His encounters with the Mujahidden deeply impressed him. Maidin wrote several letters to the Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and to Osama bin Laden. He asked whether Mullah Omar was to be regarded as the Caliph of the Islamic World. After returning to Singapore, Maidin arranged for JI members to visit Afghanistan and to undergo training there.

Islamic militancy is not new to Southeast Asia. But what is new is this type of fanatical global ideology (including the phenomenon of suicide bombers) that has been able to unite different groups and lead Southeast Asian groups to subordinate local interests to the broader struggle.

Ibrahim Maidin has confessed to a senior Singapore intelligence officer that
in retrospect he had made the mistake of moving too quickly and should have
waited for Malaysia, Indonesia, the Southern Philippines and Singapore to
become an Islamic state before acting against U.S. interests. But he still believes that his side would ultimately win.

From our experience in Southeast Asia, I draw three principal conclusions that I believe have a wider relevance.

First, the goals of these terrorists make the struggle a zero-sum game for them. There is no room for compromise except as a tactical expedient. America may be the main enemy but it is not the only one. What Osama bin Laden offered Europe in April was only a "truce" [if it stopped "attacking Muslims or interfering in their affairs including [participating] in the American conspiracy"], not a lasting peace. The war against terrorism today is a war against a specific strain of militant Islamic terrorism that wants, in effect, a "clash of civilizations."

The JI has tried to create the conditions for Christians and Muslims in Southeast Asia to set against one another. In December 2000, it attacked churches in Indonesia, including one church in an Indonesian island off Singapore. It has sent its members to fight and stir up trouble in Ambon against Christians.

One of those we detained in Singapore was a service engineer with an American company. He confessed that he actually liked his American friends
and bosses. He was nevertheless involved in targeting American interests. We
have a sense that he had struggled with this. He eventually decided to testify against the spiritual leader of JI, Abu Bakar Bashir, but only because he felt betrayed by Bashir's denial of the very existence of the JI organisation which Bashir headed and to whom he and other members had sworn allegiance.

And just as Osama bin Laden is trying to drive a wedge between Europe and America, in Southeast Asia, JI was plotting to do the same thing by blowing up the pipelines that supply water from Malaysia to Singapore. The JI knew that water from Malaysia is a matter of life and death for Singapore. They knew that race and religion have historically been the major fault lines within and between both countries. The JI's intention was to provoke a conflict between Singapore and Malaysia and portray a "Chinese Singapore" as threatening a "Muslim Malaysia," and use the ensuing confusion to try and overthrow the Malaysian government and establish an Islamic state in Malaysia.

That particular plot failed. The governments of Singapore and Malaysia could not have allowed it to succeed. We know only too well what is at stake.

My second conclusion is that it is only through absolute and unsentimental clarity about the threat we face that we can define, differentiate and therefore, isolate militant Islamic terrorism from mainstream Islam. It is not sufficient to repeat, mantra like, that the majority of Muslims are peaceful and do not believe in violence. Unfortunately, we too often sacrifice clarity to be politically correct.

This brings me to my third and perhaps most important conclusion. Just as the Cold War was an ideological as well as a geopolitical struggle, the war against terrorism must be fought with ideas as well as with armies; with religious and community leaders as well as police forces and intelligence services. This ideological struggle is already upon us. Unless we win the battle of ideas, there will be no dearth of willing foot soldiers ready to martyr themselves for their cause.

We know that we should work with the moderates and isolate the extremists. But as we seek to separate the wheat from the chaff, we need to recognise that both come from the same plant. How we seek to engage and encourage the Muslim world to fight the ideological battle against the extremists must reflect this sensitivity and awareness.

This is complicated but not impossible. In Malaysia, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi fought the Islamic party, PAS, on the issue of the kind of Islamic state that Malaysia should be. He won a resounding victory in the general elections. He checked PAS' advance towards an austere Muslim state with Sharia laws with his vision of an Islamic state that is Islam Hadahri or "Progressive Islam." He has joined issue not on whether Malaysia should be an Islamic state but on the nature of such a state; and the struggle to define Malaysia's Islamic state will continue for a long time. In Indonesia, Islamic based parties generally did not do as well as parties that do not campaign under the banner of Islam in the recent parliamentary elections. But the Islamic parties will remain a crucial swing factor in the presidential elections later this year.

Let me conclude with a few words about the role of the U.S. Only the U.S. has the capacity to lead the geopolitical battle against the Islamic terrorists. Iraq has become the key battleground. Before he was killed in Saudi Arabia, Yousef Al Aiyyeri, author of the al Qaeda Blueprint for fighting in Iraq, said: if democracy succeeds in Iraq, that would be the death of Islam. That is why Osama bin Laden and others have put so much effort to try and break the coalition and America's resolve to stay the course to build a modern Iraq that Muslims will be proud of. Those who do not understand this, play into their hands. The key issue is no longer WMD or even the role of the U.N. The central issue is America's credibility and will to prevail. If that is destroyed, Islamic extremists everywhere will be emboldened. We will all be at greater risk.

If we are to win the war against terrorism, we must, as Sun Tze in "The Art of War" says, understand the enemy. And we must, all of us, Muslims and non-Muslims, Americans, Europeans, Arabs and Asians, unite against it. But we must create the conditions that will make this essential unity possible.

Dhimmi, dhimmi, smiling damn'd dhimmi

The Rt. Hon. Chris Patten, the European Union's External Relations Commissioner, is ready to acknowledge that there may indeed be a clash of civilizations going on — but of course, it's the West's fault. He engages in every kind of moral and theological equivalence, trashing the West's history while exalting Islam's. Of course, he never deals with the theology and legal structure of jihad and dhimmitude, which threatens the West today, and for which there is no parallel in Western religious traditions.

Part of Patten's problem is that he seems to think that one cannot and must not fight a moral evil if one can be convicted of any evil in turn. But that would have made it impossible for Britain to resist Hitler; the Nazis could and did point to the sins of British colonialism, hoping to steal the moral high ground. They couldn't, because the society they built was objectively evil, regardless of the sins of others. Of course the West should clean house, but becoming a conglomeration of Sharia states is not the way to do it. Both reform and resistance can and should be undertaken.

From a speech he gave last Monday at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, with thanks to John Eibner:

If Samuel Huntington were a share, he would today be what market tipsters call a strong buy. That is bad news, because the clash of civilisations, which he predicted in his essay for “Foreign Affairs” in 1993, at the moment casts a gibbet’s shadow over the prospects for liberal order around the world. Depressingly, witlessly, we have to a great extent shaped our own disaster-in-waiting. ...

Oh, to have been the publisher of Professor Bernard Lewis, sage of Princeton. I admit to a personal debt to his scholarship. I have enjoyed, and I hope, learned from a number of his books.

But I have started to worry as I read on from “What Went Wrong?” to “The Crisis of Islam” that I am being carefully pointed in a particular direction, lined up before the fingerprints, the cosh, the swag bag and the rest of the evidence. “Most Muslims”, he tells us in “The Crisis of Islam”, “are not fundamentalists, and most fundamentalists are not terrorists, but most present-day terrorists are Muslims and proudly identify themselves as such”. Well, yes - and it’s a sentence that resonates in parts of the policy-making community in Washington. But what if I had tried a similar formulation on some of these same policy makers just after the IRA bombed Harrods in London: “Most Catholics are not extremist Irish republicans, and most extreme republicans are not terrorists, but most terrorists in Britain today are Catholic and proudly identify themselves as such”. I suspect that it is not a sentence that would have increased my circle of admirers in America, not because it is wrong but because it is so loaded with an agenda. Anyway, what we have been taught is that there is a rage in the Islamic world - in part the result of history and humiliation - which fuels hostility to America and to Europe too, home of past crusaders and present infidel feudatories of the Great Satan. Clash go the civilisations.

There are many ways of coming at this issue, but I wish myself to be rather prosaic. I will not therefore deal with the religious arguments, leaving them to retired archbishops and other distinguished theologians, only noting in doing so that according to a “Sunday Times” survey in January, more Muslims attend a place of worship in the UK each week than Anglicans. ...

Oh! Well, in that case they have the moral high ground!

As for the present religious, ethnic or civilisational nature of our European club, there are probably about 12 million Muslims living in Western Europe, approaching four million in France, two and a half million in Germany, one and three quarter million here. Their religion is the fastest growing in the world. They practice it in Europe in a union of nation states formed out of the bloody wreckage of the 20th century. Our recent history of gas chambers and gulags, our Christian heritage of flagrant or more discreet anti-Semitism, do not entitle us to address the Islamic world as though we dwelt on a higher plane, custodians of a superior set of moral values. Our prejudices may be rock solid but our pulpits are made of straw.

What of this Islamic world which allegedly confronts our own civilisation? It is sometimes forgotten that three quarters of its 1.2 billion citizens live beyond the countries of the Arab League, in for example the democracies of Malaysia, Indonesia and India. Asian Muslim societies have their share of problems, not least dealing with pockets of extremism, but it is ludicrous to generalise about an Islamic anger engulfing countries from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific shores.

If we focus on a narrower range of Arab countries - the Magreb, the Mashreq, the Gulf, the countries in the cock-pit of current struggle and dissent - what do we find? In 2002, the Arab Thought Foundation commissioned a survey by Zogby International of attitudes in eight countries - Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. They questioned 3,800 people and their results confirmed other similar if not identical surveys, for example by the Pew Research Centre. What is pretty clear is that, like Americans or Europeans, Arabs are most concerned about matters of personal security, fulfilment and satisfaction. Perhaps it is a surprise that they do not appear to hate our Western values, and their cultural emanations - democracy, freedom, education, movies, television. Sad to say their favourite T.V. programme is “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” Other survey evidence underlines this point about the most significant values. The Second Arab Human Development Report published in 2003 - I shall return to its predecessor later - quotes from the World Values Survey which shows that Arabs top the world in believing that democracy is the best form of government. They are way ahead of Europeans and Americans, and three times as likely to hold this view as East Asians.

There is not much sign of a clash of values here. The problem seems to be rather simpler. The Arab world does not mind American and European values, but it cannot stand American policies and by extension the same policies when embraced or tolerated by Europeans. So the Arab world holds very negative opinions of the United States and the United Kingdom (even while holding, according to the same survey, positive views about American freedom and democracy). Why is the U.K. in this pit of unpopularity? Partly I suppose because of what we are seen to do, and partly because of what we are silent about. I don’t know how widely St Thomas More is read in Arab lands but “qui tacet consentire videtur” is true everywhere. Perhaps it cheers us to discover that France comes best out of these surveys, scoring very positive ratings, as do Japan, Germany and Canada.

Of course, Patten plumps for Palestinian rights, with apparently no awareness of the fact that many decent people have been soured on this issue by the relentless suicide bombings and targeting of civilians.

The treatment of the Palestinians is one of four areas of policy where the approach we pursue in America and Europe could abate or exacerbate Arab hostility, and build rather than burn bridges between the West and the whole of the Islamic world. ...

He also so thoroughly misunderstands the causes of terrorism that I wonder if he has ever read a single communique from Osama bin Laden, a single line of the Qur'an, or any other pertinent material:

Today’s terrorism by Islamic groups, able through the advance of technology to shatter civilised order through terrible acts of destruction, seems closer to the anarchists than to the gun-toting politicians, for instance the ones I myself know best who were notorious for their ability to carry both a ballot box and an Armalite. The ideas that sustain Usama Bin Laden and those who think like him, not all of them the members of a spectacularly sophisticated network of evil, but nonetheless fellow-believers in a loose confederation of dark prejudices, can hardly be dignified with the description of a sophisticated political manifesto. They do not travel far beyond the old graffiti “Yankee, Go Home”. But they do represent a form of political, social and cultural alienation, which we should seek to comprehend.

Etc. etc. etc. Ultimately, you see, it all comes down to Western policy. If we would just be nicer to them, if we would just give them what they want, all this terrorism will stop. Alas, Neville Chamberlain thought that too. Maybe sometime, somewhere, during the Ottoman conquests of Christian land after Christian land, some forefather of Chamberlain and Patten thought so too, and ventured out boldly to make a deal with the invaders. If so, his name is not recorded for history — such a man would only have ended up dead or numbered among the humiliated, anonymous dhimmis.

Kaplan, The Caliph of Cologne

The "Caliph of Cologne" can rest easy. He has two months to rest, cover his tracks, and make plans. From Reuters, with thanks to Susan:

BERLIN, May 27 - The German authorities began a Europe-wide search on Thursday for a Turkish Islamic militant facing extradition to Turkey on treason charges, and then dropped their hunt amid confusion over a court ruling.

The man, Metin Kaplan, is wanted in Turkey for a 1998 plot to crash an aircraft with explosives into the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern, secular Turkish state. The attack was planned to occur during a ceremony at the mausoleum attended by the country's political and military leadership.

A German court ruled Wednesday that Mr. Kaplan, known as the "Caliph of Cologne," would not face human rights abuses in his home country and could be extradited. On Thursday, the police put out an alert across Europe for him. But the warrant was withdrawn after it emerged that Wednesday's ruling had granted Mr. Kaplan a stay of two months to appeal the ruling. There was no indication whether Mr. Kaplan, head of a Cologne-based group known as the Kalifstaat (Caliphate state), was in Germany.

Better late than never, I suppose, but the Christian exodus has been going on for many years, and has seldom if ever before been noted in the Vatican, even as Vatican officials relentlessly pursued "dialogue" with Muslims who were not truly interested in meeting as equals. From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Ruth King:

Increasing Christian emigration from the Holy Land in general and Bethlehem in particular is troubling to the Vatican, Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews said in Jerusalem on Thursday.

Kasper was speaking to reporters in the course of a visit with President Moshe Katsav to whom he conveyed the greetings of Pope John Paul II, saying: "Jewish-Christian relations are very close to his heart."

Kasper also reminded Katsav that all forms of anti-Semitism and violations of human rights had been condemned by the Second Vatican Council. ...

On the issue of Christian emigration from Bethlehem and the gradual Muslim takeover, Kasper acknowledged that the Church is worried, particularly because Christians have lived in the Holy Land throughout the centuries and have made important contributions to cultural developments. Christians have also come on pilgrimage for centuries he noted, stating: "We don't want dead stones; we want living communities."

Even if Bethlehem's Christian community continues to diminish he said, the Church is determined to remain.

If that is so, some support for Eastern Christians against the ongoing jihad, and some efforts to undo the dhimmi attitudes that still prevail there (and often seem to have been encouraged by the authorities) would be welcome.

Malfunctioning anti-terror mechanism update: Denny's manager in Denver calls FBI to report the presence of two of the Seven Wanted in his restaurant last Wednesday. Agent is bored, indifferent, bureaucratic.

The Al-Qaeda types, meanwhile, were, "demanding, rude, and obnoxious." Hey -- don't they know it's a religion of peace?

Anyway, I don't know if these guys were really in Denny's. I don't see any a priori reason why not, and why a follow-up effort couldn't be made. From the Denver Post:

Samuel Mac, manager of the Denny's in Avon, isn't happy with the response he got from the FBI when he reported that two of them ate at his restaurant Wednesday.

When he called the FBI in Washington, D.C., Mac said the man who answered the telephone said he had to call the Denver office and declined to take down any of the information.

When he called the Denver office, he was shuttled to voice mail because the agents were busy, Mac said. It was five hours before a seemingly uninterested agent called back.

Mac said two men - he subsequently identified them from their photographs as Adnan G. El Shukrijumah and Abderraouf Jdey - came into Denny's, which is just off Interstate 70, about 8 p.m.

One ordered a chicken sandwich and a salad, the other just a salad, Mac said. They were demanding, rude and obnoxious, he said.

For some time now the comments here have been almost entirely unmoderated. My staff and I are quite overtaxed as it is, and I have entered an extraordinarily busy period involving much travel and several hot deadlines. Also the site has grown so much lately that there are many more comments than there used to be.

Thus while I read most of them when the site was new, now I only read the occasional thread. But when I do, occasionally I see questions addressed to me. These, of course, may occur in other threads that I don't see, so please note that if you really want to ask me something, the best way is through the email feature here ("Contact us" at left), and not in a comments thread. Thus if you have asked me something and I haven't answered, most likely it's because I didn't see your question.

Also, this means that if someone says something that is ban-worthy, I most likely haven't seen it. Please email me if you are concerned about something specific.

The resistance against global jihad is a struggle to defend of the equality of rights and dignity of all people — male, female, of all races, Muslim, non-Muslim, etc. Thank you for your support and assistance.

Fawaz Damra case from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. How could Damra's statements about terrorism be irrelevant and prejudicial to a case about his past links to terrorism?

The government's chief witness in Fawaz Damra's case says the indicted imam is a "classic case study of a radical Islamic militant" with ties to associates of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

In a report filed in federal court, Matthew Levitt says Damra actively aided "in the persecution of Israelis and Jewish people in general." The report, interpreting Damra's Arabic speech, quotes him as saying in 1989, "The first principle is that terrorism, and terrorism alone, is the path to liberation. . . . If what they mean by jihad is terrorism, then we are terrorists."

Hoop, maybe if you answered such questions, this sort of thing wouldn't happen

A CAIR press release (thanks to Twostellas):

PHOENIX, May 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Arizona office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ) today announced that a Muslim ex-employee of Intel Corporation has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the California-based computer chip giant.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, alleges that the Muslim employee faced national origin and religious harassment, discrimination and retaliation following the 9/11 terror attacks.

According to papers filed with the court: "Since September 11, 2001, (the plaintiff's) supervisor began making derogatory remarks...which included, but not limited to, 'Why (do) your people want to kill Americans?' and 'Why do the Islamic groups from the Middle East want to destroy the Western Civilization?'"

Now wait a minute. Would CAIR now have us believe that there are no Muslims who want to kill Americans since 9/11? Would they have us believe that there are no Islamic groups from the Middle East that want to destroy Western Civilization? And are we now to accept that even to ask such questions constitutes discrimination and harassment?

This is legal strong-arming of a spectacular sort, and if successful, its effect will only make Americans less willing to investigate the causes and goals of Islamic terrorism. Now why would CAIR want to do that?

In 2002, the plaintiff filed an internal complaint of discrimination. Despite that complaint, the employee claims that harassment intensified, forcing him out of his job. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

"Employees of all faiths should be offered a workplace environment free of racial or religious discrimination and harassment," said CAIR-AZ Executive Director Deedra Abboud.

Locals in Orland Park, Illinois are resisting the construction of a large new mosque in the area. CAIR is crying racism, of course (I wish they'd tell me how exactly Islam is a race), and even using the townspeoples' fears of Islamic radicalism as evidence.

But wait a minute: what guarantee can CAIR give that Islamic radicals will not enter this mosque? After all, as Charles points out at LGF, it happened in nearby Bridgeview.

From the Daily Southtown, with thanks to LGF:

The concerns of some about the mosque, planned for 16530 104th Ave., is a prime example of the hardships faced by American Muslims since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, religious experts and observers said.

They said many Americans still know little or nothing about Islam. Though there are no official statistics, the Council for American-Islamic Relations says backlashes against new or enlarged mosques are becoming increasingly common.

"Sometimes people don't even realize the concerns they have are fueled by prejudices," said Rabiha Ahmed, spokeswoman for the council. "But you can't (defeat a mosque plan) if you're openly racist. So, they come up with issues like noise and traffic and parking to hide their real issues."

"Sometimes people look at what they think will be perceived as their best argument, even if that may not be their real argument," Orland Park Trustee Patricia Gira said.

Aminah McCloud, director of DePaul University's Islamic World Studies program, said a lack of knowledge about the Muslim community makes it harder to break through people's prejudices.

"Churches and synagogues don't have to do a PR campaign to build their houses of worship," she said. "(But) to judge by the media coverage, you would think there's a Muslim terrorist around every corner."

About 150 residents packed an Orland Park Plan Commission meeting this month, with many objecting to the mosque, the first of the village's 25 houses of worship that would not be a Christian church. Plan commissioners approved the plan, sending it on to the village board.

Most of the opponents said they were concerned only about the mosque worsening traffic problems in the area. But some were openly worried about the building drawing Islamic extremists — what one resident called "the elephant in the room."

"My feeling is they (mosque opponents) were tip-toeing around their real issues," said Khalid Mozaffar, co-chairman of the Southwest Interfaith Team and a mosque supporter. "If you stood out in the hallway after (the plan commission meeting), it was all about Muslims coming to town, not about traffic."

Amy DeRogatis, a professor in Religion in American Culture at Michigan State University, said religious tensions always have been part of America, but outside political factors — such as the 9-11 attacks — force those tensions into the spotlight.

McCloud is optimistic that the Orland Park mosque issue will not deteriorate into an ugly controversy, as has happened elsewhere in the Chicago area — including in Palos Heights in 2000, where a mosque was rejected, resulting in a federal lawsuit that's still pending.

McCloud said she's impressed with the openness of the Orland Park mosque organizers and the public discussion about the mosque.

The next public meeting on the mosque will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the village hall, when the village board's planning and zoning committees review the proposal.

Some of the mosque foes said they plan to make the mosque's funding and residents' fear of terrorism the focus of upcoming hearings.

Trustee James Dodge said he understands why people, given world events, may be worried, but turning the hearings into an anti-Muslim battle would be unfortunate.

"At the intersection of fear and ignorance is hatred. That's it," he said.

The latest on Hamtramck from AP:

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. - A noise-ordinance change that would allow mosques to broadcast calls to prayer on loudspeakers will be put to a citywide vote after opponents gathered hundreds of petition signatures.

The more than 630 signatures submitted to the city clerk's office were enough to force the City Council to rescind the amended ordinance or put it to a vote.

"We decided not to rescind the amendment, so it goes to the ballot," council president Karen Majewski said Tuesday night.

The council had voted unanimously last month to allow the Bangladeshi Al-Islah Mosque to broadcast the call to prayer five times a day.

The issue has divided this blue-collar city of 23,000, which once was overwhelmingly Polish and Roman Catholic but now has a sizable Muslim population.

It was not immediately known when the vote would be held in this enclave surrounded by the city of Detroit, but it is likely to be in the next few months.

In the meantime, Majewski said, the mosque can go ahead with its calls to prayer.

"There's nothing to regulate them. This actually gives them more power," she said.

Although the city's noise ordinance did not prohibit calls to prayer, attorneys for the city had recommended amending the law to specifically allow it, which would also allow the city council to regulate the noise.

The Al-Islah mosque plans to begin broadcasting the calls on Friday.

Abdul Motlib, head of the mosque, said he was confident the measure would win a citywide vote.

"Hamtramck has 23,000 people. If 500 or 600 people go against us, we're not losing nothing."

"There was some people out there that wore long clothes, but the only time we ever saw them was at the post office"

What they're thinking in the town where the Feds say Abu Hamza was hoping to set up a terrorist training camp. This article and this one at Dhimmi Watch show how important it is for Americans to have a full and working knowledge of Islam and the goals of Islamic radicals like Osama bin Laden and Abu Hamza. From AP:

Dean Lawrence used to think it was a joke when he heard all the talk about terrorists thinking about training on a sheep ranch outside his tiny hometown of Bly, Ore.

He was rethinking things Thursday after the arrest of a Muslim cleric in London on charges of trying to establish a terrorist training camp near Bly, a logging and ranching town in the sagebrush-dotted high desert of southern Oregon.

"A small town like this - I read in the paper one time there was 15 people came down to look" at the ranch, Lawrence said Thursday in a telephone interview from the gas station he owns in Bly.

The townspeople have been slow to believe terrorists were really targeting their town.

Two people connected to a mosque in Seattle, Semi Osman and James Ujaama, were charged in 2002 with trying to start a training camp for Al-Masri, but the charges were dropped in exchange for guilty pleas on lesser charges.

Authorities have said Ujaama sent al-Masri a fax proposing a camp outside Bly, and al-Masri sent two representatives to evaluate the site. The two were reportedly disappointed that the property had no barracks for trainees, and the camp was never developed.

The Klamath County Sheriff's Department got a tip from Interpol about the ranch in 1999 and sent some deputies to keep an eye on it, but they did not notice much beyond a dozen people taking target practice, said Sheriff Tim Evinger.

The shooting was not enough to catch the notice of neighbor Don Wessel, a retired logger who himself is used to taking shots at gophers on his ranch. He saw the news about Al-Masri's arrest on television.

"There was some people out there that wore long clothes, but the only time we ever saw them was at the post office," said Wessel.

Finally one wonders, "Why Oregon?"

Oregon had a brush with terrorism in 2002, when seven Portland-area Muslims, most of them American-born, were charged with plotting to join the Taliban to fight in Afghanistan.

Only one, accused ringleader Habis Abdu al Saoub, made it to the battlefield, where he was killed by U.S. forces last year. The others met with visa and money troubles and returned without firing a shot. They pleaded guilty to various charges and are serving three to 18 years in prison.

From the San Diego Channel, :

SAN DIEGO -- A 34-year-old Saudi national believed to have ties with two of the deceased Sept. 11 hijackers was arrested Thursday in San Diego by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Hasan Saddiq Faseh Alddin, a legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody on immigration charges, resulting from two prior domestic violence convictions, according to Mike Unzueta, deputy special agent-in-charge for ICE investigations in San Diego.

Perhaps his connection to the hijackers was coincidental.

Memo to all permanent residents: you will attract less law enforecement attention if you don't beat your wives.

Imam arrested in a Pennsylvania mosque. From Philadelphia's WPVI.com, :

Members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force descended on a house and mosque this morning and arrested the Imam in front of his wife and children.

Meriem Moumen says she and her husband were dropping their daughter off at school when they were surrounded by Philadelphia police, FBI and other federal agents.

They detained Mohamed Ghorub, the Imam of the Ansaar Allaah mosque in Bridesburg.

Many complain about the "use" of "immigration issues" to harass "law-abiding" Muslims. I thought they were immigration laws, not suggestions.

He was arrested a year ago, and released on bond which has now been revoked. The FBI says Immigration was the lead agency on today's raid.

Immigration says the raid was initiated by the FBI. In the past, the FBI has used immigration issues to detain and question people indefinitely. Moumen says they asked her where they were hiding the guns and where do they get their money. She says they have nothing to hide.

Adam Yahiye Gadahn was apparently expelled from Muzammil Siddiqi's Islamic Society of Orange County, but what I want to know is this: what did he learn from Siddiqi before that? In this AP story, Siddiqi says: "He was becoming very extreme in his ideas and views. He must have disliked something."

And then there was the mysterious arrest:

Gadahn, who was named Wednesday as one of seven suspected Al Qaeda operatives sought by the FBI, was later expelled from the mosque after attacking an employee. Records show he pleaded guilty to assault and battery charges in June 1997 and was sentenced to two days in jail and 40 hours of community service.

"He was becoming very extreme in his ideas and views," said Muzammil Siddiqi, the society's religious director. "He must have disliked something."

But what did he learn from Siddiqi before that? After all, Kenneth Timmerman has noted that:

During an anti-Israel rally outside the White House on Oct. 28, 2000, Siddiqi openly threatened the United States with violence if it continued its support of Israel. "America has to learn ... if you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come. Please, all Americans. Do you remember that? ... If you continue doing injustice, and tolerate injustice, the wrath of God will come." By "injustice," he meant U.S. support for Israel.

Siddiqi also has called for a wider application of sharia law in the United States, and in a 1995 speech praised suicide bombers. "Those who die on the part of justice are alive, and their place is with the Lord, and they receive the highest position, because this is the highest honor," he was quoted as saying by the Kansas City Star on Jan. 28, 1995.

So said Adnan El'Shukri-Jumah, one of the Seven Wanted Ones. And what was he willing to do to bring that law here? From an otherwise annoyingly irrelevant and unrevealing puff piece about this man's family in the Sun Sentinel, with thanks to Wendy and Mentat:

For El'Shukri-Jumah's family, Ashcroft's announcement served only to renew the despair they have endured since a similar FBI announcement brought the world's attention to their doorstep in March 2003. The family last saw the eldest son in 2001, before the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. His mother said he has called once since then. He said he was teaching English in Morocco, had married and had a son; she warned him to stay away, telling him that the U.S. government was imprisoning Arab and Muslim men without letting them see a lawyer, Ahmed said.

His mother explains further:

He may have been uncomfortable with the open expression of sexuality in the American public, but her son never expressed hatred or the desire to harm anybody.

He appreciated this country, its cultural diversity and the kindness of its people, she said.

"You know something," she said, "he and I used to say, `If this country had Islamic law it would be the best country on the Earth.'"

From AP, some information about six of the seven Islamic radicals wanted in possible connection with planning for a major attack in America this summer. Strange thing -- nary a Buddhist among them:

AAFIA SIDDIQUI: A Pakistani woman who studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received a biology degree in 1995 and wrote a doctoral thesis on neurological sciences in 2001 at Brandeis University. Authorities have not charged that Siddiqui, 32, is a member of al-Qaida but believe she could be a "fixer," someone with knowledge of the United States who can get things done for other operatives. FBI officials believe Siddiqui also spent time in the Maryland suburbs of Washington.

The FBI issued a global alert for her arrest in March 2003 and requested that Pakistan locate Siddiqui. A month later, Siddiqui's mother, Ismat, claimed she saw her daughter get into a minicab with her three children for a journey from Karachi to Islamabad. But a senior Pakistani security official said Wednesday that she could not be found. Her husband, Dr. Amjad Mohammed Khan, also is wanted by the FBI for questioning.

FAZUL ABDULLAH MOHAMMED: A native of the Comoros Republic in the Indian Ocean, he is believed to be al-Qaida's ringleader in eastern Africa. He has been indicted in the United States in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 231 people. Since the indictment, Fazul's face could be seen on the walls of Kenyan police stations, and he has a $25-million bounty on his head. He is thought to be hiding in Kenya or Somalia.

AHMED KHALFAN GHAILANI: A Tanzanian who also goes by the names "Foopie," "Fupi" and "Ahmed the Tanzanian." He is under indictment in the United States for the embassy attacks.

AMER EL-MAATI: Born in Kuwait, he is wanted by the FBI for questioning about possible al-Qaida links.

ABDERRAOUF JDEY: A Tunisian who obtained Canadian citizenship in 1995. He was among five men who left suicide messages on videotapes recovered in Afghanistan at the home of Mohammed Atef - reportedly Osama bin Laden's military chief who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2001.

Also recovered from the home was a suicide letter by Jdey from August 1999. In the letter, he pledged to die in battle against infidels, according to information released by U.S. authorities in 2002. Jdey also goes by the names Farouq Al-Tunisi and Al Rauf bin Al Habib bin Yousef Al-Jiddi. He might have a Canadian passport. His last known address was an apartment building in Montreal.

ADAM YAHIYE GADAHN: A 25-year-old U.S. citizen who also goes by the names Adam Pearlman and Abu Suhayb Al-Amriki. FBI Director Robert Mueller says he attended al-Qaida training camps and has served as an al-Qaida translator. Gadahn says on an Islamic Internet site that he grew up on a goat ranch in Riverside County, Calif., and converted to Islam in his later teenage years after moving to Garden Grove, Calif.

Note that Iqbal Sacranie, the voice of moderate Islam in Britain, is suggesting that Hamza is being treated unfairly. Search this site for Abu Hamza, read some articles, and tell me there isn't a reasonable case for arresting this man. From the BBC, with thanks to EPG:

Controversial cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been arrested on an extradition warrant issued by the US government, which is said to relate to terrorism.

Scotland Yard has confirmed a 47-year-old man was seized at his home in west London at 0300 BST on Thursday.

The cleric, who preaches outside the Finsbury Park mosque in north London, will appear before magistrates at Belmarsh on Thursday.

Hamza and his mosque have been conncected with terrorists in the past.

But Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said it was still important that the principle of "innocent until proven guilty" be observed.

"He has certainly made provocative statements... but we need to be very clear [about the difference] between those remarks, that are perhaps deeply offensive to us, and whether there has been a breach of law," he told BBC News.

"I think for any British citizen, irrespective of where you come from, what your feelings are, what your thoughts are, the law should be applied equally."

It will be interesting to see if this exam will try to determine if Muslims from Turkey and Morocco hope someday to institute Sharia in their new homeland. From Expatica, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Newcomers and settled immigrants will be forced to successfully pass an integration examination to prove they have integrated into Dutch society.

The law is primarily aimed at non-EU family unification immigrants — especially those from Turkey and Morocco — who will be required to complete a basic integration test in their country of origin before arriving in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is the first country in the world to demand permanent immigrants complete a pre-arrival integration course. US, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and Japanese nationals are exempted from the pre-arrival courses. ...

Moving on, the Cabinet agreed on 23 April that after arriving in the country, a newcomer must report back to the local council after six months to monitor their integration progress. Authorities will determine when they will be assessed again. Those who fail to report will be fined.

If the immigrant wants to be compensated for course costs, they must pass the integration exam within three years. If a newcomer has failed to integrate after five years, they will be fined.

Asylum seekers will only be obligated to integrate once they have gained their first temporary residence permit. Antilleans and Arubans will also be obliged to integrate.

A residence permit for an indefinite period can only be obtained once a foreigner has passed an integration exam.

Erdogan, standing before a portrait of another deeply moral statesman, Ataturk

Speaking of myopic moral equivalence, here is one from Haaretz, with thanks to Ali Dashti. But where are the Israeli suicide bombers? I know that Israel is accused of targeting civilians. I also know that Palestinian Arab terrorists tend to hide among civilians. But that is something we dhimmis are not supposed to notice.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday criticized Israel's Rafah operation, saying that although Turkey also suffered from terrorism and was fighting it, he did not see a difference between what terrorists were doing and Israel's demolition of homes and the damage it was bringing to civilians.

Erdogan met with National Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky, who said that the Turkish PM renewed offers to mediate between Israel and both the Palestinians and Syria.

Paritzky said the Turkish leader had been forthright in his criticism of Israel's assassination of two Hamas leaders and a recent huge raid on the Gaza Strip.

"The prime minister was very unhappy, to say the least," Paritzky told a small group of reporters.

"He claimed that the activities of the State of Israel do not promote peace...[But] he is willing to offer his services to mediate, negotiate and bring peace to the area."

Muslim but firmly secular Turkey has close economic and security ties with Israel, which regards Ankara as a valuable ally in the region, but has also traditionally supported Palestinian aspirations to statehood.

Erdogan, who had previously offered to mediate in the Middle East conflict, accused Israel in March of "terrorism" after the killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Speaking in a newspaper interview, he said then that the assassination had seriously damaged peace efforts and there was "nothing left to mediate".

But apparently none of the killings of innocent non-combatants ordered by Yassin damaged peace efforts, eh, Erdogan?

From the Daily Times of Pakistan via the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Lahore, May 25: Samuel, a blasphemy suspect, is in critical condition at General Hospital after a police constable hit him on his head with a brick cutter on the morning of May 22.

Constable Faryad, who attacked Samuel, was sent to jail after a case was registered against him.

Even though the case has been brought into the open, the authorities are still trying to keep the whole matter a secret. The Punjab Home Department has banned visitors to the hospital’s ward No 18, where Samuel is being treated. The police refused to show a copy of the FIR and discuss more details. The hospital staff was also reluctant to speak.

HRCP led a fact-finding into the incident. A police officer told the team that Faryad appeared calm after trying to kill Samuel but realized he had done something ugly the next day.

The team described the case as horrific, lacking education, awareness, sensibility and understanding and the result of a clear misuse of the blasphemy law.

Samuel alias Nadeem, the son of a man named Emanuel from Saidan Shah near Upper Mall Lahore, had been charged with blasphemy under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqoob, librarian of the Darul Islam Lawrence Garden, Lahore, registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Samuel, accusing him of throwing waste by the wall of a mosque near the library.

From AP, with thanks to DC Watson:

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) -- Two car bombs exploded minutes apart by a language school close to the U.S. Consul's residence in Pakistan's biggest city Wednesday, killing a police officer and wounding 25 other people.

The attack came days after police in Karachi said they smashed an Islamic militant ring accused in a deadly bombing outside the U.S. Consulate two years ago and a failed assassination plot against Pakistan's pro-American president.

The fact that one of the seven wanted Al-Qaeda members is an American citizen, a convert to Islam, speaks volumes. Of course, several converts have already won headlines in the war on terror: John Walker Lindh, Juan Padilla, Richard Reid, Jack Roche, etc. It is obvious why Islamic terrorist groups would want to recruit such people. Less often noted is the significance of the fact that they can be recruited at all. For they approach the Qur'an and other Islamic texts without the culturally ingrained ways of understanding them that Muslims pick up in Islamic societies. In other words, they come to Islam more or less in a pure, abstract form. The force of any given passage of Qur'an or Hadith is not blunted by cultural habit and familiarity. This is extremely revealing of the nature of the Qur'an and Sunnah.

[Last night I posted the above graphic with a similar story. I was surprised to see that it quickly disappeared, but it was while the site was being worked on by the technicians. So I posted it again, made sure it was up, and turned to other work. Now this morning I find it gone again. I am no computer expert and don't know why this is happening, but I suspect it is also why some of you have found you can't post occasionally, or encounter other difficulties. Apologies for any inconvenience, and I will try to figure out what's going on. I thought the problems had been taken care of, so this is really puzzling.]

From the Washington Post:

The nation's top law enforcement officials, saying they are convinced al Qaeda is planning an attack on the United States in the coming months, issued an urgent plea yesterday for information about seven people who they said could be involved in such an effort.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III asked for the public's help in tracking down six men and one woman associated with al Qaeda who either are familiar with the United States or have a history of involvement in attacks on U.S. interests.

All but one -- Adam Yahiye Gadahn, 25, a Southern California convert to Islam linked to top al Qaeda captive Abu Zubaida -- have been sought for many months by the FBI. Officials said they do not know whether any of the seven is in the United States. ...

"Credible intelligence, from multiple sources, indicates that al Qaeda plans to attempt an attack on the United States in the next few months," Ashcroft said. "This disturbing intelligence indicates al Qaeda's specific intention is to hit the U.S. hard." He said the information has been "corroborated on a variety of levels."

The problems you may be having getting to Jihad Watch today stem from efforts to resolve continuing space problems. The readership is growing very quickly, and we are doing our best to accomodate. All problems should be resolved soon, and thanks for your patience.

Johnson

What's so bad about American politicians comparing each other to Osama and the Taliban? Well, most American politicians aren't mass murderers. This kind of rhetoric blunts the reality of jihad. From AP:

Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson has apologized for remarks at a campaign rally in which he compared a segment of the Republican Party to the Taliban.

At a get-out-the-vote rally in Sioux Falls for Democratic House candidate Stephanie Herseth, Johnson told the crowd that Herseth will win a June 1 special election against Republican Larry Diedrich. "And how sweet it's going to be on June 2 when the Taliban wing of the Republican Party finds out what's happened in South Dakota," Johnson said at the Sunday event.

The second-term senator issued an apology Tuesday, saying "I am proud of the support I have enjoyed from Republicans across South Dakota. In a state like ours, you have to be able to reach across party lines to find consensus. If any Republicans were offended, I apologize."

Republicans were outraged by the remarks, with state GOP chairman Randy Frederick describing the statement as "repulsive" and "an attack on the character of all Republicans in South Dakota."

"To have someone of Sen. Tim Johnson's stature talking about my supporters as being terrorists is somewhat flabbergasting," Diedrich said.

Johnson said the remarks were directed at an outside group that attacked the senator's patriotism and "compared me to Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden" in a television ad during his 2002 Senate campaign.

Bashir Ahmad

"The ignorant majority of Muslims have a wrong interpretation of jihad, which is to fight against non-Muslims. The true interpretation is that any struggle for good — it could be against yourself — is jihad."

How's that again? The ignorant majority? Wait a minute. I thought we were dealing with a tiny minority of extremists here. But the remarks made by Mirza Mahmood Ahmad (who sounds as if he may be a member of the Ismaili sect that most Muslims consider heretical) in this Washington Times piece (thanks to Lokolaka) suggest that such talk is just what it is: dhimmi obfuscation. It is also illuminating for the tension in loyalties that Muslim soldiers feel.

Finally, note that Bashir Ahmad does not, at least in this article, mention loyalty to the United States as one of his reasons for staying in the service.

Mirza Mahmood Ahmad of Great Falls, Va., recalls his uneasy feelings about his son's deployment to Iraq in January, though he is proud of the young man's service in the Virginia National Guard.

"I said, 'Bashir, you want to go? There is no confusion in your mind? You are a Muslim. You may have to fight against other Muslims.' "

His son was annoyed by the question, Mr. Ahmad says.

"He said, 'First of all, I'm a medic. I won't be fighting.' 'Second,' he said, 'I can't back out' — because of his loyalty to his fellow soldiers," says Mr. Ahmad, 47, a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen who owns his own international wireless company.

Muslims make up a small minority in the U.S. military and have been regarded with suspicion by other Muslims at home and abroad, as well as by fellow members of the armed services of different faiths who question their enthusiasm for fighting fellow Muslims.

According to the Pentagon's most recent statistics, 4,154 of the 1,399,751 active-duty members of the armed forces, or 0.3 percent, identified themselves as Muslims.

Mr. Ahmad says he must defend his son's presence in Iraq to some at his mosque who question how a Muslim can go to an Islamic country and fight against members of his own religion.

"I have had to explain why Bashir is doing this," he says.

"He's an extremely smart kid," Mr. Ahmad says. "People like Bashir should be in the Army. I think he's making a major contribution."

His son — Pfc. Mirza Bashir Ahmad, 21, a political science student at Radford University — serves as a Virginia National Guard medic with the 276th Engineer Battalion out of Richmond.

In an e-mail from Iraq, Pfc. Ahmad said American Muslim soldiers in Iraq must walk a fine line to maintain the trust of their comrades while not offending other Muslims. ...

Mr. Ahmad immigrated to the United States in 1977 and belongs to a Muslim minority that interprets the Koran — and specifically the idea of jihad, or holy war — differently from many other Muslims.

"We are not against jihad," he says. "The ignorant majority of Muslims have a wrong interpretation of jihad, which is to fight against non-Muslims. The true interpretation is that any struggle for good — it could be against yourself — is jihad."

Mr. Ahmad's brother, a George Mason University graduate and computer expert, was assassinated by Islamic extremists in Pakistan in 1999 because of his views.

Mr. Ahmad does not think his family's situation is particularly noteworthy, he says, and asked not to be photographed. "It's unusual for us, a first-generation American family, in a very awkward time. [September 11] has changed a lot of things."

Step back for a minute and imagine an army led by a Buddhist monk or Christian priest, who was only one of many such clerics who preached violence from the pulpit and led armed forces. Then tell yourself that the Islamic identity of people like Al-Sadr and his lieutenant is incidental to what they are doing. Yet this politically correct myopia continues to afflict most Western policymakers, to our detriment.

From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops captured a key lieutenant of radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr during overnight clashes in Najaf that killed 24 people and wounded nearly 50, hospital and militia officials said.

Here is a Fox story about the latest threats.

Counterterrorism and law enforcement officials told Fox News Tuesday that they are extremely concerned that terrorist groups like Al Qaeda may be planning an attack during one of the major events scheduled for this summer. The comments came after a think tank study revealed that despite the elimination of several key figures, Al Qaeda still has a functioning leadership, over 18,000 potential terrorists in its global network and a swelling membership thanks to the war in Iraq.

I wrote about Sgt. Hasan Akbar's attack on his fellow American troops in Onward Muslim Soldiers. Now comes confirmation of my contention there that he attacked them solely out of loyalty to Islam, not because of racism or anything else (contrary to widely published reports). From AP, with thanks to LGF:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - A prosecution witness testified Monday that a soldier charged with killing two officers in a grenade attack during the Iraq war confessed to the crimes after his arrest, saying he feared the wartime deaths of Muslims.

The SITE Institute has published excerpts of a training manual for Muslim kidnappers. The entire article is well worth reading at that site. One illuminating point is that the manual clearly sees kidnapping as an Islamic religious act, and even — astonishingly enough — as an opportunity to call people to Islam:

• Abide by Muslim laws as your actions may become a Da’wa [call to join Islam].

You may be annoyed when proselytizers knock on your door, but one thing you can say about the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others: they aren't under any illusions that kidnapping and murder will make their faiths any more attractive to nonbelievers.

"When some 95 percent of the population is Muslim, tackling the talibe problem is a delicate business."

Why? These children are being abused. Surely no one outside of a tiny minority of extremists could countenance that? The dhimmi hesitation to offend Muslims by tackling this scandal speaks volumes about both non-Muslims and Muslims.

From AllAfrica.com, with thanks to Susan:

Moussa doesn't know how old he is or how long he has been in Dakar begging for money to keep his Muslim schoolteacher from beating him. But he knows what he wants to be when he grows up - a white man.

Malnourished children stretching out their hands for a coin are a common sight in many African cities, but in this most western tip of the continent, it is not poverty driving them onto the streets but adults.

Moussa is one of thousands of Senegalese boys, plucked from their rural roots and sent to moderate religious schools - daaras - in the cities to learn about Islam and memorise its holy book, the Koran.

Yet the pupils, known as talibes or disciples, learn little, forced to spend 10 hours a day trudging the streets for coins so they can pay their marabout teachers and for scraps so they can feed themselves.

"I have to take 200 CFA (36 cents) back to my marabout every night," Moussa mumbled, digging in a tomato-paste tin for that day's collection of coins.

It is early evening in one of Dakar's more affluent suburbs and the boy, who looks no older than seven, doesn't have even half the required amount. "If I'm short, the teacher hits me with a stick," Moussa said resignedly.

He rubbed at a red scar on his forehead from a beating last week as he explained how there was only one thing he wanted to be when he was older.

"I want to be a white man."

Some marabouts argue that they have no other way of providing for the boys, that they had the same upbringing and that begging teaches the children humility. But these reasons don't convince everyone.

EXPLOITATION

"Obviously we're not talking about all marabout teachers, but for some it has reached the point where children are a business," said Lahad Ndiaye, who works for the Synapse Network Center, a Dakar-based group that has tried to help the talibes.

"It's exploitation pure and simple. You see kids who can't recite even two verses of the Koran. They don't have time to learn because they're on the street all day."

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates there are up to 100,000 child beggars in Senegal - about one percent of the population - and "talibe children are the vast majority".

"I think the problem is growing," Mamadou Wane, a UNICEF child protection officer, said in an interview in his Dakar office.

"Poverty is hitting rural areas ever harder here, meaning more kids in the city daaras," he continued.

Daaras have been around since the seventeenth century and in their original incarnation were based in villages. Parents would send their children to work the marabout's fields in return for a religious education.

But in the last 50 years or so, bad droughts shrivelled crops to dust, the national economy spluttered and the marabouts joined the exodus to the cities. There, riches proved equally elusive, and for some sending their pupils to beg was a neat solution.

"The marabouts have no salary and they have to support 20 to 30 kids, it's impossible," said Babacar Sene, a Muslim elder in Ouaka, one of the outer suburbs of Dakar.

Sene is well known in the local community, where a number of marabouts operate but refused to discuss their operations.

"I don't agree with begging, it's irritating. But it's a thorny problem to solve. What else can the marabouts do?" added the 76-year-old, who chose to send his 23 children to French-speaking schools and teach them the Koran at home.

Senegal is a religiously tolerant country where many Muslims even celebrate Christmas and Islamic militancy is limited to the odd Osama bin Laden T-shirt.

SENSITIVE SUBJECT

But even so, when some 95 percent of the population is Muslim, tackling the talibe problem is a delicate business.

"The fact that people can talk about it now, that's already progress," said UNICEF's Wane. ...

For Cire Kane, another Synapse Network worker, the talibe problem should be a priority.

"When these kids grow up they won't have the skills to find work and they'll stay on the streets. Senegal is preparing a time-bomb for itself."

Indeed. In more ways than one.

From the Detroit News, with thanks to LGF:

HAMTRAMCK — A controversial noise ordinance allowing a mosque to broadcast daily Islamic calls to prayer over loud speakers is set to go into effect Wednesday.

But it probably won’t go into effect because of a petition protesting the ordinance.

But it probably won’t matter because the mosque plans to broadcast the calls to prayer anyway.

Confused? The Hamtramck City Council will try to sort through the mess Tuesday in the latest round of what is becoming a lesson in democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

Leaders of the Al-Islah Islamic Center asked the council for permission to broadcast calls to prayer — a centuries-old tradition in Islam. A prayer is sung five times a day to invite Muslims to pray. They’re often broadcast by loud speaker in predominantly Muslim countries, but are seldom broadcast in the United States.

The council wrote and approved an amendment to the city’s noise ordinance, sparking waves of outrage from Christian groups across the country that claimed Hamtramck was giving special rights to Muslims.

Last week, citizens turned in petitions with an estimated 630 signatures asking that the noise ordinance amendment be suspended. If 552 of the signatures are certified by the city clerk’s office, then the council Tuesday will be required to reconsider the amendment.

The council could vote down the amendment — which seems unlikely — because the amendment has passed unanimously several times.

If the council votes to approve the amendment, it still doesn’t go into effect. Instead, the amendment would be put on hold until it can be put on a ballot for city voters to consider.

All the political gyrations may not matter.

Masud Kahn, the associate imam of the mosque, said the mosque will begin the calls to prayer Friday, as planned, no matter what happens with the petition and the council.

Kahn and council President Karen Majewski say the mosque didn’t need the city’s permission to broadcast the calls to prayer in the first place.

Because the mosque is a religious institution and because it is broadcasting from its own property, the city has no control over the calls to prayer beyond regulations contained in the noise ordinance.

Another convert to Islam ends up mixed up with terrorists. Where, o where, is this grand religion of peace we keep hearing about? From the New York Times, :

ARIS, May 25 — A Paris court today sentenced a Frenchman with ties to a suspect in the Madrid train bombings to four years in prison for helping Islamic terrorists in Europe.

The man, David Courtallier, was convicted of conspiring with criminals engaged in a terrorist enterprise and was not implicated in the Madrid bombings, which killed 191 people on March 11. But Mr. Courtallier, a cheese vendor from France's Savoy region who converted to Islam in 1997, had been in contact with Jamal Zougam, one of the first suspects arrested in the Madrid attacks.

In both Onward Muslim Soldiers and Islam Unveiled I discuss the British Sheikh Omar Bakri, who has long boasted about using Britain's freedom of speech to advocate the establishment of a Sharia state in Britain. Here is more about him, from the Dallas Morning News:

LONDON – The puzzle of Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad is the puzzle of growing ranks of militant Muslims across Europe today. Some are talkers, others are doers, and often it isn't easy to distinguish between the two.

Sheik Bakri, a controversial London-based cleric, counsels the hundreds of young men and women who attend his weekly sermons to exercise restraint and nonviolence. Yet, he says martyrdom is a key to paradise. Under some circumstances in the defense of Islam, he says, violence and killing may be necessary.

Europe may be the scene of martyrdom attacks soon, Sheik Bakri warned in an interview, although he placed numerous caveats on how that could unfold.

He regards the West as the enemy, confers upon Osama bin Laden the honorific of "sheik," and praises as "magnificent" the 19 al-Qaeda members who killed themselves in the Sept. 11 attacks. But he also preaches kindness and respect for non-Muslims and condemns indiscriminate attacks as "forbidden" in Islam.

Taqiyya alert: Bakri taught two young British Muslims who journeyed to Israel to become suicide bombers.

A commentary last year in the Guardian newspaper mistakenly described Sheik Bakri, who walks with a cane but is otherwise able-bodied, as "one-eyed, hook-handed."

That would be Abu Hamza, Bakri's partner in crime.

An April 26 New York Times story listed Sheik Bakri foremost among European clerics allegedly expressing sympathy toward terrorist attacks against Europe. He was so angered, he banned members of al-Muhajiroun from speaking to the non-Muslim news media and accused the New York Times of attempting "to stir up hatred towards Muslims and to whip the masses into a frenzy of fear and animosity."

Rankling officials

Nevertheless, Sheik Bakri acknowledged in the April 22 interview that he has deliberately tried to rankle the British and U.S. governments with his fiery sermons, which he delivers several times a week at mosques and community centers around England.

By praising al-Qaeda as "magnificent," the cleric said, he is able to draw media attention and spread his message to a wider audience. But because he stops short of calling for his own followers to stage attacks, he explained, he has been able to avoid arrest for inciting terrorism.

Key to his rhetorical strategy is a carefully worded explanation of Islam's "covenant of security," which obliges Muslims to behave themselves when they have been invited into their enemy's domain. It is forbidden, the cleric explained, for Muslim immigrants to launch attacks in the Western countries where they reside because, as guests, they must abide by a covenant of nonaggression.

He said there currently is no one who can be described as the undisputed leader of all Muslims. However, he describes Mr. bin Laden as, hands down, the most popular and widely respected person in the Muslim world today.

"If you want to make free elections in the Muslim world, I doubt if anyone could compete with him. Even moderate Muslims, if they are given the free hand to vote and are given the power, they would vote for Osama bin Laden," he said. ...

Muslims who regard Mr. Bin Laden as their supreme leader might regard themselves as free to rise up against their European hosts, Sheikh Bakri said.

"What we do is all part of the same struggle," said Anjem Choudary, the chief deputy of Sheik Bakri, who described the jihad being waged by al-Muhajiroun in the United Kingdom as the same as those being waged by Muslim guerrillas in Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya.

"It's right that we're fighting against it [oppression by the West]. We just don't do so militarily," he said.

Sheikh Bakri says he makes a point of sending advance copies of his sermons to British police so they can judge for themselves whether he is the terrorist demon portrayed by the media. So far, police have not intervened. In spite of calls by members of Parliament for his arrest and deportation, British authorities say Sheikh Bakri has the right of free speech as long as he doesn't incite violence.

Kids love him, too — a tiny minority of kids, of course

This story is an AP version (thanks to Jake) of the Reuters piece below. This one is far more concerned than the Reuters piece with portraying these findings as showing that the war on terror has failed.

However:

1. Doesn't the fact that half of Al-Qaeda's leadership has been killed or captured indicate that the war on terror thus far may not have been as dismal a failure as the lead paragraph suggests?

2. Estimates of the number of people who went through Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan have ranged as high as 120,000. Low-end estimates are still in the 70,000-80,000 range. If only 18,000 of them are still active, doesn't that indicate some success? Of course, these 18,000 could inflict tremendous damage, but I'd still rather have 18,000 to deal with than 100,000.

3. The idea that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have boosted Al-Qaeda is dear to the hearts of people like Ted Kennedy, but where would we be now if there had been no response to 9/11, or if that response had amounted to just a few cruise missiles lobbed into Waziristan? Would the Al-Qaeda members who already existed before 9/11 have folded up shop and stopped attacking Westerners?

4. Also, if Muslims joined Al-Qaeda because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, doesn't that indicate that they didn't have any serious objection to Al-Qaeda's activity even before joining? After all, if they considered Osama and Co. to be heretics who were defaming Islam by using it to justify terrorism, that wouldn't change because the Americans invaded, would it? Surely in that event it would have been possible to create a non-terrorist force that was not allied with Al-Qaeda, that would have really constituted the indigenous militiamen that Ted Rall and his ilk imagine the terrorists to be? But doesn't the fact that this didn't happen indicate that the ideological divide between Al-Qaeda and the rest of the Islamic world wasn't as large as most analysts continue to believe?

LONDON - Far from being crippled by the U.S.-led war on terror, al-Qaida has more than 18,000 potential terrorists scattered around the world and the war in Iraq is swelling its ranks, a report said Tuesday.

Well, if this report is true, we now have a count of the tiny minority of extremists: evidently, there are 18,000 of them. But of course Reuters — and few analysts — seem to care how these 18,000 were recruited, and whether such recruitment efforts are still effective among Muslims worldwide.

From Reuters, with thanks to nevermindlv:

LONDON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda has more than 18,000 militants ready to strike and the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq has accelerated recruitment to the ranks of Osama bin Laden's network, a leading London think-tank says.

Personally, I find the pop singer Madonna always tiresome and frequently contemptible; however, I am not interested in murdering her or her family, or even in preventing people from buying her records. Therein lies a key difference between the civilizations that are currently clashing.

From Haaretz, with thanks to Tziona:

Pop superstar Madonna recently canceled concerts scheduled in Israel as a result of death threats by unknown Palestinian militants, the British tabloid The Sun reported yesterday. The singer had scheduled three concerts to be held in Tel Aviv in September, but canceled the performances earlier in the month.

According to the report, Madonna initially "freaked out" when she learned of the threat, but decided to go ahead with the performances. She changed her mind, the paper said, when she received letters containing details about her two children, aged 7 and 3.

In all the excitement around the Jihad Watch offices lately here in sunny Secure Undisclosed Locationville, we once again neglected to post links to two new articles by Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer: "The Jihad in America and the Judeo-Christian-Islamic Way," which appeared in Human Events; and "The Enemy is Not Just Al-Qaeda," from FrontPage. Both appeared last Thursday, although I assure you they were not written simultaneously.

U.S. News and World Report has this. In the days after the Madrid bombing everyone asked what would happen if the American election was targeted. Would Americans go the way of Spain or be roused to greater action?

Al-Qaeda would like to find out.

The chatter was persistent--and alarming. In the weeks after the deadly March bombings of four commuter trains in Madrid by al Qaeda operatives, the supersecret U.S. surveillance network, Echelon, intercepted a number of messages from suspected terrorists suggesting planning for a massive, multipronged assault on the United States. When? Between this summer's political conventions and October, one month before the presidential election. The intelligence appeared to confirm information obtained from some seized al Qaeda computers and from several human sources, government officials say. Officials at the CIA and the National Security Agency, which runs the Echelon program, believe the information is credible but worry that the human sources were on the periphery of the now widely dispersed al Qaeda network. Nevertheless, the information pointed to two, perhaps three, targets, the sources say: New York, Washington, and Las Vegas. The objective of the suspected attack, the officials continued, would be not only to cause mass casualties and devastation of U.S. infrastructure but to roil the presidential race. The Madrid bombings, which killed 191 people and wounded 1,800, also toppled the Spanish government and triggered the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq. "Since Spain," says a Bush administration official, "al Qaeda has had the feeling of 'We can do this. We can affect an election.' "

More holy fighting in the holy city of Najaf where a holy shrine was damaged— but not it seems wholly destroyed.

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - One of the most sacred shrines of Shia Islam suffered minor damage during clashes Tuesday between U.S. forces and radical Shiite militiamen that killed at least 13 Iraqis, some of them civilians. It was unclear who was responsible for the shrine damage.

A wonderful hi-tech dream that will fall apart if differing agencies do not share information.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Department of Homeland Security is on the verge of awarding a 15-billion-dollar contract for creating an elaborate system of databases that would track visitors to the United States long before they arrive.

On Sunday, The New York Times said the contract, which will probably be awarded in coming days to one of three final bidders, is already generating considerable interest as federal officials try to improve their ability to monitor those who enter the United States at more than 300 border checkpoints.

No one wonder he thinks bin Laden seemed like a "nice man". More in The Age on the trial of Australian terror suspect Jack Roche.

Al-Qaeda leaders talked about destroying American and Israeli airlines flying to Australia a year before the September 11 attacks in the United States, a court heard yesterday.

The strikes were part of a plot outlined in early 2000 in the Pakistan city of Karachi by al-Qaeda's second in command, Mukhtar, in talks with alleged al-Qaeda conspirator Jack Roche.

Roche, 50, a British-born Islamic convert, has denied plotting with senior al-Qaeda officials to bomb the Israeli embassy in Canberra, with intent do endanger lives.

On day six of his trial in the Perth District Court, the jury was played part of a nine-hour videotape of an interview with Roche conducted by two Australian Federal Police agents in November 2002.

Roche says in the interview that he and Mukhtar also talked about the assassination of Americans and Israelis in Australia and how Melbourne Jewish leader Joe Gutnick would be a possible target.

"Mukhtar was thinking about any airlines that regularly came to Australia from either the US or Israel," Roche says in the recording. "But he mainly was interested in the American airlines that flew into Australia and people who could be targeted."

France struggles with its future.

LYON, France (AP) - A Muslim cleric deported last month for condoning wife beating and espousing violence returned to France on Saturday after a court suspended his expulsion.

Abdelkader Bouziane returned to this southeastern French city on a flight from his native Algeria but faces legal troubles that could lead to another expulsion, his lawyer, Mahmoud Hebia, said in a telephone interview.

Bouziane's arrived back two days after the Turkish director of a Paris mosque, Midhat Guler, was deported based on what the Interior Ministry said was a threat to public order.

It said that the Turkish imam, or prayer leader, led a Turkish Islamic extremist movement, Kaplan, "that preaches the use of violence and terrorism."

France fears that some imams are spreading messages of violence in their mosques or values that do not adhere to the western model. An imam from the western city of Brest also has been expelled. LYON, France - A Muslim cleric deported last month for condoning wife beating and espousing violence returned to France on Saturday after a court suspended his expulsion.

There is no way for cases like this not to be highly politicized from the beginning, and the FBI should have known that.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A federal court threw out the case Monday against an American lawyer arrested in connection with the Madrid train bombings, lifting a a cloud of suspicion that has surrounded the attorney since his arrest earlier this month.

Robert Jordan, the FBI agent in charge of Oregon, said the agency "regretted" any hardship caused by the arrest, and said the agency would be reviewing its practices on fingerprint analyses.

ADDENDUM: If this case had really been a witch hunt, of course, Mayfield would never have been released. But greater care is needed, as I called for in this article about the case: "No Margin for Error in Terror War." It appeared in Human Events on May 13:

An American lawyer named Brandon Mayfield was arrested last Thursday. Reports indicated that his fingerprints were found on one of the bags holding the explosives that blew up in Madrid on March 11. Adding to the suspicion was that he was a convert to Islam — and therefore possibly, like John Walker Lindh, a convert to jihad ideology. Among Mayfield’s clients had been another Muslim convert, Jeffrey Battle, who was convicted some time ago of participating in a conspiracy to aid Al-Qaeda. (Mayfield didn’t represent him on that case, but on an earlier one involving child custody.)

But a significant question arose almost immediately. Not long after the FBI took Mayfield into custody, Spanish officials expressed grave reservations about the incriminating fingerprint (it turned out to be just one). It was, they contended, not similar enough to fingerprints known to be Mayfield’s.

Now, I’m not saying that Mayfield is innocent. Nor am I saying he’s guilty. What I am saying is the FBI better have more than a single fingerprint on which to base their case, and that they need to make their case as convincing in the court of public opinion as in a court of law. They need to assure Americans that they do have other evidence — even if they’re not able to say what it is at this point. This is because there is no way for cases like this not to be highly politicized from the beginning. The doubts about the fingerprint just feed suspicions such as those expressed by Mayfield’s brother: “I think the reason they are holding him is because he is of the Muslim faith and because he is not super happy with the Bush administration.”

The idea that the FBI is now rounding up random Muslims and critics of the Bush Administration is a cherished fantasy of the loony Left, but cases like this only feed the paranoia. If the fingerprint turns out definitively to be not Mayfield’s, his case will form a nice companion, in the hysterical annals of Bushitler’s reign of terror, to that of Muslim Army Chaplain James Yee. Yee was arrested last September and suspected of mishandling classified documents at Guantanamo; officials intimated that a treason charge could be in the offing. But then it all got curiouser and curiouser: prosecutors asked for more time so that they could determine whether the documents Yee had were really classified at all. The charges were reduced, revised, and finally dropped altogether.

American Muslim advocacy groups and their allies have tried to make Yee’s case into a cause celebre, clamoring for an official apology and comparing Yee to Alfred Dreyfus, the Army Captain who was convicted of treason on charges trumped-up by anti-Semites in France a hundred years ago. Just last Saturday the Chicago Tribune huffed: “No apologies by the military would fully restore Yee’s reputation or compensate his family for the suffering they endured. Yet a formal apology would be a good place to start. The military ought to consider, too, how this witch hunt has damaged its image, its plans to recruit Muslims and Arabs into its intelligence services — an urgent task — and its reputation among Muslims at home and abroad.”

Maybe Yee hasn’t received an apology because of the unanswered questions that linger about his case. When the charges were dropped, Major General Geoffrey D. Miller, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo spoke cryptically of “national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence” if the government continued to prosecute Yee.

What on earth did Miller mean? That the documents Yee was carrying were so sensitive that a trial would bring to light information that must not come out? If that was so, then why was he sent back to work? But if he didn’t have classified documents, why not dispel all remaining suspicions and allow this innocent man to get on with his life without any clouds hanging over him?

The stakes are too high in the war on terror to allow for the kind of bungling that marked, or seemed to mark, the Yee case, and which now threatens to turn another high-profile terror prosecution into a fiasco. The problem is not that all this makes Bush look bad. It is that there are plenty of real terrorists still at large. Whether Justice is trumping up charges against innocent people or mishandling the prosecution of real jihadists is equally damaging. Abu Ghraib is just one example: there is today simply no margin for error.

Saudi Arabia's plentiful chickens come home to roost again.

RIYADH: (AFP) A German national was shot dead in Riyadh on Saturday, becoming the seventh Westerner to be killed in Saudi Arabia this month, hours after authorities reported seizing bomb-making material in a terror "den".

"An expatriate holding German citizenship was shot and killed by unknown elements in eastern Riyadh. Security authorities are still (investigating) the incident," the capital's police chief said.

Ibn Warraq, author of Why I Am Not A Muslim

Khilafah.com boldly reasserts a traditional position. How will Canada's sharia court arbitration system handle such matters?

One idea that requires a response is the attack on aspects of the Shar’iah as barbaric. They claim that the standards for acceptability over 1400 years ago are different from the acceptable norms today. Therefore they say it is barbaric to stone the adulterer and lash the fornicator and cut the hand of the thief and - most controversially in their eyes – to kill the apostate. There I’ve said it. I can just imagine the human rights organisations rallying their capitalist brethren and the defeatist Muslims cringing. Yet it is an irrevocable command from the Creator, without distortion, abrogation or capitulation. The Messenger of Allah SalAllahu alaihi wasallam said:

من بدّل دينه فاقتلوه
"Whoever changes his religion, kill him". (Bukhari)

Algerian Salafist Abu-Ibrahim Mustafa's May 2004 address, "A Word that has to be said" (Thanks to Nicolei.)

They won't rest until non-Muslims are dhimmis.

Everyone knows the situation of the Muslims today, and Muslims are suffering everywhere. Here are the Muslim people of Palestine, in the Land of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the first Qiblah (direction for prayer) for Muslims, these Mujahidin are being killed everyday. Men, women, children; and killed by the hands of the wicked Jews and with help of the Americans and their allies, while the world is watching. The goal is to make the holy Al-Aqsa a Jewish site and to prevent the Muslims from establishing a Muslim country. It will be established, God willing, and the Jews will be humiliated.

Here is the Muslim land of Afghanistan, on which the State of Islam was established; where the glory of the faith has appeared for the first time after long years of humiliation. This country showed the world the great values of loyalty, faithfulness and support for the faith, when it destroyed the Buddha statues, disregarding the condemnation of the infidels everywhere. Also, it has refused to hand over Usamah Bin-Ladin to the infidel Americans, even if this would cause the destruction of their country. This infuriated the American and their allies, and they declared the crusaders war to stop this holy, Godly movement, the movement of Islam and glory. They attacked Afghanistan with every weapon. They demolished and destroyed with hatred and anger against Islam. Allah will allow nothing except His light, even if the infidels do not like it. Here is Afghanistan, slowly going back under the banner of the Taliban. We ask Allah to grant them victory. Allah said, “God grant victory to those that support him. And God is powerful almighty”. Allah will defend the faithful; He does not like the infidels, and e is capable of granting them victory.

Here is the Islamic land of Chechnya and its Muslim people, Al-Mujahidin, who are controlled by the Russian war machine with the support of the Americans and their Allies. They are preventing these Muslim people from establishing their own Islamic state in the throat of the Russians. God willing, it will be established and become a role model to the Muslims.

Look at what is happening today in Algeria, the Philippines, Kashmir, Indonesia, Egypt, Iraq and others. They chase and surround the unshakable Mujahidin who fight to uphold the word of Allah, and to make faith in Allah the only faith. They are imprisoned and killed and violated to prevent them from keeping the faith and from establishing a Muslim state.

From The Telegraph:

Note also:

Common wisdom in the Iraqi capital is that nearly all the Mahdi army fighters in the holy cities are poor and ignorant Shias from the sprawling Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.

But most of those fighting the Americans this weekend were local. Some were educated and from well-off families.

And it's 1 2 3 What are we fightin' for? Don't ask the major TV networks. (AP)

A speech in which Bush is expected to lay out details of the transfer of power to Iraq, and reassure Americans about that war, will not be covered by the major networks.

According to Hollywood Reporter:

The broadcast networks are not expected to carry President Bush's primetime speech tonight, in which he will lay out a "clear strategy" for the future of Iraq. The Bush administration has not requested the Big Four to air live the president's address to an audience at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Penn., scheduled for 8 p.m. EDT on the last Monday of the crucial for the network's ad rates May sweep period.

NBC, Fox and ABC will proceed with their scheduled programming for the 8-9 p.m. hour -- an episode of "Fear Factor," the finale of "The Swan" and the broadcast premiere of Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind," respectively. NBC and Fox's sibling cable channels, MSNBC and Fox News, will carry the speech.

Everybody loves Raymond, but nobody loves W.

CAIR responded to the murder of Nicholas Berg by circulating a petition against terrorism called “Not in the Name of Islam.”

The “Not in the Name of Islam” petition states: “We, the undersigned Muslims, wish to state clearly that those who commit acts of terror, murder and cruelty in the name of Islam are not only destroying innocent lives, but are also betraying the values of the faith they claim to represent. No injustice done to Muslims can ever justify the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will ever serve the cause of Islam. We repudiate and dissociate ourselves from any Muslim group or individual who commits such brutal and un-Islamic acts. We refuse to allow our faith to be held hostage by the criminal actions of a tiny minority acting outside the teachings of both the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

Islam Online says the petition is “Not in the Name of Islam”

On the other hand, it promotes a message of pacifism to Muslims in the US and around the world, disregarding Islam’s instructions to fight oppression and invasion. This is suggested when the term reject violence is used.

Violence and all its forms are subjectively interpreted. To non-Muslims, the desired interpretation would be “Drop all of your beliefs in fighting against our oppression.” Another possible connotation would be that Muslims should not support the death penalty or corporal punishment. The death penalty, whether by stoning, hanging or beheading, is considered a violent act by many.

Desperate to curry favor with non-Muslims, CAIR has successfully been trapped in a catch-22. Now that we’ve suggested that Muslims do not believe in violence, non-Muslims will tear us up in their writings by accusing us of hypocrisy for daring to take up arms against an occupying force.

UPDATE: Read the comments. In haste I missed the crucial point that the Islam Online article was written by an American Islamic chaplain. Thanks to Charles and all the others who provided the info.

KARBALA, Iraq (AP) U.S. forces battled fighters loyal to radical Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in his stronghold of Kufa overnight Sunday, and at least 18 people died. Many militiamen returned to their homes after abandoning the center of another holy Shiite city, Karbala, witnesses said.

The clashes broke out when American tanks and troops moved into the city for the first time as part of an effort to weaken the militia of al-Sadr, a fierce opponent of the U.S.-led occupation who launched an uprising against the coalition in early April. He routinely delivers a sermon at Friday prayers in Kufa.

It seems as if even AP is getting tired of "the holy city of ..." designation. It calls to mind a recent Scrappleface headline: "New York, Washington Declared Muslim Holy Cities." Now that's thinking outside the box, and an interesting tactic to boot.

Back to AP:

The U.S. military has said al-Sadr's forces are using mosques and shrines to store weapons and organize attacks, while the radical cleric's supporters have accused the military of desecrating holy places.

Meaning: if al-Sadr's forces attack from the mosque it is not a desecration, but if U.S. forces follow them back to their lair, it is.

Here is an illuminating story from The Telegraph:

...there is no disguising the fact that hundreds of angry young Shias - some poor and ill-educated, others from relatively well-off families - are flocking to the Mahdi army.

The article concludes:

"I am no fan of Moqtada al-Sadr but it is the Americans who are causing our suffering. Every day they kill innocent people. They should just leave our country. They promised democracy and freedom but all they have delivered is torture and abuse."

Homa Arjoman

Thanks to the several people who sent this article from The Star.

Had she stayed in Iran, Homa Arjomand would now be dead.

All — all — of the women's activists she worked with in Tehran have been executed, victims of a reactionary regime that ruled, and continues to rule, by strict adherence to Islam's sharia law.

In 1989, she and her husband paid $15,000 to smugglers to help them and their two young children flee the country.

For three days, they rode on horseback through the mountains, sleeping in barns before finally reaching Turkey.

Two years later, the onetime professor of medical physics arrived in Canada as a refugee. And how grateful she was to be in a secular country, where female equality was the law.

That was then.

Last fall, Arjomand, now a transitional counsellor in Toronto for immigrant women, heard the province had quietly approved the use of Islamic law in Ontario's Muslim community.

A group she'd never heard of, called the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice, had gained the right to hold tribunals, darul qada, in which marriage, family and business disputes can be settled according to sharia.

The 1,300-year-old body of laws and rules for living was inspired by the Qur'an, Islam's holy book.

Arjomand was horrified.

"The last thing I expected in Canada, the last thing I want, is sharia law," she says. "Women are not equal under it, therefore it is opposed to Canada's laws and values. The government can't let this happen."

Jihad Watch was temporarily off-line, ironically because the site was just upgraded to handle more data and bandwidth.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

In today's Dallas Morning News, by Andrew McCarthy:

For Islamic militants like Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, Osama bin Laden and those who follow them, jihad means killing the enemies of the militants – which is pretty much anyone who is not a militant. That sounds crazy to us – we're from a diverse, tolerant, live-and-let-live culture. But if we are going to appreciate the risk – the threat – we face, the reality is: It matters much less what we think about the militants than what they think about themselves.

Mort Kondracke mentions that

The decapitation of Nicholas Berg - which, it merits reminding, required several cuts of the knife to stop his screaming - was a front-page story for just one day. Only one newspaper that I know of, the Dallas Morning News, plus the Weekly Standard magazine, made the point that Berg's murder is "why we fight."

Don't mess with Texas.

From Channel 4's promotional material

The producers of this documentary spent a year working with Bradford Social Services and the troubled people they help. "These are the neighbours we don't want to know whose problems we don't want to see," said the producers. How right they were.

LONDON (Reuters) - A British television documentary which shows Asian men grooming under-age white girls for sex has been shelved because of fears it could incite racial violence ahead of elections, Channel 4 said Friday. The broadcaster said the decision to pull "Edge of the City" was taken after discussions with police.

Bradford, the northern city where the program was filmed, was rocked in 2001 by race riots between Asians and whites.

"The police feared that the timing of the broadcast would increase community tensions in Bradford...with the risk that it would lead to public disorder," the broadcaster said in a statement.

The program, which was to have been screened earlier this week, explores what it calls an explosion of child abuse whereby Asian men in the city have been targeting young girls for sex -- one as young as 11 -- by plying them with drugs.

The Muslim Political Affairs Committee (MPAC) is crowing:

Success: ‘Edge of the City’ Stopped

It was a last minute rush to get this biased documentary postponed, but we did it. MPACUK readers rushed to register their dismay at linking race with paedophiles; the police registered their concern by stating that it could cause racial tensions and MPAC contacted 5 MPs and a Lord to ask them to raise this with Channel 4. Here is MPAC’s story on what we did, who we talked to and the one guy who we got to. This is why lobbying works and why Muslims need to know their MPs.

Wait a minute. Didn't you guys forget to blame the so-called hatemongers who report verifiable facts backed up with documentary evidence? Oh -- never mind. You put that bit at the end.

This small success by the Grace of Allah, the hard work of the e-group and the personal interest shown by our Parliamentary representatives, show that when we do make an effort, we get results. And that is why we demand that the mosques actively lobby and teach their congregation the importance of politics. With Allah’s blessing and our deeds we can and will make a difference. If we all mobilize to the man, woman and child, then the BNP, Zionist, Islamophobes can all be beaten. The key is everyone participating.

Ironically the program also profiles Mathew, a repeat offender and "underprivileged white youth" who is assigned to Omar -- a British Muslim whose role is to keep him out of trouble.

Reuters explains how the law prohibits stirring up racial tension (even "inadvertently").

Local and European elections take place throughout Britain in June and broadcasters are duty-bound not to transmit material which is either intended to create racial hatred or which could inadvertently stir up racial tension.

In short, there are just some things one does not talk about. Sorry for the girls and all that, but we can't take a chance on upsetting people.

Background via the BBC on the 2001 riots:

"Segregation, albeit self-segregation, is an unacceptable basis for a harmonious community and it will lead to more serious problems if it is not tackled."

Europe, are you listening?

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. officials believe they have "rock solid" evidence that Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi (search), once a darling of the American government, passed secrets to Iran, Fox News has learned.

"There is no need for an investigation because we're quite certain he did it," one senior Bush administration official said.

The official first described the evidence against Chalabi as "pretty solid" and then characterized it as "rock solid."

U.S. officials won't describe the information Chalabi's alleged to have passed to Iran or how he's supposed to have obtained it, but they said he does not have the clearance to possess American classified information.

According to Reuters, however, this is not what yesterday's raid was all about.

An Iraqi judge, Hassan Muathin, said the raid was carried out under an arrest warrant for several men wanted for stealing state-owned vehicles, but Chalabi accused U.S.-led authorities running Iraq of a "targeted attack" against him.

Squads of soldiers and police sealed off the neighborhood around the headquarters of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) and a nearby house used by Chalabi, removing computers, files, a copy of the Koran and other personal items, Chalabi said.

UPDATE: Michael Rubin of the American Enterpise Institute sees it this way:

On May 20, U.S. forces raided the home and office of Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi. At a press conference following the operation, Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) spokesman Dan Senor told assembled journalists that U.S. forces did not participate. To be kind, Senor appeared to misspeak. There was a non-Iraqi American citizen in Chalabi's house at the time of the raid. As armed men pointed guns at Chalabi's head, the U.S. citizen demanded to know who was in charge. A number of heavily armed Americans (judging by language and accent) in civilian clothes, upon learning of the presence of a non-Iraqi witness, scurried outside and waited in U.S. military humvees while Iraqis searched Chalabi's house.

Those conducting the raid stole a Chalabi family Koran, smashed a portrait of Chalabi's father, and destroyed computers and family heirlooms. Chalabi's name did not appear on the warrant they presented. Iraqi police conducting the raid under American supervision sheepishly apologized in Arabic; they did not know they were to target Chalabi.

Iraqis--fans and foes of Chalabi alike--saw the raid as another sign of the contempt the CPA shows for ordinary Iraqis. By sending forces to break into Chalabi's house and then by holding a Governing Council member at gunpoint, Bremer sought to humiliate Chalabi. Bremer has not learned from the Abu Ghraib scandal. Humiliation backfires.

Simultaneously, the inside-the-beltway rumor mongering made clear both the irrational contempt and ignorance that many professional pundits feel for any proponent of Arab democracy. Those academics, pundits, and commentators who have never met Chalabi reserve for him the greatest vitriol.

And, via LGF, Michael Ledeen, also of the American Enterprise Institute, spells it out further:

Yet the State Department's and the CIA's Middle East gangs have hated him and fought him for more than a decade, because he is independent and while he is happy to work with them, he will not work for them.

If we can't take a picture of Aunt Mabel on the D train ("ummm, how did we wind up at Coney Island?"), the terrorists win.

The New York Daily News on proposed new regulations to help deter terrorism in the subways:

Smiling will still be allowed on the subways, but - sorry, tourists - taking pictures may soon be banned.

Transit officials, at the request of police, yesterday proposed prohibiting photography and videotaping in the subway system and on buses - hoping to thwart terrorists from gathering information for an attack.

There are various other rules proposed, such as no walking between cars (I committed that particular crime quite often back when I lived in Gotham City); no shoes on the seats, and no jumping the turnstile even if you have a valid fare card that malfunctions.

NYPD Transportation Police Chief Michael Scagnelli said police would use discretion in issuing summonses to shutterbugs. But violators could be questioned and subjected to background checks, he said, and have their film confiscated.

New York officials were recently planning for possible subway terrorism in a four-hour drill, coordinated by the Office of Emergency Management and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

NEW YORK (AP) _ City officials staged a mock explosion in a lower Manhattan subway station early Sunday May 16, simulating an incident with 200 injured and 40 killed to test protocols and communications among emergency personnel from multiple agencies.

More info on the arrests on Tuesday.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces in Iraq are holding two people suspected of possible involvement in the kidnap and beheading of American Nicholas Berg earlier this month, the U.S. military said on Friday. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, a spokesman for the forces, told a news conference four people had been detained in a raid in Baghdad two days ago and two had subsequently been released. Of the other two, he said: "We may find out that they have no association with the murder."

AP spoke to an anonymous Iraqi official who said the group that killed Berg was led by a relative of Saddam Hussein.

The group that was involved in the killing of Berg was led by Yasser al-Sabawi, a nephew of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi security official said. He said American intelligence had asked Iraqi authorities to hand over the suspects, but they were still in Iraqi hands.

Al-Sabawi was not among those arrested, the Iraqi official said.

Charles Martel receives a messenger

France is deeply conflicted over its rush to dhimmitude.

PARIS (AP) - France deported an Islamic mosque leader Thursday who was accused of leading a group that advocates terrorism, the Interior Ministry said.

The expulsion of Midhat Guler is part of a growing French crackdown against radical Muslim clerics.

Guler, a Turkish national, was taken out of France by plane, but the ministry did not indicate what the destination was.

"This expulsion is motivated by the threat that this person represented to the public order," the ministry said in a statement. "Mr. Guler is in fact a leader in France of a Turkish Islamic extremist movement called 'Kaplan' that preaches use of violence and terrorism."

The ministry statement was an apparent reference to a group that calls for establishing an Islamic state in Turkey as a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists.

Guler, 45, was the leader of a mosque near the Bastille area of eastern Paris, the ministry said. He has lived in France for 28 years and has five children.

The French government has pledged to deport those who preach Islamic fundamentalism. But it suffered an embarrassment last month when it expelled an Algerian Muslim prayer leader, Abdelkader Bouziane, who condoned wife-beating and allegedly made calls to violence. Days after Bouziane was put on a plane to Algiers, a court ruled the deportation was unwarranted and said he could return to France.

Bouziane, 52, an imam at a mosque in Venissieux, a suburb of the southeastern city of Lyon, has said he plans to return to France.

Scotsman.com reports on claims by terror suspect Jack Roche to have had lunch with Bin Laden in March 2000. (Thanks to Jean-Luc.)

“Yeah a very nice man ... I would rather meet him than George Bush I can tell you,” he told the reporter. “He is a very nice man, but I only met him for a short time ... just outside Kandahar.”

Roche told the reporter he sat down to start eating, “and I looked across and I said ‘whoah – that’s like the bloke on the telly.”’

Prosecutors say Roche was in Afghanistan to undergo explosives training with al-Qaida.

Roche, a convert to Islam said,

“If someone punches you, you are allowed to punch them back. I am very concerned about my brothers and sisters of Islam who are being punched by these people,” Roche said during the interview.

Time reports that the FBI has sent a bulletin to law enforcement agencies, warning that individual suicide bombers may attempt to strike inside the United States.

Law enforcement professionals should be on the alert for "people wearing heavy, bulky jackets on warm days, smelling of chemicals, trailing wires from their jackets" and should know that "suicide bombers may disguise themselves in stolen military, police or firefighter's garb, or even as pregnant women."

Note the last paragraph:

In fact, U.S. analysts are at a loss to explain why the homeland has thus far escaped such attacks, since a number of extremist groups, particularly Hamas, have a sizeable presence here. One factor, officials say, is that terror leaders still regard America as a cash cow, and don't want to antagonize moderate Muslim donors. Another reason, says one specialist, may simply be that while there seems to be an endless supply of fanatical youths willing to die for the cause in the Middle East, most of them simply can't get visas to the U.S.

As I have recently pointed out, there is No Margin For Error In the Terror War.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A lawyer who had been arrested two weeks ago in connection with the terror attacks in Spain was set free Thursday after evidence pointed to another suspect in the deadly bombings.

A debate by Intelligence Squared, the London Forum for live debate.

Speakers for the motion:

• Amir Taheri, born in Iran and educated in Tehran, London and Paris; author of "Holy
  Terror"


• Raphael Israeli, a Professor of Islamic, Middle Eastern and Chinese history at Hebrew
  University in Jerusalem.


• David Pryce-Jones , the Senior Editor of the National Review and author of “The
  Closed Circle: An Interpretation of the Arabs” [as well as the author of the Foreword to Robert Spencer's Islam Unveiled]

• Andrew Wheatcroft , Director of the Centre for Publishing Studies at the University of
  Stirling, Scotland and the author of “Infidels: a history of the conflict between
  Christendom and Islam”


• Professor John Esposito, Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic
  Studies at Georgetown University author of numerous books about Islam


• Sarah Joseph, the Editor of EMEL magazine, a lifestyle magazine with a Muslim focus.

Some of Taheri's remarks:

This debate is not easy.

For Islam has become an issue of political controversy in the West.

On the one hand we have Islamophobia, a particular affliction of those who blame Islam for all the ills of our world.

The more thin skinned Muslims have ended up on regarding every criticism of Islam as Islamophobia.

On the other hand we have Islamoflattery that claims that everything good under the sun came from Islam. ( According to a recent PBS serial on Islam, even cinema was invented by a lens-maker in Baghdad, named Abu-Hufus!)

This is often practised by a new generation of the Turques de profession, Westerners who are prepared to apply the rules of critical analysis to everything under the sun except Islam.

They think they are doing Islam a favour.

The opposite is true.

Depriving Islam of critical scrutiny is bad for Islam and Muslims, and ultimately dangerous for the whole world.

The whole thing is well worth reading. He concludes:

Muslims can build democratic society provided they treat Islam as a matter of personal, private belief and not as a political ideology that seeks to monopolise the pubic space and regulate every aspect of individual and community life.

Ladies and gentlemen: Islam is incompatible with democracy.

The motion was carried by 403 votes for, 267 against. 28 were undecided.

Other spins: "Bush Seeks to Rally GOP Around Iraq Plan" (later headline from AP); "Bush Rallies Worried Republicans on Capitol Hill" (Reuters).

This rare meeting seems to be becoming an annual event.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush sought to rally Republican lawmakers around his Iraq plan Thursday, saying Iraqis are ready to "take the training wheels off" by assuming some political power, but warning that violence is likely to worsen as that transfer approaches.

The president made a rare visit to Capitol Hill as lawmakers prepare to head to their home states for the Memorial Day recess.

"This has been a rough couple of months for the president, particularly on the issues of Iraq, and I think he was here to remind folks that we do have a policy and this policy is going to be tough," said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. "Things, as I think he commented, are very likely to get worse before they get better."

But later

It was the second year in a row that Bush met behind closed doors exclusively with his fellow Republicans just ahead of the congressional Memorial Day break. The stakes were especially high this year: Bush and most lawmakers face re-election, and Iraq is still plagued by chaos and violence six weeks before the United States cedes some power to Iraqis.

Somalis have been trying to cope without a government since 1991 (BBC)

Dhimitude refers to the status of non-Muslims under Islam. Muslim women aren't dhimmis.

On the other hand, I often get questions about female circumcision, so this seems as good a place as any to set the record straight Allow me to quote from an excellent book:

"The barbarity of female circumcision is practiced within the House of Islam as well as by some Third World non-Muslims." (Islam Unveiled, p.87).

Most Muslim societies do not practice female circumcision, but it is practiced in Egypt, Ethiopia, and other parts of Africa. While many say that there is nothing in Islam which requires female circumcision, one of Sunni Islam’s “Four Great Imams,” Ahmad ibn Hanbal (from whom the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence takes its name) quotes Muhammed as saying “Circumcision is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women.”

Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi of Egypt’s Al-Azhar Universitycalled circumcision “a laudable practice that did honor to women.”

From The Guardian:

A maternity hospital in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, has been forced to close after a doctor who removed a woman's womb in a life-saving operation received death threats from her family.

The doctor insists the surgery was essential, but her family says she is "as good as dead" because she can no longer bear children.

Members of the family, who are reportedly claiming compensation of 50 camels, hired gunmen to threaten staff at the city's SOS hospital.

Patients were evacuated and medical workers went on strike on Monday, complaining of intimidation by the 20 or so hired gunmen, who have been prowling the hospital grounds and harassing staff.

The hospital is the only free medical facility in Mogadishu.

The woman's uterus was removed by Bashir Sheikh, head of obstetrics and gynaecology at the hospital. He said the operation was vital because the woman was carrying a dead foetus.

"I was waiting to be thanked, but instead I am receiving death threats," he told the BBC.

The cause of the foetus's death was not known, but the most likely cause of complications was that that the mother had been circumcised. During female circumcision in Somalia, the vagina is sewn together to leave a tiny aperture, causing internal damage and prolonging childbirth for up to 10 days.

Babies frequently suffocate during labour.

Dr Sheikh has complained in the past that female circumcision "is a very bad practice, and against our religion".

He said: "We have had women spending from three days to seven days in labour. Ten days is also normal. At that time the child can suffer asphyxia."

Elders, religious leaders and women's groups have been calling on the family to withdraw the militiamen, but they say they will back down only if they get the 50 camels - the traditional Somali compensation for taking a woman's life.

Ach so! Intelligent intelligence from Deutschland:

Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BFV), one of three national intelligence services in Germany that is charged with gathering information on domestic as well as foreign extremist and terror groups active on home soil, stressed on Monday that Islamic terrorism posed the biggest security threat in Germany.

Presenting the annual domestic security report 2003 in Berlin, German Interior Minister Otto Schily said, "Unfortunately we still face diverse dangers in Germany of which Islamic terrorism and Islamic extremism form the focal point."

Schily added that recent terrorist attacks such as the ones in Madrid in March this year that killed almost 200 people targeted so-called soft targets worldwide.

"We can't assume that Germany lies outside the reach of such targets," Schily warned, saying that in the eyes of Islamic terrorists Germany counted as an ally of the United States and Israel and was also actively involved in the war against terrorism through its peacekeeping deployment in Afghanistan.

Many thanks to all who sent variations on this story. Although Dumont used a forged passport, the 90 day visa reiterates the importance of Daniel Pipes' observations, Europe's Threat to the West.

TOKYO (Kyodo News) — A senior member of the al-Qaida terrorist network repeatedly entered Japan on 90-day visas with a forged French passport in 2002 and 2003 to hide out in the city of Niigata for about a year, and had telephone conversations with a senior British member of the network during his stay, investigative sources said Wednesday.

Lionel Dumont, 33, who was arrested in Germany last December, entered Japan from Singapore on July 17, 2002. He left Oct 5 that year just before his visa was to expire but then reentered Japan 11 days later with a new visa. He repeated this two more times until his final departure last September.

AP reports also that he attempted to organize a terrorist cell (Report: al-Qaida Member Had Japan Base ) and UPI provides further details:

Dumont was arrested in Germany last December. He had been sought by Interpol in connection with an attempted terrorist bombing related to the Group of Seven economic summit in Lyon, France in June 1996.

Japanese authorities apparently are shocked by the fact that Dumont, 33, repeatedly shuttled between Japan and abroad, and remained in contact with foreign nationals in Japan after leaving the country in September, 2003.

Police found records of phone calls from Dumont to Pakistanis and Iranians resident in Japan, Yomiuri Shimbun reported. They are concerned he may have been raising money and forming a terrorist network in Japan.

I have had little to say about the 9/11 commission's road show in New York. The idea of investigating what we could have done better in the past to know what we must do better in the future is a good one in theory, but I don't see it happening here.

Giuliani puts it well:

NEW YORK (AP) - Giuliani said the briefings he received from federal officials indicated that New York's bridges, tunnels and subways were more likely targets.

"I do think the interpretation would have been more in the direction of suicide bombings than aerial attacks," Giuliani said one day after his top commissioners were grilled over their Sept. 11 response.

Above all,

"Our enemy is not each other, but the terrorists who attacked us," Giuliani said. The mayor acknowledged there were "terrible mistakes" made on Sept. 11, but attributed that to the unprecedented circumstances.

"The blame should clearly be directed at one source and one source alone, the terrorists who killed our loved ones," Giuliani said as family members broke into applause.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The top intelligence official at the Homeland Security Department, worried about an increased risk of attack in coming months, says al-Qaida wants to strike on U.S. soil with something other than a conventional explosive - perhaps with a chemical or biological weapon.

Hughes is able to see the big picture— and that is why he worries.

Hughes ticks off a list of terrorist attacks that began in the 1990s - Khobar Towers, the African embassy bombings, the USS Cole, bombings in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and 9/11 - and worries that terrorists are able to show much patience.

"If the past is indeed prologue, then we are going to screw up, or they are going to get lucky," Hughes said. "I can't sleep."

Tests on an artillery shell that blew up in Iraq on Saturday confirm that it did contain an estimated three or four liters of the deadly nerve agent sarin, Defense Department officials told Fox News Tuesday. The artillery shell was being used as an improvised roadside bomb, the U.S. military said Monday. The 155-mm shell exploded before it could be rendered inoperable, and two U.S. soldiers were treated for minor exposure to the nerve agent.

James Taranto has more on the spin at the New York Times and elsewhere.

At first, I was dubious when I saw this story from the Toronto Star. But then everything fell into place.

Readings have traditionally been decorous events. Now they may call for security guards.

On Sunday at the Indigo Books store in Kitchener, a discussion of a novel by Howard Rotberg was stopped after two men identifying themselves as an Iraqi Kurd and Palestinian started shouting abuse at the first-time author.

"I was talking about my book, which is called The Second Catastrophe, and they started to make anti-Israel and anti-American speeches," Rotberg recalled yesterday. "We hadn't gotten to the question period yet. They just took over and I was unable to continue. Then I heard the Kurdish man refer to me as a `f---ing Jew.

"I shouted back that I would not be called a f---ing Jew during my lecture. You bet I was upset. My aunt and grandparents died in Auschwitz."

It seems that objecting to being insulted makes a situation that is "inappropriate" on both sides. Hmmmm. Like the "cycle of violence" in the Middle East?

Police arrived but declined to charge the hecklers. Indigo spokesperson Sorya Gaulin said that while an author who'll draw a big crowd warrants security guards, "You wouldn't expect this behaviour at a discussion of a novel. The author's behaviour was inappropriate — we were seeing (that) on both sides."

And it turns out that Irshad Manji got similar treatment.

It was not the first disruptive heckler at the Kitchener store. Sheila Kay, deputy director of publicity at Random House Canada, says her company presented The Trouble With Islam by Irshad Manji there in December. "A young man in army fatigues and a sign on his chest saying 'Free Kurdistan' interjected that this was just a big publisher making money on a topic they knew nothing about."

So far, only Sky News has this. Assiduous searches elsewhere turned up only a BREAKING NEWS alert about actor Tony Randall's death.

More details when available.

UPDATE: According to AFP, none of the four included Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, who US authorities believe carried out the killing.

Four people have been arrested over the beheading of American Nicholas Berg, Iraq sources say.

The 26-year-old businessman's decapitated body was found 10 days ago in Baghdad.

UPDATE: AFP has more.

Thanks to Nicolei for this piece from Reuters.

QUETTA, Pakistan, May 16 (Reuters) - A Pentecostal preacher was feared kidnapped in Pakistan on Sunday, apparently by an unknown Islamic militant group after he disappeared in the southwestern city of Quetta, his friends and family said.

Wilson Fazal, a Pakistani Christian cleric at a local city church, had been receiving threatening letters from an unknown group of Islamists urging him to convert to Islam or face unspecified consequences, his son Jerry told Reuters.

Jerry said the latest hand-written letter was delivered to their house five days ago asking Wilson to stop preaching Christianity. The letter was apparently sent by a group calling itself Mahaz-e-Jihad, or "Frontier of the Holy War."

"Get ready, ready, ready, or else...," said the letter which had a hand-drawn rifle for a signature at the bottom.

But Reuters is quick to make sure that blame is not placed on Islamic militants. It's our fault, of course, for making them angry.

There are about eight million Christians who comprise a small minority in mainly Muslim Pakistan. Some have been targeted by Islamic militants angered by the U.S.-led "war on terror".

So often the response to calls to take the jihadist threat seriously consists of three epithets: "Hatemonger! Islamophobe! Racist!"

That last one always gets me. What race are Muslims?

Read Daniel Pipes on the Europe's Threat to the West.

Looks as if somebody has found Saddam's WMD's. From AP, with thanks to JJP Mackie:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A roadside bomb containing deadly sarin nerve agent exploded near a U.S. military convoy, the U.S. military said Monday. It was believed to be the first confirmed finding of any of the banned weapons upon which the United States based its case for the Iraq war.

Suicide bombers Asif Hanif and Omar Khan Sharif pose with the Qur'an

What's in the Dag Bag? Not the Qur'an: Dagestan has banned the Russian version of the book of peace. There was a similar initiative to ban the Qur'an in Calcutta in the 1960s, on the grounds that it was an incitement to violence. The great Indian scholar Sita Ram Goel wrote a classic book about it, The Calcutta Quran Petition.

From IslamOnline, with thanks to Mentat:

DAGESTAN, May 17 (IslamOnline.net) - The religious administration of the Muslims of Dagestan, a republic of the Russian Federation, has decided to ban circulation of the Russian versions of the holy Qur'an as well as a number of Islamic books published in Russian, under the pretext of "fighting terrorist and fanatic ideas" these books are alleged to promote.

In a statement, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net Sunday May 16, the religious administration of the Muslims in Dagestan said that it has decided to ban all Russian versions of the holy Qur'an and books of prophetic Sunna (Tradition) as well as some Islamic books that are available in different parts of the Russian Federation .

It is worth noting that versions of the Qur'an have only been previously banned in Dagestan during the Communist regime in Russia between 1923 and 1991.

In its statement published also in al-Salam monthly newspaper, the religious administration reiterated that the decision was due to its keenness on "fighting terrorist and fanatic ideas," in reference to the Wahabbi beliefs adopted by several Islamic schools and movements in Dagestan.

Dagestan Wahabbis call for setting up an Islamic State. They are supporters of Chechen fighters in the war currently underway against the Russian troops.

According to a 2002 report made by the research center of the governmental Dagestan University, Wahabbi followers in Dagestan represent 3% of the total Muslim population, who, in turn, represent 84% of the two-million total population of Dagestan.

Wahabbi movements appeared in Dagestan between 1980-1985. The "United Islamic Socialist Party," led by Ahmed Qadhi Ahtayev is one of the greatest Wahabbi movements and it has several offices in south Dagestan .

The number of religious schools teaching Wahabbi ideas are 14, including two in the Dagestani capital "Makhg el-Qalaa."

UPDATE: Some people have commented well here on the fact that only the Russian version was banned. I respectfully disagree that this is a move toward Wahhabism, although that may indeed turn out to be the case. I tend to think that restriction of Russian editions in a place like Dagestan will only decrease ready understanding of the text — and rapid dissemination of the text's message. Few Muslims there can be as fluent in Arabic as they would be in a place where they speak it every day — although modern spoken Arabic differs considerably from Qur'anic Arabic in any case. Still and all, although time will tell about this measure, it is absolutely correct that it isn't enough if its intention is to cut off violent fanaticism at its roots.

It appears that Lebanese Christians, not Muslims, were responsible for the firebombing of the Jewish school in Montreal. I am in extensive daily contact with Lebanese Christians, and they are a deeply divided community. Many manifest the dhimmi mentality, subscribing completely to the jihadist agenda, with all its anti-Semitism and fanaticism.

This is a consequence in part of the Arab Nationalist movement, which was ostensibly secular and fostered by many Arab Christians as a result; they thought it would ensure them a place in the Middle East. But from its beginnings, secular Arab Nationalism suffered from severe contradictions because of the close identification of Islam with the Arab nation. Consider the case of the founder of the Ba'ath Party, Michel Aflaq. Aflaq was an Orthodox Christian, but he 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).

Aware of this, and also aware that the Islamic Sharia called for by Islamic radical groups would subjugate them as second-class dhimmis no less than it would the Jews of Israel, many other Lebanese Christians reject any common cause with Islam. But it seems as if these young men are in the former camp.

From the Globe and Mail, with thanks to Mentat:

MONTREAL -- Two 18-year-olds charged with firebombing a Jewish elementary school in Montreal will appear in court today for a bail hearing, where more details of the allegations against them are expected to be made public.

On the weekend, Simon Zogheib and Sleiman Elmerhebi were arraigned on charges of arson and conspiracy related to the Passover attack on United Talmud Torah school. They pleaded not guilty.

Rouba Elmerhebi Fahd, 36, and the mother of one of the suspects, was charged with being an accessory after the fact. She also pleaded not guilty. ...

The arrests were greeted with a sense of relief, particularly in Montreal's Jewish community. But they also left observers perplexed for a number of reasons.

First, while the suspects face serious charges, they have not been charged with hate crimes. The April 5 firebombing, which destroyed the school's library and was the worst of a series of attacks on Jewish institutions across Canada, drew wide condemnation as a hate crime, from the Prime Minister on down.

The attack on the school was not the work of a loner, but of an organized group. However, the young men implicated do not seem to have links to any established terrorist group and do not have criminal records.

Notes taped to the front of the school linked the arson to Israel's killing of Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin. "Here is the consequence of your crimes and your occupation," the message read. This led many to believe the firebombing was the work of Palestinian or Muslim extremists.

The people charged all live in the middle class Montreal suburb of St. Laurent, not far from the Talmud Torah elementary school. The suspects are of Lebanese origin but, according to neighbours, they are Christian, not Muslim.

Mr. Zogheib lives near Saint-Hippolyte Church, which he is said to attend regularly.

AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The head of the Iraqi Governing Council was killed in a suicide car bombing near a checkpoint outside the coalition headquarters in central Baghdad on Monday, dealing a blow to U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq ahead of a handover of sovereignty on June 30.

Abdel-Zahraa Othman, also known as Izzadine Saleem, was the second and highest-ranking member of the U.S.-appointed council to be assassinated. He was among nine Iraqis, including the bomber, who were killed, Iraqi officials said.

"Days like today convince us even more so that the transfer must stay on track," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, speaking on CNN.

The Telegraph, :

More than 200 Islamic students threw stones and tried to storm the British embassy compound in Teheran yesterday in protest over Iraq. Iranian students burn the Union Flag outside the British embassy in Teheran The crowd, which chanted "Death to America, death to Britain and death to Israel", was quickly dispersed by riot police but its leaders vowed to be back.

The grandfather of all modern Islamic terrorist groups, the Muslim Brotherhood, is in hot water yet again in Egypt. From AP, :

Police arrested 54 members of Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood early Sunday in an ongoing crackdown against the organization, officials said.

The Brotherhood said "about 55" people had been arrested. A leading member of the group said police told the men they were being detained for belonging to an illegal group, said Ali Abdel-Fattah.

A statement from the group said the dawn raids were "a surprise escalation, against all expectations and (in line) with the fierce American and Israeli campaign against the Arab region, which requires solidarity between the regimes and all political forces," with the Brotherhood at the forefront

Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah

Despite resistance from hardline Muslims, Kuwaiti women may get the vote. From Reuters, with thanks to Miriam:

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's cabinet approved a draft law Sunday allowing women to vote and run in parliamentary polls, moving them a step closer to full political rights they have sought for decades in the conservative Gulf Arab state.

The draft needs parliament's approval to pass into law. A decree issued by Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah giving women the vote was narrowly defeated in the 50-man house in 1999 by an alliance of Islamist and conservative tribal MPs.

Kuwaiti women have been fighting for suffrage for more than 40 years, only to be blocked by Islamists and male politicians.

"The council (of ministers) decided to approve the draft law and transfer it to the Emir, God protect him, in order to transfer it to the National Assembly," a cabinet statement said. ...

Leading women's rights activist, Dr. Fatima al-Abdali, welcomed the news, adding that the issue of refusing women the vote was "sabotaging Kuwait's image internationally."

Islamist and conservative MPs, who wield great influence in parliament, are opposed to Western influences and may prove to be a stumbling block in the face of the new draft.

"I'm hopeful," Abdali said. "If this bill is serious and is not just a fight between the Islamist bloc and the democratic bloc, I think women can quickly gain everyone's confidence."

PROGRESS ACROSS THE REGION

Regarded by some as among the most emancipated in the conservative Muslim region, Kuwaiti women have had to sit back and watch their sisters in other Gulf states -- such as Qatar, Bahrain and Oman -- make modest progress.

Kuwaiti women serve as diplomats, run businesses and help steer the vital oil industry in the country of 900,000 citizens.

They constitute up to 70 percent of college graduates in Kuwait, but account for less than five percent of the country's decision makers. Some have moved up to mid-level public ranks, but none holds a top post such as government minister.

Signs of change came last October when the government approved allowing women to stand for office and vote in municipal council elections, a move observers hailed then as a first step toward granting women greater political rights.

From CNN, with thanks to JJP Mackie:

(CNN) -- The Arabic language news network Al Jazeera aired pictures Sunday of what it said were two Russian electrical workers taken hostage last week by an Islamic group in Dura, south of Baghdad.

A statement from a group referring to itself as Jaish al-Tifa al-Mansoura -- the Army of the Victorious Sect -- said it was holding the men and called on countries participating in "this criminal act," presumably the war in Iraq, to withdraw their citizens "before it's too late." ...

"We are showing the whole world our prisoners' pictures and how the Muslim mujahedeen are treating them," the previously unknown group said in the statement, which accompanied the tape.

"We have decided to punish America and its followers, and we'll destroy the crusaders' imperial dream," the statement continued.

The men were working for the electric power consortium Inter Energo Servis when their vehicle was ambushed south of Baghdad. Another IES worker was killed in the attack, a company spokesman said.

Khamenei's man

Also, rumblings from Tehran. From AP, with thanks to JJP Mackie:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr drove Italian forces from a base in the southern city of Nasiriyah on Sunday and attacked coalition headquarters there with grenade and mortar fire as tensions in the Shiite region escalated.

Two U.S. soldiers died elsewhere, and gunmen killed three Iraqi women working for the U.S. led-coalition. Amid the ongoing violence, the United States is looking to move some of its 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to bolster forces in Iraq, South Korean and U.S. officials said.

Two Iraqi fighters were killed and 20 were wounded in battles in Nasiriyah, mostly at two bridges across the Euphrates, residents said.

The Italian troops evacuated their base as it came under repeated attack. Portuguese police were called out to support the Italians, their first action since the force of 128 deployed to Nasiriyah in November, a Portuguese duty officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

At least 10 Italians were wounded, one critically, contingent spokesman Lt. Col. Giuseppe Perrone told The Associated Press by phone. He said the Italians relocated to the nearby Tallil air base.

Also in Nasiriyah, a convoy transporting the Italian official in charge of the city, Barbara Contini, came under attack as it neared the headquarters of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, Perrone said. Two Italian paramilitary police were wounded. ...

Apparent gunfire slightly damaged one of Shia Islam's holiest shrines in Najaf on Friday, prompting calls for revenge against the Americans and even suicide attacks against the coalition.

The U.S. military has said al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army was probably responsible, but Iran's supreme leader on Sunday accused the United States of damaging the shrine through "shameless" and "foolish" actions.

"Muslims can't tolerate the shameless incursion of American forces into sacred places," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Two U.S. tanks were stationed Sunday in a main square in Najaf, while militiamen held positions in the cemetery and other areas.

Several mosque imams from Fallujah, a Sunni stronghold west of Baghdad that was the site of heavy fighting last month, visited al-Sadr in Najaf to show solidarity. The siege of Fallujah by U.S. Marines ended when the coalition allowed an Iraqi force led by former officers in Saddam Hussein's army to take over security in the city.

Mohammed Al-Hindi

From Haaretz, :

Israel Air Force missiles struck targets in Gaza City early Sunday, hitting a building housing the offices of the political branch of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah group and another belonging to a pro-Hamas newspaper, witnesses reported.

Nobody was inside either office at the time of the air strikes, although several bystanders, including two children, were wounded in the attack on Fatah's office.

Fatah's secretary-general in the Gaza Strip, Ahmed Halless, said the site was a cultural center that offered social and educational programs to local families.

"Israel should understand that aggression will not bring peace. Violence will bring more violence," he said.

Sure, Halless. But that cuts both ways, doesn't it?

The second strike hit the office of al-Resala, a weekly newspaper that supports Hamas.

The IDF described the targets as "focal points of terrorist activity," saying that the Fatah building was used by its military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The military also claimed that the Hamas newspaper was used for incitement purposes and to pass messages between the group's leadership.

On Saturday, the IAF launched two missile strikes in the Gaza Strip, hitting Islamic Jihad targets and wounding 12 people. The IDF denied Palestinian claims that the attacks were an abortive attempt to assassinate Jihad leader Mohammed al-Hindi.

Jack Roche (ABC Television News)

Another convert who somehow missed the Qur'an's counsels of peace and tolerance. From Breakingnews.ie, :

A British-born Muslim convert was recruited by al-Qaida for a plan to blow up the Israeli embassy in Canberra with a lorry bomb, prosecutors said today on the opening day of the man’s trial.

Jack Roche (aged 50) was told by senior officials in Osama bin Laden’s terror network to form a terror cell in Australia to carry out the plot, prosecutor Ron Davies told Perth District Court. The bombing was never carried out.

Roche has pleaded not guilty to one charge of conspiring to damage the Israeli embassy by means of explosives, and as a consequence harm diplomatic staff. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years if convicted.

Prosecutors told the jury Roche travelled to Afghanistan to meet with senior figures from the terrorist organisation – including bin Laden – in March 2000.

A Buddhist Temple in Thailand

Maybe it was homework. From Reuters, with thanks to DC Watson:

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Bomb blasts rocked three Buddhist temples in Thailand's troubled Muslim south Sunday, wounding at least one person in the latest violence to hit the restive region, police said.

The temples, located in three separate districts of Narathiwat province, were hit by bombs within minutes of each other. One temple suffered damage to its roof and pillars.

"Three temples were attacked with explosives," said Police Major General Kathane Kochapalayuk. A bystander was slightly wounded outside one temple.

Authorities declined to speculate on the motive for the attacks, the first major incident in the region since security forces killed 108 Muslim militants who attacked police outposts across three southern provinces on April 28.

Some in Turkey evidently oppose the "moderate, secular values" Blair has come to praise. From Reuters, with thanks to Nicolei:

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Four small bombs exploded outside branches of British bank HSBC in the Turkish cities of Ankara and Istanbul on Sunday night, hours before British Prime Minister Tony Blair was set to visit Turkey.

Police and local media said the blasts caused minor damage and no casualties.

The bank has been targeted before. Its main Istanbul office was one of four British and Jewish targets bombed in Istanbul in November, attacks which killed 61 people.

A police official said one percussion bomb, believed to have been placed under a car, smashed windows of a bank branch in the capital Ankara when it exploded around 10:30 pm (3:30 p.m. EDT).

There was also an explosion in front of another branch in the city, he said.

State-run Anatolian news agency said there were two similar blasts outside two HSBC branches on the Asian side of the country's commercial hub Istanbul around 10 pm, which were also caused by percussion bombs and caused some damage.

Percussion bombs, often used by militant groups in attacks in Turkey, generally produce a loud bang but little damage.

Television pictures showed slight damage to the wall of one of the banks, which had been cordoned off as police officers inspected the area for evidence.

November's devastating bombs, whose victims included British consul Roger Short, have been blamed on a Turkish Islamist group linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Far-leftist and Kurdish militant groups have also carried out bombings in Turkey in the past. Istanbul is scheduled to host a NATO summit in late June.

Blair was expected to pledge his support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union and to discuss turmoil in neighboring Iraq during his six-hour visit to the capital Ankara.

He will be the first British leader to visit Ankara since Margaret Thatcher 16 years ago and is expected to praise Turkey's political reforms and stress its importance as a moderate Muslim country espousing democratic, secular values.

Thamarak Isarangura

Just as Pakistan's schools are laboratories of jihad, so also in Thailand. From the Independent, with thanks to Nicolei:

Hidden a few kilometres down a remote country lane in the heart of Thailand's troubled deep south - where a Muslim separatist uprising has left more than 200 dead this year - is the multi-million-dollar new campus of the Yala Islamic College.

With more than a dozen Arab teachers from across the Middle East and a seemingly endless flow of funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, Yala has become the most obvious manifestation of what critics here say is an "Arab threat" to the traditionally moderate and tolerant local Islamic tradition. It was first brought home in 2002 when two dozen Middle Eastern suspects were arrested in the south for forging travel documents, visas and passports for al-Qa'ida operatives.

How did the teachers at Yala make inroads into the "moderate and tolerant local Islamic tradition"? Well, it's a school, after all. They taught a "purer form of Islam" (see below) from the Qur'an and Sunnah, showing through them that moderation and tolerance were not as Islamic as Thai Muslims may have assumed.

The south's largely unregistered Islamic schools - which offer religious education, a regular curriculum and training in Arabic and the local Yawi dialect - are accused by the government of being breeding grounds for radical separatists. The Islamic faith in Thailand, like Buddhism, has always been seen as being integrated with many other beliefs and practices, but the foreign-returned Muslims are insisting on a "purer" form of Islam.

After all, it was the teachers themselves leading the jihad:

A number of the Muslim separatists killed on 28 April, when more than 100 Islamists were gunned down on their motorbikes by soldiers acting on a tip off about a planned series of raids on army posts across the south, taught at local Islamic schools. Radical Thai Muslims have also targeted government-run secular schools, with nearly 100 this year alone being burned to the ground.

Last week a Bangkok court issued an arrest warrant for a Muslim teacher accused of organising the worst separatist attacks - proof, say critics, that many Muslim Thai teachers who went overseas to Islamic schools must have come under the influence of hardliners.

The Buddhist minority in the south are circulating pamphlets detailing alleged local Muslim extremism, saying it poses an unprecedented threat both to their religion and the state. One senior Thai government official in Pattani said that he was aware of the first signs of "ethnic cleansing" in Narathiwat, one of the south's Muslim-majority provinces. "Some Thai Buddhist families have been told to leave under the threat of violence," he said on condition he not be further identified.

The Deputy Prime Minister, General Thamarak Isarangura, has said the Thai government believes there are military training sites in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt where Thai Muslim separatists are trained to execute terror attacks. More than 160 Thai Muslims students are enrolled in Islamic institutions in Saudi Arabia, and 1,500 in Egypt.

Yala Islamic College is run by Dr Ismail Lutfi, a Thai graduate of the hardline Wahhabi Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has an estimated 8,000 followers in key Islamic posts throughout the south, and the 1,500 students at the college are taught a hardcore Wahhabi interpretation of Islamic law in the Arabic language.

Lutfi knows how to tell Western journalists what they want to hear; however, it is left unclear whether he considers jihad in Thailand to be violence and extremism at all:

"I am against violence and I am against extremism," Dr Lutfi said in flawless Arabic in an interview at the college this week. "However, I do not consider telling the local Muslims that they should go to the mosque and pray five times a day extremism," he added.

Hamidou Laanigri

New signs of increased activity from an emerging jihadist base in Morocco -- leading to frustration with Europe's lax anti-terror laws. From the New York Times, with thanks to Nicolei:

Morocco has been among the West's closest Arab allies and has long been instrumental in pursuing Arab-Israeli reconciliation. Although Moroccan and European officials now agree that there is a new Moroccan threat, they disagree over its nature and origin -- and how to contain it.

One problem is simply identifying major Moroccan terrorists. Two months after the Madrid train bombings, Spanish investigators believe that its mastermind may still be at large.

The French and Belgian police successfully dismantled Moroccan cells in their countries after the Madrid attacks, but they are convinced that other cells may have burrowed further underground.

Moroccan terrorists, intelligence and police experts say, know how to blend in.

"There are cells in which the Moroccans are well integrated into the population," Pierre de Bousquet, the head of the Directorate for Territorial Surveillance, France's counterintelligence service, said in an interview. "So they do not seem suspicious. They work. They have kids. They have fixed addresses. They pay the rent. The networks are dispersed throughout Europe and are very autonomous."

In addition to uneven cooperation among law enforcement and intelligence agencies within Europe, there is the problem of tensions that have surfaced between European and Moroccan officials.

Although the two sides are working together to investigate the Madrid bombings, the Moroccans have complained that their pleas for help after the Casablanca attacks were largely ignored until terrorists struck the heart of Europe.

They also have expressed frustration that laws in many European countries are not tough enough.

In April a court in Hamburg, Germany, allowed a Moroccan who was the only person convicted in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States to leave prison pending a new trial.

Three weeks later a court in Rome acquitted 12 people, including 9 Moroccans, who were arrested in 2002 and accused of being associated with a terrorist organization.

"The Madrid bombings finally have forced the Europeans to make their investigations more serious and their cooperation quicker and more operational," Gen. Hamidou Laanigri, Morocco's chief of security, said in an interview. "But we are victims of laws and guarantees that protect the rights of individuals at the expense of cracking down against organized crime."

Intelligence and law-enforcement officials in Spain, France and Belgium say that their Moroccan colleagues have refused to face the fact that Moroccans have banded into autonomous terror cells that can carry out attacks without outside organization, logistical support or money.

This sounds great; it is amazing for the ruler of a Muslim country to acknowledge that Islamic law discriminates against women and non-Muslims. If he were a non-Muslim analyst in the West saying the same thing, American Muslim advocacy group spokesmen would call him a bigot and hatemonger!

I am just not sure it will get very far as long as it must stay "within the teachings of the Holy Koran," since that is the source of the laws to which he objects in the first place. From Reuters, with thanks to Nicolei:

ISLAMABAD : Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf called on Saturday for a review of controversial Islamic laws that human rights groups say are discriminatory against women and non-Muslim minorities.

Speaking at a convention on human rights, Musharraf said the strict Islamic laws passed under the military dictatorship of late General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1979 should be studied afresh to ensure they were not misused.

"The nation should not shy away from re-examining the Hudood Ordinance by scholars, lawyers and legislators within the teachings of the Holy Koran," the official APP news agency quoted Musharraf as saying.

"Islam says we must reach a decision through discussion ... why should a discussion be opposed on an ordinance which is the creation of human mind," he added.

Musharraf said the country's blasphemy law should also be reviewed. The blasphemy law prescribes the death penalty for insulting Prophet Mohammad, other prophets and holy books, but rights groups say it is often used to settle personal scores.

"The blasphemy law needs to be looked into so that justice is done and it is not misused to victimise the innocent," he said.

Musharraf also called for a law banning honour killings, in which male relatives kill women deemed to have brought disgrace on their families by having a relationship with a man, or marrying without consent or bringing an inadequate dowry.

"Although honour killing is illegal, the passage of law banning it would lend more strength to Pakistan 's efforts to do away with the intolerable practice," he said.

Missionaries of Charity home for handicapped children, Baghdad

This Washington Post story (thanks to Mrs. Obelix) about Christian missionaries in Iraq is much concerned about the hazards and methods used by the missionaries to proselytize in a country where (in a remarkable admission for the Post) "outbreaks of violence in the name of Islam [are] occurring on an almost daily basis."

But what is most remarkable is a remark made by an Iraqi toward the end of the article:

Zainab Badran, 36, a pharmacist, said one missionary gave him a Bible.

Although he has no intention of converting from Islam to Christianity, he read it out of curiosity and said it was nice to learn about other religions. He believes Christian aid workers should be more open about their aims.

"I can hear their thoughts and this won't harm me," he said. "I can accept them or refuse."

Of course, this is just one individual with no political power or infuence, but nonetheless, he has expressed here an anti-Sharia, anti-dhimmitude perspective: this man thinks he can hear a religious message and accept or reject it! In other words, he doesn't have to have the power of the state stamping out the message and forbidding it to be preached. This is an attitude that comes from assumptions about freedom of conscience and human dignity that have nothing to do with Sharia. I take it, this sunny morning in Secure Undisclosed Locationville, as a small sign of hope.

A real-life Third Man mystery from the Washington Post, with thanks to Mrs. Obelix:

The FBI has never found the individual who allegedly asked two Yemenis to take photos of federal buildings in downtown New York in May 2001, an episode that was mentioned in an intelligence report given President Bush little more than a month before the attacks on the World Trade Center, according to government officials. The two Yemenis were questioned on May 30, 2001, by Immigration and Naturalization Service agents, and their camera was confiscated after guards saw them taking photos of 26 Federal Plaza and surrounding buildings, including one that housed the FBI's counterterrorism unit in New York.

Federal officials developed the film and found the images showed the plaza and surrounding buildings, plus the street. When FBI agents subsequently questioned the two men, they said they took the photos for a friend in Indianapolis who had never visited New York. The FBI has never located the Yemeni friend, who was in the United States under an assumed name with false documents.

Federal officials at the time were on alert because one day earlier, in one of the courthouses photographed, six men had been found guilty on a number of counts in connection with the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, an attack linked to al Qaeda. A terrorist alert had been put out that day by the State Department, although the government said at the time it was not aware of any specific threat in response to the verdicts.

The President's Daily Brief (PDB) for Aug. 6, 2001, the highly classified intelligence report prepared by CIA for President Bush and top officials, contained a short section titled, "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US." Along with some past material about previous threats by the al Qaeda leader, the report referred to the FBI investigating "suspicious activity in this country consistent with the preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York."

At the time of the public release of the briefing document last month, a White House fact sheet said the FBI had "interviewed the men and determined that their conduct was consistent with tourist activity and the FBI's investigation identified no link to terrorism."

Neither the fact sheet nor two White House officials who briefed reporters April 9 mentioned that a third Yemeni was involved.

Within a few weeks of the May 30, 2001, incident, the FBI concluded that the two Yemeni men had no connection to terrorists and appeared to be taking tourist photos, according to a senior FBI official, who declined to be identified because he was discussing an ongoing investigation.

But the official also acknowledged that the third man, who had been working in the Indianapolis area under the assumed name Mohammed Hassan Abadi, has never been located or interviewed. The FBI does not know the man's real name, but it does have a photograph of him and has found no links between his assumed name or photograph and terrorist groups or individuals, the official said.

Kim Jong Il: Stalinist jihad?

What were "Syrian technicians" doing on the train? Could they provide a hint as to why it exploded? Is Kim Jong Il making common cause with the global jihad? From The World Tribune, with thanks to Mrs. Obelix:

Syrian technicians accompanying unknown equipment were killed in the train explosion in North Korea on April 22, according to a report in a Japanese newspaper.

A military specialist on Korean affairs revealed that the Syrian technicians were killed in the explosion in Ryongchon in the northwestern part of the country, according to the Sankei Shimbun. The specialist said the Syrians were accompanying "large equipment" and that the damage from the explosion was greatest in the portion of the train they occupied.

The source said North Korean military personnel with protective suits responded to the scene soon after the explosion and removed material only from the Syrians' section of the train.

The technicians were from the Syrian technical research center called Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche Scientific (CERS). Although CERS was established to promote science and technology development, it has been viewed as a major player in Syria's weapons of mass destruction development program. ...

As many as 10 Syrians and accompanying North Koreans were killed, according to the report. The bodies of the Syrians were taken home on May 1 by a Syrian aircraft, which had come to Pyongyang to deliver aid supplies.

The Syrians and North Koreans who transported the victims were also reportedly wearing protective suits similar to those worn by the North Korean military figures who arrived on the scene immediately after the accident, the source said.

The United States and other countries have expressed concern that Syrian and North Korea are developoing Scud-D missiles, as well as chemical and biological weapons.

Concerning the cause of the explosion incident, the DPRK has explained that a train carrying fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate and a railroad tank carrying petroleum were being shunted, and, in the process, came into contact with electrical wires, due to carelessness.

Mickey (Disney Corp.)

From WOFL.com, :

Walt Disney has a new security measure in place. Hydraulically powered, steel barricades block the service entrances of the resort's four theme parks. They were apparently designed to stop a 20-thousand-pound truck bomb traveling 70 miles per hour. The dozen or more yellow-and-black barricades are state-of-the-art. The manufacturer recently shipped the same model to Baghdad, Iraq, to guard the new U-S Embassy there. A Disney spokeswoman yesterday says the company did NOT install the barricades in response to a specific terrorist threat against the parks.

Prince Nayef

From the Independent, :

Al-Qa'ida terrorists whose suicide bombs killed 35 people and injured 200 at a housing compound in Riyadh last May were secretly assisted by certain members of the Saudi National Guard which protects the royal family, military trainers employed by a US firm have claimed.

In exclusive interviews with The Independent on Sunday, the former trainers for the Vinnell Corporation, which has an $800m (£460m) contract to advise the Saudi National Guard, allege:

* Some members of the Saudi National Guard knew about the bombing in advance and gave inside help to al-Qa'ida, including possibly a detailed map of the target.

* An "exercise" organised by the national guard removed 50 of 70 security staff for the day of the bombing, thus leaving the compound "defenceless".

* Security was generally lax, with machine guns unloaded and guards unarmed.

* Vinnell and the Saudis were given detailed, repeated warnings that Islamic militants were planning an attack, but did nothing to upgrade security.

These claims will renew the controversy over the failure of the Saudi royal family to deal with Islamic insurgents. In recent weeks al-Qa'ida has renewed its attacks on Western targets in Saudi Arabia which have killed several British workers. ...

The bombing on 12 May 2003 was implemented with precision based on meticulous intelligence. Lt-Col Raphael Maldonado, then a Vinnell instructor, claims al-Qa'ida received inside assistance from National Guard members. "This compound was too big and complex to be bombed without inside help", he said. He points to the discovery of a detailed map in the car left behind by the assailants and an improvised ladder consisting of concrete blocks and the trace of shoe markings made by people rushing to escape just before the explosion.

On the morning of the atrocity, Lt-Col Maldonado noticed that none of his Saudi co-workers was present. A fellow Vinnell adviser angrily told him that a Saudi National Guard commander had suddenly notified him that they were leaving the compound to per- form night manouevres with 50 trainers. "I don't understand why they are suddenly going into the field for just one night," he told Lt-Col Maldonado, who was even more concerned when he drove past the local mosque at noon and noticed far fewer shoes outside the door than usual.

Lt-Col Maldonado believes that removing 50 of the 70 Vinnell trainers on what he claims was a "pointless" and unscheduled expedition 40 miles away just before the bombing, was deliberate, leaving the compound defenceless. "There is no doubt we were set up," he said. "Someone in the upper echelons of the Saudi National Guard knew the bombing was imminent." ...

The Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Nayef, condemned the bombing and called for public assistance in capturing 19 suspects. But the reaction showed how al-Qa'ida has retained support. Three prominent clerics declared the terrorists were "devout" men and called on people to disobey the regime's request. They said any help to the police would constitute aid to the US in its "war against Islam". Ten of the suspects remain at large.

Bazian

Jonathan Calt Harris of Campus Watch (via FrontPage, with thanks to DC Watson) exposes how Berkeley lecturer Hatem Bazian explained, or tried to explain, to Bill O'Reilly his call for Intifada in America:

Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer at Berkeley in Islamic Studies, recently went on television and was put on the defensive by Bill O'Reilly. The subject was comments Bazian had made at a left-wing rally in San Francisco on April 10, 2004, calling for an "intifada" in the United States.

As reported by LittleGreenFootballs.com, and Frontpagemagazine.com (and viewable here) Bazian ungrammatically declared to a crowd of protestors, "we're sitting here and watching the world pass by, people being bombed, and it's about time that we have an intifada in this country that change fundamentally the political dynamics in here."

Bazian concluded with a promise of more violence to come: "They're gonna say, 'some Palestinian being too radical' -- well, you haven't seen radicalism yet!"[i]

Bazian appeared on Fox News Channel's O'Reilly Factor on April 19 to explain what he meant by the word intifada. Bazian defined it as "shaking off," willfully ignoring that these days, both in Arabic and in English, it means "violent rebellion."

"It was a reference point," Bazian backtracked. "I was calling for a grassroot political change at this time to make changes in the country considering what has been taken place." O'Reilly pressed him:

O'REILLY: But no violence. You don't want anybody to use violence?

BAZIAN: No. I've been activist for the past 20 years or so. And I have never engaged in any violence. And non-violence is the method that I choose for political change.

O'REILLY: OK. Therefore, I assume then you condemn Hamas and Hezbollah?

BAZIAN: Well, I condemn the targeting of civilians in any situation. I think relations to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; you have the Hatfields and McCoys getting at each other. And I think it will behoove us here in the United States not to aid or encourage either side to engage in violence.

O'Reilly was ready for Bazian's efforts to dodge his accusations.

O'REILLY: We did a very exhaustive search on you, professor. And we've never seen you say that you condemn the violent methods of Hamas and Hezbollah ever.

BAZIAN: Well, yes, if you want me to speak about the violence that has taken place, I just spoke to you, telling you that violence is unacceptable.

O'REILLY: OK, but you yourself have not come out and condemned it.

Bazian here was relying a common two-step tactic of those who sympathize with the militant Islamic and Palestinian causes: condemn the violence or terrorism in general, without naming names; then deflect blame to the victim, especially the United States or Israel; or dismiss the danger that terrorism poses.

Here are a few examples of the "I condemn ... but" line of reasoning, all concerning the Palestinians and Israel:

• Eric Vickers, [former] head of the American Muslim Council: "We condemn any sort of terrorist activities," but "We can't be simplistic in our views. We have to recognize exactly what is occurring in the Middle East. We have to recognize that what is occurring there is an uprising by the Palestinian people."[ii]

• Rashid Khalidi, former PLO press flack, now a "professor" at Columbia University: "Killing civilians is a war crime," but "Resistance to occupation is [accepted] in international law."[iii]

• Joel Beinin, professor of Middle Eastern History at Stanford: "there is absolutely no justification for the Palestinians'targeting of unarmed civilians in their struggle to end the occupation," but "no Palestinian armed actions of any sort have ever posed an existential threat to Israel."[iv]

Bazian fit this pattern precisely:

• "I condemn terrorism throughout. But at the same time, I would like people here in the U.S. to begin condemning the Israeli assassinations."

O'Reilly repeatedly offered Bazian the chance to condemn terrorist groups, but he as many times declined it. Thus is another academic equating the targeting of terrorist leaders with the targeting of civilians and children. In this context, it is hardly surprising that Bazian would also call for a campaign of violence in the United States.

Jonathan Calt Harris, a former reporter for Time magazine and managing editor with the Middle East Forum, is a writer in Illinois.

Notes:

[i] "An Intifada in This Country," April 11, 2004, LittleGreenFootballs at http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=10615

[ii] http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/index.jsp?section=static&page=brithume619

[iii] Khalidi, Rashid, Arab Tells Arabs: 'Stop Whining' NewsMax.com, Wires, Saturday, June 8, 2002.

[iv] Beinin, Joel. Another Bloody Passover, AlterNet, March 27, 2002 at http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12711

Heather Mallick

Heather Mallick blames U.S. Republicans and the Canadian Right for the tendency to atomize and privatize Canadian law; I rather think the blame lies with the multiculturalist ethos. But she makes some excellent points about how the idea of Sharia "mediation" threatens women. From the Globe and Mail, with thanks to Mentat:

The news that Ontario will permit civil disputes such as divorce to be mediated under sharia or Islamic law is about the best idea since female foot-binding. It's not just, but it is restful. A woman with tiny claw-like feet isn't getting off the couch to hire a lawyer. And it's cheap: No court hearings, no going halfsies on the family home, no squabbles over custody, no fighting over wills.

For sharia law is already written. By a deity. And if you're a Muslim woman who makes the choice of going to Canadian courts rather than signing away her rights under sharia, you're offending one of the bigger gods, as I understand Islam.

This is interesting, not just because it's vile, but because it's part of a worldwide move toward privatizing everything, including the legal system. Ooooh, now we can go law-shopping. ...

The National Post likes sharia "mediation," even mocking The Globe and Mail for thinking it a front-page story. If the Post likes something that makes Muslims look different and bad, and it harms women, trust me, it's positively cyanotic. Save time, Muslim women, and bite the capsule now.

Journalist Paula Todd, on TVOntario, was on to the story early. She mapped it out for Ontarians, and I will trace her map for you so this sub-legal disease doesn't spread cross-country.

She interviewed Alia Hogben of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, who pointed out that sharia law isn't monolithic, but is applied differently throughout the Islamic world (which is where stoning women to death comes in).

But it has one common thread: patriarchy. In a will, a wife might get a quarter of the estate at the most. She cannot divorce her husband, but he can divorce her. She would get three months to a year of alimony, maximum. Note "alimony," as opposed to child support, because she won't get the kids if the husband wants them.

Opposite her sat Ali Hindy, a local imam. No, not David Bowie's wife, but a Muslim god's deputy, in this case a grey-bearded man exuding utter certainty and self-satisfaction. Ms. Hogben looked distressed to be defying both man and god. I applaud her bravery in daring to disagree.

"The man with a hammer interprets every problem as a nail," American scholar Stephen Holmes writes in the current London Review of Books. And in this case, Canadian law is what moderates the hammer.

The imam said that if the woman were unhappy, she could go to the Canadian courts. "You can take more." Pause. "You are disobeying god."

So a timid woman in a new country, who has never disobeyed a man or her god in her life, is going to find the money (where?) to defy her entire culture and ask for a divorce, half the assets, shared child custody and support, and a place to live while she takes out student loans to get a degree and, years later, a job. Add a burqa to the equation, leaving her unemployable, and she's done and dusted.

If you believe sharia mediation is plausible, then John Ashcroft's secretly an opera singer with three breasts. He's sleeping with Andrea Bocelli, and their love child, Rocco Ray Ashcroft, is being raised by Noam Chomsky in a rooming house in Bruges.

Have I now made it clear that allowing vulnerable women to be bullied into destitution and despair in a Liberal province is an absurd and fantastical idea that will end in tears? And blood, doubtless female?

Timing shouldn't matter when it comes to principle, but it does here. Speaking as a paranoid "my coffee smells of bitter almonds" type who just made an off-the-record-or-else speech at a Vancouver journalism conference and was later told that a man from the Seattle branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was sitting in the front row, I can only say this: Canada, where I was born to immigrants, is as friendly a country to foreigners as can be found. But multiculturalism to the extent of cutting new Canadians off from the legal mainstream is like hacking off your own leg.

It doesn't grow back.

Curioser and curiouser. From NewsMax, with thanks to Joel:

Nick Berg had a bit of a strange run the last few years, starting with the "coincidental" usage of his e-mail account by the alleged 20th 9/11 hijacker and ending with his beheading at the hands of terrorists in Iraq.

He is described by various news agencies as a techno genius, a dreamer, a wanderer, a funnyman and the ultimate Curious George.

Today, Philly.com revealed another item about Berg: "Berg's stubborn wanderlust made him a target of suspicion - a religious Jew riding around Mosul in a taxi with a copy of the Koran. ... Some U.S. soldiers even wondered if the patriotic Berg was 'a wannabe freedom fighter.'"

So, what was he doing in Iraq? A friend told Fox News he thought Berg was "sailing in Turkey." (Sure ... if we were to go sailing, that's the place we'd choose as well.)

When Berg was arrested in Mosul, he had two items with him that made authorities nervous: a copy of the Koran and another book reportedly entitled either "The Jewish Problem" or "The Jewish Solution." Why a Jew would be carrying these items is unclear, but Berg supporters say it was like him to be curious about such things.

Berg also refused to leave Iraq when asked to do so by the State Department.

He not only apparently felt the need to help rebuild Iraq, but he also wanted to go into business doing so. He told jailers that he was losing thousands of dollars while being detained.

He had worked in Africa (Uganda) and had a relative living in Mosul, so that's where he went in Iraq. He was arrested only because he was an unaccompanied American in a place where that was highly unusual.

A military source in Iraq told the Philadelphia Daily News, "He was jailed because unescorted Americans aren't usually seen downtown and 'they didn't know what to do with him.'

"Police were suspicious because of 'his demeanor'" and the two books he carried.

Berg was, according to the paper, "under Iraqi control ... the FBI also questioned Berg three times and visited his parents back in West Chester."

Authorities tried to tell Berg to go home and offered to pay for everything, but he told them: "You don't understand these people like I do. You're here for a reason - and so am I."

On April 6, Berg was released from jail, and three days later he disappeared.

Let's see. Israel kills a terrorist mastermind who oversaw the murder of civilians. In retaliation, these people firebombed a Jewish school. From CP, :

MONTREAL (CP) - Police have arrested four young men and a woman in her 30s in connection with a widely condemned firebombing at a Jewish school last month.

"Four males aged between 18 and 20 and one female in her 30s were all apprehended at 6:15 this morning," Montreal police spokesman Ian Lafreniere said Friday. The April 5 attack on the library of the United Talmud Torah elementary school garnered headlines across the country and even elicited a financial pledge from actor Russell Crowe to help replace books.

A note left at the school said the fire was in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

Lafreniere did not give the nationalities of those arrested, saying there was some information police did not want to reveal so as not to jeopardize the investigation into other possible suspects.

O, selfish Canada

"Selfish"? That's what Canada gets for all its accomodations to terrorists?

From the National Post, :

ISLAMABAD - The Al-Qaeda terror network views Canada as a legitimate target because it is a "selfish" nation committing "terrorism" against Muslims around the world, an unofficial spokesman for jihadists waging holy war against the West said yesterday.

Wail al Dhaleai in Taekwondo garb

Ah, what a swell guy he was. Neither these English kids nor their parents seem concerned that he killed himself in a murderous attack on troops allied with Britain's. From Sheffield Today, :

SHEFFIELD youngsters have paid tribute to their "fantastic" martial arts instructor, a man who died in a suicide bomb attack on US troops in Iraq.

Tae kwon do pupils at the Goodwill Community Centre spoke of their much-loved teacher Wail al Dhaleai, aged 22, of Clover Gardens, Wincobank, who set up classes a year ago.

Staff and some pupils at the centre, on Rothay Road, Grimesthorpe, were heartbroken when the martial arts expert blew himself up in Iraq last November.
When his pupils took their first tae kwon do grading exam, they said they did it for him.

Sammy Noor, aged 14, of Wensley Street, Grimes-thorpe, said: "He was one of the nicest people I have ever met. We had a laugh with him and he made it fun for us so that we wanted to train with him.

"I felt like when I got my grading, I did it for him. When he trained us he used to say 'don't stop, keep training.' He wanted to make us good fighters."

"I was upset because he was a friend to us. I used to see him at prayer at the mosque as well as at the classes.

"We used to joke with him and have a laugh with him, we only found out what happened to him in the newspaper."

Parent Hussein Saleh, 38, paid tribute to the man who "boosted the community" by opening the first martial arts class at the centre.

"He was fantastic and what he did for these kids is what no one had ever done before. We needed Wail. Getting them here after school was getting them off the streets.

"He gave them the determination to carry on and be a black belt. He was such a good teacher. Discipline was his speciality."

I guess you could put it that way.

Arafat quotes the book of peace. From AP, with thanks to DC Watson:

In a televised speech from the West Bank town of Ramallah, Arafat urged his people to remain steadfast.

"Find what strength you have to terrorize your enemy and the enemy of God," he said, quoting the Quran. "And if they want peace, then let's have peace."

Having gotten himself or herself into the position of suggesting that the Qur'an says to terrorize people, the AP writer is ready to explain Islam to us:

Arafat, whom Israel accuses of supporting militant groups, did not appear to be calling for new attacks on Israel. The Quranic passage refers to the early Muslims' wars against pagans and is frequently invoked by Islamic leaders today to encourage strength in times of conflict.

Angelo M. Codevilla, an influential opinion-maker associated with several Washington think tanks, asserts in The American Spectator (thanks to rickb) that "The war on terror will be won only when Islam's Wahabi heresy is defeated -- by orthodox Islam." He bases his argument on Europe's religious history, but when he turns to Islam he makes a number of misleading and incorrect assertions.

HAZILY, AMERICAN ELITES PERCEIVE that modern terrorism has something to do with the Wahabi sect of the Arabian Peninsula. But they lump that sect with "radical" or "fundamentalist" Islam, and throw up their hands over whether terrorism is a natural consequence of Muslim fervor or not. In fact, anti-Western terrorism results from a war within Islam that is more serious for Muslims than for the rest of us, because the Wahabis' ideas imply irreconcilable enmity against other Muslims first, and then against others. Western elites, religiously challenged as they are, don't understand the mixture of threat and temptation that the Wahabis pose to the Muslim world because they do not know how analogous Christian heresies have roiled Western civilization.

There's no doubt that Wahhab and his followers declared other Muslims infidels and waged jihad against them. Codevilla is certain that Wahhabism is a heresy, and that the orthodox Islam he imagines is represented by the Muslims that Wahhabism opposes has the strength to defeat it and keep it from lashing out in terror attacks against non-Muslims. The fundamental mistake Codevilla makes stems from his apparent unawareness of the fact that violent jihad against unbelievers is taught by all four "mainstream" schools of Sunni Islam: Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanafi, and Hanbali. It is not a Wahhabi innovation. Sure, Wahhabis will fight other Muslims. But they will see eye-to-eye with those Muslims about the necessity of fighting the rest of us.

The Koran is adamant about monotheism: "Kill those who ascribe partners to God, wheresoever you find them." But affirming monotheism is also the core of the Wahabi heresy.

Ibn Abdul Wahab, born around 1700 in a remote village in a remote region of Arabia, was early impressed with the central tenet of Islam, as well as with the deviations from it both of the Ottoman Empire's sophisticates, who, in Abdul Wahab's view, had adopted Christian ways, and of village simpletons who idolized shrines and trees. He wrote that Islam is "...above all a rejection of all gods except God, a refusal to allow others to share in that worship that is due to God alone (Shirk). Shirk is evil, no matter what the object, whether it be king or prophet or saint or tree or tomb."

Wahab destroyed the tombs of the Prophet's earliest disciples because they had become objects of veneration. Wahab declared ancient Islamic scholars "unbelievers" and "polytheists," those who held not only to Shi'a Islam, but also to the Sufi spiritual tradition and Islamic law, and burned their books. His quest for purity alienated his village's authorities, including his father.

One of the region's tribes, however, found him useful against the others, and gave him shelter. That was the house of Saud. Wahab's version of Islam became the official creed wherever the Saudi family ruled. The bargain was sealed by Wahab's marriage to Ibn Saud's daughter.

Dore Gold in Hatred's Kingdom explains that "[T]ribal raiding could now be carried on as a religious cause. What had once been taken as tribal booty was now demanded as Zakat (the charitable payments required as one of the five pillars of Islam). Significantly, Wahab legitimized Jihad against fellow Muslims for the first time." Killing those who would not accept his version of the faith (and Saudi sovereignty), as well as taking their possessions, was good.

Wahab's teaching about Jews and Christians was of the same sort. Rather than respecting them as "people of the book," as misguided followers of the One God, Wahab called them polytheists, "devil worshipers," and sorcerers, to whom the biblical punishment of death was applicable. Hence Wahabism assured its combatants of the manifold blessings of Muslim martyrdom and set them to war with the entire world.

Codevilla seems altogether ignorant of Sura 9:29, which mandates not respect, but warfare against Jews and Christians until they either convert to Islam or pay the jizya, the special tax for non-Muslims, and "feel themselves subdued," i.e., submit to the humiliations of dhimmitude. Wahhab didn't invent this verse, or the theological and legal supertsructure that grew up around it. Nor did Wahhab mandate any "biblical punishments." Codevilla seems not to know that someone like Wahhab would have regarded the Bible as corrupted; any punishments he mandated came only from the Qur'an and Sunnah.

Codevilla goes on to say that the Ottomans defeated the Wahhabis in the 19th century. However:

The Ottomans, however, failed to discredit Wahabism doctrinally. They did not teach orthodox Islam and insist that it be taught, much less did they live it.

Maybe that's because the "orthodox Islam" that Codevilla posits doesn't actually exist. Or at least, while some may have been able to challenge Wahhabism's posture toward other Muslims, no Islamic challenge could have been mounted to the Wahhabi idea of jihad against unbelievers.

It's sad but true that this seriously flawed analysis will almost certainly make the rounds in Washington, and influence policy.

Franklin Graham

Discrimination and targeting innocent people is never justified and should always be rejected. But in this Army News commentary (thanks to Nicolei), Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett is a bit too quick to assume that bigotry is all that's behind the questioning of the Islamic roots of terrorism -- and to dismiss the ties that Osama bin Laden and other radical Muslims have to Islam. As I say all the time, unless the Islamic roots of jihad terrorism are recognized and rejected by a large number of worldwide, that terrorism will continue. This kind of analysis just leaves us more vulnerable to an attack from a source that we thought was peaceful.

FORT EUSTIS, Va. (Army News Service, May 14, 2004) -- Religion is never a very easy topic to talk about. It tends to divide more than it unites.

Religion gets to the heart of what we believe and what we value, and strong emotions are wrapped around those beliefs and values. Even atheists strongly defend their right not to believe in God.

Down through history, religion has been used to justify great injustices, including war and genocide.

Today, one religion -- Islam -- is facing close scrutiny as its radical fringe terrorizes the world through violent attacks.

The White House has gone to great pains to ensure the War on Terrorism is not seen as a clash of religions. President George Bush made a point of praising Islam as "a religion of peace." He invited Muslim clerics to the White House for Ramadan dinners and criticized evangelicals who call Islam a dangerous faith.

One such evangelist, Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham wrote, "Islam - unlike Christianity - has among its basic teachings a deep intolerance of those who follow other faiths."

That Islam has produced its share of fanatics should come as no surprise. Every religion has its extremists, and there can be no denying that militant Islam's rigid and intolerant orthodoxy is making the world a more dangerous place.

But is Islam itself the reason for terrorism, or is it something else? Has the backlash against terrorism created intolerance for Islam? And are those of us in the military doing enough to ensure that Muslims in uniform are enjoying the same tolerance of their faith as those from different religions?

Islam is the second largest religion in the world, totaling more than 1.3 billion believers. Less than 20 percent of the Muslims in the world are Arab, and all Arab countries have populations that believe in other religions. Indonesia has the world's largest Islamic population ---88 percent of citizens are Muslim.

In the United States, Islam is the fastest growing religion. There are currently five to seven million Muslims who are U.S. citizens.

There is also a substantial number of Muslims in the U.S. military; between 10,000 and 20,000 U.S. service members consider themselves followers of Islam.

In the U. S. Army, Muslims are afforded the same rights to worship as any other religion.

"The Army tries to accommodate different religions," said Col. Hanson Boney, Fort Eustis chaplain. "There have been Muslims in the Army for the past 40 years. There are times we can't accommodate religions, like in times of war, but Muslims have no harder time worshiping in the Army than any other religion."

Some Muslims are finding that the backlash against terrorism has made it harder for them to practice their faith.

Matthew Hicks, a Soldier in E Company, 71st Transportation Battalion , said he was "jumped" after 9-11. "People get the wrong idea about Muslims," he said. "They think I'm a terrorist or going to blow something up."

In 2002, Hicks changed his name from Abdulaziz Gazah so he wouldn't have to face the prejudice associated with an Islamic name.

After joining the Army, Hicks also faced discrimination.

"When I was in Basic," he said, "I told my drill sergeant that I wanted to attend Muslim service and he at first didn't believe me and then started ranking on me, so I stopped going to the services all together."

After that incident, Hicks decided he was not going to tell anyone he is a Muslim. He arrived on Fort Eustis two weeks ago and had not even told his battle buddy about his Islamic beliefs.

One of the five pillars of the Muslim faith is to pray five times a day. As an Initial Entry Soldier, it has been difficult for Hicks to find time to pray.

"I have had zero time to pray," he said. "But in the Islamic faith it is not so much that you have to pray, it's if you have the time or make the intent. It is all about your intent."

The Jacksonville, Fla., native who speaks Arabic said he joined the Army to work as a translator in the Persian Gulf.

"Most fights start from a misunderstanding," Hicks said. "I'd like to go over there and help clear up some of those misunderstandings."

Hicks, whose parents are from Saudi Arabia, said he spent some time in that country growing up, but that he is "born and raised American."

"I am so loyal to the United States," he said. "My grandfather served in the U.S. (Army) Air Corps and even when I was in Saudi Arabia I told everyone I was American."

Spc. David Burgos, operations clerk for the 492nd Harbormaster Detachment, who has been an active Muslim for 25 years, said Islam helped give him direction and hope.

"I came from a broken home and when my parents divorced I became a ward of the State," Burgos said. "The path I was walking was one of crime and drugs and it was the light of Islam that brought me off that path."

Before joining the Army, Burgos faced prejudice because of his faith during the first Gulf War.

"There was a lot of backlash as a Muslim for me in the workplace," he said. "Coworkers would place notes that said, 'Go back to your own country' or 'Muslims are trouble makers.'"

Like Hicks, Burgos also did not mention his beliefs during Initial Entry Training. "I wasn't sure how it would be accepted," he said.

Since then, Burgos has spent eight years on Fort Eustis, and he said working here has enabled him to actively pursue his faith.

"My unit has always been accepting," he said. "They let me to go to Jumah (prayer) at 1300 on Friday and they always inquire about me during Ramadan, especially for PT (physical training). Since Ramadan is a time of fasting and no liquids during the day, they have allowed me to do PT later in the day."

Burgos said he has experienced no discrimination or prejudice here, even after 9-11.

"The whole year after 9-11 I had people asking me questions about Islam, but I don't believe any of them were in a negative manner," he said. "Fort Eustis has been good for me as far as being Muslim and wearing the green uniform."

The United States has several allies among the Arab nations, and many Arab countries send their soldiers to the Transportation School here for training.

Sebastian Velilla, international military student specialist with the T-School, helps ensure that Muslims who visit Fort Eustis to train are allowed to practice their beliefs.

"We have students from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Egypt." he said. "Next year we will have 223 Arab students."

Friday, 15 Arabs from the school joined together at the Islamic Center here to pray. Sgt. Maj. Alkhedaid Aazib, an aviation soldier from Saudi Arabia, led the prayers.

He said it has been "easy" to practice his faith since coming to Fort Eustis and that he has not faced any discrimination because of his beliefs.

"Because we are working with Americans here, they get to know us and we get along well," he said. "We are treated like equals."

Aazib stressed that Islam is a religion of peace.

"We believe in peace for every person and every country," he said. "You cannot be a Muslim and be a murderer or killer."

Hicks and Burgos agreed.

"Islam is actually a peaceful religion," said Hicks. "When Muslims say hello we say, 'Peace be upon you' and when we return the greeting we say 'Peace be back to you.'"

Burgos said the Koran teaches peace and nonviolence.

"I have read the Koran several times and there," he said. "Islam teaches its followers to be peaceful. Islam is all about giving life, not taking it."

Hmm. I myself have read the Qur'an many more than several times, and I could show Burgos the verses Osama and Co. use to justify warfare against non-Muslims. This is not just based on just a few Qur'an verses, either, but on numerous ahadith and tenets of Islamic law. I wonder how Burgos missed them.

However, the question still remains: If Islam is such a peaceful religion, why then are there schools in such traditionally allied nations like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that teach intolerance and hatred? And why do terrorists use Islam to justify their violent actions?

Hicks believes it has to do more with the political situation than the faith.

"(Terrorism) is not Islam," he said. "It's certain people with messed up ways. Bin Ladin's hatred comes from his hatred of the United States, not his religion."

Burgos agreed.

"Some people who call themselves Muslims are angry about what is going on in the politics of their region," agreed Burgos.

Despite a few isolated cases, Muslims who serve in the United States armed forces are proving their loyalty to this country. They should be afforded the same rights and privileges afforded their non-Muslim brothers in arms.

As Americans, we set the example. Let's be sure that example is one that includes tolerance for people of all religious faiths.

"Martyr Al-Sadr"

From AsiaNews:

Nassiriyah (AsiaNews) - Today, a spokesman from "Martyr Al-Sadr's Office" declared Jihad, saying the holy city of Nassiriyah must not be occupied by foreign troops.

This was the first time in 20 years that Shiite religious leaders have declared holy war against any foreign power. Meanwhile, a spokesman from the same office in Baghdad, has asked Al-Mahdi militia forces to start heading for Najaf.

On several occasions Shiite imams have warned about the danger of militarily trespassing on the two holy Shiite towns, which Ayatollah Al-Sistani himself said were "off-limits" to foreign troops.

Moreover, for the first time in many years Friday prayer was cancelled at Imam Hussein's mosque in Karbala "due to the bad situation" and by way a decree issued by Ayatollah Al-Sistani. Meanwhile, 4 people have died and 13 were wounded in violent conflict that broke out in Karabala late yesterday.

This morning heavy fighting erupted in Najaf, where prayer services were also cancelled. Battling were American soldiers and Moqtada Al-Sadr Al-Mahdi militants. Around 7.00 a.m. (Iraqi time) a series of explosions ripped through downtown Najaf while gunfire was heard criss-crossing city streets. ...

Al-Mahdi militia units have taken control of buildings around Najaf's holy sites and hotels where Shiite pilgrims are staying, most of whom are from Iran.

Many witnesses have said that Imam Moqtada Al-Sadr has not set out for Kufa (a town 20 km from Najaf) to attend Friday prayer services, like he has done every week since taking refuge in Najaf.

From Iran's IRIB News, with thanks to Twostellas:

Dubai, May 14 - A statement purported to be from the Al-Qaeda chief in Saudi Arabia said on Friday that one of the terror network's cells had carried out a recent attack at a petrochemical plant which killed five westerners.

"The Yanbu cell which carried out the heroic, successful operation this month is one of the most eloquent and best examples" of what militants should seek to achieve, said the statement attributed to Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin and posted on an Islamist website.

The authenticity of the statement could not be independently confirmed.

Four gunmen went on a shooting rampage at the plant in the industrial Red Sea port of Yanbu on May 1, killing two Americans, two Britons and an Australian.

A Saudi national guardsman was also shot dead in gunbattles before the carnage ended with the death of the assailants.

"Our brother Abu Ammar Mustafa Al-Ansari, God rest his soul, was from the cream of the Mujahedeen, having waged Jihad (holy war) in Afghanistan and Somalia," said the message allegedly penned by Muqrin, who tops a list of most-wanted presumed Al-Qaeda militants in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi authorities have identified the leader of the Yanbu assailants, all from the same family, as Mustafa Abdul Kader Abed Al-Ansari.

Bali, October 2002

From the Herald Sun, with thanks to Nicolei:

SUSPECTED links between Jemaah Islamiah, the terror group responsible for the Bali bombings, and the Madrid train bombers are being investigated by British police.

If confirmed, the news would add credence to claims by terror experts that the Madrid bombers may have trained in JI-linked terrorist camps in central Indonesia.

The British investigation was launched after Spanish news agency Efe reported that seven Islamic terrorists involved in the Madrid train bombings telephoned a JI operative and a jailed radical Muslim cleric in London's Belmarsh prison shortly before they blew themselves up last month.

Surrounded by police in a flat in Leganes, south Madrid, on April 3, the terrorists reportedly placed three calls to the phone of Britain's suspected al-Qa'ida chief Abu Qatada, and also made calls to Indonesia to "someone in the milieu" of JI spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir.

The men, mostly from Morocco, who soon afterwards blew themselves up, were reportedly seeking authorisation to commit suicide, the report said. ...

The alleged leader of Spain's al-Qa'ida cell, Abu Dahdah, visited Poso in central Indonesia in May 2001 according to a recent report by JI expert Sydney Jones, director of the Jakarta office of the International Crisis Group.

In an interview in March, Ms Jones told The Australian there was "clearly close contact" between al-Qa'ida and JI and that Spanish al-Qa'ida operatives were trained in terrorist camps in Indonesia.

"It goes back to at least late 2000, maybe before," she said. "The whole reason that Poso came to international attention was because Spanish authorities arrested al-Qa'ida operatives who said they had been trained in Poso."

Indonesian police found two copies of the Koran in Spanish, another Spanish book and 26 Spanish business cards in raids on JI's bomb factory in Semarang in central Java last year.

Not a silver tongue

Gene Simmons of KISS has offended Muslims in Australia with some salty comments during a radio interview. From The Age, with thanks to faustaw:

KISS bass player Gene Simmons has caused an uproar among Australia's Muslim community by launching an attack on Islamic culture while in Melbourne.

The lizard-tongued rock god who is touring Australia with the world's most enduring glam rock band launched an attack on Muslim extremists during an interview on Melbourne's 3AW radio.

"Extremism believes that it's okay to strap bombs on to your children and send them to paradise and whatever else and to behead people," he said yesterday.

The Israeli-born US musician went on to say Islam was a "vile culture" that treated women worse than dogs.

Muslim women had to walk behind their men and were not allowed to be educated or own houses, he said.

"Your dog, however, can walk side by side, your dog is allowed to have its own dog house... you can send your dog to school to learn tricks, sit, beg, do all that stuff - none of the women have that advantage."

He went on to say the west was under threat.

"This is a vile culture and if you think for a second that it's going to just live in the sands of God's armpit you've got another thing coming," he said.

"They want to come and live right where you live and they think that you're evil."

Simmons said the United Nations approach did not work and the west had to "speak softly and carry a big stick".

The radio station today fielded calls from Muslims upset at the comments, including Australian Muslim of the year Susan Carland, who said Australian Muslims rejected extremism and did not fit Simmons' stereotype.

Ms Carland said she had two degrees, was doing her honours and "certainly do not walk behind my husband".

Chairman of the Islamic Council of Victoria Yasser Soliman said Simmons' comments were "very unfortunate".

"He's very famous obviously and popular and, as a result, influential," he said.

"Mixing the entertainment world with the political and religious world is a minefield."

He said Simmons had begun by talking about extremists but had gone on to vilify the entire Muslim culture.

"A number of his claims regarding women and what they are allowed to do and not do are wrong - Islam teaches the opposite," he said.

Simmons had a right to free speech, but this had to be balanced against the damage done to innocent people, he said.

"I think it would be good for overseas speakers and commentators to be given some sort of advice in regards to our vilification laws here," he said.

"They leave and go back to where they arrived from, but they leave behind a big mess that we have to live with."

Simmons may not be a silver-tongued diplomat, but his words were more accurate than Carland lets on. There is, of course, the Qur'an verse sanctioning wife-beating (4:34), the devaluation of legal testimony by women (2:282), hadiths dictating that a wife can never refuse her husband sex, even if she is cooking or otherwise occupied, Sharia provisions forbidding a woman even to venture out of her house without her husband's permission, and much more. If Carland doesn't live by these, that's great. But it doesn't make them any less part of Islamic law.

UPDATE: Now Simmons says he didn't say it. Didn't say what exactly? Unclear. From his website, with thanks to Mentat:

Hello everyone. Lately, comments that have been attributed to me in the press have been printed. They are false. Please use your own logic and best judgement when reading media. Sometimes media is responsible and sometimes, it is not. You know me. And, I believe your instincts will guide you in determining what is real and what is not.

Mansur Escudero

"Will there be a policeman standing at the back of every mosque?" asks a Muslim spokesman, amazed that the Socialist government recently elected in a wave of Spanish dhimmitude after 3/11 may not be as compliant as he had hoped. But anyway, why not? Can Mansur Escudero guarantee that any mosque in Spain will never be used by terror recruiters?

From The Telegraph, with thanks to Fanabba:

The Spanish government is drawing up plans to triple the size of its anti-terrorist force and take control of the funding of mosques among other emergency measures to fight Islamic terrorism. According to reports published yesterday, the interior minister, Jose Antonio Alonso, has outlined the plans to the centre-Right opposition party. They include finding ways of monitoring the content of preaching in mosques.

"The state must be able to know and to ensure that religious freedom is not used for other purposes," Mr Alonso was quoted as saying.

The Moroccan Immigrant Workers' Association complained that up to now funding had been left in the hands of Saudi-backed imams who preached a radical form of Wahhabi Islam.

Other Muslim groups and the opposition People's Party have criticised the possible reforms as encroaching on religious freedom. ...

In addition, the government wants to boost financing for mosques and develop relations between the authorities and the country's 600,000-strong Muslim community.

It is estimated that there are 400 mosques or Muslim religious centres nationwide. The justice ministry has a register of 235 Muslim communities but has no idea of the number of mosques in Spain or of who is preaching in them.

Any reform in Spain must respect "religious freedom and the safety of citizens", said Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, the first deputy prime minister. ...

"We really need to improve the laws to control Islamic radicals. We need to get to a legal situation in which we can control the imams in small mosques," said Mr Alonso. "That is where the Islamic fundamentalism that lead to certain actions is disseminated."

Mansur Escudero, the president of the Islamic Council, said: "I never thought that a socialist minister with a progressive attitude and respect for the constitution would launch such an attack on religious freedom. Will there be a policeman standing at the back of every mosque?"

Graham

Bill Graham, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, has written a remarkably naive piece in the Toronto Globe and Mail (thanks to Earl) that calls for building bridges of understanding as a response to terrorists "exploiting Islam as a pretext for violence."

Now, I am all for building bridges of understanding, but Graham shows no sign of being aware of the problem of jihad terrorism is not one of lack of understanding. No amount of dialogue will blunt the force of the religious command to make war on unbelievers, which is founded on the Qur'an (see especially sura 9) and many well-attested traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. He probably isn't aware that the "currents of moderation" are attacked as un-Islamic by the radicals, and that they have no solid foundation in Islamic tradition. He is also just thrilled about the Muslim population of Canada, although he assumes (as all politically correct officials must) that this population has entirely abandoned its conviction that the Sharia is the law of Allah, and that no members of this population will ever try to impose it upon Canada.

I would like to believe this too, but where is the evidence? Where is even one unequivocal statement from a prominent Canadian or American Muslim, renouncing Sharia forever?

Anyway, here's Graham:

In recent years, the impact of terrorists exploiting Islam as a pretext for violence has shaken the world and cast unwarranted suspicion on hundreds of millions of peaceful Muslims around the globe. In turn, responses to this violence have aroused concern and mistrust among some Muslims about Western motives and principles. The present instability in Iraq, revelations of prisoner abuse and the killing of Western civilians there, only serve to raise tensions further.

If we are to take wise international actions for the sake of our security, prosperity and a more peaceful planet, we must understand the forces at work in the Muslim world. To do that, we must build bridges of understanding and co-operation between that world and the West. Canada has distinctive social and diplomatic assets that give us a unique potential to be a constructive force for engagement with Muslims around the world.

The impetus for progress will ultimately have to come from the leaders and citizens of Muslim countries, but the West must reinforce its efforts. At today's G8 foreign ministers' meeting in Washington, my colleagues and I will consider collective measures to support reform and development in the Middle East. Beyond today's meeting, however, there is much Canada can do in its own right to support the forces of moderation and reform.

As the standing committee on foreign affairs and international trade noted after conducting hearings in Canada and 15 other countries, the Muslim world is extraordinarily diverse. Its 1.4 billion people live not just in Arab countries of the Middle East, but also in predominantly Muslim countries in Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia, in countries such as India with significant Muslim populations, as well as in Canada and other Western countries. Within these countries, as in many regions of the world, there is religious extremism. But within these countries there are also currents of moderation, popular support for democracy and civic freedoms, and movements toward political and social reform, including the advancement of women.

An invaluable asset we can draw on for moving forward in our engagement with the Muslim world is the presence within our country of diverse and flourishing Muslim communities, whose knowledge and skills we must further draw on to help spread messages, shape relationships and inform policies. The potential in these communities complements Canada's well-established linkages with many Muslim countries through trade and through our development programs in support of human rights, civil freedoms, gender equality and good governance.

Pearl

"Because of the twisted, sado-sexual nature of the photographs taken at Abu Ghraib, the prison abuse story is deemed to be more "newsworthy" than a long litany of jihadist atrocities. The silence of the sheiks, mullahs and imams isn't worthy of newsprint." From Oliver North, with thanks to EPG:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans are so good at self-flagellation, even a heinous act by others may be insufficient to remind us that we're not so bad after all. For three weeks now, the media has bludgeoned the Bush administration, the secretary of defense and the U.S. military for the mistreatment of detainees in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Now we have the horrific, videotaped murder of American civilian, 26-year-old Nick Berg. The perpetrators of this ghastly act proudly shout "Allahu Akbar," over the screams of the young man as they hack through the sinews of his neck and then proudly display his severed head for the camera.

The tape concludes with a prepared statement by one of the executioners claiming that "the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls."

As shocking as this video is -- and it is truly revolting in a way that churns your gut -- it is nothing new. Radical Islamic jihadists have been perpetrating this kind of horror against Americans for more than 20 years. And, as if to substantiate the Jihadist's claims that it's not their fault, the "blame America first" crowd in the U.S. media looks for ways to point out how we really deserve what we're getting. Equally consistent, the Arab press parrots ours in ways that incite more violence, while "leaders" in Islamic states remain mute -- or worse, condone -- the atrocities.

On March 16, 1984, CIA Station Chief William Buckley was abducted and then tortured to death in a Beirut dungeon. I carried the agonizing photographs and tape recordings of his brutal beatings back to CIA Director William J. Casey. No Islamic leaders condemned the kidnapping and murder. The U.S. media rationalized his treatment as the consequence of being a CIA employee.

On May 28, 1985, David Jacobsen, the administrator of the American University Hospital in Beirut, where most of the people treated were Muslims, was taken hostage on his way to work. No Islamic leaders denounced the perpetrators. After Jacobsen's release in November 1986, his 18 months of torture were ignored by a U.S. media more intent on castigating the Reagan administration for an "arms for hostages deal" than in punishing his captors. The same situation applied for all the other Beirut hostages.

On Feb. 17, 1988, Marine Col. William Higgins was kidnapped and subsequently murdered in Lebanon. Though the United Nations filed a complaint that one of its observers had been "taken," Islamic leaders were again unheard. When Higgins' remains were finally recovered in 1991, the silence of the U.S. media was deafening.

By Feb. 21, 2002, when Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was butchered in Pakistan, the jihadists had moved to a new level. Photographs and audiotapes were deemed inadequate to depict the horror they intended to show us -- and their adherents. Daniel Pearl's murderers held him for a week -- while they plotted his brutal murder -- in front of a video camera. And while Islamic leaders were once again mute, this time the U.S. media responded to the horror. Danny Pearl was, after all, one of their own. The European press seized on this aspect of the atrocity and decried the heinous act as "an attack on freedom of the press." That Daniel Pearl was a Jewish American was hardly mentioned.

On March 31 this year, just prior to my third trip to Iraq, four American civilians, escorting a shipment of humanitarian food and medicine, were ambushed, shot, mutilated and dragged through the streets of Fallujah, before their bodies were burned and hung from a bridge over the Euphrates.

When I arrived in the city days later, I was informed that the perpetrators had taken pains to notify members of the Arab press prior to the grisly event. The U.S. media pointed out that the security contractors should have known better than to drive through a city where the United States was so highly resented. No Islamic leader rose to condemn the atrocity.

Days later, on April 15, jihadists in Iraq released the videotaped murder of Fabrizio Quattrocchi, a 36-year-old Italian. Though the press praised the courage of the young security guard facing certain death by proclaiming, "Now I'm going to show you how an Italian dies," members of the Euro-media immediately called for the withdrawal of "foreign troops from Iraq" and the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It was a one- or two-day story in the U.S. media. From Ramadi, Iraq, I looked in vain for any Islamic leader who would rise to denounce the assassins or condemn the killing.

I was in Fallujah when the story broke about the abuses at Abu Ghraib. The soldiers and Marines I was with agreed that while the actions described were inexcusable, this was "old news" because it was about activity that had occurred months before. Since only a small handful of people were involved, we all naively assumed that this would be a one- or two-day story. The events, and those engaged in them, had all been investigated. Those responsible had been -- or were in the process of -- being punished or prosecuted. There was no cover-up. The military had already begun to rectify the command and organizational deficiencies that led to the abuses.

We were wrong. We sadly underestimated the effect of such a story in a political year.

Because of the twisted, sado-sexual nature of the photographs taken at Abu Ghraib, the prison abuse story is deemed to be more "newsworthy" than a long litany of jihadist atrocities. The silence of the sheiks, mullahs and imams isn't worthy of newsprint. No broadcast minutes will be wasted on commentaries complaining about the lack of opprobrium from "moderate" Islamic leaders. The vivid horror of Nick Berg's bloody severed head is insufficient to usurp the "prison abuse" story from the headlines.

The U.S. media smell blood -- not of murdered Americans -- but of Donald Rumsfeld. Never underestimate our penchant for self-flagellation.

They're driven to it by their desperate poverty, we're told. They're uneducated and easily led, and manipulated into doing it by cunning leaders, we're told. Give them an economic fair shake and a college degree, and the problem will melt away.

I explain in Onward Muslim Soldiers why this isn't so, and now confirmation comes from a study reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, with thanks to Teri:

Suicide bombers are not all poor, uneducated, religious fanatics or madmen, as many people believe.

Research on the social and psychological background of terrorists show they tend to be more prosperous and better educated than most in their societies, and no more religious or irrational than the average person.

A study of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide terrorists from the late 1980s to 2003 found only 13 per cent were from a poor background, compared with 32 per cent of the Palestinian population in general, according to a New Scientist report.

Suicide bombers were also three times more likely to have gone on to higher education than the general population, Claude Berrebi, an economist at Princeton University in the US, found.

Ariel Merare, a psychologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel, said he had changed his view that most suicide bombers were mentally ill after studying the background of every suicide bomber in the Middle East since 1983.

"In the majority you find none of the risk factors normally associated with suicide, such as mood disorders or schizophrenia, substance abuse or a history of attempted suicide," he said. ...

Rohan Gunaratna, head of terrorism research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the findings had overturned popular ideas about terrorists. "They are like you and me," he said.

The experts said resistance groups tended to adopt suicide tactics when they were losing political ground to rival groups, and used psychological techniques to ensure recruits went through with the act.

A sense of duty to a brotherhood was the most important way rational people could be persuaded to kill themselves, said Scott Atran, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan.

Javed Anjum in the hospital after the beating (Compass Direct)

Last week I posted a story about a young Pakistani Christian who was tortured and killed after refusing to convert to Islam. This piece from AsiaNews (thanks to Nicolei) shows that this appalling crime has met only with yawns from the Pakistani authorities. An interview with Peter Jacob, executive secretary to the Bishops’ Peace and Justice Commission (which has decided to file a claim against the instigators of the crime):

How did you learn out about the violence a teacher and students inflicted on Javed Anjum, an 18-year old economics student at an Islamic school. And how did the Pakistani press start writing about it?

“(Anjum) said before dying the hospital, that he was tortured and harassed into converting (to Islam). His family had learned from him what happened. The persons accused of the crime didn't want the news to leak out to the press, but word soon got around as to what had happened. Then the Pakistani media, especially the English-language press, began writing about it.

What is the status of the Peace and Justice Commission’s involvement in this sad affair?

At the moment, our position is that we would like the case to be registered under proper provisions. This is what we demand. But it has not happened yet. It has been called a murder. This is true, and this was the first charge made in court. But there was no claim made about anyone being forced to convert (to Islam).

We don’t know how the situation will turn out, but we will continue to advance our requests. You see there have been cases of forced conversions and …strange deaths. Such cases deal with one of the biggest human rights abuse problems (in the world). And it’s commonplace here, not just an isolated incident. Thus we don’t know what the outcome will be. The Peace and Justice Commission has asked the government in Punjab, our province, not to merely to serve justice in Anjum’s case, but “to take long-term measures to root out religious hatred and promote obedience to law, while enforcing provisions against hate crimes."

What did Pakistani authorities have to say?

Not a word….We expected that at least the provincial administration would have issued a statement of condolence, or sent a representative to the funeral, or at least something that consoles the Christian community here.

How did the country’s Muslim population react to the news?

There is division within (Pakistan's) Muslim community. There are moderates and there are fundamentalists. Those responsible for the murder belong to a certain (extremist) religious group. These are the same people who are trying to hush up the story, who are trying protect the criminals, the converters. On the other hand we have support from moderate Muslims. There are many human rights organizations, NGOs and Muslims from major cities, like Lahore and Islamabad, who come forward to show their solidarity and have made attempts tried to speak out about what (really) happened.

Damage to the mosque has prompted calls for revenge and suicide attacks.

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - American tanks firing shells and heavy machine guns made their deepest incursion yet Friday into this stronghold of a cleric who launched an uprising last month against the U.S.-led coalition. One of Shia Islam's holiest shrines was slightly damaged by apparent gunfire, prompting calls for revenge and even suicide attacks.

Top aides of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to unleash more attacks across the once-calm Shiite south and in the fetid Shiite slums of slums of Baghdad. One even urged citizens to register for suicide squads, starting Saturday. Gunmen attacked the coalition headquarters in Nasiriyah, trapping international staff inside.

In Baghdad, Hamid al-Bayati, spokesman for a mainstream Shiite group represented on the Iraqi Governing Council, called the fighting in Najaf, the world's greatest center of Shiite theology and scholarship, a "big mistake" that could inflame sectarian passions.

Christians fleeing Kano

From The Barnabas Fund:

Many hundreds of innocent Christians have died in Kano since a Muslim protest turned into carnage in retaliation for Muslim deaths hundreds of miles away in Yelwe. Members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) say some 600 Christians have been killed so far this week in Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city. Andrew Ubah, the general secretary of the association in Kano, told Reuters on Thursday 13 May that he was keeping a tally based on reports from church leaders throughout the city. “Almost 600 people have been killed and 12 churches burned,” he said.

David Emmanuel, a factory worker told Reuters he saw two truckloads of corpses on Wednesday night, and he counted at least 30 bodies in the street. Elsewhere, correspondents have seen 35 mostly burned and mutilated bodies.

The official police tally of 30 that remains more or less static from Wednesday night is belied by the overflowing morgue and the constant stream of eye-witness reports from all quarters of the city. Bodies were being discovered on Thursday and because the main hospital mortuary was full were taken to undisclosed locations, according to the Red Cross. “Not all cases are reported, especially cases in which relatives have already buried their dead,” said Aminu Inua, a Red Cross official in Kano.

“Hundreds of people were killed,” said Christian leader Mark Amani. “Some corpses were burned in wells. Even little children were killed. The bodies of pregnant women were ripped open and their bodies burned,” he said.

Sources report the killing of several hundred people when defiant mobs of Muslim youths armed with clubs and machetes and cutlasses rampaged at about 1 a.m. on Thursday despite a police imposed curfew. Mobs went from house to house looking for Christian victims and in some cases trapped the occupants inside and torched the houses. Police have been issued orders to shoot armed rioters on sight. While Muslims have complained that the police have killed innocent civilians as a result, they do not mean the scores of hacked bodies that lie in the streets and in charred buildings and vehicles according to residents.

There are fears that the number of deaths may continue to grow since an order was circulated by Umar Ibrahim Kabo, the most senior Mulim cleric in Kano, for all Christians to leave the area by today, Friday 14 May. More than 30,000 residents, mostly Christians, have been driven from their homes in Kano officials said on Thursday, a figure confirmed by Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon in a telephone conversation with Barnabas Fund.

Barnabas Fund wishes to announce an urgent appeal to support the survivors, those displaced from their homes and the families of Christian victims in Kano. You can make a donation to help the pastors, their families and their churches through a Barnabas Fund office or via our website donation page. Remember to specify Project 39-500.

The Vatican warning is directed to Catholic women. What about Catholic men who may marry Muslim women? Not a problem: such marriages are forbidden by Islamic law.

The Vatican will probably get lambasted for intolerance over this; Reuters tut-tuts the Catholics in this "news" story ("likely to fuel mistrust between the world's two largest religions"). But in light of Sura 4:34 (which sanctions wife-beating) of the Qur'an and other elements of Islamic law regarding women, it's entirely reasonable.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican warned Catholic women on Friday to think hard before marrying a Muslim and urged Muslims to show more respect for human rights, gender equality and democracy.

Calling women "the least protected member of the Muslim family," it spoke of the "bitter experience" western Catholics had with Muslim husbands, especially if they married outside the Islamic world and later moved to his country of origin.

The comments in a document about migrants around the world were preceded by remarks about points of agreement between Christians and Muslims but they seemed likely to fuel mistrust between the world's two largest religions.

The document said the Church discouraged marriages between believers in traditionally Catholic countries and non-Christian migrants.

It hoped Muslims would show "a growing awareness that fundamental liberties, the inviolable rights of the person, the equal dignity of man and woman, the democratic principle of government and the healthy lay character of the state are principles that cannot be surrendered."

When a Catholic woman and Muslim man wanted to marry, it said, "bitter experience teaches us that a particularly careful and in-depth preparation is called for." ...

If the marriage is registered in the consulate of a Muslim country, the document said, the Catholic must be careful not to sign a document or swear an oath including the shahada, the Islamic profession of faith, which would amount to converting. ...

The document highlighted the contrasting approaches the Vatican has taken in recent years toward Islam, which has emerged as a strong rival for souls, especially in Africa.

Pope John Paul has broken ground in dialogue with Muslims and even prayed in a mosque in Damascus. He won plaudits in the Muslim world for his strong opposition to the Iraq war.

But Vatican officials and leading Catholic prelates have expressed increasingly critical views about the spread of Islam and the challenge this poses for Catholicism.

The Vatican's top theologian, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, said earlier this week the West "no longer loves itself" and so was unable to respond to the challenge of Islam, which was growing because it expressed "greater spiritual energy."

The egregious McCain

John McCain seeing visions of the Gestapo, and other hysteria — neatly eviscerated by Diana West in the Washington Times:

When the White House promised to punish the murderers who sawed off Nicholas Berg's head, a spokesman said the crime "showed the true nature of the enemies of freedom."

Wrong. Or, rather, not wrong, but vague, and perilously so. It's not every enemy of freedom who shouts, "Allahu akbar [God is great]!" while committing murder in front of a camera. What Mr. Berg's heinous killing showed was the true nature of fundamentalist and unreformed Islam, according to the Koran. "Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks," says verse 47-4 in the Marmaduke Mohammad Pickthall translation. This and other venerable translations stand until modern Muslims renounce the principle of jihad, or holy war against the "infidel."

Until that happens, pulling the political veil over the face of the enemy is not just a fashionable nod to political correctness. Failing to unmask the brutal face of modern jihad is a possibly suicidal lapse of logic and nerve that dangerously has obscured the wider war on "terror" — which, of course, is the euphemism of choice for Islamist jihad.

Mincing words also contributes to something else, something that has emerged from the flames of the utterly surreal conflagration over Abu Ghraib that still threatens to snuff our entire military mission. Only a politically correct ruling class (including Big Media) that converses in the opaque terms of "war on terror" and "enemies of freedom" — having long learned to ignore assorted truths about sex, test scores, race, religion and body strength — could regard Abu Ghraib with the tunnel vision necessary to shut out all the world — past, present and future. Only the permanently and willfully blinkered can see in the finite abuses at the Baghdad prison — abuses long halted and in the process of being rectified — the epic horror of the age, while a war rages on.

But it is not just prison guards run amok that draw fire. Big guns now train their sights on the interrogation techniques used on all prisoners of the war on Islamist jihad, including top leaders and operatives of al Qaeda. Such a venture reveals a heedless ignorance of the fanatical barbarism of the jihadist enemy we face. That is, our jihad-obsessed enemy — to whom "martyrdom" means paradise and 72 virgins (or 72 white raisins, depending upon the translation), to whom killing as many "infidels" as possible on the battlefield means martyrdom, and to whom marketplaces and hotels and office buildings mean battlefields — has evolved outside the Western tradition and far from the principles of the Geneva Convention.

Not that politically correct lawmakers have noticed. In calling for the administration to abide "unequivocally" by the Geneva Convention regarding all detainees, including terrorists, Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois Democrat, speculated whether such a declaration would "also serve to help American prisoners." In other words, we'll serve tea and crumpets, and they'll serve tea and crumpets — and not hack off the head of an American Jew who dared to enter Iraq to build radio towers.

And if we can't make nice across the board, we're Nazis — this, according to Sen. John McCain. Telling radio host Don Imus not to downplay the scandal of Abu Ghraib, the Arizona Republican said, "If you go down that slippery slope, OK — you decide, OK, well, this torture is OK — then what's the difference between us and the Gestapo?" One enormous difference — and how dispiriting to need to remind the senator of this — is the motive involved. When the CIA, say, dunks September 11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed into a pool on something called a water-board, as the New York Times breathlessly reported, the CIA is trying to find which shopping mall may contain Osama bin Laden's dirty bomb. When the Gestapo used such techniques (and far worse), the Gestapo was trying to find hidden Jews to kill.

How bizarre: We seem to have become more enamored of our self-image of heavenly stainlessness than we are inspired by our fight to survive. Victory — which is surely just, in that it means liberty and justice for more — takes a back seat on this "high road." From a small spot on the national escutcheon, something for military justice to wipe clean, has erupted a wild epidemic of collective guilt, with stricken pols assuming holier-than-thou poses that would topple in a heap were reality allowed to impinge.

Such as Nicholas Berg's grisly murder. Someone should ask whether it's really necessary to flagellate ourselves into a state of moral chastity before trying to ensure that his short life — like the short lives of hundreds of brave souls killed trying to mend a broken country and save their own — was not lost in vain.

William Webb says here, "At least nobody has rolled out the Nazi comparisons—yet." I think Bill must have written this before McCain made his Nazi comparison!

I had turned off the news for the past week--tired of the endless self-flagellation over juvenile pictures of naked Iraqi prisoners being touted as horrific abuse beyond the pale of human dignity. At least nobody has rolled out the Nazi comparisons—yet.

The media has been bad enough--endless words and the pictures and analysis bombarding the senses for 24 hours-a-day. But then, we've have to listen to murderers like the butcher of Chappaquiddick, Ted Kennedy, and other democrats like Senator Byrd shaking and twitching from the Senate floor creating another political incident in their obsessive hatred of President Bush.

Well, Teddy and Bob and Dan Rather and all you other self-serving hypocrites--here's a website where you can view real brutality and give you all a clue as to the character of the people we are fighting: drive.hostnow.biz/iraq/iraq2vediow.zip

These are savages and barbarians killing in the name of Allah.

This is standard practice--from the 9/11 hijackers slitting several passengers throats, to the torture and killing of Danny Pearl, to the beheading of tourists in Pakistan by Omar Sheik.

Let's not forget the rape and torture of American women military people in both Iraq Wars.

Apparently none of this has been as newsworthy or as politically expedient as the naked Iraqis.

And of course, none of the media will point out that this "slaughter" is celebrated in the Koran and the Islamist barbarians use the Koran as justification. Political correctness has been drilled into the heads of these politicians and journalists for so long they have lost any capacity to ask unpleasant questions concerning the so-called "religion of peace."

Nicholas Berg, may God rest his soul, got to experience the Islamists love.

I predict you will see less than one-thousandth of the coverage and analysis of the beheading of Nicholas Berg and that the religious motivation and justification won’t be the lead story on CBS news or above the fold of the New York Times.

As I have written many times, this is a religious war, stupid, and until our mainstream media and politicians accept that Islamists have declared war we will continue to see dead Americans.

We are fighting religiously-motivated savages and barbarians. People who behead, rape and practice real torture as a matter of course.

They all come from one religion.

The courageous Nonie Darwish reflects on Nick Berg and Abu Ghraib:

In Moslem culture, during the Daheyah (Sacrifice) feast, Moslems bring a lamb into the home for a ritual slaughter accompanied by the invocation ‘Allahu Akbar’, in the presence of the family and the children. Now we see the Daheyah of Radical Islam to be Jews such as Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl, who were beheaded with no mercy, accompanied by the same pious invocation. This is a perversion of Islam, but don’t expect an apology.

To expect Arab and Moslem leadership to apologize for the barbaric murder of Nick Berg is a reflection of the West’s naïve and wrong expectations of Arab culture. In the Arab world to take responsibility and say sorry is taken as an unmanly sign of weakness that may get a person into more trouble. Those who admit guilt, even if it is accidental, are given no mercy and may end up taking all the blame and being brutally punished. It is the norm for Arabs to deny a fact (however blatant) and blame others rather than admit to the wrongdoing and apologize. Honesty is not rewarded.

Bush apologized for the humiliation and abuse of Iraqi prisoners. His apology was taken by the Arab media and the ‘Arab Street’ as an admission of guilt and a sign of weakness. It was not appreciated as taking responsibility to find out the truth behind the events that happened due to the actions of a few Americans.

If 19 Americans had committed a terrorist act comparable to 9/11, and belonged to a terrorist American network against any nation on earth, the reactions on all sides would have been very different than what we have seen, due to our cultural differences. Any sitting US president would apologize and take immediate action to stop the terror coming from America. Americans would be outraged. In our ‘politically correct’ liberal culture, the media and academia would urge all of our citizens to a collective self-psychoanalysis, to uncover the ‘root causes’ of how WE could have caused such evil behavior. They might find the American terrorists to be victims of the American culture that drove them to become monsters, and will blame themselves and everything American for their behavior. A cultural war will break out with each camp blaming the other for the creation of American terrorists. Money to fund studies will start pouring into college campuses and think tanks to get to the bottom of the issue.

This is not the case in the Arab World.

Terrorism is the direct result of the radical Islamist culture that is flourishing all over the Arab world and promoted by Arab media, governments, educational system and religious leaders. Terrorists are given training camps, money, power and respect for doing God’s work for Jihad. Arabs’ understand that they cannot win a war against the West and all they can succeed doing is to indoctrinate one generation after another for martyrdom. Their secret weapon is the anger and rage of the Arab street. It is a powerful weapon that they treasure, and they will not allow the West to unmask the lies of the daily dose of fear and anger fed to the beast on the Arab Street waiting for the next explosion. How can anyone expect them to apologize for a deep-rooted cultural and religious mission to defeat or kill infidels, especially Jews? Most Arabs still blame Israel for 9/11 and even 3/11 in Spain. How can we expect these countries to sincerely cooperate with the international community to end terror and its barbaric brutality? Americans should stop judging other cultures with the American value system, and especially stop expecting Arab/Moslem culture to respond rationally according to Western standards. Arab power is derived from oil, terror and manipulative PR campaigns. They know it and we know it, so let us stop kidding each other with false expectations.

Most Arabs do understand America’s current dilemma in Iraq and they do not want to sincerely help. They know we want to leave honorably after stabilizing the situation and a new Iraqi democratic government is in business. We set a date in June to hand over power. You would think that if they sincerely want America to leave they would be at their best behavior in order for the US to have no excuse and leave, but the opposite is happening. They have increased their violence and attacks and brutality. Many say “we want a Vietnam with America” and can’t wait for an excuse to exhibit rage and violence. Arab media and the power behind it are promoting a bloody scenario. They want to see America leave humiliated even if Iraqis benefited by the removal of Saddam and even if it is at the expense of the Iraqi people and the region. Above all they do not want to see America, a non-Moslem Superpower, as the cause for Iraq’s wellbeing, especially when all the Arab countries stood by doing nothing to stop Saddam’s brutal regime. Only Arabs leaders should be heroes in the Arab world; not Bush. It is a matter of pride.

Arab media understand that America has no desire to occupy Iraq, but they never miss an opportunity to give the raging masses their daily dose of fear of America. “America wants to hand over the keys of Iraq to Sharon” was a recent heading in Egyptian newspapers. Arab games are exposed and our leftist media should not cover up the game.

There are many reasons for Arab and Moslem silence. However, fear of speaking out is no longer a credible excuse. Day in and day out all we see out of the Arab world is anger, revenge and a culture out of control. The Arab street is afraid of Arab leaders and Arab leaders afraid of the Arab street; and both can only get out their frustration on America, Europe, Israel and innocent victims such as Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl.

Caroline Glick

Caroline Glick inveighs against the dhimmitude of media and government analyists in this refreshingly clear-eyed piece. From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Margelfand:

Over the past few weeks reports have abounded about the widening berth of the forces of global jihad. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that al-Qaida linked groups are operating in Africa from the Western Sahara to the Horn of Africa. The jihadis in countries like Niger, Chad and Mali are being financed, trained and indoctrinated by religious authorities from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

The recent elections in Indonesia ended with neither major party receiving much more than one fifth of the popular vote. In Indonesia's parliamentary system this means that the small Islamic parties will be able to exert great influence over the new government which will need to bring them into the governing coalition to rule
.
In Nigeria this week Muslim mobs brandishing machetes butchered some thirty Christians in the streets of the city of Kano. The panicked Christians ran for shelter in police stations as they watched their co-religionists butchered and set aflame before their eyes.

The problems in Nigeria began in 1999 after elections brought an end to military rule in the oil rich country. Today 11 of Nigeria's 36 states are governed by Sharia law. Rights of women and non-Muslims in these areas have been summarily destroyed. Nigeria's turn to jihad has been spurred on by foreign Arabs. Palestinians, Saudis, Syrians and Sudanese have all been acting as advisers to the mullahs in Nigeria and have been actively funding and training the Muslim militias that have killed thousands of Christians there over the past few years.

In the Philippines, President Gloria Arroyo has given de facto autonomy over large swathes of the country to an al-Qaida linked group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front operating in the southern parts of the archipelago dominated by the country's Muslim minority. The MILF too is supported by the Saudis and other Arab states with money, arms and jihad indoctrination.

Both western intelligence agencies and casual observers are casting worried glances at Europe itself. With Western Europe's large and increasingly extremist Muslim minorities demanding cultural autonomy while preaching and funding and training men for jihad, many EU member states are looking more and more like Islamic countries everyday.

All of this should be taken into account when we look at the bloody toll of the Palestinian offensive in Gaza and when we observe American confusion in Iraq today. It should be taken into account because we must realize that our enemies are engaged in a world war against the non-Muslim world. When we consider our daily battles on our limited terrain we must not allow our perceptions to be distorted by that directly before us.

Yet undermine our perceptive powers we have. Although the Palestinians, like their Iranian and Hizbullah overlords have consistently stated that their aim is to destroy Israel in stages, we Israelis refuse to see the overall picture of their strategy. They execute Tali Hatuel and her daughters on the day of the Likud poll and we fail to understand the message. It is not, "Get out of Gaza, or else." It is, "Regardless of what you desire, we will push you out of Gaza as we pushed you out of Lebanon and as we will push you out of the rest of Palestine that you refer to as Israel."

But we don't see it that way. Our press, like our beleaguered and vain politicians, pushes a different story. In their story, there is no enemy, only Israel. There is no jihad, only settlers provocatively daring to live in their homes and soldiers carrying too much explosive material in their armored personnel carriers and tanks. It is the settlers who "endanger" their children and the soldiers who placed too much TNT in their APCs who are responsible for their deaths.

We do not see news analyses of Palestinian societal derangement that manifests itself in cannibalism. We do not see debates of what an Israeli defeat in Gaza means to a society bred from the cradle to the grave on global jihad and its requisite genocide of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel and beyond.

Indeed, we see no discussion of Gaza as part of a larger whole – whether that whole be the entire Land of Israel or the entire non-Muslim world. Because we limit our gaze with super telephoto lenses to see only that immediately before us, our picture of the war being waged against us is taken up almost entirely by ourselves with the enemy barely visible at the outer edges of the frame.

Rather than learning from our mistakes, over the past month or so we have seen our American allies repeat them in Iraq. There, the US has limited its gaze to itself. Can the US forces enter into sacred Shiite towns or not? Can US forces engage in house to house battles, risking civilian casualties in Fallujah or not? Can the US empower its allies and weaken its enemies in Iraq without being perceived (by itself) as imperialistic? Can the US continue its occupation of Iraq and campaign to bring freedom to this malformed Arab state when a handful of its soldiers besmirch the honor of their uniforms by abusing Iraqi enemy prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison?

The questions here are not turned to the enemy that transforms sacred cities into armed camps and hides behind civilians, rendering them either fellow terrorists or hostages. The question, why would the US send 135,000 US troops to liberate Iraq only to have them turn it over to the same UN supported Ba'athist forces they were brought to Iraq to defeat is resoundingly ignored.

Bashar Assad

More on Syria's attempts to placate their restive and growing radical Muslim population. From AP, with thanks to Miriam:

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday challenged the basis of U.S. sanctions on his country and said he would not expel Palestinian militant groups as demanded by the United States. Assad disputed the case the Bush administration had made to impose the embargo, saying Syria does not have weapons of mass destruction and there is no evidence of foreign fighters crossing the border from Syria to Iraq.

"We have always asked the administration to give us one passport or one name or evidence of that (border infiltration) happening. So far, we have not had that happen," Assad told a group of American editors. ...

President Bush imposed the sanctions Tuesday. They ban all U.S. exports to Syria except food and medicine and they forbid direct flights between Syria and the United States. The penalties came as a response to allegations that Syria was supporting terrorism and undermining U.S. efforts in neighboring Iraq. Bush signed the order under a law that Congress passed by an overwhelming vote late last year.

Tel Aviv bomber Hanif studied Islam in Damascus

This BBC article (thanks to Miriam) tells us that while Syria has a strong tradition of moderate Islam, radical Wahhabism is now spreading there. It doesn't, of course, explain why. But the radical appeal is always the same: they present themselves as representing "pure Islam," and they have the texts to back up their claims. Moderates worldwide are usually moderate because they ignore those texts — not because they have a response to the radicals that is coherent and convincing on Islamic grounds. Sheikh Kuftaro, despite all his talk of moderation here, called for jihad against the US last winter. Early in the Iraq war he issued a statement saying: "I call on Muslims everywhere to use all means possible to thwart the aggression, including martyr operations [that is, suicide attacks] against the belligerent American, British and Zionist invaders. . . . Resistance to the belligerent invaders is an obligation for all Muslims, starting with (those in) Iraq."

More and more people are finding comfort and inspiration in religion and, even in secular Syria, religion is becoming more important.

More Syrians are going to the mosque, more women are wearing the hijab and underground women's religious discussion groups are mushrooming even though they are banned.

The austere Wahhabi brand of Islam practised by Osama bin Laden is also growing more popular and clerics are calling for jihad in Iraq and Palestine.

But Syria remains one of the countries in the region where moderate Islam is still thought to be the dominant trend as Christians, Sunnis, Shias and Alawites continue to co-exist.

'Great role'

At the Abu Nour mosque in Damascus, every Friday the faithful gather around Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro, the grand mufti of the republic and great advocate of inter-faith dialogue.

The message there is one of moderation, and prayers are said for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Sheikh Salaf Kuftaro, the son of the grand mufti, says there is no room for political Islam on the agenda of the foundation.

"We try through our teachings to inculcate in the minds of our students of the Sharia the notion of moderation, tolerance and dialogue with non-Muslims and respect," he said.

"We believe this is one of the pillars of our religion, Islamic schools such as ours have a great role at a national and Muslim level, at a time when Islam is being accused of being a religion of extremism and terrorism."

Of the 5,000 students who attend classes at the foundation, around 1,000 are foreigners from all over the world. Americans, Japanese and Norwegians all come to study Arabic and Islam.

For those whose Arabic is not advanced enough yet, the Friday sermon is simultaneously translated into several languages, including English and Turkish.

"I've chosen this particular place, Abu Nour, from its reputation of being a balanced teaching school of the religion," said Mansour, a 22-year-old American from Atlanta, Georgia.

"This school is not about debating, it's not about having dialogues on current events. This school is about teaching the language and the fundamentals of religion and that's what I mean with balance.

"It doesn't try to have a mental influence on your political views because we do hear about other schools which want their students to be more indoctrinated with their philosophies."

Authorities worried

Certainly, some people seem to be coming away from Syria with a less tolerant message.

In April last year, Asif Muhammad Hanif, a British Muslim who had studied Islam and Arabic in Damascus, blew himself up in an Israeli pub in Tel Aviv.

After the bombings in Turkey last year against British and Jewish targets, Syria expelled 22 Turks, three of whom had been studying at the Abu Nour foundation.

Sheikh Kuftaro said the foundation and other Islamic institutes could not be held responsible for the actions of every person that once attended the school.

Although this has also been the official line, in March Syria announced it would no longer allow new foreign students to register at the Islamic schools, a sign that that the authorities are worried.

"You can never be sure whether the energy of fundamentalists is going to be invested in anti-Americanism or domestically," said Syrian analyst Samir Taqi.

"As long as the Americans are behaving this way and Muslims feel humiliated by the US, I think it is difficult to imagine that these fundamentalist currents are going to be used against the regime but it depends on developments."

For now, the regime is still tolerating the growing Islamist trend in Syria as it diverts people's frustrations towards the outside world - specifically the Israelis and the Americans.

Columnist Hamid Golpira has written a compact little column in the Tehran Times (thanks to MEMRI) explaining what jihad is all about. Interestingly enough, his explanation is exactly the same as the one I outline in Onward Muslim Soldiers: it involves an inner, spiritual struggle, but also a physical battle to spread the hegemony of Islam, "inviting" non-Muslims to accept Islam and subjugating those who refuse as second-class dhimmis.

This is another demonstration of the fact that the tenets of violent Islam that are usually ascribed by Western analysts to the Wahhabis alone are held by all sects of Islam, including the Shi'ites of Islam. Remember also that when he speaks about not attacking civilians, that the definition of civilians in this context has proven to be extremely elastic — cf. Israel and the World Trade Center.

(I had a bit of trouble getting the direct link to the original Tehran Times piece to work. If you have trouble, go to their main page and search for "jihad." The article is entitled "True Jihad.")

Once I was the student of a very great shaikh. He taught me and the other students many things. May Allah bless him for teaching us so many things and accept his jihad of teaching.

Once our teacher taught us about the rules of jihad. He said that every Muslim must first do jihad-i-nafs, the struggle against the desires of the lower self, for self-purification. Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him and his family) said that jihad-i-nafs is the great jihad. We should reflect upon this deep hadith.

After performing jihad-i-nafs to a satisfactory level and committing oneself to lifelong performance of jihad-i-nafs, a Muslim can do the other jihad, the lesser jihad.

This jihad determines the three types of people in the world: (1) the true Muslims; (2) the non-Muslims who are not enemies of Islam actively fighting against Islam; and (3) the enemies of Islam, which includes all munafiqin (hypocrites who claim to be Muslims).

The true Muslims are our brothers and sisters and we must never fight against them. Also, we must never fight against the non-Muslims who are not enemies of Islam, since some of them live in Islamic countries and have paid the jeziya tax, making them dhimmis (people protected by Islam), and others are citizens of non-Muslim countries who are not personally fighting against Islam or assisting a war against Islam.

As far as the enemies of Islam, we are only permitted to fight against them if we have done everything in our power to avoid war and to encourage them to stop being enemies of Islam and to join one of the other two groups.

Our wise teacher explained it to us like this. First we must invite them to Islam. Even if they declare war against us, we should invite them to Islam by calling a one-day truce for them to think over our invitation. If after one day they embrace Islam, we should accept them as Muslim brothers and sisters and war has been averted.

If they do not embrace Islam, we should invite them to pay the jeziya tax and become dhimmis or to make a peace treaty with the Muslims, and we should again call a one-day truce for them to think over our proposal. If after one day they decide to pay the jeziya tax and become dhimmis or to make a peace treaty with the Muslims, we should accept their decision, and again war has been averted.

However, if they do not embrace Islam and do not decide to become non-Muslims who are not enemies of Islam but decide to make war against the Muslims, then, under such circumstances, we are allowed to wage war against them, as long as we observe all the other rules of jihad, such as treating prisoners fairly and not attacking civilians. And Islam teaches that genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and terrorism are always haram (forbidden).

Once, before a battle, Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him and his family) gave Imam Ali (peace be upon him) a flag on which was inscribed la ilaha illa ‘llah (there is no God but Allah) and told him to go out to the battlefield to invite the enemies to Islam while carrying the banner. And Imam Ali (peace be upon him) went out to the battlefield carrying the banner of Islam and inviting the enemies to Islam. This is the best example of true jihad.

Moussaoui, the "20th hijacker"

Some interesting revelations: the CIA says that Zarqawi himself, the notorious Al-Qaeda operative in Iraq, killed Nick Berg. Also, the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after his computer password was found in the possession of Zacarias Moussaoui. It's strange, and stranger still with Berg's father saying of the murderers, "They did not know what they were doing. They killed their best friend."

From CBS, with thanks to LGF:

A CIA official said Thursday that U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was, in "high probability," the person shown on a video beheading American Nicholas Berg, based on an analysis of the voice on the video.

The speaker on the video, now believed to be al-Zarqawi, reads a lengthy statement criticizing Islamic scholars and taunting the crusaders. Standing alongside four other militants wearing headscarves and masks to disguise themselves, al-Zarqawi then kills Berg.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters Thursday in Baghdad that it appears al-Zarqawi was responsible. The U.S. military has already posted a $10 million reward for Zarqawi for having orchestrated some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Iraq.

Initially, Berg's murder seemed to be a case of an eccentric young American who was in the wrong place at the worst possible time -- just as the revelations of American mistreatment of iraqi prisoners were coming to light.

But CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports on what is turning into a bizarre mystery with a connection to 9/11.

U.S. officials say the FBI questioned Berg in 2002 after a computer password Berg used in college turned up in the possession of Zaccarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative arrested shortly before 9/11 for his suspicious activity at a flight school in Minnesota.

The bureau had already dismissed the connection between Berg and Moussaoui as nothing more than a college student who had been careless about protecting his password.

But in the wake of Berg's gruesome murder, it becomes a stranger than fiction coincidence -- an American who inadvertently gave away his computer password to one notorious al Qaeda operative is later murdered by another notorious al Qaeda operative.

Iraqi police arrested him because of his name and an Israeli stamp on his passport. From The Age:

Hugo Infante, 31, a Chilean photographer said he re-met Mr Berg around April 6 when the American returned to Baghdad, two weeks after he said he was going to Mosul for two days on business. "He said: 'They arrested me because I had a Jewish last name and an Israeli stamp in my passport.' Then the Iraqi police put him with the US military because they thought he was a spy.

"Nick told me all this. He wasn't mad. It was just an adventure for him. He said: 'This shit happens. It was bad luck.' "

In the Arab world, any indication that someone is a Jew or has links with Israel can be potentially fatal, as Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was beheaded on video in Pakistan two years ago, found out to his cost.

Mr Berg, 26, an independent businessman, came to Iraq to repair communications towers and had no affiliation with the US Government, officials said. In a lawsuit filed in the US District Court in Philadelphia, Mr Berg's parents contend that his incarceration, which began with his arrest on March 24, prevented him from returning to the US on a flight that was to have arrived in New York on March 30.

As arrangements were made instead to fly Mr Berg's remains to Kuwait and then to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, important questions about his death remained unanswered, including why he was detained for nearly two weeks and how and when he was abducted and killed.

"He knew who he was and he was not unaware of the risks here," said Andrew Duke, 49, a Colorado businessman who drank beer with Mr Berg at the hotel the night before he was abducted, apparently on the way to Baghdad International Airport. Mr Duke said Mr Berg had given him a similar account of what happened in Mosul. "His attitude was it was all a bit of fun (being arrested). Inconvenient, but in the bigger picture, not a big deal," Mr Duke said.

"How did it happen? All you have to do is be at a checkpoint and not take it seriously."

Dan Senor, spokesman for the US-led coalition in Iraq, insisted on Wednesday that Mr Berg was arrested and held by Iraqi police and was never in American custody, although the FBI visited him three times and US military police checked that he was being treated properly.

"My understanding is that they suspected that he was involved/engaged in suspicious activities," Mr Senor said, referring to the Iraqi police.

The FBI released a statement indicating that coalition authorities had warned Mr Berg that the environment was dangerous but that he had refused offers to help get him out of Iraq safely.

Back in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the Berg family lashed out at US military officials for failing to do more to protect Mr Berg and disputed repeated US military statements that he was in the custody of Iraqi police.

Mr Berg's older brother, David, emerged from the family's home in suburban Philadelphia with a four-page email that he said was sent by Mr Berg just hours after he was freed from jail. He was freed on April 6, the day after the Berg family filed a lawsuit in the US that Nicholas was being held illegally by American forces. In the email, addressed to his parents, brother and sister, Mr Berg described the 13 days he spent in the Shirdta Iraqiyah station near Mosul, an Iraqi detention facility where he said the US military police supervised and trained Iraqi officers.

"The MPs were a little surprised to see an American in civilian clothing and I think out of formality and boredom they decided to do a background check, which involved CID," Mr Berg wrote, referring to the US Army's Criminal Investigation Division.

The next morning, Mr Berg described the questioning by the FBI agents as amicable but pointed. Among the questions he wrote that he was asked were: "Why was I in Iraq? Did I ever make a pipe bomb? Why was I in Iran?" He believed that their questions arose from some Farsi literature and a book about Iran that he carried.

Mr Berg wrote that after four days, he was transferred to a cell block that included prisoners charged with petty offences and suspected war criminals.

"Word had spread, due to the presence of certain items among my stuff, that I was Israeli," Mr Berg wrote, later noting that his passport contained an Israel stamp. "So I felt a bit like Arlo Guthrie walking into a jail full of mother-rapers and father-stabbers as an accused litterbug."

When he left the Baghdad hotel for the last time on April 10, he told Mr Infante he was heading for the airport but would return. He phoned his family on April 9. A month later, his body was discovered on a Baghdad roadside. On Tuesday, militants posted a grisly video showing his decapitation on a website linked to al-Qaeda.

Hizballah (Party of Allah)

It was un-Islamic, they say. Unfortunately, that is not an open-and-shut case. But it seems more likely anyway, from the looks of this story, that Hizballah has decided that this particular terrorist act, as opposed to all the terrorist acts that they themselves have perpetrated, is un-Islamic because it has diverted attention from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, which was the best thing to happen to the terrorists since the 3/11 Madrid bombings and the Spanish election thereafter.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group condemned Wednesday the beheading of an American hostage by Iraqi militants as an ugly crime that flouted the tenets of Islam.

"Hizbollah condemns this horrible act that has done very great harm to Islam and Muslims by this group that claims affiliation to the religion of mercy, compassion and humane principles," the Shi'ite Muslim group said in a statement.

An Islamist Web site Tuesday carried a video clip of the execution of the man who identified himself as Nick Berg, with a statement saying a group linked to al Qaeda did it in revenge for the abuse of Iraqis by U.S. troops.

Hizbollah said Berg's killing had diverted the world's gaze from an escalating furor over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by occupation soldiers.

"The timing of this act that overshadowed the scandal over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in occupation forces prisons is suspect timing that aims to serve the American administration and occupation forces in Iraq and present excuses and pretexts for their inhumane practices against Iraqi detainees."

The Syrian-backed group which the United States deems "terrorist" said the executors' behavior was closer to "the Pentagon school -- the school of killing and occupation and crimes and torture and immoral practices that were exposed by the great scandal in occupation prisons."

Washington blames Hizbollah, whose attacks forced Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation, for 1980s suicide bombings against its embassy and Marines barracks and the abduction of Westerners in Beirut.

Carey: good dhimmi! (BBC)

George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury who spoke so courageously about various aspects of Islam and terrorism recently, has struck a very different posture in a new speech. From the BBC, with thanks to Susan:

"Those who took the trouble to read my lecture will have noted that I was as critical of the West, of Christianity and, for that matter, also sharply critical of Israel's policy with respect to Palestine," he said.

'Clash of civilisations'

Lord Carey, who retired in 2002, said his earlier concerns came from an increasing frustration over the lack of dialogue between different faiths and cultures and ill-founded talk of a "clash of civilisations".

"Our world is in great peril. I am talking rather about a sharp ideological tension that separates the West from another world, that we call Islamic and yet does not reflect the true values of Islam," he said.

What qualifies Carey to declare that the "true values of Islam" are not those held by the radicals? They themselves claim to be true Muslims. Who is Carey to say that they are not and cannot be what they claim to be? In fact, Islam is not monolithic, and that means that no one, Muslim or non-Muslim, can declare that something is "true Islam" and something else isn't, and have his decision accepted by the Islamic world. It is not enough for moderate Muslims to say that Osama and Co. don't represent "true Islam." They need to convince their fellow Muslims of that fact. But instead, the radicals wear the mantle of Islamic purity virtually unchallenged.

"The association of Islam with terrorism is an issue that concerns not only Muslims but us all.

"A seriously disturbing feature is the assumption that the clash [of civilisations] will arise not from extremists but from the very being, the heart of Islam.

"Once that assumption is believed then no dialogue is possible; a state of war exists between two quite different civilisations. We cannot be content with this assumption."

That's absurd, and Carey should know it. If terrorism really does come from "the heart of Islam," whatever Carey means by that, it will do no good to anyone -- and in fact will do serious harm -- to ignore or sugarcoat that fact. In other words, if Islam really does have a broad tradition sanctioning violence against unbelievers, which is obvious to anyone who peruses the Qur'an and Sunnah impartially, that fact needs to be addressed by all those, Muslim and non-Muslim, who claim to oppose terrorist activity. Only that will lead to concrete measures to deal with the situation. It's breathtaking to think that Carey really believes that assuming or pretending that this isn't so is the only thing that makes dialogue possible.

The West and Muslims had to think deeply about mutual suspicions, said the former archbishop.

"A good number of letters I have received since my [Rome] lecture reveal a worrying ignorance of Muslim people and suspicion of their presence in the United Kingdom," he said.

"It is assumed by many that Muslims wish to take over 'our' country and if we allow them to enter Britain in significant numbers they will in time make the country Islamic."

Gee, your Lordship, that's crazy! Where did these benighted Brits get an idea like that? Hmmm. Could it be from Sheikh Omar Bakri, who has said that he wants to see "the Black Flag of Islam" flying over #10 Downing Street? I guess the British non-Muslims who have noticed that Bakri and his ilk say such things are just racists, eh, Lord Carey?

Israeli policies condemned

Lord Carey said simply dismissing these fears would not prevent people believing them - in the same way that you could not brush aside Muslims' fears that Western dominance would lead to the destruction of their societies and cultures.

At the same time, he added, he recognised how Muslims were angered over the treatment of the Palestinians and, more recently, the war in Iraq.

"The policy of the present government in Israel towards Palestine is indefensible and America's bias in favour of Israel outrages millions of people throughout the world.

"I say this as someone who firmly believes in the right of Israel to exist. But the Palestinian people have become humiliated and downtrodden.

"Let us make no mistake about it, the plight of the Palestinian people is the emotional epicentre of our current troubles and healing this deep wound will go a substantial way to creating a more peaceful world."

But he added that nothing could justify suicide bombings.

Well, there's your problem right there, uh, your Lordship, Sir.

"I remain unapologetic about appealing to Muslim leaders to condemn outright such actions and to go on condemning.

"If Islamic leaders [in the Middle East] give support to a theology that suicide bombers are in actual fact 'martyrs', this not only lends strong theological endorsement to such military tactics but also discredits Islam world-wide."

Yep. It sure does. And in Onward Muslim Soldiers I explain that the moderates who condemn suicide bombing have never refuted the Islamic arguments used by radicals to justify that practice. But I suppose we're not supposed to notice that.

Issue Lord Carey his dhimmi badge; he's rejoined the ever-growing fellowship.

Lajolo

The Vatican foreign minister thinks that the prisoner abuse scandal was worse than the wanton murder of 3,000 people. Maybe Dan Schutte or the St. Louis Jesuits can whip out a new guitar hymn called "Moral Myopia" for this Sunday's Masses. From AP, with thanks to LGF:

ROME - The scandal of prisoner abuses by U.S. soldiers in Iraq has dealt a bigger blow to the United States than the Sept. 11 attacks, the Vatican foreign minister told an Italian newspaper.

In an interview published Wednesday in the Rome daily La Repubblica, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo described the abuses as "a tragic episode in the relationship with Islam" and said the scandal would fuel hatred for the West and for Christianity.

Hmm. Does Archbishop Lajolo have anything to say about the jihads against Christians in Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria, and elsewhere? Are they not tragic episodes in the relationship with Islam? To say nothing of 9/11 itself.

"The torture? A more serious blow to the United States than Sept. 11. Except that the blow was not inflicted by terrorists but by Americans against themselves," Lajolo was quoted as saying in La Repubblica.

Lajolo said that "intelligent people in Arab countries understand that in a democracy such episodes are not hidden and are punished ... Still the vast mass of people -- under the influence of Arab media -- cannot but feel aversion and hate for the West growing inside themselves."

And, he added, "the West is often identified with Christianity."

The remarks were not the first by Lajolo on the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In the wake of the scandal, he had said that a democracy should punish those responsible and their direct superiors.

The Vatican paper, L'Osservatore Romano, has also run some harsh comments in the past days. On Monday, it criticized what it called a Pentagon cover-up and took sharp aim at the photograph of a soldier holding a prisoner by a leash.

I haven't been following L'Osservatore. Does anyone know what it has reported about the jihads against Christians mentioned above, and others?

Sifton

Brooklyn ice cream shop owner Abad Elfgeeh pled guilty to funding jihad terrorism. But that wasn't good enough for the judge. From AP, with thanks to Miriam:

Judge Charles P. Sifton said the Yemeni proprietor, Abad Elfgeeh, had not understood the consequences of his guilty plea to illegally transferring money to bank accounts in Yemen, Switzerland, Thailand and China.

FBI agents arrested Elfgeeh last year after learning that $20 million had passed through the bank accounts of his Brooklyn-based business from 1997 and 2003. He pleaded guilty in October.

Elfgeeh, a naturalized U.S. citizen, remained under house arrest.

"Nobody, but most importantly not Mr. Elfgeeh, was clearly advised (about) ... his rights to a jury trial with the prospect of facing the sentences that he now faces," Sifton said.

Court filings portray Elfgeeh, 49, as a vital link in a system that moved millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and Hamas. Prosecutors also believe Elfgeeh was an associate of Sheik Mohammed Hasa Al-Moayad, a prominent Yemeni cleric charged with funneling millions to al-Qaida before the Sept. 11 attacks.

A pre-sentencing report by the U.S. Probation Department plays down any link to terrorism, saying federal agents assigned to the case had said "there appears to be little, if any, evidence to suggest that Elfgeeh had any role in financing terrorism or any knowledge that money he was transmitting was used to finance terrorism."

Frank Hancock, Elfgeeh's lawyer, added: "The only thing they have credible evidence for is the fact that he was operating a legal business that they say he needed a license for."

Prosecutors said they would try to strike another plea bargain. But, Elfgeeh, who faced the possibility of more than 10 years in prison, said he refused to accept a deal that included jail time.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Elfgeeh said as he left a federal court in Brooklyn. "America is still good.... It's still the best country in the world."

In a letter requesting a 10-year sentence, prosecutors say Elfgeeh told a confidential informant that he had sent money to al-Moayad, who has pleaded innocent to charges and is being held without bail.

Records show al-Moayad had called Elfgeeh's ice cream shop and kept its number in his phone book, prosecutors said. Before his extradition, Al-Moayad also told an FBI agent that Elfgeeh had helped him raise money in the United States.

Ali Bardakoglu

Will it work? I myself doubt it, but it's an intriguing attempt. Now if we could get sermons on equal rights for non-Muslims and freedom of conscience for converts from Islam, we'll be making real progress!

From the Chicago Tribune, with thanks to Nicolei:

ISTANBUL -- Turkey's young governing party, with roots in political Islam, has confounded critics and some supporters alike by transforming the nation's 70,000 mosques into bully pulpits from which preachers advocate women's rights and other democratic reforms.

The government's Directorate of Religious Affairs, which dictates the all-important Friday sermons, has instructed the nation's imams to turn their spiritual guidance to the arena of human rights and ridding Turkey of unwanted vestiges of traditional society.

Rather than the calls to holy war that echo through mosques in some parts of the world, worshipers here are being told that "honor killings," in which men murder female relatives suspected of tarnishing the family name, are a sin as well as against the law.

Those attending services also are hearing about formerly taboo subjects, such as a need for equality of the sexes in the home and the workplace and women's reproductive rights. ...

The architect of the transformation is Ali Bardakoglu, the head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, which regulates religious practices in Turkey.

A former academic with a mild manner, Bardakoglu has taken the unusual step of consulting numerous women's groups and physicians as part of an effort to craft sermons addressing women's issues. ...

Bardakoglu said the country's religious practices must parallel the modernization under way in other sectors of Turkish society. Part of that transformation, he said, involves using the influences of imams to point out that abuses of human rights, particularly women's rights, do not originate in Islam.

"In modern Middle Eastern society, when you say `women's rights,' not everyone or every country has the same understanding of the term," he said. "Not only in Turkey but also throughout the Islamic world, we are trying to help these issues be better understood."

Bardakoglu said the government would prefer that the imams write their own sermons, but he said the majority of the preachers could not deliver the right message because they lack the proper training and resources.

As a result, a committee of 16 religious scholars affiliated with his agency prepares the sermons for the Friday services, and the messages are dispatched across the country. The imams, who are civil servants, risk losing their jobs if they do not deliver the sermons, though they are free to make their own comments afterward.

Eventually, Bardakoglu said, he hopes a majority of imams will be allowed to craft their own sermons, reflecting the simultaneous progress of religion and democracy in Turkey.

Not everyone is pleased with the process. Some conservative preachers bristle at the control exercised from Ankara, the nation's capital, angered as much by the meddling in religious affairs as the messages.

"In a secular state, which Turkey is supposed to be, this is not right," said Abdullah Sezer, imam at a mosque in Istanbul's conservative Fatih neighborhood. "But we do not have religious freedom in this country, the way they have it in the United States."

But a younger imam, who asked that his name not be used, said the government plays an important role.

"As a citizen and as a Muslim, I think government control is helpful," he said. "Without it, some mosques could go out of control."

The government-dictated sermons would seem to violate the strict secular tenets on which modern Turkey was founded in 1923. But the definition of secular here differs slightly from the American practice of separating church and state by tolerating all religions equally. In Turkey, as in France, there is a stricter understanding of secularism, which results in a ban on wearing head scarves in schools or beginning a parliamentary session with a prayer.

Imams resistant

In an attempt to eradicate religion from government, the staunchly secular Turkish military in 1996 ousted a prime minister it considered too Islamic, and the state established control over the mosques. Through the Religious Affairs Directorate, the state pays the salaries of the imams and regulates how religious schools are run.

Bardakoglu acknowledged, however, that getting the imams not only to deliver the sermons but also to embrace their sentiments will take time.

"It is a challenge for the imams that people close their ears to such things," he said. "The resistance is normal, though. It shows that change has begun."

An area where change cannot come fast enough for most Turks is honor killings. There is no reliable record of the numbers of victims annually, but it is thought that relatives kill dozens of Turkish women every year for supposedly besmirching the family honor.

The problem was dramatized in late February when two brothers shot their 22-year-old sister to death as she lay in a hospital bed in Istanbul. She had given birth to a child out of wedlock a few months earlier and was recovering from an earlier attempt on her life.

The Religious Affairs Directorate reacted immediately, bumping another sermon off the schedule. Bardakoglu issued a statement saying that honor killings are only one of the many problems faced by women around the world.

"These problems do not arise from a religious source," he said at the time. "These problems are caused by social, cultural and economic reasons. ... The fact that 14 centuries after the Koran was revealed to us women still face discrimination is saddening and thought-provoking."

It doesn't surprise me at all, in light of Sura 4:34 and other passages. It will be interesting to see how the Turkish authorities deal with such material.

Imam Fawaz Damra (PBS)

Imam Fawaz Damra, the Cleveland cleric and erstwhile media darling as a famous "moderate" Muslim, now stands accused of lying about his ties to terrorist groups. And today he is in more hot water. From AP:

CLEVELAND - A Muslim cleric accused of hiding terrorist ties is now the subject of a federal investigation into his finances, according to court documents.

Fawaz Mohammed Damra, who already is charged with lying about his ties to terror on immigration forms, could be charged with tax evasion, money laundering, mail and wire fraud, according to documents filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors.

Damra, 41, leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, has pleaded innocent to a charge of obtaining U.S. citizenship by providing false information. He is accused of having ties to several terrorist groups, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and concealing those affiliations when he applied for citizenship.

If convicted in the trial scheduled to begin June 15, Damra could lose his citizenship and be sentenced to up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Prosecutors revealed the financial investigation of Damra while explaining in a memo to U.S. District Judge James Gwin how they plan to use evidence seized in a search of Damra's home in suburban Strongsville in January.

Authorities seized a computer, copies of sermons and political speeches, the manifesto of the terrorist Palestinian Islamic Jihad and stacks of financial records in the search.

The "speeches, sermons, notes and articles are in many respects critical, inflammatory, and inciting toward the U.S., U.S. policy, the state of Israel and to Israelis and Jewish people in general," federal prosecutor James V. Moroney wrote in the memo.

Damra's lawyers want Gwin to exclude the evidence seized from the cleric's home. They said Damra's wife, Nasreen, consented to the FBI search at the time but was so upset by her husband's arrest that her judgment was clouded. The lawyers also say the search was illegal because it went beyond the scope of an arrest warrant.

Yesterday there was a hearing in the Ryan Anderson case. Anderson, you may recall, is the Muslim National Guardsman who is accused of trying to join Al-Qaeda. Interestingly and without explanation, Muslim Army Chaplain James Yee, who was famously arrested and held on suspicion of espionage and then released with all charges dropped, attended the hearing. From the Seattle Times:

FORT LEWIS -- In a covered parking garage near Seattle Center, National Guard Spc. Ryan Anderson sat in an SUV with two men who spoke with Arabic accents.

"What organization do you think we are?" said one of the men, an undercover agent calling himself Mohammed.

"I believe you are what Americans call al-Qaida," Anderson replied.

Before the hourlong conversation was over, all of it captured by a hidden camera in early February, Anderson spoke of the possibility of defecting to join the terrorist group. He also offered to help train al-Qaida fighters to take out U.S. convoys in Iraq and shared ways of destroying U.S. tanks and killing their crews, according to the video.

When the other agent asked about Humvees equipped with added armor, Anderson replied that the vehicles were still vulnerable, particularly the windshield.

"It would be very easy to kill a driver, or the crew inside," he said.

The damaging video was shown yesterday in day one of a two-day preliminary hearing at Fort Lewis to determine if Anderson should face trial by court-martial on charges of attempting to aid the enemy. The hearing, known as an Article 32, continues today.

If convicted, he could face the death penalty, though no one has been put to death in the military in more than 40 years.

Anderson, a 26-year-old Muslim convert from Lynnwood, was arrested Feb. 12, just weeks before he was to deploy to Iraq with the Washington state National Guard's 81st Armored Brigade, where he served as a tank crewman.

Anderson, wearing desert fatigues, glasses and a crew cut, sat quietly throughout the hearing taking notes and conferring with his military attorney. Family members sat in the gallery behind him.

According to testimony, Anderson first came to the attention of investigators through a Montana judge who spent her off-hours hunting for terrorists on the Internet.

Shannen Rossmiller from Conrad, Mont., testified that she was monitoring a Web site that catered to Muslim extremists when she came across a posting by an "Amid Abdul Rashid."

After a series of searches, she traced the name to Anderson and, posing as a Muslim extremist, exchanged e-mails with him. Learning that he was a member of the military, and believing that he might be a threat, she contacted authorities.

Anderson told her "he was curious if a brother fighting for the wrong side could defect," Rossmiller testified.

Once alerted by Rossmiller, the FBI contacted military-intelligence officers, who set up a sting operation and traded dozens of text messages with Anderson. "Are you with us brother?" they asked in one. "Every step of the way, Inshallah (if God wills)," he replied, according to transcripts of the messages shown in court.

On Feb. 8, as his unit was undergoing pre-deployment training at Fort Lewis, Anderson met with undercover Officer Ricardo Romero at a bookstore in nearby Lakewood, Romero testified.

Romero said he asked if Anderson could provide a passport photo and a military manual. Anderson agreed, Romero said.

The next day, Anderson met with Romero and another agent near Seattle Center.

The prosecutors, Maj. Chris Jenks and Maj. Timothy MacDonnell, showed a videotape of the encounter.

On the tape, Anderson told the men that his mother was Jordanian and that he had converted to Islam because he "found no faith in Christian teachings and looked for a way to feel the emptiness."

He showed them schematics of M1A1 Abrams tanks pulled from an unclassified Defense Department Web site and pointed out vulnerabilities in the tanks.

After being asked why he would want to help al-Qaida, Anderson replies on the video: "While I love my country, I think the leaders have taken this horrible road. I have no belief in what the American Army has asked me to do. They have sent me to die."

The prosecutors also called two civilian witnesses who work for the military. They testified that Anderson's statements about the Abrams tank were accurate.

Under cross-examination by Anderson's lawyer, Maj. Joseph Morse, Romero acknowledged that some of the things Anderson told him, such as his mother being from Jordan, were untrue.

Romero also acknowledged that Anderson said things that were exaggerated or untrue, such as his claim of being a qualified pilot and holding a concealed-weapons permit.

Morse did not call any witnesses yesterday. Anderson and his attorney have declined interviews.

Among those at Anderson's hearing was Capt. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain at Fort Lewis who until recently was embroiled in an investigation of suspected espionage at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. The Army has since dismissed all charges against Yee. Yee refused to say, and Army officials refused to disclose, why he attended the hearing.

Kadyrov with his grandsons

Kadyrov, the Chechen leader who was just assassinated by jihadists, just didn't want it as fast as his killers did. He also takes issue with the radical Islam brought to Chechnya by mujahedin from other countries, which he contends was at variance with the Islam that was rooted in Chechen culture. But there again, such people were doubtless able to gain recruits by appealing to the Islamic texts and showing that their vision of the faith was the one taught in those texts. From Pravda, with thanks to Peter Rockas:

From Interview with Akhmad Kadyrov by PRAVDA.Ru correspondents, 2003, 25 July, Moscow

- Akhmad-Haji, Do you see the Republic of Chechnya as a Muslim, an Islamic one?

- I was strongly against the introduction of a Sharia government in the republic - but not because I did not want such a thing. I am working hard for it, actually. But I know that we are not ready. One has to nurture a new generation, to raise children in the spirit of Islam.

The Sharia regulations that they gave us were simply an interpretation of the Sudanese ones. They were approved by Yandarbiyev, and he did not ask anyone. When Aslan Maskhadov and I visited Saudi Arabia and met with the government of Sudan, Sudanese officials told us that it had taken them 11 years to institute a Sharia government. Did we want to have everything done in one day? Things do not work like that.

Furthermore, who dictated Islam to us? Movladi Udugov, who does not have any idea what Islam is? Or Maskhadov and Yandarbiyev? Who are they? They do not know the bases of Islam, they do not understand it.

All these people ran a separatist policy deliberately. ...

Military troops were withdrawn from Chechnya on Dec. 31, 1996. But what did "free Chechnya" do? It opened the door to criminals from the entire territory of Russia, the former USSR and its outskirts. Criminals were coming to Chechnya from all over the world - they did not have a place in their own countries. But they could live perfectly well in Chechnya.

Non-Muslims were allegedly converting to Islam. It is ridiculous to talk about such a thing. Becoming a Muslim for them implied growing a beard and learning how to pronounce "salam aleykum." What kind of a Muslim is that?
I grew up in a very religious family. I could read the Qu'ran easily at the age of five. Do you think I can stay calm when such people try to teach me what Islam is, how to pronounce it and what to do with it?!

If Yeltsin and Maskhadov signed a peace treaty between Russia and Chechnya, why did the incursion into Dagestan take place? If we, as a separate state that had concluded a peace treaty with Russia, attack a neighboring republic, a unit of the Russian Federation, is it called Jihad? No, it is not. It is a provocation to unleash a war in Chechnya.

- But you declared Jihad on Russia in 1995. You were waging war on Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov's side.

- Yes, I was on that side, and I am proud that I was able to choose the right way to go. There are specific reasons for why I declared Jihad and why I changed my position. That was a time when people were gripped with the idea of liberation. They thought that people like Dudayev or Yandarbiyev wanted freedom and an Islamic state for Chechnya.

And what happened next?

There is a rule of Sharia: If the enemy wants to suppress you, you are supposed to put up a strong resistance. But the enemy did not come on its own: We brought it to us. We went to Dagestan, arranged a massacre there and then returned. This means, as they say, that Russia is the enemy that came to the borders and demanded that the bandits should be delivered - Basayev, Khattab, everyone who had been in Dagestan. But instead of delivering the bandits, Aslan Maskhadov appointed them commanders. He accepted the war, and that was when I stood up against them.

I appeared on television and called upon people to bring their sons, their brothers back - everyone who was going to Dagestan. I said that it was a war between neighbors, between Muslims. But it didn't work. I personally told Maskhadov not to let Basayev go. Aslan assured me that Basayev was not coming back to Chechnya, because he had a plan: To first conquer Dagestan and then attack Azerbaijan and spread the ideas of Islam.

Nigerian Christians fleeing Kano

The jihad in Nigeria continues. It is still portrayed as ethnic violence, and still blamed on Christians whenever they respond, but the attacks all originated in jihad initiatives. Note that this story does contain information about how the Muslims were incited by a preacher who told them that Nigerian Christians are acting as part of a Western conspiracy against Islam. From AP, with thanks to FreedomNowNews:

KANO, Nigeria - Muslim mobs brandishing machetes and clubs attacked Christians in the streets of Kano on Wednesday as security forces struggled to quell a two-day rampage to avenge a massacre of hundreds of Nigerian Muslims.

Police confirmed at least 30 killed in strife engulfing this northern city, where thousands -- mostly minority Christians -- cowered in army barracks and police stations as mobs attacked victims outside. Witnesses spoke of scores more slaughtered.

"I saw them put an old tire on his neck and set him ablaze," said a 30-year old Christian, Barry Owoyemi, of a dead Christian neighbor. Owoyemi was whisked to safety by police who fired guns in the air to scare away the attackers.

Authorities ordered police to shoot rioters on sight.

The rampage exploded Tuesday following a demonstration by thousands of Muslims protesting the slaying of up to 600 Muslims by a predominantly Christian ethnic group last week in the central Nigeria town Yelwa.

The latest rioting threatened to send violence spiraling further. In an apparent response to Muslim attacks, a group of young Christians in one Kano neighborhood fired shotguns Wednesday at groups of Muslim men accused of torching houses.

"The Kano situation is an unfortunate development and just a reverberation of what happened in Yelwa," said Remi Oyo, spokeswoman for President Olusegun Obasanjo. ...

A leader of minority Christian Ibo-speakers in Kano, Boniface Ibekwe, asked police in the presence of journalists to "stop this killing today or give us six months to leave Kano peacefully."

By Wednesday evening, security forces fired tear gas and shot into in the air to disperse crowds ahead of a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

On Tuesday, Kano's most influential cleric launched the Muslim protest from the main mosque, telling protesters that the Yelwa killings were part of a supposed Western conspiracy against followers of Islam.

The May 2 and May 4 attacks on Yelwa by ethnic Tarok Christians left 500 to 600 dead in the largely Muslim Hausa-speaking town, according to a Red Cross official who traveled there. Nigerian officials -- who routinely play down violence to avoid inciting revenge attacks -- put the death toll at half those figures.

In February, Muslim militants were blamed for the slaughter of almost 50 people in Yelwa -- including Christians who took refuge in a church.

"Were blamed"? Is there any question that they didn't do it? There is not.

Ali Sina, a courageous and admirable anti-jihadist, has received this death threat at www.faithfreedom.org. Why? Perhaps because he is an ex-Muslim, and the Sharia mandates death for ex-Muslims.

Helo, Did u see the video of the american that was beheaded in Iraq??Thats what gonna happen to you when i and my friends are gonna catch u.We are currently working on finding information about you,one of my friends is a computer genius.I have gathered muslims all over the world to dispatch any of them to your location.Once u have been beheaded we will use your head to play soccer and your body will be cut into pieces and fed to the dogs.Shut down this website,then we shall not kill you.I give you 1 month to think about it.Make your decision wisely.

Although I was never a Muslim, I have gotten a few choice messages myself today ("Stupid fool, dirty squirming rat" was one repeatable phrase) -- but I am not posting this just to give publicity to a death threat. Rather, it is to call attention to the very real danger that converts from Islam must live with. They must live with a legally sanctioned death sentence as a price for their freedom of conscience. Remember that the next time Karen Armstrong or John Esposito start talking about Islam's wonderful legacy of tolerance and respect for human rights.

A photo of Berg taped on his mailbox at home

US officials are denying the Berg family's claims. From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An American civilian who was beheaded in a grisly video posted on an al-Qaeda-linked Web site was never in U.S. custody despite claims from his family, a coalition spokesman said Wednesday. ...

But unanswered questions remained about Berg in the days before he vanished, as well as where and when he was abducted.

Berg spoke to his parents March 24 and told them he would return home on March 30, according to his family in suburban Philadelphia.

But Berg was detained by Iraqi police at a checkpoint in Mosul on March 24. He was turned over to U.S. officials and detained for 13 days, the family said.

His father, Michael, said his son was not allowed to make phone calls or contact a lawyer.

Coalition spokesman Dan Senor told reporters that Berg was detained by Iraqi police in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The Iraqis informed the Americans, and the FBI questioned him three times about what he was doing in Iraq.

Senor said that to his knowledge Berg "was at no time under the jurisdiction or detention of coalition forces."

However, calls by The Associated Press to police in Mosul failed to find anyone who could confirm Berg was held there. The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority runs Iraq, controlling not only the police, but the military and all government ministries.

FBI agents visited Berg's parents March 31 and told the family they were trying to confirm their son's identity.

On April 5, the Bergs filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, contending their son was being held illegally by the U.S. military. The next day, Berg was released. He told his parents he had not been mistreated.

Berg's father blamed the U.S. government for creating circumstances that led to his son's death, saying if his son had not been detained for so long, he might have been able to leave Iraq before the violence worsened.

"I think a lot of people are fed up with the lack of civil rights this thing has caused," Michael Berg said. "I don't think this administration is committed to democracy."

Asked for details about Berg's last weeks in Iraq, Senor replied: "We are obviously trying to piece all this together, and there's a thorough investigation." He said he was reluctant to release details but did not say why.

"The U.S. government is committed to a very thorough and robust investigation to get to the bottom of this," Senor said, adding that "multiple" U.S. agencies would be involved and that the FBI would probably have overall direction.

Senor said that in Iraq, Berg had no affiliation with the U.S. government, the coalition or "to my knowledge" any coalition-affiliated contractor. But Senor would not specify why Iraqi police, who generally take direction from coalition authorities, had arrested him and held him.

Brig. Gen Mark Kimmitt said the only role the U.S. military played in Berg's confinement was to liaise with the Iraqi police to make sure he was being fed and properly treated because "he was still an American citizen."

It was unclear whether al-Zarqawi was shown in the Web site video or simply ordered the killing. Al-Zarqawi also is sought in the assassination of a U.S. diplomat in Jordan in 2002, and Washington has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture or killing.

Berg's father, brother and sister wept in their front yard Tuesday when told of the video.

"I knew he was decapitated before," said his father, Michael. "That manner is preferable to a long and torturous death. But I didn't want it to become public."

The father said "there's a better chance than not" that his son's captors knew he was Jewish. "If there was any doubt that they were going to kill him, that probably clinched it, I'm guessing," he said.

Amnesty International condemned the killing as "a serious crime under international law," and said those responsible should be brought to justice.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said there was "no justification for the deliberate and brutal killing of an innocent civilian."

U.S. officials fear the savage killing might prompt more foreigners working on international reconstruction projects to flee the country. ...

Last month, Iraqi militants also videotaped the killing of Italian hostage Fabrizio Quattrocchi.

This story is, predictably enough, getting none of the loving coverage lavished on Abu Ghraib. From AP:

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Arab media reacted cautiously Wednesday to the videotaped beheading of an American civilian by Islamic militants in Iraq, with some newspapers conspicuously playing it down or even ignoring it.

The biggest pan-Arab satellite television channels broadcast an edited version of the gruesome video, not showing the actual killing of Nick Berg, 26, of West Chester, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb. The businessman was abducted in April.

In one of the most explicit displays, Kuwait's Al-Siyassah daily ran a photo of a masked militant holding up Berg's severed head.

The video of the execution was released on the Internet too late for some Middle East newspaper columnists to react to it. The killing, attributed to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group, appalled many Arabs. ...

Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, the big two satellite networks, aired carefully edited versions of the video. In Al-Arabiya's edit, a militant is seen drawing a knife and jerking Berg's body to one side. The rest is not shown.

"The news story itself is strong enough," said Jihad Ballout, spokesman for Qatar-based Al-Jazeera. "To show the actual beheading is out of the realm of decency."

Lebanon's private Al Hayat-LBC station led its bulletins Wednesday with the video. Its news presenter said: "We apologize to our viewers for not showing the entire tape because of the ugliness of the scene."

Kuwait state television broadcast the news of the execution late Tuesday but not the video.

Iraqi newspapers reported nothing about the killing, although it may have broken to late for them.

Egypt's leading daily, Al-Ahram, ignored the beheading Wednesday. Two other major pro-government newspapers ran news agency reports on their inside pages, without photos.

An Al-Ahram editor, Ahmed Reda, said the news came too late Tuesday night for the paper to confirm the video's authenticity with the U.S. government.

Newspapers in Syria, where the government controls the press tightly, did not report it at all.

A professor of journalism at the American University in Cairo, Hussein Amin, said the handling of the story by Egypt's pro-government papers was political and appropriate.

"I think that the government does not want to show this on the front page as a main item because it shows a very poor -- poor is not the proper word; disgusting maybe is the better word -- example of revenge," Amin said. "There is also the threat that it could be happening to other Americans. If they put it on the front page, (it could be seen as) they are favoring this kind of action."

Jordanian newspapers, state television and radio reported Berg's killing, but without commentary.

Most Lebanese newspapers, such as the left-wing As-Safir, published the report and a photograph of Berg sitting in front of the militants. As-Safir ran the headline: "Al-Zarqawi slaughters an American to avenge Iraqi prisoners."

In many Arab newspapers, the beheading received less display than the news of America's imposing sanctions on Syria and the killing of six Israeli soldiers in Gaza City.

Above is the headline to a Reuters story. Their caption to the above photo, meanwhile, is:

A video frame grab taken from an Islamist website May 11, 2004, shows American Nick Berg as he is grabbed by one of his captors moments before he was executed. Most Baghdad residents on May 12 condemned al Qaeda's beheading of Berg, but many said his death was just the latest atrocity in a cycle of violence that is driving them to despair. (Reuters TV/Reuters)

From the story:

Even in the Baghdad Sunni Muslim stronghold of Adhamiya, where there is fierce opposition to the occupation, many residents were appalled by the decapitation of Berg.

"We denounce this act. No-one can accept the killing of another human being in this horrible way," said Yassir Saleh, a 30-year-old barber. But he too pointed to a tide of violence that has swept the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

"Sometimes I really can't understand the logic of what is happening, all the violence that I could have never imagined would take place in my country," he said.

Many Iraqis say they oppose the U.S.-led occupation but also despise insurgents whose suicide attacks, mortar strikes and bomb blasts have killed far more Iraqis than Americans.

Issa al-Khalidi, a 65-year-old pensioner sitting in one of the oldest coffeehouses in Adhamiya, also condemned the killing but looked around nervously as he did.

"It's a brutal, inhuman act. As Muslims our religion prohibits us from committing such acts," he said.

Of course. It's practically obligatory to say this is every story about Islamic terror that goes out to the mass media in the West. But if only he could convince his fellow Muslims of this!

"People with their own interpretations of Islam are coming to this country and killing left and right, and the Americans are just providing them with the pretext to do so."

But some of the city's poorer residents said they supported the killing, arguing it was acceptable retribution for the abuses the U.S. military had committed in Iraq.

Yes. It's only the poor who think this way, isn't it? If only we could give them a fair shake economically, the whole problem of jihad terrorism would melt away, wouldn't it?

Aside from this silliness, where was the Reuters story about how the vast majority of Americans, and American military personnel, condemn the Abu Ghraib abuses?

Here's one for all those advocates of theological equivalence, or the idea that Christianity and other religions are just as much capable of inspiring violence and fanaticism as is Islam.

No, no, thank you, I've heard of the Crusades. Haven't heard of one lately, though. Anyway, this is not to say that Christians have never done anything evil -- far from it. But those who bring up the Crusades in connection with modern-day Islamic jihad terrorism are simply trying to divert attention from the fact that only Islam among all the world's religions has a developed doctrine, theology, and law mandating violence against unbelievers.

I keep insisting on this point because this is the basis on which radical Muslims recruit and motivate terrorists today. Until this is recognized and dealt with, that recruitment will continue.

Skeptical? Try my old friend Ben Sharpe's simple visual explanation: The face of radical Islam in the modern era and The face of radical Christianity in the modern era. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE. Graphic, yes, but Ben here encapsulates an important truth.

From Cox and Forkum, with thanks to LGF.

Val McQueen in FrontPage on Sharia in Canada (thanks to DC Watson and Nicolei):

"It's something nobody can change and we must follow," said Suad Almad at her women's group in Toronto. "We come to Canada and we become lost . . . We need our own court and we need our own law." The speaker, a Somalian, was admitted to Canada as a refugee, thanks to the generosity of the citizenry of Canada, twelve years ago. But that wasn't enough. Now she has decided that Canada's tradition of one law applied equally to everyone isn't to her taste.

According to the Washington Post Foreign Service, up piped another woman at the same meeting, who also thinks Muslims should be judged according to their own beliefs. "No stealing, no drugs, no sex without marriage. No pork. This is our law. A man may take a second or third wife if he is able to support them financially. Yes, there is jealousy, but it is allowed under Sharia. We are Somali and we are Muslim. When we go to court, the judge understands the secular system, but doesn't understand Sharia law."

So after 12 years in the country, they apparently haven't had the will to commit themselves to Canadian citizenship, although they do have the impudence to suggest that Canada amend its laws to suit them.

Well, we all thought the Netherlands or France would be the first to adopt some form of Sharia law as the thin end of the wedge of catering to Muslim immigrants who universally appear unable to fit in with their host societies. Yet the Netherlands has just put a four-year moratorium on all immigration, including "asylum seekers", has stopped schooling Muslim children in the home language of their parents/grandparents, and has closed down many of its Muslim community centers. And France is banning the headscarf on school property and is shoveling undesirable imams out of the country at a rate of knots.

So Canada has become the first country in the West to kowtow to immigrant Islamic demands that they not only have a right to settle in the country and be free to practice their religion unhindered, but also the right to bring their own laws with them.

Syed Mumtaz Ali, the president of the Canadian Society of Muslims, began lobbying for a Sharia court around two years ago. He claims that the tribunals would allow Muslims to practice freedom of religion, as though they couldn't before. "Muslim minorities living in non-Muslim countries like Canada are like wandering Bedouins.

"Although they are free to live according to the Divine Law to practice their faith unhindered in their homes and mosques, they have practically no say in the making of the laws of the land and governmental institutions do not cater to their needs." This, of course, is because we in the West have people we call "elected representatives" to formulate laws, after proper debate. If you can't get elected, you are not a lawmaker.

At the moment, the Sharia tribunals will be only for settling civil disputes between Muslims.

Human Rights Announcements notes: "Firstly, this is an issue of law and not religion per se.

Secondly, the scope of such a court is only in the sphere of personal family law so do not entertain thoughts on the criminal law aspects of the Sharia." Yet. Point number three begs the question, where have we heard that one before? "Third, there are legal safeguards in place to ensure abuses of power do not occur." "Fourth, there is already legal precedent for this such as the Sentencing Circles of Canadian Aboriginal peoples."

World News Net, however, does not take such a sunny view, saying, "Canadian judges soon will be enforcing Islamic law, or Sharia, in disputes between Muslims, possibly paving the way to one day administering criminal sentences, such as stoning women caught in adultery." This may sound a little panicky right now, but how many people 20 years ago would have believed that a civilized Western country would one day tack a Koran-dictated law into its system? How many people 20 years ago had even heard of the Koran?

Among other Canadians who have retained their sanity, there are some Muslim women concerned that they will not be treated fairly in civil disputes with males. Under Sharia, "a woman's testimony ... counts only as half that of a man. So in straight disagreements between husband and wife, the husband's testimony will normally prevail. In questions of inheritance, whilst under Canadian law sons and daughters would be treated equally, under the Sharia daughters receive only half the portion of sons. If the Institute were to have jurisdiction in custody cases, the man will automatically be awarded custody once the children have reached an age of between seven and nine years."

Brendan Crawley, a spokesman for the Ontario attorney general, said a 1991 Ontario arbitration law permits such arbitration according to religious principles, just as rabbis in Jewish communities and priests in Christian communities help to resolve civil disputes.

"People can agree to resolve disputes any way acceptable. If they decide to resolve disputes using principles of Sharia and using an imam as an arbitrator, that is perfectly acceptable under the arbitration act." He added that both parties to a dispute had to enter into arbitration on a voluntary basis.

The system with rabbis as arbitrators to which Crawley refers is the Beit Din, which can settle civil disputes between Jews (and, as it happens, anyone else who asks for its help). As these courts have been contributing to the peaceful settlement of civil disputes in Toronto, for example, for a couple of hundred years, they are regarded as benign and highly respectable. In fact, there are instances of gentiles asking for their help and agreeing to be bound on decisions based on Jewish law. Sharia tribunals are being ushered in camouflaged by the well-earned respectability of Beit Din.

Among Canada's 600,000 Muslims, however, not everyone welcomes this move and fears that Muslim women, who only count as half a man under Sharia, have been addressed by nothing but platitudes of the "trust us" variety. One of these is to train some Muslim women as arbitrators, although, given the above beliefs, it follows that a Muslim man would presumably be able to dispute a decision arrived at by a female arbitrator as her decision would only count for half as much as a decision from a male arbitrator.

There is disquiet about this move within Ontario's Muslim community itself. According to the Washington Post Foreign Service, Alia Hogben, a board member of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, said she opposes the religious tribunals. "It is difficult to speak up because we don't want to feed into anti-Muslim, anti-Islamic stuff that is developing now. We are religious Muslim women. We don't want to come across as anti-Muslim. On the other hand, we cannot be quiet about something that worries us."

The same Syed Mumtaz Ali quoted above quickly moved to play the multiculti card, saying, "It offers not only a variety of choices, but shows the real spirit of our multicultural society." But blogger Instapundit notes, there is no free choice being offered Muslims. Once these sharia courts exist, a Muslim cannot simply opt to go to a normal arbitration tribunal instead. "On religious grounds, a Muslim who would choose to opt out ... would be guilty of a far greater crime than a mere breach of contract - and this would be tantamount to blasphemy or apostasy." As Instapundit adds, "You are aware that blasphemy and apostasy are among the worst crimes in Islam, in many countries punishable by death."

Canada has a rational, just, internationally respected legal system, put in place by elected representatives over the course of 200 years with the consent of its citizenry. The introduction of a primitive form of law based not on justice, but on superstition, must be regarded by everyone outside the country as important proof that Canada has lost its moorings. Airy protests to the contrary, they have handed Muslim immigrants the thin end of the wedge. If we know anything about the attitudes of Islamic immigrants to the West, this will evolve over the ensuing years, under the banner of "religious freedom" (which they deny to everyone but themselves), into a full scale parallel legal system for Muslims within Canada. And how long after that until, like an aggressive virus, it begins to eat into the body of its host?

Who would have guessed the first Western country to set its feet on the path of dhimmitude would be in the New World and not the old?

Dhimmi Watch defines dhimmitude as: "The status that Islamic law, the Sharia, mandates for non-Muslims, primarily Jews and Christians. Dhimmis, 'protected people', are free to practice their religion in a Sharia regime, but are made subject to a number of humiliating regulations designed to enforce the Qur'an's command that they 'feel themselves subdued' (Sura 9:29). This denial of equality of rights and dignity remains part of the Sharia, and, as such, are part of the law that global jihadists are laboring to impose everywhere, ultimately on the entire human race. The dhimmi attitude of chastened subservience has entered into Western academic study of Islam, and from there into journalism, textbooks, and the popular discourse. One must not point out the depredations of jihad and dhimmitude; to do so would offend the multiculturalist ethos that prevails everywhere today.'

Oh, Canada!

Nick Berg just before the murder

Walid Phares explains the significance of the Berg murder at FrontPage.

The slaughtering of Nick Berg is one small step for terrorists and a major leap for the West's encounter with Jihadism. The videotape, posted on the Ansar website, is one of many horrifying acts perpetrated by the followers of Osama bin Laden. It has also become a shameful benchmark in the West's liberal media reporting.

The Abu Ghraib disaster, the behavior of few bad apples within the U.S. armed forces, triggered this major development that will influence the way citizens look at al-Qaeda's war on Americans. September 11 brought Mohammad Atta into the collective memory of this country and the international community, but May 11 will keep Abu Musab al Zarqawi in that same memory as one of the most cruel enemies of innocent civilians anywhere. The terrorist fugitive's name is the title of the horrendous video showing Berg's beheading.

Nick Berg's life was simple. Out of Philadelphia, he sought a job in a liberated Iraq, or so he thought. He trusted his government, and trusted the politicians of his country. He traveled to help Iraqis and establish a personal link with Iraq's civil society. But he was obstructing the spread of Jihad. He became a lonely Kafir (infidel), and found himself on the wrong side of dar el Harb (the war zone as conceived by the Islamists). And as such, he was slaughtered by the long sword of al Zarqawi. The pictures of his murder will circle the world - and they deserve to overshadow the Abu Ghraib photos.

In the American detention center that grabbed world attention and ignited a self-whipping crusade in the U.S., men were shown naked, piled up and humiliated. But because American is a free and democratic society, such acts of humiliation and abuse are abhorrent to American people everywhere and come to be quickly judged and condemned. This is because Americans value life and live in an open society which exposes its own injustices. The rights of detainees are sacred in America, even if these detainees are terrorists and have taken innocent lives.

At the Abu Ghraib of jihad, however, innocents are slaughtered at will at the discretion of unholy warriors. In the al Zarqawi "detention centers," there are no laws, there are no codes, and there is no humanity; only a cult of death exists that demands the slaughter of innocents and perpetuates itself without justice or reflection.

Unfortunately, some among us may have fuelled the blood fiesta that was shown on the website. While Abu Ghraib has now become another way in which terrorists can legitimize killing innocent people, liberal and anti-American voices from this end of the world re-perpetrate this horrid logic, excessively assessing the so-called impact of the Iraqi soldiers abuse by their guards and declaring that the "reactions will be violent and bloody." In other words, they morally legitimized these bloody acts by seeing them as mere responses, not actions that are in line with a culture of death and hatred. So when the slaughter of Berg took place and was posted online, these same voices rushed to establish a moral equality between Abu Ghraib and the savage beheading of an innocent young man. But no such equality exists.

To start with, the assessment that all people in the Middle East misunderstood America and despised its image as result of the photos was wrong. At a media summit at the State Department last Friday, and while Secretary Rumsfeld was under heavy shelling in Congress, U.S. officials learned from two dozen Arab and Mideast media people that "many opinions in many segments had different concerns in the region."

Those who are anti-American - including al-Qaeda sympathizers - will take the pictures to the zenith of exploiting hatred. One Mideast participant told the Foreign policy officers "if you tell those radicals that the Arab world will react violently, the Jihadists will react on behalf of Arabs and Muslims, but without their consent." Many participants, from different religious and ethnic background, warned U.S. officials not to give the terrorists meat for their diet.

In reality, many people in the Middle East understand that American values vanished in the Abu Ghraib detention center, but that this does not reflect the U.S. initiative in the greater Middle East. Apart from al Jazeera and the Jihadi web sites, the people of Iraq generally felt embarrassed for the US.

For Kurds, mainstream Shiites and democratic Sunnis, it remained clear: the weakening of the U.S. role would be a catalyst for the return of Baathism and the surge of Wahhabism. For them, Abu Ghraib is a passage in a much wider chapter: the transition to sovereignty. Iraqis understood that, but the carriers of petite politics on these shores did not and refuse to. By developing a crisis of so-called immorality in the American military, leftists try to make the American public believe in a widespread systemic problem that is being responded to by Jihadists.

But the beheading of Nick Berg cannot be understood as something that America caused. Abu Musab al Zarqawi ordered the kidnappings of Americans and others months ago. Before and after Fallujah's last episode, the terrorists resorted to "collect" the victims. On one of their audio websites, they called them "assembled sheep" (Tajmeeh al khawareef) who were to be "sacrificed" at will.

Thus, whether Abu Ghraib happened or not, al-Qaeda was building its human ammunition depot. Berg's ordeal was not a direct result of Abu Ghraib. Al-Qaeda does not care when prisoners are mistreated. For them, the big picture is to weaken and humiliate the U.S. and to prevent the rise of an Arab democracy. This is why al Zarqawi stops at nothing to create chaos and fear in the region so as to undermine American efforts. But the Western Left ignores this dynamic and, as a result, steps into al-Qaeda's trap - and helps to cause additional bloodshed in Iraq.

Murder, and mutilation of corpses in Nigeria -- out of "revenge," although the conflict has its roots in jihad ideology. From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:

KANO, Nigeria - Angry young Muslim men attacked "nonbelievers" with machetes Tuesday, while others burned cars, stores and apartments in apparent revenge for last week's killings of hundreds of Muslims by a Christian group.

Three corpses - one charred and another badly mutilated - lay in the streets; it was unclear who killed them. There were unconfirmed reports of several others killed by young men who barricaded streets with burning tires and garbage.

The violence came hours after thousands of Muslim protesters - some carrying daggers, sickles and clubs - marched from the main mosque in the northern city of Kano, traditionally a hotbed of religious tensions.

Amina Usman, a 19-year-old university student, recounted seeing two mutilated bodies next to a makeshift checkpoint where young Muslim Hausa-speaking men armed with sticks, knives and clubs were searching cars for Christians and animists and asking passengers to recite Muslim prayers.

"It was hell," said Mohammed Aliyu, another university student, who said he saw five bodies in another part of Kano, Nigeria's largest Muslim city, one with a burning tire around its neck. ...

Demonstrators were protesting attacks on Hausa-speaking Muslims by fighters from the Tarok-speaking tribe in the central Nigerian town of Yelwa. A Red Cross official has said between 500 and 600 people died in the Yelwa attacks, while the Nigerian government's emergency response agency estimates less than half that number.

In the capital, Abuja, President Olusegun Obasanjo met with a delegation of Muslim leaders calling for the capture of the Yelwa attackers.

Obasanjo asked the clerics to "tell your followers to be patient and give me time to resolve the matter."

"It's time now to put a permanent stop to this whole thing," Obasanjo said as reporters looked on. "The situation in Yelwa is condemnable and I condemn it in very strong terms."

In Kano, soldiers and police in armored vehicles were deployed in an attempt to quell what began as an angry demonstration but quickly turned into a riot.

An Associated Press reporter saw youths at a makeshift checkpoint of burning tires strike three young women with machetes after accusing them of being "nonbelievers" for wearing Western-style skirts and blouses.

The women escaped with bleeding head wounds after several motorcycle taxi drivers intervened.

"Everywhere, people have taken the laws into their own hands. We are trying to control the situation," said police commissioner Abdul Damini Daudu. ...

Muslim leaders in Kano earlier linked the Yelwa attacks to the U.S.-led war against terror.

"This violence is a calculated global Western war against Muslims, just like in Afghanistan and Iraq," Umar Ibrahim Kabo, the most senior Muslim cleric in Kano, told protesters, some of whom burned U.S. and Israeli flags. "Muslims are in grief."

Kabo issued a seven-day ultimatum to Obasanjo to apprehend the Yelwa killers "or be blamed for whatever happens" afterward.

Kano Governor Ibrahim Shekarau told protests that "killings of Muslims throughout the world ... will only embolden us."

Muslims should be "ready to lay down our lives," Shekarau said, while urging protesters not to attack "innocent people."

The Yelwa attacks follow a deadly succession of communal violence. In February, Muslim militants were blamed for the slaughter of almost 50 people there - many of them Christians who took refuge in a church.

New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Nigeria's government Tuesday of failing to take steps to stop the "endless cycle of revenge."

Another radical imam arrested in France. From AFP, with thanks to Twostellas:

PARIS - An Iraqi imam with political refugee status who preached at a mosque outside Paris was arrested and placed under investigation for violating a house arrest order, court sources said on Tuesday.

Yashar Ali, who French intelligence services believe to be a key figure in the Salafist movement, which preaches a strict interpretation of the Koran, was taken into custody on Monday in Argenteuil, northwest of the French capital.

In March, an administrative court had confirmed an order to expel Ali, placing him under house arrest until he could be deported, but the imam never respected the ruling to remain in his Argenteuil home, police said.

Ali's arrest came amid the center-right government's campaign to deport radical imams, which has sparked concern among the five million Muslims in France, who fear that Paris is leading a witch-hunt against their clerics.

Israel has vowed to stay in Gaza City until the remains are recovered

Palestinian Arabs have taken the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza. Israel wants them back -- in accord with every norm of human civilization.

From the BBC, with thanks to Nicolei:

The Palestinian Authority has called on militant groups and any residents of Gaza who are holding the remains of the soldiers to return them "in conformity with human rights and the Muslim religion". The troops' armoured personnel carrier was blown to pieces, scattering debris and body parts over a wide area, when it ran over an improvised bomb in the road.

The vehicle was loaded with explosives intended to destroy workshops suspected of producing rockets.

There was a furious Israeli reaction after militants were seen displaying pieces of the dead.

At an emergency meeting of his inner cabinet on Tuesday night, Mr Sharon said Israel was fighting a "cruel, inhuman enemy".

From the Savannah Morning News, :

Freighter hijackings and terrorist swimmers are among key concerns of the U.S. Coast Guard as it prepares to secure area waterways for the upcoming G-8 Sea Island Summit, according to agency briefing papers prepared late last week.

The documents provide a list of potential threats after warning: "Terrorist scenarios are receiving attention at all levels."

Feared actions include:

* Executing a USS Cole-type incident, which took place in 2000, when terrorists blew a hole in the hull of a Navy ship in the Middle East;

* Grounding vessels;

* Taking control of a vessel and steering it into a protected zone;

* Swimming across the Savannah River to gain access to the press center and dignitary area;

* Blocking a deep-draft vessel;

* Using divers to plant explosives on a dock or a pier;

* Boarding vessels and draping banners;

* Creating anarchy on the waterfront.

Grounding a vessel or steering it to the security zones would be a classic move by terrorists, according to Steven C. Bronson, a retired Navy boatswain mate chief.

He is an internationally renowned maritime counter-terrorist expert whose company - Tactical Waterborne Operations of Virginia Beach, Va., - has trained Coast Guard and other law enforcement teams around the country in tactics and techniques.

"They use all of this as a diversion," Bronson said. "They'll drive a boat on the beach and disappear into the woods and draw all the attention and fire to one spot, while the real attack will be at another location."

Swimmers could prove to be especially problematic, Bronson said. They could get right up to one of the tied-up excursion boats or a nearby dock and plant an explosive. This could prove particularly useful if a terrorist could conduct an operation on the river in front of the Savannah International Trade & Convention Center, where most of the media will be located throughout the June 8-10 summit.

The Coast Guard briefing papers warn against taking the threats too lightly - as was the case, the agency argues, with the World Trade Organization about five years ago: "One of the major issues with the WTO at Seattle is that they ignored early, consistent intelligence."

Al-Sadr's gunmen

From CNN, :

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Coalition forces have killed 20 to 25 Iraqi militia members loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr during an ongoing operation to disarm insurgents in Karbala, according to senior coalition military official.

Meanwhile, four Filipino contractors have died in a mortar attack on a U.S. air base in northern Iraq. ...

The coalition forces, supported by the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and Iraqi security forces, also seized weapons and ammunition, including pipe bombs and rocket launchers.

A U.S. commander in Iraq has urged religious and political leaders to seek a "political outcome" to the standoff between U.S. troops and al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in two other Iraqi cities -- Najaf and Kufa.

Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey said he has "opened a window" for negotiations.

From Reuters, with thanks to Miriam:

GAZA, May 10 (Reuters) - Palestinians with axes and shovels desecrated 33 graves in a Commonwealth war cemetery in the Gaza Strip to protest against reported abuses of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. and British soldiers, witnesses said on Monday.

Reprinted photographs of soldiers apparently mistreating and humiliating Iraqi detainees were affixed to dozens of untouched gravestones in the British-administered cemetery in Gaza City for 3,661 soldiers who died in two world wars.

Palestinian militant factions said they had nothing to do with the assault in the well-maintained cemetery dotted with flower beds, saying Islam forbade attacks on sites of the deceased regardless of religion or politics.

Essam Jeradeh, head gardener at the cemetery, said he and relatives who have tended the site for decades as a family business noticed about eight people standing by some graves some distance away on Sunday evening.

"At first we thought they were visitors paying respects. But as we approached we realised they were sabotaging the graves. We ran at them, screaming, and they fled," he told Reuters on Monday amid tombstones broken into pieces or toppled intact.

"They (the dead) had been sleeping here for 90 years and no one disturbed them," said Jeradeh, whose father was awarded a British MBE for his care of the cemetery established in 1917.

Photographs pasted on other tombstones showed a U.S. soldier dragging an Iraqi prisoner along a floor with a leash and a British soldier apparently urinating on a detainee.

"The curse will chase you forever" and "we shall avenge" were scrawled in Arabic on some of the photographs.

"These posters show it was an act of anger over the images coming from Iraqi prisons," said Jeradeh's son Ibrahim.

"We have been informed that several graves were desecrated last night at the Imperial War Graves Commission Cemetery in Gaza. We are investigating," a British embassy spokesman in nearby Israel said.

Some of the rage over the Abu Ghraib abuse photos comes not from the real thing, but from faked photos that come from a pornographic movie — and were published in the Egyptian press. From AP, with thanks to Miriam:

CAIRO, Egypt -- The U.S. Embassy demanded a retraction Wednesday for photographs published in the Egyptian press that it said were faked pictures of American soldiers sexually abusing female prisoners in Iraq.

But editors of two of the three publications involved said Wednesday they saw no grounds for a retraction. The editor-in-chief of the third publication, Al-Wafd, was not available.

"We have done a thorough investigation of the origin of these photos and have conclusive evidence that they originated on a pornographic Web site," the embassy said in a statement. "They are clearly staged photos, done by actors, as the site itself states."

"Their publication needlessly inflames an already heated atmosphere," the statement added, referring to Arab outrage over the revelation last weekend that U.S. soldiers had sexually humiliated male prisoners in Iraq. The U.S. television network CBS broadcast photographs of the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, just west of Baghdad.

U.S. authorities have condemned the soldiers' actions and promised to bring them to justice.

The editor of the Egyptian weekly Al-Osboa, Mustafa Bakri, dismissed the U.S. Embassy's complaint. His newspaper published at least one photograph of a man, purportedly an American soldier, taking sexual advantage of a woman as one of a series run across three pages on May 3.

"We have published, maybe, one picture from the Internet, which was one of several pictures published by the media," Bakri told The Associated Press. "The kind of pictures on CBS made us believe that any other picture is authentic.

"Now the U.S. Embassy is speaking about pictures that were published only on the Internet. OK, let us agree on what CBS published, aren't they enough?"

The editor of Al-Mussawar, Makram Mohammed Ahmed, said he was not aware of the U.S. Embassy complaint. This week, his magazine published a picture of a partially naked woman with parts of her body blacked out.

Ahmed said he would not rule out that fake pictures were circulating.

And why are the Egyptians so reluctant to acknowledge this and do anything about it?

Samir Kuntar

The PA routinely praises terrorists, and yet US officials continue to treat it as if it were a respectable government organization. From Arutz Sheva, :

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is urging National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice to suspend her planned meeting with the head of the Palestinian Authority until he publicly refutes an article in the official PA newspaper praising a terrorist who murdered an Israel father and his two young daughters.

"Those who incite murder by praising murderers do not deserve the honor of meeting with senior U.S. government officials," said ZOA National President Morton A. Klein. "At this crucial moment in the international war against terrorism, the Bush administration must have a policy of zero tolerance for those who incite terrorism and praise terrorists."

As reported by Palestinian Media Watch, a May 6th article in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida heaped praise on Samir Kuntar, who is serving multiple sentences of life imprisonment in Israel for murdering an Israeli father, Danny Haran, and his two young daughters in Nahariya in 1979. The PA newspaper praised Kuntar as "a name of pride in the history of the prisoners of the national movement" and "a beacon of light for us and for the generations to come and an authentic role model. Every day that passes Samir's pride grows, and our pride in him grows greater and greater."

In this connection, journalist David Bedein ("www.israelbehindthenews.com") reports that official PA radio, known as Voice of Palestine, regularly praises Arab terror attacks. Calling the station the "most influential media tool in the hands of the Palestinian government," Bedein writes that it is "the official voice of the Palestinian people... You hear [it] everywhere in the Arab street. It sets the public tone... [Its] radio airwaves were provided for the PA from Israel's Ministry of Communications with the idea that the Palestinians would be able to broadcast messages of 'peace' on their own radio and in their own language" - and yet "during the past ten years, The Voice Of Palestine has consistently praised Arab terror attacks."

Last week's slaughter of a pregnant woman and her four little daughters, for instance, was described on Voice of Palestine as "an act of heroic martyrdom." As reported by Arabic media expert Dr. Michael Widlanski, the station repeatedly used the terms for "heroic martyrdom" to describe the terrorist act, and called the murders "heroic martyrs."

Osama Haroon Satti

Jihad in Tyler, Texas? From Dallas/Fort Worth's CBS-11, with thanks to El Colombiano:

TYLER, TX. -- A virtually unnoticed federal arrest here this Spring of a well-educated Pakistani man caught trying to buy illegal silencers, firearms and C-4 explosives has set off a nationwide FBI counterterrorism investigation, CBS-11 has learned.

The investigation centers on whether Osama Haroon Satti, 35, came to Tyler on behalf of a terrorist cell hoping to arm for a plot to rob and murder wealthy Jews and other non-Muslims on the West Coast, sources familiar with the FBI investigation tell CBS-11. Satti is currently in federal custody on charges of buying an illegal silencer and handgun.

Federal prosecutors connected to the case have declined to comment.

Satti has remained tight-lipped so far with investigators who, sources tell CBS-11, are urgently seeking answers about his stated plans to buy explosives along with up to 20 more silencers capable of firing 100 bullets each before wearing out.

Satti, who currently lives in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Falls Church, Va., did not respond to a CBS-11 request for comment as he was being led away in chains after a recent court appearance in Tyler.

His public defender, Greg Waldron, declined interview requests, in deference to the continuing FBI investigation. He noted only that his client has pleaded not guilty.

The FBI's investigation searching for any possible ties between Satti and foreign terror groups has expanded nationwide since a federal sting ensnared him March 8 inside a Tyler Hampton Inn Hotel room for buying an illegal handgun and silencer, CBS-11 News has learned.

Current and former FBI agents tell CBS-11 that the arrest of Satti justifies the aggressive national investigation based, at least in part, on the fact that Satti is so well-educated and from a country on the State Department’s terrorist watch list.

“You’re not dealing with some deadhead. You’re dealing with an educated individual who’s on the same playing field as the investigators,” said Tino Perez, who recently retired as a supervisor of the Dallas FBI’s International Terrorism squad. Perez has no direct knowledge about the investigation.

“I’d treat it as a serous thing. I would want to know foremost if he was part of a network, or if he was acting alone.”

Investigators, at least initially, were particularly interested in whether Satti might be connected to the Al-Quaeda-supported terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan. This summer, the government charged eleven reputed members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, two of them Pakistani nationals, with a variety of terrorist activities in the same suburb where Satti lives. ...

According to an affidavit unsealed in connection to the firearms charge, Satti returned in March demonstrating an in-depth knowledge of weapons and carrying thousands of dollars in cash.

During a joint undercover ATF and FBI operation, Satti bought one silencer and one handgun and spoke of plans by unnamed but similar-minded Muslims to kill and rob Jews and non-Muslims, including gays, CBS-11 has learned. Experts say many Islamic extremists are as obsessed with gays as they are Jews.

Bishop Gassis

From Zenit, with thanks to Andy:

ROME, MAY 10, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Violence has produced thousands of victims in the war-torn Darfur region of western Sudan, where "a process of Arabization" is under way, says a Catholic bishop.

In a U.N. report, Bishop Macram Max Gassis of El Obeid gave evidence of the subjection of Darfur to a regime of terror by the Khartoum government.

The strife is reckoned to have claimed 10,000 victims, forced 800,000 to 1 million from their homes, and left a legacy of 130,000 refugees in neighboring Chad.

Since February 2003, Darfur has been the scene of violent confrontations between two rebel groups -- the Justice and Equality Movement, and the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement -- and the Sudanese regular army.

The rebel groups rose in arms against Khartoum, which they accused of abandoning Darfur because its population is mainly black, and of financing the "janjaweed" militias.

The militias are active Arab marauders in the western region of Sudan who for years have been sowing death and destruction, especially in the communities of Arana, Marsalit and Fura.

The rebel groups are demanding from the government greater participation in the exploitation of oil resources, a request that coincides with that of pro-independence rebels in the South.

The strife isn't over religion, but is rather "an ethnic question," Bishop Gassis told Vatican Radio on Saturday.

"The Darfur part is annihilated by the Arab part, the 'janjaweed,' who are armed by the Khartoum army to go and commit these violations against the black population of Darfur," he said.

"These people have asked that their rights be recognized, as others have also done in Sudan," the prelate noted.

He warned that the country "is becoming a volcano that is erupting everywhere. The people want respect for human rights, the right to education, to health care, to freedom. ... These people have never been considered by the Khartoum government."

The attack of the Arab militias against the ethnic group of Darfur is directed to "taking its place, as they have done in other places. They want to move the Arab race to the more fertile areas, to areas where they can pasture," the bishop explained.

In fact, "a process of Arabization is under way in Darfur," Bishop Gassis lamented. "In the South of Sudan and in the Nuba hills there is a forced process of Islamization and Arabization. They want to force the people to accept that type of Islam that they are propagating in Sudan: Muslim fundamentalism."

"And although there are many Muslims in Darfur, they are certainly not fundamentalists," he continued. "They want to attack the black race. There is an ethnic question here. In the South of Sudan and in the Nuba hills, instead, the problem is ethnic and religious. Moreover, there is also the economic aspect, that is, the desire to occupy the place of this non-Arab population."

Meanwhile, the Khartoum authorities and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) are in the final phase of talks aimed at ending 20 years of civil war -- between the Muslim regime of the north and the animist and Christian rebels of the south -- which has resulted in more than 2 million dead.

This armed conflict broke out in 1983, when President Gaafar Nimeiry established the Shariah, Islamic law. In 1989 the process of forced Islamization was promoted among the populations of the south.

Nick Berg of Philadelphia moments before he was murdered (Reuters)

Reuters, in their caption to the photo up above, says Berg was "executed." So does the AP story below. But this man had committed no crime for which execution was warranted by any frame of reference. He was murdered. Will the world that is recoiling in ever-greater paroxysms of horror over the prisoner abuse note how disproportionate is this response?

CAIRO, Egypt - A video posted Tuesday on an Islamic militant Web site showed the beheading of an American civilian in Iraq, and said the execution was carried out by an al-Qaida affiliated group to avenge the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers.

The video bore the title "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shown slaughtering an American." It was unclear whether al-Zarqawi — an associate of Osama bin Laden — was shown in the video, or was claiming responsibility for ordering the execution.

Al-Zarqawi also is said to have ties to terrorist groups ranging from Ansar al Islam in Iraq to Egyptian Islamic Jihad. He's believed to be behind many attacks in Iraq, including numerous high-profile operations.

The video pictures of the execution showed five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks, standing over a bound man in an orange jumpsuit — similar to a prisoner's uniform — who identified himself as Nick Berg, a U.S. civilian whose body was found on a highway overpass in Baghdad on Saturday.

"My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Suzanne," the man said on the video. "I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah. I live in ... Philadelphia."

There was no way to be certain the tape was authentic.

After reading a statement, the men were seen pulling the man to his side and putting a large knife to his neck. A scream sounded as the men cut his head off, shouting "Allahu Akbar!" — "God is great." They then held the head out before the camera. ...

On the Web site, one of the executioners read a statement:

"For the mothers and wives of American soldiers, we tell you that we offered the U.S. administration to exchange this hostage with some of the detainees in Abu Ghraib and they refused."

"So we tell you that the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls. You will not receive anything from us but coffins after coffins ... slaughtered in this way."

The Web site on which the video was posted is known as a clearing house for al-Qaida and Islamic extremist groups' statements and tapes. An audiotape purportedly from bin Laden — which the CIA said was probably authentic — appeared on the same Web site last week.

Western officials say al-Zarqawi, whose real name is Ahmad Fadhil al-Khalayleh, is a lieutenant of bin Laden. The United States has offered $10 million for information leading to the capture or killing of al-Zarqawi, saying he is trying to build a network of foreign militants in Iraq to work for al-Qaida.

In the video, the speaker threatened both President Bush and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

"As for you Bush ... expect severe days. You and your soldiers will regret the day you stepped into the land of Iraq," he said. He described Musharraf as "a traitor agent."

Muslims around the Kaaba in Mecca (AP)

This is part of the jihad against history: dhimmi populations must accept an Islamic rewriting of their past that brings the facts into line with the Islamic doctrine that everyone is originally Muslim, and only turns to other religions as a renegade. It springs from the same impulse that destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan: either the pre-Islamic doesn't exist, or it (if it can't be denied) was trash. From Haaretz, with thanks to Mrs. Obelix:

Years ago, a group of archaeology students from Bar-Ilan University went to Jerusalem's Kidron Valley, hoping to save archaeological remnants from earth the Waqf [Muslim religious trust] had dug up on the Temple Mount and dumped in the riverbed. A Waqf official who noticed the students began yelling at them. One sentence struck them in particular: "You have nothing to look for here, just as the Crusaders had nothing to look for here. Jerusalem is Muslim." In the past, such comments could be seen as the exception. All of that changed at the Camp David Conference of June 2002: it was then that senior Israeli officials became aware that the claim that the Jews have no real connection to Jerusalem and the holy sites had not only been disseminated and become entrenched in Arab and Muslim communities and part of the public discourse, but was also been adopted by the Palestinian leadership.

Indeed, a new study by Dr. Yitzhak Reiter, conducted for the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies states: "In the last generation, the Islamic and Arab history of Jerusalem has gradually been rewritten. At the heart of this new version is the Arabs' historic right to Jerusalem and Palestine. The main argument is that the Arabs ruled Jerusalem thousands of years before the children of Israel. In addition to building the Arab-Muslim case, the Muslim thinkers are formulating a denial and negation of the Jewish-Zionist narrative. Included in that effort is the de-Judaizing of the Temple Mount, the Western Wall and Jerusalem as a whole.

All Palestine is Al-Aqsa

Reiter, of the Hebrew University's Truman Institute, is a long-time specialist in the modern history of the Middle East. He reviewed a collection of religious rulings by key muftis in the Muslim world and Internet sites of Islamic movements; he pored over many of the popular theoretical books in Arabic that deal with Jerusalem and sifted through reports and articles on the issue, dating back to 1967; and he says: "New myths, some of them fictitious and some of them based on facts on the ground, transform the stories about Al-Aqsa into furious struggle"; Yasser Arafat and Sheikh Raed Salah, like the grand mufti of Jerusalem at the turn of the previous century, Sheikh Haj Amin al-Husseini, along with many others "are using the religious symbols of Jerusalem to enlist the entire Muslim world in its struggle," and this is being done in several ways.

The Muslims are slowly dropping use of the name given to the Temple Mount complex - Haram al-Sharif, which gave it its status as the third holiest site in Islam and reverting to exclusive use of the earlier name, Al-Aqsa, which appears in the Koran.

"Al-Aqsa" now refers to the entire Temple Mount complex, including the Western Wall, and not just the mosque. The tradition connecting the three mosques in Mecca, Medina and Al-Aqsa is being used by the Palestinians to exert pressure on Muslim states by saying that "making a mockery of Al-Aqsa will lead to a mockery of the holy sites in Mecca and Medina, because there is a connection between that must not be broken" (the Palestinian minister of Waqf affairs, Sheikh Yusef Salameh, in November 2002).

At the same time there is growing use of the term "Al-Aqsa" as a symbol and a name for different institutions and organizations, be it a Jordanian army journal, a Palestinian police unit established by the Palestinian Authority in Jericho, the Fatah terrorist cells known as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade or Internet sites of the northern and southern branches of the Islamic Movement and organizations they have set up and, of course, in the current intifada and the Arab summit convened in its wake.

Contrary to the standard history whereby the Al-Aqsa mosque was built in the seventh century, in recent years an ancient tradition from the beginning of Islam has been gaining ground. According to it, the Al-Aqsa mosque was built 40 years after the construction of the mosque in Mecca by Adam (i.e., close to the seven days of creation). Other traditions that appear in the Waqf administration offices in Jerusalem attribute the building of the mosque to Abraham and Solomon, as Islamic figures, with no connection to Judaism. The former Jordanian minister of Waqf affairs, Abed al-Salaam al-Abadi, Sheikh Raed Salah and Islamic Internet sites refer to Abraham as the builder of the Al-Aqsa mosque 4,000 years ago.

Lord Ahmed (BBC)

More Islamic tolerance: a Muslim in Britain's House of Lords who criticizes the jihadists gets death threats. This article uses the word fatwa, which means a ruling on a religious question, as if it meant a death sentence, but you can get the idea anyway. From the Yorkshire Post, with thanks to Twostellas:

A YORKSHIRE Muslim peer fears for his family's safety after receiving two fatwa for speaking out against terrorism and the war with Iraq.

Lord Ahmed of Rotherham said the second warning was issued in an Arab newspaper last week by Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, who heads the London-based group al-Muhajiroun.

The Labour peer – one of the first to be appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair and an outspoken critic of fundamentalism – had already received death threats weeks earlier from the Muslim militants.

It is understood members of al-Muhajiroun ordered the death threat because it was felt he had allied himself with non-Muslims.

Lord Ahmed has openly called for Islamic militants, such as Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri, to be kicked out of the UK and has also been an outspoken critic of the teaching in some mosques around the country.

He called for imams to be tested in English language and culture and said many clerics were preaching extremism.

Lord Ahmed shrugged off the first threat and yesterday stood firm, insisting he would not allow either fatwa to silence him despite his concerns for his family.

"I'm determined to speak out for the masses and I'm determined to portray the true face of Islam, which is of peace, co-existence and reaching out to other communities," he said.

"I do fear for my family and my children, but I think my life is less important than the message I want to get across.

"I'm determined to see that the majority of British Muslims are heard and these extremists are silenced. We must not allow these fanatics to silence the voices of the majority."

The first fatwa against Lord Ahmed is understood to have come at an al-Muhajiroun meeting after he was declared guilty of apostasy, abandoning his faith, a crime which is punishable by death.

The radical group openly campaigns for extremism and has been accused of recruiting Britons to terrorist training camps.

Lord Ahmed said: "Omar Bakri has no legal, religious or moral right to issue fatwa in this country. Somebody who has as extreme views as he does has no place in our society and should be alienated." ...

Lord Ahmed added he rejected wholesale any claim that he had turned his back on his faith.

"A proud Muslim can be a proud Yorkshireman too. There is nothing contradictory about that – to be passionate about my religion and to also enjoy my fish and chips and the straight talking of the people of Rotherham."

Dodd

From the New Haven Register, :

NEW HAVEN — Hoping it’s not too late to stave off a terrorist attack on the nation’s rail system, three Washington officials came to Union Station Monday to support a bill that would dedicate billions to train security.

The federal government has allocated $4.4 billion for aviation safety and $10 million for rail and other transit security, said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-New Haven.

"When you consider that five times as many people travel by trains and other vehicles of mass transit than do our airlines, you get some sense of the imbalance that is occurring," said U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who accompanied DeLauro and U.S. Sen.

A bill approved by the Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee would allocate $5.2 billion for public transit security, with $3.5 billion of it for physical improvements and the rest for training.

"We’re painfully aware of how fragile these systems are as the result of the attacks on March 11 in Madrid," said Dodd. "It was a wake up call to people. I hope these dollars are not too late."

Malian soldiers training

From the New York Times comes news of an expanding front in the defense against global jihad.

STUTTGART, Germany — The American campaign against terrorism is opening a new front in a region that military officials fear could become the next base for Al Qaeda — the largely ungoverned swath of territory stretching from the Horn of Africa to the Western Sahara's Atlantic coast.

Generals here at the United States European Command, which oversees the area, say the vast, arid region is a new Afghanistan, with well-financed bands of Islamic militants recruiting, training and arming themselves. Terrorist attacks like the one on March 11 in Madrid that killed 191 people seem to have a North African link, investigators say, and may presage others in Europe. ...

American military officials say that Qaeda-linked militants, pushed out of Afghanistan and blocked by increased surveillance of traditional points of entry along the Mediterranean coast, are turning to overland travel in order to make contact with North African Islamic terror groups.

The officials cite the case of Emad Abdelwahid Ahmed Alwan, also known as Abu Mohamed, a Qaeda militant who traveled across Africa in 2002 to help plan attacks.

Mr. Alwan, a Yemeni and a close associate of Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was linked to the October 2000 attack on the American warship Cole. He is believed to have been helping to plan an attack on the United States Embassy in Mali's capital, Bamako, before he was killed in late 2002 during a raid by Algerian forces in Algeria's northeastern Batna Province.

Mr. Alwan's appearance in the region rattled the American military and added impetus to a strategy that had been taking shape since the Sept. 11 attacks. The United States is working with the countries of the so-called Sahel, the impoverished southern fringe of the Sahara, to shore up border controls and deny sanctuary to suspected terrorists.

The program, called the Pan-Sahel Initiative, was begun with $7 million and focused on Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad. It is being expanded to include Senegal and possibly other countries. The European Command has asked for $125 million for the region over five years.

An added catalyst to the program was the kidnapping of Western tourists in the desert of southeastern Algerian early last year. A terrorist leader named Ammari Saifi, also known as Abderrezak al-Para because he was trained as an Algerian Special Forces paratrooper, took 32 European tourists hostage near the Libyan border and transported some of them to northern Mali.

To free the hostages, United States military officials say, Germany paid him a ransom of nearly $6 million — equivalent to a quarter of Niger's defense budget — making him instantly one of the most powerful Islamic militants in North Africa.

He is a leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, or G.S.P.C., which was formed in 1998 and has many links with Al Qaeda.

Earlier this year, Mr. Saifi went on a shopping spree in northern Mali, gathering weapons, vehicles and recruits while American and Algerian intelligence monitored him with growing alarm. In February, Algerian forces intercepted a convoy carrying weapons north from Mali. Algerian officials say the cargo contained mortar launchers, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and surface-to-air missiles.

The United States European Command sent a Navy P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft to sweep the area, relaying Mr. Saifi's position to forces in the region. Mali pushed him out of the country to Niger, which in turn chased him into Chad, where, with United States Special Forces support of an airlift of fuel and other supplies, 43 of his men were killed or captured. Mr. Saifi himself got away, American officials say. With his money and experience and broader network, G.S.P.C. remains the most dangerous group in North Africa, they say.

In the wake of the G.S.P.C. hunt, military chiefs from nine African nations were brought to European Command headquarters in Stuttgart last month. Several of the generals, like the military chiefs of neighboring Mali and Niger, had never met one another before. Others, like the military chiefs of Morocco and Algeria, were more accustomed to competing than cooperating.

All the countries expressed anxiety about the growing threat of Islamic militancy within their borders.

Government officials in Burkina Faso have complained to American officials about "bearded ones" showing up in remote areas preaching the salafist, or fundamentalist, strain of Islam that inspires the world's Islamic militants. The foreign imams distribute cassette tapes and have greater wealth than the local imams with whom they are competing.

"These are not local extremists," one American official said. "These are people from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, who are essentially Islamic missionaries preaching a form of Islam that is very, very different from what these countries want or grew up with."

But can the defenders of the local form of Islam refute the Salafis' arguments from the Qur'an and Islamic tradition?

The Italian terror cell was broken through wiretaps obtained under Italy's new anti-terror laws. From UPI, :

Washington, DC, May. 10 (UPI) -- It's September 29, 2003 and Adel is frustrated. "I've just spoken to Sheikh Rashid and he said there's no decision on my going to Iraq. What are they waiting for?" The person at the other end of the phone line murmurs words of encouragement.

Months later, Adel still waits. "Sheikh, don't think that I haven't considered alternatives to this path," he tells Mahamri Rashid, the imam of Florence in another phone conversation. "But I wouldn't change my mind even if they covered me with gold. I wouldn't change it for anything. I lie awake at night thinking about it. It's a huge universal project."

In another phone conversation in early March of this year Adel tells a friend, "In a month we will be martyrs at last."

But others were also listening to these conversations, and early Sunday morning Italian intelligence agents arrested Adel and three other Tunisians along with Mahamri Rashid, the imam of Florence. All have been charged under Italy's anti-terrorism laws.

Italian authorities said Rashid recruited young Arabs to become suicide bombers and fighters linked to al-Qaida the terrorist group, and sent them to Iraq. The other four arrested were his most recent would-be martyrs. According to press accounts, investigators had stepped in to make the arrests days before the Tunisians were due to depart for Yemen and Syria where they would have been given weapons and explosives before being smuggled into Iraq.

The arrest was the result of a long investigation involving numerous wiretaps, some of which were published in newspapers Sunday and Monday. The Italian government intensified its anti-terrorist campaign following the March 11 bombings in Madrid. This particular investigation was already underway at the time, but after Madrid the authorities feared that the terrorists were planning to attack targets in Italy.

This fear intensified when, in a discussion about the Madrid attack, one of the Tunisians said, "If we were to stage an attack in Italy we could hit the Giglio commercial center (in Florence) or the movie complex across from it and we would kill thousands of people."

But from the start their destination was Iraq. As quoted in La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera the recorded phone exchanges provide a chilling insight into the gradual process of bending their minds towards "martyrdom" in the cause of Islam.

John Lehman

Yesterday in our nation's chief target, New York City, I picked up this incisive assessment by former Navy Secretary John Lehman in the New York Post:

PART of the reason we suffered such a horrific attack is that we were not prepared.

We were not prepared intellectually. Those of us in the national-security field still carried the baggage of the Cold War. When we thought of terrorism, we thought only of state-sponsored terrorism, which is why the immediate reaction of many in our government agencies after 9/11 was: Which state did it? Saddam, it must have been Saddam.

We had failed to grasp, for a variety of reasons, the new phenomenon that had emerged in the world. This was not state-sponsored terrorism. This was religious war. This was the emergence of a transnational enemy driven by religious fervor and fanaticism. Our enemy is not terrorism. Our enemy is violent, Islamic fundamentalism.

None of our government institutions was set up with receptors, or even vocabulary, to deal with this. So we left ourselves completely vulnerable to a concerted attack.

Where are we today? I'd like to say we have fixed these problems, but we haven't. We have not diminished in any way the fervor and ideology of our enemy. We are fighting them in many areas of the world, and I must say with much better awareness of the issues and their nature. We're fighting with better tools.

But I cannot say we are now safe from the kind of attack we saw on 9/11. I think we are much safer than we were on 9/11: The ability of our enemies to launch a concerted, sophisticated attack is much less than it was then. Still, we're totally vulnerable to the kinds of attacks we've seen in Madrid, for instance.

We face a very sophisticated and intelligent enemy who has been trained, in many cases, in our universities and gone to school on our methods, learned from their mistakes, and continued to use the very nature of our free society and its aversion to intrusion in privacy and discrimination to their benefit.

For example, today it is still a prohibited offense for an airline to have two people of the same ethnic background interviewed at one time, because that is discrimination. Our ability to carry out covert operations abroad is only marginally better than it was at the time of 9/11.

It's very important that people understand the complexity of this threat. We have had to institute new approaches to protecting our civil liberties - the way we authorize surveillance, the way we conduct our immigration and naturalization policies, and the way we issue passports. That's only the beginning.

The beginning of wisdom is to recognize the problem, to recognize that for every jihadist we kill or capture - as we carry out an aggressive and positive policy in Afghanistan and elsewhere - another 50 are being trained in schools and mosques around the world.

This problem goes back a long way. We have been asleep. Presidents in four administrations put their arms around Saudi ambassadors, ignored the Wahhabi jihadism, and said these are our eternal friends.

We have seen throughout the last 20 years a kind of head-in-the-sand approach to national security in the Pentagon. We paid no attention to the real nature of this emerging threat, even though there were warning signs.

Many will recall with pain what we went through in the Reagan administration in 1983, when the Marine barracks were bombed in Beirut - 241 Marines and Navy corpsmen were killed. We immediately got an intercept from NSA [National Security Agency], a total smoking gun from the foreign ministry of Iran, ordering the murder of our Marines. Nothing was done to retaliate. Instead, we did exactly what the terrorists wanted us to do, which was to withdraw.

Osama bin Laden has cited this as one of his dawning moments. The vaunted United States is a paper tiger; Americans are afraid of casualties; they run like cowards when attacked; and they don't even bother to take their dead with them.

We fueled and made these people aware of the tremendous effectiveness of terrorism as a tool of jihad. They chased us out of one place after another, because we would not retaliate.

The secretary of Defense at the time has said he never received those intercepts. That's an example of one of the huge problems our commission has uncovered. We have allowed the intelligence community to evolve into a bureaucratic archipelago of baronies in the Defense Department, the CIA, and 95 other different intelligence units in our government. None of them talked to one another in the same computerized system. There was no systemic sharing.

We had watch lists with 65,000 terrorists' names on them, created by a very sophisticated system in the State Department called Tip-Off. That existed before 9/11, but nobody in the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] bothered to look at it. The FAA had 12 names on its no-fly list.

The State Department had a guy on its list named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He was already under indictment for his role in planning the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. State issued him a visa.

Two big lessons glare out from what our investigations have discovered so far. Number one: In our government bureaucracy today, there is no accountability.

Since 9/11 - the greatest failure of American defenses in the history of our country, at least since the burning of Washington in 1814 - only one person has been fired. He is a hero, in my judgment: [retired Vice] Adm. John Poindexter.

He got fired because of an excessive zeal to catch these bastards. But he was the only one fired. Not any of the 19 officers lost their jobs at Immigration for allowing the 19 terrorists - nine who presented grossly falsified passports - to enter the country.

Customs officer Jose Melendez-Perez stopped the 20th terrorist, who was supposed to be on Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania. Probably because of the shorthanded muscle on that team, the passengers were able to overcome the terrorists.

Melendez-Perez did this at great personal risk, because his colleagues and his supervisors told him, "You can't do this. This guy is an Arab ethnic. You're racially profiling. You're going to get in real trouble, because it's against Department of Transportation policy to racially profile."

He said, "I don't care. This guy's a bad guy. I can see it in his eyes."

As he sent this guy back out of the United States, the guy turned around to him and said, "I'll be back." You know, he is back. He's in Guantanamo. We captured him in Afghanistan.

Do you think Melendez-Perez got a promotion? Do you think he got any recognition? Do you think he is doing any better than the 19 of his time-serving, unaccountable colleagues? Don't think any bit of it. We have no accountability - but we're going to restore it.

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mehdi Army Monday to launch a broad new offensive against U.S.-led occupying forces following a U.S. crackdown on his strongholds in Baghdad and across the south.

The U.S. military claimed new successes in campaigns against Sadr's forces and minority Sunni Muslim insurgents.

Sadr's chief aide told Reuters at his main base in the holy city of Najaf that a new phase had begun in a month-long insurgency across Shi'ite southern Iraq.

"We have now entered a second phase of resistance," he said. But U.S. commanders, helped by rival Shi'ite leaders, sound increasingly confident of containing the Mehdi Army.

Tanks flattened Sadr's office in Baghdad's Sadr City district overnight and U.S. spokesman Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt made a hard-to-verify claim that troops killed 35 fighters in the sprawling Shi'ite slum.

U.S. forces, spurred on by mounting irritation with Sadr among Shi'ite elders, have also squeezed the outskirts of Najaf.

With British forces around Basra, they have been taking back key positions such as police stations in a string of towns across Shi'ite southern Iraq. An armored U.S. column rolled again into the center of the holy city of Kerbala Monday.

Hoon said the situation remained tense around Basra and Amara and further violence was likely in the coming days.

"Our policy now is to extend the state of resistance and to move it to all of Iraq because of the occupiers' military escalation and crossing of all red lines in the holy cities of Kerbala and Najaf," Sadr lieutenant Qais al-Khazali said.

The U.S. commander in the Middle East, General John Abizaid, said his troops were doing their best to avoid inflaming religious passions by intruding on sacred ground.

But he said: "We will be patient, but our patience won't last forever. There is a limit to our patience with Sadr."

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush plans this week to impose economic sanctions on Syria for supporting terrorism and failing to stop guerrillas from entering Iraq, people involved in the deliberations said on Monday. Congressional sources said Bush was expected to curb future investments by American energy firms in Syria and prohibit Syrian aircraft from flying into the United States.

Bush was also expected either to block transactions involving the Syrian government or to ban exports to Syria of U.S. products other than food and medicine, the sources said.

A White House announcement on the sanctions is planned as early as Tuesday.

From the Sackler Museum exhibit

Is it too cruel to call this dhimmitude at the Smithsonian? As even AP notes, religious harmony was only a sometime thing. And the "once upon a time..." beginning suggests a fairy tale.

Once upon a time — a time that lasted for centuries — Christians and Jews worked productively under Islamic rule in a large corner of southwestern Europe. Christian kings often wore Muslim robes and Jews sometimes ran governments for Muslim monarchs.

A Smithsonian exhibit of art from that era, called "Caliphs and Kings," opens Saturday at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. It is part of a program of the Mosaic Foundation, organized by wives of ambassadors in Washington from Muslim countries.

This year, the program celebrates the time beginning almost 1,300 years ago when Islamic forces occupied most of Spain, Portugal and a large piece of southern France. They called their territory "al-Andalus."

Some of its rulers felt their importance was such that they assumed the title of "caliph," meaning they were successors to Mohammed with spiritual and political authority over all the faithful. But given the difficulties of travel over the huge territory of medieval Islam, their power was mostly limited to the lands under their control. The name of that realm survives in the popular term for eight southern provinces of Spain, Andalusia.

Though much admired by other Europeans of a thousand years ago as a kind of earthly paradise, al-Andalus had its share of war and brutal expulsions. El Cid, a Spanish national hero for his battles against Islam, spent nearly a decade of his early career in the service of Muslim rulers.

Note: Many bags look alike; be sure the one you take is yours

A few days ago I posted an article about radioactive material in Ukraine. Now the LA Times has pulled more information together.

VIENNA — Concerns are growing that Al Qaeda or a related group could detonate a "dirty bomb" that would spew radioactive fallout across an American or European city, according to intelligence analysts, diplomats and independent nuclear experts.

Although safeguards protecting nuclear weapons and their components have improved, experts said the radioactive materials that wrap around conventional explosives to create a contaminating bomb remained available worldwide — and were often stored in non-secure locations.

Detonating a dirty bomb would not cause the death and devastation wrought by a nuclear weapon, but officials and counter-terrorism experts predicted that it would result in some fatalities, radiation sickness, mass panic and enormous economic damage.

Intelligence agencies have reported no reliable, specific threats involving dirty bombs or nuclear weapons, but senior U.S. and European officials and outside experts said several factors had heightened fears in recent weeks.

They said concerns were focused on three Al Qaeda operatives who led experiments involving dirty bombs and chemical weapons and on widely held suspicions that a special wing of the terrorist network was planning a spectacular attack.

They also said that chatter justifying the use of nuclear weapons against the U.S. had increased on radical Islamic websites as the occupation of Iraq stretches into its second year.

Abu Ghraib Prison (AP)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The prisoner abuse scandal has so tarnished the Army's 800th Military Police Brigade that soldiers slated to receive an Army Bronze Star medal have been dropped from the list, the brigade's commander, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, said Sunday.

"The vast majority of fine, outstanding soldiers in the brigade are paying dearly," Karpinski told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

After the Army started its investigation into abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib penitentiary, "many, many" of the soldiers' recommendations for the Army medal were downgraded, said Karpinski, whose 2,800-member brigade operated 12 U.S. prisons and detention camps across Iraq, including the sprawling Abu Ghraib facility west of Baghdad.

The Bronze Star denotes heroism, outstanding achievement or meritorious service.

An Army report into the abuses at the prison, written by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, faulted Karpinski and other commanders in the brigade and its subordinate battalions, saying leaders paid too little attention to the prison's day-to-day operations. Previous abuses of prisoners or lapses at the prison went unpunished or unheeded, the report found.

Note the difference between the above story

The report commends two individual soldiers and a sailor for either halting abuse at Abu Ghraib or refusing to participate.

"My principle torturer was a man named Ibrahim Al Dali who was promoted from captain to major as a result of his torturing me and getting me to confess,” says Sampson.

The difference?

"I know the members of (the Saudi) government are hypocrites. I know the members of their government are liars, and therefore I do not expect anything better from them than that. I do not expect anything other than them to continue playing their hypocritical games.”

No one expects it of the United States.

UPDATE: Drudge reports that a furious President Bush has demanded to see all prisoner abuse photos and videos

A furious President Bush has demanded to see all photos and videos showing abuse of Iraq detainees, a senior White House source said late Sunday.

"The president was blindsided by the first TV images, he will not be blindsided again," the source, who demanded anonymity, explained to the DRUDGE REPORT.

The president has instructed Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to present him with him all known images that could further deepen the crises.

This all reminds me of some of the initial controversy surrounding Islam Unveiled. When I argued that Western values and the values of Islamic Extremists are fundamentally different, the most common answer was not a refutation of that point but rather an irrelevant game of "gotcha" proving Western Civilization does not always live up to its professed values. As Senator Lieberman pointed out "I cannot help but say, however, that those who were responsible for killing 3,000 Americans on September 11th, 2001, never apologized," and that four Americans in Fallujah who were "murdered and burned and humiliated ... never received an apology from anybody."

Dr. Sayed al-Faghi says Saudi Arabia framed the British government for the Riyadh bombings, in an effort to stop his group from criticizing the Saudi regime (CBS)

CBS' 60 Minutes sparked worldwide outrage over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American troops. Now it seems they are going after Our Friends the Saudis. They report on the case of innocent Britons who were tortured into confessing they had set off bombs around Riyadh. In the halcyon days before 9/11 it was easier for the Saudis to round up the usual suspects — foreigners — that to admit they had a problem with fundamentalist jihadis.

Six years ago, Sampson had taken a job as a business consultant in Saudi Arabia. But in November 2000, two cars bombs went off in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, killing a British engineer and injuring several other westerners.

Three weeks later, as Sampson was leaving his home in Riyadh for work, a grey sedan pulled up beside him. “Three Saudis in traditional dress came out of the sedan. One of them waved a warrant card and pistol in my face,” recalls Sampson. “The others pinned my arms behind my back, stripped me of my belongings, handcuffed me, began punching and beating me, and pushed me into the vehicle.”

Sampson was blindfolded and driven to a closely guarded building on the outskirts of Riyadh, which is the detention center of the Mabahith - the Saudi security police. There, he was tortured into confessing that he had carried out those bombings.

“It initially started with punchings and kickings, and that progressed from beating me on the soles of my feet to being hung upside down in a position known as the chicken -- with your feet uppermost and your feet and backside exposed, readily available for beating,” says Sampson. “And between interrogation sessions, I was returned to the same cell and handcuffed to the door, so I couldn't sit down and I couldn't sleep.”

He said that after being beating on the soles of his feet and chained to the door, he stood in agony: “There’s no way you can, I could even kneel down in that position, and so I'd be standing on my feet which were swollen, so badly swollen that they were actually exuding plasma through the skin.”

I imagine world opinion is going to turn on the Saudis. We are going to start hearing protests from around the globe any minute now. Anyone...? Anyone...? Bueller...?

Masked Palestinian militants, members of the Popular Resistance Committees, pray with their Rocket Propelled Grenade launchers in the southern Gaza Strip refugee camp of Rafah, during a rally supporting the attack in which a 34-year-old Israeli settler and her four children were killed(AFP)

While the U.S. wrings it hands over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, Palestinian jihadis go for extra points in a recent terror attack. From the Jersusalem Post:

Early Sunday evening at least three Palestinian terrorists opened fire shooting at several hundred mourners gathered at the site where Tali Hatuel and her four daughters were gunned down and murdered on the Kissufim crossing a week ago.

No one was wounded in the attack. Several residents were treated for shock. IDF forces spotted three terrorists, a tank fired a shell hitting two and the third was hit by light weapons.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

Eran Shterenberg spokesman for the Gaza Coast Regional Council said several terrorists approached the road and opened fire. Soldiers and armed residents returned fire as women, babies and children lay on the ground and crouched near parked cars seeking cover from the gunfire. A bulletproof bus drove up to the site and women and children boarded it as residents armed with weapons stood watch.

U.S. army Spc. Jeremy Sivits (AP)

It won't satisfy anyone, of course.

In related news,Reuters quotes defense officials as reporting that already this week the U.S. military punished two Army Reserve soldiers who assaulted prisoners while working as guards at Guantanamo.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A 24-year-old military policeman will face a public court martial in Baghdad next week, the first of seven American soldiers to be tried on charges of abusing Iraqi prisoners, a U.S. military spokesman said Sunday.

Stung by photographs of humiliation that have hardened Arab anger at the United States, the army promised full media access when Specialist Jeremy Sivits goes on trial on May 19, but it was unclear if the court hearings would be televised.

"It is not our intention to hide anything," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told a news conference, though he has insisted there would be no "show trial."

Sivits, who faces three charges, including one of maltreating detainees, is one of seven military police to be charged with abusing prisoners in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, where Saddam Hussein's torturers tormented thousands of Iraqis.

Afghan police officers look the bloodstrain Sunday, May 9, 2004 in Kabul, Afghanistan where joggers found the two bodies of the two white men, aged about 30 and in Afghan dress, in a public garden in west Kabul, early Sunday, police said. (AP)

Let's hope there is some follow-up to this curious story.

KABUL (Reuters) - Two foreign men, one Swiss, were stabbed and stoned to death in the Afghan capital, government officials said Sunday.

"There were various injuries you could see on the head caused by stones and bricks," said Ihsanullah Alimi, a doctor involved in the post-mortem.

"And there are also stab injuries on the head. And on one body, a rope seemed to have been tightened on the neck."

The bodies, clothed in local shalwar (baggy trousers), long shirts and woolen hats when found, were being examined by forensic experts.

Local residents informed police and led them to the bodies in Baghe Chilstone, an ancient garden not far from the city's center, Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal, told Reuters.

An investigation was under way to determine "who stoned these to death, and why," Mashal said. "One of them holds a Swiss passport and the nationality of the other is not known."

Both had come from neighboring Pakistan nine days ago, said Khalil Aminzada, deputy chief of Kabul police. He said they were pelted with bricks and stones last night.

A local official at the Swiss embassy in Kabul said Swiss diplomats were informed about the deaths and were seeking more details from the authorities.

Stoning to death is a punishment proposed by Islam for adulterers. The practice was publicly administered by the ousted Taliban who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 when a U.S.-led military campaign overthrew the radical regime.

Italy is often used as a logistical base

Another Islamic religious leader implicated in terrorist activity. "The Qur'an forbids suicide." What Qur'an was this Algerian imam reading? "Islam condemns terrorism." How did this imam miss the boat? From the BBC, with thanks to LGF:

Italian police say they have arrested an Algerian imam and four Tunisians suspected of planning suicide attacks against Western targets in Iraq. The men were seized in a series of raids in Florence and the province of Liguria - which were still ongoing.

The raids were part of an investigation into the Islamic militant group, Ansar al-Islam, police said. ...

In the latest raids, police searched a mosque in Florence and a number of homes.

"We have dismantled a cell of Ansar al-Islam," police chief Oscar Fiorolli was quoted as saying. The group is suspected of being behind attacks on coalition targets in Iraq.

A local imam was the alleged ringleader, Italian police said.

In recent years police investigations in Italy have found evidence that Islamic terrorist groups have used the country to get false documents and provide hiding places for members, our Rome correspondent says.

Mosques in various cities have been searched in connection with these inquiries, she says.

Ayloush

So much for CAIR's claims of moderation when one of their operatives indulges in overheated and unjustified rhetoric like this. From AP:

As he led Friday's prayer service in Mission Viejo, Hussam Ayloush said the war on terror had become a "war on Muslims" and that the United States had become the "new Saddam."

"So let's end this hypocrisy, this hypocrisy that we are better than the other dictator," Ayloush, the executive director of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told several hundred worshippers.

Several people said afterward that the abuses had undermined America's moral standing in the world and perhaps made it a greater target of terrorist attacks.

"It will make recruiting terrorists a lot easier for whoever wants to recruit them," said Syrian native Mutaz Ascha, a Mission Viejo construction contractor.

In the San Diego suburb of Vista, Nadia Keilani, a 32-year-old Iraqi-born attorney, said the abuses have also damaged U.S. efforts to stabilize the political situation in her native country.

"The rest of the world has grown more and more to dislike the American efforts in Iraq," she said. "This has really taken away our moral high ground."

El Kurd, who says he won't vote for Bush again, was outraged at the damage he said the abuses have caused.

"A country that stands for justice and democracy is being viewed as a tyrant," he said. "These people were treated this way under Saddam, so what did we accomplish? We just brought another Saddam to them."

As I have said many times already, the moral high ground does not always manifest itself in perfect behavior, but in the punishment of those who commit the crimes. Even if the Abu Ghraib prison incidents were equivalent to Saddam's gassing the Kurds, mass graves, etc., the reaction of Bush and Rumsfeld is 180 degrees different.

But of course, Ayloush is no stranger to reckless charges and vicious invective.

People running for cover after the blast

The "separatists" and "rebels" in this report are, of course, mujahedin.

GROZNY, Chechnya (CNN) -- Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov and at least three others died in an explosion Sunday during celebrations at a stadium in the Chechen capital, officials said.

Russia's presidential press service confirmed Kadyrov's death, and a spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry said that another 44 people were wounded in the blast at Grozny's Dynamo stadium.

The stadium was crowded with people celebrating Victory Day, which marks the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Among the wounded was the top commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, Gen. Valery Baranov.

The blast happened beneath the VIP stand where political and military leaders were reviewing a military parade commemorating Victory Day.

A spokesman for the Chechen Interior Ministry said that the bomb may have been buried in concrete as many as three months ago while the stadium was undergoing a renovation. ...

The blast comes a few weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his annual state of the nation address, proclaimed the "military phase of the conflict may be considered closed" in Chechnya.

Chechen separatists have been fighting for independence from Russia since the mid-90s and are being credited in the Russian media for having carried out the attack.

Victory Day is a major national celebration in Russia.

The Grozny ceremonies were mirrored by festivities throughout the country, including a march in Moscow's Red Square.

Chechen rebels have in the past targeted official events and public gatherings for attacks.

Magnus Ranstorp (Aftonbladet)

An overview from Knight Ridder:

ROME - A series of recent developments in the war on terrorism, barely noticed in the United States, suggests that global Islamic extremism is spreading.

On Monday, Turkish authorities charged nine people, believed to be part of an al-Qaeda-linked group, in connection with planning to bomb next month's NATO summit in Istanbul, which President Bush is scheduled to attend. That followed the April 26 televised confessions of suspects allegedly caught trying to build a chemical bomb, which authorities said could have killed tens of thousands in Jordan's capital, Amman.

In Saudi Arabia, authorities weren't so successful. On May 1, militants shot dead two Americans, two Britons and an Australian at an oil company's offices. On May 3, a car bomb exploded in southwestern Pakistan, killing three Chinese engineers who had been building a multimillion-dollar seaport.

In Syria on April 27, a gym teacher died in a cross fire between extremists and police. In Thailand the next day, police killed 108 Muslim militants who had allegedly attacked police stations trying to seize guns, though that incident has overtones of longstanding ethnic strife. In Spain, an indictment issued April 29 alleges that one of the Moroccans accused in connection with the Madrid train bombings is also linked to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In Indonesia on April 30, protesters rioted after a radical cleric was arrested again on charges linking him to the 2002 nightclub bombings in Bali, which killed 202 people.

On Thursday, the FBI took into custody Oregon lawyer Brandan Mayfield, in connection with the Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people and injured 2,000.

Many of these events, all within the past two weeks, received scant attention in the United States, where the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal has dominated news headlines. But they are the most recent indications that the threat of Islamic terrorism -- and the transnational battles against it -- are intensifying.

The recent episodes show that law enforcement and intelligence agencies across Europe and the Middle East have been able to prevent terrorist attacks and have vigorously pursued those accused of planning them. Yet the military and police actions haven't stopped extremists from hatching chilling plots.

Islamic militants "are trying to expand the battlefield and exhaust the United States, creating widespread fear," said Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism specialist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. ...

Will he have to rely on his lungs after all?

The game may not be over in Hamtramck, Michigan, where the muezzin's prayer call will soon resound all over the city via loudspeakers. From the Detroit Free Press, with thanks to Nicolei:

A petition drive began Friday to stop a new law that will allow mosques in Hamtramck to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer over loudspeakers.

Organizers say they are certain they'll get the required 552 signatures to force the City Council to reverse its April 27 decision.

"There are some people, including Muslims, who don't want the call to prayer," said resident Robert Zwolak, 63.

"The ballot box is the best place for people to voice their opinion."

If the campaign gets enough signatures and the council refuses to reverse its decision, the ordinance would be suspended automatically. It would then become a ballot issue, according to the city charter.

But for now, the ordinance, which goes into effect May 26, has created tension mostly between the city's Muslims and Polish Catholics. It will allow the city's mosques to say the call to prayer in Arabic five times a day.

Zwolak, one of the petition campaign's organizers, said it is not anti-Muslim, but an attempt to bring peace back to the city.

"I hope we can succeed in calming people's feelings down," he said.

City Councilman Shahab Ahmed said the petition campaign is an effort to revive what was becoming a nonissue.

"Now, it's going to divide the community more," he said. "How is it possible to stop someone from calling to prayer? We can stop the noise -- not the religion."

The petition asks the Hamtramck City Council to repeal the amendment to the city's noise ordinance.

"It's not like I'm doing anything against them," Zwolak said of the Muslim community. "It's noise. That's where the issue is.

Nigerian soldiers (BBC)

The violence in Nigeria has been widely reported as Christians attacking Muslims. Most reports ignored the fact that those attacks were in response to many earlier attacks by jihadists. By early April, 1,500 Christians had been killed, and 173 churches destroyed.

This is not to say that anything the Christians might have done, or might do, is justified. But it exposes the hypocrisy of the media establishment. First, jihad violence against Christians is ignored. Then, retaliation by Christians is reported as if it were unprovoked violence against Muslims.

A flash from Compass Direct, with thanks to FreedomNowNews:

JOS, Nigeria, May 7 (Compass) -- Fresh religious violence has erupted in Yelwa town in the central state of Plateau, Nigeria, two months after Muslim militants killed a pastor and 48 members of his church there on February 23. The latest Muslim-Christian clash has resulted in the deaths of 350 people and the disappearance of 250 women and children, according to police reports.

Meanwhile, more than 120 people were reportedly killed and thousands more displaced by inter-religious violence in the northern state of Taraba in late April.

The latest crisis in Yelwa erupted in the early hours of Sunday, May 2. Victims who fled to the state capital of Jos said that more than 1,000 houses and religious buildings had been destroyed by fire. ...

According to news reports yesterday from the Associated Press and Agence France Press (AFP), land disputes between members of the predominantly Christian Tarok tribe and Muslim Hausa-Fulani farmers sparked the violence in Yelwa. A Muslim city councilman told AFP reporters that at least 630 persons, most of them Muslims, had died in the fighting.

Local Christian sources said the crisis is linked to recent attacks on Christian villages in the area by Muslim extremists. They believe because only Muslims remained in Yelwa following the February 23 murders, aggrieved Christians carried out last Sunday's attack in reprisal for the earlier assault.

Muslim-Christian violence broke out in the northern state of Taraba in late April, causing the death of over 120 people and leaving thousands more displaced.

The crisis reportedly erupted on April 27 in Sarkin Kudu and Dampar villages in Ibi local government area of the state. Local sources said an Easter Sunday attack by Muslim militants on Christian villages in the nearby state of Plateau provoked the Taraba violence.

"Christians in Plateau state believe that these two villages, Sarkin Kudu and Dampar, are operational bases for Muslim militants who use them to attack Christian villages in that state," Alhaji Lawal Mohammed, a Muslim and the chairman of Ibi local government council, told Compass. "And because of this, the religious crisis has now spread into our state."

The Muslim political leader confirmed the 120 casualties, adding that he is shaken by the crisis. Mohammed then called on the Nigerian government, as a matter of urgency, to deploy soldiers to the area in order to check the spread of anarchy.

In response to the tensions, Plateau state officials have created a peace committee to network with Taraba, Benue, and Nasarawa state governments. The peace committee is seeking a viable solution to the religious conflict that has engulfed the three states in recent months.

"We have contacted Taraba, Benue and Nasarawa states to check their borders to prevent unnecessary encroachment," Michael Botmang, deputy governor of Plateau state, told Compass yesterday. "On our part, we have sent enough security personnel to the borders to prevent an influx of the Muslim militants."

Over the Easter weekend, Muslim militants launched attacks against predominantly Christian villages in Plateau. Government sources reported only three Christian victims from those attacks, as opposed to the 20 deaths reported by eyewitnesses. About 20,000 refugees fled the area as a result of the violence."

German troops on their way to Kosovo

"We were acting exactly according to the rules," says the German Colonel. We've heard that one before. From The Telegraph, with thanks to Miriam:

A hard-hitting German police report sent to the Berlin government last week criticises the troops for cowardice and for their failure to quell the rioting in which 19 people died and about 900 others were injured.

The charges - the most serious made against the German army since the Second World War - have been levelled by police officers serving with Unmik, the United Nations civil administration in Kosovo.

During the two-day riots between Albanian and Serbs, an Albanian mob burnt and looted 29 Serb churches and monasteries in the southern city of Prizren, and caused several thousand Serbs to flee their homes.

Leaked excerpts from the report on the conduct of the 3,600-strong German contingent based in Prizren disclose that Unmik police were left to fend for themselves at the height of the rioting.

"Despite continuous appeals for help from Kfor, nobody from the military appeared to back up the police," the report said. "Kfor proved to be incapable of carrying out the duties to which it has been assigned."

Further damning evidence, based on interviews with Unmik officers, Serb church leaders and unnamed UN officials in Prizren, was published in Der Spiegel magazine.

The magazine concluded: "The German soldiers ran away and hid like frightened rabbits in their barracks. They only reappeared in armoured vehicles after the Albanian mob had wreaked its havoc and left a trail of destruction."

Col Dieter Hintelmann, who heads the German Kfor contingent in Prizren, insisted that his men had simply obeyed Kfor rules of engagement. They prohibit troops from protecting buildings and allow the use of firearms only in self-defence. "We were acting exactly according to the rules," he said.

However, the Unmik officers claim that the Kfor troops had breached their rules of engagement because they failed to protect them even though they were legally bound to do so. ...

After the rioting, Serb Orthodox church leaders in Kosovo described the German deployment in the region as a mistake, and demanded the troops withdraw.

So far, the German government has refused to acknowledge publicly the complaints made in the police report. However, the defence ministry is believed to be recommending that the law be changed, allowing soldiers to use tear gas grenades for riot control.

Voinovich

Since anti-Semitism is an intrinsic component of jihad ideology, this is an important anti-jihad measure. From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Andy:

The US Senate unanimously adopted legislation Friday requiring the State Department to increase awareness of anti-Semitic incidents worldwide and to submit annual reports on attacks across the globe.

"Education, strong protections for religious freedom, and an appreciation for the importance of tolerance are all necessary if we are to move forward and stamp out this evil," said the legislation's sponsor, Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH).

The bill would require reporting on anti-Semitic acts in two existing State Department surveys: the International Freedom Report and the Human Rights Report. The reports would include descriptions of attacks or harassment, government responses, actions taken to enact or enforce laws protecting religious freedom and efforts by government to promote tolerance education.

This sort of thing happens from time to time in Pakistan, because the perpetrators know that authorities will be reluctant to intevene on behalf of a Christian. From ASSIST News Service:

FAISALABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- A 23 year-old Pakistani Christian has died of injuries as a result of five days of severe torture by Islamic militants for refusing to convert to Islam, the UK-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports.

Javed Anjum, a Christian from Toba Tek Singh District, was tortured for five days and nights by Islamic extremists from a 'madrassa' or Islamic school in the district.

CSW reported the torture included electric shocks and burns from warm iron rods. He suffered 26 injuries. He was hospitalized for 11 days, and died at the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad at 2.12am on 2 May. Doctors said his kidneys had failed and he had undergone dialysis four times. His right arm was fractured, and electric shocks to his ears had affected his hearing. According to the doctors' report, "his bladder stopped working. Instead of urine, he was passing blood or pus."

Javed Anjum, from Quetta, was traveling to Pir Mahal, in Toba Tek Singh district, to attend a wedding, but went missing on April 16, 2004 before reaching Pir Mahal. His father, Parvez Masih, reported this to the local police and placed an advertisement on the local cable channels.

On April 22, 2004 Maulvis (mullahs) from the madrassa, the Jamia Hassan Bin Ali-ul-Murtaza, in Chak (village) 323 JB Tarandi, Toba Tek Singh district, handed Javed to the police, claiming that he was a thief who was trying to steal their water pump. The police refused to take him because he was badly injured and was not in his senses. Instead they called Javed's father and told him that Javed should be admitted to hospital immediately.

In his statement to the police before he died, Javed said: "I was searching for water near the Islamic madrassa when the Maulvis (mullahs) took me inside and told me that I was a thief and was trying to steal the water pump. I rejected the charge and told the Islamic leaders that I am a Christian youth and a student. I had come here to attend a marriage. As soon as the Islamic extremists came to know that I am Christian they asked me to convert to Islam. I refused and they started torturing me. They would continue the torture from night till morning. They tortured me badly and during the torture they continuously asked me to accept Islam."

CSW is deeply concerned about this case, and urges the Pakistani authorities to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. The police have registered a case against one of the suspects, Moulana Ghulam Rasool, and several of his companions under 337/F6 of the Pakistan penal code.

Stuart Windsor, National Director of CSW-UK, said: "This is a tragedy, and is an example of the threat that Christians continue to face in Pakistan. We urge our supporters to pray for Javed's family, and to appeal to the Pakistani authorities to investigate this case and bring the culprits to justice. We also urge the international community to raise this case with the Pakistani government."

(KATU photo)

Could the Mayfield case be another long bungle, a la Yee? With Yee, we heard first that he had classified documents. Then we heard that the prosecution wasn't sure whether or not they were classified. Then all charges were dropped, although an official was quoted saying something cryptic about how national security concerns prevented further pursuit of the charges.

In Mayfield's case, we heard that his fingerprints were on material linked to the Madrid bombings. Now it's just one fingerprint, and it may not be his.

The threat of terror is real, and that's why every one of these arrests is a high-stakes proposition. The Justice Department's credibility and honesty are at stake. Not much of it is left after Yee. Will they squander the remainder on Mayfield? From AP:

The newspaper El Pais reported Saturday that Spanish investigators have serious doubts as to whether the fingerprint found on a plastic bag tied to March 11 explosions on commuter trains is that of Portland-area lawyer Brandon Mayfield.

The report said Spanish forensics experts found only eight points of similarity between the print and the one of Mayfield held in U.S. files because of his status as a former member of the Army.

The FBI said it found 15 such points, El Pais said.

The Interior Ministry declined to comment on the report.

Mayfield, 37, was arrested at his law office on Thursday as a material witness in the March 11 bombings, which killed 191 people and wounded 2,000.

He has not been charged with a crime.

Spanish officials say at least one fingerprint thought to be Mayfield's was found on a plastic bag containing detonators of the kind used in the attacks. The bag was found in a van left near the station from which three of the four trains bombed departed.

U.S. officials also said a single print of Mayfield's was found on the bag.

The number of points of coincidence required to submit prints as evidence had changed over the years.

The Weekly Detail, an Internet newspaper for fingerprint experts, says a certain number of coinciding so-called Galton points used to be required by various countries before an identification was legally accepted.

However it said that now investigators evaluate prints on a number of levels, thus "there is no statistical foundation for a minimum point requirement" because modern tests are both qualitative and quantitative and too complex to be quantified.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

How do they convince these converts that they should join up? By appealing to the Qur'an and Sunnah. But of course, the group involved claims it is being unfairly targeted by the government.

From AP:

"When they use converts, it means they are using people who are familiar with Manila, with Cebu, with the Christian-dominated centers," National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales warned at a recent forum.

Muslim converts landed in the spotlight when at least seven were arrested in March in and around Manila with caches of explosives. Police said one, Redendo Cain Dellosa, confessed that he planted a bomb on a ferry that caught fire two months ago, killing more than 100 people. Dellosa's lawyer called it a false confession extracted under torture.

Government officials estimate the Philippines has about 200,000 Muslim converts, many who worked as migrant laborers in the Middle East before returning to join the nation's 8 million-strong Islamic community.

Philippine Muslims are dwarfed by the sheer numbers of Christians in this nation of 84 million, but convert groups get by on funds from Arab benefactors and tithing from Muslims in the Middle East.

The government intelligence report identified the Fi Sabilillah Da'wah and Media Foundation as the main local advocate of a radical Muslim convert movement in Christian-dominated Manila and Luzon island.

The group has been headed since 1998 by a man authorities suspect is a terrorist, Ahmad Santos, who is now in hiding. Police and soldiers recently raided the foundation's mosque and office in suburban Quezon City, seizing firearms, explosives and videotapes of jihad activities.

Police arrested Santos' two wives, but they were released on bail.

The March report links Fi Sabilillah officers to bin Laden's al-Qaida. Fi Sabilillah also has been tied to the Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, other fundamentalist groups and a network of foundations set up by bin Laden's brother-in-law, Mohammad Jamal Khalifa.

Santos refused to meet with AP. But a Fi Sabilillah officer, Yusuf Ledesma, denied charges of terrorism and said the Muslim group is being unfairly targeted by a government attempt to whip up anti-Islam hysteria.

"They really have no proof that Fi Sabilillah has ever been involved in any terrorist act," Ledesma told AP. "They seem to be using us as props in a propaganda war."

Ledesma accused police of planting guns and explosives in the Fi Sabilillah office and torturing converts into admitting terror activities.

The intelligence report claims that two Islamic schools, or madrassas, in the northern provinces of Pangasinan and Tarlac, were run by Santos and provided paramilitary training for Muslim converts.

Eight converts -- including the alleged ferry bomber, Dellosa -- were arrested in a 2002 raid on the madrassa in Pangasinan, but were released.

Dellosa was among six alleged terrorist cell members from the brutal Abu Sayyaf group arrested last month when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said officials had foiled major terror attacks in Manila.

Ataturk

Ever since it was established by Kemal Ataturk in an atmosphere of war against Islam, Turkish democracy has survived by alternating oppression of radical Muslims with concessions to them. From the Financial Times, with thanks to Nicolei:

Universities in Turkey are locked in a dispute with the government over a proposed change to admissions policy that has led to claims of a "hidden Islamic agenda" and has echoes of a previous clash between the secular state and an Islamic-oriented government. Some university rectors threatened to resign yesterday and opposition MPs walked out of a parliamentary commission in protest at a government proposal to give students from Islamic high schools the same access to secular third-level institutions as those from secular high schools.

The general staff of the armed forces said anyone "devoted to the principles of the republic" could not accept the measure, which the government intends to put to a vote in parliament next week. It was approved by parliament's education committee yesterday despite the walk-out by members of the opposition Republican People's party.

The dispute goes to the heart of an increasingly fractious debate in Turkey over the rise to power of the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP). Its power base is among an emerging middle class of devout, socially conservative Muslims in the country's Anatolian heartland, whose children would be the chief beneficiaries of the proposed change.

The government's measure would overturn a 1999 law banning students from imam hatip high schools, where they get a solid Islamic schooling, from receiving third-level education in secular universities and pursuing careers other than as imams and preachers. That law was introduced after Turkey's first, unhappy experience with an Islamic-oriented government, and it drastically reduced the number of students at these schools.

Some opponents of the new measure said it would lead to a revival of imam hatip schools and greatly expand religious education, violating the republic's official secular ideology.

Many university-educated Turks remain convinced that the AKP has a "hidden agenda" to force all women to wear headscarves and to shift the country, whose population of 70m is 99 per cent Muslim, gradually towards a stricter interpretation of Islamic law. Any suggestion of a move in that direction would almost certainly end Turkey's chances of joining the European Union.

Ural Akbulut, rector of Middle East Technical University, said he would resign if the measure became law. In an interview, he said the higher education system would be "swamped" by religious students who would gradually take over state institutions. "The hidden agenda is for every government appointee to be a practising Muslim," he said.

Erdogan Tezic, head of the Higher Education Board, accused the government of pursuing a "political initiative" that would "irreparably damage" Turkey's secular education system. If the measure and other education reforms are approved by parliament, the leadership of the HEB will be replaced.

A Muslim woman from West Virginia, Asra Nomani, writes in the New York Times (thanks to Steve) about hate in her local mosque. This is the same mosque, and the same woman, that we posted about in February, when she was protesting having to enter it by the back door -- only the men could go in the front.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Not long ago in my little mosque around the corner from a McDonald's, a student from the university here delivered a sermon. To love the Prophet Muhammad, he said, "is to hate those who hate him." He railed against man-made doctrines that replace Islamic law, and excoriated the "enemies of Islam" who deny strict adherence to Sunnah, or the ways of Muhammad. While he wasn't espousing violence, his words echoed the extremist vocabulary of Wahhabism, used by some followers to breed militant attitudes.

Like others who listened that day, I was stung by the sermon. It stands in chilling contrast to reforms taking place within Muslim communities nationwide. In fact, only months earlier at my mosque, my mother, sister-in-law, niece and I prayed in the main hall, an act of defiance that led to a reversal of the policy that women had to pray in a secluded balcony. Sadly, I have learned that the realization of an inclusive Islam is a fragile thing, even in this country. Americans need not look elsewhere to hear hate-filled rhetoric preached by fundamentalists. It resounds in our own back yards.

Like many small mosques, mine does not have an imam. Instead, a governing board -- which appoints its own members -- sets policy. An elected executive committee is supposed to decide who will lead prayers and deliver sermons. With infighting, that committee disintegrated over the last year, and went vacant after the board failed to hold elections in November. The board took over managing the mosque. A month before the student's speech, he and about 10 other men staged the equivalent of a coup. They appointed five in their ranks as the "temporary executive committee" and usurped the board's power to choose who will lead prayers, preach and make management decisions.

These men rally around strict interpretation of the Koran and Sunnah, which last week entailed a sermon that criticized women working outside the home and called women who have lost their chastity worthless. The group has packed the mosque's bookcases with fundamentalist publications.

Note that these hardliners rely on a "strict interpretation of the Koran and Sunnah," and use the Prophet Muhammad to justify their hatred.

Nomani's conclusion:

It saddens me that these Muslim organizations and my mosque leadership are reluctant to take a strong stand, because ending hate begins at home. If Muslims in America and elsewhere expect religious tolerance, we must ourselves enforce a zero-tolerance policy against preaching hatred and bigotry. At the very least, American Muslims need to follow the lead of the mainstream Muslim Council of Britain, which sent a letter to 1,000 British mosques urging members to oppose extremism and provide "Islamic guidance" to help "maintain the peace and security of our country."

The goings-on in my small mosque may seem inconsequential, but we are a microcosm of the challenges moderate Islam faces throughout the world. If tolerant and inclusive Islam can't express itself in small corners like Morgantown, where on this earth can the real beauty of Islam flourish?

Evidently Nomani's idea of the "real beauty of Islam" has nothing to do with a strict interpretation of the Qur'an and Sunnah. Yet if people like her don't refute the radicals' strict interpretations on Islamic grounds, they will never be able to defeat them. This is the great challenge for moderate Muslims, which has yet to be taken up.

From WND, :

New evidence about a meeting in Prague between September 11 plot leader Mohamed Atta and Iraqi intelligence officer Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani has been uncovered, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.

Investigative journalist Edward J. Epstein has uncovered Czech government visa records indicating al-Ani was posted to the Iraqi embassy in Prague between March 1999 and April 21, 2001, and was involved in handling Iraqi agents.

A search of the Iraq Embassy in Prague after the fall of Baghdad to coalition forces revealed al-Ani had scheduled a meeting for April 8, 2001, with a Hamburg student, according to an appointment calendar obtained by Czech intelligence.

Al-Ani then was placed under surveillance as he met with a young Arab-speaking man in Prague April 8.

After seeing Atta's photograph after Sept. 11, the Czech counterintelligence watcher identified the man he had seen meeting al-Ani as Atta. Al-Ani was expelled from Prague within two weeks.

According to Epstein, al-Ani denied he met Atta and repeated the denial after being detained by U.S. forces in July.

The CIA has been unable to confirm the Prague meeting between al-Ani and Atta. If confirmed, the meeting would indicate a role by Saddam Hussein's intelligence service in some level of support for the Sept.11 plot.

The current official U.S. intelligence conclusion is that Saddam's regime was not involved in supporting the Sept. 11 attacks.

According to Epstein, Spanish intelligence has uncovered information indicating Algerians Khaled Madani and Moussa Laouar supplied Atta and another al-Qaida member, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, with false passports.

From CNN, :

KARACHI, Pakistan -- At least 15 people have been killed and 90 injured by a suspected suicide bomber at a Shiite mosque in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, police said.

Hundreds rioted across the city after the bombing, throwing stones and torching buildings.

According to an officer at the scene, the bombing appeared to be a suicide attack.

President Pervez Musharraf condemned Friday's blast as a "heinous act of terrorism" and ordered police to trace the culprits, according to The Associated Press. ...

Video showed the blood-spattered and shattered interior of the mosque with body parts littering the floor along with discarded worship caps and prayer rugs. ...

The mosque is housed in a religious school for students aged between 4 and 18. The school is run by the government and has separate mosques for Sunni and Shiite Muslim worshippers.

Witnesses told AP though that most of the victims were adults who were praying at the mosque.

There have been frequent terrorist attacks and sectarian violence in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and its business hub. Police there have been on high alert since April when they raided a building and found weapons and explosives.

About 80 percent of Pakistan's 150 million people are Sunni, and the rest Shiite. They live mainly in peace, but radical groups on both sides frequently carry out deadly attacks.

From AP, :

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian security forces seized nearly 375 pounds of a radioactive material seen as a likely ingredient for a "dirty bomb", authorities said Thursday. In a joint action, Ukraine's police and state security agents seized two containers of cesium-137 and arrested three men from the southern city of Simferopol on the Crimean peninsula, police spokesman Yuriy Kondratyev told The Associated Press. An unspecified number of people also were detained throughout Ukraine.

Cesium-137 is considered a likely ingredient for a so-called "dirty bomb," in which conventional explosives are combined with radioactive material.

Another terror/charity story, from Dallas's CBS11, with thanks to Todd and Dick:

All through his protracted fight to gain legal residency in America, 16-year Dallas resident Ayman Sabri Ismail has held to the story that his work for the Holy Land Foundation was as a lowly computer graphics technician who knew nothing about the charity's business.

Claiming a tenuous low-profile connection to the Richardson-based organization could only help the Jordanian stay in North Texas with his naturalized American wife and five children. Especially, since President Bush two years ago declared the charity a clandestine fundraising arm for the terrorist group Hamas, shut it down and moved to deport or charge other employees with various crimes.

But in an unusual turn of courtroom events, the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday allowed a rare public accusation to surface: that Ismail is a terrorist.

Government records obtained by CBS-11 cite evidence that Ismail was a high-ranking fundraiser for the Holy Land Foundation, not the lowly computer technician he has repeatedly claimed he was. Working as a fundraiser for the banned organization makes Ismail a terrorist under provisions of the USA Patriot Act, the government has asserted in immigration records obtained by CBS-11.

A Dallas immigration judge's ruling on a request for bond, detailing evidence gathered by the Department of Homeland Security, says Ismail accepted checks from donors, actively solicited money and was given the title "Director of Resource Development, Pledges Division."

"Notwithstanding (Ismail's) self-serving statements, the evidence demonstrates that respondent did solicit and receive funds for HLF within the meaning of (the Patriot Act)," according to a Dallas immigration judge's ruling, called a bond memorandum, denying a bond hearing. "Respondent engaged in terrorist activity...

Ismail was detained earlier this month and sent to a federal holding facility in Haskell, Texas, where he could not be reached for comment. According to government records, he denied being a fundraiser for HLF even when presented with checks made out to him and donor solicitations sporting his signature and title.

"In general, the respondent argues that he did not solicit funds on behalf of HLF and that HLF did not solicit funds that were provided to Hamas," the bond memorandum stated.

From his defense comes the usual allegations of racist persecution. Evidently all these guys are reading out of the same playbook.

Ismail's Dallas attorney, John Wheat Gibson, dismissed the government allegations as government persecution tantamount to German government persecution of Jews during the 1930s.

"What this young man is going through is pretty much what a lot of Jewish Germans had to suffer in 1936," Gibson said. "It had nothing to do with the merits of the case; it has to do purely with the ethnicity of the defendant."

Gibson also said that even if his client did wear several hats while working for HLF, raising money for an organization that Ismail believed was a legitimate charity is not a crime.

"He was doing the same job that the secretary for the Baptist church does," Gibson said. "They have no evidence that he was any more than a graphic artist. He was working for a nonprofit corporation."

The Bush administration in December 2001 cited FBI and foreign intelligence in claiming that HLF and some of its employees worked as clandestine U.S.-based support for Hamas, a group that has repeatedly deployed suicide bombers in a often-stated quest to eliminate the state of Israel.

Supporters have steadfastly maintained that HLF was a legitimate charity that helped only needy Muslims across the globe but they have lost legal appeals to reopen all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

One former FBI counter-terrorism official who worked on the HLF investigation said the charity funneled large sums of money as incentives for suicide bombers to strike.

"It was to help support those families, telling the terrorists that we will take care of your family if you do this for Allah," said Tino Perez, recently retired head of the Dallas FBI's International Terrorism squad. ...

But a spokesperson for the DFW Council on American Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, defended Ismail as nothing more or less than a devoted father and husband. Court records show that Ismail came to the U.S. on a student visa in 1990 to attend the University of Texas at Tyler.

"They need to focus on the real terrorists, not innocent people that happen to be Muslims or Arabs ... and being targeted because of that," she said.

Maybe this man really is innocent. But when has a Muslim ever been arrested when such spokesmen didn't say "They need to focus on the real terrorists"? Just who would this spokesperson identify as a "real" terrorist? George W. Bush? Ariel Sharon?

There is no jihad in the Balkans, they say. Orthodox Serbs and others are trying to frame a purely ethnic conflict as a jihad, they say.

From a Treasury Department press release, with thanks to the SITE Institute:

In another step today to halt the flow of terrorist dollars that have tainted the charitable community, the U.S. Department of the Treasury Department designated three Bosnian charities under Executive Order 13224. The U.S. is asking the United Nations' 1267 Sanctions Committee to add these entities to its consolidated list of terrorists tied to al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden and the Taliban.

"Today's action continues the international drumbeat to expose the terrorist nodes used to support the infrastructure of hate," said Juan Zarate, the Treasury Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Executive Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes. "Unfortunately, we have seen the vulnerabilities of charities in countries like Bosnia, where there is not only a need for charitable giving but also a susceptibility that such institutions will be co-opted by terrorist sympathizers."

The United States previously designated Bosnian-operated charities that were funneling dollars for terrorist-related activities, including the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF), the Global Relief Foundation (GRF) and the Bosnian branch of Al-Haramain Foundation (AHF), including its director and Vazir, an alias for the organization.

Yasser Arafat attends Friday prayers at a mosque adjacent to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Friday, May 7, 2004 (AP)

Oh, one is tempted to joke about this: at last, something on which Israelis and Palestinians can agree, etc. etc. and so forth. But is there anyone who doubts that this man is alive only at the sufferance of Israel? It is only the fear of someone worse than Arafat that makes them rather bear the ills they have than fly to others they know not of.

Palestinian Media Watch has the goods on last Friday's sermon.

Ever since Israeli PM Ariel Sharon's statement that Yasser Arafat as a terrorist leader is not immune from Israeli retribution, Palestinian Authority TV has repeatedly stated that Arafat actually wants to be killed by Israel, which would grant him the status of Shahid (Holy Martyr). In last week's sermon, the Imam restated the Palestinian Islamic belief that death as a Shahid is preferable to life, going so far as to pray for Arafat's death as a Shahid.

The following is text of the sermon:
"Regarding the threats of this Nazi mass murderer [Ariel Sharon] against President Arafat, we hereby tell him: We are not like you, because we do not desire life. If you threaten to kill President Arafat, we will pray to Allah: "Grant the President Shahada (Martyrdom) for you." Yes, we do not pray - like other preachers pray - for longevity for the rulers; here in Palestine we pray: "Lord, grant the President Shahada for you"." [PA TV Sermon by Ibrahim Madiras, April 30, 2004]

Al-Sadr: Islamic purity through fear

While they're talking of enslaving the opposition, Shi'ite leaders are intimidating their own people. Note that alcohol vendors have been gunned down, in accord with laws that restrict dhimmis from displaying alcohol (or pork, or crosses, etc.). From Knight-Ridder:

BASRA, Iraq - Given the choice, Rana al Asadi wouldn't wear a head scarf. But a few weeks ago, the 22-year-old English major at Basra University decided she didn't have that choice anymore.

Menacing groups of men have been stopping cars at the university gates and haranguing women whose heads are uncovered, accusing them of violating Islamic law. Male students have accosted them as they walked to class. As al Asadi spoke to a reporter in a courtyard, a scruffy-looking man handed out fliers that likened uncovered women to prostitutes and murderers.

"I fear them," she said simply.

Shiite Muslim religious extremists, backed by armed militias, are waging a campaign of intimidation to enforce a strict Islamic code of conduct in Iraq's second largest city. Neither the Iraqi police nor the British military forces that occupy Basra seem willing or able to stop it.

While there are no known cases of women being attacked for not covering up, three alcohol vendors and two bystanders were gunned down in February, the latest in a string of such assaults. A few weeks ago, gunmen pumped six bullets into a woman who ran a shop that sold romantic videos.

On the streets of Basra, a Shiite stronghold of 1.4 million people near the Kuwait border, the message has been received. In a port city that was once known for its nightclubs, it's now nearly impossible to buy an alcoholic drink. Head scarves are almost universal now at the university.

Basra, which gets far less attention from Western news media than Baghdad does, largely has been seen as a success, mainly because there have been far fewer attacks on the British troops who patrol here than on U.S. troops farther north.

But the effectiveness of the campaign by religious extremists raises questions about whether freedoms of expression and religion - newly enshrined in Iraq's interim constitution - will survive in the Shiite-dominated south after the coalition returns authority to Iraqis this summer.

"We believe that we are the supreme legislative authority in Iraq, because our constitution is the holy Quran, and for us, the holy Quran is the supreme constitution," said Sheik Abdul-Sattar al Bahadli, who runs the Basra office of hard-line Shiite leader Muqtada al Sadr, the son of a revered cleric whom Saddam Hussein had killed.

This fellow, who is saying here that he goes strictly by the Qur'an, is the same one who said it was just fine to enslave female soldiers.

Polls show Sadr has little support. But pictures of his father dot the landscape in southern Iraq, and in the absence of a sovereign government, groups such as his are among the best organized.

Al Bahadli said the Sadr organization performed charitable and community work in Basra. It also conducts armed patrols, he said. A few months ago, the group met with video merchants.

"We told them that Iraq is living under certain norms and tribal traditions. Before these meetings, there were violations of the Arab, Islamic morals. In particular, there were sexy films. And after these meetings there was a positive response in the marketplace."

Video-sellers say it wasn't gentle persuasion that made them stop selling soft-core films, but terror. In addition to the woman's killing, merchants have been kidnapped and beaten. Al Bahadli said he renounces such tactics.

No arrests have been made in the religious killings, and an Iraqi police official said none were forthcoming.

In full accord with traditional Islamic laws governing warfare, a top aide to Muqtada al-Sadr has told Iraqi jihadists that if they capture female soldiers, they can keep them as slaves. From AP:

BASRA, Iraq - A senior aide of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told worshippers during a Friday sermon in southern Iraq that anyone capturing a female British soldier can keep her as a slave.

The aide, Sheik Abdul-Sattar al-Bahadli, also called on supporters to launch jihad, or holy war, against British troops in this southern city.

He offered money to anyone capturing or killing a member of the Governing Council, the widely unpopular interim administration appointed by the U.S.-led occupation 10 months ago.

Al-Bahadli, al-Sadr's chief representative in southern Iraq, spoke at al-Hawi mosque in central Basra.

It was the first time any anti-occupation activist of note publicly offered financial reward for the killing or capturing of coalition troops.

That o