October 2004 Archives

More on what was left out of virtually all reporting on the Osama video, from MEMRI. He is warning America to play the dhimmi and defeat Bush, or else:

The tape of Osama bin Laden that was aired on Al-Jazeera(1) on Friday, October 29th included a specific threat to "each U.S. state," designed to influence the outcome of the upcoming election against George W. Bush. The U.S. media in general mistranslated the words "ay wilaya" (which means "each U.S. state")(2) to mean a "country" or "nation" other than the U.S., while in fact the threat was directed specifically at each individual U.S. state. This suggests some knowledge by bin Laden of the U.S. electoral college system. In a section of his speech in which he harshly criticized George W. Bush, bin Laden stated: "Any U.S. state that does not toy with our security automatically guarantees its own security."

The Islamist website Al-Qal'a explained what this sentence meant: "This message was a warning to every U.S. state separately. When he [Osama Bin Laden] said, 'Every state will be determining its own security, and will be responsible for its choice,' it means that any U.S. state that will choose to vote for the white thug Bush as president has chosen to fight us, and we will consider it our enemy, and any state that will vote against Bush has chosen to make peace with us, and we will not characterize it as an enemy. By this characterization, Sheikh Osama wants to drive a wedge in the American body, to weaken it, and he wants to divide the American people itself between enemies of Islam and the Muslims, and those who fight for us, so that he doesn't treat all American people as if they're the same. This letter will have great implications inside the American society, part of which are connected to the American elections, and part of which are connected to what will come after the elections."(3)

Another interesting aspect of the speech is the fact that while bin Laden made his specific threat to each U.S. state, he also offered an election deal to the American voters, attempting to influence the election by these means rather than influencing it through terrorist attacks.(4) This peace offer is a theme that follows up on his April speech directed to Europe, in which he offered a truce.(5) The Islamist website Al-Islah explains: "Some people ask 'what's new in this tape?' [The answer is that] this tape is the second of its kind, after the previous tape of the Sheikh [Osama bin Laden], in which he offered a truce to the Europeans a few months ago, and it is a completion of this move, and it brings together the complementary elements of politics and religion, political savvy and force, the sword and justice. The Sheikh reminds the West in this tape of the great Islamic civilization and pure Islamic religion, and of Islamic justice..."(6)

MEMRI has excerpts of Osama's remarks here.

I just checked ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, and even Fox and Drudge — none of them have a word about the story reported by the New York Post, that Al-Jazeera edited Osama's video to take out the parts where he talks about how much Al-Qaeda has been hurt by anti-terror efforts.

Will this story break hard on Wednesday morning?

The jihad against Russia continues. From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:

ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AP) - A car bomb exploded outside the main hospital in Chechny's capital, Grozny, on Sunday, injuring 17 people in an attack apparently targeting members of a Chechen security force bringing in wounded from an earlier explosion, officials said.

The first blast struck a vehicle carrying the Chechen security troops on a highway in the outskirts of Grozny, Federal Security Service spokesman Maj.-Gen. Ilya Shabalkin said on Russia's NTV television. As the injured were being taken into Grozny's Hospital No. 9, a second car exploded outside the building, he said.

A car laden with explosives detonated outside the hospital around 8 a.m. The blast dug a crater into the ground and shattered the hospital's windows.

Thirteen of the wounded were members of the Chechen presidential security service, headed by Chechen First Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, said Maj. Igor Golubenko, a duty officer for the southern Russian headquarters of the Emergency Situations Ministry in Rostov-on-Don. Three other victims were hospital workers. The security service officers appeared to have been the target, Golubenko said. One child was also injured, he said....

Rebels have denied any part in those blasts, but radical rebel leader Shamil Basayev has claimed responsibility for a series of major terrorist attacks since.

Zhila Izadyar is 13. She has been convicted of incest, and has a child with her brother. For this she faces death by stoning, and has already been lashed, as you can see. Her brother, meanwhile, is looking at 150 lashes and prison.

There have been an unusually high volume of attacks on me and Jihad Watch lately — nothing unusual except in their virulence and brazen misrepresentations. But to those who might seriously think that this effort is born of bigotry should look carefully at the photo above. Then tell me that a human rights effort to defend human beings from jihad and Sharia is "bigoted." From Iran-Focus News, with thanks to Susan:

Azad Zamani of the Society for the Protection of Children’s Rights has said that Zhila’s health has been rapidly deteriorating.

Zamani has managed to visit Zhila although under close supervision of the Iranian regime’s agents. Zamani stated that Zhila said, “I am scared; I want to go home; I want to be able to go back to school like other kids”.

Zhila was convicted of having an incestuous relationship with her 15-year-old brother and giving birth to an illegitimate child.

Zhila is reported to have been in a very bad state while she has had to spend time in solitary confinement under close guard. Zamani had reported that Zhila now has a very bad eating pattern and she constantly vomits.

Another source, who wished not to be named, said that Zhila has been beaten by guards while she in jail and has not been allowed to see her newborn child.

Reports have also come out that Zhila’s brother Bakhtiar has also been flogged in prison. Zhila faces death by stoning while Bakhtiar faces 150 lashes as well as prison time, according to the clerical judge who issued their verdict.

More Ramadan attacks on Muslim heretics. From TamilNet, with thanks to Susan:

Police Sunday declared unofficial curfew in Kattankudy, a large Muslim town 5 kilometres south of Batticaloa, after mobs demolished a mosque and several houses and buildings belonging to an Islamic sect. Special Task Force (STF) commandos were called in after Police failed to control crowds of orthodox Muslims armed with clubs and machetes stormed the main mosque and a computer centre of the influential Islamic sect led by the charismatic cleric known as 'Payilvaan'. Police said crowds were called up by muezzins from orthodox mosques in the thickly populated town.

On Sunday afternoon STF and Police were still trying to control crowds attacking the homes families that follow Payilvaan's teachings, sources in Kattankudy said.

Payilvaan's followers charged that a group of young preachers trained in Saudi Arabia were behind the attack. "They are trying to force everyone to follow Wahabism. They are paid to do this by the Saudis," one of them alleged.

Payilvaan, an Islamic scholar, has written extensively against Wahabi orthodoxy. His writings and preachings show his Sufi leanings.

He did it in Spain, after all. And America could end up voting to repudiate the anti-jihad effort, just as Spain did. A bulletin from Palestinian Media Watch:

The Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to revere Osama Bin Laden, and even suggests that he has the power to dictate America's future. In response to Bin Laden's taunting and vaguely threatening message to the US, released Saturday by Al-Jazeera, cartoons in two PA dailies today show a gloating Bin Laden determining the outcome of Tuesday's US presidential election.

The first cartoon shows a rifle-toting Bin Laden, triumphantly astride the conquered ballot box, while George Bush and John Kerry - depicted as much smaller and weaker than Bin Laden -- cower below him.

The second shows a smirking Bin Laden casting what is obviously meant to be the deciding vote in the US election....

Today's cartoons suggest that should he choose, Bin Laden has real power to determine the future of the US -- just as the train bombings in Madrid are believed to have changed the outcome of the Spanish elections.

"Osama bin Laden doesn't seem nearly so cocky in the unedited version of a videotape aired on al-Jazeera, complaining that the manhunt against him has hampered al Qaeda." From the New York Post, with thanks to Uncle Jeff:

October 31, 2004 -- Osama bin Laden doesn't seem nearly so cocky in the unedited version of a videotape aired on al-Jazeera, complaining that the manhunt against him has hampered al Qaeda.

Osama bin Laden's newest tape may have thrust him to the forefront of the presidential election, but what was not seen was the cave-dwelling terror lord talking about the setbacks al Qaeda has faced in recent months.

Officials said that in the 18-minute long tape — of which only six minutes were aired on the al-Jazeera Arab television network in the Middle East on Friday — bin Laden bemoans the recent democratic elections in Afghanistan and the lack of violence involved with it.

On the tape, bin Laden also says his terror organization has been hurt by the U.S. military's unrelenting manhunt for him and his cohorts on the Afghan-Pakistani border.

A portion of the left-out footage includes a tirade aimed at President Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, claiming the war in Iraq is purely over oil.

The tape also sparked some concern that an attack aimed at disrupting Tuesday's election may be planned.

But those who have seen the tape have said there was no specific information regarding an attack.

In the run-up to the elections. From AP, :

WASHINGTON Oct 30, 2004 — Acting on the release of a new videotape from Osama bin Laden, the government has alerted state and local authorities to be extra vigilant ahead of Tuesday's elections.

The bulletin said the bin Laden tape and a second video from last week that showed a self-proclaimed American member of al-Qaida are "clearly intended to influence and instill fear in the American people."

"We remain concerned about al-Qaida's interest in attacking the American homeland, and we cannot discount the possibility that the video may be intended to promote violence or serve as a signal for an attack," according to the bulletin sent late Friday from the FBI and the Homeland Security Department.

It went to homeland security advisers, state and local police and select members of private industry.

The ailing jihadist seems to be a hero in France. From the Times Online, :

YASSIR ARAFAT was being treated for serious blood disease in a military hospital near Paris last night after a flight that began with emotional farewells to the Palestinian leader as he ended nearly three years of confinement in his West Bank compound. A French Air Force Falcon 50 jet flew Mr Arafat from Amman to Villacoublay, a suburban military VIP airfield, at the invitation of President Chirac, to undergo treatment at the Percy hospital, a modern facility at Clamart, in the southwestern outskirts.

“God willing, I will come back,” the visibly frail Mr Arafat, 75, told aides as he was laid on a stretcher inside the jet in Amman. However, with his apparently grave condition and Israel’s reluctance to let him return, Mr Arafat’s departure from Ramallah had the feel of the end to a 35-year era in which he symbolised the Palestinian cause.

Early in the day, as he was placed aboard a helicopter in the battle-scarred compound, whistles pierced the air, then gave way to chants of: “Our blood; Our souls; We sacrifice for you Abu Amar.” Bystanders, bodyguards and officials wept at the sight of the frail figure in a grey greatcoat and fur hat. Rooftops and high walls overlooking the yard were lined with hundreds of Palestinians anxious to catch one last glimpse of the revered leader.

At Clamart, about a hundred supporters watched from behind the security fence as a helicopter brought Mr Arafat, accompanied by his wife, Soha, 41, to the grounds of the heavily guarded hospital. The couple were reunited for the first time since 2001 when Mrs Arafat flew from Tunis to Ramallah on Thursday....

M Chirac, in Rome for the day, said he had no information on Mr Arafat’s condition and emphasised that France was providing hospitality purely in its tradition as a humanitarian haven. However, the French welcome underlined France’s policy of close support for Mr Arafat as a central figure in the Middle East despite his fall from grace in the eyes of other Western nations. On one of his many visits to Paris, Mr Arafat joked in 1997 that whenever he had a problem, he would “go and see Dr Chirac”. The policy has angered Israel, which has tried in vain to prevent French ministers from visiting Mr Arafat in Ramallah, where he was kept under virtual house arrest by the Israeli military.

M Chirac sent a warm message of support to him on Thursday, signing off by hand “with my heartfelt friendship”.

France has come to the aid of the Palestinians several times, notably in 1982, at the end of the Israeli siege of Beirut. French troops escorted Mr Arafat and his Palestine Liberation Organisation fighters from refugee camps to the city’s docks where they boarded a UN ship for Tunis.

He is identified here as one of Britain's most prominent leaders. Watch now, however, as he is likely to be characterized in the coming days as a marginal figure to whom nobody really listens. From the Times Online, with thanks to Twostellas:

ONE of Britain’s most prominent Islamic leaders has declared that British troops are a legitimate target for Iraqi militants.

Dr Ahmad al-Rawi, an Iraqi-born British passport-holder who has lived in this country for three decades, is one of 93 Islamic international scholars who signed a “bayyan” (declaration) in August supporting uprisings against the “filth of occupation” by both Iraqis and Palestinians. The signatories included five Hamas leaders.

Defending the bayyan last week al-Rawi compared the coalition forces in Iraq with the Nazi invaders of France in 1940. He said: “If they (the British) attack, it’s the right of the civilians to resist the British. Any people who are occupied, they have the right to resist. I prefer it to be peaceful, but if they choose to resist by other means it’s their choice.”

Although he would prefer a peaceful overthrow of the occupation, al-Rawi said he could not condemn attacks on coalition forces that have been responsible for many of the deaths of 1,112 American and 69 British soldiers in Iraq.

“My opinion on the occupation is that it is illegal. I couldn’t call the resistance, even military resistance to the occupation, I couldn’t consider it criminal.”

Al-Rawi, who lives in Loughborough, is the president of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe (FIOE) which speaks for millions of Muslims belonging to 52 Islamic organisations in 28 countries.

From the Spanish-language El Mundo, with thanks to Alex. My rough translation of part of the article:

Four prisoners of Kosovar Albanian origin were wounded after suffering a violent attack at the hands of Islamist inmates in the Penitentiary Center of Mansilla de las Mulas in León, because of their refusal to observe Ramadan. The incident took place at 7:30PM on Thursday in Module 6, when a group of between 16 and 18 prisoners of Arab race, armed with the steel dinner trays, attacked "with unusual violence" the four Kosovar Albanians....

Mansilla de las Mulas, in which one third of the 1,500 inmates is Muslim, is one of the jails identified by prison unions as potentially dangerous for the formation of integrist groups. The national secretary of ACAIP and representative of the union in Mansilla, Valentin Flames, characterized the event as "tremendously grave" and denounced the violence of the aggressors, who acted as one, totally organized and without fear of anything.

Flames also said that the problems in the prison get worse during Ramadan.

The ailing mujahid is expected to recover. From Reuters, with thanks to Kemaste:

CLAMART, France (Reuters) - Medical tests carried out on ailing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat have ruled out leukaemia or any other life-threatening condition, senior aides say.

"The latest tests have found that President Arafat does not suffer from any life-threatening illness and what he has is curable," senior aide Nabil Abu Rdainah told Reuters on Sunday.

Arafat, 75, underwent tests and scans on Saturday at a French military hospital the day after being flown from his shell-battered compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah after his health deteriorated sharply.

Abu Rdainah said doctors had carried out tests for leukaemia and found that the Palestinian president was not suffering from the blood cancer or any other critical illness.

Another aide said doctors were looking into the possibility of viral infection or poisoning. The final test results would be ready by Wednesday, the aide said, adding that until then Arafat's visitors would be limited to just a few people.

Mohammad Rachid, another aide, said Arafat was sleeping much better, eating moderately and keeping his food down.

The body has been identified as Shosei Koda. From The Scotsman, with thanks to Kemaste:

The Japanese government confirmed today that a decapitated body found in Iraq is that of a Japanese man taken hostage by Islamic militants earlier this week.

The body found in central Baghdad yesterday has been identified as Shosei Koda, 24, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura told reporters at an emergency news conference.

Japanese Embassy officials in Baghdad had sent fingerprints of the body to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, and police experts had positively identified the body, Machimura said.

Islamic guerrillas had threatened on Tuesday to behead Koda within 48 hours unless Japan pulled its troops out of Iraq. Tokyo immediately refused, and the deadline passed with no word of Koda's fate. The group has not yet made a claim of responsibility.

Iraqi officials found Koda's decapitated body in Baghdad on Saturday. Associated Press Television News videotape showed the severed head with the hostage's long black hair and features.

This is happening in American prisons also. From The Daily Telegraph, with thanks to Kevin:

AS many as six of the State's most dangerous prisoners have become supporters of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden after converting to radical Islam while in jail.

Intelligence obtained by the Corrective Services Department reveals some of the inmates to be supportive of bin Laden and terrorism.

Authorities are concerned by the potential for a terrorist cell to be formed inside NSW prisons....

The jailed bin Laden followers - who are of Aboriginal and Caucasian backgrounds, as well as Middle Eastern - are under close scrutiny and prison security measures have been tightened.

That means that some are converts.

A recent planned attack on Spain's National Court was plotted behind bars.

Seventeen people have been charged with terrorist offences for plotting to bomb the court with 1000kg of explosives earlier this month.

The attack was planned by inmates within a terrorist cell formed in prison.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that one of the converts to Islam is serving a life sentence in Goulburn's maximum-security Supermax prison for a shooting murder.

Prison authorities say he is open about his new faith.

Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham said the inmate was of concern, given his background and extreme views.

But Mr Woodham said he was not among those prisoners who were openly supportive of bin Laden and terrorism activity.

"The other inmates who are supportive are in for murder, serious assault - they are extremely dangerous in their own right.

"Prisoners convert to faith all the time, but our intelligence has revealed that up to six have taken on very extreme views that are of great concern to authorities - particularly with recent events overseas, where the prison system has been used as a recruiting ground by terrorist organisations.

"We're watching every move they make, and we are working with law-enforcement agencies in other states to ensure that they are closely monitored."

From CNN, :

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States warned Americans in the Gulf state of Qatar Friday to avoid major hotels in Doha over the next week due to the possibility of a terrorist attack.

"The embassy advises Americans to continue to avoid major hotels in Doha during the upcoming week. The embassy is not at this time recommending that Americans defer travel to Doha," the U.S. Embassy in Qatar said in a message to Americans.

It said Qatari security services were aware of the threat and taking measures in response.

From the Press Trust of India, with thanks to Twostellas:

JAMMU: Terrorists on Saturday shot dead a man and his son and critically injured his daughter after brutually torturing the trio with hot iron rods in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said.

A group of four to five Hizbul-Mujahideen terrorists barged into the house of one Bashir Ahmed in village Maswa-Deeda in Mahore tehsil, they told PTI.

The terrorists tied 55-year-old Bashir, his 12-year-old son Akram and daughter Nazia and branded them with hot iron rods and inflicted injuries on them with sharp edged weapons, they said.

Later, the terrorists opened fire on the three, they said, adding, the father-son duo died on the spot while the girl was critically injured.

A new story about something we have noted here many times: Pakistan's schools are "universities of jihad," and the Pakistani government is disinclined to do anything about it. From the Press Trust of India:

NEW DELHI: It is not just in seminaries, jihad and shahadat (martyrdom) are keywords in the curriculum of primary schools in Pakistan and the Education Ministry endorses the importance of these words, a media report said.

"The official Curriculum Document, Primary Education, Class I-V specifically prescribes 'simple stories to urge jihad '. Under Activity 4, the specific prescription for three and eight-year-old Pakistanis is: 'To make speeches on jihad and shahadat '," Pakistani weekly The Friday Times said in an article.

Shahadat, of course, is martyrdom: "Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain..." (Qur'an, Sura 9:111)

The article, entitled 'An Endangered Species: Who is going to save the moderate Pakistanis', says the National Curriculum of the Ministry for social studies for Classes I-V "formally endorses the following 'learning outcome': Recognise the importance of jihad in every sphere of life."

Under the heading 'Evaluation', "the officially certified direction to teachers and textbook writers is: 'to judge their spirits while making speeches on jihad, Muslim history and culture," while the 'affective objective' is 'Concepts of Ideology of Pakistan, Muslim Ummah and Jihad'....

The Friday Times said the National Bureau of Curriculum and Textbooks, in its social studies curriculum for Classes VI-VIII, gives similar recommendations for jihad, tableegh (proselytize) and shahadat.

Out of the 17.4 million primary students, four million entered middle school and are given further tutoring on jihad.

Of these four million, 1.6 million enter the high school where the Ministry sanctions the following "'Learning Outcome: Must be aware of the blessings of jihad ", it said.

But surely they are just teaching jihad as a spiritual struggle, right? Nope:

"The Curriculum Wing of the Ministry of Education, more often than not, equates jihad with guerilla warfare. Our primary, middle and high school curricula continue to equate Pakistan, Islam and jihad. Our Ministry continues to inspire our children to become guerilla fighters," the article said.

No indication in this piece as to why the "violence between Muslims and Christians" erupted. However, in nearby Nigeria, the international media routinely portrays jihad violence as "Muslim/Christian strife."

This reminds me of the Liberian cab driver who drove me across Washington last year. He was nursing hopes of returning home and running for President of the country, and he discoursed on its internal condition at great length. Along the way he told us that Al-Qaeda was establishing a significant presence in Monrovia, and that they were causing increasing trouble there. I have no independent confirmation of that, so I give it to you for what it's worth. It isn't every day that one can ride a cab driven by a man who has plans to become a national politician in any country -- although another of my colleagues was given a ride in another major American city by a driver whose name stuck in his mind, and who later turned up on FBI wanted lists as a senior member of Al-Qaeda. If he had known who he was driving, he could have stopped a leading anti-jihadist. Thank God he didn't.

From AP, with thanks to Ireneo Funes:

MONROVIA, Liberia, Oct. 29 (AP) - Violence between Muslims and Christians engulfed Liberia's war-battered capital on Friday, with machete-wielding crowds rampaging through the streets and United Nations peacekeepers firing warning shots and tear gas to restore order.

At least three people were killed, crushed under the wheels of a United Nations armored vehicle that was moving in to disperse a crowd, a policeman said.

"Bangladesh is the next favoured destination of the Al Qaeda." From The Daily Pioneer, with thanks to Fanabba:

The global war on terrorism, it appears, is missing a critical battlefront: Bangladesh. While US-led forces are concentrating on Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, forces of terror are regrouping in Bangladesh, a perfect haven for sundry groups operating in Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and other Southeast Asian nations. After the terrorists in Pakistan came under American pressure, Bangladesh has emerged as a fertile ground for terror groups to spawn, recruit and set up training camps and strengthen their network. Two reasons can be cited for the rise of terror in India's east: Geography and history. Bangladesh is a country sandwiched between West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam with its southern borders flanking the Bay of Bengal. The last four States have been struggling with insurgency for more than five decades, fuelled by vested powers and armed by smuggling networks, some operating with state complicity and others independently, that run through Southeast Asian mainland. As a result, there are well-trodden arms smuggling routes through mountainous terrain that also offer enclaves for terrorist training camps. The long coastline of 580 km offers a safe route for gun-runners, smugglers, terrorists and criminal syndicates including those who indulge in human trafficking. Geography, in some ways, has shaped the history of this country.

As for history, Bangladesh, in existence for 33 years, has had a tradition of religious groups, some quite extremist in their viewpoint, jostling for political space, often left vacant by frequent bouts of political instability and military interventions. These religious groups, particularly the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) which emerged as Bangladesh's third largest party during the October 2001 elections capturing 17 seats in the 300-strong parliament, have gained strength in recent years as the country was dragged into impoverishment and public disillusionment caused by gross misgovernance and religious bigotry. These factors also helped terrorist groups like the Al Qaeda and its various tributaries to set up bases and operate quite freely from Bangladesh. One such group is Harkat ul Jihad al Islami (HuJI), Al Qaeda's operating arm in South Asia, with growing links in Southeast Asia....

The troubling aspect of the rise of HuJI in Bangladesh is its links with religious groups which have been successful in gaining control over the political space in a country facing economic collapse. In the days to come, HuJI's success in carving out a space for itself is likely to trigger a wave of copycat terrorism, with smaller religious extremist groups like Islami Oikyo Jote (IOJ) taking to terror tactics for power and profit. In the process, they will help the Al Qaeda to firmly establish a network of grass-roots level groups to carry out terrorist missions. In Pakistan, the Al Qaeda has been quite successful in coopting various religious and sectarian groups to work for the larger "cause" of global terror. Bangladesh is the next favoured destination of the Al Qaeda.

A press release from the New Zealand First party. I am not in New Zealand and know little about this party, but Winston Peters, the party leader and a member of the New Zealand Parliament, raises a good point in this press release: will New Zealand live under one system of laws, or declare Muslims exempt from them? From the New Zealand First site, with thanks to Paul Nilsson:

Rt Hon Winston Peters has suggested that a veiled Muslim woman who told a judge she would rather kill herself than reveal her face while giving evidence in an upcoming fraud case might be better off living in a Muslim country.

A hearing was held in Auckland yesterday to determine whether two Muslim women have to remove their burqas in the upcoming case. They claim that to do so would be embarrassing and against their religion.

Mr Peters said it was a simple case about whether New Zealanders lived under one set of rules for all or whether these rules could be bent or broken to fit in with newcomers.

"We have a system of open justice and that means the demeanor of witnesses in court cases can be seen by the judge, jury and counsel. Only in truly exceptional and serious cases can a witness be seated behind a screen or barrier.

"Most New Zealanders would be disturbed that a person prefers suicide to complying with reasonable court rules was living in their midst.

"People who come here from countries with extreme religious views and customs should seriously think about resettling where practices of covering up faces are the norm."

Mr Peters said he was also concerned that Muslim women were permitted to wear veils when photographs were taken for drivers' licences.

"This is ridiculous. How do police identify people wearing what amounts to a mask?

"If people come to New Zealand they should fit in with our systems. If they prefer to kill themselves, we say that they would be better off living somewhere else.

"You only have to look at Europe to see the chaos caused by importing people with extreme religious views," Mr Peters concluded.

That's for sure.

An encouraging assessment of what has been done so far. From a New York Post editorial :

Osama's goals have been to sow death and destruction in the name of his own sick religion. But things haven't been working out so well.

The 9/11 attack was intended principally to provoke a swift, indiscriminate American military response so terrible it would provoke the Muslim masses to rise against moderate Islamic governments in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.

That, in turn, would have allowed al Qaeda -- then enjoying the patronage of Afghanistan's Taliban government -- to extend itself into newly radicalized regions of the Mideast and beyond.

But while America's response was swift, it was disciplined, targeted and extraordinarily effective.

There were no uprisings.

No governments fell, except two; the Taliban and Saddam Hussein's.

And while it is true that Osama remains free -- however temporarily -- it is also true that he's also now the world's most famous homeless person.

Moreover:

* Individual al Qaeda-linked cells throughout the world have no central base to which to turn for aid.

* Training camps are closed.

* Funding sources have dried up.

* The medieval regime that offered him succor is itself gone. Afghanistan just held its first democratic elections.

* Iraq is moving toward free elections -- doubtless to Osama's chagrin.

Clearly, yesterday's tape was meant to influence Tuesday's U.S. election -- much as al Qaeda caused Spain to show yellow in the War on Terror -- though it remains that it was only a tape.

There was no Madrid-like terror bombing in America, but you can bet your last dollar that Osama and his bloody-handed henchmen wouldn't hesitate to attempt one if they thought for even a moment that they could get away with it.

Indeed, they've failed to pull off any such strike on U.S. soil since 9/11.

Thank President Bush -- and the U.S. military -- for that.

Someday Osama will be rotting behind bars next to, say, Saddam Hussein -- unless he's killed first....

Clearly Osama's little lecture yesterday was meant to dampen George Bush's electoral prospects; in that sense, it betrayed a truly fundamental misunderstanding of the United States.

If 9/11 didn't make Americans flinch, it's not likely that an appearance by Osama on a TV channel best known for its videos of beheadings and other gruesome events will do anything more than stiffen the nation's spine.

Again, for the record: If Osama could have carried out an act of terror, he would have carried out an act of terror.

He can't -- and that speaks to the fundamental success of the War on Terror.

Read it all. I think the Post is certainly right about Osama between 9/11 and now. Right after 9/11 he boasted that many more planes would soon be falling out of the skies. They didn't. But of course, we're not quite out of the woods yet. Eight years passed between the first WTC bombing and the one that brought down the Towers. The ideology that breeds Islamic terrorists is still alive and well. Until it is combatted forcefully, this conflict will continue.

Just yesterday I came across a Muslim writer (as part of a an attack on this site that was long on rhetoric but short on facts) asserting that the conflict in Darfur has nothing to do with jihad, but is ethnic -- despite clear statements from Khartoum indicating otherwise. And now this: secularism must not be allowed in Darfur -- it must be ruled by Sharia, or else. What do you say now, Jo?

From MiddleEastOnline, with thanks to Twostellas:

ABUJA - Sudanese rebel leaders demanded that Islam be kept out of government in the war torn region of Darfur on Friday, opening up another potentially dangerous rift between them and the Khartoum government.

Speaking as African Union peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja moved on to discussion of a political settlement to the 20-month-old civil conflict, rebel leaders called for a clear division between religion and the state in Sudan.

"We are now prepared to start deliberations on the political issues, following the appeal of the international observers and facilitators," said Mahgoud Hussein, spokesman for the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).

"Firstly, we'll start with the declaration of principles. We want a clear distinction between the state and religion. Right now in Sudan you have a situation where Islam is given prominence over other religions," he added.

"This shouldn't be so. Even though I'm a Muslim, we want religion to be a personal thing with every citizen having the freedom to practice what he believes in," he explained.

The rebel demand was immediately rejected by government negotiators, who insisted that mainly-Muslim northern Sudan, including Darfur, should be governed under the principles of Islamic law.

"Darfur is in the north, so Sharia law should apply. It is not negotiable," said Abdul Zuma, media adviser to the Sudanese government at the talks.

From the BBC, with thanks to Twostellas:

More than 80 suicide attackers have been trained on foreign soil to launch strikes in Russia, according to the country's security services chief.

During a debate on national security, Nikolai Patrushev told parliament that some attackers had been "neutralised".

But he said he could not guarantee there would be no further attacks.

Suicide bombers have been responsible for many attacks in Russia, including the bombing of two planes in August, which killed more than 90 people....

"For the secret services it is nakedly clear that the ideologists of the terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus are [Chechen separatist leader Aslan] Maskhadov and Basayev and men from al-Qaeda. As for the Beslan attack in particular, it was organised by Basayev," he said.

Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov told the Duma that existing legislation made it hard to fight terrorism effectively.

He suggested detaining relatives and confiscating finances could be efficient deterrents for would-be suicide bombers.

"Detaining relatives and showing terrorists what may happen to their relatives could help save people's lives, so let's not close our eyes or put a diplomatic face on it," AP quoted him as saying.

"When you live by the sword, you die by the sword."

When I wrote about Adam Gadahn last June, I made reference to his conversion story, which was available courtesy the Muslim Students Association at University of Southern California.

It's still there (thanks to Ixnay for the heads up). I don't know if the MSA still thinks of Gadahn as a positive role model, or if they just haven't gotten around to taking it down yet, but in any case, you may find it interesting reading.

A commentary on the ongoing tragedy in Kosovo from the courageous and insightful Paul Weyrich. From CNSNews.com, with thanks to Sparta:

Many Americans' view of Kosovo -- if they have one at all -- is shaped by the tragic stories they see on CNN.

Some may even remember that our country, as part of NATO, participated in bombings there in 1999 to protect Albanian refugees as part of a war that lasted for over two months. Most Americans pay Kosovo little mind, viewing it to be the staging ground of a conflict that holds no important consequence for the United States.

However, Kosovo is more essential to the security of America and the West than many people realize.

The ability of our country, our NATO allies and the United Nations to promote stable governance that ensures minority rights very well could make the difference between peace and war in a historically and still volatile region, the Balkans, situated between Adriatic and Black Seas.

Islamists recognize the strategic importance of Kosovo and, left unchallenged by a complacent West, could use it to gain a strategic foothold in Europe.

The Serbian population is the minority. They are predominantly Christian and face persecution from an energized Albanian majority.

Right after a wave of violence shook the country in March, Damjan de Krnjevic-Miskovic, then the managing editor of The National Interest and a senior fellow of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, wrote in National Review Online the article "Kristallnacht in Kosovo." In it he stated: "...Kosovo's Serbs have for years been warning of the real nature of Albanian nationalism, and the U.N. and the West have assumed they were exaggerating." ...

Many Albanian Muslims are marginally religious and, up to now, the relations between them and Albanian Christians (mostly Orthodox, some Roman Catholic) have been stable compared to the animosity directed by Albanian Muslims against the Serbs.

Middle Eastern organizations are devoting great resources to building mosques and other Islamic institutions. Given the poverty of Kosovo, it could easily become a breeding ground for Islamic extremism as we have seen in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The history of Kosovo, only some 4,200 square miles, is quite complicated: It became Christian in 874 A.D., only to become part of the Ottoman Empire when Muslims invaded Serbia in the late 14th Century. In 1912, Kosovo and Methohija were liberated from the Ottoman Empire and incorporated into Serbia, and then entered into as (at least theoretically) an autonomous state at Yugoslavia's founding in 1919.

Kosovo has remained part of Serbia since then, with the exception of World War II when Kosovo was administered as a part of Greater Albania by the Axis powers. During that time, churches and monasteries were destroyed.

Throughout the 1920s, 30s, and 40s there had been a simmering conflict between the Albanians -- largely, but not completely, Muslim -- and the Serbs who generally belong to the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The Albanians in Serbia collaborated with the Nazis against the Serbs. In 1945, Yugoslavia became a Communist country, and the authorities covered up ethnic tensions through force, intimidation, mass resettlement of Serbs from Kosovo, and ideological propaganda.

Yugoslavia's grip on its provinces diminished over time, greater autonomy was granted to Kosovo, a state of Serbia with a population composed of ethnic Serbs, Albanians, and Montenegrons. After Yugoslavian Communist Dictator Tito died, the tensions between ethnic and religious groups resurfaced.

Eventually, as Communist rule weakened, Slobodan Milosevic, a Serb, became the President of Serbia, only to crack down on the Albanian extremists bent on seeking independence through force of arms which led to bloody confrontations in 1998 between the Serbian troops and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a largely Albanian terrorist outfit. A ceasefire negotiated by NATO fell apart, setting the stage for the NATO air strikes that started in March 1999, designed to bring Milosevic to heel.

Our participation in the effort was premised on our being part of NATO; we ignored Russian arguments in favor of the Serbs. Some have called this "Monica's War" because it came soon after the Clinton impeachment. However, our effort also led to the removal of the KLA from the State Department's list of terrorist organizations.

Many Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo became refugees. A peace agreement was signed after a 78-day bombing campaign. Control of Kosovo was divided between German, French and American sectors, with the primary duties of peacekeeping divided between the armies of NATO countries and agencies of the United Nations.

Neither NATO nor the United Nations has been effective in keeping a lid on the animosity. For one reason, the missions of the armies are mixed. French and German soldiers are there only to protect persons. Our soldiers, numbering less than 2,000, are there to protect both persons and property. Kosovo's population is beset by high joblessness and substandard living conditions as well as crime and ethnic and religious rivalry.

Since the end of the conflict in June 1999, violence has been perpetrated against Serbian Orthodox Churches and holy sites. Over 120 holy places, including many that date back to the Middle Ages, had been desecrated or destroyed by December 2003.

At the same time, at least 200,000 Kosovar Serbs and other non-Albanians have been "cleansed" from their homes, only 10,000 have returned. In March 2003, apparently false reports of violence perpetrated by Serbian children against young Albanians ignited what was called the "March Pogrom" in which 35 churches and monasteries were destroyed. Strong suspicion exists among many in Kosovo, even those within NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) peacekeeping forces, that the March Pogrom was anything but a spontaneous event.

Members of the delegation visited the Devic Monastery -- founded in the 15th Century -- which had been ransacked and burned by a mob. French troops took the nuns to safety but they refrained from doing anything further, given that the definition of their mission was to protect people. In fact, the French troops left an ailing nun to be attacked by the mob. Thankfully, she escaped unharmed. The looters smashed crosses on graves, even trying to open the sarcophagus of a saint (whose relics had already been moved). This unfortunate monastery had been rebuilt after having been badly damaged by the (terrorist?) KLA in 1999.

I have no objection to this at all. But let a hundred flowers bloom: the Muslim students who were initially told they could not pray at school have now experienced what innumerable Christian students have experienced in public schools for years. I trust that Delaware officials will set aside areas for Christian prayer now too. From delawareonline.com, with thanks to Susan:

A day after Muslim students at Bancroft Intermediate School were told they could not pray in school and had to sit in the cafeteria at lunch despite fasting in observance of Islam's holy month of Ramadan, one child was allowed Friday to go to a private room to pray.

The Christina School District said the students will not be forced to sit in the lunchroom as long as their parents submit in writing that the children are fasting.

The mothers of two Muslim students said Friday they were pleased with the district's response to their request that the students be allowed to observe Ramadan properly.

Shaida Fennell said that her son, Hashim, 12, was escorted by a teacher to a private room twice during the day so he could pray. He also was not forced to remain in the lunchroom with other students, she said.

I don't actually have any problem with Muslims or anyone else taking time out of the school day for prayer. There is certainly enough nonsense and wasted time in the average public school day to justify any amount of time away, as far as I'm concerned. What concerns me here is that I seem to remember a string of controversies a few years back in which Christian students were barred from praying or even holding private Bible study groups at public schools. Perhaps someone can fill in the details on that, but in short, I trust that this decision will also be extended to allow people of other faiths also to leave classes for prayer. From UPI, with thanks to Susan:

Atlanta, GA, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Muslim students in Georgia's largest school district would be excused for Friday prayer under an agreement between Muslim leaders and school officials. A tentative compromise was reached in a 90-minute meeting Wednesday in which district officials proposed three options that Muslim leaders plan to circulate at five Gwinnett County mosques this weekend, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday. They expect to choose one by next week.

Three years ago the school wouldn't allow Khalid Rashied's eldest son out of last period to go to prayers required of Muslims on Friday afternoon.

With the help of the Council on American-Islamic relations this year, Rashied renewed his request and, after going to Wednesday's meeting, is confident a solution would be reached by Monday.

So who is it? From AP:

TOKYO - The Japanese government is "almost certain" a body earlier believed to belong to a Japanese hostage held in Iraq is not that of the captive, officials said Saturday.

The government had said a body found in central Iraq resembled that of hostage Shosei Koda, 24, and that it was being sent to medical experts for identification.

A Japanese doctor and officials in Kuwait examined it but found the body's characteristics differed from Koda's, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda.

"It is almost certain the body is not Mr. Koda," Hosoda said. "We are now collecting more information and turning our full efforts toward rescuing Mr. Koda."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima told a news conference there were several discrepancies, including that the body was dressed in Middle Eastern clothing; the face, though mutilated, had traces of a beard; and the person seemed to be about 50 years old, was overweight, and had a different dental structure.

The discovery came a day after a deadline set by militants who threatened to behead Koda unless Japan withdrew its forces from Iraq -- a demand Japan rejected.

From AP:

PARIS - Physicians specializing in the treatment of leukemia were examining ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Saturday to determine whether he suffers from the blood disorder, Palestinian sources said.

The 75-year-old Arafat has been sick for the past two weeks and blood tests have revealed he has a low platelet count -- a possible symptom of leukemia, other cancers or a number of other maladies.

Arafat received a transfusion of platelets shortly after being rushed Friday to France for treatment at the Hopital d'Instruction des Armees de Percy, a military teaching hospital southwest of Paris that specializes in blood disorders and trauma care.

A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was a strong possibility that Arafat was suffering from leukemia and that a team of French physicians specializing in the disorder had examined the Palestinian leader on Friday....

Israel long refused to guarantee that if Arafat leaves his Ramallah base he will be allowed to return -- a refusal that kept the Palestinian leader pinned down in his compound. But Israel, concerned it would be blamed if his health condition worsened, lifted the ban on Thursday and promised to allow Arafat to return.

In the view of these "orthodox Muslim fanatics," Muslim heretics have no religious or even human rights. From the Daily Star, with thanks to Twostellas:

Orthodox Muslim fanatics razed an Ahmadiyya mosque at Bhadughar in Brahmanbaria minutes before the Juma prayers yesterday.

In the latest incident of persecution of the minority religious sect, the hate-filled mob vandalised and robbed Ahmadiyya houses, injuring at least 11, including six women.

One of the injured, Shabju Mia, 52, president of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Bhadughar chapter and imam of the mosque, is in critical condition and undergoing treatment at Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital....

Witnesses said local BNP leader and former ward commissioner Abdul Quddus led the raiders who were carrying a banner of International Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwat Committee, Bangladesh.

Quddus, with two local businessmen -- Sobhan and Hossain - acting as his lieutenants, arrived with about 100 people carrying sticks in front of the tin-roofed bamboo-walled mosque at 1:00pm and asked the congregation to let them in.

"They asked our people to vacate the mosque saying we'll not be permitted to worship there any more," Monjur Hossain, district amir of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat, told The Daily Star.

He quoted a leader of the fanatic mob as saying, "We'll set up a madrasa here. And you are no longer permitted to enter this place, as we've been warning you time and again."

At this point, some 900 people led by the imams of two nearby Sunni mosques joined the raiders in storming into the Ahmadiyya's mosque. Many of them were brandishing machetes and axes.

Witnesses said the bigots dispersed the Ahmadiyya men guarding the entrance hitting them with clubs and sticks. They then broke into the mosque and went on a rampage.

They lashed and struck at the devotees right and left. One of them hit Imam Shabju on the head with an axe when he was delivering the sermon. While some others threw stones from outside on the tin-roof to crush it, said witnesses.

"After wreaking havoc to their heart's content, they broke off and took away the bamboo-walls, leaving behind a ruin of a mosque," said the Ahmadiyya imam in apparent indignation and grief....

During the attack, hundreds of orthodox fanatics were standing around the mosque chanting anti-Ahmadiyya slogans.

Hearing the news of the raid, family members of the Ahmadiyya devotees rushed out of their homes running towards the mosque to save and rescue their dear ones.

But the raiders swooped on them with maces, machete, clubs and axes injuring Asma Begum, Shamsunnahar, Pushpa, Hossena Begum, Jahanara Khatun and Fatema Begum. Besides, a number of other women and girls received minor injuries as the bigots pelted stones at them.

The mob later plundered and vandalised the houses of 12 Ahmadiyya families.

While leaving the place, they threatened of harsher torture if the Ahmadiyyas do not leave the mosque and the area immediately.

Police arrived at the spot one hour after the incident but did not record any case. But they sat in discussion with the local elite, the influential and the leaders of anti-Ahmadiyya groups and asked them to stop recurrence of such violence....

In 1987, Sunni fanatics captured the main Ahmadiyya mosque in the district, drove away, excommunicated and confined them to a small area. "Since then, we've been worshipping in this small mosque," the Ahmadiyya imam said.

South Asian People's Unity against Fundamentalism and Communalism yesterday strongly condemned the attack and demanded immediate arrest and punishment of the raiders.

"It is a part and continuation of the countrywide torture and aggression on Ahmadiyyas that have been tarnishing the country's image," said Shahriar Kabir, general secretary of the organisation, demanding of the government immediate reconstruction of the mosque.

From VOANews, with thanks to Twostellas:

Two more bombs went off in Thailand's Muslim-dominated south Friday morning injuring at least 20 people during a week of continuing violence. The blasts come as Thailand's prime minister prepares to address the nation on his government's deadly handling of a Muslim protest Monday.

The first bomb exploded Friday morning near busy tea shops in the provincial capital of Yala 12 hundred kilometers south of Bangkok. About 90 minutes later a second blast occurred as a bomb squad was clearing the area. Most of the injured were police.

Another bombing Thursday night killed several people and wounded more than a dozen in Narathiwat.

The bombs appeared to be targeting security forces, accused of using excessive force to quell the violence in the mostly-Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat that border Malaysia.

Interesting that he suggests that the Jewish lobby is strong because Muslims are weak. But most preposterous is his shoot-the-messenger assertion that "Western propaganda" has damaged the image of Islam. Osama bin Laden has damaged the image of Islam. The jihadists whose statements and actions I report and comment on here have damaged the image of Islam. But Ahmad has nothing to say about them. Instead, it's all the fault of those who tell the American public about these things. From GulfNews.com, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Abu Dhabi: The Muslim world needs a strong media presence to counter Western propaganda that damages the image of Islam, an American Muslim leader told Gulf News.

Responding to a question about the media in the West and its portrayal of Islam and Muslims, Khalid Ahmad, president of American Congress of Muslim Youth, said it was the weaknesses of Muslims that had led to the deteriorating image of Islam.

"To an American, most of the terrorist activities are coming from the Muslim world. I suggest Muslims need to have a strong media front to counter the Western media and improve the image of Muslims," he said.

Ahmad said Muslim and Arab countries, particularly the GCC states, need to give full support to American Muslims to help form a strong lobby in the United States to serve Muslim interests and influence American foreign policy and decision-making.

Despite a population of seven million Muslims in the US, Jewish interest groups have a strong lobby and hold considerable sway over American foreign policy, he said.

"The Jewish lobby is strong because all Muslims in the US are not citizens, thus they have no right to vote and influence policy.

"Muslims are divided, in a sense, when they migrate to the US. They stick to their own communities. For example, we black Muslims care for domestic issues rather than political issues linked to the Muslim world. We care about taxes, social services, employment and so on. Israel is the last thing we are concerned about. But Arabs are more concerned about the political uncertainty in the Middle East."

From AP, with thanks to Susan:

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - Suspected Islamic militants killed 16 people in a pre-dawn attack south of the Algerian capital on Saturday [October 23], an official statement said. It was the first bloodshed since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The victims, mostly youths, were driving to Algiers for a soccer match when ambushed on the road near the city of Medea, 50 kilometres south of the capital. They were buried Saturday....

Algeria's Islamic rebels have in the past intensified their campaign of violence during Ramadan, killing about 1,200 people during the month of fasting in 1997 at the height of the insurgency.

But in recent years the bloodshed has decreased. An average of 50 soldiers and civilians were killed over the Muslim holy month in 2003 and 2002.

The North African country has been fighting the insurgency since 1992, when the army cancelled national elections to prevent victory by a Muslim fundamentalist party. The violence has killed an estimated 120,000 people.

Among other things that this tells us, it shows that he is alive. No other statement since shortly after 9/11 had Osama on video talking about any contemporary events.

Also, will this finally silence all the corrosive drivel about how the CIA and/or Mossad pulled off 9/11?

From AP:

CAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden, reading a statement to the American people in a new videotape aired Friday, directly admitted for the first time that he ordered the Sept. 11 attacks and said "the best way to avoid another Manhattan" was to stop threatening Muslims' security.

This is, of course, what certain American and European analysts have been saying since 9/11: if we just stop bothering them, all this will go away. But this founders on history. Before Iraq, before Afghanistan, before the founding of Israel, before the founding of the USA, there was still jihad. If Osama didn't have the grievances he trots out, he would have others: they are mere pretexts, as changeable as stage sets. Jihadists like to point to the abolition of the caliphate in 1924 as the source of all their woes and the cause of their struggle today -- but there were other jihads, and other pretexts, long before 1924.

I think this point may be one of the most difficult of all for Americans to grasp.

It was the first footage of the al-Qaida leader to surface in more than a year. The video, broadcast on Al-Jazeera, showed bin Laden with a long gray beard, wearing traditional white robes, a turban and a golden cloak reading from papers in front of a plain, brown curtain....

There was no way to determine when the tape was made, although it did refer to next week's presidential elections in the United States.

"We decided to destroy towers in America," bin Laden said, referring to the World Trade Center.

"God knows that it had not occurred to our mind to attack the towers, but after our patience ran out and we saw the injustice and inflexibility of the American-Israeli alliance toward our people in Palestine and Lebanon, this came to my mind," he said.

He accused President Bush of "misleading" the American people since the 2001 suicide airline hijackings that hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"Your security is not in the hands of (Democratic candidate John) Kerry or Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands," bin Laden said.

"To the U.S. people, my talk is to you about the best way to avoid another disaster," he said. "I tell you: security is an important element of human life and free people do not give up their security."

"If Bush says we hate freedom, let him tell us why we didn't attack Sweden, for example. It is known that those who hate freedom do not have dignified souls, like those of the 19 blessed ones," he said, referring to the 19 hijackers.

"We fought you because we are free .. and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours."

I am not a Wilsonian. I do not think that every human heart harbors a natural longing for democracy. I would be inclined to tell him, sure, freedom for your nation. Run your nation according to your own devices, and may God help you. But many in your nation have the idea that they should make war against those in my nation who resist the imposition of your idea of the ideal system of government. As Sayyid Qutb said, "The foremost duty of Islam is to depose Jahiliyyah [the government and society of unbelievers] from the leadership of man." And to do so, he makes clear, by force. That is not a prescription for peaceful coexistence; no doubt many Westerners will think that that is what Osama is offering, but it isn't.

UPDATE: Drudge has a full transcript.

Welcome assistance from the man who converted Gadahn to Islam, and was later assaulted by him. From FoxNews, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. -- The director of a California mosque told FOX News on Friday he believes the man threatening the United States on a mysterious videotape is that of a young American he converted to Islam.

Haitham Bundjaki, the Orange County imam who converted Adam Yahiye Gadahn to Islam and whom Gadahn later assaulted, told FOX outside his mosque on Friday that it sounds like Gadahn on the tape.

The FBI believes the 25-year-old Southern Californian has possible ties to Usama bin Laden's terror network Al Qaeda.

Question: do young men join terror groups for the glamor of it all? Was there any other life path that Adam Gadahn could have chosen that would have made him the top story on international news? Of course, most terrorists don't ever play this role, but even the incessant beheading videotapes suggest that there may be a bright-lights-big-city aspect, and/or a sense of joining in a significant, important, and dangerous work, in what attracts recruits to terror groups.

The latest from AP:

TOKYO - A Japanese civilian taken hostage in Iraq by militants has been killed, Kyodo News agency reported Saturday, citing a member of Japan's ruling party. But national broadcaster NHK said the government was still trying to confirm the information.

Government officials could not be reached early Saturday to comment on the report.

Islamic militants threatened on Tuesday to behead hostage 24-year-old Shosei Koda within 48 hours unless Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi firmly rejected that demand, saying he would not give in to terrorists.

Kyodo said a body found near the city of Tikrit had been identified as Koda.

However, the Iraqi Interior Ministry had dismissed an earlier report that the body of an Asian man was found near Tikrit. The ministry said the body was that of an Iraqi man.

It was unclear whether the new Kyodo report referred to a new identification of the same body or a second body found in Tikrit.

The primary issue in this election is who is better equipped to fight back against the global jihad. The key word here is better. It makes little sense to eschew voting on the grounds that one candidate may be better than the other, but still not perfect.

Every other issue -- the Supreme Court, taxes, Social Security reform -- depends upon our national survival. Prescription drug costs will matter very little if the Sears Tower is a smoking hole in the ground or if a large portion of Los Angeles is replaced with a radioactive crater.

Why did it take vast amounts of public pressure to force ABC News to air the tape of 'Azzam the American'? Today Thomas Sowell has an excellent piece on the disgraceful performance of the media in this election. "The issue is whether their main function -- supplying information to the public -- is corrupted by double standards in how they report or withhold news that could help or hurt their favorite causes and candidates." It is clear that ABC News has a quite definite opinion on which candidate is superior on the issue of national security. Whether you agree or disagree with their backhanded assessment, you should be aware of what the stakes are in their coverup. The less Americans know about what we are up against, the less they will be able to make an informed choice on Tuesday.

It is also clear that the useful idiots in the media have learned nothing from the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl. Perhaps they believe they will be safe if they carry their dhimmi clippings in their wallet. No doubt they are in denial about the realities of the jihad ideology; many clearly believe that we can go back to September 10, 2001 if we just get rid of that awful George W. Bush. But whatever you think of Bush, there is no way to sustain the argument that the global jihad began with him.

The media has been quick to attack any use of 9/11 in the Bush campaign despite the fact that it is clearly the most important issue facing us today. They are quick to warn him not to "wave the bloody shirt." (No report yet on what they think of Curt Schilling appearing with Bush today in New Hampshire to wave the bloody sock.) But whichever candidate you vote for, remember: basing your vote on prescription drug costs or taxes or anything but the reality of global jihad is tantamount to voting for September 10. It would be to pretend that a world that has vanished forever is still with us, or can be easily recovered.

UPDATE: Todd from Manchester tells me that Schilling had to cancel his planned appearance.

Will the Vatican finally adopt a more realistic posture toward Islam?From the great Sandro Magister in Chiesa, with thanks to Anthony:

ROMA – At the end of his general audience on Wednesday, October 27, John Paul II said in regard to Iraq and in particular for the Christians who live there:

"Each day I accompany in prayer the dear Iraqi population, which is intent on reconstructing the institutions of their country. At the same time, I encourage the Christians to continue to offer with generosity their own crucial contribution toward heartfelt reconciliation. Finally, I express my deep sympathy for the pain of the victims’ families and for the suffering of the hostages and all the innocent people struck by the blind barbarity of terrorism."

"L'Osservatore Romano" gave great emphasis to these words from the pope on its front page, in the October 28 edition.

The words contain the Holy See's full support for the process now taking place in Iraq to construct a free, democratic, and safe country.

But there is also encouragement for the Iraqi Christians to collaborate in the reconstruction of the country, not to flee, to resist the "barbarity."

Because, in effect, the Iraqi Christians are also under direct attack from the Islamist terrorists. It is an attack composed of killings, kidnappings, and destruction.

On October 16, the online news agency "Fides" – an instrument of the Vatican congregation "De Propaganda Fide" headed by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe – published a "list of horror" with the names, places, and dates of the "local Christians killed by Islamic fanatics."

“Since 2003 at least 88 Christians have been killed,” writes "Fides." “The most recent victim was a little Chaldean Christian girl brutally murdered by a group of Islamic terrorists in Baghdad. The group kidnapped the child and demanded ransom money for her release, but the distraught parents were unable to pay the sum. On October the 14 the lifeless body was delivered to the parents home.”

The latest on Elmasry from the Globe and Mail, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Mohamed Elmasry, the embattled president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, apologized again yesterday for his controversial remarks but did not resign -- despite repeated calls to do so from other Muslim and Jewish organizations.

Instead, the CIC issued a statement yesterday saying it accepted Mr. Elmasry's apology for saying that all Israelis over the age of 18 are fair targets for suicide bombers, but not his offer to resign, noting "one unintentional mistake does not wipe out his exemplary 30-year record."

An unintentional mistake that happens to coincide with fatawa issued by many Islamic clerics and the opinions of other spokesmen?

"It has always been a core belief of mine that killing civilians -- any civilians for any cause -- is an immoral act of the worst kind and I will never change in this conviction," Mr. Elmasry said in the media release.

Of course, he did not address the widespread view, articulated by several Islamic clerics, that there are no civilians in Israel.

"Failing to articulate my beliefs clearly, completely, and forcefully on that occasion was the biggest mistake in my 30 years of public life."

Indeed, but what kind of mistake was it?

While the CIC says it has been "overwhelmed" by calls of support from Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Arab communities, yesterday several organizations reiterated their belief that Mr. Elmasry has done lasting damage to the credibility of his organization, to the cause of Palestinians and of Muslims.

Indeed he has. But not because he is a loose cannon. More because he is articulating a view that is not just his own.

It's Chirac's "strongest wish." Takes some of the heat off of that headscarf controversy, eh, Jacques? From EUObserver.com, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

The leaders of France and Germany have offered strong statements of support to Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

At a joint Franco-German summit meeting yesterday in Berlin - to which Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also invited – French President Jacques Chirac said it was his "strongest wish" to see Ankara in the EU.

Turkey’s accession is "in the interests of Europe, in the interests of Turkey and in the interests of peace and democracy in the world and in the region", he said, according to French media.

And France and Germany would work together in the hope that a successful conclusion can be brought to the negotiations, he added.

One would think, with all the trouble France is having with a Muslim population that largely refuses to assimilate and shows signs of rejecting secularism in large numbers, that Chirac would be ready to ask Erdogan pointed questions about Turkey's long-range plans to rein in radical Islam. But evidently not.

Evidently dhimmi Spain still can't jump high enough for its jihadist masters. From Expatica, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

MADRID - Spanish police have arrested 13 more suspected Islamic extremists in connection with an alleged plot to bomb the country's national court.

Eight of the new arrests were made late Thursday in Madrid, Cadiz and Valencia while five suspects were already in custody.

They bring to 30 the number of arrests in connection with the alleged plot.

National Court Judge Baltasar Garzon imprisoned 17 suspects - ten of them already in prison for other crimes - last week on suspicion of being members of a group called Martyrs for Morocco.

"These [new] arrests are the result of all the documentation seized from the detainees last week and all the information gathered by the judge during their interrogations," a police source said.

The terrorists are said to have planned to detonate a lorry loaded with 500 kg of explosives near the Audiencia Nacional, Spain's national criminal court where all terrorist cases are heard.

Bosnia, of course, is held up by some "experts" as a bastion of Islamic moderation. And in many ways it is just that; but the moderates' lack of a theological foundation within Islam makes them always vulnerable to radical encroachment. From AFP, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Hercegovina : Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is actively directing terrorist cells in the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia, a top US terrorism analyst told a local daily.

Yossef Bodansky, director of the Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the US Congress, told the Glas Srpske daily that terrorists responsible for the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad last year were trained near the central Bosnian town of Zenica.

"There is a terrorist network in Bosnia, composed of several well-trained and connected groups, which are directly or indirectly responsible to ... Osama Bin Laden," he was quoted as saying in the Serbian-language paper.

He said the cells were using Bosnia as a training ground and a gateway to send terrorists to western Europe or to hide them on their way to the east if they were on the run.

"The network in Bosnia ... is training and controlling terrorists who later travel to Western European countries," Bodansky said in comments translated from Serbian.

"On the other hand, terrorists for whom arrest warrants have been issued in the west are coming back to Bosnia where 'liaison officers' welcome them and provide accommodation and hiding places, and they are later transferred to the east." ...

Foreign Muslim fighters were ordered to leave Bosnia under the 1995 peace accords, but some of them stayed and obtained citizenship either on the basis of their army service or by marrying local women.

While the peace talks continue, the jihad still rages. From SA, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Abuja - Rebel accusations that fresh government air-raids killed 26 civilians in Sudan's troubled Darfur region have cast a pall over peace talks in Nigeria, where African Union mediators trying to end the conflict are making little headway.

Mahgoup Hussain, a spokesperson for the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, said on Wednesday that the bombings occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday in the town of Allaiat, in eastern Darfur.

But Lieutenant General Mohammed Ismail, the deputy chief of staff of the Sudanese army, said there had been no fresh violence in the area.

"It is still continuing," Hussein said of the bombings, claiming the 26 dead included a pregnant woman. "Definitely this round (of negotiations) will not go well. It is not logical. You are coming here for peace, and you are bombing people over there."

In Al-Azhar, an impromptu speaker on the glories of political Islam vies with another who attracts security officials by talking about Egypt's current oppressive government — a common refrain of members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Both show that political Islam is alive and well in Egypt: "We are all Salaah-Ud-Deen [Saladin]!" From MPACUK, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

CAIRO, Egypt - The turbaned sheikh had finished his sermon, but others were just getting started. As he walked from the prayer hall, other speakers stepped in looking for an audience among the thousands of worshippers still crowded into the Al-Azhar Masjid.

But the 1,000-year-old Al-Azhar Masjid, which is also one of the first universities in the world, is no sanctuary of free speech.

Helmeted riot police ringed the Masjid, while inside was the more subtle presence of plainclothes state security officers, who hung back until needed....

As most worshippers filed out, a few hundred stuck around to debate. Inside the Masjid's main hall, men shouted and pushed as two speakers tried to outshout each other.

One man stood with arms folded, telling of Salaah-Ud-Deen, the Islamic hero who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187. The other tried to interrupt him with a more modern tale: of Egyptians' struggle for freedom under what he called an oppressive government. Scores of listeners surrounded them.

"We need to speak about political work in Egypt," shouted Nagy Said, an accountant, sweat pouring off his face. "Al-Azhar doesn't reflect the pulse of the nation."

A listener objected, saying politics had no place at the Masjid.

Suddenly, the security agents materialized from the crowd, checking IDs and questioning the people crowded around the political speaker. They were less interested in the man talking about the ancient Islamic victories.

His listeners remained as the others filed out.

"Grace be to Islam. Islam is coming," called a voice from the crowd. "We are all Salaah-Ud-Deen!."

The latest from Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer looks at the upcoming Islam Awareness Week at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and its implications for the non-Muslim world. From FrontPage:

“We know what we are, but know not what we may become,” observed Shakespeare, who no doubt knew not that four hundred years after his death, he himself would be proclaimed a Sufi Muslim. “Shakespeare would have delighted in Sufism,” said the Islamic scholar Martin Lings, himself a Sufi Muslim who also goes by the name Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din. “We can see he obviously knew a lot about some kind of equivalent sect or order.”

According to The Guardian, Lings will argue that Shakespeare’s “work resembles the teachings of the Islamic Sufi sect” in the International Shakespeare Globe Fellowship Lecture at Shakespeare’s own Globe Theatre in London. Lings will speak in November during Islam Awareness Week, which will also feature other Muslim speakers, while Islamic scenes are projected on the Globe’s outside walls. “On the final weekend,” says The Guardian, “a souk will take over the premises, with stalls selling eastern wares.”

By the pricking of my thumbs, something preposterous this way comes. “It’s impossible for Shakespeare to have been a Muslim,” David N. Beauregard, a Shakespeare scholar and coeditor of Shakespeare and the Culture of Christianity in Early Modern England, told me. Beauregard has argued that there is a “growing consensus that Shakespeare was a Roman Catholic.… he maintained Roman Catholic beliefs on crucial doctrinal differences.” He notes that “this is not to say that Shakespeare was occupied with writing religious drama, but only that a specific religious tradition informs his work.” And it isn’t Sufism.

But of course, the Globe’s Islam Awareness Week is not so much about Shakespeare as it is about present-day Britain’s anxiety to appease its growing and restive Muslim population. Shakespeare is just the latest paradigmatic figure of Western Christian culture to be remade in a Muslim-friendly manner: recently the State Department asserted, without a shred of evidence, that Christopher Columbus (who in fact praised Ferdinand and Isabella for driving the Muslims out of Spain) was aided on his voyages by a Muslim navigator.

It is a sign of the times when this kind of thinking is no longer confined to Islamic apologetics websites, but is taken up by the Globe Theatre and the U.S. State Department — hardly representatives of the cultural fringes — and even American textbook publishers. The state of American education is so dismal today that teachers themselves are ill-equipped to counter these historical fantasies. They will become willing propagators of the new history: nothing to fear from Muslims, you see. Shakespeare was one of them. Oh yes, and Goethe. And Abraham Lincoln’s mother. And Napoleon Bonaparte. What? You didn’t know the Napoleonic Code was based on Sharia law?

Sharia law — aye, there’s the rub. No doubt there will be no mention at the Globe Theatre’s souk of the fact that many Muslims in Britain believe that the British government, and indeed any government, has no legitimacy unless it implements Sharia. No admirer of the Sufi Shakespeare is likely during the festivities to quote the Egyptian Muslim writer Sayyid Qutb, whose writings are revered today by radical Muslims worldwide. Qutb declared that “the foremost duty of Islam is to depose Jahiliyyah [the government and society of unbelievers] from the leadership of man.” Radical Muslim leaders everywhere today call upon Muslims to recover the teachings of the Qur’an and Islamic tradition that enjoined them to institute Islamic hegemony by force if necessary.

But it has become a rule of the public debate that such aspects of Islam cannot be mentioned. We must accept on faith that no Muslim among those streaming into Western countries has any plans to interfere with the constitutions of those countries, now or in the future. And if they do, what of it? Muslim Spain, after all, was a paradise of multiculturalist harmony. Shakespeare was a Muslim. And on and on.

The Syrian writer Sadik Al-Azm recently declared that there was no clash of civilizations, because the West was so strong and the Islamic world so weak that any conflict would inevitably result in the triumph of the West. Al-Azm didn’t consider, however, that the West itself would look upon Othello’s boast of smiting “a malignant and a turban’d Turk” and decide that he should go for some sensitivity training. If radical Muslims like Britain’s notorious Sheikh Omar Bakri ultimately realize their dream of seeing the black flag of Islam flying from #10 Downing Street, and continue to advance elsewhere in the West, the fault, as Cassius told Brutus, will be not in our stars, but in ourselves.

Sometimes Muslims come to the West in order to get out from under the full or partial enforcement of the Sharia, and to secularize and live their lives in peace. And sometimes their radical brethren don't allow them to do this. From the Copenhagen Post, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Iran's clerical regime is resorting to shady tactics against its opponents in Denmark. Daily newspaper Information reported that Iranian refugees in the country have been subjected to extortion and pressure, presumably by agents from the Iranian Embassy in Copenhagen. Informants from the nation's Iranian émigré community have passed on information to agents that has in many cases had drastic consequences for family members in Iran.

Several Iranian refugees spoke with the newspaper for its report, including defected Iranian diplomat Perviz S. Khazai, who represents the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI) in Scandinavia.

‘I believe the Iranian regime has 50-60 very active 'Gestapo' style agents in Scandinavia - predominantly embassy workers and refugees who forward information on other refugees. In Denmark alone, there are at least 5-10. I know one of them by name,’ said Khazai.

Another siren from Drudge.

ABCNEWS withheld portions of an alarming new al Qaeda videotape which warns the next terror attack will dwarf 9/11 from the CIA when they submitted the video for analysis, a top federal source tells the DRUDGE REPORT....

"What took place on September 11 was but the opening salvo of the global war on America and that our Lord willing, the magnitude and ferocity of what is coming your way will make you forget all about September 11," the man, whose face is covered by a headdress, warns in the video. "After decades of American tyranny, now it's your turn to die."...

A top goverment source said from Washington that ABC withheld the final 15 minutes of the tape from the CIA -- the portion of the tape where the man warns of retribution for Americans electing Bush and Cheney.

"You are guilty, guilty, guilty. You're as guilty as Bush and Cheney. You're as guilty as Rumsfeld and Ashcroft and Powell...," the man states.

He goes on to warn of an upcoming horror: "The streets will run with blood," and "America will mourn in silence" because they will be unable to count the number of the dead.

"People of America, that was the verdict now for the sentencing: as participants and partners in the crimes of the regime, you too shall pay the price for the blood that has been spilled."

One ABC source, who demanded anonymity, said Thursday morning, the network was struggling to find a correct journalistic "balance" before airing any story on the video.

"This is not something you just throw out there while people are voting," the ABC source explained.

Especially if you are trying as hard as you can to make sure that one of the candidates gets elected.

Will then other religious banners -- Christian, Jewish, Hindu, whatever -- be flown as well? Will, in other words, the law be amended? Or is there an exception for Muslims only? From the San Diego Union Tribune, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

After protests by Muslim business owners, Ramadan banners are back up on city lampposts in southeastern San Diego.

The signs were pulled last week after a city code enforcement officer ordered them removed because of their "religious" content and expired permit.

The 16 banners were reinstalled Tuesday night after a meeting of officials from the city's Development Services and Neighborhood Code Compliance departments and the City Attorney's Office.

They agreed that "under existing regulations, there are no prohibitions against installing these banners," said Bob Didion, assistant deputy director of development services.

City code-compliance officials said the permit would need to be renewed.

Abdur-Rahim Hameed, who had called for the signs to be reinstalled, saw them yesterday morning as he was driving to work.

"When I looked up and saw the Ramadan banners, I just burst into tears," he said. Last week, Hameed held a news conference to object to their removal.

He said working within the system to get the banners reinstalled bonded Muslims together during the monthlong Ramadan holiday, a time of fasting and prayer.

A city code enforcement officer inspected the 2-by-6-foot banners last week after receiving a complaint. The officer found that they didn't meet city code because of their "religious" subject matter and that a permit had not been issued to display them.

The city asked the Diamond Business Improvement District, which runs the neighborhood's banner program, to immediately remove the banners, and the district complied.

The district's attorney, John Stump, said he believes the permit is still valid, but he and other district officials have agreed to renew it. The green-and-white banners have flown during Ramadan for the past five years.

They feature a half-moon, a star and the words "Ramadan Mubarak," which means blessed Ramadan.

Drudge has his screaming siren going.

ABCNEWS has to be very careful reporting this NEWS because it might affect the election. A NEWS organization can't just go around reporting NEWS willy nilly.

Not at death's door after all. From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Kemaste:

Yasser Arafat has a large gallstone, a Palestinian hospital official said Tuesday, as the weakened Palestinian leader broke his Ramadan fast and underwent more medical tests at the urging of his doctors.

The gallstone is not life threatening and can be easily treated, the official told The Associated Press.

Palestinian officials insisted Arafat, 75, was simply recovering from a lengthy bout of the flu. However, Palestinian medical sources said he has been inexplicably exhausted in recent weeks and Israeli officials have speculated he is suffering from stomach cancer.

Teams of Egyptian and Tunisian doctors have examined him in recent days. On Monday, he underwent an endoscopy, or exam of the digestive tract. And he has not led Muslim evening prayers at the makeshift mosque in his compound, as he has done in the past during the fasting month of Ramadan.

UPDATE: The staff here in Secure Undisclosed Locationville is having fun with this one. "Arafat has gallstones? It figures: he's sure got a lot of gall." Etc. You fill in the blanks. (Extra update, with apologies to the commenters: I hadn't read the comments before I added it. I should have figured you'd be ahead of us at the office on this.)

Satellite images. From 2LA.org, with thanks to Ali Dashti.

From AP, with thanks to Susan:

DASS, Nigeria - Lawyers for a woman sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly committing adultery asked an Islamic court in northern Nigeria on Wednesday to overturn the verdict, and the judge said he would issue a ruling in two weeks.

Hajara Ibrahim's lawyers appealed the sentence at the Upper Shariah Court in the rural town of Dass, 25 miles south of the state capital, Bauchi.

Judge Mohammed Mustapha Umar said he would rule on the appeal on Nov. 10.

Ibrahim, now 18 years old and seven months pregnant, was convicted of adultery on Oct. 5 by an Islamic court in the remote town of Lere, Bauchi state, located in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north.

On Wednesday, Ibrahim's lawyer Adbullahi Suleiman argued for the conviction to be overturned because Ibrahim was never married and, therefore, could not be guilty of adultery.

"There was no evidence she was once married," Suleiman told The Associated Press at the end of the proceedings.

Under the version of Islamic Shariah law in effect in parts of northern Nigeria, sex outside wedlock is considered adultery if one of the partners is or has ever been married. If neither partner was ever married, then it is condemned as "fornication," punishable by whipping.

While Ibrahim was sentenced on account of her pregnancy, the man she says impregnated her was freed for lack of evidence.

Unless he is caught in the act or there is some other incriminating evidence, all he has to do to be freed under Sharia law is deny the charge. For women, it's a different story.

Ali Dashti has been kindly supplying us with information about the situation in Sweden for some time. Now the larger -- if not mainstream -- media is catching on. From a FoxNews commentary:

Now in Malmo, Sweden, a city where a quarter of the population is Muslim, there are some parts of the city where buses refuse to go for fear of safety. Fireman, policemen, and ambulance drivers have been attacked in certain sections when trying to do their job. Swedes, though, are not an easy soundbite, perhaps because they are so thoughtful. They try to see things from every side. We went out with a policeman on patrol and spoke to him while he was walking around in the dangerous part of town. At one point I stopped him and said, "How does it feel to you, personally, when you come here trying to do your job, trying to help someone, and people throw rocks at you?" His response was that it was "a little annoying." Annoying. I imagined what kind of a colorful response I could have gotten from a New York policeman.

The latest on the Brian O'Connor affair, revealing the state of Islamic tolerance within the Kingdom. From IANS, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

NEW DELHI: A leading Christian organisation Wednesday appealed to Saudi Arabia to show mercy to an Indian Christian convicted of "spreading Christianity" in the Islamic kingdom.

Brian O'Connor of Karnataka was arrested in Saudi Arabia in March on charges of spreading Christianity. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison and 300 lashes, the All India Catholic Union (AICU) said.

CAIR has willing allies at the St. Petersburg Times. From Erick Stakelbeck at FrontPage:

Over the past month, Mike Frazier has received, by his count, six death threats and 47 menacing phone calls. He's been accosted by complete strangers in public and vilified as an "extremist" by the largest newspaper in his state. Frazier--a pastor at Landmark Baptist Church in Brooksville, Florida--has even seen several churchgoers leave his congregation during this period, because, according to him, "they were afraid."...

Frazier's problems began on September 14, when he spoke at a meeting of the Hernando County (FL) Commission. Frazier, who hosts a local radio program, was troubled that several local and state officials had attended an awards dinner hosted by CAIR a few weeks before.

After calling attention to CAIR's radical ties, Frazier requested that any officials who had attended the CAIR dinner and accepted awards from the group return them immediately and apologize to the people of Hernando County.

"As an elected official, you can't sit down with just anybody," says Frazier. "If these people would have bothered to check CAIR out beforehand they would have seen that it is a radical group. At the meeting, I made very clear that I wasn't talking about all Muslims. I was only talking about CAIR. But it was absolutely unbelievable what followed."

Two days after the county commission meeting, St. Petersburg Times reporter Jennifer Liberto wrote an article detailing the event. Her piece laid the groundwork for what would soon become a venomous assault on Frazier's character by the paper.

"A taste of the Crusades broke out at the Hernando County Commission meeting Tuesday," wrote Liberto. "When a local Baptist pastor accused county leaders of supporting terrorism by attending a private, educational forum on Islam last month."

As if comparing Frazier's actions to the Crusades weren't sensationalistic enough, Liberto went on to allege that members of Frazier's church chanted "terrorists, terrorists," when elected officials tried to speak, a charge Frazier flatly denies.

"Only three people I knew were even at that meeting," says Frazier. "My son-in-law and two friends who came for moral support. As I was speaking, two people sitting behind me--who I didn't even know--said the word, terrorist. They certainly didn't chant it. Another reporter who covered the meeting has backed me up on this."

Nevertheless, the St. Petersburg Times gleefully hammered Frazier. The same day as Liberto's screed appeared, the paper's editorial page editor, Jeff Webb, penned a column titled, "Pastor's Talk of Terrorists is What's Truly Scary."

In the piece, Webb labeled Frazier an "extremist" and a "fundamentalist zealot," and accused him of "propagating fear, terror and disunity." He also blamed Frazier for spreading "misinformation and exaggeration to stir the pot of intolerance."

Furthermore, according to Webb, Frazier's criticism of CAIR was nothing more than "irresponsible, alarmist, conspiratorial claptrap."

First, some facts: CAIR was founded in part with seed money from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization that has been indicted for providing material support to Hamas. CAIR has also accepted substantial donations from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal as well as the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and the International Islamic Relief Organization, two Saudi-funded, Wahhabist groups.

Two of CAIR's founding members, Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad, both previously worked for the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a group which has "acted in support of" Hamas, according to a federal judge's August 2002 ruling. Tellingly, during a 1994 speech at Florida's Barry University, Awad, who is now CAIR's Executive Director, stated, "I am in support of the Hamas movement."

In addition, former CAIR employee Randall "Ismail" Royer was sentenced to 20 years in prison last April for "participation in a network of militant jihadists centered in Northern Virginia," according to the Department of Justice. And Ghasan Elashi, the founding board member of CAIR's Texas chapter, was convicted of violating the Libyan Sanctions Regulations in July 2004 and has also been indicted for providing material support to Hamas.

Much of this information--which, incidentally, only begins to scratch the surface of CAIR's radical activities--is readily available online. Yet the St. Petersburg Times, in its headlong rush to demonize Frazier, conveniently dismissed CAIR's nefarious history.

Stephen Schwartz has replied, in a manner of speaking, to my remarks in yesterday's FrontPage; his reply (at today's FrontPage) consists mainly of declaring that he will not reply. My additional remarks follow.

Spencer's Continuing Attacks on Me By Stephen Schwartz

[...]Third, I do not feel compelled to reply to Mr. Spencer's disquisitions on my religion because I not not consider him in the slightest manner competent to comment on my religion. He has a magpie knowledge of what he imagines Islam to be based on fairy tales and armchair reading. His obvious aim is to instil fear of Islam in Western readers who know even less than he knows about the faith of Muhammad. I do not in general respond to comments on Islam by non-Muslims, except when they are made by apologists for Wahhabism. I am more interested in convincing Muslims of the need for moderation, than in wasting my time trying to persuade biased non-Muslims that moderate Islam exists.

Fourth, I consider that Robert Spencer has disqualified himself from serious consideration on any matters having to do with interfaith relations by publishing the writings of Srdja Trifkovic, the well-known apologist for Serbian war crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina, whose testimony at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, in the Stakic case, was discredited....

*

Silencing Non-Muslim Voices
By Robert Spencer

I was saddened to read Mr. Schwartz's letter, particularly its heading, since I have never attacked him in any way. I have merely asked questions about his recommendations for a reconfiguration of Islam so as to make it no longer a refuge and motivating force for international terrorists. Had Mr. Schwartz answered these questions honestly, fully, and civilly, we might have been on the way to a fruitful dialogue that could have helped accomplish what he professes to work for: "convincing Muslims of the need for moderation."

But instead, we learn that he does not "in general respond to comments on Islam by non-Muslims." In this I suppose Schwartz demonstrates his bona fides as a moderate Muslim, for while his radical coreligionists want to kill, convert, or subjugate us (cf. Qur'an 9:29), Schwartz merely won't speak to us. Thank heaven for small favors. But I can't help but wonder: this Islamic Ozymandias may demand that I tremble silently before his mighty works, but what of other non-Muslims? Does he really mean to dismiss out of hand the great scholarly works on Islam of John Wansbrough? Patricia Crone? A. S. Tritton? Arthur Jeffrey? Joseph Schacht? Bat Ye'or?

Are ex-Muslims acceptable? Would Schwartz deign to respond to Ibn Warraq? Ali Sina? Or does leaving Islam disqualify one from understanding it? What about, then, the heroic Iranian dissident Ali Dashti, author of a revealing study of Muhammad's career, 23 Years, who as far as anyone knows never explicitly renounced Islam? Would Schwartz have responded to Ali Dashti before he was tortured and killed by Khomeini's thugs? Yet many of the questions I have raised about Islam and the Qur'an are raised also by Ali Dashti. Are they valid questions coming from him, but not from me?

Unfortunately for Schwartz, his stance is self-defeating. I have asked him a number of questions about the Qur'an and Islam. He has chosen not to answer them, but to characterize them as personal attacks and to content himself with impugning my knowledge of the subject. The result is that for every person of good will, the questions remain. Islamic texts are widely and easily available today. Do they mean one thing when non-Muslims read them and another when Muslims read them? If only Muslims possess the secret key to understanding them, and will not share that key with anyone else, non-Muslims will continue to read these texts, and to see the easy use to which Muslim radicals put them in recruiting and motivating terrorists. But Schwartz will not share his secret decoder ring with us, and so instead of demonstrating true Islamic moderation, he leaves the field to the radicals.

As for Schwartz's guilt-by-association attacks on Srdja Trifkovic, they are all the more beneath contempt for the fact that Trifkovic himself over a year ago supplied in this very publication a string of quotations from his own work going back to 1990 showing that he was an early and consistent opponent of the Milosevic regime. Trifkovic, of course, does not need me to defend him.

It is true that in Sharia courts, the testimony of non-Muslims need not be considered; but Stephen, we are now in a different court: the court of public opinion.

Algeria's radical Muslims in scandal and disarray. Much of the problem seems to come from the harshness of Islamic law itself, which sees "sexual assault" as the inevitable consequence of the simple presence of a man and a woman alone in a house. From Arab News, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Led by Abdallah Jaballah, Islah is the second political bloc in the Algerian Parliament. Last April it fielded Jaballah as its candidate in the presidential election, which the incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won in a landslide. Jaballah came in third.

Scandals surrounding the party broke out earlier this week when a member of the leadership, who must remain anonymous for legal reasons, filed a lawsuit claiming that his wife had been "sexually assaulted" by Sadiq Sulayemah, another party leader.

The plaintiff has accused the party's leadership of trying to cover up the incident along with other instances of "illegitimate sexual activity" at the highest levels.

Sulayemah, a well-known poet, and a life-long friend of Jaballah, has denied the charge, explaining his presence in the plaintiff's house as an accident.

Party sources said yesterday that the poet had met Jaballah and "confessed to his sins" and asked for pardon. Jaballah is reported to have asked the poet to keep the incident a secret so as not to harm the party.

"It is hard to know what happened at the house," says Abdul-Ghafour Saadi, the party's deputy leader. "There were no witnesses to see what our comrade and the lady did."

Sulayemah has published an ode lampooning unnamed party leaders for their obsessions with adultery and sexual deviation. The scandals come as a blow to a party that has built its platform on the claim that the Algerian society has become corrupted by Western influence.

Last year the party presented a bill to make Algeria alcohol-free by banning the sale of drinks in public places. The bill failed to get enough support for inclusion in the parliamentary agenda. The party has also campaigned to make polygamy legal again, and opposed reforms presented by President Bouteflika to improve the condition of women.

Juhaid Yunesi, the party's number-three and one of those who have resigned, yesterday blamed Jaballah for "creating a dictatorship to cover immorality with an Islamic vocabulary."

Another prominent party leader to resign is Miloud Qadiri who led Islah's group in the National Assembly.

"We cannot invite people to Islam when our party is sinking in immorality," Qadiri said.

Jaballah first made his name in 1993 when he was named as one of the nine men to form a Majlis Al-Shuyukh (Council of Seniors) at a Pan-Islamist conference held in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital under the chairmanship of Hassan Turabi. Among the council members was Osama Bin Laden.

One of the world's leading jihadists may be on his deathbed. From AP, with thanks to Ethelred Smith:

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Yasser Arafat collapsed Wednesday evening, was unconscious for about 10 minutes and remained in a "very difficult situation," Palestinian officials said. A team of Jordanian doctors was urgently summoned to treat the ailing Palestinian leader.

Within hours, three senior Palestinian officials formed a special committee to run Palestinian affairs during Arafat's illness, according to a Palestinian official in Arafat's office.

The committee includes Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, his predecessor, Mahmoud Abbas, and Salim Zaanoun, head of the Palestinian National Council.

The committee was to run the PLO and the Palestinian Authority until Arafat recovers, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Arafat was eating soup during a meeting with Qureia, Abbas and another official between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. (2 p.m. or 3 p.m. EDT) when he vomited, according to a bodyguard who was in the compound at the time.

The 75-year-old Arafat was brought to the clinic inside the compound, where he collapsed and was unconscious for about 10 minutes, the guard said. His doctors were urgently summoned.

From AP, :

CAIRO, Egypt -- An online Al Qaeda magazine is urging Sunni Muslim fighters in Iraq to join hands with Usama bin Laden to defeat its enemies.

"We are urging all the leaders of Sunni holy warriors to fight for God's word to prevail over that of the infidels, to join hands with the leader of Islam's soldiers today, Usama bin Laden," said an editorial in the bimonthly Al Qaeda military publication Al-Battar Camp.

It said bin Laden would bring "victory [over] infidels from the atheist Crusaders."

Atheist Crusaders. Hmm. So they are finally noticing that the West is no longer Christian.

Al-Battar, Arabic for "sharp sword," is a slick Web magazine featuring a table of contents and op-ed page and a letters to the editor section.

The leaders of Sunni Muslim fighters in Iraq "should follow the lead of holy warrior leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, may God keep him, who initiated this good precedent, may God reward him," the magazine said.

This was just put up over at the Drudge Report:

In the last week before the election, ABCNEWS is holding on a videotaped message from a purported al Qaeda terrorist warning of a new attack on America, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The terrorist claims on tape the next attack will dwarf 9/11. "The streets will run with blood," and "America will mourn in silence" because they will be unable to count the number of the dead. Further claims: America has brought this on itself for electing George Bush who has made war on Islam by destroying the Taliban and making war on Al Qaeda.

ABCNEWS strongly denies holding the tape back from broadcast over political concerns during the last days of the election.

Yeah, surrrre.

The terrorist's face is concealed by a head dress, and he speaks in an American accent, making it difficult to identify the individual. A top goverment source tells DRUDGE, US intelligence officials believe that man may be Adam Gadhan - aka Adam Pearlman, a southern California native who was highlighted by the FBI in May as an individual most likely to be involved in or have knowledge of the next al Qaeda attacks.

First Spain, and now France. From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

PARIS (AP) -- France's finance minister, a presidential hopeful, says mosques need state funding and it's time for a century-old law banning financing for religious groups to be modernized, according to excerpts of a new book hitting the shelves on Thursday.

Nicolas Sarkozy, in his book ``The Republic, Religions, Hope,'' says extremism is festering in underground mosques and Islamic groups don't have money to build houses of worship.

``What is dangerous is not minarets, but caves and garages that keep clandestine religious groups hidden,'' Sarkozy says in the book, according to excerpts published in Le Monde and other French newspapers Tuesday.

Unlike Jewish and Christian groups with a history in France, Islam is relatively new here and needs a helping hand, Sarkozy says.

``In light of our past experiences and our errors, let us prove our modesty and tolerance,'' Sarkozy writes. ``Have we already forgotten our crusades?''

Oh no, Nick. We remember them very well. But have you forgotten the jihads? Obviously.

Tomorrow marks one year of Jihad Watch.

It has been a tumultuous year, and I thank all those who have helped make this samizdat effort take off in so many ways. If I named you all by name, it would make this a very long post; but please know that I am grateful to each of you.

Jihad Watch is dedicated to breaking the media blockade on Islam, and to introducing into the public debate the elements of Islam that give rise to fanaticism and violence, so that both non-Muslims and Muslims can take appropriate action.

It is a small effort, but growing steadily. And it is a samizdat effort because what we say here is not allowed to be said by most major media outlets. Yet it is the truth.

The truth about Islamic radicalism is available now to everyone. They can read books by Bat Ye'or, Ibn Warraq, Serge Trifkovic, and even by me. And there are books by so many others. These authors represent a broad spectrum of approaches and intellectual levels. The problem in America and the West today is not that the truth is not out there. It is that it is still widely ignored. It is consciously and systematically ignored and obfuscated by the media establishment.

If Serge Trifkovic wrote for the New York Times instead of Chronicles, the world would be different. People would know what we were facing, and Jihad Watch might not be necessary. If Ibn Warraq wrote for Simon and Schuster instead of Prometheus Books, people would know. If Bat Ye'or were on NBC and CBS, people would know.

But the media establishment has a virtual stranglehold on getting this information OUT. Instead of being featured and lionized as they deserve, people like Ibn Warraq and Bat Ye'or are smeared or simply ignored. On Monday I was in the Cleveland airport, having a casual conversation with a pilot. He didn't know who I was, and I didn't tell him, but he happened to bring up the subject of Islam. He told me it was a peaceful religion that has been hijacked, that the Bible is just as violent as the Qur'an, etc. Has he ever read the Qur'an? Or Trifkovic? Or Ibn Warraq? Or Bat Ye'or? No. And he certainly hasn't read my books. He was just repeating what the media told him.

There are millions of people like that out there. How to reach them? Jihad Watch is one small, very small, effort to do so. But the larger question of how to break the media stranglehold still preoccupies me. Since it is a willful and conscious rejection of the perspective that we bring on the question of Islam and terrorism, I don't have any idea how to break through it -- except to keep on telling the truth, here, day after day.

Nor is this simply a problem of the liberal control of the major media. Even the "conservatives" O'Reilly and Hannity passed on having me on their shows when my publisher, Regnery, offered them first crack at my book Onward Muslim Soldiers -- although they often do feature Regnery authors. Had they even read my book, or Trifkovic's, or any of Bat Ye'or's? I doubt it. They just figured it was out of the bounds of polite discourse, and that was that.

This is THE problem facing America today: it has become improper and unacceptable to talk honestly about the primary challenge that our nation faces: Islamic terrorism. How will we ever defeat the global jihad if we cannot acknowledge what it is, and where it comes from? Yet this perspective continues to be obfuscated by red herrings: "not all Muslims are terrorists," "all religions can give rise to violence," "you are saying that we must go to war against all Muslims," etc. These caveats are all either untrue or irrelevant, and I have answered them many times here over the past year. Yet they continue to be raised, every day: the Crusades! The IRA! My sweet Muslim neighbor! But how, after all, does the fact that Christians once waged Crusades help us in any way to deal with Islamic jihad today? The government and media establishments continue largely to refuse to acknowledge that there is any problem with Islam itself -- and thus the problem continues to fester for both non-Muslims and Muslims. If you won't admit it's broken, you certainly can't fix it.

So one year of Jihad Watch is complete, and I have signed on for another. The samizdat journalists of the Soviet Union ultimately prevailed; it is not beyond the realm of possibility that we will someday also -- no matter how bleak the situation may seem today.

And once again, I am extremely grateful for all your support and kindness over the past year.

From the South Asia Tribune, with thanks to Kemaste:

NEW DELHI, October 25: Fugitive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been spotted in the Tibet-Laddakh region, close to the North-Eastern tip of Pakistan, bordering India and China, Indian and US officials believe.

A high-ranking official of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) flew from Islamabad on Sunday to meet top Indian officials here in Delhi after reports of Bin Laden's presence in the region.

According to sources, following the meeting between Indian security bosses and the FBI, the New Delhi Government has put its security forces in the North Western region, specially the Kashmir Valley, on 'red alert.'

Vigilance on the Kargil-Leh Highway and area along the Tibetan border has also been increased. Security forces are likely to undertake combing operations in the Laddakh region before the start of snowfall.

These sources in the Indian Home Ministry told this correspondent that intelligence agencies had received information that Bin Laden has been spotted traveling. Some such reports were also published in a section of the Pakistan media.

Doesn't anyone care about the CAIR officials who have been arrested for terrorist activities? From CNSNews.com, with thanks to EPG:

(CNSNews.com) - The Kentucky office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is conducting "sensitivity training" for FBI agents in Lexington.

CAIR-KY said 13 FBI agents, including supervisors, attended a workshop on Monday that examined "basic Islamic beliefs and concepts, common stereotypes of Islam and Muslims, and ways in which to improve interactions with the Muslim community.

"Agents were able to ask questions throughout the formal CAIR-KY presentation," the group said in a press release.

"These types of educational workshops help build a better relationship between law enforcement agencies and the Muslim community," said CAIR-KY Chairman Abdul Quayyum. "We hope to expand this successful program to help the police and FBI in other areas of our state."

Quayyum said CAIR-KY also is hosting a Ramadan fast-breaking event (iftar) for government and law enforcement officials on October 29 in Lexington.

CAIR's Houston chapter, meanwhile, announced that it is providing "sensitivity and diversity training" for local health care professionals and chaplains at Ben Taub Hospital.

The training includes "specific information about Muslim perspectives on illness, medical treatment, gender relations and the sanctity of human life," CAIR-Houston said in a press release.

Strange bedfellows? From WND, with thanks to Sparta:

A militant from a group some have connected to al-Qaida and that many have claimed is financed in part by the international drug trade and prostitution rings, recently attended a John Kerry fund-raiser, where he wrote a check and later boasted about his getting "paid back" in future favors from the presidential candidate.

According to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, Brooklyn-based Florin Krasniqi, a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army, is featured in the recently released Dutch documentary "De Brooklyn Connectie" attending a Kerry fund-raiser with several KLA members, where he writes a check, and then makes clear he expects a quid-pro-quo for his donation.

"With money you can do amazing things in this country. Senators and congressmen are looking for donations. If you fund them and raise the money they need for their campaign they pay you back," Krasniqi says in the documentary.

The video later shows Krasniqi, a known KLA member and fund-raiser, purchasing weapons from an American gun store. He reminds viewers that in the past, such weapons have been smuggled into Kosovo, disguised as humanitarian aid.

Toward the end of the documentary, Krasniqi warns that "just in case NATO pulls out, or we don't get our independence peacefully, then we'll use those weapons."

Many have called the KLA, also known as the UCK, a terror organization, charging it led a violent campaign against civilian Kosovo Serbs, and linking it to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida and Iran. As recently as 1998, the U.S. State Department recognized the KLA as a terrorist group.

Jihadists are busy electioneering for John Kerry in Iraq. I hope they don't try something like the Madrid 3/11 attack in the U.S. -- and I suspect that they know that it would probably backfire here. From the Washington Times, with thanks to JJP Mackie:

BAGHDAD -- Leaders and supporters of the anti-U.S. insurgency say their attacks in recent weeks have a clear objective: The greater the violence, the greater the chances that President Bush will be defeated on Tuesday and the Americans will go home.

"If the U.S. Army suffered numerous humiliating losses, [Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John] Kerry would emerge as the superman of the American people," said Mohammad Amin Bashar, a leader of the Muslim Scholars Association, a hard-line clerical group that vocally supports the resistance.

Resistance leader Abu Jalal boasted that the mounting violence had already hurt Mr. Bush's chances.

"American elections and Iraq are linked tightly together," he told a Fallujah-based Iraqi reporter. "We've got to work to change the election, and we've done so. With our strikes, we've dragged Bush into the mud."

My latest reply to Stephen Schwartz is up today at FrontPage along with an extended essay from Mustafa Akyol on the same topic: the reformation of Islam.

Akyol here argues that the Hadith and Sira should be jettisoned, leaving only the Qur'an. He seems to be suggesting that virtually all the features of Islam that are not in accord with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights come from those secondary sources, not from the Qur'an itself. I don't agree that an Islam that follows only the Qur'an would emerge as tolerant and peaceful, and perhaps even more importantly, I doubt it will be possible for an Islamic movement rejecting Hadith and Sira to emerge. Here are Akyol's main points, with comments from me:

· According to the secondary sources, apostates from Islam must be killed. There is no basis for this in the Koran and in fact several verses which emphasize religious freedom, such as "let him who please believe, and let him who please disbelieve" (18:29) render such killings impossible.

"Let him who please disbelieve" does not actually apply to apostates at all. The Qur'an directly addresses apostasy in Sura 4:89: "They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): but take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (from what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks..." The verse is clear: those who "turn renegades" and "reject Faith" are to be killed by the believers.

On these points, however, Akyol is largely correct:

· Secondary sources ban all fine arts, especially painting and sculpture. There is no such commandment in the Koran, and instead, the statues that Prophet (King) Solomon had built for himself are praised. (34:13)

True. This comes from Muhammad's statements, including this one: "Whoever makes a picture will be punished by Allah till he puts life in it, and he will never be able to put life in it" (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 34, Number 428).

· Secondary sources define a very strict dress code for women and this is generally applied to all women under Muslim rule. The Koran orders a dress code only for Muslim women and it is open to interpretation. No verse explicitly orders the headscarf -- let alone the all-covering burka.[ii]

Largely true. The Qur'an says that women "should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty" (Sura 24:31). Muhammad is more explicit: "'When a woman reaches the age of menstruation, it does not suit her that she displays her parts of body except this and this,' and he pointed to her face and hands" (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 32, Number 4092).

· Secondary sources favor the seclusion of women from men. There is no basis for such segregation in the Koran. Instead, Koran tells about civilized dialogues between prophets and women. (28:25, 27:44)

This is a bit disingenuous. The fact that men and women talked to one another on some occasions doesn't mean that women were not generally secluded from men. Even today in Sharia states such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, women may speak to men -- when they are addressed first.

· Secondary sources try to punish every sin and supposedly immoral behavior. There are, for example, punishments for drinking alcohol or refraining from prayer. These, again, have no basis in the Koran, whose penal code is focused mostly on crime, not sin or immorality. The stoning of adulterers, a brutal command of the secondary sources, is also totally unsubstantiated on a Koranic basis.

It's interesting to note here that the Hadith notes the absence of the stoning penalty from the Qur'an, but insists that it originally was there and denounces those who will attempt to make anything out of its absence:

'Abdullah b. 'Abbas reported that 'Umar b. Khattab sat on the pulpit of Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and said: Verily Allah sent Muhammad (may peace be upon him) with truth and He sent down the Book upon him, and the verse of stoning was included in what was sent down to him. We recited it, retained it in our memory and understood it. Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) awarded the punishment of stoning to death (to the married adulterer and adulteress) and, after him, we also awarded the punishment of stoning, I am afraid that with the lapse of time, the people (may forget it) and may say: We do not find the punishment of stoning in the Book of Allah, and thus go astray by abandoning this duty prescribed by Allah. Stoning is a duty laid down in Allah's Book for married men and women who commit adultery when proof is established, or it there is pregnancy, or a confession. (Sahih Muslim, Book 017, Number 4194)

But in any case, Akyol is correct about at least some of these points: they are based on Hadith, not Qur'an. But can it be done? Can Muslims reject Hadith and Sira? Imagine for a moment that Akyol becomes the leader of a large movement of Muslims who reject Hadith and base their faith on the Qur'an alone. What will they make of verses like these?

Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any one whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praise of Allah. (Sura 33:21)

O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if ye do believe in Allah and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination. (Sura 4:59)

But no, by the Lord, they can have no (real) Faith, until they make thee [Muhammad] judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against Thy decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction. (Sura 4:65)

The answer of the Believers, when summoned to Allah and His Messenger, in order that He may judge between them, is no other than this: they say, "We hear and we obey": it is such as these that will attain felicity. (Sura 24:51)

So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you. And fear Allah; for Allah is strict in Punishment. (Sura 59:7)

It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path. (Sura 33:36)

I have quoted so many of these (although there are many more) to illustrate that it is a repeated emphasis of the Qur'an that a Muslim must obey Muhammad. How can a twenty-first century Muslim obey Muhammad? Why, by obeying his commands as transmitted in the Hadith and Sira.

So we are back to square one: Akyol says Muslims should obey only the Qur'an, but the Qur'an leads Muslims out to the Hadith and Sira. As I am deeply interested in seeing a genuine movement for tolerance and peace arise within Islam, I will be interested to see what Mr. Akyol makes of this.

Finally, one related but tangential point. Akyol also says:

Prof. Khaleel Mohammed, Assistant Professor at the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University notes, "[while] the Koran viewed Judaism as the chief monotheistic religion . . . It was the Hadith, the revisionist interpretation of the Koran from the medieval period, that demonized the Jews and Judaism."

I don't know what Qur'an Khaleel Mohammed is reading. Here are some quotes about Jews from the one Muslims read:

And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: "Be ye apes, despised and rejected." (Sura 2:65)

Of the Jews there are those who displace words from their (right) places, and say: "We hear and we disobey"; and "Hear what is not Heard"; and "Ra'ina"; with a twist of their tongues and a slander to Faith. If only they had said: "What hear and we obey"; and "Do hear"; and "Do look at us"; it would have been better for them, and more proper; but Allah hath cursed them for their Unbelief; and but few of them will believe. (Sura 4:46)

O Messenger! let not those grieve thee, who race each other into unbelief: (whether it be) among those who say "We believe" with their lips but whose hearts have no faith; or it be among the Jews,- men who will listen to any lie,- will listen even to others who have never so much as come to thee. They change the words from their (right) times and places: they say, "If ye are given this, take it, but if not, beware!" If any one's trial is intended by Allah, thou hast no authority in the least for him against Allah. For such - it is not Allah's will to purify their hearts. For them there is disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter a heavy punishment. (Sura 5:41)

O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust. (Sura 5:51)

The Jews say: "Allah's hand is tied up." Be their hands tied up and be they accursed for the (blasphemy) they utter. Nay, both His hands are widely outstretched: He giveth and spendeth (of His bounty) as He pleaseth. But the revelation that cometh to thee from Allah increaseth in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy. Amongst them we have placed enmity and hatred till the Day of Judgment. Every time they kindle the fire of war, Allah doth extinguish it; but they (ever) strive to do mischief on earth. And Allah loveth not those who do mischief. (Sura 5:64)

Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans... (Sura 5:82)

The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth! (Sura 9:30)

To the Jews We prohibited such things as We have mentioned to thee before: We did them no wrong, but they were used to doing wrong to themselves. (Sura 16:118)

Let's see. They're liars, idolaters, blasphemers, corrupters of the Scriptures, etc. etc. But the Qur'an doesn't demonize Jews? Khaleel, do you have a suspension bridge to sell me too?

The Free Congress Foundation's News on Demand service has a two-minute statement by Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer on the most important issue facing American voters in the election of 2004. Listen to an mp3 or Real Audio here.

More questions of jihadists in the press corps. From News.com.au:

Senior officials described as authentic the claim of responsibility early yesterday by Zarqawi's al-Qaeda Group of Jihad for Monday's car bomb attack, which killed three Iraqi civilians and injured 16 others, including three Australian soldiers.

Defence Minister Robert Hill yesterday played down suggestions the attack was specifically aimed at Australian troops, but warned further attacks could occur as insurgents tried to sabotage elections scheduled for January.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia was investigating whether some media in Iraq had prior knowledge of the attack that enabled them to turn up at the scene within minutes of the bombing just outside the capital's fortified Green Zone.

The talking mujahid

The full article at PMW shows a picture from a second-grade Palestinian textbook, depicting Israeli soldiers destroying trees. In that context it is quite clear who the "little boy" is. From Palestinian Media Watch, with thanks to Thor:

Talking animals are commonplace on broadcasting for young children around the world. They are used to entertain and educate in a way that makes it easy for children to internalize educational messages. A children's program this week on official Palestinian Authority (PA) TV was dedicated to the importance of trees. "Tarabisho" - the Talking Chick -- was, as usual, at the center of the discussion. The child moderator asked the talking chick what he would do if someone, specifically a "little boy," were to chop down his tree. In his squeaky little voice, Tarabisho answered that he would shoot the little boy with an AK-47 automatic rifle, create a massacre, make a riot, etc. It should be noted that the child moderator twice checks her notes while asking the questions, indicating that this was not a spontaneous discussion but was a deliberate educational message, planned by the writers and producers. Click here to see the footage from PA TV. [...]The following is the full text of the dialogue between the child moderator and Tarabisho, the Talking Chick: Girl: "If a boy comes in front of your house where a tree is planted, and cuts it down, what would you do?"

Talking Chick: "I have two trees in front of my house."

Girl: "If a little boy cuts them down, what will you do to him?"

Talking Chick: "What I'll do to him?
I'll fight him and make a big riot,
I'll call the whole world and make a riot.
I'll bring AK-47s [assault rifles] and the whole world,
I'll commit a massacre in front of the house".

The peerless historian Bat Ye'or replies to Muslim apologist Mustafa Akyol at FrontPage today. Akyol and I, of course, have carried on a dialogue here and at FrontPage. Score now: jihadists 5, Akyol 0.

From Bat Ye'or:

The hope inspired by Mr. Mustafa Akyol's long article in Front Page Magazine is tempered by his deception. Mr. Akyol speaks of the necessity to re-interpret the fundamental teachings and scriptures of Islam, particularly the hadith and sira (the biography of the Prophet). Finally we see here a potential Muslim effort to continue and improve the critical exegesis initiated by the great Orientalists of the 19th century, particularly Ignaz Goldziher, whose work has since become anathema to the Muslim intelligentsia. However, Mr Akyol does not explain on what authority a selection of hadith and events of the sira will be made, since, he himself, in the course of his argumentation, simply uses them to prove the justice of Islam.

Disputing the veracity of the claim in the sacralized biography of Muhammad regarding the massacre of the Qurayza Jews is most welcome since it negates the Muslim command to kill Jews in order to emulate the Prophet. This assertion must be fully encouraged, because the treatment of the Jews by the Prophet has became the standard by which the classical Muslim jurists formulated their policy toward non-Muslims, as embodied in the Shari'a and in the jihad's rules. Hence, when non-Muslims (primarily Hindus and Christians) were killed in Bali, Amrozi, the Indonesian terrorist, invoked the fate of the Jews in the oasis of Khaybar, perhaps confusing them with the mass slaughter of their co-religionists, the Qurayza. Although many of the Jews of Khaybar were killed in an unprovoked jihad campaign by Muhammad, those vanquished Khaybar Jews who surrendered were not killed, but were dispossessed and became exploited dhimmi tributaries, until, within a decade later, they were expelled by the "Rightly Guided" Caliph Umar.

In fact, there is no way for us, in the 21st century, to know what really happened in a small Arabian oasis in the seventh century given the lack of contemporary evidence. But Mr. Akyol again contradicts himself by implying that the Qurayza's punishment was justified, because they acted treacherously while of course there are no objective proofs for such accusations, which rest merely on the demonization of the victims. Moreover the problem does not concern only the Qurayza Jews but the Jews and Christians throughout the Hedjaz, who were, soon afterward dispossessed, and within a decade of Muhammad's death, expelled, according to his professed (i.e., again, in the sira) deathbed wishes.

As Mr. Akyol stated rightly, this was not exceptional at that time. The problem now is that such acts have been attributed to the Prophet Muhammad who is the model to be emulated by all Muslims. Hence, while even worse wars might have been perpetrated in the world by rulers long since forgotten, the acts and sayings of Muhammad concerning non-Muslims are still binding for over a billion Muslims today. To decry...analyses, based on 13 centuries of Islamic teaching and writing, and accepted today in all Muslim countries, is almost surrealistic.

It is true that now we see an effort by Muslim theologians to contextualize the actions and words attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, and thereby introduce an element of relativity between the seventh century, and the present. But this timid and belated tendency has not the slightest influence on the current jihadist war of terror against the West overwhelmingly approved in the Muslim countries.

Mr Akyol's explanation of jihad itself is particularly disingenuous. In a democracy "a final jihad on western secular materialism" is shocking. This is especially concerning given that the word "faith" can be understood in its Muslim sense which states that the only true faith is Islam. (Qur'an 3:17).

What exactly is "western secular materialism"? Will that be replaced by a Shari'a morality? Much of Mr. Akyol's reasoning seems inspired by the International Institute of Islamic Thought set up in 1983 in the U.S.A. to teach the Islamization of Knowledge. This program, financed by Saudi Arabia, was developed under the guidance of, among others, Ismail Raji al-Faruqi, a Palestinian Professor who taught at Temple University. A document from the Islamization of Knowledge program summarized its objectives:

"The new reform effort should present a systematic and methodological approach to rebuild Islamic knowledge on the same firm foundation that supported Islamic Civilization in its first cycle. The Muslims, being an Ummah (nation) of a Divine message, can only rise to civilization dominance if they carry the message in its original clarity, purity, and relevance."1

The program to reform Islamic religious thinking thus aims at reinforcing traditional teaching through modern reasoning. Thus, one is imprisoned within a circular argumentation which goes back to its Islamic starting point. While I understand the difficulties of reforming a religion, a process that takes centuries, and does not relate to Islam alone, I deplore the violent animosity displayed against those writers and researchers in the West who denounce, very courageously, the brazen acts of terrorism perpetrated throughout the world, primarily against non-Muslims, by Muslims invoking the very texts that Ibn Warraq..., Spencer, and so many others have analyzed, and brought to public attention.

Mr. Akyol denies their self-evident interpretations, and that is his right, but he should try to convince - not a Western audience - but over a billion Muslims who curiously share the views of the Muslim texts and authorities quoted by the courageous authors mentioned above. Mr. Akyol prefers to try and persuade Westerners of the perfection of Islam, simply denying that the horrors that occurred in Muslim history...either didn't happen, or were not done by Muslims. This sort of twisted logic is little removed from the warped thinking which justified the bizarre accusations that the CIA, Americans, or Zionists must have perpetrated 9/11 because Muslims could not commit such horrors. Many books elaborating this preposterous thesis were disseminated in Europe, and in the Muslim world.

It would be meaningless to answer all of Mr. Akyol's affirmations, accusations and denials, including the genocide of the Armenians. His total rejection of the history of dhimmitude, despite copious documentation by both Muslim and non-Muslim sources, and its replacement by a glorification of a just and peaceful Islamic rule over tens of millions of subjected, non-Muslim peoples, precludes any understanding between those who call a jihad a genocidal war, and those who call it a liberation (even having the temerity to deny the jihad genocide of the Armenians). Mr. Akyol invokes testimonies which are contradicted, multiple times over, by others he chose to ignore.

A mass of documents from a vast array of sources describe throughout the centuries and even till today, the trials of populations - Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists, Animists - vanquished by the Muslim armies. The affirmations of modern scholars that he quotes, just confirm the political rewriting of history but do not suppress, by overlooking them, the veracity of the facts.... Mr. Akyol's affirmation that it was not Muslims who perpetrated the acts described is merely his personal opinion based on his current appreciation of Islam. Finally, while Mr. Akyol's efforts to modernize religious beliefs are praiseworthy, they should be directed exclusively at convincing his coreligionists, not attempting to persuade the non-Muslim victims of Muslim aggression that their ordeal did not happen or was an idyllic era for which they should be grateful. Spare us another "Golden Age".

Notes

[1] Amber Haque ed., Muslims and Islamization in North America: Problems & Prospects, Amana Publications, Maryland, 1999, p.19.

And from Akyol:

It appears that...Ms. Ye'or...believe[s] that terrorists such as al-Qaeda spring from and represent the supposedly inherent violence of Islam. I argue, on the other hand, that the current "Islamic terrorism" we face stems from a distortion of the true Islamic faith.

In order to defend my case, let me shortly answer the questions, counter the criticisms and unveil the misjudgments of Ms. Ye'or.

The first issue is about the traditional, post-Koranic Islamic sources. Ms. Ye'or welcomes my critical approach to the hadith and sira traditions but criticizes me for failing to "explain on what authority a selection of hadith and events of the sira will be made." (Hadiths are sayings attributed to Prophet Muhammad and sira are his biographies.) I feel free to question these traditional sources, because they are very late constructs. The earliest sira was written about 150 years after the Prophet. Hadiths were compiled even later. And it is already known that these sources include many fake, irrational stories. I just argue that the inauthenticity is wider than commonly acknowledged.

But how will we judge these sources, as Ms. Ye'or rightly asks. Robert Spencer raised the same question, too. My answer is the Koran. The Koran must be the sole infallible Islamic criterion and hadiths should be compared with its verses and the overall message. There are some modern scholars who reach this conclusion. Professor Hayri Kirbasoglu, a theologian in Ankara University and an expert on hadiths, argues that a new method is necessary to evaluate the hadith collection and compatibility with the Koran -- a criterion much neglected before - should be its basis. The same holds for sira as well.

With this reasoning, I see the sira and hadith accounts about the massacre of the men of Bani Qurazya as incompatible with the Koran. Thus I reject it.

An interesting argument. But can a peaceful, tolerant Islam be constructed from the Qur'an, without serious reexamination of that book also? I doubt it. In any case, read the whole exchange; there is more from Akyol and a final reply from Bat Ye'or.

Canadian Muslim leaders backpedal furiously, but not convincingly. From CBC News; link and headline courtesy Kemaste:

VANCOUVER - Two high-profile Muslim leaders in Canada have been forced to issue clarifications for anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli comments.

In East Vancouver, the head of the Dar al-Madinah Islamic Society came under attack for calling Jews "brothers of monkeys and swine" during a recorded lecture following Israel's killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, last spring.

Now Sheik Younus Kathrada says the comments were taken out of context.

As Ibn Warraq has noted, the "out of context" defense is the last refuge of dishonest politicians everywhere. Kathrada has to hope that his Western audience now will be ignorant of Qur'an 2:62-65, 5:59-60, and 7:166, all of which call Jews apes and pigs.

In a statement posted on the society's website, Kathrada said his comments were aimed at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not all Jews.

"Any name-calling has been aimed at those perpetrating crimes and acts of terrorism and showing open aggression towards Muslims," reads Kathrada's statement.

"We do not perceive the entire Jewish population as having these traits or qualities. It is not our belief that Jews are sub-human."

The Canadian Jewish Congress has filed a formal complaint with the hate crimes unit. The RCMP is investigating.

Kathrada came under the scrutiny after media learned a young Vancouver man killed in Chechnya had frequently attended the Dar al-Madinah mosque. Family and friends of Rudwan Khalil Abubaker said he had no interest in Muslim extremism and was headed for Azerbaijan to attend a friend's wedding.

These sorts of explanations would be more convincing if they weren't advanced in every single instance. Yes, Cat Stevens gave money to Palestinians, but he didn't know it was going to Hamas; he meant it to be for building schools and hospitals. Yes, Sami Al-Arian raised money for Islamic Jihad, but he was shocked, shocked, to find out that the group engaged in terrorist acts. Yes, Abdurahman Khadr trained with Al-Qaeda, but that was "just the normal thing to do in Afghanistan." These poor fellows are so woefully uninformed -- they should have been reading Jihad Watch.

Meanwhile, the president of the influential Canadian Islamic Congress, Mohamed Elmasry, also came under attack after a television interview last week, in which he said any Israeli over age 18 was a legitimate target for suicide bombers because adult Israelis were required to do military service.

"They are part of the Israeli army, even if they have civilian clothes," Elmasry argued on the Ontario current affairs show The Michael Coren Show....

"I sincerely regret that my comments were misunderstood and, as a result, caused offence," Elmasry was quoted in a web posting over the weekend.

"Dr. Elmasry, did not, does not, and will not condone the widely held Palestinian view that any form of armed resistance against civilians that includes suicide bombing constitutes a legitimate military operation against the Israeli occupation, and not a terrorist activity," said the posting.

Well, then, why did he say it? Are we simply to believe now that black is white on his word?

The EU is becoming so entrenched in dhimmitude that I wonder if it will be possible for it to extricate itself. From the Jewish Telegraph Agency (scroll down about halfway), with thanks to Kemaste:

The European Union is reportedly launching a new Middle East peace initiative. Following a meeting with Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath in Brussels on Friday, the E.U.'s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said "important events are going to take place in the coming weeks." For his part, Sha'ath told the Palestinian daily Al-Quds on Saturday that five E.U. foreign ministers would shortly be coming to Ramallah to end the siege of P.A. President Yasser Arafat, who has long been holed up in his Ramallah compound. The initiative is reportedly the brainchild of Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, a former E.U. envoy to the Middle East.

Now where did this "disgruntled Palestinian" get the idea that he should kill as many Israeli tourists as possible? Could it be that he has learned such attitudes since he was a child?

I don't know if the statement that he is not tied to Al-Qaeda is meant to be reassuring. In fact, all it does is emphasize how widespread the principles of violent jihad are among Muslims everywhere -- and not just those who belong to terrorist organizations. From the New York Times, with thanks to Teri:

CAIRO, Oct. 25 - A disgruntled Palestinian who worked as a driver and was bent on killing as many Israeli tourists as possible organized the bombings of three resort areas along the eastern Sinai coast that left 34 people dead this month, the Egyptian government said Monday.

The Interior Ministry announced that of the nine men involved in the Oct. 7 attack, two of them, including the ringleader, died unintentionally in one attack, the huge explosion at the Taba Hilton. It said two bombers remained at large, and five suspects with lesser roles were arrested....

Mr. Saleh did not appear to be connected to any specific Palestinian faction, or to Al Qaeda, said the investigator. Egyptian investigators have favored the theory that the attacks were linked to the violence against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

This AP story was kindly forwarded to me by Internet Haganah; I can't find it anywhere on the web at this moment. It's a bit of good news in the ongoing persecution of the Catholic school in Tangerang -- which is part of the ongoing jihad against Christians in Indonesia.

Indonesian officials on Monday knocked down a brick wall erected by a hardline Islamic group to block access to a Catholic school it accused of converting local Muslims, police and school officials said.

The Sang Timur Catholic school to the west of Jakarta was closed in early October when the Muslim group built the two-meter-high (seven-foot-high) wall in front of its gates.

Local government workers demolished the wall hours before former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is a well-known interfaith activist, arrived to discuss the issue with local people.

"The former president said we need to be tolerant of each other," said Derikson Turnip, a priest at the school. "We should not resort to violence because of our differences."

I profile Dyab Abou Jahjah in Onward Muslim Soldiers. He is a virulent opponent of assimilation, which he calls "cultural rape," and strongly exhorts European Muslims to retain all their traditions -- i.e., to bring Sharia to Europe. From Expatica, with thanks to Susan:

AMSTERDAM — The leader of the Dutch-Belgian Arab European League (AEL) has come out in support of killing Dutch troops serving in Iraq.

"I consider every death of an American, British or Dutch soldier as a victory," Dyab Abou Jahjah said in an interview with Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws on Monday....

Yet despite his open support for the jihad in Iraq, Abou Jahjah is not above a bit of taqiyyah. Blithely ignoring Qur'an 47:4, he says:

Despite his praise for the deaths of coalition troops, Abou Jahjah said he was opposed to the beheadings of hostages in Iraq. "Beheading is ethically and religiously wrong. Muslims don't even butcher a sheep in this way," he said.

From the BBC, with thanks to Susan:

Thailand's three southernmost regions are emerging from a curfew that was imposed after violent clashes left six people dead. Police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse at least 1,500 protesters gathered in Narathiwat province.

The incident was one of the most serious to have taken place in Thailand's troubled south in months.

The men had gathered at a police station to protest against the detention of six Muslim men....

Despite the curfew, that was due to end at 0600 local time (2300GMT), Reuters new agency reports that during the night, protesters set fire to a school building and burned tyres on major roads.

During the earlier clashes, Thai television showed footage of soldiers in riot gear firing M-16 automatic rifles.

Police said the protesters also used weapons, and one witness told Reuters that pistol shots came from the crowd.

At least 30 people, including 14 police officers, were wounded in the fracas, which lasted several hours.

Here is another non-Muslim who will join the Ramadan fast. In this case, he seems to be pandering for votes. From the St. Albans Observer, with thanks to Internet Haganah:

A LOCAL Green Party activist is joining Muslims in St Albans and Harpenden in fasting for the traditional holy month of Ramadan.

Marc Scheimann, who will stand as a Green Party candidate for Harpenden in the 2005 county council elections, started his fasting on October 15. It means he cannot eat or drink during daylight hours until November 13.

Mr Scheimann, a Harpenden resident, said recent world events had prompted him to try to understand more about the local Muslim community and their religion. He said: "I think that at the moment the Muslim community is feeling very much alone and feeling the pressure of the recent acts of terrorism that have taken place. They feel a lot of attention has been been targeted at their community so I wanted to put out a hand of friendship."

One would think from this statement that Muslims had been the victims, not the perpetrators, of "recent acts of terrorism."

Note that non-Muslim women are included. From AsiaNews, with thanks to Nicolei:

Mosul (AsiaNews) – Violence against women and Christians and threats of forced islamisation are growing in Mosul. At the beginning of Ramadan, a flyer started appearing at Mosul University promising “death to all Iraqi women who did not cover their heads”. It was signed by a shadowy group calling itself the Mujahideen Parliament representing six armed groups: ‘Monotheism and martyrs’, the ‘Army of Sunnah members’, ‘Mujahideen Squads’, the ‘Islamic army’, the ‘Secret Islamic army’ and the ‘Sunnah members group’. It warned women against wearing make-up and Western-style clothes. “We will follow transgressors to their homes,” it said, “and shall not hesitate from striking you”.

A few days ago, two young women were attacked for not wearing a head cover in a Mosul market. A syringe containing nitric acid—a corrosive liquid inorganic acid— was sprayed onto their faces.

A process of islamisation of cultural and social mores similar to that imposed by the Talebans in Afghanistan or Khomeiny’s pasdarans in Iran is underway and its main targets are university students. Young Christian female students are especially singled out. In another flyer signed by a group calling itself the “phalanxes to settle scores with collaborators and spies”, Christians are accused of spreading “corruption and shamelessness in the streets”. They will “suffer violence and persecution in their homes and their churches” if they do not stop “cooperating with the infidel invader”.

A cry for help from the embattled Christians of Iraq. From the Assist News Service, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (ANS) -- The bombing of five more churches in Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, October 16, has prompted an Assyrian Christian leader to ask for more protection for his people – before they leave in even larger numbers.

The Rev. Ken Joseph Jr., director of the Assyrian Christian Assistance Center in Baghdad, said, “We demand immediate action on this and call upon all freedom loving peoples worldwide to demand their governments immediately provide all assistance so these urgent needs can be implemented before it is too late and the indigenous people of Iraq the Assyrian Christians are forced to leave.

Five Christian Churches were bombed in the 4AM Sunday morning attack. They were: The Mar Yussef (St. Joseph), Mar Toma (St. Thomas) Mar Yacob (St. Jacob), Mar Gewargis (St. George) and Mar Roum (St. Roum) and each of the churches, which were attended by many Assyrian Christians, sustained damage.

According to a message sent to the ASSIST News Service (ANS) by Joseph, this second major attack this year, following a previous attack on seven Assyrian Churches in August, “is sending shockwaves throughout the Assyrian Christian Community worldwide.”

Assyrian Christian leaders have just completed a series of meetings with the State Department in Washington and Congressional leaders and two separate meetings with the Iraqi Government, World Bank and UN demanding the “Five R’s” for the Assyrian Christian Community in Iraq.

They include:
-Reconstruction of 292 destroyed Assyrian Christian Villages
-Resettlement of nearly 100,000 Assyrian Christians driven out of their land by Saddam Hussein
-Registration for voting purposes of the community
-A Regional Security system
-A Regional Administrative Region under article 53 of the Constitution

A spokesman said, “What has encouraged the community in the series of meetings has been support from all parties including the Iraqi Government, US Government and others for an Autonomous area as guaranteed in the Constitution for the Assyrian Christians.”

Maybe this was not a terrorist act, as Akyurek insists. But the sentiments of the mujahedin are not confined only to those who belong to organizations. From News.com.au, with thanks to the Constantinoplitian Irredentist:

SIX people were injured today when a bomb exploded at the entrance to a McDonald's fast food restaurant in the northeastern Turkish city of Trabzon, the Anatolia news agency reported, but police suggested it was not a terrorist act.

"We do not think that this action is linked to a (terrorist) organisation," said Ramazan Akyurek, chief of security in the city, the largest in the region, according to the agency.

"What is more, so far no person and no organisation has said it was responsible."

From AP, with thanks to Kemaste:

The bodies of about 50 unarmed Iraqi soldiers -- many killed execution style with gunshots to the back of the head -- were found on a remote road in eastern Iraq, victims of an ambush as they were heading home on leave after basic training, Iraqi authorities said Sunday.

The nature of the attack suggested an increased boldness and organization by insurgents, who, until now, have mainly used roadside bombs and suicide car bombs in their attacks on the Iraqi military and police.

Interior Ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul-Rahman said the victims were believed to have been killed about sundown Saturday on a road about 95 miles east of Baghdad near the Iranian border.

Police offered varying accounts of the incident, with one source saying all the victims were shot in the back of the head. Some of the victims had their hands crossed behind their heads, said Lt. Ali Jawad Kadhim from the nearby Mandali police station.

Photos from the site showed the outstretched bodies laid out in formation, some charred, others bloodied. Many had their arms at their sides.

The jihad is global: the mujahedin traveled to Afghanistan, and then to Bosnia, and now to Chechnya and Iraq. And, evidently, South Korea. From the Korea Times, with thanks to Twostellas:

The Dawatul Islamia of Korea, an anti-South Korean Islamic organization detected by the government in April, was confirmed to be a branch of an Islamic political party in Bangladesh.

Rep. Kim Jae-gyeong of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP), who revealed the presence of the group on Oct. 13, said yesterday the Dawatul Islamia of Korea was confirmed as the Korean branch of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, a party espousing Islamic fundamentalism....

On Oct. 13, Rep. Kim said that the immigration office deported five undocumented migrant workers from Bangladesh who were deported in April for establishing the Islamic group in South Korea.

Kim said one of those deported was a member of the Jamaat-e-Ismai. He was found to have sent 60 million won to the party after raising the money from his followers in South Korea.

The man set up the Islamic group in Anyang, where a mosque is located, since he became the imam of the mosque in August 2000.

This is the first time authorities have detected an anti-South Korean group of foreign residents here.

How is it that he became the imam? Didn't all the Muslims there recognize that he was teaching an extremist version of Islam that twisted Islam's peaceful teachings?

(Yes, that above paragraph is sarcastic.)

Dinesh D'Souza spoke at UNLV and stirred everyone up. From the Las Vegas Review Journal, with thanks to Twostellas:

True to form, D'Souza's lecture on Saturday, "Islam and the West: A Clash of Civilizations," generated some conflict, dividing the approximate 250 audience members between those who spoke out against D'Souza's view of Islam and his admirers who heckled them.

But in an interview Friday, D'Souza noted, "True conflict resolution ... is not based on a denial of difference. Sometimes conflict resolution requires conflict."

During the lecture, D'Souza, a Christian native of India, outlined Islamic criticisms of the United States and rebutted them, drawing on arguments from his recent book, "What's So Great About America?"

D'Souza also gave his definition of America's war against terrorism, calling it a battle against Islamic fundamentalism, not acts of terrorism.

While the religion is more than 1,400 years old, the concept of Islamic terrorism is less than 25 years old, he noted. D'Souza attributed that to a growing "species" of Muslims who are attempting to explain the decline of their civilization through theology.

Their objective, he said, is to turn the people back to Allah and away from separation of church and state.

This subset of Islam, which is pitted against moderate Muslims, is fighting an intellectual war against America's foreign policy, he said. Their argument is that the United States is interested only in serving its own interests and not the world's....

D'Souza also defended America's culture and morality. He said he did not consider veiled Muslim women virtuous because their society has forced them to cover themselves.

"By allowing the citizens ... to choose the right path, our actions take on a deeply moral luster," he said. "Compelled virtue is no virtue at all."

The center provided other panelists to counter D'Souza's views.

Mujahid Ramadan, founder and president of Ramadan Ballard & Associates, a diversity consulting firm, noted the great Islamic contributions to modern society and emphasized that suicide bombers and terrorists are not Muslims.

"To say they are Muslim terrorists, I say, would be erroneous," he said.

He likened such a label to describing members of the Irish Republican Army as Christian terrorists. "We would not label Christianity that way," he said.

This is, as any regular reader of Jihad Watch will know, a commonly used page from the playbook. It sounds convincing, but dissolves at a moment's thought: the IRA was made up of Christians, but they weren't fighting because of Christian principles, or justifying their actions with quotes from the Bible and other Christian texts. The contrast is sharp with Muslim terrorists who have avowed again and again that they are fighting jihads, and fill their communiques with quotes from the Qur'an and Hadith.

He and another panelist, Jean Sternlight, director of the conflict resolution center, advocated humanizing Muslims as a way to create peace.

"We have so much more in common than you would believe if you were dictated by this paradigm of clash of civilizations," Sternlight said, referring to the title of D'Souza's lecture.

Muslims don't need to be humanized: they are already human. The problem with stressing all that we have in common is that our opponents will not do so. It is a posture of surrender, not of dialogue, for the jihadists will brook no dialogue.

UPDATE: In my haste when I originally put this up, I didn't notice this statement: "While the religion is more than 1,400 years old, the concept of Islamic terrorism is less than 25 years old, he noted." This is, of course, sheer fantasy, and I am surprised if D'Souza really said that. It would show he is utterly ignorant of the derivation of modern Islamic terrorist groups (beginning with the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 -- hardly 25 years ago), as well as of the larger history of Islamic jihad.

From the New York Times, with thanks to Scaramouche, who comments: "Under the guise of integrating its growing Muslim population, the Spanish government is funding the spread of Islam in Spain."

In early October, the government created a foundation to help "minority religions" integrate into Spanish society. Seemingly modest, it is still a remarkable step for this nation once forged by religious wars against the Muslim rulers. Spain's Inquisition persecuted Muslims, Jews and Protestants alike to impose Catholic dominance.

The new foundation, with only $3.5 million to start, intends to finance projects for Jews and Protestants as well. But above all it intends to improve the government's relations with Muslims and to give them more of a voice in national issues.

"We have been asking for funds and it's only a small start, but it's positive," said Mansur Escudero of the Islamic Commission of Spain.

Since the Madrid bombings, the Spanish police have stepped up monitoring of terrorist suspects and they track Muslim clerics whom they fear could incite their followers to violence. But at the same time, many Spaniards say that it is indispensable to improve the dialogue with the moderate Muslim majority.

A leading voice for that position is Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who recently called for "an alliance of cultures" in the Western and Muslim world as a way to isolate those who advocate violence.

Since taking power in March, Spain's new Socialist government has set out to improve its links with Algeria, Tunisia and, above all, Morocco, with which relations soured under Spain's previous conservative administration.

As one of several initiatives, Spain recently announced that 2005 will be The Year of Morocco, while Morocco has declared 2006 to The Year of Spain. The culture ministers of the two countries said that events and themes would include theater, contemporary art exhibitions, translations of literature and restorations of artworks.

The new foundation, however, reflects Spain's quandary when dealing with any religious issue. Spanish officials have openly said they would like to reduce Spanish Muslims' dependence on foreign financing. A number of Spain's 400 Muslim prayer houses and mosques have received money from Libya, Morocco or Malaysia. Europe's largest mosque, located just outside Madrid, was built by Saudi Arabia.

Spain initially planned to subsidize mosques directly, but backed away from that idea. Officials said the government could not justify financing mosques when it is striving for a greater separation between church and state. The government hopes to tackle one of the country's most prickly issues, reducing both the state financing of the Roman Catholic clergy and, in turn, Catholic influence on politics.

Thanks to all who sent in this astounding report from The Guardian, which is so bizarre and devoid of evidence as to beggar belief that anyone would even attempt it. But such is the ignorance of the Western public today about both Islam and Shakespeare; check out the "echoes of Sufism" at the end of the piece and tell me if you think there is anything in those two brief phrases that could not have come from any of Shakespeare's myriad well-established Western influences. Everything that Lings says is Sufi today can be found in various Christian sects that actually were in England in Shakespeare's day -- most notably in Catholic and Anglican Christianity. From the Guardian:

The influence of William Shakespeare on western culture has made him arguably Britain's greatest export. Now it is being claimed that his work resembles the teachings of the Islamic Sufi sect.

The argument will be put forward next month at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. It comes as part of a week of events focusing on Islam to address concerns raised by the 'war on terror' and improve understanding of the links between Islam and British culture....

The respected academic Dr Martin Lings will put forward this thesis in his lecture on 23 November. 'Shakespeare would have delighted in Sufism,' said Lings, who is 96 and an adherent of Sufism. 'We can see he obviously knew a lot about some kind of equivalent sect or order.'

Lings argues that the guiding principles of Sufi thought are evident in Shakespeare's writing. The plays, he believes, depict a struggle between the dawning modernist world and the traditional, mystical value system. And, like the Sufis, the playwright is firmly on the side of tradition and spiritualism....

Lings believes that characters in some of the best known works exemplify the Sufi quest for purification, while others represent Shakespeare himself.

'I am going to say that it is wrong to say we know very little about Shakespeare because he is present in his plays to a remarkable degree,' said Lings, who was keeper of oriental manuscripts and printed books and in charge of Koranic manuscripts at the British Museum. He argues that the journey of Edgar, in King Lear , is like the Sufi's search for truth, in which the seeker is helped by angelic characters and impeded by diabolic agents.

While the magician-like figure of Prospero, orchestrating the action in The Tempest, and the manipulative Duke of Vienna in Measure for Measure are commonly seen as Shakespeare's alter egos, Lings traces the teachings of a spiritual order akin to Sufism in their words.

The famous line of Prospero's 'We are such stuff as dreams are made on' is a complete fit, he claims, adding that King Lear's words also eerily echo Sufi ideas when he tells his faithful daughter: 'Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, the gods themselves throw incense.' Lings makes the point that the Bard is 'quite at home' with 'Gods' in the plural.

The International Shakespeare Globe Fellowship Lecture will take place in the middle of the Islam Awareness Week on the 22-28 November and will be preceded by a lecture from Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, the founder of the Zaytuna Institute in California, who will look at Shakespeare's sonnets from a Sufi perspective.

Throughout the week the outside walls of the theatre on the banks of the Thames will be illuminated with scenes of Islamic culture.

On the final weekend a souk will take over the premises, with stalls selling eastern wares. The week will also form part of the 4th centenary celebrations of the first recorded performance of Othello , which will be marked by staged readings of four plays featuring Moors and Turks.

Echoes of Sufism

'Upon such sacrifices, my Cordelia, the gods themselves throw incense'
King Lear to his daughter, Act V, Scene III

'We are such stuff as dreams are made on'
Prospero in The Tempest, Act IV, Scene I

In Europe, it is extremely bad form to suggest that anyone in the fast-growing Muslim immigrant communities there harbors any attachment to violent jihad. To do so will get you immediate charges of "racism," as Brigitte Bardot, Oriana Fallaci, and others can testify. However, how long can they continue to ignore news like this? From AFP, with thanks to Jeff Lastname:

PARIS, Oct 22 (AFP) - Intelligence agents have identified the first French national known to have been killed fighting with the insurgency against US forces in Iraq, officials said Friday.

The 19-year-old, named as Redouane El Hakim, is believed to have travelled to Iraq via Syria at the start of the year and been killed in a US bombardment on Fallujah in July.

Officials close to the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hakim was one of several French citizens of Muslim background who have gone to Iraq to fight along insurgents there.

"It's difficult to estimate their number, but there mustn't be more than around 10 or so," one official said.

So far. After all, what is stopping them in France from recruiting and increasing their numbers?

From The San Diego Union Tribune:

Muslim business owners in southeastern San Diego are angry over the city's ordering the removal of 16 green-and-white Ramadan banners from lampposts this week.

For the past five years, the signs have been a fixture in the community during the monthlong holiday, a time of fasting and prayer. The banners feature a half moon, a star and the words "Ramadan Mubarak," which mean blessed Ramadan.

Yet, this week, a city code enforcement officer who received a complaint said the banners needed to be taken down because of their religious content.

Abdur-Rahim Hameed, president of the Black Contractors Association, said the removal of the Ramadan banners is "a very upsetting thing." He questions whether Christmas displays are also going to be outlawed by the city.

The code officer who inspected the banners found they didn't meet city code because of their religious subject matter. The officer's supervisor, code enforcement coordinator Melody Negrete, also noted that the Diamond Business Improvement District, which runs the neighborhood's banner program, had not obtained a permit to display them.

The city asked the district, which stores the banners and pays to have them put up and taken down every year, to immediately take down the banners. The district complied the following day, the district's executive director, Cordell Thomas, said.

The city of San Diego reimburses the district for putting up and removing the banners, Thomas said.

Negrete said the officer cited city code that says "banners shall be used for the purpose of promoting cultural or civic events or activities of general public interest." The officer also referred to a city special event flier, which says that "the banners cannot be political or religious in subject matter."

A chilling story from Dawn:

PESHAWAR, Oct 22: If he is telling the truth, 15-year-old Khalid still doesn't know how he ended up in a godforsaken place like Waziristan. And if what he says in true, the military which has the young Tajik in custody has the stuff of the real story behind the 'jihad' in the troubled tribal region.

Caught on Oct 1, while he was fleeing after a fellow Turkmen was gunned down by Shamankhel tribesmen in Sarwekai when a landmine killed four local students and left two others wounded, the young man from Urjinzabad in Tajikistan continues to baffle his interrogators.

"He is consistent," said a military investigator. "He has made a cover story and he sticks to it," he said. "If Khalid is lying, he is a damn good liar for his age," said another officer...

"I want to go back to my mother. I want to go home. Give me a man to take me to her. I don't want to fight in the jihad. Serving your mother also earns one God's blessings (Sawab)," was his answer when asked if he was freed to resume the 'jihad'...

According to Khalid's account of his rather dramatic ordeal, he was kidnapped along with four other boys by four masked men when they were on their way to school in Koibish, about a month before his capture in Waziristan.

They were all blindfolded and thrown into a van and driven all the way to Peshawar. The men, he said, were Tajik. This is where his story does not make any sense. He says he does not remember how long it took them to reach Peshawar and who were his kidnappers.

All that he does say is that Mujahideen in Tajikistan routinely kidnap children and release them after extorting ransom, steal people's belongings, including their livestock and deal in narcotics....

He said he had been sodomised, a fact also established by an army medical report. Khalid said that he spent a few days with a one-eyed man he knew by the name of Mohammad Hassan in Shakai....

The 15-year-old denied having planted the mine and said that he had merely accompanied them not knowing what they were doing. He was hit by a bullet in the hip and was caught by tribesmen while the Turkmen were killed.

He denies having anything to do with foreign militants, but admits having seen Arabs in Waziristan. For him Osama bin Laden is a Mujahid and he knew Qari Tahir Yaldash whose posters, he said, he had seen in Shakai.

The boy said he also knew Jummabai (Jumma Namangani), leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who was killed in a US bombing raid in northern Afghanistan during the beginning of the war.

He also knew Turanzadeh, another militant who, he said, used to come to his village in Tajikistan. For the 15-year-old, Tajik President Imam Ali Rakhmanov was a Kafir (infidel). He loved his new name Khalid, given to him by his abductors, because for him it was a Muslim name. "Maroof is a Kufr name," he insisted.

He said that he had learnt to offer his prayers in Shakai and saw 'true Islam being practised in the tribal region'. The only time that he probably betrayed his real self when a colleague photographer began taking his pictures. "Why are you taking so many pictures. I am not a commander?" he remarked. When a colleague journalist retorted by calling him "Commander Khalid". He smiled back and said "Insha Allah".

The content of what he said is nothing new; many Muslim leaders around the world have said it. But that it would be said in Canada may serve to awaken some people to the real dimensions of what we are dealing with. From the Toronto Star, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

The president of the Canadian Islamic Congress is under fire for saying all Israelis above the age of 18 are legitimate targets of attack.

Mohamed Elmasry made the comments Tuesday on the Michael Coren Live TV show and was criticized yesterday by the Canadian Jewish Congress.

When asked whether "anyone over the age of 18 in Israel is a valid target," Elmasry replied: "Anybody above 18 is part of the (Israeli) army."

The show's moderator followed with another question: "Anyone in Israel, irrespective of gender, over the age of 18 is a valid target?"

"Yes, I would say," Elmasry responded.

Canadian Jewish Congress president Ed Morgan said his organization was outraged by Elmasry's comments.

"The very notion that anybody endorses the killing of civilians is beyond what we as Canadians are used to hearing," he said.

"Anybody who makes a statement like that, to me, is not making an error. And if it is an error, then he should correct the record."

Elmasry said on the show that since all adult Israelis are part of their country's army, they are not bystanders in the conflict.

"But they are not innocent if they are part of the total population which is part of the army. ... From 18 on, they are soldiers, even if they have civilian clothes," Elmasry said.

The reaction was predictable from his coreligionists:

Tarek Fatah, a founding member of the Muslim Canadian Congress, said Elmasry's comments were a thinly veiled attack on Jews and hurt the Palestinian cause.

"Palestinians have a moral and legal obligation to fight the Israeli occupation but to believe all Israelis are targets is ... the height of hypocrisy," he said.

This is common in the West: one Muslim spokesman says something outrageous to Western ears and in line with terrorist thinking. Then other Muslim spokesmen say he's crazy, that no one believes that in the Islamic community, that he is an eccentric with wild views, etc. However: I will be most interested to see if Elmasry loses his position. I doubt he will.

From AsiaNews, with thanks to Kemaste:

In the past, Lebanon’s Grand Mufti, sheikh Mohammed Qabbani, had urged the Education Ministry “to require schools to set Friday aside as day of rest”. The request had hitherto been met with a chorus of criticism against what was perceived as interference by religious authorities in the internal affairs of the public school system.

Recently, Education Minister Bassem al-Jisr, a member of the outgoing Hariri cabinet, told schools to consult with the clergy in their respective neighbourhoods and act accordingly.

Until now such a decision was instead the purview of school-parent councils, free to choose either Friday or Saturday according to their school’s needs on condition that they inform the ministry.

Moreover, the directive remains vague for Mr Bassem al-Jisr did not specify how many clergymen ought to be consulted, to which denominations they should belong and how any difference of opinion should be settled.

The directive did however generate bitterness and anger among Christian teaching staff. Some of them told AsiaNews that the “decision to close on Saturday and Sunday stems from educational and administrative considerations, that is practical reasons, not religious ones”. They urged whoever will be the minister in the new government not to make the school calendar another religious battleground. If the government wants to make Friday a day of rest, let it adopt a law that is national in scope and applies to all grades, schools and institutions, both public and private, not to just to one section of the capital. Some also object that as things are now in various schools in predominantly Muslim neighbourhoods the hour set aside for Christian catechism is not respected....

The Qu‘ran itself does not say that Muslims must stop work or study on Friday. All that it does say is that believers meet in the mosque for communal prayer on that day.

There they go again: under Sharia law, dhimmis are forbidden to "display openly" alcoholic beverages. These mujahedin no doubt thought they were meting out just punishment: but this is a hint of what is in store for non-Muslims in the Sharia states that radical Muslims are striving to establish. From AP, with thanks to Nicolei:

Muslim militants in Indonesia's capital vandalized a café popular with expatriates because it was serving beer during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, police and one of the militants said today.

The Star Deli was closed when around 300 members of the Islamic Defenders Front arrived just before midnight Friday.

They smashed its windows, chairs and neon signs advertising beer, said Mary Gregory, the cafe's owner.

Alawi Usman, a spokesman for the group, admitted vandalizing the establishment.

"We are against immorality," he said. "We are doing this for the future of the country's youth."

No one was injured in the attack, which police did nothing to stop, Usman said. Police confirmed the raid occurred, but declined say why they did not try to prevent it.

From the Christian Post, with thanks to Nicolei:

Two women sentenced to death by a court in northern Nigeria are seeking to appeal the sentences, a human rights group said Friday. The women, sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly committing adultery, will see their appeals heard on Oct. 25 and Nov. 3 respectively.

Nigeria, a federation of somewhat autonomous states, has 36 states of which 12 predominantly Muslim states have declared Sharia law since 2000.

Under the controversial Islamic Shariah criminal codes, sex outside wedlock is considered adultery if one of the partners is or has ever been married. If neither partner was ever married, then sex outside wedlock is condemned as "fornication," a crime punishable by whipping.

The two recent sentences, passed down in Nigeria's Bauchi state in September and early October, are the first of their kind in over a year in the predominantly Muslim north.

In the most recent case, Hajara Ibrahim from Bauchi state, central eastern Nigeria, was sentenced Oct. 5, confessing to have had a physical relationship with a man by the name of Dauda Sani, whom she claims had promised to marry her.

Sani, however, denied the claim and since Ibrahim, 18, did not have four male witnesses to support her contentions, he was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

The idea that there must be four male witnesses goes back to the Qur'an -- to an incident in Muhammad's life when his favorite wife, Aisha, was accused of adultery. She was exonerated after Muhammad claimed that Allah had revealed to him the requirement for four witnesses. Because of its roots in Muhammad's example, the four witnesses requirement, as unfair as it is particularly to women like Ibrahim, is difficult, if not impossible, to overturn.

From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

A new video game for home computers is being developed in Syria which allows users to assume the role of Palestinians carrying out terrorist attacks on Israeli soldiers, including at least one suicide bombing.

Entitled "Under Siege", the game is slated for release by the end of the year by Damascus-based Afkar Media, according to a report in the Beirut Daily Star.

Users will be able to simulate various types of attacks on Israelis, ranging from a teenage Palestinian armed with a slingshot to a 25-year old toting a machine gun.

In addition, one scene is said to depict a Palestinian female suicide bomber in Jenin who hands her child over to relatives before detonating a hand grenade in a crowd of Israeli soldiers.

Nonetheless, the game's developers insist that it is intended to promote non-violence.

"This is not a game about killing. We are telling a story," said Radwan Kasmiya, Afkar Media's executive manager, adding, "It's not about desperation, it's about sacrificing your life to let others live," he said.

Promoting non-violence? Not a game about killing? You gotta hand it to Kasmiya: he is a master.

From KOTV, with thanks to Susan:

Several Tulsa citizens are speaking up about a teacher workshop on the Muslim world. The workshop is called "The Arab world and Islam".

Organizers say the goal is to give teachers information on the Muslim culture. But opponents of the class don't want any part of it....

Opponents of the workshop met at a church Tuesday night. They voiced their opposition to what they're calling the indoctrination of their children. A pastor, who's also a former Muslim, spoke to the group. He says he wants the class stopped before it even starts.

Workshop organizers say the class explains the concepts of Islam, and then discusses Arab issues, like politics, natural resources and culture.

Some people at the meeting don't want any of it taught to their kids. "They've made a big issue about making sure that Christianity and God is not talked about in school so I think it's only right that we stand up and defend our children against being taught things from another religion."

School officials say, of course, that they are only teaching about Islam, not teaching Islam. But that has already shown itself to be an exceedingly fine line.

An interview with the heroic ex-Muslim Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali. From The Herald, with thanks to Susan:

She's the feisty Somali who ran away from an arranged marriage, claimed asylum in Holland and took a degree in political science. She's the slight, beautiful Dutch MP who has publicly criticised Islam, on paper and on screen. She's the target of Muslim fundamentalists who shout abuse at her in the street and send death threats to her office, forcing her to have round-the-clock police protection.

But Ayaan Hirsi Ali won't be mythologised. In the airy but necessarily dull canteen of The Hague parliament building it's difficult to do that. The clutter of cutlery being sorted into tubs echoes around the room as she places her lunch tray on the table, on it sparkling water, chicken soup, a side salad, a slice of dark bread and a slice of cheese, and speaks softly between mouthfuls.

"I wasn't born to do this," says the 34-year-old, in a slightly bobbled black cardigan, shirt and trousers. "I got into it accidentally and the more I got into it the more I realised how important it was. I think it's important for some people to give it a meaning, you know, one woman fighting against Islam, you know, brave. That's not how it feels. It feels like really hard work."

By "hard work", she refers not to her 11-minute film Submission, which was broadcast on Dutch television and included images of a naked Muslim woman draped with an opaque veil, nor her newspaper columns which criticise Islam; she means dealing with the reaction from the Islamic community in Holland and beyond. Since Submission was broadcast, the threats have intensified rather than died down.
"I don't walk in the streets alone," she says. "Groups of Muslim boys shout out 'whore' and all kinds of sexist remarks and threaten to kill me and so on. They're young men, mostly unemployed, and I don't know how much you can take that seriously but it feels horrible.
"The written threats say 'we will kill you' and they all go to the police. I think most people who kill someone don't ring up first and say they're coming to do it. It's intimidation. They say because I have said I'm not Muslim any more - which I haven't said, I've said I don't believe in God and the hereafter - I have no right to criticise Islam. They don't want discussion."

That she tolerates this daily, while refusing to back down on what she lightheartedly calls her Islam Reformation Project (IRP), has earned her the title of "brave". Admittedly, this is generally among white Dutch people who admire her confidence but don't want to commit themselves on Islam or Dutch multicultural policy, yet it's not without warrant. Hirsi Ali would disagree.

"It started with simply stating some facts," she says. "For example, the position of women in Islam compared to western countries is far worse. That's a fact. You don't have to be brave to say that. In Islam, homosexuals are killed and disowned by their families and in some countries, Egypt for example, they are put in cages. Christians and Jews living in the Netherlands and other western countries are very tolerant towards each other, but Muslims accept only other Muslims and fundamentalists will not even talk to moderate Muslims. These are facts. You don't have to be brave to state these things or discuss them loudly."

Read it all. This is a woman who should be the toast of the Western world.

Will they teach that Ramadan is the "month of jihad" in Virginia public schools?

The following is from MEMRI, selections from the latest issue of Voice of Jihad, Al-Qaeda's online magazine. Note the abundant references to the Qur'an and the example of Muhammad:

Sa'ud Bin Hamoud Al-Utaybi, who is wanted by the Saudi authorities, wrote the following in the journal's opening editorial: "Muslims! Go out to [fight] Jihad for the sake of Allah! Paradise has already flung open its gates and the virgins of paradise are already decked out in anticipation of their grooms - this is Allah's promise. He [Allah] will not grant peace of mind to anyone who has a heart until he has gone out to fight against Allah's enemies, as he was commanded. He who does not act [i.e., fight the Jihad ] out of obedience to Allah's command, and out of zeal for the honor of the Muslim women which was defiled at Abu Ghreib and in the other prisons of the leaders of unbelief, and out of fervor, and out of mortification at [the thought of] shirking [battle] - what else could arouse him [to go to battle] other than all of these?......

" Jihad fighters everywhere! This month of Jihad has come with all its blessings and with the double reward [granted to Jihad fighters] in its course. Come closer to Allah through the blood of infidels, do not relent in spilling [their blood], and through [this blood] wipe out humiliation and disgrace from among your Muslim nation! Make this month like the month of the Battle of Badr, [2] the conquest of Mecca, [3] [the conquest] of Shaqhab, [4] and other Islamic victories.

"We ask Allah to turn this Ramadan into a month of glory, victory, and might, to hoist high in [this month] the banner of religion, to strengthen Islam and the Muslims, to humiliate polytheism and polytheists, to wave the banner of monotheism, to firmly plant the banner of Jihad, and to smite the perverts and the obstinate..."...

Another editorial was penned by Sheikh Aamer Bin Abdallah Al-Aamer, titled "Men of Jihad, This Is Your Festive Season:" "Men of Jihad, this is your festive season since Jihad, in a state of fasting, has a particularly delectable taste for the believers, especially [when together] with the dignity of the month of Ramadan. ....The most courageous and finest forays took place in Ramadan, for in the battle of salvation - the Battle of Badr - the heads of the bravest infidels from the tribe of Quraysh were sent flying, and Allah gave His Messenger and Prophet victory [with the help of] an army of His Hosts....

"In [the month of] Ramadan a great conquest was made, [both] of lands and of hearts - [I mean] the conquest of Mecca - in whose wake people adopted the religion of Allah, whether by choice or by coercion, and the [Arab] tribes adopted Islam ... and this is what the Glorious and Exalted One said: 'You will see the people adopting Allah's religion in droves.' [Koran 110:2]

"The Prophet Muhammad - in a prophetic tradition related on the authority of Abu Hurayra, [explaining] God's words, 'You are the best community ever raised for mankind' [ Koran 3:110] - said: 'That means you are the best people for mankind [because] you lead them, with chains on their necks, so that they accept Islam.' This tradition is related by Al-Bukhari. Ahmad [Ibn Hanbal] relates a tradition, with a proper line of transmitters, on the authority of Anas, that the Messenger of Allah said to someone: 'Embrace Islam!' The man answered: 'I find myself reluctant.' So [the Prophet] said: 'Even if you are reluctant.'

"Is there anything more enraging to the enemies of God than Jihad ? Look at their leader, the Devil, who during the Battle of Badr was encouraging the infidels, making them promises and raising their hopes. When he saw the angels [coming to the aid of the Muslim army] he fled and threw himself into the sea....

"The Devil, the enemy of Allah, tries hard to extinguish the light of Allah and his being viewed as One. To this purpose, he entices his allies, the infidels and the hypocrites, and urges them [to sin]. Nowadays, human devils do the same, as do the tyrants of the Arabian Peninsula, who encourage their slaves in the secret service, the police, and the people as well, and make them promises of money, gifts, and other material comforts. Allah said: 'He makes promises and stirs them, but all that the Devil promises them is a delusion.' [ Koran 4:120]...

"Oh, men of Jihad everywhere! There are two types of Jihad in Ramadan: The diurnal Jihad [expressed by] fasting and the nocturnal Jihad [expressed by] prayer. Perform the J ihad against your enemies with your [own two] hands, sacrifice your souls and your property in fighting your enemy, as an imitation of [the acts of] your Prophet [Muhammad] in the month of Ramadan [and in order to] enrage your enemies.

"Oh, men of Jihad, the victory of Allah's religion will be as [Allah] said: 'Fight them until there is no civil strife [ fitna ] in the country, and God's religion shall reign supreme.' [ Koran 8:39] For the country is full of civil strife and unbelief.

"Oh, men of Jihad, cleanse the country of unbelief and unbelievers by means of Jihad and war [and by means of] the sword and the spear. Do not be led astray by the power of the infidels because their strength, be it what it may, is under Allah's control and His agenda.

"Know that Allah grants you victory and supports you as He promised. Make use of this glorious month because it brings together great elements: fasting, nocturnal prayer, the reciting of the Quran and other good deeds. Therefore, trust in your Lord, fight your enemies, and cleanse the Arabian Peninsula of the unbelievers."

Many think that the Arab nationalism espoused by Saddam and the Baathists was and is essentially different from and opposed to Islamic radicalism. This is not in fact the case, as I have argued here several times, and as is illustrated by this important piece from Lee Smith at Slate (thanks to Ruth King):

Many analysts and journalists claim it was preposterous for the Bush administration to suggest that there could ever be any connection between an Arab nationalist and Islamic fundamentalist. After all, as one is secular and the other religious, they are natural enemies. A cobra would sooner consort with a mongoose than a stalwart jihadist like Bin Laden collaborate with a dyed-in-the-wool Baathist like Saddam.

This line of thinking, that Arab nationalism and Islamism are irreconcilable, is forcefully expressed in a recent Anatol Lieven article in The Nation. Among other things, the piece is a nasty attack on Paul Berman's Terror and Liberalism, which, writes Lieven, is "historically illiterate and strategically pernicious" for its "suggestion that secular radical Arab nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism are essentially similar phenomena." Let's see if they're not.

The earliest incarnations of both Arab nationalism and Islamism appeared in the mid-19th century, and both were reactions to the West's renewed presence in the Middle East. Western powers like France and England directly threatened the Ottoman Empire's control of the region, which concerned many Muslims who had no desire to be ruled by infidel outsiders. Still, they recognized how far Islam lagged behind its historical rival the West and called for a return to the faith's earliest principles, before the Ottomans had set Islam on its spiraling downward course. These were the salafis, Muslim reformers whose ideal Islam was that of the prophet and his companions and the righteous forefathers. These 19th- and 20th-century intellectuals inspired the Islamist movement.

At the same time, there were other activists and ideologues, Muslims and Christians, who wanted to secure their political independence from the Ottomans and used the Western powers to achieve it. These were the Arab nationalists. They reasoned that if shared language and history made England, France, and Germany nations, then the Arabs were also a nation. However, as Elie Kedourie wrote in Islam in the Modern World, "[T]o define the Arab nation in terms of its history is--sooner rather than later--to come upon the fact that Islam originated among the Arabs, was revealed in Arabic to an Arab prophet." Hence, "Arab nationalism," Kedourie explained, "affirms a fundamental unbreakable link between Islam and Arabism." (Here's an essay on the same subject, with a collection of quotes from Arab writers agreeing with Kedourie that Arabism and Islam are one and the same.)

So, why do people believe that Arab nationalism and Islam are opposed? Kedourie showed that it was the nationalists themselves who spread the idea. Among other things, they were "aware that their Western patrons and protectors looked with fear and aversion on Islam as a political force." The result is that the misunderstanding lives on, which is why analysts have been at great pains to itemize, mistakenly, the differences between, say, Baathism and Islamism.

In his article, Lieven writes that Baath Party founder Michael 'Aflaq's conception of Arab nationalism was "secular and modernizing. He believed religion, whether Islamic or Christian, had no place in Arab politics."

'Aflaq was a Christian (although he is rumored to have converted to Islam before his death), but as Joshua Landis, a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma specializing in Syria, explains in his Weblog, 'Aflaq believed that the Baath Party "would never appeal to the broad masses of the Sunni heartland without making it perfectly clear that Baathism was not secular or based on earthly truths. ... He directed non-Muslim Arabs to 'attach themselves to Islam and to the most precious element of their Arabness, the Prophet Muhammad,' for he was the greatest Arab nationalist."

Indeed, Aflaq was an Orthodox Christian who 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).

So, if Baathism is neither secular nor disdainful of Islam in particular, what about Islamism? Are the Islamists contemptuous of ideologies that value the nation rather than religion? Many people argue, along with Lieven, that the "central allegiance" of Islamist radicals is not to Arabs alone, but "to the idea of the undivided umma, or transnational community of all ... Muslims."

Since the Quran itself reminds us at least six times that Allah has revealed to Muhammad an "Arabic Quran," with the result that many Muslims believe a translation of the holy text is no longer the true Quran, it's clear that the Arabic language is central to Muslim history and theology. And, because the prophet and his companions and their righteous followers were almost exclusively Arabs, Muslims are accustomed to holding the Arabs as a nation in high regard as well. In fact, the early 20th-century salafi Rashid Rida had a particular reason for putting the Arabs front and center. He believed that since the Ottoman caliphate had, among its other faults, overseen the decline of the Arabic language and exposed the umma to the depredations of the West, the Turks were responsible for Islam's current weakened state. The only way to rectify the situation was to restore the Arabs to the privileged place they held when Islam was at its strongest.

Read it all.

Here is an excellent summation by Deroy Murdock of how Saddam Hussein contributed to the global jihad. Thanks to Diana West for the link.

Stephen Schwartz has published a reflection on the need for a reformation of Islam in Tech Central Station (via FrontPage). Not long ago I took issue with one of his pieces claiming that Wahhabis were essentially revising the Qur'an to make it more anti-Jewish and anti-Christian; I pointed out that the Wahhabis were working from traditional interpretations within Islam, and that what they were "adding" to the Qur'an was already there in abundance. Unfortunately, he made no answer -- unfortunately because it would be illuminating to see what a self-professed moderate Muslim thinks of the points I raised. Nor did The Weekly Standard print it. The best way, after all, to silence a critic who raises uncomfortable questions is not to answer him, but to ignore him.

Now he has turned to the vexed and difficult topic of an Islamic reformation. Some of his points follow, with a few observations from me:

Questions about a need for an "Islamic Reformation" remain pertinent in the West. Recently, I was challenged by an American public official who took great umbrage at analogies I drew, in previous articles for TCS (here and here), between Martin Luther and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, founder of Wahhabism, the ultraextremist state religion in Saudi Arabia.

The aggrieved person accused me of equating Luther with Nazis and Communists by this comparison; I assured him that I do not believe in crude historical telescoping, although I do affirm that Luther and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab both approved of aggression in the name of religious reform, and that the Wahhabis may be considered, in their totalitarian worldview, as unperceived predecessors of Nazism and Stalinism. In the same encounter, I was confronted by a Wahhabi fanatic who demanded a return to the "pure Islam" of Muhammad.

There was no need for the official to take umbrage. The comparison is apt, and that is no reflection on Luther (whatever his faults). The primary point of similarity that that both Luther and Wahhab led movements that purported to strip away later accretions and get back to the core elements of their religions. That al-Wahhab's reformation was violent and virulent is a reflection on the core texts of his religion, to which he dedicated himself and his followers with all-encompassing zeal.

Non-Muslim "Islam experts" now abound in the West, many of recent mintage and superficial knowledge, and it is usually they who are loudest, most aggressive, and least respectful in demanding that Islam undergo a "Reformation" they would hope to compare with the rise of Protestantism. Some among them demand a revision of the Muslim holy book, Qur'an, even though no Protestant ever sought to revise the Christian scripture.

In fact, Reformers did revise Christian Scripture: they rejected the Greek Old Testament because one of its books, II Maccabees, seemed to provide Scriptural justification for prayers for the dead; Luther himself relegated the Epistle of James to an appendix and decried it as an "Epistle of straw" because it contradicted his doctrine of salvation by faith alone. Protestants ratified the former rejection and rejected the second, and to this day Protestant Bibles differ from those used by Catholics and Orthodox.

But my intention here is not to clarify points about Christianity. It is to demonstrate that if we are to use the Protestant Reformation as a paradigm for an Islamic Reformation, which I myself am not sure is legitimate (because, as I pointed out above, Wahhab has already made the motion analogous to Luther's within Islam), the actual alteration of Scriptural texts is not out of bounds.

In other instances, Muslim thinkers appear to have thought out a "Reformation" that would, according to them, separate the essential truth of Islam as embodied in Qur'an from the hadith or oral sayings of the Prophet. This latter trend argues that Islam has been corrupted by the imposition of hadith upon the religion, and alleges that extremism is based exclusively on sources found therein and on the persistence of a "medieval" attitude. However, the interpretation of both Qur'an and the hadith, until the arrival of Wahhabism, was typically pluralistic, as was Islamic law, and I have therefore argued that Islam contains within itself the seeds of its own correction, through a restoration of pluralism and a renaissance, rather than a Reformation.

I would love to see this renaissance. However, Schwartz overstates the "pluralism" of Qur'anic interpretation and Islamic law before Wahhab, in a manner quite similar to his attributing to Wahhabis mainstream elements of Qur'anic interpretation in his previous piece. But the chief question here is whether Islam would or could develop interpretative traditions analogous to those in Judaism and Christianity that mitigated the force of bellicose passages of the Old Testament -- in other words, how this Islamic renaissance would manage to blunt the force of Qur'anic literalism (and literalism in Hadith interpretation also) so that they would not continue to be inspirations for violence and fanaticism.

I am not so much concerned with Schwartz's discussion of whether Protestantism or Catholicism is a better model for Islam's future; for me, and I believe for all non-Muslims concerned about future relations with the Islamic world, the question is how useful his recommendations would be to compel Muslims who commit violence in the name of their religion to stop doing so. Schwartz concludes:

Wahhabi bigots say they would reclaim "pure Islam;" I say that means wiping out hundreds of years of poetry, architecture, art, music, and creative effort, as well as fecund theological study and interpretation, of the hadith as well as the Qur'an.

Beauty remains to be recaptured, as it is among the scholars of the Jewish Kabbalah, as it was for the troubadours, and as it shall always be for the Sufis....Petrodollars cannot replace the beauty that quickens the heart's desire, and for a sufficient majority of Muslims, Islam resides in the heart. Grim piety and reforming zeal cannot heal the wounds inflicted on Islam by terrorists and tyrants. The Islam of beauty has no use for an Islam of anger.

I say therefore that Islam needs no Reformation, merely to return to its long-established tradition: pluralistic, spiritual, and committed to the protection and refinement of its civilizational heritage. Nothing need be abandoned; nothing will be lost in God's message. The outcome should be obvious: Islam will survive and be revived as a civilization of beauty, or there will be no Islam.

A few final questions: how will this revived civilization of pluralism and beauty induce Muslims to set aside the command to fight Jews and Christians until they convert or submit and pay the jizya (Qur'an 9:29)? Or the idea that it is permissible to kill those who leave Islam (Qur'an 4:89, 2:217)? Or lying to protect Islam (taqiyyah), as based on Qur'an 16:106? Or Muhammad's statement that "no Muslim should be killed for killing an infidel" (Sahih Bukhari, volume 4, book 52, number 283)? Or all the many Qur'anic declarations of hostility toward Jews and Christians (see Qur'an 2:62-65, 5:59-60, 7:166, 9:30, 98:6, etc.)?

There are many other elements I could raise that should be rejected: the punishments for adultery and theft, the whole legal superstructure of dhimmitude, etc. In short, Schwartz's statement that "nothing need be abandoned" raises critical questions -- chief among them being this: Shouldn't the needed Islamic renaissance (or reformation -- whichever you prefer) be an explicit abandonment of Qur'anic literalism? And if it isn't, how will it keep that literalism from reappearing?

Stephen, I hope you will answer this time.

More adventures in European dhimmitude. From the World Tribune, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

LONDON - The European Union appears to have resolved a year-long dispute with Syria over its weapons of mass destruction program.

Officials said Brussels and Damascus have agreed on a clause that addresses Syria's WMD programs. They said the clause does not stipulate that Syria must dismantle its programs, rather that Damascus would not proliferate biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.

"It [association agreement] includes essential provisions on respect for the democratic principles and fundamental human rights, cooperation to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, and anti-terrorism," the EU statement said.

In September, U.S. officials said the intelligence community determined that Syria transferred chemical bombs and rockets to Sudan, Middle East Newsline reported. The officials said the Syrian nonconventional weapons appeared to have been tested in battle in the rebel-torn Darfour province.

The aptly named Al-Ghoul, who helped Hamas murder scores of civilians, has been killed by Israeli forces. From Reuters, :

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel has killed a top leader of the Hamas militant group and another gunman in an airstrike on their car in Gaza, days before a key parliamentary vote on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza pullout plan.

Medics and witnesses said a missile from an Israeli drone slammed into the vehicle on Thursday and killed Adnan al-Ghoul, a senior Hamas leader and master bombmaker for the Islamic militant group who has been on Israel's most wanted list for over a decade....

Ghoul was Hamas's top engineer who manufactured explosive devices and weapons that were used in dozens of attacks against Israelis, Palestinian sources said.

The sources said he was known as "the father of the Qassam rocket", referring to the type of rocket Gaza militants have fired frequently into Israel during the past few months. Two Israeli toddlers were killed in such a rocket strike last month.

Palestinian Arabs can't opt out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and settle peacefully in another Arab land even if they want to. This is why the situation has remained inflamed for over fifty years: Arab states are preventing its peaceful resolution so as to have a stick with which to beat Israel. It is just another weapon in the jihad against Israel, and the global jihad in general. From Arab News, with thanks to Mike:

JEDDAH, 21 October 2004 -- Expatriates of all nationalities are entitled to apply for Saudi citizenship and their travels abroad with re-entry visas will not disqualify them, press reports said yesterday quoting senior officials....

Shubaily ibn Majdoue Al-Qarni, chairman of the security committee which supervised amendments to the law, said Saudi citizenship would be open for all nationals working in the Kingdom. "The law does not aim at a particular nationality. On the other hand, it covers all expatriates in the country," he told Al-Madinah.

But Al-Watan Arabic daily reported that the naturalization law would not be applicable to Palestinians living in the Kingdom as the Arab League has instructed that Palestinians living in Arab countries should not be given citizenship to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right to return to their homeland.

Diplomatic sources have estimated the number of Palestinians in the Kingdom at about 500,000. There are large concentrations of Palestinians in the country's western, central, eastern and northern provinces.

From IslamOnline, with thanks to Usashopper:

PARIS, October 19 (IslamOnline.net) - Swiss Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan is at the center of a vile campaign by rightist French magazines and newspapers, which accuse him of spearheading what they called the political Islam drive in Europe.

Seeking to blemish his reputation after he had been catapulted into the limelight as a paradigm for moderate Muslims, L'Express magazine ran a front-page photo of Ramadan titled, "The man who wants to establish Islamism in France".

The ferocious attack came hard on the heels of Ramadan's success in grabbing the attention of the third round of the European Social Forum, which concluded on October 17.

Ramadan took part in three fringe symposiums, calling on Muslims in Europe to fully integrate into their societies, stop casting in the victim mould and get rid of the minority complex.

L'Express further published excerpts from Ramadan's lectures and seminars recorded on audio tapes, branding them as an outspoken call for Islamizing French society.

It also quoted Ramadan as encouraging Muslims to respect European constitutions so long as they were in line with Islam.

"It means that Ramadan has no respect for European constitutions," the magazine said.

Well, it should be clear to anyone with any knowledge of Islam that that caveat -- "so long as they were in line with Islam" -- is huge enough to negate the respect he calls for altogether.

How rapidly is France being Islamized? Consider this piece from IslamOnline (thanks to Twostellas). "All areas around the mosque are inhabited by Muslims of Arab and African origin." With police protection, their own guards, and a majority of the area population, there is no reason why they shouldn't "feel safe." But this is not just a simple issue of an immigrant population; what assurances do the "stunned passersby" have that this assertive and growing population has no desire to interfere with the secular constitution of France? None whatsoever. The debate can't even be held, as it is hushed by the rhetorical weapon of "racism," which actually has nothing to do with the question of French Muslims' attachment to the Sharia at all.

PARIS, October 21 (IslamOnline.net) - Teeming with worshipers who come in droves to perform the Tarawih prayers during Ramadan, mosques in Paris carpet the surrounding area to help accommodate them.

In the 18th district, worshipers line up the two pavements outside the Fatah Mosque during the prayers, with some Muslims volunteering to organize traffic moving between the two lines lighted by lampposts.

There are four other mosques in the area, inhabited by a sizeable number of Moroccan workers.

As Muslim worshipers prostrate and kneel down outside the crowded mosque, "stunned" French passers-by stand to watch.

A police patrol passes by the mosque every 15 minutes, amid growing number of Islamophobic incidents targeting the nearly six million Muslims in France.

However, Muslims feel completely safe.

"We feel very safe here. All areas around the mosque are inhabited by Muslims of Arab and African origin," Abdulai Manqi, a guard of the Fatah mosque, said in an African French ascent.

France witnessed a rising number of faith-related incidents in 2004, including racist writings, Nazi wall paintings and desecration of cemetery in the north of the country.

No mention, of course, of Muslim involvement in such incidents.

A law student at Duke sends in this piece about Duke's support for terror:

You are of course aware of the general situation that has arisen at Duke lately. The new Brodhead administration lent Duke's good name to the pro-terrorist PSM conference, and spent perhaps $50,000 of the university's money on security related to the conference... an obvious admission that folks who support suicide bombing perhaps might not be the safest invitees in the world. A maddening situation, but that has just set the stage for the latest outrage.

On Monday, the main student run newspaper, the "Chronicle," ran a rabidly anti-Semitic piece that you'll have to see to believe; it
is "wonderfully" entitled "The Jews." Then read the feedback... one fellow who particularly liked what the author had to say wrote this: "Newsflash to the staunch Jewish defenders - Jew isnt a race. Jews clearly have this nation by the financial scrotum. Listen to what this kid has to say, lest we find ourselves living in the Jewnited States of America." My point is that anti-Semites were quickly able to recognize (and admire) this as obvious anti-Semitism when they saw it...but this gets better.

Our "fine" new president Richard Brodhead came out "against" the piece with a boatload of moral equivilence, apparent blame against those who opposed the PSM conference (basically, I get the idea that he thinks this is just well-deserved payback), and a bizarre defense of the author of the piece: the anti-Semitism was probably completely inadvertent! Although the article was rabidly anti-Semitic throughout, it was all somehow unintended...(!) What total dishonesty.

ADL came out against the Chronicle piece in a letter to the editor of the Chronicle... of course, the Chronicle editors didn't publish the ADL's letter. The Chronicle editors have even defended their running of the anti-Semitic essay, though the editor admitted that perhaps some cosmetic changes like a new headline would have been in order (!).

This is where we stand: we have a new president who has fostered anti-Semitism through his incompetence and toleration of terrorist supporters, who has sullied Duke's good name by stamping it on anti-Semitic conferences and newspaper articles, and who refuses to take
corrective action or condemn the anti-Semitism he has brought to campus (except in mealy-mouthed non-apologies).

Another tidbit: when the PSM conference started, a bogus email was sent out in the name of the two conference organizers pledging their allegiance to terrorism, HAMAS, etc. The administration, specifically John Burness, sent out an angry email to Duke students blaming the enemies of free speech (nice Orwellian touch, eh?) and those who opposed the conference for sending the bogus email. He had and has no proof that the email actually came from opponents to the conference, however. Equally (if not more) likely in my opinion is that supporters of the conference (not necessarily folks around here, but supporters nonetheless) sent the bogus email in order to DISCREDIT opponents of the PSM conference and in order to gain the sympathy of the administration and students for PSM for going up against such unscrupulous and rabid opponents. The fact that the administration ASSUMED that opponents of the conference sent the email (rather than supporters) was revealing and maddening...

In Islam Unveiled I discuss why Islamic reformers will always face an uphill battle: whenever they attempt to depart from Qur'anic literalism, they become vulnerable to charges from radicals of infidelity to Islam. This poses what is probably an insurmountable problem for those who would reform Islam. Why, then, have I called for such reform myself? Principally in order to raise awareness of the Islamic texts and teachings that give rise to fanaticism and violence; the very existence of these elements of Islam, and thus of any need for reform at all, is still denied by virtually every American Muslim spokesman. And also because, if there are Muslims working for a secularized Islam shorn of literalism, they deserve support and encouragement.

But Saad Eddin Ibrahim, with whom I have taken some issue here in the past, and the other reformers at this Cairo conference got no encouragement from Sheikh Tantawi at Al-Azhar, who is the closest thing the Islamic world has to a Pope. Tantawi made it clear that their reform efforts were out of Islamic bounds. Ibrahim, like Irshad Manji, wants to "reopen the gates of ijtihad" -- that is, reopen discussion of Islamic teachings, thus allowing for the possibility of reform. But Tantawi is having none of it. From MEMRI, with thanks to Rebecca:

A seminar on "Islam and Reform" was held on October 5-6 at the Pyramisa Hotel in Cairo, with the participation of more than twenty intellectuals and researchers from the Arab and Muslim world, Europe, and America. At the seminar's conclusion, the participants published a final statement in which they called for the implementation of both religious and political reforms. The seminar and its final statement raised the ire of high-ranking clerics in the Egyptian religious establishment....

In the opening speech Dr. Sa'ad Al-Din Ibrahim, Chairman of the Ibn Khaldun Center For Development Studies in Cairo, said that the plans for reform "aspire to emphasize that the gates of ijtihad [2] are wide open and that an [intellectual] Jihad must be waged to keep them open until Judgment Day, as the meaning of this [keeping the gates of ijtihad open] is the protection of freedom of thought and expression, not only in religious matters but in all matters...

Dr. Ibrahim further stated, "We are all [waging intellectual] Jihad to prevent the marginalization of the Muslim mujtahidun, whether marginalization by their own governments, by official religious institutions, which have become church-like institutions, or by extremists, radicals, and zealots who have hijacked Islam and turned it into a means of intimidation and terror all over the world." [3]...

The final statement contained ten key recommendations, published (in English) on the Internet site http://www.mengos.net/events/04newsevents/egypt/october/ibnkhaldun-English.htm:

"1- Reframing a new intellectual Islamic context, characterized by clarity and unity of perception, that seeks to take into account all the changes and transformations that took place in the social life of the various countries of the Muslim world during the last 11 centuries.

"2- Implementing a radical revision of the Islamic heritage that involves all Islamic scholarship relating to Islamic Jurisprudence and the Sunna, the Traditions of the Prophet - all of which were founded during the first three centuries of Islam. The participants called for reliance on the Koranic text as the sole authentic source to be utilized for reviewing the entire Islamic heritage.

"3-Confronting all institutions - whether composed of clerics or lay persons - that claim a monopoly over religion and the proper interpretation of its holy text. Instead, a new spirit should seek to establish the right of ijtihad for all, under the banner of an Islamic reformation relevant to in the current century.

"4- Confronting and refuting the visions and statements of radical religious movements so as to retard their penetration into the Arab society specifically among youngsters many of whom are living in a state of depression under the stress of economic hardship.

"5- Intensifying dialogue with moderate and enlightened elements in the Western world, particularly in the United States. In this the language of dialogue and partnership is the instrument for dealing with the other "non-Muslims" on the basis of the principles of co-operation, respect of national independence, and peaceful co-existence among civilizations and nations. In that context, Muslim communities abroad could function as channels of contact."...

The seminar and its recommendations raised the ire of high-ranking members of the religious establishment in Egypt. The Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, harshly attacked the seminar and its participants, and claimed that their call "to confront all institutions that claim a monopoly over religion" was directed against Al-Azhar.

In an interview with the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai Al-Aam, Tantawi claimed that voices in the seminar "called explicitly for the disavowal of the Prophet's sunna ; Al-Azhar and [Egyptian] society reject this." According to Tantawi, these research centers whose representatives participated in the seminar "have a destructive influence on Egyptian society and they must be stopped and brought to trial...This is an explicit call to discard a major source of Islamic religious law - the Prophet's sunna. This is a danger in which some of [our] external enemies are interested [in promoting]."

He further said, "The participation of Western [research] centers in a discussion of Islam and its legal sources is a mark of shame and a disaster which society and its leaders need to prevent... It is an obligation to forcefully intercede so as to prevent [these] affronts. This is a group of [religious] deviants, one of whom has already been indicted on charges of treason; thus it is forbidden to deal with them and it is an obligation to consider them insignificant in society." [4]

Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Fayoumi, Secretary-General of "The Academy for Islamic Research," the supreme body of Al-Azhar, said: "I called for the holding of an emergency session to respond to this impudence... What causes foreign [research] centers to express their opinion on Islam? Would they agree to us intervening in matters of their religion and faith...? [This is] a religious war led by Zionist organizations to harm Islam and its law... We will demand to put an end to the holding of these conferences which attack faith." [5]

Dr. Abd Al-Azim Al-Mut'ani, Al-Azhar University lecturer, said: "Conferences such as these aspire only to cater to the American overlord, and they have no intention of [pursuing] reforms in the Arab and Muslim worlds. These are agencies operated by the U.S. to justify its intervention in and pressures on Islamic governments."

And why is a terror attack from Canada "inevitable"? Because Canada is host to people like this. From CP, with thanks to Louise:

VANCOUVER (CP) - The leader of a Vancouver mosque attended regularly by a local man reported killed in Chechnya has preached the virtues of jihad and called Jews "the brothers of monkeys and swine."

In a lecture posted on the mosque's website, Sheik Younus Kathrada tells an audience all real Muslims want to be martyred. "It is inconceivable that a true believer will not desire martyrdom," Kathrada says.

"When we hear of our fellow Muslims in Palestine and what they're going through to try and defend that great land for us, the Muslims, that individual should wish that he was there."

In a recording of another lecture obtained by The Canadian Press, Kathrada lashes out at Israelis for killing Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin late last March.

"We know what happened over the last week and how the brothers of the monkeys and the swine assassinated and murdered one of the heroes of Islam, the Salah al-Din of this day and age, Ahmed Yassin."

Kathrada tells his audience the Qur'an and its accompanying writings view Jews as treacherous people with whom Muslims will engage in an apocalyptic battle.

"The prophet . . . said the final hour will not be established until such time as the Muslims will battle and will fight against the Jews," Kathrada says.

"Then what will happen? Listen to the good news after that. The prophet . . . says that the stone and the tree will say 'oh Muslim, oh slave of Allah, that verily behind me is a Jew. Then come and kill him.' "

Kathrada, who works out of the Dar al-Madinah Islamic Society mosque in east Vancouver, said Thursday he could not remember when he gave these talks.

"If it's on there and my name is on it then I must have. I don't recall the date," he said.

Kathrada refused to explain the meaning behind the tirade against Jews.

"I guess if you heard the lecture then it should be clear to you," he said.

But he defended his characterization of Jews as treacherous monkeys and pigs.

"I guess no rougher than what is used against us," Kathrada said. "It's in our Qur'an."

At least he admits it. On a radio show a couple of years ago with the ADC's Hussein Ibish, I mentioned its presence in the Qur'an, and Ibish breezily replied: "That's not in the Qur'an." It was a clever gambit, really, since most listeners would not have been familiar with the Qur'an, and would not have suspected the brazenness of the deception. But I was ready with chapter and verse, whereupon Ibish started talking about Nazis.

Other members of the Muslim community say Kathrada, a Sunni Muslim, was active in the Vancouver area's interfaith movement.

"I'm told that he's quite open," said Aziz Khaki of the Committee for Racial Justice, who met him at the opening of a new mosque in suburban Port Coquitlam last year.

"He did speak there and he spoke in very good terms to say we should build bridges with the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism and Christianity and we should be open to dialogue and something like that."

Well, sure. He was no doubt tailoring his remarks to his audience. There's nothing Westerners want to hear more from a Muslim spokesmen than the twaddle about the unity of Abrahamic faiths. Unfortunately, as this story demonstrates, it has no real substance.

In his lecture on jihad, Kathrada says the term refers to physical fighting and includes the idea of offensive jihad.

"When the Muslims have a leader, when the Muslims have the strength and the ability to take on an enemy, then absolutely they call the other nations towards Islam," he says.

"Should they reject the message then they will declare war upon them. That is what we know as the offensive jihad.

"There is a good reason for that. It is in order to establish security on this Earth. It is so that the word of Allah will be the superior word."

Aziz said Kathrada is on the fringe when he espouses offensive jihad.

"He has not read the history," he said. "The whole concept of Islam spread by sword is absolutely a myth."

Common sleight of hand here. Even Kathrada didn't say that offensive jihad was in order to force people to accept Islam. Sayyid Qutb, Syed Abul Ala Maududi, and other prominent radical theorists hotly deny that offensive jihad is meant to force Islam on people: it is, they say, to establish the hegemony of Islamic law, and to make dhimmis of non-Muslims.

Kathrada's view of Jewish treachery is apparently rooted in a seventh-century doublecross of Mohammed by Jewish residents of Medina.

But Aziz said it has no relevance to historic relations between Muslims and Jews, who lived peacefully in Moorish-controlled Spain and in Ottoman Turkey.

Aziz has studied the taqiyya playbook carefully. The historical record shows that Jews did indeed live peacefully in Al-Andalus and Ottoman Turkey -- as second-class dhimmis. Most decidedly not as equal citizens with Muslims.

"God may forgive him (Kathrada)," he said.

"Where Muslims ruled for 700 years, Jews and Muslims worked together."

The Vancouver area's Muslim community numbers more than 60,000 and Aziz said such militant views don't go deep.

"I don't even waste time on such characters," he said....

And that's the problem. Because as I have shown in my books and here many times, Kathrada's arguments below can all easily be defended from the Qur'an and Islamic tradition. Aziz most likely is well aware of this. If he is not guilty of conscious deception, his unwillingness to deign to provide adequate Islamic refutations of Kathrada's arguments means that he is leaving the field open for Kathrada to convince more and more young Muslims to turn radical. Of course, one principal reason why he does not supply such refutations from Islamic theology and law is because they do not exist: Kathrada is faithfully representing Islamic teachings on these matters.

Excerpts from recorded lectures give by Sheik Younus Kathrada, leader of the Dar al-Madinah Islamic Society of Vancouver:

On Jews after Israel assassinated Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin last March

"We know what happened over the last week and how the brothers of the monkeys and the swine assassinated and murdered one of the heroes of Islam, the Salah al-Din of this day and age, Ahmed Yassin.

"Once again they've shown their treachery; once again they've shown that they are cowards and that they cannot be trusted."

-

On enmity between Jews and Muslims:

"Allah informs us in the Qur'an that you will never find people having such animosity towards the believers or such strong animosity towards the believers like the Jews and the mushrikeen (polytheists).

"All of these words we seem to have forgotten and the reason we like to remind ourselves of them is because today we hear from amongst those who claim to be Muslims, we hear them telling us that we must have love and we must live in peace with these Jews.

"And the reality is, like I said, there is never going to be peace with them."

-

On the battle between Muslims and Jews:

"The prophet . . . said the final hour will not be established until such time as the Muslims will battle and will fight against the Jews.

"Then what will happen? Listen to the good news after that. The prophet . . . says that the stone and the tree will say 'oh Muslim, oh slave of Allah, that verily behind me is a Jew. Then come and kill him.' . . . It is not meant to be understood metaphorically but rather literally.

"Unfortunately we hear too many people saying we must build bridges with them. No. They understand one language. It is the language of the sword and it is the only language they understand."

-

On offensive jihad:

"When the Muslims have a leader, when the Muslims have the strength and the ability to take on an enemy, then absolutely they call the other nations towards Islam. Should they reject the message then they will declare war upon them.

"That is what we know as the offensive jihad. There is a good reason for that. It is in order to establish security on this earth. It is so that the word of Allah will be the superior word."

-

On kuffar or unbelievers:

"I have no problem with calling the Christians and the Jews and those who are not Muslims kuffar. They are kuffar and if they die in that state they will abide in the hellfire forever. I don't care what anyone else says."

-

Comparing jihad to U.S. policies:

"When we hear the kuffar today and they start attacking the Muslims . . . you think immediately of their double standard.

"When the United States, for example, sees a land that poses a threat to them, what do they do? Don't they attack that land? And what is their justification? That they want to establish peace on Earth . . .

"I ask you by Allah, will peace and security ever be established if Islam is not the religion that is practised? It will never be established."

-

On martyrdom:

"I mentioned to you a while ago that it should be all of our intentions that one day we be martyred. If it is not I say revise yourself. Look deep into your heart because there is some hypocrisy in it.

"It is inconceivable that a true believer will not desire martyrdom."

-

Invocation ending the jihad lecture:

"That he (Allah) place us amongst those who will, God willing, be martyred."

From the National Post, :

OTTAWA - Terrorists will inevitably use Canada as a base to launch an attack on the United States, the U.S. ambassador to Canada said yesterday, echoing a warning from the new Israeli ambassador that it is only a matter of time before terrorists exploit the openness and diversity of Canadian society.

It's not even so much the "openness and diversity" as such, except insofar as those are euphemisms for an unrestricted immigration policy that dares not question Muslim immigrants about their ties to terror groups and Sharia. As long as this suicidal unwillingness to accept reality continues, and nobody is willing to recognize that Islam is not simply just another religion that will fit easily into Canada's secular framework, but has political elements that many Muslims will be willing to extend into their new homeland by force, such attacks will indeed be inevitable.

Islamic law forbids dhimmis to "display openly" wine or pork. Evidently these pigs were a bit too openly displayed for the local Muslims -- and of course local authorities do nothing. Note also that the dhimmis at AP put the blame for tensions between Christians and Muslims there entirely upon the Christians -- in part for the crime of building new churches, which is another violation of the laws of dhimmitude. From AP, with thanks to Susan:

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Muslims armed with machetes attacked several pig farms in Indonesia, slaughtering around 20 swine they claimed were giving of "offensive" odors, The Jakarta Post reported Thursday.

Police did nothing to stop the attack Wednesday in South Tatura, central Sulawesi province, the paper reported. The farms belonged to local Christians.

"The farms give out a bad odor and this is offensive, especially during Ramadan," said local Muslim leader Abdul Haris, referring to the Islamic fasting month where religious feelings often run high.

He said the farms were also polluting a local river, presumably with dung from the animals....

The Muslims were armed with machetes and sticks, the Post reported. Losses from the attacks were estimated at around $8,000, the paper quoted a pig farmer as saying....

The two faiths generally live in harmony, but disputes are sometimes triggered over the building of new churches and accusations that Christians are aggressively trying to convert Muslims.

The difference between the free world and the Islamic world is not that one side never does anything wrong. It is that in the West those who transgress ethical and legal bounds are punished; in the Islamic world they are celebrated as heroes. From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The highest ranking soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal was sentenced to eight years in prison for abusing inmates at Abu Ghraib during a court martial Thursday in Baghdad.

Staff Sgt. Ivan "Chip" Frederick, 38, of Buckingham, Va., was also given a reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay and a dishonorable discharge. The sentencing came a day after he pleaded guilty Wednesday to eight counts of abusing and humiliating Iraqi detainees.

A startling revelation from the Times Online, with thanks to Lester:

THE Territorial Army has been infiltrated by Al-Qaeda suspects, giving the Islamic terrorist group potential access to military bases, explosives and fuel dumps.

Five Al-Qaeda suspects are believed to have trained as part-time soldiers with the TA. At least one is now in custody.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed that other terror suspects have attempted to join the TA, but says they were rejected after undergoing security checks.

The connection with Britain's Al-Qaeda network was uncovered in a series of wide-ranging investigations by MI5 and Scotland Yard's Special Branch.

It is believed the terrorist suspects may have been taking advantage of military training as well as gaining access to bases and weapons.

Patrick Mercer, the Tory homeland security spokesman and a former army officer, said Al-Qaeda terrorists could use TA passes to penetrate security at key MoD establishments such as the permanent joint headquarters at Northwood in Greater London.

"This could have very serious security implications. Clearly in the war against terror you need to know who your friends are. The last thing we want is the enemy masquerading as our own people," Mercer said.

The TA has about 41,000 members and comprises a substantial portion of the 102,000-strong British Army and has 329 centres throughout the country.

This Spanish-language story from El Mundo (thanks to Silvia) reveals new demands on the Spanish dhimmis: deny your history and culture. Above all, conceal the fact that modern Spain emerged out of seven centuries of Islamic occupation. My rough-and-ready translation of part of the piece:

MADRID - The Secretary General of the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain, Riay Tatary, considers that the possible suppression of the four severed heads of Moors who appear on the shield of Aragón would contribute to harmony in this Autonomous Community.

Tatary made this reflection in relation to the decision of the Government of Aragón to study the possibility of suppressing the heads on the shield.

The Islamic representative commented that in the Autonomous Community of Aragón a survey has been taken whose results indicate that most of more than 600 people interviewed did not know the meaning of the four Moorish heads.

Finally, Tatary reiterated that he is in favor of the suppression of those heads, "if it does not cause social repercussions - and I believe that it will not - because is positive and fosters harmony in the Community of Aragón."

From Knight-Ridder, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - Iraq's largest group of Sunni Muslim clerics ordered their followers Wednesday to boycott January's parliamentary elections if American forces don't break off their military campaign in the flash-point city of Fallujah, which is now ringed by U.S. Marines and besieged by daily aerial bombardment.

Gathering from across northern and western Iraq at the Umm al Qura mosque outside Baghdad, the clerics in the Muslim Scholars Association, whose followers make up 35 percent of Iraq's population, called on Arab leaders throughout the Middle East to condemn U.S. actions in Fallujah and "end their silence, which brings frustration and anger." They ruled that Iraqis have a religious duty to fight American-led forces, according to a statement issued from the mosque.

"The esteemed clerics bless the Fallujah sons for their jihad and patience," the statement read, invoking the Arabic word often translated as "holy war."

From CBS-11 News, with thanks to RSH:

The Dallas-based office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has filed a highly unusual civil court motion to strip a wealthy North Texas businessman of his American citizenship and eventually deport him to his native Middle East.

CBS-11 News has learned that federal authorities have invoked a rarely-used federal statute - mainly used in past decades to deport former Nazis - to de-naturalize native Palestinian Rasmi Khader Almallah. The government's "Complaint to Revoke Naturalization" claims Almallah paid a woman for a "sham marriage" in 1981 that helped him gain permanent residency and then American citizenship in 1988.

But sources tell CBS-11 the motive behind the government effort is Almallah's long association with the Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation, which the Bush administration shuttered in 2001 and accused of clandestinely providing funds to help the designated terrorist group Hamas deploy suicide bombers against Israeli civilians.

Almallah, since remarried, the father of seven U.S.-born children, and the founding owner of the booming 50-store Carpet Mills of America chain, served as a board member of the Holy Land Foundation, according to a 2000 foundation tax return.

He has maintained close ties to top foundation officers who the government in July criminally indicted on charges that their fundraising work supported suicide bombings against Israeli citizens. Almallah also has served as an officer of the Islamic Association of Palestine, which has come under federal investigation for alleged - and vigorously disputed - terrorist ties.

But Almallah was not among the seven men indicted in Dallas this summer for their Holy Land Foundation fundraising work, and he has not been charged with any crime.

This is the man with whom some U.S. officials would like to reach an understanding. From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Twostellas:

In his most public support of Muslim combatants, the leader of Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood called on Iraqis and Palestinians to step up their resistance to both the United States and Israel.

In a speech Wednesday night to hundreds of the movement's members and supporters, Mohammed Mahdi Akef urged the Muslim world to "provide all the necessary material and moral support" to the Iraqi insurgents.

"We are with the Iraqi resistance as a righteous duty imposed by Sharia (Islamic law) and sanctioned by international laws," Akef said during a banquet his group hosts annually for supporters and the news media during the holy month of Ramadan.

"The Iraqi resistance is the protective wall which defends us all," he said.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928, and has spawned branches throughout the Muslim world. It was banned in 1954 for advocating violence to turn Egypt into an Islamic state.

Today, still banned, the group says it supports peaceful means toward change and is generally tolerated by the state, with occasional crackdowns. Brotherhood members hold seats in Parliament, though they run as independents, not under the group's name.

The comments Wednesday night were Akef's sharpest criticism of the United States since taking over the group's leadership in March. He accused the United States of "trying to bring us to our knees ... corrupt our civilization and obliterate our identity."

The Qur'an allows a man up to four wives at a time, plus concubines and unlimited divorce. This is becoming common in a Britain apparently incapable of asserting its cultural identity. From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Twostellas:

UP TO 4,000 British Muslim men have entered into polygamous marriages, some of them keeping as many as five wives, according to senior religious figures.

They have taken advantage of a loophole in the laws against bigamy by going through a "nikah" ceremony at a mosque rather than registering the marriages officially.

Many are avoiding the expense and obligations of divorce, but an estimated 2,000 or more are men who wish to exercise their "right", according to traditional interpretations of the Koran, to have as many as four wives.

Such relationships, sealed in a Muslim ceremony conducted by an imam, are recognised by Islamic authorities as marriages in the eyes of God. They are, however, invalid under British law, which leaves many "wives" with no rights to their husband's income, pension, benefits or share of the family home should the relationship break up.

In extreme cases, women brought from abroad, notably from Bangladesh, to marry a British Muslim have been victims of so-called honour killings by their families after being sent home when the relationship has failed.

The article goes on to say that some mosques are clamping down on polygamy. But how hard can they clamp when it is sanctioned by the Qur'an?

"(From their perspective) there was a reason to kill (British hostage Ken) Bigley, there was a reason to kill the Americans; there was not a reason to kill me (and) luckily I managed to convince them of that." At least Downer and Pratt are appalled. From AAP, with thanks to Kevin:

KIDNAPPED Australian journalist John Martinkus was attacked today by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and former hostage Steve Pratt for appearing to say that Iraqi terrorists had a reason to kill some hostages.

Mr Martinkus, who was kidnapped and interrogated for more than 20 hours in Baghdad before being freed last weekend, sparked outrage when he said of his captors: "(From their perspective) there was a reason to kill (British hostage Ken) Bigley, there was a reason to kill the Americans; there was not a reason to kill me (and) luckily I managed to convince them of that."

Mr Downer said today it was pretty much the most appalling thing any Australian had said about the Iraq war.

He accused Mr Martinkus of giving comfort to terrorists by saying that their actions were understandable.

"I just could not believe he said those things, I was just appalled," Mr Downer told Melbourne radio 3AW.

"That is exactly what people should not do; they should never, unintentionally or intentionally ... give comfort to terrorists in this way. It's a terrible thing to have said.

"(It's) pretty close to the most appalling thing any Australian has said about the situation in Iraq."

Mr Pratt, a former CARE Australia worker who was held hostage in war-torn Yugoslavia for more than five months in 1999, said Mr Martinkus' comments were outrageous.

"There is no mistaking the arrogance in his remarks – the disgusting disregard for the deaths of British hostage Ken Bigley and US civilians murdered by terrorists," Mr Pratt wrote in a letter The Australian newspaper.

"There is no excuse for anybody hacking off those poor men's heads. But Martinkus seems to be making excuses for their executioners."

How the OIC has made dhimmis of the UN leadership, from Joshua Muravchik at AEI, via FrontPage:

This month, the United Nations Security Council voted to condemn terrorism. The resolution was introduced by Russia, still grieving over the terrorist attack on a school in Beslan, and perhaps the unanimous vote will give it a measure of solace.

But the convoluted text and the dealings behind the scenes that were necessary to secure agreement on it offer cold comfort to anyone who cares about winning the war against terrorism. For what they reveal is that even after Beslan and after Madrid and after 9/11, the UN still cannot bring itself to oppose terrorism unequivocally.

The reason for this failure is that the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which comprises 56 of the UN's 191 members, defends terrorism as a right.

After the Security Council vote, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John C. Danforth tried to put the best face on the resolution. He said it "states very simply that the deliberate massacre of innocents is never justifiable in any cause. Never."

But in fact it does not state this. Nor has any UN resolution ever stated it. The U.S. delegation tried to get such language into the resolution, but it was rebuffed by Algeria and Pakistan, the two OIC members currently sitting on the Security Council. (They have no veto, but the resolution's sponsors were willing to water down the text in return for a unanimous vote.)

True, the final resolution condemns "all acts of terrorism irrespective of their motivation." This sounds clear, but in the Alice-in-Wonderland lexicon of the UN, the term "acts of terrorism" does not mean what it seems.

For eight years now, a UN committee has labored to draft a "comprehensive convention on international terrorism." It has been stalled since Day 1 on the issue of "defining" terrorism. But what is the mystery? At bottom everyone understands what terrorism is: the deliberate targeting of civilians. The Islamic Conference, however, has insisted that terrorism must be defined not by the nature of the act but by its purpose. In this view, any act done in the cause of "national liberation," no matter how bestial or how random or defenseless the victims, cannot be considered terrorism.

Read it all.

Martin Kramer in FrontPage on why the currently fashionable idea of rapprochement with the father of all modern Islamic terror groups, the Muslim Brotherhood, is a bad one:

Whenever I hear the word "dialogue," I ask myself the question: dialogue about what? What does the United States have to say to the Muslim Brotherhood in a "close and constant dialogue"? What does it hope to learn?

There is a facile argument that it is good to hear their ideas first-hand. But there is nothing that cannot be learned about the Muslim Brotherhood's positions from readily available sources. A good analyst, relying on the mass of openly available texts, will have no trouble eliciting the worldview of, say, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood's actual paramount guide. Tell me you want to meet with an Islamist to tempt him with a cash-stuffed envelope, that is one thing. But meet him to sound him out? If you have done your homework, he will tell you nothing you do not know already.

Quid pro quo. The point of dialogue is give-and-take. It is here that the problem arises, and it is this: Islamists would give us very little, and take from us a great deal.

What would the so-called moderate Islamists demand from such a dialogue? Here is the laundry list:

1. Visas for activists seeking refuge or asylum or the chance to proselytize in the United States.

2. The freedom to raise money in the United States, ostensibly for widows and orphans, for school lunches and prayer rugs (i.e., access to cash-stuffed envelopes).

3. U.S. agreement to urge or compel Arab-Muslim regimes like Egypt's to open space for Islamist political activism which is now suppressed.

4. A U.S. rebalancing of its Middle East policy, including its support for Israel.
And what do the "moderate" Islamists offer in return?

1. Condemnations of the jihadists for actions like the September 11 attacks, the March 11 attacks in Madrid, and the slaughters in Bali and Beslan.

2. The implicit promise that once the United States throws open its doors to Islamist activism, it will be accorded immunity from further attacks. (The implication is that, to improve one's immune system, one should allow freedom of operation to an even wider range of Islamists.)
Any dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood or its appendices must inevitably develop along these lines. This is the core deal, the very substance of any "close and constant dialogue." And there is ample precedent: there are several European governments that have engaged in such dialogue and cut this deal, either in whole or in part.

Let me explain why, to my mind and from the point of view of the United States, this is a raw deal.

If the United States has one achievement to show for the war on terror, it is this: there has not been a repeat of a 9/11-style attack on any scale, even in miniature, on U.S. soil. There are those who claim that U.S. policy has escalated the terror war, and that it has been unsuccessful. But this ignores the fact that the continental United States remains the prime terrorist target. This country's enemies have been unable to strike it, partly because of the stringent measures of homeland security put in place after 9/11. Why would the United States endanger this indisputable achievement by opening itself up to Islamist penetration? Why would it run the risk of becoming another Londonistan? In return for what?

For we know from experience that Islamist "condemnations" of other Islamists tend to be hedged and conditional. And we know from experience that the money raised for the widows and orphans often gets diverted to assassins and bombers. And we especially know that Islamists use the freedoms of the West to attack precisely those in the East who are willing to work with us closely, whether they be regimes or liberals. This offends Muslim anti-Islamists mightily, and it makes us appear like wavering allies.

And even if, for the sake of argument, we wanted to play this tune in a minor key, there is no certainty that we would know who the "moderate" Islamists are. If there is anything more simplistic than lumping Islamists together, it has been the attempt to divide them into the neat classifications of "moderate" and "extremist." Gilles Kepel in his book has a crucial passage on the branches of salafism, the pietistic and the jihadist. He comments on

how porous the two branches of salafism really are: to pass from one to the other is quite easy. The intense indoctrination preached by the sheikhists [e.g., the Saudi-style imams] reduces their flock's capacity for personal reasoning, which makes these followers easy prey for a clever jihadist preacher. The first stage of brainwashing occurs at the hands of a pietistic salafist imam. Later they encounter a jihadist recruiting sergeant, who offers to quench their thirst for absolutes through a bracing activism.

Even if, as Kepel writes, such a migration to jihadism is not inevitable, we cannot know in advance or even in real-time when it is occurring. So why would we take a chance?

For once I find myself agreeing with Kepel.

Rachel Ehrenfeld in FrontPage on how to win the Internet jihad -- despite interference from those "moderates" at CAIR:

In the War on Terrorism, the terrorists may have an unusual ally: American internet service providers (ISPs). U.S.-based ISPs provide web-hosting for terrorists ranging from Hamas and Hizbullah to Palestinian Jihad. This cyber-fifth column is illegal, can be prosecuted, and must be shut down if we hope to stop Islamic fundamentalists from winning the hearts and minds of a generation of their young.

The swift action taken last month by the Colorado-based ISP Level3 and the Virginia-based ISP Network Solution prove that this can be done. After being alerted, both ISP’s tracked and shut down Hamas and Hizbollah websites.

Governments can take action, too. Last week, the British government, responding to the U.S. request under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the two countries, ordered the closure of 20 media websites in 17 countries that advocated terrorism.

U.S. government efforts to punish those who provide terrorists with “expert advice or assistance” for operating websites was denounced by Arsalan Iftikhar, the legal director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), as “open[ing] the floodgates to really marginalizing a lot of the free speech that has been a hallmark of the American legal and political system.” Yet, our war against the plague of Islamist fundamentalism is unlikely to succeed as long as its most virulent organs of communication are allowed to operate freely on the internet and on TV, inciting violence for jihad. Currently, anyone can purchase web-hosting services without providing any real personal information aside from a valid credit card number.

On September 9, 2004, the Treasury Department designated as terrorists the U.S. branch of the Saudi-based Al Haramain Islamic Foundation (AHF). However, on September 10th, a day after Al Haramain was designated as terrorist, its website (www.alharamain.org), which is registered and run by U.S. Director Suliman Al-Buthe – also designated as terrorist - disingenuously stated that America’s financial war on terror is doomed to failure because it is “smearing anyone who attempted to understand the root causes of anti-American terrorism.” Further, in American attempts to part the terrorists from their money, “the collateral damage are the poor, the orphans and the children.”

Al Haramain is also listed as a member on the website of the Friends of Charities Association (www.foca.net), which is registered by the same Suliman Al-Buthe, and hosted by W3Gateway.com, Inc., of Houston, Texas. FOCA was established in January 2004 in Washington, D.C. According to its website, it “represents some of the leading charities who have devoted their existence to translating donor intent into action to relieve suffering illiteracy and poverty around the world.” Among its listed members are two major Saudi organizations with documented ties to Islamists terrorism: the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) and the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO). The Al Haramain office is still open in Jeddah, despite official announcements of its closure.

Read it all.

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer's column this week in Human Events takes President Bush to task for granting the possibility of an Islamic state in Iraq. Will Kerry do better on this score? Doubtful. One thing that is certain is that in 2005 the President will need to define the nature of the conflict more clearly, or the U.S. will be vulnerable in many areas unnecessarily.

What if, when they vote in January, Iraqis choose to institute an Islamic state? "I will be disappointed" if Iraq votes for an Islamic "fundamentalist" government, said President Bush this week, "but democracy is democracy."

This marks a substantial retreat from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's April 2003 assertion that an "Iranian-style" state in Iraq "is not going to happen." The source of Rumsfeld's intransigence was revealed in a question he posted in October 2003: "Are we capturing, killing or deterring and dissuading more terrorists every day than the madrassas and the clerics are recruiting, training and deploying?" He called then for a battle of ideas to combat the teaching of terrorism in Islamic schools and mosques worldwide -- a battle to be headed up by a new government information agency.

But after a rough year in Iraq, all that's left of that idea is "democracy is democracy." And of course, democracy is democracy, except when it isn't. If Iraq becomes an Islamic state, there won't be quite enough democracy to go around for women and non-Muslims. The nation itself, if the Shi'ites gain the upper hand, will democratically choose to be a client state of the Iranian mullahs. And the mosques and madrassas will continue to exercise their democratic privilege to act as poisonous wells of jihadism, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism.

If President Bush was serious, his breezy "democracy is democracy" dismissal of an Islamic state in Iraq amounts to a capitulation of elephantine proportions. But it is not an abrupt about-face. The idea that Iraqis voting for an Islamic state would be an innocuous exercise of the right to vote is the perhaps inevitable consequence of the "Islam is peace" mantra that the Administration has retailed incessantly since 9/11. The State Department has steadfastly refused to consider the Islamic sources and motivations of international terrorism, not just since 9/11, but since the Ayatollah Khomeini first began to be a player in Iranian politics in the 1960s -- and before that. Given the prevailing wisdom at State and elsewhere in Washington, it is no surprise that Rumsfeld's "battle of ideas" never got off the ground. Since Bush can't acknowledge that any elements of Islam actually have anything to do with the global terrorist network, on what basis can he legitimately oppose an Islamic state in Iraq?

A true "war on terror" would never accept a Sharia state in Iraq, because it would recognize that Islamic "fundamentalism" is precisely what leads to "terror." Jihadists around the world make that abundantly clear every day. Just this week, Magdi Ahmad Hussein of Egypt's radical Muslim Labor Party declared on Al-Jazeera TV that "both the Qur'an and the Prophet's biography permit the killing of prisoners. This exists in our Islamic law and in the laws of all nations." He added: "Those who bomb Fallujah cannot prevent me from bombing Los Angeles." While Islamic clerics all over denounce the beheadings, they are doing little or nothing even to attempt to persuade people like Magdi Ahmed Hussein that their view of Islam is incorrect -- and in fact, the Magdi Ahmad Husseins of the world are operating according to broad and venerable Islamic traditions and teachings that go all the way back to the time of Muhammad, and which Muslim moderates find next to impossible to refute.

But all this is not even part of the public debate in this election season. Political correctness has taken it off the table. John Kerry promises to fight terrorism more effectively than has the President, but says nothing about the need to redefine the conflict -- and his overtures to Iranian mullahs and to European leaders who have kowtowed to dictators and Islamic radicals in the Arab League for thirty years indicate that a Kerry Administration would be a fate worse than Bush. At least the incumbent recognizes that there is a war that must be fought.

Whatever the outcome on November 2, terrorists around the world will continue to plot to murder innocent people in the United States and elsewhere. The sooner the occupant of the White House on January 20, 2005, recognizes that they are recruiting in mosques and Islamic schools and fighting to impose Islamic law upon an unwilling world, the sooner he will be able to act to cut off this threat at its source. But unless and until he does so, an Islamic state in Iraq will not be a triumph of democracy, but yet another nail in the coffin of free people in that unfortunate nation and elsewhere.

Some illuminating revelations from the Daily Times, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

WASHINGTON: The Advertiser, an Austrialian newspaper, has come out with some startling revelations about an Al Qaeda man, a French national, captured in Australia and now being interrogated by the French.

According to a report published by the newspaper on 18 October, Willie Brigitte, the captured man, has told French investigators of his extraordinary journey from failed butcher to linchpin in an Al Qaeda plan to launch a terror attack on Australia. He has detailed the high-altitude paramilitary training he undertook in a vast camp overlooking the Himalayas in which he and thousands of jihad warriors were schooled in terrorism. He has told of how Osama Bin Laden’s allies have penetrated the Pakistani Army to thwart US efforts to crack terrorist training operations in the remote Pakistani mountain regions that border Afghanistan. A year after the French national was captured in a western Sydney apartment with documents indicating he was planning to launch an attack on Australian targets, his interrogation transcripts are said to have come into the possession of the Australian newspaper.

The transcripts are said to give a rare insight into how the networks of people prepared to join the Islamist jihad against the West function. Brigitte told investigators the camp where he was trained in the use of explosives, small arms and terrorism tactics was a sophisticated three-tiered mountain complex close to the Indo-Pakistani border. He was grouped with foreign recruits, including American and British citizens of Pakistani origin. “There were between 2,000 and 3,000 mujahideens,” Brigitte told French anti-terror judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere. “I remember it was very impressive because we gathered every morning and shouted Allah Akbar. What was more, the site was imposing since one could see the outline of the Himalayas.” The camp was run by Lashkar e Taiba (LET). Brigitte said LET was filled with soldiers from the Pakistan Army who worked to sabotage efforts by the West to fight bin Laden and his allies.

“There was complete complicity between Lashkar e Taiba and the Pakistani Army,” Brigitte said in a secret interrogation in the Paris judicial chambers of Judge Bruguiere on 3 December 2003. “Furthermore, the weapons were provided by the army. The munitions were brought in by night between the first and second levels (of the camp). “There was everything -munitions, arms and food. We had the feeling that these weapons came from the Pakistani Army...."

To check the veracity of this report, let's look into the Jihad Watch archives:

1. "A dozen books about the Dreyfus case and related legal issues were stamped on their edge with the words "Against the Jewish Mafia and Jewish Racism" followed by the addresses of a Holocaust-denying Web site and an Islamic propaganda Web site."
2. Jewish teen stabbed by Muslim in Paris.
3. "Recently, there have been two ritual murders of Parisian Jews by Muslims."

There is much more. But even the coverup is nothing new: see "EU 'covered up' attacks on Jews by young Muslims."

From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Gloria:

Disaffected youth and marginalized individuals are more likely to perpetrate anti-Semitic attacks than those with ties to the Palestinian cause or neo-Nazi groups, as Jewish groups have charged, according to an anti-Semitism report France released Tuesday.

The study "shows that the link with the Middle East conflict is the most misleading or is constructed through false reasoning or exaggerated representation," according to remarks made by Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin released with the report he commissioned....

Jewish leaders welcomed the report as an indication of French resolve – often criticized as lacking – in fighting the resurgence of anti-Semitism. But they took issue with the report's finding that "only a small proportion of [perpetrators] are North African [or] originate from a country that has links with the Arab-Israeli conflict."

"It's a fact" that many of those who have been prosecuted for attacks on French Jews have Arab or Muslim backgrounds, according to European Jewish Congress secretary-general Serge Cwajgenbaum, who attributed the downplaying partly to politics.

"For many reasons one doesn't want to antagonize some communities," he said.

He also noted that the increase in anti-Semitic attacks is due to a larger array of perpetrators, decreasing the relative proportion of Arab and Muslim actors.

"Anti-Semitism has spread out and become a social element," he said.

It will be interesting to see how non-Muslims fare there. From The Star Online, with thanks to Twostellas:

KOTA BARU: The PAS-led state government is set to declare Kota Baru as an “Islamic City” next year and turn the state capital into a model of Islamic management.

Several large banners proclaiming “Kota Baru Bandaraya Islam 2005” (Kota Baru Islamic City 2005) have been hung up here.

Takiyuddin Hassan, the chairman of the State Public Administration, Local Government and Housing Committee, said Islamic management would be introduced by the Kota Baru Municipal Council (MPKB) by March.

More on the ongoing drama at the Catholic school in Tangerang, from the Jakarta Post, with thanks to Twostellas:

The parents of children attending the Sang Timur Catholic School in Ciledug, Tangerang, are considering filing a complaint with the police following the almost complete sealing off the school for more than two weeks by a zealot group.

"We are still trying to resolve the matter amicably. Should this fail, we may report the case to the police as a last resort," parents' forum chairman Hillon Goa said on Wednesday.

He said that should no amicable solution be possible, the parents would lodge a complaint with the Tangerang Police on Thursday, although he was not yet sure precisely what the contents of the complaint would be.

"Our legal advisors are still working out the specific details," he said. "Obviously, we will be requesting that the government ensure that the basic, constitutional right of our children to an education is fulfilled."

Hillon explained that although the children had returned to school, they would still be afraid and insecure -- which would affect their studies -- as long as the problem persisted.

A group calling itself the Karang Tengah Islamic Communication Forum held a rally at the school on Oct. 3, protesting that Catholic religious services were being held there.

The rally ended with the group sealing the school's front entrance gate with a two-meter-high concrete wall, which forced the school to postpone the return to school of its 2,417 students -- including 137 autistic and mentally retarded children -- for a week.

Elder Stone sounds like a classic dhimmi. A press release from the Anti-Defamation League, :

NEW YORK, Oct. 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Reacting to a visit by a delegation from the U.S. Presbyterian Church in Beirut with members of the terrorist group Hezbollah, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today said it was "deeply disturbing that leaders of the Presbyterian Church would seek out a meeting with members of a terrorist organization responsible for attacks that have killed both Americans and Israelis." Hezbollah is on the U.S. State Department's watch-list of global terrorist organizations.

The meeting between Sheikh Nabil Qauq, the leader of Hezbollah in south Lebanon, and a delegation of 24 leaders of the U.S. Presbyterian Church currently on a fact-finding tour in the Middle East, was broadcast Oct. 17 on Al Manar, Hezbollah's satellite television network. During the broadcast, at least one member of the delegation was shown praising Hezbollah. Elder Ronald Stone, who identified himself as representing the East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, said, "As an elder of our church, I'd like to say that according to my recent experience, relations and conversations with Islamic leaders are a lot easier than dealings and dialogue with Jewish leaders." Elder Stone went on to praise Hezbollah: "We treasure the precious words of Hezbollah and your expression of goodwill towards the American people."

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National director, and Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, ADL director of Interfaith Affairs, issued the following statement:

It is deeply disturbing that leaders of the Presbyterian Church would meet with the leader of a terrorist organization that is directly responsible for attacks against Americans and Israelis, and that has repeatedly denounced America and Israel as enemies of Islam. It is especially troubling and offensive that at least one member of the delegation praised Hezbollah, telling them it was easier to dialogue with terrorists than with Jews when it comes to Middle East issues.

Coming in an atmosphere where interfaith relations between Presbyterians and Jews have been sorely tested by the church's proposal to disinvest from Israel, it is disturbing that the Presbyterian leaders made the irresponsible decision to meet with Hezbollah, an organization whose self-stated goal is the total destruction of the Jewish State and the establishment of Islamic rule over Jerusalem. It is outrageous that, rather than seeking out moderate voices working for positive change in the Middle East, the Presbyterian leaders decided to seek out the leader of a terrorist organization.

------

Since its founding in 1982, Hezbollah has been responsible for hundreds of attacks against Israelis and Americans, including the 1983 suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 200. Hezbollah also attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992 and the Israeli cultural center in Buenos Aires in 1994. While continuing to carry out cross-border attacks against Israel, Hezbollah has more recently contributed to anti- Semitic incitement throughout the Middle East, using its satellite station to broadcast anti-Semitic propaganda. According to the U.S. State Department, Hezbollah receives financing and other support from Syria and Iran.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

More punctures on more US Airways aircraft. From AP, :

CHARLOTTE, N.C (AP) -- Puncture holes were found in the bellies of two US Airways jets at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, which the FBI said was not likely caused by normal wear and tear.

Officials said the punctures discovered Monday morning during routine visual inspections are similar to damage recently found on another US Airways jet in Florida.

No passengers were in the planes, which were temporarily grounded for repairs.

"There was some damage found on two planes here in Charlotte," FBI spokesman David Martinez said Wednesday. "They were brought through the channels for maintenance and it was brought to our attention. We are now doing interviews.

"We've opened a case, investigating. We're trying to figure if there is a criminal nexis or a terrorism nexis. We've opened the case, and see where it takes us."

More on a story we reported here, from Alexis Amory in FrontPage, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Coming soon to an elementary school near you: mandatory indoctrination in Islamic customs and practices. According to The Kansas City Star, third-, fourth- and fifth-graders in Herndon, Virginia, are to be given lessons in the three Rs: Reading, ‘Riting, and Ramadan. During this instruction, public school children will play act being Muslims, and, perhaps unwittingly, convert to Islam.

Pupils from a nearby Muslim school will visit classes in the town’s public schools to educate their counterparts in Islam. They will be accompanied by something called “a multicultural trainer” named Afeefa Syeed.

In Herndon, during this month of Ramadan (which began Friday), there will be explanations of the fasting month and “role-playing” that requires students to recite Muslim sacred words and imitate their prayer practices. However, whether the speaker understands what he is saying or not, one is considered to have converted to Islam if he confesses a belief in Allah – and this conversion is considered irrevocable. The penalty for apostasy (and much else, from adultery, to homosexuality, to dating anyone in the Islamic world aside from the intended partner of arranged marriages, often made between first cousins) is death.

Multicultural trainer Syeed explains, “For teachers and administrators, as well as fellow students, explaining Ramadan helps the school accommodate the religious requirements of the holiday.” Why American children should be strong-armed into imposing “the religious requirements of the holiday” for proselytizing Muslims isn’t addressed. Neither do authorities explain why Islamic prayers have suddenly become part of the curriculum for children attending American public (e.g., non-sectarian) schools, while discussions of Christianity are ruled off limits.

The Star also reports, “The Council on Islamic Education, a nonprofit organization based in California, plans to release an updated version of its booklet ‘Muslim Holidays,’ which was first published in 1997, for the more than 4,000 teachers nationwide who have used it.”

With Ramadan taking place this month, many schools are arranging for Muslim students to sit in the library during lunchtime so they won’t be forced to be around food. (“See how special and holy Ahmad is? He is purifying himself for religion through fasting. Isn’t that lovely, boys and girls?”)

The Kansas City Star quotes the multicultural specialist Syeed, who also uses a globe in her presentation to show students that Muslims live all over the world, as saying her lesson plan ‘The Seven S's of Ramadan’ highlights aspects of Islam that children of other faith backgrounds can relate to, like patience, peace and gratitude. “It's really just to define who we are on our own terms” Syeed says, “and make the connection with a much larger, universal aspect.”

They could do a great detail to keep this from being a war on Islam, by being more cooperative with anti-terror efforts, and by working to eradicate terrorism from the Islamic community. The fact that they see it as a war on Islam indicates that they are taking at least some cues from radical preachers, which does not bode well. From the Washington Times, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

More than one-third of American Muslims believe that the U.S. war on terrorism is really a war on Islam, according to survey information released yesterday by researchers at Georgetown University.

Thirty-eight percent of American Muslims polled said they believe the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the tensions with Iran and Syria, reflect a foreign policy that is targeting Islamic countries and Muslims themselves.

Just in case anyone still thinks this is a movement based around a charismatic leader, and not an ideology that is larger than any one person. From AP, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

WASHINGTON – The top American commander in Afghanistan said Tuesday he has no evidence Osama bin Laden is in day-to-day control of al-Qaeda but suggested the long-absent terrorist leader is alive.

Lt. Gen. David Barno, speaking to reporters during a visit to the Pentagon, talked mostly of a lack of evidence about bin Laden's whereabouts, health and current role in the al-Qaeda network. He remains, however, a critical target, Barno said.

Still, "I don't see any indications that he is in day-to-day command and control, as it were, of the al-Qaeda organization or the other terrorist groups that work with him, certainly in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area," Barno said.

Barno suggested that bin Laden's death would be difficult to conceal from intelligence services, even if he died in a secret place, because his associates would talk about it. Recent communications from al-Qaeda's top echelon have come from bin Laden's chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, as videotaped messages.

Exposed by an explosive new film. Israel is just one outpost of the global jihad; its enemies want to establish a Sharia state there, reinstituting the oppression of non-Muslims. But you will never learn that at Columbia University. From the New York Sun, with thanks to Ruth King:

At a history class, a professor mockingly tells a female Jewish student she cannot possibly have ancestral ties to Israel because her eyes are green.

During a lecture, a professor of Arab politics refuses to answer a question from an Israeli student and military veteran but instead asks the student, "How many Palestinians have you killed?"

At a student meeting on the topic of divestment from Israel, a Jewish student is singled out as responsible for death of Palestinian Arabs.

Those scenes are described by current and former students interviewed for an underground documentary that is causing a frisson of concern to ripple through the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University, where the incidents took place.

The film, about anti-Israel sentiment at the school, has not yet been released to the public, but it has been screened for a number of top officials of Columbia, and talk of its impact is spreading rapidly on a campus where some students have complained of anti-Israel bias among faculty members.

"The movie is shocking," one Columbia senior, Ariel Beery, said.

"It is shocking to see blatant use of racial stereotypes by professors and intimidation tactics by professors in order to push a distinct ideological line on the curriculum," Mr. Beery, who was interviewed for the film, said.

The film is the creation of the David Project, a 2-year-old group based in Boston that advocates for Israel and is led by the founder of the American Anti-Slavery Group, Charles Jacobs. The David Project, which is refusing to make the film public, has screened it for Barnard College's president, Judith Shapiro, and Columbia's provost, Alan Brinkley, according to sources.

Widespread negative media stereotypes? Really? I think that is wildly overstated; the major media has bent over backwards to portray Muslims as peaceful and Islam as "hijacked."

What do you bet that this film says nothing about, say, the Banu Qurayzah massacre, which was affirmed just recently by Magdi Ahmad Hussein, the Secretary-General of the Egyptian Labor (Islamist) Party? Hussein said:

"Sir, why do the government clerics ignore the killing of the prisoners during the time of the Prophet? 600-700 prisoners were killed in the raid on the Qurayza tribe.

"Why do they conceal this? Why do they hide the fact that the Prophet gave the order to assassinate some poets – to assassinate! Not in military operations, but rather by individual assassination.

"Why did he order the assassination of K'ab Ibn Ashraf, the Jew, leader of Khaybar ? And then he ordered the assassination of the leader who successive him. As a result, the Jews became fearful and terrified."

I am confident that American schoolchildren will hear nothing of those adventures of Muhammad in this cartoon.

From the KRT Wire, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

(KRT) - Stung by widespread negative media stereotypes, many of America's Muslims will take to mainstream movie theaters to mark the end of their holy month of Ramadan with a groundbreaking, full-length animated feature called "Muhammad: The Last Prophet."

The film's screening in November coincides with Eid al-Fitr, the feast that concludes Ramadan.

Distributors of the children's film are taking their cue from Christian filmmakers, although no one connected with the 90-minute cartoon expects the limited run to duplicate the half-billion dollar success of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."

"It's not about what the box office generates, but about how much interest and benefit the people can get out of it," says Oussama Jammal, whose animation production company owns the North American distribution rights to "Muhammad."

Because of resistance by theater chains, which question whether there is an audience for the film, Jammal's company, Fine Media Group, has had to rent the theaters and sell tickets on its Web site: finemediagroup.com.

"For us, it is about calming down the anxiety about Islam and Muslims in this country," he says.

Many Muslims also hope "Muhammad" will increase understanding of their faith among the larger American community. A poll released Oct. 4 by the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations found that 25 percent of Americans believe anti-Muslim stereotypes. In a separate finding, the survey reported that negative images of Muslims in media and popular culture far outweigh positive ones.

Remember, those "anti-Muslim stereotypes" consist of thinking that Islam encourages violence, and the like.

The latest exchange between Turkish Muslim Mustafa Akyol and me is at FrontPage today -- it is just as it was published here plus a brief final word from Akyol.

Akyol is, of course, a "moderate Muslim." I had earlier concluded that his intention was to give non-Muslims false reassurance rather than to bring about actual reform in the Islamic world; now I am not so sure. There are many Muslims around the world today who are hoping to bring about large-scale changes in the religion; they are, as I have pointed out many times, up against virtually insuperable obstacles, but that doesn't mean that I am not hoping they succeed. When I argue with self-proclaimed moderates in the United States, it is not because (as Akyol tentatively implies in his response here) that I do not favor their enterprise; it is because I know in the first place that Islam sanctions religious deception (taqiyya; see Qur'an 3:28 and 16:106), and because I know that any sincerely reformist presentation must answer radical arguments, which moderates hardly ever do. So I try to determine if these self-proclaimed moderates are genuine, and if their arguments will truly hold up from the perspective of the radicals.

If this is not done, non-Muslims will continue to be deceived by false moderates, and radical Muslims will continue to win the theological arguments within Islam -- thus enabling them to recruit more terrorists.

But do I really think Islam can be reformed? Over the last few days I have been involved in an irritating email exchange with someone who has taken me to task for saying just that. He has accused me of toeing the politically correct line and of ignorance about Islam's teachings, to both of which charges I plead not guilty; but then the question remains: how can I say that Islam must reform if to do so, moderate Muslims must reject core teachings of the Qur'an and the Prophet Muhammad?

I have no illusions about the possibility of reform. In Islam Unveiled I wrote about the difficulties moderates face, because of the radicals' ability to paint them as disloyal Muslims as soon as they begin to speak out for the change that is necessary.

That obstacle may indeed be insurmountable in the long run, but there is no denying that there are Muslims today who seem to be sincerely rising to the challenge. In any case, even if it does prove insurmountable, and I think a good case can be made for that from Islamic history, nonetheless I call for reform in order to raise public awareness of the fact that Islam does indeed need reforming -- since most American Muslim advocates and the media establishment do not acknowledge this. I also call for it in order to draw attention to the true source of the problem: not poverty or ignorance or other fashionable causes, but Islamic teachings.

Also, in the history of religions there are instances of large-scale reform, including revisions of teachings that had appeared non-negotiable. Again, I don't have any illusions about how difficult this will be: there are other analysts of Islam who say that "moderate Islam" is the solution without telling you that moderate Islam doesn't exactly exist yet; I am not of that camp. Those who think the obstacles are so great as to render the call to reform useless should remember that the alternatives to this call -- "ban Islam" or push for widespread conversion -- are even less tenable for a variety of reasons.

But in case there is any misunderstanding (since the emailer I referred to above seemed to think this, which in itself shows he must not have read much that I have written), I am not of the position that Islam has been "hijacked" by terrorists. I have always maintained, in all my books and other writings, that the terrorists are operating within a broad tradition within Islam. Until Muslims and non-Muslims acknowledge that fact and take action accordingly, terrorism will continue to proliferate within Islam.

Here is the inevitable consequence of the Administration's unwillingness to look at the source of Islamic radicalism. A true "war on terror" would never accept this outcome, because it would recognize that Islamic "fundamentalism" is precisely what leads to "terror." From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, with thanks to Nicolei:

19 October 2004 -- U.S. President George W. Bush says he would be disappointed but would accept it if Iraqis voted to create an Islamic fundamentalist government in democratic elections.

Bush was asked during an interview with the The Associated Press how he would react if Iraqis someday freely voted into power an Islamic fundamentalist government. Bush replied, "I will be disappointed, but democracy is democracy."

And why not? The Pentagon dares not do anything to challenge the ideology of the prisoners there — signing a statement is nothing, especially to men whose religion sanctions religious deception (taqiyya, cf. Qur'an 16:106). From AP, with thanks to Joyce:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- At least seven former prisoners of the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been involved in terrorist acts, despite gaining their freedom by signing pledges to renounce violence, according to the Pentagon.

At least two are believed to have died in fighting in Afghanistan, and a third was recaptured during a raid of a suspected training camp in Afghanistan, Lt. Cmdr. Flex Plexico, a Pentagon spokesman, said last week. Others are at large.

The seven were among 203 detainees released from the prison at the U.S. naval base on Cuba's southeastern tip since it opened in early 2002.

Of those, 146 were let go only after U.S. officials determined they no longer posed threats and had no remaining intelligence value.

From the Sacramento Bee, with thanks to Kemaste:

Sparked by what they call credible threats, Sacramento-area FBI and immigration officials have stepped up interviews, surveillance and investigations leading up to the Nov. 2 election. Though federal officials say they're responding broadly to potential terror attacks here and nationwide, local Middle Eastern and Muslim residents argue that they are being targeted based on their race and national origin. The National Lawyers Guild office in the Bay Area, which maintains a hotline for people who have been approached by the FBI, has received three calls from Sacramento-area residents who said they were recently contacted.

"We believe efforts are being concentrated in the Sacramento area right now," said Mel Campagna, the National Lawyers Guild representative who responds to hotline calls. "The FBI came to them at home and at work. They were asking questions about people at the mosques they attend."

Last week, Keith Slotter, the special agent in charge of Sacramento's FBI office, met with area Muslim leaders to explain the effort, answer their questions and "allay any fears," he said.

It's a shame that the Muslim leaders don't feel compelled to meet initiate meetings with law enforcement officials in order to allay any fears on their side.

Slotter said the effort isn't based on people's ethnic origin or religion.

But area residents from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia call this another in a string of government initiatives that discriminate against them.

Still smarting from the recent program that required men from predominately Arab countries to report to immigration officials, local Muslim leaders say the government is selectively enforcing laws against them.

"The agenda is not going after terrorists," said Kais Menoufy, CEO and president Delegata, a Sacramento technology consulting firm. "The agenda is to intimidate Muslims and create fear among Americans."

Menoufy, a U.S. citizen originally from Egypt, attended Slotter's meeting and believes the crackdown is politically driven.

McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney in Sacramento, also attended the meeting and said federal officials are merely basing their investigations on past patterns.

"Al-Qaida is the number-one terrorist threat the nation faces. Al-Qaida is a Muslim-oriented group," he explained. "We're not targeting anybody. We're looking at the threat."...

Mustafa, a 40-year-old business owner who asked not to be identified by his full name, is one local resident who says he has been interviewed by the FBI.

Now a U.S. citizen, Mustafa came to the United States from Syria and attends mosque regularly.

In June, the south Sacramento resident said, two FBI agents came to his home and asked if they could question him.

Mustafa said they spent 10 to 15 minutes asking him what mosque he attends, what country other members of the mosque come from and whether he had any suspicious activities to report.

"I didn't have anything to hide, so I had no problem with them," he said.

But Mustafa said he received another call from the FBI agents in late August requesting another interview. This time, he called the local Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter and was referred to an attorney.

The attorney told the FBI that Mustafa didn't want to participate in the interview because he had nothing new to add.

Mustafa hasn't been contacted since but said the experience has unsettled him.

"In Syria, they targeted you for whatever reason," he said. "Here, you should be free from being targeted because of your religion or background."

Maybe you should be. But how would Mustafa advise law enforcement officials to deal with a threat that comes only from people of a particular religion?

When your friends are not your friends. From Peter Worthington in the Toronto Sun, with thanks to EPG:

Canadian soldiers attached to the Afghan National Army (ANA) have stirred up a hornet's nest in Kabul by being too efficient.

They've "discovered" a huge Soviet ammunition dump a few kilometres from Camp Julien with the potential of obliterating the camp, as well as most of Kabul....

In the dusty foothills, 10 minutes drive from Camp Julien (population 2,000), 82 buried bunkers, each 20-metres long, housed thousands of Soviet FROG missiles (one step down from Scud missiles), and every variety of rocket and mortar shells.

Some of the FROG missiles were still in their original cases. Some heaped in the open. Some stacked to the roof in the unlocked, open bunkers. Much of the ordnance had warheads removed to collect the explosive for homemade bombs -- or for blasting at a nearby quarry.

"Unbelievable!" was Maj. Brian Hynes' reaction when he saw them. "We (troops of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)) have been here some two years, and no one knew this was at our back door. Unbelievable."

In truth, the Soviet bunkers were well-known in an area supposedly under control of the Afghan Militia Force (AMF) -- not to be confused with the ANA. The AMF is paid by various warlords and so their loyalty is to them....

Many of the rockets, missiles and shells had been pried open for the explosives, which are used peacefully to blast mountain rock into gravel, and by those who want to make bombs that disrupt Kabul....

I've never seen anything like it. The feeling is that AMF soldiers were selling access to the dump or permitting friends to enter it.

Littered with burned out Soviet military vehicles, the whole area is a junk pile strewn with every sort of live ammunition, fuses, unexploded shells, rockets, etc., all supposedly under the authority of Belgian troops (at the moment), who ignored it.

In the midst of examining the bunkers and taking photos, a Swedish UN guy, a French major and a German colonel arrived to make a fuss and order the Canadians to leave. The French major insisted his government had a deal with the Afghan government for the area, and ISAF had no business being there....

"I feel foolish that for eight days we've been watching our front, when at our back all this was going on and nobody cared," said Sgt. Mazerolle.

A new report on Hamid Pourmand from AsiaNews, with thanks to Nicolei and Kemaste:

Tehran (AsiaNews) – Hamid Pourmand is a Protestant minister of the Assemblies of God Church. He converted from Islam several years ago. Since September he has been held in prison at an undisclosed location and under Iranian law he can be put to death for “apostasy against Islam”. He was arrested on September 9 in Karaj, a town 30 km west of the capital Tehran during a police raid against the annual General Council of the Assemblies of God Church.

Reverend Pourmand is 47-year-old, married with two children, and a colonel in the Iranian army based in the city of Bandar-i Bushehr (380 km south of Tehran). If brought before a court martial he could face espionage charges and sentenced to death. Although laws instituted after the Islamic revolution prohibit non-Muslims from holding officer rank, he continued to serve as an officer in the Iranian army. “Hamid did not keep his conversion secret,” a friend told Compass, “but he is an honest man and people liked and respected him.”

Pourmand was arrested along with another 86 Protestant leaders; 76 were released the evening of their arrest whilst another 9 were let go three days later. But Pourmand was the only one who is still in prison. According to eyewitnesses, Iranian police had detailed information about each one of them.

Since his arrest, Pourmand has been able to talk briefly to is wife (an Assyrian Christian) by phone and tell her that he was alright. At the time of his arrest, she and their children were in Tehran visiting relatives. Upon her return home, she found that their home had been searched and family documents and photos taken.

The September raid against the council of the Assemblies of God comes in the wake of several arrests of Christians in northern Iran in May and June.

In July 1994, Mehdi Dibaj, another minister of the Assemblies of God Church who was also a convert from Islam, was killed after spending nine years in prison for refusing to abjure his Christian faith and return to Islam.

Under Iranian law, capital punishment is reserved for apostasy, murder, armed robbery, rape and drug trafficking.

Where are the human rights organizations?

Sadik J. Al-Azm, the "apostate of Damascus," takes issue with Samuel J. Huntington's clash of civilizations thesis in a Boston Review piece (thanks to Paul Ogden and Bell):

The two supposedly clashing sides are so unequal in power, military might, productive capacity, efficiency, effective institutions, wealth, social organization, science, and technology that the clash can only be of the inconsequential sort. As one literary metaphor says, If a stone falls on an egg the egg breaks, and if an egg falls on a stone the egg breaks too. From the Arab Muslim side of the divide, the West seems so powerful, so efficient, so successful, so unstoppable, that the very idea of an ultimate “clash” is fanciful.

Al-Azm doesn't consider, however, the possibility that the side with the overwhelming technological advantages may also lack the will and the insight necessary to resist, and even properly to identify, the enemy. That for all its advantages it suffers from an internal rot that goes a long way to level the playing field.

...and, he said, a Bush defeat would enable terror to spread more easily around the world. From CNN, :

"Any unbiased observer understands that attacks of international terrorist organizations in Iraq, especially nowadays, are targeted not only and not so much against the international coalition as against President Bush," Putin said.

"International terrorists have set as their goal inflicting the maximum damage to Bush, to prevent his election to a second term.

"If they succeed in doing that, they will celebrate a victory over America and over the entire anti-terror coalition," Putin said.

"In that case, this would give an additional impulse to international terrorists and to their activities, and could lead to the spread of terrorism to other parts of the world."

The jihad in Thailand continues. From Xinhuanet, with thanks to Twostellas:

BANGKOK, Oct. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- A policeman was shot dead on Monday morning in Thailand's Muslim-dominated deep south, becomingthe latest victim of constant violence that has claimed more than 360 lives.

The 29-year-old policeman was shot by two unidentified insurgents riding on a motorcycle around 8:00 a.m. in Maikaen District of the province of Pattani, which lies some 1,000 kilometers south of Bangkok.

Also on Monday morning, one gunman opened fire at a businessmanin the capital of Pattani. The man was seriously injured.

The two latest violence was among a spate of almost daily-occurred attacks committed by motorcycle riders.

The region, home to most of Thailand's small Muslim population,has fallen into spiraling violence since the beginning of this year.

Jihad in Zanzibar and dhimmitude from the authorities. From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:

Masked men torched a Roman Catholic church in Zanzibar over the weekend, the third such attack in a week in the predominantly Muslim Indian Ocean archipelago, a church leader said on Monday.

Suspicions fell on Islamic extremists, highlighting rising Islamic militancy and growing political tensions as Zanzibar prepares for what is expected to be its most hotly contested presidential and legislative elections since the violent overthrow of the Omani Sultan in 1964.

Reverend Vincent Shiyo, a Roman Catholic priest, said four masked men torched his church on Saturday night in Mchangani, 15km from the centre of Unguja, the main island in the semi-autonomous archipelago off the coast of Tanzania.

No one was injured in the attack that destroyed the outreach parish church, Shiyo said.

The attack occurred three days after unknown assailants set fire to a Lutheran church and demolished the wall of another Roman Catholic church.

Police are investigating the attacks, but no one has been arrested, regional police chief Hamad Issa said.

"What is sad is that there is no official condemnation of the attacks," Shiyo said. "Both the police and government officials appear reluctant to condemn attacks on Christians."

In April, three Roman Catholic churches and a school van were attacked with explosive devices in Zanzibar.

In the same month, suspected Islamic militants set off explosive devices targeting a local pub, homes of government officials and Christian and pro-government Muslim leaders.

"The Muslim fundamentalists are angry at the social services that the church extends to all without discrimination," Shiyo said.

Social services extended to all without discrimination! Horrors!

A small but significant step, for while not all Muslims are jihadists, all jihadists are Muslims, and no Western state has yet dared to look at its immigration policies with this in mind. From Expatica, with thanks to Anthony:

BERLIN - The German Foreign Ministry has tightened visa regulations in reaction to this year's Madrid train bombings and the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, officials confirmed on Monday.

German diplomats will in the future take a more proactive stance in considering whether people seeking visas to visit Germany are likely to abuse the terms of the visa - or carry out illegal acts, the officials said.

Dubbed the "Chrobog Regulation" - after deputy foreign minister Juergen Chrobog - the tough, new rules will be implemented in all the German embassies and consulates in the coming weeks.

"If there is any doubt that a visa applicant may fail to return to their country of origin ... the visa will not be issued," said Chrobog...

Headline and link courtesy of Ali Dashti. Seven jihadists arrested in Spain, foiling their planned attack on Spain's High Court. From Reuters:

The seven suspects, including four Algerians and one Moroccan, were arrested in the southern region of Andalusia, the Mediterranean city of Valencia and Madrid.

Further arrests could be made in the coming hours as part of the operation against a radical and violent Muslim network, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Crusading Judge Baltasar Garzon ordered the arrests as part of his inquiry into Islamic militant cells in Spain.

The suspects had been in contact with other individuals in Europe, the United States and Australia, the statement said.

A report on Duke's Hate Fest from WND:

Speakers at a controversial Duke University Palestinian solidarity conference, which concluded yesterday, recruited students to join a terrorist-harboring organization, WorldNetDaily has learned.

The Palestinian Solidarity Movement, which reportedly works closely with the International Solidarity Movement, an organization outlawed in Israel, held its fourth annual conference to "put pressure on the Israeli government, partly by urging universities to sell their stock in companies with military ties to Israel," WorldNetDaily previously reported.

Most of the conference events were closed to the media.

Duke has been justifying its hosting of the conference, in part, by claiming the Palestinian Solidarity Movement is "separate and distinct" from the International Solidarity Movement, which openly supports Hamas, calls for the destruction of Israel, held activities in which several men who later became suicide bombers participated, and has been caught harboring known terrorists in its Mideast office – including members of Islamic Jihad.

But many documented International Solidarity Movement speakers or workshop leaders participated in this week's Duke conference, including ISM's co-founder Huweida Arraf, who tried to recruit students to join her group.

Arraf led a workshop yesterday titled "Volunteering in Palestine: Role and Value of International Activists." Arraf handed out brochures for the ISM and urged students to join the terror-supporting group, members of Duke's Conservative Union who attended the workshop told WorldNetDaily. They asked that their names be withheld from publication.

Arraf, together with seven other self-declared International Solidarity Movement members who would not state their last names, screened a slide show about ISM activism, detailed the group's two-day training session and fielded questions about the logistics of traveling to "Palestine," explaining how to fool Israeli border control since ISM members are denied entry.

Arraf also told students the ISM "happily works with Hamas and Islamic Jihad," said one Conservative Union member who attended the talk.

"This workshop, just as its title suggests, functioned as a recruiting session for the ISM, and ISM brochures and materials were distributed there," the Conservative Union member told WorldNetDaily. He pointed out that although Duke officials were present at other PSM conference sessions, no Duke administrator attended the Arraf talk.

Where are the international human rights groups? They are mentioned in this piece vaguely and in passing; why aren't they mounting an international campaign against this injustice?

From the BBC, with thanks to all those who sent this to me:

A court in Lahore found Mehdi Hassan, 36, guilty under Pakistani laws covering offences against Islam, the prophet Mohammed or the Koran.

The defendant had denied the charge, which can carry the death penalty, saying the case had arisen from a property dispute....

He was accused of burning a copy of the Koran in his yard.

Rights groups have criticised Pakistan's blasphemy laws as draconian, with the burden of proof too easy for the prosecution.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has in the past called for changes in procedures so investigators can test the validity of blasphemy accusations before cases reach the courts.

Analysts say judges are often too scared of the reaction from powerful local Islamic leaders to throw out cases.

Whoever they think did it, "the pope is our only power but doesn't help us." From USAToday.com, with thanks to Jackie:

Before Communion - the chalice and bowl were blessed on a blackened altar - the Rev. Mansur al-Mokalisy told 40 or so faithful, some in tears, not to be shaken by the latest violence aimed at Iraq's tiny and shrinking Christian minority.

"We should be strong in our hearts and work together, united," the priest said. "Thanks to our Muslim neighbors, who helped us. Let God protect our country, and let peace live in our hearts."

That is a tough message for people to accept in Iraq, where every religious and ethnic group that makes up Iraq's complex mosaic has been targeted by suicide bombs, assassinations and kidnappings.

The Baghdad church attacks reminded Christians, who represent 3% of Iraq's estimated 25 million people, of their increasing vulnerability. "They want to spark a religious conflict between Christians and Muslims, and target Christians so they will leave Iraq," said Wisam Ayoubi, a Syrian Christian professor, as he stood amid the cinders of a church on Saturday. "You can't feel free. And it's not just Christians. A lot of people are not attending classes."

Ayoubi, who graduated from New York University in the early 1980s, added: "I don't feel safe in church. Before, I used to go every Sunday. Now I don't. I have two kids, and don't want them to be hurt."

He noted the only bright side of the attacks: They were conducted early Saturday, when the churches were empty. "Everywhere there was screaming (after the blast). We went to the roof, saw the flame, and I could feel the heat from the fire on my face. Imagine if this blast happened during Mass."

Christians weren't so lucky on Aug. 1 when a string of attacks hit churches during services. At least 12 people were killed and 61 were injured. It was the first significant strike against Iraqi Christians since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Since then, Christian shopkeepers selling alcohol also have been targeted.

The tiny community is shrinking further as Christians flee the violence. Pascale Isho Warda, a Christian who is the interim government's minister for displacement and migration, estimated as many as 15,000 Christians have left the country since August, when four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul were blown up in a coordinated series of car bombings.

"People are frightened. We are an easy target," said the Rev. Yousif Thomas Mirkis, a priest and theology professor. "I compare our community to pigeons. You do that (he claps) and they all fly."

Mirkis said he has been advising people to stay in Iraq. One reason, he said, is that by his count the community accounts for 20% of Iraq's doctors and an even larger percentage of professions like engineers and professors. "We don't want our people to leave," he said. "If I leave, it will not solve the problem. What about the Muslims? They are not our enemies."

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were condemned by the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni clerical group believed to have ties to insurgents. "Islam doesn't support the ongoing terrorism," Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabbar of the association said.

Easily said, but why can't Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abdul-Jabbar convince people like Magdi Ahmad Hussein?

At the Roman Catholic church, caretaker Jamil had received warning of a threat from U.S. troops less than 12 hours before the blast. That convinced several in the area that the U.S. was responsible. "I think the Americans made this operation (to attack churches)," said Nadwa George, a Christian neighbor. "It could not be an Iraqi. Never, never."

Others believe that they are being persecuted because America is viewed as a Christian country. "Under the previous regime, we were protected, really. Now with the U.S., we are not," said Audet Abdal, who lives next door. "We can't go outside wearing any cross anymore," she said. "Since the U.S. came, (insurgents) think they are punishing America (by hitting Christians), because Americans are Christians."

Surah Samaan, a 25-year-old lab technician, said Christians are vulnerable in predominantly Muslim Iraq. "There's nobody to help us. Muslims have the support of their tribe. The pope is our only power but doesn't help us," she said.

She said she would like to leave Iraq for good. Where would she like to go? "Anywhere - out of the Arab world - where they all think we are infidels," she said.

A press release from the Australian Baha'is, with thanks to Diana:

The Australian Baha'i Community has spoken out against the destruction of sacred and historic sites in Iran. In a statement released today, the Baha'i Community describes a series of demolitions that point to a campaign of "cultural cleansing" by Iran's ruling authorities, who are determined to remove all traces of the Baha'i Faith, the country's largest religious minority.

The statement, which will appear as a half-page advertisement in tomorrow's Weekend Australian, calls on Iranians everywhere to raise their voices in protest against the destruction of Iran's cultural heritage.

The recent demolition in Tehran of the stately home of Mirza Abbas Nuri, father of Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, has prompted the Australian Baha'i Community to act. Mirza Abbas, who was born and died a Muslim, was a renowned nineteenth century provincial governor and widely regarded as one of Iran's greatest calligraphers. The statement describes the house as a "precious example of Islamic-Iranian architecture". It has been destroyed solely out of the hatred that Iran's extremist mullahs hold towards the Baha'is, who have been systematically persecuted in Iran since 1979.

Earlier this year, the gravesite of Quddus, a prominent figure in early Baha'i history, was razed to the ground despite protest from Baha'is at the local, national and international levels.

"Iranian authorities are prepared to destroy their country's cultural heritage in order to eradicate all traces of the existence of the Baha'i Faith from Iran," said Mr. John Walker, National Secretary of the Australian Baha'i Community. "These sites should be preserved for all humanity."

The Baha'i Faith is the youngest of the world's independent religions. Baha'is form the largest religious minority in Iran, with some 300,000 members. Over the past 25 years, the Baha'is in Iran have faced systematic persecution by the Iranian government. During this time other sites sacred to Baha'is have been destroyed, including the desecration of community cemeteries.

"We are drawing this issue to the attention of the public in the hope that international protest will prevent the further destruction of significant cultural and religious sites," said Mr. Walker.

Says MEMRI: "Magdi Ahmad Hussein, the Secretary-General of the Egyptian Labor (Islamist) Party, recently appeared on Al-Jazeera TV, declaring that attacks against U.S. troops and civilians in Iraq are legitimate, and that hostage taking is permitted by Islam." A few excerpts of his statetments:

"The violence is currently directed at the occupation. This is legitimate violence. This is Jihad against occupiers. 99% of the violent operations target the foreign occupation of the Arab and Islamic nation. Therefore, they are not included in the conflict with the [Arab] rulers.

"From the strategic perspective, the vast majority of operations are proper. As for Taba, as I've said, the entire Egyptian nation demands that tourists be banned from entering Egypt. It is inconceivable that Egypt has become a resort for the Israeli army.

"The Israeli army kills in Palestine in the morning and then comes to relax and gamble in Taba. Abominations that are forbidden in Israel, such as gambling, are allowed in Egypt. But the main issue is that Egypt has become a resort for the Zionist army."

'The Prisoners in Iraq - 99% of the Cases are Proper, According to Islamic Law'

"As for the hostages you spoke of, they are not hostages, sir, but prisoners. According to Islamic law, hostages can be redeemed, set free, or killed. When you are weak - you kill. The prisoners in Iraq, sir - 99% of the cases are proper, according to Islamic law. All those who were killed were agents and partners of the occupation. 75% of the hostages were released in exchange for political gains.

"So how come some voices in the Islamic movement and official clerics tell us that killing prisoners is un-Islamic? No, both the Koran and the Prophet's biography permit the killing of prisoners. This exists in our Islamic law and in the laws of all nations...."

If you read Jihad Watch regularly, you would have seen citations to that effect here.

"We are the weak ones. They make demands on us that don't exist in international law. There must be reciprocity. If your city is being bombed… Those who bomb Fallujah cannot prevent me from bombing Los Angeles. Why Fallujah? Why do we always feel inferior to them? What is the meaning of this inferiority complex? If we had missiles we should have bombed Los Angeles or any other city until they stopped bombing Fallujah, Samarra, and Ramadi.

"Sir, why do the government clerics ignore the killing of the prisoners during the time of the Prophet? 600-700 prisoners were killed in the raid on the Qurayza tribe.

"Why do they conceal this? Why do they hide the fact that the Prophet gave the order to assassinate some poets - to assassinate! Not in military operations, but rather by individual assassination.

"Why did he order the assassination of K'ab Ibn Ashraf, the Jew, leader of Khaybar? And then he ordered the assassination of the leader who successive him. As a result, the Jews became fearful and terrified."

Those 25 Chechen terrorists who just entered the US from Mexico were not the only such instance. From The Australian, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

INTELLIGENCE reports that 25 Chechen terrorism suspects have illegally entered the US from Mexico have refocused attention on a porous border from which many believe the next major attack on Americans could come.

Despite the $US9 billion ($12.326 billion) budget, and assurances from President George W. Bush that border security is tighter than it has ever been, public figures of all political stripes in the border states say the danger of al-Qa'ida infiltrating the US from Mexico has never been higher.

The Washington Times newspaper reported that a source told US intelligence officers the Chechens, seen carrying backpacks, were shepherded from northern Mexico in July through a remote mountainous region of Arizona that is notoriously difficult to patrol.

It is not known if this intelligence was behind the warning issued by the US Education Department for American schools to be vigilant after Chechen militants took over a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, last month, a tragedy that cost at least 344 lives, half of them children.

The Chechen report has angered those who have been warning for months that US borders are insecure.

"In the name of national security we must do something about our wide-open southern border," said Arizona Republican congressional candidate Stan Barnes. "We are now in a war mentality. The first duty of a country in a war situation is to protect its borders."

Experts say it is not difficult for terrorists to blend into a vast sea of an estimated 13million illegal aliens, most of them impoverished Mexicans seeking work.

To make matters worse, the Department of Homeland Security is so hopelessly overstretched that it has taken to releasing what it calls OTMs (Other Than Mexicans) because it cannot house them until it arranges for deportation hearings.

"If they're deemed not dangerous, they're given a notice to appear in court, and the border patrol agents even have to drive them to a bus station and watch these people get on buses for New Jersey or California," said Cathy Travis, a senior aide to veteran Texas congressman Henry Ortiz.

Fewer than 30 per cent of the OTMs released into the US actually show up for their hearings, meaning an estimated 400,000 illegal aliens are currently in the US after being caught and released.

Mahathir, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, thinks Jews secretly run the world, and that the United States should not interfere in the affairs of other countries. But that doesn't stop him from trying to interfere in the affairs of the United States. From IslamiCity, with thanks to L:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the past four years, during the Presidency of George W. Bush, the Muslims and their countries have suffered oppression and humiliation as never before in the history of Islam. There is an obvious connection between the sufferings of the Muslims and the policies and thinking of Bush.

We cannot expect much change to the policies of the United States of America towards Islam and the Muslims under Democrats as under Republicans. But we have a duty to ensure that Bush will not be able to determine our fate for four more years....

Dear Brothers and Sisters. Vote Bush out of office. It is truly an ibadah that you perform.

DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Former Prime Minister of Malaysia,
Malaysia

It's a shame that he resorts to this sort of thing instead of confronting the violence and radicalism within the Islamic community--as if all that Bush has done is unprovoked.

There is a fascinating exchange at FrontPage today (thanks to EPG for the link) on this question between the great (and often unjustly maligned) ex-Muslim scholar Ibn Warraq, author of Why I Am Not A Muslim, and Thomas Haidon, a convert to Islam and President of the New Zealand Chapter of the Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism.

A segment of Ibn Warraq's piece:

Islam is a totalitarian ideology that aims to control the religious, social and political life of mankind in all its aspects -- the life of its followers without qualification, and the life of those who follow the so-called tolerated religions to a degree that prevents their activities from getting in the way of Islam in any manner. And I mean Islam. I do not accept some spurious distinction between Islam and “Islamic fundamentalism” or “Islamic terrorism.” The terrorists who planted bombs in Madrid on March 11, 2004, and those responsible for the death of approximately 3000 people on September 11, 2001 in New York, and the Ayatollahs of Iran, were and are all acting canonically. Their actions reflect the teachings of Islam, whether found in the Koran, in the acts and teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, or in Islamic Law that is based upon them.

In reply to this, I think Haidon, for whom I have great respect, somewhat misunderstands Ibn Warraq's first point. Says Haidon in his piece, which he has given the anti-Warraqian title "Why I Am A Muslim":

While Ibn Waraq's frustrations with the Muslim tradition and contemporary Islam may be understandable, I strongly disagree with Ibn Waraq on his implicitly overbroad generalisation of all Muslims. I take ultimate issue with the statement: "I do not accept some spurious distinction between Islam and "Islamic fundamentalism" or "Islamic terrorism". By implication, no distinction need be made between the terrorists of Al-Queda, Fateh, Hamas and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid Group and great number of Muslims who love their religion and believe in peace and modernity. Such a conclusion is overbroad and destructive. Nonetheless, at a rudimentary level it is a perspective that needs to be understood and appreciated by moderate and peaceful Muslims (who don't exist according to Mr. Warraq's implicit rationale).

But Ibn Warraq didn't say that peaceful Muslims didn't exist. He said that the 9/11 terrorists and other Islamic terrorists acted canonically -- that is, according to core teachings of Islam. That is not to say that all Muslims are terrorists, or even that all Muslims approve of terrorism. Ibn Warraq is only saying that the terrorists are not hijacking Islam, but acting within the bounds of its traditional teachings. This is a point that Muslim reformers like Haidon must ultimately face, if there is to be genuine reform in Islam.

Haidon's reply is refreshing in one respect: he doesn't pretend that the moderate Islam he envisions already exists. He even goes so far as to say:

In brief, the most significant barrier between Islam and reform is the perceived duality of the Qu'ran and Sunnah. Most of the issues raised by Ibn Waraq in his article are compounded by aspects of the Sunnah (particularly Jihad) or are a result of direct contradiction between the Qu'ran and Sunnah (apostacy).

This is a significant admission, because most Muslims would not admit even of the possibility that the Sunnah could contradict the Qur'an. It is not all that must be done, but it is a beginning.

Haidon continues:

If Muslims derived their inspiration exclusively from the Qu'ran, and formulated a new authoritative moderate and liberal tafsir, terrorism and extremists would be minimalised. As Daniel Pipes aptly pointed out in a recent article, Muslims have the opportunity to create a new slate and turn what Islam has become into a religion consistent with humanity, liberalism and modernity (as I believe was intended) or continue the status quo of totalitarianism.

Yes. They have the opportunity, but they have not yet grasped this opportunity. The American government and law enforcement establishment, abetted by the media, tries to ascribe to "bigotry" the idea that this moderate Islam does not yet exist -- but here is a Muslim acknowledging as much.

Read the whole exchange.

They are attacking female students because of the dictates of the Sharia -- in other words, for the same reason they are attacking Iraqi Christians: they want both groups to resume the subservient places dictated for them by Islamic law. And note that non-Muslim women are also being forced by these threats to wear the veil. From the Washington Times, with thanks to EPG:

BAGHDAD — Islamist extremists are targeting the city's universities by threatening and even attacking female students who wear Western-style fashions, setting off bombs on campuses and demanding that classes be segregated by sex.

At least 1,000 of an estimated 3,000 women who want to postpone their studies for fear of violence will be granted leaves of absence, a student affairs official here said.

Guards at al-Kindi University in Baghdad last week arrested a man carrying nearly 10 pounds of TNT in a bag.

"The terrorist admitted that he belongs to an Islamic group," university security chief Sameer al-Sumaidai said. "When we asked him about the one who sent him, he replied, 'It is God who sends me.' "

Pamphlets found on campus declared: "If the boy students don't separate from the girl students, we will explode the college. Any girl student who does not wear a veil, we will burn her face with chemicals."

At Mustansiriya University, a bomb exploded earlier this month in the college of sciences, injuring two students, one seriously.

The explosion occurred shortly after pamphlets also appeared on that campus demanding that men and women students be separated and that women abandon Western clothing and cover their heads when in public.

Two days later, student Rana Fuad was abducted as she was leaving the campus. Within an hour, the young woman, still dressed in blue jeans, was found unconscious at the college gate.

Miss Fuad stopped going to classes and refuses to talk to the press.

"Rana is in bad psychological condition," friend Sheatheh Ahmed said. "She was kidnapped by three masked men who told her they would burn her face with chemicals if she puts on such clothes again, and that this was her last chance."

The campaign of intimidation already is leading to an exodus of students from campuses.

"According to the reports of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, 3,000 women students want to postpone their studies for this academic year because of the lack of security and the threats," said Ali Abdul Zahra, the official in charge of student affairs in Baghdad.

He said the ministry will approve leaves of absence for at least 1,000 women.

Some female students feel obliged to wear the veil when going to and from school for fear they will be identified and targeted by terrorists watching outside the gates.

Even non-Muslim women, who are not normally expected to cover their heads in a strict Islamic society, do not escape the threats, students said.

Vian Kiryakus, a Christian electrical-engineering student at Baghdad University, wears a veil outside the college when waiting for her father to give her a ride home.

"I have no choice but to wear the veil; the terrorists keep watching and targeting the unveiled girl students," Miss Vian said.

"The terrorists get more powerful day by day," said Fadwa, a Christian chemical-sciences student at Baghdad University who asked to be identified only by a single name. "They can put their threats into practice. I'm afraid of them because I know what they mean by 'chemical liquid.' "

In order to fight Islamic radicalism. From AFP, with thanks to Anthony:

DUSHANBE (AFP) -- President Vladimir Putin opened Russia's first military base in Tajikistan on Sunday in a bid to boost Moscow's defense in former Soviet territories that have become overrun by Islamic insurgency and a growing drug trade.

Made up of 5,000 troops, it will represent the largest military base outside Russia's border, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said at the flag-raising ceremony, underscoring Moscow's safety concerns about the region. At the ceremony, held just north of the Afghan border, Putin pledged that "the base will boost peace and stability in Central Asia and throughout the former Soviet republics."

Its most important goal is to "neutralize terrorist and extremist attacks, and also help in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime," he said.

From Jamie Glazov's interview with John J. Miller, coauthor of Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America's Disastrous Relationship with France, at FrontPage:

FP: Let’s talk a little bit about the Islamization of France. We’ve got native French girls in certain communities, where Muslims are the majority, that now wear the veil because of the frequent occurrence of physical harassment, attack and rape. What’s going on here?

Miller: There are now about 5 million Muslims in France. They’re roughly 8 percent of the population. They’re a growing population, too. If current demographic trends hold, France could be a majority-Muslim country sometime this century. Unlike the United States, France does not have a proven tradition of assimilating large numbers of foreign-born people into its national traditions. As a result, we see the French struggling with how to integrate these newcomers. Their policies often badly misfire, as with the current attempt to ban headscarves from public schools--a senseless whack at religious expression that tends to generate resentment rather than promote French patriotism. No matter how the French address this matter, there’s no getting around the fact that France’s Muslims will have an increasingly large influence on French politics--and potentially provide Chirac and his crowd with a new electoral incentive to oppose American policies in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Sandro Magister in Chiesa on the Vatican, Turkey and the EU (thanks to Anthony):

ROMA – The Vatican has so far abstained from any official comment on the preliminary go-ahead given on October 6 by the European Commission to negotiations for the possible entry of Turkey into the European Union.

The secretariat of state responds to private inquiries from diplomats that it has no preconceived reasons to oppose a decision by the European Union to admit Turkey, on the condition that the country respect stated democratic norms and guarantee more religious liberty, particularly for the Christian minorities, than is currently the case.

But opinions in the Vatican are clearer than the official position. Some are opposed, and a growing number of others are in favor.

RATZINGER'S "NO"

One source of opposition is a highly authoritative Vatican official: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Ratzinger has recently voiced his opposition on two occasions: in an August 13 interview with "Le Figaro Magazine," and in a speech on September 18 to the pastoral workers of his titular diocese, Velletri, which was published in the Catholic newspaper of the Swiss town of Lugano, "Il Giornale del Popolo."

In both cases, he specified that he was expressing his own opinion, not that of the Holy See.

Ratzinger told Sophie de Ravinel of "Le Figaro Magazine":

"Europe is a cultural continent, not a geographical one. It is its culture that gives it a common identity. The roots that have formed it, that have permitted the formation of this continent, are those of Christianity. [...] In this sense, throughout history Turkey has always represented another continent, in permanent contrast with Europe. There were the wars against the Byzantine empire, the fall of Constantinople, the Balkan wars, and the threat against Vienna and Austria. That is why I think it would be an error to equate the two continents. It would mean a loss of richness, the disappearance of culture for the sake of economic benefits. Turkey, which is considered a secular country but is founded upon Islam, could instead attempt to bring to life a cultural continent together with some neighboring Arab countries, and thus become the protagonist of a culture that would possess its own identity but would also share the great humanistic values that we should all acknowledge. This idea is not incompatible with close and friendly forms of association and collaboration with Europe, and would permit the development of unified strength in opposition to any form of fundamentalism."

In his speech in Velletri, as reported by "Il Giornale del Popolo" and by a dispatch from the news agency ANSA on September 20, he repeated:

"Historically and culturally, Turkey has little in common with Europe; for this reason, it would be a great error to incorporate it into the European Union. It would be better for Turkey to become a bridge between Europe and the Arab world, or to form together with that world its own cultural continent. Europe is not a geographical concept, but a cultural one, formed in a sometimes conflictual historical process centered upon the Christian faith, and it is a matter of fact that the Ottoman empire was always in opposition to Europe. Even though Kemal Ataturk constructed a secular Turkey during the 1920's, the country remains the nucleus of the old Ottoman empire; it has an Islamic foundation, and is thus very different from Europe, which is a collection of secular states with Christian foundations, although today these countries seem to deny this without justification. Thus the entry of Turkey into the EU would be anti-historical."

There is much more. Read it all.

The ringing of Church bells is, of course, forbidden in Islamic law. From VOANews, with thanks to Susan:

The strength and character of Iraqi Christians was evident Sunday when they answered the call of bells and prayed in churches that had been bombed just the day before.

It was a brave and determined act of solidarity in the name of God. About 100 parishioners of St. Joseph's Catholic church in Baghdad held Sunday services, just one day after the church was almost completely destroyed by a powerful bomb.

"We carry on as we did before. Its just symbolic, to say that whatever they do to us, or to others, we carry on believing in God and praying," said Father Vincent, the priest at St. Joseph's.

Parishioners consoled one another and hugged. And, when the small choir of young girls began to sing, only but a few managed to hold back their tears.

With tears in his eyes, the 13-year-old alter boy, Avil Nabil says the bombing of his church is so terrible. He asks, "what did we do to have this happen to us?" He said he was crying when he saw what happened because, he said, this is a sacred place, a holy place. He said, this is a house of God.

Saturday, five churches in Baghdad were attacked with bombs. At St. Joseph's, the resulting fire gutted the church. The explosion blew gaping holes in two walls and shattered all of the structures stained glass windows.

Saturday, few would have believed services could be held the very next day.

But, in a near non-stop effort, parishioners gathered at the church and worked throughout the night to clear away enough of the charred debris so that Sunday services could be held as scheduled.

The Economist, a publication that has already shown that its understanding of Islamic radicalism is zero minus eight degrees, does it again in a gushing piece subtitled "How Muslim fundamentalism has a thoroughly modern streak" (thanks to Ming the Merciless for the link). In this love letter to Olivier Roy and Gilles Kepel, two French scholars of Islam whose optimism evidently outstrips their objectivity, they seem to think that because young European Muslims prefer halal hamburgers to traditional Muslim fare, they will eventually forsake jihad. No mention is made, of course, of the fact that modernity and jihad have coexisted quite well so far — witness the sophisticated use of computer code techniques and other effluvia of modern life by jihadists.

This, of course, gives the lie to the common idea underlying this piece, that jihadism is a rejection of modernity. It is not so much a rejection of modernity as of non-Islamic culture, which happens to be modern. But jihadists will happily appropriate the technological creations of those they hope to conquer.

The results of this high-octane brainwork are not always appealing to English-speakers; but when the topic is political Islam, and the authors are among the leading French (and international) authorities on the subject, people who care about the future of the world can hardly fail to prick up their ears. They will not be disappointed. Neither Olivier Roy nor Gilles Kepel conforms to any stereotype of the Parisian egghead, yet they make full use of Gallic gifts in their latest analyses of the Islamist response, whether peaceful or violent, to the liberal, capitalist West.

At the heart of both works is an understanding of a central paradox: in all its varieties, whether political, pietistic or warlike, Muslim neo-fundamentalism is an essentially modern phenomenon. The more stridently it calls for a return to the “old-time” religion of 1,400 years ago, with all later additions removed, the more contemporary this movement looks.

In “Globalised Islam”, published in French in 2002 and newly issued in an updated and revised English version, Mr Roy takes a broad look at the way in which militant Islam is expressed and organised in a world where people, ideas and electronic messages move swiftly across borders that used to be sealed. As he convincingly argues, the striking revival of outward piety among the second generation of families which have moved from Islamic countries to the West does not in any way imply a slowdown of modernisation. Precisely because traditional cultures, societies and extended families are breaking down, both among immigrants and in their home countries, a younger generation of Muslims in the West is attracted by the idea of a simple, stentorian version of their faith, stripped of the cultural accretions that were built up in the “old country” over many centuries, and compatible with modern patterns of consumption.

To take one crude example, young European Muslims are more likely to demand halal hamburgers at their school than to take an interest in the elaborate recipes by which forebears in Pakistan or Algeria broke their fasts. For angry, restless young Muslims, a back-to-basics version of the faith can be a way of protesting against their parents as well as against their host societies; it fills the same space as radical leftism did in a previous French generation, and as counter-cultural rap does in America's ghettos. Even suicide bombing, whose indifference to individual life might seem deeply unmodern, is presented by Mr Roy in a contemporary light. As he argues, the culture of suicide attacks—as fostered by al-Qaeda and its imitators, and promoted on their websites—has a self-indulgent, me-generation flavour about it. The narcissistic characters who carried out the September 11th attacks were no exception to this....

OK, so they were narcissistic. But modern? Me-generation? Hardly: John Paul Jones encountered suicide attacks by Muslim Turks in 1788 (thanks to Looney Tunes for the citation):

“…for it was the intention of the Turks to attack us and board us, and if we had been only three versts further the attempt would have been made on the 16th [June 1788] (before the vessel of the Captain Pacha ran aground in advancing before the wind with all his forces to attack us,), God only knows what would have been the result…The Turks had a very large force, and we have been informed by our prisoners that they were resolved to destroy us, even by burning themselves, (in setting fire to their own vessels after having grappled with ours.) [note added by Jones: Before their departure from Constantinople, they swore by the beard of the Sultan to execute this horrible plan…if Providence had not caused its failure from two circumstances which no man could forsee.”]

That's from John Paul Jones’ Letter to Prince Potemkin, June 20, 1788, from Life and Character of John Paul Jones-A Captain in the Navy of the United States, John H. Sherburne, 1825, p. 308.

The Economist concludes:

Yet Mr Kepel ends on an unexpectedly upbeat note. It is possible, the author suggests, that European Islam might evolve in new ways that could co-exist with modernity, asserting its distinctiveness without pretending, dishonestly, to live in another century. If that happy scenario were to unfold, Muslims and non-Muslims alike would need a keen sense of what modernity and tradition really mean. In the development of such an understanding, both these books can make a large and highly intelligent contribution.

I hope that Islam does indeed evolve in new ways. But this will not happen because Muslims stop "pretending...to live in another century." The methods of the global jihadists show that they aren't really doing that at all. A new Islam will only evolve if Muslims confront the sources of jihad violence and renounce them. But you won't hear that from Roy or Kepel — or The Economist.

I don't know anything about what Frank Meyer said beyond the single word quoted here, if it is a quote, but this sort of suit stifles the dialogue that must be held about Sharia and Muslims' intentions for the future of Swiss secularism. From IslamOnline, with thanks to Twostellas:

BERN, October 17 (IslamOnline.net) - Switzerland’s Green party has sued veteran Swiss journalist Frank Meyer over his anti-Islam writings.

The party’s parliamentary bloc, led by Cecil Buhlman, accused the journalist of not only assailing Islam in violation of the anti-racism laws, but also undermining the country’s religious harmony protected by the constitution.

In a weekly column published in Sonntagsblick newspaper on September 5, Meyer, a staunch supporter of Israel, described Islam as a "terrorist" religion.

He was recently fined 25,000 Swiss franks ($2,000) over unsubstantiated charges for the Swiss national exhibition authority of squandering public funds.

Sonntagsblick had shunned a request by the Green Party to publish an article to refute Meyer's allegations.

It argued that the party’s lawsuit had killed all chances for a peaceful settlement of the issued outside the courtroom....

Islam is the second religion in Switzerland after Christianity.

The country is home to 350,000 Muslims representing a sizable 4.5 percent of the country’s some eight million people, in addition to more than 10,000 illegal Muslim immigrants.

Turks represent 43 percent of the Muslim community in Switzerland, followed by the Balkan people with 36 percent.

Memo to the BBC: why are these guys declaring allegiance to a non-existent group? From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) The most feared militant group in Iraq, the movement of terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, declared its allegiance to Osama bin Laden on Sunday, saying it had resolved a dispute with al-Qaida over strategy and vowing unity against ''the enemies of Islam.''

The question of al-Zarqawi's relationship to bin Laden and the al-Qaida leadership has been the subject of considerable speculation. Some experts believed al-Zarqawi who has claimed to be leading a bloody campaign of bombings against U.S. and Iraqi forces and beheadings of American hostages considered himself a rival to bin Laden.

The authenticity of the statement, found Sunday on an Islamic Web site, could not be independently confirmed.

The statement, which began with a Quranic verse encouraging Muslim unity, said the Jordanian al-Zarqawi, leader of the Tawhid and Jihad group, had been in contact with bin Laden eight months ago and ''viewpoints were exchanged'' before the dialogue was interrupted.

''God has soon blessed us with a resumption in communication, and the dignified brothers in al-Qaida understood the strategy of Tawhid and Jihad,'' the statement said.

It announced the ''allegiance of Tawhid and Jihad's leadership and soldiers to the chief of all fighters, Osama bin Laden,'' declaring that it would follow his orders without question.

''You are the best leader for Islam's armies against all infidels and apostates,'' said the statement by the group, whose name means ''Monotheism and Holy War'' in Arabic.

The statement said the announcement was being made at the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, ''at a time where Muslims need more than ever to stick together in the face of the religion's enemies.''

''It's good tidings for our nation ... to tease the infidels and scare the enemies of Islam.''

A strange story from News14Charlotte.com, with thanks to Kemaste:

The holes were discovered Monday night after the Airbus plane landed at Orlando International Airport. Flight 309, from San Francisco, had stopped in Charlotte before heading to Florida.

FBI agents in Charlotte said the plane was flown back to the Queen City, where maintenance crews got a chance to look at the holes.

The damage was first thought to be bullet holes, but it was later presumed to be maintenance-related. Special Agent Sara Oates, who is based in Florida, said the FBI is still investigating, though.

A spokesperson for Orlando International Airport said a baggage handler discovered the holes while unloading luggage.

Wynn Mabry, Mecklenburg County’s director of homeland security, credits the person who spoke up.

"It's a higher index of suspicion,” he said Friday. “There's all sorts of explanations about how holes can occur in a plane, from picking up debris on takeoff to encountering some problems in the air. But the reality is they ought to ask the question, because we are concerned about a ground threat."

The lineaments of this case have become all too familiar: a charity that is not what it seems, charges of discrimination and profiling from the defense, etc. From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- Two pretrial rulings will limit the defense for a prominent Muslim doctor accused of setting up an illegal charity and violating U.S. sanctions by sending money to Iraq. U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue ruled that attorneys for Dr. Rafil Dhafir cannot argue that he was selectively prosecuted because of his religion.

Government prosecutors also won a ruling that prevents Dhafir's attorneys from delving into the government's motive for originally investigating Dhafir.

Deveraux Cannick, Dhafir's lead attorney, acknowledged the rulings were a setback but said he remained confident Dhafir would be vindicated....

Cannick has argued the government singled out Dhafir for a three-year investigation because he was an Iraq-born Muslim and when it failed to link him to any terrorists or terrorist groups, it charged him with fraud to save face. Furthermore, Cannick said other individuals and corporations that sent money to Iraq have faced only civil penalties, not criminal charges.

Dhafir's trial is scheduled to start Monday. Five other defendants, including his wife, have pleaded guilty.

Dhafir, 56, of Manlius, is accused of conspiring to violate the U.S. embargo against Iraq. He also is charged with defrauding Medicare out of $274,000 through his former Rome oncology practice and evading $400,000 in federal income tax payments by writing off the illegal charity donations.

Dhimmitude in the holy month, as protests mount against the visit of a legitimate representative of a sovereign state. From Haaretz, with thanks to Twostellas:

CAPE TOWN - Hundreds of Muslims in South Africa marked the start of the holy month of Ramadan with marches Saturday to protest a visit next week by Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert is expected in the country next week to discuss strengthening economic ties with South Africa.

"Suddenly economics is more important than human suffering," said Mandla Sishi of the Palestinian Solidarity Group, which helped organize a demonstration in Cape Town, one of three major cities where rallies were staged.

"We call on our government to cease negotiations with Israel. Impose sanctions on Israel now," Sishi told a crowd of about 500 people gathered outside the District Six mosque at the foot of Table Mountain.

But sanctions is not all they want:

Marchers waved placards reading, "Death to Israel," "Sharon the butcher" and "Stop the holocaust in Palestine."

"Death to Israel" and "Stop the holocaust in Palestine"? So some holocausts are better than others, eh?

According to KIROTV.com (thanks to Twostellas), a Pakistani cab driver named Muhammad Qasum Lala has been given 17 months in prison for sneaking illegal immigrants into the U.S. across the border with British Columbia.

Hmmm. I wonder where the people were from that Muhammad Qasum Lala brought into the United States. And I wonder also where they are now, and what they're doing.

Ibrahim Nafi, editor of the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram, sounds like Noam Chomsky: everything that happened is the West's fault. But his arguments ring hollow when he suggests it's all about Israel; Israel didn't even exist when the first modern Islamic terrorist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, was founded in the 1920s. And of course, all his rage about the blackening of the reputation of Islam is not directed toward Osama, Omar Bakri, Abu Bakar Bashir, and the like, but against non-Muslims who report about the words and deeds of such men. (In that he reminds me of Mustafa Akyol, who warned that non-Muslims must not talk about Islam's violent elements, or else Muslims would turn violent!) Note also his vehement opposition to the idea that Islamic textbooks and curricula should be reformed to mitigate the violence they inspire. Here are some of Nafi's statements in his new book, from MEMRI:

"Barely a day goes by without news of the anti-Muslim hate campaign in the West. Opinion pundits have gone so far as to exhort the extermination of Muslims and the dropping of nuclear bombs on Mecca. Newspapers, radios, televisions, textbooks, and even some houses of worship are awash with proclamations equating Islam with terrorism and insinuations that Islam sanctions invasion, murder, and the perpetuation of untold other evils and that it is, therefore, a religion that cannot be tolerated…

"This latter-day crusade, a violent and coercive drive to compel Islamic nations to bow to values and systems that are inimical to their needs and history, constitutes the true terrorism of today. It is terrorism practiced by states and, as such, is qualitatively different to the terrorism practiced by individuals beneath the guise of Islam. The West, and specifically those that are at the helm of their empire of evil, are the real terrorists. It is they who have unleashed Jihad, or holy war, in its most horrific and lethal manifestations…...

"… Meanwhile, many intellectuals in Islamic nations, including non-Islamists, maintain that the West is currently engaged in a war of annihilation against Muslims or, at the very least, in a drive to 'forcefully remove the Arabs from history.' This drive is perceived as the culmination of previous such attempts, beginning with the Crusades and Mongol invasions… However, these intellectuals predict that the campaign that is currently in progress to expel Muslims from history and, hence, from geography, will fail as dismally as its predecessors…

"One of Western colonialism's strategies for extending and consolidating its control over the Islamic world is the deliberate distortion of the image of Islam. It is a two-pronged strategy aimed, on the one hand, at blackening the reputation of Muslims and Islamic countries in the eyes of the Western public in order to garner support for aggressive policies against Islamic peoples and nations and, on the other, seeks to undermine the faith and creed of Muslims, instilling in them a sense of inferiority. The desired effect is to render Muslim populations more docile and acquiescent to the changes forced upon them by the ostensibly more civilized and enlightened West…"

U.S.-Backed Reform is Not Welcome

"... Against this background, increasingly strained relations between Muslims and the West were inevitable, made all the more so when the West overstepped the red line with appeals to change religious education curricula in Saudi Arabia and Egypt on the grounds that religious academies in these countries bred terrorists. Perhaps the most glaring example of this transgression is the so-called Powell initiative.

"… Powell pointed out that the perpetrators of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the U.S., which claimed thousands of American lives, had been nurtured on extremism in the Arab world. This situation, he argued, demanded that the U.S. approach the Arab world with recommendations for reforms to prevent the emergence of extremists…

"The initiative comprised many points covering issues from improving the life of women and children in the Arab world to economic and financial reform… Although I do not take issue with its general principles, the initiative nevertheless includes elements that caused many to question its true intent and the reasons why it was launched at this specific time… ...

'Muslim Peoples have Come to the Conclusion that an Empire of Evil [the West] Threatens Them'

"… Nevertheless, in a deft slight of hand to draw attention away from the real sources of terrorism, the West has worked to obfuscate the boundary between terrorism and national resistance movements. Most notably, it has branded the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements struggling to liberate their territory from Israeli occupation as terrorist. Nor is it willing to allow any attempts to suggest the contrary, as is evident in the refusal to hold an international conference to discuss the distinction between terrorism and the internationally sanctioned right to resist occupation and in Western leaders' refusal to discuss the subject in international conferences…

"Diverse internal and external factors have interwoven to give rise to terrorist groups in Islamic countries. Foremost among these is the failure of political, economic, and cultural systems to meet the growing needs and aspirations of their citizens, a crisis that has been aggravated by the economic vice the new global economic order has clamped on these nations' economies. In addition, the models for socio-political organization taken from the West have proved inimical to the customs and spiritual needs of the peoples of these countries, whether based on capitalist or socialist principles. Simultaneously, the full spectrum of Arab nationalist ideologies has also failed to produce an alternative. As for the external factors, perhaps the most incendiary has been Israel's aggressive territorial expansionism and its genocide of the Palestinian people. The emergence of terrorism is also a response to the more general Western drive to re-subjugate independent Islamic nations, whether through the encroachment of rampant capitalism or by more straightforward acts of violence. In the face of the tyranny being unleashed by the West, and by the U.S. in particular, against the Islamic world, it is little wonder that Muslim peoples have come to the conclusion that an empire of evil threatens them and their countries with annihilation, marginalization and, ultimately, expulsion from history.

"… There is no doubt that the U.S. is deeply disturbed by the Islamist challenge to America's perception of the new world order and its hegemony over predominantly Muslim regions…"

'Hatred is a Western Export that has been Marked Return-to-Sender'

"The events of 11 September stirred up latent phobias in the West with regard to Muslims and Islam. The upsurge in anti-Muslim hate campaigns and the violence that has been unleashed against Islamic nations was bound to generate a commensurate counter reaction…

"… Muslims do not hate the U.S. and the West without reason. They hate the West because of its attempts to marginalize, oppress, and exploit them and to give Israel power over them. Hatred is manufactured in the West. It sprouted during the Crusades, matured during the colonialist invasion, and flourished with the drive to Americanize the world. Hatred is the engine driving domination and hegemony and it is the tool used to denigrate Muslims in order to facilitate this quest.

This is the student who caused controversy by insisting on competing in Muslim dress. I hope she will be safe now; there are many Muslims who take seriously the traditional death penalty for apostates. From The Oregonian, with thanks to Michelle Hudson:

Andrea Armstrong, the college basketball player whose desire to compete covered in Muslim clothing caused a national controversy, says she has returned to the Christian faith in which she was raised.

In a letter to the editor of The Oregonian e-mailed Oct. 6, Armstrong wrote that loneliness and distance from her family led to her conversion to Islam. Armstrong, who attended the University of South Florida in Tampa, is from Lakeside, about 90 miles southwest of Eugene on the Oregon coast.

"I know that my actions caused great controversy over the past few weeks," Armstrong wrote. "I had no idea that a decision that I thought I was making for myself would reach out so far beyond myself and affect so many."

Armstrong did not respond to interview requests. The letter is Armstrong's first public comment since a Sept. 15 statement that she was leaving the team.

Armstrong converted to Islam in June, according to a Sept. 11 story in the St. Petersburg Times. She began wearing a head scarf, long pants and long-sleeved shirts in keeping with the religion's traditions.

Armstrong and USF basketball coach Jose Fernandez agreed that she would not wear traditional Muslim clothing in games, according to the Times.

Yet when Armstrong, 22, returned to school in August, she told the coach she wanted to adhere to her faith, according to the Times. She showed up for team photos Aug. 30 fully covered.

What happened next is in dispute.

Fernandez told The Oracle newspaper of USF that Armstrong quit the team that day to pursue her faith.

Armstrong told the Times that Fernandez said wearing long clothing would make her teammates uncomfortable and that Islam oppressed women. She also said Fernandez called her parents and told them she had joined a "cult." Armstrong told the Times that she left over the dispute about her clothing.

Fernandez declined the Times' request to comment and did not return a message from The Oregonian.

School officials said they would seek a waiver from NCAA guidelines to accommodate her dress, and Armstrong quickly returned to the team.

Yet on Sept. 15, four days after news broke of the alleged dispute about her clothing, Armstrong issued a statement saying she had quit the team because she did not want the issue "to cause further distraction."

Ahmed Bedier of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Armstrong had contacted for support, was quoted at the time as saying that Armstrong's real reason for leaving the team was fear. Bedier said that Armstrong received hate-filled e-mails denouncing Islam, and that one man waved a newspaper story while following her in a car as she drove home on a scooter.

A man waving a newspaper story and hate e-mails are deplorable, but just by way of comparison, does Ahmed Bedier reject the death penalty for apostates?

Mercy is not a tool in their box. From The Sunday Times:

UP TO 20 people suspected of taking part in an operation to free the British hostage Ken Bigley have been murdered in a purge of the terrorist group headed by Iraq’s most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, it was claimed yesterday.

A senior Iraqi resistance source in al-Zarqawi’s stronghold of Falluja said two Syrian guards had helped the 62-year-old Liverpool-born engineer to escape after he was held at a mosque on the edge of the city.

Their car was halted for routine checks by insurgents with links to al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group before they could reach the safety of an area under American control.

According to the resistance source the Iraqis recognised Bigley, who was disguised in Arab dress.

Al-Zarqawi is said to have been incensed that his group had been compromised and ordered the insurgents to behead Bigley.

Instructions were given that the murder should be filmed and presented to resemble as closely as possible the beheadings of Bigley’s American companions, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley, who had been abducted with him in Baghdad three weeks earlier.

The Syrian guards were handed over to senior Tawhid and Jihad members for further interrogation and were killed later, along with as many as 18 suspected collaborators.

"Pakistan's chickens have come home to roost." From Asia Times, with thanks to EPG:

BANGALORE - Last week's tit-for-tat suicide attacks by sectarian extremist groups in Pakistan mark not only a dangerous new high in sectarian violence in the country, but a changing battlefield, one where suicide bombers are more frequently being utilized. With there being no dearth of volunteers for suicide missions - in some attacks more than one suicide bomber has been used - the possibility of a surge in such attacks in the coming months cannot be ruled out....

What is particularly worrying about the recent spate of violence is that Shi'ite and Sunni extremist outfits are now deploying more suicide bombers to settle scores. In the past, they used guns and bombs against their rivals. This changed in July last year, when for the first time Sunni extremists carried out a suicide attack inside a Shi'ite mosque in Quetta, killing at least 50 and injuring more than 60 others. Apparently the attackers first opened fire on the worshippers, simultaneously hurling hand grenades at them. When police opened fire on the assailants, two of them who had explosives strapped to their bodies blew themselves up.

Subsequently, militant groups in Pakistan used suicide bombers to target Musharraf as well as Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. On December 25 last year, two militants tried to ram their vehicles, each loaded with 20-30 kilograms of explosives, into Musharraf's car as his motorcade drove through Rawalpindi. They missed their target, but the explosion left 15 civilians dead and 45 injured.

Prior to the July suicide attack in Quetta, suicide attacks were used by Pakistani militant groups either in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir - local Kashmiris are said to have carried out only 2% of the suicide attacks, the rest being the work of Pakistanis or Afghans - or against Western targets and Christians in Pakistan, such as the May 2002 suicide blast that killed 11 French engineers in Karachi and the June 2002 suicide blast outside the US consulate in Karachi.

Islam frowns on suicide. Yet Islamic extremists have gotten around this problem by describing suicide attacks as acts of martyrdom. They have been justified as attacks on "infidels" and therefore a part of jihad. A suicide mission in which the bomber is able to take the lives of Westerners and Indians is thus not un-Islamic. Members of a rival sect, too, are regarded as infidels and therefore their killing through a suicide attack is not un-Islamic.

Mosques, processions and rallies have become vulnerable targets of suicide attacks by rival sectarian outfits. Since the aim is to create terror and maximum damage to the rival sectarian group, suicide bombers target mosques on Fridays, when thousands of worshippers attend prayers. And unlike suicide bombers elsewhere who simply detonate their explosive-strapped bodies, Pakistan's sectarian suicide bombers first hurl grenades and shoot into the crowd to inflict maximum damage, then top off their operation by detonating themselves. They are also known to position themselves near pillars so that the explosion will bring down the roof causing more casualties.

Pakistan's police have their hands full trying to protect the many thousands of mosques and processions from suicide attacks. They have raided several terrorist hideouts for potential bombers. But the terrorist network is far too complex and widespread to fight. They are now seeking the help of the public to eliminate suicide bombers. Early this month, police in Pakistan's Sindh province issued guidelines on how to spot a suicide bomber. The guidelines point to anyone wearing thick clothes (to conceal the explosives), mumbling to himself (praying) or being freshly shaved and perfumed (in preparation for burial). Most suicide bombers are young - between 17 and 30 years of age.

So far all suicide bombers have been male, but the possibility of women joining their ranks seems only a matter of time. In an article titled "Jihad and Roses" in the Pakistani newsmagazine Newsline, the author cites a report submitted to the Interior Ministry that speaks of an Uzbek woman named Aziza who is said to be training female suicide bombers in northern Pakistan. Aziza is the widow of Obaidullah, an activist belonging to the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan who was apparently killed in the army operations in South Waziristan this year. Ansari also draws attention to two Pakistani sisters, Arifa, 20, and Saba, 18, who left home in July after telling their family members that they were embarking on a suicide mission and have been missing since. The two girls are nieces of Gul Hassan, the brain behind the suicide attacks in Karachi in May. Hassan, an activist of the Sunni Lashkar-i-Jhangvi who is now in custody, apparently revealed that he had "prepared" at least two girls for suicide missions and that they were waiting for orders regarding who their targets would be.

What complicates tracing female suicide bombers such as Arifa and Saba, who come from deeply religious and conservative backgrounds, is that there are no photographs of them. Orthodox Muslims are against human images. Consequently, police have no photographs to help them track potential female suicide bombers. Besides, many women in Pakistan wear burqas, which conceal their faces.

It was an organization - the Jaish-e-Mohammed - that was launched by the Pakistani government in early 2000 that introduced suicide missions to Pakistani cadres. Set up to target India, the Jaish-e-Mohammed is among the best-funded terrorist groups active in Jammu and Kashmir today. Its first successful suicide operation was against India and took place on December 25, 2000, when 24-year-old Bilal, a Muslim from Birmingham who joined the jihad in the mid-1990s, rammed his explosives-laden car into the Indian army's headquarters in Srinagar, killing nine people.

The Jaish-e-Mohammed's expertise in suicide terrorism has spread to other terrorist groups active in Pakistan. The human bombs originally designed and nurtured to rip India apart are now exploding inside Pakistan. Pakistan's chickens have come home to roost.

This is just what the Beslan jihadists wanted: to trigger war in the Caucasus. From The Moscow News, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Last week, Tanik Kuizev buried a niece who was among hundreds of those who died after a North Ossetian school was seized by raiders, among whom were members of a rival Ingush ethnic group. After Wednesday, he vows, he will bury an Ingush to be killed in retribution, The Associated Press reports.

Fears are high that Ossetians will seek bloody revenge for the more than 330 people - more than half of them children - who died in the maelstrom of gunfire and explosions at the school on Sept. 3.

Russians traditionally observe 40 days of mourning after a death. Wednesday is the 40th day, and Ossetians say the end of the mourning period could herald an outbreak of inter-ethnic violence in days to come.

"There will be violence. It won't be noisy. It will be quiet - one person at a time," Kuizev said as he wandered through the burned-out husk of the school, stepping over flowers and stuffed animals left in memory of the victims.

Although Kuizev's 12-year-daughter was among the hostages, she survived. But that hasn't softened his anger.

"They say, 'forgive, forgive.' How do you forgive something like this? How do you explain this? Forgive? No way," Kuizev said.

"It's not a secret that we are waiting" for the end of the 40-day period, said 67-year-old Sergei Tandaleyev of the village of Sunja.

"We will demand that (the Ingush) leave. All of them," he said. If they don't, "there will be war."

From Omaha.com, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

CHICAGO - Some Chicago-area Muslims have launched their own talk radio program, deciding it will be the best way to break down stereotypes about their faith.

"Whenever I hear the word 'Muslims' in the news, it is always followed by something negative, a car bombing in Iraq . . ." said Jenan Diab, producer of "Radio Islam," which debuted recently on WCEV-AM (1450). "We want something positive for Muslims."...

Producer Abdul Malik Mujahid agreed:

"For example, people think many Muslims don't condemn beheadings and terrorism," he said. "We condemn it every day, but nobody hears about it."

I am not among those who think that Muslims don't condemn beheadings and terrorism, but I am aware, in light of some vague wording and obvious loopholes in some of these condemnations, and also because of the Islamic practice of taqiyya, or religious deception, that some people have legitimate concerns about just how sincere and encompassing these condemnations are. I'm also concerned, as my exchange with Mustafa Akyol illustrates, about the ability of moderate Muslims actually to stand up to and refute radical Muslim justifications for their actions.

Accordingly, although I know it's gauche to invite onself anywhere, I'd like to offer my services as a guest on this new radio show. I would be ready with some pointed questions, but if these questions were answered satisfactorily, this station would go far toward achieving its apparent goal of reassuring non-Muslim Americans about Muslims and Islam. Diab and Mujahid are welcome to contact me at director@jihadwatch.org.

Islam sanctions slavery, and the situation in Sudan is evidence that at least some Muslims still take that quite seriously. From The Seoul Times, with thanks to Anthony:

ABYEI MOU, Sudan, May 3, 2004 — 56 boy slaves were liberated at the end of April from the cattle camps of Arab nomads in the borderlands between northern and southern Sudan. Their liberation was a joint action undertaken by CSI and the Arab-Dinka Peace Committee based at the borderland market town of Warawar. The boys had been abducted during government sponsored jihad slave raids against Black African, non-Muslim communities in northern Bahr El Ghazal.

Upon releasing the slaves, the head of the Baggara cattle camps between the Bahr el Arab and Lol Rivers, Shegir Al Agar, claimed that the boys had been very happy with their masters, whom they affectionately called "father."

However, interviews with the boys revealed a clear pattern of physical and psychological abuse. They reported cases of beatings, stabbings, boy rape, racial insults, death threats, and forcible conversion to Islam.

A 12-year-old slave named Piol recalled:

My master (Ibrahim Mohammed) told me not to ask about my mother and father, and ordered me to call him "father." Whenever I displeased him, he beat me. Once he hit me on the head with a cow's horn. Another time, he burned me on the arm. Sometimes he refused to allow me to eat. Ibrahim's son, Khalid, also bullied me. He threw stones at me, and called me "dog," "bastard," and "slave." Ibrahim made me go to Koranic school. The teacher, Mohammed Razik, said that we should forget about the religion of our people and become Muslims. Otherwise, we would be infidels.

Alamoudi, friend of presidents; Alamoudi, America's leading moderate Muslim; Alamoudi, primary exponent of the American Muslim community, confidant of those who cherished his friendship for its power to bring Muslim votes their way. From AP, with thanks to Teri:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A prominent Muslim activist who admitted participating in a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s crown prince was sentenced Friday to the maximum 23 years in prison for illegal business dealings with Libya.

Abdurahman Alamoudi, 52, pleaded guilty in July to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from high-ranking Libyan officials while serving as a go-between for them and Saudi dissidents.

While Alamoudi was not charged in connection with the alleged scheme to kill Crown Prince Abdullah, prosecutors cited the plot as reason for him to receive the maximum sentence.

“This conduct is so base, so reprehensible that this defendant deserves every day of prison that this court will impose upon him,” government attorney Steven Ward said.

Defense lawyer Stanley Cohen asked for leniency and Alamoudi said he was sorry.

“Your honor, I regret my involvement in everything,” Alamoudi said before U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton imposed the sentence.

That's funny: so do I. I regret that he ever had the ear of Clinton or Bush. I regret that he was ever a player in Washington.

Instead, he faces prosecution in Britain for his jihadist activists. Of course, I don't know what he has done in secret, but search for him here at Jihad Watch and you will see that what he has done in public is hair-raising enough. From The Telegraph, :

Abu Hamza, the Muslim cleric wanted by the Americans for alleged terrorist offences, is to face a prosecution in the British courts that will sideline the United States extradition.

It is understood that the case against Hamza will be brought substantially under criminal, rather than terrorist legislation.

The most serious allegation is believed to involve alleged incitement to racial hatred. There may, however, also be a charge under one of the "lesser" provisions of the Terrorism Act 2000, which has a range of charges according to sources.

As Ramadan begins, some Muslims in Iraq see causing more mayhem to be a religious act -- and so life continues to be perilous for the Christians of Iraq. From AFP, with thanks to Kevin:

IRAQ'S tiny Christian community was targeted in a string of blasts at churches around Baghdad today, while a medic was killed when a mortar round exploded outside a hospital.

As chaos returned to the streets, US and Iraqi troops held firm to positions around the rebel hub of Fallujah, west of the capital, in the hunt for Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi - the country's most wanted man who is blamed for some of the deadliest attacks here since last year's invasion.

In an apparently coordinated attack on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan, the church of Saint Joseph was hit at about 4am local time (11am AEST) followed by similar explosions over the next two hours outside four others.

One of the buildings, the Roman Catholic St George's church in the central Baghdad district of Karrada, was engulfed in flames, leaving the wood-built sanctuary completely charred.

"My family and I fled from the fire," said the church's priest Nabil Jamil Sulaiman, wandering around the mangled debris.

"Thanks God, there were no wounded or dead."

On the wall inside the charred remains of the church could be made out some words from the Bible talking of the broken body of Jesus Christ.

Monsignor Emmanuel Delly, the patriarch of the Chaldean Church, expressed the fears of his beleaguered community, who were the victims of a similar attack at the start of August that left 10 people dead and 50 injured.

"If the government is powerless, what can we do?" Monsignor Delly said.

"We call on them (attackers) not to touch the holy sites."...

Iraq's Christian community - which makes up just three per cent of the majority Muslim population - has been heavily targeted in the unrest that has swept Iraq following last year's US-led invasion and many have fled....

US troops arrested yesterday a Sunni Muslim cleric accused of preaching holy war (jihad), the military said.

His ethical judgment seems to be about as good as his recent movies. Maybe he doesn't find politics "profound enough" because of the moronic simplicity of his flattening of all moral distinctions. From Der Spiegel, with thanks to Anthony:

I just don't find political topics profound enough to deal with as an artist. After all, the entire history of mankind consists of murders. It's just the cosmetics, the decoration that changes. In 2001, a few fanatics killed Americans, and now Americans are killing a few Iraqis. When I was a child, the Nazis killed the Jews. Now the Jews and the Palestinians are killing each other. Over the thousands of years, politics is too fleeting an affair, too unimportant, because everything repeats itself. But I'm a citizen, so of course I'll vote.

An argument against democracy if I ever saw one.

Jihad Watch doesn't exist either; the tooth fairy told me so. From The Guardian, with thanks to Kemaste:

Since the attacks on the United States in September 2001, there have been more than a thousand references in British national newspapers, working out at almost one every single day, to the phrase "dirty bomb". There have been articles about how such a device can use ordinary explosives to spread lethal radiation; about how London would be evacuated in the event of such a detonation; about the Home Secretary David Blunkett's statement on terrorism in November 2002 that specifically raised the possibility of a dirty bomb being planted in Britain; and about the arrests of several groups of people, the latest only last month, for allegedly plotting exactly that.

Starting next Wednesday, BBC2 is to broadcast a three-part documentary series that will add further to what could be called the dirty bomb genre. But, as its title suggests, The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear takes a different view of the weapon's potential.

"I don't think it would kill anybody," says Dr Theodore Rockwell, an authority on radiation, in an interview for the series. "You'll have trouble finding a serious report that would claim otherwise." The American department of energy, Rockwell continues, has simulated a dirty bomb explosion, "and they calculated that the most exposed individual would get a fairly high dose [of radiation], not life-threatening." And even this minor threat is open to question. The test assumed that no one fled the explosion for one year.

During the three years in which the "war on terror" has been waged, high-profile challenges to its assumptions have been rare. The sheer number of incidents and warnings connected or attributed to the war has left little room, it seems, for heretical thoughts. In this context, the central theme of The Power of Nightmares is riskily counter-intuitive and provocative. Much of the currently perceived threat from international terrorism, the series argues, "is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services, and the international media." The series' explanation for this is even bolder: "In an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power."

Adam Curtis, who wrote and produced the series, acknowledges the difficulty of saying such things now. "If a bomb goes off, the fear I have is that everyone will say, 'You're completely wrong,' even if the incident doesn't touch my argument. This shows the way we have all become trapped, the way even I have become trapped by a fear that is completely irrational."

So controversial is the tone of his series, that trailers for it were not broadcast last weekend because of the killing of Kenneth Bigley. At the BBC, Curtis freely admits, there are "anxieties". But there is also enthusiasm for the programmes, in part thanks to his reputation. Over the past dozen years, via similarly ambitious documentary series such as Pandora's Box, The Mayfair Set and The Century of the Self, Curtis has established himself as perhaps the most acclaimed maker of serious television programmes in Britain. His trademarks are long research, the revelatory use of archive footage, telling interviews, and smooth, insistent voiceovers concerned with the unnoticed deeper currents of recent history, narrated by Curtis himself in tones that combine traditional BBC authority with something more modern and sceptical: "I want to try to make people look at things they think they know about in a new way."

The Power of Nightmares seeks to overturn much of what is widely believed about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. The latter, it argues, is not an organised international network. It does not have members or a leader. It does not have "sleeper cells". It does not have an overall strategy. In fact, it barely exists at all, except as an idea about cleansing a corrupt world through religious violence.

Curtis' evidence for these assertions is not easily dismissed. He tells the story of Islamism, or the desire to establish Islam as an unbreakable political framework, as half a century of mostly failed, short-lived revolutions and spectacular but politically ineffective terrorism. Curtis points out that al-Qaida did not even have a name until early 2001, when the American government decided to prosecute Bin Laden in his absence and had to use anti-Mafia laws that required the existence of a named criminal organisation.

I've actually expressed skepticism here about the blaming of so many attacks on Al-Qaeda, and I think it's quite likely that it's a looser organization than many assume. However, does that mean that there is no threat? That all this has been exaggerated by cynical Western politicians? I wonder if anyone believed that on March 11, 2004 in Madrid.

From AP, with thanks to Kemaste:

WOLCOTT, Conn. -- FBI agents raided the home of a Waterbury Islamic leader as part of an investigation into a Sudanese charity that federal officials recently accused of supporting Osama bin Laden and other terrorists.

Majeed Sharif, president of United Muslim Mosque, would not discuss what investigators took from his Wolcott home on Wednesday. But he told The Associated Press that he did volunteer work for the Islamic African Relief Agency, a charity the Bush administration said Wednesday was financing terrorism.

Sharif, 57 referred all other questions to his attorney, who said Sharif has done nothing wrong.

"He is an absolutely amazing humanitarian and person," attorney Rosa C. Rebimbas said Thursday. She would not discuss the search.

The FBI confirmed it executed a search warrant in Wolcott but would not identify the address. Federal agents also searched the Islamic African Relief Agency's office in Missouri on Wednesday.

Bryan Sierra, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said the Connecticut and Missouri searches were part of an ongoing investigation.

"There is no danger or immediate threat to the local community," Sierra said.

The Treasury Department said the charity, headquartered in Khartoum, Sudan, and five of its officials "provided direct financial support" for bin Laden. It also alleged that the group "engaged in a joint program with an institute controlled by (bin Laden) that was involved in providing assistance to Taliban fighters."

Sharif, who is active in local charities and in the Connecticut Islamic community, is not named by the Treasury Department. No charges have been filed and documents related to the search are sealed.

You can listen at the Laurie Roth Show website, as well as on many stations around the country. I'll be hosting the show from 7PM to 9PM Pacific Time; that is, 10PM to Midnight EST.

I hope to hear from you. The call in number is 1-800-837-9680.

The latest adventures of the Dhimmicratic candidate, from Joe Kaufman and Larry Klayman:

The November Presidential elections are weeks away, and the quest to get out the vote is in full swing. But when some swing voters have links to radical Islam, motives for eliciting their support must be questioned.

An e-mail announcement, dated October 13th, was sent out by the President of the Muslim Student Organization (MSO) of Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Asmaa Metwally. It stated the following: “Former Ambassador Osman Siddique, a representative from the John Kerry campaign will be coming to the Pompano Beach Masjid this coming Saturday, October 16th at 7pm (iftar time), to rally up the Muslim vote for John Kerry.”

It’s surprising that Asmaa Metwally would be the dispatcher of an announcement for a campaign for President of the United States, as his name appears on an endorsement of another event put on by the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM), a group that has, on numerous occasions, turned a blind eye towards terrorist attacks against innocent Israeli civilians.

But then, as we read on, in the e-mail, we find out that the Kerry event is being hosted by a Dr. Maged Metwally, an obvious relation to Asmaa.

Following this bit of information comes the real surprise. The event – again, an event for a campaign for President of the United States – is being held, as stated in the e-mail, “in coordination with the Pompano Beach Masjid and CAIR.” As the former announcer of the New York Yankees, Phil Rizzuto, would say, “Holy Cow!”

CAIR or the Council on American-Islamic Relations is an organization that purports to be a harmless civil rights group fighting against discrimination of the Muslim community. Yet, evidence shows that CAIR is nothing more than a Militant Islamist organization.

CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), an organization that was founded by current HAMAS leader Mousa Abu Marzook. CAIR’s Executive Director, Nihad Awad, himself, has stated that he supports HAMAS.

Numerous leaders of CAIR have been cited for their involvement in nefarious activities. They include:

• Ghassan Elashi (founding board member of CAIR’s Texas chapter) – was Chairman of Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), which was shut down by the United States for raising millions of dollars for HAMAS; in July of 2004, was convicted of conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements about shipments of high-tech equipment to countries deemed state sponsors of terrorism
• Randall Todd “Ismail” Royer (national staff member of CAIR) – past Communications Director of the Muslim American Society (MAS), an organization that publishes materials calling suicide bombings against Israelis justifiable; in April of 2004, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his participation in a network of Al-Qaeda-related militant jihadists centered in Northern Virginia
• Bassem Khafagi (CAIR’s Community Director) – was co-founder and past President of the Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA), an organization that has been investigated for possible funding to terrorist-related groups and publishing of materials calling for suicide bombings in the United States; in November of 2003, was sentenced to prison for bank fraud and making false statements on his visa application; was later deported to Egypt
• Rabih Haddad (fundraiser for CAIR’s Ann Arbor chapter) – was co-founder and past Executive Director and Public Relations Director for Global Relief Foundation (GRF), which was shut down by the United States for its financing of terrorist groups, specifically Al-Qaeda; was arrested by INS for visa violations, in December of 2001, and was later deported to Lebanon
• Siraj Wahhaj (national board member of CAIR) – in February of 1995, was named by federal prosecutor, Mary Jo White, as a possible co-conspirator to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center; was a character witness for Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life sentence for his part in the ’93 bombing conspiracy; currently sits on the board of directors of the radical Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)

Steven Pomerantz, former FBI assistant director and chief of the FBI's Counter-Terrorism Section, has stated, “CAIR, its leaders, and its activities effectively give aid to international terrorist groups.” And “CAIR is but one of a new generation of groups in the United States that hide under a veneer of ‘civil rights’ or ‘academic’ status but in fact are tethered to a platform that supports terrorism.”

Why would John Kerry, a candidate for President of the United States, allow himself or his campaign to be involved with such a group as this? And will a vote for John Kerry for President mean a vote for CAIR in the White House, as well?

Joe Kaufman is the Chairman of Americans Against Hate. Larry Klayman is the former Chairman and General Counsel of Judicial Watch and previously a candidate for U.S. Senate in Florida.

Here is Mustafa Akyol's latest reply to my piece here, and my reply to his reply:

A Reply To Robert Spencer - And A Search For Creative Tension

After my article on Frontpage, titled Still Standing For Islam - And Against Terrorism, Robert Spencer, the editor of the Jihad Watch website posted a rebuttal. He argued that Islam is indeed the legitimate source of terrorists such as al-Qaeda, and my arguments can't persuade those militants to stop their violence.
I wonder how the arguments of Mr. Spencer can help the same cause, but that is trivial for now. Let me explain what I really say and what I really want to do.

In a nutshell, what I am trying to do is to show that the current terrorism under the name of Islam is not legitimate from an Islamic point of view. By doing so, I want to refute two diametrically opposing camps: Islamist terrorists and some of the harsh critics of Islam. Interestingly, both camps agree that Islam is a cult of violence, whereas for me, and for hundreds of millions of Muslims around the globe, Islam is a path to God. We just wish to cleanse that path from the distortions of the politically oriented radicals and intolerant bigots.

When I say terrorism (or authoritarianism) is not legitimate from an Islamic point of view, I mean the Islamic ideal that I believe in, and which is based on the Koran, besides everything else. Of course, there are Muslims who think that evils such as attacks against American or Israeli civilians, kidnappings, bombings, repressive regimes or anti-Semitism are legitimate. They are obviously out there, as we all know. I am trying to de-legitimize their doctrine. I am not trying to 'cover up' militant Islamists, as I have been accused for on the Jihad Watch.

Mr. Spencer also quoted the "Muslim Q&A" website, which promotes compulsion in religion. Well, I am horrified by such views, which I believe to be totally contradictory to the spirit of the Koran and I am ready to stand against them.

Yet Mr. Spencer insists that such efforts won't persuade the militants to have a farewell to arms or the fanatics to accept freedom of worship. He is right. I don't expect al-Qaeda militants to weep and repent when they read what I, or what many other moderate Muslims -- most of them much more qualified then myself -- write. But we can, Lord willing, persuade the Muslim masses that are confused about what to believe; confused whether al-Qaeda and its ilk are brave heroes of Islam or a bunch of bigoted zealots.

Moreover, while we moderates can't probably convert militants into peaceniks, it is very probable that portraying Islam as a cult of violence will help converting non-violent Muslims into militants. The majority of the world's Muslims, who believe that their religion demands peace, will be horrified to see what they will perceive as anti-Islamic propaganda and will be prone anti-Western sentiments. Please let's be careful about this.

Mr. Spencer also criticizes me for defining an Islamic case of just war. He writes,

Likewise, Akyol's contention that "the war verses describe only an abnormal state of affairs -- in which the Muslim community faced an enemy that sought its annihilation -- and verses that promote peace and tolerance describe the Islamic ideal" will do nothing to pacify radical Muslims, since they have argued again and again that today the Muslim community faces an enemy that seeks its annihilation.
Well, defining a concept of just war cannot prevent fanatics to distort the current reality and raise a false justification. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, for example, the justification was that they undertook military intervention in response to an official request for help by the Afghanistan government, and also fulfilling treaty obligations under the terms of the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty. On paper, that could sound legitimate. In reality, it was an obvious distortion of facts. The problem was not the theory on paper, rather the Orwellian method of misinterpreting real events.

What al-Qaeda and its ilk do is to distort both the Islamic doctrine of war (on paper), and the current events. In a forthcoming article of mine, I explain why it is a big distortion to present the U.S. as the enemy of Islam while it saved Muslims from slaughter or starvation in many recent conflicts, such as Bosnia, Kosovo, Somalia and Afghanistan (during the Soviet Invasion.)

In other words, it is not my fault if militants distort the doctrine of just war, but I am determined to stand against that, too.
Mr. Spencer also questions my opposition to the doctrine of abrogation (naskh), which holds that some Koranic verses are abrogated by the later ones. He says that doctrine is rooted in the Koran. That is a common view, but I and other critics of abrogation don't think so. As also explained in the article that I linked to in my recent Frontpage piece, that abrogation in question should be better understood as the abrogation of previous revelations by the Koran.

Mr. Spencer also criticized me for quoting hadiths and sira, while I "rejected" them at the same time. But I did not say I reject these secondary sources of Islam; I said I "question" them. This means I believe that we can refer to these sources to learn about the works of Prophet Muhammad, but since they are very late collections, they might well include untrue stories and we can be critical and selective on them. And this is not a completely unorthodox view. As I pointed out in my recent Frontpage article, even the very conservative Al-Azhar is reconsidering to purify the sources of hadith from "the strange, the false and from forgery."

Mr. Spencer also argued that I "dismissed the Armenian genocide... in order to avoid ten years in prison as mandated by law in [my] native Turkey." I don't know how Mr. Spencer can figure out my motives. In fact, I don't care about any penal law while building my arguments. If I had believed that the tragedy in 1915 was "Armenian Genocide", I would have said that. (Well, some people say that in Turkey, such as my university professor Halil Berktay, and they are obviously not in jail.) Mr. Spencer even used the horrific term "Holocaust denial" to describe my position on the Armenian issue. I am confident that in this "Holocaust denial," my references are not notorious pro-Nazis like Ernst Zündel or Arthur Butz, but esteemed historians such Bernard Lewis and Daniel Pipes.

However, despite all these, I should say that I appreciate Mr. Spencer's commentary on my writing. He has pointed out some points that I should have stressed more or clarified. Thus, I believe that all these rebuttals and counter-rebuttals I have with Mr. Spencer...and all the comments about me at Frontpage and Jihad Watch stirs a "creative tension", which is indeed fruitful, as long as it does not turn into to a blind exchange of accusations and counter-accusations.

I believe that Mr. Spencer's Jihad Watch will never decline to such a one-sided, bigoted point of view. After all, if you watch something, you have to look through a fair lens in order to see it right.
As far as it goes that way, I am glad to be "watched" -- since my "jihad" (struggle) is focused on saving Islam from militancy and bigotry.

* Mustafa Akyol is a political scientist, columnist and writer from Turkey. He is also a director at the Intercultural Dialogue Platform, based in Istanbul. He can be reached at akyolmst@superonline.com

And my response:

Jihadists 4, Akyol 0

By Robert Spencer

Mustafa Akyol, in his fourth essay and latest reply to me, says that I "argued that Islam is indeed the legitimate source of terrorists such as al-Qaeda, and [his] arguments can't persuade those militants to stop their violence." Akyol adds: "I wonder how the arguments of Mr. Spencer can help the same cause, but that is trivial for now."

Actually, it is not trivial at all. It is the core of Akyol's objections to my arguments, and central to our differing perspectives. Akyol says: "In a nutshell, what I am trying to do is to show that the current terrorism under the name of Islam is not legitimate from an Islamic point of view." I applaud any such efforts whenever they are genuine and effective; my objections to Mr. Akyol have nothing to do with the fact that he is trying to delegitimize the radicals. But for such attempts, whether by Mr. Akyol or anyone else, to be worthwhile, they have actually to refute the arguments from the Qur'an and Islamic tradition used by Islamic radicals. If they don't do this, then they don't show that terrorism is illegitimate from an Islamic perspective, and fail at Mr. Akyol's stated purpose.

How, then, can my arguments help Akyol's cause? By compelling him to make them stronger. If I can see holes in them from the standpoint of Islamic theology and tradition, Islamic radicals can see them too, and many more. If Islamic moderates wish to succeed, they simply must not leave these holes open.

Akyol adds: "I want to refute two diametrically opposing camps: Islamist terrorists and some of the harsh critics of Islam. Interestingly, both camps agree that Islam is a cult of violence, whereas for me, and for hundreds of millions of Muslims around the globe, Islam is a path to God. We just wish to cleanse that path from the distortions of the politically oriented radicals and intolerant bigots." And later in his piece he says, "The majority of the world's Muslims, who believe that their religion demands peace, will be horrified to see what they will perceive as anti-Islamic propaganda and will be prone [to] anti-Western sentiments. Please let's be careful about this."

So evidently Western non-Muslims must not point out the elements of Islam that give rise to violence, lest non-committed Muslims will perceive us as anti-Muslim and become violent themselves. This is, of course, self-contradictory (for if they are against the violence in Islam, they should not oppose someone who opposes it with them) and palpably absurd (for if they are really non-violent, how can nothing more than a perceived insult make them violent?).

Akyol acknowledges that his efforts "won't persuade the militants to have a farewell to arms or the fanatics to accept freedom of worship," but he says he is going after the silent majority of Muslims who are confused. Once again, I applaud his efforts -- but he surely knows that Osama and other radicals use carefully constructed arguments from the Qur'an and Islamic tradition to buttress their views. The "Muslim masses" can read those as well as I can; if Akyol's counter-arguments can be easily refuted by the radicals, how will they convince the masses?

Later, Akyol notes that I criticized him for quoting hadiths and sira right after rejecting them. He says: "I did not say I reject these secondary sources of Islam; I said I 'question' them. This means I believe that we can refer to these sources to learn about the works of Prophet Muhammad, but since they are very late collections, they might well include untrue stories and we can be critical and selective on them. And this is not a completely unorthodox view. As I pointed out in my recent Frontpage article, even the very conservative Al-Azhar is reconsidering to purify the sources of hadith from 'the strange, the false and from forgery.'" That's fine, but what Al-Azhar is doing is nothing new. The sifting of true ahadith from false ones has gone on ever since there have been ahadith. There are many ahadith among the Sahih Sittah, the collections generally accepted as most reliable by Muslims, that contain exhortations to jihad warfare against Jews, Christians, and others. Does Mr. Akyol think that these are all weak ahadith? If so, how will he convince Muslims to reject material from the revered collections of Bukhari, Muslim, and other respected sources? This is not a rhetorical question; I hope he has an answer, and am looking forward to seeing it.

As for the Armenian genocide, I believe that Bernard Lewis was justly prosecuted in France for his denial (although I abhor such speech laws), and I do not think he is an unimpeachable source, given his marked and uncritical affection for Ataturkism. I refer objective readers to The History of the Armenian Genocide by Vahakn N. Dadrian.

In sum, I appreciate Mr. Akyol's efforts to oppose radical Muslims. But if he really hopes to delegitimize violence in Islam, he has to construct an Islamic argument strong enough to refute radicals -- something he says he has no hope of doing. If he cannot do this, how can he expect Muslim moderates to follow him? I devoutly hope for fundamental and global reform in Islam, but it can only come from a definitive repudiation of everything Islamic that gives rise to terrorism. Mr. Akyol is not there yet; I do hope he arrives someday.

A press release from Citizens for Peace and Tolerance, the courageous group fighting the Islamic radicalism that seems to be tied up with the new mosque in Boston:

The recent announcement by the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB), which acknowledges and confirms some of the significant issues raised by the Citizens for Peace and Tolerance(CPT), is a welcomed first step by the new ISB board. We are encouraged that the ISB board has responded in a more positive manner this time to the issues we raised.

However, it falls significantly short of what is needed to allay our serious concerns. We believe that the ISB must take decisive actions to honestly demonstrate that it has renounced the radical ideology of its founders and leaders. These should include the following:

1. Condemn Fitaihi's anti-Semitic writings and dismiss him from the ISB board
2. Provide full disclosure of sources of funding for Mosque and related conditions associated with funding. Given the tangled web of financing and multiple layers in which many radical organizations and their associates and founders operate; it is very difficult to determine who really controls certain Muslim institutions.
3. Develop the Mosque Library to be a model for teaching and preaching moderate, tolerant Islam. Radical, hateful literature does not belong in a house of worship.
4. Reject teaching of wife beating.
5. Disavow the Muslim Brotherhood and Wahhabism ideology.
6. Condemn the teaching and ideology of Alamoudi, Qaradawi
7. Condemn all suicide bombing as being un-Islamic. Suicide bombing ,any where, against anyone, for any reason is un-Islamic
8. Make this mosque a model of moderate and tolerant Islam for the nation and the world.
9. Invite moderate Islamic scholars, as well as Christian and Jews to preach and teach about tolerance. The mosque should be a model of transparency and openness by making its texts, sermons, teaching in both English and Arabic available to the public

By taking the above noted actions, CTP believes that this could be an opportunity for moderate Muslims in the Boston community to assert their voice and influence the ISB. Dr. Mansour, an Islamic scholar, noted “ I hope and pray that the ISB new leadership is sincere in their pronouncements. We know that many radical Islamist practice “Taqieah” which sanctions saying what you have to say, but which you don’t believe, to protect yourself and what you really believe. The ISB has an opportunity to demonstrate its sincerity by properly responding to our concerns in their public statements both locally and globally in both English and Arabic.”

For More Information Contact:
Dennis Hale, Steve Cohen
Phone: 617-686-9913
Citizens for Peace and Tolerance
www.HateFreeAmerica.com

From the New York Daily News, :

Anti-terror officials were called in last night after cops stopped a man carrying a fake passport and $40,000 in cash and money orders at the Manhattan-bound entrance to the Battery Tunnel, sources said.

The 25-year-old man, who lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, was pulled over in his 1988 Ford truck for not wearing a seat belt around 8 p.m., the sources said.

The man, who said he was originally from Michigan, refused to answer questions. "I ain't telling you nothing," he said, according to the sources.

From ICT.org, , who asks, "Perhaps now USA can stop giving funds to the UN's UNRWA?"

Hamas published a statement condeming the US and designating it as an enemy country after the US vetoed a resolution in the UN security council that would have unilaterally condemned Israeli military action against the group in the Gaza Strip.

The raids followed a series of rocket attacks on the southern town of Sderot, during which two Israeli toddlers were killed.

The United States vetoed a resolution condemning the Israeli military action against Hamas cells in the Gaza strip. U.S. Ambassador John Danforth cast the U.S. veto after British and German efforts to find compromise language failed....

In a press release in Arabic on its official web, Hamas leaders said:
"Hamas is condemning the U.S vote and stating that Hamas considers the U.S as an enemy and as an accomplice to the Israeli enemy aggression against the Palestinians. Hamas regards the U.S position as a criminal act that puts her in a confrontation with "weak" nations. The U.S will face responsibility for its position as an accomplice with Israel to the animosity.)

Source:
http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/hamas/statements/2004/6_10_04_1.htm" href="http://www.palestine-info.info/arabic/hamas/statements/2004/6_10_04_1.htm"

"Absurd" not to fear attacks, says the PM's security advisor. From the National Post, :

OTTAWA - The Prime Minister's national security advisor told a major security and intelligence conference yesterday it would be "absurd" to believe terrorists will not attack Canada.

"Osama bin Laden has publicly identified Canada as a country he believes his followers should attack," Robert Wright said. "He ranked Canada as fifth out of seven countries and every other country on that list has already been attacked.

"The Bali and Madrid bombings are examples," he said.

"So this is not someone else's problem. And experience shows that it's absurd to think that these attacks could not happen here. The Air-India and Ressam cases demonstrate that the dangers within Canada are real."

Ahmed Ressam was the al-Qaeda-trained Montreal resident who built a massive bomb in Vancouver and tried to smuggle it into the United States to blow up Los Angeles International Airport. He was caught by a U.S. Customs officer.

Lee Kaplan at Front Page (thanks to JJP Mackie) has a full report on the hate-fest this weekend, and Daniel Pipes' speech at Duke yesterday. A few highlights:

Duke University, under the leadership of its president, Richard Brodhead, and most notably its Vice President for Governmental Affairs, John Burness, continues to whitewash the anti-Semitic and anti-American event still scheduled for this weekend on the Durham campus despite misrepresentation by the organizers over the event’s real purpose. The Palestine Solidarity’s conference, far from being an academic exercise in freedom of speech and academic freedom, will be a training session for anti-Semites and those seeking to support the Insurgents in Iraq who kill U.S. soldiers. It will be an event where attendees will learn how to conduct civil disobedience that can include the destruction of campus property and to support terrorists overseas while the organizers train others to recruit more of their same ilk on campuses all over the United States and Canada.

What is amazing is that Duke’s administrators seem so intent the event go forward they are practically telling outright lies to the public. On the Duke University official website and advertising for the event, whatever the organizers want the public to believe is posted or whitewashed to look good, courtesy of the University.

For example, Duke ran a statement that “Kill the Jews!” was not shouted at one of the previous conferences at the University of Michigan. After Front Page furnished John Burness with a signed legal affidavit, plus one eyewitness account by a Michigan attendee and proof that two newspapers had verified such epithets occurred, Burness altered Duke’s website to say only that “some other people have claimed such statements were made in Arabic ” and only after citing some unnamed faculty sources at Michigan who allegedly said it never happened. The fact those faculty sources may have had a part in bringing the event to the Wolverines’ campus was completely ignored....

Duke’s administrators, like a broken record, continue to cite the event as a model of open dialog and freedom of speech. The question is, “Open dialog and free speech for whom?” Duke states the event has no speech codes as long as things remain civil. But the organizers openly talk of ejecting people who do not talk in “consensus building” speech, no matter how civilly. How can one build “consensus” when the event’s Guiding Principles are full of doublespeak endorsements of terrorism and the destruction of Israel, they refusal to condemn terrorism, and call for civil disobedience?

And from Daniel Pipes:

Durham, North Carolina- Daniel Pipes, the head of the Middle East Forum and an advisor to President Bush in the War On Terror, spoke tonight at Duke University prior to the Palestine Solidarity divestment conference that is taking place here this weekend.

The subject of his lecture was “The Palestinian-Israeli War: Where Did It Come From and How to End It.” As a preface to the actual speech, Dr. Pipes expressed his umbrage about the upcoming Hate Fest by stating, “ I am appalled that the administration at Duke University allowed the Palestine Solidarity Movement to hold this event.”

He continued by thanking the Duke Conservative Union for the great research they did in two open letters sent to Duke President Richard Brodhead condemning the event, and by illustrating how at past conferences the speakers and organizers, as well as two current speakers at this weekend’s event, Charles Colson and Fadi Kiblawi, have both openly encouraged suicide bombings and terrorist attacks against Israelis. He also pointed out that six people actively involved in the organization of the event are members of both the International Solidarity Movement that aids PLO terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza. Campus Vice President for Governmental Affairs at Duke, John Burness, has consistently tried to maintain that the ISM was not a part of this conference, even though some of the organizers openly admit their membership and affiliations.

Pipes briefly commented on the history of the conflict, and pointed out that when Israel began in 1948 it was based on a socialist past akin to political attitudes so prevalent on campuses today. The Soviet Union had actually supported the creation of Israel at that time along with many leftist groups. He told how the kibbutzim, farm movements and labor party actually dominated Israeli politics for the first 30 years of the Jewish state. He mentioned how numerous American liberals supported the nascent country, such as Harry Truman and others from the Democratic Party. He then pointed out how conservatives like Dwight Eisenhower were ambivalent about Israel.

He continued by explaining that from 1970 to about 1990 support for Israel by both political parties in the U.S. was virtually indistinguishable, but that during the 1990’s there was a new distancing by liberals from Israel. This coincided with a warming of relations with conservatives that has been a counterweight to the coldness and opposition Israel is now facing more often in the U.S. and other countries. He discussed the Durbin Conference where Israel was unfairly condemned as a racist state and violator of human rights by many of the most oppressive regimes in the world and how since then the Left is condemning Israel more and more. As an example, he cited the situation on U.S. campuses where Israel is routinely attacked, clearly a reference in part to the Palestine Solidarity Hate Fest scheduled this weekend. He called for a reclamation of our universities to bring them back to mainstream education rather than to a biased emphasis on left wing views.

Read it all.

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer takes issue with yet another piece by the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof this morning at FrontPage:

“My father said, ‘O.K., beat her.’ I’d never been beaten like that in all my life. My uncle and cousins were all beating me. ... They broke my head, and I was bleeding.”

These are the words of Ellaha, a 19-year-old Afghan girl whom the intrepid New York Times pundit Nicholas Kristof encountered in a detention center for women in Kabul. Her crime was trying to flee Afghanistan rather than accept an arranged marriage to her cousin.

In Kristof’s narrow and inextricably partisan little world, this, like everything else, is George W. Bush’s fault: “The entire jail” where Ellaha is incarcerated, he notes, “is a kaleidoscope of woe. It’s been two years since President Bush declared that in Afghanistan, ‘Today, women are free.’ But that’s news to the inmates.”

Women do have a decidedly better situation in the new Afghanistan than they did under the radical Muslim Taliban regime: many have resumed their educations, and even some employment opportunities have opened up for them. But evidently Kristof and the Times expected Bush to wave his wand and remake Kabul into Manhattan, with burqas magically transformed into mini skirts and tongue piercings.

But it’s likely that this latest round of Bush-bashing from Kristof, as ludicrous as it is, stems as much from an inability to look at the real source of Ellaha’s woes than from blind hatred for the incumbent. In his entire meditation on the beating and mistreatment of women in Afghanistan, the egregious Kristof of course never once mentions the Qur’an, with which Ellaha’s father, uncle, and cousins are doubtless deeply familiar. It stipulates: “Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them” (Sura 4:34). If, therefore, Ellaha’s male kin had reason to “fear rebellion” from her, they considered themselves completely within their rights to “scourge” her.

This verse is not are not a thing of the past. In 2000 a retired Turkish Muslim cleric, Kemal Guran, sparked a controversy in that secularized Muslim nation with a passage in his booklet, The Muslim’s Handbook. According to the BBC, “the booklet, published by the Pious Foundation, which is part of the government’s Religious Affairs Directorate, says men can beat their wives as long as they do not strike the face and only beat them moderately.” Even a relatively moderate Muslim, Dr. Jamal Badawi, acknowledges that husbands have the right to beat their wives. Quoting Sura 4:34, Dr. Badawi doesn’t deny the prerogative, but he’s clearly embarrassed by it, and tries to explain it away: “Such a measure is more accurately described as a gentle tap on the body, but NEVER ON THE FACE, making it more of a symbolic measure then a punitive one.” (Emphasis in the original.)

The problem with this “moderate” view, of course, is that the dividing line between “symbolic” and “punitive” can be exceedingly fine, and hard to find in the heat of the moment. Thus although you’d never learn it from Kristof, the divine sanction that the Qur’an and Islamic tradition give to violence against women is the core reason why domestic violence is epidemic in some parts of the Islamic world. The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences has determined that over nine out of ten Pakistani wives have been struck, beaten, or abused sexually — for offenses on the order of cooking an unsatisfactory meal. Others were punished for failing to give birth to a male child.

Why didn’t Kristof say anything about this? Because it’s a lot easier to snipe at George Bush than to address deep societal dysfunction — but until these problems are faced and the Qur’anic sanctioning of woman-beating definitively rejected by significant elements of the Islamic community, Kristof will have material abundant enough to enable him to tweak Bush over jailed Afghan women for years to come. The plight of women like Ellaha won’t improve in a Kerry administration — even as, at least according to John Edwards, the blind will see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk. The superficiality of the liberal intelligentsia’s analysis, as represented by Kristof’s column, illustrates once again the bankruptcy of the entire multiculturalist enterprise — and underscores the West’s imperative to marshal its own spiritual resources, for the sake of women like Ellaha.

And Christian worship has been banned at their hospital. From Compass Direct, with thanks to Stephen Scott:

October 13 (Compass) — Muslim militants have threatened to kill Christian nurses serving at the Federal Medical Center in the town of Keffi, in the central state of Nasarawa, unless they stop conducting Christian worship services. An undated letter received by hospital management and the hospital’s chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Nurses (FCN) stated, “We are making it abundantly clear that our thirst for your heads/blood is mounting daily if you continue with your worship services in the hospital unabated.”

Subsequently, the medical director and chief executive at Keffi Federal Medical Center banned Christian-related activities at the facility and banned the FCN chapter indefinitely. “How can they ban us from praying or worshipping here,” FCN Secretary Christiana Shiaki said, “when the Muslims have two mosques built with public funds for them here in the hospital?”

Good question.

A promising development, but there are many other questions about this mosque. From the Boston Globe, with thanks to Twostellas:

The Islamic Society of Boston, under pressure from groups including the Anti-Defamation League, publicly distanced itself yesterday from a trustee and treasurer accused of writing "virulently anti-Semitic" newspaper articles.

In a letter to Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the group said it has appointed a board of directors to propose a new governance structure and apologized for failing to condemn the offensive remarks sooner.

The trustee, Dr. Walid Fitaihi, was the author of an article in an Arabic-language newspaper that called Jews "murderers of prophets." He also wrote that Jews would be punished for their "oppression, murder, and rape of the worshipers of Allah," according to English translations. Fitaihi remains on the board of trustees, which oversees the group's real estate assets.

The society is building a $22 million mosque and cultural center in Roxbury, on land sold by the Boston Redevelopment Authority for $175,000.

"We unequivocally condemn all hateful, insensitive, and divisive statements," the Islamic Society said in its letter. "Furthermore, we have expressed these sentiments to Dr. Fitaihi in writing."

Of course, another problem is that much of what Fitaihi said comes from the Qur'an: see Suras 2:62-65, 5:59-60, 7:166, 9:30, 98:6, etc. Will the Islamic Society repudiate that anti-Semitism?

With the backing of the Education Secretary, British schoolchildren will be learning about the true meaning of Islam. I doubt Sura 9:5 or 9:29, or the Banu Qurayzah massacre, or the definitions of jihad as offensive warfare that are circulated among Muslims will be part of the curriculum. Should they be, in a positive presentation? Of course they should. This is a chance for Iqbal Sacranie to prove that the terrorists are as illegitimate from an Islamic standpoint as he claims they are. But no one still has refuted their arguments. From the BBC, with thanks to Admiral Don Juan:

The initiative, backed by the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, will see books on Islam going into schools nationwide.

Organisers hope it will help overcome barriers to how non-Muslims understand the faith.

And Mr Clarke said the project would help strengthen a multi-faith, multi-cultural society.

The "Books for Schools" resource packs include books, videos and CDs.

It aims to inform debate among both teachers and pupils and is designed to fit into Key Stages 1 and 2 of religious education - primary schooling.

Most of the pack focuses on group work where pupils use the materials to learn more about the key pillars of Islam and the tenets of Muslim life.

The scheme has the backing of educationalists in many areas, who had approached the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) to help with their teaching on Islam.

Islam appears in the national curriculum as part of teaching on world religions.

But many Muslims say schools do not provide non-Muslims a sufficiently detailed introduction to how the practicalities of the faith, such as ritual charitable giving and fasting. Many schools also rely on materials which are outdated, they say.

They hope the new packs, which cost £250 each, aim to change that and follow a similar scheme introduced in the United States.

'Better understanding'

Charles Clarke said he supported the scheme's aims.

"It is only through understanding that this country can move forward as a true multi-faith and multicultural society," said Mr Clarke.

"We must ensure children grow up with a better understanding of their friends and neighbours.

"The Muslim Council of Britain's initiative, books for schools, brings us much closer towards that goal."

Walid Phares has the goods. From World Magazine, with thanks to JWW:

Walid Phares thumbed a sheaf of documents, all in Arabic and nearly all bearing the spherical slogan of Iraq's intelligence service, or Mukhabarat. The Middle East scholar, a Lebanese-American Christian who speaks four languages and is a recognized expert on Islamic militants and terrorism, has interrupted a sick day (prior engagement with a root canal) in order to evaluate 42 just-leaked intelligence documents confiscated by U.S. forces in Iraq.

Moistening his finger and translating out loud, Mr. Phares read from the pages in his third-floor office in downtown Washington, where he is taking a year off from teaching at Florida Atlantic University to serve as senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. He didn't notice as his narrating voice rose with incredulity. Finishing, he rapped the papers with his fingers and concluded: "This is a watershed. This is big."

Mr. Phares is one of at least four eminent Middle East experts to agree that the documents—published for the first time last week—demonstrate that Saddam Hussein collaborated with and supported Islamic terrorist groups, including the current terror nemesis in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The papers, obtained by Cybercast News Service (CNS) and released Oct. 4, "establish irreversible evidence that there were strategic relations between the Baathist regime and Islamist groups that became al-Qaeda," Mr. Phares said after reviewing them at WORLD's request on Oct. 6. In addition, the documents link al-Zarqawi-associated groups throughout the Middle East, including al-Qaeda, on Saddam's payroll and acting under his direct authority.

Evidence and the word of experts, however, is having little effect on the John Kerry campaign, which has staked its bid for the White House on what it calls a flawed rationale for war in Iraq. Only hours after the CNS website absorbed so many hits over the revelations that its server crashed, vice-presidential candidate John Edwards blasted the president's war strategy in a televised debate with Vice President Dick Cheney. "There is no connection between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of September 11th—period," Mr. Edwards said. "In fact, any connection with al-Qaeda is tenuous at best."

Sen. John Kerry, too, insists on the stump that the president's "two main rationales—weapons of mass destruction and the al-Qaeda/Sept. 11 connection—have been proved false."

But the documents suggest otherwise. They include an 11-page memo, dated Jan. 25, 1993, listing "parties related to our system . . . expert in executing the required missions." The memo cites Palestinian, Sudanese, and Asian terror groups, and shows a developing relationship with groups affiliated with al-Qaeda, including Mr. al-Zarqawi, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar—figures who are now on the U.S. most-wanted list for ongoing assaults in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Jan. 25, 1993, memo also describes an intelligence service meeting with a splinter group led by Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman. Mr. Abdel-Rahman is a son of the blind Egyptian, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, accused of inspiring the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and arrested in 1994 for targeting New York landmarks. Pakistani officials caught the younger Abdel-Rahman last year, and say he helped lead authorities to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, one of the 9/11 attack planners.

A separate memo, dated March 18, 1993, asks intelligence officers to provide "details of Arab martyrs who got trained" in conjunction with post–Gulf War "committees of martyrs act." In reply another office supplied 92 names with nationalities, all "trained inside the ‘martyr act camp' that belonged to our directorate." In all, 40 are linked to Palestinian groups, 21 are Sudanese, and others range from Eritrea, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon, and Egypt. Most of the trainees completed a government-sponsored course on Nov. 24, 1990, and were sent on missions throughout the Arabian Peninsula.

Accompanying the memos are separate notations signed by Saddam Hussein's secretary, suggesting the president himself had reviewed and endorsed each action.

"Saddam was personally overseeing the details" of training terrorists and assigning their missions, Mr. Phares said. "From 1993 on, Saddam Hussein connected with Sunni fundamentalists in the Arab world. He was in touch with the founding members of al-Qaeda."

From IANS, with thanks to Fanabba:

WASHINGTON: Pakistan and Russia are two nations that could be potential sources of leaking nuclear weapons technology or fissile materials to terrorists, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) on nuclear terrorism.

"The fear regarding Pakistan is that some members of the armed forces might covertly give a weapon to terrorists or that, if President Musharraf were overthrown, an Islamic fundamentalist government or a state of chaos in Pakistan might enable terrorists to obtain a weapon," the report said.

"Terrorists or rogue states might acquire a nuclear weapon in several ways. The nations of greatest concern as potential sources of weapons or fissile materials are widely thought to be Russia and Pakistan," it added.

Pakistan, a close ally of the US in the war against terrorism, has often been described by South Asia experts as a "potential source" of radicalism, proliferation, terrorism and even nuclear war.

From the annals of the strange but true. From NewsMax:

In a display of political correctness, San Jose, Calif.'s police chief has promised to observe the Muslim month of Ramadan.

Chief Rob Davis told the San Jose Mercury News that he was inspired after speaking to 7,000 Bay Area Muslims last year at the end of Ramadan, Islam's holy month of fasting.

He will join local Muslims in going without food and drink from sunrise to sunset during the monthlong observance of Ramadan because he realized during his speech that they were hungry when he was not.

He said they were celebrating an experience he knew nothing about.

"It just dawned on me," he recalled. "If I am truly going to understand the nuances of this religion, I should join them in this fast."

During Ramadan, Davis said, he plans to break the fast each night with a different Muslim family, who will be invited to dine at his home.

The newspaper reported that the chief's decision "carries enormous weight with Muslims, who remain worried about racial profiling, continued backlash from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks" and a recent fatal police shooting of a Bosnian Muslim outside a coffee shop in San Jose.

"It is a remarkable gesture," James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., told the News. "The fact that a major law enforcement figure in the country is making this gesture will help bridge some of the gaps in this country."

The chief, a Mormon, told the News his decision to observe Ramadan is not motivated by politics or publicity but by a desire to "truly understand."

Davis made the commitment when he was the deputy police chief and now, as the chief, he believes fasting can help him connect with a community that is growing in the area.

"Everyone needs to know that the chief is the chief for everybody - not just the majority, not just for those in power," Davis, 47, said. "I need to be a chief for everybody, particularly for those who've felt marginalized."

We have covered the persecution of Iraqi Christians for many months, as jihadists continue to exert their influence and reassert the depredations of dhimmitude. From The Independent, with thanks to Kemaste:

It was midnight in Baghdad, not a time to be out in this place of violence. But the workers from the Baghdad Hunting Club had almost made it back home through the deserted streets when the tyres of their Kia minibus were shredded by a burst of gunfire.

The shots had come from a black Opel saloon which had tracked them from the club - a prestigious haunt of Iraq's new rich - after finishing the late shift. Four men, their faces covered by keffiyehs, slid open the door of the minibus and sprayed the occupants with Kalashnikov fire.

Their targets, seven Christians, were killed almost instantly. Two others were injured but survived. The dead were all breadwinners for their families in the close-knit Christian community in the suburb of al-Doura. These families now want to leave Iraq, joining the exodus of thousands of their co-religionists since the war.

The murders were the latest deadly attack against Iraq's Christians, a systematic and brutal campaign by Islamic extremists which began soon after the "liberation" by the United States and Britain. So far, 110 have been killed. In August, four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul were blown up in a co-ordinated series of car bombings, killing 12 people and injuring 61 others.

In September, another Baghdad church was bombed. There have also been mortar attacks on community centres, shootings of Christian shopkeepers and kidnappings of businessmen for extortion.

The result had been a flow of Christians - mostly middle-class and members of the intelligentsia and entrepreneurs - out of the country, with a marked acceleration in the past few months. About 45,000 have gone so far out of a community estimated to be between 600,000 and 700,000.

Pascale Warda, the Iraqi interim government's minister for displacement and migration, who is herself a Christian, says there is no chance of halting the exodus while the attacks continue.

Christians in Iraq faced little religious persecution under the secular regime of Saddam Hussein. Senior members of the Baath party, including Tariq Aziz, the deputy prime minister, were Christians. Now, they say, they receive scant protection from the US and British military in the face of the onslaught. Some of the early killings, mainly of shopkeepers, happened in the supposedly safer, British-run south of the country.

The interim government's national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, blames the church bombings on followers of the Jordanian-born Sunni militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Iraqi police say fighters from Muqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army could be responsible for those and other sectarian attacks. But whatever the truth, hardly anyone has been arrested....

Christians are often targeted in Iraq's thriving abduction industry because they are perceived as being well off. Samir Sajouri, 33, was kidnapped from his furniture shop and held for a week until his family paid a ransom of $35,000. Now he is taking his wife and three children to Jordan.

"We did not have the money," he said. "My wife had to sell stock and borrow to pay this. I was treated very badly by the men who had kidnapped me. They beat me and kicked me. There were always insults because I am a Christian. It is strange - 90 per cent of those I employed were Muslims," said Mr Sajouri.

At the Church of the Holy Rosary in Karada, Father Butros Haddad was seeing a parishioner seeking her son's baptism certificate. "It means they are leaving Iraq," he said. "Every day I hear about one or two families leaving from this parish and others. I have been a priest for 35 years and I have never seen the community face such a time of lawlessness.

"It is not bad just for the Christians: our fellow Iraqis - Muslims - are also suffering. But on top of all other troubles, the Christians feel they are being especially targeted. The problem is that the Americans don't seem to be able to do anything about security. There is a sense of terrible fear."

They can't, or they won't. The last thing the State Department wants to be seen doing is protecting Christians in Iraq.

From the Kansas City Star, :

The U.S. Treasury Department today froze the assets of a Columbia-based Muslim charity, alleging that it and others had directly supported terrorists, including Osama bin Laden.

About the same time, about two dozen agents and officers of the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force raided the offices of the Islamic American Relief Agency-USA in Columbia and began hauling away evidence.

The Muslim charity has been the focus of federal interest since at least 1999 and currently is the subject of a Senate Finance Committee probe, which is seeking possible links between charities and terrorist financing networks....

“The international offices of IARA were providing direct financial support to Osama bin Laden, al Qaida, Hamas and other terrorist groups,” said Treasury Secretary John W. Snow in a written statement. “Today's action shuts down financial channels that were being used to propagate terrorist activity.”

Ahmed Hassan Al-Uqaily says he was working a "reverse sting." I guess that would be an attempt to snare police officers in unethical dealings. But if he said and did what he is reported to have said and done, they were just doing their duty to arrest him. From the Nashville City Paper:

A conflicting picture emerged Wednesday in the case of Ahmed Hassan Al-Uqaily, a 33-year-old Iraqi native living in Nashville who is said to be heavily involved with the peace movement but who willingly withdrew $1,000 last week to purchase weapons illegally.

Al-Uqaily allegedly spoke of “going jihad” to a friend Aug. 4 and that he was going to “blow something up.” On Oct. 7, at the conclusion of a two-month FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force sting operation, he purchased two disassembled M-16 machine guns, four disassembled hand grenades, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition from an undercover FBI agent.

He waived his Miranda rights immediately after being arrested and told agents he was working on a “reverse sting.”

In his wallet were business cards from law enforcement agents who had previously interviewed him following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, though FBI Special Agent Greg Franklin testified Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Clifton Knowles that Al-Uqaily had never contacted those agents about his “reverse sting.”

Well, of course not -- if I understand a "reverse sting" correctly, they were his quarry, not his collaborators.

The Sharia's evidence laws codify unjust and unequal treatment for men and women in such cases. From Reuters, with thanks to JE:

Bauchi, Nigeria: Islamic courts in northern Nigeria have sentenced two women to death by stoning for having sex out of wedlock, but two men whom they said they slept with were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Both sentences have to be confirmed by the Bauchi state governor before being carried out, and are open to appeal.

Nobody has been lawfully stoned to death in Nigeria since 12 northern states introduced sharia law in 2000, because all such sentences have been overturned on appeal.

Hajara Ibrahim, 29, was sentenced on October 5 by a sharia court in the Tafawa Balewa area of the state, having confessed to having had sex with 35-year-old Dauda Sani and becoming pregnant.

The court said it had handed Ibrahim to a guardian "until she delivers the baby before the sentence will be executed by stoning her to death according to the provisions of the sharia penal code". Of Sani, "there is no evidence to link him with the allegation" and consequently the court had acquitted him.

The second woman, 26-year-old Daso Adamu, was handed the same sentence on September 15 by a sharia court in Ningi area of Bauchi state. Adamu admitted having had sex with a 35-year-old man 12 times, and is now in Ningi prison.

This may (or may not) be behind the recent warning to schools. From UPI, with thanks to Anthony:

Washington, United States, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- A report that 25 Chechen rebels linked to Islamic terrorists entered the United States illegally via Mexico is under investigation, the Washington Times said. Security officials told the newspaper an intelligence report had been forwarded to the government saying the group, said to be wearing backpacks, secretly traveled to northern Mexico and crossed into a mountainous part of Arizona that is difficult for U.S. border security agents to monitor.

The report was made in late August or early September and was based on information from an intelligence source that has been proved reliable in other instances, one official said.

However, a second official said it could not be determined whether the group of Chechens actually entered the country.

This is no surprise, since Europe has been playing the dhimmi for the Arab Laegue for thirty years, as Bat Ye'or documents in her forthcoming book Eurabia. From the EUobserver, with thanks to Anthony:

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A confidential report from the Israeli Foreign Ministry has predicted relations with the European Union could further deteriorate in future, hitting Israel economically and diplomatically.

The report points to the "possibility of a deterioration in relations", one of the report's authors told the EUobserver today (Wednesday 13 October).

According to Israeli press reports, the document states that Israel and the EU find themselves on a collision course which would cause serious economic and diplomatic damage to the country.

"It is a prognosis of the general outline of the international environment in the future... it is us looking into the crystal ball", the official said.

"Everyone is aware of the importance of the relations with Europe".

There are said to be no recommendations in the report.

The EU and Israel have been at loggerheads for months over the implementation of a Middle East peace plan and the construction of Israel's security barrier.

The report does send a strong signal to the Israeli government however, that, faced with an EU which is ever more prominent on the international scene, relations with Europe have to improve.

From the Indianapolis Star, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Islamabad, Pakistan -- A former Guantanamo prisoner thought to have forged ties with al-Qaida since his release is leading a militant band whose members have strapped explosives on two Chinese engineers they kidnapped in a lawless region near the Afghanistan border....

The five kidnappers threatened to kill the hostages unless the militants are allowed safe passage to a nearby area where their one-legged leader, Abdullah Mehsud, is believed hiding, officials said.

Mehsud, 28, came back to Pakistan in March after about two years' detention at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It was not clear why U.S. authorities released Mehsud.

The sites tell too much. But of course, most were designed when terrorism was just a "nuisance." From the Washington Times, with thanks to Ali Dashti.

Too many details on municipal Web sites can tip off terrorists to security weaknesses and vulnerable targets, a military researcher told a conference of U.S. mayors in the District yesterday.

"The sites tell too much," said Gerald G. Brown, distinguished professor of operations research at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.

Mr. Brown was a featured speaker yesterday at the Mayors' Technology Summit on "Homeland Security, Safety and Economic Development."

About 60 mayors and city officials from across the country attended the symposium, which was sponsored by Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management and the D.C. government.

Before his presentation at Stephen Decatur House, Mr. Brown said municipal leaders must not confuse "sunshine" laws, which require public access to some government data, and the allure of "really cool Web sites."

Many officials rushed to embrace the new Internet culture and hired people to design elaborate Web sites to show off their cities without considering potential consequences, such as aiding enemies in the terror war, he said.

About 95 percent of U.S. towns and cities with more than 10,000 residents have Web sites, said Curt J. Anderson, president of Municipal Web Services, a Birmingham, Mich.-based firm that designs Web sites for local governments.

From AP, :

TRENTON, N.J. -- A senior al-Qaida operative lived in New Jersey and posed as a student while conducting surveillance of financial institutions as possible targets for a terror attack, according to a published report.

The operative, identified by U.S. officials in Washington as Dhiren Barot, 32, entered the United States on a student visa, The Record of Bergen County reported in Thursday's editions.

Joseph Billy Jr., the FBI's top agent in New Jersey, told the newspaper that the operative attended several institutions of higher learning in New Jersey while carrying out the reconnaissance operation. Billy did not identify the schools. Barot is known to have used several aliases.

Authorities believe Barot was dispatched by Osama bin Laden himself to conduct the scouting mission in New Jersey, the newspaper reported. Barot was arrested by British authorities in August and remains in custody there.

The British say Barot had reconnaissance reports for the Prudential building in Newark, the New York Stock Exchange and the Citigroup building in Manhattan and the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington.

The jihad against the new government continues. From the New York Post, :

October 14, 2004 -- BAGHDAD — A videotape that was posted yesterday on an Islamic Web site showed militants affiliated with wanted Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi beheading two Iraqis purported to be intelligence officers.

In other abductions, two Lebanese were freed after more than three weeks in captivity in Iraq, and a French politician said the government has restored indirect contact with kidnappers holding two French journalists hostage in Iraq since late August.

The 10-minute videotape showed two captives, Fadhel Ibrahim and Firas Imeil, identifying themselves as Iraqi National Intelligence officers and saying they were captured in Baghdad's Haifa Street on Sept. 28.

The tape showed four masked gunmen standing behind Ibrahim and then Imeil, with one militant describing the blindfolded captives as "criminals."

There was no way to immediately verify the authenticity of the tape, which was released in the name of the Brigades of Abu Bakr Al-Sidiq, a terror group affiliated to al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad organization.

Ali Dashti forwards some disturbing material from the Norwegian papers:

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article889813.ece

A bus of youths from Kristiansand was stopped by police en route to Venneslahallen, a short drive north. This chance action by police prevented a clash with 130 Vennesla teens who were waiting for the bus, armed with axes, knives and bats, newspaper Fædrelandsvennen reports.

"I see no reason to censor the facts. This could have ended in catastrophe," police lieutenant Hans Martin Skovly at Vennesla sheriff's office told the newspaper. Groups of kids from Vennesla have been close to open conflict with a notorious youth gang from Kristiansand, and this episode occurred in mid-September. The band of 20 on the bus were also armed with bat, axes and knives, out to get the 'farmers' from Vennesla, Skovly said. The gang were unaware that they were on their way to meet a much larger mob with the same intentions.

Ali Dashti comments: "What this article doesn't say explicitly is that this is at least in part an ethnic conflict between some groups of immigrants and native Norwegians. This local newspaper for the city of Kristiansand tells so in several articles, here some brief summaries":

http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/nyheter/kristiansand/article233506.ece

A group of about 30 immigrant youth wanted to beat up an 18-year-old Norwegian. His father is worried, and is tempted to call for the formation of a vigilance committee in Kristiansand to combat the increasing frictions. He fears a "racial war" in the city.
According to newspaper sources, much of the trouble in the city comes from groups of immigrants teaming up to "get" other juveniles, especially native Norwegians.

http://www.fedrelandsvennen.no/nyheter/kristiansand/article233505.ece

According to these Norwegians from Kristiansand interviewed, some immigrants get aggressive even if you just look at them. They never do anything when alone, but if there are groups of them, they are frequently looking to make trouble. "I don't like these youths to come here and try impose their will on us. I understand that many of them come from countries with war, but they don't have to make war here" says one of the Norwegians.

Overdue. From AP, :

LONDON, England (AP) -- The Bank of England is ordering a freeze on any assets belonging to a terrorist group that claimed responsibility for kidnapping and beheading two Americans and one Briton in Iraq, Treasury chief Gordon Brown said.

Brown told lawmakers in the House of Commons Thursday that he had instructed the bank to direct all financial institutions in Britain to freeze any assets of the Jama'at Al-Tawhid Wa'al-Jihad group -- known as Tawhid and Jihad.

Led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the group said it abducted American engineers Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley and British engineer Kenneth Bigley last month. All three were beheaded.

"We must do all in our power to ensure there is no hiding place for terrorists and no hiding place for those who finance terrorism," said Brown, whose official title is Chancellor of the Exchequer.

"He suddenly drew a blank when it came to Mousa Abu Marzook, a designated terrorist." Reminds me of how so many Muslim spokesmen stateside will talk Islamic theology all day, but they suddenly draw a blank when it comes to the doctrines of violent, offensive jihad. From AP, :

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- An Egyptian national who ran a now-defunct bank in New Jersey was found guilty Tuesday of lying to federal agents about business dealings with a leader of the militant group Hamas.

A jury convicted Soliman Biheiri, 53, who ran the BMI Inc. bank, of making false statements to federal investigators by denying a business relationship with Mousa Abu Marzook, the political leader of Hamas.

Biheiri, who has already been sentenced to one year in prison for immigration fraud, now faces up to five years in federal prison. Sentencing was set for Oct. 29.

Prosecutors said Biheiri deliberately deceived agents from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a June 2003 interview after arriving on a flight from Cairo.

The agents testified Biheiri told them he had no business or personal relationship with Marzook. Financial records and court testimony showed Marzook helped bring $1 million in investments to Biheiri's company.

Prosecutors said Biheiri and Marzook engaged in financial transactions as late as 1996--one year after the U.S. government formally designated Marzook a terrorist.

During closing statements Tuesday, prosecutor David Laufman said Biheiri willingly shared details of his business deals with others, "but he suddenly drew a blank when it came to Mousa Abu Marzook, a designated terrorist."

After much hesitation among the dhimmis. From IHT, :

DÜSSELDORF - Muhammed Metin Kaplan, a German-based Islamic militant sought by Turkey on treason charges, was flown out of Germany to Turkey on Tuesday, hours after a court approved his extradition, a police official said.

"He has taken off," said Angelika Flader, a spokeswoman for the North Rhine-Westphalia state Interior Ministry in Düsseldorf.

The police detained Kaplan, 51, at an Internet cafe in Cologne and hustled him to the airport in Düsseldorf even though he formally had two weeks to appeal the decision by the Cologne administrative court.

His extradition had been delayed by German courts' concerns that his followers have been subjected to torture in Turkey and that he could face political persecution.

Turkey has sought Kaplan for trial on charges that he masterminded a failed 1998 plot to crash a plane laden with explosives into the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern secular Turkish state.

Now that would be a richly symbolic target, and I am sure that there are many Armenians and Greeks who would lustily applaud the detonation of that mausoleum. But of course they wouldn't have been too happy with what Kaplan would have done next.

I must leave Secure Undisclosed Locationville shortly to journey to the heart of the Great Satan for a critically important meeting. Updates to the site when possible.

I have appeared on the great Laurie Roth's show many times, but this Friday night it will be completely different: I'll be guest hosting for the first two hours. I'll be talking about the dangers on US soil between now and the election, and related matters.

I hope some of you folks will call in and talk it over. The number is 1-800-837-9680. Check the Roth Show site to see if the show is carried in your area.

The Danish journalist and writer Helle Merete Brix has kindly forwarded this link to the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten.

According to Brix, the story, in Danish, says that a Jewish teacher who teaches Hebrew and Arabic in the departments of Theology and Middle East Studies at the University of Copenhagen was attacked during the day last Tuesday. He was leaving the Theology department in the middle of the city when he was being brutally beaten up by five men whom he did not know. Allegedly they kicked and hit him because he has quoted from the Qur'an during a lecture. They told him that an infidel was not allowed to do that.

The teacher has received medical treatment and is now on sick leave. Brix says that this is the first time in a decade that a university teacher has been beaten up in Denmark.

From icBirmingham, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

A 10-year-old Asian pupil threatened to behead a seven year-old schoolboy with a Stanley knife after watching gruesome TV images from Iraq.

Paul Williams told how the young thug threatened his grandson Nathan outside the gates of Highgate Primary School in Woodside, Dudley where both were pupils.

The 10 year-old was subsequently arrested by police and it is understood that he has now been expelled.

His victim was uninjured but is now receiving counselling after suffering sleepless nights over the chilling incident.

Grandad Mr Williams said: “The 10 year-old was pretending to be an Iraqi assassin who was going to cut Nathan’s head off like the American hostages.

“A few of the other kids have said that he had been going around making these claims for a few weeks.

“He was waving the knife around in front of Nathan’s face as he made his way out of the school gates.

“Nathan has been in bits since. He’s really shaken up and hasn’t been able to sleep properly. He has been having counselling because it upset him so much.”

Does someone in the Birmingham mosque disapprove of the condolences? From This Is London, with thanks to Ali Dashti and jonascot:

Thieves have stolen a book of condolence opened in tribute to the murdered Iraq hostage Kenneth Bigley, it emerged today.

A framed photograph of the 62-year-old, candles and some sympathy cards were also taken from Birmingham Central Mosque, while another picture was turned upside down.

Muslim leaders from across the city had signed the book as a gesture of support to Mr Bigley's family.

Dr Mohammed Naseem, chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque, said: "They are sick people. We don't know who's done it and I can't put a motive on it.

"It's very distressing for us and undoubtedly for Mr Bigley's family."

The book was opened on Saturday morning and on display inside the mosque following the death of Mr Bigley at the hands of his captors last week.

It was to have been sent to the civil engineer's family in Liverpool to demonstrate the mainstream Muslim community's condemnation of his death.

As I wrote here, if he really didn't mean for it to fall into terrorist hands, it's even worse: it shows that moderate Muslims have a hard time keeping from supporting terror even when they want to.

From the Herald Sun, with thanks to Susan:

Yusuf Islam, the British singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, has accepted that some of his charitable donations may have fallen into terrorist hands.

The singer was recently refused entry to the US on security grounds and amid claims he helped finance terrorism.

Yesterday he said he would never knowingly support terrorism, but admitted donated money could unwittingly go to terror groups.

"What happens sometimes (is that) even the Red Cross, UNICEF, the World Bank, must have been party to something illicit, but never knew about it," he said. "It's impossible for certain things, I suppose, not to happen, but . . . when you're in the business of giving charity you can't let that be a hindrance to making sure . . . that the people who do need it get it."

Yusuf was barred from entering the US last month, after his flight from London to Washington was diverted to Maine. He was questioned by FBI officers and held overnight before being deported.

It's hard to have a fruitful dialogue when one side has contempt for the other. One dhimmi even dared not to speak Arabic. From the Telegraph, with thanks to Susan:

A conference called to further mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims over their shared history on the Iberian peninsula has been marred by catcalling and acrimony. The meeting was summoned by the Spanish royal family and the socialist government as a "congress of dialogue" with representatives of the Arab and Jewish world.

It was held in Cordoba, a jewel of Islamic Spain and a springwell for the enlightenment that led to the historic period of conviviencia when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in harmony.

The conference organisiers, led by the financer of the event, the Kuwaiti tycoon Abdul Aziz al-Babtain, set out to confront stereotypes of Islamic extremism.

But even the supposedly benign field of Islamic poetry and the history of Andalusia - known to the Moors and to modern Arabs as al-Andalus - touched raw nerves.

An academic speaking in English was heckled by jeering Arabs even though there were extensive translation facilities. In the end, he spoke in Arabic.

But the peace was shortlived. There was more shouting when European historians touched on Islamic sensibilities by discussing the more liberal era when Muslim women did not wear the veil. An African Muslim was also heckled for complaining of Arab dominance of his faith.

The only Jew to speak was heard in polite silence, but it was assumed that was because he was preaching the destruction of Israel, which he described as an apostatic state: a point of view which presumably went down rather well with the audience. It was uncertain, though, how this squared with the seminar's title of "Arab-Islamic civilisations and the West: from Disagreement to Partnership".

The organisers described the event as a success but the angry tone of the debate will have disappointed Spain's new government.

There are cries that this is a violation of holy places -- yet the mosques in Iraq have been used to launch attacks. From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi forces backed by U.S. soldiers and Marines raided mosques Tuesday in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi and detained a prominent cleric following fierce clashes that hospital officials said killed at least four people.

U.S. aircraft also rocketed a mosque northwest of Ramadi on Monday after insurgents opened fire from there on U.S. Marines, the command said.

The seven mosques targeted in Ramadi are suspected of supporting insurgents through a range of activities, including harboring terrorists, storing illegal weapons caches, promoting violence and encouraging insurgent recruitment, the U.S. command said.

Sheikh Abdul-Aleim Saadi, the provincial leader of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars, was detained at Mohammed Aref Mosque, his relatives and followers said.

Angry residents accused Americans of disrespecting the sanctity of city mosques.

"This cowboy behavior cannot be accepted," said cleric Abdullah Abu Omar of the Ramadi Mosque. "The Americans seem to have lost their senses and have gone out of control."

The 1st Marine Division said the raids followed a pattern of insurgent activity in and around Ramadi mosques in recent weeks.

"The 1st Marine Division respects the religious and cultural significance represented by mosques," it said in a statement. "However, when insurgents violate the sanctity of the mosque by using the structure for military purposes, the site loses its protective status."

The New York Times (thanks to Teri) picks up on a story we had here two weeks ago: in Egypt, attempts to tone down the mosque loudspeakers are being treated as a CIA plot.

The minister, Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq, announced that one official call to prayer would be broadcast live from one central Cairo mosque five times a day, and that it would be carried simultaneously by the 4,000-plus mosques and prayer halls across the capital.

From the ensuing national brouhaha - the outraged headlines, the scathing editorials, the heated debates among worshipers - one might gain the impression that Mr. Zaqzouq was leading an assault against Islam itself. "Minarets Weep," intoned one banner headline, while another suggested sarcastically that the minister was less than a good Muslim. "The Call to Prayer Upsets Minister," it read.

Comedians and intellectuals had a field day. Ali Salem, one of Egypt's leading playwrights, envisioned a turbaned, high-tech SWAT team dispatched across Cairo whenever one mosque or another inevitably sabotaged the centralized prayer-call operation.

Not everyone ridiculed the idea, though.

Secular Cairenes endorsed it as a possible means toward greater government control over all of the tiny storefront mosques that have often proved a font of violent, extremist Islam. And Mr. Zaqzouq insisted that his proposal enjoyed wide grass-roots popularity.

In the surging religious environment of the last decade, the multiplication of mosques and prayer halls is such that any random Cairo street might house half a dozen, each competing with the others in volume and staggering the timing of their call slightly in an effort to stand out.

Particularly at dawn prayers, some mosques blast not just the roughly dozen sentences of the call itself, but all of the Koranic verses and actual prayers intoned by the local imam. When three different mosques do the same thing, what should be an announcement lasting at most two minutes can drag on for 45 minutes, keeping the entire neighborhood awake.

"There are loudspeakers that shake the world," the minister protested. "Everyone hears them. Every day I receive bitter complaints from people about the loudspeakers, but when I ask them to register official complaints, they say they fear others will accuse them of being infidels."

Opponents, meanwhile, express deep outrage at the very idea of someone tampering with the tradition of each mosque having its own muezzin, of different voices echoing across the city in a continuous round.

"During the time of the Prophet there used to be more than one mosque in each town, in each quarter, and he didn't unify the prayer, so why do it now?" asked Sheik Mustafa Ali Suliman, who works as a muezzin in a small mosque amid the twisting streets of Cairo's medieval quarter. "There is even a saying by the Prophet Muhammad that implies that in God's eyes muezzins will garner special honor and respect on judgment day."

Given the widespread sentiment that no decent Muslim could ever consider such a change, no small number of Cairo residents seized on the obvious alternative: it is a C.I.A. plot, they muttered, right up there with other American attacks on Islam, like demanding changes in the Muslim world's curriculums.

...because Germany can't possibly bring itself to admit that the headscarves — and religions — in question might not be equivalent. Nuns don't want to take over the German government and impose a new system of government and laws upon the nation. Can German Muslims give a similar assurance? From the BBC, with thanks to Belisarius:

A German court has ruled that a regional ban on Muslim teachers wearing headscarves in state schools must also apply to Christian nuns, reports say.

The south-western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg passed a law in April, preventing teachers from wearing Islamic-style headscarves.

But Germany's highest administrative court says the law must apply to all faiths, Der Spiegel magazine reports.

Last year, the Constitutional Court said states could ban headscarves.

No exceptions

"Exceptions for certain forms of religiously motivated clothing in certain regions are out of the question," the federal judges of the Federal Administrative Court wrote in their ruling as quoted by Der Spiegel, in an advance copy of its Monday issue.

A copy of the ruling was not available.

The court's decision means that nuns, who often work in state schools in the predominantly Roman Catholic Black Forest region of Baden-Wuerttemberg, will have to remove their habits before going into classrooms.

Fallout from the Taba attacks. From the Times Online, :

THE ISRAELI government has ordered Mossad, the foreign intelligence service, to make the hunt for Al-Qaeda terrorists its main priority after last week’s Red Sea attacks that killed at least 33 people, most of them Israeli tourists.

Egyptian officials said yesterday they had detained dozens of bedouin tribesmen on suspicion of supplying the explosives for the blasts at the Taba Hilton and at a bungalow beach camp 35 miles down the coast.

As rescuers pulled more bodies from the wreckage of the hotel, Dan Arditi, Israel’s counterterrorism chief, urged tourists still in Egypt to come home, warning that the attacks on Thursday “don’t lessen, even in the slightest, the risk that this will happen again”.

The order to Mossad to turn its attention from Palestinian groups to Al-Qaeda was given by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, after Israeli intelligence sources said the size of the blasts suggested they were the work of Osama Bin Laden’s network rather than Palestinian suicide bombers.

If the "sheikh of the slaughterers" is "guided by Allah," is it really non-Muslims like me who are connecting Islam with terrorism? And as for those (and they are legion) who think the problem is "fundamentalism," and that Christian and Muslim fundamentalisms are essentially equivalent, has any Christian group called Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell "apostle of the assassins" or "deacon of the destroyers" lately? From MEMRI:

The latest edition (#23) of the Al-Qa'ida-related journal Sawt Al-Jihad includes an article by Abd Al-Rahman Ibn Salem Al-Shamari praising the beheading of an Egyptian citizen in Iraq. The author emphasized that a Muslim is obligated to be loyal to his religion only, and not to his national identity or to his country, and therefore all non-believers are the same, regardless of whether they are Arabs. The following are excerpts from the article:(1)

'Among Those Who Fell to that Happy Dagger were a Mighty Infidel Tyranny and an Idol Worshipped Instead of Allah'

"'May your hand be strengthened!' - so said all those who saw the video that showed the slaying of the Egyptian spy in service of the American army in Iraq - I mean all those of the true faith.

"You are wrong if you think that it was only the Egyptian spy who was slain. No, for among those who fell to that happy dagger were a mighty infidel tyranny and an idol who is worshipped instead of Allah; did you not see this as he was slain?!

"A spy has been slain, one spy among others, and the Jihad fighter [who slew him] has come closer to Allah by way of his [the spy's] blood. Yet what is the novelty in this lowly spy whose slaying we have seen these very days? The novelty, and we ask of Allah that there be more [like him], is that a spy has been slain, and this spy looked like an Arab, had an Arab name, and spoke Arabic! The novelty lies in the triumph of the faith in the one God and in the raising of the banner of 'There is no God but Allah' over and above all other allegiances, be they of ethnicity, language, identity, or nationality."

'Whosoever is the Enemy of Allah, We are His Enemy ... Arab or Non-Arab, Near or Far - They are All the Same'

"'You shall find no believers in Allah and in the Last Day on friendly terms with those who oppose Allah and His messenger, even though they be their fathers, their sons, their brothers, or their nearest kindred. Allah has inscribed the Faith in their very hearts, and strengthened them with a spirit of His own. He will admit them to gardens watered by running streams, where they shall dwell forever. Allah is well pleased with them, and they are well pleased with Him. They are the party of Allah, and Allah's party will surely triumph.'(2)

"There is only one criterion regarding the obligation of allegiance to Allah or the absence thereof, and this sole criterion is connected to Islam. Even if family relations, i.e. cousins, brothers, or sons [are involved] ... allegiance is only to Islam and enmity is only for its enemies; this is the path of the true party of Allah [ Hizbullah], which Allah has taken care to distance from the Shi'ite Hizbullat,(3) which colludes [with the enemy].

"In Iraq itself, the apostate tyrant Saddam Hussein stood at the head of the government of the Ba'th Party, whose famous slogan was: 'I believe in the Ba'th as the sole Lord who has no partner and in Arabism as the unrivaled faith.' Allah is exalted above the Ba'thists' vanities. This verse was written by a Ba'th poet and it is the most accurate description of the Ba'thists and their true faith and religion; for them Arabism is a religion and is the only criterion for allegiance or the absence of allegiance.

"In that same Iraq we learned a lesson in religion, a short lesson, [the amount of time] from the drawing of the dagger and the slitting of an apostate's throat until the raising of the dagger [after the act].

"But [the dagger] swooped and felled all of the ignorance [jahiliyya], as it [in the form of the slain] lay strewn at the feet of that Jihad fighter. The [dagger] was raised, and raised Allah's word, so that Allah's word would come out on top.

"And these are the lessons we learned: The collapse of the national identities. When these are opposed to the Shari'a [Islamic religious law] or attempt to rival it, and when they cause division among people and [provide a basis for] allegiances, then these national identities should fall, and Arab nationalism first and foremost.

"Monotheism and its obligations are prior to all other obligations, relations, or languages. Monotheism is the allegiance [to Allah], and Allah is He 'who made you into nations and tribes, so that you might get to know one another. The noblest of you in Allah's sight is he who fears Him most.'(4) But the infidel is an infidel whether he is an Arab or a non-Arab. He must be seen as an enemy. Furthermore, this is one of the fundamental principles of monotheism and one of the foundations of Islam.

"No wonder that we are learning this lesson in Iraq. For the Jihad fighters in Iraq had already taught us to oppose patriotism, national identity, and regional particularism, and they have set their sights on the collaborating government brought by the occupation, and they have shown us that which has brought pleasure to the believers [i.e. terrorist attacks]."

So the fight in Iraq is a fight for Islamic monotheism (tauhid) -- but of course, it has nothing to do with religion.

The Frankfurt Book Fair this year is reaching out to Arabs; in doing so, it has reeled in more than a few Muslim radicals. From Wadinet.de, with thanks to Omo:

Would the German Chancellor Schroeder show himself in public with a Holocaust-Denier like David Irving? Would he seek a dialogue with him?