April 2005 Archives

An update on this story. Were they arrested because stoning was barbaric and is only practiced by Misunderstanders of Islam? No! They were arrested because they were carrying out an unauthorized stoning: the mullah who authorized the killing was not a judge. Judge Stephen Henley might have called it an "opportunistic stoning."

"Six arrested for stoning woman to death," from Gulfnews.com, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

Kabul: Police have arrested six people for stoning to death an Afghan women accused of adultery an official said Saturday.
The arrests were made on Wednesday after the interior ministry sent a delegation to a remote village in north-eastern Badakhshan province following reports that the woman was stoned to death.

The men who encouraged the killing will be brought to the capital Kabul for trial later this week.

"The mullah who authorized the father to kill her was not a judge," an Interior Ministry spokesman said "The killing was against the law."

Another update on the Texas Refinery Blast. "Multiple blasts struck refinery," from AP, with thanks to Bob:

HOUSTON - Federal investigators said Thursday that several explosions rocked a Texas City refinery last month in an eruption that killed 15 people, injured more than 100 and filled the sky with black smoke.

"We believe that there were a number of distinct explosions in rapid succession, possibly as many as five," said U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board member John Bresland.

Investigators still aren't sure what ignited the explosions at the BP refinery March 23.

Lead investigator Don Holmstrom said there may have been multiple ignition sources, and that some of the board's 10 investigators were conducting blast modeling to figure out the size and possible causes.

Now to my untutored eye, multiple ignition sources suggests at least the possibility that these explosions were not accidental. So why was the FBI so quick to deny it could be terrorism -- even before agents had visited the site? After all, we know the site was photographed by a "Middle Eastern man." I am not saying this was an act of jihad terrorism; I am saying, however, that this investigation is starting to smell worse and worse.

The Turk is irked: those nasty white European racists keep misunderstanding Islam, thinking it has something to do with violence. 'Europe misinformed about Islam,' from the Turkish Daily News, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

Religious Affairs Director Ali Bardakoğlu said yesterday the West and Europe are erroneously informed in their understanding of Islam and Turkey should strive hard to present the real core of Islam, reported the Anatolia news agency.

Yes, get with it, Europeans. Stop misunderstanding Islam. For one thing, stop thinking you can learn anything about it by observing Muslims in Europe:

"The European Union partly became acquainted with Islam through some Turkish citizens living abroad. This is not the correct way to grasp Islam," Bardakoğlu was quoted by Anatolia as saying.

He said his office should have a permanent representative in Brussels. "We have to observe and participate in the discussions concerning the European understanding of Islam. We are tasked with explaining the true essence of Islam as a religion."

The religious affairs director said Europe should not evaluate Islam with respect to and in comparison with Christianity. "Nowadays, the European Union is specifically sensitive on issues of human rights, women's rights, violence, terror and discrimination. Our staff and clergy should pay more attention to how they choose to express their thoughts on these issues."

In other words, Bardakoğlu is telling Muslim clergy in Europe to stop contradicting Western ideas of human rights and women's rights, and stop advocating violence, terror, and discrimination. But note that he is not telling them to change their beliefs. Just to be quiet about them for now.

Concerning the relation of Islam and democracy, Bardakoğlu said Islam is wrongly depicted as a religion that does not promote democracy but tries to endure it. "This is totally erroneous, Islamic understanding seeks to enhance human rights and democracy. There is no contradiction between Islam and democratic principles."

Of course there isn't. That's why there are so many thriving democracies in the Islamic world.

"Bomber duo on the run: Egypt," from Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

CAIRO: Egyptian investigators have identified two more suspects from a deadly Cairo bombing this month and said they may be planning more attacks, a newspaper said yesterday.

The daily Al-Gomhuria reported both men had "embraced the ideas of jihad (holy war)" and were on the run, bringing to three the number of suspects evading capture for the blast that killed three tourists and the bomber on April 7....

Ah. More Misunderstanders of Islam. It's amazing that this kind of thing can be reported day after day after day and yet Islamic apologists and their allies still insist with a straight face that jihad is a spiritual struggle and that any military application of it is secondary, remote, and rare, if it exists at all. How did so many Muslims get a wrong idea of jihad? They don't answer that one, except to blame the bad old Wahhabis -- which outrages the amply documented historical fact that jihad warfare has been waged from the beginning of Islam, and by the Prophet Muhammad himself, long before Wahhabism was even a gleam in Wahhab's eye.

Al-Gomhuria published pictures of the three fugitives and named the latest two as commerce graduate Ihab Yousri Yassin and teacher Gamal Ahmed Abdul-Aal.

It said Abdul-Aal had left a letter for his family, later handed to police, saying he was leaving for "jihad"....

The ministry previously said the bomber, Hassan Raafat Bishindi, was part of a jihadist group and was tricked into thinking he had five minutes to escape after setting a bomb made from about 3kg of explosives and nails....

“We must stand together with strength and confidence to dispel the myths about Islam and the Muslim community,” said Siddiqui. One thing he might try is a march against terror instead of against anti-terror laws -- and not just a march against "terror," which everyone opposes, but a march against jihad terror. That would dispel a lot of myths. He might also try helping authorities identify jihadist elements in the British Muslim community. That they choose instead to march against anti-terror laws is indicative of the fact that they would rather protect Muslims than protect Britain, even if it leads to a large-scale terrorist attack. Certainly innocents should not be targeted, but no one should complain about just measures that cause some inconvenience. From IslamOnline, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

LONDON, April 30, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - With general elections around the corner, thousands of British Muslims were set to march Saturday, April 30, in London against anti-terror laws that stigmatized and demonized the Muslim minority in Britain.

Two peaceful demonstrations, which are co-organized by some 100 Islamic entities in the United Kingdom, are expected to be the biggest anti-terror march by Muslims Britain has witnessed....

"Anti-terror march"? Isn't it really an anti-anti-terror march?

Chief among the organizers are the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), University of Oxford Islamic Society, the University College London Ahlul-Beyt Islamic Society, Bradford University Islamic Society and the Islamic Observatory Centre....

Adnan Siddiqui, an IHRC official, said the British Muslims can no longer remain silent.

“We must stand together with strength and confidence to dispel the myths about Islam and the Muslim community,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC News Online.

He said Muslims in Britain are sending a clear message against the “climate of fear” created by the “draconian and disproportionate” laws.

The Muslim activist regretted that such laws have been targeting British Muslims who have “made a significant contribution to this society.”

British Prim Minister Tony Blair’s large majority in the House of Commons ensured the anti-terror bill’s approval last month by 309 votes to 233.

"Prim Minister." Very good.

No sooner had the parliament passed the controversial measure, than Home Secretary Charles Clarke swung into action and signed control orders against what he termed “Muslim terror suspects”.

Clarke has angered the Muslim minority by saying that they were the main target of the main legislation.

Why, of course. Clarke, you bad dhimmi. Don't you realize you need to spend time investigating the Anglican Terrorist Threat? Anglican Militancy is an ugly thing: they wear sweaters and smoke pipes and sit in soft chairs and talk about modernizing Christianity. How can you not investigate this horrific threat?

"Residents blast NOPD in heated forum," from the New Orleans Times Picayune, with thanks to LGF:

For much of a public hearing Wednesday night on discrimination in New Orleans, the city's police force was a whipping boy.

Several speakers said the force has failed to discipline its own, and that black residents are too often stereotyped as criminals by police officers who harass them. For most of the meeting, New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass sat stone-faced, but when Salaam Jihad took the microphone, his remarks proved too much for the chief.

Clad in camouflage fatigues and a T-shirt showcasing iconic Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, Jihad said he had been the victim of police brutality in 1997, and he claimed Police Department brass failed to investigate the incident seriously. If he found himself in the same situation again, Jihad said he would "march into the 2nd District with a gun and open fire on everyone I see. I'll die like a man."

When a few crowd members murmured their approval, a disgusted Compass grabbed a microphone on the table in front of him. "I'm going to say
something here," he said, his face twisted with disgust. "This guy is
talking about killing police officers and you are applauding him."

"You kill people, too!" shouted a handful in the audience....

Compass and his top lieutenants showed little emotion when taunted directly by speakers, who were each allotted three minutes but sometimes spilled over their given time. As he got up to leave the meeting in Dillard's Lawless Chapel, Compass grimaced when asked if he thought the meeting was worthwhile. Outside, he confronted Jihad again and told him he was "delusional."

Jihad insisted he was neither advocating violence in general nor encouraging African-Americans to take up arms against the NOPD. He said his remarks were strictly personal, and that Compass had misinterpreted them.

Salaam Jihad has learned his lessons well: say something outrageous, and then claim to have been misinterpreted. It's a time-tested and trusty tactic of scoundrels everywhere. A question: how could he make blatant threats like that and walk out of the meeting without handcuffs on?

It's what they used to call an Encore Presentation: the courageous and pioneering scholar of dhimmitude, Bat Ye'or, will appear again on C-Span today: from C-Span:

On Saturday, April 30 at 12:00 pm

Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis
Bat Ye'or

Description: Bat Ye'or talks about her new book, "Eurabia," at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC. She looks at the relationship between European and Arab countries since the mid-20th century and argues that Muslims living in Western Europe have significantly influenced their governments' attitudes toward Israel and other countries in the Middle East. During the talk, she also discusses why Turkey should not be allowed into the European Union and addresses the question of European anti-Semitism. Bat Ye'or answers questions from the audience following her remarks.

In an article yesterday, the journalist and Islamic apologist Stephen Schwartz defined "Islamophobia" this way:

Notwithstanding the arguments of some Westerners, Islamophobia exists; it is not a myth. Islamophobia consists of:

• attacking the entire religion of Islam as a problem for the world;

• condemning all of Islam and its history as extremist;

• denying the active existence, in the contemporary world, of a moderate Muslim majority;

• insisting that Muslims accede to the demands of non-Muslims (based on ignorance and arrogance) for various theological changes, in their religion;

• treating all conflicts involving Muslims (including, for example, that in Bosnia-Hercegovina a decade ago), as the fault of Muslims themselves;

• inciting war against Islam as a whole.

While there may be by this definition some Islamophobes in the world, the definition actually obscures more than it reveals. Does the labeling as “Islamophobic” the practice of “attacking the entire religion of Islam as a problem for the world” mean that it is Islamophobic to focus attention on the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet as motivations for terrorist activity? If so, then jihad terrorists worldwide are themselves “Islamophobic,” for as we have seen, they routinely point to jihad passages from the Qur’an and Hadith to justify their actions. Nor is a frank discussion of the doctrine of Islamic jihad equivalent to saying that the “entire religion of Islam” is a “problem for the world: no one is saying that tayammum (ablution with sand instead of water) or dhikr (a dervish religious devotion) or other elements of Islam pose a problem for the world.

Defining as “Islamophobic” the condemnation of “all of Islam and its history as extremist” is similarly problematic — and not just because of the sloppy imprecision of the word “extremist.” Jihad and dhimmitude are and always have been part of Islam. Yet no religious commandment of any religion has ever been uniformly observed by its adherents, and no law has ever been universally enforced. Jews and Christians in Islamic lands were able at various times and places to live with a great deal of freedom; however, this does not contradict the fact that the laws of the dhimma always remained on the books, able to be enforced anew by any Muslim ruler with the will to do so.

Likewise, it may be “Islamophobic” to deny “the active existence, in the contemporary world, of a moderate Muslim majority,” but this also is beside the point. The existence of a moderate Muslim majority is not a question of “Islamophobia” or lack thereof, but of fact. But it is a fact that is very hard to ascertain with certainty -- not least because of the problem of definition: it’s useless to affirm that there is a “moderate Muslim majority” without clearing up the meaning of the word “moderate.” What makes a moderate Muslim? One who does not and never will engage in terrorist acts? That would make moderates an overwhelming majority of Muslims worldwide. Or is a moderate one who sincerely disapproves of those terrorist acts? That would reduce the number of moderates. Or is a moderate Muslim one who actively speaks out and works against the jihadists? That would lower the number yet again. Or finally, is a moderate Muslim one who actively engages the jihadists in a theological battle, trying to convince Muslims on Islamic grounds that jihad terrorism is wrong? That would leave us with a tiny handful.

Notwithstanding that fact, however, it would be silly for anyone to treat “all conflicts involving Muslims…as the fault of Muslims themselves,” or to incite “war against Islam as a whole.” To go to war with Islam as a whole — grizzled sheepherders in Kazakhstan and giggly secretaries in Jakarta as well as bin Laden and Zarqawi — would be absurd and unnecessary. But what does Schwartz really mean by saying that those who would advocate “war against Islam as a whole” are “Islamophobic”? Would that include among the Islamophobes those who recognize that Islamic jihad has been declared against us and advocate resistance to that jihad?

All this indicates that “Islamophobia” is virtually useless as an analytical tool. To adopt it would be to allow oneself to submit to the most virulent form of theological equivalence, and to affirm, against all the evidence, that every religious tradition is equally capable of inspiring violence. It would be to deny the very sensible observation of the eminent atheist (and, late in life, theist, but not Christian) philosopher Antony Flew (thanks to Daniel): “Jesus is an enormously attractive charismatic figure, which the Prophet of Islam most emphatically is not.” To recognize this is not base theological one-upmanship, but a step toward the recovery of realism in the analysis of Islamic jihad, and of a sense that in Western civilization there is something worth defending.

Even worse than all this, however, is the way the charge of “Islamophobia” is used to silence opponents of the jihad ideology -- as has been illustrated abundantly at Jihad Watch and Dhimmi Watch.

That's right: Jihad Watch will be on the air tonight on the Laurie Roth Show. 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 10PM Pacific Time; that is, 10PM to 1AM EST.

I hope to hear from you. The call in number is 1-800-837-9680.

Note the bolded areas below. From the Palm Beach Post, with thanks to all who sent this in:

The men, who are all U.S. citizens, are seeking $4 million each from Restaurant Collection Inc., which owns the Denny's franchise, and shift manager Eduardo Ascano, whom they say compared them to the Al-Qaida terrorist leader.

"This was a terrible act against Arab Americans," Alan C. Kauffman, one of the attorneys for the group, said Wednesday.

The seven men are of Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian descent and include a doctor, a real estate agent, an insurance broker and a restaurant owner. They live in Broward and Palm Beach counties. They filed suit last week in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court. No trial date has been set.

Restaurant Collection's owner, Alfonso Fernandez, said in a statement Wednesday that the men's allegations are false.

"We are truly committed to treating all of our guests with respect, and we take every guest concern seriously," Fernandez wrote. "These allegations of discrimination were immediately and thoroughly investigated by an independent, outside agency that found no evidence whatsoever to support the guests' claims."

Fernandez did not identify the agency. However, an investigation by the Florida Commission on Human Rights said "reasonable cause does exist" to support the discrimination claim.

The seven men say they went to Fernandez's restaurant in Florida City, on the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, about 2 a.m. Jan. 11, 2004. They say they were seated, given menus and received their drink orders. But an hour later, their food hadn't arrived. One of the men — Ehab Albaradi — approached Ascano and inquired about the group's order, the lawsuit says.

Ascano allegedly said: "Bin Laden is the manager of the kitchen" and "Bin Laden is in charge."

Albaradi and a second man, Usama El-A-Baidy, decided to speak to Ascano again about their order.

Angered, Ascano told the short order cooks in the kitchen to cancel the group's order, the suit claims.

El-A-Baidy then asked Ascano why he had used the name bin Laden.

"We don't serve bin Ladens here! You guys, out!" Ascano allegedly said.

A group of officers from the Miami-Dade County and Homestead police departments eating at the Denny's also told the seven men to leave and threatened to arrest them if they didn't, the lawsuit said. The officers have not been identified, Kauffman said.

Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Cathy Webb said Thursday that the department could find no record of a complaint being filed by the men and because so many months have passed, it will be difficult to determine who the officers were. Homestead Capt. Ed Bowe said no complaints were filed with the department and its records show no on-duty officers were at the restaurant at the time.

Ascano no longer works for the resaurant, Fernandez said. Ascano does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment.

Not that anyone in power would like you to know. From the Christian Science Monitor, with thanks to Jihad Watch News Editor Rebecca Bynum:

Terror attacks around the world tripled in 2004, rising from 175 in 2003 to 655 last year, according to statistics released by the US government's National Counterterrorism Center (NCC) Wednesday. The figure includes the children killed in the Beslan massacre in Russia, and the victims of the Madrid train bombings.

Terror attacks in Iraq - 198 - were nine times the previous year's total. The numbers did not include attacks on US troops.

The US State Department held a briefing Wednesday on its global terrorism report (formerly called 'Global Patterns of Terrorism,' now called the Country Report on Terrorism) Wednesday, but did not include the statistics on actual attacks, on the order of Secretary of State Condelezza Rice, the Washington Post reported. Ms. Rice had said she wanted US terrorism officials to decided whether or not to release the figures.

The Herald of Scotland, however, reports that the NCC released the statistics after it was pressured to do so by several congressmen. The Herald also reported that former senior counterterrorism official Larry Johnson said the State Department balked at releasing the data because "it might lead to the public perception that America is losing the global war on terror."

"Last year was bad [said Mr. Johnson]. This year is worse. They are deliberately trying to withhold data because it shows that as far as the war on international terrorism is concerned, we're losing."
A spokesman for the State Department admitted that there had been a "dramatic uptick" in terrorism, and said the government will provide the public with "all the information it needs for an informed debate."...

That'll be the day. Let's see the government hold a seminar featuring an honest and open discussion of the role of Islam in today's global terror, the policy implications of this, and positive ways this can be dealt with in a way beneficial to both non-Muslims and Muslims.

Bloomberg News quotes the report as saying that "an increasing number of terrorist groups are seeking weapons of mass destruction."

"Although Al Qaeda remains the primary concern regarding possible WMD threats, the number of groups expressing interest in such material is increasing, and WMD technology and know-how is proliferating in the jihadist community," the report said.

The Washington Post reports that the actual number of terror-related incidents may in fact be higher than even the total released by the NCC Wednesday. The counter terrorism organization is working on a new list, to be released in July, that aims to use "new, more realistic, definitions of terrorism."

As an example of the rules under which the State Department, and his center for the listings distributed Wednesday, have operated, Brennan said the report lists only one of two Russian airliners that suicide bombers blew out of the sky last year. The one that counted had an Israeli aboard. The other had all Russians, which made it a domestic incident.

"It makes no sense to have the definition of terrorism depend on checking the nationality of all the victims," Brennan said.

Indeed.

William Baker update. From the Palm Beach Post, :

To the disappointment of Jewish leaders, a speech by the former chairman of a neo-Nazi group will go on as planned.

A day after a lawyer representing an Islamic group said William Baker probably would not appear at a gala Saturday night, Mohammad Jawad Al-Qazwini said Wednesday he didn't plan to cancel Baker's speech.

"The decision made on our behalf to bring Mr. Baker was not against the Jewish community," said Al-Qazwini, the imam of the Boca Raton-based Assadiq Islamic Educational Foundation. "He will be strictly speaking about the prophet Mohammed. He will be strictly speaking about the Islamic faith."

Al-Qazwini said he is continuing to investigate Baker's background and might decide to cancel the speech at the celebration of the birthday of Islamic prophet Mohammed at the event at the Boca Raton Marriott Hotel.

"It's still not certain if he's coming or not," he said. "We're still in the process of due diligence."

However, those familiar with Baker said they can't imagine why a background check would take so long.

"A two-minute Internet search would have revealed who they were dealing with," said Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Melrose Park, Pa. "Mr. Baker has a long track record of extremism, anti-Semitism and associating with Holocaust deniers."

Mark Robert Walker update. No mention here that he is a Muslim or may have been motivated by the jihad ideology, although it is pretty clear from his actions. "Man sentenced for aiding terror group," from the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, :

(April 29, 2005) — A 19-year-old with Irondequoit ties was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for aiding a terrorist organization.

Mark Robert Walker, whose family moved to Irondequoit from Washington state in June, pleaded guilty to "attempting to make a contribution of goods and services to a specially designated terrorist organization."

The plea came in federal court in El Paso, Texas, where Walker, who had been a college student in Laramie, Wyo., was detained Nov. 6 at the Mexican border. Prosecutors determined Walker, who also used the name "Abduallah," was an administrator of an Islamic Web site that supported the terrorist group Al-Ittihad Al-Isiami.

The group was placed on the list of specially designated global terrorist organizations on Sept. 24, 2001, by President Bush.

Patrick M. Sarkissian (thanks to Sparta) reports on an egregious Turkish demonstration in Washington on April 24, the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. You can see from the picture the outrageously ahistorical character of their claims: 3 million Turks were killed by Armenians and Greeks? This is the inversion of history. I suppose soon we will advance from Holocaust denial to the claim that Jews killed six million Germans.

Sarkissian says: "I worry about the face of Genocide recognition in 10 years. I worry about Turks who organize on a grass roots level and spend their time trying to spread lies."

That's worth worrying about.

From WND, :

WASHINGTON – In the latest evidence Iran is seriously planning an unconventional pre-emptive nuclear strike against the U.S., an Iranian military journal has publicly considered the idea of launching an electromagnetic pulse attack as the key to defeating the world's lone superpower.

Congress was warned of Iran's plans last month by Peter Pry, a senior staffer with the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack in a hearing of Sen. John Kyl's subcommittee on terrorism, technology and homeland security.

In an article titled, "Electronics to Determine Fate of Future Wars," the journal explains how an EMP attack on America's electronic infrastructure, caused by the detonation of a nuclear weapon high above the U.S., would bring the country to its knees.

"Once you confuse the enemy communication network you can also disrupt the work of the enemy command- and decision-making center," the article states. "Even worse today when you disable a country's military high command through disruption of communications, you will, in effect, disrupt all the affairs of that country. If the world's industrial countries fail to devise effective ways to defend themselves against dangerous electronic assaults then they will disintegrate within a few years. American soldiers would not be able to find food to eat nor would they be able to fire a single shot."

WND reported the Iranian threat last Monday, explaining Tehran is not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure.

From the VOA, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

The group called the Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign held a registration meeting recently in Iran's capital, Tehran. The group's aim is to boost its roll of volunteers willing to carry out suicide attacks in Israel and Iraq.

The Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs is often described as "a shadowy group" with no official Iranian government backing. But the Reuters news agency says that "the presence of President Mohammad Khatami's adviser on women's affairs and a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leant some official backing" to the group's latest meeting.

A so-called religious decree by Ayatollah Hossein Nuri Hamedani was read aloud at the meeting. Echoing previous statements by Supreme Leader Khamenei, the decree said that suicide attacks are "permitted and relevant in the holy war for the good of Allah."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that recruiting suicide bombers in the name of Islam violates the fundamental tenets of "a great world religion." This violent cause "has nothing to do with Islam," says Ms. Rice:

"Islam is a peaceful religion. And so the notion that somehow flying airplanes into buildings or strapping a belt on yourself and blowing up other people is in the service of Islam is something, I think, that clearly perverts the religion and is resented by most respected Islamic scholars for very good reason. By the way, I think probably rejected too by most people, because who wants that to be the future for your children?"

When even the "reformist" Qaradawi has endorsed it, I wonder which respected Islamic scholars she has in mind.

President George W. Bush envisions a far different future for the people of Iran than signing up for missions of death:

"I believe that the Iranian people ought to be allowed to freely discuss opinion, read a free press, have free votes, be able to choose among political parties."

"I believe," said Mr. Bush, "that Iranians should adopt democracy; that's what I believe."

Terrific, George. Now if you would speak realistically about why they might oppose democracy, as being against the will of Allah and his command to implement Sharia law, and about how you intend to combat that point of view, we might be getting somewhere. Call me, will you?

From the Keystone Kops Department, via Expatica, :

AMSTERDAM — Wanted by police, a main suspect of the alleged terror network Hofstadgroep reportedly visited Muslim friends in the Netherlands last month.

Nouredine el F. fled the country on 1 November, the day prior to the murder of Theo van Gogh last year.

Telephone calls bugged by security service AIVD indicate he was in Belgium earlier this year, newspaper 'De Volkskrant' reported on Friday.

Sources also claim that Samir A. visited El F. in Belgium shortly after being acquitted on 6 April in Rotterdam of planning terrorist attacks in the Netherlands.

El F. is allegedly linked to Mohammed B., the suspected killer of Van Gogh, and other members of the Hofstadgroep.

France tries to gain control over the training of imams. A most interesting experiment. Do they have the will to follow it through and make it work, by ensuring that the jihad ideology is not taught and that imposition of Sharia is not encouraged? "Muslim finance law agreed," from French-News.com, with thanks to dwntmpo:

After months of hesitation and negotiation, the Minister of the Interior Dominique de Villepin has announced the formation of a foundation to finance the activities of the Muslim religion. The agreement was signed by the four main tendencies, those associated with Algeria, the Frères Musulmans, the Comité de coordination des Musulmans Turcs de France. When the conseil d’état has given its blessing the foundation will come into being. It will then be possible to finance courses for the training of Immams in France. At the moment one third of those in France do not speak French. It will also be able to help finance the building of mosques. A government commissioner will sit with the foundation to monitor the projects to be financed. The aim of the government is to integrate the Muslim religion in France and to end secret financing from dubious foreign souirces.

Of course, this has nothing to do with terrorism — you can gather material for pipe bombs and put pictures of Osama bin Laden and Iraqi beheadings on your wall and it will still have nothing to do with terrorism. But what is to have prevented jihad terrorists from obtaining some of these licenses? From AP, with thanks to EPG:

WASHINGTON — Thousands of illegal immigrants have obtained driver's licenses in three states, federal authorities said Thursday, highlighting a security hole that the Sept. 11 hijackers exploited.

Three employees of Florida's motor vehicles agency were among 52 people arrested in a bribery scam that put driver's licenses in the hands of at least 2,000 illegal immigrants, officials said. The case, announced Thursday, follows similar arrests in Michigan and Maryland over the past week.

"With a valid driver's license, you establish an identity," said Michael Garcia, assistant secretary of the Homeland Security Department.

"There's no way to identify whether that identity is valid — that you're not on a terrorist watch list, that you're not a criminal. It gives you a bona fide," said Garcia, who heads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that coordinated the arrests.

He said the cases do not appear to be related and there was no evidence of any terrorist connection.

He's really sorry now, but last month he stabbed an MP. Oh, never mind: that was just an "opportunistic stabbing." From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A military jury sentenced a soldier to death Thursday for a grenade and rifle attack on his own comrades during the opening days of the Iraq invasion, a barrage that killed two officers and that prosecutors said was driven by religious extremism.

Sgt. Hasan Akbar, who gave a brief, barely audible apology hours earlier, stood at attention between his lawyers as the verdict was delivered. He showed no emotion....

The sentence will be reviewed by a commanding officer and automatically appealed. If Akbar is executed, it would be by lethal injection.

"I want to apologize for the attack that occurred. I felt that my life was in jeopardy, and I had no other options. I also want to ask you for forgiveness," Akbar told the jury before it deliberated in the sentencing phase.

His life was in jeopardy. But it was in jeopardy from the Iraqis and other Muslims he thought he was defending, not from his fellow Americans.

"Five held in France for recruiting Iraq fighters," from AFP, :

PARIS, April 28 (AFP) - Five suspected Islamic militants have been detained in France by intelligence agents who believe they were part of an operation to send volunteers to fight against the US army in Iraq, officials said Thursday.

The four suspects arrested Sunday in the Paris area and a fifth detained Monday in the southern port of Marseille were placed in preventive detention, sources close to the investigation said.

One of the five suspects, 39-year-old Moroccan national Said Al-Maghrebi, had been sought for months by several police forces across Europe.

They were arrested as part of an anti-terrorist investigation launched last September after evidence emerged of a so-called "Iraqi network" recruiting Islamic militants to fight US forces there.

This is a curious story. Why would they announce his death if he is not dead? If he died, and the death were verified, there would certainly be displays of mourning from the tiny minority of extremists worldwide -- and if the media cared or dared to notice these displays, we would get some idea of how tiny that minority really is. 'Bin laden dead,' from Ynet News, with thanks to Gabrielle Goldwater:

The London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Friday that the site Minbar Ahl al-Sunnah wa-al-Jama'ah declared, "We now report that the al-Qaeda organization has announced the death of Osama Bin Laden."

One of the writers on the site, working under the pseudonym "The Mujahiddin's Pen," added: "Osama Bin Laden is dead... Where are the mourners? Where those who sent themselves into the towers and tall buildings?"...

Well, sir, they're, um, dead. But anyway, I thought Mossad and the CIA pulled off that particular caper. It is getting so hard to keep all this straight.

Omar Bakri, a radical Islamic leader in London, told the newspaper that the style of the announcement seemed authentic. However, he thought it was a forgery designed to cause tumult.

Dr. Hani al-Sibai, head of the al-Maqrizi Center for Historical Studies, said, "If Bin laden was really dead, the name of his replacement, Ayman al-Zawahari, would have been announced."

The Egyptian Islamist Yaser a-Sari told the newspaper that Bin Laden is alive and will soon put out a new videotape. A-Sari said the purpose of the report was designed to prepare followers psychologically for the al-Qaeda leader's death - something that could happen at any moment.

UPDATE: See also this from Reuters: "No evidence bin Laden 'dead'".

Good thing "there are not now and never have been, in recent times, 'Muslim militants' in Kosovo, aside from a handful of individuals and some Saudi and other Gulf Arab-state cells operating through relief agencies." "Terrorism: Al-Qaeda Threatens Europe from Balkans, say Experts," from AKI, :

Belgrade, 28 April (AKI) – A group of prominent right-wing American analysts, supported by several Serbian academics, have claimed that the greatest terrorist threat to Europe comes from the Balkans, particularly from Bosnia and Kosovo which still maintain links to al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organisations. The experts were delegates at a two day conference, sponsored by the Belgrade University, that attracted terrorism specialists from the region, the United States and Europe.

Yosef Bodansky, the director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Conventional Warfare in Washington, said that the Balkans was a “springboard for Islamic extremism” in Europe and that Iran was the main driving force behind it.

According to Bodansky, Iran was among leading countries that finance and support Islamic terrorism directed against the United States and Europe. “The final goal of Islamic terrorist groups and organizations is to turn America into an Islamic republic and to secure world domination through it,” Bodansky told the meeting.

"Mauritania: Terrorist cell said linked to Al Qaeda dismantled, police," from IRIN, :

NOUAKCHOTT, 28 April (IRIN) - The government of Mauritania claims to have arrested the leaders of a terrorist cell that the US military has linked to Al Qaeda.

The detainees are allegedly part of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), close to the outlawed Armed Islamic Group (GIA) that has operated in neighbouring Algeria for more than a decade, said a government statement issued this week.

"The dismantling of this structure has entered a new phase with the arrest on Monday ... of the main leaders of the organisation," read the statement.

The statement said seven people had been arrested but police sources said 18 suspects had been placed under arrest in two days of raids against alleged Islamists.

I have noted many times that there is evidence that most -- up to 75% -- of the women imprisoned in Pakistan are there because of rape. Islamic evidence laws disallow a woman's testimony in such cases, and require testimony from four male witnesses of the act to establish the rape. If such witnesses are not found, as is usually the case, and the accused perpetrator denies the act, as is usually the case, then the woman's very rape charge becomes evidence that she has committed zina -- unlawful sexual activity. "I will burn myself alive if gang rapists go free, says victim," from the Times Online, with thanks to Jeff Norris:

A YOUNG victim of gang rape has threatened to set herself on fire in front of Pakistan’s parliament if her attackers are not brought to justice. Nazish Bhatti, 17, told journalists in Islamabad that she escaped from her abductors and fled to a police station but was raped again — by two officers.

“I prefer death over the life I’m enduring after being dishonoured,” she said.

Thousands of women are raped each year in Pakistan and many commit suicide out of shame. But some are now daring to speak out, inspired by the example of Mukhtaran Mai, a teacher who was gang-raped on the orders of a tribal council but took her case to the courts and won.

Miss Bhatti, a student and the daughter of a factory worker in the city of Sialkot in central Punjab, said she was abducted by three men as she walked to college. She said she was kept in a house for more than a month where she was repeatedly gang-raped.

The rapists also tried to kill her by forcing her to drink insecticide. She survived. But when she went to the police she was raped by two policemen. She was threatened with dire consequences if she reported the incident, but eventually went to hospital and was treated for ten days. Instead of charging the rapists, the police threatened to register a case of adultery against her.

From the Chicago Tribune, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

CAIRO - An Internet journal purportedly issued by Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia appeared for the first time in several months Wednesday and asked why Muslims on the Arabian Peninsula have not heeded a call to hunt down Americans.

The magazine Sawt al-Jihad, or Voice of Holy War, said its reappearance was one of the last orders of Saud Homood Obaid al-Otaibi, a wanted militant killed in a battle with security forces in a Saudi town April 3.

"Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," the name used by the Saudi branch of Al Qaeda, posted the journal on an Islamic Web site known as a clearinghouse for militant statements.

The opening article of Wednesday's issue refers to the fighting in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and asks: "Those who weren't able to respond to the call of jihad, what deters you from hunting down Americans, killing the enemies of God, the crusaders and apostates in the Arabian Peninsula and other countries?"

Let's see. What should deter them. Maybe...human decency?

This is the sort of problem the Saudis have been quite happy to fix in other places -- and with their money comes their ideology. "Jihad jinx: J-K militants bankrupt," from the India Monitor, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Friday April 28, 2005,New Delhi:The militants are going through a rough patch in the Valley of Jammu and Kashmir. In a recent interception of communication between the outfits by the security agencies, its been discovered that the outfits are going through a crunch situation at present.

Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Hizb-ul-Mujahhiddin (HM) are facing manpower, money, weapon and ammunition crisis. And they have started communicating the urgency for these to their people across the border.

"The militants are in a very desperate situation currently. They are sending SOS messages to their people across the border to help them out," said BSF DIG K Srinivasan from Srinagar.

In the latest interception a fortnight back, LeT cadres in the Valley sounded desperate as they asked for ammunitions and weapons.

Andrew McCarthy write in NRO about how The State department plays games with terrorism statistics. "Release ’Em"

Terrorist attacks globally are up sharply. Perhaps by well over 300 percent. That’s bad. But it’s a fact. Given that international terrorism is the defining national-security issue of this era, shouldn’t we know the facts? In detail?

The State Department says no. Foggy Bottom is unable to avoid making an annual report on terrorism to Congress. It’s the law. But in a mind-boggling two-step, a top State official who briefed key committees at the Capitol on Monday contended that the underlying statistics for the report — which, State grudgingly admits, relates a “dramatic uptick” in terrorist incidents worldwide — are somehow not “relevant” to the report itself. Not surprisingly, Rep. Henry Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, has fired off a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling that contention “ludicrous.” When he’s right, he’s right.

This is self-inflicted damage with a history. In 2003, State issued a rosy report on global trends, braying that decreases in terror incidents provided, as then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage put it, “clear evidence that we are prevailing in the fight” against international terrorism. This claim turned out to be undermined by the data, which actually showed that terror incidents had spiked…to record highs.

The fallout was disastrous. There was the embarrassing mea culpa from then-Secretary of State Colin Powell — or, more accurately, an apology from Powell for what was insisted to be the culpa of others. And some Democrats understandably claimed the administration had politicized the report during the heat of an election campaign — allegations that Powell and others denied, maintaining that “clerical errors,” among other process problems, were to blame...

Read it all.

Joel Mowbray writes in Frontpage about the DHS policy of "Setting Terrorists Free"

The Department of Homeland Security is releasing drug smugglers and human traffickers, and perhaps even suspected terrorists and violent felons, as a matter of policy — because it doesn’t have the resources to keep them in custody.

In a classified memo issued last fall, the DHS laid out “priorities” for handling illegal aliens who’ve been apprehended within the United States.

In a bullet-point list, the October 2004 memo — obtained exclusively by this columnist — separates all captured illegals into four categories: “Mandatory,” “High Priority,” “Medium Priority,” and “Lower Priority.”

Only the worst violent felons (think rapists and murderers), individuals known to be terrorists, and those who have been previously deported are deemed “mandatory” holds. Everyone else can be released if no space is available.

Among illegals not deemed “mandatory” holds:

"Aliens who are subject to an ongoing national security investigation."

Aliens whom we aren't sure are terrorists but who still "raise a national security concern" based on "specific information or intelligence specific to the individual" — in other words, suspected terrorists.

Aliens who "exhibit specific, articulable intelligence-based risk factors for terrorism or national security concern."

Perhaps more disturbing: Buried beneath the four groups listed as “mandatory” and eight as “high priority,” suspected drug smugglers and human traffickers are merely “medium priority.”...

Read it all.

From the Washington Times, "Army says fighting likely after pullout"

...In an interview in Tel Aviv this week, a senior military source told United Press International that the militant Palestinian groups' leaders and operational commanders assume the calming-down period -- or tahadiyah in Arabic -- will not last long...

Members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade "whose commitments are conditional" want to resume fighting, the source said.

The groups are arming, recruiting, training and planning for the next round of fighting, the senior officer said.

Thousands of guns, including Kalashnikov assault rifles and handguns, are smuggled from Egypt into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Prices have dropped, indicating some of the demand has been met.

Other weapons include rocket-propelled grenades, explosives, anti-tank rockets and probably Strella anti-aircraft missiles, the source said.

Some go to the Gaza Strip and some are smuggled across Israel's Negev desert to the West Bank. They are sold to individual Palestinians or to groups that store them. Hamas has its own smuggling system, the officer said.

Egypt and the Palestinian Authority are making "a greater effort that in the past" to stop the traffic but are not doing all they can, he said.

They know who the smugglers are but instead of going after them, they try to seal the tunnels that pass under the narrow Israeli strip at the southern edge of Gaza.

In some instances, Israel provided the Palestinian Authority with the smugglers' names.

"They promised to take care of it, and I have not seen that done," the source said.

Instead, Palestinian security officials warned smugglers that the Israelis were on their trail, he said. The Egyptians, too, "could do much more to stop the smuggling. They know the smugglers quite well," he added.

The second major Palestinian militant effort is directed at developing rockets that can hit the Israeli town of Ashkelon, north of the Gaza Strip. The town of 100,000 is near strategic sites such an electric power plant.

Palestinian rockets have a range of 5.6 miles, and because militants cannot fire from the Israeli-controlled boundary line, they are working to extend the rockets' range and conduct "very many" test firings into the sea, the source said.

From Reuters, "Iran Says Will Restart Enrichment if Talks Fail"

THE HAGUE - Iran will restart its uranium enrichment program if talks with European Union heavyweights France, Britain and Germany fail on Friday, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Thursday.

"If there is no agreement and negotiations collapse, there is no choice but to restart the program," Kharrazi told reporters in The Hague after talks with his Dutch counterpart Bernard Bot.

Iran is due to hold talks in London on Friday with Britain, France and Germany, who want Iran to give up uranium enrichment in return for incentives such as trade deals...

"Iranian people fear a delay. They believe it is their inalienable right to have access to this technology for peaceful purposes," Kharrazi said.

In a related story from Reuters, "Putin Hardens Line on Iranian Nuclear Program"

JERUSALEM - Russian President Vladimir Putin, hardening his line toward Iran's nuclear program, said on Thursday Tehran needed to do more to assure the world it was not trying to build atomic weapons.

Putin, at a news conference in Jerusalem, said Tehran's agreement to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia -- which agreed to supply the material to Iran's Bushehr plant -- "does not seem to be enough."

He said that in addition, the Iranians should "abandon all technology to create a full nuclear cycle and also not obstruct their nuclear sites from international control."...

From the UAE's 7Days, "One of just 12 women MPs in Iran’s parliament wants to stand for President - if she’s allowed"

Iranian lawmaker Rafat Bayat may be bidding to be the first woman allowed to run for president since the 1979 Islamic revolution, but she rejects Western accusations that the country is oppressing its women. A 48-year-old sociologist elected to parliament in February 2004, Bayat says depictions of the Iranian women's rights situation have been exaggerated in the West and by opponents of the country's system of clerical rule.

"To say that women in Iran are under pressure, that their rights are violated, is not true," she told Reuters in an interview.

Rights activists draw attention to the fact that in Iran a woman needs her husband's permission to travel abroad and her testimony carries half the weight of a man's in court.

Divorce, custody and inheritance rights in Iran are also unfairly biased against women, rights lawyers say.

But Bayat, one of just 12 women in the 290-seat parliament, played down the importance of such issues, many of which she said could be resolved through dialogue between husband and wife.

Instead, she said, if elected she would place emphasis on promoting women into more positions of power and influence.

"My views are mainly political and I want to be involved in getting women into high levels of decision-making," she said, speaking at her office in an computing and arts educational college which she heads in upmarket north Tehran.

Aspirants vying to replace outgoing reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami in the June 17 election must first be vetted by a constitutional watchdog known as the Guardian Council.

The Council, comprised of six clerics and Islamic jurists, has in the past always rejected women hopefuls and its spokesman earlier this year said its interpretation of the constitution remained that only men could stand.

Many reformist clerics disagree, arguing that the word "rejal" used in the constitution means "mankind" and not "man" and thus, does not exclude women.

"I'm very hopeful," said Bayat. "It's my interpretation as a member of parliament that I have all the qualities that are needed."...

In the past Rafat has also said that Iran, as an Islamic country, cannot and should not adhere to the notion of “women’s rights” which were essentially defined by the West...

It seems the Saudis have still more explaining to do. From the UK Financial Times, "Al-Qaeda suspect 'had envoy's passport'"

A Swiss-based businessman accused by the US Treasury of providing financial help to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda carried a Saudi diplomatic passport, according to copies of documents contained in a book published today in Paris.

The documents include a letter from the US Treasury to the Swiss authorities, which says that al-Qaeda and its leader received financial assistance from the businessman, Ali bin Mussalim, “as of late September 2001”. They also include a copy of Mr bin Mussalim's diplomatic passport.

The disclosures, contained in Al-Qaeda Will Conquer (Al-Qa'ida Vaincra), by the author Guillaume Dasquié, will be uncomfortable reading for the Saudi government, which has disputed any suggestions of official complicity in the attacks of September 11 2001.

The January 2002 letter from George Wolfe, then the US Treasury's deputy general counsel, says Mr bin Mussalim “has been providing indirect investment services for al-Qaeda, investing funds for bin Laden, and making cash deliveries on request to the al-Qaeda organisation”.

The letter links him to the now defunct Bank Al-Taqwa and its founder, Youssef Nada. Both have been named by the US and United Nations as providers of terrorist finance.

The existence of the letter has been previously reported by some news organisations, but Mr bin Mussalim's diplomatic status was not emphasised.

According to the book, Mr bin Mussalim was found dead in his residence in Lausanne last June, a month after reports of the US Treasury letter first emerged....

Other documents cited in the book include a flight manifest of the so-called bin Laden flight, in which members of the bin Laden family were flown out of the US in the days after the September 11 attacks.

The manifest shows 29 people aboard the flight that flew to Le Bourget airport from Boston on September 20, after originating in Los Angeles and then flying to Orlando and Washington Dulles airport. This contradicts the number cited in the report of the 9/11 Commission published last year, which said there were 26 people aboard....

From the Scottsman, "Laptop yields al-Qaeda secrets"

COALITION forces in Iraq have seized a laptop computer thought to belong to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda’s area leader, providing them with vital intelligence on the insurgency which is continuing to wreak havoc across the country.

Air Force General Richard Myers, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has masterminded the "global war on terror", trumpeted the intelligence coup in a Pentagon briefing as proof that US troops were "winning" in Iraq, despite the recent upsurge in attacks that have killed more than a dozen westerners and scores of Iraqis in the past two weeks.

US intelligence chiefs were able to download several leads from the computer’s hard drives, which also contained digital photos of the Jordanian-born al-Qaeda operative.

The intelligence led to raids being mounted on a number of "safe houses" and several lieutenants of Zarqawi being captured, along with bomb-making equipment.

But General Myers admitted the rate of insurgent attacks - currently at 50 to 60 each day - is now back up to 2004 levels after a drop following January’s election, which had led some Pentagon chiefs to suggest that the US could begin withdrawing its troops...

And seeking to offer some positive information on the battle against the insurgency, General Myers said his troops were "close" to capturing Zarqawi when they seized his laptop.

Pentagon officials said Zarqawi appeared to have eluded a team of covert US special-forces troops dispatched to arrest him. When the al-Qaeda operative and his party approached a checkpoint near Ramadi he became nervous and sent a car carrying associates ahead of his own pickup. When US troops stopped the first car, the trailing lorry turned around and fled.

The capture of Zarqawi’s laptop is not the first time US intelligence has gained access to the digital secrets of al-Qaeda. In 2003, US and Pakistani forces captured a laptop computer used by al-Qaeda’s operational planner, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

It was claimed at the time that the intelligence coup yielded a list of at least half a dozen hiding places along the Pakistan-Afghan border used by Osama bin Laden and his supporters...

The deepening security crisis in Baghdad was highlighted this week when it emerged that the British government has dispatched two RAF Puma helicopters to fly diplomats around the Iraqi capital, because it is considered too dangerous to use the roads for fear of insurgent bombs...

Insurgents regularly fire on the British helicopters, but to date none has been hit.

News from Canada's CBC, "U.S. troops may have killed Canadian in Iraq: reports"

OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs is investigating whether U.S. troops killed a Canadian on the weekend in Iraq.

A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman confirmed to the CBC on Tuesday that a Canadian, whom she did not identify, died on Saturday.

A source told Broadcast News that Ali Alwan may have died after U.S. forces "tracked" a target, using a helicopter gunship.

The source, who did not want to be identified, said the family asked the Canadian government to look into the circumstances of his death.

Dan McTeague, the parliamentary secretary responsible for Canadians abroad, told the Canadian Press that the government is still trying to sort through conflicting reports of how the man was killed...

From Expatica, "Death threat photos against Wilders," with thanks to Skeetstreet:

'Commemorative' photos of threatened MP Geert Wilders appeared in Rotterdam again on Tuesday. Wax candles, flowers and even teddy bears were also placed around the photos. The MP has lodged a police report. The photos could be seen as a veiled death threat against Wilders, who has sparked the ire of Muslim extremists for his criticism of Islam. The photos were found on trees in a park near the Euromast. Similar photos appeared throughout the port city last week.

In an update on this story. Mainstream media correspondent Lisa Myers at MSNBC reports, "More evidence of Saudi doubletalk? Judge caught on tape encouraging Saudis to fight in Iraq"

WASHINGTON - Sheik Saleh Al Luhaidan, seen in video seated to the right of the crown prince, is chief justice of Saudi Arabia's Supreme Judicial Council. His sermons and words carry great significance.

In an audiotape secretly recorded at a government mosque last October and obtained by NBC News, Luhaidan encourages young Saudis to go to Iraq to wage war against Americans.

"If someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God, then he is free to do so," says Luhaidan in Arabic on the tape.

He warns Iraq is risky because "evil satellites and drone aircraft" watch the borders. But he says going is religiously permissible.

"The lawfulness of his action is in fighting an enemy who is fighting Muslims and came for war," says Luhaidan.

The sheik also says those donating money to the fight in Iraq should be sure it actually helps the cause.

"This statement shows the real face of the Saudi government," says Saudi dissident Ali Al-Ahmed of the Saudi Institute, based in Washington.

Al-Ahmed says that while Saudi officials — including Sheik Luhaidan — publicly oppose jihad in Iraq, privately some send a different message.

"He is telling Saudis it's OK to go to Iraq and kill Americans and Iraqis and they won’t be punished for doing that," says Al-Ahmed.

A Saudi spokesman twice denied the tape was authentic, claiming Saudi intelligence analysts determined it was "a crude fake." So NBC News called Luhaidan himself, in Saudi Arabia, and played the tape.

Luhaidan confirmed those were his words, saying in Arabic, "Yes, this is my voice."

But the sheik said what he really meant was that it's not worth it for young Saudis to go to Iraq and that the Iraqis are capable of fighting on their own...

Let's see now, not translated correctly? No. Taken out of context? No, can't say that either...Oh, I know, what I meant to say was...

The folks at Dawa.net want to make sure your kids get their dose of Islam every day. Here are some of their helpful hints "Dawa in public schools"

Dawa through the school newspaper

The school newspaper is another effective way of doing Dawa. Muslim students are highly encouraged to become writers and editors of their school papers. Inform the writing staff to consult you before publishing articles on Islam and Muslims. Being a writer will give you ample opportunity to provide Islamically oriented articles which will Insha Allah open the hearts and minds of readers.

As a group, the Muslim students should try to contribute an article on Islam in each issue of its paper. The school may not allow you to preach in the school paper, but Alhamdu lillah, there are ways to circumvent this problem.

When your Islamic group holds any Islamic event like lectures, religious/ cultural events etc, submit an article about this event as a "news" article. This way, you are still presenting an aspect of Islam without coming across as a preacher.

The second way to circumvent the problem is to write articles about Islamic holidays, the two Eids and again submit them as "news" articles. It also helps to have a good rapport with the editor and the writing staff of the paper. Invite them to your Iftar parties, gatherings, lectures etc.

Islamic books in school libraries

Encourage school libraries to shelf books and magazines on Islam written by Muslims, and to provide the librarian with a list of recommended books on Islam. If the library is unwilling to purchase the books themselves, Muslim students should raise funds amongst themselves and from their parents and come up with the required books.

Scanning textbooks for misinformation on Islam

Students of all grades and their parents should regularly scan textbooks to detect any biased material on Islam. If any is found, it should be brought to the attention of the teachers and the school authorities, providing them with the correct information with evidence, and have the teacher announce to the students the correct information.

In this area, the Council on Islamic Education can also help.

Starting an Islamic newsletter

A newsletter on Islam and Muslims can be started by the Muslim students, if the school allows it. This newsletter can be funded mostly by advertisements and donations. A newsletter on Islam and Muslims will again help in dispelling the misinformation circulating about Islam and encourage Muslims to be organized and proactive.

Incorporating Islam into class projects

Some aspects of Islam can be incorporated in school projects. For example, for a speech class, if there is freedom to choose a topic, an Islamic topic should be selected. Similar opportunities can be created in history, social science, writing and other classes.

Remember, it was the Will and help of Allah, Iman (faith) and Muslim creativity that won victories for the Muslims. Schools and campuses are no exceptions as places where Islam can be victorious...

From the BBC,"Suspects shown 'al-Qaeda lists'" with thanks to Cristina:

The BBC has uncovered evidence that the police and security services have compiled lists - some containing names of innocent people - to show to suspected al-Qaeda terrorists when interrogating them.

I met Ghalem Belhadj at his solicitor's office in Glasgow. A big man, over 6ft, dressed in Islamic shalwar-kameez, and beard. There is no doubt he is a Muslim. And he says, with no irony in his voice, that means he must be a terrorist.

Well, that is what Strathclyde Police must have thought for, he says, they bashed down his door and arrested him. Despite his repeated denials he was jailed for three months and then released without charge.

"First time I think it was immigration and after that they gave me a sheet of paper in Arabic, it say they stop you and say you are for group terrorist," he says in broken English, "They stop me, I was surprised and put me in white suit and they took me to Glasgow, to Govan Police Station. "

Mr Belhadj's account gives us a new insight into how terrorist suspects are dealt with in custody. They are shown a list of names and photographs of people suspected of having links to al-Qaeda and questioned about them.

"When I see photos I started to smile, you know because these were innocent people. I meet these people in the Mosque sometimes, at prayer on a Friday. Every Friday they are together for special prayer," he said...

We see British lawsuits on the horizon...

How could they do such a terrible thing? From AFP, "Malaysian police arrest two Americans suspected of promoting Christianity"

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian police arrested two Americans for allegedly distributing Christian religious pamphlets to Muslims, police said Wednesday.

The two men were detained on Monday and a local court had ordered them to be held for 14 days to assist in investigations, a police spokesman told AFP.

"We want to find out if they had breached any regulations in Malaysia," he said.

It is an offence in mainly-Muslim Malaysia to try to convert Muslims away from their faith.

Another police official named the two men as Ricky Ruperd, in his 30s, and Zachry Harris, in his 20s.

The official Bernama news agency said they were arrested for distributing pamphlets with religious content at Malaysia's new administrative capital Putrajaya, 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of here.

Putrajaya police chief Mohamad Khalil Kadir Mohamad said the men were detained during routine checks by police and and were found to be without any travel documents.

A spokesman for the US embassy confirmed the detentions but would give no further details.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said earlier this month there was no ban on Bibles published in the Malay language but they must be stamped with the words "Not for Muslims"...

From Reuters, "Iraqi MP Killed; No Government Announced"

BAGHDAD - Gunmen assassinated an Iraqi woman member of parliament Wednesday in a fresh shock to politicians whose failure to form a government three months after elections has allowed violence to thrive unchecked.

Iraqi police said Lame'a Abed Khadawi, a member of caretaker Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's political party, was shot dead outside her house in eastern Baghdad. She is the first person in the 275-seat National Assembly to be killed.

Allawi himself survived a suicide car bomb attack on his convoy this month. Khadawi was one of around 90 women elected to the assembly on Jan. 30. By law, a third of the candidates on party lists had to be women.

Pressure has mounted on Iraq's politicians to end months of post-election bickering. America's top general urged them on Tuesday to form a new government quickly to combat an insurgency he said was as strong as it had been a year ago...

Hopes of announcing a government have repeatedly been dashed during three months of squabbling over the distribution of ministries to rival sects. Politicians had hoped the election would lead Iraq to stability and economic recovery...

More denials from Yarkas From Expatica, "9/11 chief suspect denies Bin Laden links," :

MADRID — A man accused of helping plot the 9/11 attacks on the United States told a Spanish court he did not support Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and had never met him.

The Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, admitted he did back Islamic holy war as a "self-defence concept".

He is accused of organising a meeting where plans for the 2001 attacks in the US were finalised, and of running an Al-Qaeda recruitment unit in Spain since 1995.

"I am not a supporter of Bin Laden's doctrines, and I have never met him," he told the court in Madrid on the third day of a major trial involving 23 other defendants.

"But I acknowledge that I fully support, morally and emotionally, Muslim peoples who defend themselves against their aggressors," he added, quoting conflicts in Bosnia-Hercegovina and the Russian republic of Chechnya.

When pressed by the chief magistrate to explain what he meant by "jihad," or holy war, Yarkas replied: "It means defending oneself. Self-defence."

The 41-year-old has denied all links with the plotters behind the 9/11 attacks. His cross-examination began on Monday.

If found guilty, Yarkas faces the prospect of a prison sentence totalling more than 60,000 years — 25 years for each of the 3,000 lives lost...

An update on this story from the Sydney Morning Herald, "Muslim leader's rape comments under fire"

Political leaders have condemned comments from a Sydney Muslim leader that rape victims had no-one to blame but themselves.

Lebanese Sheik Faiz Mohamad, 34, has been quoted by a newspaper as telling a lecture at the Bankstown Town Hall, in south-western Sydney, that women who wore skimpy clothing teased men.

"A victim of rape every minute somewhere in the world. Why? No-one to blame but herself. She displayed her beauty to the entire world ...," Sheik Mohamed was quoted as saying in the lecture.

"Strapless, backless, sleeveless, nothing but satanic skirts, slit skirts, translucent blouses, mini skirts, tight jeans: all this to tease man and appeal to his carnal nature."

NSW Premier Bob Carr said the sheik could face criminal charges if he made comments which incited rapes.

"If anything the sheik says in future appears to be an incitement to the crime of rape ... I just want to assure him that the full force of the criminal law will be brought to bear," he told reporters.

Mr Carr said most Muslim Australians did not share the sheik's views.

"I know he's appalled Muslim Australians, appalled Muslim Australians who know the sort of anger that will be directed at their community because of these extremist views that are not held by the vast majority of Muslims in this country."

We seem to have missed the part where all the Muslims condemning this are quoted. Does Mr. Carr just assume they condemn the sheik because he does? If so, that's a big assumption...

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello also criticised the sheik's comments.

"If such comments are made I consider them totally inappropriate, untrue and unhelpful," Mr Costello told reporters.

"Australian women are free to dress in the western style and nothing gives an excuse for them to be molested in any way.

"This is Australia. Women are free to dress as they choose and they deserve to be safe on our streets and in our parks and they are entitled to respect."

NSW Opposition Leader John Brogden described Sheik Mohamad's comments as prehistoric.

"This guy ought to go back to the cave where he belongs," Mr Brogden told reporters...

From Reuters, "British Businessman Found Guilty in U.S. Weapons Case"

NEWARK, N.J. - A British man was found guilty of trying to provide material support to terrorists on Wednesday for selling a shoulder-launched missile to an undercover FBI informant posing as an Islamic militant seeking to attack the United States.

Hemant Lakhani, 69, a British citizen born in India, was found guilty of five criminal charges by a U.S. District Court jury in Newark, New Jersey, that began deliberating on Tuesday.

Lakhani was arrested in August 2003 after a two-year international sting operation and charged with trying to provide material support to terrorists, unlawful arms sales, smuggling and money laundering. He faces 25 years in prison.

Prosecutors provided videotapes and taped telephone conversations of Lakhani making the deal with an undercover FBI informant posing as an Islamic militant.

But while the prosecution depicted Lakhani as an enthusiastic broker eager to supply a terrorist group, the defense said he was a victim of overzealous law enforcement in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

What could the defense say? He was "trying to smuggle shoulder-held missiles into the United States and offering to obtain a radioactive "dirty bomb" for terrorists." Other than that, he was a wonderful man.

Oh, and material from which to make pipe bombs (it's in the airbags). But of course, authorities assure us that this has nothing to do with terrorism. From the New York Post, with thanks to LGF:

April 27, 2005 -- Firefighters found more than 200 vehicle airbags believed to be stolen in the back room of a Brooklyn supermarket, where newspaper clippings about Osama bin Laden and beheadings in Iraq covered the walls, authorities said.

The firefighters from Ladder Co. 123 conducting a routine inspection, discovered the air bags — which sell for about $750 to $1,000 each — at the Superior Food Market at 1503 St. John's Place in Crown Heights....

Authorities, however, did not believe they had stumbled onto a terrorist cell, even though the room contained some materials that could be used to fashion pipe bombs, sources said.....

Audeh Hamdan of Brooklyn owns the three-story building, which has 11 outstanding code violations on file with the city, records show.

Hamdan, 53, of Brooklyn, served jail time in the late 1970s and early 1980s for arson, reckless endangerment, weapons possession and conspiracy, according to the records. He could not be reached for comment.

If he ends up being charged with anything, you can be sure that we will hear how quiet, pious, and devout he is, and how inconceivable it is that he could have been involved with anything remotely resembling terrorism -- and that it is only the racism and hysteria of the American authorities that is causing all his troubles.

From CathNews, with thanks to Mary Beth:

A young Catholic man who was attacked and reportedly left for dead is in critical condition in a hospital in northeastern Pakistan.

AsiaNews reports that Shahbaz Masih, 24, was attacked on Saturday. His assailants, allegedly by young Muslim men from his village, left him in a field, thinking he was dead. Both his legs were broken, but he survived and was taken to the public hospital in Mandi Bahaud Din. Shahbaz lives in Mandi Bahaud Din district, 175 kilometers south of Islamabad.

Fr Rehmat Hakim, the local parish priest, said that 20-25 Christian families live in the predominantly Muslim village. They own houses but do not have land for cultivation, so they earn their living mainly as agricultural workers for Muslim landlords.

Shahbaz drove a tractor for a Muslim landlord who was very kind to the young man, which Fr Hakim said did not go well with some Muslims who want Christians to remain subservient and dependent.

This same group, he continued, is unhappy that Christians attend school and do well in their studies.

Bush may have held hands with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, but maybe he shouldn't ask him to go steady just yet. The Saudi double game continues. From WorldNetDaily.com, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Is Saudi Arabia an ally or enemy of the United States in the war on terror?

The question is raised with the disclosure of secretly recorded comments from the kingdom's chief justice encouraging young Saudis to travel to Iraq to wage war against Americans.

"If someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God, then he is free to do so," says Sheik Saleh Al Luhaidan in Arabic on the October audiotape from a government mosque, obtained by NBC News.

While Luhaidan warns Iraq is risky because "evil satellites and drone aircraft" watch the borders, he stresses making the trip to fight Americans is religiously permissible.

"The lawfulness of his action is in fighting an enemy who is fighting Muslims and came for war," says Luhaidan.

The predictable charges of discrimination and claims that the accused -- Al-Timimi in this case -- is a saint. "Prosecution Called 'Overzealous': Guilty Verdict in Terror Case Angers Muslims Who Know Lecturer," from the Washington Post, :

Ali al-Timimi is a native Washingtonian, a prolific reader with about 4,000 books in his personal library who grew up among Irish Catholics. His parents worked at the Iraqi Embassy and sent him to a Jewish school known for strong academics.

He had little Islamic education until he parents moved to Saudi Arabia when he was 15. Inspired by a teacher there, he began a lifelong study of Islam. He returned to Washington when he was 17 to attend college, receiving degrees from George Washington University and the University of Maryland, and late last year, a doctorate from George Mason University in computational biology with a focus on cancer and genes.

Yesterday, after he was found guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on charges that he encouraged followers to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops, members of the Muslim community said Timimi was a victim of "overzealous prosecution."

"Ali never opened a weapon or fired a shot," said Shaker El Sayed, a member of the executive committee of the Dar Al Hijra mosque in Falls Church, "and he is going to get life imprisonment for talking. What kind of country are we turning the United States into today?"

Sayed said that the jury must not have been able to distinguish between the lectures Ali delivered and charges against him. "The government alleged Ali incited people to buy arms and take them overseas to fire against people, but they never presented anything at the trial to show any facts relevant to any evidence. They only relied on Ali's lectures."

Timimi was a frequent lecturer at the Center for Islamic Information and Education, also known as Dar Al-Arqam, in Falls Church. He recorded more than 500 hours of his lectures and seminars, according to the biography of him posted on a Web site founded by his supporters....

Khwaja Hasan testified that in a meeting five days after the attacks, Timimi ordered the window blinds drawn and the house phone turned off in the event that it was being used by the government as a listening device. Hasan said Timimi urged the men at the meeting to join the Taliban and fight the United States....

Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, said that Timimi's conviction "bodes ill" for the First Amendment.

"What he said was perhaps repugnant and inflammatory, but was it really his intent to have people go and take his words and translate that into going and killing other human beings, specifically Americans?" Bray asked.

If that was not his intent, what was? Mahdi Bray calls himself just a poor old country Muslim from Norfolk, Virginia, but he is a master at clouding issues and creating confusion. This is a prime example. The First Amendment has never protected sedition.

Islamic loyalty is paramount among jihadists. Here is another article showing how even converts to Islam can imbibe this sentiment. Josh Lefkowitz and Lorenzo Vidino on Ahmed Abu Ali and some other American jihadists in FrontPage (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist)

In late February, federal authorities indicted yet another American citizen for working with Al Qaeda, alleging that Ahmed Abu Ali, in conjunction with a number of Saudi Al Qaeda operatives, had conspired to assassinate President Bush. Abu Ali is only the latest example of homegrown American jihadis.

Indoctrinated in extremist Islamic schools and mosques--just as Abu Ali was at the Islamic Saudi Academy and the Dar al-Hijrah mosque, both in Virginia--these young men are taught a virulently anti-Western and anti-Semitic world view that fosters a ferocious hatred for America. Oftentimes, this radical ideology is imparted by mentors seeking to advance the agenda of militant Islam.

One such mentor was Omar Bayoumi, who emerged as a central figure in the 9/11 investigation due to the considerable assistance he provided two of the hijackers. In his book, Intelligence Matters, Senator Bob Graham – head of the Congressional Joint Inquiry on 9/11--labeled Bayoumi a Saudi intelligence agent. Moreover, according to The Joint Inquiry, Bayoumi had “connections to terrorist elements.” That report further noted that an “exhaustive translation of his [Bayoumi’s] documents made it clear that…he is providing guidance to young Muslims and some of his writings can be interpreted as jihadist.”

One young Muslim who crossed paths with Bayoumi was Clayton Morgan.

A former motorcycle racer raised by a wealthy family, Morgan--a fifth generation American--once entertained lofty goals. In 1998, as he stood first in line to hear Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr testify in Washington D.C., he proudly declared, “I want to be President of the United States…There’s no higher calling than public office.”

But Morgan’s life soon took a far different course. After the US bombed Iraq in 1998, Morgan converted to Islam and adopted two names: Isamu Dyson and Cayson Bin Don. While living in California, Morgan spent time with Bayoumi, as well as 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar.

On February 1, 2000, Morgan and Bayoumi drove from San Diego to Los Angeles to visit the Saudi consulate. During that trip, the two men stopped to eat at a restaurant in Culver City. At the restaurant, according to Bayoumi, he overheard al-Hazmi and al-Midhar “speaking in…Gulf Arabic and struck up a conversation,” during which he offered to help them settle in San Diego. The 9/11 Commission struggled mightily to assess this interaction with the hijackers, noting uncertainty about “whether the lunch encounter occurred by chance or design.” Nonetheless, the Commission commented that Morgan’s recollection of parts of the day is “spotty and inconsistent.”

Shortly after the restaurant meeting, al-Hazmi and al-Midhar followed Bayoumi and Morgan to San Diego. Bayoumi immediately helped the two Saudis by finding them an apartment, co-signing their lease, and providing a certified check for the deposit. Then, to welcome them to the community, Bayoumi also organized a small gathering at their apartment, which he instructed Morgan to videotape.

Following this get together, Morgan’s activities are difficult to trace.

That is until he showed up in the most unlikely of places: Portland, Maine, the launch point for hijackers Mohammed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari on 9/11.

Toiling in obscurity as a janitorial supervisor in Portland prior to 9/11, Morgan quickly gained notoriety after the attacks. According to The New York Post, three days after the Twin Towers collapsed, Morgan voiced his support for the atrocity to two Portland police officers during a meeting at a local mosque and told them that he would never tip authorities off if he knew of an impending attack.

Then, on September 26, 2001, he attempted to purchase an assault rifle and a handgun from a Portland gun shop. Thankfully, his effort failed; a Portland newspaper reported that a background check revealed Morgan’s ex-wife had filed a temporary restraining order against him.

But these incidents paled in comparison to what happened on October 15. That day, Morgan became public enemy number one in New York after the front page of The New York Post labeled him a “Traitor.”

With a curved gold-handed dagger and a three-foot sword on his belt, Morgan, identified in the piece as “Isanu Dyson”, told The Post: “I would consider it more noble for me to go and get myself out of the country, renounce my citizenship, end up in Afghanistan, pick up a gun and fight alongside everyone else against the enemy - American soldiers.” In Morgan’s estimation, he was “a Muslim-American, not an American-Muslim” and thus had “a greater obligation to them than to anybody.”

Read it all.

Daniel Pipes has an interesting article in the NY Sun descibing "American Border Secrets":

What steps should Western border agencies take to defend their homelands from harm by Islamists?

In the case of non-citizens, the answer is simple: Don't let Islamists in. Exclude not just potential terrorists but also anyone who supports the totalitarian goals of radical Islam. Just as civilized countries did not welcome fascists in the early 1940s (or communists a decade later), they need not welcome Islamists today.

But what about one's own citizens who cross the border? They could be leaving to fight for the Taliban or returning from a course on terrorism techniques. Or perhaps they studied with enemies of the West who incited them to sabotage or sedition. Clearly, the authorities should take steps to find out more about their activities, especially given the dangerous jihadi culture already in place in many Western countries, including Canada.

This question arose in late December 2004, after a three-day Islamist conference, "Reviving the Islamic Spirit," took place in Toronto. The event, boasting a host of high-profile Islamist speakers such as Bilal Philips, Zaid Shakir, Siraj Wahhaj, and Hamza Yusuf, alarmed the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), America's new border agency.

Spokeswoman Kristie Clemens explained that her agency had information on how events such as the one in Toronto "may be used by terrorist organizations to promote terrorist activities, which includes traveling and fund raising." Ms. Clemens later added that the CBP has "credible, ongoing information that these types of conferences have been used and are being used by terrorist organizations to not only transport fraudulent documents but to mask travel by terrorists." Terrorists imagine, she pointed out, that if they travel in a large group, "we're going to be less restrictive and try to expedite the processing."

Her explanation hints at why the CBP decided to detain nearly 40 Muslims, many of them American citizens, as they returned to the U.S. by car from the Toronto conference. The travelers report they spent long hours at the border near Buffalo, N.Y., and none too pleasantly. One woman said she was asked whether the wire in her underwire bra was a weapon. Another, seven months' pregnant, reported that border agents lifted her blouse to make sure she really was pregnant. A third traveler quotes himself asking a border guard, "If I refuse to give my fingerprints, what will you do?" to which he got a terse reply: "You can refuse, but you'll be here until you do."...

Five of them are suing -- with CAIR's help, of course.

Were the plaintiffs to prevail in this case, attending religious conferences would instantly become the favored method for terrorists and other Islamists to cross the American border without hindrance. Such a malign implication means this lawsuit needs to be tossed out by the courts.

France may be an ever better dhimmi than President Handholder. From the World Tribune, with thanks to Looney Tunes:

The Saudi kingdom could augment or replace strategic ties with London and Washington by increasing relations with France, the Washington Institute said in a report. The institute cited a French report of a defense memorandum of understanding that paves the way for the French sale of up to $15 billion in aircraft and security projects to Riyad.

The institute's report, authored by Gulf analyst Simon Henderson, was issued on the eve of the meeting between U.S. President George Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz in Crawford, Texas on Monday.

Abdullah and Bush last met three years ago. The president has indicated that he would press Abdullah to increase Saudi oil exports as prices approach $60 a barrel, Middle East Newsline reported.

Abdullah, who met Vice President Richard Cheney on Sunday, was expected to face a tough session with Bush.

Yeah. Bush hadn't had a manicure for awhile.

"If recent signals from the Saudis are any indication, the talks could be tough," the study said. "Indeed, the frank talk promised for the Crawford summit could well mark a turning point in U.S.-Saudi relations."

"The president [Bush] has a plethora of concerns heading into the meeting, including Saudi views on terrorism, democratic reform, oil prices, and nuclear proliferation," the study added. "Although Washington is pleased by recent Saudi successes against Al Qaida, it remains worried about the potential for Islamic militancy in the kingdom. U.S. nationals in Saudi Arabia remain vulnerable to terrorist attacks."...

"The contrast between the Crawford and Paris meetings is likely to be great, leading to speculation that Riyad might upgrade its relations with France to a strategic friendship rivaling its historic relationship with the United States," the study said....

Which makes it virtually certain that it is an extended exercise in dhimmitude and historical revisionism. Here is CAIR's press release, "Muslims Call New Fox Crusader Film 'Balanced'; CAIR Says 'Kingdom of Heaven' Avoids Negative Stereotypes," from U.S. NewsWire, with thanks to all who sent this in:

WASHINGTON -- A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group said today that the new 20th Century Fox epic "Kingdom of Heaven" is a "balanced" portrayal of the Crusades, despite earlier concerns that the film might offer stereotypical portrayals of Islam or Muslims.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) based its judgment on a private screening of the Sir Ridley Scott film at Fox studios in Los Angeles. "Kingdom" is scheduled to open in theaters nationwide May 6.

The very fact that CAIR was given a private screening speaks volumes. The filmmakers are probably cringing dhimmis, desperately afraid of litigation -- which of course is CAIR's weapon of choice.

Representatives of CAIR's Southern California office (CAIR-LA) and the group's national headquarters took part in the screening. They said the film, which focuses on the 12th century period between the Second and Third Crusades, highlights the humanity of characters on both sides of that centuries-long conflict.

"Our overall impression is that 'Kingdom of Heaven' is a balanced and positive depiction of Islamic culture during the Crusades," said CAIR-LA Communications Director Sabiha Khan. "Muslims are shown as dignified and proud people whose lives are based on ethics and morality." Khan said one of the film's positive messages, that Muslims and Christians can live together in peace, will provide an opportunity for increased interfaith dialogue.

"It is unfortunately a rare occasion when a Muslim filmgoer can leave the theater feeling good about a movie's portrayal of Islam," said CAIR National Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, who also attended the Los Angeles screening. "This film managed to show the horrors of war without associating those horrors with a particular faith or culture." Ahmed thanked Fox for its screening of the film and for taking care to avoid religious stereotypes...

The fight for the Muslim vote is on. "Oona King deletes 'Muslim' in leaflets," from the Evening Standard:

Labour's Oona King was accused of double standards today after dropping references to Muslims in leaflets for predominantly white areas.

The two leaflets, both headed "Oona King - Working Hard for the East End" - point out her work as MP for Bethnal Green and Bow but in one of them all references to Muslims have been deleted.

The area is the centre of a bitter fight between Labour and George Galloway's Respect party, which is opposed to the invasion of Iraq which Ms King backed.

Now she stands accused of playing down her work on issues of concern to Muslims in the leaflets her supporters are said to be delivering to mainly white areas.

The row follows accusations of hypocrisy against Woking Tory candidate Humfrey Malins over leaflets with different messages for white and Asian voters. He wrote in Urdu to Asian voters asking for support, citing his record on helping with immigration visas and visits, while in a leaflet delivered in predominantly white areas he promised to take a tough line on immigration.

Two of Ms King's recent campaign leaflets contain key differences.
Under a panel contrasting her Commons voting record with that of her rival Mr Galloway, one of the leaflets states: "Oona voted to protect Muslims from hate crimes."

But in the other leaflet it says: "Oona voted to make incitement to religious hatred a crime."

The following section appears in the leaflet for Muslims: "Ken Livingstone added: 'Working hard for local people has not stopped Oona getting the Government to increase funding to Bangladesh. And her brave stand against human rights abuses of Palestinians has made her a leading campaigner for Palestinian rights'."

By contrast, in the other leaflet that passage has been replaced with: "Ken Livingstone added: 'Oona has been a great supporter of my neighbourhood policing scheme and, thanks to her efforts, by July Tower Hamlets will be the first London borough to have police on the beat in every local community'."

One leaflet has a section highlighting-Labour work for Muslim communities. This section has been left out of the other leaflet.

When it comes to the thorny issue of the war, the two leaflets also differ. In a personal message from Ms King, she sets out her reasons for backing the invasion of Iraq but in one leaflet, presumably aimed at shoring up support among Muslims, she refers to "Iraqi Muslims" throughout, while in the other she talks only of Iraqis.

While one leaflet states: "I had made that promise to Iraqi Muslims and I stuck to it", the other says: "I had made that promise to
Iraqis."...

Campaigning for the EU? From the Christian Science Monitor, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

ISTANBUL - Covered in a pink and gray head scarf that tightly frames her round face, and adorned in a long, dark-blue overcoat, Zuleyha Seker hardly seems like a rebel. But as one of 400 women preachers, known as vaizes, currently working in several of Turkey's state-run mosques, Ms. Seker is making waves.

"The vaizes like me are seen as revolutionaries in religious circles - we are always pushing for change," she says with a gentle smile.

Indeed, women have brought significant change to Turkey's Muslim order in recent years. Two years ago, women were appointed for the first time to lead groups of Turks making the pilgrimage to Mecca. And last year, Diyanet, a government body that oversees the country's mosques and trains religious leaders, added 150 women preachers across Turkey.

Now, Diyanet is selecting a group of women who will serve as deputies to muftis, or expounders of religious law. From this post, they'll monitor the work being done by imams in local mosques, particularly as it relates to women.

While these changes come in response to what Diyanet officials describe as a growing demand from women for more and better religious education, academics and Islamic intellectuals say these developments are also being forced by the rise of a new class of educated religious women who are demanding more rights within the country's Islamic milieu.

"Now, women are more educated, they participate more in social life, and they are mixing more with men, so they are demand- ing more," says Nevin Meric, a women's education expert at the Istanbul mufti's office. "Today they are aware of their rights and they are learning by reading and asking," she says.

Buket Turkmen, a sociologist at Istanbul's Galatasaray University who has studied the role of women in Turkish Islam, says that for many women who come from traditional homes where they would normally be limited in what they are allowed to do, religious education becomes a path to a certain kind of independence.

"It's very paradoxical, but by choosing Islam, they can gain their individuality and their emancipation. In this context, Islam means modernization," Ms. Turkmen says....

Mehmet Gormez, Diyanet's deputy head, says the growing demand from women has forced Turkey's religious institutions to act. "In Islamic doctrine, men and women are equal. This should also be applied in practice," Mr. Gormez adds....

Is that so, Gormez? Can you please point me to the passage in the Qur'an that says that women can beat their husbands? What's that? There isn't one? Only one saying that men can beat their wives (4:34)? I see.

When Amina Wadud, an American Muslim and professor, announced that she would lead Friday prayers at an annex of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City last month, condemnation rang from orthodox circles. Sunni preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi of Qatar issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, saying "that leadership in prayer in Islam is reserved for men only," and warning that a women leading prayers might arouse men...

Oh for cryin' out loud.

Justice for Al-Timimi. From AP, :

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A prominent Islamic scholar was convicted Tuesday of encouraging followers in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops.

Jurors reached their verdict in their seventh day of deliberations in the trial of Ali al-Timimi.

Al-Timini faces a mandatory maximum sentence of life in prison, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have said al-Timimi was a respected scholar who enjoyed "rock star" status among his followers and that he used that influence to guide them into holy war against the United States....

Al-Timimi's lawyers have said he only counseled young Muslims after Sept. 11 that they might be wise to leave the United States because it would become difficult to practice their faith in this country.

Al-Timimi's lawyers also announced that the bridges they have been selling are now available for substantially reduced prices. Everything must go!

A message from Rogier Van Bakel:

Malcolm Gladwell reviews a book ("Collapse") that talks about how and why cultures/societies die. This passage made me think of the Europe's half-hearted struggle against Islamic fascism:

The lesson of "Collapse" is that societies, as often as not, aren't murdered. They commit suicide: they slit their wrists and then, in the course of many decades, stand by passively and watch themselves bleed to death.

Whole thing at http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_01_15_a_collapse.html

"Afghan heroin king nabbed entering U.S.," from UPI, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Drug Enforcement Administration agents reportedly arrested Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan national, Saturday as he tried to enter the United States. Noorzai made an initial appearance in a federal court in New York Monday, but did not enter a plea, and will appear again Wednesday.

Noorzai was charged with conspiring to import more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States and other countries. If convicted, he faces a minimum prison sentence of 10 years, with the possibility of a life term.

U.S. Attorney David Kelley said Noorzai provided weapons and troops to Afghanistan's former Taliban regime in exchange for protection, the Australian Web site SBS reported Monday. Noorzai allegedly has led an international trafficking ring based in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Al-Arian walk watch: "Defense Wants Statements Blocked," from the Tampa Tribune, with thanks to Teri:

TAMPA - A Sami Al-Arian co-defendant wants statements from more than 100 unindicted alleged co-conspirators blocked from use in the defendants' upcoming trial.

Those statements are hearsay unless the government proves the people were part of a criminal conspiracy and that the statements advanced that conspiracy, wrote M. Allison Guagliardo, an attorney representing Hatim Naji Fariz.

Al-Arian and Fariz are scheduled to go on trial May 16, along with Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Zayed Ballut, on charges they helped organize and finance the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization that has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Israel....

Guagliardo wrote that the government should have to prove that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks. It is not enough, she maintained, that the organization issued statements claiming responsibility.

``Claims may be made for purposes of boasting, political posturing, and any number of other motives, or they may even be based on mistaken information,'' she wrote.

But they certainly show the beliefs and priorities of the organization making them, no?

Let's hope the computer contains valuable information. From ABC News, with thanks to Kemaste:

Apr. 25, 2005 - Jordanian rebel Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- Iraq's most wanted fugitive -- recently eluded capture by American troops, but left behind a treasure trove of information, a senior military official told ABC News.

On Feb. 20, the alleged terror mastermind was heading to a secret meeting in Ramadi, just west of Fallujah, where he used to base his operations, the official said.

Task Force 626 -- the covert American military unit charged with finding Zarqawi -- had troops in place to grab the fugitive, and mobile vehicle checkpoints had been established around the city's perimeter. Another U.S. official said predator drones were also in flight, tracking movements in and around the city.

A source who had been inside the Zarqawi network alerted the task force to the meeting. Officials deem the source "extremely credible."...

What the task force did find in the vehicle confirmed suspicions that Zarqawi had just escaped. The official said Zarqawi's computer and 80,000 euros (about $104,000 U.S.) were discovered in the truck.

Finding the computer, said the official, "was a seminal event." It had "a very big hard drive," the official said, and recent pictures of Zarqawi. The official said Zarqawi's driver and a bodyguard were taken into custody.

The senior military official said that they have since learned Zarqawi jumped out of the vehicle when it passed beneath an overpass, presumably to avoid detection from the air, and hid there before running to a safe house in Ramadi.

And above all, we must not offend Muslims. Better to be incinerated and turned to radioactive ash than to offend Muslims. From WND, with thanks to Teri:

A TV commercial warning Americans that Iran intends to launch a nuclear terror attack in the U.S. has been rejected by several stations due to fears it might inflame Muslims.

Titled "An Atomic 9-11: When Evil is Appeased," the spot, sponsored by the Iran Freedom Foundation, is based on a scenario described in the new WND Books release "Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians," by Jerome R. Corsi, co-author of the best-selling "Unfit for Command."

The ad, which can be viewed on the IFF website, began a month-long run last Tuesday in 17 markets nationwide.

It was rejected, however, by independent stations in Chicago, Dallas and Roanoke, Va., according to the company that produced and distributed it, Fargo, N.D.-based TVAI, or Timeless Video Alternatives International.

Steve Tweed, a TVAI working partner, told WND the ad was deemed "too politically partisan and controversial."

"One person called it propaganda," he said....

Tweed said some television program directors and traffic managers have been "tearing their hair out" over whether to run the ad, because they don't want to be seen as "picking a fight with any part of the community."

"We've never taken on such a valiant cause or had such a volatile or emotional reaction about any ad we've ever carried," Tweed said.

He explained the response was due to a "very latent, and I believe truthful, portrayal of Muslim fanaticism."

The ad, which begins with a clip from one of Sen. John Kerry's debates with President Bush, includes chants of "Death to America" led by leaders of the radical Muslim regime. The final image is of a figure in a Muslim veil.

"People in the media are trying to be politically correct and have an aversion to acknowledging that these are psychotic, fanatic rulers, and they happen to be Muslims," he said.

But Tweed said some of the concern could be simply because "people don't want their stations blown up."

Clash of civilizations watch. The choice here is not between attacking prostitutes or approving of prostitution. From the UK Asian Image, with thanks to Effractor:

Two students who cruised Bradford's red light district and horrifically abused two prostitutes are today behind bars.

Maqas Riaz was jailed for four years and nine months and Mohammed Irfan for nine years.

Irfan told one of his victims that he "couldn't stand prostitutes" and threatened there would be vigilante-style "lynches" to rid the streets of them.

I don't approve of prostitution myself, but I approve of Irfan's response to it even less.

Placing them both on the sex offenders' register for life, Honorary Recorder of Bradford Judge Stephen Guillick said they had set out to "degrade them, humiliate them and terrify them"....

Prosecutor Patrick Palmer said Riaz and Irfan approached the first woman at around 2am in January last year, but she would not get in a car with two men.

Riaz later returned alone and the woman agreed to go with him, but Irfan was lurking round a corner and jumped in the back seat with her and they drove off.

The terrified woman tried to phone the police and get out of the car, but Irfan grabbed her by the hair and smashed her head against the window, then threatened her with a knife.

Riaz got in the back and the woman was sexually assaulted before being blindfolded, tied up and dumped in a field.

Hours later the pair, both students at Bradford University, preyed on their next victim. Irfan and Riaz pulled up in the car but the woman could see the knife blade and tried to get away. She was forced into the car and driven to Great Horton Lane.

Mr Palmer said Riaz demanded money and Irfan threatened her with the knife.

She tried to escape but was pulled back by Irfan, who slashed her jacket and raped her.

A few weeks later Riaz again went looking for prostitutes with another man, Waseem Choudhary. They both indecently assaulted a third woman. The three men were arrested in February last year when the police saw them driving around together. At first they denied any involvement but pleaded guilty before their trial last year...

Indicating anew that the problem is not terrorism. It is jihad. From the Malaysian StarOnline, with thanks to Nicolei:

NEW YORK: Malaysia has made it clear it cannot support the United Nations secretary-general's recommendation on the definition of terrorism as it did not clearly differentiate between terrorism and the legitimate struggles of people fighting for their right to be free of colonial and alien domination, foreign occupation and their right to national liberation.

Its Permanent Representative to the UN Datuk Rastam Mohamed Isa said it also did not address the root causes of terrorism.

"We have noted the important elements on terrorism that are missing in the secretary-general's report, as pointed out by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and are willing to discuss these further with the view to ensuring that they are given adequate attention," he said.

Rastam was speaking at the informal thematic consultations of the General Assembly on the report of the secretary-general entitled In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All on Friday.

He said Malaysia had taken note of the comprehensive strategy on terrorism and would study it further.

"For the moment, we see some parts of the strategy as inadequate.

"For example, it fails to address the root causes of terrorism, political grievances, economic and social marginalisation, regional conflicts and foreign occupation.

All those have occurred many times in the past to non-Muslim peoples without causing terrorism. Now why is that?

"Root causes of terrorism are not founded simply on the belief that the use of terrorist methods can achieve an aim," he said...

Interesting that Aslanbekhov thinks this will strengthen Russia against the jihadists, while the article opines that it will weaken it. "Eye on Eurasia: A super-mufti for Russia?" from UPI, with thanks to EPG:

Tartu, Estonia, Apr. 25 (UPI) -- Russian Presidential advisor Aslanbek Aslanbekhov has called for the election of a single supreme mufti early next year to oversee all the Muslim communities of the Russian Federation, someone he said who could assist the government in its struggle against terrorism and fundamentalist Islam.

Aslanbekhov's proposal was greeted coolly by the Russian Federation's current Muslim leaders, most of whom view it as a direct threat to their power and influence and despite the fact that the introduction of a single muftiate will reduce rather than strengthen the Russian government's control over Islam, Moscow seems virtually certain to go ahead.

Aslakhanov presented this idea at a Moscow meeting "Islam for Peace" organized by various Muslim groups, Interfax reported. He told "Kommersant" that it was only his "personal idea" (www.kommersant.ru/doc.html?DocID=572461), but his comments and those of another Russian official at the session suggest otherwise.

On the one hand, Aslakhanov suggested that his ideas would find favor within the Kremlin once he did share them with official there, adding that any opposition to them by Muslim leaders up to now simply reflects their personal ambitions and unwillingness to subordinate themselves to anyone else.

"The muftis don't want to elect a chief mufti," Aslakhanov said, "because each of them wants to be the chief." But if such an election does take place, he continued, "anyone who does not want to subordinate himself to the law and the regulations adopted on the territory of the country where he lives, well, those are his problems."

Jordan, you will recall, is the moderate land where a law mandating stiffer penalties for honor killing was rejected on Islamic grounds. From AFP, with thanks to Twostellas:

AMMAN - A Jordanian man shot dead his divorced sister after seeing her photo on his friend's camera-equipped mobile phone in the latest "honour" killing in the kingdom, hospital officials said on Monday.

The unidentified man shot the 31-year-old mother twice in the head Sunday night and then turned himself in to police saying he committed the murder to "cleanse his family's honour."

The incident is the fifth example of a so-called honour killing in Jordan this year. Those found guilty usually face sentences of a maximum of one year in jail under Jordanian law.

Last month, a man stabbed his sister to death after finding out she had agreed an unofficial marriage with a man who subsequently
disappeared...

Hugh Fitzgerald has alerted me to this astounding example of dhimmi idiocy from a US official in Pakistan. From Pakistan's Dawn, "Islam religion of peace, justice: diplomat":

PESHAWAR - Principal Officer of the US Consulate in Peshawar, Michael A. Spangler, has said that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States and his country is eager to promote Islam's message of peace and justice.

"We stretch our hands to you in friendship and peace on this auspicious day, the birthday of the Holy Prophet (pbuh)", he said while speaking at a function held here on Sunday. The function was arranged in connection with Eid Milad-un-Nabi by the US Consulate, Peshawar in collaboration with Jamia Ashrafia, Peshawar.

He said: "The message of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) has strengthened the ideas of democracy, tolerance and moderation in my own thinking and action.

Spangler has learned democracy, tolerance, and moderation from Muhammad? What was Spangler like before he learned about Muhammad?

I beg all of you Muslims to help me understand the message of Islam more clearly. Please condemn acts of terrorism and stand up for the message of peace and justice that the Holy Prophet has taught."

He said the US would extend all possible help and assistance to the MMA government in the NWFP to empower and improve lives of people.

Provincial Minister for Local Governments Sardar Mohammad Idris, in his keynote address, said: "We don't believe in clash of civilisations; rather we wish harmony and cohesion among different world civilisations. We should come closer to each other. This process of nearness can help us understand each other."

We should follow in the footprints of the Holy Prophet who preached peace, tolerance against barbarism, ignorance and injustice, the minister said.

Yeah, the H.P. was quite a tolerant fellow. Here's one of my favorite examples of his tolerance:

Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war...When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them....If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim 4294)

Here's another, specifically depicting his tolerance of barbarism:

While the Prophet was prostrating, surrounded by some of Quraish, 'Uqba bin Abi Mu'ait brought the intestines (i.e. abdominal contents) of a camel and put them over the back of the Prophet. The Prophet did not raise his head, (till) Fatima, came and took it off his back and cursed the one who had done the harm. The Prophet said, "O Allah! Destroy the chiefs of Quraish, Abu Jahl bin Hisham, 'Utba bin Rabi'al, Shaba bin Rabi'a, Umaiya bin Khalaf or Ubai bin Khalaf." (The sub-narrator Shu'ba, is not sure of the last name.) I saw these people killed on the day of Badr battle and thrown in the well except Umaiya or Ubai whose body parts were mutilated but he was not thrown in the well. (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 193)

I can see how all that fighting and cursing of enemies would move Spangler to become more tolerant. So can Idris:

He praised Mr Spangler for arranging a graceful and solemn function on Eid Milad-un-Nabi. He also lauded US's support for the MMA government in various fields....

Mufti Kifayatullah, spokesman for MMA, in his thought-provoking speech said the Muslims, like other nations, should also be viewed as broadminded people. He said: "We believe in Bible as a divine book, Christ and Moses as Prophets of Allah like Muhammad (pbuh). Even we name our children after Christ and Moses. People from other religions should follow us"...

...into dhimmitude, eh, Kifayatullah? It is appalling that he could stand up there and say that they believe the Bible is a divine book without bothering to mention that they also believe it has been corrupted and that those who believe it are under Allah's curse (see Qur'an 9:30).

Last Friday I wrote that "Hasan Akbar's jihad has reached its conclusion." That seems to have been premature: it has now come to light that he stabbed an MP last month, and I suspect he will go on looking for opportunities to kill. But Judge Stephen Henley is unmoved; it was, after all, just an "opportunistic stabbing."

An "opportunistic stabbing"? What the heck does that mean? What about Akbar's stated motives, priorities, and values? I suppose 9/11 was just a case of "opportunistic building destruction."

"Judge won't allow evidence of fight in Akbar sentencing," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. The judge in Sergeant Hasan Akbar's court-martial says he won't admit evidence of a fight that Akbar had last month with an M-P in the restroom at Fort Bragg's legal building.

Prosecutors had asked that they be allowed to introduce evidence of the March 30th fight to show a pattern of behavior. The prosecutors wanted to use it during the sentencing phase where a jury will decide whether to sentence Akbar to death or life in prison.

Judge Stephen Henley said he didn't think what he called an "opportunistic stabbing" two years after the attack inside the Army camp in Kuwait showed a pattern.

Akbar took a sharp item from an office where he was meeting with lawyers and attacked the M-P who was assigned to escort him to the men's room.

When did Imad Yarkas misunderstand Islam, and how much did he misunderstand it?* "Al-Qaida's Suspected Leader in Spain Denies Founding Cell That Helped in Sept. 11 Attacks," from AP, :

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Al-Qaida's suspected leader in Spain denied Monday that he founded a radical Muslim cell accused of helping plot the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States. Imad Yarkas, a 42-year-old Syrian, said he had never heard of a group called Soldiers of Allah until he was arrested in November 2001 and read about the group in Spanish news reports.

"It is an invention," Yarkas said as he took the stand in the trial of 24 suspected al-Qaida members. "I have never heard of it, only in this investigation."

Yarkas is accused of directing a terrorist cell that allegedly provided logistical cover for Sept. 11 plotters, including Mohamed Atta, who is believed to have piloted one of the two hijacked planes that destroyed the World Trade Center towers....

Judge Baltasar Garzon has said the group was formed at a Madrid mosque in 1995, was led by Yarkas and affiliated itself with al-Qaida, eventually helping organize the suicide airliner attacks in the United States.

Yarkas was peppered with questions from prosecutor Pedro Rubira about his contacts with other defendants in the trial and suspected militants abroad. Yarkas insisted he knew them only as acquaintances who attended the same mosques.

*Yes, this is sarcasm.

Our own Hugh Fitzgerald, Vice President of the Jihad Watch Advisory Board, writes in Campus Watch about the sorry state of Columbia University:

Some years ago the writer Carlo Emilio Gadda published Quer pasticcaccio brutto de via Merulana. The title was Englished as That Awful Mess on Merulana Street. In America that book never received the attention it deserved. But another awful mess, that on Morningside Heights, is receiving, a good deal of attention. A short movie has been made, in which students testify on camera to the humiliating treatment they endured, as Jews or Israelis, from a series of professors. A long study of the "scholarship" of Columbia's Middle East Studies faculty is in the works. Dozens of newspaper articles have been written about the atmosphere of harassment, intimidation, and indoctrination of students, both in and out of class. A large public now knows that many of the Middle East Studies faculty (and specifically those who reside in the awfully titled Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, and even more awfully shortened 'MEALAC') appear to believe in the surpassing perfidy of the mighty empire of Israel, in the sheer nobility and justice of the "Palestinian" cause, in the diabolical imperialist dreams of the American government, and in the crazed hatred for the Arabs and Muslims, and will to dominate, by Israel or America or the West, that explains everything from Israeli archeological digs to the inability of Western scholars to fully appreciate Arab literature, or Mesopotamian statuary....

One is cruel only to be kind - kind to the students who come to Columbia's hoping to be educated in the most important subjects. They lack the knowledge to judge, at the time, whether or not those subjects are being adequately taught. It may be that many of them are chosen, in fact, because they will happily submit to the skewed curriculum, and indeed are themselves eager to become, in turn, apologists for Islam and promoters of misunderstanding. But Columbia should be thinking of its own reputation. The university that once had Joseph Schacht and Arthur Jeffery and Richard Gottheil on the faculty really has to ensure that Islam becomes the center of attention, and not something that is scarcely mentioned in the corridors of faculty power, a faculty that, at least at MEALAC, with impudence, with arrogance, with the assurance that tenure is an invisible protective shield that allows them to get away with anything, harassment and humiliation and intimidation in the classroom by some, educational malpractice by the same or by others. This cannot continue. Or rather, it can, and the self-inflicted wounds that will result if the situation is not dealt with by the appointment of an outside committee of truly distinguished Orientalists, will damage much else, alas, at Columbia, including faculty members in other departments who may not relish being punished for the unacceptable and unpunished or insufficiently punished behavior of others.

Read it all.

You can reduce the number of the Tiny Minority of Extremists Who Misunderstand Islam in Algeria by 24. "24 suspected terrorists seized in Algeria," from UPI, :

Algiers, Algeria, Apr. 25 (UPI) -- Algerian security forces arrested 24 terror suspects and the army had surrounded up 20 Islamic gunmen in the mountains, it was reported Monday. Security forces in Algiers arrested four Tunisians who allegedly planned to join the Islamic fundamentalist Salafi Group for Daawa and Fighting, which is largely responsible for terrorist activities in Algeria, the newspaper al-Khabar reported.

"The Tunisian terrorists were uncovered after they were betrayed by an Islamic gunman who was in charge of transporting them to one of the Salafi group's hideouts in remote mountains," a source told the newspaper.

Note the religious emphasis of the argument: they are trying to convince Muslims that Islamic loyalty demands they oppose the government. From the pro-jihad site Jihad Unspun, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Al-Qaida organization in the Land of the Two Rivers has issued a stern warning in response to those who take part in so-called Iraqi government while claiming to belong to Ahlu asunnah (the party that follows the teaching and practice of the messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace be upon him.)

Here is their statement, uncut and uncensored, as translated by JUS....

Statement From Al-Qaida In Response To Those Who Take Part In The Government Of Cross Worshippers And Apostates And Claim To Belong To Ahlu Asunnah [People of the Tradition, i.e., orthodox Sunni Muslims]

In The Name Of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds. Final victory is on the side of the believers, and no aggression except on those who transgress all bounds. Peace and prayers be on the Imam of Mujahideen, our prophet, Muhammad, his family, and his companions.

News about attempts by some who claim to belong to Ahlu asunnah, to join the fake political process and share in power with the cross worshippers and apostates, have been circulating in various news media.

Those losers could not be farther from the sunnah of all prophets and the Imam of messengers, our prophet, Muhammad, (peace and prayers be upon him), who mandated the implementation of the Sharia (Islamic Laws of Allah), establishing Islam as the religion on land, and fighting those who reject the Lord of the Worlds.

Those claiming to belong to Ahlu asunnah, race to be in the arms of the Jews and Christians, for sake of positions, social status, and for love of this life over the hereafter. Not long ago, they were racing to harm the true sunnah and its party. Here they are again, doing what they do best, offering their allegiance and services to every tyrant, the curse of Allah be on them! How are they deluded (away from the truth)!

In their heart is a disease and deviation.

{Those in whose hearts is a disease- you see how eagerly they run about amongst them, saying: "we do fear lest a change of fortune bring us disaster." Ah! Perhaps Allah will give you victory, or a decision from Him. Then will they regret of the thoughts which they secretly harbored in their hearts.}, [Qur'an] 5:52

We announce to the entire world that we are clear of you and whatever you worship besides Allah: we have rejected you, and there has arisen, between us and you, enmity and hatred forever, unless you believe in Allah and Him alone.

From the New Duranty Times, with thanks to Jerry Gordon:

SIR RIDLEY SCOTT'S new blockbuster, "Kingdom of Heaven," could hardly be more topical. It shows Muslims resisting Christian invaders, battles raging in wind-whipped deserts, ancient cities under siege and civilians cowering. It even shows prisoners decapitated for their beliefs.

O.K., so all this screen mayhem is meant to be happening more than eight centuries ago, but doesn't it sound like recent news from Iraq?

Well, the movie is not meant to show that Christians and Muslims have been at one another's throats for centuries. Rather, by dwelling on the extended, turbulent holy war known as the Crusades, Sir Ridley said he hoped to demonstrate that Christians, Muslims and Jews could live together in harmony - if only fanaticism were kept at bay.

To that end, for all the furious battle scenes in "Kingdom of Heaven," which opens nationwide on May 6, Mr. Scott and his screenwriter, William Monahan, have tried to be balanced. Muslims are portrayed as bent on coexistence until Christian extremists ruin everything. And even when the Christians are defeated, the Muslims give them safe conduct to return to Europe.

If this is accurate about the film, I can't imagine why The Scholar of the House is so upset about this movie. But as an accurate portrayal of history, this is laughable -- as I will show in my forthcoming book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades (Regnery).

"It's actually about doing the right thing," said Sir Ridley, 67, a Briton whose screen combat experience also includes directing "1492: Conquest of Paradise," "Black Hawk Down" and "Gladiator." "I know that sounds incredibly simplistic. It's about temptation and avoiding temptation. It's about ethics. It's about going to war over passion and idealism. Idealism is great if it's balanced and humanitarian."

If so, the Crusaders got a few things wrong. From 638, when Muslims first occupied Jerusalem, both Christians and Jews were permitted to visit their holy sites. Then, in 1095, responding to an appeal from the Byzantine Christian Church in Constantinople, Pope Urban II organized the First Crusade to liberate Jerusalem. Four years later, those crusaders seized the city, massacring almost all its inhabitants in a bloodbath invoked to this day.

Seven more crusades were waged, bringing European monarchs, lords, knights and their armies of devout followers to fight - and settle - in an area stretching between what is today Syria and Egypt. The Muslims responded with their own sporadic jihads until finally, by 1291, the Christians had been driven out.

It's hard not to wonder, is this really a good time to show warring Christians and Muslims as entertainment?

No mention here, of course, of 450 years of Muslim invasions and conquests of Christian lands that preceded the Crusades -- or of sacks of cities by Muslims that equalled the brutality of the Crusaders' sack of Jerusalem. One atrocity does not justify another, but what the Crusaders did in Jerusalem was common practice for armies in those days.

Annie Jacobsen is the author of "Terror in the Skies." Here she recounts a visit from the Feds. From Women's Wall Street, with thanks to Jimmy The LGFer:

The four federal agents showed up exactly on time, in a rented green mini-van, carrying briefcases and wearing suits (it was 75 degrees). They came to discuss the events of Northwest flight 327, the now notorious Detroit-to-Los Angeles plane trip I took last June. My husband led them to our house through the garden and, from where I sat in my kitchen, I could hear their comments: nice garden, pretty plants, too bad palm trees don't grow in Chicago. So, I thought, federal agents are people too.

In truth, I was excited that I hadn't gone into labor before the meeting. I was, after all, meeting with the big boys (actually three men and one woman). In the nine months that I've been working on this series, my access to the government has been through mid-level bureaucrats and agency mouthpieces. So here I was, suddenly meeting with agents who have real access to the truth -- and at their request.

On the telephone, the agents explained to me that the Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General, has been investigating flight 327 and flying DHS agents around the country to talk to various parties -- the flight attendants, pilots, federal air marshals and the passengers. They had saved me for last.

Here's what I find fascinating: while one arm of the government (the Federal Air Marshal Service) has vehemently maintained all along that "nothing happened on flight 327," the other, more muscular arm (the Department of Homeland Security) has been conducting a rather large investigation about it. Based on my 4 ½ hour meeting with the agents, I can tell you that not only have they been investigating what did happen during the flight, but they've also been investigating who botched the subsequent investigation as well as how it got botched.

So what do you say to four federal agents at your kitchen table on a bright Tuesday morning? The first thing I clarified for the agents was that, prior to my experience on flight 327, I had never heard of a "probe" or a "dry run." For the record, I explained, I had never heard of the James Woods incident either. [In case you're not aware, the actor James Woods flew on an American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles one month prior to 9/11. Alarmed by the behavior of a group of four Middle Eastern men, Woods summoned the pilot and told him that he was "concerned the men were going to hijack the plane." A report was filed with the FAA on Woods' behalf but, tragically, no one followed up with Woods or the men. A few days after 9/11, several federal agents showed up in Woods' kitchen. Woods can't talk about what was said -- he believes his testimony will be used in the trial of the supposed 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui-- but, in an interview with Bill O'Reilly, Woods revealed that his flight "was a rehearsal [for 9/11] with four men."]

Standing in my kitchen, one of the agents said, "What I can tell you is this: Mohammed Atta was one of the passengers on that flight with James Woods." (Apparently, this information has never been made public.) With that, the agent pulled out his chair, opened his notebook and started in with his questions for me (at which point the other three agents opened up their notepads almost simultaneously).

During my meeting with the agents, what was not said was often as revealing as what was said. Naturally, the agents "were not at liberty" to tell me anything about the 13 Syrian men aboard flight 327, but they asked a lot of questions regarding my "intuition" about the situation: Intuition told me something was not right. Intuition is why I began noting the men's actions from the get-go. And it was exactly these details in which the agents seemed most interested. One of the agents commented on the fact that I took a lot of hits in the press -- that I was called a racist and a bigot simply for sticking with my gut instinct. To me, the agents' story that Mohammed Atta had been on James Woods' flight was a wink and a nod to the fact that it's fine to trust your intuition. If you're wrong, you can always stand corrected.

Read it all.

Sharia alert. From AP, with thanks to all who sent this in:

An Afghan man killed his daughter for allegedly committing adultery, officials said on Sunday, but denied reports that she was stoned to death.

Two officials said Mohammed Aslam killed his daughter Amina on Thursday in a remote village of Badakhshan province called Gazan, about 310 kilometres north-west of Kabul.

Media reports said the woman was stoned by villagers who caught her in the home of a man other than her husband - a punishment allowed under Islamic law and more commonly reported under the former Taliban government.

But police said the reports were mistaken and that Aslam carried out the killing alone.

"With the fundamentalists and the hardline mullahs who are in that area, these things are not impossible," said Shah Jahan Noori, the provincial police chief, told The Associated Press. "But I know that in this case she was not stoned."

"Do Muslims have self-esteem Issues?," from the Cairo-based Sandmonkey blogspot (thanks to Norwegian Kafir):

Did you hear that the Pope converted to Islam before he died?

No, you didn't? But that's all over Egypt. It's the latest rumor of the week. People who support it point to the fact that the Pope had dirt put on his corps ( an Islamic burial tradition) and that he wanted his memoirs burned to hide his secret conversion of course ( why else would he have them burned they would argue), which he showed in his establishing of good relations with the Muslim community and opposition to the Iraq war. The Pope, they would say without a shred of doubt in their voice, died a muslim. And some people actually believed that! Ain't that some shit?

Ohh and in case you haven't heard, Bill Gates also declared his conversion to Islam. I got that piece of news in an e-mail. Apparently he announced it at a house-party ( where they didn't serve alcohol I am certain) and told his "shocked" guests that he amassed all the wealth in the world and bought everything he ever wanted, but only found peace of mind in converting to Islam. The E-mail had a snapshot of a newspaper article, which I am sure isn't made up or anything. And again, apparently some people believed it.

From AP, with thanks to Uncle Jeff:

A day after reaching out to other Christians and to Jews in his installation Mass, Pope Benedict XVI met with members of the Muslim community on Monday and assured them that the church wanted to continue "building bridges of friendship."

Benedict made the comments in a meeting with religious leaders who attended his installation ceremony, saying he was particularly grateful that members of the Muslim community were present.

"I express my appreciation for the growth of dialogue between Muslims and Christians, both at the local and international level," he said.

He noted that the world is currently marked by conflicts but said it longs for peace.

"Yet peace is also a duty to which all peoples must be committed, especially those who profess to belong to religious traditions," he said. "Our efforts to come together and foster dialogue are a valuable contribution to building peace on solid foundations."

The Vatican didn't say which Muslim leaders attended the private meeting.

A sign that this Pope will continue along a familiar path of dhimmitude? Maybe; but his statement that "peace is also a duty to which all peoples must be committed, especially those who profess to belong to religious traditions" might have been a pointed declaration to his audience that they need to clean their own house.

We may be seeing a new tactic from the Zarqawi group in Iraq in favor of twin suicide car bombs. From AFP, "Iraq suicide bombings kill 23, Pakistani hostage released"

BAGHDAD - At least 23 people died and more than 80 were wounded in a series of bomb attacks near a mosque in Baghdad and outside a police academy in the north of the country, security officials said.

Amid the violence, Islamabad said a Pakistani hostage held since two weeks had been released, while in Washington controversial politician Ahmed Chalabi said delays in forming a government were playing into the hands of insurgents.

Two explosions Sunday evening in a mixed Shiite-Sunni district of the Iraqi capital apparently targeted an area close to the Shiite Hussayniah al-Beit mosque, killing 16 and wounding 50.

"A bomb exploded and, when people ran out near the Hussayniah al-Beit mosque, a car driven by a suicide bomber ploughed into them," an interior ministry official said.

Earlier, two suicide car bombs went off outside a police academy in Tikrit, killing at least seven people and wounding 37. Police casualties accounted for five of the dead, police and hospital sources said.

The mosque bombing was the latest in a series of attacks on Shiites, with a suicide car bomb exploding outside another Shiite mosque during weekly prayers on Friday, killing nine people and leaving 26 wounded.

The majority Shiites won control of parliament in January 30 elections, while the Sunni Arab minority, which dominated the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein and all previous Iraqi governments, largely boycotted the poll.

The insurgency that has raged in Sunni areas since Saddam's ouster in 2003 has seen a growing resort to sectarian attacks.

Militants loyal to Al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the twin Tikrit attacks in an Internet statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified...

"Islamist Militias Patrolling Basra" from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, with thanks to Saturnine:

BASRA, Iraq -- Sheikh Assad al-Basri says there's no need to worry that he and his Islamist militiamen might recreate a repressive Iranian-style theocracy in Iraq.

That's because the Islamic Republic of Iran is far too liberal, according to Basri, the leading local representative of rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

"Only 5 percent of Iranians abide by real Islamic laws," said Basri, who boasts that he and his cohorts already have blown up most of Basra's liquor stores, punished "decadent picnickers" and imposed Islamic dress codes on women. "The rest of Iranians are corrupt. Look, there are drugs and girls who don't wear hijab [covering] well in Iran."

Iraq's new Shiite-led national government vows it will respect and tolerate all of the country's religious and ethnic groups and will create a model democratic constitution for a region gripped by Islamic fervor.

But on the streets of this once-liberal port city -- which years ago featured a row of casinos and bars along its waterfront -- Islamist militias already have begun imposing a harsh version of Islamic law that has shocked many residents.

"They have managed to impose a republic of fear," said Yasser Qassim, a local journalist who publishes stories under a pen name out of fear for his safety.

Moderate Islamists -- which include Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari's Dawa Party -- won 37 of 41 local council seats during the Jan. 30 elections, with secular former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's party getting only four...

Basri claimed 12,000 local Sadr militiamen have been trained for combat and "are ready to mobilize in case of a crisis." Residents say they already are mobilized...

"They are everywhere," said Muhamad Nassir, a physician who heads Basra Maternity and Pediatric Hospital. "Some of them recently visited our hospital to try to convince us to forbid male doctors from curing female patients."

His colleagues from a nearby hospital -- renamed Sadr Hospital after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime-- complained that Sadr's followers have hung posters of the young cleric inside the wards.

"They watch us," said one doctor, who requested anonymity to protect his safety. "I have received a few death threats. I am afraid to talk. To protect myself, I bought a pistol, which I hide under my shirt."

Basra officials concede the militiamen are creating problems, but they are hesitant to crack down.

"We are going through a sensitive time and we must be cautious and careful," said Muhamad Saadoun al-Ebaadi, the chief of the new provincial council and a member of a moderate Islamist group.

Fear is palpable on the streets. One day three months ago, a female student from Basra University's college of sciences was ordered to cover her hair. She refused to comply. Three days later she was found dead on the road to her house, said her classmates and professors...

From VOA News via the Texas Panhandle, "Armenia Rejects Proposal From Turkey To Join Study Of WWI Events"

WASHINGTON - Last month, Turkey made an unprecedented gesture by offering its neighbor Armenia to conduct a joint study of the historic events that took place during World War One in Anatolia, the Asian part of Turkey. Armenia rejected the proposal.

Peter Balakian, author of several books on Armenian history, says ample research has already been done. He notes that many studies, including one by the International Association of Genocide Scholars, concluded that mass killings and deportations of Armenians from Anatolia under the direction of the Ottoman government amount to genocide.

"I think there is a growth in recognition of the Armenian genocide worldwide - the Canadian government last year, the French government in 2000, the Swiss government last year, the Danish Parliament, the Italian Parliament the Vatican and many countries in Latin America and the Middle East as well. It is the result of education, of the fact that scholars have done increasingly brilliant work over the last couple of decades, writing objective, detached histories of the Armenian genocide."

According to Armenians, on April 24, 1915, the government headed by the Young Turks , the ruling political party of the Ottoman Empire, began to deport and massacre its Armenian Christian minority population, approximately 2.5 million people. Turkey denies that there was a planned campaign to eliminate Armenians from Anatolia. It says that both sides suffered losses in the war. Atrocities may have occurred, they say, but only at the hands of rogue groups or individuals, Turkish as well as Armenian. Turkey says no more than 300-thousand Armenians perished in the clashes.

Turkish-born Muge Gocek, a historical sociologist at the University of Michigan, says ordinary Turks have denied the massacres for many years because they haven't had access to their historic documents.

"Turkish society knows very little about what happened in its own past for two reasons, says Professor Gocek. "One is because of the alphabet reform that happened in Turkey in 1928, where the Arabic script was abandoned and Latin script was adopted. Turks cannot read their own past historical documents. And the second is that things from the past were selectively translated and therefore very little scholarly information has been made available to them about the Armenian question."...

Four more makes 10 nabbed so far, from AP, "Iraq Copter Downing Suspects Nabbed"

BAGHDAD, Iraq — U.S. forces arrested four more suspects in Thursday's downing of a civilian helicopter north of Baghdad, bringing the number apprehended so far to 10, the military said Sunday. All 11 passengers and crew were killed, including one shot by insurgents.

U.S. soldiers from Task Force Baghdad, working with Iraqi security forces, detained the suspects during the past 24 hours, a military statement said.

Iraqi civilians helped U.S. forces locate the first six suspects, who were captured early Saturday, the military said.

The Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter was shot down about 12 miles north of Baghdad. The dead included six American bodyguards for U.S. diplomats, three Bulgarian crew members and two security guards from Fiji, officials said.

Two militant groups claimed responsibility for the attack and released video to back their claims. In one video, insurgents are seen capturing and shooting to death the lone survivor, identified as a Bulgarian pilot...

From IslamOnline, "Pope Pays Homage to Jews, Ignores Muslims"

VATICAN CITY – In a homily marking his inauguration, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday, April 24, paid homage to “my brothers and sisters” of the Jewish people, but failed to make any reference to Islam or Muslims.

Greeting representatives of other faiths attending the ceremony, the pontiff extended a message of welcome to “the Jewish people, to whom we are joined by a great shared spiritual heritage, one rooted in God's irrevocable promises,” reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

A few days following his election, Pope Benedict XVI sent a message to Rome's chief rabbi vowing to foster and strengthen dialogue with Jews.

His immediate predecessor John Paul II, who died on April 2, won widespread admiration in Israel not only for being the first pope in history to visit a synagogue but also for his work in reconciling the Roman Catholic Church with the Jewish people.

Some observers fear that Jewish lobbies might blackmail the new pope for his wartime membership – which he confirms was enforced -- in Nazi Germany's Hitler Youth.

Jewish leaders have already showered Pope Benedict XVI with praise over his swift and firm commitment to follow in his predecessor's path of Catholic-Jewish reconciliation, saying it was “a very powerful signal” for the future.

The new pontiff’s known opposition to an EU membership for Muslim Turkey has also raised many question marks.

In an interview last year with France's Le Figaro magazine, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said Ankara should seek its future in an association of Islamic nations, not with the EU, which has Christian roots.

He said Turkey had always been “in permanent contrast to Europe” and that linking it to Europe would be “an enormous mistake.”

Christian Unity

After his a Jews-directed message, Pope Benedict XVI greeted Catholics present here and elsewhere, before extending his message to other Christians.

“With great affection I also greet all those who have been reborn in the sacrament of baptism but are not yet in full communion with us,” he said.

The pontiff pledged to work towards Christian unity as he set out the priorities of his pontificate in his first homily.

“Grant that we may be one flock, and one shepherd,” the 78-year-old pone told an audience in St. Peter's Square that the Vatican estimated at 350,000 people.

“Yes, the church is alive -- this is the wonderful experience of these days, and the church is young.”...

Power vacuum alert from AP via Fox News,"Syrian Withdrawal From Lebanon Almost Done"

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian troops burned documents and dismantled military posts in their final hours in Lebanon Sunday, before deploying toward the border and effectively ending 29 years of military presence in the country.

A few score Syrian troops will remain in Lebanon for a farewell ceremony Tuesday that the Lebanese Army plans to hold in a town close to the Syrian border.

In Damascus, the Syrian capital, a government official said: "Within the next few hours, all the troops will be out of Lebanon."

"What will be left are those who will take part in the official farewell" on Tuesday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity...

"Tomorrow everything will be over," a Lebanese military officer said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity, as is typical for military officials here.

On Tuesday, Lebanese troops at a base in Rayak, few miles from the Syrian border, will conduct a ceremony to pay tribute to the Syrian Army's role in Lebanon, a Lebanese military officer said.

Afterward, the token Syrian force will leave, and there will not be a single Syrian soldier left in Lebanon. The Syrians entered Lebanon in 1976, ostensibly as peacekeepers in the year-old civil war. After the war ended in 1990, 40,000 Syrian troops remained in Lebanon, giving Damascus the decisive say in Lebanese politics...

Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last week he was delaying until Tuesday the release of a report to the Security Council on Syria in Lebanon so he could confirm the full withdrawal.

Anti-dhimmitude from Copts who are defying their Pope to engage in their traditional pilgrimage. From AFP,"Egypt's Copts defy papal ban on pilgrimage to Israel"

CAIRO - A group of Egyptian Coptic Christians left on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, in renewed defiance of a ban imposed by their pope before a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The first batch of 37 pilgrims left Cairo after they were cleared by Egyptian security, officials said. More pilgrims were to follow, as the Eastern church prepares to celebrate Easter on May 1.

Scores of Copts go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem each spring and remain until after Easter, touring Christian holy sites in the city and the occupied Palestinian territories.

The visits defy a ban by Pope Shenuda III, head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church -- and a strong defender of the Palestinian cause -- on the travel of Copts to Israel, pending an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The pope has in the past even advised religious leaders in Israel not to give holy communion to Copts for challenging his authority, but many have continued to make the trip.

He has also threatened to excommunicate members for flouting the ban...

From the Pakistani Daily Times, "Man sacrifices wife, 4 children on Eid Milad in Karachi"

KARACHI: A schoolteacher, Nadeem Ahmed, who was arrested for allegedly killing his wife and four children said on Friday that he sacrificed them to mark the birth anniversary of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).

The man was caught hiding in the bathroom of his house in Karachi, where police found the bodies of his family with their throats slashed. Those killed included his 36-year-old wife Shah Jehan and his four children 12-year-old Hasib, 11-year-old Fasih, 8-year-old Hamza and one-year old-Fawad. The wife of the accused was also a teacher at a government school.

Police said they suspected he killed his family because he thought his wife was "having illicit relations with a lover," said local police officer Khalid Bashir. Police said he bought knife from a store a day before the incident. But the accused told reporters from a police detention cell that he sacrificed his family members in the name of Allah to mark the Prophet's birthday.

"I had no complaints or suspicion against my wife. I loved her and my children. It's a gift on this great day. I also wanted to kill myself. I will soon join my family," he said. "He seems to be a psychologically disturbed person," police officer, Amjad Rashid said. agencies

Hamid Pourmand update from Religion Journal "Iranian Christian Faces Death Penalty for Apostasy," with thanks to Nobody:

An Iranian church leader, who is already in prison, faces the death penalty if he is found guilty by a shari'ah court.

Hamid Pourmand, 47, is scheduled to go before a shari'ah court in Bandar-i-Bushehr next week on charges of apostasy from Islam and seeking to spread the Christian gospel among Muslims. The former charge is punishable by death.

Pourmand, who was a Colonel in the Iranian army, was also a lay leader of the Assemblies of God church in Bandar-i-Bushehr, a southern port city in Iran. He was arrested along with 85 other church leaders at the annual meeting of the AOG church in Iran on Sept. 9, 2004 in Keraj. According to Middle East Concern and Compass Direct, he was the only one not to be released shortly after being arrested.

On Feb. 16 he was charged before a military court with deceiving the Iranian armed forces about his conversion nearly 25 years ago. Non-Muslims are not allowed to become officers in the army, but Pourmand provided evidence to the court that his superiors knew about his faith. This evidence was rejected as false and Pourmand was sentenced to three years in prison with the loss of all benefits. This meant losing his 20-year army pension and home and now his wife and two children have been evicted and have no source of income.

He is currently in a group cell at Evin maximum security Prison in Tehran. He is the first Iranian convert to be charged with apostasy since 1993. CSW is working with other NGOs to raise his case with the UK Foreign Office, the UN and the EU.

"Hamid Pourmand has already been stripped of his freedom and his job, and his family has been made destitute," said Stuart Windsor, national director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide. "He now faces a death sentence if the shari'ah court finds him guilty. CSW calls on the international community to do all it can to put pressure on the Iranian authorities to safeguard his life."

Let's hope the Mullahs hear strong words from Secretary Rice about this.

"Islamists Dominate Saudi Arabia Elections" from AP:

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Candidates backed by conservative clerics dominated the final stage of Saudi Arabia's landmark municipal elections, according to results announced Saturday.

In the kingdom's commercial capital of Jiddah, the seven winning candidates were those whose names appeared on what was dubbed the "golden list" -- the picks of fundamentalist clerics.

Five of the six winners in Buraydah, capital of ultraconservative Qassem province, also received a clerical nod, and the holy city of Medina also saw Islamist candidates finishing well. Many Islamists also won seats in municipal council polling elsewhere in February and March.

The three stages of voting were the first nationwide elections in this monarchy. The municipal council posts have little power except for at the local level, but many Saudis jumped at the chance to have even a small voice in politics.

The Saudi monarchy, a longtime ally of Washington, has been under U.S. pressure to make some democratic reforms. But the limited experiment in democracy -- only men could vote and run for seats on the half-appointed councils -- also appeared to be an attempt to deflate the militant Islamic movement by bringing some Islamists into the system.

The government can balance the makeup of the councils by naming liberals to the portion of seats reserved for government appointees...

"We are an Islamic country and we are Islamists. We will stick to our Islamic values in fulfilling our duties according to the book and al-Sunnah," said winning Jiddah candidate Bassam Jamil al-Khadher, referring to the Quran and sayings of Islam's founding Prophet Muhammad.

Al-Khadher denied there was any coordination or formal list, which would have been illegal under Saudi election rules. However, the list of names was widely circulated on the Internet and through mobile phone text messages. ...

Nabil Qamlu, a liberal lawyer who lost to one of Jiddah's "golden" candidates, accused the powerful clergy of interfering in the elections. Some losing candidates were expected to lodge complaints with the election commission, which largely ignored such complaints made before the vote.

"This is neither democracy nor equal opportunity," Qamlu said. "Who has given them such power to determine whom should the electorate choose.

"For the next election, I must grow a beard in order to get elected."

Abdel-Rahman al-Yamani, who secured the most votes in Jiddah -- nearly 12,000 of the 55,000 cast in the municipality -- attributed the Islamists' success to popular support rather than a well-organized clerical campaign.

"We are religious people by nature and secular people are not accepted by the society," he said.

In Buraydah, a city known as a hotbed for Islamic militancy, only one of the six winning council members was not among the clerics' recommendations -- that was a businessman with strong tribal backing...

"Border searches spur legal action by Muslims" from the IndyStar with thanks to Nicolei:

American Muslim and civil liberties groups have filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that Muslims who attend religious conferences outside the United States are subject to increased and unfair scrutiny upon their return to the country.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, was brought by five American citizens who are Muslim.

In January, they were detained, interrogated, photographed and fingerprinted when returning to the United States from an annual conference, called "Reviving the Islamic Spirit," in Toronto.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the suit Wednesday on behalf of the five complainants.

The five plaintiffs, all of whom have valid U.S. passports, were among dozens who were stopped at the Buffalo border crossing.

They were questioned, some of them for as long as 61/2 hours, and had their cell phones confiscated when they tried to contact lawyers or the media, the complaint states.

The suit, which names Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as well as customs and border officials, claims that the men and women "were subjected to this treatment solely because they had attended the conference."

The complaint asks the court to issue a declaration that the border officials acted unlawfully, as well as an injunction against repeating the practices around other conferences.

After the January episode, CAIR set up a hot line in case similar incidents occurred when Muslims returned from hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca...

from the Australian The Age, "Muslims 'vilified and dehumanised'"
with thanks to Nicolei:

Muslims in Australia suffer vilification comparable to that directed towards Jews under the Nazis, according to the former lawyer for released Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib.

Stephen Hopper, who was sacked by Habib earlier this month, told a seminar at RMIT yesterday that the public discourse surrounding terrorism served to dehumanise Muslims in the same way Nazis dehumanised Jews before World War II.

"All of the world seemed to be against Jewish people 100 or so years ago," Mr Hopper said.

"Today, it seems like the whole world is against the Muslim people and the same sort of language and the same sorts of techniques are being used to dehumanise Muslim people . . . We should be aware of the consequences of where that will lead us."

Mr Hopper fought to secure Mr Habib's release from Guantanamo Bay, the US military base in Cuba. Mr Habib was held there until January for suspected links to al-Qaeda.

It is believed Mr Habib sacked Mr Hopper because he was upset with the tax that would be charged on $140,000 paid to Mr Habib by current affairs program 60 Minutes as payment for telling his story.

Another speaker at the seminar, Islamic Council of Victoria executive committee member Waleed Aly, was quick to say it was "immoral" to equate the genocide perpetrated by Hitler's Germany with the problems of Muslims in Australia.

"For a Muslim to stand up now in Australia and say 'we are the modern-day Jews in Nazi Germany' would be not only offensive but untrue," Mr Waleed said. Six million Jews died in German concentration camps during World War II...

No Christian praying allowed, from Reuters, with thanks to Nicolei:

Riyadh - Saudi Arabia has detained 40 Pakistani Christians for holding prayers at a house in the Muslim kingdom, where practicising any religion other than Islam is illegal, newspapers said on Saturday.

A group of men, women and children were attending the service in the capital Riyadh when police raided the house, Al Jazirah newspaper said.

It said authorities also found Christian tapes and books.

Another Saudi daily, Al Yaum, said the raid took place on Friday while a Pakistani preacher was delivering a sermon. It was not clear what measures might be taken against the group.

Saudi authorities were not immediately available to comment.

There are around six million foreigners in the conservative kingdom, which has a population of 23 million, including many Christians from Europe, North America, Asia and other Arab states.

In a rare official rebuke of a close ally last year, Washington accused Saudi Arabia of severe violations of religious freedom.

"Freedom of religion is not recognized or protected under the country's laws and basic religious freedoms are denied to all but those who adhere to the state-sanctioned version of Sunni Islam," the State Department said in an annual report...

Well of course, "Women incite men's lust with 'satanic dress'" from the Australian Sun-Herald, with thanks to Nicolei:

A Muslim sheik told followers at a public meeting in Bankstown that women who were raped had incited men's lust by dressing immodestly and only had themselves to blame.

Sydney-born Sheik Faiz Mohamad, 34, a former boxer who teaches at the Global Islamic Youth Centre in Liverpool, made the comments during a lecture for more than 1000 people at Bankstown Town Hall.

The Sun-Herald has a recording of the March 18 speech in which Sheik Faiz said: "A victim of rape every minute somewhere in the world. Why? No one to blame but herself. She displayed her beauty to the entire world . . .

"Strapless, backless, sleeveless, nothing but satanic skirts, slit skirts, translucent blouses, miniskirts, tight jeans: all this to tease man and appeal to his carnal nature."

He compared a woman dressed in such a way to a sheep. "Would you put this sheep that you adore in the middle of hungry wolves? No . . . It would be devoured. It's the same situation here. You're putting this precious girl in front of lustful, satanic eyes of hungry wolves. What is the consequence? Catastrophic devastation, sexual harassment, perversion, promiscuity."

Sheik Faiz also exhorted Muslim women to wear the hijab head covering as "a liberation from male scrutiny"...

"It's sad to see today how young girls are being brought up," he said. "The way they dress, their hairstyles . . . layers of make-up, which they just shovel on in order to remove afterwards, tanning out in the sun, bronzed, shiny so she can shine the lustful eyes of men; extreme dieting, working out. Why? So she can get the best figure, but not for her husband."

He also condemned the soap opera Days Of Our Lives, which he said made wives negative towards their husbands, and said "premarital sex is fashionable, that manipulation, deceit, cheating, lying falsehood are all essential ways to get the man or lady of your dreams".

Sheik Faiz declined to be interviewed.

"Palestinians: U.S. forcing Christianity on Muslims" from WND, with thanks to Nobody:

The Palestinian Authority's presentation of the U.S. as an enemy of Islam continues despite Washington's political and financial support of new chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

This week, a religious leader whose salary is paid by the PA added a new accusation, preaching that the U.S. war effort in Iraq and elsewhere, including "Palestine," attempts to force Muslims to convert to Christianity, according to Itamar Marcus of Israel-based Palestinian Media Watch.

The cleric said U.S. actions today were crueler than those of a "Christian Caesar" who, according to Islamic tradition, dipped a Muslim into boiling oil in order to force his conversion to Christianity.

In addition, an old accusation was repeated in an article in the official PA daily this week, Marcus said.

The writer states the true enemy of the Arabs is not Israel but the U.S. and that Israel is merely an arm of the U.S. in its "imperialist wars."

In the article, the U.S. is accused of "grinding the bones" of Palestinian children and "devouring their eyes."

Marcus pointed out the "inflammatory sermon," by Sheikh Ibrahim Mudayris, comes only a few weeks after PA leadership announced it would review the Friday sermons to remove incitement and hateful content.

Mudayris claimed Palestinian prisoners are subject to torture and "exposed to conversion to Christianity, to abandoning religion, [as it was] in the distant past and recently. Yes, our prisoners are forced to curse Muhammad; our prisoners are forced to curse the religion of Allah, our prisoners are forced to curse the essence of divinity."

He continued: "Haven't you heard of our prisoners [of war] in Palestine, have you not heard of our prisoners in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and all over the world, who are exploited and imprisoned, and are offered conversion to Christianity?"...

The article from the PA daily, Al Hayat Al Jadida, April 16, said, "Seventeen years (since the assassination of the fighter Abu Jihad) that the murderous millstones of America have been turning, grinding the bones of our children and devouring their eyes. Not Israel! There is no such thing called Israel! It is America repeating upon us, the Arabs, the tragedy of the Indians [sic] from the dawn of her [American] history that began with this first crime of genocide."

Prosecutor aims to expose network of jihadists living quiet lives while recruiting footsoldiers for the 9/11 attack and other attacks. From the UK Times Online, :

EUROPE'S biggest trial of al-Qaeda suspects allegedly linked to the attacks of September 11, 2001, opened yesterday in a specially built court in Madrid.

No one has been successfully prosecuted for a direct role in the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. If convicted, Eddin Barakat Yarkas, the Syrian-born alleged ringleader of a Spanish cell, faces some 60,000 years in jail - 25 for each person killed.

Mr Yarkas, also known as Abu Dahdah, is said to have helped to fund the operation and set up a meeting at a Spanish resort attended by Mohammed Atta, the presumed leader of the hijackers, and couriers sent by Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda's leader, to finalise plans for the US attacks....

All but one defendant, Tayssir Alluni, sat behind bullet-proof glass. Mr Alluni, a journalist with al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based cable news channel, who interviewed Mr bin Laden after the attacks, is accused of being a member of the terrorist network.

The prosecution is expected to accuse some of the key figures of using trips to Britain to smuggle money to al-Qaeda agents across Europe. Mr Yarkas, 41, is alleged to have visited Britain more than 20 times, often bringing young recruits to meet leading militants, including Abu Qatada, the London-based radical cleric.

The alleged recruits included some of the men accused of planning and taking part in last year's bombing of four trains in Madrid. Baltasar Garzón, the prosecuting magistrate, is expected to give details of some of Mr Yarkas's visits, including one where he is alleged to have handed over $11,000 (£5,750) to Abu Qatada, who the Spanish judge described as "al-Qaeda's spiritual ambassador in the EU"....

Mr Yarkas is also said to have stayed at mosques and at the homes of other terrorist suspects, including that of Zacharias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker who pleaded guilty in an American court yesterday. Also in court in Madrid yesterday was Ghassub al Abrash Ghaylun, who is said to have taken detailed films of the twin towers and the Pentagon.

The tapes were then allegedly passed on to "operative members of al-Qaeda and would become the preliminary information on the attacks against the twin towers", the indictment said...

Prosecutors will attempt to prove that some of the accused are linked to the September 11 attacks and the Madrid train bombings. The trial is expected to last for two months and was adjourned until Monday.

As it was getting under way yesterday, another al-Qaeda suspect was being extradited from Switzerland to Spain. Mohamed Achraf's group of
Spanish-based extremists is suspected of plotting to bomb the National Court in Madrid.

"Moussaoui Tells Court He's Guilty of a Terror Plot," from the New Duranty Times:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person facing a trial in the United States in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, pleaded guilty on Friday to participating in a broad conspiracy by Al Qaeda to fly planes into American buildings.

Mr. Moussaoui, wearing a dark-green prison jumpsuit, stood before Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Federal District Court here and said that he was forgoing a trial on the facts and that he understood that his guilty plea meant he might be executed.

But Mr. Moussaoui, 36, a Frenchman of Moroccan heritage who was arrested in August 2001, offered a surprise. He said that despite his guilty plea he had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks.

Instead, he said, he had been planning to participate in a separate undisclosed plot to fly a plane into the White House at a different time.

In a rambling discourse, he said his role was part of a plan to force the release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind Muslim scholar who is serving a life sentence for conspiracy to blow up New York bridges and tunnels and other landmarks in 1993.

"I am guilty of a broad conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction to destroy the White House," he said, offering a new account of his role in plots that is at odds with the different versions government prosecutors have put forward....

The statement also said that Osama bin Laden "personally selected Moussaoui to participate in the operation to fly planes into American buildings and approved Moussaoui's attacking the White House. Bin Laden told Moussaoui, 'Sahrawi, remember your dream.'"

Sahrawi, Mr. Moussaoui had told the court, was his name for jihad, or holy war....

Mr. Moussaoui offered his guilty plea to all six counts over the objections of his assigned defense lawyers. In a meeting on Wednesday with Judge Brinkema, he also said that he would not contest the death penalty. On Friday, he said that he had changed his mind....

Judge Brinkema, a soft-spoken judge who has been in charge of the case from the start, offered evidence of familiarity with him and his habits as she questioned him closely about whether he fully understood the implications of his plea. She flattered him with compliments on his sophistication about the law, and added that Mr. Moussaoui, who has advanced business degrees from a college in England, "is extremely intelligent with a better understanding of our legal system than some of the lawyers who have appeared in court."

Mr. Moussaoui told her, "I know I cannot expect any leniency from the Americans."

As marshals led him out, Mr. Moussaoui shouted: "Allah akhbar! God curse America!"...

"Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani: 'Fight the Jews and Vanquish Them so as to Hasten the Coming of the Hidden Imam,'" from MEMRI, with thanks to Rebecca Bynum:

The official Iranian news agency Fars, which is close to the conservative circles in Iran, recently published a statement by Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani, one of the Iranian regime's leading religious authorities, in which he advocates fighting the Jews in order to prepare the ground and to hasten the advent of the Hidden Imam, the Messiah according to Shiite belief.

It should be noted that the Fars news agency took the report off its web site several hours after its publication, and other Iranian media outlets close to the conservatives refrained from citing it...

Prior to the Advent of the Hidden Imam, Arrogance and Colonialism Rule the World

"Fars news agency: Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani, discussing [Shi'ite] religious texts, said: 'One should fight the Jews and vanquish them so that the conditions for the advent of the Hidden Imam be met.' According to the Fars news agency's report, Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani met with members of the Mahdaviyat Studies Institute. He praised the institute's work and demanded that the religious seminaries in Qom also do more to research religious texts and hadith concerning the Hidden Imam...

"Nouri-Hamedani said that the texts concerning the end of days are rife with allusions and hidden meanings. He asked the researchers to devote their efforts to elucidating these texts. He noted: 'In the texts it is told that the Hidden Imam will remove the yoke of humiliation from mankind's neck. Therefore it is clear that prior to the advent of the Hidden Imam, Arrogance [a common epithet for Western powers, especially the U.S.A.] and colonialism rule the world.'

The Jews Have Hoarded All the Wealth in One Place, and All the World are Their Slaves

"According to this religious authority, 'at present the Jews' policies threaten us. One should explain in the clearest terms the danger the Jews pose to the [Iranian] people and to the Muslims. Ever since Islam's appearance, the group that expressed fierce opposition to Islam - and still acts in this fashion - were the Jews. They were involved in the Khaybar, Uhud, and Ahzab wars.' He added: 'Already from the beginning the Jews wanted to hoard the world's goods in [their] greed and voracity. They always worked in important professions and now they have hoarded all of the wealth in one place. And all of the world, especially America and Europe, are their slaves.'"...

"The revelation of the culture of Jihad and martyrdom in the country [Iran] struck world Arrogance [i.e., the U.S. and the Western powers] with dread. The existence of such a spirit among our youth led to world Arrogance's not daring to infringe on our borders... History shows that every people that lost the culture of Jihad and martyrdom were brought down."

From All Africa, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), has called on the Federal Government to take extra security precautions to protect law abiding Nigerians, following threats of Jihad by Northern Muslim leaders.

The call was contained in a communiqué issued in Jos yesterday, signed by COCIN President, Reverend Pandang Yamsat, and Secretary-General, Reverend John Audu, after a two-day executive meeting of the body.

According to them, "Council expresses grave concern over the shouts of marginalisation by Muslim leaders in the north, followed by threats of jihad if the Federal Government does not reverse what they perceived as unfair distribution of national offices.

"The cry of marginalisation sounds very strange, even provocative, coming from the same people who are unrelenting in marginalising Christians, including their indigenes, in Sokota, Katsina, Zamfara, Kano, Kebbi, Jigiwa, Yobe and Bauchi states, and treating them like second class citizens in the land of their birth."

Strange, but not surprising. In doing research for my forthcoming book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades (Regnery) I have discovered that the rhetoric of victimization has been used by Muslims at least since then. They commit aggression against non-Muslims. Then the non-Muslims retaliate, and the Muslims act as if they are committing unprovoked aggression. The retaliation by non-Muslims becomes the new pretext for renewed violence. You can see this in Iraq and Israel and elsewhere today.

The council said the threat of launching a jihad is "a crude and uncivilised way of settling disagreements in a democratic dispensation in the 21st century."

Indeed.

Daniel Pipes opines that this could be the very worst article on Islam, and with good reason: "It has every platitude, inaccuracy, and banality in the book, from mistranslating the word Islam to getting the number of Muslims in the United States wrong to that hoary business about "A Muslim can't be a terrorist, and a terrorist can't be a Muslim."

To those I would add that this article also purveys nonsense about the position of women in Islam and Islam's view of Christianity.

"Islam: a religion based on peace," from USC's Daily Trojan:

What is the second-largest religion in the United States?Islam. And what is the nation's fastest-growing religion? You guessed it. The Islamic movement is on the rise, and its presence is alive and flourishing at USC.

"Prophet Muhammad prophesized that Islam would become the largest faith," said Karim Vidhani, president of the Muslim Students Association, and a junior majoring in computer science. "But it is also prophesized that there will be an increasing lack of knowledge about Islam, too."

Yes, the level of ignorance of Islam is astounding. Why, just look at this article itself -- here is this peaceful, nonviolent religion of women's rights, and what do we see in the world? Huge groups of people who are violent and oppress women -- and who dare to call themselves Muslims! The audacity! If only these huge numbers of Muslims realized that they had fallen victim to an "increasing lack of knowledge about Islam"! Muhammad foresaw it all!

The Muslim Students Association

Vidhani and the MSA, which describes itself as an association that "strives to educate Muslims and non-Muslims about Islam," are intent on moving forward. "We have many goals," Vidhani said. One of those goals is called dawah, which means informing non-Muslims about Islam.

"We hold lectures, hand out flyers, pamphlets and basically just tell people about our faith on campus," Vidhani said. "We welcome questions about our faith; Islam is not a faith that is without answers."

A religion of peace?

Yet some might have the question: Is Islam a religion of peace? "The word Islam means peace in Arabic," said Murat Surucu, a doctoral candidate in biomedical engineering and president of Muslim Students for Dialogue, an organization that helps promote Islamic understanding and interfaith dialogue. "A Muslim can't be a terrorist, and a terrorist can't be a Muslim. So people who want to terrorize people ... either don't know Islam or think they are doing something in benefit of Islam, but, in fact, they are not. They are only damaging Islam."

Aliha Khan, a Muslim and graduate student in electrical engineering, said it's also wrong to say that Islam was spread by violence or force. For example, Indonesia, the most populace Muslim nation in the world, was not converted to Islam through force but, rather, through choice. "And it's the same way in South Asia," she said. "You can't be forced to accept Islam; the desire has to come from you."...

Women and Islam

Yolanda Solis, an adviser to MSA and administrative assistant for the computer science program, said one of the biggest misconceptions about Islam is that the status of women is lower than men.

"There is a high level of importance given to women in Islam," Solis said.

"In a lot of religions in their early foundations, women were either unwanted at birth or a great burden. In Islam women are not a great burden."

Women are actually considered an asset in Islam, Solis said. "There is even a part in the Quran where a follower asked the Prophet, 'Who should I respect after God?' And the Prophet said, 'Your mother, and after that, your mother, and after that your mother.' So basically he's telling you that your mom - a woman - is that most important (person)."

Khan said that some women even had a formative role in Islam. "For example, one of Mohammad's wives, Aisha, narrated thousands of sayings of the Prophet," said Khan. "Through her narrations, she contributed one-fourth of the hadiths (a compilation of Mohammad's sayings)."

Erin Moore, an anthropology professor who has studied Islamic cultures in other countries, said that the Christian creation story portrays the woman as the allurer who tempted the man while the Islam has a different account. "The Islamic (Adam and Eve) story is that they both fell together and realized their nakedness," she said. "And there is not something on blaming woman, and there isn't this thing about women as the temptress - that sexuality is OK, and men and women can enjoy each other in the right context."

Women of power: women who wear the hijab

Hijab means 'covering' in Arabic. Hijab can also go by other names, including headscarf or veil, said Fethiye Ozis, a doctoral candidate in environmental engineering.

Ozis, who has been wearing the hijab for six years, said it is nothing more than a sign of modesty to empower women.

"Hijab is a chance for a woman to express herself totally - to express her ideas - to express her identity and personality without being identified as a desirable sex object," she said. "The hijab lets women focus on what's important, what's inside."

Sporting a colorful hijab and pink shirt, Kamile Yuksek, a doctoral candidate in microbiology, said the main reason why she wears the hijab is because it is mentioned in the Quran: "O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women that they should cast their outer garments over their bodies (when abroad) so that they should be known and not molested" (Quran 33:59).

You can't be forced to wear the hijab, Yuksek said. "Wearing the hijab is very personal, and wearing it has to come from you," she said. "You are allowed to take off your head scarf off if you are among women and your family: your husband, your father, your uncles, your brothers and your grandparents."

Solis said that she does not wear the hijab because she's a new convert, and it wouldn't feel right for her yet. "You should wear it only when it feels natural to you," Solis said. "I'm probably in a transitional phrase."

Moore said that when we see the headscarf or hijab, we shouldn't have just one interpretation of what that means. "Different individuals that veil have different reasons for veiling," Moore said.

Some people veil out of a sense of ethnic identity, said Moore. "(Veiling for them can be a way to say) 'I am Muslim. I want you to know it,'" Moore said. "Other people veil to tell men that, 'I'm a respectable person and to stay away from me if you're not respectable, too.' Others veil as a declaration against the domination of the West."

All in the family

Moore said that Christians often forget, though, just how similar they are to Muslims. For example, Christians and Muslims follow the same line of prophets and many of the same Old Testament stories. "We're really all related," Moore said. "We have this continuum, and maybe that's why we fight like siblings from the same nest," Moore said. "So I would just like Christians to realize that we are all brothers."

Never mind that little bit about Christians being under Allah's curse (Qur'an 9:30).

But then Jihad Watch reader JS sent in another article that gives that one stiff competition for the worst-ever article on Islam prize: "Jihad defined," from the Pioneer Times:

So what does the word jihad really mean? The Koran, (Muslims' holy book) defines jihad as, "the effort made to remove obstacles that stand between humanity and God."

I'd like to see a chapter and verse reference on that.

In the faith of Islam, jihad is not associated with terror, or hatred. It is not a declaration of a "Holy War."

One cannot go any further without understanding the faith of Islam, the Muslim religion. The religion itself is misunderstood, as well as associated with terror and hatred.

The Muslim religion is a peaceful religion. The word Islam means submission to God, peace, security, and well-being; nothing to do with being a terrorist. In the words of the fame Turkish Imam/scholar, Fethullah Gulen, "In true Islam, terror does not exist."

Alas, we live in a world awash with false Islam! What are we to do?

And he is right terror does not exist in Islam, even in times of war. Islam is a faith that believes in killing an ant to be a major sin.

Hmmm. I have read the Qur'an innumerable times but I don't remember anything in it about killing ants. But those bits about killing unbelievers (2:191, 9:5, etc.) tend to stick in my mind.

Since the one who gives life and death is God, it is forbidden to kill. No one can take away the life that God has given. One cannot harm people who worship in God's house (i.e. churches, synagogues). The killing of innocent people is an unforgivable crime against humanity.

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), messenger of God, has demanded that non-Muslims be treated well.

"Those who ill-treat Christians and Jews will answer to me on judgment day. And those who do injustice to Christians and Jews will not be able to enter Paradise."

With the understanding of the Muslim religion, we now can understand the word jihad....

Jihad is not a scary word. The word is misunderstood and misused. A "Holy War" does not exist.

How about you? Got any candidates for The Worst Article on Islam of 2005? Send entries to director@jihadwatch.org.

A provocative new piece from Joe Kaufman:

Middle East expert Dr. Daniel Pipes is being attacked for his acceptance of controversial measures taken in response to acts of terrorism, but look who’s attacking him!

Pipes writes, in his December 28, 2004 column Why the Japanese Internment Still Matters, “For years, it has been my position that the threat of radical Islam implies an imperative to focus security measures on Muslims.”   He further states, “…especially in time of war, governments should take into account nationality, ethnicity, and religious affiliation in their homeland security policies...”

With respect to this, Pipes cites and lauds one author’s defense of internment camps.

Evidently, this was not taken well by some.  These individuals and/or groups have gone out of their way to malign Pipes for what they call his exhibiting hatred towards Muslims.  One of the most recent attacks has come from a South Florida entity that goes by the name of JADA or Jewish Arab Dialog Association.

On January 27, 2005, a piece entitled An Open Letter to Mr. Daniel Pipes, written by JADA co-founders Souheil Elia and Jack Lieberman, was published “for JADA” by the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA).

In the article, Elia and Lieberman describe Dr. Pipes with severe terms like:  “racist,” “warmonger” and “hatred promoter.”  They write, “Mr. Pipes, in his blind hatred for Muslims and Arabs, does not realize the fact that both the Arab and Muslim communities in the US, according to police records, boast an enviable record as to absence of violence.”

A press release from Campus Watch:

Philadelphia - Columbia University's Middle East Institute recently sent out invitations for an event honoring Amiri Baraka, Campus Watch has learned.

Sponsored by several groups (the Radius of Arab American Writers, the National Union of Writers, NY, and Alwan for the Arts), the April 14, 2005 event featured tributes to Baraka. Its proceeds will go to support a conference of Arab American writers at Hunter College.

Baraka, born LeRoi Jones, is known for his writings on jazz, but more for his Marxism and anti-Semitism. As the poet laureate of New Jersey Baraka created a firestorm with his poem "Somebody Blew Up America," a diatribe accusing Israelis of having been warned of the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. When Baraka rebuffed calls for his resignation, New Jersey lawmakers responded by abolishing the position of poet laureate.

Baraka's anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism reach far back into the 1960s, as does his violent animosity to whites, American society, and the West as a whole.

Why did the Columbia Middle East Institute lend its support to such an individual? And why did it send out the invitation (via e-mail) on the very day of the event? Coming hard on the heels of the recent controversy over harassment and intimidation of Jewish students, the Middle East Institute might have seen fit to consider more closely who it was promoting.

Helping honor Baraka again calls into question the judgment of Rashid Khalidi, the institute's director, who himself has a long, well-documented record of hostility toward Israel. These attitudes contributed to the recent decision by the New York City Board of Education to remove him from a teacher training program...

In response, Astrid Benedek, Assistant Director of the Middle East Institute, writes:

TO: Campus Watch

In your listing today, you have misrepresented my message to our mailing list. The Middle East Institute was not the host or organizer of this event. We simply forwarded the information about it, as we do with countless other events organized by outside organizations. Nowhere in the description is the Middle East Institute listed as a host/sponsor or in any other way involved. The event was "hosted by the Radius of Arab American Writers, the National Union of Writers, NY, and Alwan for the Arts" as anybody who bothered to read this email could clearly see.

We don't see misrepresentation here at all. The Middle East Institute sent the invitations, as was claimed in Campus Watch's press release.

From AP:

GENEVA - The UN Human Rights Commission on Thursday adopted a resolution condemning abuses in Sudan, passing by consensus compromise wording on how to improve the situation in the embattled Darfur region.

The resolution had support from Sudan and other African nations, the United States, the European Union and others. It was approved after the EU withdrew a more stiffly worded document....

The Africans agreed to remove wording that praised the Sudanese governments steps to improve the situation in Darfur, while the Western countries dropped specific condemnation of the Sudanese government.

The resolution said, "The commission condemns continued, widespread and systematic violations by all parties of human rights and international humanitarian law" in Darfur.

It specifically condemned "the violence against civilians and sexual violence against women and girls, destruction of villages, widespread displacement and other violations."

Although the resolution didn't specify the government, human rights organizations have accused Khartoum of being responsible for much of the violence either directly or through militias it backs in putting down a rebellion.

Former U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz, who heads the United States delegation, said that while there had been improvements overall in Sudan in recent weeks, "the terrible tragedy continues in Darfur."

"Violence, atrocities and crimes against humanity regularly occur," he said. "Attacks on humanitarian workers continue. Displaced people, especially women, are vulnerable to murder, rape and abuse...

The western Sudanese region of Darfur has been the scene of what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis. An estimated 180,000 people have died in the upheaval and about two million others have been displaced since the conflict began in February 2003...

What kind of God? "Video Shows Crash Survivor Was Executed," from Fox News:

BAGHDAD -- A crew member on board the helicopter that crashed north of Baghdad apparently survived, only to be shot to death by insurgents, a video shows.

The video, purportedly shot and posted online by the Islamic Army in Iraq, tracks the helicopter as it turns into a fireball and careens toward the ground as gunmen run toward the crash site. The group claimed responsibility for shooting down the Mi-8 chopper, on which all on board -- six Americans, three Bulgarians and two Fijians -- were killed.

The video begins with an unseen cameraman breathing heavily and running with the camera toward burning wreckage. Two bodies are visible, one of them severely charred, nearly all its clothes burned away.

"Look at that filth," someone says in Arabic....

The video then shows a man in a pilot's uniform -- presumably one of the Bulgarian crewmen -- lying on the ground, arms outstretched and asking for help.

One of the insurgents begins barking orders at the injured man, yelling in accented English, "Stand up! Stand up!"

"I can't, it's broken," the man pleads, holding up his hands.

It appears the militants help pull him to his feet.

"Weapons?" the gunmen shout at him in Arabic.

The cameraman tells the crewman, whose face is visible, to step back.

"Go! Go!" he shouts.

The man eventually begins walking away. Moments later, the insurgents say something to make him turn around.

"Carry out God's verdict," one of the gunmen says.

The insurgents open fire on him, shouting "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!"

In their Web statement, the Islamic Army in Iraq said it killed the surviving crewman "in revenge for the Muslims killed in the mosques of Fallujah." It apparently referred to the Nov. 13 shooting of a wounded Iraqi by an American soldier in a Fallujah mosque during a U.S. offensive in the city....

Things not going so well? Well, maybe we could reexamine our basic premises in fighting the war on terror, and deal more forthrightly and thoroughly with the role of Islam in inspiring jihad violence. Maybe we could reconfigure our global alliances and foreign aid distribution based on a pro-jihad/anti-jihad division. Maybe we could stop playing up to domestic terror supporters and their fellow travelers in order to win votes.

Naaaah -- let's just stop telling people that things aren't going well. That'll fix it. From "Bush administration eliminating 19-year-old international terrorism report," a Knight Ridder report (thanks to Special Guest):

WASHINGTON - The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.

Several U.S. officials defended the abrupt decision, saying the methodology the National Counterterrorism Center used to generate statistics for the report may have been faulty, such as the inclusion of incidents that may not have been terrorism.

Last year, the number of incidents in 2003 was undercounted, forcing a revision of the report, "Patterns of Global Terrorism."

But other current and former officials charged that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's office ordered "Patterns of Global Terrorism" eliminated several weeks ago because the 2004 statistics raised disturbing questions about the Bush's administration's frequent claims of progress in the war against terrorism.

"Instead of dealing with the facts and dealing with them in an intelligent fashion, they try to hide their facts from the American public," charged Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA analyst and State Department terrorism expert who first disclosed the decision to eliminate the report in The Counterterrorism Blog, an online journal.

This email brings a new one: the writer apparently thinks that I am a Somali Muslim who has "strayed from the true path of ISLAM." Now, how does this person know that I am a Somali? I don't know -- maybe he or she saw my picture here and knew. You can just tell.

I dont want to get in an arguement with u or nothing. But i just want to put my thoughts forward just as much as u r. 1stly...Walaahi it really sickens me when i see a fellow somali who has strayed from the true path of ISLAM.Alhamdulilah i dont come across them often. But when i do i just do my duty and remind them of the truth. Shaydaan is 4eva working his upmost best to keep all of mankind from the str8 path. Dont let him succeed.

This email went on at some length, but since I am neither Somali nor Muslim, I was somewhat at a loss as to how to respond.

"Swedish Muslims Take Anti-Prophet Priest to Court," from IslamOnline, with thanks to Mary Beth:

STOCKHOLM - A top Muslim scholar said the minority would abide by the Swedish law in confronting a Christian preacher who insulted Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), urging his fellow Swedish Muslims not to take the law into their own hands or commit any violent acts to avenge the repulsive remarks of the Christian cleric.

"We beg those who threatened (Runar) Sogaard, in the name of Islam, to let Swedish law judge between him and us," Hassan Moussa, the head of Sweden's council of imams, wrote in the Expressen newspaper, according to Reuters Friday, April 22.

"Do not under any circumstances take the law into your own hands."

Celebrity evangelist preacher Runar Sogaard, in a sermon at Filadelfia church in Stockholm on March 20, repeated claims against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) - whose Birthday Muslims worldwide celebrated Thursday - saying the Seal of Prophets was "a confused pedophile" since his wives included a girl aged nine years old, alluding to the Prophet's wife `Aisha.

No Comment

The Muslim imam said that although Sogaard's comments "injured millions of Muslims all over the world, but they must not lead to violence like the murder last year of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh who was critical of Islam," Reuters said.

"We assure all honest Swedes that the tragic developments we witnessed in Holland will not take place here."

"Those who cast stones against us will not get stoned in return."...

Marie Thorsensson, an official at Sogaard's church, told Reuters that the Christian preacher would not make any comment on the issue "except that the extract from his sermon is correct, but the sermon was not about Islam or Muhammad"....

Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi, former President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and Director of the Islamic Society of Orange County, Garden Grove, California, that the age of `Aisha when she married Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was far from being confirmed.

"Historically, it is not confirmed that she was nine years old when she came in the household of the Prophet. There are various reports from age nine to age 24. Her maturity, knowledge, intelligence, and contributions during the life of the Prophet and afterwards all indicate that she was either an exceptional nine-year-old or must have been older than that."

Come on, Muzammil. It says she was nine in Bukhari, twice. Is not Bukhari the most reliable Hadith collection? Why would you use less well-attested hadith to overthrow well-attested ones?

Hasan Akbar's jihad has reached its conclusion. From AP, with thanks to Rebecca Bynum:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- An Army sergeant was convicted Thursday by a military jury of premeditated murder and attempted murder in a grenade and rifle attack that killed two of his comrades and wounded 14 others in Kuwait during the opening days of the Iraq war.

Hasan Akbar, 34, now faces a possible death penalty, which the 15-member jury will consider at a hearing that begins Monday.

Prosecutors say Akbar told investigators he launched the attack because he was concerned U.S. troops would kill fellow Muslims in Iraq. They said he coolly carried out the attack to achieve "maximum carnage" on his comrades in the 101st Airborne Division....

Defense attorney Maj. Dan Brookhart countered that Akbar was concerned the invasion of Iraq would result in the deaths of Muslims and that U.S. soldiers would rape Iraqi women.

He said the prosecution's depiction of Akbar as a cold-blooded killer ignored that the defendant was sufficiently mentally ill -- though not insane -- to be confused and fearful about the impending invasion of Iraq.

The defense lawyer scoffed at an Army psychiatrist's testimony that Akbar suffered merely from "the blues" -- not any serious mental problems.

"It doesn't make any sense. This guy doesn't have the blues," he said. "He is mentally ill."

Although that's the conclusion many people reach concerning jihad motivated killings, that doesn't make it true. He was motivated by the same teachings as the 9/11 hijackers and all the other jihadis worldwide. They can't all be insane.

Brookhart said Akbar's actions after the initial attack showed he wasn't intent on achieving maximum destruction. He said Akbar stopped his attack with a nearly full clip still in his M-4 rifle and three more grenades. He also noted the defendant didn't try to flee during the chaos following the attack....

During Thursday's arguments, relatives of the victims cried when prosecutors showed pictures of the bodies on a large TV screen. When a prosecutor pointed at Akbar, nearly yelling that he was responsible, Akbar sipped from a coffee mug....

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald explains why no one should ever take Karen Armstrong seriously:

Karen Armstrong, long famous for her description of Muhammad as the consummate "peacemaker" who "brought together the warring tribes of Arabia," has assumed the mantle, yet again, not of the Prophet, but of the Prophet's defender. In an article in The Guardian she retells in her inimitable fashion the story of European Christendom's relations with Islam and with Muslims. In her retelling, the Muslims are innocent victims, and more than innocent victims, likened again and again to the Jews. They are also the only people who provided, in that bright shining moment of European history known as Islamic Spain, the only real tolerance and humanity to be found anywhere in Europe before the modern era. It is a tough job, but Karen Armstrong proves equal to the task. And her real theme is not history, but that Europeans should feel ashamed themselves for showing any signs of wariness or suspicion about the millions of Muslims who now live in Europe, having come among the indigenous Infidels to settle, but not to settle down.

It is curious to see how often in this article Karen Armstrong makes references to examples of historic mistreatment of the Jews. For in her previous books she has exhibited a palpable distaste for Israel, and has attempted on every occasion to pretend that the claims of the "three abrahamic faiths" to Jerusalem are identical in the importance that each attaches to the city (but as a city Jerusalem is not holy in Islam, and never was), and she is fond, in her discussion of "fundamentalisms"--always presented in the plural - to make reference to the one or two examples of what she calls "Jewish terrorism." She fails to consider whether or not the assassination of Rabin by a Jewish political opponent, or the mental collapse of Dr. Baruch Goldstein which led him, acting entirely alone and on impulse, to wreak his solitary revenge on those whose victims Goldstein treated every day as a doctor, until he could no longer stand it, really can be compared to the thousands of planned acts, many of them fortunately foiled, and others not, that are part of the world-wide Jihad against completely innocent Infidels, within Muslim lands, and without.

Here is how she begins:

"In 1492, the year that is often said to inaugurate the modern era, three very important events happened in Spain. In January, the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella conquered the city of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold in Europe; later, Muslims were given the choice of conversion to Christianity or exile. In March, the Jews of Spain were also forced to choose between baptism and deportation. Finally, in August, Christopher Columbus, a Jewish convert to Catholicism and a protégé of Ferdinand and Isabella, crossed the Atlantic and discovered the West Indies. One of his objectives had been to find a new route to India, where Christians could establish a military base for another crusade against Islam As they sailed into the new world, western people carried a complex burden of prejudice that was central to their identity."

This first paragraph is a scandal, consisting almost entirely of baseless assertions, incredible omissions, and complete fabrications. But it is not inexplicable. For Karen Armstrong history does not exist. It is putty in the hands of the person who writes about history. You use it to make a point, to do good as you see it. And whatever you need to twist or omit is justified by the purity of your intentions - and Karen Armstrong always has the purest of intentions. She knows that we in the "white Western world" (as some like to call it) fail to understand others. She knows of our deepneed to create "the Other" - a psychic need felt exclusively, and with great intensity, apparently, only by us, and never by anyone else. Though Western civilization, a product that was formed from the inheritance of both classical antiquity and and of Christianity (which itself has a strong Hebraic element, that it should be called Judeo-Christianity, a word about which some are still self-conscious), has far outstripped any rival in its achievements, collective and by individuals, in art and science, in political and economic thought, in social development, and has really never needed to create the "Other" (the entire business is a reason ideological fashion which is by this point getting long in the seminar and call-for-papers tooth). Indeed, it is Islam which, though Karen Armstrong does not see it, because she knows nothing about Islam (which doesn't keep her from writing about it, endlessly), has the strongest claim to being based on the need of its Believers for "the Other." It is in Islam that emphasis is placed constantly on the only division that matters: that between Believer (to whom all loyalty is owed by other Believers, and for whom all transgressions may be forgiven, except that of disloyalty to Islam) and the Unbeliever, or Infidel (who must be opposed, and subjugated if such an Infidel refuses to accept Islam or stands in the way of its spread). That Armstrong fails to see this is extraordinary; it is everywhere in Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira. But she is on a mission: to make us feel guilty about our treatment of Muslims in the past (hence the harping on the Crusades, and the failure to offer the context of those Crusades, or the difference between the Crusades and Jihad). She wants to evoke a guilt that need not exist at all, so that we will, today, be inhibited from responding to Muslim atrocities and the attitudes that promote such atrocities - this she cannot abide.

"In 1492, the year that is often said to inaugurate the modern era..." Who says that the year 1492 inaugurated the modern era? And what does the phrase "the modern era" mean in any case? The year 1492 was chosen by this lover of symmetries and "three monotheisms" (now said to be studying Buddhism as the latest stop in her Spiritual Search) because in that year, in Spain, Jews and Christians and Muslims each acted, or was acted upon, in ways that Karen Armstrong finds useful to both misstate, and exploit. She will not mention what happened before 1492. She will not tell us about the Muslim invasion and conquest of Spain, or about the 500 years of the Reconquista, nor will she tell us when the Jews first came to Spain, long before the Muslim invasion, even before the Visigoths arrived. She will not point out that the Jews were inoffensive victims, and unlike the Muslims, never invaded, never conquered, never held the Christians of Spain in thrall, never posed a threat to the body politic.

In 1492 "the Catholic monarchs conquered Granada, the "last Muslim stronghold in Europe." What then should we call all those lands in southern and eastern Europe that the Ottomans were at that very moment busy conquering and seizing, including Constantinople, the richest, most populous, most important city in all of Christendom for 800 years (taken by the Turks on a Tuesday - May 29, 1453), and the Balkans (including the then-vast Serbian lands), and what are modern-day Albania, Greece, Rumania, Bulgaria, and they continued to press northward and westward, later seizing much of Hungary and threatening Vienna twice. Were these not parts of Europe, and was not a good deal of Europe, including what had been its most important city for a millennium, Constantinople, firmly in Muslim hands before Granada fell - and after?

But it would not do to remind readers that while the Muslim invaders and conquerors of Spain lost their last "stronghold" in Granada, other Muslim invaders and conquerors were busy at the other end of Europe, seizing lands and subjugating the native populations to the devshirme (the forced levy of Christian children) as well as to the jizyah (the tax on non-Muslims) and all the other disabilities that, wherever Muslims conquered, were imposed, as part of a clearly elaborated system, and not merely the whim a ruler, on all non-Muslims.

Bit by bit...From Arab News, with thanks to Eschwapp:

RIYADH - In a move to promote understanding between Islam and the West, Saudi Arabia has donated about SR13 million to a leading British museum for the creation of a new Saudi and Islamic gallery. The money has been donated to Ashmolean Museum of Oxford University, the oldest British museum, on the personal initiative of Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation.

"The Islamic gallery will be attached to Oxford's Ashmolean Museum, which already has a rich collection of exhibits from the Middle East and Islamic world," Saudi and British officials said yesterday.

Ashmolean Museum was the first museum in the world to be opened to the public when it was officially inaugurated way back in 1683, according to the Guinness Book of Records. The museum's treasures include rare exhibits from various Islamic countries.

The officials said the money from Prince Sultan will pay for a new Saudi and Islamic gallery, which will help to portray Islamic culture and civilization in right perspectives. It will also help fund scholarships for Saudi students at Oxford University.

"I am very pleased that the new student scholarship scheme will enable 10 Saudi students to study at Oxford," said Prince Sultan.

"It will be an honor for our students to attend this ancient seat of learning, amongst students from around the world," said the prince, while appreciating the facilities at Ashmolean, which also houses a significant collection of art and archaeology from eastern and western civilizations....

Al-Arian Walk Watch: the prosecution is trying to convince us that his motives don't matter, and that what he believes about jihad and related things doesn't either. Of course, they wouldn't even attempt this were it not for the PC mantras about the Religion of Peace that still dominate the media and government. From the Tampa Tribune, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

However, prosecutors on Thursday filed a series of four motions asking U.S. District Judge James Moody to prohibit the defense from asserting political claims or injecting into the trial issues of war and peace in the Middle East. The motions all sought to bar the defense from proceeding under different legal theories that amounted to possible justifications for the violent actions of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad or explanations for the defendants' motives.

``This trial is not the appropriate forum for conducting a referendum on international law, the legality and morality of the existence and boundaries of Israel, or the plight of ethnic Palestinians,'' prosecutors wrote. ``To open the doors to a debate about the merits of extraneous political and religious issues would only serve to divert the jury's attention from the only relevant issue in the case, which is the defendants' innocence or guilt of the charged offenses.''

The specific charges are providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, racketeering and conspiracy. Prosecutors, through the motions filed Thursday, are apparently trying to limit the defendants to evidence relating to whether they did what was alleged in the indictment.

``Allowing the defendants to present evidence, and argue to the jury, the merits of their beliefs about the conflict would only serve to inflame and politicize the trial, while directly embroiling the court in a complex, intractable and unnecessary political debate,'' the prosecutors wrote.

Among the motions was one asking the judge to bar the defense from arguing that they or the organization were ``lawful combatants'' in the conflict in the Middle East and, therefore, not subject to criminal convictions.

In that motion, the government asserted that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad is not covered by the protections provided by international treaties, such as the Geneva Convention, partly because it is not a recognized government and its members do not abide by international law governing combat.

The prosecution also argued in its motion that Israeli actions don't matter in the trial. ``It is irrelevant to the determination of lawful combatant status whether the actions of the combatants are philosophically, morally or ethically justified or noble.''

In a direct shot at Al-Arian's claims to be a peaceful human rights advocate, prosecutors wrote, ``Persons who covertly support or manage a violent terrorist organization, while masquerading as scholars and civilians or purporting to direct a humanitarian charity, are not entitled to the special protections afforded to lawful combatants under international law.''

Hooo doggies! Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee, authorities have found a jihadist weapons cache. From Fox News, :

The FBI believes it found weapons belonging to a terror suspect who trained at the same Atlanta flight school as two of the Sept. 11 hijackers and who was recently detained but has since been released, FOX News has learned.

Zayead Christopher Hajaig, a Nigerian-born Briton, was arrested in London on April 8, shortly after the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force issued a worldwide alert for him. Sources at the bureau told FOX News that Hajaig was questioned and released; authorities believe he is still in Britain.

FBI sources told FOX News that a person linked to Hajaig contacted the FBI's Atlanta bureau and turned over a number of weapons said to have been owned by the suspect.

The tipster also told authorities that two other weapons were dumped into the Chattahoochee River at Hajaig's behest. One of the weapons described was recovered in a search of the river by the Cobb County dive team on Tuesday.

It was unknown if the weapons had been used in any crimes or were intended for use in a future plot.

An FBI spokesman would not comment on Hajaig's whereabouts or why he was released by British authorities. An investigation by the bureau and Immigration and Customs Enforcement was ongoing, a press release said.

Hajaig, 35, had aroused suspicions of flight instructors at Gwinnett County Airport, where lead Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker Mohamed Atta and fellow hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi had trained. Hajaig was living in the United States illegally but was still able to obtain a pilot's license from the Federal Aviation Administration in April 2002, authorities said.

Hajaig apparently pushed to have his pilot rating upgraded despite being underqualified. The Joint Terrorism Task Force warning said he became "aggressive and attempted to have the flight school accelerate his training."...

Get out your handkerchiefs: this one's a real weeper. A Useful Idiot Alert from Eastern Michigan University's EchoOnline, with thanks to EPG:

"It felt like no one wanted to be near me."

This is how Eastern Michigan student Zoe Piliafas summed up her winter semester. Her new isolation wasn't the result of being a bad or unpleasant person.

It was simply because she was -- at least, for this semester -- different.

To her professors and her classmates, she was not Zoe, an outgoing and outspoken student. She was Zhooda, a student with a soft Middle Eastern accent who wore a burka (sometimes spelled burqa or burkha), the heavy, concealing garment that became known to most Americans only when the media turned it into a symbol of the repression of women under the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"You're not seeing the body of a female," Piliafas said. "You're seeing a garment that represents female."

Under the supervision of political science professors Elaine Martin and James Ivers, Piliafas received independent study credit for wearing the burka the entire winter semester.

"Zoe kept a daily journal of her experiences," Martin said. "She met with me several times throughout the semester, wrote and conducted an e-mail survey for students and professors and turned in a final paper summing up the experience. She received one credit hour."

"I thought about this for probably three years," Piliafas said. "At first I had really strong judgment on it, and I thought, 'Well, what is this? Why would a woman have to cover herself from head to toe to stop someone else from looking at her?'

"I thought by telling a woman that she needs to be covered up, we're telling her that she's basically unworthy," she said. "But I don't think that's how Muslims view it. I think they view it as one so worthy that she can't be looked upon."

Up is down, black is white, good is evil and evil is good. If these people who are so worthy that they can't even be looked upon get out of line, beat them (Qur'an 4:34).

It was an EMU political science class that solidified Piliafas' interest in the subject.

"In one sense, Zoe's project began with a women and politics class in which we discussed some of the human rights issues during the Taliban control of Afghanistan, and other countries with similar practices, including 'honor killings,'" Martin said. "Zoe's interest was in women's rights."

"I wanted to say that you can't breathe underneath this, which you can't," Piliafas said. "I wanted to say that this is so inhibiting I couldn't run, which you can't. I wanted to say that you can't feel the sun on your face. You can't. You can't feel the wind on your face ... And you don't realize how much you miss those things until they're completely taken away.

"There isn't just a dress and then something you put over your head," she said. "There's something that goes on your arms ... and then you have the dress and then you have a headband that pulls your hair completely back so ... it never would be shown. And then you have a scarf that goes over all your hair and then you have a veil. So you have three layers of clothing on your head.

But none of this is bad, of course. What's bad is people who object: just as Islamic apologists routinely portray me as evil for pointing out what the jihadists say and do -- rather than point at the jihadists.

"But at the same time," she said, "Everything that I wanted to go in and say negative about this, I ended up finding more -- not positives -- but more negatives in the opposite direction. How people treat people dressed like this."

"I can tell you that she did feel de-humanized, although that was not her only feeling," Martin said. "I think she wants to share her experience with others, in order to help us understand both why women may freely choose this and why some women may feel persecuted if they are forced to conform."

"The first day walking out in public without my boyfriend next to me, without someone else having knowledge of the study made it so strange," Piliafas said. "The reactions were completely different than anything I'd ever experienced. Staring. I felt uncomfortable. Nobody -- it felt like nobody wanted to be near me."

She also told of instances of blatant discrimination she encountered. Students laughing as she passed. One person referring to her as "ninja" to his friends. On an evening walk toward Halle Library, a group of students threw snowballs at her as she passed.

The difference in treatment was noticeable in her classes as well.

"People talked down to me, like I didn't have any intelligence -- and I have a 4.0," she said. "There were many instances where I was in a group setting, and normally I take on a leadership role. I wasn't even allowed the chance."...

The idea of a non-Muslim student dressing in a burka for a semester proved controversial. Some students in her classes were not only surprised to learn the truth but also irritated at what they considered to be "dishonesty" on her part. Some felt she was being disrespectful to Muslims -- although most Muslims she spoke to were supportive. She was even threatened once after she revealed herself to her classes.

When questioned about their stance on the project, most people seemed to be cautious but supportive.

"The motivations/ideology of the person performing the study could greatly influence the results or reporting of the results," said Arain Affan, a 1998 graduate of Northwestern University, 2001 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and practicing Muslim. "Based on the description (provided by writer), it seems -- and I'd hope -- that the motivations of the person who did the study are without hidden agenda...

Right on, Affan! To think that some women might not want to wear burkas...well, that would be evidence of a sinister "hidden agenda."

From IslamOnline, with thanks to Skeetstreet:

CAIRO - Dusting off Cold-War tactics, the US administration has adopted a modified strategy to influence not only Muslim societies but Islam itself, a leading US magazine has reported.

IslamOnline thinks so. I doubt it. Government officials won't even admit that Islam has anything to do with jihad terrorism -- why would they try to influence it?

From military psychological-operations teams and CIA covert operatives to openly funded media and think tanks, Washington is spending tens of millions of dollars to get the job done properly via the White House's Muslim World Outreach strategy, the US News & World Report said in its 25 April edition.

The "Hearts, Minds, and Dollars" report said the US government has embarked on a campaign of political warfare unmatched since the height of the Cold War.

Realizing that it poorly reached out to the Muslim world through drawing up tens of plans and hundreds of ideas to win Muslim hearts and minds, the US administration is eyeing now third parties in the Muslim world, who share values like democracy, women's rights, and tolerance.

"You provide money and help create the political space for moderate Muslims to organize, publish, broadcast, and translate their work," Zeyno Baran, a terrorism analyst at the Nixon Center, who advised on the US strategy, told the weekly.

Although US officials say they are wary of being drawn into a theological battle, the magazine said, many have concluded that America can no longer sit on the sidelines as radicals and moderates fight over the future of a religion with over a billion followers.

America may not be able to sit idly by, but this is overstated in any case. Radicals and moderates fight over the future of the religion? Look: Free Muslims Against Terrorism is holding a March Against Terror soon. But how many Islamic groups have endorsed it? Only a handful: most of the endorsing groups are non-Muslim or at least have non-Muslim leadership. That speaks volumes about the strength of moderates in this alleged fight over Islam's future. The texts are not on their side, the imams are not on their side, and the Saudi billions are not on their side. Some fight.

Who is Moderate?

The strategy, however, failed to cite names of figures it considers as "moderates," whether they are liberal- or -conservative-minded figures.

A key, but unsurprising, omission.

But it was crystal clear in naming certain Muslim schools it wanted to uproot like Saudi Wahhabism.

It said that the Saudis are estimated to have spent up to $75 billion since 1975 to expand "their fundamentalist sect, Wahhabism, worldwide."

"The kingdom has funded hundreds of mosques, schools, and Islamic centers abroad," it said.

The strategy, meanwhile, recommends making peace with Muslim groups that eschew violence and are at odds with Al-Qaeda, like the Muslim Brotherhood.

Unbelievable. Where did the besotted, benighted, befogged careerists at State get the idea that the Muslim Brotherhood, the forefather of Hamas and Al-Qaeda, is a cuddly civic-minded Rotary Club?

"I can guarantee that if you go to some of the unlikely points of contact in the Islamic world, you will find greater reception than you thought," Milt Bearden, whose 30-year CIA career included long service in Muslim societies, told the US magazine.

"The Muslim Brotherhood is probably more a part of the solution than it is a part of the problem."

Thirty years at the CIA and long service in Muslim societies, and it doesn't look as if he picked up even the most basic principles about Islam and the Ikhwan -- the Muslim Brotherhood. Milt, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but you might want to take a look at the pages of Jihad Watch sometime. Or maybe you might want to read a little overview of the history and goals of the Brotherhood in Onward Muslim Soldiers.

The weekly further revealed that US intelligence officers have been meeting not only with Muslim Brotherhood members, but also leaders of other likeminded groups.

Cold-war Style

As it did during the Cold War, the US administration has fielded a worldwide network of propagandists, publicists, and payoff artists.

It is convinced that using music, comics, poetry, and the Internet is the best way to get across America's views to the Arab world.

The administration kicked off major new initiatives in foreign broadcasting--Radio Sawa, a pop music-news station in 2002, and Alhurra, a satellite-TV news network in 2004, both aimed at Arab audiences.

The US weekly cited reports that US officials have peddled fake video news reports and paid columnists to boost policies "here at home".

The aim is to break off moderate Muslims from radicals as it did during the Cold War when it pitted moderate socialists against hard-core Communists.

"That's how we're thinking. It's something we talk about all the time," Peter Rodman, the Pentagon's assistant secretary of defense for
international security affairs, told the weekly.

"In those days, it was covert. Now, it's more open."

An administration official admitted that the current ideological war was more difficult than the Cold War.

You can say that again.

"The Cold War was easy. It was a struggle against a godless political ideology. But this has theological elements," he said.

"It goes to the core of American belief that we don't mess with freedom of religion. Do we have any authority to influence this debate?" he asked.

Yes: terrorists are and have been operating under the cloak of freedom of religion. Islam must be acknowledged as having a political element so that they will no longer be able to recruit terrorists in mosques.

"You do it quietly," answered Zeyno Baran.

Politicized Aid

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) features high on the strategy.

Records reveal that several projects were funded by the US aid in as many as 24 Muslim countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Also being funded: media of all sorts, from book translations to radio and TV in at least a half-dozen nations.

Great. If you guys want to fund the translation of Islam Unveiled into Arabic, I have a translator ready to go. Contact me at director@jihadwatch.org.

That is, if you can spare some of the funds left over after paying for the Arabic version of Sesame Street:

An Arabic version of Sesame Street has become one of the most popular shows on Egyptian TV, and along with lessons on literacy and hygiene, the program stresses values of religious tolerance.

In Bangladesh, USAID is training mosque leaders on development issues.

In Madagascar, the embassy even sponsored an inter-mosque sports tournament.

Well! That will stop the jihadists in their Nike-shod tracks!

In no country is the effort more pronounced than Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.

Working behind the scenes, USAID now helps fund over 30 Muslim organizations in the country, the weekly said.

Among the programs: media production, workshops for Islamic preachers, and curriculum reform for schools from rural academies to Islamic universities.

Chaotic, Not Working

Despite the surge of activity, Washington's efforts to win hearts and minds remain chaotic and anti-Americanism now reaches across every strata of the Muslim world, the weekly said....

It isn't working because they refuse to recognize and address properly the source of the problem.

The Washington Post said Monday, April 18, that one of the main reasons that led to the "chaos" was that the US government has not tapped into its own Muslim minority as part of the global outreach.

According to the paper, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States and is expected to become the second-largest religious bloc in the country in the next few years.

Despite this, the administration has put only two US Muslims in top jobs...

We have already seen the results of the unseemly rush in Washington to find and play ball with moderate Muslims: two of the biggest players, Al-Arian and Alamoudi, sit in prison at this moment. Are we going to do it again, or make sure that they're dealing with people who are trustworthy? But they can't do that, of course, without asking them tough questions about Islam and jihad.

Turkey admits Armenian genocide! There's just one catch: they're talking about Armenians killing Turks. From the New Duranty Times, with thanks to the Norwegian Kafir:

ZMIR, Turkey, April 17 - The Turkish State Archive issued today a list of more than 523,000 Turks whom it said were killed by Armenians in Turkey between 1910 and 1922.

The move appeared intended to counter longstanding Armenian contentions that Turkish Ottoman officials committed genocide during a period of mass deportations of Armenians that began in 1915.

Turkey fears that the 90th anniversary of the start of the violence, which Armenians and their supporters plan to mark on April 24, will cause widespread anti-Turkish feeling. It is also concerned that the issue could interfere with its plans to start talks with the European Union in October for possible membership. There have been growing calls from other countries for Turkey to acknowledge its role with regard to the Armenians.

Last week, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish Parliament called for an international study of the events of that period, but senior Armenia officials turned down the proposal.

Turkey flatly denies that there was any systematic effort at killing or forcing the Armenians out of eastern Anatolia, where the Armenians were trying to establish a separate state with support from the French, British and Russians. Turkey contends that, instead, hundreds of thousands of Turks were killed by Armenians as they tried to establish themselves as the majority population in that region. Prof. Yusuf Sarinay said.

This is a rewriting of history worthy of Orwell. Or Goebbels. For the truth, see The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus by Vahakn N. Dadrian.

The list issued today was compiled based on reports by the regional authorities sent to Ottoman officials in Istanbul, as well as the written accounts of international observers, said Mr. Sarinay, the director of the Office of State Archives.

"Europe has used Armenians as a tool in extension of their policies over Turkey, for which Turks and Armenians suffered," Mr. Sarinay was quoted as saying by the Anatolian news agency. "Europe should also face her own history."

Hirant Dink, a leading figure among Armenians in Turkey called the list an official attempt to create an alternate version of an internationally recognized reality. He said that such documentary analysis and confirmation of its accuracy should be left in the hands of international academics.

"Figures and documents should be researched and analyzed," Mr. Dink said, "However, talking merely in figures means that Turkey doesn't understand the pain of the other side; what is undermined here is the conscience and human factor behind all."

That's for sure, Dink. That's for sure.

Some intruiguing information in this piece from Islamonline, with thanks to Nicolei:

BERLIN - Building places of worship is no longer an easy job for Germany's Muslim minority, already facing a vicious campaign spearheaded by the country's Christian opposition.

The building of the Grand Mosque in Berlin has been suspended since January after a local court ruled that the mosque officials should give guarantees to the neighbors that construction works would not cause damages to properties, the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper reported on Saturday, April 16....

How about guarantees that violent jihad or the imposition of Sharia will never be preached there?

Under the German constitution, acknowledged Islamic bodies have the right to receive government assistance to establish Islamic centers.

More Restrictions

The Berliner Morgenpost's report came only one day after the Christian opposition pressed for more restrictions on the Muslim
minority.

During a parliamentary session on Friday, April 15, the Christian Democratic Union criticized the government for failure in tackling threats to national security posed by "Islamic extremists".

The opposition party proposed, inter alia, banning their political activities and scrapping their residency permits.

"It is unacceptable to allow foreigners to move between Islamic extremists' training camps in and outside Germany," it claimed on its Web site....

Germany's mass-circulation Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported in July that Germans reverting to Islam have risen dramatically in the past few years and are keen on leaving their indelible marks on society.

You bet they are.

"The crooked response to terror": Melanie Phillips writes in her diary about a little-known but influential dhimmi, Alistair Crooke (thanks to Waterdragon52).

The first time Alistair Crooke burst upon public consciousness was in 2003. Crooke, who had been an MI6 agent for 30 years and was then assigned as a security adviser to the EU's special envoy to the Middle East, Miguel Moratinos, was recalled from Jerusalem by the British Foreign Office against his will. He had been involved in repeated attempts to draw Hamas, Islamic jihad and other terrorist groups into negotiations. The Guardian reported at the time:

'But British diplomats in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and London, who were described as increasingly hostile to Mr Crooke's role, were said to have lost faith in that option after Hamas killed 23 people in the worst bus suicide bombing of the intifada last month.'

Now, documents seized by Israel which have just been published reveal that in June 2002, Alistair Crooke, then working for Moratinos, met secretly in Gaza with a Hamas delegation headed by the organization's then-leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

On FrontPageMagazine.com David Hornick waxes indignant:

'The meeting sheds light on why Europe finds it so hard to label the likes of Hamas or Hizbullah as terror organizations. Crooke's groveling behavior makes clearer than ever why Israel seeks to limit European involvement in its conflict or diplomacy with the Arabs; while the terrorists express their animosity toward Israel and America and belief that Europe is their ally.'

Grovelling behaviour, indeed; but more than that, a lethal confusion of language. Crooke told Yassin that: 'The main problem is the Israeli
occupation'. Yassin agreed. But while Crooke appears to have been talking about the post-1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, Yassin was talking about the 'occupation' of 1948:

'The Israeli army conquered the land in the year 1948 and followed in our footsteps in 1967. . . . Is it conceivable that the international community should ask us not to resist the occupation . . . ?! . . . instead of supporting my position of self-defense, Europe includes me in the list of terrorist [organizations].'

In other words, the problem Yassin wanted removed was the existence of Israel itself. And Crooke did not demur. Instead, he replied:

'I completely understand what you are saying. There is an understanding not only on the government level but also on the popular level, and there is sympathy with the Palestinian people...'

Not only that, with Yassin complaining that the EU had proscribed Hamas as the terrorist organisation that it is, Crooke observed:

'As for terrorism, I hate that word. I have spent some time in my life with freedom fighters like in Colombia.'

So to the EU's security adviser, the genocidal terrorists of Hamas are actually freedom fighters. In other words, they are morally justified in their campaign of mass murder, and Israel is morally unjustified in trying to defend itself against it. And this was just three months after the massacre of the Passover seder in Natanya.

The transcript tells us all we need t