Multiple blasts struck Texas refinery

Here's the true face of Islam in Iraq:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050427/BASRA27/TPInternational/?query=islam

Islamist militias patrol in force to keep the faithBy DELPHINE MINOUI

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 Page A17

Special to The Globe and Mail

BASRA, IRAQ -- There's no need to worry that Islamist militiamen aim to recreate an Iranian-style government in Iraq, according to Sheik Assad al-Basri.

Indeed, the Islamic Republic of Iran's theocratic state is far too liberal for his tastes.

"Only 5 per cent of Iranians abide by real Islamic laws," said Mr. al-Basri, who is rebel Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's local representative in this port city of 1.5 million. He boasted that he and his cohorts have already blown up most of Basra's liquor stores, punished "decadent picnickers" and imposed Islamic dress codes on women.

"The rest of Iranians are corrupt," he said. "Look, there are drugs and girls who don't wear hijab well in Iran."

Iraq's new Shia-led government has vowed to respect and tolerate all of Iraq's religious and ethnic groups and to create a model constitution for a region gripped by Islamic fervour. But on the streets of this once-liberal port city --the waterfront used to include a row of casinos and bars -- Islamist militias have already began imposing a harsh version of sharia 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 pseudonym because he fears for his safety.

Moderate Islamists won 37 of Basra's 41 council seats in January's election, and Mr. al-Sadr's followers didn't even participate. But residents say it is militiamen associated with his movement who have launched a reign of terror on Basra's streets. Mr. al-Basri acknowledges that 12,000 of his men have been trained for combat and are spread out around the city, "ready to mobilize in case of a crisis."

Residents say the militiamen are already hunting down unveiled girls, attacking liquor stores and clamping down on the press. During celebrations to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein -- an important Shia saint -- about 6,000 armed men marched through Basra's streets in a show of strength.

"They are everywhere," said Mohammed 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."

"They watch us," said one doctor who requested he not be identified. "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."

City officials concede that the militiamen are creating problems, but are hesitant to crack down.

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

But on the streets, the fear is palpable. 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, classmates and professors said.

Even picnics along the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where the Tigris meets the Euphrates, have gone from being a treasured rite to an illicit act. In a high-profile incident, Mr. al-Sadr's militiamen violently broke up a March 15 picnic attended by hundreds of engineering students beneath the palm trees of al-Andalus Park. As boys played volleyball and girls listened to music, black-clad men armed with knives, metal bars and assault rifles rushed them, firing shots into the air.

"A man dressed in black, his face covered with a mask, stood in front of my group of friends and asked why we were not wearing hijab," said Celia Garabet, a 21-year-old student recovering from neck injuries she received during the melee. "I was too afraid to reply and I received a big hit on the back of my head, from behind. It was panic everywhere."

Outraged students organized two large demonstrations and demanded an apology. Under pressure, Mr. al-Sadr's office issued a communiqué promising not to attack any more picnics. But instead of meting out punishment to the perpetrators, religious extremists began hunting down protesting students, who said they were arrested and interrogated in the weeks after the picnic.

For the old-timers who remember the city's golden age, the new ways are heartbreaking.

"When I was a student, I went to the movies and casinos every weekend," said Juliana Youssef Davoud, an English professor in her 50s, as she leafed through an old album with photos of her wearing a miniskirt and hanging out with her male friends in a Basra park.

"We used to go to the cabarets," she said. "Young people drank beer. We used to go on picnics every weekend. None of these little pleasures of the youth are now allowed in Iraq."

But Mr. al-Basri and other clerics remain unapologetic. Sometimes violence is the only way to stop corruption, he said in an interview.

"You should punish and beat a kid in order to protect him from playing with the fire. During this picnic, girls were wearing shirts that were far too thin. We could see their arms underneath. Boys were dancing. It was immoral," he insisted.

Even Christians should abide by Islamic dress codes, he said.

"Wasn't the Virgin Mary covered? Christian women should cover themselves, if they are good Christians."

"We believe that there were a number of distinct explosions in rapid succession, possibly as many as five"

Five distinct explosions....hmmmmmm

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1470584_1,00.html

Muslim apostates cast out and at risk from faith and family

By Anthony Browne

While Christians who turn to Islam are feted, the 200,000 Muslims who turn away are faced with abuse, violence and even murder

THE first brick was thrown through the sitting room window at one in the morning, waking Nissar Hussein, his wife and five children with a terrifying start. The second brick went through his car window.

It was a shock, but hardly a surprise. The week before, another brick had been thrown through the window as the family were preparing for bed in their Bradford home. The victim of a three-year campaign of religious hatred, Mr Hussein’s car has also been rammed and torched, and the steps to his home have been strewn with rubbish.

He and his family have been regularly jostled, abused, attacked, shouted at to move out of the area, and given death threats in the street. His wife has been held hostage inside their home for two hours by a mob. His car, walls and windows have been daubed in graffiti: “Christian bastard”.

The problem isn’t so much what Mr Hussein, whose parents came from Pakistan, believes, but what he doesn’t believe. Born into Islam, he converted eight years ago to Christianity, and his wife, also from Pakistan, followed suit.

While those who convert to Islam, such as Cat Stevens, Jemima Khan, and the sons of the Frank Dobson, the former Health Secretary, and Lord Birt, the former BBC Director-General, can publicly celebrate their new religion, those whose faith goes in the other direction face persecution. Mr Hussein, a 39-year-old hospital nurse in Bradford, is one of a growing number of former Muslims in Britain who face not just being shunned by family and community, but attacked, kidnapped, and in some cases killed. There is even a secret underground network to support and protect those who leave Islam. One estimate suggests that as many as 15 per cent of Muslims in Western societies have lost their faith, which would mean that in Britain there are about 200,000 apostates.

For police, religious authorities and politicians, it is an issue so sensitive that they are accused by victims of refusing to respond to appeals for help. It is a problem that, with the crisis of identity in Islam since September 11, seems to be getting worse as Muslims feel more threatened.

Muslims who lose their faith face execution or imprisonment, in line with traditional Muslim teaching, in many Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt and Yemen. In the Netherlands, the former Muslim MP Ayan Hirsi Ali had to go into hiding after renouncing her faith on television.

The Prince of Wales recently held a meeting with religious leaders to consider ways to stop former Muslims being persecuted in other countries, but Britain itself is also affected.

Mr Hussein told The Times: “It’s been absolutely appalling. This is England — where I was born and raised. You would never imagine Christians would suffer in such a way.”

The police have not charged anyone, but told him to leave the area. “We feel completely isolated, utterly helpless. I have been utterly failed by the authorities. If it was white racists attacking an Asian guy, there would be an absolute outcry,” he said. “They are trying to ethnically cleanse me out of my home. I feel I have to make a stand as an Asian Christian.”

Yasmin, who was raised in the North of England, has been forced out of her town once, and is now trying to resist being chased out again. Brought up in a Muslim family, she converted after having a vision of Jesus when she gave birth to her youngest son, and was baptised in her thirties.. “My family completely disowned me. They thought I had committed the biggest sin — I was born a Muslim, and so I must die a Muslim. When my husband found out, he totally disowned my sons. One friend tried to strangle me when I told him I was converting,” she said.

“We had bricks though our windows, I was spat at in the street because they thought I was dishonouring Islam. We had to call the police so many times. I had to go to court to get an injunction against my husband because he was inciting others to attack me.”

She fled to another part of Britain, but the attacks soon started again as locals found out about her. “I wasn’t going to leave again,” she said, adding that it was the double standards of her attackers that made her most angry. “They are such hypocrites — they want us to be tolerant of everything they want, but they are intolerant of everything about us.”

With other converts, Yasmin has helped to set up a series of support groups across England, who have adopted a method of operating normally associated with dissidents in dictatorships, not democracies. They not only have to meet in secret, but cannot advertise their services, and have to vet those that approach them for infiltrators.

“There are so many who convert from Islam to Christianity. We have 70 people on our list who we support, and the list is growing. We don’t want others to suffer like we have,” she said.

Although some are beaten “black and blue” for their faith, others suffer even more. The family of an 18-year-old girl whomYasmin was helping found that she had been hiding a Bible in her room, and visiting church secretly. “I tried to do as much as possible to help her, but they took her to Pakistan ‘on holiday’. Three weeks later, she was drowned — they said that she went out in the middle of the night and slipped in the river, but she just wouldn ’t have done that,” said Yasmin.

Ruth, also of Pakistani origin, found out recently that she had only just escaped being murdered. When she told her family that she had converted, they kept her locked inside the family home all summer.

“They were afraid I would meet some Christians. My brother was aggressive, and even hit me — I later found out he wanted me dead,” she said. A family friend had suggested taking her to Pakistan to kill her, and her brother put the idea to her mother, who ruled against it. “You are very isolated and very alone. But now, my brother is thinking about changing and a cousin has made a commitment to Christianity.”

Noor, from the Midlands, was brought up a Muslim but converted to Christianity at 21. “Telling my father was the most difficult thing I have ever done. I thought he would kill me on the spot, but he just went into a state of shock,” she said. He ended up almost kidnapping her.

“He took drastic actions — he took the family to Pakistan, to a secluded village with no roads to it. He kept us there for many years, putting pressure on me to leave my Christian faith. I endured mental and emotional suffering that most humans never reach,” she said. Eventually, her father realised that he could not shake her faith, and released her with strict conditions. “In desperation, my father threatened to take my life. If someone converts, it is a must for family honour to bring them back to Islam, if not, to kill them.”

Imams in Britain sometimes call on the apostates to be killed if they criticise their former religion. Anwar Sheikh, a former mosque teacher from Pakistan, became an atheist after coming to Britain, and now lives with a special alarm in his house in Cardiff after criticising Islam in a series of hardline books.

“I’ve had 18 fatwas against me. They telephone me — they aren’t foolhardy enough to put it in writing. I had a call a couple of weeks ago. They mean repent or be hanged,” he said. “What I have written, I believe and I will not take it back. I will suffer the consequences. If that is the price, I will pay it.”

The most high-profile British apostate is Ibn Warraq, a Pakistani-born intellectual and former teacher from London, who lost his faith after the Salman Rushdie affair and set out his reasons in the book Why I am not a Muslim.

He recently edited the book Leaving Islam, but finds it hard to explain the hostility. “It’s very strange. Even the most liberal Muslim can become incredibly fierce if you criticise Islam, or, horror of horrors, leave it.”

He himself has taken the precaution of using only a pseudonym, and lives incognito in mainland Europe. He thinks that Islamic apostasy is common. “In Western societies, it is probably 10-15 per cent. It’s very difficult to tell, because people don’t admit it.”

Patrick Sookhdeo, director of the Barnabas Trust, which helps persecuted Christians around the world, said that it was finding increasing work in Britain: “It’s a growing problem. Today, conversion is seen as linked to Bush trying to convert the world — democratisation is confused with evangelism.

“The difficulty in Britain is the growing alienation between the minority Muslim communities and the mainstream Christian one. Christian mission work in inner cities is seen as an assault,” Dr Sookhdeo said. “We are only asking that freedom of religion should be applicable to everyone of every faith.”

She fled to another part of Britain, but the attacks soon started again as locals found out about her. “I wasn’t going to leave again,” she said, adding that it was the double standards of her attackers that made her most angry. “They are such hypocrites — they want us to be tolerant of everything they want, but they are intolerant of everything about us.”

Does the above sound familiar?

This is WAY OT, but worth the read, shades of Frankenstein,

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=715561

"Stanford law professor Hank Greely, who chaired the ethics committee, said the board was satisfied that the size and shape of the mouse brain would prevent the human cells from creating any traits of humanity. Just in case, Greely said, the committee recommended closely monitoring the mice's behavior and immediately killing any that display human-like behavior."

Holy Lord, this is terrible.

Hi Geoff, I have made a new thread. Talk to you soon.

ia786

The ROPs now even want terror attacks against dhimmi Sweden:

http://haganah.org.il/harchives/004053.html

This was triggered by the Norwegian preacher Runar Søgaard, living in Sweden, who called Muhammad a "confused pedophile". However, I have documented that Swedish Muslims called for terror attacks even before this happened. I wonder how Swedish leftists are going to spin it when the terror attacks come? Since Islamic terror is caused by occupation and oppression, which illegal settlements are they going to withdraw from to please the Muslims? Stockholm? They've already withdrawn from Malmö, their third largest city.

When officials don't know, they should say so. The idiot who said no indication may well avoid noticing any indication now, just to protect his original stupidity.

I don't know what to make of this. If it was a terror attack would we be told, or kept in the dark because we can't handle the facts?

Added Autorantic Virtual Moonbat and several new articles at http://muslimsandme.blogspot.com/

Look, one of UBL's most recent communications specifically said to target the oil industry both abroad and domestically, in an effort to bring us down economically.

And as for the fbi, their job is not law enforcement, it is carrying out the administration's wishes with the powers given to "federal law-enforcement."

You're damn right they covered this up - and many other incidents, qualifying them as non [muslim] terror, before even hitting the ground. They will continue to do so until the event (like 9/11) becomes so obvious to everyone that muslim terror can't be denied, even by Joe Lunchbucket. AQ isn't stupid, they will continue these plausable deniability attacks, using them to probe us, until it suits their agenda to let go of that nuke.

It is coming.

The idiots in our "intelligence" agencies will just stand by and cry for money and personnel after we lose NYC or LA (after they check with the muslim terror front CAIR, getting their approval).

I used to buy that withholding facts because the public could not handle it crap. 70 years later, I know it is because the gov doesn't have a clue.

Wouldn't one of the terrorist organizations claimed credit for this if it were terrorism?

For starters,

Build brand new refineries and start drilling the holy crap out of Alaska. Screw the PC environmentalist a holes. Security needs to be upgraded on refineries so there is no doubt when an explosion happens whether it was an accident or if it was deliberate.

Let's move enough US troops out of Europe and Korea to stop all illegals from crossing the Southern border.

Stop all immigration from Islamic countries.

No tolerance for any pro-jihad speech. Mandatory prison time for the offender and automatic deportation of all family members of those convicted of this crime.

Perhaps the government's aim is simply to deny the terrorists the credit for these attacks? If the government claims that the commerical jetliner in NY went down because of pilot error/structural failure and that the Texas oil refinery blasts were due to some mundane pressure build up (or whatever)then the terrorists will get NOTHING from these attacks. No fear. No panic. Zip. Americans will just go on with their lives.

It's an interesting strategy at the very least.

Jawa,

Five distinct explosions? No.. That's five distinct 'accidental' explosions.

CJ,

Wouldn't one of the terrorist organizations claimed credit for this if it were terrorism?

Who says they haven't already except Homeland Security just 'forgot' to pass that information on to the rest of us.

Ummagumma,

Not sure that this event was a terrorist attack but I'd bet the entire farm (and the ones on either side of me) that the commercial airliner which blew-up in mid-air (didn't crash) over NYC shortly after 9-11 WAS A TERRORIST ATTACK!

Why won't they tell the people? We can't handle the truth!

Oh,Mentat-great article! Thanks for posting it.

"One estimate suggests that as many as 15 per cent of Muslims in Western societies have lost their faith, which would mean that in Britain there are about 200,000 apostates."

Good news indeed!

Freedom1,

It may be true that there are a percentage of muslims in western societies who have distanced themselves from their faith. But they're still only one fatwa away from redemption.

Mahdi

At least two different groups claimed credit for the blasts.

"Also Thursday, an FBI spokesman in Houston dismissed a statement posted on an Islamic Web site claiming responsibility for the blast. He said there was no indication of foul play."

Carolyn

Do you have the article for that? Or better yet the website that the terrorists claimed responsibility? I don't remember that.

CJ, I just used the links that Robert gave us in his article.http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/005508.php

JW/DW readers.... Beagle (posts here a lot) needs your prayers and good thoughts:

http://politicsofreligion.blogspot.com/2005/04/please-pray-for-my-son.html#comments

Back around the time of the first WTC bombing
there was a garage explosion in my area that happened in a twin-tower apartment unit that was about a 35 floor building,the story from the media was that of a Electrical overload in a
utility box that supplied the power to the whole
complex.

I had one problem with what I saw and what the News reported as the official account for the
loss of power.

A mobile Police station trailer was parked on the street,the fire department was there for
almost two days,and a Ambulance Bus was there as well. If it was a electrical explosion then riddle me this..Since when did the Police and Fire Department repair Hydro Electric problems,and if the garage is mainly cement
and utility pipes why did the fire department
hang around for a job that was the responsibility of the Hydro Company.
Also the building had tighter security for several months after the explosion,this I saw by the actual uniformed Guards and the locking
of the main enterances to the shopping area after
the closing time,prior to this a bar used this enterance for patrons since it closed aroud 2:00 am.

Basically the whole thing stunk and I doubt the wealthy white politicians from their rich neighbourhoods would really care about telling the commoners that the Country isn't a safe as they portray,the PC mindset will get us killed and
don't rely on them to secure your safety and protection from Jihadists.

Carolyn

Thank you, I was being lazy. Sorry about that.

CJ, No problem ;)

Carolyn2-

While we already have to worry about two fronts- jihadists trying to attack us, and the scrambling government functionaries trying to cover their own political asses (in case there is an attack), you've noticed another equivalent third threat -from the 'mixed-species' work being done by our stunningly simple-minded scientific community.

A bunch who have clearly forgotten every warning from Greek mythology -from Epimetheus to Tantalus- that might temper their blind, imbecilic, arrogant and patently mad hubris.

Mingling human genes into other species
("chimaeras")
will surely result in some pandemic AID's-like mess, or worse, giving us the scale of horrors that have so far only been dreamed of in BAD sci-fi.

I thought it was bizarre enough when John Wayne had a pig valve added to his ailing heart and, even stranger, that experiment where a child in the 1980's had a baboon heart for a day or so, but these were supremely benign effects compared to this current tampering with the inter-species barriers.

When we finally get the jihadists under control, then these white-coated beaker-sniffing buffoons will wreak havoc as great as any bio-terrorism assault, thanks to their Cosmic Imbecility.

It's not wise to unravel the chromosomal fabric that it took 14 billion years for Nature to weave.

But how reassuring to know that they will "kill the white rats" when they start writing "Freedom now!" in mouse droppings, or begin ordering lattes from the lab techs.

Somebody should hit these whiz kids on the head with a copy of "The Biological Time Bomb" or "Algeny".

Whichever is heavier.

These cell biologists are gambling with a living 'biosphere', which is far more unpredictable than a simple atmosphere (nitrogen/oxygen/helium gaseous 'sheath') that can be 'polluted'.

I would hope that a call from the depths of some self-preserving morality might rise to put the brakes on these theory-intoxicated mitochondrial meddlers, but it will probably work the same way everything human has to go:

-disaster, first, then 'enlightened response', second.

Until a genetic catastrophe strikes (how many dead or horribly mutated?), the scientific community is collectively asleep at the switch.

The few restraining voices- like Carl Sagan or Stephen Jay Gould- are dead.

So, while we wait for Muslim terrorists to hit us from without, we also have to expect our own homegrown numbskull experimenters to cause an accident in the genome. One that will be as, or even more, calamitous than a nuke.

And, meanwhile, Bush is worried about social security "private savings accounts"! (4% of your 'contribution' at 5% compounded over 40 years would likely add up to about an extra $50,000, at best... and by the year 2050, that'll probably buy you lunch.)

I'm going now to add a hefty dollop of amaretto to my tea...

Bigsleep

I need a whole bottle of Rumplemintz after reading that! I'm just a poor dumb knuckledragging conservative so I didn't understand a word of your post, which appears to be a good thing.

As far as the whole 5% compounded, that I actually got a good laugh at. As a trader for the last 10 years I can't imagine any investment that would do that poorly! Even treasuries average more than that over a 40 year period. In fact pick any large mutual fund ie. Fidelity, Vanguard, T Rowe Price, etc.. then pick any large cap value fund and BAMMO you'll get anywhere from 11%-14% yearly. Compound that over 40 years.

BigSleep, I heard a lecture at least 20 years ago concerning recombinant DNA, and the Dr. that spoke said that they had primate/humans at that time. What do they have hidden in those laboratories?

Yes, it is funny how muslims do not want "infidels" to know what their books say, isn't it?

Being pro Alaska drilling makes sense, here’s why.

1. Not drilling for oil on the notion of preserving a “wilderness area” for future generations is bogus. First of all our world has already been used and abused and saving little spots here and there is too little too late.

2. The people opposed to it are worshippers of the creation (the Earth) instead of worshipping the creator (God).

3. The Earth is destined to be fine. Christ will return and God will remake the Earth anew as promised.

4. If God forsakes the Earth and humanity (which he won’t) then humans will eventually die out like the dinosaurs and in a billion or so years there won’t be a trace of humanity left.

5. Even if mankind survives, the sun will burn out in about 5 billion years or so and the Earth will be destroyed along with humans.

So you see there is no reason not to drill because in the end it won’t matter.

Ecclesiastes 1:2 – vanity, all is vanity.

Oh yeah, and just in case someone thinks that before the sun burns out that humans will have mastered space travel well….scientists have concluded that there can only be 2 scenarios for the Universe.

1. It will keep expanding until all the fires burns out and the Universe becomes cold and dead.
2. The Universe will contract though the “Big Crunch” due to gravity. Either way we’re eventually doomed.
3. Time for another brew and a smoke. In conclusion, I stand by all of my posts. Thx

Cross

I feel like I went through time travel reading your comments. :)