August 2005 Archives

Washington and Patterson update: it began as a robbery arrest, and now has uncovered a significant jihad element inside and outside U.S. prisons. From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

LOS ANGELES - The head of a militant Islamic prison gang and three others were indicted Wednesday on federal charges of planning terrorist attacks against National Guard facilities, the Israeli Consulate and other Los Angeles-area targets.

The four conspired to wage war against the U.S. government through terrorism, kill armed service members and murder foreign officials, among other charges, according to the indictment.

Named in the indictment were Levar Haley Washington, 25, Gregory Vernon Patterson, 21, Hammad Riaz Samana, 21, and Kevin James, 29.

Prosecutors contend the plot was orchestrated by Washington, Patterson and Samana at the behest of James, an inmate at the California State Prison-Sacramento who founded the radical group Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh.

Washington converted to Islam while serving three years in the prison for a robbery conviction.

According to the indictment, Washington pledged his loyalty to James "until death by martyrdom" and sought to establish a JIS cell outside prison with members with bomb expertise.

Washington, Patterson and Samana — who attended the same Inglewood mosque — allegedly conducted surveillance of National Guard facilities, the Israeli Consulate and several synagogues in the Los Angeles area as well as Internet research on Jewish holidays.

The attacks were to be carried out with firearms and other weapons on Jewish holidays, according to the indictment. Patterson allegedly bought a .223-caliber rifle in July.

To finance the attacks, prosecutors said, the three robbed a string of gas stations in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

This is about one small human tragedy in Gaza, but in a larger sense it is about dhimmis and potential dhimmis everywhere, whether Jewish or Christian, Hindu or Buddhist, atheist or whatever.

"We believe that from this terrible destruction we will see a great revival, of the Torah, of the Nation, of the Land..." And of the human spirit, in all its manifestations. The boot on the face cannot prevail forever. The trampling of the aspirations of the soul cannot win forever. Willful lies, polite PC niceties and evil-hearted propaganda cannot prevail forever. The truth will out, and the truth will win.

The Gobi family, from what used to be N'vei Dekalim, buried its son Elkanah yesterday at the Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem. His brother delivered a comprehensive and moving eulogy.

Elkanah Gobi, a student in the Sderot hesder yeshiva where he combined military service with Torah study, was killed in March 2002 during a terrorist attack at the Kisufim Crossing. He was mistakenly run over by an army jeep when he got out to fire back at a terrorist who had shot at him and was preparing to shoot at other Jewish motorists.

The Gobi family sat for the required abbreviated mourning period at the Western Wall plaza yesterday afternoon. Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch had asked the family not to do so, but the family agreed only not to erect a mourners' tent.

One of Elkanah's brothers delivered the following eulogy at the burial site:

Elkanah, my dear brother, I stand here and simply cannot believe it. It's impossible to believe that this is happening to us. Three and a half years ago, we were all stunned and pained, as we accompanied you to eternal rest on the beloved land of Gush Katif. I was sure that that the was the most difficult day of my life - but a week and a half ago, I realized otherwise.

I walked around with Adiel the day before the expulsion and thought to myself, 'Could there possibly be a more fantastic place to grow up than here in Gush Katif?' We returned from the festive Torah Scroll ceremony in the synagogue, an amazing and powerful experience, and suddenly thousands of soldiers were flooding the town. They poured onto the streets, the paths, the lawns and the beautiful gardens, and the next morning, they started coming into the houses. The curse of expulsion had begun...

First Beit Lid, and now the Megiddo junction: from the PIJ's perspective, Al-Arian had a lot to be "chipper" about. "Israelis in Florida Jihad Trial," from the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Five Israelis who witnessed a Palestinian suicide attack three years ago, were called to the stand Tuesday to testify in the trial of professor Sami Al-Arian who is accused of heading the Palestinian Islamic Jihad branch in the US and of raising money used to finance terror attack against Israelis.

The Israelis that testified in court in Tampa, Florida were all witnesses of the June 2002 attack on an Egged bus near the Megiddo junction. The attack, carried out by a terrorist who crashed his explosive-packed car into the bus, killed 17 people and injured 45. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Assaf Sharabi, one of those injured in the attack, gave the court a detailed account of that day and of what he has gone through since then. "It was as if the whole thing [the bus] was torn altogether, from all sides", Sharabi said in court. He suffered severe injuries in his leg and needed months of treatments and operations to overcome the injury.

Khaled Zoubi, a police officer who was in a nearby car at the time of the explosion, described from the stand what he saw: "people without heads, legs, body limbs, livers, hearts, all kinds of body parts that were flying even across the street".

Prosecutors in the case presented the court with photos from the Megiddo attack scene, despite attempts of the defense to get the judge to prevent showing the pictures....

The prosecution intends to bring more Israeli witnesses in order to demonstrate to the jury the horror of the terrorist attacks that the Islamic Jihad carried out.

Documents presented to the court by the prosecution, detail phone conversation between Al-Arian and other defendants, in which they discuss the Megiddo attack. In the wiretaps, Hatim Fariz, one of the defendants, is heard calling Al-Arian and asking him whether he "heard the news. "You sound chipper", Al-Arian responds....

Al-Arian pleaded not guilty to all charges. He claims that his actions a legitimate form of showing support to the Palestinian cause.

By making rules disallowing the expulsion of preachers who spread hatred and jihad. "EU to set down rules for expelling extremists," from the Telegraph, with thanks to Daryl:

Britain is facing a clash with Brussels over EU plans to grant sweeping rights to foreigners ordered to leave - whether failed asylum seekers or Islamic extremists facing deportation. The Home Office is expected this week to begin proceedings aimed at removing foreign nationals who fall foul of a new list of "unacceptable behaviours" that give backing to terrorists.

At the same time, however, the European Commission is preparing to publish a new directive that will effectively bar EU states from sending people back to countries where they could face persecution or torture.

It will also limit the length of time people can be detained pending their deportation.

Proposals to be unveiled tomorrow will set out rules for returning illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers to their home countries.

They are part of a common asylum policy for the EU that Britain has strongly supported in the past but which may conflict with plans outlined by Tony Blair and Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, following the London terrorist attacks.

The new "returns directive" would include the right to be detained for no more than a year after a court had ordered removal - a provision that could trigger chaos in Britain, where lengthy appeals have seen some individuals remain in detention for years.

EU sources said they were keen to end the situation where failed asylum seekers and other foreign nation also found themselves in limbo, for prolonged periods.

The directive would give every unwanted foreign national an explicit right to appeal their removal, separate from any appeals involving their original asylum application, or refugee status.

In addition, all those ordered removed would be allowed to ask a judge to suspend or stay their deportation pending appeal.

The directive also gives judges the right to refuse to grant such a stay, meaning expelled imams or other extremists could find themselves contemplating the progress of an appeal from a foreign jail cell.

Once again, this is no surprise to anyone who knows that it is the jihad ideology that has poisoned and will continue to poison all hope of peace between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. From Al-Bawaba, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

An offshoot of the Palestinian Fatah faction, The Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, announced on Wednesday that it would not disarm after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip despite warnings from the Palestinian Interior Ministry that armed groups would not be tolerated by authorities.

"We will continue to brandish our weapons in the face of the occupation (Israel) as Gaza is only the first step towards the liberation of all of the land of Palestine," a spokesman for the group said in a public statement, according to AFP.

The announcement that such group would be opposed in the Gaza Strip was made on Tuesday by the Palestinian Interior Ministry, who said any irregular armed groups in the Gaza Strip following the pullout of Israeli soldiers from the territory would be handled.

"The Palestinian Authority and the elected political leadership will not permit armed groups and private armies to be present in Palestinian zones where the (Israeli) occupation has ended," a statement said.

However, spokesmen for the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades replied, "The appeals by the interior ministry and other parties to give up our weapons are irrelevant."

And quite likely not even sincere in the first place.

Inayat Bunglawala is also part of this panel. Fox Guarding the Henhouse alert from IslamOnline, with thanks to Sr. Soph: "UK Picks Ramadan for Anti-terror Panel: Report":

CAIRO, August 31, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The British government has named famed Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan as one of a government committee set up to address the underlying causes of terrorism in Britain, a leading British newspaper reported Wednesday, August 31.

The academic attended a meeting at the Home Office last week to discuss extremism among British Muslims as part of the group's work, well-placed sources told the Guardian.

The 13-member taskforce is comprised of Muslims from community groups, like Inayat Bunglawala from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), academics and the MP Shahid Malik.

[K]nown as the working group on tackling extremism, the taskforce is part of the government's response to the July 7 attacks on London, and was announced by (Prime Minister) Tony Blair. Its 13 members had been chosen by the Home Office.

The group will report to the home secretary and prime minister by late September and make proposals to stop British Muslims turning to violence, according to the paper.

Right Person

Ramadan’s appointment to the committee was hailed as the right person for the right job and evidence of the government's willingness to stand up to rightwing tabloids that had savaged the moderate scholar.

"It sends all the right messages that the government is engaged in a real search for answers, rather than pandering to kneejerk elements in the rightwing press and their prejudices," Labour MP Sadiq Khan told the paper.

"It's important for the government to listen to people who have scholarly knowledge of the issues."

IslamOnline doesn't mention that Ramadan was barred from entering the United States. Those right-wing tabloids must have a lot of clout.

Thus they will continue to be terrorist factories. "Pak seminaries vow to continue preaching jihad," from ANI, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Religious Islamic leaders who run madarassas in Pakistan have categorically rejected the federal government's ordinance which makes it mandatory for all religious schools to get registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, saying that the seminaries would "continue to teach the principles of jihad as inscribed in the Holy Quran".

The Daily Times quoted the religious leaders as saying that they would not cooperate with the federal government on the registration issue "until the government addressed the concerns of religious leaders".

Denying that some religious seminaries were involved in giving militancy training, the religious leaders, while speaking at the "Religious Schools and Contemporary Needs Convention", said that they would not accept any dictation from the government on the curriculum that should be taught in the madarassas.

Whatever you think of Kahane, says this piece, his was a jihadist murder on American soil. "Rabbi Meir Kahane, Vindicated," from Israel Insider, with thanks to Kemaste:

No matter what you think of him, whether you hate him or love him, the name Meir Kahane is a name that will forever be engrained in the history of the Jewish people. But just this past week, fifteen years after his murder, he was vindicated on the world stage via American national television.

Rabbi Kahane, born in Brooklyn in 1932, was an author, political activist and a member of the Israeli Knesset. When concluding a speech in Manhattan, Rabbi Kahane was assassinated by El-Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian and member of an Arab terrorist cell operating in New York in 1990. Nosair was one of Sheikh Omar Abd El-Rahman's men, who would later be convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; today, he is serving life in prison. The gun that was used to kill Rabbi Kahane was supplied to Nosair by Wadih El-Hage, who is a member of Al-Qaeda convicted of conspiracy to kill American citizens in the 1998 US embassy bombings.

With jihad being conducted around the world, and especially after the mass murder of September 11, 2001, some Jews have been attempting to remind the world of what Kahane was warning them, as well as noting that Kahane had been the first victim of jihad in the United States. Of course, when Jews who supported Kahane speak up, they generally don't catch the attention of the liberal media, but they repeated their cry for over a decade to recognize that the slaying of Kahane was the initial attack Islamic terrorists had brought against American citizens. Finally, their cries have been accepted as fact.

The National Geographic cable television channel has just released a new four-hour documentary called "Inside 9/11". The focus of the special is not to show devastation in New York, but to present the facts in the form of a timeline, so that people can understand what happened, who was - and is - attacking America. The documentary has received rave reviews and the cable networks consider this broadcast so important that they have made the show available for free in areas that don't carry the National Geographic channel.

This well-made production explains what many of the Jewish people have been shouting to the world. The documentary starts with the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane and goes on to dedicate a portion of the first hour explaining how the rabbi was targeted by an Islamic terrorist. The significance is to recognize the fact that Kahane was assassinated as an act of jihad against the West, and to show that organized Islamic terror cells have already been successful in sending an operative into the United States to successfully murder someone they saw as problematic. If they did it once, they can, and will, do it again.

And Christians are resisting the call, of course. Would you want to be a despised inferior class in your own country? From Inter Press Service of Johannesburg, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Religion is playing a major role in undermining Kenya's draft constitution. Christians and Muslims, who have lived peacefully for decades, have now suddenly found themselves at loggerheads over the document.

Muslims are insisting that Islamic sharia (laws), which call for floggings for consuming alcohol and stoning to death for committing adultery, be enshrined in the new constitution.

This has angered Christians who make up about 85 percent of Kenya's estimated 30 million people.

A referendum is set for November to resolve the dispute.

But the government is worried because members of 'The Kenya Church', who met in the capital Nairobi Aug 25, said they would mobilise their congregations to vote 'no'.

"We are saying that all religious courts and traditional courts not be included in the constitution. These courts are out-rightly unconstitutional," David Githii, chairman of The Kenya Church, an umbrella for 40 church groups, said during their meeting last week.

Clause three of article 179 of the proposed constitution provides for traditional and Sharia courts, while at the same time the first clause of article 10 stipulates separation between the state and religion.

"We have strategies of getting right to the village level to get the persons there to vote 'no' to this constitution. We have branches down in the villages and we interact with the grass-roots almost on a daily basis. This campaign for a 'no' vote will go on even after the referendum. It will continue up to the next general elections in 2007," Bishop Margaret Wanjiru of 'Jesus is Alive Ministries', a charismatic church, told the gathering.

"Our vote and that of our congregations remain 'no' until clause 179 changes. If the government chooses to remain adamant, it is their choice. The ball is in their court," she said.

"A coordinated hate campaign against the nation's radical Muslims." Well, we must protect them at all costs! Imagine: a coordinated hate campaign against those who preach the violent overthrow of the Australian state and its replacement by a government that will make non-Muslims in Australia a despised inferior class!

I am not, of course, in favor of vigilantism. But if the Australian government were not tolerating the likes of Abu Bakr, attacks like these would not occur. From The Australian, with thanks to Tombeth:

CONTROVERSIAL Melbourne Islamic cleric Nacer Benbrika has been kidnapped and bashed, fuelling fears of a co-ordinated hate campaign against the nation's radical Muslims.

The Australian understands that Mr Benbrika - who has described Osama bin Laden as a great man - was kidnapped and bashed last week by two carloads of men wearing balaclavas.

Mr Benbrika is said to believe that the attack was ordered by ASIO or the Australian Federal Police, a claim that has been denied by authorities. The assault, which ended in Mr Benbrika being treated in hospital, came less than 48 hours after former terror suspect Mamdouh Habib claimed he was stabbed in a Sydney park, also by hooded assailants.

It also comes amid a community backlash against radical Muslim clerics in Australia in the wake of the London bombings.

Mr Benbrika, who is also known as Abu Bakr, has raised the ire of Prime Minister John Howard by openly supporting jihad overseas and claiming that local Muslims must adhere to two sets of laws - Islamic law and Australian law.

Terrorism creates more terror. Now, here's an assignment for all you moral equivalence advocates. Please compile a list similar to the one below of similar bombings and other attacks taking place in and around churches since 1980. The shootings by Muslims in Pakistani churches, as well as the destruction of churches by Muslims in Indonesia and Nigeria, don't count: this must be Christian-on-Christian violence. Send your lists to director@jihadwatch.org.

From AP, with thanks to Bob:

BAGHDAD (AP) — At least 648 people were killed in a stampede on a bridge Wednesday when panic engulfed a Shiite religious procession amid rumors that a suicide bomber was about to attack, officials said. It appeared to be the single biggest loss of life in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. Scores jumped or were pushed to their deaths into the Tigris River, while others were crushed in the crowd. Most of the dead were women and children, Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said.

Deadly incidents in Islam

Wednesday's stampede is far from the first fatal accident to befall Islamic religious ceremonies:

Aug. 31, 2005: At least 648 Shiite worshippers taking part in annual commemoration of a saint's death are killed in a stampede on a bridge in Baghdad, with many trampled or tumbling into the Tigris River.

March 10, 2005: A suicide bomber blows himself up at a Shiite mosque during a funeral in the northern city of Mosul, killing at least 47 people and wounding more than 100.

Dec. 19, 2004: Car bombs tore through a Najaf funeral procession and Karbala's main bus station, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 120 in the two Shiite holy cities.

March 2, 2004: Coordinated blasts from suicide bombers, mortars and planted explosives strike Shiite Muslim shrines in Karbala and in Baghdad, killing at least 181 and wounding 573.

Feb. 1 2004: 251 Muslim pilgrims killed in stampede in Saudi Arabian city of Mina during the stoning ritual at the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

Aug. 29, 2003: A car bomb explodes outside mosque in Najaf, killing more than 85 people, including Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim. Although officials never gave a final death toll, there were suspicions it may have been higher.

July 4, 2003: Gunmen in the Pakistani city of Quetta storm a Shiite Muslim mosque packed with prayer worshippers, killing about 50 and wounding hundreds.

March 5, 2001: 35 hajj pilgrims killed in stampede during stoning of the devil ritual in Mina.

April 9, 1998: Some 180 pilgrims trampled to death when panic erupted after several fell off an overpass during the stoning of the devil ritual in Mina....

May 23, 1994: 270 pilgrims killed in a stampede in Saudi Arabia's holiest city, Mecca, as worshippers surged toward a cavern for the symbolic ritual of "stoning the devil."

July 9, 1990: 1,426 pilgrims killed in a stampede in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to holy sites in Mecca. It is the worst hajj-related tragedy.

July 31, 1987: 402 people, mostly Iranian pilgrims, killed and 649 wounded in the Saudi city of Mecca when security forces clash with Iranians staging an anti-U.S. demonstration.

Topics for this last day of August will include jihad, dhimmitude, and my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades):

12:30 PM EDT: JD Balart's American Radio Journal (Nationally Syndicated)

1:00 PM EDT: WVTF with Seth Williamson

2:05 PM EDT: Rightalk "Citizen's Lobby" with Scott Lauf

5:00 PM EDT: WDEO "Kresta in the Afternoon"

10:00 PM EDT: WSB, with Guest Host Ben Shapiro

Supreme chutzpah. Why might MPAC not be included in top-level anti-terror consultations? See here. How about CAIR? Here. ISNA? Here. But of course Reuters doesn't mention any of this.

"U.S. Muslims feel sidelined in terrorism fight," from Reuters, with thanks to Kemaste:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is neglecting American Muslims in the fight against terrorism, undermining a potentially priceless resource that could be used to root out militants at home, major Muslim groups say.

Community leaders such as Salam al-Marayati, who heads the Muslim Public Affairs Council advocacy group, say that to isolate terrorists political leaders from President George W. Bush on down must embrace the U.S. Muslim mainstream, rather than exclude them from serious debates on security.

"For some reason, it's very difficult to get the high-level officials to come down to the community at this point. I think a decision has to be made: are we going to be partners or are we going to be suspects?" Marayati said.

Act like partners, and you could become partners. Act like suspects, and you will be suspects. Why does MPAC spend more time savaging anti-terror warrior Steve Emerson than it does fighting against jihadism among American Muslims?

Muslim American groups say that only by visibly engaging the community can officials undermine militants' charges that Muslims are left out of American society, and ensure Muslims do not feel alienated and become targets for recruiters.

Concern about increased suspicions and alienation of the Muslim American community has grown since the July 7 attacks by home-grown Muslim militants in London in which suicide bombers killed 52 people on underground trains and buses.

"It's the position of just about every Muslim leader in the United States that the way you isolate extremists is to engage the mainstream. Unfortunately we haven't seen much of that occurring in this administration," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Community leaders and some experts say the country's estimated 3 million to 7 million Muslims are best placed to fight domestic extremists because only insiders can hope to challenge their radical ideologies or spot budding militants.

"The jihadist threat in this country will come from within, not from outside," said veteran terrorism expert Dennis Pluchinsky, who retired from the State Department this year and now works for security information firm TranSecur. The Muslim community is "the front line for detection," he said.

OUTREACH UNDERWAY

Muslim groups would like to play a greater role in policy discussions for the war on terrorism declared by Bush, have more visible government endorsement of the community's anti-terrorism efforts and see more senior officials attending Muslim American events, conferences and community meetings.

The Islamic Society of North America has called on Bush to attend its September 2-6 convention -- the largest annual gathering of Muslim Americans. The administration's public diplomacy chief, Karen Hughes, is attending the opening session instead.

U.S. officials agree they must do more to involve Muslim Americans in the fight against terrorism. But they say the administration is already actively cooperating with Muslim groups and say they enjoy greater access to the government than ever before.

Why must these groups always place responsibility on everyone but themselves? Why don't they take more initiative in active anti-terror efforts, instead of complaining about profiling and then in turn complaining that the White House is leaving them out of the loop? Why don't they come clean about the questionable matters regarding their organizations, as detailed in the links above?

From Reuters:

SAN DIEGO - President George W. Bush, facing waning support for his Iraq policy, on Tuesday appealed to Americans not to waver because of the rising death toll and said U.S. credibility was at stake.

With nearly 1,900 U.S. troops killed in Iraq and anti-war protesters trailing him from his secluded Texas ranch to California, Bush has seen his job approval ratings plummet to the lowest levels of his presidency.

In a speech in which he sought to cast the conflict as the modern day equivalent of America's World War Two struggle against Japan, Bush said Americans "once again" had a stark choice to make.

"Now as then our enemies have made their fight a test of American credibility and resolve. Now as then they are trying to intimidate free people and break our will," Bush said.

"This is the choice we face: Do we return to the pre-Sept. 11 mind-set of isolation and retreat? Or do we continue to take the fight to the enemy and support our allies in the broader Middle East?" Bush said.

"I've made my decision. We will stay on the offensive. We will stand with the people of Iraq and we will prevail," Bush said...

An interesting development from AFP, with thanks to Stephania.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI held a meeting at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo with Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, a strident critic of Islam, Vatican sources confirmed.

The 76-year-old writer, who describes herself as an atheist Christian and was sued in Italy for insulting the Muslim faith in one of her books, asked to meet the pope, a source said.

The meeting on Saturday between Benedict XVI and the former war correspondent became public only after Fallaci's associates let slip that the meeting took place.

Based in the United States where she is being treated for cancer, Fallaci once said in a newspaper interview that she was comforted by the writings of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became pope after the death of John Paul II.

"Europe is no longer Europe, it is 'Eurabia,' a colony of Islam, where the Islamic invasion does not proceed only in a physical sense, but also in a mental and cultural sense," Fallaci told The Wall Street Journal on June 23.

"Servility to the invaders has poisoned democracy, with obvious consequences for the freedom of thought, and for the concept itself of liberty," she said.

"I feel less alone when I read Ratzinger's books," the journalist added...

Daniel Pipes writes in the New York Sun and his website about the growing anti-dhimmitude in Europe, the UK and Australia and asks, "where are the Americans?"

As the full implications of the London terrorist attacks by domestic jihadis sink in, Westerners are speaking out about the problem of radical Islam with new clarity and boldness.

The most profound development is the sudden need of the British and others to define the meaning of their nationality. In the face of the Islamist challenge, historic identities once taken for granted must now be codified.

This can be seen on a diurnal level, where Islamist assertion has provoked a new European willingness in recent months to stand up for tradition – as seen by the banning of burqas in Italy, requiring a German school boy to attend co-ed swimming classes, and making male applicants for Irish citizenship renounce polygamy. When a ranking Belgian politician canceled lunch with an Iranian group after its members demanded that alcohol not be served, his spokesman explained, "You can't force the authorities of Belgium to drink water."

As shown by two statements on the same day last week, August 24, leading Western politicians are going beyond these minor specifics to address the civilization at the heart of the matter.

The British shadow education secretary and one of the Conservative Party's bright prospects, David Cameron, defined Britishness as "freedom under the rule of law," adding that this expression "explains almost everything you need to know about our country, our institutions, our history, our culture - even our economy." The treasurer of Australia, Peter Costello, who is regarded as heir apparent to Prime Minister Howard, said, "Australia expects its citizens to abide by core beliefs – democracy, the rule of law, the independent judiciary, independent liberty."...

Read it all.

Paula Broadwell writes in the Boston Globe, with thanks to Hugh Fitzgerald.

IN SEPTEMBER 2003, the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs constructed the Jordan International Police Training Center outside of Amman to train Iraq law enforcement personnel. Sixteen nations provide a total of 352 police trainers for the center. The camp has a capacity to train 3,000 Iraqi police recruits in an eight-week basic police skills course and graduate 1,500 new police every month. New Iraqi police come away with a coveted paycheck ($150) and sufficiently trained and equipped to counter foreign intelligence operations, pandemic lawlessness in an anarchic society, and insurgents who target US troops or collaborators.

In April 2005 I had the chance to visit the center, the world's largest international police training camp. I am a military officer and have been deployed throughout Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, but this was one of the nicest training posts I have ever seen. However, the comprehensive training I witnessed was disheartening. The Iraq coalition constituency deserves to know why this mission is likely to fail.

There are three main reasons why these forces will never be ready to defend their country: The wary, uncommitted recruits are immature and lackadaisical about the mission; the parsimonious training is inadequate; and accountability once recruits return to Iraq is inconsistent at best and lacks the return on investment that one would expect.

The recruit pool. According to international instructors at the camp, the troops are often recruited from among intimidated teenagers or disillusioned, desperate unemployed men left with few job prospects in their chaotic country. We aren't always getting the highest quality ''volunteers" because many of those have already joined the insurgency. Others are understandably concerned about their life expectancy if they join the police. In spite of most of the high-quality, experienced instructors, I learned that a clan relative of the Jordanian terrorist mastermind Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi was also an employee at the camp, adding an interesting element to operational security.

Return on Investment. Purportedly, about 40 to 60 percent of these graduates never actually join the Iraqi police force when they return from Jordan. They defect, taking their coveted pay and their new skills to the insidious insurgency, according to liaison officers in Iraq. Some are forced to give up the weapons they were issued at this camp to corrupt local police chiefs; these often end up on the black market. Others lose their firearms in insurgent raids on police stations. Sadly, too many are targeted immediately upon return to Iraq. Forty-six newly returned graduates on a bus were executed point-blank by insurgents this spring; more than 1,500 of those who have made it into the police force have died just this year...

Tribal clashes are increasing as well. From MSNBC:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military said its forces killed an al-Qaida operative they named as Abu Islam and a number of fighters in air strikes at Karabila, close to Qaim, on the Syrian border on Tuesday.

"Intelligence leads Coalition forces to believe that Abu Islam and several of his associates were killed in the airstrike," a spokeswoman in Baghdad told Reuters.

Earlier, hospital officials told the Associated Press that fighting had broken out along the border between pro and anti-government tribes, leaving at least 35 people dead from both sides.

The outcome could affect the ease with which foreign extremists move in and out of the border area.

The clashes between the pro-government Bumahl tribe and the pro-insurgent Karabila tribe began after 2 a.m., in Qaim, said the officials at the Qaim General Hospital who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of insurgents...

Qaim, 200 miles west of Baghdad, witnesses clashes between the two tribes in the past days that left several people killed and wounded.

From the Boston Globe, with thanks to Hugh Fitzgerald.

WASHINGTON -- A Rhode Island lawyer trying to collect a $116 million terrorism judgment against the Palestinian Authority has obtained a court-ordered freeze on all its US-based assets, severely limiting most Palestinian economic and diplomatic activities in the United States at a critical moment for the fledgling government.

The frozen assets include US holdings in a $1.3 billion Palestinian investment fund meant to finance economic development as well as bank accounts used to pay Palestinian representatives in Washington, according to lawyers and court documents filed in Rhode Island, Washington, D.C., and New York. Also frozen are about $30 million in assets from the Palestinian Monetary Authority, the Palestinian equivalent of the US Federal Reserve.

Providence attorney David Strachman, who is representing the orphaned children of a couple killed in Israel by Palestinian militants, has also initiated a court action to seize and sell the Palestinian-owned building in New York that serves as the Palestine Liberation Organization observer mission to the United Nations.

The aggressive collection effort comes as the Palestinian Authority is struggling to create economic opportunity and set up a viable government. Now, Palestinian officials say, the unpaid claim in the Rhode Island court, resulting from a 2004 ruling, threatens to complicate their efforts to become a credible emerging state.

But Strachman said if the Palestinian government wants to show the world that it is turning over a new leaf, it must obey the court's judgment.

''If you are a responsible party or entity or political organization, at the end of the day, you pay your judgment," Strachman said in a telephone interview from Israel, where he was on vacation. ''They have very brazenly refused to pay."

The case puts the Bush administration in the delicate position of giving financial aid and political support to an entity that has refused to obey a US federal court order to pay terrorism victims...

''For the administration, it's difficult," said one Palestinian official speaking from Gaza, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case. ''Right now, they are trying to figure out a creative way to deal with it without embarrassing anyone."

Palestinian officials have refused to pay the claim, arguing that doing so would be a politically dangerous admission of responsibility for terrorist acts by militants that the Palestinian Authority contends it does not control. Three officials interviewed by telephone from Gaza and the West Bank say they fear setting a precedent that would spur an avalanche of lawsuits that could bankrupt the new government. At least four other lawsuits involving deaths of US citizens in Palestinian attacks are pending in US courts...

From Reuters:

BEIRUT - U.N. investigators questioned an aide to Lebanon's pro-Syrian president and three former security chiefs on Tuesday as suspects in the killing of ex-Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, the prime minister said.

Lebanese police detained the three top security officials in dawn raids, the first concrete steps toward implicating allies of Syria in the February killing that shook Lebanon and hastened the departure of Syrian troops after three decades.

"The detentions in Beirut are the beginning of justice," Hariri's son, member of parliament Saad Hariri, told Arab television news channel Al Arabiya from Paris. "This is a start ... There will be more detentions."...

From Bloomberg:

Benjamin Netanyahu, the former finance minister who resigned to protest Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip, said today he plans to run against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and replace him as leader of the ruling Likud party.

Netanyahu's announcement came a day after the Likud set a two- day meeting of its central committee for Sept. 25 to vote on a date for party primaries. National elections are scheduled for November 2006. They may be held earlier if the Likud decides to hold its leadership race as soon as this November.

``The Likud and the state of Israel need a leader that will stop giving terror a hand, stop the widening corruption, and heal the rift and gap in the people,'' Netanyahu said at a press conference in Tel Aviv. ``I believe I can do that. Therefore, I am announcing my candidacy for head of Likud and prime minister.''...

Netanyahu, 55, would win 47 percent of the party vote if Likud primaries were held today, compared with 30.5 percent for the 77-year-old Sharon, said a survey published on Aug. 24 in the daily Ha'aretz that didn't say how many were questioned or give a margin of error.

``It is almost certain that Sharon will lose the vote,'' said Sam Lehman-Wilzig, head of the political science department at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv. ``It would take close to a miracle for him to win.''...

Netanyahu, who was elected after a wave of suicide attacks, has been accused by architects of the 1993 Oslo peace accords of failing to continue the process. ``Oslo was an illusion of peace under the shadow of terror,'' Netanyahu said. ``I stopped the crazy race of handing of the land of Israel to the Palestinians.''...

From Al Jazeera:

Some sections in Iraq's draft constitution are a "recipe for chaos", Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said on Monday, a day after Iraqi politicians completed the draft charter without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs.

Moussa told the BBC that the Arab League shared Sunni Muslim concerns over federalism and the fact the charter does not identify Iraq as an Arab country.

Shiite and Kurdish officials have endorsed the document on Sunday. But Sunni politicians refused to sign it, and delivered their rejection in a joint statement, describing the final text as “illegitimate” and urging the Arab League and the United Nations to intervene before the document goes to a referendum on October 15.

The Sunnis fear that federalism could split the country into a Kurdish north and Shiite south, depriving them of the country's oil resources.

“I think if this constitution passes as it is, it will worsen everything in the country,” said Saleh Al Mutlaq, a Sunni negotiator.

On Monday, more than 2,000 Sunni demonstrators rallied in Tikrit, the hometown of the ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, to protest the new constitution, AP reported.

The protesters gathered near the office of the Association of Muslims Scholars, a Sunni group opposed to the U.S. occupation, carrying Iraqi flags and portraits of Saddam Hussein, as well as pictures of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Jawad Al Khalisi who joined the Sunnis in rejecting the charter.

“We sacrifice our souls and blood for you, Saddam,” chanted the demonstrators...

A disturbing story from the BBC:

In the basement of his Beslan home, seven-year-old Chermen is kicking boxes with a surprising energy given his age and his tiny frame.

His face is tense and betrays the turmoil he is feeling.

But when we sit down to talk, he regains his composure. Looking straight into my eyes, he answers my questions with clarity and confidence.

"There is no God. There is only military force. I believe in Russia and in our armed forces.

"That's what I believed in during the terrorist attack."

Chermen is a survivor of last year's attack. On 1 September, pro-Chechen gunmen seized School Number One in Beslan. More than 1,000 adults and children were held inside for three days.

When the siege finally ended, 171 children and more than 200 adults were dead.

A year on, he seems to be coping well. He has started to play his beloved computer games again and he smiles frequently.

But as he recalls those three days in hell, his memories are as vivid as ever and reveal that his pain is unresolved.

"After the first explosion, a terrorist's grenade was hit by a bullet. They all had grenades slung round them. He blew up and his brains hit me in the face. It was horrible. It was fatty and slippery."...

A familiar tension reappears on his face.

"I feel pain. And also rage. And since then I want to avenge Oleg's death. If I were president, I would order them to send unarmed terrorists to me and I would, with my bare hands, using a knife, slit their throats."

In a small flat in one of Beslan's characterless compounds, nine-year-old Laima draws a picture. It shows an armed terrorist, his face covered by a mask.

She draws several pictures until she is finally happy with the result. Then she picks it up, tears it to pieces and sets it on fire with matches.

"I draw the terrorist and burn them for all the children who died in the school. I want to take revenge on them for killing those children."...

Since her lucky escape, Laima has been engaged in drawing and burning these pictures almost every day.

"It's never enough. It is impossible to get enough revenge. All my life I will have to do it, because of how they held us for three days."...

A few days ago I wrote in a column that Al-Arian's supporters would not be laughing for long. However, this is a group that knows well how to play the system, and they will play this for all it's worth and then some. Al-Arian walk watch, from the St. Petersburg Times, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

TAMPA - Was there jury misconduct?

That is the question the federal judge in the trial of Sami Al-Arian and three other defendants must answer in the next few days. Then he must decide whether to dismiss up to three jurors and, then, whether to declare a mistrial in the 13th week of the trial.

At the end of last week, a juror sent an anonymous note to the judge asking: "Could you just remind the jury to keep their opinion to their self?"

On Monday, U.S. District Judge James S. Moody questioned each juror one by one, in the absence of the other jurors, about the note and the reason for it. Were any jurors discussing the case and giving opinions, he wanted to know.

Of the 12 jurors and six alternates, 15 said they had not heard any discussion or opinions pertaining to the trial and knew nothing about the note. But two said they had heard discussion and opinions. One of those two said she had written the note to the judge. A third juror said she had advised the concerned juror to write the note.

One juror, identified as juror No. 214, told the court he did not write the note, but "heard people making different comments about some things, comments about the school (Islamic Academy of Florida)."

"This particular juror believed this was a front for the PIJ," juror No. 214 said....

Discussing jihad, dhimmitude, and my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades):

10:30 AM EDT: Radio: WIBA "Outside the Box with Mitch Henck"

11:00 AM EDT: TV: CBN News with Erick Stakelbeck

12:35 PM EDT: Radio: "G. Gordon Liddy Show" (Nationally Syndicated)

1:00 PM EDT: Radio: "Dennis Prager Show" (Nationally Syndicated) -- Debate with Hussam Ayloush of the Council on American Islamic Relations

3:15 PM EDT: TV: CBN News "Newswatch"

5:30 PM EDT: Radio: WTWB "Lynne Breidenbach Show"

6:00 PM EDT: Radio: WKY "Reality Radio with Ron Black"

Between 6:00 and 9:00 PM EDT: "The Mike Reagan Show"

Many, many times people have told me that I need not be concerned about the global jihad, because the jihad ideology will ultimately bow before Big Macs and Britney Spears. But I am not so sure that American pop culture is really all-conquering, and even less sure that it should be -- there are ideological weapons in the West with which to beat Sharia, all of them superior to soulless and self-centered materialism. In any case, there are abundant indications already that the comforts and attractions of modern society do not in fact defuse the jihad impulse. In Islam Unveiled I tell the story of American journalist Charles Glass, who was held hostage in Lebanon by young men who whiled away the hours listening to Michael Jackson records.

And here is a story that shows how some Muslims already perceive Western pop culture as an active enemy of Islam. From Reuters, with thanks to Fjordman:

Ban Sawo Hilir, Thailand, August 30: In the wilds of southern Thailand, where people believe Islam first took root in Southeast Asia, plans to dish out cable TV with free English soccer to quell ethnic Malay unrest have not gone down well. "The kids will just watch TV and leave the Koran and their school books behind," said Haji Mustafa Bin Haji Abdul Latif of Ban Sawo Hilir in Narathiwat, one of three provinces rocked by 20 months of violence in which more than 800 people have died.

"I don't think it's a good idea," he says, taking a long drag on a hand-rolled cigarette at his run-down tea-shop in the exclusively Muslim village deep in the jungle.

Around him, a handful of customers give similar verdicts on the proposals by Interior Minister Kongsak Wantana to use Thai TV, karaoke stars and European soccer to wean Muslim youths away from violence....

In Ban Sawo Hilir, where there is no mobile phone reception, villagers say they can get Malaysian terrestrial TV, but the reception is fuzzy and they claim to watch it sparingly.

"During the fasting month, people like to watch the Koran reading competitions or classic Malaysian movies," said Midbin.

"MORE PITCHES"

Despite this, everybody at the teashop confesses to supporting either Liverpool or Manchester United and can reel off a list of top-flight players -- suggesting a slightly greater love of European soccer than they would like to admit....

Underlying it all is the fact that Buddhists from Bangkok do not understand or appreciate the Malay Muslim way of life, said Adun, a non-Malay Muslim from the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, 250 km (155 miles) to the north.

"How can those who drink beer solve the problems in a place where people only drink tea?" he said.

In "Creating Islamist phantoms: We dreamed up 'al-Qaida': Let's not do it again with 'evil ideology,'" Adam Curtis of The Guardian (thanks to Fjordman) posits that "we may not agree with its reactionary vision of the political use of Islam and the pessimistic, anti-progressive beliefs that lie at the heart of Qutb's teachings, but it is essential to realise that there is no inherent link between these ideas and terrorism."

Well, of course not. Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), the leading theorist of the Muslim Brotherhood, taught a totalitarian, expansionist ideology that viewed any political power other than Sharia states as illegitimate. If those who adhere to this ideology can attain what they want by peaceful means, then Curtis is right: they will do so, and there will be no terrorism. Sure, there will be a few small matters of subjugation of women and infidels, but who's counting?

This underscores why it is so misleading to say that our fight is against "terrorism." That leads to this kind of thinking -- but would Curtis really consider the peaceful imposition of Sharia in Britain or anywhere else to be a benign development, as long as it involved no terrorism?

From the International Herald Tribune:

Paris - In a stark ultimatum, President Jacques Chirac of France warned Iran on Monday that it would face censure by the United Nations Security Council if it did not reinstate a freeze on sensitive nuclear activities under an agreement reached last November.

In his annual speech to France's ambassadors at Élysée Palace, Chirac made clear that he was losing his patience with Iran, even as he urged its leaders to accept an offer of incentives by France, Britain and Germany in exchange for an indefinite freeze of its uranium conversion and enrichment activities.

"Today I call on the Iranian authorities to choose the path of cooperation and confidence by carefully examining this offer and resuming their commitment to suspend activities related to the production of fissile materials," Chirac said. He added: "There is room for dialogue and negotiation. We call on Iran's spirit of responsibility to restore cooperation and confidence, failing which the Security Council will have no choice but to take up the issue."

France's foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, has also given Iran sharp warnings, but this is the first time that Chirac has clearly stated that Iran would face possible censure or even sanctions in the Security Council if it does not reinstate its freeze.

In taking such a tough line, Chirac sends a clear signal to Iran's newly elected conservative president and new nuclear negotiating team that France has moved closer to the position of the United States, which has long held that Iran's case belonged in the Security Council.

The Iran case has become more urgent following Iran's resumption of uranium conversion at its plant in Isfahan earlier this month and the breakdown of its talks with the three European countries, under the auspices of the European Union.

Iran also rejected the European offer for a range of economic, political, security and technological incentives in exchange for permanently freezing its programs to produce enriched uranium, which can be used for either peaceful nuclear energy or in weapons programs.

Iran has declared - correctly - that its nuclear activities are allowed under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but Chirac has long made clear in conversations with world leaders, including President George W. Bush, that he believes Iran is intent on developing nuclear weapons.

"The use of civilian nuclear energy, which is perfectly legitimate, must not serve as a pretext for pursing activities that could actually be aimed at building up a military nuclear arsenal," Chirac said.

Chirac also said that France would live up to its commitments to Turkey regarding its right to start negotiations in October for EU membership...

From Pravda, with thanks to Nicolei.

A Brussels judge on Monday sent over a dozen people to trial on charges of aiding and abetting terrorists, including those suspected in last year's Madrid train bombings.

An autumn trial would be the first test for a 2004 law making it a crime to consort with terrorists.

Prosecutors accused 13 defendants of membership in the Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain, an anti-Western group formed by veterans of the 1980s Afghan war against the Soviet Union.

In addition to linking the GICM to the Madrid blasts, they alleged the group's members had a hand in the May 16, 2003 bombings in Casablanca that killed nearly 50 people.

Four other defendants were named in court but they are in foreign jails, including three in Spain linked with the Madrid trains attacks that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500 on March 11, 2004.

At least three defendants of the 13 suspects were born and raised in Maaseik, a town of 24,000 on Belgium's eastern border with the Netherlands. One, Khalid Bouloudo, 30, is alleged to be the Belgian coordinator of the GICM...

In Maaseik, Bouloudo and his Muslim friends were known to Mayor Jan Creemers.

Creemers told the AP, that a few years ago, six Muslim women in his town suddenly showed up in public completely covered in bhurkas.

"I didn't understand that," Creemers said.

"Born and raised here! That scared many people" in Maaseik, whose Muslim population totals under 800, Creemers said...

Denmark struggles with speech issues. What is sedition? What constitutes incitement? These issues will be paramount in the western world for a long time to come. From the Washington Post, or as Hugh Fitzgerald calls it, the Bandar Beacon, with thanks to Kemaste.

COPENHAGEN -- Said Mansour, a slightly built man with a bushy beard, believes Muslims have a right to kill Americans in Iraq because, he said, "This is war; it's not a picnic."

So, he explained in an interview last week, he had no qualms about downloading and burning CDs of Internet videos depicting beheadings in Iraq and speeches by Abu Musab Zarqawi, the terrorist mastermind behind much of the Iraqi insurgency.

Now, Danish police intend to make Mansour, 45, a Moroccan-born Danish citizen, the first person ever charged under an anti-terrorism law enacted in 2002 that forbids instigation of terrorism or offering advice to terrorists. Police sources said Mansour would probably be charged for distributing CDs that contained the inflammatory jihadist speeches and gruesome images.

The law contains curbs on free speech that are remarkable in a country famous for tolerating all points of view. It illustrates how democracies across Europe are adopting tougher measures in an era of rising extremist violence, despite protests that civil liberties are being sacrificed in the process.

The 2004 Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people, and the London bombings last month, which killed 56 people, including the four bombers, have added new urgency to the issue.

"We have to look at reality," said Rikke Hvilshoj, Denmark's minister of refugee, immigration and integration affairs, noting that some have abused Denmark's free speech guarantees to encourage violence and killing. "The day we don't have freedom of speech, the fundamentalists have won," she said. "On the other hand, we can't be naive."

Experts said the debate about how to balance anti-terrorism protections with individual freedoms is at the top of the agenda for European nations. The issue is particularly acute in Denmark, Italy and Poland -- which have troops in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led military coalition and fear they could be the next target -- and in Spain, following the train attacks there.

"The mood has shifted in Europe more toward security than it was before the London bombings," said Daniel Keohane, senior research fellow at the Center for European Reform in London. "The Europeans have always been very nervous about infringing on civil liberties. But when you experience terrorism, it changes your views."...

More of what Charles at LGF aptly terms "Death Cult Child Abuse:" "Another boy-bomber caught at Hawara," from the Jerusalem Post. And to think there are legions of people who believe that this kind of thing is justified, or that Pat Robertson (who has never blown up anyone to my knowledge) is worse.

A 14-year-old Palestinian was arrested after he was caught carrying three pipe bombs through the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus Monday afternoon.

The teenager set off the alarm of the metal detector positioned at the crossing, alerting soldiers manning the position.

He was found to be carrying in a bag three pipe bombs that were to be activated by a friction type detonator. The bombs were packed with explosives, as well as shrapnel and glass balls.

Border police sappers blew up the bomb and the youth was handed over to the Shin Bet for questioning.

Jihad Watch's Hugh Fitzgerald explains why it's time to patch it up with France:

France's policies were never quite as intolerable as depicted. Chirac is a crook, DdeV a preener, a poseur, and a poetaster. Nicholas Sarkozy, the unbeatable future president, has his embarrassments with a wayward wife, but when it comes to Islam, he is somewhat less foolable that the others. He left Tariq Ramadan exposed and humiliated on television, every taqiyya-fiber shredded. But Sarkozy also still believes that "integration" of Muslims is the key -- failing to comprehend, or not allowing himself to comprehend, that "integration" is not the key (above all, not the kind of "integration" that will make Muslims better able to manipulate the minds of Infidels, which the kind of knowledge of language and moeurs can do, akin to what was taught in those KGB spy villages).

Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the head of anti-terrorism efforts within France, does not tolerate -- nor need he -- the kind of things that the British have permitted. The French, though they have the disadvantage of idiotically allowing in so many Muslims, nonetheless have a few advantages when it comes to listening in and monitoring. Not everyone who fled North Africa was an Arab or a Muslim. There are among the pieds noirs some who knew some Arabic. Arabic-speaking Jews, and Berbers of a secular bent, hardly wishing to have Arabs and Islam imposed on France, the country in which they now live, are all pools of talent from which to draw.

Compare the level of the intelligence of our intelligence agents with what the French possess. Think, for example, of that simpleton Michael Scheuer, who was actually put in charge of something called the "Bin Laden" desk, and who knows nothing, absolutely nothing, about Islam. What's more, he appears to be touched by the same pathological view of "Jewish power" which, by now, we all recognize not as something merely unpleasant, or deplorable, but nowadays, as in the 1930s, given the nature of the enemy, renders Scheuer and others like him positive security risks. The French media's coverage of the Middle East is intolerable, but that does not mean that among those casting a beady eye on domestic Muslims there is any illusion that this is merely a matter of "Palestine," or that once they throw Israel to the wolves (i.e., give the Arabs and Muslims what they want in their Lesser Jihad) that the Greater Jihad against all Infidels will cease, or that those Muslims will do anything in response to the sacrifice of Israel but display increased triumphalism and determination.

But the French still think that the intervention in Iraq was "pire qu'un crime" -- worse than a crime, it was a mistake, in the phrase of Talleyrand (the same Talleyrand who was booed in New York, incidentally, by American supporters of the Revolution -- see the "Travels of Moreau de St.-Remy"). As to the original intervention, one can still maintain that that was rational and was worth it. But as to the rest of it, the sticking around for what no one could describe as even a reasonable facsimile of "democracy" but rather ethnic and sectarian power-seizing at its most obvious, there the French, it is clear, have a point. We should put down the silly Infidel Man's Burden, cease to watch America Being Held Hostage In Iraq, and get on with the thousand things that could be done, that make sense to have done, to contain Islam and to diminish the power of Muslims and the presence of Muslims behind enemy lines. (And no, that is not too strong a way to describe the Lands of the Infidels, for those who take just a moment out of their busy Washington schedules, photo-ops, reading of 2-page summaries of the world every morning, to read Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira, even in abridged form).

Occasionally Salman Rushdie says some very sensible things, and here is one occasion of that: he challenges the egregious George Galloway, who would forbid criticism of Islam and honest discussion of the roots of Islamic terror. "Rushdie dismisses Galloway's claims," from The Guardian, with thanks to Danielle:

Salman Rushdie clashed with George Galloway yesterday in a debate about TV and religion and a hypothetical small-screen adaptation of the novelist's controversial book The Satanic Verses. Mr Galloway, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, said TV executives had to be "very sensitive about people's religion" and if broadcasters did not show sufficient sensitivity they "had to deal with the consequences".

He said: "You have to be aware if you do [offend people's beliefs] you will get blowback. You should do it very carefully, especially if you are a public service broadcaster."

"Is that a threat?" asked Rushdie during the debate at the Media Guardian Edinburgh international television festival.

Describing Mr Galloway's argument as "craven", the author said: "The simple fact is that any system of ideas that decides you have to ringfence it, that you cannot discuss it in fundamental terms, that you can't say that this bit of it is junk, or that bit is oppressive ... we are supposed to respect that?"...

He claimed that Islam was "backsliding into bigotry" and described Muslim leaders in Britain as "a joke, because no one follows them".

If any of you Jihad Watchers are insomniacs, you may be interested in catching me discussing jihad, dhimmitude, and my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) on C-Span this Sunday, September 4.

The C-Span Book TV schedule lists the talk at 1:00 AM EDT and again at 8:30 AM EDT Sunday morning, not too long after Kinky Friedman and right before Mahmood Mamdani.

This is a film of a talk I gave to the Young America's Foundation on August 1.

The inhospitable scheduling may, of course, improve in future C-Span broadcasts; they generally run these things more than twice. But it's par for the course for a book that spent two weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List while being ignored utterly by the mainstream liberal and conservative media, and only being reviewed twice (here and here).

Jihadists and their allies, as well as the befuddled and bemused non-Muslim analysts who think that to discuss forthrightly the elements of Islam that give rise to violence and terrorism harms the efforts of genuinely peaceful Muslim reformers (as if pretending that there is no problem for them to try to solve somehow solves it), cannot answer the points I have made in this book. Thus they prefer to pretend that the book doesn't exist.

As Salman Rushdie recently put it to George Galloway: "The simple fact is that any system of ideas that decides you have to ringfence it, that you cannot discuss it in fundamental terms, that you can't say that this bit of it is junk, or that bit is oppressive ... we are supposed to respect that?" Evidently virtually every media mogul would say yes -- and rule out even respectful discussion of those "bits."

The jihad continues to be preached online in Britain. "Radical websites defy deportation threat by urging Islamic war on West," from the Telegraph, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Radical websites are continuing to encourage Muslims to fight western nations despite the threat of new legislation.

The website of the organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, which has repeatedly stressed its opposition to violence, tells its followers: "We begin fighting the enemy even if he did not start fighting us. . . Jihad is not a defensive war; it is in fact a war to raise the word of Allah and it is compulsory originally in order to spread Islam and to carry its message even if the disbelievers did not attack us."

In an article on the G8 summit, but referring to the London bombings, Hizb ut-Tahrir says it is "against explosions in cities".

But it adds: "We wonder why the West look at their civilians who have been killed in one way and look at Muslims who have been killed in another way? Why do those non-believers in the West and the Jews expect that the massacre of Muslims will not result in violent reactions from Muslims?

"Why do they not expect that the violation of honour, desecration of Korans and the sanctities, the brutal crimes in occupied Muslim countries such as Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Chechnya will push some people to take revenge, to meet killing with killing. Why do they not expect this?"

The article adds that the solution is the creation of an Islamic state. "It will bring back the Muslim world's glory and power and cut the hand of every non-believing colonialist who extends his hand to harm the Muslim countries and it will protect Islam, the honour of Muslims and their sanctities. It will begin the conquests and spread goodness to all corners of the world."

Read it all.

Was this madrasa intended to teach violent jihad or not? "Islamic school furor," from the Sacramento Bee, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Supporters of the center envision a small elementary school that embraces traditional Islamic values, a gathering place for Muslim women who are otherwise sequestered at home, a playground, a library and a site for worship.

"There's a huge need for it," said Pamela Parvez, a Lodi mother of seven who makes an 80-mile round-trip drive each weekday to ferry her fourth-grader to an Islamic school in Sacramento.

But federal attorneys and agents, mounting a counterterrorism offensive in Lodi, saw a darker future for the Farooqia Islamic Center. They have alleged in court that the facility's secret mission may have been to recruit and groom American Muslims for the jihad - the holy war against enemies of Islam.

In testimony at an immigration court hearing Aug. 9, FBI agent Gary Schaaf compared the Lodi school to militant madrassahs - Muslim seminaries - in Pakistan: "Our investigation has come across information that the (planned Lodi) madrassah is part of a long-term plan ... during which students would be spotted and assessed and maybe eventually be ready to commit acts of violence in the U.S."

Supporters of the Farooqia Islamic Center emphatically deny any connection with terrorism.

"The intent was for the school to teach kindergarten through fourth grade," said Taj Khan, a leader in Lodi's large Pakistani community and member of the center's board of directors.

"It was to be an independent charter school licensed by the state. How could it be a terrorist school? A 5-year-old terrorist? It is mind-boggling. God help the FBI if they think that right under the noses of the community such a thing could be established."

The FBI will not elaborate on its allegations, saying the investigation continues.

"2 held in probe of computer worm in U.S.," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

WASHINGTON — Authorities in Morocco and Turkey have arrested two people thought responsible for a computer worm that infected networks at U.S. companies and government agencies earlier this month.

Farid Essebar, 18, was arrested in Morocco, while Atilla Ekici, 21, was arrested in Turkey on Thursday, Louis Riegel, the FBI's assistant director for cyber crimes, said yesterday. They will be prosecuted in those countries, Riegel said.

Essebar wrote the code that attacked computers that run Microsoft operating systems and Ekici paid him for it, Riegel said. It's unclear they ever met, "but they certainly knew each other via the Internet," he said.

Riegel said he does not know how much money changed hands. Microsoft and FBI officials also declined to estimate the monetary damage done by the Zotob worm and its variations.

"...and other constructive activities." From the Daily Times, with thanks to MB:

LAHORE: Ulema in Saudia Arabia have issued a fatwa (religious decree) declaring football an un-Islamic sport, and have urged the youth to quit it immediately, BBC radio reported on Saturday.

According to the report, the clerics urged the youth to indulge in jihad and other constructive activities that could help the Muslim ummah, the radio reported. The ulema argued that football wastes a lot of time and the participants wear shorts, which they said was an un-Islamic dress, the radio reported.

Young men are heeding the call:

Following the decree, some players of the famous Taif Football Club have quit the game, the report added.

Why may only Muslims assert their cultural integrity and identity? Australian MP Bronwyn Bishop comes out for Australian culture. "Bishop backs school headscarf ban," from The Australian, with thanks to Voltaire:

LIBERAL MP Bronwyn Bishop has backed a push to ban Muslim girls wearing headscarves to school.

Speaking in support of her like-minded colleague Victorian Liberal MP Sophie Panopoulos, Ms Bishop yesterday warned it was time to debate the issue.

"When you have a clash of cultures, the dominant culture is the one that you follow and that's ours," she told the Nine Network's A Current Affair.

"That's the one that makes us free, and I'll fight for it."

So will I.

Philippine jihad update. From AP, with thanks to DC Watson:

MANILA, Philippines — A bomb hidden in a trash can exploded on a ferry in the southern Philippines as it was loading passengers Sunday morning, injuring at least 30 people, including nine children, military officials said. The region had been on alert for terror attacks.

The M.V. Dona Ramona was docked at the wharf at Lamitan, on the island of Basilan, around 7:30 a.m. local time as it prepared to depart for nearby Zamboanga. At least six people were badly burned, including a soldier.

The south is the homeland of the country's Muslim minority and a decades-old separatist insurgency.

This was a jihad attack by the jihadist group Abu Sayyaf: Abu Sayyaf behind Basilan ferry explosions--military chief

THE ABU Sayyaf is behind the bombing of a passenger ferry in Basilan province over the weekend that left 30 people injured, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Generoso Senga said Monday.

"That is the consensus of all investigative agencies that are handling the case. That is the initial conclusion," Senga told reporters at the military headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo.

No surprise here: not only Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but Abbas also attributed the Gaza withdrawal to the labors of the "martyrs." Peace In Our Time update from the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to DC Watson:

One of the main squares in Jenin has been named after Yahya Ayyash, a Hamas bombmaker responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis.

The square, which has been decorated with a large poster of Ayyash, is located in the western part of the city. Local residents said the decision to name the square after the Hamas bomb-maker was taken by local Hamas leaders and activists and approved by the Palestinian Authority.

Residents of the city are planning a mass celebration in the coming days following the evacuation of four settlements in the area last week.

Portraits of slain Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders Ahmed Yassin and Fathi Shikaki have also filled the streets of the city.

It has long been suspected that some deal was made. The Danegeld in this case turns out to have been rather steep. "Italy Red Cross May Have Hidden Insurgents," from AP, with thanks to a tea-loving snail:

ROME (AP) - Italy's Red Cross treated four Iraqi insurgents with the knowledge of the Italian government last year and hid them from U.S. forces in exchange for the freedom of two kidnapped aid workers, a top Italian Red Cross official said in an interview published Thursday.

Maurizio Scelli, the outgoing chief of the Italian Red Cross, told the Turin newspaper La Stampa that he kept the deal secret from U.S. officials, complying with "a nonnegotiable condition" imposed by Iraqi mediators who helped him secure the release of Italians Simona Pari and Simona Torretta. They were abducted in Baghdad Sept. 7 and freed Sept. 28.

"The mediators asked us to save the lives of four alleged terrorists wanted by the Americans who were wounded in combat," Scelli was quoted as saying. "We hid them and brought them to Red Cross doctors, who operated on them."

They took the wounded insurgents to a Baghdad hospital in a jeep and an ambulance, smuggling them through two U.S. checkpoints under blankets and boxes of medicines, Scelli said.

Also as part of the deal, four Iraqi children with leukemia were brought to Italy for treatment, he said.

Scelli said he informed Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government of the deal and of the decision to hide it from the United States through Gianni Letta, an undersecretary in charge of Italy's hostage crises in Iraq.

"Keeping quiet with the Americans about our efforts to free the hostages was an irrevocable condition to guarantee the safety of the hostages and ourselves," he told La Stampa. He said Letta agreed.

Oh, this will contribute to peace and harmony. More Islamic supremacism from the PA, from the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Fjordman:

The Palestinian Authority will continue to work toward moving Yasser Arafat's tomb to the Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem, Saeb Erekat, head of the PLO Negotiations Department, announced Sunday.

Erekat, who was speaking during a meeting with PA security officers in Jericho, said the issue of transferring the late Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat's grave from Ramallah to Jerusalem was a "trust" deposited with the PA.

"From the Israeli perspective the issue is not on the agenda and neither do I expect it to be on the agenda," said Mark Regev, Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman in response to a query by The Jerusalem Post last night.

"Arafat's legacy is one of political extremism, terrorist violence, and an inability to be flexible at crucial points in the negotiations. Instead of putting him up on a pedestal, thoughtful Palestinians should be thinking critically of his failures and how not to repeat the same mistakes," remarked Regev.

Good, Regev. But Arafat's ideological heir, Abbas, still enjoys a mantle of respectability. Instead of putting him on a pedestal, shouldn't you be encouraging Palestinians to think critically about his failures and not to repeat the same mistakes?

The school attack that shocked and sickened the world doesn't apparently trouble the Chechen rebel government. "Rebel Leader Hands Basayev No. 2 Spot," from the Moscow Times, with thanks to all who sent this in:

Warlord Shamil Basayev has become the second most powerful figure in the Chechen rebel government as part of a reshuffle that confirms its shift toward radical Islam.

Basayev, who has claimed responsibility for numerous terrorist attacks, including last September's hostage-taking raid in Beslan, has been appointed first deputy prime minister in the rebel government, according to a document posted Thursday on the rebel web site Kavkaz Center.

Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, the Muslim cleric who succeeded Aslan Maskhadov as Chechen separatist president after Maskhadov's killing by pro-Moscow forces in March, named Basayev and other rebel leaders to posts in his government in a decree dated Aug. 23. Sadulayev also holds the post of prime minister in the rebel government.

The reshuffle "demonstrates the consolidation of the separatist Chechen government and, most probably, of its further radicalization," said Alexei Malashenko, a Chechnya analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center.

Is the extended French flirtation with dhimmitude over? It is too early to say that. But this is a positive development. From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Aug. 29, 2005 - As the going gets tougher for the U.S. military in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the region, one ally has stepped up despite a recent straining of ties: France.

Paris has significantly boosted its military presence in Central Asia and Afghanistan, plus in nearby seas, as both it and Washington nurture their budding rapprochement after a bitter falling out over the Iraq war.

French fighters have been flying sorties under U.S. command in Afghanistan since Aug. 16, and France also took command this month of an international naval task force on terrorism-related patrols in the seas between the Horn of Africa and Pakistan.

France has kept about 900 troops in Afghanistan since 2003, including 200 Special Forces soldiers fighting alongside the Americans. Its air force periodically has joined the U.S.-led coalition since taking its biggest role in the war's opening weeks in 2001, when France had 5,500 troops in the region.

"It's France's wish to show that we are cooperating in the fight against terror and in support of you in Afghanistan," said French Air Force Col. Gilles Michel, who oversees his country's air force role in the theater. "We told the Americans, 'If you need some assets, we will provide them.'"

Thai jihad update. No doubt these Buddhist monks were acting provocatively somehow. "Insurgents kill two in southern Thailand," from UPI, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Militants in southern Thailand killed a volunteer security officer who was escorting Buddhist monks while they collected alms Monday, Xinhua reported.

Two suspected separatists shot and killed Aphidet Yongmakae as he finished his routine job of accompanying the monks on their rounds Monday morning in the southern province of Yala...

In another incident, Abdulmana Chaesor was shot by two gunmen while working in his shop in Yala city Sunday evening. The victim was a schoolteacher and a suspected police informant.

Police believe the killings were the work of Muslim separatists...

The Balkans have long been an international magnet for jihadists, as I detailed in Onward Muslim Soldiers. It is increasingly clear that the area is a launching ground for the jihad in Europe.

From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) -- The arrest in Serbia of a top terrorist fugitive has raised fresh concerns of an al-Qaida presence in the volatile Balkans, where thousands of U.S. and other international troops are stationed as peacekeepers.

Abdelmajid Bouchar, a 22-year-old Moroccan, sought for involvement in last year's train bombings in the Spanish capital Madrid, that killed nearly 200 people, was caught at the Belgrade railway station in June.

The arrest, revealed earlier this month, revived concerns that the Balkans - with its porous borders, unsophisticated security systems, rampant corruption and organized crime - could serve as a haven for al-Qaida-linked terrorist groups.

Local officials and experts have long warned that the Balkans at least is a major transit route for the terrorists, as well as for organized crime, including human and drug trafficking. They said the two often go hand in hand.

Suspicious package alert. From The Evening Standard, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

The British Embassy in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta was been evacuated after receiving a suspicious package, an embassy spokeswoman said.

Police bomb squad officers were searching the grounds of the heavily fortified mission in central Jakarta.

"We have received a suspicious package and we have informed the police," said embassy spokeswoman Faye Belnis.

"We have evacuated the embassy and then we are still waiting for further information from the police."

No other information was immediately available.

The alert came as Indonesia's president warned that terrorists were planning more attacks in the country and said he had ordered security services to step up surveillance.

"We know the terrorists cells are still active, they are still hiding, recruiting, networking, trying to find new funding and even planning for another strike," Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

I will be traveling to another city later on today but still have a full roster of radio appearances today to discuss jihad, dhimmitude, their impact on current events, and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). To some of these, as always, you can listen online:

7:08 AM EDT: WKBK "The Good Morning Show" with Dan Mitchell

8:10 AM EDT: WKRC "Morning Show with Jerry Thomas and Craig Kopp"

9:30 AM EDT: WSBA "Dennis Edwards & Jim Horn Morning Show" (TAPED)

10:33 AM EDT: "The Right Balance with Greg Allen" (Accent Radio Network - Syndicated)

10:00 PM EDT: "Jim Bohannon Show" (Nationally Syndicated)

Al-Massari update. "Saudi dissident shuts down site," from the BBC, with thanks to Gabrielle Goldwater:

A Saudi exile facing calls for his deportation from Britain has closed parts of his controversial website.

Dr Muhammed al-Massari's site has shown images of suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq in the past, as well as messages from supporters of al-Qaeda.

He said the decision to shut down was his own, but that the site was a victim of the murder of freedom of expression.

The "murder" of freedom of expression, eh? Calling for the demise of Britain as it is presently constituted and its subjugation under Islamic law is to be protected as freedom of expression? Have Western societies no right to protect themselves from the spread of such notions?

The home secretary recently set out the grounds on which those promoting terrorism can be excluded from the UK.

Dr al-Massari, 58, is thought to be one of a number of people being looked at as part of the government's drive to deport those it says glorify or promote terrorism.

Tory homeland security spokesman Patrick Mercer said Dr al-Massari was "a prime candidate for deportation".

He said: "I welcome the fact that al-Massari has taken down his despicable videos. It's important that we clamp down on extremism of this kind."

Last week he called for the al-Tajdeed radio station associated with Dr al-Massari's website to be shut down.

He said it was "desperately demoralising" for UK troops in Iraq to hear broadcasts encouraging attacks on coalition soldiers.

Also Far East targets. We have seen such threats come to nothing in the past. We have also seen attacks. It would be unwise to dismiss such talk out of hand. From AFP, with thanks to Judy:

SEOUL: Al Qaeda has listed the United States and Australia as prime targets for attacks this year along with Britain, South Korea’s spy agency has reported, according to a lawmaker on Saturday.

South Korea, Japan and the Philippines are secondary targets, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told parliament this week, quoting a “senior” Al Qaeda member arrested last month.

“According to NIS, this terrorist testified that South Korea, Japan and the Philippines are secondary targets, while the United States, Britain and Australia are the prime targets for this year,” a lawmaker told AFP. NIS did not reveal the name of the Al Qaeda member, where he was arrested or what country handed over the information, according to the lawmaker sitting on the National Assembly’s intelligence committee, who requested anonymity. The comments come after the Financial Times quoted French investigating magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere as saying that an Asia-Pacific financial centre such as Sydney, Tokyo or Singapore could be targeted by Al Qaeda extremists.

NIS told the committee that security officials were on alert for attacks in South Korea, which is hosting an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the southern port of Busan in November.

South Korea, Japan and the Philippines have all contributed troops to the US-led war in Iraq. South Korea, which like Japan hosts US military bases, has 3,600 troops in Iraq, the third-largest contingent after the United States and Britain.

From the He Said It Department: "'World must convert to Islam,'" from MWEB, with thanks to VBT:

Cairo - Osama Shaltut claims to descend from the Prophet Mohammed and the centrepiece of his campaign for the Egyptian presidency is a promise to convert the entire world to Islam.

The 66-year-old leader of the Solidarity Party, who wears a broad smile and a neatly-trimmed beard, does not like wasting time.

"Why wait?" he asks. "The whole world should convert to Islam. Now."

Shaltut, the only Islamist candidate in Egypt's September 7 presidential election, nevertheless knows he will have to wait before he can unseat President Hosni Mubarak, who is widely expected to be re-elected....

His programme, he says, is threefold.

"First, let's gather the leaders of all religions. Then, let's apply their principles and assess the results... Finally, let's proclaim the victory of Islam."

But Shaltut admits such a process "would take around 10 years", so he advocates a universal conversion to Islam to speed things up and "for the good of humanity".

Tiny minority of extremists update:

Egypt is a 90% Muslim country where radical views are widespread and, to convince recalcitrant voters, Shaltut has also launched a mass SMS campaign, using mobile phone text messaging to spread his views....

Note also his disdain for Egypt's pre-Islamic past -- the period of jahiliyya, or un-Islamic ignorance:

The politician concedes that the Egyptian population is very attached to its pre-Islamic past and explains that led him to chose the pyramid as his campaign logo.

"There are lots of very modest people, many of them illiterate and I needed an easily recognisable symbol."

He had initially set his sights on the moon crescent, an Islamic symbol, "but Mubarak took it."

He comforts himself by pointing out that the symbol might not necessarily bring Mubarak luck because his uncle, Mahmud Shaltut, issued a 1959 fatwa banning trips to the moon when he was the sheikh of Al-Azhar, the highest authority in Sunni Islam.

When asked about his relations with the banned but tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, Shaltut smiles and says: "I am the brothers' brother."

The Muslim Brotherhood is the largest opposition group in Egypt and since it was not allowed to field a candidate in the election it was courted by most parties running in the September poll....

Shaltut points out that sharia, or Islamic law, requires a woman to wear the veil but he stresses that he is against imposing it, adding that Islam opposes the niqab, the full head-to-toe veil.

In his campaign headquarters, some women are veiled, others are not....

Sounds like a typical politician. So does this:

When asked about events such as the September 11 attacks or the US invasion of Iraq, he brands Osama bin Laden a "stinking dog" and a "bastard" and Saddam Hussein a "psychopath".

His newspaper carried a vitriolic article on alleged sexual harassment by Israeli soldiers against young Palestinian women, but his views on the Jewish state nevertheless appear less radical than those of other candidates or the leftist opposition.

"When we were young, we wanted to drive the Israelis into the sea, now all this is over," he says.

Shaltut, a former officer during the 1973 Yom Kippur war between Israel and Egypt, even advises Palestinian refugees to waive their right of return.

"They have a better life in the countries where they are now, such as Lebanon or Egypt."

Rachel Neuwirth in ChronWatch satirizes the philosophy behind the Gaza withdrawal by applying the same notions to the United States:

This article is satirical and relates to the current expulsion of Israeli Jews from their homes by their own government. It is written in the manner of Jonathan Swift’s famous satire, A Modest Proposal.

America could be facing a potential catastrophe from nuclear weapons that may have already been smuggled inside this country by al-Qaeda. Sleeper cells may already be positioned inside as many as twenty major cities.

The danger is real and awareness is increasing. World Net Daily (www.wnd.com) has reported on revelations contained in the upcoming book The al-Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime and the Coming Apocalypse, by former FBI consultant Paul L. Williams. Edited excerpts from a World Net Daily report of July 18 follow:

Osama bin Laden is planning what he calls an "American Hiroshima," the ultimate terrorist attack on U.S. cities, using nuclear weapons already smuggled into the country across the Mexican border along with thousands of sleeper agents. The series of attacks is designed to kill 4 million, destroy the economy, and fundamentally alter the course of history.

Al-Qaeda's prime targets for launching nuclear terrorist attacks are the nine U.S. cities with the highest Jewish populations, according to captured leaders and documents.

The cities chosen as optimal targets are New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boston, and Washington, D.C. New York and Washington top the preferred target list for al-Qaeda leadership.

Our own security officials have also told us repeatedly that it is not a matter of “if” but rather of “when” the next major attack will occur. An update on this threat was published by World Net Daily on 8/18/05.

Many American lives could be at stake here, and what is needed is bold thinking on how to avert such an attack, or to at least reduce its likelihood. In that spirit, this article presents “A Modest Proposal” which advocates a two-part response. Part I proposes to reduce the attractiveness of the potential targets. Part II proposes to make the targets additionally undesirable and to also reduce enemy hostility.

Part I. Nine large, American cities are prime targets because of their size, importance, and their concentrations of Jews. If the presence of Jews in these cities increases their appeal as targets then logically the absence of Jews would decrease that appeal by a comparable amount. The security of three hundred million Americans must not be kept at risk merely for the sake of not inconveniencing Jews who comprise barely two percent of our population. Because the potential danger is so immense and so imminent, the relocation of American Jews must be expedited.

Removal of Jews should not be too difficult. Jews want to be seen as loyal Americans. Most would cooperate, if reluctantly and emotionally, in their removal as their patriotic duty to increase the safety of their fellow Americans. Jews are accustomed to relocating and have done so repeatedly from biblical times. In recent times, nearly a million Jews were expelled from Arab countries and more than a million Jews have also left the former Soviet Union. Even inside America, Jews often move for purely personal reasons. Relocation is a familiar Jewish experience.

Then there is the question of propriety. Is it proper to compel Jews to relocate--especially after they have become so comfortable in this country? Fortunately this question has already been answered. For security reasons, and for the greater good, none other than Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is even now in the process of expelling eight thousand Jews from their homes in Gaza and is using the Israeli army and police to do it. And more than ten times that number of Jews are likely to face expulsion from the West Bank later on.

The number of Israeli Jews targeted for expulsion in both Gaza and the West Bank is proportionally equivalent to America relocating about five million American Jews. This forced relocation has been ruled to be a perfectly legal action taken by the Israeli government, and President Bush, who is considered to be a great friend of Israel, supports it.

Relocating American Jews will be far easier than expelling Jews in Israel. American Jews tend toward pacifism, are highly law-abiding and non-confrontational--except for the highly vocal Jewish leftists who, in this case, would likely support Jewish expulsion.

Furthermore, the American Jewish leadership has already endorsed the principle of forced expulsion of Jews in Israel as the legal right of that government to act in the interests of security and the greater good. Thus American Jews cannot now object to being subjected to the same requirements in the interest of U.S. national security.

Necessary expertise in Jewish relocation procedures can be borrowed from Israel. The Sharon government knows how to recruit, screen, and train thousands of men and women from the Jewish community to form police expulsion units and cope with the related logistics and media management. As in Israel, these expulsion police would be well paid, not be required to identify themselves to the expellees, and the courts will go easy on any charges of police brutality.

Any manifestation of Jewish protest will be quickly put down. Protesters, including teenagers, would be placed in administrative detention and held without charges for up to six months. Unlike in Israel, there are no Palestinian Arab equivalents in America to rain down rockets on the expulsion process and requiring army units to protect the evacuation. As in Israel, there will be at most peaceful, completely non-violent protests, perhaps combined with a little civil disobedience of the most harmless and easily suppressed kind. Since most American Jews will peacefully board the busses and trains carrying them to their new homes, whatever protests may occur will be conducted by evangelical Christians--the most law-abiding segment of the American population, who will easily be dissuaded from violence or seriously disruptive behavior by their ministers.

We cannot deny that 1.3 billion Muslims comprise a formidable world force that is in the ascendancy while Jews are a tiny minority that is in decline, especially in America. America has suffered politically from the general perception that the interests of Israel and Jews are favored over the interests of Muslims and Arabs. This is an opportunity for American policy to become more even-handed and to gain the respect of the Muslim world.

As in Israel, U.S. Jews who voluntary sign up early for expulsion will receive extra benefits while those who object or delay could face fines or even prison. The American Jewish leaders must demonstrate their national loyalty by signing up early and encouraging their followers to do likewise.

American Jews wield influence far exceeding their numbers which is viewed as a provocation to many in the Muslim world. The expulsion must include all Jews, including elected officials and those of influence....

The entire Muslim world would then have to reconsider its anti-American animosity. We will have demonstrated that we are reasonable and respectful toward our Muslim brothers and sisters. We will have shown our willingness to be even-handed in redressing the old imbalance where Jews, being but two percent of America, had wielded such disproportionate influence in the culture, in the business sector, and on its policies. Relocation of Jews would be a very small price to pay for the prospect of avoiding a devastating attack which would consume Jewish lives as well as those of other Americans. We could then open a new chapter in Muslim-American relations and together strive for a more peaceful and just world.

Read it all.

Lesson: appeasement of terrorists only leads to more terror. How many more times will the world have to learn this lesson? Note also Abbas' despicable equivocation and moral equivalence, as if stopping murderers is the same thing as murdering innocent civilians. Of course, he probably believes that no Israeli is an innocent civilian. From the BBC, with thanks to Granny Weatherwax:

A suicide bombing has injured at least 10 people at a crowded bus station in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.

Two guards were seriously injured in the morning rush hour blast. It was the first such attack since Israel pulled its settlers out of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, condemning the attack, described it as a "terrorist operation". But he also described a recent Israeli raid in the West Bank in which five Palestinians died as a "provocation".

The Islamic Jihad group had sworn to take revenge for the deaths.

Israel warns Palestinians

A bus driver told Israel Radio that the suicide bomber was carrying a heavy bag, prompting him to alert a security guard.

Before he could get on the bus was stopped, and blew himself up nearby, according to police.

"The (bomber) then walked... 100 metres (yards) away from the bus and blew up," the driver said. "It was a very powerful explosion."

The two security guards who were critically wounded suffered shrapnel wounds and burns all over their bodies, a paramedic told Israel's Channel 10 TV.

The bomber's remains were scattered at the scene.

The world will be glad to hear this: it turns out that it has all been a misunderstanding. That's right! Osama bin Laden, you see, has been proceeding according to a faulty view of jihad!

Of course, regular Jihad Watch readers have read this kind of thing from Muslim spokesmen dozens of times. It is, of course, an empty and useless statement unless these Muslims in Australia can begin to convince their violent brethren that really, they have gotten it all wrong, and should just calm down and wage the spiritual jihad. The problem is that some of the foremost theorists read and respected today by jihadists, including Hasan Al-Banna (founder of the Muslim Brotherhood) and Abdullah Azzam (a founder of Al-Qaeda) taught against the idea that jihad was only a spiritual struggle. They used Qur'an and Hadith to show that jihad meant primarily, if not solely, warfare. Because they provided evidence for their views, rather than simply making assertions, their position immediately appears stronger -- and more convincing to young Muslims. But of course, it is likely that these Australian Muslims are not intending to speak to Muslims at all, but only to jittery non-Muslims.

From AAP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

THE Arabic word jihad does not solely equate with holy war and the rise of Osama bin Laden has caused widespread misuse of the term, a Muslim cultural spokesman has told a seminar.

More than 500 people gathered at the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque in Sydney today to hear a series of lectures on the teachings of Islam during the mosque's annual open day.

Ahmet Keskin, director of Affinity Intercultural Foundation, a cultural group which provides seminars and education on Islam, today told a group of about 30 people the word jihad had been "misused and misunderstood".

"Jihad really means to strive or struggle – it does not equate to holy war," Mr Keskin said.

"It (the misconception) may have unfortunately made people apprehensive of the word."

The word jihad is used in a much broader context, such as a mother's struggle to bring up her child in the best way possible, he said.

But al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden had used the word jihad in a more global and political context, Mr Keskin said.

"Osama bin Laden is not my leader and his understanding of jihad is really outside the context of true Islam," he said.

"He may have his agenda but the overwhelming majority of Muslims including this mosque, condemns his acts in the name of Islam."

Mmmm hmmm. And what is that overwhelming majority of Muslims doing to counter his ideas among Muslims?

In accord with the Qur'an: Al-Anfal 8:60: "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know." From "Hizbullah insists it will continue to `terrorize enemy,'" in the Lebanese Daily Star, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

BINT JBEIL: Hizbullah said the resistance would stay on the Lebanese-Israeli border to "terrorize the enemy and strengthen the country" and strongly criticized the United Nations.

Hizbullah commander in the South Sheikh Nabil Qaouk spoke during the funeral of Hizbullah member Mahmoud Noureddine, 33, in the village of Khirbet Sellom. Hizbullah said Noureddine was killed "doing his duty for his country through jihad."

"No matter how much international pressure increases, the resistance will not allow foreign will to take our right and our weapons," Qaouk said.

"Maybe America is politically stronger than Lebanon and Hizbullah in the Security Council, but it is not stronger than the resistance, its people and its project in Lebanon."

Dhimmitude in Britain and Tariq Ramadan updates from expressindia, with thanks to Fanabba:

London, August 27: A Muslim scholar banned from the United States is to take up a post at Britain's prestigious University of Oxford, his college said today.

Tariq Ramadan has been elected to a visiting fellowship (general) at St Antony's College for the coming academic year and is expected to begin work in October.

"Professor Ramadan is an internationally-recognised scholar," St Antony's College, Oxford, said in a statement.

"He was named by Time magazine as one of 100 innovators of the 21st century for his work on creating an independent European Islam.

"He was recently appointed to a prestigious chair in Islamic studies in the University of Notre Dame in the US."

In late July 2004, Ramadan's US visa was revoked and he was forced to return to his native Switzerland.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq issues virulent manifesto: Group calls for violence, destruction of 'American empire,'" from CNN, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm and Eschwapp:

(CNN) -- Laying out its ideology in a broad manifesto, the group al Qaeda in Iraq -- which has been behind many of the worst attacks, beheadings and kidnappings in Iraq -- says the insurgency is in better shape than the United States acknowledges and vows to continue the insurgency and "destroy the American empire."

"Every now and then, the schoolboys of the Pentagon and the adolescents of the Black House keep blasting our ears with talks of pure arrogance and conviction saying, 'We will not leave Iraq until we accomplish our mission.' This desperate catchphrase that they keep repeating is used to make the public believe that the mujahedeens are in bad shape, as if they are begging the Americans, saying, 'Please Americans, leave Iraq,' " the group says in an e-book, an extensive document on the Internet.

"We vow by the name of God that we are determined to destroy the American empire," it says.

The book, filled with calls for violence and hate for all but "true Muslims" -- a group that it says does not include Shiites -- surfaced on an Islamic Web site this week....

The e-book includes numerous sections totaling dozens of pages, covering such topics as how the Quran justifies beheadings and why democracy is wrong....

Repeatedly, the book calls on Muslims to launch attacks against foreign forces in Iraq and people who cooperate with them.

"The basics of our faith revolve around not harming true Muslims and not shedding one single drop of Muslim blood because one drop of true Muslim blood shed amounts to the demise of this whole world. So why do we carry out operations in Iraq against the Americans and their aides in the (Iraqi) army and police? First, to please God, who orders us to carry on this jihad and to force the occupiers to pull out of the land," it says, vowing to "spread the light of justice and glory all over the world."

It cites "the glory that shines from our brothers, local and foreign fighters who left their countries, spouses and children and are sacrificing their blood for you to protect you and protect your families and honor, your women and children, forcing the occupiers to pull out of your country."

The document calls on Iraqi troops and police to turn their backs on the new elected government.

"You who betrayed Muslims and in humiliation became one of many collaborators, a servant under the command of the cross, we ask you to return to your Islamic instinct or cutting your neck will be your only punishment for your treason against your religion and your people."

It adds this warning: "Repent or else."

The group says its "doctrine and mission are clear and they can be summarized as our agreement to believe in and fight for the religion of God. We believe that those who follow these beliefs and the provisions of faith are true Muslims and anyone who denounces any of these beliefs and conditions is an infidel even if he still claims to be a Muslim."

It calls the Shiite faith "a confession of polytheism and rejectionism."

The document warns there will be no end to the insurgency. "The call for jihad goes on until doomsday, whether there is an imam calling for it or not."

The central image of the e-book is the group's logo -- a globe with an open book, presumably the Quran. Coming out of the center of the Quran are a spear, a Kalashnikov rifle, a hand with the pointer finger sticking up -- a symbol of unity -- and a banner reading, "There is no God but God; Mohammed is the messenger of God."

Yet the learned analysts continue to pretend that this has nothing to do with true Islam, and that we can fight this foe while ignoring the Islamic appeal of such messages and assuming, on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, that most Muslims reject such appeals.

And why are the citizens of Cremona being so unfriendly? Well, there is that small matter of Muslims plotting to blow up the local cathedral. And imagine! After that, when Cremona non-Muslims hear the word "Muslim," they think, "terrorist"! What Islamophobes! "Flow of Muslim Immigrants Strains the Reputation for Tolerance of a Small Italian Town," from the New Duranty Times (here is why we call it that), with thanks to Van Impe:

CREMONA, Italy - After the bombs in London in July, the first offer from the new Muslim leadership here was to form posses to keep an eye on possible militants. This city, gentle and refined, the home of Stradivarius, declined.

Another idea that did not work was a possible service by both Muslims and Christians in the treasure of a cathedral here - which, prosecutors say, Muslim militants considered blowing up three years ago.

But Sadiq el-Hassan, a leader at Cremona's mosque, insisted that because the London bombings made future attacks in Europe a near certainty, something long overdue had to happen: Muslims, finally, needed to take a stand.

"Our mistake is that we were quiet," said Mr. Hassan, 40, a Tunisian who in dress and speech seems nearly Italian. "After all that happened after Sept. 11, we never came out and said, 'These things are bad.' But it's not too late."

It may not be too late, but Muslim leaders here worry that time is nonetheless running out on Italy's patience with them - and that worry has set off an unusual degree of self-criticism.

It has not happened much in Europe, but Mr. Hassan is now planning for the Muslims of Cremona to show publicly that they are as much against terrorism and violence as Italians are. In coming weeks, Muslims will march - in numbers, Mr. Hassan hopes - against extremism carried out in the name of Islam.

"If the million Muslims who live in Italy don't say anything, it means we are giving a green light to the terrorists," he said....

"Cremona is a racist city," said Tamsir Ousmane, 44, from Senegal, whose languages include Italian, French, Russian and English, and who runs a call center downtown. "If I want to rent a house, I can't. They won't rent to me. Unfortunately, it is like this. But we are here. We work here. And we pay taxes."

Maria Anselmi, 64, sitting on a park bench with five other older women, spoke of her fear of a terrorist attack, more acute after the bombings in London, and about her anxieties about immigrants in general. "In a while there will be more of them than of us," she said. "They are going to squash us."

But relations with Muslims have been especially difficult. Nearly a dozen members of a former mosque were arrested in recent years, and two were convicted in July for belonging to an extremist cell plotting to carry out terror attacks. The plots included blowing up the cathedral here, which dates from 1107.

"The city found itself at the heart of a series of investigations that suggested it was a crossroads of international terrorism," said Andrea Gibelli, a legislator from the Northern League, a conservative party that has advocated a hard line on immigration. "It was very uncomfortable."

The League has been instrumental in closing several mosques. While it has not moved against the new and more moderate mosque here, where Mr. Hassan is vice president, Mr. Gibelli is skeptical - and not only because of the specific terrorist threats. Muslims, he said, have been reluctant to integrate. Mosques, he said, "are not places of prayer - they are for politics."

"They want to create areas where they can hide behind the protection of religious freedom, completely detached from the rest of the city," Mr. Gibelli said.

While the Northern League is on the far right, there seems to be a broader and growing opinion that Muslims in fact need to do more. One priest who is highly supportive of the Muslim community here conceded that in joint prayer groups against violence, perhaps only 10 percent of participants were Muslim. There has been talk for more than a year about a Muslim march against violence, but it has not yet happened.

Mr. Hassan concedes the criticism is valid. "Integration is difficult," he said, "because when you integrate, that is when you have identity crises. But we have to try."

And in this corner of Italy, which he says has been good to immigrants like him, he is hoping that the planned march makes a clear, page-turning statement to change what it means to be a Muslim in Europe. At the moment, he said, Italians "don't trust us anymore: they hear 'Muslim,' and they think 'terrorist.'"

The indefatigable Solomon (thanks to all who sent this in) tells the story of Mariam Sobh, who during her college career was a member of the Muslim Students Association and an inventor of vicious anti-Semitic falsehoods including fabricated statements by Ariel Sharon in which he vowed to kill Palestinian children and rape Palestinian women.

And what is she doing now? Why, working for NPR, of course!

From the When Pigs Fly Department comes this Mohammed Deif update, from AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm and Sr. Soph:

Hamas on Saturday released a rare videotape of a man it said is the bombmaker pursued by Israeli security forces for more than a decade.

The man, identifying himself as fugitive Mohammed Deif, described Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a victory for armed resistance, rejected calls for his group to disarm, and vowed to continue attacks on Israel until the Jewish state is erased from the map.

"You are leaving Gaza today in shame," he said. "Today you are leaving hell. But we promise you that tomorrow all Palestine will be hell for you, God willing."

Israeli officials on Saturday urged the Palestinian Authority to crack down on Hamas after the Islamic group released a videotape of a top bombmaker who has eluded Israeli forces for more than a decade.

In the video, the man, identifying himself as Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, described Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a victory for armed resistance, rejected calls for his group to disarm, and vowed to continue attacks on Israel until the Jewish state is erased from the map.

Gideon Meir, a senior Foreign Ministry official, said the Gaza pullout was aimed in part at improving the atmosphere between Israel and the Palestinians. He said the comments by Deif threaten the chances of resuming peace talks, which Israel has said will depend on the Palestinian Authority's willingness to disarm militant groups.

"Muhamad Deif is an arch-terrorist; he has personally masterminded hundreds of suicide bombings and is personally responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent Israelis," Meir said. "His natural place is behind bars."

"His declaration proves again why the Palestinian Authority must fulfill its duty and fight the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades," he added referring to the major armed Palestinian groups.

I fear that Gideon Meir will be disappointed.

Despite a continuing blackout from most major media outlets (both "Left" and "Right"), The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) is once again on the New York Times Bestseller List for the coming week, again at number 17.

Meanwhile, I have received this note from Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald, referring to a review posted at Amazon:

From the Marketing Department

Dear Robert,

While scrolling down through reviews of your “Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam” the other day, I found this review:

Islam Was a destroer of the sience ???

I lived in Saudi for 10 years .I embrased islam becuse of it's rationality. Islam is wages jihad agenst enemies, that true, but never in the whole history of islam i'd heard that muslims that obide by qoran and sunna would harm an inosent, a defited enemy was never masaqured , Salahudin is one of the thousand muslims who did as the islam teaches. Islam is the first religion that separated civilians from militants.

Cristianity sure was destroer of the sience you got dark ages right after crictianity came in power 6th century. How many people were killed in the name of cristianity , inquisition , crusades.
Because of the muslims , right now you got all the sience you have . You think that renosans of the 13 century just started by itsef? Crusades have gone in the muslim lands and saw totaly diferent life ( why so many of them stayed and exepted islam? )

Cristians useto not take bath for weeks , muslims thaut them of hygene , sope and teeth brush. The idea of hospitals came from muslims , a banking sistem that we know of as well the arabic word for money order {sheck} became english chek .
Algebra , chimestry are arabic wordss .

Muslims are the onese that brought paper from china and used it for the books . While monastery would have 5 maybe six books muslims had streets where they were selling thousands of books .

Works of Aristotel by the church were called hipocrocy and burned, they were preserved only in arabic language. Read history when Chingis khan came to Bagdad he burned and throw to the river seven milion books . Alexandrinian library had only 150 thousand.

In the 9th century muslim scolars proved saying in the qoran that earth is round . Why dont you watch { Islam empire of faith } made by PBS, not by some IDIOT who wants to make profit.

In the muslim citys there were public bathrums , public librarys ,public hospitals , consultation centers. There were no racizm . Women had rights to work and education from the wery begining of islam. At that time europe had nothing , they lived in chaos.

People shoud study history frome real historians not some pimps.Why is that islam is the fastest growing religion in US and europe? Check guenes book islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. 40 percent of muslims in USA are converts .What is more funny women coming to islam in ratio 3 to 1 men.

If you want to prove me wrong get some evidense first , from real historians or from real muslim scolars. This guy is a joke.Paid joke by the way. Chek on the net how many anti-islamic books this guy wrote , he sure dose have somthing against islam. His saying - Era of peace begins in Israel-... now we know who dose he work for ....

You see israel trying to destroy palestinians to get they land , thats part of they religion. To justefy they actions of violence they controling the midia , they paying milions of dollars to writers like Robert Spencer and you being blind folded by the church alredy beliving in all this. Ofcourese many muslims are uneducated and easy to manipulate by some friks so it dose throws a gasolin in to the fire of hatred of islam.

And please for God's sake stop missuse verses of the Quran by taking them out of contest

002.191 ( the Cow 191 )And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. Every anti-islamist bringing this verse what about verse before that ?

002.190 Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! Allah loveth not aggressors.
Our prophet (pbuh) said -those hwo dose not show mersy to the others , Allah will not show mercy to them.-By others ment all, non muslims including.

And all those scolars that Robert brings it's all misquotation
and bluff.Justa game of words.

Learn from real historians , and leave this nonsens to fools i meant easy to manipulate fools , you are not one of them aren't you ?

Was this review helpful to you? [Yes] [No]

In answer to that last question, I can truthfully answer that “this review” was “helpful” to me, not so much in understanding the book, but as one more example of a Mind on Islam.

Despite the best efforts of The New York Review of Books, The New Duranty Times Sunday Book Review, The Bandar Beacon Books Section, Kirkus Reviews, the Library Journal, and all the industrial-strength collections of reviews intended for the book selectors at our public and academic libraries, “PIG to Islam” remains among the 25 best sellers.

On the top of the front cover the publisher chose to reprint a blood-curdling threat posted at a Muslim website. That undoubtedly increased sales. In the same spirit, the spirit of the late Edward Bernays, I suggest that the above Amazon review appear, without a word missing, on the back cover of any new printing...Professors of marketing may lecture their dutiful students – the ones typing every word directly into their laptops – on the need for good buzz. But good buzz, bad buzz, in this new world, sometimes the latter is the former. Pollice verso reviews from some quarters can become dialing for dollars at the cash register.

On that note, allow Fred Astaire, or Fats Waller, to say a few words:

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus

When he said the world was round.

They all laughed when Edison recorded sound.

Who’s got the last laugh now?

They vow to become good citizens of democratic Iraq, so no worries. From CNN, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm and Sr. Soph:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Nearly 1,000 detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison were released this week at the request of the Iraqi government, Multi-National Forces said Saturday.

"This major release, the largest to date, marks a significant event in Iraq's progress toward democratic governance and the rule of law, demonstrating the involvement of Iraq's government in the effort to provide both security and justice for all Iraqis," the forces said in a written statement.

The detainees were released from Wednesday through Saturday, with the assistance of the Iraqi government, the statement said. They represent all Iraqi communities and had been brought to Abu Ghraib from detention facilities throughout Iraq.

Those chosen for release were not convicted of violent crimes, the statement said, "and all have admitted their crimes, renounced violence and pledged to be good citizens of a democratic Iraq."

That's just swell. It might have been better for them to have renounced violent jihad, but even if they had, what assurance would we have that their promises were worth trusting?

It could have been worse on July 7. From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

After examining all the possible reasons why the bombers left bomb-making components in the boot of a car at Luton railway station, investigators consider it likely that the four terrorists had intended to build devices with at least 20lb of home-made explosives. The suggestion that the explosives, nails and other components found in the red Fiat had been left there for a follow-on terrorist team has been discounted. One possibility is that their rucksacks were too small for bigger devices.

The theory emerged as three Iraqis were questioned by detectives yesterday after being arrested taking photographs near to the venue for a European Union foreign ministers’ meeting next week, near Newport, Gwent. The men were held under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Thai jihad update: paralyzed 60-year-old man strafed with machine-gun fire. But hey, Abu Ghraib! From Channelnewsasia, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

YALA, Thailand : Two Buddhist Thais and a Muslim village headman have been shot dead by masked suspected Islamic militants in the restive south, police said.

Sukit Yingsong, a 28-year-old defence volunteer, and his paralysed father Kan Yingsong, 60, were strafed with machine-gun fire at their home in Yala province late Friday, police said.

"It is clear that the perpetrators were militants because Sukit was threatened and told to abandon his house, which is surrounded by Muslim villagers," said district police commander Colonel Parnpitak Thepchudeang.

Also on Friday night, gunmen broke into the home of Ma-ae Wantae, 37, a deputy village headman in Ra-ngae district of Narathiwat province and opened fire.

Ma-ae was pronounced dead while on the way to hospital, and police there said the style of the attack made them suspect the culprits were Muslim militants.

More than 870 people have been killed in 20 months of almost daily attacks in the Muslim-majority southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat which border Malaysia.

This comes from the California separatist group La Voz de Aztlan, which is clearly happy about the news. Given the source, it is likely that this report does not contain even an ounce of credibility; however, it is significant enough as a threat and attempt to intimidate the foes of Islamic terror into silence. And if Congressman Tancredo or anyone who has spoken honestly about the roots and causes of Islamic terror does indeed get shot in the coming months, I hope authorities will be soon thereafter speaking with Ernesto Cienfuegos of La Voz de Aztlan, who filed this report: "Highly trained Islamic snipers on their way to the USA."

A particular worrisome development for USA based warmongers is a CIA intelligence report that says that a superbly trained Islamic sniper squad is on its way to the USA. According to the report, the Al-Ikhwan Al-Moslemoon (Muslim Brotherhood)is preparing to send a highly trained sniper squad to the USA that will target, at first, the lower and middle level leadership of the Islamophobic organizations that cater to the Zionists. This, we presume, includes the lackeys of the Zionists on radio and television. A few weeks ago, these puppets of Israel added insult to injury when they went on a vile tirade in support of the "toilet flushers" of the Holy Koran at Guantanamo. Many of these radio talk jockeys are not Jews but they act as mouthpieces for their employers who are. One of these virulent pundits for the Zionists said over the airwaves, "US soldiers at Guantanamo should have used the pages of the Koran to wipe their asses!"

La Voz de Aztlan received an e-mail from one of our subscribers in Saudi Arabia concerning the CIA report. Ali bin Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Fulani wrote that the Islamic sniper squad should include Congressman Tom Tancredo of the Colorado 6th Congressional District as one of its first targets. Tancredo recently made a public statement proposing that the USA "nuke" Mecca. "Nuke" means blasting a city with a nuclear bomb as was done to Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Mecca is Islam's holiest cities where millions of Muslims make a yearly religious pilgrimage. Ali added, "Instead of nuking the entire 6th congressional district and killing hundreds of thousands innocent civilians, a sniper should "nuke' Tancredo's ass with one 7.62mm Kalashnikov bullet hardened with depleted uranium!"...

Now that the Israelis have left Gaza and everybody is happy, here's a Peace In Our Time update: "Hamas Bombmaker Vows to Continue Attacks," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

A shadowy Hamas bombmaker who tops Israel's most-wanted list on Saturday issued his first videotaped statement since going into hiding more than a decade ago.

Mohammed Deif praised Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a victory for armed resistance, rejected calls for his group to disarm, and vowed to continue attacks on Israel until the Jewish state is erased from the map.

What was going to make these men heroes before Allah? A great act of charity? A generous gesture of interfaith respect? A magnanimous display of tolerance? No: it seems most likely that they were planning to, um, explode some bombs. On the other hand, maybe it was all a misunderstanding -- but it isn't as if anyone with any sense would come to any different conclusion on overhearing this conversation. "3 detained in Hamburg over terrorism scare," from the IHT, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

HAMBURG The police in this northern German city have detained three Chechen men for questioning in connection with a search for possible terror suspects, an investigator said Friday.

The three are from 21 to 25 years old, said Reinhard Chedor, head of Hamburg's state criminal office. Two went to the police of their own accord; the third was detained after being identified by the police.

Chedor said there appeared to have been no plans for any attack.

He said the authorities believed they were the three men who were involved in a suspicious conversation at a bus stop in the city Wednesday evening that prompted a large-scale police search.

A witness told the police that one of the three, who were said to have been talking in Arabic, said "We will stand tomorrow as heroes before Allah."

After the reported conversation, the men, one of whom had a backpack, were caught on film by a surveillance camera on a bus traveling out of the center of Hamburg, the police said.

On Thursday, the police urged the three to make contact with them and began a search that involved about 1,000 officers.

Hamburg's top security official, Udo Nagel, said Thursday night that the alert may have resulted from a misunderstanding. He said there was no reason for the public to be alarmed.

Magdy Khalil is an Egyptian writer and analyst residing in the USA. Here he calls attention to an international scandal:

"The bottom of hell is held in reserve for those who take a neutral stance when values are at risk" -- Dante

Abducting a female is one of the most awful crimes in the civilized society, which is met by a stern punishment. Respect for women, children and minorities as the weak entities of society is a quality that distinguishes the civilized society from the primitive one, to the point that even harassing a female is in itself a crime that is strictly sentenced. And before starting any job in America whether small or big, one must sign a statement, agreeing to abstain from sexual harassment, punishment is so stern to those who violate these regulations and varies from dismissal from the job to criminal trials, and if the female is a minor, i.e. "less than 18 year old" harassment becomes a very big problem, as for abducting and raping her, it is the gravest crime against the Western societies.

What happened to Egypt? And how the most despicable form of crimes is being committed against the Coptic girls without any moral, conscience, or legal deterrence, nor social restrictions? What are the causes of such evil phenomenon? How would a society that is considered to be the cradle of human civilization and the dawn of consciousness agree to such heinous crimes?

Is it a phenomenon?

The first question to be raised: Has abducting Coptic girls and forcing them to convert to Islam constituted a phenomenon or isolated cases?

If a phenomenon is a pattern of behavior frequently repeated throughout a long period, then what is happening in Egypt against Coptic girls is definitely a phenomenon, it is a phenomenon that the Coptic Church protested against over quarter of a century ago, and specifically in Alexandria conference held under the auspices of H.H. Pope Shenouda on December 17th, 1976 who stated in the conference that "There is pressure being practiced to convert Coptic girls to embrace Islam and marry them under terror to Muslim husbands" and demanded to bring back the abducted girls to their families. So we are facing a phenomenon that is more than three decades old in its modern form, but of course it has been taking place throughout fifteen centuries since the Arab invasion of Egypt.

The second question: Is it a widespread phenomenon?

The answer to this question is a complex one, if we talked about the pressure and the enticement practiced to convert Coptic girls to Islam, then we are facing a widespread phenomenon. But if we are talking only about the abduction of Coptic girls and forcing them to convert to Islam then we are discussing a limited phenomenon.

A must-read column from Caroline Glick in the Jerusalem Post (thanks to Ruth King): "Column One: The end of mythology":

The deportation of the Jews from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria over the past week and a half and surrounding events have put paid to two of the foundational myths of the narrative that has been propounded for the past 30 years by the Israeli and international Left. In attempting to analyze these traumatic events in a manner that will – at least to a degree – mitigate the dangers to Israeli security that the expulsions have engendered, it is important to identify these myths and dispel them now. For if we do not do so, we will find ourselves, again, waging an uphill battle to dispel these lies after the next die has been cast in favor of still more Israeli retreats and expulsions – this time from Judea and Samaria.

And so, even as our souls cry out in pain as we stare wild-eyed at the sight of 8,000 Jewish patriots, transformed in a moment into homeless, wandering Jews in the Land of Israel, our duty is to soldier on and work to preempt further destruction.

The foundational myth of the Left is that Jewish extremism, not Palestinian terrorism, is the cause of Israel's present security woes and the source of the constant wars that have plagued us since the dawn of modern Zionism. What we saw this week was that these people – whom one British reporter standing outside the synagogue in the now-ruined Neveh Dekalim so eloquently referred to last Thursday as "the hardest of the hard-line settlers" – are anything but extreme.

The expelled residents of Gush Katif – from the farmers of Atzmona, Katif, Netzarim, Netzer Hazani and Kfar Darom, the surfers and fishermen of Shirat Hayam, the Torah scholars of Neveh Dekalim and the mothers of Gadid – are not "hard-line" or "extremists." They are the finest sons and daughters of Israel. They are the bravest soldiers in the IDF and the most patriotic citizens that Israel has produced.

Read it all. Please.

From the Daily Times, with thanks to all who sent this in:

CANBERRA: Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.

A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to Australia at a special meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, he and his ministers made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown.

Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept that Australia was a secular state and its laws were made by parliament.

“If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you,” he said on national television. “I’d be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that that is false. If you can’t agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country which practises it, perhaps, then, that’s a better option,” Costello said.

Jihad Watch's Hugh Fitzgerald comments on the Al-Massari case and other elements of contemporary Western dhimmitude:

Those who despise the manmade law of Infidels are nonetheless prepared to use every scrap of those laws, every bit of the individual rights guaranteed by Infidels, to remain in Infidel lands -- so as to work in every way possible to undermine and overturn those laws, and the society that gave birth to those laws, and the social and political understandings that formed, and have in turn been continuously formed by that very society. In the same way, Muslims in the West will take full advantage of all the pieties about "pluralism" but work toward extinguishing such pluralism, as they have over 1350 years everywhere that Muslims rule and dominate.

One has only to look at Turkey, where 50% of the population was non-Muslim in Constantinople in 1914, and is now about 1%. Similar, though not quite as dramatic, changes have come about -- mostly through mass murder of non-Muslims, accompanied or followed by persecution -- in the country as a whole. In Alexandria, where the Italian poet Ungaretti and the Greek poet Seferis were born, nothing remains -- just as nothing remains in Cairo of the Jewish, Greek, Armenian, Italian, and other non-Muslim populations whose families had lived in Egypt for generations (and sometimes for far longer). Their goods were simply seized by the Egyptian government under Nasser, leaving many penniless. This treatment forced them to leave.

In Pakistan (formerly West Pakistan) in 1947 15% of the population was Hindu; now it is 1.6%. In Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) the non-Muslim population has been reduced in the same period from 35% to 8%. This has happened everywhere that Muslims have ruled over non-Muslims.

More anti-dhimmitude from DC Watson and Kevin Montavon:

A case and a half of cold beer later, we have some important questions.

Shouldn't the core of America's Homeland Security efforts be to institute responsible immigration policies and border enforcement? Wouldn't it be more difficult for Islamic terrorists to carry out an attack on U.S. soil if they were unable to get into the United States in the first place?

Is the communication gap so wide that even after 9/11, our government authorizes a Muslim organization like the Council on American Islamic Relations to conduct "Muslim sensitivity" training for American law enforcement personnel, even after the same government has successfully prosecuted several of CAIR's own (now former) officers on terrorism- and fraud-related crimes? (These officials are now in prison or have been deported.)
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/usroyer603ind.pdf
http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/infocom/uselashi121702sind.pdf
http://www.4law.co.il/hlf2.htm
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=9981

Should our public schools be allowing these people to speak to American school students about Islam?

Why should the Qur'an be used in American courtrooms for Muslims to swear upon to tell the truth, when the book itself permits them to lie?

Qur'an 3:28: "Let not the believers take the disbelievers for friends rather than believers. And whoever does this has no connection with Allah unless it is done to guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully. And Allah cautions you against His retribution. And to Allah is the eventual coming."

Qur'an 16:106: "Any one who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters unbelief, except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith - but such as open their breast to Unbelief, on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful penalty."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166307,00.html
http://www.islamreview.com/articles/islamicterrorismprint.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taqiyya

Why should anything Islamic be instituted in any American governmental venues when Islam has had nothing to do with the founding, advancement, or successes of the United States?

CAIR's mission statement states that the organization strives "to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding." After nearly a dozen years of tumultuous existence, when might they begin this mission?

Islam condemns suicide, we hear endlessly from American Islamic apologists. In reality the situation is a bit more complicated. From MEMRI, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

The following are excerpts from a panel discussion at the counter-terrorism conference of religious scholars at Sharm Al-Sheikh, Egypt. The discussion aired on Iqra TV on August 22, 2005. (To view this clip, visit: http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=822.)

Dr. Muhammad Rafat 'Othman, Egyptian professor of Islamic law: "According to another opinion, a person who blows himself up is committing suicide. This opinion is based on sources that categorically forbid self-killing. The Koran says: 'Do not kill yourself, surely Allah is ever merciful to you.' There are also such sources in the Sunna and in the general consensus of scholars. No text in Islamic religious law permits a person to kill himself. Even in the case of Jihad, which is the pinnacle of religious duties, Islam does not permit a person to kill himself.

"What Islamic religious law does permit is for a person to wage Jihad, facing one of two options – victory or martyrdom. He may risk being killed by someone else, but may not kill himself."

[...]

Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: "Dr. Said Ramadhan [Al-Bouti] stressed the legitimacy of defense, saying it is a legitimate right in Palestine and Iraq. I think that saying it is a legitimate right is not enough, because a right is something that can be relinquished. It is a duty. All scholars say that defending an occupied homeland is an individual duty applying to every Muslim. Reducing this duty to a 'right,' which can be relinquished, is a kind of depreciation.

"We must stress this point, and emphasize that it is the rights of those defending their homeland. It is not only a right, but also their duty. I am amazed by what Dr. Muhammad Rafat 'Othman said.

"This has nothing to do with suicide. This man does not want to commit suicide, but rather to cause great damage to the enemy, and this is the only method he can use to cause such damage. Since this method did not exist in the past, we cannot find rulings about it in the ancient jurisprudence. We may find rulings about plunging into the [ranks of the] enemy and risking one's life, even in cases of certain death – so be it. The truth is that we should refrain from raising this issue, because doubting it is like joining the Zionists and Americans in condemning our brothers in Hamas, the Jihad, the Islamic factions, and the resistance factions in Iraq. It is as if we are joining them.

"We all condemn violence or terrorism, although, to tell the truth, I personally don't like the word 'terrorism.' I always say 'violence.' I have written a book called Islam and Violence. But since this word is so widespread, I use it. We all condemn the [terrorist] operations. We condemned them before we came to this conference. We condemned the bombings in London, Madrid, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Egypt. We condemned them as individuals and as institutions. This is something everyone agrees on. We cannot say we pat these misguided boys on the back, but we do want to listen to them. They have gone astray, so we want to treat them in a way that will set them straight, and bring them closer to us. We don't want to be like prosecutors, demanding their execution. We want to treat them the way clerics treat their students, the way fathers treat their sons."...

Al-Bashir: "We have agreed that resisting the occupier is a sacred right and an obligatory duty, approved by Islamic religious law and by [international] conventions. It has nothing to do with forbidden terrorism. Moreover, it is legitimate. As proposed by Sheikh Al-Bouti, we emphasize this point in this concluding statement."

Participant: "And one cannot call their deaths suicide."

Al-Bashir: "Yes."

Participant: "It is an obligatory duty."

Al-Bashir: "Yes. I've already said that. It is an obligatory duty and a legitimate right. Someone who carries out this duty cannot be said to have committed suicide."

Read it all.

Diana West refuses to capitulate, and has some words for those who do so:

Unbowed,if unemployed, Michael Graham issued a thought-provoking challenge as his airtime on "The O'Reilly Factor" ran down to a break. The topic under discussion was the conservative radio host's firing by Washington's WMAL — egged on by the terrorist-linked Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) — for having made his case, logically, forcefully, even regretfully, that "Islam is a terrorist organization." Before discussing Mr. Graham's final words on "O'Reilly," it's worth mentioning that Mr. Graham's argument linking terrorism to Islam is posted at JewishWorldReview.com in a column he wrote after the second London Underground bombing. Sure, the stand-alonescare quote ("I. is a T. O.") collides head-on with 21st-century sensibilities, but Mr. Graham builds his argument carefully. He makes the politically incorrect kind of sense, supported by fact (e.g., more than one-in-four British Muslims said they wouldn't tell police of a planned terrorist attack) and observation (Islamic teachings drive terrorist jihad), that the open-eyed child in "The Emperor's New Clothes" would instantly recognize. But not his bosses at WMAL — not, it seems, after CAIR objected. When Mr. Graham refused to "apologize," the ABC-Disney-owned station fired him.

All of which is what he went on "O'Reilly" to discuss, offering a factually reasoned discourse on the controversy. (Good stats, conceded an outgunned Bill O'Reilly.) And then, in closing, Mr. Graham said this: Tell me one terrorist attack that's going to be stopped by ending this conversation — that is, by WMAL taking Mr. Graham off the air.

An interesting notion. WMAL is no bureau of Homeland Security, but given the line the radio station decided Mr. Graham crossed over global terrorism (jihad) and its central role in Islam, maybe it's worth wondering whether we are safer because Michael Graham isn't pursuing his on-air line of inquiry. Surely, we are more "sensitive," meaning more guarded, even nervous about what is currently permissible to say, at least according to CAIR's enforcers. Even so, ending a conversation about jihad and Islam doesn't end Islamic jihad. Nor does cutting the talk about links between Islam and terrorism cut the links between Islam and terrorism. The fact is, the train of logic doesn't change its destination no matter how many of us — radio stations, pundits, academics, politicians — hop off.

As I see how many media outlets on the Left and Right continue to ignore my book, even as it remains on the bestseller lists, I can't help but wonder myself at the large numbers of those who have jumped off the train of logic. Read it all.

This CNN story, "3 held in Wales under terror laws," (thanks to Jeffrey Imm), identifies those held only as "men." The ideology that almost certainly motivates the violence they were allegedly plotting is the great unreported story of our time.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- British police were questioning three men Friday detained in South Wales under anti-terrorism laws.

The three men, all from the southern Welsh city of Newport, were held overnight, police said.

"The three men were arrested by the Gwent Police yesterday under the Terrorism Act," a spokesman told CNN.

Now here will be a test case if I ever saw one. If he is allowed to stay and continue to preach hatred and violence, it's good night for Britain. From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

ONE of the targets of the Government’s crackdown on the preachers of hate said last night that he would not try to flee Britain or go into hiding before his expected arrest next week.

Muhammad al-Massari, the Saudi dissident, said that if Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, tried to target him as the first to be deported, he would wreck the initiative in the courts. “He wants to look tough by picking high-profile people, but I am ready to fight him in the courts,” he said.

Another hardliner believed to be on the government list, Yasser al-Siri, an Egyptian-born website operator, said: “I’m not worried about expulsion. My legal team think it’s impossible.”

Mr Clarke said he expected to see the first of the extremists excluded from Britain in the coming week.

Dr al-Massari, 58, who has lived in Britain since 1994, has been condemned by MPs from all parties for reportedly backing the killing of Tony Blair on his website and radio station.

Vatican jihad update. "Islam: Vatican Led Into War On Terror, Warns Website," from AKI, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Dubai, 25 August (AKI) - Following the threats against the Vatican faxed to a Spanish TV station and newspaper this week, the Catholic Church remains the target of Islamic extremists, this time in a report posted on an Islamic Internet forum under the heading "The Pope of the Vatican goes to War". The message, signed under the name D. Abdouh, discusses the Vatican's entry in the war between al-Qaeda and the Western world, with a speech Pope Benedict XVI gave during his recent trip to Cologne in Germany.

After this, the document directly quotes the Vatican, claiming that after years of neutrality the Vatican, with the ascent of Joseph Ratzinger to the pontificate, has decided to come out in defence of the West, against the Islamic world.

The message reads: "The Vatican, which is nothing but a government placed within a building, has moved to support the Christian side of the countries in the world, and if possible, the Catholic side. The tendency of the Vatican was not to take part in the numerous wars there have been."

"Many of the children of Islam have signed themselves up to the ranks of those who fight terrorism, with sincerity, following what the 'governors', 'ulema' or intellectuals say through the media and following the speeches of George Bush, Berlusconi and Tony Blair, and the majority of the Muslim governments," it continues.

"The new head of the Catholics, Benedict XVI, has launched a powerful message to these fighters. Here is the link to an article on the Pope's meeting with Muslims in Germany, in which he encouraged Muslims to join the war on terrorism."...

It is the first time the Vatican and the Pope have been identified as an integral part of the Western coalition fighting Islamic terrorism in a forum close to the al-Qaeda network. The message appears to put the Catholic Church and Vatican City firmly among the potential targets of the Jihadists.

Internet jihad update. "Islamists seek to organize hackers' jihad in cyberspace," from UPI, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

A Web forum for Muslim extremists is calling on its members to organize an Islamist hackers' army to carry out Internet attacks against the U.S. government.

The site has posted tips, software and links to other resources to help would-be cyber-warriors.

The Jamestown Foundation, a District-based nonprofit with a history of extensive ties to the CIA, said that it has monitored postings on a new section of an extremist bulletin board called al-Farooq.

According to Jeffrey Poole, a researcher for the foundation, the forum "represents a how-to manual for the disruption and/or destruction of enemy electronic resources, including e-mail, Web sites and computer hardware."

The new section was set up two weeks ago, according to a briefing written by Mr. Poole and distributed by the foundation, which added that one member of the forum has called for the creation of an Islamist organization, which he dubbed "Jaish al-Hacker al-Islami," the Islamic Hacker's Army.

The would-be Islamist cyber-warrior, who calls himself "Achrafe," pointed out that organization of large numbers of attackers is a key force multiplier in some forms of Web warfare -- such as denial-of- service attacks in which the target's servers are bombarded with so many requests for information from other parts of the Internet that they effectively are shut down.

The foundation described in detail a "hacker library" maintained on the al-Farooq site, offering special software that can be used to steal passwords; tools and tips on anonymous Web surfing; and programs the site says can destroy or disable a target computer if installed on it.

Ioannis Gatsiounis reviews the essay collection I edited, The Myth of Islamic Tolerance, in Asia Times:

NEW YORK - As the forces of fundamentalism and terrorism continue to ravage Islam from within, Muslims have understandably sought to convey to non-Muslims that Islam is a tolerant religion. Since September 11, there has been no shortage of reminders that the root word of Islam means "peace" or that those advocating jihad against the West are deviant "hijackers".

Historians wax lyrical about Islam's "golden age" when non-Muslims and Muslims lived side-by-side in harmony and reassure us that Islam's current crisis is a growing pain, akin to phases other religions have undergone in their early histories. And while a worrying level of ignorance remains - a recent Pew Research Center poll found that only half of Americans were able to identify the Koran as Islam's equivalent of the Bible - education efforts have worked so effectively that many educated non-Muslims have come to believe that unflattering manifestations of Islam are aberrant. Of course these perceptions are rarely based on direct contact with the religion, for, as any outsider who has taken a closer look at Islam can attest, further inquiry produces as many unsettling questions as it does tidy answers.

Why, for instance, are many of the world's most pious and knowledgeable Muslims also the most hostile toward non-believers? Why do non-Muslims face significant discrimination, even in the Islamic world's most moderate nations? (In Malaysia last month for instance, 35 masked assailants dressed in robes attacked and partially scorched a commune led by a Muslim apostate.) This is to say nothing of the rights of women in most Muslim countries. Is it all simply a matter of interpretation (ie abuse for personal or political gain), or does the sustained prevalence of such patterns reveal something inherent about the faith?

Few people want to address this last question openly, lest they be labeled anti-Muslim. But as clear answers to the question of what is ailing Islam in the 21st century remain elusive, the writers of The Myth of Islamic Tolerance, including Bat Ye'or, Mark Durie, Muhammad Younus Shaikh, Daniel Pipes and David Littman, among others, are within bounds to tackle the issue head on.

Their premise is that contemporary Muslim rage and intolerance is not historically isolated; and moreover, that it is rooted in the religion itself. This is not an easy idea to swallow, if for no reason other than it contradicts what one wants to believe about the world's fastest growing religion - that at its core it is sane and rational. And there is ample reason to be leery; several of the book's authors are affiliated with Christian and Zionist movements, while some passages come across as hostile and misleading.

Consider the first sentence of the forward written by Ibn Warraq, "Islam is a totalitarian ideology that aims to control the religious, social and political life of mankind in all its aspects; the life of its followers without qualification; and the life of those who follow the so-called tolerated religions [Christians and Jews, which the Koran refers to as People of the Book], to a degree that prevents their activities from getting in the way of Islam in any way."

And yet The Myth of Islamic Tolerance warrants our attention. Any study of contemporary Islam would be incomplete without it. Collectively, the essays expose an unsettling fact: that Islam's famed tolerance of non-Muslims has over the centuries fallen well short of an embrace. It is true that Islam calls for no coercion in matters of faith and that it encourages Muslims to respect the People of the Book (Christians and Jews). But it is also true that the Koran incessantly distinguishes between believer and non-believer and calls for unequal treatment of the two. The most obvious example of this is found in the jizya, or poll tax, which requires dhimmis (protected subjects) to pay for military protection.

Read it all.

An Al-Arian recap from Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer in FrontPage:

In a trial with more important national security implications than any since the Rosenbergs’, Sami Al-Arian now begins his third month in the dock. The defense claims that Al-Arian is a peaceful Muslim with unpopular political views. But according to prosecutors, while Al-Arian was a professor at the University of South Florida, and Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times was affectionately characterizing him as a “rumpled academic with a salt-and-pepper beard,” he was actually the head of the American wing of the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), held a key position in the group’s worldwide leadership, and even established a cell of the terrorist group at his university.

Al-Arian’s ties to PIJ have long been widely known. As long ago as 1994, Steve Emerson’s PBS documentary, Jihad in America, identified him as the head of PIJ’s American group. Federal officials began to investigate him for terrorist activities in 1996. But now the trial has brought a great deal of information about the nature and extent of Al-Arian’s activities on behalf of Palestinian Islamic Jihad to light. Much of this was hitherto unknown or only sketchily reconstructed by intelligence officials. The trial has become the occasion for the professor, whose case has for years been a minor cause celebre among Leftists, to be confronted with the fruit of his labors for the first time. Israeli policeman Yuval Avargil was on the scene at Beit Lid in Israel on January 22, 1995, when a PIJ suicide bomber exploded a bomb that killed twenty-two people. “I opened my eyes,” Avergil recounted at the trial on August 15, “I heard something rolling near me, I saw a head of a soldier with his eyes open on the side.”

Talk show host Laurie Roth, a courageous voice for truth and a great friend of Jihad Watch, whose show I have guest-hosted on several occasions, was critically injured yesterday in a motorcycle accident. Please keep her in your prayers.

To discuss the ongoing jihad, dhimmitude and its prospects, and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). As always, there are ways to listen online to some of these:

7:30 AM EDT: William Bennett's "American Morning" with Guest Host Steve Malzberg (Nationally Syndicated)

9:35 AM EDT: KZIM "Morning News Watch"

10:00 AM EDT: WGY "Andrew Wilkow Show"

3:00 PM EDT: "For the People with Chuck Harder" (Nationally Syndicated)

4:15 PM EDT: WDEO "Kresta in the Afternoon"

Peace in our time continues to reign in Israel. From WND, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Driving home fears Palestinian terror groups will use land gained by Israel's Gaza evacuation to launch rockets deeper inside the Jewish state, two Qassams today were fired at western Negev towns as Israeli troops prepared the Gaza Strip for handover in the next few weeks.

One rocket hit the populated Negev town of Sderot, about 10 miles outside Gaza's Gush Katif slate of former Jewish communities. Another landed in an open field just outside Sderot. The Popular Resistance Committees terror group in Gaza – made up of Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants – claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Israeli Defense Forces so far has not responded to the attack, prompting Sderot's mayor to file a complaint with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office. Mayor Eli Moyal said Sharon previously warned rockets fired into the western Negev after Israel's Gaza evacuation would be met with a stern response.

Knesset Member Eli Yishai today told Israel National News the rockets fired at Sderot were just an “appetizer” for what is yet to come.

“Even before we have turned off the engines of uprooting and expulsion, our fears have proven true. The dream of an end to the season of Qassams has been shattered,” Yishai said.

Israeli author Naomi Ragen discusses some prevailing dhimmi fantasies in this new column:

I read Mr. Amos Oz's recent article: A Bloodless Victory Over Fanaticism with great interest. I too, am an Israeli author. And, according to the majority of our Palestinian neighbors who view both Jerusalem and Arad (my home and Mr. Oz's home respectively) as occupied territory, I guess we are both settlers.

Mr. Oz, in his description of "settlers'" dream for the future of Israel, has created a totally fictional Jewish opponent, the same way he has created totally fictional Palestinian peace partner, willing to live together with him peacefully in the secular democratic state of his dreams. Yes, I consider myself an Orthodox Jew. But I too view a state run by Rabbis as a nightmare. In the State of Israel I have lived in for the past 35 years -- and which as far as I know all Jewish settlers live in -- Palestinians are doctors, engineers, builders, gardners, delivery men, electricians, plumbers, actors, musicians and handymen, not the hewers of wood and water-carriers he accuses us of wanting. Yes, I believe that one day the Messiah will come and redeem this world, but last I checked that wasn't a crime, or else we'd need billions of places in jails for Christians too. I also believe that religion is a private matter, and that however I choose to live my life, I can have no control over how people like Mr. Oz lives their's. This is true even when my Sabbath tranquility is blasted away by my neighbor's high volume music, and malls that insist on keeping people working seven days a week.

Alyssa A. Lappen reviews The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) in Human Events:

In Islam, pigs are not Halal. For that reason, some might assume that the little pig on the cover of Robert Spencer's bestselling new Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) is meant to insult the faith.

They would be wrong. In fact, the publishing house of Regnery (a Human Events sister company) has trademarked the term Politically Incorrect Guide, along with the little pig, and has posted this insignia on two other books, Thomas Woods' Politically Incorrect Guide to American History and Tom Bethell's Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, the latter to be published this fall. Moreover, Regnery is working on several other titles in the series, all to be decorated by a pig.

Apparently the series does intend to be humorous, however. Also on the cover is quotation from an Islamic chat room. A poster wrote of Spencer: “May Allah rip out his spine from his back and split his brains in two, and then put them both back, and then do it over and over again. Amen.” Not funny, but he jovially tags this “--'praise' for the author on RevivingIslam.com.”

These lighthearted touches, before one even opens a book on a deadly serious subject, foreshadow many more quips inside. A few examples:

• After Muhayissa murdered K'ab, he was rebuked for the deed by his brother Huwayissa, who was not yet a Muslim. Muhayissa, unrepentant, told his brother, “Had the one who ordered me to kill him ordered me to kill you I would have cut off your head.” Huwayissa replied, “By God, a religion which can bring you to this is marvelous!” And he became Muslim. “The world is still witnessing such miracles today.”

• "Polygamy...is moving westward with Islam. In late 2004, polygamy had become so common among Muslims in Britain that the British were considering recognizing it for tax purposes.”

• "Lying: It's wrong—except when it isn't.”

Other funny tidbits are the small boxes in each chapter entitled “A book you're not supposed to read.” These recommendations include such scholarly works as An Introduction to Islamic Law by Joseph Schacht; The Decline of Eastern Christianity: From Jihad to Dhimmitude by Bat Ye'or; and Islamikaze: Manifestations of Islamic Martyrology by Raphael Israeli; as well as ancient and modern Islamic texts like the Qur'an, Umdat al-Salik, or Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, translated by Noah Ha Min Keller and Milestones by Sayyid Qutb.

But for all the humor, the 231-page text is in fact a somber discussion of Islam for the layman, and the scholarship at its base is impressive. The book includes 21 pages of footnotes, the vast majority of which cite Muslim sources themselves.

Spencer attacks the notion, head on, that the Qur'an teaches tolerance and peace, for example, by citing the Qur'an itself.

Read it all.

Tiny minority of extremists on the move. An interesting assessment from Major General Douglas Lute, who thinks the jihadists will ultimately be driven from Iraq. On what he bases this, I do not know, but it can't be on the current headlines. From the Guardian, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

A senior US military officer yesterday predicted that al-Qaida fighters in Iraq will move to the "vast ungoverned spaces" of the Horn of Africa once conditions in the country get too tough for them.

The warning came from Major General Douglas Lute, director of operations at the US' central command. "There will come a time when Zarqawi will face too much resistance in Iraq and will move on," he predicted, referring to the head of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born Islamist who has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks, kidnappings and beheadings.

Looking ahead to a time when he said Iraq would be "stabilised", Gen Lute predicted that Zarqawi would take the "path of least resistance" and leave for such countries as Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.

But before that, he suggested, Zarqawi would make a show of force in the run-up to the Iraqi constitutional referendum and subsequent elections. "He has to go down fighting," he said.

Gen Lute said 90% of what he called the "enemy" in Iraq was domestic. There was only a "slither" of foreign fighters "sponsored from outside".

He declined to put a figure on his estimate. Earlier this year, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said there were between 12,000 and 20,000 hardcore insurgents in Iraq.

Eric Schwappach asks some tough questions about Iran's new Thug-in-Chief:

It was recently reported that Islam will be the main source of Iraq's law and her parliament will observe religious principles. Parliament will also be restricted from passing laws that contradict Islamic ideals.

This news will not be greeted well by the country’s women or religious minorities, but it meshes perfectly with Iranian goals. Iran's new president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to cement the hardline anti-Western and anti-reform nature of regime by appointing cabinet ministers known for their intractability. Mr. Ahmadinejad recently stated, "The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world."

He is now working to consolidate the export of this revolution by actively courting fellow Islamic, but non Shi'a, nations with conciliatory rhetoric: "The Islamic World's prestige, talents and capabilities are far beyond what it has today... Sympathy, understanding, solidarity, and cooperation among Muslim brothers can pave the way for the blossoming of all potentials, and restoration of the Islamic World's deserved prestigious status."

Could the upcoming December meeting of the Gulf security conference, featuring discussions on politics between Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, offer an opportunity for this outreach? The Islamic Republic News Agency advises an oil embargo as the best way to confront Western opposition to Iran's nuclear ambitions. Will the Saudis and eventually the fledgling Iraqi nation form a tripartite pact with Iran? This union could wreak enormous havoc on Western economies.

An Arab News article details Iran’s position concerning democratic reforms. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains firm in his short and long-term program to the Islamic Majlis (parliament). Western ideas concerning government are incompatible with Islam and his new administration “bravely rejects all alien political ideas.”

Qurei represents the entity that Rice is demanding be granted yet more concessions. From WND, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

TEL AVIV – Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and members of various Palestinian terror groups this week decided at a meeting "resistance" against Israel would continue and would be coordinated at the national level until the Jewish state evacuates "all territories," WND has learned.

Earlier this week, it was reported Qurei held a private conference in Damascus with leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. According to media reports, the parties reached an agreement under which the PA would not attempt to disarm the terror groups in spite of recent U.S. and Israeli calls for the groups to be dismantled after the Gaza evacuation.

But security sources close to the meeting told WND agreements reached at the conference went one step further – it was concluded the Palestinians would continue to use "resistance" against Israel until the Jewish state leaves "all occupied territories" – code for the destruction of Israel. The resistance, the sources said, is to be coordinated between the Palestinian groups and based on the foundations of Palestinian unity.

More paranoid anti-Semitic propaganda, ultimately to be used to justify murder. From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Kemaste:

Representatives of various Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday accused Israel of burying "toxic materials" under the rubble of dismantled settlements to prevent Palestinians from exploiting the land.

The allegations were made during a press conference in Khan Yunis that was organized by the Popular Committee for Defending Palestinian Lands.

Committee coordinator Abdel Aziz Qadih claimed that the IDF and the settlers had buried the toxic materials six meters under the rubble of the settlements that were evacuated last week. He did not specify the type of toxins, but claimed that they were placed in large barrels underground.

"They want to destroy the land to prevent the Palestinians from using it after it's handed over to the Palestinian Authority," he said. "We call on all those who support our people to expose this matter and to help us deal with it."

Qadih also claimed that Israel was stealing water and sand from Gush Katif.

In "Osama's godfathers" in Canada's National Post (thanks to Waterdragon52), Salim Mansur identifies jihad terrorists as modern-day Kharijites -- a heretical sect from the earliest days of Islam. Mansur did not originate this equation: go onto jihadist websites and you will find numerous articles refuting the assertion that Osama and Co. are Kharijites, and pointing to the Qur'an and Muhammad's example to justify their actions. Mansur doesn't address this, or the fact that jihad warfare has been pursued throughout Islamic history by many non-Kharijite Muslims. Nonetheless, it is refreshing to see even a partial acknowledgment of the fact that the problem lies within Islam -- and from a Muslim. Will the mainstream media listen when Mansur says it?

Nine days after the London bombings of July 7, Tony Blair gave a clear-headed speech about the threat to the West. "What we are confronting here is an evil ideology," he said. "This ideology and the violence that is inherent in it did not start a few years ago in response to a particular policy. Over the past 12 years, al-Qaeda and its associates have attacked 26 countries, killed thousands of people, many of them Muslims. Their cause is not founded on an injustice. It is founded on a belief, one whose fanaticism is such it can't be moderated. It can't be remedied. It has to be stood up to."

What Blair did not say, however, is that al-Qaeda's ideology is deeply entrenched in the Muslim tradition and reaches far back, into the earliest years of Islam.

Al-Qaeda's terrorists are a throwback to those Muslims in the first decades of Islam who believed their faith was the purest, while doubting the belief of others around them, and approved of violence as the right way to advance their views of faith and power. They are known as khwarij (meaning those who secede) or Kharijites.

Muslims in general, fundamentalists in particular, hearken back to the founding years of Islam as the perfect age when the Prophet Muhammad and his companions instituted the divine plan on Earth. In this view, what followed was a regression from belief to unbelief. This picture of Islam's early years is a myth that deprives most Muslims of a critical and rational perspective on history.

The reality, as documented by the earliest Arab-Muslim commentators on Islam's founding decades -- from Ibn Ishaq (d. 761) to Al-Tabari (d. 923) -- was one of internecine strife, bloodshed and war. Immediately after the Prophet died in 632, wars were fought to compel Arabs of contemporary Saudi Arabia and Yemen to re-submit to Islam as the only permissible religion of the new empire. Three of the Prophet's first four successors as rulers of the expanding realm of Islam -- Umar, Uthman and Ali -- were murdered as a result of grievances and factional strife. The Prophet's immediate family were the most conspicuous massacre victims in these seventh-century conflicts. The wars of succession left permanent schisms within Islam.

Ever since those early blood-lettings, Muslims have been the primary victims of Muslim violence.

The Kharijites held the view that since a perfect religious and political order had been instituted, anything outside it was impure and corrupting. Any diminution of this pure system of worship and rule, and any compromise with the outside world, reflected a weakening of faith, a commission of sin and a departure into apostasy that had to be fought and annihilated. Consequently, any Muslim who differed from the impossibly rigid Kharijite view of faith and politics was to be hunted down.

Politically and militarily, Kharijites were systematically eliminated by Muslim rulers within their domain in the first century of Islam. But Kharijite ideas persisted, breeding an exclusive, militant and sectarian body of followers outside the mainstream of Muslim belief and practice. The Kharijite view would re-surface through the influence of Ibn Hanbal (780-855), a founder of one of the four legal schools in Sunni Islam, and in the work of Ibn Taimiyya (1263-1328), who in turn was influential in shaping the view of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-87), the founder of the Wahhabi sect that is the dominant school of Islamic thinking in Saudi Arabia.

Read it all.

Lodi jihad update from UPI, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Prosecutors in a case against two California men have said the two admitted to knowledge of terrorist camps in Pakistan.

The Sacramento Bee reports the admission was contained in a brief filed by prosecutors against Lodi, Calif., residents Hamid Hayat and his father Umar Hayat.

The two have been in jail since June when a grand jury charged them with lying to FBI agents about dealings with Pakistani terrorist training camps.

Both denied any knowledge of the camps and later allegedly confessed otherwise.

Hamid allegedly attended training camps in 2000, 2003 and 2004 and Umar had paid for his travels to Pakistan.

The Hayats were refused bail Tuesday because the judge considered them an extreme flight risk.

Pope Benedict XVI recently asked Muslim leaders to teach Islam to young Muslims more effectively, so that they would not become terrorists. He thus evidently thinks that Islam is a religion of peace that has been hijacked by a tiny minority of extremists. However, it appears that Al-Qaeda is working hard to convince him otherwise. From Expatica, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

BARCELONA — Spanish police have arrested one man in connection with alleged threats by Al Qaeda against the Vatican.

It comes after a document was sent to the Madrid daily ABC and Television Española in the name of Al Qaeda and containing threats against the Vatican.

ABC reported the document, a three-page Arabic manuscript, was mailed from Barcelona and contained the headings 'Operation Vatican' and 'Iraq and the World Terrorist Attack'.

The document says 'the Iraq war has won the Vatican's support for the capitalist countries, all for Iraqi oil'.

"Those authorities will reap what they have sown with their support, and for those they have killed," the document says.

It also justifies Islamic extremist bomb attacks in Madrid last year and last month in London as "acts of self-defence against the terrorism being effected in Iraq and Afghanistan".

The fact that virtually any jihad attack is characterized as an "act of self-defense" demonstrates that protestations that Islam only allows for defensive warfare do nothing to prove that modern-day terror is illegimate from a Muslim standpoint. Those who claim that it is a religion of peace that allows only for defensive fighting have thus done nothing to induce violent Muslims to lay down their arms.

Here's a welcome mainstream media notice of how the coming of Sharia to Iraq will erode rights for non-Muslims and women. From the LA Times, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

BAGHDAD — As Iraq's transitional National Assembly prepares to approve a new draft constitution as early as today, legal experts and some political leaders warned Wednesday that the charter's explicit endorsement of Islam could give religious hard-liners a tight grasp on a country that was once one of the Middle East's most secular.

In an effort to strike a compromise between the nation's religious and secular communities, Iraq's proposed constitution reserves a central place for Islamic law in the legal system while safeguarding personal freedoms and democracy.

But the text's ambiguous language and apparently conflicting provisions left neither side particularly happy, and if approved, the document probably will be the subject of heated debate in Iraqi courts for years to come.

For instance, the draft constitution makes Islam the "official religion" of Iraq and "a main source" of law rather than "the" source, as many Shiite conservatives sought. But secularists remain concerned about a clause that prohibits any law that "contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam."

Critics fear the provision could be used by religious hard-liners to impose a strict version of Islamic law, such as banning alcohol, restricting women's rights and imposing harsh Koranic punishments such as stoning.

The Iraqi draft constitution also calls for gender equality and privacy rights and prohibits laws that contradict democracy or "basic freedoms" guaranteed by the charter.

"It's not a workable document," said Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim, an Islamic scholar and law professor at Emory University. "They brushed their differences under the carpet and crafted language that they could vote for. It's a time bomb that will explode as soon as it's enacted," he said.

An-Naim said a similar move to make laws conform to Islam by Sudan's Arab-dominated government in the 1980s sparked a 20-year civil war when southern Christians rebelled. "It was a disaster."

In Iraq, Iyad Jamal Din, a Shiite Muslim cleric and political activist who opposes mixing religion and government, voiced similar concerns. "It tries to preserve human rights, but within a choking religious society that is a clone of the Iranian system," he said. "I fear this constitution will lead us into a dark society controlled by extremists."

Although Iraq's charter does not envision installing a "supreme leader" like Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, questions are already emerging about certain provisions. For example, what are the "undisputed rules" of Islam? What constitutes "contradicting?" Since alcohol is banned in the Koran, should Iraq become a dry nation? Are women required to cover their heads? Does a prison sentence for a thief contradict the Koran, which calls for amputation of the hand?

"The problem is that there are no agreements on these questions," said Peter W. Galbraith, a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia who advised Kurdish politicians on the constitution. "It allows any cleric to make his own interpretation of the law and opens the door to a whole range of abuses."

Galbraith said the draft fell well short of the sort of democratic government the Bush administration hoped to install in Iraq. "The U.S. now has to recognize that they overthrew Saddam Hussein to replace him with a pro-Iranian state," he said....

I tried to tell you.

In Iraq, non-Muslims said they were anxious about their rights under the proposed constitution. Standing in front of a row of amber scotch and whiskey bottles, Baghdad liquor store clerk Bassam Aboudi, a Christian, is bracing for further intimidation by religious zealots.

Already hundreds of liquor store owners have closed shop or fled the country amid bombings and assassination attempts by Islamists. If the country officially embraces Islamic law, Aboudi said, he will join the exodus. "This is what is driving so many people out of the country," he said.

In my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and elsewhere I point out how Islamic legal scholars have justified terrorism, and how jihadists use the Qur'an and Sunnah to recruit and motivate terrorists. For this I have been called "Islamophobic," whatever that means, and many mainstream media outlets on both the Left and the Right will not discuss the book. However, the fact that what I am saying is true is underscored by articles like this one, in which a Kuwaiti Muslim says the same things I have been saying. Will the mainstream media listen to him?

Not that what Al-Nabulsi says is perfect -- but it is extremely revealing. From MEMRI, with thanks to Scaramouche:

In an article in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyasa, Dr. Shaker Al-Nabulsi, a Jordanian intellectual who resides in the U.S., asks why Islamic religious scholars haven't issued a fatwa against bin Laden. [1] The following are excerpts:

Terrorism in the Arab World Has Been Encouraged by Islamic Legal Scholars

"The First International Islamic Conference, [that convened] in Amman, Jordan in July 2005, was attended by a large group of Islamic legal scholars and clerics… The conference published a series of routine recommendations whose content has already been put forward at many other such events. The recommendations condemned the blind violence in the name of Islam [that exists] in a number of countries, and called for dialogue and coexistence among the followers of [Islam's] four schools of law and the various Islamic sects. Ultimately, these recommendations are insufficient. They do not point to the wound and do not heal the patient, because this conference lacks the power to implement the recommendations…

"Many of the clerics and the legal scholars who attended the First International Islamic Conference in Amman had themselves published fatwas that incited to murdering civilians, women, children, and the elderly, under the umbrella of 'religious Jihad.' Perhaps the reason for the intensification of terrorism in the Arab world, in the form to which we are witness today, was first and foremost the encouragement it received from Islamic legal scholars, under a mantle of religion that is in most cases false, hijacked, and defective.

If what these legal scholars are teaching is in fact a false, hijacked, and defective form of Islam, it is up to Al-Nabulsi and others of like mind to prove it. So far they have not done so.

If the legal scholars – who have encouraged terrorism by means of these vocal religious fatwas – were acting properly, they would be issuing a fatwa calling to kill bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Al-Zarqawi, and all Al-Qaeda leaders everywhere.

Note that even Al-Nabulsi doesn't seem to have a problem with the prospect of Muslim clerics calling for people to be killed. Even he takes for granted that Islam mandates the death of apostates.

Is It Right To Condemn The West For Its Aggression Against The East And Not To Condemn The Muslim Who Murders His Muslim Or Non-Muslim Brother?

"The Al-Qaeda leaders have killed thousands of innocent people – Arabs and non-Arabs, children, women, and the elderly – who have nothing to do with the conflict in the Middle East… Is it [really the conflict that] prevents the legal scholars from issuing fatwas condemning these murderers and permitting killing them, and getting rid of their evil? Or is it that those legal scholars think it sufficient to condemn and to cite slogans, about tolerance, love, and cooperation, and other utopian slogans that in reality are not worth the ink used to write them and the considerable funds necessary to convene the festivals of religious exhibitionism that lack decisive resolutions…

"Doesn't the fact that to date not a single fatwa has been issued calling for killing bin Laden and the other Al-Qaeda leaders involved in terrorist operations in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt… prove that many of the legal scholars who claim to be opposed to the waves of terrorism actually embrace these terrorist operations and secretly welcome them?

Note that by specifying Saudi Arabia and Egypt he is objecting primarily to the killing of fellow Muslims, which is prohibited by Qur'an 4:92.

"Isn't it akin to catastrophe, disintegration, mental annihilation, misguidedness, the absence of human sensibility, religious blindness... for some of the legal scholars to treat terrorism with a double standard, all the while accusing the 'infidels' of treating terrorism with a double standard...?

"Terrorism in Doha, for example, is prohibited, and sheikhs demonstrate to denounce and condemn it – while terrorism in Baghdad, Riyadh, Cairo, Sharm Al-Sheikh, Taba, and other places, is [considered] permitted and also restores the desecrated honor of the Islamic nation… Would it be right and fair to condemn the West for its aggression against the East and not to condemn the Muslim who murders his Muslim or non-Muslim brother who committed no crime?

Osama and others would dispute the idea that these non-Muslims they killed had in fact committed no crime. That is what Al-Nabulsi and others should address.

More evidence that the jihadists who are determined to destroy Israel -- and the West -- have only been emboldened, not pacified, by the Gaza pullout. From Reuters, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel (Reuters) - A rocket fired from Lebanon slammed into a northern Israeli community on Thursday, Israeli military sources and witnesses said.

Israeli witnesses said the rocket struck a chicken coop, killing some chickens and causing some damage but no other casualties....

Lebanese security sources said two rockets were fired and that one fell short of its mark, striking inside Lebanon.

Both Lebanese and Israeli security sources said they suspected the rockets were fired by a Palestinian group and not Hizbollah, a Shi'ite group instrumental in ending Israel's 22-year military occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000.

It is shaping up to be a busy day discussing jihad, dhimmitude, the impact of these on current events, and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades):

8:00 AM EDT: WVLZ "THE VOICE" on the Southern Roots Radio Network

8:35 AM EDT: WKY "Mark Shannon Show"

10:05 AM EDT: WGST with Guest Host Steve Malzberg

11:05 AM EDT: KDKA "Mike Pintek Show"

1:00 PM EDT: "Cullum and Silk" (Nationally Syndicated)

2:00 PM EDT: "Point of View" (Nationally Syndicated) Two hour segment -- until 4PM

4:05 PM EDT: WSKY "The Drive Time Happy Hour" with Chip Morris and Mr PC

5:00 PM EDT: "The Jim Greenfield Show" (Nationally Syndicated)

Also during the day I'll be taping a segment for KVTA's "Mark Wheeler Show," to be aired next week.

In the wake of the Gaza withdrawal. "Arab Terrorist Murders Old City Student," from Arutz Sheva, with thanks to Kemaste:

Police were looking for an Arab terrorist Wednesday night after he stabbed to death a young yeshiva student and injured another near Jaffa Gate in the Old City.

The attacker stabbed his first victim in the leg around 8:30 on David Street. The young man suffered moderate injuries and managed to reach the nearby police station, where he reported he was attacked with a kitchen knife.

Police rushed to the scene and discovered another stabbing victim with stomach wounds. Medics tried to resuscitate the man as he was rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, where he died while undergoing an operation. The other victim was hospitalized at Sha'arei Tzedek Hospital. Police are investigating reports that there was a third victim, who may have been injured lightly. They discovered the 30-centimeter (12-inch) knife at the scene....

Police said the incident was a terrorist attack, the first since Israel completed the expulsion of Jewish residents from northern Samaria and the Gaza region.

But not the last. Not the last.

Hizb-ut-Tahrir led from Los Angeles? "FBI Probing O.C. Islamic Scholar: Allegedly Leader Of Radical Islamic Group," from AP, with thanks to BHall:

LOS ANGELES (AP) The FBI has launched an inquiry into the dealings of an Orange County grocery store owner who is allegedly the leader of a little-known radical Islamic group that's been banned in parts of Europe and the Middle East.

Authorities say Iyad Hilal, an Islamic author and philosopher, is not suspected of any terrorist acts. But they want to know more about his activities and role in the group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which means Party of Liberation....

Hilal, 56, has lived in Orange County for more than a decade and whose writings argue that Islam is not compatible with democracy. His book about Islamic law has been used in courses at universities in the Middle East and Britain.

It can't happen here update from AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. Customs authorities blocked a Jordanian man from entering the country 20 months before he was accused of carrying out an Iraq suicide bombing, according to an internal Homeland Security memo obtained Wednesday.

The August 22 memo to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff credited Customs agents with identifying Ra'ed Mansour al-Banna as a suspicious traveler on June 14, 2003, when he flew into Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

"While it is not clear that al-Banna was a suicidal jihadist, the basis for denying him entry was that CBP (Customs and Border Protection) officers that interviewed him believed his intent for entering ... was inconsistent with the purpose of his visa," wrote Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner.

Al-Banna has been accused of carrying out one of Iraq's deadliest suicide bombing -- the February 28 attack in Hillah that killed 125 people.

"New Guidelines Target Those Who 'Foment, Justify or Glorify' Violence," from the Washington Post, or as Hugh calls it, the Bandar Beacon:

LONDON -- People who "foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence" will be deported and banned from Britain under new guidelines released Wednesday by the country's top law enforcement official.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke outlined new guidelines in the most detailed explanation to date of proposals announced earlier this month by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

On the new list of "unacceptable behaviors" announced by Clarke is using Web sites, writing, preaching, publishing or distributing materials that "seek to provoke others to terrorist acts" or "foster hatred."

"Individuals who seek to create fear, distrust and division in order to stir up terrorist activity will not be tolerated by the government or by our communities," Clarke said, in a statement detailing measures that are a direct result of last month's subway and train bombings in London, which killed 56 people, including four presumed bombers, and injured 700.

While human rights activists and others have criticized the measures, polls have shown overwhelming public support for tightening laws against religious extremism, even if that means limits on free speech and other civil liberties in a nation with a long tradition of tolerance.

"We recognize the sensitivities around the use of these powers and intend to use them in a measured and targeted way," Clarke said. "These powers are not intended to stifle free speech or legitimate debate about religions or other issues. Britain is rightly proud of its openness and diversity and we must not allow those driven by extremism of any sort to destroy that tradition."

Clarke also said a "database of individuals around the world who have demonstrated these unacceptable behaviors will be developed" and made available to immigration officers monitoring those entering Britain. He did not specify who would compile the list or how extensive it might be.

Clarke's statement did not refer to any particular religious or ethnic group, but all nine men suspected by police of carrying bombs last month are Muslim. In his statement on Aug. 5, Blair said he would ban two Islamic organizations from Britain and he said he planned to bar Muslim clerics who were "not suitable to preach."...

The Washington Times interviews Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer. Here and there I remember saying things in a slightly different -- and certainly fuller -- way, but that sort of thing often happens with interviews:

Robert Spencer has written five books about Islam. His newest book is "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)."

The following are excerpts of a telephone interview with Mr. Spencer.

Question: Why did you write this book?

Answer: I wrote this book in order to counteract a lot of politically correct falsehood about Islam and terrorism that are hindering our response to this problem.

Q: You've written several books on Islam before. What's different about this one?

A: Obviously, it contains different information in an approach that I haven't taken before. It discusses the Crusades, which I've never done at length, and it tries to make the case in a form that people who are in a hurry and don't wish to delve deeply can find as a ready reference.

Q: What has been the reaction to the book?

A: It's either enthusiastically positive or vehemently negative. The negative responses are not only from Muslims -- some have been very positive -- but the leftist intellectuals, who are convinced that the West can never be anything but the oppressor and the non-West can never be anything but the victim, are really negative.

Everything that I say in the book is amply documented by Islamic sources. I think the prevailing multicultural politically correct assumption that Islam is a religion of peace is founded more on fantasy than on fact.

Q: Where did the belief that it is a "religion of peace" come from?

A: A variety of sources. The idea that it's a religion of peace was propagated most effectively when the British wanted to enter into an alliance with the Ottoman Empire. The British people knew of the violence and didn't want them as an ally to the British state. The British picked up the myth that Islam is a religion of peace, and they propagated that in order to make the alliance more palatable.

Also, you have terrorists themselves insisting that it is a religion of peace, by which they mean the peace that will be established in the world when Islam reigns supreme. The idea also comes from an unexamined assumption that anything that is a religion must necessarily teach the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. But Islam doesn't teach these things. It makes a sharp distinction between believers and unbelievers.

It is also fostered by the president's desire to avoid war with the entire Islamic world, which I think is a commendable desire, but I don't think he's going [about] it the right way.

There is more, and you may wish to read on.

I just arrived back in Secure Undisclosed Locationville and have more radio appearances scheduled to discuss jihad, dhimmitude, related current events, and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). Two interviews today:

5:20 PM EDT: WKCT "Drivetime with Roy Brassfield"

9:35 PM EDT: The Rusty Humphries Show (Nationally Syndicated)

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Sacramento -- A federal judge ordered a Lodi father and son charged Tuesday with lying to the FBI to remain jailed after refusing to consider whether they should be able to post bail, but he didn't rule out attorneys fighting for the men's release in the future.

Hamid Hayat, 22, and Umer Hayat, 47, are charged with lying about Hamid Hayat's alleged participation in a terror training camp in Pakistan. Their attorneys say that Hamid Hayat never attended the camp and that the two men have no connection to terrorism, but U.S. District Judge Dale Drozd said Tuesday that the case against them had not changed enough to warrant reconsidering another judge's earlier decision to withhold bail.

Drozd said defense attorneys might be able to argue for bail if they could show that the Hayats' ability to pay it had changed significantly. The judge said any potential bail would have to be extremely high to ensure the men appeared at their trial, which is scheduled for October at the earliest.

"This is not a half a million dollar bail case," the judge said. Citing the gravity of the allegations and evidence that the Hayats have a home and relatives in Pakistan, he said, "This is one of the most serious flight risk cases that has been presented to me in my eight years here."

Defense attorneys said that the Hayats and their relatives were willing to use property worth as much as $600,000 as collateral and that other supporters had indicated they were willing to help.

Drozd ruled after a lengthy hearing that had been continued from Monday. Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Robert Tice-Raskin called the Hayats dangerous men who "certainly would not be strangers in a strange land in Pakistan."...

Asher Ragen is a Ph.D candidate at Harvard's School of Near Eastern Studies, and a reservist in the IDF. Here he offers an indelible perspective on the Gaza withdrawal.

As family after family is evicted from a home and a community, as the synagogues are emptied and the nurseries abandoned, the scale of destruction and suffering seems overwhelming. Equally overwhelming is the ease with which four decades of work and love invested in communities can be effaced. Is it really that easy to destroy what we have built? Is nothing about this state permanent?

Destruction on this magnitude demands an explanation. Yet search as one might through the "critical" analysis of the barrage of experts and pundits, no rational explanation is to be found. Hopefully the magnitude of suffering witnessed now daily will warn us of those flippant, vacuous answers heard too often. One needs to do better than callously remark, "Well, we couldn't stay there forever". None of us will live forever, either. The "forever" argument, intimating a knowledge of a future decades away, sounds doubly strange coming from a leadership that lacks a vision for the coming January, let alone "forever." It does not explain why this had to happen; why now? Why in this manner? Why was this done without elections? Why did the people not even get a chance to plead for themselves? Surely if forever is our time scale, a few more months would hardly matter.

Perhaps sometimes it is necessary to destroy. But the previous occasion -- the destruction of Yamit -- should serve as a yardstick. When Yamit was destroyed, it was done for the sake of a peace agreement with the largest Arab nation and the bitterest of enemies. It was done after Saddat arrived in Jerusalem, and after the peace agreement was ratified by an overwhelming majority in the Knesset. There was a real sense that the Middle East was about to change forever. Against such a background, the pain and suffering experienced in Yamit could be contextualized. It offered such tremendous benefits to the entire state, that it truly seemed wrong to let the settlements of Yamit stand in the way.

But what benefits are being offered here? The Palestinians have patiently explained, repeatedly, that this will change nothing. On the contrary, they are now assured of two crucial facts: Terrorism works, and there is no limit to what Israel will give. Some people believe that "at least no soldiers will have to die in Gaza". While I admire a fervent belief in the powers beyond our control, such religious zeal should really not interfere with rational security considerations. When the qassam missiles fall again in Sderot and beyond (and fall they will), Israel will immediately wait until there are significant civilian casualties. It will then threaten to really, really, retaliate. And when (surprise!) this threat is ignored, it will once again send soldiers into Gaza. Except this time they will face a well armed and prepared enemy, intent on exacting the highest price. And as for Sharon's threats -- well, not everyone is as frightened by the old man as his party yes-men.

The final straw being grasped at simply illustrates the disengagement from logic that this process entails. We are now told that we must leave Gaza because of the "demographic threat." Demography never killed anyone, however. And drawing artificial lines in the sand will not reduce the number of Arabs intent on murdering Jews. Slice and dice the state of Israel as you like, the Jews will remain a miniscule minority in the Middle East. And at any rate, "demographic threats" materialize over generations. Or not. If one insists on looking for a rational within the confines of academia, he would do better to turn to the department of Psychology.

Because not everyone watching the scenes from Gush Katif is moved to
tears. Some people have complaints about the aesthetics of the
deportation. These multiple "Miss Manners" have very clear ideas
about the etiquette of being thrown out of your home. They lament
the "barbaric" lack of decorum exhibited by parents who have just had
everything taken from them.

He has angered Australian Muslims by saying this, but we have already seen evidence that the jihad ideology has been taught in some Australian mosques. How, since neither Australian nor any other Muslims have actually declared Osama bin Laden and his ilk to be unbelievers, can anyone be sure that it is not being taught now? Why, if Australian Muslims know this but are loyal to Australia as it is currently constituted, would they not favor such measures?

From the NY Times, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

CANBERRA, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Prime Minister John Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spies monitoring the nation's mosques....

Howard said that while the government had no wish to interfere with the freedom and practice of religion, he supported sending people into mosques and Islamic schools to make sure nobody was promoting support for violence or extremism.

"We have a right to know whether there is, within any section of the Islamic community, a preaching of the virtues of terrorism, whether any comfort or harbour is given to terrorism within that community," Howard told Australian radio.

Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network convenor Waleed Kadous said Howard should be consulting more with the Muslim community.

"Such hardline talk only isolates some parts of the Muslim community even further and makes it harder for cooperation between the Muslim community and the government," Kadous told Australian Associated Press.

Why would it do that? He is saying that the Australian government has a right to know if sedition is being preached in Australian mosques. Consequently, says Kadous, Muslims in Australia will feel more isolated and not want to cooperate with the government. How does that follow? If Howard said that he was certain that sedition was not being preached in Australian mosques, would Kadous say that Muslims in Australia feel less isolated and more willing to cooperate? In other words: "Admit we aren't do anything wrong, and we will help you prove it."

There is no doubt that failing to confront them will be fatal. There is also no doubt that Cameron will be excoriated for saying this, just as if he had said this of "all Muslims" rather than "Islamist extremists" -- even though he did not do so. "Islamist extremists 'like Nazis'," from the BBC, with thanks to Uajeg:

A senior Conservative is to liken Islamist extremists to Nazis and warn failing to confront them will be fatal.

Leadership hopeful David Cameron will say the rise of Hitler showed that a willingness to give ground and avoid confrontation was seen as weakness.

In a speech to the Foreign Policy Centre, he will urge the government to do more to counter extremism.

The shadow education secretary will also call for more funding for the security services.

'Tough too'

Other measures he will urge include a dedicated border police force and 24-hour security at major ports.

He will also say Britain should withdraw entirely from international human rights conventions if they prevent the deportation of Islamic radicals.

Mr Cameron will warn a strain of Islamist thinking has developed which, like Nazism and Communism, offers followers redemption through violence.

"Just like the Nazis of 1930s Germany, they want to purge corrupt cosmopolitan influences," he is due to say.

'No surrender'

He will also say that the West's failure to act in the 1990s fed Osama Bin Laden's belief that it lacked the strength to defend itself.

"The lesson from all of this with respect to our presence in Iraq is clear.

"Premature withdrawal - and failure to support the Iraqi authority - would be seen as a surrender to militant Jihadism. Nothing would embolden the terrorists more."

A startling new Al-Arian update from the Tampa Tribune (thanks to Sr. Soph). Chuckles from the defendants' supporters? Because they are only too ready to believe that American officials are lying and trumping up their case against the Rumpled Academic. Unfortunately for them, however, much of Sami's jihad activity seems to have been captured on tape.

TAMPA - The Palestinian Islamic Jihad planned an attack inside the United States, but it might have been thwarted by federal law enforcement, an FBI agent testified Tuesday afternoon.

Agent Kerry Myers said all information about the plot was classified and he could not discuss it.

He made the revelation early in his cross-examination as a witness in the terror-support trial of former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian and three other men. U.S. District Judge James Moody later ordered prosecutors to present evidence about the plot to him during a closed meeting in his chambers to determine whether defense attorneys should have access to it.

Defense attorney William Moffitt had asked Myers whether the Islamic Jihad ever committed a terrorist attack outside Israel or the occupied territories.

It has not, but its leaders threatened to attack the United States three times, Myers said.

During a rapid-fire exchange in which both men's voices rose, Moffitt asked Myers whether anyone ever acted on those threats.

``I can tell you there was a plot to commit terrorist acts in the United States,'' he said. ``It was interdicted, I believe.''

Moffitt asked when that happened.

``It's classified,'' Myers said, drawing chuckles from defendants' relatives and supporters in the courtroom gallery.

From MEMRI:

On August 19, Palestinian Clerics Association Deputy Director Sheikh Muhammad Ali was interviewed by Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV. In the interview, he discussed Jihad as the duty of all Muslims, and the coming conquest of all of Palestine through Jihad, not negotiation. He went on to explain in detail the prophetic tradition of "the stone and the tree" (Wa'd al-hajar wa-'l-shajar) saying, "The Jews acknowledge this because they find it in their forged Torah." He also stated that this tradition called for "the wiping out of the Zionist enemy."

Sheikh Muhammad Ali: "Any land, any piece of land, over which flies the banner of 'There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger,' and which at a certain point belonged to the Muslims – as far as we are concerned, plundering and occupying such land is forbidden, and it is the duty of all Muslims to do what they can to liberate this land, wherever it may be. True, many precious Muslim lands are under occupation today. They have been forgotten, and Andalusia is one example. Nevertheless, it is the duty of the Muslims to liberate them. But since we are discussing Palestine, Gaza, and so on, let us focus on this precious piece of Muslim land, especially since Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque belong to all Muslims, and have become a part of the Muslim faith...

Sheikh Muhammad Ali: "The Prophet Muhammad foretold in a hadith that 'Judgment Day would come only when the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Muslims would kill the Jews, and the stone and tree would say: 'Oh, Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew' – of course he was referring to the occupying Zionist Jew – 'there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him', except for the Gharqad tree.'"

[...]

"Allah willing, we will enter [Palestine] as conquerors and liberators, not through negotiations, but through Jihad and resistance, because the hadith goes: 'And the Muslims would kill the Jews' – there is killing involved."

Moderator: "This divine prophecy, which appears in the hadith and in Koranic verses, denies the legitimacy of normalization or any agreement, because it is only a matter of time, and the Muslims will eventually liberate Jerusalem and regain Palestine."

Sheikh Muhammad Ali: "How peculiar it is that the Zionists believe this, while many leaders, regimes and Arabs do not believe this. This is very sad, strange, and puzzling. Of course, I mean the Muslims and Arabs that are misinformed. The Jews acknowledge this because they find it in their forged Torah, in their Talmud."...

"Since they believe that the Zionist entity will disappear... They are only trying to stall. They are not trying to establish themselves but to delay the fulfillment of the divine prophecy of the liberation of all of Palestine and the wiping out of the Zionist entity. If the Jews and the Zionists were to leave Palestine now, the war would be over, and the Middle East and the entire world could sigh in relief. But the Jews, these Zionists, are against humanity, not just against Muslims."

From the Jerusalem Post:

Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced on Monday that they have reached an agreement with the Palestinian Authority according to which the two groups would not be disarmed.

The agreement was reportedly achieved during talks in Damascus between PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Qurei met Sunday night in Damascus with leaders of various radical groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and discussed ways of cooperating with them after implementation of the disengagement plan is completed.

Sources close to the two groups said Qurei made it clear that the PA would not confiscate the weapons of any of the armed groups in the Gaza Strip.

Musa Abu Marzouk, a senior Hamas leader based in Syria, said the meeting was held in a "cordial atmosphere" and that the two sides agreed that the Palestinians should have a joint strategy after disengagement.

"We stressed during the meeting that the Palestinians have the right to continue the resistance [against Israel] and that there would be no attempt to collect weapons from the resistance groups," he said.

"The weapons of the resistance were founded to defend the Palestinian people and resist the occupation," he added. "The Gaza victory was achieved with the weapons of the resistance, which is the only strategy to drive Israel out of the rest of our lands."

Qurei met earlier with Syrian President Bashar Assad and discussed with him the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank...

From Expatica with thanks to Sr. Soph.

BERLIN - German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer voiced alarm Sunday at the risk of military conflict over Iran's nuclear research and called on Tehran to be reasonable.

In remarks aired Sunday on a current-affairs programme on Germany's ARD public television network, Fischer said he wished that the Iranian leadership would grasp that they could fulfil their "legitimate interests" in development and security by "employing reason". ARD quoted from the interview before it was aired.

Fischer said Iran's nuclear technology "makes no sense for civilian use".

"It's like somebody manufacturing engines when they don't have any factories making cars," he said. That posed the question as to why Iran was pursuing nuclear research.

If Tehran was moving in the direction of military use of nuclear skills, "then I think that is very much a cause for concern".

"A military escalation in Iran involves dangers that nobody will be able to control afterwards," he said...

"CAIR Hails Firing of Michael Graham" from CNS, with thanks to Andy Bostom.

An Islamic civil rights group Monday praised the firing of a Washington, D.C., radio talk show host it criticized for claiming that "Islam is a terrorist organization."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) welcomed Michael Graham's ouster from WMAL following his initial suspension without pay for controversial remarks against Islam.

"Just as Michael Graham has the right to hold bigoted views, so, too, does our society have the right to live free of hatred and incitement," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad in a statement.

"We are saddened that Michael Graham would not take responsibility for his hate-filled words, but we do welcome WMAL's action as a step toward reducing the level of anti-Muslim bigotry on our nation's airwaves," said Awad...

From the Australian, with thanks to all who sent this in.

ONE of the Islamic leaders meeting John Howard today suspects September 11 was a conspiracy and asks "why did 4000 Jews not show up for work" on the day of the attacks?

Abdul (Ray) Rahman Deen also says there were no black box flight recorders found in the wreckage of the World Trade Centre after hijacked planes were flown into the twin towers, killing thousands.
Mr Deen, who is a development officer for the Liberal Party, says it was therefore wrong to blame any group for September 11 "without full facts and evidence".

The comments are contained in a letter sent recently to the nine core members of the peak Muslim body, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

Mr Deen, whose family operates a demolition company in Queensland, issued a statement saying the comments were views expressed in the community about conspiracy theories, rather than his own.

Mr Howard said he was pleased Mr Deen had clarified the comments, but AFIC president Ameer Ali, who received the letter, disagreed with Mr Deen saying the comments in the letter were clearly Mr Deen's personal views.

"There are many people who believe this in the community. This a problem and one that we need to confront," Dr Ali said.

His comments are a severe blow to the 13 Muslim leaders arriving in Canberra for today's summit with the Prime Minister.

The summit, announced in the wake of the London bombings, aims to tackle the spread of intolerance and hatred - and thereby reduce the threat of a terrorist attack in Australia...

Daniel Pipes writes in the New York Sun and his website:

Do terrorist atrocities in the West, such as the attacks of September 11, 2001 and those in Bali, Madrid, Beslan, and London, help radical Islam achieve its goal of gaining power?

No, they are counterproductive. That's because radical Islam has two distinct wings - one violent and illegal, the other lawful and political - and they exist in tension with each other. The lawful strategy has proven itself effective, but the violent approach gets in its way.

The violent wing is foremost represented by the world's no. 1 fugitive, Osama bin Laden. The popular and powerful prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, represents the lawful wing. Even as "Al Qaeda has more state adversaries than nearly any force in history," as Daniel C. Twining observes, political imams like Yusuf al-Qaradawi instruct huge audiences on Al-Jazeera television and visit with the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. As Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr skulks around Iraq, looking for a role, Ayatollah Sistani dominates the country's political life.

Yes, terrorism kills enemies, instills fear, and disrupts the economy. Yes, it boosts morale and recruits non-Muslims to Islam and Muslims to Islamism. It creates an opportunity for Islamists to fight for their favorite causes, such as the elimination of Israel or the disengagement of coalition forces from Iraq. It provides, as Mark Steyn notes, intelligence information on the enemy. And yes, it prompts politically correct talk about Islam being a "religion of peace," with Muslims portrayed as victims.

But for two main reasons, terrorism does radical Islam more harm than good.

First, it alarms and galvanizes Westerners. For example, the July 7 bombings took place during the G8 summit in Scotland, where world leaders were focused on global warming, aid to Africa, and macro-economic issues. In a London minute, the politicians then redirected their attention toward counterterrorism. Thus did the terrorists stiffen, as Mona Charen points out, "whatever small residue of resolve remains in flaccid Western civilization."

More broadly, Mr. Twining notes, "Al Qaeda's rise has produced the kind of great power entente not seen since the Concert of Europe took shape in 1815." (Even the Madrid bombings, an apparent exception, led to a marked strengthening of counterterrorism measures by Spain and other European countries.)

Second, terrorism obstructs the quiet work of political Islamism. In tranquil times, organizations like the Muslim Council of Britain and the Council on American-Islamic Relations effectively go about their business, promoting their agenda to make Islam "dominant" and imposing dhimmitude (whereby non-Muslims accept Islamic superiority and Muslim privilege). Westerners generally respond like slowly boiled frogs are supposed to, not noticing a thing...

Read it all.

Despite the fact that some blogs are giving the Able Danger story a lot of attention, seemingly in order to defend the administration against all comers, we have not seen fit to run with it endlessly. This word from the Pentagon is sufficient. From AFP, with thanks to D.W.

A Pentagon review has so far found no evidence that a secret intelligence operation identified Mohammad Atta as a member of a US-based Al-Qaeda cell before the September 11, 2001 attacks, a spokesman said.

Representative Curt Weldon and Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer have charged that Atta and three other September 11 hijackers were identified as early as mid-2000 through a data-mining program codenamed "Able Danger."

But Lawrence DiRita, a Pentagon spokesman, said a review of materials related to Able Danger has so far turned up no evidence that it identified Atta, the reputed leader of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon...

"What we have found are mostly sort of general reference to terrorist cells that people were generally aware of," DiRita told reporters.

"But nothing that would seem to corroborate specifically what congressman Weldon and Lieutenant Colonel Shaffer recall, although as you know they don't have what they said they saw. That makes it a little more difficult," he said.

Weldon and Shaffer have said Atta and three other future hijackers appeared as members of a Brooklyn-based Al-Qaeda cell on a chart that was presented by Able Danger to the US Special Operations Command in early to mid 2000.

They said the group had recommended the information be shared with the FBI, but that the command's lawyers rejected that course of action.

If true, it would have been the first time Atta was known to have been identified by the US intelligence community as an Al-Qaeda member before the September 11 attacks. Providing Atta's name to the FBI might have helped disrupt the attack, according to Weldon.

Neither Weldon nor Shaffer have been able to produce a copy of the chart itself, however.

Shaffer acknowledged in an interview published Saturday by the Washington Post that his allegations about the chart were based on the recollections of a navy officer and an unidentified civilian official affiliated with Able Danger.

He said that after the September 11 attacks, the civilian employee showed him a chart from 2000 that had the names of Atta and three other hijackers.

Navy Captain Scott Phillpott, whose recollections Shaffer also said he relied on, told a presidential commission investigating the September 11 attacks in July 2004 that he remembered seeing Atta's name on an Able Danger chart in the spring of 2000.

Chasing the ever vanishing chimera of peace, some Jewish groups propose nothing less than the road to subjugation and dhimmitude as a solution. From Haaretz, with thanks to Sr. Soph.

NEW YORK - A small rally to support the Israeli pullout from Gaza ended Monday with a Muslim leader embracing an Orthodox Jewish rabbi whose organization opposes Israel's right to exist and supports a Palestinian state.

Ghazi Khankan, who was executive director of the regional Council on American-Islamic Relations from 2000 to 2004, approached Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss and hugged him after appealing for an evenhanded U.S. foreign policy and a state where Muslims, Jews and Christians can live together peacefully.

Weiss, looking somewhat surprised, returned the hug with a smile.

The organization he represents, Neturei Karta International, claims Zionism is against Jewish law written in the Torah and says the creation of Israel has exacerbated anti-Semitism.

It called the rally to express gratitude for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Weiss said is a "token beginning" of righting a historic wrong - a view supported by Khankan, who was also president of the National Council on Islamic Affairs for 10 years...

At Monday's rally, more than 40 Orthodox Jewish men in black hats and long black coats from Neturei Karta stood in the summer heat in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza near the United Nations, some holding placards saying "Torah Forbids Any Jewish State" and "Judaism Rejects Zionism and the State of Israel." One held a placard with a Palestinian state including all of Israel, and a young boy held a Palestinian flag.

Before Zionists started pressing for a Jewish state in the early 1900s, Weiss said, Jews lived in harmony with Muslims.

"Zionism brought about this terrible rift, this mistrust that we can't live in Muslim lands," he said. "It's a terrible tragedy. We can live together."

"We pray everyday for the speedy dismantlement of this rule of the state of Israel so that it should be transformed into the rule of the Palestinian people, so Jews can live together with Arabs, Muslims in harmony. ... Nothing else will bring an ongoing long-lasting peace," Weiss said.

Lebanese Civil War, Part II in the making? Once again, the Christian areas are being targeted. From the New Duranty Times, with thanks to all who sent this in.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A powerful explosion rocked a shopping center and hotel in the Zalka neighborhood in northern Beirut on Monday night, injuring at least three people and causing extensive damage, security officials said.

Heavily armed Lebanese soldiers cordoned off the area, punching journalists to keep them back.

Brig. Gen. Darwish Hobeika, the Civil Defense Corps commander, told Lebanese Broadcasting that two people were slightly injured and one Civil Defense rescuer was hurt.

Zalka's mayor, Michel Murr, told Lebanese Broadcasting that the bomb was placed in an open area between the Moussa shopping center and the Promenade Hotel, which was packed with tourists. He said no tourists were hurt.

The explosion shattered the windows of several apartment buildings and blew shutters off dozens of luxury boutiques in the neighborhood. Shattered glass and plaster filled the hotel lobby. Black smoke billowed high in the night sky, but there was no visible fire.

Aluminum siding and roofing in the shopping center buckled. The state-run National News Agency estimated the explosion was caused by 45 pounds of TNT.

Security forces were seen rounding up several suspects, including five men with their hands tied behind their backs who were taken to a military vehicle.

Zalka, on the Mediterranean coast, is a mixed residential and commercial area on a main street that leads to Lebanon's Christian heartland. The area has cafes, restaurants and other nightspots.

The explosion was the latest in a string of bombings that have killed or wounded politicians and other prominent figures in Lebanon since the assassination in February of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, an attack that rattled Lebanon's political and security foundations...

Jordan: 'Prime suspect' arrested in U.S. warship attack. From CNN:

Al Qaeda in Iraq has issued a claim of responsibility for a rocket attack in Jordan just hours after Jordanian authorities said they had arrested the "prime suspect" in the attack on two U.S. warships that left a Jordanian soldier dead.

The claim of responsibility, dated Tuesday and posted on web sites and distributed by e-mail, said al Qaeda in Iraq -- believed headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- waited to issue its claim until its fighter had returned safely to Iraq.

In its statement about the arrest, the Jordanian government said three others suspects had escaped into Iraq.

"Your brothers fired rockets toward their targets, the American crusader vessels that were at the Aqaba port as well as Eilat (Israel).

"With God's grace, the brothers returned safely to Iraq."

The claim said al Qaeda in Iraq could continue to "the centers of the infidels."

The claim by al Qaeda in Iraq is the second claim of responsibility.

On Friday, a group with a checkered record of claims -- "The brigades of the Martyr Abdallah Azzam Qaeda in the Levant & Egypt" -- also claimed it was behind the attacks...

In the world of jihad, not everything is as it seems. The homeless person on the corner that you passed on your way to work this morning, for example. What if he's not "just watching all the girls go by?" From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm.

WASHINGTON - Asking for increased vigilance in the wake of the London bombings, the government is warning that terrorists may pose as vagrants to conduct surveillance of buildings and mass transit stations to plot future attacks.

"In light of the recent bombings in London, it is crucial that police, fire and emergency medical personnel take notice of their surroundings, and be aware of 'vagrants' who seem out of place or unfamiliar," said the message, distributed via e-mail to some federal employees in Washington by the U.S. Attorney's office.

It is based on a State Department report that was issued last week. The State Department had no immediate comment Monday.

The warning is similar to one issued by the FBI before July 4, 2004 that said terrorists may attempt surveillance disguised as homeless people, shoe shiners, street vendors or street sweepers...

American prisons are proving to be fertile ground for jihad recruitment. From the San Diego Union Tribune, with thanks to Nicolei.

LOS ANGELES – On the surface, the investigation of an alleged terrorism plot involving at least one former California inmate seems to confirm the fear that the nation's prisons may be a breeding ground for terrorists.

Law enforcement officials here have said little about the investigation into potential terrorist targets such as Los Angeles-area National Guard centers and synagogues...

Officials acknowledged they are looking into whether the alleged plot, which also reportedly targeted an Israeli consulate, was organized by members of a militant Islamic group based at the California State Prison, Sacramento. Three Los Angeles-area men being investigated are in custody, including two arrested and charged in a string of gas station holdups...

The allegations seem to support comments that FBI Director Robert Mueller made to the Senate Intelligence Committee: "Prisons continue to be fertile ground for extremists who exploit both a prisoner's conversion to Islam while still in prison, as well as their socio-economic status and placement in the community upon their release."...

Al-Jazeera aired a glowing special on female suicide bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, on August 16, 2005. Jaradat was responsible for the October 2003 bombing of the Arab-owned restaurant Maxim in Haifa, Israel, which killed 19. She is held up as an example for other young girls to follow. Transcribed by MEMRI:

Hanadi Jaradat: "By the power of Allah, I have decided to become the sixth female martyrdom-seeker, who will turn her body into shrapnel, which will reach the heart of every Zionist colonialist in my country, and every settler or Zionist who has tried to sow death in my country. We are not the only ones who must sow and reap..."

Reporter: "Her cousin Sami was the one who filmed her."

Sami Jaradat: "I filmed her with a video camera. There was no need to prepare a special room. She could stand and say whatever she wanted, and that's it.

"She was more courageous than a man. I was standing in front of her, and although she was the one going [on the operation], I was more mentally distressed than her...

Amjad Al-'Ubeidi, commander of the Islamic Jihad in Jenin: "It is not that complicated. We produce primitive explosives, from which we make an explosives belt, a bag, or something. You can get most of it easily these days. There is nothing special about it. The belt is like this shirt – you wear it and there is a button here. You push the button, and that's it. All she had to do was push a button. There's nothing to learn. She would wear it... Hanadi, especially, being an educated lawyer, who knows what to do, who speaks English, and gets along by herself - she did not need anyone to take her...

"From the Haifa operation in which Hanadi was martyred until my capture, I did not see her family at all. What can I possibly say to console them? They deserve to be consoled, but words are not enough. They lost [a son before Hanadi]. Nothing is more precious than a son. They lost a son. Losing a son affects the soul many times more than losing a daughter in our society. Losing even 10 daughters is not as bad as losing one son. That's how it is in our society. A son is more dear to the parents than a daughter. Since his role in life is greater, the pain is heavier."

Hussein Al-Sheikh, West Bank Fatah commander: "When Wafa Idris did this, she played a role, I think, in the shaping of a new culture among Palestinian girls. She has become a source of pride. Many girls, for various reasons, wanted to play the same role...

Dr. Andrew Bostom, author of the excellent forthcoming book, The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims, writes in to point out how in the discussion of the current Iraqi Constitutional debacle most people seem to be unaware that Iraqis have in fact tread this path before--with distressing results, culminating in massacres of the Assyrian Christians, and later the hideous Baghdad pogrom of its Jewish population in 1941. He cites here a revealing "hopeful" analysis from 1935 which, even after the Assyrian massacres of 1933-34, smacks of the same delusional apologetics. Again, this was written after great expense of British blood and treasure, and more than a decade of military occupation. (S.A. Morrison, "Religious Liberty in Iraq", Moslem World, 1935, p. 128):

"Iraq is moving steadily forward towards the modern conception of the State, with a single judicial and administrative system, unaffected by considerations of religion or nationality. The Millet system [i.e., dhimmitude--not reflected by this ridiculous euphemism!] still survives, but its scope is definitely limited. Even the Assyrian tragedy of 1933 does not shake our faith in the essential progress that has been made. The Government is endeavoring to carry out faithfully the undertakings it has given, even when these run directly counter to the long-cherished provisions of the Sharia Law. But it is not easy; it cannot be easy in the very nature of the case, for the common people quickly to adjust their minds to the new legal situation, and to eradicate from their outlook the results covering many centuries of a system which implies the superiority of Islam over the non-Moslem minority groups. The legal guarantees of liberty and equality represent the goal towards which the country is moving, rather than the expression of the present thoughts and wishes of the population. The movement, however, is in the right direction, and it may yet prove possible for Islam to disentangle religious faith from political status and privilege."

UK jihad update. "Police foil gas attack on Commons," from the TimesOnline, with thanks to The One Who Must Not Be Named:

SCOTLAND YARD believes it has thwarted an Al-Qaeda gas attack aimed at ministers and MPs in parliament. The plot, hatched last year, is understood to have been discovered in coded e-mails on computers seized from terror suspects in Britain and Pakistan. Police and MI5 then identified an Al-Qaeda cell that had carried out extensive research and video-recorded reconnaissance missions in preparation for the attack.

The encrypted e-mails are said to have been decoded with the help of an Al-Qaeda “supergrass”. By revealing the terrorists’ code he was also able to help MI5 and GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre at Cheltenham, to crack several more plots.

The discovery of the suspected Commons nerve gas plot was behind the decision to increase security around parliament this summer.

A senior officer said that the scheme had led to the intervention of Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of MI5, to assess parliament’s security.

The operation to deter the sarin gas attack is referred to in an internal police document obtained by The Sunday Times.

It is a minute of a meeting of senior police officers held last month at Specialist Operations 17 (SO17), the unit responsible for protecting parliament, and reveals that the team were waiting to be briefed on the plot.

This weekend a senior officer disclosed that the thwarted plot mentioned in the document involved a gas or chemical “dirty bomb” attack against parliament. “The House of Commons was one of their targets as well as the Tube,” he said.

“They were planning to use chemicals, a dirty bomb and sarin gas. They looked at all sorts of ways of delivering it.”

But despite the successful police operation and upgraded security measures, senior officers are worried that security at the houses of parliament remains “unacceptable”.

While the judge isn't sure whether these men can really be considered dangerous. An update on this story, from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

SACRAMENTO - A federal magistrate questioned whether two Lodi men held on terror-related charges can be considered dangerous, despite prosecutors' detailing of secret recordings they say provide further evidence of potential violence.

Hamid Hayat, 22, and his father, Umer Hayat, 47, are charged with lying to federal investigators, and prosecutors said additional charges could follow. Prosecutors asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Dale Drozd to keep the men jailed pending trial, arguing they are likely to flee to Pakistan and are a danger to the community if they are released....

"They are not charged with a crime of violence," Drozd said Monday of the Hayats. "I don't believe they can be detained as a danger to the community."

He stopped short of saying he might free the men but said he might have to change the order specifying why the father and son are being detained. He set a second hearing on the matter for Tuesday.

Secret tape recordings provide further evidence that the younger man attended a Pakistani terror training camp and trained for jihad, federal prosecutors contend in a court filing arguing against the defense motion to set bail.

The men were arrested in June, days after the younger man returned from Pakistan. Hamid Hayat is charged with lying when he initially denied attending an al-Qaida training camp. Prosecutors charged his father with lying when he initially denied helping pay for his son to attend the camp for at least three months in 2003....

In conversations from Pakistan, Hamid Hayat told the witness that he had been accepted for "training," prosecutors said. After failing a lie detector test upon his return, Hayat admitted in a videotaped interview that he attended one camp for three days in 2000 and a second for three to six months in 2003 and 2004, describing the location and layout of the second camp, prosecutors alleged.

"The purpose of both camps was to train for jihad and to teach people to kill those who work against Muslims," they alleged. They said the camps provided training in weapons and explosives and hand-to-hand combat.

The younger man admitted during the videotaped interrogation that he "intended to commit jihad in the U.S. He did not have any orders to fight at present; however, he was awaiting such orders," prosecutors said.

Michael Graham explains how and why he was fired by WMAL in Townhall via FrontPage, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

The First Amendment and I have been evicted from ABC Radio in Washington, DC.

On July 25th, the Council on American-Islamic Relations demanded that I be “punished” for my on-air statements regarding Islam and its tragic connections to terrorism. Three days later, 630 WMAL and ABC Radio suspended me without pay for comments deemed “hate radio” by CAIR.

CAIR immediately announced that my punishment was insufficient and demanded I be fired. ABC Radio and 630 WMAL have now complied. I have been fired for making the specific comments CAIR deemed “offensive,” and for refusing to retract those statements in a management-mandated, on-air apology. ABC Radio further demanded that I agree to perform what they described as “additional outreach efforts” to those people or groups who felt offended.

I refused. And for that refusal, I have been fired.

It appears that ABC Radio has caved to an organization that condemns talk radio hosts like me, but has never condemned Hamas, Hezbollah, and one that wouldn’t specifically condemn al-Qaeda for three months after 9/11.

Read it all.

Another story about the horrific practice of female genital mutilation, or FGM, now occuring with alarming frequency in the American fostered democracy of Iraq. The Light-Unto-the-Muslim-Nations seems to be snuffed out before it was ever lit. From the Washington Times, with thanks to JMP.

GERMIAN, Iraq - Set on the arid, pebble-strewn plain southeast of Kirkuk, Hasira looks like a place forsaken by time.

Fat-tailed sheep amble past mud-brick houses and brushwood pens. The odd sickly palm tree provides shade for children's games. There is no electricity.

Germian and 39 other villages in this region of Iraqi Kurds have made their small place in history.

Surveyed by WADI, a German nongovernmental organization (NGO) based in Iraq for more than a decade, the region has provided the first statistical proof of the existence of female genital mutilation in the Middle East.

"We knew Germian was one of the areas most affected by the practice," said WADI director Thomas von der Osten-Sacken. "But the results were a shock."

Of 1,554 women and girls aged 10 or older interviewed by WADI's local medical team, 907 -- more than 60 percent -- said they had undergone the operation...

Jihad Watch Readers will not be surprised at this, but the folks in the White House and State Department probably are. The Guardian gains rare access to Iraqi town and finds it fully in control of 'mujahideen' (with thanks to Rudolf)

The executions are carried out at dawn on Haqlania bridge, the entrance to Haditha. A small crowd usually turns up to watch even though the killings are filmed and made available on DVD in the market the same afternoon.

One of last week's victims was a young man in a black tracksuit. Like the others he was left on his belly by the blue iron railings at the bridge's southern end. His severed head rested on his back, facing Baghdad. Children cheered when they heard that the next day's spectacle would be a double bill: two decapitations. A man named Watban and his brother had been found guilty of spying.

With so many alleged American agents dying here Haqlania bridge was renamed Agents' bridge. Then a local wag dubbed it Agents' fridge, evoking a mortuary, and that name has stuck.

A three-day visit by a reporter working for the Guardian last week established what neither the Iraqi government nor the US military has admitted: Haditha, a farming town of 90,000 people by the Euphrates river, is an insurgent citadel.

That Islamist guerrillas were active in the area was no secret but only now has the extent of their control been revealed. They are the sole authority, running the town's security, administration and communications.

A three-hour drive north from Baghdad, under the nose of an American base, it is a miniature Taliban-like state. Insurgents decide who lives and dies, which salaries get paid, what people wear, what they watch and listen to...

From the The Age, with thanks to Lee.

KURDISH politicians negotiating a draft constitution have criticised the US ambassador to Iraq for allegedly pushing them to accept too great a role for Islamic law in the US drive to complete the charter on time.

Although a Sunni delegate made similar charges, US officials declined to comment publicly while they worked with politicians as today's deadline loomed.

US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad spent Saturday shuttling between Iraqi political leaders, members of Iraq's constitutional committee said.

Delegates said distribution of oil revenue dominated the talks but no agreement was reached. Shiite Arab, Kurdish and Sunni Muslim factions differ on how much revenue should be controlled by a federal Iraqi government and how it should be divided. But the question of Islamic law drew strong public protests from Kurds.

The current working draft of the constitution stipulates that no law can contradict Islamic principles. In talks with Shiite religious parties, Kurdish negotiators said they had pressed unsuccessfully to limit the definition of Islamic law to agreed-upon religious principles.

The Kurds said current language in the constitutional draft would subject Iraqis to extreme interpretations.

Kurds also contend provisions in the draft would allow Islamic clerics to serve on the high court that would interpret the constitution. That would potentially subject marriage, divorce, inheritance and other civil matters to religious law, and could harm women's rights in particular, Kurdish negotiators and some women's groups said.

Mr Khalilzad had specifically supported those provisions, urging other groups to accept them, according to Kurds involved in the talks.

"Really, we are disappointed with that. It seems like the Americans want to have a constitution at any cost," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of the constitutional committee.

"These things are not good — giving the constitution an Islamic face. It is not good to have a constitution that would limit the liberties of people, the human rights, the freedoms," Mr Othman said.

Other delegates to the constitutional talks also complained about pressure from Mr Khalilzad. Salih Mutlak, a Sunni delegate who has been outspoken against some compromise proposals, said: "His main interest is to push the constitution on time. No matter what the constitution has in it...

Here is an interesting profile of London's dhimmi mayor "Red" Ken Livingstone, whom Hugh Fitzgerald has pilloried before in these pages. From Haaretz, with thanks to Sr. Soph.

Ken Livingstone was born in Stratham, in south London, in June 1945, one month after the end of World War II. "I grew up in a world in which all the horror of what the Nazis did unfolded over the years," he said in a newspaper interview six months ago. "For all my generation, we defined evil by that: that this is the absolute worst in human history."

His world of images is anchored in that war and its horrors, from which he also occasionally draws some of his controversy-sparking expressions. In 1984, as a member of Camden borough council of London, he attacked the Board of Deputies - the umbrella organization of the Jewish communities in Britain - describing it as being "dominated by reactionaries and neo-fascists." Three years later, he compared Camden's housing policy to the persecution of homosexuals by Hitler's regime of terror. In 2000, he commented, "Capitalism has killed more people than Hitler."

But his sharp tongue reached the height of vulgarity of historic memory one evening last February. Livingstone was in an especially ebullient mood that night, and some say he was a trifle too ebullient due to having had a few too many drinks (he denies this) at a political get-together. Waiting outside the party was Oliver Finegold, a Jewish reporter for the Evening Standard, who peppered Livingstone with questions. The mayor responded by comparing the reporter to a kapo, a guard at a concentration camp.

This caused a huge storm. Holocaust survivors demonstrated outside his office. Synagogues called for a boycott of the mayor. Some observers feared the incident could hurt London's efforts to win the right to host the Olympic Games. Prime Minister Tony Blair phoned and asked Livingstone to apologize, but the mayor refused, with characteristic stubbornness. "Why should I say words I don't believe in?" he railed. But at the same time, in an effort to fend off the criticism, he also attested that "The Holocaust infuses all my politics."

After high school, Livingstone completed a teacher's certificate, but never used it. From a relatively young age he had worked as a technician in the cancer research laboratory of a hospital, was active in the Labour Party, and was drawn to its more radical circles. His political consciousness was etched by the protest movement of the 1960s. The two mainstays of his worldview emerged from that era. One was reflected in his opinions on foreign policy, in which it was always clear who were the bad guys (European colonialism and American imperialism) and who were the good guys (the repressed Third World). It comes as no surprise that in 2002 and 2003 he described Ariel Sharon as a "war criminal."

When George W. Bush was due to arrive in London on a visit, Livingstone called him "the most dangerous man in the world." Sharon and Bush are in good company in Livingstone's vocabulary. They are there together with the Saudi royal family, about which he said that he hoped to see its sons "swinging from lampposts."...

It is probably just a matter of time before we see high profile kidnappings in Europe as are described as being planned here. From UPI, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm.

An Algerian terrorist group is calling on fellow extremists to track and strike government and civilian compatriots in France.

In an Internet message, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat called on its "Muslim brothers in France" to survey, track and "ambush" high-level political, military and economic officials on French soil, Le Figaro reports.

"Our real enemies aren't only the military rulers," the GSPC said in its Internet message reportedly published in early August. "But also numerous civilians known for their allegiance to French leaders."

"Support your brothers in Algeria by tracking these criminals in France," the statement reportedly read.

The GSPC was founded in 1998 as a splinter group of the Armed Islamic Group, which launched a bloody insurgency against Algeria's military backed government in the early 1990s. The ensuing civil war killed as many as 150,000 people...

Imagine, a prominent cleric! We're shocked, shocked! From the Khaleej Times, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm.

DHAKA - A prominent cleric in Bangladesh was arrested on Monday for his alleged role in the August 17 bomb attacks across the country which killed two people and injured 200, officials said.

The cleric, identified as Maulana Fariduddin Mahfuz, was arrested at the airport in Dhaka as he prepared to board a flight to Dubai.

Mahfuz, who once headed the state-run Islamic Foundation, is accused of trying to flee the country after intelligence agencies unearthed proof of his involvement in the series of cross-country explosions which triggered nationwide panic.

The foundation publishes books and organizes seminars on Islam besides running the biggest mosque in the country.

Government sources claimed Mahfuz had strong ties with the banned militant group Jamiat ul Mujahideen which has been blamed for the bombings in cities and towns across the country.

Most of the world is just hearing about this, but if you have been reading Jihad Watch you would know that there has been no change on this point since late July. Another I told you so update: "Iraq draft says laws must conform to Islam -text," from Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

BAGHDAD, Aug 22 (Reuters) - A draft constitution for Iraq to be presented to parliament on Monday will make Islam "a main source" for legislation and ban laws that contradict religious teachings, members of the parliamentary drafting panel said.

One said the text, agreed by the ruling Shi'ite and Kurdish coalition over Sunni Arab objections, would read: "Islam is a main source for legislation and it is not permitted to legislate anything that conflicts with the fixed principles of its rules."

Shi'ite delegate Jawad al-Maliki said the wording was fixed.

It appeared to be something of a compromise after secular Kurds had objected during negotiations to Islam being "the main source" of laws. It was not clear how legislation would be subjected to the test of conforming to Islamic principles.

Jihad has always had an international character. Islamic theology stipulates that defensive jihad is fard ayn, or obligatory on every individual Muslim. Since a large number of jihad attacks throughout history, and the overwhelming majority of jihad activity today, is deemed defensive, it has been a recurring phenomenon throughout history that Muslims travel from far and wide to take part in jihad. In The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) I recount some incidents of this taking place at the time of the Crusades. Today we all see how Iraq has been a magnet for the mujahedin, as were Bosnia and Afghanistan before it. And here is another example. "Rebels linking up with foreign jihadists, says PNP official," from ABS-CBN, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

A lethal mix of militant groups is emerging in Mindanao, a senior police intelligence official said, warning of attacks as foreign and local jihadists share resources, talents and capabilities, a Reuters report said Monday.

The intelligence official, who declined to be identified, said foreign Islamic militants, mostly Indonesians, were building alliances with several homegrown Moro rebels to survive government offensives in the south.

Since July, troops backed by US aerial surveillance vehicles have been combing coastal and mountain villages in Maguindanao province for about 30 rebels from the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, who are thought to be operating with a handful of Indonesian militants.

"These militants are now crossing organizational lines to exchange and share manpower, expertise and resources," the intelligence official told Reuters late on Sunday.

"If governments in the region are cooperating to eliminate these threats, we are now seeing that terrorists are also sharing their 'best practices' to fight back".

As we have pointed out here many, many times. "'Pak madrassas nurseries of destruction,'" from the Times of India, with thanks to Vikrant:

NEW DELHI: Several speakers at the recently-concluded 57th session of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights sought a ban on madrassas run by religio-political parties in Pakistan, describing them as "nurseries of death and destruction". The session was held in Geneva.

The madrassas and the terrorist infrastructure continues to thrive in Pakistan despite public statements of the ruling military establishment, the speakers pointed out.

They stressed that "unless these were dismantled and sustained international pressure brought upon the state, which sustains and nurtures this evil, the world would continue to suffer the threats of global terrorism".

It's good to see a bit of reality at the UN.

The defense, of course, described all this differently. From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

SAN FRANCISCO - Federal prosecutors allege that secret recordings offer further details about a 22-year-old Lodi man they claim attended a jihad training camp designed to teach attendees how to kill people, a newspaper reported in Monday's edition.

The latest allegations came Friday from U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott in a court filing, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. In the filing, prosecutors asked a federal judge in Sacramento to continue holding Hamid Hayat and his father, Umer Hayat, 47, without bail.

A hearing was scheduled Monday at U.S. District Court in Sacramento, where attorneys for the Hayats were to argue for their bail to be reduced. Both men have been charged with lying about the son's alleged presence at a training camp.

According to prosecutors, a witness recorded Hamid Hayat when in 2003 when he was in the United States, and again when Hayat was in Pakistan the same year.

Prosecutors Steven Lapham and Robert Tice-Raskin also allege that Hamid Hayat acknowledged to federal agents that he attended a camp in Pakistan for at least three months in 2003. He was arrested shortly after returning from Pakistan.

"He described, with fair detail, the location of the second camp and layout of the same," the Lapham and Tice-Raskin filing states. "The purpose of both camps was to train for jihad and to teach people to kill those who work against Muslims."

From "Royal Mosque, a testimony to 700 years of history," in Newindpress, with thanks to Kskat:

RAJAHMUNDRY: The simple and unostentatious exterior of the Royal Mosque of Rajahmundry belies its uniqueness and historicity. It stands as a testimony to history spanning seven centuries.

The Royal Mosque or Shahi Jamia Masjid is among the oldest mosques constructed in Andhra Pradesh and dates back to the Tughluq era.

It was constructed by Suleiman Humayun Ulugh Khan, son of Ghiasuddin Abdul Mujaffar Tugluq - the Sultan of Delhi - on August 20, 1305. According to historians, the Tugluqs converted Venugopala temple into this mosque.

More important, however, is the uninterrupted history of Namaaz (prayers) for the past 700 years.

Really? More important to whom? Why?

The Muslim Association of Britain (thanks to Ana) has issued a statement complaining about this BBC report, without offering any specifics to refute it. The last line of the MAB's statement is most telling:

The attacks on the MCB by the Zionist lobby in the last few weeks have been nothing short of scandalous.

Sure. When all else fails, blame the Jews.