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, :

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, :

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, :

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, :

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, 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, 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, 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, :

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, :

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, :

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.

This CNN story, "3 held in Wales under terror laws," , 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, :

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, :

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, :

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, :

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, :

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, :

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 Looney Tunes.

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, .

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...

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, .

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, .

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, :

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.

This program isn't perfect, but it is good to see Sacranie and Co. being asked some hard questions for a change. Now if only the American mainstream media would follow suit. "Programme transcript: What follows is a transcript of 'A question of Leadership', first broadcast Sunday 21 August 2005, 22:20 BST on BBC One," with thanks to all who sent this in:

Unidentified speaker: It's a great honour to kill these people¿ Islam not a religion of just you speaking we got to people of action.

John Ware: Two British Muslims prepare to go on a suicide mission. They're sent on their way to the strains of a song hailing them as heroes fighting for the homeland.

But it wasn't their homeland. Their target was a seaside bar in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

3 civilians were killed and more than 50 injured.

The British bombers' sole connection with Palestine was that they were Muslim.

Yet they were prepared to kill civilians for their Palestinian brothers overseas. Then came London: again the bombers were British born Muslims.

Again their target was civilians - but this time it was their fellow citizens.

Leaders of the Muslim communities were summoned to Downing Street by the Prime Minister who called on them to help root out what he termed this "evil ideology" of Islamist extremism.

Tony Blair, Prime Minister: We all accept and advocate a society of tolerance and respect for people from whatever race or religious background they come from.

John Ware: Sir Iqbal Sacranie, on the left, is generally presented as the Muslim community's main representative. He certainly has the ear of government.

He's the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain. After the British bombing of the bar in Tel Aviv, Sir Iqbal said it hadn't marked a growth in Islamist extremism here.

Now he does admit there is a problem.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie: The Muslim community is determined to deal with this issue head on. And it will now come up with various pro active measures. That means we go into the community to address that issue.

John Ware: Extremism feeds off a conviction that Islam is a superior faith and culture which Christians and Jews in the West are conspiring to undermine.

My journey through Muslim communities since the London bombings suggests their leaders have not acknowledged the extent to which these views are held in Britain.

TITLE: A QUESTION of LEADERSHIP

John Ware: Britain has around 2 million Muslims.

Muslim leaders have condemned utterly the bombings.

And yet this murderous rage grew from within their communities.

Some influential Muslims believe the time for a full and frank debate about where Islam is going here is long over due.

Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, Muslim Institute: I think the British people may give us benefit of doubt once this time, but if this were to be repeated, then I think the Muslim position ¿ future is very bleak. And knowing our community, the amount of fundamentalism and extremism that exists, I'm not quite sure that this will not happen again. "

John Ware: Dr Siddiqui is not alone in believing that sectarian attitudes extend beyond the small number of extremists.

Others doubt the Muslim Council of Britain has grasped the scale of this problem.

Mehboob Kantharia, Founding Member, Muslim Council of Britain: A lot of them still live in a state of denial. It is my personal belief that because they are in this state of denial, they cannot become real, you know, sort of like, forthright, really forthright about wanting to do something about the kind of extremism that prevails.

John Ware: Mehboob Kantharia was a founding member of the Muslim Council of Britain; generally regarded as the moderate face of Islam speaking for the Muslim community.

On its website the MCB emphasises it's working for better community relations and for the good of society as a whole.

It's an umbrella for around 400 mosques, and other Islamic groups.

But Mr Kantharia says that within the MCB a distaste for western secular culture still exists.

Mehboob Kantharia: One of the most powerful strands, and many will tear me up and say, 'sorry, you've got it completely wrong', has been an anti-British, anti-Western stand. We are now British, therefore this is our home, this is our country, this country is not our enemy.

John Ware: Several MCB affiliates do have links to anti western ideologies from abroad.

The Deputy General Secretary of the MCB is Dr Abdul Bari.

He's also Chairman of the East London Mosque which has maintained good relations with other local faith groups.

Last year a £10m new Islamic centre was opened.

The guests included Christian leaders. The Chief Rabbi and Prince Charles also sent goodwill messages.

The guest of honour was one of the most prominent clerics from Saudi Arabia - the most austere Islamic state in the world whose ideology is the polar opposite of secular Britain.

But London's East End is home to many faiths and the Sheikh's theme was tolerance.

Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais, Imam, Ka'ba, Mecca, Saudi Arabia: The history of Islam is the best testament to how different communities can live together in peace and harmony. Muslims must exemplify the true image of Islam in their interaction with other communities.

John Ware: Sheikh Sudais is a leading Imam from the great mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest city.

He had one voice for his Western audience - another for his followers in Saudi. Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Al-Sudais: The worst ... of the enemies of Islam are those... whom he... made monkeys and pigs, the aggressive Jews and oppressive Zionists and those that follow them: the callers of the trinity and the cross worshippers¿ those influenced by the rottenness of their ideas, and the poison of their cultures the followers of secularism... How can we talk sweetly when the Hindus and the idol worshippers indulge in their overwhelming hatred against our brothers... in Muslim Kashmir...

Neville Chamberlain, call your office: it seems the Sudetenland won't be enough. From AFP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas urged Israel to stop all its settlement activity in the West Bank if it was serious about peace as the evacuation of settlers from Gaza was put on hold for the Jewish sabbath.

Having presided over the first ever withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territory, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made clear earlier this week that he would "continue and develop" Jewish settlements in the West Bank....

Hailing the withdrawal from Gaza as a "first step", Abbas confirmed that his Palestinian Authority would take control over all vacated land and planned to build 3,000 new homes on one of the settlements, Morag.

But he added it was vital that Israel pulls out of all areas reoccupied since the start of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000 in the West Bank. "Those who continue with these measures show they do not want peace." While Abbas, a frequent critic of the armed uprising, is seen as the moderate voice among Palestinians, he is facing a severe test of his popularity from the hardliners of Hamas who are portraying the Israeli departure from Gaza as a "victory for the resistance."...

Just as the Palestinian leader was delivering his speech in Gaza City, militants of the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, were delivering their own verdict on the implications of the pullout. In a statement handed to reporters, they reiterated that they would not disarm after the pullout from Hamas's Gaza stronghold or end their campaign against Israel "until the defeat of the occupation from all our land."

Joel Mowbray tells the shameful story in "CAIR 1, Free Speech 0" in
FrontPage this morning. I hope you will let WMAL know -- calmly and politely -- what you think about this.

After a three-week suspension, mid-morning host Michael Graham was fired over the weekend for his comment on July 21 that “Islam has, sadly, become a terrorist organization.” According to formal statement issued by the host last night, Disney-owned WMAL terminated him for the original remarks and his refusal to apologize for them....

Here are Graham’s remarks, with full context:

“Because of the mix of Islamic theology that—rightly or wrongly—is interpreted to promote violence, added to an organizational structure that allows violent radicals to operate openly in Islam’s name with impunity, Islam has, sadly, become a terrorist organization. It pains me to say it. But the good news is it doesn’t have to stay this way, if the vast majority of Muslims who don’t support terror will step forward and re-claim their religion.”

Plenty of people can—and do—take issue with the framing of the religion itself as a “terrorist organization.” But his surrounding comments have more than a ring of truth. Islamic theology is used to promote violence. And in many parts of the world, radicals have taken control of Islam—and the moderates have been effectively silenced.

And Graham’s desire that moderates re-claim control of Islam is shared by many, though likely not by CAIR or groups of its ilk.

CAIR was founded in 1994 by two former high-ranking officials with the Islamic Association of Palestine, a rabidly anti-Semitic organization known as Hamas’ biggest political booster in the United States.

Since 9/11, CAIR officials have been careful to avoid the appearance that they support Islamic terrorism. But not before 9/11. In November 1999, CAIR President Omar Ahmad addressed a youth session at the IAP annual convention in Chicago, where he praised suicide bombers who “kill themselves for Islam”: “Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam – that is not suicide. They kill themselves for Islam.” (Transcript provided by the Investigative Project.)

Though CAIR’s mission is not to serve as an overt Hamas partisan, the organization has refused to specifically condemn the terrorist organization. Ditto for Hezbollah, which is responsible for murdering more Americans than any other terrorist group besides al Qaeda. And CAIR refused to condemn bin Laden or al Qaeda by name until three months after 9/11.

The Washington Post in November 2001 asked a CAIR spokesman to condemn Hamas or Islamic Jihad. He refused, explaining, “It’s not our job to go around denouncing.” Asked a similar question about Hamas and Hezbollah by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in February 2002, Hooper called such queries a “game” and added, “We’re not in the business of condemning.”

Of course, CAIR is very much “in the business of condemning.” The group gleefully slams critics of radical Islam, television shows, and talk radio hosts. But when it comes to Islamic terrorist organizations or prominent Muslims who endorse terrorism or embrace radical Islam, CAIR’s silence is deafening.

To provide cover—and further perpetuate the myth that CAIR and other American Muslim organizations are genuinely “moderate”—various fundamentalist Muslim leaders recently issued a fatwa against “extremism” and “terrorism.” It was classic CAIR obfuscation: it condemned terms that were intentionally not defined. Not coincidentally, no terrorist organizations were named. Sadly, many media outlets were snookered.

WMAL now appears to be the most recent media outlet duped by CAIR. The station, for its part, refused comment last week before Graham had been fired. No one at WMAL could be reached for comment over the weekend.

The station’s defense would likely be that it gave the host an out by allowing him to apologize. But as Graham notes, “WMAL wouldn’t be asking for apology without CAIR’s pressure. And if I apologize, then I’m admitting that I’m a bigot and wrong. I am neither.”

Now that CAIR can claim success in ousting Graham, it’s only a matter of time before the group launches its next smear campaign. There’s no telling who would be CAIR’s next target, though it is clear who it would not be.

Discussing, as always, jihad, dhimmitude, the impact of these imperatives on current events, and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades).

8:15 AM EDT: WCWA "Troy Neff Show"

9:15 AM EDT: WHAS "Francene"

That's all for today. After that I am boarding a stagecoach out of Secure Undisclosed Locationville, to give talks in one city tonight and in another halfway across the country tomorrow.

Comments are unmoderated again. The moderator quit in disgust after just a few days, which I suppose says something about the comments. I will be discussing with Hugh and others over the next few days whether the comments field will stay open. For the moment I appeal to you to remember that this is a struggle for human rights and human dignity, that you should meet it as such, and that this is not a place for you to vent your spleen to no good purpose.

I told you so update. From MEMRI, with thanks to Nicolei:

In an attempt to prevent the Iraqi constitution committee from submitting its draft, Al-Qaeda in Iraq has posted threats on Islamist forums warning to harm those involved in drafting the constitution, and those who support them. The constitution, it says, is an act of heresy, and those who act to implement it are infidels who must be killed.

As part of the campaign against the constitution, the information department of Al-Qaeda in Iraq also launched an anti-constitution and anti-election propaganda campaign, in the form of posters on Islamist forums.

The following are excerpts from statements and forum postings:

Al-Qaeda Court: We Will Kill Anyone Who Makes Himself Partner to Allah and Drafts a Constitution

On August 11, 2005, the Shari'a Court of Al-Qaeda in Iraq issued a communiqué threatening to kill the drafters of the Iraqi constitution, and those who promote it, and to strike at the polling places of the referendum on the constitution, which is scheduled for October 2005.

"The Shari'a Court of Al-Qaeda in Iraq will act in accordance with Allah's decree, and will kill anyone who appoints himself partner to Allah and drafts a constitution of falsehood by whose laws people will act in matters of livelihood, life and death, honor, and domestic and foreign policy.

"Allah said: ' Fight them until there is no more fitna [civil strife] and the religion is only Allah's; but if they desist, then surely Allah sees what they do ' [Koran 8:39]… The goal of our struggle is to eradicate the [danger] of fitna that liesin the heretical modern constitution. We will fight it by argument and by communiqués, and also by sword and spear – because the constitution is a false religion and its drafters and those who promote it are apostates [murtaddoon]…

"Accordingly, the Shari'a Court of Al-Qaeda in Iraq has decided to fight the drafters of the constitution and those who promote it, and to strike at the centers of the [planned] referendum. The Shari'a Court calls upon people who have gone astray, following the dissenters and those who have erred, to distance themselves from the centers of the heretical elections – because these will constitute a legitimate target for the fire of the Jihad fighters…" [1]

Read it all.

"'I Will Go to Do Jihad Again and Again': Prisoner's Story Highlights Pakistan-Based Training Network for Insurgents," which is of course something we have highlighted here at Jihad Watch many times. From the Washington Post, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The prisoner perched on a metal chair, hugging his knees to his chest and rocking slightly, like a nervous child.

But his expression relaxed into a blissful smile as he described what he would do if released from his cell in the headquarters of the national intelligence service.

"When I get the chance, I will stick to my promise," said Sher Ali, 28, a Pakistani man with cropped black hair and a long beard. "I will go to do jihad again and again."

Ali said he took his vow to wage holy war against U.S. forces in Afghanistan earlier this summer, just before embarking on what he described as a 20-day weapons training course at a secret mountain camp in northeastern Pakistan.

He was captured by Afghan police about three weeks ago, shortly after crossing into Afghanistan's rugged, northeastern Konar province. The area has been a haven for armed renegades from an assortment of groups, including al Qaeda, the Taliban and backers of former Afghan leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is now a fugitive....

Ali spoke in the presence of an Afghan intelligence official, but he did not show signs of having been mistreated. Some details, such as the existence of jihadist training camps and the recruitment of Islamic fighters, have been reported separately in the Pakistani press or described by prisoners after their release.

"We know where a lot of these training camps are. We have their names. And we've given the Pakistanis all the information we have," said a senior Afghan intelligence official. "We're waiting for Pakistan to show the willingness to fight."...

Ali said Zubair told him and his companions that Western troops were bombing, arresting and torturing innocent Afghans. "He kept saying, 'It's our duty as Muslims to go there and help,' " said Ali.

That night, Ali recalled, Zubair turned to him and asked point-blank: "Do you want to join the jihad?"

It's the "duty of Muslims." No one yet -- outside of Jihad Watch, anyway -- has explored the implications of how jihad terrorists recruit by appealing to Islamic purity and loyalty.

Read it all.

Update on this story. "Islamic radicals demand guilty verdict for Christians," from WND, with thanks to EPG:

An Indonesian correspondent known only as Ibrahim B. says their agenda is spelled out in an Indonesian-language book with an English title, "Jihad and the Foreign Policy of the Khilafah State."

Ibrahim told Assist News Service the book is freely available in Indonesian bookstores and "teaches a vision of aggressive and violent jihad to establish an Islamic caliphate, and from there to launch jihad against other nations to bring them into the Islamic Empire."

"This is the new imperialism and the new colonialism my country is facing, and it is evident in the militant mujahideen who gather at the court in Indramayu each week to demand the death of three accused housewives who cared enough about children to try and save them from a future in prostitution," he said.

According to Ibrahim, "The radicals want Indonesia to be the foundation of a Southeast Asian caliphate that will launch jihad against other nations such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia and Papua New Guinea until they have all submitted to Islam."

To achieve this vision, he said, "all pockets of resistance must be subdued. This is why there have been jihad operations in Maluku and Central Sulawesi in the last few years and why there have been more than 100 churches closed down or destroyed in West Java alone in just the last three years – and over 30 churches in the last month."

Ibrahim says The Indonesian Council of Mullahs, or MUI, has spearheaded the jihad drive and it is they who are demanding that these three housewives be severely punished for allowing Muslim children to attend their "Happy Week" activities.

Ibrahim quotes page 64 of the Jihad book as saying, "It is not allowed for Muslims to fight those whom the Islamic da'wah [preaching] has not reached, rather the unbelievers must first be called to join Islam. If they reject, then they are invited to submit (live under) the ruling of the Islamic State by paying the jizyah tax [protection money – only paid by non-Muslims]. If they reject that, then war must be waged against them in order to remove any obstacle in the way of implementing the Islamic ruling system upon them."

In other words, the three choices are join Islam, pay a protection tax called jizyah or be killed in warfare.

Ibrahim told ANS the book declares Muslims "must remove any obstacle in the way of implementing the Islamic ruling system." These three housewives are seen as an obstacle that must be removed, he said.

Earlier this year, Rebecca Laonita, Ratna Mala Bangun, and Ety Pangesti conducted a "Happy Week" Vacation Bible School-type program in their homes in the village of Haurgelis, West Java. Eventually about a score of Muslim children also attended with permission of their parents. The women were arrested on charges of "Christianization" of Muslim children, and immediately jailed. The court case began June 30....

According to Ibrahim, one of their leaders grabbed a megaphone and shouted, "...You are the ones called to carry out the command of the prophet and you must be just as brave so that you will be able to implement sharia Islam (Islamic law). Are you ready?"

The trucked-in militants responded, "Ready! Allahu akbar! [Allah is Greatest!"]

The Muslim preacher continued, "Every drop of your blood will give birth to many in Islam who will be proved by Allah. Seventy-two houris [fairy women] will bathe you.

"Alhamdulillah! [Allah be Praised!] we have reached the seventh session of the trial. The whole of the Islamic community is again waiting for a just decision [i.e., favorable to Islam], but if this court is not just then we ourselves will act according to our own law. Indeed we have our own plans but we are still holding ourselves back because we respect the law in this nation. But we will not agree if Rebecca and her companions are given a light penalty, or if they are set free.

"Don't think for a moment that Rebecca will be able to return peacefully to Haurgeulis [the village where the Happy Week was conducted]. We have our own just methods according to Islamic law. Allahu akbar!"

The mujahideen responded loudly with raised, clenched fists, "Allahu akbar! Allah is Greater!"

Yes, but this is the "extremist" view, right? Right? Abbas and the PA are much more moderate, right? Well, no: Abbas said the same thing.

From the Telegraph, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

All week long, as Israeli soldiers and settlers fought running battles in the soon-to-be-dismantled Jewish settlements, their Palestinian neighbours could hardly contain their delight.

In the teeming slums of Gaza, Palestinian officials marked the end of 38 years of Israeli occupation by organising poetry and painting competitions, which summed up the Palestinians' view of Israel's unilateral decision to forcibly remove 9,000 settlers from their homes....

In the poetry category, an entry by Ibtisam Mustafa was singled out for particular praise. "O brigades, be prepared, Gaza has been restored. Start preparing to liberate the rest of the land. Drive the Zionists out. O Hamas, let's liberate Jerusalem with the help of your soldiers and glorious rockets."

While Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, tries to argue that the Gaza withdrawal is an important step towards reviving the dormant Middle East peace talks, Palestinian militants apparently have little interest in achieving their goals through peaceful dialogue.

In Palestinian-controlled Gaza last week, virtually everyone The Sunday Telegraph spoke to said that Israel's indihar, or retreat, had been forced by the scores of young suicide bombers who have killed more than 1,000 Israeli civilians in the five-year-long intifada, or uprising.

"The Israelis are leaving Gaza because they can no longer tolerate the bloodshed we have inflicted on them," said Mohammed Khatif, a local shop owner.

"We will continue the struggle until we have reclaimed all the land of Palestine."

Five founding Hamas members made a rare group appearance in a Gaza restaurant to assert their right to continue the armed campaign.

"Our land, including Jerusalem, is still occupied, the refugees are still deported, the wall and the settlements are still eating more of our land," said one leader, Ismail Haniya.

In Beirut, a Hamas spokesman, Khaled Mashaal, was defiant. "The resistance and the steadfastness of our people forced the Zionists to withdraw," he declared last week. "The armed struggle is the only strategy that Hamas possesses. As long as Palestinian lands remain under occupation, Hamas won't lay down its weapons."

Anti-dhimmitude from The Scotsman, with thanks to Uajeg:

AT LAST, a Christian leader breaks the deafening silence that, for too long, has muzzled those whose duty it was to speak out on behalf of the values of western society. The courageous comments of the Rev David Lacy, Moderator of the Church of Scotland, condemning the Islamist "hypocrites" who treat their hosts as "enemies" while leeching off the National Health Service, will find an echo among many of those people who fill his church's pews - just as they will no doubt be deplored by voices within the liberal Kirk establishment.

We say "courageous" because, in recent decades, a climate has been generated, across all the Christian denominations, enforcing a liberal orthodoxy on church leaders from which they deviate at their peril. Few, indeed, have done so (the late Cardinal Winning being a notable exception) - until today. Rev Lacy's comments, a combination of rational thought, common sense and the application of Christian teachings, stand out precisely because this combination has proven so rare among modern British spiritual leaders.

It should be emphasised that there was nothing uncharitable or un-Christian about the Moderator's remarks, as readers can judge for themselves by reading his exclusive interview with this newspaper. He makes the factual observation about Islamic extremists: "They have been welcomed as brothers and have treated us as enemies. It is hypocrisy, they should leave." Any sane observer knows that is true.

From the Fox Guarding the Henhouse Department, from The Telegraph, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

A Muslim accused of anti-Semitism is to be appointed to a government role in charge of rooting out extremism in the wake of last month's suicide bombings in London.

Inayat Bunglawala, 36, the media secretary for the Muslim Council of Britain, is understood to have been selected as one of seven "conveners" for a Home Office task force with responsibilities for tackling extremism among young Muslims, despite a history of anti-Semitic statements.

Mr Bunglawala's past comments include the allegation that the British media was "Zionist-controlled".

Writing for a Muslim youth magazine in 1992, he said: "The chairman of Carlton Communications is Michael Green of the Tribe of Judah. He has joined an elite club whose members include fellow Jews Michael Grade [then the chief executive of Channel 4 and now BBC chairman] and Alan Yentob [BBC2 controller and friend of Salman Rushdie]."

The three are reported to be "close friends… so that's what they mean by a 'free media'."

In January 1993, Mr Bunglawala wrote a letter to Private Eye, the satirical magazine, in which he called the blind Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman "courageous" - just a month before he bombed the World Trade Center in New York. After Rahman's arrest in July that year, Mr Bunglawala said that it was probably only because of his "calling on Muslims to fulfil their duty to Allah and to fight against oppression and oppressors everywhere".

Five months before 9/11, Mr Bunglawala also circulated writings of Osama bin Laden, who he regarded as a "freedom fighter", to hundreds of Muslims in Britain....

News of his appointment comes 10 days after he wrote to Mark Thompson, the BBC Director General, accusing a forthcoming BBC1 Panorama programme of possessing "a pro-Israeli agenda".

Although the programme had yet to be completed, Mr Bunglawala said that the BBC had allowed itself to be used by "highly placed supporters of Israel in the British media to make capital out of the July 7 atrocities in London".

The programme, A Question of Leadership, which will air tonight at 10.20pm, seeks to discover whether British Muslim leaders can tackle the extremism in their midst.

It features an interview with Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, who says members of the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas are "freedom fighters".

Sir Iqbal compares Hamas suicide bombers to Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi.

He says: "Those who fight oppression, those who fight occupation, cannot be termed as terrorist, they are freedom fighters, in the same way as Nelson Mandela fought against their apartheid, in the same way as Gandhi and many others fought the British rule in India."

Sir Iqbal also refers to the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as "the renowned Islamic scholar"....

The programme also shows a leading Saudi cleric, an honoured guest of the East London Mosque, claiming that Islam is "the best testament to how different communities can live together", while back in his pulpit in Mecca, he has referred to Jews as "monkeys and pigs" and also as "the rats of the world". Christians are "cross worshippers" and Hindus "idol worshippers".

Mr Bunglawala said: "Those comments were made some 12 or 13 years ago. All of us may hold opinions which are objectionable, but they change over time. I certainly would not defend those comments today."

Really? But would you condemn them? Especially since they are founded on the Qur'an (2:62-65; 5:59-60; 7:166, etc.)?

To discuss jihad, dhimmitude, current events and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades).

8:00 PM "The Source with Paul Anderson"

He also referred to the Gaza campaign as a jihad. From "Abbas: PA to control evacuated areas," in the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to all who sent this in:

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told a group of Palestinian youths in Gaza City on Saturday that the small jihad (holy war) has ended and that the big jihad has begun to rebuild the economy and restore security and public order.

"We want our people in a century's time to live a normal life like any other people in the world," Abbas said. "Therefore the next battle will be the real battle."

Abbas announced that he had signed a decree that would give the PA control over all lands and assets that are evacuated by Israel in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank....

On Friday, Abbas made his first visit to the international airport in the southern Gaza Strip, where he declared that the disengagement was the fruit of the sacrifices of Palestinian "martyrs."

"We must remember that our achievements are the result of the sacrifices of the martyrs," he told thousands of supporters who gathered to greet him. "The martyrs have paved the road for us.

"The sacrifices of the martyrs, the wounded and the detainees, made the occupation leave Gaza and evacuate the settlements. "This step will be followed by further withdrawals from the West Bank and Jerusalem."

What may be most disturbing about this AP story (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist) is that Salam Al-Maryati of MPAC is allowed to portray his organization as being "on the front lines battling extremism." You can see how absurd that is here. But the good news is that he says he is not being utilized by law enforcement. Keep it up, law enforcement.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Recent arrests have focused attention on a potential terrorism danger that federal officials have been warning about — that inmates in state prison systems are particularly susceptible to radical Islamist ideology.

But prison officials across the nation say they so far have seen more potential for recruitment than real threats.

Federal officials have arrested three men in Southern California since early July in a plot that allegedly targeted National Guard facilities, the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles and several synagogues.

Authorities said they believe the plan originated among a shadowy group known as Jamiyyat Ul Islam Is Saheeh inside California State Prison, Sacramento.

Counterterrorism officials said the danger is not in the number of adherents to radical Islam but in the potential for small groups of dedicated believers to commit terrorist acts after they are released.

They point to Jose Padilla, an American Muslim convert arrested in 2002 for allegedly planning a "dirty bomb" radiological attack after he left jail.

"Nothing I have suggests there is a widespread Al Qaida recruitment movement within the prison system, but all you need is three or four to conduct an attack," said Gary Winuk, chief deputy director of the state Office of Homeland Security....

However, prison officials in other states, including Pennsylvania and Ohio, where Muslim inmates helped spark an 11-day fatal riot in 1993, said they have seen no signs of recruiting. And Muslim leaders dispute the idea that prisons are producing Islamic militants.

In a report last year, the U.S. Department of Justice's inspector general found that the federal Bureau of Prisons was doing inadequate background or ideology checks on its Muslim clerics. It found that inmates and religious volunteers had "ample opportunity ... to deliver inappropriate and extremist messages without supervision."...

In California, chaplains' clerks or other inmates lead some religious ceremonies and sometimes preach an inflammatory version of Islam, said Lance Corcoran, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. But he added, "I find most Muslim inmates to be very respectful, to be very easy to deal with."

The California prison system has 30 full- and part-time Muslim chaplains, civil service employees who undergo background checks and must adhere to mainstream Islam, said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Shakeel Syed, a contract chaplain for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, disagreed that prisons are turning out Islamic radicals. He joined representatives of Muslim groups Friday at a news conference in Los Angeles to say that chaplains can be part of the solution by steering inmates away from radical ideology.

"Those of us who are on the front lines battling extremism are not being utilized by law enforcement," said Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

As I wrote about here. From "Iraqi Confession TV Series Captured Iraqi Terrorist Ramzi Hashem Abed: Zarqawi Participated in the Plot to Assassinate Baqer Al-Hakim," in MEMRI, with thanks to Jay:

The following are excerpts from the interrogation of captured Iraqi terrorist Ramzi Hashem Abed, which aired on Al-Fayhaa TV on August 12 and Al-Iraqiya TV on August 7, 2005."(To view this clip, visit http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=813.)...

Interrogator: "There were operations of kidnapping and rape, carried out by the squad you belong to?"

Abed: "Yes."

Interrogator: "Tell me how many rape and kidnapping operations were carried out. My information says that the kidnapped women were university students or daughters of famous people. You raped them and got money for it, and if they were not slaughtered afterwards.... Did this really happen?"

Abed: "Yes, it did."

Interrogator: "Who would carry out these operations?"

Abed: "Abu Sajjad."

Interrogator: "Your superior?"

Abed: "Yes."

[...]

Interrogator: "Is this Jihad – raping women? Is this Jihad?"

Abed: "It is because they collaborated with the Americans."

Interrogator: "That's why they were raped?"

Abed: "Yes."

Interrogator: "A student who is simply going to her university is kidnapped, raped, and then slaughtered?! This was an American collaborator?!"

Abed: "Mullah Al-Raikan would give the names to the squad commander."

Interrogator: "My information says that they were kidnapped and brought to Mullah Al-Raikan's headquarters. True or false?"

Abed: "He would interrogate them."

Interrogator: "Were they raped after the interrogation?"

Abed: "Yes. He would give them to the squad, and they would kill them. Some would rape them."

Interrogator: "You bastards. This is Jihad? You call this Jihad? "

Interrogator 2: "What was your role in these operations?"

Abed: "I would stand at the entrance to the headquarters. It was a house, and they would bring them there."

Interrogator 2: "Did you participate in the rape and murder?"

Abed: "No. Just one who worked for the PUK. She was a Kurd."

Interrogator: "In the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan?"

Abed: "Yes. We brought her too."

Interrogator: "And you raped her?"

Abed: "Yes."

From AFP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

AQABA, Jordan - Jordanian security forces on Saturday arrested an Iraqi suspect thought to be one of four militants behind a rocket attack on US warships moored in the port of Aqaba and a neighbouring Israeli resort.

“Security forces arrested the Iraqi suspect while he was driving his car,” a security source said on condition of anonymity, without saying where he had been arrested.

The unnamed Iraqi was one of four suspects being sought by authorities who ordered a security clampdown following Friday’s attack which was claimed by an Al Qaeda linked group.

Three Katyusha rockets were fired from Aqaba, one of them missing two US warships anchored nearby but killing a Jordanian soldier as it smashed into a warehouse. No US troops were harmed in the attack.

Another landed close to the airport in the adjacent Israeli resort of Eilat. The third struck a site near a military hospital.

DC Watson examines CAIR's request that the US deny Israel any aid for those evicted from Gaza.

August 16, 2005: The Council on American Islamic Relations calls on the Bush Administration to deny Israel's request for financial aid, which would assist in paying for the "withdrawal of illegal settlements on Palestinian territory in Gaza."

News Releases
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
CAIR: No U.S. Tax Dollars for Israeli Settlers

Their statement reads as follows: "American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for the relocation of settlers who, supported and defended by successive Israeli governments, chose to live illegally on land that was not their own. Such funds could be better used to improve conditions for ordinary Palestinians whose lives have been devastated by decades of brutal occupation."

First, I'd like to make it crystal clear to the Council on American Islamic Relations that as an American citizen and taxpayer, I do not, and will not ever, need an organization with a record like theirs to speak for me. If the government wants to use my tax dollars to help these people who have been uprooted, I'm OK with that. If all of this bothers them, then I like the idea even more. It seems that nearly every day this organization is "calling on" someone to act upon their concerns.

Regarding this claim of Israel's "illegal occupation" of Gaza: U.N. Resolution 242 never called for Israel to withdraw from all of the territories that it won, and to return to the 1967 borders. Although Israel wasn't required by this resolution to hand over all the land it won when it easily defeated Muslim aggression during the Six Day War, it did hand over most of it when it withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula. That just wasn't good enough for the Muslims, however, was it?

Even as unreality about Islam and Islamic terror surrounds us everywhere, some Americans are beginning to wake up: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) is on the New York Times Bestseller List at number 17.

You will note -- without, I trust, a glimmer of surprise -- that on this list of 35 books my book is one of only six without a link to a New York Times review. For the Times, of course, this book does not really exist. For the State Department, the truths it contains do not exist.

But at least some Americans are beginning to realize just how severely we have been misled, and how drastically wrongheaded public policy has been as a result. To those people, I say thank you. And I salute you.

Has Rice ever heard of the word "jihad"? Has she ever read the Hamas Charter? Does she really believe that the ever-expanding concessions she is demanding of Israel will slake the thirst of the jihadists there and bring peace to the region? Has she really never noticed that the same ideology that motivates the jihadists in that region also motivates Osama bin Laden, the London bombers, the Bali bomber, and jihadists from Indonesia to Bosnia?

When will official Washington stop mistaking wishes for facts? When will there come a politician, Republican or Democrat, with the guts to call jihad what it is and do what is necessary to fight it? When will the outmoded, inadequate models of realpolitik, constructed for other wars against other foes, be discarded?

Or will we simply continue on this path of concession and negotiation with those who would subjugate us until they succeed in reducing us all to dhimmi status, and only then will we finally realize that they all along considered the willingness to negotiate a weakness to take advantage of, rather than a sign of good will? If Rice would simply read a biography of Muhammad -- even one by a Muslim like that of Martin Lings or one beloved of Muslims like that of Maxime Rodinson -- she might begin to realize that those who consider themselves mujahedin in the same mold as the mujahedin whom the Prophet sent out into battle just do not think the way she and her State Department functionaries think.

But no doubt she can't tear herself away from the learned analyses of the likes of Karen Armstrong and Thomas Friedman long enough to do that.

From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is watching warily, but supportively, as Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip in an effort to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "extremely courageous" for honoring the commitment to the pullout.

Rice, in an interview with The New York Times published Thursday, said, "Everyone empathizes with what the Israelis are facing." She added that in the interest of advancing peace, "it cannot be Gaza only."

Evidently, by calling for Muslim leaders to train young Muslims in Islam, he believes that Islam is peaceful at its core. It's astounding: wishes are everywhere becoming facts. From AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

COLOGNE, Germany - Pope Benedict XVI decried the "cruel fanaticism" of terrorism Saturday and urged Muslims to join Christians in trying to combat its spread.

In blunt remarks, he told a gathering of Muslim officials in Germany that Muslim leaders had a "great responsibility" in properly educating their younger generations.

"I am certain that I echo your own thoughts when I bring up as one of our concerns the spread of terrorism," Benedict told the Muslim leadership, mainly Turks, in his most extensive remarks on terrorism during his four-month papacy.

"Terrorist activity is continually recurring in various parts of the world, sowing death and destruction, and plunging many of our brothers and sisters into grief and despair."

Benedict did not mention specific attacks or assess blame, but it appeared significant that he chose a Muslim audience for his remarks on terrorism.

"Those who instigate and plan these attacks evidently wish to poison our relations, making use of all means, including religion, to oppose every attempt to build a peaceful, fair and serene life together," he said.

The meeting, during Benedict's four-day trip to Germany for World Youth Day, was part of the pope's outreach to non-Catholics to achieve common positions on social issues and world peace. There are some 3.5 million Muslims in Germany, one of the highest figures in western Europe.

Going into Saturday's meeting, he had been cautious about making any links between terrorism and Islam, rejecting the idea that the world faced a "clash of civilizations" and reportedly overruling an aide who wanted to brand the July 7 London bombings as anti-Christian.

But in warning Saturday that the world risked exposure to "the darkness of a new barbarism," he stressed that Muslim leaders must "guide Muslim believers and train them in the Islamic faith."

"Teaching is the vehicle through which ideas and convictions are transmitted. Words are highly influential in the education of the mind. You, therefore, have a great responsibility for the formation of the younger generation," the pontiff said.

By working together, Catholics and Muslims could "turn back the wave of cruel fanaticism that endangers the lives of so many people and hinders progress toward world peace," he said....

Benedict also alluded to another of his themes — the need for reciprocity in religious freedom for Christians and other minorities in some Islamic countries. He did not name any but said "the defense of religious freedom ... is a permanent imperative and respect for minorities is a clear sign of true civilization."

The plight of the dhimmis is increasing. From Ekklesia, with thanks to Nicolei:

As world attention focuses on the struggle to achieve a balance of constitutional interests between Kurds, Sunnis and Shias in Iraq, a human rights group is campaigning to draw fresh attention to the serious plight of Assyrian Christians and other minority groups.

In a letter to the Guardian newspaper in the UK yesterday, Glyn Ford, Labour Euro-MP for South West England, joined former Tribune editor Mark Seddon and Andy Darmoo, head of Save the Assyrians, to ask why no proper attention has been given to minorities who make up 6 per cent of the Iraqi population.

"In particular, what of the Assyrian Christians?", they write. "Prevented from voting in the elections, in recent months many have had their land occupied and stolen, their churches firebombed and their families attacked. Isn't it time that the international community began championing the rights of Assyrians and other minorities before it is too late?"

Until the invasion of Iraq in 2003 there were estimated to be around one million Christians in Iraq. They include the country's original inhabitants, but are wrongly portrayed by militant Islamists as American infiltrators.

Some recent estimates say that between 60,000 and 80,000 Chaldo-Assyrian Christians have fled the country since the fall of Baghdad.

Church bombings in Assyrian neighbourhoods of Baghdad and Mosul in August and October 2004, mortar attacks, raids against Christian homes, and forced conversions have also contributed to the unease of a community that has increasingly felt itself under siege.

At least one militant organisation, The Islamic Mujahideen, has in the recent past demanded that all Mandaeans (another minority group) convert to Islam, leave the country, or be killed.

"Christian women are harassed, have acid thrown into their faces, are kidnapped and raped," says one civil rights activist. "They seek some safety behind the Muslim hajib.”

Read it all.

Jihad Watch's Hugh Fitzgerald on the galloping success of the democratization of Iraq:

The American government seems intent on insuring that it will do nothing to harm Islam, nothing to exploit those ready-made aspects of Iraq which lend themselves so obviously (obvious to me) to increasing division, disarray, demoralization, within Islam itself.

The Kurds, of course, will be the immediate losers, but by failing to support their well-justified demands for at the very least, autonomy, and even better, for independence, the American government loses a chance to encourage, within the world of Islam, recognition by non-Arab Muslims that they need not permanently accept Arab domination, or the Arab supremacist ideology of which Islam has always been a vehicle.

This could have consequences for the Iranians, so many of whom have become disgusted, because of the past quarter-century of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with Islam. Yet they still cannot quite see their way to jettisoning Islam, possibly for another "religious identity" (name-tags being so very important in the Middle East, where the idea of the individual, the Leibnizian monad floating in the universe, is too frightening to contemplate), most likely Zoroastrianism. It is not the content that matters in that, but rather the notion that one can choose something that is specifically Persian, and that emphasizes the Trojan-horse gift of those primitive Arabs to the superior civilization of the Persians.

It is not hard to imagine that an independent Kurdistan could worry Syria and Iran: by agreement with the Americans, standing in for the Turks, that no territorial demands would be made on Turkey -- and by agreement with the Turks, who will not be admitted to the E.U. and need the Americans more than ever, that no harm would be done, or hostility demonstrated, to that Kurdish state.

What do we see, however? We see Condoleeza Rice lecturing and hectoring the Kurds. This is the woman who, like her Boss, claimed that those who were doubtful about the Administration's Democracy-Is-On-the-March view of Iraq (with no clear explanation of how, even were such to be true, it would improve the world-wide position of Infidels, or help to weaken Islam) were akin to those who scoffed about post-war Occupied Germany and Occupied Japan. If she failed to see the difference between the complete destruction and defeat of Nazi Germany and militarist Japan, as compared to Iraq, where the reigning ideology, Islam, has not been and cannot be defeated through military means alone, she needs a course in history and another in logic.

The replacements for Omar Bakri and Abu Hamza may not get to stay in Britain very long. From the TimesOnline, :

A FRESH wave of arrests of Islamic radicals is expected next week when Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, introduces tough new immigration rules to deal with recently-arrived preachers of hate.

Ministers want to see the young foreign imams swiftly thrown out of the country. How they manage the fast-track expulsions will be seen as a test of Tony Blair’s assertion that the rules have changed.

Immigration officials and the security services are understood to have compiled a list of extremist clerics who have moved to Britain in recent months. They are not such high-profile figures as Abu Qatada, who was among the first to be arrested as a threat to national security after the London bombings.

Most of the new wave are believed to come from Pakistan or North Africa and are accused of stirring up hate among young followers in their own communities.

Muslim leaders are said to have helped to identify some of the suspects, although there are concerns about a backlash in some Islamic communities if there is a mass round-up of imams.

The wanted list is said also to include owners of radical bookshops, website operators and a number of teachers of different nationalities. Many are being kept under surveillance for fear that they may go into hiding before the arrest orders are given.

Small groups of extremists are known to target mosques for takeover, driving out worshippers and replacing an imam with their own choice of preacher, who is usually imported from countries such as Pakistan and does not speak English.

I told you so update. From Reuters, :

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islam will be "the main source" of Iraq's law and parliament will observe religious principles, negotiators said on Saturday after what some called a major turn in talks on the constitution and a shift in the U.S. position.

If agreed by Monday's parliamentary deadline, it would appear to be a major concession to Islamist leaders from the Shi'ite Muslim majority and sit uneasily with U.S. insistence on the primacy of democracy and human rights in the new Iraq.

U.S. diplomats, who have been shepherding the process closely, declined immediate comment and at least one secular Kurdish politician said Kurds would try to block such a deal.

But an official from one of the main Shi'ite Islamist parties and a leading Sunni Arab negotiator said agreement had been reached, reversing an understanding reached earlier in the recent talks that Islam would simply be "a main source" of law.

Parliament would not be able to pass legislation that contradicted the principles of Islam, several negotiators told Reuters. One Shi'ite official said that a constitutional court would decide whether laws conformed to Islamic faith.

Another attempt to bring out the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims in great numbers and demonstrate their rejection of Islamic terrorism bites the dust. From the Lodi News-Sentinel, with thanks to all who sent this in:

The idea of a "million Muslim march" event in Lodi by Muslims to publicly denounce terrorism has officially died, say those involved.

Envisioned in late June as a response to the allegations of terrorists in Lodi's Muslim community, the idea drew the interest of Mayor John Beckman, conservative radio host Mark Williams, the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and local Muslims.

Although it was never a very popular idea.

Interest waned, however, when it became apparent the deep division in Lodi's Muslim community would make organizing such an event difficult if not impossible. It appears it has become impossible, as Beckman said this week the event will not be happening.

Surprised? Only if you, like the mainstream media (Left and Right) and large sectors of the Administration, have exchanged wishes for fact. From Reuters, with thanks to Scaramouche:

GAZA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas said on Saturday it would fight to drive Israel out of the West Bank and Jerusalem after the Jewish state completes its withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip this year.

"Gaza is not Palestine," a masked spokesman for Hamas's armed wing told a news conference in Gaza City.

"As for Jerusalem and the West Bank, we will seek to liberate them by resistance just as the Gaza Strip was liberated," said the spokesman, surrounded by gunmen and militants with rocket launchers.

He did not explicitly say Hamas, committed to destroying Israel, planned to abandon a truce at the end of 2005.

Militants had agreed to respect a ceasefire until the end of the year at the behest of President Mahmoud Abbas, who wanted to ensure a quiet withdrawal of the settlers from Gaza -- due to end next week.

Of course, it has already been raging, but this is a new wrinkle. More information on this story from "Al-Qaeda group to terrorise US" in News24.com, with thanks to LB:

Dubai - An al-Qaeda linked-group has launched what it calls a media jihad, or holy war, to "terrorise" United States-led forces in Iraq and their families by bombarding them with e-mails and by posting gruesome photos online.

The group, calling itself the "Brigade of Media Jihad", called on its militants to "post terrifying pictures on the internet in order to terrorise the enemy", said a statement on an Islamist website whose authenticity could not be verified.

"Our objective is to undermine the morale of our enemies, dash their hopes and dreams and reveal the truth of what is happening in Iraq. The media war is an integral part of the war on the ground," said the statement.

Breaking soldiers morale

The group said it has launched its media offensive in several languages "on hundreds of internet forums and through horrific e-mails sent to enemy soldiers and their families in order to terrorise them and break their morale".

"We have succeeded in attacking 1 600 forums and electronic addresses through which our messages have reached 60 000 people," it said.

The relatives of US soldiers are being shown "the reality that their sons are living" in Iraq, the group boasted.

The statement accused "Crusaders" of controlling the mainstream media "and so we decided to use an important outlet, the Internet, that they cannot control".

Funny. They don't realize that it is actually the multiculturalist ethos that controls the mainstream media, which is why I too have taken to the Internet.

Listen in. Call in if you can, and tell me that you read Jihad Watch.

12:15 PM EDT: KGAM "Hey Wake Up America"

6:05 PM EDT: "Flipside with Don Crawford"

8:30 PM EDT: "Tammy Bruce Show" (Nationally Syndicated)

More fruit of appeasement. From WND, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

Tehran is funding plans for a flotilla of ships to repatriate the territory with Palestinian terrorists from Lebanon and elsewhere, working with Fatah dissidents to undermine the Palestinian Authority and spearheading an effort to make the Gaza Strip a beachhead of Islamist terrorism within six months.

Sigmund Freud said in 1919 that Woodrow Wilson had entered that psychic fantasy land, when Wilson was trying to get the Treaty of Versailles approved and calling that dastardly pact (which helped bring Hitler to power) things like "the incomparable consummation of the hopes of mankind."

I hold no brief for Freud, but it seems to me that the whole world today has become Woodrow Wilson, exchanging wishes for fact: sure that the vast majority of peaceful, law-abiding Muslims are behind anti-terror efforts in the West; sure that moderate Islam both exists and will easily defeat the jihadists intellectually and theologically within the Muslim community; sure that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will bring peace to our time; sure that if we just don't talk about the problems within Islam, this will somehow encourage and empower genuine moderate Muslims -- wish after wish, each as fantastic and as divorced from reality as the last.

Wilson, said Freud, was "rapidly approaching that psychic land from which few travelers return, the land in which facts are the products of wishes, in which friends betray and in which an asylum chair may be the throne of God..."

By contrast: "The man who faces facts, however unpleasant they may be, preserves his mental integrity."

Thank you, Dr. Freud, for your certification of our "mental integrity" here at Jihad Watch, where we are interested only in facing facts.

And thanks also to Dr. Thomas Woods, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, from which I took these Freud quotes. Woods' book, of course, is the first in the series in which my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) is the second.

100 members of the tiny minority of extremists who misunderstand Islam arrested in Bangladesh. Behold the wondrous edifice of Islam! How few of its adherents truly grasp its peaceful message! How many are those who grasp it so poorly that they think it their duty to set off bombs in its name! Oh, the complexity! Oh, the humanity! "100 suspects arrested after Bangladesh bombings," from Rediff.com, with thanks to Nicolei:

About 100 people have been arrested for their suspected links to the unprecedented bombings in Bangladesh, which left two people dead and 140 injured, the police said on Friday.

Nine of them, including two who confessed about their involvement in Wednesday's bombings, were being questioned by detectives in the capital Dhaka, they said.

Over 100 injured as 400 crude bombs rock Bangladesh
Sixty-three enquiry committees, which had been set up were working round-the-clock to find clues to the near simultaneous explosions of over 400 crude bombs across the country.

Police said 63 of Bangladesh's 64 districts were hit by the bombings, the first such attack in this politically volatile south Asian country.

Police sources said that at this stage of the probe everything was being looked at and nothing, including involvement of the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, was being ruled out.

The Jamiat-ul Mujahideen, leaflets under whose name were found at the blasts site, wants the establishment of Islamic rule and has warned of serious action if its demand is not met.

The activities of Jamiat-ul Mujahideen came to light in 2002 when its 'commander' and eight others were arrested from Dinajpur distribting leaflets carrying Osama bin Laden's call for 'jihad' as well as cassettes containing speeches of the Al Qaeda leader.

Folowing this, its alleged involvement was found in several cases of bombings, arson and murderous attacks, mostly against the Opposition Awami League, leftist organisations, cultural activists and non governmental organisations like the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Commitee that were conidered 'un-Islamic' by the outfit....

Two of the arrested, who have confessed to their involvement, have told police that they would become martyrs if killed in the operation, according to the Bengali-language Daily Samakal newspaper.

They claimed they carried out the attack for the sake of Islam.

Leprechaun jihad from the Belfast Telegraph, with thanks to Ruth King:

Anjem Choudary, who has close links to the infamous hate preacher, Omar Bakri Mohammed, said the use of Shannon Airport as a stop-off for US warplanes justifies Ireland being attacked.

The solicitor (38) said: "If your government wants to support the atrocities in Afghanistan they can expect some repercussions," and added that Ireland had "opened itself" to attacks from radical Muslims linked to al-Qa'ida.

Sounds like a threat to me.

Choudary even said that terrorists have the right to kill indiscriminately since American bombers did not pick and choose military targets in Iraq.

CONDEMNING

He said he was "not in the business" of condemning terrorist attacks in Britain and Ireland and added: "What you need to do is you need to be responsible and you need to look after your national security.

"If people slipped into Ireland from Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, where the Irish are standing side by side with the butcher of Baghdad, George Bush, then they would have a legitimacy for that type of thing.

"That's not my personal opinion but your asking me what it says in the Koran."

Choudary believes that Ireland has risked being targeted by opening up Shannon to planes transporting US troops to Iraq.

"Obviously if Ireland is allowing their land to be used for planes to fly and to bomb Muslims, then those Muslims will obviously have a right to retaliate, it goes without saying."

He also criticises Irish Muslims, saying they've been "stripped of their Islamic personality through secular education. On the one hand they're not willing to speak up and on the other hand they're intimidated into being docile."

Interesting: a Jihad disinformation brigade. I wonder if they have enlisted the help of Karen Armstrong and John Esposito. From the SITE Institute, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

The Jihad Information Brigade issued their second statement today, August 19, 2005, claiming that they disseminated their propaganda about the “reality of the defeat facing Allah’s enemies in Iraq,” to approximately 1,600 websites and e-mails, including more than 60,000 people in the military, including their families, and “some of the public figures.”...

The Brigade states that their goal is to unveil the reality of the situation in Iraq, which is allegedly covered up by the “conspiracies prepared by the infidel countries.” On March 7, 2005, the Jihad Information Brigade issued their first statement, boasting of sending similar messages to soldiers and their families in a variety of languages, with the goal of demoralizing the soldiers and “break the grasp of the Jews over the media.”

Yes, the "grasp of the Jews over the media" is no doubt responsible for all the stories about the Palestinians celebrating their victory in Gaza.

A (mostly) brilliant piece on the MCB's moral double standard from Rod Liddle in The Spectator, with thanks to all who sent this in:

Sometimes things are altogether more simple than we wish them to be. Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the eminent chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain, recently refused to attend the Holocaust memorial day. When asked why this was so, he muttered something about how lots of people had been killed all over the place, not least the poor Palestinians and why shouldn’t we remember them, etc., etc. In the liberal press, extravagant excuses were made for Sacranie and his ludicrous chef de cabinet, Inayat Bunglawala. But I suspect that the simple answer, the one we didn’t want to hear, is the most accurate: Sacranie and Mr Bunglawala don’t like Jews. They are both unequivocal anti-Semites. You do not refuse to grieve for one bunch of people because another, much smaller, bunch of people have been murdered as well. Nor should you automatically equate Jews with the right-wing Zionism of Ariel Sharon: that would be like equating all black Zimbabweans with Robert Mugabe.

Come on, Rod. I love you, but Sharon = Mugabe? We could only begin to consider this if Mugabe gives back all the land he has seized from whites in Zimbabwe...I'm not holding my breath.

It’s a racist thesis, isn’t it? Those people who are opposed to Israel’s policies are usually at pains to point out that they are not being anti-Semitic, merely anti-Zionist. It is not the Jews to whom we are opposed, they say — it’s the Zionists. In which case you’d expect them to be happy to spend two minutes in silence commemorating those six million Jews, those non-Israeli citizens by definition, murdered by the Nazis. But Sacranie and Bunglawala wouldn’t even cross the road to attend such a memorial. It wasn’t because there are altogether too many of these sorts of commemoration these days, to the extent that they have become almost meaningless. It was because the commemoration was for the Jews; ergo, in my book, they’re anti-Semitic. They’re Jew-haters. I thought as much at the time and think it even more so now. Sacranie is in a bit of a bait right now because the BBC Panorama team has just completed a programme looking at this false dichotomy I’ve been banging on about for the last couple of years: the New Labour notion that there is moderate Islam, represented by the likes of the Muslim Council of Britain (which speaks for, we are told, some 50 per cent of British Muslims, although by what democratic mechanism we can’t be sure) and the rogue ‘handful’ of extremists who want the rest of us dead; and the idea that Islam, as a religion, had nothing to do with those bombings on 7 July. The journalist responsible is John Ware — a first-rate investigative reporter if ever there was one, but I’m not sure how far his powers of investigation were stretched digging into the background of the Muslim Council of Britain. There’s plenty of stuff on the record which even journalists as hopeless as, say, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown or even Martin Kettle could find, if they cared to look. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Sacranie once said that death was ‘too easy’ for Salman Rushdie; Bunglawala meanwhile has called the creation of Israel a ‘terrible mistake’.

Read it all.

Who is united in hate? The British Left and the jihadists. From Douglas Davis in The Spectator, with thanks to all who sent this in:

Politics makes strange bedfellows. Stranger still when the odd couple are fundamentalist Islam and the secular Left. The evolving Black–Red alliance is growing in France, Germany and Belgium. But, based on the successful British model, it is now going global to declare war on the war on terror.

No fewer than three international conferences have been convened in Cairo, presided over by the former president of Algeria, Ahmed Ben Bella, under the auspices of the International Campaign Against US and Zionist Occupations. One outcome is ‘The Cairo Declaration Against US Hegemony, War on Iraq and Solidarity with Palestine.’ British signatories included Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn and, of course, the indefatigable George Galloway, whose ‘fiery’ participation won honourable mention in Egypt’s semi-official newspaper, Al-Ahram.

If Iraq was the catalyst for the Black–Red alliance, the Stop the War coalition provided the cauldron in which the union was consummated. The result is a pure gestalt: the coalition allows its constituent parts to pack a far greater collective punch than they could have dreamt of on their own. Putting a million people on to the streets of London is not, after all, small potatoes. The steering committee of the Marxist–Islamist alliance consists of 33 members — 18 from myriad hard-Left groups, three from the radical wing of the Labour party, eight from the ranks of the radical Islamists and four leftist ecologists (also known as ‘Watermelons’ —green outside, red inside). The chairman is Andrew Murray, a leading light in the British Communist party; co-chair is Muhammad Aslam Ijaz, of the London Council of Mosques. Among the major players from the Left are Lindsey German, who resigned as editor of the Socialist Workers’ party newspaper to become convenor of the Stop the War coalition; John Rees, also of the SWP, and, of course, George Galloway. Indeed, the first proud progeny of the alliance is Galloway’s Respect party, which fought and won the London seat of Bethnal Green and Bow, with its substantial Muslim electorate.

Read it all.

And notes that terrorism works: "The evacuation shows that what was taken by force would not have been retrieved without resistance." That, of course, means that there will be more to come. From Reuters, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Iran on Thursday welcomed Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip after nearly four decades of occupation, state radio reported.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the withdrawal was a victory for "legitimate Palestinian resistance".

"The evacuation shows that what was taken by force would not have been retrieved without resistance," state radio quoted Asefi as saying.

Iran says it would not oppose a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict if the Palestinian people supported it....

But why bother? They are getting what they want without one.

I have noted many times that no negotiated settlement is possible in Israel because of the intransigence that stems from the doctrine of jihad. Exhibit A this afternoon is Hamas leader Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahar. "An Interview with Hamas Leader Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahar," from MEMRITV, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

The following are excerpts from an interview with Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar that appeared in Asharq Al Awsat on August 18, 2005....

Q: "Will Hamas continue the resistance after the disengagement plan is implemented?"

A: "Our plan is not to liberate the Gaza Strip, nor is it to liberate the West Bank or to liberate Jerusalem. Our plan in the first stage is to liberate the lands occupied in 1967. Those who view it as a strategic solution and those who view it as an interim solution have agreed upon this plan. Therefore, we will not take over the Gaza Strip and live there peacefully while the Zionist enemy is detaining thousands of our sons and occupying the West Bank. The resistance must move to the West Bank to expel the occupation."...

Q: "Will Hamas resume its operations in Israeli towns after the withdrawal?"

A: "Firstly, there are no Israeli towns. These are settlements. If the aggression and occupation continue, the Palestinian people will have no alternative but to defend themselves. The Palestinian people are not killing the occupiers or being killed out of fun or madness. The life spent by our generation in killing, imprisonment, and exile is not the life that we want for our sons. We want them to live in security and peace and to live in a homeland in which they are able to move and not to live as slaves of the Israeli enemy."

Q: "In other words, the resistance of Hamas in the future will be in response to Israeli actions."

A: "No, our position depends on two things: the withdrawal from the Palestinian territories and the extent of the aggression against the Palestinian people."

Our Position Stems from Our Religious Convictions

Q: "You talk about attacks on the Palestinian territories as if you recognize the existence of Israel."

A: "I strongly disagree with your statement. We do not and will not recognize a state called Israel. Israel has no right to any inch of Palestinian land. This is an important issue. Our position stems from our religious convictions. This is a holy land. It is not the property of the Palestinians or the Arabs. This land is the property of all Muslims in all parts of the world. We regard the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, and the West Bank as a geographical unit, as mentioned by resolutions 242 and 338, which have not been implemented. We are currently talking about this area."

Read it all.

A Jihad Watch reader has alerted me to this post at LGF:

Very interesting, just got back from the Border's Books in Pleasant Hill,CA, San Fran suburb, and at the counter the clerk asked me if the book I was buying was good,they are selling A LOT of it, they are flying off the shelf she said. The book? the new Spencer book " the Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam"

I like the sound of that

The next time someone says to you that something will happen "when pigs fly," tell him that time is now.

(For those of you who are just tuning in, "PIG" = Politically Incorrect Guide.)

Seven years for someone who is alleged to have aided Atta and others as they plotted to kill 3,000. Motassadeq update from CNN, with thanks to Special Guest:

HAMBURG, Germany (CNN) -- A German court has convicted a Moroccan man for belonging to a terrorist group, but acquitted him on charges of accessory to murder in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The chief judge sentenced Mounir el-Motassadeq to seven years in prison Friday for being a member of a terrorist organization.

Defense attorneys for el-Motassadeq said they will appeal the conviction -- a process that could take up to 18 months.

He was convicted in 2003 but the verdict was thrown out by an appeals court in March 2004 and he was freed a month later.

The appeals court said the conviction was unfair because U.S.-held suspects did not testify.

El-Motassadeq was accused of providing logistical help to the Hamburg al Qaeda cell that included 9/11 hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Jarrah.

The U.S. Justice Department faxed the German court summaries of the interrogation of two key detainees: Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

Binalshibh, believed to be the Hamburg cell's contact with al Qaeda, said "the only members of the Hamburg cell were himself, Atta, al-Shehhi and Jarrah," according to the summary. He also said, "the activities of the Hamburg group were not known to el-Motassadeq."

The group was "well known by a number of Arab students," but "Binalshibh said that the people in question had no knowledge and were not participants in any facet of the operative plans of September 11."

Mohammed is believed to have masterminded the 9/11 plot, and Ould Slahi, a Mauritanian man, is suspected to have been an al Qaeda contact in Germany.

According to the summary, the Justice Department had "doubts" about some of the testimony, but the summary did not elaborate.

Many many people have written to me asking after the courageous ex-Muslim Ali Sina, whose site FaithFreedom.org is down. I have just heard from Ali, and he is fine. His site is not under attack. Here is his message:

I moved the site to a new server because our previous host DreamHost.com complained of excessive CPU usage. We grew too big for them to handle us. They disconnected the account even though five more months were left. (No refunds!) The new hosting company turned out to be a pirate. They got my money and I never heard from them. So after waiting three days with all my tickets ignored, I decided to forget the money and search for a new host. Now I have a new host and I hope this one would be okay. The site is uploaded. It takes time until it is proliferated accross the WWW. We should be able to see it hopefully today.

Thank you, Ali, for all your brilliant and indefatigable work for the truth and the defense of human rights.

Hmm. Maybe those missiles fired from Jordan weren't all that moderate after all. From AFP, :

DUBAI and AQABA, Jordan -- An Al Qaeda linked group claimed on August 19 rocket attacks near US warships moored in the Red Sea port of Aqaba and into a neighbouring Israeli resort killing a Jordanian soldier.

The group, the Al Qaeda Organization in the Levant and Egypt, said in a statement posted on an Islamic website that its guerrillas fired "three Katyusha rockets" on the Aqaba and Eilat ports.

The US military said there had been no American casualties.

A total of three Katyusha rockets were fired from a warehouse in Aqaba, landing in the port, a site close to a military hospital and next to the airport in the nearby Israeli resort of Eilat, Jordan said....

Jihad Watch's Hugh Fitzgerald sheds the light of truth on another subject about which there is a great deal of misinformation and disinformation: the treatment of Hindus (and Sikhs) by Muslims in India.

In sheer numbers, no group of Believers has suffered from Islam like the Hindus. It is amazing that few Indian-Americans, and few Indo-British, seem to know the history of their own ancestors and of what the Muslim conquest -- or perhaps one should say the Early Conquest and then the Later Conquest -- did to India, which Naipaul accurately described as a "wounded civilization." K. S. Lal writes of the 60-70 million Hindu victims murdered by their Muslim masters. When those Muslim masters ceased the mass killings, it was not out of any sense of mercy, but only to extort the jizya from people who would now be treated in a manner akin to Jews and Christians: dhimmis who would be allowed to live, but would be subject to a series of economic, political, and social disabilities that guaranteed a permanent status of degradation, humiliation, and physical insecurity.

There are those who are morally indifferent to how the Mughal conquerors ruled, or to what happened to the Hindus (or the Sikhs). One thinks of the deplorable William Dalrymple (who is apparently not deplorable enough for the TLS to cease assigning him books to review on the subject) in his popular accounts of the luxury and love-intrigue at Mughal courts, or that other, more scholarly apologist for Islam, Francis Robinson. A number of factors have contributed to the indifference of Hindu intellectuals in India, and outside India, to the real nature of Islam. For the first, there is the common desire to ape the attitudes of so-called intellectuals in London and New York. It would not do, it does not do, to be too exercised about Islam. And of course, all things pertaining to Hindutva, to a sense of Indian nationalism connected to Hinduism, is mocked in the world, though it offers not the slightest threat or menace (unlike Islam) to anyone – anyone, that is, but the Muslims who continue to procreate and "gain market-share" as a percentage of the population in India, even as they harry or persecute or murder the Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan and Bangladesh and, whenever they can, in Kashmir and elsewhere in India.

Good thing this happened in Jordan: these must have been moderate missiles. "Missile Fired at U.S. Navy Ship in Jordan," from AP, :

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Unknown assailants fired at least three missiles from Jordan early Friday, with one narrowly missing a U.S. Navy ship docked at port, an attack that killed a Jordanian soldier. One missile fell close to an airport in neighboring Israel, officials said.

The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, said two American amphibious ships were docked in Aqaba when a mortar was fired toward them. The vessels later sailed out of port as a result of the attacks, U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Cdr. Charlie Brown told The Associated Press in Bahrain.

Jordanian soldier Ahmed Jamal Saleh was fatally wounded when the mortar sailed over one of the U.S. ships and slammed into a warehouse, a Jordanian security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media....

A Jordanian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said another missile landed near a Jordanian hospital.

The attacks were believed to have been launched from a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Aqaba, a Jordanian Red Sea port 210 miles south of the capital, Amman, officials said....

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but Islamic extremists have long criticized Jordan's U.S.-allied moderate government for its peace treaty with Israel and close ties with the West.

In a synagogue in Germany that was destroyed in 1938. Interesting, since we are today reliving 1938. From AP, with thanks to Mrs. Obelix:

COLOGNE, Germany - Pope Benedict XVI warned Friday of rising anti-Semitism and hostility to foreigners during a visit to a synagogue that was rebuilt after being destroyed during the Nazis' infamous Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938.

Benedict became only the second pope to visit a synagogue, praying and remembering Holocaust victims with Cologne's Jewish community — Germany's oldest.

"Today, sadly, we are witnessing the rise of new signs of anti-Semitism and various forms of a general hostility toward foreigners," he said.

Yes, and those foreigners in Europe are the foremost purveyors of this new anti-Semitism. It would have been good for the Pope to have addressed that.

No, not jihadist media: Hizb-ut-Tahrir is still legal in Denmark, despite calling for the killing of non-Muslims. (Since they are a non-violent group, they must be, as Fjordman points out, advocating peaceful killing). But the Danish government has targeted Kaj Wilhelmsen, who has called for the expulsion of Muslim populations in Europe or the extermination of jihadists.

Of course, silencing Wilhelmsen will backfire on the Danish government. His extreme recommendations are born out of frustration that the government is not doing enough to combat the threat of jihad, and is kept from doing so by political correctness and multiculturalism. This action will only reinforce such perspectives. If they really want to discredit Wilhelmsen and strip away any credibility his views may have among Danes, they should move decisively against Hizb-ut-Tahrir and other jihadists in Denmark.

From the BBC, with thanks to Fjordman:

A radio station in Copenhagen has had its broadcasting licence taken away for three months after calling for the extermination of Muslims.

In the controversial broadcast, Radio Holger presenter Kaj Wilhelmsen said: "There are only two possible reactions if you want to stop this bomb terrorism - either you expel all Muslims from Western Europe so they cannot plant bombs, or you exterminate the fanatical Muslims which would mean killing a substantial part of Muslim immigrants."

Following the London bombs on 7 July, at least three extremist websites have warned that Denmark could be the next target.

The reason for such threats is the 500 Danish troops working alongside US and British troops in Iraq....

On Tuesday, the Danish Radio Licence Commission ruled the programme in breach of the Broadcasting Act and decided to withdraw the station's licence for three months.

But Kaj Wilhelmsen has vowed to fight on. He says he will continue to broadcast on the internet, for which no licence is required....

In a separate development, Copenhagen Police charged Kaj Wilhelmsen with breaking the anti-racism law which makes it illegal to incite hatred against groups on the basis of religion, race or sexual orientation.

Henning Koch, a legal expert from Copenhagen University, told Danish Radio he believed Kaj Wilhelmsen was in serious breach of the anti-racism law and faces a possible prison sentence.

'Exterminate your rulers'

Since the bomb attacks in London, there has been an increased focus on extremist groups in Denmark. Only last week, the spokesman for the Danish branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, Fadi Abdullatif, was charged with calling for the killing of the Danish government.

On a flyer distributed in Denmark, Hizb ut-Tahrir said: "So, travel to help your brothers in Falluja and exterminate your rulers if they block your way".

Danish Justice Minister Lene Espersen is looking to find a legal way to ban the organisation. Those kind of remarks "have no place in our society", said Mrs Espersen in November.

Hizb ut-Tahrir has already been banned in neighbouring Sweden and Germany.

Copenhagen Police is also investigating another extremist group, according to Politiken newspaper.

The paper says the group is linked to a Copenhagen mosque and its website provides links to an al-Qaeda recruiting video showing Osama bin Laden calling for the killing of non-Muslims and demonstrating how to build a bomb.

Muhammad al-Massari update from the TimesOnline, :

PRESSURE was intensifying on ministers last night to live up to their promised crackdown on Islamic fanatics by charging or deporting a Saudi radical who backs the killing of British soldiers in Iraq.

MPs from all parties and several foreign governments have demanded action against Muhammad al-Massari, who has asylum in Britain. His radio station, al-Tajdeed, backs suicide attacks and his website shows the beheadings of Western hostages.

This month Dr al-Massari named four Italian cities that are targets for terror strikes.

Britain has previously tried to deport him but the courts intervened to prevent him being sent back to Saudi Arabia.

Muslims preaching hatred and intolerance in British madrassas, while the dhimmi authorities idly stand by. "Hate-India campaign by British muslim radicals," from Asian Tribune, with thanks to Andy:

Britain has suddenly realised that radicalism has made deep inroads among its young Muslims. That would not have come as a surprise to Her Majesty’s government if it had cared to take a serious view of some of the patently objectionable and unacceptable activities of the people who have been preaching hate and intolerance in the island nation for quite some time and also listened to some voices from India. It is hardly a secret in the UK that the most radicalised section among its Muslims citizens are people of Pakistani origin, followed closely by those who trace their roots to Bangladesh, formerly known as East Pakistan.

India has reasons to be concerned about this phenomenon and, in fact, New Delhi should take up the matter with London without any delay. Much to the resentment of the Muslim community as a whole, the Madrassas in the UK have attracted a lot of adverse publicity lately. They are thought to be the main recruiting grounds for Islamists and jehadis who have now brought their terrorist activities to the very heart of the country.

There are about 1000 Madrassas, most of them attached to the mosques, where they impart Islamic history and jurisprudence and teach languages like Urdu and Arabic. Going by the London police claims now, quite a few Madrassas obviously expand their curriculum to include preaching hatred to the young and impressionable pupils.

The clerics in these mosques run schools are often imported from Pakistan, presumably after they have been ‘cleared’ by the ISI. The Muslims from India have kept a remarkable distance from the activities of the extremists. Post-Godhra the ‘imported’ preachers and British advocates of hate and terrorism are targeting the Gujrati Muslim youth in Britain to become the ‘pioneer’ batch of Indian mercenaries of death.

It therefore comes as no surprise that ‘hate India’ lessons form an essential part of the British Madrassa curriculum. Pictures from Kashmir with provocative captions adorn the walls. The ‘serene surroundings’ of the Dal Lake are shown as being surrounded by ‘600,000’ Indian soldiers, a patent Pakistani propaganda. Gun-totting Indian troops are depicted as harassing ordinary Kashmiris by stopping and searching them in bazaars. A Kashmiri youth’s funeral is shown with a perversity that is common in the Pakistani media: ‘one more added to the genocide,’

Of course, there is plenty of ammunition against the West and posters exhort the youth to join the Jehad. Some posters carry ‘interesting’ messages: ‘Show Allah what he loves to see from jehad’. ‘Hurry to rescue your brothers in al-Fallujah and eliminate your rulers if they stand in your way’ and ‘to die for the sake of Allah is better than life and what it contains.’

Read it all.

In this piece in today's FrontPage, I discuss a particularly egregious article about Sayyid Qutb and the causes of jihad: "Terror's Greatest Recruitment Tool" by Naomi Klein, which appeared in The Nation.

The Left has for quite some time indulged its fantasy that jihad terrorism is somehow all the fault of the United States, but the blame is usually placed upon Iraq, or Abu Ghraib, or Israel, or (for those with more esoteric tastes) the toppling of Mossadegh by the CIA in Iran in 1953, or some other alleged foreign policy enormity. Now, however, Naomi Klein has done something new, something bold, something downright innovative: she has suggested in The Nation that what drives today’s global jihad is not so much rage at American and British foreign, but domestic policies. Specifically, she grounds the whole jihad imperative in that ever-handy bogeyman, American racism.

It all started, you see, with Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood theorist whose writings are so popular among jihadists today that some (principally Wahhabis trying to take the heat off their own jihadist movement) have even labeled Osama bin Laden a “Qutbist.” According to Klein, “by coincidence, Qutb arrived in the United States in 1948, the year of the creation of the State of Israel. He witnessed an America blind to the thousands of Palestinians being made permanent refugees by the Zionist project. For Qutb, it wasn’t politics, it was an assault on his identity: Clearly Americans believed that Arab lives were worth far less than those of European Jews. According to Yvonne Haddad, a professor of history at Georgetown University, this experience ‘left Qutb with a bitterness he was never able to shake.’”

Klein makes no mention of the role that the Arab states around Israel played in the artificial and politically motivated perpetuation of the Palestinian refugee problem – and indeed, that craven maneuver doesn’t seem to have troubled Qutb himself. She does recount that Qutb had bad experiences in Colorado in the late 1940s and, later, back home in Egypt; and these, she posits, are the cause of the modern-day international jihad movement: “So-called Islamist terrorism,” she claims, “was ‘home grown’ in the West long before the July 7 attacks--from its inception it was the quintessentially modern progeny of Colorado’s casual racism and Cairo’s concentration camps.” How Cairo rates as part of the West Klein does not bother to explain, but in any case her focus is on Colorado: as far as she is concerned, it’s really all about racism: “The twin sparks that ignited Qutb’s world-changing rage are currently being doused with gasoline: Arabs and Muslims are being debased in torture chambers around the world and their deaths are being discounted in simultaneous colonial wars, at the same time that graphic digital evidence of these losses and humiliations is available to anyone with a computer. And once again, this lethal cocktail of racism and torture is burning through the veins of angry young men.”

“Qutb’s world-changing rage?” Is that rage really Qutb’s? Can modern-day Islamic terrorism really be attributed to him, and to his experience of racism in Colorado? One would expect that if that were so, there would be no evidence of political or violent Islam dating from before 1948. But in fact the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Qutb was part, was founded not in 1948 but in 1928, and not by Qutb, but by Hasan Al-Banna. It was Al-Banna, not Qutb, who wrote: “In [Muslim] Tradition, there is a clear indication of the obligation to fight the People of the Book [that is, Jews and Christians], and of the fact that God doubles the reward of those who fight them. Jihad is not against polytheists alone, but against all who do not embrace Islam.” Does he mean a military jihad? Most certainly: “Know then that death is inevitable, and that it can only happen once. If you suffer it in the way of God, it will be your profit in this world, and your reward in the next.”[1] Al-Banna is not on record saying that Islamic Tradition mandated warfare against Jews and Christians as a response to American racism — or, for that matter, as a response to any alleged enormities of American foreign policy. Fourteen years before Israel was founded and Qutb arrived in Colorado, Al-Banna wrote: “It is a duty incumbent on every Muslim to struggle towards the aim of making every people Muslim and the whole world Islamic, so that the banner of Islam can flutter over the earth and the call of the Muezzin can resound in all the corners of the world: God is greatest [Allahu akbar]!”[2]

Here is today's schedule for radio discussions of my new book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). As I explained yesterday, this book, along with my earlier ones, has been the primary engine powering interest in this site and in the work we do here. It is good to see that more and more people are becoming aware of the realities of jihad and dhimmitude -- more and more every day.

9:15 AM EDT: KVSS "Spirit Morning Show" with Kris McGregor

4:00 PM EDT: KEYS "Eric Von Wade Show"

10:30 PM EDT: "Lynn Woolley Show" (Nationally Syndicated)

From the fearless, peerless Aaron at Internet Haganah: "Jihad in Thailand and the websites that promote it":

Thailand has been the victim of a rising tide of Islamist violence over the last few years, and like any jihad, those promoting this violence have websites.

The violence has been centered in the southern-most Thai provinces that border Malaysia and the jihadis are believed to have connections with the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist organization.

The groups involved:

PULO - Patani United Liberation Organization
The General Union of the Patani Revolutionary Students
Free Patani (UTUSAN PATANI MERDEKA)

Their members are known to be active in Sweden, Malaysia, Netherlands and Syria, and their websites are used to facilitate communications between groups and individuals in these various countries.

The websites:

[...]

3. patanistudents.com

Description: Official site of The General Union of the Patani Revolutionary Students. This site is operated by an individual in Damascus, Syria and is hosted by a Syrian company with a .uk domain name on a server in Dallas, Texas. Examples of the site's content:

www.patanistudents.com/thai/article/3.htm: Calls for the punishment of Patanese who do not fight against the Thai government

Please, all Patanese, try to fight and you will know that we could do and Thai flag will be destroyed. Islam Patani flag will be shown on the Patani land. Islam Patani will be the greatest country again. Allah Akbar!

www.patanistudents.com/thai/article/6.htm: Calls on Patanis to join their "Malayu Insurgency" fighing against the "Evil Thai". Encourages the use of bullets, bombs, guns or anything else that can be used to kill Thai.

www.patanistudents.com/thai/article/2.htm: All Islamic Malayu Patani people are told to wage jihad against the Thai government.

www.patanistudents.com/thai/article/13.htm: Islamic Patanis are told to give their souls to Allah and wage jihad for his sake against the Thai, with the promise of Paradise after death.

www.patanistudents.com/thai/article/18.htm: Patanis are to think of themselves not as Thai but as Islamic and to fight against the Thai.

www.patanistudents.com/thai/article/11.htm: They offer to stop the violence if Thailand withdraws from south Thailand.

Status: Active
IP: 70.84.128.116
Datacenter: ThePlanet.com, Dallas, TX USA
Host: Nobalaa Co., Damascus SY dba webtophosting.co.uk

Note that Nobalaa is a Syrian company, that Syria is the subject of US trade sanctions as a result of being a state-sponsor of terrorism, and they are using the facilities of an American company to operate this site.

Whois summary

Abo Mouhammad
(abomouhammad@gmail.com)
+66.0066221592209
Cartage Tonis TN

The Tunisian address and Thai phone number notwithstanding, this individual is known to be in Damascus, Syria.

There is much more, plus screenshots, at Internet Haganah.

Joel Mowbray recounts WMAL's scandalous dhimmi treatment of talk show host Michael Graham in the Washington Times (thanks to Ruth King):

Local talk-radio station WMAL is under assault from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group that has savaged journalists, critics of radical Islam, even the Fox TV show "24" -- but which just as steadfastly has refused to specifically condemn various Islamic terrorist organizations.

CAIR has instigated a campaign to pressure the Disney-owned WMAL to fire its already-suspended midday host, which came on the heels of its initial effort to have him suspended.

Though the outcome is uncertain in the current situation, two things are certain: 1) CAIR will continue demonizing genuine criticism of radical Islam as "Islamophobia," and 2) it will never specifically condemn radical Islam or Islamic terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

At issue are remarks made by mid-morning host Michael Graham, in which he said that "Islam has, sadly, become a terrorist organization." But what is lost in most media accounts -- and is never mentioned by CAIR -- are the surrounding statements made by Mr. Graham, which put the thrust of his comments in an entirely different light.

Mr. Graham's comments, in fact, were not met with immediate condemnation or outrage. He wasn't suspended until July 28, almost a week after his on-air remarks. In the interim, CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper even came on Mr. Graham's show -- telling him that CAIR didn't want him fired, just punished. Once Mr. Graham was suspended indefinitely later that week, CAIR quickly called for his head.

Here are Mr. Graham's remarks, with full context:

"Because of the mix of Islamic theology that -- rightly or wrongly -- is interpreted to promote violence, added to an organizational structure that allows violent radicals to operate openly in Islam's name with impunity, Islam has, sadly, become a terrorist organization. It pains me to say it. But the good news is it doesn't have to stay this way, if the vast majority of Muslims who don't support terror will step forward and reclaim their religion."

Plenty of people can -- and should -- take issue with the framing of the religion itself as a "terrorist organization." But his surrounding comments have more than a ring of truth. Islamic theology is used to promote violence. And in many parts of the world, radicals have taken control of Islam--and the moderates have been effectively silenced.

And Mr. Graham's desire that moderates reclaim control of Islam is shared by many, though likely not by CAIR or groups of its ilk.

CAIR was founded in 1994 by two former high-ranking officials with the Islamic Association of Palestine, a rabidly anti-Semitic organization known as Hamas' biggest political booster in the United States.

Since September 11, CAIR officials have been careful to avoid the appearance that they support Islamic terrorism. But not before September 11. In November 1999, CAIR President Omar Ahmad addressed a youth session at the IAP annual convention in Chicago, where he praised suicide bombers who "kill themselves for Islam": "Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam ? that is not suicide. They kill themselves for Islam." (Transcript provided by the Investigative Project.)

Read it all.

Erstwhile British jihadist Omar Bakri will have to settle for flying the black flag of Islam over Lebanon or the UAE, at least for now. "Transplanted Jihadi," from Newsweek, with thanks to Scaramouche:

Aug. 17, 2005 - Radical imam Omar Bakri Mohammed, whose pro-Jihad agitation led British authorities last week to ban him from their shores, now is likely to set up a new base in either Lebanon or the United Arab Emirates, according to a close associate.

British officials disclosed last week that Bakri, founder of a controversial and now dissolved militant group known as Al Muhajiroun (The Immigrants) had been sent a letter informing him he would not be allowed to re-enter the U.K., his longtime country of residence. The Syrian-born preacher had left Britain for what initially was described as a vacation to Lebanon shortly after a wave of deadly suicide bombings of London's transport system on July 7 and a second round of attempted attacks on July 21. In the wake of the attacks, Prime Minister Tony Blair's government promised to curb the activities of preachers like Bakri, either by ejecting them from Britain or taking them off the streets through new antiterror legislation or regulations.

Bakri associate Abu Yahya, a Briton who described himself as a former Al Muhajiroun spokesman, told NEWSWEEK that when Bakri left for Lebanon, he "never planned to come back to the U.K. in the first place." Bakri's "ultimate aim" was to go to Pakistan, said Abu Yahya, who said that he and other British followers of Bakri were "in contact" with the imam. Now, however, Bakri is "most probably" going to stay in Lebanon, though it is possible he could also try to settle in the Persian Gulf emirates of Sharjah or Abu Dhabi, according to Abu Yahya, who is currently in Britain. "He's a world-renowned figure. He has an international following ... He's going to continue his duties wherever he is." Bakri was picked up by Lebanese authorities last week for questioning but was later released.

Only days before his departure from London, Bakri, whose proclivity for outrageous statements made him a favorite target for Britain's raucous tabloids, declared that he would not inform the police if he knew that another cell of Muslim terrorists was planning a new attack on London. "I have said publicly, on the record, if I knew somebody was going to attack here, I will hold him, I will call the Muslims to hold him," Bakri told Britain's Channel 4 News, adding, "I would never tell the police. I am not working for the police. I would never, ever, tell the police about any Muslim. It is God-forbidden."

That prohibition is based on Qur'an 4:92.

Moral blindness, dhimmitude, naivete, and more. Will the recipients of this largesse now realize that the Jews are not as bad as they have thought? No. They will laugh at their weakness and continue the jihad. "How Old Friends of Israel Gave $14 Million to Help the Palestinians," from the New York Times, with thanks to Ruth King:

It was perhaps an odd request to make of a man noted for his commitment to Israeli causes and his fierce criticism of the Palestinian Authority.

Please raise $14 million to help buy the Jewish settlers' lucrative greenhouses in the Gaza Strip so that the Palestinians can take them over when the settlers are gone. Oh, and can you get it done by the weekend, before the pullout starts? If not, the settlers will destroy the greenhouses on their way out of Gaza to keep them out of Arab hands.

Last Wednesday, though, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, real estate magnate and publisher of The Daily News, received just such a pitch from his friend James D. Wolfensohn, the former president of the World Bank, current Middle East envoy for the White House and would-be broker of the deal.

Mr. Zuckerman, who is also former head of the American-Israel Friendship League, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and the Soviet Jewish Zionist Forum, said he thought about the ironies. But not for too long.

"Despite my skepticism," Mr. Zuckerman said in an interview on Tuesday, "I thought to myself, 'This is perhaps the only illustration or symbol of what could be the benefits of a co-operational, rather than a confrontational attitude.' "

So he in turn picked up the phone and called a few of his friends and fellow billionaires, who also happened to be prominent Jewish philanthropists.

Not all of them shared his enthusiasm. "Some people said, 'Well, if these people are so anti-Semitic, why should we do anything to help them?' " Mr. Zuckerman said.

But Lester Crown of Chicago, whose family owns General Dynamics, said yes. Leonard Stern, the chairman of the Hartz Mountain real estate empire and former owner of The Village Voice, called Mr. Zuckerman back from a cruise ship in the Mediterranean and said yes. A foundation that prefers to remain anonymous said yes.

Within 48 hours, Mr. Zuckerman said, he had his $14 million. And the Palestinians had a shot at inheriting relatively intact the greenhouses whose vegetables and flowers have been a major source of Israeli export income, and, not incidentally, about 3,500 desperately needed Palestinian jobs.

Note to the donating millionaires: if at any point in the future you realize the error of your donation, please note that I am accepting donations at Jihad Watch. What we manage to accomplish now is a close-run thing, and we have many plans we are unable to implement for lack of funds. We are a 501(c)3 organization. Please contact me at director@jihadwatch.org for details on how to donate.

Some are calling to close it down. Why have the British dhimmis allowed it to broadcast for this long? "Calls to close 'dissident' radio," from The Evening Standard, with thanks to Dave Washburn:

The Government is facing demands to close down a London-based radio station broadcasting calls for attacks on British troops in Iraq.

Al-Tajdeed Radio, which is run by a prominent Saudi dissident, has close links with a website carrying films of terrorist bombings and beheadings. It also carries songs calling on Muslims to join the holy war against coalition forces.

The radio broadcasts in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The man behind the station is Dr Muhammad al-Massari.

He has lived in London since first seeking asylum there in 1994. He has frequently declared that British troops in Iraq are legitimate targets.

Patrick Mercer, shadow minister for homeland security, said the Government should close down the station and look at deporting Dr al-Massari.

He said the broadcasts were demoralising for British troops in Iraq.

"To hear jihad talk, albeit in Arabic, being broadcast out to Iraq where you are trying to do your job as a soldier, a policeman or whatever, I think it must be desperately demoralising," he said.

"It should be closed down."

Gee, you think so?

No surprise here. A report from Itamar Marcus and Barbara Cook of Palestinian Media Watch:

Introduction

Israel's leaving the Gaza Strip is being presented by the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas as a victory for Islam.

Palestinian Authority religious leaders and Hamas have for years been presenting their conflict with Israel as part of an unbroken religious war, which Allah is waging against Jews - a conflict whose climax will be the extermination of the world's Jews. (Palestinian Media Watch has reported on this ideology. See documentation below.)

Within this context, Israel's leaving its towns in Gaza now, is being presented as a victory of Islam in this war. Palestinian Authority Television hosts and participants alike are calling the Israeli moves from its towns as a 'great victory for Allah'.

The Hamas website publicized numerous posters that declare the same religious victory theme. The Hamas poster below, showing a face of Hamas founder Ahmad Yassin laughing, superimposed over a somber religious Jew, presents the Sharon evacuation plan as a victory of the Koran over the Talmud. The words on the poster: "Our Koran proves that we were right and your Talmud proves that you were wrong..."

Another Hamas poster shows a rifle and the Koran with the words: "With those two together the victory has been achieved."

One example from the Palestinian Authority's official daily:

"...The manager of the office of the Ministry of the Waqf in northern Gaza, Farid Al-Nayard, said, '...last Friday’s sermon was under the title ‘On that day the Believers will be glad with the victory of Allah.''"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, August 13, 2005]

In June 2004 Palestinian Authority religious leader Ibrahim Mudayris already preached the religious significance he saw in Sharon's plan, connecting it to an event described in the Koran, specifically focusing on Israel's plan to destroy the towns before leaving.

The Koranic event and the present expulsion, according to this senior PA imam, have numerous parallels:

1. Attacks by Muslims against Jews

2. Jews become fearful

3. Jews destroy their own homes

4. Jews flee their towns

This email came in to my Jihad Watch inbox today:

addhaf, My name is Akram.I am 22year old.I am IT a student. I hate America and i am think destroy american christians.Because america is very salefish and reude.I want to hake american website but i cannot know how to hake?Please send me proper guidence through my male.

I'm afraid I can't help him, as he didn't tell me the name of his male, and anyway I don't know how to hake websites.

Washington and Patterson jihad update. "Officials Probe Alleged L.A. Terror Plot," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

LOS ANGELES -- A militant Islamic prison gang may have been behind an alleged plot to attack synagogues and National Guard installations on Jewish holidays or the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, investigators said.

The group _ known as Jamat Ul-Islam Is Saheeh, or JIS _ is headed by an inmate at the California State Prison, Sacramento, law enforcement officials said. It has existed for about five years and is one of at least three Islamist groups operating in state prisons, officials said.

Hammad Riaz Samana, a member of the mosque, was arrested Aug. 2 and is being held in Los Angeles, but federal officials have refused to say what charges he might face. Samana's arrest developed from a terrorism investigation in which authorities found what they believe was a target list after arresting two men on suspicion of a series of gas station robberies in Los Angeles County. That list included three National Guard facilities, the Israeli Consulate and several synagogues.

And not just Al-Qaeda. Caliphate in seven easy steps. From Der Spiegel, with thanks to JS:

If there is anyone who might possibly have an inkling as to what al-Qaida are up to, it is the Jordanian journalist Fouad Hussein. He has not only spent time in prison with al-Zarqawi, but has also managed make contact with many of the network's leaders. Based on correspondence with these sources, he has now brought out a book detailing the organization's master plan....

One of Hussein's most sensational sources for the book, according to what he told SPIEGEL Online, was Seif al-Adl. The Egyptian terrorist, who is suspected of taking part in the attacks on the American Embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi in 1998, has a ransom of US$5 million on his head from the FBI. Secret services suspect that al-Adl is now in Iran....

An Islamic Caliphate in Seven Easy Steps

In the introduction, the Jordanian journalist writes, "I interviewed a whole range of al-Qaida members with different ideologies to get an idea of how the war between the terrorists and Washington would develop in the future." What he then describes between pages 202 and 213 is a scenario, proof both of the terrorists' blindness as well as their brutal single-mindedness. In seven phases the terror network hopes to establish an Islamic caliphate which the West will then be too weak to fight.

The First Phase Known as "the awakening" -- this has already been carried out and was supposed to have lasted from 2000 to 2003, or more precisely from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington to the fall of Baghdad in 2003. The aim of the attacks of 9/11 was to provoke the US into declaring war on the Islamic world and thereby "awakening" Muslims. "The first phase was judged by the strategists and masterminds behind al-Qaida as very successful," writes Hussein. "The battle field was opened up and the Americans and their allies became a closer and easier target." The terrorist network is also reported as being satisfied that its message can now be heard "everywhere."

The Second Phase "Opening Eyes" is, according to Hussein's definition, the period we are now in and should last until 2006. Hussein says the terrorists hope to make the western conspiracy aware of the "Islamic community." Hussein believes this is a phase in which al-Qaida wants an organization to develop into a movement. The network is banking on recruiting young men during this period. Iraq should become the center for all global operations, with an "army" set up there and bases established in other Arabic states.

The Third Phase This is described as "Arising and Standing Up" and should last from 2007 to 2010. "There will be a focus on Syria," prophesies Hussein, based on what his sources told him. The fighting cadres are supposedly already prepared and some are in Iraq. Attacks on Turkey and -- even more explosive -- in Israel are predicted. Al-Qaida's masterminds hope that attacks on Israel will help the terrorist group become a recognized organization. The author also believes that countries neighboring Iraq, such as Jordan, are also in danger.

The Fourth Phase Between 2010 and 2013, Hussein writes that al-Qaida will aim to bring about the collapse of the hated Arabic governments. The estimate is that "the creeping loss of the regimes' power will lead to a steady growth in strength within al-Qaida." At the same time attacks will be carried out against oil suppliers and the US economy will be targeted using cyber terrorism.

The Fifth Phase This will be the point at which an Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared. The plan is that by this time, between 2013 and 2016, Western influence in the Islamic world will be so reduced and Israel weakened so much, that resistance will not be feared. Al-Qaida hopes that by then the Islamic state will be able to bring about a new world order.

The Sixth Phase Hussein believes that from 2016 onwards there will a period of "total confrontation." As soon as the caliphate has been declared the "Islamic army" it will instigate the "fight between the believers and the non-believers" which has so often been predicted by Osama bin Laden.

The Seventh Phase This final stage is described as "definitive victory." Hussein writes that in the terrorists' eyes, because the rest of the world will be so beaten down by the "one-and-a-half billion Muslims," the caliphate will undoubtedly succeed. This phase should be completed by 2020, although the war shouldn't last longer than two years.

Read it all.

An illuminating piece on Islam in Germany and World Youth Day in Cologne, from Sandro Magister in Chiesa (thanks to Paolo):

ROMA, August 18, 2005 – The penultimate event of Benedict XVI's visit to Cologne, before the vigil and Mass with the young people of World Youth Day XX, will be a Saturday, August 20 meeting with the "representatives of some of the Muslim communities."

The meeting will take place at the residence of the city's archbishop. The Muslims asked the pope to visit a mosque, but Benedict XVI declined the invitation.

His prudence is understandable. Cologne and Munich – where Joseph Ratzinger was archbishop from 1977 to 1981 – are the cities in which the Muslim Brotherhood, which has for decades been the main ideological and organizational source of radical Islam in the world, has gained control of most of the mosques and of active Islam in Germany and in Europe.

Mahdy Akef, an Egyptian now residing in Cairo who is the present murshid, or supreme guide, of the Muslim Brotherhood worldwide, is an explicit supporter of the suicide terrorists in Iraq. From 1984 until 1987, he directed the most dynamic Muslim center of Germany, in Munich, with its great mosque in the northern part of the city.

Munich was the birthplace of the Islamische Gemeinschaft in Deutschland, IGD, one of the largest Islamic organizations in Germany. The IGD is under the full control of the Muslim Brotherhood and has sixty mosques spread throughout the country.

For a few years, its organizational headquarters has been located in Cologne. The president of this body is Ibrahim Al Zayat, a 39-year-old Egyptian, the charismatic leader of a network of youth and student organizations that are linked to the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, WAMY, the largest Islamic youth organization in the world. WAMY is financed by Saudi Arabia, bears a strong, rigorist Wahhabi imprint, and produces vehemently anti-Jewish and anti-Christian publications.

Curiously, the commitment to young people on the part of the Roman papacy, which is celebrating one of its key moments in Cologne during these days, has in that same city a parallel in one of the leading centers in Europe for promoting radical activism among young Muslims.

Read it all.

Two weeks ago today, I wrote here that I would "probably" close comments at this site in two weeks. Most readers seem to have missed that "probably," and took me to mean that I was absolutely going to shut comments down. However, in fact I wrote "probably" because I wanted to see what the reaction would be, and it has indeed been most interesting. Many, many people have written me to express fervent approval or equally fervent disapproval of the closing of comments.

Several offered to moderate comments, and one of those who offered has actually done so. Accordingly, in the last two weeks I have deleted comments that call for genocide, use foul language or derogatory terms, are off-topic in various ways, etc. I want to thank the moderator for volunteering to do this, and as long as this moderator and/or others can continue to watch the comments, I will keep comments open. I will not yet change the comment heading that says comments are moderated, as this arrangement is still on a trial basis. But for now, we'll continue the trial.

I also want to thank all those who have contributed intelligent comments that have contributed to the discussion of how we can protect the equality of dignity and rights of all people from the jihad threat.

While this behavior is not sanctioned by anything in Islam, it is a consequence of the dehumanization of women in Islamic law and custom. From The Independent, with thanks to Paolo:

Noura Abdurrahi's four children were crying from hunger, and she knew there was food in the house. But her husband, Musa, had locked it away, out of her reach, when he had left to search for work the previous week.

What happened to Noura at a village near Zinder is replicated through much of the stricken communities of Niger. In the midst of starvation and disease, many men in rural areas are determined to control the meagre supplies, seemingly oblivious to the suffering of their families.

So acute is the problem that Unicef and international charities have launched urgent projects focusing exclusively on women. It is, they say, a far more certain way of ensuring the children and the elderly - the most vulnerable - get at least the very minimum needed for survival.

This extraordinary situation appears to be peculiar to Niger. Neighbouring countries caught up in the crisis caused by droughts and plagues of locusts - Mali, Mauritania and Burkina - are also predominantly Muslim with patriarchal cultures. Yet there, aid workers say, women are not sidelined to anything like the same degree.

In some villages, men have stopped women from having contact with Unicef officials, insisting that only they were entitled to speak for the community. There have also been repeated cases of men selling food given as aid, or passing it on to male members of extended families.

"We have millet and sorghum at the back of our hut, but we are not allowed to get it," 33-year-old Noura said. "The room was bolted by my husband when he went to Nigeria to find a job and his father and brothers have the key. They say it is up to me to feed my children, but that is not easy. A lot of families round here are in the same situation. There is nothing we can do."

Then we wonder why Pakistan is such a shaky ally. "In Pakistan's Public Schools, Jihad Still Part of Lesson Plan: The Muslim nation's public school texts still promote hatred and jihad, reformers say," from the LA Times, with thanks to Joseph:

LAHORE, Pakistan — Each year, thousands of Pakistani children learn from history books that Jews are tightfisted moneylenders and Christians vengeful conquerors. One textbook tells kids they should be willing to die as martyrs for Islam.

They aren't being indoctrinated by extremist mullahs in madrasas, the private Islamic seminaries often blamed for stoking militancy in Pakistan. They are pupils in public schools learning from textbooks approved by the administration of President Pervez Musharraf.

Since joining the U.S. as an ally in its "war on terror" four years ago, Musharraf has urged Pakistanis to shun radical Islam and pursue "enlightened moderation."

Musharraf and U.S. officials say education reforms are crucial to defeating extremism in Pakistan, the only Islamic nation armed with nuclear weapons. Yet reformers who study the country's education system say public school lessons still promote hatred against non-Muslims and urge jihad, or holy war....

The current social studies curriculum guidelines for grades 6 and 7 instruct textbook writers and teachers to "develop aspiration for jihad" and "develop a sense of respect for the struggle of [the] Muslim population for achieving independence."

In North-West Frontier Province, which is governed by supporters of the ousted Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan, the federally approved Islamic studies textbook for eighth grade teaches students they must be prepared "to sacrifice every precious thing, including life, for jihad."

"At present, jihad is continuing in different parts of the world," the chapter continues. "Numerous mujahedin [holy warriors] of Islam are involved in defending their religion, and independence, and to help their oppressed brothers across the world."

The textbook for adolescent students says Muslims are allowed to "take up arms" and wage jihad in self-defense or if they are prevented from practicing their religion.

"When God's people are forced to become slaves of man-made laws, they are hindered from practicing the religion of their God," the textbook says. "When all the legal ways in this regard are closed, then power should be used to eliminate the evil.

"If Muslims are being oppressed," the book says, "then jihad is necessary to free them from this cruel oppression."...

"Some people coming from the regular school system are volunteering for various kinds of jihad, which is not jihad in classical Islamic theory, but actually terrorism in the modern concept," said Husain Haqqani, a Pakistani author and professor of international relations at Boston University.

I respect Haqqani a great deal. I'd be interested to know how he distinguishes, and how he proposes to teach jihadists to distinguish, between "jihad in classical Islamic theory" and "terrorism in the modern concept."

"All of that shows that somehow the schooling system has fed intolerance and bigotry."...

Punjab state's seventh-grade social studies textbook, published in January, begins with a full-page message from Musharraf urging students to focus on modern disciplines such as information technology and computers.

"It is a historical fact that the Muslims ruled the world for hundreds of years," Musharraf writes. He acknowledges that in the past, Pakistan's school curriculum "was not in concert with the requirements of modern times." But he assures students that "textbooks have been developed, revised and updated accordingly."

The changes, if any, are hard to spot. Disparaging references to Christians, Jews and Hindus from previous editions are carried over into the new text.

"Before Islam, people lived in untold misery all over the world," the textbook says. "Some Jewish tribes also lived in Arabia. They lent money to workers and peasants on high rates of interest and usurped their earnings. They held the whole society in their tight grip because of the ever increasing compound interest.

"In short, there was no sympathy for humanity," the passage continues.

"People were selfish and cruel. The rich lived in luxury and nobody bothered about the needy or those in sufferings."

A section on the Crusades teaches that Europe's Christian rulers attacked Muslims in the Holy Land out of revenge even though "history has no parallel to the extremely kind treatment of the Christians by the Muslims."

"Some of the Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem fabricated many false stories of suffering," the passage continues. "If they were robbed on the way, they said it were the Muslims who robbed them."

Christians eventually realized they were inferior to Muslims, the chapter concludes.

Combined with lessons on armed jihad, such a view of history helps make young Pakistanis ripe for manipulation by Islamic militants, who have given jihad "a demonic meaning" here, said Saigol, the education expert.

"The word is so much more associated with violence, killing, death and blood," she said, "that I think it's difficult to reclaim it, as the modernists are trying to do, and turn it into a war against one's inner self."

Indeed.

Anis Al-Naqqash, author of the phrase "Islam Is One of the Greatest Advocates of Violence, When Violence Is Warranted," is at it again. "Lebanese Terrorist-Turned-Researcher Anis Al-Naqqash on Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV: In Support of Terror Attacks in London, the U.S., and Arab Countries" from MEMRITV, with thanks to Faustaw:

Anis Al-Naqqash, a Lebanese researcher and former terrorist, was involved in the December 21, 1975 attack on an OPEC oil ministers' conference in Vienna in which three were killed and 70 were taken hostage, flown to Algeria, and released for ransom. [1] He was also involved in the failed assassination attempt in France against former Iranian prime minister under the Shah Shapour Bakhtiar, July 18, 1980, in which two were killed. Al-Naqqash was sentenced in France to life in prison; however, he was released a decade later.

Al-Naqqash appeared August 3, 2005 in an interview on Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV calling the U.S. "the enemy of Arabs, of Muslims, and of humanity." (To view this clip, visit http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=798)

Earlier, Al-Naqqash on Al-Jazeera TV, June 6, 2004, in a debate on the use of violence in the Middle East, in which he was introduced as "a writer and political analyst who is an expert in this field," made statements supporting violent attacks against the U.S. and strikes on oil facilities and companies. (To view this clip, visit http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=101)...

"Who said that violence is futile? What happened in Spain? A lying and deceiving prime minister... Like [Hasanein] Heikal said... Just because it served his party's interest. The only reason Spain entered the war in Iraq was that the prime minister's right-wing party was financed by several Gulf states, at America's request. As a show of gratitude, he entered the war. He brought his people to war. He had to be hit over the head with a large hammer in order to wake up. This led to a result. Jack Straw, the great genius, the foreign secretary, admits today: 'It seems that the London bombings are related to our presence in Iraq.' What a revelation!

"They have the right to turn Iraq into rivers of blood, but they don't deserve to pay the price in Iraq... I mean, in London?

"This is the prerogative of the commander of the Jihad, and not of those who sit in air-conditioned rooms and issue fatwas about what Islam permits or prohibits.

[...]

"Today, we volunteer to say, 'We reject this blind violence.' What alternative violence do you propose? Oh, religious scholars of the nation, what violence do you propose as a response to the American invasion of Iraq?

[...]

"Today, we are in a state of open war, and so we must calmly say three things. First and foremost, the nation must determine who the enemy is. If we cannot agree that the enemy is America and Israel..."

"So You Must Be Prepared for the Killing of Your Civilians"

Host: "The American government..."

Al-Naqqash: "...The American government, Israel, and its allies in its wars against Muslims – in this case, we will be mistaken.

"People exclaim, 'What's happening in London?!' – as if London were innocent. London is waging a war, along with the US, on the land of Muslims. It occupies the Muslims' lands and kills Muslims.

[...]

"You must say to the enemy: 'You set the norm that civilians can be killed, so you must be prepared for the killing of your civilians, who grant you your authorities by elections.'"

Host: "But Mr. Al-Naqqash, there is no justification for this. Excuse me, one minute... I mean, there are innocent people. Let's admit it. The innocent blood that is spilled is far more... Whether the innocent are Arabs, from Iraq, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia... There is no way to justify... I mean, spilling the blood of innocent people in Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, London, or Madrid, just because some lunatic rules the U.S. and kills throughout the world."

Al-Naqqash: "Break matters down and you will find your way. First, striking back at the enemy in his own land – is it legitimate or not? It's legitimate. This enemy came to your country..."

Host: "Only the aggressor. There is a religious rule about this. You cannot abandon the aggressor and kill the innocent."

[...]

Host: "Palestine is Dar Harb. A Zionist who plundered a piece of land in Palestine, and later brought his wife and children – he brought them into the line of fire in order to turn them into a target, or I don't know what. Palestine is Dar Harb. But London is not Dar Harb, nor are Madrid, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt. Who said London is not Dar Harb? London is the center of the war. It is where the war is waged from. The entire United States is a center from which the war is waged. Three-quarters of the Arab countries, those with American bases, are centers from which the war is waged. What are you talking about, Amr? There is a shortage of information. From the American bases in our Arab and Islamic lands are the planes take off from. These bases are where the logistics and the American army come from to kill Muslims and Arabs. Is this Dar Salam? Is this a children's theater?"

This means that in his view, any civilian in Israel or the US can legitimately be killed.

"Any Cleric with Knowledge of Islam… Must Declare Jihad Against the U.S., England, and Their Allies…"

Host: "No one said it was Dar Salam, but those who kill and perpetrate this violence are not..."

Al-Naqqash: "I say, before you even ask, that the Arab countries... Any cleric with knowledge of Islam must guide the Jihad of Islam in the right direction. He must say: We declare Jihad against the U.S., England, and their allies occupying Islamic lands, and in this proper method. When the nation's clerics are silent, sitting on their backsides, and talking only about how Islam is a religion of love, they give the youth of the nation the liberty to act freely and respond in their own methods.

Read it all.

From the point of view of the perpetrators, this was done in the service of peace, and in obedience to Allah. This can be abundantly established from the words of those who share their ideology. But the learned analysts continue to look everywhere else they can for the possible motives and goals of those who do such things. From the TimesOnline, :

CROWDS of passengers were boarding buses to leave Baghdad for the more tranquil south when the first of three bombs exploded yesterday, ripping through the busy bus station in the centre of the capital.

Minutes later a second exploded, catching the injured from the first blast and the rescuers who came to their aid. Then, as the casualties were being rushed to nearby al-Kindi hospital, the third exploded just metres from the gates of the emergency room, cutting down policemen, doctors and the wounded.

The devastating series of bombs that hit Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 43, broke the recent tense lull that prevailed across the city in the run-up to the expected announcement of a new constitution. Insurgents were said to be stockpiling their explosives for a spectacular attack to greet the country’s new charter, but the deadline passed without agreement and it was only yesterday morning, when meetings resumed, that the explosions happened.

When they did, they were ingeniously barbaric, detonating over a period of less than 20 minutes. “This was organised — they were trying to kill as many people as possible,” Ali Jassim, a traffic policemen, raged amid the wreckage in al-Nahda bus station.

Convenient access to all of Europe and easy passage to the Middle East. From CNSNews via AINA, :

Terrorists who previously targeted the U.S. are now in Bosnia, where they have access to a "one-stop shop" of jihad training camps, weapons and illegal Islamic 'charities' -- all at the doorstep of Europe, terrorism experts said.

"[Convicted terrorist] Karim Said Atmani recently returned to Bosnia after being released early from French prison for 'good behavior,'" terrorism expert and author Evan Kohlmann said.

Atmani, a Moroccan, was linked to the "millennium bomb plot" and convicted by a French court of colluding with Osama bin Laden. He has been linked to the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), an organization responsible for airplane hijackings and subway bombings in France.

"This is very disturbing," said Kohlmann. "Atmani promised he would wage jihad until the end. That doesn't mean until a plea deal, or early release; it means until death or victory."

Also finding haven in Bosnia is Abu el Maali, who like Atmani, was a foreign national who fought in the Bosnia war. El Maali was later accused by French authorities of attempting to smuggle explosives in 1998 to an Egyptian terrorist group plotting to destroy U.S. military installations in Germany. He was also accused of leading terrorist cells in Bosnia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"This activity is very significant," said Kohlmann. "Senior members of the former Muslim Brigade and their top commanders are still there, and they're still active."

The Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation (AHF), a charity that was later found by the U.S. Treasury to be underwriting terrorist operations including al Qaeda, shut its offices in Bosnia after the U.S. announcement but reopened under the name "Vazir." The new organization was registered as an "association for sport, culture and education."

In 2002, the U.S. Treasury Department reported that the Bosnia office of Al-Haramain was linked to Al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya, an Egyptian terrorist group that was a signatory to bin Laden's Feb. 23, 1998, fatwa -- or religious edict -- against the United States.

Cybercast News Service viewed videotape shot by Kohlmann of activity at the former Sarajevo offices of Al-Haramain. "All they did was white-out the old sign," said Kohlmann.

Cybercast News Service has also obtained a video that terrorism analysts say depicts an active jihad training camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a region previously described by analysts as an ideal gateway for terror missions into Europe.

The video, which is over four minutes in length, shows outdoor maneuvers, explosives training and training inside what appears to be a school gym. Exercises in hostage-taking are also shown.

In FrontPage this morning, I discuss a few news items from the last few days in the US:

As far as most Americans are concerned, the last jihad activity in the United States took place on September 11, 2001. But jihadists undeniably continue to be quite active in America. A number of incidents in the last few days indicate that they are still trying to pull off an attack on the scale of the July 7 London bombings — or worse.

• Two Southern California converts to Islam, Gregory Vernon Patterson and Levar Haney Washington, are being held on suspicion of planning terror attacks in the Los Angeles area. Patterson and Washington were allegedly hoping to commit mass murder at a military recruitment office in Santa Monica and other locations on September 11, 2005 and other dates. Investigators found literature about jihad along with weapons and military equipment in Washington’s apartment; and Washington claimed that he and Patterson belonged to a group named Jama’at al Islam (Party of Islam), a jihadist group in California’s prisons (Washington served several years in prison on an attempted robbery conviction; he was released in November 2004).

• Working from information discovered in the investigation of Washington and Patterson, Los Angeles officials arrested a Pakistani named Hammad Riaz Samana. He seems to have been involved in terror plots targeting, among other places, the Israeli Consulate and the California National Guard.

• Lodi, California imam Shabbir Ahmed agreed to accept deportation to his native Pakistan on immigration charges. However, this case was not all about immigration: Ahmed and several others in Lodi allegedly planned to establish a madrassa, or Islamic school, there that would be used, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, “to recruit individuals to engage in jihad.” When asked if he believed that Ahmed was involved in planning a terrorist attack, agent Gary Schaaf responded: “That’s some of the information that has been provided to us.”

Since the occasion for these interviews is my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), these media appearances are integral to the goals of Jihad Watch itself -- as is the book also.

While I do receive invitations to speak about jihad, dhimmitude, and news items related to them on radio and TV, as well as in person, throughout the year, these invitations become much more frequent when this book and my previous books have appeared. Because the subject-matter of each of the books is in some way jihad and dhimmitude, although all are different from one another in content and approach, that is invariably what we discuss during the interviews.

Consequently the book and the resulting interviews are drawing more attention to these subjects, to the root causes of the war on terror, to the ways in which particular events relate to the ultimate goals of the jihadists, and to what we must do in order to defend ourselves from the jihad scourge, than there has ever been before.

Since the goals of Jihad Watch are to raise awareness of exactly those things, the book and the interviews that follow are at the moment both the finest fruits and most effective engine of growth for our efforts here. And since the hosts and I always mention Jihad Watch also, they are also drawing more attention to this effort than there has ever been before. This therefore has become our most effective way to do what we are trying to do here: get the word out -- tell the truth on subjects on which it is very hard to come by these days, and tell it to as many people as possible.

So you may wish to tune in to these interviews if you get the chance: we are not going to be discussing how much coffee I was drinking when I wrote the book, or how I like to take long walks in the moonlight, but we will be discussing the fundamental challenges of our time, and what we can and must do in order to meet them.

8:00 AM EDT: KHOW "The Peter Boyles Show"

11:05 AM EDT: KAGM "The Larry Ahrens Morning Show"

4:30 PM EDT: KARN "Big Dave Show"

6:06 PM EDT: KFTK "Dave Glover Show" -- Debate with Umar Lee

UPDATE: I just got word that the Glover Show is having some technical difficulties, and so My Dinner With Umar is going to be rescheduled.

8:00 PM EDT: KPDQ "The Georgene Rice Show"

More indication of the utter moral bankruptcy of the UN, and their continued support of the global jihad. From the New York Sun, with thanks to AC:

The United Nations bankrolled the production of thousands of banners, bumper stickers, mugs, and T-shirts bearing the slogan "Today Gaza and Tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem," which have been widely distributed to Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip, according to a U.N. official.

The U.N. support of the Palestinian Authority's propaganda operation in the midst of the Israeli evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip has provoked outrage from Israeli and Jewish leaders, who are blaming Turtle Bay for propagating an inflammatory message that they say encourages Palestinian Arab violence.

"The intifada worked. That's contextually what this message is saying," the director of U.N. affairs for the Washington-based Jewish organization B'nai Brith, Amy Goldstein, said.

The Arabic slogan, which refers to disputed territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, has become ubiquitous in Gaza, where Israeli soldiers this week are evacuating 21 settlements. It's served as the central message of a Palestinian Arab effort to spin the withdrawal as a victory.

A special representative of the United Nations Development Program in the Gaza Strip, Timothy Rothermel, told Fox News that his office provided financial support for the production of materials that make up the Palestinian Authority's propaganda campaign, timed to coincide with the Gaza pullout. The Palestinian Authority's withdrawal committee developed and produced the posters and other items using U.N. money, Mr. Rothermel said.

In addition to the slogan "Today Gaza and Tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem," many of the materials displayed the logo of the United Nations Development Program, which operates in 166 countries and spends about half a billion dollars a year.

Despite deafening silence about the book from the mainstream media (as well as from the most prominent "conservative" media outlets and spokesmen), my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) has made the New York Times Bestseller List. I just got word that it will be #17 on the paperback nonfiction list for the week of August 28 (which is not up yet at the Times, so no link).

This is testimony to the fact that the mainstream media stranglehold on information is being broken -- by web-based sources of information like Jihad Watch (and Little Green Footballs, Michelle Malkin, and others), and by readers like you who are fed up with distortions and half-truths and are looking for some honest and reliable information about the true nature of today's global conflicts. Yet true to its richly-deserved nickname "The New Duranty Times,"* the New York Times is unlikely to review my book, even while it resides on their bestseller list. This is not about the book as such -- it is testimony to the increasing unreality and unreliability of the Times and its ilk, and of the necessity to continue this samizdat struggle to get the truth out despite mainstream indifference and all kinds of other obstacles.

Please be assured of my heartfelt gratitude for your support in this, and of my determination to continue the struggle.

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

* "New Duranty Times"? Walter Duranty was the New York Times correspondent in the USSR in the 1930s. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting. In March 1933 he wrote that there were in the Ukraine "serious food shortages," but "no actual starvation" -- just "widespread mortality from diseases due to malnutrition." Behind the scenes, he reported to the British Embassy that ten million had died in Stalin's famine, but he never reported that in the New York Times. Duranty, a Communist sympathizer, wanted Americans to think that the idea that Stalin had engineered a famine in the Ukraine was "a sheer absurdity."

The Times never did get around to reporting much about the Ukrainian famine, or about Hitler's genocide against the Jews. Now it is going 0-for-3, declining to speak honestly about the real nature and causes of the global jihad. That's why we call it the New Duranty Times, and why you should too.

When before in history have large numbers of men been found fighting against the forces of a friend and ally of their own country? How long will it be before a Manhattan Project to find new energy sources is implemented, with an eye toward enabling the United States to extricate itself from this sham alliance with the Saudis? From UPI, :

Five Saudi nationals fighting with insurgents in Iraq have been killed in clashes with U.S. forces, the Saudi daily newspaper al-Watan reported Wednesday....

They noted that many Saudi youth fighting in Iraq "are encouraging their friends and relatives at home to join them and participate in the fight against the coalition forces."

Christians in Pakistan face many Sharia-inspired injustices, and often find themselves victimized by police and government officials. Here is yet another example: "Christians protest against ASP," from the Daily Times, with thanks to Nicolei:

LAHORE: A large gathering of Christians on Tuesday protested against Baghbanpura’s assistant superintendent of police (ASP)-Investigation for allegedly supporting a kidnapper. The protestors chanted slogans against police and appealed to higher authorities for justice. They said that Muhammad Abbas, a resident of Gohawa village, had kidnapped 14-year-old Christian girl Asma. They claimed that Asma’s family had appealed to the South Cantt police station to register a case but had been denied. They added that Abbas’s uncle Bashir had assured the family during a ‘Panchaiyat’ that the girl would be returned in a few days. However, Bashir later produced a fake marriage certificate saying Abbas and Asma had wedded. Asma’s brother Nadeem Masih had tried to contact higher authorities but Bashir and Abbas shot him and fled, said the protestors.

DC Watson updates his list. I expect such updates will be keeping him busy in the coming months.

The following is an update to the running list of arrested, convicted, deported, or still at large 'tiny minority' of radical, America-hating Muslims who are out on the fringe on the 'religion of peace' and tolerance, Islam.

Apparently, they just don't get it. They just don't understand that the followers of Islam only wish to coexist with non-Muslims everywhere in the world and live in harmony. At least that's what the fine, outstanding representatives of Islam at the Council on American Islamic Relations would have us believe.

We know better, and we always will. The mainstream media continues to conduct interviews with the fine, outstanding Muslims at the Council on American Islamic Relations, who tell the American public that killing innocent people goes against Islam. While CAIR distracts our politicians and our media outlets with complaints of 'Islamophobia,' Muslims like those on the list below are speaking softly, smiling at you, waiting for their orders. You see, in Islam, non-Muslims just don't meet the 'innocent people' criteria.

Qur'an 5:51 "Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends."

Qur'an 9:29 "Fight against such as those to whom the Scriptures were given (Jews and Christians)...until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued."

Caught:

Randall "Ismail" Royer
Sami Al-Arian
Ghassan Elashi
Nuradin Abdi
José Padilla
Bassem K. Khafagi
Zacarias Moussaoui
Sami Ibrahim Isa Ardel Hadi
Abdurahman Alamoudi
Karim Iraq
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali
Ahmed Barodi
Sadeq Naji Ahmed
Mukhtar al-Bakri
Princess Buniah al-Saud
John Muhammad
Bashir Noorzai
Faysal Galab
Bayan Elashi
Ali al-Timimi
Shafal Mosed
Ibrahim Al-Niqrish
Sahim Alwan
Imam Fawaz Damra
Ihsan Elashyi
Yahya Goba
Ahmed Ressam
Yasein Taher
Ali bin Mussalim
Hasan Akbar
Basman Elashi
Nemr Ali Rahal
Hazim Elashi
Clayton Morgan, aka Isamu Dyson, aka Cayson Bin Don
Tarik ibn Osman Shah
Rafiq Sabir
Samir Yousif Shana
Munir Yousif Shana
Shabbir Ahmed
Arwah Jaber
Sheik Rahman
Hamid Hayat
Umer Hayat
Mohammad Adil Khan
Mansoor Hassan
Mohammad Hassan Adil
Mohammed Khalil Ghali
Samih Fadl Jamal
Hana Al Jader
Ramsey Youssef
Abdul Hakim Murad
Wali Khan
Muhammed Aatique
Nabil Gharbieh
Donald T. Surratt
Hammad Abdur-Raheem
Ibraham Ahmed al-Hamdi
Caliph Basha Ibn Abdur-Raheem
Seifullah Chapman
Masoud Ahmad Kahn
Dr. Rafil Dhafir
Rabih Haddad
Levar Haney Washington-(convert to Islam)
Gregory Vernon Patterson-(convert to Islam)
Abdullah Alnoshan
Khalid Fadlalla
Karim Ahmed Abdel Latif Ahmed
Mahoud Ahmed Abdel Latif Ahmed
Ahmed Mohamed Atta
Mohamed Ibrahim Gaber
Mohamed Palat Anwar Jozain
Homaidan Al-Turki
Aref Ahmed
Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad
Mahmud Faruq Brent
Shahawar Matin Siraj
Ibrahim Abu Mezer
Hammad Riaz Samana
Abdul Rauf Noormohamed
Naji Antoine Abi Khalil
Imam Jamil Al-Amin

That's interesting. Several of the people on this list are named Mohammed, or Muhammad.

Please teach the children well about the 'religion of peace.'

Arwah Jaber update. "Jaber Indicted By Federal Grand Jury: UA student allegedly tried to join Palestinian jihad," from Arkansas' Morning News, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

FAYETTEVILLE -- A University of Arkansas graduate student accused of trying to join the Palestinian holy war against Israel has been indicted by a federal grand jury.

Arwah Jaber, 33, was indicted on charges of knowingly attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year, failing to disclose an alias on an application for naturalization in 2000 and an application for a passport in 2002, and using a fake Social Security number on a credit card application in 2000.

He is set for arraignment Sept. 6. before a federal magistrate judge in Fayetteville....

Jaber was pulled out of line and arrested June 16 at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport. The government contends he was flying out to join the jihad. Jaber maintains he was going to visit relatives.

Jaber, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in the West Bank town of Yamoun, allegedly told federal authorities he told his doctoral professor and others at the university he was going to Palestine to "fight for freedom, peace and justice."

The State Department has designated the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as a terrorist organization.

Jaber maintains he was frustrated with his professor over delays in graduating and made the statements in an effort to sway the teacher into approving his degree. He contends he didn't mean any of it and recanted the statements under questioning by FBI agents.

In other words, the continued wrangling over the Iraqi Constitution is not because of disagreement over whether Sharia should be paramount and Iraq should be an Islamic state. Note well that none of the parties quoted below brings that up as a sticking point. And meanwhile, outside, the jihad continues. From "Three Car Bomb Attacks Kill 43 in Baghdad," from AP, :

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Three car bombs exploded near a bus station and hospital in Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least 43 people and wounding 89 in the deadliest attacks in the capital in weeks, police said. Survivors searched charred buses and cars for signs of relatives.

The violence came as Iraq's leaders resumed negotiations on a draft of a new constitution, a charter they hope will bring stability and help end the insurgency. The document was to be finished Monday, but the deadline was extended one week.

A suicide car bomber targeting policemen detonated his vehicle outside the Nahda bus station in central Baghdad, one of the city's major transit points, the U.S. military said.

A second car exploded in the open-air station's parking lot near buses that carry passengers to Amarah and Basra, Shiite-dominated cities in southern Iraq, police Capt. Nabil Abdul-Qader said.

About 30 minutes later, a suicide bomber exploded his vehicle near the Kindi Hospital as many of the wounded were arriving for treatment, police said. It was unclear if the hospital was targeted in the blast.

Abdul-Qader said 43 people died and 85 were wounded in the attacks....

One of the stumbling blocks in the constitution debate was Kurdish demands for self-determination, which would give them the right to secede.

On Tuesday, Kurdish leaders said they had no plans to break away from Iraq even through they wanted the right enshrined in the constitution.

"There are rumors that the Kurds want to secede, but they are for unity," President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, told reporters Tuesday. He said he expected the constitution to be finished before the deadline.

Other Kurds defended their self-determination demand, although they insisted they have no plans to secede.

Iraqi leaders expressed confidence on Tuesday that they would overcome differences over remaining issues by the new deadline. If no agreement can be reached this time, the interim constitution requires that parliament be dissolved.

Different groups gave conflicting information on what had been resolved and what stood in the way of a deal.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, said the unresolved issues were federalism, the election law and the formula for distributing revenue from oil and other natural resources. Kurdish leaders said they objected to a proposal to grant special legal status to the Shiite clerical hierarchy in Najaf.

Sunni Arab negotiator Mohammed Abed-Rabbou said "the most important point is federalism," underscoring Sunni concerns that a constitution that grants regional autonomy could eventually divide the country.

Al-Jaafari said disagreements were largely over details and he expressed confidence that Iraq's constitution could be finished within a week.

"I hope that we will not need another extension. The pending points do not need too much time and God willing we will finish it on time," he said Tuesday.

Just once today, and then I have a couple of big meetings that will occupy me for the rest of the day. You may wish to listen online.

8:05 AM EDT: WWNN "The Steve Kane Show"

More indication of where sentiments lie in official Indonesia. From AP, with thanks to Shiva:

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A militant cleric and 17 others convicted in the 2002 bombings that killed 202 people on the resort island of Bali have received sentence reductions of several months to mark Indonesia's independence day, wardens said Wednesday.

Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual head of the Al Qaeda-linked terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, was originally given a 30-month prison sentence for his role in the bombings, which killed many Australian tourists.

On Wednesday he was given a 41/2-month sentence reduction, said Dedi Sutardi, the chief warden at Cipinang Prison in Jakarta, which means he could be released from prison in May 2007.

Seventeen other Bali bombers, who were originally sentenced up to 16 years, received three-month reductions, said Bromo Setiono, chief warden at the Kerobokan jail in Bali's capital Denpasar.

It is an Indonesian tradition to cut jail terms on holidays for some of the country's 105,000 inmates who exhibit good behavior, with only those sentenced to death or life in prison excluded.

"This is the right of all inmates all over Indonesia, including those involved in the Bali bombings," said Setiono.

Many people in Australia consider the Bali bombings as tantamount to an attack on their own country, and the decision to cut the sentences -- especially Bashir's -- was expected to draw loud protests.

Up from 141. "Italy to expel 700 suspected militants," from ISN Security Watch, with thanks to The One Who Must Not Be Named:

ISN SECURITY WATCH (16/08/05) – The Italian police on Monday said they had arrested more than 100 suspected Muslim militants and planned to expel hundreds more in a massive “anti-terror” sweep made possible by new legislation granting broader powers to police.

More than 141 suspected militants have been arrested, and officials claim to have questioned 32,000 suspects since the introduction of new anti-terrorism legislation last month.

In late July, the Italian parliament passed legislation granting greater powers to police and making it easier to detain people on suspicion of membership in a militant group. Civil liberties groups have harshly criticized the legislation.

The move comes only weeks after one of the suspects in the failed 21 July attack on the London transport system, Hussain Osman, was detained in Rome. Osman is among 701 people Italy plans to expel or extradite for alleged involvement in terrorist activities.

The arrests also coincide with warnings from Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, who said that though there was no specific evidence of an impending attack, the risk was real and had forced Italy into an intense and prolonged state of alarm in the wake of the July bombings in London and Egypt.

How long will it take for officialdom and the media to notice that the people who set off these bombs in Bangladesh, Hamas, Al-Qaeda and the London bombers all have the same ideology? How long will it take before they begin to address the question of where this ideology comes from? Bangladesh jihad update from AFP, with thanks to Nicolei:

More than 100 small bombs apparently planted by a banned Islamic extremist group exploded almost simultaneously in towns and cities across Bangladesh on Wednesday, injuring at least 30 people, police said, although some media reports counted two dead and more than 100 injured.

A total of 111 explosions, including 15 in the capital, Dhaka, and 20 in the south-eastern port of Chittagong, caused panic near bus and train stations, courts and administrative buildings, various police officials said, adding they appear to have been caused by small home-made devices.

Police in some affected cities said leaflets -- signed in the name of banned extremist group Jamayetul Mujahedin [Party of Jihadists] and calling for the implementation of Islamic law -- were found near the scene of the blasts.

Some were written in Arabic and others in Bangla.

In the northern town of Mymensingh, 13 people suffered minor injuries and eight of them were released from hospital after treatment, police said.

Seventeen others were detained in hospitals with non-life threatening injuries in seven different cities.

Remember this one the next time you hear somebody say that the desperately poor Palestinian jihadists have to perform suicide bombings because they have no money for conventional weapons. "Israel: Hizbullah funding missiles that could reach airport," from the World Tribune, with thanks to Alyssa A. Lappen:

TEL AVIV — Israel's military reports Hizbullah has poured tens of thousands of dollars to fund development of Palestinian missiles in the West Bank.

Israeli security sources said the missiles were meant to be used against Israeli cities in wake of the military's withdrawal from the northern West Bank in September. They said targets of the Hizbullah-financed missiles would include Israel's international airport at Lod.

So far, Hizbullah has been funding operatives of the ruling Fatah movement and the Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad to develop and produce the missiles. The sources said these operatives were based in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Middle East Newsline reported.
[In the United States, two employees of a shipping company have pleaded guilty in connection with a planned shipment of night-vision goggles and infrared sights to Hizbullah. The two employees comprised a Lebanese and an Israeli and were arrested in New York City in an FBI sting operation.]

Khaled Mashaal says something that everyone in the world seems to know -- except Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush. From Al-Bawaba, with thanks to all who sent this in:

The implementation of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip marks “the beginning of the end for Israel,” said Hamas political bureau chief, Khaled Mashaal.

Speaking to al-Hayat newspaper, Mashaal was quoted as saying on Tuesday that the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as “the beginning of the end for the Zionist program in the region.”

The Hamas leader reiterated the movement’s commitment to the calm with Israel until the end of the current year, but added the “resistance is a strategic choice, because the withdrawal from Gaza is the first step in the way to complete liberation.”

The Damascus-based official stressed that “Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wants the Gaza exit to be the first and last, and the payment for the continued control in the West Bank, settlement construction, wall construction, and the annulment of any possibility of establishing a Palestinian state within the framework of the Zionist project to end the Palestinian issue with the unlimited US support,” adding "We, however, see the withdrawal as first step for full liberation and achieving all of our legitimate rights. Today Gaza and tomorrow the West Bank and later every inch of the land."

Washington and Patterson jihad update, from AP, :

LOS ANGELES - A Pakistani national has been arrested in a terrorism investigation into a possible plot to attack the Israeli Consulate, California National Guard facilities and other targets, officials said Tuesday.

Hammad Riaz Samana, 21, was taken into custody on Aug. 2 and has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

His arrest came after investigators discovered a potential target list at the home of Levar Haney Washington, who has been implicated in a series of gas station robberies in southern Los Angeles County, according to a law enforcement source who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

The list included three National Guard facilities in the Los Angeles area, as well as the Israeli Consulate and a couple of synagogues....

It was unclear what connection, if any, Samana had to Washington and Patterson. Cathy Viray, an FBI spokeswoman, declined to comment, saying the investigation by federal and local agencies was ongoing.

Mychal Massie recounts some characteristic behavior from CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper and asks some tough questions at WND (thanks to DC Watson):

Conventional wisdom would dictate if you, your group-organization and/or religion as a whole were viewed with contempt by some, skepticism by many and distrust by nearly all, it would be prudent to try to diffuse ill-will.

But said logic is not part of a reasoned thought process when it comes to the Council on American-Islamic Relations – at least, it doesn't appear to be part of Ibrahim Hooper's, their director of communication.

Appearing on my talk show "Straight Talk with Mychal Massie," Mr. Hooper displayed the character of a petulant child as he feigned indignation so as to cut short the interview that would have forced him to articulate the truth of his position.

In less than five minutes of air time, the person responsible for putting forth a favorable presentation of CAIR hung up, leaving the audience with nothing to warrant a change in opinion of him, his organization or his religion.

I had assured the gentleman prior to his agreeing to appear that I would not seek to embarrass or diminish him, but I also assured him I would ask straightforward questions. His rhetoric almost immediately degenerated into a puerile phonemic tirade, with him accusing me of "advocating genocide" and of saying "every Muslim on the planet is a member of terrorist organization." He fomented: "You'd kill me, you'd kill my family, you'd kill every member of my mosque ..." – none of which had I even remotely suggested. I submit he is in a much better position to know who within his element is a terrorist than I.

CAIR and Mr. Hooper have an obligation to prove senators like Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrong when he says: "[CAIR is] unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its associations with groups that are suspect." And Sen. Chuck Schumer, when he says: "We know [CAIR] has ties to terrorism."

Read it all.

Apparently we are supposed to believe that if we do not resist the jihad, the jihad will go away. "Muslim groups warn of radical backlash," from the Guardian, with thanks to DC Watson:

A coalition of Muslim leaders today warned that closing mosques deemed extremist and banning radical Islamic groups could fuel a radical sub-culture in Britain.

Nearly 40 signatories, including the Islamic Human Rights Commission and the Muslim Association of Britain, said new measures outlined by the prime minister could lead to Islamic values being "demonised".

The leaders jointly issued a six-point statement in response to the government's response to last month's London bombings.

It said: "We fear that recent events are being exploited by some sections in society to demonise legitimate Islamic values and beliefs and hence consider it appropriate to make the following observations."

The statement criticised the use of the term extremism, which it said had no tangible legal meaning and was unhelpful.

Indeed. They should use the term "jihad" instead.

The joint statement argued that the right of people to resist invasion and occupation was legitimate and said that questioning the legitimacy of Israeli occupation was also valid political expression.

What about wanting to establish the caliphate in the West, replacing Britain's political system with Islamic law? Is that legitimate political expression?

The leaders also criticised the decision to ban the group Hizb ur-Tahrir, which is outlawed in Germany, and which Mr Blair specifically stated he intended to proscribe.

A proposal to ban the group was described as "unwarranted, unjust and unwise" and any disagreement with a political organisation should be expressed through debate, not censorship, the leaders wrote.

The statement, co-signed by Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, read: "If it is suggested that any laws have been broken by any individuals or groups then this must be proven by due legal process.

"Criminalising the mere possession of certain opinions is the hallmark of dictatorships, not democracies."

The closure of mosques accused of "fomenting extremism" would amount to a collective punishment of the community, the statement warned.

How? I thought the community overwhelmingly rejected the jihad ideology. That's what Blair and Prince Charles and so many others have assured us, no?

It may "create fear" which could lead to "the very radical sub-culture which we all seek to prevent".

Finally, the Muslim leaders said plans to deport foreign nationals to countries known for human rights abuses was "abhorrent"....

On issuing today's statement, Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said: "The British Muslim community has always been a law-abiding community and all its endeavours to create a just society have been entirely peaceful.

"However, we will not allow the demonising, devaluing or targeting of the concept of Islam which will we hold very dear."

ADDENDUM: Here is the text of their statement.

An update on this story. "Two Local Men Planned September 11, 2005 Terror Attack," from KFI640.com, with thanks to LB:

Two men recently arrested on suspicion of committing armed robberies in Torrance and Fullerton were Muslim converts who are now suspected of planning a variety of jihad-inspired terror attacks around Los Angeles, including one scheduled for September 11, 2005, KFI NEWS has learned.

Gregory Vernon Patterson, 21, and Levar Haney Washington, 25, planned to shoot up a military recruiting station in Santa Monica and at least one other civilian target, a high-ranking federal law enforcement source confirmed recently.

“The intent was to kill everyone at the target, including civilians,” the source said.

Both men have been in jail since July 5 when they were arrested by Torrance police, suspected in at least two armed robberies, according to authorities....

A search of Washington’s West 27th St. apartment turned up Jihadi literature, military equipment, knives, maps of Southern California, news stories on Muslims’ efforts to recruit young African American men for the holy war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a target list, according to the source and other news reports.

As well as to Ian Smith, Nelson Mandela, and Yasir Arafat -- which indicates his utter moral confusion. "Anti-terror plans could be counter-productive, warns London Mayor," from IRNA, with thanks to Nicolei:

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, Monday expressed serious reservations about the government's new anti-terror plans, particularly extending the exclusion and deportation powers of the Home Secretary.

In response to the Home Office's consultation document on the new proposals, Livingstone also raised concern about the government's list of 'unacceptable behaviors' and called people to be allowed to express their views on issues as the Middle East conflict.

"People such as the founders of the United States, the founder of Israel, opponents of Ian Smith's regime in 'Rhodesia' (Zimbabwe), Nelson Mandela and the Yasser Arafat have all been branded terrorists by someone at one time or another," the mayor said.

"But nothing would have been gained by us banning either side in those conflicts. Today it would be totally counter-productive as it would reduce the trust, and therefore the information, from the communities whose help is indispensable to the police," he warned....

Jihad recruitment in California. Lodi jihad update from CNN, with thanks to CGiddensJr:

Shabbir Ahmed, the imam of a mosque in Lodi, California, is likely to be sent back to his home country within two weeks, his lawyer Saad Ahmad said Monday.

Ahmed was arrested for overstaying his visa in June, along with a father and son from Lodi who were charged with lying to FBI agents, and another Muslim cleric and his son.

None of the five men have been charged with terrorism crimes.

During a bail hearing last week, an FBI agent testified that terrorist leaders had planned to use Ahmed as an intermediary to pass orders to Hamid Hayat, 22, who the FBI says attended an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan.

U.S. Immigration Judge Anthony Murry denied bail for Ahmed and ordered him sent back to Pakistan in a brief hearing Monday afternoon.

Ahmed, 39, told the judge he was dropping his challenge to the detention and would agree to be deported.

His predecessor at the Lodi mosque, Muhammad Adil Khan, and Khan's son, Muhammad Hassan Khan, were also arrested as part of the probe and agreed to be deported in July.

Federal immigration officials said Ahmed and the elder Khan had planned to establish a madrassa, an Islamic school similar to one in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi where both taught before coming to the United States.

"Evidence presented at last week's proceeding showed that this madrassa has been used to recruit individuals to engage in jihad," or Muslim holy war, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said in a statement.

Here is more evidence that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is right. ("Pronouncing talaq" is all a Muslim husband need do to divorce his wife. If he says "Talaq" to her, she is divorced.) From the Times of India, with thanks to Vikrant:

HYDERABAD: Plunging the bride bazaar of Old City to newer depths, marriage brokers last month paraded 13 young girls before four Arabs, all aged over 50.

One of the grooms, a 55-year-old sheikh from UAE, chose a 16-year-old girl, married her on July 15, spent two weeks with her and then left the country after pronouncing talaq thrice in a huff.

The marriage was facilitated by Mumtaz Begum of Falaknuma with help from four brokers — Mansoor, Toufiq, Yousuf and Abdullah.

Police officer Sandeep Sandilya said, “The brides were paraded before the Arabs in Toufiq’s house at Kalapathar and the nikah was solemnised by a qazi at his residence in Shalibanda.’’

With her hopes of going abroad shattered, Shameem (name changed) approached the Kalapathar police on Saturday seeking help.

The police acted swiftly and nabbed Mumtaz Begum but the brokers and qazi are still at large. The police recovered three affidavits which claimed Shameem’s age as 22 and stated her consent to marry the aged Arab.

Shameem told police that the brokers pressured her to accept nikah with Mohammad Bakram as he promised to take her to the UAE after marriage.

"War is deceit," said Muhammad. From AP, :

Abdul Rauf Noormohamed pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of making false statements to federal agents and now faces up to five years in prison....

When Noormohamed was arrested, FBI agents said he named five relatives and two others as members of bin Laden's al-Qaida network and the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization because he had been quarreling with them.

Authorities say Noormohamed made 10 phone calls to state and federal officials between Dec. 12, 2003 and Jan. 5, 2004. The first call was to the Illinois deputy governor's office. Other calls went to the Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

During the calls, Noormohamed falsely told authorities the "terrorists" were planning to detonate bombs to blow up the Sears Tower, Soldier Field, City Hall, O'Hare International Airport and the Lake Point Tower apartments.

Authorities said members of an FBI-led terrorism task force spent hundreds of hours investigating the accusations.

The Rumpled Academic again confronts the fruit of his labors. Al-Arian update from AP, with thanks to all who sent this in:

TAMPA, Fla. -- A witness to a double suicide bombing in Israel described pools of blood and raining body parts Monday at the trial of a former college professor accused of helping the Palestinian group that staged the attack.

Yuval Avargil, an Israeli police officer who witnessed the Jan. 22, 1995 attack that killed 22 people at Beit Lid, said he saw twisted bodies lying in puddles of blood and saw body parts fall from the sky.

"I opened my eyes, I heard something rolling near me, I saw a head of a soldier with his eyes open on the side," he said.

Sami Al-Arian, who taught at the University of South Florida, and three other defendants on trial are accused of raising money and supporting Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group blamed for more than 100 deaths in Israel, including those in Beit Lid.

An FBI agent testified last week that, less than three weeks after the Beit Lid bombing, Al-Arian referred to it in a letter to a Kuwaiti legislator as "the latest operation, carried out by the two mujahideen (holy warriors) who were martyred for the sake of God." Prosecutors say the letter sought money for the families of the suicide bombers.

I wrote an article just last week about how CBS declined to accept paid advertising for this event. That is not all the resistance it is meeting. From WorldNetDaily, with thanks to Sonshiya:

The organizer of a Connecticut symposium addressing the threat of Islamic terrorism to the U.S. has run into resistance from the media, politicians and even a bank.

Jeff Epstein, who is working to stage the conference "The Radical Islamist Threat to World Peace and National Security," is determined to continue to get the word out about the Sept. 21 event, despite roadblocks that have been thrown in his path.

The event is sponsored by the People's Truth Forum.

"This symposium will delve into the minds of those who use terror as a tool," Epstein said in a statement. "It will paint a profile of those who would slaughter innocents, and it will educate both professional and average citizen on how terrorism threatens our way of life today.

"Naïve ideologues contend that Islamic 'freedom fighters' are lashing out at the West – and especially Americans – because of the provocative nature of Western life and/or the Western presence in Islamic states. To hold these short-sighted contentions is to be blind to the truth either through ignorance or deliberate oversight."

Epstein blames resistance to the conference on political correctness gone dangerously mad.

"This is no time to embrace apathy or political correctness," he emphasized, "not when confronting the alarming prospect that thousands of radical Islamists are committed to bringing death and destruction to millions of innocents on our soil."...

Besides the snub by CBS/Infinity Radio, Epstein cites what he considers to be other incidents of bias by the media. He notes BBC has stopped referring to Muslim terrorists as Islamists, even those suspected in the July 7 bombings in London.

"Not to be outdone," Epstein said, "the New York Times reclassified Abu Musab Zarqawi as a 'Jordanian fighter.'"

Epstein says he has contacted politicians of both parties seeking endorsements and video clips to be played at the Plantsville, Conn., event, with mixed results.

While some have been responsive, such as Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Calif., – who Epstein says will attend the conference, schedule permitting – others have been less than cooperative.

The event organizer says the staff of Sen. Hillary Clinton, told him the senator could not attend the conference and that she was "just far too busy" to provide a video greeting – action Epstein says was "not in keeping with her rhetoric pertaining to support for the war on terror."

Epstein notes resistance to the conference has even come from the banking community.

He reports a Connecticut bank manager denied People's Truth Forum's request to open a checking account for the symposium. The banker reportedly feared the media would identify his institution as being supportive of the organization's mission and conference.

Epstein insists the event is non-partisan and non-political, and focuses instead on how Americans can prepare for and counter terrorism on U.S. soil. While citizens are told to be "vigilant," Epstein says no one has ever told the American people what it is they should be looking and listening for. The symposium is meant to help fill that knowledge gap.

Said Epstein: "At the symposium, Dr. Harvey Kushner will present vital information outlining how radical Islamists have succeeded in their quest to infiltrate our political, educational, religious and penal institutions – facts which were previously maintained as 'privy' to selected law enforcement agencies. Brigitte Gabriel, Laura Mansfield and Robert Spencer will contribute substantially to the program by sharing their own personal experiences and professional expertise. In fact, the entire program will be fact-based, non-partisan, provocative and educational."...

WorldNetDaily founder and CEO Joseph Farah expressed support for the event.

"This symposium is a much-needed wake-up call for those who are still blind to the imminent threat of radical Islamic terror hanging over our nation," Farah said. "I commend the event to law enforcement personnel, first responders and concerned Americans who want to take action to protect themselves and their families."

Britain continues to show signs of waking up. "More extremists to be expelled," from the TimesOnline, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

The Home Secretary said that further expulsions were imminent and that it would be “absolutely foolish” to assume that there will not be a third terrorist attack in London.

The security services and immigration officials are understood to have drawn up a list of foreign extremists to be deported. Many are understood to be young clerics who have come in recent years from Pakistan and North Africa. These so-called preachers of hate are not as well known as clerics such as Abu Qatada and Omar Bakri Mohammed but are seen as stirring up hatred and extremism among young followers.

Muslim leaders have been consulted about a number of the suspects who are expected to be arrested shortly. Their identities are being kept secret for fear that the men may go into hiding before arrests can be made. As well as clerics, the list is understood to include owners of radical Islamic bookshops, writers, a number of teachers and website operators of different nationalities....

A two-week consultation period which ends on Friday will allow the Government to introduce new rules to exclude people from Britain. In future unacceptable behaviour will include fomenting terrorism or seeking to provoke others to terror, justifying terrorism, fomenting other serious criminal activity, fostering hatred which may lead to intra-community violence, advocating violence in support of particular beliefs and expressing what the Government considers to be extreme views conflicting with Britain’s culture of tolerance.

It will apply to anyone preaching, public speeches, websites and those writing, publishing or distributing such material. British diplomats have been told to speed up their negotiations to get more countries to sign a deal to take militants who have been expelled.

The BBC catches up to what Jihad Watch readers knew in October 2003: "Kyrgyz group aims for Caliphate," from the BBC, with thanks to Freddie Freeloader:

The London bombings have prompted the UK government to outlaw Hizb ut Tahrir - a radical Islamic group that wants to replace secular governments with an Islamic Caliphate, or super-state run according to Sharia Law.

The group is particularly strong in Central Asia, where it believes it may take the first steps towards establishing its Caliphate.

High in the mountains of poverty-stricken Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia a bearded man with a fierce gaze slices a watermelon. It is a very colourful sight - red drops of juice on the green carpet, with the glistening snow-covered peaks in the distance.

"In this village, people trust us, not the authorities," says Nur Mohammed, a local leader of Hizb ut Tahrir, which is also banned in Kyrgyzstan.

"Everybody here knows that we will solve their problems quickly and in strict accordance with the Koran. And this suits people a lot better than the slow, bureaucratic and often expensive official route."...

"We have already won the battles on prostitution, drink and robbery," says Nur Mohammed.

"All we do is talk to people about the Koran. Sometimes, it requires more than just the skill of persuasion - but in the end, we do come out on top. In our village, nobody even locks their doors now. We've taught people to trust each other - and to respect Sharia law."

But for Hizb ut Tahrir, battles for hearts and minds in small villages like Arslanbob are just routine. The organisation aims much higher.

More than 100km (60 miles) away, in the market town of Kara-Suu, we met Dilior. A carpenter by trade, he lives in a huge house with a lush garden, behind a very high and very thick fence.

Dilior is the official spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in southern Kyrgyzstan. Even though his group is banned, scores of journalists visit his house every week.

"All Muslims in the world already want to live in a Caliphate, under Sharia law," he says. "It will be a huge state, a very powerful state. Even now you are all afraid of us - America, Israel, you in the UK too."

Just a few appearances here and there today, but you may wish to catch one:

9:35 AM EDT: CFMJ: "The John Oakley Show"

4:22 PM EDT: Webcast: Rightalk.com "Hoist the Black Flag"

9:30 PM EDT: WJGR "The David Allen Show"

Not quite like green stamps. "Two arrested for selling Al Qaeda coupons," from IANS, with thanks to The One Who Must Not Be Named:

Two people have been arrested Sunday in connection with the sale of coupons bearing the name of Al Qaeda in some Muslim-dominated areas of this West Bengal capital over the past few days....

A middle-aged Bangladeshi was reportedly selling coupons to raise funds for Al Qaeda in some Muslim areas of Kolkata, according to the state detective department.

Reports said the man, who looked like a fakir and was believed to be about 50 years old, sold coupons of Rs.25 and Rs.50 denominations under the name of "Mujahiddin al Qaida Pacific International - Dhaka, Bangladesh" in Metiaburz and other areas near the Kolkata port.

"Italian Police Arrest 141 in Anti-Terror Raids," from AP, with thanks to all who sent this in:

ROME — Italian police have arrested 141 people in raids at Islamic gathering places across the country, but the country remains at an "elevated risk" for a terrorist attack, the government said Monday.

Police sweeps recently, including raids across Italy on Friday and Saturday, brought the arrests of 141 people, the Interior Ministry said. Two of those arrests were for possession of false documents under a new law stepping up anti-terrorism crackdowns after the London transit attacks last month.

The ministry said others were arrested for suspected robberies or thefts and other "common crimes" but that none of the suspects had immediately been linked to terrorism.

Targeted in the raids were "Islamic gathering places: call centers, Internet Points, Islamic butcher shops and money transfer business," the ministry statement said.

The heroic Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes in Opinion Journal (thanks to Andy) what I have been saying for quite some time: "Shariah endangers women's rights, from Iraq to Canada."

In every society where family affairs are regulated according to instructions derived from the Shariah or Islamic law, women are disadvantaged. The injustices these women are exposed to in the name of Islam vary from extreme cruelty (forced marriages; imprisonment or death after rape) to grossly unfair treatment in matters of marriage, divorce and inheritance.

Muslim women across the world are caught in a terrible predicament. They aspire to live by their faith as best they can, but their faith robs them of their rights. Some women have found a way out of this dilemma in the principle of separation of organized religion and state affairs. They fight an uphill battle to achieve and hold on to their basic rights. Two cases demonstrate just how difficult that struggle can be, in the context of new as well as established democracies.

The first is the draft constitution of Iraq, now due next week. Iraqi women like Naghem Khadim, demonstrating on the streets of Najaf, are fighting to prevent an article from being put in the constitution that would establish that the legislature may make no laws that contradict Shariah edicts. The second case is the province of Ontario, in Canada. There, Muslim women led by Homa Arjomand, an activist of Iranian origin, are fighting--using the Canadian Charter of Rights--to keep Shariah from being applied as family law through a so-called Arbitration Act passed as law in Ontario in 1992.

It seems strange to associate the context of Canada with that of Iraq, but a closer look at the arguments used to reassure the demonstrating women in both countries reveals the similar ordeals that Muslim women in both countries must go through to secure their rights. It shows how their legitimate and serious worries are trivialized, and how vulnerable and alone they are. It shows how the Free World led by the U.S. went to war in Iraq, allegedly to bring liberty to Iraqis, and is compromising the basic rights of women in order to meet a random date. It shows how the theory of multiculturalism in Western liberal democracies is working against women in ethnic and religious minorities with misogynist practices.

Read it all.

Reciting the Qur'an, were they? Didn't they realize that its peaceful words would rebuke them? What's that? They were quoting it in support of their violent activities? What are you, some kind of Islamophobe? From Arab News, with thanks to Eschwapp:

SANAA, 16 August 2005 — A Yemeni security court yesterday began the trial of 34 suspected supporters of slain preacher Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi but the judge quickly adjourned the session after the defendants chanted anti-government slogans drowning out court proceedings.

“Death to America, Death to Israel,” the defendants shouted in unison before loudly reciting the Qur’an, drowning out all court proceedings. “We reject this trial as the government that is prosecuting us is our enemy.”

Before the ruckus erupted, the prosecutor had charged the Yemenis with belonging to a subversive armed group.

Chief prosecutor Saeed Al-Aqel accused the defendants of a spate of attacks on soldiers and military vehicles in the capital in recent months, in which one officer was killed and 27 other people wounded.

In this article, Jim Remsen of the Philadelphia Inquirer asks a local imam about some things he read in my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). "Where is the Koran on violence? The debate rages on whether Islam's holy book promotes it. A local imam explains the scripture" from the Philadelphia Inquirer, with thanks to Kaosktrl:

When Islamist radicals took responsibility for the deadly London transit attacks July 7, mainstream Muslims cringed. Islamic groups issued denunciations. A body of North American scholars issued a fatwa, or edict, condemning violence against civilians. The Muslim American Society called on imams to give sermons against "terror, hate and violence."

But not specifying that jihadists are actually perpetrating the terror, hate and violence that they oppose.

At the same time, critics of Islam spoke out. The Southern Baptist Convention welcomed the fatwa - but also remarked that "nearly 100 verses in the Koran promote fighting and killing." A radio host in Washington was suspended after calling Islam "a terrorist organization." The conservative Regnery Press released The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam, which argues that the Koran "commands Muslims to make war on Jews and Christians" despite the benevolent assertions of U.S. Muslims and their allies.

That's not really a matter of dispute. It is as plain, as they say, as the nose on your face. The Qur'an calls Jews and Christians "People of the Book" (ahl al-kitab). Qur'an 9:29 says: "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." This is clearly a command to engage in hot war (not spiritual warfare) against Jews and Christians until they pay the jizya, the non-Muslim poll tax. Moderate Muslims may say this verse no longer applies to anyone today, or that it only has meaning in particular circumstances, or come up with some other interpretation of it, but they cannot with honesty say that the Qur'an does not command Muslims to make war on Jews and Christians.

Does the Koran promote violence against nonbelievers? Why do Muslims divide the world into "the House of Islam" and "the House of War"?

We posed those questions to a local cleric, Imam Naser Khatib. Khatib, 33, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Tulkarm, is resident imam at Masjid Al-Hidaya, a mosque in Feltonville. A slender, soft-spoken figure in an ankle-length robe, he sat recently in the mosque's kitchen and mulled the nature of Muslim scripture.

Khatib:There are 2 ayas [verses in the Koran] that tell us how to deal with non-Muslims. They say people who do not fight you or try to kick you out from your homeland, you should be virtuous toward them. But the other kind of people who fight Muslims because of their religion or try to kick them out from their homes or try to help anyone who tries to harm Muslims, these people the Muslims should fight back.

This is, of course, exactly the justification that jihadists including Osama bin Laden give for their present-day attacks: they are defending Muslims against those who have supposedly declared war on Islam by invading Muslim lands.

Inquirer:This addresses if you're attacked. How about the idea of expanding, of spreading the faith even by force? What does the Koran say about that?

Khatib:This is when we have an Islamic state, not in our life right now. We don't have the leader for the whole Muslims, the caliph. When we have that, he tries to make da'wah [argumentation] to spread Islam. It's not all the time by war or by jihad. In the beginning, the prophet [Muhammad] sent his ambassador or messengers to the leaders to try to offer Islam for them, to argue for it... . Some of them said, 'We don't want to be a Muslim but we respect you,' so we didn't fight them. But others sent for their soldiers to attack Medina. These people the prophet tried to prepare an army to fight back, to defend.

This is why Osama and other jihadists so much want to restore the caliphate. Imam Khatib doesn't rule out the spread of Islam by force under a caliph. He suggests that Muslims should only fight back if attacked, but actually what he says is fully in line with traditional Islamic theology as encapsulated by Sahih Muslim 4294, in which Muhammad tells Muslims to invite the unbelievers to Islam, and to fight them if they refuse:

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