September 2005 Archives

This report from the Associated Press would have the reader believe that the role of "zealotry" is a motivating factor in Islamic terrorism distinct from nationalism and a sense of humiliation. The dots, which the mainstream media refuses to connect, are that all three factors (zealotry - zeal for Islamic supremacy, nationalism - a world dominated by the supremacy of Islam, and humiliation - the recognition that Islam hasn't achieved supremacy) comprise the jihadist motivation.

A bomb strapped to his abdomen, Rafat Moqadi walked into a Tel Aviv restaurant and saw a woman dining with her two little girls. "Seeing that, I decided not to carry out the operation. I couldn't do it," he said.

Was Mr. Moqadi's decision an act of humaneness or did he lack a sufficient devotion to the jihad doctrine?

It may never be known if the following is just jailhouse bravado, but Mr. Moqadi's comments confirm beliefs held by committed jihadists. And, those beliefs have their origin in the Qur'an.

Yet, Moqadi said he longed for what he believes awaits a suicide bomber in the hereafter — God's reward and a special place in heaven for martyrs. "He has a life in paradise...He doesn't die."(*)

A rare jailhouse interview with the would-be suicide bomber revealed a common thread running through the rising worldwide phenomenon: Most attackers are driven not by poverty or ignorance, but by a lethal mix of nationalism, zealotry and humiliation.

But religion is only part of the picture. Moqadi said that wasn't his motivation.

Mr. Moqadi claims the main reason for his bombing attempt was to resist the Israeli occupation. If religion wasn't the motivating factor then why did he long to become a martyr, where "a special place in heaven" is reserved? Mr. Moqadi clearly understands what the Qur'an states and his paraphrase (*) of Sura 3 verse 169 is proof of that.

"And reckon not those who are killed in Allah's way as dead; nay, they are alive (and) are provided sustenance from their Lord" [3:169]

His last-second doubt in no way invalidates the Qur'anic dictums towards jihad.

Please read it all.

CAIR adds a few more notches to its belt, in blithe disregard for the fact that Iraqis have made many mosques into sites for military operations by storing weapons in them and even launching attacks from them. Here is CAIR's press release (thanks to Twostellas) demanding that Boeing and Bell toe the line:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on aerospace giants Boeing Co. and Bell Helicopter Textron to pull a print advertisement depicting U.S. troops attacking a mosque.

The ad for the CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, published in the September 24 issue of National Journal magazine, depicts soldiers rappelling onto the roof of a building, labeled "Muhammad Mosque" in Arabic. The building has a dome, crescent moon and minaret, all common features of a mosque.

To view the ad, go to: http://www.cair.com/mosqueattackad.pdf

If CAIR finds this ad so offensive, why is it featuring it on its website?

Headlines on the ad read: "It descends from the heavens. Ironically it unleashes hell." Ad copy states: "The CV-22 delivers Special Forces to insertion points never thought possible."

In a letter to Textron Chairman Lewis B. Campbell, Boeing Company President James A. Bell and Bell Helicopter Chief Executive Officer Michael A. Redenbaugh, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad wrote:

"(The ad) clearly portrays special forces assaulting a mosque, a structure dedicated to civilian worship purposes. This gives the impression that 'the insertion points never thought possible' are Islamic places of worship... This advertisement reflects poorly on Bell Helicopter, Textron and Boeing, and offers a questionable picture of your companies' collective opinion of Islam and Muslims."

And here is the capitulation announcement (thanks to LGF):

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group said this afternoon that Boeing Co., Bell Helicopter Textron and National Journal magazine have apologized for a print advertisement depicting U.S. troops attacking a mosque. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it had received a statement of apology from Boeing, which sponsored the ad along with Bell. Boeing wrote:

"The CV-22 advertisement that appeared in the National Journal is clearly offensive, and did not proceed through the normal channels within Boeing before production.

"'We consider the ad offensive, regret its publication and apologize to those who like us are dismayed with its contents,' said Mary Foerster, Vice President of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Communications.

"'When the Company became aware of the advertisement we immediately requested that our partner's agency withdraw and destroy all print proofs of the advertisement and replace it with one that was appropriate,' Foerster said. 'Unfortunately despite our best efforts to have the ad replaced, a clerical error at the National Journal resulted in its publication this week.'"

Representatives of Bell Helicopter and National Journal also contacted CAIR to express regret for the publication of the ad.

National Journal Executive Vice President Elizabeth Baker Keffer wrote: "[T]he advertisement for Boeing/Bell's V-22 Osprey that ran in the September 24 issue of National Journal was run as the result of a clerical error on our part. We had received specific direction from the agency representing Boeing/Bell to not run the ad. We have apologized to Boeing, their partner Bell, and their advertising agency for this mistake."

A Bell statement sent to CAIR said in part: "We recognize that some organizations and individuals may have been offended by its content and regrets any concerns this advertisement may have raised. Bell and our partners are evaluating creative processes to prevent this from happening again."

The ad for the CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft depicted soldiers rappelling onto the roof of a building, labeled "Muhammad Mosque" in Arabic. The building has a dome, crescent moon and minaret, all common features of a mosque....

"We thank Boeing, Bell and National Journal for their swift and decisive response to our concerns," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. "Mistakes can happen, but the true test of a company's integrity comes in acknowledging and dealing with those mistakes." He said CAIR will follow up with all parties involved to determine how the ad was produced and to help prevent similar incidents in the future.

Awad added that American Muslim groups are always ready to consult with corporations and media outlets on issues related to religious diversity and culturally-sensitive advertising.

Thanks, Nihad. Do you explain to them how your support for Hamas fosters cross-cultural sensitivity?

Jihadists discuss mass destruction. From The Australian, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

IN the past 12 months, influential Islamist jihadist websites have carried an increased discussion on the ethics and strategy of using weapons of mass destruction as part of the global terror campaign. In the week when state and federal governments in Australia have announced tougher rules to monitor and restrict possible and suspected terrorists, we have to take this discussion very seriously.

The Western policy-makers who deal with this do so cautiously. Virtually nobody in authority is being alarmist. But it is the WMD, especially the nuclear, dimension that raises terrorism from the spectrum of gruesome criminality through sustained insurgency and up to genuine strategic threat.

In an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal two weeks ago Prime Minister John Howard, in expressing bitter disappointment at the UN's failure to do anything serious about nuclear non-proliferation, noted that "al-Qa'ida has made no secret of its ambitions to acquire -- and to use -- WMD".

The authoritative discussion of this option among several key religious figures in the global jihadist network should give us serious pause. Former foreign minister Gareth Evans, now head of the International Crisis Group, while acknowledging the real dangers, was this week urging caution and restraint in our response to terrorism.

But his words on nuclear terrorism were sobering: "We know very well how limited our capacity is, and always will be, to deny access to terrorist groups to chemical and especially biological weapons. But the same is true of nuclear weapons."

He spoke of the "stockpiles of fissile material that litter the landscape of the former Soviet Russia, and after the exposure in Pakistan we know far more than we did about the global market for nuclear technology, materials and expertise, and all of it is alarming ... the level of technical sophistication required to make a nuclear explosive device is certainly above the backyard level but it is not beyond competent professionals ... and there is enough [highly enriched] uranium and plutonium lying around now to make some 240,000 such weapons. Much of it -- particularly in Russia -- is not just poorly but appallingly guarded."

Read it all.

Xinjiang threatens to become another place where the jihad ideology becomes the dominant expression of local desires for autonomy, and ends up poisoning any prospects for a legitimate negotiated settlement. This has been going on in Chechnya and elsewhere for quite some time. "China Puts Focus on Security in Muslim Region," from the LA Times, with thanks to Kemaste:

BEIJING — China urged local security agencies Thursday to "prepare for danger" and remain vigilant against terrorists in the predominantly Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang....

Muslim Uighur militants in Xinjiang have fought for several decades to establish an independent nation that would be known as East Turkestan.

China, which has aggressively confronted the movement, said this month that 160 people had been killed in Xinjiang since the mid-1980s in 260 attacks blamed on terrorists....

About 60% of Xinjiang's population of 20 million is Muslim, who are considered an ethnic minority in predominantly Han China....

China released a leading Uighur figure, Rebiya Kadeer, from prison March 17 and exiled her to the U.S. following years of pressure by Washington. This occurred shortly before a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. China has a history of releasing one or two high-profile activists before major international visits.

The overseas Uighur community is relatively fractured, but analysts say Kadeer is a particular object of Beijing's distrust because she has the stature to unify disparate groups under an international banner, in much the same way the Dalai Lama has done for Tibet.

"Her release appears to have introduced more cohesion to the community," said Ben Edwards, a researcher with the Uighur Human Rights Project in Washington, who said the mainstream movement is nonviolent.

"The Uighur people are Muslim, but there's no connection to the wider, broader [Islamic] jihad."...

In the post-Sept. 11 world, China has labeled many in the Uighur separatist movement as terrorists, part of a global trend by governments to deflect international criticism of internal crackdowns.

"There is no real definition of a terrorist in Chinese criminal law," said Anu Kultalahti, a London-based campaigner with Amnesty International. "We definitely know of people charged with crimes related to terrorism or employing evil forces who we consider prisoners of conscience."

Liu Wenzong, a member of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, said that although most people in Xinjiang were peaceful, a small minority had links to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"We're talking about terrorists," he said.

Anu Kultalahti should know that there's no real definition of terrorist anywhere. It is long past time for the Americans, the Chinese, and everyone else to stop talking about fighting terrorism and start acknowledging that we are defending ourselves (sometimes not very effectively) against a global jihad.

My book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) is on the New York Times Bestseller List (paperback nonfiction) at number 15 for the week of October 9. This is its seventh week on the list and second in the top 15.

Why is such a book needed? I got a reminder from my friend Patrick Williams, who sent me this email this morning. How the young lady he decribes skipped over Sura 9 and so many other passages (48:29, 98:6, 4:34, etc.) in her Qur'an reading is beyond me, but I have seen it happen to other people.

I sat in on a dance performance, and went to lunch with two of the dancers -— both lovely, blonde Minnesotans, raised Lutheran. The one I knew well is still a devout Christian, but the other got to talking about her religious “quest,” and revealed that at the suggestion of a Pakistani man she knows she has been reading the Koran. “It’s so beautiful, and so tolerant… I just can’t stand the bigotry and closed-mindedness of so many people in the West towards Muslims.”

I was speechless. This doesn’t happen often. Half an hour before, I’d been sitting, watching her do classical ballet, wearing clothes that would be illegal in any Islamic society, dancing to music that might never be performed. Here we sat in a British style teahouse eating smoked salmon sandwiches…. And this woman began to say that she was considering converting to the religion of burkhas, honor-killing, and jihad.

Whatever I said about life in Saudi Arabia, which I reminded her was the Islamic Vatican, or the fact that Mohammed (unlike Jesus) ENDORSED and LED the first brutal deeds done in his name, or the Islamic destruction of India… had no effect. She kept insisting that whatever people practiced, it didn’t match up to what she read in this lovely book… So it didn’t matter. Anyway, what about the Crusades, yadda-yadda….

At length, I realized something. In looking only at the text (and not very carefully at that) and not at the practices and traditions of a faith, she was trying to construct her own private Islam -- one in which she could look at the sacred text, interpret it in her heart, and practice it as she saw fit. Try that in a society ruled by Sharia, I reminded her, and you will be killed.

Then I told her that if she wanted to the read the Koran, she should certainly get hold of your book -— and weigh the poetic words not against crude media stereotypes, or ignorant attacks on Islam, but against a serious, well-researched study that offered the other point of view. I hope she follows my advice.

Then something came to me, after which we had to change the subject. I thought it might interest you. I told her:

“I’m sorry, but hearing a Western woman talk about how she might want to become a Moslem is… like hearing a black American talk about how he might like to try being a slave.”

A senior military official in Thailand has for the first time charged that Indonesian jihadists are actively participating in the Thai insurgency. Straying from his government's line, retired General Kitti Rattanachaya charged that Muslim fighters from Aceh province in Indonesia were infiltrating the conflict zone and carrying out attacks against Thai authorities, according to the AP:

A security adviser to the prime minister said Thursday that Indonesian fighters are involved in Thailand's Muslim insurgency, contradicting government insistence the bloody separatist movement is a homegrown affair unconnected to Southeast Asia's al-Qaida-linked terror network.

"I have warned the authorities concerned several times about Indonesian fighters sneaking into the region but they have ignored it," Gen. Kitti Rattanachaya told The Associated Press, saying the militants infiltrated from the Indonesian province of Aceh.

His assertion comes amid rumors of Indonesian Muslims joining the fight in Thailand's southernmost provinces. No substantial evidence has emerged to back the claim, and Rattanachaya gave few details of the infiltration. Most analysts regard the insurgency as domestic but with a strong potential to attract foreign Muslim militants including members of the Jemaah Islamiyah network, blamed for deadly attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings and a 2003 blast at Jakarta's J.W. Marriott hotel.

The general’s statement is not the only indication that Indonesian jihadists may be joining the Thai-based insurgency:

In a recent AP interview, a veteran Thai rebel leader warned that militants from Indonesia and Arab nations might join the Thai fight for a separate Muslim homeland if the government continued a crackdown that is provoking a new generation of fighters.

In another interview earlier this week, a Thai Muslim who fought with the mujahedeen in Afghanistan and who has close contacts with the Thai insurgents said he believed fighters from Aceh with superior training have been operating in southern Thailand for some time. Thai insurgents, mostly recruited from religious school and given just rudimentary training, were not good enough to carry out some of the attacks witnessed in the south, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of concerns for his safety.

There have been centuries of contact between the Muslims of Aceh and southern Thailand, with only the Straits of Malacca to separate them. Indonesian government troops are now withdrawing from the province following a peace accord to end a separatist rebellion that erupted in 1976.

In a bit of fast, temporary relief for the abject dhimmitude that continues to hamstring public discourse about Islamic terrorism, the imam Intikab Habib has resigned as a chaplain for the New York Fire Department following the furor over his 9/11 conspiracy theory remarks, which we just reported this morning. From AP, with thanks to Special Guest:

The fire department's new Muslim chaplain abruptly resigned Friday after saying in a published interview that a broader conspiracy, not 19 al-Qaida hijackers, may have been responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"It became clear to him that he would have difficulty functioning as an FDNY chaplain," Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta told reporters an hour before Imam Intikab Habib was to be officially sworn in. "There has been no prior indication that he held those views."...

Scoppetta said Habib, who was educated in Islamic law in Saudi Arabia and preaches at a New York mosque, had appeared qualified and passed a background check.

"It's sad," said Kevin James, a spokesman for the Islamic Society of Fire Department Personnel. "We had no idea those were his views. He's entitled to his opinion but he's not the right person for the chaplain."

Recent reports from Australia have suggested the existence of as many as 800 terrorist suspects currently residing in the country. Today, however, it was revealed that the Australian government had received intelligence as early as 2002 which indicated that hundreds of Islamic extremists had already infiltrated Australia, some of whom were willing to carry out suicide attacks against civilian targets. The information, if accurate, means that the number of Australian jihadists has increased over 100% in just three years, according to The Australian newspaper:

ASIO [Australian Security and Intelligence Organization] was last night investigating a claim that as early as 2002 there were 300 extremists in Australia willing to mount a terror attack.

The claim is understood to have been made by an Australian terror suspect who was jailed in the Middle East because of his links with the al-Qa'ida terror network.

The suspect is alleged to have boasted of the strength of al-Qa'ida's network in Australia during a telephone call made to an associate in Hamburg.

That conversation was recorded by German police.

The suspect is now back in Australia and is understood to be on an ASIO watchlist.

The development comes after The Australian revealed earlier this week that, in the wake of the July 7 London bombings, ASIO believes there are now as many as 800 people in Australia who could be inspired to carry out such an attack.

More rockets will fly out of Gaza, says Sami Abu Zahri. Good thing Peace In Our Time has been established there, eh? "Hamas vows more attacks; Terror leader taunts Israel for vulnerability to rockets," from WND, :

JERUSALEM – In an exclusive interview with WorldNetDaily yesterday, Hamas senior spokesman Sami Abu Zahri taunted Israel for its vulnerability to rocket attacks and warned that the terrorist group plans to kidnap more Israeli citizens just days after it claimed responsibility for the abduction and murder of a Jerusalem resident.

Zahri also told WND Hamas maintains "good relationships" with Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

"Our relations are good with all the honest forces in the Arab world and this includes Assad's Syria, Hezbollah and other movements and forces," Zuhri said in the interview, which will be released in full on WND this weekend.

Zahri claimed Israel does not have the military capability to stop Hamas' Qassam rockets from flying out of Gaza and hitting nearby Jewish communities.

"Israel has always tried to stop Qassam attacks and she always failed to do so, even while using the most sophisticated technological and military tools. ... Hamas succeeded in creating a new military equation against Israel."

A Muslim who thinks that 9/11 was the result of a broad conspiracy, not 19 Muslim hijackers, has been hired as a chaplain by the New York Fire Department.

Conspiracy theories are nothing new in the Muslim world -- in fact, they have sometimes had a peculiar power to influence public policy. And certainly Intikab Habib is correct that conspiracy theories about 9/11 are rife among Muslims in America and elsewhere. But for the FDNY to hire a Muslim chaplain who is unwilling to accept Muslim guilt for 9/11 is symptomatic of a larger problem: the craven unwillingness or inability of public officials to come to grips with the reality of what we're facing -- and in this case, that unwillingness results in what is effectively a stinging insult to those who were murdered on that day. "Incoming FDNY chaplain questions 9/11 story," from Newsday, with thanks to Jawa:

An imam slated to be sworn in Friday as the second Muslim chaplain in Fire Department history said he questioned whether 19 hijackers were responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and suggested a broader conspiracy may have brought down the Twin Towers and killed more than 2,700 people.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Imam Intikab Habib, 30, a native of Guyana who studied Islam in Saudi Arabia, said he doubted the United States government's official story blaming 19 hijackers associated with al-Quaida and Osama bin Laden.

"I as an individual don't know who did the attacks," said Habib, 30, a soft-spoken man who immigrated to New York in July 2000 after spending six years in Saudi Arabia getting a degree in Islamic theology and law. "There are so many conflicting reports about it. I don't believe it was 19 ... hijackers who did those attacks."

Asked to elaborate on his reasons for doubting that story, he talked about video and news reports widely disseminated in the Muslim community.

"I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone," he said. "It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?"

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald asks why the U.S. is so willing to play the dhimmi for the Egyptians:

Egypt has so far received nearly $60 billion in jizyah -- Protection Money that the Infidel donor of such money is afraid to stop, for fear of the consequences -- from the United States alone. Why? Did Egypt need to be bribed into accepting the entire Sinai, its oilfields, its infrastructure, all put in place by the Israelis? Did Egypt in 1979, or 1988, or 1993, or 1999, or today, show any signs of fulfilling its solemn commitments under the Camp David Accords?

No? Well what about its attitude, as demonstrated in its government-monitored and controlled press, toward the United States? Do you find great gratitude for that $60 billion? Any gratitude at all? Do you not find, instead, all over the Egyptian media, the most murderous hostility, the most venomous antisemitism (including a television series based on "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"), and the most sickening and predictable anti-Americanism?

How long should American taxpayers put up with the misreading of Islam by our rulers, who have given every indication of understanding Islam less well than many of those in the general population (a sampling of whom come to Jihadwatch), or not at all? We are under no obligation to respect their choices, or to believe that they "know more" about Islam and the Middle East than most of us. We are simply taking in the world as it is and making sense of it by taking into account the main fact in Egypt, as in the other Muslim countries: the fact of Islam.

DC Watson urges you to urge your Congressman to reject dhimmitude:

If you've ever watched a ventriloquist act, it's likely that you eventually came around to realizing that it wasn't really the dummy doing all the talking. It took me a while, but finally, I did.

It appears that now we have a certain group of Muslims -- in particular, the Council on American Islamic Relations -- attempting to put words into the mouths of our elected officials by urging Muslims to contact their House Representatives and push them into signing a House Resolution recognizing the Islamic fast, otherwise known as Ramadan.

Yes, this is the same Council on American Islamic Relations who watched as three of their own became convicted felons for committing Islamic terror-related and fraud-related crimes.

The same Council on American Islamic Relations whose officers have made very clear that their desire is for an Islamic United States government, and an Islamic world.

The same Council on American Islamic Relations who recently had a shameful mishap involving an appearing, then disappearing Islamic headscarf:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/008110.php

And the same Council on American Islamic Relations who, on their website, was involved in a questionable call for donations shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks. More information about this swerve can be found here:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12470

Once you read these portions of this proposed "Resolution," you’ll better understand its manipulative nature:

1) "during this time of conflict, in order to demonstrate solidarity with and support for members of the community of Islam in the United States and throughout the world, the House of Representatives recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world;"

(2) "and in observance of and out of respect for the commencement of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal, the House of Representatives acknowledges the onset of Ramadan and expresses its deepest respect to Muslims in the United States and throughout the world on this significant occasion."

With CAIR's record (if it is the voice of the Muslim community in the United States), why should our elected officials whom we, not they, put into office to represent America, not Islam, participate in such a signing?

What would a House Resolution such as this lead to in the future?

Diana West takes us inside Karen Hughes' dhimmitour, and particularly her shameful schmoozing with Sheikh Tantawi, in the Jewish World Review:

Karen Hughes, stay home.

The president's confidante has been on a "listening tour" to "start a conversation with the rest of the world"—namely, the Muslim world, beginning with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — but there were too many times when she just didn't know what to say.

A Washington Post anecdote from Day One captures the disconnect. Asked in Egypt whether she was going to meet with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Mubarak-banned opposition party with deep roots in terrorism and the catchy motto — "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope" — Mrs. Hughes "turned uncertainly to an aide and indicated she was wasn't quite sure of the answer. The aide whisperedbackand Hughes replied,'We are respectful of Egypt's laws.' "

I guess that means no, but the non-denial denial is open to interpretation. Maybe she wanted to meet with the Muslim Brotherhood, but couldn't? Or maybe she didn't want to say something as harshly non-conversational as "no" because the popular MB might be elected one of these days. (This which would chalk one up for sharia-to-the-people — the Arab democracy doctrine of the Bush administration.) Or maybe she just didn't know.

But worse than not knowing what to say is saying too much. Or saying the wrong thing. Or even saying anything at all. Mrs. Hughes committed all of the above, a faux pas trifecta, after meeting with Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University, the academic center of Sunni Islam. It was a "wonderful meeting," she explained, because the two of them were able to talk "about the common language of the heart."

Oh, brother. Is this an Undersecretary of State or a sorority sister? Mrs. Hughes burbled on about the leadership of Al-Azhar "in speaking out against extremism, against terrorism, [which] is not in keeping with the tenets of Islam" — natch. The sheikh "made the point that all divine religions are built on a spirit of love," she said, "and [that] it is important that all of us work together to fight extremism, to fight terrorism." What a guy. Hearing Mrs. Hughes talk about him, you could almost forget what he said in 2002, as translated from a report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), when he called on Palestinian Muslims to "intensify the martyrdom operations [suicide attacks] against the Zionist enemy" — men, women, and children — and described the barbarous slaughter as "the highest form of Jihad operations," and "a legitimate act according to [Islamic] law." Maybe that's the "spirit of love" Mrs. Hughes was gushing about.

Then there was what Sheikh Tantawi said in 2003, also reported by MEMRI, when he called for jihad against U.S. forces in Iraq. "Jihad is an obligation for every Muslim when Muslim countries are subject to aggression," he explained. "The gates of Jihad are open until the Day of Judgment, and he who denies this is an infidel or one who abandons his religion." This he said during a sermon at — where else? — Al-Azhar.

Read it all.

Two New York mosque leaders charged with conspiring to support terrorists. Amazing how they could have risen to the leadership of a Muslim religious center while so thoroughly misunderstanding Islam. Funny thing: the same thing happened in Lodi, California. And all over the world, as we document here every day, we see Islamic clerics -- people who have dedicated their lives to studying and living out the religion -- at the forefront of terrorist movements. And yet so many people refuse to see what is right in front of their faces: maybe they aren't misunderstanding Islam at all. Aref and Hossain update from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

ALBANY, N.Y. Sep 29, 2005 — A federal grand jury has handed up new indictments charging two leaders of an area mosque with conspiring to support terrorists, the U.S. Attorney said Thursday.

The superseding indictment returned Thursday also charges Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain with attempting to provide support to Jaish-e-Mohammed, an Islamic extremist group based in Pakistan that is on the State Department's list of designated foreign terrorist organizations.

Aref also was charged with making a false statement when he answered "none" to an immigration question asking him to list any organizations to which he had belonged. He also was charged with making false statements to the FBI when he was arrested in August 2004 and denied he was a member of the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan. At the time, he also denied knowing Mullah Krekar, believed to be the founder of Ansar-al-Islam, a radical Islamic fundamentalist group.

Aref, 35, who is the imam of the Masjid As-Salam mosque, and 50-year-old Hossain, a founder of the Albany mosque, have been free on $250,000 bond since shortly after their arrest in August 2004. Each originally was charged with money laundering and supporting terrorism. They were arrested after a yearlong FBI sting using an undercover informant.

The initial 19-count indictment accused them of working with an FBI informant who posed as a part-time arms dealer and proposed that Hossain hold money from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile that would be used to kill a Pakistani diplomat in New York City.

"Jihad militant leader killed in Muttur," from TamilNet, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

An unidentified gunman shot and killed Abdul Hakeem, the leader of a Muslim armed Group. The incident took place at Palainagar, Mutthur, around 7.50 p.m., Thursday. His body was found riddled with eight bullets, the Police said.

Abdul Samadhu Abdul Hakeem, alias Madukara Hakeem, 42, was alone on his way to his Halal stall on his motorbike when he was shot at. His usual team of six bodyguards were not with him when he was gunned down....

The Jihadi leader was allegedly involved in Tamil - Muslim clashes that took place between years 1985 and 1995 and later in 2002.

I will once again be discussing jihad and dhimmitude in light of current events and my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) on The Right Balance with Greg Allen this morning at 11:06AM EDT.

Should you wish to listen online, you can do so at The Right Balance site.

But, will the Europeans make this the case that will stick? From the TimesOnline:

ON A tiny island in the middle of Lake Van, on the far eastern edge of Turkey, a team of architects is working feverishly to restore one of the most beautiful religious buildings in the world.

Holy Cross Church, on Akdamar island, was built by the Armenian King Gagik in AD921 and was once the spiritual focus for more than a million Armenian Christians.

Today there is no one left to worship in it. The entire Armenian population here was killed or driven away by Turks and Kurdish militias during the First World War, in what Armenians claim was the first genocide of the 20th century — a charge vigorously denied by the Turkish State.

The Turkish spin may deny this jihad genocide, but there is evidence to the contrary.

For 90 years the church was left to rot. Its frescoes disintegrated as the rainwater seeped in, and its delightful carvings were used for target practice by local gun-toting shepherds.

In the run-up to planned EU accession talks next week, however, Turkey has come under intense pressure to acknowledge its bloody past and improve its treatment of minorities.

Four months ago the restoration work finally began, and today Muslim stonemasons are busily rebuilding this church without a congregation. The scaffolding-clad church is proof that attitudes are changing, but it is also a poignant symbol of how much work — economic, political, cultural and historical — still needs to be completed.

The membership negotiations are expected to take ten years or more, and there is no guarantee that Turkey will ever enter this hitherto white, Christian club, for the idea faces widespread public hostility within Europe. For many, this poor, populous and overwhelmingly Muslim country is simply a different culture, separated from, if not actually inimical to, Europe.

Please read it all.

Has a source of funding for the global jihad been shut down? From the PakTribune:

The accounts of one of the major mosque of New York, named Al-Falah Mosque which was located in the Corona district of New York, and was inhabited by majority of Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens, has been frozen.

The mosque was frequented by various preaching delegations from Pakistan and Bangladesh, and they also held religious congregations.

The decision was so sudden that, it transpired on the mosque administration only when they went to the bank for their daily transactions, where they were informed of the "federal freeze" on mosque's funds as well as personal account of the chief (administrator) Imam, Mr. Hafiz Piracha.

According to reliable sources, the mosque was under a strict vigil since a year, because of frequent visits of preaching delegations from all over the Islamic World.

The United State's certified ally on the war on terror continues its duplicity. From the AP:

A security adviser to the prime minister said Thursday that Indonesian fighters are involved in Thailand's Muslim insurgency, contradicting government insistence the bloody separatist movement is a homegrown affair unconnected to Southeast Asia's al-Qaida-linked terror network.

In a recent AP interview, a veteran Thai rebel leader warned that militants from Indonesia and Arab nations might join the Thai fight for a separate Muslim homeland if the government continued a crackdown that is provoking a new generation of fighters.

Lukman B. Lima said the 21-month-old insurgency is getting moral and financial support from abroad, especially from Islamic sympathizers in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

Read it all.

A new publication by the Islamic Front of the Iraqi Resistance reminds the Muslim ummah of its duty to engage in jihad. From the SITE Institute:

Introducing the magazine is an editorial documenting its purpose, stating that it is to be an education tool for the Muslim Ummah to “know its religion and its Shari’a, and even to know how to fight and how to manage the battle of jihad on its soils.” The article emphasizes that through Ja’ami, the group wishes to unite the Ummah around an “ideological, cultural, and jihadi path.”

Subsequent articles, such as: “The Signs of Victory and Triumph in the Jihad of the Iraqis,” lauds the mujahideen for confronting the “soldiers of the invasions” only days following their entrance to the country, turning the landscape of Iraq into a “blessed field of combat.” Further, the article stresses the need for the insurgency groups in Iraq to unify their ranks as the “first and most pressing mission”.

Do 55% of these mujahideen hail from Saudi Arabia?

This issue of Ja’ami ends with a condemnation of the Iraqi constitution signed by myriad insurgency groups in Iraq including: the Islamic Army, Mujahideen Army, and the Twentieth Revolution Brigades, stating: “With the will and help of Allah, we will continue with our Jihad against the occupier and his helpers. Never will we leave our [fighting] posts until we will realize the religious goals that Allah has imposed upon us”.

Click on the SITE Institute link to view the spiffy cover design of this new jihadi editorial.

Refugee camp jihad. And make no mistake: a jihad is exactly what it is — waged by Arab Muslims against non-Arabs Muslims whom they do not consider sufficiently Islamic. Sudanese General Mohamed Beshir Suleiman put it this way: "The door of the jihad is still open and if it has been closed in the south it will be opened in Darfur." "U.N.: Attack in Darfur kills 29 refugees," from Reuters, with thanks to Special Guest:

GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) -- Twenty-nine people were reported killed in an unprecedented attack on a refugee camp in the northwest of the Sudan region of Darfur, the United Nations said on Thursday.

According to initial reports, the Aro Sharow camp was attacked by 250 to 300 "armed Arab men on horses and camels" late on Wednesday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

Another 10 people were reported to have been seriously wounded and the nearby village of Gosmeina was also believed to have been attacked and burned, the agency said. The death toll referred only to camp dwellers....

And in response, the UN threatens to...cut and run:

The U.N. has warned that it may have to suspend aid operations in Darfur because of a resurgence in violence.

Following the attack, High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said it was the responsibility of the Sudanese government to restore order.

I see: the fox must guard the henhouse, eh?

"As long as this insecurity continues, the international community cannot provide the assistance that is so desperately needed by hundreds of thousands of people," Guterres said.

"The government of Sudan has a responsibility to ensure security for all its citizens," he added.

The UNHCR said that most of the camp dwellers had fled into the surrounding countryside, which the U.N. considers unsafe.

The attackers had apparently burned about 80 crude shelters, around a quarter of the camp's households.

British Muslims are wary of interference by regulators in their Ramadan broadcasts. "UK regulator accused of interfering in Radio Ramadan broadcasts," from the Islamic Republic News Agency, with thanks to Twostellas:

Local Ramadan radio stations begin their annual broadcasts across Britain next week amid fears of being charged with breaching a new code of standards introduced by the communications regulator, Ofcom, in July.

According to Muslim News, applicants for a record 82 Restrictive Service Licenses (RSL's) have expressed concern about undue interference by the regulator.

"Ofcom has stated that they would like to work with radio Ramadans about the contents of the programs," one applicant was quoted saying.

Another described the undue interference as "religious
discrimination," saying Ofcom had "set of rules for Muslims and another for the rest."...

Is that so? So Ofcom allows Methodists and Anglicans to preach the violent overthrow of the British government and its replacement by a draconian legal code that institutionalizes discrimination against women and nonbelievers? Somehow I have missed that little factoid.

Particular unease relates to a clause on 'harm and offense,' which states that programs must not include material which "condones or glamorizes violent, dangerous or seriously antisocial behavior and is likely to encourage others to copy such behavior."

In the current climate of the government's anti-terrorism focus on so-called 'extremism' in the Muslim community, fears were expressed about the definition of "seriously antisocial behavior."

But Ofcom denied that the implementation of its new code had anything with anti-terrorism measures following July's London bombings.

"The new code is not terrorism related. The new code was actually formulated in May, a good two months before the London attacks," a spokesman told the Muslim News.

First time RSL applicant Mohammed Anwar, who will be in charge of Nelson's APNY Nawaz station in north-west England, said that like many others, it would also be difficult to assess the interpretation of inflammatory comments from the merely controversial views.

"We've briefed our staff to scan the callers in phone-ins. For example, they've been told to cut [off] anybody who promotes terrorism," Anwar said.

How extreme! How intolerant! How positively nasty of the British authorities!

Ghulam Hussain, applicant for High Wycombe's Radio Ramzan, west of London, also said that there was a "little confusion" after being sent a letter about the codes.

In a forward of the new code, Ofcom Content Board Chair, Richard Hooper, insisted that rights of free expression came with "duties and responsibilities" and said the code were in the light of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights." But Ejaz Siddique, administrating for Radio Ramadhan Birmingham, in central England spoke of the importance of programs interpreting the Qur'an and said his station was "not going to shy away from talking about jihad."

Taking a page from Turkey's book, Sudan is denying the jihad genocide it perpetrated against black Muslims in Darfur that the Arabs of Khartoum didn't deem Muslim enough. "Sudan denies genocide in Darfur," from the Sudan Tribune:

Sept 26, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese Minister of Justice Mohamed Ali al-Mardi on Monday denied genocide or ethnic cleansing in Sudan, the official SUNA news agency reported.

At a meeting he held with the visiting UN chief Kofi Annan’s special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Juan Mendez, the minister of justice pointed out that the Darfur trials would continue, as well as the government’s determination to convict anyone who would be proved guilty of committing war crimes in the region....

The UN Security Council passed a resolution in July 2004, asking Sudan to rein in Janjawid militias in 30 days or face international action.

The resolution has been dismissed by the Khartoum government.

The self-righteous and short-sighted Anglican dhimmis could put the Christians in Iraq in an even more difficult position than they are in now. From CNSNews, with thanks to Beverly:

(CNSNews.com) - An Anglican church leader in Baghdad has warned that Iraqi Christians could be adversely affected by a Church of England bishops' report criticizing the Iraq war and suggesting that Christians apologize to Muslims.

"They've got to take seriously the Anglican churches in these [Muslim] nations," the Church of England Newspaper quoted Canon Andrew White as saying in its weekly edition published on Friday.

"The situation is dangerous on the ground and what is said in the U.K. has a profound effect," he added.

Now wait a minute. I thought the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims abhorred Osama and terrorism. Apparently this is not the case in India's Bihar state, if it is the case anywhere. Not only is this Osama double serving as the "Muslim mascot" of one political party -- they stole him away from another party! Tiny minority of extremists update: "Osama look-alike joins Lalu's camp," from NDTV.com, with thanks to Vikrant:

The leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lalu Prasad Yadav has found a new Muslim mascot - Miraz Khaled Noor, the Osama look-alike, stolen from the Lok Janshakti Party.

From being a virtual nobody, Noor shot to fame during the last elections. His resemblance to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden made him Ram Vilas Paswan's Muslim poster boy.

Now why would there be limited cooperation from Muslim communities? Hmmm. What happened to that Vast Majority of Peaceful, Law-Abiding British Muslims we heard so much about from Bonnie Prince Charlie and Tony Cool Britannia Blair after the July 7 bombings? Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman of Scotland Yard speaks in "New groups planning London attacks, warns anti-terror chief: Police speak of frustration at limited cooperation from Muslim communities," from The Guardian, :

"I don't want to scaremonger but it has to be said, when you look around the world and at the prominence of London, that the threat is real," said Mr Hayman. He said detectives were actively pursuing "other lines of investigation"....

He added: "London is an iconic site as a location for another terrorist attack. We have to be vigilant but you can't predict where or how or when they will try."

Mr Hayman also admitted that getting the Muslim community to trust the police was proving a long and difficult process.

"There has been progress but starting from a regrettably low baseline. We have close links with the Muslim community but the next step is getting them to share information. I fully understand how difficult that is, the repercussions of arrests and so on, but that has to be weighed against the mass loss of life that could result from further atrocities."

Many learned analysts continue to insist that if the U.S. would only modify its policies regarding Israel, the global jihad would end. Here, Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald places the ongoing jihad against Israel in its larger context:

The Arab war against Israel is a classic Jihad. It can be called the Lesser Jihad, and began before the advent of OPEC oil money, and the mass migration of Muslims behind Infidel (enemy) lines. It began because Israel is in the midst of the dar al-Islam and is an Infidel state run by the heretofore despised Jews -- a particularly intolerable affront.

But the Lesser Jihad against Israel is merely a subset of the Greater Jihad against non-Muslims in general; it is not, as appeasers of the Throw-Israel-to-the-Wolves variety argue, a substitute for it. The larger Infidel world is now subject to what can no longer be hidden: the classic Jihad to spread Islam until it covers the globe, and Islam and Muslims everywhere dominate. To many non-Muslims, this seems to be a fantastic dream. But it is not. Do the demographic math. In Holland, thirty years ago, there were 15,000 Muslims. Today, there are one million -- and the country is a much more unpleasant, expensive, and dangerous place as a result, and the Dutch do not know what to do.

In France, there are 5-7 million Muslims. Some "integrate." Some (especially Berbers) even leave Islam. But most do not. And there is always the possibility that the seemingly well-integrated may, for obscure as well as obvious reasons, and for personal as well as larger political reasons, "revert" to "immoderate" Islam. The same is true in Great Britain, Spain, Germany, and Belgium. Italy seems, for various peculiar reasons, the least likely to exhibit appeasement. Andreotti, that famous crook, was pro-Arab and anti-Israel merely out of the usual financial considerations, and not, one suspects, out of some failure to understand Islam: he was too intelligent for that, but may have suppressed his understanding because he felt the Arabs were too rich to offend, and he could not conceive that Islam was a civilizational threat -- possibly out of contempt for Islam itself.

Yes, yes, the real headline on this AsiaNews story (thanks to Nicolei) is "Islamic groups threaten to destroy a Christian school." Maybe the Christian leaders were planning to use this school to wage violent war against Muslim Indonesians, after the fashion of the proposed Islamic school in Lodi, California? Nope -- Muslims threatened to destroy the school because they thought Christians would use it to proselytize. Only Muslims can do that, you see.

Cikampek (AsiaNews/UCAN) – Hundreds of Muslims marched on a school under construction by Christian foundation and threatened to destroy it as soon as it is finished. The men form part of three distinct Islamic groups; they came together in Cikampek (65 km south-east of Jakarta) after Friday prayers on 23 September.

Ustadz Akhmad Zaenudin, president of the Karawang section of the Islam Defender Front, said during a public speech that the protest would not stop because "the school would be a means of proselytism". Together with the leaders of the other two groups – Islam Defender's Network and the Muslim Movement – he spoke from an open truck outfitted with two loudspeakers. They declared they hated proselytism, not Christians.

"San Joaquin County, Calif., supervisors rejected a proposed Islamic school whose founders were deported to Pakistan in a federal terrorism investigation." However, the county supervisors said they rejected the school based on land-use, not jihad, concerns.

"Calif. county rejects Islamic school," from UPI, with thanks to Nicolei:

STOCKTON, Calif., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- San Joaquin County, Calif., supervisors rejected a proposed Islamic school whose founders were deported to Pakistan in a federal terrorism investigation.

The supervisors insisted their unanimous vote Tuesday was based on land-use concerns and not the federal investigation of the school near Lodi, Calif., the Sacramento (Calif.) Bee reported.

The Farooqia Islamic Center would have included an elementary school, worship hall and community center. Neighbors objected, saying traffic congestion would ruin their rural life.

"I know these are good people and mean well," Supervisor Leroy Ornellas said, "but churches, mosques and temples should be located in cities."...

While board Chairman Steven Gutierrez tried to focus on traffic and zoning, some speakers cited the terrorism investigation that resulted in the June arrest of five Lodi Muslims, including two imams leading the project.

School backers rejected federal assertions that the school planned to train U.S. Muslims for jihad, or holy war, against the enemies of Islam.

Why not? He knows a dhimmi when he sees one. At least they had enough spine to ban him, although they tolerated Omar Bakri and Abu Hamza long enough. From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Scaramouche:

HE CLAIMS to hate everything the West stands for. But yesterday it emerged that Osama bin Laden sought asylum in Britain even as he was planning the September 11 attacks on the US.

The al-Qaeda leader wanted to abandon his base in Sudan at the end of 1995 and asked some of his followers in London to sound out whether he would be able to move to Britain.

Michael Howard, who was then Home Secretary, recalls how his aides told him of the asylum request from the Saudi-born militant of whom the world knew little of ten years ago. A number of his brothers and other relatives, all members of the wealthy bin Laden construction empire, owned properties in London by the mid-1990s....

The astonishing approach to the British authorities happened only months after bin Laden had secretly organised a terror summit in Manila in January 1995 to begin planning how hijackers would turn passenger planes into flying bombs. He called it the “Bojinka plot”, which is Arabic slang for an explosion.

By this time bin Laden had also transferred some of his considerable personal fortune to London for his followers to establish terror cells here and across Europe.

His name rarely appeared in the British media even though by late 1995 his network had already bombed a number of US army bases abroad and plotted assassination attempts against Pope John Paul II and President Clinton.

Mr Howard said yesterday: “In truth, I knew little about him, but we picked up information that bin Laden was very interested in coming to Britain. It was apparently a serious request. He already had people operating here, and who knows how history could have been rewritten if he had turned up here?”

Bin Laden never got a chance to make a formal application as Home Office officials investigated him and Mr Howard issued an immediate banning order under Britain’s immigration laws.

"Voice of the Caliphate": what clearer indication could there be of the jihadists' overall goal to reestablish the caliphate and by means of it to establish the hegemony of Islamic law over the world? While it is unlikely at this point that they will ever succeed in America, it is not unlikely that they will try to do violence here to achieve their purposes.

Also, even if they plan to pursue this goal by peaceful means, they are still set against core principles of the U.S. Constitution. This indicates that simply to hunt for "terrorists" is out of focus: what about all those who may be trying to advance the same agenda as that of the terrorists by peaceful means? Why is there no examination in the government or the mainstream media of the overall goals of the terrorists? Why is no serious effort being made to determine how many Muslims in America believe that the U.S. Constitution should ultimately be replaced by Sharia?

"New Al-Qaeda Weekly Internet News Broadcast Celebrates U.S. Hurricanes and Gaza Pullout, Reports on Al-Zarqawi's Anti-Shiite Campaign and Chemical Mortar Shells in Iraq," from MEMRI, with thanks to all who sent this in:

The following are excerpts from Sout Al-Khilafa, Al-Qaeda's new on-line weekly news broadcast. TO VIEW THIS CLIP VISIT: http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=862.

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

The Global Media Front presents to you Sout Al-Khilafa [The Voice of the Caliphate].

Speaker: "In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. The headlines of this news summary: Gaza has been liberated – a great victory, yet a weighty responsibility. In Iraq, Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi declares a war of Sunni vengeance, and Hurricane Katrina is the beginning of the divine, just punishment."

Caption: "Sout Al-Khilafa"

Speaker: "Welcome to the 'The Nation's Weekly News Summary' program. First, the Sout Al-Khilafa team sends its best wishes to the Islamic nation for the defeat of the Zionist occupation in a portion of occupied Palestine. We also congratulate ourselves on the destruction caused in America, by one of Allah's soldiers. The Muslim multitudes in Palestine were seen thronging to the liberated lands, waving the banner of victory. Meanwhile, the mouthpieces of the so-called Palestinian Authority spoke about disarming the mujahideen under the pretext of what they called 'the weapons anarchy.' But the response of the mujahideen groups on the front lines was clear. They announced their refusal to disarm as long as the occupier remains in the land of the Muslims."

Caption: "Sout Al-Khilafa"

Speaker: "We now move on to the occupied land, to the land of the Caliphate, the glorious land of Iraq. The American wolves, and behind them the Rafidite Shiite dogs, have desecrated our [women's] honor in Tel'afar and other Sunni cities, while the Muslims and the scholars of the Sultans keep silent....

"The Islamic Army in Iraq announced that it has launched 10 chemical mortar shells and 45 Katyusha missiles on a base of the American forces and the 'Pagan' [National] Guard in Al-Madain. Many soldiers fled the base and anarchy took over, which is an indication of the number of casualties the enemy suffered.

"The entire Islamic world overflowed with joy when Hurricane Katrina struck in America, which seemed to reel from the strength of the hurricane and went asking for aid from all the countries of the world. Broken and completely humiliated, George Bush, a fool who is being obeyed, announced his obvious incapability to deal with the wrath of Allah that visited the city of homosexuals.

"While Louisiana is trying to recover from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, another hurricane fiercely struck the state of North Carolina, on the Atlantic coast, but so far there have been no casualties or significant damage, as was expected. We hope that Allah will humiliate America with this hurricane to make it a lesson for whoever wants to listen.

The mysterious disappearances of Coptic Christian women, and their subsequent reappearance as converts to Islam -- accompanied by official indifference at best -- is an ongoing human rights scandal that we have noted here before. From Compass Direct:

Three months after his 20-year-old daughter disappeared while on an errand from work, Coptic Christian Rezk Shafik Attallah remains convinced that she has been kidnapped by a former police constable.

Attallah said his daughter, Marianna Rezk Shafik Attallah, left work May 30 at the Al-Ra’ay medical laboratory in El-Fayoum, 60 miles south of Cairo, to pick up a patient’s blood sample from a residential address. Neither her family nor her fiancé have heard from her since.

When she failed to return home, her fiancé, Bishoy Hosni, went searching for her at her workplace. Mohammed Salah No’man, owner of the No’man Computer Center neighboring the Al-Ra’ay lab, told him that a Muslim employee of his, Ali Mahmoud Abdel Rasoul, had kidnapped the young woman.

Reportedly Rasoul, who had been maintaining the Al-Ra’ay laboratory computers, had previously been fired from the police force for “bad behavior.”

Police Obstuction

After hearing this, Attallah filed a report with the police on the day of his daughter’s disappearance, naming Rasoul as her suspected kidnapper. But the officials on duty refused to give him the case number.

At the same time, a State Security Investigation (SSI) officer declared that Rasoul had packed up his household goods and moved 250 miles further south to Sohag, taking Attallah’s daughter with him. But he warned the young woman’s father and fiancé to stop looking for her, declaring she had left of her own free will.

The woman’s fiancé remained skeptical. “If she went of her own free will,” Hosni told Compass, “then why didn’t she come to say that [to us]?”

Soon afterwards, rumors spread in their district of El-Fayoum that Marianna Attallah had left her Christian faith and converted to Islam. But Hosni dismissed the claims, saying that during their courtship, it had been her close relationship with God and active involvement in the church that had helped bring him to a deeper understanding of his Christian faith....

Hundreds of young Coptic women disappear and are reported kidnapped each year in Egypt, but their families’ claims are difficult to prove.

At the same time, security officials frequently prevent Christian parents from having contact or private access to their daughters once they have been located, instead leaving them in the custody of the Muslim “protector” who abducted them.

After all, a "dhimmi" is a "protected person."

After all, the Muslim Prophet Muhammad said, "Baddala deenahu, faqtuluhu" -- if anyone changes his religion, kill him (cf. Bukhari vol. 9, bk. 84, no. 57). As far as many Muslims are concerned, this command is not a dead historical relic, but a live mandate. "From Muslim leader to evangelist for Christ," from Compass Direct:

His father sent him to Saudi Arabia from Nigeria when he was 3 years old to be trained as an Islamic cleric, but God had other plans for Ahmed Abdullahi.

Raised in Saudi Arabia and born into a northern Nigeria family with several relatives who are Muslim clerics, Abdullahi was an unlikely candidate to become a Christian evangelist to African Muslims. His path to Christ, however, has carried him past all obstacles -- including the death sentence his family has pronounced over him -- to become just that.

Abdullahi has not seen his family in more than 20 years. Those who warmly embraced him when he returned from Saudi Arabia in 1980 as a learned, 30-year-old Muslim cleric felt they had no choice but to kill him when he turned to Christ. “When I told my people that I have decided to follow Jesus Christ, they planned to kill me, forcing me to run away,” Abdullahi told Compass.

Thai jihad update from Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

BANGKOK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Four Thai soldiers and a teacher were killed by suspected militants in Thailand's restive Muslim south where nearly 900 people have been killed in 21 months of violence, police said on Tuesday.

The soldiers, riding on two motorcycles, were shot dead by militants armed with pistols and AK-47 assault rifles near a school in Yala, one of three troubled provinces bordering Malaysia.

"There was an ambush about 500 metres from the school. The militants sprayed bullets from the jungle and all four died at the scene," Police Lieutenant-Colonel Mustopa Mani told Reuters.

In a separate incident, a teacher was shot dead in his car in the province of Pattani. Teachers are often targeted by insurgents as symbols of government authority.

Iraqi jihad update from AP, with thanks to Twostellas:

BAGHDAD (AP) — A woman strapped with explosives and disguised as a man blew herself up outside an Iraqi army recruiting center in a northern town Wednesday, killing at least six people and wounding 30 in the first known attack by a female suicide bomber in the country's bloody insurgency. Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the blast, saying in an Internet posting that it was carried out by "a blessed sister."...

Blessed for murdering, in accord with Qur'an 9:111, which promises Paradise to those who "slay and are slain" for Allah.

"A blessed sister from the Al-Baraa bin Malek martyrdom brigade carried out a heroic attack defending her faith and honor on a gathering of volunteers for the apostate forces at a center for recruiting apostates in Tal Afar," the statement said.

"May God accept our sister among the martyrs," it said, without identifying her.

"Their calling card was a bomb and a written declaration of war on Bangladesh's constitution and democracy." How long will it take the governments of the world to realize that the jihad movement from Indonesia to England has the same goal -- to restore the caliphate and institute Sharia wherever possible -- and respond accordingly? From Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

RAJSHAHI, Bangladesh, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Their calling card was a bomb and a written declaration of war on Bangladesh's constitution and democracy.

Across the length and breadth of Bangladesh, outside its most secure and important buildings, Islamic militants exploded 500 small bombs in just half an hour last month.

Leaflets made the threat explicit: establish an Islamic state under sharia law or we will bring the country to its knees.

The power and organisational ability of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, (the Party of Holy Warriors) came as a shock to Bangladesh -- and to the rest of the world. But in Rajshahi district in the country's wild west, their extreme views and brutal sense of drama came as no surprise at all.

On April 1, 2004, the group announced their presence to the people of Bagmara town with the stabbed and chopped-up body of a supposed bandit, and a call for an armed Islamic revolution.

"They chanted 'long live al Qaeda', 'Bangladesh will be the next Afghanistan' and 'we are the soldiers of al Qaeda'," said farmer Abdul Bari, who saw their first rally.

A few weeks later, 2,000 supporters marched through Rajshahi city under police escort, green strips of cloth around their heads, hockey sticks, iron bars and machetes in their hands.

I discussed Mohamed Kamal Mustafa and his wife-beating book in Islam Unveiled, which I wrote in 2001. In it I reported that an association of Spanish women's groups had brought suit against him; it has taken that long for this case to wend its way through the Spanish courts, while Mustafa has been able to continue to preach his views in Spain unhindered.

I also noted that Mustafa had merely restated and elaborated upon Qur'an 4:34: "good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them." Now a judge has ordered him to study Spain's constitution; what will he find in that constitution that will convince him to set aside the Qur'an?

This judge has given us yet another example of how ignorance of Islam and the jihad imperative cripple our response to it. If he knew that Mustafa was simply working from the Qur'an itself, it is unlikely that he would think that an Imam would allow himself to be turned from that path by studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the constitution of Spain. After all, another Muslim theorist, the Iranian Sufi Sheikh Sultanhussein Tabandeh, wrote a book criticizing the Universal Declaration on Islamic grounds: A Muslim Commentary on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- indicating that it is at least possible, if not probable, that a Muslim religious teacher, when confronted with the incompatibility of Qur'anic directives with Western notions of human rights, will discard not Islam, but Western notions of human rights.

After all, right here at Jihad Watch I once had an exchange with an English convert to Islam, who signed his name "Yusuf Smith Indigo Jo)." I said: "I would like nothing better than a flowering, a renaissance, in the Muslim world, including full equality of rights for women and non-Muslims in Islamic societies: freedom of conscience, equality in laws regarding legal testimony, equal employment opportunities, etc." To that he responded: "So, you would like to see us ditch much of our religion and, thereby, become non-Muslims."

In other words, he saw a call for equality of rights for women and non-Muslims in Islamic societies, including freedom of conscience, equality in laws regarding legal testimony, and equal employment opportunities, as a challenge to his religion. Will Mustafa think anything else after reading over the Universal Declaration?

Or maybe the judge is hoping that Mustafa, when seeing this incompatibility, will leave Spain voluntarily.

From The Telegraph:

The judge told Mohamed Kamal Mustafa, imam of a mosque in the southern resort of Fuengirola, to spend six months studying three articles of the constitution and the universal declaration of human rights.

Mr Kamal was sentenced to 15 months in jail and fined £1,500 last year after being found guilty of inciting violence against women. However, despite objections from Spain's socialist government, a judge released him after 22 days in jail on condition that he undertake a re-education course.

A commission recommends that imams should speak Spanish and have a basic knowledge of human rights and Spanish law.

In his book Women in Islam, published four years ago, Kamal wrote that according to Islamic law, a disobedient wife could be beaten.

"The blows should be concentrated on the hands and feet using a rod that is thin and light so that it does not leave scars or bruises on the body,'' he wrote.

From Compass Direct, with thanks to Nicolei:

September 27 (Compass) – A Pakistani woman has charged three men with raping her earlier this month and threatening to kill her if she did not convert from Christianity to Islam.

Ribqa Masih, 22, testified at last Thursday’s court hearing that Ghulam Abbas and Mohammad Kashif drugged and kidnapped her on September 2.

Masih had made the 10-mile trip from her home town of Chak to the city of Faisal Abad that morning with her Muslim friend Humaira Hussain. Hussain said she wanted help in gaining entrance to a Dominican boarding house in Faisal Abad, where Masih had previously stayed while receiving her teacher’s training.

A Trap

Unbeknownst to Masih, she said, Hussain had arranged to meet Abbas and Kashif at the bus stop in Faisal Abad, where the two men offered Masih a drink of water that made her lose consciousness.

She said the two men took her to a house in the city of Lahore, approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) away, and raped her repeatedly throughout the night. They threatened to shoot her and to kill the rest of her family, she said, if she did not repeat the Islamic creed, an act which, if done in the presence of two Muslims, is considered a valid form of conversion to Islam.

Masih refused to convert, saying that she would rather die than change her religion. The next morning her kidnappers handed her over to another Muslim man, whom they said would return her home.

The Catholic woman’s new captor, however, repeatedly raped her over the next three days and threatened to kill her if she told anyone, Masih testified.

On September 6, the man finally returned Masih to Faisal Abad and left her at a public bus stop. Unable to walk due to vaginal injury, Masih hired a rickshaw to take her to her uncle’s house, where she telephoned her parents.

Read it all.

Evan Coyne Maloney details more misadventures of the acadhimmic establishment at Brain-Terminal.com via FrontPage:

Two words. At Bucknell University, that's all it takes to get dragged into the President's Office for a half-hour discussion of word choice. And these aren't offensive words, at least not out here in the real world. But Bucknell apparently has a different definition of what is and is not acceptable.

On August 29th, the Bucknell University Conservatives Club sent out a campus-wide e-mail announcing an upcoming speaker: Major John Krenson, who had been in Afghanistan "hunting terrorists." Those two words--"hunting terrorists"--resulted in three students being called to Bucknell's Office of the President by Kathy Owens, the Executive Assistant to the President.

According to the students, when they arrived at the President's Office for the meeting, Ms. Owens held up a print-out of the offending e-mail and said "we have a problem here," telling the students that the words "hunting terrorists" were offensive. For the next half-hour, the three students were given a lecture on inappropriate phrasing.

(When contacted, Ms. Owens did acknowledge that the meeting took place, but refused to answer any questions about what transpired. She did not deny the account of the students.)

Last year, while collecting footage for my upcoming film Indoctrinate U, I noticed that the campus was plastered with flyers that screamed "vagina" in large block letters. Although some people might find these flyers offensive, it is protected speech at Bucknell--as it should be--but apparently the phrase "hunting terrorists" is not.

(Perhaps someone should remind Bucknell's administrators that the American soldiers who are "hunting terrorists" are fighting the very sort of misogynistic thugs who would gladly stone a woman to death for talking about her vagina in public.)

Read it all.

Here is an excerpt, published in Chronicles Magazine (thanks to Kaoskntrl), from Dr. Trifkovic’s new book, Defeating Jihad, which will be published by Regina Orthodox Press later this year. From the looks of this, the new book will be as superb and enlightening as his other book, Sword of the Prophet. Trifkovic writes with tremendous insight about the failure and myopia of Western governments, which we have noted here ad infinitum.

Members of the West European and North American elite class approach the war on terrorism in a schizophrenic manner. Their world view rejects any possibility that religious faith can be a prime motivating factor in human affairs. Having reduced religion, literature and art to “narratives” and “metaphors” which merely reflect prejudices based on the distribution of power, the elite class treats the jihadist mindset as a pathology that should be treated by treating causes external to Islam itself.

The result is a plethora of proposed “cures” that are as likely to succeed in making us safe from terrorism as snake oil is likely to cure leukemia. Abroad, we are told, we need to address political and economic grievances of the impoverished masses, we need to spread democracy and free markets in the Muslim world, we need to invest more in public diplomacy. At home we need more tolerance, greater inclusiveness, less profiling, and a more determined outreach to the minorities that feel marginalized and threatened by the war on terror. The failure of such “cures” leads to ever more pathological self-examination and morbid self doubt. If the spread of jihad is not due to the ideology of jihad itself, which it cannot be, then it must be our own fault.

Already with the Rushdie affair 17 years ago an ominous pattern was set. It has been replicated on both sides of the Atlantic ever since. It has three key ingredients:

1. The Muslim diaspora in the Western world, while formally denouncing “terrorism,” will accept and condone religious justification for acts that effectively challenge the monopoly on violence of the non-Muslim host-state.

2. The Muslim diaspora will use a highly developed infrastructure of organized religion in the host-state—a network of mosques, Islamic centers and Muslim organizations—and deploy it either as a tool of direct political pressure in support of terrorist goals (e.g., British Muslims vis-à-vis Rushdie), or else as a means of deception and manipulation in order to diminish the ability of the host-society to defend itself (e.g., CAIR vis-à-vis post-9-11 America).

3. The non-Muslim establishment—public figures, politicians, journalists, academic analysts—will seek to appease the Muslim diaspora, or else it will shy away from confronting the problem of the immigrants’ attitudes and impact by pretending that it does not exist.

The issues of immigration, identity, loyalty, and common culture are accordingly not treated as an area of legitimate concern in the debate on terrorism. The result is a cloud-cuckoo land in which much of what is said or written about terrorism is not about relevant information that helps us know the enemy but about domestic political agendas, ideology, and psychology.

Read it all, if you read anything.

Yesterday I appeared on the Neal Boortz Show, and I'd like to thank Neal for having the courage to discuss this topic and perspective. Some have asked me why I didn't post notice here; unfortunately, I was fighting a balky Internet connection in a hotel in Peoria, Illinois, where I spoke Tuesday night, and was unable to do so.

Today I will be discussing jihad, dhimmitude, and my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) on these two shows:

8:00 AM EDT: WPHT "The Michael A. Smerconish Show" from Philadelphia.

4:07 PM EDT: KNEW "Jeff Katz Show" from San Francisco. Listen live here.

The Saudi scholar Muhammad Abu Omar al-Seif confirms the incompatibility of Islam with democracy. From the SITE Institute:

[S]overeignty is reserved for Allah alone, replacing shari’a with democratic elections is considered “an appeal to the devil and destruction of Allah’s rule,” democracy considers all people equal, “knowledgeable and the ignorant and Muslim and “infidel” alike, which is deemed anathema. Further, according to the speech, jihad is the solution, justified in its course because it means to defend Islam, “which the enemies are aiming to remove from the hearts of the Muslims and from their lives.”

Mr. al-Seif issued this statement on September 26th of 2005 and allegations of his affiliation with "al-Qaeda leadership in Chechnya" are well known.

What isn't common knowledge is this November, 2003 Jihad Watch posting which was prophetic in its confirmation that Saudia Arabia doesn't deserve the certification which President Bush so generously granted.

Further proof shows that Saudi Arabia is still the same country she was prior to 9/11.

It has become apparent this week that poor Karen Hughes has an impossible job. Wherever in the Muslim world she goes, Ms. Hughes is derided by extremists and “moderates” alike, who view most of her statements as little more than Zionist propaganda. Along the way, she is forced to defend policies which have already been thoroughly demonized by newspapers, Al-Jazeera, government officials, and religious leaders alike. Therefore, I’m reticent to criticize her, but her trip to Saudi Arabia has been absolutely shameful, according to Pakistan’s Daily Star:

US envoy Karen Hughes said on Tuesday Washington had privately discussed the issue of hate literature in American mosques with the Saudi government and asked for their help in getting rid it.

Hughes, whose job as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy is to counter the negative US image among Muslims and explain President George W Bush’s policies, brought the subject up publicly in a meeting with Saudi journalists.

But she did not discuss it - nor other human rights issues - in a meeting later with Saudi King Abdullah. “I hope you will find room to respect people of different faith and different faith traditions,” Hughes said at a luncheon with Saudi media.

“We are concerned that literature has been found in American mosques that has a message that is not tolerant and we hope the people of Saudi Arabia will work with us as we try to deal with this issue.”

Saudi hate literature in American mosques? It can’t be! Of course, as Jihadwatch and others have frequently reported in the past, the Saudi government has been fully complicit in spreading literature which calls for - among other things - murdering Christians and Jews.

US ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Oberwetter said Hughes was the first top Bush administration official to talk publicly in the kingdom about the anti-Christian, anti-Semitic material, which some human rights groups say has been sanctioned by the Saudi government.

Hallelujah, someone actually “talked” about the hate literature within Saudi borders! What progress!

“We’ve been raising the issue privately,” Hughes told reporters traveling with her to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. “One of my jobs is to raise issues in, I hope, a respectful way to help other countries understand American values.”

Hughes said she had never met Abdullah before and that they only “talked on personal terms”. “In a follow up meeting, I would feel very comfortable raising those issues,” she said.

Why wait, Ms. Hughes? Could the “personal” issues you saw fit to discuss with Abdullah really be more pressing than the fact that his government continues to produce and propagate hate literature? Again, no one should expect much from Ms. Hughes’ tour, but the American people deserve better than the quiet equivocation on display thus far.

So much for the partner-in-peace dream. While Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has usually been derided in the past as simply ineffective, his latest statement indicates that not only is he a failure, but that he opposes peaceful relations with Israel. From UPI:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Arab countries to refrain from establishing relations with Israel until it pulls out from territory captured in 1967. Speaking at a news conference Wednesday at the seat of the Arab League in Cairo, Abbas said, "Arab countries are sovereign states and act in a sovereign ways, but there are Arab agreements to which all Arab countries are committed."

Abbas' comments are especially regrettable coming at a time when some Middle Eastern leaders - such as President Musharraf - have publicly softened their stances somewhat with regard to Israel.

The international battle against terrorist financial networks continues unabated, with the latest official efforts taking place in Germany, per AFP:

Police in the western German state of Hesse mounted raids in six cities Tuesday against suspected Islamic extremists accused of raising money to carry out terrorist attacks, AFP reported.

"We have information that Islamic extremists engaged in petty crime are building a network and the logistics for terrorism," police spokesman Peter Liebeck said.

Liebeck said authorities believed that the extremists were using local snack shops and call centers as fronts.

CAIR will be happy to know that this suspected bank robber was caught not because he was Iranian, but because authorities thought he was Mexican and looked nervous at a border crossing. He turned out to be Iranian national, which raises questions about what he was using the money for -- if authorities are still allowed to pursue such matters. In any case, even if Farhbaksh was just using the money for a new convertible and a love nest in San Ysidro, this case raises yet more concerns about our porous southern border. Richard Miniter points out in his latest book that jihadists have more often entered the U.S. from Canada than from Mexico, but that doesn't mean that a Mexican crossing couldn't be successful -- if the jihadist manages to avoid sweating profusely and raising suspicions with a false ID. Unfortunately, these hurdles are overcome easily enough. "Authorities arrest suspected 'FedEx bandit,'" from the San Diego Union Tribune, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

SAN DIEGO – The robber known as the "FedEx bandit" has been arrested, ending a two-year spree that included more than 40 bank robberies, authorities said Tuesday.

The 40-year-old man was arrested Monday while trying to cross the Mexican border at San Ysidro with a counterfeit ID card, authorities said.

They initially identified him as Ernest Lozano, but it turned out that was the assumed name of a dead U.S. resident. He was then identified as Farzad Naroii, but an investigation then determined his real name was Farhad Farhbaksh, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Farhbaksh is an Iranian national who first entered the United States on a student visa in 1978, authorities said.

The bank robbery spree began in September 2003 and included robberies in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, with more than 30 of the crimes occurring in San Diego County, said San Diego police Lt. Mike Angus.

"He was dubbed the 'FedEx bandit' because in several of the robberies he walked in there with an envelope, a FedEx envelope, that he used as a prop and to carry the money out at times," Angus said.

The FedEx robber would show bank tellers a gun in his waistband or jacket pocket, and sometimes threatened to shoot them or said he had a bomb.

Angus said the FedEx bandit was responsible for one of the longest bank robbery sprees in the region in recent years, and investigators had few clues until he slipped up in June....

On Monday afternoon, Farhbaksh was trying to enter the United States through the pedestrian crossing at San Ysidro. He caught the attention of officers because he was sweating profusely and looked nervous, said Bruce Ward, acting port director with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Immigration and customs enforcement agents pulled him aside when he presented a phony ID card. They checked his fingerprints and discovered there were warrants out for his arrest, authorities said.

"It was a very good catch," Ward said. "Mr. (Farhbaksh) could have very well just walked into the United States if not for these alert officers."

FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth said Farhbaksh confessed to 43 bank robberies in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties during a five-hour interview with federal and local investigators.

He told investigators he was in the country to avoid the military draft in Iran.

Foxworth said he wouldn't release how much money was stolen in the string of robberies or reveal what Farhbaksh said he was using the money for.

In their pursuit of “religious understanding”, the good folks at the University of Pennsylvania have decided to invite Yvonne Ridley, a former journalist for the London Times and convert to Islam, to address students on the topic of Islam. There’s just one problem: Ms. Ridley is has expressed sympathy for the Taliban and is a supporter of suicide bombing, per Militant Islam Monitor:

While the country is fighting a war against terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, the question needs to be asked as to why UK citizen Yvonne Ridley, is being allowed into the United States to speak when she is a known supporter of jailed terrorist leader Abu Hamza Al Masri, who called her to offer his congratulations on her conversion to Islam. Ridley has expressed her support for suicide bombings at a forum which included a member of Al Muhajiroun, (a group which was connected to London subway attacks), and has made it her mission to propagandize on behalf of the Taliban, who inspired her conversion to Islam.

Ridley has described jailed terrorist Abu Hamza Al Masri "as a sweet guy" and proudly related that he gave her books on Islam. In an article about her conversion she taunted members of US intelligence agencies as "incompetent spooks" and joked about opening a Madrassah for recruits from my flat in Soho".

Ms. Ridley, as a journalist in Afghanistan, was once held captive by the Taliban. She was so impressed by her captors that she decided to convert, giving new meaning to the term “Stockholm” syndrome:

"...Several days later I was released unharmed on humanitarian grounds on the orders of Mullah Omar, the Taliban's one-eyed spiritual leader. My captors had treated me with courtesy and respect and so, in turn, I kept my word and set out to study their religion."

Ms. Ridley later justified her support for the Taliban by stating that they had received “unfair press.”

This is all very high-minded, of course, but Codey is acting at the behest of CAIR, which has never addressed its own problematic issues regarding jihad and Sharia. Also, it is simply a fact of life that Muslims are the ones committing the great majority of terrorist acts today. It is Muslim groups that have declared jihad war against the United States. Nor have American Muslim organizations done anything effective to weed out jihadists from their ranks. Consequently, for police departments to keep files on more Muslims than Methodists doesn't trouble me. Innocent people should not be harassed, but when this article says that they were keeping files on some people just because they belonged to certain organizations -- well, not all Muslim organizations are what they seem to be. Look at CAIR itself. "Codey demands rules for probes to avoid profiling," from the Star-Ledger, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Acting Gov. Richard Codey yesterday gave state officials three weeks to come up with standards for identifying potential terrorists, to dispel fears that the label is being applied to people simply because they are Muslim.

Codey made the demand in response to revelations in yesterday's Star-Ledger that State Police are refusing to accept computerized reports filed by the New Jersey Office of Counter-Terrorism after finding numerous entries targeting people merely because they practice Islam or have connections to Muslim groups.

Islamic civil rights groups quickly voiced their concern, with one calling for a nationwide review of terrorist databases to ensure they do not single out Muslims.

State counter-terrorism officials contend the problem is not religious profiling, but that some reports were filled out incompletely. Codey, calling the feud a "turf battle," said the Attorney General's Office, State Police and counter-terrorism officials "have all assured me that profiling is not going on."

When asked whether he is comfortable with the standards for entering names into the database, however, Codey replied, "No, I'm not." He said that is why he requested a report on the criteria for labeling someone a potential terrorist....

Muslim groups voiced long-standing fears of unequal treatment.

"I think a lot of us have realized for a while that we're under surveillance and that's just the way it is and nobody's going to do anything about it," said Yasser El-Menshawy, chairman of the Majlis Ash-Shura of New Jersey, a council of mosques and Islamic organizations based in Newark.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group based in Washington, D.C., called for law enforcement agencies nationwide to examine their terrorist databases and ensure they are not being used to profile Muslims.

While often accused of kowtowing to Islamist regimes overseas, the French do not equivocate when defending their home turf. Their latest success came yesterday, when French police – acting on a tip from Algeria authorities – arrested 9 men who were apparently planning terrorist attacks against the Paris metro and the headquarters of the French internal security agency, according to MSNBC: (thanks to Jeff)

Authorities fear that a suspected Islamic terror cell broken up in France was plotting attacks on the Paris subway, an airport and an intelligence agency's headquarters, newspapers said Tuesday.

Police arrested nine people Monday in the sweep, including an Islamic militant previously convicted on terrorism charges and freed from prison two years ago, officials said.

Le Figaro and Le Parisien newspapers said the alleged cell's suspected targets included the Metro, a Paris airport and the Paris headquarters of the Directorate for Territorial Surveillance, or DST, a police intelligence and counterterrorism agency.

DST agents launched the raid after receiving a confidential note from Algerian authorities summarizing the questioning of a suspect arrested Sept. 9 in Algiers, the Algerian capital, Le Parisien said.

The suspect, identified by the newspaper only as "M.B.," was an alleged group member who indicated that the attacks were being planned in France, the report said. His wife was among the nine arrested.

Melanie Phillips discusses the 17-19th century jihad against Britain, which also touched the U.S. in the wars against the Barbary pirates of the early 19th century. Like the British raids, the Barbary conflicts have not been generally understood in the West as constituting jihad warfare; only recently have historians begun to realize that those warriors had the same ideology that motivates jihadists today.

From Melanie Phillips' diary, with thanks to Alan:

On my travels for the past few days, I have been reading a book which tells the story of a quite astonishing part of British history of which I was previously unaware. In 'White Gold', Giles Milton records the appalling details -- gleaned,it appears, from a wealth of historical documents including diaries and letters -- of a seaborne Islamic jihad against Britain which lasted for no less than two centuries.

From the early seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, thousands of British men women and children were kidnapped by Arab corsairs and sold into slavery in Morocco where they were kept in conditions of unspeakable barbarism. The astounding thing is that these British victims were not merely seized at sea where they ran the gauntlet of such pirates in places such as the Straits of Gibraltar. They were actually abducted from Britain itself.

Corsairs from a place in Morocco called Sale -- who became known in Britain as the 'Sally Rovers' -- sailed up the Cornish coast in July 1625, for example, came ashore dressed in djellabas and wielding damascene scimitars, burst into the parish church at Mount's Bay and dragged out 60 men women and children whom they shipped off to Morocco. Thousands more Britons were seized from their villages or their ships and dispatched to the hell-holes of the Moroccan slave pens, from where they were forced to work all hours in appalling conditions building the vast palace of the monstrous and psychopathic Sultan, Moulay Ismail, who tortured and butchered them at whim. Most of them perished, but the book records the survival of a tenacious Cornish boy Thomas Pellow, who survived 23 years of this ordeal and whose descendant, Lord Exmouth, finally ended the white slave trade when he destroyed Algiers in 1816.

The book makes clear that this assault upon the British people (and upon Europeans and Americans who were similarly seized) was a jihad. The Sally Rovers, writes Milton, were called 'al-ghuzat'-- the term once used for the soldiers who fought with the Prophet -- and were hailed as religious warriors engaged in a holy war against the infidel Christians who were pressurised to convert to Islam under threat of hideous punishment. What is even more striking was the response of the British crown. For almost two centuries, it made only the most ineffectual attempts to rescue its enslaved subjects. Those who had succumbed to the torture and inhumanity of the Sultan and converted to Islam were deemed to be no longer British and therefore outside the scope of any rescue. The pleas of Pellow's parents were simply brushed aside. Popular outrage forced successive Kings to dispatch a series of feeble emissaries to try to get the Sultan to end this vile traffic and release the slaves, all to no avail.

But this went on for virtually two centuries. For almost 200 years the British state either sat on its hands or wrung them impotently while the Islamic jihad seized, enslaved and butchered its people. And then it appears, this staggering onslaught was all but airbrushed out of our history.

Food for disquieting thought.

Even suicide terrorism was a factor in those days. John Paul Jones encountered suicide attacks by Muslim Turks in 1788. Jones described a naval encounter between the Turks and the Russians that took place when Jones served in the Russian Navy:

"...for it was the intention of the Turks to attack us and board us, and if we had been only three versts further the attempt would have been made on the 16th [June 1788] (before the vessel of the Captain Pacha ran aground in advancing before the wind with all his forces to attack us,), God only knows what would have been the result...The Turks had a very large force, and we have been informed by our prisoners that they were resolved to destroy us, even by burning themselves, (in setting fire to their own vessels after having grappled with ours.) [note added by Jones: Before their departure from Constantinople, they swore by the beard of the Sultan to execute this horrible plan...if Providence had not caused its failure from two circumstances which no man could forsee."]

That's from John Paul Jones' Letter to Prince Potemkin, June 20, 1788, from Life and Character of John Paul Jones-A Captain in the Navy of the United States, John H. Sherburne, 1825, p. 308.

Assad is not a conventional jihadist or even, as an Alawite, a conventional Muslim; however, for various reasons today he has to make clear where his sympathies lie. From Haaretz, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Syrian President Bashar Assad earlier this month gave Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives in Damascus a green light to carry out terror attacks and escalate fighting against Israel, Israel Radio said Wednesday, quoting a high-level Palestinian Authority intelligence dispatch, which was reportedly passed on to Egypt and Israel.

Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim said Wednesday that Israel was aquainted with the dispatch.

Boim, referring to U.S. and international pressure on Syria over events in Iraq and the alleged involvement of Damascus in the assassination of investigation of alleged Syrian involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese leader Rafik Hariri, told the radio:

"Assad in Damascus is very pressured, in a state of distress, and as a result, he is trying apparently to step us his support [of Hamas and Jihad attacks] in order to lift pressure from other fronts," Boim said.

A remarkable story. "They said they would prefer to have a dog touch the bread rather than us." From Asia News, with thanks to Nicolei:

M is a Catholic Afghani and a refugee in Italy. He told his story to AsiaNews, an account of discrimination and threats under the Taleban regime owing to his family faith. His father was killed because he converted, and to save his son, he did not tell him that he had been baptised. It was only when he arrived in Italy that the boy discovered he was a Christian. "Now I want to live for Jesus even when I am with my Muslim friends".

(AsiaNews) – Subjected to discrimination and scorn at the hands of the Taleban in Afghanistan, he was forced to flee, losing his entire family. M (whose real name cannot be disclosed for security reasons) is an Afghan youth who is a refugee in Italy. He has always been a Catholic, however without knowing it: his father, a convert from Islam, had to hide the truth from him to protect him. M only discovered his religion a year ago: an Italian cultural mediator explained to him that Isai, the term used by his peers to denigrate him, meant "Christian". And he saw images in churches, which his family would keep hidden at home, and in the hands of one of his teachers, he saw a rosary like his mother’s.

M lived in a small mountain village. When he was still a child, his father, a landowner, was killed by neighbours, who accused him of having made money by betraying his Islamic faith and becoming a Christian. In reality, they wanted to take over his lands. According to local laws, the males of the family of the victim, once they come of age, have the right to avenge the death, with the tacit consent of all. So those who had murdered M’s father started to persecute him and his brother, with the intention of killing them before they came of age and could take justice into their hands. M and his brother escaped. Their mother also escaped and the brothers have not heard from her since. This was at the end of 1999 under the Taleban regime, during the civil war.

"From when I was young, I tried to enter the mosque like everyone else," recalled M. "But the others prevented me from doing so and they accused me of not being a Muslim. I did not understand but I saw small signs, which made me think that my family and me were different: no one wanted to eat with us, they said they would prefer to have a dog touch the bread rather than us. We lived an isolated life without friends. When I tried to play with other children, they kept their distance from me, at school they mocked me and beat me. All families kept at least one weapon per member at home; we only had an old hunting rifle hung on the wall, which my father rarely used. My companions offended me, using the word Isai: I thought it meant ‘criminal’ or ‘assassin’ and I felt dirty. Meanwhile, I continued to press my father for explanations. I would see him and my mother say the rosary (at the time I did not even know what it was) and I looked at the image of Jesus and the Virgin Mary hung on the wall in one of the rooms of the house, which was always kept closed. I would ask and demand, my father would only reply, ‘When you are old, you will understand’."

Read it all.

The Saudis are buying everything these days -- from new organs to Fox News. "Saudi received organ ahead of others in L.A.? Hospital suspends transplants, probes allegation of false records," from WND, with thanks to Kemaste:

One of the top organ transplant hospitals in California has suspended its liver program following allegations a Saudi national improperly received an organ ahead of dozens of other needy American patients.

The Los Angeles Times reports that officials at St. Vincent Medical Center also discovered that, following the transplant, some hospital staff allegedly falsified records of the operation on numerous occasions, ostensibly to shield the process from scrutiny or discovery.

The September 2003 transplant was paid for by the Royal Saudi Embassy, the paper said. The hospital's $339,000 fee covered the cost of the operation and the patient's resultant hospital stay.

That figure, the Times said, was 25-30 percent higher than the customary rates paid by insurance companies and government health care programs. However, the paper also noted patients without insurance – such as many foreign nationals – typically pay a higher rate than the discounted prices negotiated by insurance companies.

The Saudi national, who was not identified, was No. 52 on the regional waiting list, which covered much of southern California. The liver should have gone instead to a patient at UCLA Medical Center.

Despite the fact that there's nothing in it that would offend Muslims. "The Newsweek thing has changed the world" -- and made us all cringing dhimmis, apparently. "Funny choices," from the Los Angeles Times, with thanks to Van Impe:

But the real problem with Hollywood isn't simply its glorification of sex, money and lame old TV shows. It's that our Ivy League-educated studio elite often don't know the difference between crass and class. How's this for an example: Sony Pictures, the studio that made "European Gigolo," has refused to release "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World," an inspired new film by Albert Brooks about a comedian — Brooks, playing himself — who is recruited by the U.S. government to go to India and Pakistan to find out what makes Muslims laugh.

The movie makes fun of comedians' neurotic neediness and State Department ineffectuality, but seems to steer clear of anything that would insult Muslims. Still, in a June 30 letter to Brooks, Sony chairman Michael Lynton said that he wouldn't release the film unless Brooks changed the title. Lynton wrote: "I do believe that recent incidents have dramatically changed the landscape that we live in and that this, among other things, warrants changing the title of the film." Sony insiders say Lynton was alarmed by the violent reaction in the Muslim world to Newsweek's May 9 story, since retracted, about a Koran being flushed down the toilet by interrogators at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Brooks' movie, financed by producer Steve Bing, has now found a new home at Warner Independent Pictures, which plans to release it early next year. Warner Indy chief Mark Gill says he had no problems with the title. "How often do you get a laugh simply from the title of a movie?" Gill told me. "We saw the movie, and it was clear that Albert makes fun of himself and America, not anybody else."

Lynton won't discuss the issue publicly, but perhaps he is worried that merely having "Muslim" in a film title could cause the kind of outrage that led to the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, whose film, "Submission," showed naked women with verses of the Koran projected on their bodies. I'd be worried if I'd made "Submission" too. But Brooks' film is a comedy, not a political screed, closer in spirit to Randy Newman than Salman Rushdie. I only wish I could get Lynton to explain why Sony was squeamish about Brooks' film and not "European Gigolo," which makes fun of a female Chernobyl victim who has a penis instead of a nose.

Brooks, in his first interview about the film, confirmed that Lynton expressed concern about Muslim outrage over the alleged Koran incident. "When we spoke, he told me, 'The Newsweek thing has changed the world.' And I said, 'Wasn't it 9/11 that changed the world?' But Michael said he just didn't want to take a chance."

Best known for such films as "Real Life" and "Lost in America," Brooks says he was inspired to make "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World" in the wake of 9/11. "For so long afterward, whenever I heard anyone talk about Muslims, it was in association with terrorism," he explained after screening the film for me at his Bel-Air office. "But I thought, what could I do in a teeny way — and believe me, it's a teeny way — to defuse this? There had to be some way to separate the 1.5 billion people who don't want to kill us from the 100,000 or so who do. I thought if I could get five Muslims and six Hindus and maybe 3 Jews to laugh for 90 minutes, then I've accomplished something."

In the film, Brooks is recruited for his mission by a government official, played by former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, also portraying himself. The comic heads for India, where he has a variety of misadventures, including a disastrous stand-up comedy concert and a botched meeting with Al Jazeera, which Brooks assumes is interested in his search for comedy when, in fact, the network wants to audition him for a sitcom. "At your age," says the Al Jazeera executive, as coolly pragmatic as any Hollywood agent, "you should think about television."

As with most Brooks films, the movie, which was filmed in India late last year, makes fun of showbiz self-absorption. But it also toys with other cultural stereotypes, from young Pakistani terrorists who turn out to be comedy connoisseurs to Brooks' hapless State Department minders, who are so disorganized that they can't even rent a decent office in New Delhi.

For Brooks, the film's title was an essential ingredient. "Even if you didn't see the movie, you'd see two words you'd never seen put together before — comedy and Muslim. Comedy is friendly — it's the least offensive word in our language."

After the Newsweek/Koran incident, Lynton told Bing he wanted a title change. "I was so upset I was throwing up at 3 a.m.," Brooks recalls. "It felt wrong — it defeated the whole idea of why I went to India in the first place." Bing took the film to Warner, where he'd put up half the money for "The Polar Express" and has a long-standing relationship with studio chief Alan Horn. After Horn watched Brooks' film and gave his blessing, Warner Independent picked it up.

According to President Bush, the Saudi government qualifies for financial aid since they have cooperated in the fight against terror. It seems that all reports that contradict this cooperation were either ignored or brushed aside. From the AFP:

"I hereby certify that Saudi Arabia is cooperating with efforts to combat international terrorism and that the proposed assistance will help facilitate that effort," Bush said.

Under a 2005 spending bill, direct U.S. aid to Saudi Arabia is forbidden unless the president certifies that Riyadh is cooperating with efforts to combat international terrorism and that the money will help that campaign.

It is obvious that the President's certification team has never consulted the numerous Jihad Watch reports and corresponding links which would most certainly challenge their findings.

Hughes, U.S. undersecretary for public diplomacy, is on a regional tour aimed at improving the image of the United States, widely reviled in the Arab and Muslim world over its invasion of Iraq and support for Israel.

The jizya ante has just been upped. Will the U.S. government ever view these payments in that regard? Probably not, but the issue of human rights abuses is persistent enough for the administration to query Saudi Arabia.

But ahead of her arrival in the Red Sea city of Jeddah yesterday, Hughes criticized Saudi Arabia's human rights record.

"We are concerned, and I am going to say it in Saudi Arabia, about human rights issues in the kingdom," she told reporters accompanying her on her three-nation tour.

Apparently, the Saudis were able to ease the administration's concern for President Bush has waived financial sanctions against the kingdom for their modern-day slave trade.

There is more. Please read it all.

Not much has been heard from British Muslim leader Omar Bakri Muhammad since he fled to Lebanon from Britian soon after the July terrorist attacks. Always a vocal proponent of terrorism, Muhammad has kept a low-profile since leaving London, but has recently resurfaced in an interview conducted by the paper Asharq Alawsat:

Q) Before leaving London, did you expect that you would be prevented from returning?

(A) Before leaving London, I held a news conference. It was recorded. I bid farewell to all our young men in London and kissed them goodbye. I left the news conference after saying that I would be leaving the day after tomorrow. I did not run away or disappear. I left via Heathrow Airport where security measures are very strict and flew on the Lebanese Middle East Airlines. I decided to leave because the Muslim community in Britain is considered the voice, ears, and eyes of the British Government. This community allows itself to join the British intelligence, security, and army. Therefore, I consider them responsible before God because of their odd fatwas.

(Q) Do you blame the Muslim community in Britain?

(A) No, I accuse those recruited by the British Government and they have to account for their actions before God. Today after my Muslim brothers were killed, they turned against the others and the British Government accused them of being anti-Semitic. I expect they will receive blows on the head. They sold out their Muslim brothers and they themselves will be sold tomorrow.

Always a master of equivocation, Muhammad goes on to endorse jihad, with some caveats...

(Q) But you said that you are against killing innocent people and have nothing to do with the Al-Qaeda Organization. Now you are calling for jihad. How do you explain your position?

(A) I have often repeated that I am against the killing of innocent people anywhere in the world but who are the innocent? I keep the answer to myself.

(Q) Who do you define as innocent?

(A) The innocent people are specified by Islam. I denounce killing innocent people regardless of who kills them. However, who are the innocent? I do not have to explain this issue.

On a far less serious note, Muhammad discusses with his interviewer his future plans:

(Q) What are your plans in Lebanon? What will you do?

(A) First of all, I will rent an apartment to live in. Perhaps I will later buy a mule-driven cart and sell kerosene.

(Q) Seriously. Do you have any religious or educational plan for the future?

(A) I have a large belly. I will start by reducing my weight.

Anyone still foolish enough to believe that Iran would be willing to surrender its nuclear program absent overwhelming international pressure and sanctions should read a speech delivered before the Iranian Majlis by Iran's fundamentalist in chief, President Ahmadinejad. From Iran Press News: (thanks to Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi)

He said: "The Islamic regime will in no way, shape or form give up it's rights [to nuclear power]. The days of bullying, browbeating and power mongering is over. We can hear the cracking of the bones of these straw giants [under our feet] and we're shocked that these [westerners] are not able to face facts." He claimed: "Two years ago, all of a sudden, the regime's nuclear activities became the focus of the IAEA's investigation, based on false accusations, rhetoric and a huge amount of pressure and negative publicity that was mounted against us."

He added, commenting on the EU3's stance: "The 3 European countries who are being manipulated from behind the scenes by their allies, are racists and are looking to take the world back to the dark ages. They themselves are nuked up to the teeth and are piling security threats against those whose own security is in danger."

Ahmadinejad who called his speech at the General Assembly "historic" continued: "Our vision for world order is based on a new concept of God-worshiping, justice and addressing the sinful human nature; our vision was met with enthusiasm at the United Nations."

Al-Qaeda and its allied groups have long been suspected of drug smuggling and the production of narcotics in order to both fund their terrorist operations and provide energy in battle. An example of this was the heavy use of drugs by Sunni fighters during the battle of Fallujah. Now, Saudi authorities are charging that Al-Qaeda is smuggling drugs, especially cannabis, over the Saudi-Iraqi border to finance their attacks in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, according to the World Tribune:

Saudi security sources said Sunni insurgents have been smuggling illegal drugs from Iraq to Saudi Arabia to finance insurgency attacks against coalition forces.

The sources said the drugs being smuggling now tend to be cannabis.

"In the space of one year, border police intercepted 10 tons of cannabis coming from Iraq," a Saudi source said. "In the past, the [smuggled] merchandise used to consist of alcoholic beverages and prohibited drugs."

The sources said revenues from the smuggling were being shared by Al Qaida operatives in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. They said the money has been used to purchase weapons and finance attacks in both countries.

"We have reason to believe that profits from drug smuggling has been financing militants who are fighting Iraqi and coalition forces and facilitating the illegal entry of people into the country," a Saudi security source told the London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily. "It also supports Al Qaida's terrorist activities inside the kingdom."

A Spanish judge has handed down a guilty sentence for Imad Yarkas, a co-conspirator in the planning and facilitation of the 9/11 attacks, according to FOX News: (thanks to BHall)

A suspected Al Qaeda cell leader was convicted Monday of conspiring to commit murder in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, concluding Europe's biggest trial of alleged members of the terrorist group.

Imad Yarkas, one of 24 defendants on trial, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for conspiracy and of being a leader of a terrorist organization.

Yarkas had been charged with arranging a meeting in the Tarragona region of Spain in July 2001 at which key Sept. 11 plotters — alleged suicide pilot Mohamed Atta and plot coordinator Ramzi Binsalshibh — met to decide last-minute details, including the date of the massacre.

Spanish prosecutors, however, had pushed for a far heavier (and fully justified) sentence:

Prosecutors had accused Yarkas, a 42-year-old Spaniard of Syrian origin, of the more serious charge of being an accomplice to murder and requested a jail term of nearly 75,000 years — 25 years for each of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the suicide airliner attacks in 2001.

Spain's worldwide pursuit of the perpetrators of last year's Madrid bombings seems to be proceeding nicely, this time with the help of Serbian authorities, per USA Today: (thanks to Twostellas)

Serbia on Sunday handed over to Spain a key suspect in last year's Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people, Spanish police said. Spanish police were accompanying the suspect Abdelmajid Bouchar back to Spain on a military plane due to arrive in the afternoon. The 22-year-old Moroccan was detained at Belgrade's main train station in June with no documentation and claimed to be an Iraqi immigrant worker. Belgrade finished processing Spain's extradition request last week.

Spanish authorities say Bouchar was very close to ringleaders of the March 11, 2004 bombings of the Madrid commuter rail network which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500.

The attacks were claimed by militants who said they had acted on behalf of al-Qaeda in revenge for the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq.

Prosecutors at the National Court, which is leading the investigation, said Bouchar may have had a "decisive role" in the attacks through his contacts with other suspects — some killed in a collective suicide and some still on the run.

Jordanian defendants appeal to jihad as a mainstream Islamic concept to defend their plot to attack U.S. forces in Iraq. No doubt the moderate and serene King Abdullah will forthwith put a stop to this. "Jordanians deny US attack plot," from Al-Jazeera, with thanks to Scaramouche:

Seventeen suspected fighters have pleaded not guilty to plotting an attack on the US military in Jordan and neighbouring Iraq.

Some of the defendants told the opening session of their trial in Jordan's military court that they believed jihad "isn't a crime".

Standing in the dock to enter their pleas, they accused the Jordanian government of being an "infidel" and a "puppet" of the US.

The 17, all in custody, are charged with different counts, including conspiring to commit terrorism and attempting to harm Jordan's relations with a foreign country - a reference to Iraq, where the suspects allegedly planned to carry out operations against US forces, but did not manage to travel there.

As the jihadist insurgency in southern Thailand continues to rage, long-time insurgent leader Lukman Lima has broken his decades-long silence to issue an ominous threat directed at Thailand's leaders, according to the Associated Press: (thanks to Terminator)

A veteran leader of Thailand's insurgency has issued a warning: militants from Indonesia and Arab nations might join the fight for a separate homeland if the Thai government continues a crackdown that's provoking a new generation of Muslim fighters.

In his first interview with a news organization, Lukman B. Lima told The Associated Press that violence could spread from Thailand's southern provinces to the capital unless the government accepts an offer to negotiate an end to the conflict.

"If the government opts to kill and kill without reason, perhaps fighters from Indonesia and Arab countries will help us because, according to Islam, real Muslims cannot just stand by when their brother Muslims are being slain," he said.

Mr. Lima goes on to decry all the supposedly horrible actions taken by the Thai government against the Muslim minority in the south, and calls for a negotiated cessation to the violence. However, Lima betrays his true intentions with this quote:

"I've never been on the battlefield. Killing people is not my objective. I prefer to fight for my right to return back to my country, which is occupied by Thailand, through the diplomatic way and dialogue," he said, adding that he had been an activist for 34 years.

Kind words concerning the junior senator from the great state of New York are rarely written in these pages, but Senator Hillary Clinton has made the right (and politically advantageous) decision in opposing the "International Freedom Center," an anti-American "historical" display masquerading as an educational exhibit that was to be placed near Ground Zero. From the New York Post: (thanks to natskvi)

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday dealt a crushing blow to the International Freedom Center planned for Ground Zero, saying she wants the project canned for failing to listen to the 9/11 families.

"I cannot support the IFC," Clinton declared last night in a strongly worded statement in response to an inquiry from The Post.

Her tough comments are Clinton's first significant remarks about the controversy raging at Ground Zero over the Freedom Center, which 9/11 families and other critics fear will become a center of anti-Americanism.

"While I want to ensure that development and rebuilding in lower Manhattan move forward expeditiously, I am troubled by the serious concerns family members and first responders have expressed to me," Clinton said.

"The LMDC [Lower Manhattan Development Corp.] has authority over the site and I do not believe we can move forward until it heeds and addresses their concerns."

A prominent Canadian Muslim lobbying group, the Canadian Islamic Congress, has decided to make those Canadian politicians who voted against the imposition of Sharia law pay for their decision at the ballot box. Their target: the same Liberal Party which regularly embraces every form of "diversity" imaginable. Not good enough for the CIC, according to the Globe and Mail: (thanks to Twostellas)

A prominent Muslim lobby group urged its members Monday to shun both federal and provincial Liberals at the ballot box in the wake of Ontario's decision to do away with a proposal to allow the use of Shariah law in faith-based arbitration.

A communiqué from the Canadian Islamic Congress calling on the faithful to reconsider their “traditional Liberal support” was sent to more than 200 mosques across Canada amid questions about whether it's likely to have much of an impact.

Congress president Mohamed Elmasry said he drafted the missive in hopes of uniting Muslims and influencing Liberal policy before the next federal campaign, expected in the spring.

“We are not impressed by the Liberal record in Ottawa or the provincial Liberals, both in Ontario and Quebec; their attitude regarding faith-based arbitration is religionism, the same as racism,” Mr. Elmasry said.“Canadian Muslims should pay attention, especially at the federal level, in the next six months.”

Although Mr. Elmasry cited Canada's recently expanded military role in Afghanistan as a major strike against the federal Liberals, Ontario's recent decision not to allow the use of Shariah was especially galling, he said.

A Tayseer Alouni update. From the Morocco Times:

Alouni appeared before the Spanish national court for the unique charge of meeting Ben laden in 2001, while he was Al jazeera's correspondent in Afghanistan.

Alouni's wife, Fatima Zahra, reaffirmed that her husband is innocent from all the fabricated charges against him.

"We will do everything we can to prove his innocence in the end," she said

She also explained that the next step to be taken will be "to demand to release Alouni on bail, considering his health conditions."

Al jazeera expressed its wish that the judgment would be fair and based on the investigation data, which freed Alouni from all charges except meeting Ben laden.

Is the good Sheikh really concerned about protecting the rights of psychiatric patients or is the prevention of shocking dogmatic sensibilities more important? This report from the Arab News documents a problem that affects all societies, including Saudi Arabia’s.

The National Society for Human Rights in Saudi Arabia yesterday said it would investigate allegations of cruelty to inmates and violation of their dignity by staff of Shihar Hospital, a mental institution in Taif. Al-Watan newspaper reported yesterday that the staff of Shihar Hospital used hoses attached to water tankers in order to wash groups of naked patients without respect for their privacy or modesty.

Al-Watan published pictures of groups of naked men in showers being washed with a big hose. In the accompanying report, the newspaper said the cleaners who care for the grounds and clean the building were the ones responsible for washing the patients. Some 600 patients are herded to the showers and the cleaners then turn the hoses on them. Helpless, the victims cover their eyes with their hands in order to lessen the pressure of the water on them. “Sometimes polluted water is used and many patients have become infected with diseases,” reported Al-Watan.

Sheikh Abdul Mohsin Al-Obaikan, member of the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars, condemned the acts and demanded that officials provide more supervision of such hospitals and protect the rights of the patients, especially those who need psychiatric help. “It is forbidden in Islamic law to see a man’s private parts, even when he is dead,” said Sheikh Al-Obaikan.

From The Peninsula, with thanks to Twostellas:

Noted Islamic scholar, Dr Yusuf Al Qaradawi has said the Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Abu Musad Al Zarqawi should be tried by Muslim judges if they are caught.

A local Arabic daily quoted Dr Al Qaradawi as telling a German magazine in an interview that most Muslims have sympathy for terrorists because of the atrocities being committed against the Palestinians.

He clarified that a Muslim suicide bomber attacking a bus full of innocent civilians was to be differentiated from the one who was carrying out a suicide mission to resist foreign invasion. Islam, Dr Al Qaradawi said, did not allow the killing of innocent women and children.

A major development in Iraq. From FoxNews, with thanks to Ron:

WASHINGTON — U.S. Special Forces killed Al Qaeda's No. 2 terror mastermind in Iraq, Defense Department officials said.

FOX News has confirmed that Abu Azzam, who was believed to have been in charge of the financing of terrorist cells in the war-torn country, was killed during a raid in Baghdad early Monday morning Iraq time. Azzam is thought to be the top deputy to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted terrorist.

Australia tries to outlaw seditious speech, and a Muslim leader is worried that it will create more "public intolerance." "Terror laws target web chatter," from the Courier Mail, with thanks to Daryl:

A THROW-away comment posted on a website praising a terrorist attack anywhere in the world could land a person in jail under tough new laws to be debated by State and Federal leaders today.

Australians could also find themselves in breach of Federal law for distributing books or other literature urging people to travel overseas to kill Coalition soldiers, or for praising a terror attack as a brave act that should be repeated.

New incitement and sedition laws on the table at today's Council of Australian Governments terror summit could place some Australian groups and businesses in danger of breaching the law.

Likely to come under intense pressure under the laws will be the Australian arm of organisations such as Hizb-Ut-Tahrir, whose website sails close to praising the insurgency in Iraq, as well as Islamic bookshops that knowingly sell literature praising terrorism.

The public utterings of some Muslim clerics could also breach new rules. State premiers, who have been outbidding each other and Federal Labor with tough new counter-terrorism laws, want Prime Minister John Howard to insert a "sunset clause" in the new laws so they do not stay on the books forever.

Mr Howard has been reluctant to agree to the push.

But the new laws, in which suspects could be held in detention for up to two weeks without trial, will be reviewed every three years under a deal to be agreed by state premiers and Mr Howard today....

Mr Howard sought to reassure Australia's Muslim community, saying any new laws would not be targeted at them.

"Law-abiding Muslims have as much at stake in these laws being passed as law-abiding Christians or law-abiding atheists or law-abiding Jews or law-abiding Hindus. We are all in this together," he said.

But Australian Islamic Mission president Dr Zachariah Matthews said some of the reforms had the potential to cause more public intolerance.

In "Islam Enforced in Ontario?" at FrontPage, Daniel Pipes surveys the Ontario Sharia controversy, which ended with the government's intention to end all religious arbitration, and concludes:

That Orthodox Jews and others might lose out points to an emerging pattern, whereby efforts to integrate Muslims into the West upset a benign status quo. Other recent examples:

-- French nuns for the first time must take off their cowls for identity card or passport pictures because of anti-hijab legislation.

-- Likewise, French schoolchildren may not wear crosses or Stars of David to class.

-- Large populations – British underground riders, American airport passengers, Russian theater-goers – must undergo extensive security checks, thanks to Muslim terrorists.

-- Danes marrying foreigners face extensive restrictions to bring them into Denmark because of immigration abuses (the “human visa” problem) involving Muslims.

-- Santas, Nativity plays, Christmas carols, and Bibles are banned in Western countries so as not to offend Muslim sensitivities.

Unremarked by most Westerners, Islam’s presence has started to change their way of life.

Read it all.

In FrontPage I take another look at Saudi claims to reform. Here is my earlier article on the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act. At FP there are links to the source material. [UPDATE: The link still works, but this piece has been taken down from the FP site for today -- they tell me it has been rescheduled for tomorrow.]

Saudi Arabia has “seen the face of the devil, and they don’t want it.” So says Prince Saud, the Saudi Foreign Minister. The Saudis have seen the light since 9/11, he says, and they want no part of religious extremism; the Kingdom is no longer a haven for terrorists.

While the Prince’s words were soothing, it is much more likely that he and other members of the House of Saud have seen the face not of the devil, but of the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act of 2005. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the Act and the general incitement to terrorism in America through jihadist literature and speech are scheduled to begin October 25, and the Saudis are scrambling to appear as if they have decisively rejected the jihad terrorism that they so energetically backed for so many years.

But have they? Not exactly. “Oh Allah, liberate our Al-Aqsa Mosque from the defilement of the occupying and brutal Zionists….Oh Allah, punish the occupying Zionists and their supporters from among the corrupt infidels.” According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis preached that in a sermon in Mecca on July 15 – of 2005, not 2001. He also railed against American pop culture, which he termed “the terrible deluge of all manner of vice, which is considered a form of moral terrorism against the values, ideals, and virtues of the Islamic nation.” His sermon was carried on Saudi Arabia’s Channel 1.

Nor did Saudi TV, which is strictly controlled by the government, limit itself to prayers for punishment of the Israelis and Americans. On August 29 Saudi Iqra TV aired a program calling on Saudis to donate money to support the Palestinian jihad. “As the Prophet Muhammad said, Jihad is the pinnacle of Islam,” the program’s organizer reminded viewers. “A person who cannot wage Jihad with his soul is required to wage Jihad with his money, with his tongue, with his thought, and with any means at his disposal. There is no doubt that our brothers in Palestine desperately need financial support, which goes directly to this cause, and helps them to carry out this mission.”

Denis MacEoin, who has published a bit on Islamic subjects, recently came across this Hugh Fitzgerald piece here at Jihad Watch, and sent me the reply below.

His remarks on the comments are a bit out of focus, of course, since I have repeatedly called for civility and good sense from those who comment here (which calls seem to have scared away a good many who could not meet those requirements) and comments nevertheless still remain unmoderated. The subject of jihad provokes intense anger on both sides, and both sides are amply represented in the comments field here. Many people have posted here who either support the jihadist agenda or strenuously oppose efforts to resist it; we are not responsible for their comments any more than we are for those posted by some who err on the other side.

As is true of so many other sites, the disclaimer at the top of the comments field makes it clear that the only material for which we are actually responsible here are the remarks made within the body of the posted articles, not in the comments field -- that is, remarks made by me, Hugh Fitzgerald, and Jihad Watch News Editors Patrick Devenny and Eric Schwappach. After I received the message below on September 20, I asked Dr. MacEoin if he was referring to the unmoderated comments or to statements by me, Hugh, and others who actually represent Jihad Watch, particularly since he seems to have missed our many recent critiques of Bush, Rice, Karen Hughes and Administration policy (and absurdly termed those policies "Christian"); he did not so far reply. So here is his message.

I've just come across remarks made by Hugh and several other people on my departure from Jihadwatchg/Dhimmiwatch. Since quite a few of you out there seem to have misconstrued a great deal and made a lot of false assumptions, let me clarify. First, I'm not "Dr." inverted commas MacEoin , but really Dr. MacEoin. I don't think it's remotely arrogant to suggest that someone who has studied Islam at an advanced level in the original languages using Islamic texts may be better placed than most laypeople to evaluate Islamic matters. Inb that respect, I do think your websites suffer from commentary from people who clearly know next to nothing about the subject. Would you think it arrogant of me to write that if I were, say, a medical doctor commenting on remarks b y poorly informed layment, or a professor specializing in almost any other subject?

I was indeed a Baha'i for many years, but have been a secularist for much longer. I was not taught by Muslim teachers at any stage of my career. I do not hold a brief for Islam. On the contrary, I have very negative feelings about it, but still try to appreciate those elements that elevate it (such as the finer forms of Sufism, the poetry, the architecture, and the belief in material simplicity over greed). I did not teach at Durham university (though I was for many years an honorary fellow there). I am an opponent of political correctness and did not object to postings because they were not PC, but because many of them were actually racist and bigoted. I'd rather that wasn't so,m because I think both Dhimmiwatch and Jihadwatch couuld perform an invaluable service if they were not open to postings by people who make the whole thing seem somewhat grimy. That doesn't mean everyone, but enough objectionable material seems to get through. I am not anti-American, in fact I have a great admiration for America's constitution and its love for justice democracy. I do, hoqwever, have many objections to the dangerous far-right Christian policies of George Bush and his administration. Or perhaps criticizing American policy is now rthe same thing as hating America? I am not left-wing, but consider myself politically liberal, which means I support things like democracy, human rights, freedom of speech and so on. Much of my unhappiness with Islam derives from precisely those convictions. I am pro-Israeli and involve myself in the defence of Israel, especially against Islamic terrorism and anti-Semitism.

What more should I say? I am, in spirit, with you, but I prefer not to be depressed by gung-ho ignorance masquerading as informed comment. If the owners of the sites could only clean up their act — or the act of their posters — both Watches could be beacons in a world where it is becoming almost impossible to say anything remotely critical of Islam. I have not, incidentally, had many letters published in the Guardian, even though I send a lot — this appears to be because they are, for the most part, critical of Islam or pro-Israeli. I cannot get articles published for this same reason.

I hope you will paste this message prominently in the section where so many of your commentators have written about me without knowing anything about me or my real opinions.

Denis MacEoin

Grover Norquist does it again. From Paul Sperry in FrontPage:

Last Monday, David Hossein Safavian, a high-ranking White House official and pal of GOP powerbroker Grover Norquist, was arrested in a federal corruption case involving lobbying bad boy Jack Abramoff. According to the FBI, Safavian repeatedly lied to federal investigators in order to cover up Abramoff’s shady dealings. He not only bent ethics rules to accompany Abramoff on a 2002 golf junket to Scotland; he also used his position as chief of staff at the General Services Administration to deliver GSA-managed land into the lobbyist’s hands.

But Safavian's not just tied to a dirty lobbyist. He's also tied to a convicted terrorist and a suspected terrorist supporter. Lobbying disclosure forms revealed last year that he has been in the employ of Abdurahman Alamoudi, an avowed supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah. Prosecutors have discovered evidence that he has links to al-Qaeda. At the time, Safavian waved aside any affiliation to Alamoudi. He insisted that he was really lobbying for a client named Jamal al Barzinji. That revelation did little to clear Safavian’s name: A federal affidavit identifies Barzinji as the ringleader of a group suspected of aiding terrorists.

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald holds up a magnifying glass to that most grandiose of dhimmi institutions, the United Nations:

The UN now certainly bears no resemblance to the organization that Eleanor Roosevelt, Rene Cassin, and others thought they were founding after World War II. The major impetus for its founding was the desire to avoid a repetition of what had just been experienced. Despite the best efforts of many people, what has happened in the last nearly four decades is a steady increase in the power not of the Soviet bloc, which has not existed for a decade, but of a bloc of Muslim Arab nations -- roughly, the 22 members of the Arab League, together with a number of non-Arab states such as Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, that slavishly follow the Arab line -- who now control the agenda of the UN and its constituent bodies.

Thus it is that 1/3 of the time of the UN is now devoted to that most pressing of problems, the mighty empire of Israel, that exists on 0.2% of the total land mass of the Arab states, and that is guilty of attempting to defend itself against a relentless Jihad. This monomaniacal attention to Israel means that there is far less attention paid to:

1. Muslim genocides, from East Timor and the Moluccas and Ambon to southern Sudan;
2. Muslim persecution of non-Muslims in many places, from northern Nigeria to Egypt (the Copts) to the Arab Peninsula (where Christians and Hindus among foreign workers are persecuted for daring to observe, in however minor a manner, the rituals of their own religions);
3. Ongoing Muslim campaigns or religiously-inspired Jihads, against Jews everywhere, against Hindus in Kashmir, and against Hindu and Sikh and Christian civilians wherever they can be found, both in Pakistan and in Bangladesh;
4. The destruction of the natural environment -- since all environmental questions are potentially threatening to the Arabs, who wish for the world to remain a heavy user of fossil fuels;
5. Nuclear proliferation among states that are run by despots and peopled by primitives who cannot be trusted -- unlike, say, Israel or Australia, or South as opposed to North Korea -- not to use them except in self-defense.

The Gaza withdrawal has enabled Israel to move decisively against the jihadists: they have shown good faith, and it has been answered only with scorn, triumphalism, and violence. So now the Israelis will defend themselves. "IDF, Shin Bet arrest 82 Hamas, Islamic Jihad men in West Bank," from Haaretz, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

The Shin Bet security service and the Israel Defense Forces arrested 82 Hamas and Islamic Jihad members in the West Bank early Tuesday, the army said Tuesday.

The sweep follows the arrest of 207 Palestinian members of the two groups on Sunday.

The detentions come in tandem with an IDF offensive against Palestinians in Gaza who bombarded southern Israel with dozens of Qassam rockets over the weekend.

Washington and Patterson jihad update. "Accused Terror Plot Mastermind Arraigned," from ABC7.com, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

SANTA ANA - The suspected founder of a radical Islamic prison gang, who allegedly planned attacks designed to kill up to 40 people at 10 Southland military facilities and other sites, denied terrorism-related charges.

Kevin James -- the imprisoned founder of a group called Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheed, or JIS -- was the last of four defendants named in a six-count indictment to appear in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana to enter a plea.

James pleaded innocent to the charges, as have his alleged fellow co- conspirators, Levar Haney Washington, 25, of South Los Angeles, Gregory Vernon Patterson, a 21-year-old former employee of a duty-free shop at Los Angeles International Airport, and Hammad Samana, a 21-year-old Pakistani resident of Inglewood.

Prosecutors say James and Washington met while both were imprisoned at Folsom, where they hatched the plot. Upon his release, Washington allegedly went to an Inglewood mosque and recruited the other two defendants....

What's that? Jihad recruitment in an American mosque? And the other people in the mosque didn't note it and stop it in the name of peaceful Islam?

Anyway, James is shocked, shocked!

Deputy Federal Public Defender Robert Carlin said his client, originally from Gardena, was due to be paroled from prison early next year. "He's a very quiet, sober man, very polite and respectful," said Carlin, who described his client as "shocked" and "surprised" by the charges in the indictment.

"He's very concerned" about the charges, Carlin added. Washington, Patterson and Samana are also charged with the same counts as James, as well as conspiracy to kill members of the United States government uniformed services and conspiracy to kill foreign officials.

Washington and Patterson are also charged with interference with commerce by robbery and using and carrying a firearm in connection with a crime of violence.

CAIR is pushing for this. Does anyone know if Congress passes similar pro forma resolutions noting Christmas, Easter, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, etc., and praising Christians and Jews? From CNSNews, with thanks to all who sent this in:

(CNSNews.com) - An Islamic advocacy group is urging American Muslims "and other people of conscience" to contact their elected representatives and urge them to sign a House resolution recognizing the upcoming fast of Ramadan -- and commending Muslims for their faith.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations calls the resolution an important tool for encouraging dialogue between Muslims and their elected officials, as well as enhancing understanding of the Islamic faith.

The resolution, which expresses the opinion of Congress, mentions threats and attacks directed at members of the Islamic faith since the 9/11 terror attacks.

It then resolves that:

"(1) during this time of conflict, in order to demonstrate solidarity with and support for members of the community of Islam in the United States and throughout the world, the House of Representatives recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world; and

"(2) in observance of and out of respect for the commencement of Ramadan...the House of Representatives acknowledges the onset of Ramadan and expresses its deepest respect to Muslims in the United States and throughout the world on this significant occasion."

Few in government seems to care about the Turkish denial of the Armenian genocide (although the House International Relations Committee did approve a resolution recognizing that genocide), but the rock band System of a Down does. "A Band's Armenian Roots," from the New York Times (scroll down), with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

The rock band System of a Down plans to visit the Batavia, Ill., office of Rep. J. Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois and speaker of the House, at noon tomorrow to urge him to bring a resolution recognizing the Turkish genocide of Armenians between 1915 and 1923 to a full House vote. A rally is scheduled for tomorrow from noon to 2 p.m. The band joins the Armenian National Committee of America, Axis of Justice and the Armenian Youth Federation in this campaign. System of a Down's four members - Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan - are of Armenian descent and have worked to raise awareness of the issue of genocide against Armenians and others. On Sept. 15, the House International Relations Committee approved the resolution.

System of a Down? What the heck does that mean? These kids today and their music. But seriously, I applaud Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan for their courage, and wish them all success.

Hamas again indulges its taste for murdering innocent civilians -- in this case, the owner of a candy factory. It is astonishing that so many in the West are still so anxious to accord this group the moral high ground, or to think it will be bought off with negotiations and concessions. From Israel National News, with thanks to Kemaste:

It was released for publication Monday evening that an Israeli Jew from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev was kidnapped Wednesday and murdered by Arab terrorists.

The body of Sasson Nuriel was discovered Monday morning in the Arab village of Bituniya, west of Ramallah....

Nuriel, 55, owned a candy factory in the Mishor Adumim industrial zone, near Jerusalem. His murderers, it appears, were members of the Hamas terrorist organization.

Nuriel disappeared last Wednesday and his wife reported him missing to the police late that night. Police and Shabak (General Security Services) agents then carried out a search and investigation that led to the discovery of Nuriel’s body Monday morning and the arrest of at least one Hamas terrorist in connection with the murder. His body showed signs of extreme violence.

The Palestinian Authority did nothing to assist Israel in its search for the kidnap-murder victim.

The Mahdi Army is back. From the Telegraph, with thanks to JJohnson:

American troops and the Mahdi Army militia of Moqtada al-Sadr clashed in the slums of Baghdad yesterday, raising fears for the future of a year-long US truce with the fiery Shia cleric's gunmen.

The fighting came as insurgent attacks took the lives of at least 31 people, including 13 commandos from the elite Wolf Brigade, the Iraqi army's showcase anti-terrorism unit, killed when a suicide bomber rammed into their convoy in the south-east of the capital.

Mahdi Army gunmen opened fire on US forces that entered their stronghold in Baghdad's Sadr City slums to arrest three of their colleagues accused by the Americans of running a "kidnap and torture" cell.

Coalition forces in Iraq appear to have run out of patience with the Mahdi Army after what one US officer described as "repeated provocation" in recent months.

The crackdown began last week when British officers arrested three senior Mahdi Army officials in Basra on suspicion of carrying out attacks on military targets in southern Iraq.

The arrests caused a week of tension in the southern city between British forces and Sadr's outlawed Mahdi Army, which was suspected of having taken captive two undercover British soldiers who were later arrested.

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald offers his (and our) services to all those Barbra Streisands and Alec Baldwins out there:

One has read that the modern celebrity in Hollywood has an extensive retinue. There are the bodyguards, and the chauffeurs, and the double, and the cooks (one for low-carb, one for high-carb, depending on the day's whim), the resident doctor, the two personal trainers (one for the family, the other for the pets), the astrologer, the gardeners (some of them with green-cards, some without), the Opener of Mail, the five Repliers to Same, the public relations firm on retainer, the agent, the high-tech expert for the home. But there is also, among those who are famous for having so much money that they can spend some of it in understanding what is going on in the world, the better to identify the proper objects of their "commitment" and "compassion," yet another necessary member of the staff. That fashionable accoutrement is known as the "policy adviser."

Barbra Streisand and Richard Dreyfus are unsurprisingly among those said to have such well-paid advisers who keep them abreast of everything -- you know, wasshappenin in the big world. Apparently these advisers get to sit around, and read lots of newspapers, and clip articles from "The Nation," and take notes while watching the high-cheekbones of Katrina van den Heuvel on the Charlie Rose show, and read (and take seriously) articles by Tom Friedman and Zbigniew Brzezinski, and even, if they are very ambitious, buy a coffee-table guide to Islam by John Esposito and look at the pretty pictures.

But these are different times. Just a bit more is now required of such advisers. One suspects that the degree in social relations or psephology, that stint working for McGovern, fundraising with the Democratic National Committee, and a friendship with someone who writes for Tikkun, just won't cut the mustard any more. And if you are not used to reading real books without pictures, how likely is it, as you supply "opinions" and "you know, stuff to back up those opinions, like facts" that you will have the time to wade through all those daunting texts about Islam? I mean, just trying to pronounce the names "Bat Ye'or" and "Ibn Warraq" is hard enough. But "isnad"? And "Al-Hudaibiyya"? Hey, I'm outta here. And am I expected to follow demographic trends in Europe, or to understand what Islam has to do with southern Thailand, or the situation in the Philippines, or what the phrase "les deux rives" now means in France?

D.C. Watson speaks truth to power:

While many Muslims in the U.S. simply go about their business and mean no harm to anyone, many other Muslims are continually stating that they are offended by our policies and our behavior. It's all our fault, you know. At least that's what Geneive Abdo, in a column entitled "Islam in America: Separate but Unequal," would seem to wish everyone to believe.

The column is extensive, yet portions of it stand out like a badly penciled-in headscarf. For example, Abdo wrote the following comments, which I will answer here.

As the U.S. relationship with the Islamic world has reached unprecedented levels of hostility since the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration has focused its attention on winning the hearts and minds of Muslims abroad. Yet, what about the six to seven million Muslims in the United States whose lives were dramatically altered by the September 11 attacks?

September 11, 2001 dramatically altered the lives of everyone. But it appears that Abdo is only concerned about Muslims, not about the 3,000 non-Muslim dead.

Also: six to seven million Muslims in the United States? Where is the evidence for this figure? Has the population of Muslims in the United States doubled since late 2002, when the figure was calculated at around 3 million?

Here's what we're dealing with, folks. Here are a couple of pertinent paragraphs from a survey of Muslim population claims:

The AMC also amusingly claimed that its own estimate of 'more than 7 million' Muslims came from the 2000 Census figures - erroneously thinking that the Census asks about religion.

Oh, and that's the same AMC which in 1992 pressured a researcher named Fareed Nu'man to find 6 million Muslims in the country; Nu'man later testified that he counted just 3 million and was fired by the AMC when he refused to inflate his number above 5 million.

Read more about that here.

Abdo continues:

Feelings of deep alienation have caused them [Muslims] to join the global protest movement against the United States, but instead of holding flag-burning rallies, Muslim Americans are taking a different course. Muslims are becoming more organized and vocal in their demands, petitioning school boards to establish prayer rooms in public schools for their children, taking time off during the workday for prayers, and turning to the courts when they believe their constitutional rights to practice their religion have been violated. In this way, they are exercising their rights as Americans to enhance their identity as Muslims.

Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes' Dhimmi Tour 2005 has gotten off to a resounding start with her visit to Al-Azhar University to see Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, the Grand Sheikh. You'll get no hint of it from this Washington Post article, "Hughes Reaches Out Warily in Cairo," but Tantawi is a master of talking out of both sides of his mouth. I'll put an example below the article excerpt. Note also Hughes' uncertainty about whether or not she was scheduled to meet with the jihad terrorists of the Muslim Brotherhood.

CAIRO, Sept. 25 -- Karen Hughes, the new public diplomacy czar charged with improving the U.S. image, began her maiden diplomatic voyage Sunday, meeting in picturesque settings with Egyptian students who have benefited from American largess....

Hughes betrayed some nervousness in her first diplomatic foray, which will also take her to Saudi Arabia and Turkey. This is her first visit to any of the countries, and as she spoke to reporters she clutched briefing papers that appeared to be the diplomatic equivalent of Cliffs Notes. Turkey was a "democratic state," and Egypt was the "most populous" country in the region, the document said.

It's reassuring that Bush has sent an experienced hand to the region.

Asked if she was meeting in Cairo with members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hughes turned to an aide and indicated she was not sure of the answer. The aide whispered back, and Hughes replied, "We are respectful of Egypt's laws."

Tiny minority of extremists update:

The activities of the Muslim Brotherhood are officially banned, but it is regarded as the country's largest opposition party and has pressed for a more open political system in Egypt, the stated goal of U.S. policy. Nor does Hughes have plans to meet with representatives of Kifaya, an umbrella opposition group....

Hughes traveled first to the 1,000-year-old al-Azhar University for a meeting with Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, a Sunni Muslim leader who is close to the government and has spoken out against extremism. A recent fatwa , or decree, by Tantawi -- saying normalization of ties with Israel was theologically acceptable -- has generated controversy and anger in Egypt. Local media speculated that the cleric issued it because the Egyptian government recently deployed troops to guard the southern part of Gaza after Israel's withdrawal.

At Bab Zuwayla, Hughes climbed a tower to gaze over the city skyline. "It's magical," the former television reporter said. "A thousand minarets -- and satellite dishes."

Magical indeed. Magical that she would meet with Tantawi, given his approval of a fatwa calling for jihad against Americans in Iraq: "in accordance with reason and with Islamic religious law, if the enemy raids the land of the Muslims, Jihad becomes a personal imperative binding on every Muslim man and woman, because our Muslim nation will be subject to a new Crusader invasion targeting land, honor, belief, and homeland." Note, at the MEMRI link, the studied ambiguity and self-contradiction of Tantawi's many statements.

Tantawi has also endorsed suicide bombing. He "emphasized that every martyrdom operation against any Israeli, including children, women, and teenagers, is a legitimate act according to [Islamic] religious law, and an Islamic commandment, until the people of Palestine regain their land and cause the cruel Israeli aggression to retreat…"

And then there's this: in 1998, Tantawi defends himself against Muslim criticism after meeting with a rabbi:

By doing what I did I followed the way of the Prophet [Muhammad] who met with the Jews and held a dialogue with them. So when I am telling you about the Prophet, don’t talk to me about 'so-and-so’. The Prophet’s stance, which is my own stance as well, was that anyone who avoids meeting with the enemies in order to counter their dubious claims and stick fingers into their eyes, is a coward. My stance stems from Allah’s book [the Koran], more than one-third of which deals with the Jews. You should know that you are interviewing a person who wrote a dissertation dealing with them [the Jews], all their false claims and their punishment by Allah. I still believe in everything written in that dissertation.

Was it in that spirit that he met Hughes also?

If this were one in ten of any other group, the public outcry would be absolutely deafening. From the TimesOnline, :

One in 10 Muslim students would not inform police if they learnt of a fellow Muslim planning a terrorist attack, a survey of young Muslims reveals.

The poll, by the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, found that although 72 per cent would inform police straight away, some said that they “would never grass on a Muslim”, while others cited mistrust of the police.

The findings, which canvassed the views of 466 British Muslim students, were described as extremely worrying by Bill Rammell, the Higher Education Minister. The poll also revealed that 85 per cent condemned the London attacks.

Tiny minority of extremists update: arrests today in the Philippines, France, and Italy, and murders in Thailand. "Philippines arrests Muslim militants," from Radio Australia, with thanks to Twostellas:

The military says Jundan Jamalul, an Abu Sayyaf commander, and six of his men have been arrested in a raid near the town of Bongao in the Tawi-Tawi island group....

The Abu Sayyaf has claimed the 2004 bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay, killing more than 100 people.

The group was founded in the early 1990s with the aim to unite Filipino Muslims to fight for a Muslim state encompassing the southern Philippines.

The Philippine and United States governments consider the Abu Sayyaf a terrorist group and claim it has links to the al-Qaeda network.

Somehow these fellows got the crazy notion that Islam commanded them to wage violent war against non-Muslims. Now how could they possibly have gotten that idea? Could they perhaps have gotten hold of some Islamophobic literature? "Italian police raid suspected Islamic group," from AFP, with thanks to Twostellas:

MILAN - Italian police in Milan on Monday raided apartments and companies owned by a group of Algerians suspected of belonging to The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), an extremist Islamic group, the police said....

The raids in Milan came on the day French police detained seven people in the Paris region and in nearby Normandy, in a crackdown on suspected GSPC members.

GSPC, Algeria’s main armed Islamic group, is suspected of being linked to Al Qaeda.

What's that? There are non-Muslims and non-observant Muslims in Indonesia who might want to go to these discos? What are you, some kind of Islamophobe? From AP, with thanks to Twostellas:

JAKARTA (AP)--A hardline Muslim group called Sunday for the closure of all discos and other night spots in the capital during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which starts in October.

"All kinds of wicked activities have to be shut down for the entire month," said Muhammad Ismail Yusanto, a spokesman for Hizbut Thahrir, a large conservative Muslim group known for organizing street rallies against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Yusanto was apparently reacting to a suggestion by Jakarta police chief Maj. Gen. Firman Gani that discos and other nightspots would only be closed on the first and last three days of Ramadan, which is expected to begin Oct. 5.

Yusanto, however, promised that his group would not take the law into its own hands as some other Muslim groups have done over the years.

"We can only call for the closure. We leave it up to the government and bureaucracy," Yusanto said. "But the government should be more creative in preparing temporary jobs for those affected by the closure."

"This has nothing to do with religious freedom," said Skare-Ozbolt. That is correct. But from the perspective of those who are campaigning for it, it has everything to do with advancing the Muslim presence in Europe. From IslamOnline, with thanks to Twostellas:

ZAGREB, September 26, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Leaders of the Muslim minority in Croatia have urged the authorities to allow women to wear hijab on their passport photographs.

"I hope people in Europe realize France committed a grave mistake by banning Muslim women from wearing headscarves in certain public places," Muslim leader Sevko Omerbasic told Jutarnji list newspaper Sunday, September 25, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Describing it as a religious symbol and not an obligatory dress code as Muslims believe, France adopted a bill banning hijab in state-run schools and public institutions in March 2004.

The French ban, dismissed by international rights watchdogs as religious discrimination, prompted demonstrations across Europe.

Croatia counts some 60,000 Muslims among its population of 4.4 million people.

Rules

Croatian authorities maintain that banning head covers in passport photographs is aimed at ensuring people can be swiftly and accurately identified.

Law states photographs included in identity documents should be a "true and faithful" likeness of the person.

"This has nothing to do with religious freedom," said Justice Minister Vesna Skare-Ozbolt.

"The rules are as clear as the reasons for which they were made," he added.

Police say the same rules apply to Catholic nuns, who also cover their heads.

Women and children aid the Thai jihad, in effect taunting the Thai military for its reluctance to inflict civilian casualties. From AsiaTimes, with thanks to Romy:

BANGKOK - Suspected Islamist insurgents avoided capture after torturing to death two Thai marines by beating and stabbing the bound-and-gagged victims behind a human shield of defiant Muslim women and children, horrifying the government and plunging southern Thailand into a fresh security crisis.

Amid the world's most violent Islamist insurgency outside Iraq, angry and confused security forces hunted the elusive killers, described as three or four young men who ran away, leaving the marines' bloodied bodies in Tanyong Limo village.

"They were brutally beaten to death with machetes and sticks, while their hands and legs were tied up, and they were gagged and blindfolded," Lieutenant General Kwanchart Klaharn, commander of the Fourth Army and director of the Southern Border Provinces Peace-building Command, told reporters.

The bodies were locked inside a building near a mosque, prompting security forces to break down a door to gain access before transporting them to a hospital morgue, he said.

Hamas has pledged an end to rocket attacks from Gaza, but it apparently means that such attacks will end when Israel is completely destroyed. "Claim of Responsibility for Rocket Attack," from Israel National News, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

(IsraelNN.com) A terrorist group calling itself The Armed Wing of the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility for the firing of a rocket into southern Israel this afternoon. The target was apparently Netiv Ha'asarah, just north of the Gaza Strip. There were no injuries or damage reported.

The rocket was of the Nasser-3 type, according to the terrorists' communique. The Nasser-3 is produced by Hamas.

Same group as in Italy. "France Detains Nine in Anti-Terror Sweep," from AP, :

PARIS - French police on Monday detained nine people suspected of ties to a fundamentalist Algerian militant group possibly planning to attack France, officials said....

French television station LCI said the group, known by its French initials GSPC, was suspected of planning attacks in France.

The GSPC is the most structured group among Algerian Islamic insurgents battling the North African state since 1992 in a bid to topple the government. In recent years, it has turned its sights on jihad, or holy war, beyond Algerian borders.

"Following the July transit bombings in London" -- i.e., terrorism works. "Tate pulls artwork to avoid offending Muslims," from AP, with thanks to Twostellas:

London — The Tate Britain museum has removed a work made up of sacred texts from Christianity, Judaism and Islam torn and mounted on glass to avoid offending religious sensibilities following the July transit bombings in London, the museum said Sunday.

The museum said it was particularly concerned that John Latham's piece “God Is Great” could upset Muslims. It pulled the work from an exhibition of Latham's art despite his objection.

“Having sought wide-ranging advice, Tate feels that to exhibit the work in London in the current sensitive climate, post July 7, would not be appropriate,” the museum said in a statement.

Three of the four men suspected of carrying out the July 7 attacks, which killed 52 victims and the bombers, were young Pakistani Britons. All were Muslim, and much political debate in Britain has since focused on homegrown Islamic extremism.

“God Is Great” consists of a large sheet of glass and copies of the Koran, the Bible and Judaism's Talmud that have been cut apart, with the pieces mounted on either side of the glass to make it appear that they are embedded in it.

The museum put up a notice in the exhibition explaining the decision, including Latham's objection to it.

Latham, 84, who made his name as a member of London's 1960s artistic avant garde, said the piece, which he made 10 years ago, was not anti-Muslim.

“Tate Britain have shown cowardice over this,” he told The Observer newspaper. “I think it's a daft thing to do because, if they want to help the militants, this is the way to do it.”

Pakistani Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussein on 60 Minutes tonight echoed what I have said again and again at Jihad Watch and elsewhere: that we are not facing a movement centered on a charismatic leader, but an ideology-driven movement that will not die if its leader is captured or killed. In "The Search For Bin Laden" from CBSNews (thanks to usashopper) he also gives us a Tiny Minority of Extremists Update:

We asked President Musharaff who he thinks is more popular in Pakistan -- the United States or Osama bin Laden?

“That's a very difficult question,” Mr. Musharaff replied. “Maybe Osama bin Laden. In the man in the street, it may be Osama bin Laden.”

Remember that the next time someone compares Osama to Tim McVeigh, saying that they are both on the fringes of their religions. When was McVeigh ever remotely that popular?

“Is it all that important to find him?” asks Safdar. “Even if he's taken out tomorrow, his ideology is not going to come to an end. So, I don't think that he’s that important that we should be overly concerned about his being dead or alive.”

It is not important that bin Laden be captured, he says, because, “What's going to happen? Sentiments, they are going to get further aggravated, but their ideology will continue. It's not going to stop here.”

A show of force leads to a backdown. Maybe the jihadists thought that the Gaza withdrawal manifested a failure of will on the Israeli side, just as Osama read Clinton's post-Black Hawk withdrawal from Somalia. And maybe now they are being disabused of that notion. From the BBC, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

The Palestinian militant organisation Hamas has announced an end to rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

At least 30 rockets have been fired at Israel in recent days, following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza earlier this month.

In response to the rockets, Israel resumed its policy of targeting militant leaders in air strikes.

On Sunday, an Israeli missile strike killed two Islamic Jihad militants, including a top commander.

At a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered "unrestricted" strikes against Palestinian militants.

Ceasefire

Announcing the end to rocket attacks, Hamas leader in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, said the organisation confirmed its commitment to a ceasefire which militants declared earlier this year.

Author Claude Salhani, writing in today's Washington Times, delivers a sparkling endorsement of King Abdullah of Jordan's recent efforts to counter Islamic extremism in his own kingdom and throughout the Middle East.

Jordan's King Abdullah is on a campaign, one could say a "jihad of sorts," to reaffirm Islam's traditional principles. Jihad, remember, means "struggle" as well as "holy war."

Among the endeavors of the Hashemite king, whose family claims direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad, is a brave initiative to clarify who in Islam has authority to issue fatwas, or religious edicts. Fatwas, in principle, are the domain of religious leaders, or imams. However, lately a number of fatwas have been decreed -- wrongly so -- by people such as Abu Musab Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden, who have no religious authority or training.

In recent months, Abdullah has worked hard to promote a gentler image of Islam and to distance mainstream Muslims from those responsible for horrendous acts of terror perpetrated in the name of Islam. The king has organized meetings with Muslim religious leaders from more than 45 countries to get them to condemn militant Islamists and to speak out against terrorist acts by Islamist groups.

In so doing, the king hopes to change the negative image that has befallen Muslims in much of the West, particularly since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

While Abdullah's words, as recorded by Salhani, are welcome, they are not a suitable substitute for concrete action on the part of the king. As Robert Spencer suggested yesterday, Jordan has a long way to go before it can consider itself a haven for "moderate" Islam. Perhaps Salhani should temper his lavish praise of the king until Abdullah actually does something to deserve it.

Any means, whether it is dealing with corrupted government officials, organized crime members or drug dealers, justifies the end goal of Islamic supremacy. A very disturbing report emerges from the Balkans. From the Sunday Herald:

Iran’s quest to become a nuclear power has galvanised the Balkan mafias, security sources have warned following the discovery of potentially lethal nuclear enrichment material in the region.

Last week, Bulgarian customs officials prevented a car from crossing into Romania after discovering 3.5kg of hafnium, a metallic element that is used in the nuclear enrichment process and which could potentially be employed in the manufacture of radioactive “dirty bombs”.

According to General Veleri Petrov, the Bulgarian police chief, the hafnium consignment, discovered at the Ruse border crossing point, was destined for a Romanian mafia with Middle Eastern connections. One Bulgarian and three Romanian nationals in the car were arrested.

On its own, hafnium is not radioactive. The consignment was “virtually 100% pure” and suitable for use in nuclear reactors as a control material.

Apart from its use in the nuclear industry, hafnium can also be transformed into a powerful explosive – one gram of hafnium having the potential, after sophisticated and expensive treatment, to emit gamma rays equivalent in power to 50 kilos of TNT. Because of this it is highly sought after by Middle Eastern terrorist armourers.

Hafnium is difficult and very expensive to refine. Bulgaria does not possess the technology to produce pure hafnium, the spokesman said, adding that the origin of the consignment was unknown. But, clearly, money is no object for the shadowy end-users.

The Sunday Herald has learned from Romanian sources that an Arab-dominated Bucharest mafia was the inter mediary in the hafnium deal. The sources could not give the intended final destination of the consignment, but the “working hypothesis” of Balkan police forces is that “it is linked to Iran’s nuclear quest”. Then again, there are always al-Qaeda armourers keen to buy dirty bomb material.

Read it all.

In reaction to Prime Minister John Howard's accelerating anti-terrorist campaign, Australian Muslim groups have voiced their displeasure by charging the prime minister with "inciting hatred". Following the example of their American cousins, the Muslim groups have decided that such reasonable anti-terrorist efforts as controlling immigration and jailing those who incite violence represents racist hatred, per the Sydney Morning Herald (thanks to Terminator):

Muslims rallying in Sydney say the Federal Government's proposed anti-terrorism laws would be a major infringement of their rights.

Hundreds of members of the Muslim community met at Punchbowl, in Sydney's south-west, to demonstrate their concerns that the Federal Government's actions were inciting hatred towards their culture.

Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth (FAMSY) National president Chaaban Omran said the Prime Minister, John Howard, had failed his community by not doing enough to stop anti-Muslim discourse.

Mr Omran said the recent London bombings, calls by politicians to ban Muslim headdress in public schools and the media's negative portrayal of the religion were feeding a growing prejudice.

But he described Canberra's proposed new anti-terror laws as be the largest infringement on the rights of Muslim Australians.

Earlier this month, Mr Howard flagged a new package of security measures, including tighter checks on citizenship applicants, jail terms for inciting violence and police powers to detain suspects without charge for up to a fortnight.

"Instead of coming out with practical steps to address terrorism, these laws will just work to create more intolerance towards Muslims," Mr Omran told AAP.

The crescent shape of the proposed memorial designed to honor the heroic passengers of Flight 93 - which bears an uncanny resemblence to the symbol of Islam - has stirred up a significant amount of controversy. However, the disturbing implications of the memorial may extend past its questionable shape, as theorized by bloggerAlec Rawls:

The lower portion of the wall, on the left, contains forty translucent blocks, backlit at night, and inscribed with the names of the forty murdered Americans. There is also an an upper section of wall, continuing up the flight path that Flight 93 followed as it came into the crash site. Notice that this section of wall also contains a strip of translucent blocks, a shorter strip, just long enough to memorialize a small handful of people, like maybe the four terrorists who also died in the crash.

Rawls also questions the directional orientation of the copse:

When a number of bloggers were verifying the Crescent’s orientation towards Mecca last week, my two cents was to look closely at the positioning of the copse to see if it is indeed position exactly as the star on an Islamic flag. I found that the centerline of the crescent does indeed project through the copse, as does the slightly different line that projects from Mecca through the center of the circle that the crescent partly inscribes. Yet neither of these lines project through the center of the copse. Instead, they pass through the upper third of the copse.

The copse is small compared to the huge crescent, so the deviation from a perfectly centered star is only slight. Thus the copse-star connection provides further evidence of intended Islamic symbolism, but it also leaves a question mark. If the copse is supposed to represent the Islamic star, why isn't it precisely centered on the Mecca line?

The lengthy report makes for some very interesting reading.

There may be no better example of the the international nature of the jihad than Andrew Rowe. Mr. Rowe, a British citizen, converted to Islam at 19 and embarked on an eight-year campaign that took him to many of the world's hot spots, including Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, and Malaysia. Rowe was sentenced yesterday to 15 years in prison, according to the London Times (thanks to Scaramouche):

FOR more than a decade Andrew Rowe travelled the globe in pursuit of the jihad, cutting his ties with his mother, wife and three children to wage his “holy war”. He fought in Bosnia and Chechnya, trained in Afghanistan and met al-Qaeda operatives in the Far East and Morocco. His odyssey ended yesterday at the Old Bailey, where a judge jailed him for 15 years for terrorist offences.

Born in West London of Jamaican parents, Rowe owed a debt to Islam which he believed had saved him at the age of 19 from a life of petty crime and drug abuse. A senior counter-terrorist offical said: “Rowe is truly an international warrior. Look at his travel pattern, for ten years or more he’s travelled the world in pursuit of his cause. He is a dedicated and committed jihadist and I have no doubt he has the potential to be very violent.”

Mr Justice Fulford said he had no doubt that Rowe’s personal jihad had reached the point where he was involved in terrorism, rather than guerrilla warfare, and was in the final stages of planning an atrocity.

The judge told him: “You were an adherent of an ideology which places the killing of Americans and their Christian and Jewish supporters as a matter of Muslim faith.”

The judge imposed consecutive sentences of 7½ years on Rowe for two offences of possessing mortar-firing instructions and a secret codebook for terrorist purposes. The code contained references to airports, aircrew, explosives and targets, giving rise to fears that Rowe’s target was Heathrow.

The judge told him: “In the post 9/11 world it would require no imagination to understand what would have been within your contemplation and what would have been your purpose.”

It is hard to believe the line fed to those of us in the West that Pakistan's President Musharraf is a "close ally" in the war on terror when you read statements such as this coming from officials in his own government. From the Khaleej Times:

JIHAD is not being taught as a subject at any of the religious schools or madaris in Pakistan, says Mohammed Illyas Dar, Joint Secretary Haj Affairs at Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Briefing a delegation of UAE-based journalists at Madinatul Hujajj in Islamabad, the official said that 40 per cent of madaris in the country are also teaching modern subjects in addition to religious ones. He said that madaris were not new to Pakistan. These madaris had been functioning here before the Partition. During the British rule in the subcontinent these madaris were teaching same religious syllabi as now but no one raised any hue and cry about it.

The official said that it was after 9/11 that United States and Western countries got worried about functioning of these madaris.

He said 99 per cent of the terrorists and extremists arrested after 9/11 were not students of madaris in Pakistan. They mostly belonged to Arab, African and even some Western countries and they were also educated in their own countries.

He said that Western media was giving conflicting reports about the number of madaris in Pakistan. He said there are around 12,000 madaris in Pakistan while Western media also counts maktabs where children are taught the Holy Quran as madaris.

He said it was wrong to blame Pakistan for spreading terrorism which was itself a victim of such incidents. He said foreign agencies are involved in most incidents of sectarian violence in the country. “It is unimaginable for a Muslim to attack a mosque or an imambargah. Those who are involved in such incidents are not students of madaris.”

About foreign-funding of these madaris, he said there was now a strict check on such fundings now. “They cannot get any foreign funding without approval of Pakistan government.” To a question about President General Pervez Musharraf’s decision to expel foreign students from madaris, the joint secretary said that around 5,000 students would have to leave the country after implementation of this decision.

Of course, Mr. Dar's hopelessly ignorant statements stand in stark contrast to the massive body of evidence which implicates Pakistani madrassas in the promulgation of jihadist ideology, a phenomenon frequently covered on Jihadwatch.

There is, however, one glaring stipulation. From the VOA News:

Pakistan claims it has resolved differences with the country's religious schools, or madrassas, which have agreed to register with the government.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz announced the agreement Friday after negotiations with the Ittehad-e-Madaris, the informal name of a representative group from the religious schools.

"Ittehad has agreed to go ahead with the registration as soon as possible and the deadline we had set, December 31, will be honored," he said.

The Islamic schools, and there are more than 13,000 in Pakistan, initially refused to cooperate unless the government dropped a demand that they disclose their sources of funding.

The new agreement reportedly withdraws that requirement, and it will not be enacted until approved by the national parliament.

What do Pakistan's powerful religious leaders fear? That the inevitable finding will be that Saudi Arabia is a major source of their funding? If the United States has given Saudi Arabia a green light to continue on with its modern-day slave trade, it is a certainty that this little "secret" will not be given much thought.

Here is another incident of deception and insincerity from our "ally" on the war to combat Islamic militancy. From the BBC, with thanks to Mathew:

The Pakistani army recently announced it had destroyed an al-Qaeda base in the remote north-western tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where it is thought Osama Bin Laden might be hiding.

The army took journalists to North Waziristan to show them the results of its military offensive - but, our correspondent says, the media offensive was not a complete success.

It was a display designed to impress.

On the manicured lawn at the army camp in Peshawar, our first stop, piles of weaponry were neatly lined up on a long white-clothed table.

Anti-aircraft guns, rocket launchers, Kalashnikovs.

Just some of the huge amount of weapons, the army said, it had seized during its offensive in North Waziristan.

There were mortars, ammunition - and a bright yellow model plane.

Had some child left his toy here by mistake? Apparently not.

This, said the commander, was a Chinese-made, remote-controlled spy plane which had been used by militants to spy on army positions.

It is bright yellow I said. Their reply, that does not matter if it is used at night.

Several journalists asked how such a flimsy looking thing could carry a camera?

Not just a camera was the response from one general.

This plane could be used to drop up to one kilogram of explosives.

The plane itself looked like it weighed less than that.

Stink bombs I could believe, but not explosives.

There is more. Read it all.

It appears that Mr. Al-Arian won't be picking out new office furniture just yet. From the St. Petersburg Times, with thanks to DC Watson:

TAMPA - Prosecutors dealt a harsh blow to defendants in the trial of Sami Al-Arian Thursday, when the federal judge allowed into evidence stacks of Internet information on Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Previously, U.S. District Judge James S. Moody questioned whether the information, taken from the computers of defendants Ghassan Ballut and Hatem Fariz after a 2003 FBI seizure, could contribute to building a case against them and Al-Arian.

Thursday, the judge ruled it could.

Defense attorneys argued repeatedly that it was not clear where the Web sites originated or whether defendants ever read everything on them, as prosecutors allege. But Moody overruled their objections, agreeing with prosecutors that the information may show defendants' knowledge of the terrorist activities of the PIJ.

As the afternoon wore on, a tense courtroom grew tenser when Moody stopped defense attorneys in the middle of explaining objections to tell them he'd heard enough.

At one point, after questioning how long Al-Arian could be held responsible for conspiracy relating to the acts of the PIJ - especially given that he was in solitary confinement after early 2003 - attorney Bill Moffitt told the judge: "That's my argument, and I don't want to beat it to death."

Moody dryly replied: "Too late."

Read it all.

This is just one example of the EU's disastrous policy, detailed in Bat Ye'or's seminal Eurabia, of encouraging immigration without assimilation. From the TimesOnline, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

THE number of British Asians bringing in spouses from the Indian subcontinent has doubled over five years, prompting warnings that the practice is helping to perpetuate ghettos.

Instead of integrating over successive generations by marrying in the UK, some Asian communities are fuelling segregation through arranged marriages to overseas partners, according to a report by Migration Watch UK, an independent think tank.

The report reveals that the number of spouses and fiancés from the Indian subcontinent doubled between 1996 and 2001, when 22,000 were granted entry into Britain.

It is estimated that 60% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi marriages in Bradford in 2001 involved a spouse from the subcontinent. Almost a third of all children born in Bradford now have foreign mothers. In the London borough of Tower Hamlets the figure is 68%.

Last week Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, warned of “walls going up” around some Asian and black communities living in ghettos, which he defined as districts where two-thirds of residents belong to a single ethnic minority.

Phillips said the number of people of Pakistani origin living in ghettos had trebled between 1991 and 2001.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch, said: “If Mr Phillips’s warning that we are ‘sleepwalking into racial segregation’ is not to be realised, we must face up to an issue that is one of the root causes of this problem.”...

Racial segregation is the least of the problems involved in this.

Jusna Begum, 22, from Wapping, east London, was forced by her parents to marry a man from Bangladesh 20 years her senior. “I realise now that he only married me for a UK visa,” she said. “But he couldn’t get a job because he didn’t speak English.”

Green said he did not advocate a total ban on arranged marriages: “I don’t think you can ban someone’s culture.”

Feds quite interested in a spinach-like plant in Moodus, CT. They also seized computer discs and documents. Note also the name of the place. Deobandis are dominant in Afghanistan, where they ruled as the Taliban and are still quite influential. From the Hartford Courant, with thanks to Cindy:

EAST HADDAM -- Federal agents raided a Muslim campground in Moodus Friday morning, seizing specimens and seeds from what they believe is datashak, a plant native to India.

Members of the FBI and U.S. Department of Agriculture said in documents that they also seized 19 computer discs and an assortment of documents from the 18-acre Town Street property, owned by Darul Uloom Shady Brook Inc....

Documents that the agents left with Rahman for the property owners said the focus of the search was any and all seeds, plants - whether growing or harvested - of datashak. The warrant was signed by U.S. Magistrate Donna F. Martinez.

The agents noted in a document that Bank of New York deposit slips, books and documents were seized. They also sought maps, directions, and gas receipts relating to travel.

FBI spokeswoman Lisa Bull would confirm only that agents conducted "investigative activity" at the Moodus property, in support of the agriculture department.

The Shady Brook property was purchased in 2003 for $505,000 by Aziz Jafri of Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. At the time, Jafri said the aging summer camp would be rehabilitated and either be operated as a camp or leased....

Sarder said that some of the confiscated datashak seeds were mailed from Bangladesh, while others were purchased in stores.

A Bangladesh-related website said that the tender datashak leaves and stems are rich in vitamin A and C, calcium and iron and are considered a vegetable, generally cooked with fish or other vegetables.

Leslie Alexander, a program aide at the University of Connecticut's Home and Garden Center, said that datashak can be found in cereals and flours and does not appear to contain any toxicity.

George Jansky, an area resident, noting that he's worked at the campsite for 32 years, said that the recent summer camp taught English and the Muslim religion.

"This is what the people like to eat," he said of datashak.

Jansky said he knows that there have been racist remarks made to Muslims at the camp. He said there were people driving by who asked whether throwing hand grenades was part of the curriculum.

Darul Uloom is the name of a seminary in Deoband, India, self-described as a cornerstone of "Islamic sciences." Founded in 1866, it teaches an Islamist version of Islam. According to Islamists, Islam is not only a religion but also a political system that governs society and the state.

Now why would they want to expel these peace-loving religious teachers? Could it be that in Somaliland too some of the very people who have devoted their lives to the study of Islam have drastically, tragically misunderstood it so as to think it enjoins them to commit acts of violence? When will the world's media awaken to the fact that this is not a tiny minority of extremists at all, but a global mainstream? When will the world's governments do so? "Outsiders, Islamic clerics told to leave Somaliland," from AFP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

HARGEISA, Somalia (AFP) - Authorities in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland have warned outsiders, particularly Islamic clerics, without legitimate business there to leave immediately following the arrest of several alleged Al-Qaeda operatives.

In a crackdown ordered after the arrests of five suspected members of Osama bin Laden's network during a shootout with police on Friday, Interior Minister Ishmail Aden said non-Somalilanders illegally in the region would be deported.

"I have instructed the (Islamic) clerics from neighbouring Ethiopia and Somalia to leave the country if they do not have legal papers and are not genuine businessmen registered by relevant authorities," Aden said.

"Those who have commercial interest here may stay as long as they respect the laws of the land but others must leave as soon as possible," he told a news conference. "This is strictly a security issue."

"The activities of outsiders and suspect (Somalilanders) will be scrutinized further for security purposes," Aden said, adding police in the region had arrested a total of five alleged Al-Qaeda members on Friday.

On Friday, he said three suspected extremists, including "an internationally known" Afghan-trained Al-Qaeda leader, had been detained after police raids in the capital Hargeisa that followed tips from local residents....

"The threat of jihadi terrorism in and from Somalia is real," the International Crisis Group said in a report that described the group as "a new, ruthless and independent network with links to Al-Qaeda."

Here is yet another case of savage butchery committed against a woman for offending the honor of a man. From the New Brisbane's News:

MULTAN, Pakistan - A Pakistani man cut off the nose and lips of his 19-year-old sister-in-law after she went to court for a divorce in a tribal area of the central province of Punjab, police said on Thursday.

Abbas then attacked the girl, hacking off her nose and slicing off her lips.

A doctor treating the girl said her nose had been cut off from the bridge and her lips partially severed.

Numerous cases have also been reported of women being disfigured as punishment for offending a man‘s honour.

Shaista Bukhari, coordinator of a women‘s rights group in Multan, said that until courts handed down death sentences for such crimes, violence against women would continue.

Sub Inspector Shafiq said the girl‘s attacker, once caught, would be tried in a anti-terrorist court, which are meant to deliver justice rapidly.

"Israel Launches Airstrikes Against Hamas," from AP, with thanks to DC Watson:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israel launched a "crushing" retaliation Saturday against Hamas in the Gaza Strip with deadly airstrikes and troops massed at the border, after militants fired 35 rockets at Israeli towns - their first major attack since the Gaza pullout.

But note AP's venomously biased reporting: Hamas' rocket barrage didn't "threaten to derail" the truce, but Israel's "escalation" does.

The escalation threatened to derail a shaky seven-month-old truce and squashed hopes that Israel's ceding the coastal strip to the Palestinians would invigorate peacemaking. Israel's reprisals drew fresh Hamas threats of vengeance, and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas came under growing Israeli pressure to confront the militants.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told security chiefs in a meeting that "the ground of Gaza should shake" and that he wanted to exact a high price from Palestinians everywhere, not just Hamas.

He promised a "crushing" response, including airstrikes, targeted killings and arrest raids, participants said afterward. A large-scale ground operation was seen as a last resort, after Israel won international praise for leaving Gaza just two weeks ago.

While the Saudis continue to preach jihad, they get to keep their slaves, courtesy the archdhimmi at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. From AP:

WASHINGTON -- President Bush decided Wednesday to waive any financial sanctions on Saudi Arabia, Washington's closest Arab ally in the war on terrorism, for failing to do enough to stop the modern-day slave trade in prostitutes, child sex workers and forced laborers.

In June, the State Department listed 14 countries as failing to adequately address trafficking problems, subjecting them all to possible sanctions if they did not crack down.

Of those 14, Bush concluded that Bolivia, Jamaica, Qatar, Sudan, Togo and the United Arab Emirates had made enough improvements to avoid any cut in U.S. aid or, in the case of countries that get no American financial assistance, the barring of their officials from cultural and educational events, said Darla Jordan, a State Department spokeswoman....

In addition to Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Kuwait _ another U.S. ally in the Middle East _ were given a complete pass on any sanctions, Jordan said. Despite periodic differences, oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the United States have a tight alliance built on economic and military cooperation....

The White House statement offered no explanation of why countries were regarded differently. Jordan also could not provide one.

In support of Jihad Watch News Editor Eric Schwappach's post below, here is a MEMRI report -- "Saudi Government Official on Iqra TV: All Muslims Must Support Jihad – Send Money to the Saudi Committee for Support of the Al-Quds Intifada, Account No. 98" -- indicating once again that nothing much has changed in Saudi Arabia, despite Saudi protestations to the contrary in the face of the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act:

An August 29, 2005 program on Saudi Iqra TV was devoted to supporting Jihad in Palestine. The program host began by telling all Saudis that they must donate and explained how to do so.

A caption then appeared on the screen: "Saudi Committee for Support of the Al-Quds Intifada, Account No. 98, a joint account at all Saudi banks." A moderator stated that "Jihad is the pinnacle of Islam" and explained that the funds would go directly to those waging Jihad, where it would "help them carry out this mission."

The program included the secretary-general of the Saudi government's Muslim World League Koran Memorization Commission, Sheikh Abdallah Basfar, who explained why it was an "obligation" for all Muslims to support Jihad. He also promised that "all of the funds sent via the known charities and organizations" would reach "your Muslim brothers." TO VIEW THIS CLIP VISIT: http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=843.

For more on this subject see Special Report No. 17, – "Saudi Royal Family's Financial Support to the Palestinians 1998-2003: More than 15 Billion Riyals (U.S $4 Billion.) Given to 'Mujahideen Fighters' and 'Families of Martyrs,'" http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sr&ID=SR1703.

Caption: Jerusalem in their hearts.

Host: "Palestine calls out to you – its women, children, elderly, and youth. They appeal to the generosity of the Khalifa Al-Mu'tasem within you. Wage Jihad for the sake of Allahin what you do best, in order to defend the first Qibla [direction of prayer] and the third holiest shrine. Donate, even the smallest thing, for your brothers in Palestine, and you will be blessed."

Caption: The Saudi committee for support of the Al-Quds Intifada. Account No. 98, a joint account at all Saudi banks.

[...]

Organizer: "As the Prophet Muhammad said, Jihad is the pinnacle of Islam. A person who cannot wage Jihad with his soul is required to wage Jihad with his money, with his tongue, with his thought, and with any means at his disposal. There is no doubt that our brothers in Palestine desperately need financial support, which goes directly to this cause, and helps them to carry out this mission."

Read it all.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud stated in this AP report that his country has dramatically changed since the 9/11 terror attacks. He insists that his people have "seen the face of the devil" – a look at what life could be like with extremists running the show – and that they do not want it. The Foreign Minister also stated that "one of his main charges from King Abdullah is to let Americans know what Saudi Arabia is really like - and that it's not a terror haven."

There is no doubt that the Saudi government is fighting extremists on their own soil, but are the heady days of post 9/11 when Saudi children sang praises of Osama bin Laden waning? This July 15th sermon, aired on Saudi television, indicates that neither the Saudi government nor the Saudi people took issue with the following call to rid Muslim lands of infidels because of the bad influence they have upon the morals of the faithful:

"Oh Allah, liberate our Al-Aqsa Mosque from the defilement of the occupying and brutal Zionists. Oh Allah, make it high and mighty until Judgment Day. Oh Allah, punish the occupying Zionists and their supporters from among the corrupt infidels. Oh Allah, scatter and disperse them, and make an example of them for those who take heed."

King Abdullah may wish to present Americans with a rosy picture of Saudi society, but his government, fueled by petroleum wealth, is pursuing a much different course: a continuing propagation of jihad ideology by financing terrorist groups. Saudi charities also still contribute to this kitty, thus contradicting the Foreign Minister’s absurd claim that everyday Saudi citizens do not support the violent spread of Islam. The common Saudi, just like any faithful Muslim, is sanctioned by Qur’anic verses that exhort the faithful to financial jihad:

"Go forth light and heavy, and strive hard in Allah's way with your property and your persons; this is better for you, if you know." [9:41]

If the Saudi citizen is unable to strive in Allah’s way by making "charitable" contributions, then the second injunction of [9:41] to strive hard with your person is even more acceptable. The Saudi claims of making great strides against terrorist activity are only valid within the kingdom itself. The export of the jihad, however, remains unchecked. At least one analysis has found that 55 percent of foreign insurgents in Iraq hail from Saudi Arabia. And this September 22nd article, "based on reports obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police" states in the opening paragraph:

"US government and other experts have reported that Islamic extremism is on the rise and that the spread of Islamic extremism is the preeminent threat facing the United States. In addition, various sources alleged that Saudi Arabia is one source that has supported and funded the spread of Islamic extremism globally."

Private citizens are also reported to be funding this global malaise.

"A number of sources have reported that Saudi private entities and individuals, as well as sources from other countries, are allegedly financing or supporting Islamic extremism."

".in July 2005, a Treasury official testified before Congress that Saudi Arabia-based and -funded organizations remain a key source for the promotion of ideologies used by terrorists and violent extremists around the world to justify their agenda."

Saudi duplicity is nothing new. Many more Americans are becoming aware that Saudi Arabia is far from being an ally of the United States. Prince Saud, with his disingenuous comment concerning Saudi Arabia change since 9/11, insults the intelligence of the common American. The astute American observer will note that no Saudi metamorphosis has taken place.

Iran has been pursuing jihad against America for some time now. From DPA, with thanks to Twostellas:

MUNICH - Federal investigators in Germany have unearthed new evidence linking Iran to the 1985 bombing of a US military base that injured 35 persons, according to a report on Saturday.

Iranian secret agents allegedly detonated explosives concealed in a vehicle at the Frankfurt post-exchange food store on November 24, 1985, said the report in Focus news magazine.

Focus said investigators believe the agents were members of a hit squad working on orders from Teheran to eliminate dissidents living in Europe in exile.

Does King Abdullah of Jordan really want to mend fences with Jews? He was in Washington the other day saying all the right things in just the right tones. "Jordan's king reaches out to Jews, hits radical Islam," from the Washington Times:

Jordan's King Abdullah II told a gathering of American rabbis yesterday that Jews and Muslims are irrevocably "tied together by culture and history" and that he is willing to take radical measures to combat Muslim extremists.

"We face a common threat: extremist distortions of religion and the wanton acts of violence that derive therefrom," the king said. "Such abominations have already divided us from without for far too long."

Criticizing al Qaeda terrorists Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Zarqawi for "abuses of our faith," the king, speaking at a heavily guarded lunch meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Northwest, made clear he wishes to establish himself as the voice of moderate Islam.

He pointed to a July conference he held in Amman, Jordan, for 180 Muslim scholars as a key part of his effort to undermine the far Islamic right. The conference was supported by fatwas -- or legal rulings -- from 17 major Islamic scholars.

"Muslims from every branch of Islam can now assert without doubt or hesitation," he said, "that a fatwa calling for the killing of innocent civilians -- no matter what nationality or religion, Muslim or Jew, Arab or Israeli -- is a basic violation of the most fundamental principles of Islam."

Now, King Abdullah said, it's time to mend fences with the worldwide Jewish community.

Okay, Your Majesty, here's a place to start:

At home, however, the king encounters massive anti-Semitism. According to a July poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press on global attitudes toward religious groups, 100 percent of Jordanian respondents said they either had a "very unfavorable" or "somewhat unfavorable" view of Jews.

Patrick Boylan is the courageous and clear-thinking gentleman who caused a stir last year at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Institute of Security Studies by daring to speak the truth about the causes of Islamic terrorism. I had the honor to spend some time with him several months ago when I spoke in Las Vegas, and was impressed by the breadth of his knowledge of Islam and the jihad ideology -- knowledge born both of study and personal experience, as he grew up in Pakistan.

I have deleted the references to place in this article for a variety of reasons; suffice it to say that this piece appeared in an American newspaper, and that this course is being taught in an American university -- which is heartening news.

“Know your enemy.”

That’s the lesson Patrick Boylan intends to impress on over 40 students enrolled in [... ] University’s new four-year Homeland Security program.

And because the United States hasn’t made it a point to get to know the terrorist enemy they face, Boylan – Paddy as he likes to be called – worries the government won’t succeed in the global war on terror.

“The book talks about a sophisticated global terrorism aimed at America,” Boylan told his second class of the morning on Friday, pointing out what he considers flaws in their public policy textbook’s chapter on homeland security. “What’s wrong with that statement?”

No, it’s not the word sophisticated, and it’s not the word global, he told his 13 students during the ensuing discussion. Finally, he heard the answer he sought; that terrorism isn’t aimed solely at Americans.

“We shouldn’t think we’re so important that it’s only against us,” he confirmed in his unique, clipped brogue, reminiscent of his Irish father.

Leading a brand-new program, instituted [...] as one of three possible baccalaureate degree programs, Boylan said he appreciates the opportunity to build the homeland security department from the ground up. He also hopes that when he’s graduated the program’s first class of students, he’ll have provided the world and the country with future security experts who not only know who their enemy is, but won’t be afraid to say so.

“On some levels the government doesn’t tell us the truth,” said [...] a student [...] who’s already earned an associate’s degree in law enforcement. “And they try to be all politically correct and neutral.”

“They don’t realize we have to take sides and we will offend some people,” agreed [...] a 20-year-old [...] student from St. Francisville, Ill. “We have to be politically incorrect.”

An important lesson to learn, says Boylan, who, like the fictitious teacher in the late 80s film Dead Poets Society, above all plans to challenge his students to question authority and think for themselves.

“We have to change the way we think,” said Boylan. “It’s the old saying, you must send a thief to catch a thief. We don’t think like them so we don’t understand what motivates them, but we must learn to.”

Joking that he’s the only Irish-Catholic Jew ever to be born in a Muslim country, Boylan speaks only in generalities about his past, saying he’s received several death threats from different groups who don’t like what he believes and says about Islam. A former geologist, the middle-aged professor appears in excellent condition, says he grew up in countries that breed terrorism, and speaks with humor about a subject he believes is deadly serious.

“I’ve been writing about terrorism and counter-terrorism since long before it was cool,” he laughed, sitting in his new office [...]. “They told us for years this was coming – the Mujadin in Afghanistan used to say today the Russians, the Americans tomorrow.”

One problem is that they seem to be approaching this as some kind of marketing initiative: "It is clear the American brand has been badly damaged," says F. William Smullen III. The American brand? The United States of America is something to be sold like breakfast cereal or steel-belted radials? Why not instead formulate a coherent and principled foreign policy, and pursue it with consistency and integrity, whether or not it is popular with other countries?

The Hughes/Bush approach, conversely, seems to be to offer appeasement in return for popularity -- a weak reed on which to build any lasting national security. "Report: U.S. Image in Bad Shape: Hughes Set to Begin Public Diplomacy," from the Washington Post, with thanks to Scaramouche:

As Karen Hughes, longtime presidential adviser and new public diplomacy guru at the State Department, prepares to leave this weekend on a "listening tour" of the Middle East, a congressionally mandated advisory panel to the department warned that "America's image and reputation abroad could hardly be worse."

The panel's report, which has been seen by senior officials but not yet officially released, said a fact-finding mission to the Middle East last year found that "there is deep and abiding anger toward U.S. policies and actions." The Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy cited polling that found that large majorities in Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia "view George W. Bush as a greater threat to the world order than Osama bin Laden."

The report warned that televised images of U.S. policy choices -- such as in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the invasion of Iraq -- reverberate across the Arab media and will "long haunt the image of the United States." The committee recommended a series of steps, including increased funding and staffing, to rebuild efforts to promote U.S. culture and ideas -- an essential task that it said has been eroded through bureaucratic shuffling and indifference.

In much of the world, the report said, the United States is viewed as "less a beacon of hope than a dangerous force to be countered."

The advisory committee was created by Congress in 2004 and charged with advising the secretary of state on how to advance the use of cultural diplomacy in U.S. foreign policy. Patricia de Stacy Harrison, at the time an assistant secretary of state, was appointed chairman. Then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell named F. William Smullen III, his former chief of staff, as a member. Congress selected seven other members for their expertise in cultural, educational and communications issues.

In her maiden overseas trip since being confirmed as undersecretary of state, Hughes is to visit Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said improving the U.S. image abroad is one of her top priorities; her success in recruiting President Bush's longtime confidante to spearhead the effort is seen by many in Washington as a coup.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday that Hughes is "going to be starting a conversation with the rest of the world." He said that she will be "listening" on the trip, "and in listening, she will also be trying to explain our policies and laying the foundation for the coming years, in terms of our public diplomacy efforts."...

"It is clear the American brand has been badly damaged," Smullen said. "I'm not suggesting we have to change our policy, but we do need to take an assessment of the attitudes toward us by people around the world."

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald surveys the prospects for Peace In Our Time in the Middle East:

Condoleeza Rice cannot possibly allow herself to believe that Arab Muslims do not wish to make peace, that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not a rump group, and that Abbas himself is just one more in a long line. He worked loyally for Arafat for decades, obeying his every command, which tells you all you need to know about the intellectual and moral qualities of this Western-suited "slow" Jihadist. (Yes, like "Fast Food" and "Slow Food," there are "fast Jihadists" -- Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Islamic Jihad, Gemaa Islamiyya and a thousand others, too numerous to... -- and "slow" Jihadists, the by-degrees Jihadists, who wish to avoid outright military confrontation but to engage in Al-Hudabiyya-like diplomacy. They thereby intend to obtain concession after hopeful concession from the other side while never ceasing for a minute to undercut, undermine, and weaken that "partner for peace," and never once dropping any of the ultimate demands or goals. For how could a Muslim Arab ever really reconcile himself to a state, a sovereign state, a sovereign Infidel state, a sovereign Infidel state run by Jews, a state for so long despised, a state that stands as a permanent reproach to the failure of the Arabs and Muslims to dislodge them?)

But while the Lesser Jihad against Israel proceeds on two levels -- the "Fast Jihad" and the "Slow Jihad," Hamas and Abbas, take your pick -- the Greater Jihad is having success all over Western Europe. This success may be attributed to appeasement, confusion and fear among many Infidels (not all, but almost all among the ruling elites), who have convinced themselves that large numbers of Muslims can be integrated and pose no permanent threat to Infidels. But they do. Their mere presence, and hence the power that comes from that presence, serves to inhibit free discussion and the adoption of measures to regulate and control, or diminish, what is -- if understood rightly -- a large group of people now settled rather comfortably behind enemy lines. Meanwhile, those enemies, the Infidels, are doing everything in their power to extend a welcome and make the malevolent intruders and squatters quite as much at home as they demand.

Sharia alert from Nigeria: "Muslim Fundamentalists Attack Xtian Female Students in FUT," from the Daily Champion of Lagos via AllAfrica.com, with thanks to Silvester:

Academic activities were yesterday disrupted at the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, Niger State as suspected Muslim fundamentalists attacked female Christian students whom they accused of improper dressing.

The fracas which took place at Bosso campus of the university about 9 a.m., saw the armed fundamentalist invading the lecture-theatres and beating up female students they claimed were not properly dressed.

An eye witness informed Daily Champion that the fundamentalist numbering about six, dressed in black clothes with red bandage on their heads, disrupted lectures by beating unsuspecting female students with horse-whips for alleged improper dressing.

It was further learnt that the male students on seeing the unprovoked attack on their female colleagues moved to intervene an action that prompted the fundamentalists to use knives to inflict deep cuts on them.

With this development, the university community broke into a free-for-all fight as Muslim students gathered themselves on one side, while the Christians equally mobilized themselves and this led to throwing of missiles at each other by the parties to the conflict.

There may be perfectly good reasons to leave Iraq, as Hugh Fitzgerald has argued here on many occasions; however, it is unlikely that this coalition of dhimmi appeasers and fifth columnists has any of them in mind. "Tens of thousands set to march against Iraq war," from AFP, with thanks to Terminator:

LONDON (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people are expected to march in central London calling for an end to the US-led war in Iraq and for the return of British troops from the country.

London's protest rally is being held to coincide with similar marches in Washington, Rome, Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki.

The Stop The War coalition, which organised the London rally jointly with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain, said it expected at least 100,000 people to take part on Saturday.

The IAEA has been asked to condemn a dangerous nation for its nuclear program. About time they cracked down on the mad mullahs, eh? Well, er, that's not quite what they have in mind. The IAEA's Arab member states are asking it to do what they always do in moments of crisis: blame the Zionists.

This is an interesting manifestation of the same kind of deflection game that Islamic apologists and Muslim spokesmen play in the U.S.: when asked uncomfortable questions about Islamic terrorism, they start talking about the Palestinians or the Crusades. When international attention begins to focus too sharply on Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Arab states point fingers at Israel. "IAEA Arab members slam Israel over atom bombs," from Al-Jazeera, with thanks to Scaramouche:

Arab member states of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency plan to push the agency to condemn Israel as a threat to peace in the Middle East for possessing nuclear weapons, reported Reuters.

Under its policy of "nuclear ambiguity," Israel refuses to neither deny or admit possessing a nuclear arsenal, though experts say that Jewish state has between 100 and 200 atomic bombs.

In a letter submitted to the IAEA, Oman, on behalf of the Arab member states, demanded that the agency's annual General Conference of the IAEA's 138 member states in Vienna next week to consider a statement strongly criticising Israel.

"Israel's possession of nuclear weapons is likely to lead to a destructive nuclear arms race in the region, especially if Israel's nuclear installations remain outside any international control," a text attached to the letter said, listing 11 UN General Assembly resolutions asking Israel to sign the NPT.

The move follows a row at the IAEA's 35-nation governing board over how to deal with Iran’s nuclear programme.

Well, this Peace-In-Our-Time thing is going just swimmingly, isn't it? I wonder if Secretary of State Rice would still so confidently label the whole Gaza appeasement process a success. "Israel Vows 'Crushing' Response to Attacks," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel ordered ground forces to the Gaza border Saturday and threatened a "crushing" response after Israeli towns were hit by the first major Hamas rocket barrage from the coastal territory since Israel's pullout two weeks earlier.

Israel also resumed airstrikes against Hamas targets, hitting several suspected weapons workshops, and imposed a blanket closure that bars all Palestinians from its territory.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called his Security Cabinet for a meeting later Saturday to approve the military's response, expected to last several days. A large-scale operation appeared unlikely but the timing of the Cabinet meeting suggested a sense of urgency.

Yes, the FBI affidavit actually used the word. Washington and Patterson update from AP, with thanks to Special Guest:

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Three men charged in a terror investigation were planning shooting rampages at Los Angeles-area military sites to retaliate for what they called the oppression of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to court documents.

The men were indicted last month on federal charges of conspiring to wage war against the U.S. government through terrorism. All three -- Levar H. Washington, 25, Gregory V. Patterson, 21, and Hammad R. Samana, 21 -- have pleaded not guilty.

Appearing in Los Angeles Thursday, FBI Director Robert Mueller praised local police agencies that uncovered the alleged plot in July while investigating a string of gas station robberies.

"Terrorist threats against the city and county of Los Angeles ... were prevented," Mueller said.

According to an FBI affidavit unsealed recently, Washington told authorities he was the leader of a "council" of Muslims who planned to carry out operations in Southern California as part of a jihad, or holy war, against the United States.

The suspects allegedly targeted military recruitment centers in Southern California, estimating that 10 attacks could kill as many as 40 people, the affidavit said....

All accepted the possibility of dying in an attack, with Patterson believing "the ultimate goal is to die for Allah in jihad," according to the affidavit.

Prosecutors contend the men were working at the behest of Kevin James, a California State Prison, Sacramento, inmate who founded the radical group Jamiyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS. Washington converted to Islam while imprisoned there for a previous robbery conviction.

My book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) continues to do well: on the New York Times Bestseller List (Paperback Nonfiction) for October 2, it is number 15.

This is its sixth week on the list and first in the top 15. The Times provides capsule descriptions for books in the top 15, and describes mine thusly, in words quoted from some promotional material sent by the publisher: "An examination of certain highly tendentious assertions about both Islam and the Crusades that have entered the popular discourse." Using this sentence, which is in fact a neat encapsulation of what the book is designed to do, no doubt freed up Times staffers from the onerous duty of actually having to look at the book.

Why does this book continue to attract so much interest from readers, despite the dhimmi cringing and silence with which it has largely been received by both conservative and liberal media titans? An answer comes from someone else who is making his first appearance this week in the Times paperback top 15, Mr. Bob Dylan (author of the strange and beguiling book Chronicles). Long ago, Mr. Dylan wrote, in a satirical vein: "Well, I investigated all the books in the library / Ninety percent of 'em gotta be burned away." If this is true of any subject, it is true of Islam: ninety percent of the books in any given library are likely as not filled with taqiyya, apologetics, and pandering. And more and more Americans are becoming aware of it -- and turning to books like The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) for the real story.

Now if they would just back up such grand gestures with a little genuine foreign policy spine toward the mullahs. From IranMania, with thanks to Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi:

LONDON, September 22 (IranMania) - EU military attaches walked out in protest at a parade in Tehran Thursday after ballistic missiles were rolled past carrying vitriolic anti-US and Israeli slogans, diplomats told AFP.

"There was a common position among the European Union members that, if the military parade included any slogans that attacked our allies, we would leave," said a diplomat.

"The military attaches from the embassies of France, Italy, Greece and Poland were present at the parade, and when they saw the slogans they promptly left," said another diplomat.

At the parade, Iran showed off six of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missiles sporting banners reading "Death to America", "We will crush America under our feet", "Death to Israel" and "Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth".

"They may be just slogans, but for us they are unacceptable," one of the diplomats said.

They're not liable. But are they responsible? "US Court Rejects Lawsuits Against Prince Naif, Prince Salman and Saudi Charity," from Arab News, with thanks to George:

JEDDAH, 23 September 2005 — The Saudi High Commission for Relief was granted immunity yesterday from litigation in three lawsuits stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

US District Judge Richard Casey found that Interior Minister Prince Naif and Riyadh Governor Prince Salman, president of the High Commission, were not personally liable since they were acting as agents of the Saudi government.

The lawsuits had made baseless charges that the High Commission, which had played a big role in the reconstruction of Bosnia, and the princes had sponsored terror with Saudi funds under their direction.

Baseless?

Hamid Hayat update from UPI, with thanks to all who sent this in:

A California man has been indicted on a federal charge of providing material support to terrorists, it was reported Friday.

Hamid Hayat, 23, of Lodi, Calif., previously was charged with lying to the FBI about his alleged involvement with terrorist training camps in Pakistan.

The new charge accuses Hayat of receiving training at one of the jihadist camps in Pakistan for more than two years, the Sacramento Bee said. Specifically, the indictment charges Hayat with being trained "in physical fitness, firearms and means to wage jihad."

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald examines the difficult situation of Iraqi Christians under the new Iraqi Constitution, and the difficult position of Middle Eastern Christians in general:

No law that contradicts Islam can be allowed. And Islam insists, Islam is based upon, treating Believers and Infidels (i.e., all non-Muslims) quite differently. Many of the Middle East's Christians have long tried to do everything they can, including parroting and even internalizing anti-Israel sentiments -- as the "Palestinian" Christians emptying out of Bethlehem and other PA-controlled areas are coming to realize, it won't save them. Others generally promote an Islamic agenda.

The sense of "Uruba" or "Arabness" that sometimes accompanies the use of the Arabic language, and that has helped persuade a great many non-Arabs that they are "Arabs," and must, as Arabs, take pride in what all Muslim Arabs perceive as the greatest contribution to the world of the Arabs, which is to say Islam, and with it something called "Islamic civilization" (though High Islamic Civilization is very largely a product of Jewish and Christian translators, and of Persians), has no doubt affected some --but by no means all -- in the various churches still extant in Iraq.

Tens of thousands of Christians have left. They have been terrified into leaving. In Basra Christian sellers of alcohol have been summarily executed. Christian girls have been seized, raped, never seen again. In Ramadi, the last remaining Christian families -- eight of them -- were early on "invited" to accept Islam, the men killed, the women seized for Muslim delectation. There are no Christians to be found in Ramadi right now. They've "disappeared."

Andrew Rowe, who underwent an "intense" conversion to Islam a few years back, has been convicted of "having articles for use in terrorism." Where and when did he learn that his new religion commanded him to do violence? Who taught him? Why didn't some members of the Vast Majority of Moderate Muslims take him aside and tell him he was going down the wrong path? Andrew Rowe update: "Terror conviction for tunnel man," from the BBC, with thanks to Charles Martel:

A British Muslim convert detained at the Channel Tunnel in October 2003 has been found guilty of two charges of having articles for use in terrorism.

Andrew Rowe, 34, was convicted for having instructions on using a mortar, and secret code on a piece of paper.

The jury could not reach a verdict on a third charge of having articles for use in terrorism relating to socks with traces of explosives on them.

Rowe, from Maida Vale, west London, had denied the charges....

Hand-written instructions on how to fire a mortar and the secret code were found at addresses in London and Birmingham linked to Rowe.

The code substituted names of mobile phones for words including money, trouble-police, weapon, airport and army base, prosecutor Mark Ellison said.

There were also codes for explosive materials, making it a "shopping list for terrorism", Mr Ellison said.

He also said Rowe had travelled extensively after converting to Islam, including to places of conflict, and had had four passports in seven years.

Rowe told the court he had converted to Islam at the age of 19 in a bid to alter his lifestyle after taking and selling drugs.

Remote control bombs and random shootings of Buddhists -- Thai jihad update. "Seven killed in militants' attacks in Thai south," from AFP, with thanks to Twostellas:

NARATHIWAT, Thailand: Seven people, including two police officers, have been killed in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, as violence flared in the wake of a deadly hostage-taking two days ago, police said.

Two police officers were killed when a bomb exploded as they cleared the road for a convoy of teachers going to Ban Kaseanue school early Friday in Sungai Padi, Narathiwat province, police Captain Nethiwut Deekaeo told AFP.

"The roadside bomb went off at 8:30 am, killing two policemen instantly and injuring one officer," Nethiwut said.

Sergeant Somchai Khaisak, 25, and Sergeant Somkid Romthong, 25, died with major injuries to their heads and bodies from what police believe was a remote-control bomb detonated to hit the teachers' escorts.

Teachers and schools, seen by militants as a symbol of Bangkok's influence, are frequent targets of shootings, bombings and arson attacks. Armed police and soldiers escort teachers to and from class every day.

Hours later, another remote-control bomb detonated in the same district of Narathiwat, injuring three soldiers, and a smaller bomb exploded and damaged a car outside a mosque in neighbouring Yala province, police said.

Also in Yala, a 65-year-old Buddhist man, Klom Huapet, was shot dead Friday morning while driving his motorcycle home from market in Yupo village, police Major Virat Damkong said.

In neighbouring Pattani province, a Buddhist construction worker was shot dead while on his way to work, police Major Chatchai Bumrungkorn said.

Gunmen on a motorcycle shot Prasert Kongchuay, 47, three times in front of the Paklor health office, Chatchai said.

Late Wednesday in Sungai Padi, a Muslim man believed to have been a police informant was shot dead as he travelled by motorcycle with his Buddhist wife, police said.

The widow of the Jamaican convert to Islam who turned himself into a human bomb, murdering 26 people in London on 7/7, says her husband was "brainwashed" by radical clerics preaching jihad. "Bomber's widow says extremists twisted his mind," from the Times Online, with thanks to Scaramouche:

THE widow of one of the July 7 suicide bombers told how her “innocent and naive” husband had been poisoned by elements in radical mosques as she cradled their new born baby daughter in her arms.

Samantha Lewthwaite said that she “totally abhorred” the actions of her husband Jermaine Lindsay, who killed 26 people on a Piccadilly Line tube train near King’s Cross; but she said that she still wore the white gold ring her husband had given her and would pass it on to their first child, a son, Abdullah, when he marries. Ms Lewthwaite, 21, a Muslim convert, said that her husband had been a peaceful man whose behaviour changed when he began visiting mosques in London and Luton.

She said: “His behaviour gradually began to change. He turned from the man that I married. In hindsight I can now see exactly what was happening to him and why. How these people could have turned him and poisoned his mind is dreadful. He was an innocent, naive and simple man. I suppose he must have been an ideal candidate.”

How did they poison his mind? What did they tell him? Did they appeal to the Qur'an and tell him it was his religious duty to wage violent jihad? What can be done to keep this sort of thing from happening? What are self-proclaimed moderate Muslims doing to blunt the force of such appeals?

A Christian leader in Iraq knows that the Sharia provisions in Iraq's new constitution are not just innocuous window dressing, as some would have us believe. From Zenit, with thanks to DR:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, SEPT. 21, 2005 (ZENIT.org).- The patriarch of Baghdad for the Chaldeans has told Iraqi officials about Catholic bishops' fears that the draft constitution "opens the door widely" to discrimination against Christians and other Non-Muslims.

In his meeting the president and prime minister of Iraq, Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly urged a last-minute change to the constitution, which the bishops say contradicts itself on the key question of religious rights for minorities.

In the Sept. 18 meeting, the patriarch discussed a statement agreed by the country's 12 bishops in which they stressed their fears for the future of the Christian community.

The prelates -- from the Chaldean, Armenian, Latin and Assyrian Churches -- praised Articles 2.1(b) and 2.2 which defend freedom and religious rights but attacked Article 2.1(a) which states: "No law can be passed that contradicts the undisputed rules of Islam."

The bishops' statement concluded: "The bishops' conference expressed a grave concern and fear … about Article 2.1(a). This opens the door widely to passing laws that are unjust towards non-Muslims. The conference insists that this clause be amended or deleted."

Charles at LGF says it best: "Where the hell is the world’s outrage about this? Newsweek prints a false rumor that a Koran was dunked in a toilet, and the entire planet goes nuts. Hamas announces that they’re going to turn a Jewish house of worship into a memorial to mass murder ... and the silence is absolutely deafening." From the New York Sun, with thanks to all who sent this in:

WASHINGTON - Emboldened by Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank, Hamas yesterday announced its plan to turn a synagogue in Netzarim into a museum that would display weapons employed by the terrorist group's members against Israeli civilians.

A statement issued yesterday by Hamas said, "Qassam rockets and other locally made arms will be exposed, since it is the legal weapon that evicted the occupation forces." The Middle East Media Research Institute yesterday reported that recent sermons delivered by Hamas leaders pledged to resist efforts from the Palestinian Authority to disarm the organization ahead of upcoming elections....

And in the face of this glorification of brutality, the free world is folding up:

So far, America and its allies have accepted that there is little Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas can do to tame Hamas. On Tuesday the Quartet, a diplomatic group comprising America, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations, released a statement that envisioned the disarming of Hamas in phases and not necessarily as a precondition for its participation in parliamentary elections on January 25.

"We also agreed that ultimately those who want to be part of the political process should not engage in armed group or militia activities," the joint statement said. "For there is a fundamental contradiction between such activities and the building of a democratic state."

Nancy Kobrin reviews The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) at FrontPage:

Recently, I was invited to teach 300 law enforcement officers about Islam, radical Islam and Islamist terrorists. It was an honor and a privilege, but it was also difficult work: It is no small task making sure that these officers, really our first line of defense in the war on terrorism, fully understand both the history of Islam and the motivations of those who are willing to murder in its name.

But it is especially challenging for the officers. Beyond being able to distinguish moderate Islam from more extremist strains, they must be on good terms with the local Muslim community in order for its members to trust them with sensitive information, which, at times, must be turned into actionable intelligence. They are not afforded the luxury of time. The question before them is no longer if Islamic suicide attacks will occur but when and where.

Equally as important, they must understand why. Why do terrorists lash out in the name of Islam? To explain this to my officer students, I attempted to demystify the somewhat exotic light in which Islam is too commonly held. I recounted the history of Islam, pointing out that the five Pillars of Islam have their equivalents in Judaism because the prophet Muhammad had borrowed extensively from the Jews with the hope that they would convert. When that didn’t happen, I noted, he turned to jihad. Still, despite my reliance on everything from PowerPoint presentations to video clips, I struggled to come up with more vivid images that might shed light on why this supposedly peace-loving religion drives some of its adherents to commit acts of mass murder.

If only I had Robert Spencer’s new work, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and The Crusades), my teaching would have gone much more smoothly.

Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch, an invaluable web site that daily informs readers of Islam’s global jihad, cuts right to the chase in this absorbing antidote to the received wisdom about Islam. He turns his attention to the most problematic nature of Islam: its ideologies of warring. In this context, Spencer discusses not just the more gruesomely familiar form of jihad, suicide attacks, but also jihad in the form of Islamic proselytizing, da’wa, in which prisoners are pressured to revert to Islam. (It is “revert” instead of convert because Islam holds that we were all born Muslim, except that our parents lost the correct path, the sabil, and raised us incorrectly.) Spencer also examines Islam’s hostility to women, as well as its historical denigration of religious and ethnic minorities living under Islamic rule, Ahl al-Dhimma.

Jordan's King Abdullah made a long list of promises yesterday to a gathering of Washington D.C.-area rabbis, including a pledge to counter the proliferation of extremist Islamic thought throughout his kingdom, while also helping to repair relations with world Jewry. According to the Washington Times, Abdullah stated:

"We face a common threat: extremist distortions of religion and the wanton acts of violence that derive therefrom," the king said. "Such abominations have already divided us from without for far too long."

Criticizing al Qaeda terrorists Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab Zarqawi for "abuses of our faith," the king, speaking at a heavily guarded lunch meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Northwest, made clear he wishes to establish himself as the voice of moderate Islam.

He pointed to a July conference he held in Amman, Jordan, for 180 Muslim scholars as a key part of his effort to undermine the far Islamic right. The conference was supported by fatwas -- or legal rulings -- from 17 major Islamic scholars.

"Muslims from every branch of Islam can now assert without doubt or hesitation," he said, "that a fatwa calling for the killing of innocent civilians -- no matter what nationality or religion, Muslim or Jew, Arab or Israeli -- is a basic violation of the most fundamental principles of Islam."

As the Times reminds readers, however, Abdullah has his work cut out for him:

At home, however, the king encounters massive anti-Semitism. According to a July poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press on global attitudes toward religious groups, 100 percent of Jordanian respondents said they either had a "very unfavorable" or "somewhat unfavorable" view of Jews.

While the words of Adbullah are welcome and soothing to the ear, he, like many other Middle Eastern "enlightened" monarchs, offers little in the way of specifics on how he would rectify the increasingly hateful atmosphere in Jordan. Someone should query Abdullah on how he intends to purge the official press organs of anti-Semitic elements, or how he plans to gain control of the rhetoric spewed within the nation's mosques? Furthermore, does anyone really think that his majesty would be willing to give the speech he gave yesterday in front of a native Jordanian crowd? 100 percent of a nation's population does not express disdain for Jews unless they live a culture awash in anti-Semitic vitriol.

A Stop-the-Presses Alert from AP, "Judge: Militants Want to Attack Europe" (thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist):

PARIS - Islamic extremists are returning to France from Iraq's battlegrounds with the skills and desire to carry out attacks in Europe, a top anti-terror judge said Thursday — warning that Europe needs a better-coordinated effort to face the threat.

The Iraq war is changing the face of militancy in France, investigating judge Jean-Francois Ricard said in an interview with The Associated Press. As with some of the suspects in the London bombings, some French Islamic radicals with violent intentions are unknown to authorities, he said.

Islamic militants from France have long participated in armed struggles and received battle training around the globe, in places such as Chechnya, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, Ricard said. But only rarely have such militants sought to bring violence back with them, he said.

"I have confirmation ... of this return (from Iraq) with action targeting our countries. We've been starting to see it this year" and in 2004, Ricard said. "It's very worrying."

"The return of some individuals is starting: They're taking round trips. You can't think that once in Iraq, there's no return," he said. "It is not true."

And why shouldn't they return to fight? At Guantanamo the officials don't dare do anything to disabuse the prisoners of the jihad ideology. So their stay there is just a little vacation from jihad. "Ex-Guantanamo prisoners fight on," from the Telegraph, with thanks to JS:

More than a dozen prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to the -"battlefield" to fight Americans, it was disclosed yesterday.

The terrorists, freed in the belief that "they posed a very low threat", have either been killed, captured or wounded in attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Others are thought to be still organising attacks with the Taliban or al Qa'eda.

More than 170 prisoners have been returned from the top security jail in Cuba to their home countries without any condition imposed and another 80 placed under some form of restrictions.

Archdhimmi Jacques Chirac and archterrorist Arafat are honored as heroes on Palestinian Authority stamps. (Image from France-Echos.)

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald wonders why Russia is aiding the global jihad:

In the Russian-funded Boomerang Department, surely what takes the cake is the Russian help extended to Iran's little science project. Does Russia, a country which was once under the Tartar Yoke and which is now filling up with Muslims -- despite having let go of all five Central Asian -Stans in one fell drunken stupor (that of Yeltsin, who when last heard from was at last resting comfortably, still unaware of what he had done) – realize the implications of either an Iranian nuclear capability, or the changing demography of Russia itself? Some of these new Russians are, of course, post-basmachi "Muslim-for-identification-purposes-only" variety, but some, alas, are of the "I'm-rediscovering-real-Islam" kind -- and we know what that means.

Take a stroll around Moscow. Go out to Ostankino, to the lesser parts. Go to the markets. Take a guess as to the Muslim population of Russia today, in 2010, in 2020, and in 2030. If you are interested in the fate of Russia, in Russia that even under Communism, note that Russia managed to preserve enough free inquiry to keep science alive, even when art became moribund when the writers who had not gone into exile -- some just in the nick of time (how nice of Gorky to help Khodasevich leave for Paris) -- either were killed (Mandelshtam, Babel) or committed suicide (Esenin in the Hotel Astoria, Tsvetaeva where -- Taganrog? Tarusa? I can't remember), or were threatened or persecuted into silence, or found themselves forced into such safe activities as translation from the Georgian and the Armenian and the Lithuanian, or writing children's books (Ouch--it hurts just to think of, but if you were a kid, from say 2 to 5, ot dvukh do pyati, literary life was good).

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld & Alyssa A. Lappen in Human Events ask: "Why are Western banking and financial officials and regulators playing into bin Laden’s hands?"

"A universal Islamic banking system is a jihad worth pursuing to abolish this slavery [to the West]," former Malaysian Prime Minister Mohamed Mahathir told a banking conference in Kuala Lumpur in November 2002. The conference was convened following the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. “to absorb the 11 September shock and reinforce the stability of Islamic finance.” Representatives of nine Islamic nations gathered to set up an Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) to “act as a global authority for Islamic banking and finance” and to compete with secular U.S. and international banking regulatory agencies.

Since 2002, internationally and domestically the Islamic impetus to impose Sharia-governed banking on the West has only increased.

Today, the Lariba American Finance House, based in Pasadena, California, operates its Islamic banking services in 28 states, modeled on the Sharia'aa Foundation guidelines of "His Eminence" Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradawi. The good sheikh endorses suicide bombing, wife-beating—and attacks against America. Lariba also sells Islamic mortgages to Fannie Mae.

In the investment markets, Dow Jones has since February 1999 operated the Dow Jones Islamic Markets indexes, which measure the market activity of "shariaa compliant" stocks. Advising the financial news organization on Sharia is a Board whose members include Syria's Abdul Sattar Abu Ghuddah, Pakistan's Taqi Usmani and Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo of the United States.

Abu Ghuddah and Taqi Usmani are also on the Shari'a Board of Al Baraka Investment and Development Corporation. The victims of 9/11 allege that this bank financed al Qaeda; although charges against the bank were dismissed, the victims contend that the bank, together with Saudi officials and businessmen, facilitated the attacks on America.

DeLorenzo is a member of the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), which according to Investigative Project Director Steven Emerson, harbors many terror-sympathizers.

And was responsible for the recent bogus fatwa condemning terrorism.

Read it all.

Erick Stakelbeck of CBN sent me this response he got from an American Muslim to an entry he wrote at his blog at CBN:

Mr Stakelbeck,

I am a Muslim-American who converted to Islam, and I must say that in part I agree with your comments. There are two dimensions to Islam. A Christian once asked me: "Is Islam a religion of peace or terror?" I said: "That depends on you." -He seemed confused. I continued...

If people can at us (Muslims) with love, respect, and peace, then you will find Islam as being a religion of peace.

However, when invaders come into our countries, bulldoze our houses, rape our economies and resources, as well as our women and children. THEN, my friend, you will find Islam as being a religion of terror.

The problems with this are many, of course, but chief among them is the fact that throughout history Muslims have found such pretexts, and used them to advance jihad warfare against non-Muslim nations. The Islamic doctrine of jihad is not only defensive, but offensive, and even the defensive jihad can be so elastically interpreted as to allow for any attack, no matter how egregious, even 9/11, to be portrayed as defensive.

Also, the hegemonic character of traditional Islamic law regarding relations with non-Muslims means that when non-Muslims offer Muslims "love, respect, and peace," that will not ultimately make for peaceful coexistence, as the man who wrote to Stakelbeck suggests, but only the supremacy of Muslims and subjugation of unbelievers.

By giving money to a jihadist group? If so, this strategy will ultimately backfire upon them. From AxisGlobe, with thanks to Allister:

Currently the court in Tashkent reviews the cases of fifteen men accused in the organization of the disorders, which have occurred in May of this year in the city of Andijan in the eastern Uzbekistan. One of them, according to the materials available to the court, Ilhomjon Hojiev (30) has brought from Russia $200 thousand to finance the disorders. In the same documents it is marked, that a source of these funds is the 37-years old Tahir Yuldashev (Muhammad Farouk), who is heading the Islamic movement of Turkestan. Besides, according to the documents of the investigation it is known that another accused - 28-years old Tavakkalbek Hojiev before the events in Andijan lived in the city of Ivanovo located in the western Russia. Moscow in every possible way tries to avoid publication of this information.

What side is the Muslim Students Association on? "Terrorism suspect released on bond: City man attended UMUC, taught at local Muslim school," from the University of Maryland's DiamondbackOnline, with thanks to LGF:

A local Muslim elementary school teacher and University of Maryland, University College graduate accused of aiding two terrorist groups was released on bond yesterday and will return to home on the condition that he won’t leave the country.

Prosecutors in a U.S. district court in Alexandria, Va., objected yesterday in a detention hearing to releasing Ali Asad Chandia, a 28-year-old College Park resident, fearing he would obtain a passport and flee the country.

Chandia will stay with his wife at the home and will be electronically tracked by a GPS bracelet. His mother will put up her home in Gaithersburg as collateral, U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Carroll Buchanan decided. Chandia’s arraignment is scheduled for Friday in Alexandria.

Chandia graduated from the University of Maryland University College with a bachelor’s in information systems management in May. He also attended Montgomery College from fall 1995 to spring 2000. There, he served as the president of the Muslim Students Association from 1998 to 1999, according to the MSA national organization’s website.

Chandia is accused of providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, and serving as the personal assistant to Ali al-Timimi, the convicted spiritual leader of another terrorist group dubbed the “Virginia Jihad network” by federal prosecutors.

My friend Jeff Rubin, editor-in-chief of the Conservative Book Club, recently posted this piece, "I got myself into a whale of an argument recently....," about a discussion he and I got into about Islam and terrorism. Jeff's characterization of my replies as "polite" is, unfortunately, a bit over-generous, but in any case the reason why I am posting this has nothing to do with this particular argument at all.

It has to do with a peculiar phenomenon that I witness again and again: the unwillingness of people to consider evidence establishing that Islamic terror arises from elements within Islamic theology and tradition, and a knee-jerk assumption that any presentation of such evidence amounts to bigotry. On Tuesday night I spoke to a Catholic group in Lincoln, Nebraska. After the talk I was given an opportunity to examine response cards that the organization asked attendees to fill out; everyone who did so rated the speaker (me) "Very Good" or "Excellent" except for one who rated me "Poor." This one was signed by a Catholic priest who during the evening had asked a number of confrontational questions -- which I don't mind at all, of course -- designed to advance what he appeared to consider was a refutation of what I was saying. This same priest had greeted me quite warmly before the talk; he was no doubt expecting the usual address on how we can all get along -- no one seems to notice that such addresses in this present conflict come only from one side.

Among his points were that the Vatican had made common cause with Muslim states, at a UN conference in Beijing a few years ago, to defend the pro-life agenda on several fronts; didn't this indicate that Christians and Muslims could work together on points of congruence? At another point he detailed a delightful trip he had had to a Christian school in Bethlehem that had enrolled many Muslim students, and Christians and Muslims, by all accounts, lived in perfect harmony.

To the first I answered that while such common cause was possible to an extent, it had to be approached with a realistic understanding of the fact that traditional Islamic theology is supremacist and regards Christians as renegades. The Qur'an (5:51) even warns against making common cause with them; unless and until large numbers of Muslims renounce such principles, such alliances would always be tenuous and would not necessarily be evidence that Muslims regarded Christians as equals and were ready to deal with them as equals in every way, and grant equality of rights to Christians in Muslim lands. As for the second, I had to remind him at one point that during my talk I had explicitly stated -- more than once -- that for a complex of reasons not all Muslims subscribed to or were working to advance the jihad ideology today. That not only was I not stating that all Muslims were terrorists, but that I specifically addressed the problems that sincere Muslim reformers faced. In short, on both points, I stressed a realistic appraisal of all the available evidence. (I perhaps unwisely did not mention in connection with the second point that Middle Eastern Christians, in order to survive, often say something quite different in public from what they will say in private. A Coptic priest from Egypt recently detailed to me how all Christian prelates in the Muslim world learn to tell any and all visitors how wonderfully they get along with Muslims, because if they don't, they will find Islamic tolerance running rather thin.)

There is a very great tendency for those who are not well-versed in Islamic theology, history, and law to take these fear-induced avowals by Christians and the great personal charm of individual Muslims as evidence that whatever that theology and law say, the reality is different. Unfortunately, every day's headlines brings more evidence that all too many Muslims around the world take that theology and law very seriously when it comes to violent jihad. The inability or unwillingness of this priest to consider the fact that I was not constructing the evidence myself, but merely reporting on what jihad terrorists say and how they use the Qur'an and Sunnah to recruit new terrorists, stemmed from a larger handicap that this priest shares with many others: the inability or unwillingness to consider the possibility that the problem we have today might have religious roots, and that there might be real problems within Islam that must be addressed by non-Muslims and Muslims before today's global crisis can end.

But despite the fact that Muslims daily invoke the Qur'an and Sunnah to justify violence, for me to point out that they do so constitutes, for all too many, "Islamophobia." Jeff Rubin details his encounter with that mentality below. And the same assumption, of course, explains why my book, despite five weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, has gotten no attention from the mainstream media, and why even some of the most prominent stalwarts of "political incorrectness" have preferred to ignore its existence.

The reality of this situation is so ugly, and there is so much deception out there about it, that many people assume that those who report accurately about it must be fabricating or exaggerating the ugliness, and cling desperately to any indication, real or imagined (and usually imagined) that things aren't really as they are.

But the success of the book indicates that many Americans are tired of the half-truths and obfuscation they've been getting about Islam. If we are to prevail against the global jihad, the knee-jerk wishful thinking of the priest in Lincoln and Jeff's friends must be set aside once and for all. That will be a long, hard effort, but I will be here at it for as long as I am able.

Anyway, here's Jeff:

I got myself into a whale of an argument recently. In an email discussion with a dozen or so like-minded (on most things) friends and acquaintances, I found myself being denounced by two of them as "ignorant," "vulgar," a "bigot," and a purveyor of hate-filled propaganda "worthy of Julius Streicher" (who was the editor of the anti-Semitic Nazi newspaper, Der Sturmer).

What exactly did I do to deserve such encomia? Having observed a rather soft-on-Islam tenor to some remarks about the situation in the Middle East, I interjected a brief negative comment about that "Religion of Peace," recommending that everyone read Robert Spencer's The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades).

By CR's Dave Hartline.

Exclusive Interview With New York Times Best Selling Catholic Author And Islamic Expert Robert Spencer. Mr Spencer Addresses Catholic-Islamic Relations, The New Role Pope Benedict Is Playing, Along With Al Qaeda Threats To The Vatican And Specifically Pope Benedict. In Addition, Mr Spencer Discusses What Really Happened During The Crusades As Well As His New Book

Now there's a headline. Full interview at the link.

Sharia alert from Saudi Arabia. If they hadn't confessed -- the circumstances of which I do not know, but probably the evidence was fairly conclusive -- they would have walked, and the victims would never have been able to establish their guilt in the absence of male witnesses. From AP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

Two men were beheaded in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, yesterday after being convicted of kidnapping and raping a woman, the Interior Ministry said.

The men, a Saudi and a Yemeni, were executed in a public square after confessing to their crimes, the ministry said in a statement.

The two men forced the victim into their car and sexually assaulted her before stealing her mobile phone and money and letter her go, the statement said. It was unclear when the crimes were committed.

The executions took the number of people beheaded in Saudi Arabia this year to at least 62. Last year, 35 people were executed in the kingdom and 52 in the year 2003.

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

8:05 AM EDT: KSGF "Vincent David Jericho Show"

10:05 AM EDT: WDUN "The Martha Zoller Show"

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

4:30 PM EDT: Relevant Radio "Drew Mariani Show" (Syndicated)

UPDATE: The Drew Mariani Show appearance seems not to be happening.

He no doubt found his arrest a real drag. "Pakistan police arrests two Islamic militants with explosives," from the Islamic Republic News Agency, with thanks to Cindy:

Pakistani police on Tuesday arrested two suspected Islamic militants with explosives and bomb-making literature near the industrial city of Faisalabad.

The report received on Tuesday said that one of the bearded men was wearing a head-to-toe veil, (burqa) worn by many conservative women in Pakistan.

The suspects are believed to be members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an extremist Sunni Muslim militant group that was banned in 2001 for attack.

The report said that the two suspects were found carrying 16 kg (35 pounds) of explosives.

From the Guardian:

Liberal Democrats yesterday warned that the government's counter-terrorism proposals would inflame community tensions and alienate young Muslims, as they unanimously passed a motion urging the party to defend civil liberties and oppose any move to water down human rights legislation. The emergency motion warned that many of the measures included in last week's draft anti-terrorism bill, or suggested by ministers elsewhere, would "undermine traditional civil liberties, risk alienating minority communities and [would be] open to abuse".

Speakers expressed particular concern about extradition to countries where torture and other human rights abuses occurred, and about proposals to allow police up to three months to detain suspects before charging them. The proscribing of political parties which had not been linked to violence was also a worry. They warned that the new powers were likely to be invoked disproportionately on ethnic and religious minorities.

Very few people want to mistreat ethnic or religious minorities, but many wonder what causes Muslims, in particular, to feel alienated. The onus of integrating into British society begins with the Muslims themselves. A task they seem to take lightly considering the fact that as many as 150 independent Muslim schools "offer a religion-dominated education little different to the madrassas of Pakistan, and do little to encourage integration." It appears that a disconnect with British society is what they really desire. Have liberal democrats considered Sura [5.51] - "O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends" - as a possible factor behind self-imposed Muslim alienation?

Moving the motion, an activist, Tim Nichols, said: "Three months' detention without charge is internment. We know that internment in Ireland contributed to the recruitment of terrorists, the worsening of conflict, more lives lost and more lives damaged. If the government wants to radicalise a generation of young British Muslims, it is going about it the right way."

Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West, added: "These measures will inflame tension and increase the same resentment which led to four young men from West Yorkshire bombing their own capital city."

Nasser Butt, a Mole Valley councillor and chair of the Liberal Democrats' Muslim Forum, urged activists: "Let's not forget that the terrorism brought to this country is also related to Iraq. To deal with it by coming up with authoritarian laws restricting civil liberties [Tony Blair] is getting away from his responsibility for what he's done to this country."

Alienated by society, inflamed by anti-terrorism legislation and outraged by Britain's involvement in Iraq are explanations liberal democrats have given as motivating factors behind Islamic terrorism. The desire amongst the Muslim faithful to "fight for the sake of Allah" and to die for his cause is virtually ignored. This underestimation has proven to be fatal, as the London bombings have shown.

There is no doubt that the vast majority of Muslims do not wage active jihad and Salman Rushdie certainly understands this fact. But, is he capable of convincing this majority to address Islamic texts that support violent jihad? It is not likely and the continued passive stance held by Muslims concerning jihad terror will continue to remain a silent defense for the jihadists. From the Gulf Daily News:

LONDON: Novelist Salman Rushdie has urged the "silent majority" of Muslims to speak up to prevent their culture being hijacked by extremists.

"If it goes on being silent, then its culture and religion will be hijacked by the extremists and it will be very difficult to go on saying 'that's not us.' ... You've got to speak up,"' Rushdie said in an interview with the BBC World Service.

Rushdie said he believed the majority would speak out.

"Maybe it takes something as horrifying as the bombings in London to make people break ranks," Rushdie said, referring to the July 7 attacks in which four suicide bombers killed 52 subway and bus passengers in London.

"But I think there's a lot of evidence that there's a great deal of soul-searching and rethinking going on," he said.

"There's something seductive - especially for young men - to get involved in a world where you can just be angry for a living and your anger is its own justification."

A real estate sale in Washington conducted in accord with Sharia. As the Muslim presence in the West grows, it is likely that this will become increasingly common, and calls for it as a matter of human rights will increase -- calls with important implications for the prevalence of other Sharia provisions in the West. From the New York Times, with thanks to Scaramouche:

As rising crude oil prices leave many Middle Easterners flush with cash, much of their money is being invested in real estate, both in the United States and abroad.

Most transactions are still conducted the conventional way, but some real estate specialists say there is a growing appetite among investors for deals that conform to the rules of the Koran. Adhering to Shariah, or Islamic law, can determine how a project is financed - riba, or interest, is prohibited, for example - and also generally means excluding such tenants as bars, mortgage lenders and video stores.

No one knows just how much capital from the Persian Gulf states is finding its way into real estate in the United States. "This capital is very difficult to track as many Middle Eastern buyers work hard to maintain their confidentiality," said Robert M. White Jr., the president of Real Capital Analytics, a research firm in New York.

And Shariah-compliant investing is still in its infancy. But "a lot more people are talking about it," said Steven J. Adelkoff, a real estate lawyer at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham in Pittsburgh, one of a handful of American lawyers with expertise in this field. "In the past 18 months I've had more inquiries than ever before."

Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, an American Shariah consultant who helped set up the Dow Jones Islamic Markets Index, said that this type of investing caught on only after it was shown to be just as profitable as conventionally structured investments. "Most people feel that if I have choice - all things being equal - I'll take Shariah," he said of Islamic investors. "Then I can sleep at night."

The House of Saud has always feared - above all other threats - an expansionist Iran. The Iranian revolution in 1979 sent the Saudi monarchy into a panic, mostly stemming from their eternal mistrust of their native Shi'ite minority, which is the majority population of the oil-rich Hasa province. All throughout the 1980s, the two nations fought a proxy war on a series of front, a confrontation which brought the Saudi government closer to the United States.

Now, with Iranian infiltration of Iraq and the rise of the Iraqi Shi'ite community, the Saudis are feeling the heat again, indicated in a speech given yesterday before the Council on Foreign Relations by Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal, who stated:

"Now we are handing the whole country over to Iran without reason," he said.

Iranians, Faisal said, go into areas that American forces have pacified and "pay money ... install their own people (and) even establish police forces and arm the militias that are there."

"And they are protected in doing all this by the British and American forces," he added.

By indicating Saudi unease, Faisal is signalling that Saudi Arabia might be open to pursuing a foreign policy less in-line with American goals in the region. This includes negotiating or at least opening up independent communications with various Sunni groups inside Iraq (which they probably already have) or, even worse for American interests, moving closer to Iran. There are indications that other gulf states, observing the rise of Iran as a regional hegemon, are beginning to adapt that very position.

More tolerance in Pakistan, as 22 religious organizations have called for the execution of Younis Masih, a 40 year old Christian who was jailed after allegedly making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad, per Pakistan's Daily Times:

Difa-e-Islam Mahaz (Front for Islam’s defence), an alliance of 22 Sunni religious organisations, demanded that alleged blasphemer Younis Masih be given the death sentence.

Dozens of Mahaz activists and Kainchi Amer Sidhu residents staged a peaceful demonstration outside the Lahore Press Club on Monday and displayed placards with slogans ‘Hang the blasphemer’, ‘Blasphemer of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) must be hanged immediately’ and ‘We are ready to sacrifice everything for the defence and protection of the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) dignity’.

Mahaz speakers opposed the recent amendment made in the Criminal Procedural Code of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) that a superintendent of police must investigate the blasphemy case before lodging the first information report. They declared the amendment “anti-Islamic” and demanded the restoration of the original procedure for registering blasphemy cases.

They said that they would continue their struggle till Masih was sentenced to death.

However, so as not to let anyone think that were being anti-Christian, the coalition had the following to say:

“The Mahaz is not against the Christian community but want to punish the culprit. We are also ready to lodge a blasphemy case against any Muslim who commits blasphemy against Christ or his mother Mariam (AS),” said Mahaz speaker Irfan Shah.

Now that's a relief.

Egyptian scholar Sheikh Wagdy Ghoneim, on his way to attend a two day convention in Switzerland held by local Muslim organizations, was denied entry into the country by Swiss autorities. While the government has not yet issued a statement on why Ghoneim was not allowed into the country, it may have a little something to do with him having being arrested in Egypt, being on American terrorist watch lists, and having been accused of funneling money to Hamas. Of course, Swiss Muslims leaders have responded with their characteristic hyperbole, charging the government with anti-Muslim bias, according to Islamonline.net (thanks to Sr. Soph):

Swiss Muslim leaders hit out at airport authorities for banning prominent scholar Sheikh Wagdy Ghoneim from entering the country to attend a key conference, while slamming the conspicuous absence of invited officials at the two-day event.

"This is not the first time, and probably not the last, that a Muslim scholar is denied access to the country," Gamal Al-Khatib, the organizer of the 15th annual meeting of the League of Muslims in Switzerland (LMS), told IslamOnline.net.

He said the reasons behind the decision will remain as usual vague and unknown.

"The decision is driven by a bunch of opportunists who are playing the terror card to scare authorities and to provoke the Muslim minority."

Airport authorities said Egyptian Ghoneim, who holds a valid Swiss visa, is accused of raising funds for the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, has been arrested by Egyptian police and is a persona non-grata in the United States.

Regardless of the fact that they invited a suspected terrorist to their convention, Muslim leaders castigated government officials for not attending:

Separately, the LMS harshly criticized government officials for failing to show up in their annual meeting, themed the Mercy to Mankind, in Fribourg.

"This is unacceptable and inexcusable," LMS head Mohammad Karmous told IOL.

"Ignoring the forum by Swiss officials, particularly those who tirelessly talk about the integration of the Muslim minority, raises many question marks."

He said government officials were expected to attend to listen to minority leaders and address problems facing Muslims.

In the latest example of a faded celebrity who just can't keep his or her mouth shut, Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf Islam,) speaking at Cardiff University in the UK, suggested that it was really Britain's foreign policy which invited the London terrorist attacks, according to the Associated Press (thanks to DC Watson).

British foreign policy played a role in motivating the July 7 London bombings, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens said Tuesday.

Yusuf Islam, who had a string of pop hits in the 1960s and '70s, said an al-Qaida video claiming responsibility for the attacks and linking them to Britain's role in the Middle East showed foreign policy "was not the only factor but it was a major contributory."

Of course, Stevens/Islam also reminded his audience that those who taught Islam had a responsibility to make sure extremism did not arise among the greater community.

"At the same time we have to look at how the teaching of Islam has been distorted," he added.

Such equivocation has become a familiar tactic among terrorist apologists, who lead with an attack on "Western foreign policy" and then, ever so half-heartedly, suggest Islam be taught in a more effective way.

I told you so update. "Afghan Vote: No Future Without Islam, Says Qanooni," from AKI, with thanks to Kemaste:

Kabul, 20 Sept. (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - As vote counting continues after landmark parliamentary elections, Afghani power broker, Younus Qanooni, has warned that the country's future cannot be modelled on a Western liberal democracy. "Afghans will never agree on any secular or liberal system. Islam is the modern system and Afghanistan’s future is tied with Islam,” he said, in an exclusive interview with Adnkronos International (AKI) on Tuesday. Qanooni, who was a key figure in the Northern Alliance which helped the US overthrow the Taliban in 2001, heads the 12-party National Understanding Front.

“The Taliban distorted the image and teachings of Islam, otherwise Islam is a very tolerant and progressive religion which co-exists with the international community very well,” he asserted.

As we see all over the world, from Indonesia to Chechnya and Bosnia. And don't forget Nigeria.

This report comes from a local UK paper, Wakefield Today: "Terror on plane" (thanks to Kemaste). They locked themselves in the bathroom and were banging on the walls. This is a strange story, but Islamic prayer, which one said was what he was doing, doesn't involve banging on walls.

A BUSINESSMAN from Wakefield was caught up in 9/11 panic on a flight from Cyprus when two Muslim passengers were arrested for suspicious behaviour.

Paul Teasdale said chaos erupted when the two men were hauled off by police in Larnaca on Sunday – the fourth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The 38-year-old, who runs his own electrics business, said the flight was minutes away from leaving when the incident happened.

He said: “We noticed two men in full Muslim dress get on the plane and one of them passed me to go to the toilet.

“He was in there for a while and eventually the stewardess knocked on the door to find out what he was doing. He told her he was praying.

“He then sat back down, but she must have smelt a rat because about 10 minutes later two policemen came on board to take them off. After that it was just pandemonium.”

Mr Teasdale, of Wood Lane, Overton, said after the men were removed some passengers refused to stay on board.

He added: “Women were crying and everyone was getting a bit excited. Then someone said ‘hang on a minute, it’s 9/11’. It sounds stupid now, but at the time we were thinking of our lives.”...

Sue Lister, spokeswoman for Excel Airways, said the men were taken off the plane as they were acting “anti-socially”. She said: “One of the men ran down to the rear toilet, one to the front. They locked themselves in and were banging on the walls. It was not normal behaviour. The decision was taken to offload them and the captain made the decision to delay the flight.”

Their ethnicity was not a factor, she said. She added: “Hopefully the passengers realise the reason for the decision.”

Ethnicity? Why should ethnicity have anything to do with it? We are facing an ideology, not an ethnicity.

You can't interrogate a website, right? So the PIJ website material shouldn't be admitted, right? If the defense wins on this one, Al-Arian might as well start choosing furniture for his new USF office. Al-Arian Walk Watch, from the St. Petersburg Times, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Al-Arian and three co-defendants are charged with helping raise money for Palestinian Islamic Jihad so that the organization could commit terrorist acts in Israel and the occupied territories. Prosecutors believe the PIJ Web site information from defendants' computers is important because it shows knowledge of the organizations' terrorist acts.

Defense attorneys have argued that they can't cross-examine a Web site and that the computer evidence from Web sites shouldn't be admitted. The judge will decide about admissibility once the time issue involving computer experts is clarified.

This is the reality of Sharia coming to Kano, where battles over it have raged for some time. From the Mail & Guardian, with thanks to Twostellas:

Nigerian Islamic judges have ordered that a teenager from Niger have his hand cut off after he confessed to stealing a motorbike, court officials said on Monday.

This is thought to be the first time that a foreign national has been sentenced to amputation since northern Nigeria began to reintroduce sharia, the strict Islamic legal code, in 1999.

Lawal Usman (19), from the Niger district of Maradi, was convicted under sharia law in the northern city of Katsina on Friday, court registrar Nasir Darma said.

A presiding judge at the Katsina Upper Sharia Court Three, Mustapha Sani Saulawa, ruled that Usman should have his right hand amputated at the wrist. The convict has 30 days to appeal the sentence.

"It does not matter where the offence was committed. Since he was arrested here, he is liable," Saulawa said, according to the registrar.

The omission of that name holds true as well. This report, however, is not about roses, but more about thorns. The Bangkok Post reports this prickly issue concerning jihad semantics.

The military has given the green light for the reopening of the Jihad Wittaya ponoh, a school in Pattani closed down four months ago due to suspicion of links with terrorists, but only under the condition that it changes its name. Col Jatuporn Kalumpasut, commander of the 22nd special task force, said the military will allow the school to reopen but it must be renamed since ``the word `jihad' is too violent''.

Mr. Kalumpasut understands the traditional interpretation of jihad.

School headmaster Dulloh Waemanor, 50, who fled before the raid, would also be permitted to return to teach at the school, the officer said.

Jihad Wittaya School, or Suan Maphrao ponoh school in Yaring district, was ordered closed on May 19 by the provincial governor after soldiers and police raided its compound and found weapons training and shooting areas, al-Qaeda training VCDs, separatist propaganda manuals, bomb-making handbooks and state officers' work and patrol schedules.

These findings will no doubt be explained away as standard educational tools.

Authorities believed the closure upset southern agitators' allies and incited them to create further chaos and to persuade school students to join their activities.

But school manager Arduenun Jeh-arsae rejected the condition, saying if reopened, the school, established by his family 40 years ago to assist poor children, would not change its name from Jihad Wittaya since jihad was a word from the Islamic religion and had no bad meaning.

Ahh, Mr. Jeh-arsae must be speaking of the "inner struggle" interpretation of jihad and obviously believes that weapons training and bomb making instructions will endow his students with the proper accoutrements to attain that spiritual pinnacle.

The constant barrage of bombings, murders and intimidation carried out by jihadists in southern Thailand has virtually destroyed the regional economy. Hardly an economic powerhouse to begin with, the region's inhabitants, most of whom are Muslims, now struggle to eke out simple sustenance while exposed to death threats made by local Islamic insurgents. Read about it here, thanks to Kemaste.

The open-air market in this southern Thai city falls eerily quiet on Fridays. Most vendors stay home, terrorized by leaflets threatening to kill or cut off the ears of anyone who works on the Muslim holy day.

After 20 months of insurgent violence, the no-work threat has driven another nail into what is becoming an economic coffin in Thailand's terrorized southern provinces.

"My business has been bad as customers are afraid to come out," said Thanchanok Putroy, 39, chopping up a catfish in the market where most stores were shut and buses aren't running.

Among the hundreds killed in the predominantly Muslim provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are police and soldiers, but police records show that 80 percent are civilians – rubber tappers, shopkeepers, civil servants, construction workers and ice cream vendors.

Indonesia has long been recognized as a nation ripe for fundamentalist violence, due in part to the actions of several Islamist/Wahhabist groups. In recent months, these organizations have stepped up their violent campaigns against Christians and Westerners, while also increasing the number of attacks against fellow Muslims, actions which threaten Indonesia's delicate religious and ethnic balance. This column by Amy Chew in the New Straits Online details the rise of jihadist groups in Indonesia (thanks to Nicolei):

ARMED with sticks and stones, hundreds of Indonesian Muslim extremists descended on the Ahmadiyah, a small peaceful Muslim group in Bogor, West Java, in July.

The attackers set fire to the women’s dormitory and knock- ed down a gate fronting the Ahmadiyah complex as its followers looked on helplessly. Some 300 policemen were on guard but failed to prevent the attack.

Shortly after, Emilia Renita, 38, a Shia Muslim in Jakarta started receiving threatening messages on her mobile phone saying: "Shias are deviant. Their blood is halal."

"I was shocked. I am Muslim and yet I am threatened. What more for those who are non-Muslims?" she said.

The surge in radicalism was partly triggered by 11 decrees issued in July by the official Council of Indonesian Ulamas (MUI) which banned the Ahmadiyah, liberalism, pluralism and secularism as anti-Islam.

More disturbing than the rise of Islamist activity in Indonesia, however, is the inaction on the part of the government:

The authorities have done little to prevent the attacks or take action against the radicals, emboldening them further.

"The Government is afraid," said former President Abdurrahman Wahid who is also a Muslim ulama.

"Why should the Government be scared of the extremists when in fact they are only a small group," said Abdurrahman, who is affectionately known as Gus Dur.

He headed the country’s largest Muslim organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, for 15 years before stepping down in 1999 to assume the presidency. NU claims 40 million followers and is known as the face of moderate Islam.

The Government appears to be hesitant and uncertain about how to deal with the situation, fearing a backlash from the Muslim majority.

The Liberal Islam Network (JIL) says the radicals’ newfound boldness reflects the growing conservatism in segments of the Government.

"They (in government) are not liberal. They are liberal and modern in other matters but when it comes to religion, they are conservative," said Hamid Basyaib, JIL’s co-ordinator.

A must read article.

Or to jihad. Jeremy Loome states the obvious -- which needs to be stated and restated -- in the Ottawa Sun (thanks to Kemaste):

The picture is not pretty: a border that is wide open, citizenship that can be both bought and paid for – or merely stolen – with ease, terrorists who can recruit in anonymity, politicians who can be legally bribed, and intelligence and police funding that is 10 years behind where it should be.

And if you think that’s bad, says Oliver Revell, just wait until something actually blows up. The FBI’s former director of counter-intelligence says he loves Canada, sits on Canadian corporate boards and owns property here. But he’s waiting for the proverbial other shoebomb to drop.

“I love Canada, always have,”says Revell. “But the naivete there has always been of great concern to me. Burying your head in the sand and expecting problems to always happen somewhere else simply doesn’t work, and the price will be difficult for Canadians to accept, perhaps even more so than it was for us after Sept. 11.”

Read it all.

This is nothing new. Many years ago, in another lifetime and long, long before 9/11, I myself played Sir Toby Belch in a production of Twelfth Night that made everyone Muslim and set the whole thing in the Ottoman court, notwithstanding how preposterous that made the story line. But that one was just a case of a director trying to make a splash; this one is explicitly politically motivated -- although the point seems a bit unfocused. If Hamlet is a Muslim prince, who is King Claudius? The United States? Does Hamlet's indecision become that of a young Muslim deciding whether or not to join the violent jihad?

From Backstage, with thanks to AntidhimmitudeFrenchChapter:

Hamlet has become a Muslim prince at the Ottoman court in an adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy which its Bosnian director says reflects the world after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

In possibly the biggest theater co-production the war-torn Balkans region has seen in some 20 years, Haris Pasovic is seeking to put "Hamlet" into a 21st Century setting.

"One of the most important issues of the 21st century is the world's increased understanding of the Muslim issue following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York," Pasovic, himself a Bosnian Muslim, told Reuters in an interview this week.

"I think the Muslim world today is facing the question: 'To be or not to be?', and I don't mean metaphysically," he said before the show's premiere late on Wednesday in Sarajevo.

Sarajevo-born Pasovic was among the most prominent theater directors in the then-Socialist Yugoslavia, living and working in Belgrade before Bosnia's 1992-95 war....

This time he chose the Ottoman court for its resemblance to Shakespeare's Danish one, where characters vie bloodily against one another for control over the throne and the court's affairs.

The play, set in obviously Eastern, though minimalist scenery, is visually striking with colourful costumes and mystical music performed live on stage.

It was well received in Sarajevo, a traditionally multi-ethnic city dominated by moderate Muslims since the war.

Just as Ottoman princes wore undershirts embroidered with Islamic prayers before they went into battle, Pasovic's Hamlet wears an undershirt on which the line "To be, or not to be -- that is the question" is printed in Arabic script.

"That undershirt is important because it is like a human skin. I think that every serious man today must wear the question 'To be, or not to be?'," Pasovic said.

And so a story in a Christian setting, in which the hero questions the injustices of the world and his own personal tragedy, can just as well apply to Muslims.

"Hamlet is a universal story that concerns us all," Pasovic said. "These issues do not concern only Muslims, but all people equally, showing that we all share the same problems regardless of religion, nation and culture."

Jihad and dhimmitude in Iraq. From the BBC, with thanks to Diana:

There are fears for the future of one of the most ancient, as well as the smallest, communities in Iraq - the Mandeans. Their religion, Mandeanism, comes from the same general background as Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

They share many of the same prophets, but particularly honour John the Baptist.

This is a religion almost solely confined to Iraq, but since the US-led invasion in 2003, many Mandeans have fled the country and now more than half of them live outside its borders.

The refugees speak of kidnap, murder and attempts at forced conversion.

One woman, Ibtisam Sabah Habib, said there had always been some threats and pressure to convert to Islam, but under the previous Iraqi regime there had been limits.

"Now, there are no rules and no government," she said, describing how an armed gang of Islamic extremists had got into her house, killed her father and stolen all their money.

"They would telephone us at home, threatening us and trying to convert us. Then they tried to kidnap me.

"It was our neighbours who saved me. They're Muslims - not all Muslims threaten us. But the extremists are very strong now - our neighbours couldn't protect us all the time."

Read it all.

That's what Egyptian doctor-turned-terrorist, Ayman al-Zawahiri, claims. From Aljazeera.Net

Al-Qaida number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has dismissed the legitimacy of Afghanistan's parliamentary elections in a new tape broadcast by Aljazeera.

In the tape, al-Zawahiri played down US accomplishments in Afghanistan, saying it had just managed to move the Taliban government from Kabul to the mountains and countryside.

The taped interview of al-Zawahiri had apparently been conducted to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York.

"What did they do? They drove Taliban's government out of Kabul, but it has been active in the mountains and countryside, where the real power of Afghanistan lies," al-Zawahiri said.

The al-Qaida deputy chief dismissed the legitimacy of the just-concluded Afghan parliamentary elections.

"The elections have been conducted under the terror of [Afghanistan's] warlords," al-Zawahiri said.

He added that northern Afghanistan and Kabul had become "an area of chaos, plundering, theft, violations and drug business" under American occupation.

"The elections were a masquerade more than anything else, as various regions of the country are under the control of highwaymen and warlords, and international observers ... cannot cover more than one tenth of the (electoral) districts," al-Zawahiri said.

He added that "the international mercenaries (UN observers) had seen only staged polls in some cities".

Read it all.

In this latest Rumpled Academic Update, the defense tries to prove that Al-Arian was just that: a Rumpled Academic, just as Nicholas Kristof dubbed him, and nothing more. They're arguing that he was editing what I believe has been alleged to have been a solicitation for money for the families of suicide bombers only in the interests of accuracy. I suppose we are to believe that as he did it, he hotly disapproved of the whole matter. Mmm hmmm. From the St. Petersburg Times, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

TAMPA - Defense attorneys questioned an FBI witness in the federal trial of Sami Al-Arian and three co-defendants Monday. Their intent: to raise doubts about government evidence linking their clients to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad after 2000.

Al-Arian attorney Linda Moreno argued that Al-Arian's editing of a 2002 request for charitable donations, written by his co-defendant Hatem Fariz, was simply an attempt to make the solicitation more accurate. Al-Arian told Fariz to ask for donations for "needy families," not "needy orphans" in the letter sent out by an Islamic charitable organization in Illinois.

If I recall correctly, this was, according to the prosecution, a solicitation for support for the families of suicide bombers.

The reason for prosecutors' emphasis on Al-Arian's editing of the solicitation is not clear. Perhaps it's to suggest that Al-Arian's interest as late as November 2002 linked him to a Gaza charitable organization, the Elehssan Society, that prosecutors say was run by Palestinian Islamic Jihad members. They say the Illinois charitable organization sent money to Elehssan.

Al-Arian, Fariz and two other co-defendants are charged with raising funds in the United States for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist organization that has claimed responsibility for more than 100 deaths in Israel and its occupied territories. Prosecutors want to show that the defendants were linked to PIJ violence after 2000, through contributions to the Elehssan Society.

Fariz attorney Kevin Beck asked the FBI agent why a 2001 written description of the Elehssan Society, which was projected on a courtroom screen, did not include the seal of approval from the Palestinian Authority, appearing on the original document and described on the translation. The agent, Eduardo Ortega, said he didn't know. The Palestinian Authority is recognized by Israel and the United States as the local governing body of the occupied territories.

Beck also questioned Ortega about a translation of an Arabic document that told how many families in the occupied territories had been helped with American donations collected by the defendants after 2000. Beck asked the agent whether he knew that the document in Arabic said that "380 families got food packages," but the translation said that only "30 families" got food packages. Ortega said he doesn't read Arabic and couldn't comment.

Sounds like more witless for the prosecution follies.

Former Israeli envoy Zalman Shoval sums up the Gaza disaster in the Washington Times (thanks to Sr. Soph):

By the evening of September 11 the last Israelis had left Gaza -- the final chapter in Israel's "unilateral disengagement" from an area which Jewish settlers had turned from a barren wasteland into a blooming oasis. A few hours later (was the date entirely accidental?), Palestinian vandals torched the synagogues which the departing settlers had left there, hoping that the Palestinians would respect the sanctity of the places of worship.

It was not to be: without the Palestinian policemen lifting a finger to stop the arsonists -- according to observers, often egging them on -- the synagogues had turned into ashes. Neither the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas nor any other Arab leader uttered a word of censure -- or even of sympathy.

The above act of barbarism does not bode well for the future of peace between Palestinians and Israelis; Israel, backed by a majority of public opinion, decided to leave Gaza and to remove the almost 9,000 Jews who lived there, for a variety of reasons -- not the least of which was Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's determination, much criticized, among other things, because of its unilateral aspect, to re-launch the Palestinian-Israeli peace process which had expired as a result of the ill-conceived "Oslo" agreement and after the Clinton-Barak-Arafat summit at Camp David five years ago.

This may be the only case in history of a country voluntarily giving up part of its land, telling its people to abandon their homes and livelihood, in order to make peace with an enemy. Unfortunately, the response from the Palestinian side has been less than encouraging.

In spite of this, in his recent speech at the United Nations, Mr. Sharon went out of his way to reach out to the Palestinians; he called on them to "end the bloody conflict and embark on the path which leads to peace and understanding," adding that "the right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel does not mean disregarding the rights of others in the land," thus specifically endorsing Palestinian statehood -- and echoing President Bush's vision of a future democratic, viable Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel (though some may be reminded of Jonathan Swift's definition of visions: "the art of seeing things invisible").

Read it all.

More dhimmitude from Washington. Some are saying, in the wake of Musharraf's speech to the American Jewish Congress last Saturday, that it is unwise to challenge those who invoke Islam's fabled magnificent history of tolerance and peaceful coexistence (which Musharraf invoked, and called for). It is best to pretend that such things did happen, they say, in order to induce Muslims today to emulate the behavior of their forefathers. The obvious flaw in this kind of thinking, however, is that to build on fiction is to build on sand. What will happen when Muslims in the newly-built kingdom of tolerance realize that their ancestors were not proto-multiculturalists, but enforcers of the dhimma? Would it not be wiser for Muslims of good will to confront and reject the dhimma, and devote themselves to working actively against its reappearance? Also, much more often in history -- look at the Communist regimes -- we see that pretending that things are as they are not is not so much a vehicle to make them so but a curtain to fool outsiders, behind which things go on as before.

Would the same thing happen in the Islamic world? The Armenian genocide is a test case. The Turks have been pretending for over 80 years now that they did not massacre huge numbers of Armenians. Has this pretense made them kinder and gentler to non-Muslims? On the contrary: they are just as brutal and unjust to non-Muslims as they were before. But the world pays scant attention -- just as it did before.

From the World Tribune, with thanks to Fjordman:

The House of Representatives was expected to examine a resolution that blames Turkey for the genocide of Armenians in World War I. The House International Relations Committee has passed two resolutions that blame the Ottoman Empire for the killing of about 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey from 1915-1923. On Sept. 15, the committee voted for the resolutions by wide margins despite warnings from the Bush administration that this could harm U.S.-Turkish relations.

The resolutions demands that Turkey accept responsibility for the killing of Armenians and that the U.S. president consider the genocide in American foreign policy. The House panel also called for U.S. commemoration of the Armenian genocide.

House International Relations Committee chairman Rep. Henry Hyde voted for the resolutions. Hyde said the resolutions would not harm relations with Turkey.

Turkey has not formally protested the House resolutions. But Turkish ambassador to the United States Faruk Logoglu stressed that Ankara has sought to maintain a dialogue with Armenia in an effort to improve relations.

"Only via open and honest dialogue can the Turkish and Armenian peoples resolve issues that have been following them and damaging their relations," Logoglu said in a statement concerning the resolutions.

OK, Logoglu. Let's see some open and honest dialogue.

Here's a clear sign of which way the wind is blowing among the dhimmis in official Washington. From AFP, with thanks to Fjordman:

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The new US ambassador to Tel Aviv has admitted that he knows little about Israel and speaks Arabic rather than Hebrew.

"I am not familiar with Israel, but I plan to study the country as soon as possible," Richard Jones was quoted as saying by the Yediot Aharonot newspaper on his arrival in the country on Sunday.

During his first meeting with officials from the foreign ministry, Jones then promised to learn Hebrew while revealing that he was a fluent Arabic speaker.

Might the jihad extend even into the courtroom of those who are being tried for pursuing it? Why not? From Expatica, :

The Spaniard Enrique Cerda and Pakistani Ahmed Rukshar were due to go on trial accused of helping raise funds in connection with Fheik Mahammed, said to be Al Qaeda's 'No 3'.

Fheik Mahammed is implicated in the 9/11 attacks on the United States and a bomb attack on a synagogue in Tunis.

Spain's highest court, the Audiencia Nacional, postponed the trial until 2 November because two French police officers who detained the accused refused to attend court because they claimed there was a "lack of security".

Instead, the two officers will give evidence in France to the court.

"Death threats are becoming a pervasive part of daily life for journalists in Bangladesh." We don't see that so much in this part of the world because so many journalists are so eager to do the jihadists' bidding that threats are unnecessary. "Bangladesh: Journalists targeted in rising tide of Muslim extremism," from the South China Morning Post, :

A chill ran down the spine of journalist Mizanur Rahman when a neatly folded white cloth symbolising an Islamic burial shroud slipped out of the packet he received by post this month.

An accompanying letter said that for his "anti-Islamic" reporting for the Dhaka daily Janakantha he would soon be executed.

White shrouds and death threats also reached eight other newspaper journalists in Satkhira, a southern district of Bangladesh, the same day.

The letters were signed by leaders of the outlawed Islamic militant group Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh [JMJB or, Awakened Muslim Citizens of Bangladesh], the orthodox Islamic movement Ahl-e-Hadith [followers of sayings of the Prophet] and Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh, an Islamic political party which is a partner in the ruling federal coalition in Bangladesh. The letters threatened that the journalists would be "slaughtered" because through their writings they were attacking the Islamic leaders who wanted to transform the country into a pure Islamic nation.

"We are determined to bring a total Islamic rule in Bangladesh through an armed revolution. You [the journalists] are some of the obstacles in our way to achieve the goals. So, you face removal from the Earth," the letter said.

Kalyan Banerjee, a Hindu correspondent of another popular Dhaka daily, Pratham Alo, said : "In the letter accompanying the kafan [burial shroud] they said to me that Hindu religious fare would not be allowed in Pak Bangla [Holy Bangladesh] and no Hindu would be allowed to vote in the next parliamentary elections in Bangladesh."

Banerjee, who exposed the growing Islamic extremist activities in the area in a series of reports recently, said he was also receiving threatening phone calls from unknown people on his mobile.

Along with other Islamic groups, JMJB and Ahl-e-Hadith were accused of masterminding the August 17 violence in which more than 400 small bombs exploded simultaneously across the country killing two people and injuring more than 200.

In the past 10 years, at least 19 journalists have been murdered and more than 800 injured in attacks sponsored by Islamic fundamentalists, political parties, criminals and various government agencies, including the police....

International Federation of Journalists president Christopher Warren said: "Death threats are becoming a pervasive part of daily life for journalists in Bangladesh, preventing them from freely reporting matters in the public interest. The intimidation is a direct violation of civil rights, which are the basic tools for a successful democracy."

As has long been known. And of course, al-Zawahri's talk about the hypocrisy of the West will resonate powerfully with many in Europe and the U.S. -- many if not most of whom will not realize that he wants to replace Western societies with Sharia, which will go harder on human rights than they probably suspect. From MSNBC, :

DUBAI - Al-Qaida's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri, in a videotape aired on Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera on Monday, said the London suicide bombings were carried out by the militant group to strike at “British arrogance.”

“The London attack is one of the attacks that al-Qaida ... had the honor of carrying out against Zionist, British arrogance, the aggression of the crusader British against the Muslim nation for over a hundred years” Zawahri said on the tape.

He denounced Britain for “the historical crime of setting up Israel and the continuing crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

“These and other attacks have revealed the true hypocritical face of Western civilization that talks about human rights and freedom only as long as it is in its interest,” he said, citing the planned toughening of British security laws after the London blasts.

‘Great lessons’ from the bombers

“In their final testament, the heroic brothers in the London attacks ... provided great lessons to the Islamic nation and Muslims in Pakistan to oppose the infidels,” said al-Zawahri, who was shown in the tape wearing a white turban and speaking to an interviewer off camera.

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald explains why Iraq cannot be made into a model anything:

Before, or at least while, history is rewritten, and the Americans and other Infidels are somehow blamed for any future Sunni-Shi'a clash, let's get it straight. For 1300 years or so the Sunnis have been attacking the Shi'a. The doctrine of "taqiyya" originates in the Shi'a attempt to protect themselves not from Infidels, but from Sunnis. Many Sunni Muslims talk of "Muslims and Shi'a," with the latter not exactly read out of Islam altogether, but not quite in.

In Pakistan the Shi'a have for decades been attacked by Sunnis -- we just haven't, in the outside world, been noticing.

In Iraq itself, as Gertrude Bell's Letters from the 1920s make clear, the Shi'a were not happy. They were distinctly unhappy with having to endure a Sunni-dominated government. That Sunni-dominated government never did play fair either with the Kurds or with the Shi'a. Now the Shi'a, being the poorer group, have outbred (as poorer people tend to) the Sunnis, and their share of the population has steadily increased. They endured mass murder by Saddam Hussein and his Sunni-officer-led forces in 1991, and before, and also after.

If they have refrained from major counterattack, it is for two reasons. One, the Americans are there to attack the Sunnis, and to take casualties for them -- if possible, let the Americans do it. Second, the whole martyrdom business upon which Shi's Islam rests, martyrdom-cum-inshallah-fatalism, powerfully works against taking action. But this is not universally true. Shi'a clerics can be far from passive when it comes to acknowledged Infidels -- see the speech of Ayatollah Khomeini (way back in 1942) about the duty, both a business and a pleasure, of killing Infidels. Not exactly the counsel of a Buddhist monk.

What did he say? "This is unfair. This is not Islam. I don't recognise this in Islam." What was happening? He was getting a parking ticket. Sharia alert: "Man who slandered Islam jailed," from GulfNews, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

Dubai: A public relations officer who was found guilty of slandering Islam after receiving a parking ticket has been jailed.

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced A.A. to a month in jail.

A.A., a Pakistani, 33, had parked in the special needs parking area at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The traffic officer testified the accused argued with him. The 33-year-old said: "This is unfair. This is not Islam. I don't recognise this in Islam."

Islam is a room with no exit door. But at least she is not being tried as an apostate, an offense which in traditional Sharia law carries a death penalty. "Appeal to delete ‘Islam’ from IC rejected," from The Star, with thanks to Sparta:

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by a woman who filed an originating summons to delete the word “Islam” from her identity card and claimed she is free to practise the religion of her choice.

The majority decision was read by Justice Datuk Gopal Sri Ram who sat with Datuk Abdul Aziz Mohamad and Datuk Arifin Zakaria.

Justice Abdul Aziz and Justice Arifin ruled that the Director-General of the National Registration Department (NRD) was right in not allowing the application brought by Lina Joy, whose original name was Azlina Jailani.

She wanted to delete the word “Islam” from her identity card on the grounds that the syariah court and other Islamic religious authorities did not confirm her renunciation of Islam.

“The NRD acted perfectly, prudently and rationally in a matter of such sensitivity and importance,” said Justice Abdul Aziz....

Justice Datuk Faiza Thambi Chik had held that as Lina was a Malay, she could not renounce Islam.

In his judgment on April 23, 2001, he also refused to decide on Lina’s wish to renounce Islam on the grounds that the issue should be decided by the syariah court....

On Feb 2, 1997, Lina applied to the NRD to change her name on the grounds that she no longer professed Islam and had accepted the Christian faith.

The application was rejected by the NRD on Aug 11, 1997.

My summation of the CAIR photoshopped hijab in FrontPage:

Last Friday night I went on Alan Colmes’ radio show to discuss Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s suggestion that American mosques be wiretapped. Romney was right, I said, because American Muslims in general had not taken any concrete steps to separate jihadists and those with jihadist sympathies from their ranks. Colmes was aghast, and invoked in reply the condemnations of terror by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Several times during the half-hour I was on the show, Colmes chided me for not taking CAIR’s condemnation of terrorism at face value. Colmes seemed blissfully unaware, or unwilling to consider, the possibility that that condemnation might not be all that it appears to be.

Indeed, much of what CAIR produces is not all it appears to be — as was graphically illustrated this week by a misadventure in photo retouching at CAIR’s website. A photograph posted at CAIR’s website depicted “leaders of the interfaith community gathered for an interfaith candlelight vigil…to mark the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.” One of these leaders — who appeared to be Samina Faheem Sundas, editor of the American Muslim Voice — was standing prominently between the male speaker at the podium and two other Muslim women. Those women were standing submissively with hands clasped in front and eyes cast downward, hijabs showing prominently in the picture. But there was something suspicious about the hijab worn by the woman resembling Sundas: she wasn’t actually wearing one. The one she had on in the picture was crudely drawn on her head by a retoucher. What’s more, two women in the crowd also sported drawn-on hijabs. Someone at CAIR evidently thought that posting a photo of bareheaded women would cast doubts upon the organization’s Islamic correctness.

When I posted the photos illustrating this at my website, Jihad Watch (www.jihadwatch.org), CAIR within hours replaced the retouched photo with the unretouched original. But the damage was done: soon Michelle Malkin, Little Green Footballs, Instapundit, Roger L. Simon, Protein Wisdom, and many others had spread the story all over the blogosphere.

If this were the only example of CAIR airbrushing the truth, it would be innocuous enough. But it isn’t:

Jihad recruiters arrested in Paris. From the BBC, with thanks to Cindy:

French police have detained six men in a Paris suburb suspected of recruiting volunteers to fight against US and British forces in Iraq.

The men, who are believed to be all in their twenties, were picked up in the Seine-St Denis area of the city.

Intelligence services believe there has been a steady but limited movement of Islamic militants from France to Iraq over the last year and a half....

It seems that the six were being kept under surveillance and were only taken into custody when they were about to pass from the planning stage to actually sending volunteers to Iraq.

The French intelligence services are keeping a close eye out for recruiting networks among Islamic militants, though they say that the phenomenon remains relatively small scale.

So far, they have identified 20 or 30 individuals who have gone out via Syria or Saudi Arabia.

Three of them died in suicide bomb attacks and four others in clashes with US and Iraqi forces.

As Jihadwatch has noted in the past, Thailand is rapidly becoming one of the main fronts in the worldwide struggle against jihadism. Aided by Al-Qaeda linked groups based in Southeast Asia, along with Thais trained in camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the local Islamic insurgency is beginning to threaten the very stability of the overall Thai state. As an article in today's Taipei Times notes, the capability and scope of the jihadist insurgency in Thailand stands to increase considerably over the coming months:

Involved in the violence are Thai Muslims trained in Libya and Syria, who fought beside Indonesian, Filipino and other Asian militants against Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The veterans maintain ties with their comrades-in-arms and may be getting updates on terrorist technology, said Police General Jumpol Manmai, who heads the National Intelligence Agency.

Malaysia has repeatedly denied rebel training camps exist on its soil. However, it has long served as a sanctuary for Thai Muslim dissidents and a source of funds provided by sympathetic Muslims. Most recently, 131 villagers fled into Malaysia reportedly out of fear of the military, but the Thai government said the exodus was instigated by insurgents to make Thailand look bad.

Perhaps most important are connections to Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian terrorist network linked to al-Qaeda. Captured in Thailand in 2003 and now in US custody, the group's operational chief, Riduan Isamuddin -- an Indonesian better known as Hambali -- met with Thai militants who gave him and other JI operatives shelter and logistics support. In the end, Jemaah Islamiyah didn't go along with local militant plans to bomb Western embassies in Bangkok and tourist sites frequented by foreigners, according to Thai intelligence officials.

After 20 months of attacks, Thai authorities haven't pounced on a single major safe house, weapons cache or bomb laboratory and haven't captured more than a handful of possible suspects.

"Why? Because the insurgents operate inside the Muslim community which won't point a finger at them, and the military is out there in the cold on its own," said Worawit, who teaches Malay studies at Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani. Muslims comprise only about 5 percent, or 3.1 million, of Thailand's population of 62 million -- nearly all of them in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

Zachary Abuza, an expert on terrorism in Southeast Asia who recently visited the region, said he believes the militants have a broad agenda: "This is much more than an insurgency. This is much more of an attempt to transform society," he said. He noted that the rebels have targeted moderate Muslims and through their leaflets have warned clergy not to perform funeral rites for those they kill and threatened people who do business on Friday, the Muslim holy day.

While other experts disagree, Abuza links the violence to the growth of Salafism, which preaches a puritanical interpretation of Islam in a society where moderation and tolerance of Buddhist neighbors prevailed in the past.

And shows a healthy majority approving of suicide bombings, also. What was that again about a tiny minority of extremists? "Poll: Jordan top anti-Jew nation; Russia most pro-Christian," from the World Tribune, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Jordan leads the Islamic world in its antipathy for Jews according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center.

The poll, which surveyed 17,000 people in 17 countries, said 100 percent of Jordanians viewed Jews unfavorably. The majority of Jordanians are Palestinians, but the late King Hussein and his son and successor, King Abdullah have been known for their pro-American stances.

Did you catch that? "The majority of Jordanians are Palestinians." All right, which is it? Both of them are artificial nationalities created out of Arabiyya for political reasons. But can they be both at the same time?

Note also that the moderate secular Turks are irked when they think of Christians:

Russia led all other countries with favorable views of Christians (92 percent) while Turkey (63 percent) had the most unfavorable view of Christians.

The Netherlands led all nations surveyed both in positive views of Jews (85 percent) and negative views of Muslims (51 percent).

I expect that last number would have been significantly lower before the van Gogh murder.

Significant numbers of respondents in only Jordan (38 percent) and Lebanon (40 percent) blamed U.S. policies for Islamic extremism.

Respondents in Lebanon, which has a large Christian population, were nearly unanimous (99 percent) in their unfavorable views of Jews.

Victims of dhimmi propagandizing and the Stockholm Syndrome.

91 percent were favorable to Christians.

The poll found decreasing support in Islamic countries for Al Qaida and suicide bombings.

Jordan was the exception. In the latest poll, the level of Jordanian support for Bin Laden rose to 60 percent, compared to 55 percent in 2002.

The center also reported increased Jordanian support for suicide attacks.

Fifty-seven percent of Jordanian respondents expressed support for suicide bombings, up from 43 percent in 2002.

In Morocco, support for Al Qaida dropped from 49 percent in 2003 to 26 percent in the latest poll. In Lebanon, only two percent of respondents expressed support for Al Qaida.

Sorry to be a Glass-Half-Empty guy again, but what took you so long, Sheikh Abdul? Saudis have been streaming into Iraq for over two years now. But of course, this declaration was prompted by Zarqawi's declaration of war against the Shia. It isn't so much the jihad against non-Muslims that upsets him; he just wants to defend Iraqi Sunnis. From AKI, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Jeddah, 19 Sept. (AKI) - Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Asheikh, Saudi Arabia's grand mufti, has spoken out against those seeking to sow civil war in neighbouring Iraq. "Adding to the bloodshed and murder of innocents by planes and bombs are attempts by suspicious parties to trigger sectarian tension between the people of Iraq,” said Al-Asheikh who was quoted by the Arab News daily.

These jihadists were trying to stoke intra-religious clashes “to serve the aims of the enemies conspiring against Muslims,” al-Asheikh argued. Al-Qaeda's number one in Iraq, the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, declared an all-out war against Shiites in an audio recording posted to the Internet last week.

Besides al-Asheikh, Iraq’s main Sunni Arab religious authority, the Committee of Muslim Scholars, has also condemned al-Zarqawi’s declaration.

I said this on the Alan Colmes Show last Friday night and Colmes was appalled. Now Andrew McCarthy says it in National Review (thanks to DC Watson):

Radical mosques are the spark lighting the fuse that can kill Americans. That has killed Americans. That will kill more if we let it. Such killing sprees, moreover, are plotted by young, male, Muslim militants who often enter to the United States on student and other visas from places known to sponsor or export terrorism.

None of this is news. But it is cloaked in taboo. Thus, controversy was stoked last week when Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts governor and potential Republican 2008 presidential hopeful, did something that you should never do in this country. Not, at least, if you want to escape the caterwauling of civil liberties extremists and a cacophony of activist Muslim organizations whose knee-jerk approach to "opposing" terror is indignant spewing at every effort made to prevent it.

He told the truth.

Gov. Romney suggested that in the ongoing war, we ought to be investigating mosques that preach Islamic militancy and the young men who come to this country from rogue precincts of the Islamic world.

For giving voice to such a notion, Romney's comeuppance is to have the usual suspects screaming for an apology.

Instead, we should be giving him a medal.

Monitoring radical mosques is exactly what we ought to be doing if we want to avoid domestic terror attacks on the United States. It should be the top priority. And not due to conjecture. We know for certain, and we have known for many years, that modern terrorists are inspired by the Islamic extremism they are routinely fed in mosques — whether here, or in Europe. Not all mosques, but many of them.

The only problem here is that we cannot know which mosques need monitoring without monitoring them. As long ago as 1999 Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani testified before a State Department Open Forum: "The most dangerous thing that is going on now in these mosques, that has been sent upon these mosques around the United States – like churches they were established by different organizations and that is ok – but the problem with our communities is the extremist ideology. Because they are very active they took over the mosques; and we can say that they took over more than 80% of the mosques that have been established in the US. And there are more than 3000 mosques in the US. So it means that the methodology or ideology of extremist has been spread to 80% of the Muslim population, but not all of them agree with it."

Kabbani's testimony is now over six years old and has never been investigated. It is time to do so. Let mosques prove they are not among that 80% (if Kabbani is right) by cooperating actively with investigations to that end.

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald explores the strange eagerness of dhimmi Western governments to pour money into Muslim countries:

I noted in a recent news item that “Afghan and US forces arrested 20 suspected Taleban rebels who were planting bombs at a hydroelectric dam in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, hours before key elections, a defence ministry spokesman said.”

And had the dam been blown up, had roads been blown up, had hospitals been blown up, once more into the various breaches created would have been the helpless, long-suffering Infidel taxpayers. Their resources are being squandered by their timid governments, which refuse to analyze the problem and see that it has no end, and that the right approach is to allow the squabbling, the in-fighting, the warlords, the ethnic and sectarian battles, to take place, with some overall control so that those whose aims coincide with those of dividing and demoralizing Islam (i.e., the Kurds in Iraq), or limiting Islam's power. That calls for support of the diminishing band of true secularists left in Turkey, which support is especially important now that even officers and men in the army, once the guarantor of Kemalist constraints on Islam, have been subject to anti-American propaganda in the form of best-selling anti-Infidel conspiracy novels, which helps them to see the world -- as Erdogan and Erbakan before them did -- as divided between Muslims and the Infidels. And the latter are further divided between the enemies of Muslim Turkey and those Infidels who recognize that their proper role is to placate, at every step, Muslim Turkey (because "Turkey" is the Great Muslim Hope, we are supposed to believe, of Infidels wishing to head off that "clash of civilizations.")

Here is the proper goal to be pursued by Infidel governments in regard to Islamic countries, and polities:

It's certainly a good sign if people can only be convinced by force and threats to go on suicide missions. It would be naive, however, given the large numbers who have signed up for such missions in Iran and Egypt, to dismiss the ideological appeal of such missions because of stories like these. From AP, :

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A suicide bomber captured before he could blow himself up in a Shiite mosque claimed he was kidnapped, beaten and drugged by insurgents who forced him to take on the mission. The U.S. military said its medical tests indicated the man was telling the truth.

Mohammed Ali, who claimed to be Saudi-born and appeared to be in his 20s, said he managed to flee after another suicide attacker set off his bomb, killing at least 12 worshippers Friday as they left a mosque in the northern city of Tuz Khormato.

In confession broadcast on state television later that day, Ali told Iraqi interrogators he did not want to bomb the mosque and hoped to go home.

Results from medical tests on Ali were "consistent with his story and characterization of his treatment," Col. Billy J. Buckner, a U.S. military spokesman said Sunday.

Ali said insurgents kidnapped him from a field near his home earlier this month, then drugged and beat him.

His story was similar to those recounted by other captured militants. The captives routinely claim they were either coerced or fooled by insurgent leaders who promised them a role in the holy war against the U.S. military, only to find themselves as would-be suicide bombers sent to attack civilians.

This has been going on for some time in Afghanistan; I discuss it in Islam Unveiled. From Rowan Scarborough in the Washington Times, :

Insurgents and foreign terrorists in Iraq are being financed in part by the illicit drug trade originating in Afghanistan and passing through Iraq to Europe, congressional and defense sources say.

Money from Afghan-produced heroin is being used by terror cells to buy weapons and equipment, and pay Iraqi citizens to conduct attacks on U.S. troops and to plant deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs), U.S. officials say.

In a Sept. 8 letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde wrote of an "emerging and dangerous growth of the illicit drug trade in Iraq, especially with heroin, now originating and pouring out of nearby Afghanistan."

"We can no longer ignore the threat to our national security from drugs in Iraq," the Illinois Republican said in the letter, obtained by The Washington Times.

Apparently as a reward for continuing to declare that the destruction of Israel is their ultimate goal, and that Gaza was a major victory along the way. From AP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

The European Union announced details of new aid for the Palestinians, raising the 2005 total to $342.8 million on Monday - a day before talks between the four parties that drive the Mideast peace process.

If assistance from the 25 EU governments is added, Europe's total annual aid to the Palestinians amounts to some $612.15 million.

"Only Israel and Palestine can make peace, but Europe is playing its part in the international Quartet to create the environment in which peace can take root," EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement.

Dream on, Benita.

Nothing to see here. Move along. Nobody here but us technical errors. "Publisher says 'technical error' led to omission of part of book critical of Islam," from Helsingin Sanomat, with thanks to Fjordman:

The Finnish translation of a controversial book by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali-born member of the Dutch Parliament, has a passage missing, in which the writer sharply criticises the founder of Islam - the Prophet Mohammed.

The book is a collection of essays and interviews. The missing passage is from an interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw, published on December 25th, 2003. The interview was part of the newspaper’s series on the Ten Commandments.

Hirsi Ali said that the Finnish publisher of the book, Otava Publishers, had asked for permission to omit the passage, because it might be found to be offensive by Muslims.

However, she did not give permission for any such omission.

At Otava, Tero Norkola, head of publishing at the company’s non-fiction department, was unaware of the missing passage when Helsingin Sanomat contacted him. He said that he is certain that Otava did not deliberately order the cut.

Norkola was asked why he thought that the missing passage happened to be the one that has raised so much international controversy.

"It is interesting. Mysterious", he admits. However, he insists that no decision was made to cut the passage, and that its omission must have been a "technical error"....

For safety reasons Otava omitted the name of the Finnish translator from the book. Translators’ names have been left out of other versions as well....

In addition, the Finnish version contains Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s script for the short film Submission, which was directed by Theo van Gogh, who was later murdered by a Moroccan-born radical Muslim.

Hirsi Ali’s Paris-based agent did not know that the Finnish version did not contain the book’s most widely-quoted passage, in which she said that by Western standards, Mohammed was a "pervert and a tyrant" who opposed freedom of speech. She also says that Mohammed is the model for all Muslim men to follow, and suggests that this may be the reason why many Muslim men are violent.

Why Gaza looks increasingly like the Sudetenland. Peace In Our Time update from the Jerusalem Post via the Canadian Jewish News, with thanks to waterdragon52.

If anyone thought that Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza would revive prospects for peace, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas scotched that notion nearly two weeks ago. Full withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines is insufficient, he declared: Israel must also concede additional territory inside these lines.

Specifically, Abbas demanded land north and east of the Gaza Strip. This land was indeed on the Arab side of the 1949 armistice lines, but Egypt, which controlled Gaza at the time, traded it to Israel in 1950 in exchange for a larger chunk of land that Israel held in eastern Gaza. This new border was subsequently acknowledged not only by UN Resolution 242, but also by the Oslo accords, which the Palestinians signed. The PA, therefore, has no conceivable claim to this land: not only did Israel “purchase” it by ceding a larger bit of land to Gaza, but the new border was recognized by both the UN and the PA itself.

Thus when PA officials first raised this demand in talks with Israel several weeks ago, Israeli officials dismissed it as a negotiating ploy. But what Abbas did nearly two weeks ago is not so easily dismissed: in an interview published in a major Palestinian daily, Al-Quds, on Sept. 3, he told the Palestinian public that “the evacuation of the settlers, the settlements and the army from the Strip are steps in the right direction, but it does not mean the end of the occupation. There are lands in eastern and northern Gaza still under occupation… We need to renegotiate the details and get back to the real border.”

This statement manages to undermine every major foundation of the peace process at once.

At last! A Muslim group in a Western country has set up an anti-terror hotline! Now, finally, peaceful Muslims in Britain will have an easy, anonymous way to give authorities tips about jihadists in their midst, and Muslims will be able to shed once and for all lingering suspicions that more of them in the West are in sympathy with jihadists than authorities would have us believe, or would like to believe themselves.

What's that? It's not a hotline for reporting jihad terrorism? It's a hotline for reporting incidents of "Islamophobia"?

Oh.

Over at Drunken Blogging, where I found this item (thanks to Jonjon), they say it best: "Those damned Islamophobes! Killing scores of people indiscriminately in the name of Islamophobia!"

(An aside that is not an aside: while you're there, check out the Fawlty Towers clips.)

The readers of the Boston Globe sway in the wind like a field of ripe corn, for their paper sways dizzily from dhimmitude to anti-dhimmitude -- attempting to be even-handed, I guess. When evening quickens faintly in the street, wakening the appetites of life in some and to others bringing the Boston Globe, mount the steps and ring the bell, turning wearily, as one would turn to nod good-bye to Hugh Fitzgerald, if the street were time and he at the end of the street, and tell Cousin Harriet to take solace in this piece: "Muslims and the Holocaust," by Cathy Young in the Globe, with thanks to Scaramouche:

RECENTLY IN England, four Muslim-staffed committees appointed to advise Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Cabinet on issues related to Islam have come up with a recommendation: Get rid of an official event viewed as offensive to Muslims. What event would that be? A celebration of the Crusades, perhaps? No, Holocaust Memorial Day.

In the words of one committee member, ''The very name Holocaust Memorial Day sounds too exclusive to many young Muslims. It sends out the wrong signals: that the lives of one people are to be remembered more than others."

That ''one people," of course, are the Jews.

The committees aren't exactly proposing that the Holocaust commemoration be scrapped outright. They want it to be folded into a ''Genocide Memorial Day" that will also include such crimes as the slaughter of the Tutsis in Rwanda and the massacres of Bosnian Muslims by the Milosevic regime.

Unfortunately, even against the bloody backdrop of the 20th century, there are strong reasons to regard the Nazi extermination of the Jews as a unique atrocity. It was the first, and so far the only time that, as Cornell University historian Stephen Katz put it in his 1994 book ''The Holocaust in Historical Context," that ''a state set out, as a matter of intentional principle and actualized policy, to annihilate physically every man, woman, and child belonging to a specific people."

But the problem with the proposal goes far deeper. The other ''genocides" for which they want recognition include the Israeli killings of Palestinians.

Clearly, Palestinians have suffered under the occupation. Over 4,000 have been killed since the renewal of violence five years ago. Some of these dead were completely innocent victims; others were fighters, violent protesters, or suicide bombers. (Nearly 1,000 Israelis have died as well.) This death toll is tragic; but to call it ''genocide" is to cheapen the word.

This is inadequate. It is true that some were fighters, violent protesters, and suicide bombers. It is also true that some were innocent victims. But the number of those innocents was inflated by the Palestinian Arabs themselves, by their deliberate practice of staging attacks from civilian areas, so that when the Israelis retaliated they would kill civilians -- and thus provide useful propaganda.

But in any case, read it all.

Good thing Musharraf is so moderate. Imagine what he would say if he were an "extremist."

"Report: Musharraf says rape easy way to Canada," from Reuters, with thanks to all who sent this in:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) -- Outrage mounted in Pakistan and abroad on Friday over President Pervez Musharraf's comment that many Pakistanis felt that crying rape was an easy way to make money and move to Canada.

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has already condemned the remarks made by Musharraf, who is in the United States having addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.

London-based rights group Amnesty International said Musharraf should apologize, and newspapers back home decried their leader's attitude.

Musharraf told the Washington Post in an interview published on Tuesday that Pakistan should not be singled out on rape issues as other countries had the same problems.

"You must understand the environment in Pakistan ... This has become a money-making concern. A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped," the Post quoted Musharraf as saying....

Musharraf, according to media reports, told a news conference in New York on Thursday that he had been expressing a commonly held opinion rather than his own....

Mukhtaran Mai, now an icon for human rights in Pakistan, was gang-raped three years ago on the orders of a village council after her brother, then 12, was judged to have befriended a woman of a powerful clan.

Earlier this year Musharraf blocked Mai from traveling to the United States to attend a women's rights conference, but later lifted the ban after international criticism including from the U.S. government.

Mai told Reuters she was pained by Musharraf's comments in the United States.

"Nobody does it intentionally. A large number of women are molested and insulted in the country. How many of them have made money?," she said. "Such thinking about women is not good."

It is understandable that Yousuf Youhana would have a convert's enthusiasm. But it is noteworthy how immediately he expresses that enthusiasm in terms of supremacy. "One day Islam will be the world's sole supreme religion: Yousuf Youhana," from ANI, with thanks to Sparta:

Pakistan cricket player Yousuf Youhana, a Christian by birth and the first non-Muslim to represent present Pakistan cricket team, has formally announced his conversion to Islam.

After offering Isha prayers at the house of Pakistan Hardware Merchants Association President Sheikh Imran Daud on Saturday, Yousaf said he had embraced Islam three years back, but he kept it secret due to unavoidable circumstances, and that his new name was Moahammad Yusuf.

The cricketer said there would be no non-Muslim in Pakistan provided the Muslims became true believers and start following in the footsteps of Hazrat Muhammad (SAW).

"This will also tend to initiate a global wave about embracing Islam by the non-believers. God willing, soon a day will come when Islam will be the sole supreme religion of the world," The News quoted him as saying.

Yet more Anglican dhimmitude. Any apology of any kind, whatever errors of judgment or execution there may have been, would at this point only play into the hands of the jihadists. The Anglican bishops are completely in thrall to the core notion, as propagated by Said and so many others, that white Christian Westerners can only be oppressors and villians, and their opponents only noble, dignified, and pure. From the BBC, with thanks to all who sent this in:

Church of England bishops have suggested Christian leaders apologise to Muslim leaders for the war in Iraq.

A report from a working group of bishops says the war was one of a "long litany of errors" relating to Iraq.

As the government is unlikely to offer an apology, a meeting of religious leaders would provide a "public act of institutional repentance", it said.

It urges a "truth and reconciliation" meeting, but acknowledges that arranging it could be difficult.

The report, entitled Countering Terrorism: Power, Violence and Democracy Post 9/11, was written by a working group of the Church of England's House of Bishops.

It suggests the meeting would be an opportunity to apologise for the way the West has contributed to the situation in Iraq, including the war.

Collusion

The Church of England has criticised the war, saying it was not a "just war".

But a dilemma now exists for those within the Church - to pull out of Iraq without a stable democracy in place would be irresponsible, but to stay suggests collusion with a "gravely mistaken" war, the bishops said.

But if collusion was a necessary evil, the report says, there needs to be a degree of public recognition of the West's responsibility for the present situation.

At least about one subject: "Islam is enough. It is a complete code for modern life."

"Pakistan's Islamic girl schools," from the BBC, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

In the Jamia Hafza Madrassa (religious school) in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, hundreds of girls are taking their exams.

But although they are taught subjects like maths and geography, they are not tested on them. Their exams are only on matters relating to Islam.

Many of the 2,000 girls here are draped in black from head to toe. Others cover their hair with brightly coloured scarves.

International concern about madrassas breeding Islamic militants has quite naturally focussed on madrassas for boys.

In any case, Islamic radicals have in the past objected to girls' education. In Afghanistan, the Taleban banned girls from going to school.

But now, some groups ideologically close to the brand of austere Islam preached by the Taleban appear to be changing their strategy. Islamic clerics in Pakistan are expanding the number of madrassas for girls....

Gul Shaida, an earnest-looking young woman in black, who has been studying at the madrassa for five years, told me she enjoyed her studies.

"I want to read and what I want I can find here," she said. "After I graduate I want to teach all over the world and I want to tell the world what is Islam and what is Muslim."

The madrassa teachers claim the girls diplomas are equivalent to a master's degree, and that they can go to other more secular institutions.

In reality, very few girls get jobs outside the madrassa system. The hope of the clerics is that some of them will go back to their villages and set up madrassas there.

The teachers were eager to show me the computer room. With five computers, they have one for every 400 girls.

When I ask if they have access to the internet, the teachers laugh. "No, that is not possible for us," says Binte Rafiq.

"[We teach them] just only how to shut down the computer, and how to start it. Basic IT."...

The madrassa's vice president, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, says there has been a change of thinking among religious leaders about girls education.

"We are told that we, religious people, are against women's education. But we have proved that we are not."

Asked about the curriculum, he said, "Islam is enough. It is a complete code for modern life."

Changed views

But women's rights activist, Tahira Abdullah, argues that the madrassas' aim is not to educate but to promote a narrow, intolerant world view.

"It stifles the spirit of inquiry, it stifles the powers of reasoning and logic," she said.

"Just like these girls look like ninja turtles - in that all encompassing veil, just like they look like that, their brains are like that. They're atrophied. Totally rusted.

"The IQ levels must be going down all the time if someone was to do tests on them. They're not allowed to think for themselves, to question, they're not allowed to reason. Their spirit of inquiry is stifled."

The Jamia Hafza Madrassa was raided by police in July as part of an operation to round up militants after the suicide bombings in London.

At least one of the bombers had visited a madrassa in Pakistan a few months before the attacks.

The governor of Mecca makes the preposterous and contradictory claim that his city has a continuing role in "promoting tolerance and dialogue between various cultures." From the Arab News:

Prince Abdul Majeed made the remarks while inaugurating celebrations to mark Makkah as the Islamic cultural capital of 2005. He urged intellectuals and scholars all over the Islamic world to combat deviant thoughts and oppose all types of terrorism, which is totally against the spirit of Islam and its lofty goals.

Loftiness as in a higher spiritual plane or one of Islamic supremacy on this lowly terrestrial sphere?

The governor reminded scholars and intellectuals of their great responsibility saying they have to lighten the way of people keeping up with modern developments.

He also emphasized the role of educated women in bringing up future generations on the basis of pure Islamic teachings.

Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani said Makkah has been the center of culture and civilization since time immemorial. Scholars from different parts of the world came to the city and enlightened the world through their knowledge.

How is this possible when the Arab Human Development Report, written by Arabs, admits that the Arab world lags behind Latin American and Southeast Asia?

Minister Madani continues with the following statement,

“These scholars promoted tolerance by reaching out to non-Muslims."

The contradiction of this Meccan claim of "tolerance and dialogue" is illustrated here by a previous Arab News article. Concerning the prevention of non-Muslims from entering Mecca, the article states:

"That Islam is tolerant is beyond doubt. But tolerance and kind treatment of the followers of other faiths does not mean contravening the rules of our religion. The question of prohibiting entry of non-Muslims into Makkah and Madinah is not one on which personal points of view can be voiced. It is a religious matter legislated by God. It is He who says: “Believers, know that the idolaters are certainly impure. So, let them not come near to the Sacred Mosque after this year is ended.” (9: 28)"

Well, that settles that...

In August, I wrote an article for FrontPage magazine entitled "Iran's Most Radical Regime", which warned that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, the fanatic secret police/para-military force that maintains the hardline tenets of the Khomeinist revolution, was rapidly taking over the levers of power in Iran. Unfortunately, my fears - shared by many others, of course - seem to be coming to pass, as indicated in this story from Iran Focus:

Iran’s para-military Bassij, which groups together ultra-Islamist vigilantes loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are assisting the newly-installed ministers in the hard-line government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a semi-official daily reported on Sunday.

During an interview with Iran’s state broadcasting corporation, Revolutionary Guards Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi said his forces had already started work with “certain ministers”, according to the hard-line daily Jomhouri Islami.

Hejazi, a member of the IRGC high command, is the commander of Bassij.

“We are fast cooperating with government ministers in required fields”, Hejazi said.

The Bassij is the paramilitary militia force which, under the command of the IRGC, often attacks and brutalizes reformers or political dissidents. Their involvement in the ministries, especially the power ministries such as defense and oil, is a particularly worrying development. These ministries once displayed a certain level of independence, especially under President Khatami. Now, their total loyalty to the edicts of President Ahmadinejad and his overseer, the Ayatollah Khamenei, seems assured by the brute force of the 4.5 million-man Bassij.

If the murderers of Theo van Gogh were seeking to deter other European artists from taking up Islam as a subject for artistic discussion, they have enjoyed some notable success. The latest news concerning radical Islam's intimidation campaign in Europe comes from Denmark, thanks to Filtrat.

Since the murder of the Islam critical Dutch film director Theo van Gogh, and the violent attack on a lecturer at the Danish Carsten Niebuhr Institute, Danish artists are fearful of criticising Islam.

Author, Kåre Bluitgen, is due to publish a book on the profit Mohammed in two weeks time, but so far no one has agreed to illustrated the work through fear of reprisals from Islamic extremists.

According to the author, three artists have turned down an offer to illustrate the book based on their fear of being attacked if they do so.

The president of the Danish Writers Union, Frants Iver Gundelach, said that it is a gross attack on freedom of speech, and the issue will be taken up at the next union meeting.

This story is eerily similar to the decision of the European Parliament to cancel an April screening of Van Gogh's last film "Submission", the making of which resulted in his murder. Parliament members later identified security concerns as their motive for calling off the screening.

OK, let me get this straight: Iran says it is not going to resume its uranium enrichment program unless the IAEA tries to stop that program. This makes about as much sense as those who tell me (and they are many) that I should not talk about the Islamic roots of modern jihad violence, for doing so will make more Muslims into terrorists -- as if all we have to do to solve this problem is pretend it doesn't exist (which is indeed the recommendation, in effect, of many learned analysts today).

"Iran warns IAEA against Security Council referal," from AP, with thanks to Kemaste:

Iran said Sunday that the resumption of its uranium enrichment program is not on its agenda but warned that it may change its mind if the International Atomic Energy Agency refers Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

"Enrichment is not on the agenda for the time being but if the IAEA meeting on Monday leads to radical results, we will make our decision to correspond to that," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.

"In a radical atmosphere, there is the possibility of any decision (by Iran)," he added, without elaborating.

The Vienna-based IAEA is scheduled to take up the Iran issue in a Monday meeting. The United States is seeking support from board members to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

[Note from Robert Spencer: I am pleased to introduce yet another new Jihad Watch News Editor, Eric Schwappach. I hope our increased number of posters will enable us to improve our international coverage of jihad, which is already unparalleled anywhere -- if I do say so myself!]

Can moderate Muslims integrate their youth into British society? From the United Press International:

In the wake of this summer's bombing attacks in Britain, moderate Muslims are reaching out to their young to influence them positively.

Why does it take a tragedy like the London tube bombings to motivate moderate Muslims to influence their young in a more positive way? How were their youths motivated prior to the terror attacks?

Since the attacks moderate Muslim voices have become stronger. Munaf Zeena, who runs a Muslim center in London, believes that to defeat extremism a sense of community needs to be created, the Times said. He mentors boys, and insists what sets them apart from the bombers is a strong sense of community and a correct interpretation of Islam.

Mr. Zeena must be talking about the extended community, which includes the indigenous British, and not the "ummah," the community of Muslim believers.

He also believes the role of the masque must be limited. "Mosques are places of worship," he told the Times. "Those that want to see mosque being used for the purposes that Prophet Muhammad used the Medina mosque should be aware that we live in a different age."

This is a surprising admission, but one that is the essential first step for Muslims to integrate into the non-Islamic world at large.

One lesson learned from the insurgency in Iraq is the importance of "street power", or the ability to put your soldiers or fighters in the streets, where they can effectively cow or manipulate the population. The importance of street power is becoming more and more obvious in Gaza, as reported by Reuters:

Thousands of armed Hamas militants marched through Gaza City on Sunday, defying efforts to remove unauthorised weapons from the streets just days after the Palestinian president vowed not to tolerate armed chaos.

About 10,000 members of the Islamic faction, cheered by tens of thousands, carried assault rifles, rockets and anti-tank missiles as they paraded in the group's largest armed show of force in the territory in years.

The demonstration came a week after Israel completed a military withdrawal from the coastal Gaza Strip in a move praised by Washington as a possible springboard to peacemaking.

Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri called the demonstration a message to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "that thousands of Qassam men will remain and not disband", using the name of Hamas's military wing.

Masri said Hamas would continue to aim its weapons at Israel "until the liberation of all of Palestine", alluding to both Israel and the occupied West Bank where Israel has vowed to keep large Jewish settlement blocs.

Hamas poses a political challenge to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who vowed in a speech last Tuesday he would not tolerate the "chaos of weapons". The Palestinian Authority has also sought to ban public displays of arms.

The West, desperate for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has allowed itself to believe that the PA is an effective governing body. It simply is not. No matter how much Western aid is thrown into the effort, it will continue to disappear into a black hole of corruption and mismanagement. Meanwhile, the PA's failure to provide basic accoutrements to the larger population has lead to the ascension of Hamas, which can put 10,000 fighters into Gaza communities seemingly at will. Mahmoud Abbas' promises, while pleasing to the Western ear, ring increasingly hollow on the Palestinian street, where it matters.

Amir Taheri in Arab News details why it feels so much like 1938 these days:

Incredible though it may sound there are signs that Tehran may be preparing for a military confrontation with the United States, and has convinced itself that it could win.

The first sign came last June with the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of the Islamic Republic, an event that completed the conquest of all levers of power by the most radical elements of the establishment.

Since then the revolutionary factions have conducted a little publicized purge of the military, the security, the civil service, and state-owned corporations and media.

The most significant purges have affected the military high command.

Among those replaced are the defense minister, the commander-in-chief of the regular army and his four deputies, 11 senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and five commanders of the paramilitary Mobilization of the Dispossessed. Some of the purged officers have been “parked” in a mysterious new organ called “The Defense Guidance Commission” attached to the office of the “Supreme Guide” Ayatollah Ali Khamenehi.

The minister of intelligence and security and the minister of the interior, who controls the police and the gendarmerie, have also been replaced.

Another sign that Tehran may be preparing for war is the appointment of military officers to posts normally held by civilians, such as governors, mayors and directors of major public corporations.

But, perhaps, the surest sign yet is the military build up under way in the five provinces bordering Iraq. The region, with a population of 20 millions, has been put under the control of the IRGC which has also taken over units of the regular army, including the 88th Division, and the border police. Iran is estimated to have 250,000 troops in the area, its biggest military build-up since the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988.

Read it all.

You can usually gauge the health of a society by taking measure of two social conditions: how the society treats women, and how it treats religious or ethnic minorities. The Muslim world's failing with regard to the first condition is well-known, but its inability to successfully integrate with a sizeable Christian Arab community has received far less publicity. As author Magdi Khalil relates in his excellent article in the American Thinker (thanks to Scaramouche), Arab Christians are finding it more and more difficult to live in a region increasingly defined by a monolithic and resurgent Islamic fundamentalism:

The recent, simultaneous bombing of six Iraqi churches reflects the seriousness of the predicament of Arab Christians, who are trapped between the hammer of terrorists groups and extremists, and the anvil of fanatic governments that skillfully manipulate the issue of religious radicalism for their own benefit, while reinforcing religious, ethnic and sectarian discrimination among their citizens. Arab Christians live in the bosom of a racist culture that claims superiority over non-Muslims, fueled by a legacy mostly filled with violence and hatred and a history centered on strife, murder and viciousness.

Obviously, the Christians of the Middle East have lost the demographic race to the benefit of their Muslim compatriots. Their numbers continue to dwindle not just due to natural factors, but because many of them chose, or were compelled, to emigrate. Some fell victims to the constant pressures that escalated to fatal attacks. And others succumbed to the temptation to renounce their faith. The Christians of Southern Sudan were the only ones to maintain their place in that difficult contest, and though they paid a dear price, they discovered the means to achieve a realistic balance of power and face off eradication designs.

A survey of the present situation of Christians living in the Middle East demonstrates a problematic and distressing cycle: Arab Christian populations are declining, resulting in an erosion of their political power, which in turn causes their conditions to worsen and ultimately drives them out of their own homeland. This pattern is repeated throughout the region.

In Lebanon, Christians represented 50-60% of the population prior to 1975; today this percentage has declined to 25-30%. Most importantly, their political influence has severely weakened. The Lebanese emigration ministry estimates the number of emigrants at five million, more than three and a half million of which are Lebanese Christians. In the past Lebanon was known to be a safe haven for persecuted individuals who were hunted because of their religious or intellectual beliefs. Today, however, it is driving out its own children because of the Arab infringement, the Palestinian foolishness and the Syrian occupation.

Considering the fact that the Middle East is home to a wide-range of religious minorities - not all of them Christian - this increasing intolerance on the part of many Muslim governments could easily ignite numerous civil and ethnic conflicts in the coming years. Mr. Khalil sums up his salient argument in a haunting final paragraph.

There were many other inspiring words, in addition to a significant visit from Pope John Paul II, who wished to support and encourage the Middle East Christians. However, no matter how important the words and visits are, neither of them is capable of achieving significant results. Only when the foundations of the modern state are firmly set in place, can we dare hope that this situation will change. Democracy, liberty and citizenship - the basics of a modern state - were the factors that initiated the integration of Christians within their societies in the first half of the last century; and it was the absence of these factors during the second half of the last century that sent them back into the dark ages of isolation and persecution, where they still abide.

More dhimmitude at my alma mater, where, of course, incoming students were made to read a partial and misleading translation of the Qur'an after 9/11 -- violent sections omitted, of course.

Now comes Daily Tar Heel columnist Jillian Bandes, who has been fired after writing a column entitled "It’s sad, but racial profiling is necessary for our safety":

I want all Arabs to be stripped naked and cavity-searched if they get within 100 yards of an airport.

I don’t care if they’re being inconvenienced. I don’t care if it seems as though their rights are being violated.

I care about my life. I care about the lives of my family and friends.

And I care about the lives of the Arabs and Arab Americans I’m privileged to know and study with.

They’re some of the brightest, kindest people I’ve ever met.

Tragically, they’re also members of an ethnicity that is responsible for almost every act of terror committed against the West in the recent past....

You also can’t debate that of the 19 hijackers on those planes, all 19 were Arab.

And you can’t debate that while most Arabs are not terrorists, sadly, most terrorists are indeed Arab.

Given this combination, I want some kind of security.

Done in a professional, conscientious manner, racial profiling is more likely to get the bad guys than accosting my 12-year-old pipsqueak of a brother on his way to summer camp.

When asked if she had a boyfriend, Ann Coulter once said that any time she had a need for physical intimacy, she would simply walk through an airport’s security checkpoint.

I want Arabs to get sexed up like nothing else.

And Arab students at UNC don’t seem to think that’s such a bad idea....

Said Muhammad Salameh, a junior biology major: “I can accept it, even if I don’t like it. I don’t want to die.”

Professor Nasser Isleem, a man for whom I have complete and utter respect after merely two weeks of sitting in his Arabic 101 class, said, “Let them search.”

“It depends on how I’m stopped, but if it is done in a professional manner … ”

Then he nodded.

“There were Muslims in those buildings, too.”

Some people say that racial profiling will make terrorism a self-fulfilling prophecy, or that it’s somehow unfair to designate certain individuals as being more likely to commit an act of terror than another.

They’re wrong.

If 19 blond-haired, blue-eyed, Caucasian Jews had plowed into the World Trade Center with two jumbo jets, I would demand to be interrogated every time I browsed Cheapflights.com.

After each interrogation, I would offer the official a cup of joe, then heartedly thank him for his efforts. And I would not be any more inclined to blow up innocent civilians as a result of it....

Well. Profiling is ultimately of limited value, given the fact that "Arab" does not equal "Muslim," and that we are facing a threat from an ideology, not a race. Profiling would not have caught John Walker Lindh or José Padilla. Nevertheless, Bandes has many good points and makes them effectively.

What happened next? The Muslim Students Association fired back: "Columnist was offensive, inaccurate, disrespectful":

Our main criticism of Bandes’ article is not in what it argues but the way that she argues her point so disrespectfully. : “I want all Arabs to be stripped naked and cavity-searched if they get within one hundred yards of an airport.”

Although we appreciate the journalistic hook, it was an attention-grabber, sensationalistic and forced us to read the column; however, it offended us all within the same sentence. The image of naked Arabs in a public airport is not only truly horrifying, but it is also reminiscent of the Abu Ghraib photos where Iraqis were also “stripped” down for information about terrorists....

Our qualms with journalistic language aside, we take offense to the manipulation of the quotes from Arabs to support Bandes’ limitedly researched article. After we spoke to both Muhammad Salameh and Professor Nasser Isleem, we realized that they were outraged at having their views on racial profiling misrepresented.

For example, Salameh’s response to the use of his statements was “Quote me as I say!”

His quote from Bandes’ article that “I can accept it, even if I don’t like it. I don’t want to die” is an example of the journalist’s cut-and-paste method. In actuality, Salameh said to Bandes, “I’m not comfortable with it, I’m not happy with it, but I can accept it.”

The “I don’t want to die” part of the statement was given much later in the conversation in reference to Salameh’s Islamic stoicism in accepting his fate if he died in the World Trade Center — not Arab strip searches at airports. Salameh is, in fact, infuriated at the way he was represented in the article, considering his involvement in diversity activities and clubs (such as Psi Sigma Phi, a multicultural fraternity)....

Similarly, Professor Isleem was approached by Bandes under the guise of writing about Arab reaction after Sept. 11. After speaking with Isleem personally, we discovered that someone else had been misrepresented through Bandes’s faulty journalistic endeavor. Their conversation had been cut and pasted to fulfill the expediency of her article.

Had Isleem known the true subject of the article, he would not have chosen to be affiliated with the piece. Isleem is a distinguished member of our faculty and would never agree to be “stripped naked” if he got within 100 yards of Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Then Bandes was fired. DTH Opinion Editor Chris Coletta explained that it was because of Bandes' use of the quotes, as the MSA had outlined in its statement:

Might as well get to the point: I fired Jillian Bandes yesterday.

And not because I thought she was a racist or an idiot. She is, in fact, neither — and even if she were, I wouldn’t have fired her for those reasons.

I fired her because she strung together quotes out of context. She took sources’ words out of context. She misled those sources when she conducted interviews.

In other words, she conducted journalistic malpractice, and that’s simply not something I, or The Daily Tar Heel, will tolerate.

However, Bandes points out that she did not misquote anyone, and the MSA did not establish that she did:

But what I did was not journalistically out of bounds. My sources agreed with racial profiling, and I simply added my two cents.

I was also fired for apparently misleading my sources on what I was writing about. I thought I had made it clear that my article was about both 9/11 and racial profiling when I spoke to each individual.

As I wrote, I focused more on the latter topic. And I regret misleading them, even if I had no intentions of doing so.

But after asking each source several times what he thought of racial profiling, even if I did not explicitly tell them, I would’ve thought that they would understand what a large focus of my article would be about.

I’m deeply saddened that my sources have been harassed and have received death threats. I’m slightly put off by the profanity and hatred that has been thrown my way, and I’m extremely resentful for being called racist.

Join the club, Jillian: crying "racism" is a chief weapon of those who would deflect attention away from Islamic terrorism and what we must do about it.

Anyway, what we have in sum is this: a student columnist writes a column using flamboyant language that apparently embarrasses those whom she quotes, although she quoted them accurately. She is then fired after the MSA complains. But what is the MSA? And what about an honest discussion of the legitimate points Bandes raised? It has been rendered impossible by the furor over her even daring to raise them. And so dhimmitude continues to gallop forward unhindered: it is impermissible even to consider various ways we can defend ourselves against Islamic terrorism.

Yet another example of how the jihad ensures that its host countries will remain relatively underdeveloped. From AFP, with thanks to Kemaste:

KABUL - Afghan and US forces arrested 20 suspected Taleban rebels who were planting bombs at a hydroelectric dam in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, hours before key elections, a defence ministry spokesman said.

A patrol spotted the rebels as they laid the explosives at the Girishk dam in restive Helmand province and they were arrested after an hour-long exchange of fire, ministry spokesman Mohammed Zahir Azimi told AFP.

Carl Savich sets the record straight on matters about which there has been a great deal of misinformation in Serbianna (thanks to Fraser). Be sure to click on the link, as this is a photo feature: there are many important photos there, including one of Bosnian Muslim President Izetbegovic, who was characterized as a moderate in the West, in a meeting with an al-Qaeda unit in Bosnia, and others of churches vandalized by Muslim troops, who painted the Islamic crescent (that's right, the "crescent of embrace") on the walls.

The Bosnian civil war that lasted from 1992 to 1995 was characterized by an unprecedented propaganda campaign by the US government and media. US propaganda portrayed the civil war as a barbaric assault by Orthodox Serbs against secular, tolerant, pluralist Muslims. Muslim ultra-nationalist demagogue Alija Izetbegovic was portrayed by US propaganda as a secular, democratic political leader.

In fact, Izetbegovic had formed a militant and radical Islamic political party in 1990, the SDA, Stranka Demokratska Akcija, the Party for Democratic Action, which was in fact an ultra-nationalist Islamic Party. What US propaganda concealed was the militant and radical nature of Islam that Izetbegovic espoused. Izetbegovic espoused a radical Muslim ultra-nationalism that rejected the secularism of Mustafa Kemal Pasha Ataturk. Everyone knew Alija Izetbegovic was a radical Muslim ultra-nationalist, except the US government, media, and sycophantic Western intelligentsia. It was a transparent case of self-delusion.

This Islamic intolerance was manifested in the systematic and planned destruction of Christian churches and Christian cemeteries in Srebrenica and throughout all of Bosnia. This destruction of Christian churches and cemeteries was stringently covered up in the US and in the West. The Bosnian Muslim assault on Christianity in the Balkans was suppressed by the US media and US government. What did they seek to conceal?

More government dhimmitude in the UK. "Ministers dithered on Islamist crackdown," from the TimesOnline, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

GOVERNMENT policies failed to tackle Muslim extremism despite internal warnings that a “tougher political response” was required after the September 11 attacks, according to a former Foreign Office minister. Denis MacShane, who was in the post until May, has described how his attempts to push for a more hardline approach were rebuffed because of concerns that Muslims would be offended. Only after the recent London attacks have ministers, Muslim groups and officials “engaged in a higher gear”.

“There wasn’t that sense of grip, of pulling together of departments,” said MacShane, who was directly involved in Britain’s policy response to the September 11 attacks. “Whitehall only moves if it is told in no uncertain terms, principally by the PM, ‘This is my priority, it is your priority’. You need very strong engagement by Downing Street.”

He added: “My generation of Labour MPs don’t want to indulge in anything that smacks of Muslim typecasting or hostility. And as we tried very hard not to be like Norman Tebbit or the more ugly tabloids, it’s fair to say we failed to work out an adequate political response to Islamist politics in the UK.”

Give them what they want, Musharraf suggested, and they will stop murdering you. Yet would not such an outcome actually reinforce the idea, so recently reinforced in Gaza, that terrorism works?

From Reuters, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf told U.S. Jewish leaders on Saturday that granting the Palestinians statehood would help stop Islamic terrorism and lead to full diplomatic ties between Pakistan and Israel.

Speaking to the American Jewish Congress at a groundbreaking dinner that opened with the sharing of bread and Koranic prayers, Musharraf said his Muslim country had ``no direct conflict or dispute with Israel'' but that Pakistanis had deep sympathy for Palestinian aspirations for a separate state.

``Israel must come to terms with geopolitical realities and allow justice to prevail for the Palestinians,'' he said, describing a Palestinian settlement as the key to security for Israel and an end to Middle East terrorism.

``As the peace process progresses toward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, we will take further steps toward normalization and cooperation, looking to full diplomatic relations,'' Musharraf said to lengthy applause....

Pakistan has been one of Israel's harshest critics in the Muslim world. But Musharraf said the strife since the creation of Israel in 1948 was an ``aberration in the long history of Muslim-Jewish cooperation and coexistence.''

For details about that cooperation and coexistence, see Islam and Dhimmitude by Bat Ye'or.

Islam, Judaism and Christianity shared prophets and spiritual practices, but were now needlessly ``pitted against each other'' -- a situation it would take courage to reverse, he said. His remarks received several standing ovations from the audience of about 350 people.

Musharraf said suggestions that Islam rejected tolerance and promoted terrorism amounted to a ``hate campaign'' against the faith. But he acknowledged that most people involved in terrorism, and most who suffered from it, were Muslims.

Come on, Pervez. If what you are saying is true, Osama and Co. are leaders of that "hate campaign." For it is they, not non-Muslims, who are preaching intolerance, hatred and violence and justifying it all in the name of Islam.

Remarks courtesy Jihad Watch contributor Eric Schwappach:

Will these games be reminiscent of the "Golden Man" games? The Iranian media will no doubt report them in their respendent Islamic glory. From the Daily Times of Pakistan:

TEHRAN: An American Muslim runner is to be the first woman to represent the US in Iran’s Islamic Women Games, although photographers will not be allowed to record the event to be held in Tehran from September 22 to 28.

Saira Kureshi, 26, will compete in the 800 and 1500 metre runs in the fourth all-women games, since they were launched in 1993 as a way for Iranian women to compete while observing their strict dress code of being covered head to toe.

[Male] coaches, referees and spectators are banned from attending the Islamic Women Games except for golf, shooting and archery, where participants are modestly dressed and veiled.

Only these three competitions are open to male spectators and can be photographed or filmed, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies since the women appear in Islamic wear.

Let us hope that Ms. Kureshi is mindful of the outcome for those women who fail to heed the dress-code.

In order to attract more athletes, this year non-Muslim women have been allowed to participate as long as they are on the national teams of their countries and agree to compete under the stipulated conditions.

Sportswomen from 48 countries, many of them Islamic, are coming to Tehran to compete in 18 sports. Iran’s Christian northern neighbour, Armenia, is sending 17 teams. Athletics, shooting, table tennis and taekwondo have attracted the most participants.

This approach is in line with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vision.

Although Iran has been approached by other Muslim countries such as Pakistan and Qatar wanting to host the games, Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who started the games in 1993 sees little chance of them leaving Iran.

“Other countries have different interpretations of Islam. I am not sure they would be able to hold the games like us with such observance of Islamic rules,” she said.

Translation: The Shi'a/Sunni enmity continues unabated.

DC Watson considers how CAIR wants to airbrush more than just a few hijabs:

Who knows? Perhaps drawing hijabs on bareheaded women in photographs is more demanding than we could've imagined.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/008110.php
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46343

Nevertheless, it seems to be time for yet another reminder, and a lesson in reality for the Van Goghs at the Council on American Islamic Relations -- for they have incorrectly described some of those who died on September 11th, 2001, and failed to mention who it was that killed them.

From their own article:

News Releases

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

CAIR: CO Rep's 'Crescent' Comments a Ploy to Gain Publicity
GOP leaders urged to repudiate Tancredo's Islamophobic views

WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/13/05) The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today dismissed Rep. Tom Tancredo's (R-CO) comments on the design of a memorial to those aboard a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11 as a cynical political ploy designed to gain national attention. (See: http://tancredo.house.gov/)

CAIR also called on state and national leaders of the Republican Party, including President Bush, to repudiate Tancredo's Islamophobic stance on the memorial issue.

In a letter sent to the National Park Service, Tancredo opposed the design's shape "because of the crescent's prominent use as a symbol in Islam." Extremist and anti-Muslim Internet bloggers have associated the design's semi-circular shape with Islam, despite the fact that the designer, the park service and relatives of crash victims say the shape is a circle broken by the flight pattern of Flight 93 when it crashed near Shanksville, Pa. (The crescent itself has no religious significance in Islam, but is commonly associated with that faith.)

http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1746&theType=NR

“Those aboard a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11”?
“Crash victims”?

“Islamophobic remarks”, “extremist and anti-Muslim internet bloggers”……. It just goes on and on with them, doesn’t it? Round and round we go.

CAIR should again be reminded that we are fully aware why these people were aboard a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11. Flight 93 crashed because a handful of brave Americans overpowered their devout Muslim captors and prevented the plane from reaching its designated target. Quite simply, with no Muslim hijackers on Flight 93, the likelihood of the plane ever crashing would have been significantly reduced. These people were not “crash victims.” They were victims of an Islamic terrorist attack, and for what they did, they are American heroes.

Regarding the association between the crescent and Islam, this conclusion is not “Islamophobic“; it is accurate. Perhaps the crescent doesn’t have any religious significance in Islam. However, it has had a defining relationship with Islam since the days of the Ottoman Empire. To this day, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Comoros, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Uzbekistan, and Western Sahara all employ the use of the crescent on their national flags.
http://www.fotw.net/flags/islam.html

CAIR's apparent trivializing of the deaths of innocent Americans who lost their lives at the hands of Muslim lunatics, defining them as "crash victims," is just another shameful episode in the history of an organization that is well acquainted with shameful episodes.

If Islamic symbols, or anything that resembles them were ever to be included in any of the planned 9/11 memorials, should it not be for the purpose of permanently enshrining an indictment of those who perpetrated the most deadly terror attack on American soil in the history of our great nation?

Perhaps photographs of the nineteen hijackers, their commanders, and their apologists should be encased into the sidewalks at the memorials' sites, so that they can be stepped on and walked across by all who live in freedom.

In the meantime, the designers, with thanks to all who contacted them and requested that they return to earth, have decided to do so, and alter the design of the Flight 93 Memorial. Read about it here:
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003543.htm

Remarks courtesy Jihad Watch volunteer Eric Schwappach:

Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, reassures the United Nations Assembly in this report from the BBC:

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said there is no fundamental difference between the Islamic world and the West. He told the United Nations Assembly, meeting in New York, that Arab peoples developed the mathematical foundations on which the digital world is based.

Mr. Straw's views concerning history are skewed, but his dhimmi hyping of Islam's contribution to the sciences continues on unabashedly despite evidence to the contrary.

He said only "terrorists and the preachers of hate" wanted people "to believe that Islam and the West are fundamentally different".

Theirs was a "philosophy of mistrust and despair", which he rejected.

Here again Mr. Straw shows his adoption of historical revisionism, one based on a multiculturalism so saturated with extreme politcal correctness that it permeates the minds of our elite, despite Qur'anic evidence and Muhammadan tradition.

However, Mr Straw said poor economic prospects and stunted political freedoms had led to widespread disillusionment among young and talented Muslims.

And he said Arab nations were now behind in the technological revolution.

"The answer however does not lie in easy stereotypes about some clash of civilisations," he added.

Thank you, Mr. Straw, for your opinions. But it does seem as if the cliches and easy stereotypes are coming from you, not those who oppose you.

[Note from Robert Spencer: I am pleased to announce that we have added another News Editor at Jihad Watch, Patrick Devenny. Patrick comes to us with a deep familiarity with jihad-related issues, as will be demonstrated by the postings he will make here from time to time.]

Get ready for the new battle cry from the anti-Israel bloc, both in this country and without, "Israel: Cooperate with Palestinian Elections!" Now any failures or chaos that surrounds the January ballot can, and will, be blamed on Israel. Thanks to the Washington Post for the following:

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 16 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Friday that his government will refuse to assist the Palestinian Authority in holding legislative elections in January if the militant group popularly known as Hamas is allowed to participate.

"We will never agree that this terrorist organization, this armed terrorist organization, will participate in the elections," Sharon told a group of U.S. journalists during a nearly 1 1/2 -hour session, referring to Hamas, which is formally called the Islamic Resistance Movement. He said that if Hamas is allowed to participate, then Israel will not lift roadblocks on the West Bank or take other measures to smooth the way for Palestinian elections.

"I don't see how they can have elections without our help," Sharon said. "We will make every effort not to help them in their elections."

Sharon added that he had no control over voting in Gaza, which Israel vacated last month after 38 years of occupation. He said Israel would tolerate Hamas's participation only if it gives up its arms and renounces its goal of destroying the Jewish state. "An armed organization doesn't become democratic once they participate in the election," Sharon said, calling the Hamas charter "one of most terrible documents that exists."

Why Israel should cooperate in the elevation of an organization which consistently calls for the Jewish state's destruction is beyond most people, but such logical reasoning won't matter to the hate Israel lynch mob. Unfortunately, the American reaction seems to be hopelessly muddled:

"Hamas is a terrorist organization that should disarm and renounce violence," said National Security Council spokesman Frederick L. Jones II, adding that U.S. officials will never talk to elected officials who belong to terrorist groups. "A decision as to who can participate in a [Palestinian Legislative Council] election obviously is up to the Palestinian Authority. We do not believe that a democratic state can be built when parties or candidates seek power not through the ballot box but through terrorist activity, as well."

This choice missive just in from the hate mail bag:

Mr.Robert Spencer . How many Dollars you take from ISRAEL to speak against ISLAM dirtly ???? Did jeseus teach you to do that ???? No surly WE : Arab Muslem and Christian live togother peacely . And you know that well. We shall stay but you will go to hell sooner or later like NEURON and HOLLAKO and other murders and crhmes . EMELINE

Well, for the record, I don't get any dollars at all (or any other currency) from Israel to speak against Islam dirtly. (Contributions, however, are always welcome, from Israel or India or Illinois or even Irkutsk). In fact, I am not in the least interested in saying anything but the truth about Islam, and I challenge anyone to demonstrate that I have ever done anything but that.

In fact, I wouldn't be interested in saying anything at all about Islam were it not for the fact that people all over the world keep using it to justify murder, brutality, and oppression, such that even Arab Muslem and Christian no longer live togother peacely, if they ever did outside of a relationship of superior to inferior. As soon as Muslims stop waging violence in the name of Islam and oppressing women and non-Muslims, I will shut down this site and go fishing. It would be nice if at least some Muslims would even admit that such things are happening and confront them directly, but even that has not been forthcoming.

In the meantime, I will keep at this work in the defense of universal human dignity and human rights, and I do not in the least fear ending up like Neuron and Hollako.

Diana West (thanks to Scaramouche) details how the dhimmis in the State Department are financing those who would destroy us.

Maybe it was that last $50 million that George W. Bush forked over to the Palestinian Authority in May that made the Gaza transfer between Israel and the PA this week so ... What was Condoleezza Rice's word for the lawless Palestinian stampede of looting and desecration that erupted after the Israeli withdrawal?

"Successful."

That is, something must have sweetened the deal to make Israeli-Palestinian coordination on this territorial handover so very ... How did Ms. Rice describe the dynamic that led to the flags of jihad terrorism being hoisted into a sky darkened by burning synagogues?

"Effective."

Successful and effective? Not everyone's first reaction, but maybe it all depends on what Ms. Rice was hoping for. The fact that burning synagogues failed even to singe the Secretary of State's assessment of diplomatic success and effective statecraft is nothing less than chilling. But maybe it reflects our arrival at a cold, new reality that calls into question administration attitudes toward longstanding American motives and goals in the Middle East.

Since the Oslo "peace process" began in 1993, Palestinians have received more than $1.5 billion from the United States — more aid, as the San Francisco Chronicle pointed out in August, than from any other single country. Not that other countries, mainly European ones, haven't been generous. The Atlantic Monthly's David Samuels tallied up post-Oslo P aid at $7 billion, estimating that as much as half of that money was siphoned off by Yasir Arafat and his cronies.

Still the bucks flow. This year alone, the Chronicle reported, the United States will double last year's $275 million PA aid package, paying out $550 million (not including the $50 million handed out in May, as near as I can tell). In July, even as jihadis struck the London Underground, the Group of Eight countries couldn't pile up money for the PA fast enough, agreeing by 2008 to present its government — which by then could very well include landslide-elected terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda, whatever — with $9 billion.

Read it all.

Last night on the Alan Colmes Show a caller, and Colmes himself, tried to press me on the idea that if "religious fundamentalism" is the problem, we should monitor the 700 Club as much as we should monitor mosques. Neither Colmes nor the caller seemed much interest in the fact that, much as they might like to equate the two "fundamentalisms," Christian groups never seem to get arrested with explosives. From AFP, with thanks to Kisan:

“We found a huge amount of explosives and detonators enough to make 64 bombs from two Jamayetul Mujahideen members,” Abdulllah Al Mahmud, superintendent of police in western Rajshahi district, told AFP.

Acting on a tip, officers raided Pakchandpur village, which is accessible only by foot, early Friday and found the explosives at the home of two Jamayetul Mujahideen activists, he said.

“We also found ammonium nitrate and some other ingredients and materials to make bombs,” Mahmud said.

Some 434 small bombs exploded in all but one of the country’s main towns and cities on August 17, killing three people and wounding over 100.

Leaflets bearing Jamayetul Mujahideen’s name and calling for the introduction of Islamic law were found at the blast sites.

The Thug-In-Chief positively identified. From NewsMax, with thanks to Gabrielle Goldwater:

NEW YORK - A group of former hostages from the U.S. embassy in Tehran reaffirmed today there was "no doubt" that the lead interrogator during their ordeal was the current president of Iran.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has denied he personally took part in the hostage-taking, addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York today for five minutes, despite a finding by the U.S. Department of State that he was a "terrorist" and was ineligible for a visa.

The entire U.S. delegation, led by Ambassador John Bolton, walked out of the General Assembly in protest when Ahmadinejad took the podium.

Before he spoke, the former hostages and their supporters held a vigil in front of the Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran at 3rd avenue and 40th street.

"For twenty-six years, the government of Iran has not been held accountable for their violation of international law," said Kevin Hermening, who at 21 was a freshly-arrived Marine guard at the Embassy and the youngest hostage. "Despite our political differences as individuals, we all agree as a group that it is time to seek remedy. Ahmadinejad and his government need to be treated as a pariah."

Yes. In a sane world, they would be.

Remarks courtesy Jihad Watch contributor Patrick Devenny:

You can tell the situation in Gaza is getting out of hand when legislators of the Palestinian Authority are panicking, recently calling for the resignation of high-ranking government officials, according to the Jerusalem Post:

Palestinian legislators on Thursday demanded the resignation of the cabinet of Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, holding it responsible for the ongoing state of anarchy and lawlessness in Palestinian Authority-controlled territories.

"The situation is very dangerous, especially in the Gaza Strip," said Rouhi Fattouh, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council. "We are demanding that the Palestinian Authority put an end to security chaos and start collecting illegal weapons. The Palestinian leadership isn't doing enough to impose law and order."

Considering much of the leadership of the Palestinian Authority once (or is continuing to) facilitated terrorism and murder, the fact that the lower echelons of Palestinian society have followed their example is hardly surprising. So how does the PA plan on responding?

[The] Interior Ministry is planning to recruit at least 5,000 new policemen to various branches of the security forces. However, the plan has been frozen because of budget considerations and because of demands to recruit thousands of gunmen belonging to the ruling Fatah party.

So, evidently, the plan is to grant increased authority to the thousands of “resistance” fighters now roaming the street. Glad to see that the millions of dollars which American tax payers have poured into training the Palestinian security services have paid off so well.

Noting that the PA had yet to fulfill its pledge to consolidate the security forces, the report accused Qurei's cabinet of negligence with regards to enforcing law and order. It also stressed the importance of putting an end to the phenomenon of masked gunmen roaming the streets of Palestinian cities and refugee camps. Legislator Abdel Aziz Shahin held PA Interior Minister Nasser Youssef responsible for the continued anarchy. "There will be no stability until the security chaos ends," he said. "If the Palestinian resistance is sacred, who said that its methods are also sacred?" Legislator Hikmat Zeid said that there was no justification for the presence of masked militiamen in the streets of the Gaza Strip now that Israel has left the area. "The occupation has left the Gaza Strip, but the masked gunmen are continuing to patrol the streets with their weapons," he pointed out.

After years of promoting terrorism and glorifying mass murder, the Palestinian leadership is now reaping what they have sown.

Could he have died around this time? Or is his death about as valuable a piece of information as the assertion by an Egyptian government organ that he is an American agent? From AFP, with thanks to Eric:

Al-Qaida's leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead but Washington continues to use him as a bogeyman to justify a prolonged military occupation, an Iraqi Shia cleric says in an interview.

Sheikh Jawad al-Kalesi, the imam of the al-Kadhimiyah mosque in Baghdad, told France's Le Monde newspaper on Friday: "I don't think that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi exists as such. He's simply an invention by the occupiers to divide the people."

Al-Kalesi claimed that al-Zarqawi was killed in the Kurdish northern region of Iraq at the beginning of the US-led war on the country as he was meeting with members of the Ansar Al-Islam group affiliated to al-Qaida.

"His family in Jordan even held a ceremony after his death. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is therefore a ploy used by the Americans, an excuse to continue the occupation. It's a pretext so they don't leave Iraq."

That actually places his death much longer ago than June, and Al-Kalesi's words in general in the category of people who insist that Al-Qaeda is an invention of the American government, or that American Muslim organizations have genuinely and honestly condemned jihad terrorism.

For saying mosques should be monitored, which I have long insisted. Romney should not apologize untik such time as self-proclaimed moderate Muslims take genuine steps to separate jihadists from their ranks. So far, that is not happening. From AP, :

The groups, which included the American Civil Liberties Union and various mosques and Islamic organizations, delivered a letter to Romney, which said "your desire to wiretap mosques is an affront to the values and principles that make America a great country."

"As religious, community, and student leaders, we expect far more from our elected officials. Your remarks have failed us," said Caline Jarudi, director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the governor would not apologize or retract the comments.

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald explains how acts of violence and terror fit into the jihadists' larger goals:

Unfortunately, those whose duty it is to instruct us have not bothered to learn what it is they should be instructing us about. As long as they continue to harp on the notion that the only thing to worry about is "terrorism," that this is merely a "war on terrorism," then the successful foiling of terrorist acts, the suppression or removal of those in the early stages of planning such acts, and even the carefully-planned avoidance of such acts, will continue to be difficult and well-nigh impossible. Muslims engaging in carefully-planned avoidance of acts of terror? Certainly: not because such acts are considered wrong (they are not), but because acts of Muslim terrorism may inflame the Infidels and interfere with the continued campaigns of Da'wa and the continued expansion of a Muslim presence in the West through still-unstopped immigration and large families. And that presence immediately translates into Muslim demands for special treatment. They want to come as close to the shari'a -- for example, in family law -- as they can conceivably come in the West: see Ontario, see the "Muslim Parliament" created a few years ago in England, see all the Muslim groups working not to integrate, not to accept the Infidel nation-state, but to promote the ends of Islam. Those ends, it must be understood, are not merely those of an alien creed -- alien in the sense of foreign to Judeo-Christian Western civil...or whatever you want to call it (there are plenty of those managing to fit in) -- but a hostile creed.

Muslim terrorism is a problem. It is a tactic. It is an instrument of Jihad. There are other instruments of Jihad. Jihad itself, a permanent and immutable feature of Islam, found everywhere in Qur'an, Hadith, and the example of Muhammad contained in the Sira, has here and there in Islamic history fallen into desuetude. In the days of humble villages, cut off entirely form the world, Muslims -- under Ottoman rule, for example -- were only dimly aware that there were others. True, whenever possible Muslim raiders and slavers continued to wreak havoc on the coasts of Western Europe, and deep into the interior of black Africa -- in the former case, taking one million enslaved Christians back to dar al-Islam, in the latter, castrating young boys on the spot, and responsible for possibly as many as 15 million people being taken in what was a much larger slave trade, that began earlier and ended (to the extent it was forced to end by the European powers) later, than the Atlantic slave trade.

Jihad has reappeared because of three things:

Al-Jazeera reporter Tayseer Alouni arrested again. "Al-Jazeera reporter held in Spain," from the BBC, :

An Al-Jazeera television reporter accused of links with al-Qaeda has been re-arrested in Spain.

Tayseer Alouni and a second suspect, Jamal Hussein, were ordered to be taken into custody on the grounds that they might flee.

They had originally been bailed for health reasons before the verdicts in their case, due later this month.

Mr Alouni denies using a posting in Afghanistan to distribute money to the militant Islamic network.

What? Are you suggesting that jihadists would take advantage of government largesse to plot against that same government? What are you, some kind of Islamophobe?

From the Yorkshire Post, :

ANTI-terror police have raided a Government-funded computer training centre in Yorkshire in an investigation into links with the July 7 suicide bombers, the Yorkshire Post can reveal.

The IT2 Home training facility, in Staniforth Road, Sheffield, which is part of the Learndirect network, was one of three premises raided in Yorkshire as part of inquiries into the terrorist attacks in London on July 7.

A team of forensic experts yesterday removed computer equipment from the centre in the Darnall area of the city, which has a large Muslim Asian population.

Sources have told the Yorkshire Post that the police are investigating the potential use of computers by the bombers in the run-up to the attacks in the capital....

This is the first official recognition that I know of of the rampant jihad recruitment going on in prisons. From AP, :

MIAMI -- Two men awaiting trial on charges of recruiting soldiers for worldwide radical Islamic holy war were ordered Friday to remain in solitary confinement after prosecutors said they could continue spreading Muslim extremism if allowed into the regular jail population.

"It would be a combustible, risky situation to put these individuals into the general population," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier. "That facility is full of young, angry, disaffected young men."

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke denied motions by Adhan Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi to be moved out of the special housing unit at Miami's downtown federal detention center. But Cooke also said she will insist that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons provide them with greater access to their lawyers to prepare for what will be a lengthy, complex trial in fall 2006.

"I have to say this case raises a lot of concerns," Cooke said. "I'm going to hold the government's feet to the fire to make sure these things happen."

Hassoun, a Lebanese-born Palestinian, and Jayyousi, a Jordanian who has U.S. citizenship, are accused of raising money and recruiting operatives beginning in 1993 to fight for radical Islamic causes in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Somalia and elsewhere. Much of the government's case is based on some 50,000 telephone wire intercepts dating back a decade or more.

Among their alleged recruits was Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member who converted to Islam and allegedly plotted with top al-Qaida commanders to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a U.S. city. Padilla, whose plot never materialized, was designated an enemy combatant by President Bush and is being held without criminal charge at a Navy brig in South Carolina.

Why, yes. And Jews, Buddhists, atheists, secular Muslims -- any actual or potential victim of jihad violence and dhimmitude. "Hindus, Christians must unite to fight jihad: VHP," from the Press Trust of India, with thanks to Eric:

Coimbatore, September 17: VHP leader Praveen Togadia on Saturday advocated a ‘civilisation treaty’ between Hindus and Christians to defeat ‘jihadi terrorism, spreading all over the world’. “Jihadi terrorism has become the biggest international challenge and even the main subject of the summit at the United Nations and the 85 crore Hindus and over 170 crore Christians should jointly fight and enter into a ‘civilisation treaty’ against this,” Togadia said.

He said Hindus and Christians were the victims of the terror. There was not a single political party in India to protect the Hindu society on the lines of Republican Party of President George Bush in the US and Christian Democratic Party in various parts of Europe, he said.

He may be assuming a bit too much about a President who has announced that he is fighting to protect the values enshrined in the Qur'an.

My review of Tony Blankley's new book The West's Last Chance is up now at Human Events:

Tony Blankley begins The West’s Last Chance by imagining a scene from 2008 in which a Republican presidential candidate, avid for Muslim votes, declares:

“It’s time for sharia in America.” He continues: “There are only a handful of terrorists. Our challenge is to reduce that number, not expand it. We’ve been in the Muslims’ faces for too long. Of course, all Americans must be law-abiding. But for our Muslim citizens, let the law they abide by be the peaceful law of sharia. Sharia is a friend of strong family values, and therefore of strong American values.”

Inconceivable? Unfortunately not. The prospect of post-Saddam Iraq emerging as a sharia state has evidently provoked little concern in Washington. Journalist and Islamic apologist Stephen Schwartz has even asserted that “in reality, the concept that lawmaking should not conflict with Islam in a Muslim country is an entirely uncontroversial principle established in many moderate Muslim states.”

Left unmentioned is the widespread persecution of Christians in Iraq, not only by proponents of sharia, but on sharia grounds: selling alcohol in violation of sharia prohibitions for subservient non-Muslim dhimmis, women going out in public with heads uncovered, etc.

The prevailing and never-to-be-questioned dogma that Islam is a religion of peace leads to the concomitant assumption that the sharia, Islamic law, is essentially benign. No official notice can be taken of its institutionalized oppression of non-Muslims and women, its draconian punishments, its disapproval of so much that is central to human experience, even music.

Jihad terrorists around the world are, by their own account, committing violence in order to institute sharia governments first in the Muslim world and then over the entire globe. But this agenda is not advancing by violence alone. The official refusal to acknowledge the Western world is facing an Islamic jihad onslaught that is pressing forward through both violent and peaceful means has allowed that jihad to gain a solid foothold in Western Europe.

Blankley, the Washington Times editorial page editor, details how political correctness and multiculturalism have been the best friends of jihad in Europe. He reminds us that in January 2005, British jihad leader Omar Bakri Muhammad declared: “I believe that the whole of Britain has become Dar al-Harb [land of war]. In such a state the kuffar [non-believer] has no sanctity for their own life and property.”

On July 7, the British reaped the bitter fruit of allowing this kind of rhetoric to be preached unchallenged among British Muslims for years. As Blankley reveals in this book, Britain is relatively more aware and willing to stand up to the jihad than many other European countries.

The West’s Last Chance (Regnery—a HUMAN EVENTS sister company) is sobering proof that it is long past time for European and American politicians to abandon politics as usual—above all, the pandering for votes that he lampoons in his 2008 scenario, which hits uncomfortably close to home given the access to the White House that Muslims now in jail (Abdurrahman Alamoudi) and on trial (Sami Al-Arian) for terrorism-related offenses once enjoyed.

The Bush Administration’s pressure on Israel to withdraw from Gaza and follow up that withdrawal with more concessions is just the latest indication there is still little or no understanding in Washington of the jihad agenda and how to counter it. Will it take the transformation of Europe into a staging ground for international terrorism to wake up the solons of Foggy Bottom? An easier way would be for them to study Blankley’s book carefully, and heed its warnings.

Judge for yourself

Dhimmitude On Ice, from the UK's Sun tabloid, with thanks to Granny Weatherwax and Giaour:

Cone-demned ... 'spinning whirl' ice creams look similar to the world Allah written in Arabic script

ICE creams are being withdrawn from Burger King — because a design on the lid looks like the word Allah.

The fast food chain has had dozens of complaints about the coloured symbol - meant to be a spinning whirl - on its range of BK Cones.

And it is, of course, caving rather than focusing on sanity.

Remarks courtesy Eric Schwappach:

Was Hatin Sürücü murdered because she dared to reject the cultural constraints imposed by her family? A German court seems to think so. From Spiegel Online, with thanks to Panos:

Hatin Sürücü tried to live her own life -- and may have been killed for it. The 23-year-old Turkish woman was shot point-blank in the face in February in Berlin. Many believe her own family was behind the murder and her brother is now on trial.

When Hatin Sürücü was killed, walking on the sidewalk near her home in Berlin's Tempelhof neigborhood, she was holding a cigarette. It was a French Gauloises, her favorite brand, and while emergency medical personnel tried to revive her with adrenaline shots and electroshocks, her cigarette slowly burned out between the middle and index fingers of her left hand.

The photos taken by police at the murder scene in Berlin show many fine streams of blood flowing from the young woman's head and merging in a dark, shiny pool. It looks almost as though someone had carefully combed Hatin's long, dark hair as her head lay on the sidewalk. Her opened pack of cigarettes protrudes from the breast pocket of her corduroy jacket, a dark blue cardboard box with an advertising slogan printed on it in French: "Liberté toujours" -- "Freedom forever."

The district attorney's office in Berlin is convinced that Sürücü died on the evening of Feb. 7 because she had adopted the cigarette pack slogan as her own. Because she felt that being able to smoke in public was one of life's ordinary freedoms. Because she had the courage to walk around without a head scarf. Because she felt it was her right to live in her own apartment and to disobey the men in her family -- and to decide for herself who to love and who not to love.

The murderer shot the 23-year-old Hatin Sürücü three times in the face, in rapid succession and at point-blank range, using a 7.65 mm pistol. It was like an execution.

According to investigators in the case, the shots that killed this single mother of a six-year-old son represent the last stage in an Arab ritual intended to restore what the killer believed was the "family honor." In a Berlin criminal court on Wednesday, three of her brothers will face charges of having maliciously killed their defenseless sister. Investigators believe that the defendants may have carried out the execution as part of a death sentence imposed by a "family council," which assigned the role of executioner to the youngest son, 19-year-old Ayhan, while his brothers, Mütlü, 26, and Alpaslan, 24, were responsible for obtaining the pistol and planning the murder.

The men have either denied the charges or refused to comment, but this isn't the only problem authorities have encountered in the case.

The case has long since become a matter of public debate that extends well beyond the articles of criminal law. Germans want to know what's wrong with a country that has seen an estimated 50 so-called honor killings in the past decade. Why, people want to know, is Germany incapable of protecting its female citizens against violent attacks by Muslim husbands, fathers, or brothers?

Very simple: because Germany is not willing to confront and combat uncomfortable aspects of Islam. Germany would prefer to pretend that such elements of Islam did not exist.

Some commentators have focused on the political symbolism that elevates the death of this attractive, modern woman to a kind of martyrdom, but they ignore the parallel world in which Sürücü was killed. If there's any explanation for her death, the best place to look for it would be in Berlin's heavily Turkish Kreuzberg district, where the presumed killers lived and where life follows two basic laws -- the law of the neighborhood and the law of the Koran.

On the one hand, there's the Sürücü family's four-room apartment on the fifth floor of a renovated building. The family prays five times a day and dogs, considered impure by devout Muslims, are barred from the apartment. Hatin's archly conservative father, who comes from the Kurdish province of Erzurum in Turkey's eastern Anatolia region, has lived in Germany for 24 years but hardly speaks a word of German. Her mother wears a head scarf, adding a veil when speaking with strangers.

Ayhan, the suspected killer, grew up in this world. He is a well-behaved Muslim boy who honors his parents, text-messages secret love poems to his girlfriend and, even as a 19-year-old man, has no problem sleeping in a bunk bed in his childhood room.

A different form of honor prevails in the streets of Kreuzberg. It's the kind of honor that can be violated by as little as an unwanted glance into someone's eyes. When this kind of honor is assailed, the way to regain respect might involve fists, knives, or even guns.

Here, in the old territory of the notorious youth gang known as "36 Boys" after one of Kreuzberg's zipcodes -- Ayhan Sürücü is known by a different name. He calls himself "Carlito," after the hero in the American gangster film "Carlito's Way," in which Al Pacino plays a melancholy former dealer who tries to start a new life, only to find his criminal past catching up with him.

Hatin's death was a shock to the community. "No to honor killings," read the signs.

No one knows exactly how many times the Kreuzberg Carlito has rented the film, but at some point he must have adopted the notion of an "honorable gangster" as a way of life -- one in which the laws of the neighborhood blended, fatally, with those of the Koran.

At age 15, Ayhan was accused of throwing bricks at police officers during the May Day riots in 2000. (He complains that his friends sold him out to the police "for a lousy €500.") Four months later he was caught handing out flyers proclaiming that "Jews and infidels" were responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. Then he claimed that he was secretly in contact with Turkish Islamist Metin Kaplan's "Caliphate State," and in October 2001, apparently in an effort to provoke the authorities, he signed a document in which he claimed that he was "also a member of the PKK" -- the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is fighting for a Kurdish state.

Read it all.

More on the Virginia jihad network, which included, among others, former CAIR official Ismail Royer. "Md. Man Accused in 'Jihad Network' Probe," from AP, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

WASHINGTON -- A Maryland man was charged with conspiracy to help a terrorist organization, part of an investigation of the "Virginia jihad network" that has so far resulted in 10 convictions, U.S. law enforcement officials said Friday.

Ali Asad Chandia of College Park, Md., is named in a four-count indictment alleging he conspired to provide material support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba organization, which the U.S. designated a terrorist organization in 2001.

Remarks courtesy Patrick Devenny:

Just as Jihad Watch predicted yesterday, Massachusetts Governor Mitch Romney’s comments concerning homeland security and American law enforcement’s inability to penetrate mosques have stirred up the usual vacuous condemnations from Muslim-American interest groups and their sympathizers in the press. The quote that has raised their ire is as follows:

''How many individuals are coming to our state and going to those institutions who have come from terrorist-sponsored states?" he said, referring to foreign students who attend universities in Massachusetts. ''Do we know where they are? Are we tracking them? 'How about people who are in settings -- mosques, for instance -- that may be teaching doctrines of hate and terror. Are we monitoring that? Are we wiretapping? Are we following what's going on?"

To most Americans, such rhetorical questions from a possible Presidential candidate would be considered sensible. After all, mosques have long been recognized as hubs for jihadist recruitment and the propagation of extremist ideology. Alas, the Muslim American Society, never a fan of sensible discussion, authored this missive in response:

On September 14th Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney suggested the need to wiretap and monitor Islamic Centers as well as follow foreign students attending Massachusetts Universities. Governor Romney's comments suggesting that any of these centers are engaged in teaching doctrines of hate and terror, is not only a lie, but unacceptable and does nothing more but create the same hate and fear against the Muslim Community that Governor Romney is suggesting the Muslim Community harbors.

Note that MAS is against even the “suggestion” that mosques or universities with large foreign populations could have anything to do with terrorism (I suppose Al-Farooq in Brooklyn, which was sending money to Al-Qaeda, or the Lackawanna, New York mosque where a Saudi recruiter got six young American Muslims to join the jihad against America don’t count). The Boston Globe joins the moronic response to Romney’s quotes with an editorial entitled “Romney’s Slip” (thanks to MB):

Romney said he concluded this kind of intelligence gathering is a federal responsibility. In the absence of evidence that mosques are terrorist havens in the United States, government officials need to avoid suggesting these revered institutions are targets of surveillance. And federal agents should not wiretap any one without a court order based on strong suspicion of wrongdoing.

Romney also mentioned his fears about foreign students in the 120 colleges and universities of Massachusetts who come from terrorist-sponsoring states. ''Are we tracking them?" he asked. Again he concluded that this is a federal responsibility. Few students come from those few nations clearly linked to terrorists. Students from friendly nations such as Saudi Arabia, with influential extremist elements, need to be treated as potential allies and intelligence sources unless they show themselves to be adversaries.

And how would the wise men at the Globe editorial board suggest discerning whether such visiting students are “adversaries” absent a mechanism to observe them? Ask them?

I have just been scheduled to appear on the Alan Colmes radio show tonight at 11:30 PM EDT to discuss briefly Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's recommendation to wiretap mosques.

Was he preparing to emulate Atta? "'Scary' U of M student jailed: Possible terrorism ties under investigation," from the Memphis Commercial Appeal, with thanks to Tom:

When FBI agents walked into Mahmoud Maawad's spartan apartment at 3557 Mynders # 5 on Sept. 9, they found a desk, chair, computer and a Koran.

They also found an airline pilot's uniform, a chart of Memphis International Airport, and instructional DVDs, including one called "How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act."

A federal magistrate Thursday ordered Maawad, a 29-year-old University of Memphis student from Egypt, jailed until his trial on charges of wire fraud and fraudulent use of a Social Security number.

"The specific facts and circumstances are scary," Asst. U.S. Atty. Steve Parker said, arguing against Maawad's release.

Since Maawad can't get a Social Security number, "he can't get a pilot's license, and can't go to flight school," Parker said. "But he wants to get behind the wheel of an aircraft."

Parker said "we don't know either way" if Maawad is a terrorist or connected to any terror groups.

U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Thomas Anderson ruled that Maawad be held without bond.

At this point no one in the American media, left or right, large or small, seems interested in talking about or knowing about it. But nevertheless, among American book buyers interest remains high in my new book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades). For the week of September 25 it is again number 16 on the New York Times Bestseller List (paperback nonfiction), its fifth week on the list.

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald surveys the current prospects for democracy in Iraq:

The Sunnis are not fighting "democracy." They are fighting the loss of their own rule. They have convinced themselves, by the way, that they represent a majority of the population. How have they done so? They think that Sunni Arabs are being undercounted, and that roughly 45% of the population is Sunni Arab. (The lowest figure I have heard being offered by the Sunnis is 42%, reported by Fouad Ajami). And to this figure -- let us say 42% -- they then blandly add as "Sunnis" the Kurds (who, though mostly Sunni, are non-Arab, and have been the chief victims of Sunni Arabs). Thus, presto-magico, it seems that the Sunnis have some kind of divine right to rule.

In some Sunni countries, the division of the world is between Muslim, Shi'a, and Infidel, with the Shi'a not accorded the full status of Muslim, but not -- save in the wilder desert shores of Saudi Arabia and those who follow it -- outright called Infidels. But the Jordanian-born Palestinian Zarqawi certainly calls all Shi'a Infidels -- and we know what that implies for how they are to be treated, and indeed are being treated.

Nor do the Shi'a want, in the abstract, something called "democracy." They want power. They constitute 60% of the population. Hence "democracy" for them, as so far interpreted, means power for the Shi'a. That's it. The Shi'a did not march off to express their faith in democracy, that universal yearning for freedom that Bush keeps telling us is a feature common to all men. He has it wrong. He assumes that culture (in the anthropological sense) does not matter. But many men, and women, especially those raised in Islam, by Islam, for Islam (which alas shall not perish from the earth), yearn not for individualism but for Belonging to the Ummah, for the Belonging that depends on others Not Belonging, and that those others are the Infidels, and Americans are among them.

Remarks by Jihad Watch volunteer Patrick Devenny:

Pakistan is hardly a good place to find an active debate over the role of Islam in society, but an editorial, "Outlawing 'incitement to terrorism' and 'call to jihad,'" featured in the Pakistani Daily Times defies this expectation by examining the role of “personal” jihad inside Muslim states, within the context of the UN’s latest efforts to condemn religious extremism. An excerpt:

The real problem in the Islamic world will be two concepts that the West increasingly associates with terrorism. The first is the call to jihad by non-state actors and the second is the freedom to act in defiance of the state under the concept of amr and nahi (enforce that which is good and stop that which is bad). Both concepts violate the sovereignty of the nation-state as it exists today but both are so far only weakly opposed by the states that they undermine. Some Muslim scholars think that the call to jihad should only be given by the state. But they are outnumbered by clerics who lean on a literal interpretation of the scripture to insist that the madrassas should go on teaching the concept of private jihad.

The writers thus confirm what many Muslim apologists have refused to admit: the basis for personal jihad -- as opposed to jihad called by a state authority -- is firmly rooted in Islamic scriptures.

AFP photo.

Thanks to Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, who comments: "Not only did the American delegation WALK OUT...this photo shows the room while the terrorist-planted president of the Islamic Republic of Iran was speaking. Popular, huh?"

With Islamic countries, of course. From AP, with thanks to CGiddensJr:

UNITED NATIONS — Iran is willing to provide nuclear technology to other Muslim states, Iran's hard-line president said Thursday. Hours later, European nations renewed an offer of economic incentives if the Mideast nation would halt its uranium enrichment.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made the comment after talking with Turkey's prime minister during a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said.

Ahmadinejad repeated promises that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons, the report said. Then he added: "Iran is ready to transfer nuclear know-how to the Islamic countries due to their need."

And what would constitute their need? A need to annihilate Israel? A need to destroy American cities?

A superb bit of anti-dhimmitude from Rod Liddle in The Spectator (thanks to Alistair):

Red Cross officials have been meeting in Switzerland to decide upon a new logo — and presumably, by implication, name — for their fine organisation. The logo in question is the red cross. And the problem with the cross is that it enrages Muslims. In the theatre of war, when most combatants see the red cross, they put their weapons down. Muslim combatants, though, have a tendency to pick theirs up and start shooting with even greater avidity. In recent years we have seen the emergence of the Red Crescent, which accords with Muslim sensibilities. We have also seen the Israeli equivalent, which is advertised by a red Star of David. Muslims shoot at that one, too, with unquenchable fervour. It is wholly understandable, given this profusion of competing icons, that the Red Cross, or whatever they will henceforth call themselves, should seek a symbol which is not immediately redolent of either an oppressive infidel religion or the Zionist cockroaches of Israel. They want a secular, neutral symbol and have hit upon the idea of a red ‘crystal’, or diamond. That shouldn’t offend anyone, should it? It’s what Jesus would have wanted.

I have heard no reports of Christian or Jewish combatants firing on Red Crescent vehicles. Our loathing of whatever enemy we are up against, it seems to me, is less visceral and far less rooted in notions of certainty. We are rather less inclined, these days, to wish hell upon an entire people. The totalitarian flavour of Islam — the unshakeable belief in its own rectitude and a terrible paranoia directed towards serried ranks of enemies, real and imagined — makes the thought of firing on an ambulance carrying wounded infidel soldiers at least permissible and quite possibly, according to Islam’s more rigorous disciples, a beholden duty. And this is where I believe our Prime Minister has got it the wrong way around: it is the core ideology of Islam that is the problem, not a handful of incendiary preachers. But maybe he’s beginning to realise that right now.

According to the Daily Telegraph, a Muslim barrister who ‘advises’ the Prime Minister has said that Mr Blair is the victim of a sinister conspiracy between the Freemasons and the Jews, who control him and took us to war in Iraq. Ahmad Thomson, from the Muslim Association of Lawyers, has previously denied that six million Jews died in the Holocaust: that’s a ‘big lie’, he avers. There are quite a few people who think along similar lines to Mr Thomson, particularly in the United States. Mr Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber, was one such. These people call the US government ZOG — the Zionist Occupation Government — and they tend to have rather too many canisters of weedkiller in their basements. You might have heard similar sentiments from David Icke, too, although David believes that it is giant lizards rather than Jews pulling the strings. My point is that these people are usually lumped together under the generic heading of ‘nutters’. And sometimes ‘psychos,’ ‘weirdoes’, ‘loonies’, etc. But in Britain you can believe such paranoid, irrational gibberish and not merely be tolerated and excused the eponym ‘barking madman’ but actually be invited to divulge your stupidity to the Prime Minister personally. Because you are a Muslim and such poisonous paranoia is sort of expected from you, instead of being sectioned and maybe having a spot of ECT, you get to have your fantasies indulged.

Read it all.

"Extremist groups active inside UK universities, report claims," from the Guardian, with thanks to all who sent this in:

Extremist organisations are operating on university campuses across the country and pose a serious threat to national security, according to a new report.

Yesterday the education secretary, Ruth Kelly, ordered vice-chancellors to clamp down on student extremists in the wake of the July terror attacks in London.

But a report due to be published next week by Anthony Glees, the director of Brunel University's centre for intelligence and security studies, lists more than 30 institutions - including some of the most high-profile universities in the country - where "extremist and/or terror groups" have been detected.

"This is a serious threat," Professor Glees told the Guardian. "We have discovered a number of universities where subversive activities are taking place, often without the knowledge of the university authorities."

The study states that the Islamist groups Hizb ut-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun, which are subject to a "no-platform policy" by the National Union of Students, are active on many campuses and often operate under different names....

Among the universities named are...the London School of Economics and Manchester University, which both had active Islamist extremist groups.

The headline of this Reuters piece (thanks to Sr. Soph) is "Pictures change as Gazans wipe memories of Israel," but the story itself reveals that the Palestinian Arabs are not so much wiping out memories of Israel, but are celebrating the memories of jihadist "martyrs" who they think are responsible for their victory:

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Paintings of Palestinians killed in a nearly five-year-old uprising are already daubed on the walls of Gaza's former Jewish settlements.

Arabic slogans now cover the graffiti left by Israeli soldiers.

Even before the rubble of the settlements is cleared to allow new building, Palestinians are trying to erase the memory of the Israelis who completed their pullout from the Gaza Strip on Monday after 38 years of occupation.

"We wanted to make what was unacceptable look nice and acceptable," said Taha Abu Ghali, heading a group of artists decorating the concrete sniper wall outside the biggest settlement of Neve Dekalim.

"We want to share our people's joy," he added.

The 10-metre murals now covering the settlement walls are very much in the traditional school of the "martyr" paintings that are one of the few flashes of colour in Gaza's drab cinderblock cities and refugee camps.

Earnest-faced young men with wispy moustaches, beards and assault rifles predominate -- portraits of militants, many of them killed while attacking Jewish settlements.

Another regular feature is the gold-roofed Dome of the Rock mosque, a symbol of Jerusalem and the uprising since 2000, which militants say brought about the pullout from Gaza.

Abu Ghali's team painted a picture of an Israeli notebook with the page "Gaza" torn out and two further pages bearing the words "West Bank" and "Jerusalem" left, representing the other territories Palestinians want for their state.

Hmmm. We have seen this before only among Palestinians. From GulfNews, with thanks to Sr. Soph:

Manila: Terrorist groups have resorted to using children in carrying out attacks in southern Philippines, military and civilian officials said.

Major Lao Lucas of the army's Civil Relations Unit based in Zamboanga City cited a report provided by Mayor Luz Tan of Kabacan town in North Cotabato province which said that terror groups are using schoolchildren to extort money from their targets under the threat of carrying out a bomb attack....

Lucas said the students were lured by men who introduced themselves as members of an agriculture organisation. "They were told they would be taught how to plant mangoes. But instead of sowing mangoes, the recruits were trained in making home-made explosives," he said.

The army officer further said the modus operandi of the group is to send text messages to their prospective victims, asking for protection money and threatening to carry out a bomb attack if they refuse to give in to their demand.

Reports said officials are still trying to determine if the attacks are plain attempts at extorting money or a part of a campaign by terrorist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf or the Jemaah Islamiyah.

Remarks courtesy Eric Schwappach:

The Baghdad carnage continues for a second day as the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency claims another 31 lives with two suicide attacks. From AP:

Suicide bombers inflicted another day of mayhem in the capital Thursday, killing at least 31 people in two attacks about a minute apart that targeted Iraqi police and Interior Ministry commandos. The carnage left nearly 200 people dead just two days. A dozen bombings during a nine-hour spate of terror Wednesday killed at least 167 people and wounded nearly 600 — Baghdad's worst day of bloodshed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

U.S. officials blamed the bombing onslaught on efforts by the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency to answer the Iraqi army's successful offensive in the northern city of Tal Afar and to undermine the Oct. 15 referendum on Iraq's new constitution.

"These spikes of violence are predictable around certain critical events that highlight the progress of democracy," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the chief American military spokesman.

"Remember, democracy equals failure for the insurgency. So there has to be heightened awareness now as we work our way toward the referendum. That's power, that's movement toward democracy."

Does the insurgency equal failure for democracy? At this point, one must ask how much “democracy” can the Iraqi people handle? Maybe if Maj. Gen. Lynch and others called it by its right name -- jihad -- instead of "insurgency," he would be able to see the implications of this insurgency for his democratic goals.

Al-Qaida in Iraq, headed by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the bombing campaign launched after an Iraqi-U.S. force of 8,500 soldiers stormed Tal Afar, an insurgent bastion, this week.

Al-Zarqawi then purportedly declared "all-out war" on Shiite Muslims, Iraqi troops and the government in what the United States has called a desperate propaganda campaign to derail the political process.

Leaders of the Sunni Arab minority in Iraq have vowed to defeat the constitution, which they claim favors the Shiite majority and the Kurds.

One definition of democracy is majority rule. Will Iraq ever be democratic in the sense of ensuring minority rights along with that majority rule?

Remarks courtesy our new Jihad Watch volunteer Patrick Devenny:

On Sunday, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty put an end to the long-running debate over whether Ontario would become the first Canadian province to recognize shariah as a legitimate system of law by declaring "There will be no Shariah law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians." According to some in the Canadian Muslim community, however, critics of sharia law are simply ignorant, as quoted in the Toronto Star, with thanks to Designnut:

The raging debate over legalizing Muslim principles in arbitration in Ontario has been fuelled by ignorant stereotypes of Islam as oppressive for women, Muslim women said today.

They called on Premier Dalton McGuinty to rescind his decision to scrap all faith-based arbitration to settle civil and family disputes, and threatened a constitutional challenge if he didn't allow sharia principles in arbitration law.

"We are deeply concerned at the level of ignorance about sharia that has been passed off for informed public debate," said Kathy Bullock, an executive-director with the Islamic Society of North America.

"The level of hatred has been frequently astonishing."

On Sunday, McGuinty changed course by announcing he would end faith-based family-law arbitration that has existed in Ontario since 1991 rather than incorporate the Muslim code known as sharia into the law.

Far from being an ancient medieval law code that is "oppressive and barbaric" and discriminates against women as critics argue, sharia aims to provide justice, respect and fairness for everyone, Bullock said.

"The main understanding of women's equality in the West right now is the Liberal-feminist version which says that if men and women are not treated in an identical manner, then women are being oppressed," said Bullock.

"There are other understandings of what women's equality means and the one that is best expressed from the Qur'anic point of view is `different but equal'."

Hmmm...different but equal...where have we heard that before? Many Canadian Muslims, however, welcomed the Premier’s courageous decision.

Munir Pervaiz, director of the Muslim Canadian Congress, said he failed to understand how Muslims who had agitated for equality before the law could now reject McGuinty's approach.

"How can you, as a Muslim-Canadian citizen, stand in front of anyone and say I want to have a separate law for myself — (that) one law for all is not good enough?" said Pervaiz.