October 2012 Archives

Obama for the third time (after bin Laden and al-Awlaki) has discovered some Islamic jihadists he doesn't like: he has an election to win. "U.S. yanks support for Syrian opposition group, warns of extremist takeover of uprising," by Anne Gearan for the Washington Post, October 31 (thanks to Jacob):

ZAGREB, Croatia — The Obama administration on Wednesday renounced the proclaimed leaders of the Syrian political opposition and said any group seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad must reject attempts by extremists to “hijack” a legitimate revolution.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the Syrian National Council, or SNC, should no longer be considered the “visible leader” of the opposition. That made official what has been the increasingly obvious sidelining of an opposition group led mostly by middle-age Syrian expatriates.

“This cannot be an opposition represented by people who have many good attributes but have in many instances not been inside Syria for 20, 30 or 40 years,” Clinton said during a five-nation Balkans tour. “There has to be a representation of those who are on the front lines fighting and dying today.”...

Clinton and other U.S. officials are fed up with infighting among the SNC leaders seeking recognition as a shadow government and have become convinced that the group does not represent the interests of all ethnic and religious groups in Syria. It also has little legitimacy among on-the-ground activists and fighters, and has done little to stem the infiltration of Islamist extremists into the opposition forces.

Clinton had some of her strongest words to date about the risk that the uprising against Assad could be overtaken by militants who do not seek a democratic replacement.

“We also need an opposition that will be on record strongly resisting the efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution,” Clinton said. “There are disturbing reports of extremists going into Syria and attempting to take over what has been a legitimate revolution against an oppressive regime for their own purposes.”...

The State Department helped to smuggle a few internal dissidents out of Syria and brought them to New York last month to meet with representatives of key nations trying to help the opposition, Clinton said.

The larger meeting during the annual U.N. General Assembly was public at the time, but the presence of Syrian-resident dissidents was not. Clinton did not name the participants nor say whether they had returned to Syria.

“We made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition,” Clinton said. “They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice.”...

In this revealing video clip, interview Cameron Kash presses noted "moderate" Muslim Reza Aslan on why there is no visible and organized movement of moderate Muslims working against the jihadist understanding of Islam. Aslan, arrogant as ever, first trots out the tired line that those who think that peaceful Muslims aren't speaking out against jihadists and Islamic supremacists just aren't paying attention, dismissing those who think otherwise as "stupid." Kash, however, to his credit, won't be placated by nonsense, and presses him further.

Late in the clip Aslan clearly starts folding under a line of questioning that was far harder than the usual fawning he gets from interviewers, even though Kash is unflaggingly respectful and supportive. He says that because there is no central authority in Islam, no one can say that Osama bin Laden's version of the religion is invalid, or that he is not a Muslim. This is actually true as far as it goes: there is no central authority in Islam. But in reality, the practice of takfir, or declaring that some individual or group has so deviated from the faith that it can no longer be called Muslim, is a time-honored principle of Islamic theology; that Aslan will not employ it against those Muslims who believe the way bin Laden did is revealing.

Also, Aslan makes no mention of the fact that jihadists make recruits among peaceful Muslims and justify their actions by reference to Islamic texts and teachings, and consistently portray themselves as the exponents of authentic Islam. It is perfectly reasonable for Cameron Kash to ask Aslan and his fellow "moderates" to fight that claim. Instead, Aslan makes fey gestures, bloviates and obfuscates.

Another interesting feature of this interview is the point where Aslan names some of those he contends are leading moderate Muslim spokesmen: Eboo Patel, Amina Wadud, Faisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan.

Eboo Patel dissembles about Muhammad's behavior and Islamic teaching; Amina Wadud, the only possibly genuine reformer in this group, aroused Muslim anger by having the temerity to lead prayers as a woman; Rauf has refused to denounce Hamas; lied about his commitment to religious dialogue; lied about whether the Islamic center planned for the Ground Zero site will contain a mosque or not; lied about whether or not the project is getting foreign funding; and was involved with a group that helped fund the jihad flotilla against Israel. Daisy Khan has likewise engaged in lies about and defamation of freedom fighters.

That Aslan would try to pass off such an unsavory gang as "moderates" is not suprising, since he himself has recently been unmasked as a Board member of a front group for Iran's bloody Islamic regime. Aslan is also a Left-fascist who has called for obstruction of our freedom of speech by means of vandalism of our pro-freedom ads. He has tried to pass off Iran's genocidally-minded President Ahmadinejad as a liberal reformer. He has called on the U.S. Government to negotiate with Ahmadinejad himself, as well as with Hamas -- that is, with two of the most barbaric and murderous adherents of Sharia. Aslan has even praised the jihad terror group Hizballah as "the most dynamic political and social organization in Lebanon," as well as the Jew-hating, women-hating, kuffar-hating Muslim Brotherhood, which is dedicated in its own words to "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within." Aslan wrote: "The Muslim Brotherhood will have a significant role to play in post-Mubarak Egypt. And that is good thing." We see now just how "good" things are becoming for non-Muslims and women in Egypt under Brotherhood rule.

But what do you expect from an "expert" who claims, in the video below, that Turkey is the second most populous Muslim country, and that Pakistan is third? He is only about 100 million people off. Though lionized by a corrupt and compromised mainstream media, Reza Aslan is -- to use one of his own most favorite words -- quite simply and obviously stupid.

And 40% think that Muslims here should not be governed by the Constitution, but by Sharia. Does this really surprise anyone? Why should Muslims in the U.S. hold different beliefs from Muslims elsewhere?

"Guess who U.S. Muslims are voting for," by Bob Unruh for WND, October 31:

Nearly half of 600 Muslim-American citizens polled who plan to vote in the 2012 presidential election believe parodies of Muhammad should be prosecuted criminally in the U.S., and one in eight say the offense is so serious violators should face the death penalty.

The results came in a groundbreaking scientific poll for WND by the public-opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies. It was taken Oct. 22-26 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.98 percentage points.

The poll also found 40 percent of Muslims in America believe they should not be judged by U.S. law and the Constitution, but by Shariah standards.

And the big winner among Muslim-Americans in the presidential election is Barack Obama, the poll found. More than 72 percent said they are definitely supporting Obama, and another 8.5 percent are leaning that direction. Only 11 percent are for Romney....

“Almost half of those Muslims surveyed – an astonishing 46 percent – said they believe those Americans who offer criticism or parodies of Islam should face criminal charges,” said pollster Fritz Wenzel in an analysis of the survey’s results.

“Even more shocking: One in eight respondents said they think those Americans who criticize or parody Islam should face the death penalty, while another nine percent said they were unsure on the question,” he said.

Wenzel said even the 9 percent “undecided” on that particular question is alarming.

“Seldom in survey research does a response of ‘not sure’ carry such significance, but the response to this question certainly is a surprise, given the severity of the question, and offers insight into the conflict that some Muslims appear to face in making the ideals under-girding American society fit into their religious lifestyle,” he said.

Wenzel’s poll said 7.2 percent of the respondents said they “strongly agree” with the idea of execution for those who parody Islam, and another 4.3 percent said they somewhat agree.

While 80 percent said that they somewhat or strongly disagree with the idea, when those who said they were not sure are added, one in five Muslims across America cannot say they believe Christians or others who criticize Muhammad should be spared the death penalty.

More Muslim women (10.4 percent) than Muslim men (4.9 percent) said they strongly agree with the idea, while 12.4 percent of the women and 7.1 percent of the men were uncertain about the issue involving Muhammad.

Four in 10 said Muslims in America should not be judged by U.S. law and the Constitution, but by Islamic Shariah law.

“A much smaller percentage said they think the U.S. should establish an entirely separate court system to adjudicate matters involving Muslims,” Wenzel said.

While the respondents overwhelmingly lean toward the Democratic Party and like the direction Barack Obama, who repeatedly has praised Islam around the world, is leading this nation, they also have a fundamental conflict with American life, expressing objections to the freedom of speech and religion guaranteed in the Constitution.

American Muslims, Wenzel said, “show signs of ambivalence toward the U.S. Constitution generally and the First Amendment specifically.”

“These survey findings show a community in conflict with the foundations of our nation, as many Muslims favor and enjoy the freedoms offered by the U.S. Constitution, including participation in elections here, but at the same time significant percentages want to be treated differently than the average non-Muslim when it comes to legal matters,” he said.

“While 39 percent of Muslims said they believe existing U.S. courts should consult Shariah law when adjudicating cases involving Muslims, a plurality of 45 percent said they do not agree with this idea. Asked if the U.S. should establish separate courts based solely on Shariah law to adjudicate cases involving Muslim, 21 percent said it should. Two-thirds of respondents – 66 percent – said that separate courts are not necessary to adjudicate Muslims.”

While 9 of 10 of the Muslim respondents said they agree with the First Amendment, they are also in conflict with it, Wenzel said, citing evidence in answers to “another question in the survey which found that one-third of Muslims – 32 percent – believe Shariah should be the supreme law of the land in the United States,” Wenzel said.

“Another shocking finding from the survey is how Muslims view the religious freedoms of Christians. Asked whether U.S. citizens who are Christians have the right to evangelize Muslims to consider other faiths, just 30 percent agreed Christians have such a right. Another 42 percent said they do not have such a right, while 28 percent said they were unsure on the question.”

One in five say Muslim men should be allowed to follow their religion in America and have more than one wife, and 58 percent said criticism of their religion or of Muhammad should not be allowed under the Constitution.

While 43 percent said they disagreed with the idea of Christians evangelizing Muslims, another 27 percent said they were undecided. Only 19 percent said they “strongly agree” with the idea that Americans have a right to invite Muslims to consider another faith.

Nearly one in three said Israel either has no right to exist or they were uncertain whether it does.

Robert Spencer, author of “Stealth Jihad” and “Did Muhammad Ever Exist?,” told WND the survey is a “disquieting indication that Muslims in the U.S. support Shariah blasphemy laws and want to bring them to the U.S.”

“This should not surprise anyone,” he said. “There is no reason to believe that Muslims in the U.S. believe in a different form of Islam from that which prevails everywhere else. But it underscores the need for Americans to defend, forthrightly and without apology, the freedom of speech, as it is increasingly embattled today, and to revive and enact anti-Shariah laws nationwide.”

Spencer has authored 12 books on Islam and has led seminars about jihad for the United States Central Command, United States Army Command, the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and others.

Pamela Geller, author of ”Stop the Islamization of America” and a WND columnist, said: “Restrictions on free speech are part of Shariah. This poll does nothing but show that Muslims in this country adhere to Shariah in large numbers. What is surprising is that the percentage of those who oppose free speech isn’t higher. But probably many of the respondents already know better than to say what they really think to non-Muslim pollsters.”...

(AFDI, Washington, D.C., 10/31/2012) -- An anti-hate coalition of Jewish, Christian, Hindu and secular pro-freedom organizations is asking all people of conscience to contact the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) and ask that it help mitigate the negative impact of deceptive Islamic supremacist advertisements now on display in DC-area metro stations. The ads strongly mislead the public about jihad terror and the Islamic supremacist threat. They are sponsored by the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations, a designated unindicted co-conspirator in a terror funding case led by avowed Hamas supporter Nihad Awad.

Last week, the coalition sent a letter to WMATA Board Chair Catherine Hudgins asking to meet and discuss simple steps to help mitigate the impact of the deceptive Islamic supremacist ad. To date, the coalition has received no response from Hudgins or any other WMATA representative.

In its letter, the coalition requested that:

* WMATA work closely with organizations representing people who have been victimized by jihad and Sharia during all phases of the response and follow up to the CAIR ads.

* WMATA take a similar approach to that of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) in response to the CAIR ads by placing disclaimers that show that the deceptive speech promulgated by such ads is not representative of the view of WMATA.

* WMATA provide free space for counter ads, focused on promoting understanding of the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat to the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan area, and awareness of the harm caused by deceptive Islamic supremacist campaigns to demonize those fighting for human rights against jihad and Sharia.

The Hamas-linked CAIR ads severely mislead Americans about the nature of the jihad against free nations by quoting a peaceful passage of the Qur'an that many Islamic scholars believe has been abrogated by passages enjoining violence and hate. This masks the organization's true intentions and leads to complacency, when in reality CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. CAIR's cofounder and longtime Board chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Ibrahim Hooper), have made Islamic supremacist statements. Its California chapter distributed posters telling Muslims not to talk to the FBI.

Hamas-linked CAIR's attempt to defame AFDI is consistent with its long record of pro-jihad duplicity, deception and thuggery. One member of this unsavory gang has even previously called for these ads to be defaced. Although it has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign Islamic entities, it has not registered as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), despite spreading Islamic supremacist propaganda within the United States.

Although it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has numerous links to hateful and violent Islamic supremacist and jihad groups.

CAIR founders Omar Ahmad and Niwad Awad (who still serves as CAIR's executive director) were present at a Hamas planning meeting in Philadelphia in 1993 where they and other Hamas operatives conspired to raise funds for Hamas and to promote jihad in the Middle East. CAIR has steadfastly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups.

Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror:

-- Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR's Texas chapter, in 2009 received a 65-year prison sentence for funneling over $12 million from the Islamic charity known as the Holy Land Foundation to the jihad terrorist group Hamas, which is responsible for murdering hundreds of Israeli civilians

-- Mousa Abu Marzook, a former CAIR official, was in 1995 designated by the U.S. government in 1995 as a "terrorist and Hamas leader." He now is a Hamas leader in Syria.

-- Randall Royer, CAIR's former civil rights coordinator, in 2004 began serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding al-Qaida and the Taliban against American troops in Afghanistan and recruiting for Lashkar e-Taiba, the jihadist group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai jihad massacres.

-- Bassem Khafagi, CAIR's former community relations director, was arrested for involvement with the Islamic Assembly of North America, which was linked to al-Qaida. After pleading guilty to visa and bank fraud charges, Khafagi was deported.

-- Rabih Haddad, a former CAIR fundraiser, was deported for his work with the Global Relief Foundation (which he co-founded), a terror-financing organization.

In 1998 Omar Ahmad, CAIR's co-founder and longtime Board Chairman, said: "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."

After he received unwelcome publicity as a result of this statement, Ahmad denied saying it, several years after the fact. However, the original reporter, Lisa Gardiner of the Fremont Argus, stands by her story.

CAIR's spokesman Ibrahim Hooper once said: "I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future."

The pro-freedom coalition is led by the human rights organization the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI). Other members include Stop Islamization of America (SIOA); Stop Islamization of Nations (SION); Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE); the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA); Voice of the Copts; Former Muslims United (FMU); Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), Virginia Anti-Shariah Taskforce (VAST); Christian Seniors Association; Faith Freedom International, an organization of former Muslims; Akhand Hindusthan Morcha (a part of Vishwa Hindu Parishad), Sardar Kiranpal Singh Tyagi, President; Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha, Sardar Raviranjan Singh (Member High Power Steering Committee); Sant Sipahi Vichar Manch, Sardar Hari Singh Matharu (Convener); Nanak Shahi Parivar, Sardar Jaspal Singh Manchanda (Head of the Organization).

Individual members include Lieutenant Alan T. DeVona (Retired), PAPD WTC 9/11/01 Patrol Sergeant; Steven M. Goldberg, National Vice Chairman of the Zionist Organization of America; Paul Schnee, President, Zionist Organization of America, Los Angeles Chapter; Dr. Naftali Moses, PhD, whose son was murdered in the jihad attack at the Mercaz HaRav library in Jerusalem in March 2008; Marine combat veteran Jesse Nieto, whose son was killed in the 2000 jihad attack on the USS Cole; Iraq ex-Muslim human rights activist Bushra Qader; and many others.

AFDI is one of America’s most prominent human rights organizations. Its mission is to defend the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and equality of rights for all people – no special rights for special classes.

CONTACT: Pamela Geller at pamelageller@gmail.com; phone (917) 310-4710.

SOURCE: American Freedom Defense Initiative

Yes, yes, but what about all the "Islamophobia"?

"Islamic terrorists from Mexico infiltrating U.S. for next attack," from Catholic Online, October 30 (thanks to Benedict):

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Terrorists with ties to Hezbollah and Iran are infiltrating Lebanese communities in Mexico, hoping to blend into the population there. Teaming up with the all-too powerful drug cartels, terrorists are having themselves smuggled into the US in exchange for money and weapons which fuel cartel violence in Mexico.

The ties are blatant. Earlier this year, an Iranian operative was arrested for plotting to assassinate a Saudi Arabian diplomat in Washington. The would-be killer had hired Mexican cartel assassins to assist him. He was only one of several people who have been arrested both in the US and Mexico with ties to Iran and Hezbollah.

Despite obvious connections like these, Myrick says the Department of Homeland Security still refuses to properly investigate the matter.

That Hezbollah is working to establish secret bases of support in Mexico and South America is no secret. In 2010, the Tucson Police Department even issued a brief on the groups and the threat they pose to local security.

Mexican drug cartels are routinely busted with high-powered weapons including assault rifles and rocket launchers that have passed through the Middle East. The weapons are coming from somewhere, and that somewhere appears to be Lebanon and Iran.

In 2009, a Mexican newspaper, "The Diario de Quintnna Roo" even published a report that Hezbollah cells were using drug trafficking routes to reach the US.

What this means is that terrorists are staging themselves in Mexico, pairing with the cartels, and in exchange for guns and money, are being smuggled into the US with drug shipments....

Perhaps most dangerous of all is the reluctance of the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the matter fully and to strengthen our borders....

Many voters do not realize that the issue of border security is also a matter of national security and that the next successful terrorist attack on American soil may very well have a Mexican connection. If that happens, there's no telling how the government and the citizens of the US may react.

Will Mona Eltahawy spray-paint the New York Times offices? Will Souhir Stephenson and the New York Times be called "racists" and "bigots" in indignant editorials in...the New York Times, as well as the Washington Post, CNN, et al? Will the politically correct elites recoil in horror and write a thousand counter-op eds denouncing the Times for allowing use of a word that they claim is dehumanizing and demeaning?

Why, no. None of that will happen. And only those who are paying close attention will realize the general hypocrisy.

"Tunisia, a Sad Year Later," by Souhir Stephenson for the New York Times, October 31 (thanks to Bill):

ON Oct. 23, 2011, I voted for the first time as a Tunisian citizen. It was the first election of the Arab Spring. Pictures of smiling, proud voters flooded the Internet. The world watched, surprised and hopeful. Moderate political Islam in the Arab world was touted as a possibility rather than an oxymoron.

A year later, we have no democracy, no trust in elected officials, no improved constitution. Human rights and women’s rights are threatened. The economy is tanking.

Tourism is dwindling. Who wants to vacation among bands of bearded savages raiding embassies, staking their black pirate flag over universities or burning trucks carrying beer? Meanwhile, our government and puppet president watch, without arresting these Salafist extremists.

We have one thing left from our revolution: free speech.

For now.

That is why Facebook is filled with outrage and cell-phone videos of the madness; why we exchange skits and caricatures of our dictators, past and present. If something will save us, it will be our refusal to shut up again.

During those first elections, the Islamists were better organized, and supported by Gulf States afraid of democratic contagion. They won over many poor voters by financing communal weddings and lamb dinners for the Eid holiday. Islamists also volunteered in greater numbers at polling stations.

The Islamist Ennahda party won control over the country by winning only 41 percent of the electoral vote. This was possible because parties that portrayed themselves as democratic during the campaign later formed a coalition with the Islamists rather than with other secular parties.

Today, Tunisians are somber, anxious, rattled by daily tragedies. Recently, a secular party representative was assassinated by an extremist group. A woman gang-raped by the police was later prosecuted. Salafists attacked the U.S. Embassy and burned its school (attended by Tunisians) while the government failed to dispatch police, firemen or soldiers.

The Islamists placed their relatives and buddies in powerful positions. They tried to insert into the Constitution that women are “complementary to men,” which would have reversed 50 years of equality. We did not vote for fanatics to twist our Constitution into Shariah law.

But that's what you're going to get.

"The right to representation is for American citizens. This is an enemy combatant. They don't have rights to civil trials."

"Michigan Supreme Court candidate defends against terrorism claim," By Dawson Bell for the Detroit Free Press, October 31 (thanks to Kenneth):

LANSING -- A conservative legal advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., began a major TV advertising campaign Tuesday criticizing University of Michigan law professor and Michigan Supreme Court candidate Bridget Mary McCormack for volunteering to provide legal representation to terrorism suspects held at the Guantánamo Bay detention center.

The ad features the mother of a Flint soldier, killed in Afghanistan in 2010, decrying McCormack's decision to "represent and help free suspected terrorists."

"My son is a hero and fought to protect us," Teri Johnson says in the ad. "Bridget McCormack volunteered to help free a terrorist."

Liz Boyd, McCormack's spokeswoman, called the ad "last-minute mudslinging by a special-interest group outside of Michigan" that "confirms what Bridget Mary McCormack has been saying about what's wrong with judicial campaigns."

"Bridget never represented a terrorist. She is the daughter of a Marine running to protect families and children," Boyd said.

She did not deny, however, that McCormack had volunteered representation....

Sandler said McCormack volunteered to assist a group called the Center for Constitutional Rights in its effort to seek civil trials for terrorism suspects detained at Guantánamo.

Former state Rep. Andrew (Rocky) Raczkowski, an Army reservist who served two tours in Afghanistan and Somalia after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and who appeared with Sandler at a Lansing news conference, said he was outraged by McCormack's actions.

Terrorist detainees captured on foreign soil are enemy combatants, not criminal suspects, Raczkowski said.

"The right to representation is for American citizens. This is an enemy combatant. They don't have rights to civil trials."

According to published reports, McCormack has been identified as an attorney for only one Guantánamo prisoner, a man from Tajikistan who was captured in Afghanistan and was accused of working with a terrorist group called the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

Muqit Vohidov, who is known by several names, was transferred in 2007 to custody in Tajikistan and sentenced to 17 years in prison, the reports said.

It is unclear what role McCormack played in his case. But she told the Michigan Daily in 2007 that he had been transferred before she was able to obtain security clearances and travel to Cuba to meet him....

Too bad!

What a surprise. "Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood says new constitution must be based on Islamic Shariah law," from the Associated Press, October 31 (thanks to Nichole):

CAIRO – Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood says Islamic Shariah law must be the basis of Egypt's new constitution, and legislation must be based on Islamic penal code.

The Brotherhood said in a statement Wednesday that a country ruled by Shariah would not become a theocracy. President Mohammed Morsi comes from the Brotherhood....

Not a theocracy? Oh, well, then!

The 100-member Islamist-led panel tasked with drafting the new document has been facing heavy criticism, mostly from liberals who fear Islamization of Egypt through its work....

No kidding, really?

Democracy on the march! "Armenian church reportedly burned down in Aleppo," from Armenia Now, October 31 (thanks to Lachlan):

The St. Gevorg church in Aleppo’s Armenian-populated district of Nor Kyugh was set ablaze on Monday, reported Tert.am, quoting a representative of the local Armenian prelacy.

Speaking to the online paper, the spokesman, Zhirayr Reisian, confirmed that the church had become a target of rebels and that it had almost been reduced to ashes.

Reisian also said that the Mesrobian Armenian school adjacent to the church has been seriously damaged, too.

Earlier on Monday a blast near an Armenian district of Syrian capital Damascus reportedly killed 10 people and wounded around 50. Armenians were feared to be among both dead and wounded.

Later Reisian told state-run agency Armenpress that a group of 10 Christians, including seven Armenians, was kidnapped near Aleppo.

About four dozen Syrian Armenians have reportedly been killed since the start of the conflict in Syria in March 2011. Hundreds of an estimated 80,000 Syrian Armenian, mostly concentrated in Aleppo, have taken refuge in Armenia since fighting between government and opposition forces reached the city last July.

Gee, Tayyip, you promise? "Erdogan Warns EU Might Lose Turkey," by Chana Ya'ar for Israel National News, October 31:

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Tuesday the European Union will lose his nation if it is not accepted as a member by 2023. At that time, Turkey will celebrate its 100th anniversary as a republic, created following the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923.

Erdogan's comment was the first indication of how much longer the country is willing to wait for an answer on its EU membership before finally tossing in the towel.

During a panel discussion Tuesday night in Berlin, Erdogan responded to a question on the subject by saying, “They probably won't string us along that long. But if they do... then the European Union will lose out, and at the very least they will lose Turkey.”

An overwhelmingly Muslim nation of 74 million people that has until recently been mostly secular, Turkey has pursued membership in the EU since 2005.

Its entry has consistently been blocked primarily by France and also Germany, where some 3 million Turkish nationals currently reside. Another 3 million Turkish citizens live in other areas of the EU as well.

The European Commission, which functions as the executive arm of the EU, has said that Turkey does not yet meet the required standards on human rights and freedom of speech. In addition, Turkey has completed only one of 35 policy “chapters” each candidate must finish, according to the EU....

The Benghazi scandal just keeps getting worse. Clearly Obama wanted to protect the illusion that the U.S. had supported a democratic uprising in Libya, but even Obama keeps saying the al-Qaeda is the enemy -- and now this. "Libyan Leaks: Secret Document reveals Al-Qaeda ‘brother’ put in control of U.S. Embassy in Tripoli," by Walid Shoebat and Ben Barrack, October 31:

A treasure trove of secret documents has been obtained by a Libyan source who says that secularists in his country are increasingly wanting to see Mitt Romney defeat Barack Obama on November 6th. This charge is being made despite Muslim Brotherhood losses in Libyan elections last July which resulted in victory for the secularists. One of those documents may help explain this sentiment.

It shows that in supporting the removal of Gadhafi, the Obama administration seemed to sign on to an arrangement that left forces loyal to Al-Qaeda in charge of security at the U.S. embassy in Tripoli from 2011 through at least the spring of 2012.

The National Transitional Council, which represented the political apparatus that opposed Gadhafi in 2011 and served as the interim government after his removal, made an extremely curious appointment in August of 2011. That appointment was none other than Abdel Hakim Belhaj, an Al-Qaeda ally and ‘brother’. Here is a copy of that letter (translation beneath it):

Translated, the document reads:

National Transitional Council – Libya
8/30/11

Code: YGM-270-2011

Mr. Abdel Hakim Al-Khowailidi Belhaj

Greetings,

We would like to inform you that you have been commissioned to the duties and responsibilities of the military committee of the city of Tripoli. These include taking all necessary procedures to secure the safety of the Capital and its citizens, its public and private property, and institutions, to include all international embassies. To coordinate with the local community of the city of Tripoli and the security assembly and defense on a national level.

Mustafa Muhammad Abdul Jalil

President, National Transitional Council – Libya

Official Seal of National Transitional Council

Copy for file.

As for Belhaj’s bonafides as an Al-Qaeda ally, consider the words of the notorious Ayman al-Zawahiri. In a report published one day prior to the date on the memo above, ABC News quoted the Al-Qaeda leader as saying the following – in 2007 – about the man the NTC put in control of Tripoli in 2011:

“Dear brothers… the amir of the mujahideen, the patient and steadfast Abu-Abdallah al-Sadiq (Belhaj); and the rest of the captives of the fighting Islamic group in Libya, here is good news for you,” Zawahiri said in a video, using Belhaj’s nom de guerre. “Your brothers are continuing your march after you… escalating their confrontation with the enemies of Islam: Gadhafi and his masters, the crusaders of Washington.”

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) was founded by Belhaj.

In a BBC report from one month earlier – on July 4, 2011 – a man named Al-Amin Belhaj was identified as an NTC spokesman and said the following:

“Everyone knows who Abdel Hakim Belhadj is. He is a Libyan rebel and a moderate person who commands wide respect.”

Abdel Hakim Belhaj had been identified in a video report embedded in the the BBC article as…

“…about the most powerful man in Tripoli.”

Abdel Hakim Belhaj is many things but moderate is not one of them.

Interestingly, according to a report by the Jamestown Foundation in 2005, the man who attributed the ‘moderate’ label to Abdel Hakim Belhaj was actually a leader with the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood:

This last week Al-Amin Belhadj, head of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, issued a press release on the Arabic language section of Libya-Watch, (Mu’assasat al-Raqib li-Huqquq al-Insan) calling for urgent action on behalf of 86 Brotherhood members imprisoned since 1998 at Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison and on hunger strike since October 7.

Read it all.

The stain on the record of Hamas-linked CAIR remains, even as it continues to deceive law enforcement officials and the mainstream media. "End of the Line for HLF," from IPT News, October 29:

The United States Supreme Court has decided not to accept appeals from the five Holy Land Foundation officials convicted of illegally funneling more than $12 million to Hamas, essentially concluding the case.

The court had no comment in declining to hear the case Monday.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected similar arguments last year in upholding the convictions against Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu-Baker, Mohammad El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdulrahman Odeh. They were convicted on a total of 108 counts in 2008 and are serving sentences ranging from 15 years to 65 years in prison....

The defense and its supporters continue to cast the Holy Land Foundation as a victim of overzealous post-9/11 prosecutions. The group merely raised money for needy Palestinians, they argue, and was never connected to any violence.

But evidence and testimony in the trial showed the HLF sent money to Palestinian charities controlled by Hamas. "The purpose of creating the Holy Land Foundation was as a fundraising arm for Hamas," U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis said at the 2009 sentencing hearing.

HLF had been one of the nation's largest Muslim charities before being shut down in 2001.
Other disclosures in the case tied several prominent American Islamist groups – especially the Council on American-Islamic Relations – to a Muslim Brotherhood network in the United States created to provide Hamas with political and financial support.

So what was the tsunami in Indonesia? "Hurricane Sandy a ‘divine slap on the face of U.S. arrogance,’ Toronto Islamist website declares," by Stewart Bell in the National Post, October 30 (thanks to Twostellas):

A Toronto website that calls itself the “newsmagazine of the Islamic movement” has described the hurricane battering the northeast U.S. a “divine slap.”

In an un-bylined post, Crescent International, which often promotes the worldview of Iran’s repressive regime, called Hurricane Sandy “a divine slap on the face of arrogance.”

The website is run by the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought. Zafar Bangash, director of the institute, said Tuesday he did not write the post, headlined: “Hurricane Sandy delivers slap on US face.”

“We have a number of bloggers that put on stuff on our website but that particular writer perhaps felt that it was a slap on the face of the U.S. government and its policies,” he said.

Asked to elaborate, Mr. Bangash, who was reached at the Islamic Society of York Region, the federally registered charity that lists him as a director, said he did not believe he would be quoted accurately and hung up.

The post also lamented that Ohio women would be voting in next week’s U.S. presidential election, saying “the fact that Ohio housewives will determine who should occupy the White House to decide on such weighty issues as dealing with the Middle East, Iran’s nuclear program or U.S. relations with Russia is quite amusing, and revealing.

“This is what American democracy is all about. But for now, Hurricane Sandy, as a divine slap on the face of arrogance, is smashing its way through the Eastern Coast of the U.S.”

"Why is such a huge scourge chronically under-reported in the West? One result of this oversight is that the often inflated sense of victimhood felt by many Muslims has festered unchallenged." That is no accident or by-product of under-reporting of the Muslim persecution of Christians. That is a tactic that is being consciously and cannily pursued.

"Christians persecuted throughout the world," by Rupert Shortt in the Telegraph, October 29 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Imagine the unspeakable fury that would erupt across the Islamic world if a Christian-led government in Khartoum had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese Muslims over the past 30 years. Or if Christian gunmen were firebombing mosques in Iraq during Friday prayers. Or if Muslim girls in Indonesia had been abducted and beheaded on their way to school, because of their faith.

Such horrors are barely thinkable, of course. But they have all occurred in reverse, with Christians falling victim to Islamist aggression. Only two days ago, a suicide bomber crashed a jeep laden with explosives into a packed Catholic church in Kaduna, northern Nigeria, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 100. The tragedy bore the imprint of numerous similar attacks by Boko Haram (which roughly translates as “Western education is sinful”), an exceptionally bloodthirsty militant group.

Other notable trouble spots include Egypt, where 600,000 Copts – more than the entire population of Manchester – have emigrated since the 1980s in the face of harassment or outright oppression.

Why is such a huge scourge chronically under-reported in the West? One result of this oversight is that the often inflated sense of victimhood felt by many Muslims has festered unchallenged. Take the fallout of last month’s protests around the world against the American film about the Prophet Mohammed. While most of the debate centred on the rule of law and the limits of free speech, almost nothing was said about how much more routinely Islamists insult Christians, almost always getting away with their provocations scot-free.

Innocence of Muslims, the production that spurred all the outrage, has been rightly dismissed as contemptible trash. What, though, of a website such as “Guardians of the Faith”, run by Salafist extremists in Cairo? Among many posts, it has carried an article entitled “Why Muslims are superior to Copts”. “Being a Muslim girl whose role models are the wives of the Prophet, who were required to wear the hijab, is better than being a Christian girl, whose role models are whores,” it declares. “Being a Muslim who fights to defend his honour and his faith is better than being a Christian who steals, rapes, and kills children.” Hateful messages breed hateful acts. Is it any surprise that mobs have set fire to one church after another across Egypt in recent years?

The deeper truth masked by all the ranting – and, it should be added, by the blinkers of many Western secularists – is that Christians are targeted in greater numbers than any other faith group on earth. About 200 million church members (10 per cent of the global total) face discrimination or persecution: it just isn’t fashionable to say so. In 2010, I set out to write a chronicle of anti-Christian persecution on several continents. Published in my book, Christianophobia, the results of my research are even more disquieting than I expected.

Abu Hamza, the 7/7 ringleader Mohammad Sidique Khan and other totemic figures were allowed to practise their religion openly in Britain, yet there is scarcely a single country from Morocco to Pakistan in which Christians are fully free to worship without restriction. Muslims who convert to Christianity or other faiths in most of these societies face harsh penalties. There is now a high risk that the Churches will all but vanish from their biblical heartlands in the Middle East....

The challenge, then, at once simple and substantial, is to promote the peaceful messages at the heart of the world’s major faiths, while neutralising perversions of the core teachings....

Given Christianity’s evolution, there are grounds for thinking that Islam may change, too. Points of contact between the two traditions are at least as significant as the differences. When they are true to their guiding principles, both faiths insist on the sanctity of the person as a seeker of God. From this should follow a recognition of religious liberty as the first of human rights. Self-interest need not be erased from an apparently high-minded equation. Freedom of belief is the canary in the coalmine for liberty in general, and thus for the flourishing of a society....

...which only indicates just how ignorant of Islam Rupert Shortt is.

Why we don't see more genuine Muslim reformers -- not that Kalimulla Ibragimov seems to have been much of one, anyway: "Russia Caucasus: Imam shot dead in Derbent, Dagestan," from the BBC, October 30 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Attackers have shot dead an imam and two of his male relations, as they drove to a mosque in the Russian North Caucasus region of Dagestan.

They were shot on their way to morning prayers, close to the imam's home in the Caspian Sea town of Derbent, law enforcement sources told reporters.

The cleric was named as Kalimulla Ibragimov, 49, who is said to have delivered sermons calling for peace.

Islamists have been blamed for attacks on moderate Muslims in the region.

Dagestan, a mainly Muslim region, has been gripped by an Islamist insurgency since 1999, when militants backed by fighters from neighbouring Chechnya launched an offensive against Russian control.

Three imams have been shot dead in the region since March, the Russian news website utro.ru reports.

Mr Ibragimov is said by Russian media to have been a "Salafist", a term used for Islamic radicals. Nonetheless, according to utro.ru, he "often gave sermons and made appeals for peace and Muslim unity"....

Yet in the West, Ahmadi spokesmen like the execrable Harris Zafar and Qasim Rashid carry water for the same Islamic supremacists who would cheerfully slit their throats if they were both back in Rawalpindi, and instead target those who stand up for the Ahmadis and decry their persecution.

"Ahmadis barred from offering Eid prayer," by Syed Danish Hussain for The Nation, October 30 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

ISLAMABAD – The Ahmadiya community residing in Rawalpindi city continues to bear the brunt of dangerous religious frenzy.

Around 1500-1600 worshippers belonging to Ahmadi community - who were supposed to congregate at the worship place of the community located at E-Block of Satellite Town to observe Eidul Azha prayers - were barred by the authorities from doing so.

It came after a new wave of hate-campaign against the community hit the city.

The Action Committee Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (ACKN) - an opportunistic alliance between the banned religious outfits including Jamatud Dawa (Jud) and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat (former Sipah-e-Sahaba) and some local traders - just a week before Eidul Azha had filled the city with anti-Ahmadi banners demanding of the city administration to seal the worship place permanently.

It was not the first time, as community members were also not allowed to offer Eidul Fitr prayers around two-and-a-half months ago.

“We, the office-bearers of Anjuman-e-Ahmadiya Rawalpindi (AAR), have formally requested the city administration to allow us to observe Eidul Azha prayers at Ewan-e-Tauheed near the Holy Family Hospital. But the administration refused on the pretext of law and order situation,” said a member of the administration of Ewan-e-Tauheed, wishing not to be named, while talking to TheNation....

Here is how proponents of Sharia gather supporters. "Egyptians who vote for draft constitution will go to ‘hell:’ Salafi leader," from Al Arabiya, October 30 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Egyptians who vote for a draft constitution that does not establish “shariah rulings” as the country’s main jurisprudence will go “to hell,” a Salafi political leader has said.

Adel Afifi, the founder and president of Al-Asala political party, wrote on his Facebook account: “Support God and reject the constitution.” He added that those who will accept the draft constitution will be “apostates,” “committing a sin” and “casting themselves into hell.”

The approval of a constitution that “rebuffs God’s law is prohibited and is a clear sin,” Afifi added, according to Egypt’s news website Masrawy.com.

The draft constitution leaves unchanged Article 2 of the 1971 constitution stating, “Islam is the religion of the State, Arabic is its official language and the principles of Islamic Shariah form the main source of legislation.”

Salafis and Islamic hardliners demand that the expression “the principles of Islamic shariah” be replaced by “rulings of shariah.”

Salafis in Egypt are planning a protest in Tahrir Square on Friday to “support Sharia” and to call for a constitution in which its “articles do not violate God’s law.” The Muslim Brotherhood movement said it will not take part in the protest....

I've heard of comedians dying out there, but this is taking that a bit too literally. Anyway, Islamic supremacist "comedians" such as Baba Ali and Dean Obeidallah should book a few dates in Mogadishu -- their whining Muslims-are-victims act would go over big there. "Islamists respond with bullets to jokes of Somali comedian," from Middle East Online, October 30 (thanks to Twostellas):

MOGADISHU - Gunmen assassinated a well-known comedian and musician who poked fun at Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police and colleagues said Tuesday.

Warsame Shire Awale, a famous composer who had worked with Somalia's national army band before joining Radio Kulmiye as a drama producer and comedian, was attacked by two gunmen late on Monday.

"Gunmen killed him... we are investigating the matter and the killers will be brought to justice," police chief Ahmed Hassan Malin told reporters.

"Two men armed with pistols shot and wounded him near his house in Waberi district, he died shortly after in hospital," said Abdi Mohamed Haji, a colleague at Radio Kulmiye.

The killing, the latest in a string of attacks on media workers in Somalia, follows the murder of fellow comic Abdi Jeylani Malaq Marshale in August, who also worked at Kulmiye....

More glories of the democratic and pluralist "Arab Spring" in Tunisia.

"Tunisian anti-Islamist blogger fined for 'indecency,'" from Middle East Online, October 30 (thanks to Twostellas):

TUNIS - A Tunisian court on Tuesday ordered blogger and anti-Islamist activist Sofiane Chourabi to pay a 104 dinar (52 euro/$67) fine for drunkenness and indecency during Ramadan, he said.

Chourabi has accused the Islamist-led government of orchestrating the case against him and, denying any wrongdoing, said he would appeal the decision.

The court ordered Chourabi and his journalist friend Mehdi Jelassi to pay 100 dinars each for indecency and four dinars each for drinking alcohol in public during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

The two men were arrested at the beginning of August for allegedly drinking alcohol on a beach near Menzel Temime, south of Tunis, and initially faced a six-month jail sentence.

"I will appeal the court's decision because it confirms accusations which I totally reject and deny," Chourabi said.

The blogger, who became a vocal critic of Tunisia's deposed president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and has since his ouster has attacked the ruling Islamist party Ennahda, has denounced the trial as politically motivated and unfair.

"It is an unfair trial, completely made up and baseless. It is about intimidating the opponents of Ennahda's policies," Chourabi said at a hearing in early October.

Chourabi said confessions he gave in August were made "under police pressure."

The trial comes at a time of heightened concerns in Tunisia over freedom of expression, and follows a spate of attacks by hardline Salafist Muslims over the summer on targets deemed un-Islamic.

The case was brought against Chourabi by a man who claimed he was the victim of a "moral offence" because of the alleged incident.

There is absolutely no purpose for our troops to be in Afghanistan, unless the idea is to provide Afghan troops and police with targets.

"Apparent insider attack kills 2 NATO troops in Afghanistan," from the Associated Press, October 30 (thanks to David):

KABUL, Afghanistan – The international military coalition in Afghanistan says a man wearing an Afghan police uniform killed two NATO service members in southern Afghanistan.

Tuesday's assault appeared to be the latest in a string of insider attacks that have threatened to sever the partnership between international troops and the Afghan forces they are trying to train to take over responsibility for the country's security. There have also been cases of insurgents donning Afghan uniforms in assaults....

"It's really surprising," said Saeed Fahia, executive director of the nonprofit Confederation of the Somali Community in Minnesota. "It doesn't even seem rational." And Minnesota Public Radio fell for it, of course.

"Terrorist pipeline continues to flow from Minn. to Somalia," by Laura Yuen for Minnesota Public Radio, October 26 (thanks to Kenneth):

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Four years after federal authorities in the Twin Cities began investigating homegrown recruitment for the terrorist group al-Shabab, at least two additional men slipped away to Somalia as recently as July.

Federal authorities believe the Minneapolis men joined the group and are still in the East African nation.

The FBI's confirmation this week that a terrorist conduit continues to flow from Minnesota to Somalia perplexes members of Minnesota's Somali community, who have watched with dismay as young men have disappeared.

FAMILY STUNNED

Among those missing is 19-year-old Mohamed Osman, who once called a leafy little cul-de-sac in south Minneapolis home.

Inside his family's two-story house, Osman's older cousin, Jamal Salim, recalled when the family realized that Osman, who graduated last year from Southwest High School, was missing.

"One day we're at home, like, 'Where is Mohamed?' " Salim said. "It's been two days, and we're thinking he's out with friends. The parents are going crazy. They think he's got arrested or something."

Salim said Osman's mother didn't realize her son was in Somalia until she received a visit from the FBI. Salim said his aunt was stunned.

As were earlier waves of about 20 Twin Cities men who federal authorities say enlisted with al-Shabab, the introverted Osman was especially secretive about his plans, his cousin said.

"It made me mad because he didn't speak to no relative about it," Salim said. "We're heartbroken about it because he's like our sibling. Imagine not knowing what's going on with your own brother — how he's been feeling, who he's been talking to, and what they're telling him. We lost a brother, and I don't know how to get him back."

Authorities say Osman and 20-year-old Omar Ali Farah left Minneapolis for Somalia on July 18.

Salim said Osman was religious — to the point of nagging Salim for not praying, and for not wearing the long white tunics favored by some devout Muslim men. Osman had no desire to go to college. He taught the Qur'an to kids at an Islamic school on Lake Street.

Osman's family didn't worry about him, because he appeared to be staying out of trouble.

Salim said he now regrets not intervening in his cousin's life.

"To me, it's like he made a stupid mistake," Salim said. "If he would have talked to the elders who were responsible for him, they would told him, 'What's the reason we brought you from Somalia if you're going to go back?' "

COMMUNITY LEADERS PUZZLED

What's even more puzzling to Somali-American community members is why someone would want to join al-Shabab now. Aside from the fact that it's a ruthless militia known to behead, amputate and bomb its victims, military pressure has forced al-Shabab to withdraw from several major cities it used to control.

"It's really surprising," said Saeed Fahia, executive director of the nonprofit Confederation of the Somali Community in Minnesota. "It doesn't even seem rational."

Fahia said only someone vulnerable would be duped into fighting for a badly losing team. He said most young Somali-Americans he knows are excited to return to their homeland to help its people.

"They are going back for business, to find work, to connect with their roots, to learn about the culture," Fahia said. "Mogadishu seems to be thriving."...

So religion appears to be al-Shabab's predominant battle cry. Al-Shabab's end game has always been to to radicalize its troops through its extreme interpretation of Islam, Wilson said.

One local figure who has emerged as an alleged recruiter in the plan to send Minnesota men overseas to fight is Omer Abdi Mohamed. Former Twin Cities recruits have testified at trial that he used his knowledge of the Qur'an to preach jihad. Mohamed pleaded guilty last year to being a part of the conspiracy, and this week a federal judge ordered him jailed while he awaits sentencing.

A big concern, said U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones, is that Mohamed may be still involved with the effort to send more men overseas to fight.

"There are indications that there are people who have traveled to Somalia, and he may have had some role in it," Jones said.

Mohamed's attorney said his client had nothing to do with it.

Federal authorities, however, note that Mohamed is in a position to influence young people through his association with an Islamic school on Lake Street in Minneapolis. It's the same school where Mohamed Osman, the 19-year-old traveler who left in July, taught the Qur'an....

More pluralism from glorious "Arab Spring" Egypt: "Egyptian Child Preacher Ibrahim Adham Curses Bush and Obama and Prays for the Destruction of Israel," from MEMRI, October 19 (thanks to Lachlan):

Following are excerpts from a TV show featuring child preacher Ibrahim Adham, which aired on Al-Rahma TV on October 19, 2012.

Ibrahim Adham: Oh Islamic nation, oh all Muslims, by virtue of "there is no god but Allah" in the hearts of all monotheists, martyrdom on the path of Allah is a religious duty incumbent on you, oh believers. It is your path for salvation in the eyes of the Lord. Pray: "Oh Allah, destroy Israel."

TV host: Amen

Ibrahim Adham: May Jerusalem live on until the Day of Judgment. Oh Allah, destroy Israel.

TV host: Amen

Ibrahim Adham: [inaudible] the accursed Sharon, Bush, and Obama.

Host: You are such a beautiful boy, by Allah!

Speigel, in a fit of Islamophobia, calls a journey through this Sharia regime "a trip through hell." How dare those greasy Islamophobes equate a Sharia paradise with hell! Honest Ibe Hooper, call your office!

"A Trip Through Hell: Daily Life in Islamist Northern Mali," by Paul Hyacinthe Mben for Spiegel, October 29 (thanks to all who sent this in):

For months, an Islamist regime has been terrorizing northern Mali. Hundreds of thousands have already fled the region, and those who have stayed behind are experiencing new forms of cruelty with each passing day. A SPIEGEL reporter documents a two-week journey through a region Europe fears will become the next Somalia.

Northern Mali is virtually inaccessible to journalists at present. Sharia law has been in effect there since last spring, when fundamentalists took control of a large part of the country, which had been considered a model nation until then. The fundamentalists stone adulturers [sic], amputate limbs and squelch all opposition. They have destroyed tombs in Timbuktu that were recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site. Despite the risks, Paul Hyacinthe Mben, 39, a SPIEGEL employee and journalist in the capital Bamako , which is not yet under Islamist control, ventured into northern Mali . Before the trip, he spent weeks negotiating with Islamist leaders for safe passage. In return, he was forced to accept certain conditions. During his almost three-week stay in the north, he had to conform to the Islamists' dress code, as well as submit to a number of searches and interrogations. But he never revealed to the Islamists where he was staying overnight, and he never stayed in the same place for more than a day. He lived in constant fear of being kidnapped. He had hardly returned to Bamako before learning that seven armed men had been following him in the north, with the aim of taking him captive.

A checkpoint set up by the Islamist police on the road to Gao marks the beginning of the region controlled by the new rulers of northern Mali. Adolescents wielding Kalashnikovs stand at the barrier with their legs apart. The oldest one keeps repeating the same instructions through a megaphone: "No cigarettes, no CDs, no radios, no cameras, no jewelry," an endless loop of prohibitions, a list of everything that's haram, or impure, with which this journey to the north begins. The men stand guard in the name of the Prophet Muhammad.

With arrogant gestures, they stop the few long-distance buses still coming from southern Mali. One of the men, holding his weapon at the ready, inspects the busses by walking down the aisle and checking to make sure everyone is in compliance with the Islamists' rules: Are women and men sitting in separate areas? Are the women wearing the hijab? And are the men wearing trousers that reach to their ankles, the kind of trousers that radical Muslims believe the Prophet favored? They are now obligatory in Gao.

The driver and the passengers submit to the procedure in silence. When it's over, the inspector jumps out of the back door, still wielding his Kalashnikov, and calls out "Salam alaikum," the greeting commonly used in the Muslim world. The bus has now been cleared to pass through the checkpoint.

A Divided Nation

Mali has been a divided country since April, when Islamists took control of a region in the north larger than France, while the south is still administered by a government that is incapable of defending itself.

This spring, forces with the Tuareg ethnic group drove the Malian army out of the country's northern regions within only a few weeks. They proclaimed the Tuareg nation of Azawad, which no nation in the world has recognized.

Then came the Islamists, armed to the teeth with what was left of the arsenal of the former Gadhafi regime in nearby Libya. The Islamists are also well connected with al-Qaida fighters who for some years now have found a safe haven in the Maghreb region of North Africa and the countries of the Sahel zone south of the Sahara Desert.

Those Tuareg who didn't join the Islamists were driven out. The fronts of buildings in Gao still show traces of the power struggle between the two groups, including bullet holes and blackened and crumbling walls. The world is now deeply concerned that Mali could turn into another Somalia or Afghanistan.

In principle, the United Nations Security Council has already approved the deployment of international troops against the north. The European Union has decided to send military advisors, and the United States is even considering the use of remote-controlled drones to fight the Islamist leaders. Northern Mali, less than a five-hour flight from Paris, cannot become a new hotbed of terrorism or a second Somalia, says German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. His US counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, believes that the Islamists in Mali were behind the attack that led to the death of the American ambassador in the Libyan city of Benghazi seven weeks ago.

A Lifeless Place

Gao, a city of 100,000 people, has become a lifeless place since the Islamists took over. It was once a stopping point for tourists traveling to Timbuktu, but now the roadside stands have disappeared, bars and restaurants are boarded up and music is banned. The new strongmen proclaim their creed on signs posted at street corners, written in white Arabic lettering on a black background, that read: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."

To make matters worse, garbage collection has been suspended, leaving waste to rot in the streets at temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Around 400,000 people have already fled the Islamists. Most who have left represent the better-educated parts of the work force, like the engineers who kept the power plant and waterworks in operation. Foreign aid organizations are gone, as are government officials who were in the process of implementing a new road construction program.

"Gao is a dead city," says Allassane Amadou Touré, a mechanic, as he drinks tea in the shade. He is unemployed, like many in the city, and says that Gao's economic output has "declined by 85 percent" since the spring.

The Islamic police have become the city's biggest employers. Ironically, their headquarters are on Washington Street in downtown Gao. From there, the armed police officers, most of them young men who are little more than children, are sent out into the neighborhoods to drum into residents what is considered "haram" and "halal," or pure.

Grisly Punishments

Until recently, the Sharia courts' sentences were also carried out on Washington Street, but now the Islamic police have become more cautious. Since an angry crowd managed to rescue people who had been convicted of crimes from the executioner, hands and feet are now being severed in secret.

The Sharia court uses a former military base outside the city to carry out its grisly punishments. One of its victims is Alhassane Boncana Maiga, who was found guilty of stealing cattle. Four guards drag Maiga, wearing a white robe, into a dark room and tie him to a chair, leaving only one hand free. A doctor gives the victim an injection for the pain.

Then Omar Ben Saïd, the senior executioner, pulls a knife out of its sheath. "In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful," he calls out, takes the convicted man's hand and begins to slice into it, as blood squirts out. It becomes more difficult when Saïd reaches the bone, and it's a full three minutes before the hand drops into a bucket. The executioner reaches for his mobile phone, calls his superior and says: "The man has been punished."

Maiga had kept his eyes shut the entire time, not even screaming. The men lead him into another room, where his arm is bandaged, and after 15 minutes he is released and stumbles into the street. "I'm innocent," he says. "What am I supposed to do now? I can't work anymore."

A few days later, Maiga is dead, probably as a result of blood loss or an infection....

Join us on The Jamie Glazov Show tonight. Here is the announcement from FrontPage:

Join The Jamie Glazov Show that will air on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012 at 8-9 pm Pacific (11-12 pm EST) on Blog Talk Radio. Our guest will be:

Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and the author of twelve books, including two New York Times bestsellers, The Truth About Muhammad and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) (both Regnery). His latest book is Did Muhammad Exist? An Inquiry Into Islam’s Obscure Origins (ISI).

To listen to the program, click here.

Or go to: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/radio-jihad/2012/10/31/the-jamie-glazov-show.

The call-in # is: (347) 857-1380.

This is not a frivolous exercise. This is what political correctness and denial of the truth at the very top have driven counterterror authorities to do. They can't talk about the real threat of jihad, or prepare for it in any obvious way, so they have to play around with zombie invasions. Insane, yes; frivolous, no.

"Marines, police prep for mock zombie invasion," by Julie Watson for the Associated Press, October 27 (thanks to Maxwell):

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Move over vampires, goblins and haunted houses, this kind of Halloween terror aims to shake up even the toughest warriors: An untold number of so-called zombies are coming to a counterterrorism summit attended by hundreds of Marines, Navy special ops, soldiers, police, firefighters and others to prepare them for their worst nightmares.

"This is a very real exercise, this is not some type of big costume party," said Brad Barker, president of Halo Corp, a security firm hosting the Oct. 31 training demonstration during the summit at a 44-acre Paradise Point Resort island on a San Diego bay. "Everything that will be simulated at this event has already happened, it just hasn't happened all at once on the same night. But the training is very real, it just happens to be the bad guys we're having a little fun with."

Hundreds of military, law enforcement and medical personnel will observe the Hollywood-style production of a zombie attack as part of their emergency response training.

In the scenario, a VIP and his personal detail are trapped in a village, surrounded by zombies when a bomb explodes. The VIP is wounded and his team must move through the town while dodging bullets and shooting back at the invading zombies. At one point, some members of the team are bit by zombies and must be taken to a field medical facility for decontamination and treatment.

"No one knows what the zombies will do in our scenario, but quite frankly no one knows what a terrorist will do," Barker said. "If a law enforcement officer sees a zombie and says, `Freeze, get your hands in the air!' What's the zombie going to do? He's going to moan at you. If someone on PCP or some other psychotic drug is told that, the truth is he's not going to react to you."...

The keynote speaker beforehand will be a retired top spook _ former CIA Director Michael Hayden.

"No doubt when a zombie apocalypse occurs, it's going to be a federal incident, so we're making it happen," Barker said. Since word got out about the exercise, they've had calls from "every whack job in the world" about whether the U.S. government is really preparing for a zombie event.

Called "Zombie Apocalypse," the exercise follows the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's campaign launched last year that urged Americans to get ready for a zombie apocalypse, as part of a catchy, public health message about the importance of emergency preparedness.

The Homeland Security Department jumped on board last month, telling citizens if they're prepared for a zombie attack, they'll be ready for real-life disasters like a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake or terrorist attack. A few suggestions were similar to a few of the 33 rules for dealing with zombies popularized in the 2009 movie "Zombieland," which included "always carry a change of underwear" and "when in doubt, know your way out."

San Diego-based Halo Corp. founded by former military special ops and intelligence personnel has been hosting the annual counterterrorism summit since 2006.

The five-day Halo counterterrorism summit is an approved training event by the Homeland Security Grant Program and the Urban Areas Security Initiative, which provide funds to pay for the coursework on everything from the battleground tactics to combat wounds to cybersecurity. The summit has a $1,000 registration fee and runs Oct. 29-Nov 2.

Conferences attended by government officials have come under heightened scrutiny following an inspector general's report on waste and abuse at a lavish 2010 Las Vegas conference that led to the resignation of General Services Administrator Martha Johnson. The Las Vegas conference featured a clown, a mind-reader and a rap video by an employee who made fun of the spending.

Joe Newman, spokesman of the watchdog organization Project on Government Oversight, said he does not see the zombie exercise as frivolous.

"We obviously are concerned about any expenditure that might seem frivolous or a waste of money but if they tie things together, there is a lesson there," Newman said. "Obviously we're not expecting a zombie apocalypse in the near future, but the effects of what might happen in a zombie apocalypse are probably similar to the type of things that happen in natural disasters and manmade disasters. They're just having fun with it. We don't have any problems with it as a teaching point."

Defense analyst Loren Thompson agreed.

"The defining characteristics of zombies are that they're unpredictable and resilient. That may be a good way to prepare for what the Pentagon calls asymmetric warfare," Thompson said.

Organizers can also avoid the pitfalls of using a mock enemy who could be identified by nationality, race or culture _ something that could potentially be seen as offensive.

"I can think of a couple of countries where the local leaders are somewhat zombie-like," he joked. "But nobody is going to take this personally."

I hear that the Council on American-Zombie Relations is in an uproar, and is drafting an angry press release from a coalition of the offended undead.

How did these Islamic religious scholars, imams and teachers miss all the passages in the Qur'an about love for and peaceful coexistence as equals with the Infidels? So many misunderstanders of Islam -- it's on ongoing puzzle! "Bulgarian radical Islam trial hears witnesses amid nationalist demo," from AFP, October 29 (thanks to Maxwell):

PAZARDZHIK, Bulgaria — A trial against 13 Bulgarian Muslim religious leaders for preaching a radical form of Islam heard key witnesses Monday, while nationalists demonstrated at the court in the southern town of Pazardzhik to protest "Muslim pressure" on its work.

The 12 men and one woman -- imams, mufti Islamic scholars and teachers -- have been charged with founding a local branch of the extremist Al Waqf-Al Islami group in the southern regions of Smolyan, Blagoevgrad and Pazardzhik.

The Netherlands-based but Saudi-funded organisation is suspected of links to Al-Qaeda.

The 13 were charged with preaching a radical anti-democratic ideology based on hardline Salafist teachings during prayers at mosques, lectures, sermons and cafe meetings between March 2008 and October 2010 and with seeking to impose a caliphate state.

All defendants have pleaded not guilty and several witnesses have so far refused to confirm their initial written testimony.

Another key witness, who once worked for the Al Waqf-Al Islami foundation also rejected his testimony on Monday. Muafak al-Assad, a Syrian national who once studied in Bulgaria, also said he was pressured by state security agents to refuse an interpreter and not to appear at the trial at all....

About 300 nationalists meanwhile demonstrated at the court with Bulgarian flags and signs reading "Bulgaria is a secular state" to protest what they said was "Muslim pressure" over the court during its previous hearings.

A crowd of long-bearded men and women wearing long black dresses had then gathered outside the courtroom to support their religious leaders but their outfit, which is not traditional for Bulgaria's Muslim minority, sparked a controversy. They were absent on Monday, however.

"We want to avoid conflicts," Bulgaria's deputy chief mufti Birali Birali, who was present at the hearing, said.

Bulgaria, whose population of 7.4 million is 80-percent Christian Orthodox, also has the highest percentage of native Muslims in the European Union, at about 13 percent.

They include Turks, Muslim Roma and Pomaks, like the accused, whose Christian ancestors were forced to convert to Islam during the country's Ottoman domination between the 14th and 19th century. The Pomaks are the most devout of the three subgroups, minority experts said.

Most experts also warned that, regardless of its outcome, the trial risks raising tensions between Bulgaria's Christian majority and the Muslim minority, who have lived together quietly since the fall of communism in 1989.

Yes, the trial will raise tensions. Thirteen Muslim leaders preaching hatred of the Infidels and the need to subjugate them under Islamic rule -- that doesn't raise tensions. Only trying them does.

Now that supporters of the jihad against the U.S. are training the CIA, traitorous hard-Left pseudo-journalist Spencer Ackerman must be popping open the champagne and crowing, "mission accomplished." "CIA Hosts Training by Muslim Brotherhood Leader and Hamas Supporter," by John Guandolo for Breitbart, October 24 (thanks to John):

Over the last several years, the presence of Muslim Brotherhood (MB) operatives working inside the federal government advising our senior leaders has been definitively documented (see articles here , here and here).  This penetration of our system is shocking and constitutes an immediate danger for American citizens.  The success of the MB’s influence operation from within our government is now manifesting itself with national and global implications for the security of America and its citizens. 

In July of this year, the CIA hosted a 2-day training program at its headquarters in Langley, Virginia entitled “Countering Violent Extremism Workshop for the National Capitol Region.”

CIA Agenda
 

Present at this conference were local, state, and federal officials from nearly every law enforcement, military, and intelligence organization around the Washington Metropolitan area.  In addition to the senior CIA, FBI, and DHS officials conducting the training, members of the Muslim community moderated and led the training throughout the 2-day program.  Notable among these was Imam Mohammed Magid who participated in speaking about “Building Communities of Trust:  A Local Example of a Partnership between the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) and Law Enforcement.” 

CVE CIA

How was Imam Magid vetted to speak at CIA Headquarters?  And who vetted him? 

The ADAMS Center is a Muslim Brotherhood front organization.  It was founded by some of the most senior Muslim Brothers in the United States, to include Ahmed Totanji, who still resides in Herndon, Virginia.  Its website proclaims “[ADAMS] is a membership organization registered in the State of Virginia as a non-profit, tax exempt corporation and is affiliated with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).” 

Imam Magid is the Executive Director of the ADAMS Center.  He is also the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the largest Muslim Brotherhood organization in the U.S. which was found to be a financial support entity for Hamas in the largest terrorism financing and Hamas trial in U.S. history (US v Holy Land Foundation, Dallas, 2008).  Having Magid advise and teach U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials can only be aptly described as insane.  According to officials at Langley who were willing to speak on the condition of anonymity, this is an outrage - but none of the leaders on the inside seem to understand the gravity of this threat.  To say the fox is in the hen house would be an understatement. 

But the insanity does not end there.  Imam Mohammed Magid continues to be a guest in the White House, works with the National Security Council, advises the Secretary of State, is on the DHS Homeland Security Advisory Working Group, and has received an award from the FBI.  Magid continues to be treated by American leaders as if he is a friend, yet he is the leader of the largest MB front in the U.S. which financially supports the terrorist organization Hamas. 

The question must also be asked – who vetted the other “leaders” from the Muslim community who moderated panels and led the training at CIA Headquarters?  Are any of them Muslim Brothers or sympathetic to the MB cause? 

Read it all.

Selling alcohol: haram. Amputating four fingers of an alcohol salesman: pleasing to Allah. "Tunisia: Salafist Extremist Attack Alcohol Sellers," from ANSAmed, October 29 (thanks to Insubria):

(ANSAmed) - Rome, 29 October - An alcohol beverages seller was attacked in La Manouba by a group of Salafist extremists, who cut off four of his fingers.

The incident supposedly happened on Saturday night, with attacks culminating with an attack of a National Guard official, who was allegedly hit on the head with a large knife and is in serious conditions, according to the Arab site, Assabah News.

According to the site the alcohol salesman was transferred to the capital's Charles Nicole hospital. He successively refused to lay charges on his aggressors, stating that he preferred to resolve the matter "his own way".

Clashes between Salafist Muslims, which are now acting as the "religious police" , and alcohol sellers are continuing in Douar Hicher, according to Security sources. (ANSAmed).

Supposedly because the Coptic women were "dressed inappropriately." But in reality, this was yet another assertion of power and supremacism over the Christians by the Muslims in Egypt.

"Angry mob bars church goers in Beni Suef," by Luiz Sanchez from Daily News Egypt, October 28 (thanks to Twostellas):

A large mob in the village of Ezbet Marco, in the Beni Suef governorate, gathered around the only Coptic Church in the area on Sunday morning, forbidding Copts from neighbouring villages from entering the church.

According to Ishak Ibrahim, a journalist and researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, two Copts were injured as a result of violence brought about by the predominantly conservative Muslim crowd barring the entrance.

As the church is the only church in the area, it is very hard for Copts in neighbouring villages to pray elsewhere. As the mob maintained their blockade of the church skirmishes occurred, and two Copts identified by Ibrahim as Sobhi Saleh and Ibrahim Sadeq reportedly suffered from fractured arms and feet. Cars were also damaged in the scuffle.

“During Ramadan priests and Copts from Ezbet Marco were asked to not allow Copts from outside the village to pray in the church because the Muslims in the area believe they dress inappropriately,” Ibrahim added. The women’s attire does not conform to traditional dress.

The police surrounded the church to protect it from being attacked and, according to eyewitnesses that had spoken to Ibrahim, managed to diffuse the situation and arrest some people suspected of participating in the mob.

“This is not only a problem in this village,” Ibrahim said. “It is a big problem across Egypt.” Two months ago, in the Al-Amareya district in Alexandria, Muslims demanded the local church refuse to receive Christians from outside the village. “What can the people do,” Ibrahim said. “They don’t have [a] church in their area and therefore must go to nearby villages that do have one.”

Ibrahim asserts that it is the right of every citizen in Egypt to be allowed to have faith and practice what he or she believes. “The state in turn has the duty to protect them and their right to practice their beliefs,” he said. The rhetoric offered by the government, according to Ibrahim, is that there are not enough Christians in such areas to justify the construction of new churches and so the Copts from surrounding villages have no other choice than to make the journey to the neighbouring villages.

Ibrahim demanded the government and President Mohamed Morsy work to resolve the issue surrounding church building, in order to allow Christians to build their places of worship with the same rights as Muslims.

Currently mosques may be built virtually anywhere and with little interference from the government, but Copts require written permission from the government before they are allowed to build, and are often met with a rejection.

My show on ABNSat.com is now weekly, schedule permitting. Here is the episode from last Wednesday evening.

Pamela Geller has the story:

Many of you have responded to my article "Darkness Descending in England" by asking how to help. Legal funds are badly needed. Tommy's situation in prison is terrible, and they urgently need to raise funds to pay lawyers to address this situation and provide him with the best possible legal defense.

Donations to Tommy's legal fund can be made online via the EDL website here. Please, do it. SION as well as AFDI are contributing, in addition to all of the other work we are doing, This is a priority. Robinson and Kevin Carroll are part of our international team, members of SION's President's council, key players in the worldwide struggle for freedom.

Tommy Robinson Denied Basic Rights in Prison British Freedom

Tommy Robinson (Stephen Lennon), leader of the anti-sharia English Defence League (EDL), is the UK’s most high profile prisoner of conscience. It seems that he is being treated differently as a result of his political profile. This does not just refer to his imprisonment but also to the way the British state is treating him now it has him in its power.

Following an international outcry he was moved from a dangerous part of Wandsworth Prison. However, it now appears that he is being denied his basic rights for politically motivated reasons.

We have received the following information from a reliable source concerning Tommy’s present circumstances:

1. He is still in the same clothes he went to prison in.

2. They are refusing to allow him clean/ fresh clothes — family members took clothing in but they would not allow it to be handed over.

3. He has received no mail or money from anyone and he knows his wife gave in a postal order for a large amount whilst visiting.

4. He is being refused all privileges.

5. With no money he cannot purchase razors, food etc. and is having to eat the slops provided.

6. He was arrested with £90 but at the prison when asking for his money he was told he didn’t have any. Where has this £90 gone?

We urge all concerned party members and supporters to write to their MPs seeking assurances that Tommy is being allowed his basic entitlements, especially mail which allows him to keep in contact with the outside and to know that he has support around the world (see Berlin video below).

You can contact your MP quickly and easily online at www.writetothem.com.

It is important that international lovers of freedom keep up the pressure on the British state to treat Tommy with fairness and respect. People should not be treated unfairly just because they stand up to the inequalities of sharia.

Demand equal treatment for Tommy Robinson rather than sharia inspired victimisation!

"They are trying to turn us into another Iran or some kind of neo-Ottoman Empire. We are against this." But they are winning.

"Turkish police fire tear gas at banned secularist march," by Jonathon Burch for Reuters, October 29 (thanks to Block Ness):

(Reuters) - Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of secularists protesting at a banned rally in the capital on Monday against what they see as an increasingly authoritarian and Islamist government.

The scenes of chanting men and women draped in Turkish flags and carrying banners portraying the country's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk highlight a longstanding division in Turkish society between staunch secularists on the one hand and more conservative religious Turks on the other.

Although Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan won a third term in power last year with 50 percent of the vote, many secular Turks fear his socially conservative AK Party has Islamist tendencies that threaten the secular republic founded by Ataturk.

"They are trying to turn us into another Iran or some kind of neo-Ottoman Empire. We are against this," said retired 64-year-old Erdem Sevinc.

"We are here today to send a message to those who are trying to destroy the principles of this republic," he said.

The local government in Ankara, also controlled by Erdogan's AK Party, banned the rally citing "intelligence" it would be used for "provocation", a move protesters said was designed to silence government opponents.

"Why have they banned this march? Because they are scared. They are scared of course," said 68-year-old Metin Alkan, sporting a black tie emblazoned with Ataturk's face.

"Look at us, do we look like a danger?" he said, laughing.

Waving Turkish flags several thousand people gathered outside the old parliament building in the city center to try to march to Ataturk's mausoleum to mark the 89th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923.

"Resign government! Damn you Tayyip!" the crowd chanted, referring to the prime minister.

"The day will come when the AK Party will give account to the people," they shouted.

"We are Mustafa Kemal's soldiers! Turkey is secular and will remain secular!" others shouted.

But the marchers were kept back by a barricade of riot police who began firing tear gas and water cannon into the crowd, which included children and elderly men and women, as some people tried to storm the police blockade....

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) set up by Ataturk in 1924, joined the march and later criticized the police's handling of the event.

"Those people only had Turkish flags in their hands. The state had police, tear gas, water cannon and tanks. Hey, where are you going? Are you going to war? You don't need permission to celebrate the republic," he said.

Maybe a celebration isn't in order. Maybe it is time for the supporters of the secular Turkish republic to wear on their sleeves the crepe of mourning for a civilization that had the promise of joy.

Given the fact that American college campuses are generally places where counter-jihadists cannot venture without bodyguards, and where they are routinely libeled with no opportunity given for rebuttal, and where they are shouted down and physically threatened when they do speak, this is no surprise: jihad terror is chic these days. It's multicultural. It's Leftist. It's cool. Marie-Helen Maras is meanwhile probably deeply concerned about "Islamophobia."

"NYU terrorism class asks students to plot terrorist attack," by Doug Auer and Kevin Sheehan for the New York Post, October 29:

It’s Terrorism 101.

A New York University class on transnational terrorism is requiring students to “hypothetically plan a terrorist attack” — and shocked cops say the outrageous lesson plan is an insult to the officers killed on Sept. 11.

The controversial course, taught by former Navy criminal investigator Marie-Helen Maras, asks the pupils to “step into [a terrorist’s] shoes” and write a 10- to 15-page paper on their battle plan.

“Some of the most notorious terrorists, including Anwar al-Awlaki, got their start on American campuses. It looks like after the CIA killed al-Awlaki, NYU is helping to produce successors,” said an outraged law-enforcement expert on terrorism....

For the assignment, Maras — who has a Ph.D. from Oxford and is also an associate professor at SUNY Farmingdale — instructs her pupils to consider all aspects of the attack.

“In your paper, you must describe your hypothetical attack and what will happen in the aftermath of the attack,” Maras wrote in the syllabus obtained by The Post.

They must factor in the methods of execution, sources of funding, number of operatives needed and the target government’s reaction, according to the paper’s outline.

At the same time, students must realistically stay within their chosen terror group’s “goals, capabilities, tactical profile, targeting pattern and operational area,” the syllabus states.

Given the detail required — and possibly concerned that the how-to terror manuals could land in the wrong hands — Maras warns that each page of a student’s paper must bear the disclaimer: “This is a hypothetical scenario for a university course on transnational terrorism.”

When told of the term paper, one ranking police officer who lost coworkers on 9/11 called it “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”...

“I’m disgusted,” said the source. “What is this, we have our students do the work for the terrorists?”

Another source worried that the assignment could become a primer in plotting attacks rather than counter-terrorism.

“This flies in the face of the 11 years of hard work the NYPD has done in tracking down terrorists to the far reaches of the globe to make sure they never strike again,” said the source.

Other terrorists who studied in the US include 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and most recently Quazi Ahsan Nafis, the Bangladeshi student accused of plotting to bomb the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The professor defended the course assignment.

“The exercise is meant to prepare students for the field, to prepare them for careers in intelligence, policing, counterterrorism. This is a grad-level assignment for a grad-level course,” Maras told The Post.

“Why didn’t the police call me if they have concerns? I have NYPD officers in my class,” she said.

The students are also supposed to imagine the counter-terrorism measures implemented in the attack’s aftermath, she added....

And the BBC, ever fastidious about not calling attention to acts of Islamic supremacism and jihad, calls them "religious hackers." "France Euromillions site hit by religious hackers," from the BBC, October 28 (thanks to Alan of England):

The French site of the Euromillions lottery has been hacked, with the homepage replaced by a passage from the Koran condemning gambling.

The hackers, calling themselves "Moroccanghosts", posted the message in Arabic and French.

The Koranic verses call games of chance and alcohol "works of the devil" intended to turn people away from God.

The Francaise des Jeux (FDJ) company, which runs Euromillions in France, said its other games were not affected.

The message appeared on the site late on Sunday morning, according to French media reports....

Here is still more indication that the "Arab Spring" is not now and never was the pro-democracy, pro-Western movement that the mainstream media assumed and insisted that it was.

"Tunisia: National Guard protests gov't pr-Salafist leniency," from ANSAmed, October 29 (thanks to Insubria):

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS - For three days beginning on Monday, Tunisian National Guardsmen will wear red armbands to protest what they say is the Islamist-led government's excessive leniency towards Salafist extremists. This follows on the wounding Saturday night of Police Commander Wissam Ben Sliman, who intervened when a group of hardline Salafist Muslims attacked alcohol vendors in their small shops in the Dawar Hicher neighborhood, a poor area on the outskirts of Tunis. Slimane is in hospital in critical condition.

The government does not prosecute Salafist extremists, who frequently act outside the law, using Molotov cocktails and knives, a National Guard union leader said. After their actions, Salafists hide in Ennour and El Khalil mosques, which are off-limits to national security personnel, the union leader said.(ANSAmed).

Here is more from Bruce Bawer on the raging new fascist mobs in Europe, and the journalists who shield their rage, hate and violence from the public. And above is the talk I gave in Stockholm on August 4, while the rabid mob raged.

"Anti-Wilders Mob Goes Mad," by Bruce Bawer at FrontPage, October 29:

The other day I wrote here about a Norwegian TV documentary – to use the term very loosely – in which Robert Spencer, the consummate Islam critic and expert, was expertly demonized. The program showed him in Stockholm last summer, addressing an outdoor audience from a platform. While he stood there in suit and tie, his demeanor entirely calm and reasonable, and delivered his talk – or tried to – a violent mob a few feet away spewed out its venom: “Fucking racists! No racists in our streets!”

Meanwhile a small army of riot police struggled to hold them back. It was not easy.

To look at those faces twisted with hatred – those human beings transformed into ferocious beasts, filled with savage indignation and, by all indications, prepared to tear their fellowman limb from limb – was to stare into the very heart of contemporary Europe’s darkness. It’s one thing to read about the history of Europe from the storming of the Bastille to the present day; it’s another thing to see the most cataclysmic, psychopathic turning points of the last couple of centuries vividly mirrored, as it were, before one’s eyes.

How different were those faces in Stockholm, after all, from the faces one might have seen in the streets of Paris during the Reign of Terror? This mob rage didn’t come from nowhere: it’s the product of history. Those rioters in Stockholm were the descendants of Robespierre and the enragés, the heirs to their unquenchable bloodthirstiness; and the rage in their eyes was testimony to the enduring destructive power of pure fanatical ideology, which, time and again since 1789, has turned Europe into a madhouse.

Looking into the eyes of those protesters, one could scarcely doubt that if they could push their way past those cops and get their hands on Spencer, they’d do as much harm to him as they could. And yet, remarkably, while Frode Nielsen, the “journalist” who made this “documentary,” didn’t try to hide these people’s violence from us, he didn’t breathe so much as a word in condemnation of it. On the contrary: if silence betokens approval, he approved. Indeed, even as we watched those rioters raging rabidly at Spencer, Nielsen took pains to spell out for us who the real extremist was – Spencer, naturally.

Needless to say, if Nielsen had paused for just two or three minutes to provide an honest overview of Spencer’s work, the whole premise of his documentary would’ve come crashing down; it would’ve become clear to every viewer that Spencer is the very opposite of what Nielsen, and those rioters, would have us believe. Yet that wasn’t what Nielsen wanted; he wanted his viewers to see Spencer as a force for evil. And he apparently wanted them to understand, too, that those barbaric demonstrators were the Good Guys – decent, delicate souls who’d been driven to extreme conduct by a vile American provocateur. If they were capable of violence, it was violence in the name of virtue.

Spencer’s Stockholm visit took place last summer. Last Saturday, another one of the men who are routinely characterized by the likes of Nielsen as a contemporary force for evil, Geert Wilders, gave a talk in another Swedish city, Malmö. On Sunday, a website posted an account by the Danish politician and jurist Aia Fog of what happened when she and three other women arrived at the sports complex where Wilders was scheduled to speak. They came in a taxi, Fog wrote, but because of police barricades were obliged to walk 200 yards to the entrance. The cops were out in force; and, as it happened, the protesters were shouting the exact same slogan that greeted Spencer in Stockholm: “No racists in our streets!”

One difference between that demo and this one, however, was that this time around the police weren’t holding the protesters back. The cops were over here, the demonstrators over there – which meant that Fog and her friends had to make their way through the mob in order to get into the venue. As they were doing so, some of the protesters apparently recognized one of Fog’s companions, the high-profile journalist Katrine Winkel Holm – who is a columnist for Jyllands-Posten, a founder of the Danish Free Press Society, and a director of Danish state TV and radio. “Racist!” they shouted. “Go home, we have border controls for you!” And they screamed at Fog: “Fat fascist pig!”

“Katrine starts to argue with them,” recalled Fog,

but it’s completely futile, and soon I pull her arm and tell her to drop it, so we can get through the crowd and go in. And then it happens very quickly: Katrine and I are suddenly isolated from Kit and Trine, and I’m surrounded by AFA.

Be sure to read it all.

A recent talk show on the Egyptian station Al Hafiz partially explains why it is that Islam’s clerics are staunchly against discussing Christian or biblical teachings in Egyptian schoolrooms—even as the teaching of the Quran is mandatory, for both Muslim and Christian students.

Discussing Christianity’s teachings concerning women, one of the guests, a sheikh dressed in traditional cleric garb, said they “truly stab the rulings of Islam.” To exemplify, he read from a text that said “the Christian religion does not differentiate between women and men, but it confirms their perfect equality: it gives them an equal share in inheritance, it bans divorce, and it bans polygamy.”

“Now,” said the sheikh, “if my son hears such things while he’s in school, he’ll come home and say to me, ‘Father why do you have many wives? You are unjust—unlike Christianity which is full of justice’!”

He went on to say that such teachings completely contradict “the religion of the prophet,” who of course had many wives—more than the Quran’s prescribed four—made divorce a simple matter for men, and decreed that females only inherit half of what males inherit.

The cleric complained that, based on such Christian teachings, Muslim men who try to exercise their Islamic rights—including polygamy, double-inheritance, and easy divorce (recent examples include via text-messaging)—become “criminals, and the religion [Islam] that taught them such things taught them crimes.”

The cleric concluded by saying it is impermissible “to produce texts that contradict the teachings of the Quran, or the practices we’ve been raising our children on for a million years.”

Which side is making the greater, and potentially more dangerous, concession?

"To receive 100,000 kroner from the state, Islam Net must accept that women and men can sit together," from NRK, October 28:

The leader of Islam Net, Fahad Qureshi, will allow men and women to sit together to receive 100,000 NKR (17,000 USD) from Norwegian taxpayers.

"We are aware that the the organisation preaches a conservative version of Islam. We nevertheless think it is right to support this organization because they are known as opponents of forced marriage," says section leader Morten Tjessem to NRK.no.

But the money comes with requirements that men and women will be allowed to sit next to each other.

The reason is that Islam Net previously arranged meetings at Oslo University College, where men and women used separate entrances....

The Islam researcher and former head of the Norwegian Humanist Association Lars Gule disagrees. Also, Gule attended meetings with Islam Net, and he has a different opinion.

According to Gule, Islam Net has an undemocratic, misogynist organizational structure with extreme goals and values.

"Islam Net is a salafist organization. They are not jihadists who advocate violence, but they believe that equality, democracy, and equality of Muslims and non-Muslims is contrary to God's will," the researcher claims.

On this week’s Glazov Gang, Nonie Darwish, Jacqueline Brandwynne and Susanne Reyto discuss why backup was denied to save American lives in the Benghazi jihad attack. The discussion occurred in Part II and dealt with the Obama administration’s secrets and lies connected to Benghazi-Gate. In Part I each guest discusses their immigration experience of coming to the United States and what led them to fall in love with America. In this context, they share their dread of a potential re-election of Barack Obama, which they see as having catastrophic consequences for the country they have grown to love and cherish.

Over at Frontpage Mag (via RaymondIbrahim.com), I discuss the growing trend of trying to portray the most outlandish stories emanating from the Islamic world as "hoaxes." The article is really two parts, the first explaining the situation, the second offering suggestions as to how to determine if an account is a hoax or not. A portion of the second part follows:

[...] So what should the objective Western reader do—who is stuck in the middle, does not read Arabic, and cannot independently verify anything—when confronted with absurd news emanating from the Islamic world?

Along with evaluating the evidence as best they can, I suggest they learn to connect-the-dots. The fact is, there is no end of bizarre anecdotes emanating from the Islamic world. Saudi Arabia’s highest Islamic authority until he died in 1999, Sheikh Bin Baz—hardly someone to be dismissed as being “far, far out on the nutty fringe”—insisted that the earth was flat and that all scientific evidence otherwise is a Western conspiracy.

In 2007, Egypt’s second highest Islamic authority, Sheikh Ali Gomaa—the same “moderate” Grand Mufti who deems all Christians “infidels”—decreed that drinking the urine of Muhammad was a great blessing. Likewise, a few weeks ago in Egypt it was revealed that there is now a clinic “healing” people by giving themcamel urine to drink—because Muhammad once advised it.

Then there are the notorious breastfeeding fatwas: Several Islamic clerics—including Dr. Izzat Atiya, of Egypt’s Al Azhar University—advised Muslim female workers to “breastfeed” their male co-workers in order to be in each other’s company (more “moderate” clerics say it is not necessary for the man to drink the milk directly from the teat but may use a cup).

The list goes on and on: Several Muslims, including prominent ones, are calling for the reinstitution of sex-slavery, whereby “infidel” women can be bought and sold in markets. One female Kuwaiti politician even recommends that Russian women seized during the Chechnya jihad be sold as sex-slaves on Muslim markets.

Other prominent clerics insist that Islam allows men to get “married” to baby girls still in the cradle, having sex with them once these children are “capable of being placed beneath and bearing the weight of the men.”

How does one explain these absurd and vile teachings—teachings advocated, not from radicals nor clerics “far, far out on the nutty fringe”—but often from its highest authorities? Simple: Islamic jurisprudence, which is responsible for defining what is right and wrong in Islam, is fundamentally based on the words of a 7thcentury Arab whom Muslims venerate as a prophet. And this man said and did many things that defy modern day sensibilities.

Indeed, he said and did many things that defied the sensibilities of his contemporaries—such as stripping naked and lying with a dead woman to the surprise of her gravediggers (which, incidentally, is cited by the necrophilia fatwas). And it was the prophet who first ordered a woman to “breastfeed” a man in order to be in his company. Though she expressed shock at the very idea, she went through with it anyway.

Here, then, is the rule of thumb: When it comes to determining whether a story from the Muslim world is a hoax or not, first determine whether it is it Islamic or not—whether it has doctrinal or historic support; whether it has some backing in the Quran and/or the hadith...

(Thanks to Suzanne)

Over at FrontPage Mag (via RaymondIbrahim.com), I discuss how understanding Obama's failed Mideast policy is as easy as understanding the bully mentality when appeased:

In an era of high education and specialty degrees—from psychology to political science—perhaps it was inevitable for simple common sense to fall by the wayside. The embassy attacks across the Muslim world, especially the most savage in Egypt and Libya, are a testimony to this: U.S. policy towards these countries fundamentally exacerbated their wild reactions. To understand all this, one need only turn to the classic “schoolyard bully” paradigm, that any child can understand.

Not especially large or strong, the schoolyard bully—generally a prickly, nasty fellow—picks on two groups: 1) those who are obviously weaker than him and 2) those who, while larger or stronger than him, willingly give in to him—willingly appease. Bullying the first group, the weak, is an easy matter for the bully. As for the second group, whose capacities and responses are unclear, these he must first determine through a few bully trial-runs—to see whether they will fight back, or whether they will give in. He begins small—a shove and harsh word here and there—and takes it from there, always seeing how far he can go.

The bully will receive one of two responses from the second group, those not smaller or weaker than him: either appeasement and giving in, or a punch to the nose. If he receives the former, he continually ups the bullying to see how much more he can get away with: harsh words and shoves become demands for lunch money and stolen jackets. His work becomes complete with the absolute subordination of his victim.

As for the one who does not put up with his bullying—who gives him a swift punch to the nose—not only does the bully leave him be, he even begins to respect if not befriend him.

For centuries, people from all walks of life knew this—from experience if not common sense. Children knew it.

Now consider how the Schoolyard Bully paradigm helps explain America’s relationship to the Muslim world, especially in the last four years, culminating with the U.S. embassy debacles in the Muslim world...

We were forced at fairly short notice to upgrade the software that runs this blog, as Firefox did one of its automated updates. This has cause no end of hassle for contributors, including commentators. To get rid of most of these we’ve found clearing your browsers cache will resolve most of the issues.

These are the instructions from Firefox support pages.

If this does not resolve the issue, please let us know.

1. At the top of the Firefox window, click on the Firefox button (Tools menu in Windows XP) and then click Options
2. Select the Advanced panel.
3. Click on the Network tab.
4. In the Cached Web Content section, click Clear Now.

   

5. Click OK to close the Options window

Here is an interview with FrontPage mag editor, talk show host, and amiable raconteur Jamie Glazov about his boffo new book, High Noon for America: "Showdown With Islamists," by Ryan Mauro at FrontPage, October 29:

...Mauro: To be fair, in his speech at the U.N., President Obama did rule out placing restrictions on criticism of religion. He said, “Here in the United States, countless publications provoke offense. Like me, the majority of Americans are Christian, and yet we do not ban blasphemy against our most sacred beliefs.”

Glazov: When Obama announces to the world that, ”The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam,” it contradicts and cancels out anything else he says that seems to be in defense of free speech. When Obama oversees Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the filmmaker behind the controversial movie “Innocence of Muslims,” being dragged out of his house on U.S. territory by law enforcement for some kind of parole violation, it sends the message to the Islamic world: You are right, and we are carrying out your blasphemy laws for you. When you ponder these realities, you have to ask yourself: Is it a coincidence that Obama has also facilitated the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power throughout the Middle East and, as Frank Gaffney has meticulously documented, its penetration of the U.S. government?

Mauro: What does this “concrete stand” you talk about in your book look like?

Glazov: We simply – and urgently — need to defend our principles and values — freedom of speech, equal rights for all, the freedom to change religions or have no religion at all, etc. Our response to a violent, expansionist Islam must be as hard and durable as concrete. The key to the Islamists’ success is their persistence. They hope to wear you down and make you so tired and fed up that you will quit. They do not give up. That is the key to their success. Therefore, our stand against this strategy must be just as solid as theirs. Hardness and toughness in response to their aggression is the only language and action they understand and respect.

Mauro: Your book consists of dialogues with top experts in national security. What is the consensus view about what is ahead in the near future?

Glazov: The consensus is that Obama’s foreign policy is a catastrophe. The consensus is that if we are not able and willing to admit that our jihadist enemy is at war with us and to label the jihadist enemy for whom and what he is, we are heading for a catastrophe.

Mauro: Why is it important to identify the enemy as “jihadist?” What do you say in response to the argument that the term gives religious legitimacy to terrorists and/or makes it sound like we’re waging war on Islam as a whole?

Glazov: Well, the fact is that it is the jihadists who identify themselves as such. It is not up to us to confer legitimacy upon them. Muslims don’t recognize non-Muslims as religious authorities. It is, however, up to us to define the threat we face accurately. If we ignore the enemy’s motives and goals, we will never be able to counter that enemy effectively.

It is crucial to maintain the religious component when identifying jihadists because religion is what they themselves say is the basis of their aggression. They are the ones who quote the Koran to justify murdering infidels. It is Islam, they say, that legitimizes their barbaric actions, so it is not us giving them religious legitimacy. And we are not waging war against Islam; it is these Islamist storm troopers who are waging war against us. That is a crucial distinction.

The bottom line is that we have to properly identify the enemy before we can fight him or develop a strategy to do so. Otherwise we are going to see more 9/11’s and Fort Hood’s on a much larger and terrifying scale....

Read it all.

Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal has just become the first and only national leader in any country to acknowledge publicly that some Muslim clerics engage in hate speech and justify it using the Qur'an. In the West the focus is on the false claim that those trying to resist the jihad and Islamic supremacism are the ones actually guilty of hate speech. That charge, of course, is a tool of Islamic supremacists in their attempts to demonize and marginalize all who dare to stand up to the jihadist imperative.

"Tanzania: VP Warns Clerics Over Hate-Speech," by Amina Juma for the Tanzania Daily News, October 27:

Moshi — THE Vice-President Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal has called on religious leaders to continue preaching peace, love and unity and warned those inclined to preach hatred to stop it henceforth, saying any breach of peace would cost the nation dearly.

Addressing Eid-El-Hajj Baraza at Jihad Mosque in Vuchama, Mwanga district in Kilimanjaro region yesterday, the Vice-President said the recent violence that erupted in Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam was a result of unnecessary hate-speeches made by some Muslim clerics.

"For many decades, Tanzania has not witnessed religious-motivated conflicts. This will not be allowed to happen again. Worshippers need to know that conflicts resulting from trivial issues like fighting for ownership of a mosque are uncalled for. Chaos taints the good image of the worshippers," Dr Bilal said.

He stressed that the government would take appropriate measures against the perpetrators of violence, saying it is easy to break peace but very costly to restore it. Dr Bilal reminded the faithful to read carefully the Holy Quran and treasure its many verses which teach about peace and unity and implored religious leaders to use the scripture to talk about peace instead of hatred....

Good luck with that.

"Once Gabriel promised the Prophet (that he would visit him, but Gabriel did not come) and later on he said, 'We, angels, do not enter a house which contains a picture or a dog.'" -- Sahih Bukhari 4.54.50

"Abdullah (b. Umar) (Allah be pleased with them) reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) ordered the killing of dogs and we would send (men) in Medina and its corners and we did not spare any dog that we did not kill, so much so that we killed the dog that accompanied the wet she-camel belonging to the people of the desert." -- Sahih Muslim 10.3811

"Narrated 'Aisha: The things which annul the prayers were mentioned before me. They said, "Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people)." I said, 'You have made us (i.e. women) dogs.' I saw the Prophet praying while I used to lie in my bed between him and the Qibla. Whenever I was in need of something, I would slip away. for I disliked to face him." -- Sahih Bukhari 1.9.490

But remember, Sharia is benign and completely compatible with Western society.

"A 6-month prison term for walking a dog in Mashhad, Iran," from Mohabat News, October 26 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A newly-wed man who was arrested in a Western suburb of Mashhad (Northeast Iran) for walking his pet dog in public was sentenced to six months in prison for violating Iran's anti-pet laws.

But an Appeals court suspended the prison term for two years subject to probation and parole. Anti pet-ownership laws in urban areas of Iran are said to be rooted in religious edicts, health concerns and (Anti-Westernization) cultural norms.

This post at selfscholar is from September 13, but this "bug" has not been "repaired." I just tried it not only with Khomeini, but with "prophet Muhammad," and the honorifics were added. Google Translate Arabic, however, doesn't do this.

"Google Translate’s Khomeini Problem," from selfscholar, September 13:

Although tagged under “religious freedom,” this post more aptly applies to freedom from religion.

Launched in Summer 2009, in the midst of the protests in Iran, Google Translate’s Persian service — as Farsi speakers can testify — leaves a lot to be desired. However, it is enough to roughly translate social media or blog posts, which is why it was rolled out when it was.

Strangely, however, it contains some quirks. While it is unbeknownst to me whether this is the product of human provenance, or a machine error, since discovering it last year it has continued to bother me more and more.

The problem? Google Translate Persian adds Islamic religious honorifics after the names of not only Khomeini, but also a host of Shi’ite religious figures.

Whether alone, or in a sentence — last name or full name — the Arabic/Farsi letters (ره) appear. In Persian religious literature, this abbreviation means, “May Allah’s mercy be upon him.” Or, “Rahmatullahi Alayh” (رحمة الله عليه) — signifying the first and last letters of this phrase.

Therefore, when Google Translate spits out, “Ruhollah Khomeini was born in Iran,” in Farsi — it is really saying, “Ruhollah Khomeini (May Allah’s mercy be upon him) was born in Iran.”...

Read it all.

And Obama did nothing but lie and attack the freedom of speech.

"Libyan witnesses recount organized Benghazi attack," by Paul Schemm and Maggie Michael for the Associated Press, October 27 (thanks to 538):

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — It began around nightfall on Sept. 11 with around 150 bearded gunmen, some wearing the Afghan-style tunics favored by Islamic militants, sealing off the streets leading to the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. They set up roadblocks with pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine guns, according to witnesses.

The trucks bore the logo of Ansar al-Shariah, a powerful local group of Islamist militants who worked with the municipal government to manage security in Benghazi, the main city in eastern Libya and birthplace of the uprising last year that ousted Moammar Gadhafi after a 42-year dictatorship.

There was no sign of a spontaneous protest against an American-made movie denigrating Islam's Prophet Muhammad. But a lawyer passing by the scene said he saw the militants gathering around 20 youths from nearby to chant against the film. Within an hour or so, the assault began, guns blazing as the militants blasted into the compound.

One of the consulate's private Libyan guards said masked militants grabbed him and beat him, one of them calling him "an infidel protecting infidels who insulted the prophet."

The witness accounts gathered by The Associated Press give a from-the-ground perspective for the sharply partisan debate in the U.S. over the attack that left U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead. They corroborate the conclusion largely reached by American officials that it was a planned militant assault. But they also suggest the militants may have used the film controversy as a cover for the attack.

The ambiguity has helped fuel the election-time bickering in the United States ever since.

The Obama administration has sent out muddled messages whether it was a planned attack or a mob protest that got out of control. A day after the attack, President Barack Obama referred to "acts of terror." He told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview aired the following Sunday that he believed those involved "were looking to target Americans from the start."

Within 24 hours of the attack, both the embassy in Tripoli and the CIA station chief sent word to Washington that it was a planned militant attack. Still, days later, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, said the attack began as a spontaneous protest over the film.

Republicans, embroiled in a heated presidential campaign, seized on the confusion. They have accused the Obama administration of being hesitant to call it a "terrorist attack" linked to al-Qaida because that would weaken one of Obama's key campaign selling points — that under his watch, al-Qaida had been weakened and Osama bin Laden had been killed.....

Oddly enough, it was Sunni Muslims misunderstanding their peaceful religion and murdering Shi'ites. Doubtless they somehow got old of some Islamophobic literature that confused them as to the nature of Islam.

"Baghdad blasts kill more than 30 over Eid holiday," by Raheem Salman for Reuters, October 27 (thanks to Kenneth):

BAGHDAD - Violence in Iraq has eased sharply, but Sunni Islamist insurgents and al Qaeda's Iraq wing often target Shi'ites in an attempt to stir up the kind of sectarian tensions that dragged the country close to civil war in 2006-2007.

Two car bombs exploded on Saturday, one ripping into a restaurant in the Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City and killing at least 23 people, police and hospital sources said.

"I was just selling fruit and we were surprised by a huge explosion on the other side of the street," Hassan Falih Shami, a grocery stall owner near the site of the blast. "You can see pools of blood, the shoes and pieces of clothing."

Hours earlier, a roadside bomb planted near an open-air market killed seven people, including three children at a playground. Another blast killed six people when it hit a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims to a Baghdad shrine, police and hospital officials said....

Security officials had said they believe insurgents would try to carry out a large attack during the religious holiday, which started on Friday.

Car bombs exploded and mortars landed around the Shi'ite neighborhood of Shula, northwestern Baghdad, on Tuesday killing eight people and wounded 28, and another person was killed by a mortar round in Kadhimiya area.

Iran has been in a virtual state of war with the United States since 1979. But who cares?

"Obama offered to reestablish full ties with Iran, Israeli paper reports," by Joshua Davidovich for the Times of Israel, October 28 (thanks to Mackie):

Soon after he took office, President Barack Obama began a process ultimately designed to reestablish full US diplomatic relations with Iran, including a reopening of embassies, an Israeli daily reported Sunday. The initiative, part of a wider shift in America’s diplomatic orientation, aimed at reaching understandings with Tehran over suspending its nuclear program, Maariv claimed, citing “two Western diplomats very close to the administration.”

The initiative led to at least two US-Iran meetings, the report said. Israel was made aware of the contacts, and opposed them.

But Iran rebuffed the “diplomatic hand” offered by the White House, Maariv reported. The Islamist regime “opposed any sign of normalization with the US, and refused to grant a ‘prize’ to the Americans,” according to an anonymous Israeli source quoted by the paper.

The information — the lead item on Maariv’s front page, headlined “Obama offered to renew relations with Iran” — comes on the heels of reports earlier this month that the US and Iran held back channel contacts toward establishing direct talks over Tehran’s nuclear program. Both the White House and Iran denied those reports.

According to Maariv, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns met with chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili for an hour in 2009, and one other meeting between officials from both sides took place as well.

Included in the diplomatic incentives package offered by Washington would be, in the first stage, the opening of interest sections in Washington and Tehran, with the possibility subsequently of expanding to full diplomatic ties, including US and Iranian embassies and ambassadors in each other’s capitals, Maariv claimed.

As part of restored diplomatic relations with Iran, Maariv reported, Washington was ready to hold senior level diplomatic contacts, to agree to reciprocal visits, to approve security cooperation between the countries, direct flights between the US and Iran, and the granting of visas to Iranians wishing to visit the US.

The report, if true, would indicate a readiness by Obama to oversee a sea change in American policy toward Iran. The two countries have not had direct diplomatic relations since the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-1981, when the Shah was overthrown during the Iranian Revolution and workers in the American Embassy held hostage for over a year. The US currently maintains a trade embargo with Iran and any diplomatic contacts are officially handled through third parties

According to Maariv, Iran also rejected the attempt to reestablish ties out of fear that the regime in Tehran would become weakened by normalization with Washington.

The meeting between Burns and Jalili was reportedly held in Geneva in October 2009, on the sidelines of talks between Tehran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, also known as the P5+1.

Those talks, which Jerusalem has characterized as a stalling tactic by Tehran to buy time to develop its nuclear program to weapon capability, have mostly failed, despite several attempts to hash over curbs on Iran’s uranium enrichment activities.

Last week, the New York Times and NBC reported that Washington has held secret contacts with Iran with the goal of holding one-on-one negotiations over their nuclear program. According to the report in the New York Times, Iran was open to the possibility, but asked to wait until after the American elections on November 6 so they would know who they were negotiating with.

The White House denied the report, but said it has always had an offer on the table for Iran to engage in direct negotiations....

Oddly enough, it seems to have been the Taliban, who object to such shrines in the name of the purity of Islamic doctrine.

"Police say bomb explodes outside shrine in northwest Pakistan, killing 4," from the Associated Press, October 28 (thanks to S.B.):

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A powerful bomb went off outside the shrine of a Sunni Muslim saint in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least four people, police said.

Senior police officer Mumtaz Khan said 23 people were also wounded in the attack at the shrine of Kaka Sahib in the town of Nowshehra. Hundreds of devotees were present there at the time, and the dead and injured had been transported to a hospital.

There was no claim of responsibility but Pakistani militants such as the Taliban have been blamed for previous such attacks.

The militants follow a strict version of Islam and they claim visiting shrines is not allowed.

Nowshehra lies 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. It is also believed to a hiding place for Taliban insurgents, who often target security forces and government officials to force Islamabad to stop backing Washington in the war against terrorism.

As if Islamabad were backing Washington now.

More pressure against the freedom of speech. Watch for much, much more of this in the second Obama term, if there is one. "Saudi king urges UN action against religious insults," from AFP, October 27 (thanks to Block Ness):

AFP - Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz on Saturday demanded a UN resolution condemning insults on monotheistic religions after a low-budget film produced in the US sparked deadly protests last month.

"I demand a UN resolution that condemns any country or group that insults religions and prophets," he said during a meeting at his palace with religious figures and heads of hajj delegations in the Mina valley where pilgrims were performing final rituals of hajj.

"It is our duty and that of every Muslim to protect Islam and defend the prophets."...

Saudi Arabia had threatened to block YouTube in the kingdom if Google did not respond to a request to deny access to the video footage of the film. YouTube then extended its restrictions on the video to Saudi Arabia....

Will the Islamophobia never end? Eid mubarak in Nigeria: "Suicide bomber hits north Nigeria Catholic church," by Godwin Attah and Jon Gambrell for the Associated Press, October 28 (thanks to Izuchukwu):

KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) — A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives Sunday at a Catholic church holding Mass in northern Nigeria, injuring a number of worshippers and killing several people, officials and witnesses said.

The attack happened in the Malali neighborhood of Kaduna, a city on the dividing line between Nigeria's largely Christian south and Muslim north where religious rioting has killed hundreds in recent years. The car tried to force its way past the gate at St. Rita's Catholic church just before it exploded, witnesses at the church said.

Yushua Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, also said initial information suggested the attack was by a suicide bomber in a car. He said "a number of casualties" had been taken to local hospitals, but could not give a specific number. Saidu Adamu, a spokesman for Kaduna state government, said it appeared some people had been killed, but officials still were uncertain how many died....

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes as the Muslims in the nation are celebrating the Eid al-Adha holiday in Nigeria. In recent days, rumors have circulated that the radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, which is responsible for hundreds of killings this year alone, might try to launch an attack during the holiday. The sect has demanded the release of all its captive members and has called for strict Shariah law to be implemented across the entire country. However, the group, which speaks to journalists in telephone conference calls at times of its choosing, could not be immediately reached for comment....

But surely they must have seen it coming, and see what is coming next, despite the willful blindness of the Western media. "Israel rattled by rise in anti-Semitic rhetoric from Egypt," by Paul Alster for FoxNews.com, October 26 (thanks to Benedict):

HAIFA, Israel – The new tone coming out of Egypt - punctuated by President Mohammed Morsi mouthing "Amen" to an Imam's call for the destruction of Israel - is rattling residents of the Jewish state, who claim the Obama administration isn't taking the ratcheted-up rhetoric seriously.

Lip reading by the Anti Defamation League and the Middle East Media Research Institute confirmed Morsi's approval of a prayer delivered by influential Imam Futouh Abd Al-Nabi Mansour last Friday, in which he stated, “Oh Allah ... grant us victory over the infidels. Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters.” Israelis already nervous by the rise of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood say it is the latest example of a disturbing trend.

“There is no question that the rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood has prompted open expressions of anti-Semitism in ways that were never publicly expressed during the Mubarak period," Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office told Fox News.com. "The Obama administration is treating this far less seriously than it should be.”

Gee, I wonder why.

The rise to power this summer of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood prompted fears that the anti-Israeli, and anti-Semitic party, would be set on a collision course with its near neighbor, jeopardizing the peace treaty which has held firm between the previously warring nations since 1979. But while the rhetoric has been heated, the new Egyptian leader has also proven to be more pragmatic than some expected, thus far placing the national interest ahead of his own and his party’s religious ideology.

The party that propelled Morsi to power, however, has made no secret of its contempt for Judaism and Christianity. When Mohammed Badie in 2010 became leader of the Muslim Brotherhood - and consequently President Morsi’s spiritual guide - he stepped up his attacks on Israel even while Hosni Mubarak still held an iron grip on power in Egypt.

Determined to recapture Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa (Golden Dome) Mosque, Badie told his followers, “Every Muslim is obliged to wage Jihad in order to restore it (Jerusalem) to Muslim rule”. Of the Jews he added, “Allah would free the world of their filth and corruption...Jerusalem will be regained only through Jihad, not through negotiations.”

Badie’s continued use of inflammatory and racist language against Jews recently prompted the Wiesenthal Center, an internationally renowned human rights organization, to insist that President Obama condemn the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood and, if necessary, cut off ties with the organization, until he withdraws his comments. No clear condemnation of the organization has yet been issued by the U.S. administration.

"They are giving Egypt’s new leadership tremendous latitude when it comes to things like this, despite the fact that these are the type of issues on which they should be held accountable,” Zuroff said. “It was hoped that the Arab spring would bring about a rise in democracy, but that simply hasn’t been the case. The undercurrent of Islamism from people who down the line would want to apply Sharia law in its most fundamental sense is a serious cause for concern.”...

But in a related point, on Thursday Israeli Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon, speaking on Israel radio, voiced rare recent criticism of Egypt’s efforts to rein in Jihadists in Sinai, saying, “It’s a question of Egypt deciding to assert its sovereignty against terrorists... It hasn’t happened yet.”

Gee, I wonder why.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Lebanese authorities have arrested two Malaysians believed to be suicide bombers and suspected to be linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist organisation.

The two, aged 21 and 28, were nabbed at Beirut International Airport.

Malaysian ambassador to Lebanon Ilango Karuppannan confirmed that the duo were picked up several days ago.

“They will be brought to court on Monday (tomorrow) and we will ask them whether they require counsel,” he told Bernama.

On Thursday, Lebanon's Al-Joumhouria newspaper, quoting security sources, said the Malaysians were detained by army intelligence on charges of being al-Qaeda members.

Investigations revealed they were recruited into al-Qaeda by another Malaysian before being taken to Yemen where they met other members of the organisation.

Al-Joumhouria said that about two months ago, the two Malaysians had tried to enter Syria via Turkey on a jihadist mission to carry out suicide attacks.

Their planned attacks were coordinated by a man who was said to be responsible for the entry of all jihadists into Syria.

When the two Malaysians failed to enter Syria, they decided to head to Lebanon to carry out terrorist attacks but their activities caught the eye of the army intelligence.

Meanwhile, YVONNE LIM reports that the families of the suspects had been notified.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said that Wisma Putra [the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs] was closely monitoring the matter.

“We have been in touch with the authorities in Lebanon and we are also investigating the matter.

“The families of the suspects have been notified.

“We will reveal the details when more information is confirmed,” he said.

But remember: the real problem is "Islamophobia." "Indonesia Arrests 11 People Suspected of Planning Terror Attack Against U.S. Embassy," by Madeleine Morgenstern for the Associated Press, October 27 (thanks to Mackie):

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s anti-terror squad arrested 11 people suspected of planning a range of attacks on domestic and foreign targets including the U.S. and Australian embassies, police said Saturday.

The suspects were arrested in raids Friday and Saturday in four provinces, national police spokesman Maj. Gen. Suhardi Aliyus said.

He said the suspects belonged to a new group called the Sunni Movement for Indonesian Society, or HASMI.

Police seized a number of bombs, explosive materials, a bomb-making manual and ammunition, Aliyus said.

He said the group had plans to target the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta and a plaza near the Australian Embassy and the local office of U.S. mining giant Freeport-McMoRan. It also planned to attack the U.S. Consulate in Surabaya and the headquarters of a police special force in Central Java, he said....

This shouldn't surprise anyone. As I explained here in connection with similar textbooks in Saudi Arabia, there is abundant material in the Qur'an and Sunnah to support this hatred.

"'Hate content against religious minorities rampant in school textbooks across Pakistan,'" from ANI, October 25 (thanks to Lachlan):

Islamabad, Oct. 25 (ANI): Textbooks used in Pakistan's schools include factual errors and hate content, which fuels the increasing levels of intolerance and extremism in the society, according to education experts.

According to the experts, the government, civil society, education experts and citizens need to contribute to a serious process of curriculum and textbook reform to help combat the growing levels of intolerance and violence towards minority groups in society, reports the Daily Times.

These views were presented by the experts during a discussion on curriculum development and textbook reform in Pakistan, organised by the Jinnah Institute in collaboration with the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) in Islamabad.

"We need to find a balance between civil society and government initiatives so that important and innovative solutions to curriculum-related issues can be implemented," said Raza Rumi, Director of Policy and Programmes at the Jinnah Institute.

Peter Jacob, NCJP Executive Director, said such material not only negatively impacts the minds of the majority Muslim students, but also harms the education and growth of non-Muslim students. (ANI)

No kidding, really?

How the Media Construct Myths
by Enza Ferreri

Sometimes we wonder how it is possible that the public believes so easily what the media and the elites tell them, about Islam and its threat, for instance.

I've gained an insight into this by watching the second presidential debate on the TV, after which the media have on the whole immediately screamed victory for Obama because the biased CNN moderator Candy Crowley has wrongly taken the President's side on the question of how he (mis)handled the Benghazi consulate assault, although she later backtracked.

I distinctly heard Candy Crowley say “He did call it an act of terror. It did as well take two weeks... so Governor Romney is right" or something to that effect, but for a while I thought I had imagined this because no-one seemed to have noticed it.

When even Crowley herself explicitly confirmed and repeated that sentence: “I did turn around right after that and say ‘but you are totally correct that they spent two weeks telling us this was about a tape'...he [Romney] was right in the main I just think he picked the wrong word”, I believed that the question was now settled, that the media could be economical with the truth but not go as far as telling an outright lie.

I must have been naïve, because the next day many media outlets were repeating that Romney got it wrong.

Day by day the evidence is mounting that Obama knew within 24 hours that this was a jihad attack but kept saying it was because of the Muhammad video to cover the failure of his Middle East policies. Even during the same debate he pointed out that he kept his promise of getting Osama bin Laden, as if to imply that al-Qaeda had been defeated.

In fact, “former CIA Director Porter Goss told Fox News that, especially in North Africa, Al Qaeda is 'much stronger' and 'spreading out' throughout the region.”

It is clearer to me now how myths are created by press and broadcasting networks. A little bit at a time, like Chinese whispers: something gets reported in the media with a little subtraction or addition of "facts", then gets repeated with more changes, and so on. In the end, all these misrepresentations accumulate and become an avalanche.

They start by a small distortion here, followed by a minor alteration of the facts there. Gradually. So, unless you have been a very, very attentive reader, listener or viewer -- or, more likely, somebody who has followed a particular event or subject for a length of time -- you won't realize that what started as A, by slow and stealth transformations, has become B, non-A.

For example, newspapers have been using the expression "anti-Muslim" for the AFDI's subway ads, rather than "anti-jihad". That is intended to subtly instil doubts in readers' minds.

The media add a single piece of the puzzle a day to their complete picture of fabrications. They don't tell you abruptly and overnight that the Muslim Brotherhood is a nice, peace-loving, tolerant organization; no, they insinuate one day that they have renounced violence, they imply the week after that they have changed their radical positions of yore and in a few months, lo and behold, what was a dangerous Islamist association has been transformed into an ally of the West and upholder of freedom and democracy, in a sleight of hand worthy of the best prestidigitator.

What I think happened is that Obama or some-one in his team, easily predicting that during the presidential debate Romney would criticize Obama on his dealing of the Benghazi consulate attack, counted on the fact that Romney had not read the transcript of the speech given by the President in the Rose Garden the day after the assault, because it did not matter, that speech's exact wording is less important than the entire message sent by the President, which was that the attack was a consequence of the Innocence of Muslims film.

So the Obama camp tried and, with the help of the media, succeeded in spinning this story as if Obama in the Rose Garden had actually called the Benghazi assault "acts of terror", whereas in fact he hadn't. He did use the expression "acts of terror" in a general sense, as a conclusion towards the end of the speech, without a specific reference to the incident occurred the previous day in Libya.

He said: "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for."

But when he was talking about that incident specifically, he called it "this type of senseless violence", "brutal acts", and "this attack": no mention of terrorism. "Senseless violence" indeed clearly refers to the reactions to the Muhammad film, since terrorism is violence with a planned objective. That the President did not attribute it to an act of terror is the right interpretation to give to his words in light of his insistence in the following two weeks in blaming the eruption of violence in the Muslim world, from Libya to Pakistan, on the YouTube movie.

As I said, I don't think that all this matters so much per se. What is important is the whole message, posture and policies.

But this is a useful lesson to learn in how the media exercise their deception.

The good news is that people are less and less accepting of this state of affairs. UK newspapers’ sales have been falling for quite some time, and The Guardian/Observer in particular have seen their readership decline, reporting last August an annual loss of around £54m, to the point that both newspapers (The Observer is The Guardian’s Sunday sister paper) are now “seriously discussing” an end to their print edition.

Enza Ferreri is an Italian-born, London-based author and journalist. She has been a London correspondent for several Italian magazines and newspapers, including Panorama, L'Espresso, La Repubblica.

In "Darkness Descending in England" in the American Thinker, October 26, Pamela Geller details the British government's extra-legal persecution of those trying to defend England from jihad and Sharia:

The arrest of over 53 people in the United Kingdom is the beginning of the end for once-great Britain. The leaders of the English Defence League (EDL), Tommy Robinson and Kevin Carroll, were among those arrested, as well as Paul Weston of the British Freedom Party (BFP). I spoke with Kevin Carroll about his recent arrest and that of Robinson and Weston, and he told me the appalling details.

Carroll told me that British authorities tried everything in the book to stop him from running for police and crime commissioner (PCC) for the Bedfordshire Police Authority. Nonetheless, he officially won the right to run for PCC last Friday. But then, the very next day, British authorities carried out these mass arrests of EDL and BFP members, stripping them and forcing them to wear white paper overalls like those given to incarcerated terrorists. They were allowed no phone calls.

Meanwhile, British police raided the homes of Carroll, Robinson, and three others who had been arrested. "They absolutely ransacked mine," Carroll told me. "They smashed the door off and wrecked my home. They took my only vehicle, with all the tools of my trade inside, and impounded it, as well as Tommy's car." The police, the bomb squad, forensics teams, and sniffer dogs spent seven and a half hours stripping Carroll's van to the bone. "When they finished," he said, "they found nothing! They loaded it up with bugs and GPS monitors and threw everything in the back; it looks like it's been in a blender."

After smashing the door to Carroll's home off its hinges, police officials repaired it, got a locksmith to put on a new lock, and left with the new keys, leaving Carroll locked out of his own home. When Carroll was released, still wearing his white paper prison suit, it was dark and raining; true to form, police officials offered him no transportation, even though it was late at night on a Sunday.

Robinson is being held in Wandsworth prison, an old and antiquated structure with a large population of Muslim prisoners. Weston was arrested and later released without charge for refusing to leave a reception area without information about Robinson. And it is clear why officials would not want that information to get out: not only has Robinson been placed with the general prison population instead of segregated for his own protection, but prison officials have even put him in a cell with hostile Muslims. He was allowed to call his wife Jenna, and he told her that he knew it was going to be "lively" in the cell. That was an understatement: prison officials have deliberately put Robinson in physical danger and even imperiled his life. Carroll contacted a high-ranking police official to request that Robinson be segregated, and she received a promise that he would be, but it hasn't happened yet -- and Robinson has even been denied bail.

"They are really coming at us with everything," Carroll told me. "I'm even on police bail at the moment for 'conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.'" This is a politically motivated and trumped up charge, but in Britain it can carry a life sentence.

Read it all.

Recently the Wall Street Journal published an analysis of Obama's foreign policy failures that, aside from a few nods in the direction of the reigning politically correct fictions about the relationship of the jihad doctrine to Islam itself, was surprisingly clear-sighted: "Feith and Cropsey: A Foreign Policy Failure to Acknowledge the Obvious," by Douglas J. Feith and Seth Cropsey in the Wall Street Journal, October 18:

...But there's a bigger problem here than cynicism. It is that the administration's first response—to blame an American video, not Islamist terrorists—reflected strategic misjudgments. First is the refusal to accept that the terrorism threat is part of a larger problem of Islamist extremism. And second is the belief that terrorism is spawned not by religious fanaticism but by grievances about social, economic and other problems for which America bears fault.

When Mr. Obama became president, he was intent on repudiating the previous administration's war on terrorism, which saw al Qaeda as part of a diverse international movement of Islamist extremists hostile to the United States, to liberal democratic principles (in particular the rights of women), and to most governments of predominantly Muslim countries.

Mr. Obama chose to define America's enemy not ideologically but organizationally, as al Qaeda and its affiliates. White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan, in his speeches over the past few years, has insisted that terrorists should never be described as Muslim because their extremism is not consistent with Islam. Mr. Brennan discourses on Islam as if he were an imam. The Obama administration, he said in 2010, does not "describe our enemy as jihadists or Islamists because jihad is holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself or one's community." He failed to mention that jihad also means holy war.

It is clear that not all Muslims embrace extremist Islamist ideology—perhaps only a small minority do. But the extremists claim to speak for the true Islam. Their pretensions are disputable, but it is false and presumptuous for Mr. Brennan, an American and non-Muslim, to assert that the extremists cannot be Islamic or religious leaders.

The problem with ignoring ideology is made clear—unintentionally—in President Obama's National Counter-Terrorism Strategy, released in June 2011. In it he writes: "We are at war with a specific organization—al-Qa'ida." But America also has to work aggressively against Hezbollah, he notes a few pages later—and against a number of terrorist groups in South Asia, he further adds, "even if we achieve the ultimate defeat of al-Qa'ida in the Afghanistan-Pakistan theater."

So our problem is substantially broader than al Qaeda—and even broader than al Qaeda and its affiliates. What all these groups have in common is Islamist ideology—yet Mr. Obama ignores that.

And what, according to the Obama administration, stokes the fires of extremism? It isn't the supremacist exhortations of Islamist ideology. Rather, it is longstanding political and economic "grievances," according to Mr. Brennan, such as "when young people have no hope for a job," "when governments fail to provide for the basic needs of the people," and when the Palestinian-Israeli conflict remains unresolved. President Obama, Mr. Brennan has said, thinks America should be "addressing the political, economic and social forces that can make people fall victim to the cancer of violent extremism." Mr. Brennan has also noted that the president is "concerned with how the United States was viewed in the world and how these attitudes were fueling the flames of hatred and violence."

Thus the way to defeat the terrorists, according to President Obama, isn't to counter extremist Islamist ideology but to focus on how the United States, through its actions and delinquencies—its supposed excessive support for Israel, for example, and failure to provide more economic aid—is to blame for the hatred that spawns terrorism.

White House senior director for the National Security Council Samantha Power wrote some years ago, while a Harvard University lecturer, that America should adopt a foreign-policy "doctrine of mea culpa." This is the frame of mind that President Obama brought to his famous June 2009 Cairo speech in which he suggested that tensions between America and the world's Muslims are largely America's fault. It was in that speech that President Obama asserted: "Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism."...

This was generally a fine analysis, and good to see in the normally dhimmi WSJ, but my friend and colleague Andy McCarthy sees a problem with it in "The Real Foreign-Policy Failure: A response to Doug Feith and Seth Cropsey" in National Review, October 27:

Let’s start with the authors’ intimation that “religious fanaticism” causes terrorism. To be sure, that’s a better explanation than the Left’s “blame America first” approach. Yet, it still misses the mark. The real cause is ideology, not religion. The distinction is worth drawing because, for the most part, Islamist terror is not fueled by Muslim zealousness for Islam’s religious tenets — for instance, “the oneness of Allah.” We Westerners recognize such beliefs as belonging to the realm of religion or spirituality. To the contrary, Islamist terror is driven by the supremacism and totalitarianism of Middle Eastern Islam — i.e., by the perception of believers that they are under a divine injunction to impose all of Islam’s tenets.

Most of those tenets do not concern religion or spirituality, at least not as Westerners interpret those concepts. Instead, sharia is largely concerned with controlling what we see as secular affairs — political, social, military, financial, jurisprudential, penal, even hygienic matters. Of course, the fact that we separate church and state in the West does not mean our moral sense is without influence — indeed, profound influence — over how we conduct secular affairs. But in the West, we reject the notion that any religious belief system’s tenets should control those affairs. In the United States, we reject the establishment of a state religion — such official primacy would suffocate freedom of conscience, a bedrock of liberty.

By contrast, the foundation of Middle Eastern Islam is submission to Allah’s law, not individual liberty. This interpretation of Islam thus rejects a division between the secular and the spiritual. Its sharia system contemplates totalitarian control. That makes Islamist ideology (i.e., Islamic supremacism, or what is sometimes more elliptically called “political Islam”) just another totalitarian ideology, albeit one that happens to have a religious veneer.

Some of my friends make the error of claiming that “Islam is not a religion.” I understand what they mean — it is a clumsy way of making the point that mainstream Islam aspires to control much more than spiritual life. Still, the clumsy rhetoric is a bad mistake, driving a wedge between what should be natural allies: those fearful of Islamic supremacism and religious believers. The latter — for example, American Christians, Jews, and non-Islamist Muslims — today find their core liberties under siege by government overreach and atheist hostility. How convenient for these aggressor forces if, by the hocus-pocus of denying an established creed the status of religion, its adherents may be stripped of their constitutional protections.

No, Islam clearly is a religion, and its theological tenets are every bit as deserving of the First Amendment’s guarantees as any other. But Muslims must accept that, in America and the West, it is not Islam but our traditions — especially the separation of church and state — that set the parameters of religious liberty. This way, Islam, the religion, is protected, but Islamic supremacism, the totalitarian ideology, is not. The latter undeniably draws on Islamic scripture, but it is categorically akin to Communism or National Socialism, not to religious creeds.

This is true as far as it goes: a distinction does indeed need to be made in American law between Islam as a religion and Islam as a political system that is authoritarian, supremacist, and at variance with our Constitutional principles and freedoms in numerous ways. But it is off the mark to say that "the real cause is ideology, not religion," and that "Islamist terror is not fueled by Muslim zealousness for Islam’s religious tenets — for instance, 'the oneness of Allah.'" A moment's glance at the names of jihad terror groups around the world shows that it is precisely zealousness for Islam's religious tenets that fuels jihad terrorism. Take, for example, the Supporters of Tawheed, a banned jihad group in Wales. What's "Tawheed"? The oneness of Allah. Then there is the Tawheed and Jihad group in Gaza that recently murdered an Italian peace activist. And exactly the same name, Tawheed wal-Jihad, was used for his group by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the jihad leader in Iraq.

Aside from Tawheed itself, the names of jihad groups are invariably religious: Hamas is an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement. Hizballah is the Party of Allah. The group that murdered Ambassador Stevens and the others in Libya was Ansar al-Sharia -- supporters of Islamic law. And on and on.

The key that McCarthy misses here is that the distinction between the religious and political realms is a Western realm that has no foundation in traditional Islam. These groups are fighting for political and religious goals simultaneously, and see no difference, much less opposition, between the two. In fact, Islamic apologists have frequently criticized the Judeo-Christian West precisely for drawing such a distinction. This doesn't mean that he is wrong in saying that we have to combat the political and supremacist aspects of Islam as such, but one principal reason why the problem of identifying our foe properly has proven to be so intractable is that the religious and the political in Islam are completely intertwined and not separable in any organic way found within Islam itself. This, too, has to recognized before there can be any real progress made in public policy on this issue.

These American publishers rightly excoriate the hatred of Jews and Christians and Islamic supremacism in Saudi textbooks, but they shouldn't be surprised by it: it is simply Qur'anic Islam, although I am sure these men have been so filled with Religion of Peace nonsense by politically correct propagandists that they have no idea of that.

"Saudi Textbooks Incite Hate, Say Leaders in American Publishing," by Robert L. Bernstein, Harold Evans, Larry Kirshbaum, Adam Bellow, Larry Hughes, Andre Schiffrin, and Jonathan Karp in The Daily Beast, October 17:

Despite promises to reform their textbooks, the Saudi education system continues to indoctrinate children with hatred and incitement. Seven current and former heads of major publishing houses address the critical importance of words.

As current and former heads of major American publishing houses, we know the value of words. They inform actions and shape the world views of all, especially children. We are writing to express our profound disappointment that the Saudi government continues to print textbooks inciting hatred and violence against religious minorities.

A ninth-grade textbook published by the Ministry of Education states, “The Jews and the Christians are enemies of the believers, and they cannot approve of Muslims.” An eighth-grade textbook says, “The Apes are the people of the Sabbath, the Jews; and the Swine are the infidels of the communion of Jesus, the Christians.” These are just two examples of a long list of hate-filled passages....

The Jews and Christians cannot approve of Muslims: "Never will the Jews be satisfied with thee, neither the Christians, not till thou followest their religion. Say: 'God's guidance is the true guidance.' If thou followest their caprices, after the knowledge that has come to thee, thou shalt have against God neither protector nor helper." -- Qur'an 2:120

Jews and Christians are apes and pigs: "Say: 'People of the Book, do you blame us for any other cause than that we believe in God, and what has been sent down to us, and what was sent down before, and that most of you are ungodly?' Say: 'Shall I tell you of a recompense with God, worse than that? Whomsoever God has cursed, and with whom He is wroth, and made some of them apes and swine, and worshippers of idols -- they are worse situated, and have gone further astray from the right way." -- Qur'an 5:59-60

Nina Shea at National Review (thanks to Lachlan) has more from the textbooks. She, too, however, is such an inveterate purveyor of politically correct nonsense that she speaks about "local Islamic traditions" being "transformed and radicalized under the growing influence of Saudi Salafist Islam" in "many Muslim countries," which is absolutely true, but she makes no mention of the fact, and shows no hint of knowing, that this material from Saudi textbooks is standard Qur'anic Islam. Here is Shea's list of shocking examples of hate from the textbooks, interspersed with just a small portion of the mountain of material justifying such beliefs that can be found in Islamic texts and teachings:

1. “The Jews and the Christians are enemies of the believers, and they cannot approve of Muslims.”

As above: "Never will the Jews be satisfied with thee, neither the Christians, not till thou followest their religion. Say: 'God's guidance is the true guidance.' If thou followest their caprices, after the knowledge that has come to thee, thou shalt have against God neither protector nor helper." (Qur'an 2:120)

2. “The struggle of this [Muslim] nation with the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills.”

It will, in fact, continue until the end times:

"The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.” (Sahih Muslim, 41:6985; see also 41:6981-84 and Sahih Bukhari, 4:52:176,177 and 4:56:791)

"The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: There is no prophet between me and him, that is, Jesus (peace_be_upon_him). He will descent (to the earth). When you see him, recognise him: a man of medium height, reddish fair, wearing two light yellow garments, looking as if drops were falling down from his head though it will not be wet. He will fight the people for the cause of Islam. He will break the cross, kill swine, and abolish jizyah. Allah will perish all religions except Islam. He will destroy the Antichrist and will live on the earth for forty years and then he will die. The Muslims will pray over him." (Sunan Abu Sawud 37.4310)

3. “Do not kill what God has forbidden killing such as the Muslim or the infidel between whom and the Muslims there is a covenant or under protection, unless for just cause such as unbelief after belief, just punishment or adultery.”

"Someone raised among Muslims who denies the obligatoriness of the prayer, zakat, fasting Ramadan, the pilgrimage, or the unlawfulness of wine or adultery, or denies something else upon which there is a scholarly consensus...and which is necessarily known as being of the religion...thereby becomes an unbeliever (kafir) and is executed for his unbelief." (Umdat al-Salik, F1.3)

4. “The apostate has two punishments; worldly and in the hereafter. Punishment in this life: Death if he does not repent.”

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57).

5. “Major polytheism is a reason to fight those that practice it.”

"Then, when the sacred months are drawn away, slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms, then let them go their way; God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate." (Qur'an 9:5)

Muhammad said: "I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah." (Sahih Muslim 30)

6. “Fighting the Infidels and the Polytheists has certain conditions and controls, including: That they be invited to Islam and they refuse to enter it and refuse to pay Jizya [a special tax] That Muslims have the power and the capacity to combat, That this be with the permission of the guardian and under his banner, That there be no guarantee between them and the Muslims not to combat.”

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

7. “The punishment of homosexuality is death. . . . Ibn Qudamah said: “The companions (of the Prophet) agreed unanimously on killing. Some of the Companions argued that he (a homosexual) is to be burned with fire. It has been said that he should be stoned, or thrown from a high place. Other things have also been said.”

"The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: If you find anyone doing as Lot's people did, kill the one who does it, and the one to whom it is done." (Sunan Abu Dawud 38.4447)

8. “In Islamic law, (jihad) has two uses: 1. specific usage: which means: Exerting effort in fighting unbelievers and tyrants.”

"The caliph makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians...until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax." ('Umdat al-Salik o9.8)

9. “In the general usage, Jihad is divided into the following categories: . . . Wrestling with the unbelievers by calling them (to the faith) and fighting them.”

"O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you; and let them find in you a harshness; and know that God is with the godfearing." (Qur'an 9:123)

10. “As was cited in Ibn Abbas, and was said: The Apes are the people of the Sabbath, the Jews; and the Swine are the infidels of the communion of Jesus, the Christians.”

As above: "Say: 'People of the Book, do you blame us for any other cause than that we believe in God, and what has been sent down to us, and what was sent down before, and that most of you are ungodly?' Say: 'Shall I tell you of a recompense with God, worse than that? Whomsoever God has cursed, and with whom He is wroth, and made some of them apes and swine, and worshippers of idols -- they are worse situated, and have gone further astray from the right way." (Qur'an 5:59-60)

Stoning adulterers is not "extremist"; it is Islamic law. The caliph Umar, one of Muhammad's closest companions, even maintained that it was originally in the Qur'an:

'Umar said, "I am afraid that after a long time has passed, people may say, "We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in the Holy Book," and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession." Sufyan added, "I have memorized this narration in this way." 'Umar added, "Surely Allah's Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him." (Bukhari, vol. 8, bk. 82, no. 816)

"Allah's Apostle" is, of course, Muhammad, who did indeed carry out stonings. Here is the hadith in which he challenges the rabbis about stoning, and in which there is amidst the barbarism and brutality a final act of love and compassion:

The Jews came to Allah's Apostle and told him that a man and a woman from amongst them had committed illegal sexual intercourse. Allah's Apostle said to them, "What do you find in the Torah (old Testament) about the legal punishment of Ar-Rajm (stoning)?" They replied, (But) we announce their crime and lash them." Abdullah bin Salam said, "You are telling a lie; Torah contains the order of Rajm." They brought and opened the Torah and one of them solaced his hand on the Verse of Rajm and read the verses preceding and following it. Abdullah bin Salam said to him, "Lift your hand." When he lifted his hand, the Verse of Rajm was written there. They said, "Muhammad has told the truth; the Torah has the Verse of Rajm. The Prophet then gave the order that both of them should be stoned to death. ('Abdullah bin 'Umar said, "I saw the man leaning over the woman to shelter her from the stones." (Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 56, no. 829)

Even the monkeys practiced stoning, according to another hadith:

During the pre-lslamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were all stoning it, because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too, stoned it along with them. (Bukhari, vol. 5, bk. 58, no. 188)

Muhammad's example is, of course, normative for Islamic behavior, since "verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example for him who looketh unto Allah and the Last Day, and remembereth Allah much" (Qur'an 33:21).

"Al-Shabaab order woman stoned to death for sex offence," by Abdulkadir Khalif in Africa Review, October 26 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):

A young woman was stoned to death Thursday in Somalia after being convicted of engaging in out-of-marriage sex, reports say.

Residents of Jamama town, 425km south of Mogadishu in Lower Juba region, said that militants loyal to Al-Shabaab carried out the stoning at the town’s main square in late afternoon.

“Many residents were called to attend the execution of the punishment,” a resident who requested anonymity for own safety told Kulmiye, an independent broadcaster in Mogadishu.

He added that Al-Shabaab officials in the town witnessed the stoning.

“The woman admitted having out-of-marriage sex,” said an Islamist official who talked to the crowd after the stoning was completed.

“This type of punishments that are compatible with Sharia (Islamic laws) will be administered,” said the official....

And they demand that Morsi "stop appeasing secularists." When was he doing that?

Sharia Alert from Glorious, Democratic "Arab Spring" Egypt: "Alexandria Salafists open fire on liberals, striking workers in Eid sermons," from Ahram Online, October 26 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Egypt should get tough and stop "pampering" its people, a leading Salafist sheikh has told worshippers at Eid Al-Adha prayers, in just one part of a seeming broadside against leftists and liberals launched by preachers across Alexandria during the Islamic holiday.

Speaking at Friday prayers at Al Qa'ed Ibrahim Mosque, Sheikh Ahmed Mahalawy called for Egypt's striking labourers and doctors to be fired and replaced by the legions of the country's unemployed.

"Enough with pampering the people, O President. You must be a little severe," Mahalawy said, addressing Mohamed Morsi, whom he backed in June's presidential election.

Egypt's recent labour strikes and "lawlessness" were the result of the government's lamentable "flexibility" when it came to settling disputes, Mahalawy claimed.

Workers also came under fire at Alexandria's Ramla Square, where the Muslim Brotherhood's Sobhi Saleh dubbed those taking part in strikes "enemies of the people."

Saleh, a lawyer giving his own Eid sermon, went on to accuse "secularists and liberals" of seeking to "destroy the identity of the state."

"We will not allow it. We are guards of the Sharia [Islamic law] and its protectors," added Saleh, himself part of the 100-member body drafting Egypt's next constitution.

A leading member of the Salafist Calling went further yet, questioning the very faith of those opposed to an Islamic state.

"Are you not Muslims?" demanded Sheikh Abdel Moneim El-Shahat, during his sermon in the Montazara district of Alexandria.

"Don't you take part in prayers, give Zakat [charity], and kill animals for the festival?" he continued.

"So why are you fighting Sharia law? Why do you stand in the way of its application?"

El-Shahat went on to claim that liberals were undermining the efforts of Egypt's Constituent Assembly to introduce Islamic law.

Alexandria is regarded by many as the birthplace of Egypt's modern Salafist movement. But similar sentiments were on show several hundred kilometres to the west on Friday, in the coastal city of Marsa Matrouh.

There, Salafist Sheikh Ali Ghalab told worshippers at a mosque that President Morsi should stop appeasing secularists and instead fight them head-on for a constitution that reflects "God's rule".

"The president has to support the application of God's rule -- Egypt is an Islamic state," Ghalab said.

Lions?

Alas, the lovelorn would-be killer was rebuffed, and still roams the streets of England. The plotters, meanwhile, discussed ways and means of killing as many as a thousand Infidels at once. But remember: the real problem is "Islamophobia."

"Terror trial: Estranged wife wanted to be 'fourth lion,'" from the BBC, October 25 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The estranged wife of a man accused of plotting a terror attack offered herself as a helper in an attempt to win him back, a court has heard.

In a reference to the spoof film Four Lions, Salma Kabal asked Ashik Ali if she could be the "fourth lion", Woolwich Crown Court was told.

Brian Altman, QC, prosecuting, said she was snubbed by him and is not on trial.

Mr Ali, 27, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Irfan Naseer, 31, all from Birmingham, deny preparing for terrorist acts.

The jury has heard the trio planned to set off a series of suicide bombs in an attack which prosecutors said would have dwarfed the 7 July 2005 bombings in London and two of the men had received terror training in Pakistan.

Mr Altman told the jury Ms Kabal did not know what the group were planning as Mr Ali withheld details from her.

'Lioness'

She offered to be the "lioness" of the group, the court heard.

Mr Ali told his wife he wanted to fight the jihad - or holy war - overseas but did not want to get her involved, the court heard.

Mr Ali said he still loved her but said he did not think she could adapt to fight the jihad abroad, and made reference to drone strikes, the court heard.

Mr Altman said the group made reference to the film Four Lions, in which a group of incompetent terrorists wear fancy dress in a comedy plot, and Mr Ali laughingly told his wife: "Oh, you think this is a flipping Four Lions. We're one man short, there's three of us. We ain't Four Lions yet."

Ms Kabal replied: "I'll be your fourth one."

Mr Ali said: "You can't be the fourth one."

Ms Kabal said: "Lioness."

Mr Altman said: "That may be the arithmetic in the context of the film title, but the comment, couched in a joke, and made in order to divert her, is telling.

"It is telling because it reveals, we suggest, the truth, that there were three of them together but they were not planning a trip abroad to fight jihad."

The prosecution claims Mr Naseer and Mr Khalid went to the Taliban stronghold of Waziristan, in Pakistan, in the summer of 2011 for training.

In another echo of a plotline in the 2010 film, Mr Ali joked with his wife about blowing up Muslims in Birmingham, the court heard.

'Vaseline plot'

As Ms Kabal tried to ask him again about his alleged plans, Mr Ali said: "The General Saab, you know, the command we send from high above, innit, hierarchy is that you should blow your Muslims up man, yeah.

"Blow up all the Muslims around Alum Rock up innit and Washwood Heath and Aston".

The court heard the group discussed various alternatives to a bomb attack, including mixing poisons into Vaseline or Nivea and then rubbing it on car doors, in an attempt to kill "about 1,000 people".

In a bugged conversation, the court heard, Mr Naseer recalled: "You know like the door handles on a whole, imagine putting it on whole like area innit overnight and when they come in the morning to work they start touching the, they open the door and then five minutes they die man, all of them start dying and that, kill about 1,000 people."...

"This year's Eid al-Adha religious holiday has been marred by violence across the Muslim world," marvels Deutsche Welle, sounding as surprised as if it were writing about Christians murdering each other on Christmas. "Bus bomb kills Shiite pilgrims in Iraq," from Deutsche Welle, October 27 (thanks to David):

Several Shiite pilgrims near Baghdad have been killed during an attack during one of Islam's most important holidays. Meanwhile, shootings in northern Iraq have cast a shadow over Eid al-Adha celebrations.

A bomb blast and shootings in Iraq disrupted the second day of the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha on Saturday.

A "sticky bomb" underneath a bus carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims was detonated on Saturday, killing at least five passengers and wounding at least 19, according to Iraqi officials. Medics also confirmed the death toll. The passengers were reportedly travelling to a Shiite shrine in Baghdad for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

In the northern city of Mosul, security officials reported separate shootings that killed at least five other people. They estimated that more than 10 people were injured in the shootings as well. The gunmen had targeted members of the Shabak community, according to the news agency AFP.

Violence against the Shiite community has broken the relative peace across Iraq over the past week. Last Saturday, attacks led to the deaths of about 12 people. A car bomb and mortar attack in a predominantly Shiite neighbourhood in Baghad [sic] increased the death toll by nine.

This year's Eid al-Adha religious holiday has been marred by violence across the Muslim world. On Friday, a suicide bomb killed at least 40 people at a mosque in northwestern Afghanistan. Meanwhile, there was renewed fighting in Syria despite a UN-Arab League-brokered truce. The death toll in the war-torn country reached nearly 150 by the end of Friday....

Calm down, you greasy Islamophobe. Your church has a bomb-making factory on the premises, doesn't it?

In recent years we have seen mosques used to preach hatred; to spread exhortations to terrorist activity; to house a bomb factory; to store weapons; to disseminate messages from bin Laden; to demand (in the U.S.) that non-Muslims conform to Islamic dietary restrictions; to fire on American troops; to fire upon Indian troops; to train jihadists; and more.

"Bahrain says it uncovered weapons cache inside unlicensed mosque," from Al Arabiya, October 24 (thanks to 538):

Police in Bahrain said on Wednesday they uncovered a weapons cache inside an unlicensed mosque where locally-made bombs were being produced.

Authorities said they seized electric detonators, stopwatches and other materials used to make bombs.

The cache was uncovered in the area of Abou Baham, a scene of violence attributed by official media to Shiite hardliners....

Sharia justice. "Pakistani Higher Court orders enforced converted Christian girl to go with Muslim man," from the Pakistan Christian Post, October 24 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Hyderabad: October 24, 2012. (Abbas Kassar) A Christian girl Rebbeca who was kidnapped from Sukkur in Sindh on October 2, 2012, was produced before the high court Sukkur circuit bench on 22 October on application of her father Younis Masih was handed over to her kidnapper husband by judge of Sindh High Court rejecting appeals by her lawyer to send her to Darul Aman.

In the court the girl did not speak a word because she appeared to have been so frightened and terrorized that she continued to mince her lips in helpless manner but did not utter a word. She was accompanied with Mian Aslam son of politically powerful Mian Mithoo the Member of National Assembly of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party PPP who has been accused of kidnapping non-Muslim girls, keeping them in her Haveli for few weeks and then managing their marriages with his servants or followers.

Manzar Dahar a man who kidnapped her and later married her on force on behest of Pir Mian Mithoo also accompanied her and later took her to his home. Despite repeated requests by father of girl Younis Masih and his advocate Mukesh Kumar to send her to Darul Aman as according to them she was under intense pressure and fright but the judge Justice Naamatullah Phulpoto rejected their requests and allowed her to go with her kidnapper husband and adjourned the hearing to 2 November.

Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC have said that Pakistan Peoples Party PPP leaders are involved in kidnapping and enforcedly converting Christian and Hindu girls to Islam in interior Sindh.

Nazir Bhatti said that if ruling PPP not expelled its Member of National Assembly from Ghotki named Mian Mithoo from his seat then Hindus and Christian from Sindh will launch move not support PPP in next general elections because MNA Mian Mithoo is protecting culprits who are kidnapping and enforcedly converting them to Islam and sells them to Muslim bidders.

Nazir Bhatti said that Christian and Hindu girls are kidnapped by tools of PPP MNA Mian Mithoo and later forced to be sex-slaves of Mian Mithoo and other PPP Muslim feudal lords and later sold to Muslim for marriage in Sindh....

The mowers

And they wonder why some people seem to dislike Islam. "'Jihadists talked of building an Ultimate Mowing Machine,'" by Paul Cheston for the London Evening Standard, October 23 (thanks to Jay):

A jihadist gang accused of plotting suicide bombings more devastating than the 7/7 attacks on London talked of building an 'Ultimate Mowing Machine' to kill and maim.

Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, from Birmingham, have pleaded not guilty to engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts.

But the prosecution claims that in covert recordings made by police after the men returned from Pakistan they are heard talking about putting sharp blades on the front of a truck and "running" into people, the court heard.

Recorded speaking on September 10, they discussed an idea for a weapon that had been published in an outlawed extremist online magazine called Inspire under the headline "The Ultimate Mowing Machine".

It was an article the prosecution said the defendants were clearly aware of.

Naseer said: "So Ashik, it feel like I've been driving a monster truck, you know."

Khalid said: "Yeah and do what AQ (al Qaida) said, put that blades at the front of it and trample on everyone."

He continued later: "Just drive it into people in (a) crowded area."

The men also discussed what would happen to their bodies after they had been martyred in a suicide attack, the court heard.

In what the prosecution caled a "very telling exchange", they discussed where they would be buried in Birmingham while being watched by surveillance officers driving through the Small Heath area of Birmingham on September 11 last year.

Khalid said: ""Nah, I'm just thinking... most likely it'll be Handsworth (cemetery), if there's a body left."

Naseer replied: "One thing, one thing, remember, once that once you done, it doesn't matter where you get buried, innit."

Mr Altman said: "The exchange puts beyond doubt that they were planning a suicide attack."

Khalid and Naseer also talked about people "getting killed" in their local area and how no one would come there any more because it would be a "little war zone", the court heard.

Khalid was recorded saying: "This earth here ain't ever be the same, how these people think that, all everyone's gonna be merry merry kuffar are gonna come and eat and drink here, it's not gonna happen, because after we've done, Insha'Allah, yeah, after later on, yeah."

He added: "These people are gonna be getting killed and that here, there's gonna be little war zone, yeah."

In another conversation he described Westerners as evil, saying: "All I'm saying is look how much hatred they have for Islam.

"That does make you go mad."

Yes, and just look at the love overflowing from these guys, and see how unjustified that hatred is!

The men were recorded taking a large flatscreen television to their flat, on which to watch violent videos.

They were also heard boasting that they had been contacted by a potential "investor" who they hoped might give them up to £10,000.

A Dawah charity shop was going to be used as a cover to recruit more people to their cause and they planned to set up charity stalls selling cakes and perfume in Coventry, Leicester and Walsall.

Naseer was recorded talking about the September 11 al Qaida bombers and how they increased their iman (faith) by "doing 10 (chapters of the Koran) a day", while talking to an associate....

The scandal just keeps getting bigger, while the mainstream media tries furiously to distract attention from it.

"EXCLUSIVE: CIA operators were denied request for help during Benghazi attack, sources say," by Jennifer Griffin for FoxNews.com, October 26 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

Fox News has learned from sources who were on the ground in Benghazi that an urgent request from the CIA annex for military back-up during the attack on the U.S. consulate and subsequent attack several hours later was denied by U.S. officials -- who also told the CIA operators twice to "stand down" rather than help the ambassador's team when shots were heard at approximately 9:40 p.m. in Benghazi on Sept. 11.

Former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods was part of a small team who was at the CIA annex about a mile from the U.S. consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens and his team came under attack. When he and others heard the shots fired, they informed their higher-ups at the annex to tell them what they were hearing and requested permission to go to the consulate and help out. They were told to "stand down," according to sources familiar with the exchange. Soon after, they were again told to "stand down."

Woods and at least two others ignored those orders and made their way to the consulate which at that point was on fire. Shots were exchanged. The rescue team from the CIA annex evacuated those who remained at the consulate and Sean Smith, who had been killed in the initial attack. They could not find the ambassador and returned to the CIA annex at about midnight.

At that point, they called again for military support and help because they were taking fire at the CIA safe house, or annex. The request was denied. There were no communications problems at the annex, according those present at the compound. The team was in constant radio contact with their headquarters. In fact, at least one member of the team was on the roof of the annex manning a heavy machine gun when mortars were fired at the CIA compound. The security officer had a laser on the target that was firing and repeatedly requested back-up support from a Spectre gunship, which is commonly used by U.S. Special Operations forces to provide support to Special Operations teams on the ground involved in intense firefights. The fighting at the CIA annex went on for more than four hours -- enough time for any planes based in Sigonella Air base, just 480 miles away, to arrive. Fox News has also learned that two separate Tier One Special operations forces were told to wait, among them Delta Force operators.

A Special Operations team, or CIF which stands for Commanders in Extremis Force, operating in Central Europe had been moved to Sigonella, Italy, but they never told to deploy. In fact, a Pentagon official says there were never any requests to deploy assets from outside the country. A second force that specializes in counterterrorism rescues was on hand at Sigonella, according to senior military and intelligence sources. According to those sources, they could have flown to Benghazi in less than two hours. They were the same distance to Benghazi as those that were sent from Tripoli. Spectre gunships are commonly used by the Special Operations community to provide close air support.

According to sources on the ground during the attack, the special operator on the roof of the CIA annex had visual contact and a laser pointing at the Libyan mortar team that was targeting the CIA annex. The operators were calling in coordinates of where the Libyan forces were firing from.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday that there was not a clear enough picture of what was occurring on the ground in Benghazi to send help.

"There's a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on here," Panetta said Thursday. "But the basic principle here ... is that you don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on."

U.S. officials argue that there was a period of several hours when the fighting stopped before the mortars were fired at the annex, leading officials to believe the attack was over.

Fox News has learned that there were two military surveillance drones redirected to Benghazi shortly after the attack on the consulate began. They were already in the vicinity. The second surveillance craft was sent to relieve the first drone, perhaps due to fuel issues. Both were capable of sending real time visuals back to U.S. officials in Washington, D.C. Any U.S. official or agency with the proper clearance, including the White House Situation Room, State Department, CIA, Pentagon and others, could call up that video in real time on their computers....

Yet in the West, Ahmadi spokesmen like the execrable Harris Zafar and Qasim Rashid carry water for the same Islamic supremacists who would cheerfully slit their throats if they were both back in Bandung, and instead target those who stand up for the Ahmadis and decry their persecution.

"FPI Attacks Ahmadiyah Mosque on Eve of Idul Adha," from the Jakarta Globe, October 26 (thanks to Lachlan):

Bandung. The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) on Thursday night inflicted damage on a mosque run by Ahmadiyah devotees in Astana Anyar, Bandung.

Dozens of FPI members passed by the An Nasir Mosque at around 9 p.m. and witnessed Ahmadis preparing for the Islamic holiday of Idul Adha. The FPI demanded that they stop what what they were doing, but the Ahmadis refused.

"We were waiting for the cattle to be slaughtered when the FPI came," Hendar, an Ahmadiyah adherent, said as quoted by Tempo.co. "In the beginning, they came in peace. But at 10:30 p.m. they became outraged and started destroying lamps and windows located on the first floor [of the mosque]. There were ten Ahmadis, including some women, inside the mosque."

Muhammad Asep Abdurahman, an FPI board member with the group's Bandung chapter, said at the Bandung Police office that the FPI had objected to the Ahmadiyah activities because such actions were prohibited by the West Java government.

Before the destruction occurred, Bandung police officers brought Ahmadiyah and FPI representatives to a police office to negotiate the situation, but nothing materialized.

“Because negotiations reached a dead end, we returned to the location to destroy [the mosque],” Asep told Sindonews.com. “I, myself, destroyed the mosque's windows while other members did nothing.”

Asep threatened the Ahmadis and warned that they must stop their religious activities or face another attack.

Bandung Police deputy chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Dadang Hartanto noted that the police did not anticipate the attack.

“The destruction was carried out spontaneously,” Dadang said. “It was probably triggered by an Ahmadi that insulted the FPI.”

Metrotvnews.com reported that none of the FPI members were arrested by police for destroying the mosque.

West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan said that such vandalism was not justified....

“Violence is wrong,” he said. “But we should also think about what triggered the incident. When a sacred religion [is] being tainted, it insults [the faithful]. All sides should... understand the regulation.”

"The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)." -- Bukhari 7.62.88

Muslims take this seriously and imitate Muhammad in this. Article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine: "Marriage before puberty (nine full lunar years for girls) is prohibited. Marriage contracted before reaching puberty with the permission of the guardian is valid provided that the interests of the ward are duly observed."

The Ayatollah Khomeini himself married a ten-year-old girl when he was twenty-eight. Khomeini called marriage to a prepubescent girl "a divine blessing," and advised the faithful: "Do your best to ensure that your daughters do not see their first blood in your house."

The Qur'an also It allows for marriage to pre-pubescent girls, stipulating that Islamic divorce procedures “shall apply to those who have not yet menstruated” (65:4).

Thus this should come as no surprise to anyone -- except those who have bought the deceptive line of Islamic supremacists in the West, that Aisha was actually nineteen, etc.

"NGO decries endorsement of girl child marriage by Sudan’s state-controlled clerics," from the Sudan Tribune, October 22 (thanks to Lachlan):

October 22, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The head of Sudan’s main clerical authority, the Religious Scholars Committee (RSC), has publicly advocated girl child marriage, drawing the ire of women activists rights who called for an immediate ban against the practice.

According to the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA ), a local NGO, RSC’s chairman Mohamed Osman Salih, made his endorsement of girl child marriage in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on 17 October during a debate organized by the United Nation Fund for Population (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Sudanese Ministry of Religious Guidance on Girl’s Child Marriage.

SIHA reported that Salih argued that girl child marriage is an appreciative matter in Islam and has many advantages including the prospect of being able to produce many offspring.

The NGO recalled that in 2009 the RSC issued a Fatwa endorsing female circumcision despite much lobbying by activists to ban the harmful practice.

SIHA further criticized the fact that the Sudanese government has failed to amend the laws that allow girl child marriage, referring to the Sudan Personal Status Act of 1991 which contains an article allowing for the marriage of girls as young as 10.

“As women activists, women’s human rights defenders and community leaders across the Horn of Africa, we are saddened by the lack of progress Sudan is demonstrating and the lack of will to amend and revise the country’s laws and legislations towards respecting the human rights and dignity of women and girls” SIHA’s statement reads.

SIHA called on the Sudanese government to conform the country’s personal laws with international obligations and to immediately ban and criminalize the granting of marriage licenses for girls under the age of 18.

It also called for abolishing all legislation that seeks to undermine and violate women’s human rights.

Yet another failed hearts-and-minds initiative. These never work, as I explained here. "Libya: The REAL October Surprise," by Tiffany Gabbay in The Blaze, October 25:

...The attack on our diplomatic outpost in Benghazi that left Ambassador Christopher Stevens, two Navy SEALs and an additional civil servant dead has soured quickly from foreign policy debacle to an all-out scandal from which the president may not recover — nor should he. When viewed in its proper context, Allred’s October surprise, which rings more like something found in an episode of the Real House Wives of New Jersey, is an insult to the fallen Americans in Benghazi and their families.

The facts as they now stand reveal that not only did Obama know from day one that the Benghazi breach was an act of terror waged by pro-al Qaeda militants, but that he likely watched the carnage unfold via cameras fed live into the Situation Room from a predator drone hovering above the consulate at the time of the attack.

How, really, could a decades-old testimony during a divorce proceeding compare to the gravitas of a U.S. president with American blood on his hands? How could the fodder of tabloids distract attention away from an American president who repeatedly lied to the American public to cover up either his ineptitude, or worse, the fact that he knew precisely who attacked our consulate in Benghazi because they were the very pro-al Qaeda rebels his administration had been arming all along?

Those I have spoken to including former CIA officer Clare Lopez and Middle East experts Steve Coughlin and Andy McCarthy are all acutely aware that Ambassador Stevens may have indeed been the pointman in yet another U.S.-led gun running scheme. From what can be pieced together thus far, the Muslim Brotherhood and its proxy, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) leader Abdulhakim Belhadj, were advising the U.S. on which rebel-factions in Libya and later, in Syria, should receive our arms. Those rebel factions, by the way, comprise members of al Qaeda, which stands to reason given that bin Laden’s alma matter is in fact Muslim Brotherhood progeny.

Questions, of course, abound. Why would Obama turn on Muammar Ghadafi, who had abandoned his nuclear and biological weapons program in compliance with U.S. demands and with whom he had been working specifically to tamp down the very al Qaeda insurgents who were spreading through Libya like a cancer?

Why would rebels kill the man who was supplying them with weapons? Why would these al Qaeda rebels turn on the very country that was aiding them? Moreover, why were we aiding them in the first place?

The answer is likely a rancid stew of flawed ideology on the part of administration officials coupled with the misguided belief that if America simply helps those who hate us, those who hate us will somehow hate us less — or at least enough not to seek our outright destruction. Time and again, we have been proven wrong, as was made evident after Jimmy Carter aided the Mujahideen (and a young Osama bin Laden) in Afghanistan against the Soviets....

Read it all.

Actually, oddly enough, it was an Islamic jihadist. But don't be concerned. He murdered his victims with "respect."

"Afghanistan mosque suicide bomb attack kills at least 41," from the BBC, October 26 (thanks to Bill):

A suicide bomber targeted worshippers who had gathered at a mosque in north Afghanistan for prayers to mark Eid al-Adha, killing at least 41 people.

More than 50 people were wounded in the attack, which happened as people were leaving the Eid Gah mosque in Maymana, capital of Faryab province.

Senior provincial government and police officials attended the prayers, but appeared to escape serious injury.

The victims were mainly police officers and civilians.

This attack in Maymana, the provincial capital of Faryab, exposes a number of serious concerns about the security situation there.

There is a widespread perception that Faryab is a very peaceful province, but recent developments are telling. There have been a number of assassinations of tribal elders recently in Maymana. Nato forces have also conducted frequent night raids targeting the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan militant group (IMU).

The groups work in concert in Faryab and analysts believe they are behind this latest attack. The province's security elite was gathered in the mosque - they appear to have been the target of this blast.

It is an indication that the militants do not intend to back down; Faryab is an important recruiting ground for the IMU and the Taliban are willing to help them as they try to expand their influence in the north.

Officials said that 14 civilians and six children were among the dead.

"We had just finished Eid al-Adha prayers and we were congratulating and hugging each other," deputy provincial governor Abdul Satar Barez told the AFP news agency.

"Suddenly a big explosion took place and the area was full of dust and smoke and body parts of police and civilians were all over the place. It was a very powerful explosion."

One survivor told the BBC that the attacker had used potent explosives and ball bearings inside his suicide jacket to cause maximum casualties.

Mr Barez said senior police and government officials had been the target, but were inside the mosque at the time so escaped the force of the blast.

Shafi Bekoghlu, a BBC Uzbek reporter based in Maymana, said he had been due to go to the mosque but was running late so went to a different mosque for Eid prayers.

"Just as I got home, I heard a very loud explosion. I rushed to the hospital and saw lots of cars, police cars and ambulances - carrying bodies in," he said, adding that police fired warning shots into the air to prevent people entering the hospital.

"I went back to the hospital a couple of hours later and saw the bodies of policemen lined up."

Doctors told the BBC that a number of the injured were in a critical condition.
Relatives of the victims at the hospital in Faryab province on 26/10/12 Many of the bodies lined up at the hospital were police officers, witnesses said

One prominent tribal elder who survived the blast said the attacker was wearing police uniform and was not searched by members of the security forces, the BBC's Bilal Sarwary reports.

He managed to breach several layers of security, 50m from the provincial governor's office....

A senior former Taliban commander, who had defected to the government side, was killed along with his son, as well as a number of very prominent tribal elders seen to be giving crucial support to the government.

Friday's attack came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged the Taliban to stop "killing their people and destroying their mosques, hospitals and schools" and join the peace process.

"They can run for any position they want... if they want to join the government they are welcome," Mr Karzai said of the insurgents in his Eid al-Adha message.

Imagine the occupying powers saying that about Nazis in Germany in 1946.

Last night on Sun TV.

On Eid al-Adha, Muslims sacrifice an animal in remembrance of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son (Ishmael, in their view) in obedience to the deity. It is a three-day festival that begins today, and so deceptive Muslim pseudo-reformer Tariq Ramadan tweeted: "Eid Mubarak-Happy Feast.Beyond sadness and wounds,a day to feel good,to smile,to give,to love and to respect...even the sheep.Eid of dignity"

Respect the sheep while you're slitting its throat? Of course, Ramadan means that the person performing the sacrifice should do his work cleanly and without causing the sheep undue pain, but his use of "respect" in this way calls to mind how Islamic law oppresses women and non-Muslims and calls it "justice." Justice in Islamic law is not only compatible with but absolutely synonymous with beating disobedient women, forbidding non-Muslims to build new houses of worship or repair old ones, etc.

And of course Ramadan is an old hand at this manipulation of language. French journalist Caroline Fourest in Brother Tariq notes that Ramadan is "remaining scrupulously faithful to the strategy mapped out by his grandfather, a strategy of advance stage by stage" toward the imposition of Islamic law in the West. She explains that he invests words like "law" and "democracy" with subtle and carefully crafted new definitions, permitting him to engage in "an apparently inoffensive discourse while remaining faithful to an eminently Islamist message and without having to lie overtly -- at least not in his eyes."

And so remember: as you're slitting the sheep's throat, do it with respect! And extend the same respect to the Infidel as you're working to ensure his submission and humiliation!

UPDATE: Apparently Fr. Fadi was Orthodox, not Melkite, despite the reference below to his having been ordained in the Melkite church in Damascus, so I have adjusted the headline accordingly.

---------

But don't be concerned. Everyone knows these guys are democratic pluralists who will establish an America-friendly Western-style republic. Right? "Pastor killed in Syria," by Nahro Farid for Ishtar TV, October 26:

Damascus - The lifeless body of a Syrian pastor was found today near the southern town of Qatana, close to the Lebanese border.

The 43-year old Fadi Haddad had gone to meet a militia and give ransom money to get the release of a kidnapped Christian doctor named Shadi Khoury.

Haddad didn't return that day and his body was found five days later with is throat slit. There has been no word on the kidnapped doctor.

A native of Qatana, Haddad studied at the Saint John's Theological School in Lebanon and was ordained in the Melkite Church of Damascus.

The father of a U.S. military man heard her say this. We now know that when she made this stunning statement about destroying the freedom of speech, she already knew that the Muhammad video had nothing to do with the Benghazi attack, and that it was actually a planned action by Islamic jihadists.

If Obama is reelected, the First Amendment is not long for this world.

And he ridicules Christianity. If he were a Christian cleric similarly ridiculing Islam, there would be an international uproar, calls for his murder, and discussion at high levels of restrictions on the freedom of speech. "Egyptian Cleric ‘Alaa Said Ridicules Christianity and Vows to Instate Islamic Law in Egypt," from MEMRI, October 15 (thanks to 538):

Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian cleric Alaa Said, which aired on Al-Rahma TV on October 15, 2012.

Alaa Said: Missionary activity is going on non-stop, while we are preoccupied with secularism and liberalism, with Islamists and secularists, religion, backwardness, and reactionaries...

[...]

By God, even if you jump up and down in the media, day in and day out, I swear that Islam will be instated, whether you or the people behind you like it or not, and whether the mightiest superpower or leader likes it or not, because Islam is the religion of our God. Everything else is temporary and transient. [Secular journalists] Ibrahim issa, Amr Adeeb, lamis Al-Hadidi, Wael Abrashi, and that entire clique will ultimately face our Lord. And there are many others like them.

Oh journalists, take heed. This is our religion. I swear by Allah that this has nothing to do with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis, Dr. Morsi, or anyone else. Islam will be instated, the Shari'a will be implemented, whether you or whoever is behind you likes it or not. Whether the Christians like it or not, they will learn the meaning of Islam.

I find it strange that they spend all that money... Let me ask the reasonable among the Christians: Why do you approach poor people and little children with a cross in one hand and bread in the other? Kids just want a chocolate bar or biscuits... The boy wants money... [They give him] 200 Egyptian pounds every day... [They give money] to girls who have sex, and then the girls say: "We have become Christians." The [missionaries] say: "The whole world is open to us. Where would you like to go? You want to go to Germany, America, or anywhere in Europe? We will take you. Do you want to be pampered? We will pamper you."

This is your religion, and yet you dare talk about Islam?! You dare say that Islam coerces and harms people?!

[...]

Let me ask you something. It's not a riddle. The bread in the Last Supper was not actual bread. It was flesh, and the wine was blood. Do you understand any of this?

Interviewer: No.

Alaa Said: You explain this me. The bread in the Last Supper is not real bread. The bread is flesh, the wine is blood, and three is one. Three is one, get it?

Interviewer: No, I don't.

Alaa Said: They say that Jesus is the only son of Allah. He was born, but not conceived. I'd like their leader – what's his name? – to explain this to us. What does "born but not conceived" mean? Do tell us. No Christian is allowed to ask what this means.

It is forbidden to offer apostates help

Pamela Geller has the story:

As I predicted after witnessing our hearing in our landmark "Leaving Islam" case back in July, the Sixth Circuit has ruled that SMART was justified in rejecting our ads because Islam is political. So does that open the door to removing the religious protections afforded this political system (sharia) that assets authority over non-Muslims?

Our ad was a religious ad. The intention was to save lives like that of Rifqa Bary (Noor Almaleki, Amina Said, Sarah Said, Jessica Mokdad, et al). The court, in a tortured and twisted opinion, said it was a political ad. Even so, all religious speech is political. The Constitution says so. It's protected as a political right under the first amendment.

The court ignored Beth Gibbons's testimony -- the actual woman who made the decision for SMART, who said it was NOT political. This court wanted to reach a certain result. Neither the facts nor the law grants them that option. The court chose to change the facts (Gibbons' testimony).

This is where we are with a hostile judiciary . . . .we will first ask for a full court rehearing on this matter (we will be filing a petition for rehearing en banc within 14 days). Moreover, this is just a preliminary ruling, and not a final ruling on the merits. We intend to engage in aggressive discovery to demonstrate on a complete record that SMART’s speech restriction was arbitrary and ultimately unconstitutional. This case is not over. Not by a long shot.

Read it all.

Paragons of moral virtue

What a beautiful witness to the mercy and compassion of Allah! "Non-Muslims have 'sex like donkeys' and deserve to be blown-up, said 'terror plot' leader," by Tom Whitehead for the Telegraph, October 25 (thanks to 538):

Westerners have 'sex like donkeys' so 'why shouldn't we terrorise them?' the alleged leader of a terror plot was recorded saying.

The leader of alleged suicide bomb plot said non-believers deserved to be attacked because they “have sex like donkeys”, orgies and took drugs, a court heard.

Ifan Naseer said the whole world was **** and people deserved to be terrorized.

The al-Qaeda inspired gang is accused of plotting to use eight suicide bombers detonating rucksacks packed with explosives in crowded places to cause “mass death” and carnage on the streets of Britain.

Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, all unemployed from Birmingham, are the alleged “senior members” of the group and were among 12 people arrested and charged last year.

They all deny the charges against them.

Naseer, a trained chemist and alleged ringleader, was secretly recorded by the police trying to justify the plot.

He said: “You know the main thing is bro all this world is **** bro, you like know what it is the only thing which is good yeah, is Allah’s Deen (faith).”

Criticising others, he went on: “They wanna you know have sex like donkeys on the street, they wanna club, act like animals and why shouldn’t we terrorise them, tell me that?”

“No, you think about it, if someone came in your house yeah and started dancing and throughout the night and started basically having orgies and smoking drugs and stuff, yeah, would you do Sabr (Patience) or would you look, you would, you would terrorise them ainit, yeah, there you go, so it’s on Allah’s earth, it’s Allah’s earth, then Allah created it, everybody and Allah gave you everything as well, then you tell me that one.”

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the jury: “He is disdainful of Western values so why should he not terrorise them.”

Naseer also raised the prospect of a second wave of suicide bombers after his group’s plot.

At one stage Naseer is explaining the destruction just a small bomb weighing 1kg could do, “especially if shrapnel like nuts or nails were sellotaped to it”, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

He said: “You put it in the middle (of a street) both ways people at both ends would be harmed.”

He added that “you probably kill about 25 people with one kg one” and “injure about 60, 50”.

Naseer also spoke about using bombs on timers with an alarm clock.

The secret recording was played to the jury, the first time they had heard Naseer's voice.

He said the "kuffars" - non-believers - would wet themselves and "probably die of a heart attack" because of the noise, which is as loud as "50 bullets together".

Naseer also talked about 7 or 8 bombs on different places with timers to all go off at the same time. "Boom boom boom everywhere", he said.

Yesterday it emerged that the cell applied for “pay day loans” to help fund their plot and were worried about exorbitant interest rates suggesting they would not be around to pay it back.

The gang, from Birmingham, also looked in to bank loans worth between £15,000 and £18,000, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

The group also planned to set up an Islamic learning centre to act as a “beautiful cover” and a mystery benefactor had offered £50,000 to help set it up although he did not know about the terror plot....

A beautiful cover indeed!

Al-Asmar was no reformer. He was killed after he said to the Muslims who were fighting each other: "What you are doing is wrong. Who do you want to kill? Don’t you know that it is impermissible for a Muslim to shed another Muslim’s blood?” And it is -- it says so in Qur'an 4:92. He doesn't seem to have cared about Muslims killing Infidels: he was an energetic proponent of the jihad against Israel. Still, this demonstrates that Islamic jihadists will physically intimidate -- and even kill -- Muslims who oppose them, which is not a good sign for those who have placed all their hopes in the prospects of large-scale reform in Islam.

"Tripoli Sheikh Shot Down Inciting Peace," by Abdel Kafi al-Samad for Al-Akhbar, October 23 (thanks to 538):

A Tripoli sheikh is murdered by gunmen after attempting to quell the street violence that followed Wissam al-Hassan’s assassination.

It had been his wish to be martyred in Palestine say acquaintances of Sheikh Abdul-Razzaq al-Asmar. With that aspiration, he took part in a number of resistance actions against Israeli forces occupying South Lebanon before their 2000 withdrawal, including an operation in Sajd.

The highly-charged political and sectarian climate deafens people to all voices of reason.
But Sheikh Asmar’s wish was not to be fulfilled. He was hit by a bullet as he attempted to quieten sectarian-motivated conflict in the Abu Samra district of Tripoli on Friday evening, during one of the alleyway wars he constantly used to warn against.

It was just before sunset. The area was extremely tense following news of the assassination in Beirut of Wissam al-Hassan, head of the Internal Security Forces’ information branch. Around 80 gunmen, supporters of the Future Movement or allied Islamist groups, gathered about 500 meters away from the headquarters of the Islamic Tawheed Movement. The gunmen prepared to attack the headquarters, as is common when the security and political situation in Lebanon and Tripoli reaches boiling point.

Sheikh Asmar approached the scene unaccompanied. He spoke to the men calmly, maintaining a demeanor familiar to anyone who had attended his Friday sermons or religious classes. “What you are doing is wrong,” he was heard telling them. “Who do you want to kill? Don’t you know that it is impermissible for a Muslim to shed another Muslim’s blood?”

The men did not reply, instead, they encircled him. It’s likely that Sheikh Asmar didn’t expect a response, given that the highly-charged political and sectarian climate deafens people to all voices of reason. He repeated his appeal, but was cut short by one of the gunmen who fired a bullet into his head, killing him instantly.

Shortly beforehand, the neighborhood’s electricity had been cut, and the privately-owned generators had not yet been switched on. Asmar’s body lay on the ground for three hours as attempts were made in vain to search for him. He was finally found on the corner of the street where he was slain.

The young cleric’s acquaintances were deeply saddened. He had a reputation for modesty, courtesy and kindness, qualities that marked his behavior until the last day of his life. At the age of 40, he was father to seven children and held masters’ degrees in both education and Islamic studies.

Tawheed officials had been advised not to hold the funeral in the daytime to avoid provoking trouble and to bury him at night instead....

Asmar’s sermons also featured unremitting criticism of Israel, which made him popular in the Palestinian refugee camps in North Lebanon, where he was often invited to speak, invariably stressing the need to prioritize the causes of Palestine, Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa Mosque....

Just as Mullah Omar promised.

Again: Barack Obama and General John Allen should be prosecuted for the deaths of every one of the troops murdered by their Afghan "allies" this year. They are all victims of the politically correct unwillingness to accept unpleasant realities about Islam: that it teaches hatred of and warfare against unbelievers, the virtue of deceit in war, and the impermissibility of cooperating with or allying with infidels on a permanent and lasting basis.

"2 US troops killed in Afghan insider attack," from Fox News, October 25 (thanks to Kenneth):

Two U.S. troops in Afghanistan were killed after an individual wearing an Afghan National Police uniform turned his weapon on them, officials said Thursday.

The attack took place in Khas Uruzgan district. Officials are investigating the incident.

It was the latest in a string of attacks from inside the Afghan Army and police force that are threatening to undermine both the partnership with international troops -- which have been the target of many attacks -- and the morale of Afghan forces, who have suffered equally heavy casualties from such strikes.

So far this year, at least 52 foreign troops -- about half of them Americans -- have been killed in insider attacks....

Here is another report on Khamenei's remarks Thursday. Note how the AP report, which I posted about here, omits all mention of his remarks about jihad. Note also how Khamenei characterizes the Islamic war against Israel as "jihad," while Muslims fighting against each other is "terrorism." Islamic supremacist groups condemn "terrorism," but by it they do not mean violent actions by Muslims against Infidels -- that's not terrorism, it's jihad.

"Iran’s Khamenei says U.S. and Israel conspire to divide Muslims, turn ‘jihad against Zionism into blind terrorism,’" from Reuters, October 25:

DUBAI — Iran’s most powerful authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday accused the United States and Israel of fomenting divisions among Muslims to undermine “Islamic uprisings” across the Middle East.

“By exploiting inattention … corrupt American, NATO and Zionist agents are trying to divert the deluge-like movement of Muslim youth and bring them into confrontation with one another in the name of Islam,” he said in an annual message to Iranians who have gone to Saudi Arabia for the haj pilgrimage.

“They are trying to turn the jihad against colonialism and Zionism into blind terrorism in the streets … so that Muslims shed each other’s blood.”

Officials in Shi’ite Muslim Iran often describe the “Arab Spring” uprisings as an “Islamic Awakening.”

Some of those uprisings have brought Islamists to power, while others, notably in Syria and Bahrain, have pitted Sunnis against Shi’ites or Alawites, members of an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.

Iran has aligned itself with its regional ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hezbollah movement in what it calls an “axis of resistance” against Israel. At the same time it denies accusations from Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchies that it is encouraging Shi’ite uprisings in their countries.

“The aggressive and interventionist arrogant powers are making every effort to divert the course of these significant Islamic movements,” Khamenei said, according to Iranian state television, urging Muslims to show solidarity....

In "A New Attack on Islam’s Critics" at FrontPage, Bruce Bawer takes apart a Norwegian propaganda piece (on state television, naturally) featuring none other than the thug Nathan Lean, the tiny propagandist whom the Iranian mullahcracy shill Reza Aslan employs to send me veiled threats and publish claims about me that he knows to be false:

The partiality of the news media, heaven knows, is an international phenomenon.  But there are few places on this fragile blue planet of ours where consumers are forced to shell out so much money to be fed so much outright, shameless, and (not infrequently) downright vile propaganda as is the case in little Norway.  At present every Norwegian household that owns a TV must pay an annual “license fee” of $451.00 a year to subsidize NRK, the government-owned TV and radio network.  (Next year the fee will climb to $568.57.)  You have to pay,  even if you never, ever watch NRK, most of whose programming is not unlike a triple dose of Ambien.  Take the schedule for Wednesday, October 24, which consisted of a blizzard of national and local news programs (one of them in Sami); “Murder, She Wrote”; reality shows, one set on a remote Finnish island, another on a Danish chestnut farm whose proprietors run it “the good old-fashioned way”; an investigative program that asked why the number of moose in Norway has tripled in the last decade; and a musical tribute to United Nations Day by the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.  (You may not know that October 24 is United Nations Day, but I can assure you that every kid in Norway does.)

But what’s worst about NRK is not the comical dullness of much of its daily menu but, well, two things: first, the day-to-day, knee-jerk, petty mendacities of its news reporting, which is almost invariably tilted against the U.S., Israel, capitalism, and so on; and, second, the larger, grander, more sweeping, and even, at times, utterly breathtaking duplicities of some of the few high-profile prime-time programs that NRK actually produces itself.  Case in point: Brennpunkt, or “burning point,” a series that pretends to be devoted to investigative journalism, and that, on the evening of October 23, served up an hour entitled “Intet kommer i en lukket hånd.” It was explained that this title, which literally translates as “Nothing comes in a closed hand,” was a quotation from Indira Gandhi; a quick Google search established that the original quotation was: “You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.”

Whose “clenched fist” was the title referring to?  That became clear quickly enough.  Director/reporter Frode Nielsen told us that “more and more right-wing extremists are directing their intense hate against Islam.” Standing outside the Olso courthouse, and noting that in recent months both mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik and terrorist Mullah Krekar have been brought to justice in that building, he declared that “the hate is equally dangerous on both sides.” Yet Nielsen’s topic wasn’t Islamic hate.  It was, rather, “those who have devoted their lives to running a hate campaign against a religion.”

Over the next hour, Nielsen introduced us to a series of people who fell, very clearly, into two categories: the Good Guys and the Bad.  What was curious was that several of the Bad Guys (some of whom genuinely were bad) were shown saying things that were inconvertibly true but that Nielsen obviously regarded as irrefutable evidence of their perfidy.  For example, a young, soft-spoken Jewish man whose name I didn’t catch said that “the Muslim world views kindness as weakness.” Anders Gravers, head of Stop Islamization of Europe, told a Danish audience that “Islam is the opposite of freedom, just as Communism is!” Pat Robertson, shown on The 700 Club, said that, owing to the advance of Islam in Norway, genital multilation and rape are also on the rise.  Chaim ben Pesach of the Jewish Task Force, who spent years in a U.S. prison for committing acts of terror, said: “You can’t negotiate with evil, you have to defeat evil….You can’t mix a violent, hateful culture with civilized people…. [Western leaders] are betraying their people….This is the beginning of end of the Western world if this continues.” Every word was true, even if the guy saying it was a despicable creep – but Nielsen’s only comment was that Pesach “denies that this sounds like Nazism.” Similarly, Koran-burning Florida preacher Terry Jones told Nielsen that “if you follow strictly the Koran, the Medina version, that does lead to violence” – a statement of pure fact from which Nielsen cuts directly to Mark Potok of the Southern Law Poverty Center lamenting how much “disinformation” is out there.

Other Bad Guys were raucous groups of English Defence League, Norwegian Defence League, and Danish Defence League protesters who were shown at street demos, waving flags and placards and screaming about Islam.  Lots of people with lots of hate, but behind all of them, Nielsen said, is a small group of ideologues who spread their “hate propaganda” to the multitudes via the Internet.  Not only have these ideologues influenced all these Bad Guys; they’re also responsible for creating the baddest Bad Guy of all, Anders Behring Breivik.  We heard a good deal about these mysterious puppeteers, these shadowy instigators, before the names of a few of them (including Brigitte Gabriel and Geert Wilders) were finally mentioned.

And only then, in the big reveal, did Nielsen actually show us a couple of these Satanic creatures, live and in person, addressing a street rally in Stockholm late in the summer of 2012.  Their names: Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller.  Nielsen, in voice-over, described them as “right-wing extremists” who are “strongly tied to Israeli extremists.” We saw them making their presentations in Stockholm, while cops in riot gear struggled to subdue a mob of violent protestors who were screaming: “Fucking racists!  No racists in our streets!” Gesturing toward the rioters, Spencer said calmly: “That’s the force we are fighting against.” Such people, he said, employ violence precisely because “they cannot defeat us intellectually or morally.” Spencer made sense and didn’t look dangerous, but Nielsen assured us he was: both his and Geller’s “propaganda,” Nielsen said, “is described as dangerous by those who monitor the anti-Islam movement.” Nielsen spoke about Spencer’s “propaganda” as if it were hidden away on clandestine websites with top-secret passwords, rather than published on a widely read website and in New York Times bestsellers.

Arrayed against Spencer and his armies of hate were a handful of Good Guys.  Norwegian Bishop Gunnar Stålsett murmured PC platitudes about brotherhood.  Matthew Collins of the group Hope Not Hate (whose magnificently mendacious Counter-Jihad Report I wrote about here) compared the EDL to the Tea Party, which, he pronounced, is “as dangerous  as any Islamist.” Nathan Lean, author of The Islamophobia Industry, said that Breivik took the writings of Spencer and company “to the logical conclusion…They weren’t the ones who committed the acts of violence, but they certainly were the ones who shaped the way he viewed the world, the way he views the Muslims, the way he viewed Europe.” Lean added that “people like bin Laden and people like Spencer are mirror images of one another,” saying that instead of fearing “stealth jihad, and creeping sharia…we should fear these groups…that promote and produce an environment and an atmosphere of hate.” Potok also linked Spencer to Breivik: “Words have consequences….If you say that the dirty Muslims are coming to rape our daughers and destroy our society…you can’t be shocked when somebody like Anders Breivik starts to murder people.  You have some kind of responsibility for that.” (As if to assure us that the SPLC is the voice of truth and virtue, Nielsen prefaced Potok’s comments with a montage of uplifting images from the civil-rights movement.)

At no point in the program was there so much as a hint that anything Spencer or any of the other Bad Guys say about Islam is true.  Lean did mention the film Obsession: Radical Islam’s War against the West, but instead of actually examining its content, he used it as an example of the Bad Guys’ determination to “provoke Muslims” and to “advance the fear of Muslims.” While he talked about Obsession, we got a quick glimpse of You Tube clips from the film on a computer screen: a church being set aflame, an imam preaching takeover of the West.  But none of this material was discussed.  It was as if the contents of films like Obsession, and of books like Spencer’s, were all sheer Islamophobic fantasy....

No, Nielsen plainly wanted us to understand that if people are getting worked up about Islam, it’s because they’re confused and ignorant.  “The world is changing rapidly and people are frightened,”  volunteered Potok.  Lean, for his part, noted that some people “argue that Muslims don’t constitute a race,” but maintained that this is just “a convenient way to avoid addressing…the civil rights issue of our time” (from which Nielsen cut to the Lincoln Memorial and that new, Chinese-looking statue of Martin Luther King, Jr.).  The director of the Rosa Parks Museum counseled that when people fear, “they just lash out and attack,” even though many of them don’t even know what they fear, and end up discovering that their fears are “completely unfounded.” The program concluded with a musical message from Gatas Parlament, a trio of white Communist rappers who are famous in Norway for (among other things) putting up a website a few years ago in which they offered a bounty for the head of George W. Bush.  Dancing in an Oslo street, the three men sang into the camera: “Are you sure that your prejudice makes sense?…Stop tolerating intolerance!” This, indeed, should be the bottom line when it comes to this topic: stop tolerating intolerance.  But the obvious agenda of Nielsen, and of his masters at NRK, is to turn the reality of all this – the reality of exactly who, in the West nowadays, is tolerating whose intolerance – upside down....

Read it all.

No doubt moderate Muslims the world over are hastening to London now to disabuse Dr. Hani Al-Siba'i of his misunderstanding of the religion that he has devoted his life to studying. "Prominent Jihadi Jurist: 'Fighting [The Alawites] Is a Muslim Duty, Even If They Are Quiet And Peaceful – Let Alone If They Are Waging A Vicious War Against The Muslims And Slaughtering Them,'" from MEMRI, October 24 (thanks to Lachlan):

The Al-Maqreze Center For Historical Studies in London, run by Dr. Hani Al-Siba'i, a member of the shari'a council for the jihadi website Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, has published a fatwa by Sheikh Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti, another member of the shari'a council, concerning the duty of Sunni Muslims to fight the Alawites.

Of course! Who else! They probably used the Zionist squirrels and Zionist pigeons for this job.

"Iran leader blames US, Israel for Syria civil war," from the Associated Press, October 25 (thanks to Block Ness):

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's Supreme Leader is blaming the U.S. and Israel for the bloody, 19-month civil war in Syria.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also warns Western powers not to intervene in the conflict.

In his message to Muslims performing the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, he charges that the civil war, which he characterized as "young Muslims killing each other," is a "crime initiated by the United States and the Zionist regime, Israel," punishing Syria for resisting Israeli occupation and supporting anti-Israel Palestinian and Lebanese groups.

Khamenei noted "serious dangers" of Western intervention in Syria and other Mideast nations. His statement was read Thursday on Iranian state TV.

Yes. The serious dangers for him would be the loss of Iran's satellite state, as Syria would pass from his control to Muslim Brotherhood/al-Qaeda control.

Ah, the Arab Spring -- what a wonderful flowering of democracy and pluralism! "US Embassy Warns Americans of Terror Alert in Egypt," by Chana Ya'ar for Israel National News, October 24:

The US Embassy has warned American citizens in Cairo to remain alert and be aware the diplomatic mission has “credible information” terrorists are “targeting female missionaries in Egypt.”

U.S. citizens were also told the “exercise vigilance, taking necessary precautions to maintain [their] personal security.”

The warning, issued Friday, advised U.S. citizens to keep their travel documents handy and make sure they are valid. It also reminded Americans to monitor the updated travel warnings and alerts on the website of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Last Friday, U.S. Representative Kay Granger (R-TX) vowed to block $450 million in U.S. foreign aid to Egypt in view of the unstable diplomatic relations between the two countries....

Good.

This jihadist was caught plotting mass murder for Allah in December 1999. Since then, the courts have been wrangling over his sentence. U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour refused the government's request that he get 65 years to life, saying that we shouldn't be guided by fear. So if this jihadist gets out of prison and succeeds in murdering Infidels, Judge Coughenour can congratulate himself that he didn't give in to fear.

"Ressam sentenced to 37 years in prison," by Mike Carter for the Seattle Times, October 24 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Algerian Ahmed Ressam, the would-be "millennium bomber" who was arrested with bomb-making materials in Port Angeles in December 1999, was sentenced Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 37 years in prison.

The government had sought a sentence of 65 years to life, much longer than the previous two 22-year sentences Ressam had been received. However, in sentencing Ressam on terrorism and bomb-related charges, U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour said "this case evokes our greatest fears. ... But fear is not, nor has it ever been, a guide for a sentencing judge. It is a foul ingredient ... "

The government sought the longer sentence because, federal prosecutors said, Ressam reneged on an agreement to cooperate with investigators. But Coughenour took the government to task, noting Ressam's refusal to cooperate was likely a "deranged protest" resulting from his poor treatment by authorities, including years in solitary confinement in the government's "supermax" prison in Florence, Colo.

"I will not sentence a man to 50 lashes with a whip and then 50 more for getting blood on the whip," said Coughenour. He called Ressam's deterioration in the past 13 years he's spent behind bars "marked and stunning."

"Judge me as you wish"

Ressam did not speak, but in a written statement submitted earlier he said his agreement to cooperate with the government was made under duress.

"I have no power to stop this injustice but only exonerate myself from it," the statement read. "You can judge me as you wish, I will not object to any of your sentences."

It marked the third time Ressam has come before Coughenour for sentencing. On two previous occasions, Coughenour sentenced Ressam to 22 years in prison, but both sentences were overturned.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Brunner argued that a life sentence was appropriate, given Ressam's refusal to cooperate, his efforts to undo the prosecutions he had been involved in, and the temerity shown in his letter where he suggests that if the U.S. looked "truthfully at yourselves you will see how many innocent people have been killed under the guise of various slogans."

Brunner suggested that this statement proved Ressam would continue to be a threat to the American people if ever let out of prison.

As far as the government was concerned, she said, Ressam was back in the same position he was when the jury convicted him as a terrorist in 2001.

Convicted, cooperated

Ressam was arrested Dec. 14, 1999, in Port Angeles after coming off the ferry from Victoria, B.C. Inspectors found electronic timers, powders and liquids in the trunk of his rental car that turned out to be the makings of a powerful bomb. The investigation that followed showed Ressam had been recruited by a radical Islamic cell in Montreal and had trained in Osama bin Laden-sponsored terrorism camps in Afghanistan. His target was Los Angeles International Airport....

Barack Obama and General John Allen should be prosecuted for the deaths of every one of the over fifty troops murdered by their Afghan "allies" this year. They are all victims of the politically correct unwillingness to accept unpleasant realities about Islam: that it teaches hatred of and warfare against unbelievers, the virtue of deceit in war, and the impermissibility of cooperating with or allying with infidels on a permanent and lasting basis.

"Taliban leader says insider attacks will increase," from the Associated Press, October 24 (thanks to Kenneth):

KABUL, Afghanistan Taliban insurgents will increase the number of insider attacks against coalition and Afghan forces, which have resulted in the deaths of at least 52 foreign troops so far this year, the movement's reclusive leader said Wednesday.

In an emailed statement congratulating Muslims as they prepare to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday, Mullah Mohammad Omar urged "every brave Afghan in the ranks of the foreign forces and their Afghan hirelings ... to strike them."

"Jihadist activities inside the circle of the state militias are the most effective stratagem. Its dimension will see further expansion, organization and efficiency," he said. "Increase your efforts to expand the area of infiltration in the ranks of the enemy."

Also Wednesday, NATO said in a statement that two of its soldiers died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan. It did not provide further details about the attack or the nationality of the victims....

And their lies and cover-up began immediately, with Obama Administrations blaming the Muhammad video, in an implicit attack upon our freedom of speech. Clearly they could not and would not own up to having used American military might to enable the ascendancy of al-Qaeda in Libya. Re-elected? Are you kidding? How about impeached?

Obama lied, Americans died.

"White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack: emails," by Mark Hosenball for Reuters, October 23:

(Reuters) - Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show.

The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks.

The brief emails also show how U.S. diplomats described the attack, even as it was still under way, to Washington.

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Benghazi assault, which President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials ultimately acknowledged was a "terrorist" attack carried out by militants with suspected links to al Qaeda affiliates or sympathizers.

Administration spokesmen, including White House spokesman Jay Carney, citing an unclassified assessment prepared by the CIA, maintained for days that the attacks likely were a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film.

While officials did mention the possible involvement of "extremists," they did not lay blame on any specific militant groups or possible links to al Qaeda or its affiliates until intelligence officials publicly alleged that on September 28....

By the morning of September 12, the day after the Benghazi attack, Reuters reported that there were indications that members of both Ansar al-Sharia, a militia based in the Benghazi area, and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North African affiliate of al Qaeda's faltering central command, may have been involved in organizing the attacks....

Just don't call them savage. Is "mass murderers" acceptable? "IDF Nabs PA Terrorist with 8 Pipe Bombs," by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu for Israel National News, October 23 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Border Police prevented a large-scale terrorist attack Tuesday by nabbing a Palestinian Authority terrorist with eight pipe bombs at the Kalandia checkpoint on the northern edge of Jerusalem, near Pisgat Ze’ev.

The pipe bombs were fully assembled and ready for use against Israeli civilians and soldiers.

The 20-year-old terrorist was turned over to police for further investigation.

Border Police discovered the explosives during a routine check of the terrorist after he stepped out of the vehicle to cross into Jerusalem....

At PJ Media today I show how the latest jihad plot in New York city shows the hollowness of attempts to show that America is overrun by rampant "Islamophobia":

As the mainstream media and Leftist activists continue their campaign to convince Americans that “Islamophobia” is a greater threat than jihad terror and Islamic supremacism, the jihad continues. Charles C. Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum, did his bit to convince Americans that there is some massively funded, insidious anti-Muslim campaign going on when he wrote in the Washington Post last Tuesday that “groups involved in the ‘stop Islamization of America’ campaign have spent more than $40 million attempting to convince the public that American Muslims practice an inherently violent and oppressive faith that seeks to subvert the Constitution.”

Haynes was well over 99% off regarding the current operating budget of the American Freedom Defense Initiative’s Stop Islamization of America project, of which I am associate director. But even that howling inaccuracy and flagrant disregard for the facts was not the worst of the problems with Haynes’ article. Unfortunately for Haynes, the day after his article appeared, a young Muslim named Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was arrested after trying to detonate what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb in front of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City – which he wanted to do, he said, “for the Muslims,” to “make us one step closer to run the whole world.”

Nafis’s action demonstrated vividly that no “Islamophobe” need spend a dime to convince Americans that “Muslims practice an inherently violent and oppressive faith that seeks to subvert the Constitution,” even if anyone actually wanted to do so. Plenty of Muslims are doing just fine convincing Americans of that, without any outside help at all.

For if many Muslims themselves didn’t think that Islam is an inherently violent and oppressive faith that seeks to subvert the Constitution, it is hard to imagine where Nafis could have gotten the idea that he needed to carry out a terror attack that would “shake the whole country” and constitute “one step ahead, for the Muslims … that will make us one step closer to run the whole world.” And it’s true: the subjugation of the world under the rule of Islamic law is indeed a traditional Islamic imperative, delineated in Islamic law.

Nor is Nafis alone in citing Islamic imperatives for his actions. Faisal Shahzad, who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square in 2010, said in a video at that time:

Jihad, holy fighting in Allah’s cause, with full force of numbers and weaponry, is given the utmost importance in Islam….By jihad, Islam is established….By abandoning jihad, may Allah protect us from that, Islam is destroyed, and Muslims go into inferior position, their honor is lost, their lands are stolen, their rule and authority vanish. Jihad is an obligation and duty in Islam on every Muslim….Islam will spread on the whole world. And the democracy will be defeated, and so was Communism defeated, and all the others isms and schisms will be defeated, and the word of Allah will be supreme, inshallah.

Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, who murdered Pvt. William Long outside a military recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas, in June 2009, explained:

I’ve loved jihad every [sic] since I became Muslim….Step by step I became a religiously devout Muslim, Mujahid — meaning one who participates in jihad…What I had in mind didn’t go as planned but Allah willing He will reward me for my intentions.

Khalid Aldawsari, who plotted jihad mass murder in Lubbock, Texas, in February 2011, wrote:

Only gratification from Allah is what I want; therefore, it is what I seek….You who created mankind and who is knowledgeable of what is in the womb, grant me martyrdom for Your sake and make Jihad easy for me only in Your path…In the name of Allah The Beneficient, The Merciful. Nitro Yoria [Urea] explosive is more powerful than T.N.T….And now, after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives, and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad. I put my trust in God, for he is the best Master and Authority.

There is more.

"World leaders need to find ways to ensure freedom of expression doesn't equate to violence." In other words, world leaders need to capitulate to Muslim violence, and criminalize criticism of Islam, so that Muslims no longer have an impetus to riot and kill. If this means ending all counterterror efforts and rendering their nations mute and hence defenseless in the face of the advancing jihad, so be it.

If Navi Pillay had any shred of moral sense left, she would be calling upon Muslim leaders to teach their people that rioting and killing are not acceptable responses when something makes them angry. But instead, she says this, which only reinforces the idea that rioting and murder work, and when the kuffar say something Muslims don't like, all the Muslims have to do is kill a few people and burn a few buildings, and the kuffar will shut up of their own accord.

"Pillay: Hatred, free speech don't mix," from UPI, October 24 (thanks to Block Ness):

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A top human rights official said from U.N. headquarters that world leaders need to find ways to ensure freedom of expression doesn't equate to violence.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said there are signs of growing tensions between freedom of expression and religion.

"I have publicly regretted or condemned various displays of religious hatred or bigotry and have also consistently urged religious and political leaders to condemn the violence, including the loss of life that has taken place in reaction to such incidents in various parts of the world," she said.

Over at Atlas Shrugs I again ask the question that no one ever seems to ask when Muslims cry "entrapment" over jihad terror cases:

What would it take for you to commit mass murder in the name of Allah?

Would you do it for money? For love? Out of a sense of justice? Out of a sense of religious duty?

Absurd as they may seem, these are serious questions, for as jihad mass-murder plots are being uncovered in the United States more frequently than ever, those are accused of perpetrating them and several Islamic groups are increasingly charging entrapment: that overzealous FBI agents pushed poor innocent Muslims into taking part in a jihad plot that otherwise would never have existed.

And so it was last Wednesday, when a young Muslim named Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was arrested after trying to detonate what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb in front of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City – which he wanted to do, he said, “for the Muslims,” to “make us one step closer to run the whole world.”

Almost immediately, Islamic supremacists claimed that Nafis was a victim of entrapment. Cyrus McGoldrick of the New York chapter of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) tweeted: “FBI leads idiot in an #entrapment case. Thank God we give them so much money to manufacture crimes.” And Islamic supremacist journalist Mona Eltahawy, who demonstrated her fascist tendencies by spray-painting over the American Freedom Defense Initiative’s anti-jihad New York subway ad, claimed: “We’ve seen many other entrapments here in US.”

Indeed, the same claim has been made in connection with numerous other jihad cases in the U.S., including that of Mohamed Mohamud, a Muslim in Portland, Oregon, who tried to murder those who had gathered for the city’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Mohamud’s case is similar to Nafis’s, in that both involved Islamic jihadists attempt to explode bombs that they did not know were harmless decoys supplied to them by FBI agents, rather than the real thing. Islamic advocacy groups such as the Hamas-linked CAIR have also complained about law enforcement officials’ use of informants inside mosques, claiming in some cases that the jihad plots thereby thwarted would never even have existed in the first place if undercover agents hadn’t started meddling.

Yet charges of entrapment are silly for Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, Mohamed Mohamud or any Muslim caught in a jihad terror plot to try to pursue. For there is every indication that Nafis and Mohamud were more than willing to do whatever was necessary to enable them to murder large numbers of Americans. Nafis himself said that he had come to America from Bangladesh to engage in jihad activity; his goal being to “destroy America.” Thus blowing up the Federal Reserve Bank was not something he had to be enticed into doing.

What’s more, the very fact that Nafis went ahead with his plots ought to be sufficient indication in itself that there was no entrapment. Think about it: what would it take to lead you to participate in a terrorist mass-murder plot? If undercover agents approached you and tried to entice you into working to kill large numbers of innocent people, how hard would it be to convince you to do it?...

There is more.

They critically wounded two Thai workers. Israeli airstrikes, in response, killed four "Palestinian" jihadists. See the difference? The jihadists were there to murder Israelis by any possible means. The Thai workers were there to make a living. It is the difference between an entity that is entire bent upon war and destruction, and one that is devoted to living life. But whatever you do, don't call them savage. "Gaza Militants Fire Rockets and Mortars Into Southern Israel," by Isabel Kershner for the New York Times, October 24 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

JERUSALEM — Palestinian militants from Gaza fired dozens of rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel overnight and Wednesday morning, critically wounding two Thai workers in an Israeli border community, the Israeli authorities said. Four Palestinian militants in rocket-launching squads were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to Palestinian officials.

The surge in cross-border violence came hours after a landmark visit to Gaza by the emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who pledged $400 million for projects there.

What kind of "projects"? Projects to aid the Palestinian jihad, or projects to enable Gazans to live an ordinary existence? If the latter, it is clear from these attacks how impressed and hopeful the "Palestinians" were that they could lay down their arms and resume normal life. Remember also the greenhouses that Mortimer Zuckerman and others spent $14 million to buy when the Israelis withdrew from Gaza; he gave them to the Gazans so that they would be able to have gainful employment in peace. They promptly converted them for use as weapons smuggling tunnels.

It also came as a major American-Israeli joint military exercise was under way in Israel, underlining the volatility and potential for escalation in the area at a delicate time before the American elections in November and Israeli elections scheduled for January.

Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister, warned on Wednesday that Israel would not be deterred from carrying out action required to restore quiet in the south.

“If a ground operation will be necessary, there will be a ground operation,” he told Israel Radio. “Nobody is eager for this but we will act, as we are required to stop this wave and to increase the effectiveness of the operation.”

The emir was the first head of state to visit the Gaza Strip since Hamas, the Islamic militant group, took full control of the coastal enclave in 2007, and the gesture was hailed by Hamas as an important breach of the political and economic blockade that has kept Gaza largely isolated....

Clearly they were Islamophobes cravenly interfering with the man's prayers. "Terror scare: Arik passengers wrestle man mid-air," by Everest Amaefule for Punch, October 24 (thanks to Chimmy):

Passengers and crew of an Abuja-bound aircraft belonging to Arik Air were thrown into panic on Tuesday when a passenger behaving in a strange manner stood up and screamed Allahu Akbar(God is great) midair.

The scared passengers, who took off from Maiduguri, Borno State, rushed to the strange passenger identified as Aminu Galadima, grabbed him and searched him to ascertain if he had a bomb strapped to his body.

Our correspondent learnt that the situation made the pilot of the aircraft with registration number 5N MJE to immediately radio the Air Traffic Control and airport security operatives.

The Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation on Media, Mr. Joe Obi, confirmed the development in a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja.

Obi said the passenger in question went through the necessary security checks at the airport and did not raise any suspicion until he started shouting midair.

He said, “A passenger, Aminu Galadima, a native of Minna, Niger State, boarded a Maiduguri-Abuja- bound Arik Air aircraft with registration number 5N MJE after going through mandatory security screening.

“Nothing incriminating; no explosives or weapons whatsoever were found on him. However, midair, the passenger began to act strangely, loudly screaming, ‘God is great.’ Fellow passengers, alarmed by his behaviour rushed to apprehend him.

“A thorough search by fellow passengers and crew members revealed nothing dangerous on him. The pilot immediately radioed Air Traffic Control and airport security operatives.

“The plane landed safely at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at exactly 12.53hrs and the suspect was handed over to the SSS at about 14.45hrs. He is currently being interrogated.”...

Islamic supremacists including Hamas-linked CAIR are in an uproar about these claims, but there is a big problem with their indignation: if Muslims in New York couldn't be "baited," they wouldn't be "baited." There is no amount of "baiting" that could make me say something in favor of terrorism or do something to aid in terrorism. Islamic supremacist groups are already using Shamiur Rahman's claims to try to advance their attempts to get the NYPD to stop efforts to counter jihad terror altogether. Their indignation over what Shamiur Rahman says here is just as hollow and self-serving as their claims that various jihad terror plotters were entrapped, even when they are recorded making clear statements about their aspirations to commit mass murder for Allah.

"Informant: NYPD paid me to 'bait' Muslims," by Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo for the Associated Press, October 24 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

NEW YORK (AP) — A paid informant for the New York Police Department's intelligence unit was under orders to "bait" Muslims into saying inflammatory things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam, he told The Associated Press.

Shamiur Rahman, a 19-year-old American of Bengali descent who has now denounced his work as an informant, said police told him to embrace a strategy called "create and capture." He said it involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after a string of minor marijuana arrests.

"We need you to pretend to be one of them," Rahman recalled the police telling him. "It's street theater."

Rahman said he now believes his work as an informant against Muslims in New York was "detrimental to the Constitution." After he disclosed to friends details about his work for the police — and after he told the police that he had been contacted by the AP — he stopped receiving text messages from his NYPD handler, "Steve," and his handler's NYPD phone number was disconnected.

Rahman's account shows how the NYPD unleashed informants on Muslim neighborhoods, often without specific targets or criminal leads. Much of what Rahman said represents a tactic the NYPD has denied using.

The AP corroborated Rahman's account through arrest records and weeks of text messages between Rahman and his police handler. The AP also reviewed the photos Rahman sent to police. Friends confirmed Rahman was at certain events when he said he was there, and former NYPD officials, while not personally familiar with Rahman, said the tactics he described were used by informants.

Informants like Rahman are a central component of the NYPD's wide-ranging programs to monitor life in Muslim neighborhoods since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Police officers have eavesdropped inside Muslim businesses, trained video cameras on mosques and collected license plates of worshippers. Informants who trawl the mosques — known informally as "mosque crawlers" — tell police what the imam says at sermons and provide police lists of attendees, even when there's no evidence they committed a crime....

One of his earliest assignments was to spy on a lecture at the Muslim Student Association at John Jay College in Manhattan. The speaker was Ali Abdul Karim, the head of security at the Masjid At-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn. The NYPD had been concerned about Karim for years and already had infiltrated the mosque, according to NYPD documents obtained by the AP.

Rahman also was instructed to monitor the student group itself, though he wasn't told to target anyone specifically. His NYPD handler, Steve, told him to take pictures of people at the events, determine who belonged to the student association and identify its leadership.

On Feb. 23, Rahman attended the event with Karim and listened, ready to catch what he called a "speaker's gaffe." The NYPD was interested in buzz words such as "jihad" and "revolution," he said. Any radical rhetoric, the NYPD told him, needed to be reported....

"He was telling us how he loved Islam and it's changing him," said Asad Dandia, who also became friends with Rahman.

Secretly, Rahman was mining his new friends for details about their lives, taking pictures of them when they ate at restaurants and writing down license plates on the orders of the NYPD.

On the NYPD's instructions, he went to more events at John Jay, including when Siraj Wahhaj spoke in May. Wahhaj, 62, is a prominent but controversial New York imam who has attracted the attention of authorities for years. Prosecutors included his name on a 3 ½-page list of people they said "may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though he was never charged. In 2004, the NYPD placed Wahhaj on an internal terrorism watch list and noted: "Political ideology moderately radical and anti-American."

That evening at John Jay, a friend took a photograph of Wahhaj with a grinning Rahman.

Horror of horrors!

"If only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate." -- prominent American Muslim leader Siraj Wahhaj, 2002

No reason to look in on that guy at all!

Rahman said he kept an eye on the MSA and used Shahbaz and his friends to facilitate traveling to events organized by the Islamic Circle of North America and Muslim American Society. The society's annual convention in Hartford, Conn, draws a large number of Muslims and plenty of attention from the NYPD. According to NYPD documents obtained by the AP, the NYPD sent three informants there in 2008 and was keeping tabs on the group's former president.

Rahman was told to spy on the speakers and collect information. The conference was dubbed "Defending Religious Freedom." Shahbaz paid Rahman's travel expenses.

Both ICNA and MAS are Muslim Brotherhood groups. So there was reasonable grounds for suspicion.

Rahman, who was born in Queens, said he never witnessed any criminal activity or saw anybody do anything wrong.

He said he sometimes intentionally misinterpreted what people had said. For example, Rahman said he would ask people what they thought about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, knowing the subject was inflammatory. It was easy to take statements out of context, he said. He said wanted to please his NYPD handler, whom he trusted and liked....

Did any rogue prosecutions of innocent people result from this false reporting?

Didn't these guys get the memo about how Islam respects the People of the Book? In reality, these Muslims are taking it upon themselves to enforce the Sharia provision forbidding Christians to build new churches or repair old ones. "Anti-Christian violence: extremists set fire to Protestant church in Poso," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, October 23 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - The city of Poso, in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi, has been the scene of renewed sectarian violence against the local Protestant minority. Overnight on Sunday, unknown assailants set fire to the Madele Pentecostal Church. The quick intervention of the congregation stopped the fire from spreading and spared the building from serious damages. The anti-Christian attack "occurred last night around midnight," Poso Police Chief Eko Santoso said, confirming the sectarian nature of the incident. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim nation, but Poso Regency (District) has a large Christian community. It saw bloody clashes that left thousands of people dead on both sides until a peace deal was struck in 2002.

The fire started when a collection box was doused with petrol and then set alight. Flames eventually spread to the pastor's residence. Only the intervention of the fire department and volunteers prevented the blaze from causing major damages to the two buildings. Rev Aben thanked villagers, including "some Muslims," who came to rescue, playing a decisive role in preventing the fire from spreading.

Yesterday, two car bombs also exploded near a police traffic post, wounding three people, including two police agents on duty at the time. Investigators believe the post was the target.

"The terrorist group used a sophisticated device in which they detonated the bomb remotely through a mobile handset," one agent said.

In recent weeks, Poso has been the scene of renewed sectarian violence. The port city has seen attacks against Christian-owned buildings, including places of worship.

Two law enforcement agents have also been murdered under mysterious circumstances. They went missing whilst investigating a recent attack against a prominent member of the Christian community. Their bodies were found after eight days on the side of a road near a training centre connected to an extremist Muslim group....

The Liberated One, the ex-Muslim who writes from a Muslim country, has updated her blog for the first time in three months -- and doesn't have particularly good news. Catch up with her here.

The holy beard of endless wrangling

Hasan is no doubt pleased that he is wasting the Infidel's time and money with this ridiculous dhimmi charade.

"Another delay ordered in Fort Hood shooting case," from KXON.com, October 22 (thanks to Kenneth):

FORT HOOD, Texas — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces on Monday ordered another delay in proceedings against Army Maj. Nidal M. Hasan..

The military court issued the stay after Hasan's lawyers served notice last week that they planned on appealing the recent decision that their client before forced to shave his beard when he stands trial in the 2009 mass shooting on Fort Hood.

Last week, the Army appeals court upheld the ruling by the judge presiding over the court martial that Hasan would be shaved by force if he did not do so voluntarily.

The the higher appeals court did not state how long the stay would remain in place, only saying that Hasan’s motion for a stay “is hereby granted pending further order of the Court.”

Hasan, 42, says he grew a beard because his Muslim faith requires it, despite an Army ban on beards. Gross has said Hasan's facial hair is a disruption and that defense attorneys have not proven that he is growing it for sincere religious reasons....

So what if he is? He murdered thirteen people for sincere religious reasons. That ought to make the court regard his religious beard in a whole new light.

The U.S. continues to try to buy love in Pakistan. It will never work. The hatred that the Pakistanis have for the U.S. is not just because of the drones. They hated us long before any drones flew. The Qur'an mandates hatred of and contempt for the Infidels as "the most vile of created beings" (98:6), and warfare against them and their subjugation (9:29). It doesn't say not to wage jihad against and subjugate Infidels who are nice and shower the Muslims with money. In fact, payment by the Infidels to the Muslims is divinely mandated in the Qur'an (9:29).

"US outspends Islamabad on flood relief in Pakistan: But instead of helping repair US-Pakistan relations, the flood aid looks like it is feeding into old patterns of distrust between the two countries," by Taha Siddiqui for the Christian Science Monitor, October 23 (thanks to EH):

The US government has pledged more money toward this year's flood relief efforts in Pakistan than the country's own government, according to a report this month from the Congressional Research Service.

Floods have devastated swathes of the Pakistani countryside this year. And once again the US is contributing substantial funds despite strained ties between the two governments and large anti-American street protests.

According to a little noticed detail in a report titled “Pakistan: US Foreign Assistance,” the country's central government has pledged $91 million toward flood relief, 32 percent less than the $134.6 million promised by the US State Department and USAID as of the end of September 2012.

But instead of helping repair US-Pakistan relations, the flood aid looks more likely to harden the existing pattern where Americans tire of financially supporting a country where elites are barely taxed and the majority of citizens dislike the US. Pakistan, meanwhile, points out US pledges are often much greater than the aid actually delivered – and what aid does come is spent in a self-interested manner....

The US Embassy in Pakistan said that for floods this year USAID has disbursed around $100,000 so far. Since 2009, the US government has spent over a billion dollars in humanitarian assistance....

In the aftermath of the 2010 crisis, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed Pakistan – a country with one of the lowest tax compliance rates in the world – to get the country’s elites to pony up.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable for those with means in Pakistan not to be doing their fair share to help their own people while taxpayers in Europe, the US and other contributing countries are all chipping in,” Ms. Clinton said just over two years ago.

Since then, Pakistan has made promises to its lenders at the International Monetary Fund to expand its tax net, but has consistently failed to do so. .

“Essentially, I think it is outrageous that the American taxpayer is continuing to bail out Pakistan when the elite there continue to not pay taxes,” says Christine Fair, a Pakistan expert at Georgetown University in Washington. “What’s even more outrageous, the Pakistanis have consistently made commitments to the IMF to expand their tax net in exchange for getting very lucrative bailouts knowing full well they will never implement those commitments.”

It's the jizya from the dhimmis. Why should the Pakistanis pay taxes when they have Infidels for that sort of thing?

Part of the problem, says Ms. Fair, is that Pakistani officials know that the US will pressure the IMF to keep providing money to the government, even when it fails to implement promised reforms....

“If the US government is doing more, then it’s a positive step but Pakistani government should have the leading role. Sadly they do not care much about their own people and lack planning. However, local organizations were at the forefront of helping flood-affected population this year,” says Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, head of an Islamic welfare organization in Lahore.

Like the NDMA official, Mr. Zaheer does not trust the claims of the American government.

“The US can easily be lying about it because they are always exaggerating about aid to Pakistan. And even if they are giving more than the Pakistani government, it is only compensating the destruction and loss American drones are causing in the country,” he added.

"No to emerging dictatorship .. not for religious dictatorship." Oh, the Islamophobia!

"Tunisian secularists protest against Islamist rulers," by Tarek Amara for Reuters, October 22 (thanks to Twostellas):

TUNIS (Reuters) - Thousands of secularist protesters accused Tunisia's Islamist government on Monday of undermining a transition to democracy by failing to stem violence after a secular politician was killed in political violence last week.

Tension has been growing between Islamists and secularists since the Islamist Ennahda Movement won an election after the toppling of secular autocrat Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali last year in the first of the "Arab Spring" uprisings.

A secular politician was killed last Thursday in clashes between secularists and a group of Islamists close to Ennahda in the town of Tataouine.

On Monday, about 5,000 protesters filled Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, a focal point of last year's revolution, carrying banners that read "No fear, no horror, power belongs to the people", "No to emerging dictatorship .. not for religious dictatorship" and "No political and religious violence".

They also chanted the slogan of the Arab Spring revolutions, "The people want to bring down the regime!".

Tunisia's opposition have said that the killing of Lofi Nakd, a member of the Nida Touns party in Tataouine, is the first political killing in Tunisia since the revolution.

"Ennahda is responsible for the assassination of a member of our party in Tataouine ... Tunisia may fall into chaos under the rule of the Islamists," Nida Touns leader Beji Caid Essebsi, who was prime minister in a transitional administration that took over after the revolution, said on Friday....

A small bit of realism in last night's debate, cutting through years of fantasy-based policymaking. As Pamela Geller notes, "Obama has so aligned with the jihad force that this is monumental." "Romney tags jihadists as enemy, marking shift from Obama, Bush," by Neil Munro in the Daily Caller, October 23 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney identified “jihadists” as the enemy facing the United States in the Middle East, marking a sharp rhetorical contrast with U.S. defense policy in place since 2001.

“We’re going to have to put in place a very comprehensive and robust strategy to help the — the world of Islam and other parts of the world, reject this radical violent extremism,” Romney said, highlighting the link between Islam and terrorism.

“We can’t kill our way out of this mess … The right course for us is to make sure that we go after the — the people who are leaders of these various anti-American groups and these — these jihadists, but also help the Muslim world,” Romney said.

In contrast, former President George W. Bush labelled the 9/11 attackers “terrorists,” which downplayed their specific connection to a violent Islamic extremist ideology. For the rest of his term, Bush described the U.S. counterattack as a “war on terrorism.”

In 2009, President Barack Obama changed the rhetoric to label the attackers “violent extremists.” Conservative critics of the president said this shift in language further downplayed the role of fundamentalist Islamic preachers and militia commanders in spurring the attacks on U.S. soldiers and diplomats in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

Obama’s focus on “violent extremism” has been applauded by U.S.-based Islamic advocacy groups, such as the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Islamic Society of North America. These groups argue that terror attacks are not motivated by Islam, even though many terrorists say their attacks are motivated by Islam’s doctrine of jihad. Many Muslims believe jihad to be an inner spiritual struggle, while some extremists insist that it the doctrine requires the waging of war against non-believers.

But the White House’s “Countering Violent Extremism” strategy has also spurred opposition from within the FBI and federal agencies.

Some officials say the “CVE strategy” hinders their efforts to recognize and counter domestic and international Islamic messages that spur terror attacks, and also empowers Islamic groups that seek to isolate and lead Muslim communities in the United States....

Indeed.

Sharia is by its nature coercive, treating women as commodities and non-Muslims as inferiors subject to the overlordship of Muslims. So this comes as no surprise, except to the incurable multiculturalists and believers that Islam is a Religion of Peace. "Sharia courts ‘as consensual as rape’, House of Lords told," By John Bingham in the Telegraph, October 20 (thanks to best project):

MUSLIM women in Britain are being forced to “live in fear” because of the spread of unofficial and unregulated sharia courts enforcing Islamic rules, the House of Lords was told.

Rulings by informal religious “councils” and tribunals are sometimes no more “consensual” than rape, peers were told.

The warnings came in the first ever full Parliamentary debate on the subject in the UK.

Baroness Cox, the independent peer and Third World campaigner, last year tabled a private member’s bill in the Lords setting out plans to rein in a network of unofficial self-styled “courts” which apply Islamic principles.

One study estimated that there are around 85 Sharia bodies operating in Britain, although there is no official estimate.

They include legally recognised arbitration tribunals, set up primarily to resolve financial disputes using Islamic legal principles but which have taken on a wider range of cases.

There is also a network of informal Sharia “councils”, often operating out of mosques, dealing with religious divorces and even child custody matters in line with Islamic teaching.

The bill, which had its first full debate yesterday, would make it a criminal offence for such bodies to style themselves as courts or those chairing them to pose as judges.

It would also limit the activities of arbitration tribunals and explicitly require them to uphold equality laws including women’s rights....

Good luck with that. As long as there are Sharia courts, they're going to enforce Sharia. That's it. And British law will be secondary.

And he attended a local mosque and prayed five times daily. He wanted to mount his jihad terror attack to help bring Muslims "one step closer to run the world." What programs have U.S. Muslim groups instituted in order to teach young Muslims that this understanding of Islam is false and must be rejected? Why, none. And what does that tell you?

"Terror suspect's family says he asked to come to US to study; feds say he was bent on jihad," from the Associated Press, October 18 (thanks to Kenneth):

NEW YORK – Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was a terrible student in his native Bangladesh, and his middle-class parents say he persuaded them to send him off to study in the U.S. as a way of improving his job prospects.

At the Missouri college where he enrolled, one classmate said Nafis often remarked that true Muslims don't believe in violence — an image that seemed startlingly at odds with Nafis' arrest in an FBI sting this week on charges of trying to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in New York with what he thought was a 1,000-pound car bomb.

"I can't imagine being more shocked about somebody doing something like this," said Jim Dow, a 54-year-old Army veteran who rode home from class with Nafis twice a week. "I didn't just meet this kid a couple of times. We talked quite a bit, sir. And this doesn't seem to be in character."

Federal investigators, often accused by defense attorneys of entrapping and leading would-be terrorists along, said the 21-year-old Nafis made the first move over the summer, reaching out for accomplices and eventually contacting a government informant, who then went to federal authorities.

They said he also selected his target, drove the van loaded with dummy explosives up to the door of the bank, and tried to set off the bomb from a hotel room using a cellphone he thought had been rigged as a detonator.

During the investigation, he and the informant corresponded via Facebook and other social media, talked on the phone and met in hotel rooms, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Nafis spoke of his admiration for Osama bin Laden, talked of writing an article about his plot for an al-Qaida-affiliated magazine, and said he would be willing to be a martyr but preferred to go home to his family after carrying out the attack, authorities said. And he also talked about wanting to kill President Barack Obama and bomb the New York Stock Exchange, a law enforcement official said.

Investigators said in court papers that he came to the U.S. bent on jihad and worked out the specifics of a plot when he arrived. While Nafis believed he had the blessing of al-Qaida and was acting on behalf of the terrorist group, he has no known ties, according to federal officials.

Nafis, who at the time of his arrest Wednesday was working as a busboy at a restaurant in Manhattan, was jailed without bail. His attorney has not commented on the case, but in other instances where undercover agents and sting operations were used, lawyers have argued entrapment.

Investigators would not say exactly how he initially contacted the government informant.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, whose department had a role in the arrest as a member of a joint federal-state terrorism task force, said the entrapment argument rarely prevails.

"You have to be otherwise not disposed to do a crime," Kelly said. "And if it's your intent to do a crime, and somehow there are means made available, then generally speaking, the entrapment defense does not succeed."

Nafis' family in Dhaka, Bangladesh, denied he could have been involved — he was incapable of such actions and came to America to study, not to carry out an attack, his parents said. His father, a banker, said Nafis was so timid he couldn't venture out onto the roof alone.

"My son couldn't have done it," Quazi Ahsanullah said, weeping.

"He is very gentle and devoted to his studies," he said, pointing to Nafis' time studying at the private North South University in Dhaka.

Belal Ahmed, a spokesman for the university, said Nafis was a terrible student who was put on probation and threatened with expulsion if he didn't bring his grades up. Nafis eventually stopped coming to school, Ahmed said.

Ahsanullah said his son persuaded him to send him to America to study, arguing that a U.S. degree would give him a better chance at success in Bangladesh. "I spent all my savings to send him to America," the father said.

Nafis moved to Missouri, where he studied cybersecurity at Southeast Missouri State University. He also became vice president of the school's Muslim Student Association and began attending a mosque.

But he withdrew after one semester and requested over the summer that his records be transferred to a school in Brooklyn. The university declined to identify which school.

Dow, his former classmate at Southeast Missouri State, said Nafis spoke admiringly of bin Laden. At the same time, "he told me he didn't really believe bin Laden was involved in the twin towers because he said bin Laden was a religious man, and a religious man wouldn't have done something like that," Dow said.

He said Nafis gave Dow a copy of the Quran and asked him to read it. But he "didn't rant or rave or say crazy stuff," Dow said.

"What really shocked me the most was he had specifically spoken to me about true Muslims not believing in violence," Dow said.

Dion Duncan of St. Louis, a fellow student and member of the Muslim organization, said: "Nafis was a good kid. He showed no traces of anti-Americanism, or death to America, or anything like that. He was a trustworthy, honest kid."

"He was polite and courteous. He was helpful. All the things you would expect from a good Muslim kid. He prayed five times a day," Duncan said.

Probably the culprits are the Obama-backed democracy-loving Syrian rebels. "Syria: car bomb kills 10 in Christian quarter of Damascus," by Ruth Sherlock in the Telegraph, October 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A car bomb exploded outside a police station in the Old City of Damascus on Sunday, drawing the city’s historical Christian quarter into the civil war.

Up to 10 people were killed and 15 wounded as the charge detonated at the historical gate of Bab Touma, a busy pick up point for taxis and buses.

“The bomb exploded as people were moving to go to Churches for Sunday mass. It exploded just outside the police station. There was a bus stop right beside it,” said a resident calling himself George who works in a hotel just a few streets away from the explosion. “I felt the explosion. The ground beneath me shook and I can see black smoke rising from the area.

“Terrorists are doing this,” said George, a Christian who, like many residents in Bab Touma lives in fear of the rebel fighters trying to gain control of the capital.

Encircled by thick rock historic city walls, the narrow alleyways and wooden roofed Damascene homes of the Old City had thus far remained largely insulated from the fighting that has reached the capital in recent months.

Hotels in the Old City are filled with Syrian citizens who fled their homes and had come to the area to seek shelter, said George.

The bomb detonated as UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.....

"Righteous women are therefore obedient, guarding the secret for God's guarding. And those you fear may be rebellious admonish; banish them to their couches, and beat them." -- Qur'an 4:34

To be sure, the Qur'an doesn't say "kill them." But the whole idea that the beating of a disobedient woman can be divinely sanctioned leads to a culture of violence against women. And this is the result.

"Afghan police say man killed wife for wanting job," by Rahim Faiez for the Associated Press, October 22 (thanks to S.B.):

KABUL, Afghanistan—A man in a western Afghan city has confessed to stabbing his wife to death to prevent her from taking a job outside the home, police said Monday.

Mohammad Anwar, who was arrested in the provincial capital for the murder, said he killed his wife during an argument over whether she should work at private company in the city, Herat province police spokesman Noor Khan Nekzad said.

The woman's relatives disputed the account, saying her husband was a drug addict who killed his wife because she refused to give him money.

The killing comes less than two weeks after a woman was beheaded in the same city for refusing alleged demands by her in-laws to engage in prostitution.

Human rights activists say they are worried such incidents will become more common as Western forces who helped women gain rights in the conservative country draw down. Under Taliban rule, women were banned from leaving the home unless they had a male relative as an escort and wore a burqa robe that covered their faces and bodies.

Despite guaranteed rights and progressive new laws, the U.N. still ranks Afghanistan as one of the world's worst countries when it comes to women's rights.

The Taliban's treatment of women has been thrust back into the headlines this month with the shooting of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in neighboring Pakistan. The militants said they targeted the girl because she was an outspoken opponent of the group and promoted "Western thinking," such as girls' education.

Girls' schools have flourished in Afghanistan in particular in the years since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, primarily funded by the U.S. and other Western donors.

There were conflicting accounts of what led to the fight between Mohammad Anwar and his wife Gulsom.

Gulsom's brother, Ghulam Sarwar, said his sister's husband had just returned from Iran and was pressing her to hand over money that she had earned weaving carpets and which she needed to support their two children. Sarwar said the two got into an argument and she fled the house. He followed her to her parents' house and then went after her with a knife.

The couple's two children—an 11-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old boy—have been taken in by Gulsom's parents, Sarwar said.

The victim's mother was shown on Afghan television crying and accusing her son-in-law of trying to sell her daughter's children for drug money. She witnessed the murder but said she had no way of stopping it.

"My daughter was killed in front of my eyes," said the sobbing Zahra, who family members said only went by one name....

Burning the Infidel family's furniture

Over a text message that he didn't read. Remember: this is the kind of law, criminalizing criticism of Islam, that many are calling for now in the West.

Did anyone happen to spot Nathan Lean among the gang at Stanten's home?

An update on this story. "Christian teenager Ryan Stanten held for blasphemy in Pakistan," from Continental News, October 21 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A Muslim mob ransacked the home of a 16-year-old Christian boy accused of sending a blasphemous text message; he has been charged with Pakistan’s most serious “blasphemy” offence, which carries the death penalty.

According to Barnabas Fund (www.barnabasfund.org), Ryan Stanten allegedly forwarded on Tuesday. October 9, 2012, a text containing material deemed offensive to Islam. It was sent to fellow residents of a middle-class colony in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi, for employees of a gas company.

The 16-year-old was brought before the gas company boss and a local imam; Ryan told them that he had received the text message from someone else and then forwarded it to Muslim friends without reading it.

“The following day, an angry Muslim mob led by Islamic clerics attacked the home where Ryan lives with his mother, Rubina Bryan,” said a spokesperson for the UK-based group. “They ransacked the property and set fire to numerous household items, including a bed, washing machine and fridge, after dragging them into the street. The assailants also shouted insults against the Christian family, who had already abandoned the house.

“The police arrived at the scene and tried to appease the protestors by assuring them that a case would be registered”.

Barnabas Fund went on to say that Ryan was subsequently detained and charged with the most serious blasphemy offence in the Pakistan Penal Code, section 295-C, which carries the death penalty for using derogatory remarks against Muhammad. He was also charged under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act and Telegraph Act.

His mother has reportedly been dismissed from her job at the gas company....

But don't be concerned. At least they didn't put an ad opposing jihad in Borno State subways.

"BREAKING NEWS: Nigeria Militants Attack Church And Other Targets; Dozens Killed," by Paul Jongas and Stefan J. Bos for BosNewsLife, October 21 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

ABUJA, NIGERIA (BosNewsLife)-- At least hundreds of residents began fleeing northeastern Nigeria Sunday, October 21, after three days of Islamic attacks against churches and other targets left dozens dead.

Among the churches hit by suspected fighters of the militant Boko Haram group since Thursday, October 18, was an evangelical congregation in Nigeria's troubled Borno State.

Reporters said gunmen of attacked the building of the Church of Brethren in Nigeria in Atagara village in the Gwoza area, killing at least two people.

The entire church was reportedly set ablaze as part of a wider campaign in the state that also involved killing a Chinese engineer and three colleagues.

CHURCH TORCHED

At least one church was also torched by militants in the northeastern city of Potiskum, where at least 31 people were killed in the last three days, including one or more policemen, according to refugees and reporters.

Most churches were closed Sunday, October 21, as worshipers kept away for fear of attack, residents said.

"Christian residents stayed home for safety reasons," French news agency AFP quoted resident Bukar Kolo as saying. "A church was also burnt in the attack and people are afraid to go for Sunday church service for fear of possible attack," he said.

It was not immediately clear how many Christians were among the dead and injured in
Potiskum, but witnesses said that besides the church many other properties had been burned.

HIGHER DEATH TOLL?

Residents said the toll could be higher than the reported 31 killed in Potiskum, as some relations had taken some bodies from the streets for burial.

Boko Haram, which means 'Western Education is a Sin' has been fighting for an Islamic state in especially central and northern Nigeria, where it has demanded that Christians leave the area.

The militant campaign and the military response are believed to have left more than 2,800 people dead since 2009....

Here is a clear indication that at least some Muslims in Western countries intend to bring Sharia with them and enforce it themselves. "'I did it because I love you ... you will remember this pain': lashing a punishment for drinking alcohol, court hears," from AAP, October 22 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A Muslim man who was whipped 40 times for drinking alcohol was told to remember the pain next time he thought of picking up a drink, a Sydney magistrate has been told.

Zakaryah Raad, 21, Tolga Cifci, 21, Wassim Fayad, 44, and Cengiz Coskun, 22, faced Burwood Local Court today charged with lashing Christian Martinez, 31, with an electric cable as punishment under sharia for drinking alcohol.

The four men have pleaded not guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and stealing CCTV footage from Mr Martinez's apartment in Silverwater, in Sydney's west, in the early hours of July 17 last year.

The court heard Fayad, also known as Fadi Alemaddin, carried out the alleged whipping while the three other men held Mr Martinez down on his bed.

Fayad had become Mr Martinez's "spiritual leader" after he converted to Islam before the alleged incident, prosecutor Sevinch Morkaya said.

Mr Martinez called Fayad on the evening of the alleged event, saying he needed help after he had drunk alcohol, the court was told.

"It means I'm going to tie you up, brother," Fayad allegedly replied.

The court heard the four men then went to Mr Martinez's apartment and carried out the whipping, pausing twice to allow Mr Martinez to vomit.

After the 40 lashes were administered, Fayad told Mr Martinez: "I did it because I love you. Next time you think of picking up a drink, you will remember this pain", Ms Morkaya said.

Ms Morkaya said the court hearing was not about the Islamic faith.

Of course not! They never are!

Instead, it was about the "imposing of their view of sharia law", she said.

But Sharia does prescribe lashing of those who drink alcohol.

The glories of the pro-democracy, pro-Western "Arab Spring" in full flower. "Egyptians: We Want Nuclear Bombs and to Break Treaty with Israel," by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu for Israel National News, October 21 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Most Egyptians want their country and Iran to have nuclear weapons, and they also favor renewing ties with Tehran and breaking off relations with Israel, according to a poll by The Israel Project, a pro-Israel advocacy group.

Eighty-seven percent of the respondents want Egypt to have its own nuclear bomb, and Iran is more than happy to lend Cairo a hand. "We are ready to help Egypt to build nuclear reactors and satellites," Iran’s deputy defense minister said when Muslim Brotherhood Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi visited Iran last month.

Sixty-two percent of those polled agreed that “Iran and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are friends of Egypt.”

The results of the poll belie an impression Muslim Brotherhood Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has been trying to spread. He visited Iran several weeks ago but denied he is considering renewing ties with Iran, after more than three decades of a freeze following the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and the Islamic Revolution.

Cairo's new ambassador to Israel told President Shimon Peres last week that Egypt will retain the peace treaty, but Morsi's advisers have spoken more assertively against the peace treaty, echoing Morsi's own anti-Israeli statements during his campaign for president.

The Israel Project poll, widely headlined in Iran’s state-controlled media, revealed that 65 percent of Egyptians back renewed diplomatic ties with Iran and that 61 percent support Iran’s nuclear development. Three years ago, a similar poll showed that only 41 percent of Egyptians backed Iran’s nuclear project.

The only sour note towards Iran was the view of 68 percent of the respondents who expressed an unfavorable view of Shi’ite Muslims....

The respondents also clearly opposed Cairo’s retaining diplomatic ties with Israel, with 74 percent wanting a break, nearly three times as many as in a 2009 poll, when Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was in office.

Seventy-seven percent agreed that "The peace treaty with Israel is no longer useful and should be dissolved."

More than two-thirds of the respondents also said that President Barack Obama favors Israel more than Arabs, and 60 percent thought that the Obama administration has been "a negative thing" for the Arab world.

Wow. If they think this about Obama, what does a guy have to do to prove himself to them?

This is no big deal. FDR regularly entertained Fritz Kuhn and other members of the German-American Bund at the White House, didn't he? "A Red Carpet for Radicals at the White House," by Steve Emerson and John Rossomando for IPT News, October 21:

A year-long investigation by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has found that scores of known radical Islamists made hundreds of visits to the Obama White House, meeting with top administration officials.

Court documents and other records have identified many of these visitors as belonging to groups serving as fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and other Islamic militant organizations.

The IPT made the discovery combing through millions of White House visitor log entries. IPT compared the visitors' names with lists of known radical Islamists. Among the visitors were officials representing groups which have:

• Been designated by the Department of Justice as unindicted co-conspirators in terrorist trials; Extolled Islamic terrorist groups including Hamas and Hizballah;
• Obstructed terrorist investigations by instructing their followers not to cooperate with law enforcement;
• Promoted the incendiary conspiratorial allegation that the United States is engaged in a "war against Islam"— a leading tool in recruiting Muslims to carry out acts of terror;
• Repeatedly claimed that many of the Islamic terrorists convicted since 9-11 were framed by the U.S government as part of an anti-Muslim profiling campaign.

Individuals from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) visited the White House at least 20 times starting in 2009. In 2008, CAIR was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorist money laundering case in U.S. history – the trial of the Holy Land Foundation in which five HLF officials were convicted of funneling money to Hamas.

U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Solis later ruled that, "The Government has produced ample evidence to establish the association" of CAIR to Hamas, upholding their designations as unindicted co-conspirators. In 2008, the FBI formally ended all contact with CAIR because of its ties to Hamas.

In January 2004, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR's Los Angeles office, publicly defended Palestinian terror attacks in comments before Muslim students at the University of California – Los Angeles, saying that terrorists were exercising their "legitimate right" to defend themselves against Israeli occupation.

Ayloush, who was a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., casts the United States as controlled by Israeli interests. At a 2008 CAIR banquet in San Diego, he imagined "an America that respects and humanizes religion. It's an America that is free to act on its values and not on the interests of any foreign lobby." In 2004, he said that the war on terror had become a "war on Muslims." Ayloush attended at least two White House meetings.

The logs show Ayloush met with Paul Monteiro, associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement on July 8, 2011 and Amanda Brown, assistant to the White House director of political affairs Patrick Gaspard, on June 6, 2009.

According to reliable sources, Monteiro was White House liaison for secret contacts with CAIR, especially with Ayloush. IPT has learned that the White House logs curiously have omitted Ayloush's three meetings with two other senior White House officials.

Louay Safi, formerly executive director of the Islamic Society of North America, visited the White House twice – meeting in intimate settings with Paul Monteiro on June 29, 2011 and July 8, 2011.

Law enforcement first noticed Safi in 1995 when his voice was captured in an FBI wiretap of now-convicted Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian. At the time of his conversation with Al-Arian, Safi served as executive director of the International Institute of Islamic Thought, an organization listed in law-enforcement and in internal Muslim Brotherhood documents as one of the movement's top front groups in North America.

Safi also wrote for the Middle East Affairs Journal, produced by the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). That group was established by Hamas deputy political leader Mousa Abu Marzook and part of the Hamas-support network called the "Palestine Committee."

Safi has repeatedly expressed understanding for the underlying causes that provoke terrorism: "Terrorism cannot be fought by…ignoring its root causes. The first step…is to examine the conditions that give rise to the anger, frustration, and desperation that fuel all terrorist acts." He also called Palestinian terrorists "freedom" fighters.

Read it all.

L-R: Moe, Larry and Curly

Here again we see the high cost of misunderstanding the Religion of Peace: it leads young Muslims to plot mass murder. Yet nary a mosque in the U.K. or U.S. teaches against the jihad theology of al-Qaeda, and shows young Muslims why it represents a "highjacking" of Islam. How odd!

"British Al-Qaeda gang planned 'another 9/11' in UK," by Tom Whitehead and Sam Marsden in the Telegraph, October 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

An al-Qaeda inspired gang of British Muslims planned to carry out “another 9/11” in the UK with up to eight suicide bombers, a court heard.

A Jihadist group, from Birmingham, were to target crowded areas to cause “mass death” in a terror plot that was set to be even more devastating than the 7/7 London bombings, Woolwich Crown Court was told.

Two of the alleged ringleaders had received terror training in Pakistan and made martyrdom videos to be released after they had “blown themselves up”.

They were taught in bomb-making, how to use weapons and poisons before returning to the UK to recruit others for their plot.

That included arranging for others to be sent to Pakistan for training as well.

They planned to detonate homemade bombs in up to eight rucksacks and may also have blown others up with bombs on timers.

A total of 11 men and one woman were arrested by police on various terrorism charges last September.

The details emerged as the trial began today of the three central plotters.

Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, all unemployed from Birmingham, all deny a number of terror charges including planning a bombing campaign, recruiting others for terrorism and terrorism fundraising.

Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, told the court: “In September 2011, and after, officers of the West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit arrested a number of young men from the Birmingham area, who are resident in this country....

“As you will hear, one of them was even to describe their plan as ‘another 9/11’.”

He added: “The defendants are jihadists – extremists, influenced, in particular, but not exclusively, by the lectures and writings of Anwar Al-Awlaki, a US born extremist of Yemeni descent, and an affiliate of Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula.”...

Oops

But she apparently she didn't have them stoned to death in accord with Islamic law. So relax: she's a "moderate." "Afghan 'Woman of Courage' hailed by Michelle Obama for defending women's rights has actually JAILED 100 wives for 'adultery,'" by Eddie Wrenn in the Daily Mail, October 22 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

Last year she was hailed as one of the most influential people in the world - a defender of women's rights as Afghanistan's only female head prosecutor.

Ms Bashir has been lauded by both Michelle Obama and Hilary Clinton - and she was one of ten women to receive a 'Women of Courage' Award in Washington last year.

But Maria Bashir's reputation is now in doubt after the Times revealed that Ms Bashir is also the most prolific prosecutor of women for Afghanistan's so-called 'moral' crimes, such as adultery.

While Ms Bashir campaigns against abuse husbands, more than half of the 172 women jailed in Afghanistan for sex outside of marriage (known as 'zina') have come from her province.

The Herat province's population stands at an estimated 1.7million, and Afghanistan as a whole has a population of 35million.

Last week Ms Bashir, who became lead prosecutor in 2006, and has prosecuted nearly a thord of the 78 women jailed for murder in Afghanistan, was promoted to become Herat's attorney-general.

The Times said diplomats are 'shocked' by the extraordinary tally of women imprisoned for adultery.

It further says that 101 out of 136 women serving in Herat's women jail are there for adultery, one of the moral crimes which campaigners for women's rights are trying to remove from Afghanistan.

When she received her award, the two presidential wives said: 'Ms Bashir has waged a determined campaign against crime and corruption.

'She stands out as a champion of judicial transparency and women's rights, and exemplifies the resilience of Afghan women.'

When the Times contacted Ms Bashir, she said she was unaware that her prosecution rate was so much higer [sic] than other provinces, but blamed it on her province's closeness to the border with Iran.

She said: 'If it is higher it's because we are bordered with Iran, which culturally influences Afghans.'

Of course. It is always someone else's fault.

This PC Telegraph article notes an "Asian," i.e., Muslim, attack on a poppy seller, and then dutifully adds, "Yobs also hurled abuse at two Asian girl cadets." This is just window dressing. In Britain, Islamic supremacists hurl abuse at returning British troops, and are the only reason why poppy sellers are in any danger.

"Royal British Legion minders for young poppy sellers," by Andrew Hough in the Telegraph, October 21 (thanks to Yaffle):

Poppy sellers will receive protection from Royal British Legion “minders” for the first time after a spate of attacks last year in which volunteers were verbally abused and spat on.

The unprecedented security will be provided for young Army cadets in Bradford, West Yorks, after the attacks on teenage collectors.

The security chaperones will accompany the volunteers, aged between 10 and 17, amid concerns many are now too frightened to participate in fund-raising efforts.

From this week they will be shadowed by motor enthusiasts from the Legion’s Riders branch, many of whom are former members of the Armed Forces, following the series of incidents last year.

Those attacks left the local Legion branch horrified and forced Army officials to visit schools to stress the need to honour the fallen and overcome cultural barriers.

In one incident, a 13 year-old Army cadet, Bethany Holmes, was spat at three times by a group of younger Asian boys while collecting for the first time.

Yobs also hurled abuse at two Asian girl cadets and two other sellers were sworn at in the city centre while one young poppy seller also had her tin grabbed from her shoulder.

"It [security] is something we need and it's ideal because it would keep the cadets safe,” Barbara Allsopp, the Bradford RBL Poppy Appeal organiser, said last night.

The Riders is a branch of the British legion established in 2004, in which members include ex-forces motorcyclist ethusiasts [sic], who offer support to the poppy appeal.

Rod Walker, a spokesman for the Riders West Yorkshire, added: "After what happened last year we thought our job should be to support the branches....

At a time when illegal immigrants breeze into the U.S. at will and are accorded every courtesy and protection, it is ludicrous, and clearly politically motivated, for U.K. and U.S. officials to be persecuting Tommy Robinson for coming to the U.S. for our 9/11 SION conference in New York.

Tommy Robinson On Remand, from the English Defence League:

Tommy Robinson has been remanded in prison for the alleged crime of entering America illegally, so extradition to the USA is very much a possibility.

Tommy has been denied any help with legal aid, with Tommy having his accounts frozen he has no access to any monies for legal representation so we need your help!

We need to try and raise enough funds to help Tommy legally as it would seem that those in charge of our judicial system are intent on removing any help he can call upon to help his defence. They want him removed from the United Kingdom Of Great Britain to face a court in America.

We would like word to get out to all our friends here in the UK and in the USA so please spread the word wherever and whenever you can. If Abu Hamza can drag out his fight of extradition to the USA when he is a real terrorist, who has committed real terrorism offences then Tommy "should" have no problems fighting his corner, that is unless those in charge of our judicial system have a quick fire solution to removing him from the UK?

This is a two tier system working against people who highlight uncomfortable truths about the Islamic community, uncomfortable truths that our political elite would rather ignore, but they they don't have to live with extremists, we do! In fact they would rather work with them and those who are sympathetic to their cause for the Islamic block vote.

Islamism IS extreme, it is the antithesis of democracy, yet Cameron and Obama are happy to work with groups like the Muslim brotherhood? Just one of many reasons for the EDL to speak out and highlight the political ineptitude of our ruling elites both here within our national borders and those abroad.

Impotent politicians clearly see Tommy as a threat to their diabolical links with Muslim groups who hate the west, this would not be good for the powerful Islamic block vote, something they have come to rely on. Our diabolical politicians have a hard time understanding the reasoning for our protests or the reasons why Islam and the Muslim community are so often linked to extremism, perhaps they should get out of their ivory towers and see what's happening to their constituents rather than worry about their expenses?

Is Tommy intimidated? Is he going to stop highlighting these issues here and abroad? They know he won't, that is unless he is incarcerated and unable to speak freely. That just goes to show just how much of a threat he is to our political Islamist appeasing elite.

Tommy has also been arrested on suspicion of assaulting Sayful Islam, a particularly well known Luton extremist who regularly hates on the UK and the USA. He is well known for his links to extreme Islamic groups, and if everyone can remember he assaulted Tommy in a car as he was driving through Luton, but guess what? Even though there is evidence of this happening (a camera crew filmed the assault at the time so it's all over the Internet) Sayful was never arrested or charged!

Two tier system?

You decide!

Tommy was also arrested for "conspiracy to cause a public nuisance". Apparently police only need a whiff of an allegation to make arrests on these grounds. Grounds that can carry sentences from fines to life imprisonment. Such is the gravity of "allegations" these days!

So where do we go from here?

We stay united, we stay strong, we stick our fingers up to our ruling elites and say we won't be broken, we won't be intimidated, we won't be coerced or silenced, if anything you are making us even more determined, even more resolute.

Tommy wants us all to stay strong, we have come too far to let all our hard work mean nothing. We owe it all to ourselves and to our future generations.

Tommy has predicted that he will become a martyr to our cause and that it was a sacrifice he was willing to take. We can't let him down even if our government and judicial system do!

Patriots all over the world need to stay active, keep active, and most importantly of all, keep the pressure on those who lie in bed with the enemies of freedom.

Our politicians need to remember that......

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US ARE TOMMY ROBINSON!

THE FIGHT MUST GO ON SO NEVER EVER SURRENDER, NEVER EVER SUBMIT!

MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE LEGAL FIGHTING FUND BY DONATING HERE.

Who else? Murad Ali Baig knows that the Jews are, according to the Qur'an, the worst enemies of the Muslims (cf. 5:82). Of course, the Jews might have put that passage in as well. You never know what those Zionist black arts can accomplish!

"The burden of history," by Murad Ali Baig in the Hindustan Times, October 21 (thanks to all who sent this in):

On October 9, Malala Yusufzai, 14, was shot by the Taliban for promoting education among girls. On September 9, the US ambassador to Libya was killed by extremists protesting against a film that allegedly insulted the Prophet. Such acts of crime are not allowed in the Koran or Hadis, the most-sacred sources of Islamic law. Both say little on blasphemy, heresy or sacrilege, issues that seem to upset Muslims today. Naturally, very few dare to question the scriptural authority when Muslim clerics themselves pronounce the death sentences. But such actions are against the wishes of the Prophet who said: "… anyone who sets another… even an ant… on fire commits the greatest sin and is destined to the fires of Hell".

The Koran does not contain a legal code and most of the legal injunctions were to regularise pre-Islamic tribal customs. After the death of Muhammad in 632 CE, the Islamic polity changed fundamentally: the civil and religious order expanded beyond Arabia to create a huge Arab-Islamic imperial caliphate.

As Islam became an urban movement, it became difficult for the caliphs to administer their complex, multi-cultural realms without mosques, centres of learning, bureaucracies and other institutions essential for governance. Islamic law had to evolve continuously with changing social and economic pressures during the period of the Ummayids, Abbasids, the Caliphs of Cordoba, the Seljuks and Turks and finally during the years of decline after the rise of the European nations.

The main source of Islamic authority was the Koran and Hadis but many new laws were derived from the Jewish Torah, which was later included in the 104 holy books of Islam. One of its five books is the Book of Leviticus that covers Jewish law.

This book, belonging to an era when small bands of Jews were oppressed, lists all 'The Lord's' laws that are harsh and has many prohibitions concerning circumcision, food, suppression of women and lists draconian punishments like death by stoning, burning, strangulation and beheading for a long list of offences, including adultery, worshipping other gods, blasphemy, witchcraft, homosexuality, bestiality, etc.

By contrast to Yahweh, the angry god of the Jews, the Allah of Muhammad was a merciful god. Some scholars believe that many Jews who had converted to the triumphant Islam were probably responsible for fusing Jewish laws into the evolving Islamic tradition after the 10th century.

If this were remotely true and not just churned out to throw sand in the eyes of the kuffar, then there would be a movement within Islam to jettison the death penalty for adultery, apostasy, etc. But there isn't.

This may explain why the laws of the Prophet and the laws of the later Islamic clerics are different. Muhammad had, for instance, prescribed 100 lashes for a woman who committed adultery, which was much milder than stoning her to death as was the later practice.

Actually, numerous hadiths depict Muhammad enjoining stoning. Here are a few. The caliph Umar, according to Islamic tradition one of Muhammad's closest companions, even maintained that it was originally in the Qur'an:

'Umar said, "I am afraid that after a long time has passed, people may say, "We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in the Holy Book," and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession." Sufyan added, "I have memorized this narration in this way." 'Umar added, "Surely Allah's Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him." (Bukhari, vol. 8, bk. 82, no. 816)

"Allah's Apostle" is, of course, Muhammad, who did indeed carry out stonings. Here is the hadith in which he challenges the rabbis about stoning, and in which there is amidst the barbarism and brutality a final act of love and compassion:

The Jews came to Allah's Apostle and told him that a man and a woman from amongst them had committed illegal sexual intercourse. Allah's Apostle said to them, "What do you find in the Torah (old Testament) about the legal punishment of Ar-Rajm (stoning)?" They replied, (But) we announce their crime and lash them." Abdullah bin Salam said, "You are telling a lie; Torah contains the order of Rajm." They brought and opened the Torah and one of them solaced his hand on the Verse of Rajm and read the verses preceding and following it. Abdullah bin Salam said to him, "Lift your hand." When he lifted his hand, the Verse of Rajm was written there. They said, "Muhammad has told the truth; the Torah has the Verse of Rajm. The Prophet then gave the order that both of them should be stoned to death. ('Abdullah bin 'Umar said, "I saw the man leaning over the woman to shelter her from the stones." (Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 56, no. 829)

Even the monkeys practiced stoning, according to another hadith:

During the pre-lslamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were all stoning it, because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too, stoned it along with them. (Bukhari, vol. 5, bk. 58, no. 188)

Muhammad's example is, of course, normative for Islamic behavior, since "verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example for him who looketh unto Allah and the Last Day, and remembereth Allah much" (Qur'an 33:21).

The article goes on:

Similarly, the Jewish laws of that time regarding blasphemy, heresy and apostasy, not found in the Koran, are now pronounced even by small town clerics. The bigoted mullahs do not also seem to understand that these ancient laws can be misused by the enemies of Islam to cause death and disturbance.

These are not Jewish laws. They are Islamic laws rooted in hadiths that Muslim scholars consider authentic.

It is now necessary to educate the Muslims, who memorise the Koran in Arabic (a language they do not understand) making them vulnerable to bigots who give their own distorted interpretations. For peace, leading Islamic scholars must use the media to explain the words of the Prophet and not the draconian injunctions of a repressive outdated law.

On this week’s Glazov Gang, Nonie Darwish, Dwight Schultz and Diane Zinn discussed Why Obama Gambled With American Lives. The discussion occurred in Part I and focused on the reasons the president engaged in Benghazi Denial. Part II dealt with Are Obama’s Lies Related to Islamic Taqqiya?, shedding light on Obama’s Islamic roots and its links to his anti-Americanism.

Plotting mass murder in the name of Allah and Islam -- but this will arouse substantially less indignation in the Western press than advertisements calling such attacks "savage."

"Jordan 'foils major al-Qaeda plot,'" by Kadhim Shubber and Adrian Blomfield in the Telegraph, October 21 (thanks to Laith Georgie):

Jordan claimed on Sunday to have thwarted one of the largest terror attacks ever planned in the Middle East after foiling an al-Qaeda plot to kill diplomats and detonate a series of bombs in Amman.

Ending a four-month surveillance operation, the Jordanian intelligence service arrested 11 suspected militants with links to al-Qaeda.

Government officials in Amman said that the conspirators had aimed to eclipse the bombing of three hotels in the city in 2005, an attack that claimed more than 60 lives.

Using arms smuggled in from neighbouring Syria, the militants aimed to bring death and destruction across the capital, according to Jordan’s General Intelligence Department.

Demonstrating the ambitious scope of the plot, the militants are alleged to have planned to launch suicide bombings in two shopping malls in Amman in a diversionary attack.

With the attention of the security forces distracted, the suspects then planned to launch their main assault in Abdoun, the city’s most prosperous district.

In an operation that would have been similar to the Mumbai attacks of 2008, gunmen and suicide bombers would have worked in tandem to launch a series of assaults in the district.

Western diplomats, many of whom are based in Abdoun, were among the targets, Jordan’s Petra news agency reported.

The plot would have culminated in mortars being fired into the district.

Samih Maayatah, Jordan’s information minister, said that the suspected terrorists had entered the country from Syria, although all 11 are believed to be Jordanian. The group is said to have been advised by al-Qaeda explosives experts in Iraq....

When the arrests were made, the group was in the process of choosing suicide bombers for the attacks, they said. Machine guns, and explosive materials – including TNT – were seized during the raids....

The same Islamic theology that led to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan has now spread to modern, moderate Morocco -- as well as to Mali, as well as Tunisia, where AFP scratches its head and wonders what happened to the glorious "Arab Spring." "Salafists destroy ancient Morocco carvings: NGO," from AFP, October 17 (thanks to David):

RABAT — Stone carvings in Morocco's High Atlas mountains dating back more than 8,000 years and depicting the sun as a pagan divinity have been destroyed by Salafists, a local rights group said on Wednesday.

"These stone carvings of the sun are more than 8,000 years old. They were destroyed several days ago," Aboubakr Anghir, a member of the Amazigh (Berber) League for Human Rights, told AFP.

"One of the carvings, called 'the plaque of the sun,' predates the arrival of the Phoenicians in Morocco," Anghir said.

"It lies in a well-known archaeological site in the Yakour plain south of Marrakesh, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Mount Toubkal."

"There are several Salafist groups active in the region and it's not the first time these pre-Islamic sites have been attacked. We have sent a message to the ministry of culture, but have not yet received a reply," he added.

Salafists, Muslims who adhere to a hardline Sunni interpretation of Islam similar to that practised in Saudi Arabia, which strictly prohibits "idolatry," have enjoyed a surge in strength in Arab Spring countries, benefiting from wider freedom.

Late on Monday, one of Tunisia's main Sufi mausoleums was burned down in an overnight arson attack, seemingly the latest in a spate of attacks on unorthodox Sufi shrines by the country's increasingly assertive Salafists.

In northern Mali, which is close to Morocco, radical Islamists have destroyed ancient World Heritage shrines they consider idolatrous since seizing control of the region earlier this year.

Last week I posted about an extraordinarily courageous column in Pakistan Today by Kunwar Khuldune Shahid, in which he dared, even in Pakistan, to note the Islamic roots of the Taliban's evils. Now he has written an equally courageous follow-up:

"Don’t blame the Taliban II," by Kunwar Khuldune Shahid in the Telegraph, October 19:

Let’s finally address the elephant in the room

Which ideology can possibly justify killing a 14-year-old school going kid? That is the question being asked by the ‘moderates’. The Taliban claim that their ideology does. The apologists of that ideology claim that the ‘monsters’ have got it all wrong, and continue to castigate the ‘beasts’, while ensuring that no fingers point towards the ideology. It’s about time we finally addressed the elephant in the room, instead of pointlessly condemning violent acts without discussing their roots.

The Taliban have defended the attack on Malala Yousafzai according to their scriptures and history. Of course if you’re looking for a command that orders the killing of every 14-year-old school going girl who is inspired by the leader of Dar-ul-Harb, you won’t find one, but what you will find are quite a few historical precedents. Like for instance the case of Asma bint Marwan, a poetess whose murder was sanctioned in 2 AH after she conspired against Islam and the Holy Prophet, as narrated by Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Sa’d. And then there are Ibn Khatal’s two slave girls Fartana and Qaribah, who used to sing songs against the Holy Prophet and were among the ten shortlisted to be executed at the Conquest of Makkah in 8 AH – one of them was killed, the second managed to escape (Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat- Vol 2). Women were ordered to be killed for conspiring against the religion by their ideological predecessors, and so is it entirely the Taliban’s fault for taking cue and attempting to kill a girl who criticised their fundamentals; the fundamentals emanating from their ‘authentic’ religious scriptures?

Now to the question of Malala being a ‘kid’. According to Islamic teachings you’re an adult and responsible for your actions when you reach puberty – if a 9-year-old is considered old enough to get married, a 14-year-old should be old enough for being condemned for ‘conspiracy’. A plethora of Malalas under the pretext of threat to the religion bit the dust when the religion was expanding and therefore, if you’re defending Islam as the ultimate truth you can’t blame the Taliban for adopting violence as a means to assault the sceptics, unless you denounce the violence in 7th century as well and question the ideology.

I know what the apologists are saying at this very moment. When it comes to the off-putting facets of their ideology, everything:

1. Has a weak chain of narration

2. Is being taken out of context and is misinterpreted

3. Was the accepted norm of the time

Let’s address the first point.

Don’t you think it is rather hypocritical to claim that a particular verse from a particular compilation has a weak narration chain (even the two “most authentic” compilations Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim are marred by this allegation) and then go on to quote other verses from those same books because you find them “acceptable”? Do you not realise that strictly from a historian’s point of view once there is a consensus that any part of any book or compilation is not ‘authentic’ that basically throws the authenticity of the entire scripture out of the window? And if we’re playing the authenticity game, how many of the apologists realise that the first ‘authentic’ biography of the Holy Prophet was written in 828 AD by Abd-al-Malik bin Hisham – a good 196 years after his death? Again, strictly from a neutral historian’s viewpoint if you’re allowing for a gap of two centuries between the events actually taking place and their first reliable narration, that slashes a question mark over the accuracy of pretty much anything you care to conjure up from Islamic history – violent or otherwise.

Now to the second point.

Let’s take the “out of context” bit into context strictly from the point of view of the concept of a divine deity. Religion – any religion – is supposed to govern mankind till the end of time. Its holy scripture is supposed to be the word of the creator; an unalterable, preset text that is supposed to be the guideline, till the deity decides to call it a day. Does it seem reasonable that something that was supposed to guide man till the afterlife is left to human interpretation – especially when it deals with something as brutally sensitive as killing another human being – and is left so ambiguous such that one can’t even find five of its followers who would agree on every single one of its aspects? You have a gazillion interpretations originating from a scripture that is supposed to guide the average man, with an average mind who will not delve into 1500 years of history or go through infinite volumes of literature before interpreting when killing another human being is justified and when it isn’t.

If the propagators really wanted to ensure that everything remains contextual, how hard was it to drop a line saying it? (There is no command declaring that: hang on, you can kill the ‘non-believers’ now but make sure you don’t do so in 2012 – when humanity would be aware of the repugnance of the act) If the propagators really wanted to make sure that the peaceful verses – most from the time at Makkah – last forever, why would they introduce the ‘Al-Nasikh-Wal-Mansukh’ doctrine of abrogation and then ensure that the commands preaching violence chronologically followed the commands of peace? If the propagators really wanted to promote harmony, why would they use provocative language asking the ‘true believers’ to cut off the finger tips of non-believers for instance or claiming how they can never be friends with the Jews and Christians or else they would be one of them?

Moving on to the third point.

Don’t you think the propagators of the religion – those that were ostensibly fighting against the norms with the new ideology anyway– should have risen up against the repulsive practices? If you’re discouraging the possession of slaves and slave girls, why would you own any of them yourself? If you’re discouraging violence, why would you use it to propagate your ideology? And if you’re carving out a code for all the future generations to come why would you bow down to the norms of the time – any norm –at all?

Condemning violence but remaining shushed about its roots is not only hypocritical but pointless if you actually want to uproot the cause. 810 million people have been killed in the name of religion throughout human history, and lives are being taken every single day in our neck of the woods in the name of the ‘religion of peace’. Considering the response to last week’s piece there are many who are categorically against this ignorance – how long do all of you plan on remaining silent about it?

But don't be concerned. At least he didn't call them "savages." Savagery in Egypt: "Egyptian President Morsi Joins Preacher in Prayer for Destruction and Dispersal of the Jews," from MEMRI, October 19:

Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by Egyptian cleric Futouh Abd Al-Nabi Mansour, Head of Religious Endowment, Matrouh governorate, in the presence of Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi. The sermon aired on Egyptian Channel 1 on October 19, 2012.

Futouh Abd Al-Nabi Mansour: [...] Oh Allah, absolve us of our sins, strengthen us, and grant us victory over the infidels. Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, disperse them, rend them asunder. Oh Allah, demonstrate Your might and greatness upon them. Show us Your omnipotence, oh Lord....

They had no regrets. They had killed a blasphemer.

Was Nathan Lean seen anywhere in the vicinity?

Vigilante Sharia enforcement in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan: "Pak man shot dead after being acquitted of blasphemy," from PTI, October 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A Pakistani man who was acquitted of a blasphemy charge has been shot dead by two men in Punjab province, police officials said on Saturday.

Sajjad Hussain, a resident of Khan Muslim village in Gujranwala district, 80 km from Lahore, was gunned down on Friday. He had been arrested in February 2011 after Sath Sanaullah, a resident of his neighbourhood, accused him of committing blasphemy against Prophet Mohammed during a private conversation.

Hussain was booked under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, the harsh blasphemy law.

A district and sessions court acquitted him last month for lack of evidence.

On Friday, Hussain was at his shop when two armed men came and fired at him. He was killed instantly. The two gunmen later surrendered to police.

They were identified as Sheikh Zeeshan and Awais Ahmed, both residents Hussain's neighbourhood.

The men told police that they had killed a "blasphemer" and had no regrets over their action....

In this Arabic-language report, al-Sadr says: "اليهود هم أشد الناس عداوة للذين آمنوا بنص القرآن" -- "The Jews are the most hostile to those who believe the text of the Qur'an." This is from Qur'an 5:82: " Thou wilt surely find the most hostile of men to the believers are the Jews..."

He thus grounds his opposition to Egypt's reopening of its embassy in Israel in Islamic theology. For al-Sadr and other Islamic supremacists, the Israel/"Palestinian" conflict is not a dispute over land that can be resolved by negotiations; it is an eschatological struggle with the those whom Allah has designated as the foremost enemies of the believers. Western analysts refuse to understand this or consider its implications, and so continue to misdiagnose the problem and suggest remedies that will not heal the patient.

"‘Reopening Egypt’s embassy in Israel disgrace to Islamists: Moqtada al- Sadr," from Al-Arabiya, October 20 (thanks to Lachlan):

The Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr urged the Egyptian President Mohammad Mursi not to reopen the Egyptian embassy in Israel, considering the move as disgraceful to Egypt as well as to Islamists.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Sadr advised Mursi to “refrain from reopening the Egyptian embassy in Israel” adding that “one can never trust Israel, neither by good words or by politics.”

He said opening an embassy in the Jewish state “will harm Egypt and the reputation of the Islamists in the same time.”

While there is no specific timing of Sadr’s statement but Mursi’s letter to his “great friend,” the Israeli President Shimon Perez, dated on July 19th, made headlines in the Arab press.

Mursi’s letter, which was published recently by Israeli media and reproduced by Egyptian media, was about the appointment of the ambassador Atef Salem Al-Ahl, as Egypt’s ambassador extraordinary to Israel.

Egypt’s new ambassador to Israel, who formally assumed his post on Wednesday, said his country’s new Islamist government remains committed to peace with the Jewish state, The Associated Press reported.

Israel and Egypt signed a historic peace agreement in 1979 that has since been the bedrock of relations between the countries, but ties have grown tense since longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak - a steadfast supporter of the treaty - was ousted in a popular uprising last year and Mursi was elected his successor in June.

Presenting his credentials Wednesday, Ahl told Israeli President Shimon Peres that Egypt is “committed to all the agreements we signed with Israel and we are also committed to the peace treaty with Israel.”

Jordan’s new ambassador to Israel, Walid Obeidat, also on Wednesday officially took up his post, which had been vacant for two years despite diplomatic relations between the countries since 1994.

Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries to have peace treaties with Israel. The agreements are widely unpopular in both Arab countries because of Israel's policies towards the Palestinians. A large part of the Jordanian population is of Palestinian origin....

Of course! They probably used the Zionist squirrels and Zionist pigeons for this job.

"Iran points finger at Israel for Beirut bombing," from Reuters, October 20 (thanks to Jay):

DUBAI - Iran on Saturday condemned a car bomb attack in Beirut that killed a prominent Lebanese intelligence official on Friday and suggested that Israel was to blame.

A senior Israeli official dismissed the suggestion as "beyond pathetic".

The slain Lebanese official, Brigadier-General Wissam al-Hassan, was close to several Lebanese politicians who back the uprising in Syria and led several investigations into Syrian meddling in Lebanese affairs, including one that implicated Damascus and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah in the assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005.

"This action was taken with the aim of sowing dissension among different currents and segments of the Lebanese people and was conducted by an element who has never had in mind the interests of the Lebanese people and government and who only strives for its own impure interests and goals," said a statement posted on the Iranian Foreign Ministry's website.

"Without a doubt the main enemy of the people of Lebanon and the region is the Zionist regime (Israel), which benefits from insecurity and instability in the region," ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, according to the statement.

It offered no evidence for the suggestion of Israeli involvement.

Asked about Mehmanparast's remarks, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "After the Iranian regime accused Israel of even the bad weather conditions prevailing in Iran, is there anything at all that they would not automatically blame on Israel? This is beyond pathetic. It's pathological."....

Yep.

More glorious flowering of Arab Spring democracy. "New FJP leader in Egypt calls for Sharia law," from the Jerusalem Post, October 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Saad al-Katatny was elected chairman of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, Egyptian media reported Friday. He beat out FJP’s acting leader Essam al- Erian in a vote that took place October 6.

The FJP is Egypt’s largest political party, currently occupying 47 percent of all seats in the country’s lower house of parliament.

Katatny hailed his election as “a first step” towards achieving the goals of the FJP, according to Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper.

In this respect, Katatny was quoted as saying that “The Muslim Brotherhood established the [FJP] to represent the Brotherhood’s political project, which, in the end, will be a wise government that will institute Islamic Shari’a law.”

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi earlier this year ran for office on the FJP ticket. However, he resigned from the party immediately after being elected....

Remember, Obama sent the U.S. military to help install the new regime. "Libya Grand Mufti: Remove References to Democracy and Religious Freedom From School Textbooks," by Penny Starr for CNS News, October 19 (thanks to 538):

(CNSNews.com) – The Libya Herald reported on Thursday that the “Fatwa Office” has asked the Ministry of Education in Libya to remove passages related to democracy and freedom of religion from school textbooks.

“Libya’s Dar Al-Ifta’ (the Fatwa office), presided by Grand Mufti Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ghariani, has called on the Ministry of Education to remove passages relating to democracy and freedom of religion from school textbooks,” the article states.

The article also reports that the religious official asked for “clarification” as to why extracts of the Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah had been deleted. The Sunnah is the second book for Islam jurisprudence after the Quran, according to scholars.

The article cited reporting from LANA, the state-approved news outlet.

“According to official news agency LANA, the Fatwa office issued a statement on Tuesday saying that the Grand Mufti had published an article entitled The Curriculum and the Instilling of Values in which he highlighted a number of criticisms of the new school syllabus textbooks for the current academic year,” the report states.

“The first was about the deletion of some of the Prophet’s Sunnah within the Islamic education syllabus, and the second addressed the two paragraphs included in the basic education textbooks about religious freedom and democracy,” stated the Libya Herald.

“The statement said, according to LANA, that the Ministry of Education had responded positively to the remarks made by the Grand Mufti and had promised to investigate the reasons behind the absence of the Sunnah texts from the Islamic education curriculum,” said the newspaper.

The statement claimed the information in the textbooks about Greek democracy might be “too detailed” for students to comprehend and that references to freedom of belief and religion should be removed because “it suggests to younger students that they could choose any religion they wanted,” according to the article.

The article said the Fatwa office warned that because of the public’s religious values the textbooks “could spark public anger.”

Britain's newest export: jihad. "The Poplar preacher leading an armed gang of jihadis in Syria," by Duncan Gardham for the Telegraph, October 19 (thanks to 538):

An influential British-based preacher is leading an armed gang of more than a hundred Islamist fighters in Syria, it can be disclosed.

In a video posted on the internet in the last few days, Abu Basir al-Tartusi can be seen on a balcony surrounded by Kalashnikov waving rebels after apparently capturing a hilltop village in the war-torn country.

Security sources believe that dozens of British extremists, possibly as many as 50, have travelled to Syria to join the fighting and some may have been recruited by Basir.

This week a junior doctor of Bangladeshi origin from, East London was charged with kidnapping two photographers in Syria, where he was said to be part of a 15-strong group of Britons.

The security services are concerned that the brutal conflict in Syria could become a "new Afghanistan" drawing in young men who return to Britain radicalised and keen to continue a fight to spread Islam.

A source said the numbers were "small but increasing" and there were concerns about "who they meet and the knowledge they could gain."

Basir, whose real name is Abdal Munem Mustafa Halima, was running classes at the al-Ansar Institute in Poplar, East London just months ago. He has his own website and his sermons are readily available on the internet.

The preacher has been based in Britain since fleeing the Assad regime following an uprising in the early 1980s.

He has been compared with fellow preacher Abu Qatada and was described by one academic as one of the "most influential and most prolific radical scholars in the world right now" and by another as one of the "primary Salafi [fundamentalist] opinion-makers guiding the jihadi movement."

Usama Hasan of the Quilliam think-tank said: "Basir is a leading jihadi theologian on a level with Abu Qatada. Syria has become the number one destination for wannabe jihadis and no one knows who is recruiting them, but it could easily be Basir."

Aaron Zelin, of the Washington Institute of Near East Policy, who monitors radical groups in Syria, said Basir had been described as the “emir” of one brigade but the name Ansar al-Sham appeared to be new.

Basir's first video from Syria appeared in links from radical forums to the YouTube video-sharing site in May, labelled: "Shaykh Abu Baseer al-Tartousi In Jihad in Syria!"

It featured Basir sitting in a circle, clutching a stick and lecturing a group of his students, one of them holding a Kalashnikov.

Subsequent photographs and videos showed Tartusi brandishing his own Russian-made assault rifle and a video showed the death of his nephew in the fighting.

He now features in regular updates on his Arabic-language Facebook page labelled "The Islamic Opposition to the Regime in Syria," the most recent posted on Friday....

Muslim spokesmen in the U.S. tell us very different things about jihad. How are they working to disabuse Muhammad Al-Zawahiri of his misunderstandings of Islam and jihad? "Egyptian Salafist Muhammad Al-Zawahiri, Brother of Al-Qaeda Leader: We Don't Recognize Elections or President Morsi; Calls for Jihad against the Jews," from MEMRI, October 4:

Following are excerpts from a TV show featuring Egyptian Salafist Muhammad Al-Zawahiri, brother of Al-Qaeda leader, which aired on CBC TV on October 4, 2012.

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: I do not belong to Al-Qaeda or any other organization, but ideologically speaking, I am in agreement with all these organizations. Our common denominator is the Islamic shari'a.

TV host: Are you in agreement with the ideology of Al-Qaeda?

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: With its ideology, but I'm not involved in its activity. The people in Al-Qaeda follow Sunni ideology.

TV host: But this ideology is manifest in the activity which you say you disagree...

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: I didn't say that I disagree with it. I don't agree or disagree. I am saying that I am not a member of any organization so don't ask me about things I did not do.

[...]

Just as Allah commands us to pray, to go on the Hajj pilgrimage, and to adhere to monotheism, he commands us to wage Jihad and to implement the shari'a. We want to fully implement the shari'a, within legitimate constraints. We will not implement something if the time is not right, if it is bound to lead to undesirable or harmful results. We want to implement our religion as revealed in the shari'a.

[...]

Fighting Israel, fighting the Jews is a religious duty incumbent upon all. The Egyptian government should have been fighting the Jewish enemy. Perhaps due to circumstances – its weakness, its interests – the Egyptian government ignored a religious duty incumbent upon it. Not just the Egyptian government – the Jordanian one as well. This is a religious duty incumbent upon all Muslims.

[...]

TV host: I still don't understand how you view the concept of state: You reject democracy, you reject the judiciary because of man-made law...

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: You don't have to go into all those details – I reject anything that runs counter to Islam. Do you agree with that? Likewise, I agree to anything acceptable by Islamic law.

TV host: Do you believe that the elections...

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: Elections are illegitimate.

TV host: Elections run counter to the shari'a?

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: There is evidence for that in the shari'a.

TV host: So you believe that the elections that were held...

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: Allah and the Prophet Muhammad said so. I am willing to sit down and discuss this with anyone who can prove otherwise.

TV host: So you believe that the elections violated the shari'a, and that our man-made law violates the shari'a...

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: Absolutely, and I think that all Muslims should believe this.

TV host: Democracy also violates the shari'a?

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: Anyone who says otherwise is welcome to provide evidence. If such evidence exists, I will take it back.

TV host: So you do not recognize the results of the elections?

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: Absolutely not.

TV host: You do not recognize the president...

Muhammad Al-Zawahiri: I did not recognize the previous president, and I do not recognize this one. I recognize the rule of Islamic religious law.

Here is audio of my interview with Elsa Schieder of WorldTruthSummit.com.

France 24 TV, hitherto always eager to carry water for Islamic supremacists and jihadists, has now fallen victim to racism and Islamophobia, characterizing the attack on its reporter by Islamic supremacists in Tahrir Square as "savage." Oh, the humanity!

"France 24 TV: Cairo reporter 'savagely attacked,'" from the Associated Press, October 20 (thanks to Block Ness):

PARIS (AP) - France 24 TV says its correspondent in Cairo was "savagely attacked" near Tahrir Square after being seized by a crowd shortly after a live news report.

The state-funded, independent news channel said in a statement Saturday that correspondent Sonia Dridi was attacked around 10:30 p.m. a day earlier. It said she was later rescued by a colleague and other witnesses....

Gee, I wonder which culture would have students in the Seattle elementary schools who would be offended by Halloween costumes. Still, there is no indication that any Islamic supremacist group demanded this ban; the school officials are just playing the dhimmi on their own initiative. Please write them, politely and respectfully, and ask them why American culture always takes a back seat to others, and why they're pandering to an imaginary offense:

Shauna Heath, Principal
slheath@seattleschools.org

Karmen Nordhougen, Assistant Principal
kknordhougen@seattleschools.org

Connie Wicklund, Administrative Secretary
cwicklund@seattleschools.org

Selina Jackson, Attendance Secretary
sajackson@seattleschools.org

Ph: (206) 252-9500
Fax: (206) 252-9501

"Seattle Elementary School Bans Halloween Costumes," from CBS Seattle, October 19 (thanks to Mark):

SEATTLE (CBS SEATTLE) – A Seattle school has banned students from celebrating a new holiday this year: Halloween.

Lafayette Elementary School has decided to not allow students to dress up in costume for Halloween this year. And there is still some discrepancy between parents and the administration as to why the ban has been implemented this fall.

The decision was first reported by the district (Seattle Public Schools) as being a preventative measure in the event that Halloween costumes could offend and upset students who come from other cultures. Dozens of parents complained to the school over the measure demanding a detailed explanation.

Lafayette’s principal, Shauna Heath, e-mailed media outlets, including The West Seattle Blog, arguing the decision was made because of the limited instructional time that falls on Halloween this year. Seattle Public Schools observe a half-day of instruction on Wednesday, October 31.

“This decision was made by the entire staff after two deep and detailed discussions. The initial conversation was initiated by staff members who suggested that since Halloween falls this year on a half day of school, we not allow costumes. It takes students a while to change into their costumes, and students are distracted taking away from the already limited instructional time.

“The Lafayette Staff met again on Monday, revisiting and recommitting to their decision of no costumes so that we can focus on academics during the limited time we have available. The staff has committed to continuing the conversation throughout the year before deciding on what we will do in the future about Halloween celebrations.”

“I was just really sad and I had to fight back tears,” fourth-grader Leilani Nitkey told KCPQ-TV.

CBS affiliate KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reports the school announced it will be hosting a “Harvest Party” in lieu of a costume party.

One parent told The Seattle Time that earlier in the week a school vice principal told him the costumes were banned because observing Halloween might be offensive to some students, but the school said that wasn’t the case.

Some parents say that although Halloween has its roots as a religious observance, it’s now a secular holiday that shouldn’t be considered offensive....

Four years for what is essentially treason. "Tampa man sentenced for exporting millions of dollars of computer equipment to Iran," from ICE, October 18 (thanks to Bob):

TAMPA, Fla. – A Tampa man was sentenced Thursday to four years in federal prison for conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transaction Regulations. He was also ordered to serve one year of supervised release and forfeit $10 million, which was traceable to proceeds from the offense. This sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Export Enforcement.

According to court documents, between 2003 and 2011, Mohammad Reza "Ray" Hajian, 57, of Tampa, conspired with others to unlawfully export sophisticated, enterprise-level computer and related equipment from the United States to Iran, in violation of the U.S. embargo. In an effort to conceal their activities, Hajian and his co-conspirators routed shipments of computers and related equipment, payments and travel between the United States and Iran through the United Arab Emirates. Hajian and his co-conspirators communicated with each other via email. They employed fake identities, fake end-users and coded language to mask the true nature of their activities. Hajian shipped approximately $14.85 million worth of computer and related equipment during the conspiracy.

"The magnitude and scope of the threats facing the United States has never been greater than today, and that's why Homeland Security Investigations investigates individuals who try to export sensitive technologies to hostile nations," said Sue McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. "Homeland Security Investigations takes pride in protecting our country, and today's sentencing is the latest example of our effective investigative efforts."...

Hajian pleaded guilty July 11. Three of his companies, RH International LLC, Nexiant LLC, and P & P Computers LLC, also pleaded guilty that same day.

Ramirez cartoon thanks to Benedict.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on the poster overlooking the field

Sure looks like it. Elders of Ziyon has the story.

And yet the received opinion in Washington and among the learned analysts everywhere is that negotiations and Israeli concessions will bring peace -- we just haven't hit on the right formula yet. Madness. "Hezbollah, Lebanon's Baath call for eradication of Israel," from The Daily Star, October 19 (thanks to Lachlan):

BEIRUT: Hezbollah and Lebanon’s Baath Party stressed Friday the need for unity to foil "the conspiracy" against the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah axis and called for the eradication of Israel.

A joint statement released following a meeting between head of Hezbollah’s Sidon region, Sheikh Zeid Daher, and leader of the Arab Socialist Baath Party of Lebanon Fayez Shukr said the two men discussed the general situation in Lebanon and the region, particularly the Syria crisis.

“The two sides underscored the need to unify ranks in the face of the big conspiracy hatched against the resistance-rejectionist axis,” the statement said, in reference to Syria, Iran and Hezbollah.

The Hezbollah and Baath officials, who met at Hezbollah’s Sidon’s office, also stressed the need to double efforts to wipe out Israel.

“The main enemy in Lebanon and the region is the Zionist entity and we must exert every effort and our energy to eradicate this arrogant entity,” the statement added.

And the Obama Administration still had the gall to claim it was a spontaneous attack. "Amb. Stevens Reported 'Targeted and Discriminate' Attacks Before 9/11," by AWR Hawkins for Breitbart, October 19 (thanks to Jayke):

Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) have released State Dept documents that show Ambassador Christopher Stevens clearly expressed concerns about security months before his death.

The documents, 166 pages in total, contain a cable signed by Stevens and dated Aug 8. In that cable, Stevens wrote of how Benghazi had teetered from "trepidation to euphoria and back" through a "series of violent incidents." And he took pains to point out that the incidents were not spontaneous outbursts, but "organized" attacks.

Stevens put it this way: "What we have seen are not random crimes of opportunity, but rather targeted and discriminate attacks."

Another cable that bore Stevens' signature was dated Sept 11 -- the very day on which he was later killed. In this cable, Stevens expressed his concern about "growing frustration" in the Benghazi area and "growing problems with security" around the consulate.

Stevens explicitly mentioned the Libyan police and security forces that were guarding the U.S. consulate. He said those forces "were too weak" to keep the site secure.

These cables and the concerns expressed in them were nothing new. In late June, following attacks earlier that month, Stevens had written that the attackers "seemed to be targeting the Christians supervising the management of the consulate" and that "Islamic extremism appeared to be on the rise in eastern Libya."

In other words, months before the Sept 11 attacks took place, spontaneous uprisings were ruled out. The attack on Benghazi was "targeted and discriminate."

Muslim preachers appeal to Islam to condemn protests against Muslim Brotherhood rule. This is how Sharia will come to Egypt: people will be made to think that it would be a sin to oppose it.

"Preachers across Egypt condemn Tahrir protests in Friday sermons," from Al-Masry Al-Youm, October 19:

Several preachers condemned the demonstrations against the Muslim Brotherhood in their Friday sermons today, describing the protests as attempts to sow sedition.

“Those who called for the protests Friday should not think they are struggling for the sake of God and the homeland,” said Sheik Ahmed al-Mahalawy at the Leader Ibrahim Mosque in Alexandria.

"The organizers are struggling for the sake of their own desires after Satan tempted them," Mahalawy added.

"The current days are blessed. You have to think of Hajj or Umra, or devote yourselves to obey God, as these days are an opportunity to get closer to God."

In Beni Suef, Sheikh Maher Abbas of Al-Rahman Al-Rahim Mosque in Baba village said that the political forces staging protests against "brotherhoodizing" the state aim to sow sedition and undermine the security of the country.

"Some satellite channel workers are throwing accusations haphazardly. They seek to divide people and obstruct the 'production wheel' createdy by President Morsy," he said.

In Fayoum, the imam of the Qouta village mosque appealed to citizens to come together to overcome the economic crisis in Egypt.

"The demonstrations ... prevent the stability that we all seek, because they drive away investors from the country," he declared.

The imam at Fatah Mosque in Ramses said that Egyptians should unite ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday. He called on citizens to accept the difference between each other.

The imam at the Omar bin Abdel Aziz Mosque near the presidential palace criticized last Friday’s clashes....

But don't be concerned. At least they didn't put up a subway ad calling anybody a savage.

Savagery in "Palestine": "Suicide terrorist who killed 21 receives 'highest honor' from Palestine Committe [sic] of Arab Lawyers Union," by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for Palestinian Media Watch, October 18:

Female Palestinian suicide bomber Hanadi Jaradat, who killed 21 Israelis and injured more than 50, has been chosen worthy of "the highest honor” by the Palestine Committee of the Arab Lawyers Union. The Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam reported earlier this week that the Arab Lawyers Union had “created the ‘Martyr Hanadi Jaradat plaque of honor,’” which a delegation presented during a visit to Jaradat's family.

Hanadi Jaradat was working as a lawyer when she carried out a suicide terrorist attack in a restaurant in Haifa in 2003.

The honorary plaque refers to the day of her suicide bombing as “the sweet anniversary of her Martyrdom”:

Dedicated by the Arab Lawyers Union - Palestine Committee
to the family of the Martyrdom-seeker, the lawyer
Hanadi Jaradat
on the sweet anniversary of her Martyrdom

[signed:]
Committee Chairman
Lawyer Said Abd Al-Ghani
[paltoday.ps, accessed Oct. 18, 2012]

The Palestinian paper reported:
"The delegation conveyed to the family of Martyr Jaradat the good wishes of the head of the Union, Mr. Omar Al-Zayn... and also emphasized the pride of the Arab Lawyers Union for what their daughter had done in defense of Palestine and the nation."...

And our new friends and allies in the Libyan government cannot or will not arrest him. Here is more on the story mentioned here. "Suspect in Libya Attack, in Plain Sight, Scoffs at U.S.," by David D. Kirkpatrick for the New York Times, October 18 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

BENGHAZI, Libya — Witnesses and the authorities have called Ahmed Abu Khattala one of the ringleaders of the Sept. 11 attack on the American diplomatic mission here. But just days after President Obama reasserted his vow to bring those responsible to justice, Mr. Abu Khattala spent two leisurely hours on Thursday evening at a crowded luxury hotel, sipping a strawberry frappe on a patio and scoffing at the threats coming from the American and Libyan governments.

Libya’s fledgling national army is a “national chicken,” Mr. Abu Khattala said, using an Arabic rhyme. Asked who should take responsibility for apprehending the mission’s attackers, he smirked at the idea that the weak Libyan government could possibly do it. And he accused the leaders of the United States of “playing with the emotions of the American people” and “using the consulate attack just to gather votes for their elections.”

Mr. Abu Khattala’s defiance — no authority has even questioned him about the attack, he said, and he has no plans to go into hiding — offered insight into the shadowy landscape of the self-formed militias that have come to constitute the only source of social order in Libya since the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

A few, like the militia group Ansar al-Shariah that is linked to Mr. Abu Khattala and that officials in Washington and Tripoli agree was behind the attack, have embraced an extremist ideology hostile to the West and nursed ambitions to extend it over Libya. But also troubling to the United States is the evident tolerance shown by other militias allied with the government, which have so far declined to take any action against suspects in the Benghazi attack.

Although Mr. Abu Khattala said he was not a member of Al Qaeda, he declared he would be proud to be associated with Al Qaeda’s puritanical zeal for Islamic law. And he said that the United States had its own foreign policy to blame for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “Why is the United States always trying to impose its ideology on everyone else?” he asked. “Why is it always trying to use force to implement its agendas?”

Owing in part to the inability of either the Libyans or the Americans to mount a serious investigation, American dissections of the assault on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi have become muddled in a political debate over the identities and motivations of the attackers. Some Republicans have charged that the Obama administration initially sought to obscure a possible connection to Al Qaeda in order to protect its claim to have brought the group to its knees.

Mr. Abu Khattala, 41, wearing a red fez and sandals, added his own spin. Contradicting the accounts of many witnesses and the most recent account of the Obama administration, he contended that the attack had grown out of a peaceful protest against a video made in the United States that mocked the Prophet Muhammad and Islam.

He also said that guards inside the compound — Libyan or American, he was not sure — had shot first at the demonstrators, provoking them. And he asserted, without providing evidence, that the attackers had found weapons, including explosives and guns mounted with silencers, inside the American compound.

Although Mr. Abu Khattala’s exact role remains unclear, witnesses have said they saw him directing other fighters that night. Libyan officials have singled him out, and officials in Washington say they are examining his role....

He pointedly declined to condemn the idea that the demolition of a diplomatic mission was an appropriate response to such a video. “From a religious point of view, it is hard to say whether it is good or bad,” he said....

He also said he opposed democracy as contrary to Islamic law, and he called those who supported secular constitutions “apostates,” using the terminology Islamist radicals apply to fellow Muslims who are said to disqualify themselves from the faith by collaborating with corrupt governments.

He argued that Islamists like those in the Muslim Brotherhood who embraced elections committed a “mix up” of Western and Islamic systems. And he acknowledged that his opposition to elections had been a point of dispute between his followers and the other Libyan militia leaders, most of whom had protected and celebrated the vote.

Still, he said, “we have a very good relationship” with the leaders of Benghazi’s largest militias — which constitute the only security force for the government — from their days fighting together on the front lines of the revolt against Colonel Qaddafi. He even pointedly named two senior leaders of those big brigades, whom he said he had seen outside the mission on the night of the attack.

Witnesses, Benghazi residents and Western news reports, including those in The New York Times, have described Mr. Abu Khattala as a leader of Ansar al-Shariah, whose trucks and fighters were seen attacking the mission. Mr. Abu Khattala praised the group’s members as “good people with good goals, which are trying to implement Islamic law,” and he insisted their network of popular support was vastly underestimated by other brigade leaders who said the group had fewer than 200 fighters.

“It is bigger than a brigade,” he said. “It is a movement.”...

Almost all Libyans are Muslims, alcohol is banned, polygamy is legal, almost every woman wears an Islamic head-covering. But all of that still fell short, he said, of true Islamic law.

Many, many people have written in telling me they are unable to comment and asking if they have been banned. No, you have not been banned! There is something wrong with the comments feature, as well as with the categories assigned to each post. I am trying to find the problem but at the moment have no tech support, so I appreciate your patience. I've had terrible luck with tech people, and have no technical knowledge myself, so it is slow going.

Note that the Islamic supremacist group is called the Association for the Protection of the Revolution. The group thereby reveals that they have none of the Western illusions about the nature of the "Arab Spring," and never did. They don't think it was a wonderful outpouring of democracy and pluralism that was "hijacked" by pro-Sharia forces; they know that it was a pro-Sharia, Islamic supremacist movement all along. And now they're "protecting" it by murdering their enemies.

"Secular politician killed in southern Tunisia clashes," from Reuters, October 18 (thanks to 538):

TUNIS - Clashes between Islamists and secular opponents in the southern Tunisian town of Tataouine on Thursday left a secular politician dead, a local official and resident said.

The violence broke out during a march organized by a group of Islamists close to the Ennahda party, which leads Tunisia's Islamist government. Protesters chanted slogans against the secular Nida Touns party, accusing it of being close to ousted leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, a resident said.

The Islamist group, the Association for the Protection of the Revolution, was passing the building of the local Agricultural Union which is headed by the local representative of Nida Touns, when the clashes began.

"The coordinator of Nida Touns in Tataouine, Lofi Nakd, was killed after he was attacked," Nida Touns official Khemais Ksila told Reuters by phone. A resident who gave his name as Samil Smida said knives and stones were used in the violence.

"The clashes broke out between Islamists and some people from Nida Touns," he said. "The Islamists were chanting slogans against Nida Touns, calling them liars, telling them to leave. Those inside reacted, throwing stones and it all began."

The state-run TAP news agency said nine people were injured.

Tunisia, where an uprising against secular strongman Ben Ali was the first of last year's "Arab Spring" revolts, is now ruled by an Islamist-led government that has promised not to impose strict religious rules and to respect women's rights. Liberals say Islamist policies threaten human rights in a country once seen as a beacon of Arab secularism....

This is after he won permission to wear a U.S. Military camouflage vest. KSM is wringing every accommodation he can from this witless dhimmi judge. For the judge to rule against these requests would of course be "Islamophobic."

"KSM wins bid for early court dismissal after arguing he needs more sleep," by Josh Margolin for the New York Post, October 19:

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE — He’s an international terror mastermind -- but he needs his beauty sleep!

Cranky mass murderer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed griped to the judge that the long days are making him too tired to concentrate – and actually won his bid to have court break at 4 p.m. every day.

The motion also prevents guards from waking him up before 6 a.m.

KSM claimed that the long days and lack of sleep were triggering flashbacks to his torture at the hands of the CIA. He said he’s extra tired because of all the prep time needed for strip searches, prayer and personal hygiene.

The motion was filed Sunday, and the earlier break time went into effect the next day.

“For Mr. Mohammad, the worst thing about sleep deprivation in the present is that it will almost inevitably trigger a re-traumatization and retriggering of the sleep deprivation torture techniques inflicted upon him in the past at the hands of other American guards,” wrote his attorneys.

His motion cited the arraignment of he and his fellow terrorists in May, where court proceedings in some cases lasted 13 hours.

Mohammad and the four other monsters on trial get up each day at 5 a.m. and are shuttled to the court complex from top-secret detention facility 45 minutes away.

Army Col. James Pohl, the presiding judge, said today that court has been breaking at 4 pm. “because of the early hour the accused are awakened.”

Mohammed’s victims blasted the decision.

Marty Toyen, of Avon, Conn., whose 24-year-old daughter, Amy, was killed in the World Trade Center attacks, was surprised to learn the judge was catering to the whims of the sleep-loving terror beast:

“I bet when he was a rebel leader out there in the fields, he wasn’t getting a full night’s sleep,” he said. “He’s just trying to slow everything [he trial process] down. Maybe he’s gotten used to the good life since he’s been here.”...

The ultimate goal of the initiative is to make it a criminal offense to discuss the motives and goals of the jihadis, thereby rendering us mute and defenseless in the face of their advancing threat, and to compel the West to adopt Sharia blasphemy laws, and ultimately the rest of Sharia as well.

"Islam: Qatar designs a law against offending religions: Draft will be presented to the UN with aim of creating int'l law," from ANSAmed, October 19 (thanks to Block Ness):

(ANSAmed) - Rome, October 19 - The Qatari Justice Minister is designing a law that would ban attacks on or offenses to religion. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to create an international law with the help of the United Nations. News of the minister's plan was reported on Friday by the Doha Gulf Times.

"In recent years, there have been insults and offenses against religion through drawings, films and other means. Thus we have taken the initiative to create a legislative instrument on an international level to protect the sacredness of all religions. The draft will be presented at the United Nations," declared Qatari Justice Minister Hassan bin Abdullah al-Ghanem.

The Qatari minister is collaborating with the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) on making religious offense considered a crime abroad as well as at home.

"Offenses to religion shake the foundations of stability in the world and put world peace at risk," said Yousuf Qaradawi, president of IUMS. Every religion has its sacred elements. In the case of Islam, the Koran and the Prophet Mohammed are sacred, and any attack automatically sparks undesirable consequences, Qaradawi explained. "It is impossible to contain the spontaneous rage of a mass insulted by an offense to their religion," Qaradawi added.

Qatar's initiative comes on the heels of violent protests throughout the Islamic world - particularly in the Arabic regions - against the American- made, anti-Islamic film, "Innocence of the Muslims". Even in Doha, hundreds of people demonstrated in front of the United States embassy in a peaceful protest, which nevertheless saw many wave black banners and chant for jihad, the fight for Islam.

Another initiative is also being undertaken in Doha to appease spirits. The cinematic company AlNoor Holdings recently announced that it will produce a trilogy on the history of the Prophet Mohammed with the explicit goal of showing the Occident the true image of Islam. (ANSAmed).

Oh, good. That will fix everything.

They want an Islamic state, and think murder and mayhem are the best path to it. Where did they get such an "Islamophobic" idea? "Attacks, clashes in north Nigeria leave several dead," by Aminu Abubakar for AFP, October 19 (thanks to S.B.):

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) - Explosions and gun battles between suspected Islamist extremists and security forces hit northeastern Nigeria, leaving several people dead and buildings destroyed in one city, officials and residents said Friday.

The clashes sparked panic and chaos in the city of Potiskum from late Thursday, with residents reporting a number of dead as well as schools and a government building set on fire.

In Maiduguri, the base of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, gunfire and several explosions could also be heard on Friday, but details were not immediately clear.

Police said they were seeking to restore calm in Potiskum and clear unexploded bombs, while some of the ordnance was still detonating.

"There are so many bombs here and there, and I can't give you the casualty figure now, because our men are still in the field to restore calm," said Patrick Egbuniwe, police commissioner for Yobe state, where Potiskum is located.

A military source said some houses had been destroyed with home-made bombs and a security checkpoint was attacked, but he also could not give a death toll yet. He said Boko Haram was suspected to be behind the violence.

"I cannot ascertain as of now how many people were killed, apart from the one (suspect) that I know who was shot at the checkpoint," the source told AFP.

Potiskum, which has been repeatedly hit by Boko Haram, was under military lockdown on Friday as security forces sought to track down the attackers, while residents described heavy explosions and gunfire, including home-made bombs being thrown at houses.

Two residents spoke of seeing a number of bodies, while one said several schools were burned, including an Islamic seminary.

"From where I stand, I can see the local government secretariat completely burned and several shops around it smouldering from last night's attack," one resident said.

Another said that "at least five primary schools, including an Islamic seminary, have been burnt in the attacks."...

Thursday's violence seemed to have begun with an attack on a security checkpoint, which led to gun battles with the assailants.

Residents said chaos then spread to other parts of the city, with bombs exploding and gunfire echoing through neighbourhoods.

Blasts and gunfire had also rocked the city on Wednesday.

Authorities said then that home-made bombs were thrown at security forces during a search of a suspected Boko Haram hideout, resulting in a gun battle, but gave no indication of casualties.

Northeastern Nigeria has been the region hardest hit by Boko Haram, though its attacks have also spread to other areas of the north and centre.

The group has claimed to be seeking an Islamic state in Nigeria, though its demands have repeatedly shifted. Boko Haram is believed to include a number of factions in addition to imitators and criminals who carry out violence under the guise of the group....

But look on the bright side: at least they didn't put an "Islamophobic" ad up in the Dawlat Abad subways. "Bomb kills 19 Afghan wedding guests," from Punch, October 19 (thanks to Kenneth):

A roadside bomb killed at least 19 people, mostly women and children, who were on their way to a wedding in Afghanistan’s north on Friday, local police officials said.

Fourteen more people were wounded in the blast in the Dawlat Abad district of Balkh province, said provincial police spokesman, Shir Jan Durani, adding that the Taliban were behind the attack.

“They wanted to attend a wedding party in a village. The bomb was planted by the enemies of Afghanistan,” Durani said....

No, they were targeted by the self-styled warriors of Islam and jihad, who claim authority from the Qur'an and Sunnah for everything they do.

It is ever clearer that the Obama Administration knew it was a jihad attack and lied in a vain attempt to cover up the abject failure of their support for the Islamic supremacist "Arab Spring." As previously reported at Jihad Watch: "Benghazi attack: CIA reported 'within 24 hours' Islamist militants to blame," by Peter Foster in the Telegraph, October 19 (thanks to Twostellas):

Barack Obama was under renewed pressure over his handling of the fatal attacks on the US consulate in Benghazi last night, after CIA sources said they had reported "within 24 hours" that the assault was carried out by Islamist militants.

The claims raised fresh questions about when exactly Mr Obama learned that the storming of the consulate was a terrorist event, as senior Republicans continued to accuse him of misleading the public over the attacks in order to protect his record on neutralising al-Qaeda.

As the US general election enters its final weeks, the Benghazi incident has become an increasingly charged political issue ahead of Monday's last presidential debate, which will focus exclusively on foreign policy.

Mr Obama defended his record on Benghazi during an appearance on the acerbic current affairs comedy programme, The Daily Show, pledging to get to the bottom of what happened and hold those responsible.

However his pledge to track down those responsible for killing Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans was contrasted by a report from Benghazi that one of the alleged ring leaders in the attacks was openly mocking both the Libyan and US governments.

Ahmed Abu Khattala, who has been linked to the militia group Ansar al-Shariah gave a two-hour interview to the New York Times at a luxury hotel, in which sipped a strawberry frappé while boasting no one had questioned him over the attacks and that he had no plans to go into hiding.

Mr Obama was also asked why Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, was still linking the attacks to an offensive video a week after the attacks, when other officials have subsequently testified that it was already then clear to intelligence agencies that attack was terrorist in nature.

"The truth is that information comes in, folks put it out throughout the process, people say it is still incomplete," Mr Obama told the show's host Jon Stewart.

"What I was always clear about was we are going to do an investigation and figure out what happened."

He later added: "Every piece of information that we got as we got it we laid it out for the American people, and the picture eventually gets fully filled in and we know how to prevent it in the future."....

You'll never prevent it as long as you keep lying about its root cause.

Clearly Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad is still a jihadi. And it is not unlikely that he has a Qur'an and attends Muslim prayers in prison, even though the Qur'an and Islam inspired him to murder a U.S. soldier in Little Rock, Pvt. William Long. Would Nazi prisoners be given a copy of Mein Kampf and be allowed to get together and watch Hitler speeches in prison?

Note also that this article observes all the politically correct, Sharia-compliant self-censorship that is currently in fashion, never giving the remotest hint as to why Muhammad shot the two soldiers.

"Arkansas soldier shooter found with metal in prison," by Jeannie Nuss for the Associated Press, October 19 (thanks to Kenneth):

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A prisons official says a man who pleaded guilty to shooting two soldiers outside a military recruiting station in Arkansas was caught with a piece of metal in his cell.

Arkansas Department of Correction spokeswoman Shea Wilson told The Associated Press Friday that corrections officers found a piece of metal in Abdulhakim Muhammad's mattress during a routine search in April.

No one was hurt in the incident.

Wilson says 27-year-old Muhammad also failed to obey orders and used threatening language....

Oddly enough, it was a Sunni jihadist trying to murder Shi'ites and claim the promise of Paradise that Allah gives to those who "kill and are killed" for him (Qur'an 9:111). How odd that these Misunderstanders of Islam got the crazy idea that that meant Paradise was promised to those who kill and are killed, rather than that Paradise was guaranteed to those who hug and are hugged. "Suicide attacker kills 2 near mosque in Iran," from Associated Press, October 19 (thanks to Maxwell):

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A suicide attacker running from the police detonated his explosives near a mosque in southeastern Iran on Friday, killing two people, Iranian state media said.

State television described the incident in a volatile region near the Pakistani border as a "terrorist attack."

It said a suspect tried to enter the Imam Hossein mosque in Chabahar port as people gathered for Friday prayers, but was stopped by security guards.

As he started to run away, he set off his explosives, killing two passers-by and wounding several people, including policemen. It was unclear if the explosives were detonated by accident.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack but the Sunni militant Jundallah group, which claims to be fighting for Sunni rights in the mainly Shiite Iran, has been involved in sporadic bombings in the region in the past.

In an obvious reference to Jundallah, lawmaker Yaqoub Jedgal blamed the explosion on "remnants of terrorist groups," according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. Jedgal is a representative from Chabahar in the Iranian parliament....

Here is the cartoon me discussing the latest New York jihad plot and more with Michael Coren, last night.

Here is the third in James Tanner's series of acclaimed Jihad Watch toons.

The dreaded beard of Islamophobia

Watch for the cries of "Islamophobia" from Hamas-linked CAIR and other groups that will point out that the Fort Hood jihad mass murderer's beard is an expression of his Islamic faith. And remember then that he freely joined the Army and agreed to accept its regulations. And much more importantly, that his murders of thirteen Americans was also -- as he made abundantly clear -- an expression of his Islamic faith.

"Fort Hood shooting suspect can be forcibly shaved, US court rules," from Fox News, October 18 (thanks to GL):

A U.S. Army appeals court has ruled that the suspect in the Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people can have his facial hair forcibly shaved off before his murder trial.

The U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals' opinion issued Thursday upheld the military trial judge's decision to order Maj. Nidal Hasan to appear in court clean shaven or be forcibly shaved.

It also ruled that Col. Gregory Gross, the judge, properly found that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act doesn't give Hasan the right to have a beard while in uniform at trial.

Hasan has said the beard is an expression of his Muslim faith. His attorneys say they'll appeal the ruling....

Garrison Keillor? No, guess again. Bob Dylan? Nope. Jim Kaat? Sorry. Walter Mondale? Come on. Give up? It was the notable "Minnesota man" Mahamud Said Omar. "Jury convicts Mahamud Said Omar in Somalia terrorism case," from KSMP-TV, October 18 (thanks to Christopher):

Jurors have delivered a guilty verdict in the trial of a Minnesota man accused of helping send men to Somalia to join the al-Qaida-linked group al-Shabab.

Mahamud Said Omar was convicted on all five terrorism-related counts in the government's investigation into what it says was the recruitment of more than 20 Minneapolis-area Somali men who returned to their native land to join al-Shabab since 2007.

He could face life in prison.

Prosecutors say Omar bought plane tickets to Somalia for Minnesota recruits and paid for weapons for some of them.

Omar denies wrongdoing and says he has never supported al-Shabab. His attorney, Andrew Birrell, claimed the government's case was built on the false testimony of former recruits because they were under pressure to find out why men were being recruited by al-Shabab....

Yet another American educator demonstrates his cluelessness and political correctness (or worse) by bringing in a string of Islamic supremacist speakers with ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Even worse, his wife is running for governor of the state of New Hampshire. "Muslim Brotherhood: What does Maggie Hassan think of her husband’s Islamic radical friends that he brings to Philips Exeter Academy?," from Granite Grok, October 10 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Update: Erik Erikson has absolutely lambasted and quartered the incestuous relationship that is the Mainstream Media and Democrat apparatchik within the DC beltway mentality.  The first post was a corker - the second has this devastating bit to it.  While he’s talking about the intersection of the Uppity Lefty Media and the Uppity Lefty Democrats, it outlines exactly the intent of the New Hampshire Herald’s intent:

Believe it or not, many Americans in this country would have a hard time believing that a person could be married to an abortion rights activist without being okay with that activism. And those Americans would more likely than not conclude that the reporter married to the abortion rights activist, the Democratic operative, the Joe Biden communications director, etc. share their spouse’s liberal world view. If we are honest about it, we’d have to admit that in most cases the Americans concluding that would be absolutely right.

**********************

“Democrat Maggie Hassan is running for the most powerful office in New Hampshire. But there are emerging questions as to whether she’s got the right sense of judgment necessary for the office stemming from her husband’s ties with radical Islamists, many of whom belong to organizations with terrorist connections.

…Did Maggie Hassan know what her hubby was up to, and did she approve of it?  Ahmed Bedier of the Council on American Islamic Relations spoke to PEA assemblies in 2006 and 2009.  CAIR was created by the terror organization Hamas.  Its charter calls for the destruction of Israel.  CAIR has funneled large sums of money to Hamas.  Among those tied to CAIR are Ismail Royer, Bassem Khafagi, Ghassan Elashi, Musa Abu Marzook, Imam Siraj Wahaj and Rabih Haddad – all considered to be jihadist promoters.

For the record, CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation Trial, the largest terrorism trial in American history.  The Egyptian born Bedier has a longstanding history of demonizing Israel and making excuses for Hamas and Hezbollah.  Nancy Khalil of the Muslim American Society also spoke at PEA on March 16, 2010.  According to federal documents on terrorism, the MAS was “founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States.”

It is the Muslim Brotherhood that has now taken over power in Egypt.  It has advocated for a one world caliphate encompassing all countries and all people.  Advocates have stated that a Muslim flag will one day fly over the White House and that Shari’ah Law (the severely restrictive law governing all daily actions) will be the law of the United States.  It is antithetical to the US Constitution (we are judges to be infidels simply because we free people create our laws – blasphemy to true Islamists). In their world, our State Motto would be sorely tested “Live Free or Die” – the true believers would make that happen (just look at what the Taliban is now doing in both Pakistan and Afghanistan).

It seems that Philips Exeter Academy likes playing host to these types of folks.  The New Hampshire Herald (written by Chris Anu) came out with this story on the 5th – well done with lots of references to Islamofascist groups and individuals and linkages between them all.  And all of them lead back to one NH point – Philips Exeter Academy where Maggie “The Red” Hassan’s husband is the headmaster there.  While there are a number of knocks on her about not knowing the tribulations that property tax paying folks, property owners trials, and the like (she and her husband live on campus thanks to Philips Exeter Academy), this is an article of another type – it raises a lot of questions in our minds “where does the loyalty lie“?  She certainly is a Progressive – while she may mention the Constitution, her values are not “strict Constitutionally” based (else, why would she even CONSIDER creating legislation dubbed MaggieCare (whereby all the hospitals in the state would effectively lose control to an unelected and unaccountable board that was also self-funding by taxing those it “oversees”) and MaggieSpeech (whereby any political speech effectively would have been strictly regulated by the State). Totalitarian – just like Shari’ah Law.  Read those names again

You look on the blogs that cover Islamofascism – and a lot of it is based on college campuses all over the country.  Search on MSA, islamofascism, and Berkely – the California College system is rampant with it.  Following in the footsteps of Socialism here in the States, they have adopted the tactic of going after “skulls full of mush” – kids whose memory banks are incompletely filled with the basic knowledge to be able to identify real from fake.  Here at the ‘Grok, I’ve posted several times about surveys that show how badly our youth know our history, our Ideals, and the basis of American Exceptionalism.  In its place are the cool, pleasant flakes of multiculturalism, tolerance, and diversity – and the MAS and  MSA (Mustlim Student Association) and its backers are taking advantage of that lack.

We know from the HLF [Holy Land Foundation] trial that the Muslim Brotherhood has a blueprint for overthrowing the government of the United States.  The MAS is an integral part of that plan.  Khalil is also a board member of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center.  Yusuf al- Qaradawi, the spiritual head of the Muslim Brotherhood, who is banned from entering America, was somehow listed as a trustee for the ISB for seven years.  The ISB has also written checks to the HLF, which funneled money to Hamas.  What did Maggie Hassan know, and when did she know it?

Ingrid Mattson, former president of Islamic Society of North America, spoke at Phillips Exeter in November 2005.  ISNA and its affiliate organization, the North American Islamic Trust, admitted in court in 2008 that they have ties to Hamas.  They funneled money directly to Mousa Abu Marzook, leader of Hamas.  Federal documents quoting Hamas writings include such rhetoric as, “The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem.  In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.  To do this requires the diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses, both on the regional, Arab and Islamic levels.  It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters.”

Is this a shared ideology that inspired ISNA to funnel money to Hamas under the false flag of “charity?” Mattson once claimed that if you are a Muslim-American, the country cannot “demand the same kind of loyalty” from you as from a non-Muslim.  She also said, “There is no guarantee that Americans will rise to the challenge of defining themselves as an ethical nation.”  Does Maggie Hassan share these odious sentiments, which her soul mate force feeds his young charges?

…But Thomas Hassan’s method of operation of bombarding his students with radical militant Islamic speakers year after year speaks for itself.

Read it all.

I have no idea what "Islamic hand sign" could be meant here. The girl's hand was cut, and so the assault charge is justified; the larger question here, however, is this teacher's open Islamic indoctrination in a public school classroom. If she were proselytizing and preaching Christianity, she would be fired. What will happen to Tara Harris? She will probably become Hamas-linked CAIR's "Islamophobia" victim du jour.

"Virginia Teacher Charged With Assault: Girl’s Hand Cut in Forced ‘Islamic Hand Sign’ Drill," by Jason Howerton at The Blaze, October 18 (thanks to Rob):

An elementary school teacher in Chesapeake, Va. has been charged with simple assault after a parent claimed her daughter’s hand was cut open as a result of the teacher yanking her arm aggressively while trying to teach students an “Islamic hand sign.”

Officer Leo Kosinski, a spokesman for the Chesapeake Police Department, told TheBlaze that Tara Harris was criminally charged with a misdemeanor on Oct. 11 and released on a summons. The case is currently under investigation.

“It’s still a criminal charge. It happened at the school and it involved a student,” Kosinski said. The police department could not release any additional information.

Stephanie Bennett, the mother of the 10-year-old girl who was allegedly assaulted at Butts Road Intermediate School, told TheBlaze in an emotional phone interview that Harris has a disturbing trend of “indoctrinating” students with Islamic teachings. She also said the teacher openly campaigns for President Barack Obama in the classroom....

“The teacher was going over Islamic hand signs with the children — she stayed on this issue for two days straight during their reading and math class,” she said....

When Bennett’s daughter was unable to do the Islamic hand sign correctly after two days of instruction, Harris became frustrated and attempted to twist the girl’s fingers to make the Islamic gesture meaning “power and strength.” The way Bennett described it, it sounds like an upside A-OK hand gesture. It is unclear exactly which “Islamic hand sign” was being promoted as the source information comes from children.

This is the kind of law that Islamic supremacists want to bring West, and an increasing chorus of Western Leftists is joining them in the call to criminalize criticism of Islam. "Turkish pianist Fazil Say goes on trial accused of insulting Islam on Twitter," from the Associated Press, October 18 (thanks to all who sent this in):

ISTANBUL – A top Turkish pianist and composer appeared in court on Thursday to defend himself against charges of offending Muslims and insulting Islam in comments he made on Twitter.

Fazil Say, who has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and others, is on trial for sending tweets that included one in April that joked about a call to prayer that lasted only 22 seconds.

Say tweeted: "Why such haste? Have you got a mistress waiting or a raki on the table?" Raki is a traditional alcoholic drink made with aniseed. Islam forbids alcohol and many Islamists consider the remarks unacceptable.

Prosecutors in June charged Say with inciting hatred and public enmity, and with insulting "religious values." He faces a maximum 18 months prison term, although any sentence is likely to be suspended.

Say, who has served as a cultural ambassador for the European Union, rejected the charges and demanded his acquittal, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency....

Say, 42, is a strong critic of the Islamic-rooted government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Muslim who has preached conservative values, alarming some secular Turks who fear the government plans to make religion part of their lifestyle....

In a report on Turkey's progress toward membership issued last week, the EU criticized Turkey for "recurring infringements of the right to liberty and security and to a fair trial, as well as of the freedom of expression." It said restrictions on media freedoms and an increasing number of court cases against writers and journalists remained "serious issues."...

On Thursday, Egemen Bagis, the minister in charge of relations with the EU, suggested the case against Say should be dismissed saying the court should regard Say's tweets as being within "his right to babble." However, he criticized the pianist for "insulting people's faith and values."

The charges against Say also cite other tweets he sent, including one — based on a verse attributed to famous medieval poet and wine-lover Omar Khayyam — which questioned whether heaven was a tavern or a brothel, because of the promises that wine will flow and each believer will be greeted by virgins.

Say has since closed his Twitter account and has said he plans to leave Turkey for Japan. His lawyer said Say has received some death threats....

What a surprise.

"Aceh is a special territory that enforces Sharia." And that means that non-Muslims cannot build new houses of worship or repair old ones -- it's Islamic law.

Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia: "Nine churches and six Buddhist temples shut down under Islamist pressure in Banda Aceh," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, October 18 (thanks to Kreen Akrore):

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Authorities in Banda Aceh, capital of the Aceh Special Territory, ordered the closure of nine Christian home churches and six Buddhist prayer houses for alleged irregularities in their building permit. According to Deputy Mayor Hajjah Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal, the buildings were illegal because they lacked the right permit. Under the law, private homes cannot be used "for religious ceremonies or functions."

"Aceh is a special territory that enforces Sharia," she said and home churches violate the law because they lack the appropriate building permit (Izin Mendirikan Bangunan in Indonesian).

The issue is more complicated in the case of Christian places of worship because the latter require the agreement of a certain number of local residents and that of the local interfaith dialogue group. Under the pressure of radical Muslim groups, permits are often denied.

Deputy Mayor Djamal also wants the authorities to monitor the activities of Buddhist and Christian communities to ensure that their services are performed in the right places. This is necessary, in her view, to "maintain interfaith harmony." At the same time, "we shall not issue any new permit for other churches or vihara (Buddhist temples)."

Local Muslim extremists welcomed the decision. Yusuf Al-Qardhawy, head of the Aceh branch of the Islamic Defence Front (FPI), called on other jurisdictions to follow Banda Aceh, enforce Islamic law and stop any non-Muslim worship activity that is not approved.

He said the situation would be monitored constantly to ensure that rules are respected. Local sources note that the municipal order shutting Buddhist and Christian places of worship follows a complaint filed by Islamists concerning an "improper" use of buildings....

But...but...I thought all Muslims hated bin Laden and didn't even think he was a Muslim! Now we hear that there are "Muslim extremist groups" with sufficient means to act and freedom of action to compel National Geographic Channel to go on high alert? Where is this tiny minority of extremists coming from? Where do they go to mosque? Who is watching their activities?

"National Geographic Channel 'bombarded with TERROR threats from Muslim extremists' over Bin Laden raid movie," from the Daily Mail, October 17 (thanks to Mackie):

The National Geographic Channel's Washington, DC headquarters has increased security after being inundated with terror threats over the upcoming release of the film Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden, according to a source.

The full-length feature film is the first dramatization of the U.S. special forces operation that killed the mastermind of the September 11 attacks in Pakistan last May.

According to a New York Post source, the channel has been bombarded with phone calls and blogs posts from 'Muslim extremist groups' warning that anyone airing a film like this is asking for trouble.

'Enough threats have come in that the network is on higher security alert,' the source said. 'They have a huge public building with a museum and 1,600 people working.'...

Barbaric? You mean Sharia supremacists in Mali are savages? This "student named Oumar" must be a racist, greasy Islamophobe, right?

"Mali Islamists ‘getting more barbaric,’" by Serge Daniel in IOL News, October 18 (thanks to Twostellas):

The Islamists who have seized control of Mali's desert north are growing increasingly brutal as they impose sharia on the region, even as they violate the strict Muslim law themselves, say fleeing residents.

“They are really getting more and more barbaric. They kill, they rape, and no one does anything to stop them,” a student named Oumar told AFP after arriving in the capital Bamako on Wednesday on a bus from the north-eastern town of Gao.

“They forced my sister into marriage, then a month later her husband divorced her. These barbarians get married to have a good time and when they're done, they throw the woman away,” he added.

“How can a man of God have six wives?” he asked - two wives more than the number allowed by the Qur’an. According to Oumar, women who have fled forced marriages with Islamist fighters have said the men do not wear condoms, which he said worried him because they were likely to spread Aids through the region....

Six wives? Ah, clearly these are Misunderstanders of Islam! Unless, of course, two of them are "captives of the right hand" (cf. Qur'an 4:3) -- that is, Qur'an-sanctioned sex slaves.

Hear, hear: Mr. Bean calls for the restoration of the freedom of speech in Britain, and the repeal of the law banning "insulting words," which is just a tool for tyranny in the hands of the one who gets to decide what are "insulting words."

"Rowan Atkinson: we must be allowed to insult each other," from the Telegraph, October 18 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

The Blackadder and Mr Bean star attacked the "creeping culture of censoriousness" which has resulted in the arrest of a Christian preacher, a critic of Scientology and even a student making a joke, it was reported.

He criticised the "new intolerance" as he called for part of it the Public Order Act to be repealed, saying it was having a "chilling effect on free expression and free protest".

Mr Atkinson said: "The clear problem of the outlawing of insult is that too many things can be interpreted as such. Criticism, ridicule, sarcasm, merely stating an alternative point of view to the orthodoxy, can be interpreted as insult."...

What constitutes "insulting" is not clear. It has resulted in a string of controversial arrests.

They include a 16-year-old boy being held for peacefully holding a placard reading "Scientology is a dangerous cult", and gay rights campaigners from the group Outrage! detained when they protested against Islamic fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir over its stance on gays, Jews and women....

He was joined by Lord Dear, former chief constable of West Midlands Police, and former shadow home secretary David Davis.

Mr Davis said: "The simple truth is that in a free society, there is no right not to be offended. For centuries, freedom of speech has been a vital part of British life, and repealing this law will reinstate that right."

The campaign has united an unlikely coalition of support including The Christian Institute and The National Secular Society as well as Big Brother Watch, The Freedom Association and The Peter Tatchell Foundation.

We should just send them Christiane Amanpour, Bob Smietana, Niraj Warikoo, Eli Clifton, Max Blumenthal, Kari Huus and other pro-jihad U.S.-based "journalists." Then they'd get all the favorable coverage they want, and the jihad/martyrdom suicide bombers could seek their virgins by killing someone other than reporters.

"Taliban upset at coverage of Malala Yousafzai murder attempt," by Emily Senger in Macleans, October 17 (thanks to Seth):

The adage about not shooting the messenger has taken on a whole new meaning in Pakistan, as Taliban insurgents threaten attacks against media outlets that have shown unfavourable coverage after their attempt to kill 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai.

The International News writes: “According to sources, the Taliban felt that the media has become biased against them and was giving ‘undue’ coverage to the attack on Malala and portraying them as the ‘worst people on earth.’”

The paper goes on to report that a Taliban source tells it 12 suicide bombers have been dispatched to target media outlets, particularly foreign outlets, and militants are also going to target journalists who speak out against the Taliban’s actions.

Both Pakistani and international media are taking added precautions as a result of the threats, reports BBC News.

Amid these threats, The New York Times reports that the Taliban is also launching a campaign to attempt to tarnish Yousafzai’s reputation. On Tuesday, Talbian spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan called the girl “a spy who divulged secrets” and “created propaganda,” the New York Times reports. The spokesperson also said the girl had just turned 15, which made her a woman, rather than a girl....

Classy!

That's a good question people should ask about the policies of Barack Obama. "Iran: How long can debt-laden US remain world power?," from the Jerusalem Post, October 18 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicted the impending downfall of the "US empire," blaming the collapse on a combination of the country's massive debt and its loss of legitimacy within the international community, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported Thursday.

“How long can a government with a $16 trillion foreign debt remain a world power?” he asked at a press conference with Kuwaiti media personnel. "The Americans have injected their paper wealth into the world economy and today the aftermaths and negative effects of their pseudo-wealth have plagued them.”

He added: “An empire, or a government, remains in power so long as the people under its power support it, but today the Americans have acted in a way that the world nations do not like them at all, and therefore, their international legitimacy is annihilated.”

Ahmadinejad also predicted that the West would soon drop their alliance with the "Zionist regime," saying that Westerners and US politicians are increasingly "at a loss" as to why Israel exists.

Downplaying the effect of Western sanctions on the Iranian economy, Ahmadinejad said that the Islamic Republic would persevere. "The hegemonic powers have no way [forward], but to change the conditions.” Earlier this month, riots broke out in Tehran in protest of the collapse of the rial currency, which has lost some two-thirds of its value against the dollar in the past 15 months, stoking inflation that is now running at around 25 percent.

Despite his country's reeling economy, Ahmadinejad questioned who was really suffering under the sanctions. "These sanctions are in fact imposed against the European countries," he charged. "It has now been five years that they have imposed sanctions against Iran, but the question is, which one is experiencing tougher economic conditions, the EU, or the Islamic Republic?”

Earlier this week, the EU agreed to impose further sanctions against Iran's banking, shipping, and industrial sectors, cranking up financial pressure on Tehran in the hope of drawing it into serious negotiations on its nuclear program.

Turning to his country's illicit nuclear program, Ahmadinejad termed Western pressure as "boring," and expressed that his country would proceed in its drive for a peacefully nuclear program....

"He is very gentle and devoted to his studies," says papa. And even though the university spokesman contradicted him, it could be true: he could be a gentle, studious soul. His studies of Islam could have led him to the conviction that he needed to wage jihad against Infidels.

He could be a decent fellow. According to former Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Eddie Green, Kifah Jayyousi was “a great guy, one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.” While Green was superintendent, Jayyousi oversaw the Detroit school district’s capital improvement program. Later, Jayyousi was charged, according to the Detroit Free Press, with “conspiring to kidnap, maim and murder by providing money, recruits and equipment for Islamic struggles in Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya from 1993 to 2001.”

Christopher Paul, a martial arts instructor at a mosque in Columbus, Ohio, was also a terrific guy. Ahmad Al-Akhras, vice chairman of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter in Columbus, said: “From the things I know, he is a loving husband and he has a wife and parents in town. They are a good family together.”

Yet Paul, a Muslim, was charged, according to Associated Press, with “providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to provide support to terrorists and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.” He was accused of training with Al-Qaeda in the early 1990s, training people for violent jihad attacks on targets in Europe and the United States, and more.

According to a Southern California friend of Raed Albanna, who killed 132 people in a suicide attack outside a medical clinic in Iraq in 2005, “He was into partying. We hit some pretty wild clubs in Hollywood.” Frank Lindh, the father of John Walker Lindh, a.k.a. Suleyman Al-Faris, the convert to Islam from Marin County who joined the Taliban and was captured in Afghanistan fighting against American troops, has said: “In simple terms, this is the story of a decent and honorable young man embarked on a spiritual quest.”

Great guys all. Some partied and some embarked on a spiritual search, but they all ended up in the same place, committing acts dedicated to furthering the cause of jihad, or facing charges of having done so.

But they may be genuinely decent fellows. It was the Nazi genocide mastermind Heinrich Himmler who told a group of SS leaders: “Most of you know what it means to see a hundred corpses lying together, five hundred, or a thousand. To have gone through this and yet -- apart from a few exceptions, examples of human weakness -- to have remained decent fellows, this is what has made us hard…”

Were these SS mass murderers really decent fellows? To their friends and family, they probably were. After all, they weren’t interested in undifferentiated mayhem. They were adherents of a totalitarian, genocidal ideology that convinced them that the murders they were committing were for a good purpose. As far as they were concerned, their goals were rational. It was a necessity for them to remain “decent fellows,” for they were busy trying to build what they saw as a decent society. That their vision of a decent society included genocide and torture did not trouble them, for it was all for -- in their view -- a goal that remained good.

Today’s jihad terrorists are likewise the adherents of a totalitarian, genocidal ideology that teaches them that murders committed under certain circumstances are a good thing. And those murders, here again, are not committed for their own sake, but for the sake of a societal vision hardly less draconian and evil than that of Adolf Hitler, but one also that portrays itself as the exponent of all that is good -- as the Taliban showed us. But the continued reference to such people as “terrorists” pure and simple, and the refusal of the media and most law enforcement officials to examine their ideology at all, only reinforces the idea that these people are raving maniacs, interested solely in chaos for its own sake. The society they want to build, and the means besides guns and bombs that they are using to build it, so far remain below the radar screen of most analysts. These people are just “terrorists,” interested only in “terror.” And so we’re continually surprised when they turn out to be nice guys after all. Decent fellows. Like the SS.

"Father of Bangladeshi man who allegedly tried to blow up Fed building in NYC says son incapable of such actions," from Fox News, October 18 (thanks to Kenneth):

DHAKA, Bangladesh – A Bangladeshi man accused of trying to bomb the Federal Reserve building in New York City is a banker's son from a middle class neighborhood whose family members said Thursday that they were stunned by his arrest.

The FBI arrested 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis on Wednesday after he tried to detonate a fake 1,000-pound car bomb, according to a criminal complaint.

Prosecutors said Nafis traveled to the U.S. on a student visa in January to carry out an attack.

His family said Thursday that Nafis was incapable of such actions.

"My son can't do it," his father, Quazi Ahsanullah, said as he wept in his home in the Jatrabari neighborhood in north Dhaka.

"He is very gentle and devoted to his studies," he said, pointing to Nafis' time at the private North South University in Dhaka.

However, Belal Ahmed, a spokesman for the university, said Nafis was a terrible student who was put on probation and threatened with expulsion if he didn't bring his grades up. Nafis eventually just stopped coming to school, Ahmed said.

Ahsanullah said his son convinced him to send him to America to study, arguing that with a U.S. degree he had a better chance at success in Bangladesh.

"I spent all my savings to send him to America," he said. He called on the government to "get my son back home."...

At one point, according to criminal complaint, Nafis told undercover agents: "I don't want something that's like, small. I just want something big. Something very big ... that will shake the whole country, that will make America, not one step ahead, change of policy, and make one step ahead, for the Muslims ... that will make us one step closer to run the whole world."...

Here is the second Jihad Watch cartoon, even more delightful than the first.

Here is the Jihad Watch post in question.

Thanks again to James Tanner.

I don't say "Yabba dabba doo" or "Ruh roh," and I don't have a bomb in my turban, but I am nonetheless now officially a cartoon. Jihad Watch reader James Tanner has kindly offered to present cartoon animations of selected Jihad Watch posts, and I readily agreed (although given that this is a cartoon, maybe I should have instead responded, "Behead those who insult Robert Spencer!"). Unlike those who fly into murderous rages over cartoons, I love this. Enjoy. And many thanks, James.

The Jihad Watch post containing the text of this is here.

While the Taliban were in power they waged relentless jihad warfare against the Shi’ite Hazaras. It is no better for them in Pakistan. Yet for some reason the peaceful coreligionists of the Sunni persecutors never raise their voice to call for some "Islamic tolerance" for the Hazaras. Now, why is that?

"Persecuted Hazaras flee Pakistan; some die trying," by Kathy Gannon for the Associated Press, October 18 (thanks to Block Ness):

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) - As he knelt in prayer to mark one of Islam's holiest days, Ali Raza Qurban saw a childhood friend and dozens of others die in a suicide attack on their Shiite mosque. Sunni militants were again targeting minority ethnic Hazaras in this city of narrow streets and wide-open hatreds.

Qurban decided it was time to leave. He found an agent who would hook him up with a smuggler in Indonesia and, for $8,000, get him to Australia.

But he never made it to Australia. He disappeared on Dec. 17, 2011, aboard an overcrowded, rickety wooden boat that capsized within hours of leaving the Indonesian shore.

Four months had passed since the suicide bombing at the mosque in Quetta, where the violence has spawned a vibrant human smuggling business. The smugglers operate out of small, unidentified shops. Selling promises of a safe and better life in Australia, they largely capitalize on the fear and desperation of the Hazara, a largely Shiite community that is facing attacks not only here but in neighboring Afghanistan.

In Quetta, Shiite leaders say many of the attacks against Hazaras are carried out by the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Janghvi, which they contend is backed by elements within Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI. Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhry and a panel of three judges last month ordered authorities to investigate allegations that vehicles illegally imported by the ISI were used in suicide bombings targeting Shiites.

Most of the Afghans who cross into Pakistan with the intention of going on to Australia and elsewhere are thought to be Hazara....

Islamic supremacists are sure that Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, the Muslim who was arrested today for plotting to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City, was entrapped:

Cyrus McGoldrick works at Hamas-linked CAIR's New York chapter. He is an open enemy of free speech, as well as a bullying thug.

Mona Eltahawy, of course, is the fascist who spraypainted our pro-freedom ad in New York City.

How do they know? They don't. They just know that they oppose any and every anti-jihad effort, and believe that Muslims are only and always victims.

More on the Federal Reserve jihadist arrested today: he thought that by launching a massive jihad attack in New York City and murdering many Americans, he could bring Muslims closer to ruling the world. And Islamic rule of the world is indeed a traditional Islamic imperative, delineated in Islamic law. It is routinely denied and obfuscated by Muslims in the U.S. But somehow Muslims like Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis never seem to get the memo.

"Bangladeshi man arrested after allegedly trying to blow up Fed building in NYC," from Fox News, October 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):

DEVELOPING: Federal authorities arrested a Bangladeshi national Wednesday morning for allegedly plotting to blow up a Federal Reserve building in New York City's lower Manhattan, mere blocks away from the site of the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001.

The 21-year-old suspect, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, attempted to detonate what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb in front of the Fed building on Liberty Street, but the device was a fake supplied to him by undercover FBI agents who had been tracking his activity, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force said Wednesday afternoon.

The supposed explosives posed no threat to the public, the FBI said.

A criminal complaint accuses Nafis of having overseas connections to Al Qaeda and travelling to the U.S. in January to recruit individuals to form a terrorist cell and conduct an attack on American soil. But one of Nafis' potential recruits was an FBI source, who alerted authorities, the FBI said.

A federal law enforcement official told Fox News that there was no evidence Nafis was directed by Al Qaeda to carry out this attack, though he appears to have thought he was working for the terrorist group.

At one point, according to criminal complaint, Nafis told undercover agents: "I don't want something that's like, small. I just want something big. Something very big ... that will shake the whole country, that will make America, not one step ahead, change of policy, and make one step ahead, for the Muslims ... that will make us one step closer to run the whole world."

A U.S. official told Fox News that President Obama was Nafis' first target, but the criminal complaint only refers to "a high-ranking official." The complaint also mentions the New York Stock Exchange as a proposed target....

NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly noted that there have been 15 terrorist plots targeting the city since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Al Qaeda operatives and those they have inspired have tried time and again to make New York City their killing field," Kelly said. "After 11 years without a successful attack, it's understandable if the public becomes complacent. But that's a luxury law enforcement can't afford."

The grateful exchange student

There is, of course, no screening whatsoever of young Muslims who come here on student visas. Even to attempt to determine if they have jihadist sympathies, which would be well-nigh impossible in any case, although those with actual ties to jihad groups could at least be kept out, would be "Islamophobic." And so we will see more people like Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis.

"Suspected Terrorist Arrested for Alleged Plot to Bomb Federal Reserve in NYC," by Jonathan Dienst and Shimon Prokupecz for NBC New York, October 17 (thanks to Archer):

A suspected terrorist parked a van packed with what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb next to the Federal Reserve building in Lower Manhattan and tried to detonate it Wednesday morning before he was arrested in a terror sting operation, authorities said.

The suspect, 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, is a Bangladeshi national who came to the U.S. on a student visa in January for the specific purpose of launching a terror attack here, authorities said. He allegedly told an undercover agent last month that he hoped the attack would disrupt the presidential election, saying "You know what, this election might even stop," according to the criminal complaint against him.

The complaint said Nafis wrote a statement claiming responsibility for what he thought would be the Fed attack, saying he wanted to "destroy America" by going after its economy. He referred to "our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden" in the statement.

He also proposed various other targets beyond the Fed building at 33 Liberty St., just blocks from the World Trade Center site, prosecutors said. He also considered targeting a "high-ranking U.S. official" as well as the New York Stock Exchange, prosecutors said.

Nafis, who lives in Jamaica, Queens, allegedly sought out al-Qaida contacts to help him, unknowingly recruiting an FBI source in the process. At that point, the FBI and NYPD began monitoring him as he developed the plot, prosecutors said.

An undercover FBI agent posed as an al-Qaida facilitator, supplying him with 20 50-pound bags of what he thought were explosives to use in building his bomb. He also visited the Lower Manhattan site multiple times as he planned the attack, officials said....

Nafis is expected in court later Wednesday. He is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida....

Just when the idea that suspicion of Muslims in America is all unjustified "Islamophobia" seems to be gathering steam, another guy like Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis has to come along and spoil everything by showing that such suspicion is abundantly justified and has nothing whatsoever to do with bigotry.

Pamela Geller encapsulates the hypocrisy of the mainstream media and groups like Hamas-linked CAIR regarding the Qur'an's teachings of jihad warfare, and how they influence Muslims like Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis: "Let's ask Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis which quranic verse most inspired him and use that one on our next AFDI ad."

"FBI Arrests Would-Be Terrorist In Alleged Plot To Bomb NY Fed," by Dan Bigman for Forbes, October 17 (thanks to Tonka):

The FBI and NYPD have reportedly arrested a man they’d led into a sting operation for allegedly attempting to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank building in lower Manhattan today.

According to WABC-TV, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested after he attempted to detonate a a van filled with what he thought to be explosives outside the fortress-like structure on Liberty Street. The suspect had been working on the plan with FBI agents he thought to be co-conspirators for months, according to the New York Post.

“This morning, after parking the van, he went to the Millennium Hotel near the World Trade Center, where he called the cell phone in the van,” according to the Post. “It did not explode, and he was arrested by federal agents.”

The escalating persecution of Christians in Islamic lands gets little notice in the Western media. They're much too busy looking for cases of "Islamophobia."

More on this story. "ASIA/PAKISTAN - The church of San Francesco attacked in Karachi: the Franciscans in fear," from Agenzia Fides, October 17 (thanks to Lachlan):

Karachi (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic Church of St. Francis, the oldest of the archdiocese of Karachi, in the old town, was attacked by a mob of about 600 Islamic radicals that devasted [sic] the yard, but did not manage to break through the front door.

The two Franciscan monks who live there, Fr. Victor Mohan and Fr. Albert Jamil, OFM, and the sisters who work there "are afraid, they fear more attacks, but trust in the Providence of God," they tell Fides.

The episode, which has aroused indignation and concern throughout the Catholic community in Karachi, took place at 7 pm last Friday, October 12. A Franciscan priest told Fides: "Fr. Victor had just finished celebrating a wedding, when he heard noises and shouting from the compound of the church. Immediately all the faithful, women and children were sent to the parish house. The radicals, shouting against the Christians, broke into the building and started devastating everything: cars, bikes, vases of flowers. They broke an aediculeand took the statue of the Madonna. They tried to force the door of the church, throwing stones at the church and destroying the windows " The acts of vandalism continued for an hour, then the police arrived, the crowd dispersed. According to Fides sources, the attack can still be a reaction to the blasphemous film on Mohammed or otherwise related to the issue of blasphemy.

In the days following the Catholic Church in Karachi organized a public demonstration of protest, led by the Archbishop of Karachi, Mgr. Joseph Coutts, with the participation of hundreds of priests, nuns, lay people, members of the Commission "Justice and Peace" and of human rights activists. The Assembly, gathered in a peaceful manner, prayed for peace and respect for all religions. Archbishop Coutts told Fides: "The church of San Francesco has always served the poor with a school and a medical clinic run by nuns. For nearly 80 years it carries out a humble service to humanity without any discrimination of caste, ethnicity or religion. Why these acts? Why are we not safe? ".

Do you really not know, Archbishop Coutts? Read Qur'an 9:29.

It's noteworthy that the Pakistani media would be glorifying jihadists in the first place -- but not all that surprising. After all, most of the "journalists" probably hold essentially the same beliefs as the jihadis do, and even if they don't, there is a worldwide reluctance on the part of the media to stand up to Islamic supremacists and jihadists. Look at how many Sharia-compliant "journalists" we have in the U.S. -- essentially propagandists who would never dare write a critical word about the global jihad or Islamic supremacism, and eagerly demonize those who are trying to defend the freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and equality of rights for all people: Christiane Amanpour, Niraj Warikoo, Bob Smietana, Kari Huus...the list goes on and on.

"Media should desist from glorifying terrorists: SC," by Azam Khan for the Express Tribune, October 13:

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Saturday restrained media outlets from covering terrorism related incidents in such a manner which would glorify the terrorists.

In its order on the Balochistan security case, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry justified the decision, writing that material supplied by Senator SM Zafar suggested that whenever there was an incident involving murder of innocent people, civilians or otherwise, newspapers blamed different ‘organisations’. This, the chief justice noted, increased a sense of insecurity among the people of Balochistan.

Recent statements by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) following thier [sic] attack on Malala Yousufzai, received widespread coverage in electronic and print media.

The 14-year-old student activist from Swat alongwith other students was shot at by TTP men, when they were on their way from school on October 9.

Another statement by the TTP where it justified its barbaric act citing some Islamic precedent, also got considerable coverage by the media. Their justification was subsequently rejected by the Ulema and clerics across the country.

The CJ, heading a three-judge bench, noted in the order that the provision of 11-W of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 should be followed strictly by the electronic and print media in the future.

The court also incorporated the provision in its judgment noting: “Printing, publishing, or disseminating any material to incite hatred or giving projection to any person convicted for a terrorist act or any proscribed organisation or an organisation placed under observation or anyone concerned in terrorism. (1) A person commits an offence if he prints, publishes or disseminates any material, whether by audio or video-cassettes [FM radio station] or by written, photographic, electronic, digital, wall-chalking or any the method which [glorifies terrorists or terrorist activities] incites religious, sectarian or ethnic hatred or gives projection to any person convicted for a terrorist act, or any person or organisation concerned in terrorism or proscribed organisation or an organisation placed under observation: Provided that a factual news report, made in good faith, shall not be construed to mean ‘projection’ for the purposes of this section.

“We are told that in this behalf restraint order has also been passed by the High Court of Balochistan, therefore, we confirm the order which has been passed by the High Court of Balochistan that in future the above provision of law shall be followed strictly both by the electronic and print media,” the judgement further read.

“Teaching UNRWA students about the so-called ‘Holocaust’ as part of human rights harms the Palestinian cause… and changes the students’ views regarding their main enemy, namely the Israeli occupation.” Indeed -- it doesn't square with the vicious Jew-hatred they need to keep alive in order to keep the jihad against Israel going.

"Jordanian teachers in UN schools for Palestinian refugees say they’ll refuse to teach the Holocaust," by Elhanan Miller for the Times of Israel, October 16 (thanks to Lachlan):

Rumors of a UN decision to re-introduce Holocaust studies in schools run by UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees — have raised the ire of Jordanian teachers, who say they will refuse to teach history that “harms the Palestinian cause.”

In a statement issued Monday, the Executive Committee of UNRWA teachers in Jordan responded to rumors that Holocaust studies would be reintroduced this year to the enrichment curriculum on conflict resolution, which is taught in schools operated by the UN agency in Palestinian refugee camps.

“We condemn this decision, which equates the butcher and the victim,” read the teachers’ statement, demanding instead to introduce classes on the Palestinian “right of return” to Israel and the history of the 1948 war with Israel.

Some 2 million Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA’s Jordan offices. The UN agency operates 172 schools in 10 refugee camps across the kingdom, serving a total of over 122,000 students.

Last year, the association of UNRWA employees endorsed a decision to ban the introduction of Holocaust studies in UNRWA schools, Jordanian daily Al-Ghad reported Tuesday, a decision the teachers said was still binding.

“We shall monitor the curriculum being taught under the title ‘concepts of human rights’ [which is] aimed at reducing [Palestinian] students’ awareness of the right of return,” read the statement.

“Teaching UNRWA students about the so-called ‘Holocaust’ as part of human rights harms the Palestinian cause… and changes the students’ views regarding their main enemy, namely the Israeli occupation.”

Since 2009, Hamas in Gaza has actively opposed UNRWA’s attempts to introduce the Holocaust into school curriculum in Gaza, claiming that it contradicted Palestinian culture....

Hamas-linked CAIR's ad quotes Qur'an 7:199: "Show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant." They will argue that this apparently irenic verse is more representative of Muslims in the U.S. than 3:151. But the problem is that Muslims who are forgiving others, speaking for justice and avoiding the ignorant are not doing anything to rein in those who are working to cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. And groups like Hamas-linked CAIR are actively working to impede anti-terror efforts. So the fact remains: Muslims working on implementing 3:151 are the ones causing trouble for Infidels, not ones working to implement 7:199. And it is neither "hateful" nor "racist" to be concerned about that.

"New 9/11 Ads Headed to Metro," by Will Sommer for the Washington City Paper, October 16 (thanks to Anti-CAIR):

The cycle spawned by the Muslim savage ads on the Metro is about to get even more incendiary. The American Freedom Defense Initiative, the group behind the original ads, wants to launch a whole new ad campaign, this time with evocative images of the Twin Towers.

The new ad, which uses a menacing quote from the Quran, is inspired by the Council on American-Islamic Relations' counter-campaign against AFDI's original ads. The CAIR ad, which features a girl in a hijab, uses a decidedly less ominous Quran quote: "Show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant."

"Citing the quran, are we?" responded AFDI co-founder Pamela Geller on her blog yesterday. "I think that's a grand idea."

Geller asked her readers for Quran verse suggestions, and the above verse was chosen to be the first in a series to be submitted to Metro. AFDI could publish all the jihad- and sharia-themed verses in the book eventually, according to its co-founder.

"Yes, this will go on for years," Geller writes.

The wise Borhamy

Borhamy wants Sharia, and says Morsi was elected to bring it to Egypt, and yet he despises the freedom of religion. Clearly he believes that Sharia doesn't allow for religious freedom. How did he come to misunderstand Islam in such a way? Will any "moderates" from the West disabuse him of his misunderstanding?

"Religious freedom could lead to devil worship: Salafist leader," from Ahram Online, October 16 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):

The latest draft of the constitution does not reflect what was agreed by the Constituent Assembly, Salafist assembly member Yasser Borhamy said Tuesday.

Several articles that had been agreed upon by the assembly, and others that had been suggested for inclusion, had been removed from the latest draft, Borhamy said via a statement on the Salafist Nour Party's Facebook page.

"We will not compromise on several of the removed articles," Borhamy said, especially those relating to rights and freedoms.

He added that rights and freedoms should only be protected under the constitution if they do not "violate society's norms." He did not elaborate on what those norms were.

He said some freedoms should be restricted to prevent other norms from being violated.

Borhamy further complained that freedom of religious belief, which was left unrestricted by the new draft, might lead to "devil worship or apostasy from Islam."

He said Salafists w