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Berlusconiphobes. "Berlusconi is target of Islamist death threat," by Elisabetta Povoledo for the International Herald Tribune:
ROME: Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi received an Islamist death threat Friday in a letter containing two bullets that was sent to a newspaper owned by his family's media empire.
The blank cartridges were "a forewarning" to Berlusconi and his younger brother Paolo, the publisher of Il Giornale, for the Milanese newspaper's "anti-Islamic" stance, according to the paper's Web site, which published the letter.
The letter warned that "at the first favorable moment" the Berlusconi brothers would come to the same end as Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader, who was assassinated Dec. 27.
"We will do like they did in Pakistan, with Bhutto: a shot to the head with real bullets and then an Italian-style suicide bomber to make sure that they depart this world," the letter read.
"Bodyguards and security details will be unable to stop us, because we are unpredictable," said the letter.
In September 2001, when Berlusconi was prime minister, he inflamed the Muslim world and angered Western diplomats by stating that Western civilization was "superior" to that of Islam.
A spokesman for the police in Milan said its anti-terrorist squad was examining the letter. Prosecutors in Milan will also investigate the incident.
Posted by Marisol at January 13, 2008 1:16 AM
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Italian-style suicide bomber?
What did I miss? And when?
Posted by: Infidel Pride![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 13, 2008 1:37 AM
That caught my eye, too. Sounds like something in Hell's Olive Garden.
Posted by: MarisolJW at January 13, 2008 1:40 AM
Not to let anyone down, but I do not think a Muslim did that. To send bullets in the mail is a classically Italian form of intimidation, and most Italian politicians have suffered it at one time or another - not to mention judges, bishops, businessmen and football players. It rarely means anything more than a stupid twenty-year-old with too a couple of bullets to waste and too much wine in his system. I cannot remember a single case when this sort of threat has been followed by serious action.
Posted by: Paolo at January 13, 2008 2:04 AM
You know. Italian-style: basil, garlic, oregano. Duh!
Posted by: Haid Dasalami at January 13, 2008 3:06 AM
Oh, I get it. Marisol already made that little funny, albeit a bit more cryptically: "Sounds like something from Hell's Olive Garden." LOL!
Duh, indeed. I'm not exactly quick, but I follow along.
Posted by: Haid Dasalami at January 13, 2008 3:09 AM
Haid
I'm guessing there'd be marinara sauce all over.
Hopefully, nobody is eating while reading this
Posted by: Infidel Pride at January 13, 2008 3:25 AM
.. but president/commander-in-chief tells me 'Izlum is Peace' : http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010917-11.html
.... or what he really means is 'Izlum is (Rest in) Peace'?
Posted by: Alert at January 13, 2008 4:25 AM
I think "Italian Style" means like the Red Brigade. You know, shooting up an airport while you're at it.
Posted by: skevin at January 13, 2008 4:31 AM
"...unable to stop us because we are unpredictable" UNPREDICTABLE?????
Posted by: grobari at January 13, 2008 8:12 AM
At least he described the act a 'suicide' bombing, rather than the usual 'glorious act of martyrdom'.
It does not sound like the writer is a muslim, I may agree with Paolo on this. Of course the letter could be from an Italian convert, who is used to relating in Mafia type ways. Either way, threats like this need to be taken seriously...
at January 13, 2008 8:57 AM
""Bodyguards and security details will be unable to stop us, because we are unpredictable," said the letter."
...making treats....predictable
...anti-social......predictable
...loves violence...predictable
,,,egotistic........predictable
...no common sense..predictable
...will kill........predictable
...hates peace......precictable
...Islamic connection..predictable
...follows Qur'an...predictable
...boring...........predictable
...hates capitalism.predictable
...hates charity....predictable
...hates non Muslims.predictable
...leads dysfunctional life..predictable
...makes stupid boasts..predictable....
at January 13, 2008 10:05 AM
"In September 2001, when Berlusconi was prime minister, he inflamed the Muslim world and angered Western diplomats by stating that Western civilization was "superior" to that of Islam."
Well, of course he's right. It's a total no-brainer that Western civilization is superior to Islam. An irrefutable fact. For so *many* reasons.
at January 13, 2008 10:17 AM
Paolo,
Why couldn't it have come from an Italian who converted to Islam? He sends a message that Berlusconi and the rest of Italy will understand. Converts can be among the most violent. They need to prove to themselves that they were right to convert.
Posted by: PMK at January 13, 2008 10:23 AM
"an Italian-style suicide bomber"
Uh Huh - what's that?
Posted by: darcy at January 13, 2008 10:26 AM
"an Italian who converted to Islam" --posted above.
That has actually happened?
Posted by: darcy at January 13, 2008 10:28 AM
"an Italian-style suicide bomber"
....would that be one who is wearing a Carlo Pignatelli suit, with Dino Bigioni shoes and a Toscano silk shirt and has his face dabbed with some fine Italian mens cologne with a suicide belt under his coat?....momma mia....
at January 13, 2008 10:34 AM
"an Italian who converted to Islam" --posted above.
That has actually happened?
Darcy,
Do you know that it hasn't?
Stranger things have happened. Who would have thought that a product of the San Francisco Bay area would end up a jihadist in tribal Afghanistan?
at January 13, 2008 10:42 AM
Darcy,
Do you know that it hasn't?
Stranger things have happened. Who would have thought that a product of the San Francisco Bay area would end up a jihadist in tribal Afghanistan?
Posted by: PMK at January 13, 2008 10:42 AM
No, PMK, of course I don't know whether such a conversion from Italian Roman Catholicism to Islam (!) has happened or not. However, seems unlikely.
Oh, I can *definitely* see Adam (what's his last name?) from the highly-radical SF area becoming a jihadist. Ditto the "American Taliban" John (what's his last name?) LOL. Such losers. A pair of total losers. Interesting both are from California, isn't it?
Posted by: darcy at January 13, 2008 11:01 AM
Of course there are Italian converts to Islam. What is worse, the worst of them - like Hamza Picardo, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Italy - tend to be veterans of the extreme left, with plenty of violent experience and no concerns about being rough with other Italians. They hated Western civilization from the cradle, and going from "movement Marxism" - street thuggery - to Islamofascism is really rather a short step. No: the reason why I do not believe in this threat is that Italians are, roughly speaking, divided in two halves - those who talk, and those who do. Those who do, do not indulge in foolish public threats. The real Mafia, and the real terrorists, never do dumb things like sending bullets to people to threaten them and end up on the papers. Terrorists, in general, do not threaten at all: if they have it in for someone, they just go and kill him, or try to. The Mafia does use threats, but they are secret threats, made always with a definite purpose in mind, and never intended to reach the papers. It is a private matter between the Mafia and its victims. Since the Mafia, in general, wants to two things - money, and to remain secret - the last thing it wants is for its threats to be splashed on newspaper front pages. When they threaten someone, they do it so as to make sure that the person concerned will keep the threat strictly to himself.
In other words: sending bullets is the work of someone who wants to make a noise and end up on the papers, not of someone who is serious. Just one recent instance: Cardinal Bertone of Genoa, the head of the Italian Catholic Bishops' Conference, recently received such a gift of bullets in the mail. The police tracked down the culprit, who turned out to be a wholly harmless clerk with no political affiliations, who wanted to make some noise in a Walter Mitty manner. I have no doubt that there are many people on the Italian extreme left, and perhaps among the Muslim population too, who would like to kill Mr.Berlusconi, and who may even be planning how to do so as we speak. The one thing they will not want, if they do, is to warn their prospective victim. Italians with a purpose, however demented their aims, are generally rational in their methods: that is what makes the Mafia and our terrorists such a threat.
Posted by: Paolo at January 13, 2008 11:39 AM
In September 2001, when Berlusconi was prime minister, he inflamed the Muslim world and angered Western diplomats by stating that Western civilization was "superior" to that of Islam.Since when it's a motive of "anger" to state the obvious? Posted by: Crusader
at January 13, 2008 12:14 PM
"an Italian who converted to Islam" That has actually happened?"
Adel Smith, head of the Italian Muslim Union, son of an Italian father of Scottish origin and an Egyptian mother, 43-year old Smith, converted to Islam in 1987.
Smith has been a busy bee for years, apparently he sued Pope John Paul II for insulting Islam, sued the present Pope while he was still a cardinal in 2000, sued Oriana Fallaci, tried to get crucifixes banned from the school where his children attend, threw a crucifix out of the hospital window where his mother was, got into a physical scuffle with a "right-wing" politician on Italian television, in 2001 he demanded the destruction of a fifteenth-century fresco that shows Muhammad in Hell.
And five years ago, from a BBC report
"more than 20 members of a neo-Fascist group stormed into the studios of Telenuovo, a local Verona TV station, attacking Mr Smith and his associate Massimo Zucchi during a live chat show."
I wonder if that group was really "neo-Fascist"; the BBC does not justify their label with any evidence.
According to the National Catholic Reporter:
"a group of 38 young men in black jackets from the ultra-right Forza Nuova movement burst into the studio, yelling “you’re a criminal” at Smith and hurling eggs. They then set upon Smith and his associate Massimo Zucchi with their fists, leaving both men with black eyes. Zucchi got the worst of it since Smith spent most of the two-minute and fifteen second assault hiding behind a chair."
Adel Smith's bodyguard, Massimo Zucchi according to one website has an interesting past--arrested in 1981 and 1985 for ultra-Leftist terrorism (Red Brigades), then while in prison learned from an ultra-Right fellow inmate about the "grand Jewish plot" which then disposed him (Zucchi) to warm up to Islam, to which he later converted and took the name Abdul Haqq.
Another Italian associate of these two Italian converts is Rosa Petrone, a former nurse of a hospital in Milan who married a Moroccan; apparently she had put in a formal request that the hospital remove crucifixes from the ward. Her request was refused, she was dismissed, and she joined Adel Smith and Massimo Zucchi in their shenanigans.
This site also mentions another Italian, Hamza Roberto Piccardo, secretary of the Union of the Italian Islamic Community, apparently affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood; he converted to Islam at age 30, married a woman from Marrakesh.
Also a couple of Italian Muslim "moderates": Abdul Hadi Palazzi, supposedly pro-Israel, and Abd al Wahid Pallavicini, secretary of the Religious Islamic Community, who promotes "dialogue" with Catholics.
http://www.amislam.com/libero22.htm
(If some of these hybrid Italian-Arabic names were dishes in a restaurant, I think I would need some Pepto-Bismol)
PS: According to the "neo-Fascist" group Forza Nuova's own website, this is their position on Islam:
-Total interdiction of Islamic immigration
-Deny Turkey's entry into the EU
-Deny the vote to immigrants
-Defend the Christian community throughout the world
-Defend European culture
-Defend Italian products and labor
-Protection of the Italian citizen and above all of the Italian family.
...If that's "neo-Fascist", where do I sign up?
http://www.forzanuova.org/AS/volantino%20anti%20islam.pdf
at January 13, 2008 12:23 PM
These islamists are cowards. When someone in the West says our civilization is superior to theirs, they are too chicken a stupid to compete, they just want to kill the challenger. I think it is self evident to almost everyone in the islamic world that their civilization is incapable of competing in any way other than violent destruction. Guess what islamists: You can't compete their either. So far, we've been patient. I suggest you not test that patience.
I wish the Berlusconi's strength and safety in the face of these cowardly threats.
Posted by: Tom at January 13, 2008 12:28 PM
I think it is self evident to almost everyone in the islamic world that their civilization is incapable of competing in any way other than violent destruction. Guess what islamists: You can't compete their either. So far, we've been patient. I suggest you not test that patience.
posted by Tom
I'm with you there. I watched the movie Pearl Harbor last night.
"I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant."
You know, I would never vote for her, but I have made jokes about what would happen if Hillary were pres. and someone really pizzed her. I bet she would be brutal. Whew!
Who knows, maybe we are working on a secret Manhattan project for a chemical that suddenly makes everyone wake up to the cult? Gosh that would make a good comic book series. Where are my colored markers?
Posted by: Aunt Bea at January 13, 2008 1:08 PM
"ROME: Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi received an Islamist death threat Friday in a letter containing two bullets that was sent to a newspaper owned by his family's media empire.
The blank cartridges were "a forewarning"..."
So, which were they? Were they bullets, or were they blank cartridges? Couldn't be both.
I don't know a lot about guns, but I do know that a bullet is a projectile, and a blank cartridge is a cartridge with powder but no projectile.
Posted by: Abscedere at January 13, 2008 1:42 PM
Paolo,
Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't. Complacency carries its own risks. Maybe this was just a publicity hound, I don't know.
The Mafia doesn't do stunts like this but Muslims are the ones who are looking to murder people to get into heaven. They may think they've taken a page from the Mafia playbook. As with Mohammed's borrowings from Christianity and Judaism, they got it wrong. That doesn't mean it won't happen. We ignore them at our own risk.
at January 13, 2008 1:50 PM
No threats are needed for our American cowards such as Clinton, or Lantos, or Robert Gates, or the entire CIA, or the entire State Department, or the cowardly jurors who acquit jihadist after jihadist after jihadist in New York, Tampa, Chicago and Dallas. They capitulate pre-emptively.
Vote for Rudy and pray it is not too late.
Ruslan Tokhchukov, EnragedSince1999.
Posted by: Enragedsince1999 at January 13, 2008 5:05 PM
I always liked Berlusconi.
Posted by: joeblough at January 13, 2008 5:11 PM
"Bodyguards and security details will be unable to stop us, because we are unpredictable,"
Sorry, fellows, you are entirely too predictable.
Posted by: tanstaafl at January 13, 2008 6:18 PM
"Vote for Rudy and pray it is not too late." --posted above.
What about Fred? He, too, is aware of the Islamist threat.
at January 13, 2008 7:50 PM
Forza Nuova is not a respectable nor an intelligent group. It is an organization linked to Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of Il Granitico, and should therefore be shunned. Mussolini, indistinguishable in her appearance from the tartiest of the veline (the young, usually scantily-clad young girls who are used as animated ornamentation on Italian television shows), left the Alleanza Nazionale (the party of the right), because of her disagreements with its leader, Gianfranco Fini, especially over such things as the regret and shame he expressed over the Fascist "racial laws" (leggi razziali) of 1938, and the support he has given to Israel.
Anything that is connected with Alessandra Mussolini must be avoided. There is nothing acceptable about her.
Posted by: Hugh at January 13, 2008 10:21 PM
Hugh: although Alessandra Mussolini has stripped for Playboy magazine, she cannot honestly be described as comparable to the tartiest "veline". I assume you have no idea of the degradation of Italian TV, but I assure you that compared to the likes of Pamela Prati, Ms. Mussolini is positively dignified. Which does not mean that she is not tarty - only not remotely tarty enough for the horrors that RAI and Berlusconi unleash on Italy's screens.
Besides, there is much worse to charge her with. She started her political career by trying to lead the left of the nationalist-fascist alliance, trying to look like the harbinger of progress and reconciliation and maturity. This was clearly intended to make her a leader of the Italian right. However, Massimo Fini, a hard man in spite of his mild accountantish looks, outmanoeuvred her and managed to occupy her whole political area. At this point the former democrat and feminist broke with Fini's National Alliance and re-invented herself as the leader of the most vicious and stupid remains of the old right. For her, evidently, it was better to be a big fish in a tiny and evil-smelling pond than a comparatively small fish in a large, influential and respected pond.
PMK: don't be silly. To sum up what I tried to say - with firty years' worth of knowledge of my country behind me - threats of this kind are ALWAYS the work of fools looking to make a little noise. End of story. Besides, I said that there probably are people right now trying to find a way to murder Berlusconi; all I deny is that they should be so ridiculous as to warn him in advance.
Joeblough: no accounting for taste. Some people like Madonna, too.
Posted by: Paolo at January 14, 2008 8:19 AM
I agree that a genuinely fascist group is to be opposed. Perhaps before I die I will finally see one dispassionate evidentiary justification for the label "fascist" applied to current groups and movements who also happen to be more ballsy about their anti-Islam rhetoric than anyone else on the horizon.
at January 14, 2008 2:28 PM
"I assume you have no idea of the degradation of Italian TV..."
-- from a posting above
Why? I watch the RAI International all the time. And I don't just stick to Lucilla Giagnonin or Benigni reciting Dante, or Gigi Proietti, either. And when in Italy I of course watch it. Wnhy would I have "no idea" of the degradation of Italian TV?
I've seen Alessandra Mussolini on "Porta a Porta" and do not consider her dignified in the slightest, not a whit better than the cheapest veline.
Posted by: Hugh at January 15, 2008 11:30 PM
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