A visitor from Planet Jihad

Yes, people really do believe these things. This comment was just posted (five times, but I deleted four) on an old thread here:

peace.

bin laden did not cause 911. bush Sr. and former cia subjects fired by Carter did. with help from Jewish Massad. The planes were remote controlled: check www.whatreallyhappened.com. That is why Bush Sr. was in the pentagon staring down Tenet right after 911.

10% of egypt are christians. they have been protected by the muslims for 1400 years: no persecution, no discrimination, and no inquisition even during the damn crusades when a yellow horde journeyed tousands of kilometers into someone else's land to kill their women and children.

Spain was 80% muslim at its yet unmatched golden age. when the neighboring christians raided, they murdered hundreds of thousands of men women and babies.

Save yourself, cut the chain of generational ignorance and bigotry. Become a muslim.

Posted by: Najib at January 31, 2004 01:17 PM

Najib's assertions about Egypt and Spain are as fanciful as what he says about 9/11 — and they show how radical Muslims try to make use of historical and theological whitewashes and myths. Click here for the truth about the persecution and the discrimination that Egyptian Christians face today. Consult Onward Muslim Soldiers for the truth about the intolerance and persecution Christians and Jews suffered in Muslim Spain.

Seven Flights from Europe to U.S. Canceled

Seven more flights have just been grounded. Could this be connected with threats made by terrorists some time ago to mount a major attack around the time of the Hajj? This from Fox News:

Just one day after U.S. officials expressed renewed security concerns over flights from London and Paris bound for the U.S., British Airways has canceled five flights headed for Washington, D.C., and Miami, and two Air France flights from Paris to Washington were also canceled. Three flights leaving Heathrow Airport were grounded for security reasons and two return flights to London have also been canceled because the aircraft will not be needed there, the airline said Saturday.

A U.S. official said an Al Qaeda threat was behind the decision to cancel flights, according to a Reuters report.

Flight 223 to Washington's Dulles airport will not fly on Sunday or Monday, but is to depart on schedule at 3:05 p.m. Saturday, said an airline spokeswoman.

Flight 207 to Miami will not fly on Sunday, she said, but had departed Saturday morning.

The spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, said BA had canceled the flights on the advice of the British government. She cited security fears but gave no further details.

"The safety and security of our operations is our absolute priority and will not be compromised," the airline said.

In Washington, a Homeland Security Department spokesperson confirmed the decision to cancel the flights was made by British Airways. This official could not immediately provide more information about why the flights were canceled, or the source of the intelligence that led to the cancellations.

News from the Hajj

It is time for the great Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj, which every California public school student well knows is one of the five pillars of Islam.

I wrote last year about how the Hajj has frequently been marred by violence, and this year again, pilgrims have some company. This from Straits Times, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Snipers, bomb squads and border guards have marched to the clatter of helicopters in this holy city as the authorities staged a show of force meant to deter violence with two million Muslims arriving for the haj.

In a tough warning, Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said security forces would 'firmly and forcefully' crush any attempt to undermine security during the annual pilgrimage.

'We are ready for anything that could happen,' he said after a tour of Mecca to check the facilities for the pilgrims. . . .

Diplomats say the Saudi government is deeply worried the haj could become a target for attack or be used as a cover for militants to infiltrate the kingdom.

'We always say there is no guarantee that nothing could happen, but we trust the security forces to be able to do their job,' Prince Nayef told reporters.

'All efforts are being made to secure the house of God. We give confidence to the pilgrims so they can safely carry out their rituals,' he added.

Around 5,000 troops including anti-terrorist forces in black balaclavas, elite special forces and crowd control personnel on Tuesday performed a march past Prince Nayef on the plain of Arafat, one of the main pilgrimage sites near Mecca.

While Mecca is crawling with troops, an Al-Qaeda communique complains about the arrest of one of its operatives as "a flagrant violatation of the inviolable sanctity of the holy month." Hmmm. (Thanks again to Jeffrey Imm.)

However, while the troops in balaclavas secured the peace, the imam who preached the sermon yesterday was feeling less than peaceful. This from AP, with thanks to LGF:

The cleric who delivered the sermon Friday at the annual hajj pilgrimage had a simple request: God grant victory to Muslims fighting around the world.

The prayer by Sheik Saleh al-Taleb to 500,000 people in Mecca's Grand Mosque and nearby streets came as the hajj neared its climax.

"Oh God, give victory to the mujahedeen (holy warriors) everywhere," al-Taleb said. "Give them victory in Palestine. Oh God, make the Muslims triumphant and destroy their enemies, and make this country and other Muslim countries safe. Oh God, inflict your wrath on the criminal Zionists." . . .

Rajab al-Arabi, a Belgian pilgrim of Tunisian origin, said hearing a Grand Mosque sermon is "something one wishes all one's life. It's a dream come true."

But he added that he had expected a stronger message.

"In Belgium, we have Egyptian and Moroccan clerics who freely criticize the hardships of Muslims, which includes the injustice that has befallen Iraq and the occupation it is under," he said.

Charles at LGF comments: "Notice that it’s the Belgian Muslim who expected an even more radical sermon—to match what he hears at home."

"We were asleep. Opportunities were lost"

So says Tom Kean, chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. It seems that not only did the 9/11 highjackers get past immigration. They also made it easily through airport security, despite arousing suspicion. This from AP:

It's long been known that U.S. authorities had opportunities to stop at least some of the Sept. 11 hijackers. Now the extent of the government's failures is coming to light.

At a two-day hearing this week, the federal commission investigating the attacks revealed U.S. authorities had numerous opportunities to stop the hijackers, including many face-to-face encounters.

The missteps included miscommunications about al-Qaida operatives dating back to the mid-1990s, hijackers who were allowed to repeatedly enter the United States even with false or the wrong visa papers, and missed chances to stop suspects at airport security checkpoints despite warning signs.

"We were asleep. Opportunities were lost," said former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, a Republican who chairs the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. "The hijackers analyzed our system and developed a plan they felt sure would beat it in every case, and 19 out of 19 succeeded." . . .

The commission said if military intelligence were shared about al-Qaida and their tendency to travel on Saudi passports, authorities would have known to stop them. . . .

"The question is, can you take an institution like the FBI and change its culture so it is focused on prevention of acts of terrorism rather than prosecution of criminal acts," said former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., the panel's vice chairman. "That's a major question in homeland security."

Yes it is. Another is: are we going to sleep again? I know I risk sounding like a broken record, but we still have not dealt adequately with Saudi Arabia. Likewise, we have allowed American Muslim advocacy groups of highly dubious pedigree to use political correct and multiculturalist cant to hinder anti-terror efforts. Until the causes are dealt with, the effects will continue.

Clark appealed to group suspected of terror link

"Retired Gen. Wesley Clark sought the political support of a Muslim group that is under FBI investigation for terror ties, sources told the Daily News."

The Democratic presidential candidate's videotaped message was played Dec. 27 in Chicago for the annual conference of the Muslim American Society and the Islamic Circle of North America - a Queens group being probed by the FBI counterterrorism agents, said two federal law enforcement officials.

Both groups have held conferences featuring speakers accused of terror ties and have published material supporting suicide bombings against Israel.

Clark campaign spokesman Matt Bennett said yesterday they were unaware of the allegations or the FBI probe.

"I wish I could be there with you in person," Clark said in his four-minute video. "I hope I will have your support in the months and years ahead." An audiotape of the Clark speech was provided by terrorism investigator Steven Emerson and first aired on MSNBC.

Two past conference speakers face terror-related indictments and a third is identified in FBI reports as a Hamas terror leader. In March 2002, American Muslim magazine - described as "the voice of [the Muslim American Society]" - interviewed assassinated Hamas leader Abu Bakr's wife, who said she was "willing to give my life and the lives of my children" and advocated "standing beside the families of the martyrs."

Another article explained that "martyr operations are not suicide."

Islamic Circle President Talat Sultan and Muslim American Society spokesman Raeed Tayeh denied their groups have terror ties.

U.S. general: Extremists in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan top terror threats

At last it has been said:

Even with the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the bigger challenge in the global war on terrorism is the threat posed by extremists in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the commander of U.S. forces in that region said Thursday.

Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, told a group of reporters that Pakistan has been a vital ally in the war on terror and should continue to receive as much U.S. assistance as it needs to defeat extremism.

He added, however, that it was not a matter that could be resolved by U.S. military power.

“It is a battle of ideas as much as it is a military battle,” he said, “and we’ve got to help him fight that battle,” referring to Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who has survived two recent assassination attempts.

“In Saudi Arabia the same thing is taking place, and you see day after day an increase in military operations and terrorist operations in Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi Arabian government is working very hard to defeat the terrorist threat,” Abizaid said.

Australian intelligence agencies miss terror suspect

America isn't the only place with porous visa controls.

An accused terror financier arrested in the US last week had only just returned from a trip to Australia where he is believed to have a child. In an embarrassing security blunder, the arrest took Australia's intelligence agencies - who were unaware the suspect was in Australia - by surprise.

This from News.com.au, with thanks to Jean-Luc.

Omar Abdi Mohamed, 41, is under investigation after allegedly receiving $454,866 from a group accused by US authorities of direct links to al-Qaeda.

But Australian authorities were not told of any terrorist concerns surrounding Mr Mohamed before his most recent trip to Australia, which ended only last month.

"Obviously this person would not have been given a visa to visit Australia if the Government had been aware at the time of any links to terrorist organisations or activity," Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's spokesman Steve Ingram said.

France says it foiled Islamic militant plot

"French secret agents foiled a bid by Islamic militants to kidnap contestants in the Paris-Dakar rally earlier this month as they raced across the Sahara desert state of Mali, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday." This from Reuters, with thanks to Nicolei.

A spokesman said the DGSE foreign intelligence service had played a key role in preventing what the Le Point weekly news magazine said on Thursday was a plot by a 100-strong gang to attack participants in the rally.

The 10th and 11th stages of the 11,000 km race were scrapped due to the security alert.

"French intelligence had information which led us, with our colleagues in Mali...to take decisions which you have been able to read about in the press," a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Le Point, whose details the ministry declined to confirm or deny, said Defense Minister Michele Marie-Alliot discussed the threat during a trip to Mali's capital Bamako in December.

It said the French-backed operation had prevented leading French driver Stephane Peterhansel and Spanish motorcyclist Nani Roma from falling into the Islamists' hands.

Le Point said the group, heavily armed with machineguns mounted on their all-terrain vehicles, had intended to kidnap the pair in Mali's southern Sokolo region on Jan. 10.

The magazine said the group had fled north once they realized the ambush scheme had been discovered.

Hizballah entering U.S. through Mexico

Terence Jeffrey has been courageous and virtually alone in pointing out that Islamic radicals are entering the United States through Mexico. Now, he shows that a Hezballah operative entered the country this same way. (Thanks to LGF.)

Politicians serious about preventing another Sept. 11 should listen to the leader of Hizballah, and then read an indictment unsealed this month in Detroit.

"Let the entire world hear me," said Sheik Hassan Nasrallah on Sept. 27, 2002. "Our hostility to the Great Satan is absolute." . . .

Now, turn to May 3, 2003. That's when FBI agents searched the Dearborn, Mich., residence of Mahmoud Kourani, a 32-year-old illegal alien from Lebanon.

In a statement submitted last week in federal court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Chadwell revealed words the FBI found on audiotapes there: "You alone are the sun of my lands, Nasrallah! Nasrallah!/. . . your voice is nothing less than my jihad."

"We offer to you Hizballah, a pledge of loyalty," said a tape. ". . . Rise for Jihad! . . . I offer you, Hizballah, my blood in my hand."

Kourani pleaded guilty to harboring an illegal alien. A judge sentenced him to six months. On Jan. 15, a second indictment was unsealed, charging Kourani with conspiracy to provide material support to Hizballah.

"Kourani was a member, fighter, recruiter and fundraiser for Hizballah," said the indictment. "Operating at first from Lebanon and later in the United States, Kourani was a dedicated member of Hizballah who received specialized training in radical Shiite fundamentalism, weaponry, spy craft, and counterintelligence in Lebanon and Iran."

"Kourani," Chadwell added in his statement, "is charged with conspiring with individuals at the highest levels of the terrorist organization, including one of his brothers who is the Hizballah chief of military security for southern Lebanon."

Kourani got to America, the prosecutors allege, with the help of a Mexican official.

"On approximately Feb. 4, 2001, Kourani surreptitiously entered the United States by sneaking across the U.S./Mexico border in the trunk of a car," wrote Chadwell. "He reached Mexico by paying $3,000 used to bribe an official in the Mexican Consulate in Beirut, Lebanon, to give him a Mexican visa." . . .

In a sentencing memorandum in Kourani's alien-harboring case, Chadwell told the court Kourani's "offense of conviction was part of a continuing scheme to bring illegal aliens to the United States from Lebanon through Mexico." . . .

Whatever the eventual outcome in this case, simple prudence demands that a question be asked of our political leaders: If they don't secure our borders against illegal immigration, how can they secure our country against Hizballah?

And Hizballah, as Sheik Nasrallah says, seeks "Death to America!"

7th Man in N.Y. Terror Cell Case Arrested

The seventh member of the terrorist cell in Lackawanna, New York has been caught. And from the lawyers from the other six comes more confirmation that jihadis are motivated by religion. Why, then, do so many analysts continue to discount what the Islamic religion can reveal about the motives and goals of terrorists? This from AP:

The last member of a group of Yemeni-Americans from New York state sought by U.S. authorities for attending an al-Qaeda training camp is in custody in Yemen, a senior security official said Thursday.

Jaber Elbaneh was arrested several months ago as part of Yemen's fight against terrorism, the official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. . . .

In a U.S. court last year, six Yemeni-Americans from Lackawanna pleaded guilty to aiding a terrorist organization by undergoing training in 2001 in a camp in Afghanistan run by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization. Al-Qaida is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

In their pleas, all six described weapons and explosives training and a speech by bin Laden to trainees about men on a mission to attack America.

Unlike the others, Elbaneh never returned to Lackawanna after his training in the al-Qaida camp, investigators said.

U.S. authorities said there was no evidence that the Lackawanna group was involved in planning or participated in any terrorist act.

Defense lawyers for the Lackawanna Six have said the men were victims of high-pressure recruiters who appealed to their sense of religious duty in persuading them to seek military-style training.

This has to be faced because it is still going on. Last week at CPAC I listened while a moderate Muslim spokesmen told the crowd about the peaceful and tolerant aspects of Islam. He cut off the discussion before I had a chance to reply, so I will reply here by way of a few questions: what are moderate Muslims doing to head off another Lackawanna Six? How are they countering the religious arguments that radicals use to recruit? Until they start doing this, their claims that Islam is peaceful are hollow: they aren't even believed by those among their fellow Muslims who are busy waging jihad for the sake of Allah in what they believe is fidelity to the Qur'an.

Aspiration, not desperation: why suicide bombers do it

Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook explain in the Jerusalem Post what I have long contended: that suicide bombings are not the result of poverty and desperation, but of deeply held religious motivations.

"I always wanted to be the first woman who sacrifices her life for Allah. My joy will be complete when my body parts fly in all directions."

These are the words of female suicide terrorist Reem Reyashi, videotaped just before she killed four Israelis and herself two weeks ago in Gaza.

What is surprising about this horrific statement is that she put a positive value on her dismemberment and death, distinct from her goal to kill others.

She was driven by her aspiration to achieve what the Palestinians call "shahada," [martyrdom] death for Allah. She had two distinct goals: To kill and to be killed. These independent objectives, both positive in her mind, were goals greater than her obligations and emotional ties to her two children.

This aspiration to die, which contradicts the basic human instinct for survival, is at the core of the suicide terrorism fervor. Only when this death worship component is recognized as a basic tenet of Palestinian belief will it be possible to understand the challenges Israel and the world face from suicide terror.

Palestinian society actively promotes the religious belief that their deity craves their deaths. Note the words of a popular music video directed at children, broadcast hundreds of times on PA TV, which depicts the earth thirsting for the blood of children: "How sweet is the fragrance of the shahids, how sweet is the scent of the earth, its thirst quenched by the gush of blood, flowing from the youthful body."

This conviction that the deity thirsts for or craves human death as tribute and sacrifice has its roots in ancient beliefs.

The Bible cites ancient cultures of the Land of Israel: "Their sons and their daughters they sacrifice to their Gods" [Deut: 12]. Even the Israelites were drawn to it: "And they built altars to give their sons and daughters to Molech which God did not command nor consider this abomination [Jeremiah: 32]."
As recently as 500 years ago, South American tribes used to leave children to die on mountain tops as presents to their gods. The common denominator driving human sacrifice cults was the belief that the deity craved the death of innocents.

This is precisely the belief that the leaders of Palestinian society are inculcating in their people. Moreover, Palestinians have been taught on PA TV by their religious leaders that they are born for the very purpose of dying for Allah: "The believer was created to know his Lord and to uphold Islam to be a shahid, or intend to be a shahid. If the Muslim does not aspire to shahada, he will die as in the jahiliya [pre-Islam faith]. If we truthfully request it of Allah, He will grant us its rewards even if we die in bed."

To further encourage this self-annihilation, Palestinians are taught that dying for the deity is rewarded: "All his sins are forgiven from the first gush of blood; he is exempted from the torments of the grave (Judgment)... he marries 72 Dark-Eyed [Virgins or Maidens of Paradise]... on his head is placed a crown of honor, one stone of which is worth more than all there is in this world."

EVEN CHILDREN are not spared the indoctrination that the deity wants their deaths. A telling example is the story of 14-year-old Faras Ouda, a boy elevated to heroism by the Palestinian leadership.

Yasser Arafat regularly singles out Ouda as a role model for children, addressing children on TV once as "peers, friends, brothers and sisters of Faras Ouda," another time telling them "This generation represented by your colleague, the hero Shahid, Faras Ouda!" Yet another time he said, "We are saluting to the spirit of our hero Shahid Faras Ouda, Faras Ouda, Faras Ouda!"

What was Faras Ouda's great accomplishment that Arafat elevated him to archetypical role model? The boy's goal in life was to die for the deity, as reported in the PA daily Al-Hayat Al Jadida: "On the day of his death Faras Ouda left his home with a slingshot, after having made himself a wreath decorated with photos of himself and having written on it 'The Brave Shahid Faras Ouda.'
Faras Ouda wanted to die for the deity, achieved it, and thus became Arafat's hero.

Palestinian mothers have been taught to aspire to death for Allah for their children. A mother explained recently on PA TV why she expressed sounds of joy upon hearing of her son's death: "A mother makes sounds of joy because she wants him to reach shahada. He became a shahid for Allah Almighty. I wanted the best for him; this is the best for [my son] Shaadi."

PA ideology rejects the values that other societies hold supreme. Here is Issam Sissalem on PA TV: "We are not afraid to die and do not love life."

Palestinian children have learned to see dying for the deity as their goal in life. In a chilling talk show interview on PA TV, two 11-year-old girls explain cheerfully and eloquently what they and their young friends desire:

Walla: Shahada is very, very beautiful. Everyone aspires to shahada. What could be better than going to paradise?

Host: What is better, peace and full rights for the Palestinian people or shahada?
Walla: Shahada.

Yussra: Of course shahada is sweet. We don't want this world, we want the Afterlife. We benefit not from this life but from the Afterlife... Every Palestinian child aged, say 12, says "Oh Lord, I would like to become a shahid."

Public opinion polls indicate that Yussra and Walla represent an overwhelming majority of Palestinian children who embrace this belief. According to three different polls, 70 to 80 percent of Palestinian children aspire to shahada.
In the ancient world, there was widespread belief that the deity wanted humans to die as the ultimate form of worship. People gave their children to the deity of Molech and the Baal. This ancient belief has now returned to plague the world.

The world had assumed that the Palestinian suicide terrorist was facing a dilemma of having to choose between the value of killing Jews and the value of life. Clearly, this is false.

Killing Jews is one "value." Death for deity is itself a value greater than life. Seeking shahada is not desperation but aspiration. As the mother explained her joy after her son's death: "I wanted the best for him."

FBI, DHS Warn of Possible Subway, Rail Attacks

"There is a continuing terrorist threat against U.S. subways and railways, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security said in a bulletin sent to law enforcement agencies Wednesday." This from FoxNews.

"Recent intelligence indicates a continued terrorist interest in conducting attacks on U.S. subways and railways," the bulletin said. "Although the FBI possesses no information indicating a specific threat to subways and rail systems in the United States, the potential for an attack cannot be ruled out."

The FBI and DHS mention in the bulletin that Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network has had a long-standing fascination with the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.

"An attack on a subway or rail system could cause substantial loss of life, and would have an adverse impact on public confidence, resulting in massive economic loss," the bulletin said. . . .

The FBI and DHS said that timetable and operating schedules are publicly available and therefore accessible by terrorists.

"Internet sites provide information regarding the location of critical rail assets for train command and control," the agencies said.

"U.S. rail and subway systems play a vital role in urban public transportation and freight movement, carrying considerable economic resources. Attacks on rail systems require less planning, training and materials than attacks against large passenger aircraft or cruise ships, potentially increasing their attractiveness to a diminished Al Qaeda."

The FBI warned law enforcement and security personnel to remain vigilant to potential pre-operational planning and for any attempts by individuals to bring explosives or chemical devices on a rail or subway system.

U.S. Revokes Visas of 16 at Islamic Institute

"The State Department recently revoked the diplomatic visas of 16 people affiliated with an Islamic institute in Virginia, the latest step in a joint U.S.-Saudi crackdown that has led to an exodus of Riyadh's diplomats from the United States in recent months, a senior Saudi official said yesterday." This from the Washington Post, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

The 16 staffers at the Fairfax-based Institute for Islamic and Arabic Sciences in America are among two dozen Saudi personnel whose diplomatic credentials were revoked in recent weeks, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said. The revocations, the official said, were part of "an ongoing effort to protect the homeland." He said the Saudis have been told that they must leave within two weeks.

In all, about 70 people with Saudi diplomatic credentials about have left the United States in the past four months, the Saudi official said.

The most recent revocations are part of the attempt by both countries to curb the spread of extremist Islamic rhetoric in this country and ensure that all Saudi Embassy employees are engaged in legitimate diplomatic activity, U.S. and Saudi officials said.

The joint effort is part of Riyadh's increased cooperation with Washington in the war on terrorism, which began when Saudi Arabia was hit last May by the first of two deadly suicide bombings. The attacks are believed to be the work of terrorists linked to al Qaeda.

The State Department's move to revoke the diplomatic status of institute staffers came after Riyadh decided that the institute and its staff would no longer be attached to the embassy. That decision followed accusations that the institute, a satellite campus of al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, was promoting a brand of Islam that critics say is intolerant of other strains of the religion as well as Christianity and Judaism.

Pakistan's nuclear jihad

B. Raman in OutlookIndia points out that "till now, strategic analysts have been focusing only on the dangers of a possible Talibanisation or Al Qaedisation of the Pakistan Army. It is time now to pay more attention to Pakistan's scientific community as well." (Thanks to Jean-Luc.)

Pakistan is not the original birth place of the Islamic fundamentalist and jihadi organizations. Islamic fundamentalism and jihadi terrorism were born elsewhere in the Islamic Ummah and thereafter spread to Pakistan after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran.

But, Pakistan is the original birth place of the concept of the nuclear jihad, which highlighted the need for an Islamic atomic bomb and advocated the right and the religious obligation of the Muslims to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and use them, if necessary, to protect their religion. The jihadi terrorists and their ideologues in Pakistan perceived the nuclear weapon as the ultimate weapon of retribution against States which they viewed as enemies of Islam, particularly the USA and Israel. . . .

It was only subsequently that Pakistani jihadi organizations such as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) and fundamentalist organizations such as the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) and the Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam (JUI) adopted Z.A.Bhutto’s depiction of the Islamic bomb and projected it as rightfully belonging to the Islamic Ummah as a whole.

They described Pakistan’s nuclear and missile capability as held by it on trust on behalf of the Ummah. In 2000, when Abdul Sattar, Gen.Pervez Musharraf’s then Foreign Minister, advocated Pakistan’s signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Islamic fundamentalist and jihadi organizations started a public campaign against him and projected him as a traitor and as anti-Islam. Thereafter, he gave up his advocacy.

After he shifted to Afghanistan from the Sudan in 1996, Osama bin Laden of Al Qaeda not only started speaking of the right and the religious obligation of the Muslims to acquire WMD and use them, if necessary, to protect Islam, but also initiated a project for the acquisition/ development of WMD under the leadership of Abu Khabab in his training complex in Afghanistan.

After 1998, Al Qaeda and the International Islamic Front (IIF) for Jihad against the Crusaders and the Jewish People launched a campaign for the recruitment of students of science and scientists already working in the scientific establishments of the Islamic countries for helping them in their quest for the acquisition/development of WMD.

Of particular interest is this, in light of the prevailing view that jihad ideology spreads only among the ignorant, who are manipulated through religious language used by cunning leaders as a cover for their political aims. In fact, international jihad is born of Islamic traditionalism, and appeals to thinking people on Islamic grounds:

Many analysts of what has come to be known as catastrophic or new terrorism have remarked on the presence of a large number of educated persons in the ranks of the jihadi terrorist organizations. Even the pre-1991 ideological terrorist organizations of the world, influenced by leftist ideologies, had attracted a large number of educated youth. Thus, the attraction of educated youth to terrorism is not a new phenomenon. Most of them were students or graduates or teachers of humanities. There were hardly any students of science or scientists in their ranks.

"Voice of Jihad" calls for big attack on U.S.

One thing not emphasized in our earlier report on the latest issue of Al-Qaeda's "Voice of Jihad" is that the organization is still threatening a major attack on American soil. Many such threats have proved baseless quite recently. Here's hoping they continue to do so. This from UPI, with thanks to Jean-Luc:

The current strategy of al-Qaida is to pursue a major attack on the United States to provoke retaliation against Saudi Arabia, says a radical Muslim Web site.

An online magazine thought to be affiliated with al-Qaida describes a statement issued by Osama bin Laden indicating the next major attack will be on targets in the United States.

"We continue on our path and in our Jihad against America," wrote Sheikh Abdallah al-Rashoud in the Jan. 20 issue of the online "Voice of Jihad."

"We continue to strike at America and we expect that our next blow will cause the collapse of the situation (in Saudi Arabia) due to vengeful response, the first result of which will be the direct occupation of the oil sources and America's entrance (into Saudi Arabia) with the aim of changing the situation from its foundations."

Islamic France and Human Rights

A new article by Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer, "Islamic France and Human Rights," is available today at WorldNet Daily.

Jerusalem Bus Bomber Kills 10, Wounds 50

The horror continues.

This from AP:

A suicide bomber blew up a bus near the prime minister's residence Thursday, killing 10 bystanders and wounding at least 50 in the deadliest attack in four months.

No one claimed responsibility for the bombing, which dealt a further setback to stalled peace efforts and coincided with a German-brokered prisoner swap between Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah. Israel said the exchange was going ahead as planned.

The bombing occurred just before 9 a.m. in the Rehavia district of downtown Jerusalem, some 15 yards from Sharon's official residence. Sharon was not home at the time.

The green bus was charred, with wires dangling everywhere. One side of the bus had been blown out and the back half of the roof was blown off. Police said the explosion went off in the middle or back of the crowded bus and was so powerful that body parts flew into nearby houses.

Virginia Jihad Defendants Waive Jury Trial

AP reports that "Four members of what the government calls the 'Virginia jihad network' have waived their right to a jury trial on charges they conspired to aid Taliban forces fighting the United States."

The unusual move by the defendants, set to go on trial Feb. 9, puts the verdict solely in the hands of U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, the same judge who has presided over the case against alleged Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

Brinkema approved the defendants' waiver on Friday.

The four defendants are all U.S. citizens who live in northern Virginia and the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

The government alleges they used paintball games on a field near Fredericksburg for military-style training.

The government says the training started before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as preparation for joining Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant Pakistani group that wants to force India out of the disputed Kashmir region.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, prosecutors allege, the group's aims changed to joining Taliban forces in their fight against U.S. forces.

Only one of the four, Masoud Khan of Gaithersburg, Md., traveled to Pakistan after the Sept. 11 attacks and trained at a Lashkar camp, according to court documents. There is no evidence that any of the defendants actually joined the Taliban.

Khan faces more serious charges of conspiracy to levy war against the United States and conspiracy to support Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

Khan's lawyer, Bernie Grimm, said he thought it would be difficult to empanel an unbiased jury in northern Virginia, where the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon affected so many people.

The other three defendants are Caliph Basha Ibn Abdur-Raheem of Arlington, Hammad Abdur-Raheem of Falls Church, and Seifullah Chapman of Alexandria.

A fifth defendant is scheduled for trial in March.

Six others charged in the case have pleaded guilty to assorted charges, and some have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. Most of them are expected to testify for the prosecution.

FBI: U.S. seaports are targets, but guard shooting not terrorism

Few hard facts have come out about the mysterious incident in Freeport, Texas: where a security guard at the BASF chemical plant was shot in the shoulder by a man he describes as Middle Eastern or Pakistani. The man was taking pictures of the lights at the chemical plant, and sped away after the shooting in a truck on which the license plates were concealed.

On the one hand, the FBI is saying that the incident is not terror-related:

The shooting of an unarmed security guard at a chemical plant here drew the attention of national security officials because the gunman, who was described as having a heavy accent, told the guard he was taking photographs of the area.

But after repeated interviews with the shooting victim, federal authorities Saturday said they have little reason to believe the incident was the work of terrorists.

"As we have looked at this, we don't believe we have any kind of a terrorist threat or that there was any kind of terrorist planning or organization going on," FBI spokesman Bob Doguim said Saturday. . . .

Doguim would not say if House had changed his story, and he declined to give specifics about why law enforcement officials were leaning against the incident being terrorist-related. But he noted that there had been no intelligence suggesting such an event might occur.

"This is isolated," Doguim said, "and we have no other information out there to suggest we should look at this in any other way."

That's curious in light of the fact that in an unrelated story, the FBI acknowledges that Islamic terrorists may be targeting ports — like Freeport, which calls itself "one of the fastest growing ports on the entire Gulf Coast" and is "currently ranked as the 16th largest port in the United States in terms of tonnage"? This from AP:

America's seaports are vulnerable targets that have attracted interest from terrorists, an FBI counterterrorism official told senators Tuesday.

``The intelligence we have certainly points to ports as a key vulnerability,'' said Gary M. Bald, inspector-deputy assistant director of the FBI's counterterrorism division. ``I can't be more specific as to the threats of attacks. We have received information that indicates there is an interest.'' . . .

Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who convened the hearing of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on terrorism, technology and homeland security, said more must be done. Measures to protect seaports and waterways have lagged behind efforts aimed at airports and airplanes since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

``The ports are the soft underbelly of our nation's security,'' Feinstein said.

The Coast Guard still is assessing how many ships, ports, ferry terminals and fuel-chemical tank farms failed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline for submitting security plans, said the agency's director of port security, Rear Admiral Larry Hereth.

The latest estimates are that 60 percent of 5,000 facility plans and 75 percent of 10,000 vessel plans have been received, Hereth said.

All right. Maybe terrorists are targeting ports but this Middle Eastern man who was photographing a chemical plant and shot a security guard has nothing to do with that targeting. Maybe. But I hope that this is not a case of the left hand at the FBI not knowing what the right hand is doing: the fact that one official says that "there had been no intelligence suggesting such an event might occur" while another says that "the intelligence we have certainly points to ports as a key vulnerability" is at very least puzzling.

UPDATE: Allegations are flying thick and fast in this case. Maybe the guard is unstable and shot himself to get attention. Maybe he was involved in a bad drug deal. This whole thing could turn out to be nothing at all. On the other hand, I have been sent other reports of strange incidents involving photography of sensitive sites -- all of which have been dismissed by authorities. I hope the full truth will come out.

MEMRI Chief: Contemporary Islamist Ideology Permitting Genocidal Murder

The President of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Yigal Carmon, presented this paper to the 2004 Stockholm International Forum on Preventing Genocide. It is an illuminating exploration of the murderous ideology that fuels Islamic radicalism. (Thanks to Jeffrey Imm, TwoStellas and Joyce.)

The text and a few comments:

Jews, Christians, and Sabians [2] are, according to Islam, 'Ahl Al-Kitab,' or 'People of the Book,' and thus have special status. Their lives are protected, although their status is inferior to that of Muslims. However, non-Muslims who are neither Jews nor Christians are defined as infidels belonging to 'Dar Al-Harb,' the camp which Muslims must fight until Islam dominates.

Although these definitions are clearly set out by Islamic law, they are disregarded by extremist Islamist circles, which brand both Jews and Christians – that is, all the West – as infidels, whether because of their religion, because of their actions or policies, or simply because they believe in democracy, which some Islamists define as a religion. Muslims whom they consider supportive of the West, either individuals or entire regimes, also fall into this category. By declaring Jews, Christians, and these Muslims to be infidels and enemies, they permit their murder, and include them among those who, according to divine directive, must be fought.

Extremist Islamist circles believe that these infidels must be fought by means of Jihad – and some feel that, in the context of Jihad, weapons of mass destruction may be used to annihilate them. They find support for their ideology in Islamic sources, such as Qur'anic verses, Hadiths from the Prophet Muhammad, and Shari'a.

With all respect to Carmon, in calling for jihad against Jews and Christians, radical Muslims are not departing as sharply as he suggests from traditional Islamic theology. After all, Sura 9:29 of the Qur'an commands Muslims to fight against the People of the Book until they convert to Islam or submit as inferiors under Islamic rule: "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." Nor is this an isolated verse. As I show in Onward Muslim Soldiers, it is just one foundation of an elaborate theological and legal system that gives Jews and Christians the protected but inferior status that Carmon mentions only after they have been fought and subdued. This status does not, as he seems to assume, give them an exemption from being fought.

One major ideological source who is very influential in fundamentalist Islamist thought is Sayyid Qutb. Qutb, an Egyptian, was active in the Muslim Brotherhood movement, convicted of treason for plotting to assassinate Egyptian President Gamal Abd Al-Nasser, and executed in 1966. He wrote extensively on a wide range of Islamic issues. According to Qutb, "There are two parties in all the world: the Party of Allah and the Party of Satan – the Party of Allah which stands under the banner of Allah and bears his insignia, and the Party of Satan, which includes every community, group, race, and individual that does not stand under the banner of Allah." [3]

This article will examine contemporary Arab Islamist sources advocating this approach to non-Muslims. It should be stressed that these views are held only by extremist groups, and that the majority of Muslims adhere to mainstream Islamic thought.

Again, the clarifications I outlined above are from traditional Islamic theology and law. The "mainstream Islamic thought" that keeps most Muslims from considering that they must fight Jews and Christians is actually a rather inchoate mixture of secularism and unwillingness to abandon an ordinary life. It is weak on justifications from the Qur'an and Sunna, since most traditional theologians believe that the relatively peaceful and tolerant verses that moderates like to cite have been abrogated. This is a key point, because the moderate Muslims' lack of a convincing Islamic theological construct leaves their communities and particularly their young people continually vulnerable to recruitment by radicals, who raise the consciousness of their targets by appealing to core Islamic doctrines.

Nonetheless, Carmon's explication of the radical understanding of the Islamic attitude toward Jews and Christians is valuable. Click here to continue:

I. Defining the West as The Enemy of Islam

The perception of the West as the enemy of Islam is widely expressed in extremist Islamist circles. It is manifested by portraying the West as a threat to Islam, depicting all Westerners as infidels, and depicting Muslims who assist the West as infidels as well.

A. Crusaders, Jews, Shi'ites, and Leaders of Muslim Countries Threaten Islam

Al-Neda, a website affiliated with Al-Qa'ida, [4] published a series of articles about the war in Iraq. The 11th article in the series addressed the dangers facing Sunni Islamists in the region, stating them as follows :

"The Crusaders Threat: This danger will be manifested primarily in the expected missionary activities in Iraq, in addition to the military activities that aim at 'uprooting Islam.'

"The Jewish Threat: This threat has two aspects: The first is a Jewish plan, based on religious motives, to control Iraq. The second has to do with ending the Iraqi threat to Israel's existence."

"The Threat to Islam From the Muslims Themselves:" According to the article, "the believers," (i.e. Sunni Islamists) face popular as well as institutionalized hatred, and "this hatred is no less [intense] than the hatred from Jews and Christians. Sometimes it is a hundred times worse than the hatred of the enemies of the nation, the Jews and the Christians." The article stated that this threat emanates from the leaders of Islamic countries and the clerics who serve them.

"The Secular Threat:" "There is no doubt," the article stated, "that one of the greatest threats to the hegemony of Islam and the dominance of Shari'a [Islamic law] is the American secularism that will be imposed forcefully on the region… The Islamic world will change from dictatorship to democracy, which means subhuman degradation in all walks of life."

"The Threat of Those Who Abandoned the Islamic Tradition:"The article maintained that "since a large segment of Muslims" will oppose secularism, the "Zionist-Crusader coalition" is encouraging large spiritual groups such as the Sufis, "who are mostly infidels" and believe in monism, pantheism, and re-incarnation and observe laws that "appeared in night-dreams, wishful thinking, conscience, inspiration, and other endless falsehoods." Orders such as the Sufis "oppose Jihad and do not oppose the infidels."

"The Threat of the Rational School:"The article asserted that British imperialism planted this "deadly seedling that maintains that Islam is not opposed to atheism, and that Islam must get close to the infidel and coexist with him. This school of thought, which was established by Muhammad 'Abdu [in the early 20th century] and maintains that logic takes precedence over [the] text [of the Qur'an], may become the first stepping stone to secularizing the region, because it is a mixture of secularism and Islam."

"The Shi'ite Threat:" The article paid particular attention to the issue of the Shi'a: "The danger of the Shi'a to the region is no less than that posed by the Jews and the Christians. Throughout Islamic history, the Shi'a helped the Christians and the polytheists in their battles against Muslim countries. The seemingly anti-Jewish and anti-Christian Shi'a hatred is nothing but slogans used to export the Khomeini revolution…

"…The threat posed by the Shi'a to the [Islamic] nation is equal to the threat posed by the Jews and the Christians. They harbor the same ill will against the nation, which needs to protect itself from them and from being deceived by them… They pose a danger not only to Iraq, but to the whole region. If the Shi'a have influence over Iraq, or if they obtain some kind of autonomy in southern Iraq, they will be so much closer to extending their influence. After all, they exist in considerable numbers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain. If these Shi'a get organized and if their initiatives get support from countries that sponsor them – Iran, Syria, and Lebanon – it will mean that they have reached advanced stages in their 50-year plan…"

"The Muslims should be careful, because the Shi'a do not hesitate to cooperate with the Crusaders and the Jewish enemies [of] the Sunna. The Shi'a believe that the threat of the Sunna and their unbelief is greater than the threat posed by the Jews and the Christians. Whoever follows history knows that the Shi'a assisted the enemies of the nation who stabbed it in the back. It is bad enough that the Shi'a defiled the sanctity of Allah's house and stole the Black Stone [the Ka'ba] for 20 years, before it was restored to its place. Those who are familiar with the beliefs of the Shi'a can hardly fathom the depth of their evil and hatred. Beware [of] them, Oh Muslims."

"We also caution against those who advocate befriending the Shi'a. Such [an] approach can only cause further harm to the nation. To get close to the Shi'a is more dangerous than getting close to the Jews, because the animosity of the Jews is well known, while the Shi'a pretend [to be friendly] and deceive the nation…How can we approach those who believe that we should curse the followers of the Prophet Muhammad and accuse them of unbelief? They, who curse the Prophet's wives and accuse [the Prophet's wife] 'Aisha of prostitution?... If you advocate getting closer to people with such beliefs, then getting closer to Christians is not as bad… [N]ot everyone who maintains that he is Muslim is indeed a Muslim, if his deeds completely nullify Islam …" [5]

B. The Christians and the Jews are 'Infidels' and 'Enemies of Allah'

While mainstream Islam considers both Jews and Christians to be "People of the Book" – i.e. non-Muslims with special status under Islamic rule – many extremist clerics, preachers, and other religious figures refer to them as infidels, thus obliging Muslims to fight them. The notion of the Jews and Christians as infidels appears also in Qur'an commentary by Sayyid Qutb. In Fi Zilal Al-Qur'an, he states that the Jews and Christians argue that Allah has offspring, which makes them polytheists and infidels. In addition, Friday sermons across the Arab world are rife with references to Christians and Jews as infidels.

A preacher at the Ka'ba Mosque in Al-Madina, Sheikh Abd Al-'Aziz Qari, delivered a sermon saying: "Two groups – the Jews and the Christians – are the main elements constituting the Camp of Kufr [unbelief] and will continue to be its two foundations until Allah allows their downfall and annihilation at the end of days...

"When the Prophet Muhammad was sent out, the Camp of Kufr declared war on his message. At the center of this war were these groups, particularly the Jews. These two groups will continue to serve as the grindstones of the conflict and the war between belief and Kufr until eternity comes… The conflict will end when Jesus the son of Mary, peace be upon him, arrives to break the cross, and wipes it off the face of the earth, and kills the blind [false] Messiah, the leader of the Jews and the tyrant whom they await. Until that day, the conflict between us, the Muslims, and the Jews and Christians will continue, and it will ebb and flow, one day ours, another day theirs…

"The Jews are the objects of Allah's [promised] wrath, while the Christians deviate from the path of righteousness… The Qur'an described the Jews as a nation cursed by Allah, a nation at which he was angry – some of whom he turned into apes and pigs…" [6]

In a sermon at a Mecca mosque, preacher Sheikh Adnan Ahmad Siyami told worshippers, "[Islam] believes that only Islam and the Camp of Kufr exist, and that there is no way to reach Paradise and be delivered from Hell except by walking in the path of our Prophet Muhammad and joining Islam. Any other way leads to Hell… In light of this, my believing brethren, how can it be claimed that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all paths leading to Allah?!…

"Several years ago, a sinful call arose, which unfortunately garnered support from some clerics and preachers of this religion, Islam… [a call] for the unification of the monotheistic religions. They flaunted an empty and false motto of 'religious harmony,' Christian-Islamic friendship, and uniting the three religions into a global religion'…

"The call for the unification of the religions is a call for the abolition of religious differences among people: No more Muslim and infidel. All will come under the unity of human harmony… This accursed call has ramifications that most certainly will shake Islam in the hearts of its people, leading them to the lowest of the levels of Hell. This call will lead… to presenting the infidels' schools of thought as correct, and to silence regarding them; to permitting conversion to Judaism and Christianity with no shame whatsoever; to the abolition of the vast difference between the Muslims and others – a difference underpinning the conflict between truth and falsehood; to the transformation of the religion of Islam into a religion like the other, false religions, into a religion that has no advantage over the other religions…; to refraining from calling [people] to join Islam, because if the Muslim wants to do so, he must tell the truth about the infidels… This will also facilitate the conversion to Christianity in Muslim lands...

"[This is] … a call to dismantle the pact among Muslims in all the corners of the Islamic world and to replace it with an accursed alternative harmony - the 'Harmony of the Jews and Christians.' This is, in truth, a call to Muslims to stop accusing Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims of being infidels…

"There can be neither an agreement nor a meeting point between the people of Islam and the Jewish and Christian People of the Book… How can we permit the Catholic Pope's talk of a need to find meeting points and agreement between Islam and Christianity, so that there will be peaceful coexistence between the two religions and harmony between the two communities? Is it conceivable that there should be agreement and a meeting point with those who fabricate terrible falsehoods about Allah … claiming that Jesus, peace be upon him, is his son?!…" [7]

In a sermon at the Manar Al-Islam mosque in Mecca, preacher Sheikh 'Ali Muhammad Al-Baroum stated: "The idea of intertwining religions and the claim that the Jews and the Christians believe in religions of truth … are sinful claims and deceitful ideas unacceptable to the religion [of Islam]… It is forbidden to bring together Islam and the infidels, monotheism and polytheism… Allah's path of righteousness and Satan's path of Kufr." [8]

At Al-Rahmah mosque in Mecca, preacher Sheikh Marzouq Salem Al-Ghamdi said: "The Jews and Christians are infidels, enemies of Allah, his Messenger, and the believers. They deny and curse Allah and his Messenger… How can we draw near to these infidels …? They deny even the messengers sent to them. They do not believe in Moses, they do not believe in Jesus – because if they really believed in them, they would join Islam, because every prophet heralded to his nation the coming of the Prophet Muhammad and the need to believe in him…

"Some may say: 'How can the inventor of electricity be placed in Hell – he illuminated the world for us.' Others may say, 'How can we be hostile to the Jews and Christians when they invented and manufactured even the items we use in our mosques?' Still others may say, 'The messenger of Allah left his shield with a Jew and went to visit his sick Jewish neighbor. Why do you preach to us to do differently?' The truth is that this is an inversion of the facts, and deception. The Jew whom the Prophet considered a citizen had accepted the agreement [that the Prophet Muhammad had concluded with the Jews of Al-Madina] … and when his people violated that pact, and supported the polytheists instead of the Muslims, their punishment was death, captivity, and the expropriation of their assets.

"If the infidels live among the Muslims, in accordance with the conditions set out by the Prophet – there is nothing wrong with it provided they pay Jizya [9] to the Islamic treasury. Other conditions are … that they do not renovate a church or a monastery [and] do not rebuild ones that were destroyed, that they feed for three days any Muslim who passes by their homes … that they rise when a Muslim wishes to sit, that they do not imitate Muslims in dress and speech, nor ride horses, nor own swords, nor arm themselves with any kind of weapon; that they do not sell wine, do not show the cross, do not ring church bells, do not raise their voices during prayer, that they shave their hair in front so as to make them easily identifiable, do not incite anyone against the Muslims, and do not strike a Muslim… If they violate these conditions, they have no protection." [10]

In a Friday sermon in the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Aal Nahyan mosque in Gaza, broadcast live on official Palestinian Authority television, Sheikh Ahmad Abu Halabiya, member of the PA-appointed Fatwa Council and former acting rector of the Islamic University in Gaza, said:

"Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them. Wherever you are, kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them – and those who stand by them – they are all in one trench, against the Arabs and the Muslims – because they established Israel here, in the beating heart of the Arab world, in Palestine. They created it to be the outpost of their civilization – and the vanguard of their army, and to be the sword of the West and of the Crusaders, hanging over the necks of the monotheists, the Muslims in these lands. They wanted the Jews to be their spearhead… Allah, deal with the Jews, your enemies and the enemies of Islam. Deal with the crusaders, and America, and Europe behind them, O Lord of the worlds…" [11]

A Fatwa issued by Saudi Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Athimein (d. 2000) stated: "Allah stated in his book [i.e. the Qur'an] that the Jews and Christians are infidels. Allah said: 'The Jews say Uzair is Allah's son; and the Christians say: The Messiah is Allah's son; these are but their verbal assertions, whereby they imitate the sayings of those who disbelieved before them. Allah ruin them, how are they turned away from the truth! They have taken their divines and their monks for lords beside Allah, and also the Messiah son of Mary. They had only been commanded to worship the One God. There is no god but He. Holy is He above that which they associate with Him' [Qur'an 9:30-31]. This proves that they worship other gods… Anyone who claims that Allah will agree to the existence of another religion besides Islam in this land is an infidel, and there is no doubt of his unbelief." [12]

In addition to the view that the Jews and Christians are infidels and enemies of Islam, some Islamist clerics go further and say that America is the leader of these infidels. In a September 21, 2001 essay on the events of September 11, 2001, the Saudi Sheikh Ali Khudeir wrote: "It is known that the infidel West, led by the Americans, is the greatest warrior against Allah, Allah's Messenger, and the Muslims during this time. Moreover, they fight against Allah, his Messenger, and the believers even more than Pharaoh and his people, [who fought against] Moses, because Pharaoh's struggle against Allah and [His Prophet] Moses took place within the borders of Egypt, while the war of the West, and particularly that of America, is against Islam everywhere, and the West is behind every war against the Muslims and supports every government, group, or tribe in their war against Islam." [13]

C. All Who Believe in Democracy, The Religion of Heresy, Are Infidels

Some Islamist writings portray democracy as a religion, and thus refer to all those who believe in democracy as infidels. The book 'Democracy Is a Heretical Religion ' was written by Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, a pseudonym for Asem Al-Burqawi. Al-Burqawi, Palestinian in origin, belongs to the Salafi movement. He lived in Kuwait but was expelled to Jordan after the first Gulf War, and in November 2001 was arrested by the Jordanian authorities. The following are excerpts from his book:

"[Democracy is] heresy against Allah the Almighty, associating [other deities] with [Allah,] the Sovereign of heaven and earth, and is contrary to the religion of unity [i.e. Islam] and the religion of the prophets, for many reasons, among them:

"First, [democracy] is legislated by the masses or the regime of tyrants, and it is not the rule of Allah the Exalted. Allah commanded his Prophet to act according to the law that Allah sent down to him, and forbade him from following the desires of the nation or the masses and warned him that they would divert him from part of the [precepts] sent down by Allah: 'Judge between them by that which Allah has sent down, and do not follow their wishes to deviate from it' [Qur'an 5:49]. This [appears] in the religion of unity and of Islam.

"With regard to the religion of democracy and association [of other deities with Allah, i.e. polytheism], those who worship it say 'Judge between them by that which the people wish; be wary of deviating from what they want, desire, and legislate'… This is what they say, and thus it is determined that democracy is unbelief and association [of other deities with Allah] if it is implemented…

"Second, the rule of the masses or the tyrants is in accordance with the constitution, and not in accordance with the law of Allah, and thus say their constitutions and their books, which they sanctify over the Qur'an. Evidence of this is that the law [of the constitutions and books] is preferred to the law [of the Qur'an], and the law [of the constitutions and books] is higher [to them] than [the Qur'an's] laws… According to the religion of democracy, the masses do not accept the judgments and laws … unless they are based on the precepts and articles of the constitution, because they see it as the father of the laws and the holy book. In the religion of democracy, there is no consideration of the Qur'an verses or the Hadiths of the Prophet, and laws cannot be legislated in accordance with them unless they are compatible with the precepts of their holy book, the constitution…

"Third, democracy is the vile fruit and illegitimate daughter of secularism, because secularism is a heretical school of thought that aspires to isolate religion from life or separate religion from state … and democracy is the rule of the people or the rule of the tyrants. But in any event, it is not the rule of Allah the Exalted, and it does not take the unswerving legislation of Allah into account at all unless it is first compatible with all the articles of the constitution, and then with the desires of the people, and even before that with the desires of the tyrants or the masses…

"Therefore, were the entire people to tell the tyrants or the lords of democracy: 'We want to act according to the law sent down by Allah, and then no one – not the people, not the MPs, and not the ruler – will have the right to legislate laws. We want to implement the law of Allah regarding the one who abandons his religion [Murtadd], the adulterer, the thief, the wine-drinker. We want to require the woman to wear a veil [Hijab], to act modestly, to prevent [her] from adorning herself. [We want to prevent] obscenity, corruption, adultery, sodomy and other abominations' – Were the entire people to tell the tyrants this, then the tyrants would immediately tell [those demanding it] that these demands are against the religion of democracy and democratic freedoms." [14]

D. Jews Aren't Even Human – They're Apes and Pigs

Along with referring to Jews as infidels, whether because they are Jews or because they believe in democracy, some Islamist clerics also consider the Jews to be inhuman. To this end, they draw upon Qur'anic verses depicting the Jews as the offspring of apes and pigs. [15]

The Imam of the Al-Haram mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayis, explained in one of his sermons: "Brothers in faith, what do our Qur'an and our Sunna say? What does our belief say? What does our history prove…? They show clearly that the conflict between us and the Jews is one of belief, identity, and existence…

"Read history and you will understand that the Jews of yesterday are the evil forefathers of the even more evil Jews of today: infidels, falsifiers of words, calf worshippers, prophet murderers, deniers of prophecies … the scum of the human race, accursed by Allah, who turned them into apes and pigs… These are the Jews – an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil, and corruption…

"Oh nation of Islam, today our nation is at the height of conflict with the enemies of yesterday, today, and tomorrow - the offspring of [the three Jewish tribes of Al-Madina] Banu Qurayza, Banu Nadhir, and Banu Qaynuqa, upon whom Allah's curse rests until Judgment Day. Do the sons of our people realize the truth about the nation of wrath and deceit…? The insult to and contempt of Arabs, Muslims, and their holy places reaches its height at the hands of the rats of the world, the violators of agreements, in whose minds abide treachery, destruction, and deceit and in whose veins flow occupation and tyranny… They are indeed worthy of the curse of Allah, of the angels, and of all people…" [16]

"When will the sleepers awake?" asked Sheikh Bandar bin Khalaf Al-'Utaibi, in a sermon at the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq mosque in Al-Damam. "Is there any kind of humiliation we have not tasted from the brothers of apes and pigs?!" [17]

Sheikh Muhammad Al-Saleh Al-'Athimein said in a sermon at the Great Mosque in Al-'Unayza: "Oh Muslims, the Jews are treacherous and deceitful people over whom lies the curse and anger of Allah. They permitted what Allah forbade, with the lamest of excuses; therefore, He cursed them and turned them into apes and pigs. Allah sentenced them to humiliation anywhere they might be…" [18]

"Oh Muslims, see the state of the nation today, after it deviated from the path set out by the clerics," said Sheikh Mustafa Bin Said Aytim in a sermon given at a mosque in Mecca. "[The nation] has made the offspring of apes and pigs its stars; the hangers-on of the apes and pigs have become the centers of influence and power… The Jews, Christians, and the hypocrites gnaw away at the body of the nation and then carry out raids on it with the knights of the destructive media and with the deadly weapon of globalization…" [19]

In a sermon at the Sa'id Al-Jandoul mosque in Al-Taif, Sheikh Sa'd bin Abdallah Al-'Ajameh Al-Ghamdi stated, "The current behavior of the brothers of apes and pigs, their treachery, their violation of agreements, and their defilement of places of worship … are connected to their forefathers' deeds in the early time of Islam. This proves the great similarity between every Jew living today and the Jew living during the dawn of Islam." [20]

II. Islam Must Fight the West

Since the West and its allies are defined as the enemies of Islam, many writings call for fighting them, particularly the Jews and the Christians – even though these religions have legitimate status in Islam due to their monotheistic principles.

A. Jihad Against the Jews and the Crusaders

One example of this is Bin Laden's declaration of Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders. On February 23, 1998 the London Arabic-language daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi published bin Laden's declaration of Jihad which said that killing the Americans and their allies is a commandment for every individual Muslim. The following are excerpts of this declaration:

"Praise be to God, who brought down the Book, drives the clouds, defeats the factions, and says in His Book: When the sacred months are over, kill the idolaters wherever you find them, take them captive, lay siege to them and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush [Qur'an 5:9] [NOTE: Actually this is verse 9:5]… Prayers and blessings of peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, who said: I was sent with a sword in preparation for the Day of Judgment when God alone will be worshipped with none beside him. He assigned me a livelihood under the shadow of my spear and he assigned humiliation and lowliness to those who disobey my command…

"Killing the Americans and their allies – both civilians and military personnel – is a commandment for every individual Muslim who can do this, in any country in which he can do this, in order to free the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Al-Haram Mosque from their grasp, and so that their armies will leave all the lands of Islam defeated and no longer a threat to any Muslim. This is in compliance with the words of Allah: 'Fight the polytheists all together, as they fight you all together [Qur'an 9:36]' and 'Fight them until civil strife ceases altogether' [Qur'an 8:39].

"This is in addition to the words of Allah the Almighty: 'What keeps you from fighting in the cause of Allah and of the weak from among men, women, and children who supplicate: Lord, deliver us from this town whose people are oppressors, and appoint for us from Thyself some helper?' [Qur'an 4:75]

"With Allah's help, we call on every Muslim who believes in Allah and who wants reward to follow Allah's directive about killing Americans and plundering their property wherever they find them, whenever is possible. Similarly, we also call on the Muslim ulama, leaders, youths, and soldiers to carry out a raid on the American soldiers of Satan and on Satan's aides, who have become their allies…

"Allah also says, 'O ye who believe, what ails you that, when it is said to you: Go forth, all together, to fight in the cause of Allah; you are held down by your worldly interests? Is it that you prefer the hither life to the Hereafter? If so, you must remember that all this life has to offer is of little value in comparison with the Hereafter…[Qur'an 9:38]"

B. Killing the Infidels: Repayment in Kind [Al-Mu'amala Bil-Mithl]

Some Islamist clerics base the claim that infidels, and particularly the U.S., must be fought on the principle in Shari'a law of repayment in kind, or Al-Mu'amala Bil-Mithl – that is, infidels must be killed in the same numbers that Muslims were killed by them.

When making these calculations, these clerics inflate the numbers in order to justify the numbers of Westerners already killed and to incite to more killing.

One example is articles by Al-Qa'ida spokesman Suleiman Abu Gheith backing up his claim that his organization has the right to murder four million Americans. In his three-part article "In the Shadow of the Lances," posted on the web-site of the Center for Islamic Research and Studies, [21] Abu Gheith wrote: "Allah said, 'He who attacked you, attack him as he attacked you,' and also, 'The reward of evil is a similar evil,' and also, 'When you are punished, punish as you have been punished.'

"The words of the sages on these verses are clear: Ibn Taymiyya [in his book] Al Ikhtiyarat Wa-Al-Fatawa; Ibn Al-Qayyim in I'lam Al-Muwaqi'in and in Al-Hashiya; Al-Qurtubi in his Tafsir, Al-Nawawi in Al-Muhadhdhab, Al-Shawkani in Nayl Al-Awtar; and others, may Allah's mercy be upon them.

"Anyone who peruses these sources reaches a single conclusion: The sages have agreed that the reciprocal punishment to which the verses referred is not limited to a specific instance. It is a valid rule for punishments for infidels, for the licentious Muslims, and for the oppressors.

"If by religious law it is permitted to punish a Muslim [for the crime he committed] – it is all the more permitted to punish a Harbi infidel [i.e. he who belongs to Dar Al-Harb, which Muslims must fight] in the same way he treated the Muslim.

"According to the numbers I noted, in the previous section, of the lives lost from among the Muslims because of the Americans, directly or indirectly, we still are at the beginning of the way. The Americans have still not tasted from our hands what we have tasted from theirs. The [number of] killed in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were no more than fair exchange for the ones killed in the Al-'Amiriya shelter in Iraq, and are but a tiny part of the exchange for those killed in Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, the Philippines, Bosnia, Kashmir, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.

"We have not reached parity with them. We have the right to kill four million Americans – two million of them children – and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple hundreds of thousands. Furthermore, it is our right to fight them with chemical and biological weapons, so as to afflict them with the fatal maladies that have afflicted the Muslims because of the [Americans'] chemical and biological weapons.

"America knows only the language of force. This is the only way to stop it and make it take its hands off the Muslims and their affairs. America does not know the language of dialogue!! Or the language of peaceful coexistence!! America is kept at bay by blood alone…"

The Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, explained the principle of repayment in kind during a speech at an October 1999 conference of nuclear scientists from Arab countries on the future of nuclear strategy at the University of Asyut, Egypt. While stating that the Arabs should have nuclear energy but should use it only for peaceful purposes, he also quoted from the will of Caliph Abu Bakr. [22] Sheikh Tantawi said that the Caliph had instructed the Muslim commander Khaled ibn Al-Walid to fight the enemy with the sword if the enemy fought him with the sword and to use the spear if the enemy fought him with the spear. Sheikh Tantawi explained: "Had Abu Bakr lived today he would have said to Khaled ibn Al-Walid: 'If they fight you with a nuclear bomb, fight them with a nuclear bomb.' Strength is [one] of the traits of good and wise people who know their obligation towards their God and towards their homeland, and they use this strength in order to defend their faith and their homeland. This is the Sunna that was known to the forefathers of all times, and is known to us as well.

"… Our demand that Israel join the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty does not prevent us from learning and advancing in science until we surpass it and until we act in accordance with Abu Bakr's words to Khaled ibn Al-Walid: 'Fight them with that with which they fight you.' Islam welcomes any force that serves truth and religious precepts and defends the honor of men. Islamic religious law states that every despotic and aggressive power must be eradicated. It should be fought, whatever its strength, and life is decreed by Allah. If Israel has nuclear weapons, then it is the first to be doomed, because it lives in a world that does not fear death. Israel's nuclear weapons do not frighten us; what does frighten us is [the possibility] that we will not wake up and [will] not advance. [Muslims must] welcome the use of nuclear energy for purposes of peace!" [23]

III. The Entire West Should Be Annihilated

In addition to claiming that Muslims must kill as many Westerners as Westerners have killed Muslims, it is often noted that the end of the West, and particularly the end of Christians and Jews, is near, and various Islamic sources are cited as proof of this.

A. The End of America and the Jews: Annihilation Like the Peoples of Noah, 'Aad, Thamoud, and Pharaoh

Some Islamists claim that America and the Jews will meet their end as did Pharaoh, the people of Noah, and the two Arab tribes 'Aad and Thamoud, which according to the Qur'an rejected Islam and were subsequently annihilated. [24] In an article titled "The Infidels Will Be Obliterated," Seif Al-Din Al-Ansari wrote:

"Allah made annihilating the infidels one of his steadfast decrees. According to the [divine] natural law of alternating fortunes, Allah said: '[Allah will] obliterate the infidels' [Qur'an 3:141]. It inevitably follows that this wisdom [of the decree] has become the way according to which life is lived – particularly the aspect of struggle in life.

"… The Qur'an mentions this decree frequently, to the point that it makes you feel that it is a truth of supreme importance. It shows diverse examples and evidence in this matter, and repeatedly mentions the events [in which the infidels were annihilated]. Every time you notice that despite the differences in people and circumstances in these examples, and despite the difference in time and place among the events, there is one thing that connects them and one line that ties them together – and this is the decree of Allah, who orders, 'Obliterate the infidels' [Qur'an 3:141]."

"The Qur'an made sure to emphasize this decree when it discussed the deeds of the prophets during their struggle with the infidel armies and how the end [of this struggle with the infidels] always ended in their [the infidels'] annihilation. Regarding the nation of Noah, it says: 'Do not entreat me concerning the wrongdoers, because they shall be drowned' [Qur'an 23:27]. Regarding 'Aad, the tribe of [Allah's Prophet] Hud, it says: 'We cut off the last remnant of those who rejected Our Signs; they are not believers' [Qur'an 7:72]. Of Thamoud, the people of [Allah's Prophet] Saleh, it says: 'The wrongdoers were overtaken by a mighty blast [storm], and they woke in their dwelling places dead corpses' [Qur'an 11:68].

"Regarding the people of Lot [it says:] 'We loosed upon them a torrent of rain. Observe, then, what was the end of the wrongdoers' [Qur'an 7:84]. Regarding the decree for the people of Shu'aib, [it says:] 'And the earthquake seized them, and they woke in their courtyards dead corpses' [Qur'an 7:91]. Regarding Pharaoh [it says:] 'We destroyed all that Pharaoh and his people had built and all that they had raised high' [Qur'an 7:137].

"Thus the Qur'an presented the death of the infidel forces throughout history: those who drowned in the depths of the flood, who died in the destructive blast, who died with the sound of a shout, who were swallowed up by the earth, whose houses and buildings were destroyed, and who [died] in other ways that only Allah knows…

"These events are only one set from the story of the ongoing struggle [between the Muslims and the infidels] throughout human life. These sights are only some of the scenes in which the decree of annihilation is manifest as long as the infidel forces exist…

"When we say that annihilating the infidel forces is a divine decree, it means that it is a steadfast, valid law and a constant principle [of religious law] that does not change with time, place, people, and circumstances. As it existed in the time of Noah and Hud, so it exists in our time, and will exist also in the future…

"As the decree of annihilation applies to the infidel forces in the previous nations, and none was saved from it, so will it apply to the infidel forces of our time, and none will be saved from it. That is, just as the country of Thamoud, the country of 'Aad, the country of Midian, and other [countries] were annihilated, without a doubt the country of America and the country of the Jews will be annihilated. Moreover, all infidel countries will be annihilated, and with them all the pharaohs and the tyrants of the present time, whatever their elements of power and capability.

"It is worthy of note that this annihilation will come either by means of rapid and one-time collapse following a crushing blow… or by means of a gradual fall following a slow disintegration that will occur as a result of the accumulation of situations that will gnaw away slowly but effectively [at the country] and will ultimately lead to its collapse.

"Both scenarios – the rapid fall and the gradual fall – will be either by means of a direct decree of Allah or by a Muslim group that will answer the divine religious edict and actualize the divine decree. Allah the Supreme said: ' While concerning you we await that Allah will afflict you with chastisement direct or at our hands' [Qur'an 9: 52]…

"We must believe that every infidel country is necessarily and undoubtedly ephemeral, and if their annihilation is not by a group of Muslims, for any temporary reason whether subjective or objective, one infidel country will be destroyed by [another] infidel country. This apparently is because the second is less corrupt [and] stronger than the first. Or it is for another reason that is not important now. What is important for us here is the statement that the infidel country has no continuity, and no infidel country is exempt, even a so-called 'superpower.'

"The invasion of New York and Washington constitutes an adequate example of the fall of the illusory strength [of the infidels]. With [the toppling] of the stories of the trade towers and the walls of the seat of the Ministry of War [i.e. the Pentagon], the symbols of power also fell; the symbols of eternity disappeared, and the true size of the hero was revealed – he is smaller than people thought and weaker than they imagined. [This is because] an infidel country, whatever its capabilities, and however it concentrates its elements of power, cannot survive; rather, it must necessarily disappear [from the world]." [25]

Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali, a leader in conservative Saudi religious circles, told theQatari television channel Al-Jazeera onJuly 10, 2002,"… Relations between America and us differ from the relations between us and all the other peoples or nations. These are relations between two [very] different nations: One is a nation that was chosen by Allah, who tested it and purified it with disasters so that it will atone for its sins. Allah is using that nation in order to wave the banner of truth and justice on the face of the earth. This is our nation. There is also a tyrannous and evil nation that Allah is manipulating, unbeknownst to it, until it reaches the end to which it is sentenced – the same end that was the lot of all the nations of unbelief, tyranny, and aggression such as the peoples of Noah, 'Aad, Thamoud, and Pharaoh." [26]

Preacher Sheik Ibrahim Madhi of the Palestinian Authority said in a sermon at the Sheik 'Ijlin Mosque in Gaza that was broadcast on Palestinian television:

"Allah is almighty. Had He wanted – He would have beaten them. But He tests you [Muslims] in suffering. We must prepare the ground for the army of Allah that is coming according to the [divine] predetermination. We must prepare a foothold for them. Allah willing, this unjust state will be eradicated – Israel will be eradicated; this unjust state, the U.S., will be eradicated; this unjust state, Britain, will be eradicated – they who caused this people's Nakbah[the 1948 'catastrophe']...

"Allah, forgive us our sins, Allah, show us a black day for the Jews, like the day of 'Aad and Thamoud, Allah, turn them into pillage for us, Allah, we strive for martyrdom for your sake... Allah, we strive for your mercy and your paradise..." [27]

B. The Promise of the Stone and the Tree

"The Promise of the Stone and the Tree" is often mentioned in writings and sermons as a symbol of the Muslims' all-out war against the Jews in particular. According to the Hadiths, [28] on the Day of Judgment the Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them, and the stone and the tree will reveal the Jew who hides behind them – except for the gharqad [29] tree.

On the first day of the most important holiday in the Muslim year, 'Id al-Adhha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, in 2003, Al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden delivered a sermon, saying: "The [Islamic] nation has also been promised victory over the Jews, as the Prophet Muhammad has told us: 'The Day of Judgment will not arrive until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, until the Jew hides behind the stones and the trees; and each stone or tree will say: Oh Muslim, Oh servant of God, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him; except from the gharqad, which is the tree of the Jews.' This Hadith also teaches [us] that the conflict with the enemy will be settled by killing and warfare, and not by disabling the potential of the [Muslim] nation for decades by a variety of means such as the deception of democracy." [30]

"The Promise of the Stone and the Tree" recurs frequently in Friday sermons as well. In a sermon at the Old Mosque in Al-Jum'aa, Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abd Al-Majid ibn Al-'Aziz Al-Deheishi said, "He who doubts the victory of the [Islamic] religion is like he who despairs that the sun will not rise after darkness falls…

"For the contemptible Jews … is foreseen an encounter with the nation of Muhammad, as it is said: 'The Day of Judgment will come, when the Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them until the Jew hides behind the stone and the tree. The stone and the tree will say: Oh Muslim, oh worshipper of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him' – except for the gharqadtree, which is the tree of the Jews. These texts are certain proof of the victory of the religion of Islam." [31]

Saudi preacher Sheikh Sa'd Bin Abdallah Al-'Ajameh Al-Ghamdi expanded on the nature of the anticipated battle with the Jews in a sermon at the Sa'id Al-Jandoul Mosque in Al-Taif, Saudi Arabia: "We hear today about the beginning of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence with the Jews on the land of Palestine. We have heard of this in the past. The Jews came [to Palestine] over 50 years ago, and they have been streaming to it from the countries of the world since they left it centuries ago… They have suffered torments throughout their lives, and they will continue to suffer torments until the Day of Judgment. They will gather together with the Muslims, the Christians, and the others, group by group, on the holy land, and the Muslims will kill them after their ingathering, because the Jews are the supporters of the false messiah. Jesus the son of Mary will descend and kill the false messiah, will kill the pig, and will levy a Jizya…

"The Muslims' battle against the Jews [will be] at the gate [of the city of] Lod, on the land of Palestine. The tree and the stone will surrender the Jews hiding behind them, except for the gharqadtree, which is the tree of the Jews. Indeed, they now often plant gharqad trees…

"The ingathering [of the Jews] from all corners of the earth on the land of Palestine is one of the signs of the Day of Judgment… the goal of this ingathering is so that [it will be possible] to torment them, and ultimately to kill them, until the last of them is killed together with the false messiah…" [32]

Drawing a scimitar and brandishing it above his head, preacher Sheikh Bakr Al-Samarai delivered a Friday sermon at the Abd Al-Qader Al-Jilani Mosque in Baghdad: [33] "Even the stone will say, Oh Muslim, A Jew is hiding behind me, come and cut off his head, and we shall cut off his head. By Allah, we shall cut it off! Allahu Akbar! Oh Jews, Allahu Akbar!"

In Friday sermon broadcast on PA TV, preacher Sheik Ibrahim Madhi told worshippers at the Sheik 'Ijlin Mosque in Gaza: "The Prophet Muhammad said… The Jews fight you, but Allah will establish you as rulers over them, until the Jew hides behind a stone or a tree, and the stone or the tree will say: Oh Muslim, Oh servant of Allah, a Jew is hiding behind me, come kill him – with the exception of the gharqad tree which is the tree of the Jews...'" [34]

"The Promise of the Stone and the Tree" is also taught in a ninth-grade Saudi schoolbook on the Hadiths. The book includes a story about Abu Hurayra, one of the Prophet's companions who quoted the Prophet as saying: "The hour [Judgment Day] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. A Jew will [then] hide behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree will call upon the Muslim: 'O Muslim, O slave of Allah! There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!' – except for the gharqad tree, for it is one of the trees of the Jews." [35] The lesson is accompanied by a number of study points and questions for discussion:

Study Points:

"It is Allah's wisdom that the struggle between Muslims and Jews shall continue until the Day of Judgment."
"The Hadith brings forth the glad tidings about the ultimate victory, with Allah's help, of Muslims over Jews."
"The Jews and the Christians are the enemies of the believers. They will not be favorably disposed toward Muslims and it is necessary to be cautious [in dealing with them]."
Questions:

"Who will be victorious on the Day of Judgment?"
"With what types of weapons should Muslims arm themselves against the Jews?"
"Name four factors leading to the victory of Muslims over their enemies." [36]
IV. The Annihilation Will Be Mostly By Your Hands

Some Islamic clerics emphasize that the annihilation of the West, the Jews, and the infidels will come about – according to the divine decrees – largely by the hands of the Muslims, who will torment them by means of Jihad.

In an article headlined "Allah Will Torment Them By Your Hands" that appeared on August 24, 2002 in the Al-Qa'ida-affiliated online magazine Al-Ansar, Seif Al-Din Al-Ansari wrote: "I would like to emphasize that the annihilation of the infidels is an unshakeable and inarguable truth. It is a valid and existing divine decree… It should be noted that total annihilation by heaven was stopped after the descent of the Torah, that is, since the time of Moses, peace be upon him. Allah said [in the Qur'an], 'We did reveal to Musa [Moses] the Book [i.e. the Torah] after We had destroyed the earlier generations…' Of course, the decree to annihilate [the infidels] still exists, and still applies in full, as it existed even before the descent of the Torah. This decree will not be completely implemented, to include all members of the infidel nation; rather, Allah will annihilate the infidels by means of torment [with which He will strike them], whether by destroying their country or by less than this. But in general, He will not completely eliminate them…

"When Allah announced to us that the annihilation of the infidels is certain, He did not use ambiguous terms; rather, he clearly said that it would take place in one of two ways: Either it would be done by Allah directly, or it would be done by the Muslim community, in compliance with divine law, in order to carry out the decree. [As it is said in the Qur'an], 'We can expect for you either that Allah will send His punishment from Himself, or by our hands' [9:52]…

"But the question is how the torments that Allah wants carried out by our hands will be implemented… The torments certainly will not be carried out by means of da'wa [preaching to Islam]… [but] by means of Jihad will Allah torment the [infidels] by killing, by means of Jihad will Allah torment them by financial loss, by means of Jihad will Allah torment them by loss of power. That is, Allah will torment them by means of Jihad… [Allah] said: 'Fight them, Allah will torment them by your hands' [9:14]. Ibn Kathir [37] said about this [in his Tafsir, or commentary, on the Qur'an]: 'After the descent of the Torah, no nation was struck with torments, but Allah has commanded the believers to fight the enemies of Allah'…

"The annihilation of the infidels is a divine decree, until the Day of Judgment. A large part of it will be carried out only by the believers – that is, by means of Jihad, as Jihad is also until the Day of Judgment, as [the Prophet Muhammad] said, peace be upon him, 'The Jihad is until the Day of Judgment'…"

Similar statements were made by Islamist preacher Hussein bin Mahfouz in a sermon posted on www.alminbar.net. In it, he said: "It is a divine decree from Allah that the believers close to him will be saved and that his infidel enemies will be annihilated and destroyed. Since Allah created all mankind, as well as the struggle between truth and falsehood, he intended to destroy the infidels and save the believers… We are a people whose strength is in Islam and in waging Jihad. It is an honor for us that Allah set us to be like his torment of the infidels by deciding that the infidels will be annihilated by our hand." [38]

V. Killing Women, Children, and the Elderly is Permitted

One of the elements of annihilation in these Islamist writings is the permission given to kill women, children, and the elderly. Some Hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad forbid killing them, as in the Hadith from the compilation by Abu Daoud according to which the Prophet told Khaled Ibn Al-Walid during one of the Islamic raids, "Do not kill a woman or an oppressed person." Also, in the compilation of Hadiths by Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, the Prophet said, "Do not kill the children [of the polytheists]." This is why Islamist clerics struggled with the question of how to justify attacks by Islamist organizations in which women, children, and the elderly were killed.

One Islamist writer actually based his justification for killing these noncombatants on the conduct of the Prophet Muhammad himself. In an essay published in September 2001, titled "The Truth of the New Crusader War," the writer, who calls himself "The Crusader Oppressor Salah Al-Din" after Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyoubi, the 12th-century conqueror who took Jerusalem from the Crusaders, set out the circumstances under which killing infidel women, children, and elderly is permitted according to Islam.

"First of all, we must clarify an important issue, and this is whether America is a country of war [Bilad Harb] or a country with which we have an agreement [Bilad Ahd]… It is agreed that it is a country of war, and it is permitted for Muslims to strike a country of war with all [kinds] of blows, because the blood, money, and honor of its residents are permitted. This is what the Messenger of Allah did with the Muhariboun [those from Dar Al-Harb, i.e. from territory not yet under Islamic rule that must be conquered ]: He abducted them like he did with the Banu 'Uqail [39] ; he plundered their merchant caravans as he did with the Quraysh; he assassinated their leaders as he did with Ka'ab Ibn Al-Ashraf and Salamah bin Abi Al-Huqaiq; he burned their land as he did with Banu Al-Nadhir; he destroyed their fortifications as he did in Taif, and other things.

"Perhaps someone will say that if those who died [on September 11, 2001] are innocent women, elderly, and children, who must not be harmed even if they belong to a group from Dar Al-Harb, then how are these operations permitted by religious law?

"We say [in response] that the sanctity of the blood of women, children, and the elderly [from among the people of Dar Al-Harb] is not absolute. Moreover, there are certain cases in which it is permitted to kill them when they [belong] to the people of Dar Al-Harb…

"The first case: It is permitted for Muslims to kill inviolable infidels [that is, children, women, and the elderly] in order to repay in kind. If the infidels target Muslim women, children, and elderly, then it is permitted for Muslims to repay them in kind and kill [their women, children and elderly] as they killed. This is because of the word of Allah the Supreme, 'Anyone who attacks you, attack him as he attacked you,' and also because of other evidence.

"The second case: It is permitted for Muslims to kill inviolable infidels in the event that they [the Muslims] attack them and cannot differentiate between those with immunity and the warriors or fortifications and, accordingly, they are permitted to kill them as a result [of inability to distinguish] and not with premeditation. This is because of what the Messenger said when asked about the offspring of the infidels [whom Muslims attacked] in an ambush and [during it] harmed their women and their children and said: 'They [the children] are of them [the warriors].' [40] This proves that it is permissible to kill women and children because of [the deeds of] their fathers when it is not possible to distinguish between them [and the infidel warriors]…

"The third case: It is permissible for Muslims to kill inviolable infidels if they are aiding the fighting in deed, word, opinion, or any other way. This is because of the Prophet's order to kill Duraid ibn Al-Simma, who was 120 years old and went with the Hawazin tribe [to fight against the Muslims] to give them counsel. [41]

"The fourth case: It is permitted for Muslims to kill inviolable infidels when there is a need to burn the fortifications or the fields of the enemy in order to weaken his strength, to breach the ramparts, or to topple the country, even if the inviolable ones die as a result, such as the Prophet did in the case of Banu Al-Nadhir. [42]

"The fifth case: It is permitted for Muslims to kill inviolable infidels if they need to use heavy weapons that cannot differentiate between those who are inviolable and the warriors, as the Prophet did at Taif.

"The sixth case: It is permitted for Muslims to kill inviolable infidels if the enemy uses women and children as a human shield and it is not possible to kill the warriors except by killing this shield. In such a case it is permitted to kill them all.

"The seventh case: It is permitted for Muslims to kill inviolable infidels if the latter had an agreement with the Muslims and broke the agreement, and the imam had to kill the inviolable ones to make an example of them, like the Prophet did with Banu Qurayza." [43]

In November 2001, Saudi cleric Sheikh Abd Al-'Aziz bin Saleh Al-Jarbu' published the book 'Basing the Religious Legitimacy of Destroying America. ' In the book, Al-Jarbu' discusses, inter alia, the prohibition on killing infidel women, children, and elderly. Al-Jarbu' noted that while it was indeed forbidden to kill them, the prohibition was waived if they were participating in war [against Muslims] or counseling the warriors.

In his discussion, Al-Jarbu' presents an example of the two maidservants of a man named Abd Allah bin Khatal, whom the Prophet ordered killed because they sang vituperative songs – that is, they inflamed the warriors. Regarding this instance, Al-Jarbu' said: "If this was the decree against anyone who sang songs of vituperation against the Messenger, then it is all the more a decree against all those who to this added participating in a vote approving massacres of Muslims and against those who spread shame and prostitution to Islam and the Muslims…"

Al-Jarbu' went on to add: "All the sages agree that it is permissible to kill women, children, and the elderly if it is not possible to distinguish between them and the other [warriors], particularly if the Mujahideen [Jihad warriors] wish to surprise the enemy in an ambush or in another way… Anyone who says that it is completely forbidden to kill innocents accuses the Messenger [Muhammad], His companions, and those after them of murdering innocent people, because the Messenger built a catapult in his war with Taif [44], and the nature of the catapult is not to distinguish [between warriors whom may be killed and innocents]. [Similarly], the Prophet killed all the adult Jews of the treacherous Banu Qurayza, and did not differentiate among them…" [45]

On the U.S., he wrote: "It has become clear to us from past experience that America is a country warring against Islam and Muslims. Indeed, it is its greatest enemy. It uses war against Islam, and crimes and corruption that are inconceivable to humankind. Thus, it should be treated according to the laws of war on Islam, and not according to [laws] of peace and dhimmitude." [46]

VI. The Annihilation Will Be By Weapons of Mass Destruction

One means suggested for annihilating the Jews, Christians, Israel, and the West is through nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Sheikh Nasser ibn Hamed, a well-known Saudi cleric associated with Al-Qa'ida, wrote 'A Treatise on the Ruling Regarding the Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction Against the Infidels.' The treatise came in response to a question that came in the wake of media reports regarding Al-Qa'ida's intention to use weapons of mass destruction against the U.S. The question, on its part, was aimed at clarifying Islamic law's view of the permissibility of using weapons of mass destruction in the framework of Jihad, and specifically whether such permissibility would be inclusive or limited only to hour of need. The following is one chapter of Sheikh Hamed's lengthy response; the chapter is called 'Proof that the Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction Is Permissible.'

In this chapter of his response, Sheikh Hamed stated that it was permissible to use weapons of mass destruction against 10 million Americans specifically, and against infidels in general, and that support for their use could be found in Islamic religious sources. The chapter was divided into two parts.

The first part discussed the legitimacy of the use of weapons of mass destruction within a particular time frame against a particular enemy "such as the case of America at this time." According to Sheikh Hamed, it is permissible to strike America with weapons of mass destruction in order to repay it in kind. As evidence, Sheikh Hamed cited three Qur'an verses: "If you desire to exact retribution, then adjust the penalty to the wrong you have suffered" [16:126]; "Those whoso transgress against you, you may exact retribution from him in proportion to his transgression" [2:194]; and " The recompense of an injury is a penalty in proportion thereto " [42:40].

After citing the Qur'anic verses, Sheikh Hamed wrote, "Anyone who looks at America's acts of aggression against the Muslims and their lands over the recent decades will permit this [the use of WMDs] based only on the section of Islamic law called 'Repayment in Kind,' without any need to indicate the other evidence.

"Some of the brothers have counted the number of Muslims killed with their [i.e. America's] direct and indirect weapons, and this number has reached nearly 10 million. With regard to the lands burned by their bombs, their means of destruction, and their missiles, only Allah can count. The most recent case we saw with our own eyes is what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq without [mentioning] the fact that many Muslims became refugees.

"If a bomb was dropped on them [i.e. the Americans] that would annihilate 10 million and burn their lands to the same extent that they burned the Muslim lands – this is permissible, with no need to mention any other proof. Yet if we want to annihilate a greater number, we need further evidence."

In the second part of the chapter, Sheikh Hamed presents "the general evidence for the legitimacy according to Islamic law for an inclusive operation of this kind, in the event that Jihad for the sake of Allah requires it."

In his view, "[this evidence] is the texts according to which it is permissible to use this type of weapon in the event that the men of Jihad think it [necessary] for the commonwealth," and proves this with three different pieces of evidence.

The first piece of evidence is "texts that prove it is possible to carry out a surprise nighttime attack on the polytheists even if their offspring will be harmed by it." On this matter, Hamed wrote: "Although it is proven that the Prophet forbade the killing of women and children, [47] if you collect these Hadiths you will find that this is a prohibition on premeditated killing of them. But if their being killed is the result of a surprise attack and a raid, and an inability to distinguish among them [i.e. the enemy under attack] then there is nothing wrong with it, and the Jihad is not called off because of the presence of the women and children of the infidels…

"The second piece of evidence is "the texts that prove it is permissible to burn the land of the enemy…

"Ibn Omar's Hadith [48] proves that the Muslims must use any ploy against their polytheist enemies that weakens their power, thwarts their ploys, and facilitates the path to conquering them, such as felling their trees, drying up their water sources, and besieging them… This Hadith includes clear evidence that it is permissible to burn the land of the enemy if the fighting requires it."

The third piece of evidence is "the texts that prove that it is permissible to strike the enemy with a catapult and with similar things that annihilate them." On this, Sheikh Hamed wrote: "The clerics have agreed that it is permissible to strike the enemy with a catapult and similar things. It is known that the stone of the catapult does not distinguish between women and children and others; it is also [known] that it destroys any building or other thing that stands in its way.

"This constitutes proof that it is permissible to destroy the land of the infidels and to kill them – in the event that the Jihad requires this and in the event that the men of influence from among the Mujahideen think so – as the Muslims struck these cities with catapults until they were conquered and it does not say that they ceased and desisted out of fear that the infidels would be annihilated down to the root or that their land would be destroyed."

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

[2] A monotheistic cult from the dawn of Islam.

[3] Sayyid Qutb, Hadha al-Din, Cairo: Dar Al-Qalam, 1962, p. 85 In Qutb's book Al-'Adala Al-Ijtima'iyya fi al-Islam (Social Justice In Islam), he wrote of the U.S. and Russia: "America and Russia are the same; they both base themselves on materialistic thinking. The real struggle is between Islam on the one hand and Russia and America on the other. Christianity is incapable of meeting the challenge. That is why Islam must be chosen now" (as cited in Haim, S.G. (1982),"Sayyid Qutb," Asian and African Studies, 16, pp. 153-154).

About the Jews, Qutb wrote in his book Ma'rakatuna ma'a al-Yahud (Our Battle Against the Jews): "With their spite and deceit, the Jews are still misleading this nation, and distracting her away from her Qur'an in order that she may not draw her sharp weapons and her abundant ammunitions from it… [The Jews'] aim is clearly shown by the Protocols [of the Elders of Zion]. The Jews are behind materialism, animal sexuality, the destruction of the family and the dissolution of society. Principal among them are Marx, Freud, Durkheim and the Jew Jean-Paul Sartre" (as cited in Haim, S.G., ibid, pp. 155-156).

In Fi Zilal Al-Qur'an, Qutb wrote: "The true goal of the People of the Book, whether Jews or Christians… is to lead Muslims astray from their religion to the religion of the People of the Book," and "No matter how you try to befriend them [i.e. Christians], nothing of all this will please them, except that you follow their religion and abandon what you possess of the truth" (as cited in Haddad, Y.(1983) "The Qur'anic Justification for an Islamic Revolution: The View of Sayyid Qutb, The Middle East Journal Vol. 37 No. 1, p.25).

[4] www.alneda.com. Following numerous hacking attempts after the international media reported that the site was linked to Al-Qa'ida, its address was changed to http://66.34.191.223.

[5] As of April 25, 2003, the URL was: http://www.bkufus.com/images/img/?subject=2&rec=1049.

[6] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=1220.

[7] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=4141, May 11, 2001.

[8] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=2761, September 2, 2000.

[9] A poll tax levied on non-Muslims under Islamic rule.

[10] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=4068.

[11] Palestinian Television (Palestinian Authority), October 13, 2001.

[12] http://www.khayma.com/islambook/yahood.html.

[13] http://saaid.net/Warathah/khudier/k5.htm.

[14] http://www.almaqdese.com/c?c=1.1.

[15] Sayyid Qutb also said in his Qur'an commentary that the Jews are apes and pigs. http://www.saaid.net/Doat/ehsan/74.htm.

[16] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.qasp?mediaURL=6086, April 19, 2002.

[17] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=4954, April 27, 2001.

[18] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=920.

[19] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=3246.

[20] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=4331.

[21] www.alneda.com, following numerous hacking attempts after the international media reported that the site was linked to Al-Qa'ida, its address was changed to http://66.34.191.223.

[22] It is interesting that the will of Caliph Abu Bakr is usually cited to demonstrate Islam's desire to avoid harming civilians in wartime.

[23] http://www.islamonline.net/iol-arabic/dowalia/alhadath-17-11/alhadath2.asp, November 17, 1999. For more on this conference, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 59, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP5999, November 19, 1999.

[24] Qur'an, Surah 11.

[25] Al-Ansar, No. 15, August 10, 2002.

[26] Al-Jazeera television (Qatar), July 10, 2002.

[27] Palestinian Television (Palestinian Authority), June 8, 2001.

[28] This Hadith, or tradition, is found in many sources, e.g., Muslim's Sahih No. 5203 and Ahmad ibn Hanbal's Musnad, No. 9029.

[29] A type of thorny bush.

[30] This year, the holiday started on February 11. The sermon was published in February 16th, 2003 on

www.cambuur.net/cocl (Al-Nidaa Web site), and also broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, with excerpts appearing on the front page of the London Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat, February 16, 2003.

[31] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa.asp?mediaURL=5551.

[32] www.alminbar.cc/alkhutab/khutbaa

Posted at 9:33 AM | Comments (1)

AAH: Florida Islamic Center features material from terrorist charity

Jihad Watch has received this press release from Americans Against Hate:

For Immediate Release: January 27, 2004

Contact: Joe Kaufman, joe@joe4rep.com

BOCA ISLAMIC CENTER FEATURES MATERIAL TAKEN FROM TERRORIST CHARITY -- AAH CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION

(Coral Springs, FL) Americans Against Hate is urging law enforcement to investigate the Islamic Center of Boca Raton’s usage of material published by the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a Saudi-backed “charity” that has been found to have raised millions of dollars for the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The material is found on the Islamic Center’s website, www.icbr.org, within the section ‘Embrace Islam.’

The origin of the material is a web-based book published by the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, entitled ‘This Is The Truth,’ which is currently located on Al-Haramain’s website, www.it-is-truth.org.

This is the second instance of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR) being cited for having information concerning Al-Haramain on its website. Less than a year ago, the ICBR was reported as having had a link on its site to the terrorist charity’s homepage, www.alharamain.org. The graphic link was seven inches in width, and was located on the ICBR’s website for well over three years – including during the September 11, 2001 attacks – and was only taken down in 2003 after negative press coverage.

Ibrahim Dremali, the Imam of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton, is an advisor to the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA), located in North Miami Beach. AMANA’s website, www.al-amana.org also contains a link to the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, under the heading ‘Good Islamic Organizations and Websites,’ on the same page as a picture of the World Trade Center in flames on 9/11.

Just this past week, the United States Department of Treasury added four branches of Al-Haramain to the “U.S. list of groups and individuals suspected of bankrolling terrorism, effectively freezing any assets they hold in the U.S.” (CNN, January 23, 2004)

Joe Kaufman, the Chairman of Americans Against Hate, stated, “The fact that the Islamic Center of Boca Raton is using material from an organization that the U.S. has deemed a supporter of those that attacked us on 9/11 is serious. This is especially vital given the ICBR’s previous involvement with another ‘charity’ that America has taken action against for its terrorist fundraising, the Global Relief Foundation. I urge law enforcement to look into this matter immediately.”

9/11 mastermind got a visa despite terror indictment

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: a terror indictment and a visa

According to the Los Angeles Times, the mastermind of 9/11 obtained a visa just weeks before the attacks — even though he had already been indicted by the feds for terrorist activities!

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, plot, obtained a visa to come to the United States just weeks before the attacks despite being under a federal terrorism indictment, a report by the federal commission investigating the attacks revealed Monday.

And as many as eight of the hijackers entered the country with doctored passports that contained "clues to their association with Al Qaeda" that should have been caught by immigration authorities, commission investigators said.

The newly disclosed findings challenge previous claims by top CIA and FBI officials that the hijackers' records and paperwork were so clean that they could not have aroused suspicion.

The commission also heard testimony from a U.S. customs agent who blocked the entry of a Saudi citizen investigators now believe may have been the intended 20th hijacker.

Authorities later learned that Mohamed Atta, the leader of the Al Qaeda cells that executed the Sept. 11 attacks, was at an Orlando, Fla., airport that same day — possibly waiting to meet up with the Saudi man, Mohammed Al-Qahtani, who is now in U.S.custody.

The disclosures were included in the first set of staff reports to be issued by the commission since it opened its inquiry last year, and came during a daylong hearing devoted to immigration and intelligence-related failures by government agencies.

Government witnesses described on Monday reforms that they said have shored up serious shortcomings in border security systems, visa screenings and information-sharing among agencies responsible for generating watch lists of suspected terrorists.

But commissioners and investigators on the panel voiced concern that certain agencies have not come to grips with the magnitude of the problems that allowed Al Qaeda operatives to slip past security systems and checks.

"We are not sure that these problems have been addressed," said Philip Zelikow, executive director of the commission, referring to failures to put Al Qaeda operatives on federal watch lists. "We are not sure they are even adequately acknowledged as a problem."

In Onward Muslim Soldiers I make the modest call for sanity in the processing of visa applications. This story and others show just how important that is.

"I'll be back," foiled hijacker told agent

The New York Daily News recounts Customs inspector Jose Melendez-Perez's encounter with Al-Qahtani, a man officials suspect was planning to be the 20th hijacker.

A U.S. customs inspector praised for keeping the 20th hijacker in the 9/11 plot from getting into the country told Congress yesterday that the "hostile" Saudi gave him the creeps and vowed, "I'll be back." Jose Melendez-Perez told the 9/11 Commission, the panel probing the attacks on America, that he was spooked enough by the man identified only as "Al-Qahtani" to put him on a plane out of Orlando after he arrived in the U.S. from London and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a one-way ticket and $2,800 in cash.

Al-Qahtani was dressed head-to-toe in black when he arrived on Aug. 4, 2001, a month before the Sept. 11 hijackings, Melendez-Perez said. As an interpreter grilled him about his travel plans, the "arrogant" Saudi grew visibly angry, he recalled.

"When the subject looked at me, I felt a bone-chilling, cold effect," he added.

He wondered if the Saudi was "possibly a hit man - but my wife said I've been watching too many movies."

When Al-Qahtani was ordered deported, he "turned and said in English something to the effect of, 'I'll be back.'"

Arriving the same day in the same Orlando airport, officials said, was lead hijacker Mohamed Atta. While Melendez-Perez did the right thing, commission officials said, "at least two and as many as eight" of the 19 other hijackers' papers, including Atta's, "showed evidence of fraudulent manipulation" that went undetected.

"This is an example of how a well-trained and alert inspector performed admirably in refusing admission to the United States of an individual who should not have gained entry," said Richard Ben-Veniste, a Democratic commission member and former Watergate prosecutor.

"If everyone was as professional as you were, the Sept. 11 attacks would not have taken place," former chief Navy John Lehman, a commission member, told Melendez-Perez.

Incredibly, FBI agents investigating the 9/11 attacks never interviewed Melendez-Perez. An FBI source told the Daily News that Melendez-Perez escaped the bureau's attention because agents instead interviewed Al-Qahtani at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he has been held since his capture in Afghanistan in late 2001.

The FBI concluded in July 2002 he was probably supposed to be the fifth hijacker aboard United Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania. The FBI source added that Melendez-Perez may soon be debriefed.

The commission, whose chairman is former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, a Republican, also revealed yesterday that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed used a fake identity to obtain a visa on July 23, 2001, but did not use it. The congressional 9/11 inquiry previously reported that Mohammed, busted a year ago in Pakistan, visited the U.S. as late as May 2001.

The panel is looking at government agency failures across the spectrum relating to 9/11. Today, it is set to look at airline safety.

Al-Qaeda's "Voice of Jihad," issue #9

MEMRI reports that "the online magazine 'The Voice of Jihad,' which is published by Al-Qa'ida members in Saudi Arabia and describes itself as a 'biweekly dealing with Jihad and the Mujahideen in the Arabian Peninsula,' devoted its ninth issue to two main subjects: Osama bin Laden's most recent speech, excerpts of which were broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, and the ongoing debate in Al-Qa'ida over attacks in Saudi Arabia."

This issue illuminates the plans and thinking of these terrorists — as well as their continued use of Islamic theology and law to explain and justify their actions. By this method they gain recruits among young Muslims who are impressed by the implication that only they are the true, loyal Muslims who are fulfilling all of the Qur'an's commands.

A few highlights:

A New Communiqué: 'Young Mujahideen Seek Martyrdom As You Seek Life'

This issue of The Voice of Jihad features a communiqué dated January 20, 2004, written by Sheikh Abdallah Al-Rashoud. In it, Sheikh Al-Rashoud presents arguments opposing Islamist Sheikhs who have expressed disapproval of Al-Qa'ida attacks in Saudi Arabia, saying: "... Today the House of Saud is doing everything it can to fulfill the Crusaders' demands and disarm the people of the Arabian Peninsula.

"This is another chapter in the deceitful series by the triple axis of corruption - the Jews, the Crusaders, and the House of Saud - whose aim is to bring the people of the Arabian Peninsula into a vicious cycle of weakness in a way that will affect their struggle with the occupying invaders, so that when they want to defend their religion and their honor, they will find nothing but stones and curses...

"Know you, House of Saud and your soldiers: Among the young Mujahideen of the Arabian Peninsula are those who seek martyrdom as you seek life. Many of them are awaiting today to carry out martyrdom operations, with the aim of fulfilling their obligation and dying... The throne of the House of Saud is on the rim of the volcano under which the pot is boiling..."

Commentary on Bin Laden's Speech: 'Anticipate a Large-Scale Attack In U.S.'

Excerpts from Osama bin Laden's most recent speech are posted, followed by commentary by one of the leading ideologues of Al-Qa'ida in Saudi Arabia, "Louis Attiya Allah" (an alias) . . .

"... I sense that the Sheikh wishes to make us understand that what he is warning us of are actually events that he sees in his mind's eye which will take place in the near future. Therefore, the Sheikh presented, for the first time in all his speeches, two issues: the issue of a Majlis Al-Hal wa Al-Aqd [Authoritative Council] and the issue of the Imam. I can almost swear that the Sheikh presented these two issues only because he anticipates the total collapse of the situation and the fall of regimes in the region as a result of some future events in which he and Al-Qa'ida will play a role...

"The issue of a Majlis Al-Hal wa Al-Aqd and the issue of the Imam" relate to the restoration of the caliphate. Osama and Co. want to unify the Islamic world under a single military/religious leader, who will wage offensive jihad against the West. This is just a pipe dream, but it is relevant because these groups are willing to commit violence to make it a reality.

"In this speech, Sheikh Osama looked like someone appealing directly to the clerics and the preachers who signed the communiqué [against] changing the school curriculum [in Saudi Arabia]... It is as if the Sheikh is saying to them: I am with you. I agree that America wants to eradicate our identity and remove our religion from us. But I criticize the thinking of some of you that any vestige of good remains in these rulers, or that they seek good and aspire to obtain it. . . .

"The Sheikh expects that the U.S. will directly attack the oil sources and will declare their occupation. This situation will lead to a total collapse of the regimes in the region... Anyone interested in correcting the situation of the [Muslim] nation must be prepared for this situation by establishing a council of clerics and preachers that will deal with the anticipated total collapse.

"In order to avoid anyone claiming that the Mujahideen are acting without taking into account the situation of the [Muslim] nation and without warning it, the Sheikh conveyed a hidden message, in which he told these preachers and clerics: You need to realize that these rulers are too contemptible to defend land, honor, and religion.

"We continue on our path and in our Jihad against America. We continue to strike at America and we expect that our next blow will cause the collapse of the situation [in Saudi Arabia] due to the vengeful response, the first result of which will be the direct occupation of the oil sources and America's entrance [into Saudi Arabia] with the aim of changing the situation from its foundations.

"Therefore, you must prepare and anticipate this scenario. The responsibility and the mighty obligation expressed by establishing the Authoritative Council that will crown an Imam from among the Muslims who will manage the affairs of the direct confrontation with the Crusaders is incumbent upon you . . .

Picking jihad over children

Reem Raiyshi and her son (AP, via LGF)

Reem Raiyshi, the young Palestinian mother who murdered four people in a suicide attack last week, is being viewed as less than heroic by many Palestinians. This from the Philadelphia Inquirer, with thanks to Jean-Luc:

Wind whipped a chilly Gaza street, kicking up dust around Um Zayad, a Palestinian mother of four, as she shivered red-cheeked beneath a billowing black robe and wrinkled her nose in disapproval.

A few days earlier, another Gaza mother had feigned a limp as she approached an Israeli army checkpoint and was escorted inside a building for a security inspection. She blew herself up, also killing three soldiers and a security guard in yet another act of self-proclaimed martyrdom.

"It's true, we should defend our country," Zayad said, reacting to the Jan. 14 attack. "But I prefer to raise my kids. Women can also be fighters, but not women who have children to raise."

The latest bombing - the seventh by a Palestinian woman since September 2000 - touched a nerve inside a society that normally celebrates the bombers as heroes. This time, as pride gave way to bitterness, many Palestinians expressed shock that Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which took joint responsibility for the attack, would send a mother to her death, leaving two toddlers behind.

"Did she think about her children before she did this?" asked Um Wasim, another Gaza mother, rushing home last week from a secretarial job. "People are criticizing her because there really is no excuse for this."

In a farewell videotape replete with Hamas banners and weapons, Reem Salah al-Raiyshi, 22, said she chose jihad - holy struggle - over motherhood, because she always wanted to turn her body into shrapnel that would kill Israelis.

"God gave me two children, and I loved them so much," she said. "But my wish to meet God in paradise is greater, so I decided to be a martyr for the sake of my people."

Dressed in a green Hamas bandana and cradling an assault rifle, Raiyshi told the camera she was confident God would provide for her 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.

Hamas staged a high-profile funeral. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the group's spiritual leader, praised Raiyshi as the first Hamas woman in a coming onslaught.

But in a departure from tradition, Raiyshi's brother Ayman spoke out immediately against his sister's mission and the militants who dispatched her. "This destroys our life, our work and our future," he told a Chicago Tribune interviewer. "It never occurred to us that she would do such a thing. If she had mentioned it, I would have prevented her, because of the children."

Raiyshi's relative Yusef Awad also condemned her act, saying her suicide detracted from the Palestinian national movement.

"The greatest jihad is raising your children," he told the Tribune.

Surveys show a majority of Palestinians, especially those in the Gaza Strip, where the Islamic resistance group Hamas holds sway, support suicide bombings as a response to Israel's occupation of Gaza and West Bank lands. In the last three years, there have been dozens of such bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis.

In recent weeks, however, more Palestinians have publicly questioned the bombings.

In the West Bank, criticism was voiced this month after Islamic Jihad operatives sent Iyad al-Masri, 17, on a suicide mission to avenge the killing of his brother Amjad, 15, who collapsed in his arms Jan. 3 after being shot by Israeli troops in a Nablus raid.

Detonating his explosives in an attempted attack on an Israeli patrol, Iyad Masri killed only himself on Jan. 11.

"It was wrong to send him to his death at a time when we were still mourning his brother. They must reconsider their tactics," Masri's father, Bilal, told Reuters.

Even among Palestinian media not known for publishing such criticisms, the issue has come to the fore.

Citing the possibility "of a strategic change in peoples' perception of such attacks," daily al-Ayyam columnist Hassan al-Batal praised the courage of the Raiyshi and Masri families for speaking out.

The Israeli daily Haaretz last week cited unnamed Hamas sources as saying the use of a female suicide bomber, even though the group had previously said a woman had no place in such attacks, was part of a larger power struggle within the organization over the next leader of Hamas' political bureau, based in Damascus, Syria.

Yassin, Hamas' spiritual leader, wants to play a pivotal role in selecting the bureau's next chief. But in talks brokered by Egypt recently, he entertained the idea of a tactical lull in attacks on Israelis. For that reason, a Hamas source told Haaretz, Yassin was perceived by "external Hamas," those not in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, as too moderate.

"Now Yassin has to prove to the external Hamas that he's just as tough as they are," the source said. Using a mother to mount the next wave of attacks was a chilling way to send that message.

Small Blast Damages French School

Last week Aissa Dermouche's car was blown up. This week a school he used to head was bombed. Why? Reports on the car bombing suggested that it is all because Dermouche, a Muslim, supports France's headscarf ban. Now evidently that explanation has gone down the memory hole. In any case, welcome to the new France. This from AP:

An explosion early Sunday damaged a business school formerly headed by a Muslim who was recently appointed a top administrator in France. The man's car was bombed a week ago.

Police immediately cordoned off the area around the Audencia school and opened an investigation. The explosion damaged a door and some windows of the school.

Prosecutor Jean-Marie Huet said on LCI television that authorities were looking into whether the two blasts were linked. Lab experts were sent to this western city from Paris to determine whether material used in the 6:15 a.m. blast was the same as that used to destroy the car of Aissa Dermouche.

Dermouche, 57, born in Algeria, was named to the prestigious post of prefect, the state's highest representative of a region, on Jan. 14 by President Jacques Chirac. He is the first person of Muslim origin to be appointed to the post.

Four days later, his car, parked on a street near his home, was blown up.

Dermouche's appointment was a major event in France, which is struggling to integrate its Muslim citizens, a population estimated at some 5 million — the largest in Western Europe.

Investigators have not discovered yet who blew up Dermouche's car. They explored the possibility of personal revenge, detaining three people connected to Dermouche's ex-wife. However, the three were released on Thursday.

Ziad Khoury, a deputy prefect of the Loire Atlantique, the western France region where Nantes is located, said that there apparently were no witnesses to the explosion at Audencia, a well known business school headed by Dermouche until he was named a prefect.

Hamas offers 10 year truce with Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from West Bank and Gaza Strip

I have long maintained that a great deal can be discovered about the motives and goals of radical Islamic terrorists by studying Islamic religious sources — an idea which most people, particularly those in positions of influence, continue to disregard. But here is more evidence of its truth: Hamas is proposing a 10-year truce in exchange for Israel's withdrawal to its 1967 borders. What is the thinking behind this offer? Is it a generous-minded attempt to restore peace and stability to the region? After all, after ten years of giving peace a chance it will be hard to resume hostilities, won't it?

Maybe it will, but Hamas's offer is actually in full accord with Islamic tradition and law. The Shafi'i school of Muslim jurisprudence, which is influential among Hamas members, teaches that "if Muslims are weak, a truce may be made for ten years if necessary, for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) made a truce with the Quraysh for that long, as is related by Abu Dawud" ('Umdat as-Salik, o9.16).

Note that this can only be done if "Muslims are weak." The same legal manual also quotes this verse of the Qur'an: "So do not be fainthearted and call for peace, when it is you who are the uppermost" (Sura 47:35). So it isn't likely that Hamas would be calling for a truce at all if it felt that it was in a position of strength. "Interests that justify making a truce are such things as Muslim weakness because of lack of numbers or materiel, or the hope of an enemy becoming Muslim . . ." ('Umdat as-Salik, o9.16).

The bottom line: Hamas is feeling the heat and wants a truce in order to regroup and emerge in a stronger position. The story is from Al-Bawaba, with thanks to the many who sent it to me:

A senior Hamas official has said the movement could declare a 10-year truce with Israel if the Jewish state pulled out from territory occupied since 1967.

Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi told Reuters late Sunday that Hamas had reached the conclusion that it was "difficult to liberate all our land at this stage, so we accept a phased liberation."

"We accept a state in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. We propose a 10-year truce in return for [Israeli] withdrawal and the establishment of a state," he told the agency in a telephone interview from the Gaza Strip.

At least he's honest. The acceptance of a state on these terms is just part of a "phased liberation" which he still hopes will encompass "all our land" -- i.e., all of Israel. This is no two-state solution.

Rantissi said that any such new proposal would not mean that Hamas recognized Israel or indicate the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Rantissi conveyed the truce could last 10 years, though "not more than 10 years."

Why not more than ten years? "It is not permissible to stipulate longer than that . . ." ('Umdat as-Salik, o9.16).

Furthermore, Rantissi said discussion within Hamas on accepting a state in just the West Bank and Gaza was not new, but that "the movement has taken a decision on this."

Moreover, Rantissi said he did not expect Israel to respond favorably to the new suggestion, "when it has rejected the Palestinian Authority's offer for less land than what we are proposing."

Pro-terrorism pop stars sell hate in U.S. Muslim neighborhoods

Last week I posted a piece about jihadis spreading their message through pop songs in Iraq. Now the terrorist top 40's jihad jingles have spread to the U.S. and Canada:

Pro-jihadi activists in North America, including U.S. and Canadian citizens, use Arab pop stars as a tool to disseminate their propaganda, reports the premium online intelligence newsletter Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

At the top of the list of pop stars and artists recommended by the militants is the Egyptian song writer Sha'ban Abed al-Rahim. The songs imported into the U.S. include praise of attacks against the U.S. and even justification of the Sept. 11 massacre claiming, "listen people, it was only a tower. I swear by Allah that they, the U.S., are the ones who pulled it down."

Other songs by the same artist and some by other performers ridicule the U.S. war against terrorism, the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Jews in general.

One of those highly successful lyrics in Egypt describes the U.S. road map to peace as a road map to destruction. The song called "Kharittat al-Tariq" means "The road map," uses idioms portraying President George Bush as a liar, claiming that with Israeli help the U.S. is turning the whole world into a jungle.

Audio cassettes and CDs with such hate songs are imported into Canada and the U.S. as cultural items. They can be found in corner stores in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods in major U.S. cities, in mosques and on Internet radio networks.

Customs officials say there is no ruling whether to search for such material and other propaganda tools, suggesting it is impossible for customs officers to read and understand labels of hate material printed in Arabic.

Not only that but experts on homeland security and on the Patriot Act caution the issue could be dragged for years through U.S. and Canadian legal systems because promoters of terrorism will claim freedom of speech.

Abd Al-Rahim's new album recently was reviewed in the Cairo Times.

The song describes how "America is the spitting image of Israel and it carries out its desires, making the world into a 'jungle.' But it does not stop at that point. Abd Al-Rahim goes on to boldly sing that the USA is the perpetrator of the September 11th attacks," reports the Cairo paper.

"Al-Rahim further sings that they purposely did it to make people think that Arabs and Muslims are terrorists and were behind that disaster. Now the U.S. can do what it pleases to the Arab world since everyone thinks they are to blame."

The song also mentions President Bush, quoting from some of his speeches. One line states, "Sometimes [Bush] says Iran and sometimes he says Syria," and "He shortens his speech if someone says Korea."

Al-Rahim's chief songwriter, who previously wrote hits entitled, "I Hate Israel" and "Striking Iraq," penned the road map song.

"The album includes another nine songs that reflect the mood of the Egyptian street... Despite the fact that the album has not been released yet, the road map song has been a success on the music scene. Abd Al-Rahim has been doing publicity for his new song by singing it at wedding parties and in TV interviews," the Cairo Times reported.

One fan named Muhammad, who has memorized the lyrics of "Road Map," said, "To me, this is the first public and daring accusation made against America concerning the September 11th attacks, and the song will soon be the No. 1 hit in the Arab world."

Bush: Bin Laden Aide Is Caught in Iraq

The President is saying that a senior member of Al-Qaeda has been caught. This just in from AP:

The minister in charge of Iraqi police said Monday that al-Qaida was probably behind some suicide bombings in Iraq, and President Bush praised the capture of a senior member of Osama bin Laden's network.

"There is a presence of al-Qaida in this country. We've announced that directly and indirectly," Interior Minister Nouri Badran said.

"A lot of the suicide attacks have the fingerprints of the crimes committed by al-Qaida," he added. Asked if al-Qaida is operating in Iraq, he said: "Yes, it is."

But he provided no evidence to back his claim. There was no immediate comment from U.S. military commanders.

During a visit to Little Rock, Ark., on Monday, Bush said Hassan Ghul was captured in Iraq last week.

"He was a killer. He was moving money and messages around South Asia and the Middle East to other al-Qaida leaders. He was a part of this network of haters that we're dismantling," Bush said.

Iraq has witnessed a number of devastating suicide vehicle attacks since the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime in April — attacks aimed at both coalition forces and their Iraqi allies.

A few non-Iraqi Arab and foreign fighters have been detained or killed in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad, but coalition forces have been reluctant to clearly say if they were part of or directly linked to al-Qaida.

9/11 ringleader Atta raised enough red flags at customs, still got in

Muhammad Atta shouldn't have gotten into the United States at all. This from AP:

A border agent said Monday that the suspected ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks raised enough red flags at customs — including having the wrong student visa — that he should been prevented from entering the United States.

Customs agent Jose E. Melendez-Perez, testifying at a public hearing on border and aviation security, said lead hijacker Mohamed Atta's age and impeccable clothes also appeared to contradict his story about being a student.

"I would have recommended refusal," Melendez-Perez said.

Atta's improper entry is one of a series of errors by government officials prior to Sept. 11 that could have prevented the attacks, an independent commission investigating the terrorist attacks said Monday in releasing new details about the attack.

Some of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were allowed into the country despite carrying fraudulent visas and being questioned by customs agents, the commission said.

For example, hijacker Saeed al Ghamdi was referred to immigration inspection officials in June 2001 after he provided no address on his customs form and only had a one-way plane ticket and about $500. But al Ghamdi was able to persuade the inspector that he was a tourist.

"Our government did not fully exploit al-Qaida's travel vulnerabilities," the commission said at the start of a two-day public hearing on border and aviation security.

Investigators say at least two and as many as eight of the hijackers had fraudulent visas. They also found that at least six of the hijackers violated immigration laws by overstaying their visas or failing to attend the English language school for which their visas were issued.

The commission said part of the problem was a lack of coordination among immigration officials and a focus on keeping out illegal immigrants rather than keeping out potential terrorists.

Melendez-Perez, who spoke at Monday's hearing, stopped a man identified by federal officials only as al-Qahtani at Florida's Orlando International Airport in late August 2001. The agent said he became suspicious when al-Qahtani provided only vague answers about what he was doing in the United States.

U.S. officials then put al-Qahtani on a plane back to Saudi Arabia. He wound up in Afghanistan, where he was captured by U.S. forces. He now is being held with other captives at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"This is an example of how a well-trained and alert INS inspector performed admirably in refusing admission to the United States of an individual who should not have gained entry," said Richard Ben-Veniste, a Democratic commission member and former Watergate prosecutor.

Jakarta Bomb Suspect Wanted to Kill Americans

Islamic law forbids Muslims to kill fellow Muslims intentionally. This is based on a Qur'anic verse: "If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein forever" (Sura 4:93). But unbelievers have no such protection. This from Reuters:

A young Islamic militant accused of involvement in last year's bombing of a U.S.-run hotel in Indonesia told a court Monday he had targeted Americans and regretted that all but one of those killed were his countrymen. Prosecutors charged Mohamad Rais, 28, with helping to organize the Aug. 5 bombing of the JW Marriott hotel that killed 12 people, including a Dutch man, and wounded 150. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

"I'm remorseful because Muslims became victims. The ones who I targeted were Americans. Now I have to be accountable because I was indeed involved in the Marriott bombing," he told the court.

Rais, whose hearing began Monday, is only the second suspect to go on trial over the Jakarta attack in which militants detonated a bomb-laden car in front of the hotel lobby.

The prosecution also said Rais had been a messenger of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

After a two-year training stint in Afghanistan, Rais returned home in 2001 with a message from bin Laden for the Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who authorities say was leader of the Jemaah Islamiah group they blame for the Marriot blast.

"Bin Laden offered Abu Bakar Bashir to go to Afghanistan if it is believed the conditions in Indonesia are no longer feasible for Abu Bakar Bashir to stay," state prosecutor Andi Herman said.

The prosecutor said Rais delivered the message to Bashir on September 13, 2001.

The 65-year-old Bashir was arrested after bomb attacks on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali in October 2002 and sentenced to four years in prison last September for taking parts in acts of treason.

An appeals court later acquitted him of the treason charges and reduced his sentence to three years.

The judge adjourned the proceedings against Rais until February 4.

The trial of the first defendant in the Marriot bombing case began in November in Bengkulu on the island of Sumatra. The man, Sardono Siliwangi, is accused of storing the explosives used in the blast.

Texas coast eyed by terrorists

A strange episode in Texas: a Middle Eastern man was photographing a chemical site. When confronted by a guard, he pulled a gun and fired.

While FBI, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs, the U.S. Coast Guard, state police and local law enforcement sources are publicly downplaying terrorism fears in the shooting of a guard at a BASF Corp. ammonia terminal in Freeport, Texas, some of those same sources are telling Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, off the record, they strongly suspect the guard stumbled into a terrorism reconnaissance operation.

The FBI, state and local law enforcement are all involved in investigating the incident Friday night on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The gunman, described as a dark-complexioned, mustachioed man with dark hair and a thick Middle Eastern accent and a 5 o'clock shadow, was driving a white, club cab, half-ton Chevrolet pickup with black trim at the bottom and dark-tinted windows. The truck had no front license plate.

Robbie House, the guard, questioned the driver of the truck about why he was in the vicinity of a large, multi-story ammonia tank. He told police the truck driver explained that he was taking pictures of it. When the guard turned to radio for help, the driver pulled out a handgun and shot House in the shoulder. . . .

G2B sources say a mysterious armada of al-Qaida ships has been purchased to target, among other things, civilian ports, cruise ships and oil rigs.

House was listed in good condition today at an area hospital where he was recovering from the gunshot wound to the shoulder.

Chemical plants and refineries have tightened security since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for fear they may be targets in a future attack. Ammonia can be explosive when mixed with air. In addition, it should be noted that BASF is the second largest producer in the world of ammonium sulfate, a fertilizer with explosive tendencies.

The Ludwigshafen, Germany-based BASF is one of the world's largest chemical manufacturers. The Freeport complex includes 16 plants, including an ammonia plant next to the deepwater cargo port. The facility produces adhesives, super absorbers, paints, nylons and plastics.

"We don't believe we have any kind of a terrorist threat or that there was any way any kind of a terrorist planning or organization was going on with what occurred last night," said Bob Doguim of the FBI's Houston office immediately following the attack.

But other law-enforcement sources say common sense dictates that, in this case, with this extraordinary set of circumstances, "terrorism is everyone's first guess."

One law enforcement source said the signs point to this incident being a "terrorist reconnaissance operation."

"There are no signs of any explosives," he said. "There are no signs of any renegade ships in the area. But there is a strong likelihood this shooter and any companions that may have been with him were scoping out a possible target for terrorism."

Pakistan's unkept promise: The untamed madrasas

More in the International Herald Tribune about how Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan has failed to stop Islamic radicalism in the Muslim schools. (Thanks to "Allah.")

Addressing a joint session of the Pakistan Parliament this month, President Pervez Musharraf appealed to the Pakistani people to “wage a jihad against extremism" and said his government “would ensure that those individuals or groups involved in sectarianism and terrorism are completely eradicated from Pakistan."

A few days earlier, Musharraf had promised Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India that he would tackle extremism and indicated that he would negotiate flexibly on Kashmir. These are encouraging promises, but a look at the record of the past two years gives reason to wonder whether Musharraf will keep them.

In January 2002, Musharraf gave a televised speech promising to combat extremism. One aim was to bring all of Pakistan's madrasas, or Islamic schools, into the mainstream. Many now cultivate radical thinking and act as recruiting and indoctrination centers for jihadi terrorists.

Declaring that no institutions in Pakistan would be above the law, Musharraf's government promised that it would register all madrasas to obtain a clear idea of which groups were running which schools, insist that all madrasas adopt a government curriculum by the end of 2002, and stop madrasas and mosques from being used as centers for the spread of politically and religiously inflammatory statements and publications.

Two years later, no presidential ordinance to regulate madrasas has been promulgated, and the government openly assures the clergy that it will not interfere in madrasas' internal affairs. Most madrasas in Pakistan remain unregistered.

The Pakistan Madrasa Education Board, established in August 2001 to oversee the schools, has so far only distributed questionnaires to obtain voluntary information. It lacks the authority to enforce registration. With such a limited mandate, it is more a cosmetic measure to address international concern about Pakistan's religious schools than a mechanism to regulate their functioning.

No national curriculum has been developed for the madrasas. The board has set up three “model madrasas” teaching government-approved versions of the standard madrasa course along with subjects like mathematics, general science, computers and English. But together these three schools have only about 300 students, while as many as 1.5 million students attend unregulated madrasas.

Most important, Musharraf has yet to curb the abuse of madrasas and mosques by religious extremists. During the 2002 national elections, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, or MMA, an umbrella group of six religious parties, used these institutions for its anti-American and pro-Taliban campaign. Some mullahs, including leaders of political parties that Musharraf has banned, continue to use them to propagate an extremist Islamic agenda.

Musharraf's failure to rein in the madrasas is just one part of his failure to scale back jihadi culture generally. The government has done very little to implement tougher controls on financing of madrasas and extremist groups despite obligations under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373. It even removed the issue of terrorism funding from draft regulations on money laundering.

There is also no evidence of any focused and systematic campaign against homegrown extremists. The government has, it is true, apprehended foreigners with links to Al Qaeda and turned them over to U.S. authorities, but Al Qaeda was only officially banned in Pakistan in March 2003. In his time in power, Musharraf has concentrated hardest on legitimizing and consolidating his military-backed rule. The government has been hesitant to take any step against the religious right because it has needed the MMA's support in Parliament for measures supporting its rule.

But the price Pakistan pays for this dependence on the religious extreme is rising extremist power and sectarian violence at home, including the assassination attempts against the president himself in December. Should Musharraf fail, once again, to do what must be done to eliminate hatred, sectarianism and terrorism in Pakistan, his policies will make his country and the world more dangerous.

The writer is South Asia project director for the International Crisis Group, an organization that works to prevent and resolve conflicts.

Canadian terror suspect confirmed dead in Pakistan

International jihad news: a Canadian citizen who went to Afghanistan to wage jihad has been confirmed dead. This from AP, with thanks to Jean-Luc:

Pakistani authorities have confirmed that Egyptian-born Canadian citizen Ahmed Said Khadr was killed during a raid last year against suspected terrorists in the country's tense border region, officials said today.

Khadr died in the October raids where eight Al Qaeda suspects were killed and 18 others captured after fierce fighting, said army spokesman Maj.-Gen. Shaukat Sultan. Two Pakistani soldiers also died in the operation.

Genetic testing confirming Khadr's identity was only completed in the last few days, said Sultan, noting that Khadr had been named on a list of alleged terrorists wanted by U.S. authorities.

Khadr had been arrested in Pakistan in 1995 after the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad was bombed, but he was later released. His son Abdurahman — a Canadian held prisoner at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and freed in October — has said Khadr helped raise money for charitable causes in Afghanistan and wasn't connected to terrorism.

Abdurahman Khadr had said in Canada last month that his brother Omar also was being held at Guantanamo, and he called for his release.

Another brother, 14-year-old Abdullah Khadr, was badly wounded last fall in a gunfight with Pakistani forces. Pakistani authorities told Ottawa this week that he is being held in the town of Rawalpind.

Officials from the Canadian Embassy in Islamabad met with Abdullah Khadr early this week, and a Foreign Affairs spokesman said Canadian authorities have been in contact with his family in Pakistan.

Abdullah Khadr, the youngest son of Ahmed Said Khadr, is the third of his children to be taken into custody by forces fighting terrorism. He was injured last fall during a raid by Pakistani forces hunting for Al Qaeda and Taliban suspects along the Afghanistan border.

Earlier this month, Pakistan launched another major operation in the border region against suspected foreign terrorists seeking shelter in the rugged area neighbouring Afghanistan. Remnants of the ousted Taliban regime and Al Qaeda have launched repeated assaults in Afghanistan since a U.S.-led coalition forced the Taliban from power in late 2001.

Nigeria: Muslim fundamentalist uprising raises fears of terrorism

A report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the upsurge of Islamic radicalism in Nigeria. (Thanks to Jeffrey Imm.)

When a student-led Islamic sect launched an armed uprising last month with the aim of setting up a Taliban-style Muslim state in northern Nigeria, the authorities were swift to quell the insurrection.

However, political analysts and security officials fear the emergence of the Al Sunna Wal Jamma (Followers of the Prophet) group may be an indication that extremist Islamic groups have found enough foothold in Nigeria to make Africa's most populous country a theatre for worse sectarian violence than it has seen in recent years and acts of terrorism.

"What I find striking is that the group had operated in Nigeria for some time, had a cell network of members that included highly educated people and could use weapons," said Ike Onyekwere, a political analyst.

"Though they appear to have been put to flight, there is a chance they might still regroup and emerge in another, perhaps more deadly form," he added.

Strangers with no respect for traditions

Residents in Kanamma, a small town in Yobe State in northeast Nigeria, recall that the "strangers" first set up camp in the outskirts of the small town near the Niger border a year ago. They would come into town to preach to the people about how to attain Islamic purity.

However, the incomers showed a lack of respect for local traditions, especially property rights, and this led to growing friction with the local population.

The young militants farmed anywhere and fished in fishponds on the bank of the Yobe River owned by particular families. They dismissed the complaints of local people by saying that "everything belongs to Allah", Rabiu Usman, a Kanama resident, told IRIN.

Reports of these problems finally reached the authorities and Yobe governor Abba Ibrahim decided to intervene. The governor told reporters he had already initiated moves to peacefully disband the group when it unexpectedly resorted to violence in late December.

Attacks leave 18 dead

The Al Sunna Wal Jama group attacked the police stations in Kanamma and nearby Geidam, killing two policemen. They stripped the buildings of guns and ammunition and burned them to the ground. The group then retreated to a primary school in Kanamma where they hoisted the flag of Afghanistan, spoiling for more violence.

Nigerian army spokesman Colonel Chukwuemeka Onwuamaegbu, said troops were sent to tackle the militants in when it became clear they were "getting a bit too much for the police to handle".

At least 18 people were killed during a fortnight of clashes. Most were Islamic militants, but three policemen and one member of a vigilante group on the Cameroonian border were also shot dead.

Many of the estimated 200 members of the sect are now in custody and others in are in flight.

The attention of the authorities and security agencies is now focussing on how the group emerged to become a threat to public security with little being known about them.

"We now want to find out how they got their arms and weapons training, who their backers are here in Nigeria and possibly abroad," a senior security official close to the investigation told IRIN.

He said investigators were also hoping to unravel the apparently extensive network of cells that recruited members from places as varied as Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, Lagos, in the southwest, and neighbouring Niger.

Fatai Fagbemi, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of the northeast, told IRIN that most of the militants in police custody were children "of notable Nigerians". But the police have so far refused to give out any of their names.

Nigeria's volatile mix of religions and its history of repeated outbreaks of sectarian violence make authorities understandably nervous about the emergence of this pro-Taliban group.

The country's population of more than 120 million people is almost evenly split between a mainly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south with a significant number of Animists in between.

In the past four years 12 states in northern Nigeria have adopted the strict Islamic or Shari'ah legal code. This prescribes harsh penalties including the amputation of limbs for stealing, stoning to death for adultery and public flogging for drinking alcohol.

The adoption of Shari'ah has heightened tensions and between Muslims and Christians and has led to repeated outbreaks of communal violence in which thousands of people have died.

Nigerian security agencies have in the past voiced concerns about the activities of certain Islamic preachers whom they feared were radicalising Muslims in parts of the north. Many were suspected of having links to terrorist groups and foreign organisations.

In the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, several Afghan and Pakistani preachers and other residents were arrested and deported because, according to the authorities, they could not give satisfactory explanations of their mission in Nigeria.

The daily newspaper Punch reported at about the same time that Mohammed Suleiman al-Nalfi, wanted in connection with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York, had been arrested at Lagos airport in 2000 and handed over to US law enforcement agents.

Al-Nalfi has since pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism after revealing Al Qaeda links during his trial.

Security officials say an additional reason for increased vigilance is the fact that Nigeria was mentioned alongside Jordan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia in a tape purportedly released by Osama bin Laden, the fugitive leader of Al Qaeda, as a country where Muslims need to be liberated.

Late in November 2003 the U.S. Consulate in Lagos even issued a warning, advising its citizens to avoid a popular shopping mall in an up-market district of the city, citing specific intelligence of a likely terror attack.

According to Soji Olaniyan, a doctorate student in international affairs at the University of Lagos, Nigeria because of its peculiar make-up, large population and increasingly strategic position as Africa's largest oil producer, could become a target of destabilisation from abroad.

"This might include but may not necessarily be limited to terrorist attacks," he told IRIN. "In fact, in most of the countries said to have been mentioned by bin Laden there have already been terrorist attacks and Nigeria has every reason to watch it," he added.

Osama: "One of the world's largest heroin dealers"

In Islam Unveiled I discuss how the Taliban's involvement in drug trafficking was consistent with the group's theology: in line with the sharp distinction in the Qur'an and Islamic tradition between believers and unbelievers, since the buyers were non-Muslims they had no problem selling the product. Now, because of the success of American efforts to stop terrorists militarily and to cut off their funding, Osama bin Laden is playing the same game. This from the Washington Times, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

The al Qaeda terror group has embraced heroin trafficking to such an extent that its leader, Osama bin Laden, is now a "narco-terrorist," says a U.S. congressman just back from a fact-finding mission in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"It seems clear to me heroin is the No. 1 financial asset of Osama bin Laden," Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Republican, told The Washington Times. "There is a need to update our view of how terrorism is financed.

"And the view of Osama bin Laden relying on Wahhabi donations from abroad is outdated. And the view of him as one of the world's largest heroin dealers is the more accurate, up-to-date view."

Mr. Kirk wants a pronounced shift in how the Bush administration tries to stop al Qaeda funding. Up to now, Washington has focused on bin Laden's traditional sources: Islamic charities and his family fortune.

But the Bush team has choked off much of that flow, forcing bin Laden to adjust. In Afghanistan, bin Laden has the benefit of the world's largest poppy crop, as he evades capture in Pakistan's notorious border areas. He is reaping $24 million alone from one narcotics network in Kandahar, Afghanistan, according to Mr. Kirk's investigation.

The congressman said it is no longer sufficient to go after only the charities and bank accounts. Washington now must fuse counterterrorism and counternarcotics into an inseparable mission.

"The most important thing here is to change the language to not describe Osama bin Laden anymore as a terrorist, but to more accurately describe him as a narco-terrorist," said Mr. Kirk, who sits on the Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice, state and judiciary.

Mr. Kirk and his team of House staff investigators spent five days in Pakistan and Afghanistan, whose farm areas once again are sprouting thousands of acres of poppies from which opium and heroin are produced. Hundreds of illicit drug labs have sprung up to process the heroin for shipment to Pakistan.

The al Qaeda-heroin connection is becoming more clear to Washington. The first big break came last month, when Navy ships seized boats concealing large stashes of heroin and operated by crew members linked to al Qaeda.

In Afghanistan, Mr. Kirk talked to a variety of sources, including U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, U.S. troops and Afghan counternarcotics officials.

A kilogram of heroin that can fetch $2,000 in Pakistan can get $10,000 in Turkey. That is why al Qaeda has begun sending drug-laden boats into the Arabian Sea: to find more lucrative markets outside Pakistan.

"If he can expand his operation closer and closer to the retail market, he will dramatically increase his profit," Mr. Kirk said.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is reluctant to get his troops too deeply involved in the drug wars, aides say. Some Pentagon officials view counternarcotics as predominately a law enforcement duty. In Afghanistan, where the United Nations reports 264,000 poppy-growing families, the U.S. military does not want to alienate citizens whose support it needs for the U.S.-backed government of Hamid Karzai.

More Buddhist monks killed in Thailand

A few days ago I posted a story from Thailand about the murder of a Buddhist monk. Now two more have been killed, evidently as part of a larger jihadist effort. Note that these "tensions between Buddhists and Muslims" seem to be coming from just one side. Killing policemen would be somewhat expected from a separatist group, but the targeting of monks as well sheds light on what the separatists hope to establish themselves, given the opportunity: a radical Muslim Sharia state would be most likely. This from AP, with thanks to Nancy Block and Susan:

Five people were killed in southern Thailand, including two Buddhist clergymen who were slashed as they collected food offerings, as tension between Buddhists and Muslims mounts in the region, police and news reports said yesterday.

Sectarian violence is rare anywhere in Thailand, and the murders of monks in recent days are the first such attacks in the Muslim-dominated south in several years. About 90 percent of Thailand's 63 million people are Buddhists.

Four young men fatally slashed the head of a novice -- 13-year-old Jedsak Nhusang -- with knives in front of a temple in Yala province, while a monk accompanying him on the traditional morning alms rounds escaped unharmed, police captain Ranon Surawit said.

Ten minutes later, also in the provincial capital, four men fatally knifed Vichai Boonpan, a 65-year-old monk, in the neck. The men involved in the killings all approached the monks on motorcycles.

Shortly afterward, in the nearby community of Lamai, one monk was stabbed in the back and another punched twice, police lieutenant-colonel Mut Thopah said.

Thailand's southernmost provinces have been tense since Jan. 4, when suspected Muslim separatists torched 21 government-run schools and raided an army camp in Narathiwat province, killing four soldiers and stealing hundreds of rifles.

Also yesterday morning, in Narathiwat province, two men on a motorcycle shot police sergeant-major Prasart Lahtheh, 57, as he was riding on his motorbike with his wife near their home. Prasart, an investigator, was hospitalized in stable condition, captain Sunan Sangsawat said.

In a third southern province, Pattani, three killings were reported Friday night.

Police sergeant Mayaki Waesamah, 33, also an investigator, was fatally shot in the head while at work, said a police officer who requested anonymity. Local television iTV reported that two villagers were slashed to death in their homes.

Mut said no suspects had been arrested in the attacks on the monks.

Terror summit in Tehran

Amir Taheri writes in the Jerusalem Post (thanks to Joel) about a forthcoming meeting in Tehran that he says is drawing Islamic radicals from 40 countries, including members of top Shi'ite and Sunni jihad groups. Taheri adds some important considerations about the nature of the Iranian regime today:

Militants from some 40 countries across the globe are trekking to Teheran for a 10-day "revolutionary jamboree" in which "a new strategy to confront the American Great Satan" will be hammered out.

The event is scheduled to start on February 1 to mark the 25th anniversary of the return to Iran from exile of the late Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini, father of the Islamic Revolution. It is not clear how many foreign militants will attend, but the official media promise a massive turnout to underline the Islamic Republic's position as the "throbbing heart of world resistance to American arrogance."

The guest list reads like a who's who of global terrorism.

In fact, most of the organizations attending the event, labeled "Ten-Days of Dawn," are branded by the United States and some European Union members as terrorist outfits. These include 17 branches of the Hizbullah, a worldwide militant Shi'ite movement created by Teheran in 1983.

Today, Teheran is a magnet for militant groups from many different national and ideological backgrounds. The Islamic Republic's hospitality cuts across even religious divides. Thus militant Sunni organizations, including two linked to al-Qaida - Ansar al-Islam (Companions of Islam) and Hizb Islami (The Islamic Party) - enjoy Iranian hospitality. They are joined by Latin American guerrilla outfits, clandestine Irish organizations, Basque and Corsican separatists, and a variety of leftist groups from Trotskyites to Guevarists. Teheran today is also the only capital where all the Palestinian militant movements have offices and, in some cases, training and financial facilities.

Iranian officials claim that the presence of these terror organizations in Iran is limited to "cultural and information activities." The militants' offices are known as daftar ertebat, which means "contact bureau," while the training offered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards is presented as "courses in self-defense."

The war in Iraq and the capture of Saddam Hussein, however, have shaken the traditional Khomeinist assumption that the US will never risk a direct confrontation with the Iranian regime.

THAT VIEW is expressed in a celebrated dictum of Khomeini that is painted on the walls of the conference center where the militants will meet. It reads: "America Cannot Do A Damn Thing!"

Now, however, many in Teheran believe that unless the Iranian regime modifies aspects of its behavior, notably in its relations with terrorist organizations, it might find itself in military conflict with the US.

"Anyone who ignores the presence of the American war machine all around us suffers from deadly illusions," says Imadeddin Baqi, a member of the outgoing Islamic Majlis (parliament).

Until at least last December, one idea was to either cancel the event or curtail it to a one-day prayer session in Khomeini's mausoleum in Teheran. That idea was vetoed by the "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei, who believes that any show of weakness by the regime could encourage its numerous opponents inside and outside the country.

Thus Khamenei plans to use the global jamboree to show that Iran is still a revolutionary force and that he alone, and not the ineffective President Muhammad Khatami, calls the shots in Teheran.

Khamenei also hopes that the next elections, to be held 10 days after the revolutionary jamboree ends, will produce a new parliamentary majority that shares his strategy. His game plan is to unify the regime by cutting the so-called "reformists" down to size and adopting a wait-and-see tactic until after the American presidential election.

The militants who are going to Teheran this week are likely to be told that they must lie as low as possible for the next few months without abandoning any of their radical goals. The Teheran gathering is also expected to deepen the recent informal alliances made between Islamist militant groups and a variety of communist, anarchist and environmentalist militant groups against the "American common enemy."

The Khomeinist regime is prepared to change aspects of its behavior and even concede some tactical retreats to weather what many in Teheran call "the Bush storm." But the regime's strategy, which is aimed at driving the US out of the Middle East, destroying Israel, and replacing all Arab regimes with "truly Islamic" ones, remains unchanged.

It is no accident that two words are popular in Teheran these days. One is "detente," often used by Khatami and the so-called "reformists." The other is "hudhabiah," which is the name of a truce signed by the Prophet Muhammad with a Jewish tribe in Medina at a time Muslims found themselves in a weak position. At the end of the truce period, the prophet's army, having rebuilt its strength, attacked the Jews and massacred all the adult males, seizing women and children as war booty.

It is against that background that the question "What to do with Iran?" must be debated. Today, Iran is ready to offer all the behavioral changes required of it by Washington and the EU. But it cannot change its nature. And there is no guarantee that this particular beast will not bite again - and hard - as soon as it feels that it is no longer threatened. A scorpion does not sting because it is naughty; that is dictated by its nature.

US wants major Islamic charity group to be branded terrorist

Several Islamic charities in the U.S. have already been closed for terrorist links. Charities collect obligatory zakat donations from Muslims, which are then distributed to radical groups -- apparently unbeknownst to many of the donors. Now the Saudis, anxious to improve their anti-terror credentials, have joined the U.S. to go after another. This from the Hindustan Times, with thanks to Jean-Luc.

The United States and Saudi Arabia have jointly appealed the United Nations to declare a major charity group, Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation's branches in Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania and Indonesia as terrorist organisations.

US Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, top State Deprtment officials including Counterterrorism Coordinator Cofer Black, and Adel Jubeir, Chief Foreign Policy Adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah held a joint press conference yesterday at the US Treasury to make the appeal to UN.

US Officials said these four countries have resisted action, though it has been tarred as terrorist in both in the US and Saudi Arabia for some time, "in part out of fear of appearing to do the bidding of the United States."'

"We are working closely with our Saudi friends. I have personally seen great improvement in the cooperation," Black said.

Al-Haramain figured prominently in the indictment earlier this month of Sami Omar Hussayen, a University of Idaho doctoral student in computer science, on charges of conspiracy to promote material support to terrorists. It raises millions of dollars for its charities every year. The charge is that though it has genuine charities, Al-Haaramain also funds terrorism.

Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Bandar bin Sultan said in a statement that terrorist financiers are now targets of a US-Saudi task force that is pursuing money laundering through charities and other front groups.

Dawah and jihad in Chechnya?

Traditional Islam teaches that Muslims must call people to accept the faith or at least submit to the Islamic social order -- that is dawah. If they refuse, Muslims must fight them -- jihad. This is based on numerous passages of the Qur'an and Islamic tradition, including this one. Says the Prophet Muhammad:

Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war . . . When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them. . . . If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim, book 19, no. 4294).

The Telegraph has a story today about a modern manifestation of this in Chechnya. (Thanks to Fanabba.) A young Russian soldier, Yevgeny Rodionov, an Orthodox Christian, was asked to convert to Islam by Chechen jihadis. When he refused, they killed him. Now he is being venerated as a saint and martyr:

On his 19th birthday Chechen rebels took Yevgeny Rodionov out of the cell where they had held him prisoner and invited him to convert to Islam. When he refused, they beheaded him. To growing numbers of Russian Orthodox believers the young soldier is already a saint and a martyr for the faith. They offer prayers to him and credit icons of his image with miraculous works.

"I'm proud of my son, that he met death eye to eye, that he kept his faith to the end," says his mother Lyubov, turning a bloodstained silver crucifix slowly in her hands. "But as for whether he's a saint or not - that's for God to decide."

Mrs Rodionova found the cross in Chechnya, the region devastated by war where Yevgeny was posted at the age of 18, never to return to the small flat outside Moscow now dominated by his image.

Yevgeny the blond boy peers out from a black-and-white photo, next to Yevgeny the conscript, solemn in his uniform. Another photograph shows the brick room where he was held captive for 100 days. A final one shows the sunny glade where they killed him, and where his mother helped unearth his bones with her bare hands.

The silver crucifix, which Yevgeny made as a boy, glinted in the shallow grave, and made sure he would not join the forgotten war dead of the past decade.

His is a timely story in a nation hungry for heroes after the demise of Soviet superpower, where millions look to nationalism and the Church for relief from a relentless slide into poverty.

"People seem to need Yevgeny where things are tough," says Mrs Rodionova. "They look to him in the prisons, in the army, where a believer's life is hard."

His icons bring solace and sometimes salvation, according to his mother. She says that one icon, in a small chapel in Siberia's remote Altai mountains, began to weep myrrh just before a major earthquake hit the region last year. It was a warning to locals, she says, and the chapel survived.

Church elders have frowned upon Yevgeny's grassroots canonisation. Their disapproval means little to his mother, whose lone search for her missing son left her with a loathing for officialdom.

Ten months spent with Chechnya's most notorious guerrillas, more than $10,000 buying information about her son, the death of Yevgeny's father five days after her son's burial: these things have left their mark, she says.

But they are as nothing compared to the betrayal she says her son suffered at the hands of Russia's military and political leaders.

"They just send our boys away to an undeclared war and then forget about them. This is Russia's disgrace."

Berlin mosque linked to Islamic radicals

While France focuses on the hijab, Germany has found bigger fish to fry. This article reveals that the Muslim Brotherhood is alive and well and still inextricably bound to Islamic radicalism, despite widespread assumptions that it is either moribund or a straitlaced shadow of its former self. This from Expatica, with thanks to Nicolei:

Federal investigators in Germany have linked backers of a proposed mosque in Berlin to Islamic radicals with links to terrorist organizations in the Mideast, officials confirmed Friday.

The enormous mosque, which would accommodate 5,000 worshippers, has financial backing from Ibrahim el-Zayat, head of the Moslem Brotherhood in Germany, according to documents leaked to Berlin news media.

"El Zayat bought two adjoining parcels of land in the German capital for EUR 370,000 in March 2002 on behalf of a company called the European Trust," said city administrator Heinz Buschkowsky in confirming the reports.

Buschkowsky said city building authorities have given approval for construction to go ahead despite protests from local residents in the Neukoelln district that the huge structure would overwhelm the neighbourhood.

Federal investigators have been looking into links between extremist groups and the Inssan Islamic Community which is nominally in charge of building the mosque.

"We are now able to state categorically that there are links between the community and the Moslem Brotherhood," one federal investigator, Claus Guggenberger, told Berliner Morgenpost newspaper.

The Moslem Brotherhood, originally founded in Egypt, is believed to have some 1,300 members in Germany. According to investigators, it maintains close links to the Palestinian Hamas along with the Gama Al Islamiah and the Algerian Salvation Front (FIS).

German investigators say they are concerned that the Moslem Brotherhood is attempting to broaden its influence through religious centres in major cities. The Berlin mosque project is said to be one example of that.

The Pflueger Strasse project is one of four large new mosques proposed for the Neukoelln-Kreuzberg district, just south of the government centre of the German capital. Long a neighbourhood in transition, the district has a large mixed-ethnic population with a large number of second- and third-generation Turkish immigrants.

Berlin, a city of more than 3 million, has an estimated 220,000 Moslems. The city's 70 or so mosques are largely located in renovated shops and warehouses.

The four new mosques mark a radical change in this city with its centuries-old Protestant tradition.

Al-Qaida terrorists leaving Iraq?

In Onward Muslim Soldiers I detail how Muslim leaders worldwide declared the Iraq war a jihad -- whereupon Muslims streamed into Iraq to fight the Americans there. But a report in WND today suggests that now they may be streaming out again. Why? Too many Muslims are getting killed. No one, apparently, is concerned about non-Muslims getting killed.

Al-Qaida's campaign in Iraq has backfired politically due to large numbers of Muslim deaths, prompting the terrorist network to take its holy war elsewhere, according to counter-terror experts.

An Internet magazine published by al-Qaida, Sawt al-Jihad, or "Voice of Jihad," urges Osama bin Laden's supporters to stay away from Baghdad and instead hit U.S. military targets in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, terrorist expert Rita Katz told the New York Post.

Katz' SITE Institute monitors al-Qaida propaganda on the Internet.

An article titled "Do Not Go To Iraq," by Muhammad bin al-Salim, says: "My instructions to the people of the peninsula [Saudi Arabia], young as old, men as women, is to fight Americans in their homes and the people of Yemen should fight the Americans in their bases, battleships and their consulates."

The Post notes this is a change in strategy by bin Laden, who reportedly in October shifted some resources from Taliban renegades in Afghanistan to Iraq in order to battle coalition forces.

Katz sees growing evidence bin Laden's foreign fighters no longer are welcome in Iraq, the Post reported.

"It's clear that the killing of a lot of Muslims in Iraq is something al-Qaida now wants to avoid," she told the New York paper.

CPAC today

I am in Washington today; later this afternoon I'll be speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on terrorism and Islamic fascism.

I believe that jihad terrorism is a human rights issue which should interest both liberals and conservatives. And I have been in touch with people from the far left end of the political spectrum who support the work of Jihad Watch -- more on that later. But I applaud CPAC for leading the way, and am grateful for their invitation. Updates when possible. -- Robert Spencer

The Iran-9/11 Connection?

Could Iran have had something to do with 9/11? Would the Shi'ite mullahs have cooperated and collaborated with the Sunni Wahhabis who perpetrated the attacks? No serious problem on that score: an old saying in Arabic translates roughly as "My brother against my brother; both of us against our cousin." Anyway, the evidence for this connection is slight, and there may be nothing to it at all, but it is intriguing. Stephen Brown has an excellent report at FrontPage:

A surprise witness testified Thursday in the Hamburg trial of an alleged 9/11 conspirator that Iran was involved in the devastating terrorist attack.

The accused, Abdelghani Mzoudi, a Moroccan, was an associate of 9/11 suicide pilots Mohammed Atta; Marwan Alshehhi; Ziad Jarrah; and other Islamist radicals in the northern German city. He is believed to have belonged to al-Qaeda’s infamous ‘Hamburg cell’, which harbored the 9/11 death pilots. Mzoudi is charged with being an accessory to 3,066 murders and with membership in a terrorist organization. His trial is the second one to take place in Germany involving a 9/11 co-conspirator. Last February, Mounir el Motassadeq, another Moroccan, was convicted on the same charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The Iranian witness, who fled Iran last July and whose identity remained concealed, said he is a former agent in the Iranian intelligence service, from which experience he makes his claim that Iran was the author of 9/11. He didn’t appear in the courtroom, but instead a German intelligence official read statements from his interrogation out to the court, which heavily implicates Mzoudi in the attack. In it, the Iranian national claims the accused, who spent three months in Iran as well as time in Afghanistan before 9/11, was employed in the logistics side of the September 11 tragedy, collecting information and sending it on to associates.

In reference to the trial, another German intelligence official confirmed in court last Monday that Iran’s intelligence service worked closely with al-Qaeda. According to the official, Iranian intelligence contains a “Section 43”, which plans and executes strikes. A German federal prosecutor also said that federal attorneys have had information since last October about a possible involvement of Iran in the 9/11 attacks. Several al-Qaeda leaders, wanted by the United States, are also known to currently reside in Iran, which refuses to extradite them.

The Mzoudi trial has taken some interesting twists since it began last year. Last December, the Moroccan was, in a surprise development, freed from custody after statements from Ramzi Binalshibh, a 9/11 planner imprisoned in America, were entered into the court; they denied that Mzoudi was ever a member of the Hamburg cell and didn’t have any part in the attack. As a result, the trial’s presiding judge ruled that there now existed a grave possibility that, despite the Moroccan’s connection to the Hamburg cell and despite his stay in Afghanistan, he was excluded from the planning of the 9/11 strike and didn’t knowingly support it, and therefore ordered his release.

German prosecutors, on the other hand, saw no reason to lift the custody order. They say American officials denied them the opportunity to interrogate Binalshibh to verify the credibility of his statements and believe the terrorist in American custody is simply trying to protect the remaining members of the Hamburg cell. The Germans also claim Binalshibh has made “diverging and partly contradictory statements” in the past. Al-Qaeda terrorists, they say, were taught such “tricks” in Afghanistan regarding what to say and how to behave in interrogations to cover up the true background of their deeds.

The two efforts German prosecutors have made since last month to have Mzoudi’s custody order reinstated have both failed. They have also been ordered to produce their Iranian witness before the court next Thursday. German intelligence officials were evasive in court regarding questions concerning their witness’s credibility. His sources of information are also uncertain. This has caused Mzoudi’s defense attorney to remark that the Moroccan’s acquittal is not in jeopardy, saying the new witness’s testimony cannot be taken seriously, adding that any incriminating evidence from him also has to be proven first. The trial’s prosecutor says however it should only take one or two weeks to verify the witness’s credibility.

Last Thursday was also the day when judgment was expected on the charges against Mzoudi, but the prosecution’s surprise witness has caused the trial’s extension. However, even if acquitted, the Iranian says Mzoudi now still faces justice, only this time Islamist-style. According to his statement, the Iranian witness believes German authorities released Mzoudi from custody last month in the hope he would lead them to other Islamists connected to the Hamburg cell. And it is for this same reason, he told German intelligence officials, that al-Qaeda now wants to liquidate him.

If true, acquittal may be the worst thing that could happen to Mzoudi. Sharing a jail cell with Motassadeq in Germany for the next 15 years definitely seems a more inviting option than a bullet from a former comrade. Nevertheless, it is the one terrorist attack where 9/11 survivors and victims’ relatives would probably wish al-Qaeda all the best.

Hambali wanted to attack Australia

It seems that the terrorist Hambali wanted to start the jihad in Australia, but wasn't able to get it off the ground. This from The Australian, with thanks to Jean-Luc:

HAMBALI, Southeast Asia's most dangerous terrorist, wanted to attack Australia but had failed to establish a local network capable of staging bombings, US interrogators have learned.

The CIA, acting as interrogator for the Australian Federal Police and ASIO, asked Hambali in late November more than 200 questions about terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah's intentions in Australia.

The responses have reaffirmed a belief by both agencies that the JI cell covering Australia, known as Mantiqi 4, was the least developed and operationally capable of JI's four regions.

The answers reveal Hambali had almost no success in establishing a local Anglo-Saxon network and instead relied on two Indonesian brothers, Abdul Rahim Ayub and Abdul Rochman Ayub.

There was one alleged exception, a local man who legally cannot be named and who has been under the sustained scrutiny of authorities.

The Ayubs' duties extended no further than fundraising for their cohorts abroad and instilling the fervour of JI teachings, including those of firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir.

Abdul Rochman Ayub was deported from Australia on immigration irregularities. His brother, who fled to Indonesia in the days after the Bali bombings, remains on the run.

Hambali is being held at a US military base on the Indian Ocean outpost of Diego Garcia. Nearby are two more of the world's most dangerous men, al-Qa'ida's chief of operations Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and confessed September 11 organiser Ramzi bin-al-Shibh.

The CIA would not allow Australian officials direct access to Hambali and have so far not permitted officials from his homeland of Indonesia to visit him.

However, the US ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph Boyce, this week indicated the US was "seriously considering" reversing the latter decision.

Hambali was captured in Thailand in August last year. Until then he had been JI's director of operations and the most wanted man in the region. He allegedly gave the go-ahead for the Bali bombings, which killed 202 people.

Powell: clean up the madrassas

Secretary of State Colin Powell has asked Islamic governments to clean up their schools: "if they are just going to take their young people and put them in these madrases, these schools that do nothing but indoctrinate them in the worst aspects of a religion, then they are shorting themselves, they are leaving themselves back as well as teaching hatred that will not help us bring peace to the region, and will not help their societies." True enough. There is abundant evidence that the madrassas in many Islamic countries are breeding grounds for terrorists. As long as this continues, so will terrorism. This from AP:

Unfortunately, many will reject Powell's words on the grounds that he is trying to get them to renounce their Islamic identity.

The Bush administration advises Arab and other Muslim governments to educate their children in schools that teach more than Islamic doctrine, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday.

In some of these schools children are being taught to hate, thereby hurting peace efforts in the region and also not helping their own societies, Powell said.

"We have been talking not only to the Saudis but to other Middle Eastern leaders and Muslim leaders around the world, and made it clear to them that Islam is a great religion," Powell said in an interview with WPHT Radio in Philadelphia.

"But they also have to be educating their youngsters not just in the tenets of Islam and the Islamic religion, but they have to educate their youngsters for the demands of the 21st century," Powell said.

"They have got to give them skills. They have got to teach them to read and write," Powell said. "They have got to teach them science and math and all the other things that are necessary for societies to be successful in the 21st century."

Drawing a bead on some of the Islamic schools, Powell said "if they are just going to take their young people and put them in these madrases, these schools that do nothing but indoctrinate them in the worst aspects of a religion, then they are shorting themselves, they are leaving themselves back as well as teaching hatred that will not help us bring peace to the region, and will not help their societies."

Powell said the Bush administration had made it clear to Saudi Arabia that the 21st century is going to require changes in their society.

"But we do it as friends, and we don't do it to beat them up or lecture them," Powell said.

The United States needs Saudi Arabia, but "there are certain policies they have that we are not happy with," he said.

"They have a different culture, a different society than ours - things they do that would not be acceptable to us," Powell said, without elaboration.

"They don't accept that the days of jihad are over"

Time Asia contains an interesting report on the radical Islamic group Jaish-e-Muhammad, which is now waging jihad on their former patron Pervez Musharraf. (Thanks to Jeffrey Imm.)

In the half-hour before Mohammed Jamil ended his life, he was a busy man. As he sat in a pickup truck loaded with C4 plastic explosives, he made and received no fewer than 109 calls on his cell phone, talking, at least in some cases, to accomplices in his effort to incinerate the President of Pakistan. Jamil, 23, might have assumed that the evidence he was creating would disintegrate in the blast he planned for Pervez Musharraf. If he did, he was wrong. Not only did he and a second car bomber fail to kill Musharraf in their Dec. 25 attempt, but the memory card of Jamil's cell phone, which investigators found intact amid the detritus of the blasts, has led authorities to dozens of suspected collaborators. Many belong to a violent Pakistani extremist group, Jaish-e-Muhammad. Once allied with Musharraf's government, the group is now linked to al-Qaeda, whose leader, Osama bin Laden, called for Musharraf's overthrow in a recent audiotape. . . .

That Jaish-e-Muhammad has the capacity to launch sophisticated attacks on the President, possibly with insider help, is a situation partly of Musharraf's making. The government in Islamabad has long coddled militant Islamic groups, encouraging them first to help drive the Soviets out of neighboring Afghanistan and later to torment Indian troops in the part of the disputed state of Kashmir that is under Indian control. It was to this latter cause that Jaish-e-Muhammad was devoted. Official tolerance of these groups, and in some cases assistance to them, continued after Musharraf took power in a 1999 coup. The President was especially supportive of Jaish-e-Muhammad's leader, warrior-cleric Maulana Masood Azhar. When Azhar was released from an Indian jail in a prisoner exchange in December 2000, he was permitted to stage a huge rally in Karachi attended by gun-toting followers. In 2001 Musharraf even tried unsuccessfully to persuade the various Kashmiri guerrilla groups to unite under Azhar.

The government's partnership with extremists was tested after 9/11, however, when Musharraf sided with the Bush Administration in its battle against Islamic militancy. Even so, Musharraf treated homegrown radicals gingerly at first. Under pressure from Washington, he banned various militant organizations in January 2002, but he left their leaders largely unfettered and allowed the organizations to reconstitute under new names. When it came to Jaish-e-Muhammad, Musharraf acted like a parent in denial after his favorite son has turned delinquent. Pakistan's intelligence services, which had helped build up the group and infiltrate its fighters into Indian-controlled Kashmir, were hesitant to crack down, even after Jaish-e-Muhammad began unleashing religious terrorism within Pakistan. Officials hold the outfit and its offshoots responsible for a May 2002 bombing in Karachi that killed 11 French naval technicians and another explosion outside the U.S. consulate in the same city in June 2002 that killed 12 Pakistanis. Diplomats in Islamabad say that one reason Musharraf was reluctant to get tough on Muslim extremists was that most were allied with religious parties he needed to prop up his regime.

After the two attempts on his life, Musharraf seems to have a new attitude. Acting on information gleaned from Jamil's cell phone, police in the central region of Punjab last week arrested more than 35 suspects from mosques and seminaries, most thought to be connected to Jaish-e-Muhammad. An unspecified number were released. Still, U.S. officials are encouraged that Musharraf finally seems committed to going after Jaish-e-Muhammad, a request Washington has made to Islamabad for years, to little effect. "He's serious," says a U.S. State Department official. "He was born again on Dec. 25."

One of those arrested last week was wanted as an accessory in the January 2002 abduction and murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl. The Pakistanis have already convicted Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, a militant close to Jaish-e-Muhammad, of abducting Pearl and sentenced him to death. A witness says it was al-Qaeda commander Khalid Shaikh Mohammed who actually killed the journalist. Arrested by the U.S. on March 1, 2003, Mohammed remains in U.S. custody. According to a senior Pakistani antiterrorism official, he is being held at a military base on Diego Garcia. Pakistan's Interior Minister, Faisal Saleh Hayat, told TIME "there's a strong possibility" that the Dec. 25 plotters were also "involved with al-Qaeda."

The two groups certainly know each other. Throughout the 1990s, before marching off to fight the Indians in Kashmir, Jaish-e-Muhammad militants crossed into Afghanistan to attend al-Qaeda training camps. Pakistan's intelligence services looked the other way. Officials in Pakistan say that these days Jaish-e-Muhammad activists give shelter to al-Qaeda militants and that al-Qaeda provides funding and guidance to Jaish-e-Muhammad, perhaps contracting the group out for killings. Says retired General Talat Masood, a consultant on security affairs in Islamabad: "The military had an alliance with these jihadi groups, but they got totally out of control."

Suicide bomber Jamil was known to Pakistani intelligence. A reedy young man from the village of Rawalakot in the Himalayan foothills near the Indian border, he fought alongside the Taliban against the Americans in Afghanistan. Wounded in the fall of Kabul, he was allowed to return home to Pakistan. On arrival in Peshawar, he was interrogated by Pakistani intelligence services and dismissed as harmless in April 2002. Like many Muslim extremists, Jamil, according to his relatives in Rawalakot, viewed Musharraf as too pro-Western. Militants complain that Musharraf betrayed the Taliban and, given his peace overtures to India in early January, they now accuse him of selling out Kashmiri Muslims too. Jamil's rants against the U.S. and Musharraf were so incessant that his family kicked him out, neighbors say. But was Jamil the ringleader of the Dec. 25 plot? "Of course not," scoffs Interior Minister Hayat. "The ringleaders never blow themselves up. They get minions to do that."

However dedicated Musharraf may now be to weeding out Pakistan's extremists, the task will be long and dangerous. On Thursday, terrorists in Karachi bombed a Christian study center, injuring 14 people. Says Hayat: "Their tentacles are spread far and wide." On the run now, these groups may be more dangerous than ever. Says an ex-commander of one of them in Lahore: "The boys aren't listening to anyone. They're desperate. They don't accept that the days of jihad are over."

Supporters of Cleveland imam charge scapegoating

Cleveland Muslim leader Fawaz Damra, who has been arrested on suspicion of concealing ties to terrorist groups, has been forced to take a paid leave of absence by the Islamic Center of Cleveland — although the Cleveland Plain Dealer quotes one local man there as saying that Damra enjoys the support of eighty to ninety percent of area Muslims.

More importantly, in a variation of the race card that Muslim leaders often deploy against critics, Damra and his supporters are charging that his arrest is part of an ongoing campaign targeting Muslims:

Damra declined to comment Tuesday, but at a rally last Friday at the mosque, attended by about 250 supporters including Christian clergy and leaders of other Islamic groups, Damra criticized what he called the "blatant targetting" of Islamic leaders by the government.

"In these difficult times, we must not allow fear and hate to deprive us of our collective civil rights," he said. . . .

"He has the support of, I'd say, 90 percent of the Arab and Muslims in this community," said Aziz, a trustee of the club, which represents Palestinian families from the West Bank village of Beit Hanina. "The few that think they have the power to influence the future of Fawaz, they are mistaken."

On Jan. 13, FBI agents arrested Damra at his Strongsville home and charged him with lying on his citizenship application by not disclosing previous ties to terrorist groups. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $160,000 bond.

It was another blow for a cleric who had been embroiled in criticism over videotaped anti-Semitic slurs he made more than a decade ago.

In a videotape from April 7, 1991, that was made public in the fall of 2001, Damra is shown calling for attacks on Jewish people and referring to them as animals. Damra apologized, expressing his "overwhelming regret and sadness" for the remarks. The cleric said he made the remarks at a time when he had no interaction with the Jewish and Christian communities.

Damra didn't refer to Jews as just any animals, and this is an important distinction. He actually referred to them as "pigs and monkeys," which is just what the Qur'an calls them in Suras 2:62-65, 5:59-60, and 7:166. As I explain in Onward Muslim Soldiers, this is how radical Muslims around the world refer to Jews routinely. Thus in 1991 Damra accepted their equation of the Qur'an's Sabbath-breaking Jews who were cursed by Allah and turned into pigs and monkeys with the Jews of today. It was a matter of theology, not personal experience. Of course, he says that since then his personal experience led him to modify his theology, and I hope that is true.

Meanwhile CAIR, of course, jumped aboard the scapegoating bandwagon:

At the rally Friday, the Cleveland chapter of the Muslim American Society issued a statement calling on area Muslims to unite behind Damra. Jad Humeidan, executive director of the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also urged support, declaring the Damra case "is part of a pattern of attacking the Muslim community, its leaders and its institutions."

Mr. Humeidan, was the arrest of CAIR's Randall Todd Ismail Royer part of this pattern? Was his guilty plea part of it? Since you evidently assume that Damra is not guilty, please explain also these facts, reported in the Plain Dealer last week (via FrontPage):

Imam Fawaz Damra helped lay the groundwork for an organization that ultimately merged into al-Qaida in the late 1980s.

He was an unindicted co-conspirator of the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. And he passionately raised money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which killed dozens of Jews in Israel during the 1990s. . . .

How much Damra knows is unclear, but he is directly linked to two of the largest terror-funding probes in the United States, and implicated by association in a third sprawling investigation. . . .

In the mid-1980s, he co- founded the Alkifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., part of a network that recruited and trained Muslims to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan, a venture that dovetailed with U.S. government efforts in the region.

When the Soviets withdrew, however, there was an international fight over what to do with the leftover money and power.

Like many Alkifah centers around the world, the Brooklyn chapter was drawn into the al- Qaida network created by Osama bin Laden. The mosque itself fell under the sway of Omar Abdul Rahman, known as the "blind sheik," who was later blamed for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

Damra, meanwhile, settled in Cleveland, where he reinvented himself as a peacemaker and spent more than a decade building tentative, then increasingly sturdy, bridges between local Muslims and Jews.

Nearly all of his efforts collapsed following the terror attacks of 2001, when a grainy videotape surfaced revealing another side of the charismatic cleric.

The 1991 video shows Damra at a Muslim gathering in Cleveland, disparaging Jews in Arabic as "pigs and monkeys" and raising money for the killing of Jews by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Maybe he isn't guilty. But it would be helpful to get a full explanation and clarification. Does he now reject Islamic radicalism? Does he want to see the U.S. someday become an Islamic state? These are the kinds of questions that must be answered.

Gimli battles the race card

A few observations from Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer on how Muslim advocacy groups use charges of racism against any and all critics — including John Rhys-Davies, who plays Gimli the Dwarf in Lord of the Rings — can be found in "Gimli Battles the Race Card" at FrontPage magazine today.

Minnesota Resident Charged With Helping Al Qaeda

A Canadian Muslim who lives in Minnesota has been charged with aiding Al Qaeda. This from AP:

A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday charged a Minnesota man with conspiracy to provide material support to the Al Qaeda terrorist network.

Mohammed Abdullah Warsame, 30, a Canadian citizen of Somali descent, was arrested in Minneapolis last month as a material witness in an unspecified terrorism investigation. On Tuesday, a grand jury in Minneapolis indicted him.

The indictment was unsealed Wednesday following Warsame's appearance in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, where he had been transported in December. Warsame was held without bond there, pending his return to Minneapolis.

The indictment alleges that from March 2000 through the date of his arrest, Dec. 8, Warsame conspired to provide material support and resources for Al Qaeda. No further details of the alleged conspiracy were contained in the information released Wednesday.

"The indictment of Warsame demonstrates this nation's iron resolve to detect, disrupt and dismantle the networks of terror," said Attorney General John Ashcroft in a prepared statement. "The charge against Warsame is a grim reminder that Al Qaeda, aided by agents and cells in this country, continues its shadowy efforts to destroy the lives and freedoms of the people in the United States."

New York attorney Sam Tokin represented Warsame at his court hearing Wednesday. He said Warsame did not enter a plea at the brief hearing, and will be arraigned later in Minneapolis. Tokin declined to detail the allegations against Warsame.

News reports have linked Warsame to terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, who was also arrested in Minnesota and now awaits trial in Virginia on federal conspiracy charges. Federal officials have refused to address those reports, and their statement to the news media Wednesday did not mention Moussaoui.

Moussaoui was arrested while learning to fly a Boeing 747 jet at an Eagan flight simulator school two years ago and is the subject of the only U.S. prosecution related to the Sept. 11 attacks. Warsame's wife, Fartun Farah, has said she doesn't know whether her husband knows Moussaoui.

Warsame was a student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. His arrest and the secrecy have been a subject of concern in the local Somali community, which numbers an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 and is believed to be the largest in the United States.

Tom Heffelfinger, U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, said in a statement that the indictment shows that everyone in the United States even in "Minnesota and the rest of the nation's great heartland are subject to the threat of terrorist activity."

Thailand Terror

Stephen Brown in FrontPage has an excellent summation of recent jihad activity in Thailand:

It is the “weak underbelly” in Southeast Asia’s War on Terror.

That is how one observer has described Thailand’s five Muslim provinces, located in the country’s southern panhandle next to Malaysia, where a bloody outburst of Islamist terrorism has already occurred this year.

Earlier this month, 50 Islamist militants raided a Thai army base in Narathiwat, one of the five provinces, where they rounded up the camp’s soldiers, separating the Muslims from the Buddhists. With the captive soldiers looking on, the raiders proceeded to brutally butcher four of their Buddhist comrades, shooting two and cutting the throats of the other two. The murderers then fled with 330 M-16 rifles, two M-60 grenade launchers and seven rocket propelled grenades from the camp’s armory. Their trail led directly to Malaysia, a Muslim-majority state whose northern provinces bordering Thailand contain strongholds of Malaysia’s opposition fundamentalist party, the Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).

Concurrent with the attack, twenty government schools in Narathiwat were also set on fire to serve as a distraction for the raid. Moreover, two Thai police officers were killed the next day while attempting to defuse a terrorist’s bomb in Pattani, another southern Muslim province.

The success of the raid has caused Thai authorities to believe the Islamists had received inside help. As a result, 64 of the camp’s soldiers, 20 of them Muslim, have been flown to Bangkok for investigation. Officials have also ordered 50 recently discharged soldiers who had served at the base, 49 of them Muslim, to appear for questioning.

A resurgence of local separatist groups, combined with outside Islamist help, is believed to be responsible for the recent violence. Thai authorities were taken aback at the bloodiness and military precision with which the army camp raid and school burnings were carried out. As a result, the government has declared marshal law in three of the Muslim provinces and is launching an investigation into the independent Muslim schools (called “ponohs”) in the area. Thanks to Saudi funding, many ponohs now teach the extremist Wahabi brand of Islam and, like their Pakistani counterparts, are suspected of serving as Islamist recruitment centers. The Bangkok Post reported that as many as 700 Thai Muslim youths have trained in secret military camps in southern Thailand; others have visited Taliban camps in Afghanistan.

With its 63 million population, Thailand is 90 percent Buddhist. Thailand’s five southern provinces (Satun, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat), however, are 85 percent Muslim and home to most of the country’s four million Muslims. The southern provinces were annexed a hundred years ago after centuries of Thai government control. A militant Muslim separatist movement started there in the early 1970s, but died out in the 1990s.

The goal of today’s Southeast Asian Islamists is to set up a super-Islamic state, comprising Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Cambodia, the southern Philippines and southern Thailand. Thailand’s defense minister even told a cabinet meeting after the attack that Muslim extremists planned to capture one of the five southern provinces within a thousand days. Experts believe that terrorists from different Southeast Asian Islamist groups are using the region to regroup after security crackdowns in their own countries forced them to flee.

What makes southern Thailand so attractive to Islamist terrorists and other criminal organizations is the loose security environment. Corrupt officials, the area’s remoteness and a very porous border with neighboring Malaysia provide a natural haven for such lawless groups. It is here where the horrific Bali bombing was planned. It is also in Thailand where its mastermind, Hambali, was arrested, albeit in the country’s northern area. The region’s lax security environment has even allowed about 300 illegal ponoh schools to continue operation, although the government banned them five years ago.

For its part, the government of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra says it intends to build better relations with its Muslim citizens as an anti-terrorist measure by investing more money, especially in education, in southern Thailand, a traditionally poor area. Previously, the Thai government has refused to fully recognize the terrorist danger in order to protect its important tourism industry. But it now realizes it must counter the Islamist threat to prevent the southern provinces from turning into a violent, Kashmir-like area.

Fortunately, most Thai Muslims are peaceful, but have long felt the central government has neglected them. Corrupt and sometimes culturally overbearing, Buddhist government officials have also added to their disgruntlement by supporting the latest Iraqi war. Thai Muslims opposed America’s war in Iraq, but did so, for the most part, in a lawful manner. Three Thai Muslims were, however, arrested last June for plotting to blow up Western embassies in Bangkok.

The Thaksin government’s support for America in the War on Terror has now made Thailand a much more attractive target for Islamist depredations. Thai troops are currently serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. President Bush, showing his appreciation, has raised the Southeast Asian nation’s status to that of “major non-NATO ally” of the United States. As a result, more terrorist onslaughts like the army base attack are expected. And since tourism is a major pillar of the Thai economy, a Bali-like bombing of one of Thailand’s famous tourist resorts cannot be ruled out.

Saudi May Have Sought to Be 20th Hijacker

Another possible 20th 9/11 hijacker has been identified: another Saudi. Unlike many of the actual hijackers, this one was actually stopped by an immigration official as he was trying to enter the country. Later, however, he turned up in Afghanistan, which most likely confirms that his intention was indeed jihad. This from AP:

A Saudi man who was prevented from entering the United States a few weeks before the Sept. 11 terror attacks may have been the plot's intended 20th hijacker, federal officials say.

The man, identified only as al-Qahtani, was turned away by a U.S. immigration agent at Orlando International Airport in late August 2001, according to two senior law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday.

The agent became suspicious when al-Qahtani provided only vague answers to questions about what he was doing in the United States and could not provide names of people meeting him at the airport or describe where he was staying, one official said.

Al-Qahtani was stopped and questioned at about the same time that Mohamed Atta, a ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, was using a pay phone at the Orlando airport, according to surveillance camera tapes. Atta had called a number in the Middle East, the officials said.

So far, investigators have not proven a link between Atta and al-Qahtani. But the FBI has long suspected that one of the planes — Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field after a passenger uprising — was supposed to have a team of five instead of only four hijackers. The other three planes taken over that day had five hijackers.

The FBI has been investigating whether up to a dozen other al-Qaida operatives attempted to enter the United States prior to the attacks. What remains unclear, the officials said, is whether any of these people were supposed to take part in the hijackings or mount other attacks.

After his apprehension, U.S. agents put al-Qahtani on a plane back to Saudi Arabia, the officials said. He later wound up in Afghanistan, where he was captured by U.S. forces and is now being held along with other captives at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The agent who stopped al-Qahtani, Jose Melendez-Perez, is to testify about the matter at a hearing next week before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States, better known as the 9/11 commission.

Give that man a medal.

Unfulfilled Promises: Pakistan's Failure to Tackle Extremism

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's "jihad against extremism" hasn't started out well. The International Crisis Group has found that despite his reform efforts, Islamic schools in Pakistan are still breeding grounds for Islamic radicalism. This from the ICG website, with thanks to Nicolei:

President Pervez Musharraf’s promise to drive extremism from Pakistan’s madrasas, or Islamic schools, remains unfulfilled. Today, two years after he promised his sweeping reforms, the jihadi madrasa remains the key breeding ground for radical Islamist ideology and the recruitment centre for terrorist jihadi networks.

The International Crisis Group’s latest report, Unfulfilled Promises: Pakistan’s Failure to Tackle Extremism, examines Pakistan’s unreformed madrasa system and the expanding power of Islamist extremists. The report states that the failure to curb rising extremism in Pakistan stems directly from the military government’s own unwillingness to act against its political allies among the Islamist groups.

“Having co-opted the religious parties to gain constitutional cover for his military rule, Musharraf is highly reliant on the religious right for his regime’s survival”, says Samina Ahmed, ICG’s South Asia Project Director. “It’s no surprise, then, that he hasn’t intruded on the mullahs’ turf by reforming the madrasa system in any significant way”.

"Religious right." Nice phrase. Unfortunately for the analogy, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson et al aren't calling for anyone to be murdered. The same cannot be said of the "right-wing" imams in Pakistan.

In January 2002, Musharraf publicly promised a list of measures to tackle extremism, including bringing the madrasas into the mainstream. The government pledged to register all madrasas, to have them adopt a government-approved curriculum by the end of 2002, and to stop their misuse for preaching political and religious intolerance.

The international community welcomed Musharraf’s promise to stem jihadi ideology, but two years on, the lack of results is clear. To date, no presidential ordinance to regulate madrasas has been promulgated; in fact, the government openly assures the clergy that it will not interfere in the madrasas’ affairs. Most madrasas in Pakistan remain unregistered and their sources of funding remain unregulated.

The pledge to have government-prescribed curricula at all madrasas similarly remains unfulfilled: no national curriculum has been developed. Three “model madrasas” teaching government-approved coursework have been established, but together these three schools have only about 300 students, while 1.5 million students attend unregulated madrasas.

Most critically, religious extremists continue to use madrasas and mosques to propagate their extremist Islamic agenda, including their anti-American and pro-Taliban campaign.

Pakistan’s failure to close jihadi madrasas and to crack down on jihadi networks has resulted in a resurgence of domestic extremism and sectarian violence, including two assassination attempts against Musharraf himself in December 2003. Government inaction continues to pose a threat to domestic, regional and international security.

“Musharraf’s priority has never been eradicating Islamic extremism but rather the legitimisation and consolidation of his military rule”, says Robert Templer, Director of Asia Program at ICG. “For that, he depends on the religious right. If the U.S. and others continue to restrict their pressure on Musharraf to verbal demarches, the rise of extremism in Pakistan will continue unchecked”.

Jihad in Spain

One of the groups that planned the 9/11 attacks operated in Spain, hiding in plain sight by working at ordinary jobs by day and planning terror and mayhem by night. This from AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

One ran a photocopy shop in a drab Madrid suburb, quietly churning out literature preaching holy war. Another directed real estate companies and is now accused of laundering money that went to al-Qaida.

Their purported boss was a used-car salesman who spoke to them in code, recruited in mosques, drove like a spy under surveillance and allegedly helped prepare the Sept. 11 attacks.

This personality-driven portrait of how a suspected radical cell of Muslims took shape in the 1990s in Spain - which became a staging ground along with Germany for the 2001 suicide airliner attacks in the United States - is contained in a 700-page indictment by a Spanish judge.

Other Middle Eastern or North African-born members of the alleged cell of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network also ran businesses - a carpentry shop, a ceramics factory, an audio equipment store - as fronts while working for al-Qaida, according to the court document.

Many recruits ended up in Bosnia or Chechnya for terrorist training or combat. They also went to Afghanistan, and on Dec. 26, Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon asked the United States to extradite four alleged al-Qaida members arrested in Afghanistan after the Taliban was toppled in 2002.

The four - now held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo, Cuba - were accused of links to the Spanish cell leader and charged with belonging to a terrorist organization.

That was the latest twist in an investigation that began in the mid-1990s and culminated in Garzon's Sept. 17 indictment of bin Laden and 34 alleged terrorists, including 19 suspected members of the Spanish cell.

No trial has been set. Still, the indictment means that Garzon has enough evidence to go to trial, although there is no deadline and he can keep gathering evidence as long as he wants.

Spanish authorities say the cell turned the country into an important staging ground for the attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people. Lead suicide pilot Mohammed Atta visited Spain twice in 2001, including a trip in July that Garzon says was called to discuss last-minute details with other senior plotters.

The Spanish cell's alleged mastermind was 40-year-old Imad Yarkas, a Syrian-born used car salesman with a Spanish wife and five children. He was jailed in Madrid in November 2001, one of about 40 alleged Islamic extremists arrested in Spain since the attacks.

The cell's financier, Garzon says, was another native Syrian, Muhammed Galeb Kalaje Zouaydi. He ran construction and real estate companies in Madrid as fronts to receive and funnel money to pay for al-Qaida operations, Garzon charged.

Some $3.1 million entrusted to Zouaydi by "Islamic investors" inside and outside Spain is unaccounted for, the indictment charged.

Garzon describes how Zouaydi allegedly laundered money, or tried to, including a transaction in the summer of 2000 in which Yarkas told him of a building materials supplier willing to sell bogus invoices.

Zouaydi said he wanted $240,000 worth. "All the kinds of stuff we work with: paint, flooring, wood," Zouaydi said, according to the indictment, which cited wiretapped telephone conversations. The deal fell through because Zouaydi felt the supplier wanted too much money, Garzon said.

Through their attorneys, both Yarkas and Zouaydi have denied any wrongdoing. "His conscience is clear," said Yarkas' attorney, Jacobo Teijelo.

But Garzon charged the two men and nine others with specifically taking part in Sept. 11 planning, accusing them of "direct involvement in preparation of [the attacks] by providing infrastructure and cover, coordinating movements in Europe" of al-Qaida members.

He called them "key persons who catalyze national and international relations of all the members of the group, assuming the obligation of not only meeting their needs but directing and indoctrinating them."

Yarkas was in charge of recruiting fighters, the indictment said. At the Abu Baker mosque in Madrid, Garzon said, Yarkas would hand out copies of pro-jihad magazines from Algeria and Egypt or statements attributed to bin Laden.

One day in February 1995, Garzon says, Yarkas spent three hours in the shop, emerging with Dalati lugging what appeared to be photocopied magazines. The materials were loaded into the trunk of Yarkas' Peugeot, and he proceeded to the mosque.

"They kept a constant lookout around them, adopting security measures," Garzon wrote. Elsewhere, Garzon says, Yarkas altered his routes for arriving at the same destination and changed speed constantly.

A senior Spanish law enforcement official said that because police could not enter mosques, the houses of worship were havens for al-Qaida planning and fund-raising. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

By telephone, cell members spoke in code, the indictment charges. Merchandise meant weapons. Pills were bullets, trade offices were recruitment centers and salesmen were mujahedeen sent off to train as terrorists or fighters.

National Police spokesman Jose Maria Seara said other cell members worked harvesting vegetables in northern Spain or as waiters. And one good way to go unnoticed, he said, was to stay in plain view. "Police cannot spend all day tracking a waiter," Seara said.

Failed Musharraf assassination linked to Pearl murder

The same people who killed Danny Pearl seem now to be trying to kill Pervez Musharraf. Hmmm. Why would that be? Might jihad ideology be at all revelatory of their motives and goals? This from ABC Radio Australia News, with thanks to Jean-Luc:

Authorities in Pakistan hope to question an Islamic militant over his group's possible involvement in an assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf.

The AFP newsagency says the British-born militant, Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh, convicted in the murder plot of American journalist Daniel Pearl, is soon to be shifted to Rawalpindi.

Investigators probing the Christmas Day attempt on President Musharraf's life, believe one of the suicide bombers belonged to Harkat Jihad-e-Islami, which is blamed for Pearl's murder.

General Musharraf narrowly survived two suicide car bomb attacks on his motorcade in which 15 people, including four police officials were killed.

The attack came 11-days after a bomb blew up a bridge in the same area shortly after his motorcade passed over it.

Sheikh Omar and three other Islamic militants were convicted in July of plotting the abduction and murder of the Wall Street Journal reporter in Karachi.

Unsettling alliance

"Unsettling Alliance," a new article by Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer on the true dimensions of the threat from jihadist groups, appears in today's Washington Times.

Singalong jihad against Americans in Iraq

In Iraq, music praising jihad has become a hot item. This from Newsday, with thanks to Jean-Luc:

The rhythm, you can almost dance to. The lyrics call for guerrilla war.

"America has come and occupied Baghdad," singer Sabah al-Jenabi croons. "The army and people have weapons and ammunition. Let's go fight and call out the name of God."

On the musical front of the guerrilla war in Iraq, Americans hold the heights. They control the country's radio stations, which fill the airwaves with apolitical Western and Arab pop tunes. But at least some Iraqi musicians, like al-Jenabi, are taking the battle for Iraqis' hearts and minds to the country's cassette and CD players.

The U.S.-led occupation authority has outlawed mass media appeals for violence against coalition troops or other Iraqis. Its spokesman, Dan Senor, told reporters recently that "any sort of public expression used in an institutionalized sense that would incite violence against the coalition or Iraqis" is banned.

But al-Jenabi's cassette tapes, and others calling for violent insurrection against the Americans, are hot items on the streets of Baghdad, Fallujah and Ramadi. Al-Jenabi's tunes ring out in the bazaars of central Iraq, where rebels have been shooting down U.S. helicopters weekly.

"The men of Fallujah are men of hard tasks," he sings in an Arabic argot spoken only in Fallujah and nearby Ramadi. "They paralyzed America with rocket-propelled grenades. May God protect them from airplanes." . . .

Even Iraqis generally supportive of the U.S. occupation admit they're attracted to the music. Driver Ahmad Hossein plays al-Jenabi's cassettes in his car. "I like the music and the lyrics," said Hossein, a member of the Shia sect, which was oppressed under Hussein's regime. "I don't know why. I don't agree with what it's saying. It just makes me feel good."

Some interesting information about the relatively peaceful Sufis:

But Iraq's musicians are divided about supporting the guerrilla war. The tunes al-Jenabi sings are based on a centuries-old form of religious music -- praise-singing -- that evolved among Islam's mystical Sufi brotherhoods. And Sufi praisers, traditional leaders in the writing of songs to fight by, seem unconvinced that war is needed now.

Seyyed Abdullah Hassani sings and plays the daf, a big hand-held drum. His family has been praising for 30 generations, and he ticks off the names of his forefathers from memory. Followers come to his book-filled office and ask him to sing a few words about Allah, a dead relative or a newborn child in return for a small donation.

Iraq's last rebellion against a Western army was in 1920, when the British Empire had seized this land after World War I in search of oil to fuel the navy upon which the empire depended. Then, eminent religious leaders issued the call for jihad and Sufi praisers -- including Hassani's grandfather -- turned out songs in support.

"Within a couple years, the British fled," Hassani said. In fact, while the British were thrown back by the revolt, they ultimately used heavy bombing by their new air force to regain control.

Now, Hassani says, the anti-American revolt among Sunnis lacks the legitimate sanction of religious leaders. Sufi praisers have not joined the fight.

But it should be noted that, contrary to the wishful thinking of many American analysts, these Sufis do not have a theoretical objection to violent jihad, whether or not they think the time is right for it now.

Islamic exile ordered bombings from Oslo, claims CIA

Mullah Krekar, the Kurdish Islamic leader who now lives in Norway, has both confirmed and denied that he is the leader of the terror group Ansar Al-Islam. But now the CIA seems to have caught him in the act. This from the Telegraph, with thanks to Filtrat and Nicolei:

Internet messages sent by an exiled Islamic radical allegedly ordering suicide bomb attacks against coalition troops in Iraq have been intercepted by American intelligence officials.

Mullah Krekar, founder of Ansar Al-Islam, the fanatical terror group linked to al-Qa'eda and blamed by America for a number of attacks on its troops, is being held in an Oslo prison while police investigate if he has any role in the Iraqi resistance.

Last week, CIA officials passed the messages from Krekar, a Kurd who was granted political asylum from Saddam Hussein in Norway in 1991, to Norwegian prosecutors. The investigation into Krekar - arrested earlier this month on charges of conspiracy to murder a Kurdish politician in 2002 - has widened to take in his alleged role in plotting recent attacks, in Europe as well as Iraq.

The CIA material details Krekar's alleged role in the terrorist campaign against coalition troops in Iraq. These allegedly include coded messages sent via the internet authorising suicide bomb attacks and exhorting holy war. Krekar's lawyer, Byrnar Meling, confirmed the role played by the Americans in investigating his client.

"The charges in Norway relate to orders on the internet to carry out suicide bomb attacks in the last months of 2003," he said. "They have been on the internet listening to his messages and the prosecutor has now confirmed that they are interested in starting an investigation into a lot of information that can be tracked to the Americans."

You got him all wrong, says Krekar's lawyer. He was just discussing theology. (This defense, of course, relies on the prosecution making the absurd assumption that a theological discussion can have nothing to do with practical violence.)

Mr Meling admitted that his client had taken part in internet discussion groups used by Islamic groups while in Norway, but said that his postings were merely his thoughts about the justification of suicide in the context of holy war. "There is no encouragement in his comments," he said. "It is simply a theological, political analysis about Jihad."

The Kurdish radical leader has also been interviewed by Italian police investigating attempts to recruit suicide bombers and Islamic resistance fighters in Milan. No charges have been brought.

Ansar Al-Islam has itself been accused by the German authorities of planning a suicide attack on a US military hospital in Hamburg in December. The plot was thwarted after the authorities closed the hospital after a CIA tip-off.

"This is a case with massive and overlapping international interests," said a senior Western diplomat in Oslo. "The Norwegians have been bombarded with information from a variety of nations, all of which have gathered evidence about this man."

A Kurdish official in Baghdad claimed that the alleged evidence of attacks in Iraq included e-mails and two mobile telephone calls made weeks before the truck bombing of the Baghdad Hotel last October.

"We have been told that Krekar found out on the internet that the CIA was using the hotel as a Baghdad base and had sent a mobilisation order to a cell here in Iraq to plan an attack," he said. In the bombing, six Iraqi guards were killed.

Krekar, who has previously admitted meeting Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman Zawhiri, claims to have severed links with Ansar Al-Islam in May 2002. Last week, however, the judge who ordered him to be held in prison said that Krekar, "has had, and still has, a central position in Ansar Al-Islam."

Shortly before the war was launched in March, Krekar was in northern Iraq. The appeal court heard that according to prisoners interviewed by the Norwegian police, Krekar trained his followers in the techniques of suicide bombers.

"Several witnesses leave the impression that suicide and bombing actions would not have been carried out without [Krekar's] knowledge," the court said, explaining why Krekar was being held in detention while the investigation continues. "According to the suspect's statement to police, no one could be punished without his approval."

Hamas: Women who shame family can be bombers

Why did Reem Raiyshi become a suicide bomber? She may have had no choice. It seems that her husband caught her en flagrante with a Hamas member — whereupon he encouraged her to atone for this family dishonor by blowing herself up and taking some Israelis with her. This is atonement a la Hamas, based firmly on traditional Islamic ideas. One who is killed in jihad atones for all his sins. This is also why Muhammad Atta and Co. could go to a strip club the night before 9/11: they knew that what they were going to do the next day would wash away all their transgressions.

The report is from Haaretz, with thanks to Joyce and others:

Last week, Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin praised the woman who killed herself and four Israeli security men at the Erez checkpoint. But it turns out Yassin's militant Islamist organization does not unequivocally support the use of women in terror attacks - it is especially hesitant about the deployment of married mothers.

Senior Hamas figures who have consulted about the subject recently are inclined to support only the use of women who have desecrated rules of "family honor."

Hamas' view on women and terror strikes has taken shape in past months, top Israeli intelligence officers explained to Haaretz on Sunday. In the past, Hamas leaders avoided taking a clear stand on the use of women in terror strikes. In some cases, Hamas leaders rejected requests of women to take part in such attacks; Hamas referred a few such women to other organizations, particularly Islamic Jihad and Tanzim.

Hamas has now revised this position, and some of the organization's leaders condone the use of women in terror strikes, particularly in situations where a woman can carry out the assignment more easily (since she is likely to cause less suspicion at crossing points), and when the woman has transgressed moral norms. In such cases, a woman's "sacrifice" atones for the "stain" she has caused to her family for violating moral codes.

Reem Raiyshi, the woman who blew herself up last week at the Erez crossing, was the married mother of two. Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday that Raiyshi was compelled to perpetrate the terror strike to atone for having betrayed her husband. Relying on IDF sources, this report claimed that Raiyshi's husband, a Hamas operative, knew about his wife's plan in advance, and even encouraged her to carry it out.

Car bomb targets French Muslim leader

Aissa Dermouche was last week appointed prefect of France's Jura region. Dermouche is an Algerian Muslim whom many Muslims in France despise as a sellout — he supports the headscarf ban. In what seems to be a signal to him — as well as a strong hint of what is likely to be in France's future — his car has been blown up. The report is from The Guardian, with thanks to Agent Azure and LGF:

Hours after up to 40,000 Muslims marched against a planned ban on Islamic headscarves in state schools, a carbomb attack on a newly appointed prefect of Algerian origin dramatically underlined the scale of France's problem in assimilating its immigrant Muslim community.

The 4.30am explosion in the western city of Nantes destroyed the car of Aissa Dermouche, 57, an academic and educationalist who was appointed the prefect - or top state representative - of the Jura region last Wednesday.

"There is no doubt that this was a criminal act," said Jean-Marie Huet, the Nantes state prosecutor. Although the car was empty at the time and no one was hurt, Mr Huet said the plainly well-prepared attack "targeted the new prefect personally, and the symbol that he represents".

Mr Dermouche will be responsible for law and order in the region. His was not the first high-profile post to be awarded to a member of an immigrant minority, but it came amid a debate about how France can better assimilate its 5 million-strong Muslim community.

President Jacques Chirac, defending the values of a republic that supposedly treats everyone equally regardless of their background, has knocked the notion of positive discrimination and spoke last week only of the "deserved promotion" of a "talented individual of immigrant origin".

Police said the explosive, whose nature has yet to be determined, could have been planted by Islamic radicals upset at Mr Dermouche's "selling out", or by far-right militants.

Muslim Radicalism Flowers in French Town

France has good reason to be concerned about the hijab: it is a visible symbol of a complex system of laws that stand in direct opposition to the ideas of equality of rights and dignity for all. That there are Muslims in France who are already working for the downfall of the French Republic and others like it is made clear again in this story about the French town of Venissieux, once known for its flowers but now rapidly gaining a reputation as a center of Islamic radicalism. This from AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Clean and green, this well-kept Lyon suburb has for three years running won the national competition for "Flowered Cities of France."

But Venissieux also has a macabre claim to fame. Long plagued by urban violence, it is emerging as a breeding ground for Islamic radicals, some implicated in an alleged terrorist network that authorities say was preparing a chemical attack against Russian targets.

Six residents of Venissieux were arrested Jan. 6 in connection with the planned 2002-2003 New Year's celebrations attack, including a local imam, or prayer leader, Chellali Benchellali, his wife and son. Another son was arrested in 2002.

Two other men from this city of 56,000 are detainees at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including Benchellali's third son.

Venissieux, on the edge of the southeastern city of Lyon, epitomizes France's troubled big city suburbs, teeming with high-rises, cursed with soaring unemployment and peopled mostly by Muslim immigrants from France's former North African colonies. Generation after generation, they are unable to break out.

"It shouldn't be hidden by the trees and parks. There is misery here," said Zohra Hammia, 35, who runs a tutoring program for children.

Investigators contend that Menad Benchellali, 29, was preparing toxic potions in face cream containers at the family home with plans to attack Russian interests in France, including the embassy in Paris. The aim was to avenge deaths of Muslim rebels in the breakaway Russian province of Chechnya. The recipe involved deadly ricin poison and botulism bacteria.

Menad Benchellali, who allegedly trained in Georgia's lawless Pankisi Gorge on the Chechen border, was arrested in December 2002 with eight others in two Paris suburbs. Lists of chemicals and equipment, including a protective suit, were found.

Menad's brother, Mourad, is one of two residents held at Guantanamo. His neighborhood friend, Nizar Sassi, also is detained there. Menad, the alleged "chemist" in the Chechnya network, sent the two men off to Afghanistan in 2001, investigators have said.

Where did Chellali Benchellali go to collect funds for these jihadis? To the mosque, of course:

Their father, a 59-year-old imam born in Algeria, reportedly made at least three trips to Bosnia to deliver humanitarian aid to Muslims. According to police, Chellali Benchellali then became involved in the cause of Chechen Muslims, showing films of Russians soldiers fighting Chechens at his mosque to collect funds for them.

A person familiar with the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed the network moved in and out of France using passports from the faithful, who declared them lost.

Venissieux first gained national attention two decades ago when its residents headed a march of 100,000 mostly French Muslims to Paris in 1983 to demand equal rights and integration.

The youth of Veinissieux, says the article, have turned to "religion" in their despair. But alas, the religion they turned to led them to violence:

Today, despairing Muslims are increasingly turning to religion. A more radical brand of Islam took hold about five years ago, said deputy mayor Bayrem Braiki.

Muslim activists "have been stuffing the brains of our youth ... explaining that the only way out is religion," said Braiki, 28, a practicing Muslim who grew up in Les Minguettes, this town's toughest neighborhood.

Les Minguettes has an unemployment rate of some 30 percent, and in the section known as Darnaise, where the Benchellalis live, it's more than 50 percent.

Some residents seek comfort in the green-carpeted prayer room presided over by Chellali Benchellali — one of at least a dozen such makeshift mosques in the area.

"We were shocked by the imam's arrest," said a friend, Ounsi Hassine, adding that Benchellali was outspoken but not an extremist.

French intelligence started tracking Islamic activism in the suburbs in 1990. Lucienne Bui Trong, a retired intelligence officer and specialist in suburban violence, said private Muslim groups that receive public money for community work sometimes promote radicalism behind the scenes.

In a display of the typical short-sightedness of Western secularists in general, the town's Communist mayor ascribes the problem to economics. If only the French funded mosques, those mosques wouldn't be radical. If you can imagine Osama bin Laden or Sayyid Qutb or Abdullah Azzam or any other mujahid laying down his arms at the promise of state funding, you will get along famously with Mayor Andre Gerin:

Venissieux Mayor Andre Gerin, a communist lawmaker, blames the state for refusing to fund mosques, allowing prayer rooms that encourage radicalism to flourish. Others blame the mayor.

"He opened the way to groups who have imposed their moral power on an entire section of the town," Christian Delorme, who for years was the parish priest of the Minguettes neighborhood, told the weekly Lyoncapitale.

Others blame poverty and prejudice.

"A kid who looks for work and gets the door slammed in his face for a year sees religion as the only solution," said Braiki, the deputy mayor. "If someone proposes paradise, who won't accept paradise?"

This is true as far as it goes. It ignores the possibility, amply documented, that many who are wealthy also choose paradise. The problem is not economic but ideological and religious.

Suicide bombing kills 23 in Iraq

Why would a suicide bomber in Iraq or anywhere else target non-combatants — in this case Defense Department workers? Because Islamic law allows for the killing of civilians, even women and children, if they are viewed as aiding the war effort. This is the justification behind the suicide attacks in buses and restaurants in Israel: not a few imams have declared that there are no civilians in Israel. And now in Iraq, a suicide bomber has killed both Iraqi and American civilians, probably with much the same justification in mind:

A suicide bomber detonated 1,000 pounds of explosives in a pickup truck outside the headquarters compound of the U.S.-led coalition Sunday, killing at least 18 bystanders, including two U.S. Defense Department workers, American officials said.

This from AP.

An Iraqi Governing Council spokesman, Hamid al-Kafai, said at least 20 people were killed and more than 60 were wounded.

U.S. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said there were "indications" that some those killed were American citizens. "We believe the current number to be at two," he said. "We are awaiting confirmation." . . .

The U.S. military press office initially said the 18 dead included 16 Iraqi civilians and two American civilians. The wounded included 22 Iraqi civilians, four civilians working for the Defense Department and two U.S. soldiers, the press office said.

But a military spokesman later said it was unclear whether the Defense Department casualties involved staff or contract workers.

UPDATE: A CNN story raises the death toll to 23. (Thanks to Jeffrey Imm for alerting me to this.)

Musharraf vows jihad to wipe out terror

Embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has called for a jihad against terror. Doesn't he know that jihad is just a spiritual struggle to bring the soul into conformity with God's will? How can he wipe out terror by calling on Pakistanis to try to become more spiritual and avoid temptation? The report comes from Sify News:

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf took his campaign against extremism and terrorism to a new level at the weekend, calling for a jihad against the menace in his first address to a stormy session of the parliament that was marred by opposition heckling. . . .

Musharraf said Pakistan was blamed for terrorist attacks from its tribal areas in neighbouring Afghanistan, for terrorism across the disputed border in Kashmir and for nuclear proliferation and was considered an intolerant, extremist society.

"We have to tackle with full force such foreign elements who can cause terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said. . . .

"I appeal to you and the people of Pakistan to wage a jihad (holy war) against extremism," Musharraf said.

Musharraf has to be aware that jihadis don't think of themselves as terrorists or extremists in the first place. They consider themselves to be just that — jihadis. As I show in Onward Muslim Soldiers, they use an abundance of traditional Islamic theology and law to justify their actions. Does Musharraf mean that he is going to confront and repudiate that, initiating a large-scale reform of Islam? I doubt it.

U.S. Eyes UAE Banks in Terror Money Probe

Evidently the tiny minority of extremists have a few good friends in international banking. Now banks in the United Arab Emirates are being investigated:

Banks in this financial hub of the Arab world remain a key focus in the investigation into terror funding despite moves to tighten reporting rules, freeze accounts and control informal money transfers, U.S. and Arab officials told The Associated Press.

The reason: Dubai's history of shady transactions and the difficulty of tracking a matrix of legal and illegal free trade.

About half the $250,000 spent on the Sept. 11 attacks was wired to al-Qaida terrorists in the United States from Dubai banks, U.S. Treasury and Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates officials said.

Al-Qaida money in Dubai banks also has been linked to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania blamed on Osama bin Laden.

In addition, before Saddam Hussein's ouster, this Persian Gulf emirate was a favorite transit point for smugglers sneaking past U.S.-led naval patrols enforcing United Nations trade sanctions. And it was through Dubai that Russian arms dealers supplied bin Laden's Taliban backers in Afghanistan before the U.S.-led war ousted their Islamic government.

Sultan bin Nasser al-Suweidi, head of the Central Bank, told AP that financial officials are working closely with the U.S. government to block terror funding avenues. Central Bank officials have trained with U.S. investigators and other international experts to help them identify money launderers and suspicious transactions, he said.

"We don't want wrongdoers. We totally don't need them," said the U.S.-educated al-Suweidi, who arrives at his office before 8 a.m. and is often seen working until 10 at night in the fortress-like Central Bank headquarters in the Emirates' capital, Abu Dhabi.

"We totally don't need them"? Where did al-Suweidi, like, learn his English? (Thanks to Jeffrey Imm.)

More Al-Qaeda online terror

Another Al-Qaeda training manual has surfaced online. (You can read about another here.) In it, Al-Qaeda gives further evidence that it has been severely damaged — but that it has by no means given up. This from The Observer, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

Al-Qaeda has issued a chilling new call to arms to recruits who remain undetected by security agencies. In a terrorist manual published on the internet, Osama bin Laden says: 'After Iraq and Afghanistan will come the Crusader invasion of Saudi Arabia. All fighters all over the world must be ready.' . . .

It is directed at new volunteers who are 'below the radar' of counter-terrorist authorities and who cannot break cover to undergo formal training in terrorist techniques. . . .

'Though it shows that we have taken down a lot of the training infrastructure and made it hard for [al-Qaeda] to operate, it is very worrying in that it implies that there are a lot of recruits around who we have yet to pick up,' one British senior police counter-terrorist officer said.

In the manual, bin Laden calls on the recruits to be cautious in their operations, given the counter-terrorist surveillance efforts against them. He says that all those Muslims living in the lands occupied by the unbelievers should study the manual and be prepared to act.

The appearance of the manual - the January issue of what promises to be a monthly publication - is a major boost to al-Qaeda's propaganda effort. Articles include the testimony of a 'martyred' suicide bomber and pages of technical advice on physical training, security counter-measures for operational terrorist cells and the use of light weapons. 'All that is needed to open the ideas of the zealous youthful Muslims to the techniques of our fighters,' a preface explains.

[Saif] Al-Adel, 39, [Al-Qaeda's 3rd highest authority, after Osama and Zawahiri] even warns operatives not to believe official media. 'They will try and wear down your morale by publishing false reports about the arrest of other cells,' he writes.

Another author is Abdul Aziz al-Mukran, who is also known as Abu Hajjer and is one of the most wanted al-Qaeda suspects in Saudi Arabia.

In his contribution, entitled 'The war of nerves', he lists the use of weapons of mass destruction, specifically biological and nuclear arms, as a potential tactic in the 'ongoing war'.

4-nation effort to spell out meaning of jihad

In my line of work, I hear it all the time — from Muslims and non-Muslims alike: "jihad doesn't mean 'holy war.' The Arabic word means 'struggle.' In Islam jihad primarily means the struggle within the soul of the believer to conform his life to the will of Allah." In Onward Muslim Soldiers I discuss all of this at length. From Islamic sources I show that there are indeed many meanings of jihad in Islam, but that radical Muslim theorists like Hasan Al-Banna (founder of the Muslim Brotherhood) and Abdullah Azzam (Osama bin Laden's intellectual mentor) reject the idea that jihad is a spiritual struggle on the grounds that its attestation in the Islamic sources is weak. Their arguments for jihad as holy war are firmly traditionalist: rooted in the Qur'an, the Hadith, the example of Muhammad, and Islamic history.

It does no good simply to pretend that this is not so and hope that it will go away; it must be understood because it is a fundamental cause of innumerable conflicts around the world today. If we don't understand the goals and motives of our opponents, how will we possibly prevail against them in the "war of ideas" that is so central to the war on terror?

In light of all this also, attempts by Muslims to explain that jihad is actually peaceful must be viewed as either well-intentioned but ignorant or outright deceptive. Until Muslim spokesmen acknowledge that violent jihad is a broad tradition within Islam and renounce the doctrines that give rise to it, there will be Muslims somewhere in the world who continue to consider it part of their religious responsibility to wage war on non-Muslims. They will not be swayed by efforts like this one, which only go so far as to show that jihad doesn't mean ONLY holy war, but deceive only those who aren't paying attention into thinking that jihad doesn't amount to holy war at all:

THE word 'jihad' has become so commonly used - and abused - that Muslim religious authorities in the region want everyone to get it right once and for all.

This from the Straits Times.

The official organisations that oversee Islamic practices in Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia are producing a book on the true meaning of jihad.

They want to put right misconceptions of the term by Muslims and non-Muslims alike, said the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) yesterday. . . .

Jihad is a term commonly used by the international media to mean a holy war. But most Muslims understand it to mean struggle or perseverance. It could mean struggle or striving in one's daily life, or in one's efforts to become more spiritual, or to avoid temptation.

At the Mabims meeting, the Singapore delegation described the efforts by Muslims here to build a community of excellence as their own brand of jihad, said its leader, Muis president Alami Musa. . . .

'We want to reach out to the non-Muslims, because the word jihad has been misused by many irresponsible groups for their own narrow objectives,' he told The Straits Times. . . .

Yesterday, Muslim leaders contacted lauded the moves, saying the book, especially, was timely. The word jihad has been in the news here this week after it was reported that members of the terror group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) had been put under Restriction Orders and must go for religious counselling.

Community leaders had said that the counselling must focus on correcting the JI members' misconceptions about jihad, including that it means violence is justifiable.

The good thing about the book is that it will go beyond the community and such efforts, noted those interviewed yesterday.

Ustaz Azmi Abdul Samad of Kampung Siglap Mosque said: 'When non-Muslims visit our mosque, many talk about jihad as if it means just 'holy war' when, in fact, it's a broad term with many meanings.'

Indeed. And I can produce a mountain of evidence to show that one of the most important of those meanings throughout Islamic history and today has been warfare — that is, with guns, not rhetorical warfare — against non-Muslims. Let the Muis forthrightly acknowledge that that is true and renounce that understanding of jihad, and we'll be getting somewhere.

Indonesia: Radical Muslim groups getting more vocal

In Indonesia, radical Muslims are strong and getting stronger. This from Straits Times, with thanks to Nicolei:

LAST month, Indonesia's Defenders of Islam Front (FPI) set up an 'immorality watch' squad to bring to book perpetrators of vice.

Over a hundred supporters of Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir rallied in Jakarta and picketed the Supreme Court, urging judges to overturn the immigration violation ruling that keeps him behind bars for three years.

Bashir, meanwhile, was mobilising support among prisoners, telling them that the Bali bombers were 'God's fighters', not terrorists.

Note well: this is how radical Muslims recruit all over the world: by appealing to the Islamic religious sensibilities of young Muslims. Meanwhile, this distinction between jihad and terrorism gives them an easy way to denounce terrorism when under pressure from the media or law enforcement officials.

Together with FPI leader Habib Mohamad Rizieq Syihab, he also issued a statement urging hardliners to push for syariah [that is, Sharia]implementation this year.

The 'noise' from radical Islamists has shot up in recent months. They are mobilising supporters, issuing decrees, preaching acrimony and lambasting the West for its war on terrorism.

This increased activity, however, is being ascribed by Indonesian observers to a loss of mainstream support:

Analysts say this is happening partly because their mainstream supporters - the pro-syariah parties - are distancing themselves.

Jakarta Post deputy editor Endy Bayuni said mainstream parties see their ties to the radicals - especially those connected to the bombings that have killed Muslims too - as a political liability.

This was further confirmed by the independent Indonesian Survey Institute's latest poll results, released in November, which showed that only 14 per cent of 2,240 respondents supported the pro-syariah parties.

These being Vice-President Hamzah Haz's United Development Party, the Crescent and Star party and the new Prosperous and Justice Party.

Mr Endy said mainstream parties want to renounce their links to the hardliners to regain legitimacy.

However, he told The Straits Times that these and other Islamist parties will continue to push for political Islam.

'The Islamist parties have to be seen as trying to make good their promise to their constituents to fight for an Islamic state and the syariah,' he said.

They had a victory in the national education Bill this year. The Bill, now law, requires that all schools provide Islamic teachers if they have Muslim students.

And now they are pushing for a Bill on religious tolerance, which critics say is really an attempt to thwart the spread of Christianity.

A draft of the Bill suggests that inter-religious marriage and inter-religious adoptions will be outlawed.

Political science expert Rizal Mallarangang told The Straits Times he expects the 'noise' from radicals to increase.

While this may not translate into political gains, it could work to 'create an atmosphere of disturbance and hatred', he said.

Aussies al-Qaida terror tourists

Australian Islamic leader Sheikh Mohammed Omran is now claiming that Australian authorities have known since 1991 that Australians were going to Afghanistan to get training in terrorism — but did nothing to stop it. This from the Herald Sun, with thanks to Jean-Luc:

Melbourne Islamic leader Sheikh Mohammed Omran told the Herald Sun he was repeatedly visited by federal agents who asked him to discourage members of his group from attending the camps.

Up to 12 Australians, including three Victorians, attended the camps, which included training with AK-47 rifles, marching and endurance drills.

Sheikh Mohammed said the camps were regarded as "normal" and "good" for teaching Muslim youth discipline.

But federal agents "didn't like it and they used to tell me they didn't like it", he said.

Despite their concern, the trips continued.

"The Australian Government allowed it," Sheikh Mohammed said. "It was something the Australian Government condoned by inaction."

He said the Government now treated those who attended the camps as potential terrorists.

"Post-September 11 the Australian Government changed policy when the war on terror was born . . . (they) suddenly said these camps are terrorist training," he said.

A security source familiar with the case said the camps were considered dangerous.

But the source said there was a belief within federal agencies before 2001 that the Foreign Incursions and Recruitment Act, the only law then in place to prosecute such cases, was essentially weak.

"It was extremely difficult to get the evidence to prosecute under the Foreign Incursions Act," the source said.

"The prevailing view (by those attending the camps) was the legislation was weak and could be avoided, but they were covert about doing it so we understood they knew it was wrong."

"We understood they knew it was wrong" — but still did nothing until after 9/11:

New laws explicitly banning such training came into place in July 2002, but are not retrospective, which means those known to have trained in the camps are unlikely to be prosecuted.

The source said shortly after September 11, ASIO director-general Dennis Richardson and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty met with key government figures and asked for an urgent strengthening of laws to stop the training.

Bassam Madany's review of Onward Muslim Soldiers

Bassam Madany's review of Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer's book Onward Muslim Soldiers can be found at Middle East Resources:

The title of this book could conceivably be a headline for a news item in a Western newspaper. Throughout the closing days of 2003, and early in 2004, we have lived with a heightened sense of danger as the terror alerts kept rising, and several air flights to the U.S. were canceled . Thanks to Robert Spencer’s “Onward Muslim Soldiers,” we have on hand a non-varnished description of this new era in global history.

Soon after the 11th of September 2001, the contents of Muhammad Ata’s suitcase were discovered. In it were found the Arabic text of the instructions he gave his fellow-conspirators on the eve of their horrific attack on New York and Washington, DC. After exhorting them to remain calm, and rejoice in anticipation of their attack on the symbols of the hated West, he quoted an Arabic poem: “Smile in the face of death, O young man/ For you are on your way to immortality in paradise.” Then, he went on quoting several Qur’anic texts to bolster their resolve to become the vanguard of a new type of shuhada (martyrs) in the path of Allah. What Ata’s hastily composed hand-written notes revealed, Robert Spencer documents in his new book on Islamic Jihad.

What we had observed in Spencer’s Islam Unveiled (2002), we find strengthened and well-documented in Onward Muslim Soldiers. The book has ample references to jihad in the authoritative texts of Islam: the Qur’an, Hadith (plural: Ahadith), as well as in the recognized commentaries of both Sunni and Shi’ite Islam. Based on these texts and the history of the Islamic conquests in Asia, Africa, and Europe, one cannot avoid the conclusion that Jihad is part and parcel of the Islamic tradition.

The reason why many of our contemporaries find it difficult to accept this fact is that they regard Islam as simply a religious faith, like Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto. But Islam is, and has always been, far more than a religion in the accepted sense of the word. It began as a religious faith in Mecca (610), and then it progressed into an expansionist religio-political system from Medina (622). Eventually Islam produced a distinctively Islamic culture and worldview in Baghdad and Cordoba (after 800.)

Most Americans have an added difficulty as they seek to understand Islam. The birth of the United States in 1776 occurred at a time when the last major Islamic power, the Ottoman Empire, was in a state of rapid decline. It finally disintegrated at the end of World War I when most of its territories were taken over by European colonialists. Up to the mid-forties of the 20th century, the United States had very little to do with Islamic countries. The meeting of President Roosevelt with King Saud on a U.S. destroyer in the Suez Canal during World War II, marked the beginning of America’s practical “encounter” with Islam.

Now “Onward Muslim Soldiers” provides us with this much-needed guide to understanding the true nature of Islam, and its attitude to the Rest of the world. This book is organized around three parts. Part One deals with “Jihad Now.” Part Two covers the history of jihad under the rubric of “Jihad Then.” The title of Part Three is very disturbing, “The Great Jihad Cover-Up.”

This “Cover-Up” is evident, for example, in “The Carolina Qur’an Controversy” related on page 145. In 2002, the University of North Carolina assigned “a translation of a part of the Qur’an to all incoming freshmen,” that became “a cause for genuine concern. The assigned book was Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations, translated by Michael Sells. The “early revelations” of the subtitle are the Meccan suras… which preach tolerance and mutual coexistence without a hint of the doctrines of jihad and dhimmitude that unfold in the later Qur’anic revelations.”

Robert Spencer asks: “what was such a misleading misrepresentation designed to accomplish, especially in light of continuing threats from terrorists? Sells has defended his decision to translate only early Meccan Suras on the grounds that they are the most accessible introduction to the Qur’an and Islamic study as a whole. That may be true, but taken in isolation as the only book a young non-Muslim would read about Islam, Approaching the Qur’an could be severely misleading about the nature of the religion as a whole and about the intentions and motives of Islamic terrorists, the very people who have made Islam such a “hot topic” for students.”

This literary product of Professor Michael Sells, in keeping out the Medinan chapters of the Qur’an, does not surprise me. In May 2001, and later on in January 2002, PBS telecast a documentary, “Islam: Empire of Faith.” This expert on Islam was one of several Western commentators who contributed to this program, whose very title was historically questionable. How could the Islamic Empires of the Umayyads, Abbasids, Ottomans, and the Mughals, be described as “Empires of Faith” when they were all built on the “futuhat” i.e., on conquests? Neither Michael Sells nor any of his fellow-commentators every referred to the impact of jihad on the native populations of the conquered territories, nor to such infamous institutions as “dhimmitude.” The apex of disinformation in “Empire of Faith” was reached when reference was made to the “devshirme” system of the Ottomans in Eastern Europe. The Western scholar described this barbaric institution of taking young Christian boys from their families, forcibly Islamizing them, and enrolling them in the elite Ottoman corps of the Janissaries as “recruitment.” Is this genuine scholarship, or a white-wash, as Robert Spencer would describe “The Great Jihad Cover-Up?”

The author concludes his book with these sober words. To ignore them is irresponsible, and tantamount to wishing away a real danger that will be with us for decades to come. “The theology and history of Islam bear out that this is how all too many Muslims have always understood their law. Until Islam undergoes a definitive and universal reform, this is how the warriors of jihad understand it today and will continue to understand it. This is the version of Islam that radical Muslims are pressing forward with bombs and guns and threats around the world. That is why the struggle against jihad is the struggle of every true lover of freedom.” P. 304

“Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West” is a much-needed book. To read it and digest its contents is of utmost importance as we daily face the by-products of Jihadism all over our world. We thank Robert Spencer for his excellent work on a topic that remains as current as the daily newspaper, radio and the television news.

Jihad in Germany

A Tunisian man who was trained by Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan has been charged in Germany with trying to form a group there that would attack American and Jewish targets. Where did he go to find recruits for this endeavor? You guessed it — to a mosque:

The prosecutors' office said the 33-year-old man, named only as Ihsan G., had tried to recruit fellow-militants at a Berlin mosque to set off a series of bombs around the time of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last March.

This from Reuters, with thanks to LGF.

And why did Ihsan want to attack Americans and Jews? Right again:

"Through the killing or wounding of a large number of people, the Western world was to be humiliated and the Muslim world and its values defended," the office said in a statement.

It said the planned locations were unknown, but the aim was to strike U.S. and Israeli targets "in pursuit of Islamic fundamentalist ideas."

Why did he go to a mosque to do this? Didn't he realize that the vast majority of the people in the mosque would reject his equation of Islam and violence, and throw shoes at him in indignation?

Evidently no one did:

According to the prosecutors' statement, Ihsan G. attended an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan in 2001 and received ideological and military training, including in how to produce explosives.

It said he re-entered Germany in January 2003 on false papers, traveling via South Africa and Belgium, and set about recruiting like-minded radicals at a Berlin mosque.

"Four of those approached showed themselves inclined to form a group with the accused and commit future bomb attacks; others promised their support," the statement said. . . .

According to the charges, the Tunisian began training the recruits, initially on the premises of the mosque. He allegedly sought chemicals to make bombs and bought mobile phones and watches with alarms to serve as timers.

The statement said he had planned several explosions to coincide with a demonstration against the Iraq war, but was arrested on March 20 last year -- the day U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq.

Virginia Jihad Activist Pleads Guilty

Randall Todd "Ismail" Royer, formerly of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), has pleaded guilty to charges connected to his attempt to join the global jihad. This from the Washington Post, with thanks to LGF:

A key member of an alleged Virginia jihad network pleaded guilty to federal weapons and explosives charges today, denying that he intended to harm Americans but acknowledging that he and his co-defendants had sought to fight on behalf of Muslim causes abroad.

Well, that's reassuring for about a millisecond. Against whom are "Muslim causes" around the world fighting? If they're not fighting Americans now, they still consider America the Great Satan and primary ultimate target.

Randall Todd Royer, 30, of Falls Church, entered his surprise plea in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. He faces at least 20 years in prison when he is sentenced April 9. Another of the 11 men originally charged in the case, Ibrahim Ahmed al-Hamdi, 26, of Alexandria, pleaded guilty to similar charges and faces at least 15 years in prison.

A St. Louis native who became an activist for Muslim causes, Royer was at the center of the government's case against a group of men who played paintball in the Virginia countryside to prepare for jihad training that could have targeted the United States, prosecutors say. By his own admission, he played a key role in organizing the men.

Today's court action brings to six the number of men who have pleaded guilty in the high-profile case that the Justice Department had publicized as an important milestone in the war on terrorism. A federal grand jury originally charged the 11 men in June with weapons counts and with training with Lashkar-i-Taiba, a group that is trying to drive India from Kashmir and has been labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

Nor was just Kashmir involved:

In September, the charges were upgraded against the seven remaining defendants. Two, including Royer, were charged in the new indictment with conspiring to provide material support to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization and to his Taliban protectors in Afghanistan. A third is accused of supplying services to the Taliban.

However, that's why he pled guilty:

Those charges against Royer were dropped in exchange for today's plea.

What will Royer's old colleague, Ibrahim Hooper, say? That Royer is being railroaded? That the evidence against him has no substance? The guilty plea will be hard to finesse. Unfortunately, however, Hooper will most likely never have to finesse it at all, or to answer any uncomfortable questions about how a jihadist like Royer managed to get a job in such a sterling moderate Muslim organization as CAIR. Hooper will not have to answer them because any journalist whom he doesn't hang up on will not ask them.

Jihad in California

Steve Emerson, the courageous and indefatigable pioneer of anti-jihadist investigations in the United States, reveals some disturbing but unfortunately unsurprising facts about the California Democratic Party's pandering to radical Muslims — by attacking those who are exposing them — in a piece in today's FrontPage magazine: "Jihad in California". Read the whole thing, but here are some substantial excerpts:

"For years, the Democratic Party, in California and across America, stood for justice and decency and fairness and equality and peace. For years, the Democratic Party embodied principles and beliefs that define America, and led our nation to a better, stronger, freer day. Thus, it is deeply troubling to find that the leader of the Democratic Party in California, Art Torres, has chosen to engage in the most vicious form of demagoguery in his recent appearance before the annual convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) held in Long Beach, California on December 20-21, 2003.

"This is not a charge I choose to make casually. But don't take my word -- judge for yourself. So, here are Mr. Torres’ own words, quoted verbatim:

"'... there has been a steady stream of attacks in the Qu'ran including specific verses taken out of context and on the Prophet. These attacks are vicious. They're mean spirited and politically motivated.'

"Sounds familiar, the notion of twisting the Qu'ran and attacking the Prophet Mohammed for evil purposes? This is exactly what Salman Rushdie was accused of; and as a result, a fatwa calling for Mr. Rushdie’s death was issued by Iran and supported by militant Islamic groups around the world. Bookstores were bombed. Translators of Mr. Rushdie’s book were stabbed and assassinated. Mr. Rushdie was consigned to live under the permanent threat of being executed.

"But here we have the head of the Democratic Party issuing the exact same language issued by radical Islamic groups against Salman Rushdie.

"And, according to Mr. Torres, who are those carrying out the attacks on the Qu'ran and the Prophet Mohammed? Well, to my unpleasant surprise, he named me and Daniel Pipes. Mr. Torres’ comments were rather chilling:

"'And a second stream of attacks have been against American Muslims in particular – and this type of attack is focused on tarring the community with the label Islamist, and these attacks have been led by Daniel Pipes and Steve Emerson. We need to remember these names because they’re getting away with it, because we don’t confront them with their vitriolic hatred as implemented in our media waves…in America.'

"So here we have the head of the Democratic Party in California using the same exact tactics as Islamic militants used in claiming that Salman Rushdie defamed Islam. In the typically inverted and conspiratorial logic of Islamic extremists in which they are self-portrayed as the 'victims' of hate crimes, Rushdie was deemed the proponent of 'hatred' against Muslims. Mr. Torres invokes the exact same murderous conspiratorial logic in claiming that Daniel Pipes, a noted scholar and expert on Islamic fundamentalism, and I have been engaged in a campaign of hatred against Islam. . . .

". . . whenever Islamic militants were exposed, as they were in my film ["Jihad in America"], radical groups claimed that it was Islam that was under attack. It represented a deliberate deceit to have the public believe that criticism of militant Islam was the equivalent of criticizing mainstream Islam.

"And so, after my documentary aired in 1994, I found myself the subject of constant attacks by militant Islamic groups that I had tarred all Muslims, that I defamed Islam, etc. Within a year after the documentary was broadcast, I was forced to go in hiding because I was informed by federal law enforcement officials of an assassination plot against me.

"The incendiary language and the fabricated allegations used against me since 1994 by various radical Islamic groups were chillingly reminiscent of the language used by Art Torres. In fact, the incitement by Torres was lifted directly from the attacks against me by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group created by Hamas front groups in the United States, the American Muslim Council (a Saudi created group whose leader was just indicted on secretly working for Libya in the US and who had been secretly affiliated with Hamas and Al-Qaeda leaders) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

"MPAC? The very group that Mr. Torres addressed. And if anyone has even the smallest doubt as to what MPAC stands for, well then, just as Mr. Torres’ words speak volumes, so do the words by MPAC and its officials.

"On September 11, 2001—the day of the devastating terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center—Salam al-Marayati, Executive Director and one of the Founders of MPAC, stated during an appearance on KCRW-FM's 'Which Way, LA?' program that 'we should put the State of Israel on the suspect list':

"'If we're going to look at suspects, we should look to the groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I think we should put the state of Israel on the suspect list because I think this diverts attention from what's happening in the Palestinian territories so that they can go on with their aggression and occupation and apartheid policies.'

"Al-Marayati has also maintained that al-Qaeda has no American supporters. In reality, numerous American citizens have been found working with al-Qaeda, including Ali Mohammed, who worked for the American army, and Wadih El-Hage, who was Osama bin Laden’s personal secretary and was convicted for the U.S. Embassies bombing plot in Africa:

"'The only known American supporter of al-Qaeda and bin Laden is John Walker Lindh…If the attorney general has any evidence that there are other supporters of al-Qaeda in our community, then that should be disclosed immediately and due process should be followed in order to preserve the civil liberties we all cherish and aim to protect. This fishing expedition will not help the war against terrorism. It will only hurt America's image abroad.' . . .

"The MPAC 2002 Annual Banquet featured Ali Mazrui, a SUNY-Binghampton professor who said:

"'There is also suspicion that some members of the Bush administration in collusion with Israel are more than ready to plunge the Middle East into turmoil in the hope that the final outcome would be to the territorial advantage of Israel and the strategic advantage of the United States. All this is part of the emerging external sadism of the United States, a readiness to hurt others abroad.'

"In a 2001 press release, MPAC justified a Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed 16, including 6 children:

"'[The Jerusalem bombing] is the expected bitter result of the reckless policy of Israeli assassination that did not spare children and political figures.... MPAC holds Israel responsible for this pattern of violence.' . . .

"In a November 1997 speech at the University of Pennsylvania, MPAC Co-Founder and Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati, refused to call Hizbollah a terrorist organization:

"Question: 'You mentioned Hizbollah, do you consider it to be more of a, I guess a national liberation movement or a terrorist group?'

"Al-Marayati: '… I don't think any group should be judged 100% this or that, I think every group is going to have, um, its claim of liberation and resistance …there's the part that deals with the military confrontation with Israel and if you look at the numbers though, Hizbollah attacks against Israeli civilians are like a fraction of Israeli attacks against the Muslims.'

"During the same speech at the University of Pennsylvania in 1997, Al-Marayati justified Hamas’ existence as a political entity, and equated Hamas with the PLO in terms of social programs and 'educational operations':

"'Yesterday's terrorists in the Middle East are today's leaders. The PLO is the number one example of this [unclear word]. The PLO 35 years ago was considered a terrorist organization, nobody should deal with them, no terrorists can hide, so on and so forth. But they became the people in authority, in Palestine, today. So Hamas today, the way it's being viewed, is exactly how the PLO was viewed 30 years ago. And in fact, even Hamas in terms of its social and educational operations is doing exactly what the PLO was doing 35 years ago, as well as its quote unquote military operations.'

"Finally, at the University of Pennsylvania speech in 1997, Al-Marayati equated 'jihad' to the statements of Patrick Henry:

"'And, the person who we think in America would epitomize jihad would be Patrick Henry, who said, "Give me liberty or give me death." That is a way of looking at the term jihad from an American perspective.' . . .

"While that is but a very, very small sample, you get the idea, even if, perhaps, Mr. Torres does not. Those few quotations tell us all we need to know about MPAC - and also about Mr. Torres.

"What is left to be said? What can be said? That Mr. Torres chose to legitimize a group that supports Islamic terrorism and that he himself parroted the same incendiary rhetoric issued by MPAC and other extremist organizations shows that the murderous deceit that led to 9/11 is still alive and well, at least in California."

"Address misconceptions of Islam"

The Straits Times reports that jihad warriors have somehow gotten all kinds of misconceptions about Islam:

"They think that the notion of jihad strictly means they should wage war on those who they believe are suppressing the community."

But now Muslim leaders in Singapore are going to address this problem:

"Such misunderstanding of Islamic practices among the few in the Muslim community here who join terrorist groups needs to be put right, Muslim leaders said yesterday. And they hope this can be done for the 12 men served with Restriction Orders (ROs) under the Internal Security Act for their involvement with the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front terror groups.

These men must go for religious counselling conducted by volunteer counsellors as one new condition imposed under the ROs."

Well, this could be just what we need: a comprehensive program to convince radical Muslims that what they are doing is wrong on Islamic grounds. But for such a program to be effective, it must deal forthrightly with the justifications for terrorism that radicals draw out of traditional Islamic sources — as I detail in Onward Muslim Soldiers. If it doesn't do this, it will never succeed, because the radicals will figure that they were on stronger Islamic grounds in the first place, before the deprogrammers got hold of them.

I am not very confident that the program at hand will do this. The report continues:

"Explaining why religious counselling was a necessary first step, Ustaz Ali Haji Mohamed of Khadijah Mosque said it was crucial to understand why they had accepted the deviant teachings of JI leader Ibrahim Maidin, who was arrested in December 2001. 'We must tackle first the reasons for them turning to extremism... They interpret jihad to be a holy war when in fact jihad has a vast meaning, encompassing education, economics and many other aspects of a Muslim's life. Ustaz Fatris Bakaram, director of the office of the Mufti, said that the term really means 'struggle' and could relate to 'the struggle we go through in our daily lives'."

Doubtless all that is true. But to say that jihad doesn't mean ONLY holy war is not to say that jihad doesn't mean holy war at all. Warfare against non-Muslims has been a significant element of the Muslim understanding of jihad since the time of Muhammad. Do these two men think they will eradicate it by pointing out that jihad also means trying to get a good education? I doubt even they believe that.

Especially in light of this:

"Using Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim's vision of a community of excellence, to be a true Muslim here is to be able to contribute to the larger society, and... ensure that all of us progress and prosper. That's our true jihad."

All right. But how does that definitively rule out taking up arms if one sees it as the best way to improve society? This superficial approach will never solve the deeper problem.

Consummated in Cairo

"Consummated in Cairo," a new article by Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer about December's Cairo Conference sponsored by The International Campaign Against U.S. & Zionist Occupations, is available today at FrontPage magazine.com. It explores the strange new alliance cemented there between the radical Left and radical Islam. Che meets Osama, and they hit it off wonderfully.

"George Galloway, the maverick British parliamentarian who was expelled from the Labour Party after his outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq led to charges that he incited Iraqis to fight against British troops, was there. Tony Benn, another former Labour MP and prominent defender of Socialism, also made the trip. So did Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General (for Lyndon Johnson) and a high-profile advocate for the impeachment of George W. Bush, the freeing of Leonard Peltier, and a host of other fashionable Leftist causes. At the 2003 Cairo Conference held in mid-December by The International Campaign Against U.S. & Zionist Occupations, these high-profile antiwar advocates had a chance to rub elbows with their newest ideological bedfellows: radical Muslims who openly advocate the restoration of the caliphate, the politico-religious ruler of a unified Muslim world, and the establishment of an Islamic world order under the rule of Islamic law, the Sharia."

Michigan Man Accused of Hezbollah Membership

"A Lebanese man living in Dearborn was charged in an indictment unsealed Thursday with fighting, recruiting and raising money for the Islamic militant group Hezbollah, listed by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization." This from AP.

"The indictment accuses Mahmoud Youssef Kourani of working in Lebanon and later within the United States for Hezbollah, which led a guerrilla war against Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.

"Federal prosecutors said Kourani conspired with his brother, who they said is Hezbollah's chief of military security for southern Lebanon. Kourani, 32, pleaded innocent Thursday, and a bail hearing was set for Tuesday. He could get 15 years in prison.

"'The charges are outrageous, absurd and I believe they are malicious,' said his attorney, Nabih Ayad.

"According to the indictment, Kourani entered the United States illegally through Mexico in 2001, took up residence in the Detroit area and hid his Muslim identity by not shaving his beard and not attending a mosque."

I expect they mean that he hid his Muslim identity by shaving his beard, not by not shaving it.

"U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins said Kourani raised 'a substantial sum' and offered other support to Hezbollah. He has been in custody since his conviction last year in a separate case for harboring an illegal alien, authorities said. He completed a six-month sentence last week and had been awaiting deportation."

Saudi crown prince: freedom of expression not at cost of Islam

How far will Saudi reforms go? Evidently not far enough for open debate on Islamic principles that radical Muslims in the Kingdom are using to incite terrorism. Crown Prince Abdullah gives us a hint: "Saudi Arabia will not allow anybody to attack the Islamic faith in the name of freedom of expression, Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, declared yesterday." This from Arab News, with thanks to "Allah."

"'This country will never accept anybody, whoever he may be, to hurt the Islamic faith, in the name of freedom of opinion or any other name,' the crown prince said in an address to the nation aired live on state television.

"Prince Abdullah was giving guidelines for the national dialogue forum, which has so far held two sessions in Riyadh and Makkah with the participation of prominent intellectuals and religious experts, including women.

"He said the Kingdom would go ahead with its political and economic reforms. 'We will not allow anybody to stand in the way of reforms, be it by calling for stagnation or recession or any other reckless adventure,' he said.

"Prince Abdullah urged all citizens to work jointly with the government to achieve reforms. 'But the state will not allow anybody to destroy national unity or disturb the peace of its people under the pretext of reforms.' . . .

"Prince Abdullah reiterated the Kingdom’s opposition to extremism, which is disparaged and hated. 'Moderateness is the right path,' he said and called upon Saudis to follow the wise, moderate Islamic line. 'It’s the method of the Holy Qur’an and the Prophet (peace be upon him).'"

"He said the Kingdom would remain a free Muslim and Arab nation, with its citizens enjoying honor, security and equality."

Including equality for non-Muslims? Sorry. That's unlikely, as Abdullah probably doesn't see it as the moderate Islamic method of the Qur'an and the Prophet. After all, as I show in Onward Muslim Soldiers, radicals look to those traditional sources to justify jihad and dhimmitude.

"The march of resistance will continue until the Islamic flag is raised, not only on the minarets of Jerusalem, but over the whole universe"

The latest statement of Islam's expansionist designs, articulated by modern theorists such as Sayyid Qutb and Syed Abul Ala Maududi (as I explain in Onward Muslim Soldiers), comes in a story about another dire warning: "The female suicide bomber who blew up Wednesday at the Erez Checkpoint in the Gaza Strip will not be the last woman to carry out a suicide attack, senior Hamas member Mahmoud Azhar said Thursday." This from the Jerusalem Post.

"Reem Salah al-Rayashi, 21, the mother of two small children from Gaza, blew herself up Wednesday morning at the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, killing two soldiers, a border policeman, and a security guard for a private manpower company."

And just in case anyone doesn't believe that jihadis have global designs: "'She is not going to be the last (attacker) because the march of resistance will continue until the Islamic flag is raised, not only on the minarets of Jerusalem, but over the whole universe,'" promised Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar.

Do I think Muslims will take over the world? I do not. But I do think that mujahedin worldwide are willing to commit violence for just that cause. And that's why statements like this are worthy of attention.

Suicide bomber cried for mercy, then murdered those who gave it to her

Suicide bomber Reem Raiyshi holding a rifle and a Qur'an (AP)

"Additional details of yesterday's murderous terrorist bombing in northern Gaza that claimed the lives of four Israelis paint a frightful picture of a woman [Reem Raiyshi] who cried for mercy - and seconds later coldly murdered those who bestowed it upon her." This from Arutz Sheva, with thanks to Bruce Gordon.

The suicide attack was perpetrated by a young woman, the mother of two children aged 3 and 1 - the first time that Hamas has employed such a weapon, and the seventh female suicide bomber of the Oslo War. It is now known that she made her way to the checkpoint without arousing suspicion, but when she passed through the electronic door, the alarm sounded, and the guard on duty turned her away. She began to cry that she had a metal implant in her leg, and the same guard then apparently took pity on her, and allowed her in for a body check - and then she killed him.

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Tzvi Poleg, who served in the past as IDF Commander in Gaza, said this morning that the attack might have been prevented: "Wherever you have easing of restrictions, you have attacks. If we were just a little less humanitarian, this attack would not have happened - or at least it would have been less costly. It is unacceptable that a terrorist should arrive at the checkpoint and not be checked. Even when a woman comes in crying that her leg hurts, we must not be too humanitarian. We always want to be nice, and good, and sensitive - but not at the expense of our sons. Wherever this happens, the terrorist organizations will see it as a weakness, and will take advantage to carry out attacks."

The results of Arab/PA incitement and hatred for Israel were manifest not only in yesterday's attack, but in the videotape the terrorist mother made before her death. Smiling and cradling a rifle, she said that she had dreamed since she was 13 years old of "becoming a martyr" and dying for her people. "It was always my wish to turn my body into deadly shrapnel against the Zionists and to knock on the doors of heaven with the skulls of Zionists," she said.

Who told her she could get to heaven that way? What are Muslim authorities in the PA doing about it? Never mind: they're the ones who told her:

Hamas terrorist leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said yesterday that Hamas will continue to use women terrorists for suicide attacks. He said that "jihad [holy war] is an imperative for Muslim men and women," and that "resistance will escalate against this enemy until they leave our land and homeland."

Boston Muslim group linked to terrorists

"The leader of an Islamic group preparing to build a mosque in Boston reportedly has previously undisclosed ties to terroristic groups." This from UPI, with thanks to Nicolei.

"Records obtained by the newspaper reveal the chairman of the local Islamic Society of Boston, Osama M. Kandil, is one of three directors of Taibah International Aid Association, a Muslim charity long suspected by investigators in the United States and Europe of funding international terrorism.

"In addition, records show during the past 15 years Kandil has surrounded himself with an array of individuals investigators say are working within the United States to support militant Islam's worldwide agenda, the Boston Herald reported Wednesday.

"Kandil's ties to suspect organizations and individuals raise new questions about the city of Boston's decision to grant the Islamic Society of Boston approvals to build a $22 million mosque and cultural center in Roxbury which would be the largest of its kind in the Northeast.

"So far, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has shrugged off the connections some of the leaders of the mosque have to Islamic extremism."

Jihad in Central Asia

A report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on jihadist activity in Central Asia. This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.

"Although recent reports suggest that the outlawed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) has been regrouping and could threaten stability in Central Asia, experts and regional observers remain unconvinced. The IMU is a coalition of Islamic militants from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states opposed to Uzbek President Islam Karimov's secular regime.

"The armed IMU and non-violent Hizb-ut Tahrir movement are the most well-known radical Islamists in Central Asia. The IMU is on the US State Department's formalised list of 33 Foreign Terrorist Groups, while Hizb-ut Tahrir is operating freely from its London headquarters, but is legally banned in all Central Asian states. Hizb-ut Tahrir's ideology envisages a strict Islamic state and the re-establishment of the medieval Arab caliphate in the region.

"The IMU is believed to have been responsible for five car bombs in Tashkent in February 1999. Militants also took foreigners hostage in 1999 and 2000, including four US citizens who were mountain climbing in August 2000, and four Japanese geologists and eight Kyrgyz soldiers in August 1999. In Operation Enduring Freedom launched in late 2001, the US-led counter terrorism coalition had been captured, killed, and dispersed many of the IMU's militants who were fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan and severely degraded the movement's ability to attack Uzbek or Coalition interests in the near term.

"A QUESTIONABLE THREAT

"But Stephen Young, the US Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, said last month that there had been efforts by militants in Central Asia to target US interests. 'The clearest threat seems to be coming from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which despite being dealt a heavy blow in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, has re-emerged as an active organisation here in Central Asia,' Young said.

"David Lewis, the head of the Central Asia Project of the International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based conflict-resolution group, told IRIN from the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh that there had been some regrouping of the IMU. 'But I think in most cases their activities have been somewhat exaggerated. They do still pose a potential threat in small numbers to the region, but they are probably not quite as effective as perhaps some people in security forces think they are,' he said.

"The ICG said in a recent report on radical Islamic groups in Central Asia, that reports of IMU members returning to central Tajikistan or the southern regions of Uzbekistan were frequent but very difficult to substantiate. The report added that while there was some evidence that the IMU was trying to regroup, there was also evidence that many of its members had merged into the wider Taliban movement, busy trying to foment Jihad against US-led forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.

"But individuals and groups sympathetic to, or inspired by, the IMU remain active in Central Asia. An alleged member of the IMU was arrested in Uzbekistan in 2003 and charged with blowing up an exchange booth in Osh in May 2003, and a market in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek in December 2002. 'Explosions in the Oberon market of Bishkek last year and in Osh this year have been carried out by the members of the organisation that names itself as IMU,' Bolot Januzakov, deputy head of the Kyrgyz Presidential administration told IRIN from Bishkek.

"Other regional observers remain unconvinced. 'I think the IMU military force has been destroyed in the war [on terror],' Ahmed Rashid, the author of books on the Taliban movement and militant Islam in Central Asia, told IRIN from the Pakistani city of Lahore. Asked whether the IMU was an explicit threat to the region, Rashid said: 'It's an exaggeration, at some stage of the game the IMU could once again become a political force, but as a military force, I don't think it's possible. The IMU only became a military force because it had the support of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Islamist elements in Tajikistan, where it had bases, all those factors have now gone,' the eminent author said.

"He went on to say that it was well-known that IMU political leader Takhir Yuldashev was in hiding in the tribal belt between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and he had probably had a few IMU fighters with him. 'I think it's not a military threat, it is still a political threat because of the network of underground supporters in Central Asia, which have not really been touched by the Americans or local security forces,' Rashid noted.

"CURRENT SITUATION

"Januzakov said that Kyrgyzstan was not going to drop its guard and would continue hunting down IMU sympathisers and other militants. 'They [IMU] have blended among the population and they can unite at any time and can start creating tensions. One must not exclude this danger,' he said. adding that the armed forces and law-enforcement bodies of Kyrgyzstan were taking the necessary measures to be ready for any changes in the situation.

"Others fear militant Islamic groups like the IMU could remake themselves as political entities, capitalising on widespread resentment of the authoritarian governments that characterise the region. Rashid believes that in order to tackle the issue, the political systems in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan needed to open up and embrace opposition groups. 'Particularly in Uzbekistan there needs to be a party political system. President Karimov does not allow opposition parties to exist, there is more harassment of political and human rights groups now than there was ever before 9/11 and I think the Americans have done very little to contribute to an opening up of the political scene,' he said.

"According to the ICG, there is some sympathy for Hizb-ut Tahrir and the IMU in the Ferghana Valley, shared by Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and for the IMU in the Surkhandarya and Kashkadarya regions of Uzbekistan, which have borne the brunt of government efforts to control independent Islam in Uzbekistan. Residents of these areas do not necessarily sympathise with the objectives to establish a caliphate but many are searching for alternatives to the closed political systems they live under.

"Tashkent has faced strong international criticism for its crackdown on human rights activists, independent media and some peaceful Muslim organisations, like Hizb-ut Tahrir members. Some reports stated that there are currently up to 4,000-5,000 Hizb-ut Tahrir members in Uzbek prisons.

"In Kyrgyzstan, the authorities are said to be cracking down on Hizb-ut Tahrir members as well, while in neighbouring Tajikistan, there are continuing reports about the arrest and trial of the organisation's followers. As for Turkmenistan, there have been few reports about Hizb-ut Tahrir activities, but in this most repressive of Central Asian states where virtually everything non-governmental is banned or outlawed, Hizb-ut Tahrir appears to have virtually no open support, analysts said.

"THE FUTURE

"Some sources estimate the overall number of the organisations' followers in Central Asia to be roughly 15,000 to 20,000. However, it is difficult to obtain an accurate figure as the organisation has got a highly secretive structure with just four to five people in each hujra, or cell, operating completely independently of other groups of sympathisers.

"The danger is that further harassment of non-violent groups, including Hizb-ut Tahrir, could radicalise and marginalise them, leading to the creation of a new generation of angry young men willing to pick up the gun. If this process happens on a large scale, it could negate any gains emanating from the US-led war on terror in Central Asia and beyond. 'There is no doubt that there is a network of sympathisers and supporters of radical Islam inside Central Asia, who are still very much there and very much underground,' Rashid warned." (Thanks to Nicolei.)

The problem with the idea that Central Asian governments must tolerate Hizb-ut-Tahrir or else it will become violent is that group's stated intentions. Exactly how different is this group from other jihadist groups? Should Central Asians who value universal human rights just stand idly by and let this group keep working to establish a Sharia state? Some kind of resistance is called for, if only open challenges in the marketplace of ideas (which, of course, scarcely exists in those countries in the first place). For if and when Hizb-ut-Tahrir takes power, this tolerance will not be returned in kind.

Family of would-be bomber demands PA probe

"The family of a Palestinian teenager who was killed earlier this week when an explosive belt he was wearing exploded prematurely is demanding the Palestinian Authority find out who recruited their son to carry out a suicide attack." This from the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Nicolei, who observes: "It is tragic that this Palestinian family lost another family member. It is also tragic that they seem to angry at the planners and recruiters for not planning it well rather than the agenda and philosophy of suicide bombings."

Says the Post: "Iyad al-Masri, 17, of Nablus, was killed and no one else hurt on Sunday in the northern West Bank as he was on his way to carry out a suicide bombing inside Israel. Iyad's brother, 15-year-old Amjad, was killed by the IDF two weeks ago during clashes with stone-throwers in Nablus. Hours later, during the funerals for Amjad and two others killed in clashes that day, the IDF opened fire on the procession, killing Iyad's cousin, Muhammad al-Masri. . . .

"The paper quoted the family as saying that Iyad was dispatched on a suicide mission 'that had no chances of succeeding. Those who sent him did not care about the prospects of him succeeding or failing, and they knew that death would be his fate.'"

So if Iyad had succeeded in blowing up some Israeli civilians, that would have made it all right?

"Islamic Jihad's armed wing, Al-Quds Brigades, initially claimed responsibility for recruiting Iyad in an anonymous phone call to Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV station. However, members of the group in Nablus later backtracked, saying they had nothing to do with the case.

"Bilal al-Masri, the father, accused those who sent his son of exploiting his grief over the death of his brother and cousin to recruit him for a suicide attack. 'My son was sent on the mission under extremely dangerous conditions when the whole area was under curfew and strict military closure,' he complained. 'Iyad had never left Nablus before and he couldn't move around on his own,' the father said. 'It would have been impossible for him to reach his destination alone.'

"The father said his son was killed when the explosive device he was carrying blew up near the village of Jainsafut in the northern West Bank. Residents of the village told the family they had spotted Iyad shortly before the explosion and that he appeared to be confused and unaware of where he was. One of the villagers said Iyad asked him for directions to get to the Kalandiya checkpoint on the Jerusalem-Ramallah highway.

"The family has deduced from this that Iyad was headed for Jerusalem, where he was planning to blow himself up in a crowded area.

"'Those who sent him are heartless and have no fear of Allah,' said Yasser al-Masri, a cousin. 'His brother and cousin were just killed. How can we have three dead in the family in one week?' The family said that Iyad's mother, Abir, has been in a state of shock since the death of her two children, unable to talk or cry.

"'We want a full investigation into this matter,' said Bilal, who works in a local pharmacy. 'Even if my son had volunteered to carry out an attack, they shouldn't have allowed him to do so, because he had just lost his brother and cousin. We are very angry.' He said that while his son did not belong to any Palestinian faction, he used to participate in stone-throwing attacks on IDF soldiers whenever they entered Nablus. Iyad was injured at least seven times by rubber bullets fired by the IDF in recent weeks, the father added.

"'Many people in Nablus – and not only the family – are angry with those who recruited Iyad,' said Ahmed al-Masri, another cousin. 'We have written to President Yasser Arafat asking him to order an immediate investigation into the case. We hope that those responsible for this tragedy would be caught and punished.'"

Courtroom jihad: Mullah Krekar's intimidation bid fails

Mullah Krekar (left) shakes hands with Carl Hagen

Radical Muslims and radical Muslim front groups in Western countries (including the U.S.) have quickly learned to make canny use of the legal system to intimidate critics into silence. They know that in some cases even the threat of a lawsuit will strike their opponents dumb, even though what they are saying is true. In Norway, Mullah Krekar has shown himself to be a master of intimidation and a prince of gall: despite appearing on Al-Jazeera television as the head of the Iraqi terrorist group Ansar Al-Islam, which he acknowledges has carried out suicide bombings against American troops in Iraq, he actually filed suit against Norwegian politician Carl I. Hagen for calling him a terrorist and a guerrilla!

But it appears that all is not quite lost yet in Europe: Krekar has lost his case. This from Norway's Aftenposten, with thanks to Filtrat: "Norway's controversial refugee mullah Krekar has lost his lawsuit against Progress Party leader Carl I. Hagen. Hagen's characterization of Krekar as a terrorist was ruled protected by free speech and the Oslo court instructed the former Ansar al-Islam leader to pay court costs totaling NOK 199,600 (USD 29,500).

"Hagen called Krekar a terrorist and a guerrilla leader in a TV2 interview in October 2003, and said that he should be arrested and charged in either Norway or the USA.

"'A victory for freedom of speech. It is clear that this verdict maintains the lines laid down by the human rights tribunal, that freedom of speech shall be important,' Hagen told Norwegian news agency NTB after the ruling."

I wonder if the BBC is taking notice.

"Krekar has two weeks to pay Hagen's court costs of nearly NOK 200,000. The controversial mullah, who has come under criticism from Islamic leaders for his constant media tussles, sued Hagen for damages and to have the remarks declared null and void.

"The Oslo court concluded that mullah Krekar's claim would represent an infringement of freedom of speech in conflict with article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights."

Jihadi's bid to flee ends in jail

Ahmad traveled from Australia to Afghanistan to train with Al-Qaeda — a fact which in itself gives the lie to the common assumption that all this terrorism has to do with Israel, or American policy. Then he went to Egypt to escape arrest, but it didn't work, although at least maybe he picked up a few frequent flyer miles: "A Melbourne Muslim fled Australia in 2002 fearing he would be arrested for allegedly training at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan. But Ahmad, 23, was arrested and jailed in Cairo eight months ago and faces indefinite detention by Egyptian authorities under suspicion of links to terrorism." This from news.com.au, with thanks to Nicolei.

"It was unlikely Ahmad would have faced charges in Australia because his alleged training pre-dated July 2002 laws specifically outlawing the practice.
The former painter and Australian-Egyptian national was a member of Sheikh Mohammed Omran's Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaa'ah group, based in Brunswick. Ahmad left Australia in October 2002 because he thought he was at risk of arrest, Sheikh Mohammed said.

Obligatory "He was a quiet man who kept to himself" passage: "Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia president Abu Hamza, who knew Ahmad for several years, described him as a hard-working and dedicated Muslim concerned about the plight of Muslims overseas but someone without a connection to terrorism. Ahmad was known to several members who attended the IISNA centre and gym in Sydney Rd, Coburg. 'He's a very quiet person, dedicated in regard to Islamic beliefs and very active in Islamic activities,' Abu Hamza said."

In a masterpiece of understatement, "he said Ahmad, like some other Muslim youths, could sometimes appear overzealous. 'Some of the youngsters, sometimes they rush in to absorb as much as they can,' he said."

Question to Abu Hamza: why don't these zealous youngsters absorb the peaceful, tolerant passages of the Qur'an that we hear so much about in America? Question for American Muslim advocacy groups: why is it that the zealous ones seem to turn to terrorism? And what are you doing about it?

Jihad report from Chechnya

The leader of the people known almost universally in the Western press as Chechen "independence fighters," Abdallah Shamil Abu-Idris (Shamil Basayev), has issued an appraisal of the last year of jihad in Chechnya. His statement, "Nothing Can Stop This Jihad," can be found at the Muslim Kavkaz Center site (with thanks to Nicolei).

Here are some excerpts that offer an insight into the motives and goals of jihadists around the world — motives and goals identical to those I explicated in Onward Muslim Soldiers:

In the name of God, Most Benevolent, Most Merciful! (Bismillah Rahman Rahim!)

Praise Allah, the Lord of the worlds, Who created us Muslims and Who blessed us with Jihad on His Straight Way. Peace and blessing of Almighty Allah be on Prophet Muhammad, his family, his disciples and all of those who follow the Straight Way until the Day of Judgment!

By the Mercy of Allah the past year of 2003 was very successful and very good year for us because for the past year our Mujahideen (fighters) managed to inflict great damages on Kafirs (infidels) and Munafiqs (hypocrites – national traitors) and to deal crushing blows on the enemy.

According to my information, for the year 2003 all Mujahideen in Chechnya and on the enemy soil have conducted over three thousand blasts, destroyed and disabled over 1,000 units of military vehicles including armored vehicles, shot down 31 helicopters, eliminated over 8,000 Kafirs and over 700 Munafiks (national traitors) who cooperated with the invaders’ regime.

Praise Allah, this year was also marked by the expansion of the zone of combat operations and of the territories where the Jihad against aggressors is being conducted, as well as by the creation of new military sectors. For instance, the newly-created sectors are: the Ingush Sector, the Ossetian Sector, the Aukh Sector, the Stavropol Sector, and the Dagestani trend was activated as well. The Kafirs themselves had to admit that over the year 2003 they have suffered much greater casualties than they did in the previous two years.

Even though the Russian leadership is trying to make it look like there is no war, and that only one Brigade of Shaheeds Riyadus Salihiin is actually fighting the war, I am quoting these details in order to report that today there are several thousand of active Mujahideen fighting in Ichkeria and outside of the country. The Jihad is continuing and the attempts that Russia is making to hush it up look like the acts of a child who closed his eyes and thinks he is hiding. . . .

Some are using the terms like 'the first war', 'the second war', 'the 400-year war', but for us it is the everlasting war for our Freedom and Independence. And the main thing – this is the war for our Faith, which came from our fathers and our forefathers, and which we will be waging until we become masters of our own lives and our own destinies.

I am hereby stating that whichever attempts the Kafirs would be making, nothing will stop this Jihad, which is becoming more and more active each day, because the dead and the wounded are being replaced by the new generation. Insha Allah (God Willing!), we have no problems with replenishing our forces. If Russia is degrading and dying out, the Chechen population is increasing in spite of the war, - and this is also a contribution of ordinary Chechens into the cause of Jihad. So, praise God (Alhamdulillah), we have no problems with our fighters.

Besides, many representatives of oppressed nations of Russia are rising to the Jihad. The past year was a graphic example, when many nations of not just Northern Caucasus, but nations of many regions inside Russia took part in Jihad as well.

Today the leadership of Russia is making miserable attempts to discredit the just cause of the fight of the Chechen people by trying to present the Chechen national liberation war as 'international terrorism' and by trying to tie all events in the world to us. In this regard I would like to remind that our people have been conducting their historical fight for Freedom ever since the times when there was no Russia as a state, let alone other fighters against 'international terrorism'. Throughout its entire history the Chechen nation has been fighting for the Faith, Freedom and Independence. Insha Allah (God Willing!), we will keep fighting this war as long as Allah wants us to, until final victory. . . .

Today by the Mercy of Almighty Allah our Resistance is not only continuing, but it is getting even stronger. I would like to remind the words of the Most High, Who says in the Holy Koran that He is with those who are patient. Today the main thing for us is patience and unity. I am calling for even stronger unity, for increasing the discipline and for asking Allah for help by prayer and perseverance.

Almighty Allah says in the Holy Koran that He will not leave the believers without help. I swear by Allah, we can feel His help each day and each hour. . . .

We are all walking under God. And sooner or later we will all die. A death of one of us will change nothing. Because we are seeking a death of a martyr on the way of Allah, while Kafirs (infidels) and Munafiks (national traitors) are trying to extend their good-for-nothing lives. The Jihad will be continuing. Our entire history is the evidence.

There was a time when the Kafirs were hoping that by killing the first President of CRI J. Dudayev they would be able to have something changed. But after President Dudayev became a Shaheed (a martyr), the Jihad only increased and the Mujahideen (fighters) got even stronger. Nothing will change if President Maskhadov, myself or any other leader becomes a Shaheed.

Thank God (Alhamdulillah!), we are not afraid of death and we are not trying to escape it. But if Kafirs want me to die so bad, I can make them an offer: let them give me some more money, about 10-20 million more, and I will give that money to Maskhadov to continue the Jihad, and I myself will buy me a good KAMAZ truck and will drive right up to them.

The term for each one of us has been prescribed by Almighty Allah and no one will ever avoid this term. Almighty Allah says: «Death will befall ye, even if ye hide in the towers that ye have erected». For Muslims it is the Truth.

Praise God (Alhamdulillah!), we are dreaming of dying in Jihad, we are dreaming of dying on the way of Allah, so that we could earn Paradise and Mercy of Allah. Our dead are in Paradise, and your dead are in Hell. And our victors will also be in Paradise, and your losers will be humiliated and aggrieved.

By Mercy of Allah we have gone through another year of the war. I am calling on the Mujahideen to get even more consolidated and unite around our leadership even firmer, to strengthen the discipline, to strengthen the Nizam, to be steadfast and patient.

The victory is near! And may Allah help us on His Straight Way!

Allah Akbar! (God is Great!)

Abdallah Shamil Abu-Idris,
Amir of Brigade of Shaheeds Riyadus Salihiin

Palestinian mother kills four in suicide bombing

Reem Raiyshi

"A female Palestinian suicide bomber blew herself up Wednesday at the major crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip, killing at least four Israelis and wounding seven other people, Israeli rescue services and media said." This from AP.

"The bomber set off the explosion in the area where thousands of Palestinian laborers and foreigners pass between Israel and the coastal strip, Israeli officials said. Four of the wounded were Palestinians, the army said.

"Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, issued a joint claim of responsibility.

"They identified the bomber as Reem Raiyshi, a 21-year-old Hamas militant. She apparently is the first female suicide bomber from the militant Islamic fundamentalist group.

"Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin said the use of a woman bomber was unique, but added that holy war 'is an obligation of all Muslims, men and women.'

Arutz Sheva reports that Reem Raiyshi was the mother of two children. (Thanks to Bruce Gordon.)

Father of Baby Triplets Murdered by Palestinian Terrorists

Ro'i Arbel, 28, father of five, including two-month-old triplets, was laid to rest this afternoon in Dolev, northwest of Jerusalem. He was murdered on his way home last night by Palestinian terrorists." This from Arutz Sheva, with thanks to Bruce Gordon.

"Ro'i Arbel, 28, father of five - including two-month-old triplets - was laid to rest this afternoon in Dolev, northwest of Jerusalem. At about 7:15 PM Tuesday night, Palestinian terrorists waiting on the side of the road fired at an Israeli car with four passengers not far from the community of Talmon. Arbel was killed on the spot, the driver and another passenger suffered 'moderate' injuries, and the fourth passenger went into a state of shock. The driver managed to continue on until Talmon, from where the wounded were evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital.

"The terrorists are believed to be of the Fatah Al-Aqsa Brigades, under the command of Yasser Arafat.

"Ro'i leaves behind five children: two daughters Ohr (meaning Light, age 5) and Hodaya (Thanks, 3) and the triplets - two girls and a boy. The boy remains in a neonatal unit, and has not yet been circumcised and is therefore not named."

American Muslim Groups' IRS Files Sought

"The Senate Finance Committee has asked the Internal Revenue Service to turn over confidential tax and financial records, including donor lists, on dozens of Muslim charities and foundations as part of a widening congressional investigation into alleged ties between tax-exempt organizations and terrorist groups, according to documents and officials." This from the Washington Post.

". . . The Senate-led probe follows more than two years of investigations by the FBI, the Treasury Department and other federal agencies into the activities of Islamic charities suspected of having ties to al Qaeda; the Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as Hamas; and other groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government. The United States has frozen more than $136 million in assets allegedly linked to al Qaeda or other terrorist groups and has effectively shut down the operations of the largest U.S.-based Islamic charities. . . .

Predictably, "many Muslim leaders and attorneys for the charities complain that the government's tactics have unfairly smeared law-abiding Muslims and have dried up financial support for groups that try to provide medicine, food and other goods to the Middle East and elsewhere. Several representatives of the groups said the Senate Finance Committee's probe is needlessly intrusive and will scare away more contributors.

"'The Muslim community would view this as another fishing expedition solely targeting Muslims in America,' said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington. 'Are they now going to start a witch hunt of all the donors of these now closed relief organizations, so that Muslims feel they're going to be targeted once more based on their charitable giving?'"

Ibrahim, you could allay a great deal of the suspicion that leads to these "fishing expeditions" by making CAIR the leading anti-terror group in the U.S., throwing its considerable wealth into efforts to eradicate terrorism from the American Muslim community. I won't be holding my breath.

"Committee staffers said the investigation is based not on ethnicity or religious affiliation but rather on concerns that the groups may have ties to terrorists or their supporters. 'This is not a fishing expedition targeting Muslims,' one Senate aide said. 'All the groups we're looking at are suspected of having some connections to terrorism or of doing propaganda for terrorists. We're not presuming anybody's guilty.' . . .

"The foundations and charities named by the committee in its request include many that remain targets of ongoing investigations by U.S. authorities. Among them are the SAAR Foundation and its affiliated entities, a defunct network of organizations based in Northern Virginia; Global Relief, whose founder was deported to Lebanon; and the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the largest Muslim charity in the United States, which was singled out by President Bush for allegedly supporting Hamas. Its assets have been frozen. Other groups on the list include the Muslim World League, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and the Islamic Society of North America."

Lebanese paper: hands off our textbooks

Despite mountains of evidence that Muslim schools are turning out terrorists, Beirut's Dar Al-Hayat editorializes against any Western-influenced revision of Islamic textbooks.

"Several Arab countries have declared that they are in the process of changing or improving their educational curricula in order to remove all material, which incites fundamentalism, violence and hatred. We do not know if Arab governments are truly convinced that their curricula encourage terrorism or their position comes in response to the American hurricane, which is howling that there is no room anymore for hatred and radicalism. Donald Rumsfeld has already declared the defeat of terrorism which is accomplished not only through military might but also through the 'war of ideas,' hinting to the danger that the Islamic religious schools represent. . . ."

Of course, no piece of this kind would be complete without the obligatory accusation of the Jews: "In fact, if the Americans read the material that Jewish students read in Israel, they would be shocked because of the incitement to kill those who are different."

Why not change the books? "The problem is that the Americans will not be satisfied with changing some texts in the curricula but they will demand rigorous work in terminating the sources of religiosity in society."

Why? Are the sources of religiosity then synonymous with the sources of terrorism?

"This will lead to a negative counter-reaction as far as internal and external violence are concerned; especially that the American understanding of Islamic text will surely be frivolous. Will it be required to change the texts regarding the concepts of atheism, faith, and Jihad (holy war) because they might be interpreted as hostile to others?"

I hope so! Certainly in regard to the texts about jihad.

"What about the political issues like the Crusades or the historic battles between Muslims and Jews or the Israeli occupation?

"Therefore, the media publicity, the changing of curricula as well as the American 'war of ideas' will only succeed in promoting hatred and instability in Arab countries, if their leaders are receptive to the Americans."

So we are to believe, evidently, that teaching that Qur'anic verses such as "slay the unbelievers wherever you find them" (Sura 9:5) must not be applied to today's political situation will foment more hatred, not less? (Thanks to Nicolei.)

Young jihadis in Indonesia more hardcore than ever

The good news is that Jemaah Islamiyah, the Indonesian terrorist group, has been badly damaged — as have other similar groups around the world. But if you think that the global jihad movement is a spent force, think again: according to this piece in the Straits Times, "the second generation of Muslim terrorist leaders in South-east Asia is even more hardcore than its forbear. Regional intelligence sources said that the new and younger elite of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) is imbued with the strongest commitment to the terrorist group's cause of jihad or holy war.

"Many of them are the children of JI members and have been indoctrinated from young in the organisation's schools. 'They know no other reality than JI doctrines,' one source said.

"Of the two Singaporean second-generation JI members arrested in October, one of them was the son of a JI member while the other's father belonged to the 12,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest rebel group in the Philippines.

"Among other trends which the regional intelligence sources disclosed are:
• JI is still actively recruiting like-minded people in Muslim circles, more in some countries than others.
• It wants to strengthen and augment the group with new blood at the top.
• Indonesia is JI's breeding ground.
• Its members had hands-on training during religious clashes in Ambon and Poso in Indonesia.
• The major JI training grounds are in Mindanao in the Philippines and in Kashmir.

"The major task of the second-generation leaders of JI is to spawn new terrorist cells, the sources told The Sunday Times. This is because the group, whose goal is to establish a fundamentalist Muslim state in South-east Asia, has been crippled with the arrests of several of its first-generation leaders and members.

"A significant setback was the arrest of its operations commander Hambali, the mastermind of a series of bombings in South-east Asia, including the Bali blasts in 2002 that killed over 200 people. He is the JI leader most closely linked to Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, an Al-Qaeda leader based in Karachi who once operated from the Philippines. Khalid is now in US custody.

"In a further blow to JI, 13 Malaysians and six Indonesians who were being groomed as future leaders were recently arrested in Karachi by Pakistani security forces. They belonged to the JI's Al-Ghuraba, or foreigner, cell.

"Two young Singaporeans training for leadership in the same cell were arrested when they returned to the Republic. Muhammad Arif Naharudin, 20, and Muhammad Amin Mohamed Yunos, 21, were schooled in handling weapons and explosives, urban warfare and espionage in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"Although down, JI is not out. It is actively recruiting like-minded people in Muslim circles who they think are radicals. 'It is not just cannon fodder they are seeking,' said an intelligence source. 'They want to strengthen and augment the group with new blood at the top. JI has been disrupted but it is still very much alive,' he added.

"JI leaders and members have been keeping a low profile. Its members are careful to communicate by telephone through pre-paid cards or through the Internet, including chatrooms. The JI has been neutralised in Singapore, disrupted in Malaysia and lying low in Australia. However, it is active in Indonesia and the Philippines. Indonesia is JI's breeding ground. There, it is enmeshed with the country's political mood.

"JI members earned their combat stripes in hands-on training in religiously-divided Ambon and Poso, where they took part in bloody clashes between Muslims and Christians. Thousands have died in these clashes. The major JI training grounds are in Mindanao in the Philippines and in Kashmir. In Mindanao, the JI runs training camps in collaboration with the MILF. Observers say Manila downplays the MILF-JI connection due to vested interests. It does not want to affect ongoing peace talks with the MILF. The challenge for the Philippines and other parties, like the United States, is to wean the MILF from the terrorists." A large challenge indeed. (Thanks to Jean-Luc.)

The Changing Threat of Al-Qaeda

From The Independent of Banjul, Gambia comes this assessment of Al-Qaeda current condition: "Today, al-Qaeda is in a period of transition, having temporarily lost its operating base, Afghanistan, and its sponsor, the Taliban. More significantly, its organizational effectiveness has been dented by the deaths or captures of so many of its operational leaders, members and key supporters. Yet despite the dismantling of its training and operational infrastructure in Afghanistan, al-Qaeda is adapting by seeking to establish bases elsewhere and therefore remains a serious, immediate and direct threat."

What's more, "that threat is not aimed just at Western 'infidel' governments. The latest attacks in Riyadh and Istanbul are proof that Muslim governments are also under attack." Or at least governments that are not Muslim enough for Al-Qaeda's liking.

"The hardening of United States and other Western targets following the attacks of September 11, 2001, has changed al-Qaeda's tactics. Although it has suffered as an organization, it still maintains its vanguard status among extremist Islamist movements. It is still able to set the ideological and operational agenda for at least three dozen foreign Islamist groups it trained and financed during the last decade. It now relies heavily on these associated groups to sustain its fight.

"A real international Islamist movement is emerging, according to Diha Rashwan, an Egyptian expert on Islamist groups. 'Without having the same organizational structure, multiple Islamist movements, if not individuals, who share the same ideology and objectives with al-Qaeda are acting in the style of Usama bin Laden's network without being linked to it, and even less, receiving orders to carry out a specific attack,' he said recently.

"Much of the international terrorist movement's trail of destruction has been wrought by men who returned to their homelands from Afghan camps. Their fingerprints can be found on nearly every major attack since September 11. They are Arabs, Germans, Indonesians, Malaysians, Pakistanis, Chechens and Middle Easterners - Some 15,000 to 20,000 men in all, counter terrorism experts believe - who fled Afghanistan for points unknown, popping up every few months to show the world what they have learned.

"That trail of destruction is now concentrated on Muslim countries. One reason is the hardening of Western targets. Another, possible more important, reason has been that bin Ladin and Ayman Zawahiri, his second-in-command, have spread the word to shift the fight to 'the heart of the Islamic world, which represents the true arena of the battle and the theatre of the major battles in defense of Islam.' Tunisia, Morocco, Indonesia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are among the Muslim countries that have suffered attacks.

"Authorities believe the truck bombing of an ancient synagogue on the Tunisian resort island of Djerba in April 2002 was planned directly by al-Qaeda's former number three man, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was arrested in Pakistan in March.

"After five nearly simultaneous suicide attacks on Jewish and Spanish targets in Casablanca on May 16, 900 people were arrested. At least 100 of them told interrogators they had received training in Afghanistan and at trial 20 confessed openly to having received 'combat training against the enemies of Islam and apostates.'

"Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian terror network believed to be behind the October 2002 Bali bombing, which killed 202 people, and the August 5 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which killed a dozen, has direct links to al-Qaeda that go back years. Hambali, the group's alleged operations chief who was arrested in August in Thailand, trained in al-Qaeda's Camp Saddah in Afghanistan in the 1980s." (Thanks to Jean-Luc.)

Pakistan to ban more jihadi groups

Despite Pakistan's official moves against a host of jihadi groups, there are a host of others that are still at work: "Keen to stymie the negative impact of the two assassination attempts on President Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan government is likely to ban more jihadi groups." This from The Times of India, with thanks to Jean-Luc.

"Informed intelligence sources told the Daily Times that for a start a ban could be imposed on the Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HJI) and the Jamiatul Mujahideen (JM) on the basis of evidence that they were involved in the suicide attacks of December 14 and 25.

"According to the interior ministry sources, 60 suspects have been picked up in Punjab province so far for their involvement in the attacks or for having links with the attackers. Of them, 15 have been released after preliminary investigations.

"According to a law enforcement agency report, the suspects are from defunct groups like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), Tehrik-e-Khuddamul Islam (TKI), Jamiatul Ansar (JA), Jamiatul Furqan (JF), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Harkatul Mujahideen Alalmi (HMA), the HJI and JM.

"'Law enforcement agencies were initially confused about how so many groups could be involved in the suicide attacks, but some of the suspects revealed that several Jihadi organisations, including some Kashmiri militant groups, have formed a joint working group to target American and Western interests,' the sources said.

"In one instance, a Lashkar-e-Taiba jihadi was arrested in Gujranwala district's Maneecher Chattha village after a telephone conversation was recorded in which he got instructions about a new plan to kill the president. In another instance, an Arab national, identified as Ghazanfar Ghazal, is also suspected of involvement in the suicide attack.

"Sources said 25 men had been arrested in Lahore since December 26. 'Some arrested suspects have confessed to their relations with al-Qaeda,' they added.

"One of the important arrests was of a former head of the HJI office in Chauburji. He reportedly had links with Arab militants and was under constant surveillance by the intelligence agencies after he was first arrested and released in June last year. Intelligence sources claim that this suspect remained in touch with the foreign militants. He was arrested on Saturday night."

Prominent Ohio Islamic Leader Indicted

"A prominent Islamic clergyman was arrested Tuesday on an indictment alleging he concealed links to groups that committed terrorist attacks against Jews when he applied for U.S. citizenship a decade ago, officials said." This from AP.

"Imam Fawaz Mohammed Damrah, who leads the Islamic Center of Cleveland, Ohio's largest mosque, is accused of withholding information on his membership or affiliation with several groups, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, U.S. Attorney Gregory White said.

"White said the indictment did not allege that Damrah, a Palestinian, committed any terrorist activities. The indictment did not specify what type of support Damrah may have provided to any of the groups.

"Damrah, 41, who also uses the name Fawaz Damra, was charged with unlawfully obtaining U.S. citizenship by providing false or fraudulent information, White said. He gained citizenship in 1994. If convicted, he could face loss of his citizenship, up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

"Palestinian Islamic Jihad has been identified by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, White said. Other groups for which Damrah is accused of concealing an affiliation or membership were Afghan Refugees Services Inc., also known as Al-Kifah Refugee Center, and the Islamic Committee for Palestine, also known as Islamic Concern Project.

"Damrah has been a permanent resident in the United States since 1988, White said. Damrah's past has been public knowledge for several years. White would not say why the indictment has been filed now. 'We are strictly dealing with issues, activities and incidents prior to his becoming a naturalized citizen and what he was required to disclose' to gain citizenship, White said.

"Damrah represented the Islamic community at interfaith gatherings in Cleveland after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Then, local TV stations broadcast a videotape from a Chicago gathering 10 years earlier showing him making anti-Jewish comments in a speech. He called for rifles to be directed at Jewish people, and referring to them as 'the sons of monkeys and pigs.'

"He apologized for the remarks, saying they were made before he had any interaction with Jews and Christians. But a local community college replaced him in late 2001 as the teacher of a course on Islam."

So once he met Jews and Christians, he realized they were nice folks and not the sons of monkeys and pigs after all? Forgive me if I doubt this. The Qur'an says that Jews are under Allah's curse and were changed by him into monkeys and pigs in Suras 2:62-65, 5:59-60, and 7:166. Christians are thrown in in 5:59-60. Radical Muslims around the world commonly refer to Jews, and sometimes also to Christians, by these epithets. If Damrah was also used to making the connection between these Qur'an passages and today's Jews and Christians, it's unlikely that any experience he had with the sons of monkeys and pigs themselves would have changed his view; it's much more likely that the pressure made him realize it was prudent to shut up about it.

Jihad in Bulgaria

The trench-coated KGB types have cleared out of Bulgaria, and the jihadists have rushed in to fill the vacuum. But the Bulgarian government is on top of the situation, and has not hesitated to close Islamic centers that have been found to be fomenting terrorism and sedition: "Bulgaria has dismantled Islamic centres with possible links to Saudi-funded extremist movements, the head of military intelligence, Plamen Stoudenkov, said on Monday." This from AFP.

"'There are religious centres in Bulgaria that belong to Islamic groups financed mostly by Saudi Arabian groups, that possibly have links to radical organisations like the Muslim Brothers in Egypt,' General Stoudenkov said in an interview with the daily newspaper Dvevnik.

"He said the centres were in southern and southeastern Bulgaria, where the country’s Muslims, mainly of Turkish origin, are concentrated, and 'had links with similar organisations in Kosovo, Bosnia and Macedonia. For them Bulgaria seems to be a transit point to Western Europe.'

"Stoudenkov said the centres were dismantled by the authorities in September and November 2003. He said the steps were taken to prevent terrorist groups gaining a foothold in Bulgaria, which shares a border with Turkey.

"Senior interior ministry official Boiko Borissov on Thursday played down the events, saying the police had 'launched two or three operations against Muslim missionaries at Velingrad and Pazardik' in the south. In an interview with foreign media, he stressed, 'there are no problems concerning Islam or terrorism in Bulgaria.'

"Bulgaria’s Turkish minority accounts for 10 percent of the country’s eight million people. Younal Loufti, one of the leaders of the Turkish minority Movement for Rights and Freedom, the junior partner in Bulgaria’s governing coalition, said in late November that the party was guarding against extremism taking root in Bulgaria.

"He said five years ago that 'sects' from Arab countries that tried to recruit followers in Bulgaria were 'chased away by the population,' adding: 'We are very careful.'

"Members of the Turkish population near the southern town of Kardjali confirmed that foreign groups had tried to recruit members there."

Bangladesh: home to 48 Islamic militant camps

The tiny minority of Islamic extremists seems to be extraordinarily busy these days in Bangladesh: "With pressure mounting on Dhaka to act against North Eastern insurgent camps there, media reports say that there were at least 48 camps across Bangladesh to impart arms training to Islamic militants, some of whom are known to be close to al-Qaeda and Taliban." This from ExpressIndia.

"'So far, security agencies have reportedly identified 48 training centres across the country. The names of 13 militant organisations are known, but only a few of them have created news,' an article in the Saturday Tribune of Bangladesh said.

"The known outfits include Shahadat-e-al-Hikma, Jamaat-ul-mujahid-ul-Bangladesh, Jamaat-e-Yahia trust, Hizbut Tawhid, al-Harakat-ul-Islamia, al-Markaj-ul-Islami, Jamaatul Falaiya, Tawhidi Janata, world Islamic front, Jumaat-as-Sadat, Shahadat -E-Nabuat, Harkat-ul-Jehad Islami and al-Khidmat, it said."

Among these names include the Jihad Party of Bangladesh, Confession and Wisdom, Party of Allah's Unity, etc.

"'Whatever their actual number or present capabilities, as well as the limited influence they have on the general population, these Jihadis have started causing alarm in democratic circles, and unless they are effectively contained, may become a real and extraordinary danger in the imminent future,' senior Bangladeshi journalist Haroon Habib said in the article 'Islamic Militancy: Is Bangladesh following the Pakistani example'.

"It said that there were also frequent allegations about 'a mysteriously soft attitude' adopted by the Bangladesh government towards these outfits 'as none of the arrested militants have, so far, received any punishment, nor have there been any meaningful investigation into their funding and support structures'." Hmmm. And why is that?

Jihad in Houston?

They're scratching their heads in Houston over this one: "A Saudi Arabian national who slashed a Jewish friend's throat after apparently undergoing a religious reawakening has pleaded guilty to murder rather than face trial." This from the Houston Chronicle, with thanks to Mrs. Obelix and Nicolei.

Mohammed Ali Alayed, 23, faces up to 60 years in prison for the Aug. 6 attack in which Ariel Sellouk was almost decapitated with a knife.

He got 60 years because of a deal made involving his guilty plea. The case was not tried as a hate crime; another story about the case explains that

although there was no direct evidence the killing was a hate crime, attorneys said jurors might have been particularly unsympathetic to Alayed because the slaying raised the specter of Islamic extremism and stereotypes surrounding terrorists. "Now is not a good time to be trying a case with these facts," said Alayed's attorney, George Parnham. "I believe a jury well could have given him a life sentence."

That has been known to happen in murder cases. Meanwhile, the prosecution agreed:

Prosecutor Stephen St. Martin said there was no clear motive in the killing, which Alayed's roommate witnessed. There was no strategic advantage to prosecuting the slaying as a hate crime, because that and murder by itself carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, St. Martin said.

The connection to his "religious reawakening" apparently was made by the Chronicle, not by authorities in Houston. Police can't find a motive — they're just sure that the murder didn't have anything to do with religion:

Although Alayed went to a local mosque after the slaying and no clear motive was established, Houston police said they could not find any evidence that Sellouk, also 23, was killed because of his race or religion.

Nevertheless, these are the facts of the case:

Alayed, of the 2500 block of Winrock, was arrested Aug. 14 in a friend's empty Galleria-area apartment.

According to the victim's father, Michel Sellouk, the victim

became friends with Alayed a few years ago. He said Alayed underwent 'a religious experience' about two years ago, became a devout Muslim and broke off contact with Ariel. On the day of the slaying, Sellouk said, Alayed called his son and suggested they get together. The two had drinks at a bar before going to Alayed's apartment about midnight. Alayed's roommate told police the two were not arguing before Sellouk was killed.

No clear motive? Not a hate crime? This is a craven example of the astounding state of denial that dominates the public discourse today about radical Islam. Did prosecutors investigate the possibility that in the course of his religious reawakening Alayed may have come across the hadith collection Mishkat Al-Messabih? It states:

When judgment day arrives, Allah will give every Muslim, a Jew or Christian to kill so that the Muslim will not enter into hell fire" (vol. 2, no. 5552).

Did they take note of the fact that a recent Muslim murderer of a Jew in France cried after the deed, "I have killed my Jew. I will go to heaven"?

I am quite sure that they did not. I am quite sure that they thought that ignoring the possibility that Alayed's murder was an exercise of jihadist hatred would be better in the long run. Better not to stir up trouble. But they are only buying for us more trouble down the road.

Indonesian police say arrested Islamic teacher is a terrorist leader

Yet more evidence of the hollowness of the still-prevailing view that Islamic radicals are a tiny minority that has "hijacked" the religion: another Islamic teacher has been arrested — this time in Indonesia — on suspicion of terrorist activity: "Indonesian police said Monday an Islamic teacher arrested in East Java province last week planned to bomb police headquarters and has long been on their wanted list." This from AFP, with thanks to Nicolei.

"Adi Suryana, 40, was arrested in the East Java capital of Surabaya on January 9. Police said at the time that he might have information on fugitive Malaysian explosives experts Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top, wanted for attacks including the 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people.

"'We have long been looking for him,' said the head of the national police detective department, Commissioner General Erwin Mappaseng. 'He is the planner of terror, including the plan to bomb the headquarters of the national police and the Jakarta police headquarters.'

"Suryana had met seven times with a group in several Indonesian cities to prepare acts of terror, the officer said. 'He is sort of their manager,' Mappaseng said, adding that some of Suryana's friends in the group had already been captured and tried in court."

Now how could an Islamic teacher end up being the "manager" of a terrorist group? One would think, from listening to some Muslim spokesmen in America, that all his immersion in the Qur'an would calm his soul and make him a tolerant, peaceful individual. The fact that just the opposite is happening — on a global scale — is still a taboo subject in most of the American media, and certainly unspeakable in Western Europe. Conservative and liberal media outlets alike would prefer on the whole to pretend that this is all just an accident, that given the right circumstances there could be Christian terrorist groups around the world waging war in the name of their religion, and that to scrutinize the role of Islam in all this is somehow racist.

In fact, however, such a view, as common as it is, does a grave disservice to Muslims as well as non-Muslims, and leaves analysts with a huge blind spot in evaluating the true dimensions of the threat from jihadist groups. It is no more bigoted to say that there are elements of Islam in need of reform than it would be bigoted to point out that American Catholicism needs to undergo a period of introspection and change in the wake of the priest scandals. That elements of Islam are being used by terrorists as recruitment tools should by now be obvious to any person of good will. In light of this it should be the highest priority of self-proclaimed moderate Muslim groups to formulate a comprehensive internal response to this phenomenon: to root out these elements of Islam and to teach Muslims, not non-Muslims, that this form of Islam must be relegated to the history books once and for all.

This is not happening, and those in authority who should be calling for it are instead pretending that it need not be done, and that it is safe to assume that the overwhelming majority of Muslims abhor terror and have no attachment to the doctrines of violent jihad invoked by the radicals. Analysts who dare to point out evidence to the contrary have been driven out of the academy as well as out of government, and are generally ignored by the major media. This is why America could find that, despite her overwhelming technical and military advantage, she could end up losing this war after all.

"The conflict in the world today is a conflict between belief and unbelief"

This just in from MEMRI: "The Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat published an interview with Nabil Sahrawi, also known as Abu Ibrahim Mustafa, a leader of the Salafi Group for Da'wa and Fighting in Algeria. This group has been linked with Al-Qa'ida. Prior to publication, the interview, which is Sahrawi's first, was posted on Islamist websites.

"At the beginning of the interview, Sahrawi tells about his organization, which was founded in early 1999, and states that it supplanted the Armed Islamic Group. According to Sahrawi, his group was formed after the Armed Islamic Group was taken over by Antar Zawabiri, who diverted it from its previous path. The following are excerpts from the interview: . . .

"Question: 'Several times, the Algerian press has revealed contacts between your group and the regime. What is the extent of the truth of these reports? Does the Salafi Group for Da'wa and Fighting believe in a solution by means of negotiation and dialogue with the regime?'

"Sahrawi: 'The rulers of the Muslim lands today are a gang of apostates [and] criminals, the most evil creatures created on the face of the earth, whose crimes are known to all, and they are a paradigm of treachery, deceit, misleading, and repression. How many commitments have they given their people, only to then fill their graveyards and prisons with them? They have replaced Shari'a law, and they rule Muslims with the laws of Europe and America. They have shed blood and violated the religious prohibitions. They have wasted the property of the Muslims on forbidden things. All that interested them was their bellies and their enslavement to the West. They are not [protected] by any pact. Anyone who wants a lesson [on the results] of dialogue with the apostates, let them learn the lesson of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the lesson of the Islamic Front of Salvation in Algeria ... and so on.

"The Salafi Group for Da'wa and Fighting is fighting the regime in Algiers because of its unbelief and apostasy... Fighting the apostates takes precedence over fighting others from among the original infidels, and the punishment of the apostates is harsher than that [of the original infidels], both in this world and in the hereafter. Pacts must not be formed with these rulers; they must not be given security; there must be no reconciliation with them, and there must be no truce with them. We will accept from them either repentance or the sword..."

"Question: 'Some see your most recent communiqué as an announcement of allegiance to the Al-Qa'ida organization. What do you think about Sheikh Osama bin Laden? What is the truth about your connection to Al-Qa'ida and the other Jihad organizations in the world?

"Sahrawi: '... Our connection to Al-Qa'ida and the other Jihad organizations in the world is based on two things:'

"First, the operation of the Salafi Group for Da'wa and Fighting in the realm of preaching and Jihad is an operation integrated with that of the other groups, because as noted in the [organization's] charter ... the Salafi Group for Da'wa and Fighting is a phased means aimed ultimately at establishing a group of Muslims - the Caliphate - and it sees this as a sacred goal that all Muslims must strive to attain...

"Second, one of our goals is also to educate the Muslims about the principle that loyalty to Islam and to the Sunna must take precedence over loyalty to all the other frameworks... The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim, even if their countries are distant from each other. Every Muslim is entitled to the support [of other Muslims]... We support those who support Allah, His Prophet, and the believers, and we act with hostility towards those who act with hostility towards Allah and His Prophet, even if he is from among the closest of the close."

"Question: 'After the September 11 raid, America put you on the list of organizations it is fighting. What is your response to this?'

"Sahrawi: 'We classified ourselves even before America classified us. The world is divided into two parts: the part of belief, and the part of unbelief and falsehood. There is no third part. Anyone who desires Islam and a regime in accordance with the Qur'an is classified by the infidels on their list of enemies and opponents... Anyone who says 'There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,' is on this list, and his turn will come, whether he is armed or not...

"Question: 'Is there a final message you want to send to the Algerian Muslim people in these difficult times...?'

"Sahrawi: 'The conflict in the world today is a conflict between belief and unbelief. The war in Palestine, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Algeria, in Chechnya, and in the Philippines is one war. This is a war between the camp of Islam and the camp of the Cross, to which the Americans, Zionists, Jews, their apostate allies, and others belong.'

"The goal of this war, which they falsely called a war on terror, is to prevent the Muslims from establishing an Islamic state whose regime will be in accordance with the Qur'an and the Sunna of the Prophet, and which will constitute a source of pride and strength for the Muslims. America and its allies the Jews, the Christians, and the apostates will not cease their war on Islam before they remove the last Muslim from his religion and bring him into apostasy. We must be wary of this terrible plot that the enemies of Islam aspire to realize.

"During this time, Jihad is one of the greatest personal commandments. Every Muslim must know that defending Islam and the Muslims in this war is an obligation incumbent upon him, with his soul, his money, and his tongue. Support for Muslims is an obligation. The Islamic State will not arise through means of slogans, demonstrations, parties, and elections, but through blood, body parts, and [sacrifice of] lives..."

Homeland Security's faulty new anti-terror policy

Lorenzo Vidino and Erick Stakelbeck at FrontPage magazine explain why the Department of Homeland Security's new policy of fingerprinting foreigners from selected countries as they enter the U.S. endangers us all and makes it more likely that a terrorist will be able to enter the country. Why? Because it leaves out several important states where terrorists are known to operate:

"On January 5, following months of deliberation, the Department of Homeland Security instituted a new security procedure requiring foreigners entering the U.S. to be fingerprinted and photographed. While the program, called US-VISIT (U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology), is chiefly intended to monitor potential terrorists who attempt to enter the U.S., it is not applied to citizens from several countries where Islamic terrorists and their supporters operate. For example, while citizens from notorious terrorist-sponsoring states like Iran and Syria are included, visitors from France and England—both growing hotbeds of Islamic militancy—are not subject to US-VISIT.

"The program, which has been implemented at 115 airports and 14 seaports nationwide, was successfully tested at Atlanta International Airport prior to its nationwide launch. The Atlanta test run produced interesting results: most notably, 21 individuals found on the FBI criminal watch list were prevented from entering the U.S. In addition, the program caused only minimum inconvenience, adding, on average, just 15 seconds to the entry process.

"Not surprisingly, the usual cast of self-appointed civil rights experts and Bush-bashing Leftists immediately criticized US-VISIT as intrusive and a violation of privacy. Charlie Mitchell, the ACLU’s Washington, DC-based legal counsel, expressed concern about 'who will have access and how people would be able to contest being included once they are on the list.' Omar Najib, treasurer of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, complained that the program would single out Arabs and Muslims. But the most ridiculous reaction came from Brazil, where Judge Julier Sebastiao Da Silva called the program 'xenophobic' and, in a fit of childish retaliation, ordered all U.S. citizens entering Brazil to be fingerprinted.

"If there is indeed a problem with US-VISIT, it will not be found in the baseless ranting of those who oppose any measure enacted by the Bush administration a priori. Rather, the program’s main flaw is that it does not apply to citizens from 27 mostly European countries, many of which have become virtual breeding grounds for Islamic militants. Citizens of countries like Holland, Germany and Italy, who are already able to enter the U.S. without a visa for up to 90 days, are also exempt from US-VISIT. Considering that European intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned about the radicalization of a significant part of Europe’s approximately 15 million Muslims, this decision leaves the U.S. dangerously exposed.

"Over the last few years, Islamic radicals carrying European passports have played a major role in international terrorism. But under US-VISIT’s present guidelines, would-be 9/11 hijacker and French national Zacarias Moussaoui, for example, would not have been fingerprinted or photographed. More Al-Qaeda sympathizers carrying European passports would potentially be able to enter the U.S. undetected as well.

"Europe is presently faced with thousands of second and third-generation European Muslims who feel detached from mainstream Western society and have turned to radical Islam as an alternative. For example, Asif Mohammed Hanif, a British-born Muslim of Pakistani origin, carried out a suicide bombing in a popular Tel Aviv pub last May, killing three people and injuring more than 50. Other European Muslims, like German citizen Christian Ganczarski, are native Europeans who have converted to Islam. Prior to his 2003 arrest in France, Ganczarski managed to reach a leadership position in Al-Qaeda and arrange terrorist attacks with the likes of the organization’s former third-in-command, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Several European countries have acknowledged that white converts like Ganczarski are a growing threat.

"While Hanif, Ganzcarski and others have acquired a European citizenship through birth, many terrorists have gained this privilege via Europe’s generous political asylum laws. For example, during the 1990s, Rabah Kebir, one of the leaders of the Algerian terrorist group FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) and several of his followers managed to obtain political asylum in Germany. Some radicals have even been known to use marriage to native European women in order to gain citizenship.

"It is common knowledge in the intelligence community that Al-Qaeda has a particular interest in recruiting operatives who carry European passports, since they draw less scrutiny from authorities. A recent phone conversation between two high-ranking Al-Qaeda members in Europe that was intercepted by Italian intelligence revealed that there are currently British, German, Austrian and Swiss citizens working for the organization. With the way US-VISIT is presently construed, all of these individuals could possibly enter the U.S. untouched.

"Despite potential problems that may arise with European countries and other allies as a result of a broadening of US-VISIT, the U.S. cannot afford to compromise in matters of national security. It is a harsh fact that our enemies have managed to infiltrate countries that are friendly to the United States. The U.S. must adjust to this new reality—expanding the guidelines of US-VISIT would be a step in the right direction."

Nigerian Imams: polio vaccine is an American plot

Conspiracy theories are rampant in the Muslim world, as I have written about recently. Here's a new one in Nigeria: "The [polio] virus thrived here in part because of the usual obstacles to better health care: internal political struggles, misspent money, alleged corruption. But an unusual additional factor came into play in the hamlets along the fault line between Christians and Muslims in West Africa: Local Muslim clerics told villagers to reject the polio vaccine because it was part of an American plot." This from the Boston Globe, with thanks to Nicolei.

"Muslim leaders in hundreds of northern Nigerian communities such as Batakaye limited or halted door-to-door polio immunization last year. They told millions of faithful in this Muslim-dominated region that the American government had tainted the vaccine with either infertility drugs or HIV, the virus that causes AIDS -- statements later proved false by independent laboratory tests.

"Some leaders admitted in interviews late last year that they never believed such a thing. But they remained silent, they said, in order to stop anything associated with the United States. The US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, several said, had led them to believe that America wants to control the Islamic world, and the polio vaccination effort gave them an opportunity to resist a US-funded initiative.

"They vowed to preach against polio vaccinations as long as the United States pays for them, even though it puts their own children at risk. 'People believe that America hates Muslims, and so whatever comes from the United States, no matter how good it is, people will reject it,' said Sheik Muhammed Nasir Muhammed, the chief imam at the second largest mosque in Kano, the Muslim political center in northern Nigeria."

Suicide bomber was preparing for attack in Britain

"An Islamic terrorist suspect linked to al-Qa'ida has been arrested after apparently preparing himself for a suicide bombing in Britain." This from The Australian, with thanks to Nicolei.

"The man, an Algerian asylum-seeker, had left suicide notes to his mother and sister warning them that he planned to 'martyr' himself. When he was strip-searched, police discovered he had shaved off all his body hair – a religious obligation often observed by would-be suicide bombers so that they are 'clean' before entering heaven. Documents found in the suitcase of Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the September 11 attacks, appeared to instruct all 19 of his hijackers to shave their body hair.

"The man, in his late 20s, was arrested during a series of raids by police who were investigating a network of terrorists loosely connected to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida movement. It is understood that he has been charged with unrelated terrorist offences.

"In notes to his sister and mother, the man wrote: 'I hope you treat me as a hero and a martyr.' The documents were recovered during a raid on his home, said to be in the north of England. The documents triggered a nationwide hunt for explosives that the man was believed to be planning to use. A target has not been identified but there are growing fears of a suicide bomb attack at an airport, shopping centre or railway station in and around the capital.

"Police passed the man's details to MI5, which says there is insufficient evidence of a specific plot. One official said: 'There are rituals that different ethnic groups have used in connection with martyrdom operations. Shaving your body hair is an indication, but it is not the only indication.'

"The discovery of the suicide notes before Christmas helps explain the growing concern of authorities over a suicide attack somewhere in Britain. . . . But MI5 director-general Eliza Manningham-Buller has told ministers of 'chilling' new evidence that al-Qa'ida may be planning a suicide attack at Heathrow airport. One intelligence source said: 'Al-Qa'ida is very definitely air-oriented. An attack at Heathrow is considered to be a real threat.'

"Senior British law enforcement officials said last week they wanted to obtain bulk passenger lists so they could start checking names well before possible suspects check in at airports."

Saudi funds still flow to Al-Qaeda

"Saudi Arabia, the source of most of al-Qaida's funding prior to Sept. 11, 2001, has frozen only a tiny percentage of the money flowing to Osama bin Laden's terror network since the biggest terror attack in history, according to a new report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter."

"According to the report, since Sept. 11, 2001, Saudi Arabia has frozen only 41 bank accounts belonging to seven individuals for a total of $5,697,400, or 4 percent of the total amount of terrorist-related funds frozen around the world – this despite the fact that intelligence and law-enforcement authorities around the world agree that most of al-Qaida's money originates in the kingdom.

"Despite Saudi Arabia's rhetoric about the kingdom being the No. 1 target of al-Qaida, officials there don't really believe their own words, say G2 Bulletin sources.

"'We have never worried about the effect of these organizations on our country,' said Prince Bandar Bin Sultan just after the attacks on New York and Washington.

"Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency has addressed circulars to Saudi banks to investigate the extent to which they may have assets belonging to the individuals and entities that appear in the lists of those suspected of having links to terrorism, and it has asked banks to scrutinize accounts and audit all financial operations that affect them.

"Furthermore, SAMA instructed commercial banks to establish a 'Self- Supervisory Committee' to closely monitor and fight terrorism funding and to coordinate all efforts to freeze the assets of the identified individuals and entities.

"But, according to G2 Bulletin sources, most of these bureaucratic measures, while creating the impression that the Saudi government is taking appropriate actions to counter terrorist funding, have proved ineffective in countering networks that can easily evade the controls.

"Targeting money laundering, for instance, turned out to be ineffective because the practice refers to the cleaning of illegal gains from drug trafficking and other criminal activities. Most of the funding of terrorism actually involves using legitimate income to finance illegal activity.

"Similar doubts can also be raised as to the extent of the SAMA willingness to effectively control these institutions, especially when illegal practices involve the use of Zakat, or charity, funds.

"For example, it was only in 1999, after several months of fierce international pressure, that SAMA directed an audit on the National Commercial Bank, chaired at the time by Osama bin Laden's brother in law, and one of his major financial supporters in the kingdom. After the audit revealed several millions of dollars were diverted to terrorist organizations, its chairman was replaced, but remained until last year, along with his family, a major shareholder of the bank with a controlling vote at its board of directors.

"Furthermore, documents made available to the Sept. 11 victims' families clearly established that the NCB was still facilitating banking transactions for terrorists after that date. The same applies to other major banks of the kingdom including A1-Rajhi Bank, A1-Baraka Bank, Arab Bank and the Saudi American Bank, which funneled money to or from a Spanish al-Qaida cell from 1996 until 2001.

"'Al-Qaida is probably the most successful example of a terrorist organization acting under the umbrella of business entities,' says Jean-Charles Brisard, international expert on terrorism financing and lead investigator for the Sept. 11 victims' families.

"Operational cells of al-Qaida are involved, he says, in construction, in real estate and in public building sectors. Some 241 Saudi charity organizations are currently operating in Saudi Arabia and abroad. These organizations receive annually between $3 billion to $4 billion, of which between 10 percent and 20 percent is sent abroad. Saudi charities, international intelligence agencies say, are present at every stage of terrorism.

"The Saudi Red Crescent, for instance, a parallel to the Red Cross in the U.S., maintained passports for al-Qaida operatives to avoid searches and is referred to as an 'umbrella' organization by al-Qaida operatives. A message on the letterhead of the Saudi Red Crescent bureau in Peshawar requests that 'weapons' be inventoried. The letter contains a note from Osama bin Laden to its then-director stating 'we have an extreme need for weapons'.

"In the past, Saudi charities even provided military bases for al-Qaida – even military training for al-Qaida terrorists. From several intelligence sources and documents collected around the world, the investigation of the 9/11 families has been able to establish that several Saudi charities have funded at least 10 terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. The International Islamic Relief Organization funded at least six training camps referred as terrorist training camps by the U.S. government, including the Darunta camp, a facility used for chemical and biological weapons testing.

"Saudi Arabia still harbors essential elements of al-Qaida, say G2 Bulletin sources. These include the ideological and spiritual leadership, the human resources and, most importantly, the financial tools.

"'Today, all of our leads and much of the evidence collected by the 9/11 families put Saudi Arabia on the central axis of terror,' says Brisard. 'Despite clear warnings, Saudi Arabia's support to charities has been continuous and extensive over the time, even after 9/11. Furthermore, most of the financial infrastructure is still in place, from banks to charities, including front companies and wealthy donors.'"

"Brisard says the Saudis have been misleading the world since Sept. 11, 2001. 'Saudi Arabia still maintains freely on its soil thousands of individuals or entities who provide financial support to the Bin Laden network, and the 9/11 families are still waiting for them to be investigated, sought and prosecuted with the same determination as the one applied to those who were carrying the guns and bombs they've paid for,' he adds.

"Law enforcement and intelligence operatives tell G2 Bulletin the money trail has allowed al-Qaida to step up its operational attacks since Sept. 11, 2001 – making this time period the busiest in its history. Even though al-Qaida has not been successful at launching a major attack agains the U.S. since 9/11, it has conducted more than 40 bombings causing more than 1,000 deaths.

"According to these sources, al-Qaida has maintained, despite the international crackdown on its funding since Sept. 11, an operational annual budget of $50 million. Most of those funds originate from wealthy donors in the Middle East.

"In 2002, Bosnian police seized a document listing wealthy Saudi sponsors. They include 20 Saudis – six bankers and 12 businessmen and two former ministers. They include former leading Saudi banker Khalid Bin Mahfouz, businessman Saleh Abdullah Kamel, the bin Laden family, and several bankers representing the three largest Saudi banks – National Commercial Bank, Riyadh Bank and Al Rajhi Bank.

"'According to our estimates, their cumulative corporate net worth totals more than $85 billion dollars, or 42 percent of the Saudi annual GNP and equivalent to the annual GNP of Venezuela,' says Brisard.

"Some $10 billion in Zakat, or charitable funding, is raised by Saudi Arabia alone annually. Zakat remains the most important source of financial support for the al-Qaida network, essentially because it is the most common and unregulated way to raise donations in Saudi Arabia." (Thanks to Jeffrey Imm.)

Terror cells regroup - and now their target is Europe

From The Observer, a look inside the radical Islamic network in Europe (with thanks to Mohamed Ibn Guadi):

"They had been watching him for months, aware that his pop star good looks concealed a secret life as one of Europe's new terrorist kingpins. Finally, on a cold winter dawn, the police moved in. Abderrazak Mahdjoub did not resist as armed German officers surrounded his Hamburg home and led him away. For at least a year, investigators claim, the 30-year-old Algerian had been a key part of a network of Islamic militants dedicated to recruiting and dispatching suicide bombers to the Middle East. Several volunteers had got through, wreaking havoc in a series of attacks in Iraq. Many more were on their way, along with bombers focused on targets in Europe.

"Even worse, his associates were planning bombs in Western Europe. At least two European intelligence services had made previous attempts to take Mahdjoub out. Now, finally, it was the Germans' turn. This weekend, just over a month after his arrest, Mahdjoub remains in prison at an undisclosed location. He is likely to remain incarcerated for some time.

"Mahdjoub's arrest was a minor victory in a major war being fought, bitterly and secretly, in cities from London to Warsaw, from Madrid to Oslo. It pits the best investigative officers in Europe against a fanatical network of men dedicated to the prosecution of jihad both in Europe and overseas. It is a war security officials know they cannot afford to lose - and that they know they will be fighting for the foreseeable future.

"Previously seen as a relative backwater in the war on terror, Europe is now in the frontline. 'It's trench warfare,' said one security expert. 'We keep taking them out. They keep coming at us. And every time they are coming at us harder.'

"An investigation by The Observer has revealed the extent of the new networks that Islamic militants have been able to build in Europe since 11 September - despite the massive effort against them. The militants' operations go far beyond the few individuals' activities that sparked massive security alerts over Christmas and the new year. Interviews with senior counter-intelligence officials, secret recordings of conversations between militants and classified intelligence briefings have shown that militants have been able to reconstitute, and even enlarge, their operations in Europe in the past two years. The intelligence seen by The Observer reveals that:

"· Britain is still playing a central logistical role for the militants, with extremists, including the alleged mastermind of last year's bombings in Morocco, and a leader of an al-Qaeda cell, regularly using the UK as a place to hide. Other radical activists are using Britain for fundraising, massive credit card fraud, the manufacture of false documents and planning. Recruitment is also continuing. In one bugged conversation, a senior militant describes London as 'the nerve centre' and says that his group has 'Albanians, Swiss [and] British' recruits. He needs people who are 'intelligent and highly educated', he says and implies that the UK can, and does, supply them.

"· Islamic terror cells are spreading eastwards into Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and the Czech Republic for the first time, prompting fears of a new battleground in countries with weak authorities, powerful criminal gangs and endemic corruption in the years to come.

"· Austria has become a central communications hub for Muslim extremists; France has become a key recruiting ground for fighters in Chechnya; and German groups, who often have extensive international links, are developing contacts with Balkan mafia gangs to acquire weapons.

"The investigation has also revealed that, despite moves by the government there to crack down, Saudi Arabia remains the key source of funds for al-Qaeda and related militant groups.

"Investigators stress that most of the European cells are autonomous, coming together on an ad hoc basis to complete specific tasks. To describe them as 'al-Qaeda' is simplistic. Instead, sources say, the man most of these new Islamic terror networks look to for direction is Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian Islamic militant who some analysts believe was behind the recent Istanbul suicide bombings against British targets and synagogues. Though he follows a similar agenda to Osama bin Laden, the 37-year-old Zarqawi has always maintained his independence from the Saudi-born fugitive. Last week, his developing stature in global Islamic militancy was reinforced when he issued his first-ever public statement, an audiotape calling on God to 'kill the Arab and the foreign tyrants, one after another'.

"Zarqawi is believed to be in Iran or Iraq. However European investigators have discovered that one of his key lieutenants is an Iraqi Kurd known only as Fouad, a cleric based in Syria, who handles the volunteer suicide bombers sent from Europe to launch attacks in Iraq.

"Italian investigators made the first breakthrough in the hunt for Zarqawi's operatives. Just after 10pm on the evening of 15 June, 2002, an unidentified Arab visitor from Germany - believed to be a senior figure in the militants' network - arrived at a mosque in the Via Quaranta, Milan. He began by warning the mosque's Egyptian imam, Abu Omar, about increased surveillance. He was unaware that Italian police were listening to his every word.

"Transcripts obtained by The Observer reveal that the visitor spoke of a project needing 'intelligent and highly educated people'. Already, the visitor said, that 'where the jihad part is concerned there was a battalion of 25 to 26 units'. It is these 'units', believed by investigators to mean potential suicide bombers, that the authorities knew they had to find.

"The visitor then began a review of recent developments. He stressed that 'the thread begins in Saudi Arabia', where the bulk of funds apparently still comes from. 'Don't ever worry about money, because Saudi Arabia's money is your money,' the visitor says. He then refers to recent 'confidential' meetings in Eastern Europe with Islamic militant leaders.

"'Now Europe is controlled via air and land, but in Poland and Bulgaria and countries that aren't part of the European Community everything is easy,' he says. 'First of all they are corrupt, you can buy them with dollars...[Secondly] they are less-controlled countries, there aren't too many eyes.'

"The man named Austria as a launch pad for attacks. 'The country from which everything takes off is Austria. There I met all of the sheikhs and all our brothers are there ... it has become the country of international communications. It has become the country of contacts.'

"Poland is a particularly important location too, the man says and names a 'Sheikh Abd al-Aziz', before boasting: 'His organisation is stunning.'

"After translating the conversation, held in Arabic, Italian investigators immediately relayed the information to counterparts elsewhere in Europe. The British security services swung into action. The transcripts also reveal the continuing importance of London.

"'The nerve centre is still London,' the man says and hints that there are many recruits from the UK: 'We have Albanians, Swiss [and] British.'

"The role of the UK was reinforced when, last April, 29-year-old Somali-born Cabdullah Ciise was arrested in Milan days after arriving from London, where he had fled to escape Italian investigators months earlier. The Italians suspect him of financing a terror cell involved in the car bomb attack on Israeli tourists in Mombasa, Kenya in November 2002. According to Italian court documents, Ciise transferred money from Great Britain to Somalia through Dubai.

"He is also accused of being an important member of Zarqawi's international terrorist organisation. A year earlier, in May 2002, Faraj Farj Hassan, the suspected leader of an Islamic terrorist cell in Milan, was arrested in Harrow, west London, where he had taken refuge with a relative who had political asylum. Hassan, 23, was arrested for immigration offences and is believed to still be held in Belmarsh high security prison awaiting extradition to Italy.

"And last November, an Algerian-born British national from west London was arrested after travelling to Poland. He was the subject of an Algerian arrest warrant alleging his involvement in a terrorist group.

"When the Italians arrested Ciise they put him in the same cell as another Islamic radical known as 'Mera'i'. Again, the conversation was bugged; it gives a chilling insight into the mind of a hardened militant.

"Mera'i tells Ciise that he hates their jailers: 'They like life, I want to be a martyr, I live for jihad. In this life there is nothing, life is afterward, the indescribable sensation of dying a martyr.'

"Then the pair talk about the Syrian-based cleric Fouad, whom they describe as the 'gatekeeper' to Iraq. Other transcripts reveal conversations between Fouad and Mera'i about how they had organised the flow of 'brothers' to Iraq via the Syrian cities of Damascus and Aleppo. British suicide bombers who died in Israel last year travelled through both cities. One of the network's recruits is believed to have been involved in the rocket attack in October against the Baghdad hotel where Paul Wolfowitz, the American deputy Secretary of Defence, was staying. One phone call between the two reveals Mera'i telling Fouad that: 'This week more guests will be arriving ... they are good people.' Fouad replies: 'I want those that are awake and prepared ... I want those who will strike the earth and make iron rise out of it ... I'm looking for those that were in Japan [ie, kamikaze or suicide bombers].'

"The Italian investigation yielded important intelligence and the focus shifted to Germany. After 11 September, authorities there had concentrated on rounding up all those connected with the 'Hamburg cell' who had led the attacks on New York and Washington. Soon, however, they came across a group known as 'al-Tauhid' (the unitarians) which posed as grave a threat. Al-Tauhid were loyal to Zarqawi; indeed, many of their key personnel had trained in his camp in Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

"According to an intelligence dossier compiled last year by German criminal intelligence, the link between the Italian network and the German cells was a 30-year-old Palestinian called Mansour Thaer. Another connection was a Turk called Mevluet Tar, a 23-year-old who spoke fluent German. Both were quickly picked up.

"The dossier lists a dozen senior al-Tauhid operatives in Germany. Most were involved in the provision of false passports or spent their time raising and transferring funds to fighters in the Middle East. But others, many still at large, were involved in plotting bomb attacks against Jewish targets in Western Europe. At least one militant liaised with Albanian mafia gangs in a bid to obtain weapons, the dossier reveals. Only a handful of the individuals named in the document have been arrested.

"Last week there were more arrests. In Paris a group alleged to be recruiting fighters for the war in Chechnya was picked up. In Switzerland a series of raids broke up an alleged support and fundraising network which had connections to the men who set off bombs in Riyadh last May. In Spain, a favoured entry point into Europe for North African militants, investigators continue to chase down terrorists linked to cells rounded up earlier.

"A Moroccan cleric called Mohammed al-Garbuzi, whom local authorities claim was a key figure in the Casablanca bombings last May, is believed to be at large in the UK. Scotland Yard last week warned leaders of the Jewish community that the threat 'remained high'. Senior British police officers said they are aware that millions of pounds are being raised in the UK by credit card fraud for Islamic militant groups.

"'We act when we can,' said one police source. 'But we are stretched enough going after the clear and immediate threats, let alone their back-up.'

"Security experts stress that the campaign to prevent another major bomb attack in Western Europe has got no easier since major round-ups after 11 September. 'We are dealing with something that is organic, not mechanical,' one told The Observer . 'You can't remove a part and watch it all break down. It's more like fungus. Burn some away and it just keeps growing somewhere else.'

"The targets, the death toll and the suspects

"Istanbul November 2003, 62 dead
Target: British consulate and bank, synagogues
Suspect: Local Islamic group thought to be linked to al-Qaeda or Abu Musab Zarqawi

"Baghdad August-October 2003, 50 dead
Target: Al-Rasheed hotel, UN and Red Cross headquarters.
Suspect: European suicide bombers believed to have been recruited by Mullah Fouad in Syria.

"Casablanca May 2003, 41 dead
Target: Jewish community centre and Spanish social club
Suspect: Local Islamic group. The authorities want to interview a Moroccan cleric, Mohammed al-Garbuzi, who is believed to be in Britain.

"Riyadh May 2003, 34 dead
Target: Luxury compounds in Saudi capital
Suspect: Swiss arrest an eight-strong 'logistics cell'.

"Mombasa November 2002, 16 dead
Target: Israeli tourists at Paradise hotel
Suspect: Kenyan Islamic cell. Some funds allegedly provided by a Somali-born militant living in London, arrested in Milan and 'a part of Zarqawi's cell'."

Al-Qaeda hiding in plain sight

This article about Al-Qaeda activities in East Africa assumes that the group only gets members by bribing poor Muslims, deceiving people, or playing on resentment and anger. While noting that radical Muslims preached to the locals, it doesn't explore in any depth the possibility that the group's carefully structured Islamic theological and legal arguments might have struck a chord with pious Muslims. When the radical Nabhan is portrayed below as preaching that America and Israel must be destroyed, the article makes no attempt to explain why preaching that anyone should be destroyed might resonate with Muslims well-versed in Qur'an passages such as "slay the unbelievers wherever you find them" (Sura 9:5), and a host of others.

Of course, the possibility that core elements of Islam might have something to do with all this trouble is so distasteful as to be beyond consideration by nearly everyone across the political spectrum — conservatives and liberals alike — in the U.S., despite the importance of recognizing this if it is indeed happening. If moderate Muslims really want to stamp out terrorism, let them formulate a convincing non-violent reading of the Qur'an and relevant ahadith — not convincing to Western non-Muslims (that's easy), but to Muslims themselves who may be tempted to radicalism.

Anyway, the article is still useful as a glimpse into the Al-Qaeda modus operandi, as well as providing more evidence of the fact noted below: that radical Muslims operate globally, considering themselves around the world to be fighting the same struggle. It's from SA, with thanks to Mrs. Obelix:

"When Fazul Abdullah Mohammed showed up in this little fishing village, there was already a local soccer club - and its name was al-Qaeda. Not content to join a team others had started, the alleged mastermind of two terrorist bombings in East Africa organised his own. Its name - Kabul, like the capital of Afghanistan, where he allegedly trained with Osama bin Laden's real al-Qaeda organisation.

"All along Kenya's Indian Ocean coast, al-Qaeda members have woven themselves into the fabric of the region's Islamic society. Using money to buy the allegiance of poor Muslims or passing themselves off as simple men looking for a quiet place to lead a devout life, the operatives have managed to build a formidable network throughout eastern Africa, US officials say.

"Foreigners like Fazul, who is wanted by the United States for the car bombings of the US Embassy in Nairobi in August 1998 and a coastal hotel in November 2002, settled in small towns and married local women. Kenyans like Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who is suspected of building the bomb used in the hotel attack, sought out like-minded compatriots in the thousands of mosques that dot the coast.

"Hundreds of new al-Qaeda members have been recruited, and most remain at large - including Fazul and Nabhan - despite stepped-up anti-terrorism efforts, said US Marine Brigadier General Martin Robeson, commander of the regional US-led anti-terror task force based in nearby Djibouti. 'We know for a fact of young al-Qaeda operatives who've moved into areas, put large sums of money on the table to marry local girls, purely and simply to establish a bloodline and a financial obligation they seek to turn into a guarantee of a safe place to live,' he said.

"In general, the Islamic terror network has not found legions of Muslims in Kenya who share its religious views. For centuries, a relatively liberal and mystical brand of Islam has dominated on the coast, not the rigid interpretation promoted by al-Qaeda. But al-Qaeda operatives have found Muslims resentful in the East African country, not just over calamities across the larger Islamic world, but also over discrimination - real and perceived - at home.

"In its drive to recruit, al-Qaeda has exploited the resentment Kenyan Muslims feel toward their government, which since independence in 1963 has been dominated by Christians from inland tribes and has had strong ties to the United States and Israel. Al-Qaida 'has corrupted some of our young people,' said Sheikh Ali Shee, a prominent religious leader in the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa. 'We were not always like this ... we have a history of openness.'

"The coast's distinctive Arab flavour - the region has absorbed waves of immigrants from Yemen and Oman over the centuries - has also made fitting in easy for Arabs operatives, like Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil, an Egyptian who married a Kenyan teenager and is wanted by the United States for his alleged role in the embassy bombing.

"Kenya's notoriously weak security forces, coupled with the historically poor relations between the police and coastal Muslims, has allowed al-Qaeda operatives to work undetected, said one US official, speaking from Washington.

"In Siyu, Fazul had been hiding in plain sight. He was relatively unknown to US and Kenyan officials before the 1998 car bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, attacks that killed 231 people, including 12 Americans. But within months of that attack, Fazul was indicted by a US court that later convicted four other suspects. Since the indictment, Fazul's face has been plastered on the walls of Kenyan police stations; he also has a $25m bounty on his head.

"Yet in January 2001, using the alias 'Abdul Karim,' he showed up with a group of itinerant preachers at Siyu, a village of mud and stone houses on Pate Island, about 275km) north of Mombasa. Fazul settled down with the family of a village elder, Mohammed Kubwa Seif, eventually marrying the man's daughter, Amina. A native of the Comoros, an archipelago off the coast of Mozambique, Fazul spoke the local language, Kiswahili, and knew the coast's Islamic culture.

"Yet even in Siyu, his religious fundamentalism stood out. Fazul 'didn't want us praying near graves or celebrating the Prophet's birthday' - two common Muslim practices on the coast, said Mohammed Ali, a fisherman. 'Most people ignored him.'

"The police did, too. 'I met him once,' said Majid Hussein, a police officer in the nearby town of Lamu. 'He was walking around reading from a little Quran ... I thought he was just another one of these wandering preachers.'

"Fazul wasn't. And Kenyan officials say some people in town may have been paying attention to what he was saying: Seif has been charged by a Kenyan court with conspiracy to commit murder for his alleged role in four al-Qaeda plots, including the embassy bombing and the 2002 hotel bombing north of Mombasa, an attack that killed 15 people, including three Israeli tourists. Seif's son, Kubwa Mohammed, has been charged with murder in connection with the hotel attack.

"It's not clear whether Fazul put down any money to establish a safe haven in Siyu, but he apparently felt the village was a safe place to hide. Following the hotel attack, he spent another two months in Siyu, disappearing only last January. However, he reportedly slipped back into Mombasa in May, prompting a round of terror alerts from the United States and Britain. US and Kenyan officials believe he's still in the region, probably in Kenya or Somalia. Nabhan, who has not been charged with any crimes, also figured into the May terror warnings.

"The Kenyan is believed to have joined al-Qaeda after the 1998 embassy bombing and was the alleged ringleader of a plot to destroy the new US Embassy in Nairobi this past June. Raised in a relatively well-off Mombasa family, Nabhan regularly frequented the central Noor Mosque, which attracts poorer Muslims, in the two years before the 2002 hotel attack, said Abdullah, an elderly man at the mosque.

"Nabhan 'was well-dressed, clean-shaven, very polite,' said Abdullah, who gave only a first name. 'Very quiet, very simple - he just prayed.'

"But Ibrahim, a 19-year-old Somali immigrant who also worships at the mosque, said Nabhan often preached to the younger Muslims. An illegal immigrant, Ibrahim spoke on the condition that only his first name be used. Nabhan, he said, 'explained America, Israel are what? They are enemies. He said we must do what? We must destroy them.'

"It's not clear whether Nabhan, who in the fall of 2002 rented a house in Mombasa where police say the car bomb used in the hotel attack was made, first met another Kenyan al-Qaeda suspect - Salmin Mohammed Khamis - at the Noor mosque. But when Khamis was arrested on June 17, he reportedly told police that Nabhan invited him to a secret al-Qaeda meeting a month earlier in Malindi, a town north of Mombasa, where the plot to destroy the new US Embassy was hatched.

"Like Fazul, Nabhan is also thought to be hiding in either Kenya or Somalia."

Women of the global jihad

This BBC article profiles two women two women married to members of Jemaah Islamiyah, which is fascinating in itself. But it underscores two points I have often made (at length in Onward Muslim Soldiers) but which bear repeating nevertheless:

1) Jihadists around the world consider themselves to be all fighting the same struggle — that of Islam against unbelievers — and so there is a great deal of travel between nations by committed jihadis. If these were nationalistic or social movements clad in religious garb, why would an Indonesian travel to Afghanistan to fight, or vice versa;

2) These men consider themselves to be waging jihad, not committing terrorism. This may seem to be a basic point, or a distinction without a difference, but it is actually of key importance: it places their struggle within a recognized Islamic theological and legal context, making it easier for them to gain recruits, and it allows them to condemn terrorism before gullible Westerners without moving a single finger to stop activities that Americans would classify as terrorism.

"Mira Augustina married her husband the same day she met him. It was the first time he had proposed, by way of the 21-year-old's father. 'We met at nine o'clock in the morning. We talked a little, and then he asked if I wanted to be his wife. And by 6pm we were married. Oh yes, it was a very happy day for me,' Augustina said.

"Augustina was told her husband was an Indonesian named Mohammed Asseqof. In fact, authorities say he was an Iraqi man with a Kuwaiti passport named Omar al-Faruq, and he was reportedly a key link between al-Qaeda and the regional militant network, Jemaah Islamiah (JI), which has been blamed for the Bali bombing.

"Augustina's father, an alleged arms runner, introduced al-Faruq to JI activists, as well as to his daughter. Al-Faruq was captured last year, and the CIA removed him from Indonesia. His wife and their two daughters haven't seen him since. Augustina said she was only now coming to terms with who her husband really was, and what her marriage did to help Jemaah Islamiah.

"'The marriage alliances are the glue that holds the organisation together,' said Sydney Jones of the International Crisis Group in Jakarta. 'Oftentimes senior members of the organisation will offer their sisters or sisters-in-law to new and promising recruits, so that not only is someone drawn into the organisation, but they're drawn into the family at the same time. They've been in control of finances in some cases. They play a role as couriers, in ensuring that, particularly after imprisonment, communication among different members of the organisation is maintained,' Ms Jones said.

"She said the women of Jemaah Islamiah for the most part remain behind the scenes. 'It's not a role in actively taking part in bombing activities, the way some of the women in Chechnya or in Sri Lanka have done. It's more ensuring that the organization stays solid.'

"One Malaysian family illustrates this more than any other.

"The father trained in Afghanistan in the late 1980s, where he probably met the men who would later marry two of his daughters. One daughter, Paridah Binti Abas, is married to Ali Gufron, also known as Mukhlas, who was recently convicted of masterminding the 2002 Bali bombing.

"Paridah was pregnant with her sixth child when Ali Gufron was arrested in 2002. When their son was born, the couple decided to name him after one of their heroes, Osama.

"To meet Paridah now is to meet only a pair of eyes. the rest of her face is covered. She wears a black veil, a black tunic, black pants, black socks, and black sports sandals. Paridah comes from a middle class Malaysian family. She attended high school, and is fluent in Arabic and English. 'I love books. Sometimes I read the books four or five times,' she said.

"Paridah admits that her husband wanted to teach Bali tourists a lesson about their evil ways. But she says he didn't mean to kill so many people.

"Unlike Mira Augustina, Paridah seems to have known what her husband was doing all along. She says even her young children support him. 'They are convinced that their father is a mujahid, not a terrorist. They said actually Indonesia must say thank you to my father, they said, because he showed us that Bali is full of influence of "ma'sia"... "bad things".'

"Paridah had a comfortable childhood, but her husband Ali Gufron grew up in a poor village. He became a preacher and fled to Afghanistan to fight for a better life. Paridah now lives in that village, far from Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. There, her ailing father-in-law and mother-in-law occupy a humble shack.

"They are parents to three men who have been found guilty of carrying out the Bali bombing - Ali Gufron and his younger two brothers, Amrozi and Ali Imron. 'When people knocked on the door to ask me questions I didn't answer. I just kept quiet and hoped that they would leave. But the people are still coming. And I keep telling them that I don't know anything, I don't know anything,' said Ali Gufron's mother.

"But Sydney Jones said such women often are aware of their male relative's activities. 'The women have to know everything that's going on because their husbands are meeting with people on a regular basis. And oftentimes, given the way that the family structure works, the women would be actively involved in helping serve the guests,' she said.

"The fate of Mira Augustina's husband Omar al-Faruq is uncertain. All that is known is he is still being detained by the CIA. Paridah Binti, Abas' husband Ali Gufron, has been sentenced to death for his role in the Bali bombing. He has two more chances to appeal. Paridah said she could dream that she will have her husband home again, but she could no longer hope." (Thanks to Nicolei.)

Jihad in Idaho

"Close to a year after his arrest, a university computer science student from Saudi Arabia studying in Idaho was charged on Friday with supporting terrorism." This from Reuters, with thanks to LGF.

"Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Saudi citizen who has been in custody since his arrest on Feb. 26, will be arraigned on Monday in U.S. District Court in Boise. If convicted, he could receive 15 years in federal prison.

"A grand jury, a group of citizens which hears arguments from prosecutors, issued the charge. The indictment said Al-Hussayen, 34, set up Web sites for Islamic organizations that espoused violence against the United States and that he tried to raise funds and recruit new members for a violent holy war, or jihad, in Israel, Chechnya, and elsewhere.

"The indictment contends Al-Hussayen maintained bank accounts which he used to funnel at least $300,000 to the Islamic Assembly of North America. The government claims the group has raised and sent money to support terrorist-related activities starting in February 2000.

"In previous hearings, defense attorneys said there was no evidence Al-Hussayen did anything other than give money to legitimate charities and do some basic Web site maintenance for Islamic organizations.

"Friends, supporters, colleagues, and university officials have testified Al-Hussayen is a peaceful person who condemned the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and led a blood drive for victims. They said he has a strong desire to clear his name and finish his studies.

"Al-Hussayen, 34, got his undergraduate degree before coming to the United States. He had been a student at various universities in the United States for more than nine years. Most recently, he has been seeking a PhD in computer security at the University of Idaho.

"Al-Hussayen's wife and children have agreed to leave the United States by mid-March, after the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement started deportation proceedings against them."

Sister of Gitmo prisoner held on terror suspicions

"The sister of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner was held for questioning today, joining her father and other members of her family in French police custody in an investigation into suspected terror networks, judicial officials said." This from AP, with thanks to Nicolei.

"The woman's detention follows the arrests on Tuesday of seven people, including her father, Chellali Benchellali, his wife, and another of their sons, Hafed."

This is not the Brady Bunch: "Investigators believe the family and their friends supplied explosives, false papers, money and lodgings to suspected members of a terror cell that planned to attack Russian targets in Paris, probably with chemical weapons, judicial officials said. . . .

"The detentions are part of a probe into suspected links between Islamic militants in France and rebels in Russia's breakaway largely Muslim republic of Chechnya.

"Menad Benchellali, a brother of the woman detained today, was picked up in a sweep a year ago in the Paris region that authorities said thwarted planned bomb or chemical attacks in France and Russia by a terror cell with ties to Chechen rebels and the al-Qaeda terror network.

"Another brother, Mourad Benchellali, is among six French detainees suspected of ties to al-Qaeda who are being held at the US Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"One of the seven arrested on Tuesday, the wife of an Islamic cleric, is expected to be released. But the others are expected to be presented before an investigating magistrate on Monday in Paris."

Jihadis arrested in Switzerland

"Eight foreigners have been arrested in Switzerland in connection with suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia. The detained are being held on suspicion 'of providing logistical support to a criminal organisation,' federal police said in a statement. 'The police action was in the context of terrorism investigations,' the statement added. Twenty-six people - including one Swiss citizen - and nine attackers were killed in the Riyadh bombings last May." This from the BBC, with thanks to Nicolei.

Interesting that these men thought they could hide out successfully in a quiet Western European country, although it is good news that they were wrong.

"'In the course of our inquiries related to terrorism - and in particular the attacks in Riyadh - an operation by the federal police took place simultaneously on Thursday in five cantons [regions],' Switzerland's public prosecutor said.

"Over 100 police officers took part in what is being described as Switzerland's biggest-ever nationwide operation against alleged terror suspects, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Bern says."

"But because of the continuing investigation, the police is declining to provide any further details. 'We are at the beginning of the investigation,' Andrea Sadecky, a spokeswoman from the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office, said. And 'it would not be right to say all of these people had the same religious or ethnic background,' she said."

Well, I'm sure they don't all have the same ethnic background, but it will be very interesting if Sadecky is telling the truth about their having different religions. We shall see.

Mullah Krekar contradicts his own defense

Mullah Krekar on Al-Jazeera

Mullah Krekar, the Muslim leader now living in Norway, has gotten tangled up. He now says he is not the leader of Ansar al-Islam, a jihadist group in Iraq, but he sang a different tune to Al-Jazeera recently: "Mullah Krekar, under arrest in Norway for suspected terror links, represented himself in an Al-Jazeera TV program as leader of the suspected terrorist group Ansar al-Islam just last month. He also confirmed the group was behind a suicide bombing in Northern Iraq last year." This from Aftenposten, with thanks to roboetal.

"Krekar's appearance on the TV program left his Norwegian defense attorney with some explaining to do on Friday. Lawyer Brynjar Meling has been trying to get Krekar released from custody in Oslo, vigorously repeating Krekar's earlier claims that he has nothing to do with Ansar al-Islam.

"Newspaper Aftenposten reported Friday that in the Al-Jazeera program, broadcast December 2, Krekar appeared as a guerrilla leader. Wearing a head covering and military fatigues, he offered no protest or correction when he was identified several times as zaim, or leader, of Ansar al-Islam.

"Moreover, Krekar confirmed in the debate program called Al-Ittijah-al-Muakis that Ansar al-Islam was behind a suicide bombing in Northern Iraq on March 22. Three people were killed in the bombing, and that incident plays a key role in Norwegian prosecutors' charges against him.

"Krekar also displayed detailed knowledge of the incident, saying that after 'the Americans bombed us in our areas... one of our brothers, one of the martyr candidates, fastened explosives to himself and his car and drove into an American position.' Before he left, Krekar added, the suicide bomber 'gave USD 5,000 that he had to his brothers and exchanged his new shoes with old ones.'"

Iran sent arms to Hizbullah on aid planes

Not only did Iran refuse U.S. and Israeli earthquake aid, and suggest that sinister political motives were behind the U.S. offer; it also used the situation for its own sinister political ends: "Taking advantage of the massive airlift of humanitarian aid to earthquake victims in Iran, Syria has reportedly allowed Teheran to resume their supplies of weapons to Hizbullah through Damascus." This from the Jerusalem Post.

"According to Channel 1, cargo planes filled with weapons began landing in the Syrian capital last week brimming with weapons for the Iranian-backed Hizbullah organization. It was the first time since the Syrians halted the weapons flow under American pressure prior to the invasion of Iraq a year ago.

"Sources in the Defense Ministry confirmed the reports, calling it a 'cynical manipulation of humanitarian aid'. They said that there has always been a trickling of weapons and propaganda to the Hizbullah but that the weapons transferred recently were larger quantities than in the past.

"Until then the Iranians had delivered weapons to Hizbullah through weekly flights into Damascus.

"Following the deadly earthquake in the Iranian city of Bam and the subsequent worldwide airlift, the Syrians reportedly dispatched a number of cargo planes to Iran under the guise of humanitarian aid.

"The planes were filled with weapons and returned to Syria, Channel 1 reported. The weapons were then loaded on to trucks and ferried to the Hizbullah. The information was relayed to the Americans, the TV reported.

"Two weeks ago, a senior IDF officer revealed that Hizbullah was slowly stepping up actions on the northern border, including laying bombs near the border fence. On Thursday, army sappers detonated a string of powerful bombs near the village of Zarit.

"The senior officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they had evidence that Iranian Revolutionary Guards were training Hizbullah guerrillas and were also delivering supplies via Syria."

Suspect Saudi charity head sacked

Are the Saudis really cleaning house? Judging from the cartoon above, which was published in the Saudi house organ Arab News today, this is most likely just more window dressing. They seem to be trying to present an anti-terror face to the world, while not discarding the noxious core assumptions that are embodied in thar cartoon. "The head of Saudi Arabian charity organisation al-Haramain, which was accused by the United States of funding terrorism, has been dismissed." This from AFP via Al-Jazeera, with thanks to Nicolei. (Thanks to "Allah" for the cartoon.)

"Shaikh Aqil al-Aqil told the London-based, Saudi-owned Al-Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Thursday that he had been relieved of his duties from the organisation he headed for 13 years, but did not provide reasons.

"The decision was made by Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs Salih al-Shaikh, who chairs al-Haramain's board of directors, the Saudi-owned, pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper said.

"Both newspapers have said Aqil has been replaced by one of his deputies, Dabbas al-Dabbas, who is in charge of the charity's assistance operations.

"Al-Haramain was among a number of Saudi charities accused by Washington of 'financing terrorism' after the 11 September 2001 attacks. The families of victims of the attacks, in which 15 of the 19 suspected hijackers were Saudi, last August filed a civil complaint, accusing three members of the kingdom's royal family as well as Saudi banks and charities, including al-Haramain, of 'financing terrorism'. They claimed trillions of dollars in compensation.

"On 23 December, the United States moved to freeze the assets of two European offshoots of Islamic groups, suspected of raising money for the al-Qaida network.

"The joint action with the government of Saudi Arabia targeted the Travnik, Bosnia-based organisation Vazir and trading firm Hochburg AG from Vaduz, Liechtenstein, for having fronted for entities already sanctioned by the international community, the Treasury Department announced in Washington.

"Washington and Riyadh were asking the United Nations to put the two groups on its list of 'terror financiers', which would compel UN members to freeze their assets all around the world and halt financial transactions with them.

"US officials said Vazir sprouted last May, slightly more than a
year after the UN Sanctions Committee listed the Bosnian branch of al-Haramain, which resulted in its dissolution - at least officially. It appeared the group had a new head and remained in business, US officials said last month, adding that the US government had obtained information Vazir was merely a new name for al-Haramain."

FBI: Al Qaida still recruiting in U.S. prisons

"Al Qaida continues to recruit members in U.S. prisons despite a government crackdown, FBI officials told a congressional panel." This from the World Tribune.

U.S. officials said Al Qaida's recruitment has been facilitated by Muslim clergy with access to federal and state prisons. They said the organization has succeeded in winning new members despite tighter rules instituted by authorities since the Al Qaida suicide attacks in September 2001.

'These terrorists seek to exploit our freedom to exercise religion to their advantage by using radical forms of Islam to recruit operatives,' FBI counter-terrorism chief John Pistole said. 'Unfortunately, U.S. correctional institutions are a viable venue for such radicalization and recruitment.'

Officials said Muslim chaplains have facilitated Al Qaida recruitment, Middle East Newsline reported. They cited the case of Warith Deen Umar, the administrative chaplain for the New York State Corrections Department, said to have preached that the Al Qaida suicide attackers who killed more than 3,000 Americans were heroes.

At the congressional hearing, a Pentagon official, principal deputy defense undersecretary Charles Abell, said the U.S. government has ended exclusivity granted to three Saudi-financed organizations for the training of Muslim chaplains. The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences, in Leesburg, Va., and the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council, in Arlington, Va., recommend chaplains to the military. The Islamic Society of North America, based in Plainfield, Ind., refers Muslim clerics to the Bureau of Prisons.

Pistole told a recent session of the Senate subcommittee on terrorism, technology and homeland security that federal and state authorities have faced an uphill battle to halt Al Qaida recruitment in prisons. He said Al Qaida and other insurgency groups have exploited the isolation of inmates and offer them protection, positions of influence and a network they can correspond with both inside and outside of prison.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons maintains a presence on the National Joint Terrorism Taskforce as part of an effort to identify Al Qaida and recruiters for other insurgency groups in the federal prison service.

Officials said the federal prison system contains 9,600 Muslims, or 5.5 percent of the inmate population. The figure does not include members of such groups as the Nation of Islam or the Moorish Science Temple.

'The percent of federal inmates who identify themselves as Muslim has remained very stable for close to a decade,' Harley Lappin, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said. 'We have been managing inmates with ties to terrorism for over a decade by confining them in secure conditions and monitoring their communications closely. All inmates with terrorist ties are clearly identified and tracked in our information systems.'

Lappin said his agency has not hired any new Muslim chaplains since August 2001. He said the hiring freeze would continue until the completion of federal investigations.

Officials also told the Senate hearing that Al Qaida has sought to infiltrate the U.S. military, including personnel that work at Camp Delta. About 660 Al Qaida and Taliban detainees have been interrogated at the naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Pistole said the FBI sees the Al Qaida effort as a serious breach of national security. He said the FBI has launched an effort with the Defense Department and the Federal Bureau of Prisons to assess the units that examine the backgrounds of prospective chaplains and translators.

'In addition, the FBI is evaluating the protocols for ongoing security assessments of such employees during sensitive assignments, such as more frequent polygraph examinations,' Pistole said.

New jihad recruits

"A fresh batch of Jemaah Islamiah recruits (JI) graduates from a Mindanao training camp next week, some others are being groomed in Pakistan and dozens more recruited from mosques and pesantrens in Indonesia." This from Straits Times, with thanks to Nicolei.

It would seem to me long past time for Muslims who truly reject what these terrorist networks are doing to organize massive global efforts to stop this recruitment. Teams could be mobilized to teach potential jihad recruits that the Qur'an teaches peace, as they insist. The fact that this is not being done casts a shadow over such claims, and invites suspicion as to the bona fides of self-proclaimed moderates.

"Dr Rohan Gunaratna, associate professor at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Singapore, and Ms Sydney Jones, head of International Crisis Group's Jakarta chapter, said JI continues to mobilise money and remains shielded by dozens of sympathisers and will pose a significant threat this year."

Jemaah Islamiyah "continues to draw in new recruits and the next batch will graduate from Camp Hodeibiya on Jan 15," according to Gunaratna.

"Hodeibiya is one of the three training camps within the Abu Bakar complex in Mindanao in the Philippines. 'Indonesia has gone against JI cells, but the group remains a legal entity in the country; the Philippines has done what it could but it needs support,' he said. 'The effort is not enough. The threat has not diminished.'"

Said Jones: "JI remains the largest and most dangerous terrorist organisation in South-east Asia."

PA document: Hamas, Islamic Jihad timed bombings to derail peace process

New documents have come to light indicating that Hamas and Islamic Jihad intentionally derailed the latest peace negotiations with Israel: "'The suicide bombings are a key element in the arena of the struggle between the Israelis and Palestinians,' says a report by a Palestinian security service on the suicide bombings, 'and an analysis of the circumstances of the timing and execution of the vast majority of the bombings, particularly the major ones conducted by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad, makes clear the timing was much more a purely political matter than a practical military one.'" This from Haaretz.

"The authors of the report assume that the Hamas and Islamic Jihad are well-connected inside the Palestinian Authority with agents and elements who provide information based on knowledge of political developments, including inside information about negotiations with Israel, the U.S. and the international community, thus enabling the Hamas and Islamic Jihad to respond accordingly.

"And the main objective of the two Islamic organizations is 'the destruction of the PA and the creation of a governmental alternative that has the goal of negotiating under fire according to Hamas conditions, along the lines of the Hezbollah model.'

"The document reveals that the suicide bomb attack at the Dolphinarium, in June 2001, where 21 Israeli teenagers were killed, was meant to torpedo American efforts to renew security coordination between Israel and the PA, coordination that was viewed as a direct threat to the Hamas."

Imam, other terror suspects held in France

An imam has been arrested in a terror sweep in France: "French anti-terrorist police detained seven people including the imam of a mosque in a series of dawn raids Tuesday targetting Islamic militant circles near the southeastern city of Lyon, police officials said." This from AFP, with thanks to Nicolei.

In 1999, the Sufi Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani testified before a State Department Open Forum that 80% of the mosques in the U.S. were under the control of extremists. If he is anywhere close to correct, there could easily be imams in this country involved in the same sort of activity that got this one arrested in France.

"The swoop was conducted under a 2002 probe ordered by Paris anti-terrorist judges into a so-called 'Chechen network', in which Islamic radicals allegedly underwent terrorist training in camps in the Russian separatist republic of Chechnya and in Georgia in 2000 and 2001.

"Among those detained Tuesday was Chellali Benchellali, an imam who is the father of a man detained by the US authorities at the military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Benchellali has another son who was detained in France in 2002 on suspicion of planning attacks on Russian targets."

France seeks Al-Qaeda member who missed flight

"French authorities are searching for a passenger who failed to show up for an Air France flight that was canceled because of security concerns on Christmas Eve, France's justice minister said Wednesday." So says AP.

"The man, who was ticketed for Air France flight 68 from Paris to Los Angeles on Dec. 24, was believed to have trained in Afghanistan, have ties to al-Qaida and carry a French passport, ABC television news reported, citing unidentified American officials.

"The passenger also was feared to have been carrying a small bomb with components that might get past airport security, according to the ABC report. . . .

"Separately, French judicial officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators were looking for an Afghan man, Abdou Hai, whose name appears on a U.S. terrorism watch list.

"His last name matches that of a passenger ticketed to board flight 68 but did not show up, the officials said. Investigators have not yet established whether the Afghan man and the absent passenger are the same person."

Hugh Fitzgerald's review of Onward Muslim Soldiers

Hugh Fitzgerald, who has graced Jihad Watch with his incisive and perceptive comments on several occasions, has written a review in Outpost of Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer's book Onward Muslim Soldiers. The review is so detailed as to be a short course in the realities of jihad and terrorism in itself. Also, it is written with an erudition, elegance, and linguistic opulence that is rare these days, and which makes it delightful to read from beginning to end.

". . . In a rightly ordered world, its fate would be clear: the book would be translated into all major languages; it would be on the shelves and, more importantly, in the minds, of all those whose duty it is to instruct us. For Onward Muslim Soldiers explains, clearly, scrupulously, meticulously, the central political tenets of Islam (not the tenets of 'political Islam'), that make so many of its adherents such a threat to the entire non-Muslim world -- the world of Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Confucians, agnostics, atheists and others. Though few non-Muslims seem to realize it, they face not a 'war on terror' ('terror' is merely a tactic, and by no means the most effective one), but a world-wide Jihad, or war to extend, through many instruments, the dar al-Islam until all non-Muslims, ultimately, are subjugated to the rule of Islam. It sounds fantastic, but it is deeply rooted in an ideology that is not tangential but central to Islam. And all non-Muslims are the targets of this military, economic, propagandistic, and demographic campaign. . . .

"Spencer links the latest pronouncements of Bin Laden, al-Zawahiri, Sheikh Rantisi of Hamas, and others not only to such 20th century writers as Hassan al-Banna, Qutb, Mawdudi, and Abdullah Azzam, but to the central texts of Islam: Qur'an and hadith (the sayings and acts of Muhammad). As the 'gates of ijtihad (interpretation)' closed more than a millennium ago, these texts, and the tenets they give rise to, cannot be changed or interpreted away. 'Moderate' Muslims (often thrusting young academics in the West) who suggest otherwise, are often wilfully misleading. The behavior of those 'moderates' who deny central teachings of Islam, and who are not engaged in such wilful deception, may have other explanations -- ignorance, filial piety, or simply embarrassment. In fact, it is the so-called 'extremists' who articulate what is mainstream and orthodox Islam, and who would have been so regarded by any Muslim writer of significance in the past, from al-Ghazzali to Ibn Khaldun. . . .

"Spencer explains the best-known excerpts routinely invoked by Muslim apologists, and brings to bear both the classical commentators, and what Muslim history reveals about the application of these excerpts to dealings with non-Muslims. Calm, unruffled, humorous, he offers quite a contrast to the humorless hysteria of those Muslim spokesmen, with whom, over the past year, on radio, television, and Internet, he has entered the lists. He explains how, by the Islamic doctrine of naskh, or abrogation, the later, more aggressive verses 'cancel' the earlier, milder ones. He is enviably familiar with these passages, and cannot be cowed by bullying Muslim opponents; consequently, they are reduced either to silence, or to torrents of abuse. For them, Spencer is the worst sort of opponent -- he knows.

"Spencer is unfoolable and unflappable. He shows how Qur'an and hadith, embodied in the shari'a, or Law of Islam, have always promoted the Jihad against all non-Muslims. Jihad is not an invention of a 'handful of extremists'; it does not date from the twentieth but from the seventh or eighth centuries. He shows how once conquered, subjugated non-Muslims become dhimmi (from ahl al-dhimma, or 'people of the pact') -- a misleading word translated as 'a member of the "protected people."' They are protected, of course, from the Muslims themselves, who otherwise would kill, or forcibly and immediately convert, these 'protected peoples.' Spencer shows that Jihad and dhimmitude work together, first to conquer, then to consolidate the hold of the Muslim conquerors over initially far larger populations of conquered non-Muslims. Islamic doctrine is used to explain and justify the oppression of the conquerors, even to make it palatable to those conquered by offering them an ideology (a religion) which contains bits and pieces of the pre-existing religions of those conquered -- both of Western religions, Christianity and Judaism, and those of Persia, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism.

"The status of dhimmi is linked to Jihad, for it follows immediately upon the initial successful conquest. It imposes a status of permanent humiliation, degradation, and insecurity (witness the massacres and forcible mass conversions of 'protected peoples' throughout Muslim history, despite their supposed 'protected' status). The host of financial, legal, economic, political, religious, and social disabilities inevitably led to the slow asphyxiation of non-Muslim communities, which became 'islamized' as non-Muslims, and then, under intolerable pressure, gradually succumbed to Islam and, in most cases (Persia being the great exception), became 'arabized' as well, in language, customs, and even in entirely fictitious Arab lineages created and adopted by non-Arabs (all those 'Sayeeds' in Pakistan).

"Spencer understands the importance of ideas. The tenets of Islam, few and simple in nature, are based on an updated version of Manichaeism: a division of the world not between Good and Evil, but between Muslim and non-Muslim. There must ultimately be the conquest, and then subjugation, of the latter by the former. This is natural, right, and in accordance with the will of Allah. No other outcome is possible, however long it takes. Such a result may be furthered by what we call terrorism. It may be furthered through traditional military combat, or qital. It may be furthered by the use of 'wealth' -- that is, economic warfare, involving boycotts and bribery (chiefly of diplomats, journalists, and assorted fixers). It may involve propaganda (the virtual takeover of the UN and its subsidiary organizations by Islamic forces, expressed most obviously in the permanent kangaroo courtroom, with Israel perennially in the dock, of the General Assembly). . . .

"Many lives and many dollars might be saved if a sufficient number of people throughout the Infidel world were to read, understand and thoroughly assimilate Onward Muslim Soldiers. Spencer cuts through the sentimentalism, fear, confusion, and ignorance in the West carefully exploited by Muslim apologists. Like Ibn Warraq and Bat Ye'or, Robert Spencer is beholden to no one; he writes and works on his own. He does not need to worry about what Muslim colleagues or old friends may think; he can allow himself the greatest luxury of all: the freedom to tell the truth. Spencer lucidly introduces us to the daily fare of many hundreds of millions of Muslims repeated throughout the khutbas (sermons) delivered at Friday Prayers from New Jersey to the Philippines, from Capetown to Stockholm, and forming the attitudes, and creating the atmospherics, in which most Muslims, even if they live in the West, lead their lives. Onward Muslim Soldiers is the clearest and most intelligent guide to what the 'war on terrorism' really is: a war of self-defense, by non-Muslims, a war imperfectly understood and imperfectly articulated by those whose duty it is to instruct and to defend us against the Jihad.

"Jihad has remained central to Islam; local Jihads, from China (1930), to India (the Moplah Insurrection), to Israel (one long Jihad against the Infidel state), to the Moro Islands, Sulawesi, East Timor, Pakistan, Bangladesh, all punctuate the 20th century. Dhimmitude can be seen expressed in a variety of modes: in the recent imposition of shari'a laws even on Christians in Nigeria, Pakistan, and the Sudan. But until an accident of geology endowed Muslims with the wherewithal, a worldwide Jihad, using the full range of instruments, was not possible. Now the 5-6 trillion dollars that OPEC states have received in the last 30 years has helped to buy hundreds of billions of dollars in arms, to corrupt diplomats and journalists, to build mosques throughout the dar al-Harb and madrassas throughout the dar al-Islam. Only in one case, Kemalist Turkey, has Islam effectively been defanged in relation to the Infidels -- and that requires constant vigilance by the Turkish army, with never an assurance that the Kemalist experiment will prevail. . . .

"The 'war' of self-defense against the Jihad will not be over in 10 years, nor in 100 years. And in this war, where the enemy follows Muhammad's definition of war as 'deception,' non-Muslims must begin by understanding the enemy. The media are full of grim tidings that can be described as Jihad news. Some persist in believing that this Jihad news, from all over the world, is caused only by a 'handful of extremists' who have 'hijacked a great religion' (Variant 1) or 'by fundamentalist Wahhabis' (Variant 2); both are wrong. Adherents of Islam, both Sunni and Shi'a, and within Sunni Islam, all four main schools of Muslim jurisprudence, share the same beliefs concerning the Infidels. Those who persist in avoiding these tenets, or in presenting a tortuous or guarded account, end up avoiding much in the 1350-year history of Islam. Those non-Muslims, including scholars, who practice such apologetics help, objectively, to further the Jihad. Thus, they constitute a danger to the rest of us. Spencer's book, especially in the current atmosphere of confusion, is an indispensable guide and vademecum.

"One hopes that many thousands of copies of Onward Muslim Soldiers may be bought by some far-sighted Maecenas, and distributed to every important maker of policy, and molder of opinion, in Washington and New York. It would be money well spent."

Arab translators cheered 9/11

Although Jews and other non-Muslims have had difficulty getting government jobs as Arabic translators, it seems from a WND report today that at least some of the people they did hire may not have been fully loyal to the U.S.: "In a shocking revelation, an FBI whistleblower claims some Arab-Americans translating Arabic intercepts for the FBI spoke approvingly of the terrorist attacks on America more than two years ago.

"Former FBI translator Sibel D. Edmonds says translators of Middle Eastern origin working for the FBI's Washington field office maintain an 'us'-versus-'them' attitude that's so strong it may be compromising al-Qaida investigations.

"She cited examples of mistranslations and security breaches within the FBI's language division, where translators with Top Secret clearance interpret sensitive terror-related information for agents."

If this is true, it is not altogether surprising. After all, there is a strong sense in the Islamic world that a believer must not under any circumstances side with an unbeliever against another believer. While this, like any core belief, is not universal there, it is very likely responsible for the fragging attack of Sgt. Hasan Akbar, the American soldier who attacked his commanding officers last year in Kuwait, and for the British soldier who went AWOL rather than go to Iraq. (After all, the Qur'an says: "If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (forever)" (Sura 4:93).)

Edmonds "made the explosive charges Monday in a letter to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, an independent panel investigating the 9-11 attacks and U.S. intelligence leading up to them. WorldNetDaily has obtained a copy of the 9-page letter.

"Edmonds, a translator who worked closely with FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence agents at an office within blocks of the Washington field office, said she overheard some translators express sympathy for the 9-11 terrorist attacks. 'During my work with the bureau, I was seriously taken aback by what I heard and witnessed within the translation department,' she said. 'There were those who openly divided the fronts as "Us" – the Middle-Easterners who shared certain views – and "Them" – the Americans who were the outsiders [whose] arrogance was now "leading to their own destruction."'

"Not long after the attacks, Edmonds said one translator said: 'It is about time that they get a taste of what they have been giving to the rest of the Middle East.'

"She says the remark was made in front of the unit supervisor, also of Middle Eastern origin. 'These comments were neither rare nor made in a whisper,' Edmonds said. 'They were open and loud.'

"She says such attitudes call into question 'the integrity and accuracy' of information Arabic translators are feeding agents."

Indeed: "She says she caught a Turkish translator intentionally blocking intelligence from being translated by labeling it as 'not pertinent.' The translator also intentionally mistranslated documents and other information, she says. And she alleges the same linguist, Melek Can Dickerson, was granted security clearance by the FBI despite ties to targets of FBI investigations.

"After she brought the alleged breaches to the attention of her supervisors, Edmonds was fired by the FBI. Her termination letter does not state a reason.

"Edmonds filed a lawsuit, but Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller got a federal judge to block it by asserting the extremely rare claim of 'State Secret Privilege.'"

Iran funds Jihad via Damascus

"In an attempt to hide its traces, Islamic Jihad in Damascus Syria transfers thousands of dollars to the territories to fund terrorism. It deposits money in bank accounts opened by the wives of senior Islamic Jihad members." This from the Jerusalem Post.

"The details were revealed Sunday in Salem Military Court, where Sheikh Bassam Sa'adi, the senior Islamic Jihad commander in Jenin, was indicted for transferring funds to operate terrorist activities and belonging to an illegal organization. Sa'adi was arrested in October 2003. He was found in his pajamas, hiding underneath a parked car.

"Security officials said Sa'adi is responsible for setting up the terrorist infrastructure in Jenin responsible for several suicide bombings in Israel, including those at a mall in Afula last May that killed three, the car bombing at the Karkur junction in October 2002, and another at the Megiddo junction in June 2002 in which 31 people were killed.

"Presenting himself as a political leader, Sa'adi advocated a cease-fire this past summer, but openly rejected it after the IDF killed a top Islamic Jihad commander in Hebron.

"Terrorists arrested during Operation Defensive Shield revealed the existence of an institutionalized transfer system, with large sums transferred by Iran via the organizations operating under its patronage, which use the Syrian and the Palestinian banking systems (the Arab Bank stands out as the main money channel). Transfers were made to Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and indirectly to the Aksa Martyrs Brigades.

"The questioning of Ali al-Sa'adi and Thabet Mardawi, senior Islamic Jihad commanders in the Jenin arrested during Operation Defensive Shield, revealed that they were constantly in touch with Islamic Jihad headquarters in Damascus. They admitted discussing plans regarding suicide attacks with the office, and would request money to fund them and receive instructions regarding arms production."

Martial law in Thailand jihad area

"Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday he will enforce martial law in Thailand's mainly Muslim south, where insurgents this week have seized weapons, burned schools and attacked police outposts, killing four soldiers and three policemen." This from the Washington Times, with thanks to filtrat.

"Authorities said it was still not clear whether the two days of attacks were the work of Muslim insurgents angry about Thai troops in Iraq, or sophisticated criminals creating an atmosphere of confusion and intimidation in which they can commit illegal acts. Martial law was already in existence in the region, but will now be strictly implemented because 'ordinary jurisdiction will not work,' said government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair in an interview.

"The wave of violence started Sunday, when about 30 raiders attacked an armory in Narathiwat province, killing four soldiers and stealing more than 100 American-supplied M-16 assault rifles, an army spokesman said. Assailants set fire to about 20 schools in the province and destroyed several police posts in what appeared to be related attacks. Yesterday, the insurgents exploded two bombs in the city of Pattani, killing three policemen and injuring several others, Mr. Jakrapob said. Two other bombs were discovered before they could be detonated.

"The spokesman said it was 'too early' to tell who was responsible, but suspicion fell on the banned Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO), which boasted in May that Thai security forces were 'falling like leaves' as Muslims fought to free the south from Bangkok's rule. Muslims make up only 4 percent of the population in Thailand, which is 95 percent Buddhist, but are a majority in the extreme south of the country along the border with Malaysia.

"Yesterday's attacks came as hundreds of troops scoured the region searching for the perpetrators of Sunday's raids, which demonstrated the insurgents' ability to stage synchronized guerrilla operations. The assailants drove a pickup truck into the Thai army's camp at Narathiwat Ratchanakarin and opened fire, killing four soldiers guarding a weapons stockpile.

"The attackers fled, scattering spikes on the road to deflate pursuers' tires, and blocked the route with felled trees containing booby traps amid the branches, according to Thai news reports. The assailants also splashed gasoline on about 20 schools and ignited them — a tactic favored over the past decade by Muslim separatists, who complain that Islamic subjects are given short shrift in the education system.

"But Mr. Jakrapob insisted the attackers were 'robbers' who had no ideological motivation. Other authorities, convinced the attacks could not have been carried out without detailed knowledge of the military camp, suggested that corrupt officials may have played a role. . . .

"Thai news media speculated that the attacks may be related to the nation's support of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have angered Islamists across Asia. More than 420 Thai troops are in Iraq, and President Bush recently upgraded Thailand to 'major non-NATO ally' status. Muslim ethnic Malays have conducted hit-and-run skirmishes against Thai security forces for centuries, seeking to end what they regard as 'racist' Buddhist domination.

"PULO Deputy President Lukman B. Lima, in a rare dispatch from exile in Sweden, charged in May that Bangkok 'illegally incorporated' the far south into Thailand 100 years ago and now rules it with 'colonial' repression while 'committing crimes against humanity in the area.' Bangkok denies all complaints of intentional mistreatment of Thailand's Muslims and insists separatist guerrillas are 'bandits' enriching themselves while spewing religious and political rhetoric."

Court orders Mullah Krekar's release

Mullah Krekar walks

"An Oslo city court ordered the release on Monday of Mullah Krekar, the controversial former leader of guerrilla group Ansar al-Islam. State prosecutors had arrested him Friday on charges tied to at least two suicide bombings." This from Aftenposten Nettutgaven, with thanks to filtrat.

"Mullah Krekar had said he was optimistic after appearing in court over the weekend. Krekar was charged under several paragraphs of Norway's criminal code linked to alleged murder attempts in Northern Iraq in the spring of 2002.

"Prosecutors had sought to keep Krekar in custody for at least four weeks, but the Oslo court claimed they lacked sufficient evidence. Prosecutors earlier vowed they'd appeal any release, and Krekar remained in jail Monday evening pending that appeal.

"They reportedly had relied on various statements Krekar made over the Internet recently, claiming they contained coded messages to terror groups around the world. Among them were Krekar's alleged justification of suicide bombings, which he claimed are simply a part of jihad, or holy war. . . .

"Krekar's defense attorney rejected the prosecution's arguments, saying his client merely has given a few speeches over the Internet and responded to questions from Islamic followers. Krekar himself claims he hasn't done anything wrong.

"Krekar first came to Norway as a refugee in 1991 but later travelled back and forth to Northern Iraq several times and ultimately led the Kurdish guerrilla group Ansar al-Islam there. His guerrilla activities set off a storm of controversy both in and out of Norway, once they became known. Norwegian officials eventually claimed that he had violated the terms of his asylum status. He has managed to remain in Norway, however, at least in part because his former home territory in Northern Iraq is now subject to US bombing and because no other country will take him.

"US officials also singled out Ansar al-Islam for having alleged links to the terrorist group al-Qaeda, and pressured to have Krekar detained. German authorities also have Ansar al-Islam under investigation, especially after a recent alleged terrorist action in Hamburg was defused."

Meanwhile, filtrat has also kindly alerted me to this video, which is illuminating not only of Mullah Krekar's goals and motives, but of those of Ansar al-Islam and Sharia jihadists everywhere.

"We Are Capable of Destroying an American City"

Says MEMRI: "A third communique attributed to the 'Islamic Bayan Movement' threatening attacks in the U.S. was published on an Islamist Web site. The communique, titled 'Very Urgent - From the Nation of Islam to the American People,' was published at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/global-islamic-news/message/77 .

"The new (third) communique, which was published today and is dated December 21, reads: 'We are serious in this warning. The next few days will prove to you this warning was genuine... This lying government knows well that we are capable, right now, of destroying an American city in its entirety. We repeat, in its entirety...

"'[signed]
"'The Islamic Bayan Movement
"'Ansar Ibn Al-Qamar
"'27 of Shawwal, 1424 [December 21, 2003]

"The two previous communiques had called on Muslims to leave New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. in order for their lives to be spared. The second opened: 'All that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth glorifies Allah. He is the Mighty, the Wise. It is He who turned out the disbelievers from among the People of the Book from their homes at the time of the first banishment. You did not think that they would go forth and they thought that their fortresses would protect them against Allah. But Allah came upon them whence they did not expect and cast terror into their hearts, so that they destroyed their homes with their own hands and the hands of the believers. So take warning, O ye who possess understanding. . . .

"'Our Muslim brothers in America, we ask you to immediately leave the following cities: Washington, DC, New York, and Los Angeles. We are serious in our warning. The next few days will prove to you the truth of this warning. To the oppressive rulers of America we say: expect our terms following the first strike of Allah's believing soldiers.' The communiqué ends with another Koranic verse: 'Fight them: Allah will punish them at your hands, and will humiliate them, and will help you to overcome them, and will relieve the minds of the believers.'" [Koran, Chapter 9, Verse 14]. (Thanks to Jeffrey Imm.)

Islamists fan rumor U.S. soldiers raping girls

"Citing a column by a U.S. sex therapist, Islamist newspapers in Turkey fanned a rumor asserting American troops have raped thousands of Iraqi women and young girls since ousting dictator Saddam Hussein." This from WND, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm.

"The rumor, strongly denounced by the U.S., is said to have incited Ilyas Kuncak, who executed a car bomb attack last month in Istanbul on the Turkish headquarters of HSBC bank that killed a dozen people, the Boston Globe reported.

"Nurullah Kuncak says his father was boiling with anger before the attack. 'Didn't you see, the American soldiers raped Iraqi women,' Nurullah said in a recent interview, according to the Boston paper. 'My father talked to me about it. … Thousands of rapes are in the records. Can you imagine how many are still secret?'

"The articles in the Turkish Islamist press are based partly on an online column by a California-based sex therapist who says, however, she has written nothing about American soldiers raping Iraqis. Susan Block, who has a doctorate in philosophy, argues she clearly was using 'rape' as a metaphor for 'invasion' in her column titled 'Rape of Iraq.'

"'I am a sex therapist and I use sexual terminology for political commentary,' Block told the Globe. 'I did not say American troops are literally raping Iraqi women. … I don't know if Americans are raping Iraqi women. I do know they are killing them. I don't know if that's much better.'

"A leading Islamist journal, Yeni Safak, published the first front-page article Oct. 22, which stated, 'In addition to the occupation and despoilation, thousands of Iraqi women are being raped by American soldiers. There are more than 4,000 rape events on the record.' The article said its primary source was 'Dr. Susan Block.'

"A second story, Dec. 3, disputed the U.S. claim 54 Iraqis were killed in the city of Samarra Nov. 30 when they attacked U.S. convoys. The Yeni Safak report insisted the Iraqis were shot while rioting over the kidnapping and rape of 30 young girls by U.S. soldiers.

"The U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital called the reports 'outrageous allegations … based on a U.S. "source" best known for her pornographic websites and erotic television program. We believe it is irresponsible for a serious newspaper to present such false claims from a clearly unreliable source on its front page as if they were fact. We view this article as a deliberate attempt to mislead Turkish readers and to damage the strong ties between the Turkish and American people.'

"Block said she had heard rumors a suicide bomber was at least partly motivated by the alleged rapes of Iraqi women. 'I am appalled to be misquoted and even more appalled that the story inspired someone to such violence,' she told the Boston paper. Executives for Yeni Safak did not respond to an official complaint lodged by the U.S. or to the Globe's inquiries.

"A prominent writer for the Turkish paper, Kursat Bumin, wrote an opinion piece, however, agreeing Yeni Safak's reports were 'without any foundation, without any basis.'

"In an interview in the Turkish press, the suicide bomber's son, Nurullah, said his fath