U.S. expels 2 Iranian guards at United Nations

More trouble coming from Iran: two guards at the Iranian UN mission in New York have been sent out of the country. Question: how much more jihad activity is going on under cover of diplomatic immunity? From CNN, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

The two were seen taking still photos and video of New York City subways, buses and tunnels, and were expelled last weekend for conduct inconsistent with their official duties, the State Department said.

But an Iranian official said: "Like anybody who visits New York, they visit tourist sites -- sightseeing and videotaping themselves, looking at the Metropolitan Museum [of Art], places like that."

Adam Ereli, deputy spokesman at the State Department, said the guards were expelled after being observed by the FBI "videotaping various locations from New York deemed to be sensitive."

Ereli called the activity a "recurring problem, as this was the third time the United States has required the departure of Iranian security guards for videotaping and photographing landmarks in New York.

"In the case of the Iranian mission to the United Nations, it represented a unique pattern that raised concerns of law enforcement," he said.

12 air crew members banned from U.S.

Members of air crews from three unidentified countries have turned up among the tiny minority of extremists in terrorist databases. From CNN, with thanks to US Action:

Nine of the 12 had associated with terrorists or supported terrorist organizations, two were using fraudulent passports and one had a criminal record for assaulting a U.S. law enforcement officer, according to Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Asa Hutchinson. ...

Hutchinson said a similar check of 2.7 million truck drivers who were licensed to carry hazardous materials in the United States has not turned up anyone with clearly established ties to terrorism, but he said 29 "potential persons of interest" are undergoing additional checks by law enforcement.

One of the 29 has already been expelled from the U.S. for unrelated reasons.

Textbook Jihad in Egypt

While the major media continues to assure us that this recent spate of beheadings actually has nothing to do with Islam, Andrew Bostom at FrontPage details evidence that such behavior is actually taught in Egyptian textbooks -- as are the glories of violent jihad:

"Studies in Theology: Tradition and Morals, Grade 11, (2001) pp. 291-92 ...This noble [Qur'anic] Surah [Surat Muhammad]... deals with questions of which the most important are as follows: 'Encouraging the faithful to perform jihad in God's cause, to behead the infidels, take them prisoner, break their power, and make their souls humble - all that in a style which contains the highest examples of urging to fight. You see that in His words: "When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly. Then grant them their freedom or take a ransom from them, until war shall lay down its burdens.'"

"Commentary on the Surahs of Muhammad, Al-Fath, Al-Hujurat and Qaf, Grade 11, (2002) p. 9 …When you meet them in order to fight [them], do not be seized by compassion [towards them] but strike the[ir] necks powerfully.... Striking the neck means fighting, because killing a person is often done by striking off his head. Thus, it has become an expression for killing even if the fighter strikes him elsewhere. This expression contains a harshness and emphasis that are not found in the word "kill", because it describes killing in the ugliest manner, i.e., cutting the neck and making the organ - the head of the body - fly off [the body].' "

Bostom notes correctly:

Although chilling to our modern sensibilities, particularly when being taught to children, these are merely classical interpretations of the rules for jihad war, based on over a millennium of Muslim theology and jurisprudence. And the context of these teachings is unambiguous, as the translator makes clear:

"[the] concept of jihad is interpreted in the Egyptian school curriculum almost exclusively as a military endeavor… it is war against God's enemies, i.e., the infidels… it is war against the homeland's enemies and a means to strengthening the Muslim states in the world. In both cases, jihad is encouraged, and those who refrain from participating in it are denounced."

Still a few bugs in the system

Friends, by this time tomorrow I hope to be back in sunny Secure Undisclosed Locationville, where, free at last of this laptop, I will do what I can to figure out some of the technical problems that many of you have sent to me. I am confident that the registration system will be working smoothly, without any hitches, soon. Thank you very much for your patience.

Also: over the last week (and before that, too) many of you have emailed me, sent me links, etc. I am traveling and have thus been unable to answer or acknowledge most of them; in fact, the sheer volume of email is impossible for me to keep up with. So I apologize here for not being able to answer each message, and thank you for your kindness and support.

Turkish hostages let go "for the sake of our Muslim brothers"

This won't stop any of the American Muslim spokesmen and their allies from telling us that Islam respects non-Muslims and teaches tolerance, but it is more evidence that the reality is different, and that many Muslims today hold tenaciously to the sharp distinction between believers and unbelievers that runs through the Qur'an. From CNN:

The Arabic-language television network Al Jazeera reported earlier Tuesday a group led by Jordanian-born Islamic militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had freed the men contractors, who were kidnapped last week.

"For the sake of you, our brothers, and Muslims of the people of Turkey ... we will release these hostages and send them safely home," the statement said.

Iranian Government Media: 'Americans Are Behind Beheadings;' and 'Jewish Involvement in 9/11'

Why do they hate us? Well, aside from the jihad imperative and the competition to Sharia hegemony that the US presents in Iraq and elsewhere, it doesn't help that they lie about us at the highest levels. This sort of thing keeps happening in Saudi Arabia, and here is a report from Iran. From MEMRI:

The editor of the Iranian conservative daily Kayhan, Hossein Shari'atmadari, who is close to Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote in an editorial that the true perpetrators of the decapitations of foreign hostages are none other than the Americans themselves. The following are excerpts from his article on June 24:

[...]

'Why Did Americans Slaughter Their Citizens and the Citizens of America's Allies?'

"Why did the Americans slaughter their citizens and the citizens of America's allies [so] horrifyingly and terribly…? [Why] do they construct ridiculous scenery and attribute the slaughter of the hostages to Muslims when their ugly and repulsive faces are exposed as a result of the crimes they committed and the massacre of innocent civilians and the barbaric tortures of the detainees and captives?

"The answer to this question is too clear for us to explain and analyze in depth… With these terrible crimes, the Americans aspire to attain the following goals:

1. "To present a hate-inspiring image of Islam and of the Muslims and to justify barbaric military attacks on them – that is, exactly the same goals as when they established the Taliban and the Al-Qa'ida group…

2. "To respond to public opinion, particularly that of the U.S. and England, which sees the invasion of Iraq as unjustified, aggressive, and entangling and demands that the occupiers leave Iraq. In this way, America seeks to justify the continuation of the occupation of Iraq and the attack on the rest of the Muslim peoples. America is doing it under the cover of a struggle against peoples – which, it claims, know no humanity and commit various types of crimes.

3. "Some of the countries that sent forces to Iraq, such as South Korea, are facing harsh protests by their peoples. By slaughtering hostages and attributing it to Muslims, America sows the seed of hatred and loathing of Muslims in the hearts of these peoples, and encourages their governments to continue cooperating with it.

4. "Among the Americans' main goals in organizing the ridiculous and certainly terrible performance of the slaughters is the distracting of public opinion from America's and England's barbaric crimes against the Abu Ghureib detainees."

III) Official Iranian TV Channel Claims Jews Were Involved in September 11th

MEMRI's TV Monitor Project (www.memritv.org) includes monitoring Iranian television stations such as Jaam-E-Jam 1, the Iranian government TV channel directed at Europe. On June 1, 2004, the station broadcasted a series about the September 11 terror attacks. The show included video clips of the O.J. Simpson murder case. The following an excerpt of the broadcast:

"Ever since the establishment of the Zionist regime, the American strategy has been under the Zionist lobby's influence. Zionism, as expressed in the Jewish Protocols, nurtures in its mind the dream of taking over the world. With Bush's rise to power, it controls the White House with greater force. ...

"A while afterwards, a source in American military intelligence raised details pertaining to an intelligence memo regarding Israel's espionage organization, the Mossad, and its role in the events of September 11. In fact, the claim that Israel was involved in the blasts of September 11 and used it as a basis of America's new strategy for fighting the world of Islam, disappeared in the media coverage, but world public opinion still believes this possibility."

Report: Iraqi Militants Kill U.S. Soldier

Authorities aren't sure yet whether the video of the murder actually depicts Pfc. Matt Maupin, but in any case this just underscores the fact that the turnover of sovereignty in Iraq is not going to change a thing. The jihadists are fighting to establish an Islamic state, and they aren't going to be any more favorably disposed toward what they perceive as a U.S. client state than they have been toward the U.S. military presence there. That unrest will continue, and that the new Iraqi government will face fierce challenges and may not survive, are the only certainties in Iraq today.

Judges, Journalists and Jihad

Some exceedingly important information on the Sami Al-Hussayen case from Michael P. Tremoglie at FrontPage. An activist judge running wild may be a more accurate picture of this case than the usual one of an innocent Muslim victimized by racism, etc.:

Al-Hussayen, a Saudi national, was charged with using the website of the Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA) to promote terrorism. Specifically, Al-Hussayen, was charged with two counts of conspiracy to support terrorism, one count of providing material support to terror groups and eleven counts of visa and immigration fraud.

Among the messages posted by Al-Hussayen to the websites were four fatwas – or religious edicts blessing suicide missions. One specifically mentioned a kamikaze type mission using an airplane. This was prior to 9-11.

According to US Attorney Kim Lindquist, as quoted in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the websites were "part of his passionate, religious commitment to violent jihad – not to legitimate violence, but to suicide operations and to terrorism."

His defense was that he was merely the moderator and not concerned with the content of the messages, only posting them. It is important to note that the founder of IANA, Bassem K. Khafagi, already pled guilty to bank fraud and visa fraud in relation to his activities with IANA, which is believed to be financing terrorist activities.

One juror, John Steger a retired U.S. Forest Service worker, who was interviewed afterwards provided some insight as to why Al-Hussayen was acquitted. He referred to Judge Lodge's instruction - that the Constitution protects speech even if it advocates the use of force or violation of the law unless imminent lawlessness occurs - as influencing his choice.

Steger said ninety-five percent of what Al-Hussayen posted was "innocent" and said the "inflammatory" articles did not lead to an "imminent act. ... According to the First Amendment, that is all right." When he was asked if it could lead to a terrorist act, he said, "I don't know."

There is much more about how judges and journalists jimmied this case. It's a story that is nothing less than shameful.

Massachusetts: cab driver charged with lying to FBI

Yesterday I had occasion to speak with several people who have no idea that jihad activity is still going on in the US. They never heard of the Lackawanna Al-Qaeda cell, or the Virginia paintball gang, or the Portland group, or any other. Nor were they ignorant or ill-informed -- far from it. But the mainstream media is simply not giving stories like these adequate attention, to the detriment of us all. How different would the average American's view of terrorism and the war on terror be if all the stories like this one were common knowledge? From the Boston Globe, with thanks to nevermindlv:

A former Boston cabdriver who allegedly admitted training in an Afghanistan terrorist camp was charged yesterday in federal court in Minnesota with lying to the FBI about helping a convicted terrorist get a Massachusetts driver's license.

Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi, 41, a Lebanese national, is charged with lying about providing support to Raed Hijazi in 1997 and 1998, when both were working as taxi drivers in Boston, according to a complaint and FBI affidavit unsealed yesterday in US District Court in Minnesota.

Hijazi was later convicted in Jordan of the failed millennium bombing plot that targeted American and Israeli tourists in that country.

The complaint also charges Elzahabi with lying to federal agents by denying he had shipped radios and other communications equipment to Pakistan between 1995 and 1997.

Elzahabi, who has been held in New York since his arrest in May, will be transferred to Minneapolis to face the two counts of making false statements to federal investigators.

Jihad Watch returns

Dear friends,

I am writing this from far away from Secure Undisclosed Locationville -- so far away, in fact, that since Friday I have been unable to connect to the Internet. Hence the lack of updates. Also I now have such a backlog of work that there may not be many updates right away. My apologies. Jihad Watch will be back, better than ever, absolutely as soon as possible.

But I am pleased to announce that the comments system seems to be up and running. I am sure there are still a few bugs in the system, so I ask your patience. We will be working them out over the next few days. Just for fun, even though this is old news now, I am reopening the comments on the last few days of postings. So if you see something you would like to say something about -- here or at Dhimmi Watch -- have at it. I am opening the top posts on the main pages now.

Thanks again for all your patience and support.

Kindest regards,
Robert Spencer

Incitement to Jihad on Saudi Government-Controlled TV

Yeah, they're reforming, all right. Note the section entitled "Allah willing, the U.S. will collapse." It looks as if the double game the Saudis have been playing for years is still in full swing. From MEMRI:

As part of MEMRI's TV Monitoring Project, Saudi government controlled television channels including TV1, TV2 and satellite channels such as Iqraa TV, are continually monitored.(1) These channels include shows with leading Saudi religious figures, professors, members of the royal family, government leaders and intellectuals. Constant themes within Saudi television shows include: calls for the annihilation of Christians and Jews, rampant anti-Americanism and antisemitism, support for Jihad, incitement against U.S. troops in Iraq, and the coming Islamic conquest of the U.S. Segments from these TV shows can be found at www.memriTV.org. Saudi Religious Establishment 'Demonstrated that It is the Body Most Competent ... at De-Legitimizing Al Qa'ida's Cultist Ideology'

In a June 15 press release, the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, maintained that "senior religious scholars in Saudi Arabia have continually and unequivocally condemned terrorism. In our war against terrorism, these condemnations are a powerful weapon." In this statement, as well as in close to two dozen others by the Saudi embassy in Washington D.C. since the Riyadh bombings on March 12, 2003, the government of Saudi Arabia promoted the idea that the royal family and religious establishment have been espousing a message of tolerance. As Nail Al-Jubeir, director of the Saudi information office, said on May 6, 2004: "Our religious establishment has taught moderation to our people. The religious establishment has demonstrated that it is the body most competent and effective at de-legitimizing Al Qa'ida's cultist ideology."

In fact, on June 20, 2004, Saudi cleric Dr. Muhammad Bin Suleiman Al-Mani'i hosted a talk show on Saudi TV 1 and spoke out against killing Jews and Christians. Excerpts of his statements include: "Islamic law in general prohibits any Muslim from raising a weapon against any lover of peace - dhimmi (protected person), Jewish or Christian, a merchant, or anyone who enters (the country) on a work contract. Islamic law permits raising a weapon only against whomever aims a weapon at the Muslim in order to fight him."

While Al-Mani'i's statement against killing Jews and Christians is almost unprecedented within Saudi Arabia, he went on to explain that if non-Muslims are treated well by Muslims, they will eventually convert to Islam: "The Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian subjects had their autonomous rule under Islam, and at the same time these Muslim states, and the caliphs, preserved their rights, treated them well, maintained neighborly relations and dealt with them honestly and in good faith, treated their sick, granted them their rights, and called them to convert to Islam. Therefore, the Jewish, Christian, and other subjects converted to Islam."

Saudi Professor: Allah Permits Annihilating Christians and Jews

Sheik Dr. Ahmad Abd Al-Latif, a professor at Um Al-Qura University, was asked the following question on Saudi channel TV1 on May 24: "Some imams and preachers call for Allah to annihilate the Jews and those who help them, and the Christians and those who support them... Is it permitted according to Islamic law?" Professor Al-Latif responded: "What made them curse the Jews is that the Jews are oppressors... The same goes for the Christians, because of their cruel aggression against Islamic countries ... while the truth is that this is a crusading war whose goal is to harm Muslims. This is why a Muslim is allowed to curse the oppressors from among the Jews and Christians... Cursing the oppressing Jews and the oppressing and plundering Christians and the prayer that Allah will annihilate them is permitted."

Former Saudi Embassy Official on 'Big Explosion' Coming

Sheik Muhammad Al-Munajid, a disciple of one of Saudi Arabia's most revered religious leaders, Sheik ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abdallah ibn Baaz, was identified in a report in the Washington Post on December 11, 2003, as running "a Web site that promotes intolerance of Christians and Jews and calls for holy war on Shiite Muslims," and was included as one of sixteen clerics associated with the Saudi embassy's Islamic Affairs Department who was stripped of diplomatic credentials.

Al-Munajid stated on Iqraa TV on April 15: "The issue is not one person, two, ten or a hundred going out with their guns to support their brothers. Defeating the infidels requires a much greater effort. It requires the mobilization of the nation. How can the nation be mobilized? I believe that the stupid acts of these Jews and Crusaders mobilize the nation. The big explosion will come! In spite of everything, it will happen!"

Much of Saudi TV is based upon religious programming. Many of these programs refer to the spread of Islam throughout the world and the battle against non-Muslims. On a May 20 episode of Iqraa TV's 'Mushkilat Min Al-Hayat' (Problems from Life), Saudi Sheik Abdallah Al-Muslih, chairman of the Commission on Scientific Signs in the Koran and Sunnah of the Muslim World League, used evidence from early Islam to support his claim that suicide bombings on enemy land are permitted according to Islamic law: "... Regarding a person who blows himself up, I know this issue is under disagreement among modern clerics and jurisprudents... There is nothing wrong with [martyrdom] if they cause great damage to the enemy. We can say that if it causes great damage to the enemy, this operation is a good thing. This is when we talk of Dar Al-Harb. But, if we speak of what happens in Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia ... this is forbidden, brothers! This is the land of the Muslims. We must never do this in a Muslim country."

Prominent Saudi Professor: Allah Willing, the U.S. Will Collapse

Supporting Jihad against U.S. troops in Iraq is the topic of many Saudi TV programs. On May 10, Dr. Yassin Al-Khatib, a professor of Islamic law at Um Al-Qura University, declared on the UAE's Al-Majd TV, which frequently has Saudi guests on it, that "the honor, blood, property and mostly the fact that they entered the country [i.e. Iraq] ... make it every Muslim's duty to go out against them, not only the Iraqis. This is every Muslim's duty. Jihad today has become an individual duty that applies to each and every Muslim. It is forbidden for a person to remain silent... When the Muslims fought in Afghanistan they destroyed the Soviet Union, which was a superpower. It collapsed and Allah willing, so will this [the U.S.] collapse."

The Coming Islamic Takeover of the U.S.

Saudis often discuss the issue of the U.S. becoming a Muslim state in the future. On a March 17 broadcast on Iqraa TV, Saudi preacher Sheik Said Al-Qahtani discussed this issue, as well as the cases in which Muslims are permitted to declare a defensive Jihad: "... We did not occupy the U.S., with 8 million Muslims, using bombings. Had we been patient, and let time take its course, instead of the 8 million, there could have been 80 million [Muslims] and 50 years later perhaps all the US would have become Muslim... What should a Muslim do if he is attacked in his country, on his land? In this case, there is no choice besides defense, self-sacrifice, and what religious scholars call - Defensive Jihad... We attacked their country, and this caused them to wake the dormant enmity in their hearts... Especially since there is global Zionism, the enemy of Islam, and Judaism, and fundamentalist Crusaders... They interpret this whole incident as only the beginning and thus there is no choice but a preemptive strike."

Al-Qahtani added on another Iqraa TV show on May 5: "Allah said, 'prepare against them all the force and horsemen that you can.' What for? In order to strike fear into their hearts... At the same time, [we should] establish strategies for the future, even if only for the short term, and prepare ... so that one of these days, even 100, 200, or 400 years from now, we will become a force that will be feared by the infidel states."

There is a lot more. Read it all. You may never get a clearer picture of what's really being said about us by our friend and ally.

Comments progress report

Comments, as you may have noticed, have been disabled for several days now, after some persistent and obnoxious attacks by a loathsome spammer or two. I was hoping they would be up and running by now, but it will be a little while longer. When they do return, registration will be required (including a valid email address). I am sure that will cut down on the activities of the loathesome spammer and his friends. Once again, apologies for the inconvenience, thank you for your patience, and be sure to keep coming to the site, as updates will continue when possible.

Testing...

This is only a test.

Iranian Source: British Sailors Apprehended To Swap For 40 Iranian Volunteers for Suicide Missions Captured in Iraq

The real reason why the Iranians seized the British ships? According to London's Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, it was all an ingenious plan. From MEMRI (with thanks to Romy):

"A source close to the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guards told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat of the real reasons and factors in the apprehension of the three British Navy vessels and the arrest of the sailors by Iranian Coast Guard patrol forces on Monday [June 21, 2004]. He indicated that the British Army command in Iraq had understood the message sent them by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards command by their capture of the ships."

'Detention of 40 Volunteers for Suicide Operations Was Great Concern to the Revolutionary Guards'

"According to the source, the content of the message was very simple: 'Release our comrades, whom you are holding, and we will release your soldiers.' The source clarified that the detention of 40 volunteers for suicide operations by the Ukrainian forces acting in Iraq was of great concern to the Revolutionary Guards command, because they [the 40] constituted the first group of volunteers participating in the Organization for the Commemoration of the Shahids, which was established recently by Revolutionary Guards Commander Col. Dhu al-Qadr.

"Al-Sharq Al-Awsat was informed that one of the senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guards, who had formerly held the post of head of the Committee for Iran-Ukraine Military Cooperation, had gone to Kiev for talks regarding the Iranian detainees. However, it turned out that the Ukrainian units had already handed the volunteers for suicide operations over to British forces acting in southern Iraq.

"Despite contacts between the Iranian and British military committees at the borders and daily contact between them in small conflict resolution - [such that] this has become routine since the British forces entered southern Iraq - the British command has so far refused to acknowledge that it is holding 40 Iranian volunteers in one of its detention camps. According to the Iranian source, this caused the Revolutionary Guards leadership to seek a semi-military solution to bring its men back from Iraq."

Bomb near Bush's hotel in Turkey

An attempt to intimidate the jihadists' Target #1? From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- A small bomb exploded Thursday in front of the hotel where U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to stay when he visits Ankara for meetings with Turkish leaders. One police officer was badly injured, a security official said.

The injured police officer was standing near the bomb when it went off, tearing off one of his legs, the security officer said on customary condition of anonymity.

Police had been notified of a suspicious package on the street some 75 meters (yards) from the entrance to the hotel. The bomb exploded as officers approached the package to investigate. ...

Militant Islamic groups, Kurdish separatists and leftists have carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.

UPDATE: This one may not have been a jihad attack. A leftist organization has claimed responsibility. (Thanks to Jeffrey Imm for the link.)

Multiple attacks rock Iraqi cities

As June 30 approaches, the jihad intensifies (when the major media says "insurgents," they mean "jihadists.") From CNN, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Insurgents have staged simultaneous attacks on police stations and other targets in four cities across Iraq, killing at least 40 people and injuring scores more.

In the biggest attack on Thursday, a series of explosions struck the northern city of Mosul, killing more than 30 people and wounding 170 others.

The violence in Mosul -- which includes three car bombings, a rocket attack, a raid on a security company and clashes between coalition forces and insurgents -- has virtually paralyzed the predominantly Kurdish city.

Iraqi police stations and training facilities were the worst hit in Mosul, with seven Iraqi policemen and one U.S. solider among those killed.

In a coordinated series of attacks across Iraq just six days before power is handed over to an interim government, insurgents also targeted police stations in Baqubah and Ramadi and battled American forces in Fallujah.

Insurgents have taken over parts of Baqubah after launching a series of attacks that killed two U.S. soldiers and four Iraqi soldiers.

Opposition: Saudi security knew Johnson's location

More unsurprising news from the World Tribune, with thanks to Manny:

Saudi opposition sources said Saudi security commanders knew of the location of Al Qaida chief Abul Aziz Al Muqrin at least three days before he executed a U.S. hostage.

The Washington-based Saudi Institute said Saudi authorities knew of the whereabouts of the Al Qaida cell that abducted and threatened to kill Lockheed Martin engineer Paul Johnson. But the institute said the Saudi government decided not to move until Johnson, captured on June 12, was executed.

"The Saudi government knew the location of a number of the terrorists but waited until they killed American hostage Paul Johnson before moving against them," the Saudi Institute said in a statement on Tuesday.

Not so fast

This morning it looked as if those British soldiers had already been released, or would soon be released by Iran. Now the situation doesn't look as positive. From This Is London:

Talks are taking place to secure the release of the eight British sailors paraded blindfold on Iranian television and forced to make public confessions.

Earlier reports coming out of the country had said that the men were already free, it was then claimed that they would not be released until Thursday.

Negotiations are now believed to be taking place between the Iranian and British delegations in the city of Mahshahr.

The breakthrough came after a day of diplomacy amid anger and revulsion at the way the servicemen were treated. As part of a deal designed to save face in Tehran, Britain was expected to make a statement of regret the men had strayed into Iranian waters.

Remember when Argentina took over the Falkland Islands? That was a different Britain, of course.

UPDATE: At last they have really been released.

Muslim kids play decapitation games

LGF has posted a horrifying link to a Scandinavian Muslim bulletin board on which someone has posted ("Look how cute!") a video of Muslim kids reenacting the Nick Berg decapitation video.

If anyone has any doubts about what we are up against in the war on terror, see this video. It isn't bloody. It's just sickening. What will become of these children who are being brought up to glorify murder and violence?

U.S., Allies Will Not Negotiate With Terrorists

No sign of the desired dhimmitude from the Bush White House or its allies. From FoxNews, with thanks to DC Watson:

NEW YORK — Although Al Qaeda-linked groups recently executed two kidnapped civilian workers, the United States continues to maintain it will not negotiate with terrorists, whatever the price — even if violence against Americans and their allies gets worse.

"I think there's a likelihood [attacks could escalate in Iraq and Saudi Arabia] and that's certainly the philosophy behind refusing to negotiate with terrorists," said Robert Jordan, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. "I think it's a sound philosophy — one that's proved the test of time … that should be continued."

Jordan's comments came after news broke Tuesday that suspected Al Qaeda terrorists had beheaded hostage Kim Sun-il, a South Korean who worked for a U.S. military supplier.

Terror checkpoints at shopping malls?

Schumer included a detailed proposal for mall security. I doubt this will fly, however, as not enough Americans are convinced that this is a real threat. From WND, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

The recent plot by an al-Qaida freelancer to blow up an Ohio shopping center and revelations that the Madrid bombers' next intended target was a suburban mall – coming on the heels of the terror group's reported plans to hit the U.S. hard this summer with a massive attack – is causing at least one congressman to demand security at the nation's shopping malls be radically beefed up with high-tech, high-dollar equipment like that used in airports.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D.-N.Y., says the government's indictment of Nuradin Abdi for plotting with al-Qaida to bomb shopping malls, coupled with recently uncovered documents showing the March 11 Madrid train bombers also planned to attack Parquesur, a large suburban shopping center there, are "clear proof" the U.S. is not doing enough to protect the nation's shopping malls from terror attacks.

"Everyone who listened to the audio tapes released by the 9/11 Commission this week couldn't help but feel their hair stand on end when they heard how unprepared we were to deal with an aerial attack," Schumer said while standing in Greeley Square outside the Manhattan Mall in New York City. "More and more evidence is mounting that if they want to attack again, they'll do it someplace closer to home like a shopping center. We've gone all-out to shore up air security, and now we have to catch up with mall security as well."

South Korea: Muslim Community Hopes Killing Doesn't Affect Perception of Islam

From the Chosun Ilbo, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Korean Muslim Imam Lee Hang-rae said during an interview at a mosque in Itaewon, Seoul on Wednesday that, “We Muslims were also shocked and felt heartbroken like everyone else. I am worried that this incident may damage the perception of Islam on the whole. The group that kidnapped and murdered Kim Sun-il is a political group that has nothing to do with Islam. They do not obey Islamic doctrines and are even against Islam. Islam itself is peace. The Koran also forbids murder in a phrase, “Do not take any precious life without proper reasons.”

It would be refreshing if just one time, we weren't asked to accept that this sort of thing "has nothing to do with Islam" just on the word of other Muslims. I wish that just one time, Muslims who say these beheadings have nothing to do with Islam would explain why Sura 47:4 ("when you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks") doesn't apply here, and why the example of Muhammad's beheadings doesn't apply -- in short, why the reasons that the radicals themselves give for what they are doing don't qualify as "proper reasons" under the Qur'anic caveat cited by Lee Hang-rae.

But they never do. Instead, all we get from one side are detailed arguments based on the Qur'an and Sunnah justifying what they do, and the other side shouting, "It's against Islam!" Never mind which side I believe; which side do you think young Muslims who are trying to live their faith properly believe?

Jihad boils up in Thailand

Just how are young men like Asaha Dajing recruited? Is it really a matter of their being "fooled"? Or are they shown convincing passages of the Qur'an and Sunnah that show that they should do what the radicals are doing if they want to be good Muslims? From USA Today, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

Asaha Dajing, 19, appeared to be thriving at an Islamic college in Yala, 20 miles north of this remote village. He had just won a $125 creative writing scholarship, big money in these parts. His family was proud.

But Asaha had friends his parents didn't know about: Islamic radicals who were recruiting impressionable young men for a mysterious holy war here in the jungles of southern Thailand.

Asaha's secret life was exposed only by his death. He was killed by police along with 13 other militants April 28 when they staged a suicidal assault on a government office near this village. Most were armed only with machetes.

"They used my son because he was young," says his father, rubber farmer Tama Dajing, 49. "He could be fooled very easily. ... I blame myself because I just worked. I went out in the morning and I came home at night, and I didn't know what was going on."

No one seems to know exactly what is going on here in the predominantly Muslim southern tip of Thailand. Mysterious insurgents are terrorizing the countryside, bewildering the government in Bangkok and raising fears that radical Islamic groups from outside Thailand may have found a new base in Southeast Asia.

"It's still a witch's brew. It's still incubating," says Paul Quaglia, a former CIA official now working as a security consultant in Bangkok with Pacific Strategies & Assessments. "Regional Islamic terrorists are looking at the area for a possible jihad (holy war). Disgruntled Muslim youth form a potential labor pool" for terrorists.

Southeast Asia already is seething with Islamic violence. The group Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been linked to al-Qaeda, was behind bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, in Bali, Indonesia, in October 2002. A group called Abu Sayyaf has terrorized the traditionally Muslim region of Mindanao in the southern Philippines for several years, kidnapping tourists and attacking local Christians. Authorities fear that extremists also want to use the lawless jungles of southern Thailand to launch a holy war.

The United States has not turned southern Thailand into a new front in the war on terror and considers the insurgency an internal Thai matter. No Thai insurgent groups appear on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. However, there is some evidence that Jemaah Islamiyah, which is on the U.S. terror list, has been active in Thailand. One of the group's leaders was captured in central Thailand last year, and some of the attackers in a wave of violence April 28 reportedly wore Jemaah Islamiyah T-shirts and in some cases showed knowledge of sophisticated military tactics.

The fact that the United States doesn't see the Thailand conflict as the same conflict that is raging in Iraq, Israel, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, and elsewhere in the world today is evidence of an analytic myopia that could prove fatal.

Pakistan Rejects Insinuations Implicating It In 9/11 Attacks

Not that the ideology that they have fostered for years in the madrassas had anything to do with it. From PNS, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

WASHIGNTON, USA : June 22 (PNS) - Pakistan Sunday "strongly rejected the insinuations" made by the 9/11 Commission that Pakistan, in any way, was involved with the perpetration of the horrific 9/11 attacks. "This is pure speculation," said Deputy Chief of the Mission of the Pakistan Embassy, adding:"we emphatically reject it."

"The unchecked succession of events in Afghanistan had led to the tragic events of 9/11." Mohammad Sadiq was commenting on the news reports which tried to implicate Pakistan being amongst those countries having allegedly supported or funded those involved with perpetration of the horrific 9/11 attacks. Pakistan, he reminded, had itself been a victim of terrorism, and that it was waging fight against terrorism "much before the astounding 9/11 attacks." ...

The DCM underscored that historically, Pakistan has recognized all governments in Kabul, including the Taliban government. It did not, however, mean that Pakistan agreed to the policies of the Taliban regime." "We did try to persuade [the] Taliban [to] comply with U.N. resolutions and international norms on terrorism," he added.

Man eluded airport security for 24 hours

An unsurprising story from The Halifax Herald Limited:

A man with no identification and no money spent nearly 24 hours in an off-limits area of the Halifax International Airport before being arrested, a Dartmouth provincial court heard Monday.

Federal Crown attorney James Martin said Vlad Sandulescu, a Canadian citizen of Romanian descent, scaled a fence Wednesday night and gained entry to the terminal through an unlocked door.

Mr. Martin said the 29-year-old man spent the night hidden above the ceiling tile of a washroom.

The next day, he said, Mr. Sandulescu tried to board at least three planes without a boarding pass or ticket. One flight was headed to Frankfurt, Germany, a second to New York and the third to Boston.

RCMP arrested Mr. Sandulescu about 8:30 p.m. Thursday after being told by airport security that workers had refused to allow a man without a boarding pass to enter the departure lounge and get on the flight to Boston.

Zarqawi Vows to Assassinate Iraqi Premier

He will keep fighting "until Islamic rule is back on Earth." But of course, this conflict has nothing to do with religion. A suggestion for CAIR: why don't you develop, since you folks are so moderate and all, an Anti-Sharia Kit, that will explain to Muslims why they need not and should not fight to establish Islamic rule on Earth? Because there are, of course, a lot more Muslims who think like Zarqawi. I await your positive response.

From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A recording purportedly made by the mastermind of bombings and kidnappings in Iraq threatened to assassinate Iraq's interim prime minister and fight the Americans "until Islamic rule is back on Earth."

The audio recording was found Wednesday on a Web site that serves as a clearinghouse of Islamic extremist statements. It is supposedly from Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose network has been targeted by two U.S. airstrikes since Saturday.

Al-Zarqawi's group, Monotheism and Jihad, claimed responsibility for the beheading of American hostage Nicholas Berg and Kim Sun-il, a South Korean whose decapitated body was found Tuesday evening between Baghdad and Fallujah. ...

In the audiotape, the speaker thought to be al-Zarqawi told Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, that "we will continue the game with you until the end." The speaker said "we will not get bored" until "we make you drink from the same glass" as Izzadine Saleem, the Iraqi governing Council president killed last month in a car-bombing claimed at al-Zarqawi's group.

"We will carry on our jihad against the Western infidel and the Arab apostate until Islamic rule is back on earth," the voice said.

Iran Frees British Sailors

After a good bit of saber-rattling, the eight British soldiers arrested for straying into Iranian territorial waters have been released.

“Stay Quiet and You’ll Be OK”

A new article by Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer, "Stay Quiet and You’ll Be OK," is up at FrontPage this morning.

Here’s a new slogan for the zeitgeist: stay quiet and you’ll be OK. This was the message, according to the tapes released last week, that Muhammad Atta gave to the passengers on the ill-fated airplane that he and his fellow terrorists had commandeered.

Stay quiet and you’ll be OK. Don’t mention that a Saudi imam who spoke at the opening of a large new Islamic center in London once preached a sermon in which he called Jews “evil offspring, infidels, distorters of [others’] words, calf-worshippers, prophet-murderers, prophecy-deniers... the scum of the human race ‘whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs,” and “an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil, and corruption.” AP noted that in London he said that Islam’s history was “the best testament to how different communities can live together in peace and harmony.” The BBC called him “one of Islam’s most renowned Imams” and reported his praise for British Muslims for having “taken great steps towards achieving community cohesion.” Neither said anything about his hate speech.

Stay quiet and you’ll be OK. Have you heard about the churches destroyed in Kosovo? “To keep the Serbs from claiming this area as part of their national heritage,” says Mikhael de Thyse of the Council of Europe, “some Albanians are attacking their churches.” In March, the cathedrals in Pristina and Prizren, Kosovo’s two main cities, were burned to the ground. Others that have been destroyed include the Holy Archangels Monastery, a charming and, of course, irreplaceable jewel dating from the fourteenth century. The local bishop has had harsh words for NATO peacekeepers, who he says have done little or nothing to protect the churches. But the media establishment has kept mum. Jihad in Kosovo? Come on. Everyone knows the Balkan Muslims are the victims, not the perpetrators! ...

As Ralph Peters has had the courage to declare, “It’s time to end the politically correct baby-talk insisting that Islam isn’t the problem. In the decaying Arab world, Islam is the problem — because of the way bitter old men interpret and deform its more humane precepts while embracing its cruelest injunctions.” It’s time to end the baby talk, and the silence. For whatever combination of political correctness, fear, and indifference has made for the silence on these stories and others like them, it does nothing but play into the hands of those who would destroy us.

Stay quiet, and the jihad will continue to advance: in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and Israel, and Indonesia, and Nigeria, and the Philippines, and Western Europe, and elsewhere — and if you think we will not feel its impact here, just remember where Atta was when he said those words, and what happened next.

Comments and subscriber notes

Comments are, alas, still disabled, but the last stagecoach to Secure Undisclosed Locationville should be bringing the tools we need to fix up a new troll-proof comments feature by this afternoon, and it should be up by tomorrow or Friday. Apologies for the long delay, and many thanks for your patience. But when it is all done, I think you will find the Jihad Watch Comments section to be a cleaner, better-lighted, less menacing neighborhood, free of thugs and graffiti.

Subscribers please note: 35 of you will not receive the Jihad Watch Daily Digest today. Something called "Spamcop" has "blacklisted" Jihad Watch, such that the Digest began bouncing back from your addresses. Uncertain what to do, I sent a notice to each of you Monday but heard back from no one, so yesterday I deleted all the blocked addresses from the subscriber list rather than just have them bounce back continually. So if you stop getting the Digest and would like to do so, please remonstrate with these "Spamcop" people (I would have, but they don't have contact info on their "blacklist" site) and then re-subscribe. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Iraqi Militants Reportedly Behead Korean

"Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks ..." (Qur'an, Sura 47:4).

From AP:

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - An Iraqi militant group has beheaded its South Korean hostage, Al-Jazeera television reported Tuesday.

The pan-Arab station said it had received a videotape showing that Kim Sun-il had been executed. ...

Al-Jazeera, which had not broadcast the tape, said the execution was carried out by the al-Qaida-linked group Monotheism and Jihad.

Let us not lose our resolve to end this scourge of humanity.

U.S. threatens to abandon Saudis and their oil

Heartening news from the World Tribune:

The United States has sent a tough message to Saudi Arabia that did not rule out abandoning of the kingdom's oil sector.

U.S. officials said the Bush administration has warned that Americans would not stay in Saudi Arabia unless the kingdom takes significant steps to protect them. The officials said the warning came in wake of the Al Qaida execution of Lockheed Martin engineer Paul Johnson on June 18.

Fewer than 30,000 Americans live in Saudi Arabia, with many of them working in the defense and oil sectors. More than 5,000 Americans were said to have left the kingdom over the last year and many more were said to planning to leave for the summer.

"It could have an effect [on the Saudi oil industry]," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "Saudi authorities, as commendable as their overall effort is, have not yet been able to stop the terrorists to the point that everybody doesn't have to worry anymore."

Terrorist nuclear threat 'real and imminent'

From This Is London:

The threat of a terrorist attack using nuclear weapons is "real and imminent", the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said today.

Mohammed al Baradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it was a "race against time" to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear materials. ...

"We are actually having a race against time which I don't think we can afford," he told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace conference in Washington. "The danger is so imminent... so the sooner that we start, the better for everybody involved."

Al-Qaida suspect tied to U.S.-UK jihad group

More on Mohammed Junaid Babar, from WND (thanks to Margelfand). He turns out to be the Muhammad Junaid who was widely reported after 9/11 to be on his way to Afghanistan to fight against Americans, even though his mother had survived the World Trade Center attack. I tried to track him down then, but since the "Babar" part of his name wasn't reported, I couldn't find him. Others who followed the same dead end suggested that that whole story had been fabricated. Well, it turns out it was all too real.

Al-Muhajiroun, of course, is the radical British group that is working toward the day when the "black flag of Islam," that is, the jihad flag, flies from #10 Downing Street.

A U.S.-based leader of Al-Muhajiroun who operates openly in Queens told WND on condition of anonymity: "I've known Junaid [Babar] for a long time. I met him about seven years ago in a local Mosque in Queens before we both became involved with Muhajiroun."

The leader would not comment on Babar's involvement with his group, except to say Babar was involved in "organizational operations" in Queens and later in Pakistan, where he traveled after leaving a $70,000-a-year computer job because he wanted to join the jihad in Afghanistan. ...

Al-Muhajiroun's branch in Queens claims to be involved in "only peaceful activities." The group holds closed-door meetings and study sessions at a mosque in Jackson Heights, Queens, led by an older spiritual cleric identified as a Sheikh Choudray. ...

At one Al-Muhajiroun event at Queensborough Community College sponsored by the MSA and attended by WND, a Muhajiroun speaker working with Yousuf said, "We reject the U.N., reject America, reject all law and order. Don't lobby Congress or protest because we don't recognize Congress! The only relationship you should have with America is to topple it!"

The speaker continued, "The so-called terrorists are the only people who truly fear Allah. ... They are the only worthy causes, and the mighty superpower only fears them."

In a private interview with WND, a Queens based Al-Muhajiroun leader said he would be "absolutely honored" to give up his life in a "martyr operation" against American civilians. The leader warned that "a jihad is coming to America because of the moves of the Bush administration." ...

In custody, Babar reportedly told investigators al-Qaida is planning more attacks in the United States, and he allegedly revealed a detailed plan to smuggle al-Qaida agents across the Mexican border.

Babar's assertions were reportedly part of the intelligence that led to recent warnings about a summer threat from the terror network.

Babar first appeared on the FBI's radar and was put on a terror watch list after he made anti-U.S. remarks to a Canadian news reporter in Pakistan following the Sept. 11 attacks.

He said that despite the fact his mother had escaped from the ninth floor of one of the World Trade Center towers, his loyalty was "to the Muslims, not the Americans." He also announced his intention to fight with the Taliban against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

WND was told an Al-Muhajiroun leader in Pakistan, who appeared behind Babar in a British documentary aired on ITN television network in November, 2001, may have been instrumental in arranging for Babar to travel there.

"I'm willing to kill Americans," Babar said in the television interview, adding that he had no plans to return to New York.

Jihadists seize ministry building in Russia

Yes, it's a jihad in Chechnya. And the surrounding areas. From AP, with thanks to Nicolei:

VLADIKAVKAZ (Russia) - Assailants armed with grenade- and rocket-launchers seized the Interior Ministry headquarters in Ingushetia, a Russian region bordering warring Chechnya, killing the acting minister, a ministry official said on Tuesday. Attacks were also reported elsewhere in Ingushetia.

The Interior Ministry official said it was not immediately clear who the attackers were, but said some of them were shouting 'Allahu akhbar' - a frequent cry of Chechnya's separatist rebels ever as their insurgency increasingly comes under the influence of radical Islam.

Fighting from the 4-year-old Chechen war has occasionally spilled into Ingushetia, highlighting the Russian military's ineffectiveness against the rebels despite having heavier weapons and far superior manpower.

Convicted Muslims appeal to Dutch Supreme Court

Holland's first convicted terrorists are appealing. From Expatica, with thanks to Nicolei:

AMSTERDAM — Two of the four Muslims convicted by an appeals court in The Hague on Monday will take their cases to the Supreme Court to have their sentences quashed. One of the men was sentenced to six years jail for involvement in a criminal gang linked to a plot to bomb the US embassy in Paris.

The Supreme Court will thus make a final ruling whether information from the Dutch secret service AIVD can be used in court. Rotterdam Court ruled at the end of 2002 against the use of the evidence, but the appeals court in The Hague reversed that ruling on Monday.

The appeals court sentenced two Muslim men to six and four-year jail terms after convicting them of involvement in an international criminal organisation, which was planning a bomb attack on the US embassy in Paris. The attack was never carried out.

The convicted men were identified as 29-year-old Jerome Courtailler, a French convert to Islam and Algerian Abdelghani Rabia, 32. But the lawyer representing the Frenchman said later on Monday an appeal will be lodged with the Dutch Supreme Court.

Pakistan: Militant leader vows jihad against US

Musharraf hasn't gotten them all. And what is he doing about the madrassas again? From HiPakistan:

WANA, June 21: The head of 'mujahideen' shura in South Waziristan on Monday said they wanted to live in peace with Pakistan, but vowed to continue waging a jihad against the United States.

"We want peace for Pakistan, but not for the US," Haji Muhammad Omar, amir of the mujahideen shura in Waziristan, told Dawn. The hitherto unknown Muhammad Omar called the BBC Pushto Service on Sunday to claim that he had been made the acting commander of the mujahideen in place of Nek Muhammad who had been killed in a missile attack last week.

Algerian Military Says Terror Leader Killed

One of the most active Islamic radical leaders in North Africa has been killed. No doubt he was waging jihad in North Africa because of his rage over Abu Ghraib and Israel. From AP, with thanks to Ali Dashti:

ALGIERS, Algeria — Troops killed one of North Africa's most wanted Islamic militants, who had sought to link his bloody insurgent movement in Algeria to Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network, the military said Sunday.

The death of Nabil Sahraoui, head of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, marked a major victory for Algerian government efforts to suppress Islamic militant violence and left his armed extremist organization with no clear leader.

Sahraoui and three of his lieutenants were killed in a "vast anti-terrorist operation" that continues in the Kabylie region east of the capital, Algiers, the army general staff said in a statement.

Comments still disabled

For those of you who may be checking in just now, I thought I'd repeat the notice that comments are temporarily closed. We have been hearing from a high volume of jihadists here at Jihad Watch, who are both enraged that we would tell the truth about jihad terrorism and ready to do violence to us for doing so. It's the same old story: say it's a religion of peace, or we'll kill you.

So anyway, we are installing new features that will, I hope, once again enable people to comment but make it easier to screen out those whose idea of jihad is to steal other people's names and post comments making lewd remarks. Until then, I ask for your patience and hope you will keep checking in, and posts will continue to be made when possible.

Thanks for all your support. Jihad Watch is, once again, an endeavor to defend human rights for all people, Muslim and non-Muslim, female and male, and anyone who is able to pierce through the fog of political correctness and misinformation to realize that has my gratitude.

Allah's Butchers

Ralph Peters says it all at FrontPage (thanks to Charles):

Religions are what men make of them. In the Arab heartlands of Islam, Muslims are making a gory mess of their faith. It’s time to end the politically correct baby-talk insisting that Islam isn’t the problem. In the decaying Arab world, Islam is the problem—because of the way bitter old men interpret and deform its more humane precepts while embracing its cruelest injunctions.

The decapitation of yet another American civilian can’t be dismissed as an aberration from “true” Islam. The tradition of beheading unarmed prisoners dates to the earliest decades of the Muslim faith. The butchering of Paul Johnson, Nick Berg and others isn’t a new phenomenon—it’s revivalism, “that old-time religion” returning for a re-match with secular devils.

Millions of Muslims find such atrocities inspiring. Millions more view such cruelty as just. It’s the vicarious revenge of the self-made failure. And for every rent-a-cleric the Saudi government pushes in front of a television camera to condemn such acts, thousands of other mullahs continue to preach anti-Western hatred--the brutal specificity of which would horrify even America’s leftists, if only they stopped apologizing to terrorists long enough to listen. ...

Arab Muslims are allowed to spew anti-Western, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-Hindu, anti-everybody-else hate speech. That’s just their culture, you see. But it’s taboo for a Westerner to suggest that the roots of terror may go a bit deeper than a black sheep or two in a few Middle-Eastern families.

Leftist apologists for terror here in the United States attack any attempt at a frank discussion of the Middle East’s problems with charges of bigotry and neo-imperialism. But if we examine the madness of the American Left dispassionately, we find that it’s the Noam Chomskys, Susan Sontags and their acolytes from the campus greensward who are the true bigots. Imperialists, too.

By refusing to hold Middle Eastern civilization to reasonable standards of behavior and responsibility, our domestic Left has given new life to the “little brown brother” school of colonialist thought. According to the Left’s internal logic, Arabs aren’t capable of the same moral reflection and behavioral maturity well-educated whites demonstrate. And, of course, Arabs are oppressed (no matter that their oppressors are all Arabs).

Arab extremists and dictators have become the ghetto blacks of hard-Left foreign policy. They’re all victims of Washington and bear no personal responsibility for their own errors, failures or crimes. It isn’t the Saddams, Abdullahs, Assads or Mubaraks who oppress the Arab masses, you see. Despots are never guilty--unless they get too chummy with the Americans. Anyway, dictators are victims, too. The mass graves and misery that haunt the Middle East (if such inconveniences must be mentioned at all) are my fault. And yours, dear reader. We’re to blame for all that’s wrong with the world. And don’t you forget it!

The family secret of the hard-Left is that its followers share one powerful trait with Osama bin Laden: They need to look down on others, to feel superior and just. If the lords of terror dispense with displays of pity for their victims, it’s only because they haven’t yet attained the leftist’s level of hypocrisy.

Ex-officer 'to lead Saudi al-Qaeda'

Why is it unthinkable that Saudi officials could have helped Al-Qaeda kidnap Paul Johnson when a Saudi ex-policeman is going to head Al-Qaeda there? From the BBC, with thanks to Nicolei:

An ex-Saudi policeman has become leader of the al-Qaeda militant group in Saudi Arabia, according to media reports from the troubled kingdom.

Saleh al-Oufi, 38, will take over from Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, who was killed by police on Friday.

Saudi security forces have been hunting al-Qaeda members in Riyadh, following the execution of a US hostage.

Saudi analysts say the new leader will be a formidable foe as he been a key figure in the group since 1985.

Al-Qaeda is believed to have been behind the abduction and beheading of US defence worker Paul Johnson, the latest foreign victim of a series of militant operations in the kingdom.

Correspondents say the rise of Mr Oufi will do nothing to dispel suspicions that al-Qaeda is closely linked to members of the security forces in Saudi Arabia.

That's for sure!

South Korea unswayed by beheading threat

The South Koreans seem unwilling to follow the Spanish into dhimmitude. From Reuters, with thanks to Nicolei:

South Korea will go ahead with its plan to send 3,000 troops to help rebuild Iraq despite a televised threat from Iraqi militants to behead a South Korean hostage, the Foreign Ministry said today.

The government would do its best to seek the release of 33-year-old businessman Kim Sun-il, who has been shown repeatedly on South Korean television pleading for his life, Vice Foreign Minister Choi Young-jin told reporters after a meeting of President Roh Moo-hyun's National Security Council.

Choi said Kim, an Arabic graduate, had been kidnapped in Fallujah on June 17 - the day before South Korea announced where its troops would be deployed after months of agonising because of security concerns and public opposition.

The group holding Kim said South Korea had 24 hours from Sunday night to withdraw its decision or they would behead him, Arabic television station Al Jazeera reported.

Iran Confiscates U.K. Military Vessels

Something is happening here, but no one knows what it is. From AP, with thanks to EPG:

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran confiscated three British military vessels Monday and arrested eight armed crew members, state-run television reported.

The three British ships entered Iranian territorial waters not far from the Iran-Iraq border, the Arabic language Al-Alam television reported. The station is part of the state-run Iranian radio and television network. ...

In London, the Ministry of Defense said it was investigating the report but did not know if it was true. There were no British warships operating in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, but some smaller vessels were there, the ministry said. ...

The Foreign Office said British diplomats in Tehran had been in contact with the Iranian government but it was still unclear what had happened.

Saudis Deny Security Forces Aided Abduction

Well, of course this is no surprise. But there is no real reason why Saudi officials couldn't or wouldn't have helped out with this. After all, the ideology of Al-Qaeda was nurtured and supported by high-level Saudis for years. Must we assume that all this support abruptly vanished? From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Al Qaeda group responsible for abducting and killing an American engineer says it was aided by sympathizers in the Saudi security forces, a claim that was denied by Saudi authorities. ...

Sunday's Al Qaeda article said the militants decided to behead Johnson when Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah in Washington, declared that Saudi Arabia would not negotiate with the kidnappers.

The group said it beheaded Johnson, 49, of Eagleswood Township, N.J., when its deadline expired Friday.

Asked about the Al Qaeda statement in a televised interview, al-Jubeir said, "We have never negotiated with terrorists. We don't intend to do so.

"I believe what the Al Qaeda people were trying to do is trying to justify a murder that is unjustifiable under any faith or under any principle of humanity."

Mm-hmm. If these high-sounding words had actually been Saudi policy for the last twenty years or so, we might not be in this fix.

Another beheading in the offing?

Sanctioned by the example of the Prophet Muhammad and the dictates of Islamic law, beheading — as the rest of the world is learning — is a perfectly acceptable practice for the Muslim warrior. From AP, with thanks to nevermindlv:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape Sunday purportedly from al-Qaida linked militants showing a South Korean hostage begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw troops from Iraq.

The kidnappers, who identified themselves as belonging to a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, gave South Korea 24 hours to meet its demand or "we will send you the head of this Korean."

"Please, get out of here," the man screamed in English, flailing his arms. "I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I know that your life is important, but my life is important."

Of course it is. But none of our lives will be important if these thugs start getting their way by means of threats and murder.

Al-Qaida: Sympathizers aided abduction

Are the Saudis finally getting serious about combatting terrorism? The jury is still out. But this doesn't bode well, although it's not in the least surprising. From AP, with thanks to DC Watson:

CAIRO, Egypt -- The al-Qaida cell that kidnapped and killed American Paul M. Johnson Jr. said in an online periodical Sunday that sympathizers in the kingdom's security forces supplied it with police uniforms and vehicles and set up fake checkpoints to facilitate last week's abduction.

The details of the kidnapping appeared in Sawt al-Jihad, or Voice of Holy War, a semimonthly online periodical published by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. A separate article, the final one written by cell leader Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, killed in a shootout Friday night, justified Johnson's slaying.

The first article said militants wearing police uniforms and using police cars set up a fake checkpoint on al-Khadma Road, leading the airport, near Imam Mohammed bin Saud University.

When Johnson's car approached the checkpoint June 12, the militants in police uniforms stopped his car - a Camry - detained him, anesthetized him and carried him to another car, the article said.

It said they then blew up Johnson's car.

Mixed Message Dept.: Muslims mark 200th anniversary of Africa's largest Islamic empire, appealing for peace

From Signonsandiego.com, with thanks to Twostellas:

SOKOTO, Nigeria – Saluted by sword-waving Muslim warriors on horses and camels, African presidents and emirs on Sunday celebrated the 200th anniversary of a holy war that launched the sub-Sahara's greatest Islamic empire and urged an end to rising Christian-Muslim violence that has killed thousands here.

Appeals for peace – evoking six years of fiery religious rampages by machete-waving mobs in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation – overlaid a day of musket-blasting pageantry in Sokoto, capital of the 19th-century Sokoto caliphate, or kingdom.

Later on in the article is a bit of history that sounds a lot like today's headlines:

Itinerant preacher Shehu Usman dan Fodio had catapulted the kingdom into being with a 1804-1808 holy war launched against infidels and wayward Muslims.

The June 19, 1804, battle of Tafkin Kwatto, a village about 60 miles from Sokoto, was widely seen as the war's turning point.

The victory of what some historians term West Africa's "French Revolution" sparked copycat jihads across the arid savannah plains of Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic and Sudan.

But even amid a day of gunfire and pageantry, the celebrants were quick to insist that any resemblance between those days and today was purely coincidental:

In rare public comments, the current sultan of Sokoto declared that the 19th-century jihad fighter's cause had nothing to do with the rampages of today.

"I wish our own leaders would hold these values close to our hearts and entrench unity and peaceful coexistence," Sultan Mohammed Maccido told the crowd and the warriors.

He mourned "the loss of intolerable numbers of lives, and destruction and loss in property" in Nigeria's religious violence.

Sokoto today is part of 12 predominantly Muslim states that have adopted strict Islamic Shariah laws since 2000. Christians in Sokoto are few.

Dan Fodio is still widely revered by Muslims as a hero for spreading piety and Arabic literacy. Yet some Christians remember his uncompromising attitude toward nonbelievers, for whom he was once quoted as saying "there is no free place of the intellect."

Battle sites and burial grounds for Dan Fodio and his followers have been turned into monuments and mausoleums.

"He fought for Islam. He captured many places and spread knowledge," said Muhammadu Tambari, Dan Fodio's great-great-great grandson, an ostrich farmer.

"The jihad we are doing now is teaching and preaching to our children and the children of others. Spreading Islam," Tambari said. Modern day religious violence had no value, the jihad fighter's descendant said – only "creating more problems."

That's certainly true. Now if only Tambari could convince his fellow Nigerian Muslims.

What It's Really About

Read all of this trenchant commentary in Arutz Sheva by Yocheved Golani (thanks to Nicolei):

The defenseless passengers on an Air France plane, a BOAC aircraft, a Japanese jumbo jet, aboard KLM, Lufthansa, Pan Am, Sabena, TWA and other airliners were not "occupying" the planes conveying them to innocuous destinations when Islamic terrorists kidnapped, terrorized and slaughtered them throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The civilian victims scattered across the countryside of Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 had not "occupied" Pan Am 103, either.

Vacationing Christian Puerto Rican tourists weren't "occupying" Ben-Gurion airport on May 20, 1972. when pro-Islamic terrorists ambushed and sprayed them with bullets upon arrival.

Sleeping Israeli athletes invited to 1972's peace-promoting competitions in Munich were not "occupying" the Olympic Village when Arab radicals besieged and murdered them, disrupting the games promoting international friendship and trust.

Unarmed children at Ma'alot weren't "occupying" their school the day Arab terrorists forced them to jump to their deaths from the building during interrupted celebrations of 1974's Israel Independence Day.

Elderly Dora Bloch and her fellow travelers were not "occupying" Athens airport in 1976 when Arab terrorists hijacked a planeload of passengers to Uganda, resulting in Dora's murder and the rescue of her terrorized former companions.

Wheelchair-bound tourist Leon Klinghoffer was not "occupying" the Italian ship Achille Lauro when fundamentalist terrorists humiliated, then drowned the man by throwing him overboard, on October 7, 1985.

Teen hikers Yosef Ish-Ran and Koby Mandell of Biblical Tekoa did not seek to "occupy" the cave they were dragged to in 2001, and where their captors bludgeoned them to a terrifying death, then smeared their blood on the walls.

The employees of various faiths and ethnic backgrounds who reported for work that day were not "occupying" New York's Twin Towers when they were shocked, burned, smothered, blasted and shattered to death by Arab terrorists on September 11, 2001.

Daniel Pearl was not "occupying" Pakistan when he researched the links between Richard Reed and bin Laden before he was betrayed and beheaded for being a Jew, and therefore an "enemy" of Islam, in 2002. Entrepreneur Nicholas Berg was not "occupying" Iraq when Arab terrorists slowly, agonizingly, carved his Jewish head off his neck for public intimidation in 2004. The American businessmen murdered in Saudi Arabia were minding their own business when they were doing business with Muslim colleagues.

So why are they all dead? Is it truly because the Jews of Israel will not cede land to the rabble that, prevented by their compatriots from returning to their native countries in 1948, now fraudulently claim to be Palestinians? No. There are two glaring contradictions to the specious argument.

One: In 1948, Arab leaders wouldn't permit Arabs unwilling to live among Jews to live in any Arab state. The artificially created refugees were used and abused by their own brethren as violent political pawns against a nascent Israel.

Two: Sharon promised in June 2004 to "evacuate" disputed land before 2005. Within hours of that announcement, Yasser Arafat and Hamas respectively swore to annihilate and kidnap/murder military and civilian Jews. Clearly, the problem is not about "giving back" land, which never legitimately belonged to Arabs anyway.

The chaos, murder and mayhem are not about the merits or demerits of democracy, the West or Christianity, or international law. It's not about the Jews "controlling" the very same "media" that incongruously condemns Judaism, its practices and the Knesset. It's not about Israel inside or outside red, green, yellow or blue lines. It's not about the Israeli Right, or Jewish settlers (they'd be called "citizens" in any other society that inherited, purchased, won and/or annexed land). It's not about present-day Israel versus the borders of ancient Israel, nor about the alleged occupation of Arab lands.

It is about armed insanity, the calculated manipulation of public opinion via propaganda, coercion and attacks against unarmed civilians and their political leaders. And the scale of horror stands to rise now that Iran has saluted the world with a nuclear arms program.

It's about jihad.

Home Surrounded in Saudi Militant Search

Are the Saudis finally getting serious about combatting terrorism? The jury is still out. But it seems increasingly likely that they are choosing their economic over their religious interests — which also means, for the House of Saud, that they are attempting to choose survival. From AP:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Police cars and armored vehicles flooded the al-Malaz neighborhood in the Saudi capital Sunday as security forces surrounded a house where suspected militants were believed to have taken refuge after a shootout with police.

The massive operation was under way in the same district that was the focus of a huge security sweep against militants sought in the beheading of American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr., whose body has still not been found.

Comments closed

My friends,

Comments are closed for now. Upgrades are in the offing that will allow them to be opened again. I apologize for all inconvenience -- but this is just a battle, not the war.

Sincerely
Robert Spencer

9/11 Panel: SA, Pakistan Aided Bin Laden

You gotta hand it to that 9/11 panel. Now they've uncovered -- get this -- evidence that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan aided Al-Qaeda! Sharp as tacks, these guys. You'd almost think they were reading Jihad Watch. From the LA Times, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

WASHINGTON — Pakistan and Saudi Arabia helped set the stage for the Sept. 11 attacks by cutting deals with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden that allowed his Al Qaeda terrorist network to flourish, according to several senior members of the Sept. 11 commission and U.S. counter-terrorism officials.

The financial aid to the Taliban and other assistance by two of the most important allies of the United States in its war on terrorism date at least to 1996, and appear to have shielded them from Al Qaeda attacks within their own borders until long after the 2001 strikes, those commission members and officials said in interviews.

PA PM: Aksa Martyrs Brigades to be integrated into Fatah "institutions"

More evidence of the thin line, if there is any line at all, between the official Palestinian Authority governmental structures, such as they are, and jihad terror groups that glorify the murder of innocent children. Ahmad Qurei, the Palestinian Prime Minister, has declared that the PA will not dismantle the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. From IMRA:

Qurei ... explained ... that instead they would be integrated into Fatah "institutions".

This position appears to coincide with the Egyptian plan that the various
armed terrorist groups operating in the Gaza Strip retain their weapons (in
fact they can bring in more weapons) while Israel promises not to take
action against them.

From today's hate mail

I get a lot of hate mail, most of it uninteresting. One more entertaining one recently warned me that "1.2 billion mostly poor Muslims are coming to get you." Really? All of them? Even the vast majority of moderates? What a windfall that will be for local hotels and cabbies! But I doubt my neighbors here in Secure Undisclosed Locationville will appreciate the traffic snarls.

Anyway, this one from a "Frank Atry" is less entertaining, but more instructive:

Came across your site in an online search. Let me tell you...*Everybody* has got an agenda, and *your* anti-Muslim propaganda and misinformation campaign is no different from those you set out to criticize. Now, *that* is the epitome of hypocrisy! ;-)

So, go on about your "speaking engagements," book
deals, and all that other garbage (let me guess, you
are Jewish, right???), but you didn't fool me.

F. Atry
P.S. Don't wait up for any speaking engagement
invitations from me. :-p

I'll unpack my bags, Frankie, but meanwhile: there you go again. Why do you and your jihadist friends assume that anyone willing to stand up against radical Islam and expose the jihadist agenda is Jewish? After all, the jihad is — and this ain't misinformation or propaganda, Frankie baby, but the plain words of Osama bin Laden, Abu Bakar Bashir, Omar Bakri, Abu Hamza, Zaraqawi, etc. etc. — directed against every non-Muslim, and will subjugate Christians and others as well as Jews under the discriminatory laws of dhimmitude. (Hindus may fare even worse, as they are not technically "People of the Book," but pagans, although they have been accorded dhimmi status by Muslim rulers in history.)

The assumption that anyone who resists the jihad must be Jewish is based on the erroneous view that this is all about Israel, and that the Islamic world would live in peace with the rest of the planet if only that tiny state were swept into the sea. The news articles I post here about Nigeria, Thailand, Indonesia, Kashmir, the Philippines, and elsewhere show just how wrong that is. And I, who am not Jewish, am proud to stand with Jews and women and Christians and Hindus and Buddhists and unbelievers and everyone else against this great scourge that would destroy free societies and relegate us all to second-class status -- or worse.

UPDATE: Friends, I'm sorry to say that the loathesome spammer has compelled me to end this thread as well. However, help is on the way: soon we will have an upgrade that will take care of this problem once and for all. So I thank you for your patience.

Johnson's Family: He Loved Saudi Arabia

But as long as Paul Johnson was not a Muslim, that love was unrequited. From AP:

Johnson had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade and over the week his friends and family had described him as devoted to the culture of his adopted land.

For what ultimately killed Paul Johnson was the conviction that non-Muslims have no right to be in Saudi Arabia, in accord with the Prophet Muhammad's dictum: "Turn out all Al-Mushrikun [unbelievers] from the Arabian Peninsula" (Sahih Bukhari, vol. 4, book 58, no. 3168 -- in the hardcover edition; the numbering in the online edition is different, but for some reason I can't get into it today).

NOTE: Last night's loathsome spammer has returned, so I have had to close comments on this one too.

Saudi TV Shows Slain al-Qaida Leader

Despite denials, apparently Al-Moqrin is still dead. From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- An al-Qaida cell fulfilled its threat to kill an American hostage, beheading him and showing the grisly photos on the Internet. Saudi officials claimed they later gunned down four militants including the cell leader who allegedly masterminded Paul M. Johnson's kidnapping.

State-run television showed pictures of the four slain militants' bodies Saturday. Among them was one it said was Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the reputed leader of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia's most-wanted terror suspect.

Hours earlier, a message on an Islamic militant Web site said the reports of al-Moqrin's saying were false. The message could not immediately be verified, but it appeared on a Web site that has had similar messages in the past.

A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity Friday had confirmed al-Moqrin's killing, while a Saudi official had said forensic tests would confirm its identity.

Al-Qaeda chief's death denied

Now Al-Qaeda is saying that Abdulaziz al-Muqrin is not dead after all. Perhaps he is sharing an apartment with Osama bin Laden. From The Australian, with thanks to Nicolei:

THE leader of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, is not dead, according to a statement posted today on a website which regularly publishes statements from the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Security men at the scene of a shootout in the Saudi capital of Riyadh said that Muqrin had been gunned down along with three other militants last night.

"Following the lies ... about the death of Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, we affirm that such allegations, spread by the tyrants in Saudi Arabia, are intended to undermine the morale of the mujahideen on the Arabian peninsula," said the communique.

Posted on the site http://alsaha.fares.net, its authenticity could not be ascertained immediately.

Saudis debate Islamic basis for killing Westerners

From the New York Times via The Straits Times, with thanks to Nicolei, who also noted that only among Muslims is the question of whether the killing of an innocent civilian is justified or not "reduced to the banality of a debate. In all other major religions, the answer is so clear that one does not even think of it."

In one unusual website posting, a Saudi man who said he had worked with the kidnap victim, and had even discussed Islam with him, went so far as to try to extend a kind of religiously inspired traditional tribal form of protection known as 'ijara' that would forbid killing Mr Johnson.

'I hereby declare my protection and rescue for this man along with all his colleagues who work with us in the company, who ate with us and accepted our gifts of Islamic books which they promised to read,' wrote Mr Saad Al-Moemen.

He also described visits that Mr Johnson had made to his home and said the engineer had expressed distaste for United States foreign policy. ...

The fatwa was attacked by a number of readers who said all foreigners came to the kingdom with bad intentions, acting as the vanguard for the US military.

'Whoever gives them security is an apostate,' read one posting.

Others scoffed at the idea that an official visa somehow bestowed legitimacy on visitors.

'Who gave them the visa? It is the infidel agent regime,' read one posting in part.

'So I tell the mujahideen to keep killing them until the Arabian peninsula is cleared of the filth of the crusaders.'

Others suggested that the militants try to convert Westerners to Islam rather than killing them, because that way they would be spared from going to hell, and the image of the faith around the world would not be so tainted with blood.

One religious leader, identified as Abdel Rahman bin Saleh al-Mahmoud, said Prophet Muhammad's followers had commanded that all non-believers be expelled from the Arabian peninsula.

But it has never been clear, he wrote, whether that includes just the holy city of Mecca or some larger area. In addition, foreigners visited at the time of the Prophet, he noted, it was just the idea of permanent communities that was abhorrent.

Al-Qaida Leader Killed in Saudi Raid

Looks as if they got Al-Moqrin. This is the guy they let go before because he memorized the Qur'an. From AP:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - The leader of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia was believed killed in a raid in the capital Friday, hours after his group claimed the beheading of an American engineer, Saudi security officials said.

A U.S. official confirmed that al-Moqrin has been killed. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

To establish identities, one Saudi official said forensic tests would be conducted on three bodies of militants killed in a shootout in a downtown neighborhood shortly after the discovery of Paul M. Johnson Jr.'s body.

The killing of Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, 31, would be a coup for the Saudi goverment, which has been under intense pressure to halt a wave of attacks against Westerners in the kingdom.

U.S. Hostage Beheaded, Terror Group Says

Another beheading. From AP:

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The al-Qaida group that kidnapped American Paul M. Johnson Jr. posted a statement on a Web site Friday saying it killed him, and displayed still photographs on the Internet of his beheaded body. ...

Johnson was kidnapped last weekend by militants who threatened to kill him by Friday if the kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners.

Why does this keep happening? For an answer untainted by politically correct cant and self-serving whitewashes, check out Andrew Bostom's "The Sacred Muslim Practice of Beheading." It was written after the Berg beheading, but it could have been written today.

UPDATE: Here is the message accompanying the beheading photos (via The Guardian):

In answer to what we promised ... to kill the hostage Paul Marshall after the period is over ... the infidel got his fair treatment ... Let him taste something of what Muslims have long tasted from Apache helicopter fire and missiles. We, God willing, will continue our road to fight the enemies of God.

Yet people still doubt that religion plays any real or essential role in all this. Also, I wonder if the mujahedin really called Mr. Johnson "Paul Marshall." Could they be reading Paul Marshall's Islam At the Crossroads? (Marshall was actually Johnson's middle name; I was just struck by the coincidence.)

UPDATE: The photos, via Drudge.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I'm sorry, but I've had to shut down the comments. A loathsome spammer keeps trying to post on this thread; also, although comments here are largely unmoderated, I really don't want this thread or any other to fill up with calls to genocide and the like. I still believe that we can and must defeat jihad while remaining within the bounds of Judeo-Christian morality and American Constitutionality. And no, that doesn't mean I'm not appalled and angered by what has been done to Mr. Johnson.

9/11 revelations: "Stay quiet and you'll be OK"

I am not inclined to revisit all this, as it doesn't seem to be doing much to make people aware of the fact that there are many Attas still at large. Nevertheless, this piece gives an interesting glimpse into the day-to-day workings of the most notorious jihad strike of our age, and this one some of the harrowing highlights of the flight tapes.

"Stay quiet and you'll be OK," Atta told the passengers. This could be the new slogan for all of today's anti-anti-terrorism. Stay quiet and you'll be OK: stop fighting terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere, accept the preposterous claim that there was no Iraq Al-Qaeda link, don't talk about the roots of Islamic violence in the core texts of Islam, keep mum about how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is just one arena of a global jihad that is being waged against non-Muslims by people with quite readily identifiable motives and goals, and on and on. Stay quiet and you'll be OK.

No thanks.

Sudan: what is Annan waiting for?

He can't call it genocide or ethnic cleansing yet. And don't hold your breath waiting for him to call it a jihad. From AP, with thanks to DC Watson:

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Kofi Annan raised the possibility Thursday of international intervention to protect more than 1 million people threatened by fighting in the Darfur region of western Sudan. ...

Annan said he wasn't ready to describe the situation in Darfur "as genocide or ethnic cleansing yet" but he did call it "a tragic humanitarian situation."

An unsung hero of the defense against jihad

Meet Shannen Rossmiller. From the Seattle Times, with thanks to ahoymite:

CONRAD, Mont. — Shannen Rossmiller finds early mornings are best for hunting terrorists.

When it's 4 a.m. in this one-stoplight prairie town, it's 3 p.m. in, say, Karachi, Pakistan, the sweltering hours just before the evening call to prayer. That's when Rossmiller, while her husband and three children sleep, finds the Internet chat rooms and bulletin boards frequented by radical Muslims and jihad warriors are busiest.

It is when Rossmiller pursues her deadly serious hobby: citizen cyberspy.

Two success stories of "freelance" anti-jihadists:

Spc. Ryan Anderson, National Guardsman: Fort Lewis soldier charged with attempting to aid the enemy. Private citizen Shannen Rossmiller posed as a terrorist on the Internet and lured the 26-year-old soldier into an FBI sting operation. The Army arrested Anderson in February and plans to court-martial him, saying he tried to provide information to the enemy as his unit prepared to deploy to Iraq. Anderson, a Muslim convert, could face the death penalty if convicted.

James Ujaama, former Seattle resident: Thirty-eight-year-old prosecuted for planning to set up a terrorism training camp in Bly, Ore., in 1999. Videotapes provided to the FBI by a self-proclaimed "freelance intelligence agent" in London, Glen Jenvey, played a significant role in the 2002 prosecution. Jenvey infiltrated the Finsbury Park mosque in North London to obtain the tapes, which showed Ujaama sitting alongside radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri and talking about jihad. Ujaama pleaded guilty last year and has agreed to testify against Abu Hamza, who was arrested last month in London and is accused of aiding al-Qaida.

Chechen gunmen eyed in ambush

More news of the international character of the jihad. Or was it just a mercenary action? From the Washington Times:

Mercenaries believed to be from Chechnya are suspected of carrying out the deadly ambush of civilian security contractors on a road outside Baghdad earlier this month.

The attackers killed four civilians working with Blackwater USA. Three contractors who managed to escape concluded that the assault was the work of trained gunmen.

If so, said a former U.S. Special Forces fighter recently in Baghdad, "this opens a whole other can of worms for the coalition to deal with."

But what kind of can of worms?

Professional analysis of the incident concluded that the attackers were well-trained and were most likely Syrian or Chechen hired guns. They wanted to survive and not leave any bodies.

"The ambush on the [airport] highway was done by Chechen imports. Very switched on and well experienced," said the former Special Forces member.

"Hitting a moving car at [72 mph], plus from another moving car, with an RPG is no small feat ... [and] the fact that they policed up their dead [and] wounded and all the weapons also indicates their level of professionalism.

"I personally don't think they were good Muslims doing their jihad duties, or politically motivated. I think they were high-tech, highly trained mercenaries in it for the bucks."

Why? Because they were experts? Jihadists can't be skillful? I'm not sure that's a very effective or accurate assumption to make. Also, even if they were hired guns, who hired them, and why?

They let him go because he memorized the Qur'an

But obviously this work of memorization didn't make him non-violent. From the New York Post, with thanks to Nicolei:

IN recent months, he has been the world's second- most active terrorist, his roll call of atrocities eclipsed only by that of the ubiquitous Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.

But this past weekend, Abdulaziz Al-Muqrin, al Qaeda's chief of operations for the Arabian Peninsula, upped the ante considerably in his jihad against the West.

In a statement issued on several Islamist Web sites, Al-Muqrin's group has claimed responsibility for the murder of one American, Kenneth Scroggs, and kidnapping of another, Lockheed Martin employee Paul Johnson, in Riyadh on Saturday.

Al-Muqrin, also known as "Abu Hajar," seems hell-bent on upholding his recent pledge to make this summer "bloody and miserable for infidels."

Just last week, he vowed through an Islamist Web site that al Qaeda would target Western airlines, military bases and residential compounds in "the near future." And on May 29, he claimed responsibility for the chaotic assault on Western oil facilities in the Saudi city of Khobar that killed 22 people, including one American. ...

Al-Muqrin is suspected of having engineered suicide bombings in Riyadh in May and November 2003 that took 53 lives (including nine Americans) and is thought to have been the architect of an April 21 attack in the Saudi capital that killed five people and wounded 148. And he claimed responsibility for a May 1 shooting spree in the Saudi oil center of Yanbu that killed six Westerners and one Saudi.

According to Al-Muqrin, the Yanbu attack, like the one in Khobar, was designed to stem the flow of Saudi oil, thereby harming the country's economy. ...

It is unclear how the Saudi government will deal with Al-Muqrin, if it catches him. In 1997, after being extradited to Saudi Arabia by Ethiopian authorities, Al-Muqrin was sentenced to eight years in prison. But the Saudi Interior Ministry released him in the summer of 2001, reportedly because he had memorized the Koran while behind bars.

War on Terror: Are We Fighting for Our Lives?

Alan Caruba echoes and underscores points I have made many times in this Insight piece (thanks to Nicolei):

I think a lot of Americans, certainly those favoring withdrawal from Iraq and efforts to negotiate with al-Qaeda and the nations supporting its holy war, have not yet figured out that the Islamic fundamentalists who beheaded Daniel Pearl and Nick Berg, who attacked this nation on 9/11, and who represent the insurgents in Iraq, want us dead. Unless, of course, we convert to Islam. ...

According to the extremists, the prophet left a trail of assassinations and other bloody acts behind him until his own death, all of which they insist are recorded by Muslim historians. This is cited as a tradition among Muslims in the early centuries of Islamic development. As the Internet essay notes, these are not just isolated incidents or aberrations. "Such violence in fact goes to the very roots of Islam as found in the Quran and the actions and teachers of the prophet of Islam himself." And that is the view of the extremists who have declared a war of terror on all those who do not see the world as they do.

The holy war that has been declared against us leaves us no choice but to fight for our lives.

Four Afghans Die in Blast Thought Aimed at NATO

Peacekeepers are regarded with the same suspicion as are all non-Muslims. From Reuters, with thanks to Nicolei:

KABUL (Reuters) - Four Afghans died in a bomb attack on Wednesday apparently targeting NATO peacekeepers, officials said, a day after President Bush held up Afghanistan as a role model for Iraq.

The blast in the northern Afghan town of Kunduz killed two children and two men, the officials said, the latest attack in a spate of violence ahead of presidential and parliamentary polls supposed to be held in September.

The blast was possibly triggered by a remote-controlled device as a vehicle from a NATO Provincial Reconstruction Team passed along a crowded road in the center of the city, Afghan officials said.

No peacekeepers were hurt in the attack, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said.

But an Afghan driver of the reconstruction team vehicle was among those killed, General Mohammad Dawood, the senior military commander in Kunduz, told reporters. None of the 250 German troops from the Kunduz team was in the car.

Ohio Imam Guilty of Lying About Terrorism

Score one for truth and justice. Fawaz Damra is guilty. From AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

AKRON, Ohio June 17, 2004 — The Palestinian-born leader of Ohio's largest mosque was convicted Thursday of lying about his connections to terrorist organizations when he applied for U.S. citizenship.

Fawaz Damra, imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, showed no emotion as the verdict was read in federal court.

He could be sentenced to up to five years in prison, stripped of his citizenship and deported for providing false information to become a citizen in 1994.

His attorneys will fight on.

Prosecutors claimed that Damra, 41, concealed ties to Afghan Refugee Services, the Islamic Committee for Palestine and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, groups the government classifies as terrorist organizations.

"We feel this is a victory in the war on terrorism," prosecutor Cherie Krigsman said.

Prosecutors showed video footage of Damra raising money for an arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has been listed as a major terrorist group by the State Department since 1989.

Jurors also were shown footage in which Damra called Jews "the sons of monkeys and pigs" during a 1991 speech and said "terrorism and terrorism alone is the path to liberation" in a 1989 speech.

"He was the guy that they brought in to raise the money for Islamic Jihad," Krigsman said after the verdict. "Without the money they could not operate." ...

Many members of Damra's mosque have continued to support him, voting in March to allow him to continue leading prayers and performing other functions. ...

"Unfortunately, I don't believe justice was served," said Haider Alawan, a member of the Cleveland mosque's board of elders and a Damra backer.

Jurors sees video of Ohio imam Damra fund raising, introducing Al-Arian

A damaging video in the Damra case in Ohio. From AP, with thanks to LGF:

In the 1991 video played in U.S. District Court, Damra implores members of the audience to donate money for the Islamic Committee for Palestine. Damra tells the audience the committee "is the active arm of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in America."

Matthew Levitt, senior fellow in terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies, testified that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad is "bent on the destruction of Israel."

Damra has pleaded innocent to a charge of obtaining U.S. citizenship in 1994 by providing false information. If convicted, he could lose his citizenship, be fined $5,000 and be sentenced to up to five years in prison before being deported.

The video showed Damra standing in front of a wall with an American flag on it at the Beit Hanina Club in Cleveland, a social club for Palestinians.